rv^ 



THE FARMERS' RE&ISTER. 



Vol. IV. 



AUGUST, 1836. 



No. 4. 



EDBIUNI} RUFFIN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR. 



I become many shades darlcer on the surface, al- 

 ON THE CULTURE OF WHEAT. though exposed to tlic scorcliiniT rays of a suni- 



nier's sun, and prior to a renewed ci-rovvth of ve<re- 

 ByTH. J. Randolph. tation upon ihem. Whilst it k-ss ffequenlly occurs 



Read before the Agricultural S^r-c/e/y of^Zftemor^e, |"" ''^°^® ™''^'*^ '" Seriendjcr, and on tho^e in Oc- 

 and ordered to be published in the Farmers' i2e-|'," .^^ "^'"' ^'"' "*^^' ^^■*"*'''"' vegetation being 

 gistcr. drier, less succulent, !ia da' s sliorter, the nights 



, ,',. , , ,. r.i • c- • . longer and cooler, and every circumstance less fa- 



in obedience to a resolution of tins Society, ap- Lorable to a rapid decomposition in these months 

 pointing essayists at their October meeting, ,n A similar process ha., taken place on the corn land 

 18.35, I have the honor to submit the (ollovvmg after the cultivation of the corn has ceased and 

 communication upon the culture ol wheat. ke/bre seed time. The tertile appearance of these 



Although deep culture is important it not mdis- lands atthat time is familiarto everyone [a^ This 

 per.sable with all plants, to permit their roots to | recently fbrmed and Ibrmin.^ soil, my experience 

 penetrate the soi treely in search ol food and i has convinced me, is the proper suilace lor whear 

 moisture, and to allow the water in heavy rams toj A second ploushing, or lallow, intermixes it with 

 subside without abrading and gulleyin^Tundulatmgl the inleriors-il,' and the useof the laro-e plough on 

 lands, or drowning those that are level, it may be j corn land produces the same effect. llbrmerly be- 

 doubted whether it be proper to effect this by Ire jjieved two ploughincrg necessary as a perlect pre- 

 quent ploughing, and intermixing too perfectly the jparation for a wheat crop. When pressed for 

 Burlhce with the mienor soil or cay. Nature, in [time, I used heavy harrows as a substitute for a 

 all her operations, manures on the surlace, and second plouffhinir, ot'ten where there was a strono- 

 forms there the soil which is best adapted to ihelgrowth of summer grass: such portions have al' 



growth of vegetation; and if this is inverted by 

 the plouyh, she reinstates it in its original position 

 as soon as the land is permitted to remain undis- 

 turbed a sufficient length of time, by a process 

 more rapid in warm weather, and on rich soil, 

 where there is much vegetable matter; and slower 

 where the land is less lertile, and the weather 

 colder. This is strikingly exemplified by a fact 

 well known to most farmers, viz: that when good 

 land (particularly clover laml) with a distinctly 

 marked surface of dark soil is lallowed tor wheat, 

 sown with the harrow upon one j I )ugl i ig, and 

 permitted to lie a year or two m clover, after the 

 crop of wheat, the dark soil is found again fl)rmpd 

 upon the surface, occupying the position in which 

 the clay WIS left by the previous ploughing and 

 the clay, that which was occupied by the inverted 

 soil: a change of clay into soil, and soil into clay. 

 A question naturally arises, what good results 

 from forcing the land to this double process? I 



ways produced more grain, though perhaps less 

 straw, than that which had been twice plouifhed. 

 f once fallowed twenty or thirty acres of land in 

 February, ploughed it with a two horse plou<rh 

 whenever the grass and weeds grew in the sum- 

 mer — it was ploughed, in all, five times before 

 seeding on the first of October, and although it 

 suffered from no disaster, it produced a v»'refched 

 crop for the year and the land. I have occasionally 

 coultered and harrowed small pieces of land, and 

 prepared them wiihout turnino; the surface with 

 the plough; and have, nnifbi-mly, found the straw 

 brighter, and the wheal more in perfection, than on 

 the adjacent land v.'hich had been ploughed, and 

 the surface inveitevl, although both were very fine. 

 In 1822, on four plantations then under my direc- 

 tion, the corn crop beinf? very forward, about half 

 of it was removed in September, and the land 

 ploughed with tfiree-horse ploujihs. The [irepa- 

 ration appeared to be y.eri'ect, the earth lisht and 



should think, none. Economy of labor, however, [ thoroughly pulverized,and the "/rass entirely rotted: 



requires this to be done, as an expeditious mode of 

 disposing of the vegetable matter, by burying it 

 with the plough; but with one ploughing, the ne- 

 cessity ceases for that crop. 



I have said that this process was more rapid on 



the land was harrowed and then sown, and the 

 seed harrowed in. In the mean time, the grass 

 had continued to grow on the portions of the field 

 not plouifhed. When the seeding of the first was 

 completed, the rest was sown among a heavy crop 



rich soils where there wasnjuch vegetable matter, i of grass, with scoops, merely scarifying the sur 

 and in warm weather, than on poorer soils and in [lace, for nothing more could be done: the whole 

 cold weather. 1 suppose it accomplished by the i process was tedious and unpromising, yet the 

 gases evolved in the decomposition of the vegeta- 1 perfect preparation by which the soil had been in- 

 ble matter turned under by the plough. If the | verted by the large plough, prnduced a much in- 

 weather is warm, and the vegetation green, succu- lerinrcrop to the other: the result was the same at 

 lent and abundant, the decomposition is rapid, anil leach plantation. In puttinff in wheat on corn 



the quantity of gas disengaged is great. Of 

 these, the carbonic is deemed the great stimulant 

 of verjetable lile; and beincr heavier than atmos- 

 pheric air, but liirhter than the soil, it rises to the 

 surface, insinuating itself into the interstices of the 

 clay brought up by the plough, saturates it, and 

 accomplishes the first process of its conversion into 

 soil. Hence, the cause of a well known fact, that 

 fallows made in June, July, and early in August, 

 Vol. IV— 2o 



and with small ploughs, I have often laid them 

 aside lor the large plough on account of the hea- 

 vy coats of grass on rich s[^ois, old tobacco lots, 

 &c., resuming the small plouoh ayain on passing 

 them. The product and appearance of those spots 

 of better land thus prepared were always inferior 

 to that of interior land [ loiighed v/ith the small 

 plough. 1 could add many instances of a Kimilar 

 kind with similar results. 



