Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1858-06-18

kind and courteous, and does all in bis power to make
his guests comfortable and at home" but his accom-
modsons are limited, and not adapted to the require.
ments of the traveller Of to-day.
Correspondence Of the Richmond Enquirer
A Tour Through Virginia and the south.
OUR SOILS, MINERALS, MANUFACTURES, rRADEs, PLA-
cEs, SCENES AND PEorLE, CONSIDERED AND pE.
sCRIBED.
LOCOMOTIVE SKETCHES.
No. III.
Farmriis, its Associations and Prospects.
Standing beneath the ancient and venerable trees,
that wave their sombre branches over the verdant
ruins Of "Bzarre," 30 intimately connected with the
proudest names and noblest families of the Old Do
minon, which stands on breezy height over the fer
tile banks Ct the sluggish Appomattox, and gazing
the wide spread elds Of wheat and tobacco that
lie around, beneath u.s. and far away in Cumberland
and Prince Edward, scenes and landscapes meet our
view at once prepossessing varied, rich and attrac-
tive The golden sun ofsummer glows genislly on the
fields of rpening grain and on the dark green clusters
Of trees that adorn, peculiarly, almost every scene
in Virginia, and which add grace and beauty to
scenes that else would appear barren and wild.
Near u.s. beneath a clump Of forest trees lies the
neglected grave OF one who once Virginiss hope
and pride, before
"The spoiler came, when all that promised fair
Sunk in the grave to sleep forever there"
The graves Of Richard Randolph of Bizarre, with
his st. George, and Others of the Randolph fam'
ly, lie secluded and negected-almost every trace OF
the resting place Of the sacred dead being obiterasd
in clHmp of woods the left bank of the Appomat.
to1 within sight Of Farmville The place Is naturally
beautiful, and little attention and might pre-.
those of their bonorsd dust, in the memo.
ry Of the living but, they now situated, few
more frosts and few more storms,wi forever obi.
terate the last monument Of Bizarre, and the last
trace of that proud but hospitable and noble race
who first made the wilderness of the Appomsttox
blossom ike the rose.
From our present point of observation, Farmvle
has something picturesque and interesting about il;
but distance lends enchsntment to the view" and
a nearer approach would diyest II Of any claims 10
gracetulness of appearance or architectural style but
nevertheless, there ia something attractive and busi-
n-sslike about Fsrmvs. with its tobacco factories,
lts sores its churches depots mills DO. The constant.
Iy passing trains the South Side railroad, which
through, or at the Northern end, and the smoke
and roar, and the screaming Of the locomotives, add
life and anmation while the deeply secluded man
sous of The planters that lie beneath the outrageous
shades Of the magnificent forest trees that surround
Farmve, recall something OF those days OF yore,
when the broad and fertile acres Of the Appomaltox
we're divided amongst few proud and lordly families
whose baronisl halls were the centre of estates al
most large enough for counties.
Fsrmvle was laid out in 1893, on the lands of Ju.
dith Randolph in lSt5lO it contained several stores
and did q considerable trade with the surrounding
counties, but from that time until 1925 il languiabed
and some of the houses were removed TO James
town. some distance below But in lS4O it was again
aourishing. The navigation Of the Appomsttox was
good at all of the year to this place, for bat
eau1 carrying seven tons each Is tobacco factores
we're in existence and some 5000 hogsheads of tObac
co we're annually sent down to Petersburg. The pop
uation at that time was about l400; it has not ma
terally increased since, though every other branch
of business has been On the increase except the ex
porting trade which has rather decreased since the
completion Of the Richmond and Danville Rail Road
through the Southern countless from whence much Of
the tobacco and wheat trade of that market was for
merly drawn, and which s now taken to Richmond by
that road. Farmvills however, is still considered the
fourth tobacco market in Virginia Its trade is now
drawn from parts of Prince Edward, Cumberland,
Buckingham, AppomsttoI, Campbell and Charlotte
counties. The soils of these counties were gen
orally, or originally very productive, but, like
many of our Eastern lands, they have been sadly
and bsrbarousy impoverished. Yet even under that
semi civilized system of cultivation, which is con.
tinuay taxing the earth to the extent OF its strength
without any assistance, except that which nature
returns in rains and dews, and frosts and SHOWS,
many of the wide fields in those counties are atill
reasonably productive, and yield 10 to ~ bushels
of wheat to the scrs. They ought and might be
made to produce 70 to Is bushels with the same or
small additional labor. We we're surprised to find
deds which have been cultivated more than hall
century, still yielding fair crops, without the assist
apcs of any fertilizers whatever. We have met'
however, many intelligent planters, who are fully
alive TO the necessity and profit OF Scentitc moue
of cultivation; and We invariably hnd their crops
ourisbing. 1t is fact worthy OF note that the PLAN
tstions of those who make their profession study
and who endeavor to enrich instead of impoverish
their SOIL soon show the fruits Of suoh care and aten
ton. The ruthless decay and desostion which alone
mark the vast estates Of these ordy planters OF past
age, who only Hoursbed long as the coils yielded
spontaneously, have been arrested by the hand OF
science, and in msuy places the greenest fields and
the richest scenes are those estates which, few
years ago, were abandoned as exhausted, and their
former owners gone-where'
The tobacco OF those counties which supply the
market of this place. is Of that strong and
kind peculiar to the low lands, and which is always
considered the best for expectation, for foreign
market The yield of this tobacco, per acre, is much
greater than that of the finer and higher priced to.
bscco of some Of the adjoining counties.
BIZARRE, June IA, 1858. 8. H. DEBow.