564 



FARMERS' REGISTER— HOGS— MANURE MAKING, &c. 



which also supply farmers, in their vicinity, with 

 manures which may be novel to you. The refuse, 

 or oil cake remaining alter the expression of castor 

 oil, has been used for wheat with very good effect. 

 Tlie bristles from the brush makers are also va- 

 lued, and hauled many miles from town by the 

 market Avagons. The shavings and raspings 

 from the comb makers are also thought equal to 

 the bone manure by some. The horns of cattle 

 are first cut, then sollened, and finally pressed be- 

 tween heated plates of iron, and afterwards man- 

 ufactured into combs of various shapes, and in 

 very large quantity. Nuisances are thus con- 

 verted into profitable conveniences, and yield cap- 

 ital and employment to many branches of mdus- 

 try, extensively uselul. 



For the Farmers' Register. 

 HOGS — LEGISLATORS MANURE MAKING. 



If it be true that "our country expects that 

 every man will do his duty," it is lime that my 

 mite was thrown into the general treasur}'. Small 

 as it is, I am encouraged by^the recollection that 

 this great globe itself is made up of particles, or 

 atoms. If your numerous subscribers would only 

 contribute each a small matter, having a strict re- 

 ference to that which is practical, it would soon 

 amount to valuable matter; for as "iron sharpen- 

 eth iron, so doth the wit ot" one man sharpen an- 

 other." Had the poor widow been restrained b}- 

 pride, the most beautiful illustration in the scrip- 

 tures would have been wanting. Let me there- 

 fore beg that all your subscribers will show a wil- 

 lingness to aid you — for in this they will contribute 

 to regenerate and rebuild our wasled country. It 

 is time that every man who really ieels for the 

 state should show it practically. My soul is sick 

 with stump and barrel love of country. Away 

 with it — and let us rally around our country, and 

 those v.dio show their love by their fruits. My 

 brother farmers may rest assured that "grapes are 

 not gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles." 

 A man will exert his best powers for his own fa- 

 mily: it is there you can measure his talents, for 

 you have his house and farm before you. I claim 

 to be excused lor those remarks, because I believe 

 that the ruin of our state proceeded *from stump 

 and barrel legislators; for they "knew not what 

 they did," else how could it be that the beasts of 

 the field have rights and privileges that are not 

 accorded to the owner? How could it be that the 

 projection of the law was not given as fully to one 

 kind of property as another? Why not subiect the 

 hog to the same rules and restraints as his mas- 

 ter? 



I was making extensive preparations for crea- 

 ting manure when the great snow came upon us. 

 Ditch mud, and every kind of good earth I can 

 get, is carted into the farm j'ard, with occasional 

 dressings of lime. The whole mass will be care- 

 fully incorporated, and taken out upon grass or 

 corn land in the spring. In this way, much land 

 may be improved; but the cost will not fall short 

 of five or six dollars per acre — for I have my oys- 

 ter shells to haul seven miles. Some of my I'riends 

 have been experimenting with stone lime, brought 

 from the north; and I have every reason to be- 

 lieve that thirty bushels to the acre has doubled the 

 crop of corn. If so, mother eaiih will ])ay her 

 debt thus created, and have a surplus fund besides. 



I hope we shall fall upon some practical mode of 

 improving our Fairfax land, for if we do not, bet- 

 ter would it have been that we never had been 

 born. 



JEREMIAH. 



January 2nd, 1835. 



GENERAL TOPICS CONNECTED WITH AGRI- 

 . CULTURE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES, &C. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



He who now doubts the beneficial influence of 

 the Farmer's Register, is either an inattentive ob- 

 server of passing events, or incapable of tracing 

 obvious effects to their proper causes. I do not 

 mean that any general defective system has been 

 demolished, and one of greater perfection erected 

 on its ruins; but simply that a spirit of interest and 

 inquiry has been awakened, which must necessa- 

 rily lead to desirable and profitable results. Were 

 I challenged to adduce the proof, I would scarcely 

 care to point beyond the recent forma,tion of agri- 

 cultural societies in different counties of our state. 

 Many lugubrious reflections have been commu- 

 nicated concerning the suffering condition of agri- 

 culture; indeed the multitude of surrounding evi- 

 dences is calculated to arouse from lethargy every 

 patriot and philanthropist. We need only refer 

 to the astonishing number of our citizens who are 

 continually forsaking in despair, their patrimonial 

 possessions, to seek a brighter destiny in the wilds 

 of the west. The halls of some of our literary 

 institutions furnish additional evidence, so plain 

 that "he who runs may read." We see that al- 

 though their professorships have been increased, 

 their facilities multiplied, and discipline improved 

 — scanty ranks and diminishing numbers assail 

 their interests, and threaten to paralize their use- 

 fulness. Under these circumstances I do not come 

 forward in the spirit of empiricism, to [jropose the 

 establishment of agricultural societies as a pana- 

 cea fjr all the evils under which we labor, but 

 merely to recommend their encouragement as the 

 easiest, and, as far as it goes, the most efficacious 

 remedy within our reach. Various other means 

 have been suggested to effect the same object, 

 generally however, either involving considerable 

 expense, or an immediate departure from customs 

 which have descended with our patrimonies. Am 

 I too sanguine in the anticipation that these same 

 results would be more likely to flow, from the 

 source to which I have referred? I am particular- 

 ly desirous to avoid any imputation of vanity, by 

 inculcating any particular sj^stem of management, 

 or by offering any specific substitute. I can only 

 wish I were equal to the task — but in considering 

 the disproportion between the mngnitude of the 

 object and the extent of my abilities, I am ap- 

 palled at the arrogance of the attempt; and shrink 

 from a responsibility I feel so little able to sustain. 

 But a firm conviction that the cstablishm.ent of ag- 

 ricultural societies is connected with the best in- 

 terests of our country, and that ils destinies are 

 too seriously threatened to justiiy apathy, or to 

 excuse silence, has impelled me to introduce to 

 your notice the plan I zealously, but feebly, advo- 

 cate. As long as the towering Ibrest waved its 

 lofty head over the extensive regions of lerlile 

 soil, the agricidturist was scarcely expected to 

 turn from a prospect so iuA-iting, to view and re* 



