136 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 8 



not been in that or any other hoed crop for 12 years 

 — and to this circumstance Mr. Carter ailribufes 

 what the present crop has suflered. The firsi 

 youngcorn,over nearly tiie whole field (160 acres,) 

 was attacked by the bud-worm — which devours 

 the bud oi" the plant, or the inner leaves bel()re 

 they are visible — and thus destroys the growinir 

 principle, and all promise of alter increase, while 

 the outer leaves are left untouched. So much 

 was thus destroyed, or (^reatly injured, that Ibrty- 

 five acres, in one compact body, were ploughed 

 up, and again planted — and ot a large portion of 

 the balance of the field, the greater part was re- 

 planted; and of many acres of this, Mr. Carter 

 thinks that it would have been better also to have 

 ploughed up all the first planting; and of a part, 

 he is still doubting whether it should not be done, 

 late as it now is fur another planting. But this is 

 for the second, more ihan the first attack of insects. 

 This is a new kind — or at least not belure observed 

 as a destructive enemy to corn. It is a very small 

 beetle, about the eighth of an inch in length, ot' a 

 brown color, except a white stripe running length- 

 wise on each of the wing cases. Its hinder legs 

 are formed like those of a grass-hopper, and it 

 leaps like a flea — the wing? being rarely used, un- 

 less perhaps to assist its leaps. These bugs ap- 

 peared in myriads, and led upon, or sucked the 

 juices of every part of the plants. The piece of 

 45 acres suffered so much under their visitation, 

 that it was again necessary to plough it up, and 

 to plant it tlirouu:hout a third time — and this young 

 third crop is now about three or ibur inches high, 

 while some of the best corn in the field is breast 

 high. It is to be hoped that these devastations 

 are now over, as very i'ew of the bugs (or "corn 

 fleas") are now to be found. The injury to, and 

 inevitable diminution of the crop, must be very 

 great. This field, once yielded an average of 

 twenty-seven bushels of wheat to the acre, of 

 which the part on clover fallow was so much supe- 

 rior to that after corn, that it was supposed that 

 the former made nearly if not quite thirty-five 

 bushels; and Mr. C. supposes that its fertility now 

 would (without any disaster occurring) suffice for 

 an average product of 8 to 10 barrels of corn. The 

 loss that will be certainly sulfered in this crop, will 

 be a heavy offset against the advantages of the 

 rotation, as it stood before the introduction of a corn 

 crop. 



But parts of the field of corn are as striking for 

 its miiform luxuriance of growth, and great prom- 

 ise of product, as otlier parts are lor the reverse. 

 The soil is a brown loam, of all shades from sandy lo 

 clayey loam. The lightest parts of the field suffered 

 comparatively but little from the attacks of the in- 

 sects. The season, so far, has been very unfavora- 

 ble to the growth of corn — Irom long-continued 

 drought untd very lately, and from unusual and 

 continued cold since the rains fijll, as well as often 

 before. On this account, but little corn through 

 the country, even on the best parts of fields will 

 now average knee high — while the best of the 

 Shirley field will average waist hiiih, and many 

 stalks are more than breast high. The best of all 

 is on the ground covered with marl a few years 

 ago, (brought by water from Coggin's Point,) 

 twelve miles distant, at only 200 bushels the acre. 

 This is the land refi^rred to by Mr. Carter, in the 

 private letter from which an extract will be given in 

 another page oi this No., and to see which, 



was the main object of this hasty visit of mine. 

 Having requested, and been promised by Mr. Car- 

 ter, a particular statement of Itis experiment, and 

 the apparent profits, I shall say no more of it here 

 — except, that, though the application was made 

 under such disadvantageous circutnstances as to 

 cost him the very high price ol'^ 10 per acre in pay- 

 ment for digfring, water carriage, and landinir, and 

 perhaps i^2 more (.'§12 in all,) in labor, that the 

 nett profits of two crops probaljly, and certainly of 

 a single course of the rotation, will fully repay the 

 expenditure, leaving the land higltly and perma- 

 nently improved. This cost of marling is about as 

 much as every emigrant from Virginia to the west 

 pays in labor, per acre, for the mere clearing the 

 Ibrest growth ti-um his new land — though he may 

 have bought the land as low as ^1 2-5. But that 

 expense is either scarcely counted as any thing, or 

 is entirely overlooked, in the highly wrought anti- 

 cipations of future profits. But the same persons 

 would never have consented to pay as much, or 

 half as much, for marling their {latrimonial acres, 

 even though they had every reasonable assurance 

 of at least equal profits upon the outlay. 



Mr. Carter never heaps the manure of the farm- 

 yard, or stables. The very thick coat of the for- 

 mer, remains undisturbed, as it is left at the remov- 

 al of the cattle in the sprinfic, until when dug up 

 and carted upon the clover fallow, to be spread 

 ahead of the ploughs, in August and September. 

 It is very slightly heated by its slow fermentation, 

 though it is considerably rotted by the time it is 

 moved away. The stable is, of course, kept well 

 supplied with litter, and the manure, that is the 

 wet and foul litter, is cleared out of the stalls every 

 day, and thrown thinly over a small stable yard, 

 where it is enough trampled to be compact, and is 

 kept moist throughout, but never flooded or soaked 

 by water, and neveris permitted to get thick enough 

 to heat much, while it remains there, even though 

 a month or two may pass before it is convenient 

 to be carried out to the field. Any such clearing 

 out of the yard, fi'om spring to midsummer, is 

 spread as top-dressing on the clover field; and 

 though the clover can scarcely be much helped 

 by a dressing so late as June or July, Mr. C. has 

 no fear of there being a material loss of the enrich- 

 ing parts of the manure, or of its not giving its pro- 

 per value to future crops. This mode of manage- 

 ment is far from being perfect — but it is conforma- 

 ble to the general views which I have before pre- 

 sented on this subject, in another article at page 

 170 of this number. If the main points of the 

 true doctrine on this subject are kept steadily in 

 view, there is not nmch danger from variations, 

 and even from considerable imperfections in the 

 practices pursued. 



The Shirley tide swamp, now again under the 

 complete dominion of the water, is a melancholy 

 sight, compared to that which it presented when in 

 its higheststate of productiveness under cultivation. 

 Its former state was described at length in the first 

 volume of this journal, (pp. 106 a'nd 129,) and its 

 present state, and the causes, in the current volume, 

 (pp. 40, and 41, 42.) 



It would be as ibreign to the object of these and 

 similar memoranda of" fisrming matters, as beyond 

 my capacit}^, to notice and describe the mere beau- 

 ties of natural scenery, or of artificial ornament. 

 But there is one thing at Shirley which was so 

 striking to my eye, that I will makeitan exception 



