20 FARMERS' REGISTER— GENERAL SYSTEM OF CULTIVATION, &c. 



cheap. No banks of fossil shells are on his land, 

 nor nearer than eight or ten miles distance by wa- 

 ter carriage. 



As one fourth of the farm has not yet been 

 limed, the general improvement by that means is 

 still in progress, and the increase of crops may be 

 fairly supposed to be yet much below what a few 

 more years of the same practice w ill exhibit. — 

 Whatever increase of product has been obtained 

 is almost entirely owing to the lime, considering its 

 indirect as well as its direct benefits. Without 

 lime, there was (and could be) no improvement 

 from clover : and all the putrescent manure used 

 before liming, seemed merely to keep the products 

 of the farm from decreasing. This opinion re- 

 quires no stronger proof than the foIloAving table 

 of all the crops of corn and wheat made for 21 suc- 

 cessive years before liming was begun, and when 

 the farm was under the regular three shift rota- 

 tion. The fulness and accuracy of Mr. Lewis's 

 diary, has enabled him to furnish me with this 

 statement. 



WHEAT. 



Bushels, 



CORN. 



BaiTcls. 



Price of 

 Corn sold. 



616 



842 

 G50 



661 

 620 

 750 



811 

 626 

 573 



650 

 524 

 6F0 



616 

 700 

 750 



548 

 652 

 667 



494 

 448 

 425 



$3 75 

 3 00 

 3 00 



2 50 

 4 41 



3 33 



2 46 



4 00 



5 00 



2 33 

 5 00 



2 00 



2 33 



3 50 

 3 75 



4 00 

 3 00 



3 33 



~3~sT 



4 00 

 7 00 



Though this table shows much difference of pro- 

 duct from good and bad seasons, there is no appa- 

 rent average increase in the product of any one 

 field. The crop of wheat, which stands first in 

 each division of three years, was in every case on 

 the field which was in corn tlie previous year ; and 

 in like manner for the second and third crops. — 

 Thus each division of the corn crops shows tlie 

 whole product of the whole farm in corn — and the 

 same as to the wheat, for as much of each field as 

 was worth putting under that crop. The fields 

 were about 190 acres each. When divided into 

 four fields, after 1816, the crops of the first years 

 were diminished, by each of the fields losing 

 about fifty acres in extent, notwithstanding the 

 counteracting benefits then beginning from lime. 

 The last crop of wheat (1832) was 2199 bushels, 

 from 98 acres, and 88 bushels of seed. The sea- 



son was good for ^vheat — the field is rather more 

 productive tlian the general average of the four, 

 but is not the best of them, 



Tlie crops of corn have not been so much in- 

 creased as those of v/heat for several reasons. — 

 The unimproved part of each field is now as for- 

 merly, always under corn in its turn, and it may 

 be well supposed that no increase of product is 

 shown there ; and the former impoverishment of 

 the other land did not lessen the yield of corn so 

 much as wheat, from the peculiar fitness of this 

 sandy soil for tlie growth of corn. 



Since the putrescent manures have succeeded 

 lime, it is not supposed that their beneficial effects 

 have been lost by time and after cultivation. It 

 needs no other evidence than the foregoing table 

 of crops to prove that the effect of the manure for- 

 merly applied must have lasted but a very short 

 tim.e. 



Putrescent Manures. About 50 head of cattle 

 are kept, (not counting the calves under a year 

 old) GO sheep, 10 or 11 work horses or mules, 4 

 saddle and carriage horses, and as many hogs as 

 will furnish about 50 annually to be slaughtered 

 for bacon. From 2600 or 2700 good horse cart 

 loads of manure from the stables and littered pens, 

 (with some other putrescent matters) are usually 

 made, besides the land manured by naked cow 

 pens in summer. The whole space manured al- 

 ready for the present corn crop, amounts to 54 

 acres. The vegetable materials used as food and 

 litter to make this manure, are the stra^v of the 

 wheat crop, the stalks and the better forage of the 

 corn, the clover from as much as can be mowed 

 of tlie limed land of one field, and the coarse hay 

 of 18 acres of wet marshy meadow. Leaves 

 raked in the woods, are enough valued to be cart- 

 ed (when leisure permits) two and a half miles, 

 which is the distance from the woodland belong- 

 ing to the farm. Five or six acres of turnips are 

 also made, w hich add greatly to the value of the 

 manure, as well as to the food of the milch cows, 

 oxen, &c. The winter pens for cattle are made in 

 the field to be manured, which is always the land 

 intended for corn. Plenty of litter is furnished, 

 and early in January tlie ricking is commenced, 

 and continued from time to time as the state of the 

 weather and the manure may require. The stable 

 yard has a long pit 18 inches deep, into which the 

 fresh manure is thrown, with the litter cleared out 

 of the stables. This general clearing out is not 

 done except on rainy days, or other leisure times. 

 When quite wet, this manure is carted from the 

 pit, to aid in forming a rick made just without the 

 cow pen. For this purpose, the parcels of litter 

 from the cattle and from the horses, are laid in al- 

 ternate beds on each other, two feet of the former 

 to one foot of the latter. The ricks are built 16-|^ 

 feet wide, (being the width of three corn beds) 5 

 feet high, (which lessens to 3, by settling and fer- 

 mentation) and of any length that is convenient. 

 The materials are thrown on very lightly, and the 

 building proceeds from one end of the rick, so that 

 each part is soon finished, after its foundation is 

 laid. Tills ricking is done whenever the manure 

 is wet enough, Avithout much regard to the time 

 the materials have been exposed to trampling. The 

 ricks usually begin to ferment in forty -eight hours, 

 and in fifteen or twenty days may be carted to the 

 field. Its texture will be then considerably soft- 

 ened, though the manure when used, cannot in 



