572 



F A PwM E II S ' REGISTER. 



[No. 9 



indeed of England. On fertile soils, where cnttle ! 

 are roared as well as liuiened for beef, I believe 

 they are pretty generally preferred ; but the very 

 ex<ens;ive rich pastures that are devoted to the fat- 

 lening of cattle only, are niO?t commonly stocked 

 by smaller and cheaper breeds- drawn from Scot- 

 land, Vv^ales, and those districts in England, where 

 the pastures being thinner, are beiter adapted to 

 breedinir, than faiteniiig. 



The Durham short-horns crow to a large size 

 in a short tinic^ latien kindly, and yield more milk 

 than niost other breeds, though it is admitted to he 

 rather thin iti (juality; but the small proportion of 

 bone to flesh, an advantage with the butcher, ren- 

 ders them too heavy and inactive for the j^oke. I 

 have heard it asserted that they thrive on our 

 pastures, but think this jiiust be a mistake.- Like 

 other animals, they must require Ibod in propor- 

 tion to their bulk, and a large short-horned ox or 

 eow, toilinii: through a hot da}^, over a wide extent 

 of thin pasture groumls, for a scanty sl;; plj- of in'- 

 diflerent grass, x^'ould sadly disappoint any san- 

 guine expectations Ironi them. To [)asturc them 

 on the single crop of clover admitted into our 

 seourtjing rotation of grain crops in rapid succes- 

 sion, would be contrary to one of our canons of 

 agrictjliure, and I believe, you and j'our correspon- 

 dents will generally agree, would within a short 

 period, reduce a soil not highly fertile to a caput 

 morluum. 



Experience and observation have long since 

 shown, that the native breed of cattle in every 

 country, are accommodated in size, to the climate 

 and supply of food. Those of our lower country, 

 though verj^ small, are often remari<ably well 

 formed ; and by careful selection, and a better sup- 

 ply of food, in winter as Avell as summer, we might 

 in time obtain a native breed, little, if at all infe- 

 rior for our purposes, to any we could get from Eu- 

 rope. You will not understand me as objecting 

 wholly to this favorite English race. In various 

 parts of the United States there are rich pastures 

 to which they may be very well suited, and even 

 among us, a slight infusion of blood from cattle 

 so handsomely formed, might add something to the 

 beauty of our stock, and at all events, lead us into 

 the habit of bestowing on them, and by decrees 

 on our native breed, more care and attention than 

 unfortunately it receives fi-om us at present. 



Permit me to add a "few more last loords,'''' on 

 the question, "good for what?"' as applicable to a 

 very important object of our husbandry. The 

 four-shift rotation, of two crops of wheat, a crop 

 of corn, and one of clover, in four years, has not 

 only been recommended by the example of some 

 of our most successful cultivators of rich soils, 

 but is proposed as a model for general imitation. 

 With good cultivation, and good manatjt^ment of 

 manures, &c. it may succeed on such lands — 

 but if applied throufjh the whole, or even the 

 greater part of our wheat lands of a medium 

 quality, both the crops and soil would be in a 

 rapid course of decline. Indeed, I am by no 

 naeans sure that this process is not going on at 

 this time, on a very lartje proportion of our wheat 

 soils. That this errain is L'enerally put in, harvest- 

 ed, and prr-pnrod fir market, better ihati formerly, 

 I have no doubl, and I third? it equally clear, that 

 plaster and clover with proper manatrement, tend 

 ranch to the improvement of soil ; but I cannot 

 conceive the possibility of keeping up by this 



means the fertility of land, not of the first quality, 

 from which three exhausting crops of grain are 

 taken in a (bur-years' rotation. These crops would 

 reduce the soil faster than the clover and plastt r 

 could restore it, and it could on'y be kept in heart 

 by good supplies of- manure, which the land itself 

 cou'd not furnish. This system then, can only suc- 

 ceed in a ffcneral way, by setting apart a portion 

 of the land !br pasturage, and keeping as good a 

 stock of catde. as can well he maintained throrgh 

 the winter, and thus providing a good supply of 

 manure. If marl or, lime is within reacii, the 

 task is much easier : less animal manure will be 

 necessary, though I have no idea that it could be 

 wholly dispensed with, and a larger proportion of 

 the. land may be kept under the plough. My ob- 

 jection is not to the fbr,r-shifi course in itself", but 

 to the attempt, vain and visionary as it seems to 

 me, to carry it on successfully, without plentiful 

 sup.plies of manure. These can only be obtained 

 by good stocks of cattle; and agreeinir v.'ith the 

 advocates of the system, that the arable lands 

 should be subjected as little as possible to the tootli 

 and the hooij the necessity for separate pasture 

 lands seems unquestionable. I do not enter into 

 the question, whether the four-shift system, with 

 these limitations, be preferable to any other: very 

 probably it may, on huids of a good quality. On 

 middling or inferiorsoils, it might answer by throw- 

 in<r out for pasture a part of the arable lands, and 

 taking pasture arrounds into the rotation finm time 

 to time ; or if the pasture lands are not suited to 

 the place, it niiuht be best to keep the same lands 

 always in rotation of arable crops, or in pasture. 

 Neither the four-shift system nor any other plan 

 of husbandry is good in the abstract. The ques- 

 tion always recurs — '■'■good for ivhaiV 



These leiTiiirks are freely sidmiitied to your con- 

 sideration and censure, and those of your readers. 

 They are iiastily made, though I have reflected 

 maturely on the subjects to which they relate. If 

 they draw no attention, 1 am content: and if they 

 are thought worthy of any notice, I trust, that 

 though they may not themselves convey any use- 

 ful information, they may lead to it. 



With my best wishes for continued success in 

 your usefial labors, 



I am, respectfully, yours, 



BENGAL INDIGO. REMARKS OK CALCAREOUS 

 MANURES. 



To the Editor of the Farmeis' Register. 



Burlington County, N. J., Dec. 15, 1836. 



A friend of mine, who returned last year from 

 India, where he has been engaged lor a nimiberof 

 vears in the cultivation of the indigo plant, and in its 

 manufiicturr, has brought with him a large quan- 

 tity ot the seed of that valuable plant of the true 

 Bensral species, and he desires me to say to jou, 

 that if any of vour correspondents would take the 

 trouble, the Inliowinir season, to test the pnictica- 

 hilitvof i's culture in your climate, he will fiiruard 

 to _v"ou lor distrihutiiin, to any port you will name, 

 to "which vessels sail from Pliiladelj hia, a box of 

 the seed cuntainincp about five bushels. He has 

 several other boxes of similar contents, which he 



