272 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



AN OLD VIRGINIA ESTATE. 



A correspondent of the New York Evening 

 Post favors that journal with some recollections of 

 a visit to some estates on the James river two 

 years ago. He proceeded down the river from 

 Richmond to Olaremont — a distance of eighty- 

 miles. The river most of the way averages from 

 one to two miles wide, and is beautifully wooded 

 with very thick foliage ; a good many willows and 

 oaks, hollies thirty or forty feet high, and myrtles 

 6uch as we at the north grow in our green-houses. 

 The banks of the river rarely if ever rise higher 

 than forty or sixty feet, and are generally much 

 lower. 



There are many old houses and large estates on 

 the river, several of which are described. One 

 within seventeett miles of Richmond consists of 

 4,253 acres. This farm is exceedingly productive. 

 There were 975 acres in wheat, 1,000 in corn, and 

 the balance in oats, clover, grass, etc. 



Another estate comprises 3,000 acres r 500 of 

 which were in wheat, 300 in corn, and 320 in 

 clover. The wheat averaged 25 bushels, and the 

 corn 50 bushels to the acre. 



At Westover and Brandon, there are also some 

 magnificent estates. The latter consists of 13,000 

 acres. The house is approached from the river 

 through a broad grass vista, fifteen feet in width 

 and a qnarter of a mile long — beautifully smooth 

 and well kept, and thickly planted on either side 

 with hollies, the evergreen magnolias and fringe 

 trees; this vista or alley leading out to a regular, 

 . almost square lawn of 6ix acres, as level and smooth 

 . as a floor. It is two hundred years since it was 

 laid down in grass! The house is covered with 

 ivy. 



This farm in 1860 produced eighteen thousand 

 ■ bushels of wheat and twelve thousand bushels of 

 corn. 



Next we arrive at Claremont — owned by Mr. 

 Allen, a young man of twenty-nine. It consists 

 -of 17,000 acres; 1,700 of which were in wheat 

 and 2,000 in corn. There is a deer-park of 7,000 

 acres, enclosed by a paling seven feet high, and in 

 which were several hundred deer. These Mr. 

 Allen hunted with a pack of hounds twice a week 

 during the season. He had fifteen thoroughbred 

 horses in his stables. Besides Olaremont, Mr. 

 . Allen owned three other estates, the whole com- 

 prising over 25,000 acres. In 1860, he had 5,109 

 acres of wheat, producing over 125,000 bushels, 

 -and 4,500 acres of corn, producing 135,000 bushels ! 



The writer says : " The courtesy and hospitality 

 with which we were entertained here and on the 

 other estates, was well worthy of the ancient re- 

 nown of Virginia in times gone by, never probably 

 to return." 



IMPORTATIONS OE FOREIGN GRAIN INTO ENGLAND. 



In a recent speech in the House of Commons 

 Mr. Cairb stated that since 1847 one-fourth of the 

 population of Great Britain subsisted on foreign 

 wheat. Daring the last threeyears this proportion 

 had been gradually increasing, lt and within the 

 last harvest year probably not less than one-half 

 the population was fed on imported corn." This 

 was partly the result of a very deficient harvest, 

 but partly also, he believed, it arose from a dimin- 

 ished breadth of fend sown to grain. ""The high 

 price of labor, and the increasing value of live 

 stock and animal produce, concurred in tending to 

 diminish the extent of land in grain, and to in- 

 crease that of pasture." If one farmer, be said, 

 found it to his interest to lay one-fourth of his- 

 grain fend to grass, the probability would be that 

 the same circumstances might influence all others. 

 " Now," he said, " one-fourth of the corn [wheat] 

 crop of these kingdoms might be taken at 80,000,- 

 000 bushels. A deficit so vast, coming suddenly 

 and without warning, would agitate every market 

 and unhinge all monetary operations." To some 

 extent, he believed, they were at present experi- 

 encing the effect of such a change. " The deliver- 

 ies of home-grown- wheat, as shown by the returns 

 of the last 16 Weeks of this and the previous years, 

 was 50 per cent, less than the average of preceding 

 years." Three-eighths of all the grain imported 

 into Great Britain last year came from North 

 America. England paid for foreign wheat last 

 year the vast sum of $175,000,000, and this was 

 $75,000,000 more than in any year previous to 1 

 1860. Taking the three last years and comparing 

 them with the previous years, " we should find,' r 

 he said, " the most startling resnlt. That which 

 cost us $330,000,000 in 1857-8-9, has increased to 

 $590,000,000 in 1860-1-2. So that we have been 

 paying $86,000,000 a year more for foreign corn 

 and provisions than we have been accustomed to." 



TnE Hog Cholera. — A correspondent of the 

 Iowa Homestead says the hogs are dying by the 

 thousand in his neighborhood. No remedy has 

 been found, but it has been observed that hogs 

 around blacksmith shops, where they have access 

 to the cinders, have entirely escaped. There can 

 be no doubt that pigs should at all times have ac- 

 cess to coal or wood ashes, charcoal, salt, &c. 



