650 



FARiMERS' REGISTER— SWAMP LANDS— GRASS, 



and the broom sedge. All the Chickahomony 

 lands, rich and poor, dry and wet, put up the sedjie 

 very soon after the most careiul preparation. 

 Meadows as tliickly set in herds grass, as the 

 teeth in a card, become entirely ov^errun with it in 

 a few years (say six) and require a lioe crop and 

 re-seeding. We all know what a pest the buUrush 

 is! The h\ne grass makes coarse looking hay, 

 though stock are very fond of it, and seem to eat 

 the stem, as though they relished it as Vv'ell as the 

 blades. Never havins; cultivated it, I know no- 

 thing of a supposed diflicLdty in curing it, owing to 

 the size of the stem. Yet I can conceive, that 

 laying more open in the swath, as well as in the 

 shock, the air would find a more h"ee circulation 

 through it, and enable you to stack it as soon as 

 fine grass. Every body knows, I presume, that 

 air-cured hay is better than that cured by the heat 

 of the sun. 



Another portion of these bottoms, rather more 

 elevated than the mud lands, is ash colored, stiti", 

 liable to balce, and retentive of water. The crops 

 are apt to be very light either in wet or dry sea- 

 sons. Should the elements be favorable, and tlie 

 owner very industrious in keeping it clean and 

 finely pulverized, it pays pretty well in corn. 

 But it might do better in grass or pasture. It is 

 generally speaking less valuable than highland — 

 and there is much of it in this valley. Putres- 

 cent manure will act favorably, but for a short time. 

 The pewtery mass soon runs together after being 

 lightened, pulverized and manured. Nothingbut 

 very coarse sand or coal ashes will change its 

 stubborn nature. The latter makes it rich. 



Nearer the hills, and wherever the land is free 

 from inundation, and not so retentive of water, the 

 soil is light and ti-iable; and frequently has an ex- 

 cess of sand. All of this on both sides of the 

 swamp, has been cleared, by former generations. 

 If we judge by its present crop^s, it must have 

 been originally rich. Below the New Kent line 

 the low grounds grow gradually wider, the soil 

 lighter and more sandy. Of that part of the val- 

 ley I know nothing. 



Pcrhaj)s the flats on no stream in the state, pre- 

 sent such diversities of soil as those of the Chick- 

 ahomony — nor are they, any where, so irregularly 

 dispersed. And the fields in many places^ have 

 been cleared in a coiTesponding manner. When 

 the sluggish run (for it is not a river,) shall be well 

 opened and straightened, and the superabundant 

 Avater conducted off', these inequalities in the pro- 

 ductiveness and the value of these lands will be 

 lessened — a stimulus will be offered to the owners 

 to clean up and drain all the low wet spots, now 

 grown up and disfiguring their farms — the rich 

 virgin land, now useless, except for timber and 

 fuel, will be cleared and cultivated, jnelding great 

 profit, and furnishing the means of enriching the 

 exhausted highlands. When the whole of this 

 extensive valley shall be brought into neat cultiva- 

 tion; interspersed with verdant meadows, green 

 fields of corn and ripening harvests, what a beau- 

 tiful spectacle will it be irom the lofty heights, to 

 the eye of the metropolitan ! From the centre of 

 the city he may reach and enjoy it in half an 

 hour's ride. 



This, for the present, is indeed a fancy picture. 

 But when Richmond shall contain a population of 

 .sixty or seventy thousand, and its commercial 

 capital be trebled and profitably employed, the 



demands of its markets, aided by some of its en- 

 terprise and money, will convert this fancy into re- 

 ality. I have at hand, no means to ascertain how 

 many thousand bundles of northern hay, are an- 

 nually sold in Riclimond. The quantity is very 

 great, considering the population. That article 

 alone, will justify the reclaiming of the landson the 

 Chickahomony! One acre adapted to meadow, 

 and cultivated in the best manner, will not fail to 

 make six thousand weight; which at seventy five 

 cents, (the lowest regular market price, for the 

 best hay,) amounts to 55:45. Deduct !g;10 for cut- 

 ting, curing anddiauliiig to market, and you ha\'e 

 a clear income of ig35. NowAvhat is that acre of 

 land worth, which p^ays interest on 8583? 



Not more than one-fourth of this bottom is, 

 however, capable of this production, and then 

 only, after much pains and expense in preparation 

 and seeding — more indeed than its present culti- 

 vators have bestowed. It must be confessed that 

 the original clearing and preparing of the soil is 

 laborious and expensive. This is about compen- 

 sated thougli, by the value of tlie wood and tim- 

 ber, exce|)t where the wood is too distant to bear 

 carriage to market. It is my opinion that about 

 one-half of the whole body of low grounds (with- 

 in the limits alluded to) is capable of producing 

 three thousand weight of hay per acre; perhaps it 

 would average four; while the richest would yield 

 about 8500. Only one crop of artificial grass is 

 cut annually — the second crop has no chance to 

 grow until the fall rains and mild tem|)erature 

 commence; for the first is mowed just at the com- 

 mencement of hot weather. 



Considerable quantities of hay are made from 

 Avild grass which springs up abundantly in land 

 that is wet. It is quite coarse, but yields two 

 crops generally; and especially, when the first is 

 cut early. It finds a market, at fifty cents, and 

 sixty two and a half cents. Some of it is pre:ty 

 good. It seems to suit particular tavern keepers 

 and keepers of livery stables; Avhether on account 

 of the ])rice, or of the certainty that horses are 

 not so fond of it, or from both these considerations 

 together, I do not undertake to say. 



The blue grass yields also two crops — both of 

 which put together, perhaps are greater than the 

 best single crop of artificial grass. It, like the 

 herds grass, Avill Avait a week or two for the mow- 

 er — and I am disposed to think, it Avill take the 

 place of all other grasses on lands adapted to it. 

 In fact it is rapidly springing up in meadows 

 Avhere it never was soAvn, and quite remote fi'om 

 those in Avhich it is cultivated or encouraged to 

 grow. Orchard grass does not succeed, but the 

 feather grass grows luxuriantly^, though I think 

 the hay light and chaff}', (to use that expression.) 

 A mixture of timothy and herds grass, seems to 

 me, to be Avell calculated for all the artificial mea- 

 dows "^n the loAver country. The latter, Avhen 

 ready to be cut, is apt to fall, and would be greatly 

 sustained by the stouter and stilTer stalk of the 

 former, which in its turn Avould be less liable to 

 burn or dry up, Avhen shaded and protected, as it 

 would be. In three or four years the timothy Avill 

 be rooted out by the herds grass, and in this cli- 

 mate, the best meadoAV will not last more than six 

 or seven years and be profitable. 



It maybe well to say somethingabout the mode 

 of preparing and seeding an artificial meadow; 

 and what I shall say on these subjects will be 



