Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1850-11-20

iouJ Tue tu'cIes' OH tudt price. mere are
about 400 acres in the tract-35O now clear
ed and arabic, and SO acres in wood, the
original forest growth. About 300 acres
have been, from time to time, in the course
Of the last ten years, lined at the rate of
one and two hundred bushels Of oyster she'll
lime to the acre. Wherever the lime has
remained as long as year upon the surface.
before cultivation, it has invariably yielded
me the FIRST crop, and without any other
manure, from four to six barrels of corn per
acre /; but this result has in no instance been
reached so soon, where the lime has re-
msined less time upon the surface, or
where it has been applied Immediately be-
fore cultivation. As the stables, arm-yards,
compos, heaps, and the other Putrescent ma
serials produced and collected on the farm,
could be brought to bear, have given the
greater part of these three hundred and 6fly
acres, at various but considerable intervals
after lining, one good dressing Of these
home made fertilizers, and the results have
in every instance surpassed my expectations,
she succeeding crops averaging from eight
Ia ten bushels of corn, and about twenty
bushels Of wheat per acre, and every year
increasing, and the land growing richer
withou, any fu,her additions Of manure.-
Some Of this land has been more than seven
years without any further manuring, having
within that time produced three abundan;
crops, The last the best, and is manfeslly
still growing richer every day. Whilst
have other lands, in the same eighborhood,
and on the same table, Of better quality ORR
Rinally. which have not been lined, but
which have been twice we'll MANFRED with
pulrescent manures within the same period
of seven years, that are now nearly, if not
quite as poor as before any manure was
applied. Upon these results of my own
practical experience it is that ] venture to
recommend to you the course Of improve
men. before indicated. By the free use Of
dime in the one instance, followed al pro-
per interval by putrescent manures, have
produced and still produce fine crops, where
none would grow before. And have so
much improved small waste and abandon
ed tract of land, that though considered 1t
ten years since, rot worth more than three
dollars per acre, should be extremely I'M
willing TO take forty for it now; and at the
same time, in another instance, have lost
probably four-6flhs of the value of large
quantities Of rich putrescent manuIes, by
not lining the lands previous to its appica-
sion. Of the improved land where live
have laid down this fall two fields, contain
ing together $50 acres, in wheat, portion
OF i. have treated to 200 lbs. Peruvian
guano per acre, another portion TO 10 bush
els Of crushed bones, and third portion ]
shall top-dress during winter with putres-
cent manures Of home-manufsclure, and a
fourth portion / shall leave without any
further aid than that formerly given to all
by lime and one dressing Of pulrescenl ma
nure. or the results ! cannot Of course
now speak, but you shall be informed Of
shem when they shall have been matured
but my expectation is that the unaided por
zion will not be far behind the best, and the
best will be that TO which the crushed bones
are applied.
Mex, in importance 10 Your manures, and
indeed, in some instances taking precedence
even Of them, is the drainage Of your lands.
Many, very many Of our fields, all unknown
to their owners, fail annually TO produce TO
the full amount Of their capacity, and not
q feY fall short OF what would otherwise
DE their product by one-half or more, for
the want of proper drainage. Our lands are
all, or almost all, either table lands, river
bottoms, or of1he same character with river
bottoms-swamps, which end in creeks or
=ivers-and the slopes Of the hills falling
from the tables to the river bottoms and
swamps. Our table lands res. upon hard
clay pan, through which water percolates
very slowly, and are mostly level, or hav
ing very slight irregular undula.ions, form
ing not unfrequen,ly basins of greater or
less extent, with a depression in the centre
sometimes of only few inches, and again
Of as many feet These, or the deepest of
them, become lakes or ponds filled with rain
water ia wet seasons. and stagnant pestfe-
Tous pools in summer and autumn, and have
sent many valued citizen to an untimely
grave. The more shallow, or those Of on
ly few inches depression, do not retain,
after rain, waller enough to shew long upon
the surface, but still enough thoroughly to
saturate the land and keep their whole sur
face in semi-Auid state during all open
weather in winter and in spring. and after
very copious rain in summer, until the wa
Ter is all evapora,ed by the sun, and the
land SO baked in The process tina. what was
slush before is adobe now. 1t is impossible
for any useful plant to thrive in either of these
situations. The ponds are usually surrender
ed 10 The frogs and mosquitoes, and serve as
reservoirs Of bilious disease; the slighler
depressions, which are much the most nu-
merous, and often commence within few
fee, of the cresls of the hills, are ploughed
and titled with other parts Of the fields, but
rarely drained, and never repay in wheat,
and very rarely in corn, for the labour Of
ploughing them. All these are easily drain
ed by surface drains. In many instances a
few deep burrows will accomplish it. But
xuhenexer the rim of the basin is too hGh