NoYYSTS- Case & C J PRESENTED TO THE % By mp ^ ^ Theos Kai The nth. TRINITY COLLEGE, N. C. PERKINS LIBRARY Duke U, Kare books . ^ W\ Ai /ft* *ii r*% A SERIES OF ESSAYS ON AGRICULTURE & RURAL AFFAIRS IN FORTY SEV N NUMBERS. BV « AGRICOLA/ 5 »2 J^urth- Carolina Farmer. £ Requisitions, nothing , nothing: more freeman, than AgriCul i •■re is the crreai art which I \ every proprietor of land to practix prove." d Igrienlture, thePounrtatioiiBof individ national | i • : e to rnanu/actUreu-^All that can auj extend cr.il.zu ,o-.\." Id VVWVX VVVV\\V1\VV\< \' www 7?. I * '■ nr JOSEPH I 1311). CM A2if. TVT.F.1CK THF Author, in the Introductory number, has stated 80 fuliy his views with respect to the o] i^cts o .work, and the resources he employed in composing it, as to rerdcr almost superfluous any further remarks on the subject. Being ei gaged in the pursuits o ture, and ardently lowe=f capacities; but ii w as orij£friall v pi on. h h is .1 alteration. VVhile the author entirelj mo-v, ht was cautwits not to admit any principles noile^of ihure into ftfis work, which were not support. the m >le authori . %i is a lamentable, but :, i>* remark, that our mode? of airricuil.ure are miserahiv defective, and requite mu-ch veiiLin ; ami in no way, it is conceived, can its amelioration be so effectually promoted as. by presenting to the great body of our farmers a work, which, by its rfheapnesV, is accessible to them ail, ami which at the san.e ti:ne , in a short compass, ail necessary in- formation, and that too clothed in the plainest Ian; for carrying into effect the latest am! most improved modes of cultivating the earth to advant ige The majority of our Rimers are happily a reading people, and When once they get into the habit of reading agricultural $o'rk-s, they will be led to reflect, to enquire, to compare their own modes of management with those recommended; and from whence will aise in their minds a conviction ofthe necessity of a change, and that for the better. If there be any farmers so prejjfdiced us to reject the information contained in agricultural publications, hrt them be reminded of the 1 important truth, that '• a life may be spent in acquiring informati m from individual ex >efiencfc ; but knowledge is soon gained from books in wfifth the experience of many is Concentrated;" a ti sigrtal amplification, and which it were earnestly to be desired our larmers in ge- . In fine, it has been the . this important k * tmi to concentrate the knowledge and ce not only of past, L >epl times , as to the most improv- ed monies ol cultivating fhe cd\t\i How far this maypremote t : .e i for 1 which it was writr determine; and whatever ay be its fate, the Author cannot be deprived of the i fafiun of having used his exertions to i •• mier it .c. E AUTIi AGRICULTURAL ESSAYS. INTRODUCTORY NUMEKIl T. 1 propose communicating to the public, in a suc- cession of short Essays, such information or. Agricul- ture and llur.al Affairs as I may be able to obtain ei- ther from my own experience, that of others, com- municated personally to me, or by letter, or from the most approve d works written on the subject. I shall avail myself of either, or a combination of the whole of these resources in writing each number, according to rhe nature or importance of the subject. With regard to Agricultural Books, I promise that 'they shall be diligently consulted, and that all in for* mation scattered over many volumes which may be valuable to farmers, shall be faithfully collected, pro- perly arranged, and presented to them. This infor- mation, perhaps, will deserve some attention, when it is considered that it will be drawn from books that are expensive and voluminous, and some of them scarce, and therefore, not easily to bj acquired by the great body of t\\e people in ny other way. It shall slso be clothed in language pi in and perspicu- ous, so as to be adapted to the capacities and attain- ments of the great body of the people called Far: for whose benefit I write ; and as I am one of them, and have devoted my interests and efforts in the pursuits of Agriculture, it is not to be supposed, that •I shall recommend practices to them which a: •; . : ft O DOCTOR Y E S S A Y. variance with our common interests. The only re- ward which I desire, ior the° time and lahor which must necessarily be bestowed in acquiring and com- municating agricultural information to the public, is that it may .have a U ndency to awaken our farmers to a better .sense of their interest, and to excite in them u spirit of enquiry and research, and a thirst for ac- quiring better information than they now possess on the subjects of their pursuit. Should such a tendency be effected, may we not confidently hope that prejudice, the great bar to im- provements in agriculture,- will be destroyed, and that farmers, when convinced of the ir present im- perfect modes of husbandry, will be disposed to en- quire after and adopt better. Nothing is so well calculated to eradicate these Drejudices as well written books on the subject of a- griculti'.re. But how few of those books are to be found in the houses or libraries of our farmers ; per- haps we may find in their possesion a well-written »vork on medicine, law and some of the sciences, but not one on the subject of agriculture, the most important and interesting to them of all temporal pursuits, one upon which not only their subsistence, comfort and happiness depends, but also that of their posterity. It is from an ignorance of agriculture, that far- mers in general take so little interest and feel so little emulation for distinction in their pursuits.— By many it is supposed, that agriculture is the-only profession which requires little or no skill or previous knowhdge, and that a man becomes a farmer as soon hs he enters on the possession of a farm. Hence, without doubt, arises the-miserable state of agricul- ture among us, and the mapy unsuccessful attempts by individuals, who have failed from no other cams .than the want of sufficient knowledge and experience^ ftpiJfUCTOjlT ESSAT. Jti North-Carolina, the state of agriculture is at the lowest ebb ; 1 speak not tins with reproach, bi?C w th the deepest regret. But I am happy to In hold a spirit for improvement, and improvements making in some sections of -the State, which I h->re will not "be local, -but v ill in time extend to every part of if. There is a V ce between the present and a more pen j u h is I done to 'arrive aft this desirable state, Our pr is a laiKi- en, which must be altered the better; for if persevered in, it must ultim issue in want, misery rfml depopulation. Agj ture, as an art, consists not in the imp mtmt, but in the continual improvement erf the soil, To effect these improvements, it behoves m liberal fortunes and enterprise (whose means and whose intelligence enable them to seek after and a- dopt improved modes of agriculture, and to recom- mend them to the attention of their fellow-citizens, by teaching their utility and practicability) to step forward in so laudable an undertaking. No subject can be more worthy of the liberal and patriotic mind ; nor one which is connected with greater practical benefit's and advantages. For u discoveries made in the cultivation of the ^earth, are not merely for the lime and country in which they are developed, but they may be considered as extending to future ages, and as ultimately tending to benefit the wh >le human race ; as affording subsistence for generations yet to come; as multiplying life, and not only multiplying life-, but likewise providing for its i&njoi FIRST PRINCIPLES OF AGRICUL'i No. II. ►thmg could be of more importance to agricul- m to def.ne and establish those principles upon which success in its pursuits, depends. Were such principles established, agriculture might soon be reduced to a regular system, and then it could be pursued with certainty and success, which are of the utmost importance to its prosperity. Without the knowledge of first principles, nothing Can be expect- ed from any of the practitioners of agriculture wor- thy of attention; men acquainted with first princi- ples will never deviate from them, while they find .them correct: perhaps they may try some experi- ment consistent with them, and succeed. This, then is the foundation from which we .are to expect a ra- tional system of agriculture, adapted to all the vari- eties of soil, climate, and seasons, with which it must ever be connected. The completion of such a task, however desirable and important, seems almost to be hopeless when it is considered, that the princi- ples and practice of this art, on which the subsis- tence and comforts of the human race so materially' -Jenend; should still be subject to varieties in opi- :md contrarieties in practice. Notwithstanding agriculture remains imperfect, although so many ages have elapsed since man was first doomed to cultivate the earth, and countless volumes have been written >n the modes of fulfilling his destiny ; yet some be* nefit may however be derived from the most humble attempt at this task, by clearing the way for others to pursue k with abler hands. 1. Industry and atteution to agricultural pursuits, and intelligence the rein, are indispensable to it success. No success in r. ' employme: to mankind, is experit. : and in that of agriculture, its absence cfertainh diets calamity, than in any otltei. -However : '• farmers may be in theory, or >us in conversation, let their. : e thems an opinion that they may disp< cessiry of agriculture, and yet ~ke^p their estates Let it therefore be im] farmer, that all the instruction in the world in useful science, will avail nothtn . be want- ing« Strict application and close 3enttal requisites for a farmer; without I matter h'ow well his pin does not personally a{ cannot expect them to succeed of rH'arm- r has. no end j it is cer' do bu-ir< requires more pa.-'. ; • . mi- nute objects.; evtry tiling must be attended to, ry thing mu«i 1, and every busine The true b the Farmti it in .irhmg the plough or engaging in- other men" al 'hces, but in allotting and superintending labour, ir. recording its results, and contriving how and where to dispose el it to the frtbs "i o read and think, and attend the public mar&ets^arid regulate accounts, and observe wh in the same oc cupation jt. the same neighborhood, uneven at some distance, are enraged in, is of the utmost importance* to thefarmer who wishes to prosper in his agricul- tural pursuits, He should consider himself, A3 en gaged in a business, requiring peculiar and mces* ■jant vigilance ; in a concern, in which occurrin tingencies ofte ire a- change of plan. i.\ ',m>:\. 6 •NCXP1E the exercise of judgment is 'perpetually demanded; and through the wlnt of a sagacious and presiding mind, the manual labour of many, convertible to ex- treme advantage, may easily become productive on- iy of mischief ; or may have substituted for it negli- gence, indolence and dishonesty.. Hence nothing, perhaps, has more retarded the improvement of a- ■griculture, than the erroneous opinion of the simpli- city of this science ; a science which is various in ks "branches, comprehending almost e^ery source^ and opening a multitude of unsuspected avenues to profit or loss, that cannot be either known or under- stood, but through the medium of correct accounts and intelligent and indefatigable attention. Yet, '"anners have entirely overlooked this subject, and conceive it unnecessary to devote their time an-'J fa- ints to this supposed simple business ; and \wieic they commence farming; fall into the general prac- tice, and let out their ground on shares, or commit iheir business entirely to an overseer. Intelligence c/ifig will also consist in a freedom from pre- judice, that "grea*: bar to improvements in agriculture .- Th$ prejudiced farmer may be termed one of those who is bugote'dly attached to his' own opinions and practices ; he considers all agricultural books as made Up of "theory, and views all improvements that may be introduced as so many pernicious innovations upon his own superior mot|es« Herire he pursues he beaten track of his forefathers,- be that either ^ood or bad, without ever reflecting whether im- provements might not be made more Conducive to his own prosperity and to the better management of his land. Whereas t^e intelligent farmer is always' impressed with the opinion, that his modes of agri- culture, however good, are still susceptible of im- provement ; nor does he shut his eyes against any 'improvements -that maybe recommended in agrkul- treatises ; but receives without prejudice, and adopts with alacrity, all improved modes of" husbar dry, whose advantages have been tested by experi- ence 2. Without dn; : -provemenL Without it, no other operation can be effectual to the end proposed.— Wtiec gorged with wa- ter it can neither be cleaned or cultivated ; no labor is sufficient to do' it, except in a "Kommor. drought, and in some soils, not even then. If" manure is applied to land in this situation, i' will promote the qfttara! grasses more than any kind of grain crop. But the advantages of draining wet lands are sc fully established, that it is needless to enlarge on thir subject; suffice it however to say, that expen and skilful farmers have in all ages discovered the necessity and utility of draining wetlands, by, which their health and the value of their farms are much Increased. 3. Cleaning. Thir. article requires the far: constant attention, and by this alone can effectual. One of the most important principl agriculture is cleanly farming. It not only pleases the eye and exekes admira- tion, but yields more profit, Every fit id in cultiva- tion should be kept entirely clean. All swamps and marshes should be drained, the growth on them cut down or grubbed and entirely removed. Ail hoi- lows should be cleaned up in the like manner ; also all branchcr and creeks to the very edge of the bankso When a field is cultivated in this manner, it has an uniform, clean, and beautiful appearance, and when in a crop, presents undoubtedly one of the most beau- tiful sights in nature. t$e are voluntarily led to admire the possessor of such a farm, for his nice and superior cultivation. By s^ch cultivation, the eyr iPI.ES of AGRICrLTURKr is not only feastcfd and an inherent feeling in every -nan's breast (a taste lor uniformity) gratified, but our most sordid -ire also gratified in the greater abundance of the cops under sucft manage- ment. Whereas, on the other hand; nothing can more disgust or create unfavorable impressions of a farmer's skill, than to se~e neids under foul and dfs orderly management, Here a pond or marsh uri- drained — there a hollow filled with growing shrubr or trees--the banks of branches and creeks Govered with patches of briars and thickets, &c> The Owners of siich fields, if not for their own profit's sake, should f v, r their credit's sake as farmers, put-their fields in a better state for cultivation. By doing so, they would find many acres gained, and not un frequently proving the most fertile parts of their fields, which before they had considered as useless. To-these advantages are to be added the greater facility which is given to the cultivation of the ground, being now entire, whereas before it was tiUed in pat- ches, or separate parts, I have dwelt the longer on this article from dis- covering, to my "greal regret, throughout the state, fields and farms in a state of wretched foulness. 4. Manures will always fail in producing the de- sired effect, in proportion as draining and cleaning are neglected." When manure is applied to wet soils, or those gor- ged with water, it is soon dissolved or Wasted; and when applied to land that is not clean, it is.imnro- bable to suppose that it will have the desired effect, as it will promote weeds and the tiatural grasses more than anv'kind of grain which may be sown. It is a principle well established in agriculture, ■that soils to which manure is to be applied, should be well prepared for its reception* The soli should VIR.'T PRINCIPLES OF AGXICITT/rTTRE. bt well pulverized, by which means the manure car. be more intimately mixed with it, and the mcjrc in- timately they are' blended together, the greater the benefit both to the crop and the soil. It may with truth be asserted, that a fitld well prepared, yield a better crop with halt' the manure that another one would, of the same soil, which ia badly prepar- ed.. This shows the utility ©f draining and cleaning,' by this means preparing land well, in order that ma- nure when applied to it, may have a full and the ds • sired effect; FIRST PRINCIPLES- OF AGMCULTi: "■ Continued. No. ill. A change, or a judicious rotation of crops ra cessary, in order to keep the soil in good hear, to enable it to produce its utmost. N*o principle in agriculture appears- to be better established, than that a change or rotation of c is necessary. The main principles upon which all practices on this subject proceed, are, that some crops are more exhausting than otherc ; that some, althcP of a very impoverishing nature, yet being consumed on the farm, return to it a9 much as fchfey dec!; from it, and perhaps even more; ?.' witoi profitable tillage and accurate growth, while by others the lai tared fitful by Weeds', is exhausted without return, and when ap- plied in succession, will finally impoverish it. Hence it has been found by experience, that a certain ar- rangement or rotation of crops of U $2 FIRST PRINCIPLES OF AGRICULTURE. opposite characters is necessary to profitable tillage and to the preservation of the soil. Unless this practice he well understood and attended to, the ef- forts of the farmer in all others will prove abortive and injurious. More land' has been destroyed by an injudi ious rotation of rops, than by any other prac- tice in the long catalogue of our miserable modes of agriculture, the total neglect- of manures excepted* The exhausting crops of tobacco, coin and wheat, have followed in such rapid succession, without giv- ing any thing in return by ameliorating crops, ma- nure or rest, as to have produced the general impo- verishment of the best lands of our country. There is hardly a farm in the state of Virginia or North- Carolina, but what exhibits the effects of this exhaus- ting. rotation of crops, in its galled and worn-out ap- pearance. It is an established rule in all good farming, that not more than two exhausting crops be taken from the soil, before some return is made to it, either in manure, an ameliorating crop, as red clover, or in 3ui];:;ient rest; but not that kind of rest, as it PS falsely called, when it is turned out to. pasture and severely grazed, No two chaff bearing crops should follow in suc- cession ; but the farmer should fix upon such a ro- tation as will give the necessary proportion of ame- liorating with exhausting crops, in order that the former may- restore to the earth as much as • the lat- ter extracts fjbin it; by attending to this rule, the soil will always be kept in good heart and even coi> tinue to improve, provided judicious tillage accom- pany -the rotation. In fixing on a rotation, a farmer should ascertain crop?/ are best suited to his farm, and in what succession such crops ought to follow each other so •v.vke the greatest possible profit, consist* 7IRST PRINCIPLES OF AGRICUI/ITRE. IS rvct only with keeping his land in good heart, hut in in improving condition. " A judicious rotation of crops is the ground- work of general improvement. If a judicious system be adopted and persevered in, it cannot fail. No modes. of tillage or management can make up for a defective rotation. The same crop's, which under one system would be unprofita- ble and injurious to the land, under another rotation, with intervening ameliorating crops, might not only oe profitable, but might promote its fertility." Selecting and propagating the best heads and ears of the mi 'st approved kinds of grain and seeds, is the surest method of prest rvirig them in perfection Seeds should be selected in the same manner that breeders are. .selected. Farmers, to improve their stock, pick out the fairest of the particular breed or variety they want to improve, and prosecute the im- provement with these selected individuals. In the garden, and in every field of grain, select such indi- vidual plants as excel in vigor and productiveness and ripen earliest, under a moral certainty that such plants are peculiarly adapted to such a soil and cli- mate. Some of the most distinguished farmers of our country have acted upon this principle and with great success. By observing this principle, seeds and grain are prevented from degenerating, have been made to ri- pen earlier and to increase their prolific powers. Liberality is the economy of agriculture. Liberality in procuring good tools or implements for the hands on a farm is the economy of agricul- ture. Good tools are as essential to a farmer as to the carpenter or any other mechanic; and all know that complete work cannot be expected from the lat- fer, in any branch or profession of their trade, without the requisite tools. Experience has long taught me |frat a greater loss results to the farmer from defec- 14- FIRST PRINCIPLES OF AGRICTLTURU,. ;lve implements, than almost from any other cause .vhatever; the difference between a good and a bad implement, particularly in ploughs, is so great as to constitute an enormous saving on a large farm by the former ; a good plough will save half the labor of a bad one, with the great additional advantages of working with more ease to the team, and of doing -he work itself better, thereby rendering the custom- ary repetitions not only unnecessary, but pernicious* Foresight is another item in the economy of agri- culture. It consists in preparing work for all wea- ther, and doing all work in proper weather, and at proper times. But in violation of this rulevnothing *s more common than a persistance in ploughing,, making hay, cutting wheat, and other works, when a small delay might have escaped a great loss ; and the labor employed to destroy, would have been em- ployed to save. Crops of all kinds are frequently planted or sown at improper periods, or "unseasona- bly in relation to the weather, from the want of an arrangement of the work on a farm, calculated for doing every species of it precisely at the periods, and in the seasons, most likely to enhance its profit, A third item in the economy of agriculture, is not 'ro kill time by doing the same thing twice over. When a thing is done, let it be well done, and it will riot require to be done soon again ; this will invaria- bly be found to be the best economy with respect to all the work executed on the farm. In closing this article, I cannot do better than a- dopt the language of an eminent Agriculturalist. — " Liberality constitutes the economy of agriculture, and perhaps it is the solitary human occupation, to which the adage, l the more we give, the more we shall receive,* can be justly applied. Liberality to the earth in manuring and culture ; is the fountain of its bounty to us* Liberality to slaves and work- • iS OF AG ing animals, is the fountain of their pro r :t. i rality to domestic brutes is the n of their ma- nure. The good work of a strong team, csMi profit beyond the bad work of a weak one, after de- ducting the additional expense of feeding it ; and it saves moreover half the labor of a driver, sunk in following a bad one. Liberality in warm houses produces health, strength and comfort ; preserver the lives of a multitude of domestic animals ; causes ail animals to thrive on less food ; and secures from damage all kinds of crops. :y in the utensils of husbandry, saves labor to a vast ex tent, by providing the proper tools for doing both the work well and expeditiously — A pinchingghi system of agriculture, may indeed keep a farmci out of prison, but it will never lodge him in a pa- lace. Great proiit depends on great improvements of the soil, and great improvements can never be made by penurious efforts. The discrimination be- tween useful and productive, and useless and barren expenses, constitutes the true agricultural secret, for acquiring happiness and wealth. A good farmer will sow the former with an open hand, and « cafe everv seed of the latter." -T 01" -LAND-. IMPROVEMENT OF LAND. No. IV. Agriculture, as an art, consists, not in impoverish* ing, bet in fertilizing the soil, and making it more. pro- ductive than in its natural state. Such is the effect of evtry species of agriculture, which can aspire to the character of an art. Its object being to furnish man with .subsistence, comfort and happiness, what- ever defeats that object, is a crime of the first magni- tude. It should therefore be our first study to im- prove or fertilize our lands, knowing that fertility is the firsygand grand object to be attained, as upon this only can a good system of agriculture be founded. Of what avail is the best rotation of crops, the best contrived implements of husbandry, or the most per- fect use of those implements, when applied to a barren soil I It is absurd to talk of a good system of agricul- ture — without discovering, that every such system, to be good for any thing, must be bottomed upon fertility. Before, therefore, we launch into any system, let us first learn how to enrich our lands. The disposition of cur soil and climate to reward husbandry bounti- fully, is exhibited in the great crops which are pro- duced on good latid under almost any species of cul- tivation. This is a consideration of high encourage- ment, and should induce us, to make it the first ob- ject of our efforts to improve our lands, as without etTecting this, all other agricultural objects, beneficial to ourselves or our country, must fail. But, instead of attending to this first and impor- tant principle in agriculture, how widely do we de- part from it ; for one acre annually enriched,. at least twenty are impoverished. V* r hat is now the present practice of our farmers,? TMPflOV . *» Their practice is to clear a piece ef land every year, which is very commonly continued until there is lit- tle or no wood left, either for fuel or k: very often it happens that in the Later stages oftljk erroneous conduct, more than' half their cleared hind is so far exhausted, as not to be worth cultivation , more acres of which, than they annually clear, it ic amply within their power to reclaim I r as futile as it ever wa3, and thar with hotf pense ; yet, strange to tell, e . while- the clearing business is pursued with avi until at length the fatal blow is struk, an 1 n . ■. - -compels them to part with th>eir murdered estates for a trifle, and seek refuse ra a new country.. - As many are still engaged in the ruinous practice of destroying their lands, they are requested to pause, and seriously consider the consequences of such a system. A system of agriculture whose teuder to make land annually less fertile, must finally ter- minate in its impoverishment : — and consequently, in the want ami misery of its cultivators. It is well known -liow prone children .are to follow the example of their parents ; if there was no other evidence, the conduct of our farmers is full proof of it, who have from age to age followed the beaten track of fathers, of cutting down their woods and exhausting their lands. How then can a father reconcile it to his conscience, when he considers that the system of farming which he is pursuing must finally terminate in the consequences just mentioned, and that although he may not live to experience them, yet his pas I an ay, who by the force of example, wiil naturally adopt the same system. How tins consideration may weigh on the minds of others I know not, but I must, confess that it has ;great weight with me; and if there was no other, it A induce me to use »tt mv efforts to pur-- 18 IMPROVEMENT O I good system of agriculture, in order that my j rity might follow the example, and in consequence oMt enjoy an ample subsistence, comfort and inde- pendence. All that is necessary, to induce farmers to cl system of agriculture, from or.e oi exhaustion irnpoverishment, to one of renovation and im- provement, is to convince them of? Us practicability and utility. Farmers in general, are rational and intelligent, and when reasons of such weight are pre- sented to their minds as to satisfy them that their present modes of agriculture are imperfect and rui- nous, they will readily abandon them, and a those which are calculated not only to be more pro- fitable to them and their posterity, but also more be- neficial to their country. It has been found in- every district and country where agriculture is conducted upon a rational plan, and is consequently ia an improved and flourishing condition, that it is much easier, cheaper, and more profitable to improve exhausted lands, than to cut clown and reduce to cultivation uncleared or wood lands. ' Exhausted lands that have been renovated, far exceed in uniformly profitable product, any thing. known by the cultivators of newly cleared lands. — Such lands may, ancj do, throw up luxuriant crops, lor a short period ; but their continuance, in a con- stant and systematical succession, is not experienced. When they are exhausted by bad management, other lands must be sought for; to be also worn out by sit milar ill treatment. No farmers of well and long cultivated fields, now wish to sacrifice their wood lands, to the acquisition of a new surface. They know the advantages of renovated old lands. In all cleared lands that have been exhausted by long cultivation., few stumps or roots are to be found; .A->ted\i:iLST 01 LAND. 1$ Irence three acres of such land can be cultivated with mare ease and less labor, than one acre of new ground ; and it must be acknowledged by all, that the labor and time which are necessary to grub an acre of ground, cut dawn the trees upon it, maul rails and enclose it — coulter it and prepare it for cultivation ; would be more train sufficient to collect and make manure enough to manure double that quantity of land, so as to produce far more abundant crops. And every acre made by an improved manege- me nt, to .produce as much as two acres, is in effect the addition of a new acre; with the great advan- tages of enabling us to preserve our wood land for fuel, fences and building — bf contracting the space, to be cultivated — and of shortening the distance of transportation between the fields and the barn or farm yard* The necessity of clearing fresh land every year will be entirely prevented ; consequently from the proposed system of improvement will result a vast saving of labor 1 ! a vast saving of land ! and a vast saving of profit : Are not then these considerations sufficiently 'weighty to induce us ' to adopt the system of im- provement proposed ? But there are other considerations which si also have their weight. " Both r< :ul patri- otism powerfully plead for it; and it is om duty — and would be our interest to re-trace our steps, should it even take us half a-century of "years tc vcr the fertility first found on our lands. But the process of improving them is not slow, but the 1 rerurns not distant, but near ; and the :, -small, but great." . Should -there be any, notwith- standing what has been said,;:. >scd M 10 ROVEMENT OF L- fer the murder of the little life left in their lands, to the process of improvement, let them pause and for- bear ; not for futurity, nor for God's sake, but for their own sake." t4 The lobor yet necessary to kill the remnant of life left in their lands, will suffice to revive them. Employed to kill, it produces want and misery to themselves. Employed to revive, it gives them plenty and happiness." IMPROVEMENT OF LAND, Continued, No, V. Before tt 3 to detail the best modes of im- proving land, perhaps it will first be proper to men- tion those practices which have combined to pro- duce its destruction—- in order that farmers may more ly see the propriety of abandoning them, and of adopting the modes to be proposed for its renovation and improvement. The first cause, or the foundation -of all the prac- tices which have evidently tended to the impoverish* . of cur lands, has arisen from a misconception in farmers as to the true business cf agriculture- It should never be forgotten, that it is the office of agriculture, as an art, to improve, instead of im- poverish land. Was this principle duly impressed c mind and properly attended to, it would soon -e the face of our country, from sterility to fruit- fulness, and bestow upon its cultivators plenty and happiness, instead of misery and want. 4t Arts im- prove the work of nature. When they injure it, they IMPROVEMENT 2i are not arts, but barbarous customs. It is the busi- ness of agriculture, as an art, not to impoverish, but to fertilize the soil, and make it more useful than in its natural state. From this we discover that far- mers have for two centuries past been pursuing a- griculture, not as an art, but a barbarous custom ; for it is a fact, that lands in their natural state, are far more valuable, than those which have undergo;,, our habit of agriculture, of which emigrations in- complete proofs." Unless farmers are fully impressed with the ne- cessity of attending to the principle, that l it is the business of agriculture to improve, instead of impo- verish land,' it will be needless to point cut any modes of improving land, as they would be disre- garded and neglected, as they have heretofore been. It is high time for farmers to rescue their profession from that decline and degradation under which it has so long languished ; and to cousider and pursue it as an art capable of the highest improvement, and not only worthy of their attention, but of the talents and attainments of our wisest men, The following, among many other practices, have evidently combined to prod nee the impoverishnv of cur lands, which should be abandoned by ail those (as soon as circumstances will possibly permit) who wish to adopt the more rational system of improve- ment. 1. Giving overseers a part of the crop. 4 This ne- cessary class of men are bribed by farmers, not to improve, but to impoverish their land, by a share of the crop for one year. The farm generally is sur- rendered to the transient overseer, whose salary is increased in proportion as he can impoverish the land. The greatest annual crop, and net the most judicious culture, advances his interest, and establish- es his character ; and the fees of these land doctors are much higher for killing, than for curing. It is common for an •industrious overseer, alter a very few years, to quit a farm on account of the barren- ness occasioned by his own industry; .and frequent changes of overseers, each striving to extract the remnant of fertility left by his predecessor, combines with our agricultural ignorance, to form the comple- test system of impoverishment, of which any other country ciin boast.' The improvement of land, by the modes hereafter to be detailed, will be foiflhu to be entirely incompa- tible with the practice of giving overseers a part of the crop ; for this custom injures both employers and overseers, .by gradually diminishing the mcome of the former, and of course, that of the latter.— Wag.- u should be the substitute for a part of the ciop — which would correspond with a gradu- al system of Li aent, by which the condition of both r .... vould be annually bettered — and skill in iinprgving-, not a murderous industry in destroy- ing land, would soon become a recomme»dation to business, and the rule of compensation. 