THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



95 



which is left Hillow, and for small grain. These, I 

 after one year's rest in good soils, and always be- 

 fore they become coviired wiili broom scd^re, 

 ehouhi be ralK)\vod m liie autumn, carciiiliy lurn- 

 inir ill all tile stubble ami weeds, with two lioiric 

 plouijlis adapted to (he purpose. 



On the process ol' cultivation, one or two re- 

 marl<s may not be unappropriately made in this 

 connexion. One of the most prominent obstacles, 

 both 10 a system of good culiivation and to a sys- 

 tem of permanent improvements, is the common 

 practice oloverpianiiniX. Il maybe not unaptly de- 

 nominated a system oi' wear and tear, in rcixard to 

 land, negroes, horses and mules. As one ol'its in- 

 evitable consequences, a planter almost certainly 

 finds himself, when the seasons are in any degree 

 uniiivorable, in that uncomliDriable condition usu- 

 ally expressed by saying " he is desperately in 

 the grass." No man deserves Uie name of plant- 

 er vvlio gets into this predicament, except in very 

 extraordinary seasons, any more than he deserves 

 the name of" general who carelessly permits him- 

 self to be surprized and surrounded by an enemy. 

 For though the one may work his way out of the 

 grass, as the other may cut his way out of the 

 toils of his adversary, yet it is the hard knocks 

 and sweat of the laborers in the one case, and 

 the valor and blood of the soldiers in the other, 

 that imperfecti}' atone for the incompetency of the 

 manager and of the commander. It is my con- 

 fident belief that when even one half the crop is 

 permitted to become grassy, the future cultivation 

 of the whole will require double the labor that 

 would have been otherwise necessary, and with 

 all that, it will be impossible to make a full crop, 

 especially of cotton. In our climate and soil in 

 the upper country, the only means of avoiding an 

 immense destruction of immature balls by the 

 autumnal frosts, is to push the growth of the cot- 

 ton from the beginning, by thinning and preparinsf 

 it to mature as early as it can be safely done, and 

 never permittinsj its trrowth to be delayed for a 

 einsrle day by want of working. For what is lost 

 in this way can never be recovered ; and I have 

 no hesitation in saying that six acres of cotton to 

 the hand, properly cultivated, will produce a 

 greater result with one half the labor than ten 

 acres to the hand, cultivated in the rouirh and 

 imperfect manner hut too common even in this 

 state, and generally prevalent in some others. 

 In adopting it as a rule, therefore, fo plant no 

 larger crop than can be cultivated in the most per- 

 fect manner, a planter will best consult every 

 view of sound economy and even the predominant 

 desire to make a large cotton crop. 



In the culiivation of a crop I know no rule 

 more important, and which is more generally 

 violated, than tliat of doing your work thorough- 

 ly well, cost ivhat labor it may. More labor is im- 

 profitably wasted and more crops injured by bad 

 cultivation from neglecting this rule, than from 

 any other cause. The last strokes of labor re- 

 quired to complete any operation are doubly, often 

 ten times as valuable as those used in ihe previous 

 stages of it ; and yet these are the very stocks 

 usually omitted ; in an improvident haste to 'get 

 over ihe crop,' as it is expressed. The very 

 causes which generally tempt managers to slight 

 the work — wet weather and grass, for example — 

 are those which most imperiously demand the 

 strict observance of the rule I have laid down. 



One of the consequences of over-cropping and 



bad working which is most to be deprecated is the 

 necessity they create, and apology they ofli-r, (ijr 

 permanently injuring the soil l)y t■.xce^.-:iv(' plougii- 

 ing, anil what is still worse, ploughing in improper 

 seasons. I believe that il may be iruly said that 

 in the upper country at least, double the quantiiy 

 of ploughing is done in culiivating cotton, tlian 

 can be justified by any sound theory. Every 

 ploughing which turns up fresh soil to the burn- 

 ing rays of a Slimmer sun must tend to exhaust 

 its' fertility. But ii is more imporiaiu to reiiiiuk, 

 that nothing which lolly can iiillict on the soil, 

 will so ceriainly reduce it to a mere caput 

 mortuum, as the murderous practice of ploughing 

 it in wet weather. There is but one way for a 

 planter to avoid these evils, and that is by so plant- 

 ing and so conducting his operations as to be 

 habitually ahead with his work. 



ON THE PRESERVATION OF WOOD LAND — 

 THE CULTIVATION OF THE LUCUST TREE, &C. 



For llie Fanners' Register. 

 Mr. Editor. — The value of many farms, in va- 

 rious parts of our country, has already been greatly 

 impaired by the improvident destruction of nearly 

 all the timber upon them. I can designate a num- 

 ber of farms in my own neighborhood, the value 

 ofwhich would be enhanced from one to three thou- 

 sand dollars, by an abundant and convenit nt supply 

 of timber ibr ordinary liirm purposes. Upon some 

 of them, otherwise extremely valuable, there is 

 not sufficient timber to renew the decaying fences, 

 much less to supply the ceaseless demands of the 

 voracious fire places. Our ancestors, in gratifying 

 iheir immediate wants, seem to have acted upon 

 the considerate principle of the enlightened Bri- 

 tish statesman in the House of Commons, who, in 

 reply to the arguments of a brother member 

 drawn from considerations of duty to posterity, 

 indignantly exclaimed, "D — n posterity — what 

 has posterity ever done /or us 7" I do not know, 

 however, that we arc more considerate than our 

 fathers. To sacrifice the future for the present 

 is the great infirmity of poor, frail, short-sighted 

 man. Instead of improving our old fields, we 

 still continue almost wantonly to destroy large 

 bodies of valuable limber, regardless of posterity, 

 and forgetting that while destruction is the work 

 of a day, reparation may require the lapse of an 

 age. The permanent value of our farms, in many 

 cases, would unquestionably be enhanced by the 

 preservation of our forests. Our wood-lands in 

 old settled neighborhoods, and particularly in ihe 

 vicinity of towns and villages, are becoming every 

 year more and more valuable, and will soon be 

 the most valuable portions of our estates. I have 

 known the wood upon land in the vicinity of a 

 town in the Valley of Virginia sold at %A0 an acre, 

 double the price the cleared land would itself ha\e 

 commanded. Under these circumstances, a ^^\v 

 plain remarks with regard to the preservation of 

 limber where it exists, and the re-production of it 

 where it has been destroyed, m.ay not be without 

 utility to some of your readers. 



In the first place, a sufficient body of timber to 

 supply the wants of every fiirm should be appro- 

 priated exclusively to that purpose. This land 



