THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



67 



the dirt to the corn, and splitting out the mid- 

 dle with the cultivator, unless the land be 

 very grassy, when I would plow out the whole 

 baulk with the mould- board or shovel plow. 

 Of a favorable season, this is sufficient to 

 make the crop, but if the land thereafter re- 

 ceive a dashing rain, or becomes baked, I 

 would stir it as it dries out with cultivators. 

 Some very judicious farmers use the cultiva- 

 tor more freely in the cultivation of the corn 

 crop, but in my opinion it is a most indifferent 

 implement for any but very clean and light 

 land. For all foul lands, and particularly low- 

 grounds, which throw up weeds rapidly, the 

 mould- joard plow is decidedly the best imple- 

 ment I ever used. The objection sometimes 

 urged against it — that the land is liable to 

 wash under its use — is in my opinion founded 

 in error. If the corn rows be properly laid off, 

 the ridging has rather a tendency to prevent 

 washing. Under this system the flow of water 

 is checked by theae ridges, and much of it is 

 absorbed, while a dashing rain beats down the 

 level surface, prevents this absorption, and 

 consequently the land is washed into gullies. 

 Corn cultivated with the mould- board plow, is 

 also less liable to be blown down by high 

 winds. Every farmer should have a supply of 

 coulters, cultivators and mould-board plows, as 

 each is useful in its place. The coulter for 

 hard land, the cultivator for light and clean 

 land, and the mouldboard plow for grass and 

 foul growth. It is seldom we have a season or 

 see a field which does not require the use of 

 all three. 



"When the grain is so far matured as to be 

 in the dough state, the stalks may be cut off 

 at" the ground and shocked up. This operation 

 may be commenced much sooner than is gen- 

 erally supposed, without injury to the crop. 

 Indeed experiment shows, that the grain is 

 heavier, when allowed thus to feed from the 

 st :1k cut off, than when allowed to hang until 

 fully dried. When the weather is warm, it is 

 well to make the shocks half the usual size, 

 by cutting eight rows and leaving eight alter- 

 nately through the field. This permits that 

 first cut, to cure partially before the rest 

 is added to it, and the shod: made full 

 size. The fodder thus cured is^ very nearly 

 equal to top-fodder, while the labor of ridding 

 the land of crop under this system, is not 

 much over half that expended under the old 

 system of top cutting and blade pulling. If 

 the farmer have force enough to do so, the 

 whole crop may be hauled off the land on 

 drags, and stacked where it is to be used ; but 

 where this cannot be done, by stacking the 

 corn in rows and doubling the shocks when 



cared, the strips thus occupied may be put in 

 oats, and the whole field brought into grass at 

 the same time. 



I am aware that the general system of cul- 

 tivation recommended in this paper, is "noth- 

 ing new," but on the contrary I know that the 

 free use of the mould-board plow has gone 

 somewhat out of date I can only say that 

 having tried every modern implement now in 

 use, I am forced to the conclusion that if this 

 be the o'd system, no very great improvement 

 has taken place of late years, in the cultivation- 

 of corn in Virginia. I profess to be wedded 

 to no system. 



What I wish especially to impress upon my 

 brother farmers, is this: Whatever work yoiE> 

 give your crop, let it be given at the right time. - 

 Never let the crop show that it wants work, 

 and remember that one lick struck in time is 

 worth ten applied a little too late. 



R espectf all y submi tted. 



R W. II. No LAND. 



Itox, Albemarle County, Va. 



MANAGEMENT' OF GARDENS. 

 It is a general remark that farmers neglect' 

 their gardens more than any other class of peo- 

 ple who live in the country ; but we believe - 

 that they are losers by so doing, inasmuch as 

 half the living of a family may be derived from; 

 a well cultivated garden. How repugnant to 

 every sense of good living it is to see farmers 

 in summer confined to their salt pork, corned 

 beef and potatoes, and devoid of every luxury 

 that a good garden may afford, almost without 

 cost. How few farmers' tables show a succes- 

 sion of early peas, beans, radishes, salads, green 

 corn, &c &c The article of sweet corn alone 

 may be had in every garden — green, and sui- 

 table for the table -for three months in the 

 year, by successive plantings ; yet not one 

 farmer in ten has it at all. We annex an 

 article from the Horticulturist that contains 

 some good suggestions in regard to gardens, 

 walks, &c. — Ed. 



One of the finest features in the country 

 towns of America is, that almost every dwelling 

 has its garden — small in many cases it may 

 be, but still a garden, and capable of yielding 

 many of the comforts and pleasures of gar- 

 dening. The most active improvers of our 

 day, the men who are reall) doing m)st for a 

 diffusion of a taste for gardening, are the resi- 

 dents of country towns and villages, with their 

 acre, half acre, and even quarter acre lots. 

 Taking this view of the subject, we naturally 

 regard the management of small gardens with 

 much interest ; and therefore propose, now 

 and hereafter, to offer a few hints, in order if 



