sion, and thousands of bushels may be gathered any fall. Berries of almost every variety are found in the fields and in the woods.

Forest Products. Lumber is not one of the staples, not a sufficiency being made to supply the home demand; a large proportion of that used is imported from the adjoining counties.

Stock and Stock-raising. The people of Madison county pay very little attention either to the breeding or fattening of stock, though a few men are converting their farms into stock farms with the view of engaging in this branch of industry.

Markets. Nearly everything that is raised in the county is sold at remunerative prices in Jackson, and a good deal of cotton and produce is brought to Jackson from other counties. In cotton alone, Jackson does a large business, buying annually from 15,000 to 20,000 bales, which are shipped to New York and New Orleans, and some to Cincinnati, and some is shipped every year direct to the factories in New England. The city of Jackson has improved more in proportion than any other portion of the county, but this is partially owing to the fact that a great many persons from the country have rented out their farms and have moved into the city to secure advantages which they could not enjoy in the country. In no city in the State is there found a better society than in Jackson.

Immigration. The principal-immigration since 1870 has been from the counties of East and Middle Tennessee, though a good many families have moved into the county from the Southern States.

Roads. The roads are generally in bad condition and will admit of very great improvement. Across the river and creek bottoms there are improved roads, which are kept in only tolerable condition. The new road law is in force in the county, and is giving general satisfaction.

Railroads. There are but two railroads in operation in the county, the Mobile and Ohio and the Mississippi Central, both of which run through the suburbs of Jackson. Efforts are being made, with fair prospects of success, to build roads from Jackson to Huntingdon, from Jackson to Birmingham, Ala., and from Jackson to the Tennessee River by the way of Lexington, Tennessee.

Towns and Villages. Jackson, the county seat, is one of the best laid off towns in the State. It includes within the corporate limits four square miles. The streets are wide and the residences neat and taste

ful. It is located near the center of the county; has about 7,000 inhabitants; is at the junction of the Mobile and Ohio and the Mississippi Railroads; has four female schools, or colleges, under the supervision of the following churches: Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist and Catholic. The Baptist University has been located here, which will be richly endowed. There are ten churches, representing the following denominations: 2 Methodist, 1 Old School Presbyterian, 1 Cumberland Presbyterian, 1 Baptist, 1 Christian, 1 Episcopalian, 1 Catholic, 1 colored Methodist and 1 colored Baptist, the Methodist being the strongest church numerically and financially; 3 planing-mills, 1 foundry, 1 barrel factory, 1 brewery, 1 soda-water factory, 1 tannery, and the two railroads centering here have located their workshops in the town. The following is the estimated trade of Jackson: The drygoods, clothing, boots, shoes and hat business aggregated $753,000; the grocery business, $668,000; manufactures, $210,000; hotels and restaurants, $145,000; the marketing business of licensed dealers, including pork dealers, $301,000; the drug business, $73,000; hardware business, $90,000; liquors, wholesale and retail, $175,000; confectioneries, fancy and notion stores, $33,500; jewelers, $50,000; livery and sale stables, $45,COO; coal trade of the city, $25,000; sewing machine business, $25,000; ice trade of the city, $13,000; lumber trade and builders' material, by dealers in the city, $130,000; salt sold, $9,000; millinery and dress-making, $45,000; cotton compress, $2,800; barbers, $7,500; gun-shops, $5,000; bakers, $15,000; receipts for telegraphing, $3,500; printing business, $57,000; banking business, gross, $5,000,000; income of colleges, $85,000, showing $7.966,300 as the grand total of the business circulating medium of Jackson. Altogether, Jackson has about eighty business houses, including two banks, and is a thrifty city, with fair prospects for the future. The disproportion of manufacturing establishments is the only unfavorable sign. Cotton factories to work up the cotton grown in the county would add wonderfully to its wealth and prosperity. Medon is twelve miles south of Jackson, has about 300 inhabitants, and is a station on the Mississippi Central Railroad. It has ten business houses and does a good deal of country trade. Denmark is twelve miles south-west of Jackson, and has about 300 inhabitants. It has four or five stores. Spring Creek is thirteen miles north-east of Jackson, and has about 50 inhabitants. Cotton Grove is nine miles east of Jackson, and has about 100 inhabitants. Pinson is twelve miles south-east of Jackson, and has about 275 inhabitants. It ships about 1,100 bales of cotton. Carroll is on

the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, eight miles north of Jackson, and has about 50 inhabitants. Henderson, on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, ten miles south of Jackson, has 300 inhabitants, and ships 2,500 bales of cotton. It has eight or ten business houses.

