126 Extracts from the Journals. [Jan., 



the least expense of labor, and to obtain from the farm all the 

 food or manure required for the various crops to be grown. That 

 the latter object was possible, I did not doubt, but in no way could 

 I accomplish it so long as manure was required for both corn and 

 w^heat. Had grazing been combined wuth tillage, there would 

 have been a sufficiency for both these crops, but the farm being 

 wholly arable, there was only enough for one of them. 



From being engaged in another pursuit which occupied me 

 some years, and other causes diverting my attention from farming, 

 it is only within eighteen months that I have been able to make 

 an application of straw. My experience therefore, is too limited 

 to satisfy those who require comparative statistics, but sufficiently 

 so to induce me to believe that I shall attain my object. 



The field which was planted with corn last year, was a timothy 

 sod, of about three years old. It was covered with straw the 

 preceding fall. The grass at the time of breaking it up, w^hich 

 was just before planting, looked better than it had at any preced- 

 ing spring; better than I have known old sods when manured. 

 The corn-crop equalled my expectations of it. 



The same autumn, I also covered four acres of mixed grasses 

 for pasture, leaving about half an acre uncovered by the side of 

 it, which had been in potatoes and highly manured. The grass 

 next year upon the covered part was the best, and better with- 

 stood the various spells of dry weather which prevailed last year. 



Bristol^ Pa., Jan.. 6, 1846. 



VEGETABLE OILS. 



The present depressed condition of the cotton growing interest 

 being occasioned solely by over production, it has become a mat- 

 ter of the first importance to have other crops pointed out and 

 introduced which may be profitably grown by the cotton planter. 



Amongst others those plants whose seeds yield oil in sufficient 

 proportion may be introduced with profit and advantage. Unlike 

 cotton and sugar, the require no extensive and costly buildings 

 or machinery for their preparation for market; they are always 

 in demand at paying prices. It seems to be universally conceded 

 that those oleiferous seeds, grown in a Southern clime, are richest 

 in oils. Ure says: " The quantity of oil furnished by seeds varies 

 not only with the species, but in the same seed, with culture 

 and climate;" and his tables show that ivarmth of climate is 

 necessary to richness in oil ; they are out of the way, and may 

 even be sent oflT to market before the cotton picking season begins; 

 they will form part of a rotation of crops particularly adapted to 



