THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



87 



March. No benefit to the oats whatever ; and 

 when ploughing ihe land (or wheat this fall, the 

 leaves were turned up very little decayed. 



K. RuFFiN, Jr. 



[The Foregoing statements were furnished upon 

 our suggestion, and in regard to most of them in 

 consequence of our seeing or otherwise knowing 

 the general results, and deeming ihem the inoie 

 worth notice, because ol our personal acquain- 

 tance with the original condition and character 

 of the land, which was the subject of our own 

 early labors and improvement by marling. Though 

 the written memoranda of the writer furnished the 

 by-gone but recent facts nearly as here stated, 

 etill, as accurate experimenting had not been at 

 first designed, and still less any publication of 

 results, it is not pretended that the statements ol 

 quantities are entitled to (he respect due to the re 

 suits of carefully and properly conducted expe- 

 riments. 



We have another and more general reason 

 for presenting these notes of observation to our 

 readers. It is to show that by merely noting 

 down, in the most concise and simple (brm, any 

 results or facts observed deemed worth remember- 

 ing, any practical cultivator might aid in furnish- 

 ing a mass of interesting facts, or suggestions of 

 subjects for inquiry and more careful experiment. 

 There are hundreds of our readers, who never 

 report any thing for publication, who might in 

 any half hour, furnish some few such observa- 

 tions, which, as /ac/s, and still more as having 

 the authority of the name of the cbserver, would 

 attract general attention, and convey much of 

 useful suggestion, and induce imitation and co- 

 operation in the pursuit of doubtful truths— all 

 tending to cause the making of properly conduct- 

 ed and accurately reported experiments. Will 

 each one reader, who may acknowledge the value 

 of such operation and results, do something to- 

 wards producingthem?— Ed. F. R.] 



For the Fanners' Register. 

 LIQUID MANURE. 



In the December number of the Register, I no- 

 tice detailed a number of interesting and conclu- 

 sive experiments, make by Mr. Milburn of York- 

 shire, in the application of liquid manure. In the 

 fall of 1840, alter cleaning out my standing farm- 

 pen for the winter reception of my cattle, there 

 was left in it a quantity of dark rich liquid, which 

 1 felt inclined to apply, to a neighboring field, then 

 m young clover of first year's growth. With 

 much the same primitive contrivance of pails and 

 barrels placed in tumbril carts, as used by Mr. 

 Milburn, I contrived, with much inconvenience, to 

 get outmost of the liquid. It was spread very un- 

 equally, and I cannot say at what rate. In many 



spots where the application was too heavy the 

 clover was killed outright, but was succeeded the 

 next spring by a most luxuriant growth of weeds. 

 Generally, however, the clover was much benefit- 

 ed. This fall the field was fallowed, and sown in 

 wheat. On the part where the liquid manure was 

 applied the wheat now exhibits a decided supe- 

 riority. I have no sort of doubt of the highly en- 

 riching quality ol'ihe liquid, and of the great an- 

 nual loss sufiVred by our farmers when it is allow- 

 ed to run off into the nearest gullies, or carefully 

 drained off to the adjacent ravines, in order to ren- 

 der the working of the manure more comfortable 

 to the hands. It) every properly shaped farm-pen, 

 each spring and fall, when it is cleaned out, there 

 will always be (bund a large quantity of this valu- 

 able liquid, which can be easily carried out by the 

 simple contrivance recommended by Mr. Milburn. 

 I think this single article, above referred to, 

 is worth to every reader of the Register, who will 

 adopt and act on its suggestions, more than the 

 subscription to its wiiole series. Z. 



Jan. 6, 1842. 



From tlie American Farmer. 



Mr. Editor :—W\\\ you accept of a (isw hasty 

 and indigested remarks on soils and their proper- 

 ties of production ? Such as they are, they will 

 be very much at your service ; but I must claim 

 lor them the indulgence of yourself and readers, 

 as they are written citrrente calamo, and without 

 being transcribed or copied. 



In the American Farmer, No. 38, of the cur- 

 rent volume, I observe that you have copied a 

 short article (rom the Encyclopedia Britannica, 

 concerning a very fruitful soil in the county of 

 Caithness. — Such soils have been foimd, in the 

 alluvial formation, in different parts of the globe — 

 such is that of Ormiston, in East Lothian ; such 

 is that of Somersetshire, in the low lands, near 

 the opening of the river Parret into the British 

 Channel ; some of the lands of East Florida, 

 possess the same properties ; and to come nearer 

 home, some o( the land of Spesutia Island, in 

 Harford county, possesses the same inherent 

 quality of production. 



Now as to the theory, by which this extraordi- 

 nary fertility is explained, in order to form a rati- 

 onal and correct one, we must take into view all 

 the connecting circumstances. The soil described 

 by the writer of the article under consideration, ia 

 said to consist almost entirely of broken shells 

 and fine mould, the latter in almost an impercepti- 

 ble proportion — that from Ormiston afforded, by 

 analysis, eleven parts in the hundred of mild calca- 

 reous earth, twenty-five of siliceous sand, forty- 

 five of finely divided clay, nine of animal and 

 vegetable matter, and a small quantity of phos- 

 phate of lime, to which latter its fertility is in a 

 great measure attributed. 



The soil from the low lands of Somersetshire 

 has been found to consist of only one ninth of 

 siliceous sand, and eight nhiths of calcareous marl, 

 with five parts in the hundred of vegetable matter ; 

 and its fertility is attributed to its power of at- 

 tracting principles of vegetable nourishment from, 

 the atmosphere, and from water. 



