Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1860-02-17
81 Qtit ltural
From the .fmerican .agricuiturust.
Valuable Experience vita Clover i'm
Renewing Worn Out Land.


Renewing Worn Out Land.
In the Winter of lS48 | purchased six acres
Of land which lay adjoining my farm, aud which
the former owner had pronounced almost worth
less, from the fact that it was, as we farmers
term it, 'run out It lay at the extreme end
of his farm, and piece of woodland lying be-
tween that and the rest Of the farm, with steep
hill to ascend, made it impossible to get manure
to it, at least so be thought. He had cropped
it with rye for several years, until it would not
produce enough to pay for the labor bestowed,
his last crop being but five bushels per acre
This so discouraged him, that he offered to take
ten dollars per acre for the piece. bought i,
thinking that could bring it to its former fer
! tility, which was sufficient to raise 40 bushels
of corr per acre. lB the Spring sowed six
quarts of the large kind of clover seed to the
acre, and let it lie that Summer, turIiug moth
ing on it. The clover took as well as could be
expected on such land. The next Summer it
came on a little better, aud would have been
perhaps third of a crop bad it been moved;
but as soon as it was well in tho blossom,
plowed it under, and abeut the first of Septem-
Der sowed it to rye, seeding to clover again in
the Spring. The result was nine bushels of
rye per acre, which was so much better than
expected, that | resolved to continue the pro-
cess. La 10 1853 the clover was considerably
better than before, aud ;n Jolly turned it un-
der sgain, sowed and seeded As beiore:-produce
Ia 5nshe]s to the acre. Performed the same
operation iu '55 aud 81, with the following re-
suits: il '55, Is bushels. and in '57, % bush
els to the acre, when considered the land stronc
enough to bear corn.
Accordingly | let the clover grow, and in
October turned it under 10 plant to corn next
season. The rye was always threshed in the
field, and the straw stacked aud left until the
next crop was sOwo, then spread on top just be-
fore the ground troZe, which, in a measure, pre-
vented the rye from heaving out.
1t is true that have not derived any benefit
from it except what rye it produced over and
above the cost Of cultivation, but the increase
10 the value of the land will more than pay all
expense, for the former owner has offered ule
$50 per acre for the piece. have never pas
tured it one week since have owned it. so it
ls an easy matter to come at the profit or loss
in the speculate
Oak Hill NJ Y. .FARMER Boy, +.
REMARKs.-The experiment of Farmer Boy
and its results, like that of esquire" Bunker
given in the January .fgricuIturast, should be
! carefully studied by the owners of .'worn-out''
lands. To make it as clear as possible we have
re-arranged the figures sent By our correspon-
deCt, placing them in tabular form:
Dr..
Cost of cultivating aud harvesting 6
acres rye years,st Sc per, ,acre,per
year $144
Clover seed and sowing A
Interest aud taxes on land 10 wears 30
Total cost $23S
CR.
$50 bushels Rye at average of
| 7eo S245
Increase in value of land I2O-S365
Clear Profit Sl27
This would be So 20 per year. mr. .bo,t 50