MO 
THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR, 
Somethiiisr about Manure and its Ap- 
plicatioa.--BY jessb bydes. 
Almost all the farmers ot this country are 
obliijed to depend on the resources of their own 
farms for the supply of animal and vegetable 
manures. Mineral manures are more general- 
ly purchasable but as stimulants and absorb- 
ents; they can only operate in conjunction with 
the vegetable matter ol the soil, (the humus or 
mould,) the principal supply ot which, to cul- 
tivated land, is obtained from our cattle yards. 
It seems to be selt-evident, that the earth must 
receive something in return tor her productions, 
or, become bankrupt. Either a portion other 
produce must he left with her, or an equivalent 
returned, otherwise she becorhes barren and un- 
frnitllul. 
Ic behoves us, then, to increase the fertility of 
the soil we cultivate, until it is capable of af- 
fording to plants all the nourishment they require 
ot it, in order todevelope them tully. 
There is great encouragement in the thought 
that plants derive a part of their tood and nour- 
ishment from the atmosphere. If it was all de- 
rived from the earth, then it would require all 
the produce of the farm to be restored to it, in 
order to preserve its fertility. But experimen- 
tal proofs are not wanting to show that a large 
part of the food of plants is derived from the al- 
mosphere. 
When once it is conceded that the soil of a 
farm can be made to grow rich by the use of 
manure made from a great deal less than its own 
produce, it must also be conceded that the same 
tarm ought to be enriched faster and taster, as 
ihe amount ot its productions increase. 
I do not believe that the manure which is ap- 
plied to hoed crops in this country, reproduces 
itself to the farmer, as a general thing, notwith- 
standing its auxiliary help from the atmosphere. 
This is a serious consideration, if we believe 
that by securing all its valuable properties, it 
ought to be instrumental in producing five or 
six times as much. Take a field and apply tf> 
it for Indian corn the amount ol manure made 
from its own produce for five preceding years, 
then raise three grain crops in succession, say 
corn, oats and wheat or rye; and at the end of 
that time I am well assured that the soil will 
have lost more strength than was imparted to it 
bv the manure ol five years. Let it then belaid 
down to grass for two years, and at the end ol 
that lime it will have recovered the elements of 
fertilitv, so as to be, generally speaking, about 
asgood as it was before ihemanurewasapplied 
five years previous ; ihe formation of sod being 
a rejuvenating process. 
[ once buried by the plow, in the spring of 
the year, about sixty ox-cart loads of manure on 
lour acres ot sod ground plowed the usual 
depth, five or six inches; soil stiff and heavy; 
and for aught 1 have ever seen ot its efiects, 
there might as well have been a tnneral cere- 
mony at the time ot the burying. The season 
was somewhat wet. What became of the salts 
of the manure? It was first planted wi:h po- 
tatoes, which were poor; ihen sowed with rye, 
which was poor, and the grass that followed 
was not as good as that which grew before the 
plowing. Plowing in manure on dry land 
may do better; but I doubt whether one-founh 
is ever realized from it that ought ro be, 1 once 
put about five bushels of strong horse manure 
in one heap on a timothy meadow, and spread 
the surrounding parts with like manure, ten 
two-horse loads to the acre. The manure heap 
made the grass but little heavier on its borders 
than it was elsewhere, the ten loads to the acre 
having brought the land near to its maximtin ol 
production — tons to the acre. Nineteen- 
twentieths of the manure in the heap, then, was 
lost; which is proof positive to my mind, that 
it is necessary to secure its valuable properties 
very soon, or they are lost. 
I kno’.v that most theoretical and many prac- 
tical tanners recommend the useot all the ma- 
nure on the farm on hoed crops; and wear the 
land out, as I think, without securingsuch a re- 
turn from it as will leave it belter thaa before. 
Experience has taught us here, that to enrich 
our land, we must apply the manure for our 
plow land at the time of sowing" winter grain, 
spread it on the furrow, and harrow it in with 
the grain, which leaves it just where we want 
it, near the surlace; or harrow the ground first, 
then spread the manure, and plow it and the 
grain in together, with light furrows. 
If we put all the manure on for corn, the re- 
sult is pretty good corn and oats, and poor win- 
ter grain and grass succeeding. When the sod is 
again turned over for corn, it being poor, the 
corn again requires barn-yard manure; and 
thus the land is kept poor, the grass being light, 
and the manure not increasing in quantity. 
But let the disposition ot the manure be 
changed: apply it to winter grain, and then we 
have good wheat or rye succeeded by good grass, 
plenty of fodder, and a sod formed, which, when 
the land is again plowed for corn, will enable 
it to grow as luxuriantlyasitdidunderprevious 
management with the manure applied directly 
to it j and the manure is thus left for the benefit 
of the winter grain again. 
With the manure for winter grain, it prevents 
it from freezing out in the winter and spring; 
also saves the young timothy, and in many in- 
stances I ghtens the soil so as to preserve the 
clover roots ot the year following. Grass being 
a mending crop, the land can spare its luxuriant 
burthen and not be poorer, and the land is im- 
proved by the amount ot the manure, a luxu- 
riant sod being, as it were, its representative. 
Such, in my view, is a practical way of in- 
creasing the effects ol manure, and securing for 
the earth a store of vegetable tood. — Amer. Quar. 
Jour, of Agriculture. 
[The suggestions in the foregoing relative to 
[he application of manure, will apply better to 
wheat-growing than to corn-growing. How- 
ever good the sod might be, few of our New 
England farmers would trust to it alone, with- 
out manure, lor the production ot a crop of 
corn. — N. E. Farmer. 
