FARMERS' REGISTER 



171 



Burfacp, and the slight descent that exists agreeing 

 with the course of the heavy products ; there are 

 ■others, in the cheiipness of excavation, ihe clieap- 

 ness of the hmd iiscif, and liie abundance of tim- 

 ber, wliich si ill covert! most of these poor lands. 



The lines lor railways have always been clioscn 

 (o suit the inicrests of existing towns ; and there- 

 fore there lias been but little regard paid lo the re- 

 mariiable facilities oli'ered by the natiiial forma- 

 tion of the lace of the country. Every considera- 

 ble railway yet constructed in Virginia, crosses the 

 direction ofthe ridges and the sireams.and no where 

 coincides for any considerable length with the sum- 

 mits of a ridge. The survey, however, of the rail- 

 way proposed from Petersburg to Faimville, (and 

 which, fortunately lor the subscribers could not 

 command support enouyh to be undertaken,) 

 was made Ibr nearly its whole extent on a ridge of 

 the kind described, (that which divides the tribu- 

 taries of the Appomattox, ft"om those of the Not- 

 toway and Meherrin rivers,) and the report of the 

 engineer served lo confirm fully the views above 

 exhibited, and (hose which caused that route to 

 be chosen. Except for the short distance at each 

 end, where the level route oflered by nature was 

 departed from to reach the towns of Petersburg 

 and Farmville, the railway might have been made 

 on as perlect a level as any alluvial flat would fur- 

 nish, and without crossing a single depression or 

 stream, excetit fnim choice, to shorten the distance 

 of tlie loo crooked ridge. But this level route of 

 about 50 miles is far li'om being the full extent, 

 even in a generally direct line. If the continua- 

 tion of tiie most level natural route had been the 

 object sought, and not the termination being made 

 at existing marls, the same ridge miixht have been 

 pursued, without any material departure from a 

 level or from a direct route, westwardly to the 

 spurs of the mountains, and eastvvardly to the 

 tide-water of JaniPs River. Again — if after pass- 

 ing above the highest head springs of the Meher- 

 rin, another branch route were to be pursued 

 through the south-east part of Prince Edward 

 county, and nearly along the line which separates 

 that county h-om Lunenburg, and thence south 

 and south-westwardly through Charlotte county to 

 Moseley's Ferry, then such a continuous ridse- 

 route would be found extending about 110 miles 

 from the lower James River to the Roanoke, and 

 departing no where materially from a level, except 

 immediately at its two terminations, where neces- 

 sary to descend the banks of the rivers. This ex- 

 ample is presented to exhibit the peculiar nature 

 and great extent of these ridges, and not to pro- 

 pose such a visionary scheme as the execution of 

 any such railway, or so unprofitable an investment 

 as any railway, in addition to those already con- 

 structed in Virginia. 



Lest it should appear, by omitting the mention- 

 ing of them, that there are no other soils in lower 

 Virginia than the ridge-lands and the slopes, 

 with the low bottom lands interspersed among the 

 latter class, I will merely bring to the reader's no- 

 tice the naturally rich soils of the river banks, 

 which are indeed of small amount in proportion to 

 the general surlace, and of various textures and 

 kinds, but all as remarkable for natural and long 

 enduring fertiUty, as most of the other high lands 

 are for the opposite qualities. These rich but nar- 

 row margins of the tide-water rivers, are rarely 

 taore than half a mile wide, and sometimes not 



fifty yards, on the Iiigher banks. On the lower 

 lying lands they are much wider ; and some ofthe 

 largest as well as most fertile farms are formed 

 principally of such soils, as Sandy Point, Bran- 

 don, Weyanoke, Wesiover, Berkeley, Shirley, 

 Curie's, &c., on James River. These bodies of 

 low, though perliecily dry lands, are generally in 

 the form of peninsulas, or "necks," extending into 

 the river, and their lormation was manilesily the 

 result of ancient alluvion, or by the deposile of a 

 wide and dee|)ly overspreading flood, which was 

 poured in a torrent in the same direction as the 

 now low and gentle current continues to flow to- 

 wards the ocean. To return to the supposition 

 presented (for the purpose of illustration,) in the 

 first part of this article, it would seem that when 

 the whole territory was covered with one unilonn 

 and level deposite of earth from a previously co- 

 vering flood, and that, after the earth was left na- 

 ked, the rivers remained dammed up, and unable to 

 pass by sufficient channels to the ocean. But that 

 at last the barriers gave way through the present 

 channels of the rivers, and the enormously accu- 

 mulated flood passed off', leaving abundant evi- 

 dences of its effects produced in that passage, 

 when the voluine and force of tlie water was per- 

 haps a thousand limes greater ihan of" the rivers 

 in their present state. The obvious alluvial origin 

 of the lands above named, and many others, 

 though lliey are far higher than the present high- 

 est wdlers, the depressions furrowed out in the pe- 

 ninsulas and promontories, and their direction to- 

 wards the east, the order in which earthy depo- 

 sites were left, in conformity with the lavvs of spe- 

 cific gravity and the suspension of solids in mov- 

 ing water, the narrow feriiie margins of the highest 

 of Ihe river banks, all show beyond question the 

 former action of either the still or the rapid waters 

 of a flood perhaps 100 feet higher than the pre- 

 sent level of tide. It was by Hie intermixture of 

 soils thus caused, and especially by the bringing 

 down and spreading widely the fine calcareous 

 earth from the mountain region, that the very nar- 

 row strips along the tide-Vi^aters were made so fer- 

 tile, and present so striking a contrast to the great 

 body of the country. This small portion of land 

 was thus marled and made fertile by the direct 

 agency of the Creator; and to those of his crea- 

 tures who would rightly observe and reason upon 

 this operation, it also offers a revelation to men, 

 and instruction conveyed by practical illustration 

 and example, of the manner in which they may 

 proceed and themselves imitate, if not quite equal, 

 the great fertilizing works of nature. E. R. 



GRAFTING OS THE WILD CHERRY. 



From the New Genesee Fanner. 

 Some three or four years since, [ observed an 

 article in the Genesee Farmer, stating that the 

 cultivated cherry would not grow when inoculated 

 or engrafted on the wild black cherr3^ Seeing no 

 good reason why it should not, I determined to try 

 the experiment. I procured and planted some of 

 the seeds ; they grew and produced fine thrifty 

 stocks. A year ago last summer I had some of 

 them inoculated from our best English cherries. 

 I examined them in the autumn, and they ap- 

 peared to do well. Last spring, I had some fifty 



