The Sumter banner. [volume] (Sumterville, S.C.) 1846-1855, 1853-02-01

Gypsum as IL FcrtiIiscr.
5GREENwooD, So. Ca, Jan. goth, 1858.
8 5DEAR Sir: Your letter of the goth of
June last, making inquiry about the
application of Gypsum, and the bcne-
fits resulting from it, came to hand in
5duetiine. | deferred answering your
ginquiries at that time, from the fact that
= could not give you reliable informa.
tion as to the results, rs it was the
first season that had applied it, and
sIregrct that my experiments were not
conducted with moro care, having
an eye more to the general results than
) to the exact difference in the yield in a
given quantity of land. | have al
ways been particular in recommend
ling any thing new in agriculture, un-
{ less was perfectly satisfied that it
was both practical and profitable to
the cause Of agriculture, and | have.
savailcd myself Of the use of the col
umns Of the Mercury, that others may
be induced to give their experience in
the use of an article which it is be-
slieved by many will produce great
revolution in the production of cot
ton in this State. And would here
remark, that no one experiment Chow
ever well conductcd) should be re-
sceiyed as conclusive evidence Of its
practical utility, until it has been
tried two or three years; and too
n,,o o,,,,,t ,,l-,,,
ticing the different seasons and the
various soils in which experiments are
tried. ! purchased ten barrels Of Gyp-
sum last spring in Charleston, aud con
8cluded to try it on an old sandy field
which had been in cultivation up
wards of sixty years, and was com
pletely worn out; and some five Or
six years since | commenced trying to
! improve it, and had succeeded in de-
stroying the running bricrs and may
pops which had taken possession. had
planted it in cotton three years in sue
cession; it was manurcd in the drill
: eaehyear, and suppose it produced a
bout GOO lbs. to the acre. The past
yearsI planted it again in Cotton, and
opened the old bed with a. long Scoot-
!, er, and bedded out with turning
plough. About the 10th Of April We
commenced planting, and the day pre-
.yious | measured three bushels Of cot
ton seed, one bushcl Of Gypsum aud
two bushels of ashes, and wet them
and rubbed them neatly, and in the
manner described | mixed AMI rub
bed until | had enough to plant the
field, (Which contained fifty acres. The
Cottod came up beautiful and grew off
finely, having q green, luxuriant ap-
pearance, and continued to look well
until the excessive rains in June, at
which time it died out badly, and
i almost dospaircd Of making half
crop; but it recovered in July, and be-
gan to grow and spread beautifully,
and up to the last Of August it still
looked well, though it was rather too
late; at that time the excessive wet
weather set in, giving it another back
set, but it soon recovered and con
tinued to grow and mature, until it
was killed by frost. noticed one
particular, that it did not shed the
sbolls and squares as my previous
crops had done, and | remarked that
cotton in the same field, previously,
had invariably quit growing by the
first Of September, but the present
year, it continued to grow until frost.
also tried an experiment with one
abushcl of Gypsum, one bushcl Of Gu
ano, and two bushels of Ashes, which
Il rubbed with three bushels of Cot
ton Seed, but could sec no pcrccpt-
Fible difference from that planted with
Ashes and Gypsum. There arc three
things to be noticed in this expert
ment, first, the land had been manu-
red previously in the drill; second,
there was two bushels of Ashes mix
ed with the Gypsum, and third, that
the past year was unusually wet.
All this should be taken into consid-
Grafton, and allowance made in the
calculation. | requested my over
seer to notice particularly the a.
mount of cotton picked, and he cstima-
ted Mt 500 lbs to tic acre. Here
is 200 lbs more than had ever been
made mi ado before, to the acre, and leave
you to draw your own inference.
. lplantcd ten acres in stubblc land.
prepared in the manner described
above; the result was entirely salts.
factory, as We gathered ten bales Of
lotion. In conclusion, am inclined
to think that land containing a guam
hty OF vegetable matter will give bet
ter results than that which has but
little, and am perfectly satisfied in
my own mind, that if Railroads would
adopt liberal rate Of freights for fer
tilizers, we could increase tho produc-
tion Of our soil at least onc.fourth.
.s..as am yours, respectfully,
THOMAS b. BYRD.
81 10 Col. JOHN CUNNINGHAM.
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a medical friend has requested us 20
publish thu fot1nuipo proccrinjinn Enr