FARMERS' REGISTER— FARMING ON POOR LANDS. 



613 



memory be dear to us,) yet it gave the reflecting 

 iiirmcr great aid in preventing his best lands irom 

 washing away. 



Ey tiiis time, sir, you no doubt bemn to think, 

 that I sliall never finish my preamble, nor state 

 our case — but I will. I was always Ibnd of farm- 

 ing. Aiier reading A rator, I built many castles in 

 the air — I thought if I had a farm, how soon 

 would I make it rich, by deep ploughing, non- 

 grazing, clovcring and plastering. It was not 

 long before I bought one, and poor enough it was 

 — originally poor, and much worn. I ploughed it 

 deep and beautifully — horizonially too wlicn ne- 

 cessary. I cultivated my corn according to Arator's 

 plan. I cut oiT my corn-stalks; had even a farm- 

 pen, all my stalks and coarse litter were tlu'own in 

 it and tranijjled. It was hauled out in the spring; 

 jjloughed m, &c. &c. I seeded my wheat nicely, 

 thougii not always in single beds, (as he directed) 

 — I clovered the wheat land, or rather I sowed 

 the land in February with cloX'er seed — I plaster- 

 ed some of it: I also plastered some of my corn, 

 and some vegetables in my garden — and what 

 was the result of my plastering? I have never 

 been able, on that land, to discover any beneficial 

 efi'ect from gypsum. I discontinued the gy])siun. 

 I found my clover grew pretty well without it on 

 the richest spots, and it either died or was too 

 scattering and small to be of any service on the 

 poorest. I have been going on lor something 

 like eighteen years, jjlougliing well, clovering the 

 best spots, making what manure I could, spread- 

 ing and ploughing it in, making wheat on the 

 best land, oats on the more indiilerent, not grazing 

 exce()t a little on spots in the iall. All ihis has 

 been done at great expense: the plantation has 

 never any thing like supported me; I have pur- 

 chased corn and meat every year, and sold but 

 httle wheat. I have made no tobacco — and the 

 most I can now say of the farm is, that it look^ as 

 if it were in an improving state — and I think it 

 has improved a little, but very little, except where 

 I have actually manured it. I pursued the three- 

 shifl system under the above regulations. You 

 may be ready to ask, why did I not jmrsue the 

 four-shift system? I will answer: at first I had 

 not land enough — and again, even under the three- 

 shifl, I found in the bottoms, the running brier, 

 and almost every where the sassafras, formidable 

 obstructions to the plough. You may say, fi'om 

 the statement I have given of my situation, and 

 — I believe there are a great many others m 

 my district of country, whose land is as poor as 

 my own — how is it possible that they can live; how 

 can they buy corn and meat, &c., every year? I 

 must be candid and say, my dependence was not 

 upon the cultivation of the soil altogether: my 

 profession required more horses than the f"arm ab- 

 solutely demanded, and perhaps I kept more than 

 were needful. Horses you know are the heaviest 

 charge on a plantation. Possibly, liad I reduced 

 my horses, my living, &c. &c., to a certain stand- 

 ard, I might have made out to live upon mj^ plan- 

 tation. How then could I have made these ex- 

 pensive experiments? I hope now, sir, you will 

 begin to see the difficulties a poor land farmer lias 

 to contend with, in improving his farm, and living 

 tolerably well. In the first place, it will take about 

 one-third of a large poor tract of land, to ])roduce 

 enough corn for his support, and for the production 

 of wheat enough to purchase all necessariesj and 



pay taxes, &c., even with the addition of what 

 little money may be raised by the sale of a hogshead 

 or two of tobacco. A man with a large limiily, 

 especially of children, must have milk and butter, 

 as well as bacon — and ibr this purpose, he must 

 have pretty good grazing. When I ask one of 

 my poor land farmers, why do you not divide your 

 land into ^0((r-s/i(/if3, and try to improve it? His 

 an.«ver is, "bless you, sir, I can hardly make out 

 to live with three; I must make out the best I can 

 to raise my children, and give them what educa- 

 tion I can, and then they must scufHe as I liave 

 done." Can you no! plainly see, sir, whatistobe tlie 

 result? The children must begin under the most 

 discouraging circumstances: poverty must be their 

 iloom, or they must emigrate to the rich lands of the 

 west. 



You may say I have stated extreme cases — 

 surely this cannot be the case generally ! Truly 

 I liave stated extreme cases, and many such there 

 are: would to God there were nut so many. Vir- 

 ginia, sir, is descending to a crisis; there is a point 

 below which she vi^ill not, she cannot fall. It re- 

 (juires not only your Farmers' Register, with the 

 aid of all \'our intelligent correspondents — it re- 

 quires also legislatures of wise, of thoughtful, of 

 practical, of feeling men, who have her interest 

 deeply at heart, to stay her dov^nward course. 

 How many are ignorant of the existence of your 

 valuable periodical? How many are there who 

 could not read it if they would? So ineffectual, as 

 yet, has been lier sj'stem of education for the ))oor. 

 \Vhat has she been doing this twenty years past 

 to lighten or abolish direct taxation? Shall the 

 treasury be forever supp/lied b}' draughts ujjon poor 

 land farmers, when their means are more scanty 

 now than, they were ten or fifteen }''ears ago, 

 when they seem, as yet, to be yearly becoming 

 more so? ' What a vast amount of taxable pro- 

 pert}' has in the last five j'ears been removed to 

 the west ! How much more will be removed in 

 the five to come, wiio can tell ? 



Perliaps, sir, my ignorance may make me bolder. 

 I will ask further, why does she grant charters to 

 individuals for banking institutions, for a pitiful 

 bonus? Why not have a state bank, if any? 

 Whj' grant charters to rail road and canal com- 

 panies? Why not project them, construct and let 

 them be the property of the state? How long 

 shall our ears be accosted in election speeches, m 

 county court yards, "hold fast your purse strinirs; 

 take care of the treasury," &c. &c., as if judi- 

 cious investments must lead to poverty, or that 

 misers only became rich. To say that the loca- 

 tion of this state is not suitable for profitable im- 

 provements, is to deny what tlie first glance of a 

 map will show us. 



But I have run from my subject, and that was 

 to call your attention to the ditliculties which you 

 have to encounter, in promoting the improvement 

 of all classes in this great state of Virginia; to beg 

 j'ou at least to give us a start — here lies the great 

 difficulty — many, very many, of these poor land 

 farmers are industrious men, (when I say poor 

 land, I mean land naturally poor) they would 

 (could they be fully convinced that any system 

 would succeed in improving their lands) go to 

 some expense and inconvenience, at first, to ac- 

 comjilish an end so desirable. They tell us too, 

 "{/■ / had money I could do so and so." If I tell 

 them of Mr. Hill Carter, of Mr. Selden, of Mr. 



