The Hillsborough recorder. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1820-1879, 1860-10-10
CROPS WITHOUT MANURE.

Already we are spending "a zoo, 900 a
year in foreign manures, and to have TO in
crease this expenditure will be counter.
poise to any economy Of grass at home. As
il TO meet this anxiety, agricultural art is
now showing that the greater part Of this out
lay for foreign manures is needless. When
the agricultural knowledge which is now en-
rich,rg the few tas extended TO the many. il
will be a subject Of surprise and ,exation that
We should have thrown away millions Of
money aud wears Of dispu,ation with the Pc.
lruyian and other Governments on foreign
manures. which have been for the most part
unnecessary. llis to the application Of geo.
logical aud chemicai sc iences that we owe the
discovery Of the waste we have been making
A. an illustration, take the case of the Lois
Weldon husbandry, now al last exciting the
attention which il should have obtained do
zen years ago. At Lois Weedon an agricul.
turist has for seventeen years raised wh.at
crops on the same soil-crops now amoun.
ting 10 from thrty-six 10 fnrty bushels per
acre--without the application ofany manure
at all. This gentleman, the Rev. y. Smith
understood the composition Of our clav lands
the great expanse Of wheat land which we
have as yet hardly begun to develop. Il was
clear 20 him that the mineral elements requi-
site for wheat production had never been
either developed or husbanded as they might
be by our traditional methuIs Of tillage /; and
he has proved, BY a continued success OF
seventeen wears, that he Judged rightly. II
is enough 10 say here that he has turned up
an increasing depth 10 the air. aud that BY
his method bali the sill is left lalloS each
year alternately. lie s0Ws his wheat in triple
rows vita lhr space oi foot between them,
and leaves an interval Of three iret--ihe
stubbles Of each season being the fallows 81
the next. Tie unequalled quantity of the
straw thus airily grown, and the excellence
nf the grain il bears, are undispuied; and
there can be no question as 10 the prOduc-
tiyeness 1hen, 10 iact, the moiety ot each
acre produces the quantity we have stated.
on soil which was al FIRST of nnly average
quality. The economy 81 manure j. even
carried further. Light soils, unsuitable for
wheat, are manured with clay merely. aud
thus raised TO a hear-braring quality.
Improvements of a kind like this open wide
prospects Of economy and fertility az once,
and should raise our spirits more than any
bad weather should depress them; and when
we see that seventeen years may be required
to teach Us how TO use our oan soil for the
production Of our laily food, we may well
question whether our occasional difficulties
4 from untONard seasons are not evils Which
we may expect TO outgrow.
This improved husbandry is sufficient
answer TO the apprehensions expressed hy
some melancholy men who calculate the
number Of wears that the guano and other
special manures will hold ont. aud cunrludr
iha; then we must starVe. But there Is an-
other fact which ha. a bearing on this. Our
lree-iradr in rorn has 80 lowered the price oi
grain, aud restricted IT'S fluctuations, that
not only are the speculations Of corr dealet'
reduced to regularity. but The cultivation ol
wasat is being brought within its natural
limits in England. Our farmers are more
and more de,oting their least suitable wheat
lands to the growth rf roots; 50 that there
nav still be all the stock, aud consequently
all the manure that can possibly be wanted.
This j. direct aud natural consequence ol
the Tree importation Of grain, By which the
price will always be kept moderate. 80. al
least. the farmers in our wheat growing dis
siricts say and we have no donbt they are
quite right. II together with this, we learn
TO make use Of our clay soils ass iaade at
Lois weedon, while by commerce We com.
mand the sIplus 81 all the lands Of the globe,
We may,ferl assured that IN coming geneta-
tons there will always be food enough Tor
lman lui beast.
L1id,t Dnis Ms u Algasi Is.
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