Please describe the general features and character of the country, and state what its products are, and which are the productive regions and which the least so.

There is a spur of the Cumberland Mountains that passes through, dividing North Alabama rather from northeast to southwest. One-half of North Alabama is mountainous, with coves here and there; the other half is table-land, with the addition of what we call the river bottoms. The Tennessee passes through North Alabama. I should say that perhaps one-half was table-land and the balance was mountain coves and river bottom. The table-land is owned and cultivated by the wealthy class of the community that we term planters. On the table-land you find farmers owning from 3,000 acres of land down to 500. That part of the community denominated planters look to cotton as the source of their revenue. they have recently, for the last four or five ;years, been endeavoring more than formerly to raise their supplies of corn and meat on their own plantations. Up to ten years ago they would look to the Northwest for their meat. They usually raised corn enough for their needs, but for the last ten years they have tried to raise upon their plantations what they would consume, and as a general rule the best farmers have succeeded, but the rest look to the West for their supply of meat and flour. Owing to this fact there is but little surplus of corn and meat; but the planters are all satisfied if they raise corn, forage, fodder, and hay for their own consumption.

Question. I wish you first to describe the general features of the country; the limits of what you call the productive regions, particularly toward the east; to describe this feature of spurs running toward the Tennessee River and corresponding coves running up toward the mountains; to give some idea of that productive region, and what the amount of its production is, I should say, with reference to the amount that its population requires for its own consumption.

There are four counties lying on the north of the Tennessee River. Jackson County extends up to Nicojack; it is the most eastern county in the State, and extends up to the line. I should say four-fifths of Jackson County is very mountainous; the balance is what we call cove-land. But very little of that cove-land is adapted to the cultivation of cotton; it is a stiff, black limestone land, unfit for the cultivation of cotton. According to the size of this county and its population there are fewer negroes than in any county in the State; it is a poor white population. They raise principally corn, some wheat, and have been in the habit of bringing down to our country hogs for sale. The next county is Madison. I should say that four-fifths of that is good arable land, suitable for cultivation, and about two-thirds of that is cultivated in cotton. The next county is Limestone County. I should say two-thirds of that is cultivated in cotton. The next county is Limestone County. I should say two-thirds of that is arable and is cultivated in corn and cotton. The land in that county is mostly owned by the class I have described as the wealthier class of the community. The next county is Lauderdale, on this side of the river. There is very little mountain in that county, but a good deal of poor land. Large tracts of land are still owned by the United States Government. I should say one-half of that county is cultivated in corn and cotton, perhaps more than half of it, and owned and cultivated by planters, who look, as I have said to their cotton as the source of their revenue. Jackson Country is the only one in North alabama that raises anything for exportation in the way of meat or breadstuffs, and that in but a small degree. The people are generally content, and eat what they raise. This embraces the counties on the north side of the river.

Question. You may give same information with reference to the country on the south side within 10 or 15 miles of the river.

Commencing at the first county after crossing the river from Jackson County you strike De Kalb County; it is entirely mountainous for 20 mile and almost uninhabited. There is some bottom land on the south side of the river, lying in small tracts, that is perhaps the very best corn land we have in the country, but it is subject to inundation and the rises in the Tennessee River, which are frequently so late that planters are deprived of an opportunity of planting their corn, the floods extending into June, and it makes it a very uncertain business to raise corn on that side of the river. The next county is Marshall, and the same answer would be applicable to that. The next is Morgan County, and for a distance of 10 or 15 miles from the river the same answer would apply. the river seems to pass through the gorges in the mountains. There are mountains on both sides from the min gorge down to Morgan County. The main gorge is only about 15 miles west of Chattanooga by land, but I think it three times that by water, for the river is as serpentine as a corkscrew there. After getting out of Morgan county the next is Lawrence. There yo strike a fine quality of land,