Year: 1870

lst Mo-, 22d, 1870.


Soon after closing my last to you, at West
Point, | completed my work in King and
Queen County, and returned to Richmond
and found myself under .'Oficial Orders" to
inspect the school interest in four counties in
this part o. the State. Having performed the
duty IN Southampton and Nansemond coun-
ties, arrived here last night, and must tarry
TIL the opening of the schools next week,
which gives me time to write you of surround
ings &c, in this locality.


First, let me speak of the weather. have
not seen bit of snow yet, and thus far all
may be said in praise of it, that could be said
OF first rate article. | crossed the Dismal
Swamp yesterday, for the first time by day
light, and saw the wonderful effects of the
great fire there during the drouth of last sum-
mer The space burned | was told, is about
three miles wide and thirty miles long, burn
ing up large trees, loot and branch. The
growth was mostly crypress and gum, with
pines interspersed among them. Some of
the cypress were four feet in diameter, and
seventy feet in height. There are large por-
tons of the swamp covered with growth of
the wild cane, which grows about six feet
high, and till recently has been considered en-
tirely worthless, but now is made into fibre
for the manufacture of paper.


The North American Fibre Manufacturing
Company have established works here, and
was much interested in visiting them. the
process being entirely new to me. 1t is done
by steam; four large guns, twenty feet long
and one foot calibre are stationed and con-
nected to the engine. The cane is put in
bundles as large as can be put in the guns;
three Of these are put in at once, and when
the gun is closed the steam is let in with a
great pressure and remains twelve or fifteen
minutes, then il is fired off, and the moment
it comes into the air the expansive power of
the steam makes the cane fine fibre. | was
told bass or poplar, and many other of
wood were made into soft fibre in the same
manner, only the steam pressure is kept upon
them from twenty-five to thirty-fv minutes.
One cord of cane costing 81, makes 800
worth of fibre, thus ensurng the enterprise
complete success. An amusing difficulty
comes up in the way of getting the cane which
| will relate briefly. They can't find who
the owners of the Dismal Swamp are. In
! 1910 Virginia made law that no man should
vote unless he owned three acres of land, so
the Swamp was sold in three acre lots to
make voters, and but few could be found to
assert their rights. One acre of the canes is
now worth $50.


The appearance of the farms, buildings,
and country here are better than in any State
which have seen. Much of the land is used
for raising ''truck," which finds a market in
Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York, the
climate admitting of its growth much earli-
er. Farmers are now busy plowing, and
many kinds of vegetables, such as kale, &C..
are already planted. Deep Creek is only six
teen miles from the North Carolina line, and
is located on the Dismal Swamp canal. A
steamer runs daily on this canal from Eliza
beth City N c., to Norfolk City. An i'm
mense quantity of shingles, posts for tele-
graph wires, &C., is got from this vicinity, and
is transported on this canal to the tide water
Many people have bought farms, mill sites
Sc, in this county, and find it very desira-
BILE place TO live, being so near the ocean in
summer, and uniformly mild and delightful in
winter. A gentleman who spent the last
summer here from New York, informs ME
that the heat was less oppressive than usual
in his native State. l hoped to get back to
Richmond in one more week, but find this
county will detain me at least full week, as
there are only few counties in the State
where the school interest is so great as in
this, and it is on the increase, which am
happy to say, as fear the reverse is true of
most other counties.


Think ofa place where one half of the pop
ulation cannot read or write and you have a
correct picture of Virginia, as of all the other
Southern States.


Northern ice will be in demand next sum-
mer, as the people have been unable to get
any here as yet, and now it is most certain they
cannot this winter.


SAMUEL III. JoSEs.


LAST CENCATI0NI