The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1874-08-01

fCorresp,u,ience 0Yffe Richmond Dfspatch.l
- PnosrEcr, y 4. July 90, 1874:
The gentle and frequent showers OF the
last few days have put afne " face upon veg
citation and q smile upon the countenance
ST man. The wilted corn DO longer TROOPS
it's sickly head, and the pastures, made bare
nv the long-continued drouth, are begin
ming to look green.
The season for planting tobacco. though
late, is the best the planter has bad this year.
Plants, however, are few, and generally not
sufficient to supply the losses made by the
drouih. Many are the coDjectures in regard
TO the area Of tobacco planted this year. 1t
is difficult to estimate the standing crop
some who usually plant 100000 hills have
planted none, some half crop, and some
less and some more-and much of what has
been planted has died out. Very few farnl-
ers in this county have put in afull crop.
Most of them have standings far below the
average. Hlnds who have been hired
by the year in many Instances have
little or nothing to do, and their employers
are willing to part with them upon easy
terms. Owing to the universal failure IN
plants throughout the United States, farmers
are now encouraged to continue their plant
ings into August, hoping for high prices next
year. Under just such circumstances as
these many years ago crops were piantea ID
August and sold for $15 round, including
Tugs.
The use Of guano has injured the reputa-
ton of Virginia tobacco in the foreign mar
kets. Large crops have been made upon thin
land. and the tobacco lacked substance. Ear
different in the olden time. Lots were kept
purposely for tobacco, with wheat and grass
rotations, and MANFRED heavily with farm
pen and stable manure. In those day there
we're many pound-plants; now it takes four
and five, and often ten plants, when stripped
and cured to make pound. Farmers must
90 back to the old syStem-make but little
tobacco and make that good.
The chnch-bug has appeared in consldera-
BILE numbers in this neigbborhood, and many
apprehensions exist as to what damage these
unwelcome visitors may do and how long
they may stay. There is a tradition that in
1880 the chinch-bug destroyed almost every
living thing that they usually feed upon.
Corn, wheat, oats, and the grass OF the pas.
lures fell prey to the devouriDS pests, and
the good old people of those days looked WIFI
dread to the coming year. The next year
came, but the little bugs did not return.
Where they went no one knows, but they
staid away many years. In the memory of
men now living the years Of 1S35-'39 are
known as dreadful chnch-bug years. An
impending famine seemed at the doors OF
the people. Like the locusts of Egypt,
the chinch-bug left the track of destruction
in their march. Large fields of heavy corn
we're bowed to the ground, the small grain
crops were bighted as if fire had passed
over them, and the stock iu the pastures died
for. the want OF food. BreadstutfS were
scarce, and the means of distant transportai'
ton were inadequate to the demand for food.
| The farmer, the merchant, the mechanic, all
looked with dread to the coming year; but,
strange to say, to the surprise of all, nothing
was seen of the pests that year or for many
wears after. Thomas Jefferson said that IL
ever famine should come upon this country
| it would be produced by chinch-bug. 1t Is
| to be hoped his prediction is not going to be
| verified in these hard times. h..