68 [Assembly 



farm of thomas shillingsford. 



Your committee respectfully report that on the 17th day of 

 July last, they visited the farm of Thomas Shillingsford Esq. of 

 the town of Clinton, Essex Co., N. J., to view a crop of Indian 

 corn at his request. 



The soil of this farm is a debris of the volcanic formations 

 ■which run along the west side of the Hudson river forming the 

 palisade rocks, and is the basis of a large portion of the soils, 

 and earth through the central portions of the upland in New- 

 Jersey. 



The farm itself is situated on a swelling ridge of land extend- 

 ing south and west of Newark. The soil is largely argillaceous, 

 hard, tenacious in the extreme, and filled with innumerable 

 quantity of stone, mostly of the volcanic green stone formation, 

 slate, flint and boulder green stones are mixed in strange confu- 

 sion and show themselves in great abundance, wherever the soil 

 on Mr. Shillingsford farm is turned up: his lands for a long series 

 of years prior to the recent occupation of his farm by himself, was 

 rented out to tenants whose practice is, as a general rule, to take 

 off every thing from the farm in the shape of fertility, and to 

 carry nothing on in return, his farm appeared to your committee, 

 to have been completely exhausted on the surface wherever Mr. 

 Shillingsford had not commenced the recent and improved 

 methods of^usbandry. His system is first to plow and subsoil to 

 the depth of 24 inches, the stone are taken out of the ground, he 

 then plies it freely with muck which has been composted in his 

 barn yard, the next operation is to apply a heavy dressing of 

 quick lime ; this renders the land healthy and fertile for cultiva- 

 tion : the ground crops and Indian corn are now introduced to the 

 soil, the subsoiling and the muck afford the necessary facilities 

 for the tap-roots to run down and drain their nutriment from the 

 improved soil, to the lowest depths required for their growth. 



• 

 The field of Indian corn on which Mr. Shillingsford invited 



your committee to give their particular attention, consisted of 



about 8 acres, it had been plowed up twice before planting in 



