Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 24.djvu/283

Rh VIRGINIA 259 arc noted ; the vineyards of Midland, Piedmont, and Blue Ridge are becoming well known for both grapes and wines in variety ; in Tidewater and eastern Midland figs, apricots, nectarines, and other warm-country fruits flourish, and the scuppernong grapes and wines of Tidewater are also worthy of mention. The flora of Virginia includes nearly every species of plant found in the United States east of the Mississippi, excepting only the extreme south. The cleared lands of the State, about two-sevenths of the whole, are devoted to orchards, vineyards, meadows, and pastures, to market and other gardens, and to crops of maize (Indian corn), wheat, oats, rye, buckwheat, barley, pease, beans, peanuts, round (Irish) and long (sweet) potatoes, turnips, cabbage, clover, flax, hemp, cotton, tobacco, &c. Cereal and root crops are abundantly grown in all parts, as also are tobacco, hay, clover and grass seeds, flax and ilaxseed, hops, hemp, and cotton. Nearly half the State, part of Piedmont, and all Blue Ridge, the Valley, and the Appalachias is a natural grass country half of it the habitat of the famous blue grass and well adapted to grazing and dairy-farm ing ; the special crops of Tidewater are those of market-gardens, early vegetables, and round and sweet potatoes in the east, and of peanuts and cotton in the west ; tobacco is a specialty of south west Midland and Piedmont. .nimals. Fauna. The buffalo and elk, common when white men first settled here, are now extinct ; deer, red and grey foxes, rabbits, hares, ground-hogs or woodchucks, red, grey, and ground squirrels, opossums, polecats, nrmskrats, martens, minks, weasels, bats, rats, and mice are found everywhere ; otters and beavers, once numerous in all parts, are again becoming common in south Midland and elsewhere ; black bears frequent the Appalachian and borders of the adjacent Valley divisions ; wild-cats, catamounts, and the small wolves are occasionally met in unfrequented portions of the moun tain regions. Of game or food birds, partridges (quails), pigeons, wood doves, grouse (pheasants), larks, thrushes, snipe, wild turkeys, and several kinds of wild ducks are found in nearly all parts ; the coasts, the inland bays, the great estuary rivers, and the marshes of Tidewater fairly swarm, especially during tho colder months, with canvas-back, mallard, creek, redhead, bald-face, teal, and other wild ducks, and with wild geese, swans, snipe, and other water and water-side fowl ; gulls and other sea birds frequent the coast. Song-birds, including mocking-birds, orioles, bobolinks, robins, catbirds, bluebirds, wrens, tanagers, sparrows, &c., abound ; the English sparrow is domiciled in all the cities and towns ; hum ming-birds are plentiful. The common birds of prey, eagles, hawks, owls, a vulture (the turkey-buzzard) ; the wading birds (herons, grass snipes, fly-up-thc-creeks, &c.) and the various swimming birds are abundant. The common reptiles include land and water tortoises, or turtles and terrapins (some highly prized for food), and harmless snakes, useful in the destruction of vermin, frogs, toads, salamanders, &c. ; the poisonous rattlesnakes, copperheads, and moccasins are sometimes encountered, but are not numerous ; the comparatively harmless black snakes are more common. Of edible saltwater fishes, more than thirty kinds are taken in quantities in Chesapeake Bay waters, including sturgeon, rock-fish, trout, chub, sheepshead, spot, sunfish, bluelish, shad, herring, anchovy, Spanish mackerel, cod, bonito, drum, menhaden, bass, sea-eels, and hog-fish ; while dozens of kinds not used for food are known. The freshwater fishes are perch, pickerel, cat-fish, chub, bass, sncker, fall-fish, salmon, hog-fish, red-horse, red-eye, carp, mullet, sun-fish, eels, and trout in the mountain streams. Of the abounding crustaceans, edible crabs and lobsters are caught in great numbers in the marine waters, and millions of bushels of oysters, clams, and other shell-fish arc annually sent to market, overn- Government. The government is entrusted to three departments, cut. each with distinct and separate powers. (1) The legislative authority is vested in a general assembly, composed of a house of delegates of 100 and a senate of 40 members which meets biennially at Richmond ; the members of the house of delegates are elected for two years, those of the senate for four, half the latter being elected biennially. (2) The executive authority is vested in a governor, elected by the people for four years. A lieutenant- governor is elected at the same time, who is president of the senate, and should a vacancy occiir during the term of office becomes governor. The other executive officers ave a secretary of the com monwealth, a treasurer, first and second auditors of public accounts, a superintendent of public printing, a superintendent of the peni tentiary, a railroad commissioner, a commissioner of agriculture, a registrar of the land office, and a superintendent of public instruc tion. (3) The judicial authority is vested (a) in justices of peace, three in each of the magisterial districts into which tho counties are subdivided ; (b) in judges of county courts ; (&amp;lt;_) in judges of the seventeen circuit courts into which the State is divided, and judges of city courts ; and (d) in a supreme court of appeals