614 



FARMERS' REGISTER— HORTICULTURAL CURIOSITIES, &c. 



Rogers, &c. &c., they say, "aye they have rich 

 lands, they are weaUhy'' — my mouth is shut, and 

 I am constrained to acknowledge the truth. If 

 you will take a ride through some of the middle 

 counties of this state, and see the vast quantity of 

 poor land, and even after all the emigration how 

 thickly settled it yet is — know their names — ex- 

 amine our sheriffs' books, and see what a vast 

 amount of taxation is paid by these poor Iftnd 

 farmers, out of their hard earnings and savings, 

 you will begin to think that Ave claim a great share 

 of your attention. 



My paper admonishes me to draw to a close; 

 you will discover I have been more intent upon 

 bringing the outlines of our condition before you 

 in a crude manner, than polishing with a critic's 

 pen. 



T. B. A. 



[The foregoing statement of the writer's experience 

 and disappointment in the attempt to enrich a soil nat- 

 urally poor, is an apt illustration and striking testimo- 

 ny of the truth of the positions maintained in the Es- 

 say on Calcareous Manures, viz: tliat soils of that kind 

 cannot be enriched above tlie measure of their natural 

 fertility, by vegetable and other putrescent manures, 

 without making use also of calcareous manures, the 

 want of which latter ingredient is the sole cause of 

 the unimprovable nature of these soils. There are but 

 few persons who have long labored to improve poor 

 soils, who will be as frank in confession as our cor- 

 respondent — and there are not many, having that safi- 

 guine temperament which is essential to make zealous 

 "improving" farmers, who can be induced to believe 

 that their past elforts have been thrown away, and 

 that there is no hope from persisting in similar attempts. 

 But if these objections did not serve to keep them 

 silent, there would be hundreds who would make 

 statements of general failure and long continued disap- 

 pointments, not less marked than those given above. 

 If T. B. A. could have applied marl or lime to his 

 land, he would have thereby cured its natural defects 

 — and his other materials for improvement, vegetable 

 matter, clover, and gypsum, would have become avail- 

 able, efficient, and profitable. 



We are aware that this doctrine is so unpalatable to 

 many, that it has to expect but small favor, or scarcely 

 serious consideration — and indeed its being even utter- 

 ed here, may be deemed a sort of treason to the cause 

 of agriculture — to the progress of general fertilization, 

 which almost all the addresses to agricultural societies, 

 and essays on agriculture in general, concur in declar- 

 ing to be easy, sure, and profitable. We at one time 

 held the same opinion — and it was with painful reluc- 

 tance, and not untd after years of mispent and lost 

 labor, that we became satisfied of the error of expect- 

 ing to enrich such soils as are naturally poor, with 

 profit or durability, by vegetable matter, or putrescent 

 manures alone. If T. B. A. had (on such soil) prac- 

 ticed the milder four-shift rotation, and had prevented 

 all grazing, his success would have been not much 

 greater — perhaps less, if estimating the greater cost. 

 We know of two different experiments, carefully con- 

 ducted, which show by the measurement of the corn 

 produced in each rotation, that almost no increase has 

 been found in a course of near twenty years, during 



which the land had been under very gentle tillage, and 

 secured entirely from being grazed. In one of these 

 experiments, where the four-shift rotation of Orator 

 has been strictly preserved since 1815, there has been 

 an actual and considerable lessening of the product, as 

 tested by the crops of four successive rotations. It 

 should be stated, that this diminution is supposed to 

 have been caused by the ploughing having been too 

 deep (six inches) for so shallow a soil — but it was not 

 so deep as was advised by Arator, nor as deep as was 

 found safe and beneficial on adjoining land, after it 

 had been made calcareous. 



Our doctrine may perhaps be met (as it frequently 

 has been) by the objection, that it sentences to hope- 

 less sterility all lands naturally poor, and which have 

 not command of lime or other calcareous manures. 

 This may be an important and lamentable fact, but it 

 is not an argument against our position, but the reverse. 

 If a farmer owns poor land so unfortunately constituted 

 and situated, that no considerable or profitable im- 

 provement can be made on it, the sooner he is con- 

 vinced of the truth the better, that he may cease to 

 labor for unattainable objects, and direct his energies 

 where their exercise will be amply rewarded. If half 

 the expense which has been thrown away in such 

 fruitless efforts at fertilization, even in the last twenty 

 years, had been given to the judicious application of 

 calcareous manures, there would be now a vast differ- 

 ence in the aspect of Eastern Virginia, and of the 

 amount of profit gained by every individual concerned 

 HI these different practices.] 



From the London Quarterly Review of Nov. 1st, 1834. 

 HORTICULTURAI., CURIOSITIES OF JAPAN. 



If we assume the perfection of the arts of til- 

 lage and manufacture as a test of civilization, Ja- 

 pan may at least compete with any oriental nation. 

 Mr. Meylan places it higher than any. He ex- 

 tols their field cultivation, but they appear to ne- 

 glect their great opportunities for horticulture, as 

 far as the kitchen and the dessert are concerned. 

 As florists they are conspicuous, and the beauty of 

 the productions of the soil in this department is 

 known to every possessor of a greenhouse and 

 proprietor of a camelia. The singular art of pro- 

 ducing miniature samples of the larger products of 

 vegetation, unknown, we believe, in Europe, is 

 practised by them to an extraordinary degree. 

 Mr. Meylan speaks as an e5'e-witness of a box 

 ofiered for sale to the Dutch governor, three inches 

 long by one wide, in which were flourishing a fir- 

 tree, a bamboo, and a plum-tree, the latter in 

 blossom. The price demanded was twelve hun- 

 dred florins. 



From tlie New York Farmer. 



loubat's vineyard. 



This vineyard, on which a large amount of 

 money has been expended in foreign vines, was 

 recently sold for the purpose of being divided into 

 lots for cottage residences. It is six miles fiom 

 Brooklyn, lying on New York Bay. There are 

 upwards of 40 acres, which were sold for ^ 15,300. 

 The vines were, we presume, considered of little 

 or no account, and thus has ended the last exten- 

 sive experunent in attempting to acclimate the 

 foreign vine in this country. 



