1836.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



497 



the soil the specific food of that kind which it is [ beyond this goes la increase growih, or is convert- 

 capable of growing. Cultiv^ated crops are some- ed into meat, or mili<, or wool ; and if a little ex- 



times grouped, in alternate husbandry, in three 

 classes, viz. dry crops, embracing all the small 

 grains, and which are most exhausting; 21, grass 

 crops, embracing timothy, orchard grass and other 

 perennial varieties, which exhaust less, but which 

 run out, or sensibly diminish in product, in a few 

 years; and 3d, green crops, comprising clover, 

 turnips, &c., which pulverize and ameliorate the 

 soil, and exhaust least of all. Where convenient, 

 a crop of one of each of these classes should follow 

 in succession, the grass continuing to occupy the 

 ground while it continues to yield a good crop of 

 hay. If retained too long in grass, the soil be- 

 comes too compact, and impervious to the genial 

 influences of heat and air. It is particularly re- 

 commended, that two dry crops should not succeed 

 each other, except wheat or rye may follow oats, 

 when the latter is made a failovv crop upon an old 

 grass ley. Although the deterioration nniler a 

 bad system of crop;)ing may be slow, and almost 

 imperceptible, yet both science and experience 

 teach us that it is inevitable, and (ktid to the ulti- 

 mate hopes ot' the husbandman. Many of the 

 old states atford lamentable eviiience of this truth. 



4. Root Citltu.re is one of the best o'if s which 

 modern iruprovement has bestowed upon husban- 

 dry. It gives the most animal food with the least 

 labor; it is, under good manageinent, the most 

 certain in its returns; it gives the most manure; 

 it best ameliorates the sod, and fits it for dry crops; 

 and it alfords an important link in The chain of al- 

 ternation. It is considered the basis of good hus- 

 bandry in Great Britain, Flanders, Germany and 

 France, and has transformed the comity of Nor- 

 f()llc I'rom a waste to the most profiiable district in 

 England. Highly as (he beet culture is prized in 

 France, as atibrding a material lor the profitable 

 fabrication of sugar, it is no less valued as an al- 

 ternatin;! root crop, and as aflording a materia! for 

 making good beef and good mution. ' The roots 

 that may enter extensively into our husb;indry, 

 are the potatoe,(and the varieties of these that are 

 best for table, afford the most nutriment to cattle) 

 rata baga, mangold wurtzel, carrot, parsnip and 

 sugar beet. 



As subsidiary to the preceding cardinal points 

 in good farming, we give the Ibllovving, which, al- 

 though they may appear to many to be hacknej'- 

 ed truisms, are nevertheless so important as to be 

 worth often repeating. 



5. Keep none but good fiirm stock, whether as 

 regards breeds or individuals. Sell the worst of 

 your flocks. Like produces like ; and the gain in 

 breeding from the best you have, greatly counter- 

 balances the extra pricre that the prime'individual 

 will bring in the market. A cow that gives eigh-, 

 teen quarts of milk per day in June, costs no more 

 in her keep, than one that gives but six quarts ; 

 yet the product of the first is three-fold, and the 

 profits four-lbid, those of the latter. The fleece of, 

 the Saxon or JMerino sheep is twice as valuable as j 

 that of the common one, tiiough the cost of keep- 

 ing them is equal. And the same corn that will 

 make 100 lbs. of pork upon a ionir-legged, lons:- 

 snouted, razor-backed hog, will put 150 or 200 

 lbs. upon the frame of a Berkshire or other iin- 



. proved breed. 



6. Keep your farm stock wefl 



tra fi)od is in this way profitable, much must be 

 proporlionably more so, for the more Ibod you thus 

 convert, the greater your return in labor, flesh and 

 milk. 



T. Cultivate no more land than you can im- 

 prove, with a reasonable certainty of handsome 

 net profit, embracing in the items of expenditure 

 the interests on its value, fences, taxes, manure 

 and labor. The good farmer, who raises 80 bush- 

 els of corn on one acre of land, clears tb.e price of 

 50 bushels, which at 50 cents the bushel, is @25. 

 The poor farmer, who cultivates fovr acres of 

 corn, and gets 30 bushels on an acre, barely gets 

 compensated for his labor and expense. We esti- 

 mate the expense of raising and harvesting an 

 acre of corn at Sj^lS, or the price of 30 bushels of 

 the grain. 



8. Buy good implements and tools, though they 

 cost more than poor ones, and always keep them 

 in repair for use. A good plough is drawn with 

 half the team that a ba^ one is, and does the 

 v.'ork twice as well, provided the ploughman 

 knows how to use it. One good ploughing is bet- 

 ter than two bad ones. Hence the farmer is soon 

 compensated for the addhional cost of the good 

 article. The same remark holds good in regard 

 to other implements and tools of the farm. In 

 row culture, the cultivator will pay for itself in a 

 season, in the economy of labor ; the straw cutter 

 will do the like in economizing fodder, and the 

 drill barrow is a subject of equal economy in root 

 culture. 



9. We hardly need admonish the reader to use 

 none but clean good seed ; for every man knows 

 that he will reap only what he sows — the cheat 

 controversy to the contrary notwithstanding. 



10. And lastly, we should disregard our duty, 

 did we not press upon the consid.'ration of every 

 firmer the importance of aqricullural publications, 

 as the cheapest and most certain means of im- 

 proving in the practice and profits of his business. 

 These brino; to his notice constantly the improve- 

 ments and discoveries that are going on in the bu- 

 siness of agriculture, and they detail the practice 

 of the best farmers of our country. He that does 

 not keep pace vviih the improveraeitts of the day, 

 in husbandry, as in oilier arts, cannot long find 

 pleasure or profit in his emplojnient. Those who 

 stand still and content themselves with the prac- 

 tice of their fathers, vviU soon find tiiat the busi- 

 ness, active world, have all eone ahead of them. 

 But, we urge this matter particularly as an efficient 

 means of instructing and qualifying the younff for 

 tile duties of mature years-7-of" stimulating ihsni 

 to acquire useful knowledge, and that confidence 

 and self respect which should ever characterize 

 the yeomanry of a free country. The seed must 

 be sown, and the mind be nurtured in the youth, if 

 we would expect a harvest of respectability and 

 usefulness in the man. 



From tlie Cultivator, 



PEXNSYLVAXIA HUSBANDRY. 



Earthing Potatoes. — A very intelligent farmer 

 from the valley of the Susquehannah, Union co., 

 - -_-. A certain quan- 1 Pa. has stated to us verbally, some of the agricul- 

 tity of food must be given to keep them alive, all i tural practices which prevail in his neighborhood, 

 Vol. IV— 63 & ^ ' i i 



