98 
THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
rains, Mr. Calhoun seems lo have iound a re- 
source for the lormer, in the cultivation ot the 
pea crop, and ior the latter, in the application 
of guard drains to bis upland fields, evidently 
equal to the necessities of his position in both 
respects. 
The Committee are of opinion, that the evil 
ol greatest magnitude, and the one which more 
than all others combined, tends to frustrate our 
agricultural operations, and impoverish our 
fields, is that which we sufrer from heavy fails 
of rain, and the consequent washing of our 
lands. It is true, that tillage does its part, espe- 
cially when unconnected with a rotation of 
crops, tending to give rest, and impart refresh- 
ment to the soil. But compared with the other 
mischief, it is but as the drop in the bucket. — . 
To this, as a principal cause, is to be ascribed 
the almost incalculable amount of worn out 
and waste lands, and yawming gullies, which 
disfigure and disgrace almost every farm that 
meets the eye throughout our country. It is 
this ruinous tendency, unchecked by a single 
contrivance, but as tamely submitted to as if it 
were one of the irresistible decrees of destiny, 
which has led to the suicidal policy of aban- 
doning fields as soon as their original fertility 
became exhausted, and felling the forest in 
search of the means of further subsistence; and 
finally, it is this which has caused so many 
thousands of our countrymen to exchange “ their 
ov/n, their native land,” with all its tender en- 
dearments, for the toils, privations and dangers 
ol our western frontier. 
Deeply impressed with the importance of this 
subject, the Curamittee were both gratified and 
instructed by the extraordinary management of 
Mr. Calhoun, by which, through the instrumen- 
tality of guard drains on all his upland fields, 
placed at such distances apart, and graded in 
such strict conformity to hydrostatic principles, ] 
that his upland fields, even'those ol the greatest 
declivity, have sustained almost as little injury 
from the heaviest falls ol rain, as the rich low 
lands at their base. 
The Committee are aware that such a state- 
ment is likely to be regarded as the offspring of 
that enthusiasm in reference to agricultural en- 
terprises and improvements, which welldirected 
experiments too often prove to be fallacious. — 
But regarding the farm of Mr. Calhoun as the 
first, if not the only one, in this section of our 
country, upon which this policy has been fully 
illustrated, and as furnishing proof approaching 
to mathematical certainty, of the facts staled by 
the Committee, they have deemed it a duty in- 
cumbent on them, to bring to the notice of our 
planters, not only the principles upon which 
this measure has been conducted, but also the 
results which have followed. 
Their attention was first directed to Fort Hill, 
a field of about forty acres, terminating at its 
base on the one side, in the low grounds, and 
connected with the uplands on the opposite side, 
by a depression considerably lower than its 
summit. This field, by reason of its descend- 
ing in every direction, necessarily required to 
be literally belted with guard drains. Certain 
points appeared to have been selected, at which 
the water could be discharged with the greatest 
safely, anda series of drains were directed round 
the hill, with a descent just sufficient to convey 
away the water, and yet so gently as not to en- 
large or deepen their channels. The number of 
these drains was made to correspond with the 
necessities of the field, as determined by the 
amount of its declivity, being more numerous 
and nearer each other where the descent was 
greatest. 
The Committee were not informed as to the 
amount of this descent, or deviation from the 
horizontal line. But judging from the eye, 
they were supposed to equal from three to five 
feet in the hundred yards. 
Asa further measure of precaution, the inter- 
mediate drill rows were run out horizontally, or 
nearly so: an arrangement which, by the aid of 
the first great measure of safety to the soil, 
seemed to have enabled each furrow to retain its 
own water, or to have parted with it so gradu- 
ally as not to leave a trace of the slightest in- 
jury. 
The Committee did not learn how long this 
c- lebrated hill had been in cultivation, though 
appearances justify the conclusion that it must 
have been cleared thirty or forty years; yet, 
notwithstanding the soil was evidently good 
originally, judging from the very heavy crop ol 
corn and pea vine now upon the land, the Com- 
mittee are induced to believe its productive 
powers have scarcely diminished. 
In other hands, or even in the hands of the 
proprietor himself, had the above precautionary 
measures been omitted, the field must ere now 
have e.xhibited in many places a series of gul- 
lies and abraded surfaces, and been destined 
soon to take rank with the waste and worn out 
lands of our country. 
The remaining portion of the uplands on this 
farm, with the exception ot various patches in 
the vicinity of the homestead, were appropriat- 
ed lo cotton. And although the greater part ol 
them was fresh land, that had been but a few 
years in cultivation, yet, fully impressed with 
the importance ol upland drains, and acting 
upon the policy that it were easier to prevent 
than lo remedy an evil, a sufficient number of 
them to protect the lands have been already 
made, with the same caution, and with the same 
success attendant upon those on Fort Hill. 
The amount of land required for these drains 
is very inconsiderable, and the amount of soil 
conveyed away through them, though compara- 
tively small, may often be diverted, as we saw 
it done in several instances on Mr. Calhoun’s 
farm, to some impoverished spot which would 
be improved, or to some wet depression which 
they would elevate and reclaim. 
The low grounds on this farm were exclu- 
.siv'ely appropriated to the corn crop, intermixed 
with peas throughout. The corn crop was very 
fine, and the entire surface of the earth was 
covered with the most luxuriant crop of pea 
vines w'e ever witnessed. 
