^[)t jTarmcv's iHmitljlij bisitov. 



105 



by northern fuiineis was only necessary to turn 

 the ehliinj; tide of poverty from this iiiicitiit 

 county. A single successful exauiiile of u norlh- 

 erii farmer, not afraid to labor, introduced others 

 in that vicinity. Men in New York and Con- 

 necticut, who could sell their lands at home lor 

 from sixty to iiii hiiudrnd dollars the acre, and 

 buy other lands equally good by natm-o, within 

 ten miles of the seal of the National govornineut, 

 could not long hesitate. Accordingly the county 

 of Fairfax numbers at this time, some humheds 

 of Northern farmers, who find the means of 

 thrift in a near marliet, upon a soil where the 

 means of resuscitation and restoration are 

 near at hand in all directions. 



What is especially worthy the attention of the 

 tiortliern farmer, is the ficility of transport in 

 the exclmnge of northern and southern produc«. 

 The early vegetables aie ripe at Norfolk nearly 

 two inoutlis before they are at Uosion. How 

 easy would it be lor the garden fanners near our 

 cities, to send out their knowledge, and to own 

 farnis some six hundred miles south, enabling 

 them to double the time and sales whirh the 

 northern farms and gardens could supply of 

 themselves.' The eommiiMication of a genlle- 

 inan of the society of Friends in New Jersey, 

 which is given below, is worthy the attention of 

 the North, as well as of Virginia herself. — Editor 

 Visttor. 



Prospect in Eastern Virginia for new Settlers. 



To THE Editor. — If we examine a map of the 

 United States, we shall find that Virginia occu- 

 pies a position the most favored by nature of 

 any of her sister republics. In her southern 

 counties, cotton, the fig, and other plants be- 

 longing to the warmest climates, flourish — the 

 fig staniliug the winter without any protection. — 

 III all the southern ami eastern counties, slieip 

 and cattle live out all winter, and really need but 

 little shelter or fodder, in the central mountain 

 region, and the northern and western parts of 

 the State, the climate approaches that of sonth- 

 ern Pennsylvania and New Jersey. 



There is likewise a gieat variety of soil suited 

 to the growth of every production of the temper- 

 ate regions of the earth; while in many of the 

 eastern counties the richest marls are abundant 

 and of easy access, to sustain and increase the 

 fertility of the land. Both climate and soil 

 seem better adapted to the growth and perfec- 

 tion of all the finer iVuits, than any other portion 

 of the United States; and 1 believe the time is 

 is not distant when this region willsup|)ly all the 

 northern cities with fruits and vegetables in great 

 abundance and perliiction. 



The Potomac, Rappahannock, York, and James 

 rivers, penetrate the eastern comities, and with 

 their branches furnish the means for transpor- 

 tation, not only to the northern States, but to all 

 the world besides. Steamboats leave Norlblk in 

 the extreme southeast part of the Slaie late in 

 the evening, and arrive in Baltimore before sun- 

 rise the next morning; so that a farmer or hor- 

 ticulturist in the vicinity of Norfolk, can attend 

 the B-dtimore or Washington markets as easily, 

 anil have his fruits and vegetables, or meats and 

 poultry there just iis fresli as one wiihin a iiiiie 

 of thrive cities. The run Iroin Norfolk to Phila- 

 delphia, or New York, with a good steamer, 

 would occupy but a few hours; and as soon as 

 there is business made for the boats, they will be 

 there ready. During the last year a single in- 

 dividual received $.5000 for cucumbers alone,* 

 which he raised iiivir Norfolk, and sold to supply 

 the New York market ; and the qaantity ofgi ecu 

 jieas, tomatoes, jjotatoes, green corn, &c., sent 

 from that region, is surprising to many — during 

 the present year large quantities of peaches will 

 also be sent. Tliis business isonlyinits very 

 infancy in Virginia, and is, as yet, confined to the 

 neighborhood of Norfolk and Portsmouth, where 



♦Tliree years a^n, a friend of tlie editor's, who went from 

 New Jersey to the nei;:libnrhood of Portsinorith, Va., luld 

 him lie had paid the suniiner Ijefore, the sum of $1200 freigbt 

 on vegetables, sent tu the rhiladeljdiia market. — £d. 



much of the soil is admirably ada])ted to these 

 productions. 



