The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1866-03-07
LETTER FROM HALIFAX COUNTY.
sPRISG-A LARGE TOBACCO CRoP-THE FREED
MEMS BrREAC-THE SEGRoEs-LABoR, ETC.
HhIrlN COUNTY IA March 1864

sPRISG-A LARGE TOBACCO CRoP-THE FREED
MEMS BrREAU-THE NEGRoEs-LABoR, ETC.
HALIFAX COUNTY, VA, March l, 1866
Messrs. Editors,-Spring, which has for n
few days past been treading on the heel of
Z" limping winter"-that emblem of our last
great foe-was ushered in this morning by the
warbling and chanting of the little birds, and
the cry of the wild goose Us he made his way
northward The weather is fine and de-
lightful as the farmers can wish, and they are
making good use of it. Smokes may be seen
rising from almost every hill in sight, rs the
laborers prepare the ground for the ploughs
by burning brush and stumps. The freedmen,
up to this time, have worked very well, and
we are encouraged to hope that they will con-
tinue to do so throughout the season. very
large crop of tobacco will be planted. 1t is OF
very great Importance, not only to the pros
perity of the people in the country, but also TO
those in our cities, that large crop of tobacco
should be raised this year and everybody here
seems TO be conscious of the Importance. The
wheat crop, which is an average crop In many
parts of the county, looked very promising
until the last sudden freeze and the two floods
which followed one upon the other with only
n weeks interval-much of 1T was killed by
the former, and much more was washed out of
the ground, especially on the sides of the hills
and in the low lands, by the latter
The freedmen are the most quiet and peacea-
BILE inhabitants, think, in the country. An
officer, Lieutenant Button, is stationed at the
court house, with two men, not so much TO
keep order, for everything is orderly, but to
hear and decide cases between the freedmen
and the whites. have heard of some of his
decisions, and they seem to give satisfaction 10
everybody. All cases of theft, which are
numerous, on the part of the freedmen, are
reported 10 him, and in every case where the
charges have been proven, summary punish
ment has been inflicted. I think it may be
doubted whether there is more stealing done
by that class of population than was done
when they were slaves the accumulated cases
at the Provost Marshals office would seem to
prove the contrary, but we must remember
that under the old regime these offenders were
tried, condemned, and punished, by their mas
tiers.
Last Monday was our court day; it passed
very quietly. The people in the country have
generally resumed their accustomed quiet. We
are neither mixed up in the whirl of politics,
which is enough to make one giddy nor do
we feel the earthquakes, which make senators
and demagogues tremble sensibly rs those
who live in the city. We possess somewhat of
that ease which Virgil ascribes to Tityrus,
reclining under his beech tree and meditating
the lhankless muse. We read the newspapers
as they reach us, and now and then pass some
opinion on the times and the men who seem
TO have been called by the ghost of the past to
set them right.
1.-The very head and front of our offending
Hath this extent, no more"
We still want labor here, and have been
hoping that our Legislature would inaugurate
some system of introducing 1t in the State
before the end of their present session. TThey
did this before adjourning The
negroes are gradually disappearing, and will
eventually totally disappear as laborers, and
we must have labor of some kind TO take their
place. Yours truly, p, JR.