1838] 



FARMERS' RtlGISTiiiR. 



435 



ruinously in the curtailment of his corn crop, he 

 has abundant reason fur tvjoicinii on another score; 

 for the same cause thai shortened his crop, has 

 preserved his thniily in the enjoyment of earth's 

 ijreaiest biessiii<x, healtli. I have never known 

 the country so healiliy at this season; and 1 doubt 

 Very niucli, on balancini:^ accounts at the end of 

 the year, iftiic farmer doesn't find himself as well 

 off with a short corn crop, ns he has heretofore 

 been with a pood one: (or when there is no sick- 

 ness and death, there is no toll to pay the doctors, 

 and no reduction in the capital of his estate. 



I obtained a very satislactory result froin the 

 application of sea-ore, on a part ol' my corn-field 

 this year. Whilst the nei^hborin2;corn was fired 

 above the shoot, that to which the sea-ore had 

 been applied, suH'ered comparatively little or no- 

 thinfT. Independent of its general lertilizinnr pro- 

 perties, then, (and I have fully demonstrated 

 them,) this additional one of attractintif moisture 

 from the atmosphere, renders it a most invaluable 

 manure, especially upon high sandy lands. 



In a former communication, I mentioned the 

 beneficial efi'ects I had experienced from sea-ore 

 on wheat and oats. I was in some doubt, whe- 

 ther they did not depend mainly on the salt con- 

 tained in it; and this year I have fully satisfied 

 myself on the subject. 



In the month of March last, I top-dressed a bed 

 of fall xvheat, one of spring wheat, and one of 

 oats, with salt scattered by the handful, as you 

 would sow oats. I watched the effect closely until 

 harvest, and could at no time perceive the least 

 benefit from the application. 



I was occupied a good deal last winter in getting 

 up new ground, and my experience may be of 

 some use to others. I was desirous of testing the 

 relative value of the grubbing hoe and coulter for 

 the first breaking up of the land; and am convin- 

 ced, that the labor can be performed infinitely bet- 

 ter, and at less than one half the expense, with 

 the coulter than with the hoe. This may be no 

 news to many of my readers, as I know the coul- 

 ter to the north and in some parts of our own 

 state is extensively used for the purpose: but it 

 will be to some of our low-country farmers, who 

 have never used it, or seen it used. I first cut 

 around the slump, and cut out the large surfitce 

 roots, then run a strong coulter drawn by four or 

 six oxen, (I used two oxen and two steady horses,) 

 thoroughly over the ground, and afterwards cross 

 it. A man should follow with an axe, to chop 

 any root that may be ton strong to be pulled up. 



Mr. B — , an intelligent gentleman of my 



acquaintance, residing in this county, is this year 

 making an experin)ent on the comparative' ex- 

 pense of keepiufT his hogs up, and letliuij them 

 run at large, until taken up in the fall to" fatten. 

 He found that Kispcnncd-hogsrefjuiredsomethinir 

 more than food, to make them thrive. He irave 

 them sulphur and salt, which he thinks much 

 niore highly of, and asked my opinion on the sub- 

 ject. I advised him to give them ashes without 

 limit: he did so; and when I saw him a few days 

 ago, spoke in the most rapturous terms of I heir 

 effects, and insists ttiat so valuable a remedy 

 should be generally published. I replied, it was 

 no discovery of mine: I had heard it, and used it 

 with great success, and presumed U was generally 

 known. He said, it was new to him; and as it 

 may be to many others, 1 communicate it tor ge- 

 neral information. 



The ashes plan, however, did not take with my 

 friend, without Pome opposition from an unexpect- 

 ed quarter. The "old lady," whoso province ex- 

 tended to the lie-stands, entered a formal protest 

 against this encroachment upon her domestic 

 economy, as she should have no ashes to make 

 soap. iBut when it was proved by figures, (and 

 figure.'? cflnnot lie, J that though she might be the 

 loser in ashes, she would be the gainer in grease, 

 like a good wife, she gave in, and is now content 

 to abide the experiment. 



This gentleman, a practical mechanic, told me 

 of a cheap and effectual method of rendering 

 smoke-houses and dairies rat-proof He has re- 

 jjcatedly tried it himself^, and induced others to try 

 It, and always with the fullest success. After 

 difffjing out youi' foundation, lay the first course 

 of bricks, lo extend four and a half inches all 

 around, beyond the wall. The operation is this: 

 the rat always burrows close to the wall, and con- 

 tinues to descend until he meets the obstruct\on 

 of the projecting course at the bottom; finding he 

 can rro no lower, he desists. Let not the simpli' 

 cilyof this plan deter any from adopting it. I 

 will, however, add one suggestion: l)o not, as I 

 once knew a gentleman to do, who, at great labor 

 and expense, erected what he supposed would be 

 a rat-proof corn-crib. It was placed upon eight 

 posts, nicely hewed and smoothly covered with 

 sheet copper. The rat could not climb here, be- 

 cause there was no place to stick his claws in; and 

 it was so high from the ground, that he couldn't 

 byanypossibilityjumpup,and get a loot-hold: but 

 it was also too high for the gentleman to get into^ 

 without a pair of steps; so they were put, and the 

 enemy had no longer any necessity for blunting, 

 his claws against the copper. 



Mr. B -— is an instance of what enterprise 



and industry will effect. He purchased his farm 

 fifteen years ago: it was a dense forest; not an 

 acre of cleared land attached toil; it was low, 

 and, consequently, sickly; but he determined to 

 make it a productive and a healthy farm, and he 

 has succeeded. He has cut down the forest of 

 centuries, exposed a fine, rich virgin soil, and 



ditched in every direction. INlr. B , jr., 



who has now taken upon himself the direction of 

 the farm, has this year cut a canal eight feet wide 

 and four deep, upwards of a mile, and will con- 

 tinue it as far airain. This canal will bring into 

 cultivation as fine a body of land, when cleared, 

 as there is in the lower country, which has here- 

 totbre been worse than useless, as it served but as 

 a hot-bed of malaria. A portion of it is already 

 in corn, high and dry, and suffering from the 

 drought. The homestead embraces every build- 

 ing necessary lor the convenience or comfort of 

 the farm: a large mifl, worked by oxen; exten- 

 sive sheds, capable of covering every article of 

 stock on the farm, fi'oin which he raises abundant 

 supplies of best manure; stacks with shingled 

 roofs, for the protection of his artificial grass hay; 

 and the best corn-house I ever saw. A few such 

 examples, and the tide of emigration fi-om east to 

 west would cease to flow: for land like this was 

 can be purchased for $4 an acre. 



I sowed, in February, two bushels spring-wheat, 

 procured from Thorburn, in New York, on corn- 

 land of fiiir quality. The produce was twenty- 

 one bushels, the grain very good, better, I think, 

 than that sown. The general opinion here is 