On the upper part of Jumes river, say halfway 

 from Old Point Comfort to Richmond, the banks 

 become high, the country is free tiom marshes 

 and swamps, and situations are abundant where 

 there is no danger to health to be apprehen- 

 ded. The same remarks apply to the penin- 

 sulas between the James and the York rivers, 

 the York and the Rappahannock, and between 

 the latter and the Potumae. 



In answer to my iinpiiries res|ipcting the health, 

 &c., of these peninsulas, a highly respectable 

 physician .-ays, "our crniiate is delightful, our 

 snniineis tempered by the sea breeze, which is 

 as regular as the trade winds, are much less op- 

 pressive than at the north ; and our winters are 

 short, and so mild, that many farmers do not house 

 their stock, or lt:ed them at all. 



" Our bills of mortality will compare favora- 

 bly «itli those of any other part of the Union be- 

 low the iiioniitain range. \Ve have no epidem- 

 ics, no consumption, rarely pleurisy or rheuma- 

 tism. It IS notorious, that before the Revolution, 

 when this was really a garden spot, persons fioin 

 the up|)er country came liere annually in the 

 snnimer for health." 



The same intelligent writer says, " It must be 

 pleasing to a Virginian to see the attention of 

 respectable and enlightened strangers directed 

 to the valu.-ible but neglected lands of the Slate. 

 That the importance of her soil and locality are 

 bei'oming daily more and more appreciated, ad- 

 mits of no doubt. Already a considerable emi- 

 gration from the north has been directed towards 

 us; and in Fairfax county lands which were 

 thrown out as valueless, have been so improved 

 by the judicious management of their new pro- 

 prietors, as to rival in production our best farms; 

 producing from ten to fifteen bushels of wheat, 

 and thirty and forty of corn. 



"Iflhiscanbe effected in what lias always 

 been considered almost the poorest part of our 

 State, what might not be expected Irom a dis- 

 trict of country, which as you justly say, has been, 

 and may again he made the garden spot of the 

 United Slates. 



"In this region shell marl abounds, jind is used 

 with the most decided benefit. I know of farnis 

 in the vicinity of Williamsburg, which ten years 

 ago, would not produce ten bushels of corn to 

 the acre, now producing thirty, from no other 

 assistance than marl. 



" Wo have no scarcity of excellent water, and 

 our soil is based upon clay. White clover is 

 indigenous, and v^ith the slightest assistance 

 from liinc and animal manures, red clover grows 

 most luxmianily. I have raised as fine as I ever 

 saw in Pennsylvania." 



A letter from Westmoreland county says, 

 "from four to f^ix tljoii.saiid acres can be had in 

 the same neighborhood, where it is healthy and 

 convenient to the Potomac and Rappahaiinoek 

 rivers; the unimproved land, from S3 to .'44, and 

 that which is improved, from $5 to $10 per 

 acre." 



Another describes a " firm of 300 acres, with 

 a new comfiirtalile dwelling, on the niain road — 

 price S(j per acre." 



Other letters describe lands in almost any 

 qiiantily, in this region, at prices varying from 

 Si to .*5 or .^6 [ler acre. It may be asked bow 

 it can be, that in a cnnnlry so bles.sed by nature, 

 with the most genial climate, vva'ered by a pro- 

 fusion of rivers and stretims, wliicli abound wiih 

 the finest fish and oysters; and with soil which, 

 wherever it is pixqierly used, produces equal to 

 any other — has become so poor as lo be aband- 

 oned, and thrown out, as waste and valueless? 



Intelligent Virginians can easily give a satis- 

 factoiy answer to such questions: and they are 

 becoming (iwake throngiiotit the Slate, to the ne- 

 cessity of applying the only remedy to redeem 

 their beautiful country, and restore their noble 

 •' old dominion" to her proper and rightful rank 

 ill the great confederacy, of which she was once 

 at the head. 



