FARMERS' REGISTER. 



49 



them willi other seclions of the state, that vvc 

 know are marching onward, with rapid strides, to 

 hifjh ferlilily. 



The alhivial bottoms of the Ohio and Kanawha 

 were naturally ag (eriile and productive as any in 

 Virginia; they are admirably intersected byline, 

 bold, iiaviirable streams; possessing a mild cli- 

 mate, well adapted to the growth of all the vege- 

 table productions. What prevents the owners 

 fi^om reaping the reward to which the occupancy 

 of" such soil, and the enjoyment of such a climate, 

 would justly entitle them? Nothing, I believe, 

 but the want o!" judicious management. Our land 

 is yet good ; and ail hough it has suffered severely 

 by repealed ijrain crops, it possesses within itself 

 the power of resusciiation. 



How then shall we siiniula.fe tiiem into active 

 production I What resources are at our command, 

 .that when applied will certainly resiore their ori- 

 ginal fertility ? We have no lime, plaster, or marl ; 

 these cannot now be procured, but at such prices 

 as will be ruinous to use them. We must seek 

 ■this improvement then by deep ploughing, the al- 

 ternating courses of grass, and the preservation 

 and use of farm-yard manure. These, assuredly, 

 nrc within the control of every man owning an 

 acre of land. 



You should commence immediately, if you Iiave 

 not already begun, the sowing oj' clover and timo- 

 thy combined ; let none of your ground remain 

 another season idle, without some grass growing 

 tipon it. Our soil, by the use of clover, may be 

 brought to the highest state of lertilily, parlicu- 

 jarly when combined with moderate grazinir of 

 cattle, and the eradication, in a green state, of all 

 weeds and filth that grow up. 



With due respect (or the practice of others, I 

 must say, that I am no advocate for the non-graz- 

 ing system pursued in some parts of the state. 

 They sow clover, and permit it as well as every 

 spontaneous production o!" the earth, to mature 

 all their seeds. I think it is of more advantage to 

 be grazed, and kept in a green, succulent state, 

 making continued efforts to bloom, than suffered 

 to remain, dry up, and have its best virtue scat- 

 tered by the sun and winds; besides the cattle 

 leave on the soil, better prepared, the very ele- 

 ments of fertility. 



It is indispensably necessary, therefore, that a 

 ■proper quantity of cattle should be kept on every 

 estate lor its due improvement. They are empha- 

 tically destroyers of weeds, briers and shrubs ; the 

 restorers of soil ; the chemical agents constantly 

 preparing new food ibr future plants ; they return 

 to the earth, when judiciousl}' managed, more 

 than they exact from it. 



Look for example at the iirazing districts of 

 Virginia and Pennsylvania. What else has kept 

 them progressing with surh rapid strides of im- 

 provement ? Every year produces a sensible ad- 

 dition to the productiveness of the soil, and to the 

 profits of the farm. Their pastures arc thickened 

 and carpeted over with green sward. 



My practice has always been, to Iced all the 

 roughness growing on my larm, on my grass land. 

 Straw I consider an excellent application for mea- 

 dows or for pastures ; the grass growing through 

 prevents the exhalation, while the continued damp- 

 ness and heal combined, soon causes its decay ; 

 but in the corn-stalk we have our greatest source of 

 aianure, growing usually, as it does in this coun- 

 Vor.. VJII-7 



try, to the height of twelve or fifteen feet. Open, 

 porous, imbibing and retaining tiie moisture that 

 rapidly acts as the element of iis decomposition, it 

 soon becomes the active, stimulating Ibod of fu- 

 ture vegetation. How important is it then, that 

 every iiirmer should lully understand how he can 

 use them to the greatest advantage? 



Corn maybe called the staple of the country ; 

 it is justly coiisid(!red an indispensable article of 

 food, and tlie principal source of'i)rofir to the culti- 

 vator. It is the leading crop of the alluvial lands 

 of our rivers. Standing therefore, as it does, in 

 the front rank of our necessasy and productive 

 husbandry, it well becomes us to look to every 

 source by which we can maintain the fertility of 

 our s(jil under the severe exaction required lor ii3 

 production. 



All the corn raised on nn estate, when ripe, and 

 before the fijdder has dried, should be cut up and 

 securely shocked ; it is immaterial to what use it 

 is aficrwards applied— whether for (eedmif or for 

 sale— you will have the fodder and stalks in cither 

 case at yourcommand. Feed iliem on your grass 

 land, in the lidl and early part of the winter, where 

 the animal matter of the cattle, combined with 

 your stalks, all turned under after the fi-ost leaves 

 the earti), will, with the decay of the sod, furnish 

 a cheap and good preparation for a corn crop. 

 You carry out, by an easy application, the princi- 

 ple now well established, that long unrotted ma- 

 nures are most suitable, and best fitted for fall 

 maturiuiz grain. 



You here apply at oiicc, and on the spot, where 

 under other circumstances you would have to ex- 

 pend much time and labor in hauling your fodder 

 trorn the fields to the barn yard, and in again carl- 

 in<r your manure back to the field. 



Such is the practice 1 have pursued for several 

 years past, with entire success. It has enabled 

 me to take two successive crops of corn, and on 

 one occasion averaging the first year near one 

 hundred bushels to the acre, on a field of fifiy 

 acres, which before this treatment would not have 

 produced half that quantity. 



i consider this difierence as produced entirely by 

 the alternating with grass, and the feeding of all I 

 raise upon them, ploughing under a part as before 

 intimated, and the balance remaining to decay on 

 well set pasture fields. 



I have lately examined some estates in Cabell ; 

 I know well all those in Mason, and most of those 

 in Kanawha, and I do really believe, that general- 

 ly the radical error committed in their manage- 

 ment is the want of a due proportion of grass. 

 Too much grain is raised without an ameliorating 

 green crop, and proper economy in husbanding 

 their resources for manure. 



I have seen many fields from which small grain 

 had been taken, left without grass seed beinorsown 

 upon them, the corn-stalks thrown into the public 

 highway — a nuisance to the traveller; the cattle 

 poor starved looking creatures. Nothing can ex- 

 cuse such nefrligenre. 



In the Valley of Virsinia, and frequentlv in the 

 north, clover seed is sown on small grain when the 

 land is intended to be plouirhed next year, under 

 the persuasion that the seed is well paid for in the 

 fall pastures, and such imjirovement as the land 

 receives. With what propriety then should a far- 

 mer refuse to sow clover seed when he intends his 

 fields to lay over for one or two years before they 

 arc again brought into cultivation 2 



