1837] 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



179 



"^ But, as I said before, the operation should com- 

 mence by the time the corn has three or lour 

 blades, and with a new-^rrouiKl coulter running so 

 near as to loosen the laud lioni stroke to stroke oi' 

 the coulter, thereby doing away the necessity of 

 ihoppinir arounii the corn wiih the hoc ; which to 

 say the least of it, is a most tedious operation. ;tiid 

 i 1 think, a useless one. As to the time taken in 

 thinning the corn, it takes me no longer than an}^ 

 other person, according to the quantify oi' corn in 

 each hill. But, if the plough and rake were to 

 leave one half, or two thirds of the grass and 

 weeds behind, as N. Jj. seems to think they do, 

 then indeed I could not tell how long it would take 

 to thin and hand-weed it. I do not suppose I 

 should ever get rid of it. But, if the operation of 

 the plough and rake is. commenced in time, it 

 will destroy ninnty-nine hundredths of every thing 

 in the row except the corn, thereby leaving but 

 little else to pull up. In rich low gri)unds the nar- 

 row dock frequently puts up so thick as to make it 

 necessary to grub it up witli grubbing hoes, and, 

 •in some spots, the wild pea vine has to be scraped 

 away before the plough; but, I have never thought 

 of putting hoes in the hands of my negroes to 

 make a regular business of weeding corn, since 

 I commenced the use of the rakes. Indeed I 

 made but little use of them for that purpose lontj 

 before I thoujiht of the rakes. I once cultivated 

 one hundred and hliy acres of land in corn with 

 twelve hands. I had a good team of horses, and 

 substituted horse power for manual labor, and it 

 was all old high land, unimproved, with the ex- 

 ception of about 18 or 20 acres of low grounds 

 of the most indifferent on the estate. And, I am 

 sure, there were not more than thirty acres of it 

 weeded with hoes, or any other implement; and 

 it was admitted by some of my old neighbors, 

 (who told me they "had known it fillty years before, 

 when in its fresh state, )that they had never seen 

 such a crop on the land belbre. It produced 815 

 barrels by actual measurement. I, therefore, think 

 that the koe cannot be of such vital importance as 

 N. L. seems to think it. He thinks that the rakes 

 cannot be used to any advantage except on soft 

 light land. On such land as that, I frequently 

 dispense with the use of them altogether; but, I 

 think them of the greatest importance on stjftj 

 rough land, as they not only take away all the 

 clods from about the corn, but make the land, 

 Avhich is loosened by the plough, perfectly fine ; 

 which cannot be done by the hoe, and which 1 

 consider of much more importance than chopping 

 around the corn with the hoe. Whilst I admit that 

 the hoe is an indispensable implement on all plan- 

 tations, I do not consider it of much use in weed- 

 ing corn. 



I will now inform him, as well as I can, on the 

 manner ol' preparing my land. On all land which 

 is fallowed after the winter, for corn, wheat, or 

 tobacco. I use the log drag, already described in 

 one of the former numbers of the Farmers Re- 

 gister,* and so highly recommended by Mr. .1. 

 M. Garnett. I consider it an indispensable im- 

 plement to a good preparation. But as N. L. will 

 not perhaps go to the trouble of fixing a log, he 

 can make an experiment by reversinij his two- 

 horfse rake. Turn it upside down, and put on suit- 

 able weight, according to the stiffness of the land, 



See page 616. vol iii. 



and it will answer the purpose fully as well, if not 

 better than the log, and I will ensure that it will 

 pulverize .nioro land at one operation, than it 

 would with the teeth down at three, and the land 

 will not bake after a rain half as hard as that op- 

 erated on by the rakies. All laud which has been 

 tiillovved so long as to have settled, and become 

 close, I work up with a five-hoe cultivator, drawn 

 by two horses, and HAUnv that with a log, which 

 puts it in fine order for the reception, of any crop. 

 As to listing land for corn, I admit it is "a slo- 

 venly practice," and one 1 never approved of; but, 

 from 'necessity, I have been compelled to resort to 

 it, and it has confirmed me in the opinion that it 

 would prevent the worm from cutting the corn, 

 which I had heard long belbre I experienced it. 

 I shall hereafter resort To it on all land which I 

 cannot fallow before Christmas, or directly after, 

 as, I also think early fallowing a preventive to the 

 worm. As to the quantity of corn produced per 

 acre, I once made, on a piece of branch flat, four- 

 teen barrels; and on a piece of fresh highland, ten, 

 without the use of the hoe; and, I am sure, if all 

 the hoes in the country had been used in its culti- 

 vfjtion, it could not have produced a better crop. 

 It may be proper to mention, that, when I list 

 land for corn, I run four furrows to the list, instead 

 of two, which has been the common practice ; 

 thereby putting it in my power to prepare the 

 land well for the reception of the corn, and leave 

 a sufficient quantity of" land each side of the corn- 

 row for its cultivation, till I can find time to break 

 the balks. 



As to ray being the author of narrow beds for 

 corn, I disclaim all pretention to having introduced 

 them; I never approved of them ; and know that 

 R .D. K. did not intend that any such construc- 

 tion should be put on his communication. All 

 that he wished understood was, that I had im- 

 proved the method of horizontal ploughing, by 

 giving to each bed a gradual descent from the top 

 of the hill to the bottom, so as to prevent the wa- 

 ter fi'om breaking across and washing the furrow. 

 I am induced to believe I did introduce that meth- 

 od, inasmuch as I commenced it in 1819, and had 

 never heard of its being done by any other person. 

 I mentioned it to several old experinced farmers, 

 who had never before heard of it. One of whom 

 was Mr. Randolph Harrison, sen., of Cumberland, 

 who commenced the practice directly after I told 

 him of my experiment. And f have understood 

 lately, from some of his acquaintances, that he 

 still continues it, and approves of it very highly. 



I would be glad to know who N. L. is. andbe- 

 come better acquainted with him; and, if he will 

 come to see me, i can show him that I have not 

 only preserved the cream of my land, what little 

 it had, but will defy him or any one else to find a 

 gully six inches deep which has been produced by 

 my cultivation. Before I conclude, I must beg N. 

 L. to give my experiments a fair trial before he 

 condemns them. As 1 have recommended to him 

 to turn his implements upside down, he may think 

 my head is turned inside out. As he has request- 

 ed of me my method of preparino: my land, and 

 the quantity of corn produced per acre, I would 

 like to be informed of his mode, and the quantity 

 of corn per acre; and, if I am convinced it is better 

 than mine, I will with pleasure adopt it. - 



Thos. B. Gay. 