The agriculturists have from the beginning 

 pni'siied a course which would inevitably impov- 

 erish any country upon the earth ; they have 

 cropped the soil incessaiitly, without even per- 

 mitting it to rest a single season, with tobacco, 

 wheat, and corn, as long as it would produce 

 enough to pay the labor of tillage, without re- 

 turning to it the least particle of manure of any 



kind. And when by this mm-derous system they 

 got all they could, they have abandoned their old 

 fields and cdeared otf the adjacent lore^ls, sub- 

 jecting its soil lo tlie same piocess, until most of 

 the siirliice of the eastern pan of the State baa 

 been robbed of its li'rliliiy ; and uhiM-e the pal- 

 aces of the statesman of the Kcvohilion stood, 

 surrounded by all the beauties ol' the most luxu- 

 riant vegetation, Udihing but a wilderness now 

 appears, and the wild deer and ivild lurkies have 

 returned in abundance, and enjoy a mure unin- 

 terrupted freedom than they can find in the 

 wilds of the " far West." 



One of my correspondents, a resident and a 

 native of the Southern jiait of the Stale, sass, 

 "Nature has dime every thing for it, wliilu it has 

 been the work of man to inutilale and destroy. 

 Whenever it shall arise, as it were, from the 

 dust, it will be one of the most delight- 

 ful countries in the \xorld. V\ heiever the spirit 

 of improvement has been manifcsled, its salubri- 

 ty has been found to be equal to that of any other 

 (lortion of llie State. Our large larmers do not, 

 ill most instances, make one per cent, profit on 

 their estates ; indeed they become involved deep- 

 er and deeper in debt every year; and from lime 

 to lime have to sell ulf the increase of their 

 slaves, — if not wmse — in order to keep up. IJul 

 it is hard to change old habits. There is a great 

 want of every thing like energy and good man- 

 agement in our population at large. Now and 

 then we meet w itii a prosperous liirmer, but they 

 constitute exceptions lo a general rule. 



Another writer, who ofiers a large tract of land 

 with a good mill seat upon it, in Westmoreland — 

 the county which gave birth to Washington — for 

 .S5 per acre, says, " Should you come to Virginia, 

 you must expect to see every thing in the liirni- 

 ing way as liir down the hill as it can be ; but I 

 hope there is a better day ahead. You will find 

 warm-hearted and kiml-heai ted peiqile ; and 

 people who obey the laws, and never iiilerlere 

 with other people's business ; and, by the by, not 

 much with their own." 



I will make another short extract from a very 

 recent letter, which answers the question ihor- 

 oiigbly. "Nature has done every thing lo fit ibis 

 country for the abode of man, hut man, by a 

 course of conduct in opposition to the Divine 

 harmony, has marred the works of his iiJaker. 

 Our political eiiqiirics have prescribed various 

 remedies, but few have been bold enough yet lo 

 prescribe the only one thai can prove eflectual. 

 There is one black spot which must b ; wiped 

 away, before our regeiierali(ui can take place. — 

 When two of the tribes of Israel wished to set- 

 tle on the easl bank of Jiu'dan, they were told 

 that if their motives were bad, their simooxddfnd 

 tliein out. Thus it niiist be in all ages of the 

 world." 



liilelligent freemen, who are willing and not 

 ashamed to earn their bread by the sweat of their 

 own brows, could soon make these desert places 

 fruitful as a garden ; and I feel anxious that my 

 northern brethren, who ihink of clian:;ing their 

 homes, should look at the advantages of this lii- 

 vored country, before thoy go to the liir West, iind 

 fare worse. 



Ill a future nuinber I will describe some fine 

 estates in the upper country, which possess 

 ilislingiiished advantages, and are offered at very 

 low prices. 



Persons desirous of going to Virginia to see 

 the country, may obtain any informalion in the 

 possession of the writer, either |iersoiially, or by 

 letter, post paiil, directed to Moorestown, Bur- 

 lington counir, N. J. 



S. S. GRISCO.M 



Moorestown, J^f. J., Sixth mo., 1846. 



Lime — Ijiportant to Fakmfus. — It is staled 

 in the American Aiiricnlinrisl that one farmer 

 saved his crop of clover from destriiciion by the 

 slii^; or small snail, on land beariiiir a wheat crop, 

 by a slight dressing of powdered lime, scattered 

 lliroiigh a clover-seed inai-hine, late in the eve- 

 ning, when ihe insects were busy at their work. 

 These insects, in some regions are very trouble- 

 some — often pcrpetraiing much damage to the 

 crops, especially in spring. If lime is a [-reven- 

 tive, the fact deserves to be extensively known. 

 Salt is sometimes used successfully in arreMing 

 llieir ravages, and so, also, we are inforined, is 

 sulphur. 



