178 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



were swamp. The balance consisted of north 

 hill sides, and not more than two thirds of them 

 could be cultivated, and even that little had been 

 worked down so that it would grow noihiiig but 

 sedge. He had two slaves besides himself. He 

 went to work, reclaimed his swamp land with 

 a great deal ol' labor, and divided liis plantation 

 into two shift. He then commenced croppinii 

 by putting either shift of meadow aliernately in 

 corn. During the summer and lall he had all 

 the weeds and grass that grew about his ditches 

 and fences, or any other place where they could 

 bi. had, cut and hauled in a heap to rot for manure. 

 In the winter his cattle were sheltered and penned 

 and also during the summer they were penned 

 at night. In short, he saved in every way all 

 the manure he could. In this nnanner he made 

 manure enough for all the land which hecullrvat- 

 ed in tobacco. He did not make any kind of 

 grain butcor-n ; lor whilst he had one part of his 

 land in corn and tobacco, he had to keep the other 

 for a pasture for his stock. Thus he made his 

 swamp land grow corn for his family and proven- 

 der for his stock, and at the same time furnish 

 manure to enrich his worn-down upland. Such 

 parts of his swamp aa were too wet for corn he 

 kept to grow branch grass. These places fur- 

 nished him with hay. His plantation, as S have 

 said belbre, was too small lor him to raise small 

 grain, so he could sow no clover nor any other 

 kind of grass. If he had been so situated as to, 

 have grown timothy, how much better he might 

 have carried on his manuring system ; but even 

 as. it was he soon bpcame famous for his nice 

 crops of tobacco. So much so. that 1 have 

 known him frequently to sell his crop of tobacco 

 for two or ihree dollars per hundred weight more 

 than his neighbors. He has frequently sold it 

 before it was carried to the house. One great 

 cause of the fineness of his tobacco, was his 

 manuring the land with well rotted manure. It 

 is true he is a nice person in curing and packing 

 tobacco. But it may be set down as an incontro- 

 vertible fact, that unless tobacco grows on suitable 

 land, and is properly managed belbre it goes to 

 the house, it will not cure of a nice color or make 

 what is termed fine tobacco. Well, by the man- 

 agement of my neighbor, as here given, he has 

 maintained his white lamily, and reared a consi- 

 derable family of slaves, (for one of the slaves as 

 belbre mentioned was a female.) From fifty 

 acres he has enlarged his plantation to between 

 two and three hundred acres, on which he has 

 at present Ibur fine tobacco houses. When he 

 first commenced the world, he cured his tobacco 

 in a pen, rudely constructed of poles and forks, 

 and covered with marsh grass. I have thus 

 given the management of one who ranks high 

 as a planter, not that he would not have sown 

 grain and clover if he had had sufficient quantity of 

 land to have done so, but to show what may be 

 done on a plantation by manure. Any planter, 

 whose plantation is adapted to the growth of clo- 

 ver, should by all means grow it ; for it not only 

 improves the land, but makes such luxuriant 

 pasture for stock. There are lands that are too 

 poor to- grow clover. My neighbor's manage- 

 ment, especially where tobacco is depended on 

 for the principal crop, ought to be f()llowed closely, 

 for it is only by manuring that this kind of land 

 can be made to grow tobacco. 



There are various opinions among planters 

 about the best time to piouirh up land that is set 

 in clover that is rniended lor tobacco. Some think 

 the fall ol the year best, others think the spring 

 the best, because the land being exposed during 

 the winter to the hard freeze?, looses some of 

 its fertility. My own opinion is, that land that 

 has been pastured closely should not t>e ploughed 

 up out of the clover until late in April, and the 

 slock should be kept off the clover from February, 

 so as to permit it to grow two or three inches 

 high. Clover', in a young and grnvvinii state, 

 turned in by the plough, soon r'ots and considera- 

 bly improves the land. 



Land broken up late will require but one more 

 ploughing belbre it is laid off lor to make the to- 

 bacco hills ; whereas, if it is ploughed up early 

 in the spring it will be necessary to plousrh it over 

 twiee before the tobacco is plarrted. When land 

 that is intended for tobacco has a wreat deal of 

 litter on it, I think it' best to break it up, either 

 in the fall or early in the spring. I always, whea 

 my tobacco land is rich enough, cut the clover 

 for hay if 1 can do so, if not, i try to pasture it 

 closely; fbr, if the land should not be quite as 

 rich as it ought to be, the clover hay furnishes 

 manure which goes back to it. For, as I have 

 belbre r-emarked, tobacco will not srrow quickly 

 on land that has much litter in it. (D.) 



A planier,'in laying off his tobacco lots, should 

 select such parts of his plantation as are adapted 

 to the growing of fine tobacco : all light soils 

 ar'e of this de.'-cription. Almost any soil may be 

 said to be adapted to the growth of tobacco that 

 will STOW it quickly. Tobacco that grows off 

 immediately after beirrg planted is soon r'eady fbr 

 the house, and the consequence is, it will with 

 proper attention cure good. (.E.) 



I shall close my remarks on the management 

 of a tobacco plantation in as few words as possi- 

 ble. In the first place, raise such crops as re- 

 quire the least labor fbr the support of the men 

 and animals on it. In the next place, save all 

 the manure you can ; keep no more stock than 

 is necessary fbr the use of the plantation — parti- 

 cularly horses, for a few well fed horses are of 

 more use than a host of ill fed, half starved 

 things. Suffer no manure or tobacco stalks to lie 

 about your barn sills, when your land is in want 

 of manure. Try and make corn enough for your 

 own use. Keep the plantation in good fences. 



Having made the foregoing remarks on the 

 management of a plantation where tobacco is 

 the only crop made fbr sale, I shall now proceed 

 to make such remarks on the cultivation of to- 

 bacco as I think are calculated, if followed, to pro- 

 duce a good and fine crop; and in making my 

 remarks, I shall treat the subject pretty much as 

 if writing for a person unacquainted with the 

 manner of growing tobacco. 



I shall begin by giving directions how to choose 

 suitable land and places for beds. The best sitU' 

 ation fbr a plant bed that will grow plants early 

 is on a hill side, having a slope towards the south, 

 and if the land suit, the bottom or fbot of the hill 

 side is best. This situation fully exposes the bed 

 to the 12 o'clock sun, and keeps ofi' the north- 

 west winds, which are frequent and cold during 

 the spring months. I always select places for 

 beds on the margin of running streams if the 

 land suits. The running water keeps the tobac- 



