FARMERS' REGISTER— HENRICO LANDS AND HUSBANDRY. 



655 



shall be convinced of the action of plaster, and 

 adopt its free use on such lands as are adaj)ted to 

 it, tlie improvement will be more rapid. It will 

 cost them but little, since the hauling, so very ex- 

 pensive to the upland larmer, will cost them no- 

 thing. Its benefit to clover, wherever that can be 

 made to grow, if sown when the clover is lour or 

 five inches higli, ought now to be conceded by 

 every one; no matter what be the nature or lo- 

 cality of the land. The prejudices against this 

 manure have arisen, in too many cases, from the 

 vast quantities of utterly worthless gypsum that 

 have been sold in our markets. No one can judge 

 of its qualiiies when ground, Avithout the aid of 

 chemical tests — but in the lump, nothing is easier. 

 Perhaps there is scarcely anv ditlerence in the 

 value of the blue and the red. The lump should 

 look rich and oily. The more isinglass the better. 

 Those lumps tliat have a Avhitc, dry, huskj^ ap- 

 pearance, are little better than so nuich chalk, j 

 The appointment of a vigilant inspector of plaster, 

 might prevent the importation ot the inferior ar- 

 ticle. I have found it to act more powerfully on 

 all our gravelly knolls and hill-sides, than on any 

 other land. I have, however, never used it to any 

 great extent; though lamiliar with its use in the 

 ujiper country, tor twenty-five years. 



The granite ledge of rocks that cause the falls 

 in all our piriaicipal rivers, passes off from Rich- 

 mond in nearly a north direction, showing itself 

 in this county Avhere the old stage road to Freder- 

 icksburg, crosses the Brook Run and the Chicka- 

 homony. Above this line, both li-ee stone and 

 granite are often found in abundance; but not be- 

 low. Below, we sometimes meet with rocks of a 

 reddish or yellow color, that appear to have gone 

 through powerful fusion. These are not often 

 found so numerous as to interfere with agricultural 

 operations. The great coal field of Virginia also 

 passes through this county a lew miles, say eight, 

 above the ledge of granite rocks; and there are 

 several pits, that have been some time profitably 

 worked. But these matters belong to the geolo- 

 gist. 



JNIany enterprising persons have taken hold of 

 small farms, from thirty to one hundred and fifty 

 acres, immediately in the vicinity of Richmond, 

 and in some instances, six or seven miles ofij and 

 have improved and beautified them very much, 

 whhin the last filteen or eighteen years. The 

 great majority of these persons either reside in 

 Richmond, or are engaged in business there. The 

 changes since 1813, Avhen I first carefully exam- 

 ined the country around that place, have been 

 strikingly great. In many places, enterprising 

 men have committed the whortleberry bushes and 

 grubs and roots to the fiames — sent the scrub pine, 

 black jacks, and mossy giuiis, as wood to market 

 —turned the frogs out of their element, and starved 

 the craw-fish — putting in the stead of these, al- 

 ternate crops of luxuriant grass and grain. Hedges 

 and ditchers, and plank enclosures, have talcen the 

 place of the old worm fences — young orchards 

 and vineyards are beginning to yield both delight 

 and profft — and neat cottages smile amidst the 

 foliage of choice ornamental trees. The most of 

 these changes are only the ground work, the com- 

 mencement of what another twenty years may 

 complete. The oj^erators on a large scale, are 

 more distant from the city, and have only aimed 

 at the melioration of the soil, and the production 



of the more necessary articles of comlbrt. But 

 there is gradually spreading a spirit of improve- 

 ment in every thing connected with horticulture 

 and agriculture. JVIarket gardens and dairies, 

 those indispensable sources of good living in a 

 city, are fiist increasing and improving; and if 

 Virginia is not to be actually given up to the 

 occupancy of wild beasts and talking politicians, 

 her people, every where, will bestir themselves to 

 make the most of the great natural advantages 

 which providence has bestowed upon them, and. 

 upon which too many of us have lived, like prodi- 

 gal heirs, upon the wasting legacy of a provident 

 j)arcnt. Virginia I yes, devoted Virginia! pre- 

 sented and sacrificed upon the altar of patriotism, 

 a rich, a glorious empire. Under the same feeling, 

 and too confident a reliance on her own virtue and 

 power, she has permitted her veins to be opened, 

 and for more than half ;i centurj*, looked upon the 

 outpouring of her life-blood, without efi'orts to stop 

 it. She has seen almost a new world peopled by 

 her loorking population, her youth of promise and 

 of genius! But for the hope of a change for the 

 better, in her public policy and its necessary effect 

 on domesfic interests, we should soon have seen 

 our country thrown back far beyond any intel- 

 lectual condition we have ever held. We might 

 have retained an ignorant, oppressed mass of citi- 

 zens, obedient to a few lordlings, who would do as 

 they please, no matter whether their vassals ap- 

 proved or not. We might have offered the very 

 best arena for hunting the fox, the deer, the bear, 

 the jianther, the wild boar. We might have 

 eclipsed Arabia in the beauty, the fleetness and 

 lastingness of the race horse. Yes,, we might 

 even have out voted an}" one of more than a dozen 

 states in the union, and still have been flattered by 

 mock aj:;peals to our renown and moral influence ! 

 But in despite of our supineness 'and apathy, 

 circumstances and the march of imj^rovement in 

 other states, appear to be elbowing our legislature 

 and ])eople into motion. Some valuable channels 

 of intercommunication have been already opened. 

 When the Roanoke shall be finally improved — ■ 

 when its rich stayiles can, cheaply, seek a market 

 either in Norfolk or Petersburg — when the north- 

 ern extremity of the Great V'alley beyond the 

 mountains shall have the choice of the District or 

 the Baltimore markets — when the cis and trans- 

 montane region nearest to Fredericksburir, shall 

 have easy access to that fine town — when the 

 great central improvement by means of the James 

 and Roanoke shall, with its lateral branches, offer 

 the Richmond market to the Ohio country and 

 East Tennessee — when a line of rail roads and 

 steam boats shall connect the extreme north with 

 the extreme south of the union — when all these 

 things shall occur — and circumstances are rapidly 

 briuixing them about — our situation will be essen- 

 tially difi'erent. New life, new animation will be 

 imparted to the whole state. Richmond already 

 feels the spring of such a hope. Nature has de- 

 signed for that place, a destiny beyond the ken of 

 any living man. A climate as salubrious as any 

 within our zone; alike free from the rigors of the 

 north, or the enerA-ating sickening heat of the 

 south — favorably located for commerce — a great 

 tobacco and wheat market, and within reach of 

 immense supplies of cotton — with sufficient water 

 power to manufacture for half the union — exhaust- 

 less beds of coal near at hand — and the nearest 



