iO 
THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
For ihe Southern Cultivator. 
REPORT OF THE 'i ILLaGE AND FRODUCT OF 
ONE ACRE OF LAND IN CORN IN 1S44. 
By Eb.mund M. Pendleton. 
My land is a stiff red clay loundation, and 
rather a sandy soil ; has been in cultivation a 
number ot years; much worn, and never ma- 
nured, in my knowledge, till the present c-op, 
except once in the hill, with stable manure and 
a few' loads of oak leaves to make the ground 
friable. It lies on the summit and slope of a 
liill, facing south, and of course is high and dry ; 
a part of it was quite stony w'ilhal. Gathered 
a crop of wheat and hay from it last year, and 
plowed in the stubble w'ith a turning plow in 
November; hauled out about sixty-five two- 
horse loads stable manure with scrapings of 
farm-yard, hog-pen, &c., in February; a part 
fermented and a part not; spread over the 
ground broadcast and plowed in with a turning 
plow and subsoiled immediately. Planted 
corn 3d March, three by two and a half feet, 
three grains in a hill, and a small handful of 
cotton seed put on the corn, and covered with 
the plow. Hoed as soon as up, and thinned to 
one stalk in the hill ; then plowed with a colter 
as deep as possible. Had a bad stand and re- 
planted early in April, subsequently added a 
little cotton seed to the feeble slalk.s; gave ii 
three more hoeings, but no plowing. Gathered 
fodder the last of July, and pulled the corn late 
in August, which was fully ripe. 
The land was measured by Tuitle H. Audas, 
and the corn by Henry Rogers, Esq., vvirich 
amounted to fifty-three bushels and three pecks. 
Had it been cultivated as ordinarily and with- 
out manure, it could not have produced, in my 
opinion, exceeding ten or twelve bushels; so 
that I have nearly or quite quintupled the pro- 
duction of my acre. 
As I paid out no money for manure except 
for cotton seed-, 1 value it according to the a- 
mountof labor expended in procuring it. At 
this rate, the manure and hire of hand and horse 
in the cultivation of the acre and gathering the 
crop, amounted to twenty four dollars. The 
value ot the corn, fodder and tops, at spring pri. 
ces, M'ould amount to about thirty-lourdollars— 
making a nett profit, on one acre, ol ten dollars, 
and the land permanently improved lor years. 
Sparta, December 2f>, 1844. 
Large Yield op CoTTO.N..-On the first of 
September, we received a letter from A. M. 
Cliett, ol Houston county, in which he stated 
that from one acre of land, planted and cultiva- 
ted, in part, on tlie plan of Dr. Cloud, he had 
gathered in the month of August, 1028 pounds 
of nice seed cotlo i, and that the stocks were 
bending under the weight of the unmatured 
bolls. Mr. C. promised to furnish us at a sub- 
sequent time with a more detailed account of the 
culture, &c., and the yield. We hope he will 
not omit to do so, when we shall take pleasure 
in laying them before our readers.— SirnfAer/i 
Cultivator, Nov. 27. 
Mr. Editor:— As I promised you I should 
give a fuller account of my improved lot of cot- 
ton, and as 1 am now done gatherin.g it, 1 here 
will give you a precise account of the planting, 
manuring and the working, as well as the yield, 
which v.'as injured by the drought and early 
frost; but according to the price, I made asuff- 
ciency. 
I live in the pine woods, on the top of the 
highest hill in the neighborhood, and mine is 
thought to be poor land, in which opinion 1 
agree. It is mixed with black-jack, and some 
red-oak and white-oak runners. On the top of 
this hill I planted my cotton, the Texan burr — 
the first I have ever seen myself; but I see 
others have it. Last year my two acres were 
planted in potatoes, sugar cane, aad a part in 
cotton, except about one-fourth of an acre, 
which 1 cleared this year, and planted in cotton 
to get as much as two acres square. I ran it off, 
or laid it off, four feet and a half one way, and 
three feet and a half the other. I ran rny plow 
backwards and forwards until I could get it no 
deeper. This 1 did the fi.'-st week in March, 
and at the same time, I applied my manure to 
it in the checks. At this time it v/as raining a 
moderate rain, sufficient to wet the manure, 
which J think was some advantage to it. As I 
put it out, I ridged up on ic with a large turning 
plow, as fast as I could spread it, to prevent its 
evaporation. On the 8th ol April I planted the 
seed by chopping small holes mer the manure, 
and dropping five seed in a hole, and covered it 
with the foot. On the 2‘>th of April, I broke up 
the middles with a ruter plow, and on the 1st of 
May I hoed it and thinned it out to three stalks. 
Then on the 22J May 1 ran round it two furrows 
in a row, with a sweeper. On the 1st day ol 
June I hoed it the second time and thinned it 
out to tvi o stalks, and on the 3d day of June I 
split out the middles with a sweep. On the 26th 
ofthesatne monih 1 ran three times in a row 
with the same sweep plow, and on the 29. h of 
the same month I hoed it out by chopping out 
what was lelt behind the plow. This was the 
last work I gave it; for by this time, it was too 
large to work any more. 
