F A R iyl E R S ' REGISTER. 



279 



prcgs show the esiimatioii in which this subject is 

 held. " Tlie Society (iir the diHusion of useful 

 kiiovvled<je" has published the best " history of 

 the horse in all its varieties and uses," and we 

 recommend it to the perusal of all medical practi- 

 tioners and ifentlemen who value a good horse. 



So loniT as a horse is healthy and able to work 

 he is hijThly esteemed, but as soon as he becomes 

 diseased we are very apt to order liini to " go to 

 grass," or we think ourselves lucky to get some 

 one else to take him oti' our hands. If a faiihlul 

 servant were to become sick, and we give him 

 away to get rid of the trouble of keeping him, we 

 should be considered unjustifiable and cruel, but 

 with a dumb beast of a horse there is nothing 

 wrong in it and we dismiss him from our thoughts 

 as we do from our presence. This is a common 

 practice, but we know oi' many exceptions, and 

 take pleasure in statinsr the fact. Tlie improving 

 spirit of attention to fine stock is correcting the 

 abuse elsewhere. We trust that it will do so 

 witli us. 



ON THE CULTIVATION OF CORN. PULLING 

 FODDER. MORE ABOUT BADEN CORN. AP- 

 PLE AND PEAR CUTTINGS. MULTICAULIS. 

 DEEP PLOUGHING. 



For the Farmers' Register. 



Soiiih Carolina, jjpril \Oih, 1840. 



Cultivation of corn. — Being opposed to the ab- 

 surd doctrine, that by cutting or breaking the roots 

 of a plant you thereby promote its growth, and 

 believing, that in the cultivation of the corn crop 

 too many deep ploughings are usually given it, I 

 have felt anxious to make an experiment in a dil- 

 I'erent mode of culture, but until the last year 

 have, by the influence of custom, been deierred 

 Irom attempting it. On readincr the first article in 

 the first number of the 7th vol. oC the Register, 

 written by Mr.W. P. Taylor, I was, however, hap- 

 pily relieved ; and so well was I satisfied with his 

 mode of culiure, that 1 at once resolved to risk, 

 not only one field, but my whole (home) crop on it. 

 Advocating the practice of deep covering, though 

 not so deep as recommended by Dr. Hardin, I will 

 here remark, that my corn, on all suitable irround, 

 was covered by ridging on it with the twisted sho- 

 vel, and afterwards (in six or eight days) the ridge 

 was lightly cut off with a hoard fixed on the foot 

 of the plough stock in the place of the plough. 



My first furrows were run, after the corn came 

 up, in those on each side of il, (which had been 

 made by coverinor it, and partly refilled in cutting 

 otf the ridge,) with the twisted shovel, throwing 

 Irom the corn ; and in the after culture I pursued 

 Mr. Taylor's practice throuijhout, using the side 

 harrow (with three teeth, flattened, pointed, and 

 bent at the lower end, to cause them to enter the 

 ground) in the crop work, in place of his cultiva- 

 tor; and the twisted shovel plough to bed up with, 

 instead of his bar-share. 



In my fi-esh fields, on which the logs have not 

 yet decayed, (for I have not directed a lotr heap to 

 be made or burnt in the last, uvo years,) tiie plough 

 and harrow were run alternately in the same di- 

 rection; in which direction all the logs, afier hav- 

 ing been cut in suitable lengths, are turned, to 

 prevent their being in the way of the plough, or 

 occupying any part of the row, to the exclusion of 



the corn, it being planted at regular and suitable 

 intervals, according to the strength of the land, 

 though not on cross lurrovvs, as is the practice on 

 my old fields. To enable small hands to drop corn 

 at regular distances, when the land is not checked 

 off, I have caused a number of wooden compasses, 

 or dividers, to be made so as to subtend difi'er- 

 ent distances, say from eighteen to forty inches, 

 and from two to three leet high. With one of 

 these a hand can drop almost as fast as he can 

 walk ; having his basket of seed swung to the 

 neck, taking out wiih one hand, whilst with the 

 other he is turning his dividers, which, when turn- 

 ed, marks the spot li^r dropping the srrain on. 



Now, Ivlr. Editor, with my grateful acknow- 

 ledgments to Mr. Taylor and "yourself, for the 

 valuable inlbrmation I have derived from hini, 

 through the Register, I take much pleasure in 

 saying, that, notwithstanding the very unfavorable 

 crop of 1839, 1 have, in my corn crop, liilly re- 

 alized my most sanguine expectations. My corn 

 " fired" less than I ever had it to do belbre ; whilst 

 the Ibdder on many furms in my neighborhood waa 

 remarkably " burnt" belbre the usual time of sav- 

 ing it. 



My manager (an old man) says he never 

 tended a crop with so much ease in his lile ; that 

 he thinks he could cultivate half as much more 

 land to the plough, in this as in the usual manner 

 of cultivating a crop. And so well am I satisfied 

 with the result, myself, I have directed my over- 

 seers at their difiijrenl farms, on which I made the 

 last year not less than fijteen hundred barrels of 

 corn, to cultivate all in the same way the present 

 year. 



I attribute my success mainly to two causes. 

 First, 1 was enabled rapidly, and frequently, to 

 pass over my crop, and consequently, to keep the 

 surface open, to promote the absorption of atmo- 

 spheric moisiure, which, at night, and in the dry- 

 est seasons, is more abundant than generally sup- 

 posed ; as well as to assist, by lightening the sur- 

 tiice soil, the transpiration through it of the waters 

 of the subsoW, which, being more Ibrcibly acted 

 upon by the greater permeability of the earth, in 

 this loose, porous, and lightened condition, to the 

 rays of heat, afford a considerable resource of hu- 

 midity.* And secondly, to the comparative little 

 injury done the roots of^ the corn in the manner of 

 its culture ; the plough gradually Ibrming a bed 

 in one direction, for the roots to penetrate in their 

 progress towards the centre of th>^. spaces, whilst 

 the superficial work of the harrow, in the other, 

 kept down crop grass and weeds, and at the same 

 time cut no roots but such as run very shallow. 



It may be that cutting the roots of corn has a 

 tendency to "multiply spongioles at the ends of the 

 cut roots next the stalks, more than sufficient lo 

 compensate ibr the loss of the extreme feeders," 

 as suggested by Mr. Garnett, (vol. 7, p. 4, Farm- 

 ers' Register,) whose views generally I much ad- 

 mire, and whose writings I have had the pleasure 

 of reading occasionally, for the last ten years. 

 But if it were possible to avoid it, I would never 

 cut the root of any piant in its culture. 



Pulling fodder. — On this subject, I have no 

 doubt, I am with many others, in preaching one 

 thing and practising another; fori leel well con- 

 vinced that much injury is done to corn in taking 



* See Dr. Muse's stateDienf, cic, vol. vii., p. 17, 

 J^armers' Re'rister. 



