1835.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



497 



see so heavy a crop made by such simple means. 

 He informed me afterwards, that his crop yielded 

 him one hundred barrels — and strange to say, all 

 the cultivation it received, was given it with one 

 plough, without a single hand-hoeing alter plant- 

 ing. I asked him afterwards to allow ms to be- 

 come one of his club, by initiating me into the se- 

 cret, which he did with apparent pleasure; and 

 having for myself tested its labor-saving advanta- 

 ges upon the crop now standing in the field, I will 

 give you the mode, to dispose of j as you please. 

 To many of your subscribers it may not be new 

 — as it is the common course pursued on the East- 

 ern Shore of Virginia, and, for aught I know, 

 many, if not a very large majority, may have 

 practiced it for many years; but, should there be 

 one who has never heard of it and would be dis- 

 posed to profit by the information, then I shall be 

 amply compensated lor the task. The system is 

 an extraordinary one — where all the labor is per- 

 formed by team, and hand-hoeing entirely dis- 

 pensed with. The field to be cultivated is first (al- 

 lowed up (during the fall or winter,) in beds forty 

 or fifty ieet wide — the wider the better. At plant- 

 ing time it is accurately laid off one way in rows 

 five feet apart, by running a very deep furrow and 

 throwing the slice back again; it is then cross- 

 checked in rows two and a half! three, or four feet 

 wide, proportioned to the strength of the soil — 

 where the checks intersecting each other receive 

 the com, which is covered with hoes or horses, 

 according to choice or convenience: there is kept 

 up afterwards an alternate succession of cross 

 ploughing, the bar next to, and as near the corn as 

 possible; the field should be gone over twice after 

 this manner, without shifting the position of the 

 plough. The corn is then left standing on a very 

 small square of ground. By this time it is strong 

 enough to bear a gentle earthing with the mould- 

 board. Then the same process is kept up with the 

 mould-board run next the corn, until it shows the 

 first symptoms of tasseling. The ploughs are 

 then laid aside, and the five-tooth cultivator is sub- 

 stituted in lieu thereof— the same system is kept 

 up with them until the shoots and silks fully devel- 

 ope themselves: then all further cultivation ceases, 

 or in other words, the corn is laid by. The rota- 

 tion of ploughing is in such rapid succession, that 

 grass has no opportunity to fix itself on any part 

 of the field; but should it spring so very near the 

 plant, as to be difficult to to remove it in the young 

 stage of the plant, when the mould-board is turn- 

 ed, it is soon covered over and killed; so the pro- 

 cess is so very simple that the way-faring man, 

 though a fool, need not err therefrom. " If the 

 crop is well laid off', the battle is half won. This 

 year is my first attempt after this manner. A field 

 of two hundred acres was cultivated with six 

 ploughs, exclusive of hand-hoeing after planting, 

 and as far as I can judge of it, standing on the 

 field, to say the least of it, is as good as I ever 

 made: and so far as others have tried it, success 

 has attended the experiment. From the enlire 

 success that has attended this mode of cultivation, 

 and the many failures that have attended the 

 drill system, I can but believe that the cross- 

 ploughing system almost under any circumstances, 

 is decidedly best. Though I am partial to the 

 Eastern Shore plan, it is not yet perfect. In the 

 stretch of economy, too much space has been left. 

 The no-hoe system, (as I bea leave to call it,) 

 Vol. Ill— 63 



may be happily adapted to some peculiar kinds of 

 soil — such as are common on the Eastern Shore — 

 a dry sandy soil. But in a country like ours, 

 where such a soil is not common, and grass grows 

 kind and abundant, it would be safer to adopt a 

 medium system — for the crop to receive one hand- 

 hoeing and the ploughs to finish the cultivation: 

 further than one hand-hoeing would be a superflu- 

 ous waste of labor, except on newly cleared land, 

 where the ploughs could not perform their part 

 with correctness and facility. 



With the projected improvement, this system 

 offers many advantages over any other that I am 

 acquainted with — for, at almost air 3 stages of the 

 cultivation, it presents a level surface, which is the 

 best situation that land can be in to derive the full 

 benefit of the rains, which is so essential to a 

 heavy product. This is a consideration too often 

 overlooked by most of our farmers — for soil is only 

 the laberatory in which the food tor plants is pre- 

 pared; nor can manure be taken up by the roots of 

 plants unless water is present. It is the opinion of 

 Sir Humphrey Davy, that water forms by far the 

 greatest part of the sap of plants, and that this 

 substance, or its elements, enters largely into the 

 constitution of their organs and solid productions. 

 A level surface then, permits the rains to exert an 

 equal influence on all parts of the land alike. Un- 

 like the ridge or drill system, when the rains fall 

 on the ridges it does not penetrate, but runs direct- 

 ly off into the wafer furrows, from whence it is 

 conveyed to the ditches, without being permitted 

 to benefit the growing crop to its extent: so that 

 system of cultivation which affords the greatest 

 facilities to the perfect action of the vital support 

 of all plants, must be best. But the objector may 

 insist that a level surface leaves the plant too much 

 exposed to the blighting influence of a superabun- 

 dance of" water. "Such a crop season would 

 rather be a novelty — for drought has been the 

 most prominent characteristic of our summers." 

 But should the order of things change, and our 

 seasons become wet, still I am of the opinion that 

 a level surface would possess the most advantages 

 — (I well know the ground which I occupy to be 

 disputed, and I would not presume an opinion if 

 observation had not first given it) for if the sur- 

 face be level, the water will pass off through its 

 natural sources to the ditches or drains — for by 

 one of the immutable laws of that unstable ele- 

 ment, it must find its level, and no barrier is insur- 

 mountable in obeying that law; by it, avenues or 

 ravines have been forced, through which it com- 

 municates itself until it finds in first station, the 

 ocean. So upon the level surface system, the 

 superabundant water passes off' the same way 

 that it did before the land was in cultivation, assist- 

 ed by ditches, to hapten its passage. But upon 

 the ridge system, these natural ravines or conduc- 

 tors are obstructed by the ridges crossing them: 

 so the water is not permitted to pass off its own 

 way, without breaking through, and washing 

 away these newly formed barriers. It then neces- 

 sarily mast stand in the water-furrow, and exert 

 its worst influence on the growing crop. There 

 are many more advantages that this system offers 

 — that of seeding small grain — also, to derive the 

 full benefits of the suifs rays, to warm the earth 

 alike. But whether it possesses an advantage 

 over the drill cultivation or not, as it regards the 

 best or worst position of the surface during culti- 



