310 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



been more improved in 1 he last ten years (whe- 

 theryou regard iis appearance or its product,) 

 than any other (ami, save my friend VVm. Fm- 

 ney's, within my l<novvledge — during the whole 

 of vvhicli time he has cultivated tobacco success- 

 fully. Nor are there any peculiar circumstances 

 of a favorable character which apply to his farm 

 and situation, more ihan toothers. On the con- 

 trary, his predecessors were lirerally unable to 

 support their families on iheliirm which he has 

 thus improved. These are the lacts on which 

 I rely to prove the position, viz. : That ihe cul- 

 ture of tobacco is not incompatible with the im- 

 provement of the land ; and I think they will be 

 allowed fully to sustain it by all who will take the 

 trouble to inspect Mr. Old's estate." 



SWEET-SCENTEn VERNAL GRASS OX POOR 

 LAND. PROTECTION OF BUZZARDS. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



May 15th, 1841. 



Dear sir : — It is too well known to all who 

 live between our lide-waier rivers, that we have 

 a most distressing superabundance of ver}' poor, 

 thin, light land, incapable ol' producing any thing 

 but broom-straw, hen-grass and sheep-sorrel ; in 

 a word — to borrow a common phrase — "land that 

 was born poor." None will cultivate it so long 

 as ihey have any thing which is even a shade 

 better. The consequence is, that it is lei't un- 

 inclosed, and becomes a common I'or every body's 

 stock, not to Jill their bellies on, but to take a 

 most wearisome march over in anxious search 

 of a bile or two of some worthless weeds, growing 

 slowly here and there, so far apart, like the 

 stalks of much of our wheat, that, as I once 

 heard a shrewd Yankee say, they are not near 

 enough to be neiglbors. 



Now even to such land 1 believe I have acci- 

 dentally ascertained that the sweet-scented vernal 

 grass is well adapted. My reasons (or thinking 

 so are, that a iijvv seeds of this grass, as I sup- 

 pose, were carelessly thrown out of a box about two 

 years ago, on a spot ol ground near my house ; 

 and last year I discovered, to my great surprise, 

 several bunches ol" it growing on another spot 

 distant from the first a hundred yards or more, 

 within the same inclosure. This land is very, 

 poor, thin and light ; ami I am quite sure would not 

 produce a bushel and a half of corn to the acre. It 

 has not been cultivated for two or three years, yet 

 the sweet-scented vernal grass is spreading over 

 it very fast, and even mixing to a considerable 

 extent with other grasses which grow in adjacent 

 and much better land. It is now in full bloom, 

 and generally, as 1 have ascertained by actual 

 measurement, lull eighteen inches high, although 

 in such poverty-stricken soil. It lias a fibrous 

 root, consisting of very numerous fine filaments, 

 which take such strong hold of the land as to in- 

 duce a belief that if would bear being grazed liill 

 as well as any grass yet known to us. This cir- 

 cumstance, added to its being the earliest of any 

 of our cultivated grasses, and growing to tfie 

 height above stated — where no other grass vvill 

 scarcely grow at all, as well as furnishing herbage 

 ol which both horses and cattle appear very Ibnd, 

 recommends if, I ihink, strongly to our notice. 



I/' the opinion I have formed of it be correct, 



the owners of all such land as I have described, 

 should lose no time in sowing it on them, lor they 

 would then soon have some good early grazing 

 for their stock, where those poor, half-starved crea- 

 tures now get nothing in the spring of the year, 

 or barely enough to eke out a miserable existence; 

 often at this season having scarcely sufficient 

 flesh on their bones to furnish a meal for half" a 

 dozen hungry buzzards, which are not unfre- 

 quently seen, at such times, hovering over them, 

 as much as to say to each other, (if birds could 

 talk in these days,) " is it not near our time to 

 take a snack of them?" ■ 



By the way, I have heard that in South Caro- 

 lina there is a law which imposes a penalty of 

 some 15 or 20 dollars on any one who kills one of 

 these very useful scavengers. Although this 

 ariTurs well for their humanity to their buzzards, 

 which I am told are nearly as tame as our tur- 

 keys, it has an awful squinting at something very 

 different from humanity towards their poor help- 

 less cattle, sheep and hogs. Still it shows a bet- 

 ter spirit than prevails in some parts of our own 

 state. For we not only often suffer these wretch- 

 ed animals to perish lor want of food, but to die 

 and rot even along our highways, and will not so 

 much as encourage the breed of buzzards, to get 

 rid of the nuisance without any trouble or cost 

 to ourselves. Quaire, might not our enlightened 

 and beneficent legislature, which is always so 

 profuse in professions of devotion to the great 

 interest of agriculture, be tempted, in the exu- 

 berance of their zeal, to pass, if we would only 

 petition them, just such a law as that of South 

 Carolina for ifie protection of buzzards? A pow- 

 er("ul recommendation of such a law would be, 

 that it could not possibly cause the loss of an 

 atom of popularity to those who passed it, as it 

 would not take a single cent out of the treasury, 

 and might bring something into it by way of 

 fines. Those, I would respectfully propose, 

 should be fixed at ^20 for every buzzard killed or 

 crippled, which, considering the present state of 

 our currency, would not be deemed too much. 

 I would luriher propose — with all due deference 

 to our legislative guardians — that the sum, which 

 those fines would soon produce should be entitled 

 " The Buzzard Fund;'''' and moreover, that it 

 should be exclusively appropriated to pay the 

 members of the Board of Agriculture, which our 

 last assembly of law-makers so patriotically and 

 generously established to serve without pay, and 

 all " for honor and glory," just as if they them- 

 selves — every man of them — were perfectly willing 

 to do the same, and doubted not lor a moment, 

 that eight competent gentlemen could be found 

 any where to discharge the many arduous duties 

 which the law imposes upon this board, and pay 

 their own expenses besides. 



But be this as it may, 1 hope our brother farm- 

 ers and planters will meditate seriously upon 

 these matters before the meeting of our next 

 legislature, and act accordingly. I remain, dear 

 sir, yours very sincerely, 



James M, Garnett. 



ERRATUM. 



in the " Essay on Calcareous Earth," &c, 

 published in the April number, there occurred an 



