48 



THE GEKESEE FARMER. 



EENOVATINQ WORN OTJT LANDS. 



Editors Genesee Farmer: — For the benefit of 

 others similarly situated, allow me to give your 

 readers my experience in renovating worn out 

 lands. 



My father bought a farm of the "worn out lands," 

 and I, being the fanner, found it rather discour- 

 aging business. The first year or two was a failure, 

 neither of us liaving much experience in farming. 

 Til ere was no manure on the farm, and none for 

 sale in the vicinity. In the winter, I plowed a very 

 poor piece of ground, and sowed it to buckwheat in 

 the spring as soon as the frost would admit. It 

 grew well; and as soon as enough ripened to seed 

 the ground, I plowed it under. It came on very 

 fine, and about the middle of September I plowed 

 it under again, sowing the ground to wheat and 

 timothy. The next harvest the neighbors were 

 astonished at the excellent crop raised. The timo- 

 thy came on finely, and that ridge of poor land 

 yielded an excellent crop of grass the next year. _ 



It re(iuires a good deal of labor to work land in 

 this manner, but in my case it has paid. I kept an 

 account of my labor and expenses, and the wheat 

 crop alone paid all the expenses and yielded me 

 eighty cenU a day for my labor, and the ground 

 was left in good order. 



Another piece, on which the oats were so poor 

 that cattle were turned in to harvest them, was 

 plowed in Augivst and sowed to buckwheat ; and 

 tlie fall being very wet, it had a large growth. 

 When in full bloom, this was turned under and re- 

 mained until spring, when it was prepared and 

 sowed to oats again. The crop was heavy, not- 

 withstanding the season was dry. Rye succeeded 

 the oats in the fall, and was a good crop. 



I can not say how long this manuring will last, 

 though the fields mentioned still remain in good 

 condition. They have been well treated since, with 

 occasionally a few loads of barn-yard manure. T 

 consider this the best way to improve a farm where 

 there is no manure on hand or to b© purchased. 



Ritchie a n., Va. J. M. TV, 



Remarks. — Buckwheat may be, and probably is, 

 an excellent green manure where it is desirable to 

 Lave a large and quick growtli, as it will grow well 

 on (juite poor land. "We should, however, recom- 

 mend our correspondent to follow his buckwheat 

 with red clover, and practice plowing in a good 

 coat of that, before every grain crop. That vete- 

 ran wheat-grower, Gen. Harmon, of TVheatland, 

 N. Y., says ho has manured wheat land for thirty 

 years or more by plowing in clover, and it bore 

 good crops and improved all tl>o time. eds. 



GENERAL IMPORTANCE OF AGRICULTURE. 



Open Drains. — I construct open drains through 

 the lowest part of my fields by first setting a stake 

 at each angle. From these stakes I set oflf, each 

 ■way, eight feet for the center of two ridges run- 

 ning parallel one to the other. By plowing these 

 ridges year after year, in tliis way, I get three good 

 ditches and two ridges sixteen foet wide, which I 

 keep in grass. Drains made in this way will not 

 nil up by frost heaving the banks, and will be found 

 cheap and durable.— D. N., Hammond^ N. Y. 



Every reflecting man recognizes the na-ture, and 

 and admits the value, of agriculture; yet every 

 such man is not himself a farmer, nor can he con- 

 veniently become one — the lots of many being cast 

 in other departments of labor. Probably there are 

 more who would cultivate farms, if they were for- 

 tunate enough to possess them, than there are who 

 possessing them, would forsake them for a vocation 

 less stable. Age, with its wisdom, likes the farm 

 better than youth with its too frequent vain show 

 and empty aspirations. 



If it be true, as Montesquieu observes, that 

 " countries are not cultivated in proportion to their 

 fertility, but to their liberty," then republican 

 America must soon rank second to no other nation 

 in hev perfection of terra-culture. Our agricultural 

 population nwiy not directly lead or control the 

 country, yet they hold the truest sword in its de- 

 fence ; and in the heat of any contest, will imbibe 

 new courage from the recollection of their pleasant 

 and enduring fields at home. 



I desire to present some thoughts upon this sub- 

 ject, in the form of distinct propositions. 



1. As the roots and trunk of a tree are to its 

 branches, so is agriculture to society; it upholds it, 

 and draws from the earth and dispenses its nour- 

 ishment to the diflierent branches of the social 

 fabric, while at the same time it derives new vigor 

 from a vital reciprocity. Hence 



2. Agriculture is the foundation of a well-estab- 

 lished nation, and the most stable element of its 

 wealth, independence, and greatness. Therefore 



8. Agriculture should receive the fostering care 

 of the State, and the respect and encouragement of 

 every patriot. 



4. Every farmer, to prosecute his business suc- 

 cessfully, should feel and cherish an ambition in it, 

 and a conviction that he is just the man for it; 

 and, however unlettered he may be, under such 

 incentives ho will make great progress, not only in 

 the profitable cultivation of his farm, but also in 

 mental improvement. If he has not the stimulus 

 of emulation, he should choose a business where he 

 may be thus prompted, as agriculture can well 

 spare' the "slothful in business." 



5. Although farmers as a body may never expect 

 to become erudite scholars, each and every one 

 would be greatly benefitted by a small library of 

 standard agricultural and miscellaneous books. 

 They are faithful companions that always instruct 

 and elevate, 



6. If it bo the "mind that makes the man," it isK 

 not alone in its intellectual pliase, but also in its- 

 moral Every farmer who chooses, can attain to a 

 degree of intellectual culture, and to a moral stand- 

 ard second to none. He can and ought to make 

 himself the "highest style of man." 



7. Although. — in their wcll-b^ing — ^vocations are 

 mutually dependent, to a greater or lees degree, the 

 farmer should never mistrust the value of his pro 

 fession, but should defend its dignity and worth by *( 

 a commensurate independence before all men. 



Wett Med/ord, ifasn. D. W. L. 



Sant>, to be useful for pl-ants, must be combined k\ 

 witli alkali to dissolve it and render it soluble, soi »sct 

 that it can bo drawn up with the forces of th«f 

 plant. It is then called tilicate. 



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