1839] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



155 



One thousand one hundred and thirteen dollars 

 and thirty-seven cents, from which I leave the 

 reader to make his own deduction (or the year's 

 expense of cultivation and marketing. This much i 

 I affirm, that no acre of the above land, except the! 

 Dr. One, acre of Fairfax land in accH loith 



one in turnips last year, has ever cost $15 to im- 

 prove it, and that every acre lias paid me from 

 $25 to $50 annually since the lime and manure 

 were applied; always doubling or trebling the cost 

 of improvement the first year. 



The owner. Cr. 



1838., 



No. 1 



To saleable value of the land $8 00, 

 60 bushels of lime at r2-| per bush. 

 Paid for hauling the same 8 miles, 3 c. 



per bushel, 

 25 bush, bone manure,* bought in Rox- 



bury, Mass. at 35c. per bush, ^8 57 

 Package, freight, hauling, ) „ _. 



spreading, 8cc. &c. 5 "^^^ 



$12 50 



Ploughing, harrowing, rolling, hauling 

 and spreading manure from farm- 

 yard, turnip seed and after-culture, 

 including three bushels of plaster-of- 

 Paris 

 Cost of marketing the crop. 



12 



1$ 53 15 



75 



50 



1838 



By 187 bushels of turnips, sold in 

 Georgetown end Washington city, 

 at an average of $1 10 per bush, is 

 $205 70. 

 By 40 bush, consumed by the family, 

 By 5 bush, reserved for seed. 



Present value of the land, say $50 00 

 Per Contra, 



$205 



44 



5 



25520 

 5000 



30520 



53 15 



$ 252 lo5 



*This is my first improvement with bone manure; 

 and it will be seen tliat it constitutes the heaviest 

 item of expense in the above table; equal, and 

 even greater results might have been secured by 

 substituting manure made on the farm for the bone 

 manure. The labor, and all other expenses, / 

 have set down at the highest rales and cash prices, 

 although performed by my own hands and teams, 

 Ro that in fact, the lime and plaster constitute the 

 only absolute cash expenditure to which the farm-! 

 er is subjected in improving his land about here, j 

 I have made various applications of the bone 

 manure to grass and grain seeded last fall, and shall | 

 continue them through spring. If I am spared toi 

 see the results, they shall be communicated toyouj 

 in due time. I 



7^100 hundred and fifty-two dollars and five 

 cents, the net proceed of one acre of land in a sin- 

 gle crop, in return for $23 75 laid out in manure. 

 Thecash expended was not sixty days out of pocket. 

 It is proper here to remark, that owing to the 

 unprecedented drought, turnips were very scarce 

 in market, and were consequently unusually high. 

 From the same cause, however, my crop was not 

 half of an average one in quantity. I have made 

 in a very good season 600 bushels per acre, and{ 

 450 might be considered an average crop ; which,] 

 at 37^ cents per bushel, a fair average price, form 

 data by which the turnip crop in this vicinityj 

 may be correctly estimated. | 



Thos. ap C. Jones. 

 Sharon, near Prospect Hill, Fairfax Co. Fa 

 Feb. 12th, 1839. 



[It is seldom our usage to accompany the com 

 munications of correspondents with a commentary 

 ol encomium ; and never merely for the purpose 

 of paying personal compliments to the writers. 

 However well deserved such praises may be, and 

 much as our feelings may urge the expression of 

 approbation of such articles, and of thanks for the 

 service to our publication thereby conveyed, still, 

 for several and obvious reasons, we have deemed 

 It best, and have throughout so acted, to leave our 

 readers to judge for themselves of the degree o(' 



! excellence of communications, and of the value of 



their contents. It is only when some opinion there- 

 jin stated requires especially to be noticed, either 

 I for explanation, recommendation, or dissent and 



reprehension, that we deem it necessary and pro- 

 Iper, and in no manner disrespectful to any other 



of our contributors or readers, to offer comments 

 jofourown. On this occasion we cannot refrain 

 I from calling attention to the uncommon and valu- 

 jable faets stated above — and still more to the cir- 

 jcumstances under which the improvements were 

 I made; because these circumstances, even more 

 jthan the results, prove that hundreds of thousands 

 j of acres in Virginia, may be highly improved, and 

 (With great profit, which have served merely as 

 places of temporary sojourn for individuals or fam- 

 ilies, until they had spent their estates, and taken 

 the next movement, to the western wilderness. 

 We allude more especially to the country which 

 surrounds each of our towns, and is near enough to 

 supply their markets. Commodore Jonee' farm 

 j is so far removed from one of these, that few indi- 

 viduals so situated would have thought of usino- it 

 as a vegetable market; and still fewer as a source 

 of supply for manures as heavy as lime. Yet who, 

 among the most sanguine, could have hoped ibr 

 more improvement of soil? Or who, among the 

 most avaricious, could have required more clear 

 profit in farming, than he has achieved? If the posi- 

 tion of our correspondent should be even considered 

 as on the utmost verge of the territory improveable 

 by vicinity to towns, still the circle around each 

 would be 18 miles in diameter, and the whole 

 space so improved would yield net agricultural 

 profits surpassing those now derived from one- 

 third of the state. Besides, in each of these cir- 

 cles, half the proprietors would have means and 

 facilities far better than those of our correspondent, 

 either in closer vicinity to the market for sale of 



