]S37] 



F A R INI E n S ' R E CH S T E R 



117 



acres niijrht be reijardod as entirely sale; and I do 

 iidt siipposte the proprietor would Lnve one per cent, 

 on llieir valne, to have iheni ensured I'rom the el"- 

 li.>c.is ol liiLdi water, as loiio- ns the (lii<e,< preserve 

 ihe elevation eoiileniplated. JNIr. B. intends in a 

 short time to raise ihe dii<e on Wardsliirk to the 

 necessary lieiirlit. The eost of both dikes, when 

 completed, may he esiiniaied at twelve hundred 

 dollars; the value rj" the laml (the 120 acres) at 

 ei^'ht thousand liollars. 



Mr. B.'s dike leaves the Roanoke low frronnd 

 near the mouth of a larae straitrht ditch thai was 

 cut hy the late lion. T. T. Bonldin, and wiiich 

 carries the v.-ater ol" Little Roanoke. This diich 

 is one ol' the greatest works ol the kind thai has 

 been untierialceu in this county. Ilsoj)eraiion and 

 f NMent may well luruish a subject lor a separate ar- 

 ticle. 



RESULTS OF EMIGRATIOIV TO THE WEST. 

 To the Editor of the Fanners' Register. 



Kemper Courtly, 3Iissifis!ppi, } 

 xipril 14, 1&37. ] 



* * * * Though literally buried in 

 the woods of the south-west, where I assure you 

 little else than cotton is ever thouL"ht of. and where 

 readintj of any kind harasses but little, very few, 

 particularly that pertain to agriculture, \e\, I 

 must confess that your interesting journal afi'onls 

 nie as much pleasure now as before I emigrated to 

 this country. Not the least gratifyinij i*^ the fact 

 (hat the system of auriculture in old Viriiinia is 

 vastly ameliorating, and with it, necessarily lollows 

 an improved condition in the lands. You are do- 

 ins much to arrest the tide ol emigration, which 

 sweeps many a thoughtless lellow on to ruin. 

 Emigration, to use a hard phrase, is not the thing 

 it is cracked vp to be, in many, perhaps in a majo- 

 rity of mstances. it is true more money may be 

 made here; but you may rest assured it requires 

 hard knocking: and I am not prepared to say that 

 the advantages of emigration so lar outweiiih the 

 disadvantages of remaininir, as to justily (other 

 considerations being equal.) a separation troni re- 

 lations and friends, and scenes hallowed by the re- 

 collection of early associations. You no doubt are 

 apprised of the conlusion and distress in the pecu- 

 niary affairs of this country; perhaps they are 

 greater than you can well imagine. Man}', or 

 several causes have conspired, in my opinion, to 

 precipitate the country in its distressed situation, 

 viz: over-tradintr in every respect — real estate 

 speculations in Mobile — (f am credibly inlbrmed, 

 that while speculation was at its acme in that 

 town, lots sold higher than they ever sold in New 

 York;) and last, though not least, the opera- 

 tions on the part of government in deranging the 

 whole currency of the country. We are, how- 

 ever, looking Ibrward to better times. Negroes 

 have fallen very considerably: indeed, I have no 

 doubt but it was the system of sellins; them on a 

 credit that enhanced their value so enormously; lor 

 I assure you the profits of the planter, cotton at 15 

 to 17 cts., cannot juslify him in givinfr fifteen to 

 eiirhteen hundred ilollars lor neirroes. You doubt- 

 less, have heard many exasirerated reports of the 

 profits of the planter in this country. In some 



instances almost incredible profits are realized, but 

 they are those, in the realizaiion of which the 

 common li^elings of humanity, and the r<"speci of 

 the world, are notoriously disregiuded. A hand, I 

 would say, can make li'om two to three hiuidred 

 dollars, cotton worth 15 to 16 and 17 cents, if the 

 necessary economy and skill are used, besides a 

 sufficiency lor sell-sufiporl; and thtit is as much as 

 can reasonably be expected. Indeed I do not be- 

 lieve that amount is made by an average number 

 of planters. On some leisure occasion, I will give 

 you an account of the mode of fiirming — cotton 

 planting — most cenerally in use by the most suc- 

 cessful planters in this section of the country. 



B. H. 



ROTATORY STEAM ENGINE. 



A planter of South Carolina has requested of as in- 

 formation respecting the Rotatoiy Steam Engines used 

 in New York — especially as to their cost, safety, dura- 

 bility, and power, and whether they are suitable for 

 such plantation business as grinding corn, thrashing 

 and pounding rice, and sawing timber. As we know 

 nothing on this head more than what has already been 

 published in preceding numbers of the Farmers' Re- 

 gister, we will be obliged to any person who will fur- 

 nish the information desired by our correspondent. 

 A steam engine much cheaper than those generally 

 known would be useful on almost every southern plan- 

 tation. Indeed, for sawing timber, where fuel, of course, 

 would cost nothing, we see no reason why steam 

 power, as heretofore put in action, would not be eco- 

 nomically used, wherever water power would be deri- 

 rable for the same piu-pose. The noble pine forests 

 on the level lands of North and South Carolina, will, 

 at some future time, bring into operation hundreds of 

 steam saw mills. 



REMARKS ON THE SOU. AM) CULTIVATION OP 

 A I'ART OF THE COl NTY OF HALIFAX. 



To the Editor of the Farmcis' Register. 



The plantations lying on and near the public 

 roads leading from Hab'lax Court-house to Mil- 

 ton, (N. C.) and Danville, like most of the landa 

 of middle Virginia, are cleared of the greater part 

 of the Ibrest growth; and have been loner sub- 

 jected to the exhausting rotation of tobacco, lor 

 the first three or lour years alter the wood is re- 

 moved: then, to the unilorm rotation of one year 

 in corn, the next in oats, the third in pasture, then 

 corn again, &c. But, although this exhausting 

 system has been pursued, yet, the original fertility 

 of the soil of this poriion of Virginia was such, 

 that it is still productive; and where an improving 

 system has been pursued, it is rich. Tlie high 

 lands on the snmll streams, through this extent, 

 (which are tributaries to the river Dan,) are the 

 best that the writer of these lines has ever seen in 

 middle Virginia. Their color is generally a dark 

 grey (approaching a black loam,) and red — sub- 

 stratum, red clay, under the red colored soils, and 

 frequently, a greyish substratum, specked wilh 

 mica, under the grey lands. Some of the grey 

 I soils, however, have a firm, dry, red clay, substra- 