of five judges. The right of appeal, with specified limitations, is provided for from each of the above courts to the other, in the order named ; tho supreme court has only appellate jurisdiction save in cases of habeas corpus, mandamus, arid prohibition. The justices of the peace, a supervisor, a constable, and an overseer of the poor are elected by the voters of each magisterial district to serve two years ; the general assembly elects the county judges for terms of six years, the circuit judges for terms of ei-ght years, and the judges of tho supreme court of appeals for terms of twelve years. An attorney- general for the State is elected at and for the same time as the governor. In the Congress of the United States, Virginia has two senators and ten representatives. Aliens can acquire and hold any property in Virginia on the same footing as citizens. Population. The population of Virginia before the separation Popula- of West Virginia in 1862 is shown by the following table : tiou. In Persons In- Persons Census. Population. crease per Census. Population. crease per per cent. sq. m. per cent. sq. m. 1790 747,610 11-5 1830 1,211,405 13-7 18-7 1800 880,200 17-7 13-6 1840 1,239,797 2-3 19-1 1810 074, COO 10-7 15-0 1850 1,421, C61 14-0 21-9 1820 1,003,1 1C 9-2 10-4 1860 1,590,318 12-2 24-6 In 1870 the population of Virginia was 1,225,163, and that of West Virginia 442,014. In 1880 ; while West Virginia had 618,457 inhabitants (39 9 per cent, increase), Virginia had 1,512,565 (745,589 males, 766,976 females), White. Coloured. Tidewater Midland .... 201,578 198 140 213/191 245 151 148 138 103 620 Blue Ridf, r e 37 029 2 017 The Valley 199 628 51 478 The Appalachias 96,345 9,059 Virginia 880,858 631,616 an increase of 23 4 per cent., with 377 persons to the square mile. The accompanying table shows the distribution of the population in 1880 according to the grand divisions. There were in addition 6 Chinese and 85 Indians. The number of foreign-born, 14,696, does not amount to 1 per cent, of the population. The original stock of the whites was mainly English, Scottish, and Huguenot French in Tidewater, Midland, and Piedmont, and Scottish (largely Scoto-Irish from migrating by way of Ireland), German, and English in the remainder of the State in proportions in the order named. Virginia has six cities with over 10,000 inhabitants. In 1880 Cities. Richmond, the State capital, had 63,600, Norfolk 21,966, Peters burg 21,656, Lynchburg 15,959, Alexandria 13,659, and Portsmouth 11,390, Danville coming next with 7526. Education. The public school system of the State, organized Educa- in 1870, provides (1) primary and (2) intermediate instruction tion. in the common branches of education, including preparation for college, by graded primary and high schools the latter confined to cities, towns, and large villages free to all between the ages of five and twenty-one inclusive ; (3) advanced instruction and train ing in scientific and professional studies, by a military institute, an agricultural and mechanical college, male and female normal schools, and an institution for the deaf-mutes and the blind all for whites, and by a normal and agricultural institute and normal college for coloured pupils, tuition free to a selected number from all parts of the State ; and (4) higher instruction, in the com plete academic, scientific, technical, and professional schools of the university of Virginia, its academic department tuition free to all young men of Virginia, over eighteen years of age, under restrictions in regard to culture. The State schools confer no honorary degrees. Equal provision, but in entirely separate schools, is made by law for white and coloured. The public free school system is in charge of a board of education. In 1887 the school population, those between five and twenty- one, numbered 610,271 (345,022 white and 265,249 coloured) ; 7140 schools (5047 white and 2093 coloured) were open, including 458 graded schools ; 7161 teachers (2416 white males, 2889 white females, 1023 coloured males, and 833 coloured females) were employed; 325,184 pupils (209,638 white and 115,546 coloured) were enrolled, and 184,520 (121,571 white -and 62,949 coloured) were in average daily attendance. Tho school districts owned 4365 schoolhouses, and their school property was valued at 1, 907, 775 ; the expense of the free school system in 1887 was 81,381,690, besides 153,600 spent on permanent improvements. The State makes liberal grants to the military institute, the agri cultural and mechanical college, the normal and agricultural insti tute, tho three normal schools, and the university. Private and corporate schools embrace academies and Jiigh schools for boys, preparatory for college or university ; female colleges, mainly under denominational control ; and the well-known colleges of St John s in Tidewater ; Ilampdcn-Sidney, Randolph-Macon, Richmond, and Virginia Medical in Midland ; and Roanoke, Emory and Henry, and Washington and Lee University in the Valley. The college of William and Mary (founded in 1693), suspended by reason of losses during the civil war, is now a normal school. Prisons. One penitentiary, at Richmond, provides for all con- Crime, victed of serious crimes in Virginia ; during 1885-86 it received 337 convicts (80 white, 257 coloured) ; its expenses were 98,978, and the labour of the convicts yielded $78,000. Each county