48 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
casionally show themselves when the wood is removed, give a desert 
appearance to the land ; they are not very numerous, but sufficient¬ 
ly so to repel an ordinary purchaser. Could these hills be brought 
under cultivation it would be a great desideratum—of these knolls, 
however, I do not despair. In the first place the wood upon them 
ought to have been suffered to remain; but where they have been 
already cleared, and clover and plaster applied in the ordinary way, 
and will not cover them with vegetation because the sand is too 
loose to permit the clover to remain long enough to take root, other 
means ought to be brought into use to effect the purpose. What 
the sand wants is adhesion, that the high winds do not shift it. The 
remedy for this loosness of texture is to create a vegetable mould, 
and to effect this, after sowing it with a. spring crop, and a mixture 
of clover, timothy, with subsequently plaster, we would cover these 
knolls with straw raised in the valleys and saved for that purpose ; 
they are not so numerous and large on a farm, but this may be easily 
done, for the intervening spaces between these hillocks of sand 
would now yield an abundance of it for that purpose. The straw 
once applied, and it is done without much expense or labor, would 
not only keep the sand from shifting, but would materially aid the 
succeeding crop; a sward once obtained, ought to be permitted to 
remain for some time, for the future cohesion of the soil would be 
much aided by the thousand decomposing fibrous roots of the grass. 
Where straw for a covering could not be obtained, I would suggest 
whether lime, incorporated with the soil by being put in with a crop, 
would not form a chemical combination with the sand, (as it does if 
you please, in mortar,) enough after the first rain to make it adhere 
sufficiently for the purpose of cultivation. Lime would likewise act 
as a valuable manure, and when applied with unfermented stable 
dung, aid very much to obtain the desired object. . Again, wood 
ashes, by the alkali in them may be most usefully applied—on these 
sands they would, in our opinion, be invaluable—acting chemically 
on the sand and stimulating its vegetable productions, they would 
soon cover it with a growth that would prevent the wind from agi¬ 
tating its surface, if not make that surface more cohesive. Provi¬ 
dence has, however, placed a remedy within the reach of every 
settler, and that is, as this has a substratum of clay, draw a little of 
this upon the bleak places, and by its intermingling with the sand, 
it will be sure to give the soil sufficient firmness to secure vegeta¬ 
tion. To a practical and intelligent farmer located there, many 
remedies would suggest themselves to obviate the difficulty, and that 
once overcome, from the abundance of water running between th se 
hillocks, and the fertility of the little and numerous valleys, this land 
to the grain farmer would be particularly desirable. This soil now 
will not bear frequent cropping. It appears to be this kind of farm¬ 
ing on those places from which the stinted pines have been remov¬ 
ed, that has so much injured it in the estimation of a prudent man, 
for every thing like vegetable remains has been abstracted from it, 
and left nothing but a bed of loose and drifting sand. Each grain 
crop ought to have been succeeded by a covering of grass until suffi¬ 
cient tilth was given to it to admit of successive grain, corn, or root 
crops. Were we to clear up a piece of this ground tor cultivation, 
on the first, which would be a crop of wheat, (as we think it would 
bear it,) we would at once sow in the spring, clover, timothy and 
plaster. The few bushes and roots that might be left after a first 
ploughing, in places where the soil is very sandy, would be a suffi¬ 
cient protection against the influence of the winds. It should lie to 
grass one or two years, according to circumstances, then plough 
again, put in a spring crop and seed immediately again to grass, and 
so cultivate until there was a sufficient vegetable mould created to 
give cohesion to the soil, and leave nutriment enough in it to bring 
any crop to perfection. This soil, when brought into a proper state, 
is considered admirably adapted to turnips. The root culture will, 
in process of time, be a source of great profit, and come in as a 
necessary rotation, The county of Norfolk, in England, is said to 
contain 140,800 acres of light sand—formerly this was considered 
useless, but within the last fifty years it has been brought under the 
most successful and profitable husbandry, and is now one of the best, 
least expensive and most sought after tracts that an English farmer 
can settle on. If wc adopt their management, making due allow¬ 
ance for the influence of climate, this land near Albany will soon be 
as valuable as theirs. A. 
