THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



887 



perfectly well here, and the Back river country | them clear of grass with the hoe; reset where 

 seems peculiarly adapted lo them. At Brierfield, i they are missing; run the cultivator through the 

 on James river, iVIr. Bartle has been makini^ hay middles, and when the plants are oC sufficient size 



(or 15 or 16 years. Mr. Andrew McClean con 

 linues the system, and thus supplies the principal 

 provender lor a large stock ol' horses and cattle. 

 The great obstacle to the successJul cultivation ol 

 artificial fjrasses here appears to be the rapidity 

 with which weeds and the natural grasses groiv ; 

 but this I have no doubt can in a great degree be 

 remedied by cleansing the land by proper ullage 



and have com.Tnenced running free!}', throw a fur- 

 row from the middles io the bed on each side. A 

 boy should lollovv alter the plough to uncover the 

 vines. This completes the cultivation, and ia a 

 short time the ground is completely covered. The 

 vines throw out small roots Irom each joint, which 

 itiimediately take hold ol the earth : it is thought 

 best to break this connexion, and it is recom- 



aiid thick sowmg : lo use grass seed sparingly is mended to go alter a rain with a rake or crooked 



lo throw it away, and lose the use ol' your land 

 besides. 



The use of clover is extending rapidly, and few 

 farmers of any intelligence entirely dispense with 

 it. Twenty years ago it was unknown as a field 

 crop ; now the clover field is as extensive as the 

 wheat or oat fiold, but it is grazed and turned in 

 for wheat. 



Our (arms are generally small, varying from 

 100 to 800 acres, average about 200. The old 

 three-shift system is still the prevailing one. Many 

 have adopted the four- shift, as they find they can- 

 not enjoy the lull benefit of the clover lallow willi 

 the old rotation. I prefer the four-shift ; and iDy 

 rotation is corn, oats, clover, wheat. 



Corn, wheat and oats are our staple ; no tobacco 

 is raised. A few years since the Palma Chrisli 

 was extensively cultivated, but it is found to 

 be an expensive crop, and is now almost totally 

 abandoned. The farmer who raises this crop, 

 usually has to buy his corn and Ibdder; and the 

 condition of his stock in the spring speaks a lan- 

 guage which cannot be misunderstood. It is a 

 great exhauster and returns nothing to the land. 

 The cullivaticn of the sweet potato has been 

 considerably extended within the last three years, 

 and promisi'd to become a profitable crop ; the 

 losses, however, sustained last year, Irom not 

 meeting with the expected dem uid from the 

 north, have deterred many this year from |»roie- 

 cuting the culture. The farmer, however, has 

 this consoiaiion, if he cannot eeil them, he can 

 feed them to tiis hogs, and, npxt to corn, ! know 

 of nothing he could raise to more advantage lijr 

 them. 

 The mode of culture here is as follows : 

 Prepare a rich bed with unlermented stable 

 manure, in a dry situation, and as early as possi- 

 ble in the spring ; when ail danger Irom frost has 

 passed, lay the slips or small potatoes side by side 

 all over the bed, and cover Ihem about an inch 

 deep by sifting rich mould over them. Leave 

 them to sprout. 



Having thoroughly manured your land, which 

 should be the lightest and poorest you have, 

 break it up well and drag ; cross plough it and 

 drag it again and again, until you get it well pul- 

 verized ; list it by throwing two or three furrows 

 together with a small plough, leaving the ridges 

 or lists two and a half or three feet apart ; run a 

 garden rake lengthwise over the ridges to level 

 the lops and rake off the clods. The land is now 

 ready lor plaining. 



When your potato e|>routs are three or four 

 inches high, pick tiiem out of the bed by pulling 

 them up with one hand, whilst with the other you 

 prevent the displacement of the potato by pressing 

 on it. Set them out with a dibble aa you do cab- 

 bage plants, Irom 18 to 20 inches apart. Keep 

 Vol. X.-43 



stick and pull them up in the middles. 



The crop is harvested by throwing down thfe 

 beds on each side with a plough, taking out the 

 potatoes with the hand or a hoe, or throwing them 

 out by a third bout bf the plough. They are then 

 assorted, and the smallest reserved for ceed for 

 the next year, although the slips are generally 

 prelerred. These are made by cuttings (rom the 

 vine 12 or 18 inches long, covered up in the 

 ground, leaving one or both ends out, and worked 

 as the general crop is. 



The great art in preserving the potatoes or slips 

 through the winter, consists in putting them away 

 in good order. If they are bruised or skinned 

 they will invariably rot. They should be handled 

 as little as possible, and it is therefore best to lake 

 them directly lt"om the field in baskets and place 

 then) where they are to remain through the win- 

 ter: have no second or third handling. A warm 

 dry cellar is the best place to keep them in. Make 

 a good bed ot pine leaves, lay the potatoes on it 

 in a pile; let them remain so with the door or 

 window open, to undergo their sweat; and when 

 the seauon is so lar advanced as to threaten (i^ost, 

 cover them well with pine leaves and close the 

 doors and windows light. Occasionally, during 

 the winter, when the weather is fine and warm, 

 you may admit the air and sun lor a short time, to 

 carry oii' any dampness that may have collected 

 in the cellar. 



In the cultivation of our staple crops almost 

 every farmer has his own peculiar lancy. In the 

 corn crop, the plough, and more especially the 

 hoe, are much le^s used than Ibrmerly. The har- 

 row and cultivator accomplish the principal part 

 of the work. Few think of hoeing their corn 

 more than once, and some dispense with it alto- 

 L'ether. Their answer is, "they can't afford to 

 use the hoe." The public works have so en- 

 hanced the price of labor in this neighborhood, 

 that a much smaller farm force is used than for- 

 merly. 1 am of opinion it might still be reduced 

 to advantage. We cultivate too much land : if 

 we would throw out one half of our fields to rest, 

 under a cover of clover and other grasses, we 

 might dispense with one half of our laboring (brce 

 of negroes and horses ; and in two or three years 

 the one half would produce more than the whole 

 did before. 



VVe usually ()lougli about (bur inches deep. 

 Some of our o!d-(ashioned (armers still go on the 

 scratching system, for (ear of turning under (he 

 rich top soil ; but deep ploughing is becoming 

 decidedly the fashion. On our light lands the 

 ground ia broken up flat in the spring for corn, 

 which is planted as soon thereafter as practicable, 

 say from the first to the tenth of April. On Back 

 river, where the lands are stiff and wet, this sys- 

 tem would be impracticable ; they plough as early 



