1836.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



287 



der the signature of "A Gleaner" — and ii' these re- 

 maining fragments are of no other use, they may sug- 

 gest to readers who have better opportunities to travel, 

 and to converse with farmers, how easy it would be for 

 them to note down more important information, and to 

 furnish to the Farmers' Register communications that 

 would be far more interesting and valuable.] 



Charles City, November 27ih, 1S3G. 



***** None of the farmers, yet 

 met with, use green rlover in any way as food'for 

 working horses — and all consider its use would be 

 extremely injurious fo them. This certainly agrees 

 with the opinions of my overseers, who have ne- 

 ver permitted me to adhere long to even the par- 

 tial use of green clover, though mown 24 hours 

 before being used. They Avould insist that it 

 weakened the horses, though their corn was not 

 diminished, and they still had dry fodder once a 

 day. I attributed theiropposition to prejudice and 

 ignorance: but here I find very inlelligent and ex- 

 perienced farmers all concurring in the same ophi- 

 ion. Yet il is certain, as we see in Eno:lish ag- 

 ricultural works, that green clover (aided by tares 

 perhaps for a short time) is the long food of work 

 horses as long as the mowing season lasts: and 

 also that the amount of grain given is diminished 

 considerably while clover is eaten. Can climate 

 cause this great difference in practice'? Oris cur's 

 altogether founded on mistake ? 



INIr. W T regularly harrows his corn 



field flush, (with a straight toothed square har- 

 row, such as would cover seed wheat most effectu- 

 ally,) when the corn plants are high enough to 

 want the first weeding (say 6 inches.) lie finds 

 no damage caused to the corn, and its tillage and 

 cleaning much aided by the operation. 



On the 28th, proceeded to Curies' Neck, (Hen- 

 rico,) a peninsula of very uniform soil and charac- 

 ter, bounded by James River, and two creeks,' on 

 three sides. It consists of several thousand acres 

 of arable land, and is in seven or eight separate 

 farms, formerly held by as many distinct proprietors. 

 But, unfortunately for the improvement and value 

 of the land, and for the public interests, 5 of these' 

 farms have been drawn into the gulf of a single 

 rich man's estate. A perfect land-killing business 

 now must be expected to follow — which was bad 

 enough durin<!; the owner's life — but will be now 

 worse, as the whole property (except its profits for 

 a certain time,) is bequeathed to an infant, and for 

 nearly 20 years this and all the other lands of this 

 large estate must be butchered at the discretion of 

 overseers.* The comfortable and handsome man- 

 sions are alreadj' going to destruction; and it would 

 be useless to attempt to save them by repairs, as 

 the owner can more cheaply suffer useless build- 



* In this supposition the writer was mistaken. 

 Curies' Neck has continued under the general charge 

 of the gentleman who had temporarily assumed it just 

 before the time of the above notes, and who is one of the 

 joint owners of the income of the whole estate for a 

 limited time, that has not yet expired: and to his sound 

 knowledge, and skilful management as a farmer, is due 

 the then unlooked-for result, that the downward course 

 of the sj'stem of management has not only been stayed, 

 for a time, but the previous good culture and improve- 

 ment of soil restored as much as existing circumstances 

 permitted. 



ings to rot, than to preserve them. Our country 

 presents every where the ruinous consequences of 

 the division of farms, and the destruction of their 

 value by being cut up into several pieces, no one 

 of which is fit to live on: but here is equal destruc- 

 tion of value, in prospect, from the reverse opera- 

 tion — the accumulation of a number of fine fiu'ma 

 in the possession of a single owner. 



The soil of the whole peninsula, (or neck, which 

 is our provincial name for such situations,) with 

 some exceptions, is a mellow brown loam — a rich 

 neutral soil, deep enough for ploughing of any 

 power. It has generally, (since good farming 

 was commenced here) been ploughed as deep as 

 the team could effect, say 7, 8 or 9 inches — and 

 the soil would permit still more. .No doubt the 

 original fi^.rtility of the soil was v^ery great — but a 

 long continued course of the common close crop- 

 ping and grazing, and shallow ploughing, had re- 

 duced the soil to a low [jroduct, and mean appear- 

 ance. Some enterprising proprietors began deep 

 ploughing, and tried gypsum on clover; and found 

 such remarkable benciitfrom all, that the land was; 

 rapidly and profitably improved. Now, fhougU 

 brought by bad management below its best state, 

 this body of land is certainly the best that I have 

 seen below the mountains, and of highland: and 

 in situation and soil, may be considered as among 

 the most valuable lands in the state. Yet the ave- 

 rage sales of the several tracts last bought were not 

 much higher than S'^O the acre. I should sup- 

 pose it well worth ^40. 



The rotation generally adopted here is as fol- 

 lows : 



1. Wheat on clover lay, ploughed deep wdien 

 broken, and again shallo^v before sowing. 



2. Corn, for which the previous winter's ma- 

 nure is all used. 



3. Wheat, on which clover is sowed. 



4. Clover, not mowed, and but little grazed, and 

 ploughed in August for the next crop of wheat. 



( This rotation agrees in general with that of 

 I Shirley, except the substitution here of corn for 

 j oats. Theory seems to approve the different mode 

 ! of applying the manure, which is heaped and fer- 

 mented as much as time allows, and carried out 

 for the corn crop— thus having its benefit earlier 

 than at Shirley, by one crop in the rotation. But 



I was told by Mr. M S , (to whom I am 



indebted lor most of tlie information obtained here,) 

 that they would prefer keeping the manure for the 

 v.'heat, but for the impossibility of providing labor 

 to apply it during that very busy season. Very 

 few cattle are kept, so that vegetable manure 

 passed through the stables and barnyards, or 

 ploughed in on the fields producing it, forms nearly 

 the whole means for sustaining and improving the 

 land under this apparently scourging rotation. 

 Gypsum aids the growth of clover in a remarka- 

 ble manner, and has been heretofore used general- 

 ly, and perhaps every field has at some time had 

 its aid. But here and elsewhere in lower Virginia, 

 this manure is more rarely used now than formerly, 

 which seems to make it doubtful whether the pro- 

 fit always more than repays the expense. 



No lime has been used at Curies' Neck. A 

 small experiment made with shell marl had good 

 clfects, as I was told; but I did not see the land, or 

 the marl. This manure is found in the neighbor- 

 hood, at Malvern Hills. The best land, fijrming 

 the greater part of' Curies', is certainly a neutral 



