232 



THE SOUTHEKN PLANTER. 



nclosed; and be it remembered that the worst 

 land on the farm for cultivation is often the best 

 for this purpose. Without such a pasture it would 

 be very difficult and very troublesome to subsist 

 the requisite number of cattle and sheep for the 

 uses of 'the farm. I am by no means one of those 

 who consider the conversion of the refuse matters 

 of a farm into manure, by the agency of animals, 

 as a useless process; on the contrary, I have been 

 surprised, indeed I may say shocked, to hear the 

 affirmative of that proposition maintained by some 

 of our farmers who are highly skilful in other re- 

 spects, on the ground that no addition is made to 

 the mass, and in truth, that the quantity is consi- 

 derably diminished by undergoing the process. 

 This is one of the many fallacies propagated by 

 the agricultural chemists ; and if my memory serves 

 me rightly, the idea was first started by Sir Hum- 

 phrey Davy. Great names, however, cannot conse- 

 crate great errors, though for a time they often 

 give them wide currency. The food of man is of- 

 ten very much diminished, both in bulk and weight, 

 by undergoing the process of cooking, and yet who 

 believes it to be less nutritious on that account 1 

 May not a due preparation of the food of plants 

 also add to its efficacy 1 I think it may, and from 

 my experience, does. 



May I here say, and be pardoned for saying, what 

 has long been my opinion in regard to the true basis 

 of the science of agriculture — that the practice of 

 skilful men engaged in agriculture, in other words, 

 the experience of experienced and sagacious men, 

 whose time and talents are devoted to the subject 

 and that only, is the true basis of that science. My 

 gorge has often risen to see agricultural chemistry 

 wrongfully made the corner stone of the stately 

 edifice. That chemistry may and does occasionally 

 make discoveries that practical men are daily turn- 

 ing to great advantage, is not to be denied. She 

 is a potent auxiliary, and to this point her just 

 claims extend, but no farther. In the highly inte- 

 > resting and beautiful agricultural address delivered 

 by the Hon. William C. Rives, on a recent occasion 

 at Saratoga, in New York, I was very much gratified 

 to see this same opinion strongly maintained, on 

 • the authority of a Mr. Pusy, who is represented 

 to be one of the foremost agricultural writers of 

 ^England. Having proceeded to a division of the 

 •farm into five fields, let one of them be well ploughed 

 for corn, taking care to penetrate as deep as the 

 nature of the soil will permit, without mixing too 

 much of the dead subsoil with the surface earth. 

 ! .On soils accessible to lime, and on which it acts 

 well, let a handsome dressing be applied, varying 

 from thirty-five to one hundred bushels, according 

 to the capacity of the soil to bear it. I would pre- 

 fer using lime to marl, of the ordinary sort, at the 

 outset, unless the marl was very easy of access, 

 and very rich in calcareous matter, because the 

 work of calxing can be carried on so much more 

 expeditiously, from the fact that a much less quan- 

 tity of lime will have the desired effect, and that 

 the requisite quantity of calcareous matter, there- 

 fore, can be so much more easily transported in 

 that shape.* It seems to me, too, that from the 

 slight causticity of lime, not too much slacked by 

 either air or water, a more immediate effect is ob- 

 tained than from calcareous matter in the milder 

 and more effete shape of marl. Lime, when brought 

 even from the Hudson to James river, loose in the 

 bold of a vessel, is found to act much more hap- 

 pily, when applied, without unnecessary exposure 

 to rain and air, as soon as it is landed. I would 



also give the corn field a dressing of about 200 lbs. 

 of guano to the acre at the time it receives the 

 second ploughing, say when the corn is about twelve 

 inches high ; and at the last ploughing would lay 

 it down in peas, sowing a bushel to the acre. My 

 object in doing this would be to procure a good 

 seed bed for the ensuing crop of wheat, and at the 

 same time be adding to the vegetable matter in the 

 soil. Clover must be sown on this field the spring 

 after it goes in wheat. During the winter and 

 spring another field must be ploughed up and 

 limed ; and after giving it 100 lbs. of guano to the 

 acre, let it be laid down in peas, as a preparation 

 for wheat ; and when the wheat is sown let the dose 

 of guano be repeated. Go on in this way through 

 the entire rotation, using clover and plaster, and 

 making and applying on the clover field all the pu- 

 trescent manures possible. I am in the habit of 

 collecting during the winter, and scattering over 

 my farm pens, all the ashes I can lay my hands 

 on. It will be well, perhaps, to adopt this plan, 

 which certainly improves the mass of manure very 

 much. 



Under the six and seven field systems it would 

 be necessary the first year to break up and lime 

 three fields ; the corn field to receive a dressing of 

 guano, as under the five field system, but not to go 

 in peas till the second year. The other two fields 

 should be served as above, sowing guano and peas 

 as a preparation for wheat. One of these fields 

 must be sown in clover the spring after it has been 

 laid down in wheat. This course of improvement 

 should be continued on all the fields in proper or- 

 der until, by the due use of lime or marl, and pu- 

 trescent manures, the crops of clover become suffi- 

 ciently heavy to justify the abandonment of the 

 use of guano on the clover fallow. 



The corn field under these systems (the six and 

 seven field) may be laid down in rye in August or 

 September, instead of reserving it for a pea fallow 

 the next year, and a very rough harrowing would 

 suffice to cover it. Let it be fed to hogs as it. 

 stands, when mature. It is stated on high autho- 

 rity that rye, used in this way, is very much relied 

 on as an improver in Ohio. I think, though, I 

 should myself prefer the pea fallow as a prepara- 

 tion for wheat, for the obvious reason that a scat- 

 tering of rye would almost inevitably be found in 

 the crop of wheat that followed. 



As I told an old friend and former manager of 

 mine, some time ago, who now cultivates a farm of 

 his own, labor is so high now-a-days that no one 

 can afford to make bad. crops, and the magic of 

 guano must be resorted to when other means fail. 

 It must be admitted, however, to be a most expen- 

 sive manure. 



Whatever opinions I may once have held in re- 

 gard to the expediency of making small applica- 

 tions of lime, after an accumulated experience of 

 many years since that time, I am now in favor of 

 repeated and large doses on lands that will bear it, 

 and as an agent in improvement I estimate lime far 

 more highly than guano, at the price we have to 

 pay for it. Guano may be used to great advantage 

 on poor lands, and on lands not accessible to calca- 

 reous manures, and not improvable by them, and 

 on plantations on which large crops of tobacco are 

 grown. I know it is a controverted proposition, 

 but my observation, backed by an actual expe- 

 rience of more than ten years, leads me to the con- 

 clusion that that crop is rather inimical to a high 

 state of agricultural improvement, when full crops 

 are aimed at. This arises from the fact that it ex- 



