Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1865-02-15
EDITORIAL CuRREspoNDENcE.

that Quarter-Ihe supply OF Eafih La
Dor ION The Shore and its Prospects
Its Crops and horticultural and Asricul-
tural Capabiiities-Marsh,S Sea Ore and
Lime, as used there-Ccrn Growing and
the Peach Culture In that region, &c.
ON THE CHopTANK,
Dorchester County, Ma, Feb 6, 1865.
If the reader will scan any good map Of the
peninsula between the Chesapeake and Del
aware bays, he will perceive that it is inter-
sected on the Chesapeake side with a far great
er number of secondary bays, sounds, rivers
and creeks than any other shore on the north
Atlantic coast. Not one in ten OF these actual
ly existing is, however, laid down on any gen.
eral map, all CT which exhibit only the
largest and most noted; those known to gen.
eral commerce only. The rest are generally
smaller in their proportions, but navgable and
most important each to the locality in which
it is situated. All these water courses are salt
much higher up towards their sources than in
regions where the surrounding lands are Of
greater elevation above the level of tide water,
as on the western shore of the Chesapeake.
The wash of the soil into them is, on account
Of the low level Of the surrounding country, so
slight as 10 have made but comparatively very
few bars and other distractions to their due
navigation with vessels OF considerable bur.
den. With those carrying hundred tons,
(the ordinary tonnage OF the eastern Shore
schooner" so we'll known everywhere along
the Atlantic coast, and SO universally resorted
to here for all purposes of transportation off
the farm,) these secondary bays, rivers and
creeks of which am writing afford naviga-
tion from within reasonable distance Of every
farm or tract of land in the counties of Tai
bot, Dorchester, Somerset, and Worcester
Md, to Ba timore, Washington, Philadelphia
or New YorE; direct and without reshipment
a. M nf tho pf tf;,ov
crop to market and bringing back fertilizers,
building materials and supplies of all kinds is
therefore not more than half tin this region)
what it is where the farmer relies to that end
on his teams or on railroads. In the last two
years / have brought from Washington city
some two thousand tons of stable manure TO my
farm here "a distance OF 1s0 miles by water), at
an average cost OF seventy six or seventy. eight
cents Per ton for the water transportation, al
lowing the vessels full rates of freight charged
for back loads between that city and The
Shore" The first cost of this manure and the
expense of putting 1t on the schooner has been
about seventy two cents per ton; while the ex-
pense OF landing it from within a hundred
yards of the fields On which it has been spread,
has not been more than ten cents per ton. Sothe
entire cost OF this Washington city stable ma
nure (made almost wholly by grain feeding
and not fire -ianged) actually spread upon my
fields has no! been, SO far, more than dollar
and seventy-nVe cents per ton, or, at most, two
dollars. mention these facts simply by way
OF illustrating how cheaply one NAV fertilize
almost any Of the farming lands of "The Shore''
at this time, so as at ence to bring them into
condition Of lasting fertility equal TO any in
the known world.
The combination OF circumstances making
this so easy at so little cast, is the existence of
rRa Ia Fani for
water, the accumulation OF hundreds OF thou.
sands, il not millions OF tons of the best quai.
ity or description Of stable manure in the vast
Government stables and csTrals IL and around
Washington city, and the large number of ONE
hundred-tons vessels engaged in Transporting
lumber, coal. army supplies, &c, &c , between
Baltimore and Washington, and the Susque.
hanna, and also the Chesapeake and Della
ware canal and the latter city, all OF which
can get NO back freights at Washington but
this manure, in which 4 considerable trade is
at length springing up Were the war to ter.
inmate Tomorrow, the facilities for getting
this fertilizer to "The Shore" would hardly de.
crease in five years; for the present supply
would last at least that length Of time and
schooners sufficient will continue in the Bal.
timore. Havre De Grace and WASHINGTON
trade, to make the competition among them for
back freighis enough to keep the cost OF the
latter at low rates. Some OF this manure goes
to the Delaware and Hudson; costing the
farmers on those rivers, however, from 50 to ~
per ton, delivered as very few vessels, COM
paratively, seek, in Washington, back freights
for points so far north.
Were the war to end to-day, 1t would be We
or six years, If not longer, before the immense |
market gardens which were in 1860 in opera.
ton around Norfolk, Va, Charleston, S. c.,
and Savannah, Ga, coald again send to the
Northern cities the large quantities of early |
fruits and vegetables with which the fine lines |
of ocean steamers running from those points |
to New Y ork were formerly go heavily loaded |
throughout the season. My belief is that the |
Eastern Shore will very soon fill the vacuum
created by the wars entire destruction OF |
the important industry in the neignborhood OF
the three Southern cities, Of which l write |
above
The business Of farming has been as little |
disturbed on the Eastern Shore, up to this |
lime, by the war, If not less disturbed by II, |
than in the States of Massachusetts, Wisconsin |
or Minnesota. In neither OF the three last |
named States was there q surplus of labor. |
while here the surplus at the beginning of the |
war was immense, when we take into consid. |
Grafton the small proportion OF the arabic land
attempted to be cultivated and the usually |
thriftless manner in whicn that was essayed |
to be done. Drafting and volunteering have |
made farm labor very scarce throughout the |
North, East and West. Here, though num-
ber OF foolish, vicious, or ill-adyised young |
men went off to the South in 1861, though there |
has been some drafting for the Union armies |
and much volunteering. the supply OF farm |
labor continues abundant for "The Shore's'' |
current necessities, and for its prospective |
wants for some years to come, even though |
there may soon be heavy immigration hither- |
ward OF families each owning the compare. |
lively small farms On which they may settle. |
Fair wages, as before explained in this CORES. |
pondence, is fast developing an amount of |
heretofore latent negro labor hereof women,
boys and girls and previously lazy and idle
negro men, who are to be seen busily engaged |
where farming operations are In progress