1S36.J 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



443 



will be probably the starting point for the rail road 

 to the north-west, extendirij^ to the Ohio, as well 

 as the siarliiiir point tortile rail road to the Ten- 

 nessee line. It would be absurd to pass by such 

 a place as this, if we could do so. It is the point 

 where we may expect to meet as much trade and 

 travel as will ijive TuU occupation to those to the 

 eastward of it, wilh both its branches. There is 

 another route which has i)pen spoken ol" lor the 

 confiraialion of the Richmond ridg-e road, that is 

 tliroui^h tlie comity of Buckinffhani on the north 

 of the Appomattox. This route olfers too many 

 difficulties, and no|peculiar advan'aires'as compar- 

 ed with the route on the south side ot'tiie ri\er, to 

 be selected. R. N. reconimeuds from Petersburi; 

 a route on the (jreat ridi^e divi linij!; the waters of 

 the Appomattox from ihuse Ho wing into the Albe- 

 marle soimd, passing by Nottoway Court-house, 

 Chalk Level, and "around or across the head 

 branches of Bush and Bulfalo Rivers, and on the 

 same ridge as it meanders to New London. I 

 recommend the same route from Petersburg to 

 Chalk Level or Bark's' Tavern, a distance of (i(ty 

 miles, from thence to Farmville on a level ridge a 

 great part of the way, a distance ot filieeu miles, 

 and the distance by Ihe railway will be near about 

 the same with the public road, and no difficulty in 

 this section greater than will befbimd on the other 

 route. The railway will descend by an easy and 

 practicable grade along on the east side of Sand}^ 

 River, to the mouth of Bush River. The crossing 

 will not be difficult or expensive, and thence the 

 route to Farmville will be quile easy. The dis- 

 tance from Farmville to Lynchburg does not ex- 

 ceed fifty miles, making the whole route one hun- 

 dred and fifteen miles. Great and immediate ad- 

 vantages are offered to Petersburg by the early 

 construction of the railway on 'he southern ridge 

 route. The trade and travel of the comities of 

 Dinwiddie, Nottoway, and parts ol" Lunenburir, 

 Mecklenburg, and Amelia, would fall to this rail- 

 way; and considering the increased tonnage which 

 would be caused by this improved way to market, 

 there can be but little doubt that these counties 

 would support the road, independent of the ton- 

 nage and travel additional after arriving at Farm- 

 ville ; and the continued increase as the road ad- 

 vanced to the westward. All passengers to Nor- 

 folk, and those preferring the steamboat route to 

 the northern cities would prefer the southern route, 

 as well as all who are going north and have busi- 

 ness in both Petersburg and Richmond. When 

 the rivers are obstructexl by ice, goods put on the 

 railroad at City Point would seek this route, as 

 James River is often closed above City Point 

 when it is not below. The great general advnn- 

 tages to be gained by the adoption of such a plan 

 as this, are, in the first place, the combination of 

 the influence and enterprise and wealth of all the 

 towns interested in the southern and southwest- 

 ern trade, for the execution of the great and im- 

 portant work of a south-western railway. Second- 

 ly, the whole south and south-west of the state 

 gain the advantage ol an easy and clieap way to 

 market ; and a choice of markets and increased 

 consumption fir the products of the country. Pe- 

 tersburg will be particularly benefited, by receiv- 

 ing a share of the western trade ; and all that part 

 of Virginia for which Petersburg is the natural 

 market, will be benefited in proportion as that 

 town is increased in capital and trade. The Char- 



lotte Convention has been brought into the discus- 

 sion by R. N., not very much to its advantage. 

 This convention was called by somebody from 

 some quarter unknown to the writer; widi the 

 avowed object of considering the propriety of a 

 survey of a rail road fi'om Farmville lo Diinville, 

 passing near Charlotte Court-house ; and I think 

 its resolutions might easily have been construed 

 to recommend a railway from Petersburg 'by 

 Farmville to Lynchburg, from Richmond to 

 3'^armville, and then by a common route to 

 Ijyuchburg, and a rail road to Danville from 



j Farmville. Il this last should ever be accomplish- 

 ed, it will afford additional employment f(>r the 



i eastern branches of the great south-western rail 

 road which !■ have endeavored to recommend. 

 From my acquaintance wilh Farmville and its 

 people, 1 think I can clear that little town of the 

 presumption of demanding or recommending that 



j all these great works should pass through her lim- 

 its. The improvements have been recommended 

 by strangers as well as friends; and that place 

 would be strangely blind to its own interests, if it 

 were to remain indili'erent to such oflered advan- 

 tages, and to the advantages of location which it 

 possesses. 



It is proposed above that the whole work of 

 a south-western railway should be done by one 

 company incorporated for the purpose. If howe- 

 ver the road from Lynchburg to the l^ennessee 

 line be secured under its present charter, it will 

 firm a part of the great soufh-wpstern route, and 

 ought to be beofun at Lynchburg at the same time 

 that the road I have recommended shnll be begun 

 at Petersburg and Richmond. The route fioni 

 Petersbursr to Lynchburg or New London, 

 throujrh Farmville, is shorter than the route on 

 Ihe ridge which ))asses around the head springs of 

 Bush and Buffalo Rivers ; and ofiers the advanta- 

 'fps of the trade of Cumberland and Buckingham, 

 which would be lost to the other routes, as well as 

 all other trade and travel concentrated at Farm- 

 ville. 



The above plans and routes for railways are 

 suh.mitted to the p'lblic. The subject is inter- 

 esting to southern Virginia, and if no other good 

 is effected, the writer hopes it may cause its fiir- 

 ther discussion by those who arc mors experi- 

 enced. 



Oct. 3, 1836. 



E. 



Extract from t'nc (London) Fanner's Rlngnziuc f:)r Scpt-^nilier, 

 TIIK EFFECT OF SOOT ON WIIKAT. 



T had last week an opportunity afforded nie by 

 a fi-iend who firms on a dry and inferior soil, of 

 witnessing the effect of the application of soot on 

 young wheat in the sprinir- The field to which I 

 now allude, has been partly dressed over at the 

 rate of thirty bushels of sool to the acre, and it is 

 quite astonishing to see the benefit; that it has af- 

 forded to the crop of wheat. Nothing can be 

 more conclusive as the virtue of this description 

 of dressing, than the experiment which 1 am now 

 speaking of. The field was sown with wheat out 

 of a clover ley, without any manure being laid 

 on, the whole of the piece having been previously 

 to this j'ear farmed in an exactly similar manner. 



