The North-Carolinian. [volume] (Fayetteville [N.C.]) 1839-1861, 1854-01-07
ACRICULTURAL.
From the Farmer's journal.
The Cf0ssess

ACRICULTURAL.
From the Farmers Journal !
The Cfasses.
20 branch Of our agriculture il SO much
neglected as tile grasses in this department our
destltution is almost complete. There is some
where an Old maxim to the effect that An cx-
terminating war on the grasses, is death to the
SOIL" Nearly the whole Sys.h, from the Poto-
mac to the Cult seems to have decikred this
war, except Kentucky aud parts of the n.ounta in
region. Corn, Cotton, Tobacco, &c, have all
in turn demanded the externination of grass
Our herds OF horses, cattle, Sheep. hogs &c
no longer thrive in the land, nor crowd the
roads to market as in former times; for our
wi3l-mast ranges exhausted, aud extensive
- eas1teei - fosAaeElys xixits AE
turned back upon US; mules, horses, hogs, beef,
pork, &C., from the west and north, bear wit
ness to our deficiency, while the lands themselves
present equal evidence that destructive and
unnatural system has robbed them of their
powers of production. These are some of the
consequences Of system which makes US look
upon all grass pest; and instead Of giving
it proper place among our crops, and with
skill and judgment: directing the effort of ma
ture to cover and protect soils with grass,
spend an immcnsty of labor in countcract-
ing them although we know that natures own
process for improvement of the soil is by the
growth and decay of vegetable matter upon it,
and that nothing can better perform this Office
than the grasses. We know that 10 agricuI-
turc can be complete without good rotation
of crops; no rotation can be complete without
the grasses; and no country be well and
cheaply supplied with stock animals without
grasses for soing and grazing An old French
song expresses nearly the same ideas:
sCultvate lttle-but cultivate we'll
Your crops alternate-if good produce you'd sell
soil manure often the return it Will Weld,
Will tenfold repay what you spend on the field.
Sow grass too. at times if you wish to make
OF having plentiful stock of manure:
Without grass you've no CATTLE without cattle tits
You'll have manure; and without that grain.
Thus the grasses, whether part of a judicious
rotation or as a source of forage, are indspensa-
bic to every kind of agriculture-civilized or
savage. We have among us no system of rot:,-
tlOn, good Or bad; but substitute, some
times rest our lands we call it; that is let
it lie one year in weeds; and every one knows
their growth and decay on the land produce /:
happy effect. Now very few reflect that thest
weeds are just as much crop as any other ana
a pcstiferous crop at that; and if taken off,
| would be as exhausting or more SO, than many
crops we value much higher. Why not thei
| substitute for the weed crcp, one of peas
clover, grasses &c, and institute just ano
true rotation of cleansing crops, instead of pes
tiferous weeds and brambles?-
sword-and an indscriminate use of either mus
make sad havoc.-FrOm a general view o. diff
ferent ATTITUDES and their productions, arc
induced to think that the plow Like the sword
is much oftcner applied to improper than
we of this age are apt to suppose. From the
equator to more than half the temperate zones,
production and decay are very rapid, heat in
tense, rains heavy, summers long, and evapora-
tion great 1t is natural to suppose that thes,.
phenoinena must make all summer culture far
more destructive to the soils Of southern than
to those of higher northern ATTITUDES, where they
do not exert the same power, where evapora-
ton is slow, winters long-and summers short
This again would induce to suppose thar
permanent crops-=as orchards-sm small grain,
and grasses &c, requiring but little summer
culture, especially adapted to southern soils,
while the reverse would seem more appropriate
to northern ATTITUDES. We have no doubt
these differences are just: That for all soils
permanent crops are best, because more in ac-
cordance with nature, that northern soils with
stand summer culture best, and that the further
south we go towards the eguater) the less
summer culture the soil should have. Yet it
is notorious, that present usage is just the re-
verse-the small grain grass and stock regions
are mostly to the north of us. requiring but lit
tie summer culture, while all our crops at the
south, demand the constant harrassng opera
tion of the plow and hoe, exposing the soil to the
scorcling suns of summer, and heavy rains O
winter. The whole process is unnatural, and IL
doubt impoverishcs the soil much tn,
crops wfficl, are removed from it. Look at ou
broad plantations in April and May-whcrc il
the carpet of green, which the eye expects t.
find on the fields in these balmy months of spring
| In vain it rovcs countless acres-cxcep
an cat or wheat patch here and there-thc field.
present the barfenness of winter, the soil il
flushed up with the plow, and reflects back th
sunshine like the sand of a. desert
I But our valuable productions, cotton, corn
| tobacco, &c, all require summer culture, ant
these summer crops and summer culture cal
never be abandoned. Neither ought they to be
but they could be placed in more natural sys
TEN, with rotation embracing a proper scr;e
of permanent crops, which aid in giving sucl
fertility to the soil, that world yielt
what four or five produce now; leaving tn
general surface Of the country under the re
cuperating influence OF a more natural system
Then, two or three thousand pounds OF cotton
ten to fifteen barrels OF corn, many tons OF ',a9
or whea-, &c, in proportion per acre. h'ishl o..
come the common production, ana 'ft .',,
a earleu in Eu:fitr and beauty As God hfs'
made # Then the thousands which we spends
for horses mules, hogs, &c, would remain Win
us TO lead us into those proper DIVISIONS OF
! labor in agriculture, ma BefSes snfes abu eou!'
,norco without which country can, III this
aoe, well fnti its destiny.
T,h;s wouTd establish the first great principle
| for q healthy progress, viz !: nHtflFsy and ln-
| crease YOUR valuable productions first, no mat
| ter what they be-granite, coal, "copper" grain
or manufactures-and they will break down the
barriers which shut them from the markets o
| the werld-whieh will have them-commerce