FARMERS' REGISTER-WESTOVER FARM. 



323 



good clover lay. The crop was 3,991 bushels of 

 good wheal; three thousand of which we reaped 

 from tlie clover follow of 100 acres. The cater- 

 pillar injured it fully 300 bushels. This would be 

 attested by several gentlemen who examined the 

 field particularly; and I am confident of it myself, 

 from thrashing. The injury from caterpillars, was 

 confined almost entirely to a rich bottom. When 

 we came to the injured wheat in thrashing, we 

 could run the machine one hour and a half without 

 stopping to clean up. The balance only one hour. 

 The corn land made but an indifferent crop of 

 wheat : The cold weather having set in sooner than 

 usual, the seed did not come up. — A bout 60 acres, 

 scarcely brought the seed sown. It will be re- 

 membered, that the corn land had nearly all the 

 manure made on the estate, it being applied in the 

 spring for corn. This course of manuring corn 

 land is pursued, rather from necessity than choice ; 

 not having time in the fall, with our limited 

 means to haul it out. I am not convinced, how- 

 ever, but that it is the most judicious application 

 of it. The corn crop derives the benefit of it; the 

 wheat is always better; and it insures (he clover's 

 taking: I have never been able to manure as 

 great a surface as some of my neighbors, never 

 having got over more land than from 30 and 35 

 acres; perhaps, this year I may reach 40. We use 

 every exertion in our power to accumulate it. Tlie 

 crop of corn increased to 500 barrels. 



1833. The crop of this year promised ample re- 

 turns for our labor. We had a fine clover lay on 

 the field before alluded to. It took in clover 

 thoroughly, to the astonishment of every one, and 

 the crop promised fully as much as the one last 

 year. It all tumbled from its luxuriance. Tlie 

 wheat on corn land was much better than we had 

 ever had it before. The 200 acres it was thought 

 before the rains set in, would produce 5,000 bush- 

 els ; it is not yet ascertained what the crop will be, 

 but not half* The corn crop this year is uncom- 

 monly good, and it is supposed will yield 800 bar- 

 rels. 



It will be perceived from the foregoing, that 

 great benefits were derived from the clover and 

 fallow system ; laboring too, under many disad- 

 vantages. We work regularly only 14 laborers ; 

 gome very inefficient — 11 horses, and but few 

 oxen, not being able to keep them on account of 

 the distemper. To enable a just exhibition of the 

 four shift and fallow system, these numbers should 

 be increased to nearly double, for we have never 

 been able to get in our wheat crops sooner than 

 the 20th November. It may be supposed that the 

 corn land has never had justice done it, in being 

 sown so much later than the fallow. This no 

 doubt is the case; but I have frequently sown 



* Mr. Seidell has but slightly alluded to the cause tf 

 so great a reduction in the expected amount of his 

 wheat crop of tliis year — and indeed, the cause was so 

 general through Lower Virginia, and tlie effects so well 

 made known by heavy losses to every farmer, that more 

 full explanation is not needed in this region, and at this 

 time. But it may be necessary to state to distant rea- 

 ders, tliat the unexampled quantity and continuance of 

 rain in May, and the early part of June, caused a dimi- 

 nution of at least half the expected amount of our 

 wheat crops, and that very few individuals sustained a 

 smaller proportional loss. — [Ed. Farm. Reg. 



some of both the same day, and the fallow invaria- 

 bly yields double or nearly so. The clover land 

 ripens sooner and is less liable to rust. 



It is astonishing that clover is not more exten- 

 sively used in Lower Virginia. It is unquestiona- 

 bly the best manure used for wheat. I should prefer 

 an acre of larrd well manured with clover, to one 

 with stable manure ; and none so cheap. The 

 cost, with plaster, being not much more tlian ^1 per 

 acre : which will give a profit of 300 per cent, 

 with only the trifling additional expense of sowing 

 it on the land. We have derived great benefit 

 from the use of plaster of paris, and sow it inva- 

 riably on the weaker parts of the field. Never 

 liaving failed in getting my clover to live and 

 thrive well on my corn land, I will here give an 

 account of the mode in which it is sowed, &c. 

 We commenced sowing between the middle and 

 last of February ; before the cracks left by the 

 frost are closed. If the land is frozen, the better ; 

 for when it thaws, the seed will be covered with 

 the earth ; and when that is accomplished, there 

 w ill be no danger of its being killed by the frost 

 and hard weather. The failure most generally is 

 owing to the seeds sprouting on the surface, and 

 nothing to protect the tender shoot. We put from 

 6 to 8 pints to the acre, being regulated by the 

 condition of the land to receive it and the seed. It 

 is rolled in plaster; one portion of seed, and two of 

 plaster — the seed being first made wet. This is done 

 to enable the seedsman to sow it regularly, as it 

 will give him a good handful — and acts as a stimu- 

 lant to the young plant: In 10 years experience, I 

 have never failed in getting it to thrive well on 

 corn land, though I have on flillow. I am inclined 

 to think a previous hoe crop, almost essential to its 

 success. 



If the fiict is admitted, that a clover lay is a 

 good manuring for tlie land, you must at once 

 admit the four field system, the best to be pursued 

 on our James River lands — one third of the 

 whole farm being thus annually manured, and 

 three fourths yielding a good grain crop. Under 

 no other system can you manure as much land, 

 and at the same time reap as much grain, and con- 

 sequently, profit. Your fields are kept clean of the 

 blue grass, by the cultivation, once in four years in 

 a hoe crop, and exempted from the noxious weeds, 

 which breed or entice the fly ; and if attacked by 

 them, are more able to resist their ravages. 



I must here beg the indulgence of the reader, 

 wliile I endeavor more clearly to shew by compari- 

 son, the great advantages of the four shift and fal- 

 low system, over the three, or any other. This is 

 done, because there are many good and practical 

 farmers in their operations, who are now delving 

 under this worst of all systems, (the three shift;) 

 and who from the result of long habit, and a dislike 

 to change a few fences, and old standing ditches, 

 are content to labor the remainder of their lives on 

 a poor estate, with a small profit, and hand it 

 down to their posterity in the same impoverished 

 and unprofitable state. There are many instances 

 of this, almost within my view. AH that is asked, 

 is a change, a fair trial; and if the result is not 

 satisfactory, then the adviser is willing to sacrifice 

 his judgment. We will suppose a farm of 400 

 acres, under the four shift system, you would have_ 

 A in corn, 5 in clover, and ^ in wheat; with ^ of 

 your corn land animally manured from the offal 

 of the estate. The crops would be from 5 to 800 



