therefore, as fascinatingly displayed as in her more youthful rival, Ohio. Her population is much more sparse, her citizens having inherited, from their natural ancestors, the patriotic, hospitable planters of the "Old Dominion," an inherent desire to hold large bodies of land. This peculiar feature of their organization contributes materially to affect her general prosperity. The more wealthy, as their means will permit, seek to enlarge their farms by purchasing the lands of their less fortunate neighbors; thus driving them to other States, or to less eligible and valuable situations within their own limits. This circumstance has contributed largely to drain off the population. Thus, for many years past, the tide of emigration has been from instead of to the State.
Another evil, growing out of this custom, is this: It is in a large number, perhaps a majority of instances, an injudicious investment of capital. Many have continued this course until their lands have increased far beyond their ability to cultivate them. The result is, that the lands are made to yield a very small per cent. on their nominal value, and the state is impoverished, not only by a decrease of her population, but by the resources of her rich and fertile lands being very imperfectly developed by an injudicious and often almost ruinous system in cultivation. Thus, much the greater portion of the surplus capital of the State is lying comparatively dormant; whereas, if those large farms were reduced to a size proportionate to the force employed to cultivate them, the landholders would become
