character of the trees is different on that land. There you will
find original pine, but on the worn-out land the 'old-field' pine
are found. They are practically worthless, while the original pine
makes very valuable lumber.

"With our system of rotation we keep about all of our farm under
control; but the smaller farms were necessarily cropped more
continuously to support the family, and they became so unproductive
that many of them have been completely abandoned for agricultural
purposes; and even some of the large plantations were poorly
managed, one part having been cropped continuously until too poor to
pay for cropping, while the remainder was allowed to grow up in
scrub brush and 'old-field' pine; and, of course, the expense of
clearing such land is about as much as the net value of the crops
that could be grown until it again becomes too poor for cropping."

"Then the recleared lands are not as productive as when they were
first cleared from the virgin forest?"

"Oh, by no means. In the virgin state these lands grew bountiful
crops almost continuously for a hundred years or more. Virginia was
famed at home and abroad for her virgin fertility. Great crops of
corn, wheat, and tobacco were grown. Tobacco was a valuable export
crop, and there were many Virginians whose mothers came to America
with passage paid for in tobacco. History records, you may remember,
that it was the custom for a time to permit a young man to pay into
a general store house a hundred pounds of tobacco,--and this was
later increased to one hundred fifty pounds,--to be used in payment
of passage for young women who were thus enabled to come to America;
and there was a very distinct understanding that only those who had