1849. 
THE CULTIVATOR, 
47 
Bidding adieu to the hospitable family of Col. Richard¬ 
son, we next stopped with Mr. Chas. C. Tate. This 
gentleman owns a beautiful and extensive farm, well 
adapted to grazing purposes 5 and nearly the whole of 
the cleared land, about 800 acres, is well set in vari¬ 
ous kinds of grasses. The past season he has fattened 
and sold about 90 head of cattle. Some of his cattle 
show considerable improvement upon the native stock 
of the county. One of the steers which he had fattened, 
we saw butchered at the county seat, and it weighed 
1670 lbs. nett. His sheep are of a cross of the Bake- 
well, upon the common stock of the country. Although 
not so large and heavy fleeced as the improved Cots- 
wold, yet they are handsomely formed, evince great 
aptitude to fatten, and altogether, reflect credit upon 
their spirited breeder. His swine are a cross of the 
Berkshire from Massachusetts, and a large-framed 
white hog, obtained from near Lynchburg, Ya. They 
have proved to be of perhaps the best breed yet intro¬ 
duced, being well suited to the farmers of that region. 
We were here shown a kind of grass, new to me, call¬ 
ed from the name of the person who introduced it, the 
" Randall Grass,” It is considered by some of the best 
farmers, a very valuable acquisition 5 it starts early in 
the spring, grows luxuriantly, and affords an abundant 
and nutritious food. It looks somewhat like the “ Or¬ 
chard Grass,” but does not appear so coarse, nor does 
it grow so much in tufts. It is, probably, the English 
Blue grass. The common Blue grass grows spontane¬ 
ously, and abounds. Stock fatten more rapidly upon it 
than any other—a mixture, however, of several species, 
Is generally preferred. 
We visited also, the adjoining farm, “Fort Chiswelf.” 
After an introduction to its worthy proprietor, at our 
request we were conducted to a distant part of the farm, 
and shown a lot of fat cattle. We estimated 20 of the 
best to weigh over 1800 lbs. gross, each. There w r ere 
125 in the lot,- a part were of the Short horn, showing 
high blood and good treatment; the others, with but 
few exceptions, were crossed with the Matchless and 
Hampton stock. We also saw a lot of fat hogs; slaugh¬ 
tered—some of them weighed over 400 lbs. nett ; a lot 
of 23, averaged 310 lbs., nett. We saw many other 
things to interest us in our ride over this magnificent 
estate of 4,000 acres. The county seat of Montgomery 
county was formerly located here. The old county 
jail is still standing, a miserable looking log hut, forci¬ 
bly reminding one of the Black-hole in Calcutta'—we 
were reluctantly compelled to decline for that time, a 
polite invitation to the mansion house, and parted with 
our attentive friend, under a promise to call upon him 
at some u more convenient season.” 
The following morning we left, with much regret, 
the kind and excellent family of Mr. Tate, who him¬ 
self insisted on accompanying us a few miles, in order 
to show us the beautiful estate of Gurdon Kent, Esq. 
Unfortunately, Mr. Kent was absent from home; how¬ 
ever, we took the liberty to ride through his farm, and 
view his fine herd of cattle, which was truly a gratify¬ 
ing sight. This is one of the best farms in the county. 
The fencing was in good repair, and substantial gates 
bung at the entrance of all the fields through which 
we passed. But a small portion of the arable land is 
in cultivation, grazing cattle being the great business 
of this country. 
Here we parted with our gentlemanly companion, not 
however until we had gratefully accepted his kind pro¬ 
posal to rejoin us the next day, to make an excursion 
into S my the, his native county, and adjoining Wythe. 
Wending along through two or more farms, we called 
upon C. L. Crockett, Esq., a very intelligent and 
agreeable gentleman, who gratified us in showing his 
stock and farm . Here, for the first and only time in 
this wealthy country, I saw an agricultural paper—the 
Southern Planter. I was afterwards informed that Mr. 
Crockett had been active in introducing improved 
breeds of stock, of different species, into that county. 
He kindly offered to accompany us, when we returned, 
to several portions of the adjoining counties, which we 
had not visited, and very much to my regret, an acci¬ 
dent to my horse, only prevented our compliance with, 
his polite invitation. 
We then started, in company with Mr. Tate, for the 
Rich Valley in Smythe county. We saw many interest¬ 
ing things by the way, which space will not permit us 
to mention. We will but allude to the fine stock at 
the u Seven-mile-ford,” a large and well managed 
farm on the middle fork of the Holston river. Indeed, 
every thing upon it reflected praise on its worthy and 
hospitable proprietor, Mr. Hanson. 
We next visited the salt works in the Rich Valley, 
where we made the acquaintance of Thos. L. Preston, 
Esq., a devoted friend of agricultural science and agri¬ 
cultural improvement. On the day previous to our ar¬ 
rival, he had delivered, to a large assembly of the citi¬ 
zens of Smythe, at the Court house, an agricultural ad¬ 
dress, w'hich was spoken of by all as an eloquent appeal, 
and calculated to do much toward the promotion of the 
noble cause. Mr. Preston is engaged in manufacturing 
salt; has two large furnaces in operation, making about 
600 bushels per diem. The supply of salt water is 
thought to be inexhaustible. There are several other 
furnaces here, in operation, by different individuals. 
The salt is of a very superior quality, and wants but 
means of access to market to develope advantages to 
all concerned. Here too, is a bed of gypsum, of supe¬ 
rior quality, extending about 15 miles in length, and 
several hundred feet in depth. Some of the banks are 
now being worked, and the gypsum sells at the banks 
for $3 per ton—while at the distance of only ten miles, 
the price is doubled ! If proper facilities of transpor¬ 
tation were affoi'ded, it is considered that abundance 
could be furnished to supply the whole state of Virginia. 
Here again, the very earth cries out beseechingly, for 
a way to market. After spending a day with Mr. 
Preston, who had given us a real Virginia welcome, 
and who showed us all we could desire to see, we took 
our departure from his picturesque valley, which, em¬ 
bosomed in mountains, lay asleep in its beauty, like 
another, and a real “ Leclusaval.” 
But it were too long to tell of all that interested us, 
even as farmers, totally neglecting the scientific, geo¬ 
logical, mineralogical and manufactural interest—and 
it is high time this lucubration were brought to an end. 
which has unconsciously extended to something like 
prolixity. To close rapidly'—we rambled still farther 
up the north fork of the Holston. This region is admi¬ 
rably adapted to grazing fme-wooled sheep, being ge¬ 
nerally too steep for cattle or cultivation ■ some gentle¬ 
men of this vicinity, having turned their attention to 
wool growing, I was induced to promise them the ex¬ 
cess of my flocks of Spanish Merinos and Cotswolds. 
Here we saw many fine farms, and made valued ac¬ 
quaintances. Returning homewards, we made a detour 
to the left of our outward route; passing by quantities 
of rich land, whose virtues were scarcely even tested, 
we again reached New River, some ten miles below 
our former crossing, and directly opposite “ Buchanan 
Bottom,” the farm of Major Kent. We were sadly 
disappointed at losing the opportunity of a personal ac¬ 
quaintance with the Major, who was absent. After 
“ presenting onr credentials,” and. exchanging saluta¬ 
tions with the family, we rode through the fine farm of 
5,000 acres—stopped to look at some superior milch 
cow T s, grazing in the field. They were large and well 
formed, showing fine blood. We took them to be Short 
horns, and crosses of the Durham and native stock. 
Other farms I would mention had I space; but with 
