THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



345 



but the land is also in the best condition to im- 

 prove, to receive besides moisture, the air and 

 the gasses, as v^'e have remarked ; and thus to 

 undergo those changes in its condition if not its 

 constituents, which make, what we call, im- 

 provement in soils, changes which science had 

 not yet been able to explain, to follow, or to im- 

 itate. It is hardly necessary to add that when 

 manure is applied to a tillage crop, the above 

 condition is the best possible to receive it. 



We say then, to the clay land farmer, plough 

 your land early enough for the frosts to act ful- 

 ly on it; plough it deep enough to secure the 

 present advantages of frost and aeration, and 

 the future ones of a reservoir for moisture, and 

 a capacity for continued amelioration ; and 

 drain it by bed furrows and by grips well 

 cleaned out a little deeper than the bottom o^ 

 the plough furrows. 



What number of inches make deep ploughing 

 is not yet a settled point. We hear of twelve 

 and fifteen inches much oftener than we see it. 

 We think from seven to ten inches, rarely as 

 much as the latter, is as deep ploughing as is 

 usually accomplished, or as is desirable. 



The subsoil plough in such lands as require 

 surface drainage is an implement which we con- 

 sider so dangerous, and of whose benefits after 

 a review of the experience of many practical 

 men, there is so much doubt, that we would ad- 

 vise a cautious, and, for a few years, an alto; 

 gether experimental use of it. 



If the above shall be considered hard work, 

 remember that it is labour saving in the end ; 

 and if your teams are not sufiicient, get more of 

 them. There is not one farmer in tAventy in 

 cismontane Virginia, who has much more than 

 half horses enough. 



THE AMERICAN FARMER. 

 We take occasion to say in reply to the Ame- 

 .rican Farmer for October, that the failure to 

 give credit for its excellent article on Free 

 Acid in Soils was accidental, and the fault of 

 the printer. Whether there be or be not free 

 acid in soils, is, we think, a distinct question 

 from the theory that free acid in soils produces 

 or promotes the growth of sorrel. To that the- 

 ory we have been a convert ; for we have seen 

 on some of the best lands in Jefferson, that had 

 failed to shew any improvement from lime, a 

 luxuriant growth of this very plant: and the 

 land on our late Shad well farm from which, 



when it was in tillage, we prefered to save our 

 seed wheat, from the superior sample it always 

 gave, was a river hill which never failed to pro- 

 duce a growth of sorrel when the clover did not 

 ' take. 



In two other matters we are sorry that we 

 cannot agree with the editors of the American 

 Farmer, to wit: the Agricultural Department 

 at Washington, and their views on " An impro- 

 ved system for a Cotton Plantation.'^ 



The first of these it is unnecessary to notice 

 now, as Mr. Fremont may be elected, and ren- 

 der the discussion unnecessary at any time. 



As to the second, it may be very true, and in 

 many places at the South, it, no doubt, is true, 

 that one luxuriant crop of peas may restore the 

 waste of the three preceding tillages. Potatoes — 

 sweet are meant — are not an exhausting crop, 

 but rather an improver as far as oiir information 

 extends ; and oats, so far from impoverishing 

 land, in the majority of cases where we have 

 heard of their being fairly tested, are likewise 

 rather an improving crop, and will bear suc- 

 cessive cultivation on the same land for several 

 years without diminution of product. This 

 may contradict theory, but it is fact. 



The fact that land has *' five regular plough- 

 ings in three years,'' is not necessarily adverse 

 to good farming, or a proof of defective rota- 

 tion. The Editor's remarks occur on page 123. 

 On page 124, they extract from The Southern 

 Farmer the very interesting account of Mr. E. 

 R. Turnbull, of Brunswick's, farming with pea 

 fallow, in which it appears that he has ploughed 

 his land eight times in four years, or sixteen 

 per cent oftener than the case treated, with 

 manifest advantage. We ourselves publish- 

 ed, last summer twelvemonth, an account 

 of the results obtained by Mr. Mathews, of 

 Chickahominy near Richmond, who had plough- 

 ed his land twelve times in six years, i. e. twice 

 annually, and by a pea fallow on the stubble, 

 in six years' successive cropping, without ma- 

 nure, rest, clover, lime, or any other appliance 

 whatever, had run up by steady annual in- 

 crease from seven bushels per acre to twenty 

 five, being an average annual increase of sixty 

 per cent. 



Mr. Mathews gave $25 per acre for his land, 

 und has recently sold it for $50; so ho had not 

 hurt it much. The subject of this experiment, 

 about the poorest land he had, besides paying 

 a handsome dividend intermediately, gave back 



