The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1866-1891, 1870-10-27
AGRICULTURAL.
:Improyement of Worn Out Lands.

abatement said to~have been mace
~by a soldier of Washington's army,
that during the winter which the
the American forces spent at Val
ley Forge, he found that the whole
neighboring country had beenaban-
doned by its former owners because
it had become unproductive, and
that thousands upon thousands of
:; acres situated between the Hudson
and Delaware rivers could have
been bought for less than one dollar
an acre. These lands had been
worn out by constant cropping,
without any return in the shape Of
manure, until they were reduced
to the same condition as that of
sthousands of acres of once fertile
land in South Carolina which is
now "too poor to sprout peas"
By systematic Improvement,
those same lands have been brought
to a higher degree of fertility
'than that of any time since their
first occupation, support their pop,
sulatien of thrifty and prosperous
thousands, ana sell for more than
!: q thousand dollars an acre.
How has this change from abso-
fdtesbarrenness to extreme fertility
been wrought? By scientific hus-
bandry, by the careful collection
ana application of every species
of manure, by deep and *close
tplowing under green crops, crea-
ting vegetable matter ard forming
new. mould. Throughout all these
lands 'avwefl adapted rotation of
,crops and the clover plant have
been the means employed to re-
,store the worn out lands and make
them support their teeming popu-
ilation, and furnish besides immense
surplus crops of grain, grass and
meat; sorthat their owners are to-
day the mostfthriving and prosper
'ous farmers inthe world.
We contend that if we in South
Carolina will only adopt the same
intelligent system, we can attain
the same results, and that collect
our farm yard manure as carefully,
use lime, gypsum, and other min.
eral manures, grow clover, and
plow in peas and other green crops
to add to the vegetable matter in
the soil,Ethe worn out lands OF
South Carolina, whose red and
scanned surface now tells the tale
of murder which has been commit
ted, may be made quite as produc-
tive and valuable as the old fields
near Valley Forge. It'is nolonger
possible to say that clover'cannot
be grown in South Carolina. The
contrary has been too abundantly
demonstrated by the successful
experiments of several planters.
With the same careful preparation
las rs made by the New Jersey and
Pennsylvania farmers, with the
same deep blowing and liberal
use of manure can be as success.
fully raised in South Carolina, and
we need no other specific to
redeem our sworn out lands"
But even those who may still be
disposed to deny the profitable
production of clover will admit
that we can raise oats, peas, or
barley, and any one of these crops
plowed under while in green
state, or even allowed to mature,
then eaten down, trampled by hogs,
and then turned under with a good
two-horse plow, will supply a rich
treasury of vegetable matter to
the soil, and in course of time
restores its pristine fertility, while
it will also materially increase the
production of the smoke house.
Glover, lime and plaster, and a
iudicious rotation of crops, are
certainly the best restoratives for
our wasted lands, but peas, oats,
or other small grain which WIFI
shade the land; and in the shape
of putrescent svegetable matter
increase the mould, will prove q
very efficient substitute, uniting
pasturage with tillage, securing us
an adequate supply of meat and
good stock, arresting the deterioat'
ing process of former days, repair:
ing the waste Of generations, and
establishing a new and more pros,
porous order of things.
Unless we give back to the gen.
erous earth the elements OF pro-
ductiveness of Bhich for years upon
. years we have been depriving her,
she cannot respond to our demands.
The system of husbandry which
we have pursued for generations
has been cursed. One OF the
richest and most productive re.
gions in the world, as our ancestors
found it, has within q century
been reduced to barrennes. Ours