90 
THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
Plowing. 
We give the following article from Dr. Lee’s 
paper, the Genesee Farmer, a prominent place 
in the Cultivator, because there are ideas in it 
about plowing, and the nourishment of plants, 
which cannot be too strongly impressed on the 
minds ot southern readers. That there is some- 
thing ot science in it can be no objection, for 
it is presented in so clear and simple a manner 
as to be easily understood by every one. 
From the Genesee Farmer 
We Spent an evening, not Ions since, in com- 
pany with a very intelligentpiactical and scien- 
tific farniCr, who was discussing with his son 
the subject ol^Zoin?rg, which incidentally brought 
under review a variety ot topics oi great inter- 
est in the art ot cultivating the soil. The son 
advocated the propriety ot turning the earth by 
the plow directly bottom upwards, so as to pre- 
sent a smooth and even surface when the work 
is done. It was urged that this method had the 
. merit of killing all grass and vreeds better than 
any other thatcan be adopted. 
The lather thought difierenlly, and drew with 
a pencil, in illustratiori ot his views, a diagram 
representing furrows seven inches deep and four- 
teen wide, lapping the edge ot one on to the ne.xt 
only two inches. By this process, he said, you 
expose to the decomposing and mellowing influ- 
ence of the air, z«c/ies of surface, to every 
inch in length ot each lurrow. 
Son . — I don’t understand how that can hap- 
pen, seeing that the furrow is only fourteen 
inches wide. Will you e.xplain? 
Father. — Certainly. As each furrow laps but 
two inches on the upturned surface of the pre- 
ceding one, it is plain thattvvelve inches oteach 
sod w'ill be exposed to the air. Then you have 
seven inches more at the end of the furrow, be- 
ing the depth at which the plow wasdriven — 
making nineteen inches exposed on the upper 
side. On the under side, you have seven inch- 
es at the other end of the f urrow, twelve on that 
which has been turned over, and twelve inches 
more on the bottom from which the sod or earth 
has been lifted. This gives a surface of thirty- 
one inches below, and altogether a surface of 
fifty inches. If you do count the laps anything, 
(and they are only two inches,) then, by plowing 
alter my plan, you get threesurlaces of fourteen 
inches each, besides two of seven inches each, 
at the e.nds oi the lurrow, in the place of onesur- 
face only, of fourteen inches, when you turn each 
lurrow upside do an. 
S.—\ concede that you get about three times 
as much surface exposed to the atmosphere by 
your system, as is attainable by mine. Never- 
theless, you must admit, that on dry, gravelly 
soils, it is important to keep the earth as com- 
pact as possible. Under such circumstances, 
is my plan not better than yours? 
On loose sandy, or gravelly soils, the por- 
tion ot earth raised by the plow, will not hold 
together in the manner I have indicated. If it 
has turf and compactness enough to lie up at the 
angle and in the manner I have spoken of, it 
w’ill be better to have it so than otherwise. If 
the ground is ton loose and porous at the time 
of seeding, the roller can be, and should be ap- 
plied. 
6’. — I see that you understand the subject of 
plowing much better than 1 do; and I should 
be happy to learn what the mere drawing of a 
plow through the field, and thus breaking up the 
soil, adds to it or ta'^’es away from it, so that 
crops should grow in the one case, and not in the 
other? 
F . — This question strikes at the root of the 
art of culture, and can only be answered by call- 
ing to our assistance the light of modern science. 
That the thorough stirring of the soil to a con- 
siderable defith, either with plow, harrow, cul- 
tivator or spade, is extremely beneficial to all 
cultivaied plants, is a fact which was settled 
thousands of years ago, ami has ever since been 
verified, by all practice and experience. Wheth- 
er the eaith be sirrea with a clam-shell, a wood- 
en stick, or an iron plow, nothing is thereby ad- 
ded directly to the soil. The important results 
that follow, are all purely chemical changes in 
the combinations of matter, a knowledge ot 
which is of incalculable value to the practical 
farmer. 
S. — What are the changes in (he ingredients 
ofthe surface of the earth, which supply plants 
with much additional food, when the soil is well 
pulverized by the skilful use of rural imple- 
ments ? 
F. — As a key to these mutations, you must 
ever bear in mind these two facts ; First, that no 
undissolvedoAWhy substance can enter the minute 
pores of the roots of plants to nourish them.— 
All such solid lood must be dissolved in water, 
to be available. Secondly — that when earthy 
substances like common salt, the salts of lime, 
potash, siliica, &c., are dissolved, no mere filter 
like the soil, or a barrel ot wood-ashes put up 
to leach, can prevent salt water from running 
away from the roots of plants, and thus at once 
depriving them of their proper nourishment, 
and robbing the soil ot its fertilizing elements. 
