FARMERS' REGISTER— GYPSUM APPLIED HEAVILY. 



617 



found the rools dose together, and the blades not 

 more than hall" the width ol' that cuUivated as 1 

 have done. Giving tiie roots so much distance, I 

 am now assured, produces a worse growtli of 

 blade. 



As regards the important point, viz. the nutri- 

 tive quality of tliis grass, in addition to my own 

 experience, whicli lias estahiished its highly nu- 

 tritive character, I beg leave again to refer to the 

 communication before mentioned. I have Ire- 

 quenlly stated my own opinion on this subject. I 

 am happy to find it completely corroborated by 

 others. Your agricultural friends have nothing to 

 tear in the cultivation of this grass, bsit the diiii- 

 cnltv of getting seed to plant. I shall give the re- 

 sult shortly, of a trial to produce this grass in the 

 highest perfection, made this year. To the mode 

 of planting and jireparing the soil the singular 

 production of vegetable matter must be attributed, 

 the season has however, been remarkably fine 

 with us for grass and weeds. 



PLA?iTER. 



OK THE ADVAA'TAGE OF ArPLYI?>G GYPSUBI 

 IN QUANTITIES UNUSUALLY LAUGE. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



Fauquier, Feb. 4, 1S35. 



In a letter I addressed to you in August last, I 

 told you that I entertained the opinion that poor 

 land should have twenty bushels of Plaster of Pa- 

 ris put upon it, if the proprietor desired to improve 

 it speedily; and I promised to give the reasons on 

 which my judgement approved the use of that 

 quantity. 



In the winter of 182S-9, I fallowed a poor field 

 of 30 acres v/ith the view of improving it; but for 

 reasons not necessary to be stated, 8| acres were 

 put in corn, at 3 feet by 4. In the hills I had 2^ 

 bushels of plaster put. A part of the corn was 

 rolled, and on the remainder the plaster was thrown 

 dry. In the fall of 1829, wheat well rolled in plas- 

 ter, was sown on this land, and in" JNlarch clover 

 seed Avere sown. In April, 1830, I ordered 30 

 bushels of plaster to be sown on the field of 30 

 acres; but fearing that the sowers might oversow 

 on the best of the land and leave the poorest with- 

 out any, I directed that about an acre, (a cove that 

 received the deposite from an adjoining wood) 

 should not be sown till the balance of the field 

 had been. My fears were realized: when they 

 finished sowing there was no plaster for the omit- 

 ted acre, and none was put on it for some time. 

 About the 20th of JMay clover attains its greatest 

 growth. From the time that grass took a steady 

 growth to the period of maturity, many persons 

 observed that my corn (i. e. of the ]irevious crop 

 of 1829) had been manured in the hill. The clo- 

 ver that grew on the hills in which the corn had 

 been planted was at full grovv'th, three feet high, 

 while that on the intervening ground was not more 

 than five or six inches high, and of pale sickly 

 yellow color. The next sj^ring the difii;rence in 

 the vegetation on and contiguous to the hills was 

 still very great. > 



In order to ascertain the quantity of plaster 

 which had been used, per acre, in the corn hills, 

 with such manifest benefit, I ascertained the num- 

 ber of corn hills in each acre, doubled that num- 

 ber for the immbcr of corn stalks, allowed 1^ 



Vol. II.— 4.5 



inches square for each stalk, and then the number 

 of square inches in an acre, which multiplied by 

 8^ will give the number in the ground planted in 

 corn. The ratio between the space occui)ied by 

 the corn stalks and one acre is as 1 to 22, and a 

 large decimal. At the rale then of 22 bushels of 

 plaster to the acre, was it used on my corn. Tlie 

 benefit vras as manifest as if manure had been 

 put in each hi'l, and was distinctly to be seen for 

 two years. The third year the field was put in 

 corn — the plaster scattered, and, of course, I could 

 not discern a continuance of advantage from it, 

 but as long as tlie earth was undisturbed the in- 

 creased quantity of grass and tlie richness of its 

 verdure on the spots on which the corn had grown 

 was strikingly manifest. The corn was not hilled. 

 I then thought, and now think-, hilling an entire 

 'oss of the labor employed in the operation, if not 

 injiu'ious. 



There are some other facts which tend to prove 

 t!ie utility of using plaster more largely than the 

 present stinted allowance of half a bushel to the 

 acre: but writing is a laborious emp!o3'ment, and 

 I am willing to rest my opinion on the leading 

 facts I have stated, and the few following obser- 

 vations. In England 400 bushels of lime are used 

 on an acre with great advantage — in Pcimsylva- 

 nia 209 bushels are used, and often U]nvards of 

 300. The valuable principle of lime and plaster 

 is the same, as I have been informed, but in what 

 ratio it exists in each I do not know; but I sup- 

 pose it cannot be in a greater ratio than 20 to 1 in 

 favor of plaster. If this be the ratio, then my 

 opinion that 20 bushels of plaster may be, and 

 ought to be, used on an a^-'re of thin land, is 

 strengthened by the quantity of lime used in the 

 countries I have mentioned. In Pennsyh-ania a 

 greater quantity of lime would be used, I pre- 

 sume, but for the expense of it. Tliej^ could 

 safely, eiuploy it to the same extent as in England. 

 I shall use plaster as largelj- as my means Avill al- 

 io vs\ 



I also expressed the opinion to you last sum- 

 mer, that the mere growth of corn, wheat, &c. 

 did not injure land. The reasons are obviously 

 correct. If we comp^are the u'eight of an acre of 

 forest with the largest product of an acre of the 

 best river lov/ground, or manured upland, for 150 

 years, we shall be satisfied that the difli^rence of 

 weight, (or of substance extracted from the earth) 

 in favor of the trees is ver\' great, while the wood- 

 land is best. It will be said that the leaves of the 

 trees increase the fertility of wood land — but look 

 at the small return made to the earth by the leaves 

 of one tree, and we must be satisfied that but very 

 little can be derived from them — too little to be 

 received in computation when compared with clo- 

 ver, &,c. &c. Further, it is a generally received 

 opinion, that wheat fallov.-s improve land, wliile it 

 is as generallj' known that corn, oats and buck- 

 wheat injure it. But it is not owing to the plant 

 — but the mode and period of cultivation necessa- 

 ry to rear it, that is injurious. Wheat does not in- 

 jure, because when the earth is prepared and has 

 received the crop it is no more disturbed, and the 

 action of the sun upon it is very slight. In the 

 cultivation of corn, and preparation of the earth 

 for oats and buckwheat, it is made so light as to 

 receive the heat to the depth of several inches, 

 during the spring and summer, when the sun acts 

 with such power on it. Heat is the great desti'oy- 



