Thomas Mann Randolph to Wilson Cary Nicholas
| Dear Sir, | Varina april 3. :17 |
Will you do me the favor to inform me whether the Branch Bank of the U.S. in Richmond means to lend money upon security in land? If they do, whether one or more Indorsers, resident in town, will be demanded; and to what amount of the value they will be likely to accomodate any one person, whose real estate offered may be of the most saleable kind, and very near Richmond. If the Directory of that Body should not yet have deliberated on those points, your own opinions will be entirely certain enough for me. A small sum would be of no service to me, for I must free my land from prior incumbrances, to give that full security which will be necessary. I have dealt largely with Banks, and have met, allways, [. . .] every demand, with punctuality. If a memorial be customary, I can present one containing claims grounded upon a very important public interest. No less than the introduction of the Rice culture into Virginia, without inundation; which is now proven to be unnecessary, where the plough can be used, to extirpate those weeds which that have been hitherto drowned by Water, which the Rice bears well. During the Revolution War it was raised, on the marshes in this neighbourhood, with the greatest certainty. I have seen it growing, and have eaten it often at Curles during that period. The product was immense and the quality excellent. General Wade Hampton– assured me, that we could make more, and better, than S. Carolina; for our Summer was allways long enough, and their heats were too great, except at their Northern extremity, Waccamaw. What I have read of that Culture in Pie[d]mont, removes all doubt from my mind. I feel animated even with so small [. . .] a glimpse of hope, for the a favorite scheme of 27 years maturation: allmost lost sight of in the last few years of ill fortune. The demand for that article of food has been steadily gaining on the supply, (which Europe can obtain,) since the French Revolution. It has been introduced with their Cookery every where. It is deemed essential to health, in all warm climates, to use it constantly in diet. I beg you to excuse, if possible, the incongruous faults of length and haste, in this letter.
