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AGRICULTURAL TOUR SOUTH AND WEST. NO. I 
AGRICULTURAL TOUR SOUTH AND WEST. 
NO. 1. 
To the Readers of the American Agriculturist : — I 
am again out upon a tour of observation, directing 
my step;? towards a clime more congenial to my 
health, than is that of my northern residence. 
And I propose to note down such things by the 
way, as will be most likely to be interesting and 
useful to you. 
Being charged by friend Allen to ""write short, 
practical articles. 7 ' I shall be precluded from giving as 
much of the descriptive character of the land 1 shall 
travel over, as I would like to, and as I believe 
would be pleasing to you. I shall, therefore, make 
an abrupt commencement with a little account of 
my visit at Terre Haute — an old French name that 
means high land. It is situated on a most beautiful 
prairie, some five miles wide and fifteen long, that 
lies high above all floods, along the bank of the 
Wabash, which is only navigable in high water ; 
and the place being 120 miles from the Ohio, it suf- 
fers the evil of being an inland town. The canal 
to Lake Erie will, however, open in the spring, and 
in a few years more, to the Ohio. The rapids of 
the Wabash are also being improved, and a railroad 
to Indianapolis, and thence to Bellfontaine, in 
Ohio, is now in progress. 
It is to be hoped when these channels are opened 
so as to carry off the surplus produce, that the 
great staple here, Indian corn ; will be worth more 
than twelve to fifteen cents per bushel, the present 
price ; and that the farmers will not wear quite so 
much the appearance of " hog and hominy," as 
many of them now do. Yet there are some here 
who take a pride in cultivating and beautifying the 
earth. Among these I must mention three of na- 
ture's noblemen, James Farrington r S. B<. Gookins, 
and Wm. F. Krumbhaar. 
Mr. F. has a most beautiful place just on the 
south edge of the town, and one of the best houses 
I am acquainted with. Best, because so well built, 
and so exceedingly neat, and plainly finished, I 
need only say that there is a wife and daughter 
within, who aye " all right,'- to satisfy my readers 
that it is the dwelling place of such comfort and 
happiness as I wish every cultivator of the Ameri- 
can soil could enjoy. 
Mr. F. and his partners have one of the most 
convenient pork-slaughtering and packing estab- 
lishments I have ever visited. If I could take up 
the room necessary to describe it, I doubt not it 
would be interesting. The head, feet, bones, and 
entrails are all strained to save every ounce of fat. 
The offal of the strainer and blood, although such 
good manure, is never saved. The hair, during the 
first year or two has been sold to go east r for about 
seven cents a hog. One curious circumstance oc- 
curred last spring in connection with this. The 
hair had been spread out to bleach on a piece of 
common grass. After its removal, in the spring, 
the grass started very fresh, and cows fed upon it, 
and took up so much of the scattered hair, that 
several were killed by the hair balls formed in the 
stomach. Some were found to have two or Ihree 
dozen balls in a stomach, and some were very large. 
It became necessary for the neighbors to have the 
ground plowed to save the lives of cattle running 
upon the common. It would have had a more 
happy result, if it had been the cause of forever 
preventing cattle from being free commoners of this 
beautiful town. 
Mr. F.'s establishment is capable of killing and 
packing about 500 head of hogs a day : and there 
are four others in this place, besides two steam try- 
ing lard houses. Pork is now worth here about 
two and a half cents per lb. The great mass of 
hogs appear to belong to that breed which must 
" root, hog, or die," and are well able to do it. 
Even those that are fed corn, have it well mixed 
with mud — the fatting season, being the rainy sea- 
son. 
The best lot of hogs I saw about Terre Haute, I 
found on the farm of Mr. Krumbhaar. They were 
a mixture of Berkshire, Byfield, and Grazier varie- 
ties. And as marking a degree of civilization, he 
did not throw the corn in the mud. On my visit to 
Mr. F., I was accompanied by Judge Law, of Vin- 
cennes, one of the pioneers of this valley. Had I 
room to give his reminiscences, as related during 
the two days spent with him, it would make an in- 
teresting paper. 
We found on Mr. K. T s centre table, in the parlor, 
one of the most fitting displays of such a table, in 
a country gentleman's house. This was twenty- 
eight varieties of apples. Mr. K. feels, as well he 
may, quite proud of his success in growing fine 
apples. In fact, though, this whole region is full 
of apples. Mr. Farrington has nearly as great a 
variety, besides a good assortment of pears and 
peaches, and other fruits. 
At Mr. K.'s I ate chestnuts grown from the seed 
in about ten years. Chestnuts must never be al- 
lowed to get dry, to insure their growth. 
Mr. K. and Mr. F. have a fine start of ever- 
greens. They were taken up in the spring with 
but little dirt to the roots, and boated down the 
river sixty or seventy miles j and by such careless 
handling, more than half died. The soil around 
here is a sandy loam. The timber mostly oak, ex- 
cept in the river bottom. Mr. K. has some very 
good Durham cows, and although his wife was 
from a Louisiana plantation, she has become an ex- 
cellent butter maker. 
Mr. Gookins, although a lawyer, has a fine 
taste for cultivation. He is just beginning a place 
a mile south of town, where I found some of the 
handsomest three-year-old apple trees, that I ever 
saw. Although the ground is a very soft loam, he 
told me that he had large holes dug, and then fine, 
rotten manure mixed with the soil, and the hole 
half filled ■ and then with his own hands he care- 
fully straightened all the roots of the young trees, 
and pressed the dirt around them, so that they 
seemed to feel no check in growth in their removal 
from the nursery. His prospect for a crop of ap- 
ples next year, is now good. So much for care in 
setting out trees. 
Mr. G. has tried planting corn and potatoes in 
alternate rows, and thinks it an excellent plan. 
One of the most favorite apples hereabouts, ia 
the belle fleur. They grow large, and of excellent 
flavor. They are unlike those of the east in one 
particular, as I never saw one here with loose, or 
rattling seeds. The gloria mundi has been grown 
here of twenty-six ounces weight. Apples through- 
out all the west, are most abundant this year. 
