AND FARMING ERRO&S. 411 



practices, and also the products, were consequently, and almost 

 universally, at a very low ebb. The work of Taylor appeared 

 when these evils had become manifest ; and it was received with a 

 welcome which in warmth was proportioned to the magnitude of 

 the evil, and to the exaggeration of the promises of speedy and 

 effectual remedy which the author made, with entire good faith no 

 doubt, but which were proved, by results, to be anything but cor- 

 rect to the great majority of his sanguine followers. 



Of course, I was among the most enthusiastic admirers of " Ara- 

 tor;" and not only received as sound and true every opinion and 

 precept, but even went beyond the author's intention (perhaps), 

 and applied his rules for tillage to lands of surface and soil alto- 

 gether different from the level and originally rich sandy soils of the 

 Rappahannock, where his labours and system had been so success- 

 ful. However, this error was by no means confined to myself; 

 for his other disciples fully as much misunderstood the directions, 

 and misapplied the practices. 



It was my main object to enrich my then very poor land; 

 and, for that, Taylor offered means that seemed to be sure and 

 speedy. According to his views, it was only necessary to protect 

 the arable land from all grazing, and thus let the vegetable cover 

 of the land, when resting, serve as manure to plough deep, and 

 in ridges to convert all the corn-stalks and other offal to manure, 

 and plough it under, unrotted, for the corn to put the farm under 

 clover as fast as manured and the desired result would be sure. 

 I hoped at first to be able to manure, say 10 or 12 acres a year very 

 heavily, with the barn-yard manure, and expected that such ma- 

 nuring would give a crop of 50 bushels of corn to the acre. The 

 space, so enriched, when in the succeeding crop of wheat, would 

 be put under clover and its acquired productiveness be made 

 permanent, by the lenient rotation of two crops only taken from 

 the land in four years. But utter disappointment followed. The 

 manure was put on the poorest (and naturally poor) land ; and it 

 produced very little of the expected effect in the first course of 

 crops, and was scarcely to be perceived on the second. Clover 

 could not be made to live on land of this kind ; and even on much 

 better, or where more enriched, it was a very precarious crop, and 

 which, where the growth was best, was certain to yield the entire 

 occupancy of the ground to natural weeds after one year. The 

 general non-grazing of the fields under grass, or rather under 

 weeds, produced no visible enriching effect, and the ploughing of 

 hilly land (as mine mostly was) into ridges, caused the most de- 

 structive washing away o,f the soil by heavy rains. These results 

 were not speedily made manifest ; and before being convinced of 

 their certainty, I had laboured for four or five years in using these 

 means of supposed improvement of the soil ; but all of which 



