1S36.] 



FARME RS' REGISTER 



711 



at this time, to fill every icehouse in Virginia; also 

 my ink in the pen lias occasionally become ice 

 within the last three or four days,) and to give you 

 some of my own ideas on tobacco. 



In the impropriety ofindiscriminently cultivating 

 it in those sections of the state where it. is made, 

 I am fully aware, that a majority of the growers 

 of this plant will not agree with me; and whether 

 they do or not, it is perfectly immaterial. That 

 shall not prevent me from pointing cut those who 

 should make it, and those who should not. I pe- 

 vercan believe, taking every expense into consid- 

 eration, and the almost uniform neglect of other 

 crops, that there has been as much money made 

 from its cultivation, as many have supposed, more 

 particularly within the last thirty or forty years— 

 my reasons are these; in the first place, our land 

 generally is much poorer, requiring in many in- 

 stances, double the quantity of land, and conse- 

 quently double the quantity of labor with the con- 

 sequent expenses. There were also, then much 

 fewer overseers to divide the profits with. Every 

 planter, with but few exceptions, who had lrom 

 two to eight or ten hands, attended to his own bu- 

 siness, and made his sons work, which superseded 

 the necessity of so many overseers. In the pre- 

 sent enlightened days of our comparative worn out 

 land, things are very materially reversed. For 

 me to point them out in detail, I am sure would be 

 imposing on the good understanding of your nu- 

 merous, intelligent, and respectable subscribers. 

 I am clearly of an opinion that every cultivator of 

 the soil, should consult the nature and disposition of 

 his land, and at the same time, make a proper esti- 

 mate of the nature and expense of his hands; and 

 proceed to Us cultivation accordingly, even if it 'is 

 only to make black eyed-peas. 



I believe it will be admited by all, that it requires 

 the richest land and the most valuable hands, as- 

 sisted by unceasing industry and good manage- 

 ment, to make tobacco that which will yield a 

 handsome profit. 



How many in the present day are there, who 

 possess all the necessary requisites? But few lean 

 answer, when compared to the large bulk of dab- 

 blers in the tobacco plant. Within the last two 

 years, there are men actually attempting, and do 

 really think, that they are going to become rich, 

 immensely rich, from makingtobacco who scarce- 

 ly know a tobacco plant from a mullein plant. 

 Vain hope ! deluded men!— Where is your land? 

 Where are your barns, and where is your fire- 

 wood? — If you rent or lease, and hire negroes to 

 work the land at the present high prices of hired 

 negroes, ruin will be the inevitable consequence. 

 It is really amusing to see and to hear many such 

 characters speak of what, they say, they can af- 

 ford to give for rented land, and hired negroes, to 

 make this precious and all-valuable plant. They 

 6peak of making tobacco (for they think and talk 

 of no other staple commodity,) as if they had the 

 command of the clouds. Some of them, to have 

 the appearance of wealth and farming conse- 

 quence, will employ overseers without showing 

 them their farms; (sometimes they are to rent, and 

 perhaps most of the hands to hire.) What is the 

 consequence? Their bargain with their overseers 

 must be complied with. How is this to be done? 

 Why the employers, to keep up appearances, must 

 (very often) run to every hiring in their reach, to 

 get their number of hands to comply with their 



contracts. Just such characters have, been the 

 cause of negroes hiring so very high this year, so 

 much higher than i he nett proceeds of our faims 

 will justify. But they say we are going to make 

 tobacco. Now mark the consequence. These 

 very identical men, nine, I may say, out often, at 

 the close of the. year, after the proceeds of their 

 crops are ascertained, will not be able to afford their 

 overseers all of their own part, much less to pay 

 the hire of their tobacco-negroes ; all of their to- 

 bacco-money must, be paid lor corn and meat, and 

 contingent expenses. It not unfrequently happens 

 that their corn-crib is "rat-proof" by planting corn 

 time, and their meat-hou?es destitute of the little 

 flies which buz about the first warm season in 

 March, to lay their maggot-eggs. 1 have seen 

 tobacco sell years past, as high as it does at this 

 time; and as high as it probably will this year. I 

 saw people then lay the foundation for their ruin, 

 and I shall be greatly mistaken, if I do not see 

 them again in the same situation before * * * 

 # # # # * g ets t j ie vote f Virginia, for the 

 Presidential chair. 



Whilst 1 am constrained to ridicule the promis- 

 cuous and indiscriminate cultivation of tobacco, I 

 am fully sensible there are many, very many plan- 

 ters, getting rich from its cultivation. They are 

 not cutting down, in waste, every little piece of 

 wood-land which they know should be reserved 

 and used sparingly for rail timber. They are rais- 

 ing manure and making rich lots — making plenty 

 of grain also, to raise their own hogs and horses 

 without taking their tobacco-money to buy them. 

 They are not running to hirings and giving from 

 eighty to ninety dollars for negro men, and other 

 hands in proportion. No, sir, they are cool calcu- 

 lators. They will not run into such wild specula- 

 tions, regardless of consequences. They prefer 

 smaller lots, made rich with fewer hands to work 

 them, than to keep up this great, great appearance 

 of cultivating their tens and tens of thousands of 

 hills of poor land, with a train of high-priced 

 hirelings. They brag not of the immensity of 

 ground they have in cultivation, but they are per- 

 fectly satisfied with the fertility of their smaller 

 fields, the good management thereon displayed, 

 and, what is better than all, they are perfectly sa- 

 tisfied with the nett proceeds therefrom arising. 



I will now state as briefly as possible, my views 

 on the making and management of the tobacco 

 crop. It will be admitted by all, that the tobacco 

 crop is attended with much more labor, 1 rouble, 

 expense and uncertainty, conjointly, than bolh the 

 corn and wheat crop. As this is admitted, we 

 should not give it such precedence over the other 

 two staples of life. In the making of tobacco, in 

 the first place, our land should be rich, and well 

 adapted to its culture. We should have good 

 barns affording sufficient room, and quite airy. 

 Experience has taught me that early cutting and 

 curing do not require half the firing as has been 

 recommended by many writers on tobacco; provi- 

 ded, the barns are roomy and airy, and the 

 weather suitable. In warm and moist weather 

 even when the tobacco is cured, it should be dried 

 by small fires; otherwise, it will very apt to mould. 

 When the air in dry weather can freely pass be- 

 tween the tobacco while hanging, it seems to im- 

 part an invigorating substance quite discoverable 

 in the tobacco. It certainly does in the. months of 

 August and September, possess a curative process 



