THE CULTIVATOR. 
127 
Miscellaneous, 
PINE PLAINS. 
[Largo districts of our country bear this denomination. Their intrinsic value 
for agriculture is daily becoming better appreciated ; and under improved 
management, with the aid of the clay marl which generally underlays 
them, they promise soon to be among our most profitable lands. The fol¬ 
lowing judicious remarks, on the proper mode of cultivating these lands, on 
“ frequent ploughings,” and on “natural meadows,” although written for j 
Saratoga, have a general application, and cannot but be read with profit by 
all who cultivate sandy lands. They are extracted from a geological survey 
of Saratoga county, written by Dr. Steele, of Saratoga Springs.] 
The method which should be pursued with this soil, in order to obtain 
the greatest possible profits, seems to be agreed, among the most expe¬ 
rienced farmers, to be the following: First crop, winter wheat; second, 
Indian corn; third, barley, oats, spring wheat or rye, with which grass 
seed should be sown, (clover and timothy is preferred) and the whole 
ploughed or dragged in, at the same time. Experience has likewise giv¬ 
en currency to the belief that the roller is a very important implement in 
seeding sandy soils. It should be employed immediately after the seed is 
put in. This renders the surface compact and smooth, and gives a depth 
and firmness to the roots of the young plants, that they do not possess 
when the seed is strewed over the surface, as is the usual custom; and 
besides, it is supposed to protect it very materially against the effects of 
the winter. 
On the following season, the clover is to be well plastered, and the crop 
mowed for hay: the next season it should be again well strewed with plas¬ 
ter, and it then may be fed until the latter part of August or the begin¬ 
ning of September; at which time it is to be turned over with the plough, 
and prepared for a future crop of grain. Wheat succeeds well, but there 
is some contrariety of opinion as to the mode of putting in the seed; the 
usual practice is to cross plough and break up the sod before the seed is 
sown; but those who have practised it, think the crop succeeds best when 
the seed is sown on the top of the furrows, and for this purpose the earth, 
after being well turned over, is rolled and merely harrowed. The seed 
is then sown and dragged in with a light harrow, or ploughed in the way 
of the furrows, with a very light plough; but not so as to disturb the sod. 
Some farmers, who have not made themselves acquainted with the use 
of the roller, have adopted the following method: they simply turn over 
the sod, and then cast the seed immediately on the top of the furrows; 
but it is obvious, that passing a roller over the surface, and then a light 
harrow would have the effect to fill up the interstices of the furrows, and 
render them more even for the reception of the seed; besides, it would 
render the earth more compact, and press it more closely to the green 
crop turned under, and this is considered very essential in order more 
readily to perfect its decomposition, and thereby render it subservient to 
the growth of its successor, for which purpose it is buried. 
Many farmers prefer Indian corn, instead of wheat, on the sod, and 
some difference of opinion exists as to the propriety of turning over the 
sod in the fall, or in the spring immediately before planting. It should al¬ 
ways be turned over in the fall, before it has ceased growing, and in the 
spring after it has pretty well advanced. 
It seems to be agreed on all hands, that three successive crops are all 
that should be attempted before the field be again seeded, and the same 
rotation of crops be pursued. Under this course the quality as well as the 
quantity of the produce will annually improve, and an increase of fertility 
be constantly added to the soil. 
This soil would receive great and lasting improvement from the trans¬ 
position of the marl which lays at the bottom, to the surface. This would 
give more tenacity and consistency to the soil, and prepare it more effect¬ 
ually for the benefit of the vegetable manure, which is to be supplied by 
frequent seeding. With this dressing, all those sandy hillocks, which are 
blown about like snow drifts, might be reclaimed and converted into orna¬ 
mental as well as profitable appendages to the farm.* 
The practice of clovering and plastering has been resorted to, and is in 
general use for the purpose of improving the soil; and it is universally ac- 
* Some years ago I published a paper on the existenceof marl in this county, 
and its application as a manure ; but I have yet to learn whether any use has 
ever been made of it 
The Agricultural Society of this county have this year, (1822) awarded a 
premium of $6 to Gilbert Waring, of the town of Saratoga Springs, for the best 
experiment with marl—(1 believe there was no competition.) He applied it 
to some light sandy knolls, which were so poor as to be incapable of producing 
even weeds. The rest of the field, excepting several of these hillocks, was a 
thick clover-sward, which was turned over in the fall, and about the same time 
the marl was conveyed to these barren spots, in the proportion of from 60 to 
100 loads to the acre. In the spring succeeding, the whole field was planted 
with Indian corn. The young plants, on the places where the marl was ap¬ 
plied, began to distinguish themselves at an early period, by a much darker 
colour, and a more luxuriant growth, which they continued to exhibit through 
the senson; and at harvest, the crop was judged to be one-third better than any 
other part of the field, from an equal quantity of ground. 
The marl which was used has the appearance of blue day, but effervesces 
very strongly with acid3. 
knowledged to be by far the cheapest and best method hitherto adopted. 
