risk, is the only good evidence of price and payment; and in the opinion of the committee, ought in all ordinary cases to be required as evidence of Promotions in the United States' Navy, on the 27th

rowed in with the grain of all kinds; this is more ten years ago would not produce more than ten absolutely necessary when the land is exhausted, bushels of corn per acre. I ploughed it up and as it aids and nourishes the sprout immediately sowed it with rye and one bushel of plaister per on its coming up, when it stands most in need; acre; in February I sowed it with clover seed some roll their grain in plaister; my plan has and one bushel of plaister; at harvest I cut 16 been, for one hand to sow the grain, while another bushels of rye per acre; the spring following I follows to scatter the plaister, at the rate of one sowed it again with one bushel of plaister, and bushel to the acre; where there are two or three mowed that season two tons of hay to the acre, harrows it requires two hands, but with one har- and made 33 busbels of clover seed from the serow a single person is sufficient for both opera-cond crop; the spring following I sowed it again, tions, as he would first sow the grain and then the || with plaister as before, and cut that year two and plaister. On winter grain I would repeat another an half tons of hay-I then ploughed up the sebushel per acre, the last of February or the first cond crop and sowed it with wheat, which proof March: this would not be necessary after theduced 21 bushels per acre. I then ploughed up first year, or after your lands were once plaister-the wheat stubble and sowed with rye, which proed, then only sow plaister with the grain. Iduced me 25 and an half bushels per acre; the would recommend harrowing in every kind of spring following I gave it a dressing of manure, grain, and be sure to have your lands harrowed ploughed it up and planted it in corn, first roll. the first time, the way it was ploughed. This ing the seed in plaister, and when it got up about will level your ploughing, whereas if you harrow six inches high, I sowed it broadcast with plaiscross ways it turns up your furrows. It is not ne- ter at the rate of one bushel per acre, off of which cessary to put grain in deep, as a proof, put in I gathered 323 barrels of corn, (equal to 30 bushsome grain six inches deep, it will come up after els per acre) the next spring I sowed it with two or three weeks, examine and you will find spring barley, (oats would equally prosper) which the main root from which it took its growth gone, yielded 32 bushels per acre, which I sold in and new roots near the surface of the earth suc-Georgetown at 1 dollar 50 cents per bushel; afceed-it only requires to be covered. Rye is the best crop to improve land and at the same time to raise clover, clover seed ought to be sowed on the rye in February. Rye is the most valuable to raise on exhausted land; its growth is rapid in the spring, secures the clover from the scorching sun, shades the earth, and acts so as to nourish and replenish the land; it is the most certain crop, and as it makes more straw than any other grain, the farmer is enabled to make more and the best manure; by proper management this grain can be used in every shape, by having it properly ground and the best flour separated, it will make good bread, and the balance will make good feed for any kind of stock. It is the best grain for work horses, and is valuable to fatten hogs, but upon this suggestion I expect a host of prejudices against me, experience however, has taught me not to give way. For example, say you have a pen of hogs with water running through || it, to which you give every day one barrel of corn; in this pen you will lose all the manure, as it will be carried off by every rain; you have another pen upon dry land, well littered with long Plough up the sod completely in April, harrow rye straw; after every rain the hogs will cut it it well the same way that it is ploughed, then up short and make their beds neat, if you have not furrow it quite shallow, barely to make a furstraw, leaves will be an excellent substitute; let row to plant your corn, be sure not to disturb the the number of hogs be equal in both pens; to bottom of your sod, when the corn gets up about those in the second pen feed only half a barrel of six inches, harrow it well and plough quite shalcorn and two bushels of chopt rye; have two low; your corn will not look so promising at first, hogsheads near your pen, into which put every until the roots penetrate the sod, it will then day the two bushels of chopt rye and have them grow rapidly and will not suffer from drought; as filled up with water and stirred, let it stand twen- the sod if left down will retain its moisture: all ty-four hours before used, give this to the hogs the work given corn should be before harvest and instead of water; by having two hogsheads, by in no case should corn be followed with winter the time one is used the other will be fit; keep grain; if you can give your corn ground a dressup the hogs in both pens the same time, and when ing of manure, I would sow it with oats, then killed you will find those in the dry pen will plough up the oats and sow wheat, plough down weigh ten per cent. heavier, and if I had my the stubble, then sow rye, then clover seed, let choice of the pork I should prefer it; besides the the clover remain two years, which would be makmanure will be valuable the ensuing year. You ing four crops in six years. If you have not macan safely winter your sheep upon your rye fields nure to dress your corn ground, fallow it the next without the least injury to it-and with the great-year for wheat, plough down the stubble, sow rye, est advantage to your sheep-I generally let my sheep run on my rye fields until the last of March. I have a field which contains twenty acres, which ||

