THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



357 



comes discolored. The first beans are now taken 

 out, and others are put in the same liquid. These 

 latter will not grow, but corn jjlanis grow vigor- 

 ously 1 And what can be the cause ol it 7 Sorne 

 cause must be bssigiied, and, lor a belter, here ii 

 is. The first beans so poisoned the water with 

 their excrements, that ihe latter positively relused 

 to grow. And this one, solitary experiment, tried, 

 not in the field, but in ilie cbemisi's laboratory, 

 and tried, too, in an element loreign to the growth 

 of the article, is made the Ibundation ol an exten- 

 sive principle, which is to give a new aspect to 

 the whole science of vegetable physiology ! 

 From the lime of the first larmer, down to the 

 time that this experiment was made in a che- 

 mist's shop, it was a matter ol universal noio- 

 riety ihat, protnded there was suffiiiient leriiiny in 

 the soil, a second crop would succeed a hrst ; but 

 now it is Ibund that the first ciop so poisuns the 

 land by its excrements thai the second will not 

 grow. And so all the previous lacis, which were 

 60 well established, must be made to yield to this 

 one solitary instance. It is \.o fooleries ol this cha- 

 racter thai I am uiierly op|)osed ; but to sound 

 science, brought to ihe test of practical utility, 

 and found pure, 1 am as decided a friend as can 

 be found in America or Europe either. 



But I am losing sight of my subject. Having 

 now shown that I am no rotaiionist, either on the 

 peculiar ingredient ay s[ea), or ior the sake of in- 

 creasing, or even maintaining, a present fertility, 

 which, by-lhe-by, as I still think, iiiirly covers the 

 whole ground, I will proceed to state, that I advo- 

 cate a change of crojjs, whenever 1 can make a 

 greater profit by so doing. The profit, then, is ihe 

 leading idea, by which I am governed in thin thing. 

 In illustration of tins, i will sup|)Ot^e that there is 

 a piece of ground just recovered from ihe lorest. 

 I will not BOW grass, or wheat, or any other broad- 

 cast crop there, because it is certain that wiih the 

 soil unbroken, and the large quaniities of litter on 

 the ground, the seeds would not vegetate, and 

 therelore a crop could not be reared. But I will 

 plant corn, or t bacco, or some other crop there, 

 which I can cultivate on the phm of drill hus- 

 bandry, and in this manner may ultimaiely so 

 cleanse and pulverize the land as to make it more 

 profitable in a broad-cast crop. Or, there is a 

 field which has borne several crops of grass : this 

 field is now so filthy that it does not yield a prufii- 

 able crop; at least the crop in something else 

 would be more profitable, paying me at the same 

 time lor the labor of changing ihe crop. As a 

 matter ol good management, then, I would root 

 up the grass, and substitute its plice with that 

 other crop. But this is nut rotation. Ii is merely 

 a change of the crop, not to effect any of the pur- 

 poses of a rotation, but lo make the land with its 

 cropping as profitable as possible. If the field 

 would yield a lairer profit in grass ihiin in any 

 other crop, 1 would continue it in grass for ever, 

 and 80 of other crops. 



And now i hope I have fully "defined my po- 

 sition" on ihe subject of rotations, and here, per- 

 haps, 1 ought to drop Mr. Peyton. But there is 

 another little matter to which I must call his at- 

 tention. And, first, I am pleased that he had the 

 coiirtesy to append his own proper name to his 

 Btrictures. i fiave read these stricturea with no 

 unkind or even indignant feelings. The whole 

 style of his piece shows that he is a scholar and a 



gentleman. 1 am not certain, but I suspect that 

 my unknown antagonist is a young man. 1 like lo 

 see ardor and boldness in youth, but the gentleman 

 will excuse nie lijr saying ihat these qurtlities usu- 

 ally irive place, in alter age, to caution and modes- 

 ty. With these remarks, I will call Mr. Ptiyton s at- 

 tention 10 two sentences, in which 1 think he has 

 done me injustice. I will noi quuie the objection- 

 able sentences entire, but simply call his atteniion 

 to them. He says, " Mr. Turner sets out rather 

 ominously, in the midst of a strange confusion of 

 technical terms," &c. Now 1 am utterly at a loss 

 to conceive what can be Mr. Peyton's meaning in 

 this and what Ibllows. When 1 first read this, I 

 I bought I must have been betrayed into some in- 

 cautious ex()iession. I therelore carelully looked 

 over the piece again ; but siill 1 cannot conceive 

 on what this assertion is lounded. Il Mr. Peyton 

 will have the goodnesa lo poini out ihat " strange 

 confusion of technical teiins," I will in disgust 

 and mortification blot ii Irum my manuscript. A 

 litile further on, he charges me with an attempt 

 to " varnish,'- &c. Now all my positions are so 

 plain, and all my iilustraiions are so simple, that 

 I need no varnishes to cover their deliicts. 



The other objectionable oentence occurs near 

 the beginning ol' the siriciu:es. It is there said, 

 that from my '• successlul laimmgaud well-writ- 

 ten commuiiicaiions," &c., and then it is more 

 ihan insinuated, that I am trying lo pervert my 

 influence to the injury ol my brethren. To this 

 grave charge, I again plead " not guilty." But 

 even if guilty, I am consoled with the lart, that 

 there is sucli an able opponent to make the anti- 

 doi3 commensurate with the bane. Wiih these 

 remarks, and with the kindest leelings, I take 

 leave ol Mr. Peyton. 



But my work is only hall done. A new adver- 

 saiy presents himsell, and a new scene opens be- 

 iore me. I leave Mr. Peyton, Macaire Princep, 

 Liebig, and other literary characters, to settle their 

 own grave concerns, in iheir own way, but it is 

 only lo encounter the formidable editor of the 

 Fanners' Register, I leave the field of science, 

 but, sirange to tell, wearing a black coal as I do. 

 It IS to enter ihe field ol chivalry ! 



And now I have an adversary of a dilfeieat or- 

 der to contend wiih, old, expeiienced, sage, cau- 

 tious, a veteran in the cause, wiih courage sufficient 

 10 make a bold soldier, and wiih (irudence to 

 moderate ii. I think, however,, that he shows 

 more boldness when he ha.^ some associate in 

 arms to lead on ihe attack, iluiii when he comes 

 to the conflict alone. Such is ihe adversary vvilh 

 whom I now grapple. 



And here, passing by that pretty figure about 

 knight erraniry, and " knight chal enger, and Le 

 Noir Faineant," and "all that sort of thing," 

 which It seems was so pretty that the editor could 

 not resist it, though in availing himself of it, 

 he makes me appear a little ridiculous — also, 

 passing by all that he says about the universality 

 of rotations as practised by judicious farmers, 

 I come at once to the main thing in hand. But 

 first I wish to say a passing word about this 

 " knight challenger," whom the editor introduces 

 with such a flourish. And if he means me, 1 

 must remind him that I was enjoying a peaceful 

 retirement at my farm, until he came in and 

 tempted me from it. We read in the good book 

 of two other persons, who were enjoying a eimi- 



