1838] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



749 



state, and the prolession to vvln'ch they belnn<j, 

 Ohio can boast of a Harrison, Kentucky a Clay, 

 South Carolina a Waddill, ami Tennessee, and 

 all the western states, are indebted to Virginia for 

 then- distinguished men. 



But we can only boast now o\' what Virginia 

 has been, and the remains oriier Washington and 

 other worthies. They rest in her lap, entombed 

 in her soil; yes, their bones are now mouldering in 

 silent clay, and when we ibrget Virginia and her 

 distinguished sons, we shall cease to live; for we 

 are bound to the old Dominion by the tenderest 

 ties of love and affection; the mind dwells on her 

 ficenes, with mingled sensations of pleasure and 

 pain; but as near our hearts, and as tender as 

 these recollections are, like all temporal things, 

 they must be dissolved. 



Perhaps Virginia has answered the great pur- 

 poses for which she was intended; she may have 

 effected her object in raising up distinguished 

 eons, for great and mighty purposes; some of 

 whom are now adorning other states. I am con- 

 strained to say that if a correct system of agricul- 

 ture and education could have been kept up in 

 V^irginia, emigration would have been triflintr in 

 comparison to what it has been, and the old Do- 

 minion would number at this time between two 

 and three millions. 



Virginia has lost her forest, and exhausted her 

 lands. Since the declaration of independence, 62 

 years ago, she has perhaps grown two millions 

 Fix hundred thousand hogsheads of tobacco,* 

 which would, if placed lengthwise, touching each 

 other, Ibrm an extended line from New York to 

 Liverpool, and it" the average be §50 per hhd., the 

 gross product will amount to the enormous sum of 

 one hundred and thirty millions of dollars; deduct 

 half for cost of culture, and there will remain six- 

 ty-five millions net. A very large portion ofthis 

 money has been paid out of the state: while Vir- 

 ginia was engaged in making tobacco, neglecting 

 her institutions of learning, other states were edu- 

 cating her sons, and the hard earnings of the 

 planters have gone to northern schools and col- 

 leges. The old Dominion has paid in the last 50 

 years five millions of dollars for the education of 

 her faculty, every dollar paid out of the state; half 

 has been given to the Jefl'erson college and Uni- 

 versity of Pennsylvania; and the other half to 

 medical schools throughout the United States and 

 in Europe. If Richmond 50 years ago had had a 

 university, the high character of the state would 

 have filled the various chairs with distinguished 

 professors; Virginia's sons would have been edu- 

 cated at home, the northern drain cut off, and emi- 

 gration stayed, and why? Because the university 

 would have had the support and patronage of Vir- 

 ginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, 

 the Avestern states, and indeed the whole union; 

 millions would have been saved, and the popula- 

 tion of Richmond this day would exceed one hun- 

 dred thousand souls. 



But let us turn from this gloomy picture ; has 

 Virginia fallen never to rise again? I am not en- 



* Three millions hhJs. is probably nearer the truth 

 than the above statement, the gross product of which 

 would be, at the same rate, one hundred and fifty mil- 

 lions of dollars. Deduct one half for cost of culture, 

 there will remain seventy-five millions of dollars net 

 profit. W. B. S. 



tirely prepared to answer the question, but this I 

 will say, that the old J)oniiiiion can yet boast of' 

 distinguished, enter[)rising sons, men that would 

 do honor to this, or any other age; and although 

 she has fiillen fi-om her high estate, I say high, ibr 

 her soul reached high, notwithstanding she has 

 fiillen apparently; I look forward to the time when 

 she will rise again with renovated soil, and her 

 worn hills and dales, galls, gullies and steril 

 fields yield, in abundance, wine and oil, milk and 

 honey, the finer fabrics of cotton, flax, wool and 

 silk, together with grass, grain and lowing herds, 

 giving to the agriculturist '"'a feast of fat things." 

 Yes, this great revolution will take place; the tide 

 of emigration will roll back, and the tobacco re- 

 gion in eastern Virginia, become studded with 

 manufacturing villages and towns, and Norfolk 

 the New York of the east. But it may be asked, 

 what will bring about such a revolution? I an- 

 swer interna! improvement. Our numerous rivers, 

 the finest in the world, connected with railroads 

 throughout Virginia, extending their branches and 

 arms into other stales, giving facilities of travel 

 throughout the extended hounds of the union, all 

 connected directly with the great Atlantic sea- 

 board, must and will produce a wonderful revolu- 

 tion, and that in a short time. Independent of 

 this, eastern Virginia was intended by nature for 

 farming and manulacturing purposes; for surely no 

 part of the habitable globe is more highly favored 

 with water power, or more favorable to the pro- 

 duction of grass, grain, vines, pulse, roots and 

 fruits. Manufacturing establishments are found 

 at this time throughout eastern Virginia; they 

 have taken root in Petersburg, Richmond and 

 Alexandria, and we can but hope their march will 

 be onward. 



4ihly. We come now directly to the subject 

 before us, can we dispense with the culture of 

 tobacco in eastern Virginia? My answer to the 

 question is, that we can, and must give up the 

 tobacco culture ; the time has arrived when we 

 are under the necessity of looking out lor a new 

 staple. What shall we substitute for tobacco? 

 If called on to answer the inquiry, I would say 

 that the silk culture in all probability will succeed 

 the tobacco culture, and become the staple in 

 eastern Virginia. We are in want of a perma- 

 nent staple, one that will support us and reclaim 

 our own worn and exhausted farms. I know 

 nothing better calculated to efiect this great object 

 than the silk-culture and growing the Chinese mul- 

 berry, the morus MULTICAUIvIS. 



I will now attempt to prove, that in the present 

 exhausted stale of our lands, little or no profit is 

 derived from the cultivation of tobacco. 



I shall confine myself principally to one acre of 

 ground, and one laborer, and in making my cal- 

 culations, have not taken any account of planta- 

 tion tools, teams, or the value of land. Tobacco 

 will be credited at §8 per cwt. lugs $4 50, wheat 

 SI per bushel, corn 80 cts. per bushel, potatoes 75 

 cts per bushel, pork ^7 50 per cwt. beef 750 per 

 cwt., silk i§4 per lb., labor 25 cents per day. 



I am aware that the prices and calculations will 

 be found incorrect, they are given lor what they 

 are worth, with many grains of allowance. My 

 tobacco, wheat and corn calculations are taken 

 whh alterations from similar estimates made by 

 an able intelligent writer over the signature of 

 "E," in the April No. of the Farmers' Register 

 for 1837. 



