260 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



each contribute according to his ability to a joint 

 entertainment, substantial though frugal in its 

 character. Let the farms of the members be 

 examined in succession by the club at an early 

 hour of the day of each meeting. Bring into 

 these clubs every respectable and industrious 

 farmer within reach, how humble soever his cir- 

 cumstances may be — encourage them by every 

 means to come in. Let each member commu- 

 nicate whatever information he possesses, either 

 from practical experience or otheiwise — and con- 

 duct these meetings chiefly for the benefit of 

 those who most need improvement. 



There is probably not a tiller of the soil in 

 the whole county so poor that he cannot afford 

 a dollar for an agricultural paper, and yet if the 

 list of subscribers to the Southern Planter were 

 referred to, it is much to be apprehended that 

 comparatively few, even of the most independent 

 farmers would appear to have given it their sup- 

 port. We would respectfully but earnestly ap- 

 peal to those who have it in their power, to in- 

 terest themselves for those who are compelled 

 to labor — to visit them at seasons of leisure — to 

 offer them in a spirit of kindness, suggestions 

 for their improvement — to endeavor to reform 

 habits of defective cultivation and management 

 where such are observed — in a won!, to do what 

 they can for the improvement of those around 

 them. Let this be done everywhere, and we 

 cannot doubt that it would be attended with the 

 happiest effects. Yet though this would occa- 

 sion but little trouble if all would apply them- 

 selves to the work — indeed would seem to be 

 rather a pleasure than otherwise — few, if any, 

 of those who have it in their power, have, so far 

 as we are informed, made the attempt. The 

 truth is, and it is too manifest to be denied, that 

 the great mass of our farmers want awakening 

 10 a sense of their own true interests, and to 

 more active and extensive usefulness. The list 

 of our Society discloses the startling fact that 

 not more than a third or a fourth of its members 

 are farmers, and without the generous and liberal 

 support of the citizens of Richmond it could 

 not be sustained. It is certainly true that the 

 city is benefited by the success of the Societj^, 

 but it is also true that no such calculation in- 

 fluences the noble liberality which has built up 

 and sustained it. And when the names of the 

 mechanic, the merchant, the professional man, 

 and even of some of the reverend clergy, are 

 found upon our list, every farmer of the county 

 whose name is not there should hide his head in 

 shame. 



There is undoubtedly an increasing spirit of 

 improvement amongst our farmers, but it is too 

 circumscribed in its character; each seeming to 

 look only to his own concerns and attempting 

 nothing, even where it is obviously easy, for the 

 benefit of others. Selfishness is not a charac- 

 teristic of our people — but they require stimu- 



lating to more exertion and activity — and if all 

 would come promptly forward to the aid of the 

 Society and of papers devoted to the interests of 

 the farmer, we verify believe that complaints of 

 hard times and bad crops would soon cease to 

 be heard among them. 



The Committee again beg leave to express 

 their deep regret that they have unavoidably 

 fallen short of the service to which they were 

 appointed, and they hope that the imperfect sug- 

 gestions here presented will, under the circum- 

 stances, be accepted by the Society with its 

 usual indulgence. 



Wm. H. Richardson, Chairman. 



From the Farmers' Cabinet. 



DEEP PLOUGHING. 



The impression among unreflecting farmers is 

 almost universal, that the value of deep plough- 

 ing consists in the increased amount of soil in 

 which the roots may vegetate. Whatever ad- 

 vantage the greater amount of loose soil may 

 be, it is by no means the most important one. — 

 We all know, that growing grain suffers from 

 extremes of heat and cold, wet and drought. — 

 Late in the fall, when we always have rain, the 

 six inches of vegetable soil are soon filled with 

 water, and perhaps the cold of the succeeding 

 night freezes it, and thus are the roots of } T our 

 wheat embedded in ice, to suffer during the ap- 

 proaching winter. But if the land had pre- 

 viously undergone the operation of a "Prouiy 

 ! JVIears" nine inches deep, followed by a sub- 

 I soil plough, nine inches more, the rain had scarce- 

 ly ceased to fall until it had sunk beneath that 

 surface which the roots occupy. In a soil six 

 inches deep, with a hard limestone subsoil, rain 

 has no place to go ; but in eighteen inches or 

 less, iis own weight sinks it below the possibility 

 of doing harm. And while 3^011 thus have your 

 wheat secured for the winter, in a comparatively 

 dry soil, clear of ice and its evil consequences, 

 in the spring you have a vigorous plant, free 

 from the sallow sickness of an icy bed, prepared 

 to take advantage of the first genial sun which 

 the spring brings with it. And now, from this 

 period until harvest, the hopes and fears of the 

 farmer are controlled by the season : too much 

 wet drowns his wheat; too much heat blasts it 

 with mildew, and drought prevents it from fill- 

 ing. Deep ploughing obviates all these contin- 

 gencies. Wheat is drowned out, because its 

 roots are in the water ; mildew blasts it, because 

 the hot sun beats upon a surface saturated with 

 water, and produces a sudden flow of sap in the 

 plant, which is unnatural ; and it is the more 

 destructive, because the constitution of the plant 

 has previously suffered from one of the extremes 

 of cold, wet or drought : yom wheat does not 

 fill, because, perhaps there is not moisture enough 



