1847.] Worn out Lands of Virginia, ^c. 101 



WORN OUT LANDS OF VIRGINIA AND NORTH 

 CAROLINA. 



The high price of lands in the State of New- York, together with 

 a disinclination to encounter the privations and sickness incident 

 to a life in the newly settled regions of the west, have induced the 

 farmer of small means to turn his attention to the old states of 

 Virginia and North Carolina, where lands are offered at a price not 

 much exceeding that asked by the government. 



The only objection to these lands is the idea that they have been 

 exhausted of their fertility — in farmer phrase, worn out. To a 

 certain extent this is the fact; but that these lands, under the sys- 

 tem of tillage practised by Northern farmers, will not immediately 

 yield a profitable return for their cost, is a mistake which a knowl- 

 edge of their former mode of culture will correct. 



Traveling lately in one of the most populous counties of North 

 Carolina, the writer had occasion to call upon a planter who owned 

 and tilled some two thousand acres of land, which by long culti- 

 vation had in his estimation become nearly worthless, and was 

 offered for sale for three dollars per acre. A different system of 

 tillage, including sub-soil plowing, rotation of crops, and the use 

 of clover, was suggested as the means of restoring the soil to its 

 original fertility. The proprietor replied that although it was a 

 prevalent opinion that deep plowing killed the land, yet he had 

 so far departed from the custom of his neighbors as to sub-soil a 

 small portion of one of his fields, on which a crop of corn was 

 then growing, to which the writer's attention was directed, and 

 which showed a marked superiority over the other portions of the 

 field. 



Upon an enquiry as to the kind of plow used, depth of furrow, 

 &,c., it was discovered that the sub-soiling was done with a short, 

 wide, clumsy implement, generally used for breaking up bush- 

 pastures, called a hull tongue, and that the whole depth of both 

 furrows was four inches. This was the planter's idea of sub-soil- 

 ing; and yet the additional depth of one or two inches had brought 

 to the surface fresh portions of earth, the mineral and saline ingre- 

 dients of which, by the action of light heat and atmospheric 

 agencies, had been rendered soluble, and given up the growing 

 crop. Thus demonstrating that by deep plowing and the appli- 

 cation of those principles which make up the science of agricul- 

 ture, the lands which are now deemed worthless, may be renderedt 

 as productive as when first subjected to the plow. 



