1853 . 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
107 . 
yard manure per acre, for some purposes. Liquid 
manure was copiously applied to . the ■ growing 
crop. The result was—one good square rod con- 
talned 89 roots, (or about one to three square feet,) 
average weight 81 bs. 2 oz. each, or 52 tons per 
acre. One poor rod—8y roots, averaging 5| lbs. 
each, or-36'tons'per acre. Average of Hie ten 
' acre field, 43*tons per acre. Many roots weighed 
28 to 25 lbs. each, without tops, and measured 33 
to 42 inches in circumference. He asserts that 
this high culture will enable him to produce roots 
' at five shillings, ($1.25) per ton.' The liquid ma¬ 
nure penetrates the soil and acts Immediately. 
One load of cow dung, rendered liquid, will'by its 
immediate action, manure more land than four 
loads dry. He thinks after a lapse of some years, 
sewers from towns and public institutions will rent 
at a high price j and the farmer “ no-longer fret and 
stew about Lobos Island, Peruvian monopoly, or 
peculative deception but use the fertilizing ma¬ 
terials'which are now wasted, and swept into riv¬ 
ers and the ocean. 
Great Secrets in Cultivation, 
Those of our readers, whose recollections ex¬ 
tend back far enough, may remember to have 
heard of a great' discovery that was once made 
in the cultivation of the earth, and for'the pub¬ 
lic announcement of which, a few hundred 
thousands were asked from one of our state gov¬ 
ernments, The state government declined paying 
the price, but the people individually paid subse¬ 
quently large surfts in' the aggregate, to obtain 
separately the secret. Many of them have thought 
that the dollar thus paid' by each was- well ex- . 
•pended. Without giving any opinion as to the 
merits of this discovery, we shall undertake, for 
the benefit of our readers, to mention several 
other secrets in the ark of cultivation, doubtless 
quite as new and original, and which we are con¬ 
fident, if properly known, appreciated, and acted 
upon, would be worth to the mass'of American 
farmers, quite as much as the sum claimed for 
the other. 
1. The first, and perhaps the most important qf 
these secrets is, doing everything in its season— 
and never putting off till.to morrow what can be 
done to-day. We have known farmers, occupying 
not over a hundred acres, who lost by sowing crops 
too late, by failing to seize the most favorable op¬ 
portunities for planting and for harvesting, by al¬ 
lowing grain to get over ripe, by neglecting to pro¬ 
vide and repair tools, and to examine the condi¬ 
tion of fences at the more leisure periods, and in 
various other ways, to lose annually at least' one 
hundred dollars on an average. Consequently, an 
effectual remedy for this evil would be worth in 
the aggregate, to a half a million of pur farmers, 
no less than fifty million dollars annually. What 
government will give us half this amount for di¬ 
vulging the secret? How many individual farm-. 
ers will give us a dollar for this knowledge? 
2. Another great secret is the proper saving of 
manures. Half our farmers at least, waste more 
than half the value of the manures deposited by 
their domestic animals, through the escape of ail 
the liquid portions,'worth one-half of the whole; 
and by the dissipation and loss of a large share of 
the solid portions. These losses might be saved 
by the construction of tanks or basins for liquids, 
and by the free use of straw, dried muck, sawdust, 
fence-corner-turf-and soil, £tc., for absorbing and 
retaining the portions of manure commonly wasted. 
‘Now, manure is the main-spring of good farming; 
and wasting one-half or two-thirds of all that might 
be saved, is lessening the crops and starving the 
land, to an amount equal to a hundred dollars year¬ 
ly for medium farmers. This, for the half million, 
would again be fifty million, dollars. 
3. The knowledge of the j^reat advantages re¬ 
sulting from under-draining, remains a secret to . 
many. We have known a field of land so wet as 
scarcely ever to pay in crops the cost of cultiva¬ 
tion, but which, after thorough draining, yielded * 
the first year forty bushels of wheat per acre. 
. Those who have practiced tile-draining extensive¬ 
ly have often found the whole expense reimbursed 
at the close of the second year by the increase in 
product. There are few farms that would not be 
benefited more than a hundred dollars above all 
expenses by thorough draining,‘making the aggre¬ 
gate gain for the whole country fully equal to that 
of the preceding instances. 
We need not multiply examples of this kind, to 
show the prpneness of men to leave what is easily 
learned, and which may prove eminently advan¬ 
tageous, for that which is “ far-fetched and dear- 
bought,” to show that we need not “ compass sea 
and land ” for the discovery of new and wonder¬ 
ful arts, of little value, while so many advantages 
lie unimproved directly beneath our feet. 
Cultivation of Oats. 
One of the best articles on the cultivation of oats 
which has appeared,’is the Essay of J. Rowlandson, 
as published in the last number of the (British) 
Farmer’s Magazine. As the same rules of culti¬ 
vation will apply in a great measure to both coun- 
. tries, we shall perhaps render an acceptable ser¬ 
vice to our readers by giving a brief outline of the 
facts stated in that article, so far as they may be 
of general application. 
Soil.— Any soil in good condition will produce 
good crops of pats—r-they can be profitably grown 
on soils too poor for other cereals, rye excepted— 
and on all intermediate stages of fertility up to 
rich virgin land. Some rich, newly drained peat 
soils have produced from 80 to 100 bushels of light 
grain per acre. With regard to climate, oats will 
flourish under a very-wide range. The heaviest 
and best crops are .grown on soils the. most pro¬ 
ductive of ordinary farm crops. For all seasons, 
friable loam situated on broken limestone, has 
been found best. Heavier or more cloddy soils 
are apt to suffer from drouth, to remedy which 
sow early and rather thick. If sown late and 
thin, a miserable crop will be the result. • On mar¬ 
ly. soil, the grain is heaviest, being often 45 or 46 
lbs. per bushel-—heavier props, however, are ob¬ 
tained on rather looser or more friable soils. 
The heaviest crops on rich and moist drained peat, 
are raised during dry. seasons, when the crop is 
sown early. On gravelly soils, unless in very good 
tilth, oats suffer most from drouth. 
.Cultivation .—The best preparation tor luxuri¬ 
ant crops is freshly broken up grass land. The 
only objection is the small pecuniary return for so 
valuable a preparation. In' the warmer parts of 
