272 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 5. 



"a deed without a name." 



To the Editor of the Fanners' Register. 



Having derived much useful information from 

 your valuable periodical, the Farmers' Register, I 

 have thought it the duty of the whole fraternity of 

 agriculturists to contribute each his portion of in- 

 formation for the benefit of the rest. Indeed, my 

 mite would have been thrown into the general 

 cofier before this, but. for my thorough aversion to 

 placing my proper name to any paper which pos- 

 sibly might get me into difficulty, or which misfit 

 involve any sort of responsibility. Shall I tell you 

 1 he reason.' A friend of mine gave me a mortal 

 aversion to its vain glorious use. Some sixteen 

 years ago I visited Richmond, and was invited by 

 a gentleman of that city to partake of his good 

 cheer, and being somewhat fond of the good 

 things of this life, I indulged as far as a reasona- 

 ble man may be supposed to have done. At the 

 winding up of the feast, my friend invited me to 

 unite with him in a note for $10,000 at one of the 

 banks, which he would at a proper time redeem. 

 The request was reasonable enough- — the name a 

 mere matter of form. Besides, it was quite a cre- 

 ditable thing to be the endorser — aye the endorser, 

 of such a good fellow, and one who spoke ofthou- 

 sands as I now do of dollars. Well! sixteen years 

 have passed away — my friend is a bankrupt — his 

 property made over to a favored few: and if you 

 have any curiosity to know who the author of this 

 paper is, on the first discount day in August, a 

 small man, of a sorrowful countenance, wearing ;i 

 broad brimmed straw hat, and riding a gray mare, 

 may be seen on the turnpike, wending his solitary 

 way to Richmond to renew this very note. True, 

 it has been clipped a little, but the sum of $6450 

 still remains due. Can mortal man wonder at my 

 aversion, therefore, to write my name in full on 

 any paper? Such is my abhorrence, Mr. Editor, 

 to any unnecessary display of the sort, that in ad- 

 dressing my own dear children I subscribe myself 

 generally, simply "your father." I know them to 

 be wise, and rely on their knowledge of the old 

 man. 



With these preliminary remarks, I shall proceed 

 to give in my experience as a tiller of the earth. 

 1 have marled, Mr. Editor, God be praised, I have 

 marled. Not to the extent of thousands, but a 

 cool hundred or two. Now mark me. In one of 

 my best fields, I had a gall, a washed knoll, pre- 

 cisely such a spot as every judicious farmer most 

 sedulously avoids when showing his crop to his 

 neighbors. Now, sir, one of my first operations 

 with the precious mineral, was to apply it to this 

 knoll, or gall. And what suppose you is the con- 

 sequence? Why, sir, when a neighbor comes to 

 see me, and a walk is proposed, I generally man- 

 age to take him by a sort of circumbendibus, 

 around to this poor despised gall, where on this 13th 

 of July, the corn is actually tasseling, and proba- 

 bly will produce six or eight barrels per acre. I 

 could not have believed it on the testimony of 

 others.* Mortal man would scarcely believe it. 



* Neither can ice — and it is presumed that our cor- 

 respondent will permit others in this respect to assume 

 what is precisely his own ground. Farther — we 

 would not believe our own eyes in such a case — and if 

 more respect could be paid to the eyes of another, it 

 would not be to a correspondent without a name. 



And now my good sir, when my spirits are de- 

 pressed, I generally take a walk to look at the 

 corn on the marled land. When the cashier in- 

 forms me that on such a day my note falls due, I 

 walk to the marled land. If any thing crosses 

 me there I go, morning, noon, or night. Upon my 

 word I begin to think marl will cure half the ills of 

 life. My wife says it has prevented the chickens 

 having the gapes. She declares that never had she 

 so little trouble with the young turkeys: and in fact 

 .she verily believes the health of the children is great- 

 ly improved. All this, my dear sir, she attributes to 

 the marl. And now, sir, I am straining every nerve 

 to fertilize every arable acre of my farm, by its im- 

 mediate application. An oxcart is generally devoted 

 to this business: and I regret that my means will 

 not enable me apply double the lbrce to this beneficial 

 purpose. 



I entreat you not to regard this as an exagger 

 aled statement. I am incapable of an untruth, or 

 any manner of deception. 



SUBSCRIBER. 



For the Farmers 3 Register. 



ANALYSES OF SOILS [FROM ALABAMA] MADE 

 BY DR. R. W. GIBBES. JULY, 1835. 



Colbcrlua Plantation of Col. F. Elmore. 



1. Black or Slue Prairie — (from Rig Slue — ) G 

 to 8 inches below the surface. 



Vegetable matter 26 per cent. 



Carbonate of lime 32 " 



Silex, alumina, oxide of iron [the remainder.] 



2. Hammock Prairie — (between House and Ce- 

 dar Ridge.) 



Vegetable matter 36 per cent. 

 Carbonate of lime 22 " 

 Silex, &c. &c. 



3. Open Prairie — mahogany colored — (be- 

 tween Gin House and William Colbert's field.) 



Vegetable matter 38 per cent. 

 No limestone. 

 Silex, &c. &c. 



4. Hog Bed Prairie-- (William Colbert's land.) 

 Vegetable matter 26 per cent. 



Carbonate of lime 8 " 

 Silex, &c. &c. 



Of course our amount of faitli as to such erf ects of pure 

 marl alone, is (like our correspondent's interest in the 

 bank,) a quantity largely minus. 



But though holding as nought the only agricultural 

 fact of our unknown correspondent — and supposing 

 that his object is to make light of those whom he may 

 deem marl-mad farmers — his communication is freely 

 given a place; and if for no other reason, as evidence 

 that we are willing to bear our full share of good hu- 

 mored reproof, whether deserved or not. In this it is 

 hoped that a profitable example is offered to some of 

 our "thin-skinned" friends. Whenever our new corres- 

 pondent will give his true name, or authenticated 

 facts, he will be received with hearty welcome — (and 

 the more so if his hand writing should be more legi- 

 ble — ) for however well he handles his present subject, 

 it is not altogether suited to this journal, and would 

 not have been admitted, but for its apparent personal 

 bearing. — Ed. Fabm. Reg. 



