FARMERS' REGISTER 



381 



Uiouph a like farce was soon after attempted in 

 another great auction, by another muhicaulis mag- 

 nate, and of which heavy sales at hi<fh prices were 

 published, no one was then so foolish as 1o believe 

 in the truth of the sales, even while the auctioneer 

 was crying the pretended biJs. 



Since his great and memorable sale, we have 

 heard nothing more nl' Mr. Philip Phyeick, and 

 had supposed that he had sunk into deserved con- 

 tempt, and that he courted obscuriiy as his only re- 

 maining shelter and resource. But from the annun- 

 ciation above copied, (if he is indeed the authority 

 (or it,) and which is scarcely less a humbug than the 

 former report of his great muhicaulis sale, it would 

 seem that there ia some new cause for his again 

 seeking notoriety, and some new gain hoped for 

 from thus publishing the unequalled and almost 

 miraculous labors of the " only two hands'' in the 

 Highfield Cocoonery.— Ed. Far. Reg. 



MANURE FROM I.EAVES. COW-PEAS. 



From tlie Carolina Planter. 



3Jr. Editor : — As my signature denotes, I am 

 more disposed to live comlbrtably, than to grow 

 rich inconveniently; and the sentiments of my 

 former piece evince that I am unwilling to derive 

 more from my soil, than will leave it unimpover- 

 ished. It will scarcely prove a matter ol"surp:ise, 

 therefore, that I treat m this article of what, to the 

 enterprising, may seem a small matter. 



My object is lwo:old : fiist to exhibit to those, 

 who, like myself, live where land is dear, and 

 therefore valuable, an economical and convenient 

 mode by which a large field may be planted, and 

 yet miproved, every year; and secondly, to invite 

 all, who like myself again, (for I address those 

 particularly who are similarly situaied with my- 

 self,) are subject to the ravages of the chinch 

 bug, to participate with me in the advantage of a 

 crop which they will not molest, and which 

 though equal to the same amount of corn or oats, 

 is not appreciated nor enjoyed by the upper dis- 

 tricts. I mean the cow-pea. 



In the accomplishment of my first purpose, I 

 will merely describe my own operations, as an 

 illustration of the plan proposed. I liave a paral- 

 lelogram, 150 feet by 50, enclosed by a straight 

 ience, in the midst of which, is a low liouse 96 leet 

 by 24. A part of this is divided off into stalls lor 

 milch cows, in which they may be fed separately 

 i'rom the herd. The balance is open, with a rack 

 running through its length, and dividing it; and 

 the whole is surrounded with unsheltered margin, 

 which prevents the stock from being necessarily 

 confined within the limits of the building. 



As soon as I lay by my crop, I haul out my bulk 

 of manure, and deposit it in heaps around the field, 

 or fields, for which it is designed ; and then, hav- 

 ing my laboratory empty and ready lor operations, 

 I commence the preparation of another supply. 



First — I cover the whole area, in and out of the 

 house, eighteen inches thick with oak leaves and 

 pine straw — the common litter of the woods — 

 which it takes me, with two horse carts, at ]5 



loads a piece a day, four weeks to accomplish. 

 My first deposit, then, is 720 loads, gathered into 

 heaps, and conveyed to the pen, in the following 

 manner. As soon as I cease to work my c.-op, 1 

 put all my women and boys to "raking trash," by 

 way of getting a start. In a lew days I discon- 

 tinue this operation, only keeping two elderly 

 women to prepare lor, and load the carts, which 

 have been running from the commencement of the 

 "trash raking.'" These carts are driven by boys, 

 as experience proves that they will perlbrm more, 

 at that particular kind of business, than the primest 

 men. To ascertain that the task (with me 15 

 loads — but dependent, of course, upon circum- 

 stances,) is given me honestly, 1 make the drivers 

 empty the loads touching, but in distinct and un- 

 disturbed heaps, which remain so until I or my 

 agent count tliern, and inspect their size. The 

 cans are not stoppetl tor lour weeks ; and conse- 

 quently the two old women and the two boys take 

 no share in stripping and curing fodder. 



When I have my deposite complete,! adjust 

 and level the whole, which will sjive a coating of 

 not less than IS inches deep. This I cover with 

 the offal of my stables, which I have purposely 

 delayed to cleanse. And this operation of clean- 

 ing my stables, and spreading their contents in a 

 layer over the area of my cow-pf^n, is performed 

 monthly. In the mean time my pen receives 

 nightly additions from my stock of cattle, which 

 are penned regularly throughout the year. Thus 

 I make a compost which is stronger than cow-pen 

 manure, and not so heating as stable. Directly 

 after the Christmas holidays, and before I com- 

 mence to plough in my oats, I devote a fortnight 

 to the same operation that I described as occupy- 

 ing the two carts, and their four attendants, during 

 the month of August. And after this I continue 

 the process of strensihening the compost with the 

 cleansing of the siables. As I have sides, a front 

 and back, made oflight laths, temporarily attached 

 to my cans, while I am hauling trash — each load, 

 light and dry as it is, and trampled down into the 

 frame, will give a loud of manure; and therefore 

 on the first of each August, I have (720-f350-j- 

 220+(the monihly cleansing of the stalls of 20 

 horses,) 1300) thirteen hundred loads of compost 

 to haul out. 0( this I find that sixteen loads to 

 the acre are sufiiuient not only to keep up, but to 

 improve my clay lands. Thus the reward of my 

 labor and trouble, is the ability to plant every 

 year, and yet improve eighty acres of land. 



Suppose I did not pursue this system, and what 

 would be the consequence ! I must either till that 

 area to less and less profit every year, until I de- 

 stroy its value entirely; or I must have an equal 

 additional area with which to alternate it, and so 

 be enabled to keep up both by reslin<r. Eighty 

 acres of land in my neiiihborhood, at .^lo per ncre, 

 will cost Sl^OO; and thus, besides the g^in of an 

 annual iniTensed product, the saving of an invest- 

 ment of ^1200 is made. And at what expense? 

 Some trouble. I confess, but no loss ; for no labor, 

 human or brute, is substracted from the prepara- 

 tion Ibr the planting, working, or harvest ot, the 

 crop. 



It would be very easy to increase the quantity of 

 manure mace in this manner, if my means were 

 more ample ; but 1 am limited, both in the quan- 

 tity of my available trash, and in the number of 

 mv cattle. 



