354 



FARMERS' REGISTER— RAIL-ROADS. 



Wheatland, July, 1833. 



Your remarks on the field l^eet arc good, l)ut 1 

 do not know ho\v to account for the sco»irin<^ and 

 loss of flesh mentioned by the Englisli authors, un- 

 less the ground had been very soft, so tliat much 

 earth adhered to them when ])ulled. I co;iceive 

 that cattle led on them alone, when in such a situa- 

 tion, might be subject to such complaints, but I 

 never had any thing of the kind happen to any of 

 my stock. 



I always commenced feeding my milch cows 

 with mangel wurtzel as soon as the pastures begin 

 to fail in autumn, which sometimes iiappens as soon 

 as the middle of October. 



I commenced giving from half to three-fourtlip 

 of a bushel to each milch cow, and twice that 

 quantity, to one when fattening, is sufficient. To 

 feed an animal entirely on field beets, would bp like 

 a person's living upon butter ; and therefore, feed- 

 ing at the same time, some coarse fodder, is not 

 only good economy, but absolutely necessary. — 

 The value of mangel wurtzel, to those engaged in 

 raising stock, is very great; chaff and straw, when 

 fed to stock with beets, are preferable to the best 

 hay, when fed alone, and by sucli feed the cost of 

 keeping stock is much reduced. 



WILLIABI GARBUTT. 



THE HAIL ROAD FROM RALEIGH TO NEW- 

 BERN AND VIA WAYNESBOROUGH TO WIL- 

 MINGTON. 



From the North Carolina Journal. 



Sirs: — As it is now more than thirteen years 

 since there was published in the Cape Fear Re- 

 corder, the diagram of a set of rail roads, so con- 

 structed, if I recollect aright, as to intersect the 

 whole of^ the lower part of the state of North Ca- 

 rolina, and over part of the same ground which I 

 learn, from the Raleigh Star, is nov/ proposed to 

 be covered. — It was with infinile pleasure I learn- 

 ed, that " the delegates from the counties more im- 

 mediately interested in the work, had held a meet- 

 ing, at which it v/as deterinined, that proper mea- 

 sures should be immediately adopted, to connect 

 Raleigh with Newbern and Wilmington, by a 

 rail road. Tlie work is to begin at Raleigh and 

 branch off at some convenient point, (supposed to 

 be Waynesborough,) to Wilmington." I be- 

 lieve a reference to the file of the Recorder will 

 show a partial coincidence between the projector 

 of the diagram and the one now proposed. The 

 only copy obtained by him, was lost. It was con- 

 fided to some privileged prig in office and politely 

 detained by him, without the slightest notice of 

 either project or projector. 



" The counties more immediately interested," 

 I take to be. Wake, Johnson, Wayne, Edge- 

 combe, Green, Lenoir, Jones, Craven, Carteret, 

 Onslow, New Hanover, Duplin, Sampson, Bla- 

 den and Brunswick ; but as I do not understand 

 divisions in states any more than I believe a house 

 divided against itself can stand, 1 would add, Cum- 

 berland, Robeson, Mecklenburg, Cabarus, Mont- 

 gomery, Anson, Richmond, Moore and Chatham. 

 On a loose calculation, the first named will give 

 us a population of 80,000 v, hitcs and 50,000 Ijlacks ; 

 the latter 73,000 whites and (only) 29,000 blacks ; 

 making a total of 153,000 whites, and 79,000 

 blacks— together, 23-2,000. 



The necessity of obtaining the physical and the 

 fiscal aiil of the latter counties, is self evident from 



their numbers, their nature, and their consuming 

 as well as their productive powers. Besides this, 

 it is evident that, if the road be run up either bank 

 of the Cape Fear to Fayetteville, and thence to 

 Charlotte, it will there meet with a road which is 

 to be laid down from Columbia, S. C. through 



Winnsborough, Chester, York, and , on 



the North Carolina line, within — miles of Char- 

 lotte. If it be not done, Columbia will carry off 

 an immense amount of traffic from Mecklenburg, 

 &c. &.C. ; and if it be done, there are many peri- 

 riods of the year, when produce can be conveyed, 

 possibly from Columliia, but certainly from Ches- 

 ter, York, &c. &c. &c. to Wilmington instead of 

 to Charleston. As to Waynesborough, no objec- 

 tion can be made ; a branch of the rail road way 

 still pass it; and, as distance is, comparatively 

 speaking, no object, no inconvenience will be lelt. 

 And the banks of the Cape Fear must offer an ad- 

 mirable site for a rail road. This will be more 

 than equivalent for a little distance. 



It is difficult to imagine the mii^nus of a mea- 

 sure, similar to that proposed at Raleigh ; impos- 

 sible to account for the exclusion of Fayetteville; 

 and impracticabh to give a reason for the substitu- 

 tion of Waynes! ;orough. It would seem that New- 

 bern was the leading object — Newbern, with about 

 one quarter the tonnage owned by Wilmington, 

 was thought more of than that ancient city. 



These gentlemen surely forgot, that with the 

 attraction of the two rail roads, and the bridge at 

 Weldon, and without the trade of Fayetteville and 

 its commercial dependencies, their rail road will 

 rather prove a way for the produce to go to Nor- 

 ioV&, than open a passage for it to Newbern and 

 Wilmington — for nothing can prevent the exten- 

 sion of the road from the Roanoke to Raleigh, and 

 that once completed, the produce of the important 

 country of Salisbury will find its way to the me- 

 tropolis and thence to the Roanoke. 



The sentiments and statements of Mr. Bayan, 

 published some years since, speak volumes on this 

 subject. 



Nothing can save Wilmington as a port, but 

 the united efforts of tliC whole southern flank of 

 North Carolina. Let what will happen, Fayette- 

 ville must increase in importance. Hence, the 

 application of such an exclusive spirit to her, is, 

 to say the least of it very weak. 



Let us now speak of the modus operandi. Let 

 us carefully, very carefully recollect the observa- 

 tion of Dr. Howard, on tlie subject of the Charles- 

 ton rail road, at its commencement. This civil 

 engineer, in the employment of the United States, 

 then said, that "to establish a communication be- 

 tween the two places in straight lines, formerly 

 thought (first by Pope Sextus and next by his 

 successor at Castle Hill,) to be of such primary 

 importance is now deemed a consideration the last 

 to I e consulted. He allowed $(800 per mile for 

 graduating the route he surveyed. This for 150 

 miles, v/as ^120,000. Mr. Blanding's statement 

 was ^93,000; Mr. Mills estimated the graduating 

 at .^200 per mile, or !2;30,000. The general to- 

 tals were, Mr. Howard s637,000; Mr. Blanding 

 ^011,000; Mr. Mills ;« 370,000. 



At present the public have no means of ascer- 

 taining what would liave been the cost of gradua- 

 tion ; possibly an average of the three estimates. 

 The real fact is only to be determined by those 

 wlio possess the drafts of the working sections, if 



