428 MONROE COUNTY. 



Nature of the Soil. — The soil is various, combining the 

 best and the worst. The lands on the water-courses are rich, 

 dark chocolate soil, well timbered, and admirably adapted to 

 the cultivation of cotton. The mulatto and gray lands are 

 tolerably productive. 



Value of Lands, Productions. — The best lands bring 810 

 per acre ; gray lands from 3 to $5 per acre. 



Cotton is the chief product, 12,000 bales of which are 

 annually produced. 



Corn, wheat, rye, barley, tobacco, potatoes, all do well. 

 Farmers are not sufficiently attentive to ditching and manur- 

 ing; and unless a change takes place, it may be confidently ex- 

 pected that the same disastrous effects will be produced upon 

 the soil which have been witnessed in many sections of middle 

 Georgia. 



Roads and Bridges. — No praise can be given to the citi- 

 zens for good roads. More attention to the state of the roads 

 is absolutely necessary to secure the comfort of the traveller. 

 The bridges are kept in tolerable repair. 



Manufactures, Mills, Distilleries. — One large shoe fac- 

 tory in Forsyth ; the flour-mills have a high reputation, of which 

 there are 11; saw-mills, 13; grist-mills, 20; wool-carding 

 machines, 2. We are pleased to say that there is not one 

 large distillery. Efforts are making to establish a cotton fac- 

 tory. 



Religious Sects, Education. — Methodists, Baptists, Pres- 

 byterians, and a few Episcopalians. No people have mani- 

 fested a greater interest in the subject of education than those 

 of Monroe. Liberal subscriptions have been made for the 

 purpose of establishing good schools. In Forsyth, Culloden, 

 and at the Montpelier Springs, are institutions of learning 

 which probably will compare with any in Georgia. 



Character of the People. — The people are highly intel- 

 ligent, industrious, and temperate. 



Minerals. — Gold exists in several localities. Iron, plum- 

 bago, quartz of various kinds, granite, felspar, &c. 



Meteoric Stone. — "On the 8th of May, 1828, a meteoric 

 stone fell near Forsyth. About four o'clock a black cloud ap- 

 peared south from Forsyth, from which two distinct explo- 



