THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



515 



greater progress and improvement within the 

 last ten years than in any former period of 

 twice that time. Taking the whole area of 

 land pUvnted to this crop in the State, the cal- 

 culation shows a decline in the product, of 

 1,600,000 bushels. In the same period of ten 

 years, the yield of wheat has fallen off about 

 one bushel and three-quarters per acre. The 

 average yield in the State, according to the last 

 census, w^as but 11.43 bushels per acre. Pota- 

 toes show a greater decline — about 25 per cent, 

 or from 92^- bushels to less than 70 bushels 

 per acre. Buckwheat also shows a material 

 decline, while rye alone indicates a slight in- 

 crease, which is attributed to the fact that some 

 of the better land was sown to this crop in the 

 place of wheat. 



The writer, in quite an elaborate article on 

 this subject, concludes with the following re- 

 marks, which should command the serious at- 

 tention of every farmer : " There are grave 

 errors in going over with the plow so large a 

 surface, to the serious injury of the farming 

 lands, not only of New York, but of all other 

 States in the Union, for the practice is univer- 

 sal in this country. Feeling deeply the impor- 

 tance of the principle involved, which applies 

 to agriculture everywhere, I respectfully ask 

 thinking men to consider the following facts: 



1. When vegetable mould is consumed by 

 tillage, it cannot be restored again except at 

 considerable expense, either in labor or in time, 

 by the rest of the field. 



"2. Where latent elements of fertility, such 

 as phosphoric and sulphuric acids, potash, soda, 

 lime* and magnesia, locked up in insoluble 

 compounds, are first rendered soluble, and then 

 removed from the soil, either in crops, or by 

 moving water passing over and through the 

 earth cultivated, the sterility of the land in 

 that condition is much worse than it is where 

 these latent resources remain intact. 



"3. The natural laws which govern the de- 

 crease of fruitfulness, are at all times inexora- 

 ble; and therefore, it is the part of Avisdom in 

 the good husbandman, not only to study and 

 learn them, but carefully to obey them. 



" 4. Farmers ought to remember that Nature 

 never plows the ground when she produces her 

 largest and oldest forest trees, which sometimes 

 grow every year for ten centuries, and every 

 year extract from the same soil soluable salts of 

 potash, lime, magnesia, iron and soda, which 

 are deposited in the cells of the trees, there to 

 remain perchance for a thousand years ; and 

 yet the soil is not exhausted by this millennial 

 draft on its resources." 



This process of depletion that is taking place 

 in the soil of the State of New York, is going 

 on at a still more rapid rate in every State in 

 the West. It is the clearest conviction of this 

 fact, from the experience of thirty years in the 

 State of New York and nnore t'iian twenty 

 years in the West, that impels us so frequently 

 and with so much earnestness, to urge upon 



our farmers the importance of more carefully 

 husbanding every material upon the farm that 

 can be converted into manure and applying it 

 to the soil. System and care in cultivation, 

 with a due regard to a proper rotation of crops, 

 connected with the rearing and fattening oi 

 farm animals, which, in the main will be found 

 the most profitable course with all, are the 

 means to be employed to arrest this evil. 



The experience of the old world as well aa 

 of all the older States of America, should 

 teach us lessons on this point that should at 

 once stay the progress of this exhausting 

 system. — Valley Farmer. 



Pasture Lands. 



In the management of pasture lands, it 

 is an excellent plan, where the nature of 

 the ground favors the operation, to free 

 the surface of bushes, stones, stumps, &c., 

 and plow it carefully once every six or eight 

 years, harrow thoroughly, and sow on the 

 seeds of such grasses as are found to be 

 best adapted to the locality, and the most 

 valuable as a summer food for stock. 



Herd's grass (timothy) white and red 

 clover, red and brown top, make an excel- 

 lent stocking for light pastures. The re- 

 cuperative power of pasturage lands is 

 such as to render application of manures 

 of less consequence than on other lands; 

 yet it will be Ibund beneficial to apply, oc- 

 casionally, a light dressing of plaster, 

 lime, or what is better still, wood ashes — 

 all of which have a tendency to promote 

 the development of vegitation in the early 

 spring, as well as to sustain it in season of 

 severe and protracted drought. These ap- 

 pliances tend also to bring into action the 

 energies of the humus contained in the 

 soil, and to render the silicates S(»luble, 

 and consequently in a proper condition to 

 be taken up by tlie roots of plants. 



From the inert humus, and certain 

 other substances of a mineral character, 

 the soil of our pastures derives the power 

 of recuperation — or self-replenishment — 

 which it is supposed to possess. But it is 

 enough to remark, that, apart from the 

 phenomena of vegetable growth and decay, 

 in no such power is recognized nature. If 

 we annually remove the produce of a field 

 or pasture, without m.aking any returns in 

 the form of manure, we shall necessarily 

 pretty rapidly impoverish the soil. 



In fallowing — that is, in plowing and 

 harrowing land without sowing it— no veg- \ 

 etation is allowed to mature; all that the 



