1S39] 



F A R iM E R S ' REGISTER 



607 



litter Uvsed as part of Ihennaterials of that little, by 

 most persons, was furnished merely (and very scan- 

 lily lor that purpose) Ibr the comfort of the horses 

 and callle; and was considered as useful to absorb 

 the liquid animal excremen!, and thus save it Irom 

 waste, but as adduiir very iiitle to the liciiness ol 

 the bulk.^ Siiii more liifRcult vv.is it Ibr the tearlieC lo 

 gain confidence in his claim Ibrthesiyjeriorricliness 

 of the mature and dry herluiire to the same whco 

 in a green state. He mainlained ;hat the vetieia- 

 bles had not gained their full v.alUe, unid "their 

 growth was compleied— and in that lie was cer- 

 tainly correct. Eut even though the eniire plant, 

 when lully ripe, (and, possibly, even when dry,) 

 may contain (uore richness, if converted io manure, 

 than when green and unripe, there are other things 

 which ought to be considered. In the first placed 

 the seeds, then formed and ripe, have been fur- 

 nished, Ibr their Ibrmaiion, with much the greater 

 part of all the manuring strenglii which "belbie 

 had been spread througifall the oilier pans of the 

 plant; and these seeds, which if dead, might act 

 as manure, being alive, would crerminaie, and in- 

 stead of enriching the ground, would jtroduce 

 weeds, to the greater or less damacre of the next 

 crop. Secondly— to Ibrm the seeds'is tlie great el- 

 fort of vegetation, and which makes byl'ar the hea- 

 viest draught on the productive power of ihe soil. 

 II, Iherelore, it were convenient and serviceable, 

 lor other purposes than liiriilization, to plough in, 

 or even to mow and take off, a green crop when in 

 its flowering state, its grouMh up to ihatiime would 

 have taken very liitle Irotn the soil, and its value 

 (whether for manure or as a crop,) would be al- 

 most entirely derived from atmospheric support. 

 Thus, if less be gained by using the crop too early 

 to let tiie seeds Ibrm and fully ripen, the cost to the 

 land of producing the crop, would be in a still 

 more reduced proportion. The fact (which sci- 

 ence has completely eslablished,) that plants draw 

 much Irom air and water, and but little upon the 

 richness of the soil, before Ibrnung their seeds, in- 

 duces me to think that early mov/ing the first crop 

 of clover would detract less from the value of the 

 vegetable manure, than it would furnish of value 

 in food, and do service by the scythe destroying 

 the seeds of such annual weeds as cockle, sjjelt^ 

 cheat, &c. And if the gain li-om the crop of mown 

 grass, and of the same if allowed to ripen Ibr ma- 

 nure, be equal, or nearly equal, the choice of the 

 iormer ought to be induced, by the consideration 

 of the one practice leading to clean tillage and clean 

 crops, and the other, to the foulest of both. Another 

 thmg is, that if the first crop of clover be inown be- 

 fore forming seeds, the second crop is so much the 

 heavier, because of ihe first not having exhausted 

 the soil to lorm seeds; and, being freed 1mm the 

 annual weeds, may be ploughed in, unmixed, as 

 manure, before ripening seeds again, or afterwards, 

 accordino: to the condiiion of things desired. 



But if the seeds of the grass or other crop of 

 manure, could be fully given to the earth, and as 

 nianure,_by the decay of the plants, and if the 

 seeds of vveeds could be kept from sprouting, I 

 should then go even beyond the great fbundeT' of 

 this srstem, in urging, and in preference, the leav- 

 ing of the vegetable cover to die and decay on the 

 eurface. For he feared much loss Irom evapora-" 

 fion, in the exposure of all putrescent manures on 

 the surface of the earth. With him, to cover ma- 

 nures by the plough was to secure them ; to leave 



ihetn on the surface, was to lose a great part of 

 their enriching parts. In this opinion, I do not 

 concur; but on the fontrary believe, that, (if on 

 soils capable of receiving and fixing more ferliliiy,) 

 the imitation of nature's mode of manuring, by 

 leiiing the vegetable growth drop and decay on 

 the surface, and year alter year, will be better for 

 iertilizalion, as well as for saving of labor ; and 

 thctt no great- Int-s is to be leared from evapora- 

 iion..'Tlie application of Taylor's doctrine led 

 him into tlie great error of directing the laborious 

 and yet injurious operation of ploughing summer 

 cow-pens, as liist as they were moved." By this 

 ploughing, which he did to secure the higiily pu- 

 trescent dung from wasteful evaporation, he quick- 

 ened lermentation, by supplying the moisture 

 which would otherwise have been wanting Ibr that 

 natural process ; and the surliice being nalted, and 

 no growrh springing to fake up the manure as it 

 was decomposed, it would be indeed principally 

 wasted, and in consequence of the very means so 

 carefully and laboriously applied to prevent that 

 elfect. Manuring by top-dressing, and esjiecially 

 on young clover which is to be ilself given to the 

 etirih as manure, and which is the best possible 

 mode of applying manure, had not- been practised 

 or proposed in this country, when Taylor wrote ; 

 and it is directly opposed io his theoretical views, 

 as well as to his practice. 



Another question connected with this subject, 

 and which must bear on any plan of ploughing in 

 green manures, is, whether the soil loses'" fertilitv 

 by being turned up by the plough, and exposed 

 naked to the sun. Wiih my great teacher, Tay- 

 lor, I long held to the belief in exhaustion being 

 so produced; and supposed that all summer til° 

 iage of corn, and fallowing for wheat, must greatly 

 lessen the previously acquired productive powers 

 ol the soil so exposed. Other views have been 

 more lately adopted, Ibunded upon the theory of 

 the causes of feriility and barrenness in soils, as 

 set forth in the 'Essay on Calcareous Manures.' 

 A necessary deduction from this theory teaches 

 that in a properly constituted soil, the manure 

 stored therein is fixed Uy calcareous earth, and 

 both the calcareous and the vegetable matter che- 

 mically combined with the soil— and therefore not 

 subject to waste by the ordinary exposure to the 

 sun, when ploughed up. But i'f a soil is so con- 

 stituted as not to have the power of combining 

 with the \egeiab!.e matters mixed with or applied 

 toil, as these matters are decomposed, they will 

 be lost to the soil ; and as ploughing them under 

 in summer will hasten decomposiiTon, and still 

 more the frequent stirring and removal by tiie ■ 

 plough, so these operations will hasten the loss ol" 

 the manure present. According to these views, 

 the summer ploughing of land will serve to still 

 more impoverish a bad soil, but do no harm to 

 one properly constituted. And if the soil lie pro- ■ 

 perly constituted to combine with putrescent ma- 

 nurt s, (which is essential to any considerable or 

 [jrofitable^improvement by such manures in any 

 manner of application,) then the choice between 

 ploughing in .vegeiablf's green or dry, or leaving 

 them on the surfkce, should be directed by consi"^ 

 derations of economy of labor, and suitableness of 

 the particular process to the general rotation, more 

 than by any absolute and uniform superiority of 

 the one plan to another. 



On all very poor lands. " .u which have been 



