FARMERS' REGISTER— PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE. 



185 



The cheapest and most simple marl-borer, is made by 

 •welding a stem of five or six feet long, and half an inch 

 square, to any old and useless screw auger, of one 

 and a half or one and three-quarter inches bore. The 

 iron handle, about twenty inches long, should have a 

 square hole through the middle to receive the stem, over 

 which it should slip easily up and down. A screw pass- 

 ing through one side of this handle, and pressing against 

 the stem, fixes the handle at any required height. Small 

 depressions made every twelve inches along one side of 

 the stem, receive the point of the screw, and keep the 

 handle firm. 



The auger should not be allowed to bore more than 

 five or six inches before raising it, and clearing the eartli 

 away — all of which will be drawn up in the screw, un- 

 less the earth is, so wet as to be almost fluid. A depth 

 of seven feet or something more, may be very conve- 

 niently reached and examined with this instrument — 

 and four or six feet more, by using other pieces with 

 joints to increase the length of the stem, but with much 

 less convenience. 



More costly and much more eftcctual augers for this 

 purpose, have been manufactured at the Penitentiary 

 in Richmond — of which Colonel Morgan, the superin- 

 tendent, has jjromised to furnish us with a description. 



Elizabeth City, June 22d, 1833. 

 My attention is now mainly directed to tlie cul- 

 tivation of the artificial grasses, and the improve- 

 ment of our stock of cattle. I have succeeded in 

 the first, and have no doubt of success in the lat- 

 ter : and I think, in a little while, I will be able 

 to convince the most prejudiced, that lower Virgi- 

 nia can produce hay and butter enough for her 

 own consumption, and a little to spare; and thus 

 wipe off the disgrace of purchasing these articles 

 from our less favored but more industrious bre- 

 thren of the north and east. 



June '24th, 1833. 



My young friend, the editor of the **** *****^ 

 has lent me the Farmers' Register, with which I 

 am much pleased. You will please to send it to 



me, directed to . I have long wished 



to see the commencement of such a work. The 

 experience of thirty six years has taught me that if 

 the people of Virginia willed the resuscitation of 

 their soil, the work was easily done ; and what son 

 of Virginia is so cold, so dead in heart, as not to 

 respond to the calls of his dear, his native land ? 

 who so mercenary and degenerate as to abandon 

 a kind mother because she is poor.^ and poor 

 from his father's neglect.^ Does not patriotic, 

 does not moral duty require at our hands, that 

 we pour oil and wine into her wounds, heal her 

 broken spirit, and cause her to sing for joy of her 

 faithlul sons. In the beginning, God gave the 

 earth to man as his inheritance, and moral proprie- 

 ty requires of him that he hand it down unimpair- 

 ed ; and it is good for morals and humility to keep 

 in mind that we sprang from the " dust of the 

 earth." I pray you not to suspect me of a dispo- 

 sition to preach ; — but to go back to first princi- 

 ples, and lay our foundations in a solid manner, is 

 vitally important. Does patriotism, do morals de- 

 pend upon the abundance of the earth ? Who ever 

 saw a roguish horse, cow or hog, that was not 

 made so by want ? It is this, that like interest. 



Vol. 1.— 21 



works day and night, nor does it respect the Sab- 

 bath. Craft and fraud and violence, and corrup- 

 tions of every grade and color are in the termina- 

 tions of want and fruitless labor. Permit me to 

 say that the very first thing to be done for the landed 

 interest is to put it under the sacred protection of 

 the law : let every man have and enjoy his own. 

 The concentrated spirits of the lower regions could 

 not have drawn a law more destructive to the in- 

 terests of agriculture, than that of Virginia, which 

 makes the whole state a common, save that which 

 is under a strong close five foot fence. Why not 

 make our garments, or our horses and cows that are 

 not in iiBmediate use also common property ? — 

 Land is, and long has been, outlawed in Virginia; 

 and yet it is considered wonderful that her interest 

 should dwindle and waste. * * * 



We have long thought with our correspondent that 

 our law respecting enclosures is one of the heaviest and 

 most unreasonable of all the-bm-dens that the farmers of 

 Virginia have fixed upon their own shoulders. The ex- 

 pense of the fencing in lower and middle Virginia which 

 is required (not to confine the farmers' own stock, but) 

 to guard against depredations of the stock of other peo- 

 ple, must consume nearly half the average clear profit 

 (or fair rent) of the land. Many are the tracts belong- 

 ing to widows and orjAans, which are left vmoccupied, 

 and unproductive, because the expense of legal fencing 

 would cost more than the rent the land would afterwards 

 yield. 



New York, June 27th, 1833. 

 I am glad to see old Virginia turning her atten- 

 tion to the improvement of agriculture, the great 

 source of the wealth, power, and virtues of every 

 slate, and most especially of yours. The gains of 

 commerce and manufactures may be greater, but 

 they are less secure than those of the cultivator of 

 the land ; he is not the slave of foreign or domes- 

 tic legislation : nor does he depend on an act of 

 Congress to decide whether he shall be a beggar or 

 a king. His prosperity depends on himself and 

 his God; and so long as the dews and the rains 

 fall, and the sun shines in the heavens, though the 

 whole foreign world were convulsed, he cannot 

 starve. Like the fabled giant of Grecian story, 

 the Virginian cannot be overthrown, so long as he 

 keeps fast hold of his native soil. You may see 

 the other states riding for awhile on their manu- 

 factures and their commerce, passing you in the 

 race of wealth, and outglittering you in baubles 

 and extravagance; but you will, if you are not ca- 

 joled or bullied out of your true policy, still adhere 

 to agriculture as the great source of j'our prospe- 

 rity. Then you will see the pageants of the pa- 

 per, the tariff systems, and all the mushroom 

 growth of modern political economists, pass away 

 generation after generation, leaving nothing be- 

 hind them but the wrecks of their career, while 

 Virginia walks steadily onward, moderately, last- 

 ingly, independent and happy. 



King George County, July ith. 

 * * * You would do good service to many 

 young farmers like myself, by publishing the best 

 treatise with which you are acquainted, upon the 

 cultivation of Indian corn — and by calling upon 

 your correspondents to state the- method pursued 

 by the most successful cultivators of this staple. — 