2. The system of tillage which has generally been pursued under the name of the three- shift system, has also tended greatly to the destruction of our lands. This system is Indian corn, wheat, pasture under it, the great body of the farm receives no ma- nure, and no rest; and the result is, that the phrase 41 the land is killed and must be turned out," has become common over a great portion oi the United States. It will be granted by every reader, that *,oth In- dian corn and wheat are exhausting crops ; there can, of course, remain no doubt, but that this system -impoverishes land two years in three. The only question then is s whether this loss will be compensa- ted, by grazing the field bare during the tliird year* « : OF LAND, From whence is this recompense to c The ground being loose and open by recci »ge, and uprotccted by a strong sward, is e. II the injury the tooth and the hoof can ii stock are turned in — all vegetation is eat c und is M trod to death," by which its p< all refreshments from the atntios] and its * surface exposed to the heat of a summer's sun. which is able to pierce and expel from stone itself. The same land is again put in corn, and undergoes the same system of tillage, by which it is soon destroy- ed. * This three-shift system has only one merit ; honesty. In theory it promises to kill our lands ; hi practice it fulfils its promise/ 3. The neglect of manures. Nothing has r betrayed a want either of industry or of agricultural skill among farmers, than their great neglect of ma- nures. Instead of pursuing the only rational n for having a flourishing system of agriculture,— of giving to the earth as much or more than they take from it ; — they have, on the contrary, continu- ed to extract txl, . rops, from the eai . every year, without bestowing upon it hardly one dust of manure in return. Uiuhr such a ^stem as this, the richest ground in the world W impoverished and rendered unproductive. 4. Injudicious culture. As much land has been more speedily destroyed by washing, arising from injudicious culture, as perhaps from any other ■ whatever. If we cast our eyes over the country, we shall find that all hilly lands that h anytime in cultivation, are sterile, not so much by the crops cultivated thereon, as by the soil itself being remov- ed by washing. This evil has principally arisen from the practice of shallow ploughing. If ever a mate- rial reformation takes place in our system of agri.- 24 i-mproyemi:nt Of lantj. culture, it will chiefly be founded on deep and hori- zontal ploughing. la North Carolina, it has been- found that the ef- fects of shallow ploughing on hilly. lands terminate in the destruction of the soil* In the improved dis- tricts of Virginia, it is found from experience, that when deep and horizontal ploughing are combined they effectually prevent • land from washing, an evil "which hod heretofore been so much dreaded. In fine, to effect the improvement of our lands, I would propose, that the system by which they have been reduced to tbeir present state of poverty, be in .all- points -.reversed* • They have been reduced principally by shallow -ploughing,' an ill chosen rotation of crops, and a total neglect: of manures. Let them be recruited by deep and' hrorizontak^pioughiiig, a favorable rotation -of crops, and ail the manure which the most sk'i'ul ar.d. industrious management will; afford*, tfMPROVEMET OF LAND, Continued No VY. • The modes of improvement best adopted to our •soil, climate and circumbtances,*and which therefore particularly deserve our attention, may be summed tip and cc'inbir.td in the following simple means, viz. "1st. Manuring. 2nd. Good ploughing-. 3. The cul- tivation of artificial grasses, and 4th. Inclosing. — These means if skilfully and industriously applied, \vi 1 be found to constitute the most effectual mock^ of improving those vast bodies of exhausted •lands with which our state too unfortunately. abounds, and which are the principal object of solicitude. There may be other modes which may be preferable ior lands in good heart, but there are none which will be found to promote the improvement of lands deficient in fertility in so cheap, certain and rapid a manner, Ar\ opinion too generally prevails with farmers, especially those who have not made the experiment, that the common resources for manuring are scanty and unequal to the end of fertilizing a poor soil. — This opinion is the offspring of a want of industry or skill to collect, or combine them with the other specified means. By preserving every species of litter, especially corn italks, and applying it before or about the commencement of fermentation ; by pen- ning every species of stock in summer, slightly lit- tering their pens with leaves or straw, and folding them on litter in winter ; and by preserving the ma- *Tbe author's. remarks are confined to North-Carolina, yet they may be well applied to several of the adjomuig slates* IMPROVEMENT OF L.\ mire arising from both means, from being wasted by premature putrescence or evaporation, a poor farm may be gradually improved, until it will yield inter- rial resourses, adequate to a copious annual manur- ing of one seventh at least of its arable contents. By good ploughing, is principally to be understood deep ploughing, which may be considered as the ba- sis of all other improvements, as upon it depend the improvement and preservation of the soil. If ma- nure is to be applied to the soil, deep ploughing is rendered highly necessary to insure and prolong its effects by depositing it deep, thereby securing it from evaporation and from being washed off by rain. Deep ploughing is the only sure remedy against washing in hilly lands, particularly if combined with horizon- tal ploughing. All worn-out fields, which have been turned out and grown up in broom sedge, may be highly improv- ed by inclosing them and ploughing them deep, go as completely to turn under the broom straw and letting them lie one year. By that period such fields will have improved sufficiently to produce a respec- table crop of corn, provided they have been strictly- inclosed and all stock prevented from treading the ground ; iu this case the ground will be preserved light and loose during the year it is inclosed and the broom sedge will become sufficiently rotted to bene- fit the corn crop. This fact is warranted by repeat- ed observation and experience. Perhaps it may be unnecessary to remark, that the longer such fields which are ploughed in this way are inclosed, and a crop kept off, the more rapidly they will improve. The cultivation of artificial grasses is also highly indispensable in this system of improvement. It is a maxim in agriculture, which is as true as any axiom in science, that land which is not under the plough and which is at rest, should be in grass. The ad- IMPROVEMENT OF LAND, ' ntages of resting land under grass are numerous ; its loots hold the soil together and thereby effectu- ally prevent the land from washings it aifords to it shade in the summer and warmth in the winter, and is at the same time drawing supplies of manure from the atmosph* re through the vegetable process, to be given to the earth through the ageircy of the plough. The cultivation of grasses gives to the plough its greatest efficacy ; because the advantages of good ploughing towards improving thr : oil, depend in a great degree upon turning under a coat of vegetable mattei belo .rface, and thus protecting it a* tinst the effects of heat, moisture and air, tint: '. . ing principles afe caught and absorbed by the crop, instead of- being \?ed into the atmos- ph .mure is vegetable matter, and of course vegetables are manure. By cultivating grasses, we prepare a valuable auxiliary for the plough, fro r n ■which it derives its ehief effect in fertilizing the earTu ; and thereby provide a copious supply of food or manure for other crops. Inclosing vastly accelerates the process for improv- es the soil, by increasing the quantity of vegetable matter or manure to be turned under by the plough* To practise it successfully, however, it must be com- bined with some resource equivalent to the loss of . the seamy pasturage, from which it excludes the emaciated cattle. Artifical grazing and hay m (\o\v9^ of high or lowland, is a resource, by which, Whilst nineteen acres are manuring themselves \\ out human toil, one may be made to produce more grass^than the whole twenty m w do ; and stocks oi ry kind may lie thus renders! infi ble, both for furnishing subsistence to man, a * ■ feftifeing the earth. /5S IMPROVEMENT OT LANl). It remains now only to point out the manner, r* which the proposed system of improvement, may be practised to the greatest advantage. Every iarm where there is a sufficiency of open land, should be laid off into lour divisions (reserving enough lor lots for hay and for grazing) and each division tu con- stitute a shift ; these shifts should be under one fence, cross fences being entirely exclude d, for the purpose of carrying effectually into operation the in- closing system. Each shift in succession should be -put in Indian corn 9 to be followed by wheat, and then to remain at rest inclosed an^f ungrazed lor two years and a half. According to this plan, one half oi the farm will be in grain, and the other half inclosed and at rest ; the ground reserved for the stbcfe should be laid off into lots and highly manured v. some cleaning crop, to be followed by Mnail grain^on •which gr'ass seed should be sown. To illustrate this plan, let us suppose a farm to consist of jive hundred acres of open or arable land, four hundred, of these acres will be divided lntoTour .shifts of one hundred acres each ; the remaining one hundred acres- should he divided into ten lots often acres each j one of these lots ought to be -highly .manured annually, and cultivated in pumkins, potatoes, peas, cotton, turnips, or any other cleaning crop, to be followed by wheat and grass seed, if these crops are gotten off in time to sow wheat, or by oats and grass seeds, ii they are not. Thus two o£ these ten lots will produce each year he«wy and valuable crops,.whilst the other eight arc in grass; three of these latter ought annually to be ct:t for hay, ffod the other five devoted to graz- the fi\c grazing l:f the whole labour on the farm a Although one half of the farm is Only in grain at a time, yet under the proposed system of improvement, it will soon pro- duce as much as two-thirds of the same land in its impoverished state, with the great advantage of di- minishing the space to be cultivated. And the sur- plus labour which was formerly emploved in killing land, may now be advantageously engaged in a more neat and superior cultivation. " By diminishing space, not only without dimin- ishing, but actually increasing poduce, the crops on the farm will be more manageable by the labor, and receive a better cultivation. And the time saved >. this diminution of space, is moreover profitably employed in the spring, in supplying manure and po-ving grass seeds : previous to wheat harvest; in making hay; in autumn, in ditching and draining, feti ■ iag and stubbing; and at all times in a variety ci less important, but improving occupations," "0 MANURE;: No.vn. . j> ©B due attention being paid to the makfng trtaseof s,. and to the mode oT preserving and naanngi-.g them, in a great measure, depends- .y of farms, -ancHhe luxuriance or goodness ai crops" thrit are grown upon them. It is therefore, an ohjec t,of-ihe greatest interest aud im- portance to the farmer, to collect and lay up mate- rials for making manure, £o see that nothing is wast- ed ^r thrown a\v:-y, that can possibly be converted to this valuable pu. pese. This is the great hinge-' upon which the whole system of agriculture turns- sis manures are, in tact, the soul and life- of agricul- ture* In ail parts of the world where agriculture is con- ducted upon the improved and rational plan of giv« ing to the" earth as much^or more, than is extracted from it by cropping, there is as great an emula- tion among farmers in procuring. or making ma- nure, as in m?king good crops ; and he that pays the greatest attention to manure is called the best farmer, as by it he is. always enabled to make the best crops. Let us attend to the. practice of. the farmers in England (where agriculture is conducted upon as improved a plan as in any part of the world) as relao d to us by an intelligent . American travelling through that country. " The good -land of England is. much more pro- ductive than that of America, and this .soperioi it; is probably derived, not so much from greater original strength of soil, as from in^ri skill agriculture, a- pending mainly on two great fa$t& y faithful tiliagi zvu faithful manw vw^ "The English. f^mer does not believe that there is any thing necessarily inherent in the nature of a good soil, which makes it productive, independent- ly of nutritious matter and foreign aliment returned to it by the cultivator, as a compensation for the crops it has yielded. Hence his firsi, his principal care is, to collect and form manure from ev>.ry pos- sible source. ** Nothing is more common, when one is travel- ling in England, than to see in the roads adjacent to the fields, heaps of compost, consisting of turf, tops of vegetables, as of turnips and carrots, the stubbie from the wheat field*, which is cut up by a second leaping, after the crop has been removed j dead a- riimals, the offals of the barnyards and stables, and, in short, every thing which would otherwise be lost, and which is capable by putrefaction, of being con- verted into vegetable mould. 41 It is, therefore, because this business of manur- ing is r so perfectly understood, and so diligently prac- tised in England, more than from any other cause, that their lands are so much richer than ours. In- deed, is it any thing more than an imitation of the economy of nature ? 44 New countries, when first cleared of their forests -.re generally fertile, for the obvious reason, that the annual growth of vegetable substances ivas been for ages, deposited on the surface, and there left to pu- trify and forrri a soil. By imitating this natural pro- cess, the most barren spot may be rend red fertilt by counteracting it, that is, by removing cverv I in crops, and returning nothing in manure, the fertile spot may, in a few years, be perfectly impo- verished. Moreover, the rich mould thus formed, 23 Cultivated, with the most luithful and skilful id- 3* 32 MANU?€S. lage. An English field, when it is ready to receive wheat, looks iike a garden. 1 he important result of this thorough manuring and thorough tillage, is the most abundant crops, and, what is not o be dis- regarded, the utmost neatness in the appearance of the country." A distinguished farmer of our own country, has observed, that 4i the agriculturalist who expects ?. to reap good crops from neglecting his manures, is equally a fanatic with the religionist, who expects heaven from neglecting his morals." Fertility of. soil is the great object to be attained, as without this, labor cannot be rendered effective, or good crops obtained j for of what avail is any rota- tion of crops^ the best contrived implements of hus- bandry, or the most perfect use of those implements, wherr abplied to a barren soil? Fertility; of soil is the -capital from which-all profits in agriculture n>ust be derived. Manuring only can recover this capi- tal, so much of which is already wasted by bad hus- bandry. It is the great object to be impressed, and all its mtfdes should be tried. But how are manures t->be obtained ? The only secret in the business of obta-in* ing them, is industry and attention ; and, when once obtained, that none of them be wasted. In procuring this needful substance, we are first to imitate nature, in collecting all the vegetable te* we can find, suffering nothing to be lost. The animal, the vegrtable and the minr.d kingdom must be ransacked for something to aid the growth of plants. The ashes of wood and of peat, the. muddy- depositions of ponds, creeks, f &c. the unrespirable portion of our'atmosphere, and some of the particles floating therein ; the various earthy productions, of a&u-i£) cu*^ plaster of Paris, clay and lime—the vt dung of most animals, and likewise the litter of grain crops, are found by experience, when properly em- ployed, to fertilize the earth ai mote the of vegetation, .NETRES, "... viii In this npmber I shall endeavor to point or. * best methods of managing manures while in the farm- yard, and also the state : n which they are best ap- plied to thesoih As a ^reat difference of opinion exists on these jieads, it is of importance to farmers, that the v should he settled according to the sound principles of science and experience. In treat this subject, I shall not only avail myself of my own experience, but also of the views and opfnioi some of the most intelligent agricultural writers on this subject. That certain vegetable and animal substances, in- troduced into the soil accelerate vegetation and in- crease the produce of crops, is a facf known since the earliest period of agrirulture ; but tbe manner .in which manures act, the best modes of applying them, their relative value and durability, are still objects of discussion. It is a Common practice amongst farmers, to suffer the farm-yard dung to ferment till the fibrous texture of the vegetable matter is entirely brjken down ; and till the manure becomes perfectly cold, and so 84 MANURES. as to he easily cut with a spade. Independent of the general theoretical views unfavorable to this practice, founded upon the nature and composition of vegetable substances, there are many tacts and argu- rncnts which shew that it is prejudicial to the inter- est of the farmer. During the violent fermentation which is necessary for -reducing ■ far rn -yard- manure to the state in which it is said to be completely rct- ten, not only a large quantity of fluid, but likewise of r gaseous matter is h st ; so much so, that the dung is reduced one half or two thirds jn weight; and the matters which are thus lost by flying off into the air, "are valuable parts of the manure, for if retained by the.moisture inf the soil, they are capable of becom- ing an useful nourishment for plants. Besides the dissipation of gaseous matter when fermentation is pushed to the extreme, there is another disadvantage in the loss of rxeat, which if excited in the soil, is useful in promoting the germination of the seed, and in assisting the plant in the first stage of its growth, when it is most feeble, and liable to disease; and the fermentation of manure in the soil must be particu- larly fa\ orable to wheat crops, in preserving a genial temper? ture beneath the surface late in atuumn, and' during whiter. A s'giit incipient fermentation is, however, un- doubtedly of use in the dunghill ; for by; means of. it, a disposition is brought on in the woody fibre, to decay and dissolve, when it is carried to we land, or • ploughed into the soil ; and wc-dy fibre is always in great excess in the refuse of the farm. Too great a degree of fermentation is, however, verv prejudicial to the composite manure in the dunghill ; it is better that there should be no fer- iruntatinn at all before the manure is used, than that it shoul I be' ' arried too far. This must be obvious from what has been already said. MAN' JKrom the above statement, the utitity is disco. ed, of applying manures to the soil as spoil as ler- imentation begins, so that it may exert its full act: upon the crop, and lose none of its nut: »w- ers. And, in fermentation beneath the soil, the fluid matter producer is applied Instantly, ( \ n whilst it is wmii., to-ttie organs of the- plant, and consequent" - n ore likely to be t fitnen , than in manure that has g/ ne through the proces and f which all the principles fra*< ei pernicious effluvia disengaged in t e process oi pu- tiefactum, from animal and vegetable substances, seem to point nut the propriety of burying them in the soil, where they are fitted to become the food of vegetables. The fermentation and putrefaction of organized substances in the free atm< I tre noxious processes; beneath the surface of the ground they are salutary operations — In this case the food of plants is prepared where it can be used ; and that which would off nd the senses and injure th< health, if exposed, is converted by gradual : "is of beauty and ds< fulness ; the efmavia is n dered a constituent of the aroma of the flower, ai - what might be poison, becomes noui; . to ani- mals and to jnan. In cases when farm yard dung cannot oc imme- diate Iv applied to crops, the destructive fermentation of it should lie prevented as much as i Le : the are should be defended from the influence of the atmosphere ; a compact marl •. or a tenacious clay, offers the best protection against the a «re the dune- is cover' d over, or. as it wet j, sealed up v it -should be dried as much as possible.- Watering dunghills is s nv />mes recommj -mded for checking the progress of fermentation ; but thw prac- tice is inconsistent with just chemical vieNvs. It nr csclthc Jung for a. short time; but moistur a* 36 KA NITRE S. principal agent in all processes of fermentation.-*- v Dry fibrous matter will never ferment. Water is > as necessary as air to the process ; and to supply it to fermenting dung, is to supply an agen. which will I hasten its decay. When dung is to be preserved for any time, the| situation in which it is kept is of im porta nee. Itl should, if possible, be defended from the sun. To* preserve it under sheds would be of great use ; or tol make the site of a dunghill on the north, side of a w ill. . Having treated of the manner in which manures -I are to be managed while in the farm-yard, and also* of the state in which they are to be applied to the"# soil, I come now to speak of the time and manner of applying them to the soil. AH the manure which is made on the farm during j winter, should be hauled out early in the spring, and'4 applied to the soil for the production of fallow crops* particularly that of Indian corn. Every kind of ma-l nure ought to be carefully collected, duly sheltered";* and ploughed in as speedily as possible after it hasS| been carried to the- field ; the implements and labo-^ rers being ready on the spot. If this. is neglected, [, much Iqss is sustained by the quick evaporation which;* takes place. The besjEi£practke is* therefore, not to- carry out more from the yard at a time, than can be- conveniently spread upon, and ploughed into the earth in a short time afterwards. The .manure should' fre deposited in the fit Id' in heaps, in straight rows ; the size of the heaps, and their distance from each | other, will be regulated by the quality of the sod ; the dung should then be spread and immediately ploughed [in, line bv line, because it more re'adily dissolves in the ground when newly covered, and U^ yhole strength is thus secured to the soil. MANURES, Continued. No IX. For conducting the business of vantage, the former is to pursue objects whi tematically embrace such a regular pdu • culars, as shall best follow and dt pend on for obtaining the one whole of the design .mg, It is not i'.r.m diate produce atone th ii we aim. tor, whilst we 'wish to obtain rep i r .res us, that it is indispensably i. to that end v that the soil be ; i in full The iViiiicJ, Kh€p,»is emp (pbjetts oi. press . md imp. ductive powers oi the earth. Oust rvations on the state of common fo- ■•■ . the opinion, that no un tend to insure ;. ion ot a dry, for any -length of time. Well chosen rot.: . ■ dvie -culture, are believed to he^so fa v oral :.o need* but little Ofrai .the common, or ill chos< rt Still the steady and .attentive application is held to be an essential duty in i link of the chain in every ins If rich ■ r< quire, comparatively, but a moderate qu i rotation where ameliorating crops are pn yet middling and poor soi all treat can tained ; and under the present courses i especially, all soils e rnar.d more mar be readily procured'. Thes,e exausting ■ : see continually impoverii 38 MA>V T 'Ev farmers, therefore, incline to move to fresh l&nfojf where tli-y would act the same murderous part over again. Farmers had, therefore, better learn betimes to improve their lands, or at least to keep them in good heart by a stead) attention to the making of m mures. The principal source for the production of the test cfttaatity of manure on farms, is the farm- i :. — If cattle were confined to these yards through- the winter and plentifully littered, they would : far mere manure than could even be imagined. But the manner in which cattle are at present d, they hardly make a load of manure. In , present practice, hay and fodder are stacked in helds, and the cattle arc fed round the stacks and Icier houses : t-he disadvantages whereof are, 1- A wasteful use of the provender/ 2c The dung lying as it is dropt without straw, or other vegetable substances brought to it, the ma- nure is little in quantity : and 3. That little not king in heaps, is reduced abun- dantly by xhalation and rain, without leaving any thing to the soil. In the English and Flemish practice (feebly ob- . eci by a few of our husjy^clmen) cattle are care- housed; or otherwise con rued to a fold-yard, in which are shelters against cold rains during the v hole winter, and as far through the soring as food -will last : the advantages of which, are, i. A fair expenditure of the provender, without waste. 2. Less exhaustion of the juices; because of the clili g lying together in large heaps. 3. The~dun,g being mixed with the "straw, and other vegetable substance's brought to th beast as fitter, the whole is trod together* and forms a lar tity of very valuable manure. MANURES, Sftfi It may- be no exaggeration to affirm, that the dif- ference in the quantities of manures obtained from an equal stock of cattle by those several methods., may be as three to one. If six acres may be annually manured by the infe- rior method, then may eighteen by the superior.— Now, on a supposition, that manured land is kept in heart five years, without repeating, in the one case but thirty acres will always remain in good order % in the other, ninety acres ; a very important differ-, ence. Indeed, it is all the difference between an husbandman's poverty, and his riches. Litter is an essential to cattle, when let into yards,, without which yard manure is of small account ; and, unless it be in full proportion to the number of cat^ tie in the yard, it is not thought highly of; but is as a, half done thing. Good farmers in England deem full littering of cattle, when in yards, of such impor- tance, that, after reaping with sickles and inning their wheat, they cut the stubble and stack it for litter. — j Besides straw and stubble for litter, they apply to the same use, fern, and such other vegetable substan- ces as they can procure ; and they buy straw from common farmers who are not in the practice of lit- tering. In all countries,, common farmers are indif- ferent to improvements; they look not beyond old habits. A full littering is three loads of 12 or lbs. of straw to each grown beast. Indian corn stalks may be carried from the field in great quantities in* a skeleton frame cart (if not cut up and fed when fresh, when they are more nourishing, owing to the saccharine juice with which they abound.) A farm- yard should be so constructed as to prevent any thing i'rom passing away from it. This is done by making an excavation or hollow in the middle of the yard 5 so, 4. 40 SfANURES. that every part of the surface should descend to- wards the centre of it. Connected with the farm- yard and opening into it, should be shelters for the cattle, beeves, sheep, &c. These shelters should bo closed to the north, east and west points, and only open to the south, in order to secure the stock from the piercing winds and inclement storms of winter. These shelters should be covered with cornstalks or top fodder; the latter the best. — Having such shel- V ters, cattle will keep in better order with a great deal ^.ess food, than they would without them ; neglect in providing such shelters, reflects severely on the eco- nomy and good management of our farmers, espe- cially when it is considered that nearly the same labor which is now consumed in packing away top fodder in the form of stacks, would, if differently- packed up, make good shelters for cattle, and at the jarne time secure this kind of fodder equally well. The stock should be confined during the whole of the winter in the farm-yard, and not turned out, as\ is frequently the case, to wander after the proven- der or miserable fog of the stalk fields, in which they empty themselves and scatter their dung; by which much manure is lost, great injury in many cases done to grass lands, and the stock, from being, exposed to cold and other causes, benefited in a far less degree than is commonly imagined. A hoof 3hould not unnecessarily leave the yard. The farm-yard should always be well supplied with litter of some kind ; such as refuse straw, weeds, cornstalks, rich earth or leaves from the woods, or several of them together, in order to imbibe the soakings of the dung and urine dropped by the stock ; and of that thrown out of the stables. All kinds of refuse substances capable of being converted into manure, ought to be thrown into the yard. To effect ag purpose, every leisure opportunity should MANXES. taken to collect various vegetable matters, such as coarse grasses, leaves, straw, &c. in as large quanti- ties as possible, and the -whole should be carried to the yards, and stacked in convenient situations for the purpose of being made use of as litter. Besides these, there are other earthy -matters that equally de- mand attention — such as peat or boggy earth, mud from ponds and ditches, scrapings of roads, and other substances of the same kind, as can be conveniently obtained. Such materials as are necessary, being by these methods procured, the best mode of pro- ceeding seems to be, that of covering the whole of the farm-yard where the cattle stand and tread, as also the sheep-folds, &c with layers of these vegeta- ble and earthy matters, eight, ten, or more inches thick, according to the number of cattle and other circumstances ; the great object in view being to make as much manure as circumstances will possibly permit* "MANURES. Continued. Xo. X. "*The "most abundant sources for artificial manure in the most exhausted district of our country, are the otfal ot Indian corn, the straw of small grain, and the dung of animals. We find in the two first, proofs of the value of dry vegetables as a manure. It these few means- for fertilizing the country, were skilfully used, they would of themselves suffice to change its state from sterility to fr^Ufulness. But they are so egregiously neglected or mismanaged, that we hard- ly reap a tythe of their value. 4 By the litter of Indian corn, and of small grain, and by penning cattle, managed with only an interior ^degree of skill, in union with inclosing, I will ven- ture to affirm, that a farm may in ten years be made to double its produce, and in twenty to quadruple it. There is no other secret La the business than that none of these manures be wasted/ The farmers of our country have been in the ha- bit of cultivating Indian corn from year to year> without learning to avail themselves of half its va- luable properties. There is no other crop which yields so much food to man, beast, and the earth. — Its value to the two former wiii be acknowledged by all ; but as respects its value to the latter, farmers appear to be totally ignorant, if we are to judge from the manner in which this food is treated. There is mothing which, if properly managed, is calculated to yield better food or manure to the earth than the, stalks of Indian corn ; yet, notwithstanding their .great valu trials for making crread over gu unci well littered and ploughed in. Ashes sp r, .«k ed ou land lately turned up trom sward, are decidedly the it productive manure that can be applied. Ten is of this manure, on p or land, will produce or-- 52 MANURES. (Unarfy twenty five bushels of wheat; the land is 'hen left in a state for yielding a crop of hay of be- tween two and one and an half tons per acre, which' A will continue to do for a great number of years. In short, no manure has been found as yet, to con- tinue so long in the ground as ashes. When ashes .are unleached, viz. when they have not been reduc- ed by. water (or by being drawn,) in richness, they are to be used as a manure more sparingly; and •^hen they have, more copiously. MANURES; Continued. No. XIL Plaster of Paris is a valuable manure, and perhapg- has been attended with better effects in those parts >f our country where it has been extensively used r than any other manure. N°o other manure is so :heap and valuable for speedily improving exhaust- ed lands, when used in combination with red Clover, as it gives to the latter an almost boundless fertiliz- ing power* As soon as poor lands can be made to bring red clover, their fertility may soon be effected by the use of this manure. One or two bushels of plaster spread or scattered over an acre of clover growing on the poorest land, will make it so luxuri- ant as to fa!l on the ground, or if cut to yield one or two tons of good hay. It is also beneficially used by rolling it with In- dian corn seed, bushel for bushel, as it has a good effect on the crop. When spread over the coarse* MANURES. litter of an enclosed field or over farm yard manure immediately previous to ploughing them in, it has b *good eiFect ; as it makes these manures more effica- cious and disposes them an ore speedily to rot. Marie affords an excellent manure lor sandy, dry, .gravelly or light lands of any kind ; it likewise pro- duces very beneficial effects on mossey and clayey soils ; provided a due proportion be applied, and af- terwards perfectly dissolved. In fact, it is a species of manure suited to almost eveiy soil and climate* .Farmers should always be in search for it on their farms. To our state it would prove more valuable than the mir.es of .Potosi. It is mostly found in low ilat lands near the margin of ponds, lakes, and ri\ and at the bottom of low bugs. It usually will be found near the surface of the earth, or within 12 or 18 inches depth. There are three kinds or species -of" marie. 1st. Calcareous or shell marie. This is generally of a yellowish white, or yellowish grey co- lour, but in some places of a brown or red cast. — This species of marie is mostly of a loose texture ; it effervesces with acids ; when pulverized, it feels dry between the fingers ; and, it immersed in Water, it readily crumbles to pieces, but does not form a viscid mass- 2. Argillaceous or clayey marie, is of a grey, brown, or reddish brown color ; being har- der, and more unctuous, than the former species, and adheres to the tongue. It effervesces with aqua for- tis, or spirit of salt ; in water it dissolves more slow- ly than the former. 