44 EVIDENCE OP FACTS. 



whether a tithe of the promised benefit was realized upon trial on 

 any farm having generally such soils. 



In a field of mine that has been secured from grazing since 1814, 

 and cultivated on the mild four-shift rotation, the produce of a 

 marked spot has been measured every fourth year (when in corn) 

 since 1820. The difference of product has been such as the dif- 

 ferences of season might have caused and the last crop (in 1828) 

 was worse than those of either of the two preceding courses. 

 There is no reason to believe that even the smallest increase of 

 productive power had taken place in all the preceding fourteen 

 years. [Nor has there been, to 1841, in the apparent products of 

 this ground, any manifestation that there has been any more of 

 subsequent than of previous improvement, from the vegetable 

 manurings furnished by its growth. 1842.] 



[A still more striking proof, because of the much larger scale, as 

 well as long continuance of the experiment, has been very recently 

 (in 1842), as well as in former times, mentioned to me, as confirm- 

 ation of my views in this respect. Col. George Blow, of Sussex, 

 a highly respectable gentleman and intelligent and observant 

 farmer, had adhered for nearly thirty years to Taylor's " enclosing 

 system/' and with a very mild rotation, on a farm of 600 arable 

 acres, of sandy soil, and originally poor ; and had taken but one - 

 crop (corn) in every three years. A few spots only of better 

 quality (the sites of old buildings^ &c.) were put in wheat or oats 

 after the corn; the great body of the land having had regularly 

 two years in three to rest, and to manure itself by its volunteer 

 growth of weeds and grass. Very little grazing, and that but 

 rarely, was permitted. There could have been no material mistake 

 as to the general products and results ; and the proprietor is confi- 

 dent that the land has not improved in production in all this long 

 time. Yet, on soil differently constituted, Col. Blow has improved 

 and increased the products, rapidly and profitably. These two 

 facts, though observed more particularly and for longer time than 

 any others known, agree with, and are but confirmatory of others 

 presented to some extent on almost every farm in the tide-water 

 region of Virginia. 1842.] 



It is far from my intention, by these remarks, and statements of 

 facts, to deny the propriety, or to question the highly beneficial 

 results, of applying the system of improvement recommended by 

 * Arator/ to soils originally fertile. On the contrary, it is as much 

 my object to maintain the facility of restoring to worn lands their 

 natural degree of fertility, by vegetable applications, as it is to 

 deny the power of exceeding that degree, however low it may have 

 been. 



One more quotation will be offered, because its recent date and 

 the source whence it is derived furnish the best proof that it is still 



