THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



485 



here allotted and put into a half bushel, and the 

 half bushel filled with sand or dry earth, and 

 extremely well mixed together in your own pre- 

 sence^or by yourself, which will answer two good 

 purposes, viz. : Isi, to prevent iliel'i, (or seeds thus 

 mixed, would not sell — and 2dly, the seedsman 

 being accustomed to sow a busiiel olvvheat to the 

 acre would be at no loss (o cast a bushel oT this or 

 any thing else, regularly on that quantity ol 

 ground. 



6th. It is expected you will begin to sow wheat 

 early in August, and in ground perlectly clean and 

 well ploughed. 1 would have, and do according- 

 ly direct, that not less than five pecks ol" seed be 

 sown on each acre. The plan ol the farm over 

 which you look is given to Mr. Lewis, from which 

 (he contents ol each field may be known. And 

 it is my express direction that every watch and 

 the best attention may be given, to see ihal this 

 quantity actually is put in; lor 1 have strong 

 suspicions (but this ought not to be hinted to ihem) 

 that the seedsmen help ihemselves to a pretty 

 large toll. 



7th. As soon as you have done sowing, and 

 even before, if it can be done conveniently, you 

 are to set heartily about thrashing or treading out 

 the wheat ; and as last as it is got out, to have il 

 delivered at the mill or elsewhere, according to di- 

 rections. The longer this business is delayed, the 

 more waste and embezzlement will there be ol the 

 crop. The wheat is to be well cleaned ; the chati 

 and light wheat are to be properly taken care ol lor 

 ilie horses or other stock — and the straw stacked 

 and secured aa it ought to be against weather and 

 other injuries ; and until the whole be delivered it 

 will require your constant and close attention. 



8ih. The oais at ihe larm you overlook are, I 

 presume, all cut ; in that case, let all the scythes, 

 and cradles, and rakes which you have received, 

 be delivered over to the mansion house ; or il'you 

 choose to keep them against next harvest, you 

 must be responsible !br ihem yourself. 



9th. The presumption also is, that the flax is, 

 ere this, pulled ; let it be well secured, and at a 

 proper season stripped ol' its seed and spread to 

 rot. During this operation let it be often turned 

 and examined, that it be not overdone, or receive 

 injury in any other respect by lying out too long. 



lOih. Get the cleanest and best wheat lor seed, 

 and that which is freest from onions. I would 

 have about one third of my whole crop sown with 

 the common wheat; one third with the while; 

 and the other ihird with the yellow bearded wheat. 

 The overseers (with Davy, as he knows the state 

 of his own larm and the quality of the wheat 

 which grows upon it, j may meet and decide among 

 themselves whether it would be best to have some 

 of each ol these sorts on every (arm ; or, in order 

 more effectually to prevent mixture, to have one 

 sort only on a liirm. In (he latter case, liie cut- 

 ting of that which ripens first, and so on, must he 

 accomplished by the (brce of all the farms, instead 

 of each doing its own work. If the seed on one 

 farm was to be sown on another, especially ifeeed 

 which grew on a light soil was to be sown on a 

 etitf" one ; and that which grew on a stiff' one 

 sown on light ground, advantages would unques- 

 tionably result from it. 



11th. The potatoes at the mansion house must 

 be worked by the ploughs from Union farm, and 

 Vol. X.-61 



when this is required, it would be best, I conceive, 

 to accomplish the work in a day. 



12 h. it is expected that the fences will be 

 made secure, and no damage permitted withia 

 them by creatures of any kind or belonging to any 

 body — mine any more than others. 



13lh. The greatest attention is to be paid to 

 the stocks ol'all kinds on the (arms ; and the most 

 that can be made of their manure and liiter. — 

 They are to be counted regularly, that no false 

 report may be made ; and missing ones, if any, 

 hunted lor until lound, or the manner of iheir go- 

 ing can be accounted lor satisfactorily. 



14ih. A weekly report, as usual, is lo be hand- 

 ed to Mr. Levvis. in this report, that 1 may 

 know better how the work goes on, mention when 

 you beuin to plough, hoe, or otherwise work in a 

 field, and when that field is finished. The in- 

 crease, decrease and changes are to be noted aa 

 heretoiore — and let me ask 



15ih. Why are the corn harrows thrown aside, 

 or so little used that I rarely of late ever see or 

 hear of their being at work 1 I have been run to 

 very considerable expense in providing these and 

 other implements (or my larms : and to my great 

 mortification and injury, find, generally speaking, 

 that wherever they were last used there they re- 

 main, if not stolen, till required again ; by which 

 means they, as well as the carls, receive so much 

 injury Irom the wet weather and the heat of the sun 

 as to be unfit for use ; to repair or supply the place 

 of which with new ones, my carpenters (who ought 

 to be otherwise employed) are continually occupied 

 in these jobs. Harrows, aller the ground is well 

 broken, would certainly weed and keep the corn 

 cle n with more ease than ploughs. 1 hope, there- 

 fore, they will be used. And it is vay express or- 

 der that the greatest care be taken of the tools of 

 every kind, cans and plantation implements, in fu- 

 ture — (or 1 can no longer submit to the losses I 

 am continually sustaining by neglect. 



16ih. There is nothing i more ardently desire, 

 nor indeed is there any more essential to my per- 

 manent interest, than of raising of live fences on 

 proper ditches or banks ; yet nothing has ever 

 been, in a general way, more shamelully neglected 

 or mismanaged ; (or, instead of preparing the 

 ground properly Ibr the reception of the seed, and 

 weeding and keeping the plants clean after they 

 come up — the seeds are hardly scratched into the 

 ground, and are suffered to be smothered by the 

 weeds and grass if they do come up: by which 

 means the expense I have been at in purchasing 

 and sending the seeds (generally from Philadel- 

 phia) together with the labor, such as it is, that 

 has been incurred, is not only lost, but (and which 

 is of infinite more importance to me) season after 

 season passes away and I am as far from the ac- 

 complishment of my object as ever. I mention 

 the matter thus fully to show how anxious I am 

 that all those seeds which have been sown or plant- 

 ed on the banks of the ditches should be properly 

 attended to ; and tr.e deficient spots made good, 

 ifyou have or can obtain the means for doing 

 if. 



17th. There is one thing I must caution you 

 against (without knowing whether there be cause 

 to charge you with it or not) — and that ie not to 

 retain any of my negroes who are able and fit to 

 work in the crop, in or about your own house, for 

 I your own purposes. This 1 do not allow any 



