The Lancaster ledger. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1852-1905, 1854-03-15
CAROLINA, WEDNESDAY MORNING, MARCH h 1851

would cut down a tree to get its fruit" sc
a good husband would not clear up the
forest TO wear ont the soil. Of the 3rd
and last reason noticed above, | will here
only remark that | fully appreciate the
importance and value Of the Inanures to
Which have referred, but having shown
that your soils contains carbonate ot
lime and potash, | have no doubt your
worn and impoverished land may be re.
stored To- more than their original fertility
Hy the means which have, wherever they
hav" been tried, accomplished this result.
| VIII now, gentlemen, proceed to the
chief purpose OF this communications.
which is to describe brieGy the means
which have secured to the best arricul,u-
raj districts Of Europe, and Of our own
country, constantly increasing fertility.
10 bring this home to your farmers
aud render it more intcligib!e to them, |
VIII cndcavor % describe the course
which | think a practical English or
Northern farmer would pursue, in at
tempting to restore to fertility the i'm.
porrr'shcd lands Of this part Of your
State:
~ deep and thorough plowing is the
first step towards recussitation they would
as soon after the press Of this spring
work Was over, and the condition of the
land would permit, commence for wheat.
10y piowmg with heavy wing, and turn
ing or mould hoard pIow and a strong
team being careful to break up every
IS@t noh, Of jncMes {ne G95m Pea ~r'h"rss etuvr
:, ...,,~uge and other vegetation up
on the surface. Such plow as | have
described would cut furrow twelve or
fourteen inches in width, leaving the fur
row slice rs might be preferred, at an
angle to the horizon or bottom ofthe fur
row Of forty five or fifty degrees. In
July or carly in August, they would 90
over it with harrow, to prepare it for
second or cross p!owing which should be
done Immediately after narrowing. They
would then let it rest until Just before
seeding, when they would again plow
lightly to prepare he land for the seed.
Having often witnessed the extraor-
dinary effects Of Guaro on impoverished
lands, | would here recommend that from
one hundred and fifty to two hundred
pounds to the acre, (well pulyerized)
should be sown broad cast and narrowed
III with the wheat. The land is now pre-
pared for seeding with clover, which in
New York would be sown on light
snow in March, at the rate of eight to
ten pounds Of seed to the acre. In this
latitude should think it would be ad-
visabe, TO SOW it either ut the time of
sowing the wheat, or in January or Feb
ruary. This completes the first most i'm
poItant, and most extensive step in the
process OF recussitation. The land would
now be allowed to rest IN pasture two
years or until the clover had attained
It's full size, and in June or July in New
York, or in August or September in this
climate, they would again pIow for wheat
as deep and rs thoroughly as a, first
AS the land will be rendered loose and
friabie by the action Of the clover it will
now require but one more plowing which
after being i.arrowed should be done just
before seeding. As corn in N. York, and
corn or cotton here, would he the next
crop in the series, they would late in the
fall or early in the next spring plow once
increasing the depth to eight or nine in
ches to guard against the drougths of
summer. The corn crop they would fol-
low with wheat the same fall and again
seed with clover, or they would follow it
with oats, bar.ey or peas and these the
same fall with wheat and again seed with
clover, giving the land the same rest as
before. This in England would be called
the four or five course rotation viz: lst,
clover; end, wheat; 3rd, corn, here turn
ips or peas there, 4th oats or barley, 9th
wheat. 1t is this rotation Of crops which,
combined with the tiIlage I have de,-
c'ibed, that has accomplished SO much for
the agriculture Of the countries where it
has been adopted, and no good farmer in
England or the Northern States would
think Of cultivating the same crops two
years in succession on the same feld.--
The reason for this is that all the crops
have innumerated abstract from the soil
different proportions Of the mineral ele-
ments which enter into their composition
aud which are necessary for their nourish.