1S35.] 



F A R M E R S ' REGISTER. 



149 



the reason why the most brilliant, insects are to be 

 had so cheap at Rio de Janeiro. When a man 

 has attained to some adroitness in this operation, 

 he may on a fine day catch in the immediate vi- 

 cinity of Rio more than five or six hundred bee- 

 tles. This trade in insects is considered very lu- 

 crative, six millreis (tour rix-dollars, or about four- 

 teen shillings,) being paid lor the hundred during 

 our stay. There is a general demand for these bril- 

 liant beetles, whose wing-cases are now soughi 

 for the purpose of adorning the ladies of Kurope 

 — a fashion which threatens the entire extinction 

 of this beautiful tribe. The diamond -beetle (chla- 

 mys bacca Kert., and especially the chlamys cu- 

 prea, Klug.,) was in great request for brooches for 

 gentlemen, and ten piastres were often paid for a 

 single beetle. 



PRACTICAL DETAILS OF MANURING — SINSU- 

 LAR COLLECTION OF SHELLS AND BONES. 



To the Editor of the Fanners' Register. 



Charles City Co. Dec. 26, 1834. 



In compliance, with your request that the mem- 

 bers of the agricultural community contribute to 

 advance the interests of agriculture through the 

 medium of the Farmers' Register, I have deter- 

 mined to throw in my mite, contenting myself 

 with the reflection that although this communica- 

 tion may fail to afford either interest or pleasure, 

 yet the motive and object will be duly appreciated, 

 and the manner and matter receive the indul- 

 gence of an enlightened community. 



The farm on which I reside is a gray soil, lying 

 on a substratum of yellow sand, with the clay at 

 the distance of from eighteen inches to two feet 

 below the surface. It had been reduced to the 

 lowest degree of poverty b} r the system practised 

 by our ancestors, when I came into possession of 

 it in 1823. I immediately cast about in my mind 

 for means and resources for improvement. The 

 object was to sustain my family, and at the same 

 time improve some land. I therefore immediately 

 enclosed a lot of ten acres, which was improved 

 and cultivated in corn and peas for several years 

 in succession. The corn was planted five feet 

 each way, with as many pea hills as corn hills. 

 It was gathered and shucked out as early as the 

 corn would bear gathering, and my hogs turned 

 upon the peas. This lot added from sixty to 

 eighty barrels of corn to my crop annually, whilst 

 the peas assist very much in fattening my hogs. 

 Indeed, I know nothing better than a field of green 

 peas to put hogs in a thriving condition, and pre- 

 pare them for the pen. Another lot of eleven acres 

 was now added to the first improved and cultivated 

 for several years in succession (through necessity) 

 either in corn or wheat. The production of these 

 lots very soon convinced me of the value of im- 

 proved land — having reaped for two crops in suc- 

 cession, twenty bushels of wheat for one seeded, 

 from land, which had not within the memory of 

 any man living, produced more than five or six for 

 one. Having now come into possession of other 

 land I was enabled gradually to extend my im- 

 provement to the field-system, collecting materials 

 from every resource in my power, which are car- 

 ried through the stables, farm pen, hog pen, &c. 



The farm pen, or shelter, is situated about the 

 centre of my arable land — within forty yards of 

 the barn anil stables, where each field corners. It 



is built of pine slabs on cedar posts put in the 

 ground in the form of an octagan, closed entirely 

 around except a «pucc of fifteen feet on the south 

 side to admit the stock. The yard is graduated 

 to the centre in the form of a shallow basin, which 

 receives the water, and retains it in the vegetable 

 mass, and being too shallow to retard decomposi- 

 tion or putrefaction, yet retains the essence of the 

 manure, so that nothing is lost. In this pound tho 

 cattle are penned every night through the year, 

 and during the winter both day and night, except 

 for a short period in the evening when the} are 

 turned out to water. I know that in this respect. 

 my practice is different from most of our best ami 

 most experienced farmers: hut from experience I 

 am induced to believe it suits my situation and 

 circumstances better than the more common mode 

 of summer cowpens. The stables are well sup- 

 plied with a fresh bed of litter every night, and 

 their contents suffered 1o remain until the mass 

 becomes twelve or eighteen inches thick, when 

 they are cleaned out, and the manure removed 

 immediately to the standing farm pen, spread reg- 

 ularly over the yard, and covered with straw or 

 pine leaves. 1 always prefer removing the stable 

 manure, to the farm pen during a rainy season, or 

 to anticipate a rain, as the essence of the stable 

 manure will be immediately carried down into the 

 bulk below, and mixed with the whole mass. 

 Loads of pine litter from the. woods are always 

 carted in previous to carrying in the stable manure, 

 for the purpose of protecting it from the sun and 

 atmosphere. 



Under this system the additional labor of haul- 

 ing the manure made in summer to the field is in- 

 curred, but I am satisfied that a much larger 

 space can be manured during the same period, 

 than by the usual mode of summer cow pens. I 

 act upon the principle that labor directed to the rais- 

 ing and applying manures rarely, if ever, tails to re- 

 munerate the farmer — one acre of good land be- 

 ing, in my estimation, worth ten, or perhaps twen- 

 ty, of such as is really poor. This farm pen is 

 cleared of its contents twice a year, in December 

 and April. The manure accumulated from the 

 last of April to December, is then carried to the 

 field intended for corn, deposited in heaps accord- 

 ing to the strength of the land, and is covered 

 with common earth, if it is to remain for even a 

 few days before being turned in the land. The 

 manure is thus protected from the sun and atmos- 

 phere, and a portion of that which would have es- 

 caped, imbibed and retained by the cover of earth, 

 which becomes the more readily mixed with the, 

 soil to assist, in the process of vegetation. A brisk 

 boy of fourteen or fifteen years old will cover the 

 heaps of manure as fast as a good team of oxen 

 and three horse carts can carry it to the field — say 

 a distance of 700 yards. The manure made dur- 

 ing winter is all carried out and ploughed in, aa 

 before observed, for the corn crop in the spring, 

 and the only litter used in the farm pen up to this 

 period, consists of straw and pine leaves. Imme- 

 diately after carrying out the manure in spring, 

 wc commence carting in corn stalks, which is con- 

 tinued until they are all used. This mode of 

 using the corn stalks is preferred, because they are 

 not so soon converted into manure as straw, or lit- 

 ter from the, woods, and they have a longer period 

 to remain in the farm pen through summer. 



All the manure made is applied to land pre- 



