FARMERS' REGISTER— VALLEY OF THE KANAWHA. 



625 



of middle Virginia have grown up in what is call- 

 ed broom straw : land in this condition we do not 

 believe would be improved by rest. The broom 

 straw draws most of its nourishment from tlie 

 earth, and its substance evaporates before it falls, 

 and its return is very meagre. All such lands 

 should therefore be ploughed up and cultivated, 

 and suffered to rest without grazing^^for as for as 

 our observation extends, the broom sedge is pro- 

 duced principally by grazing. 



In conclusion, I will give a short abstract of the 

 manner in which I believe a plantation or farm 

 should be laid off and cultivated. I do it however 

 with great diffidence, inasmuch as my views are 

 not so fully confirmed by experience as I would 

 w ish ; but, as far as my observation and experi- 

 ence has extended, the remarks in the sequel are 

 strictly true, and I have asserted but little from in- 

 ference or conjecture. 



Let us suppose the plantation to be cultivated to 

 consist of four hundred acres of cleared land. 

 Such a plantation, if in tolerable heart, would em- 

 ploy ten laboiers. The planter's first object would 

 be to enclose the four hundred acres under one 

 fence, and then to select about eigiity acres of the 

 most hilly land lying in a body lor a standing pas- 

 ture, which he would separate by a good lence 

 from the remaining tiiree hundred and twenty. 

 He should then divide the three hundred and twen- 

 ty acres into four equal parts, each containing 

 eighty acres. These divisions would require no 

 additional fencing. The average tol>acco crop is 

 sup[)osed to be about eight thousand to the hand : 

 with ten hands, twenty acres would therefore be 

 the yearly crop, counting four thousand hills to the 

 acre. The next object of the planter should there- 

 fore be to lay off twenty acres from each of the 

 eighty acre divisions for a four shift rotation for to- 

 bacco. The remaining sixty acres in each of the 

 eighty acre divisions would serve for a four shift 

 system for corn. Ten hands cultivating ten thou- 

 sand corn hills per hand, five feet apart, would to- 

 gether cultivate sixty acres. My ideas would be 

 more intelligible by referring to the following 

 plan. 



produced by annually sowing down a corn shift 

 the year that it is cultivated. One of the most 

 important items in the system that we recommend 

 is, that the planter should immediately go about 

 setting the whole of his standing pasture in grass; 

 and this must be effected by yearly lopping off a 

 part of the eighty acres appropriated for that pur- 

 pose, enclosing it, and sowing it down in herds, 

 green sward, or orchard grass, until a sufficient 

 number of acres are set in grass to su{)port his 

 stock : tlie residue of the eighty acres might then 

 be converted into arable land, or the whole put in 

 grass, and a much larger stock supported ; for 

 twenty acres of land well set in grass will support 

 a sufficient number of cattle and horses for a plan- 

 tation of the above description. There need be no 

 fear that tlie tobacco lots will not be rich enough 

 on the four field system ; if they are well clover- 

 ed, they will rapidly improve under such culture. 



PI.ANTER. 



Charlotte County, Dec. 19/A, 1833. 



EGGS OF THE SILK WORM. 



From the New York Farmer. 



On opening a cocoon carefully takings off the 

 shell of the chrysalis, the miller or perfect insect is 

 exhibited entire. The inside of the miller appears 

 to be composed wholly of eggs, without the least 

 appearance of any other parts or members. It re- 

 quires leisure and patience to ascertain the num- 

 ber of eggs in a single insect — a little more than 

 we possess. Assigning the undertaking, there- 

 fore, to one of the fair sex, who sometimes to say 

 the least, possess the above requisites, we found the 

 number to be about three hundred. 



A FAT HOG. 



From the Nantucket Inquirer. 

 A porker was raised in this town during the past 

 season, touching which •rt'c have the following par- 

 ticulars : weight, March 25th, 75 pounds; weight, 

 December 16th, 470 pounds ; — increase in 267 

 days, 295 pounds — or 23^ ounces per day. Ave- 

 rage of corn consumed per day, 4^^ pints. 



The system of fallowing for wheat, it is well 

 known, is impracticable on a tobacco plantation ; 

 a profitable wheat crop however might always be 



A DESCRIPTION OF THE VALLEY OF THE 

 KANAWHA, BY A LOW LANDER, IN A LET- 

 TER TO A FRIEND. 



From the Richmond Compiler. 

 3Iy Dear Sir, — You have often visited the 

 mountain region of Virginia, and tasted of its va- 

 rious and unrivalled mineral waters. You have 

 mingled with the fashionable throng at the White 

 Sulphur, — regaled your palate upon the fineveni- 

 sion and other dainties of the forest, and bathed in 

 the delicious fountain of the Warm Springs. You 

 have never, I believe, however, extended your 

 journey as far west as the Valley of Kanawha. 

 The great state road which commences at Coving- 

 ton, and secures you a safe passage to Lewisburg, 

 passing the gigantic Alleghanies at a grade which 

 is almost level, — pursues its winding, yet steady 

 course over ranges of lofty mountains, and through 

 wild and hitherto unbroken depths of wilderness 

 and shade. Now and then it courses along the 

 margin of some rock)' and stupendous precipice, 

 often several hundred if not a thousand feet in 

 depth, — and as the mail coach drawn by four 

 spirited steeds, whirls you along the perilous cliff, — 

 you feel an involuntary shuddering at the slender 

 barrier which separates you from eternity. The 



