SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
32^ 
WHEAT FOE WINTEE PASTXJEES, &c. I 
Sdjtors Southern Cultivator — In looking over the 
numerous articles published in your valuable periodical, I 
am much inclined to give my experience in the produc- 
tion of many of our Southern products, especially when I ■ 
see gentlemen writing in your paper who I think know j 
better how to write than to plant successfully. In the | 
first place it is almost useless for any man to attempt to lec- j 
ture, instruct or advise the world how to do unless they i 
have succeeded on their own part and more especially 
when their want of success is known. It reminds me of 
a demon preaching Christianity to a lost and wicked world. 
A man ir ey teach the proper doctrine as to the best mode 
of farming, and if he has failed in all his experiments tlie 
world avoids his course of culture from the fact of his hav- 
ing failed. We are much inclined to follow after those 
W'ho succeed. And hence the importance of a man's 
succeedi.ng oefore he attempts to show mankind how to 
succeed. i 
The greatest lecturer upon this subject I ever saw, who i 
talked macb, spoke much and wrote no little, was, with 
the aid of five hands, unable to make bread and meat to 
live upon. He, three years out of four, had corn to buy 
and a grain crop was all he attempted to raise. Conse- 
quently, his time and talent was lost. .So it is with all the , 
undertakings of this life. 
Upon the subject of the Coco grass I have no experi- 
ence as regards its blighting effects, never having seen 
any of it. [Lucky man! — Eds. So. Cult.] 
I see in your last number an article upon the subject of 
eeu'ly wnea: sowing. I will, in as few words as I can, 
give you .my little experience upon that subject, 
I cultivated Black land and Post Oak land. I prefer I 
sowing late in September or very earP/ in October, so soon 
as the hot veather ceases and we have rain sufficient to 
plow, then I sow my wheat, say with a bull tongue plow. 
I sow first tioree pecks to the acre, then plow it in, as des- ! 
cribed. The great fear the planters have from such early | 
sowing is tne spring frost. I remedy that by gathering it j 
in the winter and spring. I graze i: until the lOth iMarch i 
I then I take o5 my stock and raise, with a certainty, a fair j 
crop of wheat, none better in the country ; and of a warm | 
winter I consider the grazing to oe worth a good crop j 
when gatnered. There is no crop so valuable for thin j 
land as the wheat. It first affords fine grazing for cattle, 
mules, horses and sheep, and when it ripens I am | 
well assured from a long experience that nothing is so 
good for a poor hog as the gleaning of a wheat field. I do 
consider one oushel of wheat worth, for a poor hog, two 
of corn, five of oats, rye or barley. I am not a little sur- 
prised to know how little our people appreciate wheat 
for winter pasture. When gathered, we have a good 
market for any quantity that we may raise. It is not so ' 
with rye, barley and oats. Rye is more overated for pas- ^ 
turage than any grain I know of. A horse put on a rye ; 
field v/Ith nothing else to eat will die or get so ; 
poor that .oe is of no use. After it ripens my hogs can ! 
not then live on it, and if, perchance, you raise a large | 
lot ofit you get no sale for it. Such is not the case with ; 
the wmea: crop. j 
In gathering the wheat in winter and spring, it is im- j 
portant to keep off the stock in very wet weather, for the I 
reason that they will tread it out and thereby destroy the ! 
stand in part at least. I have raised four crops of wheat, 
as described above; the first one I had in 18 acres and 
saved 420 bushels; the second one I had in 14 acres and ' 
saved 252 bushels — 18 per acre ; and the other two I 
gathered lo bushels per acre : the balance of my sowing ! 
has been done in November and December, and my aver- 
age crop has been 4 to 8 bushels per acre. You have my 
I experience i.n some fourteen wheat crops. i 
I cone'der the pasturage (of my four wheat crops of^ 
early sowing) by my horses, cattle and hogs to be worth, 
as much or more to me than the grain I saved. Many 
persons object to early sowing on account of the fly. The 
grazing of the wheat will fully remedy that difficulty. 
Yours respectfully F. H, 
August, 185t). 
AGEICTJLTTJEAL PAPEES AND THEIR CORSESPON- 
DENTS. 
Editors Southern Cultivator — I am not a large plant- 
er ; I make my bread and meat on a little farm and depend 
on my profession to assist in the support of myself and 
family. You may well guess, then, that I have little or 
no experience in agricultural aftairs. For advice in agri 
cultural matters I have hitherto had reference to the agri- 
cultural journals of the day. In time past I have found 
in your paper and others information that was worth a 
great deal to me — worth much more than the price of 
subscription. But, on the other hand, I have at times lost 
something. 
There is one thing which you cannot impress too 
strongly on the minds of your correspondents ; that is this : 
whenever they write anything for publication in the Culti- 
vo.tor, let their object be to accomplish some good ; un- 
less they are fully satisfied that what they have to say 
will be of some benefit, for heaven’s sake, for the sake of 
poor ignorant little planters like myself, let them forbear ! 
When quite a boy, I met with one maxim somewhere in 
regard to speaking in public which has always had its in- 
fluence upon me, and which I never can forget. It is 
this ; — “Never get up to speak unless you have some- 
thing to say, and be sure you sit down just as soon as you 
get through.” The same is applicable te those who would 
write for the public to read. “ Never take up your pen to 
write unless you have something to write, and be sure you 
put it down just as soon as you get through.” 
F. A. D. 
CamiWii, Alo,., 18.36. 
CLOVER m BOTTOM LANDS. 
Editor.s .Southern Cultivator— I have a small field 
of eight acres of land ; it was evidently a pine bottom 
from the immense pine stumps that come to light since it 
has been been brought into cultivation, but when I began 
with it it was a bay swamp. The soil is very rich, the 
color almost black, and varies from 18 to 24 inches ; it 
has been ditched. On one side a race, leading to a mill, 
runs, and, from the nature of the soil, is always damp, so 
much so, that in the spring it is difficult to obtain a stand 
of any thing early. The soil has been examined by a 
chemist and he found a small quantity of lime in it. What 
I wish to learn is, would clover grow w'ell on such land 
without more lime or gypsum 7 If not, what quantity per 
acre is generally sown! You will oblige a subscriber by 
answering the inquiries in the Cultivator. C. 
AlabauLa, August, 1856. 
Remarks. — Your land will grow clover well, but it 
must first be thoroughly drained. See articles of Col. I. 
Croom, of your State, in previous numbers. — Eds. 
TO destroy’ moles. 
Editors Southern Cultivaor — Some person inquires in 
the Sept, number of the Cultivator how to destroy moles. 
A neighbor of mine has destroyed a quantity of them this 
year (some 60 or 70) in the following way : — First find 
their trails, then make an indetation and watch it, and in 
a short time (as they pass the same route several times 
every day) the mole will, in passing, raise the earth, and 
and then throw him out. This requires a man to have 
some patience. Yours truly, J. C. Holmes. 
Fcarn Sping. Miss., 1856. 
