488 



FARMERS' REGISTER—CORN AND TURNIPS— MANURING. 



was, I bro'jfrhl home, and have analyzed, cifjhlor 

 ten s[)ec.imens of rotks, which, from Iheir softness 

 and si'.pposcil aliundance, seemed to promise calca- 

 reous maniiie of some value, witlioiit the cost of 

 burninLi:. Oflhese, one, frequently seen in the roads, 

 is like liniesion.c in color, but more like slate in 

 softness, and easily broken into thin layers; and 

 what is exposed to the eye might be pounded to 

 gravel without much labor. A specimen of this, 

 taken about midway between Waynesborougli 

 and Staunton, contained j\^~ of calcareous earth ; 

 anotlier, taken near Ijexington, on the road to the 

 Natural liridge, contained f';'^. The stone which 

 covers a consideralde portion of tiie arsenal lot has 

 y'fv'V, and though much harder than the others, is so 

 soft as to be considered of no value for common 

 purposes, and which can be cjuarried, and broken 

 down, with a ])ick only. A stone, which is very 

 abundant about the Salt Sulphur Springs, is so 

 hard when in the earth, as to yield only to the force 

 of gunpowder, yet crund)les to small gravel after 

 a few weeks' exposure to the air. This contains 

 only yy^, and is too poor to pay the expense of 

 blasting, but would be w ortli using, if already ex- 

 pensed to the air. These specimens were selected 

 almost by chance, and even if sonse judgment had 

 been exercised, it would have required many more 

 examinations to prove the strength or worth of any 

 large bodies of such suiistances ; and they are men- 

 tioned only to shew that such manures may be 

 found, and are worth your seeking. Another cal- 

 careous rock is Ibund in limestone streams, which 

 is richer than Jiiy best shell-marl, and nearly as 

 soft : I mean that deposite of limestone water, to 

 which the name of 7narl is as incorrectly applied m 

 the upper country, as here to our fossil shells — 

 [calcareous tula ] This is nearly pure calcareous 

 earth, and so (ar as its quantity will go, it must be 

 a very cheap as well as rich manure. In tliese 

 rocks I should expect to find resources for the im- 

 provement of land; but at the same time that I 

 offer them to your notice, I am sensiiile that the 

 ■very descriptions giver), most probal)ly shew how 

 little I am acquainted with the substances recom- 

 mended." 



jDOaiPARATIVE PRODUCTS OF RARE-RIPE, 

 AND THE CO.'MMOX LARGE CORN. EXHAUST- 

 ING EFFECTS OF TURNIPS. 



•To tlie Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



I comply with your request to report the result of 

 my experiment, on the cultivation of Madeira (or 

 early flint) and gourd-s?ed corn, and F do so the more 

 cheerfully, because I derive from the experience of 

 others, flirough the medium of the Farmers' Regis- 

 ter, invaluable information in my agricultuial 

 pursuits, and therefore am not justified in with- 

 holding any experiment of my own, although of 

 little importance, from those w ho may be desiious 

 of information as to the result. 



On land, as I then suppo.sed, of equal fertility, 

 and when in the regular progress of planting my 

 corn crop, I planted eiglit rows through the field 

 with the Madeira corn, having on either side of it 

 the gourd-seed. Of course, equal attention was 

 paid to the cultivation, and the only di-ffei-ence 

 made, was that double as many stalks of the former 

 kind were left to stand. On the ISfh of October, 

 a space thirty-five yards wide, containing twenty- 

 four rows, north and south, having the efght rows 



of Madeira corn in the middle, and 140 yards east 

 and west, was accurately marked off, and the'corn 

 gathered and measured. The result w as that eight 

 rows of the gourd-seed, on the north side of the Ma- 

 deira, yielded ten bushels and one gallon of sound 

 corn — the eight rows of Madeira, nine bushels and 

 seven gallons, and also one gallon of short and rot- 

 ten corn — and the eight rows on the south side i)ro- 

 duced only eigiit bushels and six gallons of sound, 

 and one bushel of short and rotten corn. 



If seems that I did not correctly appreciate the 

 strength of the soil, even on this small space. As 

 it is, howe\er, the Madeira corn has produced 

 about the same (in measure,) as the average of 

 the gourd-seed on both sides of it— and neither 

 kind shows any advantage over the other. 



I tried also, as you requested, to show by mea- 

 surement of the corn, what was the effect of a tur- 

 nip crop on my cow-penned land of the last year ; 

 but hogs having gotten into my field and destroyed 

 a part of that parcel just I efore the corn was 

 gathered, I am deprived of the means of making 

 an accurate statement, and can only report on con- 

 jecture. My land cow-penned to the 10th of Au- 

 gust, 1832, (which was littered from the woods, and 

 the pens moved once in fourteen days,) w-as seeded 

 in turnips on the eleventii. The cowpens there- 

 after, were treated precisely in the same way — and 

 the last spring, the w hole was planted in corn, 

 together with the land adjoining the cov/pens sown 

 in turnips, which was not at all aided by manure. 



In May, the growth of the corn on the land 

 cow-|)enned after the 10th of August, was very 

 luxuriant, and sustained its superiority through 

 the .season ; but the turnip land, (although the tur- 

 nips had been taken off before April, and of course 

 i)efbre tlieir seeding,) presented coni})aratively a 

 gloomy aspect, and its product I confidently believe 

 did nol surpass the adjoining unmanured land 

 twenty-five per cent. j. b. c. 



ON SURFACE MANURING. 



To the Editor of the Fanners' PiCgifter. 



December Ath, 1833. 



The deep interest which I feel in your very val- 

 uable work, together with the conviction that it 

 will he im})ossible to sustain it without the aid of 

 contril)utions from others, induce me to assume 

 the unwonted character of a writer for the public 

 eye, and to endeavor to furnish somewhat to the 

 filling your next number. What I shall say, I 

 know will be familiar to many of your readers; 

 but, perhaps, there are some who have so lately 

 entered upon the labors of agriculture, as' to derive 

 some advantage fi-om my suggestions. 



It will be readily admitted, that the hope of re- 

 storing our exhausted lands to any thing like their 

 f()rmer fertility, rests mainly on the use of manures, 

 in some shape or other, and in a large portion of 

 \ ii'ginia, (wheie lime, marl, and even gypsum are 

 unattainable, or attained at too great an expense,) 

 on the use of fermented manures, made from such 

 vegetable matter, as we may be able to collect. 

 It is, therefore, of vital importance, not only to in- 

 crease the quantity of our manures, but to make 

 such ap|>!ication of it, as will insure the greatest 

 possilde benefit I believe there is no subject con- 

 nected with agriculture, on which there exists such 

 diversity of opinion, as on the best mode of apply- 

 ing manures to the soil. Until very lately, the - 



