THE FxVRMERS' REGISTER. 



121 



been ueed by me, except in very email experi- 

 niiMils niado, wilh pulverized ciyslald oblained 

 Ifoni llie pnnie beds olearlh. I bad not then 

 learned, as I diil alierwardcJ, iluil ihe rases ol 

 successCul operation were almost entirely confined 

 to clover, and that on calcareous soils. I used 

 the gyps<n)up eariii largely lor two or three, j-eare, 

 in a way ihat I could not judge oCiip separate eflect, 

 and pince, I have been satisfied that it thus had 

 no efl'ecl. This was, mixed wilh the general mass 

 of (iirm-yard and stable manure. From no appli- 

 caiion ol this kind did I see aliervvards an\' eHect, 

 even il'oiii:h on calcareous or marled land, (as my 

 (arm yard manure was always then applied,) 

 neiiher on the corn and wheat, nor the clover, 

 when clover was sown alU'rwards. The use 

 gradually ceased, until renewed in 1827. The 

 recommencement ol notes thereon was in 1S28, in 

 my experiment book lor that year. Alter refer- 

 ring to the entries, quoted above, (or | revious el- 

 (t'cts, these introductory remarks to later experi- 

 ments follow thus: 



"The general want of success, together wilh 

 the belief ol' that I have very little of this manure, 

 ^meaning such ns contained gypsum,] made me 

 deier usmtj it until I had clover growing to apply 

 it to ; and that crop I have found it impossible to 

 raise (at least to any profit,) before the land is 

 marled. In 1825, the results of old experiments 

 [numbered X!I.] encouraged me again to try clo- 

 ver ; and finding a better supply of'gypseoiis earth 

 [ihat is, showing <:yps'im present] in 1827, made 

 me a'so proceed to its more free use. I shall be- 

 gin again to write down my recent experiments, 

 at the time, or soon after their being made. I 

 shall also in some cases state results of old appli- 

 cations, where the lads are such as it is impossi- 

 ble to mistake." 



Next follow experiments staled minutelj', and 

 too much at leneih to be quoted here fully, and 

 therelbre extracts will be made, andthegeiieraland 

 important circumstances only will be mentioned. 



XUI. In 1827, 195 heaped bushels of green- 

 sand, or gypseous earth, (of a new body, of limit- 

 ed extent,) supposed to consist of one-sixth of 

 pure gypsum, was mixed with the farm-yard ma- 

 nure, and with that laid over 14 acres of light 

 loam, marled in 1819 and 1823. No efiecl on ihe 

 corn, or wheat, or clover, ihat could be ascribed to 

 the green-sand — or other than the manure and 

 marl were supposed to have produced. The fad- 

 ure of "this and all similar api)lication3 [this hav- 

 ing been done largelj' for several winters] induce 

 the belief that there is some chemical produft of 

 fermenting farm-yard manure that entirely de- 

 stroys (or decomposes) gypsum — and which has 

 prevenied rny receiving any benefit from any mix- 

 ture of gypseous earth with manure, which is the 

 mode I [)ursued wilh it generally until lately. If 

 the process of fermentation produces oxalic acid, 

 such a decomposition of the gypsum would fake 

 place."' 



XIV. 1827. February 21?t, 145 bushels of the 

 Bame earth strewed by jiand over 8 acres of a na- 

 turally rich black loam, neutral soi!, and parts 

 plighily calcareous. In cotton. In June a manl- 

 iest benefit. I was absent from July to October, 

 but my overseer reported that there had been con- 

 eiderable effect visible on the growth. When I 

 returnpd, not much difference could be Been, as 

 Vol. IX.-8— B 



(he leaves had dropped, and all the open cotton 

 poils had just been picked over. 



XV. 1827. March— -SO bushels of same earth 

 spread by hand on 5 acres of cotton land. No 

 (ifect that year, or the next, when again in cotton. 

 This was land not long cleared, formerly a poor 

 acid soil, a pine and whortleberry ridge, but well 

 marled. (Same soil as subject of experiment I.) 



XVI. and XVII. Two other experiments, same 

 year, on clover on another pari of the same field, 

 and similar soil, but of land long cultivated — 24 

 bushels to the acre, in diffetent spots, where yel- 

 low marl had been used, and 6 bushels on blue 

 marl, applied in 1822. "The benefit on the first 

 was generallj', but not throughout perceptible; on 

 the last it was very evident." 



The next no'e records the most remarkable ef- 

 fect I ever saw from this (or any other) manure — 

 and which experiment also furnished subsequently 

 the strongest proofj by the short duration, of the 

 fieetinff nature of the efl'iecis. 



XXIII. "1827. March 22d. About 20 bushels 

 of gypseous earth laid on wheat and young clo- 

 ver. Soil, dark rich loam, part originally shelly, 

 and the balance lately marled from a thin muscle 

 shell bed, dug near the spot. This quantity was 

 ordered to be sown on an acre; but was, by care- 

 less spreading, put on much less land. 



" liesult. Adjoining the loads [where the eartli 

 had been left thickest,] very great improvement 

 on the clover seen during harvest, June, 1827. 

 None on the wheat. 



" 1828. February 28ih. Some of the same, as 

 well as mors of the adjoining land, (from not 

 knowing the position of the former sowin?,) was 

 sowed again at the rate of 20 bushels to the acre. 

 " Result. April 3d, 1828. The first application 

 is now evident enough, and the efi'ect greater than 

 any thing ever before seen. The thickest manur- 

 ing has done no harm. 



" 1829. June, The great effect continues, and 

 Ihe same, in a less degree, is found on the adjoin- 

 ing land, marled last year — making, on a piece of 

 between one and two acres, the heaviest growth 

 \ of clover I ever saw. It was mowed last year lor 

 ^ hay, and grazed in the fall, and has mostly been 

 I mowed again last month for green feedins. The 

 adjoining clover not gypsed, and on like land, \a 

 1 so thin and low as not to be worth mowing.'" 

 [ In reference to liie same experiment, the follow- 

 i ing remark is made in my Farm Journal (vol. 3.) 

 1 "The greater the quantity of the earth applied, 

 I here and elsewhere, on like soil, the (greater the 

 j effect— and on the naturally shelly land here, 

 i it is better than on the artificial." 

 I When mowing this clover ibr hay, JVl ay 31st, 

 1828, the fbl!owin!]r remark occurs in the farm 

 journal: " It was all lodged, and ihe mowing wa-j 

 I very wasteful, as well as troublesome ; yet i* still 

 ! is so succulent and tender, and seems so late, 

 I compared to the oilier clover, that the appearance 

 I would indicate that it was mowed too early." 



XIX. " 1827. Five bushels ef gypseous earth 

 j put to a quarter acre of corn, in the hills at time of 

 I planting. Hilly gravelly land, long cultivated and 

 i much reduced. Had been marled in 1823. No 

 I benpfit." 



! XX. 1827. In the Held for corn, and on several 

 I diflferent soils, not originally calcareous, but marled, 

 j 20 bushels of gypseous earth used in different ex- 

 I periment.=?. No eflect produced. 



