OP TENNESSEE. 9 



of some one or other of the graminece. Living streams of 

 water, fed by perennial springs, as sweet as those of Cas- 

 talia, hasten down the mountain slopes and lazily meander 

 through the beautiful valleys. Being midway between the 

 lakes and the gulf, we live just 4 where the warm, moist 

 southern winds encounter the condensing blasts of the 

 north, so that we are rarely the sufferers from droughts. 

 In fact nature intended this State as a gra/ing region, while 

 man in his thirst for riches has made it what it is. But 

 circumstances are driving us with an irresistable impulse 

 into our proper channel. Blessings on even a large scale 

 are seldom recognized when given, but the roll of years will 

 soon make them visible to all. Had our slaves continued 

 with us, we should probably not have assumed our proper 

 sphere for many decades to come. But, at last, we find 

 ourselves with a large breadth of land that, though greatly 

 worn, is still full of fertility, and without due labor to 

 cultivate it in the old style. What is more, the only way 

 in which these lands can be restored to their pristine condi- 

 tion is the very way to redound to the permanent wealth 

 of the State. This is by removing Tennesssee from her 

 geographical position. Not changing her longitude or 

 altering her latitude, but by simply converting her from a 

 fourth-rate cotton State into a first-class grazing country. 



Grass is wealth. As lowly and humble as it appears, it 

 comprises about one-sixth of all the vegetation of the 

 world. It nourishes more animals than all o^her food 

 combined, and furnishes ail the elements for the growth of 

 man. 



It is true man cannot, like Nebuchadnezzer, feed as a 

 beast of the field, but he can and does appropriate this food 

 after it has been assimilated to his requirements by the 

 ruminants. Not only this, but through its wonderful 

 chemical and vital properties it extracts from the great 

 laboratory of nature the atmosphere certain gases and 

 fluids hostile to man's respiratory organs, thus purifying 



