FARMERS' REGISTER 



255 



MR. RONALDSONS SEEDS. 



We lately received from James RonaWson, esq. 

 of Philadelphia, a quantity ofsugar beet and other 

 garden seeds of various kinds, imported by Iiim 

 from France, with the request that they should be 

 distributed £rraluitously to such cultivators as would 

 take care of the products, and report to us for pub- 

 lication any results deserving such attention. The 

 object of the public-spirited donor has been very 

 imperfectly secured, though as well as circum- 

 Btances permitted. The lateness of the season 

 leaving very little time for choice, or delay, com- 

 pelled us to make a very hasty distribution, and 

 much more confined in extent than would other- 

 ivise have been attempted. As to Mr. Ronald- 

 son's condition, or request, of reports for publica- 

 tion, we did not pretend to make it imperative ; 

 knowinij, by long experience of our countrymen's 

 aversion to writing, that such a requisition would 

 either have prevented the acceptance, or otherwise 

 would have produced a larger crop of broken pro- 

 mises than of any other products from the gifts. 

 We however here repeat the request ; and hope 

 that by it Mr. Ronaldson may be more successful 

 in eliciting reports of these particular experiments 

 and results, than we have been, or can nnw hope 

 to be, for the general objects of the Farmers' Re- 

 gister.— Ed. Far. Reg. 



QUANTITY AND VALUE OF THE EXPORTS OF 

 THE COUNTY OF ACCOMAC 



To tlie Editor of tlie Farmfirs' Register. 



I subjoin for publication, if you shall think it of 

 sufficient interest to deserve it, a statement that 

 has been prepared with great care, exhibiiinir ihe 

 quantity and value of the produce exported from 

 the county of Accomac, in this state, lor the crop 

 of the year 1838. The year 1838 was not select- 

 ed as furnishing a larger amount of exports than 

 ordinary years ; but as the inquiries were com- 

 menced last year, it was more convenient and 

 more favorable to accuracy in the results, that they 

 should have reference particularly to the year im- 

 mediately preceding. The crop of 1838 was 

 about an average one as to quantity in Accomac, 

 and the prices did not exceed the average of seve- 

 ral previous years. The results exhibited in this 

 statement were obtained by personal application 

 to every exporter of grain in the county, who fur- 

 nished to the gentleman who prepared it, minute 

 and accurate accounts, taken from their books, of 

 the kind and quantity of their exports for the year 

 1838. So that, although it cannot be pretended 

 that the account is precisely accurate, it seems not 

 to be going too far to say that it approximates 

 much more nearly to the truth than statistical 

 statements generally do. And I will add that the 

 statement was prepared by a gentleman well 

 known throughout the stale for his diligence and 

 accuracy in statistical inquiries. 



The prices at Avhich the value of the produce is 

 estimated in the subjoined statement are not those 

 for vvhich the articles sold in the market, but the 

 net prices received by the farnjer : and it is be- 

 lieved they fall rather short of the average prices 

 of that year. 



Statement. 

 Oats, 350,000 bushels at 40 cents, - §^140,000 

 Indian corn, 250,000 bu>hels, at 85 - 212,500 

 Sundries, viz.: wheat, sweet potatoes, 

 peach brandy, dried peaches, flax- 

 seed, peas, beans, steamboat wood, 

 &c. at least, .... 47,500 



Total, 400,000 



Your readers upon the other side of the water, 

 who seem to regard our penin?ula as little better 

 than a " barren sand beach," will probably be as- 

 tonished to see that the surplus crop of the county 

 of Accomac alone, for one year, amounted to 

 the handsome sum exhibited in the above state- 

 ment. 



And to this I will add, that the rate of rents on 

 the Eastern Shore is perhaps higher than any 

 where else in the state ; a circumstance which in- 

 dicates, of course, the great prosperity of the aori- 

 cultural interest. One half of all the crops of 

 every description is the usual proportion for land of 

 good quality, and in several instances within the 

 knowledge of the writer, the tenant gives one half, 

 without a house of any sort, and without the pri- 

 vileae of fire-wood. For land below the average 

 quality, two-fifihs of all the crops, or two-fifths of 

 the corn, and a half of the oats, and either two- 

 fifihs or a half of all the other crops is the usual 

 proportion. The price of land is, of course, high 

 in a corresponding degree. 



An Eastern Shore Man. 

 Accomac C. H., Jlpril, 1840. 



CITLTURE OF INDIAN CORN. 



From tlie Cultivator. 



Messrs. ^cZiiors— Careful observation has satis- 

 fied the writer, that the present system of culti- 

 vating Indian corn, is generally very defective, 

 and can be greatly improved. Not more than 

 half a crop is obtained upon an average, except oti 

 new or very strong land. We also see this valu- 

 able crop frequently destroyed by autumnal frosts. 



The following is an outline of the plan which 

 has been tried by the writer, with entire success. 

 Good crops have been obtained — 75 bushels to the 

 acre — and the corn invariably ripened before the 

 liosts of autumn could injure it. 



Spread upon the ground, before ploughing, 20 to 

 30 ox cart loads of good, long, or unrolted stable 

 manure ; when the corn is planted, put into the 

 hill one halfof a shovel full of well rotted manure. 

 This will give the corn an early and vigorous 

 growth, until the roots are long enough to derive 

 sustenance from the long manure. By thus giv- 

 ing it an early start, it will ripen two or three 

 weeks earlier than it otherwise would. The long 

 mariure will carry it out, and make more corn 

 and less stalk, than when all rotten manure is 

 used. Let tiie manure, which is to be kept until 

 it has rotted, be piled up, and covered, so as to 



