116 



FARMERS' REGlSTf^K. 



W. Porclier, all residing in the upper pnrt of St. 

 John's, and all actively engaged in manuring their 

 lands and improving their crops. VVe had, how- 

 ever, the pleasure ormeeting these gentlemen after 

 our return, in this city, and irom ihem we gathered 

 a lew particulars, relative to these. 



From the vast amount of new vegetable matter 

 (and that not of a lund easily decomposed,) carried 

 into the pens, the relative quantity oC animal 

 manure cannot be large, as may easily be sup- 

 posed. On some plantations, all of the cotton 

 seed, which can be spared, is spread in one of the 

 pens, and this manure is then used lor the crop to 

 which the cotton seed is usually applied. This 

 plan, however, is very little adopted, the col ton 

 seed being more generally appJied alone. Others 

 scatter over the pen, a short time before carting 

 out, a quantity of salt ; whilst others again, pre- 

 vious to hauling it av/ay, throw their manure into 

 heapB, scattering between each layer a quantity 

 ol salt, sulficient to be diffused throu<zhout the 

 whole mass. This manure is highly prized, and 

 its effects have been very gratilying. We shall 

 have occasion to refer to this manure when we 

 come to speak of the crops. 



Ltime, marl and ashes, are also getting into use, 

 and some small experiments have been highly 

 eatislactor}'. In some \'ew instances, the leaves 

 taken out of the woods have been at once carted 

 into the fields, and used with benefit to the suc- 

 ceeding crop. These fields are of a clayey nature, 

 and of course the best adapted for such crude 

 manure. It was truly gratilying to us to find how 

 much attention is paid now in this parish to ma- 

 nuring. Many things, which not a few years 

 ago were permitted to lie ne<z!ecled, and were 

 rather considered nuisances, but not of such a 

 character or in such quantities as to require abate- 

 ment, by being carried off, are now sedulously 

 sought after, collected, and carted off to the fields 

 at the proper periods, v.'here they fulfil their des- 

 tiny, by adding materially to their fertility. In 

 sucli just estimation is manuring now held, and 

 so striking have been the effects, that planters arc 

 no longer anxious to clear new fields, unless forced 

 to do so by the want of room. The attention of 

 most of then) is turned to the renovating of their 

 old fields, and what a few years ago would have 

 been deemed a hopeless task, is now actually in 

 progress, and fiMds which were deemed at most 

 unfit for culture of any kind, are now restored to 

 their pristine fertility. In fact, experiments have 

 been stated to us, going to show, that old fields 

 constantly inanured, (and in what would be con- 

 sidered but moderate quantities elsewhere) have 

 become more productive, than fields recently 

 cleared. We select an inslaiice furnished us by 

 Mr. Thomas W, Porcher, of WaUvorth. Among 

 the fields cultivated by him the last year, were 

 three. The first, which we shall designate as 

 No, 1, was considered as nearly worn out when 

 he first look possession of this plantation; ten 

 years ago. Nos. 2 & 3 were newly cleared, 

 and the last year was the second and third of their 

 culture. No. 1 had lieen regularly planted every 

 year lor t!ie last ten, but had also been constantly 

 manured. Nos. 2 & 3 were not manured, for 

 the second and third years, are deemed the most 

 productive. With the exception of one or two 

 years, when potatoes were cultivated, cotton 

 had been grown on No. 1 every year ; Nos. 2 & 



3 had also been cultivated in cotton, since they 

 had been cleared. The product of the old field 

 (No. 1) was an averatre of 170 lbs., that of the 

 new fields (Nos. 3 & 2) 135 and 150 lbs. We 

 find also from relerring to our notes, that at 

 Mexico, a field which had been cultivated without 

 rest since 1801, and nearly the vvhole of that time 

 in cotton, produced 176 lbs. per acre, while the 

 new fields only two years under culture, yielded 

 77 and 109 lbs. per acre. 



THE JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE. 



From the Ariculturist. 



Clwton College, 201 h Nov., 1839. 



lilessrs. Elditors : — For the satisfaction of all 

 who may Itiel an interest in the culture of the Je- 

 rusalem artichoke, I am disposed to give them, 

 through your paper, so much ol its history and 

 mode of culture as I have learned. Having about 20 

 acres of this valuable product myselli 1 am often 

 interrogated as to its nature, value and culture. 



Its botanic name is Helianthus Tuberobus, and is 

 supposed to have been oriijinally discovered first 

 on the borders of (he Gulf of Mexico; whence it 

 has been carried and cultivated in Europe for the 

 table and lor Ibod for hogs. But it does not ap- 

 pear to be so productive in England, where it has 

 been culiivatetl to advantage, as it is here. There 

 five hundred bushels to the acre is considered a 

 large crop, but here 1 am satisfied that one acre of 

 common soil, the second year after planting it, 

 will yield at lesist 1000 bushels, and many acres 

 will overgo that amount. So that its native coun- 

 try is best adapted to its production. 



The race wliich I have was discovered about 

 7 years ago, in Jackson county of this state, by 

 Mr. Samuel Young, and from its correspondence 

 with the description of the Jerusalem artichoke, 

 I unhesitatingly pronounced it the same. Before 

 discovering the Jerusalem artichoke, Mr Young, 

 had cultivated Ibr his liogs the common white va- 

 riety ( Cinara Colymus) and finding no profit in 

 them, had abandoned their culture. During last 

 spring, about ^ of an acre of the Jerusalem arti- 

 choke was discovered on the farm of Harris Tug- 

 gle, of Wilson county. Mr. T. had seen them in 

 his field for several years, and regarding them as 

 noxious weeds, had tried to exterminate ihem 

 without success. But when he found by comparing 

 them with mine, that they were artichokes, he set 

 a different estimate on them. From the farm 

 of Mr. Young, various persons have obtained and 

 cultivated them as food for hogs, all of whom unite 

 in their praise. And the accounisgiven of their pro- 

 ductiveness and value in leeding hogs are almost 

 incredible. Yet the statements are matle by men 

 of unquestioned veracity, and the accounts of all 

 who have tried them correspond, so that we can 

 hardly disbelieve. In the spring of 1838, a neigh- 

 bor of mine, who is incredulous to any report 

 which has the. appearance of extravagance, hav- 

 injT heard of the products of the artichoke, re- 

 tuarked that he thought it looked like " too many 

 squirrels up one tree."' But when he came last 

 spring to difj some Ibr seed out of my patch, he 

 recalled what he had formerly said, and gave it as 

 his opinion that it was equal to its representation. 

 The great advantage of the artichoke is, that it 

 contradicts the assertion, that '•' there is no royal 



