550 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 9 



the jiovernnient. These causes are amply, suffi- 

 cieiii. lo account for the phenomenon. 



MISCELLA>EOUS RIOMARKS ON PRACTICAL 

 AGRICULTURE. 



Taken from Vie loose memoranda of a Frederick 

 Fanner. 



A perfect knoiviedge (if farming can only be ac- 

 quired from practice. Volumes of essays may be 

 pul)li5he(l aiul read— tlie science.s of chemistry, 

 geology and bolany, which beaalily and aid the 

 pursuits of airncnhure, may be attained to profi- 

 ciency — but the only true light which reriecis an in- 

 terest as well c'.s profit u[;on the piolession, is shed 

 by experience. 



'How universal is the error touching this pur- 

 suit, and how many fail in consequence of its 

 prevalence! That it is the easiest thing in the 

 world to become a good farmer is the common be- 

 lief; every ihinir which is necessary to be known 

 is soon acquired. Egregious and fatal mistake! 

 The law requires the study of a moiety of our 

 manhood (lucubraliones viginii annorum) to 

 reach excellence in adjusting the conflictingclaimes 

 of meum et tinnn. Medicine and theology de- 

 mand the mental discipline of many years, with the 

 aid of lectures, experiments, zeal, and devotion, to 

 teach the respective duties in which to improve or 

 cure the physical, or moral condition of mankind. 

 With the march ol" mind, the old law, even that 

 every man is horn a legislator, is exploded, though 

 we still find untutored asses braying in melodious 

 discord. The thrifty mechanic who plies his^^ick- 

 ly trade acknowledges the advantages of a seven 

 years apprenticeship^ but the delusion still linij;ers 

 with a majority of the world, that every man of in- j 

 dustrious habits and of a good share of common j 

 sense, is competent to manage a liirm. 



Industry and common sense are certainly indis- i 

 pensable elements of success; but what but expe- 

 rience, and habits acquired by attention througli a 

 series of years, can compass the infinite details ol' 

 a pursuit, dependinir on variety ol" soil, diversity of" 

 product, and vicissitude of weather — what are 

 tuanagement of laborers, together with the judi- 

 cious distribution of labor. To adapt to useful 

 purposes, the chemical analyses of dilferent soils 

 — the rotation of crops — the best application ol' 

 manures suited lo soil and season. The practical 

 power, in fine, of making "two ears of corn, or 

 two blades of grass to grow upon a spot of ground, 

 where only one grew before." Nothing sir, noth- 

 ing but experience will avail! 



Well written essays — the judicious experiments 

 of others. — are certainly usefLil auxiliaries; but the 

 farmer who depends solely on the experiments of 

 others, and lakes no counsel from his own observa- 

 tion, nor resorts lo a trial of his own skill, leans 

 upon a fragile reed. 



He hears, lor example, of the productiveness of 

 the orchard gniss — of its yielding two tons of hay 

 per acre, after 20, 30 or even 40 bushels of seed 

 have been gathered, which will command about 

 two dollars per bushel — that it afi'onls, frequently, 

 a second crop — delights in shade, and in moist land 

 &c. He luxuriiites in golden dreams. He sows 

 his seed in a thin, wet soil, overshadoioed with 

 trees. Half the grass perishes the first winter, and 

 the second year, a linv bleached, and uprooted tus- 

 socks indicate llie failure of his experiment. In 



disgust he orders his overseer to sow no more. Is 

 he a practical, persevering farmer'? he tries again. 

 He selects a soil moist, but tenacious; naturally 

 fertile or enriched by a heavy coaling of stable 

 manure. He encreases the quantity of seed sown 

 to Iwo bushels, per acre, for he has discovered that 

 in its infiincy it is a reaiarkably tender and delicate 

 plant, and Ihat much will bo lost under the most 

 favorable circumstances. He forbears pasturing it 

 the first year, until its roots and branches are ram- 

 ified over the surliice of the ground. Surely he 

 will then be rewarded for his pains. 



In regard to timothy grass. He may have to 

 combat the prejudice of good cultivators, for this 

 genenil opinion prevails, that low and alluvial 

 grounds are alone suited to its culture. Is he a 

 novice? influenced hy there opinions, he goesjon in 

 the old way. He neglects his uplands, or sows 

 clover and wheat, wheat and clover, until in our 

 valley vernacular, the land becomes clover sick. 

 He ascribes the yellow hue and diminished quan- 

 tity ol the grass, with a corresponding diminution 

 of the succeeding crops, to a deterioration of his 

 land. Let experience again perform her office, 

 and point out to him the remedy. Relieve ttie 

 land of a surfeit of one kind of diet, and create an 

 appetite fiir another. By alternating his grasses, 

 he will find the increased quantity of vegetable 

 growth, in the substitution of timothy, for clover, 

 will sustain his upland, and renovate the product 

 of the subsequent crops of wheat, oats or corn. 



Let me, sir, in connection with the above, state 

 a fict, within the range of my own experiments. 

 I have about 1000 acres of cleared land, most of 

 it well adapted to wheat, and all to grass — the lat- 

 ter is one of my staples, and I pay great attention 

 to the different varieties. Upon a portion of my 

 upland some years ago during a wet season, clover 

 grew ft he sapling clover,) six feet in height, a 

 size which savors so much of the marvellous, that 

 I procured, and have preserved the certificates of 

 some neiglibors who measured some of the stalks. 

 For the last few years, however, I discovered, 

 with all the appliances of manures and plaster, a 

 gradual decline of that grass. In harvesting my 

 wheat, I observed here and there a volunteer 

 branch of timothy of vigorous growth, mixed 

 with my wheat. It suggested to me an experi- 

 ment. Aller ploughing my land in Juneand July, 

 as is my. custom, ami stirring for wheat, which I 

 ploughed in, and then harrowed, I sowed timothy 

 seed at the rate of about one gallon to the acre. It 

 came up well, but fearing the effect of the winter 

 frosts; and in order that my land should be sup- 

 plied with ihe pabulum of the clover roots, I sow- 

 ed the usual quantity of clover seed in the spring 

 upon the timothy. The timothy however vegeta- 

 ted finely, for it was rather in the way of the cra- 

 dlers during harvest. The succeeding fiill it afford- 

 ed the finest pasturatre, which I used sparingly. 

 This year, from a stifi'clayey limestone field of fifiy 

 acres thus treated, I secured 73 tons of excellent 

 hay, after gathering 90 bushels of seed, and from 

 an other field of 30 acres of the same description 

 of soil, and more hilly, prepared in the same way, 

 I mowed 45 tons. I must not omit to remark that 

 I did not secure this hay until after harvest, about 

 the first of August, and that the clover which was 

 mixed with the timothy, had moulded, and fallen 

 down, and consequently a small portion only of it 

 secured. Had it not been for the intervention of 



