44 



Old \ircrinia. 



Vol. IX. 



top-dressed. It is not very unreasonable to 

 suppose that this better growth of the dressed 

 seed might be owing to its having obtained, 

 from the substances applied to the soil, a 

 larger proportion of saline matter than that 

 to which no top-dressing had been applied. 



Still these circumstances only render pro- 

 bable the opinion to which I have adverted. 

 They point out, however, new series of re- 

 searches, both in the field and in the labora- 

 tory, by which the opinion will be tested, 

 and either refuted or confirmed. In thei 

 field, experiments must be made with differ- 

 ent seeds, dressed and undressed. In the 

 laboratory these seeds must be examined, 

 the proportion of inorganic matter they re- 

 spectively contain determined, and if this 

 inorganic matter be equal in quantity in 

 seeds exhibiting different powers of germi- 

 nation and growth, the difference in the 

 kind or quality, as well as in the quantity of 

 the ash, must be more or less rigorously as- 

 certained. By these united methods of in- 

 vestigation, we may hope, by and by, to 

 make out what are likely to be the real and 

 constant effects of steeping upon seeds — to 

 what kind of seeds or roots it may be ap- 

 plied most beneficially — under what circum- 

 stances this treatment ought to be especially 

 adopted — what kind of saline substances 

 ought to be applied to each species of seed, 

 and in what proportions — and what is the 

 nature of the influence they may be found 

 to exercise in promoting or otherwise modi- 

 fying the growth of the after crop. 



In the mean time, there are two princi- 

 ples by which our trial of steeps ought to 

 be regulated, by wliich the saljrte substances 

 we may employ with advantage in our first 

 experiments in the field and upon different 

 crops are distinctly pointed out. In a future 

 paper I shall explain these principles, and 

 state the practical suggestions which may 

 be drawn fi-om them in regard to experi- 

 ments upon the steeping of roots and seeds, 



Durham, November 20Ui, 1843. 



Old Virginia. 



A CORRESPONDENT of the National Intel- 

 ligencer, writing from Wilton, near Rich- 

 mond, Va., thus speaks of the diminution in 

 the population of that State : 



"Thus much have I written with an eye 

 to tempt to Virginia Northern farmers. " I 

 have a great desire to capture this good old 

 Commonwealth for the Yankee stock of 

 States. Land is cheap; I say land, of which 

 a good farm may soon be made, from three 

 to ten dollars an acre — not tlic land on the 

 banks of the river, cleared and cultivated, 

 but land where marl lies, marl worth more 



to the land than a gold mine. Society is 

 good. The people are a good people. Schools 

 will come with a population. Ii often seems 

 to me that as yet there are no people here, 

 and I wish, therefore, to see them come. I 

 have to tal^e up a spy-glass to see the houses 

 of my neighbours, they are So* far ofl^, and 

 yet so near am I to a capital of about 24,000 

 inhabitants, that I can see. its spires and 

 steeples, and almost hear the hum of its la- 

 bourers. Back of me, and below nie, oft" of 

 the river as far as I have explored, I cannot 

 find much else but woods, woods, woods. I 

 ride for miles and miles in the forests, look- 

 ing for people. And yet. this is the first set- 

 tled, and oldest settled part of Virginia ! 

 The people have gone oft"; they have settled 

 in Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky, JSlissouri, 

 Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida; and now, 

 as if there were too many people left, a 

 bribe is held out to the rest to go to Texas ! 

 Well, if they will go, all I can say is, 

 Northern farmers come here and settle. 

 Such land as you can sell in New York and 

 Pennsylvania for fifty, and seventy-five, and 

 a hundred dollars an acre, you can buy here 

 from tliree to ten. 



" It is a shame, I say, that this beautiful 

 country, so blessed in climate, and so little 

 needing only the fertilizing hand of man, 

 should be without people. Here is an old 

 venerable river running past my door, older 

 than the Hudson, now lined with towns and 

 villages — much older than the Ohio — older 

 in settlement and geography, I mean — but 

 wliere are the people ? For a hundred and 

 fifty miles from Richmond to Norfolk, the 

 first explored river running into the Atlan- 

 tic Ocean, the home of Powhatan and Poca- 

 iiontas, and the scenes of the truly chival- 

 rous John Smith — where, are the people? 

 (jone, I say, gone to the South and West, 

 the trumpet blowing them now to go to 

 Texas! Virginia has here depopulated her- 

 self to make homes elsewhere. The cry 

 now of one set of her politicians is, manu- * 

 tactures that would . keep the people here 

 are nothing ; Texas is every thing. Were 

 I a Virginian, I should esteem as worth more 

 on James river one good white man, than 

 all of Texas from the Sabine to the Rio del 

 Norte. Why, here is Texas all about us, 

 land as cheap as in the distant Te.xas, and 

 as jTood." 



In the neighbourhood of Hereford, Eng- 

 land, recently, a swarm of bees settled under 

 the bonnet of a little girl, down the side of 

 her face, and round her throat. Fortunately 

 tlie child stood still, and the bees were hived 

 without her receiving a single sting. 



