The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1867-05-10
LETTER FROM prTERsBURG.
Correspondence 81 the hichmond Dispatch.
PETERSBURG, May s, 1867.

IETEkSBOhSs Auay ", @So'
The merry month Of May-so called
from time ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS anything
lint a cheerful aspect on the occasion OF It's
present advent. II Is too soon yet 10 iook
for the /" long season in May" so THAT we
NAV reasonably calculate on having wet
,,on,h. This Is much to be regretted on
account Of the wheat crop, which Is repre-
sented to be in an unusually fourishing
SonJ;tion. What the farmer most needs
CO.. the benefit Of his crop is cool, dry wea'
thar from the first Of this month TIL mar
rsst--a period Of about eight weeks.
esw showers are oil that is wanted. over
n,ucb rain fills the stalks and blades OF the
,iant with redundant sap, rendering it an
aasy nrey TO mildew and rust during the
10, davs from the 10th to the 10th OF June.
Or no crop can any certain yield be predi.
Gated with so little certainty as of wheat, till
the very moment when it is ready for the
reaper: and no plant requires such care
ful culture. 1t has, in fact, come TO De
almost an artificial production; and so Tar
az human agency can be exercised, the
most important conditions to success will
he found In the selection of the earliest va
rieties, and In the use OF such fertllizers as
promote the earliest maturity. III the sea-
sons have undergone change, as many
persons suppose, farmers must study 10
accommodate themselves to them. Ger
tain it is that the crop is more precarlous
than il was in old times but precarious as
II was. its cultivation, as being the most
important staff Of life, must always DC
kept up.
tered. a corresponding change Will nave 10
be made in our whole system OF agricui-
ture, especially in Southside Virginia.
Farmers must shake off their old haoits,
and no longer lean on cotton and tobacco,
as their chief crops, for support. Ihey
sbould take agricultural papers, and seek
for any means Of information to enable
them 10 meet the demands Of the times.
They must educate themselves to the new
order of things. Perhaps this generation
60 too much trammelled by old customs to
do il but whenever the advantages OF TINS
section of State, and indeed of all Eastern
Virginia, shall be duly appreciated, our
lands will be made to blossom as the rose.
No country admits Of greater diversity OF
crops and of fruits. All kinds of stock
cattle. sheep, and hogs-fouriShh here under
ordinary care. What is needed is farming
instead of planting. Cotton and tobacco
grow well enough, and command money !;
but they are such ravenous feeders as 10
dwarf every other plant cultivated under
the same management. All experience
Droyes that the farming districts OF the
State have been far more prosperous than
the planting; the farmer surrounds him-
self with home comforts and home luXu-
ries, while the planter, though he may pos
sibly handle more money, has to purchase
all these things or 60 without them: ne
does not create them. The greatest farmer
Of all the upper James River country-the
late Richard Sampson--eschewed the cul-
ture of tobacco at any price, because II
interfered with his plans of Improvement.
Not that cotton and tobacco are TO be
wholly rejected on soils adapted to their
prowth-the wants of the world forbid 1t;
but let them be made subsidiary to regu-
lar system of agricultural improvements.
Yesterday evening, when Mr.. Gee, the
city TAILOR, was going the rounds among
the cells of the Jail TO see that everything
was right, one of the prisoners, by the
name of Stevens, endeayored to make his
escape by rushing out of the door, Selling
the TAILOR, and endeavoring to wrest his
pistol from him. Mr.. Gee, by great exer-
ton, frustrated the attempt, and shot the
prisoner through the body. This morning
he died. An inquest was held over his
body to-day, when the jury not only &C
Quilted Mr.. Gee of all blame, but paid a
high tribute to his GOODNESS and determine
fion. =.