692 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



I do not think they can be so varied as material- 

 ly to change the general result of my calculations. 

 The marl of which I have spoken is entirely of the 

 eocene description, and is (bund on this river (the 

 Pamunkey) in great quantities cropping out on the 

 banks, from 10 to 25 leet perpendicular. How 

 much below low -water mark it goes, has not been 

 ascertained, as we have never gone through it. 

 The analysis of this marl I have given as accord- 

 ing to Professor Rogers in my answers to your 

 queries, it is therefore unnecessary to repeat it 

 here. You may perhaps think by this time, Mr. 

 Editor, that having bestrided my hobby, I have 

 forgotten when to dismount. Not so— but such 

 is my desire to see our tide-water country attain to 

 the value of which 1 think it capable of being 

 brought by good husbandry, and a judicious use 

 of the means which have been placed for our use 

 by the bounteous hand of nature, that 1 am anx- 

 ious to place all the little experience which has 

 fallen in my way, belbre my brother tide-water 

 farmers, who are situated as I am, thai if they 

 think proper, they may profit by it. 



CoRBiN Braxton. 

 November 5thj 1840. 



CURRANT AND BLACKBERRY WINES. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



Nov. 20 th, 1840. 

 At our late agricultural show, on the 13ih and 

 14th ol' this month, at Fiedericksburg, there were 

 exhibited two taniples of wine — the one of black- 

 berries, the other of currants — both of which were 

 so highly approved, that your readers, I think, 

 will be pleased to have the receipts lor making 

 them. I therefore now send them to you for pub- 

 lication. 



To make currant wine. 



Gather the currants when ripe ; mash them 

 with your hands ; to each gallon of mashed ber- 

 ries add one gallon of water; strain through a 

 hair sifter ; mix two pounds of brown sugar with 

 every gallon of the strained liquor ; and immedi- 

 ately bung the whole quantity in a clean cask, 

 where it should remain twelve months belbre it is 

 broached. 



To make blackberry tome. 



Pick the berries when ripe, squeeze out the 

 juice by hand, and to ever}' gallon of it add one 

 quart of water and thi-ee and a half pounds of 

 brown sugar. Mix the whole well together, and 

 then bung it up in a clean cask or barrel, where it 

 should remain twelve months before it is bottled. 



The blackberry wine was preferred by most 

 persons who tasted the two kinds; and one gen- 

 tleman, who had frequently drunk the Scupper- 

 nong of the best quality, gave the blackberry 

 wine the preference. Much credit is due to the 

 lady who sent the sample of the currant wine, for 

 she had made sixty gallons of it last summer 

 twelve months, and a very pleasant drink it 

 proved to be. The gentleman who sent the black- 

 berry wine had made 16 trailons of this agreeable 

 beverage, and has thereby dcmonslraled, that the 



vines and bushes which yield it, and which we 

 agriculturists have heretofore deemed great nui- 

 sances, may be turned to profitable account. 

 Quere, Would it not be a gocd spec, to substitute 

 them for our multicaulis trees, although I have 

 lately heard that a very ingenious process had 

 been discovered, by which the leaves of the lat- 

 ter may be converted into excellent soup. For 

 the truth of this highly interesting develope- 

 ment of multicualis properties I am not prepared 

 to vouch ; as I have neither tasted the soup my- 

 self nor seen any person who had done so. But 

 another summer shall not pass over my head, 

 (should I live to see one,) without a thorough in- 

 vestigation of this important discovery. 



James M. Garnett. 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE MASON, CABELL AND 

 KANAWHA AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY, IN RE- 

 GARD TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A STATE 

 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



For the Farmers' Register. 



At a meeting of the Mason, Cabell and Ka- 

 nawha Agricultural Society, held at the town of 

 Point Pleasant, in the county of Mason, on Thurs- 

 day the 5ih day of November, 1840, 



The following preamble and resolutions were 

 offered by George H. Patrick, esq., and unani- 

 mously adopted. 



Agriculture, in its various relations, combines 

 the most important interests of all civilized na- 

 tions. The embellishment of civilization, the 

 enlargement of commerce, the extension of arts, 

 the developeinent of mineral wealth, and the 

 growth of manufiactures, are all in a greater or 

 less degree dependent on the well directed and 

 successful application of the capital, skill and in- 

 dustry bestowed on agriculture and its kindred 

 pursuits. 



It is the source ofail permanent national wealth, 

 strength and prosperity ; sustains by its contri- 

 butions, direct and indirect, nearly all the burthens 

 of government and of society ; yet, up to this 

 period, in the legislature of Virginia, no effective 

 measures have been adopted to impart new vigor 

 to this leading interest of the state. 



In Europe, as well as in most of the states of 

 the American confederacy, agricultural boards 

 have been established, schools of instruction en- 

 dowed, and agricultural societies patronized with 

 the happiest eHects and most beneficial results. 

 We cannot admit for a moment that the general 

 assembly of Virginia is not fully apprised of the 

 just claims of the great body of her agriculturists 

 to every fostering measure which a wise system 

 of laws and appropriations may administer to the 

 enlargement of their pursuits and profits, by in- 

 creased developements in tillage and culture, and 

 new stimulants to improvement ; but believe, 

 while every patriotic leeling of that re.=pected 

 body has been in union with the advances of the 

 age, they have awaited the expression of the pub- 

 lic sentiment in favor of an efficient effort to col- 

 lect and diffuse agricultural information and im- 

 provements in husbandry throughout the com- 

 monwealth. Seriously impressed with the import- 

 ance of the subject, and with full confidence in 

 the wisdom and patriotism of the legislature, this 

 society comes to the following resolutions : 



