414 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



year's cultivation the Innd wne eun'ered to rest. 

 The field limed in 1S39 produced a less abundant 

 crop of poverty grass than the circumjacent lands 

 not limed — and a more luxuriant crovvtli of crab 

 and joint grass. The field of 1840 is now at 

 rest. 



I am aware that our planters will not consider 

 the improvement of (he joint grass a desirable 

 object. That is a grass that is said to delight in 

 a calcareous soil, and it might spread more rapidly 

 on such, than on lands Iree I'rom calcareous earth. 

 Everyone who owns an old planlation, is aware 

 that joint grass is no stranger, even to the poorest 

 lands. If lime then be really a lertilizing agent, 

 let us not object lo it because it does not prove a 

 panacea lor all ihe evils vviih which our ignorance, 

 or our carelessness, or the behests ol' a wise Pro- 

 vidence iiave strewn our path. 



Mr. RulFin observes, that they who wish to use 

 calcareous manures must make ihe digging ol 

 it a branch of the regular larming ojjerations. 

 Any system o( manuring, we know must, to be 

 efficient, become a part ol the hal)itual operations 

 ol' the planlation. Trusiing to the chance of ob- 

 taining l;me during the season between hoeing 

 and harvesting, 1 made no oilier provision lor it 

 last year, but classed it with ihe rest ol' that mis- 

 cellaneous jobbing o()eraiion called lall work. But 

 in the Tail the waier had taken possession of my 

 pits, and I had land to clear, and other causes 

 prevented me from obtaining a bushel ol lime. 

 The opening ol" a small body of land, together 

 with the rains of August and Sepiember, have 

 plopped for this year my course of experimenis. 

 Huw frequently do we hear the opening of lands 

 alleged in excuse of noiflect f;in many operations 

 essential to good husbandry. It excuses the 

 want of manure, the inefficiency of ditches, the 

 insecuriiy of lences, the delapilated state of the 

 plantation buildings, and the wants of many 

 comforts, which as enlightened citizens and men 

 of subsianiial wealth, we should not want. 



I am no enemy eiihi-r in theory or in practice 

 to the clearing of our Ibrests — but I think the time 

 has come when it should be done with great cau- 

 tion. Our upland forests of prime quality are 

 nearly exhausted. They are our only resources 

 in the coumry lor good fuel, an article which in 

 some vicinities has become Irighti'ully scarce. 

 Unless necessity therefore should compel, or 

 strongly advise their destruction, they should I 

 think be husbanded as a resource of wealth and 

 comlbrt at no distant period. The system pursued 

 by our predecessors was, lo clear a piece of land 

 and cultivate it to death. It was then suffered 

 to recover some strength and throw up another 

 growth of trees, while other Ibrest lands were 

 subjected to the same system ol exhausting cul- 

 tivation. In the course of time the new forests 

 were again reduced to cultivation and again ex- 

 hausted, but in a much shorter period than at first. 

 A system of resting then lollowed. After a 

 long period larmers began to apply manure, and 

 now commenced a system that promised really 

 to give to the planter the character of a cultivator 

 of the soil. Now we may look for improvements 

 that shall be permanent, and it is to aid in per- 

 fecting this system that I have felt it my duty to 

 contribute my humble etiorls, by saying a word 

 or two in favor of lime. 



Many a planter who would shrink from the 



appalling labor of liming his land, will not hesitate, 

 il it is convenient, to clear land, even though it 

 may not be necessary. Let us estimate the labor 

 necessary to prepare for cultivation a field of ten 

 acres, by two methods of dealing, and of liming. 

 Let us suppose first a piece of prime upland to 

 be cleared, then the labor account will stand as 

 (bllows : — 



1st. Underwooding — to each acre 



8 hands, equal to - - 80 days work. 



2d. Felling and cutting up trees, 



8 hands, equal to . . SQ » '« 



3d. Ijog roiling, firing, &c. : to 



each acre 2 hands, - - 20 " " 

 4th. Listing : to each acre 8 



hands, - - - - SO '' " 

 5th. Bediling : to each acre 8 



hands, - - - - SO " " 



340 « " 



To obtain this field then, requires an expendi- 

 ture of three hundred and lorty days of labor. 

 No account has been taken of the labor of women 

 and children engaged in raking, firing, &c., nor 

 of the lat)or necessary for ditching, fencing, &c. 

 During Ihe first year of cultivation the usual task 

 of half an acre cannot be performed, and even in 

 the labor of preparation lor the second crop, short 

 tasks are necessarily given. This field will en- 

 dure constant cuhivation for five or six years. 

 After that period it will require rest and manure. 

 The first crop, it must be observed, is always an 

 uncertain one. A prudent speculator will never 

 make a large calculation on the issue of a crop 

 sown on fresh lands. Let us now suppose an 

 exhausted field lo be brought into cultivation with 

 the aid of lime. 



1 have already stated that it required the labor 

 of three days to procure lime enough lor one acre 

 of land, at ihe rate of a hundred bushels per acre. 

 Thirty days' labor will then be required to manure 

 ten acres at the same rale. Suppose the quan- 

 tity doubled and two hundred bushels be applied 

 — here ihen will be required the labor of sixty 

 days. Add an equal number of days for burning, 

 hauling and spreading, and the lime will be on 

 the ground at the cost of one hundred and twenty 

 days' labor. Deduct this amount li'om three hun- 

 dred and forty, the time required for the prepara- 

 tion of forest lands and there will be a balance of 

 two hundred and twenty days left to devote to 

 any other preparation of the land you may deem 

 advisable. 'I'lie lime once spread, the labor is 

 over; full tasks become the order of the day; 

 and the planter may rest with the assurance oi 

 all who have iriven the lime a fair trial, that he 

 has put on his land a manure whose beneficial 

 agency time, so far from destroying, will con- 

 tinually develope. 



It is a common opinion, that clover will not 

 endure the hot sun of South Carolina. This 

 opinion is not more prevalent with us now than a 

 similar opinion respecting the adaptation of the 

 climate of lower Virginia to clover .was a i'ew 

 years since in that state. Since the introduction 

 of the use of calcareous manures the cultivation 

 of clover has become universal in lower Vir- 

 ginia, (c.^ It is evident, therelore, that it was 

 the want of somcihlng in the soil, and not the 

 warmth of the sun's rays, that was at fault in 



