356 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



MAir ao, 183E. 



successftjIj stock management, by small. 



FARMERS. 



Moses Greer, of Corlust, was entitled lo the 

 first premium, for best stock, fed upon the siuali- 

 est quantity of land. It ap])eared that lie had fed 

 his stock of four cow3 and two calves upon the 

 astonishing small quantity of one acre and two 

 roods of land all summer — being about one rood 

 anil four perches for each cow, after allowing for 

 the calves, and had three roods of tuinips and one 

 of rape for winter. 



Moses Greer being called on to give an account 

 of his farming, said : " My lords and gentlemen, I 

 hold eight acres and three roods of land, which I 

 have now got into the highest condition, and I 

 shall in future be able to keep it so without going 

 to the exjiense in lime which I have heretofore 

 been at, by reason of the great quantity of manure 

 I make from the increased stock of cattle, consist- 

 ing of four cows and two calves ; and it will sur- 

 prise you to hear, that this stock has been fed this 

 last summer, and up to the present time, on clover 

 and vetches, upon the identical same piece of ground 

 which, when formerly in grazing, fed only one cote, 

 and that very poorly. My land is held partly at 

 23s., and part at 8s. 3d. per acre ; and my rent 

 amounts to £7 14s. 6d. yearly ; and I have already 

 sold butter to the amount of £11 4s., clear of all 

 deductions, and have had enough of milk and but- 

 ter for myself and family besides. The abun- 

 dance of manure has enabled me to set as many 

 potatoes as my neighbors, holding the same quan- 

 tity of land, and I hs^e as much crop too, besides 

 having my turnips likewise. In conclusion, I am 

 satisfied there is no M?ay in which land can be 

 made to produce so much, or in which it can be 

 brought into such heart, as by the soiling system 

 and four course rotation of crops, from which I 

 expect every year to derive greater advantages ; 

 as I may say, I am only just now beginning to 

 feel the benefit arising from it ; ray land being 

 now all perfectly clean, and not any of it what- 

 ever in pasture." 



James Rolsten, being next called on, said, " I 

 am likewise an advocate for green feeding ; I had 

 more clover than fed all the stock I had, although 

 I had more than doubled it ; and I was enabled to 

 save three five-fathom cocks of hay, which will 

 leave me all my straw for manure. After cutting 

 my early vetches, J sowed the ground ridge as I 

 cut it, with rape, which I am now cutting a yard 

 Jong and giving to my cattle, so that I shall not 

 have to begin to use my turnips for some time ; 

 and it will be again fit to cut in April next, when 

 the turnips begin to fail. I have also levelled 

 every useless ditch ; and my land instead of being 

 exhausted by the four-course rotation, is every 

 year becoming better." 



Mr Ingram said, " I am .still of the same opin- 

 ion as I have formerly expressed, (jf the benefit lo 

 be derived by green crops and house-feeding, 

 which I continue to practise. I find I can thereby 

 increase my stock and my crop also, and have 

 manure for my potatoes and turnips ; besides, by 

 this means, I find my land iuqiroving under the 

 four-course rotation : and though I am i)aying ac- 

 cording to a late valuation, I am still able to say, 

 as I said last year, I shall be able to make 

 rent from my dairy." 



Thomas Bruce said " when I came into pos- 

 session of my farm in 1831, there was no more 

 than about half an acre of potato ground ; and 

 tliis in such a dirty, bad condition, that it had to 



my 



be dug over with a gra])e, in order to clean it be- 

 fore it could be sown with grain and clover seed. 

 The rest of the land was in a miserable exhausted 

 state, not fit to produce anything ; and I was then 

 possessed of but one cow, and had no meat to 

 feed more ; that year I sowed a few turnips upon 

 what manure I had to spare, by employing lime 

 compost for my potatoes ; and the next spring, be- 

 tween compost and cow-house manure, I was 

 able to set an acre and a half of potatoes, and half 

 an acre of turnips. That year I was able to 

 house-feed, U])on the clover and some vetches, 

 two cows, and had plenty of them all winter. 

 Next spring I had so much manure, that with 

 some assistance fi-oin lime compost, I was able to 

 set two acres and'a rood of potatoes, and three 

 roods of turnips; and having sowed more clover, 

 I was enabled that season to keep three cows and 

 a horse, which stock I still have, with the addi- 

 tion of a calf, and have fed them this season on 

 five roods of clover, two roods of vetches, and 

 one rood of grazing, which being chiefly on a 

 rocky bottom cannot be broke up ; and if an acre 

 was allowed for the keep of the horse, and twenty 

 perches for the calf, this would leave only one 

 rood and four perches for the summer feeding of 

 each cow ; and this, with one rood of turnips for 

 each during winter, (which would allow, at 34 tons 

 per acre, near 90 lbs. a day for each for seven 

 months,) would only make 84 perches, or a little 

 more than half an English acre for the year's keep ; 

 and I have a rood of rape as a stolen crop be- 

 sides, so that I have plenty of food for them ; and 

 my land is improved to such a degree, that there 

 is more than three times the return from it than 

 what it formerly gave, and I shall now be enabled 

 to keep it in heart by the manure made by house- 

 feeding, without any of the expenses for lime 

 which I have been formerly at." 



