326 HENRY COUNTY. 



Face of the Country, Nature of the Soil. — The face 

 of the country is uneven. The bottom lands are fertile, com- 

 manding $15 per acre, and are well adapted to cotton and 

 corn. The mulatto or hickory lands are productive, and sell 

 for $10 per acre. Common gray lands are vi^orth from $5 to 

 $6 per acre. Ridge lands from $1 to $2 per acre. 



Minerals. — Iron, tourmaline, flint, quartz, &c. Gold has 

 been found on Walnut creek, but not in quantities sufficient 

 to justify labour. 



Manufactures, Mills. — One cotton factory near McDo- 

 nough. 



Merchant-mills, . . 4 



Saw-mills, ... 8 



Grist-mills, ... 14 



Distilleries, . . . 6 or 7 



Roads. — The roads and bridges are much neglected. 



Average Product per Acre. — 



Cotton averages 500 pounds per acre. 



Corn " . . 4 barrels " 



Wheat " . . 12 " 



Name. — This county bears the name of Patrick Henry, of 

 whom Mr. Jefferson said he was the greatest orator that ever 

 lived, and to whom Mr. Randolph applied the scriptural expres- 

 sion, '' Never man spake like this man." The life of Mr. Henry 

 has been written by the Hon. William Wirt ; but as this vol- 

 ume may not be accessible to most of our readers, we shall 

 freely make such extracts from it as will serve to give an idea 

 of the principal incidents of the life, and the most striking 

 features in the character of the great Virginia orator, states- 

 man, and patriot. Patrick Henry was born on the 27th of 

 May, 1736, in Hanover county, Virginia. The advantages 

 of an education were within his reach, but so irksome did he 

 find the restraints and confinement of a school, that he made 

 but little progress in his studies. His gun and fishing-rod were 

 preferred to Horace and Euclid. At the age of fifteen, he en- 

 gaged in mercantile business, but its drudgery he found to be 

 as ill suited to his taste as the confinement of a school, and 

 at the expiration of a very short period, this was abandoned. 

 At 18 years of age he married, and directed his attention to 



