93fl 



ARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 6 



f irrl ii ready market also tor the produce of the 

 land. 



On wliai is c.allpd liriion Farm (cnntaininir 928 

 a^IV^; of arable ami meadow), there is a newly 

 erei-.U'd brick barn, equal, perhaps, to any in 

 Ariiprica, and tor convenienres oi' ail sorts, par- 

 ticnlarlv lor shelterintr and feediiiir horses, caltle, 

 &c. scarcely to be exceeded any where. A new 

 house is now huildinp- in a ceniral position, not tiir 

 from the barn, tor the overlooker; which will 

 have two rooms, 16 by 18 teet. below, and one 

 or two above, nearly of the same size. Conve- 

 nient thereto, is satficient accoriiodation for fifty 

 odd necrroes, old and young ; but these buildinofs 

 niiirht not be thouirht (Tood enough for the work- 

 men, or day-laborers, of your country. 



Besides these, a little without the limits of the 

 fiirm (as marked in the plan), are one or two other 

 houses, very jjleasantly situated, and which, in 

 ca«e this larm should be divided into two (as it 

 formerly was), would answer well lor the eastern 

 division. The buildings thus enumerated, are all 

 that stand on the premises. 



Dogue Run Farm (650 acres) has a small, 

 but new building tor the overlooker ; one room 

 only below, and the same above, 16 by 20 

 each ; decent and comibrtable for its size. It has 

 also coveiing for forty-odd neL'roes, similar to 

 what is mentioned oli Union Farm. It has a 

 new circular barn, now finishinjr, on a new con- 

 etruction; well calculated, it is conceived, forget- 

 ting grain out of the straw more expediiiously 

 than in the usual mode of thrashing, Tliere are 

 good sheds also erecting, sufficient to cover 30 

 work-horses and oxen. 



Muddy-hole Farr.5 (476 acres) has a house for 

 the overlooker, in size and appearance nearly like 

 thatatDogue Run, but older : the same kind of 

 covermg tor al>ont 30 negroes, and a tolerable 

 good barn, with stables lor the work horses. 



River Farm, which is the larcrest of the four, 

 and separated from the others by Litlle Huntinir 

 Creek, contains 1207 acres of ploutihabieland, has 

 an overlooker's house of one large, and two small 

 rooms below, and one or two above ; sufficient 

 coveriniT for 50 or 60 negroes, like those before 

 inentioiKMl ; a larce barn, and stables, gone much 

 to decay, but will be re-placed next year, with 

 new ones. 



I have deemed it necessary lo give this detail of 

 the buildings, that a precise idea might be had of 

 the conveniences and inconveniences of them; 

 and I believe the recital is just in all its parts. 

 The inclosures are precisely jvnd accurately de- 

 lineated in the plan; and the fences now are, or 

 Boon will be, in respectable order. 



I would let these four farms to four substantial 

 farmers, of wealth and streuffth sufficient to cul- 

 tivate tfiem, and who would ensure to me the reg- 

 ular payment of the rents ; and I would give them 

 leases lor seven or ten years, at the rate of a 

 Spanish milled dollar, or other money current at 

 the time, in this coimtry, equivalent thereto, for 

 every acre of ploughai)le and mowable ground, 

 withm the inclosures of the respective farms, as 

 marked in the plan ; and would allow the tenants, 

 durinir that period, to take fuel ; and use timber 

 fi-oai the woodland, to repair the buildincs, and to 

 keep the fences in order, until live fences could be 

 jeiihstituted in place of dead ones, but, in this case. 

 110 sub- tenants would be allowed. 



Or if these farms are adjudged too large, and 

 the rents, of course, too heavy f'lr such fiirmers as 

 nnVht incline to emigrate, I should have no insu- 

 perable objection against dividing each into as 

 many small ones, as a society of them, formed 

 lor the purpose, could ajiree upon, amonc them- 

 selves ; even if it should he l)y the fields, as 

 ihey are now arranged (which the plan would 

 enable them to do), provided such buildings as 

 they would be content with, should be erected at 

 their own expense, in the manner already men- 

 tioned. In which case, as in the former, fiiel, and 

 timber f^r repairs, would be allowed ; but, as an 

 inducement to parcel out my trrounds into such 

 small tenements, and to compensate me, at the 

 same time, for the greater consumption of fuel 

 and timber, and lor the trouble and expense of 

 collecting small rents, I should expect a quarter of 

 a dollar per acre, in addition to what I have alrea- 

 dy mentioned. But m order to make these small 

 farms more valuable to the occupants, and by way 

 of reimbursing them for the expense ol their es- 

 tablishment thereon, I would srant them leases 

 for 15 or 18 years ; althouirh I have weighty ob- 

 jections to the measure, Ibunded on my own ex- 

 perience, of th.-" disadvantage it is to the lessor, in 

 a country where lands are ri-sing every year in 

 value. As an instance in proof, about 20 years 

 ago, I irave leases lor three lives, in land I held 

 above the Blue Mountains, near the Shenandoah 

 river, seventy miles from Alexandria, or any ship- 

 ping port, at a rent of one shilling per acre (no 

 part being then cleared) ; and now land of" similar 

 quality, in the vicinity, with very trifling improve- 

 ments thereon, is reniinir, currently, at five, and 

 more shillings per acre, and even as hiiih as eight. 



My motives fiir letting this estate having been 

 avowed, I will add, that the whole (except the 

 mansion-house farm), or none, will be parted with, 

 and that upon unequivocal terms ; because my ob- 

 ject is, to fix mv income (be it what it may) upon 

 a solid basis, in the hands of g-ood farmers; be- 

 cause I am not inclined to make a medley of it ; 

 and, above all, because I could not relinquish my 

 present course, without a moral certainty of the 

 substitute which is contemplated ; for to break up 

 these fiirms; remove my necroes ; and to dispose 

 of the property on them, upon terms short of this, 

 would be ruinous. 



Having said thus much, T am disposed to add 

 fijrther, that it would be in my power, and certain- 

 ly it would be my inclination (upon the principle 

 above), to accommodate the wealthy, or the weak- 

 handed liirmer (and upon reasonable terms) with 

 draught horses, and working mules and oxen ; 

 with cattle, sheep, and hogs ; and with such imple- 

 ments of husbandry, if they should not incline to 

 bring them themselves, as are in use on the 

 farms. On the four farms there are 54 draught- 

 horses, 12 working mules, and asufficiency of oxen, 

 broke to the yoke ; the precise number I am unable 

 this moment to ascertain, as they are compiehend- 

 ed in the ao-(rregate of the black cattle ; of the latter, 

 there are 317 ; oi sheep 634 ; of hogs many ; but 

 as these run pretty much at large in the woodland 

 (which is all under fence), the number is uncer- 

 tain. Many of the negroes, male and fi^male, 

 misrht be hired bv the year, as laborers, if this 

 should be prelt^rred, to the importation of that 

 A\nq 'uoupjapisuoa saAJasap n :nq f ajdoad jo ssbjo 

 far the mixing ot whites and blacks together ia 



