Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1865-04-27
Aorifnltnral,
MARYLAND ANDVIRGINIA LANDS.

MEssRs. EDIToRs-The extinction of slave
ry in Maryland and Virginia naturally ava
kens much interest in the agricultural re-
sources and advantages of those States,
which | have been requested to describe
Taking the District of Columbia as the eli
mate average of the two States, nay expe-
rience is that man working four days in a
week, may produce as much food and other
necessaries of life i'll year, as he can in
Central New-York by working six days in
a week. This problem is based on natural
agricultural forces, which are as reliable as
night and day, summer and winter. No
man has to my knowledge better demonstra-
ted the agricultural forces of Central New
York than Mr.. John c. Webb, in the last
Country Gentleman, by telling how he had
raised about ninety tons of what he had
better consider corn hay than corn fodder" :"
on ten acres Fodder is peculiar to plants
grown for their seeds of grain 1t is like
over-matured timothy or straw and infe-
rior on that account. In good corn hay, all
the nutritive elements are in the cells OF the
plant for forage which can never be IN
corn blades" of the South, nor in corn tops,
or " fodder" of the NOrth.)
Mr. Webb saws that the 10th of June is
the best time to SOW or plant corn for for
age in that climate Twenty days later
will do here, and after a crop of rye has
been harvested, which was sown after corn
was cut in autumn All must see that this
crop of rye expresses an agricultural force
that does not equally exist in Oneida Co.,
n. Y. Here, market gardeners set out
acres of cabbage plants in the Ifall to get
their growth in the winter months-when
have seen snow deep enough in drifts to
drive an ox-sled over high fences in Oneida
and Herkimer counties-and the same late
in March 1t is neither an error nor mere
pretense that claims fifty per cent advan-
tage in the Southern States of Maryland
and Virginia, over that of New York
Soil-force is a very different matter |
wish | could make it as plain question as
that of climate Virginia and Maryland
are distinguished for the increditable tide
water shores which they possess-incredita-
bic for length depth of mari, sea-weed, and
other fertilizing substances. 1t is now fif-
teen years since the late Washington Park
Custis told me of raising ten thousand bush
els of wheat year on one OF his mari plan
ations iu lower Virginia and have spent,
time and money in visiting large districts,
but recently elevated above the brine of the
ocean. This land, being quite near the cap
ital of the nation-near the industrious and
enterprising people of the free States
must soon be settled and cultivated by a
dense population. A small steamer of one
or two hundred tons may start from Wash
ington, hug the Virginia shore, go up seve-
raj of its rivers like the York, James and
Rappahannock, visit the Capes, Phiadel-
phia, Baltimore, go up the Patuxent to
within fifteen miles of the Navy Yard in
Washington return, enter other inlcts and
at last tie up to the Federal metropolis
having seen over twenty-five hundred
miles of bay shore. 1t is a misnomer to
call the water that lies between New-York
island and Long Island river :" so it is
a misnomer to call the deep and broad wat
ter from Alexandra to the sea by any name
than bay. The Potomac river falls into the
Chesapeake at Georgetown; and all below
is part of the bay This noble river Gre
ates water power in the District of ines
timable value. Both coal and iron float
down the gentle current Of the Chesapeake
and Ohio Canal to Washington cheaper
than either can be transported to Philadel-
phia by railway. In a word the same caus-
es that have made Philadelphia a great
manufacturing city will do as much for the
District of Columbia. While the Hudson is
locked in ice above the Highlands all for
eign goods may penetrate the continent
several hundred miles without breaking
bulk, to the capital of the great Republic
It's population is estimated by the Census
Office at seventy-seven million in twenty
five years from this time, and at one hundred
million in thirty-fve years. While capital
and inhabitants here and in Europe increase
rapidly, land does not increase and there
fore the latter unavoidably grows rapidly
in the amount of gold that an acre will
command. \ farm near enough to Wash
ington for the owner to hear all its church
bells in his house, that can now be bought
for 500 per acre, will soon be worth ten
times that sum for suburban residences
\ dense population makes even poor soils
valuable. Now farmers and gardeners here
are selling onions at five or six dollars q
bushel and they sell more turnips at more
than dollar bushel than under that price
1t is not so much the cost of land and man,
ure as that of hauling manure and paying la
borers. Manure is taken in vessels to the
eastern shore of Maryland and close to
Philadelphia. This cheap transportation of
manure, wood, hay, straw, potatoes, cattle,
a., is a great advantage to Maryland and
Virginia. These tide-waters so rich in fish
and oysters, have no freshets to destroy,
like the Susquehanna and other rivers, and
never fail from drouth. In districts where
the soil is rich, the water is impregnated
with lime and magnesa salts, and bilious
tevers are not uncommon but where the
soil is poor, the water is generally soft and
pure, and the country very healthy In
many parts of the South, planters live in
the poor piney woods and cultivate distant
swamps which are very productive Con
centrated fertilizers are doing wonders on
poor, dry, sandy lands. For twenty-five
years the writer has been calling attention
to the fact that 9SI parts in 100 of cotton
are nothing but the elements of water and
carbon, or air. Ninety-seven per cent of
corn is made up of the same worthless in
gradients Atmospheric air, moisture, so
lar light and heat and a little concentrated
manure attain the most satisfactory ra-
suits. Maryland and Virginia have used
more guanos and other commercial man
urcs than any other States. 1t has APP
peared to the writer that more attention
should be paid to perennial grasses and
clover, to draw mineral food from the deep
subsoll to enrich the surface soil, at the