THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



569 



shall continue to do so until all shall have been 

 sent out. We ask, as a favor, a prompt re- 

 sponse from all. 



The bills are made up to 1st January next. 

 The fractional part of a dollar can be remitted 

 in postage stamps, or the change returned in 

 the same. 



August & Williams. 



July 1st, 1858. 



For the Southern Planter. 



The Impropriety of Breaking Roots of 

 Growing Crops. 



. In the 7 month number of the Planter is an 

 able article on the " Functions of the Roots and 

 Leaves of Plants,'' to which is appended some 

 remarks by the editor. In these remarks he 

 takes exception to some propositions of the 

 ■writer, and at the same time advances other 

 propositions as facts, that appears to me may 

 be doubted, though they are considered "in- 

 disputable" by the editor. 



He says : " Novr it is true, we think, that if 

 the roots of the plants are disturbed when the 

 plant is fructifying, injury is done thereby to 

 the product ; but while the plant is young, we 

 think that with some sorts breaking the roots 

 is a decided advantage. Thus the cabbage is 

 ahyays larger and better if ' pricked out' before 

 it is transplanted— I. e. if it is transplanted, 

 and as soon as it begins to grow transplanted 

 again." Why is this advantage obtained in 

 the caseof cabbages? Plainly because they are 

 sown thickly to save labor, and then they grow 

 spindling," unless allowed more room. But 

 sow them as thinly as when " pricked out," 

 and they will make as good and as stalky 

 plants, as if transplanted, if the soil is in 

 equally good tilth. Who would think of trans- 

 planting beets, parsnips, carrots, &c., for the 

 main crops? Some of these are sometimes rais- 

 ed in hot beds and transplanted for early use ; 

 but where is the reason that breaking the roots 

 of these would not be as beneficial as fur cab- 

 bage ? Of the culture of tobacco, I know noth- 

 ing, and am thankful that this detestable weed 

 is not among the staples of this region, but I 

 can readily perceive how "a close coultering" 

 may induce " a much more vigorous growth" 

 by loosening the soil around the plant, even if 



a few roots are broken. 



But of the cultivation of corn I 



profess to 



know something, and I well remember fifty 

 •years ago, when I first began to hold the shov- 

 el plough, it was the practice to use a large 

 single shovel, and plough deeply the last time 

 before harvest, 'necessarily breaking the roots' 

 and ridging the ground around the hills. This 

 practice is one^ of the has beens here, and we 

 should think it an insult to our good sense 

 now, for any person gravely to argue a return 



to the old mode of cultivating that cereal. I 

 have a relative here, a neat and good farmer, 

 though somewhat old-fashioned, and not apt to 

 take any new notion until fairly convinced, who 

 some years ago was cultivating a field of corn 

 adjoining a field of his neighbor's, and they 

 were going through their crops both at the 

 same time, just before harvest, my relative, as 

 usual plitughing nicely and pretty deep, and 

 hilling his corn beautifully, while his neighbor 

 was skimming his ground with a double shovel 

 plough, not even covering all the grass around 

 the stalk. My relative rallied his neighbor for 

 his indifferent work, and contrasted it with his 

 own ; but mark the result, and it is a result of- 

 ten occurring in our dry summers ; a drought 

 of several weeks had just set it, and his corn 

 fired badly, the lower leaves dying, thus injur- 

 ing it materially, while that of his neighbor, 

 who by his shallow ploughing, did not disturb 

 the roots did not fire at all, but the leaves kept 

 green to the ground. The editor speaks of the 

 " tendency to run to stalk," but this only takes 

 place when there is a want of mellowness in 

 the soil, from heavy rain or other causes. This 

 is particularly the case here this year. The soil 

 made very compact by heavy rains, has caused 

 a slender growth of stalk, and unless we have 

 a good deal of M-et weather until the crop is 

 made, the ears must be small. The only 'pro- 

 per time,' in my opinion, and according to my 

 experience, to plough corn for the last time, so 

 as to "give a deep tilth' and necessarily break 

 roots," is when we can have rain following, it 

 then may "change its habit of growth," and 

 " benefit the ear," but should a drought of a 

 few weeks take place instead, as is often the 

 case at that season of the year, such ploughing 

 must be far more injurious than shallow plough- 

 ing that merely keeps the surface mellow. — 

 The evil efi'ects of deep plougliing at such times 

 lam well satisfied from experience, are not com 

 pensated by their occ sional advantages, and the 

 idea that to break off the roots increases their 

 number, may be true in that regard, but it 

 remains to be proven that it increases their 

 length, and it is their aggregate length, that 

 gives capacity to obtain nutriment from the 

 soil. When cultivators wish to retard growth 

 they root prune, and how root pruning the corn 

 by the plough can increase its growth, is about 

 as reasonable an argument as that of the dram 

 drinker, who drinks in cold weather to keep 

 the cold out, and in hot weather to keep the 

 heat out. 



The editor says, " the fact is indisputable," 

 " that there is a tendency in every plant where 

 vitality is impaired, to reproduce itself more 

 quickly;" but the instances that he gives of 

 improvement in his cabbage and tobacco and 

 corn plants, may be properly ascribed to the 

 pulverization of the soil rather than to the 

 breaking of the roots. It may be, and doubt- 

 less is, often the case, that the pulverization of 

 the soil is of more advantage to the plant than 



