FARMERS' REGISTER— THREE SHIFT SYSTEM. 



5(^9 



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THE THREE FIELD SYSTEM BEST ADAPTED 

 TO THE CLIMATE AND SOIL OF THE TiDE- 

 AVATER SECTIO?f OF VIRGINIA. 



To the Eilitor of the Farmers' Register. 



I have regularly received your valuable Regis- 

 ter, and read many of the communications with 

 great pleasure. I am sanguine in the opinion that 

 tiie spirit of inquiry roused by your late work on 

 Calcareous Manures, will be kept alive b.y the 

 Register, and act most beneficially on the agri- 

 cultural interests of the state. The Arator of 

 Col. John Taylor, at the time of its publication, 

 was hailed as a production of great merit. It is 

 now, I think, treated rather slightingly ; — though 

 I by no means coincide in all the opinions advanc- 

 ed by the very sagacious and enlightened author 

 of that work, yet I think (apart from his claims 

 as a patriot and statesman,) Virginia certaiidy 

 owes much to him in his character of agricultu- 

 rist. He demonstrated by practical illustration 

 and example that a worn out soil might be render- 

 ed exceedingly lertile, and that agriculture might 

 be made in this state the certain means of wealth; 

 iiiculcating strongly the ad-.antages of clover, 

 plaster, ntanuring, enclosing, connected with deep 

 ploughing. Like many other excellent works in 

 the hands of the unskilful, it somelimes produced 

 individual injury : tliis however was the fault of 

 the injured, and not of the author. No system 

 that has ever been devised, will suit all soils and 

 climates. It must be left to individual intelligence 

 in the application of general principles, to make 

 due allowance for the particular circumstances of 

 each case. Inattention to this rule, and the want 

 of minuteness of detail, often render the experi- 

 ments of farmers so very different in their results. 

 For instance, I have been informed by an intelli- 

 gent farmer of Fauquier, that his most successful 

 crops of wheat on corn land have been made by 

 sowing the grain on the land after removing the 

 corn, ■without any previous preparation, and then 

 passing over it a heavy harrow. This is doubt- 

 less true, and ansv/ers very well where corn is cul- 

 tivated on a flat surface as in Fauquier ; but in the 

 tidewater section of Virginia, where corn is gene- 

 rally jdanted in beds, or on higli ridges, a farmer 

 would act very unwisely, if in inutation of the 

 agriculturist of Fauquier, he scattered his wheat 

 Jjpon the unploughed ridges of his corn field. 

 Again, from the accounts giv^n in your Register 

 Vol. 1—72 



of the immense crops of wheat made on farms 

 where the four field liillow system is in vogue, es- 

 pecially on the James river, it may be considered 

 as fairly demonstrated that this system is best 

 adapted to the soil and climate of that section of 

 country wdiere it so extensively prevails, and is 

 decidedly most profitable. Yet I question w'hether 

 a farmer in the part of Virginia where I reside, 

 would not be very unwise to adopt it — for, from 

 long observation and reflection, I am induced to 

 believe that the so much abused three field system 

 suits us far better ; and moreover, that under this 

 despised system an exhausted soil may be quite re- 

 suscitated, and the farmer amply compensated for 

 his labor. 1 will concede that land will improve 

 faster under tlie four field system, accompanied 

 v.'ith green clover fallows and manure; and if I 

 resided in a region of country well adapted to the 

 wheat crop, I sliould certainly pursue the system 

 which seems so popular. My preference of the 

 three field system arises entirely from the fact that 

 Indian corn is so much more certain with us than 

 wheat, and because I think the three field suits the 

 corn crop far better than the four field system. 

 The experience of years has convinced me that 

 the wheat crop on the sea board is extremely pre- 

 carious, subject to numerous casualties, some of 

 which no skill or industry can remedy. It fre- 

 quently happens in the spring, when the wheat is 

 in bloom and promises an abundant yield, that the 

 hopes of the farmer are blasted in a few hours by 

 an easterly storm. I have often sutTered in this 

 way, and speak from experience. I mention this 

 as only one of the disasters to which our wheat 

 crops are subject, and which is beyond the control 

 of man. Indian corn is the crop on which alone 

 we can with safety rely. It is admirably adapted 

 to our climate and soil, and seldom disappoints our 

 expectations. Would it be right then for us to 

 adopt a system which would render wlieat our pri- 

 mary crop.'' I think not. In a country not well 

 suited to hay, corn aiTords us the m.eans of sup- 

 porting slock and manuring extensively. The 

 blade fodder v, ill feed our horses — the shucks and 

 tojjs our work oxen and milch cows — and the 

 stalks themselves afford excellent nourishment for 

 the cattle generally, good litter for pens, and con- 

 stitute the means of retaining and applying to 

 the soil the manure dropped during the season 

 the cattle are confined. Again, if our lands are 

 permitted to remain without the cultivation of a 

 horse-hoed crop more than three years, tliey be- 

 come so foul and hard as seldom to yield (without 

 great extra labor,) in proportion to their fertility. 

 To fallow them to advantage they must be in at 

 least four fields, and then you must have two fields 

 in wheat and only one in corn, tlius giving the 

 most uncertain .crop precedence over the most cer- 

 tain. And as far as my information extends, it 

 has never been ascertained by experiment whether 

 our lands would yield wheat if fidlowed for a succes- 

 sion of years. They would most probably become 

 puffy, and throw out the wheat during the winter. 

 Afte'r all, facts furnish the best arguments. I have 

 noticed with minute attention the experiments of 

 savcral of my neighbors, and will endeavor to give 

 you the results. One divided his farm into four 

 fields, and cultivated them successively in corn. 

 His land, judging by the growth of vegetable 

 matter, evidently improved; yet his corn crops 

 declined, and his wheat crops were generally de- 



