736 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



rows the ridge for about eight days, uniil it is 

 again widened by the middle furrow ; and ihat 

 space will suffice to give to the corn roois the lon- 

 gitudinal direction whicli eliields tlieni against all 

 injury ; this furrow being the only deep one 

 received by the corn alter it is planted, (the water 

 Turrovv excepted, out ot" the way of which the 

 roots are ttius (rained,) being bestowed on it whilst 

 it is young and its roots siiort, and being run near 

 a foot from it, the roots of the corn, by this mode 

 of culture, wliolly escape injury, and the eHecis oi 

 drought on tlie plant being thus diminished, its 

 product is increased. 



The first ploughing, which is to answer the end 

 boih of a fallow and a list or ridge on which to 

 phint the corn, is by (ar the most material part of 

 the system, and indeed the only good security for 

 its success. The furrow must be deep and wide, 

 feo as to overturn into the old water furrow, a con- 

 siderable mass of the litter produced by inclosing, 

 whether weeds or clover. This mass, in addiiion 

 to its being a reservoir of food, gradually supply- 

 ing the corn during the summer as it putiifies, ope- 

 rat^es powerfully in preserving the liiabiliiy and 

 mellowness of the earth by the passage of air per- 

 jjetually escaping from it, through its tegument, 

 into its congenial element. By this process the 

 propensity of hard and cold soils to run and bake 

 is removed or diminished; a |iropensity which is 

 encouraged in the highest degree by shallow 

 ploughing on naked or grazed fields. And by the 

 eaine process, the inconveniences of a mass of dry 

 litter, on enclosed fields, combined with shallow 

 ploughing, are also avoided ; because il is so well 

 buried, that the corn is planted above if, and 

 sprouts in a bed of clean earth. 



'I'l-.e accidents to which Indian corn is liable, are 

 far inlerior to tlnise of any other larinaceous plant, 

 and less remediless. It comes up belter ; it may 

 be replanted; and at lasi it may be transplanted. 

 This last precaution for insuring a crop, is execut- 

 ed with little labor, by planting a portion of il 

 very early, in the quarter of the held where it will 

 vesetate and grow quickest, somewhat thicker, to 

 furnish plants; and by transplanting tliose drawn 

 out in thinning in moist weaihi'r, or after a season, 

 as the tobacco makers say. The corn plants will 

 live better than those of tobacco or any other herb 1 

 have ever tried, and may be transplanted until they 

 are eighteen indies high. The large plants will be 

 equal to the smaller and later planted corn. In- 

 deed I often fill up vacancies by setting the plants 

 of the same fi>;ld as it is thinned, and always thin 

 as I set to avoid a double perambulation. A 

 pointed slick both aids in thinning and in setting 

 the corn, which is done nearly as rapidly as tobac- 

 co is planted. 



I repeat a fact which most people know, to re- 

 move an objection against the very deep plough- 

 ing recommended as the basis of the corn crop, 

 fliTsing liom an erroni ous opinion in a few, that 

 the roots of corn and most other herbaceous plants, 

 eeek their ibod only near the surface ; whereas the 

 roots of wheal will penetrate four Icet of tilth, and 

 those of corn will strike still deeper. An objection 

 that the roots of the latter will not reach the reser- 

 voir of food ])rovidcd for them in the deep covered 

 litter of an enclosed field, would therefore be erro- 

 neous. 



No grain exhibits so many vanelics, or is so li- 

 able to"^ change, rs the maize; the prelcrred epe- 



cies can only be preserved or improved by select- 

 ing the seed at the time of shucking ; this will 

 also prevent its exposure to a sweat, and produce 

 its better vegetation ; and it increases the crop, 

 which is deeply influenced by ihe length of the 

 grain. [Note D.] 



PLOUGHING. 



This subject has been unavoidably anticipated 

 by its connexion wiih others, but yet it is not 

 wholly exhausted. 



1 utterly deny the truth of the theory which as- 

 serts iliat ploughing is a sub.^tituie for manure: 

 lor though I admit, that the atmosphere is the 

 matrix of manures in all forms, and that deep 

 plouiihing will cause the earth to inhale and 

 retain atmospherical manure better than shallow, 

 yet atmosphere being more subtile than water, 

 must be more fleetmg ; and its properties must of 

 course be elaborated into more permanency than 

 when merely caught by the earth's power of ab- 

 sor|)tion, to perfect their cflicacy. Even rain, 

 though richer and grosser, is quickly wasted by 

 evaporation ; and atmosphere, a diet too thin for 

 the exclusive sustenance of plants, as is seen in 

 droughts and on ail poor soils, cannot be fixed by 

 ploughing, because earth has not the power like 

 vegetables of elaborating il inio a lasting form. 

 Plants speedily die in atmosphere and live long in 

 rain or water. 



We must avoid the plausible error, that if the 

 atmosphere is the matrix of manure, its inhalation 

 may permanently enrich the earth, and supersede 

 the slow process necessary lor its elaboiation into 

 the vegetable form for that end. We know that 

 marl possesses the property of permanently enrich- 

 ing iiself by fixing tlie atmosplierical feriilizing 

 qualities ; but we know also, that such is not the 

 nature of other earths. This naturnl difference is 

 the reason prescribing different modes li:)r leitiliz- 

 ing marl and such earlhs, and exploding Tull's ex- 

 clusive reliance upon the mode by which marl is 

 enriched, lor enriching earths of different proper- 

 ties. But yet deep ploughing ought not to be re- 

 jected, because aliliough it does not enable earths 

 generally to exiract Horn the atmosphere a suf- 

 ficiency of its fertilizing qualities to make them 

 rich, yet the portion they do extract, if even aa 

 transitory as rain, may still retain a high value 

 among the several agents necessary for producing 

 the most perfijct effects of good husbandry. 



Lime and gypsum repealedlj' applird to land 

 kept in constant culture, without the intervention 

 of vegetable matter, will finally render it barren ; 

 but if ploughing was a sufTicient substitute lor 

 manuring, by absorbing and fixing atmosphere, it 

 would have provided a sufficient quantity of pa- 

 bulum lor these exciters to exercise their power 

 upon, and efit;ctually have prevented the imbecili- 

 ty arising from reiterated exertions, by reiterated 

 supplies. 



Plants perish by an overdose of dung or rain, 

 but not by one of atmosphere, because il is spare- 

 ly sprinkled with their food, and this Ibod iiiust be 

 collected, condensed and rendered operative, by 

 some process more effectual than the inhalation of 

 atmosphere by ihe earth ; which, alone, will hard- 

 ly produce more sensible effects than its inhalation 

 by a man as a substitute lor a dose of nilrc. 



