FARMERS' REGISTER— CHEAT FROM WHEAT— PUBLIC WORKS, &c. 535 



country, we see large depasites of marl, ready to 

 be scattered oa the soil, wliere a short time a<ro it 

 was not known to exist, and it is now a very s^ene- 

 ral inquiry, have you mar! on your land? In the 

 county of Middlesex, where agriculture has for a 

 long time been at a low ebb, but is now rapidly 

 improving, the most abundant supplies of marl are 

 to be found, most conveniently located, and of ex- 

 cellent quality ; and many of the citizens are now 

 using it extensively, as the certain means of 

 improving the soil. One gentleman, Mr. V/m. 

 Jessie, marls annually an hundred acres, and is ra- 

 pidly resuscitating an impoverished and worn out 

 farm. And to show you the estimation in which 

 marl is held, I will mention the case of Mr. Dor- 

 mer Oaks, who lately purchased several hundred 

 acres of poor land in Middlesex, for the value of 

 its marl alone. He is shipping it to Maryland, 

 where he meets with a ready sale under contract. 

 Returning from Baltimore a few weeks since, he 

 informed me that he had just received several hun- 

 dred dollars from one gentleman for marl, at 

 twelve cents per bushel. Mr. Oaks' marl contains 

 about eighty parts in the hundred of carbonate of 

 lime, is about a mile and a half from the water, 

 and inexhaustible in quantity. He thinks, with 

 the facilities of a railway, it would become a 

 most profitable article of commerce, and talks of 

 applying to the legislature for an act of incorpora- 

 tion. Should he succeed, he contemplates making 

 a railway from his marl pits to the river. It is 

 to be hoped, that this gentleman's enterprise and 

 industry, will be amply rewarded; and that the 

 legislature will be as ready to incorporate a com- 

 pany to dig for marl, as for coal or gold. If bones 

 can be carried from the field of Waterloo to Eng- 

 land, to be ground for manure, and plaster of Pa- 

 ris be brought to the United Stales from France, 

 for the same purpose, why may not marl also be- 

 come a valuable article of commerce.^ 



Respectfully yours, wax. h. roy. 



Green Plains, December 27th, 1833. 



by the place every day, and often several times in 

 a day. I recollect to have examined, and saw the 

 grains of wheat sprouted, and rising as thick as 

 they could stand. The following summer, there 

 was an abundance of cheat, and not one head of 

 wheat. 



CHEAT FROM ^VHEAT. 



[The following memorandum was found among the 

 papers of the late Richard K. Meade of Brunswick, 

 who was "an experienced farmer, and a close observer 

 of every thing relative to agriculture." The memoran- 

 dum is extracted from a rough draft (in the hand writ- 

 ing of Mr. M.,) of a letter intended for publication, but 

 which probably was prevented by his death. Our 

 opinion on this much contested point has already been 

 stated to be against the transmutation doctrine : never- 

 theless, the opinions of others, whether adverse or con- 

 forming to our own, and on every other subject as well 

 as this, will be received with equal favor in the Far- 

 mers' Register.] 



Cheat or Chess I believe to be degenera- 

 ted wheat — for this reason, among many others. 

 Many years ago, when I had never discovered any 

 cheat in my crops of wheat, a parcel of sheaves ol 

 wheat, when hauling from the field, fell from tlic 

 cart into an old ditch, the bottom and sides of 

 which were rich, and well set with grass and 

 weeds. Of course, after taking up the sheaves, an 

 abundance of shattered grains were left, which 

 vegetated, and were not disturbed by fowls, or 

 stock of any kind, whicli I had a fair opportunity 

 of observing througliout all its growth, as I passed 



THE POLICY OF VIRGIXrA IN REGARD TO RI- 

 VAL PUBLIC VVOUKS, AND PARTICULARLY 

 THE RAILROADS FROM THE ROANOKE. 



To tlie Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



Moo)-' s Mount, Caroline County, Decfmher \Slh, 1S33. 



In transmitting to you my year's subscription, 

 (which would not have been so long delayed, but for 

 a misapprehension) I conclude to accompany the 

 apology and cash, with some reflections occasioned 

 by Mr. Jas. C. Bruce's communication on hori- 

 zontal trenching, and your's upon the management 

 of the corn crop. But before I enter upon them, 

 I f(3el it to be but justice, in making this first com- 

 munication to express my entire satisfaction of the 

 high character your most useful Register has at- 

 tained, and the flattering prospect of an extension 

 of its circulation, which promises its continuance 

 with some remuneration for your patriotic exer- 

 tions in the cause of improvement. I assure you, 

 I shall not abate in my zeal to increase your sub- 

 scription list, as I am persuaded, every farmer who 

 can read, would find it to his interest to take the 

 work ; and therefore, I hold it to be an act of bene- 

 volence to urge my neighbors to subscribe. Yet 

 I am sorry to find that as yet, hut few can be 

 brought to innovate upon their old routine of Bible 

 and newspaper reading, which is the extent of 

 most Virginia farmer's studies, who read at all; 

 while the non-reading majority are of course ut- 

 terly dead to any influence in iavor of your work. 



I am aware that these remarks must be regard- 

 ed as any thing rather, than complimentory to my 

 native state, sometimes rather boasfingly I fear, 

 designated by us, as the " ancient and renowned 

 commonwealth" — a severe criticism upon the lite- 

 rary character of that most useful class of her 

 citizens, w hich in all countries comprises the bone 

 and sinew of a nation, if not the elite of its intelli- 

 gence. But believing them to be just, my amor pa-, 

 tricB will not suffer me to blink an expression of 

 them upon any appropriate occasion. I think, 

 however, that we could hardly have a right to ex- 

 pect a different result, from our miseralile system, 

 or rather want of any system of public education. 



I find myself digressing info reflections upon a 

 most prolific subject, and losing sight of that upon 

 which I designed a passing notice at this time, and 

 which is rather more appropriate for your Regis-- 

 ter. 



Your correspondent from Halifax, incidentally 

 adverting to improved facilities for transporting 

 the products of the Roanoke country to market, 

 fondly anticipates a great increase when the Ports- 

 mouth railroad to Weldon shall be finished : infer- 

 ring that with the two railroads, his country will 

 become more a wheat than tobacco growing coun- 

 try. 



Now I am inclined to think, that your corres- 

 pondent (in whose judgment I have great confi- 

 dence, if free from bias,) has without due conside- 

 ration adopted the conclusion, that the trade of the 

 Roanoke valley, and adjacent country even, with 

 the southern travel, and a good portion of the 

 trade of some neighboi-ing counties of North Caro- 



