THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



ptbotefc to ^grCculture, Jgortfcultuve, an* ti\t jgoustlioUv girts. 



Agriculture is the nursing mother of the Arts. 



Xenophon. 



NEW SERIES. 



Vol. VI. 



For the Southern Planter. 

 GRASS. 



Mr. Editor, — The only apology 1 can offer 

 for addressing you this letter is, that I have been 

 a careful reader of your paper (viz: the Planter) 

 from the very time of its commencement. I am 

 not a subscriber, but my father, although he is 

 not farming", takes the Planter, and as soon as 

 he reads it, he forwards it to myself and brother. 

 1 have been a farmer in Clarke county since 

 1839, which you know is one of the richest and 

 best cultivated counties in the State, the land 

 being rated at from thirty to sixty-five dollars 

 per acre. My means being limited I have been 

 induced, (by the opinions of my father,) and 

 also what I have read in your valuable paper, 

 to leave this fine wheat growing country, which 

 is filled with industrious managing farmers, to 

 come and settle in the county of Amherst among 

 strangers, the most intelligent of whom tell me 

 that grass (that is, timothy, &c.) will' not grow 

 on the lands in this^part of the State, and that 

 I will not find a wheat nor corn crop to be pro- 

 fitable ; and that the broom sedge land of which 

 there are thousands of acres in this county, will 

 not produce more than one barrel' of corn per 

 acre, under the best management and with the 

 best season. It would be proper in me to state 

 to you that I am a renter for the present, with 

 the view of testing the capacity of the lands in 

 this part of Virginia, and if they should prove 

 to be what I think and hope they are, 1 expect 

 to locate myself permanently, if I should be 

 successful in cropping, I shall report to you the 

 process of my preparations, &c, oir this farm, 

 which is runaway with bushes, briers and broom- 

 sedge ; even the garden is a wilderness of bushes 

 and briers. 1 shall farm upon the five-shift sys- 

 tem, using clover and plaster freely. 



I brought to this county with me this fall 

 five kinds of wheat, viz: Mediterranean, Geor- 

 gia, Golden-straw, Genesee White and Zimmer- 

 man, all of which have succeeded well in Clarke 

 county for several years, except the Zimmerman, 

 which has only been introduced in Clarke within 

 the last two seasons. It was thought to stand 

 up during the wet weather last summer and 

 ripened better than most other kinds did, and it 

 sold readily at harvest for seed at one dollar per 

 bushel, when other kinds of wheat were worth 

 only from sixty to seventy-five cents per bushel. 

 Vol. VI.— 34 



Tillage and Pasturage are the two breasts of the 

 State. — Sully': 



VOLUME I. 



No. 12. 



Hoping that there was a brewery in Lynchburg 

 or Richmond, I brought with me and have seeded 

 two bushels of barley. I think that this crop 

 would be a desirable one, if I could find sale for 

 it, at from fifty to seventy-five cents per bushel 

 in Richmond. Do you know of any one in 

 Richmond who would purchase it for a Balti- 

 more brewery, or one who I could consign it to, 

 who would send it to Baltimore and make sale 

 of it for me. I wish to purchase the most ap- 

 proved four-horse threshing machine that is now 

 made in Richmond. Any information you can' 

 give me respecting such a machine would be 

 very thinkfully received. If you would only 

 give me the name of the best manufacturerof ma- 

 chines in Richmond at this time, and state, that 

 in your opinion, a machine from him would be 

 well made, I would feel under many obligations 

 to you, and would write to him on the subject. 



If you know of one, two, or three farms of from 

 two to five hundred acres each, in the counties of 

 Nelson, Amherst, or Bedford, that can be leased 

 for two or five years, I would be much obliged 

 to you if you would give me such information 

 as would enable me to find them, I would in- 

 sure the larid to be better cultivated than it has- 

 ever been, and clover and plaster should be used, 

 and a fair share of the crops would be given as 

 rent, or after the first year a moneyed rent would 

 be given, if preferred. If you should not know 

 of any land for rent, you may possibly know of 

 some one who wishes to discontinue the culti- 

 vation of tobacco, and would be willing to have 

 his larid farmed by joining forces with a tenant 

 who is accustomed to cultivate any thing except 

 tobacco, to such an one I would say I am willing 

 to put five hands against five hands and give a 

 share of the crop, each bearing a proportionate 

 part of the expenses, &cr. 



Whenever it may suit you to answer this let- 

 ter, it shall be much appreciated, and if at any 

 time I can give you any information I think 

 would be valuable to you, I will do so with 

 pleasure. 



Direct to Amherst Court House, Virginia. 

 With very great respect, 



I am your obedient servant, 



Isaac Irvine Hite. 

 Glen Jlmbler, Amherst, Nov. 15, 1846. 



We hardly know whether Mr. Hite intended 

 this letter for publication, but we thought it was 



C. T. BOTTSj Editor. 

 RICHMOND, DCEMBER, 1846. 



