THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
147 
soil coma ined noseeil — iha! no vegeiables grcu", ’ 
and no animals existed, still no donbt the ctHer 
parts of the creation would go on; and this sub- 
ject ol ours is just one idea, an episode, as it 
were, in connection w ith the planetary system. 
And this little episode in ih r niiglity poem ol 
nature, presents to us the Divine bountv, good- 
ness, wisdom, foretbonsht, benevolence and ihe- 
exalted intelligence of divine mind. How beau- 
tiful it is indeed ! What an in-onte.siible mani- 
festation of the existence of the Deity is to be 
found in this episode, planted '.m our own ombe ! 
I have no doubt, gentlemen, that in iinnarting 
this branch of knowledge to those under votr, 
yon will enjoy an agreealde and entertaining 
study yourselves. I came among you an en- 
tire stranger, and therefore I have not been able 
to speak with the freedom and ease which, per- 
haps, I otherwise would have done; but I hope 
the kindness you have shown to me, and the at- 
tention you have paid.to my explanations, will, 
in some measure at least, have made up for mv 
deSciency. If you do me the honor to ask me 
again b-Aore you, I tru.st I shall be able to ad- 
dress you in abetter manner than I have been 
enabled on this occasion to do. 
The learned Professor re.sumed his seat 
amidst great applause. 
Mr. Knox, of St. Niniaus, exp^'essed his great 
delight at the luci ! manner in which Mr. Johns- 
ton had treated the subject, and the high grati- 
fication which he, in common -with the other 
schoolma-ters, felt at being honored with an ad- 
dress Irom one so emine;ntly fitted for the task. 
He moved that the thanks of the meeting be vo- 
ted to the Professor, which was unanimously 
agreed to. 
The Chairman having sh >rtly conveyed the 
thanks ol the meeting, the learned Professor 
withdrew. 
A Maryland Fai-m. 
From the Albany Culliva'.or. 
Yesterday I returned from a visit to Georgs 
Patterson, Esq., who resides at “Springfield,” 
twenty-two miles west of this, in Carrol county. 
He is a wealthy gentleman, and is extensively 
known for his fine stock anJ enterpri-ing cha- 
racter. His farm contains 1.735 acres, about 
1,200 under cultivation, and 509 in. wooiland. 
It is rolling land, and well watered — a hransh 
of the Petapsco running through it, supplies 
water for a grist mill, on liie iaraf, where all the 
grain raisedon the farm is grounii for the fami- 
ly and stock. The woodland is admirably lo- 
cated to shelter the many fields from the north- 
west winds, and presented a beautiful and di- 
versified landscape. The timber was formerly 
oak, but as it is removed is supplanted by a 
spontaneous growth of iiickory and chestnut, 
principally the latter. Mr. Paiterson has cu: 
out much of the old limber to bu-n lime, and' 
also with a view to get rid of it to admit the 
young gro wth of chestnut. 
5Vhen Mr. P. took possession of this farm, 
twenty years since, the land was poor, much al 
it very poor, and barren of vegetation, except 
brio,rs, with scarcely any buildings. Since then 
he has pul upw rds of one hundred and sixfv 
thousand bushels of lime on the land, and erect- 
ed fi.dy buildings of variou.s kinds, all perma- 
nently and neatly built, "and now all y.eilow 
washed, presenting in cHjntra.st with the green 
fields and woods, a picturesque appearance. 
His plan is, whenever a fiel.f is brought into 
cultivation, and made to produce clover for 
mowing, to erect as many barracks as will hold 
the hay. These barracks or barn.s, are made of 
frame, some 20 by 30 feet .square, 12 or 14 high, 
v'eather-boarded, and covered with cypress 
shingles. 
