THE SOUTHE 



dressing, is, that it can be done at any of the 

 seasons of leisure, when the farmer is not pressed 

 by the business of seeding, or harvesting. By 

 faithfully pursuing this course, we have qua- 

 drupled the value of our worn-out lands, here, 

 within the last forty years; and I can only say, 

 that if it will not do the same for the exhausted 

 soils of Virginia, they must be very different 

 from those of Chester county." 



In reply to the foregoing hasty and desultory 

 remarks, Mr. Tyler (for whose use they were 

 written) suggested the difficulty of changing 

 the system in Virginia, where the farms and 

 fields are very large, and the farmer conceives it 

 necessary to make large crops in order to sus- 

 tain himself, and desired my opinion in reference 

 to that difficulty. I felt the force of the objec- 

 tions, and am very sensible of my inabilitj^ to 

 afford a satisfactory answer. The following is 

 a copy of what I had to say on the subject, 

 which is also at your disposal: 



"I should be pleased, if it were in my power, 

 to furnish satisfactory answers to the inquiries 

 propounded in your favor of the 16th instant, 

 (September,) but I am aware of the difficulties 

 attending an entire change in any established 

 system of Agriculture; and especially under 

 such circumstances as those you mention. Agri- 

 cultural habits are, I think, the hardest of all 

 others, to break in upon ; and in some instances, 

 they seem to be necessarily controlled and fixed 

 by the character of the soil, or by the institu- 

 tions and customs of the community. In the 

 tide-water districts of New Jersey, Maryland, 

 Virginia, and perhaps the whole of our maritime 

 frontier, where a light sandy soil predominates, 

 I am sensible it is difficult, if not impracticable, 

 to introduce the grazing system, to which our 

 farmers are so partial, in Chester county. Loose 

 sands will not retain manures like stiffer soils — 

 neither are they so propitious to the growth of 

 those valuable natural grasses, which are the 

 main reliance of the grazier ; and hence the 

 proprietors of such lands are compelled to resort 

 to frequent crops of grain. Yet I believe, even 

 naked sands may be vastly improved, by re- 

 peated dressings of lime, and a liberal admixture 

 of argillaceous earths. But, of course, such 

 lands, and all exhausted lands, can only be gra- 

 dually reclaimed. The farmer must be content, 

 in those cases, to cultivate a very limited sur- 

 face ; and what he does, must be done effectually, 

 or he can never expect to procure an enduring 

 grassy turf. I do not know that any sugges- 

 tions which I can make, will be applicable to 

 your farm, under the circumstances ; but if the 

 soil is a good loam, or is cohesive enough to 

 hold manure, and favor the growth of the va- 

 luable grasses, I should think it might be brought 

 gradually, and advantageously, into a condition 

 for grazing. It may not be practicable, at once, 

 to diminish the extent cultivated, without di- 



RN PLANTER. 267 



minishing the grain crops ; but an equivalent 

 might perhaps be found, in a reduced expendi- 

 ture for labor, by the gradual substitution of 

 grazing for cropping ; and as the soil improved, 

 there would probably be a larger and better 

 crop of grain from a smaller surface of land. If 

 you can thoroughly manure to the extent of for- 

 ty acres (as you state), I would say, fence off a 

 forty acre field — lay it down with wheat, clover 

 and timothy, or orchard grass — give it a top 

 dressing of lime, when the wheat comes off — 

 keep it two or three years as a meadow for hay, 

 and then let it continue undisturbed, as a pasture 

 field, until its turn comes to be again ploughed. 

 If you find a good turf, or sod, of green or blue 

 grass, superseding the clover and timothy, I 

 should think there was a strong inducement to 

 persevere in that system. You could then pro- 

 duce a few good beeves for the market, in lieu of 

 an exhausting crop of grain, while the soil 

 would be actually improving under the process. 

 That is our method, here ; and we find it an- 

 swers well. In this way, you could bring in a 

 forty acre field at a time, until the whole farm 

 was put under the grazing system. The labor 

 and expense of culture would be thereby dimin- 

 ished, and thus prove a set-off against any di- 

 minution in the proceeds of the grain crop. Top 

 dressings of lime might be beneficially repeated 

 on fields which had lain a few years in grass ; 

 and when those fields came, in turn, to be 

 ploughed, you would probably find the product 

 of grain considerably increased. I should in- 

 cline to reserve all the manure for the wheat 

 crops ; and apply lime to the Indian corn grounds; 

 and also as a top dressing for the pasture fields. 

 By having several moderate sized fields in grass, 

 the stock can be transferred, as occasion requires, 

 from one field to another — and thus, by frequent 

 changes, have the advantage of fresh pasture. 

 The stock, moreover, should never be too nu- 

 merous for the farm ; and never, if avoidable, be 

 allowed to remain in any field so long as to crop 

 the pasture too close, for that is always injurious. 

 These views, you will perceive, are based upon 

 the supposition that your land is adapted to the 

 formation of a grassy turf, by the means sug- 

 gested : but, if the soil is too sandy, or other- 

 wise unfitted for that treatment, it may, after all, 

 be expedient to continue the present mode of 

 cropping, with such aid as lime and manure 

 can afford. In case of doubt, the experiment 

 might be tried on a small scale, until the capa- 

 city of the land for grazing is fairly tested." 



The preceding extracts contain all that I said 

 on the occasion referred to, and, I believe, all 

 that I have to say, respecting the use of lime, in 

 agriculture. You wHi, doubtless, find it a te- 

 dious story, but it is difficult to be at once brief 

 and explicit in such matters. As the subject 

 seems to be attracting attention in different parts 

 of our country, I. propose to give a summary 



