342 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



APriii< ir,, m4o 



the forests on the liigljlaiids, their attraction of wa- 

 ter from the atmospiicre to irrigate tlie slopin;r hills 

 and the valleys, and to replenish the rivers, and to 

 cause them to fertilize the bottom lands with their 

 annual inundations? The evidences of ponds and 

 lakes are discernable everywhere. 



This now fortunate coLintry which we possess, is 

 in the full enjoyment of advantages lost to the un- 

 happy Spain. Shall we secure thoni by a prudent 

 uae, under the guidance of an enlightened philoso- 

 phy, or shall we, like the prodigal son, dissipate 

 and waste this goodly heritage ? Shall we kill the 

 hen which lays the golden eggs.' Shall we strip 

 Our highlands of their trees, which bring to all that 

 lies beneath, the essential part of our golden har- 

 vests ? 



The Gauls, generally, when first conquered by 

 tlie Romans, were well wooded ; and those parts 

 of the same country, now called western Europe, 

 which have preserved the most forests or found a 

 substitute in the cultivation of ornamental trees, or 

 the vine and the olive, remain the most fertile ; and 

 the best vintages, and the best crops of all sorts, 

 are made under their shelter. 



Perhaps it may conduce to the object now in 

 view, viz. the preservation ot forest trees, to state 

 tlie dilRcultieS of replenishing w»ith wood the hills 

 or vast open tracts of land exposed to the storms of 

 winter or the desicating blasts of summer. 



Betwixt Bordeaux aBihBayonne, in France, tliere 

 is a great extent of sea -coast, from whence are 

 blown immense drifts of sand, which were encroach- 

 ing fearfully on the fertile soil beyond. The 

 French government had made various altempts to 

 atop its progress, until about seventy years ago, 

 when a philosophical engineer proposed to prepare 

 a wide belt of land, the whole length, taken from 

 that part yet capable of cultivation, and to sow it 

 broadcast with pine. The plan succeeded, and 

 the sand-drift has been stopped. The sectional 

 view of this plantation explains the whole philoso- 

 hy of the scheme, in the most graphic language. 



10 trees nearest to the shore are very short, and 

 'almost buried in sand; but the successive lines in- 

 wards, rise gjmidually, until the innermost range 

 presents full grown trees. This niay be a lesson 

 for some of our western farmers, if tliey should ever 

 find it necessary or useful to protect the grain and 

 the grass of the prairie lands from the exhausting 

 blasts of summer or the chilling winds of spring. 



Now to replenish the denuded hills with their 

 coat of verdure, is a mare diflicult task, and re- 

 quires ages to accomplish it. This has not yet 

 been effected, I believe, by the liands of man; al- 

 though it was attempted many years ago by the 

 government of Spain. Colonies »i-ere brought 

 from Germany with a view to improvs' .the cultiva- 

 tion generally, of the neglected soil; "they were lo- 

 cated in the hilly country. It seems that the colo- 

 nists were aware of the importance of covering the 

 highlands with those fructifying forests wliich they 

 left at home ; and made various attempts to effect 

 this, but all, thus far, unsuccessful. In fact, they 

 began wrong; they wanted the aid of the French 

 philosophical engineer ; they began on the highest 

 ground, instead of beginning at the foot of the hills. 

 This last was probably nature's process, when she 

 first began to clothe with verdure the hills which 

 her internal fires had thrown up. But it will be 

 perceived here, that the broadcast plantation men- 

 tioned above, which was but an affair of sixty or 

 Beventy years, would require many repetitions of 

 that period of time, to climb to the lop of high hills 



by the same process ; for the ascending forest could 

 climb no faster than that it could find shelter from 

 below. 



These, then, are the difficulties of clothing hills 

 which have been once thoroughly deprived of their 

 trees, in an open countrji) without adjoining forests ; 

 and that consideration ought to make us think twice 

 before we cut down a single mountain tree. Al- 

 though such forests were never to know the axe, 

 still they would pay good interest to the whole 

 neighborhood ; and it might be good policy for 

 townships to own such highlands, and to keep them 

 untouched forever. Much timber was imprudently 

 cut down in Spain to build ships, and to furnisli 

 outfits for the golden harvest of South America, 

 whose discovery was the most unfortunate event in 

 the history of Spain. 



The attraction and the discharge of the clouds 

 in rain and electric fluids, by forest trees on high 

 lands, is not the only advantage which may come 

 from that source, if there be any truth in the con- 

 jectures above, on the formation of vegetable ali- 

 ment. If tliat theory be correct, and I can discover 

 no reason to doubt it, these wood-capl hills must be 

 perpetual laboratories of vegetable substance, which 

 every shower brings down to the plains below. It 

 is like the fertilizing waters of t!ie Nile, which 

 bring from the mountains of Central Africa their 

 superfluous vegetable matter, without ever exhanst- 

 ing the supply. 



I would offer a few more remarks, to convince 

 the most incredulous, if any such there be, that veg- 

 etable matter may be greatly increased without 

 the aid of manure, and by the combined action of 

 the elements, among which water seems to be the 

 material basis, and heat, airtind light, the vivifying 

 |.rinciple — the p^a^us of vegetable life. 

