SOLON ROBINSON, 1850 355 



This, of course, does not include anything for ordinary 

 family expenses, which are no small item in a house, 

 where, besides all the world of acquaintances, every re- 

 spectable stranger finds a home and a most hearty wr;l- 

 come, from a most noble gentleman and lovely lady. 



During my exceedingly pleasant visit here, I had the 

 satisfaction of making the acquaintance of nearly all the 

 gentlemen in the neighborhood. Upon the opposite side 

 of the river, from Dean Hall, is the plantation of J. 

 Withers Read, who has ponds of fresh water covering 

 100 acres of upland, which are held in reserve to water 

 the rice fields when the river is too salt. He threshes his 

 crop by horse power, and sends the grain to Charleston 

 to be hulled, where there are several very large steam 

 mills, though more perfect, yet upon the same principle as 

 Col. Carson's. The toll is 7^4 per cent., and the mill keep 

 the offal. 



Mr. Robinson's Tour. — No. 16. 



[New York American Agriculturist, 9:118-19; Apr., 1850^] 



[February ?, 1850] 



Georgia Farming. — Augusta is one of the most flour- 

 ishing towns in the south. It contains 8,000 or 9,000 in- 

 habitants, and is situated at the head of steam navigation 

 on the Savannah River; built upon a broad plain of rich 

 alluvial soil, and is a place of a large trade. Two of the 

 principal streets are about two miles long, and each one 

 160 feet wide. It is also the terminus of the Georgia 

 Railroad, which already extends into Tennessee. The city 

 is now engaged in a stupendous work nearly completed, 

 by which the best water power in the Union is provided. 

 This is done by tapping the Savannah, seven or eight 

 miles above the city, with a navigable canal, which is 

 brought down just to the edge of the town, and then the 

 water drops from the first to the second level, 13 feet, 

 and then is carried about a mile along a natural ridge, 

 from which it is taken by short cuts, with 13 feet more 



'Reprinted in Southern Cultivator, Augusta, Georgia, 8:87 

 (June, 1850). 



