SEPT, as 
per acre. Fruit of all kinds peculiar to this 
climate grows abundantly, and 1 saw some 
astonishingly largo apple trees which 1 was 
told had only failed ouoe in thirty years. 
Mr. Stratton and the other people here 
are anxious to have Northern people come 
in, and will cheerfully answer all inquiries 
of persons wishing further information 
about the country. 
Leaving Grassy Cove I continued my 
journey to Crossville, a small village on the 
table Land, situated at the junction of four 
or five roads. The village consists of quite 
a number of new houses, mostly cmpalntcd; 
it boasts of three stores, and has another 
establishment which, it does not boast of, 
called, in Tennessee parlance, a “grocery,” 
but which, in other places, would go by the 
name of saloon. The proprietor of this 
establishment does a very thriving busi¬ 
ness, considering that his stock in trade 
consists only of a keg of apple brandy and a 
tin CU P- A. II. L. 
Crossville, Tenn. 
SOMETHING OF TENNESSEE, 
What is known as the Cumberland Table 
Land, or Plateau, is a strip of elevated coun¬ 
try which, branching out from the Blue 
Ridge and mountains of Virginia, proceeds 
in a southwesterly direction, and termi¬ 
nates in the rough pine lands of Georgia. 
In and about these mountains are numer¬ 
ous small valleys, some of which, being sit¬ 
uated in tho midst of the mountains, are 
Completely surrounded, and the streams 
which take their rise in them, and which, 
in many instances, are so largo as to afford 
a good water-power, have no outlet except 
through the caves which everywhere per¬ 
forate this limestone region. Across this 
brated English Electrician. The Bostou 
Cultivator, quoting from some newspaper 
report of said speech, (wrongly placing its 
delivery before the Northwestern Dairy¬ 
mens’ Ass’n), gives the substanoe of our re¬ 
marks, commenting upon them as follows: 
“ ‘The (tills.) influence of electrical action is 
a subject entirely new to the dairy public,’ 
says Prof. Wilua.ru, We doubt this, for 
as long as we can remember, it used to be a 
common saying among dairy women on the 
farm that * thunder showers sour milk.’ 
The query was then raised, —Why does 
lightning sour milk ? We have since learned 
or heard the following reason given: Light¬ 
ning causes tho gases of the air through 
which it passes (the air being composed of 
two gases, oxygen and nitrogen, mixed, but 
not combined: oxygen, combined with ni¬ 
trogen, producing five deadly poisons, viz,, 
nitrous oxide, nitric oxide, hyponltrous 
acid, nitrous acid and nitric acid, according 
to the proportion of each gas in the combi¬ 
nation) to combine and thus produce a 
poison called nitric acid; some small por¬ 
tion of which mixing with the milk turns 
Lightning also tends to 
more important functions; not only pro¬ 
ducing. in conjunction with its kindred 
agencies of light and heat,.conditions fa¬ 
vorable to the germination and growth 
of plants, but quickemiug them into life 
and thus becoming the efficient cause of 
their development. The approach of an 
electrical conductor to the mimosa jnidlcu^ 
or sensitive plant, produces no sensible ef¬ 
fect; but if sparks be taken from it tho 
leallets will shrink and close as they do from 
mechanical contact. Its more steady and 
qnlet operation is equally remarkable. An 
elect rical circle has been formed under the 
beds of a garden, and the result has been 
greater vigor and rapidity of growth in the 
plants which they contained; a fiuid so 
analogous to the nervous force, ho subtle, 
fluctuating and so universally diffused. 
leys, is a pleasant horseback ride in the 
Spring, when the buds are beginning to 
swell, and the warm, pleasant weather has 
more the appearance of Summer than of 
Spring. 
Setting out from Sulphur Springs, a small 
village lying near the eastern slope of the 
mountains, tho writer ascended the moun¬ 
tains by a rocky, zigzag road, and proceeded 
along what is called the old stock road, over 
which droves of mules pass from Kentucky 
to a Southern market, A short distance 
from the top the road leads over a Iiitih 
SOUTH-WESTERN KENTUCKY 
Probably a line or 
so from this section 
of country would be aooeptable to some of 
your numerous readers. Southern Ken¬ 
tucky is distinguished for the fertility of 
its soil, healthful ness of climate and hospi¬ 
tality of its people. The soil cannot be sur¬ 
passed anywhere. It is peculiarly adapted 
to the cultivation of almost anything that 
is produced In the United States, except 
cotton and rice. Tobacco is cult i v iinri i,. 
it sour. Ligutmng also tends to sour new 
beer, the process of fermentation being in¬ 
complete, lightning so accelerates it as to 
turn the sugar into acetic acid at once; 
in old beer or ale, where the fermentation 
is more complete, it is less affected by the 
electrical influence. 
“Of positive and negative electricity— 
called also vitreous and resinous—the light¬ 
ning passes from the earth to the cloud 
when positive, and from the cloud to the 
earth, when the cloud is in the positive 
state—the flash, as it is said, always pro¬ 
ceeding from the positive body— i, e., from 
the one overcharged. 
“ We think Prof. Willard errs in what 
he says of tho negative electricity or state 
of the atmosphere ; for it has been said that 
the clouds are charged with positive elec¬ 
tricity, barns and houses struck are set on 
fire, but not so when the clouds are negative 
and the earth positive. Hence we deem 
the souring of milk is caused as we state 
the case above.” 
