Vineland was not a co-operative enterprise. It is the land-speculation of a long-headed, kind-hearted man, who believed that he could form a settlement profitable and advantageous to many people, and with pecuniary benefit to himself. Until the year 1861, the southern part of New Jersey contained a large region known as "the Barrens," and very sparsely settled with a rude and unthrifty population. The light soil was supposed to be unfit for profitable agriculture; and the country for miles was covered with scrub pine and small oak timber, used chiefly for charcoal, and as fuel for some glass factories at Millville and Glassborough. Much of this land was owned in large tracts, and brought in but a small revenue. When the West Jersey Railroad, connecting Cape May with Philadelphia, was completed, it ran through many miles of these "Barrens," and some of the owners, tired of a property which in their hands had little value, were ready to sell out. Charles K. Landis had conceived the idea of forming a colony, upon certain plans which he had matured in his own mind. His attention was attracted to this region, and after examining the soil and the general character of the region, he bought sixteen thousand acres in one parcel. To this he added, soon after, another purchase of fourteen thousand acres, making thirty thousand in all. He has bought lately (in 1874) twenty-three thousand acres more. The country is a rolling plain, densely overgrown with small wood, with one or two streams running through it; with water obtainable at from fifteen to thirty feet every where, and perfectly healthy. Mr. Landis took possession in August, 1861, and at once began to develop the land according to his own ideas. He laid out, first, the town site of Vineland, in the centre of the tract; next had the adjacent plain surveyed, and laid out into tracts of ten, twenty, and fifty acres; laid out and opened roads, so as to make these small parcels accessible; and then he began to advertise for settlers. His offer was to sell the land, lying within thirty-four miles of Philadelphia by railroad, in tracts of from ten to forty or sixty acres, at twenty-five dollars per acre, guaranteeing a clear title, and giving reasonable credit, but requiring the purchasers to make certain improvements within a year after buying. These consisted of a house--which need not be costly--the clearing of some acres of ground, and the planting of shade-trees along the road-side, and sowing a strip of this road-side with some kind of grass. It was also stipulated that if the owner, in after-years, neglected his road-side adornment, it should be kept in order by the town at his cost.