The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1871-04-20
evening Stats guarnat
SITES FOR EmIGRANT COLONIES.

nies over the isolated mode generally pur
sued are numerous and important. TIL
hardships and privations of pioneer lif
are greatly diminished and social privilege
are enjoyed from the very outset. Th'
colony, if properly organized, carries will
it society ready made. Isolated settler
become disheartened by difficulties or thei
families grow homesick, and large pro
portion of them break up at great sacrifice
and return to their old homes. This ha
always been true of Western settlers, ant
is still more true of those who go South
The South, though settled to some ex
tent for two hundred years, still presents
us with spare population, destitute o
roads and schools in great measure, ant
with vast tracts of wild land. 1t is real
ly newer than the youngest of the States
West, in point of Improvement. Less il
known OF its mines and immense resource.
of all kinds than of the new territories
among the Rocky Mountains. Yet i
seems to be assumed very generally in the
North and in Europe, that the South is
worn out, and large portion OF its lands
abandoned as worthless. This is great
mistake, and especially so as to Virginia
We are thoroughly familiar with the
inducements that the West holds out to the
pioneer in its cheap and fertile lands, and
its grand opportunities of organizing new
societies, untrammeled with the defects
and limitations of the old.
We know that poor men Of industrious
and temperate habits can go there and in a
few years possess comfortable home, and
with the prospects Of competence for their
children. But we do not think this is ex-
clusively true of the West. Right here in
this old Virginia are resources as rich and
varied as any that the great States of the
Mississippi valley can boast.
Here can be found sites for colonies with
the natural elements upon which to base
the varied pursuits essential to give to the
colony its highest industrial and social de-
veIopement. We do not claim such vast
expanses of fertile plains as lie along the
great rivers and railways of the West. We
do claim an equivalent and more, even, in
great forests of the finest timber, mines of
iron and coal unsurpassed anywhere, in
water-powers, fisheries, and soils of fair
quality, often frst-class, and which. with
our abundant beds of mari, limestone and
gypsum, can be cheaply raised to the high
est standard of productiveness.
We claim for Virginia climate whose
salubrity cannot be surpassed even in the
mountains of the West, and so tempered
that we can raise greater variety of agri-
cultural productions than any of the
States inland. For iuvalids with pull
monary difficulties, no portion of the globe
is more favorable, as thousands can attest
who have been restored by its healing and
invigorating atmosphere.
The greater portion of Virginia, too, is
adapted to those productions to which
Northern men are accustomed. The
grasses in great variety flourish here, re-
quiring such special treatment as the
changed climate indicates. Corn and
winter wheat are as much staples as in the
most favored portion Of the West. All
the root crops, white and sweet potatoes,
garden vegetables, &C., are cultivated with
great success.
Among fruits the same wonderful vari-
ETY. is enjoyed. The apple, pear, peach
cherry, ounce, apricot, grape, plum, fig and
all the small fruits, in great variety, yield
an unfailing return. These fruits have
been greatly neglected, but enough has
been done to prove beyond controversy the
great capacity of our soil and climate for
If now we consider location as to mar
kets, whether of agricultural or manu-
products, our State has para
mount claims with its seaboard line and
numerous navigable rivers open to the
ocean, with great railways operative aud
in process of construction, crossing it in
all directions. Virginia offers to her citi-
zens facilities of communication nowhere
And if we leave poetry for figures we
shall find that this question of "Where it
is," is quite as important as "What it is"
We are confident that the poorest acre
of Virginia old fields free from stumps and
stones, as they generally are, located near
tidewater or railroads, is capable of being
and brought up to high stan
dard of fertility. Further, that this pro-
cess of renovation can be made to pay
fair return upon the capital and labor, in
annual crops, and large aggregate return
in the appreciation of value sure to result
from generous and intelligent treatment.
THE Grape Culturist comes to US to-
day-a monthly devoted to grape culture
aud wine-making. edited and reported by
George Husmap and DIR. G. W. Spalding.