No. 9. 



Agriculture, ^-c, of the Cherohees. 



267 



that have been of immense value to me, and 

 have enabled me to be very prosperous and 

 happy. I was reading one day about the 

 rocky land in the old countries, where I 

 found the following statement: "A very 

 wealthy gentleman, I believe in Switzer- 

 land, who was of the opinion that the very 

 rocky land thereabouts could be made pro- 

 ductive and profitable, built several small 

 huts on that rocky land, and induced poor 

 families to live in them by giving th^n a 

 year's provisions, and at the same time re- 

 quiring them to use their industry to im- 

 prove the land and provide for themselves. 

 They were required to bring turf and dirt 

 from the nearest bog, and this they used by 

 putting one spadeful to each dimple for po- 

 tatoes. The next year they put one more 

 spadeful to the same dimple and raised a 

 second crop of potatoes. These crops proved 

 very good, although so little dirt was thrown 

 among the rocks; and at the expiration of 

 two years these hitherto barren rocks were 

 found to be so productive as to be rented 

 "out, which was done by the wealthy proprie- 

 tor, who received in a '^ew years a full re- 

 muneration for all the expense of the first 

 outlay in establishing these poor people." 

 These experiments and their results, so sur- 

 prising, induced me to make trials with ma- 

 nure in corn crops, and opened the door of 

 prosperity to me. In 1834 I made experi- 

 ments with horse manure on corn. I took 

 a single cart-load and applied it, using but 

 one pint to the hill, and to my surprise found 

 it had doubled my crop where used. This 

 gave me fresh courage, and the next year 

 so sanguine were my feelings, that I pur- 

 chased at Norfolk fifty dollars worth of ma- 

 nure. This, with what I raised, enabled me 

 to manure my whole crop of corn, sweet po- 

 tatoes and melons, and every thing else that 

 I planted. Applying my manure to my corn, 

 as in my first experiment, I found I made 

 not only enough for my family, but nearly 

 enough for two such families. And since, 

 from year to year, I have continued buying 

 about the same quantity of manure. It cost 

 me at the stable fifty cents a load, or sixty- 

 two and a half cents at the wharf, whence I 

 convey it in lighters to my farm. All the 

 real or stable manure I apply to corn; I do 

 it as follows: for every 120 corn-hills, or 

 sometimes for one hundred, I measure out 

 two bushels of manure by a bushel box, 

 which I keep for this purpose, and drop it 

 over the field in heaps: my servants then, 

 with a box under one arm, holding about a 

 peck, and with a paddle in the other hand 

 which will hold a pint, apply it to the hill 

 where the corn is to be planted. I am fully 

 convinced that stable manure should in no 



case be used broadcast in its application to 

 corn. 



JVIy corn land, under the above manage- 

 ment, has gradually improved. I have found 

 great benefit from oyster shell marl. 



I have adopted the following rotation of 

 crops: first year corn, second year corn, 

 third year small grain, fourth year clover; 

 but have not yet entirely succeeded in the 

 clover, crop. Rather than tend my land 

 after oats, I should prefer three successive 

 crops of corn. 



Owing to the great flood of rain last j'ear, 

 1842, ray crop was small ; but never since I ^J 

 commenced buying manure, have I been dis- 

 couraged. 



In 1828 I planted me a peach orchard. — 

 Peaches then were worth in our market from 

 50 to 75 cents per bushel, but when my trees 

 had become bearers, I was enabled to get, 

 by retail in Norfolk market, from two dol- 

 lars and fifty cents to three dollars per bush- 

 el. For the last three years I have sold to 

 Baltimore hucksters a large portion of my 

 peaches. I sold them at five dollars, per 

 barrel, being barreled on the farm and then 

 delivered by myself at Norfolk, aboard the 

 steamboat. When my orchard bears well, 

 I can deliver from three to ten barrels per 

 day, and send one boat load to be retailed at 

 Norfolk market. William Grimes. 



Norfolk county, Va., 1844. 



Agriculture, &c., of the Cherokees. 



From the Cherokee Advocate published at Tahlegvak, 

 we take the following paragraphs, which are contained 

 in the Report of P. M. Butler, United Slates agent, 

 lately made to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs.— 

 Ed. 



The cultivation of the soil is now the only 

 means of support possessed by the Chero- 

 kees, there being no game within the limits 

 of their territory. Their soil is fertile, and 

 yields an abundant support with but little 

 labour. They raise an abundance for con- 

 sumption, but nothing for exportation, at 

 least not in sufficient quantities to derive 

 any income from it. Their country is admi- 

 rably adapted for grazing cattle, of which all 

 of them have stocks more or less large. In 

 consequence of the climate, only a portion 

 of the country, resembling the northern parts 

 of Alabama, is suited for the cultivation of 

 cotton; tobacco and hemp grow well. They 

 are very much in want of a good merchant 

 mill; it would act as a stimulant to the rais- 

 ing of v.'heat, for which the soil and climate 

 are peculiarly fitted. Though the soil, which 

 is of limestone foundation, like all limestone 

 regions, yields an abundant supply of springs, 

 yet, except where these springs are found, 



