23G 



FARMERS' REGISTER— HILL-SIDE PLOUGHING. 



cotton permits but little during the year, and one 

 ot' tobacco, none at all. 



There is very little fixed rock showing on the 

 surface ot" the mountain land, and not much of 

 loose rock on the lower slopes. Wliere it is suf- 

 ficiently abundant, it is profitably used to make dry 

 stone walls ff)r I'ences, which are far better than 

 any of dead timber, or live hedges, estimatmgboth 

 cheapness and durability. Most of these are built 

 by the ordinary laborers of the farm. The most 

 extensive work of this kind, is along the main road 

 which runs on the margin of the Rivanna River, 

 and boiinds the highly improved larm of T. J. 

 Randolph, esq. for one and a half miles or more. 

 This was built principally of stone quarried for the 

 purpose — and perhaps the location alone justified 

 the expense — as a boundary line formed by a public 

 road passing alongside to a navigable river, can- 

 not be altered by any operation of our laws direct- 

 ing the division of lands, which in most cases f()r- 

 bid permanent and costly modes of enclosure. The 

 best constructed stone fence seen, (for which a 

 regular stone mason was employed,) is on the 

 faim of Professor Davis, of the University of Vir- 

 ginia. 



The red lands are very favorable to the growth 

 of locust. A few acres of suitable steep mountain 

 (side when thrown out of cultivation for this pur- 

 pose, will soon be covered with this rapidly grow- 

 ing tree, and in ten or twelve years furnish posts 

 of the most durable of all timber for fencing. Mr. 

 Rogers showed me locust nurseries for this pur- 

 pose, which require nothing, except to be let alone 

 until the largest trees are fit to be cut and removed 

 for use. Of course "there Avill be an endless suc- 

 cession of the timber. He does not permit locust 

 trees to stand singly in his fields, on account of 

 the great trouble caused by suckers s]:»rmgin it from 

 the roots. For shade for stock, he prefers the 

 black gum, which strikes down with a perpendicu- 

 lar root, and does no harm whatever to crops 

 growing beneath. The high and steep calcareous 

 banks of the lower James River, are as favorable 

 to the growth of locust as any land in the world, 

 and would be more profitably used for that purpose 

 than any other. They are of but little profit for 

 tillage from their steepness, and the continual la- 

 bor required to keep down the growth of locust. 

 Where our river banks have never been cleared 

 however, the locust forms but a small portion of 

 their cover: and it will be necessaiy to cut down 

 all other trees, and perhaps to dig the soil and cut 

 the locust roots, to cause the latter growth to take 

 possession of the whole surface. 



Gypsum is sown on the clover in every course 

 of the rotaion, if it is in the farmers power — 

 though the scantiness and irregularity of the supplv 

 heretofore, have caused the use to be more limited 

 on every farm than was desirable to those propri- 

 etors who properly estimated the value of this ma- 

 nure. Mr. Rogers thmks that he finds its power 

 diminished on fields where it has been repeatedly 

 applied — but not so much as to make the con- 

 tinued application unprofitable. 



Lime has not been used in this particular neiijh- 

 borhood except in small experiments, of which I 

 only heard generally that the results were satisfac- 

 tory. Some miles eastward of, and parallel with, 

 the range of the South West Mountains, runs the 

 narrow strip of limestone of which so little use has 

 been made either for cement or manure. Some 



however are profiting by this treasure. A quarry 

 is opened on the farm of Professor Bliettermann, 

 and Ji'oni it he has already limed most of his land. 

 Its appearance compared with the adjacent un- 

 limed land of his neighbor, (tlie fields lying on 

 each side of the main road to Richmond,) oflers 

 strong testimony of the benefit derived, even to 

 the eye of a passing stage coach traveller, as I 

 was. 



The hill-side plough is very litde used here, 

 though its peculiar advantages would be nowhere 

 better obtained. The reasons stated lor its disuse, 

 were the liability of this jilough to be put out oi'or- 

 der by awkward or negligent [iloughmen, and that 

 its object (the turning of the furrow slices down- 

 hill,) was nearly as well secured by the manner 

 of using the common ploughs in breaking up land, 

 which is to plough around each hill and knoll. 

 When a hill rises on eveiy side, in form somewhat 

 like an obtuse cone, the plough luay in this man- 

 ner begin at the base, and by going around, plough 

 the whole hill, throwing every furrow downvvard. 

 But this convenient form of the surface is not often 

 met with. The mountain slopes are more gener- 

 ally in the form of parallel knolls or broad ridges, 

 separated by narrow depressions (or hollows) 

 which runs up the mountain until they are gradu- 

 ally lost. By the plough taking the whole of one 

 of these knolls in a single land, (even though it 

 be thirty or forty acres in size,) and descending 

 one of these narrow depressions and ascending 

 another, the whole piece may be jiloughed with 

 perhaps three-fourths of all the furrow slices thrown 

 downward. But the remaining part, where the 

 plough crosses the ridge, the slices must be thrown 

 upward, and, of course, the work imperfectly ex- 

 ecuted. It"this crossing place is the boundary of 

 the field, or the most suitable place for the plough- 

 ing always to cross, every repetition of the opera- 

 tion, will serve to increase the difficulty for the 

 next, by increasing the steepness where the slices 

 are thrown uphill. Besides — though these de- 

 ))ressions form small lateral hill-sides ver}' suitable 

 for throwing down the slices, whether the plough 

 is ascending or descending the general slope of the 

 mountain, still the ascent is generally suilicient to 

 make the labor of the ascending furrows very 

 heavy. The great extent and irregular outlinea 

 of the lands so laid off, must also be very incon- 

 venient, as a little work is spread along a great 

 length, in furrows as crooked as the outlines, and 

 necessaril)^ passing through soils difterent in tex- 

 ture, exposure and degree of moisture, Avhich 

 would work better at difierent times and separate 

 operations. All these objections may be cheaply 

 avoided by the hill-side plough if I may form an 

 opinion from my limited experience of that imple- 

 ment — and I have not yet found that it is very 

 subject to be put out of order. Mine were bought 

 of Sinclair & Moore, Baltimore, at ijfilO, and diner 

 perhaps from such as are made and used in Al- 

 bemarle. The hill-side plough is certainly more 

 costly than others, and requires some little trouble 

 to shifl the mould-board: but both these objections 

 are more than compensated by the greater ease 

 and rapidity of the work, and its better execution, 

 caused by every fuiTow being thrown down hill — 

 besides its great effect in presenting the washing 

 of hill-sides, hy^ having no furrows to nin in the 

 same direction as the water from heavy rains run 

 down the descents. 



