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WiLLUtfD. COOKE,
EDITOR & PROPRIETOR.
A FAMILY NEWSPAPER MUTUAL IN POLITICS.
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BcHoirtr to all tije 3m tmsts of lje Sourtj, literature, ouc atton, multe, 3tos, tije MatMs, &t.
, HI NO. 44.
RALEIGH, I0RTH CAROLINA, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1854.
WHOLE NO. 148.
From the Farmer's Journal.
TKUEE DAYS IN EDGECOMBE.
BY EDMUND RCFVIX.
nMior ana nin-ertatn aim loose veroat j
1 . 11 - .111.11 il ..il!i. 11 U
e I had -learned that agricultural improve- i
ut had b -en making great and remarkable I
givss in ivlgeeombe county. Wo at I knew I
t-'l
WW.
. I'l'O'
"V 1
f the character of the soils of tne j
pii.C
-HI,
ail' I of the -Trent agent f r their im-
j.i '.v. ih.m!, marl, elsewhere, and wmcTi was
re;irted.tM liave been the prime . fertilizer in
ivl'i-omb:', made ine desirous of visiting that
jo'ijitv, ,nd becoming personally acquainted
sii soini1 of the !(est improved farms and then-
ni -t'"t'-. This wish was made the stronger,
bntVn.' ;ii'COiiip!isIinicnt not at all forwarded, bv
my-having received' from the Agricultural Soci
ety of that eunty,' some eighteen month's ago,
an in wiatinii to deliver an address at its then
nvxt annua! meeting. While highly appreciat-
- in..; that Compliment, I was under the necessity
...!' d- clia.iig the honorable servics required. My
.-iigagenii:it-. then forbade my undertaking the
. t ok. And even if free to aet, I have never es
teemed of much value the instruction aiuLlx'n-
... etit to bt conveyed-in formal addresses to Agri
cultural Societies. The occasion, and 1 lie in xd
assemhi.'ti-, both would render it Improper to
treat, l.T in-urueiion, of matters of farming prac
tice, llein-e, the speaker on such occasions is
almost compelled to fall into the far more easy
akji.i H:istm.iry way, of uttering a mere dec'a-
maii .mi on agriculture, which m most cases is
suchns may be truly termed '"an essay on agri
c tiUH'at things in general, and of i othing in par-li.-.i'
ir,"' and is of no practical use whatever.
It is not so much the fault of the writers or
. spanker- of such addresses, ;ts it is .f" the occa
sion", ilia '"such forma! addresses serve to instruct
"i'LOWfiiiMiltural knowledge, as little as do Fourth
-.-of J ul v sp -eches iii statesmanship, or in the
(science of government.
It; v:
at
very recently, (in August, 1 8-54,)
"that -circumstances permitted my visiting Edge
Conine
it tv 'In
i.lii.'ii returning to Virginia, from a vis
upper part of North Carolina. After
filming toe 'intention, there was but a few days'
time to notify John S. Dancy, Esp of my com
invr. With this gentleman only, I had had
-one' coi restiondence, as the former president of
the Edg' C 'inbe Agricullural Society. I had j
never si--n any resident, and seen no more, of the
c;i!i'uiv. than was afforded by the passage on the
AVionii'igt'on rai.road through its borders, and :
which is'; "generally along a ridge of its poorer
ia'id.
Wheii reaching the Rocky Mount station, I
had c anted on taking the mail-coach to Tarbo
r !;-h ; but b found Mr. Dancy and his carriage
awaiting niv arrival. This' I should have regret
ted. if nierelv providing fur. my personal ac
cumulation. Bit the private conveyance per
mitted the traveling a different route- and the
passage through, and view of a number of the
Lot farms- in the county.' We crossed Tar riv
er '"bv Rockv Mount, at the picturesque falls of
the fixer, made, as are the mo-l eastern falls of
all our A"t! antic rivers, hy the ridge of granite
.'which passes across the courses of all that enter
the Wean. - Our road passed not very far from
tlie" river, and again crossed it belftw. The lands,
like ncai Iv all in tlie coynty, are as nearly level
as land caw he. The-original growth, more or
U .-s of pine, ind caies soil of but moderate nat-.
urai fertility, and of acid constitution. Still,
. the-e lands near tie' river, as usual in regard to
II .,....1. l.nllK .1... T.,..A
flil rivers, were niutn nrto-i ui.iu nir hh.m r:
: mote lands. We stopped to see a large , ma' 1:
excav.-iMc u. near th road, and" also saw eidencesJ
of. the other usual and more' peculiar "operations.
r the improvement of lands. Hut it is'unne-
"o-ssarv t6' r-neak of them in advance of the bet
ter v:ews of more full operations afterwards.had
tlse-Ah -re.
