THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



VOL. I. 



iaii©4i2Mi®sr2>9 2*i23BiswiiiEir ii©Q41« 



NO. 9. 



EDMUND RUFFIN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR.— T. W. WHITE, PRINTER. 



ON THE USE OF MARINE MANURES. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



It has often been to me a subject of surprise, 

 that the various substances aboundinc^ on the 

 shores of the Chesapeake and its tributaries, and 

 which, for the want of a generic name, I shall class 

 under the general head of marine manures , have at- 

 tracted so little attention in Virginia. Whilst our 

 more enterprizing and industrious neighbors of 

 Maryland, have by the liberal use of these means, 

 been converting a barren and exhausted soil into 

 fertile and productive fields, the farmers of East- 

 ern Virginia, with the most abundant resources 

 within their reach, seem to have been almost en- 

 tirely ignorant of their value, or indifferent about 

 their application. I deem it not amiss, therefore, 

 to call the attention of the farmers on tidewater to 

 the value of tiiese resources, by communicating 

 for your Register, though in a hasty and imperfect 

 manner, my experiments and reflections on this 

 interesting subject. 



Under the head of marine manures, I shall em- 

 brace, in the order of their respective values, sea 

 weed, {^Iga Marina,) or sea ware, as it is called 

 on the Eastern Shore of Maryland ; Indian bank 

 shells, oyster shell lime, and marsh mud. 



About two years ago, finding it utterly vain to 

 attempt to improve a large and exhausted flirm, 

 by the unaided resources of the stable and farm 

 yard, I determined to look out for some other 

 means of improvement, t accordingly commenc- 

 ed, on my Potomac farm, vigorous and extensive 

 operations, with the marine manures of which I 

 have spoken. 1 committed a fi\tal error however, 

 at the outset, in adhering to the ruinous three shift 

 system, without the aid of artificial grasses; upon 

 which, 1 verily believe, no great or permanent 

 improvement can be effected, wilhany thing short 

 of a mountain of stable manure, and hands and 

 teams without limit, to apply it. It is true, that 

 upon this system, by great attention, and the regu- 

 lar application of all the fertilizing means within 

 the reach of our tidewater fiirms, crops may be 

 considerably increased, and the land gradually 

 improved : but let this great attention be in the 

 least remitted, and the diminished returns of the 

 farm will soon demonstrate the deterioration of the 

 land. I have since adopted the four field rotation, 

 with a standing pasture, and the extensive culti- 

 vation of clover ; and I have no doubt I shall soon 

 reap the reward of my labor, in the increase of 

 my crops, and the permanent improvement of my 

 land. 



I soon found in the application of manures, that 

 no great reliance could be placed on the occasional 

 services of the farm hands and teams. I therefore 

 detailed for that exclusive purpose a regular force, 

 consisting of a man, a woman, and two small boys 

 just large enough to follow the carts, with two 

 carts properly constructed, and an abundant sup- 

 ply of oxen. With this force exclusively devoted 

 to collecting and carting out manure, I applied 

 during the last year, upwards of 5,000 loads. The 



Vol. 1—65 



whole annual expense, including estimated wages, 

 wear and tear of carts, &c. may be fairly set down 

 at ^250, making the manure cost about^j;e cents 

 a load. Yet few of our farmers can be convinced 

 that they can spare time and labor for this essen- 

 tial operation. 



My farm bordering more than a mile on the 

 Potomac, affords a fine opportunity of collecting 

 the sea weed ; and my principal and most success- 

 fid experiments have been with this valuable ma- 

 nure. For nine months in the year, from the 1st 

 of August to the 1st of May, it is in great abun- 

 dance,"and my carts have usually carried out, ac- 

 cording to circumstances, from 15 to 30 loads a 

 day. During the last year I applied to various 

 crops about 3000 loads of this manure, and with 

 great effect upon all. My first experiment was with 

 corn. I applied it at the rate of about 70 loads to 

 the acre, in the water furrows of a field in- 

 tended for corn the next year, and listed upon it. 

 The effect on the corn was immediate and power- 

 ful, doubling, I am confident, the crop on the poor- 

 est and lightest parts of the field, and greatly im- 

 proving it wherever applied. I next applied it on 

 a piece of very poor land, at the same rate, and fal- 

 lowed for wheat, leaving in the middle of the lot a 

 space of two acres, unmanured, which had pre- 

 viously been sowed, as an experiment, v/ith cow- 

 peas. The whole was put in wheat during the first 

 week in September 1832. The wheat on the ma- 

 nured land grew off beautifully, leaving fur be- 

 hind that on the other part of the lot. At Christ- 

 mas it was exceedingly promising, but unfortu- 

 nately having been sowed too early, the fly in the 

 spring nearly destroyed it. During the same fall,. 

 I applied the sea lueed as a top dressing to tlie 

 poorest parts of my wheat and corn land ; and in 

 parts of tiie field I had it ploughed in with the 

 wheat. Both applications produced most decided 

 efl'ects, the growth of wheat being thick and luxu- 

 riant on land which before this manuring was not 

 considered capable of producing wheat at all. The 

 fatal mildew, however, of the last summer, greatly 

 injured the crop, although it did not affect those 

 portions of the field, by any means as much, as 

 other parts to which this manure bad not been ap- 

 plied. 



My next experiment was with oats, on which 

 the effect of this manure was truly astonishing. I 

 selected the poorest knoll in my field, bordering 

 upon a small stream, along the side of which 

 was a strip of land considered rich. I gave a 

 liberal dressing to the knoll, and left the bottom 

 unmanured, and fallowed during Avinter for oats, 

 which were sowed in March at the rate of two 

 bushels to the acre. When I prepared this piece 

 of land for oats, an intelligent neighbor and friend 

 of mine remarked to me, that if I succeeded in 

 "•etting a crop from it, he would never afterwards 

 doubt the efficacy of sea loeed. 



We visited the farm together shortly before 

 harvest, and he expressed the greatest astonish 

 ment at the growth of the oats. The line was dis- 

 tinctly visible which marked the extent of the ma- 



