837.J 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



76? 



the right foot was placed which constituted the 

 centre of the hill, and then the cone was made ot" 

 as much of the other eartli as was requisite. JMy 

 object in thus managing my land was to have a 

 bed of good soil lor the roots of the plant to spread 

 in, which is, you see, thus easily accom})lished; 

 ibr the hill is cut off to at least half its height, 

 leaving the hill so reduced that the plant soon 

 strikes its roots to the soil prepared l!)r it by the 

 drawing lip nf the corners, and thus finds suste- 

 nance lar beyond that which the mixed sod could 

 possibly afford, as my crop completely proved. In 

 corroboration of this, I will mention another expe- 

 riment which we tried. It was in land quite poor 

 naturally, but which had been somewhat improved 

 by having the timber cut down on it for a year. 

 This piece, until the middle of July, was consi- 

 dered but a poor piece of tobacco — so much so in- 

 deed, that I had proceeded to top it to five and six- 

 leaves, but was surprised after that time to see the 

 result. It was of handsome size. To what could 

 this have been ascribed, but to the collection ol' 

 the soil which was made by having the surface 

 undisturbed in the first place by the plough, and 

 then its collection afterwards? An old neighbor 

 remarked to me, that in the whole course of his 

 experience he had never seen such an improve- 

 ment. 



I come now to the second crop, which, though 

 not grown by me, was so much under my obser- 

 vation, that I can give its history as accurately as 

 if it had been my own. The soil on which it grew, 

 was just such as the one of which I first spoke, 

 (that is sandy and only common land) — with 

 this exception, that it had the advantage of hav- 

 ing the timber and brush and leaves upon it for a 

 year. This land had been twice coultered as mine 

 had been, and then its owner, notwithstanding 

 my entreaties, had it nicely ploughed with the 

 shovel plough, and then nicely harrowed over. 

 These several operations put such a handsome 

 face on it, that I must confess it often made me 

 less confident of the propriety of my course of 

 management than 1 had at first been; but I had 

 made a move that precluded retreat, and so tried 

 to feel reconciled; and it was a blessing to me ihu*: 

 I was so situated as the above results have shown, 

 and this last crop will show; ibr it was a complete 

 failure in looks and in result, ibr it was estimated 

 that in this piece there were two acres or more of 

 land troni which the proprietor did not expect six 

 hundred pounds of good tobacco, though a good 

 vailey ran through it. 



AGRICOLA. 



neighbor, richer and more cnliglitened than himself, is 

 able to present to him, by the new mode, rr suits more 

 advantageous than lie has abtained from liisown. 



"Exarn])le is the oidy lesson profitable to a husband- 

 man. When one is placed before his eyes, and his 

 reason is convinced of its goodness, he is not slow to 

 follow it; and by no other way than this can improved 

 methods of agriculture be introduced and propaga- 

 ted." — Chuplal's ^gricul. Chem. — Introduc. 



Mu. Editor: — There is sound philosophy in 

 every line of the preceding extracts; and hence, I 

 am neither disappointed nor dis|ileased at the dis- 

 trust with which my proposition to raise Indian 

 corn, without tillage, has been received.* It was 

 so entirely new — so directly at variance with all 

 the long-established opinions on the subject, that 

 it would have been almost a miracle if it had been 

 received otherwise than with distrust — nay, even 

 with ridicule. 



I have persevered. Last summer I acted on the 

 same principles, varying the practice in nothing 

 except in the manner of planting. It seemed to 

 me that the great products of the northern states 

 might, by my practice, be realized here. I ac- 

 cordingly adopted the manner of planting by which 

 the JMessrs. Pratts, of Madison county, N. Y., 

 are represented by Judge iJuel, to have raised one 

 hundred and twenty bushels to the acre, varying it, 

 only so as to suit the strength of my soil. I plant- 

 ed in triple drills, (the same ground as last year,) 

 (bur feet apart from centre to centre, leaving tiie 

 stalks nine inches apart in the drill. The whole 

 will be better understood l)y the following diagram: 



IlfDIAX CORiV AND POTATOES MADE WITH- 

 OUT TILLAGE. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



"The progressive steps in agriculture are, and ought 

 to be, slow ; and it is contrary to the counsels of wis- 

 dom and prudence to wish to deviate from customs ren- 

 dered sacred by time, until the new modes to be adopt- 

 ed shall have received the sanction of successful expe- 

 riment. 



"The reproach which is every day made to the hus- 

 bandman of his indifference towards new modes of cul- 

 ture, appear to me not to be well founded. He wishes 

 first, to see and compare them with the methods to 

 which he has been accustomed. He has neither the 

 knowledge nor the means of forming, beforehand, a 



i'ust estimate of the advantages which they offer to 

 dm. He perseveres, then, in his old course till some 



J 



The single drills, a, b, c, and d, e, f, are nine 

 inches apart, and the stalks, represented by dots, 

 are nine inches apart. From the centre drill b to 

 the centre drill e, is four feet. I planted two grains 

 in a place, afterward removing the interior stalk, 

 so as to have only one. When the corn was about 

 twelve inches high, I spread a small quantity of 

 stable yard manure, on the surlace of the ground, 

 among the stalks, and then covered the whole sur- 

 face witii leaves four or five inches thick, as des- 

 cribed in my former communication. The whole 

 was left undisturbed until the corn was ripe. 

 When gathered and caretlilly measured, it turned 

 out to be a product at the rate ol seventy bushels 

 to the acre. Last year it v/as forty-two. 



I have succeeded in raising and keeping through 

 the winter, as fine Irish potatoes as I ever saw in 

 the northern states. And I have come to the con- 

 clusion, that no man in the southern states need 

 spend a dollar in the purchase of potatoes, except 

 occasionally for seed; for even where they are 

 most successfully produced, it is tbund to be best to 

 change seed every two or three years. 



The potato requires a moist, cool, loose soil. 



* For the account of Mr. Camak's first experiment, 

 see his communication at page 454, vol. 3, Farmers' 

 Register. 



