6S2 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



especially in the old states, whose expenses have 1 ley, rye, or oats. For these experiments the agri- 

 not quadrupled in the last 50 or 60 yeare. But | cultural conimuniiy is indebted to Dr. Von Thaer, 



we clap the eaddle on the wrong horse. In other 

 words, we blame our lands lor not yielding 7nore, 

 when we should blame ourselves lor not spending 

 less of their products in selfish and sensual indul- 

 gences. But this kind ofarithmetic suiis neither 

 our appetites nor our pride, and the poor dumb 

 lands must bear all the reproach, as they cannot 

 epeak in their own deience. In lbrn)er limes, with- 

 in my own memory, 2 or 3 plain family carriagres 

 sufficed lor a whole county, now there are at least 

 20 or 30 lor one, and at 3 or 4 times their former 

 cost. Our household furniture and house keep- 

 ing expenses have augmented at (he same extra- 

 vagant ratio, and have nearly extinguished that 

 true, sincere, cordial hospitality for which Vir- 

 ginia was once so justly celebrated, whilst the 

 adornment of our precious persons, not only makes 

 constant and most exhausiing drains Irom the liirm- 

 ers" purses, but occupies much of thai invaluable 

 time which was formerly devoted to domestic 

 duties and rural occupations. No wonder, then, 

 that our farmers themselves, together with their 

 wives, sons and daughters, are constantly studying 

 the ways and means of always showing them- 

 selves ofi' in a style to surpass that of iheir neigh- 

 bors, thereby verifying Dr. Franklin's excellent 

 adage, that " other people's eyes cost us more 

 than our own ;" the wonder is that so large a por- 

 tion of Virginia farms can bear such ceaseless 

 and most exorbitant taxation without utter ruin. 

 Another obstacle to our improvement in agri- 

 culture is, the existence among us of numerous 

 popular errors, which, so long as they last, will 

 certainly prevent the adoption of any new system 

 in opposition to them, however well proved may 

 be its superiority to such as prevailed before. 

 Nothing but a scientific knovt'ledge of agriculture 

 will cure this great and widely spread evil ; and 

 the total want of agricultural schools in our coun- 

 try will probably continue it for many years to 

 come. Some mitigation of it, however, miffht 

 be Ibund in patronizing, far more extensively than 

 we do, the excellent agricultural papers which 

 are now published in almost every state in the 

 union; but which still circulate much less ihan 

 they ought to do, compared to our political jour- 

 nals—many of which circulate little else but 

 moral poison ; the latter, I believe, would be found 

 to exceed ihem in the proporton of at least thirty 

 for one. The former contains much of the science 

 as well as the practice of agriculture ; and if 

 diligently studied would soon correct many of 

 the popular errors which constantly impede our 

 improvement. Among these I will here notice 

 one which probably prevails to a wider ex'ent 

 than any other ; and which is a very great ob- 

 stacle to that kind of improvement supposed to 

 result from a proper rotation of crop?. The error 

 in regard to which I will now offer a lew remarks 

 is, the very common notion, especially among the 

 despisers of ^^ book farming" that rye and%ats 

 exhaust land far more than wheat ; and, of course, 

 should be excluded as much as possible from 

 every rotation of crops designed to improve our 

 lands ; although, generally speaking, these anti- 

 book-farmere have little or no faith in any rotation 

 whatever. Now the truth is, that there is no fact 

 in relation to this matter more indisputably esta- 

 bliehed by a long course of accurate experiments, 

 than that wheat i$ mort txhausting than aitherbar- 



whose reputation, both as a scientific and pracical 

 agriculturist, is e(]ual to that of any man in Eu- 

 rope, He has gone so fijr as to form minute 

 tables on this subject, by which it appears, that 

 whilst wheat exhausts ihe fertility of land in the 

 proportion of 4 per cent, per bushel of product, 

 rye exhausts in that of 3;^ — barley of 2^ — and 

 oats of only 1 6-10. Now, since it is reasonable 

 to believe, that all these crains require the same 

 kind of nutrition in the United States as they do 

 in Europe, their exhausting powers must bear 

 very nearly or quite the same proportion to each 

 other here as there; and consequently this parti- 

 cular fact is as well decided lor our country as for 

 Dr. Von Thaer's, by ihe experiments just stated. 

 Although I am well aware that my recital of 

 ihese experiments will make little or no impres- 

 sion on such of our agricultural brethren as know 

 nothing of the chemical analysis of plants, and 

 of Ihe soils in which they grow ; and that some 

 of ihem may even curl up their noses at it — with 

 their characteristic self-conceit, and cry out — 

 " Oh ! Ws all fudge, we knows better ;" yet I con- 

 fidently hope, it will not be the case with all who 

 hear or read what I have said on the subject of 

 popular errors. It will do some good, if it has no 

 other effect than t^ induce them to examine, more 

 thoroughly, the origin of all their opinions rela- 

 tive to agriculture, since one which has been so 

 long and generally entertained, has been proved 

 to be totally erroneous. Such examination, il' 

 made with a sincere and earnest desire to come 

 at the truth, will soon convince them, that for the 

 correctness of many of these opinions, they have 

 nothing whatever which even resembles saiislac- 

 tory proof, unless it be mere hearsay evidence 

 transmitted from father to son, during an unknown 

 period of time, and adopted without examination. 

 This detection of groundless opinions in them- 

 selves will naturally lead them to test the truth 

 of all they adopt, by accurate and repeated ex- 

 periments, which are the only true and satisfac- 

 lory proofs of merit or demerit, in all cases of 

 doubt, relative to the various systems and prac- 

 tices in husbandry. And such experiments will 

 certainly coritribute more to their own im- 

 provement in their profession than any other 

 course they could pursue. Only one caution 

 would be necessary, and that is, never to be ex- 

 travagant in making them. It is true that their 

 progress would necessarily be gradual, for agri- 

 culiural experiments, to be of any great advan- 

 tage, require much time, patience, and care to 

 perfect ttiem. My recommendation, therefore, 

 will not suit that numerous class of our brethren 

 who are always making haste to be rich. Still 

 less will it suit the land skinners of our state, 

 who care not a straw about useful discoveries in 

 agriculture, so long as they can extort from their 

 lands any kind of crop that will bring money into 

 their pockets. When their fiarms cease to do this, 

 instead of striving to renovate them, as a little 

 care and perseverance certainly would do, these 

 vampires of the soil, who have not a particle of 

 that never-dying love which so powerfully at- 

 taches most men to their native homes, forthwith 

 run off in search of other far distant lands, on 

 vfhich they recommence the sameekinaing, blood- 

 sucking process; destroying, with reckless waste, 

 that natural leaility, which, with only a liitlt; 



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