304 



Prospects in Virginia for new Settlers. 



Vol. X. 



serve, as it may, in time to come, form an 

 interesting- starting point in the history o' 

 an agricultural settlement that could not 

 fail,^by the influence of its example, to pro- 

 duce the happiest effects on the agricultural 

 interests of that neighbourhood. Who, in 

 fact, can tell the benign results to which 

 these incipient measures may lead ? 



Let me close this hasty letter by a few 

 lines from one who spoke in parables of wis- 

 dom: 



" Remember that time is money. He that 

 .can earn ten shillings a day by his labour, 

 and goes abroad, or sits idle one-half that 

 day, though he spend but sixpence during 

 that diversion or idleness, ought not to reckon 

 that the only expense. He has really spent, 

 .or rather thrown away, five shillings be- 

 sides." 



It is but fair to add, that this village and 

 vicinity enjoy the benefit of cultivated so- 

 ciety. The presence of such as Dr. Scott, 

 the President of the Senate of this State, 

 O. A. Browne, Merritt, and others who live 

 here and hereabout, would be sufficient to 

 give it that claim and advantage. The 

 owners of land do not sufficiently reflect 

 how much the value of their property, as 

 well as their own enjoyment and the wel- 

 fare of their families depend on good schools 

 and good society — in a word, on the reputa- 

 tion of a neighbourhood — for it may have 

 its reputation as well as an individual. If 

 infested with thieves, or what is as bad, 

 made up in good part, of men of licentious 

 and dissipated habits, no matter what may 

 be the fertility of the land or the advan- 

 tages of markets, or of health ; prudent men 

 who are looking about for places to settle 

 themselves or their sons, will eschew such 

 neighbourhoods. They may do for what are 

 in the slave States called "quarters," to em- 

 ploy surplus force, but will never attract 

 gentlemen who wish to secure enjoyment 

 and happiness for their families. He remem- 

 bers the proverb, that " A rotten apple in- 

 jures its companions."" 

 , Viator. 



Report in relation to the probable im7nigra- 

 tion into lower Virginia. 



The committee to which was referred the 

 Resolution of the Petersburg Agricultural 

 Society, adopted on the 27th of December 

 last, in relation to the probable immigration 

 into Lower Virginia of a number of farmers 

 from New Jersey, offer the following Report: 



That they have regarded the subject as 

 well worthy the attention, not only of this 

 Society, but of Lower Virginia at large, 

 whose prosperity could not fail to be pro- 



moted by the settlement of industrious 

 .Northern farmers within its limits. From 

 the knowledge possessed by the committee, 

 of the tide-water portion of the State, they 

 believe it to be unsurpassed in natural ad- 

 vantages. The climate is mild and genial, 

 and generall}^ salubrious; the soil is easy of 

 culture, for the most part of good quality 

 and susceptible of rapid improvement, and 

 in many places even of extraordinary fer- 

 tility, with the means of its restoration, 

 when exhausted, nearly always at hand; 

 the surface of the country is penetrated by 

 a number of large, navigable streams; and 

 the best markets in the Union are accessible 

 with but little inconvenience; the various 

 agricultural products of the middle States 

 are capable of being grown to the greatest 

 advantage, and all the fruits of our country 

 attain the highest perfection. Throughout 

 jthis portion of the State good lands may be 

 bought at the cheapest rates, according to 

 their situation — say from three to ten or fif- 

 jteen dollars per acre — much less than the 

 i prices of lands above tide-water, especially 

 in the counties lying along the base of the 

 JBlue Ridge, and at a still greater dispropor- 

 tion to the prices of lands further north. 

 I Your committee would be rejoiced to be 

 able to offer sufficient inducements in our 

 !own immediate section of the State — that 

 'is to say, in the counties contiguous to 

 Petersburg — to the consideration of those 

 j farmers of New Jersey who propose to emi- 

 I grate to Virginia. The committee have 

 'made a number of inquiries, and have heard 

 I of many farms, and in some instances of 

 'large bodies of lands in Chesterfield, Prince 

 'George, Charles City, &.C., which would be 

 I disposed of by the proprietors on reasonable 

 terms. Some of these lands possess distin- 

 guished advantages. The price varies, of 

 course, according to the locality and the 

 state of improvement to which they have 

 been brought; but inconsiderable in every 

 instance, your committee believe, when com- 

 pared to their intrinsic value, and to the 

 prices of lands in New Jersey and Pennsyl- 

 vania. The committee have received a par- 

 ticular description of that part of Prince 

 George bordering on the Appomattox river, 

 between Petersburg and City Point, in which 

 its advantages are believed to be by no means 

 overrated. The City Point rail-road on the 

 south side of the river, and the rail-road from 

 Port Walthall to Richmond on the opposite 

 side — to say nothing of the river itselt^ — af- 

 ford facilities for the transportation of all 

 marketable produce almost from the farm- 

 ers' doors. Your committee, however, have 

 not deemed it necessary to submit any mi- 

 nute descriptions of the several localities 



