724 



t'ARMERS' REGISTER 



enabling it more copiously to inhale the atmc- 

 ephericul nfianure, lias ilie ^Tcaf (]elect of noi f>ro- 

 ViJing againsi the efl'ecie ol' exhalation. Inhaled 

 atniObfihere being as rare and as liu;lii as inhaled 

 water, is as liable to tlie laws of evaporation, and 

 its benefit to ihe land must of course be as tran- 

 sient. Againsi this deltjcf, the permanency ol' 

 atmospherical nnanure, in the foim of liaidcned 

 vegetables, so much less exposed to theee laws, 

 provides. 



To support the details of manuring, it is neces- 

 sary to advert, occasionally to principles. Tali's 

 husbandry is the remedy recommended tor the er- 

 roneous opinion, that ten cultivated acres will not 

 produce the means ol' manuring above one. This 

 error is founded on the inhaling, without consider- 

 ing Ihe exhaling quality of the earth ; and to sup- 

 ply the want ol manure, we are advised to expose 

 our lands to evaporation in the greatest possible 

 degree, by naked lallows. 



On the contrary, I am convinced, that if we 

 will watch and arrest the thief evaporation, whe- 

 ther stealing our means (or raising manure, or 

 sweating the earih as a Jew sweats gold, we shall 

 discover modes of ferdlizing land infinitely beyond 

 our most sanguine hopes, both by additions of 

 manure, and obstructions to evaporation. 



Twenty- five years ago, I Ibund more difficulty 

 in manuiing one acre lor five laborers, including 

 women and boj s, owing to a waste of my means 

 for raising manure, and an ignorance of applj'ing 

 it, than 1 now do in manuring two acres for each. 

 By manuring two acres lor each laborer, with the 

 three resources only co'iimon to every bread stuH 

 farm, it Ibllows that we may manure about one- 

 sevenlh of the land we annually put in lilih, if, as 

 I suppose, we can seldom plough more than four- 

 teen acres (or each laborer, including women and 

 boys. This is at once attaining to the summit of 

 European exertion, without the aid of lime, marl, 

 6oot, the sweepings of cities, and several other 

 resources for improving land, which contribute 

 greatly towards conducting European farmers to 

 the same stage of improvement ; and without tlie 

 vast benefit of inclosing. Two reasons exist (or 

 an event apparently so unlikely ; the Indian corn 

 furnishes a lund of litter for raising manure, infi- 

 nitely exceeding any of theirs, and their waste of 

 manure by evaporation is avoided. 



This subject compels me to revert to a use of 

 Indian corn, before the mode of its culture is con- 

 sidered. Its blade makes the finest fodder, and if 

 well saved (urnishes but little litter, because it is 

 all eaten. Being the best hay, it ought to be 

 saved lor the hottest and most laborious season of 

 the year, which occurs immediately alter the green 



clover (ails. The first part of the Indian corn the farm pen is carried on unploughed ground, ge- 



which should be used as Ibod is the slalk, because 

 it is harder to keep sound through the winter, than 

 any other (odder, and its saccharum is continually 

 wasting. The tops should be devoted to covering 

 a (arm pen of rails, in the form of three sides of a 

 square, closed to the groimd on the outside, and 

 open within, and to a house for pumpkins and tur- 

 nips stacked in the common (brm. Some loss will 

 accrue (rom the evaporation of a cover, whether 

 composed of straw or corn tops, and tops make 

 infinitely the best. And some annual cover ol a 

 %vinler'8 farm-pen for cattle, is indispensable, as 

 being a vast saving upon the European custom of 

 stationary eow houses, Arthur Young is, I think, 



of opinion, that 12C0 acre^ is that size for a farm 

 best adapted Ibr the economy of labor. Suppose 

 two hundred and filiy acres of this farm to be an- 

 nually ploughed, and fifty to be annually manured: 

 If this manuring is commenced around a station 

 Ibr raising manure, in (bur years the station is iso- 

 lated in the inidsi of two hundred acres of ma- 

 nured land, leaving it about six hundred ytirtls dis- 

 tant from the nearest of the manured land, which 

 distance increases, as the manuring is extended, 

 (i-orn that minimum, to its maximum, namely, the 

 distance (iom the centre to the verge c f an are'^ 

 of one thousand two hundred acres. Hence the 

 expense of carrying in ihe litier, and carryinir out 

 the manure, will presently become £0 enormous, 

 as to drive the (armer into the ancient ruinous and 

 abandoned custom, of infield and outfield, or that 

 of highly improving a spot around his house, and 

 highly impoverishing the rest of his llirm. 



An ambulatory cow house is the remedy flir this 

 disastrous mode of management. The sheep and 

 cattle shoukl be employed in manuring abroad, 

 and ihe horses at home. The (irrm pens of the 

 tisrmer should be placed in the field (or cultivaiicn, 

 with an eye to convenience or saving of labor, 

 both in receiving the stalks from the shift of the 

 preceding year, and also in distributing the ma- 

 nure in that to be cultivated. It is lar better to 

 make a lane of great length to conduct the cattle 

 to water, than to omit this management. 



The greatest assiduity should be used in con- 

 veying ihe corn stalks to these liirm pens, and the 

 stable yard as early as possible, reserving the 

 shucks, the straw, the tops, the Iriades, and the 

 haj' (or later periods; because the injuiy to the 

 stalks standing single and exposed to ihe vicissi- 

 tude of weatrier, is infinitel)' greater (rom evapo- 

 ration than to these oiher articles of (bod and lit- 

 ter. Some small quantities of straw and shucks 

 should however be used with them, to produce 

 compactness as a defence against evaporation, and 

 to treat the cattle with a variety of (bod, so grate- 

 (ul to animals. The straw and the shucks alter 

 the stalks ;\re all in, will bestow a cover on them, 

 impenetrable to drought, and secure againsi evti- 

 poraiion ; Ihe several kinds of litier are benefi- 

 cially mingled, and the tops which covered the 

 cow house are the last (bed of its inhabitants. 



The ground to be manured, should be fallowed 

 in the winter, since the more friable its state, ihe 

 better it commixes with the unrolled contents of 

 the (arm pens, and the better these contents are 

 covered with the plough. Il ibis is neglected, 

 the want of a thorough commixture, and the ex- 

 posure of manure on the surface, both of which 

 will happen in a degree when the long litier of 



nerally causes the loss of one-half of the manure, 

 and one-half of the crop. 



The winter's fallow to receive the spring ma- 

 nure, is a business capable of some improvement, 

 and economy of labor. This fallow, when the 

 manure is (or Indian corn, as it ought to be where 

 that grain is cultivated, should be made by three 

 furrows, forming a ridge five i'eet and a half wide. 

 Two of these (urrows are made by a large plough, 

 calculated to cut deep and wide, and to turn the 

 sod completely over ; and the third by a plough 

 called a trowel-hoe, made one-third larger than 

 usual, with a coulter on the point, and a mould 

 board on each side. If the field has been left in 



