Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1856-02-09
v1Re3iNIA, HER LANDS &C.
n. ,ii.tanee lends snehantment 70 De vlew:''

and Young men, sons of farmers, should SO often
seek their fortunes in the distant West, while of
tentines they leave behind them fairer feldfor
fortune than they find in their distant homes.
The great argument is the chcapness Of land in
the far West 1t isan argument but what isits
valneP The real estimate should be drawn from
results. What is the product fronia given cap
ital and labor, and then its net value nthe mar
ket. When these elements are properly consid-
cred land that they should be calmly consider
ed by our citizens all must conceded whatist the
conclusion? Why, simply that Virginia as she
is, offers to her children the farest mosta
tive and productive inducements for permanent
homes Of any State or Territory in the Union.
She hasa climate inferior to no portion Of the
Onion, her manufacturing resources arc superior
10 those of any State in the Confederacy, her
soil is kind an! productive every where, rich IN
a great portion of the State, while in the leading
element, so attractive to the elnisrant cheapness
of land. her western and southwestern coun-
ties can offer as great inducements, almost, as
The boasted West. Then the immense superior
ity Of her markets for agricultural products
places her equal in fact superior, in agricultural
attractions to any part of the West
We hesitate not to express the opinion, that
western and southwestern portions Of Virginia
offer to persons seeking new homes, as good
lands on as fair terms with good localities and
better markets, than they can find elsewhere
No one not familiar with the facts, can fairly
innate either the quantity or quality Of thelands
of Virginia yet untenanted, in primeyal forests,
as fresh now as they were when dedicated as the
hunting grounds OF the savage, the forest homes
of the red man yet such is the fact, and it will
be reserved, perhaps, for the sons of the emf
grant to discover the fact that their sres in their
haste to the West. passed by and overlooked the
fairer land aud locations which would have been
more valuable. Why is this, and whathas pro-
duced it? We answer unhesitatingly, that Yir-
ginia herself is responsible for this exodus from
her borders, this depopulation of her territory.
She has 'slumberedands slept, dead to themarch,
Of improvement, inscnsate to the wealth of her
hills and her valleys, apathetic to the wants of
her West and its inhabitants, until her own cit
liens arc the hardest to convince of what she is
and what she should be. The emigrant paused
not to look at the lands of Western Virginia be-
cause he had no means of reaching them. The
highways from her seaboard to her Western
counties, has, until recently, been little more
than hunting path, and to attempt the explo-
ration in times past, was little less arduous
than trip to California over the plains.
Now, we trust a better era is dawning. Her
improvements, though late, are looking to the
West. The State is learning thatsho has West,
and that that West, in soil, climate and mineral
products, is the richest in the Union that she
has people there, though sparely settled and
that the true interest of Virginia is to develop
aud improve herself, to bring the Eastand West
together, and to make from this union pro-
duct which will make Virginia what She should
be and can be, namely: the firstagricultural and
manufacturing State in the Confederacy.
We have been led to these reflections by the
following article from the pen of AR. Ruffner,
addressed to the American Farmer. The writer
is speaking only of mountain lands. Let the
emigrant and the Yirginian look at all, and the
emigration from Virginia will cease until Yir-
ginia has no longer lands to accommodate her
citizens
The Little Kanawha river, the G. Kanawha
and its branches, below the Grecnbriar, the Guy
andotte, and the Big Sandy, water mountain
Gus country of very uniform character, and for
the most part yet covered by its native forests
The rich bottoms along thePrincipslrivers, have
long since attracted settlers; but it is only of
late that the soil of the mountain sides and tops
has in some places been so improved as to show
its value for agricultural purposes. Formerly
the uncertainty of land titles was sufficient to
keep off substantial settlers Thegeneralrough-
ness of the country, the labor of clearing oil the
wild growth, and the want of roads in former
times all Stoodin the way of emigrants, while
the rich prairieS of the West possessed strong
attractions for them, in spite ofmu' mosquitoes
and fevers.
Now, at last, the land titles ofthis country are
generally settled; some good roads have been
made through the mountains, and sufficient cx-
perimentS have proved, that these mountain
lands, when cleared, are eXcelently adapted to
many valuable products
There is every variety of soil, from rich black
mould, to poor piney land, and from loose sand,
tosStiH, heavy clay; generally tho soil is good
mixture Of thetwo There is also every sort of
exposure, from warm Southern hooks, to cool
Northern hollowS.
Although the soil is so various and often quite
steep, tits not so apt to be quilted by rains RS
the gentle slopes of East Virginia, or the lime
stone soils of the Valley.
A remarkable circumstance is, that crops on
the mountain side are less affected by drought,
than they are ON the river bottoms. OF course
they are less injured by excessive wet; but why
should they not suffer more than level lands in d
dry season? The reaSon is, that these mountains
arc composed of nearly horizontal layers Of POI
rous sandstone and clay slate. The rains and
SHOWS OF the winter and spring, keep the pores
and Creyiees OF those rocks charged with water,
which oozes out during the summer into the soil
that covers the rocks Of the mountain sides, and
keeps the soilmoist while the water that falls on
level grounds, all sinks away, or is cvaporatedin
II dry season. This also accounts for the fact
that many small, but permanent springs, are
found OF the mountain sides, aud at their feet;
soma even near the top, which never fail But
the smalls streams in the valleys often disappear
in dry season, because they TOW under their
loose grarelly beds, where they can always be
found By a little digging. At their sousces in
the mountain sides, the water seldom disappears