624 



FARMERS' REGISTER— IMPROVEMENT OF TOBACCO LANDS, 



For the Farmers' Register. 



THE IMPKOVEMKNT OF LANDS IN THE TO- 

 BACCO REGION OF VIRGINIA. 



The importance of improving the exhausted 

 lands of middle Virginia is now felt and acknowl- 

 edged by all; and the inquiry has of late been fre- 

 quently made, in our hearing, what general system 

 should be adopted to promote this end. We have 

 no mineral manures— a great portion of the soil 

 has been washed away iVom our rolling lands — 

 our flat lands are well nigh exhausted by hard cul- 

 tivation — and the general cry is, " who can show 

 us any good.^" 



We propose in ourliumble way to point out tlie 

 causes of the present worn out aspect of ojr coun- 

 try, and then to suggest an antidote against far- 

 ther deterioration, and also the means of an entire 

 resuscitation. 



We believe that injudicious grazing, and the 

 want of proper enclosing, has contributed more to 

 the impoverishment of our soil, than all other 

 causes combined. This defect in our agricultural 

 system has been long seen and regretted by intel- 

 ligent farmers ; but as the system is still perse- 

 vered in, against reason and interest, the general 

 error is a sufficient apology for urging its aban- 

 donment, although wc may furnish no new reasons 

 for adopting a dillerent system. We will not at 

 this late day point out all the inconveniences that 

 follow in the wake of what is called the " three 

 shift system" of Virginia. To show however 

 that grazing injudiciously has mainly contributed 

 to the destruction of our soil, we will detail some 

 of the mischiefs of regularly grazing arable laud, 

 as soon as the crop is taken from it. 



The productiveness of a soil depends principally 

 on the quantity of nutritive matter contained in it, 

 and on a proper degree of openness, so as to aflbrd 

 a soft bed tor the penetration of the roots of vege- 

 tables. Grazing cultivated lands lessens, in a con- 

 stantly increasing ratio, the quantity of this nutri- 

 tive or vegetable matter, and also makes the soil 

 close and impervious to tlie roots of plants. The 

 most apparent injury is the destruction by cattle 

 of the voluntary crop of grass and weeds, that 

 land in tolerable condition will throw up after a 

 wheat, oat, or other grain crop is severed. Every 

 green thing, by a large stock of cattle, is frequent- 

 ly entirely destroyed : what escapes the mouth is 

 trodden down by the hoof: the restlessness of hun- 

 ger keeps the stock in perpetual motion, and the 

 field soon becomes naked and hard, and in the most 

 proper condition to have its juices extracted by a 

 summer's sun. The capacity, therefore, of land 

 under such a system, for producing, js constantly 

 diminishing, until entire sterility is the result. 

 The face of the country around us confirms the 

 truth of the above remarks, for notwithstanding 

 much land has of late years been cleared for to- 

 bacco, and subsequently put in corn, still the ave- 

 rage corn crop in this vicinity is supposed to be 

 igibput a barrel and a half or two barrels to the 

 ficre. 



But it is a consoling fact to the farmer that his 

 lands may be brought back to their original fer- 

 tility in almost as short a time as served for their 

 destruction, provided the opposite, or non-grazing 

 system, is adopted. 



The atmosphere, with us, may be considered our 

 only source of manure. I do not v/igh to abolish 



the distinction of artificial manures, or to disparage 

 their virtues ; but the planter should bear in mind 

 tiiat the straw that feeds his stock, and the grain 

 that supplies his horses with food, derive the most 

 of their existence from the atmosphere ; and that 

 the dung of animals fed upon these articles, will 

 manure less land than the rough food itself. But 

 to return more particularly to the support of our 

 second position. It is a well known fact that some 

 plants, (the house plant for instance,) derive the 

 whole of their nourishment from the atmosphere. 

 Others derive a fourth, a third* a half, or three 

 fourths. The proportions of food supplied by 

 the earth and air depending on the nature and 

 structure of the plant. But from experiments 

 made by agriculturists, it may be safely affirmed 

 that one half or two thirds of the spontaneous 

 growth of an enclosed field comes from the atmos- 

 phere. According to this"idea, an enclosed field 

 would have its productive capacity sufficiently in- 

 creased to double its crop in two years, which no 

 doubt accords with the observations of many plan- 

 ters who adopt the enclosing system. The writer 

 of tliese lines has been informed by several gentle- 

 men of the county of Charlotte, that three or four 

 years rest without grazing has reclaimed lands in 

 their possession from a state of complete exhaus- 

 tion, so as to j)roduce from five to seven barrels of 

 corn to the acre. The lands referred to, however, 

 were originally good river bottom. 



The olijections to the enclosing system are, 1st. 

 that too much land lies idle, and that the planter is 

 deprived of the yearly benefit of his capital : but 

 it has been repeatedly ascertained and shown by 

 late communications to the Register, that one 

 acre properly rested and enclosed, will produce as 

 much as two or three under the present grazing 

 system. An acre of land, capable in its virgin 

 state of producing five barrels of corn, if rested 

 every other year, will never deteriorate — (I make 

 this assertion from my own observation ;) and I 

 have no hesitation in saying, that if cultivated and 

 grazed alternately, the crop would be lessened at 

 least a barrel every time it is cultivated. The ag- 

 gregate amount then of corn produced on the rest- 

 ed acre in five years, .would be twenty five bar- 

 rels — on the grazed acre fifteen barrels ; and the 

 rested acre would- be left with a capacity of still 

 producing five barrels, while the grazed acre 

 would be exhausted and unfit for cultivation. 



Another objection to. the enclosing system is, 

 that it is incompatible with a good stock of cattle, 

 a plenty of butter, milk, &c. But we have no he- 

 sitation in saying, that almost every planter of our 

 acquaintance has at least double the number of cat- 

 tle that they ought to have, in the present unim- 

 proved condition of their farms. The quantity of 

 food that now on some flirms barely keeps alive 

 twenty head of cattle, would keep ten fat. Dean 

 Swifl remarked of his countrymen, the Irish, that 

 their pride preferred two poor cows to one fat one, 

 with half the quantity of milk. The remark ap- 

 plies with a good deal of aptness to Virginia far- 

 ni'^rs. 



The reason I have not recommended a clover lay 

 as a substitute for a voluntary crop of vegetation, 

 is the known incapacity of a great portion of our 

 lands to produce red clover ; but as soon as proper 

 rest increases its fertility sufficiently to produce 

 clover, we would recommend it as a more fertili- 

 zing growth. A considerable portion of the lands 



