THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



663 



clean as a garden, deeply worked, pulver- 

 ized and enriched ; only (as he will tell 

 you) he must raise and be able to market 

 green-grocer's and fruiterers' produce in 

 order to make such perfect cultivation 

 pay. As long as corn and roots and fod- 

 der are worth no more per acre than at 

 present, there is a limit to the amount of 

 tillage it will answer to bestow in grow- 

 ing them. Give him a power cheaper, 

 stronger than that of horses, and still 

 more than that of workmen ; a power that 

 eats only when at work, never wearies, 

 and will accomplish the tillage wholesale 

 at the right time, instead of being obliged 

 to plod on bit after bit, often in unsuitable 

 weather, and he will soon show what an 

 augmentation of produce, and how many 

 other advantages, follow a better style o(' 

 culture. 



Even in the virgin soils of America, 

 this need for deeper and better husbandry 

 is already felt. In a New York paper we 

 read, " The great error of Indian-corn 

 culture in the west is shallow plowing ; to 

 which we may add, continuing the crop 

 upon th<3 same land for a long term of 

 years without rotation. There are tens 

 of thousands of acres of corn land in 

 the west that have never been plowed 

 more than four inches deep, and the pro- 

 duct is not over thirty bushels to the acre. 

 The twelve inches beneath the four that 

 have been disturbed is quite as good soil 

 as the upper stratum, and only needs 

 loosening to yield up its plant-food. On 

 many of these acres, ten, fifteen, and 

 twenty bushels may be added to the yield 

 per acre by deep plowing alone. It will 

 cost but a little more to do this ; and the 

 increased yield is nearly all profit to the 

 farmer. Deep plowing would not answer 

 to thin soils unless accompanied Vvith high 

 manuring ; but every cultivator may safely 

 go down an inch or two deeper than 

 usual, and if his soil be prairie or bottom- 

 land he may as well plow four or six 

 inches deeper as two." The cost of cul- 

 tivation, and the product of Indian corn 

 per acre varies much in the several states. 

 The average of the whole country, accor- 

 ding to the last census statistics, was only 

 about 25 bushels per acre ; and for the 

 western corn-growing states not far from 

 27 bushels per acre ; the highest average, 

 40 bushels to the acre, was in Connecticut, 

 a state in no wise remarkable for the fer- 



tility of its soil. According to state- 

 ments in the Patent-Office Report, some 

 crops of this grain reached 130 bushels 

 per acre. Of 35 acres offered in Massa- 

 chusets for premium, the average yield 

 was 93 bushels per acre — the largest crop 

 was 138^ bushels. These are certainly 

 good yields to bring from the sterile 

 bosom of New England soil; but they are 

 far inferior to what might be raised upon 

 the prairies and " bottom-land " of the 

 West, with the same skill in cultivation. 

 These results are mainly owing to deep 

 plowing and thorough mechanical prepa- 

 ration of the soil, manuring, and after- 

 treatment. 



In addition, then, to our home experi- 

 ence, we have here a voice from«across 

 the Atlantic testifying to the economy and 

 advantage of deeper working among the 

 mineral riches constituting the soil. Let 

 us hope that with these considerations be- 

 fore us, the exertions of inventors in the 

 improvement of field implements and the 

 accomplishment of steam-tillage will meet 

 with the encouragement they will deserve. 



[Farmer's Magazine. 



The V/eevil in Seed Wheat from the Pa- 

 tent Office. 



Last week a friend brought to our office two 

 samples of wheat, sent to him from the Patent 

 Office, and labelled, "Large White Soft Tuscan 

 Wheat, from Italy. Each sample was done 

 up in the little bags commonly used, and ap- 

 parently had not been opened since leaving 

 Washington. They were contained in a small 

 tin canister. On removing tlie lid, a disagree- 

 able smell was perceived, and we saw a num- 

 ber of the Calandra granaria, or true grain- 

 weevil, creeping on the surface of the bags. On 

 opening the latter, as many weevils could be 

 seen as there were grains of wheat. It was a 

 mixed mass, in which it was almost doubtful 

 which had the predominance. In bulk the 

 wheat, however, was the greater; but in weight 

 the bugs would, in all likelihood, turn the scale. 

 What had at one time been truly beautiful 

 wheat, was now shorts only, with the fiirina ex- 

 tracted through a little hole. We did not find 

 a single grain that coidd vegetate, hut loe found 

 enough weevil to stock every granary and mill in 

 the County of Cuyahoga. Now this may ap- 

 pear a trivial matter to some, but it is really 

 one of great interest. The grain weevil was 

 rather rare in some parts of our country: it 

 cannot be considered so now ; for the Patent 

 Office has unwittingly stocked the whole land 

 with it. There is no doubt but the insect will 

 obtain a foothold in our warehouses, mills and 

 barus, and the amount of loss that will result 



