iAtijag . '« p i ! Wga>aiyi'jiMywL«Mmu. r v T MWt ! 



^I)£ jTavmer's iiUnitl)lw bisitor. 



169 



tlioi-piiflh atxl liigti cultivalion. And it is innni- 

 fest tliiit tills ctiniiot lit) (lone ;it onc.v. over the 

 whole of the siirtiice now used f'oi' cidlivation hy 

 most of our liirniers. They h;ive not ije nendly 

 R sufficient capital. And as a general tliins^ far- 

 mers shoidd not contract dehis I'or the sake of 

 iniprovetnenls, or for aiiyihini; else. Indeeil, if 

 any of them are in delit heyoiid their immediate 

 ability to pay, hy their personal properly, they 

 will do well to seek out sotne purchaser, who 

 will make them a couifortahle neijihlKir, and sell 

 off to tire full amount of iheii- <il)lii;ali()n. Bui 

 if it he otherwise ; if they own svhat they occu- 

 py, tliey may commence their operations in im- 

 proved farming upon their hest land, lelling the 

 poorer portion of their farm lay fallow, until hy 

 degrees they find themselves ahle to do justice 

 to their whole form. Or what may he still hot- 

 ter; tliey may divide the homestead wiih a likely 

 son or son-in-law, and thus retain witliin their 

 neighbors the n;eans of solacing tlicir old age, 

 without really impoverishitig themselves a far- 

 thing. Y^otirs, &.C. 



A. P. T. 



iroin the American Farmer. 

 Subsoil PJoughiiig. 



The advantages of subsoil ploughing, has been 

 very forcibly called to our mind hy the snlyoiii- 

 ed article which we copy from our intelligent 

 coiite'mp«rary-, ihe Sonlhern Planter. It is many 

 yeavs siiroe we recoiiMuended deeji jdoughing, 

 omi it is not a little gratifying lo ms that we find 

 the dread ol distorhing ihe till |K'.n, begitming to 

 disappear from ihc minds of nmny, w ho some tew 

 jears since, would as lief have riossed the path 

 of a boa constrictor as break up the clay re^ting 

 beneath some foiu' inches of exhausted sand, 

 which from lime immemm'ial, has answered as 

 an a|iology lor soil. We recollect to have culled 

 nt a fiuin in a neighboring county, in 18-'ii), to get 

 our horse fed.. It was in the occupancy of a ten- 

 nnl who had resided there Ibr twenty years, and 

 who, in the whole cocu'se of that time, had never 

 penetrated the earth willi the plough more than 

 three inches. When we called, we found him 

 engaged in scratching the earth with a oue-lKMse 

 plough, going scarcely deep ennuuh to cover the 

 poverty grass with svhich ihe field abounded. 

 After saluting him, an<l procuring a feed for our 

 horse, while ihe animal was masticating his meal, 

 we eiilered into a pretty free conversalion with 

 our host, which we will here repeal, with the 

 view of showing how absurd are the notions of 

 men who are wedded liom the prejmhce of an- 

 cient prescription to old practices, and eschew all 

 book farming as worse ihan nonsense. 



" Why <lo you not plow deeper, tny good sir?" 



"God bless your soul, stranger, if I was to 

 break up ihi; till bottom, arul turn up ihe red clay, 

 I shiiidd pizcn the ground and nothing in ihe 

 yearlh woidd grow, and besides all the manure 

 (and I've none to s|iare) vvouhl sink down into 

 Ihe Li'ound, and uiy crop of corn wouldn't gil no 

 good frcMu it; as it is, the manure I puis ati ihe 

 ground sinks into l\i!' yctirlh, and 1 on!_\ gets heii- 

 efil from it for one cro/)." 



"Well now, my good sir, yon have given me 

 J our theory for shallow ploughing, and. wilh your 

 permission, 1 uill give you miiu; in f.vcjr of dceji 

 |iloughiiig." 



"What do you mean by theory r'' 



" Theory means the settled i<leas which a man 

 may have iudiibed, as Ihe governing principle ol 

 his action, and is to him the motive ot' his prac- 

 tice." 



" I don't understand you." 



"Then, sir, what 1 mean by llieory, is tiiis — it 

 forms the reason of my doing any thing — for in- 

 stance, if 1 were going lo plant corn in this field 

 of yours, I shouki maiuu'e it. because theory tells 

 ine, that ihe plants would require feeding to make 

 them grow. Do yon imdei stand me now.^" 



"Oh yes." 



