THE 



SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



Brbotcfc to eorfculture, igortfculturc, an* the J^ousehota strts. 



Agriculture is the nursing mother of the Arts. — 

 Xenophon. 



FRANK: G. RUFFIN, Editor. 



Vol. XIV. 



For the Southern Planter. 

 MINUTES 



OF AGRICULTURAL FACTS AND OBSERVATIONS, 



Collected and noted by the Agricultural Commissioner.* 



[Reported to the Executive Committee of the 

 Virginia State Agricultural Society, and ordered 

 to be published.] 



MINUTE I. 



Wire-grass Destroyed. 

 [Extract of a letter from Judge J. B. Christian, 

 written to, and by request of the Agricultural Com- 

 missioner.] 



Williamsburg, March 24th, 1854. 



* * * * * "I had in Williamsburg a lot of 

 ground of about two acres, of light soil and very 

 rich. It had been kept enclosed, and used only for 

 grazing for eight or ten years. I determined to sow 

 it down in oats ; and preparatory thereto, late in the 

 fall of 1849, I had the lot well ploughed with a 

 double horse plough. In the spring it was again 

 ploughed and sowed in oats. The ground was as 

 thickly set in wire-grass as any land I ever saw. 

 The season was a good one for oats — but the crop 

 on this ground was a failure. It was evident that 



* In these minutes, the writer aims to gather and save for 

 use many small matters deemed by him useful for instruc- 

 tion, which would in most cases be otherwise lost. Every 

 agricultural fact, or observation, which serves to give new 

 or useful information, if made known, would be of value to 

 the public. But usually, nearly all such matters for infor- 

 mation are lost, because farmers who can attest such ftcts, 

 consider each one to be of too little importance to be made 

 a subject of communication to the public. The writer has 

 begun to note such useful information, or minor points, (as 

 improperly deemed so by the first, observers,) when the ob- 

 servations have been so exact as to be relied upon for accu- 

 racy. None will be noted and reported except with notice 

 to and the consent of the several observers. From time to 

 time, as may be suitable to, and required for each particu- 

 lar subject, portions of these minutes will be published, un- 

 der the general order and authority of the Executive Com- 

 mittee, and the particular direction of the sub-committee of 

 publication. The only care used as to the form and manner 

 of such minutes of facts, will be to state them concisely and 

 clearly, and without any admixture of opinion or remark, 

 from any other than the person by whom the particular facts 

 are stated. Any remarks or comments by the reporter will 

 be presented separately, and distinguished, [by brackets] 

 as in this instance. — E, R. 



Vol. XIV.— 7. 



Tillage and Pasturage are the two breasts of the 

 State. — Sully. 



P. D. BERNARD, Publisher. 



No. 7. 



the oats were destroyed by the wire-grass. I de- 

 termined at once to make some experiment towards 

 ridding the land of this terrible pest. It occurred 

 to me that if the land was kept constantly emplo}'ed, 

 during the whole vegetating and growing season 

 of the year in crops that would entirely shade the 

 ground, and, for the time, prevent this grass grow- 

 ing up, that it would in a few years perish out. 

 Accordingly, as soon as I reaped the oats, I 

 ploughed the land, and sowed it thickly in peas. 

 The crop of peas was an indifferent one for the 

 land. The vines remained on the ground — and du- 

 ring the next winter it was ploughed preparatory 

 for oats in the spring. At this ploughing, I per- 

 ceived that the wire-grass had very considerably 

 diminished. In the spring I again sowed the lot in 

 oats. The season was not very good here for oat3. 

 However, the crop was more than double what it 

 was the previous year. Immediately after cutting 

 the oats, I again ploughed the land, and put it again 

 in peas, sowing them thick, more than a bushel to 

 the acre. The vines were, as before, left on the 

 ground. During winter, it was again ploughed; 

 and in this ploughing there was not to be seen in 

 the body of the land a vestige of wire-grass. In 

 the spring the land was again sowed in oats, and in 

 an ordinary season, there was produced, I think, as 

 heavy a crop as I ever saw grown upon high land. 

 During all this time there was no manure of any 

 kind applied. That fall I sold the land. I learn 

 from the present owner, Judge Scarburgh,- that 

 the lot has been since cultivated in various crops — 

 corn, potatoes, turnips, &c. Yesterday I went with 

 Judge S. to see the ground. We examined, and 

 found almost no wire^grass on it — certainly very 

 little. A portion is m clover, which is very fine. 

 A portion, a belt about thirty feet wide running 

 through the ground had recently been ploughed. 

 Here we had a fair opportunity of seeing whether 

 there was much, or any wire-grass still in the land. 

 We saw not more than three or four spires or roots 

 in the whole ploughing. 



From this experiment it would seem that two 

 successive crops of both oats and peas, requiring 

 only two years, will entirely eradicate this horrible 

 bane to all small grain crops." * * * * * 



[Remarks by E. R. — I hasten to publish the fore- 

 going experiment, in advance of other minutes of 

 facts or other subjects collected, that this trial may 

 be repeated by others, as soon as possible. This 

 may be done for the present year, by every farmer 

 who has any thickly set wire-grass ground now 



RICHMOND, JULY, 1854. 



