The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1873-04-23
Cheap Homes the Demand of our
PeOnIe.

Cheap Homes the Demand OF our
rr People.
Every man OF intelligence and observa-
ton must be more and more satisfied, as
he traverses the State of Virginia, that her
great need at the present time is Cheap
Homes. Alta events, she needs to offer
these in large numbers, both to the foreign
and northern immigrant, before she can
expect to realize any considerable advan-
tage from the various schemes Of immi-
grafton which have been devised in the last |
four or five years. And what we mean |
by cheap homes" is not cheap
lands, or those to be sold on long
credit, or those requiring large expen-
diture to renew them, and are consequently
in market at cheap prices but those which
come within the reach of adequate means.
and can be made remuneratiya to pur-
chasers from the first expenditure of
labor and capital upon them. Lands Of
this description lie uncultiyated and SEEM
| ingly uncared for all over the state. They
are to be found along the lines and ada
cent to every railroad in Virginia, inviting
to settlement by their natural advantages
of soil, timber, pure springs and running
streams, to say nothing of superb scenery,
a justly celebrated climate, and the admir-
rable products that everywhere incite to
industry. =. .....~ ~ ..4
These lands, we repeat, lie everywhere,
even at no great distance from our own
city, though manifestly more exhausted IN
our near vicinity than in some other and
remoter parts of the state. But the
rapid and lat presenD unexampled growth
of our city, makes the near lands the
most desirable, perhaps, Of any to be
found in Virginia, if we except those
whose extensive mineral deposits offer ad-
ditional inducements for settlement, and
tempt to larger capital and enterprise than
most individual resources would think to
reach. We have seen few lands within a
/, circuit of ten miles from the city which
, could not be brought back to. cultivation
at less labor and expense than would be
} required originally to clear the land of tim.
Der and get it satisfactorily under the
; plough. Much of it wants scrubbing, some
of it draining, most of it fencing, all Of
it manuring or chemically balancing; and
then it wants to be kept up to such ,
standard of cultivation as thrifty north
f, ern farmers exhibit in their enterprise
+ and energy, where they practically dem
S onstrate the fact that small farm wei
: titled is far more remunerative than
: large one less than half cultivated
= What is demanded with reference to thes
Y lands is, that they should be suryeye
9 and subdivided into small tracts, and b
?! offered to actual settlers upon terms NOR
S favorable than have been heretofore hel,
G out by most of our near landowners. &
We have within the last week or tw
- spent much of our time in drives and walk
. about the city, aand upon lands lying will
IS in an outer circuit of about five miles froI
u our city limits proper, and we are sati'
III fled that one of the greatest needs Of Ricl
10 mond to-day, and one Of the most proftab
81 inducements to the property owners with
L the circuit named, is to be found in thes
Z subdivisions of the adjacent lands int
l. small farms to be offered to actual settler
'e opon more reasonable terms than ha,
d heretofore been entertained in the way
al bona .tide purchase and sale. 1t is safe
: say that there are not at this momer
10 less than a thousand buildings eth
81 going up, undergoing repairs, or
process of completion, in and abo
s. the city. This is an evidence of thrift al
I'd enterprise of which our people may we
I'd be proud, and which can hardly fail
n. attract the attention of capital from abroa
ed What we want is that the owners of LAM
6. in the vicinity of Richmond should dire
in their attention to the agricultural deman'
tie of our people, and to resort to such
a scheme of colonizing these lands as
lat secure a growth outside the city limi
d. commensurate, in thrift, enterprise and
ct terest, with the most remarkable grow
er inside. The interests of the city not on
demand it, but the highest interests OF II
be landholders would be subserved thereby.
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