'■Then I'll give you my reasons fi>r deep in pref- 

 erence to^AnWoid ploughing, and why I should mix 

 a portion of the clay that lies benealh, wilh th(! 

 sand above. You are I'earful to break ihe pan, 

 for fear your manure will sink, ami yet you admil 

 that what you |)ut on the ground, only lasts fur 

 one season, and you apprehend ihai, as it i ', ii 

 sinks into the ground aiai gets below the reaci. 

 of your crops. Now I think you are misiaken as 

 to the cause of the loss of the good etl'ecls oi 

 the iiiunure. i believe that, iiisltiuU of its giiik- 



ing, and thus eluding the reach of the roots of 

 your growing plants, that it escapes from the sur- 

 face of the earth. You bury it so shallow, and 

 expose it so iimnediaiely to the heat of the sun 

 and atmosphere, thai, upon every succeeding 

 rain, the manure rois liisler than is necessary to 

 ihe snstenanci! ot your crops — liister than the 

 rootlets can take it up, and as the most valuable, 

 if not, indeed, the oiilv part of manure that is 

 valuable, is light, and volatile — it escapes llirough 

 the pores of the earth, and is wafted away by 

 the wind, and in all prohidiility, is carried to your 

 neighbor's laud, where if it has a suitable soil it 

 is attracteil and absorbed, to euricli his land and 

 nnrture his growing crops. 1 notice that your 

 corn slalks are very small and easily broken. 

 The reason of that is ibis — there is very little 

 potash in your soil, and hence not enough lo 

 dissolve the saml, and form that flinty substance 

 which conslituies the elastic principle that ena- 

 bles either grass, corn, wheat, rye, or barley to 

 stand erect. In all virgin clays there are more 

 or less poiash, and if you turn up some of your 

 subsoil and cross-plough it, so as to mix it with the 

 sand, you will just supply your land wilh one of 

 the very ingredients wiiich it vvanis." 



'•Well, hut the red clay will pizen the land, 

 and noihing will grow on it." 



" Not so. I don't wish yon to turn up more 

 than two inches at any one ploughing, and what- 

 ever may be injurious lo vegetation, in that 

 fprantity, will be corrected by the sun and air. 

 It is the oxide of iron, which gives the red color 

 to the clay iKulernealh the saiKl of this field, 

 which, if it weie in too great ipiantities to he 

 brought inio imuieiiiate conlaet wilh the roots of 

 glowing plains, might possibly injure them, but 

 the quaiitily 1 name could do no harm. If you 

 had lime lo apply to your land, the oxide of iron 

 would be converted into a substance similar to 

 plaster, .-md an iituneiliate benefit would enure 

 toyoii, in a two-fold sense, first by neutralizing 

 the bad effi:(Ms of ihe iron, and secondly, by con- 

 vening the laller into plaster." 



" Who ever hearn of iron being in the ground 

 except in lumps hard as slones?" 



" Many before you were born." 



"ISnt let me proceed. l$y annually turning 

 up a |iorlion of your clay, inslead of having to 

 cultivate an almost barren sand as you now have, 

 in a few years, you would have a good mould, 

 ihat would resist the infiuence of the scorching 

 rays ol' the sun, and your crops would avoid be- 

 ing bnrni up by the slight droughts. Your ma- 

 nure, instead of being (haun up and lost llirough 

 the heat of the sun, will remain in the earth, rot 

 gradually, and as gradually supply your growing 

 crops wilh food, and yon will find that inslead of 

 having lo manure every year, oik'G in four years 

 will answer, and pariienlarly if yon sow (dover 

 and turn ihal in every second y(ar." 



" Why, bless you, clover won'i urow here." 



" Yes it v\ ill, if you do as 1 tell you: plougli 

 deeper, turn up and mix the clay wilh ihe sand 

 and lime in your land. If \ou can't idliiid to 

 lime, plaster it. A bushel lo ihe acre for a year 

 or two will eii.ahle you to r.aise clover, provided 

 you turn up ihe cKiV and get llie poiash into ac- 

 tiiui.'' 



"Potash! w hy, ihero IK ver w;is eillier p.olash 

 or ashes put on ihis ground, ami I'm too far from 

 market to haul it, if 1 was able to buv ii, which 

 I ai'nl." 



'■1 told you before thai ihere was potash iiilhe 

 red clay." 



" How dill it gel ihere .'" 



" Providence placed it ihere, for wi.se and be- 

 nefieenl purposes, and it remains for ycni lo use 

 it or not, as you may see fit. Plough deepci-, I tell 

 yon, rmd you will find poiash enough, to add lo 

 the Ceililily of your soil and increase your crcjps." 



" 1 redtin you're a hook farmer — you talk so 

 like the strange things /'s Afani mi." 



"No, my j;ood sir. Pin not a book firmer, linl 

 like yumsellj a farmer in a small way, even 

 smaller than you are, yet J do read hooks, anil 

 papers too, tm liirining, and have read llieiii wiih 

 delight, and I hope profit, Irom my earliest I'e- 

 colleeiion. What I si'c. in them ihai my judg- 

 ment approvers, I practice, if an occasion offers — 

 what 1 see that I do not approve, I reject — and if 

 }uu (\eie to lake an agrieulliiral p;iper, lioih you 

 and your children would profit by il. >,'o man 

 ever yet read anything wiibout gaining by il. 