By reason of Mr. Calhoun’s absence, the 
Committee are uninformed as to his manage- 
ment of the pea crop, nor do they know any 
thing concerning his rotation of crops. But all 
concur in the opinion that a return annually to 
the soil, ol the vast amount of pea vines on 
each acre of land, would amouiit to an adequate 
compensation for all that is taken from it by 
the corn crop. 
The stock on this farm, consisting of horses, 
hogs and cattle, Vi^ere of good blood and in fine 
condition. The farm houses w'ere sufficiently 
numerous, and both comfortable and conve- 
nient. And this was more especially the case 
with the negro house, which consisted of a build- 
ing of stone of superior masonry, two hundred 
and ten feet in length, divided into apartments, 
w’ith separate fire-places, sufficiently large for 
all the purposes of comfort and healthful venti- 
lation. 
The Cominiltee, in conclusion, have no he- 
sitation in pronouncing the management upon 
this farm highly superior. The useful and the 
ornamental have been most happily blended, 
not only throughout the principal tillage crops 
of the farm, but also the more refined horticul- 
tural operations of the homestead. 
Mr. A. F. Lewis's Po,nn . — The Committee 
next proceeded to examine the farm ofMr. An- 
drew F. Lewis; and in justice to this gentle- 
man, and in advance of any remarks in refer- 
ence to his agricultural operations, they regard 
it as their duty to state that he is the youngest 
planter belonging to the list of competitors. — 
But although he became the proprietor of a 
landed estate of very great value, only three 
years since, he has, in that short period, given 
the most satisfactory proof that he possesses an 
amount of agricultural skill and enterprise that 
entitles him to rank ‘with our most experienced 
planters. 
His farm, like the preceding, lies upon the 
Seneca river, and consists of nearly equal parts 
ot low grounds and good upland. And al- 
though a considerable portion of the latter had 
been neglected lor several years previous to 
occupancy of them, and overrun with sage, nox- 
ious w'eeds and shrubs, yet the whole has been 
reclaimed during this short period, and a good 
crop of corn and pea vines now occupies this 
hitherto unsightly w^aste. 
In addition to the above improvement, the 
Committeeconsider Mr. Lewis eaiiiled to much 
credit for an extensive and successful applica- 
tion ot the spade to the drying of a portion of 
his low-grounds, heretofore too wet for cultiva- 
tion. 
The corn crop on this farm was confined prin- 
cipally to the low grounds. And although the 
pea crop was not .co-extensive with the entire 
corn crop, yet they had been very judiciously- 
cultivated with the corn on the uplands, where 
they were most needed as manure; and a por- 
tion of the low grounds exhibited them sown 
broad cast at the last plowing, in a state of un- 
common luxuriancy. 
The cotton crop, as on the preceding river 
farms, occupied the whole or nearly allot the 
upland fields. And here, again, the Commit- 
tee had the pleasure of witnessing the salutary 
effects of guard drains, to a considerable extent. 
They were planned and executed in a way sim- 
ilar to those described on the farm ol the Hon. 
John C. Calhoun, and with results both gratify- 
ing and successful. 
The stock ol hogs on this farm was of the 
most improved breed, and at least equal to any 
we have seen. The cattle were also very fine. 
As to the horses, they were not only very fine, 
but in superior condition. The Committee 
have no hesitation in awarding to Mr. Lewis 
the credit of having surpassed all his competi- 
tors in this important branch of domestic econ- 
omy. 
The farm houses were uniformly crmlorta- 
ble and convenient, and the agricultural im- 
plements ot good quality. 
Dr. O. i?. Broyle's Farm . — The farm, of this 
gentleman was next examined. The proprie- 
tor has had possession ol it only four years. — 
At the time it came into his hand.s, it was re- 
garded as an upland farm principally, though 
there w-as attached to it, ol creek and branch 
low grounds, very wet, and of equivocal value, 
probably one hundred acres. 
The proprietor, acting under an impression 
long entertained by him, that the swamps and 
morasses of our district needed nothing but ef- 
fective draining to make them not only very 
productive, but also very durable, has planned 
and executed the most extensive operations in 
ditching, and has succeeded in reclaiming, in a 
more effectual manner than has been done on 
any other farm known to the Committee, almost 
his entire low grounds, and has exhibiied a crop 
of corn rising out of bogs heretolore impassa- 
ble in jiiany places, equal lo the most productive 
low grounds on ihe Seneca ri'ver. 
The operations of the proprietor on these lov/ 
grounds, and their productiveness, believed to 
be the con.sequence of thorough draining, are 
well calculated to leach an instructive lesson 
concerning the value of the many thousands oj 
acres of swamp lands in the upper districts ot 
the State, and an equally valuable one as to the 
means necessary to bring them into cultivation. 
The Committee were also pleasurably enter- 
tained by examining a crop oi'rice on this farm, 
of the most astonishing luxuriancy, and judg- 
ing from the appearance of the- present crop, 
and from the amo.unt reported from one acre on 
this larm by a Committee of the i^gricultnral 
Society last year, they enteitain no doubt but 
that rice may be growm as successfully in this 
district, as in any portion of the southern States. 
The crop of corn on this farm was equal, or 
nearly so, io that of the other competitors, and 
the cotton crop, though comparatively small, 
was generally good. 
The farm houses, though new, and some ot 
them unfinished, will be comfortable. The hor- 
ses were in good condition, but the remaining 
portion of the stock, consisting of hogs and cat- 
tle, were not generally of improved breed, and 
decidedly inferior to the fine specimens exhib- 
ited on the otfrer farms. 