3. Sileceous, stonv or sandy marie. This species contains a greater proportion of sand, than of chalk or clay. It is of a brownish .grey or lead color; it is, in general, friable and fla r Jcey, but sometimes forms very hard lumps. It effer- vesces with acids, but neither dissolves in water, nor moulders so speedily as \i:'h?? tif the two for.r*sr •feds, The first and third, viz. the shell arid s*to se which abound -most in calcareous earth, and ve the most sand hi their composition ; they are, therefore, bestadaptcd to strong, stiff cla\ey soils. The'getc rz. the c&yey marie, or those m which clay is cdnsidbraWy pn dominant, are found nu re adv; i in the light, dry, sandy, gravelly uud loamy soils. A good artificial *marle may be prepared by mix- s of pure clay at . in after- . its, so .. ex* •~j escd to the winter nests, 'lb\* Compound is \ ted lor light lards. Lime is used as a manure, in its mild as well as caustic state j it should, however, never be made use of without duly attending to the nature and constitu* lion of the soil to which it is to he applied, as on this oil .ce its success will, in a great mea- sure, depend. In its caustic state, it acts as a de- composing agent on animal and vegetable matter* and is especially recommended where soils possess jcme dormant principle of fertility. Mild, or slack- ed lime, is recommended to improve the texture of .soils that are deficient in loose or sandy matter; it vv j 1 1 also produce good effects, where, in such soils, phuric, or other acids exist, that are prejudicial to vegetation, by the power which it possesses oi neu- tralizing thtm. Lime, applied in its hot or caustic state to land, tends to bring any hard vegetable matter that it con- tains into a state of more rapid decomposition j solution, so as to render it a proper food for plants. To all foils, th refore, that are stored with any quan- tity of inert vegetable matter, with roots or any kind * of coarse litter, caustic lime is applied with e\ ad\antage- MANURES. *#$ v All cour, cold, stiff or clayey soils i' also be e- fits i:i the highest degree ; as it renders them more warm, lively and open, and destroys or neutralizes all piinciples contained in them noxious to vegeta» tion. In the Slate of Pennsylvania, lime is extensively used as a manure, and with the utmost success. — No farmer there does without it, ii it can possuly be procured. Lime is generally used there in its hot or caustic state ; and so careful are they to preserve it in this state that as soon as the lime-stone- is burnt, the lime is heaped and covered ; lest by being exposed to the influence of the atmosphere, to successive frosts and thaws, rains and snows, it should become as mild as calcareous lime, and therefore lose all its more active and beneficial properties, la Pennsylvania, the far- mers know that poor land will not bear so much lime as rich land. From this they conclude that lime must act as a stimulant, and that the. quantity applied to the land ought to bear an exact proportion to the quantity of vegetable matter contained in the soil. From - : to 35, and sometimes from 40 to 50 bush- els, are applied to an acre ; it is frequently plough- ed into the soil in the fall when the ground is fallow- ed up ; or it lays, in heaps in the field till spring and then plough' d or harrowed in. « Indian corn i-s the first crop that is put on the soil after it has been limed, as it is a gigantic plant and able to imbibe the supplies of food that -will be given, or is able to stand the operations of the lime on the soil. Or oats and clover may be sown as the first crop after the land is limed ; the cl ve;-*, m this caac, at a year old, will be luxuriant. One of the most -beneficial effects of the lime on the land, consists in - *-> Be sf£str*t£s. rendering the red clover crops extremely luxu: which are sown afterwards. Spreading lime on a clover lay, and suffering it to remain on the surface, through winter, and then ploughed; and the lime being well incorporated by heavy drags ©r harrows, is found -a very advanta- geous mode* -Laying on the lime, and mixing it thoroughly with the soil by frequent stirrings, with- out dung, is generally preferred. It has-been repeat- edly observed, that fn-sh lime and stable manure, put on together, are by no -means so efficacious, a* when the latter is applied in the -season succeeding the liming: Dry vegetable matter ploughed into the soil with fresh lime does better. When land is over limed, the remedy is to give the land a good dress- ing of farm-yard manure, or any kind of vegetable matter; such as buckwheat or oats turned under, in order to afford something for the lime to act upon ; or to let it lie a year or two till the heat of the lime •:s partly-given out, and then it will have its effect ENCLOSING. No. XITI. Xtmd is inclosed for the purpose of rearing v 'tables to benefit it by their shade, and by extracting manure from the atmosphere to be given to it when elaborated into a form sufficiently permanent to en- rich it. . Why are woodlands richer and more productive than worn or exhausted lands ? The trees growing on them continually shade the ground, and give to the land an annual dressing of manure in leaves, rotten limbs and trunks, and plants which are spread abroad by the winds and rot on its surface. This dressing of manure which the surface of the earth is annually receiving, forms so many additional layers of vegetable mould i and its fertility, instead of be- ing diminished by the growth of the trees, is con- stantly augmented by them, they being the agents by which its fertility is effected; hence woodland, or fresh cleared land, is much more rich and productive than soils whose surface is kept naked, and whose ferti- lity is constantly extracted by the crops cultivated thereon? without being restored again. In inclosing lands to be improved, we imitate the process by which nature improves them. Lands that are,inclosed, and from which grazing is"' entirely excluded, however poor, will throw up a coat of vegetables which shade the ground during summer, in fiuiumn they fall and rot, by which its surface is improved. The next year vegetation becomes more luxuriant, in conse- quence of the accession of fertility gained by the last year's coat of manure* -Thus exhausted fields are annual!'/ enriched by an annual dressing of manure. in •*fFb I-NtL&BJtfG. ' weeds, grass- or clover &c.*""\T*hfkh fall and rot on tn • k surface. Inclosed fields will also throw up a growth of * bushes, which may be used advantageously in filling up gallic s and in curing galled places. In this way it has been found from experience, that exhausted *■ fields which are inclosed, and from which grazing is • excluded, annually and rapidly improve. For the purpose of adopting the inclosing system to the greatest advantage, every farm should be divided into four shifts ; one of which is only to be cultivated at a time, while the others remain at rest, inclosed and ungrazed. The best course of crops to be pursued under the - inclosing system, is Indian corn — wheat sown in the fall on the same gr-uud with the corn — the next spring red clover sown among the wheat, and after ; ine latter is removed, the clover to remain uncut and ungrazed for two years. Red clover is cultivated by those who wish speedily to improve their ia<.ds -under the inciqsing system: as it extracts and bes- 1 tows upon the earth in a less time, a greater quan- tity of atmospherical manure than any other vegeta- ble ; and its peculiar propensity to be improved by a top dressing of the plaster,, gives it an additional % value. The inclosing svetern, to succeed well, must be combined with a great number of agricultural prac- ' tiees, at enmity with those which at present pr< vail. It is at enmity with the ptacUce of summer ial- - lowing for wheat- It is at enmity with the practice of shallow plough- ing, and accords with that of deep ploughing. It accords -with the doctrine of turning in a clover lay, or a bed of any other vegetable matter, for a crop speedily sown or planted thereon, without, die- ■ turbing this new bed of vegetables, nsrtrtosjTNG. \ also accords with the practice of ploughing in vegetables in a hard or dry state, instead of a green or succulent etate. It is also at enmity with the custom of exposing a fiat surface to the sun, and accords Vith tl tice of cultivating and preserving land in high ridge's and deep furrows. Among the several modes of improving land here- after to be treated of, incloVrag deserves to he ranked as one t-f the most valuable. It works r>i . suuitlv, Qall an expense oi labor, proprris - used, it insures an annual improvement* — TV'e iiave only to inclose our exhausted (kids exclude grazing, to prepare to fertilize their sur- faces bj successive drafts of -tiiltnure to he drawfl from its' inexhaustible treasury, the atmosplKP-.— 4 i he earth swims in atmosphere, and inhi refreshments. Vrgi tables cover the earth, and are the visible agents to which its surface is indebted for fertility. It the vast ocean of atmosphere is tht treasury of "vegetable food, vegetable manure is ol ously inexhaustible. Vegetables take tin ir sts Upon the earth to extract the richts of the att phere, larger than the earth itself, and to elaborate them into a proper form for fcftitifriftg its -surface.' The advantages of the inclosing .system may b- happily illustrated by, the following experiment*. 4 A "slip of a willow was planted in ft box containing '2C0 pounds of earth : in a few years the willow grew so rapidly as to exhibit a' tree of 200 pounds without having diminished the earth in which it grew. Had tbis willow been cut up and used as a manure, how vastly v. >uld it have enri- weight of earth it grew on. Tbis fast shews that the 2C0,pqunds -weight of willow was eirtirel) from the atmosphere : and further sb ■and swamps, also all other low or wet places, and converting them into mea- dow and grass. Arid-some part oi the-highland may also be devoted exclusively to grazing, by preparing a well turf< d standing pasture. The great object is to exclude the tooth and the hoof from the inclosed fields, to accelerate their im- provement under this system; and, in proportion as the land improves, so will the stock increase; for the increase of stock depends as intimately upon the im- provement of land, as the increase of crops. There- fore, as the land improves under the inclosing • tH, so will the crops increase; and, as the crops increase, so must the stock, the'te being an increased quantity of food, to be consumed, an -J of vegetable er to be made into manure. The surplus labor which has heretofore been, em- ployed in killing land, may he more profitably em- ployed in cimrvatirtj> less lantt, and i illy, fa INCLOSING. 61 cteingr more justice to it ; and in making more abun- dant crops, by bestowing upon it more faithful til- lage and more faithful manuring. The great mis- fortune with our farmers is,, they cultivate too much land.— The consequence is, wretched husbandry and half crops. One of the great advantages of the in- closing four-shift system, over that of the three shift system, (viz. corn — wheat — pasture) is the profit of making greater crops from less land. The same crop from a fourth may produce profit, and yet, a loss from a third. 'If 120 acres of poor land pro- duce 120 barrels of corn, and the expenses of culti- vation amount to a- barrel an acre, there is no profit, ';nt if 90 acres of the same land are improved by in- closing, so as to produce 120 barrels, there w r iil be a profit of 30 barrels. * There are still many other objects for the em- ploy m en t of the surplus labor, which mast he com- bined with the lour shift and inclosing system, to ac- celerate and augment the rewards it v. ill bestow. — . Hay in abundance must he made, crops will increase, modes of tillage must be improved, transportation v.-iii increase with litter, the making of manure, and plaster, if resorted to, is by no means niggardly in providing employment for labor.' In treating of inclosing, I' am fiNy aware that I have not done the subjt ct that justice which its im- portance as a system of improving land demands. — Hut I hope I have said enough to put the mind of the* intelligent reader on the track to pursue the sub- ject further — and if he is disposed so to do, he is referred to Taylor's Arator, in which work the sub- ject is treated at large, and with an ability proporti- onate to its important- i TRENCH PLOUGHING No. XIV. A* ploughing 19 one of the most important opera- tions in agriculture, every mode of it should be re- commended and tried, which promises an improve- ment either in a saving of labor, in making more a- bundant crops, or in the amelioration of the soil. I shall, therefore, in this and some oi the follow- ing numbers, mention some of the best modes of ploughing land^and then urge some reasons, showing. the necessity and utility of deep ploughing. In Pennsylvania, where agriculture is in a high state of improvement, there is a mode of ploughing h is highly recommended by those to whom it. is known to be practicable and easily performed. It is called Trench Ploughing, an.'V the mode of it is-, :;ow given as described in the Memoirs of the Phi- ladelphia Agricultural Soc: . . 1. Provide a li ht | from 12 to 15 inches- wide in the hind part of the span or sole, calculated to p^.re off foe souence i^that wherever the ground DEEP PLOUGHING. rsnot opened to a sufficient dtpth to imbibe the whole before the' sin lace becomes saturated, or has time to penetrate the fvard stratum beneath, a part oi the soil becomes fluid, and if the surface is dead level, a portion of it is carried off. in Greal- Britain, one of the first agricultural countries ot Eu* rope, they are not subject either to the excessive heavy rains, or hot dry weather, that we are; abso- lutely requiring with us, a greater depth of cultiva- tion to counteract thu bad effects of the climate on the soil; and yet their ploughing is vastly deeper than ours. The fact is, in our dry and hot climate ; deep ploughing is rendered indi^pt nsable r not oily to prevent the land from washing, but for the preser- vation of the meisiure, and the inhalation of the at- mosphere, so necessary to guard our crops against the effects of di oughts, common in our clim.it. . 2. It prevents washing. Deep and horizt ploughing when combined, are found effectually tc prevent washing in hilly lands» This is testified by the practice of many intelligent farmers in the state of Virginia,* where this kind of ploughing is conning into ^enera'i Use. But horizontal ploughing, however skilfully clone, unhss accompanied with deep pU ing, will avail nothing on nil \ lands, JL.et us now considti sort . rT cts of sl. T v ploughing. When lands are cleared, washing is pre- vented for the first year, by the undecayi d -fibrous roots remaining in the soil ; it generally brgi.,s the second, and continues annually, 1 he plough* g be- ing only about four inches deep, does not afi rd a sufficient quantity of loose efrrth to imbibe the whole of the heavy showers that frequently fall d«.«:-in.g Lommer^ the consequence of whiih is, as before ok -■*'i'h\s ytill be shewn in a future number, *6 68 TftEV PLOUGKl^C; served, that when the open so:l becomes satur;, water must accumulate on the surface, and flowing, ©ff in torrents, bears away a portion of the finest and most valuable part of the soil ; succeeding plough- ing bring to the surface a fresh supply of mould, which in turn) follows the last. Thus, ploughing and washing alternately, following each other, the effects are, that the soil employed in cultivation must an- nually become less fertile, because the coarse, the heavy, and adhesive particles of earth,. remain on the land from the beginning, while the finer and more- friendly parts are continually carried away, and thus the land becomes sterile, not so much from the vege- table nutriment being extracted from the soil by the growth of plants, as by the soil itself being removed by washing. That this is a necessary consequence of shallow ploughing on lands that are in any degree hilly, in this climate, I trust is evident to every un- prejudiced mind. What further proofs need we, to convince us of the effects of shallow ploughing, than the deserted old fields, washed into gullies, that ire- quentlv present their sterile surfaces from Susque- hanna to Georgia Some years ago, I was ot opinion that this speedy reduction of sod was altogether oc- casioned by tfee nature or the crops cultivated inert on j but on attending more accurately to the subject, I am now convinced that it is more Irom tire manner of cultivation, than the exhausting pri tperties ot the crops. As a proof, it has been observ* :1, that when an indnsuious person from another state or country, whVre the cultivation is deeper, has- settled on these exhausted lands, that they improve, although the same crops, or l&dse eqni-iiy exhausting, are culti- vated, and that in some instances they are made ver^ ve without manure, S. It admits o l efoser planting. AVhat is the Ian- :■; ci our farmers and planners with respect tc D&2TP PtOUCTHINtf. 69 ploughing ? " Our soil is not more than two- or three inches deep, we must plough shallow, otherwise we shall turn up too great a portion of dead earth, and ruin our crops." Tney say also we must plant wide, otherwise a drought will cause our corn to fire; and for these supposed weighty reasons, those two prac- tices are almost universally adopted, to wit, shallow ploughing and wide planting. Here our men of ex- perience prove, they are acquainted with the effect, without knowing, or even enquiring into the cause, Their mistaken opinion respecting dead earth, will be noticed in due place; hut it remains here to be proved, that the necessity of wide planting is one of tile consequences attached to shallow ploughing. All plants imbibe moisture from the earth, by their roots ; if this portion of their sustenance is withheld, though every other species of vegetable nutriment abounds ir; the soil, the plant becomes sickly, growth ceases, and Anally death ensues. In search of the necessary sup- ply, tne roots of plants are extended m all directions, where the soil is open enough to admit them, and to a disiance pioportionate to the demand ; two j ©f the same kind, require a greater quantity to pre- serve health, than one : hence it wnl appear, that a drought of sufficient duration to extract most of the moisture contained in that part of the soil loose ■.< d by the plough, may yet leave sufficient to preserve one plant in health ; but ii divided, both must .suffer, for neither can penetrate the hard unstiired earth be- low, for a supply. But in case of long droughts, no distance whaUV' r Will insure Indian turn from .suf- fering, when the under sira'uni is hard and the ploughing shallow; an ■: under these circumstances^ few summers are so wet, but that close planted u >n 3 . at seme period of its growth, discovers the want of a full supply of moisture, which -perhaps aught be R) Mep plougkt • amply afforded by one oriwo inches greater depth oi ploughing* VVhy is it, that fresh cleared land will admit of closer plaining, and is more productive the second, than the first year ? The surface having been for some time cleared of leaves, rubbish, &tc. and exposed to tt.t action oi frost, sun and dews; -ti.at portion of tanh, lying originally immediately bolow the bla k nd called d. ad earth, which v/as turned up by i ■ ultiva'tipn of the preceding y< ar (for in com- m< ti soils, i! is almost impossible to plough so shal- low as to --void turning lip some, in new grounds) has now acquired a dark color, and therefore not known to be the same ; and some of the obstacle* to ploughing being removed, the-y almost u go an inch or two deeper, without ^shewing any greater appearance of the yellow or dead earth, so much dreaded, than the preceding year : this fur- nishes a more extensive pasture for the roots of the plants growing therein, and also becomes a more co- pious reservoir for treasuring up moisture for the needful time ; and consequently affords a supply for a greater Dumber of plants, and constqucntly for a more productive crop. In deep ploughed soils, the number of plants growing therein, is not estimated so much from the extent of surface as from the quantity of soil employed, as before hinted ; for instance, if one plant requires a yard square of soil, of three and a- half inches depth, the saute surface will be much more certain to bring to perfection t-wo plants, when worked seven inches deep ; experience having prov- ed, that in rich deep soils, corn Will admit of b-ing planted four timers closer than usual, without suffer- ing in a drought or for want of air. Who has not thought of the pleasing idea of increasing the quan- tity of his land, by increasing the depth of its soil? A man Who has ten acres of land, which he worJ& DEEP PLOUGHING. 71 ten inches deep, will make as much or more from it* than anothei from twenty acres which is worked only five inches deep. What an immense saving oi labor ! What an immense saving of land ! 4. More abundant crops. It is admitted by all fanners, that in order to insure good crops, the soil must be kept in fine tilth, and that to" a considerable depth; that d<-t p ploughing is calculated to produce both these effects is evident to all who have any ex- perience in this practice. Deep ploughing also ad- mits of closer planting, by which means the ctop is made more abundant than it would be on the same soil with shallow ploughing. Deep ploughing also prevents the crop from being cut off by too much wet or a long drought, and frequently saves it when it is foul, when shallow ploughings would only tend to destroy it. 5. A saving of labor. One of the objections that is frequently made to deep ploughing is, the greater strength of team that*will be requisite to perform it, and consequently an additional expense. This ob- jection, I believe, on consideration, will also he found to be without foundation. True it is, that the first ploughing requires more strength of team hut then it is equally as true, that if the plough is a g ( d one iov the purpose, almost double the quantity will be performed in a given time. And as ;^h- ed in this way will not acquire the same degree of firmness for many years aTferwards, although it -jhould remain untilled , it will be found that dree horses to a plough will be sufficient for after- plough- ings, even for a grass lav ; and that two such teams will perform as much in a day as six hoists in three ploughs of the common kind and descriptor ploughing. Here then is a ploughman saved. Jn addition to this, it is to be renumbered; that for rea- sons before given-, land cultivated in this way, W 73 DEEP.. PLOUGHING. be preserved in good tilth with much fewer plough?- rngs than in the other mode. Thus, let the subject be considered on whatever ground we choose to take it up, either with respect to the preservation of the soil, closer plaining, the quantity of produce, or the quantum oflabor bestowed, the advantages are greatly tvor of deep, over shallow ploughing* DEEP PLOUGHING, ■ v Continued. Ko. XVI, This subject is not yet exhausted; and if the reb> -der feels its importance as much as I do, in consi- dering it the basis of agriculture, and upon which all radical improvements of the soil must depend, he will attend me in the following remarks, which will conclude the subject. Another material evil that results irom the practice of shallow ploughing, and h applies to all surfaces, level as well as hilly, is tbe injur}- a growing crop sustains lor want of a more regular quantity of moisture in the soil : We know, by experience, that either extreme (viz. too much wet or a drought) is fau* 10 most of our • rops ; that the- practice of shallow ploughing is calculated to pro- duce both at different periods, is evident : for during a long continuance pf wet, the water must stagnate in abundance about the* roots of the plants, there not being a sufficient quantity of loose earth to absorb it : ami on the contrary, a short continuance of drought, its nearly the whole of the moisture contained- in, the thin covering of loose earth ; and it is not tp be supposed that the tender roots of plants in quest of a supply, can penetrate the compact earth b which has never been s.irred or broke up by dt ep ploughing. By the practice of shallot ploughing, the top soil or mould being constantly stirred, is ren- dered so loose and light, that ll not carried off by hard dashing rains (an event which inevitably takes place on hilly lands,) s r ndered dead and unpro- ductive* by being exposed to the rays of the sun, by which all moisture. or nutriment of vegetables is ex- tracted. If manures art applied to shaHow worked soils, their good effects, in general, will be of short continuance, as most kinds must soon travel the road the virgin soil has gone before them. Let us now fur her consider some of the advanta- ges of deep ploughing, Whatever manures are applied to deep worked soils, are sure to be retained ; and further, if dews are nutritive, the superior openness of the texture of the soil in this mode, qualifies it to derive every ad- vantage to he expected horn that source. But, oer- haps, one of the most valuable of all the effects re- sulting from deep ploughing is, that. it in a great mea- sure preserves an equal quantity of moisture in the soil; for, as we seldom have a rain s > gnat as to produce an unhealthy stagnation oi water about the roots of plants set in a soil seven or eight inches deep ; so, on the contrary, we scarcely ever have a drought of so long continuance as to extract all the moisture to that depth; — for it is to be remembered that after a few inches nearest t he sin lace, mo- is extracted by slow degrees. Thus it appears, from the foregoing observations, that by this mode of practice, the great loss sustained by washing, an evil so much to be dreaded in this country, is avoided^ that whatever manures are applied, are safely depo- V4 DL'EP PLOUGHING. sited and will act wiih full effect; that the growing plants are abundantly supplied during the whole of their growth, both summer and winter, with an open soil, for a free extension ol their roots, and also, with a regular supply of moisture, so that their growth is at no time impeded by any small irregularity of sea- son ; the depth of soil being to them, with respect to wet and dry, what the ocean is to small islands, with respect to heat and cold, the means of a tolerably re- gular temperature, I cap readily anticipate the remarks of our stick- lers for old prejudices, on what has been advanced on the subject oi deep ploughing* This reasoning (say they) well applies to deep rich soils ; but in poor shallow soils, u let him beware of the yellow clay, the dead earth, lest the value of his land proves to be the price of his too adventurous experiments." But, let me ask them, have they ne- ver seen the effects of earth taken out of cellars and Wells, when applied to poor lands ? Have they never observed the luxuriant growth of grass and weeds, at the edge of a bank taken from a mill race or a large ditch, and Frequently on the very top when fiat enough to retain moisture ? For my own part, I Rave long been in the habit of observing these things, and do not recollect that I ever saw any earth taken from a -considerable-, depth below the surface which was capable of being pulverized by frost or tillage, without evident advantage, even when clay has been applied to (lav, and sand to sand. Seeing this is a fact, is there any good reason for supposing, that as we ascend towards the surf.ee, such a difference will be found in the properties of the earth, that 'his will render the same land sterile, that the other will enrich.? I confess I see none; I cannot even see, why we may not with propriety sup- cose, that the first six inches of €anh next below the usual ploughing, should be possessed of all the ferti- lizing qualities, that the same kind of earth would be, if found six feet below. The prejudices of those against deep ploughing;, have no doubt arisen from injudicious experiments. Very few farmers break up ground in the fall; in the spring their teams are often weak, and were they disposed to plough a spot of ground deeper than usual, would very likely choose to do it when wet, on account of its being easier performed, and then would plough it into a fiat surface ; soon after which the crop is planted or sowed, which proves the worse for the experiment, and the farmer is, therefore, dis- gusted with the practice ; he informs his neighbors of the ill success of his experiments; and, perhaps, a whole neighborhood is thereby afresh confirmed in their former belief, that the good old way is th< -* to plough as deep as they find black soil, and no deeper. Ploughing land in the spring, that contains a con- siderable portion of clay in a state too wet to break, as the soil turns over, is thereby rendered more compact, and when hardened by the sun, becomes entirely unfitted for the production of vegetables; and is scarcely to be reduced by any succeeding til- lage during the same summer ; and, indeed, I be- lieve nothing short of a winter's frost will effectually pulverize it. It must, therefore, never be forgotten, that ploughing stiff soils, when over wet, the mischief is incalculable, at least irreparable for that season^ Deep ploughing a naked and poor soil into a flat sur- face, by which what little soil there is, is turned un- der, and the dead earth brought up :n its place, al- ways proves pernicious. 76 BEE? PLOUGHING. These cases are cited to shew, how easily the best devised system of practice, may be rendered entirely abortive, by being put into the hands of unskilful practitioners to execute. Those who wish to adopt the practice of deep ploughing with success, would perhaps do well particularly to atteud to the follow- ing simple rules. 1. Ground that is to be ploughed deep, should in- variably be broke up in the fall. The advantages of ploughing at this time of the year are grr at. The soil by being exposed throughout winter to the in- iluer.ee of the atmosphere — to freezings and thaws, is pulverized and rendered (pen. loose and mellow. The air contains the principal store of materials tor the food of plants, and will impregnate the clay or dead earth turned up by deep ploughing, if ex- posed a sufficient length of time, especially in winter, when* it receives much and parts with little ; the heat of the sun being then feeble, and incapable of dis- pelling what the soil receives from the air. 2. Land that is ploughed deep, should also inva- riably be bedded, viz. thrown into high ridges with deep water furrows. The advantages of ridging are numerous. By ridging, the surface exposed to the atmosphere to be improved by its influence, is considerably in- creased | it collects the existing soil in the ct mire of the ridge and deposits the sterile or dead earth on its two sides ; and by ihis means, on poor land, the soil is doubled for a present crop, and the dead earth lying on the sides of the ridges is exposed to the at- mosphere to be improved for a future one ; thus the injury which would otherwise arise from mingling too much dead earth with the 501I is avoided. I therefore do not think there is any danger in 6ttp ploughing on'ihe poorest soil in ridges, though in a £at surface it would be pernicious* KG. 7 1 When artificial manuring attends deep ing, or when a good coat of weeds, grass or < is turned under, this practice is attended Willi i certain success : — its advantages are greater and more immediately experienced ; — as by it the manure is completely secured from evaporation- deepened and fructified— and the e: on vastly increased. 4. When lands are ploughed deep, v be in too great a hurry to reap a pr< fit unless they are manured. Indian corn shou the first crop put on • round after it is deeply plough- ed ; because this crop n he soil to be con- stantly stirred and exposed, which are necessary to improve the substratum turned up by thia mode of ploughing. In the course of my remarks, I have been indebt- ed For some valuable hint^ to a work ori deep plough- ing by Thos. Moor.:, Esq. an experienced and dis- tinguished farmet of Maryland, which I consider •one of the most v, cultural treatises ever yet offerd. to the public. I wish it were more ge- nerally id the hand of farmers. But I have endea- vored to supply this desideratum by what is \ liDjg essay* I ZONTAL PLOUGHING, T htrc is no i m prove raent in a- to be of more lasting benefit to our country, h< . Such has been the system* of agri< ngus past, that hilly or broken lands have been BO sooner cleared, than waste;, test the correct. ess- of this assertion, we ;?eed only cast our eyes over the different parts of our cc untry, to behold thousands of acres of hilly land red entirely barren, not so much from the ve- getable nutriment being extracted by the crops cui- tiv$t< '-1, as from, the soil itself being washed and deposited in low and sunken places, creeks, hoi .. ould be the consequences of such a system of Agriculture, if it admitted of no remedy or im- • t? As a great part of the United States . c roken land, the consequences : only have terminated in the destruction qi the solf'j but would have extended to the impove- rishment of h i, and even the destruction of navigation itself, I do not, there. believe, that hori- zontal and deep plougl romise to be the salva- .ariy if combined whh ) ing, the use of Piaster of Paris and Red Clo- Mpr UghTrfg was first introduced into ic~e in this country by Col. Rai of Virgi- BbArtn-l.aw to Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Jefferson, »bo has frequently witnessed t] and be HORIZONTAL PLOtJGIZIN'O* J*9 fleets resulting from this practice, not only on the farm of Col. Randolph, but also on his own, thus details the mode of horizontal ploughing in a letter to a distinguished farmer of Massachusetts, and pub- lished in the Agricultural Repository " Horizontal Ploughing has been practised here (Virginia) by Col. Randolph, my son-in-law, who first introduced it, about a dozen or fifteen years ago. Its advantage^ were so soon observed that it has al- ready become very general, and has entirely changed and renovated the face of our country, kvery rain before that, while it did a temporary good, did great « er permanent evil, by carrying off our soil, and fields were no sooner cleared than wasted ; at present, we may say that we lose none of our soil — the rain not absorbed in the moment of its fall being retained in the hollows of the beds until it can be absorbed.— Our practice is, when we first enter on this proc> with a rafter level of ten feet span, to lay off guide lines, conducted horizontally around every hill side, and about thirty yards apart ; the steps of the level on the ground are marked by the strokes of a hoe, and immediately followed by a plough to preserve the trace j a man, or a boy of 12 or 15 years old with the level, &c two smaller boys to mark the steps, the one with sticks, the other with the hoe, will do an acre of this an hour, and when once done, it is forever done. We generally level a field the yenv it is put into Indian corn, until ail have been once levelled : the intermediate furrows are run by the; eye of the ploughman, governed by these guide lines, and is so done as to lay the earth in horizontal beds of 6 feet wide with deep hollows or water furrows between them, to held superfluous rain — the inequa- *: Uclivity in the hill will vary in places the . ' :ZONTAL PLOUGHING; :e of the guide lines, and occasion gores, x, i rito short beds. " 1 h:-.ve transferred this method of ploughing to a possession I have near Lynchburg 90 miles to the ,-.. W. from this place, where it is spreading rapidly,, and ' - salvation of that, as it confessedly has 13 of this part of the country. " Horizontal and deep ploughing, with the use of plaster and clover, which are but beginning to be used. here,. we believe will restore this part of our country to its original fertility, which was exceeded hy no upland in the State." As many persons may not have a correct idea of the rafter level, the use of which is recommmended .in this Essay, the Editor has procured the annexed, engraved representation of it. -£i b r!rce'f3-ary to caution trie reader, that unless tal ploughing be correctly done, it had better >e done at atlj because I have i I that ..,<. 