1S37J 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



305 



lem|its to iiicreiise ihe feliliiy ofllicFoil ;irn ill- 

 jiuliijcd, yet lliere iire means ciiou'ili wliicli are 

 profiialile; aiul ilieh' is no case in wliich tlie owii- 

 v.r of a liirni, can be most. lteneruei.t by its exhaus- 

 tion. The many, then, who waver between the 

 two opjiosiie cases, ooulii scarcely remain uninllu- 

 enced by the 7uoral consideration, that, on tiie 

 course of lUrmmg which shall be i)ursued b}'' each 

 iniii vidua!, tlie conilbrt, nay, even the existence 

 ol" thousands of human beings will depend. 



For the purpose of illustration, 1 will compare 

 the course of two cull iv'atois ol" my acquaintance. 



N , inherited a liuin and stocU, capaltle ol' 



well supportino; an industrious and economical 

 man, but which, il left to the sole manaijement of 

 an overseer, and treated accordiuix to the then 

 usual practice, would not have paid the expense 

 ol' cultivation for many years. Fortunately he 

 knew what course would most promote his interest. 

 For thirty years, he has not ceased slrivinif to 

 make two blades of grass, where one only grew 

 belbre, and he has met with the success which his 

 exertions deserved. He rejected all improvements 

 (improperly so called) which promisetl not to re- 

 turn some clear profit on the capital invested, but 

 considered no improvement loo laborious or ex- 

 pensive, from which he could, with certaintij, de- 

 rive the principal and interest of the first cost. 

 lie bought no land which he was not fully able to 

 .stock, or that would not yield more clear profit, on 

 the purchase money, than he could have obtained 

 from investing the sum in making additional im- 

 provements on the land already in his posses- 

 sion. At this time, by means oi' improvement of 

 the soil, and extended tillage, he makes crops six 

 times greater than when he commenced. Though 



N , has thus eminently promoted the public 



weal, it was without caring for it: his vievvs were 

 exclusively directed to the advancement of his own 

 private interest. He is obedient to the laws of his 

 country, and just and honest in all his dealings, 

 because he knowns that such is his best policy; 

 but in no case does he allow his interest to yield 

 to that of" others, and perhaps never performed an 

 act of real generosity ui his life. 



F , is directly the reverse of N , in dis- 

 position, character, and habits. Indolent, and liav- 

 ing no fondness for farming, his business has been 

 entirely conducted by his overseers; and accord- 

 ing to the usual maxims which very naturally 

 govern such gentry, they have exhausted his land 

 as fast as they could clear it. Nothing but the 

 immense fortune which their employer possessed, 

 prevented him from living as most landholders in 

 lower Virginia have done, on all of his annual in- 

 crease, and part of his capital. But F -, is 



moderate in his desires, and therelbre not of ex- 

 pensive Ixabits; and notwithstanding his bad man- 

 agement, his income has allowed him to continue 

 purchasing land, until he owns almost as much as 

 a German principality. By these means, his an- 

 nual crops are not materially lessened, though 

 every field is in its turn destroyed, and deserted 

 for a new one. Though he does not obtain two 

 per cent, from his capital, yet as still less sufficies 

 for his support, he considers his wealth increas- 

 ing as ra|)idly as the number of his acres. Ac- 

 cording to the usual calculation of profit, injury to 

 the land is not taken into consideration. It is evi- 

 dent however, that the mode of cultivation pur- 

 sued by F -, is merelv abstracting the whole 



Vol. V— 39 



fertility of one field, in the fiirm of tobacco, wheat 

 and corn, and ajiplying it to another in the form 

 of piu'chase money. What was said of the fa- 

 n)ou3 conqnerer and destroyer, Atlila, "that the 

 grass ceased to grow where his horse I'laced his 



loot," applies with more truth to my frictid F . 



Notwithstanding his many virtues, he has to the 

 fullest extent which his means permitted, been 

 the destroyer of grass, of grain, and consequently, 

 of men. Famine mftrches alter him, and will not 

 commit the less havoc because he himself is able 

 to keep beyond her reach. 



F , is remarkable for his kindness and li- 

 berality to the poor. Besides fre(|uent occasional 

 acts of charity to others, he has long supjiortcd 

 several families, who would perish without such 

 aid. I know how to estimate the motives, and ac- 

 cording totheiTi, to respect these two individuals. 

 But thinr private virtues and vices, have nothing 

 to do with my subject, except so far as the conse- 

 quences of tliem affect the public good. F— — , 

 supports by his benevolence, twenty persons, and 

 has destroyed the means of subsistence lor 500, 

 which in effect, is equal to starving, or preventing 

 the existence of" as many. N ; has given noth- 

 ing in charity, but has given in the ttages of labor 



more than F 's wages and alms together: he 



has increased the production of the earth enough 

 for food lor 500 persons, and therelbre he has in- 

 creas(!d population to that amount, though not at 

 all by the Hindoo mode, as he has no children 

 It is very true that these people must, work to ob- 

 tain N 's increased product; and so much the 



better. His improvements will not die with him, 

 nor will the corporeal powers of this laboring pop- 

 ulation, and their descendants or successors which 

 will continue to earn and consume it. The coun- 

 try is not benefited only by havinij its population 

 increased by 500 persons; if they were all drones, 

 they w"ould rather be an evil. But the people 

 who eat N ^'s corn are field laborers, mechan- 

 ics, manulacturers, sailors, and merchants, all of 

 whom are continually increaingthe national wealth 

 by their industry, as well as its strength, by their 



numbers. F ''s charity has served not only to 



support several families, but has doubled their 

 number, by the births which have taken place 

 since they partook of his bounty. After his death, 

 they t!!ust still be supported by others, or starve. 

 They are not able to add any thing by their labor 

 to the public stock, and though the children will 

 hereafter be able, their present situation is the 

 worst of all schools to acquire habits ot' indus- 

 try. Were all our land holders like N , the 



wealth and population of the state would quickly 



be doubled. Were all like F , with all his 



virtues, wealth and population would rapidly di- 

 minish, until the country became a desert. Thou- 

 sands are pursuing the ruinous course of the lat- 

 ter; very few cultivate so asalike to increase the 

 national resources and their own. 



My opinonon this subject, taught me to expect 

 but little increase in the population of Virginia, 

 and not to be disappointed in the report, of the last 

 census, which shows a gsin; of but ten per cent, 

 in the last ten years. But for the recently awa- 

 kened spirit ot airricultural improvement, (the im- 

 pulse to which, we owe principally to the author 

 of Arator,) I think that the tide-water ditsrict 

 would have suffered a considerable diminution. 

 As much vacant land as this district contains, 



