CHAPTER IX.

WASHINGTON TO CHARLESTOWN.

January 4, 1855.—I set out this morning from Washingtonfor the south. The Potomac was nearly cleared of ice, andthe steamer landed us at Acquia Creek, from which we gotthe railway to Richmond, a distance of seventy-five miles. Thecountry is generally level, though now and then somewhatundulating; and the soil is naturally poor. Some of therailway stations were of a loose sandy clay, in red and yellowbeds. Pine is the predominating wood that covers the coun-try ; and where the forest had been recently cut down, thedwarf oak was springing up. The river margins werealmost invariably occupied by oaks and other broad-leavedtrees.

This would have been a much more valuable country ifthe soil had been suited to the growth of the beautiful Kentuckyblue grass. The grasses which are natural to the soil are ofthe most worthless description, and their tall withered stemsand leaves seemed to have been untouched by cattle in sum-mer. Many of the fields which had been lying waste andgrowing coarse grass had recently been run over by fires.Wheat and maize were the principal crops, and the managementof the laud was indifferent. The properties seemed to be gene-rally large. The farm buildings and long ranges of the cottagesof the negroes, remind me of those of the Northumberlandfarms. The planters’ houses were surrounded by oaks, ever-green cedars, and ornamental shrubs, and had a considerableair of antiquity about them. The system of cultivation thatis followed seems to be in allowing the land to lie waste forsome years and then subject it to culture. Owing to the