From the South Carolina Advocate. 
Rice should be the Pioneer in bringing 
WoodlaJitl into Culture. 
It is a question with planters, whether it be 
more profitable to cut down the entire growth 
on land intended to be brought into cultivation 
for cotton or corn ; or to leave the larger trees 
standing, only girdliflg them. Much more 
land could certainly be brought under tillage by 
the latter mode, but the product to the acre 
would be proporlionably decreased. By the 
plan of clearing clean, there would be far more 
work in the first instance; by the other, some 
clearing would have to be performed tor a num- 
ber ot years to come: so the results would about 
balance. And did we intend to plant either cot- 
ton or corn as the first crop to be raised, it 
would be of little consequence which method 
was adopted. But here lies ihe mistake ; cotton 
or corn will not succeed in the neighborhood ot 
living trees. Whether it be attributable more 
to the nourishment drawn from the soil by the 
roots of the trees, than to the shade caused by 
the foliage, we cannot say; but w'ould ascribe 
it to both, together with the privation ot dew ; 
no dew being deposited under Uees, in conse- 
quence (according to the theory of Radiant 
Heat,) of there being no tree radiation of heat 
from the earth shaded by them ; the heat being 
reflected by the trees to the ground. 
The mistake then, is in planting cotton or 
corn as the first crop. The more profitable way 
is, not to cut down the entire growth, and make 
Rice the pioneer; for rice will do well in shaded 
locations, when none of our other staples w'ill. 
It will grow whether the land be shady or sun- 
ny, sour or sweet, new or old, wet or dry. It 
is the most hardy of all our plants cultivated as 
staples. Should a stalk of cotton or corn get 
broken off acciJentallv in working, or other- 
wise, an occurrence to which they are verv lia- 
ble in new grounds, the corn, if not completely 
destroyed, would possibly never entirely recover 
from the injury done; and the cotton would al- 
most infallibly perish. But the Rice may be 
cut down again and again, and it the misfor- 
tune do not happen too late in the season, it will 
ripen its grain. It resembles grass in this re- 
spect, it will not die from decapitation, it must 
be eradicated in order to be destroyed; nor does 
it only resemble grass, but it is grass, ranking in 
the natural methods of both Linnnasus and Jus- 
sieu under the Order ot Gramince. It will even 
yield grain in the midst of grass as tall as itself, 
where the other plants would be totally ruined. 
We do not mean to say that Rice is not serious- 
ly injured by such locations, but that it is not 
destroyed, and may even be saved by a hoeing 
long delayed, and do well; when in a similar 
situation, cotton or corn would be perfectly re- 
mediless. When young, if the Rice be covered 
with water until the stalks rot off, it will shoot 
forth when the water is removed. It thrives 
through all the varying systems of Rice plant- 
ers, Irom the “dry culture” to the “water cul- 
ture,” or “sixty days system ;” the only question 
being, which is the best of all, for it will suc- 
ceed with any. Who would cast his seed into 
the water and expect to harvest a crop, unless he 
were planting Rice ? 
But what particularly concerns the question 
in point, rice will not only grow, but produce in 
place's so shaded, that cotton or corn could there 
hardly maintain a useless existence. And it is 
the only staple that will yield a good crop in lo- 
cations as much shaded as is usually the ease 
with new ground^. 
All these qualifications peculiarly fit it for 
the rough culture of new land; the shady, 
virgin soil being moist and rich, the only abso- 
lute requisites for a tolerable crop. J. C. 
From Bousingault’s Rural Economy. 
To Improve the Soil. 
To improve a soil is as much as to say that we 
seek to modify its constitution, its physical pro- 
perties, in order to bring them into harmony 
with climate and the nature of the crops that 
are grown. In a district where the soil is too 
clayey, our endeavor ought to be, to make it ac- 
quire to a certain extent, the qualities of light 
soils. Theory indicates the means lo be follow- 
ed to effect such a change : it suffices to intro- 
duce sand into soils that are too stiff, and lomix 
clay, with those that are loo sandy. But these 
recommendations of science, which, indeed, 
the common sense of mankind had already 
pointed out, are seldom realized in practice, and 
only appear feasible to those who are entirely 
unacquainted with rural economy. The dig- 
ging up and transport of the various kinds of 
soil, according lo the necessities of the case, 
are very costly operations, and I can quote a 
particular instance in illustration of the fact. 
My laud at Bechelbronn is generally strong, 
(clay.) Experiments on a small scale showed 
that an addition of sard improved it considera- 
bly. In the middle of the farm there is a manu- 
factory which accumulates such a quantity of 
sand that it becomes troublesome. Neverthe- 
less, 1 am satisfied that the improvement by 
means of sand would be too costly. A piece 
of sandy soil, purchased at a very low price, 
after having been suitably improved by means 
of clay, cost its proprietor much more than the 
price of the best land in the country. Great 
caution is necessary in undertaking any im- 
provement of the soil in changing suddenly its 
nature. Improvement ought to take place gra- 
dually and by a course ot husbandry the neces- 
sary tendency of which is to improve the soil. 
Upon stiff clayey land we put dressings and ma- 
nures which tend to divide it, to lessen its cohe- 
sion, such as ashes, turf, long manure, &e. But 
the husbandman has not always suitable mate- 
rials at his command, and in this case, which is 
perhaps the usual one, he must endeavor to se- 
euresuch crops as are best suited to his soil. 
Autumn plowing of clayey lands is highly ad- 
vantageous to them, by reason of the disinte- 
grating effects of the ensuing winter frosts. 
Bousingault is both a distinguished Che- 
mist and a practical fanner ; yet no fanner, we 
