518 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



oat fallow — both of which were good. During the 

 protracted drought which prevailed from the mid- 

 dle of September and throughout October, clo- 

 ver on the oat fallow eutiered very liitle injury, 

 while the stand ol plants on the pea fallow has 

 been greatly reduced. The past has been a sea- 

 Bon singularly favorable lor young clover; the 

 stand ol plants here, over nearly ail of the ground 

 sown, is good, and, from one portion ol 'ground 

 from which wheal had been reaped, quite a heavy 

 growth of clover liom seed sown ilie past spring 

 was mowed foi- iiay about the middle ol Sep- 

 tember. 



448 bushels of oats were sown from the rriiddie 

 to the 23d of JMarch ; the crop liom which was 

 generally good, but in harvesting much loes and 

 injury was sustained from the frequent rains. In 

 value as chopped food they were reduced probably 

 not less than one-third. 



On the 27th and 28lh ofMay 100 bushels of 

 cow and 16 bushels of black-eyed peas were sown 

 broadcast as a fallow crop lor wheat. The sea- 

 son proved unfavorable lor this crop — the grass, 

 in con5e(]uenceof the conlinued rains, nearly smo- 

 thered the growth of peas in their early stages ; 

 they subsequently, however^ much improved, and 

 a tolerable heavy growth 6\' vines were ploughed 

 under. A very small propcriion of peas Irom 

 ihese vines ripened. I suppose if every pea could 

 have been collected, the whole would not have 

 nmounted to the quantity of seed originally sown. 

 This presents an o\)Jec1;ion to this crop, as it js ex- 

 tremely difficult to procure seed at a reasonable or 

 even at any price ; .imd without detracting from or 

 materially injuring their value as a (ertilizer, the 

 vines ought to yield a supply of seed wherewith 

 to continue their use. The season has, however, 

 been an exception. 



The corn crop of this season covers an area of 

 615 acres, planted from the 25th to the 2Sth of 

 April inclusive. Corn started well, though con- 

 eiderable difficulty again occurred in getting a 

 good and regular stand of plants, fi:om cut- worms, 

 moles and other pests, and considerable portions 

 of the crop subsequently suffered much from the 

 very wet season. The unusually violent storm of 

 wind and rain which passed over this section of 

 country on the 24th of August, (which I cannot 

 better describe than as a rapid succession of vio- 

 lent gales with hurricanes by way ol interlude,) 

 inflicted on nearly all ol this crop a heavy and 

 irreparable injury. Its appearance on the follow- 

 ing morning was. truly discouraging. Large spaces 

 appeared as if passed over by a roller ; some was 

 torn up by the roots and broken off, ears rubbed 

 off, and blades, where any were left, whippetl into 

 Bhreds. In a few days its appearance became 

 considerably improved, and hopes were enter- 

 tained that less damatre would be sustained than 

 was at first (eared. The crop is now being ga- 

 thered, and there is but loo much reason to (ear 

 that the injury sustained from these various casu- 

 alties will prove very, considerable. Before the 

 storm above alluded to the general crop had a 

 very promising appearance ; much of it unfortu- 

 nately was so located as to be fully exposed to its 

 utmost violence. 



Since the beginning of the present year, 28,^40 

 bushels of marl, 17,040 bushels of oyster shell 

 lime, and 7000 bushels ol! stone lime from Penn- 

 eylvania have been applied— one half the quan- 



tity of marl and all of the oyster shell lime pre- 

 vious to planting corn, and the other half of the 

 above quantity of marl and all of the stone lime 

 on land (allowed for wheat this (all. JMarl waa 

 applied at the rate of from 175 to 200 bushels, 

 oyster shell lime Irom 70 to 75 bushels, and the 

 stone lime from 40 to 50 bushels per acre. From 

 two to three acres of land, forrr.erly very wet, and 

 containing a very large proportion of inert vege- 

 table matter, received at the rate of 100 bushels 

 of stone lime per acre. The whole application 

 (rom the beginnins: of the year up to the present 

 lime extended over asur.'aceol 525 acres, and was 

 limited only by the difficulty of procuring further 

 supplies. After erecting the ki'ns of oyster shells 

 (or burning, the number of bushels of shells in the 

 aggregate was ascertained as accurately as possi- 

 ble by calculating their cubic contents. The lime - 

 after burning, and before being slaked, was mea- 

 sured out in boxes made to hold one bushel, and 

 the result as then presented was a return o( 12J 

 bushels of unslaked lime for every 18 bushels of 

 shells. This was a result which I did not antici- 

 pate, for until I had seen some remarks made by 

 you in the Register, that 18 bushels of shells 

 would only yield 14 bushels of lime, I hatl sup- 

 posed a bushel of shells would have yielded at 

 least an equal quantity of lime. This falling off 

 adds much to the expense of this material for fur- 

 nishing the desirable calcareous ingredient to the 

 soil. The above quantity of shells was here carted 

 to the near vicinity of wood suitable for the burn- 

 ing of Ihem, a distance of from 1| to 2 miles, and 

 consequently proved a very expensive application. 

 If the results of the application o( the northern 

 stone lime should prove as beneficial as has the 

 application of mar! and oyster. shell lime hitherto, 

 and can be procured at a reasonable price, say 

 from 7 to 8 cents per bushel, it will prove by far 

 the cheapest application, especially on (arms locat- 

 ed on the river where it has to be carted to consi- 

 derable distances. The above stone lime con- 

 tained, I believe, upwards of 31 per cent, of mag- 

 nesia. I have formerly known magnesian lime 

 used'with advantage, though never containing so 

 large a proportion of (hat ingredient ; and from 

 the general objections entertained against the use 

 of this kind of lime, (magnesia having been 

 supposed injurious to soils,) doubts were enter- 

 tained ae to the propriety of using it to so large an 

 extent. The assurance, however, which you 

 have given, that to this same quality of lime are 

 the farmers in the most highly improved districts 

 of Pennsylvania indebted (or the great improve- 

 ments made on their lands, has operated to re- 

 move all doubts on this head as to its utility. 



From the end of January to the end of April 

 2620 loads of manure from the stable yards and 

 cattle pens were hauled out and applied as a top- 

 dressing, chiefly on clover. The above quantity 

 of manure was exclusive of a very large bulk of 

 wheat straw applied in the same way over a sur- 

 face of upwards of 50 acres, thickly covered ; the 

 benefits (r-om which were very marked and grati- 

 fying. Nearly all of the straw covered land that 

 was fallowed for wheat this fall, as also a con- 

 siderable proportion of that covered with manure 

 from the yards, &c. From the drought which 

 prevailed during the greater portion of the follow- 

 ing season, not a little difficulty was experienced 

 from the very generally dry state of the ground. 



