THE CULTIVATOR. 
115 
NATURAL FERTILITY OF WESTERN LANDS— 
DETERIORATION FROM CULTIVATION, &c. 
The west is justly famed for its fertility. The alluvial 
hanks of the Ohio, with its tributaries the Muskingum, 
Scioto, Miami and Wabash, as well as many other por¬ 
tions of the great valley of the Mississippi, are probably 
imequaled for richness, and the luxuriance of their pro¬ 
ductions, by any portion of the globe. The citizen of the 
northern and less fertile sections of our country, on pass¬ 
ing through these rich vales in the midst of summer, and 
for the first time beholding the exuberant vegetation 
which there springs almost spontaneously from the earth, 
is struck with astonishment! From some points, his eye 
rests with admiration on the dark-green corn-fields, 
stretching for miles before him, and embracing at a sin¬ 
gle glance thousands of acres! Neither is his wonder 
lessened as he views the stately magnificence of the plant 
itself. The corn which the stranger here sees, is not the 
dwarfish thing which he or his fathers may have culti¬ 
vated on the rocky hills of New-England, but a larger 
variety of that “ king of vegetables ,” whose topmost leaf 
is higher, perhaps, than the walls of his own dwelling! 
Here may be seen from 100 to 400 acres, and sometimes 
even 600 or 700 acres of corn, belonging to a single indi¬ 
vidual; from 100 to 300 head of cattle, and 100 to 500 
hogs being annually fattened from the produce of a single 
farm. 
But the extraordinary productive power of these lands, 
appears to the best advantage when the length of time to 
which they have been subjected to an exhausting cultiva¬ 
tion, is considered. We will cite a few instances as ex¬ 
amples. Mr. F. Renick, a distinguished farmer near Chili- 
cothe, Ohio, has cultivated corn near forty years succes¬ 
sively, on his farm, and has obtained an average of sixty 
bushels per acre—no manure having ever been applied. 
The crop of corn for which the Muskingum Co. (O.) 
Ag. Society gave the premium last year, was grown by 
Mr. Hosea Woodruff, near Zanesville. The land on 
which it grew, had been cultivated without manure, twen¬ 
ty-eight years—twenty-six years of which, it had been in 
corn. There were fifteen acres in the lot, and Mr. W. 
had about fifty acres of nearly equal product. The crop 
was cut and put up in shocks of as nearly equal size as 
practicable—a portion of the shocks, which it was thought 
would show about an average of the yield, were husked 
and measured; and assuming this as an average, the pro¬ 
duct was ninety-nine bushels per acre. 
Other instances as remarkable might be given, but these 
will answer our purpose. 
From a cursory glance, the idea might be entertained, 
that all circumstances most happily conspire to render 
this, of all other regions, the most desirable to the agri¬ 
culturist. But by a more minute examination, it will be 
seen that in this case, as in most others of a similar na¬ 
ture, the advantages and disadvantages are so nicely bal¬ 
anced, as to leave no cause for charging nature with par¬ 
tiality in the bestowment of her favors. As Goldsmith, 
(with a little variation,) has said, 
-if countries we compare, 
And estimate the blessings which they share; 
Though men may flatter, still shall wisdom find 
An equal portion dealt to all mankind. 
The farmers of the fertile region of which we have 
spoken, are subjected to immense risk and trouble in con¬ 
veying their produce to market. Their beef is sold “ on 
foot’ 5 in the eastern cities—Baltimore, Philadelphia, 
Ncw-York and Boston—their cattle being thus obliged to 
perform journeys of from four hundred, to more than a 
thousand miles in extent. The soil of a very considera¬ 
ble portion of that country, is not suited to the production 
of wheat; Indian corn being almost the only grain that is 
cultivated; and the difficulty of transporting this article 
to a distant market without damage, or without incurring 
an unwarrantable expense, obliges the farmer to feed it 
to cattle and hogs, which, with other circumstances, tends 
to keep beef and pork at a very low price. 
