7^6 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 12 



Let no melon set within 4 or 5 feet iVom the root; 

 and then only one on a lalenil brunch, three to a 

 plant. Let the vine run on as far as it will — keep- 

 ing it to the ground: permit no melon to grow that 

 is deformed: pull off no male blossoms. 



When the melon is nearly to its size, others may 

 'be permitted to set on the same vine, and a second 

 crop raised. I should thinlc the vines might be 

 made to grow ti-om 20 to 30 feet long. 



Great care should be taken that the vines are 

 not moved or trod upon. 



The early but small melons. — Let the melon set 

 at the 2nil or 3rd leaf-joint Irom the root, and take 

 the vine ofi'two joints beyond the melons. 



To increase tiie number of cauteloupes.— Take 

 off' all the melons that set within two feet of the 

 roots. 



These may be planted 6 feet apart, 4 to the hill, 

 and require no particular attention. 



Sand on the hills is one ot the best preventives 

 against the yellow bug, -though not entirely a pre- 

 ventive. 



It is useful to plant pumpkin or squash seeds 

 near the hills for the bugs — taking care to pull 

 them up as soon as the bugs are gone. 



Cauteloupes should not be planted nearer than 

 20 yards to musk melons or cucumbers. 



To improve your seed, save none but from the 

 very best melons. 



Keep a record if you wish to know certainly the 

 results. 



the deficieivcy of proper aid to the 

 farmers' register, profits of farm- 

 ing IN VIRGINIA. EMIGRATION. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Uegister. 



February 24///, 1837. 



No one more highly appreciates the zeal and 

 ability which suggested, and which liave hitherto 

 sustained your Farmers' Register, than I do. Cut 

 it is obvious from the very nature of the work, that 

 the zeal and ability of no single individual, how- 

 ever talented, can keep alive the interest and util- 

 ity of such a production. It purports to be, and 

 was intended to be, a medium of intercommunica- 

 tion among farmers, by which all should get the 

 benefit of., 'loiiexperience and skill of each; where- 

 fore, if they' refuse or neglect to communicate the 

 results of their experience and observation, the 

 whole object is frustrated — the Register, instead of 

 being, indeed, a register of facts and experiments, 

 necessarily becomes a sort of compilation of miscel- 

 lanies, manyiof which are of no general practical 

 utility. The last two or three numbers of the Re- 

 gister illustrate this. Though evincing high ability 

 and great labo^ on the part ol' the editor, yet they 

 evidently ha' e, in a great degree, lost the charac- 

 ter original!;' designed to be mainlained in the 

 work. For' this you are in no sort or way to be 

 blamed. The whole fault lies at the door of us, 

 lor whose benefit the work was undertaken — who 

 have shameflilly neglected to afford that aid with- 

 out which it could not be sustained. Nor do I 

 hold myself exempted from the general censure. 

 Though I might in truth say I have little skill, 

 of course little success in agriculture, worth com- 

 municating; yet if I had possessed the zeal which 

 you display, I (no doubt,) might have done some- 



thing towards exciting the farmers of the state to 

 exeriion. 



The peculiar character of our southern popula- 

 tion may account for this singular indifii^Tence on a 

 subject of such obvious interest to all. Our north- 

 ern brethren, when about to achieve any object, 

 readily unite: among them there is little or no self- 

 dependence — scarcely any individuality of charac- 

 ter or action: should any design of philanthropy, 

 (moral, physical or political,) be suggested, strait 

 way a society is gotten up — individuals lose their 

 identity in the mass, and they go at their object in 

 earnest, (generally not over scrupulous about the 

 means, so they attain their object — each throwing 

 away personal responsibility, and sheltering him- 

 self behind the whole body.) Thus we see tlieir 

 canals, rail roads, temperance societies, missionary 

 societies, caucuses, &c., &c., &c., all conducted by 

 a master spirit or two, by the means and instru- 

 mentality of the rank and file who are used as en- 

 gines for their purposes. Not so in the south. 

 Here, there, is a marked individual character and 

 conduct, a decided self-dependent spirit, that 

 spurns dictation and direction; and is, therefore, 

 exceedingly hard to be concentrated to a point by 

 the action of any one or more persons. The last 

 ate most to be loved and esteemed for their honor 

 and truth — the first, most to be admired fbr their 

 successful industry and perseverance. Each man 

 to the south, either thinks he knows best how to 

 conduct himselfj or his fiirm, or at least if he does 

 not, he chooses to go on his "own hook," right or 

 wrong. There (to the north) no one-will venture 

 to hold or express an opinion unless sustained by 

 his society or party. I i'eel no desire, (n)yself) to 

 change characters with our Yankee friends — but a 

 little imitation of some of these qualities might not 

 be unfriendly to our general inmrovement, espe- 

 cially in agriculture. We migTit unite, tor in- 

 stance, in furnishing matter to your journal with- 

 out the sacrifice ot" those peculiar characteristics of 

 our climate and population which I have named 

 above. These observations aflbrd no topics of 

 consolation, when we view our wasted fields, our 

 decayed edifices, our degenerated population, our 

 raffe fbr emigration and the general despondency 

 of the "bone and sinew," the strength and virtue 

 of our people. Something must be done for our 

 agriculture, and fbr our mental and moral improve- 

 ment, or Virginia must become once more a vast 

 hunting ground for a savage race, filled with beasts 

 of the forest. All the wisdom and virtue of the 

 state should be concentrated to this object, or we, 

 who are now lefl here, must follow on to a new 

 country and a diffeient region. 



It is not true that this is no region fbr living in 

 comfort, and even in afliuence. No where can 

 money be more advantageously invested where 

 the object is comfort, and indeed abundance; but 

 we have lost pride of character, and have substi- 

 tuted in its place an all-absorbing avarice, which 

 will not be satisfied Avith any thing short of wealth. 

 This, moral and mental cultivation would root out, 

 if aided by that improvement in agricultural pro- 

 duction which a little more skill and energy would 

 certainly insure to us. 



These observations have been drawn forth by 

 an article in the last Register purporting to show 

 the profits of a V^irginia estate, to some of the de- 

 tails of which, you express your dissent. I am 

 not prepared to say, some of them may not be ex- 



