02 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 1. 



must be the case with all buried manure, unless 

 it be that ploughed under immediately before sow- 

 ing or planting;) or, that it should take place 

 when, according to Sir H. Davy's dictum, "the 

 fluid matter produced is instantly applied, even 

 while it is warm, to the organs of the plant?" 

 Admitting Sir H. D. to be right, I consider the 

 correctness of the, latter opinion, to he absolutely 

 demonstrated, so far at least as such assertion can 

 properly be applied to this, or any similar subject. 

 jo this, however, as to many others, we may tru- 

 ly apply the scholastic adage, "grammatici cer- 

 fant,et aclinic judice lisestj" and this being the 

 case, [ am determined the present seeming con- 

 troversy shall, so far as I can help it, "break no 

 squares" between your intelligent correspondent 

 W. B. and your old friend 



THE WHEAT CROP IX FAIRFAX. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



I seeded 290 bushels of wheat after the follow- 

 ing manner. Upon the 6ih day of October I 

 began to seed upon 87 acres of oat fallow, twice 

 ploughed, which was seeded with 145.V bushels of 

 wheat, consisting of Baltimore bearded, early red, 

 and New York white flint. Two good harrow- 

 ings put in the seed — all was completed upon the 

 12;h. Fifty acres of this land would have brought 

 good tobacco. The Baltimore bearded is an en- 

 tire failure, the fly having scarcely left a plant. 

 The early red may make three forone — and the 

 white flint eight tor one. 



1 then seeded a field of 62 acres, dry sandy 

 land, which when enclosed some 20 years past, 

 would produce about 2-i or 3 bushels of corn to 

 the acre. My cattle had been fed upon it lor two 

 winters, and it had received much farm-yard litter 

 — and since being enclosed, had received some 

 deep three horse ploughings. Eighty-one bush- 

 els of early red was seeded in the field upon 

 two good ploughings, the grain was harrowed in, 

 and all done and finished upon the 20th. This 

 field perhaps is equal to one-half a crop — say 5 or 

 6 bushels to the acre. The balance of my crop 

 was seeded upon corn land, and completed upon 

 the 6th of November; and may give 5 or 6 ibr 

 one acre. After this I seeded 40 bushels of rye, 

 which, though young, promises much better than 

 the wheat. 



My brother farmers charge the loss of their 

 wheat upon the severity of the winter. This is 

 not my excuse — for the winter passed over us, and 

 left our wheat plants all standing. But nothing 

 in my memory has equalled the destruction of the 

 thy. We have measurably dodged this terrible 

 enemy of late years by seeding after the 8th of 

 October; but they are evidently not to be dodged 

 always — but acting up to the rules of a higher or 

 larger order of devastators, they take all * * 

 I am casting about for a corrective, and think I 

 shall call to my aid 100 acres of rye, which, like 

 the democracy, will overwhelm all enemies, and 

 though the victory will be but rye, it will be ex- 

 actly that much better than nothing. 



Fairfax, May 20th, 1835. 



For the Fanners' Register. 

 ON MAKING RICE ON DRY LAND. 



Ill my paper on the. subject of cultivating corn, 

 [Far. Keg. p. 634, Vol. II.] I stated the article of 

 rice, as entering into the crop. My reason in part, 

 as you will have no doubt discovered, Ibr intro- 

 ducing this article amongst others, was that it is 

 found not to affect in any unfavorable way, Ihe 

 growth of the corn, &c. — and also, that I have 

 satisfied myself, from repeated trials, that this 

 mode of raising it, is calculated to produce that 

 grain in the greatest perfection. 



The rice cultivated throughout this state on 

 highland, is in every respect similar to the rice 

 plant of South Carolina. It, is found to grow well 

 in every soil we have, from the pipe clay ground 

 oi' the pine woods, to the black lat limestone land 

 of the great cane brake. In the latter, however, 

 it excels — although from some fair trials I have 

 seen, and indeed assisted in making, I am com- 

 pelled to believe that pine land, (gray) with a 

 good red clay foundation, moderately prepared by 

 manuring, lime, &c, will equal in production, for 

 quantity or quality, even the fat black land of the 

 great cane brake. It is the most generous grain 

 I know of- — will meet successfully a greater variety 

 of seasons and soil than any other. I know of no 

 soil or situation perfectly unfavorable to its pro- 

 duction, and it is never made, with our planters, 

 any question in what land they will put it; but 

 what spot is most convenient on the farm of the 

 second year's land. On every species of pine land, 

 with a little cow-penning, cotton seed manure, or 

 any other decomposed animal or vegetable mat- 

 ter, it grows luxuriantly, from four to five and a 

 half feet in height, and produces astonishing crops 

 of grain; say from forty to one hundred bushels of 

 shell rice, that is rice with the husk on, per acre. 



The rice produced on our uplands, I am satis- 

 fied, is superior in quality to the water raised rice 

 of Carolina — especially that which Ave raise on 

 the calcareous soils. When boiled in pure water, 

 it exhibits a most decided superiority in the glu- 

 tinous over the watery principle. I could not pos- 

 sibly admit any comparison in the qualitj of the 

 two productions. The grain of what we call the 

 "big white," is remarkably large, both in the hull 

 and when cleaned — although the "red bearded" 

 is by some thought superior. Both of those kinds, 

 with the "small white," grow well on dry upland. 

 The operation of hulling or cleaning, is performed 

 with the common pestle and mortar, or in our little 

 tub mills, by partially raising the stones when 

 they become dull and want picking. I have had 

 it cleaned under those circumstances, as hand- 

 somely as any table would require. 



It may be proper to add, that in boiling the 

 upland rice raised in this section of country, it is 

 found to absorb, or to make a mass at least one- 

 eighth greater than the rice of South Carolina, or 

 any other, where water is employed as an agent 

 in its production. 



The straw is found admirable winter forage for 

 horses, mules, oxen, and cows; but especially for 

 young cattle — and a prodigious mass of it is pro- 

 duced from an acre of land. A sheaf of rice pas- 

 sed through the cutting box and given daily, 

 with her other food, to a milch cow, in the winter, 

 is found to produce superior milk and butter. We 

 raise it with so much ease, that we find it econ- 



