FARMERS' REGISTER— BUCKWHEAT AND MILLET. 



803 



to our northern friends. We have also verj^ fine 

 pines, which soon restore exliausted lands, and 

 the wood from which bears exportation to northern 

 glass works. Wc have also some literature in 

 tlic South. We have the Spectator, the Rambler, 

 Dr. Spoll'ord's Address at the Cattle Show, and 

 frequently a newspaper from Boston, and so on. 

 We have also, especially in Virginia, some very 

 fine tobacco, which always sells well at home and 

 in France. We have also no small quantity of 

 "lugs," which when twisted into "j)lug" and "pig 

 tail," sells very well in New England. We also 

 grow very good gouber jieas and sweet ]iotatoes, 

 yams, &c. We also find our raw cotton from the 

 highest "upland" to the "sea-island" in good de- 

 mand, not only in Liverpool, but also in New 

 York and Providence. Oar cotton cloths and 

 yarns also do not suffer in comparison with any in 

 the world. We can also let our northern ship 

 builders have a good supply of tar, pilch, turpen- 

 tine, plank and timber. Indeed wc value ourselves 

 not a Uttle upon our "live-oak." There is also 

 left among us some degree of patriotism, in so 

 much as that none can disturb our domicils from 

 abroad without suffering for it. We are also a 

 veiy jieaceable people. We have always had, 

 and still have, our full share in the Federal Govern- 

 ment. We have never complained that the South 

 has not furnished lier full quota of presidents, 

 orators, and able statesmen. We have also along 

 our southern coast neither "eighty nor a hundred 

 miles from the sea," lands, which have been in 

 cultivation for more than a century, and were 

 never artificially manured, and yet yield as good 

 crops as they did eiglity years ago. We have 

 also as good land as Essex County generally con- 

 tains, within less than one hundred miles of the 

 sea, and supplied with inexhaustible beds of cal- 

 careous manure, for sale at from $1 to ^2 per 

 acre. And last Ijut not least, we are very glad to 

 see amongst us all ''Northern gentlemen,^'' who 

 do not "traduce" us before they leave home, and 

 to show to them a degree of hospitality, which 

 they shall be compelled to declare Essex County 

 never surpassed. 



Finally, we are much gratified that our author 

 confesses that New England is not perfect. He 

 says she has "the drifdng snow and driving sleet," 

 and that "the cold seasons of 1312 and 1816 and 

 the intermediate years" were to some rather alarm- 

 ing; that the "lands arc not enriched by the allu- 

 vion of rivers three thousand miles long," and that 

 "the sceptre of political power has departed." 

 We are sorry that any such evils should have 

 come on New England, a land which our fathers 

 taught us never to "traduce," but alwaj's to give 

 her "an honorable ])lace in her country's annals." 

 But as they have come upon her, we are pleased 

 that our author has ingenuousness sufficient to 

 make the conf(:ssion. 



ON BUCKWHEAT AND JtlLLET. 

 To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



Rockingham, jiugust 12ift, 1834. 



Should none of your correspondents more satis- 

 factorily answer the inquiries of H, in the June 

 No. of the Farmers' Register, on the subject of 

 buckwheat and millet, the following remarks, the 

 results of some experience on those subjects, are 



submitted, which, (if you think they can be of 

 any use to H or any body else) are at your service. 



On the subject of buckwheat he inquires, "whe- 

 ther it is as great an impoverisher of land as oats, 

 and whether if turned in it becomes a good ferti- 

 lizer? What soil is best .adapted to its growth, and 

 what quantity of seed is generally sown to the 

 acre ?" I think, and I believe it is generally so 

 thought, in this neighborhood, where both are 

 commonly raised, that buckwlieat is a greater im- 

 poverisher than oats; its straw either green or dnj, 

 is of less value ibr manure, than the straw of any 

 other kind of grain. Anj" soil in this section of 

 the state produces it abundantly: a thin sandy soil, 

 tliat will produce a good crop of no other kind of 

 grain, will bear a tolerably good one of buckwheat. 

 And ahhough the quanlitj^ of straw will be much 

 greater on a rich, there will be less grain, than on 

 a thinner soil. On rich land, it rarely fills well, 

 but on a suitable soil, and in a favorable season, 

 the product is very great. The quantity of seed 

 sown to the acre and the time of sowing should, 

 I think, depend upon the object in view in sowing 

 it. When the grain is the object, half a bushel, 

 or three pecks is ample, as it throws out many 

 lateral branches. When designed to be plough- 

 ed down as green mauure, I would sow a bushel 

 — sown early in the season it produces more straw 

 — when later more grain, — indeed the later it is 

 in ri])ening, so as to escape frost, (a slight frost 

 will kill it) the greater will be (he product of grain. 

 For green manure I would sow in May or early 

 in June, (two cro|,s maj- he ploughed down in the 

 same season:) if I wished to reaj) the grain, I 

 would not BOW till after .the middle of July. I 

 have sown it in August, and at the same time, 

 sown rye and cloved seed, upon the same ground, 

 and all three succeeded well. 



Millet. On this subject H inquires whether 

 "millet is made (o any extent in any of the United 

 States? What soil suits it — is it an exhauster, 

 and what is the price per bushel?" 



A species of millet, (very much resembling the 

 fox-tail grass, only of a much finer, richer appear- 

 ance) was raised to some extent, some few (par- 

 haps 8 or 10) years ago in the Valley. None is 

 raised hereabouts now. It requires a very rich 

 soil, verj.' neatly prepared. It is certainly a great 

 exhauster. When in repute here, (it had but a 

 short day) the price per bushel was about #2. It 

 could not now be given away, to be sown here. 



On a suitable soil, that is, one rich enough to 

 produce a fine crop of hemp, it produces well both 

 in hay and seed — the seed when ground, made a 

 fine rich looking meal, and was excellent food for 

 milch cows — the hay when well cured, is nearly- 

 equal to timothy. ' Its sponsors pronounced it 

 "preferable to either clover, meadow, or timothy 

 hay." But "chaciin a son gout,''' seemed to think 

 all my horses and cattle: they all preferred the 

 clover. 



In the memoirs of the Pennsylvania Agricultu- 

 ral Society, (1824) John Hare Powell says, "I 

 have made many experiments, on various soils, 

 and at (Ufiereut seasons to ascertain the product, 

 as well as the properties of millet. Upon hght 

 land in good condition it succeeds best. It requires 

 in all cases fine tilth and as much strength of soil, 

 as is necessary to produce heavy oats. I have 

 not seen either in Europe, or America, any green 

 crop which so largely rewards accurate tillage, and 



