THE TRAVELLER.-NO. 6. 
235 
stories high [?] built in the side of these bluffs, 
present a singular appearance, when lighted up 
by the glare of half a dozen brilliant light-wood 
torches that are flashing a glad welcome to the 
approaching steamer, in the hands of that ever- 
joyous set of beings, the negroes, whose happy 
and contented faces and cheerful glee, always 
adds a charm to a night landing upon a southern 
or western river. 
During all the 24th, we were sailing between 
some of the finest plantations upon this rich 
river. The Oswichee Bend, formerly owned by 
General Hamilton, has lately been purchased, 
with some 280 servants, by Mr. Wright, of Che- 
raw, South Carolina. The price, $140,000, is 
considered low. The last crop sold for $22,000. 
I believe there are. about 3,000 acres of land, in¬ 
cluding the hills, though a thousand acres, more 
or less, is not considered in sales of this kind; 
the number of servants and number of cotton 
bales produced, is the criterion of value. 
Average Crops upon Bottom Lands. —Judge 
Mitchell, of Columbus, whose plantation is on 
creek bottom land, 30 miles from that town, 
on the Alabama side, told me he averaged from 
1844 to 1850, 2,100 pounds, (five and a quarter 
bales,) to the hand, making at the same time a 
full supply of corn and pork. As he is consid¬ 
ered a first-rate planter, this may be taken as a 
full average yield of the bottom lands of this 
river for a series of years. 
Chattahoochee Cotton Lands. —These are ranked 
among the best in the United States. General 
Abercrombie is one of the oldest planters on 
the Alabama side below Columbus, having set¬ 
tled there in 1835; his crops may be taken as a 
pretty fair specimen of the capability of pro¬ 
ductiveness under ordinary cultivation. He 
works, now, 40 hands all told; say 30 full ones, 
and plants 300 acres of cotton, and 250 of corn, 
besides considerable quantity of oats, some 
wheat, potatoes, turnips, rice &c., and makes all 
his own meat, and a little to spare, and sells 
corn.. His cotton has averaged, per year, 1,000 
pounds in the seed, to the acre, and five bales 
to the hand, and six cents a pound for price. He 
plants corn the middle of March, in the bottom 
of water furrows, between four-foot beds; first 
running a subsoil plow. Plants cotton middle 
of April, four to six feet between rows. Never 
burns cotton and corn stalks, nor waste manure, 
although the land he cultivates is the very 
finest kind of river bottom. Says he keeps too 
many cattle, and is convinced that he might buy 
more pork with the corn consumed than it 1 
makes. 
Columbus. —What traveller has ever visited 
this thriving, go-ahead town without feeling 
proud of the enterprise of his countrymen? I 
could not say all I might of this place, in a 
whole number of this paper. Many wealthy 
citizens of Columbus have dwellings out upon 
the hills near town, where they enjoy the fresh 
air, amid beautiful grounds, shade trees, shrub¬ 
bery, and pleasant gardens. Among these, are 
Col. Chamber’s, Dr. Wildmon’s, Messrs. Hurt’s 
Flournoy’s, Woolfoik’s, Mitchell’s, and others’of 
our friends and subscribers. 
Mr. Charles A. Peabody, one of the editors of 
“ The Soil of the South,” the most successful 
strawberry culturist in the world, lives on the 
Alabama side about five miles from town. Sev¬ 
eral very large cotton and other mills, occupy 
a small portion of the immense water power of 
this place. 
Columbus is 350 miles above Apalachicola, 
its natural seaport, and 200 above Chattahoo¬ 
chee, a passage of two days and one night. 
Fare, on a good boat, $7. 
March 6th. —To Barnesville, 70 miles—$7 by 
stage—roads such as every traveller remembers 
with the same feelings the boy did the whipping, 
awful while it lasted—very glad its over with. 
Here I took good cars to Atlanta, 62 miles, upon 
one of the excellent railroads which abound in 
Georgia. 
Atlanta is a sort of Jonah’s-gourd city, which 
has grown up entirely within five years. It is 
at the northern terminus of the Central Rail¬ 
road from Macon, 101 miles, the western termi¬ 
nus of the Georgia Railroad, from Augusta, 168 
miles, the southern terminus of the State Rail¬ 
road, from Chattanooga 138 miles, and the east¬ 
ern terminus of a new road not yet quite com¬ 
pleted to West Point to join the Alabama road. 
It is already a place of note, but will be more 
so, for it holds a few men of the right sort to 
make any new town go ahead rapidly. One of 
the most prominent of these, is R. Peters, who 
was educated for and practised civil engineering 
many years, but is now one of the most improv¬ 
ing farmers in Georgia. He has done more 
than any other man in this part of the state to 
introduce all kinds of improved stock. His fa¬ 
vorite cattle, after a fair trial of several breeds, 
are the beautiful Devons. Flow much a new 
country is indebted to such men, is never fully 
appreciated. Mr. P. and his partners have built 
a very superior steam flouring mill here, which 
is not only a convenience, but an ornament to 
the place. Unfortunately, the wheat crop of’49 
and ’50 were so cut off they have been grinding 
