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THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



interesting, and may be resumed hereafier in a I 

 distinct and substantive article. 



In sundry of the particular positions assumed by 

 Mr. Turner as proofs, or steps in his argument, 

 we entirely concur, and suppose that no one 

 would dispute. For example — it is not our 

 opinion, nor the opinion of any reasonable advo- 

 cate for rotation, that the mere growth of any 

 crop serves to enrich the land pcoducing it — or 

 that any rotation of crops, if all are removed, can 

 increase fertility. Nor would we dispute that 

 some tilled crops, as corn, cotton and potatoes, 

 (the very cases adduced by Mr, Turner,) may 

 each be continued for many years on the same 

 ground without very manifest deterioration, es- 

 pecially if dressed by various kinds of manures. 

 But the true question is, could not, even in the most 

 successful cases, these crops have been raised 

 better, and to greater profit, if alternated with 

 others'? But even the admission of such excep- 

 tions cannot be made as to broad-cast crops, 

 which are not cleaned by tillage. It is manifest 

 and notorious, that neither wheat nor oats, nor any 

 one kind of grass, can be continued to any profit, 

 for years in succession on the same ground. 

 Mr. Turner's statement of his own herds-grass 

 giving place after a few years to green-sward, or 

 to weeds, is not only a proof of this position, but 

 also of Nature's urgent demand for a change of 

 crops. — Ed. Far. Reg. 



LIME. — THE WHEAT CROP, &C. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



I lament, my dear sir, that you should think of 

 giving up your useful labors ; believe me when I 

 assure you that the Farmers' Register has been a 

 great public benefaction, and I must hope that you. 

 will not discontinue it. If you would be contented 

 to take the vote of Virginia as your guide, I am 

 sure you would have an overwhelming vote to go 

 on. Men may differ, and do differ on every sub- 

 ject ; from the hour that "darkness dwelt upon 

 the face of the deep," man has dared to differ with 

 his God, how then could you hope for agreement 

 and sympathy? You have been his benefactor; 

 what of that? Is he not in a free country, to 

 take such things as he does, and his neighbor's 

 grounds, and use them according to that barbarian 

 thins called the "enclosing law," or " act of as- 

 sembly." If a people be legislated into barbarity, 

 why complain of them if they have not the fear 

 of God upon their minds? 



I owe much to your correspondents for amuse- 

 ment and instruction, and I would not on any ac- 

 count offend the least of them : let me, m this 

 feeling, give you a few facts. 



I have used, in the last twelve years, seventy 

 thousand bushels of lime, with full and con)pleie 

 success. If I say the crops have been doubled, I 

 am within the bounds of truth, save in two fire- 

 vious crops of wheat, which were failures. The 



present is very great, and 1 impute it to the dif- 

 ference in cultivaiion ; the failures were after three 

 and four ploughmgs, the present after one only. 

 This however is the ninth day since I began my 

 harvest, and 1 have not, from rain, cut twenty 

 acres. A lew days more of ^uch weather must 

 sprout it all in the field. ' 



My corn is fine, and that for twelve years or 

 more has been planted upon one ploughing ; it is 

 then coultered twice, and the cultivator finishes. 

 But let me add that 8 cultivators pass over my 

 field in four days, and I am persuaded that I get 

 more from the atmosphere than the corn uses in 

 its growth. For this reason I call it my chame- 

 leon crop, and feed it freely. 



My oat crop upon limed land is not slow to 

 show the power of lime. My clover, sir, is the 

 food, the meat and drink of all other crops, I save 

 my own seed, and sow in the pug, twenty bushels 

 to the acre, as clean as the hand rake will make it 

 from the thrashing machine, and that is as little as 

 we give. This gives dear old Mother Earth a 

 perfect robe of green ; and when the blossoms set, 

 it takes no poet's imagination to see that the dear 

 old lady is in a dignified strut, I never fail to give 

 one or one and a half bushels of plaster in March ; 

 and say what you may or please about philoso- 

 phy, plaster upon limed land is worth six times its 

 weight in fine flour upon your table. I forgot to 

 say that I put a spoonlLil of plaster to each hill of 

 corn as soon as it is planted, and that I plaster my 

 meadows every spring with full and entire satis- 

 faction as to results. Lime — lime — lime. 



Fairfax county, June I8th, 1842. 



the wheat harvest 



Has just been finished, or is about closing, on every 

 farm in this region, and tfie result is certainly very 

 far below the recent anticipations of an uncom- 

 monly abundant crop. Rust struck the crops, almost 

 universally throughout eastern Virginia, but a few 

 days before the wheat was fit for the scythe, which 

 alone would have lessened the product very conside- 

 1 iibly. But added to the always disastrous effects of 

 this worst disease of wheat, rains fell almost every day 

 throughout harvest, and sometimes in immense quan- 

 tity, so as to damage all other crops also, and espe- 

 cially the cultivated lands, by flooding and soaking the 

 level, and washing the hilly surfaces. From Monday, 

 the 13th, when the harvests here commenced, there 

 were 10 or 11 rainy days, and only one day in which 

 rain did not fall (Sunday, 19th) ; and during that time, 

 nearly all the crops were reaped, and greatly exposed, 

 and more or less damaged, or wasted by the necessa- 

 rily hurried and bad work under such circumstances. 

 Many of the shocks are yet wet, and require to be 

 taken down for drying. No farmer can yet estimate 

 his own loss, with any approach to accuracy, and of 

 course a general estimate must be very uncertain. 

 But the general loss cannot be less than one-fourth of 

 the whole crop of eastern Virginia, as it promised a 

 few days before ripening. We have passed through and 

 seen crops of seven counties during harvest. No cer- 

 tain information from the mountain region has yet been 

 received. The last rains were on the 25th, and since 

 the weather has been fine. On the level lands of 

 Gloucester, and still more of Mathews, great loss was 

 counted on even in the oat crops, from excess of wet ; 

 and also to the com crops, because of their foul state, 

 and the long time before the ground could be again 

 ploughed.— Ed. F. R. 

 June 29, 1842. 