I suppose I dropped about one gallon of sta- 
ble and hog manure in a hill. This manure 
was made by hauling fine straw into my lot and 
hog-pens, and then, after it was trampled on a 
short time, I banked it up, and covered it by 
throwing straw over it to keep off the sun. 
This is the way I cultivated it. I divided the 
land into two parts, one acre each, to see which 
would beat; but there was no difference in land 
or cultivation. On one acre I gathered 2703 
lbs. of as nice cotton as ever was picked out, 
and on the other I picked 2637 lbs. of equally 
nice. I think [ lost 100 lbs. on each acre that 1 
would have got if my patch had been farther 
from the houses, as everything running through 
it washed it very badly and trashed it. 
These two acres have made me over four 
bales of cotton, besides 150 bushels of seed. 
Yours, A. M. Cliett. 
Pinetucky, Houston Co., Dec. 15, 1844. 
Steam WHisTf.E. — An exchange paper states 
that a new application ot this melodious instru- 
ment has recently been made, to wit, to give 
warning of the exhausted state of steam-boilers, 
or when the water in them has fallen to the 
spot “dangerous.” Then, and not till then, 
the steam gains access to and rushes up a tube 
there placed and connected with' a whistle, 
which immediately becomes the mouthpiece of 
the boiler, and shrieks, “I want water, or 1 
shall burst.” 
FENCE;3. 
Has it ever occurred to Southern planters to 
inquire into the amount of capital invested in 
fences, and the annual interest on that capital? 
Those who make the calculation will be aston- 
ished at the result. We have an extensive col- 
lection of facts connected with the subject, which 
we intend to use hereafter, if our readers should 
desire it. In the mean time, we commend to 
their attention the annexed article from the Uni- 
ted States Gazette ; and will only say, at pre- 
sent, that the Osage orange grows in Georgia 
with great luxuriance and beauty. But we 
imagine the most effective live fence for the 
Southern States, is to be made of the Cherokee 
rose. 
REMARKS ON FENCING. 
The gradual but ceaseless prostration of our 
forests, and consequent increase in the value of 
fencing material, have diiecied the attention of 
country residents to hedges, and other perma- 
nent guards against the inroads ot cattle, and 
the no less frequent but more vexatious depre- 
dations ot man. Those who listened to Mr. 
Biddle’s last address before the Philadelphia 
Agricultural Society, must have been strongly 
impressed by 'he importance of thissubject, and 
astonished at the almost incredible amount ot 
capital invested in fences. Within the State of 
Pennsylvania alone as shown by apparently 
'wed founded data, the aggregate sum exceeds 
one hundred millions of dollars! Mr. Biddle 
said, “consider now the interest on this outlay, 
the wear and tear of the fence, and that the 
whole of it will not last more than ten or fifteen 
vears, and you have as the annual tax upon 
Agriculture in Pennsylvania, a sum of ten mil- 
lions of dollars. If this estimate appears too 
high, reduce it one half and you have still a tax 
of five tnillio s.” Various are the opinions that 
exist as to the best method of protection and the 
relative worth ot live hedges, cedar fence, stone 
walls, &c. In many sections, the scarcity of 
stone utterly precludes the erection of such bar- 
riers, however ready we may be to award them 
the palm, for beyond question they are — when 
well j.ut up — decidedly preferable; if it be said 
they are unsightly, all that is necessary to in- 
vest them with perennial verdure is the ever- 
green Ivy, or other creeping plants might be 
Led — lor instance the Virginia Ivy (Ampelop- 
sis quinquo folia) which is of vigorous growth, 
and would serve to cement the structure, adding 
to its strength whilst it imparted beauty. In 
New England the larger portion of fences are 
of this nature. As has been observed, all locali- 
ties do not admit of their erection, and as wood- 
en fences are alike perishable, and expensive, 
we should adopt the best substitute within our 
reach— that is live hedges. In all soils, and in 
all latitudes they may he grown, care being ta- 
ken to select the plants best adapted to peculiar 
soils, and situations. In Europe — especially in 
Great Britain where hedges are almost exclu- 
sively used, they are formed of Hawthorn, Hol- 
ly, Privet, Pyracantha, and other deciduous and 
evergreen shrubs, the Hawthorn being princi- 
pally used for inclosing land, the others serve 
the double purpose of ornament and use. in 
many situations in this country, especially in 
wet or heavv laud, the thorn unfortunately does 
notsucceed: when partially elevated on banks 
they have been found to thrive better, but still 
are liable to decay. The Coxspur or New Cas- 
tle thorn (Cratoegus crus-galli) which has been 
extensively planted is subject to canker, caused 
by the sting of an insect, which deposits its eggs 
in the joints ot the branches, the whole plant ul- 
timately becomes diseased, and gradually de- 
cays. Until recently the Washington or Vir- 
ginia Thorn (Cratagus populifolia) was looked 
upon as a desirable kind, rapid in growth, hand- 
some in flower and loilage, and free from canker 
— but an enemy has at length appeared, the 
leaves become blotched, the healthy circulation 
of the sap impeded, yellowish excrescenes form 
