The day book. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 1857-1867, 1866-06-30
Trade worth Trying For.

Before the war our Hampton neighbors
were among the most opulent of the people
on the lower Peninsula. The improved agri-
culture in Elizabeth City, Warwick, York,
and James City counties, was daily bringing
that beautiful region into higher cultivation.
Nature has provided the farmers of the Pen
Ursula with rich soil, and inexhaustible sup
plies of one of the finest fertilizers to be found
in the world
The prodigious deposits Of mari, which Mr..
RUFFIN taught US to use, still promise with
certainty to restore that region to its former
opulence, when the continuous labor is sup
piled to meet the necessities of the farmer
Five years ago the promise of improvement
was held out on every hand, and the scientific
agriculture, which was generally practiced,
was daily bringing the lands of that region to
greater pitch Of productiveness, and high.
er value in the market Take Elizabeth City
county, for example: to a voting population
Of 400 the aggregate division of wealth, in a
county of 85 900 acres in extent, was, at the
merely nominal valuations on the books of
the Commissioner of the Revenue, in excess
Of $4,000 to the individual voter, In point of
fact, it was much larger, and its poor house
had been for many years in ruins.
1t is not necessary, however, to dwell
upon the comfortable condition Of its inhabi-
tants. They sent their produce to this
market, to Richmond, and to small extent,
to Baltimore and New York Their wheat
was used exclusively by the Richmond mil
lers for expectation, and was ground for the
markets of Brazil, producing variety of -four
greatly esteemed for its sound qualities and
fine grade. These general reflections have
been suggested-not without melancholy
contrast in our mind, between the time of
which we write and the, present--these re-
Elections have been suggested, we say, by a
recent statement in the Sun, that zone hun
dred bushels of wheat, raised near Hampton, +"
were sold at the Exchange in the city of
Baltimore, last week OF this contribution
to the Maryland market, our authority says,
"the grain was plump and of good color, and
brought the sum of So 80 per bushel." -
Now, We are aware that our wheat market
has never been very active, as compared with
Baltimore and Richmond; but we might draw
to ourselves the entire surplus of corn raised
in the growing crop, not only among our old
friends of Elizabeth City, but from the two
adjoining counties of Warwick and York.
The white population, who have succeeded in
getting possession of their plantations, have
promising crops Of corn; and an effort upon
our part to secure these, would be rewarded,
IT successful. by an ultimate traffic which our
bankers and merchants know, by the past,
was at one time both generous and active
Much Of this trade may be diverted from us,
just as much of the trade which flows from
places legitimately our tributaries has been
already turned aside 1t is worth securing.
even for this Fall, and, in the future. promises
to attain value which we have no right to
neglect, 1t is sound maxim and one of
approved credit in commercial circles, that
penny saved is penny gained; and when the
pence promise to grow into dollars, there can
be no excuse in looking after them There
are good many pennies of country trade
scattered around us, and we trust to see them
gathered into the counting-rooms and bank
lighthouses of Norfolk They are worth try
ing for tlo.