214 



THE farmers' cabinet. 



VOL. I. 



the best manure will prove ineffectual ; the 

 stagnant waters will corrupt the natural nour- 

 ishment, so essentially necessary to produce 

 sweet herbage ; but when the cause is re- 

 moved, the effecis will cease. Those luxu- 

 riant, noxious weeds, or coarse grass, being 

 deprived ot'tlieir nourishment by draining, of 

 course die, and sweet wholesome herbage 

 naturally succeeds without manure. An im- 

 portant principle of practical husbandry, is 

 cleanly farming. A good farmer must suffer 

 nothing to grow, but his crop. He must 

 therefore use ceaseless endeavors to exter- 

 minate weeds and pests. 



However small may be the attention to this 

 salutary maxim, it is the foundation of all 

 profitable operations in husbandry — the test 

 of character in tiie agriculturist — and should 

 be the pride and boast of all respectable hus- 

 bandmen. 



One being asked — " what was the best 

 manure'!" replied — "animal sweat" — mean- 

 ing good tillage, industry, and intelligent and 

 repeated culture. All these are hostile to 

 weeds and pests ; and certain modes of de- 

 stroying them. 



In the cultivation of the earth, such a ro- 

 tation of crops should be adopted as is best 

 calculated to enrich the soil with abundant 

 manure, to preserve it best from weeds, to 

 prevent it from washing and keep it in good 

 heart. A good rotation of crops has been 

 fjund, in all well cultivated countries, to im- 

 prove the soil, instead of impoverishing it.* 

 In every such rotation red clover is an essen- 

 tial article. The rapid improvements in ag- 

 riculture, which have taken place in our 

 country, particularly in Pennsylvania, for the 

 last tifiy years, may, in part, be justly as- 

 cribed to red clover, aided by the almost magi- 

 cal fertilizing power of plaster of Paris and 

 lime, by which more wealth has been intro- 

 duced than would have resulted from the dis- 

 covery of a gold mine. But ours is not the 

 only country which has been benefited by this 

 system. " In England, besides the systematic 

 attention bestowed on manures, the soul and 

 life of agriculture, they have derived equal 

 advantages from a steady rotation of crops, 

 the system of trench ploughing, &c. To this 

 course — and more frequent and deeper 

 ploughings, also the fortunate introduction of' 

 red clover from Flanders about lUU years 

 ago, England owes its pre-eminent standing 

 as an agricultural nation." 



All spots within the inclosure of a farm 

 which are too barren or steep for the culliva- 

 tion oi any kind of grain crop, should be laid 

 down into profitable grass land so soon as that 

 can be properly accomplished. A skilful and 

 intelligent farmer, in pursuing a system of 



♦See No8. 4 and of the Farmers' Cahjnfit. 



good tillage, should suffer no part of his farm 

 to lie waste, but should make it produce 

 something towards the support of animal life, 

 and thus attain the character which every 

 farmer should aspire to, that of bringing the 

 entire surface of his farm into the best con- 

 sidered use by prudent and appropriate culti- 

 vation. 



But our misfortune is, we have too much 

 land — the consequences, generally speaking, 

 are wretched husbandry and half crops; many 

 of our farmers push a good soil till it is im- 

 poverished, and cultivate in an imperfect 

 manner extensive tracts, a small proportion 

 of which, if properly managed, would yield 

 them more and better produce. 



It is high time that we should cease to em- 

 ploy labor in killing land, and that we should 

 turn our attention towards its improvement, 

 by cultivating less at a time. By cultivating 

 less land we shall be enabled to do more jus- 

 tice to it, and to render our labor more effec- 

 tual, and consequently more profitable. We 

 shall till it better, manure it better, keep it 

 in better heart, and what is lastly not to be 

 disregarded, make more abundant crops. — 

 When a smaller quantity of land is cultiva"- 

 ted at a time, the farmer will be enabled to 

 apply to it, what should be applied to all cul- 

 tivated soils, faithful tillage, and faithful ma- 

 nuring. All the operations of agriculture 

 may be comprehended in these two simple 

 and efficacious principles. 



These principles, since they have beeri 

 pursued, have produced a new rcra in the 

 cultivation of the soil, which may be called 

 the sera of systematic agriculture. Man, 

 taking the earth in its exhausted state, or 

 from nature's hand, bare of manure, has so 

 managed and disposed it artificially, that it 

 has yielded him first a subsistence, and then 

 an overplus to grow wealthy upon. 



How far art may go in this species of im- 

 provement, is yet unknown, as the altimatum 

 of fertility has never yet been reached. As 

 far as experiments have been made, we find 

 the earth liberally aflbrding its produce, in 

 proportion as faithful tillage and taithful ma- 

 nuring have been bestowed upon it; and as 

 the ingenuity and invention of man may in- 

 crease to an unknown and inconceivable de- 

 gree, so may the improvements and arrange- 

 ments of husbandry keep pace therewith, 

 until the most friiittbl spot that now exists, 

 may produce a tenfold quantity, and the land 

 which now supports an hundred men, give 

 equal enjoyment to a thousaml. Recollect, 

 tor instance, what agriculture has done for 

 some parts of our country witiiin the last fifty 

 years. Lands which were then in a state of 

 sterility and inhabited by a thin population, 

 are now, by the well applied skill and indus- 

 try of man, in a Iiigh slate of fertility and irn* 



