Daily Kennebec journal., 1884-06-05


the Way.
By the courtesy of the Merchants & Miners
Transportation Co.. and the Chesapeake
Ohio r. r. Co., a party of journalists from
different sections of the New England States
have been enjoying tour Of pleasure and
observation through several of the Southern
States. The excursion included q trip by
steamer from Boston to Norfolk. Va. and
thence by rail across the States of Virginia,
West Virginia and Kentucky to Cincinnati,
Ohio; the return being by the way CT WASH
ington and Baltimore.
Gathered on board the steamship "Alleg-
hany" the party sailed away from Boston
Harbor on the afternoon of May IA, and
after an agreeable passage of two days and
two nights were landed at Norfolk on the
shores of old Virginia. The sea voyage for
the greater part of the trip was keenly en-
joyed by all, and the hours passed upon the
ocean enabled the members of the party to
become acquainted and to form those
pleasant relations which marked all the future
movements of the excursion. From Captain
Hallett and the officers of the steamer under
him, the party received uniform and kindly
attention. The ''Alleghany' is one of eleven
steamships belonging to the Merchants and
Miners transportation Co., whose lines ex-
tend from Boston and Providence to Norfolk
and Baltimore, and from Baltimore to points
farther South. The company has been in
existence some thirty years. and in all that
time has never lost vessel, or met with
serious mishap. It's railroad connections
are extensive and reach out to every point at
the North and at the South. In bringing
strawberries and early garden stuff
from Norfolk to the North, this
line does an immense business, while
at the height of the travelling season
its pas nger accommodations are crowded to
their utmost capacity.
Upon leaving Boston the trees upon the
Common had hardly begun to put forth
their verdure, and the weather was chilly
with its Eastern breezes. But on landing at
the South the temperature was as genial as
our early summer DAYS, and all the trees and
shrubs were completely clad in their green
foliage. There was odor of flowers upon
every hand and the birds were singing as
though thev had known the warm weather
for many a week. The red and white clover
blossoms decked the fields, and the blades of
corn and the tops of other garden stuff were
high above the ground.
NORFOLK AND It's INDUSTRIES.
Norfolk, with its suburbs. is the home of
some fifty thousand people. Among its many
other interests is the business of early market
gardening. and its soil is specially adapted to
this kind of farming. The land responds
very readily to care and cultivation, and sew
eral weeks before Northern gardens are of
any avail, Norfolk farmers are growing and
shipping to our markets in great quantities.
| peas. beans, potatoes, cucumbers, strawber
ries and other early truck. This is said to
be a very remunerative business, and we
heard it remarked that no kind of farming in
this country paid so well as this branch of
agriculture. At present the Northern bound
steamers are loaded down with heavy straw
berry shipments, and other garden products.
One of the extensive farmers. whom the party
met at Norfolk, had picked two thousand
quarts of strawberries the day previous but
at the best part of the season he gathered
some thirty-five hundred quarts per day. The
| picking is done by negroes-men, women
and children joining in the work. They
are paid by the quart for their labor,
| the price rauging from two to four cents
| according to the season. Quarters for
the hands to live in are provided
| by the proprietor and they remain upon the
same place during the picking season. The
| Wilson Albany is the preferred strawberry,
| it being the hardest and most desirable for
! shipment. Norfolk ought also to be held in
kindly remembrance as the great peanut
market of the South, the shipments of that
| article amounting yearly to more than one
and half million bushels.
| The markets at Norfolk and other points
| in the South were always places of interest.
| Live hens and chickens, and sometimes rab-
| bits and pigeons. are kept for sale in coops at
| all the markets. When purchased they are
! grasped bv the legs, and taken home to be
| killed and dressed there. In the Washington
| market many tables were devoted to pot
| plants and bouquets of all sorts. making a
veritable flower garden of the whole vicinity,
and most interesting and pretty sight.
| From Norfolk the party proceeded to New
port News on Hampton Roads, several miles
distant from Norfolk 1t is at this point the
Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad has its water
terminus, having been extended here from
| Richmond within the last two years.
| This railroad is one of the five trunk routes
of the continent, its main line extending from
this place to Cincinnati, Ohio, and Lex
ington, Ky, while its connections reach out
beyond to all points in the West and South
west. The management of this road is in
energetic hands, who believe that the line has
| a great future before it. Newport News, the
eastern terminus, has one of the finest har-
bors IN the world. can be safely entered with
out pilot and is scarcely ever troubled by
the ice in winter. At this place the compa-
ny has constructed immense wharves. built
extensive coal bins'and has just completed
huge elevator, next to the largest IN TINS
country. it being capable of holding l.5OO,o00
bushels of grain. The business now of the
road is very large. but in the near future Is
destined to a wonderful growth.
CoLoRED INSTITUTION AT HAMPTON.
At Hampton. hard by Newport News,ls the
Normal and Agricultural Institute for the
education of Negroes and Indians, where Gen.
Armstrong is doing such magnificent work
for the two races. The institution Is hneiy
located, being situated on the spot known
during the war,ss Camp Hamilton, the base
hospital of the Army of the James. where as
many as Is 900 sick and wounded Union sol
diers were cared for at one time. In 1903
I the school was opened. but it was not tiii
1878 that Indians were admitted. Ihe sim
of the school is TO give the two races Grass
of Intelligent. earnest teachers, practicai
workers and leaders, and to this end II IN
/ strncts the scholars. who are of ooth sexes