372 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No, 6. 



moving the board occasionally, say once a week, 

 you may destroy all the young worms before they 

 get among the bees to do any harm. It' by open- 

 ing the door for this or any other purpose, some 

 few bees should fly into the room, as they often 

 do, it. is easy to hoist a window and let them 

 out, when they will immediately return to their 

 hive. 



Some people might apprehend that bees kept in 

 the house would be troublesome to the family 

 within, but this is not the case. The room might 

 be used for any other purpose as well as though 

 the bees were not there. When the door to the 

 hive is shut and the lid closed, as they ordinarily 

 would be, there is no possibility of the bees get- 

 ting into the room unless they come in from onto! 

 doors, and if they should at any time come in 

 through a door or window, they will be as anx- 

 ious to return as the most timid could desire. 

 When in a room they will often fly against a 

 glass windovv until, wearied with exertion, they 

 will drop down and die, if they can find no way 



out. 



• • * # * 



LEVI II. PARISH. 



Brighton, (near Rochester,) slug. 10th, 1835. 



REMARKS OJV PRICES AND PRODUCTS OF 

 LANDS. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



Charlotte, Jug. 19, 1S35. 



If the writers for the Register would each give 

 some general description of the lands in his neigh- 

 borhood, of their adaptation to the production ol 

 this or that staple, the average amount they will 

 produce per acre, and the prices at. which they 

 sell, or could be purchased, it would be a great 

 convenience to those who are looking out tor homes, 

 and might be the means of giving a check to the 

 tide of emigration which is desolating our country. 

 I am myself desirous of selling my land that I may 

 purchase elsewhere, with the same money, a lar- 

 ger plantation. Good lands well suited to the pro- 

 duction of tobacco, cannot be bought in this coun- 

 ty for less than $10 per acre, and have ranged 

 from that to $15 for the last twenty years, while 

 those of inferior quality, range between $3 and 

 10. Now, there may be sections of my native 

 state, where lands are selling much lower than 

 this, and where I might be induced to locate my- 

 self were I in possession of the requisite informa- 

 tion. And certainly your periodical affords a me- 

 dium through which such information might be 

 imparted. For instance, if the lands on the lower 

 James River are of great fertility, and selling at 

 low prices, and that fact known to the people of 

 middle Virginia, might not many who are seeking 

 the rich valleys of the west and southwest, 

 direct their attention that way? 



There are many, Mr. Editor, who are driven 

 by stern necessity, to seek an asylum in the west, 

 who would prefer remaining in Virginia, if with 

 their means they could purchase land on which 

 their families could be supported. But the great 

 body of our planters are home-staying people, and 

 are in fact ignorant of the quality of the lands in 

 their own state, while their intercourse with their 

 friends who have emigrated to the west, is the 



means of making them acquainted with both the 

 cheapness and quality of the lands there. Would 

 it not be wise in land-sellers to advertise, their pri- 

 ces, the average product of their land per acre, 

 and the description of crop raised? 



I live in the heart of a fine tobacco country, 

 where the best planters raise from 1000 to 2000 

 weight of tobacco to the hand, and from 1^ to 4 

 barrels of corn to the acre. 



There is some agricultural improvement here; 

 but where one man is improving his lands, five 

 are murdering them. Plaster operates like a 

 charm. An agricultural society has been estab- 

 lished here, but it receives very little encourage- 

 ment from the land-killing gentry. 



We have here a host of destructive insects 

 called chinch-bugs, from the odor which they 

 emit. They infest the corn, wheat and oats, in 

 such numbers as to produce, in some instances, 

 a total failure of crops. They are worse than 

 drought. When the wheat is cut Ihey march in 

 a column, which blackens the earth, to the corn 

 field, and settling on that, they soon exhaust the 

 whole of the sap, and leave the plants lifeless and 

 dry. The man who would discover a remedy for 

 them would be a benefactor to this section of coun- 

 try. They made their appearance, here about fif- 

 teen years ago, and I think, are becoming more 

 and more destructive. How far their ravages ex- 

 tend I am not able to say. Can you tell us where 

 they come from, and whether they are common 

 throughout Virginia, and also whether they are to 

 be found elsewhere? Has any remedy been found 

 for them, and what is it? 



Committees of the agricultural society are now 

 examining into the condition and management of 

 the farms of members of the society. I suppose 

 they will lead the people to the first step towards 

 improvement, the knowledge of thei/r faults. 



P. S. A communication in your last number on 

 the subject of the lands of Northampton, is a very 

 exccllent specimen of the plan I propose to the 

 wrilers for the Register, in regard to the lands in 

 their respective counties. 



SOILS, AND AGRICULTURAL ADVANTAGES OF 

 THE FLORIDAS. No. 3. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



Plantation Wascissa, Aug- 26, 1835. 



My preceding letters must limit for the present, 

 further observation on the soils of the eastern dis- 

 trict. Desultory and brief as they necessarily 

 have been, I yet hope they have proved sufficient- 

 ly interesting to excite the attention of emigrants, 

 to an examination of the lands they feebly de- 

 scribe — and for which there can be no period so 

 propitious as the present autumn; as from the cer- 

 tain removal of the Seminoles during the coming 

 winter, speculators are already anticipating a rich 

 harvest in the selection of choice tracts. Assu- 

 redly these lands, so happily located for the Atlantic 

 market, and sea ports, and blessed with the security 

 of our own unrivalled government, must be more 

 eligible, for the American emigrant, than the far 

 distant and revolutionary Texas. 



