A JAUNT IN OHIO.—NO. 1. 
65 
many of the fields where it stood, were some in 
wheat, which was well up and promising. 
Next comes Urbana, of which more hereafter. 
Passing rapidly through the same broad, fertile, 
and interesting country, along the Mad-River 
district a mile or two, the expansive bottoms of 
which, in many instances, lay unproductive for 
want of slight ditching—a most lamentable neg¬ 
lect, and a vast waste of capital—we reached 
Springfield, the court and market town of Clark 
county, one of the best and richest farming 
counties in the state. This is a fine town of 
perhaps 4,000 people, well built, with a show 
of considerable wealth, enterprise, and business. 
It lies on the Buck Creek, a beautiful, clear 
stream, running over a bed of clean limestone 
gravel, which last material is largely intermixed 
with the soil, and imparts to it its great fertility. 
In the neighborhood of this town, is a Lutheran 
college, with handsome buildings and grounds, 
in a flourishing condition ,* and many grand 
farms, with good and tasteful buildings—a de¬ 
lightful neighborhood, if I may judge from its 
appearance. The chief fruit along this valley 
is the apple, which abounds in great luxuriance. 
The peach grows well, but is only a casual 
crop, being on an average of full iwo years in 
three, cut off by the spring frosts. But the Ca¬ 
tawba grape grows well, and is considerably 
cultivated as a table fruit, and is attracting 
attention for the manufacture of wine, for which 
'it is admirably adapted, making a grateful hock¬ 
like beverage. 
A few miles further on, are Yellow Springs, 
the chief watering place for this region. The 
springs possess valuable medicinal qualities, 
and are much resorted to in the summer, by in¬ 
valids and pleasure seekers. Here are well- 
built boarding and bathing houses, and hotels, 
and the attractive residence, also, of William 
Neff, Esq., the chief proprietor of the place ; 
who, among his other pursuits, has been for 
many years engaged in breeding fine herds of 
shorthorn cattle. He lived many years in Cin¬ 
cinnati, where he was an extensive merchant, 
but now resides mostly at his country house in 
this village. His cattle are at present, chiefly 
in Illinois, where, in connection with his son, 
he is farming largely in grazing and breeding 
stock. In this neighborhood, I saw long lines of 
Osage-orange hedge, which grows well. It had 
a beautiful appearance, and, with abundant 
clipping and care, may make a substantial en¬ 
closure. Here the railroad strikes the valley of 
the Little Miami, a narrow and fertile, yet not 
over-interesting stretch of country, lying along 
a lazy, puddly stream, with every now and then 
a low, shiftless-looking mill dam, which turned 
its listless waters into quite as lazy a running 
grist or saw mill; with here and there a card¬ 
ing machine and fulling works, by way of vari¬ 
ety; and a “still” every few miles, with a long- 
row of pig pens cunningly constructed along a 
shelving bank, to enrich the drinking waters of 
the good people of Cincinnati and New Orleans, 
and relieve the proprietors from the labor of 
carting the manure to the waiting corn fields 
adjoining. A precious piece of economy in ag¬ 
riculture ! 
Soon after striking this valley, and before 
the above remarks will generally apply, lies 
the fine and thriving town of Xenia, the capital 
of Green county. Here the Columbus Railroad 
intersects the Cincinnati and Sandusky line, 
and joins it to the Ohio River. Xenia is the 
chief point of storage for the produce of this 
region, both for the lake and river markets; 
and large quantities of merchandise are here 
distributed for the neighboring country, a busi¬ 
ness town, of perhaps 2,500 inhabitants. Hence, 
down, the railroad is altogether confined to the 
immediate river bottoms, away from the coun¬ 
try roads, and the best farming neighborhoods. 
There are, however, occasional fine farms 
stretching down to the river, with broad fields 
and excellent crops of corn, meadows, and pas¬ 
tures. There are magnificent woods of grand 
old trees, throwing their stately branches and 
tops over the lazy water, and interspersed along 
the banks and hill sides, with the low and beau¬ 
tiful pawpaw, its graceful yellow leaves, light¬ 
ing the deep green of the forest, with a cheering 
brilliancy. Little villages, freight and passen¬ 
ger stations, wood and watering places for the 
locomotives, occur every few miles along the 
valley; and further down, the bottoms widen 
and the corn fields grow larger, and the build¬ 
ings stand thicker, until the still broader val¬ 
ley of the Ohio opens upon the view, flanked in 
the distance by the Kentucky hills; and at 
once, you emerge into the deep gorge of the 
Ohio, and wind your way down some five or 
six miles through motley congregations of small 
farmeries, cabbage gardens, boat yards, fur¬ 
naces, &c. Next to the river and on the hill 
sides close by, an occasional vineyard or orch¬ 
ard ; getting more and more into the dirt and 
smoke, and bustle of the great trading and man¬ 
ufacturing mart of the Ohio, till you bring up at a 
most cramped, inconvenient, and awkwardly ar¬ 
ranged depot, surrounded by furnaces, coal 
yards, water works, boat yards, and noisome 
smells, in the upper end of the city of Cincinnati. 
Here, perhaps, I had better stop, as I have 
