674 Transactions of the American Institute. 



Pulaski, "Wythe, and Smythe are the finest grazing lands. Grass is 

 spontaneous. Millions of acres now in forest can be converted into 

 pasture by girdling the forest trees and scattering a few pounds per 

 acre of herd grass and timothy seed. Most of our prize cattle come 

 from these rich valleys and fertile hillsides. Here, too, are vast 

 deposits of gypsum and extensive salt works. Here lands can be 

 obtained at moderate prices. In the Shenandoah valley the best 

 farms have not declined in value, and some are worth more than 

 before the war. But the immigrant cannot go amiss of land in Vir- 

 ginia. There are in the State 4:4,000,000 acres, of which only 

 11,000,000 have been plowed. Of the remaining 33,000,000, five or 

 six millions are too rough and steep to be of agricultural value. But 

 I am safe in saying that Virginia can ofier you the pick of 25,000,000 

 acres at prices low enough to be within the aspiration of every work- 

 ing, saving man. For the regular wheat growing and stall feeding far- 

 mer, there is as good a chance as in any State east or west. May 

 I not say to the man whose letter of inquiry was read that lie can 

 fatten bullocks as fast and with less expense, and get them 

 to a good market, with as moderate loss, as in any region he 

 may pick. In wheat, Virginia has a clear advantage, on account of 

 the dryness of our grain. AVe can produce a flour that Avill bear 

 transporting twice across the tropic zone. Tlie great mills of 

 Richmond ]iave always given more for Virginia wheat and obtained 

 better prices for their flour. There Mr. Rice or any other settler 

 will be within eighteen hours of this city, and can communicate 

 easily and daily with his friends, and with the best of markets. Let 

 me add a word with regard to the way in which a northern man is 

 looked upon. I know of but one man in all Virginia who in his 

 heart wishes to see slavery re-established. True, emancipation was a 

 terrific blow to private fortunes. In an hour 10,000 families were 

 reduced from opulence to penury. We are of course saddened and 

 in some cases soured by such reverses. But we felt before the v,ar 

 that slave labor was unthrifty and profitless, ^ow we are all of us 

 deeply convinced that with the blasting of our special form of 

 civilization, we are to adopt the chief features of that civilization 

 that has grown up alongside of ours, and in the late contest came ofif 

 winner. We fought for an idea. Some of us still think that idea 

 was not wholly an error. But we call it a defeated idea, an exploded 

 doctrine, a thing of the past, and we say, let the dead past bury the 

 dead. Hence we welcome among us the northern farmer. We 



