66 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



the more nautious who n)l!ow him. I believe ih^t, 

 on invesligation, it would be Ibund that but lew ol 

 the mosl^vaiuable discoveries in the aris of lile, 

 have been made by prudent, calculating, praciical 

 men. Labor-haling propensities are admirably 

 calculated to set the wits to work, on the discovery 

 of labor-savintf expedienls. It ought, however, 

 to be acknowledged, that the class ol" men, usually 

 stigmatized wiih the name oC st/ie??iers, are not, 

 generally, much influenced liy the desire of gain. 

 Some of them, indeed, are actuated by the higliesl ; 

 motives. Ii is no matter ofsurprise that such are ! 

 not, what are usually termed, thriving men. Those ' 

 who expect nothing are rarely disappointed. 



In previous addresses, I have dwelt at some 

 length on the ordinary operations ol' farming in 

 thie"^ region. F will now make a few remarks on 

 the various kind ofsiock and their management. 



In Virginia, so mucli attention has been paid to 

 the horse, the noblest of our animals, and books 

 on farriery are so common, tliat all who desire in- 

 Ibrmation on this matter, may easily obtain it. I 

 would only observe, that many of our teams are 

 (lestroy8d,"and most of them much injured, by over- 

 pressure of service in very busy seasons, particu- 

 larly in the spring of the year, and while fallowing 

 lor, and seeding wheat in the fall. No animal 

 can long sustain labor, without serious injury, 

 which is'^so brisk as materially to hurry his respir- 

 ation. He who pushes his horse onward, while 

 panting with fatigue, subjects himself to the re- 

 proach'of iuhtimanity, and very probably, to what 

 such a one will leel more acutely, the loss of the 

 animal. The error of most proprietors consists in 

 confiding horses, without the necessary supervi- 

 sion, toThe tender mercies of those, wlio neither 

 know nor care how much these animals can, with 

 safety, bear. 



In the management of cattle, in miildle Virginia, 

 inattention, on the part of the master, to their com- 

 fort is as manifest, as it is in regard to that of 

 horses. Indeed, I believe, it is much more com- 

 mon. Until a very ftivv years past, scarcely any 

 one thought of feeding cows upon any other, than 

 what one of our worthy members called "the 

 bran and shuck system." Indeed, there were not 

 many who cared to provide bran ; but it was ge- 

 nerally thought, that the ofl'al of the small grain 

 crops was all-sufficient for cattle. It is pleasing to 

 observe some improvement in this matter ; and as 

 the returns, both in profit and comlbrt are so great, 

 it is hoped that this subject will soon attract the 

 attention it deserve?. 



On the subject of cattle raising, a question has 

 been started, and, to judge from the practice, set- 

 tled in this region, on which the propriety of keep- 

 ing much stock of this kind depends. It is, 

 whether the ferdlity of land can be better preserved 

 and increased, by the aid of cattle, in converting 

 speedily into manure, the ofl'al of crops, grass, 

 &c. ; or, cattle beinc dispensed with, and the land 

 being relieved from the injuries of tooth and hoof, 

 it might not more rapidly improve from the natu- 

 ral decay of such of its productions, as, in the 

 other case, would he appropriated to the suste- 

 nance of cattle? With the attention usually paid 

 to cattle in this region, I would readily admit the 

 truth of the latter branch of the question. I con- 

 eider that th^re is almost no attention paid to these 

 animals. Their summer pasturage is not always 

 good. Indeed, the attention paid them during 



seven or eight months of the year, is only to keep 

 them out of mischief! Except this, and they are 

 left pretty much lo sciifHe for themselves. Their 

 winter keep consists of corn-tops, shucks and 

 wheat-straw, and these, if the weather be bad 

 during I heir preparation, make miserable food ; 

 and even when in the best state of preservation, 

 are onl}' calculated lo carry the m^ijotity of iheir 

 consumers thmuirh the winter. In addition to 

 this, some provide for i heir mtlch cows, very closely 

 bolted bran, which, with a lew cabf)age leaves and 

 lurrups, if they happen to be on hand, will furnish 

 a quantum sufficient ol blue milk to gel along with 

 during winter. 



The manafjement of manure is about as care- 

 less as that of its producers. In sunimer, most 

 people move their cow- pens often enough to make 

 a turnip patch of tolerat)le size. To do more than 

 this, would interlere loo nsuch wiih the tobacco 

 crop. In winter, since ihe publication of ' Arator,' 

 I believe a majority of farmers construct what is 

 called a fiirm-pen, and some of them haul into 

 these some corn stalks ami some leaves. But 

 many permit tiieir caiile lo roam through their 

 farms, poaching the land, and trampling the 

 wheat in wet weather, and seeking a cheerless 

 shelter amons the young pines; or, if these be 

 wantittg, lowing, by the leeward of a worm-fence, 

 in tones that should make their master's heart 

 ache. Under such management, it would be un- 

 reasonable to expect the manure made to be an 

 equivalent lor the expense and damage incurred 

 fi-om the stock. Ii should be remarked here, that 

 there are very numerous and laudable exceptions 

 to the foregoing modes of management. 



In attempting to draw the other side of the pic- 

 ture, we will be compelled lo go a little inio the re- 

 gions of fancy. Having never seen caltle man- 

 aged as ihey ought lo be, it is difficult, either to 

 point out the means, or to conceive the fijll amount 

 of benefit from the increase of'manure and of milk, 

 butter, meat and leather. Manure has been pro- 

 nounced the farmer's sheet-anchor. It is lo liitvi, 

 as capital is to the money-lender. It may be 

 suffered lo lie idle and waste, or it may be so man- 

 aged, as to bring compound interest. And there 

 is here no law limiting the rate. The man who 

 enriched five acres more than his neighbor this 

 year, receives in Ihe crop more profit, and has so 

 much added to his capital, which, for years to 

 come, under proper management, may be increas- 

 ing his means of enricliing more land, while it is 

 constantly adding to his profits. The oftener this 

 sort of capital is turned over, the better. And 

 herein consists one of the benefits ofcatlle. They 

 enable us more speedily, to convert into manure, 

 the offal of the crops, the artificial grasses, or the 

 spontaneous productions of the earth; and thus, 

 generally, these yield inierest one year sooner, 

 than if left to the slower process of natural decay. 

 It has been said, that as much is abstracted from 

 the value of the manure-making material, for fer- 

 tilizing purposes, as coiylributes to the sustenance 

 of the animal. This is doubted. But admitting 

 it to be true, the residuum, alter nourishing the 

 animal, is in so much better condition for imme- 

 diate use than the raw material, as more than to 

 remunerate the loss. If all the manure from one 

 cow lor a whole year could be properly applied to 

 a given portion of the land, it is believed that the 

 eucceedlng crop would be much greater, than 