ter cutting the barley I ploughed down the stubble and sowed it with wheat at the rate of one and an half bushels per acre; and one bushel of plaister. This crop yielded me 33 and an half bushels per acre; I then ploughed down my stubble and sowed down in rye, which I cut last summer and is now in the straw, and from which I think I shall get at least 30 bushels per acre; I sowed it last February with clover seed and intend mowing it the ensuing season. I have made this statement to prove that the only sure mode of improving land is by a regular routine of cropping. You will observe I did not sow this field every year with plaister, nor is it necessary; lands once well plaistered do not need it, as its virtue will not be lost in less than seven years; owing to the scarcity and high price of plaister, for the last two years I may say I have used none, and I do not believe I suffered for the want of it. Corn cropping ought to be avoided as much as possible upon exhausted lands, unless they become soddy, then they may be tended with advantage, both to the soil and cultivator.

then clover seed; be sure never to plough your stubble but once, leaving all covered you possibly can, harrow in all your grain as I have before ob

From the Richmoud Daily Compiler.

AGRICULTURAL AND COMMERCIAL.

served; when you plough down clover for wheat clover seed per acre, which ought to be done on be sure to do it as neatly as possible, the seed rye in February-one and a half bushels of wheat, turned under will lie the first year without sprout-the last week in September or the first week in ing-this ought to be done between the middle of October-one bushel of rye the second or third August and September; after harvest plough down' week in September-two bushels of barley or oats your wheat stubble, sow rye, and the clover seed as soon as the spring will admit. I have been thus turned under the year before by being brought to full in giving my opinion; you can adopt as you the surf ce, will come up so thick as to need lit-may think adviseable; should any thing I have tle seed if any at all. In short when the ground || said prove of advantage, I shall feel myself well is well set with clover you'll scarcely ever be rewarded. compelled to sow more seed; my plan has been to raise a crop of wheat and rye, then let it lie one year in clover, then wheat and rye again, that is to make two crops every two years on the same land, except when I put corn and manure, then I generally take four or five crops running before I give it rest-and would in no case advise land to he in clover more than one or two years. The best mode of saving manure when it is scarce and can only be applied to the corn hill, is to keep it in a close heap, to become well rotted; but if you can save enough to give the ground a topdressing, I would prefer hauling it out in the raw state, and let it pass through putrefaction where it is to act; in this way your land will receive the whole benefit; if it is left in the barn yard every rain will wash away the best of the substance.

I have for some years given my fields a topdressing in the poorest places, whenever the grounds were sufficiently frozen to go on them without injury.

||

Exports of Staples.

Mr. Gallatin, while he was at the head of the Treasury, classed the exports of domestic growth, produce, and manufacture, into four divisions— 1st. The produce of the sea. 28. The produce of the forest. 3d. The produce of agriculture.

4th. Manufactures; and those which are uncer

tain.

With the latter we have as yet nothing to do, as we have confined our views, for the present, to the staple articles of the country; the products of the soil, or the water.

At the very first mention of the name, we are carried back to New-England. The sea is a sort of classic ground on which the fisherman of the north delights to rove. We feel at once that we are descanting on one of the staples of the northern States,

The principal products of the sea are drawn from the fisheries of the cod and the whale-the river fisheries, as those of the herring, the shad, the salmon, mackarel, &c. though very useful here and there, (as, for instance, the shad from bosom of the James River,) are not large enough to enter into any general view of our commercial exports.

