1838] 



F A K INI JO US' R K (I 1 S T 10 R 



195 



kind of rarmin<f land, (near Jame? river,) from this, 

 which he selllod on in llie lalfer part of his life. 

 No one could ho more uidilfed to mann<re the 

 land, by Iiis previous diflerent imrsuits, and want, 

 of knowiedj/e; to which was added ^towIo'j: hliiid- 

 ness, which soon become total. The nuuiiige- 

 mcnt of the farm was necessarily !e(t to the en- 

 tire direction of the overseers; who, instead of ex- 

 tending? cultivation over the waste hut hiirhly fer- 

 tile wet land, actually retreated beli)re the inva- 

 sions of the tilled surface, by water on the lower, 

 and by wire-grass on the drier parts, until nearly 

 the whole had become unproductive and waste. 

 It was in this state that the present owner receiv- 

 ed his portion, 13 years ago, without a house upon 

 It, and with scarcely any moveable or working 

 capital, except three negroes capable of aiding 

 him by labor. I do not remember positively, but 

 infer, from the great subsequent increase of slaves, 

 that there were also young negro children; but 

 these of course at first were sources of expense 

 and not of income. 



The land, then, exclusive of marsh subject to 

 be covered by ordinary tides, was 433 acres. 

 Since, two different adjoining pieces, of the best 

 ^chocolate) soil, but excessively worn and abused, 

 have been added by purchase — the first at ^12.25 

 and the second at .fli20 the acre. These pur- 

 chases have increased the tract to 500 acres, or a 

 little more. Of this about 150 acres are of the 

 chocolate soil, lymg on rich marl, rising so near 

 the surface as often to be touched by deep plough- 

 ing; and 350 of gray land, of the ordinary kind of 

 the most worn and reduced in the county — and 

 some ol" which, even now, is very bare, and ap- 

 pears very mean. 



Under all the existing disadvantages, it may he 

 thought that with 433 acres of land, of^ which 75 

 were rich and of admirable soil, the owner was 

 well furnished at least with landed capital. But 

 this capital was dead, until it could be improved 

 by labor, of which there was very little ; or by 

 money, of which there was none ai all, until alter 

 it had been earned. In addition to the other ne- 

 cessary expenses, the mother of Mr. Sinclair had 

 a life-interest in the land, which he bought lor an 

 annuity of ,S 100 ; which annua! charge is still 

 paid. All the then dry and rich land was un- 

 der the strong v/ire-grass sod, to the mastery of 

 which the preceding indolent and careless manage- 

 ment had yielded the land. The first thing to be 

 done, was to attack and subdue this powerful ene- 

 my to cultivation ; and without success in v/hich, 

 nothing of value could be effected on the land. 

 The whole team in possession was a horse, a mule, 

 and a pair of oxen ; and it was necessary lor all 

 four to be hitched to one plough to break up the 

 land under wire-grass. With this large and odd- 

 ly combined team, and with a boy as driver to 

 aid the ploughmen, no more than four of the fivc- 

 feet beds could be ploughed in a day. Neverthe- 

 less, this slow labor was persevered in until it was 

 rewarded by ultimate success. Now, the land is 

 so free from wire-grass, that a farmer who had 

 suffered from the pest elsewhere, would find it dif- 

 ficult to believe that this land had ever been so 

 completely sodded with its growth. By the frequent 

 cropping of the land, since the breaking up, much 

 has been done for this result : and, as Sir. Sinclair 

 thinks, much more by summer-fallowing (for 

 wheat) at the time vvhen the wire-grass was in 



bloom — which he considers ns hif? only means for 

 success, and one which may be relied on in gene- 

 ral. It is a new and important suggestion. But 

 I still doubt much whether that means, or any 

 other, available as part of a proper rotation, would 

 have been effectual on a more sand}' soil, which 

 is much more fitvorable lo wire-grass liian a clay 

 loam, like this chocolate soil. The quantity of 

 calcareous matter in this soil, and its Icrlility, 

 were favorable enough to this growth to make it 

 cover the land, almost exclusively. But it would 

 have had a still greater degree of vigor, and vi- 

 tality, if the soil had been also sandy. It is pro- 

 per here to state, that P/Ir. Sinclair, wjien suffering 

 most from this growth, visited Weyanoke, to see 

 the very laborious operations of Mr. Fieldino- 

 Lewis for restraining (for he could not eradicate,) 

 this pest — which were described in the first num- 

 ber of the Farmers' Register. Having learned 

 the whole practice, and paying implicit respect to 

 the authority of Mr. Lewis as a firmer, and to his 

 experience as a wire-grass farmer, Mr. Sinclair 

 returned home and tried sufficiently the same te- 

 dious and costly labor, of digging out and remov- 

 ing the roots. But there was so little benefit 

 found from the experiment, that he never repeat- 

 ed it. He therelbre thinks that neither to this 

 mode, nor to fi-equent tillage, but entirelv to his 

 ploughing when the grass was in blossom, is he in- 

 debted for the destruction of the growth. 



The pair of oxen whicli composed half of the 

 team of the plough used in the first breaking of 

 the wire-grass land, at other times had to draw 

 all the fuel for the lamily, rails for fencing, and al- 

 so the materials lor building the dwelling-house. 

 They were 6 years old when bought, at ^45 ; and 

 after being regularly at work for about 6 years 

 more, they were allowed to have a summer's 

 grass, at rest, and were then sold, as beef, for ^10 

 more than the pair cost at first. 



The shelly land, which was formerly a wide- 

 spread swamp and pond, the resort and shelter of 

 wild-ducks, is now well drained, and part under 

 heavy growths of wheat and clover, and the 

 balance in fine and mellow tilth, nnder a youno- 

 but promising growth of corn. The unusually 

 perfect drainage of this very low surface, I have 

 before ascribed to the open and loose layer of 

 broken shells, which (brnisthe undcr-slratum, and 

 serves in effect as a complete under-drainin" of 

 the whole surface soil. 



The manuring with the natural compost^ or 

 mixture of calcareous and putrescent matter,) 

 which every ditch furnishes, both when first duo-, 

 and whenever afierwards cleared out, has been 

 quite extensive. Much manuring has also been 

 done from the farm-yards, and otherwise b}- the 

 dung of stock. There still remain to be availed 

 of; and which have scarcely been commenced on, 

 for want of labor, not only the rich and unmixed 

 marl lying under the whole of the chocolate soil, 

 and generally within a foot of the surface, (and 

 which the gray land greatly needs as manure,) 

 but also inexhaustible supplies of putrescent mat- 

 ter, in the "sea-ore," or sea-weeds flung by the 

 waves upon the shores, and in pine-leaves from, 

 the low sea-pine land, which, though firm, is too 

 low, and too much exposed to I lie tide, for safe till- 

 age. 



If the means for using them were not wanting, 

 thtre are resources here for durably enriching 



