obtained. In the same vicinity water has been found at 35, and then again at 110 feet from the surface.
The day after my arrival I waited upon Saml. Postlethwaite, Esq., related by marriage to the late Mr. Dunbar. From Mr. P. and his amiable lady, I met with every attention and kindness which friendship, hospitality, and politeness could have possibly dictated.
To my enquiries concerning the horticulture and agriculture of Natchez, Mr. P. informed me, that the peach and fig, as well as the pear and the quince, succeed extremely well. The apple trees also, introduced from Kentucky, afforded nearly equal success. The cherry, the gooseberry, and the currant, though thriving, scarcely produce at all. The pomegranate, and the myrtle, grow and fruit almost as in their native climate. The orange and lemon require some shelter from the prevailing winter. Grapes attain to tolerable perfection, but the clusters are often blighted, apparently by the humidity of the atmosphere. The kernels of dates which have been planted, germinate and grow with considerable vigour. The olive, {233} which so many years ago was introduced by the first French settlers, and said, by Du Pratz, to have succeeded, is now entirely lost.
Cotton, which constitutes the staple commodity and wealth of this country, has, like all other crops, a considerable tendency to impoverish the soil; before the settlement became so much condensed, and land so advanced in value, no method of improving the worn out lands was ever thought of. Such fields were then left waste, and new lands still continually cleared. Of late years some attention has been paid towards renovating the soil, by plowing in the herb of the cotton, after being thrashed to pieces as it stands in the field. A much more conve-
