138 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 3. 



far my little experience goes in favor of potash as 

 a manure; but I much desire that some of thy sub- 

 scribers, of larger experience, and abler pens, 

 would favor us with light on this interesting sub- 

 ject. 



t. d. 



Burlington Aih mo. 8th, 1S35. 



[The foregoing statement shows that potash is, for 

 the first year, as productive a manure as leeched ashes, 

 and at only one -third of the cost. But the writer is 

 greatly mistaken in supposing the fertilizing principles 

 of both to be the same. They may be similar and* 

 equal in the effects produced, but are still very differ- 

 ent in composition. If the ashes were completely 

 "leeched," they were deprived entirely of that sub- 

 stance of which the other manure consisted entirely. 

 The fertilizing principles of such ashes, consist prin- 

 cipally of, first, carbonate of lime, second, phosphate 

 of lime, (far more valuable than the carbonate,) and if 

 obtained from a soap factory, of some quick lime be- 

 sides, added to aid the separation of the potash. All 

 these last are permanent manures — and the potash be- 

 ing a soluble substance, and applied in small quantities, 

 is probably of transient benefit. — Ed. Fahm. Reg.] 



William and Mary College, } 

 June 3, 1835. $ 

 To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



Dear Sir — Since my article on the fluctua- 

 tion of price was forwarded to you, the stockhold- 

 ers of the James and Kanawha improvement 

 have met, organized the company of directors, 

 and appointed their president. The directors, I 

 understand, are intelligent, business men, station- 

 ed along the whole line of the contemplated im- 

 provement, and earnestly devoted to its ad- 

 vancement. The gentleman whom they have 

 chosen president has devoted the last six or seven 

 years of his life almost exclusively to the cause 

 of internal improvement. He has displayed in 

 its behalf ability, untiring zeal, and persevering 

 industry, almost unparalleled. Under these fa- 

 vorable auspices, the great central improvement of 

 Virginia will no doubt be quickly executed — pro- 

 ducing an influence on the economical, political, 

 and moral condition of our state almost incalculable. 



In the exposition which I have given of prices 

 I have spoken of the deleterious drain of our pop- 

 ulation and capital to the west, and its effect on 

 the price of real property, and of labor in Virginia. 

 The contemplated improvement in our state is 

 calculated to exercise so salutary and so powerful 

 a counteracting influence in this respect, that I 

 have supposed my article on price would be in- 

 complete without this little addendum, explaining 

 briefly my views of the. operation of' the James 

 and Kanawha improvement on emigration, and 

 on the prices of real property, and labor. 

 With high respect, &c. 



T. B. DEW. 



THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE JAMES AND KA- 

 NAWHA RIVERS MISCHIEVOUS EFFECTS 



OF THE EMIGRATION TO THE WEST. 



For the last half century Virginia has been 

 pouring forth upon the regions of the west the full 

 tide of emigration. She may be literally said to 



have become the "fruitful mother of empires." 

 Her population and capital, almost as fast as they 

 have increased, have been swept off by this tide 

 to the distant west, and the soil of Virginia has 

 been left comparatively naked and unimproved, 

 whilst this mania has been operating. Is there a 

 young man of promise, upon whose education the 

 kind father has almost exhausted his resources'? 

 How apt is he, when he arrives at the age of ma- 

 turity, to ask for his little patrimony, and move off 

 to the far west. And the hardy laborer, whose 

 strength and industry constitutes his only property, 

 is disposed to follow on in the same direction, 

 where imagination presents in brilliant colors to his 

 view, ample fields and large domains which are 

 to be all his own, and where, in the decline of life, 

 he is to enjoy bweet contentment in the lap of lux- 

 ury and ease. 



The evil effect which this emigration has pro- 

 duced on the condition of Virginia is almost incal- 

 culable. It is one of the principal causes of our 

 stationary condition, and of the great depression 

 in the price of real property. 



The injury resulting from this emigration is 

 much more than in proportion to the mere num- 

 bers who leave us. In the first place, the great 

 majority of emigrants consists of males, who are 

 all over the world more productive laborers than 

 iemales, and these males are generally between 

 eighteen and thirty, at that period of life when 

 their labor is worth most to society. Up to the 

 age of eighteen, generally, the individual is what 

 the economists call an unproductive consumer, and 

 therefore a burden to the state. 



In the second place, the laborers who emigrate 

 are generally among the most efficient and enter- 

 prising, because, as a citizen of the west once ob- 

 served to me, in his strong but unpolished lan- 

 guage — "it is only the most energetic and hardy 

 who can boldly resolve to pull up stakes and move 

 from their homes." 



In the third place, many young men whom we 

 lose by this emigration to the west, are those upon 

 whose education there has been made considera- 

 ble expenditure, and who are always to be ranked 

 among our most valuable citizens, both in a moral 

 and politico-economical view. The man who in 

 any of the learned professions is making $2000 

 by the exercise of his talents, is worth in an eco- 

 nomical light, four times as much as the sim- 

 ple laborer who earns but $500, and more still in 

 a moral point of view. 



In the fourth place, a large proportion of the 

 emigrants to the west take along with them a very 

 considerable amount of the accumulated capital 

 of the state, and this paralizes our agriculture and 

 commerce. 



Influence of our central improvement on emigra- 

 tion. 



Let us now examine into the probable opera- 

 tion of the James and Kanawha improvement on 

 this tendency to emigration. And first, upon tho 

 emigration of western Virginia. For some years 

 past, the emigration from the western and middle 

 counties of Virginia has been as great or perhaps 

 greater than from the eastern. The western por- 

 tion of Virginia, situated at a great distance from 

 market, possessing roads and improvements of tha 

 most wretched character, is necessarily forced to 



