(ISO) 



eflt day have been entwined "with the wheat andifruitjt;ro»«fn- 

 ing the brow of beneficent Qeves./ Now, these mainspriigj 

 of successful agricultdre in our |fav«red' land are biyt half 

 appreciated, and are thrust aside by the impatient tillerof 

 the. soil for some other cropsuppttsed to bting in moreim-J 

 mediate money profits, but which, in its continued draft^ 

 upon the fertility of the soil, must end in the bankrupteyaS 

 ■well as the ruin of its jiossessorj " ' ' ' ' ii 



In a previous letter to yon I!stated some of the advantaged 

 which the field pea possessed even over its great felloWilaH 

 borer, red clover, as a fertilizer. ' ■ i; i ' o 



1. The pea will thrive upon land too poor to grow clover".' 



'■■ 2. That it will producer heavy and rich eyop' to be re'-: 



turned to the soil in a shorter period than any vegetable 



fertilizer known. '■- ,p 



3. That two crops can be produced on the same gfdruiid* 

 in one yearf whereas it requires two years for clover to give' 

 a hay crop and good aftermath for turning under. lu thitf 

 time four crops of peas can be made. ■ . ■ it 



4. That the pea feeds but lightly Upon- and hence leavetf 

 lai-gely in the soil, those particular elements necessary to a^ 

 fiucceedrng grain crop, and the pea lay, in its decay, putsi 

 back largely into the soil those very elements required for' 

 a vigorous growth of the cereals, ' 



5. There is no crop which is its'equal for leaving the soil' 

 in the very best condition for a Succeeding wheat crop. ' 



6. It is the only crop raised in the South so rapid itt iti 

 growth and perfection as to be made an intervening manui* 

 rial crop between grain cut in the spring and grain sowed' 

 ill the fall upon the same groundi'! And this alone makei^' 

 the pea invaluable to Southern agriculture. ■ ' 



7. la our particular latitude it flourishes equally wit^ 

 clover, and with two such renovators of the sbil (aside frotd' 

 their value as food crops), no portion of the earth is t^ially^ 

 blessed. North of us the pea does not succeed ; South, tW 

 clover fails ; i 



