The entries provide little insight into Ruffin's family or social life, with the exception of a few pages, dated 1866, which pertain to his family's experiences during the Union occupation of Virginia. In these and later entries, Ruffin freely discussed his feelings on the actions of Union forces during the war and the freedmen's postwar political activities in Hanover County. Some information can be gleaned from the journal on slaves at Beechwood. Ruffin on occasion remarked on the health of slaves, mentioned births and deaths, and described their wholesale abandonment of his plantations once Union soldiers arrived. Entries in the journal are fullest for the period January 1851 to May 1861.
Later entries lessen considerably in frequency and somewhat in detail.
Jr. Ruffin's entries for January 1851 to May 1861 document work done on his Beechwood plantation. He began growing tobacco in 1859. Frequent mention appears of experiments Ruffin conducted in rotating and fertilizing his crops to maximize production and to control the growth of wiregrass in his fields. He also discussed the draining and grubbing of his land, the construction of farm buildings, planting in his orchards, and the performance of machinery, mostly reapers and thrashers, he purchased. Entries between 1866 and 1873 document similar activities at Marlbourne.