1S35.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



415 



party presses furnish — there is at least as much 

 gained as lost. 



For my accommodation, the stage took a differ- 

 ent road for the last nine miles beibre reaching 

 Hampton, which passes through the remarkable 

 and valuable body of lands lying on and near 

 Back River. I devoted parts of two days to an 

 examination of this very interesting region, and 

 receiving information of its character and mode of 

 tillage, in the company of an old friend who is a 

 successful and enlightened cultivator there, and 

 whose opinions deserve great respect. This gen- 

 tleman, Col. John Pryor, has promised me to pre- 

 pare, and communicate to the Farmer's Register, a 

 full and minute report on the Back River lands, if 

 not of the whole of the little county to which they 

 belong. My memoranda therefore of this re- 

 markable and interesting region will be very con- 

 cise, and present merely observations on such mat- 

 ters as are striking to a stranger, and might per- 

 haps be passed over without notice by an old resi- 

 dent — or otherwise will consist of such "shreds 

 and patches" of facts and opinions as might be 

 deemed by others not worth distinct notice, or the 

 trouble of being recorded. It is my object in 

 these hasty memoranda, to note trivial matters — 

 to present the mere gleanings of more important 

 and valuable harvests which other writers either 

 have before given to the public, or have ready se- 

 cured in their minds, and may communicate for the 

 -public benefit. 



The. stranger will be first struck with the re- 

 markable level surface of the whole body of Back- 

 River lands. They have but a few feet' of eleva- 

 tion above the highest storm-tides — and on such 

 occasions, much of the land is covered, which is 

 firm and dry generally. This of course is a strong 

 general objection, and cause of much injury to the 

 lands which are sometimes inundated. The nat- 

 ural fertility of the whole body (of about 8000 

 acres) is great, and its permanency is abundantly 

 proved by the wretched and scourging tillage 

 which has been heretofore general, and still is 

 practiced on most of the farms. The papaw, 

 which is unknown in the high conntry, except on 

 spots of rare fertility, or on the rich western lands, 

 is here a common growth, seen in almost every 

 waste spot. Though water may be reached by 

 digging three feet in most places, and stands in the 

 wells at only eight or ten feet below the surface, 

 there is no difficulty in draining on account of 

 springs. Surface or rain water is all that is to be 

 guarded against, and the proper system of drain- 

 ing required, is simple and cheap. It consists in 

 putting all the land in beds with a proper direction 

 lor their water furrows to be emptied in the ditches 

 which are in the lowest places. The long and 

 narrow bottoms, or slight depressions by which the 

 storm-tides penetrate lor great distances through 

 the land, furnish admirable sites for these ditches, 

 and great facilities for digging and keeping them 

 open. 



The soil is of three kinds, which are distinguish- 

 ed as the gray land, the black, and the brown or 

 chocolate colored. The first is the most elevated 

 and the least fertile — and the last is the most va- 

 lued. It would be difficult to find any land richer 

 than either of the two last kinds — and scared} 7 

 any more productive, when well cultivated, and 

 in good seasons. But the low and level surface, 

 the close neighborhood of water below, and proba- 



bly other circumstances, cause more hazard here, 

 and make the prospects of the farmer less sure than 

 on some much less fertile soils. Corn is here the 

 great crop — (he most sure and the most productive. 

 The soil (especially the brown) is very good for 

 wheat also, being generally stiff enough — but the 

 various disasters to which that crop is subject, 

 render it much less sure and profitable. All the 

 land is much mixed with gravel, and much of it 

 below the surface has a quantity of rounded stones 

 of various sizes, such as are seen on the river 

 shores in the higher country. In one place, soon 

 after entering this county, the surface of the road 

 appeared much like that of a paved street, from 

 the uniform cover of imbedded stones, about the 

 size of those used for paving. 



Below (he surface, at various depths between 

 two and eight leet, a bed of shell marl is so gene- 

 rally reached, as to be supposed to be almost the 

 universal substratum of the Back River lands. 

 This is a remarkable and important fact, if true 

 — and may serve to account for the great fertility 

 of the surface. The marl is nearest the surface 

 of the brown and black soil — generally there 

 within three feet, and often less. In whatever 

 manner the surface earth was deposited by natu- 

 ral operations, and however poor it might have 

 been originally, every tree which grew, must ne- 

 cessarily have pierced the marl with its roots, and 

 brought up calcareous matter to form part of its 

 body. All these trees require more or less lime — 

 and all obtain some, as is proved by the contents 

 of their ashes. For pines, the smallest supply of 

 lime will suffice, and the presence of more is de- 

 cidedly injurious — while the wild locust, the pa- 

 paw, and some others cannot thrive except where 

 the supply of lime is abundant. But every tree 

 must draw up more or less — and when it dies 

 and returns to (he earth again its entire substance, 

 all the lime which it had received is left on, and is 

 ultimately mixed with the surface soil: and if the 

 abundance and vicinity of the lime below offers an 

 unlimited supply, this natural process must con- 

 tinue until the soil is as calcareous as is necessary, 

 and as rich as that quality and putrescent matter 

 in abundance will, together, certainly cause any 

 soil to be. It may be objected to this reasoning, 

 that the same process would have gone on where- 

 ver marl lies within reach of the deepest roots of 

 trees — and (hat all the soil lying above should be 

 thereby made rich, instead of exhibiting the natu- 

 ral sterility of most of such land higher up the 

 country. The same effect is produced in many 

 cases, and perhaps in every case where there is no 

 barrier of barren subsoil between the surface and 

 (he marl. But where this barrier is found, as it 

 generally is, and of from two to more than ten feet 

 thick, it effectually stops the descent of the roots 

 of such trees as delight in a calcareous soil — and 

 those of pines, and other trees of like character in 

 this respect, would not dip into the shelly earth be- 

 low. 



Black or native mulberry is a very common fo- 

 rest growth here, and on a field which had been 

 cleared, (the second time) a iew years ago, many 

 young mulberry trees were left, to serve for 

 fencing limber. Some of these are now entirely 

 dead, and all the others in a dying or declining 

 state. From this it would appear that the shelter 

 of other trees, or a thick growth of their own 

 kind, is best for their healthy growth. The fact is 



