facturing companies. They give to each head of a family at the close of the year, as a Christmas offering, a newspaper, to be selected by the operatives out of any newspapers published in the United States. North of Sycamore mills, about four miles, is a flouring mill with three runs of stones, where a superior article of flour is manufactured. There are other smaller corn and flouring mills, and many saw-mills in different parts of the county, but the manufacturing capacities of the county are but little developed. At the Narrows of Harpeth the manufacture of iron was formerly carried on extensively by Montgomery Bell. Four forge hammers were kept in constant operation. The iron made there was of a superior quality, and was the favorite iron for the manufacture of steam boilers. The ore beds are extensive, and the ore, limonite, yielding about 45 per cent. These works are now in the hands of the widow of the last proprietor, and are not in operation.

The people are quite domestic in their habits, observing primitive customs and dress, and wear a great deal of home-made clothing. As a general thing farming is not as remunerative as it should be, for one reason, among others, that the farmers adhere with too much tenacity to old modes and customs, and do not keep up with the spirit of improvement, noticeable in some other parts of the State. The great drawback to farming is the lack of labor-saving machinery, improved farm implements and a regular system of rotation of crops, very few paying any attention to these vital matters, continuing to run land in corn without using fertilizers or renovators until the soil is exhausted, then it is thrown out to grow up in sassafras and persimmon sprouts, while another field is cleared to undergo the same exhaustive process. Superadded to all is a shallow plowing, one-horse plows in a majority of cases being the rule, a subsoil plow being regarded as one of the vagaries of "book farming."

Smaller Industries. The people pay but little attention to the smaller industries of life. Fruit-raising is only in its infancy, there being very few orchards worthy the name; however, there is a marked improvement in this branch of industry of late years. Doubtless more fruit trees have been planted in Cheatham county in the last three years than in any ten years before. There was a spasmodic effort made about three years since in bee culture, but owing in part to the failure of the hive generally adopted, the interest soon died out, and now there is scarcely any effort made in that direction. Butter and cheese making, especially

the latter, has but a small place in the list of industries of the people of Cheatham county. Considerable numbers of chickens and eggs are annually shipped to Nashville and Clarksville. The grape has not been tried to any considerable extent, but from the character of the soil and the number of its favorable exposures, it might be successfully cultivated. When proper care and diligence have been used, the apple and the peach do exceedingly well. There are no nurseries in this county, most of the trees planted here now are obtained from Davidson, Robertson and Montgomery counties, the people having pretty generally come to the conclusion to patronize home industry, at least so far as fruit trees are concerned.

Timber, Immigrants, &c. The most valuable timbers are the various kinds of oak, hickory, poplar, walnut, cherry and chestnut. The poplar, walnut and cherry timber is sawn into lumber and shipped to Nashville and Clarksville. Large quantities of saw logs are rafted to the latter place. Poplar and chestnut shingles, in large quantities, are also made and shipped to the above points. Many thousands of boards and staves are annually made and shipped, while a good many are made into flour, whisky and lard barrels for exportation. This is the principal use to which the oak timber is applied. Considerable numbers of wagon-spokes are also made of the white oak. The hickory timber is used for axe handles, spoke timber and axletrees, as also for hoop poles, which are shipped as above, though sometimes pipe staves are shipped direct to New Orleans. The people are favorably disposed to immigrants, and would kindly receive any who would help to develop the resources of the county. They have no use for that class who propose to live by their wits, at other people's expense, but if immigrants come to identify themselves with the fortunes of the county, a hearty welcome is extended to them. They will be made to feel at home, and as a part of the people. The county needs men of energy and public spirit to infuse new life into the various industries. The farmers are, as a general thing, not disposed to sell out their farms to immigrants, or any one else, but out of the abundance of unimproved land, are willing to sell them homes on reasonable terms. The population is about fourteen thousand, and has increased in the last decade. There is but little concert of action among the farmers. They have no agricultural or mechanical associations. The county debt is about $1,200, to meet which it has the taxes of this year, and real estate and notes for real estate, amply sufficient to meet it all. Upon a fair balance being struck, the county would be entirely out of debt.

Schools. At the opening of the public schools, under the present law, there were some ten or twelve private schools, but poorly sustained. The public schools were continued for three months, thirtysix in number, about 1,400 children receiving instruction therein. There are now no colleges or academies in the county. Before the war there was one near Sycamore that commenced with fair prospect of success, but the war coming on, the enterprise was abandoned, and nothing now remains of it but the very extensive, convenient and well-arranged buildings, standing as a monument of the devastating effects of the late civil strife.

Mineral springs are abundant. Kingston Springs, on the Nashville and Northwestern Railroad, furnishes red, white and black sulphur water; Sam's Creek, red and white sulphur. Harris' Sulphur Springs are about two miles from Ashland city. King's Sulphur Springs, and various others of less note, are in the county.

