34 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



This circumstance lead to some investigations 

 which resulted in the discovery, that an excess 

 of gluten, which gives value to the grain for 

 manufacturing purposes, prevents the conversion 

 of the starch into sugar, so necessary for the 

 nourishment of the plant in germination. Limed 

 lands produce good grain for seed, but if too 

 highly manured, although the corn or wheat 

 may be more abundant, and better for food, it 

 will produce a less vigorous plant than seed 

 grown upon poor land. Sandy soils in general, 

 says the Professor, do not furnish good seed 

 grain, inasmuch as such grain is deficient in 

 certain substances, as lime, magnesia, &c. essen- 

 tial, nay, indispensable, to the perfect develop- 

 ment of the germ. 



CULTIVATION OF CORN, 



W e are pleased to lay before our readers the 

 remarks of Mr. Young in regard to the cultiva- 

 tion of corn, and we are happy to find that he 

 intends to say something more on the general 

 management of his farm. Our readers may re- 

 member the short account we gave some time 

 ago of a conversation we held with him, wherein 

 we stated that he had produced one hundred and 

 ninety-Jive bushels of com to the acre, and that his 

 crop in the dry est seasons does not fall short of 

 one hundred bushels to the acre. We have no he- 

 sitation in saying that his mode of cultivation 

 comes nearer to the perfect one than any yet 

 published. He has produced larger crops than 

 any one else; and his mode admits of cultiva- 

 tion of a larger number of acres to the hand. — 

 He will give us, we hope, in his next, an ac- 

 count of his system of manuring and putting 

 his land down in grass. 



To the Editors of the Louisville Journal, 



Ceylon, Jessamine Co., Ky., April 26, 1842. 

 Perceiving in your paper a call upon me as 

 to my method of farming, and more particularly 

 as to rny method of cultivating corn, I hasten 

 to comply, Your recollection of our conversa- 

 tion upon the subject of farming is good, though 

 not entirely correct. As corn has been my sta- 

 ple, I begin with that first. My universal rule 

 is to plough my corn land the fall preceding the 

 spring when I plant. As early in the spring as 

 possible, I cross-plough as deep as circumstances 

 will permit. As soon as the ground is cross- 

 ploughed, I commence checking off the first 

 way with my large ploughs, and the second 

 with my small ones — the checks three feet by 

 three. This being completed, I commence plant- 

 ing the way it was first checked, thereby making 

 the checks diagonally straight ; the advantage 

 of which is, that the com can be ploughed 



equally well both ways — a circumstance you 

 rarely observe even among our best farmers. — 

 With this portion of my crop planted, I proceed 

 to the next, and so on throughout my crop. 

 You here perceive the advantage of this system 

 of planting is, that the first field planted will be 

 in condition to work by the time the last is 

 planted. J\Iy planting season is from the 20th to 

 the 25th of Jslarch — a rule to winch I adhere with 

 scrupulous exactness ; planting from eight to twelve 

 grains in each hill, covering the same from four to 

 six inches deep — I greatly prefer the latter depth ; 

 and, in this particular, I take more pride and 

 more pains than any other farmer in Kentucky. 

 / hold it as my ruling principle, that the product of 

 the corn crop depends very much on its being pro- 

 perly covered, and much on its being properly 

 ploughed the first time. So soon as my corn is 

 up of sufficient height, of which any farmer can 

 judge, I start the large harrow directly over the 

 rows ; allowing a horse to walk each side, har- 

 rowing the way it was planted. On land pre- 

 pared as above, and harrowed as directed, the 

 hoeing part will be so completely performed by 

 this process that it will satisfy the most scepti- 

 cal. Allowing the corn thus harrowed to re- 

 main a few days, I start my small ploughs with 

 the bar next the corn ; and, so nicely will this 

 be done, that, when a row is thus ploughed, so 

 completely will the intermediate spaces, hill, &c. 

 be lapped in by the loose dirt occasioned by this 

 system of close ploughing, as to render other 

 work useless at the present. Now for the thin- 

 ning part, for I profess to know nothing about re- 

 planting. I thin to four stalks in a hill. This 

 process may now be easily performed ; taking 

 advantage of the close ploughing, the portion 

 to be pulled up yields very kindly at this parti- 

 cular stage, The second ploughing is performed 

 with the mouldboard next to the corn. So rapid 

 has been the growth of the corn from the first 

 to the second ploughing, that it is performed 

 with perfect ease. In this stage I consider my 

 crop safe. My general rule is never to plough 

 corn more than four times, and harrow once. — 

 My practice is to put a field in corn hvo successive 

 years, and then grass it, and let it lie eight years — 

 a rule from which I never deviate, I do con- 

 tend that the labor bestowed upon a sod field to 

 put it in a state of thorough cultivation does not' 

 meet with a fair equivalent from one crop. I 

 presume no farmer will doubt when I say the 

 second year's crop from sod land is as good as 

 the first— I say better, with not more than half 

 the amount of labor. The best system of farm- 

 ing is to produce the greatest amount of profit 

 from the smallest amount of labor. 



/ lay it down as an axiom incontrovertible, in the 

 cultivation of corn, that ivhenever a large crop has 

 been raised, it ivas the result of close and early 

 planting, and I defy proof to the contrary. I 

 propose, to all tenacious gentlemen-farmers and 



