THE CULTIVATOR. 
brity by making high priced tobacco. A few years back, when the tobac¬ 
co that suited the French market commanded higher prices than any other 
description of tobacco, almost every planter, without a single exception, 
known to the writer of these lines, that raised a tobacco crop on Wards- 
fork, obtained a good price for it. The general character of this tobacco, 
was not only yellower, but it possessed a finer texture, and contained 
more oil, than the tobacco grown in other parts of tire county. Such ge¬ 
neral success could scarcely be attributed alone to superior management; 
and it is now a prevailing opinion, that the Wardsfork lands possess some 
ingredient very favorable to the growth of tobacco; and as these lands have 
been supposed by many to contain lime, in some of its combinations, I have 
but little doubt, that it is the marl ingredient in the Wardsfork soils, that 
renders them so peculiarly adapted to the growth of both tobacco and clo¬ 
ver. There is a recuperative energy in the soil on this little stream, that 
is rarely met with in other soils. The sub-soil, after a few years expo¬ 
sure to' the sun and frosts, when aided by a little manure, is almost as 
productive as the original surface soil. 
As a specimen of the Wardsfork management, I will solicit the readers 
attention to a hasty outline of the farming operations of John F. Edmunds, 
esq. In riding up to Mr. E.’s house, the greater part of his cleared land 
appears in full view from the roa 1; and nearly the whole of his uncultivat¬ 
ed land is seen set in clover or herd’s grass. Mr. E. cultivates both corn 
and tobacco on clover leys; and considers clover to be well adapted to 
precede a tobacco crop, provided plaster is used on the tobacco as soon as 
it is weeded out. He thinks that tobacco is a very precarious crop to fol¬ 
low clover, unless plaster is used. There are some features in his manage¬ 
ment different-from his neighbors; and, in fact, different from the ma¬ 
nagement of any planter with whom I am acquainted, in the tobacco sec¬ 
tion of the state. The oat crop, is almost universally cultivated in this 
part of the state, and is generally considered one of the few crops pecu¬ 
liarly adapted to our latitude and soil; but Mr. E. does not sow an oat 
grain on his plantation. He considers oats a very exhausting crop—they 
require seeding at a very busy time to the tobacco planter, and are taken 
from the field, at a time of the year, when the land is most exposed to in¬ 
jury from the sun. He uses herds grass hay as a substitute for oats; and 
always makes enough hay for his teams, and frequently sells a part of the 
produce of his meadows. Mr. E. sows down the whole of his corn land 
and tobacco land in wheat. He thinks that the tobacco crop is the very 
best crop to precede wheat, and contends that it is better than a heavy 
clover ley. His profits from his wheat crop are much greater than he 
ever realized from the oat crop. In addition to the flat land already set in 
herds grass, Mr. E. has lately sown thirty acres of the best of his flat land 
on Wardsfork. And as his meadows now yield a sufficiency of hay to sup¬ 
ply his. plantation, he expects to sell annually the produce of the thirty 
acres. He thinks our climate is well adapted to the growth of timothy 
and herds grass; and he has raised crops of hay as large, per acre, as the 
highest reported account of the produce, per acre, of any northern farm. 
The planters on Wardsfork, generally, have paid great attention to mea¬ 
dows. They have been very successful in reclaiming flat lands, that lie 
too low for constant cultivation, and putting them down in grass to mow. 
And there is a peculiarity about their mode of preparation of a scene for 
meadow, that is w'orthy of notice. Their meadow lands are all thrown up 
in beds, of the width of about twenty feet. I observed this management, 
particularly, on the plantation of Capt. Henry A. Watkins, who is a very 
successful cultivator of herds grass. 
The plantation under review, has been greatly improved by the applica¬ 
tion of putrescent manures. It is the subject to which the energies of the 
farmer are principally directed. The proprietor has entered upon this 
subject with great zeal and enthusiasm. If all the manure, raised on his 
farm, were applied 'o the tobacco crop, he thinks it would manure two hun¬ 
dred thousand tobacco hills, or the whole of the land cultivated in tobac¬ 
co. The leaves of the forest, swamp mud, alluvial deposite on the creek 
flats, the manure of the hog pen, of the stables, the farm yard, are all 
brought into requisition, to furnish their aid towards the permanent im¬ 
provement of the soil. During my last visit to Mr. E.’s plantation, I 
found him engaged in a new and interesting branch of his subject. He 
had selected a large section of the thinnest part of an enclosed field, for 
the purpose of applying upon it loam from his creek flat. The spot se¬ 
lected, on the creek, was an almost inexhaustible heap of rich loam, ma¬ 
ny feet deep. T’neie were two wagons, one team of mules, and two hands, 
engaged in hauling out this mud. While the driver was carrying off one 
load, the other hand filled the other wagon, which had no team attached 
to it, and as soon as the driver returned, he geared his mules to the wa¬ 
gon loaded in his absence, and left his own to be again loaded. By this 
process, an incredible quantity of mud could be carried out in a short time. 
