170 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



It has been before remarked, that elevated 

 beds must pursue a straight course, be- 

 cause a bend in the feeders would prevent 

 a free passage of water through them. Flat 

 beds, for obvious reasons, are cramped by 

 no such necessity. They may be either 

 straight, zig-zag or circular. The advan- 

 tage, of thus twisting the bed to fit the ir- 

 regularities of the surface, will in practise 

 be found of the utmost importance. 



If the meadow have an inclination only 

 one way, flat beds are easily constructed, 

 for all that is necessary is to run them in 

 the direction of the fall, but if there be an 

 inclination two ways, the grading becomes 



a nice and sometimes a laborious operation. 

 Much may be accomplished by givino- a 

 proper direction to the bed. It must take 

 the course by which the lateral inclination 

 will be most reduced. If, for instance, the 

 slope of the ground from North to South be 

 one in fifteen and the slope from East to 

 West be the same, the course of the bed 

 should be exactly South-West. The same 

 rule applied in other cases will determine 

 the course of the bed. The width of flat 

 beds is not a matter of choice, but is de- 

 termined by the lateral inclination of the 

 the surface.* 



SECTION OF FIVE FLAT BEDS ON A SURFACE HAVING A LATERAL INCLINATION OF 6 INCHES 10 FEET. 



_ s ' b 



s. 8. natural surface of meadow, a. a. flat beds, b. b. side hanks, f. f. feeders. 



The rule (from which it is never safe 

 to depart) is, to lay off at least one 

 bed for every six inches of lateral fall ; 

 and the reason is obvious enough. One 

 half of the bed must be reduced and the 

 other half elevated. The upper half must 

 be skimmed of its soil to elevate the lower 

 half. If the rule be observed, the upper 

 half will loose only an average of one and 

 a half inches of soil, which in most cases 

 can be borne ; but, if in an effort to widen 

 the bed, the skimming process be more 

 deeply pursued, the result will be a very 

 thin sod or no sod at all or one of its sides of 

 the bed. Even where only one and a half 

 inches of soil has been removed a dressing 

 of manure should be applied. If there be 

 no lateral inclination, flat beds may be 

 made 30 feet wide except in the case of re- 

 tentive sub-soils, when they should be re- 

 duced to 20 feet. 



Preparation for Grass. 



The discharging ditches and the part of the 

 conductor adjacent to the meadow, should 

 be excavated before the land is ploughed, 

 and the earth, furnished by them, used to 

 remove or reduce longitudinal irregularities. 

 The land must then be flushed (not bedded) 

 and drained by as few furrows as practica- 

 ble. This work is supposed to be comple- 



ted by the middle of March. Seed it then 

 with 2£ bushels of Oats per acre, and make 

 a liberal application of guano whether the 

 soil be rich or poor. The crop of Oats is 

 intended to smother up and destroy the na- 

 tural grasses. It must therefore be as thick 

 and luxuriant as it can be made. As soon 

 as the crop is gathered, the land should be 

 deeply flushed, sub-soiled, rolled and har- 

 rowed, and reduced to the finest tilth. The 

 finer the tilth, the lighter will be the subse- 

 quent labour. On the first of August, the 

 shaping and grading the beds will be com- 

 menced. This work is done with the 

 shovel and the spade. Jt requires great 

 care, but no greater labour, provided the 

 eye and head of the master is employed 

 upon it. As soon as any one bed is gra- 

 ded, it should be seeded in timothy at the 

 rate of one-half bushel of seed per acre and 

 the seed carefully covered with a rake. 

 Two hundred pounds of guano per acre 

 should be covered in the July ploughing, 

 and all stable or farm yard manure that can be 

 spared, applied on the surface during the 

 winter. If the soil be naturally rich, the 

 quantity of guano and manure may be re- 

 duced, but it is all important that the sod of 

 the following year should be strong and 

 thick, and no expense must be avoided to 



* Where a meadow has a lateral inclination, each bed will be on a different plan, (See plan 



above.) 



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