schools and forty-eight public school teachers; besides, a seminary at Sparta, whien is generally well attended. There are five permanent private schools in different parts of the county. Churches of the various denominations of Christians are numerous, and the moral tone of the citizens is good. Intelligent and enterprising immigrants are kindly received, and there are now in the county a large number of new-comers from the north, and from Europe. Repeated disappointments in securing the completion of the railroad have tended to discourage the farmers and produce some dissatisfaction with their situation, and some have been influenced by this and other causes to move away. But nothing like general discontent prevails. Many of the larger farmers are preparing to sell a part or all of their farms, not generally with a view to leaving the county, but for the purpose of reducing the size of the farms that they have, or purchasing smaller farms. We believe that the greatest hindrance to agricultural prosperity is the attempt to cultivate too much land. There was, before the war, a flourishing agricultural and mechanical association, but it has not been revived, and the old fair grounds remain unimproved. The Sparta Index, published weekly, is a sprightly country paper, edited with ability, and does much to attract attention to the various resources of the county.

WILLIAMSON COUNTY.

COUNTY SEAT-FRANKLIN.

We are indebted to Dr. W. M. Clarke for the following interesting account of this county:

Williamson is situated in the great Basin of Middle Tennessee, and though a small portion of its western border is on the Rim, yet it is one of the richest counties of the Basin. In point of fertility of soil, wealth of its citizens, and intellectual advantages, it stands third in Middle Tennessee and fourth in the State. Go where you will, in any country, and you will find that rich land makes rich people, and hence follow schools, churches, hospitality and intelligence.

Boundary. It is bounded by Davidson on the north, Rutherford on the east, Marshall and Maury on the south, and Hickman on the west.

History. It originally constituted a portion of Davidson county, and was cut off by an act of the General Assembly on the 26th of October, 1799. Henry Rutherford, who gave his name to the large creek in the southern part of the county, and John Davis, were the commissioners appointed to divide the two counties. It received its name from General Williamson, of North Carolina, some of whose descendants were prominent men of that day, among others, Dr. Hugh Williamson, the intimate friend and companion of Franklin. It is supposed by some that the county received its name from Dr. Williamson and the county seat from the name of his eminent friend. The county originally contained twenty-four districts, but the enterprise of Rutherford in building turnpikes robbed us of the twenty-third and the twenty-fourth, and with them deprived us of a rich section and the finest cedar forest of the State.

Towns and Villages. The only town in the county is Franklin, the county seat, though the whole county is dotted with thriving villages, besides numerous "country stores," thus bringing every facility desired within reach of every one to furnish himself with supplies. These country merchants do also a thriving business in barter, thus converting the produce of the careful housewife into material wealth.

Franklin. Franklin is one of the loveliest towns in Middle Tennessee. It is eighteen miles from Nashville, on Big Harpeth River, and is in the center of a valley that would rival the Vega of old Grenada, if it had the same historic associations, nor is it devoid of a bloody day, for here the Confederates made their last gallant charge upon the Federal army, and here was poured out the best blood of the South, many of them inspired by the sight of their homes in possession of their enemies; and here died Cleborne, the Bayard of the South. In point of schools, both male and female, it stands unrivaled, though it boasts no college halls, except a female college, hereafter noticed. As an evidence of the character of its teachers, though ample facilities for attending free schools are afforded to every one, and many private schools throughout the State have succumbed to their cheapness, yet these schools stand unshaken, and are likely to remain as prosperous as ever. The churches of this town embrace all the denominations of our free-thinking people, and are all well supported and have the ablest pastors of the different denominations officiating in them. All these educational and religious advantages, together with the fact of having the Louisville, Nashville and Great Southern Railroad passing through

it, makes it a very desirable place for the residence of men of means or of business men in Nashville, who can, by almost hourly trains, reach their place of business in a few minutes, thus combining the advantages of a city with the health, quietude and good water of the country, and evading the dust, mud and excessive taxation of city life. The Review and Journal is published in Franklin, is Democratic in principle, and fearless in the advocacy of all progressive movements.

Villages. There are many villages in the county which have grown up around stores that have been established for purposes of barter. Some of them are quite thriving, and all offer peculiar inducements to country families to educate their children and attend religious worship. They have in all good society and educated people, and offer great social advantages to those preferring this to country life. Hillsboro, Peytonsville, Bethesda, College Grove, Triune, Nolensville, Brentwood, Mitone, Thompson's Station, Williamsburg, Jordon's Store and Arrington dot the county all over with their pleasant cottages and thrifty ap pearance. Brentwood boasts a woolen mill, which bids fair to supply the needs of this county with all woolen fabrics. It belongs to Messrs. Holt, Gibbons & Humphrey, men alive to their own and the country's interests, and by the next season they will have up all their machinery, already purchased, to manufacture jeans, blankets, flannels, etc., in as good style, and as cheaply as can be procured elsewhere. A great obstacle to the establishment of factories in Tennessee, is the notion that our people will patronize Northern factories when we have them here. But this idea will vanish when our artizans work as cheaply as at the North, and produce as good fabrics. Why we cannot do this, is yet to be ascertained. We have an ample supply of cheap provisions, fuel is cheap and abundant, and we can easily procure skilled labor by offering the same inducements held out by other and similar establishments. It wants a little of Northern energy and enterprise infused into our veins. The capital would be quickly forthcoming to erect a factory upon every stream in the county were right men to take the matter in hand. The raw material is here, and the idea so long endured to transport it thousands of miles and pay other men to do what we can easily do ourselves, thus enriching them and enriching corporations to transport it for us, is something not easily explained in political

economy.