Mr. Pitkin, in his "statistical view of the commerce of the United States of America, in cón. nection with agriculture and manufactures," has adopted the same analytical divisions; which are Manure may be called the farmers gold mine, useful, not only for the arrangement of our own and ought to be saved in every shape and manner. ideas, but as they give us a birds-eye view of the To increase the quantity, your stables should be || various pursuits and callings of our fellow citizens. kept well littered with straw; to have stables for 1st. The Products of the Sea. your stock is equally important to preserve them during the winter and to accumulate manure; with such protection good hay will keep them in good order. A farmer should always proportion his stock to his means for substituting them, and never overstock himself-as one horse well fed will do more work than two badly fed; one cow well fed will give more milk than two badly fed, and one good sheep more wool than two bad ones-In fine, nothing which a farmer keeps upon his farm, from his horse to his dog, should suffer for foodto make his farm profitable he should make a lit-the tle of every thing to sell; he should not fix his mind upon one object of profit alone-Corn or hay I would not attempt to make for sale upon exhausted lands; after they are restored you may add the sale of corn and hay to a small extent. A farmer should be certain to have his work done in a proper manner, bis ploughing finished and grain sowed in due time and season. When a farmer gets his lands in proper cultivation he ought to make 1000 bushels of grain to the hand, taking into calculation every kind he raises; in harvest and hay making he will be compelled to hire hands to save the crop.-During the last seven years I have worked five hands the year round, and my crops (in- || cluding every kind of grain) have averaged five thousand bushels; this may be doubted; the reader may judge as he pleases, but I am bound to state the truth-our land holders who have most in their power trust too much to others, they should trust to their own judgment, and see that their plans are properly executed. The best ploughs for land clear of stone are made by Chenoweth of Baltimore, if the land is stoney and rough I would recommend Ogle's. On lands that have not been clovered I would sow one gallon of

The Cod fishery-from the very cradle, has been of great interest to the supply of Massachusetts and New-Hampshire. Situated more in the proximity of the shoals of cod, which swarm along the banks of Newfoundland, they have turned their attention to this source of subsistence and wealth

the ship builder has been encouraged in his art; thousands of hardy seamen have been reared in this nursery of his profession.

Mr. John Adams, whose heart, amidst all its foibles, has beat high for the interests and glory of his country, was so aware of the importance of the cod-fishery, that he refused to sign the treaty of '83 until the right was expressly reserved to* the people of the United States "to take fish of every kind, on the Grand Bank, and on all the other banks of Newfoundland; also in the Gulph of St. Lawrence, and at all other places in the sea, where the inhabitants of both countries used at any time to fish;" with the liberty, also, of fishing on such part of the coast of Newfoundland, as British fishermen used; and also on the coasts, bays, and creeks of all the other parts of the British domi

and within a few miles of the Allegany Mountains. || Great Falls? It would be but 8 miles, over a fine This part of the river, in low water, has a gentle soil for a good road, and the carriage of produce current, except on the shoals, which abound in || by land at that place, would be little more than Upper Roanoke; though none of them present the tollage on canal navigation, where the water any serious obstructions to improvement. must be let down 100 feet by locks. If trading houses were established at that place, and the produce of the upper country could be sold there at a fair price, it would be immediately carried that far, but no farther. The highland boats will not

From the Eastern side of the Blue Ridge to the Seven Islands, near the mouth of the Great Falling || River, the Staunton presents a bolder aspect in the number and difficulty of its falls and shoals, || some of which, in low water, cannot now be pas-navigate Lower Roanoke to the Sound, owing to sed by loaded boats with safety, and one is entirely impassable; but a small addition to the amount already expended in its improvement, would render it perfectly safe at all times, whether the river tide was high or low.

