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plowing. He run what is called a coulter, which is a small sub- 

 soil plow, to mark the rows, and then again on each side after 

 the corn is up. This lets the roots down sixteen inches to search 

 for food and moisture. Ed. Ruffin has renovated an old farm on 

 the Pamumky, east of Richmond, by the use of marl and deep 

 plowing. He plants four by five feet, two stalks in a hill, and 5 

 by 3 feet, one stalk in a place. Mr. Ruffin is the champion of 

 calcareous manures, and has caused many thousand acres of w^orn 

 out land to be restored. The Sandy Point estate has been limited 

 three times, with first, 50 bushels; second, .35 bushels; third, 35 

 bushels ; and is cultivated on the five field system — that is corn, 

 wheat, clover, wheat, fallow. The annual wheat crop is 1,000 

 acres, which has been increased from an average of three bushels 

 to seventeen. There are 2,700 acres of plow land in one field. 

 The corn crop is from 15,000-to 20,000 bushels a year, about two- 

 thirds of which is sold. On Edisto Island and upon the coast of 

 South Carolina generally, the cultivation is all done by hoes. A 

 negro will tend six to eight acres in cotton, corn and potatoes. 

 Upon the plantation of Mr. Townsend, who has made efforts to 

 induce people to use the plow, the task of his hands is five acres 

 of cotton, and one of potatoes, to each field hand. The cotton is 

 the Sea Island variety, and produces an average of 170 lbs. per 

 acre. Corn, 20 bushels; sweet yam potatoes, 12,742 lbs.; yellow 

 yams, 21,344 lbs. A heaping bushel weighs 86 lbs., and half that 

 is the ration of a hand for the week, with soup twice, made of 

 beef or mutton, 15 to 13 lbs. to 70 or 80 quarts of water, to which 

 is added vegetables. In times of hard work, soup is given every 

 day. In summer, a peck of corn is given in place of the potatoes. 

 On other plantations, the weekly rations are a bushel of potatoes 

 or a peck of corn, or broken rice, and no meat. At extra hard 

 work, ditching, &c., the rations are 3 lbs. of meat, 4 qiuirts of 

 corn or rice, and a quart of molasses a week. Corn is the great 

 dependence for feeding men and mules, and tlie general average by 

 hoe culture is leeslhan ten bushels per acre. In all the Southern 

 States there are thousands of acres planted every year, upon 

 ground scratched over by the little shovel plow, that does not 

 yield ten bushels per acre, and much of it not five bushels. The 

 great fault everywhere is shallow plowing, and that is the reason 