 (To he conlinued.) 



For the Now England Farmer, 



LETTER FROM JOSHUA K. LAWTON, 

 Explaining his Mode of Cultivalion. 



Gt. Bakrington, March 20th, 1840. 



Rev. H, Colman — Dear Sir — I cannot do justice 

 to my feelings without tendering to you my unfeign- 

 ed thanks for your repeated favors, and especially 

 your personal visits at iny place. The honor con- 

 ferred on me by the Massachusetts Agricultural 

 Society's committee, in making me again one of 

 the successful competitors on farms, is of no small 

 gratification; therefore I do feel much indebted to 

 you, sir, for your arduous labors in carrying into 

 operation this great and grand stimulant, which has 

 caused the breast of the husbandmai) to thirst for 

 knowledge and instruction, awakening into action 

 and directing the dormant faculties of men to their 

 best interest, and Unit too which enlarges and fills 

 their barns, multiplies their bushels of grain, and 

 renders their soil healthy and productive. 



In viewing the report of the committee, I find 

 their views do not all correspond with my theory 

 of ploughing sward land and stacking hay. In 

 those particulars I will give my reasons why I dif- 

 fer in practice from the opinion of the committee. 



1st. I have been a dependant farmer, standing 

 in need of the avails of my fields for defraying the 

 necessary expenses of the farm and family; there- 

 fore it has caused me to experiment (though not 

 extensively,) more or less every year, and especial- 

 ly in ploughing, and that too in the commencement 

 of my farming system. Deep ploughing, where the 



soil is thin, either naturally or made so by shallov 

 ploughing and tillage, calls for 40 or 50coidso 

 manure to the acre, to prepare it to bring a goo( 

 cropofcprn. If a dry season ensues, and the ma 

 nure is not incorporated with the soil, the plant suf 

 fers for the want of moisture, and the crop is lighl 

 The farmer in the country where his means ari 

 limited for making or procuring manure by pur 

 chase, can do justice to but a few acres ; and there 

 fore cannot raise one quarter of the grain or root 

 necessary for fattening their swine and beef catti 

 and for family consumption. Of course he cannc 

 meet the demands that will come against him, an 

 consequently he must fall in arrears. Should h 

 have one or two hundred acres of thi.i tillagebl 

 land, much of it must lie a number of years in 

 dormant, useless state, before he can, by plougliin 

 and manuring, bring it into a state oi fertility, wliic 

 would require surplus funds to Some considerabl 

 amount to carry on his business. " Necessity, 

 with me, has been to some extent, " the mother c 

 invention." This plan, therefore, I have adoptet 

 and as rigidly as I have been able, have pursue 

 the method of ploughing which I have stated i 

 my comrnunication to the committee of the Massa 

 chuselts Society on farms ; that is, to make all th 

 manure I can, plough deeper and deeper every yea 

 accordingly as I can manure, and bring my land 

 in a steady progression up to a high state of culti 

 vation. I would explain myself more fully by giv 

 ing you a statement of the management of one k 

 of twelve acre.-!, which had been ploughed shallow 

 being rather cold clayey land, as much so us an 

 I have. 



The first years after it came into my possessioi 

 it was almost useless to me. It had no sward an 

 yielded no production of much value. The sight i 

 this lot gave me pain every time I crossed it, thong 

 my neighbors would sometimes say to me they ha 

 seen good crops on this ground for some years afte 

 it was cleared off. In the year 1837, I made u 

 my mind to see what I could do with this doi 

 mant piece of land ; I therefore stacked upon : 

 some hay, peas and straw; foddered them opt o 

 the land, drew on and spread twelve cords of ma 

 nure to the acre, mostly compost, and in the sprin 

 of 1838, I ploughed it carefully to the depth of fiv 

 inches, which brought up some yellowish dea 

 loam. I then harrowed and planted it to corn abou 

 the 10th and 12tli of May. It came up appearin 

 rather sickly, being on this dead loam. I the 

 had it plastered and hoed ; and until the roots ha 

 reached the manure, it wore the same forbiddin 

 appearance that the lot had shown for years pas 

 It was ploughed and hoed three times. It finall 

 returned me fiftyeight bushels and some quarts t 

 the acre. In the following spring of 163!.), I sowe 

 it to spring wheat and oats, after ploughing six in 

 dies deep, which was an inch deeper than it wa 

 ploughed in sward. It gave me twenty bushel 

 wheat and fortyfive bushels oat.-i to the acre. Fo 

 the wheat on this land, the committee of the Berk 

 shire Agricultural Society gave me the first pre 

 mium. 



Thus you see, sir, that the systoiji which I har 

 pursued for many years, cannot be the worst if it i 

 not the best. I however hold myself open to con 

 viction on this as well as on every other branch o 

 my profession. 



About 144 [loads ?] of manure were all that couh 

 be spared for this lot. Had I put this manure oi 

 three acres and then ploughed it eight or nine in 

 ches deep, it would have taken the cnrn roots al 



