V 
“ This State is the Elysium of fanners. We 
have from four to five months without a drop 
of rain, in which farmers can gather their 
crops, with no fear that the grain will sprout 
Ar thn how ^Ph <v .I.. !« 4l.n.v.h...l 
should be allowed a place and a notice in 
such its the Rural New-Yorker. 
^ren frout Pennsylvania and New York 
have lived upon my estate since the war, and 
have assured the writer that there was no 
country in the world where life and property 
was so safe as this, and where they could 
soundly sleep without a lock on the door or a 
fustemng to u window , In almost every 
county in the State are bona fide settlers, 
officers and soldiers of the Federal army’ 
who will corroborate all I say. 
John Taylor. 
Aboat the Plaius and the Houth, 
In the year 1859 I croased the plains with 
five yoke of oxen to California, and taking I 
rpartmrnt 
you ever experience at the North; our sum¬ 
mers are long, temperate and pleasant, and 
really very delightful. 
The labors of the year, with us, may bo 
performed deliberately, there being no neces¬ 
sity for pushing and driving from spring to 
winter, as in high latitudes; and If there is a 
spot on earth where a fanner may do his 
work leisurely, and enjoy himself in his 
labors, it is here. W. W. Powell. 
From Wnnliinctnn Countv. Kansas. 
Strangers come herewith high hopes; 
whether they are all realized or not I cannot 
say; but I fiud that very few of the many 
who have come to Northwestern Kansas to 
make homes turn back. The south of the 
Stato is better timbered, but not so well wa¬ 
tered, nor as level as the northern or north¬ 
western sections. Hero the water of each 
little stream is clear and cool, while the 
banks are covered with oak, elm, walnut, 
sycamore and cottonwood, with a few maple. 
rr*t _ »i i > « . . _ * 
THE CLAIMS OF LOCALITIES. I ° r , tlie , “ oW ' Tho £ niin is tjm * h(:(1 
__ and piled xn large heaps in the open air, and 
Notwithstanding all our good will, la- remains there for weeks without any Injury, 
borious effort, and our cosmopolitan notions Vegetables grow to an enormous size. To 
and desire that our whole country shall be- °^’ set those many advantages, wo have in 
come homogeneous in the culture, language, somc parts of the State, ’tis true, rather too 
liberal and free principles, progress and much rain in tho winter to be agreeable; 
prosperity of its people, wo find the Rural 3' et out-door work can be pursued nearly 
Is not half largo enough, and we are not every day in the year without discomfort, 
equal to the task of condensing and giving aml none but an invalid care for it. 
space to one-tenth the valuable and interest- “ The immigrants hail from every State in 
ing information which reaches us from all t,IW Union, with a sprinkling from nearly 
quarters concerniu 
tg the advantages and 
prospects of localities, new and old, inviting 
settlers, capital and labor. But it is our 
purpose, from time to timq, to abbreviate or 
exclude other departments that wo may 
show our friends and correspondents that 
we are not only not sectional in our no¬ 
tions, but that we appreciate and will con¬ 
sider and use their favors which are always 
thankfully received and appreciated. We 
give herewith extracts from a large file of 
letters, which we are sure will be read with 
great interest. The first is 
From Itofrcburir, Oregon. 
It is a portion of a private letter received 
by one of the Rural Staff. “Thoclimate 
of this coast is unique. By the term ‘ coast,’ 
I mean all that country west of the Cascade 
range—that on the east is entirely different. 
The general appearance of the country is 
pretty much tho same through the whole ex¬ 
tent. Along tho water courses are exceed¬ 
ingly fertile plains; the rest of the country 
is rough and broken, and has tho appearance 
of the waves of the ocean in a storm that 
had become suddenly frozen. 
“ The horizon lines are much bolder and 
more picturesque than on the Atlantic slope, i 
Everything—tree, flower, mountain, lake i 
and river—is on a grander scalo than in the . 
East. Climate is modified by local intlu- | 
encos. Here it is said to be very like Italy; i 
more definitely of those particular advanta¬ 
ges which may justly be claimed for this 
portion of our common country. It is very 
generally understood that we have advan¬ 
tages of which you are deprived in your 
higher latitude. 
Allow me to say that I was horn in Sara- 
loga county, N. Y., and there spent the first 
thirty-seven years of my life. It may, there¬ 
fore, be supposed that I am familiar with 
your climate and with its advantages and 
disadvantages. I came here an invalid, 
with health utterly wrecked, and can now 
say, truthfully, that I am in possession of ex¬ 
cellent health, and that I have not a feeling 
which reminds me that I have passed throe 
score years—that I have never fell more 
youthful than now, and can only realize that 
1 am what the world calls an old man when 
I look into the glass aud behold my whitened 
energies in that direction. There is indeed 
here a groat opening for tho poor man who 
wants a home, or the capitalist who wants 
profitable employment for his money, 
A. B. rtoxiERTs. 
From Gbnilortou, Va. 
I have been delighted with the Rural 
New-Yorker, but regret to see so unjust, 
illiberal and false statements in its columns 
as that made by *'J. C. Owens, Lebanon 
Valley, Pa.” Mr. Owens was never in t ho 
vicinity of Warreuton, or was conscious of 
slander when he -wrote his letter to the 
Farmer's Club, and far from Col. Mosny 
being tho “hero and patron saint of that 
neighborhood, 1 ’ and “constantly feeding the 
resentments of the people and fanning the 
flame of their passions,” that gentleman is 
quietly and modestly pursuing his profession, 
the practice of law, and constantly and en¬ 
tirely absorbed with his books and his busi¬ 
ness. Besides, greater luminaries and more 
brilliant and distinguished soldiers than Col. 
