FARMERS' REGISTER. 



Ill 



remarkable fact, and an additional confirmation 

 of our opinion formerly expressed, tiiat the car- 

 bonate of magnesia, as an ingredient ol" soil, is 

 a powerful cause of lenilily, instead of barrenness, 

 as supposed by some European writers. We for- 

 merly found (by accurate examination and sure 

 tests) mairnesia as well as lime in the fertile allu- 

 vial soil of Red river; and we have lately seen it 

 stated that magnesia is also an ingredient of the 

 alluvial borders of the Nile. 



Our highly respected correspondent overrates 

 our skill and knowledge in analyzing soils, and 

 still more our facilities. It was on account of 

 being unprepared for such work, that the delay 

 and apparent neglect in this case have occurred. 



Ed. Far. Reg. 



For the Farmers' Register. 

 REMARKS ON MR. CARTEr's PROPOSED 

 CHANGE OF ROTATION. INSECTS AND 

 WEEDS. 



January I7th, 1840. 

 Looking over the Dec. number of the liegister, 

 my attention was attracted to the signature of 

 " Hill Carter," and as every thing from the pen of 

 that eminent agriculturist is of peculiar value, I 

 perused his piece with unusual interest. Mr. Car- 

 ter's thoughts have been drawn, (and I am re- 

 joiced to see it) to a subject as mysterious and 

 unexplored as it is of the highest importance. In 

 all time the depredations of insects have been the 

 most serious drawbacks on the profits of agricul- 

 ture, and their increase within the last three years 

 in Eastern Virginia has Justly produced the most 

 alarming apprehensions, /am superstitious enough 

 to view it in the light of a Divine dispensation, 

 and as such cannot, without supernatural aid, be 

 controlled by the power of man ; we should how- 

 ever do all that we can, and leave the isaue to Him 

 whose chastening hand will be withheld only 

 when the attribute of justice gives way to that of 

 mercy. Both as a Christian and as a farmer, I 

 am truly gratified to see such subjects introduced 

 for examination; and a fi-ee discussion ol'them may 

 lead to meditation on the causes ol' Divine visita- 

 tions, and thus may benefit our moral, if it does 

 not our agricultural, condition. Mr. Carter's idea 

 (as I understand it) is, that encouragement is 

 given to the depredations and increase of insects, 

 by yielding to the land a portion of its own pro- 

 ductions, and that, "e converso,''^ they can be 

 checked by depriving the soil of its vegetable 

 cover ; and close and severe grazing is pointed to 

 as the remedy for the evil. To accomplish this 

 end he proposes the adoption of a five-field rota- 

 tion, viz., one year of rest, one year of close graz- 

 ing, and three years of grain crops in succession. 

 We will now see if the end will be answered by 

 the means proposed, and secondly, what will be 

 the effects on the land from this system of culture. 

 Of all the insects whose rava<res are most fatal to 

 the hopes of the farmer, the chinch hug and lies 

 sian fly stand pre-eminent ; indeed all others are 

 comparatively innoxious. To those who have at- 



tended to the habitudes of these insects, it is well 

 known, that neither of them ever assail the wreat 

 ameliorator in our system of husbandry, the clo- 

 ver crop; in it they neither find food or shelter. To 

 deprive the land therefore of this, its only recupe- 

 rative crop, when it is required to bear three ex- 

 hausting crops in succession, would be to induce 

 sterility, without giving a check to the evil com- 

 plained of; lor it is a well known fact, that all 

 insects find a greater supply of food, and conse- 

 quently remain longer and multiply faster on weak 

 and delicate plants, the product of exhausted fields, 

 than on those of a more vigorous and rapid growth. 

 If close grazing was the remedy to control their 

 ravages or check their increase, as Mr. Carter im- 

 agines, then would actual experiment have long 

 since tested the fact. Eastern Virginia is divided 

 into two systems of agriculture, antipodes to each 

 other ; one, the inclosing or non-grazing, the 

 other, the old three field or close grazing system. 

 Now I appeal to all observation to say, whether 

 the latter has ever been, or is at this time, more 

 exempt from insect enemies than the former; and 

 I leave the answer to those who have noticed the 

 results of the clover worm, so called. I have 

 never, before the instance adduced by Mr. Carter, 

 heard of their doing injury to the wheat crop, es- 

 pecially at the fall season of the year. I had 

 thought their depredations were confined to sprint 

 crops, and in warm weather. In the spring of 

 1818 (I think it was) their inroads were more 

 general and more fatal than at any subsequent 

 period ; and I well remember that complaints were 

 then louder from those farmers whose crops were 

 grown on thin highlands, than from those on low 

 grounds ; and the cause was easily enough ex- 

 plained, the crops growing on lands impoverished 

 by severe grazing and hard cropping were more di- 

 latory, and, paralyzed by a backward season, were 

 longer exposed to the attacks of the insect than 

 those produced on a m.ore genial soil, highly stimu- 

 lated by vegetable matter turned in lor their pre- 

 paration. The last soon got beyond the reach of 

 the insect, while the first were slowly growing and 

 staggering under the attacks of their foes. With 

 these facts before me, I cannot acquiesce in the 

 soundness of a theory, li-om which certain and in- 

 evitable evils must flow, while the anticipated good 

 is, to say the least of it, uncertain and doubtful. 



I will now examine into the effects on the soil of 

 a five- field rotation in connexion with close graz- 

 ing, and I think it abundantly susceptible of proof, 

 that its results will be found highly disastrous. 

 The first objection to the proposed system is, in 

 my opinion, insuperable, and needs no other charge 

 against it to ensure its entire rejection, viz., it de- 

 mands three exhausting grain crops in succession; 

 and when is superadded thereto, a close and severe 

 grazing the year preceding the introduction of this 

 scourge, there can, I imagine, be no difference of 

 opinion as to iis total condemnation. Under this 

 system of heavy exaction with inadequate returns 

 nothing can save the doomed fields from utter pros- 

 tration. No depth of soil, no vegetable or mineral 

 manures, and no agricultural skill, can ward off 

 their inevitable destiny; the redeenu'ng year of 

 rest could no more save it than could a moment's 

 respite from torture shield from death the unhappy 

 sulicrer stretched on the fatal rack. The lapse of 

 five years between the drilled and horse-hoed 

 crops is another material objection to the contem- 



