308 
THE TRAVELLER.—NO. 7. 
the spit, (heaven avert it,) to make room for a 
young brood more prolific ? T. B. Miner. 
Clinton, Oneida Co., N. Y., 1851. 
THE TRAVELLER.—Wo. 7. 
We took our last siesta in the shade of Stone 
Mountain. Let us awaken at the whistle of the 
locomotive, which has penetrated even into the 
solitude of the recesses of this granite wilder¬ 
ness. 
It is March 10th. The morning, cool and 
frosty in this elevated part of Georgia—the eve¬ 
ning delightful. Farmers and gardeners are 
all busy plowing and planting corn and vege¬ 
tables, and preparing land for the great staple 
crop of the south. It is a lovely country and 
salubrious climate; but the green pastures and 
sleek, beautiful occupants of pastoral countries 
are not here. It is said, grass and clover does 
not flourish in this climate. Has it been tried 
upon deep-tilled, highly-manured land suffi¬ 
ciently to prove it will not endure the heat of 
summer ? Grass requires deeper tillage to pre¬ 
pare the land than is usually given in the south. 
It also requires to be moist and rich. Some of 
the swamp lands possess both the latter requi¬ 
sites, and might possess the other, if the owners 
would plow as some of the northern grass-grow¬ 
ing farmers do, ten or twelve inches deep. If 
Georgia farmers will so prepare such land and 
seed it to grass and then spread, every year, 
over the surface, a coat of straw or coarse ma¬ 
nure, to serve both as a shade and fertiliser, it 
is my opinion they can stop the transit of some 
of the bales of Connecticut hay, which annually 
find their way up this road, 200 or 300 miles 
into the interior of one of the best states in the 
Union. 
Madison .—This is a lively, fine county town, 
60 miles below Atlanta, on the railroad, con¬ 
taining about a dozen stores, good court house, 
tolerable fair hotel, and a general appearance 
of somebody alive having been about there 
within the last century. But that which gives 
it the most lively and interesting appearance, is 
what the town should be most proud of—the 
several large schools. Here are two seminaries 
for girls, containing nearly 300 just in that joy¬ 
ous period of life known as the teens. These 
two schools are under the patronage of the 
Methodist and Baptist churches, the leading 
sects of the country, and both are constantly 
exercising a rivalry which results in great ben¬ 
efit to the whole country. 
Among the citizens of Madison are many 
wealthy planters, some of whom own planta¬ 
tions in the western states, but prefer this lovely 
healthy spot for a residence. 
It is surprising to see how little attention is 
paid to growing good fruit in this part of Geor¬ 
gia, where the soil and climate seem so well 
adapted to its production. Only a few farmers 
seem to feel an interest in trying to improve 
their orchards. One of the few is General Jes¬ 
sup, who has a fine cottage a couple of miles 
out of town, where he is making efforts to have 
one of the best orchards the country is capable 
of producing. The land is somewhat hilly, clay¬ 
ey soil and gravelly—rocks, granite, and slate. 
Timber, oak, chestnut, pine, &c. He says he 
produces the best peaches in the world. No 
doubt they are very good, if not superlatively 
so. The Skuppernong grape is the only one 
that grows to perfection here, as well as gener¬ 
ally throughout the south. 
March 12th. Farmers are now busy planting 
corn. The usual stand is one stalk in a place, 
three and a half by four feet apart, or two stalks 
four by five feet, and the average yield 10 to 15 
bushels to the acre. The weather is now as 
mild and lovely as May or June at New York. 
Cotton, the staple crop here, is planted about 
the first of April, three by four feet apart, and 
yields about 600 pounds in seed, to the acre, 
which makes about 200 pounds of ginned cot¬ 
ton. 
Greensborough, 20 miles below Madison, is anoth¬ 
er county town; but it has not that lively ap¬ 
pearance, though it contains a good many gen¬ 
tlemen of wealth and intelligence, among which 
may be ranked Dr. Poullain, planter, merchant, 
and cotton manufacturer, who has lately built 
a very tasty residence, and is ornamenting and 
improving his grounds as every gentleman who 
has the means should do, so as to make home 
attractive and pleasant to every member of the 
family, as I believe is the case with him. Sen¬ 
ator Dawson, who is said to be an improving 
planter, also resides here. One evidence of his 
disposition to improve, is the fact that he bought 
two tons of Peruvian guano last spring, to ex¬ 
periment with upon cotton. I very much fear, 
owing to the drouth the result will be such as 
to discourage him from continuing its applica¬ 
tion. But I hope Mr. Dawson is too good a law¬ 
yer to give up his case because one witness may 
fail in giving him the right testimony to sustain 
it. 
Speaking of lawyers, reminds me that some 
of the most improving cultivators of the soil, are 
gentlemen of this profession. Why? Because 
they are reading men. They are disposed to 
