FARMERS' REGISTER. 



767 



enable him accurately to distinguish the variations in 

 the qualit}' of the land, and to bestow tlie manure ac- 

 cordinj^ly) than by the laborer who walks, measures, 

 and digs. By equalizing the ft-rtility of a field, the 

 crops are increased, because it bestows on the whole 

 surface a capacity to sustain the same quantity ot 

 seed, and renders unnecessary a multitude of discrimi- j 

 nations too intiicate to be correctly made. The rider 

 pronounces aloud the number at which the walker is 

 to make each hole, extending or contracting the dis- 

 tance according to the variations of the soil ; and the 

 walker counts aloud his own steps to this number, at 

 which he digs a hole as a mark for depositing each 

 load of manure. To a farmer, this occupation lurnish- 

 es an agreeable mental amusement. 



Two great errors in relation to the use of corn stalks 

 as manure are prevalent. One, that they ought to be 

 trodden to pieces ; the other, that when it is too late 

 to eiiect this, it is good management to gather and lay 

 Ihem in the furrows, to remain uncovered for a year 

 or two. When the stalk is saturated with the moisture 

 of the farm pen, it has acquired all the fertilizing prin- 

 ciples it can hold, in that state. It acquires none from 

 being trodden. Its porous texture enables it speedily 

 to absorb what it can contain. After this is eii'ected, 

 it is only necessniy to bring it into a putrescent state. 

 When the stalks are all in, this is soon done by cover- 

 ing them with straw, chaff or tops. It will not re- 

 quire above ten days in the common March weather, 

 after a rain. Thus they will be made sufficiently soft 

 and brittle to raise, spread and plough well in. Their 

 richness as a manure will be discerned by their capa- 

 city to extract salts from the atmosphere whilst moist, 

 after they are raised, in a quantity sufficient suddenly 

 to change their color. The excessive waste or loss 

 they sustain, left in furrows on the surface, arises from 

 (he same qualily by which th! rich moisture of the 

 farm pen throughout the winter is absorbed and saved ; 

 namely, their extreme porousness. Their surface is 

 dry, nothing evaporates, and nothing runs from them, 

 if the depth of litter is as considerable as I make it. 

 As absorbents, no litter i quals them ; but exposed on 

 the siufdce, they suffer more than any other Irom 

 evaporation. 



A common question discloses another general error 

 in relation to manuring. When the surface manured 

 is stated, an inquiry after the number of stalks follows. 

 We shall never succeed to a great extent, if we consi- 

 der animal manure in any other light, than as a kind 

 of sugar to sweeten the copious repasts of vegetable, 

 with which we ought to feed the earth. It may also, 

 mingled with vegetable matter, dispose the mass, at 

 particular periods of its putrescency, to extract salts 

 from the atmosphere. But however useful it may be, 

 the epithet " animal" is only to be admitted connected 

 with a recollection of its origin. Tliis is vegetable 

 matter, of which animal manure is only a remnant, 

 having undergone one or two secretions, and tlie dimi- 

 nution arising from animal perspiration. Vegetable 

 matter theretore is the visible origin of manure. If 

 atmosphere is its source, that can only be reduced to 

 a visible substance by vegetable instrumentality. Ma- 

 nuring must consequently be regulated, not by the 

 number of stocks, but by skill and industry in raising 

 and applying vegitable matter. Let us then banish 

 from the agricultural dialect this misleading question ; 

 which blinds us by insinuating a falsehood ; and sub- 

 stitute (or it one, which discloses truth, the thorough 

 beliefof which must |)reccde agricultuial improvement. 

 The correct question is " how many acres do you 

 manure (or each laborer employed on the farm ?" It 

 took me more years to reach one, than to exc.=>ed four, 

 and my stalks were rather diminished a? the space ma- 

 nured increased. During the first period, the delusion 

 of the first question misguided my etiorts; during the 

 second, they were directed to the raising, preserving 

 and applying veg.^table matter in the most beneficial 

 mods I could. How far manuring may be carried, is 



not to be foreseen, but I think I can discern through 

 the remnant of the mist which long hid from me the 

 idea of its being pushed to lour acres for each laborer, 

 a possibility of its being extended to double that 

 quantity. 



In this calculation I exclude gypsum, lime, mail and 

 inclosing. The more valuable aiixiliaiies they may 

 be to our vegetable resources, the more our success 

 will be accelerated. Vegetable matter only can be- 

 stow on gypsum a boundless feitilizii^g power, and per- 

 haps it niay be also a necessary associate of lime and 

 mar], with neither of which I have been able to make 

 any satisfactory experiments; at least, the univpisal 

 capacity of creating it every where in great quantities, 

 establishes its vast ^superiority over every other species 

 of manure; and designates it as the basis of airiicul- 

 ture. Applied in green bushes it is much more bene- 

 ficial in curing galled declivities, than animal manure. 

 I use it wiih great advantage for that purpose, and 

 also for manuring level land in the (bllowing mode. 

 The brush is laid in furrows, made in cultivating 

 corn, as deep and wide as explained in these essays, 

 moderately thick and then cut to make it lie close, 

 that it may not be removed by the winds. There it 

 remains uncovered for three years. By applying the 

 brush, the winter succeeding the culture of the land in 

 corn, in a course of four shifts, it is ready lor the 

 plough at the proper time. Even the ridges, as well 

 at' the furrows, will be highly improved by the brush, 

 from the scattering power of air and moisture. These 

 ridges, on the fourth year, are reversed to rover the 

 brush, by this time in a putrescent state, and thus 

 prepared to rot under ground. The objections to the 

 other modes of using brush wood, which I have tried, 

 are these. Spread over the whole surface, it does not 

 rot sufficiently in three years to admit of being plough- 

 ed in, without greatly encumbering the plough. Lett 

 sufficiently long to avoid this inconvenience, much 

 time is lost without any reiiibution; and much of the 

 manure during the latter period of ils decay, by evapo- 

 ration. D;illed green and speedily covered with eaith, 

 the wood will not rot under ground so as not to incom- 

 mode the plough when the lidges are reversed in the 

 fourth )rear afterwards. This preservation of the wood 

 diminishes or delays its efficacy as a manure. Drilled 

 green, lying uncovered throe years, then covered by 

 the plough without disturbing it, and lying four years 

 more until the ridges come in course to be reversed, 

 the wood is made useful as a manure, without piodu- 

 cing the.se inconveniences. I have used all kinds of 

 brush wood, but chiefly pine and cedar. The latter 

 are preferable in a small degree to other green wood, 

 when both are applied in the winter, because of their 

 leaves. A confidence in the benefit of this mode of 

 manuring, has induced mc this year to cut down a 

 thicket on the broken ground of a creek around a level 

 field, and to apply the biush to the furrows of the 

 weakest parts.' All wood of above two inches diame- 

 ter was used as fuel. The residue bestowed a hand- 

 some dressing on double the surface it giew on. The 

 land it came from was not capable of cultivation, and 

 the growth was lean. Being enclosed, it will ri'pidly 

 grow up thicker, and afford periodical cuttings for the 

 same purposes. The wood pays for the labor, and the 

 manure necessarily disengaged (rem the fuel wood, is 

 an additional dona'tion iicni such lands, (in which we 

 unfortunately abound) capable ot extending cur means 

 for manuring veiy consideiably, aid of conveniently 

 improving fields inconveuienlly situated for folding Of 

 farm pens. 



[Note D.— Page TCG.] 



Instead of laying (he plough aside, until the first 

 hand-hoeing of "Indian corn takes place, it is probably 

 better to run a deep furrow with a large plough drawo 



