1850. 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



113 



which were formerly realized. A more thorough 

 system of tillage, with a few powerful fertilizers, like 

 the excretions of stall fed cattle, guano, or night-soil, 

 is working wonders in Belgium and in some parts of 

 France, as well as in England and Scotland. No 

 industrious man should fear the task of changing a 

 "pan" into a kindly, friable soil. Labor and skill 

 can conquer every obstacle, and achieve the most 

 brilliant results. The next generation will laugh at 

 the folly and short-sightedness of their fathers and 

 grandfathers, who cultivated the earth only from three 

 to six inches in depth. The next generation will not 

 waste, as we do, fertilizing elements enough to form 

 500,000,000 bushels of wheat. 



FARMING TN NORTH CAROLINA 



After ordering several copies of this journal, a gen- 

 tleman in North Carolina concludes his letter as 

 follows : — 



As I am uriling, I have concluded to make a few inquiries 

 on the subject of agricidlure. I am just making a small com- 

 nioncemenl at farming, and having been heretofore princi- 

 pally engaged in olhrr pursuits, I have but little practical 

 knowledge of it. 1 have, liowever, acquired from reading 

 agricultural works, a slight thige of theory ; at least, suffi- 

 cient to induce rae to believe that our fanning in this 

 section may be vastly improved-. The soil here is a light, 

 sandy, pine soil, underlaid by a stiff, red clay, which, from 

 the color, I think contains a considerable quantity of iron. 

 Lime can be purchased twenty miles from here, at nine or 

 ten cents a bushel for slaked and sixteen or eighteen cents 

 for unslaked. Plaster can perhaps be pro^^ured as cheap from 

 New York as from any oiher source, in which case the car- 

 riage alone, to this place, will amount to about $I..50 per 

 100 lbs. Of swamp muck we have inexhaustible quantities, 

 and the same may be said of forest leaves. I also keep a 

 small stock of cattle and a few horses. These, with such 

 otlier mutters a.s the exhausted farms ia this section gener- 

 ally aflbrd, are about all the means of makimr manure I have 

 at command. I should have stated that I feed my cattle 

 under sheds,. and keep them constantly, during the winter, 

 in the dry. Now, my aim ia to improve annually, by ma- 

 nuring, &c.. a small ix)rtion of my farm, if it were only from 

 four to six acres, so as to enable me to raise good crops of 

 corn and roots, and to keep the rest of the farm (of which 

 there are some thirty or forty acres under cultivation.) from 

 getting worse ; or rather, I wish it to improve. It may be 

 necessary to state tliat I procured a sub-swil plow last fall 

 from the North, which I am using. 



Now. I wish to know how I can effect the above object 

 most economically ; or, in other words, how can I make tlie 

 most manure and improve my farm with the least outlay of 

 money, having but one hand besides myself to perform the 

 labor? You will recollect that the farm is so badly exhausted, 

 that the greater portion will produce only from ten to twenty 

 bushels of corn per acre, and some four or six bushels of 

 wheat. Will the use of the sub-soil plow, in your opinion, 

 add much to the producti\eness of a soil that has been plowed 

 only some two or three inches for some twenty or thirty 

 years ; as has been the case with mine ? Would it be of 

 advantage to procure some small variety of corn from the 

 North, annually, for seed, (say the Dutton.) and would it 

 allow to be planted so closely as it is at the North ? How- 

 many cords of stable or barn-yard manure, that has been kept 

 out of the weather, should be applied per acre ? Will ashes, 

 leached or unleached, expel ammonia from animal manures ? 