The loaded wagon was drawn by fine strong mules. The loads were de¬ 
posited in heaps, of a load each, four or five yaids apart. Mr. E. inform¬ 
ed me that he had ordered an ox cart to be made, for the purpose of aid¬ 
ing in hauling out mud and other manure. He said, he had determined 
to set apart two hands, whole sole employment, through life, should be to 
make, collect, haul out md spread manure, except when their services 
were much needed in harvest, and on such days as they were prevented, 
inclement weather, ftom attending to their vocation. I asked him, if 
121 
he meant that the labor of these hands should substitute the labor of his 
field hands, in making and hauling out manure. He said not: and that he 
meant to double his exertions with his field hands on this subject. If Mr. 
E.’s success in future, be equal to his success in raising manure for the 
last two or three years, it requires but a simple calculation to prove that 
every acre ot land on his farm may be made rich in a few years. The ma¬ 
nure obtained from his hog yard, and the mud from his flat land are re¬ 
sources but seldom availed of in this section of country, and seem t o be 
deserving of attention by other farmers. Mr. E is not alone in his exer¬ 
tions to raise large quantities of manure. The subject begins to command 
that attention, generally, which it so justly merits. The information ob¬ 
tained on this subject, by the circulation of the Farmers’ Register, is con¬ 
vincing many of its great importance. Many farmers are asking the ques¬ 
tions—“ Why is it, that the farmers in the northern states, are reaping 
three or four thousand dollars nett profit, from farms of two hundred acres 
extent? Why is it, that many farms in France, of ten or fifteen hundred 
acres extent, support a thousand sheep and a proportionate number of neat 
cattle? Why is it, that the product of a Flemish acre exceeds the pro¬ 
duct of five of our best cultivated acres? Why is it that land in the inte¬ 
rior of the state of New-York, as far distant from the large markets as our 
interior, commands a price of from sixty to one hundred dollars, that was 
originally poorer than the tobacco districts of Virginia?” The answers to 
these questions, are, that they understand and practice the art of raisin* 
putrescent manures, and the artificial grasses. It is true, that such grea°t 
improvements have been partially effected by the application of mineral 
manures; but mineral manures are in the reach of more than half of the 
farmers of this state, and the resources for making putrescent manures 
are fully sufficient to employ the leisure time and energies of those who 
are deprived of the aid of mineral manures. 
Mr. E. defends, with great tenacity, his practice of suffering his corn 
stalks to remain on his fields, to be ploughed under with the wheat, in¬ 
stead of hauling them to his farm pen. His reasons, for this practice ’are 
that the stalks prevent his land from washing; that they benefit the’land’ 
to some extent, scattered as they are, through the field; that it is unne¬ 
cessary labor, to haul them up, because his supply of leaves is almost in¬ 
exhaustible, and he can haul a load of the latter, in as short a time as he 
can haul a load of stalks; and he considers the leaves fully as valuable 
But, notwithstanding the plausibility of this reasoning, I will hazard the 
opinion, that it is an error in management, not to haui corn stalks to the 
farm pen. The planter is almost compensated tor his labor in hauling 
them, by feeding them early to his stock. The loss from evaporation 
when they are suffered to stand, or, when badly covered by the plough’ 
(as they generally are,) is considerable; and, as an absorbent of the fugil 
live portion of the farm-pen manure, they answer a much better purpose 
than leaves.— Farmers' Register. f? 
OUTLINE OF THE FIRST PRINCIPLES OF HORTICULTURE 
BY JOHN BINDLEY, F. R. S., &C. &C. 
fruit— ( Continued from page 106.) 
231. As the latter substance cannot be obtained at all in the dark is 
less abundant in fruit ripened in diffused light, and most abundant in lruit 
exposed to the direct rays of the sun, the conversion of matter into surar 
occurs under the same circumstances as the decomposition of carbonic 
acid. (141 and 279 ) 
232. Therefore, if fruit be produced in situations much exposed to the 
sun, its sweetness will be augmented. 
233. And in proportion as it is deprived of the sun’s direct ravs that 
quality will diminish. J ’ 
234. So that a fruit which when exposed to the sun is sweet when 
grown where no direct light will reach it will be acid; as pears, cherries 
&c. ’ 
235. Hence acidity may be corrected by exposure to light; and exces¬ 
sive sweetness, or insipidity, by removal from light. 
236. It is the property of succulent fruits which are acid when wild to 
acquire sweetness when cultivated, losing a part of their acid. ’ 
237. This probably arises from the augmentation of the ceilular tissue 
which possibly has a greater power than woody or vascular tissue of as¬ 
sisting in the formation of sugar. 
23S. As a certain quantity of acid is essential to render fruit agreeable 
to the palate, and as it is the property of cultivated fruits to add°to their 
saccharine matter, but not to form more acid than when wild, if follows 
that in selecting wild fruits for domestication, those which are acid should 
be preferred, and those which are sweet or insipid rejected. 
239. Unless recourse is had to hybridism; when a wild insipid fruit 
maybe possibly improved, (204.) or may be the means of improving 
something else. 
240. It is very much upon such considerations as the foregoing that the 
ru.es of training must depend. 
IX. SEED. 
241. The seed is the ovulum arrived at perfection. 
242. It consists of an integument enclosing an embryo, which is the 
rudiment of a future plant. 
