THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



565 



ai)d wettest lands, neither marl nor any thing 

 else can do much gooii, until draining has re- 

 moved the great evil of excess o( suriace water, 

 which prevails lor hall the year — and which 

 serves to increase the injury Iroin drought, and a 

 hard sun-baked surlace, in the other halll 



There is but little draining atieuipied on these 

 lands, and that liitle is of very little etiect. It is 

 only to remove ponds and tlie longest standing 

 water. The great body, which is merely a muck 

 ol' mire through winter, and is neceasanly plough- 

 ed wet in spring, and o; which every acre needs 

 draining, is lelt to be dried by the sun ; and less 

 than hair a crop is obtained by the regular appli- 

 cation of at least a double amount ol' tillage lattur. 

 And this excess of labor is lar more costly than 

 would serve to drain the land etieciually. All 

 that is necessary lor this end, (on land already 

 long cleared and tilled,) would be to plough the 

 land when in good stale as to dryness, into good 

 beds or ridges, ol width suitable to the designed 

 culture, with deep and clean water-lurrows, and 

 in the directions best suited to discharge the water 

 into lower levels. We go upon the supposition 

 that the larmer is inexperienced in draining ope- 

 rations, and does not know (iracticall}' the use 

 ol' levelling instruments. Alter the land has been 

 so ploughed, (which ploughing ol course should be 

 the preparation lor the next succeeding crop, and 

 which, therelore, would be no additional cost,) he 

 may wait lor the next heavy ram to show, by the 

 standing and the flow of' water, where the cross 

 ditches are needed, and where ihey should lead 

 the water. More knowledge and experience 

 would direct a better mode of procedure; but 

 even this alone would save enough subsequent 

 labor, and add enough to the products, to pay lor 

 the improvement in the first year. 



In the newly cleared pocoson land, incumbered 

 by stumps and filled with roots, the drainage, to 

 precede cultivation, would require more judgment, 

 and very much more labor. But the increase ol 

 reward would be still greater than of the difficul- 

 ties. We entertain no doubt, that ifsuch land as 

 we heard described were both well marled belbre 

 being cleared, and well drained before being culti- 

 vated, it would yield lor ever alter, to judicious 

 and easy tillage, lour times as much product as it 

 usually does to the most laborious, disagreeable, 

 and disheartening tillage operations. We know 

 of no subjects lor agricultural improvement more 

 inviting, and promising better profits, than the 

 improvement and proper management ol these 

 lands. But, without marling and draining, we 

 would deem the land not worth accepting as a 

 gift, on the condition of its being held and culti- 

 vated. 



The prices at which the Surry lands are held 

 are in general high enough lor the usual condition 

 and products of the lands ; but very low if com- 

 pared to the facilities and inducements for im- 

 provement. They range Irom Sl-50 to $10 the 

 acre. And the higher estimates do not seem to 

 be BO much determined by the intrinsic value of 

 the land, as by favorite location, or something 

 else other than calculations of products and pro- 

 fits. Some of the best river farms would sell 

 higher than §10, and some small and poor tracts, 

 even lower than $1.50. But these are rare ex- 

 ceptions. The demand of particular individuals 

 serves to fix prices more than the real advantages 



of the land. Thus a tract sold at public auction 

 may command $6 ilie acre, because one or two 

 lu'ighboring land-holders may wish to add it to 

 liieir estates — and if the same land had been a 

 lew miles distant, without such adjacent neigh- 

 buis, but in all other resfiects as desirable, it 

 might not have commanded above ^3 the acre. 

 In a word, there is no regular demand lor land, 

 in general, but only such as is caused by the un- 

 certain and varying wants of a lew indivi- 

 duals. And there is very little inducement to a 

 non-resident to [)urchase even the chea|)est of the 

 lands, which are sold at auction at almost every 

 court day, because they are generally loo small, 

 poor, or, under other disadvantages, to be worth 

 bettling upon or of holding alone. 



COLLECTING FOSSIL SHELLS. 



Being desirous of making a collection of the 

 shells and other fossils of the marl beds of lower 

 Virginia, (or elsewhere,) we request of our friends 

 and readers who have carried out marl this au- 

 tumn, to collect and send to our office the most 

 pertect specimens of all varieties of shells and-, 

 bones which their pits may furnish. Each shell, 

 should be wrapped separately in paper, to prevent. 

 injury from rubbing in transportation, and the; 

 whole packed in a box or keg. The locality of 

 each parcel should be staled. As some small re- 

 turn for the trouble thus incurred by our Iriends^ 

 any specimens of marls of which they may desire 

 to know the strength, and that may be put up, 

 properly labelled and sent with the shell?, will be 

 analyzed, and the results reported to the pro- 

 prietors. 



When the shells are very small and nuraerous, 

 it will be well to send some lumps of the marl 

 containing them. It will be saliest not to clean the 

 marl from the larger shells very closely, lor lear 

 of injuring their surface. — Ed. F. R. 



BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



Seeing, in a late number of the Farmers' Re- 

 gister, a proposition to arrange some plan for the 

 commencement of the meetings of the Board of 

 Agriculture established by the last legislature of 

 Virginia, I take the liberty of suggesting that each 

 member of the board lately appointed by the exe- 

 cutive should propose to the executive such a 

 plan as he might think proper, and request the 

 executive to convene the board as may be thought 

 best by the majority. The meeting of the legis- 

 lature will afford an opportunity of obtaining any 

 aid that may be thought necessary by the board 

 to efiect the contemplated object : therefore I 

 would propose that the first meeting of the board 

 should take place at an early day of the next ses- 

 sion of the legislature. 



^ug. 19, 1841. One of the Board. 



