178 



THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



fifteen, if rightly cultivated. A new impulse, 

 however, has been infused into many minils. 

 Agricultural papers are sent for — compost heaps 

 are gathered— lime, plaster, and ashes are intro- 

 duced, and a spirit of inquiry is abroad in the 

 land. But experiments will be combatted by ig- 

 norance and prejudice, and many years will 

 elapse before their fields will be divided into 

 " convenient lots," — their fodder housed, their 

 cattle stocked, and their manure saved. But the 

 conviction that they are in error, is a great jjoint 

 gained, and we cannot but hope that, eventually, 

 it will embrace and correct the most prejudiced 

 minds. 



In another part of the state which 1 have more 

 recently visited, Fairfax county, the same spirit 

 of inquiry, and desire for improvement is mani- 

 fested. Recently, a number of individuals, prac- 

 tical fartners, from the state of New York, have 

 purchased large tracts of the worn-out lands in 

 the vicinity of the court-house, and have com- 

 menced a system of operations which has at once 

 awakened the surrounding husbandmen to new 

 efforts, and enhanced the price of land. They 

 have settled upon the lands, erected barns, di- 

 vided the extensive fields, introduced better im- 

 plements, and are setting examples of industry 

 and carefulness, which are giving a new aspect 

 to all the adjacent country. 



A NOBLE EXAMPLE. 



Travelling through Fairfax, into Prince Will- 

 iam countj', I sojourned three days at the hospi- 

 table mansion of Alfred Ball, Esq. Here I found 

 myself upon one of the old Virginia ])lantations, 

 with all the substantials about me which go to 

 make life comfortable and happy. His home- 

 stead consists of about fifteen hundred acres, 

 containing all the varieties of soil common in 

 that part of the state, and watered by the Bull 

 Run river, which flows nearly through the centre 

 of the estate. His house, a model of the old 

 Virginia, palace-like mode of building, stands 

 upon a gentle eminence, overlooking every part 

 of the plantation. Around it is a handsome area, 

 planted with ti-uit trees and shrubbei-y, among 

 which are iuterspersed numerous bee hives. A- 

 bout one half of this estate fell to Mr. B. by in- 

 heritance, and while walking over a large tract 

 on which the new, thickset clover had almost hid 

 the ground, he informed nie that when he came 

 upon it there was not a field which would pro- 

 duce crop enough to pay the expenses of culti- 

 vation. When his determination to cultivate it 

 was made known, his friends remonstrated against 

 such a step, and predicted starvation as the re- 

 sult. But with most commendable ambition he 

 told them he had an irrepressible desire to re- 

 store what had been lost upon the lands of his 

 ancestors, through neglect partly, and the want 

 of a proper knowledge of the true modes of hus- 

 bandry ; and that he could not sit down and ap- 

 propriate the labors of others, with their improve- 

 ments and results, with that satisfaction and con- 

 tentedness which he fancied he should realize, 

 after overcoming the difiiculties which surround- 

 ed him by his own energies and industry. How 

 nobly he has succeeded— how the once barren 

 waste now pours into his lap the fidl reward of 

 all his labors and cares, may be seen by a ramble 

 over portions of his plantation. Still, it must be 

 borne in mind that this is Virginia, improvement, 

 and will not bear contrasting with a well man- 

 aged New England farm. It will he noticed by 

 the remarks which follow, that, notwithstanding 

 he considers himself amply repaid, by the crops 

 produced, for any extra labor bestowed, the ca- 

 pabilities of the soil have been nothing like fairly 

 tested. 



Mr. Ball cultivates only about four hundred 

 acres. One hundred he plants with corn, the 

 average yield of which is twenty bushels to the 

 acre. He usually sows one hundred and fifty 

 acres in wheat, the average crop of which is not 

 over five bushels to the acre ; seeds a bushel and 

 a peck. On these crops, with the other necessa- 

 ry labor of the plantation, eight efficient men, 

 six horses, and three yoke of oxen, are employed. 

 There are no stones. Immediately in front of 

 his house he has enclosed a field containing one 

 hundred acres. This he calls his pet field ; and 

 is to be thoroughly dressed and tended in future, 

 in preference to every other part of the farm. 

