248 
THE TRAVELLED-K0. 5. 
planters of Houston and Baker, make 1,000 to 
1,200 pounds of seed cotton to the acre, or five 
to eight barrels of corn; cultivating about 20 
acres to the hand, 15 in cotton, and five in corn, 
besides potatoes and oats, both of which grow 
remarkably well. Much of the land is a rich 
loam containing abundance of lime, and gener¬ 
ally level. 
It was my intention to stop at Albany a few 
days, and if any of my friends in that county 
regret that I did not, they may be assured it 
was not from any want of disposition ; but be¬ 
cause the “hotel” of that fine-growing town is 
such an abominable nuisance, that I did not 
feel as though I could endure it until I made 
the acquaintance of some kind friend, whom I 
doubt not would readily take pity upon a trav¬ 
eller unfortunately located in such an uncom¬ 
fortable place, as soon as informed of his de¬ 
plorable condition. Although much in need of 
rest, I felt compelled to proceed. One meal 
was all I could endure. Thus much by way of 
explanation. This part of the state is very new, 
having been mostly settled since the Creek war 
of 1836. Steamers run upon Flint River, in 
high water and carry out the cotton to Apalach¬ 
icola. The greatest objection to the country is 
limestone water and muddy soil. There are 
yet vast tracts of land in forest in this part of 
the state, though much of it is of secondary 
quality. 
As we approach Florida, the surface becomes 
undulating, and around Tallahassee, it is really 
hilly, and elevated several hundred feet above 
the level of the ocean. Much of the land in 
Middle Florida is of a dark-red color, composed 
of sand, clay, lime, and iron, and having an unc¬ 
tuous feel as though it contained fatty matter. 
It is the finest red land in America, and as well 
worthy the attention of imigrants as any region 
of country I know of, taking into account its 
fertility, cheapness, and warm climate; and for 
one so far south, undoubtedly very healthy. It 
is a soil easily washed away when only plowed 
about an inch and a half deep; but as it is in 
places 20 or 30 feet to the bottom, it will be 
more than the present generation of land de¬ 
stroyers can do to utterly ruin the whole coun¬ 
try. Besides, by a good system of sidehill 
ditching, such as has been adopted by colonel 
Williams, with level cultivation, the fertility of 
the land ma.y be maintained forever. Even 
deep plowing, that is, plowing with two light 
mules only, and subsoiling with a common 
bull-tongue plow, with one mule, as lately prac¬ 
tised by Major Ward, so mellows the land 
and gives such an opportunity for the water to 
soak into it, that the washing is nearly ail pre¬ 
vented. By a good system of cultivation, the 
land never can be worn out, and in time, would 
become one of the garden spots of the earth. It 
is anything but that now. The average quan¬ 
tity of land tilled to the hand, is twelve acres 
of cotton and eight acres of corn, besides oats, 
rye, and potatoes. The average yield is prob¬ 
ably something over 600 pounds of seed cotton 
to the acre, or about six bales to the hand, as it 
does not turn out quite one third the weight in 
clean cotton. The average yield of corn is not 
over fifteen bushels, some say not over ten, to 
the acre. Corn is liable to a disease here, called 
“ Frenching,” that is new to me. It is only 
affected in small sections of a field ; when about 
half grown, it withers and turns white, and nev¬ 
er comes to maturity. The cause is unknown. 
Most planters make sufficient corn for food and 
feed, but do not make pork for the people. That 
comes from New York or New Orleans. Cattle 
and sheep are plenty, and just as mean as could 
be desired. They are worthless to a cotton 
planter, causing him to build a great deal of 
fence and affording no profit. There is a great 
deal of land besides the red land, not generally 
esteemed; yet, some of it that seems to be com¬ 
posed of sand produces wonderfully. The nat¬ 
ural growth of timber on the sandy land is 
mostly long-leaved pine. On the red lands and 
creek bottoms, white oak, red oak, live oak* 
water oak, magnolia, beech, maple, ash, sassa¬ 
fras, dogwood, cherry, sweet gum, long and 
short-leaved pine, and some other kinds, per¬ 
haps. The country, like all other limestone 
countries, is not well watered. There are but 
few mill sites, and stock water in many places 
is scarce. One singular feature of the country 
is, full-sized rivers rise suddenly out of some 
cavern of the earth, and lakes and streams in 
other places send their waters down into the 
earth. Wells are frequently hard to obtain, and 
yet people will not learn that cisterns are better 
and cheaper, particularly in the red land, which 
is of such a firm nature that no brick work is 
needed; the hydraulic cement may be plas¬ 
tered right upon the earth. 
Middle Florida, particularly in the vicinity 
of Tallahassee, was settled by a high-bred class 
of inhabitants, which makes society there very 
agreeable, and, notwithstanding they are real 
land destroyers, they are money makers. Nearly 
all the land is plowed with very small one- 
horse plows, either home-made or from the 
manufactory of A. B. Allen & Co., New York. 
