312 



FARMERS' R E G I S T E R 



[No. 5- 



marl — the horse loads five bushels. The. covering 



th removed was more than five feet tin 

 five and a half feet of marl was got out. 



In 1830 a good road oat o the '• and up 



the hill, had been made by Mr. Marks, suitable lor 

 his own marling, and this Mr. Moore afterwards 

 used instead of his previous steeper ascent. A 

 pair of small oxen was now used instead of the 

 single ox. 



in 1831, the work was changed to a pit of marl 

 of interior quality, wet, and more difficull to dig. 

 The quantity was increased to 400 bushels the 

 acre. The youngest son this year was so much 

 injured by a iali, as to remain an invalid as long as 

 his father lived; and the little labor which he was 

 able afterwards to perform, was not any thing 

 like a compensation tor his support. On this ac- 

 count, a white man was hired for about nine months 

 of this year. 



In 1832, two single horse carts we 

 lame youth driving one by riding. The wet pits 

 were worked in dry weather, and when wet, the 

 dry bank. The average cover ol earth five and a 

 half feet, and the marl obtained about the same 

 thickness. 



No change occurred in 1S33. In 1834, no marl- 

 ing was don;-, as before the usual leisure time of 

 the year had arrived, the death of Mr. Moore oc- 

 curred. He was attacked by the newand fa 

 ease of our country, cholera, when returning irom 

 Petersburg, and would have died on the road, but 

 for being found and carried by a friend, to I 

 his last at home. lie had been toe,:: 

 of his crop of wheat to mark:!, and the price 

 which he brought bac to pay off the last 



of the bonds due for his laud, then almost doubled 

 in amount by the accumulation of interest. 



A few years before his death he had purchased 

 the lite interest of his father's widow, in her dow- 

 er land (exclusive of the building.) For want oi 

 means to keep the land fenced, it had previously 

 been thrown out of cultivation, and had remained 

 a common range for the cattle of the neighbor- 

 hood, and yielded no profit whatever io the pos- 

 sessor. This is one of the many eases in which 

 land holders, and especially widows, (as life own- 

 ers,) are robbed of the whole income which their 

 land would yield, by the operation of the law of 

 enclosures — which law, notwithstanding, is upheld 

 in argument, and in practice, as peculiarly bene- 

 ficial to the poor. '"The widow was glad to a 

 three barrels of corn annua!!)', for more than fifty 

 acres of cleared laud, which was yielding her no- 

 thing. Mr. Moore had marled about fifteen acres 

 of this after iiis purchase, and. had cultivated part 

 of the land one year before he died. 



It would be a source of much gratification, if 

 when thus recording the facts of so uncommon an 

 amount oi' labor and expense having been incur- 

 red by a very poor man to improve his land, it 

 could be also stated that his labors were judicious- 

 ly applied, and met with a proper share of reward. 

 But this end was but imperfectly reached. The 

 effects of marling seen on his neighbors' lands 

 were sufficient to induce Mr. Moore to commence 

 this great labor — and the effects which he d 

 from his own applications were such as satisfied 

 him on the score of profit, and caused him to per- 

 severe with increasing energj to the last. But 

 his land was ai first vilely poor— and even when 

 doubled in product by marl, was still poor, lie 



had before (as is the common practice on such 

 land,) taken a crop of corn from each of his two 

 fields, every second year, and left the land to rest 

 the intervening year. After marling, the land was 

 immediately fit for wi,: at, and (being quite stiff,) 

 even more lit for that crop than for corn. Tins 

 ed him to take a crop of wheat in what was 

 the year of rest, and thus there was a grain 

 crop every year— and besides, the land was grazed 

 bare between the wheat harvest, and the next 

 winter's ploughing lor corn. He was warned by 

 some of his neighbors, who had better means to. 

 the theory of the operation of marl, that his 

 course would prevent the manure giving half its 

 , and would in lad. make it the means of 

 destroying the little stock of natural productive- 

 aich his land possessed. He was perhaps 

 incredulous as to what was so opposed to his pre- 

 vious opinions of other manure — and his scarcity 

 of cleared land, and necessities, urged him to this 

 improper, and indeed, destructive course — in 

 which however, he did no worse than many others 

 who have not the same excuse, of wauling land, 

 money, or means of being informed. Under these 

 ange that the land marl- 

 ed shows but little of the ■ which 

 1 1 would have insured, and which 

 iias been obtain i re. 



But however much this result istobe lamented, 

 it in no manner impairs the value of the lesson 

 by the labors of John Moore— which is, 

 that extensive and valuable improvements by 

 ; may be made by farmers who are placed 

 ihtageous circumstances, as 

 io want of capital and labor, and without any of 

 ides which are commonly supposed indis- 

 p [e to encourage and aid such undertakings. 



There was not only the absence of spare capital, 

 space labor, and spare time — but the continued 

 presence and pressure of pr and of debt. 



Above all — there was the want of information, 

 and of any existing mode of general comm'u 

 iion amongst tanners, which would have served 

 .vn this man's meritorious efforts, and 

 brought to him that applause and encouragement 

 which he so well deserved, and the information 

 and aid which he needed. His efforts were 

 scarcely heard o!j except by Ins nearest neighbors 

 — and except the gift of the marl, he had no aid 

 of any kind. It was unfortunate for John Moore 

 that this want of means for intercourse among 

 farmers should then have existed: it is not lets so 

 for the community, that lor the same reason, his 

 worthy exertions should have been | ermit- 

 tedjo be spent almost in vain. To make known 

 such efforts, to direct, and to encourage them, 

 would be among the most useful operations oi' ag- 

 ricultural journals, and i J societies: and 

 by such a course, they would promote the public 

 in a far more important degree, than that 

 of the particular individuals whoi nd ne- 

 cessities would deserve their attention and aid. 



From the Ti n . 



ex MAKING meadow. 



In th trt of East Tennessee, (1 



lowing course will be I most advai 



