254 
FARM OF MR. BOLLING, IN VIRGINIA. 
perfect. A plank road would undoubtedly be bet¬ 
ter, and that would be expensive, unless the won¬ 
derful rapid decay of timber could be prevented. 
Mr. Osgood is one of those who keeps sheep for 
somebody else to shear. He told me, that, a few 
years ago, he had no trouble in getting his sheep 
sheared. Every spring, one of them ’cute Yankees 
used to come along in his boat and shear the sheep 
and carry off the wool without any trouble. 
Yesterday, when I left Mr. Wilkinson’s, he was 
still cutting cane, growing green as ever ; though 
this is unusual. 
January I6th } 1849. 
FARM OF MR. BOLLING, IN VIRGINIA. 
_ One of the most interesting places that I have 
visited, during my long journey through the south¬ 
ern states, is the farm of Robert B. Bolling, at 
Sandy Point, on the James River, 70 miles below 
Richmond, and 65' above Norfolk, at the junction 
of the Chickahominy. It is the old Lightfoot 
estate, and contains about 7,000 acres, 2,700 of 
which, in one enclosure, Mr. B. has in cultivation ; 
that is, 1,000 acres in wheat, 535 in corn, 50 in 
oats, and the remainder is one half in clover, and 
the other half in fallow, including the necessary 
ground for yards, gardens, buildings; and roads, 
which are plenty and good. Of course, the quan¬ 
tity of acres, in the different crops, vary slightly 
with each year. 
Mr. Bolling resides mostly in Petersburg, and 
the farm is under the superintendence of Mr. 
Nichol, a very intelligent Scotchman ; yet, it is 
plain to see, that the owner, unlike many others, 
is the master spirit that guides all. Having heard 
of the vast improvements that he had made upon 
this old worn-out place, which came into his pos¬ 
session a few years ago, I called upon him at 
Petersburg, and expressed a desire to see it; 
when he readily offered to go down with me, so 
that I had the pleasure and advantage of his com¬ 
pany while there. When he came in possession, 
in 1835, the yield of wheat, per acre, was three and 
a half bushels ; though he thinks a fair yield, if 
the season had been good, might have been nearly 
double that. The average, for several years, has 
been from 15 to 18 bushels, and upon some lots of 
one to three hundred acres, he has averaged 24 to 
37 bushels. If it had not been for the frost, in 
April, it would probably have averaged, this year, 
over 20 bushels upon the whole thousand. This 
has been brought about principally by lime. The 
first dressing, he gave fifty bushels to the acre ; the 
second one, thirty five bushels; and the third one, 
the same; in all, 120 bushels. The present cost 
of slacked lime, at his wharf, is six and a half 
cents a bushel. Some of his cost more. The for¬ 
mer average yield of corn was ten to fifteen; now 
thirty five bushels to the acre. His crop of corn, 
last year, was 18,000 bushels, 12,000 of which 
sold at 45 cents on board the vessel at home. The 
remainder, as large as the pile may seem to some 
of our New-England farmers, was needed for con¬ 
sumption upon the place. Mr. B.’s wheat crop of 
last year was 14,000 bushels, which sold on board 
at 85 cents. The highest price, any year, $1.30. 
Average pnce, $1 ; average price of corn, 55 
cents; highest price, 90 cents. Besides lime, he 
uses plaster, bones, manure, and dry straw, as fer- 
[ tilizers, and thus produces most abundant crops of 
clover; and so, not only keeps up the fertility of 
the soil, but, by this course, has greatly more than 
doubled the crops, and made the farm very profit¬ 
able ; but it is increasing in fertility and value 
every year. 
Mr. B. pursues the five-field system; that is, a 
rotation of, 1st, corn ; 2d, wheat; 3d, clover; 4th, 
wheat; 5th, fallow. Upon the fallow, which, 
however, is well coated with volunteer clover, the 
straw is spread, and with lime, if required. He com¬ 
mences seeding in, first week in October, and 
finishes, if possible, by 10th November; quantity 
of seed, per acre, from 1J to I5 bushels; harvests, 
15th to 20th of June; cuts wheat with cradles. 
He thinks, where laborers are plenty and cheap, 
that reaping machines are not an object of impor¬ 
tance. He owns 180 servants, one half of whom 
are working hands in the field ; and during harvest 
he hires 80 or 100 more. 
As soon as the wheat is harvested, the wagons 
commence bringing it to the granary ; and here the 
ingenuity of man and the power of steam begin 
to show how wonderfully this great giant can be 
made to help the cultivator of the soil. A con¬ 
stant stream of sheaves are flying from the wagons 
outside, and as they light ifpon the floor, are 
caught up, the bands cut, and thrust into two great 
threshing machines, that stand side by side, and this 
is the last that man is required to do with grain or 
straw. The one passes out, and far away from the 
building; and the other, after falling down into 
the winnowing machine, is thus cleaned, and then 
taken by elevators to the top of the three-story build¬ 
ing, and there distributed into the different store 
rooms, which are capable of holding 40,060 bushels. 
A thousand bushels can be thus threshed and put 
up every day. When sold, and ready to be ship¬ 
ped, it is let down through a spout into a car that 
runs upon a railway directly over the hatchway of 
the vessel, lying at a fine new wharf, a few hun¬ 
dred feet from the granary; and in one second of 
time the car load is emptied into the hold, and in 
two minutes more is back, and ready for another load. 
The largest crop of wheat ever raised upon this 
place, before Mr. Bolling commenced improving it, 
was 7,000 bushels. Mr. B.’s largest crop, was 17,000 
bushels. The increase of one crop alone, is suffi¬ 
cient to pay for all the improvements of the fertility 
of the soil, and leave a handsome surplus. The 
wheat barn, which cost $8,000, is 36 by 80 feet, 
three stories upon one side, besides a cockloft 
floor. To the same building is joined a sawmill, 
grist mill, plaster mill, and bone mill, besides the 
threshers and cornsheller, all of which are driven 
by a sixteen-horse-power engine, costing $1,600, 
and all built in the most permanent and substan¬ 
tial manner. 
The team force upon this place are 39 horses 
and mules, and 36 oxen—always runs twelve 
plows, three mules to each, and as deep as they 
can pull it through a free, clayey-loam soil, which 
is comparatively level. The other stock upon the 
place, 125 head of cattle, 150 of sheep, and 140 
hogs. 
Corn is planted from April 25th to May 5th, 5h 
by 1J feet apart, covered with a harrow, the lumps 
scraped off with a board, tended with double-shovel 
plow, and the corn stalks cut and spread like straw 
