Delaware Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1843-1874, 1874-04-09
agricultural.

Mr.. WIN. Chamberlain, Of Red Hook, Dutch
ess county, N. T., In 1910 became the owner
OF worn out hay-farm, having $50 acres of
Cleared land. The surface is very beautiful,
sufhciently level for convenient cultivation, ana
rolling enough for good drainage. In 1841, the
crop was seventeen loads of hay. Forty acres
OF rye gave ten bushels to the acre; twenty five
acres OF corn gave twenty bushels 10 the acre;
twenty acres Of oats gave fifteen bushels to the
acre. The remainder of the farm was In what
was called pasture, which was just adequate to
the grazing Of ono span of horses two pairs Of
oxen. and one COW. The soil was genera lily
sandy loan, sand predomiaating A large
swamp In the central part Of tho farm had never
been drained, and was too soft for even year
ling steer TO pass over it. Very little lime In
the soil, the springs yielding soft water. This
land. In its best primative condition, would
not have been classed as first late In Livingston
County. There was too much sand, too much
Rround-up granite rock, and too little lime in
, II at the drst, aud a miserable system OF farm
Ing had, by lS4l, taken from II all that II ever
had of fertility. II was so poor il would not
beor clover.
The process OF restorat lou was, first, TO pur-
chase few sheep; leaves from the woodlands
were put in the sheds, and the sheep fed and
kept oil these leaves. The swamp was drained
| and tbs muck taken from the bitches that were
to he LETT open, was drawn to the sheds and
m lde to absorb the manure of the sheep. A
very simple test of the value Of the muck was
made by taking n load that had been thrown
OH the bank OF ditch, where IL had di led, and
spreading II over four rods of ground then ready
for rye cop. The effect was marked, aud
the clover ON this four rods headed out the same
| season that II was sown, before the rye was
ready to harvest, while all around very little
could be seen. The manure from the sheep
sheds was piled In the Spring, mixing the leaves
and muck thoroughly with it. So much a.
Il ITh Mt to al nnt tan 1.arr
put on land just before sowing rye, and mixed
with the surface soil. Four quarts of timothy
seed were sown 10 the Fall on each acre, and
IN the following Spring six quarts of clover
seed, and the last of May, or LIST Of June, one
and half bushels of Nova Scotia gypsum was
sown on each acre. The manure was applied
| III light dressings, 50 as to cover as many acres
as 1t was thought it would answer to secure the
growth OF the clover and grass-seed. On land
not MANFRED clover woald not grow. 'By
drawing weeds, leaves, and everything that
| would make manure, managed to have nice
little pile to top dress Fall-sown grain, and he
was delighted to find he could raise clover, and
then the improvement OF the soil was quite
easy. have purchased very little manure !;
have tried guano and phosphate, but was dis
| satisfied with both. Found ashes good for clo-
veri now depend for manure on the farm sup.
ply, and calculated to give all the land that is
plowed small supply when 1t il seeded down. t"
Extract from letter from MIR. Chamberlain to
| me. ln the year 1866 visited this farm, and
took notes of the crops. Six hundred tons Of
| hay, making $40 loads; 40 acres of Indian corn,
estimated at so bushels per acre 80 acres Of
wheat, yielding Is bushels TO the acre, (the
land some way does not generally produce good
crops OF wheat, though once Mr. Chamberlain
averaged 40 bushels to the acie,) 30 acres OF
oats ana acres of roots; 200 sheep Summoned.
The previous Winter lie had fed 300 sheep, IS
steers and II oxen for the butcher and Win
tered his Hook of 300 Sil3sian sheep kept for
breeding, and his teams, young cattle and cows
used on the farm
MIR. Chamberlain has made his farm highly
productive, measured by the standards of the
best land In the whole nation and he has made
IL prontable. he has tried buying manure,
and found it did not pay as against home made ,
gypsum and clover and timothy seed lie buys !;
all the rest lie produces. The first thing he had
to do was to make clover grow on his "clover-
SICK" land after that, as he said, all was easy
and very little barn-yard manure made the
clover grow. For long time he fed out on
the farm the hay and grain that no raised, and
turned il into manure, looking to the beef, NUT
Ton, and wool that lie sold for his Compensation.
