OIV THKFRKQUENT FAILURKS OF TIIK VVIIKAT 

 CROPS. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



The successive liiilures oC the three Inst crops of 

 wheat, ami the partial injury to the present, have 

 caused ageneral inquiry, why this crop is more un- 

 certain than ill Ibrmer seasons, and what remedy 

 can be Ibund lor this nr.isfortune, wliich tiireatens to 

 destroy the cuhivation ofwheat, at least in Virginia. 

 Being extremely partial to the golden grain, and 

 thoroughly convinced that it ought to be the sta- 

 ple crop of the Old Dominion, I venture, as its 

 I'riend, to give you some thoughts on the subject. 

 Every candid observer must admit that the last 

 (bur seasons have been very unfavorable — severe 

 winters, and excessive rains in May and June. 

 The jjresent crop was very [iron)ising until the 

 rains and exceedingly hot weather, which have 

 created a good deal of rust in parts of the state, 

 but still left a crop which will probably make us 

 independent of foreign supplies. 



Those causes have been beyond human con- 

 trol, and, so far as they are concerned, we can only 

 submit to the decrees of an all-wise Providence; 

 but it belioves us, as rational beings, to mquire 

 whether there do not exist other causes, which 

 may be removed by human eflbrt. 



There certainly is something very striking in 

 the reHection, that a country always producinsf 

 sufficient bread-stuff for its inhabitants since its 

 first settlement, and latterly exporting more of 

 that article than any oiher, should, with the 

 view of affording a better home market to its ag- 

 riculture, for the benefit of its manufactures — and 

 in less than twenty years from the adoption of this 

 policy — find its agriculture so oppressed, that these 

 very manufacturers have to resort to foreigners for 

 their daily bread. Thus showing the retributive 

 justice of Heaven, who hath said: " thou shalt 

 not nmzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn." 

 But, thanks to the wisdom or fickleness of our le- 

 gislators, this state of things is rapidly changing; 

 and it becomes us to inquire, now that the effi- 

 cient or remote cause of the disease is about to 

 be removed, how shall the patient be restored to 

 his pristine health and vigor? Were this the 

 case of a lovely form, whose freshness and beau- 

 ty were fast fading away, without any evidence of 

 fixed disease, the physician would say, " Restore 

 her native air, and place her amongst the soft 

 breezes of the valley, or the bracing air of those 

 mountains, the scenes of her childish gambols , 

 and we may hope to see the rosy-lipped che- 

 rub again bounding, like the antelope, from hill to 

 hill." 



Now, following this metaphor, may it not be 

 well to inquire wherein has agriculture degenerat- 

 ed under its oppression, and to endeavor to restore 

 that vigor, which was the cause and the conse- 

 quence of its former health. Many of those who 

 now guide the operations of the husbandman, 

 have no personal recollection of the ibrmer state 

 of things. But you and I, Mr. Editor, can now 

 use the familiar phrase of some twenty years 



Vol. VI.— 41 



since. We were both reapers of the golden har- 

 vest, which seemed almost like coining money, 

 immediately after the late war ; and though 

 schoolboys at the time, we recollect the high 

 price so long kept up during Bonaparte's wars. 



Your resideuce was on the sandy lands of the 

 tide-water, where corn was the staple crop; but 

 Providence cast my lot upon the green bell of the 

 Blue Ridge, in a section, even then, rapidly im- 

 proving in its agriculture. And I well remember, 

 that the most usual sigh's in July and August, 

 were large fields of clover subverted by the plough- 

 share, and the carts and wains all busily engaged 

 in spreading the liirtilizing jtroduce of the stable 

 and fiirm-pen, over those portions of the field 

 which were more scantily covered with clover; 

 and even those farmers who had not advanced to 

 clover, were still anxious to reap the benefits of 

 manuring and fallowing. And, as hope is more 

 exciting than enjoyment, many hurried into those 

 operations without even securing the previous 

 crop, thinking less of the !j^2,000 they could get 

 lor it, than the ^4,000 expected lor the next 

 year's produce; and 1 have often seen thecom- 

 inij crop covering those fallow fields with as 

 bright a green as the clover which had so lately 

 clad them, wfiilst the weather-beaten shocks 

 stood amongst the rank stubble of the late harvest. 

 But when our wise rulers took it into their heads 

 that we must make every thing we wanted at 

 home, and our hoodwinked farmers took up the 

 idea, that to buy nothing was the best Avay to 

 get rich, without reflecting that others must 

 follow our example, they soon found that their 

 barns were loaded with grain, laid up for many 

 years; and, like the man in the parable, said " soul 

 take thy rest." They then found that fallow- 

 ing was a very laborious and expensive busi- 

 ness; that the crop was very uncertain, and apt to 

 be destroyed by the blue grass. For now they 

 could not think of crossing their fallow, which 

 was thought an expedient operation when wheat 

 brought 9s. to 12s. a bushel; the crack of the whip, 

 and shrill whistle of the driver, no longer impelled 

 the patient ox with hisfiirtilizing load; the weather 

 was too hot in July and August; and the ma- 

 nure either wasted in the heap, or was all expend- 

 ed on tobacco, corn, or top-dressing. 



The domestic market, which we sacrificed so 

 much to gain, came at last; but it was not lor wheat, 

 but corn, which of course commanded the chief 

 care and labor of the husbandman. 



Now 1 would say to my l)roiher larmers, resume 

 those good old habits. This is the proper season. 

 Select some field, or portion of one, of crood land ; 

 not some worn-out gall, too poor for corn. Plough 

 it well belbre the Isl September, if practicable, and 

 re-plough it in that monlh, if necessary. Scatter all 

 the manure you can raise, on the poorest part, and 

 seed it well in the month of October; early, if in 

 the upper part ol" the state, late in the month, if 

 below. Plough or harrow in the wheat ; but, at 

 any rate, finisli with a good smooth harrowiug. 

 It any part is inclined to be too wet, water-fur- 

 row it well. If your wheal has any smut, soak is 



