7S2 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 12 



foundation. And even if there were some few 

 narrow-minded slave-holders who would ohjecl to 

 such advantaores being offered to their slaves, is 

 that any reason or excuse, lor one who assumes to 

 be a minister and messenger of God, to withhold 

 his instructions from those slaves whose masters 

 would receive them with welcome and thankful- 

 ness ? 



It is a fact universally admitted, and deplored 

 by all considerate persons, whether christians or 

 not, that throughout lower Virginia, the ministers 

 of the gospel, of all denominations, are very (ew, 

 and their usual con^reijations, or number of hear- 

 ers, very small. Still there are many such persons 

 who are passing their lives and complying, as they 

 think, with their holy calling and vows, in regu- 

 larly preaching once a week to a few dozens of 

 hearers. Yet if these preachers deemed it their 

 duty to labor as much for the salvation of blacks 

 as of whites, there is scarcely one ol them so situa- 

 ted that he could not easily find hundreds to in- 

 Btruct, who, unless so sought and invited, will 

 perhaps never hear his voice, and certainly not 

 profit by his ordinary and public ministerial ser- 

 vices. Nay, there is scarcely one of these coun- 

 try ministers who at his very place of residence, 

 or temporary rejourn, could not assemble an au- 

 dience of slaves belonging to the farm, of greater 

 number than he usually can collect of whites from 

 all thp. neighborhood. And if any true zeal were 

 felt and manifested for so excellent an object, min- 

 isters would find very many slave-holders, and 

 even irreligious slave-holders, who would not only 

 permit the performance of these truly apostolic la- 

 bors, but would rejoice to have them performed, 

 and (what I fear is more to the purpose,) would 

 also be willing {o pay for the pf^rformance. 



If the owner of a hundred slaves, or a hundred 

 thousand dollar."', shows any disposition to receive 

 religious instruction, what assiduous care, what 

 devoted zeal, will not be shown for his eternal 

 welfare! But while rhe tjreater part of the time 

 and all the ability and power of persuasion of a 

 minister would he williuiriy devoted to clear away 

 the darkness, and streno-ihen the feeble striving, 

 of such a penitent, and to aid his novitiate in a 

 better course of life, his numerous and isnorant 

 slaves, on the same ground and perfectly accessi- 

 ble to the preacher, would be scarcely thought of 

 by him, and would derive no benefit whatever 

 from his presence ! 



If an inference were to be drawn from the 

 general course of procedure only, or of omis- 

 sion and neglect in this lespect, by the grea'er 

 number of those who have undertaken to perform 

 all such duties, and who claim the sacred charac- 

 ter of God's ministers, and messencjers ofsaivalion 

 to all sinners — (and if in no degree corrected by the 

 knowledge of any such meritorious and admirable 

 exception as was described above— ) the inference 

 would be, either tlivit it was a ireneral article of 

 belief aniona christian preachers that ncrrroes had 

 no souls to be lo^t or saved, or, if otherwise, that 

 the souls of a hundred poor slaves were of less 

 value, and had less claim upon their spiritual care, 

 than that of a single individual of elevated grade 

 in society. 



No. 9. • . • 



The Belgrade farm. A corrected view of the 

 ^^body land.'' 



Nov. 28, 1839. 



Havincy postponed my departure to the latest 

 day that the claims of my business at home would 

 permit, on 1he27th I lei't Somerset Place to take 

 passage in the steamboat at Plymouth at night, 

 and to proceed homeward as rapidly as 1 could be 

 conveyed by the several connected lines of steam 

 navigation and railways. JVJ r. Pettigrew the elder 

 had arrived at his Beliirade farm (7 miles fi-om the 

 lake,) the evening belbre, and had sent me so 

 kind and urgent an invitation to call on him the 

 next morning, that 1 coidd not do otherwise, al- 

 though there would be less than three hours to 

 stop there. The short time so given was spent 

 in conversation which was necessarily very hurried, 

 and at the same time walking rapidly over the firm 

 and taking a glance at its condition and improve- 

 ments ; and thus at the same time giving sufficient 

 employment to our eyes, feet, and tongues. But 

 however gratifying it was to me, even in so hur- 

 ried a manner, to make the personal acquaintance, 

 and listen to the interesting ren\arlic of Mr. Petti- 

 grew, the opportunity was altogether insufficient 

 lor me to gather either, by observation or other 

 mode of inlbrmation, any thing in detail, to which 

 1 could do justice in reporting. 1 have requested, 

 and hope the request may not be slighted, that 

 Mr. Pettigrew will hereafter furnish me in writing 

 something of what I had not time to obtain by 

 persona! inquiry and observation. 



The weather was very cold lor the season and 

 latitude. The earth everywhere in the shade was 

 hard frozen, and in the sun-shine the surface had 

 just thawed, and of course was wet and adhesive. 

 Both these conditions were as unliivorabje as pos- 

 sible to the exhibition of the charaeters of the soil. 

 Still, it recpiired but a few minutes' observation to 

 show me tltal I had been totally mistaken in my ear- 

 lier opinion as to the nature and constitution of the 

 " body land," formed upon merely travelling over 

 another part which is m very inferior condition. 

 Merely from the appearance of the surlace on 

 which I walked, and still more from the deeper 

 soil and subsoil exposed in Mr. Peltigrew's ditches, 

 [ would have been convinced that this "body 

 land" is not a clay soil proper, nor naturall)' a firm 

 or high-land soil of any kind, but that this also is of 

 swamp formation, though greatly and lor a long 

 time altered by the operation of natural causes. 

 The whole surface is even more level than ihe ex- 

 isting swamps in general; so much so, that from 

 one part ol"ihe tract which I saw, the surfiice water 

 formerly and naturally was discharged towards 

 every side, to seek outlets in different streams. 

 The now artificial discharge by deep ditches is di- 

 rected just as convenience requires, and might be 

 made without much additional difficulty towards 

 anv point of direction. 



The general plan of drainage is the same as 

 that used at the lake, by drains of different sizes 

 crossing each other at right-angles, and the smaller 

 emptying into the next larger. The water-fur- 

 rows between the narrow beds may be considered 

 as the smallest drains, which first gather and dis- 

 charge the surplus rain or surface water, though 

 merely made by the plough in the ordinary course 



