Arkansas Historical Quarterly, Volume 48, Autumn 1989, p. 272
An 1835 Magazine Article
by Dr. Nathan D. Smith
BY WILLIAM DONALD WILLIAMS*
Harding University, Searcy, Arkansas 72143
- An 1835 issue of the periodical, The Farmers' Register, contained the article, "Some Account of the Prairie Soils of Arkansa [sic]," written from "Hempstead, Ark. Terr., June 27,1835" by "N. D. Smith."' This article, which has not been previously reported in writings on Arkansas history, was written by an early Arkansas settler Dr. Nathan Douglas Smith (1781-1867).
- A physician and farmer, Smith settled in Hempstead County in 1819 (2). His home and hospital were located at Mound Prairie, about four miles northwest of Washington. He promoted mulberry tree and silkworm farming in Arkansas (3).
- _________________
- *The author is professor of chemistry at Harding University.
- 1. N. D. Smith, "Some Account of the Prairie Soils of Arkansa [sic]," The Farmers' Register, III (No.
- 5, 1835), 273-274, published in Petersburg, Virginia.
- 2. A photograph and biography of Nathan D. Smith may be found in Brenda Ball, "Arkansas Weatherman:
- Dr. Nathan D. Smith," Arkansas Historical Quarterly, XXIV (Spring 1965), 67; also see Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Southern Arkansas (Chicago: Goodspeed Publishing Co., 1890), 292; and Mary Medearis, Washington, Arkansas: History of the Southwest Trail (Hope, Ark., 1987), 6, 39, 48, 51, 59.
- 3. While Smith's silkworm farming is mentioned by Medcaris in reference 2, specific references to the
- following letters in the Little Rock Arkansas Gazette have not
been previousiy published. In 1839, encouraging mulberry production, Smith
reported that he had been growing them for three years, had two acres in
cultivation and 20,000 trees for sale (March 20, 1839, p. 2, c. 1). In
1840 he sent the Gazette editor the first specimen of silk made
on his farm and offered five million mulberry buds for sale (June 10, 1840,
p. 3, C. 4). In 1843 he presented the editor with a silk handkerchief taken
from fifty-six yards of material grown, woven and dyed on his farm that
year. It was offered for sale by a Little Rock merchant who pronounced
it to be equal to Italian. silk. (Dec. 13, 1843, p. 2, c. 2).
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