Mr Bigger stated, that he held about five Irish 

 acres of land ; that he formerly kept but one cow, 

 and had barely food for her. He now kept three 

 and an ass ; and part of the year a horse ; and 

 after all had clover to spare, to consimie which he 

 had bought fourteen young pigs, some of which 

 he still had, and was feeding on potatoes ; and had 

 besides sold off the same farm £10 worth of 

 wheat. — British Farmer's Magazine. 



M] 



[From the New York Farmer.] 



VISIT TO THE ESTATE OP THE LATE JOHN 



RANDOLPH OP ROANOKE. 



Cardwell's Hotel, Charlotte C. H., ( Va.,) | 

 March 2, 1835. ( 



Dear Sir — You may, perhaps, wonder I liave 

 not written you during my agreeable visit in dif- 

 ferent sections of the " Old Dominion," but I as- 

 sure you there are few things in the way of hor- 

 ticulture, agriculture, fruit or flowers, to attract 

 attention in winter in this section — but the great 

 number of fine horses in this state, and the high 

 price obtainivl, as also the increasing demand, has 

 determined me to give you a short description of 

 some of the most prominent, with some few re- 

 marks, as I fully believe many of your subscribers 

 could turn their attention to raising good horses 

 with the pros])ect of being better renninerated 

 than by any other branch of agriculture. 



As " mine host," Mr Cardwell, wai3 steward 

 and has now the entire charge of the large and 

 extensive plantations and stud of horses which 

 belonged to the late eccentric " John Randolph of 

 Roanoke," I shall begin by giving you a slight 



description of the i-. "*"" '^^'j wJii'cfi is one of the- 

 most valuable m Virgini^' ^^ "'so of his stud of 

 horses, and at the same time '*eg you or any of 

 your readers, who are travelling in Virginia, to 

 ride 20 miles out of their way to* see and con- 

 verse with Mr Cardwell, and they will be well 

 paid by the numerous anecdotes of Mr Randolph 

 which he will entertain them with, and also cease 

 to wonder that Mr R. put so much property in 

 charge, and so much confidence in one man, for I 

 will except no man when J saj he is the most 

 gentlemanly landlord, and the most studious man 

 to anticipate the wishes and wants of his custom- 

 ers, I ever met with, besides being a man posses- 

 sed of good information, and, in every acceptation 

 of the word, a gentleman ; and should any person 

 wish thorough bred horses, I know no man in 

 Virginia I would as soon recommend them to ap- 

 ply to as Wyatt Cardwell, Charlotte Court-House, 

 Virginia. 



The Roanoke is about 12 miles from Charlotte 

 Court-House ; when within a few miles of the 

 river we entered upon the estate, which extends, 

 bounded by the river, nearly ten miles, with the 

 exception of one small plantation of about one 

 mile, which separates the upper from the lower 

 plantation. Tliis princely estate was mostly in- 

 herited by Mr Randolph, but under a mortgage 

 (as he once observed in a public speech) of 19s. 

 6d. on a pound of its cost. By good management 

 and systematic fanning he paid all the mortgage, 

 entertained his friends in a princely style, fed his 

 slaves better than one half the free white men 

 live in the United States, and left a l;u-ge personal 

 estate besides. 



There are about ffleen hundred acres of bottom 

 lands, neatly cleared and drained in a scientific 

 manner. There are few plantations where the 

 eye can at one glance behold such a tract of 

 land. 



There are about 400 slaves of all ages, and of 

 those 150 are eflicient hands. JMr R. sent nothing 

 to market except tobacco. The slaves are fed 

 with the corn, wheat, beef, pigs, fowls, &c. ; and 

 I will venture to saj', that if certain officious 

 " brother Yankees" succeed in their attempts so to 

 construct his will as to set them at liberty, every 

 soul, before they enjoy freedom one year, will 

 wish themselves back. The crop of tobacco that 

 year under the active and devoted attention of 

 Mr Cardwell, was about 160,000 lbs. ; corn, 12,500 

 bu.shels, &c. &c. There are about 300 head of 

 cattle, and about 100 head of horses, all of the 

 finest and purest blood in this country. Mr R. 

 owing to feeble health and the infirmities attend- 

 ant upon advanced ycpis, erred a little in his stock 

 of horses, by brccduig in and in too much ; but 

 since his death the stock has been carefully ex- 

 amined, and fifty were sold at auction, ui which 

 ^vere included tlie hune, the old, and fiUies, and 

 yet the average price was upwards of $400 each. 

 (For MrCardweU's Letter to J. S. Sinclair, Esq., 

 publisher of the Turf Register, specifying the 

 prices, &c., see the January No., page 248, of that 

 valuable and deservedly popular work.) The stud 

 of horses now remaining are very valuable, and 

 Mr Cardwell has this season procured the beauti- 

 ful bright bay stallion (that is the prominent color 

 of Mr R.'s horses) called C/aret, recently imported 

 by Mr James Avery, of Greenville County, to 

 whom the admirers of fine horses are much in- 

 debted, (for several of the most valuable now in 

 the country were imported by him.) The pro- 