3 havo attempts &£* •? *'**# of ploughing, with- / o:dX understanding its principles : water fur- rows, which are intended to Suotts* water, have the least descent u fir another, they will nave the effect of thi the water to one point, where such a quantity will be collected in heavy rains by a number ot water furrows hading to the same point, as will inevitably p: . reach through the ridges. It is advisable, that heforc the level is applied to a field,. its suriaCe be made as even as possible ,* this is best done, it' its une\enmss ren- ders it necessary-, by flushing up the ground in the fall or winter with a mould board plough, and early in the spring to be well harrowed with a two horse Harrow; this last operation will not only level the suriace, but will have the additional valuable effect of breaking the clods and thereby effectually pulve- rizing the ground, which will prove of great ad v aft,' tage to the corn in every stage of its growth. The level, in this case, may be applied in the spring and i)ic ground listed or thrown into horizontal drills fur the planting of the corn. Success in horizontal ploughing depends on the exactness of the level to suspend, and the depth of the ploughing to absorb the water. Inclosing is indispensably necessary to make it beneficial, as by that, the earth is brought into a proper state for absorbing more water, and the suspension of the progress of this water by its vege- table cover, allows more time for the operation of- absorption— In heavy rains, when the ground is in cultivation, and however accurately leveled, instan- ces will occasionally occur of breaches across the horizontal beds — The remedy is, to fill them imme- diately with brush having the leaves on, well packed. These instances, however, are very rare, and ea- sily thus cured- Besides the inestimable advantages from horizon- tal ploughing in protecting the soil against tb* - HORIZONTAL PLOUGHING. :ng effect of rains, there is a great one in its preven- ting the rains themselves from being lost to the crop. The Indian corn is the cr jp which most exposes the soil to be carried off by ruins; and it is at the same time the crop which most needs them— Where the land is not only hilly, but the soil thirsty, (as is ge- nerally the case with such lands) the preservation of the rain as it falls, between the drilled ridges, is of peculiar importance; and its gradual settling down- wards to the roots, is the best possible mode of sup- plying them with moisture. In the old method of ploughing shallow up and downhill, the rain as well as the soil was lost, which not only destroyed the upland, but rushed down and poisoned the vallies* The result of horizontal ploughing in Virginia is extremely encouraging to those who may wish to adopt this practice here. Farms there which are very hilly, whose soils were particularly liable to be washed awav, and which Were excessively galled and gullied, have been relieved probably, of nineteen parts in twenty of those calamities by horizontal and deep ploughing in combination with inclosing. FALL PLOUGHING No. XVIII. There is no operation in husbandry more ifl pensabie, and none more neglected, than tall plough ing. 'i hat its advaniaj ■ have bee~ served, by its not being attended to, is not sur- prising, when our imperfect system ok' agriculture is considered. The frequent failures in making corn crops, prove that our system of farming is bad ir deed ; and one of the most prominent caust failures, is the neglect of fall ploughing. I am confident in saying it, that were farmers in the of breaking up their corn ground deep in the IV early in the winter, that rarely a year would occur ii which the most abundant crops would not be m The following, are some oi the advantages of lowing land in the fall, preparatory for a rorn to be planted thereon the next or succeed '■•. 1. By turning under a cover, ■ lover or grass, which are deposited so deep as to be beyom the reach of e\ n, and • putrefaction, fertilize the 2. By breaking up the gi in the fall, to be exposed throughout w iluence oi the atmosphere, its texture will be much iropi pansive powers of ice, the /gradual cHssolut ■of snows, and tbe alternati' vcrize it and to n timafel hssessed : and, in ping them poor, es, in vvint' r, b\ an insufficient supply of foot!, and of turning them out in summer on pas- tures thinly covered with a natural and coarse hejft- bage,— he would, in the former season, have a plen- tiful supply of hay for them, and in the latter, luxu- riant guss, by which they would be kept fat, and ><£ierel y made a profit, instead of an expense* In t-v- r\ part of the union where agriculture is conhsst ci to he conducted upon in pr« >\?o principles, the cultivation of artificial grasses is an dbji ct of r> importance with the farmer; so much so, that their cultivation is embraced as a part of every £ r od rotation of crops* In Pennsylvania, the introduction and general cul- tivation of artificial grasses, particularly red clover, lias added millions to the wealth of her farm, rs A [Pennsylvania farmer, who knows the advantage of a timothy or clover meaur^v, considers it a folty to spend time in collecting corn blades. The time is fast approaching, w-hen the farmers of Noith- Carolina will he a weakened to their better in- terest with respect to the cultivation of grasses. — They will discover, that whether they cultivate Wheat or Tobacco, it will be necessary, and highly to their ^ntertst, to combine with them, by degrees, highland meadows, hay and meats, for market. The price of meat and draft animals is increasing, and will increase whilst our agriculture is in its pre- pent stat«i There are a great number of artificial grasses which are more or less valuable according lo the soil an*i climate in which they are cultivated. But their num- ber and variety are not so essential, as a correct se- lection from among them. I shall proceed to describe such grasses, as from experien e and observation, appeal to be best adapt- ed to the soil and climate o{ North-Garo)ina,-whicij must always be kept id view in treating 01 ject Ifed' Clever— This is the most valuable of all the artificial grasses. No otiv r gra^s can compete with . bundance, or in nutritive and wn» les tf\ qualities*)-— But as red clover hns air n fully in a former number, to which the readci is reft it is needless to enlarge on it here* Tvn r Ahy, — This is a Well fctrown, favorite and na- tive grass of the northern and mid le States. Timo- thy succeeds best m a moist low ground ; it is well calculated totanprove ri»oisf.meadows overgrown with moss. The best way of sowing it upon Such lands,, is immediately after they are cleared and lr :; On uplands, it is best sown with red cloy* r. as this mixture makes the best ha}',* another advantag of sowing them together is, that the timothy will answer to support the clover should it be inclined to fall or lodge. When, hoWever, it i3 sown with grain, no clover se^d should be mixed with it; but may after it is cUt, be mixed with the clover hay in alu layers. — When sown with grain on uplands, it will be sheltered from thi sun until after harvest, wh u it will imve acquired suffi ieht strength Jto bear Che heat ol our summers* The first year, after grain harvest, it may be lightly pastured, but the second year it must be kept up for hay, of which it will yield an abundant crop, if the ground has been vvelj prepared* Timothy should not be cut until in full blossom or not until the young leaves be seen coming out from near the surface, which, if the grass be then cut, will start up ivith igor, stand the sua, and yield fitte pasture-* li it be xtn too early, or before it is in 90 Cr&*bw* -rr>, It is xpt to ble< (I, v/ ■ On Up! ji of timothy h is— ort niLiM Kiiids or on th<. t^J or ft ict is far : -hy yield* an a! urtdanVe of seed, at i twenty to thirty bushels to the acre. But this grass y cultivated and known, t] — geifiuou* to enlarge ?■ I hard Grm:», ' .-,•», •ated griassts for uphmds, in this country. It is pi Under the shade of trees ; and hence it ! Or~ chard Grass, tt springs quirkly after < plentiful pasture, and those; who know it be the hay to any other. It is," on uplands, prefer a bits to timothy ? which eat exhauster, — yields but one crop of hay, anrl little or no pasturt , thus having the field bare of cover ; and exp 2& to the exhaustion of the sun and winds : w orchard grass, by its quick and repeated gr< wins, af- fords a ceaseless cover and defence. T will be permanent, when clover, (with which it is a profitable companion) fails. All beasts are fond of it, both as pasture and haw "Any soil is a&itaWe for it, if not wet: all high and. 3— \ir- m lolla al»e Well adapted -to it; but a Sandy team of 'good staple is the fittest. This grass should be cut for hay 33 aoott as it 16 "completely in head and blossom ; if it stands for need, the leaves fall, and the stalk grows rigid and ■worthies** No crop yields more abundantly and profitably than one of this grass raised merely fo£ seed. But the grass is discredited by those who aim at too much- They suffer it to stand to ripen the seed, and thus ruin the hay» When seed is intended to be raised, a -Spot or patch pf it should be exclusively devoted to this purpose-, and not cut for hr.v. When gathered for seed, it should be tied up .m "■small bundles ; a few strokes ovd a barrel, when the heads are sufficiently dry, (like detaching the seed from flUx ) vy ill disengage all the seed, and leave the chaff. Orchard grass is extensively cultivated in Pennsylvania and. also hi many patts of Virginia ; it would Ere fouflnd to succeed equally well in North- [ifla< A disthy^nhed farther* of Pennsylvania observes, •* I know the valud-of Orchard Grass and can vouch "for its superior qualities 3 having constantly sown i', for a period o£ 40 years* I generally sow it on mv wheat in the autumn, covering l ' (a busl and a peck to a bushel and a half, p< r acre) with the last harrowing* Some sow it in th ; spring, but I fer the fall. Much depends on the soil and sea- son, and both periods can be tried, to enable the far- mer to form the best opinions I sow or, tne wl in February or March, about six pou of red clover ; and these pknts are read) fori icytho at the same time* The orchard .grass should he fi * for hay when the panicles are fairly formed, and this as about the time when the heads of the clover begin EOttyco* Tiiis grass is apt to grow in tufts or tussocks if rsown too thin . to remeily which, a plenty oi should be allowed. Great impositions may be prae* tise4 in selling orchari grass seed— so thatrfrequenf- . ly chaff fills the bushel, and the price deters its gene- ral use. It should be sold by weight; and in thia case, the chaff sellers would be disappointed, and the buyers of seed would be fairly dealt by'« It is far best for farmers to raise their own- seed ; as none; can be raised more easily nor abundantly. A small patch Would make a great turn out. The English name of Oreh is is Cocksfoot — the Latin oi JLinnean, BactylH Gibmersfta* Tall Meadow 3 called " Egy . wi Peruvian Grass." The qualities b£ this grass are, to produce heavy crops of fine hay vet strong land — 13 6ea> drought better than any other — to live in lanp . ciovei perishes, and to aifoid to it cover and vegetable matter— to bear grazing well — to adhere long to the land-*-ar.d \c> vield both gi('(l Seed- and good hay at e cuV ting. The greatest defect J this grass are, Its propensity to grow in tussocks, and to shed its see'd while yet green. Thefbriner may be remediett by sowing it thick, and the latter, by cutting it at the proper ju Stocks of all kinds ,. \ meadow oat, chough when mixed with rtd clover, they prefer trie latter. 3 rtinacious in this preference. It bear: graztpg better tfltffc anv h< r grass, and e fix q itc.n t repetitions of it, allowing; it short in- als to spring up, after being eaten d >w». It a£- after being well set in strong stiff land, : jUilc throng the Winter. C is in 'flower and before the seed ripen*, it makes fin« hay j and good after a portion of the seed is ripe— * The tops being dipt of] with a si seed, the residue will make tolerable hay ; and this is the bes* mode of saving seed* As soon as it springs alter being cut, grazing m. i upon it and continued until March«~Qbserv t ai:>.j wilj determine the rest it requires. But it shttuld not I whenever the ground is so wet as to admit ot being poached, it holds- the ground longer, -and ' resists intruders more vigorously iLau i highland grass. It is an excellent grass to be sown with red d by rendering the hay more easily to be cured. I: may be sown with oats or wheat, or alone. ltd er of resisting drought, and preference of hig i and capacity of existing in sand) s« . adapt it for th$ soil ana clima where it would prove a valaabk acq,ui m (HUSSSC Wontintfctti Jfbj XXI. Guinea Grac-s,— This grass is as yet little know:^, as it has been only partially cultivated in tire United States.' But the few experiments made in its culti- vation, have succeeded so \v ell as to prove that it i$ well adapted to the soil and climate of the Southern 3tates. If has been proved to yield a -quantity of grass and hay, almost exceed ing x belief* It meritS the Particular attention of the farmers of North-Ca- rolina ; tor should it be found to Succeed well in this State, it would prove of more real value to them thatft the discovery oi a gold mine* The writer has mad*-; several fruitiest attempts to procure some of the seed of this grass ; he means still to persevere in bis ex- ertions, aivd with the view of inspiring others with the like desire of -introducing this Valuable grass a« mong U3, and of interesting them in its favor, the fol- lowing account of it isgiven, as taken from a conifc rtunication addressed by *Drr'S< Brown of Natchez-, M. T. to the Philadelphia Agricultural Society. *.-ix years ago, I saw one or two plants of the' 'Guinea Grass, in the garden of M. T'reme, near trre city of New- Orleans j but as I was, at that time, in no way concerned in agricultural ptirsuits, it attract- ed little of my attention. Last autumn, I again me* with it, in great perfection at Mr. M.unsonV, a few miles north of Fort Adams. Although Mr. Munsort had not more than half a dozen plants, he obligingly furnished me with a pint of Sued, which I shared %yith my friends hi this territory, % mtucky, and irj r ;\rrnec"£e-^~- Having determined to cultivate tfet& ion on it ; aj #tre within my reach. In Ihyan Edpriii tory of Jan m Guinea gi au;;; % .r cane, in point orunce, farms thrbughou riginally cr< . i art still bq i hitfly by in, am of this invaluable herbage* Hence th< pie rn- td cuttle both for the Ui r, which is Bucfo, that few marietta in Europe c at a cheaper rate or of ca« It thrives on the i- 1 itoiving verdure i 1 Fr m Willich's D nnestic 1 i I make %fYe following extract.' *' Guinea grass, a Vahn hie sf \gc,thur, ominattd, as it v of Guinea, m : was brought to Jamaica rfnd af- I t< d into thia ( I 1») — »■ About tO years since, it \ 'hd and gtows to the height ot seven fett; it adm.ts of ing freqw it, and makes car it both in a fh sh and dr^ great avid- ity ; hence ire of this valuable < ■•, strongly recommended to. the farmers of C i wall r»d D vonsbir ." 'Thi s. ii l v qumt remarks on the culture of tbijr grass, ar<- by the late Henry Laurens, of South-Ca- rolina : ,? * u 1:1 the Inst spring I procured from J-am; ica three half pints of Guinea grass seed, which I I ; io drills ol one fourth of an acre of vtry ind' J ff( rtni Ian T seed sprung** and soon covered the ground* Willi grass, four f et high and upwards. B< ing de- sirous ei saving as much seed as possible> I eul tifr bundle of grass for horses ; th -:y ate it all with greatf avidity. In August I t>'ok one of the grass roots and divided it >nto twenty eight parts, which were immediately replanted ; every part took root, and the whole are now growing vcrv finely,* and seeding* " I am of opinion this grass will make the best pasture we can wish for. Ii is easily managed, re- quires but one good hoeing, aktr which, it will take ear* of itself." * ith this stock of information, I commenced m^r exp< riments. In the month of April, i prepar d a •pit c of ground in the citv af Natduz, and planted the seed I h:»d reserved for myself, in holes two fe«t distant from each other. ' When the plants attained such a size as would admit of it, I took them up. and dividing the r or« t set them out when the soil was wet, and in this way filled up the ground I had appropriated to mv expe- riments. I did not begin to cut the grass un'.tl the 1 6th oi' July, I then weighed the produce of one seed, in -the presence of a number of gentlenjen^ at Mr. Bohirisori's .hotel in Natchez. One hundred and sixty-four stalks, from six to seven feet high, grow- ing from one r >t, weighed together *0 pounds—- At Mr. Wind's tavern, on the l'th of September, a second cutting from one seed, weighed S3 pounds. H fUtnbtr of s f aiks was 184, some of which mea- sured 10 feet 11 inches in length. Some parts o£ the lot in Natchez is very poor soil, and ;he grass on these places did not grow higher t-han six or se~ * li is c jrioOs ro calculate the cjjiantity which an industrious plan-. in frora one seejdi Suppose that each of the root pTodtfced less than one half of the num- * ted from one seed, for instance 50 stalks, fehis will give 1400 ttalks in one season, from a single seed.-— s.\. a . \ Me jeai', these will attuia the heisrni al at ieaat seven feet; iKuMrby fc. Brc GLASSES. >ven feet, lJut on a g od soil, in a favorable seasom, ir, tins climate., I urn persuaded it is a very moderate «st-irnat<. ic allow to v> ry square yard 10 pounds at a cutting, wh n we cut only three times in the sea- son. This would give SO pounds to every square yard or V47,00 pounds of green grass to th< tre. But this production seems so enormous, that I should not have ventured on such a calculation h.;d I not the respectable authority of Mr. Edwards to su me. He asserts that the Scots grc»ss, which he seems to consider as far inferior to -the Guinea gras~, is sc productive that one acre of it will suppoit five h< ses the whole year round, allowing eai h horse 5$ pounds per day, which is 102,200 pounds per ai Admitting that my • alculations are extravagant^ let tis suppose that an acre will produce one third of what I have stated, still we must consider Gu< gras c as the m< st valuable of ail the known grass? s. : At k Per.yfirld, near Fort Adams Mr. ( ray manager* plant< d abjut the eighth of an a very fertile iand, with planes obtained from I Munson,.in the first .and Second week of M& * grew wirfiout any troul t that o: down the first growth tii weeds. On the 2 l Jvi , he began to cut it for the use of the pi i h. rses and mules ; and this snro! quantity < I ccntii i-ued to . \u m with as much as they could ' ;j it, during the whoi summer. Oh th ml - r, he wrote me that be had cut \tjour times, t orn 20 t ■■■-•■is he obtained at the fourth cutti pounds ol green grass, and in two weeks he would fifth Tune. I find no difficulty in coUecting w4y, the ft*. est cer- tain m '.! of obtaining youi ig plants wmld be to pr: p. the ground and sow the seed as the ci. tors 01 tobacco do toba do As soon as the plants have attained the height of two or three in- and when the danger of frosts is past, they should be removeiJto the ground w.here tliey are to stand! where they readily take -root.* A rich black mould, and a soil I think produces -the most luxuriant gra I have had very little experience as to the soiis to which it is best adapt- ed I hope that before many years, it will be tried in every climate in the United States, and on every variety of soil* No kind of grass with which I am tainted* supports the heat of the sun so well ; and this property, was it even less productive, would re- it to the notice of the agriculturalist, for, from »t of July, until it is killed by the au- tumn; 1 frosts, it wiil afford a constant^ and an abun- dant supply, of green 'food, and consequently enable the farmer, whatever may happen to his othtrmea- la\ up a plentiful stock of hay for the win- ri The hay is uncommonly fragrant, and horses- prefer it greatly to the best corn blades.' *• If Guinea grass succeeds as well with others, and in every stason, as it has c^ne this season, with me, as it has done in the West Indies for more than , the planters of the south will have no •reason to en\ northern neighbors their luxu- riant clover pastures, or their numerous ricks of i-i- * There is n :• or? d trangpl mifcg it, than in. plant rg> co. A b isket o tw will be sufficient or a acre Oni bun b'.-x e re. j- ■ pr,eler cpade eith clover or ti thy, though not so grass hay. will we' third m bulk of- timothy* h crop from one acre. As it yields no second crop 8 I in the same season, it ma- grazed until Christmas. I here is no other artificial low lane 1 grass that con- tinues longer in the soil, or is more tenacious of its hold than tms ; x it may be sow id m the i i is the best season) either UpoU wheat -it-ly sown, or among torn, the ground being first pui in | tijth* In both easVsyit is- better to e< slight! ! ible, or in boih it may be 1. ft urn over* of herds grass. Herds grass makes botlvgood and hay at the same cuttmg, so I dance of the former can be saved with i »e quantity sown on an acre is not u tanL btcaus* grass seed- tan- ot be sown too thick. Could it be cleaned of the chaff, a peck would a r. ply acre, but as this is difficult, a bushel Would not be too much. If the setd is denned of the chaff, from six to eight quarts will be sufli ienfc For, an acre— from four to six will do well in a good soil. The seed of this grass is chrap and easily produ- ced. Every farmer can raise his own, by It tf piece of it get ripe and reaping oft" the tops as direc- ted in the case of tali m< ruiow <;.t f :ass.~ Herds grass claims the particular attention of farmers, who have low, fiat or moist landc ; GR A.SSE there is no other that Would prove of sr> muck valu-- on such laiv : is -nc that should he culti- vated by ail those who aim at success in agi icuiiural puisui : -■• /cW Top — The re d t p is a variety ol h> I and they UTe ii many plac< f>p, lik herds grass, is peculiarly cah ulated foi wet, swamp lapel — it -will grow and s<-.<{ the firbi xv 1 1 i give stability or ft mness to i soil, as it gr completely to blrfd tne soil. Hence it is best adapted -to such land \s is not fit f )r th ■■ plough, ai cl i such it will be t >und a rich durable grass, ft ! managed like herds- ••. The following re tV ill close our observations on grasses. f. L;ind she r l ^e laid down to grass,. umiKiit be pat in frnt i th a • • d be well cl se of crops. Such i 1 foi ; purp as re j lire the nstantly siiired, particularly with the fields will become foul and -overrun with w dsybefore the ted. It is difficult td kop an old weedy farm long in grass; and the gh must he ofttner used than a clean farm re- quires* If land is well .leaned, by adopting a proper c urse of crops for the destruction of weeds and r pes s and top dressings of manure be applied to the grass, it will flourish for many years if it be of the permanent kind, and yield fine hay and pas- ttn . Second. Land should not be kept too long in grass^ No grounds should continue in grass Until they be- -come hard, bound, and consolidated, and the roots become old and matted ; for good crops of ■ i 11 as per courses %)i crops, mtvt kind of small or Winter gmla 3tirrlng and culture of trtat and lire the corn- other Unprofitable ve- utting artificial grosses in i <- .; ■ ing graz- ces. O , id giver, to working brasts and cat- as three acres grazed ' — be< In n cut, • ie cat- being froddei Fhey f< ed with- and in consrqu.t>ce *he whole food It is remarked by the^tnost cele- brated writers on agriculture, that can ti > of how few ac* ■' vi hen Diking horses and c ■\vili suffijjjfctd their r-- Clover, but every species of hay, should be well salted- Ail kind of stock will r food thus treated, to the hnesi hay in its raw state : for the salt assimilating with the juices of the hay, prevents, too great a fer- mentation, and imparts a superior flavour. Far- ther, the saltrng of hay < fit .ctualiy secures it from be- coming "overheated' or mildewed in* stacks; so that tjxe hay may be p\.u together, without the least GRASSES, ICfc ger oT firing, in a much greener state than would otherwise be safe. But oversalttng diminishes the nutriment. More than a peck to a ton is injurious. Half that quanti- ty is often sufficient. Ten to fifteen pounds b ally an ample allowance. Fifth. In laying down land to grass, the mixing of different grasses is highly to be recommended. Na- ture has provided in all permanent pastures a mix- ture of various grasses, the produce of which differs at different seasons. — Where pastures are to be made artificially such a mixture ought to be imitated? and, perhaps, pastures superior to the natural ones may be made by selecting due proportions of those species of grasses fitted fur the soil, winch afford respectively the greatest quantities of spiii :r.er ; fall and winter produce. 'the ADVANTAGES of good tillage No. xxni. There are certain fundamental principles of good Village, with which every p.irt of rural practice is Xiiore or less connected. They are the same in all climates, and in all situations, and these I consider to he as follows 5 / lirst, That the soil should belaid dry, or (ret of all supt -rfiuous moisu. Secondly, That it should be kept clean, or free of weeds. Thirdly, That it should be kept rich— that is to say all the manure that can be made or collected,. •should be so appli • keep the soil in a state car jwible of prod , neither the ach ■Bfeccd 'plouk ■ wht n they - a suitable t-j m^t siate. ■ ■ ma- -' hment, : ■ cdfe sweet" herbage ; : TH2 ADVANTAGES OS (WOO TILLAGE^ 'jriant, noxious wc d-, jr coarse grass} being depi ved 01 tlicir no*. | by draining, of course e and swtf-t whuleso.; \vi hout manure, A\i important principle ofi prattl- ed husbandry, is clt .A good I must suii r nothing t?o ;iu-v ; &ut h He m therei re u^ , tndeuvors ■ Huv.'tvtr small the atte; iioti to t max ; m, it pe> rations m i. the -a gnculturalist~and shoald be tiie pride and boast o£ all r< sp< cable husbai One being asked- 6 -" l repii — l animal sweat" — ;'■ i til!!^e, dustry, and iutcil; : :nt i I e modes of deatr.03 In the cultv crops should be adbptei J U I • prevent I heart* A has been I n aj !© vei i; Tht rapid i ■ ■ , ■ Va ■ f e 1 wealth ■ - .^ ed from the d,ii d mine, not the only cc . ttip'3 tten* - t .y lijivc Q .GE3 op good Tillage steady rotation uf crops, the system of trench plough* :ng, &c. to this course — and mure fre"quent and deep- er ploughi • the fortunate introduction oi red clover from 1'lanaeis about ltDO years ago, Kligl owes its nt standing as an agricultural na- tion." All .spots within the inclosure of a farm which are too barren or steep lor the cultivation of any kind of grain crop, should be laid down into profitable grass land so soon as that can be properly at plished. A skilful and intelligtnt farmer, in pursu- ing a system of good tillage,, should suffer no part oi iiisiarm to lie Waste, but should make it produce iometbing towards the support of animal life, and., thus attain the character which every fanner should aspire to, that of bringing the entire surface of his farm into the best considered use by prudent and ap- propriate cultivation. But cur misfortune is, we have too much iaml — the consequences, generally speaking, are wretched husbandry and half crops ; our farmers push a good soil till it is i impoverished, and cultivate in an imper- fect manner extensive tracts, a small proportion of which, if properly managed, would yield them more and belter pro oice. ic is nigh time that we s ase to employ la- bor in kil ', aad that we should turn our atten- tion towards its improveno nt, by cultiv fss at a time. By cultivating less laud we shall he enabled to do m< ce to it, and labor more effectual, and consequently more profitable. We shall: till it better, manure itbttt< r, k - p it in b< u-r hearty and wh: t to be tfisrvgard take more abumbn f >f larfd cultivated at a time, ■ leva -ply to it, v hat should J Jul tillage , and faithiul auvnuring. All -the ops rations of agriculture to; • ■ tti (.f the , w A- rth in it i - i has bo c! and di : him first a i aa -Overplus to Ho • 'i-3 of ! rrrent, is yet i n of icr h is iicvm' yvt ha\ dupe, in proportion as fai I ft!: . • the an unkn'iv. p • •* w * a j ■''." tt v in tla • o ; > n j 5 which '< t pu . )w< by* tl du v : Fertility .and i provement, and r: and hap **w FAGES OF GOOD TILLA* •■/. No XXIV. The difficulty of pro uring manure in sufficient quanti'.i . < farmer to u^e it in the i economical manner) much ot his manure may be saved by good tillage. Ground well tilled will bot tak hall the manure for a enp, as ground of the s.an.i q- d'fy tilled. There can he no ui pulvtrisii g i!k earth in most soils, an- I manure in a considerable de- M\. lull, who was an ingenious writer on rv, carried his thtory so far as to 6 I -ion uf earth by tillage, would answer >e of manure, and that dan, pa- rth, and that it is immaterial ..- is ie by the. plough itastm- l -of Kim •" by dung. Although I cannot subscribe to this* theory, yet f is no doubt but good tillage is ver n comb .. manure, gives it a treble 1 production of crops. J he | rh are made, the better ; this " v;: constantly experience in our gar< tfjd the same ,ov would take place in our fields. The r the earth when made fine or pe.f res to it, add : great- ly to vegetation. It is found that the fine duel 'in streets, in a dry time, is so impi I with nitre, that it will make salt petre. Too much atten- tion cannot be given to prepare a field for a crop:;, •the finer the earth is made, (a good d more dews an 1 salts : + will receive and retaivu U L | FHE ADVA;;' G 1 I I LA£E*. f nown to farmer*, that the best tilled lands, or those laiK'- where the pai;ts are made'* the finest, bear a drought much bett-r than ands poorly tilled j and thf.btsi pi ugrkd ai . always bears a drought best, because it is prepared to iec< ive and retain ther ciews and sa ts oj the atmospheric, which enri h the land, as well as prom talion, I he horizontal roo^s • • t' crop culti- vat' d, have s Ldom an\ of lh-n bran cr than the plough orspadehas penetrated into .djjl&upl the earth. Thes el nnes exteircRnE msi th . • ral yards from the main or tap r- ot. Roots by k rl off near the ends, increase tin ir num- ber, and send out several v, h re one is broken off., ots increase their fibre s every time the rrecl about them. ; the earth caust s a m rapid growth. 1 cail the inner sup soil by art, the artificial artificial pasture may >j;ed iur.-h roots of out tli • n And, in . • •» ro the divi isi n maj be carrh d on ^w ill Si ■; ; th of on to be j v is i bvious' enough, ir< pnlvei u w i ■ i a'ffo rd to thest i | I ..■ d in all directions, a su an re than a tl tirn< s greal ry time the earth is broken 1 Jagt , there : - ise uperi ken parts, which never have b < i tls a i id nr. use to he oust they let ii^jy^vhi n pulverized, the d v to be impr jrnated through »ui th ce With the rich< s carried i b] h as the farmer has done ploughing and harrowing, in the £10 THE ADVANTAGES OF GOOD TILLAGE, Usual m. Jr of culture, the particles of the soil will .1 by little and little close up, and becoraj impervious to the hucr roots oi plants* This will take place^iii a gr.attr or less d.give to the depth the plough had P n< i idency cannot, it is well k- J>e effectually etftmuracted by the use of thu hand hoe. K .vi d i » only, scratch hoeing. But the plough k magazines of th< earth open, and rcpicniihi^w*m ws, which fall rpo3t in dry weather, and tj \\s seem to be the richest present the aim re gives to the earth, and hav- ing when putfified in a Vessel, a black sediment at n. Tins se iht dark color of I upp> r part of the ground. To. 'emoustrate t:.at dew's ■■ . . . dig a nole in the ground, r, as deep as ; ■. h ought to reach, b- nth very line, ill the hob , and after a few hi ^t at the bottom, a • • will con- dry. O tv me very fine by deep ploi isufficient lib. - iways in the u n ■ g con- tinuance,) and foil mi\ find plou n its being turned up, moist, the other dry as powder from m. As fine o long soaked by it to become perfectly* ts which i and whilst th ist in them as t ■ . ■ - n . . ; t, and therefor- - r hoe tlu ' T!i t one more b -roughly and I le in i an .: drink, at i. If yon give an animal 3 to no pur unless you could give it m . which is im- ; i-hle ; but i " and round a plant the additional n< | iven, ena- I out addition . ; s and roots, whi h fully demon Urates, that a plant increa- ses its n; • p rti n to thr increase of a to it. If it be asked, how many pknigh- tre necessary ? I r — it is not th: num- ber of ploughings that its th • degrees of pul- verization. For one well done is twice done ; aiul the oiVner the belter, if convenient. Poor land should have the most ploughings ; because plants re- ceiving very little nourishment from the natural pas- ture of such land require the more artifi ial pasture to subsist upon. Columella relates a story finely illustrative of 'the advantages of g od tillage, which, though short as it is, contains a Volume of instruction. "A certain P.uidius had two daughters and a planted with vines. Of this farm h third part as a marriage portion, «.o the mi i who wed- ded his eldest daughter, and notwit! ceiv- ed as' much produce as before, from the two thirds h he reserved to himself. Afterwards, on the of the younger daughter,] aw y th;; half of the remaining lajid, and found his income still in no respect diminished. V. ' •. he I '? But tl • ' of the farm 10 &*-2 PLASTBB OF PARJ3. it length better cultivated than the whole used to be before. Abf ut two hundred years since, great efforts were made in France to revive the arts of husbandry. — The Flemings, about the same time, made similar efforts. They epdtavored to conceal from their jieighbors, their discoveries and improvements — They reduced the quantity of arable land, increased .their manures; ploughed deeper and oftmer, and kept their till ige grounds perfectly clean like gardens* — They soon found that ten a;.res of grourd, well ma- nured and well cultivated, would yield more than forty acres by their previous mode of cultivation. PLASTER OF PARIS, No xxv. This. valuable manure, when first introduced inte Agricultural use, met with great opposition in the pre- judices of farmers ; but its great and beneficial ef- fects upon almost all kind ot grain and grass crops, have in en so fully established by the experience of thousands, that it is now eagerly sought after and used in every part of the country where its valuable properties art knew n, and it can be obtained. Its u c e in agricultural purposes is now rapidly i xtend- ing, and no better proof of the improvement, of any agricultural district can be wanting, than the evi« deuce of a free use of Plaster of Paris— In propor- tion as agriculture and interior navigation are- pro- moted, so will the use of this substance extend, un- til the time will arrive when it will be generally used FLASTER Of^ PA-fflca tjfi in every part of our wide spread country. May we not, in the improvement of our rivers, speedily loots for the introduction of this valuable substance am >:i£ rue farmers of North Carolina^ They sureb no longer withhold from their use this great auxiii« arv to their agricultural pn ? With the view of encouraging its in trod action among us, tl ing information is giv< i( by way of di use. This infon ..... ii bting the result of the experience of the best farm : of our country who have used the Planter on an e«> tensive sale, for a number of years in different and climates. S^tiery 1. What soils are the most proper for manure 1 Arts. The soils most proper for this maniir Warm, kind, loam) 7 ones; land that is gen deemed good wheat land — that will sink the water quick in winter — land not too level — land that taker, iime well, will take the Plaster — high ground and sandy soils — a sandy loam— poor sandy river land. It does better on hilly than level land, perhaps be- cause it is dry and lighter. Its effects are good on every kind of dry gravelly spots and on soils that are stony and thin. On land inclined to be wet, l n a cold day, and on a fiat white clay, the Plaster not succeed. The soil called a loam, not »v~r stiff, is most favorable to the Piaster. ~\i u ' n J -• What quantity per acre has generally used ? Arts, It is difficult to fix the requisite quantity. As much effect has been produced from a half to two bushels to the acre, as from tour to six, when. season and other favorable circumstances combined. It hgwever may he presumed, that the quantity of Plaster may be regulated by the quantity of vegeta- ble matter or the fermentable putrifying subsu i m * "lich to operate, II what ., It tht gK : Q ■ - iw I . Li? 