THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



299 



waler courses ; some few cultivate wheat, thouph 

 very few ; but few sow grass seed, and then ihe 

 preference is jriven to red clover, which is mostly 

 grazed, very little cured lor hay, so that our cattle 

 have to subsist during winter on corn lops and 

 husks, and by the spring are generally perfect 

 Kosinantes. 



The arable part of farms is generally small, 30 

 or 40 acres to 200, some few 300 to 400. Hus- 

 bandry has been injured and retarded very much 



and lambs are commonly sold in the Norfolk 

 market, and pay better than raising beeves and 

 mutton. 



Most of our people are opposed to hook farm- 

 ing, and of course to innovaiions on the old sys- 

 tem, and denounce much of what they hear of 

 in agricultural periodicals as humbugs, and hence 

 arises, in a great measure, the low ebb of agri- 

 culture among us. 



Nearly all the improvements made hereabouts 



in this county, by the facilities afforded for speed- are by those who have been readers of the Ame 



ily converting our labor into money, by lumber rican Farmer, the Farmers' Register, and the 



and the products of the river realizing more from " ' ' 



an effiective force, (men.) than the slow returns 



of agriculture on worn lands, few being able to 



employ such force in clearing or improving their 



farms. Still there has been some improvement in 



management by husbanding manure, by penning 



the cattle, and littering the pens, which is applied 



in the spring on the corn ground mostly in the 



hill, or on the sweet potato and melon crops, by 



those living on or near the water courses. 



1 may eay there is no uniform system, if any 

 system at all, in regard to the rotation of crops. 

 The arable land is generally divided into two 

 fields, often only one ; one is cultivated always in 

 corn, or corn and peas, the other sometimes in 

 oats,; though many are prejudiced against oats, 

 thinking they impoverish the soil more than corn, 

 and with such, the field lies idle or grazed until 

 the next year, when it is planted in corn. But 

 few have three fields, and no o.je more ; so that 

 you may judge the improvement is slow, if any; 

 the greater part arises from the decay of the pea 

 vines and the weeds and grasses, which grow 

 after the suspension of the cultivation of the corn 

 crop. The ploughing is generally shallow, to suit 

 the surface soil, 3 to 4 inches deep, sometimes 

 5 or 6 on belter or improved lands. 



The land is always broken up with the plough, 

 (Freeborn's cast-iron generally,) then checked off 

 4 feet square, or5 by 3, and culiivated with the old 

 fluke hoe plough, or three hoe harrow, common- 

 ly called ihe Eastern Shore harrow, as it was in- 

 troduced here li-orn thence ; which keeps the land 

 level and saves much hand labor. But lew ridge, 

 and cultivate one way only, though that system 

 has a few advocates, and I am decidedly one of 

 them. Some fevv use the double-shovel plough, 

 which is a most effective implement, the best 

 perhaps we have, both in execution and saving 

 of labor, from the lime the corn comes up until 

 it is laid by. 



The corn blades are always stripped from the 

 stalks, and then the tops are cut, cured and 

 stacked; the corn is gathered Irom the stalk and 

 housed, as no small grain is to succeed it that fall. 



The product per acre is about 15 bushels ol 

 corn and 10 to 15 of oats ; in some instances more, 

 often below. 



Our fences are made of pine rails, crooked or 

 worm fences as they are called, except in a few 

 instances they are watiled or bushed, on a bank 

 thrown up by digging a ditch; cedar boughs are 

 generally used, driving in ihe banks stakes about 

 one and a half or two feet apart, to weave in the 

 branches, and makes, when care is taken, a very 

 pretty and substantial fence. 



Our teams are mostly horses, somelimes a 

 mule or two, and rarely oxen ; no horses are rais- 

 ed for sale and but fevv for farm supplies ; calves 



Cultivator. 



I regret that I have not been able to give more 

 interest in my reply to the queries submitted by 

 the Board of Agriculture ; my occupation is not 

 wholly agricultural, my age too advanced, and 

 travel too circumscribed, to give inlbrmalion 

 entirely correct; it it should be worth nothing, 

 you will of course throw it aside, or glean such 

 parts as your judgment may prompt. 



We have no agricultural society in the county, 

 to our shame ; there was one in Chuckatuck for 

 a short time three years ago, but so little interest 

 was taken, and but by a few, that it was given up. 



\ am pleased at the establishment of a Board 

 of Agriculture, and think it calculated to do much 

 good. Respectfully, William Sheperd. 



REMARKS ON MR. TURNEr's THEORY ON RO- 

 TATIONS. 



To the Editor of ttie Farmers' Register. 



Big Lick, B.oanoke, June 13 /A, 1842. 



* * * Whilst I have my pen in hand, and 

 am fresh from your Register, 1 will scribble what 

 has been suggested to me by one of the pieces, 

 which you can use your pleasure in throwing 

 aside or publishing. 



In the number to which I allude, the last, joti 

 publish the views of J. H. Turner, on rotation, 

 without comment. Are your readers to construe 

 silence into approval % We look to you as a 

 guide, to conduct us along the safest path, when 

 we are perplexed by the discordant and contra- 

 dictory theories of distinguished agriculturists; 

 and surely if there ever was an occasion when 

 your counsel and warning were required, it was 

 when you gave currency to the views of Mr. 

 Turner. This gentleman, from his successful 

 (arming, his zeal for the agricultural inleresi, and 

 his well written communicaiions, has acquired a 

 distinction which gives more than ordinary 

 weight and influence to his opinions. Of course 

 many, in a spirit of blind confidence, will em- 

 brace as the sound and irrefragable results of 

 experience, whatever this practical farmer may 

 advance, however opposed to the lights of science ; 

 unless you iiccompany the publication vviih your 

 dissent from the errors and fallacies, in which he 

 has involved himsellj and into which he is likely, 

 by his specious reasoning, to seduce many of hia 

 brethren. 



What do you think of the leading idea of his 

 communication, No, 4, "that a rotation of 

 crops is unnecessary 7" Is it not opposed to 

 every opinion on this subject ever advanced by 

 yourself? Is it not at war with every principle 

 established by the experiments in vegetable 



