Richmond daily times. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1853, 1851-01-02

above item OF S333,602, plate rails Tor 10 miles,
string pieces for 60 miles, and siiis or cross ties
for 81 miles. In these data, which are all fur
nished by the Engineers report. we are unable TO
| see the grounds of the conclusion which the In
telligencer jumps at that the road must cost three
millions of dollars. If, with an expenditure Of
$777,75S, so large a proportion of the work on
the 100 miles East of the Staunton has been exc
cuted, and the rails and other superstructure pur
| chased for the greater part of that distance, Qo
say nothing of the work done West of the Staun-
TOM is it reasonable to infer that the whole road,
being only l40 miles in length, will cost three
| millions We have no doubt that the cost will
exceed the capital, but we believe the Intelligent
Ger has greatly overestma,ed the excess. 1t is
certain, we believe, that the Company can with
its capital stock and the 100000 borrowed from
the State, complete its road to the Staunton, and
also the contract at the upper terminus. a gap
will remain to be filled up in the county of Hall
| fax, and nobody who knows the resources of that
! large and wealthy county, can doubt that the de-
| fciency will be made up. Let us once get the
trains running to the Stanton, and we cannot
doubt that the capital will be raised to extend the
road to Danville
The intelhgencer resorts to an argument ofvery
questionable force, in endeavoring to impress the
North Carolana Legislature with dstrust Of the
ultimate completion of the Danville road. For
if the road were to stop short at the Staunton
or at Burke's it cenld not possibly be rival to
| the n c. Central road, and its existence could
not prejudice the application of the people a Mil
| ton for charter.
| Our FRIEND Syme, proposes that the road shall
be stopped at BurlSes, and plank road con-
structed thence to Danvlle That would be a
| notable scheme TO give the South Side Road a
better chance for the trade of the Roanoke VAL
| ley, but the Danvle Company will hardly deem
| this sufficient inducement for adopting it. The
fact is, our Jealous contemporary can view no
subject, except with all eye to the peculiar inte
rest of his former constituents (who have most
strangely failed to appreciate his services in their
behalfD and to this circumstance we must attri-
butte his hasaty differences from Captain Tacolt 8
report. When the Danve railroad was first sup-
gested, he inveighed Justify against the scheme
and pronounced the country through which the
road would run totally unfit to sustain one. Soon
after, upon finding that his counsels were to be
overruled he began to think vastly better of the
country, and got charter for little railroad from
Petersburg to Blacks and Whites in Nottoway
county, which was tile germ of his great bantling
the South Side Road. We do not expect him ever
to hold the Danville road in the slightest esteem.
But really he goes little beyond his bailiwick in
striving to prevent the Legislature of North Caro-
lima from permitting its own citizens to construct
railroad between the Danville and their Contra
road
Improvements IN Hemp and Flag Manufacturer
The recent announcement of new method
devised in England of preparing the fibre of flax,
has attracted much attention in this country, and
especially in those Western States where hemp
and flax are staple productions. Virginia being
in the right latitude, and much of her soil well
fitted for the culture of these crops, her citizens
may properly take equal interest in this truly i'm
portant improvement. lfit be true, as the Ire
land Flax Society sta te, that by the new process,
the same crop will yield more than twice as much
flax fibre as at present. it is scarcely possible to
estimate the influence of the invention upon the
agriculture and commerce of the world One
obvious effect would be TO diminish the profits
now derived from the cultivation of Cotton A
corolary to that, has heretofore been, the depre-
citation of the value of slaves. If, however, it
should turn out, that the Hemp and Flax culture
creates new demand for abour in the Middle
States, the substitution of linen for cotton fabrics
might rebound to the advantage of such of those
States as have slaves. The subject is, at all
events we'll worthy of consideration and our
readers will find some interesting suggestions
concerningi, in the following article of the New
York Tribune, which, however, is not difficult to
perceive, is in good part prompted by the editors
jealousy of the influence of the Cotton interest in
our public affairs
From the Tribune.
observation-disclosures The paramount impor-
lance Tor years accorded to Cotton as the ma
teria OF textile fabrics is novel, unnatural and can
not endure Not to speak OF Wool-a more valuable but
costly materait is notorious that there produced
tar greater quantity weight OF cleaned fibre per acre
OF Hemp or Flax than of Cotton and less expense
Whitneys invention ofthe Cotton Gin, with the al
most Simultaneous invention perfection OF processes
Tor carding spinning and weaving Cotton, especially by
steam or warter power, has gvln Cotton its recent
predominance. While the manufacture OF Cotton
thus obtained a rapid and extraordinary development
that OF Hemp and Flax but especially OF the latter
has been thrown back by the obstacles encountered
only spinning and weaving but in breaking and clean
ing itthal in separating the fibre entirely from the
woody and worthless portion OF the stalk which it
folds.
We believe ripe Flax might be probably grown in
nearly every State OF the Union tor an average OF Sc
per hundred $40 per ton provided machinery exist
ed by which it could be broken and cleaned at cost
OF not more than $50 per ton-and that ought to be
abundant But in fact, by the rude and clumsy hand
brake and swinging knife which have down to
us, probably from Noahs time it is worth at least 500
and really $500 per to dress Flax wel and
Flax for years in the background 1t has been by
means uncommon to grow large crops Of Flax for the
seed Alone throwing out the hreshed stalks fibre nclu-
slve to rot and return the soil. This seed export