IMMIGRATION INTO VIRGINIA. TO illX PAINTS. 



477 



lightened spirits, have taken tlie subject in hand. 

 I send you their Report, which it may be w ell 

 to preserve, as it may, in time to come, form an 

 interesting starting point in the history of an 

 agricultural settlement that could not fail, by the 

 influence of its example, to produce the happiest 

 effects on the agricultural interests of that neigh- 

 borhood. Who, in fact, can tell the benign re- 

 suits to which these Incipient measures may 

 lead? 



Let me close this hastj" letter by a few lines 

 from one who spoke in parables of wisdom : 



" Remember that time is money. He that 

 can earn ten shillings a day by his labor, and 

 goes abroad, or sits idle one-half that day, though 

 he spend but sLx^peuce during that diversion or 

 idleness, ought not to reckon that the only ex- 

 pense. He has really spent, or rather thrown 

 away, five shillings besides." 



It is but fair to add, that this village and vi- 

 cinity enjoy the benefit of cultivated societj-. 

 The presence of such as Dr. Scott, the President 

 of the Senate of this State, O.A.Browne, Mer- 

 ritt, and others who live here and hereabout, 

 would be suflBcient to give it that claim and ad- 

 vantage. The owners of land do not sufficiently 

 reflect how much the value of their fTropertj-, as 

 well as their own enjoyment and the welfare of 

 their families depend on good schools and good 

 society — in a word, on the reputation of a 

 neighborhood — for it may have its reputation as 

 well as an individual. If infested with thieves, 

 or what is as bad, made up in good part, of men 

 of licentious and dissipated habits, no matter 

 what may be the fertility of the land or the ad- 

 vantages of markets, or of health, prudent men 

 who are looking about for places to settle them- 

 selves or their sons, will eschew such neigh- 

 borhoods. Thej- may do for what are in the 

 slave States called " quarters," to employ sur- 

 plus force, but will never attract gentlemen who 

 wish to secure enjoyment and happiness for 

 their famihes. He remembers the proverb that 

 " A rotten apple injures its companions.'" 



Viator. 



REPORT IN RELATION TO THE PROB.VBLE 

 IM>UGR.iTION INTO LOWER VIRGINL\. 



The Committee to which was referred the 

 Resolution of the Petersburg Agricultural So- 

 ciety, adopted on the 27th of December last, in 

 relation to the probable immigration into Lower 

 Virginia of a number of farmers from New- 

 Jersey, offer the following Report : 



That they have regarded the subject as well 

 worthy the attention, not only of this Society, 

 but of Lower Virginia at large, whose prosperi- 

 ty could not fail to be promoted by ilie settle- 

 ment of industrious Northern farmers witliin its 

 limits. From the knowledge possessed by the 

 Committee, of the tide-water portion of the 

 State, they believe it to be unsurpassed in 

 natural advantages. The climate is mild and 

 genial, and generally salubrious ; the soil is 

 easy of culture, for the most part of good quali'j- 

 (1001) 



and susceptible of rapid improvement, and in 

 many places even of extraordinary fertility, 

 with the means of its restoration, when exhaust- 

 ed, nearly always at hand ; the surface of the 

 country is penetrated by a number of large, 

 navigable streams ; and the best markets in the 

 Union are accessible with but little inconve- 

 nience ; the various agricultural products of the 

 Middle States are capable of being grown to the 

 greatest advantage, and all the fruits of our coun- 

 try attain the highest perfection. Throughout 

 this ponion of the State, good lands may be 

 bought at tlie cheapest rates, according to their 

 situation — sa3-from three to ten or fifteen dollars 

 per acre — much less than the prices of lands 

 above tide water, especially in the counties ly- 

 ing along the base ot the Blue Ridge, and at a 

 still greater disproportion to the prices of lands 

 farther north. 



Your Committee would be rejoiced to be able 

 to offer sufficient inducements in our own imme- 

 diate .section of the State — that is to say, in tlie 

 counties contiguous to Petersburg — to the con- 

 sideration of those farmers of New-Jersey who 

 ppopose to emigrate to Virginia. The Commit- 

 tee have made a number of inquiries, and have 

 heard of many farms, and in some instances of 

 large bodies of lands in Chesterfield. Prince 

 George, Charles City, &c. which would be dis- 

 posed of by the proprietors on reasonable terms. 

 Some of these lands possess distinguished ad- 

 vantages. The price varies, of course, accord- 

 ing to the locality and the state of improvement 

 to which they have been brought ; but incon- 

 siderable in every- instance, your Committee be- 

 lieve, when compared to their intrinsic value, 

 and to the prices of lands in New-Jersey and 

 Pennsylvania. The Committee have received 

 a particular description of tliat part of Prince 

 George bordering on the Appomattox River, 

 between Petersburg and City Point, in which its 

 advantages are believed to be by no means over- 

 rated. The City Point Railroad on the south 

 side of the river, and the railroad from Port 

 \Valthall to Richmond on the opposite side — to 

 say nothing of the river itself^ afford facilities 

 for the transportation of all marketable produce 

 almost from the fai'mers' doors. Your Commit- 

 tee, however, have not deemed it necessary to 

 submit any minute descriptions of the several 

 localities which have been brought to their no- 

 tice, and conclude by recommending to the 

 meeting the adoption of the following Resolution: 



Resolned, That the Agent of the New-Jersey farm- 

 ers be respectfully invited to call at Petersburg on 

 his ^-isit to Virginia, and that the members of this So- 

 ciety be requested, individually, to otfer him the at- 

 tentions due to a brother farmer, and to render him 

 such aid as may enable him in the best manner to 

 accomplish the object of his mission. 



Petersburg, Feb. 6, 1846. 



To Mi.\ Pai.vts. — In mixing paints, observe 

 that for out-door tcork you must use, principally 

 or wholly, boiled oil. unless it be for the decora- 

 tive parts of houses, &.c. ; then mix as for in-door 

 work. For in-door work use linseed oil, tur- 

 pentine, and a litde " driers," observing tliat the 

 less oil, the less will be the gloss, and that for 

 •'flatted irhite," Sec, the color, being ground in 

 oil. will scarcely require any farther addition of 

 that article, as the object is to have it dull The 

 best '• driers " are ground litharge and sugar of 

 lead — the former for dark and middle tints, and 

 the latttr for light ones. 