NOW he has hay to sell as well as to feed This
great Improvement has been but the result Of
good Judgment, aided by abundant capital; and
he has constantly drawn from the farm part
| OF its productions in the forms before statsd
1
duced. II he had he could not have sold meat
aud wool and the increase of his flock of Ses-
ian sheep. Ii under the adverse circum stances
that stood i'll the way Of Mr.. Chamberlain, every
obstacle has been successfully met and over
| come, what may the farmers of fertile West
mol dol As consider MIR, Chamberlain to
have set the farmers of this country an exam.
pie OF lneslmable value, / think ii but proper
10 say That he lived Oh il farm in Vermont lin-
I'll about sixteen years old. In due time lie be-
came merchant in New York, and there he
acquired tue necessary capital to enable him to
indulge IN his love for agricultural pursuits;
, ana al about forty years age, he bought tbi
WORKOUT Duchess County farm, IN its very
impoverished condition, and has lived to see ii
aDandantly productive. Aud he has In doing
TINS work, Introduced very valuable kind OF
sheep lnto the country, that will exert an i'm
portant influence ON our wool-growing in the
future; and he has done all this In such wav
As 10 make farming pay. Barnyard manure
and the clover-plant are the agents he has used
TO bring this about. Tho special manures. ex.
, cept gypsum, lie has tried enough To know that
they were not the best for him. But why did
Mr. Chamberlain ind that improvement was
, easy and rapid from the time he could make
clover grow? How did the clover give him a
! crop OF hay, and still improve his land? Prof
Voelcker says: "The clover-plants take nitro.
+ gen from the atmosphere and manufacture IL
. into their substance, which, on decomposition
OF tue clover roots and leaves, produces album.
lance OF ammonia. In reality, the growing OF
clover Is equivalent to great extent to ma
hurlng with Peruvian Ruano, and you obtain a
larger quantity Of manure than in the larges,
, uose OF PERUVIAN guano which farmer would
ever think OF applying" This Is said of a crop
Oh clover that Is allowed to fully mature and
perfect the growth Of Its roots and tops, and the
crop taken of for seed. He says: "When Won
, grow clover for seed, the leaves continually
drop and enrich the surface soil.
The clover roots and leaves are not all al once
changed into ammonia, but there is gradual
TRANSFORMATION OF the organic natter" which
makes the clover more certain to produce a
good crop of wheat than q direct supply of
nitrate OF soda-and he says: 81 have come To
.he conclusion that the very best preparation,
the very best manure, is good crop of clover u
Inc learned Professor admits that nethng but
the well established facts In regard TO the value
OF clover as crop going before wheat, has con.
'lhced him that certain theories that have been
. very generally accepted must he abandoned. D
zine best crop OF wheat is produced when
you grow clover for seed; | have repeatedly and
repeatedly seen it. Now, If bad been always
shut up In my laboratory, should never have
seen 1t or investigated ii. | should have fol
lowed in the track OF those scientific men who
so frequently turn up their noses at ANYTHING
they cannot understand or that they think I'M
scientific" This is very bold talk. and ,ha a, .
tempt Of the learned professor to form theory
That shall be III harmony with well determined
facts, in regard to tile value of clover rs ma
nure, may or may not be scientific success. Let
the learned men tight this out for themselves
The great fact that the Professor saws he has
repeatedly and repeatedly observed is the thing
l wish my readers TO take full note of.
The time TO sow clover-seed Is close at hand.
and every acre of Winter wheat should bays
ciover-seed sown upon tho matter If il is 10
Dc plowed this Fall. Very often we have sown
clov er-s seed In April on ouI wheat and if lie