THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



415 



Virginia. I have for three or four years past 

 been watching a little exjieriment whicli iiKiuces 

 nie to believe thai it is not tiie euii, but ihe eoil 

 of Carolina, which is fatal to the growth oCclover. 



A Tew years since I received from a li-iend seve- 

 ral varieties of grass seeds wliicli 1 planted in my 

 garden on the borders, ininiediately under the. 

 walls. At the coinniencement of summer I iiad 

 a promisinir crop, but in autumn it was all dead. 

 The Ibllovving winter I observed a single phuii 

 of clover growing on the north border. 'I'o this 

 plant i applied lime liberally. It flourished du- 

 ring winter, and in May proved to be red clover. 

 The following winter the clover was still there. 

 It had spread. Lime was again applied. It has 

 continued to improve, and bids liiir to overrun my 

 garden. 



Now this I admit is a very email experimeni 

 to base a large liypothesis upon — but it is not on 

 that account the less valuable. Here is a single 

 plant which has survived the first summer, ob- 

 served during the winter, small and sickly, treat- 

 ed with lime, the manure which all farmers have 

 declared to be indispensable to clover, thriving 

 under the treatment, bearing with equal success 

 Ihe heats of '38, the droughts of '39, and the 

 rains of '40. It must be observed too, that if the 

 sun is injurious to clover, the position of this plant 

 lias been a most unfortunate one. Placed on 

 the south side of a wall it is never shaded but by 

 the very early and late suns of our longest days, 

 and in addition to the direct rays of the sun, it is 

 exposed to ail the heat radiated from the wall. 



1 do not despair of seeing lime in general use 

 in the limestone rigions of South Carolina. Im- 

 provements of all sorts are slowly adopted by 

 agriculturists. In consequence of the great ab- 

 sence of planters from their estates, they adopt 

 new methods more slowly than any others who 

 derive their subsistence from the soil. A few 

 years since it was a mooted question at every 

 parish club in the low country, whether the profits 

 arising from manuring our fields were great 

 enough to authorize the expenditure of the labor 

 necessary to collect the manure. Nor was there 

 wanting many who even doubted whether it was 

 of any use at ail. 



It seems never to have entered into the minds 

 of such persons that the highest attribute of man 

 is his capacity for improvement to an indefinite 

 degree, not only of himself, but of every thing 

 commiited to his government, and that he never 

 so completely fulfils his destiny as when exercis- 

 ing this capacity ; that Providence has deprived 

 us of an Eden in order that we might, by as- 

 piring after its possession, exhibit the greatness 

 of our intellectual resources in their most benefi- 

 cial aspect; that to impair the value of that 

 which he has given us to use and transmit to our 

 successors, is disobedience and a wanton abuse ol 

 his goodness. Such reflections have come home 

 to us when contrasting our declining condition 

 with the present prosperity of others, who in a 

 more richly gified region are following the de- 

 structive example of our fathers. Animal and 

 vegetable manures have forced themselves into 

 general use, and I have no doubt that in a few 

 years we shall see the powerful agency of the 

 mineral manures exercising the happiest influence 

 over the destiny of this state. 



A Sfeculator. 



A\>te. — I have carefiilly abstained from any 

 hypothesis respecting the modus operamii of lime. 

 iVlr. Uullin is disposed to regard il as valuable, 

 chiefly aa a corrector of acidity. (</.) That it 

 has other valuable qualites is bighly probable. 

 It has made me good cotton vvIumi the land im- 

 mediately adjacent produced absolutely nothing 

 but a lew scattered and half grown stocks. 



Respecting the composition of our liT.e-stone, 

 I have seen two statements differing widely. Dr. 

 .lohnsnn finds about thirty per cent, of magne- 

 sia. Mr. Shepard finds little or none, and this 

 diflerence too in specimens from the same locali- 

 ty, (e.) Viewed as a corrector of acidity, the 

 magnesia is perhaps as valuable as the lime, and 

 the value of the manure would not be less in con- 

 sequence of the presence of so much magnesia. 

 Writers on agriculture have always represented 

 magnesian earths as unfruitllil, and ungrateful. 

 This may be true, but it does not follow that a 

 small quantity of magnesia added to the soil may 

 not be advantageous to it. A soil overcharged 

 with lime, would be as poor as one overcharged 

 with magnesia. 



Apart from the mechanical agency of lime on 

 soil, I apprehend that its value is not greater 

 than would be that of any other alkali. I have 

 seen twenty bushels of ashes produce results quite 

 as satisfactory as a hundred bushels of mild lime. 

 (f.) Whether it exercises an agency for any 

 length ol' time, I have not the means of ascer- 

 taining, but as an auxiliary manure to the grow- 

 ing crop, I consider it so valuable, that I have all 

 the ashes on the plantation carelully husbanded. 

 A small reward otlered to the negroes induces 

 them not only to save their ashes, but (I have 

 had reason to believe,) to burn more wood for the 

 purpose. Any one who has not tried the experi- 

 ment would be surprised to find how much may 

 be collected by holding out an inducement. 



(a.) We shall not afTect to disguise the gra- 

 tification which we have derived from reading 

 this article, caused by the writer's high and grate- 

 ful appreciation of our individual labors in this 

 important department; as well as from his testi- 

 mony that the seeds of this improvement, which 

 we have for years been trying to plant in South 

 Carolina, have at last struck root, and now pro- 

 mise good and speedy fruits. The good work 

 has been at last begun by a few planters, of 

 whom the writer of the above article seems to 

 promise to be among the most zealous and ef- 

 ficient. We have however to regret, that, by his 

 withholding his name, and its authority, he has 

 been content to be counted but as a " Speculator," 

 instead of a practical operator and unquestionable 

 witness of facts. We earnestly urge him to per- 

 severe — and while he may be the first in South 

 Carolina to reap large profits and increase his 

 wealth from this source, he will exhibit such evi- 

 dences, tTiat his example will soon be followed by 

 hundreds of his countrymen.— En. F. R. 



