308 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



THE CLIMATE OF AMERICA. 



Fiom the Farmers' Cabintt. 



Mr. Editor—The late Mr. George Walk'^r, 

 of Holmesbuffr, observed to a liieml, ihat after 

 eiglneen years' residence in ibis counlry — durinu 

 which he had never lost a turnip crop — he coijid 

 not be induced lo return to Enjiland to hiitiie wiih 

 the elements. His esiimaie of the value ol an 

 American climate to the grain and siock liirmer 

 was high indeed, the Indian summer aflur.iiiiij; 

 ample opportunity to raise turiii|)s lo any extent, 

 after lull crops of grain iiad been carried and sale- 

 ly housed — an almost incalculable advantaiie; 

 and I have olten seen on his liirm a heavy crop 

 of turnips, after the same land had yielded a crop 

 of tiie finest and brightest wheat, amounting to 

 leriy bushels per acre. Now if the value of two 

 Buch crops be joined to the advantaire of feeding 

 Block on the turnips during winter, with the straw 

 of the wheat crop as bedding lor the slock, and 

 an estimate of the whole be drawn, with no 

 drawback in the eliape of tithe, tax, or poor rale, 

 and about hall a dozen other " rates," his con- 

 viction, that his Ibrming operations were conducted 

 in ihis country 25 per cent. ( heaper than in 

 Ji^ngland, was no doubt well-lbunded. 



1 well remember seeing ihe last of the crops — 

 horse beans — carried one year on the 24ih day ol 

 December! and ihis, too, was in the I^le of 

 Vv'ight, the garden of England ; while i myfell 

 have had a crop of oats covered by two leet ol 

 snow while lying in the field. And I have now 

 before me a retrospect of the year 1836, Scot- 

 land, vvhtre it is said "the prevalence of cold, 

 frosty, ungenial nights, during the months of 

 May and June, endangered the vegetative powers 

 of all growmg grain ; and then was |>redicted, 

 what has since uulbrtunalely been verilied, a se- 

 rious deficiency in the crops ; the backwardness ol 

 the season anu the retarded period of harvest hav- 

 ing a most deteriorating influence on the quality 

 as well as quantity of the grain, occasioned by 

 the raw, wet and boisterous weather of the month 

 ol August, with chilling blasts from the east and 

 northeast," leaving only the month of July for 

 the season of ripening the grain ! No wonder 

 that the observation lollows: "The wheat has 

 proved coarse, thin, and irregular, having ripened 

 irregularly, and been cut, in some instances, partly 

 matured and partly green, having also been hur- 

 ried from the field, by which iis condition has 

 been much impaired." 



The contemplation of such a picture is calculat- 

 ed to do us good ; and by it I think we shall be 

 able to understand how it is possible that the 

 management of a weli-culiivaled larm can be 

 conducted at an expense 25 per cent, lower in 

 this country than in Great Britain, leaving an 

 immense amount of ease and comtbrt in lavor ol 

 Ihe American farmer. John Green. 



afier fermentation. 2d. That no animal or vege- 

 table substance can, with impunity, he taken into ' 

 circulation by livmg plants after putrid (ermenla- 

 lir.n has'taken place. To its destriiciive proper- 

 ties is to be attributed ihe dealh of the orchard of 

 fherry-trecR in Kent, as mentioned in a late num- 

 ber ol' Ihe Cabinet, — the large quantity of etable 

 manure which had been deposited in the trench, 

 at a depili which prevented the escape of ilie 

 deleterious ga^es on (ermentaiion, became in 

 consequence /n//ncf ; and when Ihe roots of these 

 trees Imd reached and penetrated this suhsiance, 

 and had taken uf) the poison into circulation, dealh 

 was the immediate consequence. 



I once carried abroad a large quantity of stable 

 manure ihai had been longl\ii)ii in a watery hole, 

 until it had become quile putrid ; and ahliouL'h it 

 was spread as a lop dressing on pasture lartil, 

 but little benefit was ever known lo arise Irom the 

 application. A friend who keeps a large livery 

 stable a<ljoinin<r his land, dug a cistern lo receive 

 the drainage of his yard, in which there is always 

 a large accumulation of manure, and kept a carl 

 and cask to carry it abroad on his pasture and 

 meadow land ; but he found no benefit from it 

 when it was allowed lo remain in theciStern uiiii! 

 pulrid lermentation had taken place, and the 

 liquid mailer had beirun to smell disguslingly, as 

 he termed it. Another person, aware of the cir- 

 cumstance, has adopted a dittierent mode to very 

 great advantage : at the emptying ol the cistern, 

 he deposites in it a quantity of ihe finest mould he 

 can obtain, and assoon as it is well si^jraied 

 with the drainings ol" the yard, other iirould is 

 added periodically, until the cistern is full; it is 

 then removed to some dry spot, and made into a 

 neat heap, and after turning ii up to induce a 

 reirular fermentation, it is carried as a top-dressing 

 to his meadows, and especially on clover, in the 

 spring, where ihe eflect is absolutely incalculable. 



narby, j^pril 16, 1841. P. G. 



FERMENTED MANURE. 



From the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Mr. Editor: — I lay it down as an axiom, 

 " that need not be controverted," 1st, That no 

 animal or vegetable mailer can, properly speak- 

 ing, operate as manure to vegetable life, until 



THE ROTATION OF OATS AND TOBACCO, 

 BOTH PROFITABLE AND MELIORATING. 



To the Editor of tho Farmers' Register. 



When we met last, I think, the general com- 

 plaint ol the failure of the crop of wheat in ecstern 

 and middle Virginia was the subject of our con- 

 versation. I had then but recently met several 

 gentlemen of high agricultural reputation, who 

 were anxious in their inquiries about the culture 

 of tobacco, with which they had heretofore no 

 acquaintance. In a brief and interrupted conver- 

 sation there was little opportunity to explain fully 

 a plan for the rearing of tobacco which I had be- 

 fore recommended in your Register, and which 

 farther ex|ierience has convinced me is highly 

 judicious, if not indispensably necessary, in the 

 present state of our lands. With a view to bene- 

 fit these gentlemen, I propose to recommend again 

 this plan through the medium of your paper. 

 The general opinion tliat our country, from tho 

 mountains to the seaboard, owes its devastation to 

 ihe culture ol tobacco, I shall not pretend lo con- 

 trovert, whilst I assert that the crop is, neverthe- 

 less, not particularly exhausting. The same sys- 

 tem pursued in any new, wooded country, capa- 



