THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



199 



in the autumn their herdsgrase meadows, (for 

 they have (heir rej^ular rotations lor that purpose,) 

 which they, by tillage, in the spring prepare (or 

 the crop. The decaying roots and vegetable 

 matterleedand nourish the plant during its growth. 

 They continue to cuhivate their grass land (or two 

 or three years, when it begins to get close or 

 clammy (or want oC the vegetable matter which 

 has been exhausted, and which is considered so 

 important ; it is again seeded down in small jirain 

 and grass. Oihers again seed the land which is 

 intended (or tobacco, in oats, which, when ma- 

 tured, are turned in with the plough. The volun- 

 teer oats will perhaps seed the land for the next 

 spring, if they are not killed by the frost, or the 

 land can be again sown if the owner thinks it 

 not rich enough. More than one crop however 

 is rarely necessary to enrich it (or one or two 

 years, on land which we may suppose to be in 

 good heart before. It is also very common to ap- 

 ply half rotted straw and- other litter from the 

 farm pen on the land in the spring, to be ploughed 

 and mixed in with the soil belbre hilling, and thus 

 • it rots and feeds the plant while growing as under 

 the systems be(bre mentioned. It is perhaps use- 

 lees to speak of the destructive practice of cutting 

 down tbrests, so long and extensively used in 

 Virginia for the cultivation of tobacco. As de- 

 sirable as virgin soil is to the growers of fine 

 (obacco, but (ew will have that kind of land left 

 many years longer, 



{Note D.) 



We think that by fallowing at the proper time 

 in the autumn, the clover would be converted into 

 manure, and tliereby the difficulty which the wri- 

 ter alludes to would be obviated. There is another 

 view of thesubject which we should be glad to see 

 discussed by some of our able agriculturists. It 

 is this. Whether the protection fi-om cold afforded 

 by clover or other vegetable covering is ot more 

 service to the soil, and to the subsequent crop, than 

 would be derived from the same covering when 

 converted into manure by the autumnal fallow. 

 It is the opinion of some that the freezing of land 

 improves it, and prepares it lor the coming crop. 

 And yet it has not escaped the observation of all 

 that wherever the land has been protected from 

 frost by a stack, or in any other way, although 

 no vegetable matter may have remained, to en- 

 rich it, that the subsequent crop will show the ad- 

 vantage. 



(Note E.) 

 A. free, light, gray, loamy soil, is preferable (or 

 the growth of tobacco— that medium texture, I 

 should say, which was equally removed (rom the 

 sand and the clay. It was remarked by a very 

 intelligent, observant, and successful farmer, Mr. 

 Richard Venable, of Prince Edward county, that 

 the gray lands of that county produced the finest 

 tobacco that he ever saw. And in connexion 

 with the eaime subject, he said that the rich low 

 grounds of James River were comparatively in- 

 ferior for that crop. He thought it probable tha' 

 the latter soil was more or less calcareous from dc 

 posiie brought down from the lime stone country 

 of the Blue Ridge, and he did not think that lime- 

 stone lands produced the finest tobacco, If this 

 be the fact, may not the inferior quality of the 

 article in Kentucky be accounted for? 



(Note F.) 

 The application of water to the plant-beds by 

 throwing it, is probably not the best niode. It is 

 disposed to bake the land. It would be attended 

 with much better effects i( the water weredammed 

 above the bed and conducted round it, to ooze 

 througjh from little rivulets. - Or another mode of 

 irrigation, which is perhaps equally good, can be 

 effected by placing barrels in different parts of the 

 bed, containing water, with email gimlet holes 

 lor it to trickle through. 



(Note G.) 

 As has been remarked by our writer, the fly is 

 always most troublesome in cold and dry seasons. 

 The best mode of protection which we .have 

 known, and we have thought it almost a preven- 

 tive,^ is what the writer has partially alluded to. 

 Warmth and moisture arc the opposites of cold and 

 dryn'ess. The beds should be on some southern 

 exposure, and kept in a moist condition, either ir- 

 rigated, (which if only one is used is preferable,) 

 or by covering pretty thickly with brush. We 

 would not use pine brush, as they exclude the sun 

 too much, and there is something cold in their na- 

 ture ; but simply brush, which serves the two-fold 

 purpose of keeping the land moist and preventing 

 it^ (rom washing, if there should be hard rains. 

 To cover the beds over with well rotted stable 

 manure is found to be a valuable auxiliary to ir- 

 rigation. We have kept the brush on till the 

 plants were out of the reach of the fly, or within 

 a (ew weeks of planting. They are then removed 

 to let the plants harden by the action of the sun 

 before planting. If it is necessary to remove them 

 (or the purpose of irrigating or manuring, or hand- 

 weeding, or trampling the beds, they must be laid 

 on again, and when they are finally removed, 

 it should be gradually, or during a cloudy or wet 

 spell. 



(Note H.) 

 The beds which are sown reasonably early, 

 produce plants wiih the best roots, which is im- 

 portant to their living when planted out. It is as- 

 tonishing how hardy the plant is when very 

 young. Contrary to the usual order of nature, it 

 will stand ten times the degree of cold that an old 

 and ripe plant will. 



(Note I.) 

 If the beds are manured with stable manure, it 

 is thought advisable to throw it in a heap or put 

 it 111 barrels, (which is perhaps the best) to (er- 

 ment for ten days or two weeks, to destroy the 

 vegetative principles in the seed. The remark of 

 the writer about the quantity ot seed necessary 

 to be sown is very correct. Every observant 

 planter knows that two plants, even indifferent, 

 put into the hill together, will more certainly live 

 than one good one planted alone. A plain old 

 farmer of our acquaintance, who never failed of 

 having a 'stand,'' used to remark that "while 

 other people were replanting, he was thinning." 

 It is very easy to pull up one, if both should grow, 

 or to turn one down and cover it up. 



(Note J.) 

 The process of " topping^' is conducted by the 

 most skilfurand prudent hands on the IJarm. A 

 few leaves, say four or five, are broken ofi' from 

 the bottom and usually thrown away, which is 

 called "priming," and then so much of the top is 



