AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER. 



PUBLISHED BY JOSEPH BRECK & CO., NO. 52 NOllTH MARKET STREET, (Agricultural WAaEHOcaE.)-ALLEN PUTNAM, EDITOR. 



OI..XM.1 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 2^842. 



N. E. FARMER, 



SUCCESSFUL FARMING. 



A correspondent of tlie Farmers' Register, gfives 



e following account of the faniiinn; of Air William 



'^eaver, of Rockbridge Co., Virginia : 



"About ten or twelve years ago, Mr Weaver 



ircliased this farm, (now embracing upwards of 



10 acres.) in several distinct tracts, at an average 



ice of $2 an acre, principally for the purpose of 



ocuring the wood (with which it was then cover- 



1, with the e.\ception of about ]00 acres of cleared 



id e.shaus'.cd land,) to supply liis iron establisli- 



snt witli coal. The native growth consisted of 



k, hickory and dogwood, willi large pines inter- 



ersed. Tlie soil is a red gravel, strongly dashed 



th shite, reposing on a limestone foundation. So 



promising an appearance did this land present 



• agricultural purposes, that when Mr Weaver 



d his neighbors he intended to make a corn farm 



these poor and steep hills, a laugh of derision 



s the only encouragement he received. 



" As tlie clearing progressed, Mr Weaver divid- 



the cleared land into four field;:, one of ]00 acres 



standing pasture, and three of about V20 acres 



;h for cultivation. The first field of new ground 



s broken up early in the spring, and cultivated 



:;orn. The crop did not exceed an average of 



"nty bushels to the acre. In the fall the field 



3 seeded in wheat, upon which, late in the win- 



the usual quantity of clover seed, and half a 



hel of plaster were sown to the acre. After 



wheat was removed at harvest, the stubble was 



aned by tiie stock of hogs. Very early ne.xt 



ng, an additional half bushel of plaster was 



n to the acre over the whole field. During the 



ng. summer and fall, not a single animal of any 



1 whatever was permitted to invade the clover 



i, nor was any clover cut, except a very small 



ntity on the most luxuriant spots, for the use of 



mules while at work on the farm. The next 



ter, however, the stock of hogs was kept in the 



,, which was plowed up early in the spring, and 



n planted in corn. In the fall it was seeded 



1 wheat, and in the winter sown with clover and 



ter. The other fields as they came successive- 



1 cultivation, were treated precisely in the same 



ner, with the exqeption of the standing pasture, 



;h has never been plowed up since the first 



'se of crops, and of the hundred acres of e.x- 



;ted land above spoken of, which, being too 



to produce corn, was sown first with oats, and 



with rye, clover and plaster, when it took its 



'se in the regular rotation. 



Now mark the result of this system of cultiva- 



Tlie crops of corn on these poor hills, have 



everal years past, averaged about 40 bushels 



le acre, while this year's crop, on a field of 



acres, is pronounced by competent judges to 



le best in the county, on either bottom or up- 



. The ei.tire held, it is supposed, will average 



ird of JO bushels to the acre, while many con- 



Dus acres can be found which will yield at least 



fliusheis. I have heard some of the most intel- 



ligent neighbors express the opinion, that it was 

 tire best field of corn they ever saw. The crops of 

 wheat succeeding corn, though improving every 

 year with the progressive improvement of the land, 

 have never been heavy. The average may be set 

 down at from 8 to 15 bushels, the crops having 

 been of late years very materially injured by rust. 

 Mr Weaver's object is corn, of which immense 

 quantities are consumed by his iron establishment. 

 Were wheat his staple crop, he would sow it upon 

 a clover ley. 



".Mr Weaver informs me that clover did not suc- 

 ceed well on his new ground until it had been 

 well cleansed by his second course of crops. It is 

 now generally very heavy, llis fields were at first 

 much infested with sorrel, which has at length been 

 almost entirely extirpated. Mr Weaver regards it 

 as all-important to the success of his clover, that it 

 should be plastered at the rate of half a bushel to 

 the acre, about the time of sowing the seed. Ho 

 attributes the rapid improvement of his soil to the 

 shelter afforded to his land by the thick growth of 

 standing clover, as well as to the heavy coat of 

 vegetable matter which it enables him to plow un- 

 der. 



" No lime has ever been applied to this land, nor 

 any manure, except a few loads annually from the 

 mule stable to the poorest spots. The improve- 

 ment 'has been effected exclusively by the use of 

 clover and plaster. The land, as steep as it is, 

 does not wash— a result which Mr Weaver attri- 

 butes to his deep plowing, and to the large quantity 

 of long vegetable matter the soil contains, which 

 binds It together, and at the same time keeps it 

 loose and porous, enabling it to absorb and retain 

 a large quantity of water. 



