428 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



The earliest operations of tillage and improving 

 Cin 1833^ was to plough 12 acres in the spring, 

 apply stone lime at 50 bushels the acre, and culti- 

 vate in corn. The next year oats. Both crops 

 were vi^ry good for the land. Again 50 bushels 

 of lime were applied to the acre; and t)c'orc the 

 wheat, which was the next crop, barn-yard ma- 

 nure was given at the rate of 10 two- horse loads 

 to the acre. Timothy seed sown with the wheat, 

 and clover in the spring. The next winter, alter 

 the wheat crop, applied green-sand earth, 10 tons 

 to the acre, hauled 7 miles (i-om Woodstown. 

 The crop oC hay was 2| tons to the acre ; and its 

 value was enough to pay for the whole expense 

 of all the lime applied, charged at the cost when 

 landed on the wharf, and ihaiol the purchase and 

 wagoning and spreading of the green-sand earth. 

 This year, a neighbor offered Mr. Reeve 824 for 

 the grass then standing on a single acre, which 

 was rellised ; and he sold the grass ol half an 

 acre for .^IS, or at the rate of §30 the acre. This 

 mode of purchasing grass, to be mowed and cured 

 by the purchaser, is not uncommon hereabout. 

 Onl}'' one mowing of grass is taken, and the grass 

 is grazed the balance of the year, but not closely. 

 Like his countymen generally, Mr. Reeve's rota- 

 tion is 1, corn, 2, oats, 3, wheat, 4, 5 and 6, clover 

 and timothy, for hay and grazing. But he does 

 not limit the duration of the grass to three years, 

 but lets it stand as long as the grass continues 

 good, he being confident that the land improves 

 every year ii is so kept, though mowed once, and 

 afterwards grazed moderately. He has land yet 

 in grass that has been so for seven years, and the 

 clover not yet near run out. In addition to green- 

 sand earth, and the double liming, (and he means 

 yet to lime again, and at 75 bushels (or the third 

 application,) he sows a bushel of gypsum every 

 spring on all the clover land ; and he finds distinct 

 and remunerating benefit from each kind of ma- 

 nure, and from every a|)plication. He does not 

 think that the increasing of one or two of the 

 three kinds would supersede the necessity of the 

 other manure. The green-sand earth, he thinks, 

 thickens the coat of grass, and covers with it every 

 part of the surface, more completely than the lime 

 or the gypsum can do, either separately and alone, 

 or together. 



While looking at these improvements and hear- 

 ing the details of labor, expenses and returns, it 

 occurred to me, as it has perhaps already to my 

 readers, the ready objection to be made — and soon 

 after I heard it adduced. This objection is, that 

 with the Messrs. Reeve, the fertilizing of poor 

 land and making heavy crops is but a matter of 

 expense in money, and that, without such means, 

 over and above what their (arm could alone sup- 

 ply, these improvements could not be made. That 

 might well be ; or at least the progress of improve- 

 ment would be necessarily much slower, if without 

 any disposable capital for improvement. But, 

 however opposed to general opinion, I maintain 

 that nothing is so inlallible a test of the value of 

 agricultural improvements, as when they are paid 

 for in money by a judicious and well-managing 

 capitalist and man of good business sense and ha- 

 bits. Such men do not advance or expend their 

 money except for profit ; and from all that 1 saw 

 and heard of the character and habits of Mr. 

 Reeve, I should rely implicitly that he would not 



long pursue a eyetem of farming which he did not 

 find to be profitable. 



This farm is without the limit of the region of 

 green-sand ear^h, and it cannot be had of good 

 (juality short of seven miles. Moreover, there is 

 00 leisure to haul it, except during winter, and the 

 deep and wet clay soil then renders it impossible, 

 except when the road is made firm by (reezing. 

 Hence this mode of manuring is slower than 

 others; but it is designed to be pushed on every 

 winter, as last as possible, until all the farm has 

 been covered, or as long as it shall be deemed ne- 

 cessary to repeat the dressings. This, considering 

 the peculiar difficulties, and the careful estimates 

 of cost and returns upon which the practice is 

 based, and the greater ease of procuring lime and 

 gypsum, and their excellent effects not being 

 deemed a substitute for the green-sand earth, all 

 serve to present, in a new and striking point of 

 view, the peculiar and great value of the latter 

 manure. Mr. Reeve knows of no land where the 

 green-sand earth has been applied and Ibund use- 

 less. 



Among the many reports 1 had heard in ad- 

 vance, were confiiclmg statements of the effects of 

 this earth on the naturally rich and very produc- 

 tive lands around the town of Salem. While 

 some affirmed the benefit, others stated that the 

 use of green-sand earth had been there disconti- 

 nued. I had but little time left for inquiry on this 

 head ; but that little was enough to show that both 

 reports were true. Enough applications of this 

 earth had been made on these good lands, to show 

 very good effects ; but the distance to the nearest 

 diggings was so great, and the supply of water- 

 borne hme and drawn ashes so much cheaper and 

 more convenient, that the use of the latter ma- 

 nures had nearly or entirely superseded the former. 



The lime used here is brought fl-om the Schuyl- 

 kill, the quarries being about Norristown, Pa., 

 and though, varying in difierent parts of the lime- 

 stone, the whole is highly magnesian. It is this - 

 same lime which is now brought, (by vessels 

 which come for cargoes of wood,) ready slaked, • 

 in large quantities into James river, and sold to 

 the farmers at 8, 9, and, at highest, 10 cents the 

 bushel. Here, in Salem creek, and so much 

 nearer the kilns, it is never obtained at less than 

 10 cents, was not long since at 15, and at first was 

 20 cents the bushel ; and then, as now, readily 

 bought by the farmers for manure. A short time 

 since, a friend of mine, who had bought a vessel 

 load of this lime, and fearing danger from the 

 magnesia suspected to be contained, brought to 

 me a small sample, in the then partially carbo- 

 nated state, to be analyzed. The operation was 

 roughly perlbrmed by a member of my family, and 

 the result showed 37 per cent, of magnesia. The 

 appearance of so large and unlocked an amount 

 alone caused me to doubt the accuracy of the 

 process. But I no longer doubt it, as these 

 limes have olten as much admixture of magnesia, . 

 and sometimes have more than 40 per cent. Of 

 the limestones of two of the principal quarries in 

 Delaware, used largely and advantageously for 

 manure, the respective proportions of carbonate of 

 magnesia (of Jeanes' quarry) are 46 parts in the 

 100 of limestone, and (of Klair's) 44 per cent. 

 These statements are reported by J. C. Booth, 

 esq., an excellent and accurate chemist, in his m 

 ' Memoir of the Geological Survey of Delaware,^ jP 



