VIRGINIA 71 



during the first year. Wheat on this very wanton soil 

 does not do well at first, going too much to straw. 

 Pumpkins, a sort of gourds, serve as feed for their 

 cows as well, increasing the milk, and may be kept 

 until about Christmas. 



Several days of bad weather delayed us in the prose- 

 cution of our journey. With the first glimpse of the 

 sun, we set out on the road to Williamsburg. The 

 hills, at the foot of which Richmond stands, seem to 

 be composed of sand and clay. Along deep roads, or 

 where streams cross, there were to be seen always the 

 following strata : sand, sand and clay, pebbles, and 

 other stones rounded by the water, of divers dimen- 

 sions and often in thick beds, and under these again 

 sand and clay. On the surface few stones were any 

 longer to be observed, and after the first 10 miles or 

 so those mentioned as buried beneath the surface ap- 

 peared no more, none to be seen unless on the banks of 

 brooks where they had been rolled down by the force 

 of the current. From here on, the country towards 

 the east, that is, towards the sea, grows continually a 

 flatter slope, covered merely with sand, and this has 

 given rise to the legend that in Virginia there are no 

 stones, true only of the most eastern parts. Those 

 stones, however, found buried at various depths, and 

 rounded, are proof that it cannot have been so very 

 short a time since this part of the world emerged from 

 the water. 



On the James River, 6 miles below Richmond at a 

 little place called Warwick, there was formerly an 

 iron-works of some importance, which was destroyed 

 during the war. Farther down the river are Osborn's 

 and Bermuda Hundred, pleasant places, but small. A 