'trally used most profitably for white : ; thoi .. improve any kind of. I teh the Piaster has I h better than u> icrcd — and cattle love to pasture on them better. — . tcr it is in the spring when ve- abioad. On Clover, it is sown lroir. ] . [ay, and improves red clever e as the latter month. It has e after mowing the r>> st crop, As clover Seed i sown pxing or put in with I is, as soon as is off, as it gives a go h to . lover Ik; -.-inter sets in, which is apt to' : t :. -ct of Piaster on red clc* Q 0:1 any other crop v, hatev, . . \t I en n ofi la; really clover t sings ■ • ... average oi two a half tons per acre for stvei ?o what kind oi grain crops can il H orl, m v -XL ASTER CI PARIS. 11 J JArts The immediate benefit of Plaster to Indian corn is vastly greater than to any other crop, clover "excepted, whilst its benefit to the land is equally great. Unplastered spaces across large fields oi • corn have been frequently visible during the whole Crop, producing not an equal, but a considerable dif- ference in inferiority. Hulling Plaster bushel for bushel with Indian seed corn, has an admirable ef- fect on the crop. The manner and time of applying it to benefit the corn crop are different, in different places — sowing it just in advance of the plough, when fallowing for corn, on land well covered with vegetable matter — sowing it broadcast among the Indian corn after it is up — strewing it on the plant and hill when the corn receives its first dressing — * and rolling it with seed; strewing a table spoonful on each plant or hill when the corn receives its first weeding — and rolling it with the seed (i; being madt, very wet) bushel for bushel ; are all practised with great success. The -effect of the -Plaster on small grain crops is not very great; on spring or summer .grain, such as barley and oats, it has however the best effect by rolling it with the s-.-ed when sown. — Although the wheat crop is less benefited immediate* 'Ay than any other, yet the rolling of the wheat bush* el to bushel with the Plaster, facilitates the vegetation of the clover sown on the surface in the spring, and strengthens it against summer drought, so frequently fatal to it in coarse soils ; and by thus improving the fertility of the land, considerably augments succeed- ing crops. §>uery. 5. Has the application of it been repented "with or without ploughing? With other manure, and what? and, the eifects, if any, superior to tfee ^•Piaster alone ? . Except when sown on clover, the Piaster has* Keen found to succeed best when covered or work- ed into the earth. It is the g. pinion that tht Piaster should have some-thing, to iced or optrate on. A cover of vegetable litter produced by inclosing, or a clover lay wt 11 turned in, the piaster having been previously sown thereon, or any animal or vegetable putrifving substances in the earth, afford it a fit pa- bulum to operate on. 'I he Plaister operates m re powerfully when in connection with vegetable or ani- mal substances, and increases the effects, of coarse ire considerably; hence one of the best modes of using it, is sowing it on and ploughing it in with coarse litter. By applying manure with, preceding, or after the Plaster, the land will in less time be much more productive. When ploughed into the earth, . et is not so likely to be destroyed by exces- sive moisture or drought, as when 'Sprinkled on the ce . ery 6. In consequence of its repeated applica- •. soii, is j . u (J that it renders the ^ai.h :, useful effects' are gone . ? Ans. There is no greater degree of sterility after r, th^n af^e-r dung, ures are sti and leave liie ear: i pid, from the ex- r re- .1! kept in constant culture, - y appl) ihg putrif; 1 Plas- ter to and actual experience has tes- l suitable for its application; nor is whatever on the subject o i • P vs. try 7. Does it operate immediately on its be ing applied to the soil ? And wftafi is its dm utility ? /to. The Plaster when applied to some soils does not operate for several years, and then shews itselt in a luxuriant >n ot red or white clover, or some other grass. As to its durability upon the soil, it benefits land or crops longer than duwg \wtn~ out restriction of quantity. Its permanency howe- ver, is not always uniform, owing, perhaps, either to the nature of the soil, the difference in Seasons- or the goodness r. Wheq it throws up gentle and m< d p&, "its efficacy is of the lon- gi st duration., if it is violent in its first operations il i , oi short continuance. It has sometimes exhaus- ted itself in one year; front a dressing of three or i'( ur bushels, it ha b I fitt'd lane. Perhaps the scattering it ., or ev< year, i i small poi . It ngth of vent v iol ru . — ■ VV1 re it has been sown in this \y >buvincd I I I tt 218 3 I) CLOVER No. X.VVl. Red Clover is too valuable to need an euloguiir^ In every good svstem of agriculture, particularly in a system ol improve ment, Clover is. absolutely ne- cessary, as forming the basis of the whole, as with- out which, no valuable plan of cultivati n c «n be pursued. The many thousands of acres of worn or exhausted land in the different pans of North- Caro- lina, testily to the total and shameful neglect in the people of cultivating this valuable grass. Clover, aided by inclosing, together with gypsum and deep ploughing, is able to convert sterility into fruitful- ness, and scanty crops into those thr most abundant* In every part of the United States where the soil is in a high state of improvement, Clover is extensive- ly cultivated, and is acknowledged to be the principal agent in effecting these improvements*. I am p-r- -suaded that those who have lands susceptible of im- provement, could not.iay out their money to so go >d an interest as in the purchase of Clover seed ; as their money would soon be reimbursed treble or qua- druple fold in the rapid improvements which would be effected on their farms by meaes of the Clover. — Clover when well put in >n a good soil, and ha\i g a top dressing of plaster of two bushels to the acre, will afford the first year three tons of good hay to the acre, the se ond year it may be cut once and af- terwards pastun d to the middle of October, the third -year i* will afford excellent pasture to hogs, sheef) ami mil- h c ws during the summer, and in Septem- ber may b< turned under. It is the best pasture for raising healthy stock of every kind. Cattle, &e* v zing on it will be fatter tli ..Tliiiii on ;»iiy o ch< . ptrior fia\ our and , pure - ■ .. \v.:. ; .: the v : ...;;„,. v.' . and permuted to lie six hoars in tin ii to horses, will pv But it is when p; stock ; ; . hills on a i> suitable to raise timothy ; and the r; tiy to be pi J is Sv . mproving land speedily^ it - Glover i cut or grazed, in li.sy exti tity or v r- . it. t to be i acn by I, ■ large to mow on is single, ch< . a puree 1 tw to mi:. • • wing manner. Let the Jay cut, la; ith ; Us i 1 20 RED-CLOVER. 'deposited ; then at the bottom put down a layer of the straw six inches thi k ; then another layer of clover twelve inchesthick, and so on with straw and clover alternately, until it is all finished. I have ne- ver seen any moulded or muw hurnt when put away in this manner. Horses and cattle are -fonder of the straw (when imbibed with the juices oi the Clover) in the win- der, than Of th best timothy hay that can be offered th- cially if n little brine is sprinkled oveY the straw at the time of stacking it away ; by managing at in this way, the color and smell of the Clover in winter will be equal to any hay : and horses have been known to leave the green grass in midsummer and eat the hay thus prepared, in preference- Clo- ver should be cut for hay when the blossoms are burning of a brown hue and are beginning to seed. Considering Clover as necessary to the best plan of conducting a farm, it is the duty of every r al friend to this necessary science, to promote the cul- tivation of it. A great obstacle to the propagation of this valuable err ss, arises from the high price of the seed, owing to the trouble oJ gathering and the dit'H ultv of cleansing it. Could this difficulty be obviated, Clover seed might be sold at a much less price than is now demanded for it. The following plans of gathering and cleaning the seed, are practis- ed in the spates of Pennsylvania and New York, where they have long been in the habit of raising seed for sale. When clover is kept for seed, it m Stand till the beads are very brown, or until qi of the fiild has changed its color by the dryness of :tie Clover heads; youthen begin to collect them, which is done by a machine invented at Brookhaven, in StuTolk county, New York. It is drawn by a 'horse and guided by a man or boy, who will collect itirofB the -field by this means, the heads of clover BED CLOVER, 2C | growing on five acres in one day. This machine is of simple construction ; it is nothing more than an open box of about four feet square at the bottom, and ah- ut two feet high on three sides, one part, which we may call the lore part, is open; on this part is rW-.d fingers similar to the fingers of a cradle, about three feet long, and so near together as to break off the heads from the clover stacks, which are taken between those fingers ; the heads are thrown back into the- box as the horse walks on.—. The box is fixed on an axletree, supported by two small wheels of about two feet diameter ; two han- dles are fixed to the box behind, by which the man or boy, at the same time he guidts the horse, lowers or raises the fingers of the machine so as to take off an the heads from the clover: as often as the box .gets full of heads, they are thrown out, and the horse goes < n again All the heads of Clovt r, in what man- ner soever collected, ought to be put into small heaps oy corks, of the quantity of about the bigness otahtrge corn basket, in the field, and there exposed, that the may rot (which « fleet will take place according to the state of the weather as respects heat and mois- ture) otherwise it will be very difficult to get out the seed. Some attention ought to be paid to these heaps or cocks Irst they shr>uid rot too much next the ground ; i< will sometimes be necessary, in case of, much rain, to turn the heaps; by rubbing the head* in your hand it mav easily be perceived when the husk i sufficiently rotten. Whenever it is found that the heaps are sufficient- ly rotted and dry, they are carted into the barn, and whenever ir is found convenient, the seed is thresh- ed out on the barn flo - and .leaned with a wire riddle, The other plan is, aft :r the hay is threshed tii? heads oi the clover are put into a hogshead, to ar.tity tff wafer to mow* jr to induce a fermentation.-*-? t to this critical the fer n to pi : the capsules of chaif, without fUr this n, the 1 1 heads i>r to dry, when a threshing easily extricates U:e st Ci -ver seed ; s sown in diffen nt quantities, accr- . ding to the richn t soil, and the use that is intended to be made of the Clover. If seed is to bt d from the first crop, the r seed, from four to six pounds to the a re, is gener u with the wh at on lands able to pro- duce irom eight to twj lyt bi shels b) thr acre. r l he Clover on such lands be top thick to pro- duce seed from the first crop but standing tolerably th i n on i h e g r o . \ p d , the h t a c! s w s I i b e w ■ i 1 i • fi 1 le d with seed, 1: ad be rich and you mean to mow the first crop, and collect seed from the second, from. twelve to sixteen pounds is not too much to put to an ace. Sixteen pounds or more on winter has been thought bv many farmers not to be too much per '.icr^^ and a less gtiantiti en spring grain. A t< p g is of great bent fit to clover, if sown over it early in the spri. stifT spils^ 50Qt is the best ; on light lands the Plaster If ai v of these are sown over it ever s mellow and fertile sta^e, and possessing such a < of ti, , to presurvc this state, AU farmer^ nade the experiment, , that o»e~acre well nvmiired and prepared, will p$odue« more wheat than twe little or no manure or have been badly iki teach us -to cultivate pr^epare it better, and thereby -makr more - clant to cultivate a larger quantity more el make h ss. 'I : h ; es to be attended to in the culti\ I wheat maybe summed up under three nuring, deep ploughing and . sha .low- ing. To insure a good crop of wheat, in fact, the founda- tion of its success must depend on dop pi bug and I might with strict propriety extend tnis remark to every other grain crop in cultivation among us. The roots of wheat will penetrate four feet of tilth and of corn will which in removing every objection against deep ploughing, ahouid at the same time convince us ot its greaS I it jr. • great d erf wh to our t m.tnn ; .n^ if in • itvuch a '. the m . I crops \nA alsr ., ' rwrd un trong team ; the injury of the crop, ; sod r in August or >d the v surface shout* for *he reception ■ ed and at the time ol ja£ the seed should be harrowed in* \ preat a . harrowing in grain, is, I your field is prepared for seeding-, vou can n. sow and harrow in your seed; and have the c o f we . . j c e s .; w h i e h t h e tedious process of plousr,hing»ip your see*] wou 1 i%» St*ai*#e as it may appear to some, yet it h&# I . ' t > i i 3 led to have the ploughing to prepare good crops (\i rh arc wc'l cah-w. at; as the c x n\y bv ■ - >ii into a ■ ft eption of r,t cr..p /or this tt^ s also a; iwer this dlimate, 1 v remark S f r«p.— . Taykrs p;ati.of cnuivu;h>g ItkU ■ . ) vid- pe -. has b- - be«.n - . soon as the stalV, conti ne violent tscetit oi the juices as \i there 1-e any obstruction or stoppage i d in the slej f the stalk, \vh«t xriust. \yl • ' ce of this but an . xu . a <^i that the vessels burst I ■ ¥ * Bj ex:. • act oi the juice Sewing cr being •It >:.j been ascertained, by'lonsj expe-' observation, that mildews cr rust always come -cool nights alter inter.se and continued he ich n cold, succeeding heat, every one ki ! occa- sion a great dew, And this is n the reas why this rust has been ascribed to the dew, end caf- meldew or mi ich ' Another tact which-- confirms tivs hvpothe*" this : thai 'be thin leaves and slender of' the 3talk are fir^t affected^ 'hence first appeal" on 'he stalk just btl< \ here the stalk being the smallest, and the yt .is the first the chill, ::s nought cted — A ace just below this, the first eruption appears? •ar;d so 1 i the whole, and entirely ruins the grain if not already filled. It is another well known fact, th. md in new nttUrements, or ¥ h fresh land, is much kss exposed to mildews, th. n old fields I • i ' ■• son of this is plain upon tl | tutlg ipS are known to er degree of heat than ■ , if ge quanti i ung* particular lyin a fr\ be applied to land ( wheat crop to be grown i medial .it uili i'i all pi Because it must occasion, acco- the. sis, a more violent ascent of the j u , the ilk will !;e propqi dan^erof burst- ing, and of an lion of trK jurces, upon a. sudden chili - alk. thef t\ct comm grounds are not so exposed to mild Jl he ;v isons are plain upon this eesause there is not so much difference betwee:; J? HE AT. v/eathet* in day and night en high grounds, a3'in the n of the aft in high iand, i .vent the stag- nation of the Knees —-Up. . nciple too, an high wind may prevent the mildew, and accordingly they are never known to come in a windy night, though cold. The wind by ke< pihg i ,u uiy xn motion, prevent a b 5 g.w.t. ioa of the juices; in like manner, the blood never becomes sta^ria any part ot the bo.dy when it is kept constan II is upon thi3 principle, that we can ao eount for the reason, why 1: is recommended in Eng-' £and, ^o keep a stretched roue constantly moving ov-.r the ri'ids of wheat, when the stat wea- ther is such a te an apprehension of their be- to mild< Or, if rust . .v is produced by a com! '.ion of hear, moisture, shallow ploughing, mid a flat he remedy is the same under either sition. is re J inea*y consists in 'deep ploughing, high • wide wat-.; . i .will le of culture the Te verse of that o genera:, cd wheat with the rust or ew. The high narrow ridge? dissipate or scatter the intense heat of the sun, which a flat sin lace v increase; and the deep wide watei - serve to drain the ridges of their superfluous moisture, (so as completely to prevent a stagnation of the it the foots of the, to them) and >n of air through the wheat! s and furrows therefore answer the valua- < heat and moisture, which oi' the disease, and vi~ ay add to the ca: pi the (plant to jrtsisv the malady. WHEAT • injurious effects ol fre^h dung mav avoided by applying it to Indian coi Itpw crop for whtntj by the time the com prop finishes its growth, |he manure will be in* cent and mild sta e t'c ;owa on tl d, to which i Cui Oi w I>t ;; : ; lildc ws '; the . vnat sula between e ajul S nuing to sow tb< tivat- wh$at. A bttlP ' r t which nr of Juh. that rata* be v.- riu- c r ,p, ;.• -prrvv ;•: ■ : . . - set up ill sheai the It e i.vi- triment which the stalk ntay i Wheat ci ops in England hai h rut in tmir milk- tt the grain has.been found to mature, aid ahv;; rd a fine ski autlful sample. This fact has been asserted by •< rican and British agriculturalists, and further s«J*e •ifTrmation of this d, will h ree vvveta i b%for -.. rip , [ stalks be set ng the fences. IL nee ..heat or otht-r ripe ; and it may also be which is cut while underripe, is -ed in the fi Id by moist wea- fcher, ith tat* stood until it be -fully over* V H g A T. Con The smut of grr.in is " ■•/ distinguisfiect by the ' ack dust which covers the c ningty rinkled with soct : whereas the mildew or rust in- U s;s tiie stern and kaves with yellow and dark brown to, or with a diisx of au p&aitge colour. On exa- mining the smutty cars ot wheat, some grains will be found 6<>und, while tlu been reduced to ch;v/n, an ^xp:-ri need farmer) led, produced a mod. rate crop and pel r e from smut. The smut is s led grain, as rye or barley, it being mostly predominant in wheat; e in the smooth get in late harvest. Like t 1 w, it \i> i !ent in low gi in a damp or f.\g- gv season; but never pi g. s as th and grasses. The time of blooming i period at whir.h tiv smut begins to sell and then procev , the ear into ehafif or preventing the ?;j raui coming to malum* • Means ot prevention : Mafce choice of the best seed wheat. '-Fhis is tc •be dons at harvest by selecting that pari of the crop which ripened earliest, which contained the largest and bes- filled heads and'the soundest and plumpest grain; it i-< only in this way that any preferred spe- cies of wb< a:, can be preserved or improved. A I vs also recommended as an effectual is oi preventing the smut and -other diseases to h wheat is liable. In the Netherlands, perhaps one of th. wheat countries in Eurppe, chang- - he seed is regularly and systematically attended In Engl , changing the seed of all their culfniferous/^r ry three or four years is consid Trd us highly beneficial* I- is here to be observed that wheat and all other culmilerous grains were or'^inatly much ' to what they are at present ; that they wi re fii heir wild state • defective in'regard to quality and pro- duce, and that by cultivation and iunh ,r selection, tftey have etn improved to their present standard . r lection. If, therefore, they af y cultivated, I would . 11 a^ai'i d . r ori- :CV tO n i i are liable to be. vated on the . by [ice of the jusi . thes< re- * ears fro pod, countt ot ist:ic ; . — roperlv in ■ increase the qna- mes l^ss liable to disease, from ear- s t i*i n in the same neigh- seed "WHEAT. IS 5 wheat with each other every three or four years, in- stead of cultivating the same t iv on ti.eir farms, they would find an advantage in it. As the smut has been considered by many writers as very infectious, and tl seed will uni- formly and almost inevitably produce an infected or smutty crop, variou n rccoir.m nded for the prevention of this disease. 13y st< e d yu teat, we have an opportunity of scumming off all lit or shrivelled grains which fl >at on the surface, preserving lor seed all the sound and he; vy grams which invariably sink to the bottom ot the li- q id in which they arc steeped. i :, th. father oi! the drill husbandry that a ship load offbeat was s'tmk near Bristol^ in au- tum - and afterwards at ebbs, all taken up; but be- ing unfit for tl At ■the To" s , ail th wheat in ] smutty, of this briued^.^d, Mr. Richard P. Barton, h Roberts, author of the Pennsylvanh mer, has also pr< ved the utility of steep seed I experi- ment, with c the backwardness and want of vigor in the wheat in this strip, compared With the rest of the field, was so apparent as I dis trictly visible. He further observes, that se\ of his neighbors had tiicd the same steep, and were so convinced of its utility, as to induct them to con- tinue the practice. When seed whe.at is n.ih d in plaster oi Paris, it should previously be soaked in strong brine, 01 the plaster mixed with the brine.—- By this means, it retains moisture much longer tnan. when mixed with water, and the wh» at tonus up quicker and better, particularly in a dry season, Which is a great advantage. In the Netherlands, OUe of the great wheat countries of Europe, chang- ing the seed and steeping in the following prepara- tion, has never been known to fail. Dissolve three ounces and two drachms of copperas cr blue vitriol in three gallons and three quarts (wine measure) of cold water, for every three bushels of grain. As to the Hessian fly, which has committed such extensive ravages among the wheat cre>ps in this country, a knowledge of the means to be used to pre- vent or escape its ravages, would no doubt be highly acceptable to the agricultural community* I will en- deavor to give this information as far as I bled. The Hessian fly commits its ravages by d po- siting an egg or maggot on the wheat, which is al- ways to be iound between the lowest part of the leaf of the wheat, and the part which forms the main stalk or straw, and to the latter of which, that b to bay, the stalk, it closely adheres, and is generally within the outside leaf, so as to lie as near th cs possible. Wh n thus adhering to the stalk of the what, it lives or derives its nourishm that kind of wheat which is the yqung< st am Lio-; delicate straw-. The manner in which the is by sucking it, it not appear to possess any faculty oi corroding or AT. 12./ eating away the solid part of the straw ; as it growa larger, its whole body indents the straw and vents the ris~ of the sap, and the grain either falls down, or perishes before it has grown fo be of anJT height. I am confident in saying, that when the soil is rich or in g jo i heart, when it has been well pfeparca, and sown tolera >ly late in the fail with wheat, there is littie or no cause to apprehend the s of the flv. The re isons in support of this assertion, are ths folio wi i The fly generally attacks the wheat which is - sown; a grafter quantity of them appearing the hist of August and first of Septemb r, than at any other period in the fail : hence the necessity oE sowing late, to escape their ravages in the fall. — « n > doubt lodge and deposit as many of tneir egs^s or skippers in the luxuriant growth as they do in that of a slow growth, or d eat ; bui ih.it on a rich fertile soil, and well put m, if the sh injured in the fall by the egg being d< in : r. it will send forth fresh shoots from the main root, and thereby live during the fall and winter; and it <3h p sited in the spring of the year, in wheat or a luxuriant growth, it will grow so fast as t.i be to discard the egg or skipper from between the blade and s*alk ; or be able to afford a redundancy of juice, for the production of the fly, over and above what is necessary to keep up its growth. - Whilst on the other hand, wheat (hat is sown on poor or sterile land and badly put in, is always back- ward and easily penetrated by the fly ; and, instead of growing, declines away, whilst trie fly is sucking the sap out of the stalk, and for want of proper nou~ rishment from the soil, is unable to throw out any new shoots in lieu of the one injured by the fly.— v. • -narks, we discover the necessity of having wheat larul in good heart and well prepared, in order to escape the ravages of theflv. The Ara- :h is a valuable authority o.n all agricultural wing t-xci rpropriate I y : "The ?. le understood, as to • the loss of ' rom had tillage. Lands are tired by snailow are, or by being prevented from rating themselves with vegetable substances, the rich st bottom lands are subject to weari- n and sometimes are said to have grown lousy, rt they will cease at length to yield good corn ; the crop has the appearance of being infected by To such causes are owing most of the char- ■-ought against the Hessian fly, They would • vd by manuring the land with good clover lays, and by deep ploughing, in the cultivation of the maize or of any other fallow crop, or by managing naked fallows in the same way. At least, my expe- rience has never furnished me with a single instance, in which a cr^Pjp of wheat has suffered by any insect, when the land was in heart and well covered dry vegetable matter, when that matter »vns turned under as deep as four horses in <\ plough could do it, when the land had received a second good plough- ing by two horses in a plough, and when the v was seeded on high and narrow ridges, with a clean farrow." Bearded wheat is not so liable to be attacked by the fly as the smooth-eared sort, from the following circumstances: it branches more than any of the smooth sort, in this respect approximating to the progress of rye in its growth ; it has a much smal- ler blade, more compact fibre, a small hard stalk, With very little hollow, which renders it harder of TUkSiPfc. 139 penetration, and the smallness of the blade does not defend theifl as web as a lar^c one ; and lastly, the smalln ss of the hollow pjr events them from buryirg themselves as easily as in a large hollow. As to the weavil, they are certainly avoided, by getting the wheat out early, throwing it up in the chaff, or cleaning it and depositing it in dry airy places under shelter. TURNIP,?, As the cultivation of Turnips upon an extensive scale, as well lor the feeding of cattltv during the Winter monihs, as for culinary purposes, may and ought to become an interesting object to the citizens of the United Slates, the following observations are offered, as comprehending its most improved modes of culture : The Turnip delights in a light, sandy loam; if a little moist the better, especially in Warn* climates. Upon new or fresh gro/md they are always sweeter, than on an old or worn out soil. Though such is the kind of land best adapted to the raising of tur- nips, yet they are cultivated upon every sort of soil in use as arable land. ien of the sandy soil now laying waste in various parts of the union, might, with the assistance, or cul- ture and a small portion of manure, be profitably en^Ioyed in producing turnips; for such ground, if * 2 140 TtffcHlPS. dressed with a light coat of clay or loam, would yield ex- client crops of this vegetable. The ground intended for the production of turnips ensuing season, ought to be deeply ploughed in October or November, and to be left in that rougli state to receive the benefits of the winter frost, &c. In the April following, when it is perfectly dry, harrow it and let it lie so till the middle of May, when it should have another deep ploughing across, or < ontrarywise to the former ; the first week in June harrow it, and towards the end of that month give tru fiJd a light coat of well rotted manure, and im- tely plough it in lightly; after which the soil and manure are to be we'll incorporated, by harrow- ing the ground effectually with a weighty harrow. Ah ! says the fanner, this will never do ,* the crop will not be worth the expence. First make ont. lair experiment, and I am convinced you will not give up tht pursuit : you ought to take into consideration, that after the turnips are off the ground it will be in a high stnte of preparation for several successive ■ various kinds, and that without this, or si- . tillage, it may remain during your life in an roductive state. : sowing depends much on the nppli- the general mode in the middle ., is to begin about the 20th July, and to . mic s - this time to the mid- .,t, or a few days after. T!- v.n en an acre by .. , er less than .-• d, more . pound and a., half, and by some tv ... was to come to perfection a qu oiild be ient, but hav- itr so many accidents a pound is the : lo be sown qi\ an aci .• TURNIPS. The period in which you intend to sow, being ar° arrived, plough your prepared turnip ground once mort lighd\ ; give it one or two strokes of the har- row all over, and sow the seed immediately on the fresh surface* The method of sowing is generally, by broad cast, with a high and even hand ; but some sow in rows by means of a machine called a tin nip drill, which method is greatly approved of, par. larly as by it much labor is saved in hoeing and thin- ning the plants. I the former method, the seed is covertd by drawing a light harrow backward, that is, wrong end foremost, to prevent the teeth which are generally set somewhat pointed forward, from tear og up the clods, and burying the seed too de^p. Gun of the most Important parts of the treatment due to the cultivation* of the turnip yet remains to be done, that is, to roll the field with a heavy roller im- mediately after harrowing in the seed, provdedthat the ground is sufficiently dij, or as soon after as it is in a fit condition, b ansall the clods are broke::, and much of the set d that would other', be exposed to birds, &.<.-. will I e covered, the surface rendered smooth and Compact thereby, and conse- quently more retentive of moisture, which will great- ly promote the vegetation of the seed and growth of the plants. But the all- important point is, that the rolling of the ground is experimentally found to he the n ctual method hitherto discovered for the pre- servation of the ri p from the destructi depredations of the fly. The turnip fly is found most numerous in rough worked ground there they can retreat and take shelter uuder the clods or lunv s < i earth from such changt-s of weather as are i to them, or from the tacks of sm and otto ais« 142 Jpfffcitfps. Experiments have been trie d, on coating the seed with sulphur, soot, &c* and of steeping it in train oil, and in solutions or various kinds, as a security against- the fly, but the result has not been such as to establish any practice of this nature . Hoeing the plants and setting them out, as it is ©ailed, comes next under consideration ; the method of doing this dextrously, is difficult to describe, no- thing but practice can teacn it. It matters not which way the' operation is performed, provided the gr uucl be stirred, the weeds eradicated, and the plants set out singly and at proper distances. The due dis- tance is from seven to twelve inches every way: this must be regulated according to the strength of the land, the time of sowing, and the kit cl of turnip cultivated — strong ground and early sowings always producing the largest roots. The critical time of the first hoeing is when the plants lie spread upon the ground are nearly of the size of the palm of the hand ; if however, seed weeds be numerous and luxuriant, they ought to be check- ed before the turnip plants arrive at that size, lest by being drawn up tall and slender they should acquire a weak sickly habit. This first hoeing is indispensably necessary, and r. second might be given with ■ advantage when the leaves are grown to the height of eight or nine inches, in order to destroy weeds, loosen the earth, and finally to regulate the plants. Here again, will the? farmer exclaim against the expence and trouble of hoeing; but let him try one acre in this way, and leave another • J the same qua- lity to nature, as is too frequently done, and he will find the extra produce of the I re will more than six times compensate for the labor bestowed. Raising turnip seed requires more a v han ha-s hitherto been paid it. In Norfolk, the great TURNIPS. 