1«37] 



F A R M K U S' REGISTER. 



333 



Hyde- Park, Fairfax 0>uvtij, } 

 Firginia, Nov. IS, 1701. ) 

 Drak SrK : 



A lii'sirt^ of convorsinir with tho nin^t intelligent 

 p(T«iius ill my ncifjiihorlioo.l. arui mstinitiiiff a cnr- 

 respotidtMico with oihers, on \he siilijeci of your iii- 

 quiiy, will, [ liopt*, plead my excuse, in beiiiw so 

 late in answerinur your letter of Au<riisl. I never 

 enteriaiueil very liiL'h opinions of" your system of 

 larmiiiL'. but what F had is ceriainly lower than it 

 was. Our flirnis are, in L'eneral, loo larijre to ad- 

 mit of mueh nicety and, I believe, it would be un- 

 happy for us to have any jjreat desire to be so, 

 wi;ii our black laborers, and the more worthless 

 wreiihes we employ to overlo>)l( ihem. The man- 

 ner too, in which our attention has been enirrossed 

 bv the cuiiivation of tobacco, and larare quantities 

 of Indian cnrii, has, no dnuhl, had some share in 

 reniierinsj us slo\en!y farmers. Havinijhad, hith- 



inanured. Thonfrh the county cannot be consid 

 ered as abnundinjx so muth in nieiidow lands as 

 some others, yet there are fi'w |;<M)ple but have 

 lh<'m. On (he river, the mosi valuable irroiiiids 

 l(.)r meadows, the Pocasons, are smII unreclaimed, 

 and, indeed, in every part of the count}', some of 

 the most valuable grounds for meadows, are still 

 in their natural slate. I cannol iulfirm you of the 

 proportion ol meadow-land lo ihe arable, for aecu- 

 racy in these matters is out of ihe queslion in Vir- 

 cinia: nor of vvood-lami to either: but I iliink I 

 am not wrong vviih respect lo the latter, in saying, 

 ihat better than half ilie county is still in woods. 

 In the upper parts of the county, from ten to 20 

 miles from the river, the soil is much intermixed 

 with stones. Tiie average yield of wheat, in the 

 mode of a<xriculture which I have already men- 

 tioned, was practised with us. is aboutsi.x lor one — 

 in laliowed irrounds, about eiaht and ten for one. 



erto plenty ofli'esh land lor these articles, we have j The old tobacco grounds which have been well 

 disregarded every means of imprnvinjx our opened manured, will yield from 20 lo 30. The averajre 

 grounds, either by manure, or laying them down j yield of oats and rye, which have also but a poor 

 in grasses — but as we betfin now to set some store ! chance (being generally sowed in old worn out 

 by our woods, and tobacco has declined so much | corn fields) is from 10 to 15, for one; buck-wheat 

 in value, thai people are generally exchanging to- j from 15 lo 20.— Barley is not cultivaied here. — In- 

 bacco for wheat, I flatter myself, the face" of our ' dian corn, fiom 10 to 15 bushels an acre. As lo 

 country will soon assume an appearance, that will i peas, beans, potatoes, and turnips, our lands yield 

 not only do honor to our climate, but ourselves — : them very well; bui as ihey are not raised for 

 indeed il has long been evident to me, that our sa- 1 market in general, I cannot say what may be their 

 gacious northern brefhern, not only considered our ! average product per acre, li has ever a|)peared 

 rlimale as snjierior to their own, but our lands too to me, thai if the farmers in Europe, who lay so 

 as capahl(> of lieino; made so, fiom their consiant i much stress upon these articles in their writings, 

 annua! emii>Tatioiis among us. As we may be i had our excellent substitute lor ihem, Indian corn, 

 said to be entirely indebted to these for the best j ihey would nnlv regard them as we do, Ibrculina- 

 fi-rms amouir us, il is very desirable that they : ry purposes. The chief grass cultivated here is 

 should happen in a tenfi)ld ratio. " 1 ihe timothy — the average product of it, per acre, 



Although, from a comparative view of the ex- is about a ton. It is ceriainly the best adapted to 

 portsof wheat lIoiTi the several states in the Union. ] our hot suns, and particularly our slovenly man- 

 it appears that considerably more of that article is \ atremenl of any grass; and this, perhaps, is the 

 annually exported from Viririnia than from any of i best reason which can be iriven I'or our attending 

 the professedly la.-ming states, still it has scarcely, I so liitle to any other. Of hemp, we raise scarce 

 hitherio, been considered as a secondary object on i any in this county ; and of flax, as we raise it on-^ 

 our farms. Till very lately, the practice of fallow- j ly for our own domestic purposes, all I can say of 

 ing irrounds for wheat, was seldom followed, and jit is, that it grows very kindly and plentifully.^ 

 even now, il is by no means so general as could The fee-simple prices of lands at the distance of 

 be wisiied. The usual mode of sowingit has been, i 10 miles from the river and town of Alexandria, is 

 and is now, too generally, in our own corn-fields, ^ from 20 to 40 shillings per acre, according to qual- 

 when the Indian corn is laid by, and which are I ity. It is remarkable, that lands in no respect su- 

 cultivated every second or third year, without re- perior, on the opposite side of the river, in JV'Iary- 

 ceivinrr any manure, or beins laid down in clover land, and equally dislant from the river, sell cur- 

 after the crop is taken ofl^ Those who are consid- | renlly at 4/. and 51. per acre. I know not how 

 ered as the best farmers, and fidlow most, trust en- such a diflerence is to be accounted for, but from 



tirely to their plouirhing. Their fields are too ex- 

 tensive for the manure raised from their stock, and 

 we have as yet no other in use. I thought it ne- 

 cessary to premise thus much, generally, respect- 

 ins our mode of aojriculture, to prevent our climate 

 and soil being unjustly blamed for wheat vve alone 

 are chargeable. It is applicable to the whole state, 

 I believe. I shall now lake your queries in their 

 order, and consider first the lands in Fairfiix coun- 

 ty, which is situated on the river Potomac, and 

 bounded by it for near 10 miles. The lands here, 

 are generally thin, and the soil a stifle clay. At a 

 little distance from the river, they are rather liilly 



the crreater degree of population in proportion to 

 their country. The same circumstance must, I 

 suppose, account for the lands in Virginia biing 

 generally so much chea|)er, though equal in quali- 

 ty, and possessing a milder climate than the lands 

 in the northern states. The rents of our lands 

 have increased much within these few years. 

 From the first statement of the country, till lately, 

 it was the practice to rent them on leases for two 

 and three lives, at so much tobacco a hundred acres; 

 very often not more than two hundred pounds of 

 tobacco an hundred — at present, however, from 

 the uncertain price of tobacco, the rents in thatar- 



and broken. The pasturage in summer, is belter i tide are become unusal ; so that the common mode 

 than might be expected from the appearance of of renting is novv, either by the year, or lor a term 



the land, for, notwithstanding allourbad mana<re 

 ment, our fields yield the white clover plentifully, 

 and I am satisfied no grounds can turn out the red 

 clover to better advantage, where they are well 



10 or 20 vears, and at ihe rate of 8/. to 10/. an 

 hundred. This mode is preft'.rred by the tenants, 

 from an idea which, I believe, lo be natural to the 

 human mind, that of becoming one day lords of 



