610 



FARMERS' REGISTER— TO CORRESPONDENTS, &c. 



pected that careful and accurate experiments will be 

 made, and that such reports will be made to the Far- 

 mers' Register next autumn, aswill leave no ground for 

 doubts as to the proper value of this grass. 



A friend and highly esteemed correspondent, alluding 

 in a private letter to such -contradictions, (in various 

 matters,) says, " though I am as willing as any body 

 to believe what .1 wish to be true, these contradictory 

 statements make me much of a skeptic in regard to 

 every thing I either hear or read ; and I am confident 

 they have the same — perhaps, a greater effect — upon 

 other people. The inevitable consequence is, to aggra- 

 vate the senseless prejudices against what is called 

 'book farming,' which prejudices it is the duty of all 

 the real friends of husbandry to counteract." 



We are well av.'are that the many contradictory and 

 erroneous opinions which are presented in agricultural 

 journals, furnish a subject for ridicule, and cause many 

 to decry these, periodicals. We deny, altogether, that 

 such censure is well founded — and maintain, that a 

 journal of this kind would be faulty, and wanting in 

 usefulness, if itdid not exhibit the contradictions in opi- 

 nion that exist, however false one side (or perhaps both) 

 may be. If there were no such publications, these 

 discordant opinions would not the less exist — and for 

 want of the means for communicating and comp ring 

 them, the most erroneous might be received, and acted 

 upon, for a century. An agricultural journal does not 

 create, but simply makes known such conti-adictory 

 opinions and statements — and by making them known, 

 and inducing discussion and experiment, serves, soon or 

 late, to disj3el errors, and establish truth. Even if the 

 editor of an agricultural journal was so highly gifted as 

 to know which opinions were false in all such controver- 

 sies, he would not, by retusing them publicity, aid either 

 the establishment of truth, or the extension of correct 

 agricultural practice. And if he presumed to make the 

 attempt, with no better powers of discrimination than 

 we possess, the true opinion would often be excluded 

 for the false. Provided therefore that false statements 

 are not intentionally made, a periodical like the Far- 

 mers' Register will best attain its object by drawing 

 forth all opinions that have extensive influence and ope- 

 ration, however contradictory they may appear. 



TO CORRKSPONDENTS AND SUBSCRIBERS. 



The Urst article signed " Smeaton," and several oth- 

 ers which appear in this number, would have been pre- 

 sented in No. 9, but for the miscarriage and temporary 

 loss of a package containing them, when transmitted to 

 the publisher. 



The several communications on the culture and ma- 

 nagement of tobacco with which this number is enrich- 

 ed, will go far to remove the impression that the Far- 

 mers' Register is not suited to the cultivators of the 

 Middle region of Virginia. If some of the farmers and 

 graziers of the mountains will follow the example of 

 the tobacco planters, they will in like manner make our 

 work serve their purposes, and supply their peculiar 

 wants. There are many and increasing indications 

 however, that the general usefulness of this publication 

 is becoming more known, and that opinion is acted on 

 in other states, as well as in the more remote parts of 

 "Virginia. A number of extra copies of this number 



will be published, and may be bought separately at 50 

 cents each, or twelve copies for $5, paid in advance. 



Correspondents are respectfully requested to send 

 their communications in plain and legible writing. From 

 inattention to this humble, but important requisite, per- 

 plexity, and trouble, and expense are often incurred, 

 and yet without our being able always to render justice 

 to the writers. It is not that we want beautiful manu- 

 scripts, nor even very fair copies ; but merely ask what 

 is legible and plain, however many may be the erasures 

 and alterations. The most practised writers, and often 

 the most capable pensmen, are generally those of whom 

 printers have most to complain. 



When payments for subscriptions are sent by letter, 

 it is desirable that the county, or town, in which the 

 subscriber resides,, should be named. 



