500 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



quentlyseen his writings, especially in ihe Culiva- 

 lur ; and Irom these, it is evident ihat he is a 

 scholar ul no ordinary rank. Mr. Parlriili^e, ihen, 

 (.Sue Cuhivitor, numtter lor Octot)er, 1842, page 

 159,) expresses hmiself in liie lollovviug lorcitjle 

 maimer: " It is but a short lime since clieniisTy 

 has been applied, |)raciical!j', to agriculture, yet 

 every day developcs eomt'iliiiig new. 1 think ii 

 will ere long be Ibund, that insiead ol a euixession 

 oi crops, tlie raising ol one product on the Sriaie 

 land, in perpetuo, will be lound lar more benefi- 

 cial. To do tins, ii will only be necessary to apply 

 10 the soil thotse materials which every plant re- 

 quires lor iis consliluent principles, and these may 

 be developed liy a correct analyzer." This is ihe 

 opinion ol one ol our best wriiers on chemical 

 Bifiiculture, and with liiin I do most cordially 

 agree. I have also seen the same sentiment tx- 

 pre-eed in a dillercnt lorm, by sumii other eminent 

 writer, but who it i« 1 cannot at ))resent call to 

 mind. But the tentimeni is this : — ihat the best 

 manure lor any piani is iliai which is iurnislied by 

 itsell. Thui wiieai straw is the very best manure 

 lor growing wheal, and corn siaiks lor growing 

 corn, and me prunngs ol' the vine lor ilie grow- 

 ing vine. It is ceriam ihal nature makes use ol' 

 this very kind of manure, and of this alone, lor 

 sustaining her crops. The gigantic oak, which 

 sends lorih its boughs till ihey pierce the sky, ts 

 nourished by the leaves which lall Irom itsell. In 

 lact, 1 see not how tiie advocate lor some pecu- 

 liar ingredienls m the soil can sustain himsell' on 

 any other principle. 



13ut perbaps ii may be said, that this is merely 

 the theory ol some book fanner and scholar, and 

 (hat it wants the lorce of the man ol practice. 

 Happily lor (lie, i have also sucli an example at 

 hand. i\lr. Weaver, of llockbridije county, (see 

 Farmers' Register, nuniber lor Sriptember last, 

 page 412,) is rei}resenteu by some spirited writer 

 signing himsell "Pioughboy," as one of the 

 very best farmers in thai flouriihing section o 

 country. Actual results are detailed by ihis writer, 

 which incontesiably show that Mr. Weaver, in 

 the great and essential poinds oT improving his 

 lands, and at the same lime deriving Irom them 

 large and constantly increasing r* turns, is one of 

 our very best practical liarmers. This writer sayo, 

 '• Mr. Weaver does not object to taking several 

 crops ol corn or wheat liom the same land, 

 provided it is rich.'''' This quotation, taken in 

 conneciion with the former one, embodies in 

 a remarkable degree my whole theory on the 

 subject ol rotations, ll the soil be 'ox\\y fertile, 

 1 have only to open my eyes, to see that corn will 

 succeed corn, and wheal will succeed wheat ; 

 and the same may be said ol' most other crops. 

 It the second crops be inferior to the first, or the 

 third be inlerior to the second, I can very readily 

 account lor it, from the fact that there has been 

 a proportioned diminulion of the fertility of the 

 soil. Wherever the lertility remains the same, as 

 is the case on rich alluvion, or where the lertility 

 has been increased by applications of enriching 

 manures, the succeeding crops, as faithl'ul tests, 

 will show the fact. When, therefore, I see a crop 

 fail, 1 do not ascribe it to a demand for a rotation, 

 but to a demand lor increased fertility. Nor in 

 thia can I be mistaken; for an application of 

 manure never fails to cure the evil. 



But 1 am anticipating my subject. I merely 



throw out these hints to pave the way for a dis- 

 cussion, if Mr. Peyton thinks proper to accede to 

 my propasal. J. H. Turner. 



" BOKHARA CLOVER. ' — SOIMNG. 



From the Albany Cultivator. 



We have a letter from Jas. Gowen, esq., of 

 Mount Airy, near Philadelphia, in relation to an 

 article in our last, headed " Another humbug ex- 

 ploiled," Irom whicli we copy the lolluwing : 



Wall Its public introduciioii I know only this, 

 that early in the summer of 1841, Mr. Duist, a 

 practical iioriiculturisl ol Philadelphia, sent to a 

 meeting ol" The Philadelphia Society lor pro- 

 mutmg Agriculiure," a lew plants, which lie call- 

 ed " Bukhara ciovi;r ;" on sight of which, I pro- 

 nounced It 10 be identical with what I had a small 

 patch ol in my garden, by the name of " sweet 

 scented, Huvvering clover," tiie seed of which I re- 

 ceived irom a Iriend who had procured il in New- 

 Yoik. On my return Irom the meeting to Mount 

 Airy, 1 conjpared one ol the plants exhibited with 

 those growing ia the garden, and found them 

 precisely ihesan)e. This neither increased nor 

 oiminished my zeal lor the increase of ihe so call- 

 ed " Bokhara" or " sweet scented clover." Alrea- 

 dy I had what might be called a clever patch, 

 considering the lew seeds I began with, and was 

 determined to persevere till I could seed an acre, 

 so as to be able to leed ii in such quaniiiyas would 

 put its merns laiily to the test. 'J"he seeds were 

 given to me as tiiose of a fiowering plant of ex- 

 quisite [lerl'ome, and in view ol this character 

 they were sown ; but when grown, its leaves so, 

 resembled the lucerne, and its taste so highly 

 clover lavored, I thought its proper place was the 

 field rather than the garden : to which it shall be 

 transferred next spring, to be made up in fresh 

 boquets lor Dairy JVlaid and her companions, 

 who, though they may indulge in a toss of their 

 heads, will never, I'll warrant, turn up their noses 

 at them. 



Soiling, through the summer, is a favorite prac- 

 tice with me — 1 might add, a necessary one. My 

 farm, about 100 acres, is ol light soil, on one of the 

 highest ridges in the highlands of the county of 

 Philadelpliia. I'o turn out some 30 to 40 head of 

 cattle to pasture in the summer on these uplands, 

 under our burning euns,. would be to consume all 

 the grass in these months, leaving none lor hay — 

 to keep the fields bare to Bummer\s heat and win-' 

 ler's cold— thereby injuring the soil and diminish- 

 ing the supply ol grass lor the next season, to say 

 noUimg ofthe comlort of the cattle under such ex- 

 posure, gathering up a withered herbage Irom a. 

 scorched surface. These evils, I obviate by soil- 

 ing—keeping my catile comlbnable and in good 

 condition upon some 4 acres of land under lu- 

 cerne, rye, and red clover ; allowing me to save 

 more than one hundred tons of good hay, and 

 afibrding the best heap ofmanure from stable alone 

 since May last, from the same number of cattle, 

 that can be met with any where. But I did not 

 set out to write a chapter on soiling ; the noticing 

 it at all was merely incidental to showing how 

 natural it is for me to take an interest in every 

 thing likely to increase my means in carrying 

 out the practice — and there is no grass or plant 1 



