634 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



[No. 11 



come filled with the composition, it may escape 

 from the boxes in that way, and render frequent 

 examinations for the first few weeks, necessary. 



DESULTORY REMARKS ON RAIL ROADS, AND 

 OTHER PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



Camden, 8. C. Feb. 8, 1836. 



Accept my thanks for the Farmers' Register for 

 February, 1836. Its contents are useful, and well 

 worthy an attentive, perusal. 



The Petersburg and Richmond Rail Road Re- 

 port leads me to express my regret, that instead of 

 an attempt being made to bring two rail roads 

 to the Roanoke, the money destined to one had 

 not been applied to the laying down another link 

 from Raleigh to Fayetteville. " It would have ren- 

 dered more service to both Petersburg and Nor- 

 folk. The slang about the inlets of North Caroli- 

 na is, I see, revived; as though any thing could 

 attract to the coast, and thence, by the by, to New 

 York, (how patriotic find neighborly!) any pro- 

 duce which shall find its way to Gaston. The ca- 

 nal will take it to Norfolk. ''Raleigh" in the Ra- 

 leigh Register of the 2nd, says — "the Gaston road 

 will intercept all the trade from the west, and the 

 greater part of the products of east North Caroli- 

 na will be shipped from its coasts" — to where? 

 New York. This is an error; and fact upon tact, 

 like "Alp upon Alp," can be accumulated, to prove 

 it a grievous one. But I have no room tor argu- 

 ment! 



If the parties should fail to get subscriptions, 

 and can compromise, they should aid both roads 

 to Wilmington and Fayetteville, on condition that 

 the latter place especially, should extend one to 

 the state line, opposite Darlington, S. C. This it 

 must do in self-defence; for, with the disposition 

 in South Carolina, to bring a road from the Hick- 

 ory Gap, N. C. to Rutherford and Yorkville, S. C. 

 it is more than probable a road will be laid down 

 to Raleigh via Montgomery and Chatham: where- 

 as, if Wilmington and Fayetteville will unite with 

 Richmond, Anson and lower Mecklenburg, N. C. 

 the former will have the only chance it can have 

 of becoming a port. Thus, it may bring to the 

 Cape Fear all the trade of eastern South Carolina, 

 which Charleston is willing to exchange for — a 

 steam boat communication with Wilmington. 



I am astonished at Mr. Barton talking of the 

 rail road from Richmond to Lynchburg, being "a 

 rival improvement to that of the James." There 

 is room for both — the one for live lumber in the 

 6hape of both bipeds and quadrupeds — the other 

 for produce of a weightier and less elastic descrip- 

 tion. Mr. Barton does not recollect that the expe- 

 rience of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road, and, 

 I believe, that of Pennsylvania, has, and will de- 

 monstrate, that canals will "hold their own." 

 Hence, if my changed opinion is worth a straw, I 

 should say that a rail road from Lynchburg would 

 assist, instead of injuring the improvement of the 

 James; and I hope the legislature will grant a 

 charter, and a survey be commenced. Let not 

 Petersburg be alarmed. There is room enough 

 for Richmond, herself, and Norfolk. The Valley 

 folks will be at work for the benefit of Baltimore. 

 This should be well recollected. As to Buchanan 

 becoming the terminus of the Nashville road, it is 



out of the question: and moreover, it is a senti- 

 ment which, if you wish to keep up the spirits of 

 the Tennessees, Fast and Wesi, ought, not to be 

 even whispered. Mr. Barton says, "there is no 

 point where the salt and the plaster of Washing- 

 ton and Smythe can strike the James improve- 

 ment so cheaply, or at so short a distance as at 

 Buchanan." It can more "cheaply" at Richmond, 

 however different may be the distance. 



I have read Mr. Barbour's address with de- 

 light.* It should be printed as a tract and circu- 

 lated through the state. Can he obtain the aid of 

 any active member of Congress to the bill for en- 

 larging the Topographical Fngineer Corps? Can 

 he do more? Can he urge its duplication, its tripli- 

 cation, aye, its quadruplication, and get a party in 

 Congress to advocate a geological survey of the 

 United States,before Mr. Benton gets his fortifica- 

 tions erected at. places to which there are no roads, 

 or Mr. Clay gives the public money to be squan- 

 dered by quacks, who govern the legislatures of 

 many of the stales? 



I cannot but feel gratified at Mr. Walker's cor- 

 respondence in the Register. I think he is right, 

 and I should like to see a sort oi day of judg- 

 ment arrive, when all the arguments, and all the 

 theories, broached from 1789 to 1S36, and espe- 

 cially those on the subject of the United States 

 tariff, should be brought before the bar of public 

 opinion. I seriously ihink they would prove the 

 waste of much paper, ink and time; and what is 

 more, a serious injury to the body politic. Charles 

 Fox boasted his ignorance of political economy. 

 I believe him to have been right. 



We want a general view of the progress in Vir- 

 ginia and North Carolina of the rail road affair. 



Is the great road to be laid down from Win- 

 chester to the Tennessee line, and what is to be 

 done with Kentucky? Are the turnpike road pro- 

 prietors, from Augusta, (Ken.) to Frankfort, and 

 thence on both sides of the Kentucky, to near 

 Crab Orchard, prepared to yield their honest 

 claims and I hope profitable investments, to the 

 "splendid conceptions" of the Cincinnati and 

 Charleston road, and to cower to quacks, claiming 

 the original merit of a work already devised, and 

 partially carried into execution — at least, in such a 

 degree, as to have traversed half Kentucky, and 

 thus far to have commenced without their know- 

 ledge, omniscient as it is, a large portion of their 

 sage scheme? 



Are not the Louisville and Lexington Rail Road 

 proprietors prepared to bring their road via the 

 Licking to Evansham; and those of Evansham 

 to the Roanoke at Weldon, where, I repeat it, I 

 trust the road from Raleigh will terminate. 



1 will conclude this desultory epistle, by asking 

 your interference, and that of your friends in the 

 legislature of Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jer- 

 sey, and New York; in fovor of a clause in all 

 rail roads acts, to which these various states 

 contribute the public funds, by either loan, dona- 

 tion or subscription, compelling the companies so 

 sustained, to carry the United States mail free of 



*It is presumed that our correspondent refers to the 

 petition of the Agricultural Convention, to which the 

 name of Gov. Barbour, as President of the Convention, 

 is subscribed. The petition was written by James M. 

 Garnetr, Esq. — En. 



