64 



FARMERS' REGISTER— PROSPECTUS AND CONTENTS. 



fects of great improvements in practice, and the exam- 

 ples of successful farming that many individuals have 

 exhibited, it is still true, that our general average pro- 

 ducts and jorofits have been long declining — our lands 

 remain impoverished, and their prices have gradually 

 sunk to rates that would not have been believed possi- 

 ble, if foretold fifteen or twenty years ago. Yet these 

 results have been joroduccd throughout a I'egion jiosscs- 

 sing I'emarkable natural advantages and facilties for 

 agricultural improvement and jDrofit, and which promi- 

 ses the richest rewards for the investment and judicious 

 emiiloyment of farming capital. Can we make no gen- 

 eral and successful effort to improve the condition of 

 agricultiu'c and our country ? Or, shall we expect no 

 change, unless to a worse than our present state ? 



The causes of the depression of agriculture in Vir- 

 ginia, are many — political and moral, as well as physi- 

 cal — all of which deserve thorough investigation, but 

 which it would be out of jilace here even to enumerate. 

 It is enough to stat-e that every existing cause of depres- 

 sion is multiplied in power and effect, by the want of 

 means for communication and concert ajnong the mem- 

 bers of the agricultural interest. 



It is the object of the subscriber, if sufficiently aided 

 in the attempt, to endeavor in some measure to supply 

 this deficiency, by establisliing an agricultural publica- 

 tion suited to our situation and wants, and which m.ay 

 serve, if properly employed, to exhibit to every farmer, 

 whatever may be valuable in the practice of every other 

 in Vii-ginia. 



The subscriber is aware of the peculiar difficulties of 

 the editorial department of an Agricultural Journal — 

 and he is also sensible that the habits of a practical cul- 

 tivator are even opposed to the acquisition of some of 

 the ciualificatlons requisite for such an undertaking. 

 No individual, however well qualified for this task, can 

 effect much by his own unaided efforts ; yet with the as- 

 sistance from others, which the subscriber hopes to ob- 

 tain, he believes that the Farmers' Register will serve 

 as an efficient support to the agricultural improvement 

 and gencrafintercsts of Virginia. For the promotion of 

 these objects through this medium, the co-operation of 

 some among the most able to render service, has been 

 already promised ; and every means will be used to in- 

 vite the aid of all who are intei'ested in the success of 

 the jDrojiosed plan. If our farmers can be induced to 

 consider the Farmers' Register as simply a conveni- 

 ent organ through which to exchange information — by 

 means of which any inquiry may be made, and speedily 

 answered — and if such interchange of ojiinions and ex- 

 perience can be made as freely, and in the same plain 

 manner that the same persons might converse if brought 

 together — then the most important and beneficial results 

 of such a publication will be certainly and immediately 

 obtained. The most enlightened farmer is necessarily 

 often ignorant of important facts, in regard to which he 

 might be instructed by others of very inferior attain- 

 ments or experience : and there is scarcely a single re- 

 flecting cultivator who has not learned some fact that is 

 not generally known, and the communication of which 

 would be valuable to the agricultural community. If 

 all such mites of information coidd be drawn together 

 and preserved, they alone would add incalculably to the 

 existing stock of our agricultural knowledge. 



The subscriber has no personal claijKi for aid to the 



proposed publication, nor does he ask it, except on the 

 ground of its tendency to advance the individual or gen- 

 eral interests of its patrons. Should such considerations 

 induce the offer of sufficient patronage to insure the use- 

 fulness and permanency of the publication, arrange- 

 ments will be made for its early appearance before the 

 public: but the work will not be issued, unless in such 

 form and manner as will not be unworthy of the coad- 

 jutoi's of the editor, and likely to be a full remuneration 

 for the patronage it may obtain. 



The Farmers' Register will embrace, and be limi- 

 ted to the following subjects : 



1. Original communications of experiments, observa- 

 tions and opinions on agriculture, gardening, and do- 

 mestic economy. 



2. Selections from the best periodical publications on 

 agriculture, European and American, and from such 

 other agricultural works as have not been pubUshed in 

 this country, or are not generally accessible. 



3. Reviews or notices of agricultural works. 



4. The discussion of such subjects of pohtical econo- 

 my as are connected with the preservation and support 

 of the interests of agriculture. 



5. Chemistry as connected with agriculture — and 

 with the same limitation, botany, mineralogy, geology 

 and natural history. 



6. Reports of the topography, soils, minerals, peculiar 

 manures, and actual state of agriculture of every county 

 of Virginia, from which such information can be obtained. 



7. The consideration of public improvements by 

 roads, railways and canals. 



8. Discoveries in science, or the arts, and the occur- 

 rence of other events that are considered likely to affect 

 the interests of agriculture. 



Terms. — The Farmers' Register will be pubhshed 

 monthly, each number to consist of 64 pages of large 

 octavo, neatly covered. The mechanical execution of the 

 work is expected to be entirely satisfactory. 



The price will be §5 a year. Payments may be made 

 to the editor through the mail, at his risk; or may be 

 handed to the printer. 



Any person who shall hereafter procure four new sub- 

 scribers, and transmit their first year's subscription, 

 shall i-eceive a fifth copy of the Farmers' Register 

 for the current year, without additional charge. 



All communications for publication, or on business 

 connected with the Farmers' Register, must be ad- 

 dressed to Edmund Ruffin, P. M. Garysville, Va. 



|l3^Thc publisher has taken the liberty of sending copies of 

 the first number of the Farmers' Register to many gentlemen 

 who are not subscribers, and indulges the hope that they will 

 so dispose of them, as to make the plan and character of the 

 work more extensively known. 



CONTENTS FARMERS' REGISTER—NO. I. 



General Description of Virginia — Discovery of Marl in a New 

 District: Analysis of Marl from Prince Edward — Gypsum from 

 Smyth County — Essay on Rotation of Crops — The Use of Lime 

 in Agriculture — Memoranda, &c. of the Farm of Fielding Lewis — 

 Culture of the Vine— Grafting the White Mulberry— Birds and 

 Insects — Oxalis Crenata — The Value of burnt Clay as Manure — 

 Powdered Oyster Shells as Manure — Mangel Wurtzel — Worms 

 and Rooks — Method of Attracting Rats and Mice — Specific Ma. 

 nurcs, Clover, Field Peas — Increased Product of Corn from 

 Marling — Notice to Merchants— Agricultural Review: Slavery 

 and Emancipation — Harvest Management — Mangel Wurtzel for 

 Cattle— Early Gathering of Corn — Slide of Alpnach— New Pow- 

 er for Machinery— Petersburg Rail Road— Soaji— Rail Roads 

 and Canals — Editor's Correspondence, on Surface Manuring, 

 Guinea Grass, (Sec— Vegetable Instinct- Fuel— Poultry— Hay 

 Making— Clover and Trefoil Seeds— To the Readers and Pa- 

 trons of the Farmers' Register— Proposals to publish the Farm- 

 ers' Register. 