It is intended to furnish, at the close of the volume, a 

 sujDplementary sheet containing a full list of our sub- 

 scribers, with the counties and states in which they re- 

 side. To make the list perfect, it is desired that any 

 existing errors in the directions to subscribers may be 

 corrected. IVlany such errors have been made by hasty 

 and illegible entries of names in the letters of our sub- 

 scribers, or their agents. 



COMJIUNICATIONS RECEIVED TOO LATE FOR 

 NO. 10. 



Concise Directions for the Cultivation and Management 

 of Tobacco — On Draining and Cultivating Loivgronnds — 

 On the JMamtfactxtre of Potash — Jl Buckingham Farmer — 

 On the J^ecessity and Means for Legislative ^id to ^gri' 

 culture — A poetical piece has been received, which we 

 have not published, because its appearance in the Far- 

 mers' Register might furnish ground for misconstruction. 

 The manuscript will be held subject to the order of its 

 author, as his address is not known. 



CONTENTS OF PAIIMERS' REGI.STKR KO.XO. 



ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIOKS. 



On Surface Draining, and Cultivation of Coin, page 57S — To» 

 bacco Culture, No. I. 579 — Blue Grass, 580 — Specimens of Cal- 

 careous Manures, oSl — Culture of Cotton, and the Rot, 581 — Ex- 

 tracts from an Arabic Work on Agriculture, (continued) 583 — A 

 Farmers Directory Suggested, 5S4 — Buckwheat as Green Ma- 

 nure, 584 — On the Improvement of Lands in the Central Region 

 of Virginia, 5S5 — Chemical Analysis of Sliells, 589 — Manage, 

 nieiit of Hogs ; Beets, 595 — A Few Hints to Tobacco Growers, 

 603— Geological Essay, No. 111. 605 — Progress of Improvement 

 by Marline^ GOG— Grafting Fruit Trees, 607— Remarks, &c. on 

 Tobacco Culture, 608 — Plain Directions for Analyzing Marl, &c. 

 609 — Vigorous Growth of Gama Grass in Dinwiddie, 610 — Im. 

 portntion of Horses and Cattle, 611 — Remarkable Tree, 612 — 

 Legislation and Agriculture in Virginia, 613— Calcareous Depo. 

 sites jn North Carolina, 614 — Enquiry; Planting Corn, 615 — 

 Shuck Mattresses, GIG — Commercial Report, G17 — " Fanners' 

 Register," 619— Cheat, 619 — Virginia and North Carolina Rail 

 Roads, 620— Terrc Houille, 6i3— Mineral Manures, 0-29— Coal 

 Ashes, 630 — Private Correspondence, 630 — Management of To- 

 bacco, 63-i — The Fence Law of Virginia, 6:i3 — Extract on Schis- 

 tus, 665 — Reports of Seasons and Crops, 636 — Diary of the Wea- 

 ther, 637 — Cheat and Spelt from Wheat, 638— Cure for the Bot3 

 or Grubs in Horses, 639 — The Season for Cutting Down Wood- 

 laud, 639 — Qania Grass, &c. 639— To Correspondents and Sub. 

 scnbers, 640 — Communications Deferred, 040, 



SELECTIOP.S. 



High Priced Land, 57S— Cold Weather in New Orleans, 5S-3— 

 Public Works proposed for North Carolina, 591 — Agricultural 

 Enterprize, 596 — Obsatcles to the Diffusion of Agricultural Sci- 

 ence, 597 — Fanning in Massachusetts, 597 — Largest Tree in the 

 World, 593 — Culture of Barley, 593 — A Crop of "Corn in Colum- 

 bia Countv, 599 — The Home Market for Agricultiu-e created by 

 Protecting Duties, 599 — Broom Corn, 600— Method of Making 

 Saltpetre, 601— Arabian Horses, G02— Training Oxen to Back, 

 603— Canal Boats, 603— The Teasel, 619— Native Cowk, 619— 

 Steam rioughs, 630— Jerusalem Artichokes, 039. 



