THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



185 



if (0 ihe mixture were added email qiiantitii^s 

 of lime, or larger quantities of ashes. I would 

 not advise carrying it immediately to the field 

 after removing it Irom the pen, but let it lie in heaps 

 of 50 or even 100 bushels, until it becomes dry 

 and comparatively light. In two or three months, 

 and sometmies earlier, the vegetable matter will be 

 pretty well decomposed, so that in digging into 

 these heaps the whole will be found in a friable 

 state, so as to crumble by the mere act of casting 

 it into the cart. I now consider it as fit lor use, 

 and the next operation is to carry it to the field, 

 where I find it of great service. 



The next query ie, " What will a farmer's pork 

 cost him raised in this way, out of the immediate 

 vicinity of a market V To this I reply, thai the 

 cost of pork, either near to market or remote from 

 it, depends very much on the following particulars: 

 the price of corn, the thrift of the hog, the care 

 that is taken of him, Ihe quantity of food other 

 than corn that is provided for him, and the con- 

 stant economy with which he is fed, so that he 

 will always have enough and waste nothing. My 

 pork costs me, according to the best estimate I 

 can make about $4 the 100 lbs. ; and if the hog 

 be a thrifty Berkshire — (and there is a great difie- 

 rence in the Berkshires,) about half that sum. 

 In this estimate 1 take into the account the car- 

 cass of the hog and its cost in corn alone ; lor his 

 extra food, care, &c., I consider as amply paid 

 for by his manure. 



But this subject is becoming irksome to me ; not 

 that I consider it unimportant, but simply because 

 I have had occasion to write so much about it. 

 I must therefore refer " A Young Farmer" and 

 all others concerned, to a series of essays, which 

 I wrote for the Southern Planter, and which ap- 

 peared in that work in the volume lor 1841. Mr. 

 Charles T. Botts, the editor, will cheerfully (on 

 forwarding to him a dollar) send the volume as 

 directed. 



" A Young Farmer" inquires, lastly, " What 

 will it cost per acre to cut down the weeds, &c., 

 for litter'?" I answer, that in harvest mowers 

 here also demand and receive one dollar per day. 

 The usual task for a mower is one acre. But it is 

 to be recollected, that the weeds are usually cut 

 the latter part of September, or first of October, 

 when the days are much shorter, and consequently 

 the wages ought to be less. This work is com- 

 monly done by my own laborers, ((or I sow no 

 wheat,) and they do it immediately after gather- 

 ing the fodder and cutting the tops. I onee hired 

 and paid 75 cents per day ; but now I could get it 

 done cheaper. But were the cost even greater, 

 still I should feel myself amply compensated in 

 collecffhg the weeds. I find they make the speed- 

 iest, the richest, and the very best manure. The 

 mules, the cattle, and even the hogs, eat them 

 with avidity. In addition to this, there is a great 

 convenience in having them stored away ready 

 for use. In summer, when the crops are on hand, 

 stables, hog-pens, &.C., are often neglected, be- 

 cause we cannot spare time to send to the woods 

 Tor litter; but here are the stalks of weeds which 

 have been reserved for this very emergency, and it 

 requires but little time in the morning or evening 

 to distribute them. Thus, whilst the crops are 

 busily engaged in exhausting the fields, ihe hogs, 

 horses, &c. are as busy in manufacturing manure 

 to repair the injury. i 



Vol. X.-24 



Connected with Ihe above, there is one more 

 inquiry still more important. "Is not the prac- 

 tice (of removing the weeds) injurious to the 

 land Iron which they are taken?" This is very 

 generally considered to be the fact, and at first 

 view would seem to be the case. But after look- 

 ing ht the subject in all its bearings, 1 am decided- 

 ly of a different opinion. Now 1 do not pretend 

 hat the removal of a weed, or any thing else from 

 ihe land, can benefit the spot on which it grew. 

 But what do we accomplish by if? We pro- 

 duce an easy and convenient material, by which, 

 even at the busiest seasons of the year, we can 

 keep our stables and hog pens clean and healthy ; 

 and afier answering this very important purpose, 

 it answers another, if possible, still more impor- 

 tant, it makes the richest and best manure. Then 

 it cleanses the field, leaving it in a situation, in 

 which the crop of young clover or other grass 

 may make the greatest progress : and at the 

 next harvest, instead of battering the scythe 

 against hard dry weeds, there ie a beautiful clean 

 surface to cut over. Labor therefore is saved, 

 and the crop secured is cleaner and in better con- 

 dition. But what becomes of the weeds in the 

 mean time"? They are lost, it is true, to the spot 

 from which they were taken, but they are not 

 lost to the farm. After being charged with 

 Liebig's ammonia, and other enriching proper- 

 ties, they are carried back to the field, and instead 

 of standing here and there at intervals apart, or 

 of lying thin, covering so large a space as to do 

 almost no good, ihey are concentrated so as to 

 display all their beneficial effects. And now I 

 appeal to " A Young Farmer," and all others of 

 equal candor, if weeds thus treated and used 

 are not made to answer a more valuable purpose, 

 than when left to injure the hay crop, or to fall 

 and lie thin on the land 1 



And now having answered the inquiries of" A 

 Young Farmer," whom, if he will allow me, I 

 will call my friend, I must take a reluctant leave 

 of him. But I hope to hear from him again 

 over his own name. A mind so inquisitive as 

 his cannot remain inactive, and when employ- 

 ed about farming, the first, the greatest and the 

 best art, must lead to valuable results. But there 

 is another correspondent in the same number 

 (page 136) to whom it would be very uncivil and 

 uncourteous in me to fail to pay my respects. And 

 I take it as a very civil thing in the above corre- 

 spondent, that he has had the candor to append 

 his name to his communication. If Mr. Nicol 

 will lake the trouble to look to the end of this 

 paper, he will also find my name there ; and I 

 now inform him, that the reason why the essay 

 commented on by him appeared without a name 

 was, not that 1 was ashamed of the piece, or 

 wished its faults to be charged to another — not 

 that 1 felt myself unable to sustain every position 

 there taken, but simply for reasons which I shall 

 not be at liberty to disclose till the meeting ol our 

 Agricultural Society, on the 25th day of May next. 

 If Mr. Nicol will liavor us with his company on 

 that day, I will with much pleasure satisfy him 

 on this [foint. 



I proceed to consider this gentleman's strictures 

 on my essay. " Passing, (says he,) over the 

 preliminary observations of the writer I will 

 begin with his stable management. I am not 

 aware that any farmer or owner of a horse, who 



