90 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



horizontally as sound as when they fell, and 

 leaves and twigs thrown in a sound state from 

 not more than a foot below the surface, where, 

 judging from local appearances, they must have 

 lain for many years ? A century or two before 

 the Christian era, Julius Caesar built a bridge 

 across the Danube in order to facilitate the pas- 

 sage of his army. Forty or fifty years ago, 

 some German literati, identifying the place by 

 the particularity of the description he gives in 

 his Commentaries, raised some of the timbers 

 which had composed the foundation of the 

 bridge from the bottom of the river, where they 

 had always been protected from air by a suffi- 

 cient depth of water. The wood was found to 

 be in a perfectly sound, but partially petrified 

 state. And vegetable remains in a sound and 

 in some instances in an apparently fresh state, 

 the leaves of trees being still attached to the 

 branches on which they grew, have been dis- 

 covered in coal pits in many parts of the world, 

 at a great depth below the surface, where they 

 had doubtless been covered over by the over- 

 whelming action of water in primeval time. 



It may be inquired what we are to do with 

 respect to such parts of our intended corn land 

 as are thickly covered with weeds and grass ? 

 Are we to let them remain untouched until a 

 late and busy period of spring ? In my opinion 

 not so. Plough such land as early in the fall 

 or winter as you conveniently can, but no deeper 

 than is necessary to cover the greater part, of 

 the litter, and in some degree to intermix it with 

 the earth, deferring deep work to the time of 

 making arrangements preparatory to planting. 

 No ploughing,- how deep soever, would super- 

 sede the necessity of deep work, either with the 

 plough or coulter, or both, on that occasion. — 

 For you then operate on soil which will lie im- 

 mediately under the growing corn, and, there- 

 fore, not be touched again during the course of 

 cultivation. 



The advantages of the proposed innovation 

 on common usage (common at least in this part 

 of the country) are, in the first place, that one 

 horse will perform as much or more work, with 

 respect to extent of wrought surface, than two, 

 and thus an hundred per cent, of horse labor, 

 horse feed, and horse flesh, be saved. Secondly, 

 the litter will be much more completely decom- 

 posed and ready to aid in satisfying the great 

 draft which the corn is to make on the soil during 

 the months of July find August. But might 

 not the lower unbroken part of the soil become 

 hard in case of a dry spring ? I answer no. — 

 Protected from the sun and hard driving rains 

 by the superincumbent mixture of loose soil and 

 litter, it would be found quite moist and more 

 friable than at any time during the preceeding 

 fall or winter. 



Yours, respectfully, 



William Rice. 



TO IMPROVE POOR LAND. 



We make the following extract from a long 

 article in the last Cultivator, written by Gideon 

 B. Smith, Esq., of Baltimore: 



Having properly grubbed, drained, and mixed 

 the soil, the next thing to be done is to ascertain 

 the quality of the whole. It most probably 

 wants lime to make it complete. Take a handful 

 here and there from the whole field, say twenty 

 handsful in all ; mix them well together ; then 

 take a handful from the whole mixture, put it, 

 upon a shovel and heat it red hot; then take it 

 from the fire and let it cool ; when cold, pulverize 

 it into a fine powder, and pour upon it good cider 

 vinegar; diluted muriatic acid is best, but vine- 

 gar, if good, will do ; if it foams considerably, 

 you want no lime in the soil ; if it do not foam, 

 3 7 ou must then apply lime. Nearly all the land 

 in the middle States wants lime, and is benefited 

 by its application. If it wants no lime, then go 

 to work as follows : plough in the fall with the 

 deepest working plough you can afford. In the 

 spring, sow corn broadcast ; and as soon as it is 

 as high as you can well turn under with a good 

 plough and two or three horse team, turn it un- 

 der well, and immediately sow corn again broad- 

 cast ; as soon as that is high enough to turn 

 under, turn that also with a deep working 

 plough. Generally you may turn under three 

 crops in the same season. In the fall plough 

 deeply in turning the last crop of corn under, 

 harrow and seed with wheat. However poor 

 your land maj^ have been, you may be sure of 

 a good crop of wheat the ensuing harvest. In 

 sowing the corn, about three to four bushels 

 should be sown to the acre, each crop. 



If by the trial above described, you find your 

 land requires lime, then, before the first plough- 

 ing, apply twenty bushels of slacked lime to the 

 acre, broadcast, then plough as before directed, 

 sow the corn, and proceed as before, taking care 

 to sow twenty bushels of lime before turning 

 under each crop of com ; sow the lime on the 

 corn as it stands, and turn corn and lime all in 

 together. In this waj r , a first rate soil may be 

 made out of the poorest old field in Maryland or 

 any where else ; and it will be observed that the 

 only cost is in the liming and value of the seed 

 corn, except the labor. Those who cannot af- 

 ford to expend so much labor and money the 

 first season, can extend the time over several 

 seasons, applying say twenty or thirty bushels 

 of lime to the acre, and turning under but one 

 crop of corn each year. 



UTILITY OF GEESE TO THE FARMER. 



It has been long remarked that cattle of all 

 kinds are never unhealthy where geese are kept 

 in any quantity ; and the reason assigned is 



