272 



THE SOUTHE 



RN PLANTER. 



and let that superiority be recognised and ac- 

 knowledged. 



Various causes have been assigned for the 

 supposed retarded state of agriculture in the 

 South, but in our opinion, nothing militates more 

 against the progress of improvement amongst 

 us, than the universal system of employing over- 

 seers. We know it is much the fashion, espe- 

 cially with the demagogue who wants their 

 votes, to laud this class of men ; nor do we 

 mean to say that there are not many honorable, 

 libera], intelligent individuals among them ; but 

 our observation has lead us to the conclusion, 

 that, for the most part, they are ignorant, preju- 

 diced, and obstinate, in the extreme; and we 

 have no doubt that the picture of his own situa- 

 tion drawn by our friend T. S., although per- 

 haps a little highly colored, is a faithful portrai- 

 ture of the influence exercised by these men 

 upon southern agriculture. 



Very large proprietors can afford to employ 

 men of skill and intelligence to superintend their 

 estates, but we respectfully ask if the small far- 

 mer, of three or four hundred acres, would not 

 do better by attending to his own business than 

 by employing another to do it for him ? Re- 

 member the old maxim, " if you want your bu- 

 siness done, employ another ; if you want it 

 well done, do it yourself." 



The Pictorial Times and Illustrated London 

 JYewSj containing descriptions of the Fair of the 

 Royal Agricultural Society at Derby, were sent 

 from this office to several of our exchange pa- 

 pers, and we suspect the Southern Planter and 

 the South Western Farmer are indebted to us 

 for the papers they have acknowledged from 

 another source. Certain it is, we sent them co- 

 pies of the papers mentioned. — Cultivator. 



The only copy of these papers that we re- 

 ceived were marked as coming from the office 

 of the Agriculturist. But we are as much in- 

 debted to our friends of the " Cultivator" as if 

 their intended kindness had been received. 



EFFECTS OF DROUGHT PREVENTED BY 

 DEEP TILLAGE. 



To the Editor of the Southern Planter: 



Dear Sir, — I made an experiment on a small 

 scale during the past season, the object of which 

 was to satisfy myself as to the advantage or 

 disadvantage of close planting and deep tillage 

 of com with reference to its ability to withstand 



the effects of a very dry season. The result as 

 to the first branch of the experiment was unsa- 

 tisfactory, while that of the second branch was 

 a clear demonstration to my mind of the great 

 utility of deep tillage, or subsoil ploughing 

 where the soil will not admit of a deep upturn- 

 ing, in enabling the corn to resist the effect of 

 drought. I selected a square in my garden 

 through which a trench had been opened the 

 previous season two feet deep and about eight 

 feet wide. This trench was filled up and le- 

 velled with the common surface, and after ma- 

 nuring the whole broadcast with litter from the 

 farm-pen, it was prepared and planted at the 

 earliest period the season (a late one) would 

 permit, at the distance of three feet each way, 

 two rows running through the length of the 

 trench, and the whole was thinned to tw T o stalks 

 in the hill. It grew off finely and was ad- 

 vanced to the critical stage of earing when the 

 late drought occurred. From this the corn suf- 

 fered great injury in general, but the part which 

 grew over the celery trench retained its verdure 

 and freshness during the prevalence of the 

 drought, whilst nearly every blade of the re- 

 maining part of the square was frequently seen 

 to be in a twist. 



I submit the facts of this experiment — the 

 public may draw their own inferences. 

 Yours respectfully, 



Ch. B. Williams. 



PEAS AS AN IMPROVER. 

 We have been requested by a subscriber to 

 obtain some information for him upon the sub- 

 ject of using peas to improve poor land. In 

 the absence of any original information we 

 make the following extracts from a communica- 

 tion lately made by Mr. Edmund Ruffin to 

 an agricultural society in South Carolina : 



£t The almost universal mode of raising the 

 pea crop in South Carolina is by planting among 

 corn. The length of the summer permits this 

 planting to be done after the corn is well ad- 

 vanced in growth, and for the peas to have time 

 to perfect their growth after that of the corn has 

 ceased. Universal experience seems to have 

 confirmed the value and profit of the pea crop 

 thus made. But this mode, however advan- 

 tageous, seems to me of far less benefit, than 

 either of several other modes. Of one of these 

 I have myself had large and satisfactory expe- 

 rience, under a less favorable climate — and others 

 I have but just seen in this neighborhood, or 

 elsewhere in this State. 



" Whatever may be the amount of product, 

 or of profit, from raising peas among corn, as a 

 secondary cultivated crop, it is attended with 

 much trouble in the planting and separate tillage. 



