1839] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



107 



eubjects for encomium, however highly deserv- 

 ed ; and it is especially requisite that we shall not 

 be tempted, upon any occasion, to admit any such 

 obituary notices as are customary in newspapers, 

 which, by the irequent abuse and prostitution of 

 praise, or want ofall discrimination in applying it, 

 have become as mere words of form ; having nei- 

 ther fitness of application, nor truth. 



Mr. Harrison's communications to the Farmers' 

 Register were always valuable ; but his too great 

 diffidence, and his shyness of public observation, 

 and misplaced fear of criticism or censure, re.iirain- 

 edhis pen within limits much more contracted than 

 our wishes or the public interest would have re- 

 quired ; and the additional value of his real sig- 

 nature was never permitted to be given to any one 

 of his communications. As his scruples, on this 

 head, (as all but himself would have considered,) 

 were altogether misplaced and unnecessary, we 

 shall take permission thus to state the authorship 

 of the short communication which was designed 

 to be published as anonymous, and also to give the 

 letter which was meant to be altogether private. 

 There is nothing in it that is improper to be thus 

 and of this time presented ; and the contents will 

 be the more interesting on accounts of the fact, 

 that before the letter was closed, or indeed en- 

 tirely completed, that the writer had ceased to 

 live. The blanks for numbers, as shown below, 

 were left thus in the writing, to be filled by parti- 

 cular rel'erence to accurate accounts of actual ex- 

 penses. From Wm. B. Harrison, esq., from 

 whom the letters have just been received, we 

 learn tliat liie writing of what follows was one of 

 the last acts ol" his lamented brother. 



The tenor of the inquiries which drew forth 

 this letter may be inlbrred from the answer. The 

 "Byrd manuscript," the publication of which, en- 

 tire, we had urged on the possessor, is a (olio vol- 

 ume of the ivrilings of his distinguished ancestor. 

 Col. Wm. Byrd of Westover. By the favor of 

 Mr. Harrison, we had formerly been permitted to 

 extract the portion of this old and curious volume, 

 which gives the journal and account in detail, of 

 the earliest passage through the great Dismal 

 Swamp. (Vol. iv, p. 593, Farmers' Reeister.) 

 We shall accept (if the ofl'er be still available.) 

 with orreat pleasure, the use (as restricted,) of this 

 precious volume; and in making use of it, will 

 comply carefully with the wishes and directions of 

 the possessor. — Ei>. Far. Reg. 



Edmund Ruffixt, Esq. 



Brandon, January I4th, 18.39. 

 Dear sir — I received your message by mv 

 brother, and subsequently, your favor of the 4ih 

 ult. I very soon prepared a reply, but it was so 

 meager and unsaiisli^ciory, that I permitted it to 

 remain in my pocket, intendlnor, so soon as I poi 

 opportunity, to put it in better form, and forward it 

 to you. The engagements, however, of compa- 



ny and of business, have heretofore hindered me. I 

 generally find Christmas a most harassing pe- 

 riod, Irom the needful preparations for the coming 

 year, as well as winding up the affairs of the past. 

 These difficulties have been enhanced on the re- 

 cent occasion, by my parting with a manager who 

 had been eleven years in my service, and who 

 had so thoroughly identified himself with my bu- 

 siness, that I have found it hard to get along with- 

 out him. Although the causes oi' delay I have 

 detailed still exist in some degree, I cannot con- 

 sent loniier, even to sce//i inattentive to your wishes. 



I should not like to enijaLiie in the publication of 

 the Byrd manuscript, even if I felt entirely at 

 liberty "to do so. i placed if some time ago, in the 

 hands of some jrentlemen in Richmand, with au- 

 thority to extract such portions as iliey thought 

 proper, lor the use of the Historical Society of 

 V^irijinia; and I have heard tliat i3!40 had been ex- 

 fiended in copyiiiii the selected parts. AVere 1 eo 

 inclined, it would be necessary to confer with 

 them before 1 coulil uniieriMke the publication of 

 the whole work in an iiidcpendent volume. I do 

 not, however, consider myself precluded from al- 

 lowiuiT you to [Miblii^h as much as you think pro- 

 per, in the Re^isier, only stipulating before-hand, 

 that the relique, which I irreatly prize, shall not 

 leave your liniit?e ; that the parts chosen for publi- 

 cation, shall he carel'ully examined by you, and 

 such alteriiiiiiiis and corrections made as the form 

 of the author may recjuire; and finally, that copies 

 in manuscript iie'taki>n f!)r the press, instead of 

 prinfinir from the work itself With these condi- 

 tions, ii will lie entirely at your service, and I will 

 Ibrwaril it to you by the first sale conveyance. 



I had riilicr post[)one lor a while, a report of 

 my expcriiiiriit with the camel-lighters in the 

 transporiaiinii ofmarl. I, for some time, suspend- 

 ed that oixM-.iiiou, and have biit recently resumed 

 it. I will endeavor to make some observations 

 which shall enable me to enter more into detail 

 than I now (;an. My business is so extensive, 

 and ucnerailv, so prcssinjr, and my amusements, 

 pruh pudnr ! so atirai-tivc, that I do not attend 

 nmch lo ihe minutia- ol things. 1 do not consider 

 camel-lighters at all adaplcil to distant, and not 

 well to river transportation, owing to their being 

 unmanageable, and too much at the mercy of the 

 wind and the tide. Their ease of draught ren- 

 ders them particularly suitable to shallow creek 

 naviuation ; and for the purpose you mention, 

 vizTthe removal of mar.-^h-mud, I, on the whole, 

 esteem them preferable to any description oflighl- 

 er, and beyond comparison .<;o, but lor two or three 

 ohjections, which are so cogent as to bring the 

 shallow open scow into powerful competition 

 with them. The objections to the camels are the 

 necessity of using pumjts, which are so apt to aet 

 out of order i/i the hands of negroes, the difiiouliy 

 of sloppintr leaks when they occur, and should 

 one accidentally turn over, of uprighiing it. One 

 would suppose, to look at the broad flat things, 

 that the latter casualty never could occur; but it 

 nevertheless, did to one of mine, and the trouble of 

 resiorins it is hardly conceivable. My lighters 

 are 40 feet by 12, and rather more than inches 

 deep. The cost , comjjleie, I think, fully % 

 One of ihree-fourths the siz** specified, and of 

 thinner plank, would probably answer your pur- 

 pose. I merely gueps at the cost, which may be 

 very wide of ihe mark. A great deal ©f timber 



