Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1847-03-12
Tbe -. FARM.
From the Culiivator
Emigration to VIrsinia-Fairfax Co. Lands.
By AN EMIGRAST.

1t was at the close of a bleak, windy, and
gloomy October day-the temperature below
the freezing point--and the elements giving
legbc tokens of the approach of the dreary and
almost intcrmna5e northern winter, that with
my family and goo1ly assortment of Garnet
bags, which we had conrived to substitute for
those most troublesome and vexatious of all an
pendages, travelling trunks, | took pa ssage in
the noble steamer knickerbocker.' from the
Albany wharves, for the great metropolis
from whence it was my intention to proceed by
the Camden and Amboy railroad. Philadelphia.
Baltimore, and Washington, TO some point south
of Mason and Dixon's Line in pursuit of
health, and to escape the rigors of the coming
season. Ten years constant confinement with
In the pent up walls of the city, and an unn-
Permitted devotion 10 sedentary OCCUPATIONS and
literary pursuits, had served clcctualv to nm
dermlnlnc constitution naturally not the stronr-
est, and to bcgct craving thirst for the fresh
breezcs and pure air ofthe country: while the
necessity OF making some permanent provision
lot the inture Tor myself and growing family
a provision not dependent upon the capricions
fluctuations either of trade or poli,cs--rointcd
TO The purchase of snug little farm. in the Vi
cinity OF good market, where all the alvan.a-
ges ola thorough agricultural education minht
be combined with those to be derived only from
the lncXilausbe Resources of a irre town.
uoverned by these motives and inducements.
joined to an early imbibcd and long cherished
rove Tor rural sights and sounds" availcd
!nyseH OF the facilities afforded by the cmigra-
ton, lew yei rs previous, of an esteemed rel
alive and frield, himself practical and eynn.
rlenced farmer, from one of the New England
states. to Fairfax county in Virginia, 10 carry
mic effect the views and projects thus INDUCED.
ana IN less than three days from my departure.
found myself comfortably established at his hos
pitaoie mansion. seven miles from the CITY of
washington, within the confines of the " Old
Dominion" ana under what compared to that
had SO recently left, might fairly b, termed a
tropical sky Within one mouth thereafter.
succeeded IN purchasing, on very adyanta geous
'erhs' iarm OF seventy acres, eligibly situated
ana wnich am now engaged in improving.
doubtless all of your readers are more or less
familiar WI the Topography and associations OF
this part of Nirgnia-tle theatre of our ear-
est annals as people-the nursery of our
greatest statesmen and pa'riots--the home and
the final resting place of the FATHER OF HIS
COUNTRY. Here, on the verlnnt banks of the
l'ot 'nac-wrapt, as is most fitting and emblem
aic OF lne lame OF It's great founder, in percnn-
a. shruDbery-in Noum Tcrnon,-and here, at
little distance from the noble mansion, is the
1omd Of Washingt0n-the consccratcd shrine
watered by the tears of a grateful country, and
resorted to BY crowds Of " succeeding pilgrims
IRON every part of the civilized globe. Here
stands the venerable though dilapidated wooden
waits, where mt the periodical sessions of the
county courts, during those "times which
tired mems souls" Immediately preceding the
outbreak with the mother country, the former
heroes and statesman of the Republic--the
WAsiiIScToNs, the LEES, the IIESRys, and the
/ L.,
cuss The portentous aspects of the political ho-
rizon; and here after the storms of war had
spent their fnry-aftcr new republic had
sprung INTO eXsience--and its high desinies
iau received the lasting Impress OF its founders
counseis ana guidance, the SOllier STATESMAN re-
urea 10 ma IN the shades of private life that re.
pose and seciusion that he had so n,,by earned
and so long and arden,ly coveted These arc
all and each matters of notoriety but il ma,
not be known to all that for few wears mast
this little country, so richly fraur!.t with the
proud associations of the brightest period of ou
country's history, has been the theatre of a We
ry general and extensive emigration from III,
northern and eastern states that the origina
proprletors of IFS broad acres ard vast forest,
and noble streams, have, in numerous instan
ces, either abandoned their patrmonal estates
and taken up their line of march for the bound
less praires and virgin fields of the west o
contracted their domains within practicable Inn
ITS tor agricultural Improvement and that tn
lands thus abandoned, exhausted as a Larry
proportion of them have been BY heavy and un
lntermltted groupings, without any correspond
ing return in The shape Of feriilizing manures
have been purchased at low price compare,
with their intrinsic value for farming purpo
ees, by northern and eastern men, who hay,
brought with them TO their new abodes that in
domitabe industry and practical skill befor
when every obstic!e TO the attainment of al
independent competence for themselves and thei
children speedily disappears, and the tangle
wilderness OF luxuriant but neglected soil i
rapidly made to bud and blossom as the rose
Not less than two hundred of this enterprsin,
class of our fellow citizens have within the pas
five years, issued from the great " northern
hive" and quietly effected the most desirable set
Elements in this attractive and genial cline. an,
within the boundaries ofths single county an,
upwards oftwo hundred thousand dollars hav,
already been invested in the purchase Of improy
ed and unilnprovcd real estate within its limit
most of it at prices ranging from two to iiv,
and ten dollars an acre, according to its produc
tiveness and the extent of its improvements
This land consists chiefly of estates, the create
part of which has at period not very remote
been under vigorous cultivation, and sublecie,
to a succession OF exhausting crops, when, in
stead OF being placed under iudicious treatment
with view to the restoration of its fertility,
has been exchanged for other portions, destine
in their turn to share the same fate. Thus aban