ON THE CULTURE OF CLOVER, 
Few things have contributed more largely to the modern improve¬ 
ment of husbandry, than the introduction of clover, in connexion 
with the rotation of crops. This plant serves to ameliorate and 
fertilize the soil, and at the same time it affords an abundance of 
wholesome food for every description of farm stock. Whether cut 
for winter stores, for soiling in the yard, or fed off by stock, but few 
crops surpass it in the quantity of cattle food which it affords.— 
Although cultiuated in Holland and Flanders from an early period, 
with great advantage, it was not introduced into Great. Britain till 
the 16th century. At present, clovers enter largely into the suc¬ 
cession of crops there, on all soils, and in every productive course 
of management. They were principally instrumental in giving to 
Flanders its high celebrity, as an agricultural country, greatly in 
advance, in improvement, of the states around it. The clover sys¬ 
tem has converted some of the poorest districts in England into the 
most productive and profitable. In the United States it is compara¬ 
tively of recent introduction ; and even at this day its benefits are 
but partially appreciated or applied as they ought to be. In con¬ 
nection with gypsum, clover first became a subject of notice and 
culture in the counties about Philadelphia, and in the county of 
Dutchess, some foity years ago; and we are much indebted to the 
example and writings of Chancellor Livingston, Judge Peters, and 
other gentlemen of learning, wealth and enterprize, for the improve¬ 
ment and wealth which it has conferred on our land. Many of our 
farmers have yet much to learn, before they can realize the full 
benefits which it is capable of affording in the profits of the farm. 
Although botanists enumerate nearly fifty species of the clover 
family, our present remarks are intended to apply merely to the 
common red kind ( trifolium pratense.) 
There are three faults in the management of clover which we 
design briefly to notice, in reference to alternate husbandry. These 
are, 
1. Too little seed is usually sown. The object of the clover crop 
is to procure a cheap food for animals and plants. Few if any crops 
surpass it in the quantity which it affords of these,—and few exhaust 
the fertility of the soil less. One farmer sows four or six pounds of 
seed to the acre, and gets in return a thin but coarse crop of hay or 
pasture. Another sows ten to fourteen pounds, obtains double the 
burthen of the first, and at a trifling extra expense of less than a 
dollar to the acre for seed, while his land is doubly benefitted by the 
green crop to be ploughed in. From ten to fourteen pounds of seed 
shuold be sown to the acre, whether the object be to benefit the 
stock or the land. The product will be somewhat in the ratio of the 
seed sown ; and the advantages of heavy stocking, both in the hay 
and to the soil, will far out balance the cost of the extra seed. 
2. Clover lays are permitted to remain too long before they are 
brought under the plough. The common clover is a biennial, or at 
most a triennial plant; and if not ploughed under before the third 
year, its advantages to the soil, as a green crop, are mostly or whol¬ 
ly lost; while after the second year, it adds very little to the crop of 
hay. But if turned under the first or second year, it furnishes to the 
soil a great quantity of vegetable matter, the true food of plants. It 
not only serves as manure, but it benefits mechanically. Its tap 
roots penetrate and divide the soil, and, as they decay, render it fri¬ 
able, and permeable to heat, air, and moisture. A well set clover 
lay imparts to the soil as much benefit, in our opinion, as ten loads 
of yard manure to the acre. When a broadcast crop is to be follow¬ 
ed by a tillage crop, as corn, potatoes, or small grain, there is mani¬ 
festly a decided advantage in stocking it with clover, though it is to 
be turned under the ensuing fall or spring. We estimate its value, 
as manure, to say nothing of the pasture it affords, at from five to 
ten dollars per acre, while the cost of the seed does not ordinarily 
exceed one dollar. I have rye and clover, upon a piece of poor sandy 
land, for which I had no manure to spare, three years in succession, 
with manifest advantage. 
3. The common method of curing clover hay is bad .—-The object to 
be obtained is, to cure the hay in the cheapest and best manner.— 
The common practice of spreading clover from the swath, causes 
the leaves and blossoms to dry and crumble, ere the haulm or stocks 
are sufficiently cured. Thus either the finer parts of the hay are 
lost, or the crop is housed with so much moisture, as to cause it to 
heat, and often to spoil. Clover should only be spread when it has 
become wet in the swath, and should be gathered again before the 
leaves dry and crumble. Both these evils may be avoided, and la¬ 
bor saved withal, by curing the grass wholly in swath and cock.— 
After experiencing the serious disadvantages of the old method, I 
adopted the one I am about to recommend, and have pursued it sa¬ 
tisfactory ten or a dozen years. My practice has been, to leave the 
