F A H ftl E R S ' REGISTER 



[No. 9 



texture of the leaf— and, perhaps, by coloring the 

 ink, tlie image of the leaf might be exactly given. 



In this way, sludents of botany, may preserve 

 impressions ol'the many thousand species of leaves, 

 and travelleis may adorn their parte feuiUes with 

 the ibiiage ol' the prairie, and the Ibrest ; and tlie 

 daughters of our country-gentlemen may thus 

 agreeably occupy the leisure of a summer morn- 

 ing in co|)ying the beauties of nature, by a mode 

 the least expensive or laborious, and the most ex- 

 act and iiuihful, that can possibly be used. 



I (brgot to mention, that the outside quires of let- 

 ter paper will answer perfectly well, and that when 

 printed, a number of sheets stitched, make a leaf- 

 book — a pretty ornament of the pai-lor; and, also, 

 your suggestion that the paper ought to be damp- 

 ened, by dipping the whole quire into a vessel of 

 water, that it may the better absorb the ink; to 

 which I will add, that, perhaps, printing paper 

 would be the most suitable for this purpose — and, 

 lastly, that what it takes so long to detail, is a per- 

 fectly simple process, and may be done in a mi- 

 nute. 



Your obedient servant c. c. 



For tlie Farmers' Register. 



THE PORTSMOUTH AND ROANOKE RAILWAY. 

 THE NAVIGATION OF THE MEHERRIN, NOT- 

 TOWAY, AND BLACKWATER RIVERS. 



By the Ed t lor. 



The Portsmouth and Roanoke Railway route, 

 as far westward as the I\leherrin, is remarkably 

 level — and of course the trains are propelled with 

 proportionable liicility, and diminished expenditure 

 of power. It is, indeed, an admirable track (or 

 its general straightness, no less than its level 

 course. But still there were great causes of dilTi- 

 culty and expense in the first construction, and so 

 will there continue to be in future repairs. The 

 country is low, and the streams passed are border- 

 ed by swamps or low-grounds, wliich required 

 long bridges elevated on sustaining posts and 

 framed timbers. All these bridges remain un- 

 covered, except the one across the Blackwater, 

 and ol course their decay will be rapid, and very 

 costly repairs will soon be necessary. After pas- 

 sing the JNleherrin, the route is quits undulating, 

 and generally ascending to where it crosses the 

 Petersburg railway, less than two miles li-oai the 

 Eouthern termination of the latter, at Blakely on 

 the Roanoke. 



I took my seat in the train at Suffolk, for the 

 intersection near the Roanoke, there to take the 

 Petersburg train, as the shortest way to reach the 

 latter town. And circuitous as is the whole route 

 thus passed over, I travelled the 118 miles from 

 Suffolk to Petersburg in 9 hours — including all the 

 stoppages, except one, of half an hour, between 

 leaving the Portsmouth train and the arrival of the 

 one for Petersburg. If the two companies would 

 agree in their hours of arrival and departure, so as 

 to permit such a journey always on slated days, 

 (as might be done without inconvenience,) and 

 the arrangement was made known, there would 

 be many persons who would come by the two rail- 

 ways from Norfolk to Petersburg, rather than wait 

 one, and sometimes two days, for a passage by the 

 Bteamboats. 



Both these two great railways cross the Meher- 

 rin and Nottoway rivers below iheir falls, and the 

 Portsmouth road also crosses the Blackwater river 

 — and this last, and that only below the railway, 

 is alone made any use of for navigation to bring 

 country produce to be put on the railway, lor mar- 

 ket. And it is probable that no such use would 

 have been made of the Blackwater, lor boats bring- 

 ing crops made in the neighborhood, but lor their 

 being shown tlie way, by this being made a regu- 

 lar steamboat route from Edenton, and by which 

 much cotton is brought from Norili Carolina, to be 

 sent by the railwa}- to Norlblk. The ahnost total 

 disuse of these tliree easily navigated rivers, is one 

 of the most remarkable instances of the inveteracy 

 of long established habits in our coimlrymen, and 

 the slowness with which Ihey adopt improved fa- 

 cilities, wlien oHered to their acceptance. These 

 three rivers, though small, flow over very level 

 beds, and would require but little labor and expense 

 to be made navigable for flat boats lor distances 

 which combined, would make at least 120 nules, 

 without incliidingthe Chowan, formed by the junc- 

 tion of the Mcherfin and Nottoway, \vhich is now 

 used for navigation. The length of the Meherrin, 

 from the lowest falls to where it unites with the 

 Nottoway, to form the Chowan, is more than 50 

 miles, as measured on the map. The NottoAvay, 

 fi'om its lower falls above the Petersburg railway, 

 to the point of junction just named, is more than 

 40 miles — and the Blackwater fi-om the soutliern 

 line of Surry county, to where that river joins the 

 Nottoway, is 80 miles. 



From above the Peterslairg railway, there are 

 no ffills, or rocks, in either the Meherrin or Notto- 

 way — nor, indeed, any oixsiruction to downward 

 navigation, except frees liillen by accident, or more 

 generally bj- design, into the streams, and which, 

 if sawed into pieces at low water, would all 

 be swept away, together with the lafis and sand 

 bars which they have served to form, by the first 

 freshet. It is true, that ihese streams are very low 

 in summer droughts : but the crops of the country 

 (cotton and corn,) are seldom ready for market 

 before the streams are full — and the timber which 

 this navigation would bring into use, and make 

 valuable for market, might wait until the water 

 was sufficiently deep for its transporlation. The 

 Nottoway lands are among the most productive in 

 the counties of Sussex and Southami)ton — and its 

 passing through the heaviest producing region, is 

 another reason why this river should be used lor 

 navigation. But because these waters led to no 

 suitable market before, and because every farmer 

 has always been in the habit of sending his crops 

 to market by his carts or wagon, no one thinks yet 

 of taking the fiir cheaper way of boats to either 

 of the railways. Meherrin and Nottoway might 

 doubtless be profitably improved and navigated 

 far above their falls, as routes to the upper railway : 

 but it would be idle to urge that, while the advan- 

 ta<res offered by their far' belter waters below the 

 falls are overlooked, and almost totally neglected. 



It has been a long time since the attention of the 

 writer of these remarks was attracted to the pecu- 

 liar circumstnnces of these waters, and the advan- 

 tages that might be derived fi'om bringing them 

 info use. To induce others more interested, and 

 having more local information, to think upon that 

 and other kindred subjects, the subjoined "Hints 

 and Queries," were published in 1825; which may 