"Mr Weaver lays great stress on applying plas- 

 ter to his clover fields, either in the winter or very 

 early in the spring, that it may be thoroughly dis- 

 solved by the early rains. He attributes much of 

 the benefit he has derived from the use of plaster to 

 his practice in this respect, in which he says he is 

 sustained by Prof. Liebig. Plaster, it is well 

 known, absorbs a large quantity of water, and does 

 not operate on growing plants until it is dissolved. 



" Mr Weaver's mode of cultivating corn is as 

 follows : In the montli of December he sows one 

 bushel of plaster per acre upon his clover field de- 

 signed the next year for corn. He prefers this 

 mode to plastering his corn in the hill, as more be- 

 neficial to the corn and to the land. About the 

 1st of March, and not earlier, (for Mr Weaver pre- 

 fers spring to winter plowing; being more recent, 

 it leaves his land looser and in belter order for a 

 crop,) he commences breaking up his corn ground 

 as deeply as possible. About the 1st of April, he 

 lays off his ground in rows, 4 1-2 feet apart, and 

 drills his corn very thick, as he never replants. His 

 usual allowance is a bushel of seed to five acres. 

 With this quantity of seed he has never failed, not- 

 withstanding the depredations of the grub worm, 

 &c., in obtaining an abundant stand of plants. He 

 plows and hoes twice, thinning at the first hoeing 

 to the distance of about 2 1-2 feet in the row. This 

 is all the work his corn ever gets. He endeavors 



to finish working his corn as early as practicable, 

 in order to injure the roots as little as possible. 

 With this cultivation, his corn field, under his sys- 

 tem of improvement, is kept throughout the season 

 both clean and loose — the great points in the man- 

 agement of the corn crop. 



"This year Mr Weaver has 20O acres in corn. 

 Mr Weaver confidently estimates his entire crop 

 of corn this year at not less than eight llimisand 

 bushels. His 90 acres of oats were supposed to 

 average between 40 and .'lO bushels to the acre — 

 making, with his corn, an aggregate crop of twelve 

 thousand bushels of grain, as the product of the la- 

 bor of 12 hands, exclusive of tlie teams. Hi'* is 

 what I would call very energetic and successful 

 farming. Is it excelled, or even equalled, by any 

 other farmer in the United States, under any thing 

 like similar circkimstances ? 



" Mr Weaver has a field of 40 acres on his home 

 farm, which he cultivates for two successive years 

 in wheat, and two in clover for hay and seed. His 

 first wheat crop on the clover ley, has averaged, by 

 actual measurement, thirtysix bushels to the acre, 

 weighing GO lbs. to the bushel. The second crop 

 is never as heavy as the first. He has Irtqucntly 

 made two hundred barrels of flour from his wheat 

 crop on these forty acres — being an average of 25 

 bushels of wheat to the acre. Mr Weaver does 

 not object to taking several successive crops of 

 corn or wheat from the same land, provided it is 

 rich. He contends that it is necessary to take two 

 successive crops of wheat from his clover field, in 

 order to cleanse and pulverize it sufficiently to se- 

 cure a good stand of clover. It should be stated 

 that considerable quantities of manure from Mr 

 Weaver's barn and stables are applied to this field, 

 on the young clover. Mr Weaver uses all his ma- 

 nure as a top-dressing to his grasslands and clover 

 lots. He disapproves the practice of plowing under 

 manure. 



" Mr Weaver's stock of every kind, are of a very 

 fine quality, and are all kept constantly fat — the 

 most economical and profitable mode, as Mr Wea- 

 ver contends, of keeping stock. He crushes all 

 his corn for stock-teeding in the ear, and he con- 

 siders his crushing machine as the most profitable 

 upon his estate. Plowbov. 



Rockbridge, Co., Aug. 29, 1842." 



Bones. — It is said that in 1839, there were up- 

 wards of 30,000 tons of bones imported from for- 

 eign countries into Hull,(Eng.,) and that in 1837, 

 the value of this article imported into England, 

 was nearly a million and a quarter of dollars. We 

 remember to have seen a notice some months ago, 

 of an exportation of bones from our own port, to 

 Liverpool. Now is it possible that the enterprise 

 and good judgment of our farmers will allow John 

 Bull to carry our bones 3000 miles to spread upon 

 his lands, and they themselves stand by, as if they 

 thought them hardly worth the grinding ! We are 

 apprehensive that bone dust is not sufficiently ap- 

 preciated in this vicinity, or the material would not 

 be sent from our very elbows to enrich the broad 

 pastures of England. — PItiladel. Far. Cabinet. 



