113 
VIRGINIA LANDS. 
we will leave them, having followed them through 
their annual peregrinations, and go back to their 
wool. D’Jay Browne. 
Aiew York, March 12, 1845. 
VIRGINIA^ LANDS. 
compliance with my promise, I will attempt to 
ou a limited description of that portion of Vir- 
which I went to see for the purpose of settling, 
went to Washington, and having letters to the 
S. B. Strong, M. C. of this district, and the 
M. B. Leonard, of your city, I stated to them 
t I wished to visit Eastern Virginia, when they 
traduced me to the Hon. Messrs. Bagly and Atkin¬ 
son, of Virginia. These gentlemen gave me some 
information in relation to the land in their districts, 
and letters to some of their friends residing in the 
counties I wished to visit. 
From Washington I went by the railroad to Rich¬ 
mond, and from Richmond down James river by 
steamboat, stopping at Grove wharf, the steamboat 
laating for Williamsburg. The north bank of the 
James river is perhaps one of the finest wheat dis¬ 
tricts in the United States; the Shirley estate, nearly 
opposite City Point, averages about 30 bushels of 
wheat per acre. The Brandon estates make 10,000 
bushels each per year. Westover, and many other 
estates, in the same proportion. I rode over portions 
of James City, York, and Warwick counties. The 
James river lands are generally of a stiff' clay, but 
grow lighter and more loamy as they recede from the 
river, until you come on to the ridge, which divides 
the small streams that empty it into York and James 
rivers—thence to the York river they change very 
little. The York river lands are not as stiff as those 
on the James river until you get below Yorktown, 
where the land is lower, flatter, and stiffer. The 
higher lands are considerably broken with deep 
ravines, particularly on the rivers; and from them 
the marls, which underlay the whole country, and 
with which 1 supplied you samples, are dug to be 
applied to the soil. This marl is frequently found at 
the surface in the sides of the ravines. In nearly all 
those ravines there are small streams of water issuing 
out, and often spreading over the whole bottom, which 
is the chief cause of the fall sickness, such as fever 
and ague, and bilious fever, which are no worse than 
at the boasted West, if as bad. These can be drain¬ 
ed at a small expense. 
Nearly three-fourths of the land from the Chicka- 
hominy to Hampton is in forest. The benefit of 
marling here has been surprising, especially on the 
farm of Mr. Nelson (to whom I had a letter of intro¬ 
duction), and at Yorktown, on the battle ground, 
which I have not time to describe, otherwise than to 
say that the plow and time have obliterated nearly all 
the evidences of. the American parallels, while the 
British redoubts remain in a good state of preserva¬ 
tion. Mr. N. politely showed the farms in his neigh¬ 
borhood. I saw a very striking effect of marl on 
these also. On one of these a field had been marled, 
leaving by accident a strip unmarled. The difference 
was perceptible as far as the grain could be seen. 
The farm of Mr. Wynne, on James river, at the 
Grove wharf, is a good illustration of the effect of 
marling and clovering. Having a letter to him, and 
being kindly invited to partake of his generous hos¬ 
pitality for several days, I had during my rambles 
there a good opportunity of examining his farm and 
mode of cultivation. He is a very intelligent and 
gentlemanly man, and a very good practical farmer ; 
and any one visiting that part of Virginia for a loca¬ 
tion, would do well to call and see him. People 
from all sections of Virginia daily passing, gives him 
an ample opportunity to become extensively acquaint¬ 
ed in his State. He told me that he bought his farm 
six years ago, and it was thought to be very poor. 
He has 1,000 acres of land. The house is one of 
the finest specimens of the old Virginia style I saw 
in my rambles. It is 74 by 44 feet, two stories high, 
the stories 15 feet between joints, with wainscotted 
ceiling. It is built of brick, and more than a hundred 
years old, and still in a fine state of preservation. 
He said that when he bought the farm it would not 
produce more than 300 bushels of wheat a year, and 
by marling, clovering, and other improvement, his last 
year’s crop reached 1,600 bushels, 80 acres averaging 
16 bushels per acre. If he carries out his present 
system of improvement, he can double this yield in 
six years more. He cultivates on the three field sys¬ 
tem ; corn, wheat, clover; sowing wheat after corn, 
and some on a clover ley, and then putting corn right 
after wheat. If land will improve under this system 
I think it must be good. Such a continued cropping 
might be exchanged for one like this with profit—1st, 
corn, 2d, oats, 3d, clover, 4th, wheat, 5th, 6th, and 7th, 
if you please, with clover and timothy, and keep 
more stock, and keep them better, for the cattle in 
Virginia are miserable enough. Thus they would 
make more manure, and consequently raise more 
grain; and the more manure there is applied, the 
more marl the land will bear. Southern Virginia 
owes an inestimable debt of gratitude to Mr. Ruffin 
for his work on calcareous manures; for marls were 
rarely applied, and scarcely known as a manure until 
after the appearance of his work. Mr. Wynne’s farm 
is but an illustration of many others, and he assured 
me that he knew many farms which produced 10 
bushels of wheat now, where they did one ten years 
ago. 
Farms with improvements on them can be bought 
from $3 to $20 per acre through the whole peninsu¬ 
la, with perhaps few exceptions about Hampton and 
the lower part of York county ; some few very rich 
farms are held higher; but I saw good farms off the 
rivers, and some on, that can be bought for $5, $8, 
and $10 per acre. Here, it is not more than 15 miles 
from one river to the other. At any place, oysters, 
fish, and fowl abound, of the finest quality. The 
south side of James river is much the same kind of 
land, except that it is sandier and thinner, and there 
is much heavy timber in Surrey, Isle of Wight, Nan- 
semond, Princess Anne, the surface flat, and much 
of the two last slashy. There is some good land on 
the Nansemond and Elizabeth rivers. On the Nanse- 
mond and about Hampton, large quantities of melons, 
and potatoes, and other vegetables, are grown for the 
northern markets. The farms here are smaller and 
lands higher than the others I have named. There are 
tracts to be found on the rivers, which an enterpris¬ 
ing man can pay for in the wood in a few years, by 
cutting wood and timber. The lands between the 
York and Rappahannock rivers, and so on through 
up to the Potomac, differ little in quality and price 
with the lands I have described. Gloucester county 
is considered one of the best in lower Virginia 
