664 



FARMERS^ R E G I S T E R. 



[No. 11 



crops of Irisii poiatoes, mangel wurtzel, and ruia 

 baofa, produced Car less than I had every reason 

 to hope they would do, had the iveather been sea- 

 :8onable. Indeed, I should say noihintr about 

 them, were il not to slate a tact relative to ihe po- 

 tatoes, which may be worth nientionintr. Three 

 modes oj' planting tiiem whole were tried : one 

 was in drills'which were twice hoed, another was 

 in new-ground hill«, never woiked after [)lauling; 

 and a tiiird by depositing them an inch or two 

 •deep in well prepared earth, and then covering 

 them tour or five inches deep v\Mth half-rotted 

 s;u\'-dust and leaves, nuxed with some mould. 

 These last produced by lar the most in (juantily, 

 and were eiiLaiiy as good in (jualiiy. 



Of the rula basra and mangel wurzel, J shall 

 pay no more than that their produce, notwith- 

 staniiii.g the severit}' of the drouglit, has iho- 

 rouyhly satisfied me of the great advantage of 

 cultivating them every year, be the seasons what 

 they ii)ay, as very economical and efiiective aids 

 in latteifmg catde and hogs, and for feeding milch 

 Cdws: mine cat the leaves as well as the roots, 

 verv ifreediiy. Tlie former you may beii-in to strij) 



tent of credulity in a tyro in husbandry, almost 

 exceeds belief; and because there m'lghi possibly, 

 he still some of tliem within the range of our in- 

 fluence, quite as credulous as an old doctor of tliis 

 place a Ibreigner, of whom I hnve heard the Ibl- 

 lowing story. Upon his first settling here, in by- 

 gone times, he was hoaxed into the puiciiase of a 

 liit sow and piifs, recommended to him, as the 

 ''curled tail breed,'^ th-di could live almost entirely 

 without eat inii; — of which fad the curls in their tails 

 were appealed to as undeniable proof. Much ela- 

 ted, ('tis said.) with ids purchase, so soon alter 

 reaching this land of promise, and determined to 

 verify the recommendation, he penned ihe lamily 

 f()rthwith, and alter keeping them some two or 

 three weeks without Ibod, carried a lew agricul- 

 tural friends to see his great bargain; when both 

 the mother and hercurl-tailed progeny were (bund 

 as de.id as starvation could make them. 



The Indian pea culture is still so much a favo- 

 rite with me, that some of you perhaps may think 

 it one of" my hobbies ; but that shall not deter me 

 from making a few remarks on the subject. I 

 have affain cultivated the Chickasaw peas, and 



pSrtially Irom the mangel wurtzel by the middle deem them well deserving the character which 



of October, although I believe it is a great error 

 to assert, as some have done, that 'this process 

 does no injury to the roots. Some cattle will not 

 eat the leaves, at first, unless they are sprinkled 

 with salt and water; but they soon acquire a taste 

 for them. Let none, thetelore, be discouraged, 

 should their cows prove fiistidious at the com- 

 niettcement. These poor brutes, like their own- 

 ers, often know not wdiat is good lor them, until 

 education teaches them better. As a sort of ap- 

 pendix to this root-report, permit me to say, that 

 notwithstanding the numerous accounts which we 

 have seen of fattening hogs solely with roots of 

 various kinds, and even with apples and peaches, 

 I have never seen nor iieard of any trial in this 

 state wh.ich does not contradict these accounts, 

 and go to establish it as a fact, that hogs fit lor 

 making what we call Plrginia 6acon, (the sove- 

 reign dish at every Virgitiia table, whose master 

 or mistress is emulous of the praise of good liv- 

 ing,) cannot possibly be brought to the proper 

 condition for making this very delectable viand, 

 without a goodly portion of Indian corn, or some 

 other grain or pulse. Economize il you may, and 

 far more than we have ever yet generally done, 

 but give it you must, if you mean to make what 

 we southerners would pronounce to he goodbacoti. 

 You may certainly obtain, without corn or other 

 grain — a spongy, oily kind of pork, which, after the 

 due salting iiiid smoking, may ba called bacon, hv 

 those who list; but it is scarcely more like the ijen- 

 iiine Viri)-inia art icle so called by us of the old native 

 stock, than a wooden nutmeg is like a real one. 

 Oi that article, permit me to say, as the illus- 

 trious Sancho Panza said of sleep ; " blessed is 

 ihe man who invented it;'''' for although '• it covar- 

 eth us not" (like sleep,) "as it were with a cloak,'''' 

 it most powerfully helps our hardy yeomanry to 

 do without cloaks altogether. 



This ctmtion against trying to make bacon by 

 feeding hogs with roots and apples, or peaches 

 alone, is probably quite needless to a Virginia au- 

 dience ; but of late years we have been, like the 

 people of ancient times, '■'seeking out many inven- 

 tions,^'' and not unlrequently, with as little suc- 

 cess. I have given it, therefore, because the ex- 



ihat true finend of knowledge, Mr. Herbemont, 

 of South Carolina, to whose kindness I owe my 

 first seed, gave me of them. Two other varieties 

 which are new to rne, have likewise been tried. 

 One is a black-eyed pea, larger than the variety 

 so called, and greatly superior to it, so far as one 

 trial can prove, both for sale and our tables. The 

 other is called "the blue hull pea," although the 

 color is certainly a deep rich purple. The pea it- 

 self is of a pale whitish color, with a reddish yel- 

 low eye ; it ripens late ; is said to be very produc- 

 tive, and to be, as I have proved, an excellent ta- 

 ble vegetable. These varieties — together with 

 those formerly recommended, might supply our 

 tables with a constant succession, Irom June to 

 November, of this popular esculent — preferred by 

 many to any English pea whatever; and also 

 deemed equal, if not superior to Indian corn, for 

 speedily fattening — either cattle, hogs, or sheep. 

 As a green dressing lor land, I think the Chicka- 

 saw-pea, (which does nut run,) prelerable to 

 buckwheat, inasmuch as the growth of the for- 

 mer, on e(|ual spaces, appears to be much hea- 

 vier. In this, however, I may be mistaken, as I 

 have judged only by the eye. 



In regard to my rye crop, I will mention one 

 fact on account of its novelty — not having seen 

 nor heard of any thing like it before. Several 

 stems have been (bund in my field, with two dis- 

 tinct heads and one with three. The double heads 

 averaged 64 grains; the triple one was lost. The 

 product has been caretully drilled in my garden, 

 in the hope of its proving a distinct variety. 



Having finished the detail of my experiments 

 since our late Noverber meeting, permit me, lor a 

 v/hile, to address you in the language of com- 

 plaint. Many of you must recollect, that 1 have 

 often, very often, importuned our members to 

 communicate, as a matter of duty, at each fall 

 meeting, any thing which had appeared at all re- 

 markal.'le, in his agricultural experience, during 

 (he intervening period. Little indeed, would be 

 the trouble of such a practice to each, ('as they 

 need not write essays lor the press,) while the ag- 

 gregate benefit to all migiit exceed such trouble 

 an hundred fold. It would have the farther good 



