Daily American telegraph., 1852-03-27
AMERICAN TELEGRAPH.
Communicated
Plank ROads.


MEssRs. EDITORS am glad to witness the en-
terprise which has been manifested in the neigh
boring county of Montgomery on the subject of
plank roads, and indulge the hope that her
example may stimulate the people of this far
more wealthy county to make similar exertions
But the people of Washington, no less than those
of the adjacent country, are interested in this
question, and it is surprising that their attention
has not been sooner awakened to the Importance
of good roads leading into the country The
truth is, that tho great mass of your citizens are
as ignorant of the character of the country which
surrounds the Capitol, at the distance of few
miles, as they are of that in which the capital of
Mexico or Peru is situated. The soil Immediately
around the city is very poor, and that through
which the railroad passes to Baltimore is of a
similar character; so that when you tell citizen
OF Washington, whether from the North or South
that more than half the county of Prince Georges
| Is one of the most fertile districts in America,
he may, through politeness, affect little sur
prise, but he don't believe you, and therefore
changes the conversation.
Nevertheless, Messrs, Editors can assure you
and your readers that such is the case and if
any gentleman is disposed to question my state
ment, request him to take ride into the coun-
try, some fine day this spring, in the direction
of Upper Marlboro and he will find his incredu-
lity cured. This fine region of country, which
IS more than twenty miles long by ten or twelve
in width, is as dissimilar to that through which
| the railroad passes as the alluvion bottoms of
the Mississippi are to the pine woods of Virginia
| This rich district, known the Forest, though
the timber is now all cut down, is the great to-
bacco region OF Maryland, and has been cult
waited for century and half at least yet such
is the depth of its soil and its recuperative en-
ergy, that the culture OF that weed, which has
| exhausted the finest parts of Virginia, has left
the Forest of Prince Georges in possession Of I'LL
its pristine vigor.
! But the cultivation of tobacco in the vicinity
of large city is misapplication of labor and
capital. The owner of the soil loses all the adj
vantagcs of his position by producing an article
fora foreign and distant market when he could find
ready sale for products ofa character his
own door. If our citizens are always to con-
tinue the production of tobacco, we had Just as
well be thousand miles from Washington and
Baltimore as twenty. They don't chew our to-
bacco or smoke it, though those of the latter
may ship it for us; but before those places had any
existence, tobacco was very conveniently shipped,
and brought much better price than it does
now. Where, then is the benefit which your
cities afford to tobacco planters? The truth is,
that as tobacco planters the country people have
|
large cities in their vicinity. These considera-
tions will account for the remarkable fact that
Prince Georges county had less population in
lS4O than it had in the second year of Washing
tons administration, when the first census was
taken. The same thing is true of nearly all the
tobacco-growing counties in this State. (See
abstract of the first six censuses in McSherry's
History of Maryland.) The census of 1850 ex
hibts an increase of about two thousand in the
county, which marks the commencement of q new
era in our history-the era of farming and gar
dening. The growth of Washington has been
very considerable in the decade--in fact greater
than for thirty years previous; and Mt length
your market has made a draft upon the soil OF
Prince Georges. Small, Industrious farmers
and gardeners have purchased the poor, cheap
lands near the District line, and have added ma
terially to the population of the county. Plant
ers, also have given far more attention to the
production of the neccssares of life, in conse-
quence of the growing demand, and proportion
ably less to tobacco. The home market for neces-
saries, they are gradually percciying, is of more
Importance to them than the foreign market for
tobacco and Notwithstanding the gradual decline
of the latter article, they find their land contin-
ually rising in value. The rise is owing to the
presence of large and continually increasing
population in the vicinity of their lands, which
creates a home market for the necessares and
luxuries Of the table
But the city is no less gamer than the
country by the gradual transformation which The
latter is undergoing from tobacco plantation to
grain, vegetable and poultry-producing district
Can any one doubt this? Suppose the county
of Prince Georges contained forty or sixty thou
sand inhabitants engaged in the production o
food for the citizens of Washington, instead u
twenty-five thousand, as at present chiefly oceu
pied in planting tobacco: would not the trade
of the city be immensely augmented by such
a transformation? There can be no doubt of the
fact, and that the lands Of this county would be
immensely enhanced in value.
Believing that intelligent and rejecting
person will take issue with me on these points,
next proceed to call attention TO the Importance
almost the neccssityof making good roads into
the fine country which | have attempted TO de-
scribe.
The natural features Of the country are such
as forever to forbid the establishment Of rail
roads. The distance between the bay and the
Potomac is too small to allow of that species Of
transportation and travel, with any hope Of n
| profitable investment, even with five times the
present population Turnpikcs or plank roads
must be the instruments employed in the regen-
Grafton of this fine country; and FOR several rea-
SONS incline to prefer the latter. In the first
place. they will bo cheaper, in consequence
of the absence of stone, and not less durable
They arc better, since wagons and other vehicles
may be drawn with far greater facility ON a
smooth, firm, yet pliable surface of wood, than
| over even a macadamiaed road,
Let us have, then, plank road leading directly
from Washington to Upper Marlboro; another
along the turnpike TO Bladensburg and thence into
the Forest in an essterly or northeasterly drcc-
ton and for the purpose Of bringing about these
important measures let there be public meetings
held in the city of Washington and in Upper
Marlboro, in order to devise the ways and
means The city and county have ample means
to construct these and other roads all that is
| rnntinn 10 energy and enternrisc-thnt American