THE 



SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



30*tooteti to glgrfculture, ffiovttculture, anu the Jgousefiolli ans. 



Agriculture is the nursing mother of the Arts. 

 X'naphon. 



Tillage and Pasturage are the two breasts of tho 

 State. — Sully. 



F. Q. RUFFIN & N. AUGUST, Propr's. — FRANK : G. RUFFIN, Editor. — T. BAILIE, Purlishkr. 



No. 3. 



Vol, XVI. 



RICHMOND, MARCH, 1856. 



Communications to the Virginia Slate Agricultural 

 Society. 



CULTIVATION OF INDIAN CORN. 

 By R. W. H. Noland. 



In submitting the following paper, upon the 

 •cultivation of Indian Corn, the writer hopes 

 he will not be suspected of the folly of recom- 

 mending a system suited to all lands and ev- 

 ery variety of season. His only hope is to 

 suggest some hints which may prove useful to 

 his fellow farmers, and to impress upon them 

 the importance of cultivating this, and all 

 other crops, not in accordance with fixed 

 rules, but according to the wants of the plant, 

 the condition of the soil, and the character 

 of the season. For, after all, the successful 

 management of any crop, must depend upon 

 these accurate powers of discrimination and 

 that soundness of judgment, which enable the 

 farmer to adapt his system to the circumstances 

 which surround him ; and any attempt to bend 

 circumstances to system, in farming, must 

 result in failure. 



The two grand ends which the farmer should 

 keep constantly in view, are the production of 

 crop and the economy of labor. The produc- 

 tion of heavy crops, brought about by a 

 wasteful expenditure of labor, is bad farming, 

 and the too great sacrifice of crop to the 

 economy of labor, is equally a mistaken policy. 

 He is the best farmer, who, while he increases, 

 or even preserves, the productive capacity of 

 his land, makes the largest crops with the least 

 labor. 



The first study of the farmer should be the 

 idiosyncrasies of the plant cultivated. Has 

 the plant any peculiar wants or habits ? Let 

 the one be supplied and the other attended to. 

 Is it liable to injury from accidents likely to 

 befall it ? Let these be considered, and, as 

 far as possible, guarded against. Let the far- 

 mer find out what condition of soil is most 

 conducive to its growth, and u govern himself 

 accordingly." 



So peculiarly adapted does our country 

 seem to be to the growth of Indian corn, and 

 with such recuperative energies is the plant 

 gifted, that the impression has grown common 

 amongst us that no skill is necessary to be 

 used in its cultivation. It is generally planted 

 without care, and cultivated without reflec- 

 tion; and we might safely assert that enough 

 is annually lost, from carelessness and bad 

 management, to feed our people. The same 

 breadth of land now cultivated in corn in 

 Virginia, would, imder a proper system of 

 tillage, yield double its present product, and 

 this too, with no increase of labor. Many of 

 our farmers expend more labor than is neces- 

 sary upon their corn crops, but few are found 

 who use too little. The great error is this : 

 the work is ill-timed and injudiciously applied. 



The first recommendation I make is to ob- 

 serve doe care in the selection of seed. The 

 many and widely differing varieties of corn, 

 no doubt originated in the wild corn of Amer- 

 ica. The differences now found to exist, are 

 due to climate, soil and cultivation The 

 male and female organs being upon different 

 parts of the plants, and the pollen of one being 

 capable of fecundating the silk of another, 

 these varieties may be indefinately increased 

 by contiguity of planting. By judicious cross- 

 ing, for a succession of years, valuable qual- 

 ities may be fixed upon a new variety. I am 

 satisfied that the corn plant will acquire hab- 

 its or peculiar qualities under one system of 

 cultivation, continued for a succession of years, 

 which it will not lose in one year, under a 

 change of system. In other words, corn 

 planted with full distance, will in time become 

 more prolific, bearing two or three ears to the 

 stalk. When this character is fixed upon it 

 the plants may be crowded for one year, with- 

 out parting with this double-bearing habit. 

 Seed corn, therefore, should be grown to Itself, 

 having full distance, and only the largest of 

 the double ears saved for seed. 