 or, is it more advantageous to apply them to the soil in some 

 other manner, and how ? Will air-slaked lime expel ammo- 

 nia from dung, or be otherwise injurious ? Can copperas 

 (sulphate of iron) be used with advantage or economy, when 

 it can be bought for three cents per pound, and will it fix 

 ammonia in manure ? Is there any other substance that can 

 be used to advantage instead of plaster, to tix ammonia in 

 manure or in the soil ? or would it be good policy to send to 

 New York for plaster, and would the advantage to the soil 

 be such as to j"stify the expense of procuring it as above to 

 apply to the soil 7 



i*erhaps I should have stated that red clover springs up 

 spontaneously, even on the poorest of my land ; and on a 

 portion that was tolerably rich, I saw a growth of clover so 



heavy that it was difficult to cure the grass after being cut, 

 the growth till June being from two to three feet high, and it 

 laid over a foot thick on the ground, after being cut and spread, 

 ('an beets, lurneps, carrots, parsneps, artichokes, &.C., Sec, 

 be profitably cultivated here, for stock ? I cut my corn at 

 the ground in the fall, and find the stalks better for cattle 

 than the hay raised on our natuml meadows. I have done 

 this for five or six years ; but our corn grows so tali that it 

 is heavy work to handle the stalks. J. R. Mo»er. — FliiU 

 Rock, N. C, Feb'y, 1850. 



Our correspondent is on the right track, but should 

 experiment with caution. No one should pay $1.50 

 per 100 lbs., or $30 per ton for gypsum, for agricul- 

 tural purposes. Nor should he pay $3 per 100 lbs. 

 for copperas, to apply to the dung heap. Common 

 salt is etjually valuable .m fix ammonia, and should 

 not cost much over half a cent a pound. 



The red clay sub-soil of our friend doubtless con- 

 tains sulphate of iron ; and the application of lime 

 will give him gypsum, or sulphate of lime, at the 

 cheapest rate. Both iron and alumina in stiff soils 

 are combined chemically not only with sulphuric 

 acid, but phosphorie acid. When the oil of vitriol 

 (sulphuric acid) unites with alumina and potash, the 

 well known salt called alum is formed. In some wet, 

 tenacious sub-soils, this salt, as well as copperas, 

 abounds. By draining these soils, cultivating deep, 

 and using lime or raarl, this alkaline mineral will 

 take phosphoric acid away from alumina and iron, 

 and form bone earth, or the mineral which makes the 

 bones of man and all his domestic animals. 



In addition to lime, (and draining, if necessary,) 

 our corresjxmdent should procure all tlie leached and 

 imleached ashes which can be had at a low price. 

 Leached ashes are rendered inore soluble and valua- 

 ble by being composted with fermenting manure. 

 There is no danger of losing ammonia by using lime 

 or unleached ashes in the same way, provided the 

 heap be well covered with muck, charcoal, loam, gar- 

 den mold, or rotted forest leaves ; but, as a general 

 rule, it is best not to mix manure and lime, either 

 caustic or a carbonate. With sour swamp muck, 

 straw, trash, or forest leaves, lime and caustic ashes 

 mix advantageously. 



As to the amount of manure which one should put 

 on an acre, every farmer should be the best judge 

 who knows best the condition of his land, the crop 

 he wishes to make, the strength of his fertilizers, and 

 the quantity he has as compared with the area to be 

 manured. With a good market for butter, and by 

 raising clover, corn, peas, rye, carrots, and sweet 

 potatoes for his cows, our friend can produce a vast 

 quantity of cheap manure, and realize a good deal of 

 money for his butter. If he will grow a few hundred 

 bushels of such fine Scuppernong grapes as we have 

 eaten in North Carolina, and put them up right, to 

 keep fresh for the New York market, they will bring 

 him in a handsome income. 



Corn intended for a forage crop, should be cut as 

 soon as the tassels are in blossom, and cured imme- 

 diately. Small northern corn is best to cut up at the 

 ground. Before this meets the eye of Mr. Moser, 

 he will have received from the Patent Office a few 

 packages of improved Morlyland corn, for seed. — 

 Green crops and lime turned in, will give you a rich 

 soil in a few years. As a general rule, it is better 

 to apply ten bushels of lime per acre for five years in 

 succession, than to put fifty bushels on at-a dose. 



The substantial prosperity of a country is always 

 in the ratio of its agricultural industry and wealth. 