W-- feacin-d the. beautiful village of Tarbo-rou-',i
late in the afternoon. - The next morning
st. tt out, mi horseback, first to view l'anola, the
liirii.i .ow n-.l and cultivated "jointly, by Messrs.
11. b'-it Xofilect and John S. Dancy., -It was
-j.i'ircl;a.s...d' but a 'ew years ago. (at $15 the acre,)
'and is now under thethird year's crop made by the
pr''-eiit proprietors. It was before greatly want-
: jiigi-ii btr.Sdr-ngs as well as all ther impi tiv- inents;
: au'i (he ful. clipping of the farm has not been
i . , . . 1 TM ... ... 1. i . I
-attain l btlore tins. year, ine grow in o,i me
crop of l'anola, was- such as might be expected
fi-.'in a high dtgree of recent fei ti i.ation, and
j!ificvoUs? culture, 'But I shall have.but little to,
suv'oii that, head, important as it ' is, either of
tin- or-other well improved farms that I viewed
.in ihe like hasty mid cursor)7 manner. . AH the
crops were good, and of remarkable, uniformity
of growth, fof such large spaces and different
fai'ius. On the original pine lands, (as nearly
ali were, except swamps and very law river bot
toms.)" the different rates of production of differ
ent farms seemed to be greater or less, in propor
tion to the length of time which had previously
. been given to the peculiar and continual manur--ing
of this county.
The dwelling houses 'for the negroes on Pano
la have all been recently erected by ihe present
..proprietors, on a regular and . uniform plan.
From their outside appearance, they, seemed of
superior order to any I have seen elsewhere, and
'-'; each family more comfortably lodged, than any
known mere agricultural laborers, whether slave
or free. The' farm buildings were also new, and
well arranged for their purposes. "
.- The stock yards were large, permanent, and
well enclosed, with straight plank or aawed fences.
Here we saw one end-of the work then carried
on by the whole force of the farm. Twelve
small carts, each drawn by one mule, were
bringing and emptying ditch-bank earth over
the whole surface of these stock yards. The
cow-yard, in which the cattle were penned
; m ougn summer w nnoui inter, anu turougu
winter with litter, was to receive a layer of above
six inches depth of this earth. The adjoining
hog lot, in which the hogs for slaughter would
be fattened, would have twelve inches or more.
The length of the hauling, - from the ditch
tank to the lots, seemed to be between 300 and
400 yards, or double this distance for each trip.
The w hole of the bedding of earth, wih the
other ingredients of the general mass, will be
next spring thrown into low ridges on heaps, for
intermixture and better preparation, and after
wards be carted to the fields.
The earth was the old bank formerly thrown
out of a large open ditch dug through a long
low der?ssion, and which served to drain the
adjacent ground. The upper part of most of
the earth thrown out was mostly of rich swamp
soil. But parts even of the upper layers were
comparatively poor and sandy. And the bot
t'Hn layer, or subsoil, before dug out was
throughout a sandy clay, which hardened into
clods when dug, and which seemed quite poor.
To this last layer, and material for compost, tlje
men were then adding a deepening of six or
eight inches, which will be used in the like man
ner hereafter.
If not before informed of the general and great
beneficial effects of such compost, I should have
doubted whether even the richest of this earth,
as material, would have failed for the long and
double transportation, and several haulings.
Am! ;:is to the (apparently poorest earth thus
used, I would not have wished it placed on my
land, if to belone without any co--t to myself.
Indeed, if, without any previous information of
either the persons so operating, or of th-effects
of Mich labors, I had first seen this precise ope
ration in progress, I would have inferred - tli t
the proprietor was on the road to ruin, instead
of t high improvement of his estate and its in
come. But 1 will never oppose any mere opin
ion, .founded in advance of all knowledge of facts,
to ihe contrary deductions from facts well ascer
tained ami tested Insufficient time and experi
ence. Ami therefore, whatever imperfections
and errors, and even partial laws as consequences,
may present partial exceptions to and errors in
the general practice of cumpost manuring in
Edgecombe, I am bound to admit, and fully be
lieve, that the practice in general has been high
ly improving, beneficial, and profitable. But
for the present, I will suspend this subject, and
rejnew.it after reaching the conclusion of my in
formation and observation of the operation.
