FARMERS' REGISTER— PRODUCTS OF LOWER VIRGINIA. 



285 



As connected with my main subject, Ibe<; leave 

 to offer you a very general synopsis cf the different 

 systems of farming tliat prevail in lower Virginia. 



It is usual with us to distinguish the different 

 systems by the number of fields into which a farm 

 is divided. These always, I believe, have refer- 

 ence to the corn crop. Their numbers vary from 

 one to five. The first and last are indeed seldom 

 to be found. But they have been tried sufliciently 

 to test their merits, and are known to possess some 

 advantages. To explain the one field plan, it is ne- 

 cessary to premise, that in far the larger j)ortion 

 of our region, the land is ])loughed in ridges, ave- 

 raging about five feet. This is pursued principally 

 as a means of saving labor. A plough tiiat clears 

 ten inches, and that may, in the greater part of our 

 country, be drawn by 2 small horses or mules, will 

 entirely reverse one of these ridges at four furrows. 

 But to g-et a crop of corn from a field every year, the 

 rows must be widened to about seven feet. The corn 

 is planted along the top of the ridge about the first of 

 April. As soon as tlie spring is sufficiently advan- 

 ced, usually about the first of May, a part of the 

 earth is thrown back into the alley by carrying the 

 plough through, once each way. On the small 

 ridge formed by this operation, peas of the most 

 active growth are planted at distances of two or 

 three feet apart. They are gathered as they ripen, 

 until the frost i)uts an end to their vegetation, when 

 the vines are buried by throwing two furrows on 

 them with a large plough. In the following spring 

 the corn is planted on this ridge, and the decaying 

 peas furnish an excellent manure. Land thus cul- 

 tivated, has been found to double its production in 

 twenty years. None but very sandy soils will bear 

 it. And the great objections to it are, that the cat- 

 tle are badly provided for, both in pasturage and 

 provender. 



The two field system is much practised on the 

 Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake, and is to be found 

 occasionally on the western. This, too, requires a 

 very sandy soil. The farm is divided into two 

 equal fields, and cultivated alternately in corn and 

 wheat, or oats. But under this system, as under 

 that which I have described, some other crop is 

 necessary. Nature furnishes one. When the small 

 grain is taken off at harvest, the land is left hand- 

 somely covered with a growth, which, from the 

 small island on which it is was first discovered, is 

 called Magadaba bean. It is an annual growth, 

 with numerous leaves set on a principal stem, like 

 the leaves of the locust, but not more than one- 

 fourth that size. It branches considerably, and 

 from the height of six inches, until its growth is 

 completed, it displays an abundance of bright yel- 

 low blossoms, shaped like those of a garden pea. 

 The pods are black, and resemble in form those of 

 the partridge pea, but are considerably larger. — 

 This wild bean continues to grow in the burning- 

 heats of July and August, never losing its fresh- 

 ness, until the cold weather of October overtakes 

 it. It then decays, and before the first of March 

 scarcely a vestige of it is visible. With this bean, 

 which will grow in any very dry and sandy soil, 

 and with management that insures the return of 

 the offal of the crops in the form of manure, the 

 two field system is ascertained to be an improver 

 of the farms where it is practised. The want of 

 proper and sufficient pasturage for cattle is the evil 

 of this also. The land must never be used for pas- 

 turage in the summer months. 



The three field plan is soon described : Corn — 

 wheat, barley, or oats — pasturage. Land will not 

 im|)rove by this course of cultivation without other 

 sources of manure than those furnished by the offal 

 of the crops. Those who use marl largely, find it 

 a better system than either before described ; be- 

 cause they have ground on which they can bring it 

 all the year, and the cattle have a third of the farm 

 for grazing. 



The four field plan is still better, particularly 

 when it is used as a means of increasing the wheat 

 crop. This succession is wheat, corn, wheal — 

 pasture. Thus two of the fields are in small grain, 

 one in corn, and one in pasfure; or, according to 

 another practice, corn, wheat, clover — pasture. 

 With very good management, a farmer may ma- 

 nure his whole corn field under the four field system. 



The five field plan is that practised principally 

 by the best farmers in the middle country, and 

 needs no description. 



It must be acknowleged that the two first plans 

 have considerable advantages where the soil will 

 bear them. If a certain number of acres will pro- 

 duce a given crop every year, the land must be 

 more valuable than that of equal productiveness, 

 which requires rest. And these systems (or one 

 or two fields) require much less fencing than others ; 

 a single enclosure protects every thing. 



I have spoken of^ the principal crops. There are 

 some others very valuable in limited districts. Of 

 the cotton in the country about Petersburg, and in 

 some detached places elsewhere, it is unnecessary 

 to say more, than that this is a crop of which land 

 never tires. The same field is cultivated every 

 year. — So too, of sweet potatoes, an important crop 

 on the Eastern Shore. To form an estimate of its 

 value, it will be sufficient to state, that land which 

 may be worth ^15 or ift:20 per acre is cultivated in 

 potatoes. The hills are made, perhaps, three feet 

 apart each way. It is usual for the owners to sell 

 them before they are dug, to be carried to the Phi- 

 ladelphia and New York markets; and the price 

 is a cent per hill. An acre, by calculation, con- 

 tains 4840 hills, which thus produce -948 40 with- 

 out the trouble of saving the crop. They require 

 about as much cultivation as cotton. Peach bran- 

 dy too, is found to be a very profitable article for 

 market, and is made principally on the sandy fields 

 of the Eastern Shore, and by some farmers on the 

 south side of James River. In the former place I 

 understand that the orchards are sometimes more 

 than a hundred acres in extent. Other croi>s are 

 raised on the same land by placing the rows of 

 trees at a good distance apart. The castor bean 

 is cultivated in considerable quantities in Eliza- 

 beth City and York, where some fortunes have 

 been made by it. Its cultivation has been partial- 

 ly adopted l>y the farmers in some other countries 

 of the salt water region. 



I have thus, JMr. Editor, given you an essay on 

 the resources and farming of lower V^irginia. On 

 the first, I acknowledge I have written imperfectly ; 

 because certainty cannot be obtained in the ab- 

 sence of the police regulations which exist in some 

 other countries. And on the second, I have under- 

 taken no more than a synopsis ; and this only as 

 conducing to the main purpose of my communica- 

 tion. I think I have kept my promise of avoiding 

 the spirit of controversy — if I have not, it is be- 

 cause I am not capable of judging the demerits of 

 my own composition. mockjack. 



