1S36.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



191 



but little has been done towards forwardinfj; our 

 crops. The wheat crop in this section of the 

 country, is materially injured by the Hessian fly — 

 many "lots totally destroyed. The tobacco crop 

 unpromising — much, very much, has been wash- 

 ed away — no small portion of the crop, especially 

 on the river and smaller watercourses, yet to plant 

 — and in consequence of contmued rains, our corn 

 crop I Jear will be overrun with grass. 



Halifax County, June I9lh, 1S36. 



What shall I say to you of the farmer's pros- 

 pects in this county? Hard rains and swollen 

 water courses have nearly ruined us. The corn 

 on the hills, sobbed by 'he wet, is small, and sickly, 

 and languishing — on the creek and river bottoms, 

 killed or washed away. 'J'he soil is deadened, and 

 seems to withhold its nutriment li-oin the vegeta- 

 bles growing in it. We have but little early corn 

 to re-plant with, and the late cannot come in time. 

 The wheat crop is destroyed on the bottom lands 

 by the li-eshets; on the hills, it has been attacked 

 by the fly, the rust and the scab. None has es- 

 caped all of these enemies — the crop, therefore, 

 will fall to a third of an average one at the high- 

 est. In the midst of the desert produced by the 

 fly and the freshets, the oat crop stands as the 

 only oasis, a green spot on which the eye rests 

 with pleasure. But that crop is too chally and 

 deficient in grain, to avail us much in warding ofl' 

 famine — and let me tell you, that a very dry sea- 

 son from now out, would come very near produ- 

 cing that horrid calamity. All of our expensive 

 bridges are gone. Banister river was higher by 

 4 feet than ever known before; carrying away 

 4 bridges, 2 cotton machines, 2 saw mills, and 

 doing besides, immense mischief in the destruc- 

 tion of crops. I expect you have similar reports 

 from most of your correspondents, and I will not 

 dwell on a picture too old for novelty, and too 

 gloomy /or pleasure. 



Permit me in conclusion to say to you, that 

 every day furnishes fresh evidence of the great 

 utility of the Farmers' Register. As a farmer and 

 a Virginian, I feel my obligations to you. You 

 have made that a pleasing science which was be- 

 Ibre a despised art in Virginia.. You have digni- 

 fied the profession of the farmer and its professors. 

 The only reward which a patriot can secure in 

 this country for his labors, is the gratitude and 

 respect of his fellow-citizens. You enjoy these 

 without an exception that I have heard of, and 

 none feels them more, or takes more pleasure in 

 expressing them than myself. 



jilbemarle, June 15, 1836. 



The prospects of our wheat crop in this neigh- 

 borhood are good upon good land and timely seed- 

 ing — the late and early seedings being very much 

 injured by fly. My own crop is one of the most 

 promising I have ever had. Much alarm existed 

 at our June court (1st Monday) on account of the 

 open mesh, (or cell,) and certamly then entirely 

 without cause, ibr the wheat was just in the bloom 

 and that defect can not be perceived. The open- 

 ing of the mesh and its empty and transparent ap- 

 pearance is the result of a vigorous growth, the 

 germ of the grain being in high condition to re- 



ceive the fructifying influence of the external 

 bloom, and the grain cup or chaff" opens witle to 

 receive it, closing again upon it as soon as the 

 fructification is com|)leted. In every case where 

 a grain forms, this external bloom is detected, de- 

 posited upon the germ within tlie grain cup. The 

 open mesh, or failure of the grain, to form caimot 

 be detected, I think until the period has arrived at 

 which the grain should havciijrmed. 



Aam Arundel co. 3Id. June 6, 1836. 



There will not be half a crop of wheat made 

 n this state, and the rye crop is very indifferent. 

 By general consent farmers here will abandon corn- 

 trround wheat. 



Matthews County, June 17th, 1836. 



The distress produced by the long spell of 'rainy 

 weather, accompanied with high winds which we 

 have lately experienced in this section of country, 

 is shocking indeed. It is thought, and verily be- 

 lieved, that not one firmer in ten will make seed 

 wheat. The cotton is nearly in whole destroyed — 

 the corn seriously injined, and in fact the entire 

 crops of all descriptions have suffered much. About 

 the latter part of May, 1 would not have taken 

 less than §500 for my wheat crop; now, I am cer- 

 tain a purchaser of it as it stands, would have a 

 hard bargain at .^200. Living on a high land 

 farm, my corn is not as nuich injured as many 

 others. Under all these disadvantages, we may 

 cheer up our spirits with the expectation of good 

 oat crops, for which, I have never seen better 

 prospects. 



From tlie Genesee Farmer. 



STATE OF THE "WHEAT CROP IN WESTERN 

 NEW YORK. 



The season is noiv so far advanced that a tole- 

 rable conjecture may be formed as to the state of 

 the wheat crop, and the effect produced upon it by 

 the past winter. From our limited observation, 

 and from what we have been able to learn fi'om 

 various authentic sources, it appears that in what 

 is called Western New York, which is emphati- 

 cally the wheat district of the state, the wheat 

 has suffered to an extent quite equal to what was 

 at first apprehended. The western counties ex- 

 tending to Wayne and Seneca may expect a me- 

 dium crop — in Wayne, Seneca and Cayuga coun- 

 ties there is much wheat that promises well, but 

 as a whole, it has been a good deal thinned, and 

 many pieces entirely destroyed — while farther 

 east, in Onondaga, Oswego, Madison and Oneida 

 counties, the wheat has suffered still more exten- 

 sively. In the most favorable sections of Onon- 

 daga, where the crops have rarely if ever failed, 

 but few first rate pieces are to be seen; while in 

 the less favorable sections hundreds of acres have 

 been totally destroyed, and have been ploughed up 

 for spring crops. The same remarks, but in a 

 greater extent, are applicable to Madison and 

 Oneida. 



For the farmers' Register. 

 COiM31ERClAL, REPORT. 



The pressure for money, and high rate of inte 



