THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



therefore, made it his object, as soon as the ditch 

 is completed, so to plough the land as to fill the 

 ditch, leaving the bank untouched, and suffering 

 or rather inviting the sod to form. He differs with 

 Messrs. Old and Harvie as to the propriety of their 

 mode of ploughing across the ditches, because; if 

 from neglect or other cause, a breach should occur 

 in the upper bank, it would most likely result in 

 breaking all those below it ; and because, if a breach 

 is once made, the water would not again resume its 

 proper course until the bank was mended — whereas, 

 if sod is suffered to form on the bank, these results 

 would not follow, as the water would resume its 

 course in its proper channel as soon as the rains 

 subside, and, though there might be an overflowing 

 of the ditch, no breach would be made. 



Most persons who object to the system, are in 

 the habit of so ploughing their land as to form a 

 bank above the lower bank, and thus greatly di- 

 minish the capacity of the ditch to take off the 

 water. 



If, in ploughing, the operation is commenced in 

 the bottom of the ditch, and the furrow thrown up 

 to the bank, the bank will be gradually increased, 

 and no bank formed above it to confine the water. 



If the land between the ditches is always ploughed 

 the same way, throwing the earth above and below, 

 and finishing in the middle, the finishing furrow 

 will be gradually deepened into a ditch, and the 

 ground made uneven. To avoid this, at each alter- 

 nate ploughing he reverses the operation, commenc- 

 ing the second ploughing by throwing the earth to 

 the middle in the form of bedding, and thus cor- 

 recting by the second ploughing the errors of the 

 first. 



Mr. P. St. George Cocke, of Powhatan, said that 

 his experience in the use of hill-side or graduated 

 furrows or ditches had been extensive within the 

 last fifteen years — as practised upon plantations in 

 the county of Brunswick — upon his place in the 

 county of Powhatan, and also upon the black cane 

 lands of Lowndes county, Mississippi, in connection 

 with the cultivation of cotton and corn. 



Brunswick county is situated above the head of 

 tide water, and is in the same geological range of 

 country with Powhatan, Amelia and Nottoway 

 counties — the soil being based upon the granite, 

 or gneiss rock, and varying from a light grey gra- 

 velly, or sandy texture, to that of a heavy red clay. 

 The surface is undulating, and near the streams of 

 water, broken with hills and valleys. 



This country has all been worked and gullied by 

 the old two-field system of tobacco and corn culti- 

 vation, with shallow ploughing, and no small grain 

 crops or grasses to smooth the surface and retain 

 the soil ; and in such condition of the land, the use 

 of graduated hill-side furrows is undoubtedly most 

 useful, to arrest the further washing. of the surface, 

 and to aid in filling up and smoothing the gullies, 

 and restoring the surface to its natural condition ; 

 but he thinks that after having used the furrows 

 and effected the above objects, they may, as a ge- 

 neral practice, be dispensed with, whenever hoe- 

 crops are followed by small grain, and these last 

 by clover and grasses. In other words, it is his 

 opinion that it is shallow ploughing, up and down 

 hill, and leaving the land all winter and spring in 

 xiaked hills and ridges, that cause the washing and 

 gullying; and that deep ploughing, sub soiling, and 

 other thorough tillage of the soil, with a suitable 

 rotation of crops, in which the hoe-crop shall be 

 followed by- small grain, and this by clover and 

 grasses, will speedily and effectually arrest the in- 



jury to the lands — which injury is now sought to 

 be prevented by the use of the hill-side furrow. 



In fact, he is now abandoning the old furrows, 

 having used them for the above mentioned pur- 

 poses, and by deep ploughing, (with three horses) 

 and a five-field rotation of crops, the washing has 

 ceased, and the lands are rapidly improving. 



But the hill-side furrows often subserve a useful 

 purpose in drainage, and he frequently uses them 

 to arrest and carry off the superfluous water of 

 heavy rains from extensive slopes or hill-sides, 

 thereby preventing the overflow or saturation of 

 the soil of the flat land adjoining such slopes. 



In Lowndes county, Mississippi, upon the black 

 cane lands cultivated in cotton and corn, and where 

 the cultivation is necessarily shallow, and the land 

 kept perpetually under the hoe and plough, he has 

 found great profit result from the use of furrows, 

 in the following respects : 



First. Chiefly by effecting a better drainage of 

 the lands, the surface of which is scarcely undu- 

 lating enough to pass off with sufficient rapidity 

 the torrents of rain that fall in that climate. By 

 means of the graduated furrow, the same water is 

 received and conveyed off at regular intervals over 

 the slopes, and discharged through main drains or 

 ditches in the flats below, thereby preventing its 

 too great accumulation at the foot of the slopes or 

 elsewhere, which before the use of the furrows 

 often resulted in great injury to the growing crops. 



Secondarily. By preventing the washing away 

 of the soil, or gullying of the land — the tendency 

 towards which, however, in these lands, is slight, 

 owing to the peculiar mechanical qualities of a 

 soil strongly impregnated with lime. 



Upon all light, sandy, and rolling lands, through- 

 out the cotton-growing region, he does not doubt 

 the necessity of hill-side furrows to prevent the 

 speedy and absolute destruction of the soil, so long- 

 as the present system of naked, shallow, and per- 

 petual tillage shall be continued upon such lands'; 

 but he believes that even in this case, the use of 

 furrows can delay only, and not prevent, the ulti- 

 mate destruction of all such soils. 



Mr. Old, in answer to an objection stated by Mr. 

 Harrison, said that his use of hill-side ditches did 

 not prevent the great convenience and advantage 

 to breaking up the field by the ploughs running 

 around the hills, and throwing the furrow-slices 

 down hill. He ploughed in this manner, just as if 

 no such ditch existed. When the plough had to 

 cross a hill-side ditch, it was usually at a very acute 

 angle, so that the shallow ditch, and its low and 

 flat bank, presented no obstacle. But the plough- 

 man took care, when crossing the bank, to make 

 the plough run quite shallow, so that, while break- 

 ing the surface, not to disturb the base and com- 

 pact mass of the bank. The loose earth thus thrown 

 or left in the ditches, or as much of it as required, 

 was afterwards drawn out by broad hoes. The 

 banks were cropped in the same manner as the field 

 generally — and brought as good, if not better, wheat 

 than any other portions of the field. He would 

 much object to the different practice, (recommended 

 by Mr. Booker,) of leaving unploughed strips along 

 the banks which would more often be nurseries of 

 running briers, than of grass sod. He was sur- 

 prised at this practice of ploughing each interval 

 (between two ditches,) separately, which required 

 half the furrow-slices to be thrown up-hill, which 

 he would deem a very serious objection. 



When the field had been thus ploughed flush, for 

 corn, and the guard ditches cleaned out, the corn 



