Alexandria gazette & daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1817-1822, 1821-07-06

In what then do their advantages con-
sist' not in health nor yet in profit. Can
dour will say that it is in fertility alone;
and that very state we can arrive at, as
many Improvements will shew, by follow
ing their judicious examples, by plaster
and clover, and the various kinds of ma
nures within cur reach. More wheat has
been made to the acre in the counties OF
Stafford and Fairfax in Va: and in Charles
county in Md. than was ever pretended to
have been made in Loudoun, Jefferson or
Frederick. Col. Francis Mercer made
81 bushels at Marlborough on the Poto-
mac, and Carey Selden Esqr. made Coz
accurately measured, threshed and weigh
ed. The late MIR. Chichester of Fairfax
made 6la measured and threshed in the
presence of the county surveyor, and the
late Mr.. Ladder of Charles county, Md
a gentleman of unquestioned veraclty IN
formed me that he had made 20 bushels
to an acre of the double headed wheat, on
some of his fine oyster-shell land, many
of the stems producing Is heads. In
corn and tobacco, the upper country
does not pretend to compete with US. The
freight on wheat from Maryland Point to
Alexandria, distance of 60 miles, is four
cents per bushel, from Md. point to Baltl-
more or Norfolk distance of lao miles
6 cents per bushel. Many farmers en-
gage their crops to the merchant, whose
vessels call at their landing & take them
off free of any charge whatever. The te-
dious process. to which they are driven
from necessity, of waggoning produce, is
the cause of the farmer of the upper coun-
try, having sometimes two crops unthresh-
ed on hand, food for wevils; and it has
been observed that the ravages of all in
sects enemies to small grain are more
extensively fatal and more frequent in the
upper country.
Suppose a farmer near the ridge makes
1000 bushels of wheat, he gets from the
miller 400 bbls. of -four in exchange,
worth D.4 per Dbl. when brought to mar
ct Dl6OO
deduct freight at DIS from the
farm to the mill, and from the
mill to market 5OO
profit, D 100
The tide water farmer gets 80 D.l6O0
Deduct freight at per bushel so
profit, 1890
Advantage in favor of the latter
is D.490
What an enormous sum is lost to the
farmers, when we estimate the whole
amount paid to Wagons in the ridge coun-
try of Virginia, and Maryland. Added
to this the one is frequently obliged to
store his -four, and the other can at any
day choose his market; that the one will
be six months delivering his crop, and
the other six days. MIR. Hamilton's wag-
gon and team of six horses, which tran
ported across the mountains so bbls. of
-four to Alexandria. was to me a crafty
ing exhibition, and excited the marvellous
cape of the curious multitude. 1t must
have been worth DISCO but really sir,
if I were tied down to choice, l
would prefer my old batteau, which cost
me D.5O when new, and in which take
to the vessels at my landing, my tobacco,
my corn, my wheat, and my water me-
Ions Since the swords Of Europe have
been converted into ploughshares and
pruning hooks, an almost universal peace
has had such paralizing influence on our
merchants & foreign commerce, as to re-
duce the artificial value of the upper !ands
and elevate to his just station in the pub
lie opinion, the farmer of the tide water.
Our countrymen of the ridge country per
ceive it, and gradually approach us. The
commerce of the western country is at its
lowest ebb, and the torrent of emigration
must roll back There are thousands of
uncultivated acres along our water cour-
ses nnssessinC naturally great adyanta-