1 We had to hasten from Panola to be in time
to rei'ch Co ton Valley, the farm of Baker Stat-'
on, E-q., who, in the estimation of his county
'men, stands highest in the rank" of the improv
ing and profit-making cultivators and good
farmers of Edgecombe. It is a good custom of
this county, that after the crops are all"laid
by," or their cultivation is ended, a barbacue is
prepared on some one's farm in each neighbor
hood, and to which are invited all the neighbor
in"" farmers. By lucky accident, and without
ever haying "had any previous notice thereof,
one of these social meetings was to take place
on this day',. under the shelter of the host's ex
tensive cotton loft. Notwithstanding a cloudy
and threatening morning, which was followed
bv a heavy rain while we were at dinner, there
were assembled abojit 60 of the neighboring
farmers and residents of all degrees. For such
an entertainment, which in our country, and ac
cording to our social usages, must be open to
nearly all who choose to come, the persons pre
sent indicated a population of high order, in re
gard to intelligence, and good deportment. Of
all whom I heard converse on farming, (and
there was no other subject of conversation,) there
w as no one who did not speak to good purpose.
The only fault I observed was that there were
too many wdio said nothing, and who seemed too
diflident, and modest, to act otherwise than as
attentive listeners.
The speedy return of fair weather enabled a
larfe party of us-to ride with our host along the
roads and paths that passed through his ex
tensive and magnificent crops of cotUn and corn
and in some parts of our route, through crops
without paths, though at the expense of consid
erable wetting-from the rain-water still remain
ing on the cotton leaves. A small part of the
low land is a true peat earth, which is so entire
ly of vegetable constitution, that, though well
drained, aud cultivated, it is incapable of sus
taining the growth of corn or of bearing tlie
weight of horses. This, I should infer, would
furnish tflie best large material for Mr. Staton's
compost heaps. But as yet ha has only used
for thatj purpose the banks of bis numerous
ditchegr-aud of the peat, only so far as the ditch
banks vjere of that earth. When all the ditch
banks shall have been thus usev'., lie will use the
peat, to:such extent as it ia of convenient dis
tance to the fields. The quantity will exceed
any probable demand for making compost, for
many years.
We returned to the village early but not
to be aioiie. My host had placed m in his of
fice, on the street, to which, his farming friends
of the neighborhood, and my new a. quaintances,
had convenient access at all times. And raiely,
from breakfast time, to late bed-time, when
within doors, were we without some agreeable
visitors. Indeed, during my whole stay, wheth
er when within doors, or on the road, or when
riding over and viewing farms, it may be said
that there was a Committee of Agriculture in
permanent session, (or in locomotion,) though
often varying both in numbers and in mem
bers, i
On the second morning, according to the pre
vious invitation and arrangement of Robert R.
Bridgers, Esq. about a dozen farmers started af
ter early breakfast, for his farm of Strabane, on
Fishing Creek, J miles from Tarborough. The
ordinary good high land of the county was
here, as at Cotton Valley, substituted in part by
lower and rich swamp land, formerly heavily
wooded, but now cleared, well drained, and un
der a heavy growth of cotton.
In the afternoon, I rode with Messrs. Dancy
and R. Norfleet, to see the farm of Hope Lodge.
This farm also is but a recent purchase of Messrs.
Dancy and William" Norlleet, and the improve
ment made by them is of still later date and less
advancement, though in as good apparent pro
gress as in other cases. The land is in four dis
tinct and level terraces, each separated from the
one next above by a short slope. The highest
of these slopes was the only one that I saw on
ai;iy farm that could be termed a hill-si ie; and
this one, though of slight elevation was protect
ed from being washed by a graduated trench
running along the top. The lowest of the four
terraces, is bordering on the Tar river, (in a level
of which the farm lies.) and is narrow, and too
low, and too .much subject to being overflowed
by high freshets, for cultivation. It is not how
ever useless. Its wood, both drift, and standing
and dead, furnishes a valuable supply of ashes
for compost and a still more abundant and also
a valuable material, in he "brown deposit" of
mud aud mixed leaves and other vegetable mat
ter, left in the eddies of the floods. This latter
is deemed the richest earth for the compost heaps.
This earth, in one layer, and over it pure marl
some inches thick, made the flooring of a pen
in which the cattle were confined every night
through summer. No doubt the animal excre
inents were bes;t secured from waste by the con
tact and chemical combination with the carbon
ate of lime of the marl.
