FARMERS' REGISTER. 



581 



growth will be very consicleral>le, which will be 

 valuable food in March and April, llie lop of it 

 only being injured by the (rost. Where there are 

 two fields of clover in the rotation, perhaps a bet- 

 ter use lor the land cannot be made ol'orie ol'lhem, 

 than to pasture wiih slock wiih due caution. Ex- 

 clude every thing until the clover is in full bloom, 

 continue the stock upon it only long enough to 

 make way (or the second crop, excluding them al- 

 ways when the land is wet. There is no stock on 

 a (arm more benefited by clover, or less injurious 

 to it or the land, than hogs. Except lor the com- 

 (brl of resting themselves in wet or moist places, 

 in very hot weather, hogs will not root, particu- 

 larly when liie land is dry, if they can get plenty 

 oC (bod without it. They have the ability to pro- 

 cure sustenance in that way, but I am satisfied it 

 is only necessity that makes ihein resort to it. By 

 using one of the divisions of a farm for pasture, 

 Willi the aid oC lots, I am satisfied that as much 

 manure may be made and applied every year to 

 the field in corn as will make it a fine crop ; that 

 horses enougli may be raised m Virginia for our 

 own use, and that instead of purchasing a great 

 proportion of the meal we consume, in a very (t3vv 

 years, we should have a considerable quantity for 

 exportation. 



Here I beg leave to call the attention of the so- 

 ciety to the efiect of fattening stock on the farm, 

 with a proportion of its produce. It is to make 

 the land more productive in every thing from the 

 vast quantity of the richest manure it affords, 

 which imparts iis (eriilizing power to every part of 

 the fl\rm in iis turn. If the crop of corn is con- 

 sumed by cattle on the farm, there is no question 

 but that the subsequent crops, both of corn and 

 ■wheat, will be increased, by the application of the 

 manure it will furnish, which excess may, of it- 

 seKJ pay a good price for the corn so consumed. 

 If in addition, you can obtain a fair price lor the 

 corn, by the fattening of cattle, with a saving of 

 the trouble ami expense of its transportation, the 

 farmer would be doubly paid. I am warranted in 

 recommending feeding stock by the success of the 

 South Branch (i\rmers, who have become in thirty 

 years, the most wealthy in Virginia, by the cul- 

 ture of corn, without ever having exported from 

 the district, one bushel in grain ; the whole crop 

 being consumed on the respective farms. In 

 Great Britain, the advantage and propriety of this 

 practice are so fully understood, that there is never 

 more than from one-third, to half their (arms, ap- 

 propriated to grain. The vast product of pota- 

 toes, turnips, cabbages and grass are applied to 

 the feeding of stock, on their farms. In this way 

 they believe, and I have no doubt of the fact, that 

 they make more grain than they would do, if a 

 greater proportion of the land were made to pro- 

 duce it. In England, this practice is carried so 

 far, that oil cake is purchased and used (or (iitten- 

 ing cattle, with a knowledge that its chief benefit 

 is derived from the richness it imparls to the ma- 

 nure, made by (he cattle to whom it is fed. 



The wisdom and economy of making as much 

 grain upon twenty acres of land as they formerly 

 made upon fi(ty, are there fully understood, and 

 they are so rational as to believe it is better to 

 have their farms improving than decreasing in fer- 

 tility — and this is done by men who have only a 

 short and temporary interest in the land, v/hile 

 we, the people of Virginia, who pride ourselves in 



being the lords of the soil, show so much indif- 

 ference to its preservaiion. It is believed, and I 

 le-ar jusll}^, that our climate is unfavorable to the 

 product of potatoes and turnips, which I consider 

 a mislbrlune; but it is not pretended ihat cither 

 our soil or climate is at all so, to carrots, parsnips, 

 scarcit}', Jerusalem artichokes, or the sweet po- 

 tato, cabbage, rape, or Swedish turnips. We have 

 a great resource loo in pumpkins, not less valuable 

 (or the quality of the food, than any of the roots, 

 and only made so, by the time at which they must 

 be consumed. Much of our grain, both corn and 

 rye, might be fed to great advantage, by being 

 ground and led on cut straw, or steamed, and per- 

 haps more profitably than to sell it in grain, at the 

 common prices. 



The benefit to the farmer and to the land, from 

 feeding stock, is so well understood in Great Bri- 

 tain, that it has become an agricultural maxim, 

 that whenever a farmer discovers he can be as 

 well paid, by culiivaiing food for catile as for man, 

 he should prefer it, because of the increased quan- 

 tity of manure it gives. Mr. A. Young remarks, 

 that " that country, that farm will be most im- 

 proved, and most productive, upon which the 

 greatest quantity of catile and sheep are kept. 

 This holds good, of an acre, a field, a (arm, a dis- 

 trict, a province or a kingdom." 



By providing food lor a due proportion of cattle, 

 hogs and sheep, the quantity of grain will be in- 

 creased, and " the meat, cheese, milk, butter, 

 wool and leather, are so much additional produce 

 gained from the land ; by means of which, the 

 wealth of a country and its power of providing for 

 a numerous population, is enormously increased." 



I trust there is no possibility of my being so (ar 

 misunderstood as to have it supposed, that it is 

 my desire to convert all our arable into grass land, 

 or that I wish to increase the quantity of grass by 

 diminishing the product of bread-stuf}'. I recom- 

 mend stock as an auxiliary, whose agency is to be 

 made to contribute to the increase of the grain 

 crop, and to be subservient to that object. It is 

 essential to the utility and chance of profit from 

 stock, that they should be abundantly led through 

 the year, and the quantity of stock kept propor- 

 tioned to the food provided J remembering always, 

 that it is better for every purpose that a farm 

 should be under than overstocked. In the neigh- 

 borhood of my estate in Albemarle, we have no 

 resource (or the summer support of cattle, but 

 those furnished by our arable lands. We are 

 without swamps or marshes, and we are so (brtu- 

 nate as to be able to cultivate all our cleared lands 

 in succession. I do not believe within eight miles 

 of Warren there are fifiy acres of waste uninclosed 

 lands. Under these circumstances, we must aban- 

 don stock or depend upon what can be derived 

 fiom the farm by pasturage and soiling.* 



W. C. Nicholas. 



* The followino; is an extract of a letter from a gen- 

 tleman of the first respectability, who is distinguished 

 as a farmer, and who has improved highly a tract of 

 land that had been very much exhausted. It is pub- 

 lished to corroborate my opinion of the importance 

 and value of stock, both with a view to the improve- 

 ment of a farm and the profit to be derived from it: 



" I regret that it is not in my power to give any 

 thing like a satisfactory account of the ancient mode 

 of cultivating the soil "which it has fallen to my lot to 

 manage. The modern and more improved mode of 