Much complaint is, however, made of the liability of the clover to be kill¬ 
ed out during the winter; but several distinguished practical farmers speak 
with confidence, that if the seed be ploughed or well harrowed in, and 
then well rolled, this evil will no longer exist. Covering the seed when 
it is sown, is in practice with some farmers, and the effects resulting from 
it justifies the procedure; but the roller, so far as my knowledge extends, 
has seldom been used on these soils, although it has been resorted to, and, 
indeed, is in general use with some of the farmers on the loamy soils, 
where its good effects have not been denied by any. 
The idea of rendering the earth “ mellow" for the reception of the 
seed, which means, to have it finely pulverized and light, in common 
language, “ like an ash heap does not appear to be so important as ma¬ 
ny of our farmers seem to imagine. The great object of ploughing, is to 
destroy and cover in the earth every species of vegetation, that the crop 
to be expected from the seeding, may have nothing to choke and impede 
its growth, or deprive it of any share of the nutriment that there is in the 
soil, w’hich would be useful to its own health and vigour; when this object 
is effected, the plough can be of no further use, except to cover the seed. 
The prevalent opinion, that turning in the dew or exposing a new sur¬ 
face of the earth frequently to the rays of the sun, enriches the soil, has 
likewise no foundation in fact. The earth can imbibe nothing from the 
sun’s rays but heat and light, which it possesses in sufficient quantity for 
all the purposes of vegetation, where it has not been moved at all. Who 
has not observed the most luxuriant spontaneous productions, where the 
soil had not been stirred for years? and it is a maxim with farmers, that 
“ where weeds grow luxuriantly, any other vegetable will.” Indeed, the 
frequent exposure of a new surface of the soil, during the summer months, 
must expose the volatile principles which it may contain to exhalation, 
and thereby endanger the loss of one essential article to its fertility, which, 
in soils that contain much animal matter, is very considerable. The turn¬ 
ing in of the dew, is equally absurd; it can contain no ingredient that is 
not found in rain-water, which is nearly pure. The dew is simply the ex¬ 
halations of the day, which are condensed during the cool of the evening; 
like rain, it forms an essential moisture for the support of vegetation, but 
can have no other effect. 
I saw several fields, in the town of Providence, in the fall of 1821, 
where rye had been gathered which had been sown the fall before, on 
sward or old pasture; the grass among the stubble was, undoubtedly, more 
abundant than it had been for some years before it was ploughed. This 
could not have failed of rendering the crop much less productive than it 
otherwise would have been, for beside diverting a share of the nutriment 
in the soil from the rye, it must have crowded and prevented its spreading. 
This luxuriant growth of grass was, undoubtedly, owing to two circum¬ 
stances in the mode of tillage: 1st, the imperfect manner in which the 
sod, during the first ploughing, was turned over, owing to the great num¬ 
ber of loose stones, which impeded the free and direct motions of the 
plough; and 2d, to the subsequent dragging and cross ploughing, which 
had the effect to place a great proportion of the sod grass-side up again, 
with the additional advantage of having the compressed and distorted roots 
torn asunder, and thinned in such a manner as to render them more 
susceptible of nutriment. 
The evil might have been prevented, not only to the immediate advan¬ 
tage of the crop, but to the permanent benefit of the soil, by devoting the 
time that was spent in “ cross ploughing and harrowing ,” to removing 
the impediments to the free motions of the plough, and then carefully 
turning the sod so effectually as perfectly to cover the face of it; a heavy 
roller then passed over the surface, rvould have the effect to secure it in 
its place, to press the loose earth more firmly into the spaces between the 
furrows, and prevent more effectually, the possibility of its again vegeta¬ 
ting. In this situation, it is ready tor the seed, which should be covered 
with a light plough or harrow, special care being taken not to disturb or 
displace the sod which, thu3 confined, soon commences decomposing, or, 
in the common phrase, “ rotting," thus furnishing an important and whole¬ 
some nutriment to the corn plants, whose roots are pushing in all direc¬ 
tions into its substance. 
The thick, stiff, and tough nature of the soil of this region, is offered 
as an objection to this mode of procedure. I am aware that the spontane¬ 
ous grasses, particularly on a fertile soil, commonly produce a more stub¬ 
born and unmanageable sod than that produced by the grasses usually cul¬ 
tivated, but I believe no method will be found more effectual in decom¬ 
posing it, as that of covering it closely in the earth. The objection, how¬ 
ever, may be remedied by substituting the more useful grasses, as clover 
or timothy, which furnish a much better pasture, give a greater abund¬ 
ance, and a better quality of hay, and when turned under, yields a much 
more prolific ingredient to an exhausted soil. If this practice were pur¬ 
sued, I can see no reason why wheat cannot be produced here as well as 
in the adjoining town of Galway, where more wheat is raised than in any 
other town in the county, particularly should the mode of manuring with 
lime be adopted. 
It should be observed, that in Galway, as in most places where wheat 
is raised in the greatest perfection, lime forms one of the ingredients in 
the composition of the soil, while in that of Providence, and in the whole 