In the course of this day, T had visited and.
seen the manner of working of four different mar
diggings two on Strabane, one on Mr. John
Bridgers' farm, (where we found 15 carts at
work,) and one on Hope Lodge. There were
important defects in the manner ot working ot
!1 w'hich I pointed out, as well as the proper
remedies or substitutions; and which advice may
save a large' portion of the expenses of future
excavation and hauling. More will be said on
this bead, when speaking on the marling of
Edgecombe more fully.
This evening we spent at the house of John
L. Bridgers, Esq., in Tarborough, with some six
or seven other farmers. After a late sitting, and
next morning an early rising and breakfast, Ire
turned to Rocky Mount, by a different road, to
take the railroad cars for Weldon.
Iwilfnow pioceed to bring together, in a
more regular digest, such observations as I could
make, and the information obtained, during my
short visit. The statements will be necessarily
meagre and imperfect, and perhaps in some cases
may be erroneous, owing to misconception, or
failure of means. For any such mistakes, I trust
that the eircumstanceswill serve as a sufficient
excuse.
Edgecombe county, or as much of it as I saw,
in its surface is almost a level, unbroken by any
deep depression except the Tar river, and its
considerable tributaries. There are, on almost
every farm, slight depressions, usually very nar
row and long, of swampy character naturally,
and which serve a most useful purpose, as pro
per routes for open drains, and out of these
'ditches to furnish material of earth for compost
heaps. In many cases, these slight depressions
of level spread out into extensive swamps as
on Cotton Valley and Strabane which when
cleared of their gigantic forest growth, and
drained, make very rich and productive land.
The clearing is very laborious, though the labor
is lessened and divided, by belting, and so
"deading" the large trees. The ditching also
cut, through unmatted roots and among standing
trees, is laborious, but durable and effectual for
drainage. The soil is deep, but rarely peaty, and
of such, good earthy constitution, and on such
sound subsoil as to be of great and permanent
productiveness, under' proper tillage ana treat
ment. The higher land is firm and mostly dry, na
turally. Most of it is of some oue or other in
termediate grade between sandy soil and medi
um loam. Very little is too sandy to be of ex
cellent texture for cotton, corn and peas and
not much, (though there is some land,) quite
close and stiff enough for" wheat and clover. As
the culture of the latter two crops is attempted on
very few farms, and to but small extent, it may
beconsidered that the land generally is of the
best possible texture for all the great crocs, best
and well suited to the climate, which in the or
der of 'their usual extent of culture, are in the
order named above, of first cotton, next corn
and least peas.
The soil (exclusive of swamps) is pine-bearing
and acid, and therefore especially requiring,
and profited by, applications of lime. Marl
very extensively underlies the land, and has been
found and is used as manure on many farms.
It has been eminently beneficial, whenever pro-J
perly used and where known early, was the
foundation of all other improvements since in
troduced. The commencement of improvement,
as reported, was to me especially interesting.
Uutil some 15 years ago, the agriculture of
Edgecombe was, like most other of the more
southern counties, in a very low condition. It
was not then far from the truth, as to Edge
combe, as is even now erroneously supposed of
it by many strangers, that its chief productions
were turpentine and ague and fever. As was
generally the case formerly, in lower Virginia,
as well as stiH later in lower North Carolina, no
one attempted the durable enrichingof his land,
and not many thought of takipg the least care
to avoid complete exhaustion at some future
time. At that time, four farmers in the county
were subscribers to and readers of the Farmers'
Register, and from its contents they learned the
value of marling. Three of them had marl,
and began its use. These were, James S. Bat
tle, (recently deceased,) Exum Lewis, and Dr.
Dicken. Their success induced others to follow
their example. Soon other materials were tried.
One farmer began to make composts of earth
and marl, and stable manures; another added
ashes a third cotton-seed and others added
other and smaller materials, such as salt, gyp
sum aud guano, but in few cases, aud to limited
extent.
But whoever may be the just claimants of
minor parts of the now general system of com
post manuring, it is admitted that Baker Sta
ton, Esq., now of Cotton valley, first practiced
it extensively, and became an examplar to his
countymen in that mode of improvement, as
he is understood and reported to. bo in general
good management and good cultivation. His
successful and admirable results, in the use of
compost manure, in my opinion, were necessari
ly and greatly forwarded by his having first (or
very early in his course) marled all his land, ?nd
mostly in advance of his compost applications.
