368 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



niedied. Our farmers have heretofore been en- 

 tirely engrossed with the very important matter of 

 rendering their eoilin calcareous. As this great 

 task is completed, more lime and attention is de- 

 voted to other branches of agricuiturnl improve- 

 ment. The great benefit of draining is illustrated 

 at Cawson's, the farm of Mr. John Meade, where 

 the product has been increased from three to seven 

 barrels of corn per acre, by no other process than 

 that of freeing the land of all excess of water. 



Live stock. — Our county is emphatically grain- 

 growing. A few surplus lambs and veafe are 

 sold, and old oxen are converted into beeves, but 

 no animals are raised expressly for market. Not 

 enough hogs are raised to supply the home con- 

 sumption, and we are mainly dependent on the 

 west for our supply of mules and horses. This is 

 a matter winch ought to be corrected, and which, 

 it is believed, is in the course of correction. Much 

 more pork is now raised in the county than even 

 five years ago. The neat stock are of the indif- 

 ferent, though hardy native breed. Some atten- 

 tion of late has been paid to the improvement of 

 both cattle and hog?, by the introduction of ani- 

 mals of a superior breed. 



For many years we have been exempt from any 

 general and disastrous diseases amongst the stock. 



Dairy management. — No revenue of moment 

 is drawn from this source. Kvery farmer makes 

 enough butter lor his own use, and some lew 

 make it to sell. This, like many other matters, 

 has heretofore been neglected, because, in under- 

 taking the improvements which are even yet in 

 their infancy, it was impossible to attend to every 

 thing. Our farmers, therefore, very judiciously 

 turned all their attention and devoted all their 

 energies to matters of most importance. The 

 means of maintaining good stocks of cattle are 

 already greatly increased, and we doubt not, in a 

 few years, that the dairy will be a fruitful source 

 of profit. 



Implements. — For breaking land, the McCor- 

 mick plough is a very general favorite. Parker's 

 thrashing machine is considered decidedly the 

 best in use amongst us, and the only obstacle to 

 its universal adopfion is its cost. Hussey's wheat 

 reaping machine has been introduced on one of 

 the Brandon estates, but owing principally to iis 

 inability to work when the vpheat is damp from 

 rain or dew, no material advantage has yet re- 

 sulted from it. 



Obstacles to agricultural improvement — 1. 

 Whatever tends to divert into other channels 

 labor or capital which would otherwise be em- 

 ployed in farming, is an obstacle to the advance- 

 ment of agriculture. In the southern portion of 

 the county, the getting of staves, timber, shingles 

 and lumber of every variety, for all of which Pe- 

 tersburg affords a ready market, engages the at- 

 tention of many of the liarmers, and occupies time 

 and labor, which they would otherwise be Ibrced 

 to devote to their farms. On the river, in like 

 manner, the early profits as well as the irregular 

 life of the fishermen induce many smaller pro- 

 prietors to neglect the culture and improvement 

 of the soil. 



2. The country stores which are licensed by 

 court are too often little else than tippling-shops. 

 They serve to attract the idle and dissipated, to 

 corrupt our negroes, and not unfrequently become 

 the receptacles of stolen goods. 



3. One of »he main obstacles to improvement 

 is the want of free intercommunication of ideas 

 and opinions between farmers. We often see 

 the most important operations managed different- 

 ly by diflerent farmers, and of course with difierent 

 results. Now there must be a best way for doin^ 

 every thing, and it is the interest of every farmer 

 to find it out. Agriculture, in comparison with 

 other sciences, labors under the great disadvantage 

 that often a series of years are required for the 

 performance of the simplest experiments. Take 

 lor example the subject of rotation, and from three 

 to six years must elapse before the advantages of 

 a particular rotation can be tested, and as many 

 more lor them to be fully confirmed. In chemis- 

 try or natural philosophy, on the contrary, as many 

 days or perhaps as many hours would' suffice for 

 the settlement of the most important principles. 

 Hence no one man can ever expect in an ordi- 

 nary liletime by himseli; and depending on his 

 own exertions and resources, however ample they 

 may be, to periect or greatly improve any system 

 of agriculture. How is this difficulty to be re- 

 medied ? By giving each farmer all the advan- 

 tage of the experience of his brother farmers. 

 The best means of effecting this would be the 

 organization of properly constituted agricultural 

 societies throughout our land. Every farmer 

 should become a member of such society, and fiir- 

 nish his lime of experience for a conmion liind for 

 the advantage of all. If every county had its 

 society, and there existed a free correspondence 

 and interchange of views and opinion between 

 them, each member would be benefited by the 

 expt-neiice ol every other larmer in the state. 



4 The last and most important obstacle to 

 agricultural improvement, to which your committee 

 will reler, is tlie want ol" governmental aid. The 

 fact is notorious that our legislature has heretofore 

 done almost nothing Ibr agriculture. While such 

 has been the case here, it has been far difi"erent 

 in some of our sister states. The legislatures of 

 the New England states, of New York, Pennsyl- 

 vania and Ohio, actuated by more enlarged views, 

 have all taken this important subject in hand, 

 tinder their Ibstering care agriculture in their re- 

 spective states has advanced with the most rapid 

 strides. Like effects follow like causes, and here 

 as there, could the same action be induced, the 

 same result would certainly follow ; and have our 

 farmers no right to expect such action 1 It is an 

 axiom universally admitted that all the burthens 

 of society rest finally on the shoulders of the pro- 

 ducing class— the farmers pay all the taxes, they 

 bear all the burthens of government. And what, 

 it may be reasonably asked, has government done 

 Ibr the larming interest? Is it not strange, in a 

 country purely agricultural, and where all power 

 rests with the cultivators of the soil, that in the 

 legislative hall the agricultural is the only interest 

 unprovided lor. Laws are enacted for the benefit, 

 and agriculiure taxed in support of the commer- 

 cial, mechanical, and worse than all, the paper 

 bank system. Colleges are instituted and univer- 

 sities endowed to educate the lawyer and the 

 physician, but ask for so much as an agricultural 

 school or experimental farm and the idea is scouted 

 from the hall. Farmers of Virginia ! This 

 should not be so. It is your fault rather than the 

 fault of your legislators. The people must first 

 move. Bring about the right feeling at home, 

 and the legislature will yield ready obedience. 



