1836.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



63 



and unles:s exposed to a winter's frost before turned 

 in, would remain in lumps for years. JNly present 

 practice is to put it on the yountr clover in the lull, 

 and suffer it to remain in Email heaps until the 

 spring foilowini''. 



My system of manuring too, both in its pre- 

 paration anil application li^r the last 6 years, 

 has been materially chans'^d. Several experi- 

 ments were instituted with the view of ascertaui- 

 in<r the comparative merits of ploughing in ma- 

 nul-c vviih the crops oi" corn and wheat, and leav- 

 insj it scattered on the surface of the latter. 

 Acres manured in these modes, have been staked 

 ofF, and the produce designed to be measured; but 

 owing to causes above hinted at, the results prove 

 nothing with precision, and only leave upon my 

 mind an impression in fi^vor of surface manuring. 

 On what even is the most unfavorable soil, it in- 

 sures a crop of clover, whilst on young clover it 

 doubles its value, and in no mode adds so much to 

 the improvement of a light soil. The manure 

 made in rnv stables and fin'myards, is, during the 

 fa'l, and winter, and spring, carried out upon 

 whichever crop happens to be most convenient, 

 whilst that which has been spread upon the clover 

 receives a dressing of marl. Owing to a press of 

 other work, the marl which was carried out upon 

 about 30 acres of clover last fall, with the excep- 

 tion of a small quantity scattered upon a portion of 

 the mannred land, remains in piles, and the clover 

 upon that portion is distinguishable from where I 

 now write, at the distance of half a mile. 



Instead of wasting my manure as I did for ma- 

 ny years, and indeed until lately upon poor and 

 sandy land, I never apply it now to any, which, 

 withits aid, will not produce clover, unless, indeed, 

 it happens to be convenient to marl, or a great 

 '' eye-sore." My crops of hay, which have been 

 abundant, have, of course, added considerably 

 both to the quantity and quality of my manure, 

 which chiefly applied as a light top-dressing in the 

 above-mentioned modes, has annually sufficed lor 

 about 30 acres, for the last five or six years, and 

 has extended the clover to a correspondmg degree, 

 and I amencourged to hope that a few years more 

 will afford a complete vesture to all my fields, with 

 the exception of a few intractable spots. I regard 

 my marl, poor as it is, as the chief hand-maiden 

 of my improvements, and as the guardian of my 

 manure, with which it shall ever go hand in 

 hand. 



Before I quit the subject, I would strongly re- 

 commend, on the score of economy, in all cases 

 where the superincumbent earth is not too deep, 

 the denudation of a sufficient area to admit of the 

 use of the plough, and scoop, which implement, 

 worked by two good mules, will, from a deplhoflO 

 leet, and at an antrle of even 45°, extract from a 

 pit a mass incredible to one who has not tried it. 

 The inconvenience resulting from an accumulation 

 of water is thereby avoided, the marl is dryer and 

 lighter, the carts are more expeditiously loaded, 

 and the ascent from the pit being avoided, can 

 carry much more. 



I think it is about eight years since the termina- 

 tion of the comparativ'e experiment of the svs- 

 tems of three and four shifts, the different results 

 of which I have stated, so far as product enaVjled me 

 to judge, as stationary or null; and 1 have stated, 

 in a loose way, I believe all, or nearly so, the ele- 



ments which have entered into any subsequent 

 improvement, to ascertain which, we will now 

 lake the crops as a common measure for the 

 two periods. Previously to the above-mentioned 

 period, the crop of corn, as nearly as I jcan 

 now ascertain, averaged between 800 and 900 

 barrels; the wheat crop, I am sure, I do not under- 

 rate, at 1000 to 1200 bushels. The rate of pro- 

 gression I cannot ascertain, but the crops of the 

 two last years have been 1200 andpl400 barrels. 

 The wheat crop has hardly increased in an equal 

 ratio, and is too uncertain with us to form any basis 

 lor calculation. This, compared with what others 

 have done upon a mure propitious soil, would seem 

 to be a meagre result, from the prosecution, for 

 twenty years, of what are considered improving 

 systems; for I am inclined to fear that in the ap- 

 parent reference of the whole result to the latter 

 period, I have given it credit for some accumu- 

 lated butdormant capacity created, though scarcely 

 exhibited during the former. The truth is, that 

 any improvement of soils, light and poor, in its 

 first stages, must, without extraordinary means, be 

 imperceptibly and discouragingly slow; nor does 

 discouragement give place to hope, until having 

 crept to the first stage, with an agreeable surprise, 

 we find ourselves prepared to advance almost per 

 salius. It is indeed the " first step which costs." 

 Poverty must be drugged until she gets upon her 

 legs, after which the vis medicatrix naiurcB will 

 carry her onward to fertility. 



I have thus, Mr. Editor, though not briefly, I 

 fear obscurely, proposed to the members of our 

 communion, my humble experience, though with- 

 out presuming thereupon to ask the honor of bap- 

 tism. Jndeed, I have no higher aspiration than to 

 be able at someday, worthily to share it with them, 

 when, with a pride not less than that which elated 

 a brother painter, when, on beholding the Trans- 

 figuration of Raphael, he exclaimed, •' I too am a 

 painter." I might with truth say, " I too am a 

 flirmer." In the meantime, you will excuse me 

 for borrowing from an old favorite, the paragon 

 of his species, " who, true to all beside, to it alone 

 was false," his name. 



OI^D TYRO. 



P. S. In looking over the foregoing hasty sketch, 

 I discovered that, in the enumeration of elements 

 of improvement, I have pretermitted the regular 

 use of clover and plaster, the most important of 

 all, and no less so, ((or to its use, I chiefly ascribe 

 my late success,) the use of the harrow, after 

 sowing — a process a little startling in appearance, 

 but beneficial even to the wheat, and vital to the 

 clover, especially in sandy land, which cracks lit- 

 tle with fi-ost. After sowing a light field, in Fe- 

 bruary, 1833, a hot spell of weather prevented the 

 use of the harrow, until the clover had sprouted, 

 all cf which was killed by a spell of severe 

 weather. Finding, on examination, a considera- 

 ble portion of seed still lying unsprouted on the 

 surface, the use of the harrow gave me a very 

 tolerable stand. I have tried it in the fall; the first 

 lime, though much killed out by the unusual seve- 

 rity of the winter, yet 1 think the increased vigor 

 of what remained, made amends for what waslost. 

 Some which ^vas sown the middle of last August on 

 a hill-side, with a southern exposure, on rye, look 

 decidedly better than any which I have ever had 

 at this season. 



