172 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



fish pond, to which our attention was called. — 

 Every good husband endeavors to aid his wife 

 in her laudable efforts to stock the poultry-yard 

 by building suitable houses, enclosures, &c. to 

 facilitate that object, and we all know how ne- 

 cessary this is towards keeping a good table. — 

 Not less so is the resource found in the fish- 

 pond, which is perhaps more profitable even 

 than the poultry, as it is a well ascertained fact 

 that a small pond well stocked, will supply a 

 good dish of fish at every season throughout 

 the year, while it affords a healthy and innocent 

 recreation for our families. Almost every planter 

 can afford himself this comfort, by erecting a 

 dam across his spring branch, which will serve 

 also as an ice pond, now considered an indispen- 

 sable appurtenance to every farm. 



Another valuable feature in the Doctor's prac- 

 tice is the procuring a good spring for his stock 

 and laborers, in almost every situation, where 

 an ooze or springy spot is found on the farm, 

 by excavating deeply, and fixing in a plank 

 box of commensurate depth, to convey the wa- 

 ter to the surface ; thus in many instances con- 

 verting foul and stinking bogs or mires, into 

 wholesome springs, and rendering the land about 

 them arable and productive. 



Your Committee have thus noticed such 

 things as seemed to them to claim commenda- 

 tion and approval. There were no exhibitions 

 of the corn-crib, the forage-house, the hay or oat- 

 stacks, nor had the committee access to any sta- 

 tistics, to show the amount of the Doctor's crops, 

 or what proportion his nett profits bear to his 

 improvements. Of the improvements, our Club 

 as well as your Committee, must bear willing 

 testimony. But these questions are well wor- 

 thy of investigation and solution, that is, whe- 

 ther the sum of the profits is as the sum of the 

 improvements 1 and whether the increased labor 

 of cultivating these large fields of grass, when 

 they are brought to the hoe crop, as they must 

 be soon or late, does not more than counterba- 

 lance the advantages ? Questions, which the 

 Committee leave to the Doctor's own future ex- 

 perience and the better judgments of the Club. 



Where there is so much to approve and ad- 

 mire, the Committee would willingly refrain 

 from finding fault, but we should not perform 

 more than half our duty were we to omit this 

 express requisition of our rules. We would 

 say then, to the Doctor, that we think he gen- 

 erally cultivates too much land for his force, un- 

 der the system he is pursuing — that the extensive 

 cultivation of the grasses greatly increases the 

 labor of the hoe crop, and that if he would di- 

 minish his arable surface in proportion as he in- 

 creases his grass and his manured surface, his 

 products would be greatly enhanced ; that he 

 would be able to carry on his schemes of ma- 

 nuring more extensively and successfully ; that 

 he would not be in danger of acquiring the dis- 



tinction of having two blades of grass in his 

 corn-field where one ought not to be, and that 

 when the future meetings of the Club are held 

 at " Wheatland" he will have the pleasure of 

 showing what the Club with equal pleasure 

 will behold — the corn-crib and the forage-house 

 teeming with corn, &c. as his cows now teem 

 with milk, and the sheep with their ample 

 fleeces- 

 All which is respectfully submitted. 



A. C. Morton. 

 H. L. Jeffries. 



We take the liberty of considering ourselves, 

 ex officio, a member of every agricultural club 

 in the State of Virginia, and as such, we exer- 

 cise our privilege of commenting upon the re- 

 ports made by our committees. We think we 

 detect in this report the attempt to poke a little 

 good natured fun at Dr. Venable on account 

 of a suspected vacuity in his corn-crib. Now, 

 we are highly pleased with the system pursued 

 by the Doctor, and do not perceive the relation 

 of cause and effect between that system and an 

 empty corn-crib, and we see no fair ground for 

 the inference of the Committee. There was no 

 exhibition of the corn-crib, but there was an ex- 

 hibition of stock, in such order as to call forth 

 the warmest admiration of the Committee. Is 

 there any one of those gentlemen that can pro- 

 duce a similar result with an empty corn-crib % 

 If so, it only proves that grass, so far as stock 

 is concerned, may be advantageously substituted 

 for corn. When the mother of the Gracchi was 

 asked for her jewels, she pointed to her chil- 

 dren ; when the Doctor is asked for his corn- 

 crib, he may point to his cattle and his sheep. 



We feel bound to defend the grazing svstem 

 which has excited the raillery of the Commit- 

 tee, because we have recommended it heretofore, 

 and because we believe that to it Virginia is 

 yet to be indebted for the greatest agricultural 

 blessings. We confess we have been a little 

 amused at the exhibition in the Committee of 

 that principle so peculiarly characteristic of our 

 Southern people, which inclines us to cling so 

 tenaciously to the customs of our fathers, even 

 in spite of our better judgment. It is an amia- 

 ble weakness, and one that we should dislike to 

 see wholly eradicated ; but a little modification 

 of it would sometimes probably enure to our 

 benefit. This Committee visit the Doctor's 

 farm and find a new system which substitutes 

 grass and cattle for grain, in full operation. — 

 The garden, the orchard, the character and 



