8 EAST TENNESSEE. 



bestowed on the preparation and fertilization of the soil, the yield has 

 heen as high as from twenty-five to forty bushels. These results, as 

 well as the methods which caused them, are exceptional. But they de- 

 monstrate what a system of high farming would do for wheat culture in 

 this region. The grain is decidedly superior to western wheat, and floui 

 made from it commands a higher price in market. 



In one of the letters of Heniy C. Carey, of Philadelphia, to the Hon. 

 Henry Wilson, occurs this passage : 



' ' Even before the war a great change had commenced in regard to the 

 sources from which Northern supplies of cereals were to come, Tennessee 

 and North Carolina furnishing large supplies of wheat greatly siiperior 

 in quality to that grown on Northern lands, and commanding higher 

 prices in all our markets. The daily quotations show that Southern Flour, 

 raised in Missouri, Tennessee, and Virginia, brings from three to five dollars 

 more per barrel than the best New York Genessee Floui' ; that of Louis- 

 ina and Texas is far superior to the former even, owing to the superior 

 dryness, and the fact that it contains more gluten, and does not ferment so 

 easily. Southern Flour makes better dough and maccaroni than Northern 

 or Western Flour, it is better adapted for transportation over the sea, and 

 keeps better in the Tropics. It is, therefore, the Flour that is sought after 

 for Brazil, Central America, Mexico, and the West Indian markets, which 

 are at our doors. A barrel of strictly Southern Flour will make twenty 

 pounds more bread than Illinois Flour, because, being so much drj-er, it 

 takes up more water in making up. ' ' 



The wheat harvest of East Tennessee is one month earlier than it is in 

 Northern Illinois and in Western New York. Sixty-six pounds to the 

 measured bushel, in a good season, is no uncommon weight, and some- 

 times it reaches sixty-eight or seventy pounds. 



Irish Potatoes also do well in this climate. Altitude supplies the 

 place of a higher latitude. Their quality, when raised on our high ridges, 

 is but little inferior to a northern raised potato. The yield per acre, in 

 good soil and in a favorable season, is from one to two hundred bushels, 

 and sometimes as much as three hundred, but the latter is an extreme 

 case. The peach-blow does finely here. 



Sweet Potatoes do well also, especially in the lower half of East 

 Tennessee, from one hundi-ed and fifty to two hundred bushels per acre 

 is merely a good crop. For stock, they are worth as much per bushel as 

 corn. Nothing is perhaps better when boiled for producing rich milk, 

 than sweet potatoes. In Louisiana the experiment was tried with Corn 

 and sweet potatoes, on two sets of pigs of the same size and age, and it 

 was found that those raised and fattened on potatoes made the most 

 bacon. 



Corn is one of the gi-eat staples of East Tennessee. Every year mil- 

 lions of bushels are sold to our neighbors south of us. Besides vast 

 quantities are converted into bacon, beef, horses and mules. The val- 

 leys of the Nolichucky, the French Broad and the Tennessee are as fruit- 



