286 



GENESEE Fx\RMER. 



Dec. 



Dairy Business, Stock Raising and Wool Grow- 

 ing in the Mountains. 



The Highlands of Virginia, North Carolina, 

 Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama, where indig- 

 enous and cultivated grasses flourish in great 

 perfection, ofler superior advantages for the ex- 

 tensive manufacture of butter and cheese, and 

 the raising of neat cattle, horses, mules, hogs 

 and sheep. These mountains and elevated 

 plains are interspersed with beautiful valleys of 

 surpassing fertility. The healthfulness of this 

 whole region is proverbial, and nothing but the 

 lack of good roads to the Atlantic cities, and the 

 fact of the existence of slavery in those States, 

 have prevented the settlement of the Alleghany 

 Mountains from Virginia to the Mississippi. The 

 want of roads is beginning to disappear. The 

 shrill whistle of the locomotiue has already 

 frightened the wild beasts from their dens and 

 haunts in not a few localities, to which they will 

 never return. Seeing a drove of tine hogs in 

 the streets of Augusta a few days since, we asked 

 the drivers where they were raised ? The an- 

 swer was in Tennessee, and that they were 

 brought by railroad from within 46 miles of that 

 State, and of the great river that gives it its 

 name, for about 65 cents a head. Droves of 

 fat cattle are brought down to tide water at 

 Charleston and Savannah, by a similar convey- 

 ance. In Hamilton County, where these swine 

 and cattle mostly start from, corn is now selling 

 at ten cents a bushel, and wheat at fifty cents. 

 These prices do not indicate poor land. Rail 

 Roads will soon be extended from Cherookee in 

 Georgia, to Nashville and Knoxville in Ten- 

 nessee — the whole being, we believe, under 

 contract. Two lines of steamei-s ply regularly 

 between the cities of Savannal? and Charleston 

 and New York ; and we get p'tne. W[.\es and 

 other tropical fruits from Havana, in ,.jree days 

 by steam. The cotton and sugar produv. jgsec- 

 lions of the Southern States, and the au/acent 

 West India Islands, furnish the best markets in 

 the world for meat, good butter and cheese. 



There are but two cheese dairies in all Geor- 

 gia, and these belong to New England families. 

 They are making money easier than the thou- 

 sands that dig for gold and wash it from primit- 

 ive sands ; although the latter in the main is a 

 profitable business. Their new cheese is sold 

 at from 12 to 16 cents a pound. In the grazing 

 districts of the up country, fair cows sell at 

 from $7 to ^l'\ Good bufer brings at this 

 time, in Augusta, 31 cents at retail. 



Our attention has been of late much drawn to 

 stock-growing and the dairy business in the 

 Mountains, by the receipt of letters from ge 

 tlemen of wealth in Western Virginia, North 

 Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Geor- 

 gia, asking us to aid them in procuring from 



the North, farmers 'that understand the care 

 of Cheese Dairies, and the making of choice 

 Butter. Such young men as are not well off 

 where they are, and understand the business 

 indicated, can obtain desirable situations, if hon- 

 est and industrious. They will have to instruct 

 common laborers of both sexes how to milk, and 

 perform all the work in dairies of one or two 

 hundred cows each. They could readily obtain 

 a share in the profits of raising cattle, making 

 pork, butter and cheese, if preferred. 



Mr. William Sloan, of Tranquilla, Macon 

 County, N. C, writes us that he is the owner 

 of a fine valley, under the crest of the Blue 

 Ridge, and makes mining for gold his principal 

 business, which is profitable. But his capital 

 invested in stock raising is not less productive 

 than mining. He wants a competent man to 

 take charge of an extensive dairy establishment 

 which can be started on his land. His place is 

 46 miles north of the village of Pendleton, South 

 Carolina. His " valley" is about 4000 feet 

 above the tevel of the ocean. We could name 

 other gentlemen very similarly situated. A 

 man of moderate means can easily start the 

 business on his own account, as both land and 

 cows are cheap. A late emigrant from Holland, 

 who has located in Hamilton county, Tenn., 

 states, in an article published in the October 

 number of the Albany Cultivator, that he bought 

 his land at $1,25 an acre, for dairy purposes. 

 The writer of this has been offered 50,000 acres 

 on the table lands of that State, since he has 

 been South, at ten cents an acre. These are 

 said to be covered v/ith natural grass and herb- 

 age, which render them fine sheep walks. In 

 northern Alabama and Georgia, sheep are kept 

 -the year round without feeding any thing beside 

 w\at they gather for themselves. From Penn- 

 syl.^nia to the "father of waters," the High- 

 lands, in which rise all the large streams that 

 flow into the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico, 

 are very sparsely settled, and present peculiar 

 advantages for making beef, pork, butter, wool, 

 &c., and getting them to market. A bag of 

 cotton weighing over 400 lbs. ;s sent by steam. 

 boat from this to Savannah at 50 cents ; and to 

 Charleston by rail-way at ^1. ' The road from 

 the Northwest brings down to this city about 

 1000 bales a day. A good deal of flour, wheat, 

 corn and bacon i» brought here from the Chero- 

 kee country. Two large flouring mills are 

 going up in this city, to be driven by water 

 power, which is equal to that at Lowell. There 

 are some thirty-five cotton factories in the State, 

 which are doing well. 



Many will be interested to learn that the 

 spirit of improvement is beginning to pervade 

 all classes at the South. Its agricultural and 

 manufacturing capabilities are about to be devel- 

 oped in steady, sober earnest. Industry, Capi- 

 tal and Intellect can work wonders anywhere. 



