1835.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



distance from navigation — as it will not afford 

 transportation by land to any distance — which no 

 doubt all calculating persons will take into con- 

 sideration. Aa0ther--very important consideration 

 is, that the fellow system gives you so much more 

 straw from which to make manure. 



1 do in my conscience believe, that a farm, say 

 one of 400 acres, (as that is more familiar to me) 

 will pay from $1000 to $1500 more under the 

 four-field and fallow system, clear, than the same 

 farm managed under the three-field course, in a 

 series of years. The least I can say is, that the 

 advantages in favor of the four-field, will be suf- 

 ficient to defray all the necessary expenses at- 

 tendant on the cultivation and management of 

 such a farm. 



W. B. H. next supposes the corn crop not suf- 

 ficient to employ the hands advantageously, except 

 in seeding and securing the crop of wheat. In 

 answer to this I must say, that my belief is, that 

 under this system, with a good team, less manual 

 labor is required tban under the. three-field course, 

 in preparing and seeding a crop of wheat. Having 

 more corn land, which 1 hope I have before 

 shown, required more of this sort of labor. But 

 in securing the crop, I will acknowledge it will 

 require a greater press; and who can object to this 

 press, when he is so well paid for it? All this 

 extra time we are supposed to be idle, or at least 

 no profitable farm labor, with teams, can be im- 

 agined. I hope your correspondent will not con- 

 tend that my force (which has been given) is 

 more than sufficient to cultivate a farm of its ex- 

 tent, under any system, where improvement is 

 aimed at. I am as much, or more pressed at this 

 season of the year in preparing for corn, and get- 

 ting out my manure — for he must recollect how 

 much more the system gives in this article for 

 employment. Upon due reflection, one must 

 think upon the whole, the labor much more equally 

 distributed under this than the three-field course. 

 I have certainly never yet seen the day I had not 

 as much to do as I could do. It has on the con- 

 trary been a matter of astonishment with me, 

 what employment is given to the hands under 

 the three-field course at certain seasons, (for as 

 far as I have observed, they keep as large, or a 

 larger force of hands) — particularly those who 

 cultivate their corn crop almost entirely with horse- 

 power. Their crops of wheat are light and small 

 in harvesting and thrashing, and nothing like the 

 quantity of land manured, compared with ours. 

 I like to be pressed, if by this pressure I can re- 

 ceive a sufficient compensation for it. A farmer 

 who always has spare, or sufficient time to accom- 

 plish any work, is sure to become careless and in- 

 attentive about it; and from this inattention, his 

 purse and farm both become sufferers. I beg 

 not to be understood as desiring this press, that 1 

 may impose an undue degree of hardship on the 

 slaves; by no means — but enough to keep one al- 

 ways on the alert, and his wits exerted, to get 

 through in due season. 



I must beg leave to differ from W. B. H. in 

 supposing that no corn will be sold from the four- 

 field and fallow system. An estate well managed 

 under that system, should sell corn enough nearly, 

 or quite, to defray the expenses of the estate: for 

 I have no question, but that from its improvement, 

 it will yield from 5 to 8 barrels of corn to the acre. 

 1 am supported in this conclusion also, by the fact 



that my brother the last year averaged 7 barrels 

 of corn per acre, on one-fourth of the Woods Farm 

 in Curie's Neck, an estate which has been regu- 

 larly under this system for 19 years. I have 

 never made less than enough to support the es- 

 tates, except the first year; (and this deficiency 

 I have upon a former occasion accounted for) and 

 might have sold corn each succeeding year, had I 

 not had so large and expensive family. And with 

 me it is a most extravagant and wasteful article. 

 If I had practised the same economy in the ma- 

 nagement of my corn crop that some do, I might 

 have been quite a considerable seller in that arti- 

 cle. Many sell more than they should, for their 

 teams are often not in a condition to perform their 

 required labor. As my estate has improved great- 

 ly, I shall calculate hereafter on selling enough to 

 pay all the necessary expenses of the estate. I 

 should remark that my corn crop of the last year 

 has not all been shucked out, being told that it 

 would keep much better in this state. I therelbre 

 do not know the precise quantity, but this I will 

 say, that, after encountering the severest drought 

 I have ever known, it will make considerably more 

 than the same field did when previously in corn. 

 Dr. John Minge was an eye witness to the 

 fact. 



I greatly prefer, too, when we realize money 

 from a farm, it should be received in as large 

 sums as possible, to its being much divided. For 

 my fingers, unfortunately, are too slippery lor it to 

 stick, when it comes in driblets, but, when derived 

 in a large sum it is more apt to be appropriated to 

 a good purpose; particularly, would I prefer it, 

 when we can get so much more of it irom the 

 wheat crop under the four-field and lallow sys- 

 tem. 



I should mention also that I have sold corn at 

 $1 50 and $1 75 per barrel. I would ask, how 

 would a poor farmer feel, and in what situation 

 would he be placed, who relied upon his corn crop, 

 as his staple crop, for a support, those years? Of 

 the two crops, wheat anil corn, the latter is un- 

 questionably the most uncertain and variable, both 

 in product and price. 



W. B. H. next objects to the system, because 

 he says the succession of three white, or grain 

 crops, is opposed to the universal practice and ex- 

 perience of all good cultivators of the soil, both 

 to the north, and in Great Britain. To this I 

 must say, that I have never had the time, and if I 

 had, have never devoted it to reading English 

 works upon agriculture, and therefore can say 

 nought as to their practices. This I do know 

 however, that our climate and soils must difler 

 materially from theirs; and therefore the same ro- 

 tation of crops may not agree. And I well know 

 that two small grain crops, that is, wheat after 

 wheat; or oats after oats, will not succeed well; 

 because I suppose, the previous one has exhaust- 

 ed most of the ingredients contained in the. earth, 

 peculiarly suited to the second crop, and in which 

 it would most delight. But it must be recollected 

 that one-third to one-half of the surface will have 

 had a manuring, besides the remaining effects of 

 the clover, and the entire decomposition of the 

 stubble of the first crop of wheat; and the corn 

 crop, a hoe and summer crop, and entirely a differ- 

 ent one in its cultivation intervening, prepares the 

 earth with a pabulum the better suited to the second 

 crop of wheat. It is true that the second crop of 



