636 



FARMERS' REGISTER— COST OF WATER-BORNE MARL. 



found in. It must also be recollected, that about 

 the time the corn was removed, was the usual 

 time for potatoes and rice to grow off, as also the 

 pea crop. The rice was cut in the usual time: it 

 could not have been exceeded — having so much 

 room after the corn Avas taken otf, forty some odd 

 bushels of shell rice were made to the acre. The 

 potato hills universally cracked open — they were 

 superior, and the pindars as usual. The bunch 

 and red potato, produced by this mode of manage- 

 ment, remarkal)ly well, filling the ground around 

 the hill, and finding the earth containing so much 

 Ibod for their roots, they spread astonishingly. 

 There appears to be no interference between the 

 pea and potato vines, judging from production, 

 although such near neighbors. Better peas or 

 rice I never made by any other mode of planting. 

 The pea crop I save by pulling up the vines, and 

 curing in the fields, carrying home and putting in 

 rail pens, sprinkling with salt as packing away — 

 a good floor to the pens preserves the salt. 



The prodigious advantage I derive from the 

 Btalks of corn saved in this way, as also the shuck, 

 will be best understood by a communication in the 

 Baltimore Farmer, to which I beg leave to refer, 

 and which use of those parts of the corn crop 

 amply compensates for a little shrinkage in the 

 grain, if any. The manure heap fully settles the 

 account, as also some fine steers, sold annually in 

 the form of work oxen, a iew pair of which 1 

 have trained to labor on arriving at the age of two 

 years, and which article of sale I find goes ofl' 

 readily. The mass of offal I have from a twenty 

 acre field, planted and tended in this way, is in- 

 credible, in stalks, shucks, fodder, peas, and pea 

 vines, rice straw, and lastly, potato vines — and 

 each, saved in my way, of superior quality. In 

 addition, the advantage to the soil of being so 

 much shaded during the intense summer heat, 

 and the return of the pindar vines, and the rice 

 stubble, and potato vines, if not cut up and car- 

 ried home and fed away. The potatoes I dig up 

 with a three pronged hoe fork, carry home and 

 feed away to my fattening hogs, who are by this 

 time in a dung-stead of their own, yielding, by 

 being well littered, a rich contribution of the "gold 

 dust. ' The pindars, and balance of the potato 

 roots, go to the sows with pigs, young hogs, &c. 

 — if a mast year, putting them in at night and 

 out in the morning — if no mast, y^utting them in 

 all day, and penning on plenty of' leaf litter during 

 the night, and which makes them count some- 

 thing in the way of the next crop. 



My com remains ten or twelve days in shock, 

 then stowed away under sheds, in barns, &c. 

 For the after management, I beg leave to refer to 

 the paper before alluded to. 



It is on the succeeding crop, that my trouble, as 

 it is called, will show itself, and which you can 

 have if desired, from 



AGRICOLA. 



Clarke County, j^labama. 



COST OF A year's WORK IN USING AVATER- 

 BORNE MARX SAVING CORN FODDER. 



To tlie Editor of the Fanners' Register. 



Charles City County, Feb. 4th, 1835. 



I have delayed much longer than I intended, 

 in giving you an estimate of my last year's work 

 in the transportation of marl. The pressure of 



business which is usual with me at the commence- 

 ment of every year, must be my apology. 



Our woi'k began on, or about, the 25th of 

 March, and ended on the 24th December, a period 

 of eight months. The labor employed was the 

 same as the preceding year* two men and a boy, 

 with the exception of the first two months, when 

 the assistance of the boy was unavoidably "VAdth- 

 drawn. The wages of the men were eio-ht dol- 

 lars per month, and the boy's three dollars and 

 fifty cents. The quantity of marl transported was 

 seventeen thousand bushels. Our business was 

 necessarily suspended for twenty days in repair- 

 ing our frail bark, in the month of October. The 

 distance is fifteen miles. I shall not attempt to 

 give any estimate of the expense of hauling from 

 my landing, and scattering the marl, as you have 

 it already at hand, and can easily add it if you 

 think it necessary. 



To hire of laborers, - - ^152 50 



Food for laborers, - - - 60 



Repairs of vessel, - - 40 



Interest, on first cost and fixtures, 18 



By 17000 bushels of marl 

 at 1 y'^ cents per bushel, 



#270 50 

 S272 272 



1 50 



Thus showing that the expense of transportation 

 alone falls under one cent and six-tenths per 

 bushel. It seems to me wonderful, that so much 

 preference should be given to oyster shells, by 

 those convenient to water. I have used both, and 

 greatly prefer the marl; first as being the cheapest 

 — and secondly, as yielding a more immediate 

 return for the labor, which is one of the most 

 desirable objects to be attained in all improvement. 

 I am still laboring under great disadvantage in 

 regard to the landing of the marl on my shore. 

 Nearly one-third of each load requires to he shift- 

 ed to a smaller vessel, to enable the larger one to 

 reach the wharf with the remainder, which still 

 convmces me that the digging and water carriage 

 could be reduced, under more fiivorable circum- 

 stances, to one cent per bushel. 



I made an experiment the last fall, the future 

 usefulness of which I hope to see realized. In- 

 stead of stripping the corn blades from the stalk 

 as usual, I had the whole plant cut up and cured 

 in the Pennsylvania style. I am so much pleased 

 at the result, that I am inclined to think, I shall 

 not waste a month in every year, as heretofore, in 

 gathering and securing fodder. To enable those 

 who may be willing to try the experiment, I 

 would recommend them to put their meadow lands 

 in herds grass, by way of getting ready. Each 

 hand is supplied with a long knife or blade, (a 

 piece of scythe blade answers well) having a 

 convenient handle, with which he cuts the stalk 

 about eighteen inches or two feet fi-om the ground; 

 thus leaving the heaviest part of the stalk to be 

 chopped down immediately after, and turned in 

 durmg the seeding of the grain. As soon as the 

 latter operation is over, the corn is husked in the 

 field, and taken to the crib, which should be di- 

 vided into two or more apartments, after the man- 

 ner of your corn-pen, as described at page 50, 



*See page 567, Vol. I. Farmers' Register. 