146 turnip district of England, the formers there are masters in the art of raising turnip seed. it is a fact well understood by them, that if the seed be ga- thered repeatedly from untransplanted roots, tin tar- nips horn this seed will become l coarse ne< k d' and * foul I flesh of the root itself rigid and unpalatable. On the contrary, if the seed be red repeatedly from transplanted roots, the necks will become too fine, and the fibres or roots too Tew J the entire plant acquiring a weak and de- licate ruibir, and the produce, though sweet, will be email. The farmer has therefore two cxtruv avoid. It has been found • •; experience, that transplanting two, thn e or four years, and letting the plants run up in the patch, the third, fourth or fifth, will keep the stock in the desired state. Th plaited plants are to be put into apiece of rich earth in the kitchen garden, or in any ether suitable place of the same kind. I ORCHARDS, "No XX XL The utility of an orchard, or orchards, both private Use and prof;., stored with the various sorts oi fruit treesj must he very great; as well as afford infinite pleasure from the delightful appearance it s from early spring, till late in autumn; in spring the various trees in, blossom arc highly orna- a; ; in summer the pleasure is heightened., by ving the various fruits advancing to perfection ; and as thei|eason advances, the mature growl the dim rent sorts arriving to perfection in regular succession, from May until the end ol Ox b t rd great delight as wdl as profit. Th- fe, e of a lover of improvement canscarcel) be express d, on observing the almost universal inattention pa i the greater number of our orchards, and thatp< go to a considerable expence in planting and tlishing them, afterwards leave them to the rude hand of nature; as ii the art and ingenuity of man availed nothing, or that they msi ii ed no further care : however, it is to be hoped, that the good example, and the co nt success of the careful and indus- '11 stimulate others to pay the necessary at- tention to tnese departments, and thereby to serve themselves as well as the community at large. As orchards in their general acceptation, compre- hend a Variety of fruit trces^, it may perhaps be pro- per to remark, that the observations which will fol- low under this head will be exclusi mfmed to apple trees. There is no other fruit tree which so richly deserves the attention and cultivation of the iusbandmsn 2s the apple; it will thrive and live in ORCIIA^ • 145 akrttjsl every climate ; it yields a fruit equalled by nunc in abundance and excellence, and a liquor, which it properly made, is Little interior to tht befit wine- lit behoves every philanthropist to encourage the cultivation of orchards and the making ot good cider .j by way of discouraging the too general use ot ard lit spirits. Good cider would be a national saving of wealth by expelling foreign liquors; and of life, by expelling the use oi ardent spirits. The mismanagement of apple trees often begins in the nursery, by leaving suckers from the roots, by letting the trees grow so crooked as to become inca- pable of a good shape, and especially, by leaving branches for two or three year^, which must be cu'; away when the tree is planted, because, they are too low, or crowd the head. This incumbrance has wasted a great part of the sap, which w increased the re- gular growth. — 1 'he wounds occasioired by this lop- cannot soon be covered with new bark a d ia the m ice a decay. Sometimes this neglect is continued in part', when the trees are removed from the nursery, because some persons regret ; h '. ss of branches whicti would bear the s: nv : fori see th6 ! c is <;:i •}< s I ■ hich will in- fi with their growth, and force a mm h worse u ; ■ ion. '' h . ! begin at least six feet from trie ground ; and of those whose branches injr, eight. When -the' head has formed s'o low as live feet, but is well grown, ; be contin ttyen its branches ought to be trirrv- n d near the st m, and by some contrivance be ena- bled to rise. The head ofighi but one Lad- er, because two seldom sua ted, as the inward late- . s v. id e.oss each othtfr. Its branches should 146 orchards. be equidistant, and not more than six, nor less than four. It the tree has ample root, and a strong body, the head may retain an upper tier, provided it is two feet above the first ; but if not, it is btst to leave only such upper branches, that have this height, and form the others from good buds. It is a bad prac- tice to shorten the top or the branches, except a little where they are too slender for their length ; by ex- cess, it may be very difficult to produce a good lea- der ; the branches will grow bushy, and he later in bearing, because the first fruit comes towards their ends. Trees ought not to be kept too long in the nur- sery, because the small space allotted for them will not permit a regular expansion either of the root or the branches ; besides, the removal, however careful, often kills them, or causes a lingering decay. n accurate inspection of the roots is necessary, for talc - . ■■., and worms, and also tor or i e too close. but long ramblers ought to be shorten- ed, and they e spread equidistant, so far as is p ', which may be facilitated by vvopden The or) common fault of s.qut< zin§ them in- i, has ruim d many trees : the hob s ugh to extend at least onejbot br- ibe LiiYiii longest roots, and the mould lie null ' Thi ties should not extend bej'ond I J if you make a deep hoi the clin ■ r unfriendly sub-soil, [uentlv ( root? there:; even I round id earth will mcl this, bad and^uiifr'end'y s .>il, whiph tie most y tree, and can never afford it suitable juices GR-eFfAR&S. fojf perfecting delicious iruit ; besides, the lodgment of water about the r ►ota in this confined bason, ia wet seasons, will cans.- the tree to become sickly, and rq get overrun with moss, and full of canker. Young apple trees planted shallow and the holes filled up with rich native mould or earth, always succeed the best, or more completely insures the ss of their fivirVg ;; (or in planting, \\\& roots of the young trees are so m ar t : to feel tht salutary influence of sun, ;:ir and rain.— > A great orchardist once said — %k always pi tat shallow and give a top dressing " A tree well pruned, plant' I by stakes against violent winds, will 9 ha** bk of regular pjrowth and will be easy to ket g 1 order afterwards. ■18 148 'ORCHARDS. Continued. No. XXXJI. Pruning U an important article in the manage- ment of orchards, and therefore deserves the parti* • cular attention of the husbandman. Pruning, when judiciously done, promotes the health of the trees, brings them sooner into a bearing state, and conti- nues them in vigor for nearly double their common age. f| Should it happen that any of your trees hfcta^arge •heads and but few and scanty roots, redjH|fceir tops, by a select and judicious pruning, to a due proportion with their roots, for an ox, fed only thro' a wren's quill, could not long exist. This will sel- dom happen, unless by accident, or carelessness in the taking of them up; provided they are raised at .prop, r distances in the nursery. No branch should ever be shortened, unless for the figure of the $ree, and then constantly taken off i close at the separation, h-y which means the wound soon h' ils. The more the j:mge of the branches shoots circularly, a little inclining upwards, the mare .equally will the sap be distributed, and the better wiU trie tree bear,. For from that circumstance, the sap is more evenly impelled to every part. Do not let the ranges of branches be too near each other, but let them be so disposed or Situated around the stem, as will give to the inner parts ventilation, and admit sunshine, without much thinning. A regular position of the branches will also by a balance of weight, keep the tree upright, and enable U R C 1 1 9 the several parts to r< si viuds, an J to sup* p . [ iiiii )s oil I. : t-f m-n-i >re, so a-: weak 1 n the hold ■ I i-i; ■ inner [i miu- i . • . . ■ ■'• Mur ' mtiy, dtli rs n K I .....;, cs aw,] lii. limbs (to be t;il of thi; tree should be formed while it is in the iv, takinj all the branches as as possible V\ b.< i pvtihii c is to •• i ng neglected, the Hmbs to b "- '". mflE h "riie so taig£ as 10 render this ope- i xtremel^ prejudicial to the i id as to ra angle regu-la* and healthy >n '*: j i . ;. note <>j making them be tier by thin* irVg c?{l" branches thicker than their own. I ! egs, moreover, lacerating the parts, . them Exposed to all the injuries from heat, ••v\ t and Lnsi thus a certain prey to gaii- Saving the stumps wilt not avail, because they convey moisture and frosts to the sti m, i ven \j\ fore they rot. In a few years, large holes a in the body of the tree, the remaining branches be- come sickly, and produce bad fruit, and a premature death is generally certain. How often have farmers nearly ruined their orchards, by hawling from them in the spring, waggon loads of the finest branched; of bloom buds* When by neglect, hregfclar branches have become 3arg . .. ter of two and an half m- - it is uh^ ui them • ff, but some of their i-t mov< (i. f i :h v gall f the sun, and *<-ik:t It in .streams} so as-to cause wi at is called *a fire bla-t; which, is extremely hurtful to fruit, and most fiequeut, where orchards arc open to the south sum Ai, need orchardist observes, that "his apyie trees are planted S3 feet apart in squares, which K ps the nearest distance, they shoulo ph Another .1 brc&ardisi ot P;nn- s^jvaoia, ' v that squares oi forty feet is the pr ;p En k -i, plant tree^ in autumn, and in soils inclined to be moist or watery, pt to chill and kill them. — E is good to open the hoh.s in the !all, : them i: : " i ichos ; | mi i -.vs the land ihrown oiu, g. Where a soil is light i ( r : uhject to inundation, pi ! Til gain fibres enough to supj 4 r, and v. OP,C HARDS. snd better than those planted in the spring.— The time of planting young apple tree- will he i latcd by the season. In the fall Ihey may be plant- ed as soon us they nave shed theii leaves, pr vided there is no frost in the ground, and in the spring be- fore the buds begin 10 burst. In planting trees, should the earth be rather shal- low, so that you cannot coyer the toots a uffioi deptn with good sod, you must have some hauled, for th.it purpose, to where each tree is to be planted, or collected to such places, from the general surface, and bank the roots around therewith; i'or there is no alternative, between planting them in the good soil, where their roots can take a wide exf nd> d ho- rizontal direction, and lie within the reach of the genial influence of heat, rain, dew and air, and t: of an untimely end, if planted too dc^-p. Tillage is favorable to the growth of voung ln.es, •whereas in grass ground their progress is compare lively slow, {or want oi die earth Uing. stirred about tir Yt roots and kept loose arid optn. William Go*e, of New- jersey, who has paid more nttention to ih-- raising of orchards, than perhaps ..any other person in our country, (he having above 3000 apple trees ill cultivation) thus re ng orchards thrive in proportion to tl a of the soil and the degrxre of cultivation d on them*, Shallow planting more completely n^res the suc- cess of their living.: which s the roots so near the surface of the earth, that by keeping the soil around them in a loose and mellow state, free from weeds, grata or gi y i\ el tl tary influence of the sun, air and rain, the last of which, in our dry climate, is particularly essential to their success, far several years after planting. 1 this season^ all kinds of fallow crops, such as pota- toes, vines, and Indian coin, paiikuiarlv- the last, . iJ* 0&CHAP.L)*!. ■x-culiarly adapted to the first and second vear^s cul- tivation of orchards. — It is an excellent practice} if orchards are sowed in .mv kmd of small grain or grass, to dig up the ertfih twice in the year around root of the trees for several feet so as to make a circle of at least six tlet diam -ter. All grain crops are injurious in proportion t > their proximity to the iree, their power ot exhausting the moisture, irom their color or producing a great degree of intense re- flected heat. To avoid these injurious effects, dig as mentioned above three feet around T which will keep the soil lobae around them, and enable the trees to resist or live in a long drought. Although this ope- ration where extended to several housand trees, which at present compose my orchards, necessarily is productive of much expense and trouble, I am re- paid fourfold in the increased vigor o^ my trees,, and siill more in their preservation from our summer drought.' There is nd doubt that continually enriching and' cultivating old apple orchards is injurious to the trees — but for young trees it is attended with the greatest advantages. By manuring and cultivating ofd orchards too often, it causes them to overbear, and by forwarding the fruit too soon, to drop before the time for gathering to keep, or fur cider. Mel- low mud or rich mould, is the best manure which can be applied to young apple tiees- If the ground is poor, stable manure is the least proper .kind to be used, being, from its nature, least able to resist the destructive effects of our summer droughts* and af- fording a shelter to vermin equally pernicious in the winter, particularly in light soils ; rich earth or river and meadow mud ameliorated by frost or putrefac- tion, either in its simple state, or mixed With as les, time or perfectly roitefe eking, is of all others, after *he first year, the best dressing, to be spread on the 1 a 3 ce and ploughed i.. It is an excellent pi. ■ ly injiii i id. ■ Be fei until v hkh . . f pen; un* - I >ie inanuring, It is constant!) ob- n the stum - . - ■ ■ V ith a sharp should bi ■ ;■ . • to apri iw parrs of t] • •;d itttisT thei e tre.s with a -tick or lon-g pole. It is said by a respi cable lei*, that by'.pUicing r. I dirt in ths fork 'of an a;\ •<: tree. oi 4 by i i thr 'mdy of the tree, .e eateY] - nv o ' • : ; . . 1 1 rt • tiiev an. so cpsil\ d "i by the former rneth nt la- 3 injur insects. a ■ and irrjui incur: conn try. This evil n and ruW I , ii too wtt, or rciciiu\% 0JV41 OIIC HARDS. prevent or cure moss ; or digging round the trees on thr approach of winter, or in spring, an 1 bi i fresh mould, r the scouring of ponds, or the earth /lied up on the site ot long standing fei 5a. ; round them. Whatever contributes to the health ure, or in some degree mitigate this and other diseases- In _. we must c msider the climate in which We UyeV and dh to th. ;-at or c>kl- In hot-coun .1 in colder ( because the snp has peri" i >oi}er A — wW keep longer. a to rem. 11:1 on the tr e. We shaujd gath-rr fruit :r frost, for \vc are then sure the sap will no Ion er aid it. i his consideration merits m >re attention, per- haps, than has hitherto be£ti paid n. V - A\, many excuse themselves from paying much atteoti -■n to their orchards, by saying " they a* pot worth it." Herein' thev are mistaken — els properlv cultivated, and the cider pTQ&uCrd from them properly made, every far me r \v.mld find that no pains or attention which he could ••' upon his or hards would be too great. In the northern states, the farmers discover that they v too much at.ention to thtir orchards.— -.ave almost completely substituted cider I -pniis; and tins wholesome beverage isj£q 1 on their ifables little inferior to the best out the year. I have before observed, that g - would be a national saving of wealth, ore ign Hquors, and of life, by expelling \ ardent spirits. And I consider apples, u idi r t- '■■<- v. j ties, the length, of time they may foe preserved, T us s made of them, not 11 our kinds of fruits •; but perhaps ol n>o*e real v^tue -to the people ir. general ORCHARDS* tSSf than all the other fruits. Bt skies these considera- tions, the pleasure and delight which a farmer must experience in the cultivation of an orchard, exce, ds perhaps any ether belonging to his pleasing and hap- py pursuit. PEACH TRi No. XXXIV The Peach may be ranked with the mo-;: .. fruit that produced in any c nerally raised frprri the stone, but t\ kinds art those propagated by innoculat\un or grafting ■ The peach tree is Subject to many calamities, and is in general short lived ; its preservation, to any considerable a-gr, is only to be ensured by skill and attention — its pr cious fruity is, therefore,, for- bidden to the slothful, the negligent and the ignorant- The peach tree is liable to thrc- tuwej or calamities — first, the fh — second, tht breaking of limhs. which brings on a <■ ca — - Wounds receive! on the body bv burs.. he bark by gc-r vere frosts m winter, and the injuria s do\ir to it by birds, inse ts, &.c. But the most general decay of peach trees, is ow- ing to a worm which originals from a arge il resembles a common wasp. This fl perforates ba-k,and deposits an egg i< the moist part of it. The most common place of perforation is at arf.tc of the earth w! rougher and har- der bark which i- i x\ mospbericd iuflu rice begins to change to the sofu-r character of that which *EA£H TREE'S. s the roots. In this particular part the rlv m able to puncture the surface, and then introduce its Ths they perform in our climate from the le or July through August and September. In August, for the most p.irt, the worms assume the chrysalis state, and in eight or ten days are trans- formed into fiies. Tjien they immediately begin to deposit their cgus which nre soon hatched into worms, and thus the round of transformation com- mon to the insect tube is completed. The eggs de- posited by the fly at the trnes and manner just stat- ed, are changed into worms; and it is in the worm state they do the mischref, b\ preying upon the soft inner bark of the tree, which is the medium of cir- culation for the sap, .bus interrupting the- flow of the sap — the immediate cons-cm- nee of which is, (he destruction of the fruit* and finally the destruction tree. Gum issuing out of a peach tree at or neaar the surface 01 the ground^ is a sure sign tha*: thtrre are worms under tht-bark. Various means have been resorted to, and with va- rious kuccesSf, for the purpose of destroying these -. or of preventing them from dorrig injury to thetr-es. These various methods shall now b- gjv* eri as practised by some ol' the^most respectable and distinguished farmers of our co.untrv. PR. TILTON« OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE I shall say but little on the cultivation of this use- ful tree; but will barely remark, that it should al- be planted shallow, with the soil raised about it in the form of a hill ; that Forsythe's m< thod of h< wf'ingdown the trees a vear i r two after plai insures the most vigorous growth ; and th the ground, for some years, after setting th< m out in orchards, is - : I to the rapid and sacc'ei growth of the trees. The diseases and early deatb H CH TREES. 159 of our peach trees, is a fertile source of observa' far from being exhausted. Among the insects which are great enemies to these trees is a little beetle, cal- led curculio, about the size of a pea bug, which punc- tures the fruit and occasions it to fall off and rot be- fore it comes to maturity. These insects may be exterminated by means of hogs. This voracious animal, if suffered to go at brge in oi and among fruit trees, devours all the fruit that falls, and among others, the curculious, in the maggot state, which may be contained in them. Being thus gene- rally destroyed in the embryo state, there will be ^few or no bugs to ascend from the earth in the spring to injure the fruit. Many experienced farmers have noted the advantage ot hogs running in their or- chards. The best method of destroying the wasp- like insect (which bores the I , and de- lights in that region just hi surface of the earth) that I have ever employed, is to draw the dirt from the root of the tree, in the fall, pud pour boil- ing water on the roots. In the spring, mv practice is, to return the soil to the tree, in the form of a hill. By means of this sort, a tree may be preserved ma- ny years. IHOHARD PETEHS, PE The worm or grub, produced by the wasp, depo- sing its progeny in the soft bark, near the surface of the ground, is the most common destroyer of the peach tree. I remove the earth a lew inches round the tree in August or nner. After July the wasp ceases to pierce the bark and to ts de- posits. I pour round the butt of the tree, 1 >ut one foot ahove the ground, a quart or n (not being nice about the (j hot soapsuds or water. This kills tue egg or worm 14 160 P£ACH TRELS. lodged in the tender bark; and, of course, prevents lid ravages the next season. I also have the trees bared at the roots and exposed to the winter. I have lost some in this way j but I still continue the practice. I have been in the habit of doing this for ten or twelve years, and prefer it to any other treat- ment. To supply deficiencies, I plant young trees every year. When trees become sickly, I grub them up; I find that sickly trees often infect those in vi- gor near them, by some morbid effluvia. I he young trees supply their loss, and I have no trouble in nursing those in a state of decay :' which is common- ly a hopeless task. WILLIAM GLOXja, BURLINGTON, NLW-JERSHY. I always search the roots of my trees twice in the season, last of July and September. On the first of October, I open the ground around the roots so as to leave a basin of the size of. a common wash basin — in this state they are Feft until the next spring — 'the ice ariid snow which fill the hole during winter, ef- fectually kills the worm should it have eluded my search. I also endeavor to prevent the limbs from breaking and from excessive bearing, by close pru- iiii rg, which I have long found more eflicacious in aqh than in any other fruit trees. OOCKE, VIRGINIA. I think I have discovered a remedy for the worm whieh prevs upon peach trees at or near their roots') and which is so destructive to their existence. — This remedv consists in tobacco. As much cured tobac- co as is tied v^ in a bundle, viz : from four to six leave-, is sufficient for a tree. The tobacco in a inoisl state, so as to render it fl xible, is bound ground the body of the tree just at the surface of the earth, enci' e part where the fly deposits its gs. This precaution ' is to be taken before the hatching of the flies — ihe first c I but to make the experiment successful i be put off lunger than this period. The generally >us to the insect tribe to this destructive p roach. My first ex] i< i to ten or twelve peach trees ; the next sprtti that the trees still threw cut guru near the surface, and I feared my experiment had tailed ; upon a close examination however, I perceived gfim had issued out from the old wounds of the farther which were not } r et entirely healed. The last sum- mer I again applied the tobacco, and tlrls spring have assiduously examined the trees — Upon the whole, I find that those trees which have enjoyed the behe- fits of the tobacco application for two years, have ail their wounds entirely healed and thrown out no gum ; and in no instance have I found the worm to have existed, when the tobacce was applied. From f facts, it is evident that tobacco stalks, when strip- ped of their, leaves^ would be excellent to" throw arcane! the roots of fruit tree*. 162 CIDER. Ko. is a general fruit >ear, and" much cider is '. (1 to be made, it will no doubt be acceptable , to state the best modes of cider making. tl is >:.> ch to he lamented that so little j^ood • itten- io the subject, or horn a want oi knowledge of the best modes of making it ; owing to one or other of these circumstances, many permit their apples to ret on the ground or~te ^>e given to their hogs where- as were they converted into cider, properly made, it would keep good the year round, affording for the table a wholesome and agreeable beverage little infe- rior to wine, and by many preferred to if. In the northern states, the art of making good ci- der is so well understood, that almost every farmer has it by him the year round, and to their general use of cider, instead 61 ardent spirits, we may, in a measure, ascribe that temp- ra ce, health, and mora- lity, for .which they are remarkable. To encourage the manufacture of good cider, and to prevent its conversion into ardent spirits, by distillation, as much as possible, the latter < f which is proving a curse to our country in the most lamentable manner, I will proceed to detail the best modes of making cider, as- practiced by the best cider makers in the northern states. One of the first errors with respect to cider is, ga- thering apples when wet ; the second is, throwing them together exposed to sun and rain, until a sour- ness pervades the, whole mars; thirdly, making so large a cheese that fomentation will come on before 16 3 the? juice can all be pressed out : for certain it is, that a small quantity of the juice pressed out after fermentation comes on, will spoil the product of a whole cheese ; and fourthly, permitting cider, alter it has undergone fermentation or working, ?o remain on the lees, instead of racking it off. If, then, either of the above circumstances will spoil the cider, which I know to be the cast, what must be the effec of a combination ot the whole, which irequently happens.* Having pointed out the errors to be avoidtd, I now proceed to s ate the methods to be observed in the mafcingoi" good cider. Gather the apples that are intended for cider, when they are perfectly dry, and lay them down m layers, in the ciderh >use and odier outhouses on floors, not exceeding two feet thick ; where there is space suf- ficient, thi preferable, for the object is to promote the ripening <>f the fruit, and the evapo- ration of the watery particles. In this situation they are left about two weeks, secured from rain and wet, but exposed to the air as much as possible, wh n r again .to be sorted, the rotten ones thrown out, and t d ground in the mill or beat — here i\ ivill b< proper to observe that the mi 1 thi press, and all the materials used, be sweet and clean, and t:i straw clear from must — The pummice is then laid in troughs for 12 cr 24 hours; this tends to n the juice, enrich the cider and gi\e it a fine r color. But the time in which the pummice remains in this state', must be regulated by the state of the weather, without measuring the length oi time by hours ; for it is evident that at one season the same length of time will produce no Sensible effect, at a much warmer season would induce th<; Commencement of an acid fermentation. As soon as *14 164 CIDEK. tht juice is pressed out, the great art in making cider commences, as nature begins to work a wonderful change in it. The juice of fruit, if left to itself, will undergo three distinct fermentations, all of which change the quality < f i\iti ftuicL The 1st is, trn,- vi- rions -, the 2nd, the acetous ; and the 3rd, the putrid. The first fermentation is the only one Which trie juice should undergo, to make good cider — It is operation which separates me filth from the juice, and leaves it a clear, sweet, vinous liqu To preserve it in this s f ate is the great secret; this is done by racking it off from the lees or dregs, fu- migating it with sulphur, which checks any further fermentation, and lastly, by fining it. The juice, as it onus from the press, snould be placed in open fc* aeed casks, or in the largest ves- sels which can he procured, in which it should re- main until the fermentation ceases. The person at- tending may, with great correctness ascertain when this first ft nntntation ceases— this i? or great impor- tance, and must be particularly attended to. The fermentation is attended with a hissing noise, which is heard by putting the ear to the bung hole, or in open headed casks, by observing the bubbles rising to the satf-ce, and there forming a soft spon- gy crust :-r;-when the hissing noise s,.nr the crust begins to crack, and a white in the cracks level with the surface of the head, the fermentation is a' >out stopping. When the fermentation has entii ided, the liquor is fine and clear, and is then in a pKojH-r state to be drawn off, ana -if then neglected^ the particles of pum- mice that had settled clown to the botto n of the cask, will, di :rm or damp state of the wea- ther, rise up again, mix with the juice, and thus pro- duce a second fermentation, which is always acetous I J injurioi cider. Cli-JJ The cider should there fore, immediately after the fifst fermentation ceases* be drawn off into sweet, clean casks or hogsheads that havt been well scald- ed and rinsed. T pi^erve the cider in its nm- vi- nous state, and to check any further fermentation, it must be fumigated with sulphur. To do this, take a snip of canvas or rag about two inches hroad and twelve inches- long; dip this into melted sulphur, (brimstone) and when a few pails of worked cider are put into the cask, set this match on fire, and hold it in the cask until it is consumed, then bung the cask and shake it, that the liquor may incorporate with and retain the fumes; aftyr this, fill tht and bung it perfectly close by running pitch over he bung, so as entirely to exclude the ail — Cider thus pr. pared will keep good and sweet until hue in the spring, and it not consumed by that time, and in- tended for sale or further ktt must undergo the following more particular . . — • At the- time of fintnjg cider there should not be the least. degree of fermentation ; and perhaps the best time for fining is, in the winter, in steady cool weather. Draw off some gallons of cider, propor- tioned to the quantity of cider to be fined, into a ves- sel, to this add of Ismglass p uuded and urirayejled into shreds, about two ounces to the 1. I, con- taining 1 12 or 115 gallons, or an ounce to a barrel. The liquor with the Isinglass is frequently stirred up for three or four davs, so that t is completely diluted into a thin jelly, and is thfcn strain* a flannel or hair si* ve. The fining may now be ad- ded to the cider without drawing it off, but the best general practice is, t > pour \ our fining into the emp- ty eask. and then draw off your cider jnd pour it on the fining — This haves behind, a great part or rhe sediment, checks insensible fermentation, and mixes intimately the cider with the fining, The cider thus- 166 CIDER. final, will generally become fine and blight in eight *>r ten datsj and should then be drawn olf from iiie lees of the fining, and Dtinged close or bottled — If drawn into casks, they snou b bunged close and pitched over the bung to keep the air entirely out. To do this tffectually, after the btirig is carefully driven in, bore a gimblet hole near the hunghole, and Lave it ooen an til vou have covered the bunt' with the cement, to admit the air below, ma- ny the warmth of the cement, to pass off; when the cement is copied and hardened, the. gimt>let hoh is eompktely closed by driving a white oak. square plug into it. When bottled, by cutting off the corks even with the bottles, and dipping its mouth into boning pitch, it is as completely closed, as tne best bottled claret or burgundy. It will also be proper, previous to closing up the cider, to put one large and not more than two raisins to each bottle and a proportionate quantity to each barrel. Cider thus made, will keep good for years, and will exhibit that sparkling or bounding up, whtn poured into a gl'asrs] so pleasing in the finest Cham- paigns wine. IRRIGATION. No. XXXVI. The watering or am6cial i par- ticularly of gra*s grounds, is an item y economy, of the husbandman. If to a : of the soil, ah equ al attentipn sva., flooding or watering of grass grounds in tv> rv of this State, wherever the situation v> haps I shitii not ad van ]f that :ew States would curs in the ' Cultural products. The subject of irrigation will, perhaps, appear of greater magnitude than people in general art . of, the -more it is examined : for i conceive it may he said to lie at the foundation of h i move- ments ?n agriculture; because if mai uit ; pimum mobile in husbancii will deny the truth of the observation) J ;. it will be found that this same v d may be m..< ., the source of mor-.. tiring else ; and as the capac I maintaining st< ck is the basis of the p \ of a farm (which m;-\ be feid v.< wn as an i rural scit ncv ) so this c: fully acquired h\ a t< tiding to id ,. Jji!"- what renders the inestimable is, that . ttejws manui which, without this process would be enti because those riches that are r tonishii p - fl ;c,ts (by turnii vey« ■ . ; , down * i and consequently lost in tl.it vast collection ot »a~ IcS IRRIGATION, ters. Now, the watering of land, in a proper man- ner, not oniy raises an amazing crop of hay, but car- spring eatage and a more plentiful lattermath. — . The hay again, properly consuin. d, makes a large annual return in dung or manure, which can be em- >d to great advantage on such parts of the farms as most need it; because the watered meadow re- quires no other help but repeating the same process as often as necessary, while it repays the expense and toil bestowed upon it in the most grateful man- ner, by plentiful and certain crops of hay, year afttr year, and instead of being exhausted, becomes richer or more productive. Water is absolutely essential to vegetation ; and when land has be«n covered by it in the winter, or beginning of spring, the moisture that has penetrated deJep into the soil, and even the subsoil, becomes a source pf nourishment to the roots of the plants in the summer, and prevents those bad effects that often happen in lands in their natural state, from along ex .'i nuance of dry weather. The advantages of irrigation, though so lately a subject of much attention, were well known to the an- cients ; and more than two centuries ago the practice was recommended to the farmers of Great Bri'ain by L nd Bacon : according to the statements of Jiis illustrious philosopher, kl> meadow watering" acts not onl}' by supplying useful moisture to the grass, but likewise, the water carries nomishment dissolve in it, and defends the roots from the effects of old. I s' ; -c\ t<> make some further remarks on irrigation, in order to induce the farmers of this State to ben< mselves by this most useful, rho' I am afraid, hitherto little understood improvement. There are many parts of almost every farm that might have water conveyed over them, either on a small or ;e scale, and to very great advantage: for every IRRIGATION. 169 little brook or rivulet is capable of being thrown over the adjoining grounds, more or less in propor* tton to tbeii descent; the more descent, the more land c :r He oveifl .wed. Iii order to manage this important branch of rural economy with success, it will be requisite first to as- certain whether ilure is iaii or descent enough in the stream to irrigate a suffici- no. of the adjoining land, to make the object worth undertaking and wne« ther it will admit or a clam being thrown across it to sustain or increase tn<- fall ; arid secondly, whe- ther the water can be carried off with the s;ur.e faci- lity as.it is conducted on the soil. The second ron- sid ration is a very important one ; for if the water cannot be convey d off, it will stagnate on the mea- dow, which would be productive ol '.he worst < sequences; as the turf *• come rotten, the soil be soaked without being ameliorated^ and the land produce only coarse grass rushes, cr other weeds. The i< yel of the; stream should be taken, w hie 1 1 ma\ be very well clone by means of the rafter level i\*tit\ in horizontal ploughing, a ditch or ra. the 1 e UY.Ce oi the Ie\ • h Up the head land as thi fall of ihe stream will admit, allov r deso&ni h to give the water a current; the d< Width oi' th . or) ace will be iir. v the cjtiantit> r.f water it r$ to contain and the numbfer of acres to be i to be -.1 on the level as far -as may he conv ni- ent or necessary, and then let into the stream from . which it was tak n; the interior side of the ditch or ra I be of the same height throughoui whol length, in order that it may ! ;jj^. tanee above the water i;; every part which need three or Sluices are to be rn ■■: pn tn main di li leading thr >ugh rlifl parts of the ground, the Dumber of win.. 17fc IRRIGATION*. ramifications,, their direction and distance from each other will h regulated by the situation of the ground; they should however be so disposed as to bestow an equal distribution of water on every part of the ground*? When the main ditch is on a stri t level anu there is water sufficient to flood the whole at once, a gate at che further end will answer for this purpose ; but it the wattr is scanty, there should be gates in each sUli e from the main ditch by letting up one of the gates for the space of ten days, at the expiration of which time it is to re let down, and so on with the others alternately, for a similar period, each division will receive a proper share of water in its turn, and derive irijrn it equal benefit. Some attention shotfld be paid to the time and manner in which the water is applied. In Decem- ber and January, the chief advantage consists in keeping the land sheltered by water from the severi- tv ot ?hc frosty nights. In February, if the water re- fer manv days., a white scum arises very des- tructive to the grass; SfnU it the land is exposed without water to severe frosty nights, the greater pair (fine grass will be kdk-:d. The only way to I this is; to tak'- off the water and turn it in over r o ike. offnhe water early in the gnor i ^g, ; the (day be very dry no frost can do no :rju- when the grass is wet that frost ;ibus tendency. The advantages of ir- 0;: fined to grass grounds, but, may at benefit be extended to horticulture field culture; Gardens are, rendered doubly valua- li a stream can be conveyed into them to supply that i cam which -. ;s so frequ mi- tt dry springs and summers. The best means of supplying this deficiency or the regular de- li vegetative succession, particularly to the vine crops through a droughty season, are by cotton •IRRIGATION* 171 or woollen syphons ; oth r kinds of garden vegeta- bles may be benefited by overflowing the ground, which is best done late in evenings. '1 he advantages of irrigation have been little experienced in this tountry in the field culture; yet in Europe they are enjoyed upon an extensive scale ; and the improve- ments and arrangements which they have made in many parts of that country to -irrigate their farms, must excite the wonder and praise of every lover of the rural art. Birk beck's account, in his travels, of the manner of irrigation in the Southern part of France, is highly interesting; a short extract Irom his remarks on this subject shall be g'nen, and perhaps they may awaken considerations in tht minds of some of my readers, which may be turned to good account. u We had an oppotunity of witnessing the won* derful effects of irrigation under the fervid sun of this rich climate. The copious and pure streams is- suing from the Pyrenees, from their source to their tmion with the Mediterranean, are most economi- cally and skilfully directed to irrigation. On the? mountain sides, the streamlets, as they trickle from the rocks, are collected into channels above every lit- tle portion of arable land, which, they render surpri- singly fruitful. These rills uniting form larger streams; and these with great labor and ingenuity, are kept up by artificial channels, ;*nd only suffered to descend as they perform the office of irrigation. The same attention is paid to the larger streams, which united become a considerable ri^er. This is divided and subdivided, unites, and is again divided, so that every portion of the surface seems to enjoy its due share. The manner of applying the wateris .extremely simple* A dam is made across the upper 15 &72 THE IMPORTANCE OF AGRICULTURE. .channel, from which the water flows gently into a furrow made by the plough along the higher side of the field, and in a few hours soaks through the whole /soil, until it reaches the lower side, which completes the operation." THE IMPORTANCE OF AGRICULTURE. No. XXXVII. The want of a due estimation of the pursuits of Agriculture, is, in many countries, a grand impedi- ment to its progress.