THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



631 



60 lar, refused to come under anificiul manage- 

 ment. It has not come up, when sown, 'i lie 

 Guinea and ihe Gania grasses are too exjien- 

 sive lor extensive operations. 1 have conclud- 

 ed, unless you can teach me to raise melilut, to 

 rely mainly upon clover, herds-grass and timoiliy. 

 Should I luipiien to consult you, in luture, ahoui 

 some poke-root projeci, i jjray you to keep it a 

 secret Irom " Commentator." 



What 1 supporc to be about the true state ol 

 the case is, that melilot was not only an old 

 acquaintance olj but was regarded by (.'ummen- 

 laior with the prejudice which usually lulls to ili'.: 

 lot ot an old enemy. It stunk in his nostrils, j 

 He could ati'ord to it neither thought nor leeling, I 

 except hatred, and was probably cjuie ready, as 

 is now tlie lasiuon among writers, to brand as an 

 agricultural heretic, or compare with the looliiih 

 old doll ol a poke root farmer, any one who might 

 even make ii an otijecl of inquiry. Now I, sir, 

 was never an extravagant admirer of meliloi, but 

 having acquir d the knowledge of some lacis 

 which disposed me even to give it its due, I, 

 very harmlesslyj as I think, wrote a pivate leiier 

 to my friend and agricultural adviser, in which 

 i made some statements and inquiries, which lie 

 thought proper to publish. For ihis i ceriainly 

 did not blame him. It was rather an evidence that 

 he considered the matter wonh aliention. I lelt 

 as eaiti under the cover ol the Register, as my 

 person would have been under the sanctuary ol 

 his jirivaie dwelling. But I was hauled out and 

 drubbed as unmercilully as if 1 had vvriflen a 

 partisan letter to the ediior of a political, or any 

 other newspaper, Floggjng is by no means a 

 pleasant operation to iis subject, at any lime. But 

 when a poor wight, who deems himself both in- 

 nocent and sale, is caught and thrashed at an im- 

 proper time and place, lor the mere sport of the 

 executioner, it comes rather tighter than when 

 he is kindly told and leels that it is all for his 

 own good. My object in writing Ihis, is, by no 

 means 10 quarrel with Commentator; but most 

 earnestly to remonstrate against the admission 

 into the Register of attacks upon its contributors, 

 whether voluntarily so or not. Kind and liberal 

 strictures ought to be made upon their erroneous 

 opinions, but personal asperities should, by all 

 means, be avoided. I repeat that I love the Re- 

 gister, and look upon it as almost the last spot ol 

 public ground lelt, in this country, Ibr heavenly 

 peace to rest her loot upon. Now, il Commenta- 

 tor will pardon such presumption, in one who 

 ever gave a liivorable thought to melilot, 1 will 

 venture very humbly to advise him most care- 

 fully to read "an Address lu ilie Farmers and 

 Planters of Virginia," by Janu.s M. Garnett, esq. 

 It is in the very same April number iu which 1 

 got my killing. He will there find what deep in- 

 dignation has been excited in the bosom of that 

 amiable and venerable patriarch, by the mischief 

 (and 1 lear ruin) produced by the swarms of 

 demagogues in the land, and " their vile pariy- 

 newsjjapers." And, 1 trust, he will be ready to 

 unite wUh that benevolent lather in agriculture 

 in his endeavors to protect larmers and their 

 beloved Register, (rom the slightest infusion of 

 such bitterness. The truth is, as 1 believe, 

 that Commentator, liowever long he may have 

 known melilot, was not so well acquainted wiih 

 it as he himself] or you, sir, thought him. He 



seems to have been ignorant ihai ilie young 

 growth lives ihrougli winter, as well as young 

 clover— ihat stock are Ibnd at that season oi' 

 grazing il— that aliliougli, in summer, it (orma 

 almoslan impenetrable thicket, yet, as soon as iia 

 vegetable^ lile deparis, it becomes very brittle, 

 antl by the last of November, especially il slock 

 roam through it, many of its branches lie in 

 broken (iagmenls, like half rotten twigs ol brush- 

 wood, on the ground ; and that, iu this slate, 

 with a good lour-hurse plough, tjic monster 

 can be easiiy [iloughed in. He moreover ap- 

 pears to consider il only in the light of a crop 

 precedent to small grain. However " indestruc- 

 tible an occupant," it may appear to be in sum- 

 mer, any tobacco planter may find that it can be 

 subdued in the fall, and that it will rot in time to 

 be an excellent manure (or the succeeding tobacco 

 cro|). I suspect that neither Commeritator nor 

 ! would sustain injury by reading over the fable 

 of the chamelion and the iraveilere. 



I will not say that Commentator intended to 

 jeer me Ibr mentioning Clule and Reacrles' 

 plough; but, in his singularly lelicilous style Ibr 

 satire, he has referred to il with a fiequency, and 

 I in a way, which led me to suspect a taunt was 

 ! designed. In writing to a friend, ulio (as I be- 

 lieved) knew my high opinion of this kind of 

 ' plough, I mentioned it, without intending to boast 

 j the possession ol' a rare implement. Ii is indeed, 

 in this region, too rare an implement. But, I 

 trust it will not long remain so, as our larmers are 

 beginning to inquire after if, eagerly. It has the 

 rare quality of being made /or use, as well as for 

 I sale, and, I judge, it is made by men o\' rare ho- 

 i nesiy. 1 think if you knew it, you would sironglv 

 I recommend it. Its ground-n-ork is made of cast 

 I iron, of great strength and durability, and its 

 I wood-work is of excellent timber, excellently put 

 j together. It turns the sod admirably, and is so 

 j constructed that the near-horse is always on the 

 ; firm ground, while the ofi-horse walks in the 

 furrow-track. There is consequently no scuffling 

 Ibr firm looting, which often wearies the horses 

 more than — without this — their day's labor would 

 do. In our light high lands, two horses can draw 

 a plough intended lor four in the stiff grass lands 

 of middle New York, with less fatigue than is 

 produced by the draught of any other two- horse 

 plough I have ever tried, culling, at the same 

 time, a furrow-slice at least one-third wider. 



I have now endeavored to reply to the com- 

 mentaries of your correspondent, except in so far 

 as relates to my name. In this matter, I think 

 I have very good reasons for keeping profound 

 secrecy. I ceriainly signed my name to that un- 

 loriunate ??ie/i!7onelter, for which I got thrashed 

 while hoised upon your shoulders. I, of course, 

 am known only to you, I have no idea of imitat- 

 ing a wild young springal, whom I once knew. 

 For the perpetration of a nightly prank, he blacked 

 himself, and being detected by a negro, was so 

 severely flogged by him, as to (eel compelled to 

 avow his name. Rumor began very speedily 

 and unpleasantly to spread the report of this 

 Itjat. Whereupon, by way of counteraction, he 

 resolved to expose his back in public. When 

 behold, the stripes and bruises stood as thick and 

 indisputable witnesses of a fact, which before 

 was thought to be a mere joke. II Commentator 

 wishes to whip me again, I must beg, that it be 



