1836.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



CULTIVATION OF CORN. 3IANURIAG, AND 

 WESTERN EMIGRATION. 



To the Editor of tlie b'arnicis' Register. 



Fairfield, S. C. ) 

 mil March, 1836. 5 



Having seen in your Register a great many 

 communications on tlie ditlerent modes of'cultivat- 

 ing Inilian com, I shall endeavor,, by siiowing mj- 

 niethod, and tiie success willi whicii it was at- 

 tend'^d, toirether with some experiments I made, to 

 add something to the very great iund of agricul- 

 tural knowledge, alfeady disseminated through ii 

 vast portion of our country, by your valuable 

 paper. 



I commenced f)lanting my corn, last year, on 

 the 17th of March. I jjiaated in drills iour feet 

 apart, and tAvo feet between each stalk in the drill. 

 I consequently had as many stalks as if I iiail 

 ])lanted in hills lour ieoteach wa}'. with two stalks 

 to the hill, winch is the common method in this 

 neighborhood. JNly land v/as well broken \\y>, aiid 

 in fine order, when the corn was planted. When 

 it was about lour inches high, I ran the shovel 

 plough as near it as I could, without doing much 

 injury to the roots. The plough covered up the 

 youiig grass around and between the stalks, and 

 left the ground, lor ten or twelve inches on each 

 side of the corn, in a fine loose state. In about ;i 

 week afterwards, I had the corn hoed, and some 

 earth put to it — a little more than was taken fj-om 

 it by the hoeing. When the corn was about a foot 

 high, I had it thinned to one stalk. The mould 

 board of the fuming plough was then run to the 

 corn, but as shallow as possible, to prevent it from 

 cutting the roots. The middles were broken up 

 with the shovel plough, which left the srround le- 

 vel, except a small ridge made by the turning 

 plouirh. I ploughed n again the 1st of June, 

 Avhich I could certaiidy have dispensed v.-ith, had 

 not the ground been s-rassy, and 1 wished to get 

 rid of the grass — and I believe the ploughinof I 

 then gave it, did more injury than <rood. The 

 hoes followed the plouo-hs, and chopped down all 

 the grass and weeds that were between the stalks. 

 The field produced an average of thirtv-fivc bush- 

 els to the acre, while some fields adjoining mine, 

 and planted in hills, produced only twenty, giving 

 in favor of drilled corn, fifteen bushels per acre. 

 and very little or no difference in the qualitj- of the 

 field. But there is one fact which I do not recol- 

 lect of having seen in your Registgr, though 1 

 may have overlooked it, namely : that land which 

 will produce one large stalk at two feet distance in 

 the drill, may not be able to support two stalks 

 standing together at four It-et distance, which fact 

 I have ascertained by experiment. I planted, last 

 year, one acre of ground in corn, half of it in drills 

 two feet by four, and the other half in hills four 

 feet each Avay; the stalks in the part that was 

 drilled, were large, and produced, generally, two 

 good ears, while that v/hich was planted in hills, 

 seldom produced more than one; and that one, 

 generally, small. And the reason why checked 

 corn doe;; not produce as much as drilled, (and on 

 my plantation it does not,) is owmg both to the 

 greater quantity of nourishment necessary to sup- 

 port two stalks standing together, which'nourish- 

 ment poor land is not able to supply, and likewise 

 to cutting the roots, which, beyond doubt in my 

 mind, is an injury. 



Our land is poor; but il" a man speaks of ma- 

 nuring his land here, heis immediately pronounced 

 to be 'hioii cmiipos mentis.'''' In fitct, the improve- 

 ment of our land by manuring, is a very serious 

 uudertakiiig, as our only dep^endence is stable 

 nuinure and ccunpost; and as cotton is the princi- 

 pal production of this section of country, the time 

 necessarily devoted to raising the croj:;, and gather- 

 ing it in, co)isiimes so much of the year, that little 

 tiiTie is left for any thing else. But, on the other 

 hand, one acre of land that is manured loill pro- 

 duce nearly, or cpiite as much, as tioo that are not. 

 This is another /ficM have ascertained by experi- 

 ment^ 



"Westward, ho ! " is here the rage; and we see 

 daily, lands that, by proper managenient and ma- 

 nure, mio-ht be made to produce one hundred 

 bushels of corn, or one thousand weight of cotton 

 to the acre, worked to deaih, if I may use the ex- 

 pression, and then deserted, for the swamps of the 

 Pvlississippi, or the prairies of Texas. The man- 

 ner in which land is cultivated in this part of the 

 country is a wanton destruction of th.e means of 

 happiness which Divine Providence has placed at 

 our disposal, and calls loudly ^ov a remedy which 

 can only be obtained from agricultural societies 

 and agricultural papers. 



JA3I!::S C. WIIYTE. 



For the Farmers' Register. 

 VEGETABLE AND ANllVIAL ANALOGY. 



On, the generation of plants. 



[Continued from page 229, Yol. ill.] 



Before I enter upon tlie subject of the genera- 

 tion of plants, I will observe, that the roots nmy, 

 with propriety, be called supporters and feeders*. 

 They receive fi^om the earth, and convey through 

 the plant, principles which go to their develope- 

 inent and support, creeping in various directions 

 in search of Ibo.l. The fluid principles are, in all 

 probability, carried fl-rward by capillary attraction, 

 and conveyed by proper vessels into the trunk, 

 branches, leaves, flowers and fi'uit. ileie they 

 undergo a change, a process called secretion; and 

 by a proper union of fluids, are formed, bark, 

 wood, foliage, &c. The germ of plants^ is a sex- 

 ual offsprins, and I have reason to believe, is j-er- 

 fect in miniature, requiring nothing but the appli- 

 cation of air, heat, light and food, in order to bring 

 about its full developement. Vegetable lifl\ then, 

 is the effect of various stimvli, acting upon organs 

 of motion, and is ke])t up and supported by a due 

 destrlbution of fluids which circulate in tlie vessels 

 of plants similar to the blood in the artei'ics and 

 veins of animals. The roots of plants are of a 

 spomiy nature, having tubes running, more or less, 

 parallel with each other, and after reaching the 

 trunk, divide and subdivide into an infinite num- 

 ber of branches, until they pervade every part. 

 These vessels readily admit principles from the 

 earth and atmosphere, which, when combined and 

 properly assimilated, form water, sap, oils, mucil- 

 age, &c. Moses tells us in his account of the 

 creation, that plants have their seeds in themselves; 

 that is, every plant contains in itself, male and fe- 

 male powers. The text he has given us, seems 

 to be explained by this discovery, and may lead us 

 to consider that plants wanting local motion, re- 



