The Hillsborough recorder. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1820-1879, 1855-07-04

SenulnS you LOT puOitcdtiOn tne suggestions
Of much closer observer, and really in.
telligent practical farmer.
Yours truly, w. ]. BINGHAM.
The communication published last week.
Oaks, Orange co.. June %, 1855.
Mr. Ell Murray, ~., M Pleasant, Alqmance.
DEAR SIR:-I wrote two DAYS ago yery
hasty reply to yours Of the 10th inst. in or
der TO meet yesterdays mail, and forgot to
urge upon you, and all interested in agricul-
ture, the duty of reading and studying the
agricultural journals, any one number Of any
one Of which is worth the per annum price.
Of all human employments. there is not one
which affords more scope for the exercise Of
mind as well as body none more favorable to
physical, mental and moral health, or the de-
selopmcnt Of independent and patriotic cha
racter than agriculture. Let poor gentlemen,
| too proud for manual, and unfurnished for in.
tellectual labor, despise the plough. Men
Of sense remember that even 'the king lives
Of the field, and that the ALL Wise has ordain-
ed that by the sweat Of the brow the human
race must win their bread
But to my purpose. The Railroad brings
concentrated fertilizers to our doors, and the
President and Directors will probably be
shrcwd enough to put freight to the lowest
possible mark, and look for their profits to
the transportation Of vastly increased agri,
cultural products. All the fertilizers, as
guano. Peruvian and Mexican, poudrette,
and all the super phosphates, ground bones,
and common salt, plaster of Paris, and stone
or she'll lime ,chen used as manures, ought tC
be brought at merely nominal freight. The
price at the seaboard alarms the common
farmer, to say nothing Of freight, commissions
/ &c. Ii is said BY some, that Peruvian guano
produces on the soil an effect parallel ia
that produced on the human system by alco.
holic liquors, stimulating to excessive efiart
and leaving It proportionaly depressed and
exhausted, and demanding heavier doses.
This, though not applicable to the various
super -phosphates, is probably true Of guano,
only, however, when the ground is annually
ploughed and cropped and dosed without
4 rest and the turning under Of clover, OF 9th.
er grasses. The experience Of the best wheat
and grazing farmers in Maryland and Penn.
sylyania ought to satisfy you, and il YOU read
the Journals, will satisfy you, that by the
adoption Of proper rotation, rest aud grass
our old clay broomsedge fields may be brough
back to their virgin fertility in eight or lei
years, with the aid Of not more than two, o.
at most. three. doses Of guano, Of 200 to s5C
pounds per acre.
Il To Mr.. George q. Patterson, of Washing
ton CITY. a very intelligent gentleman, fo
many yearsa practical Maryland farmer, ar
hope soon to be practical Orange county
farmer, am indebted for some valuable sug
gestions on this subject. Pure bone dus
Is, he saws, "more permanent in IFS ciiect
than guann, and. on some soils. nearly a,
quick" He thinks that field, sown il
wheat in September, with ESQ pounds Peru
yian guano and 10 pounds long. late red clio
ycr seed. resting one year and sowcd IN whea
again. lthe clover being well and deepl,
ploughcd in) with bone dust, then permitted
to remain two or three years before turnin!
under, may be considered as made. vi
speaks Of our clay lands. This course in
wolves only five or six years. lie prefer
guanO 70 any aud all manures.
The system Of rotation, which has turne,
the bropmsedge Of Maryland and pennsylya
MIA into golden haryests Of grain aud grass
and which Mr.. T.. recommends, is, corn, oats
wheat, clover, clover, wheat, cnmmencin!
with corn again on The wheat stubble. Yol
cannot have failed TO observe how kindl,
! corn follows wheat. and oats, corn, and tha
wheat does much better on fallow or clover
than after corn. This rotation implies III,
division Of the farm into six fields, and pro
: yi'les for good pasture, and consequently 70
good beef, mutton and pork, not TO mention
FAT horses and mules. That il was the habi
Of our fathers. and that il il our own, 10 plOug
{ too much aud Craze too little, il crrtainl
true, as our abOunding old fields clearly tcs
tify.
While disclaim all pretension to the big
distinction Of being farmer worthy Of N
name. feel great confidence in recommend
ing 10 you, and the farmers of Orange an
: AIamance in general, the suggestions Of Nj
Patterson.
Very respectfully. your obd't scry't,
MM. J. BINGHAM.