180 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 8 



if they get one good crop in five years they are 

 satisfied. Great as are the complaints respecting 

 the rot in this country, I doubt not that our crops 

 will average as much ae those of Europe. Much 

 labor and time have been devoted by yourself and 

 others to the subject of sillc and beet-root-culture; 

 but I am certain that a few hours of research and 

 reflection will convince you of the greater impor- 

 tance of vine-culture in the amount of profitable 

 employment it will give to the country. 



Among the cultivators of the vine in South 

 Carolina, can you not find a successor to Mr. Her- 

 bemont, of equal learning, equal urbanity, and 

 equal veracity 1 A Subscriber, 



A PROFITABLE MODE OT CULTIVATING CORN. 

 BADEN CORN. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



Wigwam, jimelia, March 8, 18.39. 

 Permit me through the columns of your journal, 

 to recommend a mode of cultivating corn, which 

 has been successfully pursued by a friend of mine, 

 for the last 20 years, and which seems to me to 

 be founded on reason. The gentleman to whom 

 I allude is, Major Jno. H. Stegar, of this county, 

 who is as remarkable for the large crops of corn 

 which he yearly makes, as for the little labor he 

 bestows upon them. His method is, to break the 

 land well with a two-horse plough early in the 

 year, taking care, however, not to turn up the clay, 

 eince he has found by experience, that the clay of 

 Amelia, when turned up, never becomes produc- 

 tive. A coulter follows immediately after the 

 plough, in the same furrow, so that the substratum 

 is deeply broken, and a reservoir secured for the re- 

 tention of moisture. By this means, and laying 

 off his land horizontally, though with a level sur- 

 face, his corn-field is but little liable to wash. In 

 preparing to plant, a rake drawn by two horses is 

 passed over the land in the direction of the rows 

 for planting, and when the surface is sufficiently 

 smooth, the rows are opened with a suitable 

 plough, and the planting follows immediately. 

 His rows are 5J feet apart on ordinary corn-land, 

 and the corn dropped from 24 to SO inches apart. 

 The experience of the first year, however, satis- 

 fied me, that a less distance may, with advantage 

 be given ; pay 5 feet by 2. The corn is covered 

 by a common cultivator, adapted to the purpose by 

 taking out the front tooth. He prefers this mode 

 of covering to any other, as it is much the most 

 Bpeedy, fills up the entire furrow, and pulverizes 

 the adjacent earth. He has found that, corn plant- 

 ed in this way comes up better than in any other, 

 and very rarely needs re-planting. After planting, 

 nothing more is done until the corn is large enough 

 to be thinned. The earth is now thrown Irom the 

 corn, a single furrow on each side being run with 

 a one-horse turning plough, the bar next the corn. 

 The corn is then thinned to one stalk in a hill, and 

 may then be weeded if there be hand-labor to spare. 

 This, however, may generally be postponed until 

 the furrow turned away is thrown back; which is 

 done by the same ploughs immediately after they 

 get through the field in the first operation. By 

 postponing the weeding to this period of the cul- 

 tivation, much hoe-labor will be saved, as the fur- 

 rows when properiy turned, will lap and cover 



most of the grass about and between the stalks. 

 The grass not covered by the plough is covered by 

 the lioe-hands ; and where the earth is piled up 

 too high against the stalks it is pulled down and 

 levelled. This is a very rapid operation, as it of- 

 ten happens that no use of the hoe will be needed 

 for 50 or 100 successive hills. When the ploughs 

 have got through the field they commence again 

 and turn a second furrow to the corn on each side 

 as before, and a third furrow turned in the same 

 manner, and at a proper time, finishes the row, and 

 the culture of the crop. Thus the entire culture 

 of the crop after planting requires only eight f<jr- 

 rows of the plough to a row, two from and six to 

 the corn, and of hoe-labor next to nothing. The 

 principle on which this mode is founded seems to 

 to me consistent with reason. It is simply this : 

 that no root of the corn should be cut, if possible, 

 and a constant accession of soft earth thrown 

 to the roots as they extend. I know that it has 

 lately been discovered that corn has certain latent 

 vertical roots which cause it to prosper, however 

 often the horizontal fibres may be severed ; but 

 giving due deference to this new discovery, and to 

 the distinguished agriculturist who has promulged 

 it, it still seems to me that the maturity of the 

 plant must be retarded and its strength diminish- 

 ed by the severance of the least root, when not 

 absolutely necessary. We know that the tobacco 

 planter works his crop late in the season, when he 

 wishes to retard its ripening, and give it the bene- 

 fit of the autumnal dews. I have also been in- 

 formed that the great success of a certain gentle- 

 man in Mississippi in raising cotton, who makes 

 nearly double as much as his neighbors, to the 

 hand, is, in a great measure, to be attributed to the 

 fact that he works his crop as little as possible. 

 But whether the theory be right or wrong, the 

 above is the mode of culture pursued by Major 

 Stegar; and to show its advantages, I might only 

 state, that he is uniformly successful in making 

 corn, and that his neighbors, most of whom, ridi- 

 culed his plan at first, have now generally adopt- 

 ed it, I doubt not that it will be generally adopt- 

 ed when understood and appreciated, wherever 

 land is abundant, and labor scarce and dear. It 

 saves so much labor, and enables a small force to 

 cultivate so much more land than would other- 

 wise be possible. By neariy a similar method, 

 the last year with five horses and ten hands, 1 

 had 170 acres cultivated in corn, and sincerely be- 

 lieve, that after the land is broke up, 50 acres to 

 the horse may readily be cultivated, of our com- 

 mon high-land. The saving of hoe-labor is also 

 a great advantage. Not more than 30 acres of 

 my whole crop had a hoe in it, and yet the crop 

 was as good as my neighbors', and scarcely any 

 difJerence perceptible between the portions where 

 the hoe was used and where it was not. 



In conclusion, permit me to say a word as to the 

 Baden corn, about whose merits there seems to be 

 so great an opposition of opinion. I planted last 

 year about two and a half bushels, mostly on flat 

 land, five feet by sixteen inches. Two stalks 

 were intended to be left in each hill. But owing 

 to neglect in thinning, the average was neariy 

 three. Until July I never saw finer corn than 

 some of it on the richest land. It continued green 

 and flourishing in the midst of the drought, until 

 attacked by myriads of chinch-bugs, at the most 

 critical period, that of shooting. The consequence 



