THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 103 



Can be urged against it is, that it is late, and 

 that it requires more skill to cure it properly. — 

 But when brought to the house ripe t and cured 

 in Mr. C. Selden's way, (which is published in 

 your number for July, 1842,) it commands the 

 highest prices for the English market. His is 

 the mode we have uniformly found to be best 

 when our tobacco is ripe. But all tobaccos cut 

 green, or designed for manufacturing purposes, 

 are, I think, decidedly injured by so much heat. 

 They are cured up too green and are too bitter 

 for American taste ; for these, I much prefer the 

 mode of curing recommended by the majority 

 of the committee of the "Agricultural Society 

 of Powhatan," which report I would highly re- 

 commend to the attention of all our planters, 

 and which renders it unnecessary for me to fol- 

 low Mr. Minor into a consideration of this part 

 of his subject. Indeed, Mr. Minor's views are 

 very good, and well worth a careful perusal. 



With these hasty thoughts, gentlemen, I con- 

 clude, wishing you that success which your 

 noble enterprize so well merits, 



I remain yours, respectfully, 



N. A. Venable. 



We have very frequent applications for to- 

 bacco seed, and would be much obliged to our 

 country readers for such parcels of the different 

 varieties as they can spare, that we may be en- 

 abled to accommodate our friends, and do some- 

 thing for the cause of agriculture, at the same 

 time. 



For the Southern Planter. 



Messrs. Editors, — Permit me, through the 

 medium of your journal, to call the attention of 

 agriculturists to a system not in general use. — 

 I would respectfully ask for it the consideration 

 of the James River farmers, in especial. The 

 merit of the innovation, if merit it possesses, be- 

 longs to Mr. Isaac Medley, of Halifax, Virginia ; 

 it has been adopted by some few of his neigh- 

 bors, and by all with the most perfect satisfac- 

 tion. Instead of narrow beds 10, 15, or 20 feet 

 wide, we make them 40 or 45 feet. And in- 

 stead of the headland, with its transverse furrow 

 to receive the water from the main furrows, each 

 main furrow is made to convey its own water 

 into the ditch, direct. The advantages of this 

 method over the old plan, are, in the opinion of 

 those who have tried it, economy of time and 

 labor, greater facility, of draining, and far greater 

 comeliness in appearance. The first, because it 

 does away with the headland and furrow, both 

 objects of care and trouble ; the second, because 

 having only one-third the number of furrows, 

 we can afford to bestow three times the labor 

 on each; the last especially, inasmuch as it 

 does away with the unsightly headland, which 

 disfigures the field so much. 



I have heard one objection to this system, 

 urged with much unction by those who had 

 not tried it, and if you will pardon the necessa- 

 ry tediousness of detail, I will endeavor to rebut 

 it. It was said I could not plough near enough 

 to a ditch bank, without the headland. I an- 

 swer boldly, I can plough as near without, as 

 with it, and thus ; commencing on the centre of 

 the bed, on arriving within, say, twenty feet of 

 the ditch, instead of turning to the left as usual, 

 we take the gee turn, that is, we turn to the 

 right, and go back on the same bed, not on a 

 different one ; and so continue until there is left 

 unploughed on each side of the bed a space of 

 feet in width. We then, on arriving at the 

 ditch, cut a furrow parallel to it, and equal in 

 length to the width of land, ploughed upon the 

 bed. Pursuing this course, till the bed is com- 

 pleted, we will have reached as near to the ditch 

 as can be done in any way whatever, always 

 too turning the earth from it, a circumstance of 

 no small moment to the planter. These are 

 some of the general advantages pertaining to 

 this mode of culture ; for the hoe crop, it pos- 

 sesses another, which I conceive to be a beauti- 

 ful feature in the system : thus, after ploughing 

 our fallow land as directed, in the spring, we 

 run our corn and tobacco rows across the beds, 

 at right angles to them, and so work the crop 

 throughoutwiththehoe; each hand as he reaches 

 a furrow draws the earth carefully out, taking 

 heed to preserve it perfectly straight. 



Experience has given me confidence in this 

 mode of culture, yet I fear I have practised upon 

 it too indifferently to have rendered these advan- 

 tages apparent. I can only ask that the expe- 

 riment be made. It presents, when well exe- 

 cuted, an appearance infinitely more pleasing 

 to the eye than the old system, and surely it is 

 entitled to the favor of every lover of beauty, 

 for as much as it supersedes that eye-sore in 

 agricultural landscape, the " headland." 



I was never more forcibly struck with this 

 deformity than in a late visit to a portion of 

 James River above Richmond. Here, with al- 

 most every thing else to admire, we were con- 

 stantly disturbed with the unsightlv headland. 

 To the surprising excellence of cultivation that 

 we witnessed, permit me here to offer my most 

 willing homage, a tribute as freely rendered, as 

 it is richly merited. Striking the river at Elk 

 Island, in company with a friend, we saw for 

 the first time that superb estate, the finest per- 

 haps in all Virginia: we were especially de- 

 lighted with the highly improved condition of 

 the lower half; without the labored finish that 

 we witnessed afterwards, yet, as far -as it went, 

 the execution could not be excelled. All that 

 was attempted was made perfect. The plough- 

 ing and draining were irreproachable. It was 

 with the most sincere regret that we heard a 

 few days afterwards of the burning of the man- 



