1838] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



441 



indicates) sulphate, of maixncs=ia, iron and snlpluir; 

 t!te epiin<i:^ are as liokl and salubrious as lliey ever 

 were. I'he vvealtiiy proprietor has thought, lit to 

 suH'cr (he improvements to go to decay, or they 

 would doubiless he again the Ibunlain ol' resort to 

 many of the thirsty pilgrims who now seek health 

 and pleasure in our mountains, where I think 

 the waters little or no more salubrious, and the 

 mutton, certainly., not as fine as at the (Jreen 

 Springs. Tiiis valuable bi.dy ol" land is, eo to 

 s:peak, a basin ol'about 10,000 acres, which seems, 

 by a sport ol' nature, to have been dropped into 

 the midst ol" one of the most barren districts ot 

 Virginia. lis upper margin reaches to within about 

 ten miles of Peter's mountain — the tallest in the 

 south-west range — is watered by five creeks and 

 the river South Anna; the latter bounding its north- 

 eastern extremity. One of the creeks, (the south- 

 eastern,) and a barren ridge, in which most ot'lhe 

 creeks rise, reaches across the norih-wesiern 

 boundary. The fine character of this soil, is 

 doubtless owing, in great part, to these water- 

 courses, which all (but one, and on that lies very 

 little of what is called Green Spring land,) dis- 

 embogue into the South Anna at one point, in 

 the farm of the late Major Watson, sen'r. In 

 further proof of the intensity of the drought, I 

 ■will here remark, that the beds of all of these 

 usually bold streams, including the river, are now 

 as dry as their banks, except here and there a 

 stagnant pool, scarcely sulHcient to slake the 

 thirst of the cattle, which depend on them for 

 existence. The principal fiirnis in this tract be- 

 long to the descendants of Major Watson, dec'd., 

 to Dr. .J. M. Morris, and to the descemiants ol' 

 Mr. William JMorris, dec'd. Oi' these, the Wat- 

 son estate is considered the best; containing in all 

 about .3,000 acres. Dr. Morris's may be rated 

 next; and I cannot overlook, in this classification, 

 a small, sub-divided tract, belonging to a (amiiy 

 of Branches, equal, by ?iai»rc, to the best. Mr. 

 Wm. Kagland's, and a small portion ol"a ftrm late- 

 ly sold by Richmond Terril, Ksci., include nearly 

 the whole of this body of land. The most in- 

 terestiiig, and by liir the most important /feature in 

 these lands, is, their remarkable adaptation to ()las- 

 ter, which has produced in the last ten or fil'teen 

 years a change in the liice of this country, that is 

 really miraculous. Dr. George Watson, ol'Uich- 

 niond, owns, I think, the most beautiful and fertile 

 farm, (with a lew exceptions on James river,) 

 that I know of in Virginia. He has been the 

 most liberal user of plaster and clover, as well as 

 improver in the exclusion of stock, in the neigh- 

 borhood, though all are now reaping, in the ilillesi 

 sense of the term, a rich harvest from these mea- 

 sures. There is no part of Virginia on which 

 plaster acts more powerfully than here. The 

 soil is generally of a dark-gray color, intermixed 

 with small, round, ferruginous gravel, lying on 

 three varieties of clay, red, yellow and blue — all 

 tenacious. It has been analyzed, I understand, 

 by Professor Rogers, and found to contain a large 

 proportion of lime. On the surface of the country, 

 is to be seen a quantity of grayish- black horn- 

 blende, the disintegration of which gives a very 

 rich yield of liine. In conclusion, I cannot sav 

 more for this delightful body of land, and its pe- 

 culiar susceptibility to improvement from clover 

 and plaster, than that the Watson estate and Dr. 

 Morris's have produced this year 19.000 bushels 

 Vol. VI.-56 



of wheat, at 23 busiiels to the acre, when, 15 years 

 ago, oiie-fburth of that quantity would have been 

 considered a very fine crop. The crops of corn 

 ami tobacco on these estates are sullicient lor their 

 consumption — tobacco better than I have seen off 

 of .Fames river — and one of their great staples, 

 (the finest bacon and mutton in the icorld,) as 

 promising as it can be. 11. 



SEASON AND STATE OF CROPS, IW AUGUST. 



[Republislied fioiu tlie supplement to llio last No.] 

 During the latter part of August we were absent 

 from home and from editorial labors, for ten days, on a 

 visit to the Fauquier Springs. It was the first time, since 

 undertaking these labors and duties, that we have taken 

 even half so much time of absence, for pleasure, health, 

 or relaxation and rest ; and we find that this, in spite of 

 all precautions taken, has been productive of inconve- 

 nient omissions. Tlie most important of these will be 

 partially supplied by the issuing this extra sheet to ac- 

 company No. 6 of the Farmers' Register, of which 

 the last pages had been printed before our return. 



Reports of the season and state of crops, from the 

 subscribers and correspondents of the Farmers' Regis- 

 ter, have become so rare and irregular, and their re- 

 ceipt so little to be counted on, that we had ceased, 

 (though with much regret,) to look for them, as mat- 

 ter for each monthly publication. Such reports are 

 always the most numerous under the most disastrous 

 circumstances; and the recent unprecedented state of 

 heat and drought, and the general suffering of all grow- 

 ing crops, have served to bring mora information than 

 would come in half a year of prosperity and good 

 prospects. At some cost and trouble, the failure to 

 attend to these favors will be supplied by this extra 

 publication, which will be sent with every copy of the 

 September number, now ready to be issued, and the 

 same will be also copied into the next succeeding 

 number. 



We shall copy below a few of the most distinct 

 and full statements which formed parts of letters that 

 awaited our return. But far more full and general in- 

 formation was gaini'd by personal observation on our 

 journey, and from the numerous intelligent farmers 

 whom we met at the Fauquier Springs, from various 

 parts of lower and middle Virginia, and from adjacent 

 states. It is needless to particularize. The hot and 

 dry weather has been more or less mitigated in nume- 

 rous places by partial rains, some of which fell heavily 

 and abundantly, for the time, when the country around 

 generally remainea parched, and but a small extent 

 was even sprinkled. But scaicely any where did 

 these partial and limited supplies of rain come soon 

 enough to prevent a great diminution in the growing 

 corn-crops ; nor did the effects continue as long as was 

 necessary to prevent renewed damage from drought 

 afterwards. Reports of great and certain injury from 

 the drought are heard from almost every part of lower 

 and middle Virginia, (with the exception, perhaps, of 

 very small sections tliat have been peculiarly favored,) 

 and from the northern valley counties, west of the 

 Blue Ridge mountains, from the Eastern Shore of Ma- 

 ryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. The news- 



