210 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



the turn plough following immediately, a little 

 dirt was thrown to the corn. The trowel hoe 

 answered a double purpose. The land imme- 

 diately under the corn was well broken, and the 

 turn plough was kept off at a respectable dis- 

 tance. The weeders followed immediately after 

 this operation, standing in the oldest ploughed 

 row, cutting up the grass in the balk and pulling 

 all not killed by the plough, from the fresh 

 ploughed row into the one in which they stood. 

 Grass dies much sooner on old than fresh 

 ploughed land, and is not half so apt to take 

 root again. Those who cultivate turfy lands, 

 particularly those well set in herdsgrass, would 

 soon perceive the advantage of this method of 

 managing it. Indeed, I cannot conceive how 

 it can be otherwise destroyed without constantly 

 hoeing it, and shaking the dirt from the sod. 



After getting over the crop, working every 

 other row, alternately, in this way, the corn 

 where I first begun had grown rapidly, but not 

 too rapidly to plough the other row in the same 

 manner. Every thing inviting it, the operation 

 was performed and the whole crop then lay in 

 the same situation. Even at this advanced 

 stage of the crop no injury has ensued from the 

 close use of the trowel hoe. The result, no 

 doubt, would have been very different and the 

 consequences most fatal, if every row at the same 

 time had been subjected to the operation. If 

 the corn had been a little older and larger, and 

 the season different, I would not have hazarded 

 its use even according to my system. Nor 

 would I have worked the other row as I did, if 

 the corn had been smaller and the grass on the 

 increase. In the first instance, I would have 

 used the turn plough alone, dirting the corn — 

 in the second, I would have lapped the grass in 

 the centre of the row, and then sided with the 

 trowel hoe. To destroy the grass and render 

 the greatest service to the crop is. the object of 

 every working, and of course, a good farmer 

 endeavors to effect this by changing his tools 

 and varying their use. 



The corn was now generally as high as a 

 man's head, and each row in the same situation. 

 I then dirted the corn with the turn plough, run- 

 ning four times in every other row, alternately, 

 through the crop, and after getting over, re- 

 turned and worked the other row in the same 

 manner. The hoe hands followed this last 

 ploughing, standing in the oldest ploughed row, 

 cutting the grass in the latter, and hilling effec- 

 tually the corn. This would have completed 

 my labors had not a very heavy rain have fallen 

 just after finishing the first row with the turn 

 plough, which rendered another working in that 

 row indispensable. I used the three teeth har- 

 row with evident advantage, running three times 

 in each row. 



From what has been said, it will be perceived 

 that the rows may be worked differently, though 



it does not follow that they necessarily should. 

 This was the idea I intended to convey in my 

 former communication, though I must confess, 

 the language justifies the other construction.- — 

 In regard to the saving of labor by this sys- 

 tem, I repeat the assertion first made. My ex- 

 perience teaches me (though I have not sub- 

 jected it to an accurate experiment) that at least 

 a third more can be cultivated. The hoe work 

 is infinitely less and lighter, and the grass more 

 under the control of the plough. Though In- 

 vestigator may be startled at the communication, 

 corn does not appear to be injured by one row 

 being a little in the grass if the other be clean 

 and in order. It is more than equivalent to hav- 

 ing the half of your crop clean, though, mathe- 

 matically speaking, there is no difference. 



If Investigator has low grounds, it matters 

 not of what description or quality, and will fol- 

 low this system of cultivating a part, I will pay 

 him whatever he loses by it, if in return, he 

 will pay me for the labor saved. 



This manner of cultivation is adapted to every 

 description of crop, and has been followed by 

 me for several years with tobacco, with marked 

 success. It is not, however, an invention of my 

 own, and I feel none of that sort of attachment 

 which generally attends the paternity of an in- 

 vention. I borrowed it from Mr. C. Capehart, 

 a practical and eminently successful farmer on 

 the Albemarle Sound, and if success be an evi- 

 dence of its value, Mr. Capehart's example will 

 place it above every other plan. 



I have never known a crop checked in its 

 growth or otherwise injured when worked in 

 this way; and firing, which so generally at- 

 tends the use of the turn plough, is never wit- 

 nessed. 



I have confined myself to the manner of cul- 

 tivating my low grounds, which were laid off 

 but one way. But high land may be cultivated 

 upon the same principle, even when laid off 

 both ways, and with evident advantage. The 

 turn plough is of course dispensed with, and as 

 we are confined mostly to a particular descrip- 

 tion of plough, the manner of cultivation cannot 

 be so often varied. The benefit resulting from 

 your land's not washing so much, in my opinion, 

 should of itself recommend this system to every 

 provident farmer. I cultivate as hilly a farm as 

 any on this side of the Blue Ridge, and speak 

 advisedly of its value. By the assistance of 

 the artificial grasses, my own has been regularly 

 improving, while some other estates on the river 

 have been gradually gullying and washing 

 away. 



The corn of which I so highly approve, is 

 not the Button, as my friend Mr. Hicks, of Law- 

 renceville, informs me, but a beautiful white, of 

 early maturity, moderate size, and of great fe- 

 cundity. I obtained it in Maryland, and it may 

 be what is sometimes called the Baden. It 