 The agricnllunil papers, besides conlaining ilie 



ssays and views oC iheorists, have much of ih^ 

 radical experience at' jiracticul men in ihom, and 

 y reading iliem, men become acqiiainled with 

 le cusloms and modes of culiure of all parts of 

 le worlil, and snndy, with such a field before 



(hill 



lem, those who do not improve by it must he 

 all indeed. But I have a few words more wilh 

 regard to deep plouiihing, and ils effects in pro- 

 moting the growth of crops. By deepeiiiiig the 

 bed in which the plains have lo grow, you en- 

 large the pasture of the plants; you enable their 

 rootlets to descend, as well as spread with more 

 facility, and it must be obvious, that by so doing, 

 you greatly improve their chance of growing, as 

 the least difRcully they may experience in search- 

 ing for food, the better chance they will have of 

 thriving. You say that the red clay benealh the 

 sand, is poisonous to your crops. Be it so. But 

 keeping it in a compact (brm, yon do not render 

 it less injurious, for iioiwithslandiiig, its hardness, 

 the roots of your corn will peiielrate il several 

 feet, so that ihe ohjeclion which you have raised 

 is imaginary, not real, and by keeping that stiff 

 clay ill an unbroken slate, you present it to ihe 

 roots of your corn, in the very worst and most in- 

 jurious form that you possibly can, — plough deep- 

 er, turn it up to ihe action ol' the sim, the air, and 

 the rains, and you will soon rid it of ils poisonous 

 qualities." 



" How deep woultl jon leconimend me to 

 plough ?" 



" \Vhy, I would have you increase your .soil 

 two inches each year, unlil yon get at least nine 

 inches in de|)tli." 



" Why, bless you, stranger, my plough can't 

 never go that deep, and besides, my horse conld'nt 

 never turn up nine inches." 



" Get a biggef plough, and put in two horses 

 inslead of one. By getting a deep tilth, you will 

 enable your land to absorb a gooil deal of manure 

 from the atmosphere." 



" Who ever henrn talk of inai'.uie being in tiio 

 air?" 



"I have. There is at all times floating in the 

 air, a substance, which if you can only impart 

 lo your soil the power of attracting and ab- 

 sorbing it, yon will f,nd lhat it will add greatly to 

 ihe feilility of yom land. Thai which escapes 

 from your soil as the manure rois, is ihe siili- 

 stimce I mean, and it is carried away from i/o», to 

 add to the fertility of your inii;hhor's land, be- 

 cause of its being in a condition to retain it. As 

 the manure in your barn-yard mis, ils most en- 

 riching properties are carried off hy the same 

 process and lost to yon. If you wish to prevent 

 such loss, you can do so, by keeping a few inch- 

 es of dirt of any kind spread over \our manure. 

 This will act in a two-fold way, beneficially lo 

 your mieresi. It will prevent ihe escape of the 

 gaseous snbsiaiices 1 have spoken of, while the 

 body of earlli ahme the manure, will become 

 iinpregnaled wilh llio, riehest <if the manure, as 

 decompusilion goes (ui, so that ihe earin, ihus 

 placed oil llie tiqi, will become as good as any 

 oiher part of the manure. You have oltcii smell 

 at a dis'.ance from your manure pile, an mipleas- 

 alil slench, lane you nol.?" 



"Yes." 



'•Well ihal is wlw.l 1 c.:!l a gaseoii-i sul)>lan.^e 

 and Ihe \eiy besi anil most (i'ltilizing part of 

 llie holly of \our manme pile 11 is lhat wliiidi 

 files ofl' wilh each current of w ind, is lost to von, 

 and enriches Ihe better land of _\ our neighbor, 

 because llial land is in a condilimi lo allraci and 

 absorb il, as I have beliire told \on." 



"Well, sirauger, 1 don't mider.~tand all uiii 

 have been saying, though I think I'll try lo plough 

 a liltle deepi'i-, and burn some (;f ihe .-jiells about 

 mv house and shore, and see if 1 can raise clo- 

 ver." 



'•If you'll do .so, \ou may raise clover and 

 limothy loo, and make ihrei; bushels ot 

 where you raise one now. Do ;, on i 

 wbe.-it.'" 



"No; my groiinil won't grow ii." 



" Follow my ailvice, and alier you get a good 

 crop of clover, plough that in, seed ymir field 

 down in wheal, and I'll promise you a good 

 yield, provided you apply ten or iweiity bushels 

 of lime to the acre, 



" They (p//s me that a hundred bushels is IKil 

 too much." 



"'I'hal's very line, but the ipjanjity I have 

 named will answijr for several years, and I see 

 no necessity for a man of small means apjilying 



corn 

 oil r.iise any 



