The Sumter banner. [volume] (Sumterville, S.C.) 1846-1855, 1850-09-11
.@A.selaaa a@pan nmrnn NJ !,
of land with the
Cow HSen.

Eth January, reqnestig me to give
you a statement Of experiments upon
the subject of the Pea culture, was
received. My apology for not reply
ing to it sooner, is, that I was absent
from home the greater part Of the
month of JanIary, and latterly have
overlooked the matter. a few days
since I received yours of tho 9Th
inst repeating the request and I now
hasten to give yott The desired infor-
nation.
10 begin I must state that about
three years since, | came into posses
sion of poor farm, Of about two hun
drcd and cighty-ive acres, costing
eight dollars per acre; the greater
part of the soil is composed of what
is usually called slate land, and of a
thin quality. Also, ono hundred and
cen acres oft had been in cultivation
and was in ano1n.out condition. at
the time Of purchase. Being anxious
20 improve the place, commenced
cleaning up Che old fields, and in the
early part of October, 1S47, l had
twelve acres sowed in wheat, upon
which about two hundred pounds of
Peruvian Guano was sown to the acre
and shoveIed in with the whcat;- the
following spring l had lcachcd ashes
and plaster mixed in equal proportions
and one 5ushcl sowr to the acre:
tho crop matured well, but made only
one hundred and thirty nine bushels
OF clean wheat. If the wheat had
been sown earlier and the weather
had not been so dry and unlavorablc
in the spring, | have no doubt the
, crop would have been better. l met
with q Prince Georges farmer, and
turing conversation upon tho sub
Ject OF improving lands, he rccommen
dcd to me the broadcast culture of the
COW pea, with a view to plow them
under in green state. He had
seen the crop grown in the South,
where they arc used by the planters
to rcnovate their exhausted cotton
fields. | Immediately determined to
try them, and procured two barrels
of seed from the South. had a field
of five acres which was thinly set in
clover, and waited until the first week
III June, in order to have the first
crop of clover to turn under, which
was very thin. On the 10th June, |
had the peas sown broadcast on the
ground, as the plow had left it, and q
roller passed over, to press them in;
this was all that was done. They
came up in short time, but did not
grow until the latter part of August;
then they5secmed to take fresh start,
ssss ground wans9aBLss,u covered
with the most luxuriant growth Of
vines | ever saw. About the 20th
ofSeptembcr, they were in full bloom
with lateral branches running in eve.
ry direction and over two feet high.
then started two horse plow to
turn them under. This was difficult
job, and the plow man had to keep
harrow i'll the field to drag the vines
down; it was rather tedious, but was
we'll done. knowing that the quanti.
ty Of vegetable matter that would be
turned under. would give to the soil,
vast deal Of food for plants, yet the
value of the pea vine being unknown
to me from analysis, presumed that
thcre would still be deficiency of
some of the properties essential to the
growth and maturation Of wheat. |
therefore concluded to make com
bination Of guano with the vine, and
consequently had, as near as | could
get at it, one hundred and ten pounds
to the acre, of Peruvian guauo sowcd
upon the vine, before it was turned
under.
must now state, that previous to
turning under the pea vine, | had
one acre added to the field. This
acre was heavily manurcd with barn
yard manure, and the guano sowcd
over it and the vines alike. The
wheat (Zimmerman,) on the 9th of
September, narrowed in and rolled
In March | had about one bushcl to
the acre, Of ashes and plaster mixed
half and half, sowed over the field.
The wheat looked beautifully in the
spring. and attracted a great deal of
nctice. Now for the result. The
six acres yielded one hundred and
thirty four bushels Of prime wheat
besides about three bushels of scrce-
nings, sc; | sent about eighty bushels
to Georgetown for seed, which aver
aged sixty seven pounds to the bush,
el. / weighed half bnsheI here,
accurately, and it made full 81
pounds. l must observe here, that
on one side of the field, there was
timber land which shaded the ground
a good deal and in the field there was
a gully about 10 yards long and 3
wide Moraovar Tho rvhoot NO, ,;ol i