Improvement of Land. 195 



The foregoing letter is published, for the encouragement of those who 

 live on worn and exhausted lands. Some persons thus situated have late- 

 ly written to the society ; some in the part of the country wherein Mr. A. 

 lives, and most probably on the same kind of land. They alledged that 

 they could not procure dung, that plaister woidd not operate, and that 

 Ihne was too dear Let them follow the example oi Xhc'iv felloiv country- 

 man. But the mixing of lime while the vegetable substances are putrefy- 

 ing, is a mistake. It had better be put on tlie land ; or if it must be min- 

 gled with tlie manure, let it be after the fermentation is ovei*. The de- 

 sponding correspondents of the society, were advised to adopt the follow- 

 ing epitome of good husbandry. Some of Mr. A's corn stalks might have 

 been cut by a machine now much used, and given to the stock. 



The advice given to these farmers of worn land, is familiar to every 

 careful husbandman. 



1. If no water be in yoitr barn yard— dig a well ; and confine your stock 

 from November to May : never permitting tliem to wander after water, or 

 the provender of the stalk field, or miserable fogg of the fields, in which 

 they empty themselves and scatter their dung-, instead of filling them- 

 selves either for profit or osconomy. Let not a hoof unnecessarily leave 

 your yard. 



2. Haul into the yard, every putrescible substance you can get ; .ind 

 when proper, clean up the yard, and have a pen for your maniu-e, both from 

 the yard and stables, inaccessible to cattle or horses ; whose poaching or 

 treading prevents fermentation, and is highly injurious Mix earth \^itli 

 your litter, rather than lime. 



3 Plough your fields in the fall, seven inches deep. But plough no mo^e 

 than you can maniue ; and let the rest lie* waste, till you can do it justice. 

 Buy li'ine .-—if you cannot reach two acres, be content with one. Move 

 your fences, and plough up their sites. Mix leaves, weeds and idl putre- 

 fiable substances, in long and low beds ; so as to be turned by the plough, 

 and become excellent compost. For this piu-pose also, go into your woods, 

 and, with leaves and wood soil, make beds of compost of tliese materials, 

 as well as ot' the mould in low places, into which it has washed, or has 

 been deposited by ponds of water, or rains and Hoods. 



4. Lime your tall ploughed fallow with forty bushels to the acre. Plant 

 indian corn ; put conpost on the hills, a.i\d plaister t\\Q corn. 



5. After the corn is gathered ; cut your stalks, and havd them to your 

 yard. Plough again for a winter fallow. Your ploughing (except for seed) 

 shovdd never be less than five to seven inches deep. 



6. In the spring hari'ow in buckiuheat, to be rolled and ploughed in when 

 in full blossom, with an East Jersey plough without a coulter, or any other, 

 that will not choak. 



7. Put on what dung you have made, and plough it in with your seed. 

 Your compost will now be fit for top dressing yowi' laheat ; which is to be 

 the crop of this j ear ; and sow no more than you can manure. 



8. On the wheat sow clover seed— and the succeeding spring— plaister 

 the clover. All this can be accomplished in two or three years. When 

 you have perfectly learned this al[)habet, you will get into habits that will 

 enable yQuto teach, instead of requiring instruction 



9. When your old fields have inert vegetable matter (as is the case with 

 most old fields) plaister them, to throw up pasture, and encrease your 

 stock by this additional subsistence. 



10. Never sow in a foul or weedy fallow, to save a ploughing ; or on a wet 

 one to save time. Avoid oats and exhausting crops— and never stubble in, 

 or let one chaffy-husked, or culmifcrous crop'immediately follow another. 



11 Change your crops, and destroy weeds; or they will destroy \ou. Turn 

 a foe into a friend, by turning tliem into manure. Explore your'own, and 

 the neighbovu-ing farms, for marie, clay, peat, earths, or"substanccs for 

 experiment on your fields. Be not discouraged by failure, but persist in 

 essays, on a small scale, till vou succeed. 



