32 



TliE FARMERS' REOtSTER. 



farmers whose eyes can rarely see any thing which 

 operates against their preconceived opinions. 



With respect, however, to root crops in general, 

 it is evident that none of us, especially in Virginia, 

 have yet bestowed on them that attention which 

 they well deserve. Still less have we ever made 

 any such trials between the different kinds, as 

 would enable us to determine certainly which 

 should be pre/erred. Hence, opinions vary almost 

 beyond computation, and, what is very remarka- 

 ble, the two roots which most (arming books pro- 

 nounce to be the best, I mean carrots and parsnips, 

 we very seldom cultivate at all, except lor table use. 

 Nothing but a long course oi' trials, often repeated, 

 and accurately made, can ever settle this much 

 mooted question ; and such a course, I fear that 

 very few of us will ever take the trouble to pursue, 

 however desirable it may be. But until we do, we 

 surely ought to abstain, most carefully, from dog- 

 matizing on the subject — not only because it will 

 be discreditable to ourselves, but injurious to our 

 cause. 



Another of my experiments which 1 deem 

 worth slating, was with a mixture of clover, 

 orchard grass, and timothy seed, sown and rolled 

 immediately after wheat, which was put in about 

 the middle of October, 1839, with the large 2 

 horse-harrow. The ground was an old clover-lot 

 that had been well ploughed about a month be- 

 fore. But a small portion of the clover-seed was 

 clean, the rest having been cut when ripe, was 

 thrown into small cocks, and suffered to remain on 

 the ground, until just before it was sown. It was 

 then trodden out, and alier the stems were taken 

 out, was immediately committed to the earih. 

 The unclean seed came up much better than the 

 clean, but did not show vvell, until the eprin"', 

 when it soon appeared to have taken perfectly. 

 After the wheat was taken off, it attained by mid- 

 summer, an average height of nearly 3 feet, 

 The timothy and orchard grass seed both failed, 

 probably from being defective. This experiment, 

 which 1 have known to be successfully tried on 

 several other farms in the middle states, justifies 

 the conclusion, that to clean clover seed is a need- 

 less trouble and expense, and that in our climate, 

 unclean seed sown upon wheat in October, will 

 very rarely, if ever fail to come up well, whereas, 

 clean seed, sown as usual, on wheat in the spring, 

 without harrowing, will almost certainly perish. 

 With me, it has done so, I think at least 5 times 

 out of 6. Another great advantage in fiill sowing 

 is, that you may cut your clover, at least 7 or 8 

 months sooner, than if you sow in the spring. 



My experiment with ruta baga was made by 

 sowing tlie seed on the same ground which pro- 

 duced iheiTi last year. It was first well manured 

 from the horse stables and cow yard. I was 

 induced to make this trial by having heard from 

 several persons of unquestionable veracity, that 

 they had known many old planters successfully 

 to pursue this practice with the common varieties 

 of turnip, for a number of years in succession. 

 The reason they assigned was, that this method 

 always secured the turnips from the fiy, and with- 

 out any diminution of the crop, if the ground was 

 manured each time of sowing. Whether this be 

 true or not, certain it is, that no f]y has molested 

 my present crop of ruta baga, and that it promises 

 to be quite as good as that of the last year, mak- 

 ing due allowance for the excessive drought, du- 



ring a part of the two last months. If the old 

 planters referred to, were right in their opinions, 

 as to the effects of their practice, it forms another 

 striking exception to the alleged necessity of the 

 constant rotation of crops, (beneficial as I admit 

 it to be generally,) in preserving the productive- 

 ness of our lands, whilst this practice goes far 

 towards disproving the correctness of the opinion 

 maintained by the celebrated botanist, M. Can- 

 dolle, and a few others, that every plant when 

 ripe, deposites in the e^rth, some substance whicli 

 is poisonous to plants of tiie same kind. True it 

 is, that lands are said to "get sicA;" of the same 

 crop, (clover, for instance,) often repeated, al- 

 though 1 have known this repetition to be made 

 of several different crops, for many, many years 

 together, without any apparent injury whatever. 

 But surely, even if we admit the sickness to the 

 fullest extent, we may easily account for it, without 

 the agency of poison — simply by supposing that 

 the diminution of the crop arise? solely from the 

 lessening of its appropriate food, and must neces- 

 sarily continue until ihat food is restored in proper 

 quantities, by the application of some of those 

 fertilizing substances which contain it. To look 

 fanher than this for an explanation of so common 

 an occurrence as the impoverishment of our lands, 

 seems to me to be taking a very needless flight 

 into the boundless regions of fanciful theory and 

 visionary speculation — a practice, by the way, 

 which has excited stronger prejudices among the 

 illiterate, against agricultural works in general, 

 than all other things put together. 



Before I conclude. the subject of experiments, I 

 will here call your attention to one wfiich 1 stated 

 two or three years ago. It was made with Guinea 

 grass which I neglected afier two trials, from a 

 belief that it could not be here acclimated. In this 

 I find myself mistaken; for a small spot which 

 was not destroyed, has increased so much as to 

 become a thick mat of grass that reached this 

 year a height of at least five feet, in land by no 

 means rich, and ripened its seed. 1 can now cer- 

 tainly say of it, that you may cut it four, and in 

 good seasons five times, that in good land each 

 cutting will be about three feet high, and that it 

 stands drought better than any other grass I have 

 ever tried. It is best propagated by the roots, 

 which should be cut into pieces two or three inches 

 long, and planted about three inches deep, in rows 

 15 inches by eight or nine apart. The ground 

 requires cultivation the first year. I cannot say to 

 what kind of soil it is best adapted, having tried 

 it only in high land, the soil of which is rather 

 liffht. #*##*#* 



THRASHING MACHINES. 



To tlie Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



Halifax, N. C. Jan. 8th, 1841. 

 Having sown a large crop of wheat, and in- 

 lending to put a full crop of cotton and corn in the 

 ground this spring, it is of course a great object 

 with me to save all the manual labor possible. I 

 should be glad, therefore, if you will give your 

 readers, through the medium of your valuable 

 journal, all the information you can as to the ad- 

 visability of purchasing any of the newly invent- 

 ed reaping and thrashing machines ; and would be 

 glad also, if convenient, that you would mention 

 their cost, and where they can be best procured. 