It is to be lamented that this course has not
been general among those having accessible.
Correct views of the action of marl on putres
cent manures would have caused this practice
of previous marling (or liming) to be deemed
essential. ' But the loss of value caused by the
omission of previous marling is mostly concealed
by the applications of compost being annually
repeated so that the degree of durability of
each separate dressing cannot be known.
And the subsequent application of organic
matter (supplied in the composts,) was still
more visibly operative, in making the previous
marling the most highly beneficial. Before
the improving system was begun in Edge
combe, the practical (as then and now too
generally in South Carolina,) was to take crops
almost every year from each field, and to return
less in manure than was abstracted from the
land by the crops. Of course, the culture was
regularly exhausting, andmost of the cultivated
land- had been thus made, poor, and were year
ly becoming poorer. Under such circumstances,
(as I have urged elsewhere,) calcareous manure
can have very little effect. Mr. J. S. Battle,
named above as one of the pioneers in marling,
and who at a later time became one of the most
successful operators, often having applied marl
for some four years, actually suspended the furth-
i .i ii r.i ii i i .i
er use. under the Deiiet mat ne naa not Deen
paid for his labor. Then he commenced the
composting practice; and wherever his compost
happened to be laid on ground formerly marled
(as stated to me by his son, Wm. S. Battle, Esq.,)
"the compost acted like a charm," and gave
sufficient encouragement for his resuming and
continuing the use of marl, as he did, with zeal
ous perseverence and success.
I will now state generally, and in the cursory
manner which only is permissable in a hasty
sketch like this, the ordinary practices in mak
ing compost manure, of which the main features
are now general in Edgecombe, and which, to
more or less extent, is in use on almost every
farm.
The ditches on every farm, in their original
banks, and the earth taken out in subsequent
clearings and deepenings, furnish the main sup
ply of material, and which is nowhere yet ex
hausted. Much of this is of swamp or other
rich soil. But some, from greater admixtures of
sand, of even poor upper soil, and very often of
comparatively poor subsoil, is much poorer and
as it seemed to me, too poor to be worth remo
val for manure. Still, all such is used for com
post. Besides, the nearest wood-land (even if
of poor soil,) is often skinned of its upper sur
face and all the upper earth in the fence cor
ners is scraped up and removed, repeatedly
and there are additions to ths more abundant
earthy materials for compost. A large pot ion
of all such earthy material, as before stated for
Panola, is used to bed cattle and other live stock,
in summer"pens, and make the foundation and a
large ingredient of the general mass, with vege
table litter, in the winter pens. In the latter
part of winter, the whole mass then in the stock
pens, is thrown up in low ridges, for better ad
mixture and ripening, and then hauled out, to
be applied, in the drill, for cotton, is' the univer
sal practice. Where marl is available, that
makes a large part of the earthy foundation.
It would be much better if marl formed the
larger or only supply of bedding for the pens in
summer, when highly putrescent matters are so
liable to decomposition, and the total waste of
the greater and richer part of their substance.
As soon as the crops are laid by, in July and
ewly in August usually, the making of manure,
and collection of materials, begins. On all the ara
ble ground not then under a crop, (which indeed
is very little on most farms in summer,) the
earth is carted to a pile in the centre of every
acre, 100 single mule cart loads of earth to
each, or about 500 bushels. To each pile is
added 30 bushels of cotton-seed and the earth
and cotton-seed often are all. Bat either in ad
dition to, or without cotton seed, the stable ma
nure, as fast as it is produced, is given and all
the materials are thrown into a heap, and as well
intermixed as may be. Marl, where to be had,
is also added, and ashes. On Panola, last year,
ia the compost heap on each acre, besides the
100 loads of ditch-bank earth, or of the " brown
leposit" of the river freshets, there was 40 bush
els of marl, 10 bushels of ashes, 30 of cotton
seed, and 1 bushel of both gypsum and salt. -
But the two latter ingredients are rarely used
elsewhere.
In the spring, the compost heaps already in
the fields, (and mostly made through the past
winter,) and also the compost manure ridged up
in the stock pens, are carted and laid in the
drills, the land having been previously ploughed.
The manure is quickly covered by the plough ;
and the planting oi" the several crops, in their
proper order, soon follows.
Ashes are not only saved from the ordinary
sources of supply of every farm, but from other
sources, and with peculiar economy and care.
It has been ascertained that rapid burning and
arge fires consume and destroy (or rather it
should be said, drive off into the air,) a large
proportion of the ashes which wood yields.
