«44 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 9 



fore the grain is fully matured, hard, and firm. 

 Under this ireneral practical error, much is lost: 

 and the present season, (rom my own ohservation, 

 ■ and the candid acknowled^fement nC many, a sac- 

 rifice of 20 per cent, at least of the corn of Dor- 

 ' Chester, has been incurred, by ihis fishionable op- 

 eration. This practice is considered essential to 

 good economy — and to be performeil, at a precise 

 period of the sun and moon's places in their res- 

 pective orbits; and all, who are, unforiunately in 

 ' the rear, ti-om accident, or design, are denounced 

 as slothful farmers. 



This Ibrce of prejudice, or, rather, this 'hxlocV 

 is one of the most msuperable impediments to ag- 

 ricultural improvement; and in no instance, per- 

 haps, more pernicious, than m the practice in 

 • question — that of fodder-savinij. 



The vegetable leaves, or blades, are the lungs, 

 or onians of res|)iration; and very analogous, in 

 their functions, to those of the animal. They serve 

 to oxygenate the juices of the plant, and prepare 

 them lor nutritive secretion, whicli is effected by 

 ■clusters of elands at their base, or junction with 

 the stock, thence to be transmitted throuirh the 

 system. Extirpate, or wound these organs, and 

 their functions necessarily cease, or are impaired. 

 While green an 1 succulent, nature desio-ns them 

 to perlbrin their res[)ective offices — when withered, 

 and dry, they are useless, as fodder. Hence the 

 practice is indeli^^nsible, and it is one of the most 

 unnatural, singular, and palpable errors, that ever 

 obtained credit and currency in agriculture: and I 

 verily believe, it is one of the principal causes of 

 our short crops. Moreover, the blades above the 

 'ear, continue, longer, fresh and succulent, than 

 those below it; hence, the clear inferrence — as the 

 designs of nature, are never idle and superfluous — 

 that their physiological purpose is longer required; 

 and, the stalk having already attained its full 

 growth, at the time the practice commences, the 

 remaining purpose must, of necessity, be to elab- 

 orate the sap, for the nutriment of the grain alone. 

 If it be asked, what substitute for this fodder? 

 the plain answer is to be found, in a few acres of 

 the grasses, of which we are strangely deficient, 

 at the present: with less trouble, and less cost, 

 these would, abundantly, supply us. 



I am aware of the hazard incurred by an en- 

 counter with popular prejudices — and by multi- 

 plied experiments with multiplied disappointments 

 openi}' avowed — from a class of soi-disant pruden- 

 tials, of whom it has been said, 'indncti stolidique, 

 et depugnare parati' — to these I willingly concede 

 the palm. 



In regard to live stock, though much improved 

 by the previous efibrts of our institution, yet much 

 remains to be done. A tijw stocks carefully select- 

 ed, well fed, and protected from the rigors of the 

 winter, will be found most profitable. The latter 

 conditions are generally held unessential to that 

 valuable animal, the hog, which is supposed to 

 possess the rights of ubiquity, and of subsisting 

 by its own faculties of enterprise. It may be true, 

 it is hardy and enterprising; and it is equally true, 

 that the owner, who forces it to exercise these 

 rights and these faculties, to the annoyance of oth- 

 ers, is a moral as well as a legal agent of trespass 

 — and to his own injury. Did he supply from his 

 own resources, food and protection to this useful 

 animal, he would be greatly profited, and his con- 

 science would approve the act. 



The subject of manures, and their peculiar fit- 

 ness for different soils, would fill a volume. Upon 

 this, I shall only remark, that calcareous matter, in 

 all its combinations, with whatever acid, or derived 

 from whatever source, is directly or indirectly an 

 essential constituent of all manures — and without 

 it, all are, at least comparatively unavailing. I 

 cannot resist, on this subject, the impulse to pay a 

 tribute of resnect and acknowledgement to Mr. 

 Edmund Riiffin, of Petersburg, Va. for his able 

 'Essay on Calcareous Manures', the fruit of much 

 labor and research — and too, for his 'Farmers Re- 

 ffister,' a monthly periodical devoted to the inter- 

 ests of agriculture, and sustained by the best talent 

 and experience of the state. 



Upon the subject ofcalcareous tnanures, 1 could 

 add but little useful. I may simply illustrate one 

 of its modes of operation, by the analogy, in a 

 chemical view, to the action of alkalies on oils, 

 with which they make a homogeneous mass, mis- 

 cible with water; so does lime with putrescent 

 tnanures, make with the soil, a ter'iary compound, 

 easy of solution, and well adapted for veijetahle 

 nutriment, when, without this intermediate sub- 

 stance, the mixture is merely mechanical, loose, 

 and destructible by every shower or rivulet that 

 mav come in contact. Lime, too, is a constituent 

 of the vegetable pal>iilum, thoiiirh in proportions 

 differing with the peculiarity of tlie plant, and like 

 all other manures, it must be in a state of solution, 

 to be admitted throush the very delicate absor- 

 bents into the vegetable system — by its aireni'-y, 

 the soil, the manure, and itself are placed in this 

 condition. 



I have witnessed with astonishment a very 

 prevalent error, in fivor of half burning shells for 

 manure. It is too palpable to dwell upon the fact, 

 that the more complete the calcination and conse- 

 quent comminution of the particles, the greater 

 space they will occupy, and the more efficient will 

 be every particle in the space occupied; because 

 more of its surface is exposed to action. If partial- 

 ly calcined, the space covered will not only be 

 smaller, but it will contain much inoperative mat- 

 ter, and the general remark that in time, it will 

 come into operation, is not rational. We surely 

 wish it, when applied, to operate in the shortest 

 possible time, with the smallest possible quantity, 

 and with the greatest possible effect, 



I have used the half-decomposed shells of the 

 old Indian deposites, twenty years ago. which ap- 

 pear not to have advanced in calcination, more 

 than one per cent, at the present day — requiring 

 rateably for the full attainment of my purpose, the 

 fearful lapse of about two thousand years, and con- 

 sequently a goodly share of the king-becoming 

 grace of patience. I confess, gentlemen I would 

 rather have an earlier result — some may prefer to 

 wait, yei, omnia 11011 pariter reram omnibus apta. 

 In respect to the quantity of lime, fifty to one 

 hundred and fifty bushels per acre, are, upon the 

 best authorities, stated to be the minimum tind max- 

 imwn, that may be used to advantage — dependent, 

 chiefly, I presume, on the quantity of putrescent 

 matters with which it is to combine — somewhat, 

 analogous to the law of chemical equivalents. 



I prefer lime to mari, in general, because it has 

 more identity in its composition, and consequently 

 more of a definite uniformity in its action. Mari 

 is often found in a gangue of ferruginous salts and 

 other substances, fatal to vegetable life, and it v*- 



