FARMERS' REGISTER— RAIL ROADS, &c— CORN. 



S95 



ment, their farms would become comparatively 

 free from such a nuisance. Observing the pas- 

 tures in such a condition, I felt anxious to learn 

 what profit they derived from their cows and the 

 general mode of management. On one farm in 

 Gloucester county of nearly two thousand acres, 

 and having upwards of thirty cows, the greatest 

 quantity of butter made in any one week was sixty 

 two pounds, and the whole amount of produce from 

 these cows from the month of April down to tiiis 

 time was only .S152 00, a sum by no means ade- 

 quate to defray the expense of attending to them. 

 The plan here adopted, is to allow the cows to pas- 

 ture over a space of nearly six hundred acres, co- 

 vered higher than themselves with weeds of vari- 

 ous sorts. Before sunset, they are collected and 

 enclosed into a pen for milking, and are allowed to 

 remain there over night, until milked next morn- 

 ing, without any fodder. It is imjwssible for cows 

 to thrive under such treatment. Would it not be 

 a much better plan to confine the cows to a small- 

 er range of pasture, and shift them from one pas- 

 ture to another once a week or oftener, and instead 

 of penning them up all night without food, to turn 

 them out to pasture.? It is impossible for cows in 

 warm and sultry days, and in a climate such as 

 this, to gather more tiian a bare subsistence 

 throughout tiie day, when (eased with numberless 

 flies, and generally flocking together lor the shelter 

 of trees or bushes. It would be a much better 

 plan to place cows into a well ventilated house du- 

 ring the heat of the day, supplying them Avith a 

 quantity of grass and clover cut from some of the 

 fields, and allowed to be a little deadened before be- 

 ing given. To haul a little earth sprinkled on 

 the floor of the cow house is considered beneficial 

 for cows. The expense of such an additional at- 

 tendance on cows would be more than recompens- 

 ed by an increase of dairy produce. On farms of 

 a good size there are in general one or more old or 

 infirm persons who could attend to the coA'^s, and 

 who are unfit for almost any other work. The 

 greater part of their work would be to clean out 

 the manure daily, and supply the grass — in which 

 case, cows would soon learn to assemble to tiie 

 sound of a horn, and thus give very little trouble. 



A. N. 



Norfolk, 2Sth Oct. 1833. 



[The foregoing letter is from a practical Scotch far- 

 mer, whose remarks we shall be glad to receive, whe- 

 ther made on the husbandry of Virginia, or of Scot- 

 land. It is always desirable to compare opposite opi- 

 nions, and by that means, instruction may often be 

 drawn from those, whose previous habits, and the cir- 

 cumstances \mder which they have been placed, are the 

 most unlike our own. The " enclosing" system, as it 

 was called by its great advocate and introducer, the 

 justly venerated John Taylor, which by forbidding gra- 

 zing, allows fields to manure themselves slowly by the 

 decay of their own vegetable cover, must seem as im- 

 proper as it is strange, to a farmer coming from high 

 priced and highly cultivated lands. Nevertheless, where 

 labor is high, and but little profit is to be obtained from 

 grazing, and especially on poor, but improvable soils, 

 the enclosing, or non-grazing plan, is the cheapest and 

 best means of giving putrescent matter to improve the 

 laud. Bat this plan, even when properly carried through, 

 is not suitable to every field — and still less do we defend 



such practices as our correspondent describes, which by 

 attempting to obtain profit both from feeding cattle and 

 improving the soil by the weeds they leave, in fact 

 serve to lose botli the benefits expected. If a farmer is 

 obliged to burn off the weeds before breaking up his 

 field for cultivation, it proves either that his ploughing 

 is very badly executed — or otherwise, that liis soil is so 

 rich, that clover ought to have taken the jjlace of 

 weeds.] 



For the Farmers' Register. 

 A PLAN PEOPOSED FOR A CHEAP AND DURA- 

 BLE RAIL ROAD. 



In passing the streets of Williamsburg, I notice 

 before many gentlemen's doors a very hard and 

 even cement, and I recollect that a few years ago, 

 they had put marl, or fossil shells there, which is the 

 only ingredient. Query — Would not the same 

 material, after levelling a track, by being spread 

 from four to six inches thick, serve as well or bet- 

 ter for a road, than wood and iron as used for rail 

 roads.' If the wheels were made of cypress or pine 

 of suitable size, and like a roller four or five feet 

 long, fixed fast on an axletree of wrought iron, (so 

 that the axle would turn with the wheel,) one wheel 

 would answer inslead of two, and the pressure or 

 weight being on a broad surface, would serve to 

 keep the track smooth and even — especially if car- 

 ried by steam power instead of horses. I see no 

 reason why a road so made and used, would not 

 last forever, with very slight repairs. 



The contemplated road from Richmond to York- 

 town would run through a country that abounds 

 with the above named material. IMy impression 

 is that a road might be made on this plan, for half 

 the usual cost. The question now arises, would 

 such broad wheels run as easy as narrow .' Expe- 

 rience would test this — but I think there would be 

 little or no difference, as weight is weight, whether 

 its rests on a tread of five inches, or five feet. The 

 main thing in doubt, is, whether the marl could be 

 made as smooth as an iron rail road. I think a 

 portion of sand might be added to the marl, with 

 advantage. I submit these remarks for the con- 

 sideration and judgment of the public. 



PARKE JONES. 



James City Co. Oct. 27lh, 1833. 



ON THE CULTIVATION OF CORN. 



To the EJitor of the Fanners' Register. 



Upper JBrandon, ? 

 Prince George, Nov. 1, 1833. ^ 

 Fully convinced as I am that much more labor 

 than necessary is usually expended on the culture 

 of the corn crop, I yet offer the following remarks 

 on that subject with great diffidence. Early and 

 deep fitllowing, particularly on stifrsoils,is deemed 

 essential, even where a sccord ploughing is ren- 

 dered necessary by the a])plication of manure in 

 the spring. In every process on my farm it is my 

 object tosubstitule as far as practicable the use of 

 horse power for manual labor; and in subservience 

 to this rule, after the whole surface has been pre- 

 viously well harrowed in the spring, my corn 

 land is all laid off in checks, where the lantl is dry 

 enough to admit of this sort of culture. With a 

 view to the same object (the saving of mauual la- 



