Proceedings of the Faemees' ('lee. 423 



that I have seen are well pleased with the country, and I have heard 

 of no dissatisfaction, except from those who have purchased more land 

 than their means would warrant. I think that no one should invest 

 more than one-third or one-half of his available means in a Virginia 

 farm ; the balance will be needed in improving the fertility of the 

 soil, the erection of suitable buildings and the purchase of farm stock 

 and implements^ and the support of a family until an income shall be 

 derived from the farm. 



There are no Ku-Klux in Virginia. As good order prevails 

 there as in any of the northern States. The uniform testimony 

 of every northern man whom I have seen is that they are well 

 treated by the native Virginia inhabitants, who are anxious to have 

 good inhabitants come from any country to buy their lands and 

 develop the great resources of the State. It is a poor. place for a 

 laboring man without sufficient capital to go into business 

 on his own resources, as there are plenty of negro men and 

 women that can be hired for less than one-half of the wages paid in 

 the northern States, which is one of the advantages of the country to 

 the man of means who wishes to carry on any kind of business. All 

 of that section of country between tide- water and the Blue Ridge has 

 a very mild and salubrious climate. But little snow falls, and that 

 remains but a short time. Stock requires but little feeding from the 

 barn. They have there but very few of what we at the north should 

 call barns. They have a mass of hovels, which, together with the lit- 

 tle negro huts, give the greater part of Virginia farms an uninviting 

 appearance. Barns are needed in Virginia as much as in Massachu- 

 setts, for the manufacture of manure, but as a shelter they do not 

 require so much expense in making them warm, nor in providing 

 storage for roots, as they can be kept in the field with but little more 

 protection than is required in England. Some large purchases have 

 recently been made in the vicinity of Fredericksburg by parties from 

 Scotland, who propose to make a specialty of stock-raising, which I 

 think might be carried on in that vicinity as successfully as in the 

 Piedmont district, as the best clover which I have seen in the State 

 was on the gray lands near Guineas, excelling anything which I saw 

 in the noted Shenandoah valley, which is indeed a beautiful and fer- 

 tile district ; but the price of land is there so much higher than on 

 the east side of the Blue Tlidge, that I could not see as great advan- 

 tages for settlement there as there are on the east side of the ridge, 

 considering the price of land, the distance from market, and the high 

 rates charged on the Virginia railroads, which is about double the 



