724 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 12 



field of thirty acres, distant fiom his resources, he 

 left idle, unenclosed. He laid oil' these ninety- 

 nine acres as follows :— two fields of 45 each, two 

 lots, 5 and H, orchard and garden 2^ acres. For 

 his first crop, to make npiish, he selected his best 

 land, including the old tobacco ground near the 

 house. From Ibrty-five bushels of wheat seeded 

 Sept. 1807, he got a crop oi" one hundred and fif- 

 teen, less than three for one. In the spring of 

 1808 he planted corn on one half ol'his other field, 

 after getting out a considerable quantity of bank- 

 shells and sea-ware, and left the other half, under 

 the same enclosure, for Hillow, to be manured as 

 opportunity miirht permit during the summer — 

 and (his plan he continued to follow about eight 

 years, and would have continued it longer butlbr 

 the inconvenience arising from the want oC pasture. 

 It is lo be regretted that he did not keep an exact 

 record of all his crops : however, he assures me 

 that the following may be depended on as very 

 near the truth. His first crop of corn was eighty- 

 five barrels, his second thirty-five, of which twen- 

 ty were short corn. (It may be well to mention 

 that a barrel of corn is five bushels of grain, or 

 ten bushels of ears.) His second crop of wheat 

 was two hundred and fifty bushels from 45 ofseed, 

 being five and a half for one. His third crop of 

 350, nearly eight for one. Fourth 500, fi!ih 700 

 — and so on, increasing every year, until, in the 

 year 1816, having altered the arrangement of his 

 fields from two of forty-five to three of thirty 

 acres each, he reaped from sixty-seven and a half 

 of seed a thousand bushels of prime wheat, — one 

 half on corn land— the other fallow. This crop 

 he had the good fortune to sell at two dollars 91 

 cents per bushel, and the good sense, although 

 not pressed, to apply the pro'ceeds to the payment 

 of debts necessarily contracted in the erection of 

 buildings, among others an excellent barn, and 

 the purchase of three or four boys ; and various 

 expenses incident to a new establishment and 

 growing family. It should be remarked also, 

 that, until the end of the year 1818, his laud was 

 burdened with a third of the estimated rent, as 

 dower. 



No memorandum can be found of his crops for 

 the three succeedinir years, nor does he recollect 



because he could not inform me with so much 

 accuracy the amount of his corn crops — they were 

 generally good, seldom fallowing below three bar- 

 rels to the thousand and frequently reaching four. 

 His greatest crop of corn was in 1827, from two 

 of his thirty acre fields, five hundred and twenty 

 barrels. 



Last year he bought five thousand bushels of 

 oyster shells, at the cost of one hundred dollars — 

 burnt and spread them as far as they went, at the 

 rate of 200 bushels per acre just before planting 

 corn, on the out-field, which got also a dressing 

 of farm-yard manure. Tbe crop of corn, just 

 gathered, is lair — lew in the county better. 



His shell-banks giving out and the drifts of sea- 

 ware being less abundant than formerly; about 

 eight years airo he commenced the use of marsh, 

 and heads of creeks, of which he thinks favora- 

 bly, paying strict attention, as usual, to the farm- 

 yard and compost heaps. He has one now, con- 

 tauiing upwards of a thousand skates or double- 

 heads, taken a ihw weeks ago in his seine — from 

 this he calculates on a thousand cart loads of ma- 

 nure for his corn-land next spring. From their 

 livers he extracted seventy-three gallons of oil. 

 From experiments made last year with similar 

 oil, he is of opinion that it is a remedy against the 

 worm, so destructive to the peach tree. He does 

 not spread sea-ware so thick as I recommended 

 in my last, on account of the difiiculty of plough- 

 ing in — nor would he recommend the shells to be 

 put so near — intervals of five lands should be left: 

 between marsh, &c. three. I readily yield to his 

 superior judgment. 



For fourteen or fifteen years past he has made 

 great use of the sickle — much of his wheat being 

 too rank for the cradle. He ploughs about four 

 inches deep, and cannot be induced to go deeper 

 — in good land sows a bushel and a half to the 

 acre, in poor one bushel ; breaks his fallow ground 

 about the middle of June — cross ploughs soon al- 

 ter harvest — rolls and harrows — and, if likely to be 

 grassy, gives it a third ploughmg — puts in with 

 the plough, very shoal, in narrow ridges, keeping 

 his manure near the surface. I consulted him 

 respecting the question of Potomac : he is of 

 opmion that no danger is to be apprehended lirom 



the amount; but they were not so great as that the application of rotten marsh to growing crops, 

 just stated. He failed in one crop from defective 

 seed which he purchased. 



In 1820 he reaped eleven hundred and twenty- 

 seven bushels fron) ninety ofseed, thirty of which 

 was sown on the out-field before mentioned. 

 This, and several other crops to be noticed, he has 

 on record. In 1S2.S his wheat crop from seventy- 

 two was one thousand and thirty-nine bushels— 

 nearly fourteen and a half for one. 



In 1830, from 88 of seed he reaped fourteen 

 hundred and ninety-seven bushels of wheat, 17 

 lor one— one half from corn-land, the other fallow 

 —thirty acres each— the fallow yielded twenty- 

 jive for one— see some account of this crop in tlie 

 Farmer about July 1830. 



Last year, being much occupied in repairing 

 and building, he seeded only fifty bushels of wheaf'^ 

 •which produced a crop of six hundred and twenty- 

 eight bushels. All this was on corn-land except 

 a lot of five acres, which, from seven and a half 

 ofseed, gave one hundred and fifty-seven bushels, 

 nearly twenty-one for one. I have confined my- 

 eelf principally to an account of hie wheat crops, 



if put on in reasonable quantities. 



It will be observed that this farm, notwithstand- 

 ing its rapid improvement, has been severely 

 cropped, — pre.sent gain, from necessity, being the 

 main object. The proprietor was not insensible 

 of the value of clover as an improving crop; but 

 he could not let it remain long enough to be of 

 much use to the land. He never cut but one field 

 crop of it, 1825, upwards of fifty tons from thirty 

 acres. Hereafter, having got his out-field in pret- 

 ty good order, he will adopt the four-field system, 

 cutting one field of clover every year. His regu- 

 lar force is five able hands, with some small boys, 

 — he runs three ox and two horse-carts — has 

 never kept an overseer, and for many years labor- 

 ed daily. I have not thought it necessary to state 

 his root crops — the produce of his hog-pen, &c., 

 supposing that his principal crops would clearly 

 show the progress of improvement. 



There are three other farms within a few miles 

 of Emerson's Point, on which wonderfiil improve- 

 ments have lately been made. 1 mean those of 

 Colonel John Tilghman, Mr. Edward N. Ham- 



