years quite a number of Jerseys have been shipped in, and are rapidly growing in popular favor. A few grade stallions of the Norman and Clydesdale breeds are now here. Considerable attention has also been devoted to road horses. One planter, Capt. Isom, has for several years past given his whole time to raising horses and mules suitable for plantation work, and has found it quite profitable.
The grass best adapted to the physical conditions existing here is the Bermuda, fine for pasture purposes, and very hardy; three and four crops of hay are frequently cut from the same piece of land in one year. Japanese clover a few years since made it appearance along the roadsides and has evidently "come to stay", as on the town commons, in old fields, and even in the timber it now grows, and is excellent for pasture. The orchid grass and red top do fairly well. On the bottom lands of the Bayou red clover is successfully grown.

The garden and field vegetables are here surrounded by conditions that promote their fullest growth. Every variety of those peculiar to the temperate zone seems to thrive more quickly and to better advantage here than elsewhere. Among the fruits are summer and fall apples, the leading varieties being the Shannon, Quinby and Curtis Blue. Those apples grown farther north in the State, of the winter grade, do not prove satisfactory here, as they ripen too early. There are, however, several native seedlings that are pronounced good keepers. For peaches this county cannot be surpassed. The crop is rarely, if ever a failure and every known variety seems to be especially suited to tis soil and climate. On the lowlands, the early trees sometimes blossom too early and are frostbitten. They ripen from the latter part of May till frost in the fall. Pears do well. The several varieties of the Chickasaw plums, and the wild goose plum are the best grown. Considerable attention has been turned to raising grapes for wine, and the wine made from the Isles, Norton's Virginia, Cinthiana, Scuppernong, and grapes of that type, rivals the California wines. Strawberries and raspberries are certain crops, and would be quite profitable with closer railroad connections.
Just in the infancy of their development are the timber resources of the county, the cypress received first attention, and much of it has been sawed up, but there are large bodies of cypress timber yet intact.

About 250 square miles of pine grows in the county, very little of which has been cut, the larger portion lies in the western part, while the remaining area is covered with hardwood forests, including the different varieties of white and black oaks, hickory, gum, elm, sycamore, beech and holly. Along the bayou the oak is converted into barrel staves, in which work many men are engaged. The gum is largely being logged and shipped to England.

Drew is one of the counties of Southeastern Arkansas, being in the second tier from the Mississippi River, also from the Louisiana State line. It is bounded on the north by Lincoln and Desha Counties, on the east by Desha and Chicot Counties, on the south by Ashley and on the west by Bradley and Cleveland Counties. In shape it is nearly square, extending twenty-seven miles north and south. The greatest length east and west is thirt-three miles, but the average distance is but little over thirty miles. In area it has about 828 square miles, or 526,720 acres. This county is situated in the basin of the Mississippi Valley, lying principally between the Saline River and Bayou Bartholomew. The surface is generally gently rolling, and has a slight declension from north to south. Beginning a sort distance north and west of the center of the county is a chain of hills that extends in a northwesterly direction to the county border. Rough and Ready is the notable of these. Adown the central portion of the county is the dividing ridge, between the bayou and Saline River; from this divide the interior creeks take their rise, and flow either in an eastern or western direction. Excepting the alluvial lands of the bayou (containing about 1000,000 acres), and of the Saline River bottoms (containing about 8,000 acres), the county is upland. This hill land is usually a clayey loam, yet in some parts considerable gravel is found, more especially in the range of hills, before mentioned.

Excepting about twenty five square miles of prairie situated in small areas along the ridge, the whole surface is covered with a growth of pine and hardwood timber, the Saline bottom is low and swampy, being subject to inundation, and is chiefly utilized for grazing, for cattle, and range for ogs, which thrive well on the mast. The lowlands along Bayou Bartholomew are free from overflow, and are distinct from the lands of the rest of the county; the western edge terminates abruptly at the hills or bluffs.
Of the interior streams, Ables Creek in the northeastern part of county is tributary to the bayou, as also are Four Mile and Cut Off Creeks. Tributary to the Saline are Hudgens, Ten Mile, Seven Mile, Hanley, Hungry Run, Langford, Jumper and Clear Creeks.

In several localities are springs which gush forth from the hillsides, but none of them are especially notable.
Scattered over a great portion of the county are low mounds, seldom reaching an altitude of over five feet, and more frequently under than over, the circumferences varying from 50 to 200 feet around the base. They are laid out without regard for the cardinal points of the compass. Each mound appears to be the center of the radii of a gigantic circle. Attesting their great age, stand on the very summits of many of them massive forest trees, seeming as though they might have resisted the storms of centuries.
Right nobly and promptly did the men of Drew Coounty respond when the call to arms was sounded in 1861. Companies were raised by Capts. Jackson, Haslip, Whittington, Hudspeth, Isom, Thomas, Ragland, Owens, Wolfe, Hellum, Reed, Miller, Taylor, Henry and "Pink" Burk, each, besides a few others who recruited men from this and adjoining counties No battles were fought in the county, yet there were a few skirmishes, the Federal troops were here frequently, and at the surrender in 1865, there were two companies in Monticello.

Last Update Saturday, 16-Feb-2013 17:25:40 MST