- Where the cultivation ol the .soil is regarded with contempt, or as beneath the at- tention of men oj standing and v.ducation, it will be entrus- d to tht management of persons of nanow capitals and still na« rowtr minds. Such prtjadic s operate in various places. In almost every part ol the United Statt-s they are fortunately rapidly dissipating, and agricultural pursuits are viewed, as liny should be. as the basis of our strength and prosperity, and therefore, worthy the atten- tion ol the wise and good. — Many of our best jpitiZcns, who wtr- clis inguished in the fi.-ld and in the cabinet* are now to be round on their farms, de- voting ri cir time and attention to the occupations of husi ..nelrv, as the surest means of gaining an hono- yabi< subsistence and of doing good to their coun- try. !»y thus encouraging and patronizing this first of arts. An % idea, however, yet too generally prevails, that young men, and many of those who have fine landed ^states, must of necessity study and pursue sorae THE IMPORTANCE OF AGRICULTURE. f73 public profession, the pursuits of agriculture being' too low a-id mean to engage their talents and atten- tion. Agriculture, when skilfully pursued, is calculated to call into aaion every noble and improved faculty of the mind, and is capable of Deing aided by the most it r sting branches of the sciences; and in the late improvements' which ir has undergone, it ha a been shown tha^jsome of its most important princi- ples are derived from, and m:»y be illustrated by* chemical doctrines. The objection, therefore, that yon £ m n would h ivt iii»emn!nvm sunj ct, to be th> greatest - c ment, which agriculture h;is to Tne fii *t prepaiat-rv Step tovytds its :mn. Is to Si *, not' only uf farin< rs, but of the community at large, that it is an obj rma*' ry importance ; and not attainable in ; ry mere farmers. It this be not accomplished', efforts* to introduce any thing til t or principle, will be arduous indee A Farmer should he eottsj by himself^ as- well fas by all other membei'S ol the communiiv, as one placed in a stna ion to perform the most bene^ ficial services to the public, bv exercising a calling in which all other ciizrus are peculiarly in He mav be, person iiiv, no better or worse than others ; but the art in winch he is engaged^ is ihe most essential, cf all otners, to the general w« I an art which should be encouraged and supported by all manner of citizens. Agriculture having been not only the first of Atts y in priority of time, but the first in the estimation of the wisest and greatest men in every age, should eves be deemed ths first object^ 174 THE IMPORTANCE OF AGRICULTURE* • both of public and private attention. Power, espe- cially that delegated by the people, should extend its arrr», and oprn its hand, ior its aid a:xl protection* Wealth should unlock its coffers for its encourage- ment ; science and every mental acquirement should be liberally bestowed, when instruction is required, as it always has been, by the tillers of the earth $■ whose occupation in a great degree, secludesthem from opportunities oi gaining scientific knowledge, and a capacity for philosophic research. Commerce should yield to the support of .Agriculture, a share of those profits whereof it is the source; and Ma- nufactures should bestow a willing tritrute to the art, on which the*r subsistence depends. Those who devote themselves to the learned professions, should render to it, both homage and contribution. Their usefulness,' or gains, Would be small indeed, am— and those were for the most part, the employments of man, before agriculture widely diffused its blessings, and mainly contributed, not only to the civilization, but to the happiness, wealth, subsistence and safety of our race. Those who minister at the Altars, amd are our instructors and examples, in our most-exalted concerns, are also bound to animate, instruct, and encourage the culti- vators of the soil* Many of them, in other countries, have been highly meritorious, both in precept and example, on this subject,- And they peculiarly know, that the exercise of this art, is venerable for its an- tiquity;- — was enjoined by a dispensation of Provi- dence, and established by an ordinance of Heaven. Those who have a permanent residence in our towns and cities, should be more convinced, than they have hitherto been, of the obligations they owe to agricultuie. Th< ir daily subsistence, and their necessary cemforts and even luxuries, depend, either directly or consequentially, on this first of arts*— - THE IMPORTANCE OT» AGRICULTURE. 17$ The better the style of husbandry, the more benefit's they derive from it. It is no reasonable excuse for withholding their assistance, or encouragement, that they arc not agriculturalists. They puss- ss, and should b stow, the means of promulgating encou- ragement and information to those who are engaged in the labors of the field. Ou us, whose happy lot is cast in a free country, the extension and encouragement of agricultural im* provemei.t, is most impressively incumbent. Moi>« tesquieu has, with truth, observed, that u countries are not cultivated in proportion to their fertility, but to their liberty.'' i he -\thei.ians, among the first of the Greeks who acquired a free government, and the polish of civilization, and science, were lamed for their know* ledge in agricuirure. Xenophon, one of their dis- tinguished citizens and celebrat.d historians, has many ages ago remarked that u Agriculture is the nursing mother of the arts, For, where it succeeds prosperously, there the arts thrive : but where the earth necessarily lies uncultivated, there the other arts are ex. met." In the earl) periods of the Roman Republic, when liberty was a substantial blessing, and not an empty sound, the highest praise that could be given to. any citizen, was to sav of him, " that he well cultivated, his spot of ground." And the leading propensities of her greatest men, were to cast off their r >bes of statr. — Jay aside their truncheons, and ensigns of power — to u cultivate their snots of ground." Let it not be understood, tha r the ncour g oa ut and improvement required f or 'agriculture, is aruend- ed for the mere personal emolument of the farmer. Those "who take an incorrect or improper view o£ 376 THE IMPORTANCE CF AGRICULTURE:" tht subject, allege, that "farmers are doing welt enough, — and want no improvement." — Every one acquainted with political economy, knows well, h w extensively it adds to the general advantage of the community, when the same portion of labor is made to produce an increased number and quantity of sup- plies. And eminently distinct from ail other em- ployments is that of the husbandman, which brings into existence, by a kind of creation, additions to the public stock, drawn from the earth- Whereas most, it not all other occupations, are employed, on materials pre-existing. Farmers are truly called, by She best writers on political economy, u j:he produc- tive class," whilst all others aie justly styled, " the Unproductive classes" of the community. It is not necessary to cite opinions, or proofs, from gr'-at authorities, to show that whilst able and intel- ligent farmers enlarge the mass of property and wealth in the society in which they live,— -they also increase the public security and happiness. It will be seen at once by every one who passes through a country productively and neatly cultivate ed — that quietude, contentment, morals, and ix. m- plarv submision to law and good government, are strikingly conspicuous. But in a district inhabited by a negligent, indolent, and ignorant papulation, the pictuie is disgustingly, and even dangerously, reversed. So that it behoves every good citizen, for his own security, as well as from motives of pa- triotism and moral obligation, to assist in furnishing the means of warning the negligent, stimulating the indolent, and enlightening the ignorant husbandman. iW HINTS SUGGESTED FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF AGRICULTURE" IN N. CAROLINA, No. xxxvin. It must be the cause of deep regret to every r*af frienu of North Carolina to sre the state of Agricul- ture among us reduced to the lowest ebb — thousands of acre 3 of land are annually destroyed — and our best citizens are deserting their exhausted farms and emigrating to new countries. Agriculture, instead of being pursued upon the rational plan of improvement — instead of being bro't into notice, respected, encouraged and patronized— is, on the contrary, followed upon principles destruc- tive to the land, and therefore, destructive to the strength and prosperity of the Slate, and remains neglected and degraded. . Why is agriculture thus neglected and degraded an North* Carolina ? — Our soil and climate, (general- ly speaking) are equal to those of any of our sister states — and are happily calculated to reward the la- bors of trie husbandman in the most bountiful man- ner. Our State is intersected with nurrterous rivers, intended by nature as so many links to bind us more closely together in a friendly and commercial inter- course—and to encourage the cultivators of the soil to increase its various products, by affording them a quick and cheap transportation to market. In othef states enjoying no better natural advantages than we possess, we see agriculture flourishing — population increasing — every man bound and endeared to his - native spot, because from it he derives ample sub- sistence, comfort and happiness* 17H IMPROVEMENT Of ACRICULTURE. Why is this not the case in North C rolina ? It may be traced u+ uo c.uises— a n the State of rendering her r[v rs navigable — and to a want of knowledge among farm. is is to the best modes of cultivating the soil — an3 a zeai and emulation to ef- fect improvv m nts therein. Wise goven me nts have, in all ages, br stowed par* ticutaY attention towards improving the navigation of rivers and cutting of canals, *s being objects of th. first imp >rtan;.e : as they particularly promote th j prosperity of agriculture, npon which the strength and i:«dc pendtncc oi evtry nation must d/pend. In all countries where agncultuie has flourished, it h.:^ b en found, chat its prosperity was piomotecl in propn; ti- n to the increase of internal improve- rrit nts. Nothing gives a more elastic spring to agri- culture, than r^ads^ canals, and interior navigation* Thev open new channels of communication — n v/ fronts to propert) — and stimulate improvement^, not only iti husbandry — but to all branches of employ- ment, to which labor and capital are profitably ap# ph. d. . A. D. Murphev, in his Report on internal na- vigation to the Legislature of 1815, pourirays, in just and vivid colors, the advantages which would accrue to North Carolina, from the improverm nt of her rivers. He observes, that by these improvements the blessings of the government are brought home to every man's door— that tne comforts, the conve- niences of life, are increased—the pablrc labor is re- warded — and that the w< alth of the state ke. ps pace wirh the wealth of its citizens— that thr value of our lands would immediately be doubled, and the pro- ducts of our agriculture increased threefold. .That steady habits of industry would be established *~ and the consequent morality which would follow -r^oae habits-— and not the iea&t of all, the abundant IMPROVEMENT OF AGRICULTURE, revenue which would accrue to the State, thereby affording to the Legislature the means not only of lessening the jiublic burdens, but of providing effec- tually for the establishment or Schools in every part of this state, and of making ample provision for the cultivation of the sciences and the arts. This gentleman has not only described the advan- tages to be derived to our state from these improve- ments, but he has also devoted his talents and btst exertions towards -effecting them, in order that these advantages may be realized. He is, therefore, enti- tled to the gratitude and honor of North Carolina, and deserves to be ranked as the most eminent of her patriots and bene fa < tors. Every other citizen of this state should also feel bound, from every motive of patriotism and sell in- terest, to encourage and promote, by every i which lies in his power, these gnat impravem* 2.' It has been stated that the wretched system of agriculture existing amo;ag us, was also owing to he Want of information in farmers, as to the bv st m of » ultivatmg the soil, or of emulation and Zeal to make improvements,, ■ To test tbe correctness of this opinion, -we need only cast our eyes ouj- the and observe thousands of acres of land completely Worn out, washed into gullies, and turned >>,ut as a common — fields and farms in a state of wretched foulness — producing scanty crops hardly worth the labor of cultivation — -.he system of farming itself be* ing one of exhaustion and impoverishment, instead of renovation and improvement. That the proprie- tors of the c^ii in this r tate, should have left the sub- ject of agriculture so long in a state o£ almost total neglect and inattention, has always been to me, not only a source of poignant regret, .rut of utter aston- ishrnent. No 1-n rs of our countn ^nd a great proportion do not equal thera^ in intell> ISO IMPROVEMENT OF AGRICULTURE, gence, education <^r mental acquirement* Yet they have suffered the activation of the soil, upon which' not only their own subsistence ar.d haziness de- pend, but that cf- their posterity, to remain wi change or amelioration, fiem generation t > g tion, I mention not these ihi gs with reproach Kit with the deepest regret^ for, as a cj \ r orth-C lina, I feel deeply interes'ecj in the prosperity of her" Agriculture, upon which her strength: independ nee and importance, as a slat :, must dep re', lucre is no method h\ which the imp ovenrnt of Agriculture in North- Carolina could b- so effertu- all;* ac ieyecT, as by the establishment i i Soch ties for promoting fhe knowledge of its principles, and en- couraging and exemplifying its best modes of prac- tice, in all quarters of ihe state. Each- >onid provide a veil selected library. Agriculture should be the leading subject. Selection!* From the ries't writers on husbandry, mlglrt he introduced as school- books, to nip.lv- e eatly impivssions on young minds. Other subjects may be interspersed in those lib>-a> ries, to tniic. our farmers and their families'to read ; and thus conquer their antipathy to what they con- temptuously call, book-rWhrving; Premiums" for excelling, and honorary notices^ would rouse and reward a spirit of emulation, which is the great source of improvement. All subjects of difference- — especsalh on political questions, should be avoided; and Agriculture be considered the ral- lying point ot good citizenship. The establishment of Agricultural Societies in o'hr States and Countries, has been attended with the greatest ges. England has niade most rapid improvements in agriculture since the establishment of the numerous- IMPROVEMENT OF AGRICULTURE* IS! fcgrlculturaj societies, .-, hich arc uuw scattererj over thai kingdom. Th Philadelphia Society edtahlished at PhHadel- | i k- .lire Society at PiUs-fieid, (. .-».-■.,.} isc'tvs Society yt Bosiou, are < great good fi j arts of our country. These soci ties, by circularise pamphlets and book** on Agri'.u'ture among the people — and the two lattel i...g premiums — have sunn: farmers t< imj^ovemciUs ; toin- cre; ^ an ns ; and to pn duce the greatest indus- try, goOcl management* ' y-j luL discoveries in the mechai icai rii pai tment, iri retcn nc> to piou^us, har- ,cr cleaning whejst, mrU lor thrtTsryng ' ■ s h>r cutting to chaff, k . mm h <\\ fhc) havt also piomo- br<.ed or neat cattle., sh< . p, swine, ho«sc»a and mules. Ti •• se si - also aH",.Vt r.ed tht ir fellow citizens fronp or of an —and nave ed into them a spirit ot useful cnqni»y, and an .order., and pers vering spirit'ibi •ement.-- •! it of - <> d s'n prac- — im- cuttn ating i • m — inc qi • workmai d ma- nufactures— n $j est crops, ac- vi wed \ min '■ b committees, making pr> g'r. sb for th'it \ of A;:ri- cuKuial irr .. ■ r.t, tu.o nim.n a ily exem- plary, 1 ha ■.. irticul .1 in s the grtai and ' s which I a>v,e re; .from ilet-t,i:. ■ » sc Societies, in ci r that it may hav^ a tendency to arouse die people of 182 IMPROVEMENT OF AGRICULTURE. this State to the establishment of such highly useful institutions. This subject certainly merits the attention of our best and most distinguish citizens ; and, I trust, that they will clear the way and pursue the object with patriotic. zeal. Many great improvements in Agriculture must be made in 'his State, toproduce-a change tor the bet- ter. Our worn-out and exhausted lands are to be improved ; swamps and marshes are to be drained 6 verted either into tillage or grass — our piney barrens are also to be converted into cultivation, or into some kind of grass adapted to such soil. There is no system so likely speedily to reclaim our exhausted lands, as inclosing, combined with the use of plaster and clover. By inclosing lands and ex :iu ding grating from them, they will soon fhr w uf* a luxuriant coat of vegt'ation and growth of bushes, which will shade the ground from the .scorching rays of the sun ; a ;d by turning under the former with the plough and us- ing the latter tor filling up gulii.-s. such binds u ill Improve under this system beyond the expectations of the most sanguine imagination. But if plaster and red clover are used in combination witn inclosing, exhausted lands are speedily reclaimed and brought into good heart for the pr d lction of any crop. This fact is so fully confirmed by the expei lence of thou- sands in the different parts of Virginia and Penn- sylvania, that to doubt it, would be to doubt truth itself. Many in those parts of our union recollect the for- lorn situation of their old sett'em.nts, before the plaster and clover husbandry was introduced and be- came general; who have m w the en eiaMe happiness of viewing their fields tir. 1 and thus rapidly facilitate their in. em under the inclosing syst.m. The present mode of supporting stock is princi- pally from the corn house. ]J\ n cul- ture of glasses-, the stock is maintained (ii w< 1! n ain- tathed) at more than double theeXpenst thai M n be by a proper attention to grass i am .0, at the same time reduced to poverty^ fha iher- wise he enriched by such atl Among the many artificial grasses, w.hkh trve re- cent improve nu nts in Agrieultun ha*< mto cultivation, there are several which w". io be well adapted to our soil and chm «'. r ^ids grass, >ed tog, orchard gPassVand tai 1 grass — -he two former for w< I and low lands uud the two latter for high and dr\ places, v\ < uld va- luable acquisitions to cverv North- Carolina farm. 16 184 INDIAN CORN. No. XXXIX. Indian corn, or maize, is the most valuable crop in .cultivation among us, in whatever point of view it is considered. It not only produces a greater quantitv of grain product for man than any other crop, but also of vegetable matter for beasts and the earth. It is not only the most, valuable, take it with all its ad- vantages, but it is of all crops, generally the most certain. It defies drought and wet, and if it fails, some most uncommon seasons or circumstances occur. It necessarily rt quirts the soil to be k» pt. clean ; and is consequently the best crop to subdue a stubborn, or clean a foul soil. It forces us to farm well, which renders it the be-st preparatory crop for small grain of anv other An eminent agricultural writer* has placed the high value of corn in a conspicuous tight ; he correctly terms it both ' meal, meadow and ma- nure ,* to its right to the first title, almost every tongue in the largest portion of the United Sta es can testifv ; to the second, an exclusive reliance on it for fodder or hay, in a great district of country during two centuries, gives conclusive evidence ; but the exhausted state of this same country disapproves its claim to the third, or disallows anv pretension of its inhabitants to industry or agricultural skill. '— The general opinion appears tn be i Pertained among farmers that corn is an exhausting crop, than which nothing can be more inc rrert. The reasons for this opinion are to be charged to the ignorance or unskil- fulness of farmers in estimating the value of corn, f Col. John Taylor — see his Aratc-. INDIAN CORN. 185 or their manner of cultivating it, and not the plant itself. Indian corn being a very pownful plant, is capable of contending with an impoverished soil ; and when tolerable cultivated, will remunerate the far- nur on. grounds incapable of produ mg crops of al- most any other description, equally valuable, and the far irier, ahus s thi c plant as an impoverishes because it continues faithful until the last dying g<»sp of the soil, which his avarice has destroyed. In determin- ing whether * crop of any kind improves or impo- verishes the soil, we must consider, the offal or ve- getablu matter which it afford*, as carefully returned back to the soil in the form of manur , and whether this will not compensate for the nutriment drawn from the earth in t*n< ite of the cro; . I think According to tins principle $hat Indian corn, ia- stead of b 'Kid to 01 c mp ins ?n'g crop* to the ear h. sir r croo which > ieitls sr> great a quan- tity of . r as this ; in iis it far « . xc-eds that of any other grain crop: but to the ^: ■ to he, added, its bLidts, tups, shucks and cobs, each of which will nearly balance the Inter bestoived on the land by any other crop ad of restoH'K;- to the earth in the form of ma- nure, the vast Quantity of litter afford d bv Indian corn, we have suffered it to waste and perish, and have continued to cultivate this plant for two centu- ries past, without giving it hardly one dust of ma. mire, cr the land any rest which produced it; and finding that Indian corn would grow year after year without manure, the destructive practice of cultivat- ing it in this way has been continued, until the fields on which it grew have been ruined, and we have un- justly transferred from ourselves to an innocent plant, cause of their impoverishment^ 18G IXDIAN CORS. As surprising as it may seem to some, yet it may fee safely assorted, that there is no < r p within the h of the farmer, which is so w< 11 calculated to improve an exhausted farm as the cultivation of In- dian corn. With good cultivation, an acre of wctf- manured land,- \\ ill seldom produce less than fifty bushels to the arte, a product which is no greater to the space than that yielded by any otru-r grain crop. T^e gr;un is not onlv in greater proportion to the space on which it grows than other graims, hut the r< si of the plant is in greater proportion to the grain, tli • • the r£st of any ot u er -grain plant. The stra.v itF of the smaller grams, is in w -igiit but at out one hall or the grain; whereas tht c* rn- stalk, with ^a*>pnrt' --iv:ot less than thn e times, and if taken early fn m the .field .\ t h ss than four or five times the weight of the grain be- longing to it. The foddel: furnished fn m an of luxuriant corn, irav he' mtity and ty^as equal to a ton of good hay — the tops and shucks qo largely tow support of cattle in the winter txonths. a.i d the refuse of them in supply- ing a great deal of litter for the farm yard. But it is the stalks of corn which make it so valuahle a re- source for re- fertilizing the soil, and as such they merit particular attention, as fcrnfthhig such an abundance of vegetahle matter fe This system has been fully tested by experience, and is found to possess so many advantages over the old modes of cultivating corn, as to render it highly pro* bable that it will in a short time entirely supercede them. The brevity which I have prescribed to my- self in these essays, will only permit me to collect and arrange some of the most leading features of this system, referring the reader to that book for a more detailed account. The corn is drilled and cultivated in ridges which are ploughed but one way, and that in the direction of the ridges; cross-ploughing being entirely aban- doned. The ridges are five and a half feet apart Vfiih deep water furrows between them. The field- 183 INDIAN CORN. being once thrown into the position of ridges and furrows, never requires to he laid off again. The mid die, or water luirow, is left as deep as possible, when the cuhurr of the corn is finished ; and when the field comes again into corn, the list or ridge (by reversal) is made upon this middle water furrow, so that there is a regular alternity between ridges and furrows. If the field has never been thrown into the posi- tion of ridges and iurrows, it is best to flush up the ground, viz. to plough it into a fit suiface in the fall or winter, and list i ; in the spring; by which rr.ians rhe whole of the gr u d will be entirely and Well broke up, win h co.ld not be so well done by lidgir.g up a flat surface. A field already in the po- sition of ridges and furrows is fallowed up or re- versed in the following manner* A large mould board plough diawn by two or more horses, and cut- ting a sod twelve inches wide and six or eight deep is run on each side of the old waUr furrow and rais- es a list or ridge in its centre, on which to plant the corn. These two furrows will leave a :»lip.- of the old ridge, which is split open and the eaah thrown each way by a large trowi 1-h.oe pl< ugh having a coul- ter on the point, two mouldboards, drawn by two or more horse3 ar-d cutting ten inches deep. If the soil is stiff or tough, the first plough ridges on the old water furrow, with four furrows (two on either side.) This ploughing ought to be done irr-the fall or early .iter ; in the spring at the time of planting, orr the summit of the ridge or list, a de^p and wide fur- row is rim with a trowel hoe plough and two mould boards^ in "'bich the corn is plant) d and covered witif tfct I'd i between two and three inches deep. The distance at which the corn is to be planted will be regulated entirely by the quality of the soil, and must b«£ Left to the farmcrV: dement. In land INDIAN CO/ ever capable of proclucirg forty bushels to the acre, it may l>e planted at five ieet six inches (the distance of the ridgts apart) by two feet nine inches, leaving two stalks in sandy and three in still lands. In low ds tfu coin may regularlv stand at the distance :n eight to eighteen inches, according to the quality of the soila !♦ e fhst tillage given to the corn after planting, is bv running a deep furrow by a large mould-board plough on each side of the coin. As the corn is ve- ry low, this furrow must be run so far from it, that the earth raised by the mould board will not quite reach it, but be kit on each side, so as to form a narrow trough on the ridge iia which the corn stands, to be filled up by the hand hoeing immedi lowing thie fuirow. Thenceforth the till:;. be penormed by the use ol skimmers or har- rows, and of a central, deep and wide Jurrow by the trowel- hoe plough and two mould boards, to be repeated when necessary. The whole to be conclud- ed with a harrow weeding or hand hoeinp akihg the sbpe in the direction of the tow, not kept completely clean by the . - In the cultivation of Indian corn, there are two things particularly to be attended to by all those whose object is to make good crops, viz. manuring and deep ploughing, There is no erop which is as speedily and as much benefited by manure as Indian sorn. The good crops of corn which are generally obtained from ordinary land prove hovrv vs ty these crops may I e increased by making the land richer by manure. The sudden growth ot corn upon • narse ma.-.ure, demonstrates the vast benefit to be derived from litter as coarse and hard as com stalks, v n whilst their degree of putrefaction is rrtconsidef able ; a fact whieh should induce us to save and . .vers fcvery dust of its offal into manure, and manure iu&lv £90 INDIAN CORN. ]y for com. Inks cultivation, therefore, the fifest improvement re-quired, i=> to m inu'rt i at the usual rate bj other cr< p s ; and to be able fairly to estimate its value; the land should be in good heart when it receives this manunvg The second is tp plough deeper than we plough at present. The first ploughing, which is to answer the end both of a fallow and a list or ridge on which to plant -the corn, is by far the most matt rial part of the system, and indeed, the only good security for its success. The ploughing must be deep and well ex- ecuted, so as to overturn into the old Water furrow, a considerable mass of the litter produced by enclos- ing, whether weeds or clover. The Indian corn is a little tree and has roots cor- respondent to its size, which strike deep into the soil both to procure nourishment and to strengthen itself against severe winds — It therefore requires a deep pasture— and the deeper the ground is plough- ed, the more moisture will arise and be retained, which will prove of essential benefit to the crop in seasons of drought. Deep ploughing also saves labor in the cultivation of the crop, whereas shallow plough- ing increases it. By shallow ploughing, the seeds of grass and Weeds are kept near the surface ready to sprout up on the occurrence of every warm and moist season, when they appear in millions, and instantly rt quire the plough, however recently used. By deep plough- ing, if skilfully done, thtse seeds which abound most near the surface, are buried so deep as to appear slowly and in small numbers, so that the repetition of ploughing is far less necessary. One or two deep' ploughings, according to the nature of the soil, will, with the subsequent use of skimmers or harrows, serve to make the crop of corn ; in place of which LIVE STOCK. 191 four or five shallow ploughing^ with the same aid, might often destroy it. — [See A'Gte C] LIVE STOCK, No. XLI The possession and proper management of live stock, arc perhaps amongst the most important obr jects wh'nh claim the attention ol' the farmer, as up- on these the fertility and prosperity of farms may be said to depend. The mere possession oj \ ajia but little, IF they are not properly managed ; hence tin I EC r bbject will be found to constitute their ief value, not only in bestowing fertility upon the farm, bu profit to the owner. A farmer, in carrying @n an improved mode eJ cultivation without live ato; k, would be in, the same predicament with a m< r- chant who wished to carry on an extensive business without a cent of capital ; they are in ; prin- cipal agents, when properly managed, by which farms are rendered productive and profitable, and conse- quently are an indispensable auxiliary in every good system of agriculture. It has been observed by Ar- thur Young, a distinguished agriculturalist, that u that country, that farm, will be most improved, and most productive, upon which the greatest quantity of stock is kept. This holds good of an acre, a field, a farm, a district, a province, or a kingdom. " 4 Kept' here alludes to their being well kept, viz. (providing a due quantity of food proportioned to the number of stock. The value of stock consists in making the land more productive in every thing by 192 LIVE STOCK. the vast quantity of manure; which they afford ; but to make « hem y it Id this quantity of manure, it is in- dispensable that they be well kept throughout the year. The manure from a fat herd of stock is far more fertilizing than that from a lean one; and the advantages arising from them on this account are in every respect infinitely greater. The propriety of feeding or fattening stock, on the farm with a propor- tion of its produce, has been well establish d in the most improved agricultural districts. The vast quantity of the richest manure which they thus yield, imparts its fertilizing power to every part of the farm in its turn. If the crop of com is consumed b*-- tfet stock on the farm, there is no question but that the subsequent crops of corn and wheat will be increased by the application of Hit manure it will fo : i ,h, which excess may of itself pay a good price for the corn so consumed. In Great-Brhain, the ad- vantages and propriety of this practice are so fully understood, that there is never more than from one third to one half oi their farms appropriated to grain, fast produce of potatoes, turnips, cabbages, and grass, ar. npplied to the feeding' of stock on their In this way, they make more grain than they \v. :!,j do if a greater proportion of the land was made to produce it. The benefit to the farmer and to the land is therefore so well understood there, that it has become an agricultural maxim, that when- ever a iarmer discovers he can be as well paid, by cultivating food for cattle as for man, he should pre- fer it because of the increased quantity oi manure it gives. It is not intended, by these remarks, to con- vert all our arable into grass land, or that the quan- tit) of grass is to be increased by\ diminishing the product of grain. Stock is recommended as an aux- iliary, whose agency is to be made to contribute to the increase of the grain crop, and to be subservient I LIVE STOCK. 