426 



FARiMERS' REGISTER— PETITION OF STOCK OWNERS. 



admire in the great care which nature manifests 

 lor her productions, even in the protection she af- 

 fords to the grasses which cover our meadows and 

 fields. For not only do they clothe and adorn the 

 fields, but they afford sustenance tor all animated 

 existence. The leaves afford food lor the cattle, 

 the smaller seeds lor birds, and the larger for man: 

 tor tew readers need be informed thiit the plants 

 producing our bread corn belong to this class. In 

 those tribes more generally considered as grasses, I 

 will mention the tbllowing as instances, which ap- 

 pcarto coincide with the mtention of nature concern- 

 ing them, viz: their extraordinary means and 

 powers of preservation and increase, their hardi- 

 ness, their almost unconquerable disposilion to 

 spread, and their faculties of reviviscence, each of 

 which qualities, considered in detail, would afford 

 interesting matter for a separate communication. 

 In this, therefore, I can only observe the following 

 things in relation to their general properties. They 

 thrive under a treatment by which other plants 

 are entirely destroyed. In proportion to the con- 

 Bumption of the leaves is the increase of the roots. 

 The more the cattle trample them under foot the 

 thicker they grow. Many of the seemingly dry 

 and dead leaves of grasses revive and renew their 

 verdure in the spring. In lofty mountains, where 

 the heat of the summer is not sufficient to ripen 

 eeeds, we are told that the grasses are vi\^iparous, 

 and consequently able to propagate themselves 

 without seeds. It is also an observation frequent- 

 ly made that herbiverous animals attach them- 

 selves principally to the leaves of grasses, and if 

 lefl at liberty in the jjasture to range and choose, 

 will leave untouched the straws which support the 

 seed. These general properties of vegetables, or 

 properties common to large portions of that king- 

 dom, are all that the extent of the present com- 

 munication will allow me to notice, as I am afi-aid 

 of being deemed too prolix by that class of socie- 

 ty for whose benefit I write. But I may here be 

 permitted to ask, whence this admirable contri- 

 vance of nature, this adaptedness of the produc- 

 tions of the earth to the jieculiar condition in 

 which they are placed, and their perfect subser- 

 viency to the uses for which they seem to be de- 

 signed? Shall we ascribe it to "the operations of 

 nature herself? Or looking through nature, shall 

 we discern an ever present and wise Deity, though 

 "invisible or dimly seen in these his lower works," 

 yet superintending and graciously directing all 

 things for the comfort and convenience of his 

 creatures? 



In conclusion, I would only observe, that I have 

 just entered the threshold of tho-ample subject be- 

 fore me. I hope, however, that I have said 

 enough in this communication to impress this ge- 

 neral truth, that in the cultivation of the soil there 

 are thousands of objects calculated to expand the 

 mind, increase the understanding, soften the heart, 

 destroy scepticism, and exalt our ideas concerning 

 the Ruler of the Universe. In my next, should 

 the subjects of the present communication come 

 within the design of a journal exclusively agricul- 

 tural, I will resume the subject more in detail. 



Gilh$pie''s, Buckingham, Oct. 14, 183 1. 



For the Fanners' Register. 

 PETITION OF STGCK-OWJJIDRS. 



To the General j^ssembly of Virginia. 



The petition of sundry stock-owners, respect- 

 fijlly sliowcth: 



That one of our most precious privileges se- 

 cured to UR ill the by-gone time, by some of your 

 wise and just predecessors, is about to be seriously 

 assailed by that all-grasping, pestiferous class of 

 men denominated agriculturists. We mean — 

 what may properly be called the right of common 

 upon every man's land, who does not choose to 

 enclose it with a fijnce fully five feet high, accord- 

 ing to the requisition of our present most equitable 

 lav/ on that subject. This right you will soon be 

 asked to take away; and our present purpose is, 

 to beg of you as our guardians and friends, rather 

 to extend than to abriilge it, even in the slightest 

 particular. We pride ourselves on belonging to 

 the very ancient family called "the Goodenoughs" 

 — famous from a period beyond which "the me- 

 mory of man runneth not to the contrary," for be- 

 ing the staunch, inflexible friends of all old usages, 

 — ^the irreconcileable enemies of all changes what- 

 ever, of a general nature; but especially of such 

 as are comprehended under that new-fangled term 

 — "■iniernal improvement.'''' We therefore deem it 

 entirely needless, in addressing your honorable bo- 

 dy, to take the slightest notice of our adversaries' 

 arguments about the prospective advantages to 

 result from repealing the present law of enclo- 

 sures, or its incompatibility with the rights of pro- 

 perty, either real or personal. It is surely quite 

 sufficient for gentlemen of your intelligence and 

 patriotism to be reminded, that such is the latu of 

 the land — that our rights under it are, of course, 

 prescriptive — of very long standing too — that their 

 exercise, according to our fi-ee and easy fashion, is 

 sanctioned by that well known law-maxim, '■'■Con- 

 suelvdo loci est observanda;^^ and that "innovations 

 are dangerous things." Why the law which con- 

 fers the privilege we now enjoy did not go farther, 

 we have always considered a most unaccountable 

 thing, as it might easily have brought us several 

 steps nearer to that admirable state of nature 

 where "might gives right," towards which so ma- 

 ny of our public actings and doings of late j'ear.^ 

 have been most happily tending. For instance, as 

 it gives us the right, in all cases, where a fence 

 five feet high does not intervene, to feed and raise 

 as many horses, cattle, sheep and hogs as we 

 please, on other men's land — a priori it should 

 also have given us the right to raise ourselves and 

 our children in the same way, since human beings 

 belong to a far nobler race of animals, than any 

 of the quadruped genera. Again, it gives us the 

 right, at any time — nay, at all times, to bear off' as 

 much of the produce standing or growing on or in 

 these lands, as we please, be the kinds Avhat they 

 mav, provided they be not enclosed with a fence 

 at least five feet high; and provided also, it be 

 borne off' in the bellies of our stock, instead of be- 

 ing carried on their backs, or in vehicles draivn by 

 themselves, or their owners, which would often be 

 much more desirable. Now, why this over-nice 

 distinction — this very circuitous mode of appropri- 

 ation? Since the law-makers evidently designed 

 that A might, in the mode specified, transfer to 

 himself, without any equivalent given in exchange, 

 property which once belonged to B C or D E, 