Ibis w aste is very great in the burning and
draught of ordinary fire-pjaces, and much great
er in the customary large log-heaps and violent
fires' of cleared wood-land. Hence, for the wood
of new clearings, and of drift wood departed by
the freshets of the river, small fires and slow
burning are used. The quantities of ashes thus
obtained are very great. Messrs. Norfleet, and
Dancy, pay to their negroes 8 cents per bushel
for ad the ashes thev will furnish; and 'they
make a considerable supply from the numerous
lead trees in the woods, and scattered drift logs.
Ihe larger collections of drift wood are burnt
by the proprietors.
All these materials, and every other putres
cent matter that accident may offer, are used in
compost, or intermixture. And the general ben
efits are such, that, the belief has become very
extensive that intermixture alone, of any two or
more different materials, serves to create new
an I important manuring value. The received
reports of the general results of the practice, as
shown in the large and increasing crops, and in
creased fertility of the lands so treated, are
such as to permit no doubt to be entertained ot
there, being great benefit and profit in the gen
eral. But still I would question the propriety
of using, and of twice moving, and more than
twice hauling the poorer of the earthy material
used as well as .the economy and profit of some
of the attendant labors. Of this, more hereafter.
With such industry to procure materials, and
with the unlimited supplies of the larger and
poorer kinds, the amount of compost manure to
be made is limited only by the labor that can
be so directed. And the quantities actually
made are enormous. Every careful farmer thus
manures his whole cotton field, and mure or less
of land under crops. Of the Panola farm, hav
ing 600 acres of cleared land in all, compost
was applied last spring to 350 acres now under
culture, and guano to 50 acres morq, 400 in all
manured. The land now (or lately) under
crops, is 220 in cotton, 225 in cornj 8 of sweet
potatoes, 37 of oats, and 100 of brojad-cast peas
as a manuring crop; in all 590 acres under
crops. The products of this farm for the only
two years completed under the present owners,
with a safe estimate for the growing crops, would
exhibit to those persons knowing the circum
stances, great progress of improvement. But to
others, the mere statement of increase, without
explanations, would be delusive, as the necessi
ties of the farm at first required labor "to be
withheld from cropping; and the first two years'
crops were therefore on much smaller spaces, as
well as on unimproved and much .poorer land.
Even as to other cases of older and long contin
ued culture and increase of crops, which I will
cite to show some of the greatest improvement
and profit, all are liable to the objection of there
having been more space added by new clearings,
and also increase of laborers. This obstacle to
accurate statements of increase must necessarily
apply to all improving farmers, of a country as
yet but partially opened for culture.
Mr. Baker Staton has increased his cotton
crops from 60 bales to 302, (400 lbs. are count
ed to the bale.)
Mr. James S. Battle when beginning to marl
owned and cultivated four separate farms in
Edgecombe, on all of which he made at most
275 bales of cottdn. Subsequently, he gave
two of the farms to two sorts find on the other
two farms only, subsequently increased his crops
to 600 bales. On the other two farms, his sons
have respectively made about 185 and 195 bales,
or nearly 1000 bales from the 3 proprietors.
From the 600 bales made iately by the father,
there should be deducted 50 ; which was the
preyious product of another farm which he had
lately bought. The subsequent increase on that
new purchase fairly belongs to Mr. Battle's gen
eral increase, from his own improvement of land.
Mr. Robert R. Bridgers and Mr. J. L. Horn,
besides having respectively the ordinary incen
tives to increase their crops, have for some years
been engaged in a friendly but ardent contest
with each other for superiority. Their crops of
cotton for the last seven years will be here stated
in connection.
R. R. Bridgers. J. L. Horn.
1847, 19 bales. 27 bales.
1848, 33 M 43 "
1849, 53 M 54 "
1850, 88 " 83 "
1851, 136 " 137 " v
1852, 185 " 165 "
1853, 170 " 182 41
Mr. Horn's farm is on Town Creek, where
there is no n ail, and where ashes are largely
used instead. His whole farm cimsi st of but
317 lacres. Half of his arable land, would not
have yielded to him at first moie than 10 bush
els of corn to the acre.
Mr. Robert R. Bridgers stated that he knew
that the farming of Mr. Mercer, on Town Creek,
yielded better returns than his own. But, dif
ferent from most others, Mr. Mercer raised not
only cotton for sale, but also corn and pork ; so
that a like statement of his cotton crop, if re
ported, would not do justice to his improvements
and profits, in comparison with others, with
whom cotton is the principal crop, and the only
sale crop.
