118 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



to be applied the ensuing winter, with this differ- 

 ence, that in the present year, the corn has been 

 cut up and will now have to be removed and con- 

 sumed on grass land adjoining, the cattle will then 

 be put on, and oiher corn and Ibdder brought and 

 fed m the same place. There are two lots of ten 

 acres each ol'lhat characierof'land, kept as winter 

 and spring leedmg lois. It is intended to try fairly 

 the experiment, whether they will not produce 

 corn every year m succession, and continue to 

 increase in leridity while under that course ol 

 management. Sandy land is well known to im- 

 prove under the operation of treading, it compacts 

 the soil, rendered more tenacious : and what would 

 succeed with it, is deaih to clay, making it utterly 

 useless until pulverized by trost. 



1 have made this statement for the sole purpose 

 of bringing into public view, the true va- 

 lue oi" that character of land when judiciously 

 managed. 



1 am not the operator ; it has passed under my 

 own eyes, and I only claim to have aided by fre- 

 quent consultation in the first successlul experi- 

 ment, that once accomplished gave the key to the 

 subsequent course now in progress of execution, 

 the result of which you will learn at some lijture 

 time. 



There is below here, as well as in our own 

 county, a large body of similar land, and where- 

 ver there is a connexion with some rich alluvial 

 I'ront bottom, you have the means at command to 

 restore its original iertiliiy. Our best lands, as 

 before remarked, possess within themselves the 

 germ of their own restoration ; you gain it by 

 deep ploughing, followed by grass. All iheir pro- 

 duction should be removed and consumed on your 

 secondary soil. You will then observe with plea- 

 sure the great advantage a small covering in win- 

 ter will produce in succeeding crops, and the 

 efficient aid it lurnishes to enable grass to take 

 root. Once obtain this powerful auxiliary in re- 

 storing exhausted, or retaining the virtue of rich 

 soil, and lime and judgment will accomplish all 

 your require. 



There is on every (arm some peculiarity of soil 

 and position, an endless change and variety of 

 circumstances, daily requiring the use of skill and 

 experience to convert them to practical benefit. 

 1 would therefore recommend, that the farming 

 publications should be taken by every man who 

 expects to make his living or his (brtune by the 

 cultivation ol" the earth, (or through them he will 

 gain the first requisite of his profession, food 

 lor reflection, deep reflection, seeking cause from 

 effects. 



My intercourse heretofore, with other parts of 

 your county, enables m-i to sketch some of the 

 prominent features of its soil and character. 

 Pursuing our way to the south part, I find the 

 lands on the various forks of the Twelve Pole, 

 and particularly that portion about the divide 

 of the sandy waters, well adapted to farminir pur- 

 poses. It may rank high as a grazing country, 

 whenever the present occupants shall cease their 

 scourging operations of raising corn on hill sides, 

 and convert them into blooming luxuriant pas- 

 tures. 



There is no better index to the farming pursuits 

 of a country, than is evidenced by the character 

 of their stock thrown into market. In early times, 

 the mountain range was the beneficent resort of 



ail, and is now nearly exhausted, still no prepara- 

 tions have been made lor pastures to take its 

 place. Hence, every succeeding year the stock 

 decreases in size, and will continue to depre- 

 ciate uniil a new era shall cover every hill and 

 every hollow with teeming grass for their support. 

 Your soil and advantages will juslily these re- 

 marks, and (or the evidence of its practicabiliiy 

 and success I may reler } ou to your neighbors in 

 Kentucky. 



In examining the Guyandotte and some of its 

 tributaries, 1 find that its bottoms have been ex- 

 ceedmgly rich and productive, but that the same 

 temptation to overcropping in corn, occasioned by 

 the high prices obtained on the road, could not be 

 resisted, and they have continued the suicidal 

 policy of corn after corn in rapid succession, until 

 they are now left with a diminished return of scarce 

 half its original production. 



Can it be good policy in any farmer thus to per- 

 sist in an operation, that yearly lessens the remu- 

 neration o( labor? I should think not. How 

 will you remedy the evil '? What course of hus- 

 bandry should be adopted? 



Some will contend that it is necessary to keep 

 all their good land in corn, and that, even, if only 

 one third should be laid down in grass for improve- 

 ment, the balance will not yield sufficient for their 

 consumption. Can you think of no plan to save 

 this depreciation for a year or more ; or to stimu- 

 late the two thirds in cultivation to produce what 

 you now gather from the whole 1 



Reflect, have you no manure at command 1 

 Is there none to be obtained in this village 1 

 Can you not quantitj' the amount in your barn 

 yard, sufficient to cover over one half of your corn 

 land ? And if thus enriched and well cultivated, 

 may you not reasonably expect a retard adequate 

 to your demands, while your grass is restoring the 

 balance. 



A Pennsylvania German, or perhaps an eastern 

 farmer, would find a resource in the alluvial deposite 

 on your banks, which when applied to his corn 

 land would keep up its fertility, until time was 

 gained on the other lor its restoration by grass. 

 The tributary Mud river has suffered much from 

 the same course of management, and its fertility 

 materially afiected from similiar causes. I saw 

 there, in several places immense amounts of rich 

 alluvial deposite, which if properly applied would 

 be held in high estimation. 



Pursuing the road through Teay's Valley, it 

 presents some singular geological features, and 

 were I now in search of hypothesis and proof to 

 sustain the igneous action of the Huttonian theory, 

 from the energy of internal fire and upheavmgs 

 of the crust of the earth, I know no place near us 

 that affords a finer field (or the display of the 

 imagination, or that presents stronger evidences 

 of some great and wonderful alteration from its 

 original position. How shall we account for the 

 river rocks, rounded by attrition, imbedded in sand 

 and pebbles, placed on an elevation two hundred 

 (tjet above the level of the Ohio? How for the 

 stratified rocks changing their angle of inclination? 

 The inference is irresistible, that it has at some 

 period been the bed of a lake or river, and that 

 some convulsion has raised the earth and compell- 

 ed the water to seek its course to the ocean 

 through other channels. But enough of this ; my 

 business is with the surface as now existing, and 



