FARMERS' REGISTER— AGR/CULTURAL IMPROVEMENT. 



367 



we go. Our gullies glare horribly upon us, and 

 like the ghost ofBanquo, tell of murder. But we 

 will not dwell on tliose fatal errors of our fathers. 

 They more than paid us for all the wrongs they 

 committed, in haniling down a legacy that makes 

 even the barren hills rejoice — liberty — thrice blessed 

 liberty. 



With these views, I shall, to the best of my 

 ability, point out the obvious means of ameliora- 

 tion ami impro\"ement. 



Our farms are generally too large to look for any 

 thing like fertility, throughout. And many of them 

 are so generally exhausted, that years must elapse 

 before they can exhibit one scene of high cultiva- 

 tion and improvement. It seems conceded by 

 those who have enjoyed the most favorable oppor- 

 tunity of testing the efficacy of the grasses, that 

 no calculation can be made upon them, unaided 

 by animal manure, or some foreign substance, such 

 as marl, or gypsum. And sucli is our distance 

 from the large cities, that we cannot procure the 

 manures which are used so plentifully and profita- 

 bly by farmers in their immediate neighborhoods. 

 Our dependence then must be chiefly upon the re- 

 sources of our own farms. Our tobacco crops 

 must be curtailed — our njanuring schemes must 

 not be confined exclusively to the tobacco lands. 

 The scene of our manuring operations must be 

 shifted every year, and extended to the utmost 

 reach of our means, and where it is practicable 

 to get plaster, marl, or lime, to add to the amount 

 of product beyond what it cost to procure it, and 

 use it — it ought to be used. Every nook and cor- 

 ner of the country ought to be ransacked to ascer- 

 tain the existence of calcareous or olher mineral 

 substances suitable for manure. No labor ought 

 to be spared in the collection of vegetable sub- 

 Etances, to mix with and retain the manures from 

 our stables, tarm pens, sheep folds, &c. Every 

 particle of the litter about our out houses, poultry 

 yards, and other places should be carefidly collect- 

 ed, and put u()on our lands. I doubt not that 

 much more may be done in this way, than is ge- 

 nerally supposed. In all the fence cornei-s, feed- 

 ing places, ditch banks, ponds, &c. resources ex- 

 ist, which are generally entirely lost. Whenever 

 the soil is of a tenacious, close character, contain- 

 ing too much clay, much may be done by the ap- 

 plication of sand: where it is too light, clay may 

 possibly increase its fertilit3^ Where it is gullied 

 and washing, deep ploughing and coarse" litter 

 may be successfidly used. In many situations ir- 

 rigation will be found a most efficient manure, as 

 draining is in others. In short, a thousand sources 

 exist. Even oak leaves constitute a very valuable 

 manure on close tenacious soils. 



When we look at this subject, we must admit 

 that limited as our resources may appear, they are 

 sufficient for more extended application on almost 

 every farm; so that the farmer who does nothing 

 towards the improvement of his soil, is left with- 

 out excuse. The folly of the plan generally 

 adopted is too evident to require exposure. Ac- 

 cording to the little observation I have made, the 

 common mode is to put all the litter of the farm 

 upon small tobacco lots, which are thus kept rich 

 at the expense of the whole farm. The most su- 

 perficial observer must see at once that this is a 

 wretched system — a system which is diminishing 

 every year its own sources, lessening the crops of 

 grain, grasses, &c. and thus brealdngupthe chan- 



nels through which its very existence is kept up. 

 And after a Avhile these lots failing of their accus- 

 tomed supplies of litter, in their turn, become poor, 

 and the whole farm thus managed, soon presents 

 a scene of sterility and waste, and the proprietor 

 is driven by shere necessity (as I said before) to 

 seek an asylum in the alluvial lands of the far 

 West, But let us manure our lands for grain; let 

 us extend our fields of operation, by increased di- 

 ligence and economy, and change them every 

 year; and thus with the increase of our grain 

 crops will be the increase of our means of extend- 

 ing our operations, the increase of our comforts, 

 and the increase of the beauty, producfion, and 

 prosperity of our country. 



But you are ready to ask, what shall we do for 

 tobacco lands? I answer, that those who have 

 them not, must cease to cultivate the article; and 

 those who have them, must keep them up, by the 

 lielp of clover and plaster. At a former meeting 

 I advanced the opinion, that lands already rich, 

 maj' be kept so, by the use of clover; and I doubt 

 not the addition of plaster will raise them to the 

 highest point of fertility. I know it must be long 

 before our tobacco lands generally can be brought 

 to a state so desirable, but every one ought to 

 make it his aim to bring it to this point. We have 

 every encouragement to go on, and however slow 

 our progress, it is of the utmost importance that it 

 be onward. 



It is vain and fi-uitless to rely on the grasses 

 alone, on soils not rich enough to produce them. 

 It is easy matter to keep rich land rich, but he who 

 lives upon poor land, must be content if" by the ju- 

 dicious application of his means, he can see a gra- 

 dual and progressive improvement. Let us then, 

 gentlemen, try what we can do — let us preserve 

 our tobacco lands as well as we can by the help of 

 clover and plaster, and let our future efforts be 

 chiefly directed to the improvement of other lands, 

 and the increased production of articles suitable 

 for sustenance, for man and beast; and thus, as I 

 before said, will ourresourc^s for the enlargement of 

 our manuring schemes be proportionably increas- 

 ed, and thus may this ratio of production and ex- 

 tension be carried on, until every waste plain shall 

 become a garden, and every field smile with plenty. 



Can the patriot contemplate such a revolution 

 without having his heart thrill with rapture? And 

 while so much is to be done can he sit down quiet- 

 ly, and with fijlded arms wait for others to perform 

 the task of putting this revolution in motion? No, 

 he cannot. The bare possibility of such a change 

 will command his best exertions. We, gentle- 

 men, have, 1 hope, associated ourselves for the 

 purpose of aiding to bring about such a revolu- 

 tion. Although our number is as yet small, we 

 have reason to hope we have engaged in the cause 

 with a s[)iritthat will cany us through triumphant- 

 ly. Let us then, having put our hands to the 

 plough never look back — let us cultivate those so- 

 cial and friendly feelings which a common cause 

 ought to inspire — let us impart all the light we 

 can obtain on the various objects for which we are 

 associated — let us not be discouraged if our pro- 

 gress should be slow, and our difficulties great; 

 but let us press on, deferniined that we will not 

 relax our exertions until the siMrit of enterprise and 

 improvement which now slumbers in the bosoms 

 of our fellow citizens, be roused to efficient opera- 

 tion, and the desolations of oia- beloved Virginia 



