THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



151 



out having torn the roots of the corn much. The 

 weather is now hot, and the roots of the corn matted 

 and spread thick through all the earth from row to 

 row. The stalk needs all the nourishment and sup- 

 port which the roots can give, and ikis at great 

 hazard now to cut off these supplies. Hence the 

 necessity of those early, rapid and thorough work- 

 ings, which I have recommended, before the roots 

 have so spread out ; before the weather has become 

 so hot; and before the stalk, now sappy, needs so 

 much support. As I have previously remarked, I 

 now repeat, this crop must be worked rapidly and 

 thoroughly. It will not do to let the young corn 

 stop growing, or the stalk ever become hard. It 

 must be pushed from the beginning, and if ample 

 justice has not been done in the earlier workings, it 

 is in vain to hope by later workings to make good 

 a corn crop which has been permitted to suffer in 

 the earlier part of the season. My motto is, begin 

 early, work often, and lay by soon. The roots of 

 corn grow up upon the stalk, and are all the while 

 seeking the surface — hence the necessity of adding 

 more earth. 



At the last working, if I wanted to make the 

 crop perfect, I would pass over with the hoes after 

 the ploughs, clean out every thing, pull off suckers, 

 straighten up the bent stalks, and draw some more 

 earth around the roots of the corn, giving greater 

 protection against the scorching heat of the sun, 

 and retaining Moisture longer about the root. My 

 opinion is, if proper attention has been given in 

 throwing dirt to the stalk in former workings, that 

 not a great deal remains to be done in that way at 

 the laying by. 



It remains now for something to be said about 

 distance of rows, number of stalks, hill and drill 

 corn, &c. Taking the common lands of our coun- 

 try for my basis, and it is perhaps best in a treatise 

 of this sort, to select a medium grade, I would 

 give my preference to hill corn, rather than drilled, 

 and to one stalk in preference to two, in the hill. 

 I would have the hills four and a half feet one way 

 and three and a half feet the other, and leave one 

 stalk in each hill. The first ploughing should be 

 the narrow way, the two last the wide way of 

 the rows. My objection to drill corn, is founded 

 mainly in the difficulty in getting the stand uni- 

 form in the distance of the. stalks from each other, 

 and I think it requires a little more labor in its 

 cultivation. My objection to the two stalks in the 

 hill are, that the one stalk is better fed and sus- 

 tained when standing alone; that two would be 

 thrown together to seek their supplies from the 

 same space of earth ; that consequently more vigor 

 will be imparted to one than could be to the two; 

 that in time of drought the two will suffer the more 

 than the one ; that the two stalked corn cannot be 

 so conveniently worked either with the plough or 

 hoe, and will not produce such large ears. I admit 

 that there may be frequently, perhaps generally, 

 more in number, but the ears of the one stalk will 

 be uniformly larger, the yield as great, and the 

 quality of the corn better. On river bottoms, where 

 the lands are richer, more stalks may be crowded 

 upon the lands ; more and different workings may 

 be required; and of course the plan should be so 

 varied as to suit the circumstances of each case. 

 It will be borne in mind that my theory is made out 

 to suit the medium average lands of the country. 



In the close, I would remark that I have written 

 for practical men ; have presented facts, rather than 

 scientific theories, and if there is any merit in my 

 thoughts, the plan is easy of comprehension and 



adoption by the great body of planters. In the 

 selection of seed, I have only to add, that I like 

 that corn which has the least cob and most grain, 

 and would select those ears which have deep, long 

 grains. I have no doubt that much improvement 

 may be made by a judicious selection of the seed 

 for corn planting; by selecting from the field those 

 ears where two may be found on the same stalk, 

 and where the ears are large, well matured and 

 well filled. The benefit of this plan has been very 

 fully demonstrated. It will be found, however, to 

 be true, that almost in the same proportion as the 

 number of ears are multiplied their size will be 

 diminished. Between these two extremes will, 

 therefore, be found the best seed, and the best 

 guide for its selection. As to the varieties of corn 

 cultivated in this country, my preference is for that 

 which seems to have fallen in as a sort of medium 

 betwixt the old gourd seed and the flint, possessing 

 the peculiar qualities of neither, but a sort of com- 

 bination of both. 



I might enlarge this treatise by speaking of the 

 kinds and methods of manuring, but as that pro- 

 perly constitutes a separate branch, and our So- 

 ciety have called for a separate treatis'e on the ap- 

 plication of manures, I shall not trespass upon your 

 patience by adding more. 



In the above valuable essay on corn culture we 

 do not wish to be understood as endorsing all that 

 the Editor of the Soil of the South recommends, 

 but it is necessary to criticise only one thing. It 

 may do in Georgia and Alabama to plant corn 4£ 

 by 3£ feet, as he recommends, but it is not near 

 so thick as it ought to be planted in this latitude, 

 though the custom in many places is to plant at 

 least as wide. But we believe that for one barrel 

 lost by thick planting in the South, thousands, per- 

 haps hundreds of thousands, are lost by the oppo- 

 site plan. The best rule, according to our obser- 

 vation of the practice in this region among good 

 farmers and on good land, is 5 feet by 18 to 20 and 

 24 inches, according to fertility, and on low grounds 

 as little as 15 inches, one stalk in the hill — for thin 

 land we think the extreme distance 5 by 2 feet 

 ample. — Ed. So. Planter. 



DRYING HOUSE FOR FRUIT. 



Some time since a subscriber to the Planter asked 

 us to give a description of a house for drying fruit. 

 We wrote to a friend in Rockingham to describe 

 one we had seen on one of his farms, and here is 

 his answer. 



The business of drying fruit for market is a very 

 profitable one, and we wonder that so few people 

 engage in it. 



Mr. Editor, — The dry house at Detrick's is of 

 brick, one brick thick, on a stone foundation a foot 

 high. The brick part is four feet ten inches high, 

 seven feet one inch square from out to out, with a 

 door in one side two feet three inches wide, and as 

 high as the house will admit. In each end there 

 are three rows of frames, with two openings each, 

 large enough to admit drawers two feet nine inches 



