SOLON ROBINSON, 1848 141 



highly ornamental. The plants are easily grown from 

 seed. She is now burning vast quantities of fuel cut from 

 the China trees, as well as locust, in the yard. On the 

 night of December 5th, the weather was so warm, that 

 sleeping under a sheet only, and with doors and windows 

 open, was uncomfortable. Let readers compare notes 

 upon this. 



The roads in the vicinity of Natchez are in just such a 

 condition as may be imagined by those who have seen the 

 hundreds of wagon loads of cotton constantly drawn over 

 a loose, soft soil by four or five yoke of oxen to each, dur- 

 ing a six-weeks' "rainy spell." And particularly when it 

 is taken into account that labor upon roads, is almost un- 

 known. It is one of the most common things, after toil- 

 ing up a very steep hill, that you find the apex so sharp 

 that the forward wheels of a wagon begin to descend the 

 other side before the hind ones are up. In some countries, 

 such ridges would be dug down. I have travelled many 

 miles of road in different places in Mississippi, worn 

 down into ditches from four to twenty feet deep, and 

 barely wide enough for two wagons to pass; and these 

 continually undergoing the gullying operation, that some- 

 times render travelling anything but safe or pleasant, to 

 say nothing of the bridgeless streams before mentioned. 

 The Scuppernong grape is grown successfully in the 

 vicinity of Natchez. 



On the road between Natchez and Woodville, there are 

 many miles of Cherokee-rose hedge, often spreading 

 twenty feet or more wide and as many high. It is an 

 objection to this plant, that it is very diiRcult to keep it 

 within any reasonable bounds, as a hedge. Careless 

 planting and tending, too, often shows gaps. It is also 

 an immense harbor for rats and rabbits, and sometimes 

 it gets so full of dead wood, as not only to be unsightly 

 but in danger of taking fire and destroying a line of fence 

 in a few hours. On the other hand, if well tended, it 

 makes a handsome hedge, being evergreen, and in spring 

 it is covered with a profusion of single white roses, that 



