682 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



PLASTER OF PARIS. 



l''roin tlie same. 

 Clifton, October 16, 18 IS. 



Dear sir — The follovviiig lacts go lariher in es- 

 tablishing the duration of the oflect oi' piaster of 

 Paris on°clover, tlian any 1 have seen or read of, 

 and are iherelbre thought worlhy to be coaimuni- 

 cated. 



In the year 1813, I purchased a tract of land in 

 Goocliland county, then in the occupancy of Mr. 

 George Harding, as tenant for years, whose lease 

 expired at the end of the succeeding year. One 

 of the fields ol' liigliiand, in wheat, after corn, at 

 the time of the purchase, was again in wheat in 

 the year 1814. In 1815 1 pastured it ; in 1816 

 sowed oats, and in tlie fall sowed wheat. In the 

 spring of 1817 sowed clover and plas:ered at the 

 rale of a bushel per acre, but left a belt unplaster- 

 ed, about fifty leet wide, through ilie field. 1 he 

 diflerence between the clover in the belt, and that 

 on either side, was nianilest in the iiiil Ihilowing, 

 and in the latter part of April, 1818 : that in the 

 belt was about three inches high, of a pale green 

 color; and that on each side about nine inches 

 high, and of a deep green. At this period, while 

 riding over the field, I discovered in the unplaster- 

 ed belt, a number of tufts of clover, about the size 

 of a man's hat, equal in luxuriance to that which 

 was plastered on either side. Upon farther exa- 

 mination, I ibund that these tufts were in exact 

 checks, about the usual distance of corn rows. It 

 occurred to me immediately that Mr. Hanling 

 must have plastered corn there in the check. Up- 

 on reporting the fact to him, however, he says 

 that he never used any on that part of the farm, 

 but that Mr. Peter Baker, his stepfather, and pre- 

 decessor, planted in corn, in 1805, and put a mea- 

 sured spoonful of plaster into each check, but 

 never discovered any benefit to the corn. JMr. 

 Harding further states that he never knew any 

 piaster To be used in that part of the farm, by Mr. 

 Baker, either before or after that time. Nor did 

 he ever know clover seed to be sown there. The 

 tufts before mentioned, kept pace in their growth 

 with the plastered clover on each side of the belt, 



farming had already been adopted in part, when I 

 came here to reside. The ploughins^, however, is 

 deeper now, and better executed than formerly; plas- 

 ter of Paris is used in greater abundance, and more 

 manure is carted out upon the fields. Not long after 

 my arrival, my stock of cattle was considerably di- 

 minished, with a view to give the land as much as pos- 

 sible the benefit arising from clover considered as a 

 mere manure. For five or six years I have been nurs- 

 ing my land carefully, and h^ive had some very poor 

 fields to reclaim ; but I am now able to fatten 50 or 60 

 beeves annually for market, without sustaining any 

 inconvenience ; indeed I consider the grazing of those 

 fields which I propose to fallow in any given year, as 

 a decided advantage; because I am enabled, by this 

 means, to havs the ploughing executed more effectu- 

 ally, and to prepare a good seed bpd for the wheat. 

 The surface of our country is much broken and exhi- 

 bits many poor knolls, where improvement has not 

 progressed far, which are not only a great detriment to 

 the appearance, but a material drawback upon the 

 produce of our wheat fields. Upon some of those 

 spots I have been in the habit of having my farm cat- 

 tle penned every night, and others I have endeavored 

 to cover with manure. The results have been in eve- 

 ry way satisfactory." 



which became eufRciently luxuriant to make a fine 

 crop lor the scythe, when the clover in the unplas- 

 tered belt would have afforded but indifi'erent 

 grazing, except the rows of tufts, which were so 

 luxuriant as to be distinctly counted at the dis- 

 tance of half a mile : and, indeed, are visil)le at a 

 considerable distance, to this day, notwithstand- 

 ing the field has been heavily pastured during the 

 last three months. 



It will be observed, that as far as this sialement 

 goes, the field alluded to above has undergone a 

 hard course of cultivation, and from its appear- 

 ance at the time I took it, and other circumstances, 

 I think it fair to presume it had been severely 

 pressed, from the time the plaster was deposited 

 in the checks. I never perceived any spots in the 

 crops of grain vvliich could lead to a conclusion, 

 that the plaster had any eti'ect on them. It ap- 

 pears, then, that it must have been, for the most 

 part, inactive during twelve years from the period 

 at which it was deposited in the earth. And if 

 we suppose that the frequent ploughings and har- 

 rowings it underwent, dispersed it in such a way as 

 to leave not more than a proportion equal to that 

 on each side of the belt, which I thiid< would not 

 be (ar from a fair supposition, it would appear to 

 have suffered but little diminution in its fertilizing 

 principle. 



With very great respect, I am, yours, 



Rakdolph Harrison. 



Dr. .John Adams, 



Secretary Virginia Agricultural Society. 



CUI.TIVATIOX OF COTTON IN BRITISH INDIA. 



From tlie New Yoilc Journal of Commnrce. 



London, August Slst, 1840. 

 This subject has lor many years occupied the 

 attention of English capitalists, but it is only 

 within the last year or two that any very serious 

 eli'orts have been made to reduce the theories ad- 

 vanced to any practical result. There has been 

 a growing anxiety in this country to render the 

 manufacturer of cotton goods, if not independent 

 of the United States for the raw material, at all 

 events less dependent than he hitherto has been ; 

 and a very strong feeling appears to exist hers, 

 that at no very distant day, British manufactured 

 cotton goods may be formed entirely of cotton 

 raised in the Indian emfdre. Since the trade has 

 been thrown open vviih India, and the monopolies 

 of the East India Company half crushed, if not 

 annihilated, private enterprise has been directed to 

 this important branch of trade, and several of the 

 most scientific and practical men in the United 

 Slates, occupied in the growth of cotton, have 

 been closely questioned and consulted as to the 

 propriety and prospects of similar plantations on 

 the other side of the Cape of Good Hope. From 

 all the information that has yet been gleaned, the 

 inquirers appear to be satisfied that there is no in- 

 superable bar, rational objection, or even feasible 

 reason, why cotton should not be equally as well 

 grown in India as in the south of the United 

 States ; and having engaged many first-rate over- 

 seers from South Carolina, it seems they are re- 

 solved to go seriously and strenuously to work to 

 test the experiment. Four gentlemen, of consider- 

 able intelligence, and from what I learn, who have 



