STATUS OF VIRGINIA AGRICULTURE IN 1870. 269 
Before proceeding to describe the present condition of the agriculture 
of the State, it is proper and necessary that some reference should be 
made to its physical geography. In a general, and in some sort a 
political sense, two great divisions east of the mountains, and embrac- 
ing diverse interests, are popularly recognized, called respectively the 
NORTHSIDE and SOUTHSIDE, the separating line being the James River. 
In the northern division, with the exception of a few counties bordering 
on the James, it is a farming country; in the southern division, a plant- 
ing country. Each of these sections admits of two subdivisions, pos- 
sessing very distinctive features: The tide-water region, lying between 
the head of tide and the ocean; and the Piedmont region, embraced 
between the head of tide and the Blue Ridge. Furthermore, between 
the Blue Ridge and the Alleghanies, a fine district of country, known as 
THE VALLEY, is situated, mostly on the north side of the James, but 
still extending some distance south of it. And lastly, there is the 
transmontane or SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA, exhibiting marked character- 
isties of its own. Each of these divisions is distinguished by its peculiar 
system of agriculture, having some things in common indeed, but each 
differing from the others in its leading industries. For the sake of 
perspicuity we shall consider them separately, accompanying them, re- 
spectively, with brief descriptions of their geographical features and 
the productions more particularly adapted to their soils. 
In but few sections of the State has agriculture made any progress 
within the last ten years; almost everywhere, in fact, it has actually 
retrograded. The conditions on which agricultural prosperity rests 
have been so unsettled by intervening events, and the tenure of lands 
to a great extent rendered so uncertain, that few farmers have been 
influenced by a spirit of improvement. The great object has been to 
make a livelihood. To do this the lands have been taxed to their utmost 
capacity. Fertilizers have indeed been used freely, but rather with a 
view to speedy returns than ultimate improvement. No systematic 
rotation has been practiced ; no course of amelioration steadily pursued. 
The efforts both of farmers and planters have been vigorous indeed, 
more so perhaps than at any former time, but spasmodic, looking to the 
present more than to the future. Considering the altered circumstances 
of the people, the productions of the soil in everything but wheat have 
borne favorable comparison with those of former years; in quantity, 
however, more than in quality. Of tobacco, for instance, the crop of 
1870 was one of the largest ever grown in the State, but in its prepara- 
tion for market it has been worse handled than any for many years. 
All but the old experienced planters appear to have lost their skill, and 
the crops of the latter formed but a small proportion of the whole. 
Throughout the tobacco region the crop is cultivated on nearly every 
farm, to a large extent by freedmen on rented land oronshares. It has 
thus fallen into many hands instead of being chiefly limited to the large 
plantations as formerly. In this way Virginia tobacco is fast losing its 
prestige, and the western tobacco is suppla.@ing it in the markets of the 
world. In regard to cotton, also, the production has much increased, 
the last crop, like that of tobacco, being the largest, perhaps, ever grown 
in the State, but it has been produced very much to the neglect of the 
grain crops. 
In the cotton and tobacco districts, though the planters have shown 
commendable industry, have been frugal in their personal expenses, and 
have worked with their own hands, it cannot be said they have pros- 
pered. They are still wedded to old habits, from which no change of 
circumstances has sufficed to divorce them. The painful experience of 
