77

The sandy loams are easily improved and admirably adapt-
ed to the raising of early fruits and vegetables, and require
very little labor for their cultivation.

From the location of this county with reference to the wa-
ter, its climate is very mild, and its fruits and vegetables ma-
ture at a period sufficiently in advance of its northern sisters
to give it the advantages of the high price always found in an
early market. Sweet potatoes is here a most valuable crop,
and from their cultivation alone large returns are real-
ized.

The white oak soils partake of the general character of
those in the other counties, and present the same advantages
here which distinguishes them in the other localities. Wher-
ever due attention has been given to the cultivation of the
soil, the same returns in the form of increased value in the
land, and crops equally remunerative are experienced here as
in other sections.

Much of the county is in wood, and a part heavily timbered
with pine, white oak and cypress. The preparation of this
for market gives employment to a large part of the popula-
tion, and is a considerable source of wealth to the county.
The facilities for the cheapest transportation gives it great ad-
vantages as to nett profits over other parts of the country
which help to supply the markets on the Chesapeake with
lumber, the most remote of it being but a few miles from
navigable water, and much of it on the very shores of the ti-
dal rivers and other waters of the Bay.

The planting of oysters is another branch of industry here
which employs a large part of the population, and gives to
those who have the local advantages for its prosecution, very
large profits. This agricultural term needs some explanation
in reierence to shell fish, which I will here briefly explain.

Oysters in their native state are frequently found in large
beds which are sometimes many feet in thickness and extend
many miles in length on the bottom of the Bay. In this condi-
tion they do not acquire a large size, and therefore do not

command the highest prices in the market. These when ta-

ken and carried into shallow water and there deposited are
said to be planted; they then rapidly grow, soon attain a large
size, improve in flavor and command the highest prices in the
market. This process is attended with such ample, speedy
and certain reward that almost every one who is adjacent to
favorable waters engage in it to the almost total exclusion of
agricultural pursuits, it is one of the most certain, and at
the same time most profitable form's of manual labor. From
the inexhaustable quantities of oysters in the adjacent waters,
and the many favorable locations for its pursuit, it is followed
by a numerous class of citizens and is a source of great reve-
nue to the county.