SOUTHERN AGRICULTURE VIRGINIA. 



41 



land. (Talbot,) was to be found the greatest ag- 

 gregate age in a like extent of equal popula- 

 tion, probably, in all the Union. It would be 

 hazarding nothing to assert, that with its soil 

 and facilities of navigation, the surface of these 

 alluvial Counties would not (with a skillful exer- 

 cise of human industry and talent acting on its 

 resources) bo cro'wded in conveniently, with a 

 five Ibid greater number, or, with 1,300,000 in- 

 habitants ! 



To blink these views would be about as wise 

 as the whistling of the boy to keep off ghosts as 

 he rides along, unexpectedly benighted, by an 

 old country church-yard. 



Let us now take up the Counties which con- 

 stitute strictly Middle Virginia — embracing 36 

 Counties. Of these the population, in 1818, was 

 UlJAl ; in 1820, 486,555 ; and in 1840, 510,930. 



Comparing the population of these Counties, 

 as it stood in 1810, with that of 1840, and also 

 with that of the intermediate year 1820, we see 

 how slow was the increase even where there 

 was any, and in some of the Counties there ap- 

 jiears to have been an actual decrease between 

 1820 and 1840 ! It is true that in some cases 

 these diminutions have arisen from division of 

 Counties, but the general results, however, are 

 in no serious manner affected. The ratio of in- 

 crease during the same period of 30 years from 

 1810 to 1840, vt'as here, again, but 1.14 per cent, 

 and, what is yet more significant of decay, (for 

 in such cases, with your neighbors pressing for- 

 ward, to stand still is to go backward,) the ra- 

 tio of increase during the last period of 20 years 

 from 1820 to 1840. was only 1.05, corresponding 

 with that in Lower Virginia in the period of 30 

 years from 1819 to 1840. 



Assuming the population in the aggregate of 

 these diirty-six Counties in J.Iiddle Virginia, on 

 an area of 24,300 square miles, to amount now, 

 in 1845, to 534,600, and the distributive popula- 

 tion would thou be only Ucenty-two to the 

 square mile ! 



The area of England has been variously es- 

 timated at from 50 to 57,960 square miles, and 

 its population, according to the census of 1831, 

 was 13,894,569, and in 1841, according to the 

 latest authority within convenient reach at this 

 moment, was estimated at 16,000,000. Sup- 

 posing England and Wales, then, to have a 

 population at this time, of 16,500,000, as we may, 

 and the square miles to be 55,000, and we have 

 a population of 300 to tlu3 square mile — with 

 about one-fourth part of the soil estimated yet 

 to be uncultivated. AU Europe, with a popu- 

 lation of at least 250,000,000 on a surface of 

 33,000,000 square miles, su.stains about 75 to the 

 square mile. These comparative views are 

 given to show^ the vast capabilities of Virginia ; 

 but how do the navigable rivers of England 

 compare with those of Virginia ? Take into \new 



the entire extent of Europe;»nd there is no risk 

 in estimating Middle Virginia as capable of 

 sustaining a more dense population than now 

 exists in Europe, surface compared with surface ; 

 but even with 75 to the square mile, and an ag- 

 gregate arises of 1,822,000. 



Take, now, the 52 remaining Counties, com- 

 posing Western Virginia, and they present an 

 aggregate population in 1840 of 432,855. The 

 progi'essive population of these Counties could 

 not be given, because in tlie period from the 

 first census down to 1840, such have been the 

 extensive changes of old Counties and the crea- 

 tion of new ones, as to preclude any analysis. 



West Virginia comprises an area of 28,000 

 square miles, which, divided by 52 counties, 

 gives to each a surface, within a very small 

 fraction of 500 square miles, and her distributive 

 population is 15 to tlie mile. 



SUMMARY OF ALL VIRGINIA, 



DIVIDED ONLY INTO EAST AND WEST ACCORDING TO 

 THE CENSUS OF 1840. 



Area in Pop. in 

 Sections. Whites. Colored, sq.m. sq.m. 



Eaft and Jlid. Va. 369,398 437,544 33,175 30 

 West Va. 371,.570 61,285 28,000 15 



749,968 498,829 

 1,239,797 



61,175 a»..20 



Total, 



Total population. 



The very unequal distribution of the colored 

 race, on the two great sections of Virginia, 

 must strike every one ■whose attention is turned 

 to the subject. The verj^ thin general popula- 

 tion is, again, a far more serious matter. We 

 have already shown, over the State, that every 

 individual counts against thirty acres of land, 

 very nearly. To cure any evil it is necessary 

 to look it fearlessly in the face. As Burns says, 



" O vrad some Power the gifue gie us, 

 To see oursels as ithers see us." 



The subjoined tabular view ought to cany its 

 lesson in solemn admonition to more States than 

 Virginia: 



The States which border on Virginia are — 



Totals, 220,5:50 6,075,189 ar...24 23 



But remember how lately Ohio was under 

 Ten-itorial Government. In 1800 her whole 

 population was but 35,36,5, while that of Vir- 

 ginia was 880,200. In 1840 the pojmlation of 

 Virginia had risen to 1,239,797, when Ohio had 

 gone up to 1,519,467. What must have been, 

 during that time, the appreciation in the value 

 of her lands! Marjdand, nearly resemblin* 

 Virginia in her laws, policy, institutions, and 

 the nature of her natural advantages and re- 

 sources, has in Jiffy years increased but 160,000. 



