536 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 9 



the Atlantic in a canoe — of sea birds' eggs used 

 as ordinary food — of wrens building nests in men's 

 pockets — of a shark being beaten in single com- 

 bat, by gouging, &c. All this list of marvels was 

 pronounced to be an attempt at hoaxing — and Mr. 



, who heard the conversation, (and who 



moreover prides himself, on being an excellent ge- 

 neral geographer,) even denied that there were 

 any such islands existing. This was giving me 

 so much less credit than Gulliver's Travels re- 

 ceived from the English bishop, who declared 

 that he "did not believe that more than half of 

 what they contained was true," that I determined 

 to lay my day's observations, trivial as they may 

 be, hefore the readers of the Farmers' Register — 

 furnishing the editor at the same time with a re- 

 ference to a proper source for information as to the 

 most interesting point, in relation to the "beach 

 ponies," or wild horses of Chingoteague Island, 

 of which I know nothing except by report. 



EXTRACTS FROM A FARMERS MANUSCRIPT 

 NOTES. 



[The accounts received at different times, and from 

 several sources, of the author of the following com- 

 munication, induced us long ago to invite his corres- 

 pondence, with as much urgency as propriety permit- 

 ted — and it is hoped that the general and desultory ob- 

 servations now furnished, are but preliminary to more 

 full and minute statements of the separate parts of Mr. 

 Walker's admirable and most successful practice as a 

 farmer, as well as of his theoretical views of agricul- 

 tural improvements and interests. 



It is not our habit to refer personally to our corres- 

 pondents, or to remark on any thing relating to them, 

 except the communications before us — and even these 

 are generally left to speak for themselves, and to make 

 good their own claims to notice. If in the present 

 case we depart from this usage, it is because of the 

 peculiar situation of the individual, his well establish- 

 ed and high reputation at home, as a farmer, and his 

 being entirely a stranger, even by report, to nearly all 

 of our Virginian readers. "We understand that Mr. 

 Walker is a farmer thoroughly trained by education in 

 Britain — and by practice there and in this country — 

 original, perhaps eccentric, in his modes of thinking 

 and acting, but the general results manifesting that his 

 departures from ordinary courses, are guided by correct 

 reasoning, and sound judgement. Careless or regard- 

 less of the censure or the ridicule which may be al- 

 ways expected in such cases, he has in no way tried 

 to justify the correctness of his views, except by their 

 practical results — and by these best of proofs, his theo- 

 ries have been most generally well sustained. We 

 have been informed by a highly intelligent correspon- 

 dent, who recently visited the farm of Mr. Walker, 

 that it exhibits most strikingly all the beauty of ap- 

 pearance, and of utility, that might be expected from 

 the highest grade of agricultural skill, and industry — 

 and that its owner is equally remarkable for the singu- 

 larity and oddity of his opinions and manner. He left 

 his native country on account of preference for the po- 



litical institutions of this — but notwithstanding that 

 general and very decided preference, feels strongly ,and 

 expresses freely the defects in our policy which ob- • 

 struct agricultural and economical improvement. So 

 far as we now see into the politico-economical cretd 

 of the writer, it does not accord with our own: but we 

 are not on that account, (and we hope that such is the 

 case with all our readers,) unwilling to listen to the 

 opinions, however opposite, of any enlightened and 

 sincere friend of agricultural interests. 



Concise as are the statements on practical farming, 

 there are two points which, (as tested by Mr. Walker's 

 successful experience,) deserve especial attention — 

 viz: the application of putrescent manures as much as 

 possible to grass crops — and always on the surface. 

 Both of these practices are still but little extended in 

 this country — and had been scarcely heard of by most 

 of our readers a few years ago. But they are strongly 

 sustained by many facts, as well as by sound reasoning, 

 presented in many previous parts of this journal — and 

 we doubt not that by their general adoption, a revolu- 

 tion, and a most beneficial one, will soon be produced 

 in the agriculture of this country.] 



LETTER FIRST. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



Holm esburg, Philadelph la 

 County, Oct. 12th, 1835. 



Inclosed I send you five dollars — my subscrip- 

 tion for the present volume of your Register — and 

 I beg you to accept my very best thanks for the 

 1st and 2nd editions of your work on calcareous 

 manures — in my opinion, one of the few works 

 upon agriculture of any great value yet written. 

 Indeed 1 am confident the day is not very far dis- 

 tant, when it will be found, that nearly all the ex- 

 isting works upon agriculture are becoming worse 

 than useless, and with them will fall the existing 

 theories of population and food. 



I have read your account of the formation of 

 prairies with the greatest satisfaction. This great 

 and important discovery must ultimately lead to 

 vast results, in the improvement of the soil. How 

 nature's school has hitherto been most strangely 

 avoided and despised by farmers! — and there they 

 must acquire all their learning and all their know- 

 ledge.. But all improvers and discoverers in agri- 

 culture must be content to say of themselves as 

 Lord Bacon did of himself, "I am the servant of 

 posterity." You do well to hint at the igno- 

 rance of the learned. They name and catalogue 

 things — measure buildings and ruins — describe ci- 

 ties, castles, scenery, pictures, statues, costumes, 

 military accoutrements, courts and nobles, and enu- 

 merate armies, taxes, population, &c; but the 

 laws of nature — causes and effects, they leave 

 much as they find them, or rather, they find very 

 few of them. 



I have been intending a communication to you 

 for some time, but 1 am very dilatory with the pen, 

 and my time is otherwise much occupied. I now 

 send you a few extracts from my notes — just writ- 

 ten as the thoughts occur — endeavoring to follow 

 nature — the teacher whom farmers and most 

 others have only occasionally condescended to no- 

 tice since the creation. My views are — that man 

 was formed to subsist upon animal and vegetable 



