Page:Notes on the State of Virginia (1802).djvu/243

Rh In the year 1758 we exported ſeventy thouſand hogſheads of tobacco, which was the greateſt quantity ever produced in this country in one year. But its culture was faſt declining at the comencement of this war and that of wheat taken its place, and it muſt continue to decline on the return of peace. I ſuſpect that the change in the temperature of our climate has become ſenſible to that plant, which, to be good requires an extraordinary degree of heat. But it requires ſtill more indiſpenſibly an uncommon fertility of ſoil: and the price which it commands at market will not enable the planter to produce this by manure. Was the ſupply ſtill to depend on Virginia and Maryland alone, as its culture becomes more difficult, the price would riſe, ſo as to enable the planter to ſurmount thoſe difficulties and to live. But the weſtern country on the Miſſiſippi, and the midlands of Georgia, having freſh and fertile lands in abundance, and a hotter ſun, will be able to underſell theſe two ſtates, and will oblige them to abandon the raiſing tobacco altogether. And a happy obligation for them it will be. It is a culture productive of infinite wretchedneſs. Thoſe employed in it are in a continual ſtate of exertion beyond the power of nature to ſupport. Little food of any kind is raiſed by them; ſo that the men and animals on theſe farms are badly fed, and the earth is rapidly impoveriſhed. The cultivation of wheat is the reverſe in every circumſtance. Beſides cloathing the earth with herbage, and preſerving its fertility, it feeds the laborers plentifully, requires from them only a moderate toil, except in the ſeaſon of harveſt, raiſes great numbers of animals for food and ſervice, and diffuſes plenty