ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AXD FARMING. 377 



requisite than in a stiff, cold, close soil. For this reason, 

 gravel, sand, or sawdust is often the best manure that can 

 be put upon a stiff soil. In the fall of the year, Mr. Young 

 turns down very deep a thick-rooted sod of eight years' 

 standing. The vegetable matter in the sod will obviously 

 keep the soil very loose for a year or two by mechanical 

 division, as well as by the slow fermentation of this matter 

 in the soil. But this is not all. The soil is deeply broken 

 up before planting ; it is harrowed thoroughly as soon as 

 the corn comes up, and then there is a rapid succession of 

 plowing, until the ground is shaded by the corn, and plow- 

 ing is no longer possible or necessary. No doubt the 

 plow is preferable to the hand-hoe or cultivator in the case 

 of Mr. Young ; for it makes the soil loose to a greater 

 depth, and we have already explained that, according to 

 his method, the roots of the corn are not exposed to injury 

 from the plow. 



We append to this account of Mr. Young's method, that 

 of several other cultivators, and are indebted for them to the 

 Wesfern Farmer and Guardian. In Mr. Miller's account 

 the reader will observe the depth of planting in a stiff clay. 



Mr. Sutton's Method. — Mr. James M. Sutton, of 

 St. George, Delaware, who raised upon seventy-nine acres 

 6,284 bushels of corn, and who gives an accurate and 

 detailed account of the condition and cultivation of each 

 field, makes this remark in relation to the use of the plow : 



" In order to test the advantage of the cultivator over 

 the plow, for tilling corn, he had five rows in this field that 

 he lapped the furrow to, with a plow, previous to going 

 over it the last time with the cultivator. He soon dis- 

 covered that the growth of these five rows fell short, in 

 height, of those adjacent, and yielded one-fifth less corn. 



" There is no doubt but the true mode of tilling com, 

 especially where sod-ground is used, is to plow deep, and 

 use nothing but the fallow and flake-harrow for its cultiva^ 

 tion. By not disturbing the sod plowed down, it remains 



