Cheraw gazette and Pee Dee farmer. [volume] (Cheraw S.C.) 1838-1839, 1839-08-30

seemed to nae a sor Of sacrilege, even to
doubt, and still more to act, in direct oppo.
sition to an opinion which, for aught kLow,
had descended from Trptolemus h,mself
By degrees, however, my courage waxed
stronger and stronger every year, until
felt myself brave enough to commence tho
experiment. which several old
farmers in whose veraci,y perfectly conf.
ded, had assured me they had ofien tried,
and always with the same result, as That
which I am about to report in my own
case.
began peuning my cattle late 10 the
spring, and continued it until frost, in pens
of the same size, moved at regular intervals
of time. and containing the same number
of cattle during the whole period. These
pens were alternately pioughed, and LEFT un.
ploughed, until the following spring, when
all were planted incorn, Immediately follow.
ed by wheat. The superiority Of both crops
on all The pens which had remained I'm.
ploughed for so many months, after the
cattle had manured them, was just as dis.
tinctly marked as if the. .dividingafences had
continued standing it was too plain to ad.
NIT ever of,hs slightest doubt. A near
neighbor, a young farmer, had made me
samo experiment, on somewhat different
soil, the year before, but with results pre-.
clsely the same. Similar trials ! myself
have made and seen made by others with
dry straw, alternately ploughed in as soon
as spread, and lefi on the surface until the
next spring. In every case the last method
proved best, as far as the following crop
would prove it. The same experiment has
been made by myself and others of my ac.
quaintance, with manure from the horse.
stables and winter.farm pens, consisting OF
much unrotted corn offal and without q
solitary exception. either seen by nae, OF
heard Of, the surface application, after the
corn was planted, produced most manifest.
Iy, the best crop. Upon these numerous,
concurrent, and undenable facts my opin.
ion has been founded, that IL is best to apply
n,anares on the surface Of land; and .
guess" las bro'her Jonathan would say,9
that 10 not likely to change, unless indeed,
I should hear a still greater number. equal.
" well authenticated, on the opposite side;
although mus, say, that up to the present
time Fhave not heard a solitary one. True
i, is, that have read many Ingenious, 6ne
spun arguments 10 opposition to the opinion
which | hold in common with numerous
other agriculturis,s. but no proofs whatever
have accompanied them, and thereiore !
must remain an iniidel, until they are sustain.
cd and corroborated by such facts, as should
always be deened Indispensable to csfab.
iish any practice whatever, in any Of tho
various branches of husbandry. To COL
lect these facts is slow, and most fedicus
process, not very Aattering to that pride Of
opinion VINO deIighs in speculative theories
of our own elucidation, and sickens at the
mere thought Of the labor necessary to make,
to watch, and to record accurate expert.
menrs IN agriculture. In no other way, /
think, can we account for those differences
of opinion as 10 matters Of practice. found
| among our brethren. where all the facts are
on one side. But to refuse 10 believe ia
that which we cannot explain, unless in
some way that tickies our own vanity. gave
rise 10 the sect Of scepiic philosophers, and
i, is to be feared, will keep up the breed as
long as the world stands. Let me not be
here misunderstood. Far be il from ma
to object TO theory and speculation, provi-
ded the sole object in concocting and main.
tanning them, be to arrive at truth. As this
should be the aim Of all, I am in favor Of
the utmost latitude Of discussion ID the hon.
es. pursuit Of It. But ! do, and will forever
protest against that practice which is far
foo common amongst US, Of regarding plau.
sible scientific conjectures, so much more
than the actual results o experiments fairly
and accurately made. as not onfreequently TO
indulge our faneies with the former. eveRin
direct opposition 10 The latter. Take, for
example, the TWO conflicting creeds as to the
best mode Of applying. manures, and test
them by the uniformly concurring results
of the several experiments which | have sta
ted. All these results ,undeniably prove,
that the surface application was best al.
I ough the kinds Of manure differed consid.
erably. And what have we.in, opposition,
any facts whatever ! Not one and only
the conjecture, that the evaporation from
surface spread manure must carry OF the
greater and best portion ofthe food Of plants
therein contained. But that such evapofa.
ton cannot thus act, seems 10 me 70 be I'm.
questionably proved by every facs have
mentioned for, adSd, then the land 9f
summer Gov, pens ploughed up ss soon as
removed, would, id every case, have pro-
duced better crops, than that Of the u's.
plouhed, instead of doing II in none. Sim
liar results TOO must have followed In the
other cases Eave stated, although have
never seen nor heard oftheis doing u many.
The effects however, which really hare
taken place (tacts though they undenIaby
,lo ,l.,