THE SOUTHERN PLANTER; 



I9ei>oietJ to ®Qttiultuw, horticulture, autr U\z Jgouscftott Bvts. 



Agriculture is the nursing mother of the Arts. 



Xenophon. 



Vol. III. 



FARMERS' CLUBS. 



We are much pleased to find that the benefits 

 of association begin to be appreciated by the 

 agricultural community. Annual fairs and ex- 

 hibitions are well enough in their way, but they 

 are too few and far between to be productive of 

 any very important results. It is to the con- 

 tinued and repeated influence of those neighbor- 

 hood associations, which, under the name of 

 "farmers' clubs," are beginning to be so popular, 

 that we are to look for those benefits to agricul- 

 ture that all other arts and sciences have derived 

 from the union and association of their members. 



One of these clubs has been gotten up in this 

 vicinity, and a single attendance was sufficient 

 to satisfy us that these meetings are admirably 

 calculated to minister not less to the sociability 

 than the improvement of a neighborhood. To 

 a man groaning under the heat and dust of a 

 city, nothing can be more delightful than one of 

 these rural excursions ; where, amidst the song 

 of birds, the odor of flowers, and the shade of 

 trees he may enjoy the delightful hospitality of 

 the members of the Henrico Farmers' Club. — 

 The forenoon is devoted to social intercourse, 

 and it is not until the cloth is removed, and the 

 physical man fully provided for, that the spiri- 

 tual being is considered to be sufficiently subli- 

 mated to take into consideration the profound 

 truths of agriculture. Then it is, that some 

 question selected at a previous meeting, is made 

 the topic of conversation, and an opportunity is 

 afforded to every member to avail himself of 

 the experience of his friend and neighbor. It is 

 our lot to fill the honorable post of Secretary to 

 this Club, and from our notes we shall probably, 

 from time to time, make a few extracts for the 

 benefit of our readers. For instance, at the first 

 meeting the question for discussion was, 



"WHAT IS THE BEST MODE OF CULTIVATING 

 INDIAN CORN f 1 



This question was handled very ably by some 

 of the oldest and most successful corn growers 

 in the county. Although it was universally 

 Vol. III.— 25 



Tillage and Pasturage are the two breasts of the 

 State— Sully. 



No. 9. 



agreed that much depended upon soil and sea- 

 son, yet a great diversity of opinion prevailed, 

 upon almost every point that arose, between 

 men living side by side, either of whom would 

 have been considered by his neighbors good au- 

 thority upon any question connected with the 

 making of corn ; particularly upon the question 

 of the proper distance for planting, did our com- 

 pany essentially differ. One gentleman, whose 

 head would have been grey, if it had not been 

 bald, a man too of very profound observation, 

 declared, that, one year with another, six feet 

 by three, would yield more in our climate and 

 soil than any lesser distance. This doctrine, 

 which would hopelessly condemn us to a short 

 crop, we are happy to say found very few sup- 

 porters. Five feet and eighteen inches was the 

 distance that seemed to be most generally pre- 

 ferred ; the prevailing opinion was, that nearer 

 than that, in ordinary seasons, the corn would 

 " fire," and the crop would be shortened. We 

 were pleased to hear one gentleman declare that 

 experience and observation had perfectly satis- 

 fied him of the truth of the doctrine of Dr. 

 Sams, of South Carolina, to which we called 

 the atlention of our readers in the last volume 

 of the Planter. The amount of this doctrine is 

 briefly this ; that the natural tendency of the 

 roots of the corn is downwards, and that such 

 will be their invariable direction in a deep, rich, 

 mellow soil, but that when the earth is scratched 

 only to the depth of a few inches and the hard 

 pan underneath is left undisturbed, then it is, 

 that the roots of the corn begin to wander in a 

 horizontal direction, and that their length will 

 very much depend upon the distance within 

 which they can find their proper supply of food. 

 The inevitable and valuable conclusion from this 

 position is, that as the soil is deepened and en- 

 riched, that we may plant closer and closer, un- 

 til we obtain a crop that perhaps has never yet 

 been dreamed of in American husbandry. Fir- 

 ing, say the advocates of this doctrine, is neither 

 more nor less than dying for want of nourish- 



C. T. BOTTS, Editor. 



RICHMOND, SEPTEMBER, 1843. 



