604 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 10 



northern countries bordering on the German sea, and 

 on the southern shores of the Baltic, from Calais to St. 

 Petersburgh, are uniibrnily low and level. If in the 

 formation of these regions the northern had been 

 mountainous, and the southern flat and intersected with 

 sluggisli waters, it seems higlily probable that the 

 southern would have been comparatively more un- 

 healthy than they now are. 



"Theseacoast of the United States is generally hilly, 

 from Maine to New York. Further south is a belt of 

 level land, narrower at tlie north, but increasing in 

 breadth towards the south, until it forms a great extent 

 of country, compi'ehending the wiiole maritime part of 

 the soutliern slates, from Maryland to the western 

 limits of Louisiana, to which may be added, the south- 

 ern part of the basin of the Mississippi, and its tribu- 

 tary streams. In this tract of country, as ex^'ensive as 

 some of the larger kingdoms of Europe, though there 

 are many districts that are far from b<.'ing very un- 

 healthy, the climate in general is thought less favora- 

 ble to the European races of men, than that of the 

 northern states, or the hilly country in the same lati- 

 tudes, between the Mississippi and the Atlantic. To 

 what cause is it owing, that the soil of this great tract 

 of country is mostly cultivated by slaves, the descen- 

 dants of those formerly imported from the coast of 

 Guinea.' And how does it happen, that their number, 

 in comparison with that of the whites, goes oh in an 

 increasing ratio from north to south? Does this pro- 

 ceed from moral or physical causes, or from both com- 

 bined .' That the former have contributed to the intro- 

 duction of slaves from Africa into our southern country, 

 seems unquestionable. The products of this region, 

 the tobacco of Maryland. Virginia, and North Carolina, 

 and the rice of South Carolina and Georgia, meeting a 

 ready market and good prices in Europe, occasioned 

 a great and increasing demand for labor, and in later 

 times, the successful cultivation of cotton, which has 

 now become by far the most considerable product for 

 exportation in the United States, has added greatly to 

 that demand. Further to the north, the chief proc4ucts 

 of agriculture being either unsuited to transpoitation 

 by sea, or like those of Europe, they have been less 

 sought after abroad. Is it owing to this diversity, that 

 while African slaves were freely admitted into all the 

 English colonies, very few were received in the north- 

 ern, while they weie readily bought up in all the 

 southern maritime country, where, to this day, almost 

 the whole field labor is periormed by their descendants ? 

 Or is this diversity owing, in part, to the difference ot 

 climate I have referred to?" — pp. 42, 44. 



How niuch more dignified and useful, for our 

 distinguished professional men of Virginia, (and 

 the supposed author of this essay is one of the 

 most distinguished,) to occupy their leisure in lucu- 

 brations of this kind, than in party squabbles and 

 political wranglintT — the petty intrigues of elec- 

 tions, and the scurrilous animosity of newspapers. 



From the Richmond Enquirer. 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE STOCKHOLDERS OF THE 

 JAMES RIVER AND KANAWHA COMPANY. 



The second annual meeting of the James River 

 and Kanawha Company, convened at the Capitol 

 in Richmond, on JVlonday, the 12fh instant, and 

 was organized by the appointment of Judge Sum- 

 mers of Kanawha, as chairman. 



The proceedings commenced with the reading 

 of the second annual report of the president of ihe 

 company to the stocldiolders, of which the lc)Ilovv- 

 ing is a sketch. 



The operations and conditions of the company 

 are stated under eight different heads. 



I. Change of officers and engineers. — On the 

 20th Januar_v liist, Mr. Samuel Marx resigned his 

 seat in the Board of Directors, and the vacancy 

 was filled by the appointment of Mr. Charles 

 Ellis, of Richmond. On the 23rd of the same 

 month, Mr. Randolph Harrison, senr., resigned 

 his seat, and his place was supplied by Mr. Tho- 

 mas M. Bondurant, of Buckingham. 



Oh ihe 20th of February, Judge Wright resign- 

 ed the office of chief engineer, on the ground of 

 inability, from advancing age and bodily infirmity, 

 to perlbrm the active duties on so extesive a line 

 of improvement. Mr. Charles Ellett, jr. was 

 appointed his successor. The board desiring to 

 avail itself of Judge Wright's skill and experi- 

 ence, appointed him consulting engineer, with the 

 stipulation that he .should visit the work at least 

 once every quarter. 



Mr. Simon W. Wright, resigned the office of 

 principal assistant engineer, on the 26th of March. 

 Mr. Daniel Livermore, was at this period, the only 

 principal assistant in the service of the company. 

 The board, with a view to make adequate provi- 

 sion for the wants of the new line, and for the sur- 

 vey of th« old canal, authorized the president and 

 chief engineer to appoint four additional principal 

 assistants, and to make suitable modifications of 

 the three oriijinal principal sections in the first 

 division of the canal. Three of the places were 

 filled by the appointment of Wm. Beckwilh, John 

 Couty, and Thomas De Witt. The great demand 

 for engineers in the United States, pur it out of the 

 power of the board, to fill the remaining place with 

 a suitable person. In the month of May, Mr. 

 Livermore, from indisposition, resigned his office, 

 and as no suitable successor could be obtained, the 

 corps was reduced to the three principal assistants. 

 This rendered it necessary to defer the contempla- 

 ted survey of the old canal, and to employ two of 

 the three principal assistants on the sixty miles 

 next above Maiden's Adventure, and the third, on 

 the next twenty miles below Lynchburg; and to 

 confide the intermediate forty miles of the new 

 line of canal, to the resident engineers, operating 

 under the immediate instructions of the chief engi- 

 neer. 



Additions were made to the number of resident 

 engineers, and of first and second rod-men, as they 

 were required for the preparation of the line lor 

 assessment of damages, and for laying out and 

 superintending the construction of the work. 



The corps of engineers now consist of one chief 

 engineer, one consulting engineer, three principal 

 assistants, eleven resident engineers, eight rod-men 

 of the first grade, thirteen rod-men of the second 

 grade, two draftsmen, and one surveyor. It is 

 contemplated in the course of the winter, to make 

 further additions to the corps ; so that in the spring, 

 it will consist of one chief engineer, one consulting 

 engineer, five principal assistants, fourteen resident 

 engineers, fourteen rod-men of the first grade, four- 

 teen rod-men of the second grade, and two drafts- 

 men. 



II. Conclusion of the location of the first di- 

 vision of the canal. — At the last report, the parts 

 of the line extondinj): fi'om Scotfsville to the Seven 

 Islands, and fi-om Columbia lo Maiden's Adven- 

 ture — in all, forty-seven miles, remained to be 

 definitely located. The operations on these parts 

 of the line, were necessarily interrupted by the 

 winter season, and another cause of delay arose 



