308 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 5 



ed planes with frightful decUvities; these were only 

 intended for the tranppurtation of merchandise; 

 but it is now announced that travelling coaches 

 ((Its diligences) are establis^iied, at the risk of 

 breaking ihe necks of the travellt-rs."* 



Descending the valley of the Juniata, through 

 the counties of Huntingdon, Juniata, Perry, &c. 

 to the junction of the Juniata with the Susque- 

 hanna, and following the course of the latter ri- 

 ver, we reached Harrisburg, the seal of Pennsyl- 

 vaiua government, about midnight, and in about 

 thirty-six hours after leaving Hollidaysburg. The 

 valley of the Juniata is wider, and far better cul- 

 tivated than that of the Kiskeniinetas. The 

 houses of the farmers are mostly of brick or stone, 

 and good comibrtahle dwellings. The larms 

 were in neat order, and the wheat fields looked 

 very luxuriant. Farming land in this valley, I 

 was inlbrmed, sold at about forty dollars an acre, 

 containing an average portion of highland and 

 low ground. The highlands seem generally to be 

 but of moderate quality, and the mountains, which 

 bind the valley throughout, are poor, steep, and 

 rocky, and bear only a lew scrub pines — resembling 

 very much the mountain range between Fincastle 

 in Virginia and the Sweet Springs. Indeed I felt 

 quite surprised to find so large a part of Pennsyl- 

 vania poor and mountainous. The traveller does 

 not escape from the mountain region until he ap- 

 proaches the neighborhood of Harrisburg, and in 

 passing from Pitts;>urg to Philadelphia, he sees 

 nothing but narrow valleys and poor mountains, 

 lor three-fourths of the distance. 



Since the valley of the Juniata has been canal- 

 led, the farmers sell every thing they have to 

 spare, in the form of provisions, at good prices. 

 Eutter at twenty cents, beef at ten cents per 

 pound, &c. The captain of the canal-boat in- 

 formed me these prices were readily given, every 

 thing being nearly equally dear, and it was diffi- 

 cult to procure an adequate supply even at these 

 rates. No money but of the best kind would be 

 taken in payment. 



At Harrisburg, a raih"oad commences, belong- 

 ing to a private company, to which travellers of 

 the packet line are transferred, and which commu- 

 nicates with the slate railroad, fi'om Columbia to 

 Philadelphia. A rapid transit of one day over 

 this space, aiibrded little opportunity for agricultu- 

 ral observation. I noticed, however, in the neigh- 

 borhood of Harrisburg, some galled and gullied 

 fields, (a sight too familiar to the eye of a Vir- 

 ginian.) 1 did not expect this from the reported 

 excellence of Pennsylvania fiirming. In the coun- 

 ties of Lancaster and Chester, the farms ap- 

 peared small, (judging from the great number of 

 good dwelling-houses in the vicinity of each oth- 

 er,) and the cultivation good. But the soil did 

 not seem to possess the fertility usually ascribed 

 to it. Many farmers were actively engaged in 

 liming iheif fields, I presume for corn. The 

 wheat crop looked worse than I had seen it any 

 where, throughout my whole journey. 



Ft must occur to a most superficial observ^er, 

 that the country traversed by railroads and canals 



*Lettres sur I'Amerique, du Nord, Toroe Jer, p. 

 133. ^ 



from Philadelphia to Pittsburg, is greatly inferior^ 

 in natural advantages, to that through Virginia* 

 contemplated lor the James River and Kanawha 

 improvement. The open country of Virginia, ia 

 at least as good as that of Pennsylvania, and her 

 mountain region is incalculably superior. That of 

 Pennsylvania being steep and steril, with the ex- 

 ception of a few narrow valleys, while the moun- 

 tainous portion of Virginia is very fertile, the val- 

 leys being rich and extensive, and the ridges ara- 

 ble to a great extent, and where not so, in most 

 cases capable of afibrding good pasturage. It is 

 plain, in a mere pecuniary point of view, Penn- 

 sylvania can only receive compensation tor her 

 great and spirited works, from the western trade. 

 Virginia, exclusive of the western trade, lor the en- 

 joyment of which she will have many advan- 

 tages, will be repaid by the improvement and traf- 

 fic of Iier own territory, which has now scarcely 

 any outlet to market, and is in a situation similar 

 to that of the western part of the state of New 

 York before the construction of the Hudson and 

 Erie canal. 



Very large quantities of produce and merchan- 

 dise are transported on the Pennsylvania canal 

 and railioad. The tolls received on that line, 

 fi-om the opening of navigation in the spring to 

 June 2, of the present year, amounted to §561.635. 

 74. The price of transportation, too, is quite mo- 

 derate ; die carriage of a barrel of flour fi^um 

 Pittsburg to Philadelphia amounting only to one 

 dollar and twelve and a half cents, over a distance 

 of tour hundred and seventy-three miles, it being 

 actually less than it often costs to send one from 

 this neighborhood to Richmond, very little more 

 than a fourth of the distance.* 



When will the people of the south learn to 

 avail themselves of the blessings Providence has 

 showered around them '? Never, I lear, until the 

 wealth and strength of the nation is irreparably 

 concentrated in the north. I am by no means 

 envious of our northern brethren. I heartily wish 

 them success in every legitinuie enterprise ; but I 

 really feel mortified, that they should so fiir exceed 

 us in all the enterprises of public utility. It is said of 

 Dean Swift, that riding out it: his latter years, in 

 the neighborhood of Dublin, he saw a new build- 

 ing going up, and asking wh^t it was, was told it 

 was a magazine. He expressed himself in the 

 following impromptu, which I am obliged to quote 

 from memory : 



"Here's a proof of Irish sense, ; 



Here Irish wit is seen : 

 When nothing's left that's worth defence. 



We build a magazine." 



And when nothing is left worth struggling for, we 

 will prosecute works of internal improvernent. 



My journey aflbrded nothing worth communi- 

 cating (torn Philadelphia to Virginia. 



Thos. Massie. 



* I have seen it recently stated in the National In- 

 telligencer, that tobacco this season has been brought 

 up ttie Mississippi to Pittsburg, and transported thence 

 by way of the Pennsylvania canal and railroad to the 

 Baltimore marlcet. 



