354 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION 



quiets of the war and the more profitable traffic in 

 flour, many planters have been led to give up the 

 culture of tobacco and to sow grain instead. 



Hard by Bladensburgh there is a spring which has 

 a strong content and taste of iron, and upon which the 

 inhabitants have imposed the splendid name of Spa. 

 Similar iron-waters are nothing rare in America ; but 

 neither in these nor in others observed by me, have I 

 been able to remark any fixed air.* Nor have I 

 learned of any curative springs supplied with any sort 

 of salt, if I except those yielding kitchen-salt, found 

 in and beyond the mountains. 



The situation of Bladensburgh is unhealthy, among 

 swamps which surround it on all sides, and every fall 

 obstinate fevers spread among the inhabitants of the 

 region, which on the other hand is rich in manifold 

 beautiful plants. Negroes are beginning to be more 

 numerously kept here, and the people show already a 

 strong tincture of southern ease and behavior. Also 

 several plants are grown here which farther to the 

 north are scarcely seen. Cotton-wool (Gossypium 

 herbaceum) and sweet potatoes (Convolvulus Batta- 

 tas) are raised by each family sufficiently for its needs. 

 The blacks raise ( Been-nuts ' (Arachis hypogaea) ;f 



* However, a spring in the county of Botetourt, said to con- 

 tain iron and much atmospheric acidity, is mentioned in the 

 second volume of the Amer. Philos. Transact. 



t This plant, with a few others of the same class, has the 

 rare property of burying its seed-pods in the earth. The 

 bloom appears far down on the stem, and inclines towards the 

 earth, in which the pistil buries itself, and matures round 

 husks with 2-3 seeds, which are dug out for use. 



Its origin being in a warm climate, it is not easily trans- 

 planted farther north; even in England attempts have been 



