AGRICULTURE IN LOWER VIRGINIA. 57 



<lcpth of 20 feet, was put into our hands by Col. John Lewis of Virginia, was com- 

 mitted for examinatioQ to a distinguished Professor of South Carolina College, 

 which is now, as is known, under the Presidency of that accomplished scholar 

 and eloquent Senator, Preston. It looked more like granulated coal or gunpow- 

 der than soil. 



Below we give the results, taking occasion to add that we have another speci- 

 men, from Mr. Calhoun's celebrated estate, in a different part of the " cane-brake " 

 country, which wc hope to get yet more exactly analyzed. 



Columbia College, S. C. June 30th, 1846. 



Dear Sir : I have not been able to submit the specimeu of soil which was sent me, 

 through you, by Mr. Skinner, to a minute examination. One or two experiments, however, 

 touvinced me that its extraonliiuiry cliaracter for fertility is not dne to calcareous matter, as 

 was supposed ; but to its thorough impregnation with minutely divided organic matter de- 

 rived from the animal kingdom. That such is the c;ise is evident from the great amount of 

 ammonia which it is capable of yielding, and from the presence of notable quantities of the 

 phosphates. I pui-pose at a future period to make such a miimte examination of this soil as 

 its import<mce deserves, and will inibnn you of the I'esults. 



I am just recovering fl'om an attack of fever, and scarcely al)le to hold a pen. 



Very respectfully yours, WILLIAM H. ELLET. 



To Col. Wade IlAMrxoN. 



AGRICULTURE IN LOWER AaRGINIA. 



J. S. Skinneb, Editor Farmers' Library : Washington, June 27, 1846. 



My Dear Sir: Although you paid me the compliment to write me to pre- 

 pare an article for your agricultural journal, on the former and present state of 

 Agriculture in the tide-water country of Virginia, 1 cannot pretend to undertake 

 the task, with my limited extent of information in regard to it ; but I will re- 

 mark, as the result of my observations during the last twenty years, that there 

 has been an evident improvement, especially along the Rappahannock, some 

 twenty miles below Fredericksburg. Within that period the products of some 

 of the plantations have greatly increased. Bare fields a few years since have be- 

 come rich pastures ; the stock of all kinds have improved in blood and charac- 

 ter ; dwellings and farm-houses have very generally become more suitable for 

 the purposes of their construction, while soine few expensive and beautiful resi- 

 dences have been built, and neat and appropriate churches erected — all indi- 

 cating an advancement in refinement, comfort, and morals. The inhabitants of 

 lower Virginia have become more frugal in their habits, and less addicted to plea- 

 sure and dissipation, and more devoted to agricultural pursuits ; as large estates 

 have been divided and sub-divided. Necessity, perhaps, has given a spur to in- 

 dustry and economy, as prices of produce have declined ; and, by intercourse 

 with their countrymen of other States, which was almost interdicted before the 

 introduction of travel by steam power, and the extension of knowledge by agri- 

 cultural works, the lowlanders of Virginia have introduced among them the results 

 of experience elsewhere, and the advantages of a superior kind of farming uten- 

 sils. In the acgregate, larger crops of grain are probably made in nearly every 

 county in Virginia, than when a former proprietor of" Mount Airy " occasionally 

 sent in one year thirty thousand bushels of wheat to market, which sold at about 

 two dollars a bushel. The estate referred to has been divided into some dozen 

 parts, and one or more parts, on an average, produces more, some double the quan- 

 tity, than the same parts produced twenty years ago. This increased product, 

 with fewer laborers, has been produced by the improved mode of Agriculture, 

 chiefly by manures, draining, and suspension of too much grazing. Marl, lime, 

 clover and plaster, have contributed to these results, besides the judicious appli- 

 cation of other manures. 



But why should I endeavor to instruct you, sir, as to the present mode of Ag- 

 riculture in lower Virginia? It diff'ers but little from that on the Eastern Shore 

 of Maryland ; and have you not studied " "Wye" like a book ? From the "Wye" 

 and " Mount Airy '" estates, large numbers of the efficient hands have been seat 



(1531 