Mohry live in and around Warrenton, who 
would bo leaders of the peoplo did they 
lennesscc is made up of three grand 
divisions, Viz: West, Middle, and East. On 
the eastern border of Middle, and the -west¬ 
ern of East Tennessee, lies the Cumberland 
range of mountains, which are elavatod 
about two thousand lbet above tide water, 
and six hundred or seven hundred above the 
i'enuessce River. They are much unlike 
the mountains of New York, New England, 
and Pennsylvania, not having their immense 
mul prccipitious piles, but bearing a close 
resemblance in their undulations to the less 
hilly portions of Central New York. The 
undulations of surface are so moderate and 
the expanse of table so broad, being in places 
forty miles wide, as to have acquired the 
name of “ Cumberland 
very appropriate 
Table Lands.” 
On this vast plateau, extending JVom Ala¬ 
bama and Georgia through tho State of 
Tennessee into Kentucky and Virginia, we 
have an atmosphere as pure and invigorating 
as Heaven ever wafted over any country. 
Not a stagnant body of water, large or small, 
is to be found on this vast urea of'surface \ 
no apparent or hidden cause of malaria; and 
here, if anywhere on earth, it is a luxury to 
breathe, and every breath that inflates the 
lungs gives health and strength. Our climate 
is all that can be desired as a compromise 
between the heat of the extreme South and 
the severe cold of the North. With us the 
mercury rarely rises to 85° in summer, or falls 
to zeio in winter. In summer we are ou- 
tiredv exempt Irom that sultriness of atmos¬ 
phere which is not unusual at the North; 
every day gives us more or less breeze, every 
night, without exception, is cool, ami invites 
refreshing sleep, which is never prevented 
or disturbed by that intolerable pest of ot her 
localities, the mosquito. Under these circum¬ 
stances Sleep fulfills the requirements of na¬ 
ture, giving health and strength and elasticity 
Uljty of the plains. F. K. Sherwood. 
Wyoming-, N. Y., 1839. 
From Washiujnon. North Carolina. 
All strangers visiting this region of the 
South are treated with courtesy so long as 
their conduct will justify it. if they bring 
talent, industry, or capital, they are treated 
with the utmost kindness. Capitalists are 
particularly welcome visitors. We require 
nothing so much to build us up; aud we 
should be idiots to throw obstacles in the 
way. All Northern men who have resided 
among ns iu the pursuit of honorable objects 
will testify to the correctness of this state¬ 
ment. 
As regards tho inquiry in Rural, “ where 
would be the best place to locate for farming 
and stock raising,” there must be a diversity 
of opinion, influenced, marc or less, by (lie 
interests ot parties in giving their opinions; 
but, so far as my observation extends, there 
is no better country in the United Suites 
than the country lying on the western shores 
of Currituck, Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds, 
extending from tho Virginia line to tho Neuse 
River. I refer to that section below the pine 
hums, and extending to the waters of the 
Sounds. I do not mean to say that afl the 
lands included in iheso boundaries are suit¬ 
able to small grain and stock raising; but 
tncre are many thousands of acres ’well 
adapted to the growth of wheat, oats and 
lsl want any. That village has been always the 
homo of the distinguished Smith, twice 
mi Governor of Virginia, long member of Con- 
Pi'. gross, known to the world as “ Ectra Billy„" 
eJ and as brilliant in tho field as Major-General 
vo during the war, as before at the forum and 
id. tho hustings; Gen, W. W. Payne, dread- 
of fully wounded in tho fratricidal struggle, a 
fellow prisoner at Johnson’s Island for 
R eighteen mouths with the writer, and mob- 
no bod in Washington in transitu, and Gen. 
Is, Lindi.ay Lomax, who measured sabers with 
cl Avkrbll, Custer and Sheridan in t lie Val- 
°- ley; and many other brave Confederates 
c reside near the same place; and it is a libel 
id and base calumny to charge any of these 
ro chivalrous men with pandering to base and 
id depraved appetites 
They are each and all 
pursuing their vocations, generally engagod 
, in firming, and successfully too, and with 
the motto “ Let ns have peace.” are ready to 
greet and welcome tin? honest, raspcctaoie 
settlor, let him come from what clime ho 
may. 
Any one of these gentlemen, as would any 
who fought in tho Confederate ranks, would 
be prompt and foremost in defence of a well 
behaved Northern man if assailed in any 
quarter, or an attempt even made, as Owens 
charges, to “make his life intolerable.” The 
people of Virginia fought for a principle 
they thought right, and, while “ they have no 
recantations to make,” have gracefullv yield¬ 
ed to circumstances, and “acknowledge the 
situation.” The State is seared ami scarred 
all over, having bravely and unswervlmrlv 
win winters ordinarily commence about 
the middlo of December and terminate from 
the 10th to the 20th of February, and, as a 
lule, the ground is rarely so much frozen as 
to obstruct the plow. It is seldom covered 
with snow, and what does fall is not often 
seen twenty-four hours after falling. Gen¬ 
erally our winter is a desirable season for 
out-door labor. 
In 1866 our greatest heat was 83°; in 
lBG/,84 0 , and in 1808, 80°; and our severest 
cold, as indicated by my thermometer, kept 
in this town, was two degrees below zero. 
Only once during the past three winters have 
I seen as much as four inches of snow upon 
the ground at any one time, and in no other 
instance have I seen the ground entirely 
covered The four inches of snow disaij- 
aud Washington Territory, and are shipped 
to all parts of the world in large quantities. 
" The only drawback to fruit raising is that 
unless it is thinned the trees will over-bear, 
