The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1852-01-24

/ DuliulhE anu ltHClliS. ne OI]tH uH-
cultivated part is covered with grass av-
eraging 1000 pounds to the acre, pala-
table and nutritious to horses and other
stock. Last year sixty acres yielded
sixty heavy bales of cotton, and the
best acres of the corn land seventy-six
bushels.
This work was accomplished by Irish
ditche:s. Negroes, it is said, could
have done it cheaper; but, governed by
the maxim 'ne sUtor ulra crepidam,"
| confined the black man to the cultiya-
ton Of the staple commodities. An
Irish ditcher, brought up in locality
not larger than pigsty, with rotten
potato for his breakfast, yoke upon his
neck, and a taX-gatherer in his pocket,
is to be excused if his RELISH for liberty
be Keen and his devotion to that god
dess profound and sincere. " y
When properly schooled IN little els
Atlantic adversely, he becomes the finest
laborer in the world. The railroads he
has built, the canals he has dug, the bogs
he has drained, the embankments he has
thrown up, the pestilence he has driven
forth, bespeak the magnitude and value
of his services, and furnish to his adopt
ed country a satisfactory remuneration
for his eccentriciies and turbulence. If
time should continue to roll on, and the
hog-trottcr of Erin be laid low, history,
in filling up her pages, will be compel
led to admit that he welded the Spade
with more adroitness than the sceptre,
and that his achievements as ditcher
immeasurcably transcend all Ills efforts
as po/,tictan.
In the open uncultivated part of Mob
ly'S Pond there are several hundred
acres Of peat from twelve to tlirty-slx
inches deep, resting on bed OF blue
clay; at first | had great misgivings in
in regard TO this peat land, and thought
OF using it exclusively for pasture and
manure. This year | planted seventy
acres OF it in corn. With a knife
plough, similar to the blade of coulter;
cut the land both ways every twelve
inches to the depth of the cane grass
roots, followed the same furrow with a
bull tongue, and bursted up in every d.
rection square blocks of peat. After
being exposed to the sun and made dry,
these were fired and burnt. By this
means the formidable roots of the cane
grass were eradicated and a coat of ash
es secured. In the spring, ridges were
thrown up, the corn planted, and up to
tins time ! very much question whether
in all Georgia there is better field of
grain.
Several hundred acres of this pond
are appropriated to pasture. The grass
IN many places is breast high and the
mowers pronounce it equal to any spec
linens in New England TO me it is a
panorama, to use big word transcend
ingly beautiful. Unfortunately do
not reside on my plantation, but when |
60 there, (Which is often,) and look
around on that plain OF velvet, become
dreamy and imaginative, and fancy it to
be the finest meadow east of the Buffalo
pralries. When | behold the cattle
browsing on the rank grass, and cotton
and corn springing from soil which
Tor ages generated malaria and monsters,
enjoy the landscape with as much
g"Sto as ever Archimedes did his solu-
ton ofthe problem of the King of SYRIA
cuse, or Sardanapalus his dinner on
bulllrogs,
independent Of this, | have drained
on the same premises some fifteen other
ponds, all OF which are productive, and
one OF which, embracing a hundred
acres, is worth, in the opinion of some
Carolina gentlemen who have visited it,
two hundred dollars to the acre.
Mobly's Pond is no longer ar eycsore,
but Pygnalion's clay mctamorrhosed
into beautiful woman. 1t throws out
its wealth from centre to circumfer-
ence, yielding materials for building
and fencing, pasture for cattle, hay for
work horses, and corn and cotton which
would not disgrace the banks of the Mis-
sissippi.
Has your humble servant accomplish
ed anything in the premises worthy of
your time and trouble in wading through
this letter F! Is it not something to in
troduce health where previously malig-
nant fevers prevailed ! If St. Patrick
became saint for banishng snakes
from Ireland, and Hercules demi-god
for cleansing the Augean stables and
driving wild beasts from the mountains
ofLybia, may not your humble servant
take little comfort to himself for root.
ing out one of the strongholds of pesti-
lence, and converting a vast quagmire
into fruitful field
W. w. SrARKE.