166 



FARMERS' REGISTER— LOSS AND GAIN. 



LOSS ASD GAIN. 



For .the Farmers' Register. 



In this communication I propose to examine a 

 few of the disadvantages Jittending our present 

 motle of roalcing corn. The first inquiry will be, 

 what kind of land is general]}^ cultivated in corn, 

 and liow much it produces to the acre. In order 

 to ascertain this, I will first arrange or class the 

 land cultivated iu corn under three heads. First, 

 bottom or flat land; second, the best high land; 

 and the third, old or worn out lands. I find some 

 ditficiilly in saying Avhat portion oj'the crop is cul- 

 tivated on the dilierent kinds ol" land as described; 

 but li'oni observation and inquiry, I will give as 

 nearly as I can, the proportions of each. One-filth 

 of the land may be classed as flat — two-filths good 

 high laud, and the other tvvo-fiftlis old or worn out 

 laud. Th3 flat usually produces from four to six 

 barrels per acre; the best high lan.d Ir-om two and 

 a half to three and a lialf barrels the acre, and the 

 old land ii'om two to five bushels per acre. From 

 iliis calculation, as much corn can be made with 

 the same amount of labor upon the one as the 

 other of the two first qualities described, the high 

 land requiring less labor; hut the last class will 

 ref(uire as much or more labor than either of the 

 rest, having but little, if any vegetable matter to 

 keep the land open and light — and the corn neces- 

 sarily has to be worked later, as it will not grow 

 otf as early. This statement may not be applica- 

 ble to all parts of the state, but I know that it will 

 liold good in a greater part of tiie tobacco growing 

 country; that something like two-fifths of the land 

 cuUivated does not yield more tlian one barrel to 

 the acre— which is not more than sufficient to 

 feed the teams whilst employed in making the 

 crop. Is it not a great loss to the farming interest, 

 whilst this is tlie case, that something like tv/o- 

 fifths of the labor has been spent tor nought, and 

 worse than nothing — the horses worn out, tools 

 and land much injured? Would it not be better 

 to keep tiiwer horses, and let all such lands rest, 

 than cultivate them on those terms? I will leave 

 the settlement of this question to those who are 

 in the habit of cultivating such lands, (and they 

 are not a few) with the hope that tliey maj-- do it 

 according to the good old rule of loss and gain 

 which has gone so much out of fashion these late 

 days, 



The idea which prevails in many parts of the 

 country that so much nmst be cultivated, to the 

 hand, of tobacco, wheat, corn, oats, &c., lias con- 

 tributed very much toward tfie bringing about 

 such a state of things. Whether the land would 

 bring any thing, or not, it must be cultivated. The 

 overseer was not tliought to be worth much unless 

 he could cultivate and keep clear of grass 10,000 

 hills (or that much space) of each (which was 

 not very difficult on much of our land.) This 

 Btatc of things is owmg to the want of a proper 

 application ol" the good old rule of loss and gain. 

 As I have mentioned the overseers, I would re- 

 commend to many of the good farmers and plant- 

 ers of yirginia to work the sum by tlie same rule 

 in reki^inn to them, and see on which side of tlie 

 leger tlie largest sum will stand. I know that 

 this is a difficult subject, and hard to estimate 

 aright. In the general, tlie interest of the em- 

 pjoyer and overseer are opposite — more particu- 

 )pr]y where the crop is divided. The overseer 



does not feel interested to attend to improvements 

 of any kind, nor is it expected of him: his princi- 

 pal object is to get his reputation up as an over- 

 seer, which (in the general) can only be done by 

 making large crops. 



ERROR IN PAINTING IIOVSES. 



Norfolk County, July 1st, 1834. 



To the Eilitor of the Fanners' Register. 



I read in a No. of your "Farmers' Register," 

 an article showing an error in the usual manner of 

 mixing paints, by exhibiting the fact, that the 

 quantit3''^of spirits of turpentine added, decomjiosed 

 a relative proDortion of the oil, and thereby letl the 

 white lead, or coloring matter, an useless (if not 

 an injurious) powder on the painted surface.* 

 From the able manner in which that piece was 

 written, I was satisfied that the author was master 

 of the subject, and indulged the hope that he 

 Avould again resume it; but as some time has 

 elapsed and he has failed to do so, I have thought it 

 expedient to make a few remarks on the subject, 

 which, may be of importance to many of your 

 readers. 



In order that the object intended in th-s painting 

 of houses (whether it be the interest of the owner, 

 by preserving the wood^ or the comfort of those 

 who inhabit ihem,) may be attained, it is as ne- 

 cessary that the paint shall be of the proper color, 

 as it is that it shall consist of the proper materials. 

 And if there be an error in using spirits of tur- 

 pentine in paints, (which I think has been satis- 

 factorily proven by the author of the piece above 

 alluded to,) proof no less satisfactory can be given 

 in support of the assertion that, there is a tunda- 

 mental and almost universal error in painting the 

 outside or roofs of houses black. That black ra- 

 diates more heat, and white less than any other 

 color, is a fact too well established to admit of 

 doubt by those at all acquainted with the subject — 

 and it is equally well known that black is quite 

 pervious to the solar rays, while white is almost, 

 if not altogether impervious to them. But should 

 there be one among the number of those who 

 read your work, who for want of evidence doubts 

 the fact, he can with a lens or common sun glass, 

 experiment to his full satisfaction, and in a lew 

 minutes remove every doubt. Let him with the 

 glass converge the raj^s which fall on its surface to 

 a focus, and place them on a piece of white cloth 

 or a sheet of white paper, and he will perceive the 

 paper not in the least affected by them; then let 

 him discolor the paper and use the glass and 

 he will find the pa|)er almost instantly burned. 

 And though the diflerence of the effects of the so- 

 lar rays on the two colors may be more striking 

 in the concentrated, than in the diffused state, yet 

 the effect is the same as to the number of rays ra- 

 diated or rejected. Black radiating more, and 

 white less than that of other colors, it necessarily 

 follows, that houses painted black suffer more, and 

 those painted white less than those of any other 

 color by change of temperature. For, a black 

 roof, by receiving the solar rays Avhich fall on it by 

 day and parting with them by night, undergoes 

 such changes of temperature as will cause the 

 shingles with wiiich it is covered, to expand and 



* The article referred to is at page 249 of vol. I. 



