1848 . THE CULTIVATOR. ?43 
{MPROTEWElfT ©F SAKDT AW» GEATEIM SOILS. 
Mr. Adam Anthony, of North Providence, furnish¬ 
es the officers of the Rhode island Society for the En¬ 
couragement of Domestic Industry, an account of the 
mode in which he has very successfully improved his 
farm. The farm consists of 350 acres, but deducting 
50 acres of wood, 18 in a “natural pasture,” and 10 
in wet meadow, there is but 72 acres suitable for til¬ 
lage or hoed crops. The principal portion of these 
72 acres, is {: very sandy, with a subsoil of sand and 
gravel,” and was originally very poor. Mr. A. took 
possession of the farm in 1826. u The crops of that 
year, were 5 tons of English hay, 3 of bog hay, 2 of 
eats, 200 bushels potatoes. 200 of turneps, some fruit 
and a supply of garden vegetables for home consump¬ 
tion—worth, including pasture feed $385. The produce 
of the farm last year., <1847,) was by estimation, 200 
tons of green fodder for soiling, 100 of hay , 25 of mil¬ 
let, 17 of dry corn fodder, 640 bushels of potatoes, 
750 bushels Indian corn, 50 bushels apples, with other 
fruit and garden vegetables—the value of which, in¬ 
clusive of pasture feed, is $3,575. Nearly tenfold in¬ 
crease in the products of the farm.” 
Previous to 3826, the sandy portion of the farm had 
heen put to Indian corn and rye, at intervals of about 
six years, and had yielded about eight bushels of corn, 
and about live bushels of rye per acre. The rye was 
sown on the corn-hills-—no grass seed being ever sown. 
It was of so little value for grazing, that 75 acres, 
half in wood and half in pasture, rented in 1826 for 
$15. This same pasture produced last year, more 
Shan half the crops above named. 
The basis of Mr. Anthony’s improvement, has been 
the application of leached ashes. The products ob¬ 
tained by the use of ashes, afforded the means of keep¬ 
ing a larger stock and increasing the quantity of ma¬ 
nure; the manure permitted the introduction of other 
crops, which being consumed on the farm, laid the foun¬ 
dation for larger yields and more extended cultivation. 
His first crops were clover and millet, and his mode of 
preparing the land was to plow u at first from four to 
six inches deep, turning the furrow fiat when there 
lias been tenacity enough lor the purpose, followed by 
the roller, and if the field did not then present a sur¬ 
face sufficiently smooth for the reception of ashes and 
seed, the harrow, or bush, or both, as circumstances 
required, were applied. The ashes placed upon the 
field, in rows six paces apart—the heaps of uniform 
size, distance six paces in the row, and in the aggre¬ 
gate containing 200 bushels the acre, (the usual quan¬ 
tity first used on these poor soils) have then been evenly 
spread, and the field marked by drawing a chain into 
lands five paces wide in two directions, the last at right 
angles with the first. This -done, the millet and clover 
seeds, previously mixed together and divided into two 
equal parts, were sown; one half in one direction of 
the field, and the remainder crosswise, or in the other. 
Two harrowings, the last across the first, succeeded 
by the roller, usually completing the operation.” 
The millet and the clover are both cut for hay; the 
first crops being about a ton and a half of hay, each, 
per acre. The third year after being sown, the land 
Is again turned over, the plow running rather deeper 
than before, and the former course is repeated, with a 
somewhat less quantity of ashes than before. After a 
third repetition of this process, Indian corn and pota¬ 
toes are brought in; these crops always receiving a 
dressing of manure—from six to nine cords per acre, 
ifcs Igdi&B corn, the stable or yard manure is always 
plowed in, the plow running from six to seven inches 
deep, followed by a roller, to prevent the disturbance 
of the sod in the after culture. {It should be remem¬ 
bered that this is a very loose soil, and needs compres¬ 
sion.] 
Mr. A. prefers sowing millet early in June, but the 
time may vary according to circumstances, from the 
twentieth of May to the tenth of July. If sown ear¬ 
lier, the weeds obtain the ascendancy; if later, the crop 
is liable to injury by frost. The quantity of seed is 
about forty quarts per acre. When grown of suitable 
fineness and well cured, Mr. A. considers it excellent 
fodder—better for soiling than most grasses, but infe¬ 
rior for this purpose to rye. Sandy soils produce it in 
greater perfection than any others; on heavy loams it 
is apt to rust. Mr. A. remarks that when clover seed 
is sown with millet, many of the young clover plants 
perish, and he recommends an extra quantity of seed 
on this account. He advises to omit sowing the grass 
seed till after the crop, whether of millet or any other 
kind of grain, is off; and he prefors stocking down in the 
last of August or beginning of September, to any other 
time. We will add, that we should prefer sowing clover 
at this time, to sowing it with millet or any spring crop, 
on such a soil as is here described. 
Indian corn and rye are used for soiling. The corn 
“ is drilled in rows 2g feet apart, at different periods, 
for this purpose, and thus affording a successive supply. 
The seed used, from 2 to 2| bushels the acre, covered 
with the hoe and dressed with the cultivator. The 
large sweet variety is esteemed the best on account of 
its superior richness, and the avidity with which it is 
eaten. It is, however, less productive than the flat or 
southern.” 
When rye is sown, t( the land is stocked at the same 
time with clover for soiling, about the commencement 
of autumn, either on sward, clover lay or old ground, 
dressed with stable manure or ashes. The rye is com¬ 
menced upon early in May, and the clover succeeds 
that of other fields when their produce has become too 
old to be relished. This is followed by millet. Next 
comes corn, the earliest drilled for the purpose. Af¬ 
terwards suckers, and then again corn. This is allied 
at the barn.” 
Management of Stock on the Soiling system.— 
Mr. Anthony gives his mode of managing stock as 
follows: 
“ The stock, averaging about 40 head, stand upon a 
platform, raised six inches above a tight floor which 
projects beyond the sill a few inches over the side of a 
planked trench outside of the barn. Here the cows 
(usually 36 in number) are fed three times a day. 
They go also to the pasture for a slight picking, for 
water and exercise, morning and evening. But they 
are always stabled at night, and a sufficient supply of 
peat or swamp-mud, is placed just below the platform 
for the reception of the urine and manure. After lying 
24 hours, the whole mass is hauled over and shoved 
through an aperture between the floor and the boarding 
of the barn into the trench referred to. In this way, 
300 cords of excellent manure are annually made by 
the stock. In the planting season it is carried to the 
field and plowed in, undergoing little or no fermenta¬ 
tion until it is turned under or incorporated with the soil. 
At other times it is placed in large heaps, when it is to 
be used the ensuing season. 
11 For seven months in the year, the cows go out on¬ 
ly onee in the day, having an hour or more in fine wea- 
