1835.] 



FARMERS 5 REGISTER. 



115 



highly probable that it will prove very valuable 

 in lands similar to those on the Chiokahomony, 

 although it is to be regretted that a different name 

 had not been bestowed on it, since we already 

 have a highland grass by the same name, and of 

 quite a different character. If this new grass 

 "will conquer the bull-rush," it will accomplish 

 more than any other species has ever yet done 

 among the various trials I have seen made. Ef- 

 fectual draining however, most certainly kills it. 



As to two other pests which he mentions, the 

 running brier and the sassafras, I have had woful 

 experience of both, but have not succeeded in ex- 

 tirpating either, although his mode lor destroying 

 the latter is certainly worth trying. 



The method of sowing jjrass seed recommended 

 by Mr. G. is by hand. This I know is the cus- 

 tomary mode; but not comparable to that by a 

 machine made and sold by Sinclair and Moore of 

 Baltimore. This is so constructed as to sow anv 

 kindl of small seed, or small grain, broadcast, in 

 spaces twelve feet wide, and as fast as a horse can 

 walk. Small tin slides, perforated with holes of 

 different sizes, regulate not only the quantity of 

 seed distributed by each step of the horse, but also 

 enable the sower to change the kinds when he 

 pleases, merely by moving the slides backwards or 

 forwards. It is likewise admirably adapted to 

 Bowing gypsum. The cost I believe is about 60 

 dollars; the construction simple; and the durability 

 probably great. In level open land, I have never 

 seen any method of sowing small grain, grass 

 seed, or plaster, that seemed to be compara- 

 ble to sowing them by this machine. 



From Mr. G 7 s remarks on what he calls "the 

 guinea grass," I should infer that he means a spe- 

 cies of millet which I have heard so called, but 

 improperly. This inference I draw from the fact 

 that Mr. GTs opinion is in direct contradiction to 

 that of the only farmer of my acquaintance who 

 has cultivated the guinea grass to any extent. 

 The gentleman is Mr. John Roane of King Wil- 

 liam, who has been trying it for some years, and 

 speaks so highly of it both for soiling and hay, 

 that he is now extending its culture. Mr. G's 

 conclusion against "exotic grasses" altoorether, 

 because some of them have yielded but "one crop 

 of" hay," seems neither very logical nor accordant 

 with the experience of many other farmers. It is 

 notorious, for instance, that the lucerne which is 

 an exotic, can be cut four or five times in the sea- 

 son at the average height of fifteen or eighteen 

 inches — and I myself know an instance which oc- 

 curred last summer, (dry as it was,) of guinea 

 grass being cut four times, at the average height 

 of at least three feet, in each case. Mr. G. in- 

 clines to the opinion, once universal in my part of 

 Virginia, and in favor of which more, I think, can 

 be said than the scoffers at it are aware of — I mean 

 the occasional, if not the annual burning of lands 

 which are much covered with dead grass and 

 weeds. Without either denying or affirming it to 

 be correct, I will barely add* the admitted facts in 

 its favor. It converts coarse vegetable matter — 

 full of the seeds of weeds and the eggs and larva? 

 of insects, into the fertilizing substance, ashes, 

 which is free of all these nuisances; and it lessens 

 much the labor of preparing the land for an after 

 crop. To this may be added, as something wor- 

 thy at least of being well considered, whether 

 certain discarded practices in agriculture have 



been condemned upon sufficient evidence of their 

 worthlessness. The individuals of each genera- 

 tion are too apt to consider themselves the peculiar 

 "children of light," in comparison with their pre- 

 decessors, and consequently sometimes discard, as 

 unworthy of their superior knowledge, practices 

 superior, in some respects, to their own. So it 

 has been, and I fear will be, to the end of time; 

 but those who think so, should still not despair of 

 guarding some against so pernicious a fallacy. 



The second letter of your correspondent Mr. 

 Gooch, increases much in value as well as interest, 

 for it has more facts and fewer opinions. Among 

 the former, I find several which furnish in my 

 humble judgement, some very strong proofs in fa- 

 vor of applying manures in the freshest state, and 

 to the surface, instead of ploughing them under. 

 They also favor, as I think, the opinion, that what 

 we call "resting land," is needless, if a proper ro- 

 tation of crops, and manuring were regularly pur- 

 sued. There is however, one fact — at least stated 

 as such by Mr. G., which I myself, although pro- 

 bably as old a man as he is, and living also in the 

 tide-water portion of Virginia, have never wit- 

 nessed. I mean that wherein he states that "be- 

 tween the Chickahomony and James River hills, 

 there are portions of land, with a gray and ash 

 colored soil of nine or ten inches thickness, resting 

 on a clay foundation." Now, I, as well as Mr. 

 G., have examined most soils — such as may pro- 

 perly be so called, in the tide-water part of Virgi- 

 nia, and I have never seen a single spot of high- 

 land, where that which could truly be called soil, 

 was five inches deep. This difference of opinion 

 however, resolves itself into a question of what is 

 really soill and will be deemed perhaps unimport- 

 ant by my readers — especially as I accord with 

 Mr. G. in the opinion, that it is very advantage- 

 ous gradually to mix with it a portion of "the red 

 clay foundation," wherever it can be reached, 

 even by trench ploughing. 



I regret that Mr. G. has not given us the pro- 

 duce in bushels of potatoes, turnips, and oats 

 which were made in the several experiments 

 which he states; for by this omission he has de- 

 prived his statements of fully half their value. In 

 the oat case of more than half. Why should he 

 fear that we would doubt his word in the latter 

 case more than in any other which he states — ev- 

 idently with a confident expectation of being be- 

 lieved? I believe that I know the gentleman per- 

 sonally, and if all your other correspondents are 

 equally worthy of credence, your paper has none 

 more trustworthy, where facts are concerned. 



His experiments with the two twenty-acre 

 fields merit particular attention — especially ibr the 

 fact furnished by the latter in favor of top-dressing 

 with fresh manure. It is high time that farmers 

 should come to some settled opinion, and adopt 

 some uniform practice in regard to this important 

 process. What a deal of labor, expense, and 

 time, and manure also, would be saved by discard- 

 ing your costly stercoraries — your short and long 

 muck deposites — as well as all the complicated 

 variety of compost heaps requiring ten or twelve 

 months to form them, and three or four horse 

 ploughs afterwards to turn them under — if it 

 were once satisfactorily ascertained, that the best 

 state to use manure was when freshest; and the 

 most judicious mode of applying it was on the 

 surface. Query — have we not already more ex- 



