MISSISSIPPI. 



573 



in Attala County. The Mobile and Ohio Rail- 

 road has several branch roads. Two start from 

 Artesia, in Lowndes County, one running to 

 Columbus, the county seat of Lowndes, and the 

 other to Starkville, Oktibbeha County. These 

 branches afford railroad facilities to some of the 

 most fertile counties in the State. At Aber- 

 deen Junction there is another branch to Aber- 

 deen in Monroe County, one of the most flour- 

 ishing and enterprising towns and counties in 

 the State. The Mobile and Northwestern Rail- 

 road begins upon the east bank of the Missis- 

 sippi River, at a point opposite Helena in Ar- 

 kansas, and runs in a southeasterly direction 

 through Coahoma County. Twelve miles have 

 been completed. The Memphis, Holly Springs 

 and Selma Railroad, running through the north- 

 ern portion of the State, has been partially con- 

 structed, a large part of the grading finished, 

 and some iron laid upon the Alabama end. 



The amount in the State Treasury at the be- 

 ginning of the year was $636,282. The re- 

 ceipts of the previous year were $1,087,044; 

 the disbursements, $1,203,734. The debt, con- 

 sisting of certificates of indebtedness and bonds, 

 amounted to $2,802,096. 



The State Lunatic Asylum was originally 

 constructed at a cost of $175,000, and opened 

 for patients in 1855. Since then it has been 

 greatly enlarged, until it is hardly surpassed 

 by any other in the country. During its term 

 of operation 1,376 inmates have been received, 

 of whom more than 400 have been discharged 

 as restored. The number of inmates at the 

 beginning of the year was 410, and about 40 

 applications for admission were on file. Sta- 

 tistics of the State show that about 40 persons 

 become insane annually. In the Deaf and 

 Dumb Asylum there are 41 pupils, and in- 

 creased accommodations are required. The 

 Institution for the Blind is also in successful 

 operation. 



The crops of the year presented very favor- 

 able results. About 2 per cent, more of area 

 was planted in cotton than in 1877. In sev- 

 eral of the counties the crop suffered from 

 excess of rain. About 10 per cent, more corn 

 was planted than in 1877, and the average was 

 about the same. A fine crop of oats was gath- 

 ered, being on the average 10 per cent, more 

 than in 1877. The hay crop shows an increase 

 of 25 per cent. Rain and rust injured the 

 wheat, and the crop was less than in 1877. 

 The fruits were also injured by heavy rains. 

 Large shipments are made by rail to New 

 Orleans, St. Louis, and Chicago. The proceeds 

 were estimated at $150,000 on the line of the 

 New Orleans and Chicago Railroad alone. On 

 the Mobile and Chicago line they were esti- 

 mated at $100,000. Large shipments of Irish 

 potatoes, tomatoes, and cabbages were also 

 made. 



A convention of the fruit-growers and rail- 

 road men, to consult upon their mutual inter- 

 ests, was held at Crystal Springs soon after the 

 close of the year. Many facts were brought 



out showing what this portion of the State, 

 along the New Orleans and Chicago road, is 

 and may become. The Fruit-Growers' Associa- 

 tion urged that in order to assure success to its 

 efforts, and to further encourage the culture of 

 fruits and vegetables, a fruit train should pass 

 through the fruit belt, say from New Orleans 

 to Canton, during the day, running on the 

 schedule fast enough to place the fruit and 

 vegetables on the Chicago market on the morn- 

 ing of the second day after shipment, the train 

 to pass Canton, say at 6 p. M. , and to ran 

 from the 20th of April to the 20th of August 

 following, and at as low rates as can be afford- 

 ed on such schedule. Cairo is 548 miles from 

 New Orleans, and 390 miles from Crystal 

 Springs ; Chicago is 364 miles from Cairo, 750 

 miles from Crystal Springs, and 912 miles from 

 New Orleans. The farmers in the fruit belt 

 below and above Crystal Springs, and within 

 hauling distance of the railroad, have expended 

 considerable amounts of money and labor in 

 establishing orchards and vineyards. They 

 have planted 500,000 peach-trees and from 500 

 to 600 acres of strawberries between Poncha- 

 toula and Milan. They have planted nearly 

 200,000 peach-trees around Crystal Springs, 

 and nearly as many around Terry. Young 

 trees are now coining into bearing in such num- 

 bers that the peach crop should be twice as 

 large as it has ever been, if this and succeed- 

 ing years prove favorable for peaches. Crystal 

 Springs has sent 60,000 boxes to market in a 

 single year, and Terry, nine miles above, has sent 

 off about the same amount. Hazlehurst, ten 

 miles below, has sent to market from 20,000 

 to 30,000 boxes in a year. Along the line of 

 the railroad the cars have gathered up in a sin- 

 gle year about 500,000 boxes. Crystal Springs 

 has also sent 2,500 boxes of apples to market, 

 and 2,000 boxes of plums. These fruits may 

 be easily increased to 100 times their present 

 importance if cheap rates and rapid transit are 

 secured, But a rapid transit is not so impor- 

 tant for these as for peaches and strawberries. 

 Blackberries grow wild on this line of railroad 

 for hundreds of miles. These may be dried 

 for market as in North Carolina and else- 

 where, where they have become quite an im- 

 portant article of commerce. They may also 

 be converted into blackberry wine, or made 

 into preserves, or canned in other shapes. The 

 domestic blackberries could be profitably cul- 

 tivated along this line of railroad, and the fruit- 

 growers are now commencing the cultivation 

 of raspberries with prospects of success. Grapes 

 of various kinds, the Louisiana, the Herbemont, 

 the Scuppernong, the Concord, Martha, and 

 other choice varieties for table use and wine- 

 making, can be produced in quantities which 

 would be deemed fabulous by those who have 

 given but little thought to the matter. The 

 Chinese quince, pecans, persimmons, dewber- 

 ries, mulberries, the English walnut, the olive, 

 and the tea-plant find a congenial soil and cli- 

 mate along the line of this railroad. In addi- 