There are. many others who in the last 10 or
12 years have, by compost manures, doubled
their crops fewer have tripled theirs, and still
fewer, including the above named, have increas
ed their fourfold.
If we had heard for the first time' of these
most usual practices, in advance of their ascer
tained effects, there are few who would not ut
terly disbelieve in the great benefit of using such
poor materials, and in any nett profit from the
w hole laborious composting and application, to
be repeated almost every crop, and the manur
ing and the cropping repeated every year.. And
if one, or a few famers only had even had some
year or two cf experience, and reported the bene
ficial results, their favorable opinions would be
ascribed to their sanguine temperament, mis
take, or errors of judgment. Bu. when so many
farmers, of all and various conditions, have con
curred for ten years or more in the same gener
al procedure, and in so doing, have stopped the
former general progress of impoverishment, aud
have; produced great improvement of lands, and
increase of crops and of profits, there remains no
ground for a doubt as to the general beneficial
results, and great profits, of the general proce
dure for such improvement. And their increas
ed products and profits have been made, on
lands cropped almost every year, (an omission
is very rare,) and without any thing like a ro
tation of crops. Cotton occupies the same ground
almost continually, and always for at least four
or five years in close succession.
But in addition to these considerations, I have
seen other and like facts of composting else
where, which were alleged to produce a great
benefit, and were sustained by as ample and
similar evidence. In Talbot cour.ty, Maryland,
a few years ago, I saw in operation nearly the
same system of making compost manures, and
heard the like reporis of general benefits thence
derived. The practices varied only in the dif
ferent supplies of materiaL In Talbot, besides
ditch banks, head-lands, or t margins of fields,
and other rich high-land sail, tide-marsh mud,
was accessible, was largely itsed for the chief
material of compost heaps. Also refuse or very
low-priced fish, when to be obtained in quanti
ties, sometimes made part ot the richer parts of
the . bed or heap. Not only; did intelligent pro
prietors so operate and improve on their own
lands, but poor men who were but tenants at will
who paid rents that with us would be deemed
much too high, (one-half of the wheat, and one
third of all other products of the rented farms,)
and who yet had been growing richer in a long
course of such business. As in Edgecombe, so
in Talbot county, the practice was so extended,
had so long continued, and the effects were so
well known and established in general opinion,
that there was no room to doubt the ordinary
and great benefits, even though there might have
been many errors in the details, and many losses
in particular, and wrong parts of the generally
good system.
Thus, in two remotely separated communities,
bavins not the least communication with or
knowledge of each other, there have separately
sprung up systems of manuring of almost pre
cisely alike.
My commendation of the general system of
compost manuring in Edgecombe, and testimo
ny of its benefits in improving both crops and
land, have been sufficiently stated. I can
;a!so testify (though such might be inferred as
incidents to all great and general improvement
of lauds,) that the farmers are intelligent in pur
suing their plans zealous and industrious in
their labors and managing well in the peculiar
system they aim to pursue. I will now take the
liberty of noting some things in which I think
they err, either in acts of commission or omis
sion. 1st. In their compost system, I think they
err in using much earth as material which is too
poor to pay for two transportations and more
handlings. Enough of rich earth might be
found and used instead, on almost every farm
or still better, marl for the flooring of stock pens.
2. A still earlier and more general error, is to
omit the general and light marling (or liming)
of all the fields in advance of the eompost ap
plications, or as early as possible. I say a light
marling, became the marl making part of the
compost would at every application serve to add
to the quantity of marl, until the soil had been
made sufficiently calcareous. If this most valu
able material is not to be obtained on or near to
every farm, marl nearly as rich as pure lime,
from the more southern counties, might be
brought by the railroad or lime boated up the
Tar river. At some times even the lime from
Maine has been thus obtained as low as $1 the
cask. Mr. D. Bullock once bought 1000
casks of lime at that price, and used it as mate
rial for compost. , . '
3 There is much loss of labor in the manner
of carting the materials and carrying out and
applying the compost manure. The carts are
all small, drawn by one mule, and have the or
dinary narrow wheels. The carting ofjmaterials
in summer is mostly limited to the jtiine be
tween the laying by the crops, and tlie begin
ning to gather fodder. None of this time can
be lost; and if milch rain occurs the ground is
made soft, and the hauling heavy. Further
when carting out the manure in the Spring, to
be put in the opened drills the field; has then ...
been ploughed, and of course the hauling is la
borious. Hence, the ordinary loads of earth,
or of compost, are estimated at only five bushels,
to the one mule cart. Now, on dry or firm
j round, and on so level a surface, a mule can
easily haul eight bushels of moist marl or
earth and a two mule cart, 18 buahels, as I
have fully tested in my extreme marling labors.
