6S<5 



FARMERS' REGISTER— REPORT OF SEASONS AND CROPS. 



eleven and twelve tons. The expense of leading 

 and mixing, where lime is so cheap, operates to 

 prevent the farmers prollting by it. It has, liow- 

 ever, been tried with succe?s by several persons. 

 Tiiere is a considerable difference in the quality of 

 schistus ; that which has the greatest proportion of 

 argillaceous earth is the best. 



I have understood that schistus has Keen export- 

 ed from Fifeshire as manure; though I am not in- 

 formed to what part it is sent. 



There are two fields under wheat at tlie present 

 moment, which are extremely promising ; these 

 Avere almost entirely covered with schistus. After 

 ploughing, they were limed with forty Winches- 

 ters per acre. 



I am told that one of the crops has been sold for 

 £ 14 the statute acre. 



[The following comm\inicalions were sent to be pub- 

 lished in the last No.; but tlie bundle in which these and 

 several other of the foregoing pieces were enclosed, was 

 mislaid, and was not received by the publisher until re- 

 cently.] 



AGRICULTURAL INTELLIGENCE — REPORT OF 

 SEASONS, CROPSj &C. 



To Ihe Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



Charlotte Co. Va. Dec. 22, 1834. 

 You request in your last No. that the readers of 

 the Register will furnish concise accounts of tlie 

 state of the crops, seasons, estimated products of 

 the crops secured, &c. I take ydeasure in giving 

 you such an account as my inquiries and observa- 

 tion enables me to furnish. My remarks are in- 

 tended to be ap})licable only to a district of coun- 

 try bordering on Staunton river, betv/een the 

 mouth of Falling river in Campbell, and Little 

 Roanoke in Charlotte, and extending out into Ha- 

 lifax and Charlotte, about twenty miles on each 

 side of Staunton river. The tobacco crop in this 

 district is generally much shorter than usual ; the 

 quality of the tobacco that grew on Branch and 

 Creek flats is fine ; butow ing to the severe drought 

 of the last summer, the highland tobacco is liglit 

 and generally destitute of oil. The tobacco that 

 grew immediately on Staunton river did not gene- 

 rally come to its usual perfection owing to a high 

 freshet in that river which occurred about planting 

 time, and which left the lowlands in such a condi- 

 tion as caused a delay in planting much beyond 

 the usual time, (I will here record a fiict that may 

 be useful to the readers of the Register at a future 

 day.) The corn and tobacco that was replanteti 

 immediately after the waters subsided, without 

 waiting for the land to dry, turned out much the 

 best, particularly where the land was sandy. 



The corn crop in the section of country alluded 

 to, owing to the excessive rains in the early part 

 of the year, the freshets, and subsequent drought, 

 is unusually short, and is now selling for four and 

 five dollars per barrel. The short corn crop ex- 

 tended as far as Clarksville down the river. Our 

 "wheat crop, which is now becoming an object with 

 us, and which has increased for several years back, 

 promises badly — owing to the freshet in the river, 

 which damaged the seed wheat, and the cold fall, 

 wheat has come up badly, and looks drooping. 

 Respectfully yours, 



GEO. W. READ. 



SEASON AND CROPS ON THE LOWER ROANOKE. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



Scotland Neck, Halifax Co. N. C. 



You desire your corres{)ondents to report the 

 seasons and state of crops in their neighborhood : 

 in compliance with that request, I make the fol- 

 lowing report. 



It was very wet here until June, and afterwards 

 uncommonly dry. Our crops of corn on the 

 Roanoke are unusually short, for fifteen or twenty 

 miles above and below this place. Near Halifax 

 and above, I understand they are somewhat bet- 

 ter ; below, as far as Plymouth, I understand they 

 are about the same as in this neighborhood. The 

 upland crops of corn w^ere very much injured by 

 heavy rains in April and May, and by the drought 

 in July and August. About the last of May, we 

 had a very high freshet in the Roanoke, which de- 

 stroyed all sorts of crops on the low grounds : 

 most of the land was again planted in corn, but 

 owing to the severe drought, very little was made. 

 Usually, I understand, there is shipped from the 

 Roanoke from forty to fifty thousand barrels of 

 corn. If the farmers use as much as usual, there 

 will be none to ship this year. 



Our cotton crops are over an average in quan- 

 tity — the quality better than usual. Corn and 

 cotton are our jirincipal crops. Let me recom- 

 mend to the readers of your valuable paper a prac- 

 tice pursued by most of our best formers on the 

 Roanoke, which I have never seen published in 

 any agricultural work : I recommend it with con- 

 fidence, as I have often experienced its good effects. 

 If a freshet comes as late as May, or last of April, 

 we soak our seed corn until it nearly sprouts, and 

 as soon as tiie water leaves the earth, if the sign of 

 the old hill can be seen, Ave drop the corn and co- 

 ver it very shallow — the less earth you put on it 

 the better, provided the corn is covered ; if the old 

 hill or check cannot be seen, we mark the land off 

 again very shallow (o prevent the water settling in 

 the furrow. The coi'n will be up and growing in two 

 or three days ; and before the egg of what we call 

 the " colewort worm," that is so destructive to 

 young corn, can hatch and get of any size, the 

 corn is too large for them to injure it. We then 

 wait until the earth gets in a proper situation, and 

 plough it as close as possible. Land covered by 

 freshets, does not get hard as soon as when wet 

 with a heavy rain. This method of planting will 

 not answer in cool weather. There is a great deal 

 of other land, besides the low grounds, infested' 

 with bugs of different kinds, that destroy the young 

 corn. The method I pursue on such lands, is to 

 plant it very early, in the usual way, if the earth 

 is sufficiently dry : if not, I plough the land, and 

 let it lie until warm weather and a good season 

 come. I then immediately plough the land over 

 again, soak my corn as above, and plant — (the 

 sooner after ploughing the second tmie the better) 

 and cover the usual depth. The way I account 

 for the good effect in planting as above on the low 

 grounds after a freshet is, that it has drowned all 

 the bugs that were hatched, and before the other 

 eggs can hatch, and the bugs get large enough to 

 do any injury, the corn is too large to be hurt by 

 them. In other lands not covered with water, if 

 planted early, there has not been sufficient warmth 

 to hatch the worms. In the latter, plantingas above^ 

 the second ploughing covers them so deep, that if 