193 to that object. There i* however little apprehension that the cultivation of artificial grasses is so tar to extend as to occupy all our arable space ; their total neglect at present forbids even the existence of such an idea. The cultivation of artificial grasses is so intimately connected with the maintenance and value of stock, that a few further remarks on them here, with an account of the present mode of grazing stock, and a proposed substitute, will close this num- ber. The practice of grazing our arable fields, which undergo such severe cropph g without receiving any manure cannot be ton much rt pr< bended. The pas- turage from Bjjch ti ids must be light anrl scontv, nni the s ^k little benefited, wnile the injury to the land is K reat. These fi.-lds return too quu-kl) to k he plough for the farm 1 r to enjoy the advantages of grasses sown on their surface, even were they rich enough to produce it ; but in their exhausted state, (as ia now too generally the case) t l A -ytrcquire the nurture of enclosing to bring them into*good heart to produce grass, which rrquii; land to bear and sustain it. A. substitute :v. t ind lor this impr >per mode of management, by appropriating a part of the farm to arable and a pa' each part mav tht n be managed according to the prin jples calculated to promote the ends in vi~w T , whereby a clashing of pursuits will be avoided and tht farm treed from a double taxation of tillage a id grazing, until it becomes sufficiently improved to b r it. The arable to be under om incl ith- out cross fences, to enipv all the benefits of incli sing, and the grass land to be divided into lots for a suc- cession of grazing. A spirited and persevering n- dustrv in the i ultivati m of artificial grass s, will be found to be theLlnosteff ctual mnd< ■ md | increasing live slock, and consequently of adding fer- 11)4 LIVE STOCK. tility and productiveness te our farms. By grass, stock is pr .duccd ; oy stock, manure; by manure, grain and grass again. By the cultivation of artifi- cial grasses, a new era will be introduced into our sy c tcm of agriculture. Winter food, and the conse- quent value of live Mock, will be increased many fold. Tlnrir c'iliiv;vion will not be merely valuable in its'. il, but wiii spread iis beneficial influence over every other branch of husbandry. I;, will supply what has a- e« regarded as the greatest desi- deratum arnotig tinners, a flouble, perhaps a treble %qnantity of pu r *cent manure; and without any exaggeration, it will be said to have added a second productive season to the year. Even during the se- :-cst winter, a part of our fields will be covered •with the richest verdure; aad the result of their cidtiv:-' be, tha r the number of ' (nil live stock wii r- increased, Uiut-theirValue and pro- lit trebly advanced. LIVE STOC Continued. No. xnr. The live stock generally embraced on a {d, \ first of the working animals, cmipris:.' mules and oxen ; and secondly of cattle, she< p and hogd. These will be treated of in the order in whit are nanvd. The great number of horses in our country is a -us and sore evil ; and the vf;*stefod ia ich they are fed, makes 'u much mor. ;is. They eat up the'brcad dY.i*igrted !>r m u- luous horse ought to be tfispcnslbd die uriber of sue ', ta* Jki ■ g into consideration i> ch tht\ are fed) consume thousands rri wnfrh might b; saved to the land, to . Tt for rational creatures. 1 h- i be nee, in rmrki ur roads hater .. j fr Wful 1 render an . -y, n-)W kent eX'-lu^!'. f) I r wa . At in jng might also be mad< in fei ding h a little attention to ih ■' manner in which their should be pr- paredi Every kind of gram upon which horses are f^d Id be chopped or ground ; as by adopting this pr'a tice, at least one half and frequently wo thirds ■<\ by it. It may be affirmed, that 01 of corn, ground and mix. d with cut straw of any 19b' tlVE STOCK. tind will go as far in supporting or improving the condition of a horse, as three ears given in the gr.tin. The practice of grinding Indian corn in the cob, to powder, for the purpose of horse feed, is now common in many parts of the union, particularly in Pennsylvania, among the German class of our fel- low citizens. Those industrious and economical men are ever attentive to the health and general wel- fare of their farm stock, and readil) adopt any mea- sure calculated to promote either object; and as they are convinced of the nourishing qualities of the cob, and the economy of the practice of using it as an article oi food, they have encouraged the general ere- tion of the necessary apparatus, in the mills in their different settlements, for the purpose of grind- ing the grain and cob together. If those owning mills in this section of the country were to erect the nect^sary apparatus fo grinding corn in the cob, they would merit and receive the thanks and support of everv farmer for effecting such a saving as these mills would produce in the .food of h >rses. Indian corn is of itself too nourishing, and too heating as a Co* - ant article of diet for horses, and if fed alone, a sufficient quantity cannot be given to them to pro- duce the stimulus of distension, which is as necessa- ry for a working horse, or even to man, as nourish- ment) without great expence, and at the same time endangering the health of the animal. Hence >he utility of grinding the cob in the grain, or ol mixing the c<^rn meal with a portion of cut straw, and coarse ly ground rye or shorts; the powder of the corn cobs, how* v r, does not act entirely by distension, it also contains much nutriment, ai>d by being mixed with the corn meal, makes it more mild and nourish- ing. Rve. or f Jl barley, ground and mix^d with cut str. -w, also constitutes an excellent food lor horses. Horses fed upon cut straw mixed with meal, is known LIVE STOCK. 19'/ by all those who have tried it, to keep them in a finer and more healthy condition than any other food which can be given them. By means of cetting machines, a gn at economy has been effected in the use of straw and hay. It has been ascertained by accurate experiments, that one pound of straw or hay cut up fine and given to stock, particularly horses, will go farther than two pounds' given whole ; a saving ot siu h magnitude as to in- duce everv man who has not these useful machines, to obtain them immediately if he has any stock to feed. Bv grinding all the grain given to our hors- es, an immense saving is not only made in the grain itself, hut extends to the straw and ha) 1 used with it, and effects the enorm >us saving of 6n"e half in these ; and by adopting this practice, a great Sviving of la- bor will a'so be effected in cult vating enall graia as a food for horses, instead of Indian corn. A- small mill shoul i be ejected on ever* farm to operate by hand, or by horse or water power, to ^i i'nd any sort of grain for the stock, Horses and mules ought to inhabit a lot having a stabLe and stream, "and to be excluded wholly from grazing. During two months of the summer, they may be- soiled on clover cut" daily and permitted to lie six hours in the sun, to prevent the slabbers and their being hoven. When the clover fails, hay and fodder will succeed, which will for the balance of the year keep them in dry forage. By being kept up the whole year, they will always be ready for work when wanted, and the labor of collecting them from pastures will be saved in the summer, whereby the loss of the morning so material at this season of the year, and in a warm climate, will be avoided ; by littering the stables and yards well in winter, they will make a considerable part of the manure to be " i d out in the spring, and by this mode of ma* OXEN. ; , the working stock, exclusive of their ix~ hor, - cribe largely to the renovation cf the rishment by grazing. No XL1IT. 4 to the recommendation of.the best mod i ig it, de^rve \y irugalit) in the consumption Cc.« Tik ;.me- in tiit cu Lne catlh, and the other i is oi hua- .; attention jd- our jges* Uufc there is in this country a strong pi>; amst this.?.. J, ~\vi t;is ; (list thing to be cot o n i hdt i i ■ . . f the ox will soon . It is a ■ :h cann» roved, that oxen me sort of work, are equal to horses ; in these cases, they certainly ought to be preferred, because they are kept at considerably less t i and less casualties attend them. Although oxen cannot well be used to the entire exclusion of horses, yet there is, undoubtedly, a great deal of work that they w< uld do as well, particularly in carting and all heavy w In most instances- they are nearly equal to he and in their support they are infinitely cheape^ Since fell and winter ploughing .for the sucee year's corn crop, are coming i 'to general use, the ■Kalue cf oxen will be more highly ap^reci oXEK. ! Sc- at this cool season of the year they may be usefully employed at the plough in fallowing up the laid, or :.d in hauling in the corn crop, while the hor- ses arc at this work. The late President Madison, iff his address before the A'grieuhural SocicU of Albermarle, has some new and valuable remarks on oxen, which claim the particular attention oi every husbandman. 44 I cannot bur consider it as an error in our hus- bandry, that oxen arc too little used in the place uf horses. EvefV fair c empamon oi rhe exptn. the two animals, favors, a preference ol the ox. But the < ire umstarce particularly reconimtnding him, is, that he can be • d when at work, by and hav ; whilst the horse requires gram and much of it ; aria ill gene rail'. him, Ii corn, the crop which requires most labour, ai Krom ii,'. in st estirna I been enabled to form*, mor Behalf oi thi m'e| hyhoises ; including the u'n'g] ones m , and not Itss tha .If by other than sure horses, ©y getting fr sumption,, the labour, and of the wear ol the land, TV oid d be saved, or rather mote tnan one half; for farms one hall of tin corn crop grows on ore .ban two filths, and sometimes a sn : proportion, ol the cultivated fi^O.s ; aid the more fertile fieldsTVOuld of course be retained for cultiva- tion. Every one can figure to himself, the and conveniency of a revolution which would so reduce the extent o( frvs Cornfields ; and stitute lor the labour bestowed on^tbem, the i easy task ling pasturage and hay. But will" not the ox himsdf when at work require grain :11 as the horse ? Certainly much less, if ar.;S *1J? 2C0 'Judging from my own observation, I should say.,- that a plenty of good grass, or good hay, will suffice without grain, where the labor is neither constant But I ieel entire confidence in sa\ ing, doable set of oxen alternately at work, and Therefore half the time at rest, migbt be kt pt in good -hi without other food than a plenty uf good gra?s or good hay. ** And as this double set would. 'double the supply beef, tallow and t-.6ff is found in .: consideration for a double consumption oft • id of fo. neraily made to the' - are, 1. That he is less tractable tfhan the horse. That he docs not bear I 3. That he Joes' not ai our ;ts> g the pro die : O, • -. the q* i in the ox is the c- H . - only vvuli loj .. ■ ~ ' oo**- ■ • ■ Greece a ■ . in ai - t d, . i : armies. And ii i, oxis ( ' .;3 ib the an otcasi< green food. The ierrrH heated b) tvill readU tior.s ; when g sober habit of'lalx The tl car, '. . ■ 5 l~ss d granted* May has J ' . " trips. In cor iHV'S StiJ I the short, on rcij • former Cases, are in • v. — la c. . . * C-ATT D1 weight is di. I by the consideration, t Ua much greater proportion of service on the farm rrta^ be done by >x~d, than is no done; and that 1 ice of shoeing them, is lit- tle different from that of k( ^ ping horses shod." The iXfii, in siiaiin r, should be penned and fed r eattWj and in winter the sain- " ild take place, with a more torn- will furnisfi the same supply q( m M the; houses and mutes in winter, if their ] and goj 1 with - li.c offal of i p. Whilst bot at work, ;ed with the other-cattle Ko. XfclV. the breed of live stQc1>,h as necessary : a , as activation of a field for ... -. ling fb the present improved system of farming, tjhere is such a connection l>etweeni the cul- n of ground, and i»r. cling, : and fat- teni rg cattle, sheep and other domestic ;mimals, that a man wilt make but r nt figure in rural a& fairs, if he does not u demand the latte? as well as t r. Our breeds- of horned cattle particularly, are too : )et th fid receive the pri~" . • ■•> if our agriculturalist. . In the CU U 1V « Eui , |bis subject receives that attention its importance demands, and to such perfection have th< y brought tiirir breeds s to r. vder them worthy to ! th< difl< rent parts them enormous prices* tstei u st:. i r( ed oi cattle, is importune* with tru farm erf '1 he ( tuu-l Societies established in those parts of tl. . (v i it li art' dpi. g great g'»*< g premiums and the "tie sb ws, to diffuse ft/nojig th for im- proving the breeds oi >mir catii Ip impi k«e r t CATTI : loss from the evaporation of the sun and" wn iz t the pens, and the time they should stand in them before removed, will be regulated by the number of the cattle and their condition ; I nt in hot weather, the pens should not stand lo. two weeks bciore ploughed up, at most. In win- as been before observed, they should have a comfonaMe shelter clos*Vd at evvry point, except at the south, which should open into the farm 3 ard.— • Corn stalks are the first food given t > them ; a-":d the greatest duigence~sh uld be used in conveying them, early to the tarm yard, beearcrss they lose more from evaporation stanilmg in the field, than the other arti- cles of food, viz. the shucks, tops, Ste. which should be reserved for later periods. Th ca : tle should be employ d in manuring the distant parts of the farm, while the horses and .other domestic stock arc manuring at h >me. Tne farm pens of the fanner should be situated With an eve ;o the convenience of the field from whence the stalks are ^ to be hauled, and that to be manured and cultivated tb^- ensuing year. It is bet- ter to make a lain o\ considerably length to conduct th= cattle to yt&ttr than to omit this convenience. Many farms too unfortunately abound with par- cels of exhausted land, which are turned out or are trhinciosed to recover what improvement they can : t&ese lands may be enclosed as pasturage for cattle ; and by taking in some woodjand, they Will afford to the cattle, in the spring and summer, shrubs and coarse grass sufficient to constitute _j.olerable good and far better than that from arable or culti- vate d fit -Ids which are generally scanty of grass nm'l i ds the fall ; and if meadows n provid- ed for grazing in the fall, they will sustain the cattle the periocFarrives for their being put ut* in their . cation. HOGS, rnent of cattle, have been thrown out for the conside- ration of those who may hesitate to adopt the inclo- sing system under the apprehensions, that if their stock are excluded from grazi g their arable fields^ no other resource will be leit for them. HOGS. No XLV. No domestic animal contributes so largely to our support, and that of the laborers employed on our farms, as the hog ; and it is fortunate that none mul- tiplies so fast, grows so rapidly, is as thrifty, hardy, and as easily raised. The hog may be raised upon almos\ am thing which the farm produces; but In- dian corn, clover and pumpkins, are tb< principal re- sources ior his support in that part or the country with which the author is acquainted. 'Eury one knows the value of Indian corn as a food tor hogs; jet the common mode of giving it to th m, particu- larly when put up to latteis is not the most economi- cal. Soaked corn is lar better than hard corn, as it jatlens hegs more spf eddy, and requires consi< i ra- bl\ 1 ss ; when hard corn is given to them, it is not digested, and a considerable portion is discharged with the dung, whereby a great loss is sustained * To a\ id this loss all the com given to trV,n should be soaked unil sou' ; to effect which let th i- be a numb* ; of barrels sufficient to provide in succession, according to th<: warmth of the vv atlur, theTt chief food in this state, with the addition of the solo- water •to drink as each barrel is emptied. As so the time sary to soak the com, no special dire Is on the Umpcra ure of .he it, hoWev-er, to be so much soaked, which is expcrienf eel i . , :md is easily discovered Nothing i-> better tor h gs ■ wit n nil by them. Ii is iat during sumnrit r, if to i;un at large, and yet m«:ke bai a ifferently from i cut and gvtn to hugs, light. They was'-/ as nut r' tosh it in this way, lly p i ish — . it run 01 .ltd nirve a ring in the he nose to p? v in then! from routing* rid requires more - rs. lilt injury to clover by an that ; them fr >m v iviil materially itijureaclpVer fi id iron-. :>:<■ t O t) :. s t ction of Vi. p Who turn i i g o'l rajSthf principal Biftpport-*ri th s in the vtai m b< as u. An : I .d to so lat ov) clover, that it i iise pigs on thatacc ison ot th trum ci: .i Do cure those ch been att - ^ore . ,; : lSociet : . tre re- 3?utrrpkin9 also constitute a valuable and nutritious food lor hogs. As soon as they begin to ripen, the. hogs should be put up and confined to a pen, and fed with as many as they can tat, cut up in troughs wiih the addition of a meal of corn a day. The dung of hogs deserves particularly to be sav- sd, as it is a very rich and fat manure, and so cool as to ferment very slowly. It is so rich and oily as to be double in value to cattle's dung. This is so strong a manure, that it answers well, when mixed with a large proportion of eaith, weeds or straw. It is almost incredible bow great a quantity of good ma- mire may be obtained, by supplying a hog pen with rubbish to mix with the dung. One hundred and fifty hogs, if managed judicious- ly, will manure an acre of ground for every ten days, and gradually in a less time as they fatten to seven days. Previously to their being penned, on each acre let eight cart loads of wheat straw or other lit- ter be equally spread over it, and at the end of ten days, let the pen be removed and the ground Well ploughed into five and a half feet ridges. If the hogs are put up when the pumpkins begin to ripen, ■which is about the last of August, and if they are not killed until 1st of December,, bhey will, during this period, have manured nearly twelve acres. I am confident, that if hogs are regularly penned, and their pens well littered, they will make far more ma- nure than will exceed the value of their keep; and that there is but little doubt, in a climate adapted to Indian corn and clover, they are the most profitable stock which can be raised. The little value ol sheep in this part of the coun« try where cotton can be raised so easily, justifies me in making but a few r<-m<»rks on them. Except as 18 . 208 affording meat for the table at particular seasons .* the year, and wool for family consumption, they are ■c an object of attend n* But their dung is valuable and will pay for the expense of their keep, if it is preserved. It is more fiot and fiery than that of black cattle ; it ferments qvrickei ; it is fitter therefore for cold, heavy lands. Perhaps the btst way of applying the dung of sheep to land, is by folding or penning them ; for in this method their urine is all saved, as well as their dung. But it ought to be turned in with the plough as soon as possible, that the sun and air may not deprive the land of it. Feeding off turnips with sheep is a practice much pursued in Europe, where that crop is cultivated largely. The land is manured for turnips, and re- ceives a second manuring from the sheep's dung and Urine while feeding them off, which puts the soil in ^ine preparation for valuable grain and grass crops. Warm shelters or covers are necessary for hogs and sheep during the severity cf winter; but parti- cularly so for sows about to have, cr having pigs. — The same remark also extends to ewes and lambs f J)Ut more indispensably? 33 being more tender.. DRAINING. No. X hds to be drained are usually divided into if s : 1st, i . or those whi I d so' that the iri descei periy collected and conduct I 2nd, low, Hat and wet lands, such as command little or no fall* When water in descending from highlands spreads over a considerable spsce iri a flat or hollow, a should be cut in the parts of the gn deep or shallow according to circumstances, which will have the effect of throwing the water into a nar- row channel, and of giving it a free and unobstructed course ; by which means the land will be reclaimed, and admit of'cukivation to the borders It frequently occurs that a multitude of sp; break out at the termination of the highland, spread their waters over the adjacent 1 >w grounds, which render them useless or nhnt for cuitiv If. the water rises in a bold spring at the junction of the hills with the flat land, a clit h should be cut in the lowest ground in order to give it a free and un- obstructed channel to the stream or main drain to which it is tributary. If a multitude of springs ooze in a continued line at the junction of the high and flat land, a deep and wide ditch should be cut, run- ning along the foot of the highland, so as to intercept them all, which should convey the water of these springs into the main drain or outlet, or into one ying ipto it. Drains *o be lasting and valuable, should be coy« ered ; otherwise, in sandy soils, and i" many situ-a- ble to be filled up, or to be washed into gullies. Covered drains, and thereby preserv- ing a level, dry, caltivatable and productive surface,, arc every way eligible. In grounds wlv. re there is table declivity, a straight open ditch in the direction of ihe declination, is injurious and dange- rous ; violent floods, in such ditches, always pro- duce a ravine or gully. In all cases, therefore, where land lies on a declivity, care should be taken that the drains have an easy and gentle descent, which is generally effected by carrying them in an oblique or meandering direction. Covered drains, are not liable to the ravages of floods, and may be straight, without bt ing. exposed to the dangers to which open ditches are subject. Drains that are intended to be covered, should.be out at least three or tour feet deep, and gradually narrower from the top to the bottom, where they should not be above eight inches wide. A row of poles of such size as nearly, but not entirely to touch, ts laid on each side of the dhch at bottom. Green or seasoned brush, without leaves, is then packed in- to the ditch ; if the brush is crooked, it recer chop in the elbow of the crook, and is put into the drain with the small ends downwards and th n pres- sed down to the poles with the foot The brush should be packed to within eight or teg inches of the top, and then covered with foui inches of dry leaves or straw, and the whole of the dirt to be ret; and well rammed. Drains of this kind will have, besides the advantages mentioned, the efTe-ct o[ cur- ing all sour or boggy land through which they be cut; as the oozing water will be received by the straw, and trickle through the brush down to the cpen drain, and the wet ground will lose every bog- gy appearance. Drains of this description will last a long tirr tfae biush is completely suture*! against thc.cfiv*u.o£ the son and wind. Where rock can be bad, drains J of this descriptionTmay be made to last fort ver ; the best method is to place flat stones standing on the bottom and along on one side of the drain, as per- pendicularly as the side will admit ; then another row of flat stones on the opposite side, placed, with the top part to rest against the upright stones, in the form of a making a kind of angle; should this ca- vity be insufficient for the current of water, another flat stone may be placed in a reversed form, as by which there will be a double vacuum fully suffi- cient for the greatest current, The remainder of the drain may be filled up w'th stones, to within about eight inches of the surface; then covered with straw or leaves to prevent the earth from falling between the stones, and fill up the re- mainder with the dirt that tame out cf the drain.— Covered drains Which hava*"the smallest passage for the water at the bottom, are reputed to be the durable^ as the force of the water has been found ^itllieitnt to clear away any small obstacles, ace bstructmg its course. 212- ' DRAINING. Continued. Ko. XLVII. The simplest mode of draining is with the plough, which may be used to great advantage upon fiat, stiff* and close land. Land of this nature generally holds the water -which falls upon it, it being too close to absorb it, until it escapes by evaporation ; and un- der the flat culture habit, its only use is to poison the air and destroy the crops which are put upon it, This rigid land though intended for Indian corn, is gent rally left unbroken till spring, by which time it has acquired such a degree of excessive moisture as to be urfit for cultivation; and the usual mode of ploughing it into a flat surface, tends to retain the ^noisiure, and to promote its baking and more close •lidation. A mode of culture which will effect the draining of such land of its excessive moisture, vill be the only wav to render it susceptible of pro- ducing good crops; and ''in most cases it can be ef- fected by the plough. Land of this nature should be thrown with the plough into high ridges and deep v;s, and in ridges calculated for Indian corn of five and a half feet width, the bottom of the furrow may ^ ■ be made fifteen inches lower than th of the rtdg£< The deep furrows will have the effect of draining and drying the ridges and of holding all - fluous water they may have contained, and /..scent, will serve as so many ditches to <; fi ; but even in case of no descent, the ill stilt have the effect of relieving the ridges of a suiuvity of incis-lure, and thereby place them in r a state to fee operated on by frost. It bos elsewhere been observed, that land of this kind', t-\ si plough drainings in the fall, is of being con- verted into the best of our soils. The ploughing be- ing done in the fall or eatly in winter, is essential to its success; as nothing has so powerful an effect in subduing a stubborn soil anJ:g ol them ; thereby cijeatii ..':e destruction oi low grounds and i them — -that ot : sets and bridges Tlies. No law, I think, couicl be m ta*y than oue imposing a heavy fine on those in - bank tffr&uch practice-}* for what in- ■ducem* mts has a person tb clean -v.- a stream which may run through his farrn, m order tb give it a free and qn&hstfu ted channel, if one above him has the liberty of filling it up with !- gs, trees and brush, to be brought down by tbe Srsl i: Such laws are not ivovi ^ states, and to them the*? -are hide - \ • f s >n e of their finest iariwS. li h inly farm- ing, are not sufticier.t inducements to clean up our creeks and rivulets, s< W" on them unob- structed currents, and -cite their borders, the fertility 'or* these borders, and the advantages gamed to the adjacent grounds would be sufficient conside- rations. After haying cleaned .orders of our streams,, she next step should be to clean out the streams themselves- This may first be done by removing the logs and stones and rubbish lying immediately iri their channels ; cutting also through veins of rigid earth, paring off sharp points, and widening the chan- nel where too narrow, will more effectually enable tream to do a part of the work itself by deep^ enirig its bed the more rapidly. When the course of a stream is in a straight inn , or nearly so, it hard- ly ever overflows its banks, unless the stream rises •RAININfJi- much above its common level. But the most com- mon cause of streams encroaching on their banks, is tht resistance occasioned by a sudden bend. In low grounds it is therefore of advantage to straighten the course of the streatri, for every impediment, or ob- struction, will naturally cause the water to rise high- er than it otherwise would do, and as such bends have that effect consequently in the time of a fresh, the water wifl overflow a greater extent of ground, and to a greater depth, than if the stream had a free and uninterrupted course straight forward. But the course ot a stream should not be entirely straight, as it gives such a force to the current, as to expose a sandy or crumbling soil to constant wear- ing, and d voting the point upon which it expends its greatest fun. to great injur) ; gentlt bends arc pr< ferred as they check the »;■ I cur- rents. If the windings of a stream cannot be alter- ed, and encroacfrment are making on some part of the banks, it must first be considered, whethei force of the water can be i to another place where Kss injury will he don. . In straightening streams and cutii. -.■'.. ■ ■ always be adhered to. v In doing .his, h ing chann rains pi anj kind, one <>1 th. mosi i us, and is to leav b rders, so as to dan? • ut a co n of the water the drain -was intended to receive, <*o.d to destroy all tin crops within us influ< earth ought uneXi ed in curing hollows and sunken pi, of the dri-in every where lowj jacent ground. By this means ini , and more^rapidly return to the channel; be- as the water is every where trickling in; irains as ti.s. rain falls, it has more l\o IN ' : of it, and for the same reason an excess will soon* be reduced. Both the rapid and complete reducti< of floods 33 of great IffitKirtanCe to crops, few ot whicl will v . -,ry short immep sion. They are ruined for want of a remedy against Water. ' the lowest ground, with' •.he ground desigmd to be drained, I -by ridge3 and titptying into the tOSt perfe< NOTES [JVWfi Jl. page 80. j SciciipUon of the Rafter Level menti- ned in Xo 1?, on Eorizonl&i Ploughing. (See Engraving.) It consists of two legs of common wed, A and B, which are; joined together at the top, and their feet or Lo-Sv&r ends • ed to the distance uf ten feet span. The legs are connected below by a cross bar, as delineated in the. cut. From \.he angle at the top, a plumm t G i- suspended by a small cord ; which, when a mark is mad.: in the middle of theebnnectii the two legs are adjn , Chat the horizoi ■■ ascertaii Many fanners are getting in* :' their hilly land horizontally, by the eye, than v. hi- be a worse criterion, as it cannot be done- correctly, an nd li i aggravate the evil it pret< i it i recommended to all those who wish to | land from washing, to use the rafter level an ling to the manner pointed out ii f his work. I an in- str im nt so simple in its Consti 1 so easily us- d, as to make it inexcusable in any man to d jrates broken laud, IB [Note h. fOge i (Refemnc: to No. 27, on Wheat.) "Those "who have 'adopted the mode of cultivating Xndiar. in ridges, find a difficulty m putting the same ground in wheat. They are in the practice of destroying or plou down the ridges in potting in wheat, whereby the labor f fal- lowing up th ground for c>rn again is greatly increai One oi" u h -e greatest advantages gamed by ridges and furrows, Is the ease and efficacy with which the ridges are reversed, when the ground conies r- und In course again, to be put in cofcn. The water furrow enables us to bury deep the litter, r clover* produced by inclosing; so that irn is planted above it ind sprouts in a bed of clean earth. Much labor is also saved in fallowing, because the fie p w .ter furrow enables the plough to cur off a wide land on i it, by which it .is h!lc.' t needing itself a touch of tiie plough share, leaving a st »'idge, row, that- a large plough, with tw< I >ards, splits it. And thus three furrows reverie ridges of five and in half feet wide, Ins. » eat,> therefore, the ridges should be preserved, and the water furrow* left deep and wide and it wheat, and many experiments have proved, that the is i hereby increased, however the surface may be con- in the subsequent prepa- ration for corn, and the improvement by deepening the soil. 21-9 [JVbte C. page 191.] JVo. 1. Skimmer or Plough for weeding Corn. a a. An iron rod I £ inch wide and 1 inch thick. A' one end an eye for the helve. At the other a duck's bill — 25 in- ches Long — having a small crook at the junction of the wings next the eye, to raise the eye two indies, that it maj not drag en t le gi "and. b b. Tae outer edges oi the wings, to be 26 inches apart. 19 2£G J-JOXkS. ccc ccc. The cutting edges of the wings, to be on a level with the lowest part of the bar. ddd ddd. The upper edges of the wings, to be three int bet r than the lower edges. The wings are to be made •ing, to increase the ease with whicii the earth falls ove^ them. ee ee. Length of wing? — 20 inches. f f. Width of do — 5 inches. The lower edges of the wings to be sharp, and ought to be steeled. :!epih of its woik is regulated by the .raceso J\T 0t 2: 'vowel hoed plough for opening water furrows. NOTES. 221 i ft. Length of hoe — 20 inc Si tU Length of the eye — 4 c ;-.. Width of me hoe — 16 do. He He. The cutting edges of the hoe 18 inches. TV etf- irly twoiiiches lower than the centre H tl Sj he eye may stand that distance above the earth — a; lidt to drag' on '- an ilso to cause the tinder part lo ■ - H b. Tl - the coulter — 6 inches. The coulter is in a line with in H f. Tne length of the coulter — 22 inches. H e. Thelower part of the coulter 12 inches long — vith ttn catting edge, g g g. Toe coulti r is fixed at the < : the plough by a tenon and mortice. The forw^r on the end of the plough — the 1 tfter m i-ht he id oi the coulti r. eg. Widtn of the upper end of the coulter 2 inches — of th< cutting part 3. ak ak. Mo-ildboauls — Length 18 inches — Width 9 inches. k k. iVidth between the cnoui (boards — 20 inches. — In the eye is fixed a wooden helve, to which the inouldboar nailed. Theupperemi >f the coulter is made fast in the i. A pin 1 inch dtiineter, let into tne mouldboarda and Wedged, to fceep them from being pressed together. X0TE3« a b Length of rnouldboards — 12 inches. b c. Width between the m >uldboards — 6do. b d. Width of niQuidix>urds~-& do, 22^ REMARKS. The above are the implements alluded to in the remarks on the cultivation of Indian corn, pag< 198 of this woik. No. 1, much preferable to a harrow as a weeding plough* It is drawn by one horse or one ox. No. 2, is the best plough which has been tried for opening ■water furrows, to be drawn by two or more horses. The deeper these furrows are made, the more efficacious they are in improving the soil. No. 3 This plough is a copy of No 2, with the addition of the interior mouldboards, and the exclusion of the pin. It ought not to work deep. It immediately precedes the plant- ing of the corn. The wide mouldboards bestow a weeding on the ridge ; the narrow, form a central narrow fun depositing the corn in, to be covert d by the foot with the mould turned up by the mouklboards. The pl-ugh is drawn by two horses, by which means the furrow is run straight, ^ i.v7^r. preface, » f l^-vluctory Essay, Fi ' Principles of Ygricnltu e, No. 1, F Principles of Agriculture, No. 2, Improvement of Land, N> 1, Improvement of Land, No. 2, Improvement of Land, No. 3, M urps, o 1, h\ uures, No 2, M i:iire<, N i .?, • M inures No 4. Manures, N ». 5, - - Manures, No 6, • ng, - .ell Ploughing, Ploughing, No 1, 2, H > 7.0' tal P oughing, - les. No l; - 1 •> , ■ jses, N - 2, Grasses, N 3, brasses, No 4, os c< r Good Tillage, No 1, itages ot Good T.ila<;e, o. 2, ;■ o Paris, Red Clm er. W >,eai, No t, Wheat, No. 2, Wheat, No. 3, Turn ds, No. I, Orchards, No 2, ':>. 3, i Trees, - on, iportanceof Agriculture, H n .: for the improvement of a a, ], ' Indian Torn, No 2, gnculmre in Pag? 6 11 16 20 25 30 33 3T 4? 4r 52 sr 62 78 83 87 90 94 99 104 108 112 118 123 128 133 139 144 148 151 157 162 167 172 177 184 187 IK&EX* Live Stock, No. 1, Ljv - ? S>>;ck, No. 2, Oxen, • Cattle, Hops, Droning, No 1, Draining, No. 2, Jbioics, 195 198 202 205 209 212 2t7 Date Due . • . f » 1 I 1 1 1 1 L. B. Ca :. No. 1 137 i.4 A378S G-./ 6568