The Lancaster gazette. [volume] (Lancaster, Ohio) 1863-1886, 1867-11-28
Remedy for the WOrn-Out
Lands of the West.

The cultivator of the river bot
toms and of the prairies, where
corn has been grown for fifty
years in succession, may smile at
the idea of exhausted lands, and
yet thoy are to bo found in his re-
gion, if not in his immediate vicin
ity. There is much land in Ohio
and Indiana, back from the bot
toms that will not yield, this year,
more than thirty or forty bushels
of corn to the acre-lands that
when they were fret cleared were
good for seventy or eighty bushels.
They are notso much exhausted
as the New England hill-sides,
where nothing but MULLEN and
iohnswort, penny.royal and five.
fingers, will grow, yet much ofthcir
fertility is gone, and they yield
small profit to tho owners. The
land that produces only halfa crop,
is what we call worn out or ex
hausted. A largo part of the cul
tivatcd farms in the older Western
States, is already in This con-
dition. II has been brought about
by constant dropping with gram,
and returning no manure. Corn.
wheat, oats, grass, have followed
each other in constant succession,
and nothing has been done TO i'm
provo the soil. The whole man.
agcmcnt has been with reference
to immediate profit. and the cxpec
tation of soon selling the farm.
The remedy for this is perma.
nent occupation, and course Of
husbandry that looks to the in
croasing productiveness Of the soil
lWe commend 20 tho careful study
Of this class OF farmers, the rotation
of crops followed IN Pennsylvania,
and noticed in our August issne.
For the kind Of farming pursued in
the grain districts Of the West, we
know nothing better and we would
only change il in introducing barn
cellars or shods, for tho saving and
composing OF manurcs.
Lime comes in as part of Thu
rotation, and in many parts of thu
West lime rock is quite as abun
dant as in Pennsylvania, and i
can be manufactured quito al
cheaply. Tho same kind of limt
rock exists along the line Of thu
railroads in Ohio, where cuttingl
have been made, and moro thar
half Of tho State Of Indiana is un
derlaid by lime. Coal, TOO, abound
often in the samo districts, ant
r whcro /: does not. wood is plenty
, and often burned in immense pile
} to get it ont Of the way. AS W
have shown in our September is
sue, the burning of lime is yer.
simple process, and any one VIII
/, can manufacture charcoal can man
= age a lime stack. This article
!, needed upon these partially worI
. soils, and would work very bene
D fetal changes. In connection witt
I this, or without IL, if limo can no
, be had, clovor should be used
] part of tho course. We were sur
=; priscd to 500 so few clover fields i
! tho West. Tho value of the plan
] as q renOvator OF the soil is not q
! all understood in that region. Fo
3 the class Of lands indicated, it
! the most remunerative crop tina
can bo sown, 1t makes good tod
dor. The seed bringsa good pric
= in market. Above all, it is a mos
, valuable rcnovator of tho sol
, whether IL be fed off or turned undo
! with the plow. More clover mean
more wheat, moro corn, more cal
tie; and moro cattle means NOR
q manure and richer land, il tn
} farmer will SEQ to it, Any one VIII
can estimate the difference bctwce
thirty and sovonty bushels of cor
to tho acre, can tell whether thi
D kind of farming will pay.-An
AgriculiWiSt.