192 
THE CULTIVATOR 
June. 
provers and small farmers in the vicinity of all our 
large markets.” We would like to know how things 
are in this respect in this State, and if farmers are 
here also beaten by mechanics, why it so happens, or 
how it might be prevented. 
Editorial Correspondence. 
Washington, May 14. 
Occupying that elevated position in hotel society, 
usually accorded to transient guests, I console myself 
over the somewhat inaccessible height of the apart¬ 
ment, by the view it commands,—including the junc¬ 
tion of the muddy Tiber and placid Potomac—the un¬ 
aspiring quiet in which the first one hundred and forty 
or fifty feet of the Washington Monument rest their 
blunted hopes—the southwardly curves of the drive 
below the President’s mansion, that acme, unhealthy 
as it is, of so many political plottings,—and, by a little 
stretching of the neck, the Smithsonian Institution on 
the left, with its turrets and spires of a warm and 
and pleasant brown, set off against a leaden sky be¬ 
yond and dripping trees below. And by aid of the dim 
grey day-light, a thin burner of dimmer yellow gas, 
and an occasional electric flash, bright but not long 
enough for practical use, I make out to see the way 
from pen to paper. The thunder grows heavier, too, 
and nearer ; and the rain, which has coquetted with the 
sun all day, keeping him in a state of the most bashful 
suspense, at last has put him out altogether, and now 
dances on the housetops and winks at the street pud¬ 
dles, in a manner presenting quite a damp and edify¬ 
ing spectacle. 
To appreciate beauty in the trees, you must not 
wait in one locality till their leaves grow upon you 
from bough and bud, day by day, but, leaving bare 
bark and trunks behind, go southwardly far enough 
to find them just burst into full foliage, the turf 
in its freshest and best dress beneath, and, in ma¬ 
ny cases, almost a whole flower garden in the 
blooms of a single sturdy old forester. This I had 
not learnt, when, two or three years ago, I gave 
credit to the banks of the Scioto for possessing the most 
beautiful trees in freshness of verdant leaves, and grace 
of drooping limbs, I had ever seen: here the same 
characteristics are manifest, and I perceive that in 
both instances, it is merely the force of contrast be¬ 
tween the winter I left at home and the summer about 
me now. Not that the difference is one of tempera¬ 
ture, for we had some as warm weather there, as any 
I have since experienced—it is in the more advanced 
stage which the vegetation here has reached. 
If the Country Gentleman will kindly excuse such 
a “free and easy” way of letter-writing, I will pro¬ 
ceed to remark that one’s first visit to Washington must 
be a busy one, to exhaust its resources as a place of 
“sights” in any reasonable time. After nearly three 
fatiguing days, there is much I must pass over, and 
what I have seen yet rests on mind and memory ip a 
burden so crude and undigested that I despair of ever 
putting it in any presentable form. Those who have 
visited “the Capital city” would find what might be 
said either short of the truth or exceeding it, according 
to their own recollections of experience here, while to 
those who have not, the limited compass allowed for 
them in papers, could convey but an imperfect idea of 
the realities of the case. I will try at another time to 
enlarge patriotically upon the vast extent and capacity 
of the public buildings, &c., and now revert to some of 
my suburban notes. 
An Editor Turned Farmer. 
There is a ridge of land rising some 500 feet above 
tide water, over which passes the old Montgomery turn¬ 
pike ; and within the county of that name in the State of 
Maryland, at a distance of about six miles from the city, 
is the residence of Francis P. Blair, Esq., long distin¬ 
guished in political circles as an editor, and now enti¬ 
tled to distinction of perhaps a higher kind, for the 
most excellent agricultural example he has been for 
twelve years setting to the farmers of the neighbor¬ 
hood. The land was worn down pretty thoroughly 
under the tobacco culture of early times, and was lit¬ 
tle better than a pine barren—the only use to which it 
was put being as a source of this kind of wood for fuel, 
as fast as it grew to sufficient size, while an under¬ 
growth came up between the larger trees, rendering 
the task of clearing still move difficult and discourag¬ 
ing. In fact the idea that rejuvenating the soil and 
rendering it susceptible of profitable culture, was a 
possible thing, appears to have originated with Mr* 
Blair, and when he moved on to his present estate there 
was but one house between it and the city, while we 
are informed that his friends predicted he would soon 
tire of an experiment as expensive as they thought it 
must prove.futile. But the case has not resulted thus ; 
and Mr. B.’s success is a witness not only in itself to 
the usual effects of prudent and systematic farm man¬ 
agement, but in the extent to which it has been emula¬ 
ted by others. 
Mr. B.’s first operation was the purcha.-e of the best 
manures at command in the city, including herring re¬ 
fuse and other fishy substances, and these were applied 
to the land until a crop of clover could be raised. He 
has also used lime and plaster extensively and with 
great benefit. In later times he has employed guano 
in bringing the clover on to the ground—planting corn 
with 200 weight of this strong manure the first season 
after clearing and breaking up; wheat or some other 
small grain the succeeding fall, and clover the next 
spring, by which time with further applications of 
guano, the soil would yield a considerable crop of clover, 
and, after permitting this to shade the ground and 
turning it in another spring, stable manure, lime and 
plaster, have proved sufficient with a judicious rotation 
to effect a degree of productiveness good in any locali¬ 
ty, and especially remarkable when brought about 
under circumstances so unpromising. An intelligent 
colored man with whom I had quite a talk, said that 
the land was so exceedingly “ wild ” and poor that it 
was better to put in one or two other crops as above 
described, before attempting to get one of clover. His 
theory of the beneficial results of plaster upon grass 
was that it keeps the plant cool , and whether correct or 
not, here the practice he knew to be a paying one. 
Mr Blair told me that he has produced 3 tons of grass, 
18 barrels (90 bushels) of corn, and 30 bushels of wheat 
to the acre, and his crop of hay is often in the neigh¬ 
borhood of two tons, and that of corn generally ranges 
from 50 to 75 bushels. 
I know that what has been written adds no particu¬ 
lar light to already existing knowledge on the subject 
of restoring exhausted lands. It shows, however, what 
has been actually done by a thoughtful and judicious 
cultivator. It shows that the task is not so formidable 
