SOLON ROBINSON, 1851 495 



what this region was, ere Washington was born, for here 

 was his birthplace. Till within a few years, but a little 

 of the country besides the alluvial bottoms of the Poto- 

 mac or Rappahannock, such as those of Colonel Carter, 

 were considered worth cultivating. Now, a new era is 

 dawning upon this long-neglected, poverty-stricken por- 

 tion of Virginia. Guano, lime, plaster, bone dust, and 

 other fertilisers have been imported ; better plows, and 

 other implements used ; and if ever that adage was appli- 

 cable to any country, it is to this, for truly, the wilder- 

 ness has been made to blossom like the rose. Not only 

 the desert places in the forest have been renovated, but 

 such lands as those at Sabine Hall have been made to 

 double their products. 



Taking all things into consideration, there are few 

 more desirable sections of our great country than this 

 one, so long neglected and almost despised on account of 

 its poverty. Certainly, there are few places that have 

 more of the characteristics desirable to make a comfort- 

 able home, than can be found upon the fine plantation and 

 noble old hall of the place I have endeavored to draw such 

 a picture of as would interest my readers. 



Solon Robinson. 



Goths and Vandals vs. Shade Trees. 



[New York American Agriculturist, 10:237-38; Aug., 1851] 



[July ?, 1851] 



Some simple readers of history suppose this class of 

 people only existed in Europe; that they never overrun 

 America as they did Rome, carrying the besom of de- 

 struction in their front rank wherever they march, and 

 leaving their foot prints of fire, to show they have per- 

 formed their office faithfully, of cutting down and com- 

 mitting to the flames every fine old tree of age and beauty 

 they can lay their poisonous fangs upon. 



I have seen within a few weeks past, in the vicinity of 

 a great commercial town, the stumps of a hundred noble 