The

There are plenty of saw and grist mills-among the latter two or three flouring mills-to supply the necessities of the county. county has no poor-house; what few paupers there are in the county are kept by appropriations made at the quarterly sessions of the county court. There is only one macadamized road in the county, and that only for a few miles. The dirt roads are not kept in good order.

The soil is moderately fertile, and when properly cultivated, yields sufficiently for the support of a much larger population than we have at present. Education is rather at a low ebb. The present public school law meets with strong opposition, which is giving place to a better feeling.

For assistance in the preparation of this county the Secretary is indebted to S. D. Power.

CLAY COUNTY.

COUNTY SEAT-CELINA.

This is a new county, created by the Constitutional Convention of 1870, and organized on the 17th day of December, in the same year. The territory was taken in nearly equal parts from the counties of Jackson and Overton. Three places were put in nomination for the county seat, Celina, Butler's Landing and Bennett's Ferry, but the

election resulted in favor of the first. The county comprises ten civil districts.

Towns. Celina, the county seat, is situated on Cumberland River, at the mouth of Obey's River, and for many years has been one of the most important points on the upper Cumberland. It is the depot and shipping point for a very rich agricultural region. The new courthouse is one of the most substantial and elegant buildings in this part of the State. Celina is growing rapidly, but its present size is by no means commensurate with its commercial importance. Population, about 300. Butler's Landing is also on Cumberland River, below Celina, and is an important shipping point. Population, about seventyfive. Centreville is a quiet little village, in the north-western part of the county, within half a mile of the Kentucky line. It has several stores and shops, and a population of about seventy-five.

Topography. The county is nearly a parallelogram, forty miles in length from east to west, by twelve miles wide. In order to facilitate a correct understanding of its topography, it is best first to imagine a plain of the above dimensions, with a moderately undulating surface, nearly level in the west. Then imagine the middle of this plain cut diagonally across from north-east to south-west by a valley of irregular outline nearly 600 feet deep, and averaging a little more than one mile in breadth between the bases of the opposite hills. This is the valley of Cumberland River. Opening into it on the east side near the center of the county, is the long, winding valley of Obey's River, with a general direction from east to west. A number of smaller creeks emptying into these two rivers, have valleys of their own, extending outward, and separated from each other by ridges or fingers of the plain to which the general surface of the county has been referred. These ridges and the intervales may be compared to the teeth of a saw, broad at the base and growing gradually narrower toward the apex. It must not be supposed, however, that they are of uniform size or regular shape. Some of the valleys have branches ramifying back among the Highlands and breaking the surface of the plain irregularly. The extremities of some of the ridges have been cut off, leaving isolated knobs standing out in the valleys. It is worthy of remark that the ridges generally have flat tops, which are in the plain of the Highlands. In the eastern part of the county there are some ridges elevated considerably above this highland plain.

Rocks, Soils and Timbers. The geological and agricultural features of the Highland plain, and of the valleys, are so different that we must

consider them separately. In the eastern part, as already observed, there are high hills, which are the termini of spurs or outliers of the Cumberland Table Land. The Mountain Limestone here gives the country a character similar to that of the belt extending all along the western base of the Table Land. The surface is broken, caves and sink-holes are common, and the soil is rich, lying on a strong clay subsoil. The hills and hollows, except where the land has been cleared, are covered by forests of large trees, among which walnut, beech, poplar, buckeye, linden and several kinds of oaks are common. Further west, the Lithostrotian limestone continues to underlie the surface, often cropping out on the hillsides; the country is rolling, and the soil is generally a rich, dark brown loam, with a red clay subsoil. North of Obey's River the red clay and limestone prevail to the Valley of the Cumberland, and even west of the latter there are extensive areas of red rolling lands reaching nearly to the western boundary of the county. All of this red land is naturally rich, and with good management its fertility will never be impaired. Even when worn out by slovenly farming and constant cropping, its recuperative power is wonderful. Hickory, beech, sugar maple and dogwood are common on the hillsides and in the hollows or basins, and oak and chestnut on the hills and ridges. These red lands occupy a larger proportion of the area of the county than any other one class. Though not held in such high esteem as the river and creek bottoms, they possess many advantages over them. In other parts of this Highland plain, particularly in the south and west, sandstones prevail, and the lands are less fertile. The red clay gives place to a yellowish subsoil, which is so hungry that the effect of manuring is scarcely perceptible after the first or second season. In some places on the hills are extensive beds of siliceous chert, known locally as "bastard flint." These gravelly soils are always leachy. Most of the timber consists of small post oaks and black oaks. But even in these parts red clay and limestone, affording good lands, are found in spots. Small hickories are the prevailing timber in such places, and they are generally called "hickory barrens.” In the north-west part of the county, on the head waters of a creek which flows north-west into Barren River, the surface is more generally level, and there are some fine lands. In the valleys, the prevailing rocks are all limestones of a different kind from that which appears on the surface of the highlands. They belong, geologically, to the Nashville Group of the Lower Silurian, consequently the soils are like those in the Central Basin. This limestone underlies all of the valleys and