212 



FARMERS' REGISTER— CORN— COMMERCIAL REPORT, &c. 



CULTURE OF CORN. 



Fairfax County, jiugust 21, 1833. 



To the Editor of the Farmer.,' Register. 



In your No. 3, under date of the 24th June, I 

 find you have inserted an extract from my letter 

 to you (on the unjust and oppressive law concern- 

 ing fences.)* I thank you lor doing so ; the sub- 

 ject is now before ail Virginia, and I hope that 

 every man interested in the sacred rights of pro- 

 perty, (and who is lie tliat is not.'') will give the 

 subject a fair, cool, and impartial consideration. 

 I am a self taught man, and too old to make an 

 efTort to show that two and three make five — and 

 I should consider it equally frivolous and ridicu- 

 lous, to attempt to show, that in a community 

 guided by morals and law, a man is entitled exclu- 

 sively to the use of his own. 



Some of your correspondents are inquiring for 

 the best mode of making corn. I do not pretend 

 to any knowledge of the best way of doing any 

 thing ; but I will say what I do, and leave it to 

 those concerned to determine what is best. My 

 corn is now nearly stri})ped, and as soon as the 

 ears are sufficiently dry, we gather, and then cut 

 off the stalks and haul them out in a succulent 

 state to the cattle, upon the land intended for corn 

 the next season ; witli this follows all my straw, 

 strewed or put in racks as may seem best — taking 

 particular care of the weakest parts of the field. 

 From time to time, in the winter and spring, the 

 whole is buried with a good two horse plougli — 

 (I have used four horse and three horse ploughs.) 

 The whole is then harrowed close down ; furrows 

 are then drawn at right angles, five feet one way 

 and three the other ; four or five grains are then 

 placed at each intersection, and covered lightly 

 with a hoe. As soon as this is done, the space in 

 each direction between the furrows or rows, is 

 workefl with a single coulter, moved by one horse, 

 eight or ten in,ches deep, until there be sonie ap- 

 pearance of grass upon the ground, or until the 

 corn shews its preparation to go into the tassel, 

 when a cultivator is put upon it, until the silk be- 

 gins to show. It is then left, and we have no fear 

 about results. When the crop comes olT, we see 

 very little of the corn stalks, or straw, unless the 

 season has been very dry. A two horse plough is 

 then used to throw it into shape to receive wheat. 

 When we thin, we dress the plants with a hoe. — 

 In addition to this, I keep a farm yard, where my 

 milch cows, &c. are kept, and we apply the pro- 

 ceeds to surface dress wheat, or use it upon the 

 poorer parts of the corn field. To this use I also 

 apply my stable and sheep pen manure. The ex- 

 perience of more than thirty years gives me au- 

 thority to say that surface dressing is the best ap- 

 plication of those kinds of manure, for this, if for 

 no other reason — that a given quantity will dress a 

 double surface. 



By this practice, and a very free use of the 

 spade (my farm is very low and level,) I now make 

 from eight to ten times as much as was made upon 

 it twenty five years ago, when I came to tlie pos- 

 session and management of it. It is due however 

 to a bare statement of facts, that I should say that 

 I wandered many years in the dark, and waded 

 many in the water, before I even saw my way 

 clearly. My corn is not bad this year, though 



* See Fanners' Register, No. 3, page 185. 



the most of my neighbors will not make the fourth 

 part of a fair crop. Wishing your valuable work 

 tliat reception with the public which it merits, T 

 am your friend, jerk3Jiah. 



[We shall be obliged to our correspondent if lie will 

 ndd to the value of the foregoing communication by de- 

 scribing particularly the shape and size of the conlter 

 which he uses, and its operation in pulverizing the soil, 

 keeping down the growth of weeds of different kinds, 

 &c ] — Ell. Farm. Reg. 



COMMERCIAL REPORT, AND PRESENT PROS- 

 PECT OF MARKETS. 



[We are indebted for the following article to a gen- 

 tleman who possesses much commercial and general infor- 

 mation ; and hope that a similar report of markets, and 

 prospects of markets, will be furnished monthly. We 

 aj-e sure that such reports will be interesting, and some- 

 times may be profitable to many of our readers.] — Ed. 

 Farm. Reg. 

 To the Eilitor of the Farmers' Register. 



It is gratifying to observe the favorable con- 

 dition of the agricultural interests in the United 

 States generally, and in the southern states espe- 

 cially — niaugre all party and political complaints. 



The prices of all the most imfwrtant articles of 

 produce are good ; and I believe it requires but 

 industry, good management, and a judicious use of 

 those resources which nature has bountifully pro- 

 vided, to render our State, good old Virgmia ! pros- 

 perous, to clieck that migratory disposition which 

 has too long prevailed, and to restore her to the' 

 eminence that she attained in the by-gone days of 

 the Old Thirteen. 



It is no wonder that Virginia has not advanced 

 at as rapid a pace as her younger sisters (or more 

 more properly, daughters) have. She has contri- 

 liutetl more than any other state, to people those 

 western regions, a large portion of which once 

 constituted a part of her territory — anc^ she has 

 suffered not only the abstraction of population, but 

 also of capital. Large fortunes, acquired by com- 

 merce, when its profits were inordinate, have been 

 constantly withdrawn from her, to add to the 

 wealth and resources of other countries or states ; 

 and the vacuum created by the removal of a capi- 

 talist has been filled by a new comer without capi- 

 tal — who, if successful in acquiring one, followed 

 the example of his predecessor. Tlius has Virgi- 

 nia been but a nursery of population and wealth, 

 to be distributed abroad, as fast as it was produc- 

 ed. The natural effect has been, to retard the 

 growth of our towns, the extension and improve- 

 ment of agriculture, the developement of natural 

 resources, and the formation of roads and canals, 

 which give an impulse to the others. 



From this situation I believe we are now becom- 

 ing disenthralled ; and if so, brighter prospects 

 will open to us. Let our energies be exerted, and 

 tliey will make us prosper. Our mines, our quar- 

 ries, as well as our fields, contain abundant sour- 

 ces of wealth. 



From these general remarks, I will descend to 

 others of a limited character. All the agricultu- 

 ral products of Virginia, and of the southern and 

 western states now command high prices. Wheat 

 sells at 112 to 125 cents— Cotton at 15 to 16— To- 



