274 



F A U M E ii S REGIS T E R 



[No. 5. 



surface, change its color, and form and accumu- 

 late a rich vegetable mould. The new lands 

 lately cleared of these thickets, and pu1 into culti- 

 vation, are much richer and more productive than 

 the naked prairie's formerly were, that were put in 

 cultivation before the thickets had grown; and the 

 prairie fields that have been many years in unin- 

 terrupted cultivation, in corn, cotton, wheat and 

 oats, and so managed, by ploughing in all the ve- 

 getable rubbish every year, as to prevent the soil 

 from washing, are continually improving. 1 know 

 of one field of fifty acres that was at first a naked 

 gray prairie, that "has been constantly cultivated in 

 cotton for the last ten years, that produced last 

 year a bale of cotton to the acre. 'Sue rust in 

 cotton has never been seen in the country. The 

 soil of this tield has heroine black. The black 

 timbered land of the valleys, however, the soil of 

 which is composed of lite wash from the prairie 

 hills, mixed with the decayed vegetation of the 

 low grounds, is that which is the most valuable. 

 The oldest fields show no symptom of decay, nor 

 are they much influenced by excessive rain or 

 drought. They have been proved to be equal to 

 airy soil in the world, in any climate, for corn, cot- 

 ton and wheat. The vast extent of new wild 

 land that remains yet to be put into cultivation, 

 has as yet prevented us from paying any atten- 

 tion to improving the quality of our soils, for in- 

 deed, they are so rich by nature as to seem not to 

 require it. The crops of last year were fully- 

 equal to any ever before produced; and those on 

 the oldest fields were the best. For this reason, 

 the crops of wheat, though few, and on a small 

 scale, might vie with those of the middle states in 

 the best seasons. We have now, at this lime, had 

 no rain to moisten even the surface of the ground 

 since the 30th of April last, yet our corn and col- 

 ton on the low groundsare not in the least injured. 



Thus have I given you a statement of facts 

 respecting the southern portion of Arkansa, as 

 they have come Avithin my personal knowledge. 

 1 regret much my inability to give you a chemi- 

 cal analysis of the different soils, and still more 

 the want of a proper conveyance, for specimens. 

 1 want to send you, or the editor of the Farmer 

 and Gardener, larger quantities than are proper 

 for the mail, and I would with pleasure remit a 

 box during next season, to any gentleman in New 

 Orleans, whom you will name to me lor the pur- 

 pose. 



From the sensible properties of our best prairie 

 toil, without using chemical tests, 1 judge it to 

 contain a large proportion of carbonate and sul- 

 phate of lime; a due proportion of alumine, and a 

 small proportion of silcx and iron. A strong 

 smell of sulphur is also sometimes perceived from 

 fresh ploughed ground in a hot day, and lumps of 

 carbonate of magnesia I have found imbedded in 

 a red clay. 



Intelligent strangers that come among us, gaze 

 at every thing they see with wonder and delight. 

 They find many "things new and unheard of, in 

 the appearance and sensible properties of the soil, 

 the vegetable productions, and the indications of 

 minerals. They are captivated with the transpa- 

 rency of our atmosphere, and the rosy glow of 

 smiling health that animates the countenances of 

 the inhabitants. 



*". D. SMITH. 



ON THE ADVANTAGES TO Rli DERIVED FROM 

 Till; ESTABLISHMENT OF AN AGRICULTU- 

 RAL PROFESSORSHIP. 



'J'u the Editor of t!i<' Farmers' Register. 



JJarbounvdle, July 23, 1835. 



Sir: 



[i has been a settled conviction on my mind lor 

 years, that a professorship of agriculture — a pat- 

 tern farm, and such a paper as yours, united 

 therewith, would lie productive of incalculable 

 benefit to the commonwealth. The. space of a 

 letter is too confined to admit of one-half being 

 stated. Suffice it to say, it Would elevate the sci- 

 ence—add dignity to the pursuit — call off from 

 encumbered vocations a portion of the mind of our 

 citizens now lost to the community — presentaral- 

 l\ ing point for all the scattered information of the 

 land — reduce to the test of experiment every the- 

 ory plausible enough to justify ii — by the same 

 standard to prove the value of every discovery or 

 improvement — promote economy by causing one 

 experiment for many — a certain and rapid com- 

 munication, through thestate, of the results — fur- 

 nish a sure means of ascertaining the nature of 

 our climate— the quantity of rain falling in the 

 year — the seasons when droughl most generally 

 prevails — and by consequence, furnish data to 

 guide the husbandman in the cultivation of crops, 

 both as to time and kind. I3t.it 1 must stop— for I find 

 no end to t he advantages that would result from such 

 an i stablishment. Let. me, however, add one more 

 All these things are to be done before the youth of 

 Virginia — the future men of the commonwealth, 

 destined eventually to influence her destiny. A 

 portion of these, selected from every part of the. 

 state (say one to each congressional or senatorial 

 district,) of promise, but unable, from poverty, 

 to educate themselves, to become the adopted 

 children of the state, would be able by alternate, 

 labor and study, alike to keep up the form, and to 

 improve themselves. Indeed, it is worthy of the 

 profbundest consideration, whether every student 

 of the University would not profit, by a few hours' 

 work daily, in the proper season. These being 

 my views, 1 submit to you whether it does not be- 

 hoove the tillers of the earth to make an 

 effort to induce the legislature to attend to their 

 neglected interests. How is this to be done? I 

 answer, as every other sect effects every thing by 

 conventions — to that alternative we must also re- 

 sort. What say you to such a convention, to meet in 

 Richmond the first Monday in January? Let any 

 one who feels an interest in the object attend. Let 

 each agricultural society in the state be represent- 

 ed there. If it be asked what good can come of 

 it, the answer is, let us try it. A free communion 

 of the intelligence of the land cannot be altogether 

 unproductive of good fruit. Apart from what can 

 be done by such a convention on its own means, 

 an appeal may be made to the legislature under 

 the weighty sanctions' of their united wishes, to do 

 something "for us. If the view which I suggest 

 is esteemed impracticable, they may incorpo- 

 rate an agricultural society in each congres- 

 sional district, and award a small sum to each, to 

 he distributed in premiums, afler the maimer of 

 New York and other states. 



But it is objected that it will cost something. 

 Have we not as a class offered our fleece aunual- 

 ly, without a murmur, to be appropriated to other 



