1836.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



543 



own state, which these quarrels are ruininir as 

 frist as if that were their real and sole object. 

 Banish all such men forever from j'our public 

 councils — no matter to what party they belnnir, 

 and we should liud our a<i;ricultural interest cher- 

 ished and treated as the great prolific germ, the 

 vital food, of every other legitimate interest in the 

 community. This has been, and all hisiory con- 

 firms it, a cardinal article in the creed of every 

 great statesman in every civilized country in the 

 world, and lht>ir praclire has most nobly proved it. 

 In our own country, Virginia stamls alone, I be- 

 lieve, in having done nothing — nay worse than 

 nothin<T, for her agriculture ; yet sucii is the inor- 

 dinate pride and vatiily with vviiich the worthless 

 demagogues have inspired her people, that they 

 are continually exulting in her great national im- 

 portance, while the husbandry, the chief, the only 

 true source of that importance, may be fiirurative- 

 ly said, to be actually bleedinurlo death for Avant 

 of a skilful doctor. Look at New York, now de- 

 cidedly at the head of the union, both in agriciil- 

 tural and commercial prosperity; and to what 

 other cause is this attributable but to her wisdom 

 and patriotism in fostering, by legislative means, 

 these two great sources ot" national wetdlh, pow- 

 er and influence I She has not only a State Agri- 

 cultural Societ}', encouragfid by large appropria- 

 tions of public money, and diffusing its benefits 

 throughout her territory ; but several of her most 

 wealthy citizens, among whom the patriotic Ste- 

 phen Van Rensellaer stands conspicuous, have 

 contributed large sums towards the improvement 

 of her husbandry. Yet we Virginians — citizens 

 of a stale, once the first in our conlederacy, but 

 now, (with shame, deep and biiler shame, do I 

 say it,) among the last in relative importance, can 

 luld our arms, a[)parently in perfect apathy, and 

 look on with entire composure, at the rapid pro- 

 gress of other states in ever}' good work; while 

 our legislatures are making themselves laughing- 

 stocks for the rest, by the eternal intermeddling with 

 federal matters, over which they can exercise no 

 control, to the utter neirlect of those numerous le- 

 gitimate means by which they might do much to- 

 wards regaining, in a great degree, our former 

 standing in the union. 



Another efiectual step towards improving our 

 agriculture — a step by no means difficult to take — 

 would be to economize our labor by improving 

 our implements of husbandry and modes of cul- 

 ture, to the utmost attainable degree. Much 

 remains to be done in both these particulars, as 

 regards our great staple Indian corn. I can well 

 remember the time, when it was cultivated at 

 nearly four times the expense, that it is now ; and 

 scarcely a year passes in which I do not witness 

 some, often great, improvement in the process. 

 It woi^ild certainly be siill more ra[)id amontj our 

 members, if each would make it an invariable rule 

 to report, at every amiual fall meeting, any thing 

 new to him, on this su!»jert, which he might deem 

 beneficiid. Such a practice, I am sure, would be- 

 come more conmion, if we would only divest our- 

 Bclves of the idea, that, when we bcL'in to make 

 a written communication to our society, we are, 

 in fact, preparing an article for a newspaper, in- 

 stead of a plain, brief statement of fiicts for our 

 members, which, although useful to ourselves, 

 would not necessarily be published. 



I have reserved lor the last, the suggestion of 



two other modoe! — the one direct, the other indi- 

 rect, of miproving our husbandry, ami rendering 

 it so productive as to convince even the most scep- 

 tical that there is no necessity for abandoning 

 our native lands to the wild animals of the forest. 

 The latter plan is, to establish a State Agricultural 

 Society, to be composed of members selected iioni 

 all the other agricultural societies, to meet annually 

 in Richinond, for the purpose of devising the best 

 ways and means to promote those interests which 

 our own legislators, whoso especial business and 

 duty it should be, have so long and so utterly neg- 

 lected. Concert and co-operation, as a class, is 

 what we most want, and this plan, if any, woiJld 

 secure it. Should our Society approve it, (and 

 the vote will he taken this evening,) it may be 

 published in time to be considered by the Agricul- 

 tural Convention, which will probal)ly meet in 

 Richmond, either at the time appointed by the last, 

 or at an earlier day. The members of that body 

 may also have time' to ascertain the wishes of their 

 constituents on the subject, and come prepared to 

 act accordingly. 



The other suggestion, if adopted, will furnish 

 "another string to our ioic," b}' adding a new ar- 

 ticle to our staple-crops — new as a staple, but long 

 and well ktiown as a garden vegetable ; but whe- 

 ther to call it long or short " sass," 1 do not know. 

 I mean the sugar beet, so successfully cultivated 

 in France that its culture is rapidly spreading over 

 all Europe. It cannot admit even of a doubt that 

 it will succed quite as well \vith us as in France, 

 and probably better : for experiments have alrea- 

 dy been made which prove that the American 

 beet yields more saccharine matter than the 

 French beet, in the proportion of about 10 to 7 ; 

 and in re<rard to the quantity that our soil is capa- 

 ble of producincr, I will stale a well authenticated 

 fact, which, although single, ought to satisfy us 

 that no fears need be entertained on that score. 

 Mr. Lawrence Muse, for many years past a resi- 

 dent of Tappahannock, in Essex, and who was a 

 gentleman of unquestionable veracity, once raised 

 in his garden two beets of the long red kind, 

 which he himself informed me were weighed in 

 the presence of several other gentlemen, and that 

 the largest weighed eighteen pounds four ounces, 

 the smallest seventeen pounds eiiilit ounces. I 

 urged him several times, to publish the account in 

 the newspapers as a match \'or some of the state- 

 ments then going the rounds in all of them, during 

 an unusual dearth of party-politics, of marvellous 

 big pumpkins, squashes, ruta-bag), and mangel- 

 wurtzel, raised in the ungenial soil of Yankee 

 Land; but his publication never appeared, although 

 often promised ; lor my fiiend, unluckily, was one 

 of that very numerous family called " Procrash'- 

 nators,^'' a family, by the way, which, I fear, has 

 more members in our own dear state, than in any 

 other that can be named. I speak xinderstnnding- 

 ly, (as congress-men say,) on this subject, being at 

 least cousin german to some who rank very high 

 among the brotherhood ; although I must confess 

 that I do not pride myself much on the relation- 

 ship. Among planters and farmers this family 

 does quite as much mischief as the Hessian 

 fly, the wheat worm, the chinch-bug and all the 

 other flics, worms, and bugs put together, that war 

 upon their crops; and the man who could devise 

 an efiectual cure lor their besetting sin, would just- 

 ly merit the highest civic honors which could be 



