386 LOWNDES COUNTY. 



neighbourhood. The people have, until within a few years 

 back, been rather unmindful of the great blessings of education, 

 but are now beginning to be more solicitous for the welfare 

 of their children, and schools are springing up in various parts of 

 the county. Number of poor children, 307 ; educational fund, 

 $266 24 cents. 



Roads, Bridges. — These are generally good. Almost all 

 the roads are natural ones, depending but little upon the labour 

 of the inhabitants for their good qualities. 



Mills. — 16 saw and grist-mills, 8 grist-mills, 2 rice-mills. 



Face of the Country, Nature of the Soil. — The ge- 

 neral face of the country is level. The land is divided into 

 pine and hammock. Of the former, there are 629,629 acres ; 

 of the latter, 43,000 acres. The whole of the land is produc- 

 tive, and some of the hammock lands produce as well as any 

 land in the State. The southern and western portions con- 

 tain the largest bodies of good land. 



Productions, Average Product per Acre. — Rice, cot- 

 ton, corn, wheat, and indeed almost every thing grows finely 

 in this county. It is supposed the product of cotton per acre 

 stands thus : from 800 to 1,000 pounds of black seed, and 

 from 1,000 to 1,400 pounds of green seed. Corn produces 

 from 15 to 20 bushels per acre. 



Markets. — The farmers usually carry their produce to 

 Newport and Columbus in Florida, Centreville and the bluffs of 

 Ocmulgee in Georgia. The want of a convenient market is the 

 most serious inconvenience under which the farmers labour. 



Springs. — The beds of almost all the streams abound 

 in springs, impregnated with various mineral substances, 

 chiefly sulphur. One of these, discovered in the bed of the 

 Withlacoochee, has been turned to account by some of the 

 citizens, and is now a place of considerable resort. Around 

 it a small village has sprung up, containing a store, church, 

 and fine school. The village is called Boston, after the disco- 

 verer of the spring, Thomas M. Boston. 



Minerals. — The rocks which are found are chiefly sand- 

 stone, limestone, and flint. 



Miscellaneous Remarks. — Almost every stream of note 

 in this county has some natural curiosity connected with it. 



