124 



FARMERS' REGISTER— AGRICULTURE IN VIRGINIA. 



and a repugnance to domestic duties, they ai'c also 

 to be seen in their virtues, and especially in Iheir 

 chastity. The profligate cannot fail to see and leel 

 the meaning" of this remark. 



The white man who hastohihor for his support, 

 does it with an unwilling spirit. lie sees the ex- 

 emption enjoyed by others; and, if he does not 

 fancy himself equally entitled to it, is too apt to 

 repine at his lot, or migrate to some new state, 

 where he will be upon a looting of greater equality 

 Avith his neiglibors. 



But, independent of the enervating and paralyz- 

 ing etfects of slavery upon all our white popula- 

 tion, there are pecuniary losses arising from it, 

 that are heavy drawbacks to the agriculturist. — 

 Most of the labors of agriculture have been con- 

 fided to careless overseers, and still more careless 

 operators. The slave feels no inducement to exe- 

 cute his work with effect. He has a peculiar art 

 of slighting it, and seeming to be busy, when, in 

 fact, he is doing little or nothing. Nor can he be 

 made to take proper care of stock, tools, or any 

 thing else. He will rarely take care of his clothes, 

 or his own health, much less of his companions, 

 when sick and requiring his aid and kindness. — 

 There is, perhaps, not in nature, a more heedless, 

 thoughtless human being, than a Virginia tield 

 negro. With no care upon his mind, with warm 

 clothing and plenty of food, under a good master, 

 he is far the happier man of the two. His maxim 

 is, " Come day, go day, God send Sunday." His 

 abhorrence of the poor white man is very great. 

 He may, sometimes, feel a reflected respect for 

 him, in consequence of the confidence and esteem 

 of his master and others. But this trait is as re- 

 markable in the white as in the black man. All 

 despise poverty, and seem to worship wealth. To 

 the losses w^hich arise from the dispositions of our 

 slaves must be added those which are occasioned 

 by their habits. There seems to be almost an en- 

 tire absence of moral principle among the mass of 

 our colored population. But details upon this sub- 

 ject would be here misplaced. To steal and not 

 be detected, is a merit among them ; as it was with 

 certain people in ancient times, and is, at this day, 

 with some unenlightened portions of mankind. — 

 And the vice which they hold in the greatest ab- 

 horrence, is that of telling upon one another. — 

 There are many exceptions, it is true; though this 

 description embraces more than the majority. The 

 numerous free negroes, and worthless, dissipated 

 whites, who have no visible means of support, and 

 who are rarely seen at work, derive their chief 

 subsistence from the thefts of the slaves. These 

 thefts amount to a great deal in the course of the 

 year, and operate like leeches on the fair income 

 of agriculture. They vary, however, in every 

 count}' and neighborhood, in the exact proportion 

 as the markets for the plunder varies. In the vi- 

 cinities of towns and vdlages, they are the most 

 serious. Besides the actual loss of property occa- 

 sioned by them, they involve the riding of our 

 horses at night, the corruption of the habits and 

 the injury of the health of the slaves ; for whiskey 

 is the price generally received for them. These 

 evils have been always felt ; but they have be- 

 come so great of late, that the legislature ought to 

 provide a more efficient remedy. The statute 

 book w'ould seem to contain one. " " Whether the 

 defect be in the law or in its execution," is not for 

 me to decide. It sometimes happens that the head 



thief on a farm is in partnership with the over- 

 seer ; and when this is tlie case, the husbandman 

 h.as no chance for profit. 



Another great cause of the dilapidated appear- 

 ance of '\'irginia, is the semi-annual wave ol' emi- 

 gration, which has so long rolled from her bosom 

 in a western and southwestern direction. It has 

 not only swept oft' the most enterprising portion 

 of our people, but also much of the capital and 

 moveable property of the state. Nor is this all : 

 the price of land has been kept down by the great 

 quantities of it, brought into market by the emi- 

 grants. Instead of improving those we held be- 

 fore, we have been tempted to add to our posses- 

 sions exhausted farms and plantations. It has been 

 the custom to go in debt for two tliirds of such 

 purchases. The emigrants, besides taking Avith 

 them every thing they can, draw, annually, for 

 three years, upon the earnings of their old neigh- 

 bors. Thus, the land holders have not been able 

 to accumulate a disposable cash fund, to be applied 

 to improvements and the purchase of better im- 

 plements, &c. On the contrary, tliey are too often 

 forced to cultivate their lands with greater severi- 

 ty, to meet these payments. 



The great fertility and cheapness of western 

 lands, and the increased value given of late, to 

 every thing in the west, by the use of steam on its 

 noble rivers, have been inducements to emigration 

 too strong to be resisted by a people who find it 

 laborious to earn a mere subsistence in tlie land of 

 their fathers. I need but advert to the wonderful, 

 the magic growth of the " mighty west" — that 

 fairy land of imagined manna, and of milk and 

 honey. During the ten years, from 1S20 to 1830, 

 the increase of population, and rate of increase, will 

 be seen from the follow ins table : 



1,357,449 avr. 99,4 3,396,379 



Tliese rich and flourishing states have grown 

 up within a short time. It is not pretended that 

 all the emigrants by whom they have been peo- 

 pled v.ent from Virginia. But it must be conce- 

 ded that this state furnished a very large propor- 

 tion of them, to say nothing of the number of her 

 sons who migrated to the Carolinas, Georgia, 

 Florida, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, and Michi- 

 gan. The fact that so many of our friends and re- 

 lations have left us and are prosperous and happy 

 in the new states, has a tendency to make us rest- 

 less and dissatisfied, and will continue to keep up, 

 and perhaps, increase the spirit of emigration. 



I have given a rapid sketch of some of the great 

 causes of the depressed condition of Virginia, and 

 particularly of her agriculture. But, there are 

 many others, some growing out of these, and 

 others independent of them, which I must leave to 

 suggest themselves to the mind of the intelligent 

 reader. 



Now,, what is to be done to arrest these evils — 



