218 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No- 4 



climate, that rivers ought to be no more tiian infi- 

 nitely multiplied channels, and collected in one 

 stream only, as a reservoir lor fresh, and repeated 

 deviations. 



For Uie Fanners' Register. 

 THE COUNTY OF FLUVANNA. 



We have experienced in this region quite a hard 

 winter, though very little snow has fallen. Ne- 

 vertheless, 1 think, with exception of late sowing, in 

 consequence of a continued wet season, our wheat 

 generally promises well. Two very severe frosts 

 within this month caused considerable apprehen- 

 sion for the fate of young clover, tobacco plants, 

 and fruit, but they all passed unscathed. The 

 two first are hard to be killed, and iVuit was luckily 

 too backward to be much endangered. Those who 

 had planted morus multicaulis have entertained 

 fears for its safety, but I fancy, without grounds. 



— — brilliant success in that culture, 



together with the inestimable testimonials of its 

 profits, as set forth in yours and most of the jour- 

 nals of the time, have infected our neighborhood 

 witli the rage J and a respectable company has 

 been organized for the propagation of the tree, 

 (of which I am an humble member,) under the 

 style and title of the "Palmyra morus multicaulis 

 company." I fear the lever has seized on us ra- 

 ther late in the day, as well as season, both for the 

 chance of great profit, as of success in the planta- 

 tion, as the cuttings for our experiment are yet to 

 be planted. But a suitable piece of ground hav- 

 ing been laid out and well prepared, under the su- 

 perintendance of our zealous and industrious pre- 

 sident, Dr. Blakey, a resident of Palmyra, we have 

 much to hope. By the way, as you have doubt- 

 less partaken of the false impression common to 

 the country in which we both live — and indeed 

 hardly confined to it — that F'luvanna is another 

 term lor sterility of soil, poverty of purse, and all 

 that is barbarous in arts and taste — let me tell you, 

 that Palmyra, the metropolis of tlie county, is a 

 handsome and flourishing little village, situated 

 on elevated, but rather broken ground, for conveni- 

 ence; overlooking the Rivanna, over which there 

 is a handsome and substantial covered bridge, jusi 

 below vvliich are mills of various kinds; among 

 them a large manufiictory of flour, with another of 

 wool, and one of plaster attached ; not forgetting 

 saw-mills, and last, though not least by any nieans, 

 a new establishment with all the necessary appa- 

 ratus, (in view on a creek within half a mile,) ibr 

 crushing gold ore, of which there is a quantity at 

 the door awaiting the separation of the precious 

 metal from the baser ore which envelop.?ps it. 

 "Prodigious f you will say. But this is not all- 

 Palmyra is adorned by one of the handsomest and 

 most commodious court-houses in the state, with 

 tasty offices appertaining; a large tavern and 

 dwelling house convenient, of brick; besides store 

 houses and shops of eve.-y kind, whose tenants are 

 mechanics of higher qualifications and character 

 than are usually to be found in a village. The 

 dwelling houses of the inhabitants that are not ol 

 brick, are well built frame houses, painted while, 

 which give an air of variety and neatness to the 

 village; and as if to "lend enchantment to the 

 view," the far extended chain of Southwest Moun- 

 tains presents itself to the eye, and beyond it in the 



distance, the more grand and lofty Blue Ridge. To 

 crown all — this flourishing little place has sprung 

 into renewed existance under the auspices and late 

 |)roprictorship of the Messrs. A. & A. Shepherd, 

 to whose enterprise, intelligence and highly esti- 

 mable characters, the community around is deeply 

 indebted. As to the fertility of the county — whose 

 ill name has been given it by travellers over its 

 barren ridge roads — it is only necessary to call your 

 attention to itsgeography, in reference particularly 

 to the extent ol" it through which the James and 

 Rivanna rivers, and their innumerable tributary 

 creeks, pass. Go to the manufiacturers of tobacco 

 in Riclimond and ask them what county in the 

 state affords the highest priced and best tobacco, 

 and most of it loo? They will tell you Fluvanna. 

 But my dear sir, you must come among us to see 

 and acknowledge the injustice of aspersions v/hich 

 have for an age rested on the hitherto despised 

 "stale of Fluvanna." 



From Anderson's Essays. 

 ON THK IMAKAGEMKNT OF THE DAIRY, PAR- 

 TICULARLY WITH REgPECT TO THE MAK- 

 ING AND CURING OF BUTTER. 



By Dr. James .'\nderBon. 



When a dairy is established, the undertaker 

 may sometimes think it his interest to obtain the 

 greatest possible quantity of produce ; sometimes 

 it may be more beneficial for him to have it of the 

 Jinest quality, and at other times it may be neces- 

 sary to have both these objects in view, the one 

 or the other in greater or less proportion; it is 

 therefore of importance that he should know how 

 he may accomplish the one or the other of these 

 purposes, in the easiest and most direct manner. 



To be able to convert his milk to the highest 

 possible profit in every case, he ought to be fully 

 acquainted with every circumstance respecting the 

 manufacture both of butter and of cheese; as it may 

 in sonic cases happen that a certain portion of that 

 milk may be more advantageously converted into 

 butler than into cheese, while another portion ol'it 

 would return more profit if made into cheese. It 

 is not, however, intended in the present essay to 

 enter into this wide discussion. Here, it is only 

 proposed to treat of the manufacture o( butter, 

 leaving the subject of cheese-making to some oth- 

 er person to treat of, who is more conversant in 

 that department than the author of this essay. 



The first thing to be adverted to m an undertak- 

 ing of this nature is, to choose cows of a proper 

 sort. Among this class of animals, it is found by 

 experience, that some kinds give milk of a much 

 thicker consistence, and richer quality, than others; 

 nor is this richness of qualify necessarily connect- 

 ed with the smallness of the quantity yielded by 

 cows of nearly an equal size ; it therefore behoves 

 the owner of a dairy to be particularly atrentive to 

 this circumstance. In judging of the value of 

 a cow, it ought rather to be the quantity than the 

 quality ol"the cream produced from the milk of a 

 cow in a given lime, than the quantity of the milk 

 itself. This is a circumstance that will be shown 

 in the future lo be of more importance than is ge- 

 nerally imagined. The small cows of the Alder- 



