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THE HiLINOIS FAKMER. 



59 



otherwise, that they should be thinned to 

 one in three or four inches, and we are ob- 

 stinate enoagh to think so still; though it 

 mast be confessed that he had a great crop 

 without thinning. 



' The same gentleman wrote: "My odions 

 harvested 900 bushels of a first-rate article, 

 and sold for seventy-five cents a bushel." 



The carrots on the west side of his field 

 were no better, as we could see, than those 

 on the east side. The value of the crop on 

 the whole acre must have been $212 55 and 

 and the two acres of onions brought him, 

 at seventy-five cents per bushel, $675, mak- 

 ing on the two acres of onions and one of 

 carrots, $887 6*. 



The cost of cultivating was undoubtedly 

 more than is requisite for small crops; but 

 after hearing his statement, knowing him as 

 we do to be a most reliable man, we think 

 the increased cost was little compared with 

 the increase of crops. The net profit was 

 equal to that of some large farms slatternly 

 cultivated. Perhaps we might say a thou- 

 sand times greater, for we doubt whether 

 there is much next profit in slatternly farm- 

 ing. — [Plough, Loom and Anvil. 



From the Country 0«ntleman. 



Deep and Shallow Plowing. 



So various are the opinions on this sub- 

 ject, as expressed in the manuals of culture, 

 and the weekly publications, that positive 

 authority can be found for either; leaving 

 the anxious inquirer for truth in the condi- 

 tion of "the ass in the fable, standing be- , 

 tween two stacks of hay." So far as my 

 own observation has extended, I have never 

 known any injury to accrue from sinking the 

 plow to a generous depth, provided a cor- 

 responding application of fertilizing material 

 was made to the land at the same time, but 

 on the contrary, I have often known the la- 

 bor applied to land almost entirely sacrificed 

 for the want of proper attention to depth in 

 plowing. 



There is scarcely any plant cultivated, 

 the roots and fibres of which will not sink 

 to the depth of 12 inches or more} if the soil 

 is in condition to admit of snch penetration. 

 Take for instance, Indian corn, a plant 

 more extensively grown than any other; 

 what depth should the land be stirred for 

 the most advantageous growth of this crop? 

 Should it be six or twelve inches? I say 

 twelve inches; and whosoever attempts to 

 operate on less than this, "takes in at the 

 spiggot to let out at the bung." I know 

 that there are those who say that their lands 



will not adtnit of being plowed so deep, and 

 that they have raised as fine crops as any 

 of their neighbors, wid have never suffered 

 a plow to sink on their fields to a greater 

 depth than six inches; and that they would 

 not thank a man to plow deeper than this. 

 I have heard this said by gentlemen who 

 stood high in the world, whose opinions 

 were referred to as authority wherever they 

 were known, chiefly because of the author- 

 itative manner in which they were uttered. 

 The truth is, the time is gone by #hen any 

 man's ipse dixit is to be taken for law in the 

 culture of the land or in relation to the 

 rights of man. Pacts, established by repeat- 

 ed experiments, in accordance with scientific 

 demonstration, can only be relied on in the 

 management of the farm, or in the govern- 

 ment of the State. Wi 



■ ^" ••> 



Bxperiments in Corn Planting. 



The following experiments were made by 

 the Hon. Adam Beatty, of Kentucky, a 

 few years since, in order to ascertain the 

 advantages or disadvantages of planting com 

 more closely than usual: 



"On one side of the field I laid off, in an 

 oblong square, four acres, each acre lying 

 equally well, and of equal fertality. It was 

 laid off for planting the long way, with great 

 accuracy, three and a half feet from centre 

 to centre of each furrow, and then checked 

 off the other way in rows as follows: The 

 first acre four feet a-part; the second acre 

 three and a half feet a-part; the third acre 

 three feet a-part; and the fourth acre two 

 and a half feet apart. The whole was 

 planted the same day; and in due time the 

 three first acres were thinned out to three 

 stalks in the hill, and the fourth acre to two 

 stalks in a hill. The number of stalks to 

 an acre (if none had been missing,) would 

 have been as follows: , 



Na 1, Sli by 4 feet.... 9,856 



No. 2, 3}| by 3U feet .10,668 



No. 3, 3j| by 3 « 12,447 



No. 4, 3>| by 2)^ " (2inahin) 9,966 



Upon gathering and accmrutely measur- 

 ing each acre separately, I found the 

 product as follows: No. 1, 68 bushels; No. 

 2, 69; No. 3, 69; No. 4, 77^ bushels. 



The acre planted three and a half by two 

 and a half feet, and only two stalks to a 

 hill, produced eight and a half bushels more 

 than either of the others, being decidedly 

 the best. The hills, nowever, were too close 

 one way to be plowed with convenience. 

 Planted three feet each way, would be bet- 

 ter." 



