584 FARMERS' REGISTER-FARMERS' CALENDAR, &c.— BUCKWHEAT, 



duriiii^: the summer, with heavy mattocks, knock- 

 ing" the chxls fine as you proceed; or, what is more 

 expeilitious, with a stron<^ |)h)u<;-h, drawn by (bur 

 stronsj; steers, put side ijy side, plough it several 

 times in all directions, going deeper every time: 

 then with a heavy harrow^, drawn by the same 

 steers, break the clods as fine as possil)]e. Do all 

 this work during the cool of the night, and let 

 your steers rest in the shade during the day ; be- 

 cause they coulfl not endure the great fatigue of 

 the ploughing; such land, and the heat of the sun 

 at the same time, but would sicken, and perhaps 

 die. Let your plougiiman keep near him some 

 fresh water in a bucket, for the sake of moisten- 

 ing with it the steers' foreheads and necks at eve- 

 ry turn of the field, (he which practice refreshes 

 them very much, and makes tliem work with more 

 alacrity. Parking your cattle and sheep on land 

 thus ploughed, until you plough again, will benefit 

 it very much, by not only dunging it, but also 

 pulverizing the remaining clods under their feet. 

 Plough it again in the month of October ; the last 

 ploughing it may receive in February or March, 

 when you sow barley on it. After harvest, let 

 your cattle and sheep run on it, to manure it with 

 their dung. Give it afterwards three more plough- 

 ings, dung it before the third, sow it in wheat, and 

 you niay, with the assistance of God, expect a to- 

 lerable crop. Under good tillage, such land be- 

 comes more and more productive, in proportion as 

 the soil will become more and more mellowed, 

 from a more perfect pulverization of itsparticles." 



A farmers' DlEliCTORY OK CALENDAR SUG- 

 GESTED. 



To the Eilitor of the Farmers' Hegister. 



Will you permit a constant reader of your va- 

 luable Register to suggest in a few lines, a plan, 

 which it appears to him would render your journal 

 still more u.seful.' I expect, sir, to be a farmer by 

 profession ; and am just entering on the thresh- 

 old of the nolile science of agriculture. I there- 

 fore endeavor to make use of every means of ac- 

 quiring information connected with my pursuit in 

 life: and as at present I depend almost altogether 

 on the writers in the Register for that information, 

 no apology certainly is necessary from me fijr 

 troubling them with a suggestion (merely,) for 

 its improvement. One of my greatest dilficu!- 

 ties, or rather the point on which I am most igno- 

 rant, is the exact and proper time and season for 

 preparing my grounds — sowing, gathering and 

 taking care of my crops, &c. &.c.,or rather, the 

 proper distrii)ution of my time and attention to the 

 various departments of farming. Now it appears 

 that a manual or directory — a short one — say two 

 or three columns — wouhl obviate in a measurethis 

 difficulty. 1 would have the monthly manual state 

 with some minuteness the various objects of the 

 farmers attention during the month, including the 

 plantation, garden, orchard, and indeed a general 

 answer to the question, " what shall I do this 

 month?" 



Now I hope sir, that I am not suggesting too 

 great a task to you or your correspondents : such is 

 certainly not my wish. 



Permit me sir, to add, that no one rejoices more 

 than myself (" a plain blunt man,") in the fact 

 that agriculture in Virginia is rearing its head, 

 and assuming that prominent place which it me- 



rits among the liberal sciences — a place to which 

 it was designed by Nature's God. Suffer me 

 to add my fieelde congratulations to you, sir, 

 (or the measure of success which has crownecl 

 your efforts in this great cause. May this spirit 

 of improvement continue until " the desert shall 

 bud and blossom as the rose." 



A YOUNG FARMER. 



Mecklenburg, Jan. 31, 1834. 



[Such a Directory or Calendar as " A Young Far- 

 mer" reqiiirt's, would no doubt be a desirable addition to 

 ilie Farmers' Register, and may in some manner be sup- 

 plied hereafter. But at this time, therg are few indivi- 

 duals, who if attempting to occupy so Avide a range of 

 instruction, would not teach more of error than of true 

 knowledge. All who now contribute to the pages of 

 the Farmers' Register may be said to be aiding in col- 

 lecting facts, and iti testing their truth and value by dis- 

 cussion : and the facts so brought together, must be nu- 

 merous and well established, to furnish sufficient mate- 

 rials for a useful and authoritative Farmers' Calendar.] 



For the Farmers' Register. 

 BUCKWHEAT AS GREEN MANURE. 



Observing four short queries in the last Regis- 

 ter (No. 8, p. 476,) relative to buckwheat as an 

 improver, I have concluded to answer them in a 

 brief manner. In fact, it becomes one to be brief, 

 when attempting to give his experience relative 

 to a particular matter, and that experience is very 

 limited. But limited as is my experience, what 

 little I have is freely offered. 



Answer to 1st query. I have made a few ex- 

 periments to test the value of buckwheat as a fal- 

 low crop; but (hey have been too limited in ex- 

 tent, and too few, to be called at all decisive. Tyro 

 as I am in agricultural pursuits, I have seen 

 enough to convince me that two or three experi- 

 ments should rarely if ever be considered as deci- 

 sive of any new or doubtful matter, touching agri- 

 cultural affairs. From two or three experiments 

 made on good land, I lean to the conclusion, that a 

 luxuriant crop of tory or (black) field peas, fal- 

 lowed in the month of September or October, is 

 preferable to a similar crop of buckwheat; al- 

 though the difference is not great. From what I 

 have read on the subject, I should judge that on 

 poor land a green crop of buckwheat would be pre- 

 lisrable, for a fallow, to one of peas. But I have 

 not tried the experiment. 



I cannot doubt, however, that the experimentof 

 ploughing in two crops of buckwheat the same 

 year, with the assistance of a bushel of gypsum to 

 theacre, would be eminently successful. The seed 

 should be sown in the spring, as soon as the weather 

 will permit. A slight frost would kill it after it 

 a})pears above ground. It will be very luxuriant, 

 and have a plenty of ripe seed the last of June, or 

 any time in July. Let the crop be then ploughed 

 in, the ground harrowed and rolled, if a roller can 

 be had. The seed thus ploughed in will soon ap- 

 pear above ground, and by the middle or last of 

 September, a new green crop, from three to five 

 feet high, will be ready to be fallowed for wheat 

 or for corn, the next year. 



I cannot answ er the query, as to the comparative 

 effects of clover and buckwheat on thin lands. 

 But on common lands, if a fair comparison be 



