1860. 



NEW ENGLAND FARjNIER. 



235 



Fur the New England Farmer. 

 KEWOVATING -WOKIf-OUT LANDS. 



Mr. Editor : — Among the manj^ pleasing evi- 

 dences of that "interesting revival" in agriculture, 

 referred to in the Farmer of the 11th ult., is the 

 increasing attention to the subject of this article. 

 Hoio shall ice reclaim our loorn-out fields and 

 pastures, and bring them hack to their former fer- 

 tiliiij'} has become one of the great questions of 

 the times. Any facts which will shed light upon 

 it, I may reasonably suppose, will be acceptable 

 to an increasing number of your readers. 



During the past summer I visited the south 

 shore of the east end of Long Island. Having re- 

 sided there during the years of 183;J-G, I was 

 struck by the manifest improvement in the farms. 

 It may be extravagant, but it seems to me that, 

 since that time, they had improved at least twenhj- 

 five per cent., although in the main, I think then, 

 as now, the farming of Long Island would com- 

 pare favorably with our own. To inquiries, as to 

 the method adopted for improving their farms, I 

 found that the farmers there depended more than 

 we do on generous manuring. To the question, 

 whether they placed great reliance on seaweed 

 and fish, as manures, they replied that although 

 used to some extent, as formerly, they had less 

 confidence in their permanent good results. Their 

 chief resources were their "barn-yards" and "hog 

 pens," with a liberal use of ashes and bone dust, 

 although their ashes must be obtained from Con- 

 necticut and their "bone" from Boston. Peruvi- 

 an guano is employed to some extent as a stimu- 

 lant, but not very generally used. As the sub 

 ject of the "profits of farming" is now attracting 

 so much attention, I presume some light might be 

 shed upon it, if the/ac^s, developed by the expe- 

 rience of these Long Island farmers could be fully 

 understood. And it should be born in mind that 

 they are not "gentlemen farmers," in the usual 

 sense of that cant and much abused phrase, (al- 

 though in its true and legitimate signification they 

 are eminently so,) but hardworking men, who are 

 obliged to get their living and make their money 

 from their farms. 



But I took my pen to give some account of the 

 experiments of a friend of mine. Col. B. IT. FOS- 

 TER, of So. Hampton, in renovating some old and 

 worn-out pasture lands ; of which a lot of fifty 

 acres was bought by his father for $70. This land 

 he describes, as "so run down by what we call the 

 skinning process, that it produced little or noth- 

 ing, had become overrun with moss, whortleberry 

 and barberry bushes, and was not considered worth 

 fencing." He commenced the process some eight 

 years ago, and has succeeded in reclaiming some 

 20 acres. His "object has been," he says, "to 

 make the land productive without an unwarrar.ta- 

 ble out-lay for manure, * * * by plowing in what- 

 ever [he] could get to grow upon it, and applying 

 a small quantity of stimulating manure, that viould 

 produce a crop, and pay for the manure, labor and 

 expenses, and leave the land in an improved and 

 better condition." 



Acting, however, without the benefit of others' 

 experience, he has been compelled to try experi- 

 ments for himself. From these trials and experi- 

 ments, he has arrived at the following conclu- 

 sions : 



1. It is best, by planting with corn or potatoes, 



one or two years, to pulverize the soil. His plan 

 is to sow broadcast IJiO pounds of Peruvian guano 

 ]5er acre on the sward, as near the time of plow- 

 ing as possible — indeed, to sow as they plow. He 

 then applies four two-horse loads of good manure 

 from the hog-pen, if for corn, in the hill. He 

 thinks it best to pursue this course two years in 

 succession. The following spring, plow as soon 

 as the season will admit, a])ply broadcast 25 bush- 

 els of bone-dust, sow oh bushels of oats, harrow 

 thoroughly, then sow 6 pounds of clover seed, and 

 roll it smooth. Take ofi" the crop of oats, and if 

 wanted, let it be used as pasture in the fall. The 

 next spring the clover is allowed to grow as if for 

 mowing, till the middle of June; a roller is passed 

 over it, and then it is plowed in, the furrows 

 pressed down by a roller, and then l-i bushels of 

 corn is sown broadcast, and thoroughly harrowed 

 in. When it has attained its greatest height and 

 bulk, or when it is fairly "spindled," it is then 

 broken down by a roller and plowed under. By 

 a very simple contrivance of a chain attached to 

 the v,hippletree and one of the handles of the 

 plow, near the ground, the whole is completely 

 covered. There are then, if the experiment is 

 successful, two heavy green crops plowed in dur- 

 ing the second season ; of course adding a large 

 amount of vegetable matter to the ground so treat- 

 ed. During the first season, the crop of oats is 

 taken ofi", and this helps to meet the expense of 

 the experiment. The same process may be re- 

 peated dui-ing the next two seasons ; or other 

 crops may be put in. 



2. "After trying buckwheat, oats, rye, corn and 

 clever," he says, "through a succession of seasons, 

 i have come to the conclusion that clover and 

 corn, as above described, is decidedly best for the 

 soil of Long Island." 



3. Cost. — Col. F. gives the following as a rough 

 estimate of the profit and loss account of an acre 

 treated as above described : 



Da. 



To 150 lbs. of .truano $4.50 



To 4 loads of manuie 6,00 



To plowing 1,50 



To harrowing 75 



To planting. . .'. 2,75 



To lioeiiig and cultivating 2,50 



To cutting and gathering 4,00— $22,00 



Ca. 



By 40 bushels of corn, at 75c $30.Q0 



By 2 tons corn stalks , 6,00— $36,00 



Profits first year $14,00 



Profits second year 14,00— $28,00 



Third Year. Dk. 



To 25 bushels of bone dust, 41c $10,25 



To i)lowiiig and harrowing 2,00 



To burvesting au.l threshing 3,00 



To G', bushels of oats for seed 1,58 



To 6 pounds of clover seed 60— $17,43 



Cu. 



By 45 bushels of oats at 45c $20,25 



By 1 ton of straw 6,00— $26,25 



Profits of third year 8,82 



Profits for three years $u6,82 



He says : I have given in the above estimate as 

 small a crop as 1 have ever taken under the pro- 

 cess here described. Several years my yield of 

 corn has been at the rate of 50 bushels to the acre, 

 and my general yield of oat« has been at the rate 

 of 50 bushels to the acre. 



In this simple statement of facts, we have ma- 

 terials afi'orded for an answer to the question with 

 which I commenced this article. And why shall 



