354 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



views in relation to other points in the system of 

 handling cotton. Very respectfully your?, &c. 



HallerNutt. 

 Laurel Hill, Jefferson county, yJpril 22, 1842. 



REJOIMJER Oti THE DOCTKINK OF 

 OF CROPS. 



HOTATIOIV 



For llie Karmers' Register, (in lieu of No. 6.) 

 Before the receipt of the last Register I had 

 been casting in my mind on what sulje.ci 1 should 

 prepare another number. I am now more Uian 

 relieved; lor, instead of m sutj^ct at ait I have 

 loo much suhject. I was once sitting at the table 

 of a friend, at which a Frenchman was a,eo a 

 guest. Seeing the hospitahle h. stess loading his 

 plate with more lood than he could devour in ail 

 The feverish eagerness of his country, he cxclaim^- 

 ed " plenty, plenty, madame, too moush plenty. 

 Jn'the same manner, when I opened the last 

 RecTieter, and (ound myself assailed, not by one 

 formidable opponent alone, but by two, and one of 

 these the veteran editor himself, I could but ihmk 

 of my Frenchman, and with him exclaim, plenty, 

 plenty, genileiuen, too much plenty. 



When 1 wrote my little unpre'endrng piece on 

 rotation of crop^. (I reallv in-ended it should be a 

 modest, noi a "L^ Noir Fameara" aH.ir,) I was 

 awate that some oi the eemiments therein con- 

 tained would be r. ff«rded as novd, and therelore 

 would probably call orih the stric.ures ot some 

 who were wedded to iheir own peculiar nciions on 

 this eu'^i c = In anticipation, then, ot such an 

 event, 1 thought 1 had prepared the way lor mer- 

 cv by ''bespeaku'g iheir kindness, and that il 

 they thoijohl proper to inflict upon me a castina- 

 tion, it might he as moderate and gentle as possi- 

 ble '*' L ke King David, when his son was in re- 

 heiion against him, I stood in the gate and ear- 

 nestly entreated my assailants as ihey came forth lo 

 "deal gently with the young man Absalom, but 

 how does the matter stand ? Notwitiistanding my 

 Pa.nest entreaty, first, " Wm. M. Peyton, of Big 

 L'< k, Roanoke county," (there are men of extra- 

 ordinary size in that country, and 1 suspect Mr. 

 Peyton ie a giant,) (alls Ibul ol'me in the most mer- 

 ciless manner ; and thentheeditorconnngup, (he 

 100 \s^ great man,) and finding a lew places which 

 were not already bea'en to a mummy, attacks 

 these lew ; and thus both tosether leave me, sup- 

 posing me to be dead outright. H .v-ng obtained 

 BO signal a victory, as they supposed, ihey were 

 in too (Treat haste to celebrate it ; and it is owing 

 to this"iniprudence that I have escaped with my 

 life. The amount of the ii jury is, that in this un- 

 equal contest I was v^-ry much bruised ; some of 

 the blows were so severe as to stun me for the 

 moment ; but now I have pretty well recovered 

 from my Iright, and 1 am happy to say that my 

 wounds are in a state of rapid convalescence ; so 

 that-— boasting aside— I am again prepared to 

 meet ray adversaries, one or both, just as they 

 please. But 1 greatly prefer one at a time, if you 

 please, gentlemen. In ordinary cases I consider 

 ail artifice as absolutely inexcusable ; but, in times 

 of war, I believe it is considered, even by the most 

 polite nations, and by the most accomplished ge- 

 nerals, as perfiBctly consistent with the laws of ho- 

 nor, to resort lo their " ruses de guerre:' No one 



ever yet considered it as dishonorable in the one 

 surviving Horaliue, to feign a retreat when sorely 

 pressed by the three •'uraiii. In the same manner, 

 assailed as I am by two formidable adversaries at 

 once, each of whom is amp'y snfficipnt fnr any 

 one man, I hope I shall t)e permitted to peparaie 

 them. On the other hand, as the challenged par- 

 ty, I have a right to dictate the terms oi conteet. 

 I say then to ihe edror, S'and aloof— re-strain 

 your ardors lor the fiL'ht— I will not even allow 

 you to shout " hurra .'" whilst your associate and 

 1 are in the conflict. If I escape alive, I hereby 

 promise to pay my respects to you. I also give 

 you noiice that, in this con'esl, it may suit my 

 purpose to give you an occasional " side wipe' or 

 " back-handed blow." but even in that event, you 

 are not to return the compliment, but slill keep 

 cool at your respedful distar^e. 



Tt.ere is also another preliminary on which I 

 shall insist, and that ie, that Mr. Peyton shall 

 hIbo come single-handed ; at leasi he must leave 

 De Candolle, Macaire Prinrep, and every other 

 Frenchman, behind him. If my adversary is ac- 

 quainted with these gentlemen, and has enlisted 

 them in his service, then he has an advantage 

 over me which 1 am by no means disp'->sed to 

 yield. For my pan, I know almost nothing of 

 ihem ex''ept what Liebig has told me, and from 

 his account, I leel no great solicitude lo cultivate 

 much further acquaintance with them. If, how- 

 ever, Chaptal, Sir H. Davy, Liebig, Buel, Web- 

 ster anil D ma can be of anv service to him, he 

 may bring 'h'-m. But to tiie Frenchmen I posi- 

 tively 01 j^'ct ; for they are almost utter strangers 

 to me. 



One other preliminary settled, and the gentle- 

 man and I will be prepared lor the matter in hand, 

 and that is, that he shall not he so n ce and critical 

 in his distinctions. He may employ his Latin 

 words as much as he pleases ; but what I parti- 

 cularly insist on is, that he will allow me to use 

 the common words, fertility and manure, in my 

 own way, and that he will not confuse them by 

 nice distinctions, showing wherein they differ from 

 humus, geine, or ammonia. In the piece com- 

 mented on. it was not my object to inquire if the 

 word fertility implied more or less than these 

 terms; but simply to s'ate tliat the learned men 

 whose names I mentioned ascribed the fertility of 

 a soil to the presence of one or other of these in- 

 gredients. 



Having settled these preliminaries, I will at 

 once proceed to thp matter in controversy. And 

 what is if? JVIr. Peyton and the editor seem both 

 to have fallen into a mistake on this po^nt. This 

 makes it necessary that I should more particularly 

 " define my position." Both of these gentlemen 

 go upon the snppotition that I am opposed to rota- 

 nons of every kind, and under every circumstance. 

 This I plainly and positively deny ; nor is this in- 

 ference fairly deducible from any part of my pub- 

 lished piece. I h'sitate not'to avow that I am op- 

 posed to rotations fiir the common, and, as I think, 

 universal purposes lor which they are reeor'ed to. 

 Atd what are these? To increase a fertility 

 which already exists, or at least to maintain it, or, 

 in other words, to make the subsequent crop 

 greater than the preceding, or at least equal to it. 

 Hence it is, that in nearly or quite all the treatises 

 I have seen on this eubject, of which there have 

 been a great many in ihc Farmers' Register, the 