And if using wheels five inches wide on the
tread, the ground would be kept smooth and
firm under the wheels, even if in a condition of
moisture which would cause the grciund to be
cut up and become miry under narrow rimmed
wheels. Two mule carts would require but. half
the present number of drivers. These remarks
apply as well to the hauling of tnar from the
diggings.
4. The compost heaps are mostly, or to a great
extent, built on the fields, each one in the mid
dle of the acre which it is to cover. Of course,
from the heap to the most distant p irts of the
acre, is but little more than forty yirds and
this is the extreme distance to which the carta
have to haul from each heap, and much of the
hauling is within the distance of twenty yards.
To us carts for such short trips is a great waste
of labor even though each cart may make 120
or more trips in a day. For such short dis
tances, I think it probable that wheel barrows,
(running over moveable plank tracks, i would be
cheaper or scrapers, if the texture of the com
post admitted the use of the scraper.
5. The roads ascending'from marl-pits (when
such ascending roads are used) for wiant of uni
form grading, and as gentle ascent as theground
would well allow, cause great increase If draught,
and loss of power in hauling. AIs, in every
case observed, there were serious defects in th
, manner of working the pits, causing great loss
of labor, and in some cases of marl also. AH
thee defects might have been found out and
remedied, by an attentive reading of
tions for working marl-pits, in the
my direo
late (5th)
edition of the "Essay on Caloarepusj Manures."
This book was in the hands of most of these
marlers ; and their failure to attenrj to the in
structions there given, and their readiness to ad
mit the same from my verbal directions, is in
evidence of how much more effective is the one
made f advise than the other. Printed and
general instructions, however, applicable to prac
tice, and to usual and various circumstances, are
rarely well attended to and observed an practice
even by the most intelligent reader Yet the
same persons, and also the less infornled persons
who rarely read for agricultural instruction, will
eagerly listen to, and gladly profit by similar
verbal directions, offered to each particular case
arid locality. J
C.1 The good (or improving) land is cultivated
so regularly every year, that it may J be said to
have no cessation of crop-bearing ; and when
under cotton, there is rarely a change to any
other crop. It is alleged, (and I d not mea
here to oppose the correctness of the opinion,)
that the production of cotton, and J quality of
the product, are not impaired by the longest
known continuation of culture, with f 00 or 600
bushels of compost manure, (mainly of earth
as described) annually supplied to the land.
Even if so, the improvement might be more ra
pid, and products still better, if with more
change of culture, and especially itj preceding
cotton, if only one year preceding 2 or 3 of con
tinued cotton, by a manuring pea crp. There
is no such thing attempted as any regular rota
tion of crops in Edgecombe. f
7. A general error is to make too limited ue of
peas as a manuring crop. This is the most valua
ble plant for manuring in a southern! climate
(and there is as valuable a clover in a more north
ern and humid climate) and nowhere does it
grow better, with more certainty andj more lux
uriance, than on th soils of Edgecombe. Yet
except as the universal secondary crop among
corn, peas are rarely grown and beneficial as
is this mode, it is not sufficient to bring into
operation half of the manuring valuet of this in
estimable plant and crops, for this region.
8. Owing t the wide extent of cotton cul
ture, and the small extent of forage crops and
products and the entire want of grass culture
and of meadows, even on the lands (admirably
suited for grass there is a frequent scarcity of
hay. To supply the deficiency, northern hay is
imported, and used Hot only by thettowntnen,
but to more or less extent by some jbf the for
mers of the country. This is a shame a dis
grace to the agriculture of Edgecombe, which I
trust will not be suffered to continue much
longen I
Thus, I have as freely condemned -what I
deemed wrong, as applauded what is right.
But in eensures thrown out on such alight op
portunity for observation, it is more tian proba
ble that the cause may be in some degree mis
taken. And even if pot mistaken, ha is not apt
to be deemed correct in opinions entirely oppos
ed to those of the censured.
Marlbourne, VtL, Aug. 25, 1854.
Blessed is he who soatterelh ashes
sidewalk, for he shall not slip down.
upon the
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