Flour Mills. Arrington and Franklin have the best of merchant flouring mills, and a fine mill has been built near Brentwood by the

enterprise of Mr. William Davis. Besides these, there are many fine mills upon the streams to be mentioned hereafter.

Topography. The face of the county is undulating all over the Basin, though in some places it swells up into hills and knobs almost equal to mountains. The water-shed is from the south-east to the north-west. There is a famous range commencing in Rutherford county, from Stewart's Creek, running south-westerly, and gradually sinking into the general level near the Wilson Pike, about six miles from Franklin. The northern face of this range empties its waters into Mill Creek, and the valleys of this creek and its tributaries compose two civil districts, and are exceedingly fertile. No amount of cultivation seems to exhaust them, though they have been cultivated continuously for a long period. The uplands are also good, some first-rate, except the cedar glades. A fine belt of cedar traverses this section, coming in from Bedford and Rutherford, and is amply sufficient to supply all demands for rails within hauling distance. All these streams, however, become still and silent during the heats of summer, though affording abundance of stock water. Of course no mills can be remunerative on them. The "knobs" are really mountains, in height, but bottoms in fertility. They are heavily clothed with poplar, ash, oak, walnut and wild cherry, and the soil is deep black loam, and although so steep that it is difficult to walk up, yet they are very thickly settled, and the produce is really astonishing. Grains and grass, and especially fruit, find here congenial nourishment. The people raised here are attached to hills, and rarely leave them for the low lands. Fruit rarely fails from frost, and lately, within three years, a vineyard has been established upon one of the northern spurs, and though last year was its first bearing, it proved highly profitable. Many other men are following the example set by Mr. Didiot, an educated Frenchman, who has demonstrated the fact that more money can be made from one acre of good grapes than from twenty acres in corn. The southern aspect of these highlands is truly beautiful. Spurs run out from the main ridge and gradually end in Hay's Creek, and are separated from each other about half a mile.

Between these spurs are valleys, or rather gorges, that rival the famous valleys of Switzerland, both in beauty of landscape, fertility of soil and equable climate. Exposed as they are to the genial rays of the sun, sheltered from the cutting blasts of the north, it is a delightful place to live. Snow never remains upon the ground but a day or

two, grass grows all the winter, and vegetation starts here long before it does on the other side. Passing over the Ridge, it feels like going from one country to another. Here is the finest inducement to sheep husbandry to be conceived of. In fact, these hills should be devoted exclusively to stock and fruit, being well watered, cheap, and producing grass in the finest manner. What is truly surprising about them, they do not wash into gullies but slightly, though perfect torrents sometimes pour down their sides, converting the insignificant branches into roaring rivers. This peculiarity arises from the fact that the soil is mixed intimately with small gravel or chert, thus affording the best of drainage. Another, and possibly still larger range, begins in the twenty-second district, at what is called Cross Keys, and the description of the Burke Knobs applies equally to the Keys. On the south-western slope of this range rises Rutherford Creek, which represents as good land as is in the county, but it quickly leaves Williamson and passes into Maury. Between the two, commences the system of

Harpeth Rivers, which, with its valleys and foot-hills, constitute Williamson county; for although two districts are drained by Mill Creek, and a part of one by Rutherford Creek, all the balance is drained by the the different Harpeths. And here my pen fails me. Much has been written about the famous blue-grass lands of Kentucky, and the lands on the Mt. Pleasant Pike, near Columbia, are deservedly admired; but here is a whole county, as it were, equal to the best lands in any country. Gently rolling, heavily timbered even now, formerly covered with a dense growth of cane, black loam deep and strong, capable under the worst abuse of supporting a nation. There is no break, no waste lands in its whole extent. These lands extend from the head of Harpeth to where it leaves the county. Were this region cared for, and improved with fine buildings, it would be a terrestrial paradise. Here cotton, corn, hemp, millet, wheat, oats, rye clover-anything, everything grown in a temperate climate, reaches perfection. In the centre of this magnificent valley, like a queen on her throne, is situated Franklin, and it also includes many of the above-named villages. The main stream, Big,Harpeth, rises on 'Squire Owens' farm, in what was once the twenty-fourth district, and flows a south-westerly course, and empties into the Cumberland River at the famous Harpeth Shoals, forming a bar there which has ever been a check to the prosperity of Nishville. There are also South Harpeth, West Harpeth and Little Harpeth. The lands bordering these streams are of the same general character, with the exception of those of South Harpeth, to which we