1338.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



and hauli;i<T it uitii Iiooks as it burns down. Be- 

 sides that this most distressing and unwliolesome 

 operation, of all t!iat we pertorni, is avoided — 

 while the burninn^ is a great deal more unilbrm. 

 Not a spot could be lound within the outer edges, 

 which was not equally burned wi'h the rest; and 

 ev-erv spot yielded its fair proportion of plants. 

 Thefirst time it was drawn. I planted my manured 

 lot of 40,000 hills, with plants as large as a man's 

 hand, and afterwards, my overseers on two adjoin- 

 ini; plantations, drew lor their old ground, at least 

 100,000 more, of equal size. I doubt wlieiher the 

 same amount of land, taking the average, burned 

 in the ordinary method, would yield more than 

 one-third of tlie plants of similar si;ce, by the 

 period ol the planting season — although, perhaps, 

 three times the quantity of wood was used in 

 burning. I am aware that few men could look 

 forward far enough to bestow the necessary labor 

 to give tlie same result — particularly, where un 

 overseer is consulted, who is naturally unwilling to 

 bestow so much labor, perhaps, lor some one who 

 is to follow him. But although the same amount 

 of benefit may not be derived by makincr use of 

 the land thus treated, at an earlier period — yet 

 great advantage accrues even by allowing it to 

 remain till the ensuins: fall- The flill twelve- 

 month is now the time I generally select I'or making 

 use of it. Another great advantage attends this 

 practice. As soon as it is burnt, (say in Novem- 

 ber,) it is prepared exactly as if it was to be sown 

 inniiediately. So that if the weather is untoward 

 at the time you would wish to sow it, you can 

 sow upon frozen ground. If it is suitable, you 

 can give it aliirht raking. Nothing then, can pre- 

 vent your sowing in as good time as you think 

 proper. 



Although I consider cow-penning the best mode 

 of manuring for plants; j-et it will not do to con- 

 fine ourselves to it. The winter is my time for 

 packing brush and wood on plant land for the fall 

 twelve months af;er. I select a spot in the woods 

 — rake it clean — laj- skids about lour inches diam- 

 eter, and about lour feet apart — lay on the lirush 

 across them, going backivards wnlh the layers till 

 it is all covered^then, beginning at the bats, tra- 

 vel on the wood which is laid across them and 

 mauled small as is convenient, till all is covered. 

 But beibre the brush is put on, cover it with ma- 

 nure according to the natural strength of the land. 

 The manure must have no grass seed in it. Sta- 

 ble manure, wiien the horses are fed on fodder, is 

 very good. Those who have tobacco stalks, will 

 find this a valuable mode of using them. In some 

 instances, however, (particularly Where the land 

 is rich,) I pack it without manuring — the cover- 

 ing itselt; and the gradual decay o!' the twigs and 

 bark, impart fertility to the soil, and lighten it up, 

 so as to ma'ce it fiivorable to the growth of 

 plants. 



In aslave-hoLlinj countrj', suited to the grow^th 

 of corn, wheat, an.l lobacco, this mixed crop fur- 

 nishes the most regular and profitable employ- 

 ment for a sot of humati beings, whom the n)aster 

 is bound by every niouve, to maintain al! the year: 

 while, in those countries cultivated by free labor- 

 ers, the farmer gives employment to them when 

 required; and when he has accomplished the bu- 

 siness of the ditferent seasons, leaves to them the 

 care of their own fmiilies. This circumstance, 

 aAdcd to the present high price of slave labor, and ', 



the hiffh price of tobacco, consequent thereon, not 

 only leads many to engage more extensively in 

 its culture, but many others to adopt it, who had 

 not done so before. I ma}- therefore, as the season 

 advances, lor the information of this last class, 

 trouble you with some further observations upon 

 its management, which may be useless to those 

 who are experienced, and as well or better ac- 

 quainted with it than I am, 



A PLAIS'TKR. 



[The writer of the two foregoing communications 

 has not even trusted us with his name — but we can 

 scarcely err in ascribing them to the pen of a gentle- 

 man whose name would stand, as autf.ority, among the 

 highest — and most deservedly so, on account of his 

 long and remarkably successful course as a cultivator 

 of the soil, as well as for his well earned elevated sta- 

 tion in society. His future communications will be 

 especially welcome, as presenting the facts and opiu- 

 ions of a truly practical tiller of the earth. 



In addition to his promised obscTAations on tobacco 

 CLdture, we shall be pleased if our correspondent will 

 furnish all the details of the usual most laborious and 

 costl}'' operation of burning patcht s for tobacco plants, 

 and their other prep iration and management. No other 

 writer in this journal has fully described tliis branch of 

 tobacco culture — and the description would be curious 

 and interesting to those who know nothing of it, and 

 will be so to all readers hereafter, when the entire de- 

 struction of the present covering of growing wood 

 shall necessarily put an end to the j)rcsent mode of pre- 

 paring plant beds. Without such details of the usual 

 process, strangers will find it difiicuit to believe that 

 the plan recommended by our correspondent, appa- 

 rently so costly in labor, and wasteful of fuel and ma- 

 nure, can be (as doubtless it is,) more economical in 

 all these respects, than the usual mode.] 



CONDITION OF THE DESCEK I>AB:TS OF A NUM- 

 BER OF EiMANCIPATED SlwVVES, IN TRIKCE 

 EDWARD COUNTY. 



To llie Editor of the Farmers' Registor. 



Richmond, IiLirch'22d, 1S36. 



You expressed a Avish (page — vol. HI,) to 

 obtain information in relation to ihe history of the 

 emancii)ated people of color in Prince Edward; 

 I presume those emancipated by the late Richard 

 Randolph more especially. 



More than twenty-five j-ears ago, I think, they 

 were hberaled, at which time they numbered 

 about one hundred, and were settled upon small 

 parcels of land, of perhaps 10 to twenty-five acres, 

 to each famil}'. As long as the, habits of uidus- 

 try, which they had accjnired while slave,?, lasted, 

 they continued to increase in numbers, and lived 

 in some degree of condbrt — but as soon as this 

 was lost, arid most of those who had been many 

 years in slavery either died, or became old and in- 

 firm, and a new race, raised in idleness and vice, 

 sprang up, they began not onl)- to be idle and vi- 

 cious, but to diminish instead of increasing, and 

 have conlinued to diminish in i«»ind.)ers very reg- 



