The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1853-11-08

eo. Inc takers are vanishing and a man Of
action appears upon the scene.
Improvement Of English Agriculture.
| LII any incentive and encouragement were
needed by Virginia farmers in their noble Of.
forts to improve the agriculture of the Com
monwealth and reclaim its waste places, they
may be found in the records of English ag-
rieuiture. When we are pointed to the worn
out SOL OF some portions of Virginia, we
would refer the croakers to the descripfion
given by Macauley of the former and pre-
sent condition Of agriculture in England
| That country is now the garden spot of the
world, yet IN 1855 the arabic land and mas.
ture lands were not supposed to amount 70
much more than half the area of the k;,o.
dom. John ogilby, Cosmographer Royal, in
WORK published 1875, describes great part
OF the land as wood, fen, heath on both sides.
marsh on both sides. The wheat crop alone
OF the present day is greater than the whole
| crop OF wheat, rye, barley, oats and beans of
| 1876. Wheat was then consumed only nv
people IN easy circumstances. Very little
was known of the rotation of crops. II was
not the practice to feed sheep and oxen with
the vegetables which afford them such excel.
lent nutriment in winter; and in consequence
OF the difficulty Of keeping them alive when
the grass was scanty, they were killed ard
saited IN great numbers at the beginning of
the cold weather. 1t is said that during sew
erai months, even the gentry tasted scarcely
any fresh animal food, except game and fish.
Neither the modern dray horse nor the modern
race morse were known at that period Ma
1--WE horses were held in small esteem, while
spanish Jennets were used for war purposes,
| and the coaches of the aristocracy were
drawn by Flemish mares The sheep ard
| the oxen OF that time could not compare with
| the sheep and oxen of the present day. At
this period the English horse is in as high es-
TEEN IN other lands rs the best foreign horses
ever were in England.
1t appears also that the increase of vegeta-
| bic and animal produce, great as it is, is not
to be compared with the increase of mineral
wealth. The quantity of tin extracted from
| the earth OF Cornwall, was probably about a
third of what it now is. The veins OF
copper were altogether neglected, and land
| owners did not take them into account
in estimating the value of their property
The annual yield Of Cornwall and Wales, in
| this article, is now near $4,000 tons, worth
near a million and half sterling, or about
| twice as much as the annual produce of all
English mines of all descriptions in the Sc
venteenth century Salt was not worked
] then to any extent, but there was a regular
and considerable importation from France.
At present the English salt springs and mines
supply the vast demand in that country, and
| export annually more than 700 millions OF
pounds ofsalt. Theimprovements of the iron
| works have been still more marked The
whole quantity cast annually at the close oil
the reign of Charles IL, was about 10, 900 tons,
| and great part of the iron used in the coun-
| Try was imported from abroad. Now mil.
| lion of tons are produced in a year, and even
Young America obtains supplies from Eng
land. Coal was but little used in any yspecies
| of manufacture, though its consumption in
| the metropolis for ordinary fuel, seemed to
| the writer's of that age enormous. The an
nual consumption in London then amounted
to $4,000 tons. At present it is three mil.
| lions and half, and the whole annual pro
| duee, on the most moderate competition, is es-
timated at thirty millions of tons.
Facts such as these may well stimulate and
encourage the friends of Improvement in
Virginia. Let us hope that the late Agricul
tural Fair will prove the beginning of a
movement which. developing to their fullest
extent the agricultural and mineral resources
and the manufacturing industry and CONNER
cial enterprise of Virginia, viii end in max
ing her the England of the New World.
HuoH w. SHEFFEY, EsQ.-We are author
lied by the above named gentleman to say
that he has had no share in organizing oppo-
sition to Col. FosTAIEE for the Office of Pre-
sident of the Central Railroad Company, and
he regrets extremely that his name has been
dravnintothe unfortunate controversy which
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