THE SOUTHE 



ags . . ... 



sorrel, was to apply lime to the land, whereby 



the acid of the soil should be corrected. What 

 a beautiful theory, exclaims the agricultural 

 writer. How true says the newspaper editor. 

 Well, sir, I had been fooled before by these in- 

 genious theories, and should not have so much 

 regarded all these exclamations, but actually a 

 book, a whole book, was written upon the sub- 

 ject ! Then, sir, I could no longer doubt, and I 

 thought if there was any one theory in agricul- 

 ture well established, it was, that lime neutral- 

 ized the acid of the soil and prevented the 

 growth of sorrel : my wife was full of the no- 

 tion ; we had a morello cherry tree standing in 

 the yard, the fruit of which was uncommonly 

 sour and very objectionable, she said, because it 

 caused the children to make such ugly faces in 

 eating it ; lime, says she, will correct the acidity 

 of the soil, and smooth the faces of the little 

 ones. Lime was accordingly applied. The 

 following summer we were disappointed at not 

 finding the cherries as sweet as blackhearts, but 

 my wife was almost sure they were not so sour 

 as they used to be, and I am afraid she bored 

 our neighbors a little in persuading them to her 

 opinion. Jim, however, made as ugly faces as 

 ever, which his mother declared was done in 

 pure obstinacy, and she one day forced the little, 

 fellow to swallow without a distortion, until at 

 length the efforts of restrained nature burst forth 

 in a mighty screw, from which the poor boy's 

 face has not recovered to this day. Ever since 

 that period, she has denied the action of lime 

 upon sour fruits at least, and when our friend, 

 Dr. S., told her a few days since that the oxalic 

 acid of the vegetable did not exist in the soil, 

 but was formed in the growth of the vegetable, 

 from constituents derived from the soil and at- 

 mosphere, and when our neighbor, Mr. W., who 

 has limed and marled to a great extent, assured 

 her that although his land had been greatly im- 

 proved, the production of sorrel had been much 

 increased by the process, he having frequently 

 seen the sorrel growing most luxuriantly through 

 the thickest layers of marl, she insisted on it 

 that I should inform you of the fact. But as 

 she did not tell me particularly to mention the 

 story of Jim and the cherries, and as she is a 

 constant reader of the Planter, perhaps you had 

 better leave that part out. 



Yours, G. P. * * * * * 



We prefer letting our friend "catch it" to 

 marring the piece by extracting the story of 

 Jim and the cherries. 



THE CORN CROP. 

 We have had occasion before to remark upon 

 the incongruity of opinion as to the proper me- 

 thod of cultivating the favorite and familiar crop 



RN PLANTER. 99 



of Indian corn. That we can find no two far- 

 mers who can agree upon the simplest facts at- 

 tendant on the growth of this indigenous plant, 

 proves only how little of critical investigation 

 has been bestowed upon the subject of agricul- 

 ture. One tells you that the roots of the plant 

 should never be disturbed, but that the surface 

 should be kept clean with cultivators ; another 

 says that you cannot plough too deep, and that 

 nothing is more invigorating than severing the 

 roots. If you want a large return, plant thick 

 says A, if you do says B, your com will fire 

 and you will not make half a crop. Pull off 

 your suckers, cries one ; sucker not your corn, 

 says another, and so we have, upon each and 

 every point, the most opposite and discordant 

 opinions from the most practical and observing 

 men. Much of this difference results, no doubt, 

 from differences in soil, season, &c. ; but still 

 we find men living side by side, subject to ex- 

 actly the same influences, differing totally upon 

 points, that one would have thought experience 

 and observation should long ago have settled. 

 What can we do in this dilemma, but select 

 from the heterogeneous mass such articles as we 

 think best calculated to present the different 

 phases of this many sided question to our read- 

 ers? The following is an extract from a letter 

 from Mr. Wm. Woodson, of Goochland, to the 

 Editor of the " Farmers' Register." The plan 

 recommended by Mr. " Woodson" is the one, 

 we know, pursued by many of our most expe- 

 rienced and successful corn growers. 



" Nearly every farmer has his own peculiar 

 mode of cultivating corn ; and if you think a 

 description of mine will be of any service, I am 

 willing to place it at your disposal. My plan 

 is to prepare the ground, as near the time of 

 planting as practicable, not by ploughing flush, 

 but by listing. Three furrows are sufficient to 

 form a list, the earth from the two last to be 

 lapped immediately over the first, so that, no 

 hard or unbroken space may remain. When 

 the lists are completed, they are checked at 

 suitable distances. I prefer three feet each way, 

 with one stalk or plant in a hill; and to plant 

 the first of April, or as soon thereafter as possi- 

 ble. Early planting is very desirable. My 

 mode of cultivation is as follows : — As soon as 

 the young plants have fairly made their appear- 

 ance, 1 cause the wing coulter (an implement 

 with a narrow iron wing extending into some- 

 thing of a share, attached to a new ground 

 coulter, which works deep and leaves only a 

 small furrow) to be run very near the young 

 corn ; even if the plants are a little loosened, so 



