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THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



RICHMOND, JULY, 1855. 



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THE WHEAT CROP OF VIRGINIA. 

 It is very common, as we all know, when men 

 change an opinion, to compensate by as much error 

 on one side as they had in the first instance com- 

 mitted on the other; and farmers, whose revenue 

 depends entirely on their crops,, are perhaps more 

 given to this oscillation than other men. It is 

 particularly exemplified as to them in the present 

 harvest. But a few weeks ago the whole of 

 Virginia, except in a few circumscribed localities, 

 was suffering from a drought which, in duration 

 and intensity, so far surpassed any other that had 

 Ibeen known as to threaten a famine. The wheat 

 crop especially was pronounced the most complete 

 failure that had ever occurred. But rain fell after 

 the fields had headed, and then ensued an unex- 

 pected improvement. Comparing the state of the 

 wheat then with what it had just been, and not 

 with what it ought to have been at that season 

 of the year, the farmer cast aside despondency 

 aiad proclaiming that he never had seen wheat 

 improve so much, declared that he really thought 

 he would make an average crop. 



That seems to be now the general oplnioL 

 among commercial men hereabouts, and it is very 

 natural that those whose gains depend on a wide 

 margin between purchases and sales, should 

 entertain it honestly and propagate it widely and 

 in good faith. But we think they are mistaken as 

 to the extent of improvement. The rains came 

 too late — the wheat had not branched sufficiently, 

 it had not attained the requisite height so as 

 to get a fair exposure to the sun, had consequently 

 too many underling heads in it, and having begun 

 to " fill," or form grain before the rains commenced, 

 and accommodating itself to the existing state 

 of things, had formed shorter heads and fewer 

 grains in the mesh, as it is called, than is usual 

 for an average crop. The effect of this state of 

 things has been all along very obvious to minute 

 inspection, and yet might easily escape a less par- 

 ticular observation, as may be very easily under- 

 stood by those who know that lime on lands that 

 need it will sometimes add twenty per cent to 

 a crop without showing any increase to the eye so 

 long as it is growing in the field. 



But this state of things is the case mainly 

 on the good or guanoed lands, where there was 

 exemption from the insect pests which have 

 devastated so large a portion of the wheat region 

 of the State. On the poorer lands the case is still 

 worse ; on them, as all farmers know, rain, and 

 a plenty of it, at the proper time, is indispensable 

 to the scanty crops they generally make, and. such 

 rains they did not get. The consequence is 

 extremely short crops in such situations. The 

 product, it is true, will be considerably increased 

 over our calculation in the last Planter, but 

 we must continue to think that a very short crop, 

 but little if any, over one half, will be made in 

 Virginia, and we come to this conclusion after 

 as much information as colloquy with casual 

 visiters and a pretty extended private correspon- 

 dence can afford. Since beginning this article we 

 have heard of two large crops, samples doubtless 

 of many others, which have not turned out as well 

 as was expected, and the rains of this and the last 

 week, [it is now raining steadily — June 25,] must 

 operate injuriously both as to quality and yield of 

 what has not been secured. 



•We were lately asked what we meant by a half 

 crop. We mean just this, and presume that every 

 farmer in Virginia attaches the same significance 

 to it : that a half crop is only half of what a man's 

 land, may be reasonably expected to yield in a fair 

 season ; and when we say that a county, Powhatan 

 for instance, will make but half a crop of wheat, 

 we mean that the average product of that county, 

 taking low grounds, upland and forest, will be 

 only half as much as a reasonable man would 

 expect it to be on an average of seasons ; and so as 

 to the State* at large. As to predicting the 



