AGRICULTURE ON THE RAPPAHANNOCK. 61 



lence, quite as much as they do their ample domains, their manly diversions 

 and well-appointed equipages and numerous retinue of loyal and contented de- 

 pendents 1 Be it admitted that the sports of the turf and the chase, the lively 

 barbecue, the mirth-inspiring fiddle, the social game of whist, the "sparkling 

 can" and the "flowing bowl" of mint julep and apple-toddy, have all departed 

 among the things that have been ; but by what shining and superior virtues 

 been supplanted? Are men of the present day better educated, more polished in 

 their manners, more patriotic, more neighborly ? Are the women more refined, 

 more pious, more hospitable, less envious of the rich or more charitable to the 

 poor ? And, after all, is not the dilapidation of these old families and estates,, 

 where that has occurred, the result rather of our political institutions, and the 

 drain opened by the generosity of the old States to draw off their enterprise and 

 capital to the vast domains they gave away in the West, rather than of anv 

 social vice or defect in our ancestors — and therefore, as far as it has happened 

 to be lamented rather than made a matter of unfilial reproach to the memory 

 of those to whom we owe nearly every claim we have, while any shall remain, 

 to national pride and glory ? Truly, if our forefathers had all been thrifty nig- 

 gards, we might now in opulence be enjoying the fruits of their avarice ; and if 

 our national domain had been restricted to the limits of the Old Thirteen, who 

 shall say that we might not, ere now, have reached a higher pitch of national 

 excellence in all solid national virtues? — for neither collective nor individual 

 wealth or prosperity depends on mere extent of possessions, but rather on 

 honor, diligence and good government. Judge Marshall, clarum venerabile 

 nomen, used to say that should our once happy and contented Union ever be rent 

 asunder by internal discord or undue expansion, he hoped, when it should come 

 to be reorganized, that Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina would form a 

 Republic to themselves ; nor would there seem to be anything extravagant or 

 unreasonable in the hope of adequate strength and security in such a Confederacy, 

 recommended as it would be by geographical compactness and sympathy, as 

 well as by homogeneousness of habits and character, when we compare these 

 three of the old Thirteen Sisters, in size and resources, to Governments of the first 

 class in Europe — Great Britain, for instance. As, for example, according to our 

 eminent and venerable geographer, W. Darbt, 



Maryland 11,000 square miles 



England embraces 58,000 square miles 



Ireland 32,000 



Scotland .32,164 



Aggregate 122,164 square miles 



Virginia 61,300 



North Carolina 45,500 



Aggregate 117,800 square miles 



Leaving a difference of only 4,697, or one twenty-fifth part, in favor of territorial 

 extent for an Empire that numbers at this day a population of 30,000,000, against 



Maryland, in 1840 470,000 I Virginia, East 806.942 



North Carolina 753,419 | Do. West 432,855 



Total 2,463,216 



And in what element of power or greatness, political or industrial, do the Islands 

 of Great Britain excel these three old States? Do these not, in the aggregate, 

 equally abound with those in mineral wealth ? Are not their mines of coal and 

 iron as inexhaustible ? Do they not excel in water-power, in timber, in navigable 

 bays and rivers, in valuable fisheries, and in harbors ample and secure, as well 

 as in unsurpassed climate and agricultural capabilities — to say nothing of our 

 boasted form and principles of Government, worthy to be propagated with fire 

 and sword, not refiecting that ours is of intellectual organization, requiring those 

 who use it to be morally prepared and educated to understand and appreciate it — 

 as complicated agricultural machines, highly useful and desirable for their labor- 

 saving properties, may not be put into the hands of common operatives, but 

 require men of tact to comprehend and manage them. 



But, to speak more particularly of the 



AGRICULTURE ON THE RAPPAHANNOCK. 



An impression prevails widely that in the Agriculture of this region, and of 

 Lower Virginia generally, is grouped every sign and proof of ignorance, improvi- 

 dence and mismanagement. Nor is this impression, perhaps, to be wondered at, 

 or ascribed to prejudice or unkindness on the part of those who take but a su- 

 perficial view, looking first and with admiration, as every one must, at its allu- 



(157) 



