82 



Management of a Stiff-land Farm. 



Vol. VI. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Management of a Stiff-land Farm. 



Mr. Editor, — About two years ago I came 

 into possession of a worn-out farm of five hun- 

 dred acres, bounded on one side by ilie Pa- 

 tuxent river, six miles from the bay, and by 

 a bold creek on the other, forming a penin- 

 sula. The soil generally is a stiff' clay, and 

 runs together like pitch, after being broken 

 up and getting wet. The whole farm is 

 level, although not much of it holds water. 

 It is divided into four fields of 50 acres each, 

 and a small lot of 10 acres, the balance being 

 in wood. 



Now, my object in troubling you is, to ask 

 your advice concerning the management of 

 this land. The ciops are from 10 to 20 bush- 

 els wheat, corn and oats, per acre, and from 

 500 to 1.5<)0 lbs. tobacco. I can buy shell- 

 lime delivered at 12^ cents per bushel, and 

 marl at 4 cents per bushel, digging it out of 

 the bank and hauling it myself from three to 

 six miles. I have, I suppose, 20,000 loads 

 of black peat, or marsh mud, but cannot get 

 it out with a team, although a man can walk 

 on it. I do not see any benefit as yet from 

 plaster, although I do from the use of marl. 

 Had I not better farm, say only 100 acres'? 

 but then, what shall I do with the balance? — 

 for as this is one of the neighbourhoods where 

 skinning land has arrived to great perfection, 

 I should not like to rent it out. Is it not bet- 

 ter to mix vegetable matter with lime and 

 marl? How much lime to an acre? how 

 much ashes? I use a quantity of sea-grass, 

 called here sea-ore; would you recommend 

 me to deposit it in my cow-yard previous to 

 hauling out, or put it on the land green as it 

 comes from the river? In the latter case, a 

 great deal dies away from exposure. I hope 



S receive some information from you through 

 e medium of your valuable paper. 



L. S. GiLLIAMS. 

 Leonard Town, 

 St. Mary County, Md., Sept. 21, 1841. 



P. S. It is known here to be a fact, that if 

 you cut a small pine-tree in August, and lean 

 it against the largest pine-tree in the woods, 

 it will kill it in a few days. It is said here, 

 if you dip a broad woollen string in fish-oil 

 and tie it around the necks of cattle, it will 

 entirely rid them of lice. The following is 

 a curious fact. Last winter I had some ewes 

 and lambs in a shed, and noticing that one 

 of the lambs did not thrive, I set a watch, and 

 discovered one of my cats to come twice a 

 day to suck the ewe. L. S. G. 



Wc would first advise a regular course of draining, 

 for without that, no groat iinprovemont ought to be re- 

 lied upon ; afterwards, a regular system of topdre.ssing 

 the grass lands with a mixture of all the articles enu- 

 merated would soon work a perfect renovation in the 



soil. The less of such land as runs together " like pitch, 

 when wet," that is kept under the plough, the better: 

 circumstances, however, might demand a change of 

 opinion on this head, hut, generally speaking, stiff clay 

 soils in the situation above described, would be found 

 a hundredfold more profitable by being kept in grass, 

 top-dressed, fed, and mown for hay when suihciently 

 improved to yield a crop ; and with such abundance of 

 lime marl, and marsli mud, at hand, what is there to 

 prevent the farm from becoming a mine of wealth, pro- 

 vided a market for the produce be within reach. If 

 there is a residence on the estate, and cattle-sheds ad- 

 joining, the raising of cattle first, and after awhile 

 grazing them, with the breeding of liogs, would be far 

 the most preferable farm stock ; the dung from them 

 being composted with the marsh mud and marl, and 

 after fermentation turned up with a due proportion of 

 limp, and carried abroad as top-dressing, either in the 

 spring or autumn, provided the land be not liable to 

 overflow from the river, would very soon recover any 

 soil from the effects of the most severe system of skin- 

 ■ning. Under present circumstances, however, 50 acres 

 of the land appears a large proportion to be kept under 

 the plough, for nature appears to have intended the 

 "peninsula" for a grazing farm; and while with oiie 

 fialf the land under the plough, a man may easily con- 

 trive to break the liearts of his men and horses and 

 himself, the whole might be managed as a stock-farm 

 with perfect ease and pleasantness. 



We have had much experience in the use of sea-ore 

 — called sea-vraik in some parts — during a residence 

 of some years in the Island of Jersey, England, (of 

 which mention is made in the 3d vol. of the Cabinet, 

 p. 183.) It is there used universally, either for turning 

 in for wheat immediately on spreading it green on the 

 surface, or as a top-dressing for meadows in the spring, 

 when, if rain fall, it is dissolved into a jelly-like sub- 

 stance and is washed into the soil, or as fuel, after dry- 

 ing ; the ashes, being carefully preserved from the wea- 

 ther, furnishing a top-dressing for wheat and other 

 crops in the spring, of the most exciting nature: it is 

 also deposited while fresh in the cattle-yards, where it 

 becomes mi.ted with the manure, and is then turned to. 

 gether in the spring to further the process of decompo- 

 sition ; after which it is carried abroad as manure for 

 potatoes, which are greatly benefited by it, the worms, 

 bugs, &c., never attacking them while in their growth; 

 and it is from the use of this stimulating manure that 

 (he most astonishing crops are raised, the average crop 

 for the Island being 29,077 lbs., or, at 50 lbs. per bushel, 

 580 bushels of potatoes per acre ! so great is the fertiliz- 

 ing quality contained in these ashes, the alkaline prin- 

 ciple being 50(Za, not potash — the ashes of sea-plant8 

 yielding soda, those of land-plants potash. It would 

 not be possible to judge of the proper quantity per acre 

 of lime, marl, or ashes, without first knowing the na- 

 ture of the land, and the component parts of these arti- 

 cles themselves; but as a top-dressing, they might be 

 used to very great extent when well mixed with other 

 substances, without danger of an over-dose. — Ed. 



The heart would sink in adversity and 

 affliction if, amidst a deluge of cares and 

 griefs it could not discern the bow set in the 

 clouds — the arch of promise — the token of 

 the Divine presence and love. 



