THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



427 



loads during his first lease. Before two yenrs had 

 passed he had applied 1000 loads, expecting lo be 

 amply repaid in the three next years of his occu- 

 pancy. The supply is from Woodstown, and the 

 distance 6 miles. The annual rem now paid on 

 the two farms of about 345 acres, is ^1}25, and 

 the value ot the land annually increasing- The 

 proprietor furnishes rails, or materials for Itjncing. 

 But the tenants' are not even supplied with fuel 

 from the land, but purchase it elsewhere. 1 

 vvafked through (hese larms, and ihe appearance 

 of the crops, and especially of the clover and pas- 

 ture lands, and of the heavy bullocUs fatted by 

 grazing thereupon Ibr market, served as abun- 

 dant confirmation of ail that was told me of the 

 productiveness. There remained none of tlie land 

 in its previous barren state to exhibit even a 

 specimen; but some of the like was shown me 

 elsewhere — and certainly none could appear more 

 worthless and hopeless of yielding profit by be- 

 ing enriched. These arithmetical statements of 

 increased net annual products, made principally 

 by the improving labors of tenants, and by their 

 voluntary action, speak more strongly than could 

 any expressions ot mere opinion of the value and 

 the profit made of this manure. 



In company vviih Mr. Davis, and upon his 

 suggestion, I visited still another and more re- 

 markable scene ot agricultural improvement. 

 He had told me that there were to be seen on 

 the land occupied by Mr. William Reeve, some 

 of the best evidences of good farming and suc- 

 cessful improvements by, or in connexion with, 

 the use of green-sand earth. This farm lies ad- 

 joining the village of Allovvsystown, and consists 

 now of 200 acres of farming land, or the entire 

 extent of fields lor tillage and grass. The sur- 1 

 face is more undulating than usual, but not too | 

 uneven or hilly. The soil of the farm (as of its 

 neighborhood generally,) is sutler than any other 

 part of the county belore seen, being a pule yel- 

 low clay, which is stiff enough to be diflicult to 

 till, and to form cracks in the surface in dry 

 weather. By the way, it may be not amiss to 

 mention that I saw no sign of red clay soil or 

 Bub-soil, on ray whole route in New Jersey. 

 The present growth of the larm, which is 

 mostly clover, shows every where within the ge- 

 neral enclosure, high productiveness and beau- 

 rtful farming condition. Yet a part without tiie 

 enclosure seemed to be a specimen of as barren 

 and worthless land as I ever saw, that was capa- 

 ble of producing any vegetation. It had formerly 

 been cultivated and worn out, and had long been 

 left out of tillage. It had a lew scattering bushes, 

 and a general but thin and low growth of broom 

 sedge. Cinque-foil and mouse-ear were also 

 plenty, all these plants being deemed the strongest 

 evidences of barren land. Some spots could not 

 even bear either of these — but its otherwise bare 

 surface was covered with a thin and hard gray 

 crust, which seems lo have no lite, but which in 

 fact is a kind of moss, indicative ot next to abso- 

 lute sterility. These several marks reached 

 generally to the very fence, and when on the 

 other side, and but a lew inches distant, clover 

 and other growths of fertile ground showed clearly 

 that the hand of the farmer, and that but recently, 

 had caused this striking difference of condition. 

 Thirty acres here had been bought for ^4.50 the 

 acre. Such as is this outer and waste land, Mr. 



Keeve assured me was the condition of much (he 

 greater part of the farm ten years ago when the 

 estate was purchased, and the improvement of 

 the land was first t>egun. Some of it indeed 

 was much worse. Fur all the steeper decliviliee, 

 such as were pointed out to me, then green with 

 thickly set clover and other grasses, were formerly 

 naked galls. 



As explanatory ofand introductory (o the farm- 

 ing operations, i will mention some circumstan- 

 ces which I heard from other sources, and which 

 it is proper I should so state, lest it might be sup- 

 posed that I had them from one of the parties 

 concerned. Of these, I saw Mr. William Reeve 

 only, and all that I asked of or heard from him 

 was in regard to the farming operations, of which 

 he is the sole director. The whole property and 

 business are much larger. Besides the farm, 

 there is a large milling business, Ibr sawing lim- 

 ber as well as grinding grain, and a vessel and 

 boat-building yard. The property is owned jointly 

 by three brothers, v.'ho severally manage the 

 three different departments, and all of them in a 

 manner which shows great energy, intelligence 

 and good judgment, and successful results. The 

 three brothers came from Burlington county, 

 where the green-sand earth was first used, and 

 has been longest and best known, and their lather 

 and uncle were among the early improvers.* 

 The varied and yet combined operations of these 

 brothers have been ably conducted — and they 

 have had a marked effect in improving the opera- 

 tions of their whc>le neighborhood, by their ex- 

 ample and by the many indirect modes by which 

 every such individual influences the conduct and 

 well-being of all around him. Every such man, 

 in any honest and useful exercise of industry, but 

 more especially as an improver and cultivator of 

 the soil, is a blessing and a source of profit to all 

 his neighbors and to his country at large. And 

 every such farmer as 1 take William Reeve to 

 be, is worth more to the community among whom 

 he labors, than would be ten-/bld the amount of 

 all his properly if distributed among them. 



To sustain the teams necessary for their mil- 

 ling business, and transportation of their timber, 

 it was difficuli to procure hay in so barren a dis- 

 trict. This want was a main inducement lo go 

 to farming and to improving. To commence 

 this, on such land, was of itself matter of surprise 

 to the neighborhood, which was heightened to 

 wonder and lo ridicule, when among the first com- 

 menced operations, were the puiciiase and ap- 

 plication of 1000 bushels of lime. 



The first year of their farming, 1833, the whole 

 land was first under one general enclosure, and 

 all the grass was mowed that could be possibly 

 obtained, as hay was the most important object. 

 The whole product was 5 tons only. In reply to 

 some oflhe jocufir taunts and predictions of their 

 neighbors, Mr. Reeve offered to bet (hat he 

 would double the first year's product of hay every 

 year, until the amount reached 100 tons from a 

 single mowing. In seven years, the crop amount- 

 ed lo 225 tons, besides the then keeping a fine 

 stock of grazing cattle, and the regular tillage of 

 grain crops. 



* Mark Reeve, the uncle, was the person whose 

 opinions were referred to as authority by Judge Peters, 

 in a passage quoted in my account of the "gypseous 

 earth of James river," Farmers' Register, vol. i. p. 211 



