112 



MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



Sandy Spring, Gth mo. 8th, 1847. 



Esteemed Friend — H. Capron: In com- 

 plying with tliy request to furnish snnip notes 

 of the method adopted to improve my farm, I 

 BhouUl WvgX. perhaps, give some general idea 

 of the kind of soil and condition when it came 

 into my possession. 



The under stratum is a stiff, tenacious clay, 

 making good "brick without straw;" and 

 the soil itself, like most of the lands in this 

 section of country, had been woni out or 

 greatly impoverished by " the old Maryland 

 plan" of raising alternate crops of corn and 

 tobacco ; and what little fertility was left in it 

 after the tobacco culture ceased, (because the 

 land was too poor to produce remunerating 

 crops any longer,) was. by a long coui'se of 

 tenantry, pretty effectually used up ; this was 

 certainly the case with my farm of little over 

 100 acres. An able-bodied man, owning the 

 land and doing all his own work, might pos- 

 sibly make a trifle over a bare support ; but 

 I had not this advantage, beuig compelled by 

 ill health to resort to the country, ;uid aban- 

 don the pursuits for which I was educated. 



I knew literally nothing about fanning, but 

 did not doubt that by plowing in green crops, 

 &c., &c., my poor old fields could soon be 

 made productive. Like many wise men, 

 however, I found this plan of " renovating 

 worn-out lands" much easier in theory than 

 practice. There were two shong objections 

 in my case to this method — a good one though 

 it is, under favorable circumstances. My land 

 was found, after repeated trials, too jjoor to 

 produce the green crops to turn in; audit 

 was also necessary, in the mean time, to grow 

 something to live on, for I had not the money 

 to spare to buy with. 



I used plaster by the ton, but widi no ap- 

 parent advantage ; nor was I much more suc- 

 cessful in adopting General Beatson's plan of 

 burning clay. 



My first and most important change for 

 tlie better was the substitution of oxen in 

 place of horses, for all fann-work — plowing 

 included. I found that two yoke of oxen 

 could be better kept, and at less than half 

 t^ie expense of one pair of horses, to say 

 nothing of the wear and tear of harness ; by 

 proper management each yoke plowed nearly 

 as much as the horses, even in hot weather ; 

 and after working 4 to 6 years, were worth 

 about first cost in beef. 



The next experiment was the application 

 of a few hundred busliels of shell-lime, haul- 

 ing the sheels twenty miles, and burning them 

 on the farm; and a\{hongh a. heavj/ business 

 witlnny slender resources, I should have per- 

 severed, but for an accidental cu'cumstance. 



About l!) years since, an individual who 

 owned a litnc-kiln in an adjoining county, of- 

 fered iiir an advance payment to furnish 200 

 bushels of stone-lime for $20 — the refuse of a 

 previous kiln, and air-.slaked. 



This 200 buslw.ls was applied to four acres 



(on one side) of the poorest field I had ; and 



■was, I believe, tlie most extended experiment 



then m;ide in the neighborhood with stono- 



(256) 



lime. Some two or three persons had oxper 

 imented on a small scale ; one of wliich only 

 had ppplied as much as a toad of lime ; and 

 ui no instance, as far I could leani, was the 

 application repeated, for none appeared satis- 

 fied with the results obtained. 



After four years very little change was per- 

 ceived in tlie vegetation — nearly all the grass 

 sown with the small grain having perished— 

 nor was it to be wondered at ; for tlie crop 

 of corn, grown at the lime of the application 

 of the lime, did not yield Jive bnsheis of mer- 

 chantable corn to the acre — most of the oats, 

 succeeding the corn, was too short to harvest. 



After seven years, this field coming again 

 in course, was planted in com — the season 

 most unpropitious ; yet without the addition 

 of a shovelfuU of any other kind of manure, 

 the yield was generally estimated at 30 to 3.> 

 bushels per acre ; on the adjoining land, not 

 limed, the product was still about four to five 

 bushels — the part adjoining, as also the four 

 acres, had 80 bushels of lime for this crop, 

 (making 130 bushels to the acre for tlie por- 

 tion previously limed,) but the application 

 was so recent that no eflect was perceived 

 in the crop, and the increased fertility of the 

 four acres was attributed entirely to the pre- 

 vious dressing of 200 bushels. 



Corn that season readily sold for fl pef 

 bushel, as the ftiilure in crops was veiy gen- 

 eral ; and according to the best estimate I 

 could make, this single crop more than five 

 times i-epaid the whole cost of the lime and 

 interest of the money expended. The suc- 

 ceeding crops of small grain could be harvest- 

 ed very readily. The clover now began to 

 grow, and the plaster to act ; as the soil was 

 comparatively light, and even changed in 

 color, by the action of the lime. The clover 

 seed, a good crop, was clear profit, and it was 

 the first I ever cut, or was ever likely to cut, 

 on the " old plan of fanning," (even with the 

 most " dogged perseverance, untiring pa 

 tience, and hard labor," guided by all the 

 " skill and judgment" that I possessed,) 

 which, as I understand it, is " making the 

 soil improve itself, while it yields a 8upj)ort." 

 This may be efl'ectcd with even ordinary 

 skill and judgment, where the land is nol 

 too much exhausted, and with other resources 

 to live on in the interim. 



But to return to the lime, which, 1o use 

 the identical words of a neighbor who exam 

 ing my experiments, appeared to be my 

 " only chance of salvation" in liirming. 



These results were sufiicicnt to satisfy the 

 most incredulous ; and induced me, as well 

 as some of my more enterprising neighliors, to 

 lime as freely as our (generally) limited mean? 

 would admit of 



For a considerable quantity of limo I paid 

 18 to 20 cents per bushel, and hauled it six 

 miles ; then had it delivered at 24 cents per 

 bushel — but as my resources increased, both 

 from the improvement of the farm and other- 

 wise, I found that a better business could be 

 done by burning the lime on the farm. With 

 this view I pmx'hased a quany, paying at the 



