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FARMERS' REGISTER— HORIZONTAL TRENCHING. 



of horses is allierl to tlic Anilu'an, ihe more excel- 

 lent it is; and that the breed which should be re 

 "lencrated anew, from the Arab l)lood, to remove 

 the alterations it may have un(lerii;one from the in- 

 fluences of which we have just spoken, would be 

 restored to its primitive state much more quickly 

 and more certainly, than it could be by the em- 

 ployment of stallions of another stock, however 

 disting:uished they might be. What we have now 

 said of the advantages of the use of the Arabian 

 blood, as a regenerator, is a truth of which the 

 breeders of horses cannot be too thoroughly con- 

 vinced, and which they ought all to have constant- 

 ly in vicAv. 



It is, indeed, most astonishing to see the incre- 

 dible multiplicity of forms, under which the Ara- 

 bian blood has been diilused in so many different 

 countries and climates; it is found especially in 

 Persia, in Egypt, in Barbary and in England, with 

 modifications of conformation, peculiar to each of 

 these countries, it is true, but always with the type, 

 more or less marked, which distinguishes the race. 

 It is seen also, but with a less decided character, 

 hi some stocks of eastern Russia, in the studs of 

 Poland, and in some other countries of Europe. 



The Arabian blood then, as is shown, exercises a 

 powerful influence in our climates, on the re-pro- 

 duction or regeneration of the tliorough-bred horse, 

 whether it be mixed or not, with other stocks al- 

 ready improved; and breeders cannot make it too 

 earnestly the object of their experiments and ob- 

 servations. 



HORIZONTAL TRENCHING, TO PREVENT THE 

 WASHING OF HILLY LANDS. 



To the Editor of tlie Fanners' Register. 



The interest which your journal has already ex- 

 cited among the agriculturists in this section of 

 the country, furnishes some ground for hope, that 

 the improvement of the lands on the waters of the 

 Roanoke, where they have been most neglected, 

 (or to speak more correctly, where they have been 

 most butchered,) w ill at last occupy the serious 

 attention of our farmers. We have heretofore 

 wanted an outlet to the ocean — tobacco has been 

 our only crop, and we have experienced, to the 

 fullest extent, all the evils attending its cultivation. 

 Our lands are nearly exhausted, and we are now 

 on the look out to discover some means of restor- 

 ing their fertility. A desire to improve, begins 

 pretty generally to prevail: information is what 

 we want — you have in your valuable journal, given 

 us much, and will no doubt give us more. The 

 Farmers' Register is beginning to attract atten- 

 tion, and many inquiries are made tor it ; and I 

 hope the time will soon arrive, when it w ill be in 

 the hands of all our agriculturists. 



The wheat crop is becoming more profitable, as 

 the facilities of market have increased very much 

 since the construction of the Petersburg rail road, 

 and will be still more increased, when that from 

 Portsmouth is complete. Manufacturing mills of 

 improved construction, are being erected on our 

 ■water courses, and we have every reason to be- 

 lieve, that wheat will be the great staple of the val- 

 ley of the Roanoke, the soil and climate of which 

 are as well adapted to its culture, as those of any 

 part of Virginia. 



The great impediment in the way of improve- 

 ment of the lands of the Roanoke, (I speak more 



specially of those counties on its two great branch- 

 es, the Dan and Staunton,) is the unevenness of 

 tlie country. You who reside within the limits of 

 tide water, can scarcely estimate it. We manure 

 our land carefully, and the first heavy rain carries 

 that, and what soil there may be, to the bottoms. 

 This single circumstance, viz : the brokenness 

 of our country, has done more to refiress the 

 progress of improvement, than every thing else 

 put together. Why manure land, when the first 

 rain may sweep it entirely away ? Hence, what 

 little manuring is done, is pretty much in the fol- 

 lowing manner. The owner of five hundred acres 

 of land, selects some level spot of about 25,000 

 tobacco hills, (6 or 7 acres,) convenient to his 

 house. This he lays off for tobacco: it is cultiva- 

 ted every year in the same crop, and every year 

 he puts on this fiivored spot every particle of ma- 

 nure whicli he accumulates, or rather which is 

 accumulated, for he pays no attention to the sub-' 

 ject. The end of 10 years, finds his lot in about 

 the same state as at first, and the balance of his 

 plantation exhausted. This history of a single 

 plantation, is the history of the whole Roanoke 

 country. To us then, improvement is not choice, 

 l>ut necessity. But to give you this mournful ac- 

 count of the sad state of our agriculture was not 

 my intention when I sat down to write to you. It 

 was rather to tell you what we were doing, than 

 what we had omitted to do — to com|)ly with the 

 request of a mutual friend who solicited me to give 

 you some account of a method practised by a few 

 persons in Halifax and Mecklenburg, for the pro- 

 tection of their hill sides from the effects of wash- 

 ing rains. 



This s'ystem is technically called trenching. 

 Who was the inventor I know not. It was first 

 practised as far as my knowledge extends, by Mr. 

 Skipw ith of Mecklenburg. His lands are exceed- 

 ingly broken, and he has carried the system to 

 such perfection, as to put an entire stop to wash- 

 ings by the heaviest rains. So much so, that I 

 have heard of his saying, that not a pound of soil 

 was lost on his extensive estate, by the great- 

 est fall of rain. I wish the application had been 

 made to him, rather tiian myself, to give the pub- 

 ic information on this subject. He is, indeed, a 

 good cultivator — an enlightened farmer, practically 

 and theoretically — while I am a tyro — a young 

 man and a young farmer — eager indeed to learn, 

 but unalile to teach. I have practised the system 

 for 3 years — the first two years it was badly done, 

 tor want of experience. The corn land for the 

 present year is better done, and I may safely say, 

 that in an extensive field of about 200 acres, as 

 broken as any in Virginia, there is no washing, nor 

 a single corn-bed broken by the rains. 



The first thing to be done, is to lay off the 

 trenches. This must be correctly done, or instead 

 of conducting the water gradually off, and pre- 

 venting the wash of soil, the land will soon be in- 

 tersected by deep gullies. The level here most in 

 use, is what is familiarly known by the name of 

 the rafter level. It consists of 2 pieces of scant- 

 ling, about 9 feet long, lapped at an angle of 45 

 degrees, (or squared,) making a span of 12 feet. 

 The shanks should be precisely of the same length. 

 From the apex, a line is suspended with a plumb 

 at bottom. Across the shanks, a piece should be 

 fixed, on which notches should be made to mark 

 the variations of the plumb line. But it is useless 