Mr. Patterson commences on the poor worn- 
out land by spreading two hundred bushels of 
lime per acre ( neasuredat the kiln unslaksd,) 
on the surlace, and lets it remain twvo or three 
years, then breaks it up and nuts whatever dung 
he car. muster, and plants it in corn. The fol- 
lowing is his system of rotation First year, 
corn ; secoud year, oats, rye or wheal, and do- 
versowed in the spring; third year, clover, first 
year mowed, seco: d crop left on the ground ; 
fourth year, clover eiiherle.fi on the ground or 
modf-rately grazed ; fifth year, wheat, timolhv 
.sowed with the wheat; sixth year, timothy 
mowed ; seventh ye.ar, timothy mowed; eighth 
year, grazed; ninth year, grazed and top-dress- 
ed the last fi)nr years. Top-dressing he prefers 
to plowing in the manure tf any kind. Lime, 
he thinks, ads slowly, and does not show much 
the first year or two, and should be always ap- 
plied to gras.?, and noton fallow. Much of this 
land is now in a high state of cu’tivati.m, pro- 
ducing 20 to 30 btishei.s wheat, 60 to 80 bushels 
c .m, and tedo to tluee toris hay per acre. The 
contrast between ibis farm and some of the ad- 
joining land is wondrt ful ! The one' green and 
luxuriant in crops, the other barren and devoid 
cf vegetal i n, ha ving no green thing except a 
few low running briars. 
This land wms abo very stony. Y'ith the 
stoues Mr. P. has turn piked several roads across 
his farm, which enables him to haul woo.d, 
linre, and manure in wet weather. He has al- 
so a pplied a portion ot these stones to making 
drains. He -.make.s drains by cutting a ditcii 
lour feet deep, and filling two feet with fine bro- 
ken stotics. Swamps and swails heretofore 
useless, are no w made dry, and are among the 
most .productive parts of his land". The fences 
are in prime ordTr — the few worm lences that 
he has are eleven rails high, staked and rider- 
ed, and six feet worm. The greater part are 
post and post and raiis — upwards of ten thou- 
sand pannel — po.?i> of mountain locust. A few 
chestnut posfs he has. been compelled to use, and 
these he protects from decay by filling round 
with stones, which drain the water rapidlv off’. 
His barns, where the greater part of the cat- 
tle and hogs are fed in ifie winter, are situated 
on two opposite knolls, and drains are so ar- 
ranged as to convey the wash from both to per- 
manent meadows adjoining. 
His stock is all of ihe most approved kind, 
and pure in blood. Of horses, there are severa 1 
full blood mares of high pedigree and beamy. 
“ Mary Randolph,” a superb mare ct rare good 
points, a gray, has a filly one. year old, the 
handsomest creature I ever saw. He has in 
all sou'.e twenty-fivm or thirty fine horse's of va- 
rious ages. At present he is about crossing 
.these mares with a la.''ge, well-formed horse, a 
cross of the Canadian— similar to the Morgan 
horse — with the. view of increasing the .«ize 
more suitable for carriage or'drali horses. Flis 
herd of Devon cattle, about sixlv in number, are 
a rare lot. I I had heard of the Devon cattle and 
seen the prints renre.sf-n'ing them, but 1 had no 
idea of their beaipy. -The prims, of .^ome of 
them, are res. at least of Mr. Pauerson’s 
best cattle. His b''u]!, “Eclipse,” im.pprted two 
or three years since, now rive yea.''S old, is a 
perfect getn, the best bull of any stock, not ex- 
cepting my old layorites, the Durham, that I 
have ever .seen. Tne cows bava fine shaped 
and well d-evelnped udders, and must be good 
milkers. Mr. Patterson says they give rich 
milk, and a good deal of it. Be has bred his 
stock with tiiat object, and selected the best millc- 
ing families. They have s^ze enough^the bull 
would, weigh 1000 lbs. net beef — the cows are 
also large enough. They have fine siiaped yel- 
low noses, with a ring of the same round the 
eye — all uniloxm as so many peas. What will 
you think it I tell you that ihjs will bec’ome the 
favorite stock before many years? The beef, 
you know, is celebrated tor its fine quality, be- 
'ing so evenly mixed, lat and lean, instead of 
laving the fat on the surface.. 
Here I also saw upwards of seven'y Berk- 
shire store hogs — hoy /l7.<, in the clovef field— 
and as many sucking pigs intended for next 
year. The sows are allowed but one litter each 
year, and they all have pigs in May. Mr. P. 
has a fine flock of sheep, some full bkiod Downs 
from the flocks of Mr. Rotch, N. Y., and Cope, 
of Pennsylvania. 
