1838] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



Bq9 



I conceive that 1 he greatest benefit tluxt could be 

 bestowed upon this jjation, would be to cau.«eii\nd 

 cultivation to become as fashionable as land spes- 

 ulation. 



Specie pavmenis, or specie, currency, or a re- 

 charter of the U. States Bank, would not bring so 

 great a biessintT upon the country, as a recharter 

 of that good old fashion, of farmers, bringing up 

 their sons and dauijhters to their own trade, and 

 teaching them that it would not be ungentcd to 

 follow it. But so long as fashion calls such hosts 

 from the plough and cheese tub, to the counter 

 and milliner's shop, so long the non-producing 

 class should never complain of "high prices" of 

 the necessaries of lile. They may cry "flour 

 must come down" until they are hoarse, but it 

 will not come down till their own pride comes 

 down — till they could be contented in the aforesaid 

 log cabin, and become makers of their own flour 

 BtutT; and then lo them the price would come 

 down. 



But I have digressed from my text. I had in- 

 tended this letter to have been altogether descrip- 

 tive. However, who shall deny the truth of my 

 ehort sermon? and let those who realize its truth, 

 profit by it. Is it not the duty of editors, in these 

 times, also to preach these truths constantly? To 

 urge the surplus population of your cities to flee 

 while they can fi-om the trouble yet. to come; and 

 if they are unable to buy a small lot of govern- 

 ment land, let them become "squatters," and cul- 

 tivators; and by thus assisting to raise a surplus 

 of grain, prevent its importation, while they at the 

 same time are adding riches, health, and happi- 

 ness, to themselves and families. 



The difficulties of getting a farm under cultiva- 

 tion in a heavy timbered country, deters many 

 from the undertaking; and the inability of many, 

 in a pecuniary point, to purchase a cultivated farm, 

 keeps thousands in the cities who would be better 

 away, and who add nothing to the wealth of the 

 community where they get their precarious living; 

 and who would make valuable members of com- 

 munity, if properly situated in a proper place. 



HavintT stretched this to an unreasonable length, 

 I shall defer, to the next communication, to tell 

 you how prairie is "broke up," and how f(?nced 

 without stone or timber — and how crops are put in, 

 how they grow, and sundry other interesting 

 items, perhaps. 



With much respect I am your old friend, 



S. R. 



From tlie American Farmer. 

 LOUDOUN FARMIXG. 



Communicated by Gtn. W.Jeffreys, esq., of North 

 Carolina, far publication inthe vlmerican Far- 

 mer. 



Aldie, March Isf, 1819. 



Dear Sir — In fulfilment of the promise made 

 you some time ago, I embrace the first leisure 

 moment to answer your anxious inquiries on the 

 Bubject of Loudoun husbandry, &c. ; and in do- 

 \ni, so, I shall confine myself entirely to the prac- 

 tice, without attempting to reason from efl^iecta to 

 causes; for he who endeavors to recommend to 

 the farmer's practice, a method of cultivation, 

 founded only upon theory, though supported by 

 the most plausible deductions, will be much more 

 Vol. V— 75 



likely to lead liiin into error, than the man who, 

 by the observation of what has happened to him- 

 self and others, from one uniform method of prac- 

 tice, ventures to pronounce that the like will hap- 

 pen to all, if all, in like circumstances, will be per- 

 suaded to pursue the same course. I will endea- 

 vor to answer your (jueries in the order you have 

 submitted them. 



Query 1. — Oa what soils does plaster succeed 

 best? 



yinsrcer. — It is believed, that a hilly, dry, gra- 

 velly or loaaiy soil, that will sink the water quick 

 in winter, to be much the best. I have seen great 

 effects from plaster, when the land was moderately 

 undulatory, and even level, when raised into beda 

 with waler-flirrows, eight or nine feet apart. 

 Cold, flat, Wack-jack land, is seldom favorable 

 to it. 



Q. 2. — What kinds of crops does it benefit 

 most ? 



jf. — I esteem it most efficacious on tobacco and 

 clover, though its effects are great on all kinds of 

 grass, grain, and plants. 



Q. 3. — When is the time, and how is the plas- 

 ter applied '? 



y/. — It is almost the universal practice with the 

 Loudoun farmers to roll all kind of seeds in plaster; 

 even potatoes cut and plastered, produce more 

 abundantly. I soak my seed wheat for twenty- 

 four hours, in strong brine, and, after draining it, 

 roll it in plaster, at the rate of a peck to a bushel 

 of wheat. As soon as the wheat branches in the 

 fiill, I strew a bushel of plaster to the acre, and irr 

 the spring, immediately after sowing my clover 

 seed, I strew an equal quantity of rotten or leached 

 ashes and plaster to the acre, say an half bushet 

 of each. I soak my seed corn for tvventy-four 

 hours in strong manure water, and when dropped 

 in the hill, throw the half of a table spoonful of 

 dry plaster on the corn before it is covered ; the 

 usual practice is to roll the corn in plaster before 

 plantinor, and to drop the plaster on the young 

 plant, after the firat hoeing, or to strew it broad- 

 cast over the whole field. I greatly approve of 

 fall plastering <f wheat, and am confident in my 

 fir-st experiment, I more than quadrupled my 

 crop fi'om a field of twenty acres. 



Q. 4. — When is the best time of applying it 

 to clover and other grasses'? 



/I. — It is best to commence early in the spring ; 

 and as plaster is of a capricious nature, its appli- 

 cation in small quantities, say an half bushel of 

 less to the acre, and frequent repetitions, is most- 

 efficacious. 



Q. 5. — Is it a'cuiTent opinion in Loudoun, that 

 there is any thing peculiar to the soil of" that 

 coiinty. which fiivors the effects of plaster? 



A. — It is not ; as it is a well known fact, that 

 the efl^ects of plaster are equally great in neigh- 

 boring counties. It is believed, that the renova- 

 tion of the soil, by the application of plaster, has 

 been more rapid between the Cotoeton and Blue 

 Ridge mountain, than any other part of thij 

 county. This embraces a country from twelve to 

 fifteen miles wide, and about thirty miles iff 

 length. 



$.6. — When is the time for sowing clovef 

 seed ? 



ji. — Our farmers are governed much by f&e 

 weather, in sowing their clover seed ; some sow 

 in the fail, but most of them in t&e spring, upow 



