FARMERS' REGISTER 



673 



paration for a crop of grain — how pleasant it is, 

 then, to reflect that while I am carryins^ manure 

 to my four-acre field a mile otY, one-hail' my dunrr 

 and labor goes to support the weeds, and one-hall 

 the reniainder is losi in the diminution of the crop 

 in quantity and quality, or thereabout; (his is 

 tithing the crop with a vengeance, and would 

 never be submitted to, did not farmers believe that 

 crops "won't pay for cleaning 1" But, ifthis were 

 the fact, what a losing concern must be the grow- 

 ing of a corn crop which is so expensive in every 

 stage of its growth ! and yet, none of us hesitate 

 to perform it, or are afraid to debit the crop with 

 the cost, which it is always sure to pay, if the sea- 

 eon is favorable. Is it not, therefore, passing 

 strange, that any one should be so perverse as not 

 to see, that if cor/i will pay lor superior cultivation 

 all other crops must, and especially potatoes, a 

 crop that is generally devoted to the weeds at some 

 period of its growth, although none perhaps suffer 

 more from their presence, particularly in quality: 

 and this remark is exemplified in a crop of these, 

 which is now growing in an adjoining field, where 

 my neighbor Dale gave up the cleaning^ra bad 

 job, when he had got through about half the 

 piece; they were of an early variety, and he is 

 now taking them up, but it is really a caution to 

 see the difference which there is between the up- 

 per and the lower ends of the patch ; they appear 

 upon the part which was allowed to go to weeds, 

 of quite another kind, even in their form ; worm- 

 eaten, scabby, and covered with tubercles ; and, 

 on boiling, are watery, comparatively fit only as 

 food lor hogs, and about half the size of those 

 upon the cleared land. Now it must not be for- 

 gotten that there is a small condition, appended 

 to the promise, " in due time ye shall reap," it is, 

 " if ye laint not." My neightior fainted at half- 

 way in his war upon the weeds, and his crop of 

 potatoes became a crop of weeds, so thick and 

 high, that he was compelled to mow them with a 

 scythe, before he could see where to put in the 

 Gpace, the very rows being obliterated; and the 

 crop in quantity is equally deficient. On my 

 reminding him of the common observation, "crops 

 won't pay for cleaning," I was pleased to hear 

 him say, " I'm now satisfied they won't pay for 

 neglecting, any how." 



But I owe honorable mention of the manage- 

 ment of the person who owns the sugar-beet 

 above noticed. Nothing is so common as to see 

 the headlands of the corn-crop full of the largest 

 and stoutest weeds, no care being taken to clean 

 them, even by mowing, after the last cleaning of 

 the crop ; now here is an exception to this almost 

 universal practice, for, at that time, he turned 

 about and ploughed them down, and sowed the 

 land with buckwheat ; and the view at this time 

 is absolutely lovely, the plant in full bloom, and 

 remarkably strong and vigorous — for every one 

 knows that the headlands are always the richest 

 portions of the field — and promise a crop sufficient 

 for the support of the farm household during the 

 coming year. No fear of i/iis man's crops twr/i- 

 ing to weeds, but it is quite amazing to see the fine 

 crops of these, which are repaying his neighbor's 

 care of them, to the value of cent, per cent. R. 



September I6th. 



Vol. VIII.-85 



TRKNCHING. 



From the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Sir, — The best managers are always to be fbund 

 in the most unfriendly soils and situations — witness 

 our friends in the eastern stales, the Scotland of 

 j/merica — so true is it, that "In countries where 

 nature has been bountiful, man has been indolent, 

 where she has been niggardly in her gilts, the 

 deficiency has been more than compensated by 

 the industry of man." 



In the " Survey of Aberdeen," there is the most 

 surprising account of what has been done in the 

 way of trenching their soil in the neighborhood of 

 the town of Aberdeen, and which does indeed go 

 to prove the truth of the above observation ! It 

 is remarked, " The greater part of the land in this 

 vicinity lias, from the most barren and unproduc- 

 tive stale, been thoroughly improved by trenching: 

 not less than three thousand acres have been 

 trenched within three miles of Aberdeen, and in 

 all places of the county considerable additions 

 have been made to the arable, by trenching the 

 barren lands. It is practised on land which 

 abounds in stones of diflerent sizes, sometimes 

 when the soil is dry, and in other cases when it is 

 wet, and then it is united with under-draining : it 

 is practised when the object is to deepen the soil 

 or to mix a portion of the subsoil along with it; 

 when the subsoil is tilly or very tenacious, as well 

 as when that next the surface is unproductive, 

 mossy or exhausted by over-cropping ; and lastly 

 when the land Is foul, when cleaner and stronger 

 soil can be brought to the surface. 



"The expense, it must be confessed, could not 

 have been borne in many cases, if ihe first crop — 

 for so it may be called, as it covered the whole soil 

 — that was raised by the spade and mattock, had 

 not produced from thirty to fifty pounds per acre : 

 this was a crop of granite stones, which was sold 

 for paving the streets of London ! But, after all, 

 the ground that was thus gained to the communi- 

 ty would not have been able to recompense the 

 cultivator, if a mixture of the spade and plough 

 husbandry had not been introduced. The rent 

 of the land in the vicinity of Aberdeen is extremely 

 high, being now, on a lease for years, from five 

 pounds to ten pounds sterling per acre, and, in a 

 lew cases, not less than eighteen pounds ! Yet 

 all this is necessary to remunerate the improver, 

 who trenched, dunged, limed, and cultivated this 

 thin soil, and which must still be frequently ma- 

 nured. It would have yielded too little produce 

 if tilled only by the plough, and would have been 

 cultivated at too great expense if the soil had been 

 constantly dug with the spade; a medium between 

 these two— either the alternate use of the plough 

 and spade, or at least a mixture of plough and 

 spade husbandry — was thus introduced by ne- 

 cessity, and has been attended with the happiest 

 effects." 



With little exception, the whole tract of country 

 from Seville to Antequera, in Spain, although of 

 the richest possible description, is in the most 

 wretched state of cultivation ; no enclosures, and 

 such is the state of personal insecurity, that no 

 farmer or proprietor ventures to reside on his own 

 land I 



