130 



FARMERS' REGISTER— SHIRLEY SWAMP. 



In the year 1829, cultivated reclaimed land as 

 usual in corn, except that we only left two stalks 

 in the hill to try to prevent the fodder from firing, 

 which has always taken place before vv^e could ga- 

 ther it all, but still it tires too soon for us. Made 

 a very good crop of corn this year, seven hundred 

 and sixty three barrels merchantable corn ; se- 

 venty barrels short, but sound, fed to hogs; some 

 twenty or thirty barrels of rotten corn, besides the 

 above — price of corn this year -9 1.80 per barrel ; 

 value of swamp corn ^1373.40. As I have ne- 

 glected to mention tlie mode of cultivation, I will 

 noAv do it. My reclaimed land is too low and wet 

 to plough, except ten acres on the margin of the 

 highland, so that we have to cultivate all of it ex- 

 cept the above ten acres, entirely with hoes, which 

 is done in the following way : The land is laid up 

 every Avinter in six feet beds, \vith hoes, and well 

 ditched and water-furrowed from one end to the 

 other, so as to make it as dry as possible. We 

 plant it as soon as possible in tlic spring, (which is 

 generally the last of April or first of May,) two 

 feet between every hill on the six feet beds, thin- 

 ning out to two and three stalks to the hill. We 

 begin to weed the corn broad-cast as soon as any 

 grass or v.eeds appear. We generally get over it 

 twice before harvest, and then the growth of corn 

 is so rapid that it overshades the land, and keeps 

 the grass and weeds under, so tl;at the cultivation 

 of this sort of land is much less laborious than any 

 one would suppose from not being able to use the 

 .plough, provided you begin to weed as soon as any 

 grass or weeds appear : but if you let them get 

 ■flie start of you, you may bid adieu to your corn, 

 lor all the hoes in Virginia would not save it. 



In 1830, began to plant corn on reclaimed land 

 on 20th April, and finished on 30th; cultivated as 

 usual ; we had a wet season, and bad for swamp 

 land. Crop made this year, by journal, five hun- 

 dred and fifty barrels of merchantable corn ; se- 

 venty barrels of short corn fed to hogs, and fifty 

 of rotten corn. I will here remark that this kind 

 of land always has much more short and rotten 

 corn than higidand, and never turns out so Avell as 

 the appearance of the crop, while growing, would 

 induce you to suppose. 1 have often been told by 

 persons who saw the crop while in the tassel, that 

 it must make eighteen or twenty barrels to the 

 acre, so luxuriant was the growth; but the best 

 crop I ever made, was ten barrels and a half to 

 the acre. But the beauty of this land is, that it 

 will last for ever without manure, provided you 

 keep the water off; and if ever it sinks to low wa- 

 ter mark, which I believe it will, after a long 

 while, why we can but use the pump as they do 

 in Holland. It has now sunk about eighteen 

 inches. Price of corn in 1830, Sg3.70 per barrel, 

 and value of sv/amp corn ^2035. 



In the year 1831, cultivated reclaimed land as 

 usual, except that we planted the corn earlier in 

 April than before — and just as it was all up, on 

 the 27th April, we had a violent N. E. storm, 

 with high tides, v/hich broke over the dike, and 

 swept every thing; corn all destroyed — dike made 

 a wreck of^ — and I was very near giving it up in 

 despair, and in fact did give orders to break up 

 some high land instead of it, but after awhile 

 thought I would make another trial. Went to 

 work on the dike, and by the 17th May stopped 

 out the water again, and began to plant corn a 

 second time. The corn came up, and stood ve- 



ry well, and I thought we h.id as good a pros- 

 pect for a full crop as before the storm ; for, by 

 30th May, we had completed the repairs to the dike, 

 and began to weed the corn, at which time it looked 

 beautiful. The second day after we began to weed, 

 the corn began to disappear, and by the fourth day 

 every plant was gone. The caterpillars, or a worm 

 very like them, (somewhat smaller,) had eaten up 

 every plant in the eighty acres, except a small 

 corner of tlie reclaimed land, about two acres, 

 where, on the subsiding of the flood, all the trash 

 had floated to the thickness of four feet, and we 

 had to burn it off before we could plant that cor- 

 ner. That part escaped the caterpillars entirely, 

 their eggs being burnt, I suppose. I cannot ac- 

 count for the caterpillars, as we never had them 

 before nor since in our corn, though we have had 

 a few once or twice in our wheat, but not to do 

 much injury. As I was pretty well tired of plant- 

 ing for one year, I waited until the glut of worms 

 as I thought was over, and two days before har- 

 vest, the 14th and 15th June, I made a great push, 

 working night and day, and planted tlie reclaimed 

 land the third time. But it would not all do : the 

 glut of caterpillars was not over; they were only 

 concealed in the ground — and as soon as the corn 

 came up, they again swept it off the face of the 

 earth. After harvest, I thought it was too late to 

 make corn in our climate, but determined to make 

 the fourth trial, and began to plant on 30th June. 

 The caterpillars had turned into a kind of fly and 

 disappeared, and we made about half a crop. Crop 

 made this year on reclaimed land, as by journal, of 

 merchantable corn, three hundred and ten barrels ; 

 fifty two barrels of short, or hog corn, and thirty 

 barrels of rotten corn, caught by frost. Price of 

 corn this year, ^2.25 per barrel ; value of swamp 

 corn 8697.50. 



1832, cultivated reclaimed land as usual in corn, 

 and had no rain from June Sd until 24ih Septem- 

 ber, the most unprecedented drought ever known 

 in this climate. The swamj) land corn suffered 

 from the drought, yet we made there two-thirds of 

 a crop : four hundred and sixty four barrels mer- 

 chantable corn ; forty five barrels of short corn 

 fed to hogs, and some rotten corn as usual. Price 

 of corn this year, ^3.25 per barrel ; value of swamp 

 corn, S 1508. 



Recapitulation of Products and Expense. 

 Years. Product. Sales. Price per bbl. When sold. 



1826 bis. 380 



1827 40SJ 

 1S28 454 



1829 763 



1830 550 



1831 310 

 1332 464 



<ill40 ^3 00 1827 



816 2 00 1823 



1151 inc. cotton 2 40 1829 



1373 1 80 1830 



2035 3 70 1831 



700 2 26 1832 



1508 3 25 1833 



$8723 



Cost of reclaiming the land, - 

 Interest for seven years on $2200, 



Amount of sales for seven years, 

 Balance, . . - 



»$2200 

 923 



$5600 



The corn used for hogs, and the fodder, &c. are 

 not included in this statement of products. The 

 labor of cultivation and repairs, (of which no cor^ 