the distance being too great for such unceasing bodily exertions-the sickliness of that climate, and an unskilfulness in propelling boats with oarsif they were willing to extend their voyage, their boats are not of the proper structure; being open, The Staunton, after passing the Seven Islands, they would not, when loaded, live on rough water. having received a considerable accession of water You have a more useful boat now navigating that from its northern and southern sides, becomes river from the foot of the Great Falls to Albedeeper, more gentle in its current, and has fewer marle Sound, and thence through the Dismal shoals-none, even at low water, to obstruct the Swamp Canal to Norfolk; their burthen is from passage of boats with five tons weight, to its junc- 25 to 30 tons, which is all they can bear on the tion with Dan river. After the union of the Staun- Canal in its present shape-But if that Canal was ton and Dan, the name "Roanoke" is resumed,|| deepened, their burthen might be doubled withand the connection produces one of the most beau-out much increase of bulk, and still not draw too tiful and noble rivers on the east of the Allegany great a depth of water for Lower Roanoke. Mountains, until it precipitates itself with awful grandeur down the Great Falls into the plains below. Here its beauty and "the sound of its many waters" are lost. It creeps on sluggishly in a narrow, crooked channel, through cypress swamps, to the distance of 100 miles, where it suddenly spreads itself again into a broad and beautiful river, to meet the Chowan, forming together the head of Albemarle Sound.

This is but a general and imperfect description|| of this beautiful river; from its source to its mouth, being little short of 300 miles in length, and watering with its tributary streams, at least fifteen millions of acres of as fertile land as any on the Atlantic waters.

The principal obstacle to the navigation of this river is the Great Falls in the state of North Carolina. They are 12 miles from head to foot, and in that distance descend 100 feet, which is 8 feet 4 inches to the mile. On the south side of the river, the distance by land would be 8 miles, with a descent of 12 feet 6 inches per mile.

It might here be observed, that Norfolk presents to the high land agriculturist bordering on the Roanoke and its tributary streams a brighter pros pect for its marketable produce, than any seaport we have, or perhaps can have, on tide water. From Albemarle Sound there can be four great avenues for transportation to Norfolk, besides the great contemplated canal from the falls of Roanoke to Meherrin, Bennett's Creek, Lake Drum. mond and the Dismal Swamp canal, which route does not touch the sound.

an, a communication may be had also with Nansemond River, and thence to Norfolk.

First-A middle route up the Pasquotank, the Dismal Swamp canal, and down the Elizabeth river, already in use. Second-from Albemarle Sound, through Currituck Sound, the North River, and down Elizabeth river. On this route a canal of only 8 miles in length* will have to be cut between the navigable waters on each side, through a fine plain, not exceeding four feet in its greatest elevation. Third-from Albemarle Sound up the Chowan River, Bennett's Creek, Lake Drummond, and the Dismal Swamp canal. On this There are two or three ways of rendering the route only a short canal will be required in addifalls navigable; by canals and locks, or by adher-tion to the present one. Fourth-from the Chowing to the bed of the river.-Canals, when made, are preferable, because they can be navigated at all times without danger or difficulty-but the ex- Where so many good communications are prepense of making canals in some places would be sented for selection, it is difficult for the mind to greater than what the tollage ought to justify; and give a preference; it must not confine itself to the I am led to believe that a canal round these falls present state of the Roanoke and the Sound, nor would not, in many years, reimburse, by mode- that of the extensive country watered by their trirate tollage, the expense of constructing it.-The butary streams; but it must look forward to that cheapest and most expeditious plan would be to period, when the whole of these waters shall beadhere to the bed of the river, a considerable por- come navigable, and when that new spring to intion of which consisting of still sheets of water, or dustry shall excite in the human heart an addihaving a gentle current, is already navigable. || tional thirst for gain, exhibited in a more general This mode would reduce the actual distance to be and ingenious cultivation of the soil, the manageimproved to only a small portion of the 12 miles.- ment of fisheries, of tar, of turpentine, and lumThe rapid part of the falls should have straight ber of all descriptions. Of these articles you export sluices for descending boats, and for those ascend- from the Sound annually to the amount of 2,500,ing, diagonal sluices crossing from the bottom to 000 dollars; but what will be the exports when the top of the falls, which would lessen their de- that fine country shall have arrived at its greatest clivity, and thereby greatly facilitate the passage population-when improvements in agricultureof ascending boats. when the very hills and mountains shall be embowelled, and their metals and minerals are num

As an immediate trade down the Roanoke is so much wished for by the high land people, why not, for the present, have a land carriage at the

* From North Landing to Kempsville.