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h' A R M E R S' REGIS T E R. 



[No. 3 



thing will go on more smoothly on his farm. 

 Negroes will not. do as well for an overseer as they 

 will for their master. The cmploym'ent ot'an over- 

 seer implies doubt of the honesty and integrity of 

 your negroes, and they i'eel mortified at it, and it 

 consequently destroys all interest they might take 

 in what is going on, on the farm. A negro works 

 for an overseer through fear alone; lin- his master, 

 (when properly managed,) from affection and, a 

 regard to his interest, as well as fear. I have had 

 the exclusive management of my negroes, about 

 50 in number, for three years^ and I have had to 

 fight but once in the time, except for little dill'er- 

 ences amongst themselves, which causes me more 

 trouble than any thing else besides. x\ farmer in 

 the county of Ijunenburg, who commenced lile 

 with eight or ten negroes, and a very small piece 

 of poor land, who is now the owner of from sixty 

 to seventy slaves and a very fine tract of land, in- 

 formed me that he had never in his life whipped 

 one of his negroes — and a more humble, obedient 

 and industrious parcel of negroes I never saw. 



Another cause of bad management on ourfiirms, 

 is the custom which most of our farmers practice, 

 of going in debt for the purchase of more land or 

 negroes. It is almost universally the case, that 

 when a farmer gets a little beforehand, instead of 

 spending his money in the improvement of the 

 land which he then owns, he will purchase more 

 land, go in debt, cut down and wear out, until he 

 gets straight again; and then the same course is to 

 be followed. Inquire of any farmer you see, why 

 he does not make such and such improvements on 

 his farm, and he will almost invariably tell you, 

 "I will soon; I have long intended to do so, but I 

 am in debt now, and I must scuffle through that 

 difficulty first." Well! he gets out of debt, and 

 there is a little piece of land adjoining him to be 

 Bold, which he is obliged to have, or a favorite ne- 

 gro; and the next time you see him, the same an- 

 swer is made to your interrogatory. 



I will conclude this by giving a small piece of 

 advice to the young men of the state. To every 

 young man possessed of a small piece of land and 

 afewnegroes, no matter what his expectations may 

 be, I would say — "Go home, settle yourself, and 

 go to work, and you will see more real satisfiiction, 

 make more money, be more esteemed than any 

 young doctor or lawyer in your neighbourhood." 



For the Farmers' Register. 



A PREVEKTIVE OF THE BLIGHT IN PEAR 

 TREES. 



, Prince Edward, May 27, 1S37. 



The preventive is the simplest imaginable — it is 

 not to prune the tree, or break up the ground un- 

 derneath them; but, on the contrary, to let the 

 ground be trampled. The facts, fi'om which 1 

 ccmie to the above conclusion, are the following: 



1st. There were in my grandfather's yard two 

 pear trees, which have been bearing trees from 

 my earliest recollection, say forty years. I am 

 now the occupant of his houses and yard. These 

 two trees are now as healthy as they ever have 

 been. The yard has always been Iramjiled by 

 calves and horses. 



2nd. There was a row of four trees in a lot ad- 

 joining the yard, which was occasionally culti- 



vated. These trees have blighted, more or less^ 

 whenever the lot has been cuUivaied. Two of 

 them have died whh the blight; the other two 

 have been several times very much injured by it, 

 but since I have ceased to cultivate the lot, they 

 have been flourishing trees. 



3rd. I grafied in the year 1521, about twenty 

 pear trees. They remained in the nursery until 

 1824; they were then planted in a lot adjoining 

 my yard, which lot was cultivated three years in 

 succession in tobacco. Most of the trees during 

 those three years, blighted more or less — some 

 blighted within a foot of ihe ground. I then 

 levelled the ground en which they were planted, 

 and moved my fence so as to enclose them in the 

 yard. Such as had been nearly destroyed by 

 blight, I enclosed by a pen of rails, in order to 

 keep of}' the calves which graze the 3'ard, until 

 the trees had grown sufficiently high not to be in- 

 jured by them. These twenty trees are now all 

 healthy, and there has been no appearance of 

 blight, since I cultivated the lot, except in one 

 tree that was enclosed by one of my servants in 

 a garden, in which he cultivated vegetables. 

 That tree was blighted, and died. 



I would recommend that pear trees be planted 

 in a rich soil (I would prefer the siie of an old 

 dwelling) — that they be ploughed and worked a 

 i'ew years, even at the risk of blighting; and after 

 that, that they be neither pruned nor ploughed. 

 If'they require manure, let it be applied to the sur- 

 fiice. Ashes I think an excellent manure. Let 

 the pear orchard be grazed by small cattle, until 

 the trees are of sufficient size to admit of being 

 grazed by larger, without injury. I think it would 

 be proper to keep down coarse weeds, briers, 

 sprouts, &c. I am well convinced that there are 

 some hardy native pear trees, that may be pruned 

 and ploughed without being subject to blisht; but 

 I feel confident that most of the finest kinds of 

 pears, would thrive best under the treatment I 

 have described. I know, too, that there is a dif- 

 ference in soils, and that the same mode of treat- 

 ment may not suit all situations. But, those who 

 have not succeeded in raising pear trees, might 

 try my method. My opinion is, that the blight is 

 produced by the excessive flow of sap, and that 

 pruning and fallowing produce that effect. If^ 

 however, I had pear trees growing on hard poor 

 land, I would fallow and manure; preferring rather 

 to risk the blight, than let the tree die of poverty. 

 But, when I had sufficiently manured, I would then 

 cease fallowing. 



Henry N. Watkins. 



SAPLING (or large) RED CLOVER. 



To tlie Editor of the Farmers" Register. 



* * * * I hardly know what 



to say upon the subject of sapling clover, having 

 heard such contradictory accounts of its value. 



Col. B informed me a \hw days since, 



that he had gathered fl'om a poor old field at a sin- 

 gle cutting, four thousand three hundred pounds 

 per acre; and for that kind of land, he considered 

 it of great value. But on rich land it would lodge, 

 lose most of its foliage, and in some instances rot. 

 This is the opinion of' almost all with whom I have 

 conversed upon the subject — there are, however, a 

 few who object to it in toto, believing it inferior to 

 the other, however favorable the soil. 



