270 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 5. 



the bill of lading as the best evidence of what was 

 made,') by which it appears, the corn made oa his 

 estate would produce little more than one-third of 

 the wheat made, whereas my corn crop would. sell 

 for about double the wheatand barley, (taking his 

 price for corn ami wheat, and the real price at 

 which the barley was sold.) This year the dis- 

 proportion would be much greater in favor of the 

 corn, which clearJy shows the difference in our sit- 

 uations, and the propriety of yielding \.o circum- 

 stances. 



Mr. Seiden informs us that he keeps twelve 

 mules, and makes an average crop of lour hundred 

 and thirty-five barrels of corn. My regular 

 plough team consists of six mules and six horses: 

 two extra horses are kept, and another plough 

 used at busy seasons. The average crop for the 

 last four years, as before stated, is Prom seventeen 

 to eighteen hundred barrels of corn. Mr. 

 Seiden complains that none of the advocates of 

 the three-shift system will descend to particulars, 

 and I consider myself decidedly one of them with a 

 little variation, in having standing pastures and re- 

 serving a part of each shift in succession for fal- 

 low and improvement during summer. My three 

 divisions consist each of about three hundred acres 

 of low grounds, and a high land lot of about 

 twenty-five acres, of which a part is for fallow, 

 and that being hrthe corn fields is not. grazed at 

 all. From two hundred and seventy-five to eigh- 

 ty acres being in corn, the average product of 

 course is a little above six barrels per acre. One 

 of Mr. Selden's objections to tiie corn crop, "thai 

 it will not answer as a sale crop for persons living 

 ata distance from navigation," is a strong recom- 

 mendation to us upon the sea board. My small 

 grain crop (that is, wheat and barley,) lias aver- 

 aged tor the las! four years about, three thousand 

 five hundred bushels per annum. The killer crop 

 has been very unproductive for some years past, 

 and on that account has been generally abandon- 

 ed. About, two hundred acres of corn land, and 

 about sixty-five acres of fallow, are seeded in 

 barley and wheat, the average of course about 

 thirteen bushels per acre. I seed sixty to seventy 

 acres of the corn land in oats, but not for sale, or 

 very ihw. They are fed in a chopped slate 

 throughout the year, to every thing of the horse 

 kind, mixed with a little meal. I have no doubt 

 that much of the level tide-water country should 

 be cultivated in two shifts, one year in corn, and 

 the next in oats. A very improving bean under 

 that system succeeds theoats,\vhichis not the case 

 under any other. 



The most objectionable part of Mr. Selden\s 

 communication, in my estimation, is the reflection 

 cast upon that valuable animal the ox, without 

 whose services I would abandon agricultural pur- 

 suits. I am as devotedly attached to that species 

 as we generally are in Virginia to that of the 

 horse. The labor performed by oxen, when well 

 taken care of, ^is incalculable; and the patience 

 with which it is borne, always excites much feel- 

 ing with me in their behalf. Nothing is consumed 

 by them that can readily be sold from the estate. 

 I would not permit half the quantity of corn ne- 

 cessary to keep them in good order to be given to 

 mine, if it was furnished gratis; and never feed 

 with it. A small quantity only serves to destroy 

 their relish lor coarse strong food. I would as 

 soon think of feeding laborers on mince pies, and 



expect them to be satisfied afterwards with pork 

 and bacon. 



For Mr. Seldeif s favorite fallow system, the ox 

 is admirably calculated. Four good oxen with 

 one of Davis's large bar-share ploughs will exe- 

 cute more, and better work than "any team of 

 mules 1 have ever seen. When broken to, and 

 kept exclusively for the plough, they walk nearly 

 as fist as mules, and by working hall' the day and 

 changing, lose no time to feed, and will keep in 

 good order on the very land they are fallowing: 

 for it either has, or ought to have, to justify the 

 fid low, a good cover upon it. I am not a very 

 nice calculator upon this or any other subject, but 

 when we consider llie first cost of a good mule, or 

 work horse, the annual expense to keep him pro- 

 perly, the difference in gear, the interest upon the 

 cost, and that the capital itself is lost upon an 

 average in ten or twelve years, and then contrast 

 him with the ox, we must decide in favor of the 

 latter. 



The mule is recommended by Mr. Seiden on 

 account of his longevity: but the ox may be said 

 to live forever. If taken care of, an old ox will 

 more than purchase a young one. I keep employ- 

 ed the greater part of the year, upon an average, 

 thirty oxen (including spayed heifers, which my 

 people prefer to the ox, as more active, and of bet- 

 ter wind, and they are greatly preferable lor the 

 table.) They cost me nothing, and return to the 

 land at least as much as they lake from ii. 



It is so important to separate the young from 

 the old cattle (until they are three years old at 

 least,) without which you cannot get the females! 

 at any rate of good size, that 1 keep three stand- 

 ing pastures, one extending to llie river for the. 

 of salting all the stork occasionally. Au- 

 other con sists of an extensive wood with a small 

 portion of open land, and is useful in winter and 

 spring, particularly for sheep, which are very inju- 

 ri ms '«<> pasl are early in thespring. I never graze 

 the cultivated land until late in June — (August 

 would be much better — ) when it is well covered, 

 and the stock can make very little impression up- 

 on it. 



I am sure the annual profit by sale, derived from 

 my stock, in addition to the supply of m}^ family, 

 would more than pay every expense of the estate, 

 ami almost entirely from Mr. Seidell's despised 

 race, (the sale of oxen, milch cows and butter,) 

 (or I give to my people in addition to a moderate 

 quantity of beef and mutton, all the pork we can 

 raise over and above the consumption of the fam- 

 ily. I made the arrangement as an inducement to 

 take care of' and increase the quantity, and find it 

 succeeds very well. The hams which we do not 

 use, (more than half) are sold ai. a high price, 

 and the proceeds invested in m idlings, which are. 

 preferred. All the wool, with enough cotton both for 

 the summer and winter clothing of the slaves, is 

 manufactured on the estate, so that if we do not 

 sell much, we purchase little. 



JOIIX TADB. 



P. S. Since writing the above, the No. of the 

 Register for July, has been sent me from Norfolk', 

 in which I observe a communication on the sub- 

 ject of spayed cows. I have often thought it 

 strange the practice of spaying was not more com- 

 mon.' About sixteen years ago, my father, Philip 

 Tabb of this county, who was in the habit of 



