68 



NEW ENGL.\ND FARMER. 



Feb. 



treated precipitately from the powerful perfume. 

 Sons doubted like philosophers. CufFee, eying the 

 thing from a safe distance, gave rent to his thoughts : 



"He tink him great ting ; him do smell power- 

 ful, dat sartain ; dis yer chile do no what cum of 

 'im ; right smart heap of sumting do, I'se reckon." 



The stuff was sown on a patch of the fallow, and 

 even from the first springing of the tiny blades 

 the effect was apparent. That patch was the "ob- 

 served of all observers ;" the family talked of it by 

 the hour ; the planter took his neighbors to look at 

 it; no wanderer who sought sheUer from the 

 night beneath his roof, was permitted to go forth 

 without a sight of the new wonder. When at last, 

 the crop was ripe, and the extra product of the gu- 

 anoed portion was duly measured, then the arith- 

 metical skill of the family was called into requisi- 

 tion, and it was found that the sand-hills and pine- 

 nurseries of the old plantation concealed a fortune, 

 which it needed but the application of guano to 

 transfer to the pockets of the planter. 



So guano was introduced, and so its use became 

 general. Old fields were cleared, dwarfed pines 

 were reduced to ashes, and wheat was grown, 

 . where, for years, to have sown, would have wasted 

 the seed. The result, so far, has been important 

 and widely interesting; but it is doubtful if the 

 bearings of this agricultural revolution have yet 

 been as carefully. studied as they deserve. For- 

 tunes have been made by lucky adventurers, lands 

 have rapidly advanced in price, servants have dou- 

 bled in value, and, from a drug in the market — hir- 

 ing at $50 per year — are now eagerly sought at 

 prices varying from $100 to $150. All branches 

 of industry have been stimulated to new life and ac- 

 tivity. Wagons laden with the increased products 

 of the grain fields, blocked the streets of the mar- 

 iket towns. Millers and forwarders were over- 

 whelmed with business, and the banks drained to 

 pay for wheat. These things are cheering, but the 

 end is not yet. 



That the increased demand for labor, and its ad- 

 ded value, which has doubled the price for servants, 

 and rendered the slave system once more profita- 

 ble in the Old Dominion, has had no small effect 

 upon her citizens is very probable. That these re- 

 sults have added to the tenacity with which she 



the farmers around their town some $600,000 for 

 wheat, and received from them $300,000 for guano. 

 Throughout the State, the crop of this year is a fail- 

 ure, probably not averaging over 6 bushels per acre ; 

 this result is partially attributable to the ravages of 

 the chinch bug, and other pests, but planters every 

 where complain that guano has lost its charm. 



Such is the fact, and those fields which have been 

 successively guanoed and cropped, until at last they 

 have failed, are near enough to a hopeless sterility. 

 Yet there is hope, for there are yet means by which 

 the soil may be renovated. It can be done by the 

 turning under of green crops, especially peas and 

 clover, by a careful attention to the growth of the 

 grasses, and by the production of manures with ex- 

 tended flocks and herds. This course is practicable ; 

 and that it will at last be pursued, seems indicated 

 by instances of individual experiment and success, 

 which are scattered throughout the country. But 

 this must be the work of years, for it will involve 

 the sweeping away of opinions and habits which are 

 the growth of centuries, and have acquired a stub- 

 born fixedness. 



Virginia is a good field for northern immigration. 

 She has a soil, worn, 'tis true, yet easily improvable, 

 the most genial of climates, and very palpable natu- 

 ral advantages. Were itnot for the unfortunate ex- 

 istence of that institution, which is with good cause 

 so distasteful to northern sentiment, she would be a 

 most inviting field. But Virginia has arrived near 

 to a turning point in her history. She will either go 

 on to a gradual revolution of her whole agricul- 

 ture, a revolution of progress and improvement, 

 which will evolve new modes of thought and new 

 social aspects, finally making her, in an eminent 

 sense, a "goodly land," or, by a hopeless retrogres- 

 sion, her fields will be again and more fuUy given 

 up to pines and sassafras, her lower classes to rum 

 and ignorance, and her patricians to a struggle 

 with narrowing means, depraved tastes, and a false 

 position. * 



Remarks. — The pages of the Farmer will bear 

 evidence that the facts so clearly stated by our 

 correspondent, have been our theories, for some 

 years. We had not — as he has had — the means of 



