SOLON ROBINSON, 1850 451 



of railroads to agriculture seem to be as yet but little 

 understood. The time will come when these worn-out 

 fields will be whitened with lime brought over this road, 

 the product of which will furnish constant employment 

 to the freight trains, in transporting it to market. The 

 soil is exhausted upon the surface, but the land is not 

 "worn out." By means of the railroad, fertilisers will 

 improve and render much that now looks bleak and deso- 

 late, desirable for a new class of cultivators. The great- 

 est difficulty with the present owners is, they own too 

 much. This and the fertility of new lands in the west 

 are the causes of so much worn-out soil in the old states. 

 It is more immediately profitable to cut down and destroy 

 the forest and virgin soil, than it is to save or renovate 

 the old fields. But who would always live a border life, 

 half civilised and half savage for the mere love of cash 

 accumulation? But this condition of things will continue, 

 until the west is filled up, or until our government and 

 people by a course of education, shall disprove that foolish 

 falacious doctrince — there is no science in agriculture. 



Fifteen miles from the Potomac, we pass the town of 

 Fredericksburg ; from thence to Richmond, 63 miles, there 

 is no town nor village of any consideration, and but few 

 well-improved looking farms in sight. The cheapness of 

 land, healthiness of the country, and convenience of the 

 road, I should think, offer great inducements to immi- 

 grants from the north. The president of the road, a 

 worthy branch of the old Virginia family of Robinsons,^ 

 told me the company would transport lime at a very low 

 rate for the purposes of improvement. 



December 18th was a clear lovely day at Richmond, and 

 the fact that stores kept open doors and small fires, will 



^ Conway Robinson, lawyer and author, born in Richmond, Vir- 

 ginia, September 15, 1805; died in Philadelphia, January 30, 1884. 

 Assisted in founding the Virginia Historical and Philosophical So- 

 ciety, 1831. Published several volumes relating to law and also 

 prepared some studies for the historical society. In 1836 became 

 president of the struggling Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Poto- 

 mac Railroad Company. See sketch in Dictionary of American 

 Biography, 16:39. 



