Page:Notes on the State of Virginia (1802).djvu/245

Rh the chaff commonly reſtrains it from riſing into putrefaction. But all theſe methods abridge too much the quantity which the farmer can manage, and enable other countries to underſell him which are not infeſted with this inſect.—There is ſtill a deſideratum then to give with us deciſive triumph to this branch of agriculture over that of tobacco. The culture of wheat, by enlarging our paſture, will render the Arabian horſe an article of very conſiderable profit. Experience has ſhewn that ours is the particular climate of America where he may be raiſed without degeneracy. Southwardly the heat of the ſun occaſions a deficiency of paſture, and northwardly the winters are too cold for the ſhort and fine hair, the particular ſenſibility and conſtitution of that race. Animals tranſplanted into unfriendly climates, either change their nature and acquire new fences againſt the new difficulties in which they are placed, or they multiply poorly and become extinct. A good foundation is laid for their propagation here by our poſſeſſing already great numbers of horſes of that blood, and by a decided taſte and preference for them eſtabliſhed among the people. Their patience of heat without injury, their ſuperior wind, fit them better in this and the more ſouthern climates even for the drudgeries of the plough and waggon. Northwardly they will become an object only to perſons of taſte and fortune, for the ſaddle and light carriages. To thoſe, and for theſe uſes, their fleetneſs and beauty will recommend them.—Beſides theſe there will be other valuable ſubſtitutes when the cultivation of tobacco ſhall be diſcontinued, ſuch as cotton in the eaſtern parts of the ſtate, and hemp and flax in the weſtern.