578 



MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



first man in the district who used sea-ores to 

 any cousidenible extent, as manure, was the 

 late Lloyd Tilghnian, Es(|., as I'ar back as sixty 

 years ; but he docs not appear to have had 

 many immediate folK)vvers. Al)OUt thirt)^ 

 years ago inuch att(Uition was drawn to crops 

 of com and wheat grown by Mr. William 

 Hambleton, on land proverbially poor ; j)rin- 

 cipally by the use of these materials, aid(>d 

 by a well-littered f irm-yai-d. This example 

 had a powerful effect. It showed, clearly, 

 that increased products were within the 

 reach of all ; and the use of these valuable 

 articles, so long neglected, extended rapidly. 

 AVherever they were within reach they were 

 used, and invariably with success. Many 

 w^ho had no bank-shells resorted to lime 

 from oyster-shells collected iVom (creeks and 

 rivers washing their shores, and this practice 

 still continues with good eft'ect. 



The confining of cattle dining the whole 

 of the whiter season on large accumulations 

 of rich earth, phie rushes, .straw, &c., in 

 yards "with permanent or temporary shelters, 

 about the same time became more general, 

 and appeai-ed to suggest the penning of them 

 on similiir heajis daring the sunmier — now 

 almost universal. 



Your Committee consider this a great im- 

 provement on the " ambulatory" cow-pen of 

 the last generation. 



The pen is generally from tliirty to forty 

 yai'ds square — half-wonn fence staked and 

 capped, with bars or a rough gate ; a good 

 foundation of marsh or rich soil is covered 

 over with pine rushes ready to receive the 

 cattle in May. In this pen they continue to 

 be confined every night until late hi October, 

 the p(.'n receiving fresh stuff about once a 

 fortnight. In this way die bank, under fa- 

 vorable circumstances, becomes more than 

 two feet deej), and is hauled out before win- 

 ter, when the fields are firm, ready for 

 spreading in the spring. Such a heap, with 

 the winter crop of manure, is frequently suf- 

 ficient to dr(!ss over the field intended for 

 corn. The pen is generally made in that 

 field, and supplies of earth are obtained from 

 the woods and from turning rows, or low 

 places plowed up as drains, wherever re- 

 quired. In lands so l(!vel as those in the 

 Bay-side, the removal of the rich soil on a 

 head-land is im])ortant; it acts as a broad 

 though shallow ditch, and discharges much 

 water after heavy falls of rain, while the 

 leads serve to conduct it off without obstruct- 

 ing cultivation. They are generally about 

 three feet wide and the usual depth of plow- 

 ing. 



A little more than twenty years ago tlie 

 rich dep(jsit8 of earth founil at the heads of 

 creeks began to be hauled out as manure. 

 Jt appears wonderlid that these natural com- 

 post beds should so long have been ovi>r- 

 lotikcd. 'Ihi'y have been u.sed to great ex- 

 tent and with unt'iiliiig advantage. 



No marl has been found in tlie district, ex- 

 cept in the niugliboihuod of the Royal Oak, 

 un the lands of Major Dawson, Captain Mcis- 

 (11 -18) 



I ter and Mr. Townsend, who use it with 

 I much success. 



I Our waters afford an annual supply of fish- 

 manure in the Skate. They arrive, unfor- 

 tiuiat(^Iy, at a busy season. Some are taken 

 by fiirincrs who have seines, while others buy 

 of those who make a business of catching 

 them for sale. 



Ashes and guano in a few cases have been 

 imported from Baltimore and ap[)lied with 

 satisfactory results. Ashes can be laid do\^^^ 

 on our shores at a c<jst of TJ^ or 13.;| cents. 

 An enterprising practical farmer, Mr. Ed- 

 ward Covey, last year purcliased and ai)plied 

 no less than .5,.500 bushels, and this after 

 ascertaining their value from several years' 

 experience. Your Committee consider this a 

 fact of great value. It is difficult to intro- 

 duce manui'es which require a direct outlay 

 of money; yet it is obviously proper, by all 

 i^easonable means, to enrich oiu' lands that 

 our labor be not wasted. 



The manner of using sea-ores is various. 

 Some put them in Uu-ge heaps to be distrib- 

 uted at leisure; others dress their cow-pens 

 with them, or drop them in tlie field to be 

 spread at some distant day. The best way 

 is to double-list* them in at once on corn 

 land to be crossed and planted next spiing ; 

 thus evaporation is avcjided and labor saved. 



Your Committee think it unnecessary to 

 describe the mode of cultivation farther than 

 to remark that it is much more thorough 

 than fijnnerly, and altogether in ndges. Few 

 omit to sow clover-seed; but little clover is 

 cut ibr hay. It is either grazed oflf or 

 turned in. Plaster of Paris is not used, no 

 benefit having been found from repeated ex- 

 periments. 



The four-field system, without fallow, is 

 tliough I to be the best for the improvement 

 of jantl, a field of clover lay to be added 

 when in sufficient heart to bear the change — 

 making one in corn, two in wheat and one in 

 pasture. This is believed to be the most 

 profitable course of husbandry, and is fol- 

 lowed by the best and most successful fann- 

 ers in the district. The old modes of se- 

 curing the com crop and fodder still continue. 

 The seeding of wheat commences the first 

 week in October and ends early the next 

 month. Some of those who have no fallow 

 are enabled to house their corn before they 

 begin to s(;eil wheat. 



In conclusion, your Committee, in the sx\h 

 sence of records of crops, are under the ne- 

 cessity of resortuig to conjecture ; and they 

 hope that they will not be drenied extrava- 

 gant when tli(>y express tiie opiiiion that the 

 products of the Bay-side district have been, 

 within the last tv\-enty or thirty years, quad- 

 rupled. 



All which is resix-ctfuUv submitted. 



:^. lUMIU.KTON, 

 W. H. HARRISON. 

 TaUwt Co.. Md., K«:b. 15, 1847. 

 ' in this U-vel ooiiiilty the ciiltivmioti ia uiiiforiiily 

 in iip.iiow ridgi e, mid ilit; ImcUiiii: ol fuui' lurrow- 

 Blices to^'ctlier in ilio fairow ln'uvcuu iwo ot' the 

 ridges io callcJ " UouLilo-Lieliui;." 



