it on the other. By means of this town, well fortified, it was proposed to intercept all communication between the southern and northern parts of the continent1.

It would appear, that the British Government has never lost sight of this position. In August, 1814, Alexandria was attacked by an English squadron, and the inhabitants capitulated on most unfavourable conditions, giving up not only all naval and ordnance stores, but also merchant vessels and merchandize of every description; and the troops stationed at Fort Warburton, the only defence of Alexandria, blew up the magazine, and abandoned the fort.

By the charter of Alexandria, the town is divided into two wards, or districts. The right of suffrage, for members of the common council, belongs to every free white male citizen of full age, who has a freehold estate in the town, or who has resided therein for the space of a year, paid a public tax, and has been a housekeeper three months preceding the annual election. The common-council is a politic and corporate body, from which

the president is chosen and all the estate, rights, and credits of the mayor and commonalty, are vested in this council.

The mayor, who must be a white male American citizen, of thirty-two years of age, owner of a freehold estate in the town, and a resident thereof five years previous to his election, is chosen annually, for the space of a year, by a vote of the common-council. The concurrence of a majority of all the members is necessary for passing, modifying, or repealing a law, order, or resolution.

The country near Alexandria is very interesting, particularly that part of it known by the name of the Northern Neck of Virginia, situated to the west of the Alleghany Mountains, between the 57th and 40th degree of north latitude, containing about a hundred and fifty miles of square extent, and bounded by the Potomac and Rappahanoc rivers, on which, as well as on the Shenandoah, there are several manufacturing mills. This part of Virginia is divided into two tracts the first, running north and south from the Blue Ridge to the Potomac, is about sixty miles in breadth. The other tract, of greater extent and more elevated, is of a dif

ferent soil, and embraces a part of the Limestone Valley, which extends from the seacoast to the Alleghany Mountains. This region is very healthy, except on the borders of the river, and during autumn, when bilious disorders prevail, particularly in very wet or in very dry seasons. In some places the springs dry up in summer, in which case it is necessary to drive the cattle several miles for water to the large rivers, which injures their health, and is a great inconvenience to the proprietors.

The most fertile soil produces walnut, locust, mulberry, wild cherry-tree, hickory, poplar, oak of various kinds, elm, dog-wood, ash, etc. The second quality of soil has but few walnut, locust, or mulberry-trees, but chesnut, sycamore, sugar, and common maple-trees grow abundantly. On the borders of rivers are seen the sassafras, magnolia, ash, birch, hazel, holly, thorn and crab-tree. The knolls of small extent have a cold, stiff, clayey soil, and are covered with a scrubby oak called Black Jack, or Barren Oak (Quercus ferruginea. Mich.), which furnishes meat for hogs, and wood for fuel. The usual crops consist of wheat, rye, oats, spelts, and

maize. The latter does not thrive in dry seasons. Wheat is the staple production.

The following mode of cultivation is practised by Mr. Rickets:

About the close of February, or early in March, a bushel of clover-seed is sown on eight acres of wheat; and in April or May, a bushel of pulverised plaster of Paris1 is scattered over the surface. The following year the clover is cut, dried like hay, and is excellent provender. If not used for pasture, the field is mowed twice during the first year, sometimes twice the second, and once the third. The soil is afterwards in a fine condition for wheat, of which it yields from twenty-five to thirty bushels per acre. The clover protects the soil from the action of the sun, and it is perforated and loosened by the roots of this plant. The following is his mode of top-dressing: in the fall, the winter crop of wheat, or of rye, is covered with cow or horse-dung mixed with straw, which is beaten down by the rain and snow, and this covering protects it from the frost. Mr. Rickets is of opinion, that a load, spread in

this manner, is equal to ten covered in the ordinary way by the plough.

This Northern Neck is famed for fine beef and butter.

Hemp and flax are cultivated on the flat lands, where horses, hogs, sheep, and poultry thrive in a remarkable manner. The best soil sells at from twenty-five to thirty-five dollars per acre. The second quality from ten to fifteen. The third, from three to four. The last is usually employed as a range for cattle.

The improved lands of Morefield, on the Northern Neck, in lots of two, three, or five hundred acres, sell at a hundred and forty, and sometimes at a hundred and sixty dollars per acre. In the purchase of tracts of the Southern Branch Bottom, the adjacent barren hills are given as a gratuitous appendage.

The lands of Loudon county, exhausted more than twenty years ago by successive crops of tobacco, now give luxuriant crops of Indian corn, in consequence of the above mentioned culture. Improved lots, from three to five hundred acres, are sold from twenty-three to twenty-five dollars per acre, on account of their fertility and vicinity to