hmig and Short Manure® 
In the article to which I allude, and in 
this, are many facts that ought to open the 
eyes of wool growers in the Eastern states, 
for if the business should be undertaken at 
the West exclusively, those who pasture 
upon land worth $100 an acre cannot com¬ 
pete with those that pasture upon land worth 
ten shillings an acre, and free from tax for 
five years. 
I intend shortly to give you another article 
upon this subject and other things appertain¬ 
ing to the cultivation of the prairies of the 
great and growing West. I hope also to be¬ 
come more intimately acquainted with your 
readers the coming winter. In the mean 
lime I am yours and their friend, 
Solon Robinson. 
Lake C. H. Sept., 1842. 
We are pleased to hear from our old friend again, 
and on so interesting a subject to American farmers 
and manufacturers as the above, and hope for the 
punctual fulfilment of his promise, as a subsequent 
correspondent. We have been a little apprehensive 
from his long silence on agricultural matters, that he 
had taken to politics or some other fashionable pursuit, 
or was lost in a cane-brake; or mayhap, had taken a 
bear prisoner, as the Irishman took the six grenadiers, 
who proved themselves such undisciplined captives, 
that they not only woukPnt go at Pat’s bidding, but 
even prevented the doughty hero’s going himself. But 
at all events, we are rejoiced at his appearance among 
the farmers again in these settlements. We'can assure 
him that we shall look to him for the latest and most 
important information from the prairies. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
Long and Short Manure. 
Gent. —The question of long and short 
manure is of too much importance to remain 
unsettled, as I apprehend it does, at present, 
each having its advocates for strength and 
durability in its effects upon land and crops 5 
and we want experimental writers to deter¬ 
mine this point. There are many questions 
asked, where there is one answer given 
founded upon experience. Questions ought 
to be asked it is true, and they ought also to 
be answered 5 but it frequently happens that 
many months elapse before they can be an¬ 
swered by actual experiment, during which 
time they are either forgotten or neglected. 
But to my starting point. The lot which I 
am now cultivating contains about three 
acres, to manure which, I had access to 
three heaps—the first the produce of ten 
hogs, fed under cover and littered with straw, 
the manure being thrown out vrith the straw, 
as this became unfit for further use; the 
second heap was from the stables and barn¬ 
yards, where the manure had been thrown 
during the winter with the litter, as I always 
bed both cattle and horses ; the third was 
from a barn-yard at a distance, where the 
manure had been suffered to collect and 
rot for three or four years in a very slovenly 
and unthrifty-like manner. The whole was 
spread on the ground before planting, taking 
care to plow it in as soon as it was carted on 
and spread. I don’t think there was much 
difference in the quantity carried on to each 
section, if so it was accidental, not inten¬ 
tional. The ground was then plowed, leav¬ 
ing a dead furrow between each land, and as 
it was a stiff clay soil, it became necessary 
to roll it before any thing further could be 
advantageously done 5 after rolling, it was 
thoroughly harrowed, and again plowed, then 
rolled, then harrowed ; by this time much 
loose straw and coarse manure appeared on 
the top. This was carefully raked off into 
the dead furrows and again rolled, then 
planted with sugar beet, twenty-two inches 
between the rows, and during the months of 
July and August they were thinned out and 
fed to hogs, intending to leave them standing 
eight inches apart in the rows; but through 
the inexperience of the hands who sowed 
and thinned them, they will vary some from 
this distance. I should think, from my own 
experience, eight inches between the plants 
which are intended for maturity, twenty- 
two inches between the rows, if to be culti¬ 
vated with the hoe, is about right; but if 
with the cultivator, plow and harrow, two 
and a half feet is near enough. I make the 
following estimate of the crop, including 
what has already been fed out to hogs :— 
from the old manure 800 bushels per acre ; 
from the stable manure 1000 , and from the 
hog manure 1200 , or in this proportion. 
Whether they yield more or less, it is the 
strength and efficacy of the manure to which 
I wish to call public attention, and more es¬ 
pecially to the difference between green or 
fresh manure and that which has been fer¬ 
mented and left exposed to sun, wind and rains. 
Upon the coarse manure and straw raked 
from the beet bed into the deep furrow, I 
planted potatoes and turned a furrow from 
the beet bed each side upon them, breaking 
the lumps of earth, (clay,) and levelling with 
the hoe ; this was all the tillage they have re¬ 
ceived except pulling out the weeds by hand, 
they being covered deep and planted with 
small pieces of from one to three eyes each. 
Thus— ..... . 
each piece eight inches from its fellow. 
Larger ones 1 have seldom seen, and there is 
every appearance of a good yield. Let this 
question of long and short manure be settled. 
