Agriculture is the most Healthy and Honorable, as it is the most Natural and Useful pursuit of Man, 



VOL. XII. 



ROCHESTER, N. Y. — APRIL, 1851. 



NO. 4. 



IMPROVING LANDS IN VIRGINIA. 



A GENTLEMAN in Virginia has requested us to write 

 and publish an article on the improvement of the 

 naturally thin or partially exhausted lands of that 

 State. As the fundamental principles of agriculture 

 are the same everywhere, we have no hesitancy in 

 offering a few suggestions to our numerous readers 

 in the " Old Dominion," on the renovation of impov- 

 erished fields. 



Grass, sedge, briars, wild plum.", sumac, and fc-osr 

 trees, are nature's agents for regaining lost fertility 

 on lands which have long been tilled and finally 

 turned out as an open common. The farmer natu- 

 rally seeks the best ways and means to impart a 

 profitable degree of fruitfulness to lands in this con- 

 dition. Stable manure in his case is out of the ques- 

 tion ; for he has neither stock at his command, nor. 

 summer or winter feed adequate to fertilize one acre 

 in ten of the old plantation. It must be improved by 

 a less expensive process, or not at all. There are 

 two ways in which the desired result may be attained, 

 either or both of which are open for successful ex- 

 periment. One is to convert the plantation, in the 

 first instance, into a grazing farm. This may be 

 done without ever putting a plow into the ground. 

 We assure our friends that some of the most profit- 

 able farms in the southern tier of counties in the 

 State of New York were never plowed since the 

 primitive forest covered their hills and valleys. One 

 or two crops of wheat or rye are put in by the use 

 of the harrow, after the land is first cleared and 

 burned, when it is seeded with timothy, clover, or 

 hei'd's grass, and kept in pasture or meadow. 



There are but few acres in Virginia that ever bore 

 crops, that will not grow grass of some kind by the 

 use of lime, grass seed, and thorough scarifying 

 wjin a sharp iron or steel-toothed harrow. After 

 the lime and seed have been applied a week, if the 

 farmer has any doubt as to the strength of the soil, 

 the application of 100, 150, or 200 pounds of Peru- 

 vian guano, will secure to the grass plants a fine 

 growth of roots and stems, precisely on the same 

 principle that this fertilizer increases a crop of wheat 

 or oats, which are varieties of grass. Land well set 

 in timothy, clover, or red-top, is half redeemed, and 

 in a condition to ^-eld an income in wool, butter and 

 cheese, beef, mutton, live hogs, mules, horses, and 

 neat cattle. There are millions of acres in Virginia 

 that would make profitable dairy, stock, and wool- 

 growing farms, which now produce next to nothing. 



This may be done with little or no plowing, if one 

 prefers to operate by seeding, liming, and using in 

 some cases a little guano, in the manner indicated. 

 The quantity of lime which one can afford to apply 

 per acre will depend entirely on the cost of the arti- 

 cle, aiid the probable value of the crop when grown. 

 From five to fifty bushels would be the limits which 

 we recommend. So soon as practicable, every farm- 

 er should grow his own clover and grass seed, and 

 be extremely careful to raise clean seed, and to sow 

 no other. We have had considerable experience in 

 growing clover and other forage seeds, and know how 

 sadly a man maybe injured by purchasing and using 

 foul seed. A farmer in Virginia who will establish 

 a reputation for growing pure clover and timothy 

 seed, can make a fortune at the business. He must 

 manure well and be familiar with this branch of hus- 

 bandry. 



In plowing with a view to improve land, much de- 

 pends upon the condition it is in. If it will bear a 

 crop of rye of five, eight, or ten bushels per acre, it 

 should be plowed early enough to seed with rye in 

 September or October, harrowing in a top-dressing 

 of lime or marl with the seed. If one is short of hay 

 or fodder, sheep and calves can run more or less on 

 this rye field during the winter months. A seed of 

 rye, where the plant tillers well in the fall, by the 

 first of May, if not fed, will give in organized matter, 

 from 50 to 75 times its weight. This immense gain 

 is manure, drawn in a considerable degree from the 

 atmosphere. If it be turned into the soil by the plow, 

 and peas, with a little more lime be sown, they too 

 will draw fertilizing atoms from the air. Hogs may 

 eat the peas in the field, and the land may be plowed 

 deep, well cultivated with a two-horse cultivator, und 

 sown with wheat in October, which is early enough 

 for central or southern Virginia. If the ground ia 

 extremely sterile, plow in the fall deep with a stout 

 team, and let the frosts of winter operate on the min- 

 erals before either seed or lime is applied. In the 

 spring, sow lime and peas, and harrow thoroughly. 

 Southern planters, as a general thing, fail to have 

 first rate harrows ; and when they do have them, 

 they are not used half enough to do up tillage 

 " brown." It is a good plan to sow a few oats with 

 peas, for they assist in keeping the vines from falling 

 upon the ground, where they frequently lot before 

 the seed is ripe. Let hogs ea-t both peas and oats, 

 and plow in all vegetable matter with another coat 

 of lime sown before plowing. Now, sow wheat and 

 apply 200 pounds of the best guano per acre, and 



