234 
THE TRAVELLER.-NO. 6. 
THE TRAVELLER.—Wo. 6. 
One of the most improving planters in the vi¬ 
cinity of Tallahasse is Col. Robert W. Williams. 
His plantation, on Lake Tamonee, twelve miles 
north of the town, is successfully side-hill ditched, 
and that is more than can be said of many oth¬ 
ers. He has more improved plows and other 
tools, and saves more manure, oyster shells, and 
bones, than any other man I know of in Florida. 
He is laughed at by his neighbors, as a theorist, 
experimental book farmer, &c.; but they are 
glad enough to follow him in everything that is 
successful. It is easy now to procure good 
plows of the merchants, or other agricultural 
implements from your New-York Agricultural 
Warehouse ; and yet, few are aware how much 
they are'indebted to Col. Williams for what he 
has done in the way of introducing such things 
into Florida. 
There are many other persons and things 
which I shall notice hereafter, in this “ land of 
promise.” At present, being a traveller, I must 
travel on, merely giving the very pleasant town 
and people of Quincy a passing remark. The 
location is about as handsome as could be de¬ 
sired; the surface gently undulating, sandy- 
loam soil, and being surrounded by deep hol¬ 
lows, requires no artificial grading. These 
hollows abound in springs and excellent sites 
for the hydraulic ram. One of the staple pro¬ 
ducts of this, Gadsden county, is Spanish tobac¬ 
co. It is grown in several places in Florida, 
principally from Cuba seed, and is in high re¬ 
pute among cigar makers for wrappers; it is 
more handsomely spotted than the same article 
grown in Cuba. The first quality is grown ex¬ 
clusively upon new ground, the first year after 
clearing off the timber; in fact, it will not spot 
upon old ground, and besides, the leaf grows 
thicker, and not so suitable for wrappers. Not 
more than one acre can be planted to the hand, 
such is the immense labor of cultivating this 
crop, principally owing to the unceasing task of 
keeping it clear from worms. An average crop 
is 500 pounds, and the average price about 22 
cents a pound. The second year’s crop is heav¬ 
ier but less valuable, while the third year will 
not pay, on account of the great labor of keep¬ 
ing it free of grass. One gentleman told me he 
had made $600 a year, to the hand, out of his 
tobacco and other crops, as the tobacco does 
not prevent them from raising corn, and part of 
a crop of cotton in connection with it. The 
crop is mostly sent to New Orleans, for sale. 
February 22 d. —When I left Quincy, the «bak 
trees were putting-on spring foliage, and the 
wild jasmine filled the roads with fragrance 
from its beautiful flowers of gold ; farmers were 
planting corn, and the few who ever think of 
such small matters, were busy putting garden 
seeds in the already warm earth. If Quincy 
could be easily approached, and had only a de¬ 
cently comfortable hotel, it would become a 
great resort for invalids during winter. From 
there to Chattahoochee, 22 miles, the road I 
found passing nearly all the way through pine 
woods upon a pretty level ridge, until near the 
river, where there was an awful hill,down which 
I risked my neck in a crazy old coach, and dark 
night, just to get an idea of the elevation of the 
table land behind. If the traveller expects to find 
the town of Chattahoochee, he will be slightly dis¬ 
appointed. It consists of a tavern, store, ware¬ 
house, and such other out buildings as can be 
crowded upon a little mound of about a quarter 
of an acre rising out of the overflowed swamp, 
serving for a ferry and steamboat landing for a 
great extent of country. A delightful summer 
residence it must be for the full enjoyment of 
hunting aligators, fighting mosquitos, and 
shaking off the ague. 
It was my intention to visit Mariana, and re¬ 
turn here to take a boat up to Columbus; but 
finding some ladies and gentlemen who had 
been waiting five days, I determined to join 
them upon the very first, which luckily arrived 
a few hours after I did. As I had no desire to 
risk so long a waiting upon such circumscribed 
limits, I hope my friends in Mariana will accept 
this as my excuse for not keeping my engage¬ 
ments. 
The cotton lands upon the lower part of the 
Chattahoochee River are broad and low, and 
subject to inundation every year. A few miles 
above Flint River, on the west branch, there is 
one small, rocky point which is almost the only 
one above high water to be seen in a whole 
day’s sailing. 
February 23^ was like a balmy May day; the 
early trees along the river as green as summer, 
while azalias and jasmine flowers lent a de¬ 
lightful fragrance to the air as we wound along 
the rich alluvial shores, a great portion of which 
are still in forest; for, notwithstanding the temp¬ 
tation of the rich harvests this soil yields, with 
little preparation and cultivation, the miasma 
is as abundant as any other product. 
We left the low bottoms at close of day, and 
during the night, passed Fort Gaines and Eufaula, 
where the clay bank rises 160 feet, a considera¬ 
ble portion of it perpendicular from the water. 
Warehouses with unboarded sides, ten or twelve 
