3G6 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



[No. 6 



h-ake, it is a very easy and rapid operation to open 

 the crust of the Hitle ridge, by strii<ing through it 

 sideways with light hand-rakes. Tliese are kept 

 for this purpose, and have long been so used, 

 when thus required. 



According to the genera! practice in the culti- 

 vation of the larm, the earliest horse-work was 

 commenced as soon as the young ])lants were con- 

 .■^idered high enough to be out of the way of in- 

 sects and ail other depredators, and therefore safe 

 to thin out — and when the longer delay of thin- 

 ninir would hurt the growth. This will be when 

 the plants are from four to six inches high, and 



corn, the earth is filled with their seeds; and 

 hence, the succession of their growth, and the 

 need of these weedings. After the last named 

 horse-tillage, nothing more is done until the state 

 of the earliest wheat shows that the time for com- 

 mencing harvest is not remote. Allowing then 

 as little time as will suffice to finish belbre harvest, 

 the same large one-horse ploughs, are put into the 

 low-grounds, commencing by throwing a good fur- 

 row to the corn, and filling up, and heaping on the 

 Rirrow previously left open, and so finishing up, 

 by as many other furrows as required, the whole 

 interval between every two adjacent corn-rows. 



the time will usually be early in May. A good I This ploughing is given as deep as the state of 



farrow of a single-horse plough, of the largest 

 size, is now run as close as possible to the row of 

 plants, turning the earth from the row, and cover- 

 ing with it the balk or interval between the fur- 

 rows. In the bottom of .this lljrrow, a coulter 

 (drawn also by one horse or mule,) is run twice, 

 the two strokes being a iew inches apart, and as 

 deep as the horse cami well draw them. The coulters 

 spoken of here, are made simply of a piece of bar 

 iron, long enouah for the purpose, about two and 

 a half or three inches by one inch, and fixed in 

 the beam the nnrrovv side Ibremost. The foot, or 

 cutting part only is altered in shape by the smith's 

 hammer, and that merely by being brouijht to a 

 chisel-shaped point, no wider than the thickness 

 of the bar of iron, and so curved, and set in the 

 beam, as toenterthe earth well. The corn is then 

 thinned by first striking broad or weeding hoes 

 through the row, so as to leave a cluster on a few 

 inches of space between the strokes, which are 

 thinned to a single stalk. No replanting is ever 

 done (unless some casualty makes an entire 

 ploughing up and second planting necessary) — 

 but wherever there are vacancies in the row of 

 corn, caused by the depredations of birds or in- 

 sects, setting plants is preferred. This is done 

 with hilling hoes — first digging a hole sufficiently 

 deep, and then digging up a plant with a full hoe 

 of earth, fi-om a spot where thinning is needed, 

 and dropping it into the opened place. This ope- 

 ration is performed in moist weather, and previous 

 to the thinning and weeding. In such cases, the 

 plants so removed are not in the least retarded in 

 their growth, and besides saving the great labor of 

 replanting corn by seed, as customary, the impor- 

 tant object of a uniform and equal growth is much 

 better secured. With this thinning by the hoes, 

 whatever other weeding that may then be re- 

 quired is executed; no hilling up of the plants is al- 

 lowed, but as much earth returned as was drawn 

 away by the chopping out of surplus plants, or of 

 weeds. 



Besides this regular weeding, which accom- 

 panies the thinning, it is sometimes preceded 

 by a slight skimming of hand-hoes along side 

 of the corn, which is rendered necessary by 

 the richness of the land, and its not being 

 grazed. There are several kinds of convolvulus, 

 which grow thickly and rapidly here, and which, 

 if not prevented, would tie up, and confine, if not 

 smother the corn, while it is very youna:. These 

 slender and succulent vines are easily cut off and 

 killed, by a slight shaving of the surface by sharp 

 weeding hoes, which is very rapidly done, and 

 does not move the soil to any extent worth nam- 

 ing as tillage. As the latter growth of tliese vines 

 is not destroyed, and often covers the matured 



tilth of the soil permits. This operation is finish- 

 ed before commencing to reap the earliest wheat, 

 (which, is usually from the 8th to the 12th of 

 June,) and is the completion of the whole tillage — 

 except that a slight brushing over by one-horse 

 cultivators is given afterwards, during harvest, if 

 the rapid growth of convolvulus vines, or other 

 weeds, should require it. Neither this, nor any 

 other horse tiflage is ever permitted so late as after 

 the wheat harvest is over. The cultivators have 

 five trowel-shaped hoes, which may be about four 

 inches wide when new, and, though carrying so 

 much width at a stroke, may cut, in so mellow a 

 soil, from two to possibly four inches deep. 



But this last operation is not always given, and 

 is not deemed necessary in the least for keeping 

 the land open enough. The object of it is to 

 keep the surface cleaner for the wheat-sowing; and 

 It is so designed, as well as the previous plough- 

 ings, which were given to open and pulverize the 

 soil, as not to break the roots of the corn to any con- 

 siderable and therefore injurious extent. Mr. 

 Sampson thinks that breaking the roots is injuri- 

 ous to even the youngest corn, and his culture is 

 planned with the purpose of avoiding thatefiisct as 

 much as is possible, consistently with giving and 

 maintaining enough openness and friability of the 

 earth. With this view, by thorough preparation, 

 he contrives to give the greater part of his corn til- 

 lage belbre the seed is planted. 



It may, therefore, be assumed, that the latest 

 horse-tillage, which is importantto thecorn, is that 

 given just before harvest. At that time, the corn 

 is generally from knee to half thigh high. The 

 safety and propriety of so early a "laying-by" of 

 corn will scarcely be believed by the great body 

 of the farmers of Virginia, who still think it es- 

 sential to give the last ploughing afler wheat har- 

 vest is over — and the plan would have astounded 

 those of" a previous generation, who always 

 ploughed corn as late as August. 



But for the present crop, Mr. Sampson has 

 pushed still farther the omission of the usual, and 

 what is generally deemed an indispensable amount 

 of tillage. No plough has been used in his corn 

 since it was planted — only the coulter and cultiva- 

 tor. At the early stage when there has hereto- 

 fore been given the first |)loughing, (of a furrow 

 turned from each side of the corn-row.) instead, 

 the whole interval was deeply coultered — the 

 coulters drawn by a single horse, and cutting about 

 six inches apart. This was early in May, and 

 was the only horse tillage, except that the cultiva- 

 tors, as usual, and earlier than heretofore, ran once 

 over the field — and afterwards a second time on a 

 small jiart. There was the usual early hand hoe- 

 ing and weeding, and shaving off of young con- 



