1836.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



579 



mg under the running blackberry, and other small- 

 ernuisances; and thus you might prepare, besides 

 your small corn-field, an extensive fallow for oats, 

 and (if you sow early enough,) make a large crop 

 of this valuable grain. With a plenty of oats we 

 may get along pretty comfortably, with but little 

 more corn than enough for bread. As food for 

 horses, barley has great reputation. In confirma- 

 tion of this, the Arabian horses which get no other 

 grain, may be cited. It is said to thrive best in a 

 rich sandy soil, and an arid climate. With it, how- 

 ever, I have no experience. For feeding animals 

 mangel wurtzel, Guinea grass, rata baga turnips, 

 and a variety of other articles, may profitably be 

 prepared. Manuel wurtzel, or field-beet, gi 

 most astonishingly in Virginia, wherever I have 

 seen it tried. I have reared an amazing crop of 

 it. this year, on poor land, manured in the drill, af- 

 ter turning under a moderate coat, of leaves from 

 the woods. This crop should be harvested before 

 the accession of hard weather, be put away dry, 

 and well secured from frost. 



Much effort is sometimes made to get the corn 

 land broken up in the fall and winter. This is im- 

 portant in stiff soils, but if the land be light, and 

 there is but little vegetable cover on it, I should pre- 

 fer spending the time in the preparation of manure. 

 Those who have rich lands must judge for thein- 

 selves, with regard to a rotation of crops. We 

 must be guided by necessity. The best, rule, per- 

 haps, is to cultivate in corn no more than we can 

 manure, and in small grain all the corn-field of the 

 preceding year, and aii that we can prepare with 

 a clean nice fallow. You may begin to think 

 about the most suitable rotation after getting over 

 the arable part of your farm, with corn and ma- 

 nure, that is, after getting something fit. to make a 

 rotation on. But it may be said that ''the rats will 

 be crying" over the part you commenced on be- 

 fore you get through. To prevent this, besides 

 catching as many of these rascals in traps as pos- 

 sible, and thus giving them something else to cry 

 about; sow grasses on as much of your land as 

 possible — clover on such as will grow it well, and 

 on the poor land sow burner, Peruvian grass, 

 herds grass, or any other kinds which you can rea- 

 sonably expect to grow. 



The subject of grass has been strangely neg- 

 lected in Virginia. No good northern or English 

 farmer would think of leaving afield bare ofgrass, 

 after cultivating a hoe crop. We know little, gen- 

 erally, of other grasses than clover, timothy, and 

 herds grass — and much too little of them. 



Clover will seldom grow on lands, naturally 

 poor, and artificially exhausted, until after they 

 have been manured. Hundreds of our citizens, j 

 since the publication of the Register and the Cul- ! 

 tivator — not the readers of these works, however J 

 — have been purchasing clover seed with the vain 

 hope of enriching their poor lands, by the instru- j 

 mentality of clover and plaster. I believe, that — 

 at least in the southern part of our state — there is j 

 but little land naturally poor, possessing such 

 adaptation to be enriched by clover and plaster, 

 as Columbia comity, New York. I know, from j 

 expensive experiments too, that mine does not. I ; 

 find that after improving it, these articles, if pro- ; 

 perly used, will keep it in p;ood heart. But they 

 will not do to start with. IT the clover is desired 

 to feed on. it, should be sown on lots already en- 

 riched. It may be true, in some localities, that 



poor land can be enriched by clover and plaster. 

 With me, the proposition is reversed. I can only 

 grow clover, to advantage, on land already im- 

 | proved: and even then, the efficacy of plaster is 

 j very uncertain. By the way, I would thank him 

 who would explain to me, why this article is so 

 capricious in its action. I have taken much pains 

 to procure pure gypsum, but have found it some- 

 limes failing to show any benefit at all — at others, 

 succeeding wonderfully: and some of the parcel 

 which failed one year, succeeded remarkably the 

 next. And all this, on lands very similar. 



The following questions, in relation to the clo- 

 ver crop, merit consideration. 1. Is it generally 

 best to cut the first crop, reserving only the 

 fall crop to plough in; or should the whole year's 

 product be turned under? 2. Should clover be 

 r while unripe, or in the mature state? 



1. rf the land be strong enough to produce a 

 crop sufficiently tall to be cut by the 20th of May, 

 I should cut it, with the expectation that before 

 winter, it would again produce as much vegetable 

 matter as there is any necessity lor turning under 

 ground — and, believing the hay better when cut 

 early, than after the seed are. matured. Moreover, 

 flic general fertility of the tract cannot be dimin- 

 ished, if the hay be consumed on the farm, and 

 the manure properly attended to. If, however, 

 the spring be late, and the state of the land ren- 

 der the production of a plentiful fall crop doubtful, 

 and it be important io keep up the fertility of the 

 particular spot on which the clover grows, it 

 might be best not to take the spring crop off the 

 land. There is with us, but little ground strong 

 enough to produce a copious second crop, unless 

 it be started to growin<r, by a removal of the first, 

 as early as about the 20th of May. 



2. Most plants are thought to throw their most 

 nutritious particles into their seed. The seed of 

 clover, when turned under, lie as dormant — so 

 far as the immediate improvement of the land 

 is concerned — as so many grains of sand. The 

 stalks and leaves then, being deprived of the nu- 

 triment which litis gone into the seed, must yield 

 'ess to the soil than if they had been ploughed in 

 before this occurred. While there is honey in the 

 blossom, I should judge to be the best time to 

 plough under the crop. At this juncture, it may 

 lie supposed, that all the nutritious matters about 

 to pass into the seed, are formed in the plants, and 

 would be given to the soil, if properly ploughed 

 in. These rules, f suppose, w r ould be applicable 

 to the cultivation of other grasses. It is believed, 

 that our northern farmers are in the habit of turn- 

 inn; under all grasses designed to meliorate the 

 land before they come to maturity, and that in this, 

 they have the advantage of us. 



We are much in the habit of cultivating grasses, 

 by way of mere project — and of course, we attend 

 to them, only when our other business seems to 

 afford leisure. This leisure rarely occurs, and the 

 grasses are rarely attended to. Were we deter- 

 mined to convert the grasses into market crops, 

 there would be much more hope of success. Hay 

 sells well, in most parts of our state, at all times; 

 and at the present prices of grass-seed, as much 

 might doubtless be made by raising them ibr sale, 

 as could be, from the same ground in wheat. If 

 we would raise grass-seed successfully, we. should 

 prepare plots of ground nicely, for the special pur- 

 pose. If reliance be placed on the large fields in- 



