THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



359 



^han in agricultural pursuits in the Common- 

 wealth of Virginia. 



In the variety and diversity of our crops, 

 security, and, in a series of years, profit and 

 wealth will most probably be attained. This 

 is obviously the true system with the Virginia 

 agriculturist. With large demands upon him 

 for subsistence and supplies, he is compelled to 

 provide them from his own farm and with his 

 own labor, or rely on purchasing them from 

 others. 



Where a single crop, such as tobacco or 

 wheat is relied on, this dependence is greater 

 than can be borne from the casualties, losses 

 and uncertainties in agricultural pursuits. It 

 becomes, when thus conducted, an adventure 

 oi' speculation, dependent upon a frost, or storm, 

 or drought, instead of a well insured and regu- 

 lar system protected from accident, casualty 

 and loss, by all the means in our power. 



The soil and climate adapted to tobacco are 

 those in which wheat, corn, oats and in some 

 portions of the State grasses are produced in 

 perfection and abundance. Where there is not 

 an undue proportion of labor devoted to to- 

 bacco, it is not difficult so to apportion the 

 crops, as to enable us to furnish regular labor 

 throughout the year, at the period proper for 

 the cultivation of each. Where the quantity 

 is so regulated as to permit the planter and 

 farmer to pursue a system of improvement of 

 his soils, with such variety of products as ex- 

 perience has shown advisable and proper; then 

 the tobacco cultivation is of great importance 

 to a large "portion of the State. 



It is not considered a great exhauster of the 

 soil; it has a superiority in value over any 

 produced on the continent; it is less subject to 

 depreciation from foreign competition than any 

 of our productions, and constitutes, in connec- 

 tion with the other crops with which it can be 

 cultivated, an important and permanent ad- 

 vantage to our agriculture in Virginia. 



Whatever contributes to retard emigration, 

 to increase the profits on agricultural labor, to 

 reduce the cost of transportation to market, to 

 multiply the production of the soil, must be 

 regarded as important to our agricultural pros- 

 perity. 



A large and fertile portion of the State has 

 hitherto been so situated that its importance 

 has been but imperfectly understood, and but 

 slightly appreciated. With agricultural, mi- 

 neral and manufacturing resources that only 

 require the hand of industry and labor to add 

 incalculably to the wealth, power and prospe- 

 rity of the State, its progress has been slow, 

 its population sparse, its pursuits pastoral, and 

 its wealth inconsiderable. 



The rail roads and canals in progress in our 

 State, however inadequate they may be to the 

 wants of our people, or however objectionable 

 the system may be upon which they are con- 

 structed, (and of these things I shall certainly 

 not speak,) have already produced on the agri- 

 culture of our State important and decisive 

 results — results that contribute to the advance- 

 ment and prosperity of every portion thereof. 

 Take, for example, the only one that has passed 

 the Alleghany, traversing a region larger than 

 the State of Massachusetts — in its natural re- 

 sources unsurpassed by any of equal extent on 

 the continent. Hitherto it has been without 

 the benefit of a market. Along the line of 

 this improvement, lands for agricultural pur- 

 poses have risen from $10 and $20 per acre, 

 to $30 and $50, and in some instances to $80 

 and $100. The unenclosed and uncultivated 

 lands, which recently were worth from $2 to 

 $4 per acre, are now selling for $5 and $10 

 per acre. Eastern Virginians are purchasing 

 these lands, and settling their families and 

 slaves upon them, instead of emigrating as for- 

 merly to the West, and transferring your num- 

 bers and your wealth beyond your borders and 

 your jurisdiction, 



All the mineral and agricultural products of 

 the country are being transported along it. 

 The income of the people has been increased. 

 The prospect of wealth enlarged, and rendered 

 certain. Their activity and energy stimulated 

 and invigorated, and their labor employed in 

 the cultivation of crops that hitherto had little 

 value. 



From their remoteness from market, and 

 want of labor, their pursuits, except so far a3 

 was necessary for subsistence, were pastoral. 

 The best lands, and largest estates were sur- 

 rendered to the ox, the horse and the mule. 

 The smaller tracts were purchased by graziers 

 whose capital enabled them to pursue the only 

 occupation which gave pecuniary reward. Their 

 former owners were thus induced to remove, 

 and their places were supplied by flocks and 

 herds — the profits derived from such pursuits 

 poorly compensating the State for the loss sus- 

 tained in its power and wealth of men and 

 numbers. The entire lands of the country re- 

 mained at low prices, and the profits on all less 

 than usually attend agricultural pursuits where 

 markets present themselves. 



A single year has produced a marked change 

 in the condition and pursuits of its people. 



The grazing lands are beginning to be sur- 

 rendered to the plough for the cultivation of 

 wheat, tobacco, corn, vegetables; and the at- 

 tention and labor of the country directed to 

 agriculture. This change of pursuit, arresting 