But we have thus far spoken only of the best soil under 
good cultivation; and it should by no means be inferred 
that what we have said of such lands, will apply univer¬ 
sally, or even generally, to the western country. It must 
not be inferred that the soil of the whole of that region. 
is of such inexhaustible fertility. There are poor lands 
there, and a very large portion of all, may be said to be 
of not more than medium quality; yet in the cultivation 
of the inferior soils, as little attention is generally paid to 
prevent exhaustion, as with the richest ones. The con¬ 
sequence is, that the older settled portions of the west, 
exhibit, in too many cases, the most striking evidences 
of rapid deterioration. We speak more particularly of 
some of the hilly and wheat-growing districts of Ohio. 
The most prominent defect in the husbandry, is the too 
frequent use of the plow, and running the land too much 
to grain crops, without manure and without the use of 
clover or grass; by which course the land is much im¬ 
poverished, and greatly injured by the washing of rains, 
and by the growth of foul stuff which the slovenly culti¬ 
vation has permitted to spring up. So bad has been the 
management, that land which only a very few years ago 
produced good crops of wheat, now yields only a scanty 
harvest that scarcely pays for the gathering. But the in¬ 
jury from bad cultivation is not confined to the hills; it 
is often seen on the level lands and ee bottoms.” No soil 
but that of the very richest quality, could be subjected to 
this devastating course, without exhibiting signs of dete¬ 
rioration. 
The system of renting which prevails in many districts, 
is the cause of much bad management. The tenant oc¬ 
cupies the land only on an.annual lease, perhaps, and the 
terms are such, as in connexion with the low prices of 
produce, oblige him to go on the do-for-the-present-plan; 
the skinning course is the only one for him. The pre¬ 
sent crop is the only one thought of. The fields become 
hemmed in with bushes and brambles; elders and rank 
weeds gradually get possession of favorable spots in the 
interior, and they are left to grow r and flourish, gaining 
strength and wider possession every year, because each 
occupant cannot (or supposes he cannot) afford to eradi¬ 
cate them. Neither are these appearances confined to 
rented land; they are seen under the management of the 
owner himself. 
As before observed, but little care is used in saving or 
applying manure; the first settlers appearing, too gene¬ 
rally, to have adopted the strange idea, that all the land 
would alike bear continued cropping, without giving to 
it any return. So common seems to have been this no¬ 
tion, that it is not very unusual to see the stables and hog 
pens, (where such things as hog pens are used,) placed 
in situations, where the manure may be got out of the 
way without the trouble of carting it. For this purpose, 
they are sometimes placed near steep banks, or over 
small streams or <c runs,” where as the manure falls, it 
may be carried off by the water. More than one instance 
has been seen, where having failed to secure the most fa¬ 
vorable site, the stable has been actually pulled down and 
rebuilt in another place, to avoid the inconvenience oc¬ 
casioned by the accumulation of manure! And this too, 
where the stinted crops showed the most obvious neces¬ 
sity of returning to the impoverished soil some portion 
of those fertilizing substances of which it had been so un 
wisely deprived. 
In this section of country, as in others where the same 
wasting course is praticed, the last remedy, the grand es* 
cape from all its troubles, is to “ sell out” and emigrate 
to the west, the west, west, that Hesperian Elysium, which 
like the beautiful rainbow, recedes as it is approached, 
leaving its visionary pursuer in disappointment at last. 
Yet will this ravaging population move on, spreading de¬ 
solation as they go, till having overleaped the Rocky 
mountains, and being finally checked by the wave of the 
Pacific, they will probably weep that there are “ no more 
worlds to conquer !” 
Let not our remarks on this subject be misunderstood. 
Although the practices we have been here deprecating 
are far too common, yet examples of good fanning may 
be found in the west, that will bear a comparison with 
any in other parts of the country. It is only to be re¬ 
gretted that such instances are too rare. 
Cure for Corns. —Our correspondent, Mr. John M. 
Johnson, says corns on the toes may be removed by two 
or three applications of the oil of spike, before going to 
bed. 
