374 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. G 



northern, the income of that being from travel 

 almost exclusively. 



It is unnecessary to add to these observations, by 

 considering the two otiier railways recommended 

 by the Convention of Charlotte — because neither 

 is demanded by any interest considerable enough 

 to make the construction probable. The one Irom 

 Farmville to Petersburg, besides i)eing lar more 

 expensive to construct, and to use, owing to the 

 more hilly location, would be so much nearer the 

 Appomattox that it would accommodate a smaller 

 producing couutrj', and of course take less trade, 

 and yield less profit, then the route proposed on 

 the ridge, with the branch to Farmville which 

 either scheme offers : and Farmville can suffer no 

 loss or inconvenience by the preference of the 

 ridge route, except the adding 20 miles to the 

 small amount ol" travel passing direct between that 

 town and Petersburg. No commodities, except 

 in rare cases, would |)ass the whole distance by 

 either route, because the Appomattox navigation 

 when improved and f icilitated, will be far cheaper 

 than either. As to the railway from Farmville to 

 Lynchburg, as an extension of ihe northern ridge 

 route from Richmond, it will never be executed in 

 the manner recommended by the convention. If, 

 constructed at all, it will be in furtherance of the 

 interests of Richmond rather than those of Farm- 

 ville — and therefore, (as well as for a better loca- 

 tion,) will be made on the north instead of the 

 south, side of the Appomattox. The choice be- 

 tween the southern and northern ridge routes, east 

 of Farmville, for the great western raihva}', or the 

 greater success of either, if both are used, will de- 

 termine which will be the proper route to be con- 

 tinued to the south-west by Lynchburg. If the 

 best is chosen for yielding profit on the stock, and 

 for general accommodation and use, I doubt not 

 that it will be south of the Appomattox — and what- 

 ever may be its particular location, it will suit the 

 convenience and interest of Farmville better than 

 any she can obtain by leaguing with Richmond. 

 If able to get the road to Lynchburg, at all, Rich- 

 mond, will certainly be enabled to prescribe the 

 the route : and no interest, public or separate, save 

 that of Farmville, could require a rail wa}', brought 

 from Richmond through Cumberland, to diverije 

 to the south of the Appomattox, to reach Lynch- 

 burg. A branch from the nothern ridge route (as 

 proposed in the Convention by the Richmond Dele- 

 gation,) will be all that Farmville can obtain. In 

 this alliance of Farmville with Richmond, the lat- 

 ter town can, and will, take the "lion's share" of 

 the spoil. 



R. N. 



September llth, 1836. 



For tlie Farmers' Register. 



ROrOir NOTES UPON SOMK OF THE AGRICUL- 

 TURAL IMPROVEIttRNTS OF CHARLOTTE, 

 AND THE ADJACENT COUNTIES. 



Charlotte Court House, Sept. tth, 1G36. 



A most important system of improvement, both 

 for private and public interests, is in the course 

 of execution in this part of the country. This is 

 the supplying water-power to mills by means of 

 canals, instead of the ponds which (as elsewhere 



in lower Virginia,) have long served that purpose. 

 One result of this charge is the laying dry, and 

 cultivating the lands heretolbre covered by these 

 ponds. A large proportion of the mill ponds in 

 Charlotte have already been thus laid dry, and in 

 every case, the canal has furnished a better and 

 more permanent water-power. For the compar- 

 atively trivial expense of cutting a side canal, on 

 a level, leading from the head of' the pond to the 

 water wheel, there has been gained for culti- 

 vation, in every case, a body ot' greater or less 

 extent of very rich soil ; and a relief from the al- 

 ways impending dangers, and enormous losses, of 

 broken dams, from floods. But the greatest ben- 

 efit which may be expected from the general 

 adojnion of this plan, is the removal of the greatest 

 cause of sickness which has ever afRicted lower 

 and middle V^irginia. I have long been of the 

 opinion that the diseases and deaths pioduced by 

 the mill ponds of this country were evils so great, 

 that they were not compensated b}' all the profits 

 and conveniences of grinding meal by these 

 means: and that even if we had to resort to horse 

 or hand-mills, to obtain meal, that it would be a 

 great public benefit if the dam of every pond-mill 

 in the country was thrown down, and, no new 

 ones permitted to be constructed. But luckil}^, 

 there is no such loss to be encountered by millers, 

 nor any inconvenience caused to their customers. 

 Though some mill ponds still remain in Charlotte, 

 to poison the air and people, I was told that there 

 was not a doubt left of healthiness having been 

 already greatly promoted by the drainings which 

 had been made. Still the improvement has been 

 very slow in extending — and it is owing to the 

 fortunate occurrence of some tremendous floods 

 that have swept away dams that were deemed the 

 most secure, that many have been induced to ac- 

 cept the benefit of canals. I found John P. Du- 

 puy esq: in Nottoway, engaged in constructing a 

 canal to his mill, in consequence of one of these 

 fortunate calamities — and there heard of another 

 having been successfully constructed in his neigh- 

 borhood. One, still earlier made, and which was 

 described at p. 579 vol. II. Farmers' Register, has 

 been tested by time, and found to answer entirely 

 the expectations of its owner. 



One of these ponds on Wardsfork, (and there 

 were f()rmcrly 4 other mill ponds on that stream, 

 within the length of 8 miles, of which two still re- 

 main,) belonging to Henry A. Watkins esq. cover- 

 ed 100 acres of land so valuable that he was offer- 

 ed by an adjoining proprietor, and refused, s^200 per 

 acre for a part of it, after its being drained. From 

 15 acres of the same, he once sold as much good 

 tobacco as amounted to .^1500, exclusive of the 

 "cullings." If it was possible to estimate the 

 amount of the suffering and loss, in deaths, sick- 

 ness, and the consequent hereditary feebleness of 

 constitution, of the generations that lived near 

 this, any other large and shallow pond, it would 

 present an awful exhibition of the carelessness 

 with which we throw away the health and lives 

 of many, lor the erroneously supposed gain of a 

 Ccw. Yet the mill ponds of Charlotte were trifling 

 evils compared to those which are so thickly scatter- 

 ed throughout the lower and more level country. 

 V'ery few here are one third of the size of the one 

 above mentioned. In the lower counties, very 

 many are much larger. The pond of Tabb's Mill 

 in Dinwiddle, now drained and cultivated, former- 



