farmers' club in FAIRFAX COUNTY, VIRGINIA. 445 



FARMERS' CLUB IN FAIRFAX COUNTY, VIRGINIA. 



SETTLEMENT OF NORTHERN FARMERS IN THAT REGION. 



Having heard contradictoiy accounts of the piogrens of emigi'ation from the North into 

 Fairfax County, Virginia, and very diflerent statements lus to the success of the movement, 

 and whether their northern systems and liabits had l>een maintained and become contagious 

 in their new abodes, or whether they liad laid tliem down and taken up those of the sous 

 and daughters of the Old Dominion, we have been anxious to make personal observation to 

 ascertain the exact " state of the case " — more especially as it would have afforded the oc- 

 casion for brightening the chaui of afiection with some old fiiends in that quarter ; but so far 

 we have found it impossible to find time enough to giatify our wishes in that respect. 

 Aware that a gentleman from New-York, eveiy way reliable, respected wherever known 

 and well qualified to give the infonnation, had joined the settlers from that State, we ad- 

 dressed him a letter, of which we have no copy, but the tenor and purport of it may be 

 easily inferred from the contents of the following : 



J. S. Skinner, Esq. Lake Bokgne Place, PnosrECT IIili-, Fairfax Co., Va., liJth Jan. 1847. 



Dear Sir : In part compliance with the request contained in your letter of tlie 

 5th inst., I transmit you herewith a condensed outline of the Constitution of the 

 Farmers' Association formed in our neighborhood, and a general sketch of ihe 

 progress and results of northern and eastern emigration to this portion of Vir- 

 ginia, so far as I have been able to collect the same. 



1. The general objects of our Association are declared to be " the acquisition 

 and ditl'usion of useful and practical knowledge in reference to agricultural sci- 

 ence ; the most approved and successful modes of farin husbandry in all its de- 

 partments ; the most proiitable, judicious and economical application of labor and 

 capital in tilling the soil ; and the general relation and connection of physical, 

 moral, political and social science with agricultural improvement." Its officers 

 consist of a President, two Vice Presidents, a Corresponding and Recording Sec- 

 retary, a Treasurer and Librarian ; together with a Standing Committee of three, 

 charged with the selection and arrangement of topics for discussion and the ob- 

 taining of occasional lecturers, &c. The meetings are held monthly, and in the 

 evening ; the officers are annually elected ; and the topics for discussion are 

 taken up in their order as reported from time to time by the Committee, and 

 may be preceded or followed by resolutions enibracing the sense of the Associa- 

 tion, or of the member presenting them, on the subject matter under considera- 

 tion. The payment of lifiy cents on subscribing the Constitution, and the same 

 amount quarterly thereafter, constitutes the sole condition of membership. 



2. In reference to " the number of actual settlers from the IS'orth within a 

 given number of years, the quantity of land each has purchased, and the prices 

 given" — I am not prepared, at this time, to lurnish you with tliat full and ac- 

 curate statistical information which I hope io be able at a future period to ac- 

 complish through the agency of investigation to be set on foot by our Associa- 

 tion. By information, however, derived from the very intelligent Clerk of our 

 County Court, S. M. Ball, Esq., and from other reliable sources, I am enabled to 

 stale that not less than two hundred families have removed into this single 

 counir from the Northern and Eastern States within the past five years, and are 

 now domesticated here, without the remotest intention, wish, or desire, so far 

 as I can learn, to " take the back track " — that upward of $200,000 in the ag- 

 gregate have been invested by them in the purchase of land for farming pur- 

 poses ; and that the amount paid per acre for such land would not exceed, on an 

 average, from $5 to $S. The highest price ascertained to be paid is $26 for an 

 improved farm of two hundred acres, with buildings originally costing .1^7,000, 

 and the present value of which could not fall short of $'1,000. Lands of the 

 best quality, with ordinary improvements, may be obtained at prices varying 



