THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



203 



water. Now we have about forty inches a year. 

 If one half of this water runs off from the sur- 

 face, we have sustained a great loss from this 

 source, and also another, from its having washed 

 away much that is valuable in the soil. 



It is poor policy to throw even clay lands 

 up into rolling beds. To be sure it is the least 

 of two evils — the standing of water or the 

 wasting of the soil. I do not object to ditches, 

 whether covered or uncovered, to carry off the 

 surplus water, when it has passed through the 

 soil. Yet I prefer to cover the ditches, be- 

 cause over them you reap your most abundant 

 harvest, while in the others some of your best 

 soil is going "the way of all the earth." 



Again, I want the air to circulate through 

 the soil to twice or thrice the usual depth. 

 Why is it that frequent stirring of the soil has 

 such magic power to produce great crops ? I 

 answer, it is mainly because it affords facilities 

 for atmospheric contact. The air seems to be 

 a powerful agent, assisting in the various 

 changes required in the soil to prepare food for 

 plants. You may take poor, lean earth from 

 the bottom of a well, and expose it to the action 

 of the air, frost and rain : at first there is not 

 vitality enough to give life to the feeblest plant; 

 but in a few months, though it be not cultivated, 

 vegetation will start forth. Whence has it de- 

 rived this power? I answer — from the action 

 of these elements. It is barely possible that 

 light, though it does not penetrate far into the 

 soil, has some agency in producing these de- 

 compositions. 



The above are some of the considerations 

 that have prompted me in deep tillage. Of 

 the mode of this tillage, I will speak hereafter. 



For the Southern Planter. 

 ERRORS. 



Mr. Editor, — I would call the attention of Wm. 

 H. H., M. D., to some errors in his essay on Agri- 

 culture. 



He says, " Potassium forms with oxygen potassa, 

 commonly called potash, and with chlorine the 

 chloride and chlorate of potash." That is, chloride 

 of potash and chlorate of potash are compounds 

 formed by the union of chlorine and potassium. 



Here are two mistakes : 1st, There is no such a 

 compound as chloride of potash; 2d, Chlorate of 

 potash is formed of chloric acid and potash, and 

 not chlorine and potassium as above stated. 



Again: " Sodium forms with oxygen, soda; with 

 carbonic acid, the carbonate and bicarbonate of 

 soda." Any person, not acquainted with chemis- 

 try, would conclude from this, that carbonate of 

 soda is a. compound of carbonic acid and sodium. 

 But this is incorrect; for there is no compound of 

 carbonic acid and sodium. Carbonate of soda is a 

 ternary compound, and must necessarily contain 

 two binary compounds : but sodium is not a binary 



compound, therefore cannot form a ternary com- 

 pound with carbonic acid or any other acid. 



Again, " Calcium forms with oxygen quick lime, 

 vyith sulphuric acid plaster of Paris or sulphate of 

 lime." This is also incorrect: sulphate of lime is 

 compound of sulphuric acid and oxide of calcium, 

 which is very different from what is above stated. 

 Oxide of calcium is a compound, but calcium is an 

 element. Elements are bases of binary compounds 

 but they are not the bases of salts or ternary com- 

 pounds. The same error may be noticed with mu- 

 riate of lime, carbonate of lime and nitrate of lime. 



Other parts of the essay are also defective. But 

 the doctor, I presume, will be more careful in fu- 

 ture. I hope he will not be discouraged. " Prac- 

 tice makes perfect." B. 



Loudoun County. 



SUMMER FEED FOR MILCH COWS. 



Our pastures fail us most in July and Au- 

 gust, for then we commonly have dry weather 

 and the grass in pastures comes to a stand. 

 Cows often fall off one-half in their yield of 

 milk, and something is wanted to keep a flow 

 till the fall feed is ready for them. For when 

 their udders have become much contracted by 

 short feed, it is not so easy a matter to enlarge 

 them by a great supply in autumn. 



Oats and turnips and various other vegeta- 

 bles have been recommended to supply the 

 natural deficiency of autumn. But in our 

 climate there is nothing equal to Indian corn. 

 Till within a few years there was but little 

 use made of the blades for summer feeding. 

 But its virtues are becoming better known, 

 and the practice of sowing in drills for this 

 purpose is fast extending. 



We recommend to all who would keep more 

 cows in summer than their summer pastures 

 will feed well, to have a patch of corn nigh by, 

 planted for the purpose of supplying the defi- 

 cient pastures. The labor of cutting and feed- 

 ing is not great where only a wall separates the 

 corn from the pastures. The blades may be 

 readily thrown over the fence, and the cattle 

 will not waste a pound in a hundred that may 

 be thrown on to a grass plat. The cows should 

 have their rations in the morning, and at no 

 other time, then they will not be diverted from 

 their accustomed range in search of a variety 

 in low grounds, &c. 



We have heard it solemnly asserted by more 

 than one farmer, that the practice of feeding 

 cows with stalks in the pasture was not to be 

 countenanced, because the stalks only served 

 to divert the attention of the cattle and keep 

 them from their natural food; that the corn 

 took away the appetite for grass and bushes, 

 &c. But this is remedied by feeding only at 

 a certain time in the day, and giving a good 

 supply. 



