A BREAKFAST-TABLE CONVERSATION. 311 



Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina? Take, for proof, the following ex- 



^^^^^ • " Washington, D, C. 



" I have lately returiiod from my plantation in Charles County, Md. I have made some- 

 where about 11,000 barrels of com. ueaily half ' housed,' of tiie best sound quality ; and some 

 of the land has been so much more productive than Maryland corn-lands have credit for, that 

 I must make a statemeat, on the credit of my overseer, upon which I rely, that seems to me 

 worthy ol' j'l'blication — as ibllows: 



'' Upon scant two acres of my land, by measurement, situated immediately adjacent to 

 Nanjamoy Creek, imder the management of Jamks K. Nash, the overseer, tvventj-hve bar- 

 rels, or one hundred and twenty-tive bushels, of good merchantable corn, by actual measure- 

 ment, were i-aiscd the juLst season, and five bushels more of * nubbins,' or short com — thus 

 making upward of sixty bushels to the acre. The corn had been 2)lauted 3^ feet apart, 2 

 feet between die hills, and two stalks in a iiill. 



" The ovei-se(n- (sujjeradiled to the fivorable season for those who had planted early) as- 

 ciibes his success to deep plowing. There had been no luuisual application of maimre. — 

 The preceduig year the same laud had produced a fair quantity of tobacco, of good quality. 



"Truly yours, B. O. T." 



It will be seen that, according to the above arrangement, there stood on the 

 acre 12,444 stalks, while on Mr. Hall's there were 24,200. We think it probable, 

 however, that on Mr. Tayloe's land each hill of two stalks yielded an average 

 of 3 or 4 good ears. But the probability is that his was of the yellow or white 

 gourd seed species, which would considerably oversheil, ear for ear, the bright, 

 hard, yellow (lint corn, planted in the Northern States. So much for the over- 

 looked, neglected, and much berated and belied lands of Maryland and Vir- 

 ginia, possessing advantages of cheap transportation, vicinity to market, and 

 easiness to be worked, unequaled, when combined, to any in this Union. But 

 some other occasion must be taken to amplify and verify this incidental point. 

 For that purpose and to execute it more thoroughly, we propose, when we can 

 get lime, a personal survey. Let us proceed with our breakfast, and familiar 

 categorical conversation over our pitcher of buttermilk. 



Mr. Hall and his neighbors are getting, we were glad to learn, all alive to 

 the vast importance oi under-draining their lowlands. He cuts his drains about 

 2k feet deep, and fills in with about I5 feet of stone; then inverts the sward 

 on the stone, and fills up with the dirt thrown from the dram. He doubts not 

 that the lands in the valley generally will double their present crops when well 

 under-drained, but we apprehend much will be imperfectly done in the begin- 

 ning. Our memorandum is that he could get under-draining done, where the 

 stone is at hand, for 50 cents a rod of I65 feet ; but that seems almost too cheap 

 to be correct — that is, if the drainer completes the work from beginning to end; 

 though we feel confident that Avas the statement ; and, upon reflection, a stout 

 man — especially an Irish ditcher, with his amphibious, muskrat habits — might do 

 good work at that, especially if found by his employer. We think it probable 

 that 31 instead of 2^ feet deep would be better, and even cheaper in the long run. 



After laying down his fields to grass, succeeding his root crops, the heaviest 

 crop is taken off the second year, but he counts on about 2| tons for the first 

 three years. Hay being worth there about $7 at the mow, this would give 

 $17 50 an acre, with none but the cost of cutting and curing. And, after all, 

 the great difference between the North and South is, that in the North their 

 crops are but a short time on hand — that is, their hoe crops, and their staples, 

 hay, stock, butter and cheese, hops, wool, apples, and fruit and poultry, require 

 comparatively little labor and short time to realize their value ; whereas, in the 

 South, the crops — rice, cotton, sugar and tobacco — are on hand from year's end 

 to year's end. The harvest-home trenches on the seed-time; it's toil, toil, toil 

 . — trouble, trouble, trouble — all the year round. Instead of the northern farm 



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