OROAtfIC MANURES. r,f. 



they are to be accomplished. Lands in many of our Eastern 

 vStates, which have been worn out by improvident cultivation, 

 and unsalaeble at $10 an acre, have by this means, while 

 steadily remunerating their proprietors for all the outlay of 

 labor and expense by their returning crops, been brought up 

 in value to $50. 



The full benefits of green crops seems only to be realized 

 where there is sufficient calcareous matter in the soil. Cal- 

 careous soils, or such as have a large proportion of lime, 

 however they may have become exhausted, when put under 

 a thorough course of treatment in which green crops at 

 proper intervals are returned to them, are soon restored to 

 fertility ; and when lime does not exist in the soil, the appli- 

 cation of it in the proper manner and quantity will produce 

 the same effect. Gypsum and ashes are the best substitutes, 

 when lime or marl is difficult to be procured. 



This system of improvement varies with almost every indi- 

 vidual who practices it, according to the quality of his land, 

 the kind of crops to be raised, the facility of procuring 

 manures, the luxuriance of particular crops, &c. We shall 

 state merely the general principles in this, as in most other 

 subjects, and leave to the farmer's judgment to apply them 

 according to his circumstances. It is always better to com- 

 mence this system while the land is in good condition, as a 

 luxuriant growth of vegetation is as profitable for turning in 

 as for cropping. Buckwheat, rye, and some of the grasses, 

 have been much used for this purpose in this country ; and 

 spurry, the white lupine, the vetch and rape in Europe ; but 

 for the Northern portion of the Union, nothing has been 

 hitherto tried which is so well fitted for the object as red 

 clover. 



CLOVER FOR GREEN MANURES. This is suited to all 

 soils that will grow anything profitably, from sand, if possess- 

 ing an adequate amount of fertility, to the heaviest clay if 

 drained of its superfluous water. The seed is cheap, its 

 growth certain and rapid, and the expense of its cultivation 

 trifling, while the return on a kindly soil and with proper 

 treatment is large. Added to this and very much increasing- 

 its merits, is the abundance of its long tap rootg, which pene- 

 trate the ground to a great depth and break up the stiff soils 

 in a manner peculiarly beneficial to succeeding crops. The 

 material yielded by the roots and stubble, is of itself equal to 

 a good dressing of manure. It has the further advantage of 

 giving two or more years growth from one sowing, and of 



