No. 6. 



Best Regulated Farms. 



195 



Best Regulated Farms. 



We take the following from the American Farmer of 

 this month, and though without a date, we presume it 

 refers to a recent transaction. These reports on the 

 iiianageii;ent of farms are highly valuable in various 

 respects; not only showing the degree of success that 

 has attended the enterprise and industry of farmers, 

 but, what is more important still, the means by which 

 success has been obtained. There is one part of the 

 statement which it would be gratifying to have ex- 

 plained. If the soil of C. B. Calvert's farm is naturally 

 so unpromising, and was exhausted by the tobacco 

 culture, and in its natural state incapable of producing 

 any thing, what means did he take to enable him to 

 apply barn-yard manure so bountifully? Did he con- 

 irive means to make it on the farm, or did he purchase 

 It in Baltimore or elsewhere.— Ed. 



The undersigned, the Committee on best 

 Regulated Farms, appointed in contbrmity 

 with the rules of the Prince George's Agri- 

 cultural Society, beg- leave to report: Tiiat 

 they entered upon the discliarge of the duty 

 assigned them, as soon as they were notified 

 bv the competitors for the premiums, that 

 tiieir farms and plantations were in order for 

 their investigation. 



Walter W. W. Bowie, Richard S. Hill, 

 Charles B. Calvert and Robert Bowie, Escjs., 

 are the gentlemen who presented themselves 

 as competitors, and invited the attention ofi 

 the committee. 



The farm of Charles B. Calvert, Esq., his 

 fvstem, his investments, and the highly gra- 

 tifying results of the whole combined, chal- 

 lenged the closest attention of the committee, 

 and merit the most profound consideration 

 not only of this society, but of every Agri- 

 culturist in the lower counties of Maryland. 

 .Mr. Calvert has entirely given up the culti- 

 vation of tobacco, and directed his attention 

 delusively to the conversion of his farm into 

 a grass-growing and dairy farm. In this he 

 has completely succeeded; and this success 

 is the more wonderful when it is borne in 

 mind, that the soil on which this change has 

 lieen effected is a cold, barren, cadaverous 

 clay, in its natural and broken state produc- 

 ing nothing, defying all well directed efforts 

 of the hoe and plough, and incapable of pro 

 ducing any thing. On this land, gypsum, 

 ^0 powerful and magical in its operation 

 elsewhere, has no effect whatever; nor has 

 aoy perceptible improvement from heavy ap- 

 plications of lime, made years ago, been at 

 anytime seen. So that your committee are 

 "f opinion, that no land in any portion of 

 Maryland can be found, whose soil is poorer 

 and less inviting to the noble efibrts of the 

 agriculturist. But this dead soil has been 

 Irought to life, and made to teem with the 

 most useful and wealth-producing vegetation 



by the application of barn-yard and stable 

 manure combined; and to the credit of Mr. 

 Calvert let it be recorded, that this great 

 mass of manure, producing such exten.sive 

 and decisive results, is the exclusive produc- 

 tion of his own farm. 



As one item of evidence on which the 

 opinion of the committee is founded, we 

 deem it not improper to let Mr. Calvert 

 speak in his own words. In his prepared 

 statement in answer to the fitleenth interro- 

 gatory, he says: " In answering this interro- 

 gatory, I beg leave to state, that I cannot 

 ascertain precisely the amount of butter 

 made on my farm, as I have no means of 

 arriving at the amount consumed in my own 

 family; but supposing that the object of the 

 inquiry is to ascertain the amount derived 

 from the dairy, I have to state that I have 

 turned my attention particularly, during the 

 last year, to making my farm a dairy and 

 grazing one; and considering all the disad- 

 vantages which one has to contend against 

 in every new pursuit, I think I have been 

 quite as successful as I could expect for the 

 first year. My dairy has yielded me from 

 the first of January, 1S46, to 1st October, 

 184G, in milk, cream and butter, §2,391 98; 

 and this leaves out about the best quarter of 

 the year, so tiiat the revenue of the whole 

 year may be fairly stated at three thousand 

 dollars, or more." 



In addition to this, there are from one 

 hundred and fifty to two hundred acres in 

 grasses, yielding from one to two tons per 

 acre, and producing a revenue, after the cows 

 and horses are abundantly supplied, nearly, 

 if not quite equal to that of the dairy. 



The committe have taken but little into 

 consideration the wheat, corn and cats, as 

 the former was injured in common with all 

 the wheat in this region, and the latter by 

 frequent and heavy freshets, which were so 

 disastrous to all flat lands having bold streams 

 running through them. 



The root crops, which are extensive, it is 

 presumed are planted with a single eye for 

 the benefit of the cows. From this very 

 hasty view, there is one reflection that na- 

 turally arises, and it is a cheering and con- 

 solatory one to every man who is even pos- 

 sessed of the very poorest species of poor 

 land, and that is, never to despair of his land ; 

 a reflection that is akin to the high-toned 

 patriot's resolve — never to despair of his 

 country, though danger may be on the wing, 

 and the clouds may darken and lower around 

 it. 



If Mr. Calvert has not found out the phi- 

 losopher's stone, he certainly has tlie road to 

 wealth and an honourable fame, by the judi- 

 cious application of barn-yard manure to the 