 Here he has commenced the new system of cul- 

 tivation, in which he expects to be greatly aided 

 liy a careful perusal of the Visitor, of which he 



is a subscriber. He reasons in tbi:? manner. He 

 now seeds 150 acres with wheat, and obtains five 

 bushels to the acre, and an aggregate of seven 

 hundred and fifty bushels. Now, he says, if by 

 extra dressing and labor he can increase the crop 

 to fifteen bushels to the acre, (and of which there 

 can be little doubt,) there will be an uiigregatc ol' 

 two thousand two hundred fifty bushels, and a 

 net gain offjleen hundred bushels, or nearly so, 

 taking into the account the value of the extra 

 quantity of straw. Now if this reasoning be 

 correct, and 1 have no doubt the result would 

 prove it so, it shows at a glance the great impor- 

 tance of cultivating a less quantity of land, and 

 of bestowing upon that more than all the labor 

 which has been bestowed upon a much largf^r 

 quantity. The same piocess will hold good with 

 respect to all other crops as well as that of wheat. 

 Mr. B. will open an account of debt and credit 

 with this field, and such minutes as will show 

 the cost and kind of dressing, the amount of 

 labor expended, the ploughing, harrowing, seed- 

 ing, time of planting, sowing, reaping, &:c. of all 

 of wliich he has engaged to furnish me a paper, 

 which shall be tbrwarded to you in due lime 

 when I receive it. 



DEFICIE.NCY OF COMFORT AT THE SOUTH. 



With all the advantages, however, of a most 

 generous soil, and a mild and genial climate, with 

 good markets for all the produce they can spare, 

 the planters through all the South lack many of 

 the comforts and elegancies of life which are a 

 common blessing throughout New England. Their 

 houses are in the first place loosely constructed, 

 and there is generally a carelessness about mak- 

 ing the necessary repairs, which gives them a 

 dilapidated appearance, in one or two years atler 

 their erection. During the short, but frequently 

 severe cold weather, they are cheerless and un- 

 comfortable tenements. Tlrey seldom have barns, 

 and what I believe is still more rare, wood-houses. 

 The consequence is, in regard to the want of the 

 first, that their stock requires much more feed- 

 ing than would be necessary if housed during 

 the long, cold storms of rain, hail and snow 

 which always prevail in the winter, and then 

 come out lean in the spring, and unprofitable for 

 milk or labor. But the wood-house, which to 

 the thrifty New England house-wife is deemed 

 indispensable, cannot be expected, where the 

 animals themselves are denied a shelter. The 

 want of it, however, is often a soin-ce of vexa- 

 tion, and is bad economy. On many plantations 

 the wood is brought up from time to lime, just 

 in sufficient quantities to afford a scanty sujjply, 

 and used in its green state — or, if collected in 

 considerable quantities, suffered to lie exposed to 

 all weathers, and consequently much of the time 

 unfit tor use. But particularly as regards many 

 of their domestic arrangements — that peculiar 

 methodizing, and those thousand nameless com- 

 forts and conveniences which give home an air 

 and delight above all other places, there seems 

 to be an indiffijrence which is altogether inexpli- 

 cable. And this is often the case where there is 

 wealth sufficient, not only to ensure the com- 

 forts of life, but to introduce the Graces them- 

 selves. But in the improved mode of husbandry 

 abroad, which shall bring neatness and method 

 into the corners, and under the fences, of every 

 field, we may hope to see a corresp<mding im- 

 provement in the out-buildings, as well as the 

 kitchen, dairy and parlor. To make note, how- 

 ever, of all to which my observation extended, 

 would, perhaps, make my remarks out of place 

 in your paper, and occupy too much of your 

 space. 



Leaving Prince William, I passed through the 

 pleasant village of Aldie, in Loudoun county, the 

 late residence of the Hon. Charles F. Mercer, for 

 more than twenty years a member of Congress 

 from the Loudoun district. This gentleman has 

 done much for the agricultural interest in this 

 section. The grounds about the house aie laid 

 out and planted with great taste, and are all un- 

 der the highest state of cultivation. A little 

 north of this village commences that portion of 

 country denominated the Short Hills, well known 

 by wheat growers in "all these parts" as the 

 great, if not the greatest, wheat growing country 

 in the Union. It is, emphatically, a rolling coun- 

 try — a complete succession of Short Hills, in 

 every direction, as far as the eye can reach. When 

 I passed over it, (the loth October,) the farmers 

 were sowing, and often upon reaching the top 



of a hill the same scene which I had wilnesse'' 