Now, Cross demonstrated that milk could 
be kept sweet for three weeks, in the hot¬ 
test weather in summer, by the application 
of electricity. In all his experiments, going 
over a long series of years, he found that 
positive electricity was favorable to all veg¬ 
etable growth exoept fungi, to which it was 
prejudicial, while negative electricity pro¬ 
moted the growth and development of fun¬ 
gi in a moat remarkable manner. This in¬ 
fluence of electrical action in preserving 
milk sweet for an unusual length of time, as 
well as its influence on the growth of fungi, 
as detailed in the experiments of Cross, we 
thought was entirely new to the dairy pub¬ 
lic. We did not mean to have it inferred 
that a fact so commonly observed by all 
dairymen in respect to milk souring during 
thunder storms, or on account of thunder 
storms, was new. The observation of this 
fact is old; but the reason has never been 
satisfactorily explained—at least not satis¬ 
factorily to us and others who have made 
milk and the dairy a study. The result of 
Mr. Cross’ experiments appeared to us to 
give a philosophical explanation to this 
matter, and to harmonize with the reoent 
theory of the cause of milk souring. 
If, as it has been shown by Pasteur, 
Hallier, Alexander Mueller and, more 
recently, by Prof. Caldwell, the souring 
of milk Is the result of living organisms, ' 
to a great extent on account of the vast 
amount of labor and attention requisite in 
the cultivation of tobacco. Tim introduc¬ 
tion of flue stock, of every description, is 
now beginning to exolto public attention. 
Tho best breeds are anxiously sought after, 
and we hope ere long to be able to announce 
a great improvement In that department. 
Our lands here command from ten tolifty 
dollars per acre, according .to quaility and 
locality. Railroads are In process of con¬ 
struction throughout this entire flection, 
which, when completed, will open up a 
large territory yet unimproved. These 
roads will bring in Immigrants, and furnish 
an outlet to market for the vast, amount of 
produce this country Is capable of yielding. 
Tim Elizabethtown and Paducah Railroad 
passes through one of the finest agricul¬ 
tural sections in tho world; also through 
the coal region of Southern Kentucky. It. 
will add greatly to the development of tho 
resources of the country. We have a good 
people here—industrious, intelligent, gen¬ 
erous, hospitable people, and we want more 
ot such a population. Parties emigrating 
to tho far West would do well to give us a 
call in passing. 
Wo think our country will suit them, 
whatever business they may wish to engage 
m. We need bold, enterprising capitalists 
to come here and aid us in developing our 
vast resources. We need the introduction 
of more fine stock; and also that of im¬ 
proved agricultural machinery of all kinds. 
We want some of your good farmers, gar¬ 
deners, dairymen, fruit-growers, and min- 
VINEYARD NOTES, 
uf rapes in Bottles of Water.—The best 
kind of bottles for preserving grapes in wa¬ 
ter are those made of clear glass, of a size 
that would contain about a pint. In clear 
glass bottles, when the water, by means of 
evaporation and the small quantity suoked 
up by the bunches, has decreased, the defi¬ 
ciency can be eaily seen and remedied. 
Champagne bottles would do for preserving 
a few dozen bunches, but they would be too 
large and clumsy to put in the racks whore 
a large quantity of grapes are preserved. 
Pint porter or ale bottles do very well; I 
used them before T got clear glass bottles 
made for the purpose. Tho water in the 
bottles wants no changing, as it will remain 
sweet for throe or four months, or longer if 
some small pieces of charcoal are put in tho 
bottom of the bottles. It only requires flll- 
ing up now and then when it gets lower 
than the neck of the bottles.— William 
Tillery. 
Wine Two and n-ilalf Centuries Old. 
—Two and a-half centuries ago there was 
deposited in a cellar at Bremen a case of 
and grist mill. When the war came, a band 
of guerrillas surrounded his house and de¬ 
manded him to surrender. This ho refused 
to do, but stood in the door and fought 
them, while Ills wife did good execution 
with a revolver from the window above. 
Tho guerrillas were at last put to flight, 
leaving the determined couple in possession 
of their home. 
Ai length our road leaves the mountain 
and begins to descend into a beautiful lit¬ 
tle valley called Grassy Cove. The laud 
on the sides of mountains which surround 
this cove are exceedingly rich, as is shown 
by tiie large growth of Oak, Poplar and 
Black Walnut along the roadside. Grassy 
Cove is well named, and the largo meadows 
of clever and timothy are in pleasing con¬ 
trast with the rather sterile country over 
which we have passed. Several Northern 
families are settled here, and are making 
improvements and building up a communi¬ 
ty of their own, A mill has lately been 
erected and is busy aawiuglumber for those 
who have lately arrived. It belug near tho 
middle of the day when I reached Grassy 
Cove I stopped at Mr. Stratton’#, a gen¬ 
tleman who bought a largo farm here and 
moved from Isew \ ork three years ago. 
Mr. Stratton brought with him a herd of 
eighteen Devon cattle; the cattle look -d 
remarkably well, and Mr. S. Informed me 
that ho gets as much milk and makes as 
good butter and cheese as he ever did in 
New York; and if r am any judge of these 
articles, the specimens on his table corrobo¬ 
rated the statement. I was shown a mead¬ 
ow on this place which is said to have been 
in grass thirty-six years, and still yields 
from two and one-half to three tons of i,« w 
