THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



115 



J. C. Gates of Chesterfield, who bought last fall 

 one peck of Rescue Grass and seeded it about the 

 middle of September on land of medium quality, 

 guanoed with 200 lbs. good Peruvian, per acre. 

 He says that now, the 14th day of March, the 

 grass, which has never been grazed, is as high 

 as his finger. This statement is made by his 

 authority. 



WIDE BEDS FOR LOW GROUNDS— BEAVERS 

 IN VIRGINIA. 



It will excite the suprise of many to learn, from 

 the Postscript to the following communication of 

 our friend Mr. Irby, that the Beaver still lingers 

 in Virginia. We had thought with Bryant in 

 the Prairies, 



" The beaver builds 

 No longer by these streams, but far away, 

 On waters whose blue surface ne'er gave back 

 The white man's face, among Missouri's springs, 

 And pools whose issues swell the Oregon, 

 He rears his little Venice." 



But it seems that though a fugitive from the near, 

 not far. West he can still be found within our limits. 

 Mr. Edmund Ruflin referred us when we mentioned 

 the subject to him, to the old Farmers' Register* 

 in which they are spoken of as existing in Notto- 

 way, and in Surry county, near Cabin Point, on 

 the James River, about 50 miles from Richmond. 

 Another gentleman informs us that they are 

 very troublesome in Sussex and Southampton 

 counties, both penetrated by the Nottoway river. 



Can any of our correspondents suggest a remedy ? 

 Traps, which in 1838, Avere largely imported into 

 Petersburg and thence distributed among the 

 infested farms, seem not to have answered, since 

 now, 17 years afterwards, we hear the same com- 

 plaint. 



Frank G-. Ruffin, Esq., 



Editor of the Southern Planter. 

 Dear Sir — In reply to your inquiries in re- 

 gard to the " propriety of substituting wide 

 for narrow beds in low grounds," I will briefly 

 give you the result of my experience and ob- 

 servation, and refer you to Mr. E. Ruffin's 

 full and satisfactory Essay on the subject, 

 (embraced in the two volumes lately pub- 

 lished,) for the particulars and reasons why 

 the wide beds are preferable to the narrow. 

 By this Essay, and the experience of my uncle 

 W. B. Irby, Esq., I was induced to change 

 my narrow into wide beds, and have never had 

 cause to regret it. My low grounds lio on 

 Little Nottoway River, and crocks and 

 brandies running into it. The land is alht- 



*VoL v., 253, vol. vi ,174. 



vion, and generally not very difficult to drain. 

 It is cultivated mostly in corn and oats, and 

 but little in tobacco. Formerly the beds were 

 from 11 to 15 feet wide. These I levelled 

 down, and threw the land into beds forty feet 

 wide. All of my flat land is now laid off in 

 this manner, and I have been highly pleased 

 with the result. In addition to what Mr. 

 Ruffin recommends, I cultivate my land across 

 the beds. The reason why this is done, is, to 

 get the surface water in the water furrow as 

 soon as possible. By so doing the water has 

 only to run from one to twenty feet before it 

 reaches the furrow; whereas if the rows of 

 corn run the length of the bed, it would not 

 reach the furrow, except by percolation, until 

 it reaches the foot of the bed. It is a gene- 

 ral practice with us to cultivate our corn on 

 low-land, in part, with the single " turning 

 plow," and little extra trouble is required to 

 throw the loose dirt out of the furrows. 



It is seldom practicable to get the beds into 

 proper form and the furrows sufficiently deep 

 at the first operation ; but two or more rota- 

 tions will bring them right. Caution must 

 also be observed to prevent the beds from be- 

 coming too much crested, or too high in the 

 middle. By a proper system of under-drain- 

 ing, united with the wide beds, flat lands can 

 be more profitably cultivated than with the 

 narrow beds. Such is the experience of every 

 farmer of our acquaintance who has tried 

 both. 



Mr. W. R. Bland of Nottoway, was one of 

 the first in the county to try the " wide-bed" 

 system. He says : "A ten years experience 

 confirms me in the belief that wide beds are 

 greatly preferable to narrow. Any one who 

 will try it will soon see, that with the same 

 plow the wide bed can be thrown much higher 

 than the narrow one. It diminishes the num- 

 ber of water furrows, which facilitates the 

 plowing, gives two or three additional rows of 

 whatever crop may be cultivated, and dimin- 

 ishes by about three-fourths the trouble of 

 grading and emptying the water furrows. It 

 stives the necessity of head and foot beds, and 

 keeps the extremities lower than the body of 

 the bed ; for on a wide bed you can and ought 

 to plow across the end, throwing the dirt from 

 the ditch to the bed. My practice has been 

 to run my rows, in cultivating, at right angles 

 to the direction of the furrow; yet if they 

 are run as usual, I believe the wide beds will 

 still be found to be greatly superior to narrow, 

 though of course the surface water would not 

 so rapidly flow into the water furrows, as 

 where the rows run across the beds." 



If you deem the subject of sufficient im- 



