236 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 4. 



still smaller amount of land "turned out,") is un- 

 der a crop once a year. Of course, supposing 

 products to continue equal, there is twice the amount 

 qf cultivation, of amount of crop made, and of 

 laboring and consuming population, as there would 

 be if the land was at rest, and producing no crop 

 two years in four. The people are in an uncom- 

 mon and remarkable degree, (for Virginians, I 

 grieve to say — ) attached to the place of their na- 

 tivity, and seldom think of emigrating to the far 

 west, or even to the "Western Shore," (as they 

 call all Virginia except their own narrow streak of 

 land,) unless driven by the impossibility of obtain- 

 ing a laborious support at home. It ibllows that 

 the people are too many for the land, as it now 

 produces, and the demand for land, both on pur- 

 chase and rent, is as high as the profits of culti- 

 vation will permit — but not higher than that point, 

 as is abundantly proved by the permanency of 

 such prices, as well as by other circumstances. 

 It may be safely asserted, that the average price 

 of land in Northampton, is three times as high as 

 that of the average of the lands in Prince George 

 and Surry, which border James River and extend 

 back eight miles, and lor nearly all of which, 

 marl might be used with sufficient facility and 

 profit — an immense benefit of which the Eastern 

 Shore is deprived. In all that space, embracing 

 some of the best and some of the poorest land 

 in Virginia, though there are a few tracts which 

 might sell for ^30 the acre, the average price 

 would hardly exceed $5 — and many tracts con- 

 taining marl, notwithstanding the increased de- 

 mand and price for such land, would sell ibr S3. 

 In Northampton, there is but little land (excluding 

 the sea islands,) under $14, and much would now 

 «ell for more than $20 — and the average price 

 throughout would not be less than $15. "it may 

 however be objected, that such prices cannot be 

 founded on correct estimates of profit, and there- 

 fore are no certain evidence of value. It would 

 be Very difficult to put down such an objection to 

 high prices, if every man tilled his own land. But 

 the best proof is offered here in the fact, that a 

 considerable proportion of the soil is regularly 

 tilled by tenants, and that there is demand for all 

 offered to be rented out, at such shares of the crops 

 ns will pay six per cent, net, on the purchase, at 

 the high existing rates. This is sufficient proof 

 that the landlord can afford to buy and to retain 

 land at the present prices. And if a tenant pays 

 too high rent, he cannot fail to make the discovery 

 by the time, a year has passed. It may be safely 

 assumed that annual rents, in general in every 

 country, and especially in the United States, can 

 never remain higher than tenants can afford to 

 pay. Poor land is here rented, and cultivated in 

 the ordinary rotation, at never less than one-third 

 of the grain, and also of the smaller, yet impor- 

 tant crops of castor bean and sweet potatoes. If 

 of a little better quality, (andj'et such as appeared 

 to me quite poor,) it will pay two-fifths of the corn, 

 and one-third of the oats and other smaller crops. 

 Good land, say any yielding four barrels of corn, 

 may be readily rented to tenants for one-half the 

 crops made. The landlord keeps the buildings in 

 repair, and the tenant the fences. For land of 

 apparently equal productiveness in Prince George, 

 not half the same nominal rent can be obtained— 

 nor can lands be rented out at all, as a regular and 

 continuing system, to any who will so^cultivate 



and manage them, as not, to injure their value 

 nearly as much as the amount of rent is worth. 

 From all that has been heard on this subject, I 

 cannot but believe that the lands of Northampton 

 are well worth their present prices, under their pre- 

 sent management: and, if from so slight a glance 

 I may presume to offer the opinion, it seems 

 equally clear, that by retaining what is really 

 excellent in their system, avoiding some very ge- 

 neral errors, and adopting means for additional 

 improvement, which are quite available and yet. 

 almost totally neglected, that the same exercise 

 of industry and economy so directed, would ad- 

 vance the net profits, and of course the prices of 

 land, to the double of the present estimates. 



It is admitted that there are reasons why the 

 Northampton lands should be worth more in pro- 

 portion to their average and continued returns to 

 the acre, than most other lands. Such reasons 

 are presented in the almost entire absence of all 

 waste and worthless spots, whether in ravines or 

 hill-sides, or for want of drainage — great ease of 

 tillage, caused by the soil being level, dry, and 

 light, and by its being kept always clean by annu- 

 al cropping. But though these are important 

 causes of value, they are not greater than the dif- 

 ferent advantages which other lands west of the 

 Chesapeake possess, and which, notwithstanding, 

 are at prices very far inferior. The cheapness 

 and profit of marling on many poor soils, and 

 their after fitness for wheat and clover husbandry, 

 and the. natural fertility of the best soils, seem to 

 be at least a fair compensation for the want of 

 other advantages peculiar to the Eastern Shore. 

 If then the latter lands are held at fair prices, as 

 there seems no ground to doubt, the good or im- 

 provable lands west of the bay are just as much 

 below fair prices, as they arc below the usual 

 prices in Northampton. Why this remarkable 

 difference should exist, is an interesting subject for 

 inquiry, and the results would serve to throw much 

 light on the causes of the general decline and low 

 state of the prices and profits of landed property 

 in Virginia. From the slight view which I have 

 been able to take, it appears that the principal 

 cause of the remarkable difference in the. prices of 

 lands on the Eastern Shore and in the balance of 

 lower Virginia, is found in the difference of the 

 modes of thinking and acting as to continued resi- 

 dence, and emigration. It may be said truly that 

 the people of the Eastern Shore only, of all the 

 inhabitants of Virginia, as a community, feel that 

 they are at home — that they and their children are 

 to live and die where they were born, and have to 

 make the best of their situation. Compared with 

 this state of things, the population of the balance 

 of Virginia may be considered as in a state of 

 transition — having future migration in prospect, 

 either for themselves or for their children. If only 

 one-third of the community are operated on di- 

 rectly by such considerations, they are enough to 

 bring all the lands of the country to the prices and 

 condition of their own. With so much land al- 

 ways offered for sale, and at almost any sacrifice, 

 the prices of all must necessarily and continually 

 decline. The formerly contented and industrious 

 and successful improver of his farm, finds that it 

 has sunk in price more than his expense incurred 

 for its improvement — and that he might have 

 bought at a lower price the lands about to be de- 

 serted by his neighbors. Hence grows discour- 



