SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
4i 
» funow OIJ euch side, forming a small ridge for the corn 
to come op ihioogh. In ilie ordinary way of growitig 
€ori), the land is first broken up, which will take seven 
furrows to every six feet, then three more to lay off and 
cover. 'I'hree jilowings are given after planiiog, seven 
furrows each, or twenty -one furrows in all ; mHkii)g thirty 
one furrows ; the same that we used ; but all know that a 
six feet row cannot be plowed well with seveti furrows. 
W. C. jXoRtVOCD. 
Co/:esbury, S. C., Jm., 1855. 
TAKma FEOM THE SOIL WilHOUT MAKIITG 
KETUSN3 
Almost every farmer, however young or ill informed, 
knows that the consequence of taking off crop after crop 
from any field is to impoverish and render gradually less 
and less productive the soil of that field. And yet, not- 
■withstanding this very obvious and well known fact, there 
are to be found some in the Western States — probably 
made blind to, or oblivious of the above fact by their self 
interest — who urge this as a reason why agricultural jour- 
nals which are published at the East must be of little or 
BO use to farmers at the West, 1 hat Eastern papers are oc- 
cupied to a considerable extent in recording results of ex- 
periments with different kinds of fertilizers and in giving 
directions as to the manufacture, preservation and applica- 
tion of these restorers of what the crops have taken frem 
the soil. They boast that the virgin soils of the West are 
so rich as to render it useless in those who farm them to 
pay any attention to the subject of manures. How vain, 
how delusive this boast, and this self interested plea are, 
thousands of farmers who, have already exhausted the fer- 
tility of their soils by continual cropping without making 
any returns in the shape of manures or fertilizers, might 
be found who could testify from a mournful personal ex- 
perience. A thousand witnesses might be found who 
could testify that by continual cropping they have found 
their soils becoming less and less productive. And few 
farmers can be so ill informed as to be imposed upon by 
such special pleading— so ill-informrd as not to know, that 
when produce is taken away from a farm, the elements of 
what is carrried off must be pul back again, if ifie land is 
to be kept in the same good heart as it originally was. No 
man who is ignorant of this truth, or neglects it in pnic 
tice can be a good farmer, or his practice good farming; 
and certainly all who try for a number of years to take 
from the soil without giving back the elements, in some 
form, of the produce taken off, will find, at the Weal or at 
the East, that they are pursuing a course that is impover- 
ishing and ruinous. 
Several o! the Southern States furnish examples of this 
sure, though sometimes slow deterioration of ihe soil by 
continual cropping without making any return of the 
chemical elements of the produce carried off. In John 
Eton’s Elemetits of Agricultural Chemistry and Geology 
we find the decay of fertility in these Southern States held 
forth as a warning to the cultivators of the rich soils of the 
West, in language which seems as if it had been prompt 
ed by some such vain and deceptive boast as that to which 
we have alluded. Tliis standard authority thus writes: 
"IHaryland, Virginia and North Carolina — once rich 
and fertile — by a long continued system of forced and ex 
haiisting culture, have become unproductive in many 
places, and vast tracts have tieen abandoued to apparent 
]y hopt less sterility. Such lands it is, indeed, possible 
to reclaim, but at what an expense of time, labor, manure 
and skillful management. It is to be hojied that the new- 
er Slates wiil not thus sacrifice their future power and 
prospects to present and temporary wealth— that the fine 
lands of Ohio, Kentucky, atid the Prairie States, which 
now yield Indian corn and wheat, crop after crop, with 
•ut manure, will not be so cropped till their strength and 
substance is gone ; but that a LtUtr conriiu ied and mere 
skillful hushandry will continue, without diminishing the; 
present, crops, to secure a permanent fertility to that m,- 
turally rich and productive couniiy.” 
Tills hope will certainly be disappointed if the farmers 
of the West are encouraged by those to whom they look 
for direction and guidance, to be heedless as to the means 
of restoring to the soil the elements of wdint they take frossi 
it in their crops, and to pay no attention to saving or ap- 
plying these elements in tlie form of b^rrn-yard manure or 
animal excrements, or the concentrated fertilizers whiefe 
within a few years have come so extensively into^tse. 
The elements that enter into the composition of a wheak 
or any other crop cannot be inexhaustible in any soil.; 
and they must become rapidly decreased at the rate whica 
is indicated by the chemical analysis of Spvengel atad 
others, according to which a crop of wheal carries off m 
silica, soda and potash, lime, phosphoric acid, and other 
inorganic elements alone about 50 lbs. for 1,000 lbs. of 
grain and straw produced. The soil is i^lls much poorer 
for every crop, and will soon show its ill treatment foj 
scantier harvests. — Country Gentleman. 
FODDEE PTJILIKG AED HAY MAKIHa 
Editors Southern Cultivator — Fodder saving comof; 
on at a season when the weather is oppressively hot, tise 
ground covered with a rank growth of weeds, grass or pe® 
vines, and no air stirring through the densely interv/otw 
corn blades. At the season, too, when fevers prevail, an4 
often at a time when the cotton crop, or a portion ofit, re- 
quires a last working, whicii, being then neglected, gets 
no more work, as it is invariably open snfiieient to re- 
quire all hands in picking immediately after fodder saving 
is over ; and the rank grass, cockle burrs, etc., allowed 4© 
go to seed, are a pest during the whole picking season^ 
which, also, by adding trash, somewhat deteriorates the 
value of the whole crop in market. Hence, fodder pulling 
is considered the most laborious, unpleasant and profitless 
business of the whole season. Then the question arises^ 
is there any substitute for corn blades I anything an- 
swering the same purpose, may be made with less laber 
or more profit 7 any thing that will do away with the ne- 
cessity of injuring, so materially, the whole corn cropg 
and taking off so much organic nutriment which ought 
fall back to the soil. It is time this and similar minoff 
topics occupied more the careful thoughts of Soiuhera 
planters, causing discussion, and bringing out practical 
experiments to answer such questions. 
In this section, corn averaging 15 bushels per acre, wilS 
make about 150 poutuls cured fodder per acre, oftener less 
than as much. A farmer, then, with 120 acres of corn 
would make about 18,000 lbs. of fodder, with luck and goewl 
weather during the process of saving; it will take lO 
hands two weeks to save it, and, one year with another, 
he would be oftener three weeks. Suppose such a farmer 
instead of pulling his fodder, should try my plan: 
Lay off 10 acres of his best old land that has been ia 
cultivation the year before; if need be, give it a dressing 
of his newest stable or lot manure. 1st of May break tC 
up thorough and deep. 1st of June sow 1 peck to 5 quarts 
red hull peas per acre ; plow in evenly with a wide Scoot- 
er, and level completely with a good hanow. Middle 
of August to 1st September the lot will he covered witk 
crab grass and pea vines hip high. 
When the grass is in bloom or fully bunching to seed, 
is the time to cut it *, then it is in its most nulriuous stage 
