183 S] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



617 



in experiments.) I would be much obliged to 

 you to trive me an account of your farm and 

 mode oC fiirminir, product, stock, &c. especially 

 vvhellior tlie lands be high or low, subject to inun- 

 dation or not. 



As F may wish to tjive the 'Farmers' Rejiister' 

 the benefit of it, as well as myselt, I would be 

 pleased that it be as particular and minute at* may 

 be, without reasons or ariftimenls; but only the 

 facts. If it should 20 to the •Register,' enough ar- 

 gutiKMit will, of course, be raised over it after- 

 wards. As to myself, I care little about the rea- 

 sons — I want the crops. 



Very respectfully, your most 



Obedient servant. 



James VV. Bouldin. 



Washington City., D. C. } 

 January 2d, 1838. ^ 



Hon. J. JV. Bouldin, 



Dear Sir — The interest which you evidently 

 take in the practical operations of farming, and 

 the regard which you entertain for "the farmer 

 in i'act, and who has made his estate" in that way; 

 "not a farmer in theory, who has spent a fortune 

 in experiments," heightens the pleasure with 

 which I sit down to answer your note of the 30th 

 ultimo. All I profess to know, is farming, and that 

 from an experience of forty years, without any 

 information derived from books upon the subject. 

 At a very early aire, I was left entirely dependant 

 upon the world, and all I have, is the fruit of my 

 own care and diligence in/arming. 



My farm is divided into first and second creek 

 bottom, and hill, intersected by Wheeling creek; 

 the bottom land approaching within a half a mile 

 of the Ohio river, the hill land considerably near- 

 er. The hill land is very finely adapted to iixass, 

 and is generally used for grazing: this land will 

 run into natural grass in a few years, of that kind 

 usually known with us as "blue-grass." This 

 portion of my ground 1 seldom work; but when I 

 do, the crops are corn, sometimes oats, and then 

 wheat with timothy; clover in the spring. I mow 

 it two or three years in succession, and then use it 

 exclusively lor pasture until the timothy and clo- 

 ver are rooted out by the natural grasses, and the 

 stiffness of the sward requires tillage, which hap- 

 pens in six or seven years, then I plough it up 

 and pursue the same round. This land 1 have 

 never manured, and have never seen the necessity 

 of doing so.. This hill land is generally a rich 

 black loam, or limestone, and some sandstone 

 strata lyinir horizontally, and occasionally ap- 

 pearing at the surface, but not to incommode the 

 farming operations. 



The second bottom is a stiffer soil, not so rii-h 

 as the hill land: this land retjuires manure. My 

 first crop is corn; then oats; then wheat with tim- 

 othy, and in spring, clover. This is kept in mea- 

 dow two or three years, then one or two years in 

 pasture, and then my crops in rotation. 



The first bottom is a deep, rich, black, soil. 

 This portion is occasionally inundated and when 

 this is the case, the crops are much lieavier; the 

 inundation having no current, owing to the black- 

 water from the Ohio river, a rich deposit is made 

 varying to two inches. This ground I do not ma- 

 nure, unless occasional spots. This ground I gen- 

 erally work in the same manner as the other, some- 

 Vol. V— 78 



times taking off two crops of corn in succession. I 

 keep no more stock than what is necessary for my 

 own convenience, incarryiiiir on the farm and sus- 

 taining the domestic operations; but being located 

 near the city of Wheeling, I tnke in for grazing 

 (ai>;ist) as much stock as I deem necessary, and 

 which is more piotiiable to me ihan kee|)ing stock of 

 my own; this slock runs on my old pasture grounds, 

 reserving my meadows after harvest, tor the nu- 

 merous droves of cattle, which pass along the 

 great thorough- fare of the national road. 



I commence my |)lon<Thing as early in the 

 sprinjr as possible, and which is done with crane 

 ploughs, turniriLf deep in proportion to the soil, har- 

 row twice, then in the last of April or first of 

 May, as the season permits, plant my corn in 

 light cross-furrows, from three and a half to f mr 

 ttjet wide. On the hill-sides I plant my cocn liir- 

 ther apart, and sow less small grain to tlie acr»'; 

 for on level lain], furrows four feet wide will do, 

 while on a steep hill-side furrows measured flmr 

 feet on the surface will not be near four feet wide 

 in a straight line between the grown corn. II time 

 and circumstances admit, I cut my corn off, and 

 either haul it off, or shock h up in rows. The 

 next spring, as soon as the season will permit, 

 (which requires some knowledge of the particu- 

 lar climate,) I sow about one bushel and a half of 

 oats to the acre on the naked ground, and then 

 with crane ploughs put them in shallow, say three 

 or four inches; if the ground is very light, I mere- 

 ly brush it over with a small brushy tree-top; but 

 if the ground is hard, I harrow in the same way 

 I plough, and if I want clover as the principal 

 grass, I now sow the seed, mixed, however, with 

 a little timothy, and brush it lightly. If I do not 

 want the ground put down, I reserve it for wheat. 

 Alter having turned in stock and grazed it as bare 

 as possible, I plough it once, deep; and having 

 sown my grain, harrow it twice, on ground which 

 does nol'throw or spew out with the frost; but if the 

 ground is liable to this, I prefer harrowing the 

 ground afler il is ploughed, tfien sowing my grain, 

 anil ploughinsj it in lightly. If I do not wish to 

 put It down, I leave it so; and next fiill pursue the 

 same process, and then put it down in grass as be- 

 fore stated. When I sow grass seeds in the 

 spring I put fbur quarts of clover and one quari of 

 timothy seed to the acre, mixed together and 

 sown at once; in the fall I sow fbur quarts of timo- 

 thy seed to the acre, and the next spring a quart 

 or three pints of clover seed. 



The abundant crop of wheat to which you al- 

 lude, grown by me the past season, I managed 

 somewhat differently, I first put the ground in corn 

 as usual, and early in the lall (as soon as the corn 

 was hard enough) I cut it off and cleared the 

 friound, and applied a very heavy harrow and 

 smoothed it all down, and then sowed my wheat at 

 the rate of one bushel and one peck per acre, then 

 with crane ploughs covered it about fbur inches 

 deep; then brushed it all level, and sowed on this 

 timothy seed. This was on a first bottom; this 

 crop I thrasfied from the shock and sold to Mr. 

 Penkin, who kept an account of the affgregate 

 amount of wheat and of the proceeds of sale. 

 He considered tlie crop so abundant that he mea- 

 sured the field and made the calculation and pub- 

 lished the statement, which you have seen, aver- 

 agiiiir the crop at .'^GS per acre; the wheat was 

 one dollar per bushel; the flour $6 50 per bane'. 



