300 HOW TO GET A FARM, 



hills and valleys of the South, purified and purged 

 of all the guilt of the past, clothed with a new and 

 richer verdure, will lift up their voices in thanks- 

 giving to the Author of all good, who has granted 

 to them, amidst the agonies of civil war, a new 

 birth and a glorious transfiguration. Then, the 

 people of the North and the people of the South, 

 will again become one people^ united in interests, in 

 pursuits, in intelligence, in religion, and in patriotic 

 devotion to our common country.&quot; 



]STo one who has not visited Virginia since her 

 desolation came upon her, can imagine how complete 

 and terrible it has been. When the army first pen 

 etrated the country beyond Alexandria, it was as 

 serted that the corps of axe-men was so large that it 

 levelled an acre of timber every ten minutes. But 

 much of this East Virginia land had been rendered 

 barren by a ruinous system of cultivation before in 

 vasion came. Farms were abandoned as worthless, 

 and were sold at one to five dollars per acre. Yet 

 there is no region in the Union containing finer 

 land than this. It is near to Alexandria, Washing 

 ton, and Georgetown, cash markets in which all that 

 a farmer can produce will sell at high prices. Its 

 soil is capable of the highest improvement at a 

 moderate cost, as was proved by numerous Northern 

 farmers who settled there previous to the rebellion. 

 They made it yield 40 bushels of wheat and 100 of 

 corn to the acre, and raised the market value of 

 their farms from $5 to $60. All these now deso 

 lated and abandoned lands must change owners. 

 They can be purchased at extremely low figures. 



