fo. 7. 



Agricultural Address. 



225 



my be overthrown, by the failure of a crop 



f potatoes. 



It may perhaps be laid down as a princi- 

 le, that any plant propagated only from 

 )0t3 or layers for a long period, that is ca- 

 able of reproduction from the seed, will 

 egenerate and finally fail. And the seed 

 om these emasculated plants, will natu- 

 illy partake of the weakness of the parent 

 ;em. We shall therefore be under the ne- 

 sssity of renewing our seed from the An- 

 es; or some other region where the pota- 

 )e can be found in a slate of nature. In 

 le mean time, as the blight has not visited 

 3 with anything like the destructive effect 

 , has had in other countries, we may, by 

 le choice of light and dry soils, succeed in 

 using a sufficiency for our domestic con-: 

 jmption; for without the potatoe, the din- 

 er table would be a desert. 



Though the laws of vegetation require a 

 ertain variation and succession in the cul- 

 vation of all crops that are not natural to 

 le soil, yet the skill of man can so modify 

 lese laws, as to bend them to his necessi- 

 es. 



There is living in Northampton county, 

 'ennsylvania, on the banks of the Leiiigh, 



very aged man, whose success in falling 

 pon a system of rotation, by which he could 

 btain the greatest possible yield of wheat, 

 1 a given term of years, has caused it to be 

 enerally adopted in that fertile region. It 

 ! called Sheimer's system, after the disco- 

 erer, Jacob Sheimer, whom I had the curios- 

 ,y to visit at his most substantial homestead 

 3me years ago; and from whom I obtained 

 le following account : 



When a young man with a large family 

 f children growing up around him, and de- 

 endent on him for support; he plainly per- 

 eived that under the rude practice then 

 xisting, he would not be able to maintain 

 bem. He often thought over his difRcul- 

 ies while following the plough, and at 

 3ngth determined upon his plan; which 

 allowed up without faltering, has conducted 

 ,im in the decline of life to ease and afflu- 

 nce. 



When I saw him he had resigned the 

 ctive duties of his farm to a son, who was 

 Dllowing in his footsteps; afler having him- 

 elf practised his system of rotation for 35 

 ears, with a constant improvement in the 

 uality of his land; which indeed had the 

 inmistakable stamp of fertility upon it. 



The farm contamed one hundred acres, 

 vhich was divided as nearly as possible into 

 light fields of twelve and a half acres; each 

 if which was carried through an eight years' 

 otation. 



Commencing with a fallow field, he 



1st year. Manured and limed ; ploughed 

 three times, in May, June and August; har- 

 rowed and seeded one bushel and three 

 pecks per acre of wheat, which was plough- 

 ed under. 



2nd. Clover seed sown on wheat in the 

 pring, six quarts to the acre, which was 

 pastured after harvest. 



3rd. Plastered clover in the spring, one 

 bushel per acre ; cut in June, and ploughed 

 under second crop, and seeded again with 

 wheat. 



4th. Wheat — same as No. 2. 



5th. Pastured early in the season, plough- 

 ed under second crop in August, and sowed 

 wheat. 



6th. Wheat again, and rye sowed on 

 stubble. 



7th. Sowed clover seed in spring on rye. 



8th. Ploughed under clover sod and plant- 

 ed corn ; and next season recom.menced. 



It will be observed that there were every 

 year three fields in with wheat, one with 

 rye, one with corn, two with clover, and one 

 fallow. The produce had one season reach- 

 ed as high as 1,400 bushels of wheat, 600 

 bushels of corn, and 300 bushels of rye. 



It is only of late years that science has 

 discovered and applied the animal and vege- 

 table refuse of the manufactories of Phila- 

 delphia to the use of the farmer. A com- 

 mencement has been fairly made ; and the 

 glue boilers, skin dressers, colour manu- 

 facturers, wool combers, and sugar refiners, 

 now contribute to the fertility of the soil, 

 what but recently was a public nuisance. 

 Poudrette, guano, and "bonedust, are also 

 considerably used. All these manures I 

 have seen applied with manifest, but various 

 advantage. My own experience has been 

 in favour of a compost of marsh mud, plas- 

 ter, lime, and stable manure. 



Bonedust has not on our heavy, rich soils, 

 produced anything like the eflects described 

 in England ; and the consequence is, that 

 bone gatherers are constantly travelling far 

 mto the interior, collecting bones, which 

 are ground in Philadelphia and shipped to 

 Liverpool. From this we may infer that 

 the field of Waterloo is exhausted. 



He who uses or consumes upon his own 

 land the straw or hay of his fields, selling 

 only a portion of his grain, his flit cattle, 

 and butter, may keep his land in an improv- 

 ing condition ; and aided by lime and plas- 

 ter, need look no further for manures. The 

 process of returning to the soil the culm or 

 straw it has produced, is recuperative and 

 reproductive, and is a wise provision of na- 

 ture to save land from a tendency to steril- 

 ity. Whoever sells hay or straw, should 

 replace every ton sold, with an equal weight 



