488 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 8 



serves to make the price less than will pay for the 

 production — and as nearly ail is eaten, sold, or 

 wasted within the next year, perhaps within a 

 year after, with a short crop, the price may he dou- 

 bled, or trehled. If it was the practice of many 

 farmers to keep their surplus corn in the shuck in 

 years of plenty and of low prices, to wait for a 

 scarcity, the prices would never lall so h\v, nor 

 rise so high, as heretofore. The fanners who 

 would adopt the plan would profit greatly by al- 

 ways selling at good prices, and yet they would 

 serve the public by their timely supplies, and by 

 thus preventing prices rising as high as they 

 would be, vv'ithoai such supplies. 



It was not to prefit by selling at highly advanced 

 prices that I commenced the practice of putting 

 up and keeping corn in the shuck, thouirh such 

 was the result. Believing then (on account of the 

 general low prices of this crop,) that I ought to 

 avoid cultivating more land in corn than would 

 certainly supply the next year's consumption, and 

 therefore not designing to make it a principal sale 

 crop — it was my purpose to keep the surplus of a 

 large crop to supply a possible deficiency of a fu- 

 ture year. But so great a deficiency never occur- 

 red to me, and sooner or later the corn remaining 

 on hand was sold at a greatly advanced price. 

 Between 1820 and '30, in lower Virginia, corn, at 

 the farmers' cribs, was several times at less than 

 40 cents the bushel — and in some cases was offer- 

 ed at 20 cents, in large quantities. And yet no 

 four years, if indeed three years, passed, without 

 the price being as high at some time as 80 to 100 

 cents. In the inferior, fixr from navigable water, 

 the fluctuations of price are still greater than 

 where near to navigation, or to market, because of 

 the expense of carrying to market when abun 

 dant, and of bringing corn Irom abroad when de 

 ficicnt: and therefore, in such places, the plan of 

 keeping it would be siill more beneficial than else 

 where. 



E. R. 



EXTRACT FROM AN OLD WORK ON AGRICULTURE. 



Systema Agriculture — being the mystery of Husbandry 

 discovered and laid open by J. W. 1681. 



Explanaiion of the Frontisjnece. 



First cast your eye upon a rustick seat 



Built strong and plain, yet well contrived and neat ; 



And situated on a healthy soyl, 



Yielding much wealth with little cost or toy]. 



Near by it stand the barns, Irani 'd to contain 



Enriching stores of hay, pulse, corn and grain, 



With bartons* large, and places where to feed 



Your oxen, cows, swine, poultry with their breed. 



On the other side, hard by the house you see 



Tlie apiary for the industrious bee. 



Walk on a little farther and behold 



A pleasant garden, from high winds and cold 



Defended, (by a spreading fruitfull wall. 



With rows of lime and fir trees straight and tall,) 



Full fraught with necessary flowers and iVuits 



And nature's choicest sort of plants and roots. 



Beyond the same, are crops of beans and pease, 



Salfron and liquorice or such as these, 



Then orchards so enriched with fruitfull store, 



Nature could give (nor they receive) no more : 



Each tree stands bending with the weiglit it bears. 



Of cherries some, of apples, plums and pears . 



Not far from thence see other walks and rows 



Of cyder fruits, near unto which there flows 



A gliding stream ; the next place you discover 



Is where St. foyn, la-lucern, hops, and clover 



Are propagated ; near unto these fields 



Stands a lai-ge wood, mast, fuel, timber yields — 



In yonder vale hard by tlie river stands 



A water engine, which the wind commands 



To fertilize the meads ; on t' other side 



A Persian wheel is plac't both large and wide 



To the same intent; then do the fi-'lds appear 



Clothed with corn and grain, for the ensuing year. 



The pastures stockt with beasts, the downs with sheep- 



The cart, the plow, and all good order keep. 



Plenty unto the husbandman, and gains 



Are his rewards for industry and pains : 



Peruse the book, tor here you only see 



The following subject in epitome. 



From the Farmer's Series of the Librsiryof Useful Knowledge. 



Imperfect as was the knowledge of husbandry 

 in former times, yet our forefathers were enabled 

 to distinguish the qualities of the soil with great 

 accuracy; ibr those parts which were the most 

 anciently cultivated, and which formed the inh'eld 

 land around.thcir villages, are found at the present 

 day to consist of the best ground when in its na- 

 tural state ; though much of that which has been 

 since broken up has been greatly improved by the 

 application of manures, and the progress of suc- 

 ce?sful cultivation. 



The diiference in quality of the fruits of the 

 earth — more particularly remarkable in grain — 

 though distinguished in many places by the names 

 of the districts in which the corn is grown, yet 

 does not arise from any other cause than dissimil- 

 itude of soil and climate ; and the utmost exertions 

 of cultivation can only to a certain degree improve, 

 but never effect any absolute change in the indi- 

 genous nature of its productions. This, indeed, 

 is generally admitted, so far as regards soils; but 

 although the}' may be apparently of the same 

 kind, yet their fertility is mateiially affected hy cli- 

 mate, notwithstanding they may be situated in 

 nearly the same part of tiie countr}^, and with lit 

 tie variation of level ; for although the heat indi- 

 cated by the thermometer may correspond, yet the 

 temperature of the air is varied according to the 

 aspect of the land — whether exposed to the north 

 or south and the prevaling winds occasioned hy 

 the position of adjacent highlands and vales — and 

 the seasons are thus rendered earlier or later. 

 The natural situation of a farm — independently 

 of its local connexion with roads and markets — is 

 therelbre an object of the first importance, and af- 

 fects its value much more than is conimonly sup- 

 posed ; for the estimation of all the vegetable 

 products of this country depend, with ver}' few 

 exceptions, upon the degree of heat which they 

 enjoy during their growth ; and it is well known 

 that when the soil is dry, and the harvest earl)^, 

 corn of the same weight yields more saccharine 

 matter than that which is produced under less la- 

 vorable circumstances.* 



* This has been clearly established by the applica- 

 tion o[ the saccharomcter — an instrument invented for 

 the use of mahters, brewers, and distillers, for the pur- 

 pose of ascertaining the strength and value of woi'ts. 

 The common standard by which the value of grain, of 



