Richmond daily times. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1853, 1852-02-21

1 anu Va thiASot PoiAttSo uic INC
most incompatible.
These meetings have thus been subordinate,
and not principal objects of attraction, and have
consequently failed to excite an interest in the
public mind This, perhaps, has been heretofore
unavoidable; but may we not confidently hope
that the increased facilities for extending her
trade, which the city of Richmond will soon
enjoy, will stimulate the public spirit of her
merchants to engage largely in foreign COM
merce, and thus supply the people of the State
with the important goods for which they are
now in great measure dependent on the North!
Should our hopes in this respect be realized,
and the magnificent schemes of internal i'm
provement Swallowed forth in the message of the
Governor, and more elaborately developed in the
report of the Board of Public Works. be car
ried out, we shall not only have an object to at
tract us to the Capital, but abundant facilities
for reaching it from all quarters, at all seasons of
the year. We shall then be no longer under
the necessity ofholding our meetings in winter,
when the public mind is absorbed by politics,
and the enthusiasm of the farmer is chilled
A more genial season will be selected when
Nature smiles upon the labors of the husband
man, and his hope is excited by the promises of
spring, or his heart warmed with gratitude by
the glories of autumn. At such a season its
meetings would be largely attended and the
Agricultural Society of Virginia become one of
the most useful and attractive in the Union.
Besides this mere physical difficulty, which
will probably soon be removed there have been
other causes of failure, moral and intellectual,
still more operative.
I Of these, none has been more efficient than
the Responding tone in which it has been the
habit, until very recently, to speak of the pros
poets ofagricuture, in Virginia. Hope strength
ems the feeblest, whilst despair unneryes the
stoutest arm. Nothing good, or great, or glori-
ous was ever yet achieved, without the inspir-
ing influence of hopeful confidence. Many of
the agricultural conventions of Virginia have
been held under most depressing circumstances.
In season of gloom, when the tide of emil
grafton seemed to threaten the depopulation of
| the State, our wise men and patriots, terror
stricken and appalled,, at the prospect of APP
preaching desolation, have come up to the Cap
ital in the spirit of the disheartened population
of beleagured city, crying, All is lost all is
lost What shall be done !? what shall be done
Is 1t wonderful that they failed to meet with
cooperation! What motive could there be for
zeal in a cause deemed utterly hopeless What
chance OF concerted action, in favor of an en-
ployment of capital, that it was confessed well
ded only half the ordinary rate of profit! We
had been told from the chairs of political econ
omy, in our colleges, that 3 per cent was the
fair rate OF agricultural profit in Virginia. You
could scarcely take up an Encyclopedia, Ga
zetteer, Geography, or any work on the progress
of the nation, in which the same doctrines were
not taught, if not in terms, at least by implica-
ton. We were told, that poor old Virginia, es-
peciay Underwater Virginia, was utterly ex-
hausted, and 'must be abandoned for years, I'M
til restored to vigor by the recuperative powers
of nature, or transferred to another population
better qualified to recover it by art and indus
. tl'V ~ ()lr best friends home and abroad
INDUCED In the same tone of despondency.-
Mr.. Calhoun at the festival at York, in honor
OF Lafayette, when called upon for sfS1thnant,
gave, "Virginia, like the mother of the GraeclrS
when asked for her jewels, points to her sonsS
He could say nothing, as he afterwards intitna :
ted in favor of her public works. manufacturers
OF agriculture, all of which he regarded as rf 4
/ hopeless condition.
l trust the day is far distant when this beau
tiful compliment shall be undeserved-that the
time will never come, when the best product of
Virginia shall cease to be men, '.hig h-minded
men, that constitute State.' Rather than
this, let her be reduced to utter barrenness.-
Let it be said of her, as of Switzerland
mo product here, the barren hills afford
But and steel, the soldier and his sword
Yet it does not the less become US to vindi-
cate her claims to other productions, to spread
the truth before the world, to encourage our peo-
pie to renewed efforts, and to induce the rising
generation to remain within her borders to de-
velop her vast resources, and to reap the rich
haryests which she beautifully offers them
l therefore invite you to a more cheerful
view of our affairs. Cast your eyes upon the
map of Virginia, extending from the ocean to
the Ohio, penetrated by innumerable navigabe
rivers, diversified by hill and dale, with eli
mate mild and salubrious, and a soil suited to
the production of all the staples essential to the
comfort of man and beast, and ask yourselves, if
there be a spot upon the habitabe globe, of
equal extent, possessing equal advantages
An intelligent friend who had travelled much
in the United States, and was particularly famil-
lar with the fertile States of the West, remark
ed to me few years ago, ''that he had no doubt
| there was more good land at that day, in pro-
portion to territory, in Virginia, exhausted as
she was, than in any State in the Union" This
opinion is rendered unquestionable by the
only authentic data within our reach, the
returns of the census of 1850. By these re-
turns it appears that in 1849 Virginia wa.
the third wheat producing State in the Union,
Penn sylvania being the first and Ohio the
second, but neither being much in ad-
vance of Virginia, which, relatively to pop
ulation, far exceeded them both. 1t should be
borne in mind, that wheat is the principal staple
of Pennsylvania, whilst Virginia produces for
export, large quantities OF TOBACCO and Indian
corn. When in addition to this it is recollected,
that Pennsylvania has been, for more than half
a century, under an ameliorating system of hus-
bandry, whilst in Virginia, no general attention
has been given to improvement, until within
very few years, no doubt can remain of the
great natural superiority of Virginia The CEN
sus report too, is ofthe crop of l849, at which
time the influence of the concentrated manures,
now so generally used in Virginia, was scarce
| ly felt. The crop of that year was, fourteen
million, five hundred and sixteen thousand, nine
hundred and six bushels From my own OBJ
servation and extensive enquiry, am satisfied
that the cropof 1850 in Eastern Virginia, excee-
! ded that of l849 at least 25 per cent. and the
crop of 1851 was in the same proportion, lar
ger than that of the preceding year. My own
crop of $780, exceeded that of l649, by more