210 



FARxMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 4 



For the Farmers' Register. 

 KASTEUN VIRGINIA. 



"We often see in our public prints, long specula- 

 tions in the sliape of Jeremiads, reciting all ima- 

 ginable causes Ibr the decline of our state, and 

 bewailing, in most piteous terms, this sad catastro- 

 phe, as if the besom of destruction had literally 

 swep* the land. 



It may be true that the state is declining, but 

 the evil is greatly magnified by desponding; idle 

 croakers who seem to take pleasure in vilifying 

 and abusing the country, which ought to be as 

 dear to them as life. With one voice, we will cry 

 out, "is there no balm in Gilead !"' but, when it 

 is within our reach, we will not put forth a hand 

 (0 receive it. 



Our country is acknowledged, by all who have 

 seen it, to be peculiarly rich in natural resources ; 

 yet what feeble eflorts have been made to deve- 

 lope them ! How must the proud son of Virginia 

 blush when he visits the north, east and west of 

 our vast confederation, and sees how our brethren 

 have every where outstripped us in enterprise 

 and improvement ! He returns to his home ; the 

 high spirit wliich is yet born with every gentle 

 son of our state, has been roused and excited by 

 all he has seen ; nothing goes on fast enough for 

 him now ; lie is no longer satisfied to live in com- 

 parative idleness; he has not patience, or perhaps 

 cannot afibrd, to follow the tardy course of a "libe- 

 ral profession" in Virginia: the result is, that he 

 goes ofi to a new country," where, if he can es- 

 cape the perils of "flood and field," and the horrors 

 of noisome pestilence, he may hope to acquire 

 wealth enough to enable him to return and spend 

 the evening of his days at the home of his youth, 

 and rest his bones in his native soil. This hope is 

 never realized; he becomes identified with his 

 adopted land ; soon learns the law of "hardest 

 fend off," and is as thoroughly dishumanizcd as 

 the veriest "hoosier" or "salt river roarer," about 

 him. 



It is thus that our finest young men are lost to 

 the state. We must work a cure of this evil, and 

 then, and not until then, will our '■'■jilma Mater'' 

 recover her former glory. It must be a gradual 

 process ; we must teach our youth to give up the 

 notion that law, medicine, and politics are the only 

 "liberal" pursuits; and qualify them to enter the 

 various channels for industry and enterprise which 

 present themselves on all sides, and are left va- 

 cant because not thought sufficiently respectable 

 for gentlemen. Above all, we must teach them 

 by precept and example, that we can be sufTicient- 

 ly respectable as cultivators of the soil, even on a 

 small scale, and that our soil is susceptible of 

 great improvement. 



A large portion of eastern Virginia is eminent- 

 ly adapted to agriculture. The lands, though very 

 fertile when cleared, are generally very much ex- 

 hausted by injudicious culture ; they "may, how- 

 ever, be readily restored by proper management, 

 and rendered even more productive than they 

 were when new. It was to be expected that the 

 style of living and the waslelul system (or want 

 of system) of farming practised throughout this 

 country, would break down the overgrown estates 

 which covered it: these estates have been cut up 

 and divided for the most part, and the holders are 

 beginning to discover by slow degrees, that their 



foref ilhers were not infallible adepts in the art of 

 liArming; they are now yielding reluctant assent, 

 and some show of obedience to the excellent pre- 

 cepts of the Farmers' Register. The liirmers are 

 more generally out of debt than they have been for 

 many years, as many of those who were involved 

 have sold negroes at the late enormous prices, and 

 lieed themselves from iheir embarrassments. Such 

 is the present condition of a country whose inha- 

 bitants have attained a highdegree of moral culti- 

 vation, and have been distinguished for talent, 

 kindness, and hospitality. 



The present distressed condition of the whole 

 union makes each state show out in her true co- 

 lors, and IS calculated to have a happy efi'ect on 

 our people, healing the blindness and infatuation 

 with which they regarded the new states, check- 

 ing emigration, making them betier satisfied with 

 home, and teaching them the difference between 

 extravagance and generosity ; so that there never 

 has been, and never will be a belter time for re- 

 forming our system of agriculture. Let us set to 

 work to improve our lands, and let every thinking 

 man inculcate upon all the yoimg farmers whom 

 he can influence, the homely virtues of" industry 

 and frugality. 



Let us stop the drain of cnii<rration, and learn 

 our young men to work, and Virginia may yet 

 shine Ibrih a star of the first magnitude. 



A Reclaimed Wandereu. 



From tlie Farmers' Cabinet. 

 A GOOIJ COW, GOOD BUTTER, AND A GOOIJ 

 DEAL OF IT. 



3Ir. Editor, — As a good deal has been said re- 

 lative to the quantity of butter exhibited some 

 short time since, by Mr. Ken worthy, made from 

 one week's milking of a single cow, I was curious 

 to ascertain the facts, as well with regard to her 

 keep as the produce. I accordingly inquired in the 

 proper quarter, and was inlormed that the cow 

 Filton, now about ::even years old, was purchased 

 of Juhn Zane, of this county, willi her dam, both 

 for thirty-eight dollars. Filton, at the time of her 

 purchase, was ibur months old. This is all the 

 information I have been able to obtain. Mr. Ken- 

 worthy inlbrnied me that her keep was as follows : 

 a small quantity of hay in the morning, then a 

 mess of bran, while eating which she was milked, 

 then about half a peck of grains, well mixed with 

 a suitable portion of cut stufi', with the addition of 

 a little salt. She was then well curried, then wa- 

 tered, and especial care taken that she did not 

 drink too much. If the weather was favorable, 

 she was permitted to run in the barn yard, if not, 

 she was stabled again, and led with hay only. At 

 noon and night she was treated in the same way, 

 as above described, in every particular, except that 

 the grains were omitted at noon. Milked morn- 

 ing and evening, the quantity of milk varying from 

 tioenty-two to tiventy-eight quarts per day. The 

 following is the produce of butter from the two 

 weeks' milking: 



First week's butter 



Second week's _ _ _ 



18 lbs. 

 16^ 



Three pans of milk, belonging to the 



34i 

 second 



