PKOCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS* CLUB. 145 



States and their descendants, of which Middle Tennessee has famished the 

 largest share. These people have been sufficiently set off by occasional 

 correspondents of the Tribune, who have traveled or sojourned among 

 them. I will therefore let them pass for the present, though I may have 

 occasion hereafter to allude to some of their characteristics. 



"My personal knowledge of this region is confined chiefly to this county 

 (Gallatia), and the county adjoining on the West. They are situated in 

 the south-eastern corner of the State. The face of the country is in some 

 places brt)kcn by hills of considerable magnitude, but much the larger por- 

 tion is simply rolling. The more depressed portions are nsually wet dur- 

 ing the latter part of Winter and early Spring. The bottom lands along 

 the streams are subject to overflow. This is especially the case with the 

 bottoms of the Wabash, which are very extensive. The beds of the small 

 streams are njuddy; the waters are turbid and have a sluggish current 

 when low. The back waters of the Ohio not unfrequently reach a point 

 fifteen miles or more in a direct line from that stream, through the Saline 

 river and its branches. 



" The timber upon the upland is nsually post oak, black oak and hickory, 

 with a scattering undergrowth of dog-wood, hazel, and varif)us other sap- 

 lings and shrubs. There is a cypress swamp some six miles from the 

 Ohio, and running nearly parallel with it, and extending from the Wa- 

 bash eighteen or twenty miles. At the point where it is intersected by 

 the road running north from Shawneetown, it is passed by means of a log 

 causeway a mile in length. This swamp furnishes great quantities of valu- 

 able lumber, which much resembles pine, and is perhaps quite equal to it 

 for building purposes. What is called low or wet land here, is hardly enti- 

 tled to the name of swamp, inasmuch as the surface is solid even when> 

 covered with water, and is generally sufficiently dry to admit of being 

 planted in corn during the month of May; though there are few Springs so 

 dry that these lands would not be greatly benefitted by a system of under 

 drainage. 



" Of the bottom or low lands there is considerable variety both of timber 

 and soil; the former being a very good index to the latter. That is, a good 

 judge of land can determine with nearly as much certainty of the quality 

 of the soil when the ground is covered with snow as when bare, simply by 

 observing the growth of timber. The richest, the most desirable, and 

 probably the largest proportion of this class of lands, is what is called 

 black land, from its color. The timber most characteristic of tliis is hack- 

 berry, black mulberry, and slippery elm. There is also often interspersed 

 white ash, honey locust, sweet gum, and the large variety' of elm. And 

 here let me remark that upon all the lands, whether high or low, there is 

 usually a sufficiency of oak of one kind or other to answer all the ordinary 

 demands of fencing. We sometimes meet with a small area of low land 

 where the soft maple, and a variety of red oak called water oak, prevail. 

 Ilere the soil is of a lighter complexion and less fertile. We have a kind 

 of oak called overcup, probably from some peculiarity of the cup which en- 

 closes the acorn. It is found abundant in some places upon the medium 

 quality of low land. The bark resembles in color that of the white oak, 



[Am. Ln-st.] J 