 twenty times before presented itself, of six o'" 

 eight horses and ploughs in cheerful motion, 

 followed by the sowers with their bags upou 

 (heir shoulders. There are few slaves in this 

 section of the State. The houses are compara- 

 tively comfortable — we often see good barns, and 

 that air of neatness, inseparable from the Quaker 

 habits, pervades every thing. Their manner of 

 renovating the soil is by turning in clover and 

 the application of plaster. They make little ac- 

 count of any other manures. The price of land, 

 from this point to the base of the Blue Ridge, 

 ranges from thirty to fifty dollars an acre, in 

 quantities suitable for fiirms. This affords an 

 idea of the crops they are capable of producing. 



Journeying one whole day along the base of 

 the Blue Riilge, through a fine wheat country, 

 I reached Harper's Ferry, the jilace which Jeffer- 

 son said, in his Notes onVirginia, would he worth 

 a voyage across the Atlantic to see. To one ac- 

 customed to looking upon our northern moun- 

 tains, and their grand scenery, this place will 

 hardly come up to the expectations which de- 

 scriptions may have inspired. The eye must 

 scan its wild beauties — its bold hills, so near that 

 in the du.sk of evening they appear as though 

 you could almost touch them from your win- 

 dows — its jutting rocks, and winding paths, be- 

 fore the value which Jefferson has placed upon 

 it can be appreciated. The village is located 

 upon two sides of a mountain, and upon the very 

 narrow strip of land between the base of the 

 mountain and the Shenandoah and Potomac riv- 

 ers, and the point formed by their junction. Small 

 houses dot the hill-sides in every direction, in- 

 terspersed by occasional mansions of a moi-e 

 pretending character. Half way up the mouii- 

 tain stands tlie Catholic Church, with its Gothic 

 windows and tall spire. Beyond it is the Pres- 

 byterian Church, and in the upper story of the 

 same building, the Masonic Lodge. Still above 

 these, overlooking a vast extent of country, is 

 the burying groun<l, enclosed by a faced wall of 

 stone. The government work-shops, for the 

 manufacture of fire-arms, line the banks of both 

 rivers, and extend uj) a consideiable distance 

 from their confluence. West of the town there 

 is an extensive, undulating, and fine country. I 

 viewed it from the mountain on the east side of 

 the Potomac, which rises nearly a thousand feet 

 from the bed of the river, and could distinctly 

 see the Alleghanies in the distance. The whole 

 space is checkered with cultivated farms, and 

 with its green spots of newly-sprung grain, and 



" the fatJing many colored woods, 



Shade deepening over shade," 

 the whole has a most lovely appearance. There 

 are evidences which lead to the belief that this 

 beautiful portion of country was once a lake, 

 which in the lapse of time burst the harrier- 

 mountain which had for ages restrained it, and 

 checked its passage to the ocean.' The highlands 

 east of the Potomac, extending north, and the 

 Blue Ridge, on the south of the Shenandoah, 

 extending south-west to the Alleghanies, were its 

 probable boundaries. Several hundred feet above 

 the level of the river, in the side of one of the 

 mountains, I noticed a cavern of considerable 

 extent, and circular in its form, the tides and 

 bottom of which were worn exceedingly smooth, 

 as if by the united action of water and the attri- 

 tion of stones. The mouth of this cavern faces 

 the west, and as no water enters it from above, 

 how was this appearance occasioned, unless by 

 such a cause, either before or at the time the 

 mountain was broken through? I am of the 

 o|iinion that the mountain was undermined by 

 the water finding its way through the fissures in 

 the rocks, and that the superincumbent mass may 

 have remained for age.s, thus forming anoiher 

 Natural Bridge ! The grand feature of this place 

 is the proximity of the mountains immediately 

 at the junction of the rivers. Here they rise in 

 bold magnificence to the height of many hundred 

 feet. In some places standing out in detached 

 masses of naked, turret-like colunms of rocks, 

 and in others appear impending cliff's which seem 

 to threaten destruction to all below. Around 

 these the eagle wheels his airy flight, and builds 

 his nest where human foot hath never trod. 



A full description of this interesting place — 

 its business, localities, scenery, and early history, 

 would prove acceptable to your readefs. But 

 that I must leave for a more competeniipen, (say 



