18 FARMERS REGISTER— GENERAL SYSTEM OF CULTIVATION, &c. 



It is a very general opinion in Virginia that 

 sandy soils are greatly inferior to clay soils, in 

 their capacity for receiving durable improvement, 

 and yielding the most valuable products and pro- 

 fits to the cultivator. This opinion has probably 

 grown out of the facts, that nearly all of our most 

 valuable lands arc loams of different degrees of 

 adhesiveness, and that our sandy soils are almost 

 always poor, and of little profit to their OAvners. 

 Another opinion, still more extended, and indeed 

 almost universal, is that though rich sands may be 

 even the best of corn lands, tliey must be compara- 

 tively worthless for the production of wheat. The 

 belief long entertained that both these opinions are 

 quite erroneous, formed another inducement to 

 present a report of the farm, which furnishes abun- 

 dant proof that the mere deficiency of clay does 

 not prevent a soil reacjiing the highest value. 

 Wheat requires a stiff soil to yield the greatest pos- 

 sible product — but such lands require so much la- 

 bor, and their management depends so much on 

 the season and weather, that tlieir crops of wheat are 

 often less heavy, and still oftener less profitable, 

 than on good sandy soils, where the friability of 

 texture causes tillage to be far cheaper, and the 

 alternations of wet and dry seasons have compara- 

 tively but little effect in injuring the crop, or ob- 

 structing tillage. The crops of' a sandy soil, of 

 which the maximum product is 25 bftshels of 

 wheat, would generally be heavier, and certainly 

 would give more average clear profit, than those 

 of clay soils that might bring 40 bushels, under 

 the most favorable circumstances. But it is time 

 to bring forward in support of this position, opin- 

 ions and practice that will be justly deemed of much 

 higher autliority, than any deductions or reason- 

 ing of mine. 



notation of Crops, and general plan of Cultiva- 

 tion. The farm was formerly kept by JNIr L. un- 

 der the three field rotation, 1. corn — 2. wheat — 3. 

 at rest, under the spontaneous growtli of grass and 

 •weeds, and more or less grazed. At that time, 

 and long afterwards, this rotation was the mildest 

 in use in lower Virginia. Since 181G, his rotation 

 has been 1. corn — 2. wheat on all good land, and 

 oats or rye on the unimpi'oved and poorest — 3. clo- 

 ver, mowed — 4. clover, grazed. Clover however 

 has occupied no more land than had been previous- 

 ly limed. Field peas, which always follow the 

 new applications of lime, take a part of the field of 



els of wheat to tlie acre. The other sample was cho- 

 sen to sliow the texture of the lightest soil forming any 

 considerable part of the whole extent of the farm. The 

 results obtained were as follows : 



1000 grains of the mediu.m soil, yielded 



£25 — sand, mostly coarse, and almost none ve- 

 ry fine. 

 1G4 — fine clay, &c. 

 11 — lost in the ijrocess of separation. 



1 000 grains of the lighter soil, yielded 



873 — sand, still coarser than the other. 

 122 — fine clay, &c. 

 5 — lost. 



Much of the sand of both samples was tinged with 

 the color of rust of iron. The clay was brown, slight- 

 ly inclining to red. No carbonic acid gas could be ex- 

 pelled from either sample, and therefore, no carbonate of 

 lime was present. 



the 4th year : and another smaller part is vmder 

 turnips. Formerly, 190 acres, or one third of the 

 farm, Avas every year under wheat, except such 

 parts as were quite too poor — and tlie average crop 

 v/as less than 1000 bushels. Now 140 acres make 

 a field, and the unimproved or poorest parts (usu- 

 ally about 40 acres) being in rye or oats, only 

 about 100 acres are put under wheat, and the an- 

 nual average crop is now more than doubled. 

 Last year, 1832, when only 98 acres were in wheat, 

 the crop was over 2000 bushels. The present ave- 

 rage product of all the land usually put in wheat, 

 is supposed to be 20 busliels — and the corn from 

 the same land the previous year is 35 bushels or 

 more. 



Though Mr. L. has been, since 1794, attempt- 

 ing to improve his land by using putrescent ma- 

 nures in unusually great quantities, and by his 

 well known careful and judicious general manage- 

 ment, still the great improvements made have com- 

 menced within the last twelve years, during which 

 time he has been regularly applying lime, and has 

 noAV given that manure to about three-fourths of 

 the land. He had made small experiments with 

 lime as long as six years before, when its use was 

 unknown in this part of the country, except in 

 small experiments. But for tlie last twelve years, 

 like some other neighboring farmers, he has gone 

 as fully into the practice as the supply of shells 

 and the disposable labor of the farm would permit. 

 Lime first enabled him to make clover a field crop. 

 Before, it could not be produced Avith any cer- 

 tainty or profit, except on the richest lots around 

 the houses, Avhich had the best preparation and 

 every care bestowed. It is noAV an abundant crop 

 Avherever his lime and the subsequent covering of 

 putrescent manure extend. 



The quantity of stable and fixrm-pen manure 

 prepared and applied are unusually great, even 

 considering the aljundant supply of materials, com- 

 pared to the general usage. But no other jneans 

 for furnishing vegetable substances to the soil are 

 used, no green crops ploughed in, nor the entire 

 groAvth of grass left any where to rot upon the 

 land. It is preferred to pass every putrescent ma- 

 terial through tlie stables and cattle yards. In this 

 respect the practice of Mr. L. differs essentially 

 from other successful improvers of the soil. His 

 green or meliorating crops of clover, peas, &c. 

 are partly secured for dry food, and the balance 

 consumed by live stock m the field. He has tried 

 marsh mud, (to Avhich his access is very easy,) 

 but found it not worth the labor. It Avas of a kind 

 composed principally of decayed vegetable sub- 

 stances. Naked fallows for av heat are rejected; 

 and even Avheat on clover lay, as being on the 

 whole, less profitable on such land than Avlieat after 

 corn. This decision is not influenced by a belief 

 that the former practices Avould be injurious to the 

 soil. He is not satisfied of the correctness of the 

 common opinion, that the soil is impoverished by 

 exposure to the sun. 



burning and applying Oyster S/iell Lime. Close 

 kilns Avilli Avails of brick or stone, have not yet 

 been used to burn oyster shells for manure ; and 

 until fuel becomes more costly than the additional 

 transportation of the lime, it Avill be cheaper to 

 use Avooden kilns. What are commonly called 

 lime kilns are merely heaps of Avood and shells, 

 built up in a somcAvhat cubical form, by Avhich 

 the burning is imperfectly performed at great ex- 



