1837] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



SSI- 



harvest, 1 have no doubt I might have secured an 

 average of 2 ions to \\\e acre— a product equal to 

 my rich ineaiiow alluvion. At all events I am 

 sa'tislied willi results, althon<>h the experiment 

 when first projecieil, excited ihe incrediiliiy ol' my 

 (riends, who are now satisfied, and coidd not but 

 admire duriaix ilie past siuumer, two of the most 

 beauiit'ul fields of upland irrass I ever saw. 



Now, every fact discovered by a liirmer himself, 

 assists him more than all the theories, or all the ex- 

 periments ever made by a hundred others. They I ihe'ir proper names — his reason lor which, I do 

 sink deep m his memory, ami supply data for safe ,iot coiisiiler very good; although he may be riiiht, 

 calculation. The Ibrce of example in agriculture, I j,nil I wrong. He says, in his communication, 

 as in morals, has no wide limits. It is apt to be that he did not know that the ravages of the wee- 



THJ3 BLACK WKKVIL — AM) ANONYfltOUS CON- 

 TUIBUTOUS. 



To tin; Editor of Uio Fanners' Uuuistcr. 



Nuvcmber 2\st, 1837. 



In your June No. of the Register, I discover 

 that there is a piece written on the n.eans of des- 

 iroyinir llie black weevil, by an "Eastern Shore- 

 man ()l' Maryland," who is disposed to find lault 

 of persons who write for the Register and sign 



circumscribed by our casual vision 



Untiirtunatel}', sir, the cases of failure, amonsr 

 agriculturists, are more numerous, than in most of 

 the other avocations of lile. In the mercantile com- 

 munity, it may be assumed, that one in lour suc-_ 

 ceed;inthe learned prolessions, especially that of 

 law, one in six; perhaps one third of those en- 

 gaged in mechanical employments; but probably 

 in our traterniry, not more than one in leu succeed. 

 I mean success of ;» clear decided kind — the por- 

 tion of him who improves his larm, and adds to it 

 — makes money, rears a family and educates his 

 children liberally. And why is it so? Themeansof 

 puceess are more attainable than in anj'ofthe other 

 pursuits of lile. One cause has already been ad- 

 verted to. It is engaged in under the delusive 

 hope that it is a life of perfect leisure, and needs 

 no application. 



The romantic spirit of hundreds, invest a hand- 

 some estate, with the pleasurable ease of another 

 Mantua, where the possessor can recline in pas- 

 toral simplicity, under his wide spreading beech 

 tree, his flofks gambolling about him, and the 



vil extended as far south as Virginia, North and 

 South (Jarolinia. I think he must be a man that 

 si.iysalhome close, reads but little, and tries to 

 find out less. I su|)pose if Mr. Webb, of North 

 Carolma, had not have written his [)iece en the 

 weevil, that we never should have heard any thing 

 from the gentleman on the subject; but alter his 

 piece contes out, we hear of many who know llie 

 same remedy he prescribed lo be good, and others 

 know other things equally as good, and preferable, 

 to prevent, but vvould not let it be known. As I 

 am personally acquainted with Mr. Webb, and 

 know that he is no man who wishes to shine by 

 writing lor the Register— or any thing else, except 

 lor the'good of his country, and mankind general- 

 ly, when lie thinks by doing so in a plain and legi- 

 ble manner, he can do it— 1 am disposed to be- 

 lieve that be wrote his remedy through a pure and 

 disinterested motive, and not to blazon his name 

 before every reader of the Register, as ihe "East- 

 ern Shoreman" is disposed to believe, as "conquer- 

 or of the back weevil." Now, lor my part, when- 

 ever I see a remedy for any thing prescribed vvith- 



green clad hills of nature "spread out before him, lout the proper signature, I do not place hall the- 

 to his delighted vision. These are all pretty no- confidence in it I should do, if otherwise. Now, 

 tions ; but there is unhappily more poetry about Mr. Webb, nor no other person, I presume, has- 



them than truth. Farming is a prosaic concern 

 It is a life of toil. I doubt not that Virgil was 

 more indebted for his wealth to his writings, and 

 the munificence of his patrons, than to any practi- 

 cal skill at hedging and ditching : and I cannot 

 imagine worse farmers than Thomson or Cowper 

 would have made. 



Let no young gentleman, then, retire to his pat- 

 rimonial estate, indulging in the vain hope of 

 finding there another Campania Felix, where na- 

 ture, unaided by the plough and the harrow, will 

 pour into his lap plenty and profusion. Impover- 

 ished fields, and perhaps protested notes in bank, 

 will, in a lew years, rouse him from his dreamy 

 existence. We are no more exempt than others 



any right to doubt the remedy prescribed by the 

 "Eastern Shoreman of Maryland," but why, we 

 ask the question, did he not come out sooner, and 

 let his remedy be known? Simply, I suppose,- 

 because, as he says that he did not know these 

 ravases extended to Virginia, North and South 

 Carolina. Well 1 we ask still further, did he 

 ever publish his remedy in Maryland, where he 

 knew Ihey did great injury? (I would state here 

 that this piece is not written against the remedy 

 prescribed by the "Eastern Shoreman" at all; but 

 merely against his opinions relative to the signa- 

 ture 10 be annexed. The reason why this has^ 

 not come out sooner, is because the 'Register' of 

 June failed to come to hand until very recently.) 



from the operation of that eternal decree, " that Mr. Webb may not have written as correctly as 



"■ ■ ■■ some others, yet I am disposed to believe that the 

 •Register' is published to benefit the farmer, as 

 welf as the scientific man, and we all know 

 that the most of farmers, are plain, and require 

 plain things, to be undersiood correctly by them. 

 I do not pretend to be a learned man, yet I 

 think any man may read Mr. Webb's remedy for 

 the weevil and understand it. If that is done 

 his object is accomplished. As lor "Dr. Syntax," 

 or any other person, if they feel disposed, they 

 can make just as much sport of my communica- 

 tion as they please, as I shall be like the "East- 

 ern Shoreman of Maryland," concealed in the 

 dark. 



Graxville. 



man was made to live by the sweat of his brow 



But, sir, I am tedious. I have not been in the 

 habit of writing communications for a number of 

 years. If the experience of more than fi'teen 

 years' farming, disturbed occasionally by the duties 

 of public and professional life, give me possession 

 of any fiicts worthy a place in your valuable pa- 

 per, I will reduce my scrap book to a little method, 

 and, in future numbers, offer it for what it is worth. 

 At best, my thoughts will be crudely conveyed, and 

 as my name would add no value to the opinions 

 advanced, I take leave to subscribe myself, 



A Frederick Farmer. 



