THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



511 



to any extent, so as to know what its effects will be. 

 What appears to be the prospect of a (ariher 

 accession of settlers (rom that quarter 1 



j^nswer. The prospect seems to be very good. 

 I have no doubt from the in/brmation I have ob- 

 tained, that they will continue to come amongst 

 us. They seem to be delighted with the climate, 

 and generally pleaded with our people, and I know 

 of no one who has settled here who is desirous to 

 return to the north. There is now a strong dispo- 

 sition, amongst the wealthy larniers of Dutchess 

 county (the richest county in the state) to pur- 

 chase lands and remove lo this county. Much 

 might be done by our legislators to promoie this 

 emigration, so important to our impoverished and 

 wilderness slate ; bui I forbear lo enter upon this 

 topic at the present." 



This agricultural immigration into our stale from 

 New York marks a new and cheating era in the 

 history and lortunes of Virginia. It has all taken 

 place within two or three years past, and consists 

 of some of the most intelligent, worthy and sub- 

 stantial farmers of one of the most improved and 

 lertile districts of the north. It is impossible to 

 prize too highly such an accession of industry, 

 capital and intelligence to our agricultural com- 

 munity, or to estimate the full extent ot" the good 

 efl'ecis, direct and consequential, which it may 

 bring in its train. What an emphatic homage is 

 it, gentlemen, to the superior natural advantages 

 of our state, which have hitherto been too much 

 slighted and neglected by ourselves. It is bui the 

 beginning of the influx of enterprise, skill and 

 wealth which will flow in upon us from other 

 states, while we retain in conientrnent and happi- 

 ness our own native popul-ition, i/ by improved 

 systems of husbandry v.'e do our pan tn develop- 

 ing and demonsirating the capabilities and pro- 

 ductive powers olour soil, under the hand of per- 

 .severing and enlightened culture. What a field 

 of usefulness lo our country is here opened to us 

 all ! It is a race o: noble emulation in which we 

 may all contend lor the prize of true patrioiiso). 

 It is an oft-quoted saying of a celebrated writer, 

 "that whoever makes two ears of corn, or two 

 blades ol grass, to grow where only one grew be- 

 fore, deserves belter ol mankind, and perlorms 

 more essential service to his country than tlie 

 whole race of politicians put together." How 

 much is the merit and the magnitude ol this ser- 

 vice increased, when at the same time by the ex- 

 ample of his fruitful labors he attaches, whh new 

 and indissoluble ties, his children and his neigh- 

 bors to the land of their birth, and brings a dozen 

 uselLii citizens into the state, where aforetime a 

 dozen useful citizens were accustomed lo leave it. 

 Every man who performs his part in such a worir, 

 however obscure his destiny in other respects, or 

 noiseless his path of lil(3, is a public beneliicicr, 

 and a patriot. The humblest laborer in such a 

 cause, 



" Serves his country, recompenses well 



The state beneath the shadow of who:,o vine 

 He sits secure, and in the scale of life 

 Holds no ignoble, if a slighted place. 

 The man whose virtues are more felt than seon, 

 Must drop indeed the hope of noisy praise ; 

 But he may boast what few that win it can. 

 That if his country stand not by his skill. 

 At least his folhes have not wrought her fall." 



THE MEDITERRANEAN WHEAT. 



For ttic Fanners' Register. 

 In a communication which I made to the Farm- 

 ers' Register, which appeared in the number for 

 February, I mentioned that 1 had procured some 

 wheat J'rom Pennsylvania, called there the Medi- 

 terranean, which was said to resist the Hessian 

 fly. ! have since learnt that it was broughlMo 

 this country by Commodore Jycob Jonee. After 

 it had been grown in Delaware, some of it was 

 sent by Doctor Nandine, of Wilminglon, to Vir- 

 ginia, where it is called fly prooli. Last year, 

 about the 10th of October, I sowed len bushels on 

 two and a half acres, (rom which I gathered fifty- 

 six. As no part ol my crop was injured by the 

 fly, from m^' experience, I can say nothing of its 

 fly proof quality ; but it ripened one week earlier 

 than niy other wheat, and escaped the rust, by 

 which my general crop was diminished one-half 

 in quantity. I have this year sown forty-four 

 bushels, on (wenty-two acres; and should 1 live to 

 gather my crop, and the Kegister then be in life, 

 (which I sincerely hope,) I will give you an ac- 

 count of it. Since ihe first appearance of the 

 Hessian fly, on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, 

 no wheat has been found to be proof against it; 

 and our crops are often much injured by the rust. 

 If experience shall prove this wheat to be exempt 

 from both, it will be of great value to the country. 



I heard from a gentleman of this county, that 

 the Briliimore m.iliers placed a low estiniaie upon 

 the Mediterranean wheat, and was desirous to 

 ascertain its real value, i had two bushels ground 

 at a neighborhood mill ; I direcied the miller to 

 weigh the wheat and ihp fine flour. He informed 

 me that they weighed 120 pounds; and, after de- 

 ducting one-eighth for tell, produced 69 pounds of 

 fine flour. It made good bread, in the estimation 

 of my family ; and, as a further test, I sent a spe- 

 cimen to a lady in Talbot, and another in this 

 county, both of them well experienced in these 

 mattery, who concurred in our opinion that the 

 bread was good, but inferior lo what is made from 

 our white wheat. 



In a former number of the Register you staled 

 that jou would be pleased to receive any uncom- 

 mon fossils (bund in our. marl banks. More than 

 twenty-five years ago, in ditching some low 

 ground, I found a large tooih, which was given 

 to JMr. Haden, a den'ist in Baiiimore, who pro- 

 nounced it lo be the tooth of an Asiatic elephant. 

 Since, when near the spot, I found in a marl bank 

 two others correppondirjg with the first. One cf 

 them I have presented to the Baltimore museum ; 

 the superintendent says it belonged to the Ampri- 

 can mastodon. The other I still have, it weighs 

 12 pounds; and, il you "desire to have it, 1 will 

 have it put on board of any vessel you shall name, 

 trading between Petersburg and Baltimore. 



If the Register shall terminate at the end of 

 the year, this will close my correspondence, and I 

 avail myself of this occasion to express the plea- 

 sure and instruction I have received from (he Re- 

 gister, and the regret I feel at its cessation. 



Wm. Caujiichael. 

 Wye,^q.A. Co.,E. S. Md.,. 

 Nov. iGik, 1842. 



[The gift offered by Mr. Carmichael "..'ill be ac- 

 cepted with pleasure. It may be sent (securely 



