206 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 4 



so poor in its vira;in state as to be incapable of 

 yieldinij crnpr! at all a'1er|uate to the labor of cul- 

 tivatinL' tliRm, which, in a li^w years, by the aid of 

 clover and plaster, has produced profitable returns. 

 The fiillovvino; exam|)le will show the elfecis ol 

 this system upon land of various qualities. In 

 consulting my mf'moranda, I find, in 1820, a field, ol 

 about one hundred acres, was cultivated in corn. 

 A portion consisted of worn hia;!iianil — some was 

 hiirhland of i2::)od quality, and about a sixth part 

 was creek low (jrounds, naturally very ri(di, but 

 pomewhar titiisupd by culture. The crop was 

 four hundred and forty bushels of measured corn. 

 In 183u, the same field was put in corn, (with the 

 exception of about three-fourths of ihe low 

 grounds, which had been separated for a tobacco 

 lot, and substituted by about fifipen acres ol 

 frround, cleared ti'om the woods, Hiirh, steep, and 

 by no means naturally fertile.) Both years were 

 fiivorable to the production of corn — but the first 

 more than the last — the corn crop of this country, 

 having sustained some damao-e in 1836 from ex- 

 cessive rains. The crop of corn measured last 

 year from the field, was six hundred and seventy 

 barrels, besides what was used for fiisteninii; fifty- 

 one hogs, which was not measured, but could 

 scarcely iiave amounted to less than a barrel 

 to each hog. 



Land, capable of bringinff good crops of clover, 

 may then be sustained and improved by that 

 prass, with plaster, without any other aid, under 

 the lour field system; for no other means have been 

 resorted to, in the instances mentioned, except on 

 a very i'ew spots in the corn field, where the land 

 was reduced below the point of producing clover. 



But, we have other sources for manuring from 

 the ofi'al of our crops, farm-pens, stables, &c., and 

 have unfortunately a great deal of land in the 

 country, worn below the clover point, which can 

 be resuscitated only by strong manures, in the pro- 

 duction of which, they have little or no agency. 

 The question |)respnts itself, how can we produce 

 the greatest result fi-om our means, limited as they 

 are in many cases, in proportion to the object m 

 view? It must be remembered, that our countrj^ has 

 an exceedintrly uneven surface, (i. e. the country 

 east of, and near the Blue Rulo-e,) consisting- of 

 hills, many of them high and steep, and subject 

 to orreat injury from heavy rains, where ffalls and 

 gullies are easily formed. Our stable and farm- 

 pen manure requires to be carried out too, in the 

 spring, when we are busily employed in preparini; 

 for our crops. If the teams can he snared, the 

 ascent of the hills is exceedingly difficult with 

 manure, loaded not only with its own piices, but 

 with a vast amount of water it has received and 

 retained from the atmosphere. IMuch cannot be 

 carried at a load. If the frronnd has already 

 been plouirhed, the ascent is still more difficult, 

 and it is by no means prudent to leave much of 

 the surface, intended for cultivation, unploughed 

 late in the spring. Under these obstacles the ma- 

 nuring, in most cases, would be suspended, or the 

 manure thrown on some ground more conve- 

 nient, but less in need of it. The alternative seems 

 to be to adopt a different system as a substi- 

 tute tor manuring in the spring, when we are 

 pressed with the preparation of our corn and to- 

 bacco land. I would propose manuring in the 

 winter. The coarse food on which our horned 

 cattle are generally wintered m;iy be collected in 



the field or fields to be manured; a temporary 

 shelter b\iilt there for those animals, and the 

 straw, shucks, rorn-slalks, and other thmgs spread 

 for them on the weak spots, most needing assist- 

 ance, except in very inclem nt weather, when 

 they should be fed at their shelter. What is left 

 liy them of the food strewed over the weak parts 

 of the ground, with their dung, may remain on 

 the surliice to decompose: but, what is accumula- 

 ted about the shelter woidd, generally, lie in too 

 thick a stratum to be treated in the same manner. 

 That might be hauled to the nearest ground re- 

 quiring it, and either used as a top-dressing, or 

 f)loughed in, as might be deemed most expedient. 

 The labor for tliis purpose could almost, in every 

 instance, be readily aiibrded. I would not hesi- 

 tate to winter my cattle in a field intended to re- 

 main in grass, as well as one intended for the 

 plough. If the cattle are removed as soon as the 

 grass begins to grow in Marcli, no injury is done 

 to it. 



The manure accumulated about the stables, 

 does not freeze very hard below the surface in 

 winter. That too, should be carried out at all con- 

 venient periods of" that season of most leisure, 

 to the ground for which it is intended, scattered 

 and ploughed in at the first opportunity. Sound 

 economy would dictate that so powerful a stimulant 

 should be spread far thinner than is customary, 

 and made to go over a much larger surface. By 

 this management, little would be left lor removal 

 in the busy time of the spring. 



It may be asked whether these processes, as re- 

 commended, would not expose the agriculturi.^t 

 to great loss from evaporation? Agricultural 

 chemistry is too imperfect to afford a satisfactory 

 reply to this question. But, the gases fiirmcd by 

 the putreliictive process, would unite themselves 

 to the atmosjihere, whether they are evolved from 

 the sur.'ace, or from manures ploughed in, unless, 

 in the latter case, they should form a chemical 

 combination with substances in the earth and 

 become fixed bodies. It is not known that this 

 happens; and it is pretty certam, that a layer of 

 loose earih, thrown on the manure by the plough, 

 would not be adequate to retain any evolved gas 

 there in a state of confinement. In their passage 

 to the atmosphere only, it is probable ihey are of 

 no service to the growing crops. 



Sir Humphrey Davy filled a retort with hot 

 dung, and introduced its beak in the soil, amongst 

 the roofs of some grass in the border of a garden. 

 "In less than a week (he observes) a very distinct 

 efi'ect was produced on the grass upon the spot 

 exposed to the influence of the matter disengaged 

 in fermentation; it trrew with much more luxuri- 

 ance than the grass in any other part of the gar- 

 den." (Agricultural Chemistry, p. 207). This 

 experiment serves to prove the advantage of bu- 

 rying hot dung in preference to using it in any 

 other way, although tfie passage of its gaseous 

 matter is a fugitive process. But it cannot, with 

 us, be carried into efi'ect over a considerable sur- 

 face at any one time. And, although the grow- 

 ing crops may be benefited by the gases given 

 off, it is not shewn that the permanent benefit to 

 the land is greater from hot dung than from that 

 which has fully undergone the putrefactive pro- 

 cess. I have had many spots cow-penned. — 

 Some have been ploughed as soon as the cattle 

 have been removed; the surface of others has 



