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THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



don't knoAV what is. To plough land in the fall 

 or early winter then, is to drain it : provided it be 

 propely bedded and gripped. To perform these 

 operations properly it is necessary, we think, 

 (though on this point, as being under experi- 

 ment with ourselves, we would speak guardedly,) 

 that where bedding is required, the lands or beds 

 be not less than twenty feet wide, that they be 

 twice gathered up from the flat, and that, if once 

 properly located, they should never be reversed ; 

 but, when of sufficient height, be ploughed across, 

 sweeping out each water furrow with the plough, 

 cleaning- out the grips with the road scraper, so 

 as to deposit the excavated earth some distance 

 from the graded margin of the grip, and leaving 

 the field in precisely such condition as if a crop 

 of wheat had been sowed on it. 



In the case of beds of sufficient height, when 

 it is intended, as on such land it generally should 

 be, to cultivate corn with the plough, to the ex- 

 clusion of the level mode of culture, it will an- 

 swer perhaps as well to throvv" up the corn beds 

 in high narrow ridges of five feet in width, or 

 less, according to the desired breadth of the corn 

 bed. But a still better plan, when practicable, 

 is to throw it up into steep and narrow lists like 

 the roof of a house and just as steep as the 

 plough will make it : thus, 



A A A A A A A 

 This will necessarily give a more thorough pul- 

 verization than any other means, and we believe 

 is well werth any extra labour it may be suppo- 

 sed to require. Thoroughly worked in this way 

 in winter, the lists pulled down in the spring by 

 a cultivator drawn deeply across them, with oats 

 harrowed in or drilled, or, in the case of corn, a 

 second list formed with three furrows and the 

 corn planted on the top of it, the cultivator of 

 clay land will be astonished at the superior pro- 

 duct he will have gained. 



Supposing one or more of these processes to 

 have been complied with, we shall find, as ano- 

 ther resulting benefit, that we can plant such 

 land earlier in the spring, because it will be 

 drier, warmer, and freer from frosts. 



The economy of work too, will be even greater 

 than its forwardness. A good stand of corn is 

 much more apt to be secured, always a difficult 

 matter on cold clays, and a great deal of replant- 

 ing will be saved ; the crop will have been half 

 worked when planted ; and with a good corn 

 planter, of which there are several, (Emery's, 

 made in Albany, and sold by Branch & Sons, 



Petersburg, and by Palmer in Richmond; or 

 Sinclair's, made best, by Baldwin & Cardwell in 

 Richmond, we will warrant in good hands,) 

 with a good corn planter, we repeat it, or tAVO if 

 need be, a few hands may plant the crop, whilst 

 the balance may be hauling out manure, 

 fencing, or doing any other of the many things 

 that crowd upon us at that busy season. 



The depth at which the land should be 

 ploughed, is a matter that must be left to the 

 discretion of the judicious cultivator. I i is ob- 

 jected sometimes to a deep furrow that it brings 

 up to the surface noxious substances which the 

 subsoil has contained, and mixes them with the 

 soil ; or that it covers the mould that may exist 

 on the surface with the barren subsoil. If the 

 land be properly ploughed we do not entertain 

 much dread of either. In clays there is al- 

 most always a homogeneous constitution of soil 

 and subsoil, with, sometimes, an amount of fil- 

 trated matter in the latter, that is an improve- 

 ment to the surface. As to the barrenness of 

 the subsoil, that cannot be an objection if the 

 land be not turned over in flat furrows so as to 

 place the mould at the bottom. Ploughed so as 

 to lay such furrow slice on edge, or at an angle 

 of forty-five degrees, the subsequent preparatory 

 tillage will mix them thoroughly, whilst the 

 frosts will have opened, and the air have mel- 

 lowed and enriched, the bottom of the furrow. 



The advantages of deep ploughing have been too 

 often discussed to need repetition here. Suffice 

 it so say that unlike wheat, the constitution and 

 habits of corn require a deep, moist, mellow soil, 

 and that the reason of its growth being in the 

 heat of summer, when moisture is too readily 

 evaporated, and when any excess is taken up 

 and appropriated by the large, greedy, evapora- 

 ting blades, it is hard to plough too deep for it 

 on clay lands that are well drained. 



Lands tlius cultivated will, of course, stand 

 a drought much better than those ploughed in 

 the spring, when it is impossible by any amount 

 of harrowing, and rolling, and clod crushing 

 even, to reduce the clods to the fine tilth that 

 the expansive properties of freezing water, pen- 

 etrating the whole mass and opening every 

 pore, are obliged, to give. Every atom of soil 

 is in a condition to absorb and supply moisture 

 to the thirsty plant, to absorb it not only from 

 rain and dews, but from the air which in sum- 

 mer is always surcharged with vapour. 



And finally, not only is the crop benefitted, 



