172 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



had used straw to considerable extent in like noan- 

 ner, but much earlier, and therelbre as he deenoed 

 more profitably. This was last summer, and on- 

 ly on the galled and poorer spots of his reaped 

 wheat field, sown in clover the precedini; spring. 

 The clover on such places already is better grown 

 than on the immediately surrounding and better 

 ground. As much as convenient of this straw 

 was carried out to the field as thrown out (rem the 

 thrashing machine, in return loads of the carts 

 bringing in wheat from the field. This saved 

 nearly all the cost ofcarriage ; and the carts were 

 loaded (carelessly and but partially) with less la- 

 bor than would have been required to put the 

 same straw on the stacl<. Besides, if the loaders 

 in the field had any spare tim.e between the de- 

 parture of one cart and the arrival of another, 

 they could be profitably employed in spreading 

 the return loads of stravv. 



To this /afe application of straw, by Mr. Sel- 

 den, which could not be helped, I must add one 

 other fault in his management which he might 

 and ought to have avoided, as he has been through- 

 out a regular reader of the Farmers' Register, 

 where he might find more correct views on this 

 head. Having recently bought a vessel load ol 

 slacked but still caustic stone lime, he had 500 

 bushels of it spread over the litler in his cattle 

 yard. The action of the quick-lime on the dung 

 and other most putrescent parts of the manure 

 will necessarily be injurious, and more or less de- 

 structive of the enriching principles. 



Mr. Selden uses lime largely, and to great be- 

 nefit. He applies it in the manner described in 

 vol. i., as then practised by the late Fielding 

 Lewis of Weyanoke, about 72 bushels to the acre. 

 Oyster shells cost 62 1-2 cents the hogshead of 

 18 bushels. Latterly, slacked stone lime is brought 

 by vessels from New England, loaded in bulk, 

 which may be bought for 10 or 11 cents on con- 

 tract. It has been sold here as low as 9 cents. 

 Ii is cheaper, Mr. Selden thinks, than using wa- 

 ter-borne marl ; which is gratifying to learn, as 

 all farms on tide- water may be as cheaply suppli- 

 ed with lime, whereas but few (requiring it) can 

 obtain marl by water carriage. Mr. Selden never 

 fails to find satisfactory benefit from his liming. 

 He has not yet quite dressed all his arable land. 

 As soon as gone over once, he intends to begin a 

 second application in smaller quantities. * 



Gypsum is sown regularly on every clover 

 crop, and generally, though not always, with 

 good effect. From failing liarmerly, Mr. Selden 

 was induced to believe that it was less effective if 

 eown before the severe frosts were over ; and 

 therefore always delays the application until after 

 that danger is passed. In this opinion, he must 

 be mistaken. 



Though clover is greatly improved by the lim- 

 ing, yet it stood well on all the farm even before 

 lime was applied. That, and the effectiveness of 

 gypsum also m advance of the liming, would alone 

 suffice to prove to me that the soil was originally 

 rich, ''neutral," and of admirable constituiion, 

 even if its appearance and texture did not teach 

 the same. 



Mr. Selden is of opinion that the growth of oats 

 is more exhausting than wheat ; but deenjs the 

 crop essential to farm economy, in the greater 

 cheapness of feeding horses by using part oats, 

 with the staw, instead of wirti all corn and corn 



fodder. His regular mode and measure of feeding 

 his work mules are as follows for each one : nriorn- 

 ing, two quarts of corn alone; noon, one quart 

 of corn and half a bushel of cut oats ; night, one 

 quart of corn and a bushel of cut oats. On this 

 allowance, if it be certainly and regularly given, 

 Mr. S. considers that mules cannot fail to keep in 

 good order, while doing good work. It is very 

 certain that the ploughing teams of Mr. S. are 

 kept in good order ; and all who know the rota- 

 tion and manner of tdlage at Westover, know 

 that unusually heavy ploughing labors are per- 

 formed. No corn fodder gathered, or hay made 

 or used. For the usual business of pulling of corn 

 fodder'there is no time or labor to spare ; and none 

 is pulled, except a little for the sheep; and the 

 clover is given as manure to the land it grows on, 

 instead of being mown lor hay. Thirty acres of 

 the richest part of the land in corn the preceding 

 year are annually put in oats, and the crop is an 

 ample supply for the 12 working mules and 3 

 horses kept on the estate. As the oats grow on the 

 richest land, oFcourse there is so much the more of 

 straw in proportion to the grain, and the chopped 

 stuff is much poorer than is usual of oats from 

 poor land. 



Most persons may find advantage in compar- 

 ing practically and accurately, the above mode of 

 feeding with their own, or that which is usual 

 where plentiful or sufficient feeding is intended to 

 be allowed. This allowance is, lor each mule or 

 horse, from 6 to'lO ears of corn, (selected at the 

 discretion of the ploughman, who of course picks 

 the largest size,) thrice a day, and as much 

 corn fodder in the rack as the animal will eat, and 

 more for his waste. 



The readers of the Farmers' Register may re- 

 member that Mr. Selden, in his first communica- 

 tion, vol. i., lamented his not being able to make 

 more use of oxen, owing to the I'act of his cat- 

 tle being so subject to die of distemper. Upon in- 

 quiring coQcerning that matter, I learned that 

 there had been no case of that strange disease on 

 his farm for some years. He attributes his ex- 

 emption, (and thinks that the same means of pre- 

 vention will serve every where,) to the use of a 

 mixture of salt, sulphur and tar, kept constantly 

 in troughs for the cattle to lick at will, through 

 summer and autumn. I have heard from ano- 

 ther experienced and observant farmer, the asser- 

 tion of the like confidence in that preventive 

 medicine. This distemper is a most mysterious 

 disease ; and it is much to be regretted that so 

 lew of the remarkable facts of its prevalence and 

 disappearance have been made public. During 

 the time that its frequent occurrence at Westover 

 was a serious obstacle to the lull use of oxen, and 

 eince to this time, on the Coggins' Point farm, im- 

 mediately across the river from Westover, there 

 has not been a known case of that disease in 29 

 years. Nor have I known of a certain case in 

 the neighboring part of Prince George county 

 during that time ; though such may possibly have 

 occurred, and even on my own farm formerly, 

 without the true character of the disease being 

 suspected. Indeed, while the distemper has been 

 most destructive elsewhere, it is not understood to 

 have existed in that neighborhood since about 

 1780, when, in the course of two summers, more 

 than half the cattle of the county, and especial- 

 ly the fattest, died of distemper, This I have 



