1838] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



59^ 



silion to the city. In conclusion, I (io think it ad- 

 visable to hriiiij to the nolico ol' council the pro- 

 haltly adviintairoous (Miiploymeiit of this material 

 for iai;)rovin<; the street^;, and to recommend that 

 ex]ierinie,nls he instituted to test its (jualifications 

 in a practical maimer. 



I do not maintain that this stone is exactly, nor 

 admirably adapted Io the purpose in question, but 

 in the absence of better, it is deserving ol" notice. 

 Lime-stones, in other countries, are not selected 

 for road-maUinu", because other and harder male- 

 rial can be obtained ; but I remember upon the 

 Salisbury plains, in Eniiiand, I travelled upon an 

 excellent road made of chalk ! Similar roads I 

 saw near Dover, and in France. 



The stone in question is harder than chalk, 

 possesses the same chemical composition, and is 

 endowed with the property of consolidatinij by 

 pressure, and cementinirby the percolation of wa- 

 ter through its interstices. 



In the absence of other and acknowledged bet- 

 ter materials, it is proper to experiment upon this, 

 and I sincerely hope and confidently trust that suc- 

 cess will attend your endeavors. If ray sugges- 

 tions are of any value to you, it will afford me 

 pleasure, and if I can be of any assistance to you 

 in furtherance of your laudable desire to improve 

 the city, you are at liberty to command my servi- 

 ces, in the mean time, i have the honor to be. 

 Very respectfully, yours, 



Wm. Hume, 

 The Honorable Hknry L. Pinckkky, 

 Mayor of Charleston. 



From the Buckeye Plough Boy. 

 IMPORTANCE OF AGUICULTURAI. PAPERS, 



Propridy of legislative aid being granted to y^gri- 

 culturul Societies J importance of rotation of 

 crops, §-c. 



North Bend, Oct. 2Sth, 1837. 



Dear Sir, — I duly received the first number of the 

 Buckeye Plough Boy, which you was good 

 enousxh to send me. I should have made this ac- 

 knowledgment sooner, and requested to be placed 

 on your subscription list, but have boen prevented 

 by sickness in my family, and pressing calls upon 

 my time by my agricultural operations. I sin- 

 cerely wish you success in your laudable undertak- 

 ing to diffuse information upon the important sub- 

 ject to which you have devoted your paper. It is, 

 however, true, (and I regret to say it,) that many 

 of our farmers appear to be insensible to the ad- 

 vantages of such publications. I believe, how- 

 ever, that an improvement in this particular is 

 gradually going on, and that the benefits which the 

 agricultural interest derive from them will soon be 

 generally felt and acknowledged. In this particu- 

 lar, some of our sister states east of the Alleghany 

 ridge are considerably ahead of us, and a corres- 

 pondent improvement in the management and 

 product of their farms has been the consequence. 

 The agricultural societies established in various 

 parts of the states have done somelhing towards 

 correcting this inequality, particularly in the im- 

 provement of the domestic animals ; and if our le- 

 gislature would lend its aid, we might soon be 

 able favorably to compare the character of our hus- 

 bandry with that of any of the states. The state of 

 New York allows to each of their county societies 



a sum equal to what they receive Iro.-n private con- 

 tributions. In France the trovernment bears all 

 the expenses ol" a society established m that capi- 

 tal, with ramifications in every part of the king- 

 dom. It is under the patronatie of this society, es- 

 tablished by Na[?oli'oti, thai the cultivation of the 

 sugar-beet has been so widely extended to the 

 irreat benefit of this nation. Oiiio has appropriated 

 large simis to the construction ofcanals and roads 

 lor litcilitating the tiansporialion of the products of 

 agriculture to market. I can see no reason why 

 ihcy should not do something towards increasing 

 the quantity and improving the quality of those 

 products. Our auri^-ultural societies are most of 

 them in a languishing state, and without legisla- 

 tive aid many of them will, unquestionably, dis- 

 continue their operations. Appropriiitions of this 

 kind are like those which a larnier makes in ferti- 

 lizing and improving his soil, adding ilequently to 

 his income an hundred-fold. Thus it is with an 

 expenditure from the treasury for improving 

 the products of husbandry ; the wealth of the peo- 

 ple beinir increased, they will be enabled to return 

 those advances, with immense interest, wli *'iever 

 the exigencies of the government may require it. 

 The agricultural products of Ohio are, indeed, 

 very considerable, but this is due more to the 

 bountv of Providence in having furnished us with 

 so fertile a soil, than to the character of our tillage. 

 Many of our flirmers seem, indeed, not aware of 

 the extraordinary results to be produced by a judi- 

 cious course of tillaae, and how soon a naturally 

 poor soil may be eminently productive, whilst one 

 naturally rich, may be brought down in ilsyield tc 

 the standard of the poorest, by bad management. 

 In England innumerable instances of the former 

 constantly occur ; and the process by which it is 

 effected being disseminated throush the country 

 by means of the airricultural societies, and the pe- 

 riodical publications supported by them, the num- 

 ber of such instances are constantly increasing, 

 whilst with us the eye of the traveller often lighls 

 upon fields whose products are din)inished 50 per 

 cent, li-om what they yielded when first cleared, by 

 injudicious management. A single instance of 

 what I have said in relation to England may suf- 

 fice. The county of No folk has, perhaps, more 

 poor land than any other in tliat kingdom, and it is 

 not only poor, but sandy. In a district of this kind, 

 Mr. Coke, celebrated lor his constant support of 

 the liberties of the people in parliament, as for his 

 knowledge of agriculture, purchased a large tract 

 of land. When it first came into his hands, 

 he says, that there wire scarcely any living ani- 

 mals upon it but rabbits, and they were in a starv- 

 ing condition. An American citizen, who haa 

 lately visited his seat, says, that he had, last year, 

 between six and seven himdred acres in wheat and 

 barley ; and that the product of his fields was of- 

 tener forty bushels to the acre than under that 

 quantitv. Althouch various means were adopted 

 by the sagacious mind of Mr. Coke, to effect the 

 refuh, the bases upon which it rested was the cul- 

 tivation of turnips. Upon such a soil, grass 

 at first wasout of the queshon ; but, by much labor 

 in the cultivation, turnips might be raised, and 

 sheep be sustained by turnips. So the turnips fed 

 the sheep, and the sheep fed the land ; and in a 

 short time the land was strong enough to bring 

 both grass and grain. Byajudicious managemenl 

 of these, the land was still further improved until 