Everything, is done herein the best manner, 
and all the stock is of the best, without regard to 
price. The whole establishment is well worth 
j one hundred thousand dollars. 1 have notdone 
j credit in ihe description. Mr. Patterson rnana- 
! ges the farm himself''— h-as no white man on the 
I place but himself, and is a pattern ia industry 
j and frugality, even to Pennsylvania farmers, 
i His neighbors are beginning to follow his ex- 
j ample in the use ol lime. A few years hence 
I have, completed Mr. Patterson’s plans of 
j improvement, and then he will have the best 
I larm in Maryland. Isaac Dillon. 
I Eu'ara House, BnUiwore, Mo.y 20, 1845. 
j A Virginia Farm. 
I An agreeable correspondent of the Easton 
I (Fa.) Vv hig, in -the coarse of a recent tour to 
j the valley of the Shenandoah, gives the folio w- 
I ing account of the fine residence and farm of a 
j Virginia planter : 
j Virginia Farming. — Col. Tulley, who is ad- 
I mined to be one of the best farmers in northern 
I Virginia, has about 1200 acres in his planta- 
tion, of which about 000 are under cultivation, 
and which is wholly surrounded by a solid 
limestone fence six' miles iu length, and vary- 
ing from 4 to 6 feet in height. He hat vests this 
season 500 acres of wheat, which, notwith- 
standing the sev'ere drought, he expects will 
j yi-hi him about 12,000 bushels. One is st.ruck 
I in looking over his fields to see how free all are 
; from other grain and weeds. I asked him how 
1 it was ibal in a field of 100 acres of most excel- 
! lent wheat not a spear of rye was visible. He 
said it wds owing to the great care he took in 
j cleaning his seed wheat. That if twice clean- 
: ing did not suffice he hau it cle.'ned again and 
again until it was free from improper seeds. 
The editor of “ The Vallej'' Farmer” thus de- 
scribes in a late editorial, the process of cultiva- 
tion pursued by Col. Tulley ; 
“ in the cultivation of his farm. Col. T. pur- 
sues what is call the ‘five years’ shill system,’ 
and is as follow's : he lakes a field two years in 
clover, and turns over the sod in the month of 
August or early in Sepiember. From the 5th 
to the 15;h of Ociobc.r, he sows a bushel and a 
half to the acre, and harrows it in. After the 
wheat is cut the field lies and becomes covered 
j with a thick and strong growth of ragweed, la 
I the following spring he turns up with a plow’, 
I and plants to corn before the middle ot April. 
I The corn is planted four feet apart each xvay, 
I and eight or ten kernels to the hill. The culti- 
vation is principally done with a plow, begin- 
ning as soon as the corn is fairly up, and plow- 
! ing it both ways about four times in a season. 
At the second plowing :he hoe follows, and the 
corn is thinned to two stocks in the hill. The 
hoe is seldom u.sed but once, and the corn is 
hilled no more than the plow will do il. When 
she corn is so ripe thht it will mature in the 
stock it is cut, and the land put into wheat. 
Someiimes he sowson the seedand plows il iu; 
■S' meiimes he firs' plows and then sows and har- 
rows iu the seed, being governed by the ground. 
Afierthe wheat is so wn the field is seeded iu 
clover. After Uie wheat is harvested nothing 
j is permitted to go upon th-e ground to disturb 
j the young clov^'er. The field then lies t wo years 
j 111 clovei;, when wheat again follow's in the 
j springof each year, half a bushel to an acre of 
I plaster is sown on ibe clover, and heavy crops 
ol grass are iu this way secured. In this course 
w)f farming he once raised from two acres of 
land 80 bushels of wheat; from a field of sixty 
acres, he averaged more than 30j bushels to 
the acre, and from afield of thirty acres. 65 bu ■ 
shels sbeli corn to the acre. He considers the 
clover anrt the plaster as the principal means ot 
improving the soil ; yet he is very careful to al- 
low no manure to be wa.sted. On the contrarv, 
he makes large quantiiies of it annually, which 
he applies to the highest parts of his fields, turn- 
ing it under with the plow, which he prefers 
to using it as a top-dressing.” 
The harvest had co.nmenced the day before 
we arrived, and it. was a pleasant sight to look 
upon. Six or eight cradlers went ahead. They 
were followed by as many rakers, they by as 
many binders, while another group finished all 
