On the plantations, the saying was that a planter should have 50 acres for every working hand. Only four or five acres of this fifty could be cultivated by the hand if the crop were corn or tobacco. Sometimes the timber from the uncleared land was turned into money by harvesting it as lumber, especially in the winter, when work in the fields was at a minimum. At the same time, a secondary objective might be to clear more ground to replace exhausted fields.
The exhausted ground was often used to run cattle, that would naturally fertilize it; however, this ground could not be used to grow tobacco again until the cattle had been off of it for some years. It was found that the tobacco grown in the fields where the cows had run was strong and not "sweet" tasting. It was to be avoided.
Different techniques were used to clear ground. The favored English method was to fell the tree about three feet above the ground. By cutting it high, it tended to sucker less. If the wood in the tree was useful, they took it off, and then burned the rest on the site. If the fallen logs were difficult to burn, they let them lie on the ground and hoed up the ground around the stumps and the logs. There was little need for the plow; in fact, it would not be useful, with all of the tree roots that were in the ground. This field was enclosed with a fence of cleft rails. Both tobacco and corn were planted in the ground in much the same manner, using a small mound of earth to plant the seed (or to set out the young tobacco plant).
Sometimes the trees were not felled, but merely girdled to kill them. The trees died leaving the leafless branches, much as it would appear in the winter time. Crops were planted among the dead trees.
To judge by the practice in Pennsylvania, the Germans prepared their fields differently. They rooted out the stumps, or burned them so that the field was clear. Then they could use a plow. One difference in attitude was that the Germans regarded a field as a permanent thing. By careful husbandry, they expected the field to last forever. It is not clear what the Germans in Virginia did. Did they follow their native inclination, or did they copy the practice of the English settlers who had developed their own way? One observer did note that the Germans could make a stone blossom with their crops.
Corn represented food, and tobacco represented money, and, in fact, tobacco
was
money. Virginia seems to have grown more corn than was grown in Pennsylvania. It was found to be useful food for the bound servants. It was a staple of their diet. Less corn (maize) was grown in Pennsylvania, where the small grains predominated. Again, the Germans there were following the native practices. Again, we have the question of what did the Germans in Virginia do? I would guess that they tried to do the things with which they were familiar.
(16 May 01)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.