644 



FARMERS' REGISTER— LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES. 



in corn and oats, than in tobacco and wheat. I 

 have made the experiment, I thinli fairly, and am 

 therefore justifiable in making the assertion. It 

 is true, that the soil on those streams is very rich, 

 yet the different strata are very })orous, and com- 

 posed of much sand, often called, and very correct- 

 ly too, the " washing of the hill sides." 



Attending the tobacco crop, tliere are too many 

 injuries for me ever to think of cultivating it again 

 on lowgrounds. It is more sul>ject to injury th.ui 

 higli land. In wet weather, it is mora apt to spot. 

 In very dry weather, the scorcliing sun will barn 

 its leaves, unless it is cut green ; and it not unfi'e- 

 quently happens, that a freshet (like a hurricane) 

 comes and sweeps it all away; if not, it leaves a 

 muddy glue on the leaves of the tobacco, which 

 will ever defy the skill and industry of the facto- 

 ries to make clean. Added to this, I may say, 

 provided the year is suitable to its gx'owing, tiie 

 tobacco generally becomes too large and coarse, to 

 bring high prices. 



My objections to the wheat crop on this kind of 

 land, may be very readily made. The land in the 

 first place, is generally too light. The exuberant 

 weeds and grass Avhich come forth after " laying 

 by" the corn, renders it almost impossible without 

 double labor, to get the corn off, and fallow in beds, 

 before it will be too late in the year to seed wheat. 

 Unless it is seeded early, and put in pretty deep, it 

 is almost certain to be seriously injured, if the win- 

 ter is either very wet, or very cold. I have al^o 

 discovered, that the wheat is much more subject to 

 the disease called the rust, than on high land. 



To corn and oats, this kind of land seems parti- 

 cularly well adapted. I seeded eighteen bushels 

 of oats, in 1832, on a piece of lowground, which 

 was the preceding year, (1831,) in fifty thousand 

 tobacco hills ; or more learnedly s])eaking, from ten 

 to twelve acres. It made me ten slacks about the 

 same size each. Three of the stacks, I cleaned out 

 for seed. They measured about one hundred and 

 twenty bushels; making from the eighteen, about 

 four hundred bushels. Of the oat crop, I am par- 

 ticularly fond, more especially when there is a 

 prospect of corn selling high, the ensuing summer. 

 From necessity, 1 have very satisfactorily learned, 

 that it is an excellent substitute for both corn and 

 fodder, in feeding to horses, even working horses. 

 Since I have quit making tobacco on lowland, [ 

 have been no corn buyer. Since I have flillen out so 

 nmch with the tol)acco and wheat crop on this kind 

 of ground, it may be asked, have I abandoned in tuto 

 the making them.'' I answer no. I am making- 

 more, and of better quality. All of the manure, I 

 can raise from my stables, corn stalks, &c. 

 is carried to my two lots, whicli are enlarged, or 

 diminished, according to the quantity of manure 1 

 can raise. They are made rich, and are alternately 

 put in tobacco and wheat. In the month of Au- 

 gust, and the early part of September, I fallov,- 

 high ground to add to my tobacco lot, for wheat; 

 by which I can always have enough wheat land 

 for my hands. 



Too much care and attention, for the farmer's 

 interest, cannot be paid to such land as has under- 

 gone the system of draining. All those who have 

 paid much attention to tlitching, and have had 

 nuich of it done, very well know the great expense 

 necessarily incurred ; and unless there is a sufficient 

 fall, it is perfectly useless to attempt it, to any great 

 extent. The little draining ditches are also indis- 



pensably necessary ; otherwise the land will always 

 be too much "sobbed" (or saturated with water) 

 particularly in the winter season, and early in the 

 spring, when the plough should be preparing it for 

 the expected crop. Land ploughed in such a state 

 never produces enougli to < ompt nsate for half the 

 trouble and experise of cultivation. The clods thus 

 turned up by the plough in Marcli and April, soon 

 become of a consistence, (comparatively speaking) 

 as hard as brick l^ats, which roll to and fro during 

 the whole ploughing process, making the horses 

 stumble and the |)loughmen limp. But to the point. 

 Our ditclies should be watched with a parentis care. 

 The banks should be kept clean of weeds, briers, &c. 

 This can be very easily done, by planting pump- 

 kin seed on their sides. Not as much work is re- 

 quired to make this valuable vegetable, as there is 

 time and labor necessary in gathering and hauling 

 them home. This kind of ground produces them in 

 great abundance. The benefit that milch cows and 

 hogs receive from them, need no description from 

 me. I understand horses can be made very fond 

 of them. I have no doubt of it, although I have 

 never tried them for horses. 



Every olistruction that is tlirown in our ditches, 

 the larger ones in particular, should be removed 

 without delay; otherwise j-ay/.s will form therein, 

 obstructing the free passage of water ; thereby 

 filling up the ditches, and causing an overflowing 

 and breaking of their banks, every freshet. Over- 

 seers and negroes would as soon make a raft, as to 

 lake one away ; therefore, it is the bounden duty of 

 the master, io visit his ditches soon after much rain. 

 I may have said more about lowgrounds and ditch- 

 es, than many may think necessary ; but the dis- 

 tant reader is informed, and well assured, that this 

 section of Virginia re^H/rcs, that all of her creeks, 

 branches, marshes and quagmires, should be ditch- 

 ed and drained, and the land thereon, and therein, 

 made arable; if not, the deep red gullies, and the 

 barren fields, which our forefathers left us as a 

 legacy, will most assuredly, either make us real 

 paupers, or deserters of our native state. For the 

 red gullies, we have a remedy. For the worn out 

 fields, we have a specific. Doctor Farmers' Re- 

 gister, will prove a good physician. We should 

 theorize with him of nights, and practice on our 

 larms in the day. Industry, untiring perseverance 

 and good judgment, are necessary auxiliaries. We 

 should rise in the morning on industry, travel 

 through the day with steadiness, prudence and per- 

 severance, and sleep at night on sobriety and a 

 goodly portion of judgment. ■ 



p. W. HARPER, 



Greenfield, Nottoivay County, } 

 February 20th, 1834. 5 



MISCHIEF ARISING FROai THE SPARKS OP LO- 

 COMOTIVE ENGINES. 



It appears, from the December number of the 

 Journal of the Franklin Institute, that Mr. James 

 P. Espy, of Philadelphia, has obtained a patent for 

 an improvement in the chimney cap, for increasing 

 the draft in the furnaces*of steamboats and locomo- 

 tive engines, which, upon trial, has proved entirely 

 effective. Mr. William Knight, civil engineer, 

 asserts, " that it completely answers the purpose of 

 stopping the sparks, without diminishing the draft. 



It maybe hoped, therefore, that every steam en- 

 gine in use, within the United States, will be imme- 

 diately furnished with one of these caps. 



