1863. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



317 



Far the New Ensland Farmer. 

 FERTHilTY OF CLAY SOILS. 

 In my agricultural reading, I have seen within 

 a few years past occasional notices of "The Lois 

 Weedon system ;" which I understand to be a 

 theory advocated by an English clergyman named 

 Smith, that wheat may be raised on the same land 

 indefinitely, without manure, under his system of 

 tillage. His plan is, to plant or sow the wheat in 

 drills, or rows, leaving intervening spaces, which 

 are thoroughly cultivated while tlie crop of wheat 

 is growing alongside. The next year these cultiva- 

 ted strips becomes the beds for the wheat, and the 

 space on which it grew the year before is, in its 

 turn, carefully cultivated. Mr. Smith's success has 

 been such as to encourage him to publish quite 

 confidently the opinion that manure may be entire- 

 ly superseded by thorough cultivation, not at Lois 

 Weedon alone, but wherever farmers will stir the 

 soil thoroughly. The following statement, by an 

 English writer, accounts for the wonderful success 

 of the "Lois Weedon system," in a manner quite 

 satisfactory to me, and I should like to see it 

 published in the Farmer. 



"Wet and boggy land, or hecarj/ clay wet soils, 

 like the Lois Weedon soil before Mr. Smith 

 worked it, gradually accumulate a large amount 

 of inorganic and nitrogenous vegetable food. The 

 wet condition produced by the clay and humus, 

 prevent the exhaustion of the land by vegetal)le 

 growth, and the humus prevents the rains from 

 washing out the accumulating plant food. Final- 

 ly, if this land is drained, or its soil is thoroughly 

 worked, forked and dug up in ridges (as is done 

 at Lois Weedon,) so as to let it dry, the humus 

 will decompose into carbonic acid and water, and 

 the plant food it contained will be set free for the 

 plant For this reason, all swampy, wet, heavy 

 clay and boggy land, if thoroughly reclaimed by 

 draining and proper tillage, are much more pro- 

 ductive than light, dry uplands. 



"Mr. Smith has fallen into the error of suppos- 

 ing that his system of farming would give the same 

 marvellous i-esults — they are marvellous — 80 bush- 

 els of wheat to the acre after one year of fallow — 

 upon all land that it does upon his. If the rever- 

 end gentleman were as familiar with the principles 

 of agricultural science, as he is with the hospital- 

 ities of his own pleasant little rural parsonage, he 

 ■would never have proposed his system for adop- 

 tion by farmers generally. To the scientific eye, 

 the results are so obviously such as could only be 

 obtained under peculiar circumstances, that I was 

 surprised to learn that Mr. Lawes should repeat 

 them upon dry upland soils, where it was, a priori, 

 evident no such result could he obtained. Mr. 

 Smith denies that Mr. Lawes followed all his di- 

 rections, but there certainly was no essential devi- 

 ation from them, and he got, as might have been 

 expected, (or rather known,) no increase of crop." 



In connection with the foregoing extract per- 

 mit me to make an inquiry which its perusal has 

 suggested to my mind, viz. : Is it not as unreason- 

 able to suppose that the same favorable results 

 which have followed the thorough drainage of the 

 rich clay soils of England, and of such farms as 

 that of the king drainer of our own country, John 

 Johnston, and others, wliose lands border our 

 rivers and inland lakes, will attend the draining 

 of the thin soil of New England generallj-, as it 



was for Mr. Lawes to think that the "Lois Wee- 

 don " of the bog and clay, would be realized on 

 his " di-y upland soil ? " Query. 



For the Keu> England Farmer. 

 GRAPE CULTiniE, "WINES AND WINE- 

 MAKING— No. 2. 



Coat of Johannisberg Wine. 



Col. Haraszthy then proceeds tu visit the vine- 

 yard of Steinberg, at Biberich, belonging to the 

 Duke of Nassau, and that of Johannisberg, belong- 

 ing to Prince Metternich. These are considered 

 the best vineyards on the Rhine. The former is 

 of about 100 acres and produces, on an average, 

 10,000 gallons ; the latter of about 60 acres. The 

 prices of the wines from these vineyards are enor- 

 mous. For a cask containing 175 gallons of 

 Johannisberg — 84,800 were refused — but that is 

 more than S-7 a gallon. From these quantities and 

 prices, the probability of our getting many baskets 

 of these wines, genuine, may be easily inferred. 

 The best of the land here is worth 20,000 guldens 

 a morgen ; about $12,000 the acre. 



It is universally admitted that a very large cask 

 is better than a small one for the wine, while fer- 

 menting and ripening, as the processes are thus 

 rendered more uniform. 



From Frankfort, by Mayence, to Heidelberg, 

 where he makes a visit to the great tun, the larg- 

 est in the world. This is 32 feet long, 22 feet in 

 diameter at the ends, and 23 in the middle, and 

 cost, in 17ol, $32,000. It has been only three 

 times filled with wine. Up the Rhine to Basle, 

 and on to Geneva ; thence by Mount Cenis, to 

 Turin ; on to Genoa, almost made sick, on the 

 way, by Asti wine. In the neighborhood of Genoa 

 he visits and examines the mulberry orchards and 

 silk worm raising. 



From Genoa, he goes by steamboat to Mar- 

 seilles, having been detained twelve hours on the 

 way, in perfectly fine weather, apparently for no 

 purpose but to give the captain an apology for ex- 

 torting $4 additional from each cabin passenger. 

 Without making any stay at Marseilles, he pro- 

 ceeds immediately by rail towards Bordeaux, mak- 

 ing numerous observations, by the way, upon the 

 cultivation and produce of the country. Passes 

 through Fronlignac, where the Frontignac wine is 

 made from the red and the white Muscat grape. 

 An acre of the land on which these vineyards grow 

 is worth from $3000 to $4000, and the vineyards 

 give generally ten per cent, on the value of the 

 land. This is close by Cette. 



Notwitlistanding this productiveness of the land, 

 "Cette is the great manufacturing place for spuri- 

 ous wines, millions of gallons of imitations being 

 made here, of every brand in existence, and sold 

 to all ])arts of the world, a few drops of the genu- 

 ine being used to give the taste of the difl'erent 

 qualities. So perfect are some of these imitations, 

 that it is with difficulty you can distinguish the 

 spurious wines from the genuine. The country 

 around being flat, and the soil sandy, the wine is 

 very poor, and, as the vines yield largely, the wine 

 is almost as cheap as water. The manufacturers 

 buy up these wines, and by their chemical prep- 

 arations give them a peculiar character, and sell 

 them, mostly to the American market, for good 

 prices. Such are the wines we drink at Chateaii, 

 Margaux, Lafitte, Chambertin, etc. ii. 



