612 



FARMERS' REGISTER— GRAFTING— FARMING ON POOR LANDS. 



From tli3 Cultivator. 

 SINGULAR APPLICATION OF GRAFTING. 



iVcio-Paltz, Nov. 3d, 1834. 



Sir — I have a very valuable apple tree which 

 had the bark eaten off' a Cew inches above the 

 ground, by mice, in the winter, and I took the fol- 

 lowing method to save the tree. I took lour small 

 twigs li"om another tree, and engrafted them below 

 the wound, in the manner of side grafting, and 

 loosening the bark above, bent the twigs and slipt 

 them under the bark until they came parallel with 

 the body, then covered them well by banking the 

 dirt above the wound and grafts. I left the earth 

 around one season, then cleared it away, and 

 Ibund two had taken. These have commenced to 

 form new bodies, and the tree, from all appear- 

 ances, is as thrifty as ever, and the twigs have 

 grown in two years to the bigness of your thumb. 



I am, dear sir, your humble servant, 



AERAIIAM STEEN. 



J. BuEL, Esq. 



ON THE CONDITION OF FARMERS ON POOR 

 LANDS. 



To the Editor of tl:a Farmers' Register. 



Caroline County, fa., January 21, 1SS5. 



1 have much more to say to you than I have 

 ability *o dictate, or tmie to write. I do not know 

 that I should ever have troubled you with a letter, 

 but finding (however I ma}- applaud the value of 

 your work) that you have not as yet fully reached 

 my case, 1 caruiot think of suffering you to i^-o 

 on, without once throwing in my plea, and, as I 

 verily believe, that of the greater part of the 

 farmers in my neighborhood. I am fully aware, 

 sir, that it would be the height of iolly to expect 

 efficient aid irom you or any other person, without 

 fully stating our case, however dejdorable, how- 

 ever humiliating. I miist confess, when I read 



the communications of Mr. , Mr. , 



Mr. , &c., who tell us of their systems, of 



their firms, of their thousands of buslieis of corn 

 and of whca,t, and their tens of hogsheads of to- 

 bacco — of their horses and oxen, of their v.^agons 

 and carts — I am almost ready to conceal our po- 

 verty and wretchedness. But, sii-, in our case, 

 poverty has overcome pride; and I hope those 

 gentlemen, as well as yourself, will rather pity 

 tlian laugh at our condition. 



When I was a small boy, more than tliirty years 

 ago, the three-shift system, so called, w;is o-cncrally 

 pursued — small "hatf-sharcs" were the ploughs — 

 large stocks of cattle, sheep and liogs — corn and 

 wheat were the crops, and a manured lot for tobacco, 

 andanoiheribrcotion. The land beingclean grazed, 

 the half-share answered the purpose of listing, 

 and ploughing through the season. The land w-as 

 laid off both ways from four fiet to fiv^e and a half 

 each way — the land was generally laid off with a 

 view to facility of ]doughing, rather than a regard 

 to prevent its washmg away by rains. It was ne- 

 cessary to run the plough from five to seven times 

 to complete the row. So soon as the ploughs 

 got over, they were turned about and the whole 

 field cross-ploughed — and so again, and again, 

 until the crop was so far advanced as to require 



no more ploughing, which was generally after the 

 silking of the corn was completed. I "do not re- 

 collect whether the v\'heat was seeded and plough- 

 ed in vvdth the last ploughing of the corn. If I do 

 not, I was informed this had been the case, before 

 the Hessian fly began to injure the Avheat crop. 

 All the manure that was raised, was from the 

 stiibles, and this I can assure you Vv'as "prime;" 

 no more litter having been thrown into the stables 

 than was necessary to keep some of the horses 

 from being filthy. This manure was put on the 

 tobacco ground, and in the garden. Corn sold 

 from $1 75 to .^-2 per ban-el, wheat at about .^l 

 per bushel. Orchards then were much attended 

 to by many — apple and peach brandy were sold 

 out to tavern keepers by the bnrrel; and retailed 

 in the neighborhood by the gallon, or less, at $1 

 per gallon. If it be not best to let it be buried in 

 oblivion, I will here remark, that not long since, I 

 was riding alone and reflecting on the past scenes 

 of my life, and I recollected some fifteen, or more, 

 men, the yeomanry of the country, since dead, 

 who were all much addicted to strong drink, and the 

 greater part of whom either died from drink direct- 

 ly, or, as I believe, indirectly. 



To proceed: under the system of agriculture 

 above descrihed, the lands which were (I may say 

 compared with much) originally poor, were (most 

 of tliem at least) reduced to sterility. Many of the 

 hill-sides bordering on creeks or rivers, natiu'ally 

 the best land, were gullied, and past cultivation. 

 As the crops were reduced, the families white and 

 black increased, and the iarmer was then compel- 

 led to purchase more land, or hire out his negroes, 

 or sell one occasionally to feed the rest. I recol- 

 lect a profane old gentleman, who was in the habit 

 of selling a negro every j-ear or two, to pay off 

 his scores for corn and ir.eat, who had a large 

 number of slaves, swearing that his negroes should 

 never eat him, but one the other. In this state of 

 affairs, eiTiigration to the west became very com- 

 mon. The man who had a small farm and a 

 large famiU', whether with or without slaves, who 

 had not been industrious and economical, was the 

 first to feel the pressure, and ofi he went. His 

 more frugal neighbor, or neighbors, purchased his 

 land, v.-hich though poor, afibrded a larger field 

 for cultivation, and at least for a time, helped to 

 sustain him who purchased it. In this way things 

 ])rogressed from bad to Vv'orse. Our slate having 

 reared a laro-e and healthy population no longer 

 able to subsist within her borders, was now losing 

 them vv-ith u'reat rar.iditv. This melancholy spec- 

 tacle no doubt bore heavily upon the mind of our 

 countryman Col. John Taylor, the sag.'icious pa- 

 triot, the unyielding republican, and industi'ious 

 firmer. Until he, ylrcdnr, wrote, al' here was chaos 

 as to agriculture. He first opened the eyes of many 

 in this part of the countr\', to see that agriculture 

 ought to, and did embrace more than simply cnt- 

 tin.'j dovv^n trees, grubbing and ploughing land. 

 He informed them that there should be system in 

 the management of slaves, of overseers, of en- 

 closing, manuring, labor; in cultivating Indian 

 corn, in ploughing, in the management cf all kind.s 

 of stock, in fencing, in draining, and many other 

 things too tedious to mention. He, too, recom- 

 mended, as originatin,fj with a gentleman of Al- 

 bemarle, horizontal ploughing, which though not 

 carried to the perfection recommended in the first 

 volume of 3-our Register by Mr. Bruce, (may his 



