Excerpt from Thomas Jefferson
The undulating soil of this Albemarle region, whose chief richness lies in the valleys and river bottoms, has yielded periodical crops, - not in tobacco es pecially, or what we commonly class as Southern staples, but in wheat, corn, and oats, - American farm products such as were always associated in sense with free labour. The Blue Ridge farmer was never a paragon of thrift, and good lands have run frequently to waste for want of top-dressing and an opportunity to recuperate. Manufactures, of course, could not flourish hereabouts so long as skilled artisans and mechanics were repelled by the deadly nightshade of slavery; and though times perhaps are changing for the better, we still find the Albemarle capitalist who sets up for a manufacturer occupied chiefly in mend ing broken ploughs and wagons, advertising repairs as his specialty.
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