180 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



jng. Several experiments have been made with 

 jime and salt, but these generally have been bo 

 jooseiy made, that nothing dcfiniie beyond ilie 

 jact that they were benefifial, could be iraihercd 

 rem them. Mr. Frederick A. Porcher, olSumer- 

 ton, has made greater use of these I no iiiaiuires 

 than any other planter in St. John's, and has 

 kindly furnished ns with an account of his opera- 

 tion with both, and which being inieresiing, we 

 give in full. 



"In 1839, I applied to a small field of cotton, 

 limestone in the proportion ol sixty lour liushels 

 to the acre. The soil was originally a good loam, 

 of the quality indicated by the growih ol" oak 

 and hickory. This, I presume, from its continuity 

 to two large swamps, and from the growth of the 

 forest land in the neighborhood. 1 do not know 

 when the land was cleared, but it must have 

 been a great many years since. It had obvious- 

 ly been subjected to a long course of exhausting 

 cultivation. When I first took it in, it was co- 

 vered with the broom grass. A crop of slips 1 

 believe was the first step taken towards reducing 

 it to cultivation, and this was (bllowed, every al- 

 ternate year, with a crop of cotton. During the 

 alternate years it rested — manure was freely given. 

 The first, crop, that of 1835, was almost a total 

 failure — that ol" 1837, promised belter, but it did 

 not yield more than 75 lbs. ol" clean cotton per 

 acre. Perhaps it shared the fate of other crops 

 on lands of a better reputation, the autumn of 1837 

 having been peculiarly unlavorable to the maturity 

 of the cotton. The products of the field from the 

 crop of 1839, is, as well as I can judge, a fiaction 

 below 150 per acre. 



"The hme used was procured from the margin 

 of a creek on the plantation. It lies about six leet 

 below the surface of the highland. It is of vari- 

 ous appearance — some of it being en hard that it 

 is with dilHculty broken by the pick axe, while 

 others crumble with the application of very little 

 lorce. Fossil remains abound throughout the stra- 

 ta, but more in the loose masses than in those 

 more compact and hard. 1 have reduced all to 

 quick-lime in the kiln, and have Ibund it quite 

 available for mortar.* 



"The lime a|)plied to the land was broken with 

 a hammer, a very toilsome operation, and in that 

 way applied. 'I'he field is laid ofi' in scjuare half 

 acres, and contains, in each acre, sixty rows, each 

 150 ii'et in length. To each of these rows a 

 bushel of the pounded lime was apjilied on the list. 

 The land was manured as usual. The quantity of 

 manure applied I do not recollect ; I am sure it did 

 not exceed sixteen horse cart-loads to the acre. 



"I left the plantation in May, before the lime 

 had had any time to develope its agency, and did 

 not return until October. In June, my overseer 

 wrote me that he could not perceive the action of 

 the lime, except perhaps in the increased vigor of 

 the iirowlh of the joint and nut grasses with which 

 the field is infeslecl. Some time in July, he wrote 

 that the limed cotton was improving rapidly, and 

 recommended its application to every acre of cot- 

 ton which should be planted. The lime did not 

 cover the whole field, the i)art not limed is of a 

 character more congenial to cotton tlian the other. 

 The lime gave out in the middle of a pond. In 



* Prof. Shephard has kindly promised us an analysis 

 of this limestone. 



this pond I doubled the quantity, and instead of one 

 bushel put two, that is, at the rate ol" a hundred 

 and twenty but-hols to the acie. Here the suc- 

 cess of the e:<periment was striking. 'J'he pond, 

 as far as the lime went, had a luxuriant growth 

 of productive cotton on it, whilst on the rest a lew 

 poor stalks, here and there, alone indicated the 

 presence of cultivation. No pains were taken to 

 separate the product of the limed paitfrom the res*. 



•'The application of wood ashes to a hitherto 

 unproductive pond, in the quantity of a peck to 

 the row. or Irom fifteen to twenty bushels to the 

 acre, was attended with the same, or even more 

 striking results. 



"My liroiher, in 1836, manured some of his 

 lands with shell lime, bouuht in Charleston — the 

 quantity a[i[)lied was a peck to the half acre row, 

 or 19^- bushels to the acre. The land was planted in 



1836, 1838, and 18.39, in cotton. The first year 

 no efiect was observed — an itn()rovement was per- 

 ceptible in 1838, and markedly so in 1839. The 

 soil vvas a poor clay loam. The lime was slacked 

 when applied. His experiments wiih ashes, in the 

 quantity mentioned above, were all eminently 

 successful. 



"Salt was used on my plantation in 1836 and 



1837. The first year its successl'ul results was 

 most stikingly manifest. A field ol" sixty acres, 

 lying on the edore of Eigen SwaiDp, had been 

 treated in the Ibllowing manner: part of it, say 30 

 acres, was cleared and planted in cotton in 1832; 

 the crop of cotton was continued without intermis- 

 sion every year. In 1834 and 1835, the remaining 30 

 acres were cleared and planted with cotton. In 

 1836, the whole field of sixty acres presented por- 

 tions which had been one, two, and lour years under 

 cultivation. No doubt was entertained oflhe pro- 

 priety of plantuig the two first portions, but it was 

 thought advisable to give the third portion a dress- 

 ing with manure. Accordingly a quantity ol" com- 

 post vvas prepared, and about thirty bushels ol'sali, 

 or a bushel per acre, thrown upon it. This was 

 spread upon the land, and this part, then under cul- 

 tivation without intermission /or five years, yielded 

 a greater quantity per acre than the rest ol'the fieid, 

 which was much more fresh. The dillereiice was* 

 perceptibletotheeye. Isold upwards ufone hundred 

 and filty weiszhl ol" cotton per acre Irom this field, 

 at a price higher than any Santee cotton at that 

 time in Charleston brought, except catton raised 

 und&r the same treatment. This experiment was 

 made under the direction of nay bioilier, the late 

 Dr. J. P. Porcher, who superintended my planta- 

 tion during my absence from the state. 



"The use oi"salt was repeated in 1837, but with- 

 out any marked result. In no case was there 

 such a favorable ofiportutiinty ol" comparison, as 

 in the preceding year. The cotton crop was a 

 bad one. One great use of salt as a manure for 

 cotton, seems to be the quality which it imparts to 

 the plants of holdinir the fruit which it bears. I 

 do not Icnow whether it stimulates and promotes 

 production, but it certainly appears to act as a con- 

 servative to the product. Such was its only appa- 

 rent agency in the successful experiment ol" 1836. 

 My brother continued the use of salt, and the result 

 of his cropping; has shown that he did not exag- 

 gerate its value." 



Mr. Porcher, intends makincr considerable use 

 of both the lime and salt. When we had the 

 pleasure of visiting Somerlon last we found large 



