236 
SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
The question here recurs with increased interest, Are ] 
these available agents in a Southern climate 'I Can Red f 
Clover, by the use of lime and plaster of Paris, be success- 'i 
fully grown here '? As before remarked, not only doubts, ] 
but a belief to the contrary, have extensively prevailed, j 
As it is vital to the welfare of Southern Agriculture, it ( 
will be pardonable to occupy more time than would 
otherwise be allowable in removing these doubts and dis- j 
sipating this error. < 
We will now attempt to establish the affirmative of this « 
all absorbing question, and we confidently believe that ] 
we shall make it appear beyond a rational doubt, that i 
Red Clover will flourish at the South as well as at the i 
North, by the use of carbonate and sulphate of lime and 
other proper means, in a soil naturally or artificially good, ] 
that this plant is not so much dependent in fact upon cli- ] 
mate as upon a suitable soil and proper food, i 
We will appeal both to circumstantial and positive ; 
proof; that the cumulative evidence may be such as to : 
leave not a doubt behind. However unphilosophical this 
mode of reasoning might appear in the advocacy of com- i 
mon truths, the position taken is so vital to Southern wel- ; 
fare that we feel we should be justified, would we pile 
Pelion upon Ossa in fortifying it. 
And first the circumstantial proof. 
Twenty-five years ago, the same erroneous opinion we 
are combating farther South, prevailed in Virginia, that 
Clover would not grow in the light, sandy, acid soils of 
the tide-water districts of that State. This error has long 
since been exploded, and by the use of marl and gypsum. 
Red Clover is now extensively and profitably grown there. 
The consequence has been an entire revolution in their 
agriculture, the credit of all which is due to the venerable 
Edmund Ruffin. And here we are forcibly reminded of 
the truth of the remark made by the sagacious Dean 
Swift, more than a century ago: “That he who makes 
two blades of grass grow, where but one grew before, de- 
seiwes more of his country and better merits the gratitude 
of mankind than the whole race of politicians put to- 
gether.” Of the many noble sops of Virginia, none, after 
Washington, has proved a greater benefactor or more 
deserves a statue at her hands, than Edmund Ruffin. 
He states, in his Essay on Calcarious IManures, that 
the increased value of lands in the tide-water district of 
Virginia, from 1828 to 1852, and comprising only one- 
twentieth part of the whole area, has been thirty millions 
of dollars, and when the whole shall have reached its 
available improvement, the increased value of these lands 
may reach five hundred millions, with proportional in- 
crease of other capital connected with farming. Here, as 
in Pennsylvania and other States, clover, lime and gyp- 
sum have been the great restoratives. 
Coming farther south, it has, during the same period, 
been found both practicable and profitable, where the pro- 
per means have been used, to grow Clover on the alluvial 
soils of North Carolina similar in their texture and com- 
position to those of Virginia, just described. 
In Southern Italy, where the average temperature is not 
below that of our region, Clover is a favorite crop for al- 
ternating with rice. 
It is known to have been the opinion of the late lament- 
ed Poinsett, that if the rice lands of South Carolina were 
sufficiently drained and protected from the influence of 
salt water, many of the artificial grasses would grow well 
on them, and enable the rice planter, not only to secure 
an abundant supply of the best hay, but to adopt a rota- 
tion of crops, as in Italy, by which his lands would be 
ameliorated and his crops of rice increased. So much for 
the circumstantial proof. 
Next, we come to the proof positive. 
In a letter written by John E. Calhoun, to the Editor of 
$he American Farmer, and dated Pendleton, S. C., July, 
1829, he ‘says, the cultivation of Clover has been hereto- 
fore neglected from an impression that the heat of our sun 
was too intense and our soil too arid for its production. 
But the result of my little experience has, I think, clearly 
proved that it will not only flourish well, but that it is^ 
difficult, if not impossible to eradicate it. 
He goes on to say, that as early as February, 1816, he 
sowed two acres in Clover. It was suffered the first year 
to remain unmolested and drop its seed. The following 
spring, the entire surface was covered with the most 
luxuriant crop of Clover he ever saw. At the proper 
time it was mowed, and all who saw it was astonished at 
its product. The Timothy sown with it was remarkably firie. 
The high price of cotton at that period, caused the neg- 
lect of the Clover, and the land the next year was deeply 
plowed with a two horse plow for potatoes, preparatory 
to a cotton crcp. The fifth, sixth and seventh years, this- 
piece of land was cultivated in cotton, yielding each year 
not less than 1000 lbs. of green seed cotton per acre. The 
ninth year thoroughly plowed and manured far a premium 
crop of corn, and yielded some sixty bushels to the acre, 
and would probably have made one-fourth more, but for a * 
severe drouth. The following year made a fine crop of ^ 
rye. The next year rested — then, sown in oats in Febru- 
ary, and, to his astonishment, a fine crop of Clover sue- *' 
ceeded the oats. 
Mr. Calhoun very justly remarks in the conclusion of 
his letter, “that he must be sceptical, indeed, who does, 
not believe, in the face of such proof, that Red Clover can 
be successfully cultivated, at least, in the upper districts of 
South Carolina.” 
Another experiment equally convincing was made by 
Col. B. H. Saxon, in the Abbeville District of South Caro- 
lina, the details of which are given by Thomas Parker, in 
a letter to the same Editor and dated in April, 1831. 
Col. Saxon sowed Clover in his plantation garden in 
1823 — first year permitted to remain and drop its seed — 
second year a luxuriant crop of Clover — third year in 
corn; the Clover appeared to be entirely destroyed. The 
fourth year wheat, and when it was cut, the Clover 
was thick on that part of the ground on which it 
was growing two years before. The fifth year it 
was allowed to remain and grow with such luxuriance,, 
as to attract general attention. It was not cut, but was 
allowed to go to seed and the seed gathered. The sixth 
and seventh years in corn. The eighth year in corn — the 
ninth in cotton ; and there is, he says, in the month of 
April after the cotton was planted, a great deal of Clover- 
on the ground. 
In the same letter, Mr. Parker refers to several success- 
ful attempts to cultivate Clover near the seaboard of South 
Carolina, which are recorded in the first volume of the 
, Southern Agriculturist. 
The late Thomas J. Summer, w'hose early death Science 
and Southern Agriculture have so much cause to mourn,, 
also made an experiment with Red Clover in the highest 
degree conclusive and satisfactory. Prompted as w'ell by 
an intuitive sagacity as by a benignant heart, young Sum- 
mer, turning away from the allurements of a selfish and 
vulgar ambition, sought in Europe under the most emi- 
nent masters, such as Liebig, Burzeluis and others, the 
means of accomplishing himself in Agricultural Science, 
that he migiit be qualified to aid and advance the leading 
interest of his State and nation. His able analysis of the 
cotton plant fully establishes his scientific attainments, 
while his experiment with Red Clover no less evinces a. 
capacity and an aptitude for uniting Scientific with prac- 
tical Agriculture, which, had his life been spared, would 
hare made him an ornament and a blessing to his country. 
Asking pardon for the digression into which our feelings 
have seduced us, to pay a feeble tribute to one whose aflfeo 
tions and talents were devoted to our great cause, return 
we now to the experiment before alluded to. 
