80 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
March 
were usually cultivated and hoed twice. The amount 
ver acre given in all cases. 
1st. Exp., 1842—10 loads compost—manured in hill— 
3| feet apart each way—yield 30 bushels per acre. 
2d Exp., 1843—Same field—23 loads compost per 
acre—hills 3 ft. by 15 inches, two stalks to a hill—75 
sound bushels per acre. 
3d Exp. Grass lea, plowed in fall—17 loads com¬ 
post—hills 3 ft. by 2 ft., 4 stalks to a hill—55 sound 
bushels to the aci;e. 
4th Exp. Black clayey loam, grass lea—fall plowed 
—12 loads compost—3 \ feet each way, 6 seeds to a hill— 
40 bushels to the acre. 
5th Exp., 1844—Rye lea—fall plowed—20 loads com¬ 
post, 45 bushels each—3 feet by 15 inches—two stalks 
left to a hill—60 bushels to the acre—probably would 
have been 80 bushels but for the worms. 
6th Exp., 1845—20 loads compost, 50 bushels each— 
3 ft. by 15 inches, three seeds to a hill—50 bushels per 
acre. --- 
Comparison of Manures. 
L. Bartlett, in his Merrimac Address states, that he 
applied manure of different kinds to a piece of corn, 
with the following results:—The best corn was that 
enriched with the manure from the stage-tavern; but 
the corn was about as good where a compost was ap¬ 
plied, made of equal parts of this stable manure and 
muek. Another part that had donkey manure with an 
equal part of muck and perhaps a thirtieth part lime, 
made into compost, was nearly as good. Where com¬ 
mon barn mauure was applied, the corn was inferior to 
the other. Another result was interesting. The com¬ 
post of barn manure and muck in equal portions, and a 
thirtieth lime, was applied to potatoes before oats, and 
after the oats was grass. The rest of the land had an equal 
quantity of barn manure at the same time. In 1844, the 
third year, the grass was decidedly better where the 
compost was put; in 1845, the compost ground had a 
heavy crop of lodged grass, with a green second growth; 
the other was poorer, and brown, with no second crop. 
The permanent action of the muck, or lime, or both, 
was thus shown. 
CARE OF SHEEP IN WINTER. 
Mr. Tucker —My barn is forty-eight feet by fifty- 
six, in the basement story of which I usually winter 
from two to three hundred sheep. I have always been 
uniform in my manner of feeding, and it has always con¬ 
sisted of hay and sheaf oats. I have always been care¬ 
ful to have my hay cut at the proper season, and some¬ 
what particular to have it well cured; hence it follows 
that there is but Little left in the racks to be strewed 
round the sheepfold as litter. The oats which I feed, 
are at the rate of one dozen to the hundred sheep, the 
straw' of which is scattered round the sheepfold with a 
view to keep it sufficiently clean for the comfort of the 
sheep. For the last eight or ten years I have noticed 
by the middle of the winter, that my sheep would com¬ 
mence pulling the wool from their sides and hips; and 
in some instances by the last of March nearly all of the 
wool on the hips would be removed by the biting of the 
sheep. I have sometimes conjectured that the itching 
which roused the sheep to pull out the wool was pro¬ 
duced by the sheepfold not having been kept sufficiently 
littered, but of this I was never perfectly satisfied until 
this winter. The hay which I have used for feeding 
my sheep this winter, was cut on a new meadow, was 
coarse timothy, largely intermingled with wheat straw 
from the scattering of wheat the preceding year. The 
effects of which has been a superabundance of wheat 
straw' and coarse timothy left in the racks; this being 
scattered in addition to my usual amount of oat straw, 
has kept my sheep bedded in the finest possible manner. 
Now it has followed from this or some other unknown 
cause, that out of about five hundred sheep there is not 
a single instance in which the sheep have pulled any 
wool from their sides, belly, or hips. I have mention¬ 
ed the above facts because I believe them to be conclu¬ 
sive on the subject alluded to. There are large sheep 
raisers in the western country that have no definite con¬ 
ception of the cause which prompts the sheep to pull 
the wool from their sides and hips in the latter part of 
the winter. From my experience this winter I can say 
with confidence that the remedy is to be found in w'ell 
littered sheepfolds. 
Respectfully yours, N. P. A. 
Wheeling , VaMarch 2 6th, 1845. 
AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES OF EDGECOMB CO., N. C 
L. Tucker, Esq. —In renewing my subscription for 
the ensuing year, allow me to trouble you with a few 
desultory remarks on this region of country, little known 
to the agricultural world, though not the less deserving 
a passing notice in the Cultivator. 
The county of Edgecombe, of which Tarboro is the 
county seat, lies just below the hilly country of the 
“ good old North state,” and in the humble judgment of 
the writer, possesses advantages equal, if not superior to 
any county of the state for agricultural purposes. 
We are a law and order loving people; obey the 
eleventh commandment—mind your own business, and 
let that of others alone—work hard— keep out of debt—- 
and through the many trying financial difficulties our 
country has witnessed, have always presented the spec¬ 
tacle, of which we can justly boast, of peace and 
plenty. 
We have a stream navigable for flat-bottomed b'oats 
passing through the county, with various creeks and 
swamps tributary to it, on one of which the lands are 
good, and with the inexhaustible beds of marl found in 
nearly every section of the county, can be rendered high¬ 
ly productive. Little or no attention has been paid to 
the subject of improvement till within a few years 
past. The heavy drain on our population by emigra¬ 
tion to the south and west, and the severe cropping of 
those that remained, brought our lands down to their 
minimum value, from which point, in the nature of 
things, they must ascend in the scale. I am happy to 
say the reaction has taken place; our population are 
stable, and lands now command their full value. 
In the marl, found here in such abundance, and in 
many places of superior quality, containing as much as 
75 per cent, of pure lime, our farmers have discovered 
an efficient restorative for their worn out lands. The 
low prices have convinced many that without improv¬ 
ing, the yield will not pay for cultivation, and we have 
set to work in earnest, and if this spirit of improvement 
is kept up for many years, the face of the country would 
hardly be recognized by those who have left us to settle 
on the virgin soils of the south and west. 
Your intelligent and enterprising agent here, R. N , 
has done much to stir up the farmers of old Edgecombe 
to a sense of their interests, and has persuaded many 
inveterate haters of “ book farming” to take the Culti¬ 
vator. Say what you will, the thing is now beyond 
cavil, that agricultural works are of benefit, of immense 
benefit to the country, and as friend Solon says, in his 
«Notes of Travel in the Southwest,” « wherever they 
read the papers, works of improvement are to be 
seen.” 
The hogs bought in Albany by R. N., and particular¬ 
ly the big hog par excellence, created considerable ex¬ 
citement in our usually quiet village, on their arrival at 
our landing—for several weeks were all the agony 
among the farmers who came to see them. They took 
much better than I expected to see them with our farmers. 
We have had a fine crop-year. Cotton, corn, peas, 
and potatoes, turned out well, and our pork will now 
readily command $5 per cwt. 1845 may be set down 
with us as the driest and best crop-year known in many. 
Respectfully yours, Edgecombe. 
T arhoro 1 , Dec • 20, 1845. 
Soaking Corn. —A successful farmer effects a saving 
of a third to one half by soaking his corn fed to horses 
in water, in barrels placed in the cellar where it cannot 
freeze. 
