1835.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



345 



duction of a view to economy in labor, but also a 

 belief that the agency of the mud is brought suf- 

 ficiently soon into action for the benefit of the 

 plant, by its combination with the manure in the 

 earth; and on this ground I make the one ato\ ing 

 of the mud suffice. Of its- superior value when 

 combined with manure and lime, repeated and 

 carefully conducted experiments have satisfied 

 me. Here 1 must apologize for saying, that twen- 

 ty years of my life I have been, as opportunity of- 

 fered, endeavoring to settle for my own benefit 

 and satisfaction, what I believe is at this moment, 

 the point least understood in the whole ran;;;' ol 

 agricultural pursuit, viz: the most judicious lbr- 

 mation of manure, and the mode most efficient ol 

 applying it. I am aware of the mass of talent, 

 practical and theoretical, that has been applied to 

 this subject. About the time before mentioned, 

 the "food of plants,"' agitated the agriculturalists 

 of England, and the United States, i read Ingen- 

 house, Young, Kirwan and Davy, Peters and others, 

 until I found that I knew nothing about the sub- 

 ject, but that it was necessary lor my limited in- 

 tellect to pursue it by actual experiment, making 

 the best use I could of the mass of contradictory 

 theory that I had gathered. 



The foregoing detail of my method of forming 

 and applying manure, or other fertilizing matter, 

 will give a practical view of the theory I settled 

 down upon, while the ears of corn, and "the weight 

 of the grain, have left me satisfied, so far, with the 

 practical application of my adopted theory - . If I 

 can effect it, I will certainly forward you a speci- 

 men of the cars of corn I produce — the corn plan- 

 ted five feet by four, and four stalks left in the hill 

 — with the accompaniments mentioned in my de- 

 tail of the corn crop. A specimen of such rice 

 as I make on high dry upland, with the corn, was 

 forwarded by mail. 



I have said that corn, above all grain crops, ac- 

 cepts ol long, or but very partially decomposed 

 manure, and feeds well on it. Cotton, the next in 

 my rotation, will not do so — but the next year, (af- 

 ter the manure is put into the soil, and undergoes 

 the incorporation with the soil that is produced by 

 the cultivation of a crop, and the other effects that 

 follow that incorporation and cultivation, )this plant, 

 with us, is found to do remarkably well, producing 

 a heavy crop — and so with the rye and oats. 

 The mode of cultivating the corn crop, as detailed 

 by me, admitting and remunerating me well ibr a 

 garden cultivation, completely prepares the ground 

 for an easy and successful cultivation of the cotton 

 plant. A moment's reflection will compel the ac- 

 knowledgement that the ground has all the requi- 

 sites for the successful cultivation of the last — the 

 ground well filled with fertilizing matter — that 

 matter in the state which experience has proved 

 to be the happiest" for the production of cotton 

 — grass and weeds rooted out by the previous cul- 

 tivation — and the very seeds of them in a great 

 measure destroyed — the land loose and mellow, 

 and a good deep coultering, or stirring with along 

 Scooter plough previous to planting the cotton, by 

 the operation of which, the soil is prepared for a 

 p\0kit that projects its main root deeply into the 

 earth. 



Rye, the rohite, a most valuable species, does 

 admirably after the cotton. It is sown in Decem- 

 ber or January, generally the last, and if the cot- 

 ton stalks are not pulled up and deposited in the 



Vol. Ill— 41 



dungstcad, to undergo the action of the feet of 

 cattle, and become saturated by the liquid part of 

 the manure, (the last much preferred,) they are 

 beaten down with sticks, the operator striking in 

 such a manner as to produce the best effect, in re- 

 ducing them to small pieces, and which last oper- 

 ation, prevents them from being in the way of the 

 cradle. In turning in the stubble, the broken cot- 

 ton stalks, with other offal of the cotton plant, go 

 into the earth, to help out the peas, sown previous 

 to turning under the stubble, or harrowed in after- 

 wards. 



The admirable preparation which a cotton crop 

 is found to be for corn, is I believe, generally 

 known — but I have found it not less a valuable 

 preparation ibr small grain, and a pea crop. 



The oats crop, the next, and last in the rotation, 

 I know, is "not agreeable to Iloyle," and I am 

 persuaded, I will be told, "they order things better 

 m Fiance" — and the only apology I can offer is, 

 that the state of things makes it. necessary, and 

 that we possess a most superior climate lor the 

 c tltivation of that grain, and of the "Egyptian 

 o it," make admirable crops — the stubble of which 

 turned in on the pea, again produces an equally 

 lesirable crop of that valuable plant. Where 

 other more important objects prevent saving the 

 pea croj), as before stated,* by pulling up the vines, 

 and curing vines and peas together, a profitable 

 plan has been formed in feeding oft' the peas with 

 hogs, and turning in the mass of vines early in 

 the spring, and which four turnings in, viz: the 

 stubble of the rye, and the following pea vines, 

 and the oats stubble, and its following pea vines, 

 will be acknowled to be, as it has been found a 

 tapid fertilizer of the soil. The cultivation of the 

 black, and red tory pea, suits this last course well, 

 those peas not being affected by wet spells of 

 weather. In my rotation it will be seen that one 

 manuring is relied on to secure that rotation — 

 while I rely equally on the mode of cultivation, 

 for the duration of the benefits of that manuring 

 — and further, that the rotation observed, is a ma- 

 nure-making one. 



In the choice of plants to accompany the corn 

 crop, gross feeders are selected, and rice is chosen 

 as one, not only because it grows well in this way, 

 appears not to affect the corn in any unfriendly 

 manner — feeds well on any thing that corn receives 

 benefit from— but also because it is one of the 

 most valuable grains that the eaith produces, 

 whether we consider the value of the grain, or fo- 

 rage it yields. It adds singularly, if well mana- 

 ged, to our comfort, and I discover that my cow, 

 or horse, or mule, or ox, appears to enjoy well 

 saved rice straw, as much as I do well saved rice 

 pudding, or bread. The pea feeds kindly on ma- 

 nure in any stage that corn will. The sweet po- 

 tato is not choice of food. From repeated trials, 

 it may be raised well in the very hill with Indian 

 corn, without, apparently, affecting the corn crop, 

 especially when the "gold dust" is well applied — 

 particularly the bunch and red potato. The pin- 

 dar or peanut, has loner been raised with us in the 

 bill of corn. Thai it produces any bad effects on 

 the corn has not yet been even suspected. The 

 removal of the corn, as before stated, gives to the 

 last mentioned three items especially, a full op- 

 portunity of exerting their productive powers. 



*See Farm. Reg. p. 92, Vol. III. 



