NEW ENGl.AND FARMER, 



March 30, 1831. 



ii (a- ii a ^ 'Sir ;x. a w ii 13 » 



REP ORT S 



MASS. AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY IN 1830. 



In the niiilJIe of May, 1S2S, I ploughed up ! ncanr liome. They do not seem to coni-cive ii 

 three and a half acres of pasture that had, for possible to enricli them otherwise than with 3tabl« 

 many years, been tilled by the former owner until ' manure. If tliey would plough and sow properl, 



CotilinueU from page '285. 

 TURNING IN GRK.EN CROPS FOR MANURE. 



8. To Mr William 13iickminster, of F'raming- 

 hatn, Middlesex County, the committee award the 

 premium of $20 fir ins experiment ' of turning in 

 green crops as a manure.' This attempt of Mr 

 Buckminster, in the judgment of the committee 

 well deserves the attention of farmers, and particu- 

 larly of those who live too far from a city or town 

 to buy manure. The practice of enriching or 

 renovating land by ploughing in green crops, is 

 a very coinmon one in Europe, though hardly 

 known here. But would it not be well to try it." 

 Our farmers in general have more land than they 

 can till, owing to their not having manure enough, 

 or because it is too far from their barn yards ; and 

 hence it is that some large farms, and naturally of 

 good soil, actually produce less, but with infinite- 

 ly more labor, than much smaller ones that are 

 well cultivated. Indeed the desire of having large 

 farms, without giving to them the necessary outlay 

 is the common error of our country. The inevita- 

 ble result is scanty crops anil more labor. An acre 

 is mown, often, fur a ton of hay or less, where 

 with decent care two tons might be had. A pas- 

 ture often of a dozen acres, which might be easily 

 ploughed, does not afford food enough for one 

 cow ; whereas at small expense, it might be made 

 to su|)port four or five. Now, in a country like ours 

 where produce is so cheap and labor so dear, this 

 is unquestionably a wrong, not to say a ruinous 

 mode of management, — a mode whicli drives our 

 children to the Western or Eastern country for 

 want of land, who might have enough here if right- 

 ly used. But if farmers ivitl have more land tlian 

 they can till in the ordinary way, for want of ma- 

 nure, what better plan can be devised than that of 

 ploughing, and sowing, and turning in the green 

 crops, with the sole view of fertilizing their lands? 

 Whether it be afterwards used for mowing, <m' 

 tillage or grazing, still it must be good husbandry, 

 if we can rely on the testimony of Mr Buckmin- 

 ster, and on the experience of farmers in England. 

 The remarks of Mr Buckminster on bog or mea- 

 dow mud, are worthy of notice. It is quite cer- 

 tain, as he says, that used in its crude state, as dug 

 from the meadow, it is inert and seemingly useless : 

 but when put in the barn yard and hogpen, and 

 trampled upon and mixed with manure, it becomes 

 an excellent compost. As almost every farm hns 

 bog meadow, it must he well known, that after 

 being several months in the barnyard or pigsty, 

 it makes an excellent manure for corn in the pro- 

 portion of about two thirds imnl and one third 

 dung. WlietherMr Buckminster's notion of cart- 

 ing it at once to the giound wliere wanted to save 

 labor, and there mixing it with manure, is a cor- 

 rect one, every man will judge for himself The 

 common idea has been, that to take it to iho barn- 

 yard /r«< is better. But all must agree that it may 

 be very profitably used as food for plants, and 

 therefore ought not to be overlooked in the man- 

 agement of the farm. 

 To the Trustees of the Massachusetts Agricultural Society. 

 I have been induced, partly by the premium you 

 offer anil i)aitly for my own satisfaction, to make 

 some experiments as to the value of green crops 

 ploughed in for manure, and I send you the result. 



the crops would not repay the labor. It was a 

 light loam, hut not sandy. It had been so reduced, 

 that 10 acres did not atiord siilficient pasturage 

 for one cow through the season. We sowed im- 

 mediately after thus plowing, a bushel of buck- 

 wheat to the acre, and in six weeks rolled 

 down the buckwheat in the direction we in- 

 tended to plough, and then ploughed and sowed 

 as before. In the latter part of August we turn- 

 ed in a second crop of buckwheat — having rolled 

 it ilown flat as at fiist, and then seeded it down 

 witii clover, herds grass and red-to|), one peck and 

 a half to the acre. Most of the clover was winter 

 killed, and a great jiart of the herds grass and 

 red-top. Early in the spring of 1S29, we sowed 

 10 lbs. of clover seed to the acre; and with a 

 light harrow, went slowly over the whole. The 

 seed took well, but the clover was not high enough 

 for the scythe, when the other grass was fit to 

 cut. We mowed what had not been winter kill- 

 ed ; and where it yielded best, we obtained one 

 ton of herds grass to the acre. Immediately after 

 mowing, we turned in our cattle, atid fed the grass 

 close. Last spring, (1830) the grass was so for- 

 ward we turned in our cattle on the 19th of April. 

