Improvement of Land, 195 



The foreg-oing- letter is published, for the encourag-emcnt of those who 

 live on worn and exhausted lands- Some persons thus situated have late- 

 ly written to the society ; some in the part of the country wherein Mr. A. 

 lives, and most probably on the same kind of land. They alledg-ed that 

 they could not procure dung-, that plaister would not operate, and that 

 //wiewastoo dear Let them follow the example of their ye/Zotu coj^«fr}'- 

 onan. But the mixing of lime while the vegetable substances are putrefy- 

 ing-, is a mistake. It had better be put on the land ; or if it must be min- 

 gled with the manure, let it be after the fermentation is over. The de- 

 sponding- correspondents of the society, w^ere advised to adopt the follow- 

 ing epitome of good husbandry. Some of Mr. A's cornstalks might have 

 been cut by a machine now much used, and given to the stock. 



The advice given to these farmers of worn land, is familiar to every 

 careful husbandman. 



1. If no water be in your barn yard— dig a well ; and confine your stock 

 from Novemj^er to May : never permitting- them to wander after water, or 

 the provender of the stalk field, or miserable fogg of the fields, in which 

 they empty themselves and scatter their dung, instead of filling them- 

 selves either for profit or oeconomy. Let not a hoof unnecessarily leave 

 your yard. 



2. Haul into the yard, every putrescible substance you can get ; and 

 when proper, clean up the yard, and have a pen for your manure, both from 

 the yard and stables, inaccessible to cattle or horses ; whose poaching or 

 treading pi-events fermentation, and is highly injurious. Mix earth with 

 your litter, rather than iime. 



3. Plough your fields in the fail, seven inches deep. But plough no more 

 than you can manure ; and let the rest lia waste, till you can do it justice. 

 Buy lime .-—if you cannot reach two acres, be content with one. Move 

 your fences, and plough up their sites Mix leaves, weeds and all putre- 

 liable substances, in long and low beds ; so as to be turned by the plough, 

 and become excellent compost. For this purpose also, go into your woods, 

 and, with leaves and wood soil, make beds of compost of tliese matcrialsj 

 as well as of the mould in low places, into which it has washed, or has 

 been deposited by ponds of water, or rains and fioods. 



4. Lime your fall ploughed fallow with forty bushels to the acre. Plant 

 Indian corn ; put covipost on the hills, unci plaister the corn. 



5. After the corn is gathered ; cut your stalks, and haul them to yo\U' 

 yard. Plough again for a winter fallow. Your ploughing (except for seed) 

 should never be less than five to seven inches deep. 



6. In the sprmg harrow in bucRvheat, to be rolled and ploughed in when 

 in full blossom, with an East Jersey plough without a coulter, or any other, 

 that will not choak. 



7. Put on what dung you have made, and plough it in with your seed. 

 Your compost will now be fit for top dressing your wheat ,• which is to be 

 the crop of this year ; and sow no more than you can manure. 



8. On the wheat sow clover seed— and the succeeding spring— plaister 

 the clover. All this can be accomplished in two or three years. When 

 you have perfectly learned this alphabet, you will get into habits that wiiJ 

 enable you to teach, instead of requiring instruction 



9. When your old fields have inert vegetable matter (as is the case wit!) 

 most old fields) plaister them, to throw up pasture, and encrease your 

 stock by this additional subsistence. 



10. Never sow in a foul or weedy fallow, to save a ploughing ; or on a wet 

 one to save time. Avoid oats and exhausting crops— and never stuhhle in, 

 or let one chaiiy-husked, or culmiferous crop immediately follow another. 



11 Change your crops, aiid destroy weeds; or they will destroy you. Tuni 

 a foe into a friend, by turning them mto manui'e. Explore your own, and 

 the neighbouring farms, for marie, clay, peat, earths, or substances for 

 experiment on your fields. Be not discouraged by failure, but persist in 

 essays, on a small scale, till you sticceed. 



