90 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



mcnt has been of the greatest service lo me in al- 

 most every stage and crop. Ii has been ihe means 

 orconsolidaiinif the earth, which would otherwise 

 have been loo light, and it lias kept the moisture 

 in also. It has a decided advantage over every 

 other kind ofroller in this respect, because it leaves 

 an uneven surface instead oT a flat one, Iroin 

 which the rain, in sandy land especially, is apt to 

 run of} without nournishing or relreshiiig ihe 

 crop. 



"The oats came out very healthy and had no 

 check : in sixteen weeks (roin the limeol sowing 

 they were reaped, and \vhen thrashed yielded lOj 

 quarters |)er acre, which were sold at 26s. per 

 quarter, and iliis (i-om land that was let two years 

 before at 2s. 6d. per acre. 



" I calculate the e.xpense of subsoil ploughing, 

 according to my mode ofusing it, at 26s. per acre, 

 thus : 



Four horses and two men, per day, 14s. 

 Two beasts and one man, 5s. 



19s. 



*' These will do 3 rods per day. The oxen are 

 yoked to the plough, and the four horses precede. 

 I sowed 40 acres with oats, of the same flat of 

 land that had been pared and burnt, but not sub- 

 soiled, from want of time. The produce of this 

 was not more than 3 quarters per acre, and straw 

 small and short ; a very fair proof of liie advantage 

 of subsoiling. 



" I have now 100 acres of wheat and oats grow- 

 ing on what was the very worst part of the whole 

 property, and considered perfectly useless. It has 

 been drained, pared and burnt, and suhsoiled ex- 

 actly after the mode detailed ; and it looks as 

 promising as what was so good last year. Tiie 

 land upon which I had potatoes exhibits as de- 

 cided a superiority ; and I shall in another year 

 he able to state what efliect subsoilin<r has upon 

 the turnip crop as upon the produce of the wheat. 



R. Denison." 



OBSERVATIONS ON CATTLE AND ROOTS. 



From tlie Southern Agriculturist. 



Palmetto Hall, Dec. I9th, 1840. 



^fr. Editor: — I am sorry to see that the de- 

 sire lo cultivate root crops and the grasses, is no< 

 keeping pace wiili the mania for improved breeds 

 of cattle, hogs, &c., fir the fact is, that the breed 

 of animals decidedly the best adapted to our pre- 

 sent cruel course of treatment is our pres*»nf, as 

 the valuable t)ropertv of beinir able to endure rain, 

 cold, and hunger, has been carefully cultivated 

 and kept in practice for many generations past, 

 and the experience with one hall-Durham heifer, 

 one three-quarter Durham bull and one De- 

 von cow, fully satisfies me tliat [he part Durhams 

 and I think the whole Durhams too, will not crow 

 as large nor keep as fat as our native cattle, if 

 they can ever be called fat, and the Devon will 

 orow no larijer, and even with much better fare, 

 will not more than equal 'he natives, which you 

 see is in strong contrast with Mr. Carrol's expe- 

 rience ; and as regards breeding, his principles 

 are certainly a smashing innovation upon the 

 hitherto received theories and practices on the 

 eubject. All this is merely an introduction to my 

 experience and theory of the cultivation ol roots. 



Among the beeta I give the decided preference 



to (he mangel wurtzel over the sugar beet, be- 

 cause it suits our shaTow soils better, as it grows 

 more above than below ground, and consequently 

 is more easily cultivated, and contends better with 

 grass and weeds, stands our climate and insects, 

 and the predatory habits of our negroes better, 

 and is longer fit for use, and, 1 believe, more pro- 

 ductive. 1 planted flush in one of the poorest 

 beds in my garden, which is a salt homock, in 

 February, 1838, one ounce of mangel wurtzel, 

 ihev bore seed the summer of 1839, and in July 

 of 1840 I pulled three roots that were about two 

 and a half feet long, and five or six inches through 

 in the largest diameter, and I believe that cattle 

 would then have eaten them. I cannot say what 

 proportion withstood the first summer as I made 

 no observation on the subject, being ignorant of 

 the gener.d belief, that they could not endure the 

 summer's sun. In February, 1840, I planted one 

 pound of the sugar beet seed in the same garden, 

 and similar (but not the same,) soil, and I have 

 now about one third remaining, and they are so 

 hard that cattle refuse to eat them. Both parcels 

 were neglected during the summer, and therefore 

 did not serve to form any fair idea of what they 

 might do under proper management. 1 have 

 sown some of the Aitingham carrot, and the 

 mangel wurtzel in exactly the same spot, in order 

 to give them a fair and comparative trial, and I 

 will try to let you know the result in due time. 

 I have adopted the Ibllowing system of cultiva- 

 tion as the only one suitable to our circumstances. 

 The land being level, (if it is not it must be made 

 so,) 1 track it every ijiree feet with the bull 

 tongue plough, and if the soil requires manure, 

 which almost all our lands do, I run the barshare 

 or shovel plough in the track as deep as possible, 

 and scatter the manure at the bottom of this 

 trench. I then turn back and bed up as well as 

 I can with the plough, and finish of]' with the hoe, 

 or bed entirely with the hoe if more convenient. 

 With a small and very simple dibble, I dibble 

 holes lor the seeds at every six inches, and put 

 only two or three seeds in each hole, and cover 

 it with the hand or heel, so as to press the earth 

 close to the seed. When the plants acquire a 

 sufficient size, I thin the beets to one plant in 

 every other hole, the intervening ones being suf- 

 ficiently large to feed the cows or pigs, but the 

 carrots I leave one plant in each hole, as they 

 require less room. As we do not require these 

 roofs until sweet pottitoes are done, I think that 

 the best time to sow them would be in the fall, 

 say about one mon'h later than the ruta baga, as 

 they would then be fit to (eed upon by April, if 

 not earlier, which is the time we stand most in 

 need of food for our cattle, for after June, or even 

 May, we have grass enough in our corn fields. 



ON THE GEORGIA FEVER AMONG HORSES. 



From tlie Southern Agriculturist. 

 January \9th, 1841. 

 Mr. Editor .-—There is now prevailing in the 

 lower part of our stale, and perhaps elsewhere, a 

 disease known as the Georgia fever, which attacks 

 horses, and has proved liital to a large number of 

 them. I am not aware of its having ever been 

 here before the last season, when a number of 

 horses in the livery stables in Charleston were 



