FARMERS' REGISTER-SIIERP MANAGEMENT AND PROFITS. 



65^ 



Inst fifteen yeors — wheat rantring from one. 1o tAvo 

 dollars per'bushcl, and cofn irom .forly to scvcnty 

 centsper pushel; and I recollect one year when it 

 was down to thirty rents per bi-.shel. 



The objection of VV. B. II. that the four-field 

 evstcm gives little or no corn for sale, I think, is a 

 mistake, Ibr it will give at least as much corn per 

 acre, which will be as much as the three-field sys- 

 tem, minus one-fourth lor sale; and it will give 

 double as much wheat lor sale at least. 1 say 

 it will give as much corn per acre very confident- 

 ly, because it will enable you to manure so much 

 more laiid, having so much moresu-aw whei-ewith 

 to make manure; so that j^ou v>'i!l be enabled to 

 manure a much larger portion of your corn-field: 

 and although the corn is after a crop of wheat, it 

 will be equal or belter inconsequence of the larger 

 manuring, than in the three-field system; and I 

 imagine no one will doubt that one hundred acres 

 of clover lallow, and one hundred acres of corn- 

 field wheat, will yield double as much as one hun- 

 dred and thirty-three and a third acres of corn- 

 field wheat — however better the corn-field wheat 

 may be in the three, than the four-field system. 



The lourth and only sound objection to the four- 

 field system is, "that the three grain creeps in suc- 

 cession is opposed to tiie experience of all good 

 cultivators both in this country and Europe" — and 

 this I admit is a defect in the system; but there are 

 few things in this Vi-orld without some detects, and 

 we who contend for the system, think it has as few 

 as any other. Besides, we think, tliat the large 

 quantity of manure made under this system does 

 Hway in a great measure the bad effects of the 

 three grain crops in succession. 



W. B. H. prefers the five-field system, "if a 

 part is to be cut off tor pasture." To the five-field 

 s^-siem I have no objection, except that it requires 

 too much fencing, requirin'g five fields to be fenced 

 in, instead of two divisions, as in the four-field 

 system. When I first altered my system from 

 three to four fields, I was very anxious to adopt 

 the five-field system, but for the fencinff. But 

 there is no difference in favor of the five-field sy.s- 

 tcm as to exhaustion, unless you have a standing 

 pasture, (and then it v%^ould be six fields,) you are 

 compelled to graze one of the fields at all seasons, 

 wet or dry. Our four-field cystem with a standing 

 pasture is somewhat of a five-field system itself 

 \y. B. H. says, "the four-field system was 

 practised at Dover in Goochland, long before it 

 was tried in Curie's Neck, by a Mr. Harding, Avho 

 leased the estate, and that it was found to be in a 

 very empoverished condition by the gentleman 

 who succeeded him." But W. B. II. does not 

 tell us whether there was a standing pasture, and 

 whether he used clover and plaster as a part of 

 the system — (which I imagine was hardl}^ done 

 b}' a tenant — ) and we cannot admit it to be the 

 system we recommend, \inless combined wilh a 

 standing pasture, the fourth of the land annually 

 sown in clover, and plastered, and made as perfect 

 as the system is capable of. Then if it fails we will 

 give up. I unJerstand hov/ever, that this very 

 gentleman, (Mr. Harding,) afier leaving Dover, 

 purchased an estate on James River not in very 

 good condition, and put it under the four-field sys 

 tern, witli the use of clover and plaster. 



lation of being one of the best, and m.ost success- 

 ful agriculturists in all the state of Virginia. 



W. B. II. remarks, and very justly too, "that 

 "Arator's" four-field system is tlie very best sys- 

 tem in the world for tliin lands." That has been 

 my opinion for nuuiy years; but on land of tolera- 

 ble fertility in this part of the countiy, it soon be- 

 comes too foul, and the jirofit is too small for good 

 land. It is the best, and only system for our poor 

 forest land>, and should be adopted by every farm- 

 er whose land will not bear a niore rigid system. 



HILL CARTKB, 



SHEEP BIANAGEr.lEjVT AND PROFITS IN LOWEB 

 VIRGINIA. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



Maaiura, Surry Co. Feb. 12, 183.5, ■ 



I took up the last number of your Register this 

 morning, and in glancing over the vignette on the 

 cover, I v.'as surprised to see that the sheep had 

 been left out, not by design I hope, as I should be 

 sorrj' to see an animal to which I am so partial, 

 and one to which we are all under so many obli- 

 o-afions, treated with so much neglect. I will give 

 you in a very succinct manner, my mode of man- 

 agintr sheep, and if j'ou think it may be of anj' ad- 

 vantage to the community at large, you are wel- 

 come to give it publicity. 



I keep about 100 ewes, principally for the bene- 

 fit of the wool in clothing my negroes, which yield 

 upon an average about three pounds. I raise fi-om 

 80 to 90 lanibs^ all of which I sell in Norfolk (ex- 

 cept those I keep for my own table) for S3 f^ piece, 

 and am told that the butcher gets from .f 1 2-5 to 

 $1 50 per quarter for them. In order to keep up 

 my stock, I am compelled to purchase ewes, for 

 alf descriptions of which I give g^l 50 each, some 

 of them of course being very indifferent. I keep 

 them constantly in pastures, a nundjer of them be- 

 ing belled in order to give the alarm when attack- 

 eel by thieves or dogs. The bell strap should be 

 lengthened in November, on account of'the growth 

 of the wool. In December I commence feeding 

 with one gill of corn meal per day, and occasion- 

 ally cotton seed, which they are very fond of, and 

 salt once a week. I continue this treatment until 

 they have lambs, when I separate them, putting 

 the ewes and landjs in another pasture, and in- 

 crease their allowance of meal to a half pint, with 

 as many cotton seed as they will eat, or pea hulls 

 and fodder, when I have not the seed to spare, I 

 pursue this course until the pasture affords a suffi- 

 cient quantity ol grass, which is about the 15th of 

 April, when I leave them to shift for themselves, 

 except giving them salt., 



JAMES WILSON. 



A REMARKABLE CROP OF CORN, 



To t'le ^(litor of the Farmers' Register. 



Nelson Co. Feb. 17, 1835. 



A small piece of land in this vicinity was made 

 to produce the last year a crop of corn so unusual 

 in the amount per acre, as to attract much notice 

 and that I in this region, and i^erhaps to merit being recorded 

 he improved it very much under that system; and I for more public attention. It was grown on an 

 when he died, he left his estate in a very high state j island in James River, about two miles from the 

 of improvement ,and what is more, he lefl the repa- \ mouth of Rockfish. The whole island, it is sup- 



