Proceedings of the Farmers' Club. 417 



prairie and swampy lands, foxtail, herds grass, orchard grass, and 

 timothy are easily produced. These low lands, where grasses will 

 grow, may compose one-sixth of the surface of Cumberland Plateau. 

 Sorghum is one of the most lucrative of the crops that can be cul- 

 tivated here. The late, mild autumn permits the juice to become 

 very sweet. Its growth had become so extensive before the' war 

 that New Orleans molasses had no sale. 



The true policy in farming in such a locality is to supply nearly 

 all the family wants from a few acres near the dwelling, and to 

 look for the principal income from the sale of bullocks and of 

 wool. Samuel McRunnels, a farmer of long experience in this 

 region, informed the Commissioner of Agriculture that a two-year 

 old steer or heifer could be produced at a cost of from three to 

 five dollars. He sent away to the seaboard markets from seventy- 

 five to a hundred every fall. Granting that it cannot be done for 

 less than ten now, such animals would sell in the fall for thirty 

 dollars, giving a profit of twenty dollars each, or $2,000 on a herd 

 of 100 head. 



There ai'e several reasons why I regard any efforts that look 

 toward the settlement of these pastoral regions as judicious and 

 timely. 



1. They are the only parts of the South that have not been unfa- 

 vorably affected by the war and by the dispositions that war has 

 produced- These hills and mountain tops have never been damaged 

 by the system of cultivation which was universal wherever the soil 

 of the South was tilled by compulsory labor. The few settlers on 

 these slopes or these high table lands were poor and owned no 

 slaves. Most of them were opposed to slavery on principle, and 

 therefore fought secession on principle. It is the only part of the 

 South where to be an advocate of the policy of the present Con- 

 gress does not attach more or less of a stigma to a man's character. 

 Neither has the reconstruction policy affected society in these 

 mountainous parts. There were no rebels to be disfranchised, no 

 blacks to be enfranchised. Hence, no matter what have been the 

 political antecedents of a settler, he is welcomed. 



2. These lands are very cheap. On an average they are lower 

 than Government lands. Thousands of acres can be bought for 

 twenty-five cents. Choice tracts can be had for two or three del 

 lars an acre. If one desires to unite grain farming with gi'azing, 

 lands in the river valleys, rich in lime, and growing fine crops of 

 wheat, clover and corn, can be had from five to fifteen dollars an acre. 



[Inst.] 27 