 There were 8 acres in the whole field, but there 

 were only five acres that bore any grass worth 50 

 cents. These five acres were the three and a half 

 managed as I have slated above, and one and a 

 half on which grass seed was sown in April, 

 1830 ; and fifty bushels of leached ashes mixed 

 with loam, spread on the surface. On these five 

 acres, (and the 3 which bore nothing,) I pastured 

 4 cows constantly for 4 months, wanting two days, 

 and they had an abtmdance of feed. I never bad 

 any pasture ground yield so well before. I thiidc 

 these green crops improved the land as much as 

 a good dressing of manure, and the comparative 

 exijense I estimate as follows on one acre, viz. 



WITH MANURE. 



20 ox cart loads of mantire 

 Hauling!^ tnile and spreading 

 Ploughing once, green sward 

 Harrowing and sowing' 



WITH GREEN CROPS. 



First ploughing, green sward 



2d ploughing, and rolling v/ith man and horse 1 00 



$24 00 

 5 00 

 2 00 

 1 00 



$32 00 



,?2 00 



$6 SO 

 Thus you will see, that it has cost me less than 

 one fourth as much to enrich my land with green 

 crops, as it would with manure. If my grass liad 

 not been winter killed the first year, I intended to 

 have shown you the ' jirecise weight of hay cut 

 on an acre. The above estimate of the cost of 



they could make the whole rich. 



They further object to growing crops to h 

 ploughed in ; for, say they, ' The growing cro| 

 will e.xhausl the land as much as it will enrich th»,. 

 same when ploughed in, so that we end where vnti 

 began.' This would be correct reasoning, undoubtll 

 ediy, if the growing crop obtained its whole sus-i 

 teiiance from the ground. It probably does nois 

 one sixth part. It was the knowledge of this 

 principle that gave me confidence of sncccs 

 in the experiment. The advantages of greei 

 crops for manure are greater where the lands an 

 distant from the barn, than in other cases. 



BOG MUD AS MANURE. 



I have made another experiment on compos' 

 manure. In April, 1828, 1 carted 30 loads of miii 

 or muck l"iom a jiondhole, which had a black soil ' 

 feet deep. I thought it must be valuable inanurf 

 though nothing but rushes and skunk cabbage, haiij. 

 grown on it for 20 years, owing to its sunken post 

 tion. The 30 loads were immediately spread onjiii 

 an acre of worn-out land, and ploughed in. Wliite 

 Beans were planted on a jiart, buckwheat on a 

 part, and barley on another jiart. No crop worth 

 cutting was ])rodticeii. The muck did no service, 

 either last year or the year before. Last autumn 

 1 tried it again ; carted out 15 loads on to the high 

 land aforesaid, and mixed with those fifteen, twi 

 loads of stable manure ; the whole was mixed to- 

 gether, and suffei'ed to lie in a lieaj) till the 10th i 

 of last May. It was then carted on to the same ! 

 land as the other, and the vvliole heap produced all !i 

 the good effects of clear stable manure. 1 raised 

 a good crop of Indian corn from it, without put- 

 ting on over 20 loads of the compost to the acit. 

 Such was the difference between applying thu , 

 muck raw or green, and ajiplying it after it had 

 been six months fermenting in a mass, thawing, 

 freezing, &c, to become pulverized 



All our farmers in this quarter, in making com. 

 post manures, carry the most bulky, heavy ingre-i 

 dients many rods — some half a mile to their cu^ 

 yards and hogpens — and when these matei 

 have rested there long enough, they are then ci 

 ried back again to the fields. I v/ould save them 

 most of this labor. Let them make their compost 

 heaps on, or near the soil where it is to Se 

 applied, and as near as possible to where the chief 

 ingredient lies. This will save a double caitil^ 

 of half or tliree quarters of a mile. They will 

 have to carry nothing hut a little stable manure to 

 that distance in most cases, instead of cartiDg 

 back and forwards the whole mass. 

 Res|)ertfully yours, 



William BuckminstehkJ^ 



FraminghanijJVov. 10, 1830. .* 



YELLOW LOCUST. 



9. The Committee are glad to be able to bring 

 before the public anojher experiinent of Mr Buck- 

 minster's for which he or Mr Clark, of Northamp- 



manure is less by 12 cents per load than it can be ton, may become entitled to a premium of $60 



pmchased for in this place. . I have given more 

 within 2 years. 



Farmers ought, in duty, to make the trial for 

 themselves. They generally have much land, 

 (miscalled under im|irovemcnt) 10 acres of which 

 will not pasture a cow. Such land usually lies dis- 

 tant from the hou.se. They say they cannot make 

 manure enough for the whole farm, and they find 



the next year ; — it is for an aci-e of the yellow lo- 

 cust, having not less than 1000 trees. The yellow 

 locust, (Rohinia pseudo acacia,) is the common 

 locust of our country, and well known to eveij- 

 body. It has much to recommend it. The I»- f 

 vagesof the locust borer have, for forty years, per- 

 haps, discouraged its cultivation in this countrt. 

 Before that period it was thought by discerning men 



it more profitable to lay their manure on lands a most valuable tree, and is still thought bo in s 