Public Schools. The people of Madison county have never taken a very great interest in public schools. No tax has been levied for that purpose. The State school fund has kept up a number of public schools for two or three months, but the number of private schools has served to give excellent educational advantages to the people. The scholastic population between six and eighteen is 7,566, of which 3,610 are colored. There are 804 between eighteen and twenty-one years age, of which 308 are colored.

Other Statistics. In 1873 the number of town lots in the county was 1,059, valued at $1,692,495; value of mills, $8,800; stock in bank and insurance companies, $51,568; notes, due-bills, etc., $453,356; bonds, stocks, etc., $4,875; value of horses mules and jacks, $80,458; value of furniture, plate, jewelry, etc., $66,983; value of wheel vehicles, $12,962; machinery, presses, etc., $29,269; all other property, $181,837; white polls, 3,962. The exemptions of $1,000 worth of property for the county amount to $197,000.

Churches. Every neighborhood is convenient to churches, the Methodist being the leading denomination, the Baptists ranking second, and the Presbyterians third.

Newspapers. Jackson is a place of newspapers, the following being published in the city: Whig and Tribune, the Jackson Courier, the Jackson Herald, and the Jackson Dispatch, all of which, except the first named, have recently been established. They are all Democratic, and conducted with marked ability, exercising a potent influence in the politics of the State.

Farmers' Organizations. The West Tennessee Agricultural and Mechanical Association, with fair grounds near Jackson, is in its fifth year, and is in a very flourishing condition. It has handsome buildings, and is managed with skill and financial ability.

The County since the War. When the war closed Madison was in a very demoralized condition, but since that time it has very greatly improved. The town of Jackson then had only about 2,000 inhabitants, while it now has about 7,000. The character of the buildings throughout the county is better than formerly; fences are in a good condition;

improved agricultural implements are more extensively used; fertilizers are introduced; attention is paid to hill-side ditching, horizontilization, etc; the people are becoming more sociable; the school interests have improved, and, in fact, a spirit of enterprise is actively at work throughout the county.

MCNAIRY COUNTY.

COUNTY SEAT-PURDY.

McNairy county is bounded on the north by the counties of Madison and Henderson, on the south by the line dividing Tennessee and Mississippi, on the east by Hardin county, and on the west by Hardeman county. This county in respect to area stands third among the counties of West Tennessee. It comprises about 645 square miles, or 412,800 acres. Exclusive of town lots, the number of acres assessed for taxation is 402,076, valued at $1,753,550, or $4.33 per acre. The whole value of taxable property for the year 1873 was $2,161,269. The ninth census gives 316,140 as the number of acres in the county, or less than three-fourths of the whole, divided as follows: improved land, 64,596; unimproved woodland, 238,814; other unimproved, 2,730. Nothing, perhaps, shows more clearly the miserable guess work which was practiced in the State by the census-takers-a horde of men appointed for the most part because of their political proclivities, and not because of their fitness for the work to be done. Not only in this county, but in every one throughout the State, the same unpardonable errors were committed-errors that have a most damaging effect upon the position of the State, and sinks it beneath the level it should justly hold among the sister States of the Union.

Organization. The records cf the county were destroyed during the late war, and it is impossible to find any record evidence in regard to the early history of the county. The act of the General Assembly of the State providing for the organization was passed on the 8th day of October, 1823, and the first County Court was held early in the year 1824. The oldest record now on file in the office of the County Court Clerk does not ante-date 1858. The first settlers in the territory now comprised in McNairy county were principally from North Caro