THE FARMER'S REGISTER. 



515 



The only condition necessary for the introduc- 

 tion of this one amendment of the law, ia a mea- 

 sure vvliich nearly every good farmer of a district 

 gerjerally under culture, has already adopted, and 

 which every one ought to adopt, even if havinrr 

 regard merely to his own interest as a feinler and 

 fattenerorhogs. This measure is to !orbid iiis hog? 

 ranging at large in the woods, or on waste and 

 unenclosed lands ; and to feed ihem in sties, and 

 by grazing on his clover fields. There are few 

 farmers in eastern Virginia who have not already 

 learned that they can make no profit by keeping 

 hogs on " woods range." fn ordinary times there 

 is so little food to be there obtained, that the corn 

 necessary to be furnished to the hogs is more than 

 they are vvorih when finally brought, half-s'arved 

 or half-wild, to the pen to be fattened. And, in 

 their then usual lean state, thev will still consume 

 as much food, before being fit for slaughter, as 

 would nearly or quite serve to buy as much pork 

 in market. And when there is a good crop of 

 acorns, which is an occurrence too irregular and 

 uncertain to be relied on, the then abundant 

 supply causes the ranging hogs to go astray, and 

 often become wild, so that a large proportion fall 

 a prey to hog stealers or hog' hunters — whose 

 gratification, more than that of any others, is 

 promoted by a "good acorn season." The writer 

 was fully convinced long ago, by his own previous 

 experience, that no profit or benefit was to be de- 

 rived from such sources ordinarily ; and though 

 then possessingsome hundreds ofacresol lovv-lying 

 tide-marsh and poor wood-land without his enclo- 

 sure, his hogs were withdrawn from both twenty 

 years ago, and have since had no benefit whatever 

 from his own or other persons' waste lands. Yet, 

 merely that oiher persons may enjoy the benefit 

 of letting a few half starved and totally unprofit- 

 able hogs range upon the lands which the owner 

 thus abandoned as worthless lor this puipose, he 

 (under the general law of the land) would have 

 not only to yield the fiill use of such land to his 

 neighbors' stock, but also to incur ari expense of 

 fencing twenty-fold as great as the profit of all 

 the stock so ranging, to prevent them from en- 

 croaching further, and getting upon the cultivated 

 crops. This, the former and still the general 

 etate of things, has indeed been beneficially altered 

 in this particular case by several circumstances, 

 and especially by the late amendment of the law, 

 which makes certain tide-waters and other navi- 

 gable waters lawful fences. The manifest bene- 

 fits which have already accrued to a firge portion 

 of the agricultural community from this partial 

 departure from the general principle of the law 

 of enclosures, ought alone to be enough to induce 

 the further extension of such relief^ 



II. Drainage nf swamps. 



The legislative policy of Virginia does not per- 

 mit the drainage of extensive swamps, if the 

 stream passes neceesarily thronsh several or many 

 different properties. There is indeed no direct or 



too large ; and his was not a case of very unusual hard- 

 ship in this respect. Very many individual farmers 

 pay more annually for the keeping up of totally useless 

 fences, than the whole clear income of their farms. 



Ed. F. R. 



1 designed prohibition on the statute book ; but ne- 

 [ vertliclees the indirect prohibition is as efiective as 

 j if expressed positively, and the resiriction made 

 j valid by heavy penalties. A small swamp, or 

 j wet bottom, corifined to one property, and having 

 therein the laciliiies lor sufficient descent and dis- 

 charge for the surplus water when collected by 

 ditches, needs nothing for its being perfectly 

 drained and properly cultivated, but the indivi- 

 dual proprietor's will, intelligence and industry. 

 And, with all existing deficiencies of their proprie- 

 tors, most of euch lands have already been, or 

 scon will be, drained and put under gross or crain 

 crops. Si) far the silence of i he law can do no 

 harm, and nothing is required of its aetion. But 

 ("or the greater parr, ih? drainage of such lands re- 

 quires the agreement and co operation of several, 

 and, in some cases, of many individuals ; and the 

 want of either (he will or the ability by any one 

 proprietor operates as a complete bar to the pro- 

 cedure of all. The greater the extent of the 

 swf-mp, (as on Elackwater and Chickahominy ri- 

 vers, and many other long and swampy streams,) 

 and the greater the nuisance its coniinuancce 

 forms to public as well as private interests, and 

 the greater the number of proprietors, so will 

 be greater the impediments to (or rather the more 

 certain the impossibility of) any combined and 

 General action for drainage. Indeed, if all who 

 are free-agents among the proprietors were anx- 

 ious to drain, and were perfectly agreed as to the 

 general plan of operations, yet if there were but 

 a single orphan's properly, in possession or rever- 

 sion, or widow's dower or life-right, in the swamp 

 lands, it would effectually serve to stay all proce- 

 dure for the improvement ; unless indeed (which 

 can never be expected) some one or a few of the 

 proprietors were willing to construct and maintain 

 the whole general work of drainage, for the equal 

 gain of others who would pay nothing towards 

 the object. Indeed, even this excessive degree 

 of liberality would not always remove the lesral 

 and effective obstacles to such drainage. For 

 some one proprietor may be so stupid or perverse, 

 or so influenced by some peculiar motive or inte- 

 rest, as to be opposed to the drainage in view. 

 And such person, even if owning but a strip of 

 ten yards width across the course for (he main 

 drain, may effectually forbid its being cut ; or, 

 still worse, may close it after its being opened and 

 in useful operation, and thus destroy all the bene- 

 fits before achieved for the lands above.* Under 



* This supposed case is not imaginary or unprece- 

 dented. We are well assured of the truth of the fol- 

 lowing facts. The land of a farmer, A, in lower 

 Virginia was penetrated by an extensive flat swamp, 

 of which the lower extremity, and natural outlet, was 

 in the land of his neighbor B. As there was no hope 

 that the latter would aid in it as a joint undertaking, A 

 agreed to do the whole w^ork of making a general main 

 drain, at his sole expense, for the benefit of both pro- 

 prietors. The work was executed, and would have 

 operated to drain both farms, and free them from the 

 heavy burden before imposed by the nuisance of the 

 swamp.. All that was required and expected of B was 

 to keep open the drain, after its being thus constructed 

 for him gratuitously, and to let his lower part of it 



