126 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 2 



and the corn xvas ripe the latter end of jipr'd. In 

 another part of the same district, the dates of sow- 

 ing ditiered li-om the above, but the wheat ripened 

 m nearly the same period. 



"Ne.xt ironi the mountains ol St. Andrew's. 

 On one properi3'. Fair Hill, (about 2,000 feet above 

 the sea) the sowing and the ripening happened at 

 Khe same dates as in the fust mentioned case. Of 

 this corn, one grain produced twenty -eight ears, 

 contaming altogether fifteen hundred grains, (be- 

 ing an average of fifty-three grains for each ear.) 

 Notwithstanding this apparent success, the pro- 

 prietor of the place thinks it unlikely that planters 

 would grow the Victoria Wlieat in preference to 

 the Great Corn, as it is called here, i. e. Zea 3Iays. 

 On another plantation again, Ch;u-lottcnberg, 

 (about 4,000 feet above the level of the sea,) the 

 seed was sown early in March, and received a top 

 dressing: in the course of a lew da3's it had alrea- 

 dy sprung up three inches above ground; and, as 

 lavorable moderate ruins contmued to fiill subse- 

 quently, the corn throve well, and rij)cned in the 

 early part of June, producing abundantly, grain of 

 a larger size than the parent seed; the ears being 

 large and full. Six of these, lor instance, yielded 

 three hundred and thirty-six grains, iveigliing three 

 ounces, making an average of fifty- six grains, iveigh- 

 ing half an ounce, to each eai. Mr. W. B. King, 

 an assistant Judge o^ Assize, and member of As- 

 sembly, has since sent me two bundles of the ears of 

 his wheat, and I intend to inclose one or two of 

 them as a specimen of the produce of the Victoria 

 wheat here. From the trial just made, Mr. King 

 has no doubt that this grain could be cullivaled in 

 many parts ot this island, and that it might be- 

 come a profitable resource." 



The wheat which was the subject of these ex- 

 periments, was of that kind cultivated in the en- 

 virons of La Victoria and San Matheo, sj)oken of 

 by Humboldt, in the fourth volume of his Person- 

 al Narrative, as being sown there in the month of 

 December, and the harvest reaped on the seven- 

 tieth or seventy-fifth day, an interval correspond- 

 ing with singular accuracy with the account given 

 above by Dr. Bancroft. Of this wheat Humboldt 

 says, that its grain is large, white, and abounding 

 in gluten; having a thinner and solter pellicle than 

 that of the wlieat raised on the cold table lands of 

 Mexico. He states the produce of an acre (arpcnt 

 des eaux et forets, or legal acre of France, of 

 which 1.95 make an hectare, being equal to about 

 one acre and a quarter English,) as amounting 

 usually from three thousand to three thousand two 

 hundred pounds weight, being at the rate, tor an 

 English acre, of from two thousand one hundred 

 and sixty, to two thousand five hundred and sixty 

 pounds; the growth of what we may conclude to 

 be an alluvial soil, fi-om what Humboldt says, at 

 page 101, of the aspect of the situation of Victo- 

 ria, the ajiproach to which was marked by the 

 ground becoming smoother, and looking like the 

 bottom of a lake, the waters of which had been 

 drained off, while the neighboring hills, only one 

 hundred and forty toises in height, were comjjosed 

 of calcareous tufa; their abrupt declivities project- 

 ing like promontories into the plain, and seetiiing 

 by their Ibrm to indicate the ancient shore of the 

 lake. The elevation of the cultivated crouud is 

 fixed by Humboldt at from 270 to 300 toises 

 rabout 1726.51, to 1918.35 English leel) above 

 the level of the sea, an elevation from 81. Go to 



273.49 English feet below that of Fair Hill, in the 

 mountains of St. Andrews, Jamaica, where a sin- 

 gle grain yielded, Irom twenty-eight ears, a return 

 of fifteen hundred for one. 



The seed was obtained direct from Caraccas, 

 where Sir Roberc Kerr Porter procured it from the 

 place of its growth, and was transmitted a second 

 time across the Atlantic, to Dr. Bancroft; hence 

 no doubt can be entertained of its being the genu- 

 ine wheat spoken oi'by the illustrious traveller from 

 Prussia. 



C03IMEUCIAL REPORT. 



The commercial transaction.s of the present 

 month have exhibited little activity, and there has 

 been a decline in almost every article of fijreign or 

 domestic produce. If no other cause existed to 

 produce these effects, the pressure for money 

 might be adduced as quite sufficient. Without 

 any important change in foreign markets, ours 

 (which had been higher than those warranted,) 

 have declined to rates more nearly proportioned to 

 those markets, and are still such as amply to re- 

 munerate the grower. 



Tobacco commands .§5 to .^11, not includinfr the 

 extreme rates of the worst and the fancy qualities. 

 Cotton 15 to 17 cts. — Flour (country) i^6\. 



Bank stocks have declined aboijt 1 per cent., 

 although the period for declaring dividends is 

 nearer at hand, and large ones expected. In rail 

 road and other stocks, there is no variation. 



The distribution of the P^-ench and Neapolitan 

 indemnities to our citizens for spoliations commit- 

 ted many years ago, will add some millions to the 

 active capital of the country; but the amount is in- 

 considerable compared wit"h that which has accu- 

 mulated in the depositories of the national trea- 

 sury, the expenditure of which to useful purposes, 

 or its distribution, is anxiously desired bv many. 



To what extent the disturbances with the In- 

 dian tribes on the southern frontier may afii?ct 

 agriculture, and consequentlj', commerce, re- 

 mains to be ascertained. X. 



May 25. 



THE SILK BUSINESS BEGINNING IN PETERSBUEO. 



A company has been very recently made up in this 

 place to begin the business of mulberry and silk culture, 

 as soon as the proper season arrives; and from our 

 knowledge of the individuals who have commenocd 

 this enterprise, we can safely predict, that there will 

 be nothing wanting to insure success, if zeal, cnorgy, 

 intelligence, and the investment of sufTiciont capital 

 can command it. We rejoice most heartily in this 

 movement — and consider it as the germ of future re- 

 sults of incalculable value to this region,. In all our 

 many efforts, made through this publication, to urge the 

 commencement and zealous prosecution of silk cul- 

 ture in Virginia, we have not pretended to have any 

 personal knowledge of the particulars of the business, 

 or the grounds on which to estimate profits. Eut we 

 have assumed this general position, which we think 

 cannot be shaken — that if sillc culture is profitable in 

 New England, (as it undoubtedly is,) much more pro- 



