THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



43 



can think of in reference to a great deal of] 

 land in our country that will not by the appli- 

 cation of even 200 lbs. of guano produce clo- 

 ver after wheat. Jt is as follows: Plough up 

 in the winter or early spring as much land as 

 you can afford to operate on. A bout the last 

 of May sow one and a half bushels of cow- 

 peas, using at the same time 100 lbs. of guano 

 to the acre. This quantity will give to poor 

 land the power to produce a luxuriant crop of 

 vines. When the pods are beginning to ripen, 

 or rather a little before, turn them in, and then 

 sow wheat on the land with 200 lbs. of guano; 

 and you will have effected by this operation 

 two things; or rather by helping yourself you 

 have set nature to helping you in two ways: 

 the pea-vine draws from the atmosphere a 

 large supply, which, in the form of vegetable 

 matter, is turned into the soil, and during its 

 decomposition acts upon minerals which have 

 locked up in them inorganic matter; these 

 being set free will give your land a good pas- 

 ture for all plants; for it must be observed 

 that all vegetables have more potash in them 

 when green than when dry. This you may 

 have learned in noticing that unseasoned wood 

 ashes make more, soap than seasoned wood 

 ashes. Hence if the greatest benefit is to be 

 derived from a growth of vegetables you must 

 turn them in before they ripen, as they are 

 more abundant in fertilizing elements at such 

 a time, and decompose sooner when in the 

 soil. A friend of mine assured me that on an 

 acre of poor land he had, by the application 

 of 300 lbs. of guano, made a crop of tobacco 

 that brought him one hundred and fifty dollars. 

 Now it would be to the tobacco-maker a wise 

 plan to take ten acres of poor land in the 

 manner I have above showed, viz: plough it 

 up deep in the spring and put in one and a 

 half bushelsof cow-peaswith lOOlbs. of guano; 

 turn all in during the fall, and the ensuing 

 spring sow 2 or 300 lbs. of guano, observing the 

 following rule before putting on the guano, 

 viz: lay off the land in lists the width of the 

 tobacco rows; then sow the guano and reverse 

 the lists: this will throw the guano where you 

 would wish it to be, and incorporate it with 

 the soil at the same time. And by taking the 

 above quantity of land every year for your 

 tobacco, you will after your tobacco have good 

 crops of wheat and clover, for the plain reason 

 that you have in the land all the ingredients 

 necessaTy for these crops. On the other hand, 

 if we proceed with special manures (as guano 

 and bone dust are called) containing one, or 

 only three at most, of the elements of fertility, 

 it is evident that we can make no progress in 

 fertilization unless clover or the pea vine be 

 added. A few years ago I purchased at the 

 University a large amount of ashes, applying 

 them to a piece of land which 1 supposed des- 

 titute of potash. To my surprise they pro- 

 duced no effect commensurate to the expense. 

 We used a good many of them for the purpose 

 of making soap, but it was a tiresome busi- 

 ness; and yet you know, Mr. Editor, that they 



use the very best of wood at the University. 

 We have never found any difficulty in making 

 plenty of soap from green wood, and yet in 

 selling ashes I see no difference in price be- 

 tween ashes made from green wood and that 

 which is made from seasoned. It would ap- 

 pear, too, that the ashes of young wood and the 

 ashes of old wood differs very materially, and 

 hence it follows that clover roots amount in 

 value to more than is imagined when used 

 young than when old, as a fallow. 



Should any of your subscribers have a few 

 acres of land too poor to put in corn with the 

 rest of his field, as is ofien the case, he will 

 find it a good plan to try the pea vine, as above 

 described, ibr a crop of tobacco. 



James Fiee. 



Charlottesville, December, 1852. 



P. S.-We have on all lands lying between 

 the South West mountains and the Blue Ridge, 

 spots that defy the power of manure to make 

 them rich. They are known by the name of 

 chestnut lands. Sometimes you find an acre 

 or more of this sort in a field on which clover 

 will not take. There are, it appears to me, in 

 this range three other soils— iron-stone, free- 

 stone and felspar or granite. If a club could 

 be formed to raise a sufficient amount to have 

 these soils analyzed it would be of use to us. 

 I throw out these suggestions to you, but wish 

 you especially to say if you know whether an 

 application of lime would not remedy those 

 chestnut spots so as to alter the nature of them. 

 In other words, do you suppose they are defi- 

 cient of limel J. F. 



We cannot tell whether the spots spoken of 

 are deficient in lime or not, though we rather 

 think that want of lime is not the defect of 

 any of our red mountain country soils. We 

 know that it is not in the case of the red, puffy, 

 chestnut lands of the South West mountains, 

 commonly called blow lands, of which we 

 have some specimens, first, because we have 

 never known lime, though occasionally tried, 

 to do such lands any good; and next, because 

 our friend, Major Gilham, subjected a sample 

 of just such land to analysis at Shadwell last 

 summer, with a view to exhibit the large pro- 

 portion of sand and lime in it. Taking a table- 

 spoonful of the soil, he poured over it in a 

 saucer a small quantity of muriatic acid dis- 

 solved in water, and filtered the mixture through 

 inside (or white) sugar-loaf paper. The resi- 

 duum was almost pure sand. To the filterer's 

 solution was then added hartshorn, and upon 

 re-filtering, the clay and iron was left in the 

 shape of a gelatinous solution, as it is called, 

 which, upon drying, shrank away to a very 

 I inconsiderable proportion of the sample. To 



