218 



FAllMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 



greatest portion of the national lands, perhaps also 

 of the national industry, its introduction depends 

 upon the successful example of the large ones, 

 who have time, capital, and talents, adequate to the 

 cultivation of a science abounding in difliculties, 

 and requirin<i no small degiee ol' reflection. The 

 merchants of Scotlantl who had retired from trade, 

 began about fifty j-ears ago to assail, bj' precept 

 and example, the then execrable system of agri- 

 culture habitually practised in that country, and 

 have supplanted it by another, which has dill'used 

 a rich surlace over a great space, previously occu- 

 pied by a cadaverous degree of sterility. As we 

 neither love our country less, nor confess an inleri- 

 ority of intellect, an equal share of effort and per- 

 severance by gentlemen, farmers will certainly be 

 crowned with as much success as the elJorts and 

 perseverance of these gentlemen merchants, since 

 our auxiliary advantages of soil and climate are 

 greater. They effected their patriotic design, 

 chiefly by the introduction of the artificial grass 

 culture ; and when we consider the ravorableness 

 of our climate lor great spring crops of grass, fre- 

 quently demonstrated by as heavy crops of clover 

 as we hear or read oi] and also its favorableness 

 for converting them into hay, no reason exists for 

 despairing of obtaining the vvondcrllil state of fer- 

 tility which a country, less flivored by nature, has 

 acquired by the same means. 



I admit that a farmer may make a less crop than 

 usual, the first and second year after he adopts the 

 recommended system, unless he begins with a due 

 attention to manuring ; but I deny that his profit 

 will be less, because his dimminution of crop will 

 be more than compensated by the improvement of 

 his land. An average of the first four years will 

 probably produce a crop numerically equal, at 

 least, to his usual crops ; but then his profit will 

 be greater, because having raised it from less 

 space, he will have saved much labor lor iaiprove- 

 ment, and his land will be in belter heart. After- 

 wards his crops will numerically increase gradual- 

 ly to an extent I cannot foresee. Should a man 

 calculate by his hopes of lite and chance for self 

 gratification, without any regard for contempora- 

 ries or posterity, he ought to adhere to the preva- 

 lent system of agriculture, if he expects to live 

 two years only; if but four, his determination may 

 admit of some doubt; but if he expects to live 

 longer, it ought to admit of nbne Even princi- 

 ples so narrow, will dictate to him an abandon- 

 ment of the present land killing habits. A calcu- 

 lation which looks forward but two years, cannot 

 possibly procure success for any agricultural sys- 

 tem, except one lor exhausting the land as soon as 

 possible. All men who calculate on so short an 

 interest in the product of land, will strive to in- 

 crease It to the utmost extent, at the expense of 

 of the land itself! A proprietor, sure of dying in 

 one or two years, would improve but with Ihtle 

 spirit, though his land was to descend to his chil- 

 dren ; but, a possessor for one or two years, likely 

 to lose the land and live, must feel agreat lassi- 

 tude in improving for future profit, which he can- 

 not reap; united with great excitement, to reap as 

 much as possible ii-om land which he cannot keep, 

 for future enjoyment. No good system of agri- 

 culture can possibly take place, under the sugges- 

 tions of these impulses. 



I admit also that disappointments will happen 

 from feeble and uni^kilful trials. Complete success 



will too often be expected from partial attempts. 

 The imagination can magnify the disrupted toe of 

 a statue, into an entire image, and brood over a 

 fragment with self-complacency : and fimaticism 

 can expect wonders from relics transmited from 

 ignorance ; but it is to be hoped that such cases 

 will be rare in this age of intelligence and free en- 

 quiry ; that the prejudices imbibed from old 

 habits will be exploded, and that the industry and 

 good sense of the Virginians will rapidly improve 

 all suggestions, the tendency of which is to pre- 

 serve their country from decay, and themselves 

 from indigence. 



An observation is reserved for the conclusion of 

 this essay, to fiice an opinion, not less erroneous 

 than common; and not less hostile to profit, than 

 to improvement. It is too often imagined, that a 

 rotation requiring the interposition of artificial 

 grasses between exhausting crops, is sluvv in its 

 return of profit, and demands an extraordinary 

 capital, to supply, lor a time, the necessities arising 

 from this delay. Eut, from long and attentive ob- 

 servation, I have confidently concluded, that no 

 crop requires less capital, than these grasses, or is 

 equally rapid in its returns of profit. The labor 

 which cultivates other crops, prepares the ground 

 to receive grass seeds, arjd they are mingled and 

 sown with grain. Seed is, therefore, nearly all the 

 extraordinar}' capital this system needs, when the 

 artificial grasses are grazed, or devoted to the en- 

 richment of the soil ; and the expence of convert- 

 ing a portion of them into hay, though not as tri- 

 vial, is yet inconsiderable. The returns of profit, 

 are infinitely more copious and lasting, as vvell as 

 more rapid, than those made by any other crop. 

 They suddenly yield milk, butter, cheese, meat, 

 wool and leather. Manure, an increase of grain 

 and other crops, and good working animals, soon 

 follow. At every rotation, when ploughed in un- 

 grazed, they present to the farmer an improved 

 soil, without causing additional expense, or re- 

 quiring additional labor. On the contrary, so far 

 as artificial grasses are thus used, they save him 

 more labor in the single article of ftjncing, than 

 they consume. And finally, the profit of the sys- 

 tem becomes so incorporated with the soil, whilst 

 it is also enjoyed by the reaper, as both to last 

 long, and annually to generate profit upon profit, 

 in a ratio out-stripping the fecundity of compound 

 interest. 



ON THE BENEFIT AND PROFIT OF USING 

 OYSTER SHELL LIME, 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



As you express a desire to hear from me, though 

 I should not place my real and proper name to i 

 my communication,! take up my pen to say some- 

 thing of my late use of lime. Let me, however, 

 say to j^ou, that your opinions of communications 

 without proper names, are not sound, or wril 

 grounded. Why, sir, should Jeremiah, or X. Y. 

 Z. give out his proper name, like a tub to the 

 whale, to he spouted and blown about by idle thin 

 skinned farmers, or readers who know nothing 

 practically of the great and important subject of 

 agriculture? Is it not sufficient that your readers 

 have the practice, and the opinions derived from 

 practice, given to them gratuitously ? If Jeremi- 

 ah eeeks not glory, or fame, or high place, can he 



