Staunton spectator, and general advertiser. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 183?-1849, 1838-06-07

SPEED TEE PLOUGH.
KEEP YOUR LAND RICH.
BY JESSIE BuEL

turing and by alternate Drops Most .,s .sis
country believe il devoted to cattle snd hus.
handry for which il seems we'll atiap,ed and
these branches of husbandry affurd ample
means Of enriChing the soil.and enlareing The
grain and root crops. Cattle and sheep ma ke
manure; manure makes grain, and grass
| and roets-these in return Iced the family.
and make meat, milk and wool, and virtual.
! ~ money, the great object of the farmer
ambition, and the reward oi his aLors. This
is the farmers magic chain, and which. ken,
bright ny use, is ever strong ard sure but
u broken or suffered 10 cnrode by neglect. its
powers and efficiency are lost.
You possess all the earthly elements of a
good soil clay, sand and lime. II is YOUR
province and your duty to husband and an.
ply the vegetable and most essential element
oil fertility-manurea These are as much
the food Of your crops as your crops are the
FOOD Tor your cattle or your family and il is
IN vain 10 expect to perpe,uale good crops,
without manure, az il would be 10 expect fat
heel or fat mutton from siinted pasture or
buck W heat straw. We see. then tha, M,
nures are the basis of good husbandry. wbe
iher we have reference 10 tiliage or cattle
farms and that t;llage and cattle reciprocal.
ly benefit each other
u results from these facts, that q farmer
should till no more land than he can keen
dry, and clean anil rich; and that he should
keep no more stock than his crops will feed
well, and that can be made profitable TO the
farm
The farmer who makes but thirty bushels
nj corn, dozen bushels of rye, or ton of
nay, from an acre of land, and there are no,
lew who fall short of this, is hardly remu>
nerated for his labor: but be who gets these
measures from half an mere, and every good
larmer al least ought to do so, realizes a nett
product at one half the value of his crop. or
receives tw ice as much for his labor as the
hrs' does. The reason OF This. is that the
enc permits his acre to become poor either
from not saving and applying his manure, or
from spreading il and his labsr over too much
land, or by cropping 1t too long, while the
"ther keep his land rich; and hereby saves
ms aoor. How is that Disparity. instead Of
beng doubled the crops Of the good farmer
exceeds that the bad farmer four fold in
c'dents which very often happen on adioin-
ing farms: IL the latter gets one hundred
dollars per annum for his labor, the former
gets four hundred dollars for his labor. No
considerable item this, in the aggregate OF
mans life, or 10 the profit and loss account
ola large farm.
So with our animals The food which
pafsimony or Incidence, or i'll Judged ecopo-
my Ioles oui TO a beast, and which barely
Keeps him two years, would, il judiciously
led out, fatten him in six months and there's
bJ convert three quarters of the food into
meat, milk and money, which, in the other
case is expended TO keep the snimal alive ::
Time is money, as vel! in fattening animals
md feeding crops, as in other expenditures
Of human labor
tasturing IS means ofinducing fertility.
u is computed TO add twenty per cent. 10 the
fertility q! a first rate soii This arises from
two causes. II .ha, is grown upon the so il
is returned in the droppings OF the animals
which Craze upon il. And in the second
place when broken up by the plough, the
sward IS converted into food for tillage crops,
and has been found to be equivalent for a
well set sod, 10 more than twelve loads Of
dung TO the acre. 10 this way sheep hus-
6andry is known TO enrich lands rapidly
But this remark does not apply te me ado "
where the crop 10 carried off, and no equiva.
lent returned 10 the soil in the form OF ma.
nure.
alienation OF crops is nnquesiionably one
OF The best economical means OF preser-
wing fertility, and Of increasing the profits
oil The farm. All crops exhaust the soil
more or less, of the general elements of fer,
tiliiy, though not 10 the same extent. nor do
all exhaust il alike Of certain specific prom.
eriIes. us believed that every family of
plants require specific food, which other
families do not stand in need of, and which
they do not take up. This is evinced by the
lac! that wheat cannot he grow n profilabIy in
ordinary grounds, in two successive wears
upon the same field, without a great falling
of IN the product. And il is now laid down
ae an axiom in good husbandry, that two
crops OF any small grain, should never be
taken from the same field in successive wears
because they draw TOO largely upon the sam,
specific food. But after an interval of four
or FIVE years IN which grass and roots inter-
vene the specific iood of the wheat crop has
so accumulated in The soil that This grain may
again be probably grown upon it, So with
all other iarm crops, not even excepting the
grasses. The law Of natural change IN the
products Oft soil IS so pnIpable, that in Elan
ders and Holland, here flax is one of the
mos! profitable staples, they do not think 81
coitiVa'ing This crop upon The same ground
onener Imam once in 10 or ~ years. On,
FARMERS seem 10 appreciate these truths in
reference TO t'llage crops, without duly re,
hectIng, that they apply as we'll 10 grass as
10 grain. Meadows do deteriorate in few
years, the finer grasses run out, because Che
| SOIL becomes exhausted .. the particular food
which affords them nourishment-coarse OF
! ionu,Titions plants take their place md the
heritage becomes Inferior in quality, ant
greatly diminished in quantity. Upon M
average old established meadows woult
yie'd double their present profit il judiciousI,
auernated with grain ard root crors The
terms suitably divided into meadow, plough
ana pasture lands" which are generally en-
'Pioyed 10 recommend farms on sale are a,