656 



FARMERS' REGISTER— GYPS DM— HERDS GRASS— SHEEP. 



port to an immense and fertile region of" the west 

 — with all these advantages what lias she not to 

 hope? The surrounding country we have seen is 

 capable ol' improv^ement; but it depends upon that 

 city to give it value; and as the one flourishes, so 

 will the other. 



The passage of the James River and Kenawlia 

 bill by this legislature, and the spirited operations 

 that have commenced on the rail road to Freder- 

 icksburg, have put fresh li(e into many. The ne- 

 cessary expenditure of money, and consumption 

 of provisions and lumber, &c., are not so stimulat- 

 ing as the anticipated results of these great im- 

 provements. Henrico in her horticulture and 

 agriculture will be immensely benefited. And 

 it is in this point of view, that I have felt justified 

 in making this digression: and the more so, as 

 similar benefits, though in rather less degree, will 

 result to the whole country that trades to Rich- 

 mond. 



C. \V. GOOCH. 



Henrlai, February 28th, 1835. 



LUMP PLASTER HERDS GRASS. 



To tlie Editor of tlio Farniors' Regi?,ter. 



Louisa, Feb. 9, 1835. 



Enclosed I send you five dollars to pay my se- 

 cond years subscription to your valuable work, the 

 Farmers' Register. I am much pleased with it, 

 and w^ish it an extensive circulation, because I 

 think, as far as I am able to judge, it is well cal- 

 culated to excite a spirit of improvement among 

 farmers, which is much wanted in this section of 

 country. Some kw of us are using clover and 

 plaster, and some arc talking about it. But the 

 most of us are following the example of our fore- 

 fathers in this matter. As I sometimes find itcon- 

 venient to get plaster in the lump, and there being 

 no mill in tliis neighboi'hood prepared for grinding 

 it, you or some of your correspondents will confijr 

 a favor on me, and perhaps on others similarly 

 situated, by informing us of the best mode of pre- 

 paring it, and what efi'ect the action of fire has 

 ujjon it. 



In your January number of the Farmers' Re- 

 gister, some inquiries are made of you by a cor- 

 respondent respecting herds grass, and the due 

 preparation of the land for it. As I have been 

 raising it for several years, I ought to know some- 

 thing about it. I concluded when I saw your 

 correspondent's inquiries, that I would save you 

 the trouble of an answer, and state the results of 

 my own experience upon this subject. My usual 

 time of sowing is the fliU, say from the middle of 

 September to the middle of October, and general- 

 ly get a very good crop the next year. The heat 

 of the sun is more apt to kill it, I thuik, when sow- 

 ed in the spring. It delights in moist, though not 

 wet land. I would advise to keep the ditches in 

 oozy, wet land, well opened, and their banks le- 

 velled. If they become choked up and the waters 

 sjjread, the bidlrush and other coarse grasses will 

 put up and destroy the herds grass. I consider it 

 a very valuable grass. When it is well cured, 

 horses aiid other stock cat it very greedily, and 

 colts will winter very well upon it without any 

 grain. 



My method of curing it, is to let it ta!<e sun 

 enough after cutting to make it fidl, then throw it 



with pitch-forks into small ricks, and enlarge them 

 as the hay cures. What is cut in the forenoon 

 may be shocked up at night, opened loosely next 

 morning, and by the evening it will generally be 

 ready for stacking. As to the efiect "///e grotoih 

 of the grass, or its conversion into hay,''' will have 

 upon the health of persons living near, I am very 

 sure it will not be injurious. 



^VILLIAM SIIELTOK, (^MilXOr.') 



THE SUITABLENESS OF SHEEP HUSBANDRY 

 FOR MIDDLE VIRGINIA, 



To tlic Editor of tiie Farmers' Register. 



Within the last few years, I have learned both 

 from private sources and from agricultural jour- 

 nals, that northern farmers are realizing handsome 

 profits from sheep raising. Curiosity, if not a 

 prospect of fiiture benefit, makes me, (and should 

 perhaps jirompt others in Virginia,) to iri([uire 

 more into the subject of sheep husbandry. I do 

 not mean an idle curiosity, Mr. Editor, but it ia 

 that wish, which I conceive every farmer should 

 possess, to inform himself of the facts connected 

 with every branch of rural economy. Perhaps he 

 may turn them to useful account. To say the 

 worst of it, the information will do him no injury, 

 I have observed in the "Cultivator," that the farm- 

 ers in New York find it more profitable to raise 

 sheep, even on land worth one hundred dollars per 

 acre, than to cultivate it; and that lands of less va- 

 lue are amiparatively more profitable in that way. 

 A question then arises, whether our own state is 

 not as well, or better adapted to sheep husbandrv, 

 than New England. We know that a wise 

 providence has so constituted the animal economy, 

 that in northern latitudes, in order to their better 

 preservation from cold, they have thicker and finer 

 fleeces. Yet the fact, that wool answering all the 

 purjioses for the finer fabrics is raised in the south 

 of Europe, should encourage us in the belief that 

 this climate is at least as well adapted to that 

 branch of husbandrj'^ as a more northern. I 

 would next inquire whether the difference between 

 the north and the south, as grazing countries, will 

 present a formidable obstacle to profitable sheep 

 raising here? I believe it is true, that lands are 

 more fertile to the north than to the south, but I 

 believe it is equally true that that is more the 

 work of art than of nature; tor I think it is con- 

 ceded on all hands, that oiu" soil is naturall}" more 

 generous: but our northern brethren, (nmch to 

 their credit,) have more than supplied the differ- 

 ence in fertility. As far as my observation iias 

 gone, wherever a system of melioration has been 

 pursued, our lands have given every evidence that 

 they could be made a delightful grass-growing 

 and stock-raising countr}'. To what extent of fer- 

 tility might they not be made to attain, if the hun- 

 dreds of cart loads of manure which are now 

 spread on a few acres of tohac<',o land, should be 

 returned to a larger surface. Under the present 

 system, (I allude particularly to the tobacco grow- 

 ing district,) the whole farm is gleaned and em- 

 poverished, that a few acres may be enriched. 



We are moreover informed in the January No. 



of the "Cultivator," that one of the advantages of 



sheep liusbandry is, that the lands are improved. 



That sheep (contrary to all my previously formed 



I opinions,) returns so much rich manure to the 



