FARMERS' REGISTER— PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE. 



631 



plans for improvement, and methods of cultiva- 

 tion are inapplicable to our situation— but the 

 grand features of our systems are alike, and espe- 

 cially the abominable errors which, like original 

 sin, are handed down from fatiier to son among us, 

 I see also disgrace and impoverish the i'armers of 

 your part of the state. 1 had, in my ignorance, 

 thought that we " planters" were the only people 

 who wore their land out with a rapid succession of 

 crops, and then put them under the hoof for reco- 

 very : but I find that I am mistaken, and that other 

 parts of the glorious Old Dominion exhibit simi- 

 lar proofs of agricultural philosophy. I am both 

 " a young" planter " and a bad" planter, and 

 therefore read with self- application the article in 

 your last number, " On Draining," and deter- 

 mined to adopt some of its suggestions, though I 

 could not approve in toto of all the sentiments ad- 

 vanced in it. 



SUBSTITUTE FOR HOPS. 



Prince Edward Co. Jan. I4th, 1834. 



* * * Such a work cannot fail in being ex- 

 tensively circulated and universally read; nor can 

 it fail in correcting the rude and butchering man- 

 ner of farming almost universally pursued in this 

 section of Virginia. I was iiighly delighted in 

 finding so much in the Register calculated to in- 

 terest ladies. My wife remarked the other day, 

 that she had got fully the worth of the subscription 

 already. I trust you will, in every number, have 

 an eye to that; and as I have lately become ac- 

 quainted with a fact which may be convenient to 

 them at some period, i will briefly mention it 

 on this occasion, and if it be indeed new to 

 you, (as it is to me,) you can use it for the in- 

 terest and instruction of the ladies, if you see 

 cause. It is the substituting the Life Everlastino- 

 (the botanical name I do not know,) for hops, in 

 making yest. 



The yest is made of the dried leaves and flowers 

 just as yest is made of the hop, and used in the 

 same way. I am informed by those who have 

 used it lor some time, that bread is not as apt to 

 become sour, and the flavor is finer than the hop 

 bread. I have no doubt its qualities would he 

 greatly improved if it were cultivated, and the 

 leaves and flowers gathered as soon as they were 

 ripe, and dried in the shade. 



SILKWORMS. 



Philadelphia, Jan. 21, 1834. 



The art of raising silkworms is not so difficuU 

 as people imagine. It may be reduced to a few 

 rules. Give the worms a sufficiency of air, spare 

 of food, and above all things, keep them clean and 

 dry ; dirt and damj)ness are death to them. This 

 is the whole art, with a few little matters that 

 experience teaches. As to the mulberry, any one 

 can raise it who can raise an apjtle or a pear tree. 

 The writers on these subjects are too fond of dis- 

 playing their knowledge, and raising trifles into 

 things of importance. The simplest treatise, 1 

 think, is the best. 



I have before me a little Italian manuel, in 

 which I find what follows, with which I shall con- 

 clude this letter: "The poor countrv people who 

 often deprive themselves of their only chamber, 

 in order to raise their silkworms, must rest con- 

 tented with what they have. It sometimes hap- 



pens, however, that they succeed better than those 

 who have the best accommodations." 



Prince Edward, Jan 2lst, 1834. 



I have just learned that stone plaster has been 

 ploughed up in Amelia in the neighborhood of the 

 Stoney Point Mills. I forget the name of the 

 owner oi the farm. I had a small specimen which 

 I gave yesterday to my friend thr you. 



I was told at our court yesterday, by a fentle- 

 man of high respectability, (Dr. Paul C.Vena- 

 b!e,) that a great deal of hay is made in Halifax 

 county, of the volunteer gama grass which "-rows 

 on the sandy low grounds of Dan river ; and that 

 towards the heads of the river, large meadows are 

 raised of it, under the name of the big fox-tail 

 grass. 



GRAZING FARMS IN THE VALLEY OF VA, 



Rockbridge, Va. Jan. 24th, 1834. 



Being no farmer myself, I know no wav in 

 which I can promote the farming interest so ef- 

 fectually in this region, so highly favored by na- 

 ture as a farming country, as by the circulation of 

 your Register. 



In the Valley below us, the farmers are pursu- 

 ing a system of farming which I am anxious should 

 be tried in this county. I allude to the wheat 

 and stock raising, in connexion ; buying three and 

 liiur year old steers in the fall ; feeding them du- 

 ring the winter on wheat straw alone; and in tlie 

 summer, grazing in clover fields until midsum- 

 mer, when they dispose of them at a profit of tea 

 to twelve dollars per head. If you could prevail 

 on some of those gentlemen who are pursuing it 

 to prejKire f()r the Register a i^articular account of 

 their system, it would be valuable information to 

 your subscribers in this quarter. 



* * I wish you would call on your correspon- 

 dent " Marcus Porcus Brutus," for a description 

 of the styes which he thinks should be used in rais- 

 ing hogs. 



Albemarle. 

 Apropos of lime and marl — your book on caf- 

 careous manures, or rather calcareous earths as 

 manures, has pleased me very much, and has rec- 

 tified and fixed in my mind, certain va"-ue ideas 

 which I entertained, as a theory, on the manurino- 

 of land with lime, the efficiency of which I have 

 fully demonstrated by practice. I happened to buy 



certain land, formerly in the possession of - 



about eight hundred acres in quantity, and so ex- 

 tremely poor, that a great many persons thought 

 me an egreji,ious blockhead to have given so much 

 as three dollars and seventy five cents an acre for 

 it. However, as a vein of lime stone runs through 

 the whole of it, I, undismayed, began quarrying 

 rock, burning lime, and throwing it on the land, to 

 my heart's content. Now, after having pursued 

 my plan for these five years, every field exhibits 

 the appearance of rich bottom land, by the luxu- 

 liancy of the clo\ er, oats, wheat, and even corn 

 that grow on it. This improvement has indeed 

 been expensive, f;)r 1 have as yet made but small 

 crops, as all my force was directed to one object 

 viz: that of raising clover in the first place; but 

 I am afraid you will tliink me a proser, and I'here- 

 fbre I shall conclude by assuring you of the high 

 regard with which I remain your- humble servant. 