S'. — Let me fully understand whatyou mean. 
Do you say that, alt solid mailer in the earth 
must be dissolved in water before it can pass 
through the very small tubes in plants; and 
when solids aredissolved, they are prone to pass 
with water deep into the subsoil, and into ditch- 
es, brooks, and ultimately into the tcean ? 
F. — Yes. The waterthatfalislrom the clouds 
in rain and snow, and passes no more than 
twelve or fifteen inches into the surface of the 
earth, and then runs into creeks and i ivers, takes 
with it m solution, some of the earthy salts used 
by cultivated plants in organizing their living 
tissues. If a field be plowed and harrowed re- 
peatedly, at short intervals, and nothingallowed 
to grow upon it, its cultivation will impoverish 
it, bv increasing the solution, and the washing 
aw’ay of the mineral elements of all crops. 
S'. — What evidence have you that soluble 
salts like those in the dung and urine of ani- 
mals, guano, and other fertilizers, pass with rain 
water through the surlace soil, and into brooks 
and ditches? 
F.— Common salt applied to land at the rate 
of only three bushels per acre, has been found in 
the w ater of ditches alter a rain, that fell soon 
after the salt was sown. Any soluble salt placed 
on a barrel filled with leached a.shes or soil, and 
then dissolved with water, wdll pass through the 
earth, and come oat through the bottom like ley. 
Coloring matter, like that in the liquid which 
flows from dung heaps, may be separated by a 
good filter, but the salt in brine cannot. 
S'. — What practical inference do you draw 
from the several facts you have staled? 
F.— First, that all soluble minerals, like salt, 
ashes, lime, guano, and stable manure, should 
be applied as close to the mouths (or spongioles 
in the roots) of plants as possible. Secondly, 
ll at a sound judgment must be exercised to a- 
void commencing loo soon to plow, harrow, and 
otherw’ise su'r the soil for a future wheat, corn, 
or other crop. 
S. — What salts are most likely to be lacking 
in ordinary soils, which are needed in forming 
grain and root crops ? 
F. — They are the soluble salts of potash, so- 
da, magnesia, and lime: being sulphates, phos- 
phates, carbonaies, silicates, and chlorides of 
those bases. 
S'. — What articles will cheaply supply these 
mineral substances ? 
F . — Unleached wood-ashes, lime, salt, plas- 
ter, and bones. Plants that have long tap-roots, 
like clover, aided by a little gypsum, lime, and 
wood-ashes, together with deep plowing, can do 
much to fertilize a poor soil, by drawing many 
important minerals from a greater depth in the 
soil than the roots of wheat, &c., can pene- 
trate? 
To Prevent Lamps from Smoking — An 
exchange says, soak the wick in strong vinegar 
and dry well before using, and it will then burn 
sweet and pleasant, paving well for the trouble. 
©riginal Communications. 
The Right Spirit. 
Mr. James Camak: — The mail having reach- 
ed our town at a late hour last night, I was early 
at the post office this morning, hoping to find 
the May Nos. of the agricultural papers, and 
was so lortunaie as to meet the Soulheim CvMi- 
valor, the American Farmer, and the American 
Agriculturist lor the present month. On look- 
ing into the Southern Cultivator, I found 
matter of sorrow and pleasure mingled toge- 
ther — of sorrow, at the just but severe rebuke of 
the editor of the Maine Farmer — of pleasure, 
at the waking up of the larmeis in support ot 
the Southern Cultivator. 1 am glad that 
this matter has been started so early inihe year. 
I was pleased to find, in the April No., the let- 
ter Irom Hr. Hurt, ot Alabama, in which that 
gentleman evinced a disposition to step forward 
at once in support of the Cultivator, in the 
number now betore me, 1 am delighted to find 
Mr. Farrar out with a proposition that I am 
highly pleased with. Now, Mr. Editor, I will 
make a proposition, and in making it, I do so 
with a full determination (if spared,) to carry 
it out to the letier. 1 will be one ol one thou- 
sand farmers who will undertake to procure and 
send to the publishers of the Southern Culti- 
vator (they paying the postage on the letteis 
enclosing the monej .) twenty subscribers each, 
lor the filth volume of the Southern Cultiva- 
tor. Twenty thousand subscribers is the num- 
ber that I have desired to see taking that valua- 
ble agricultural paper ; and tlieie is nothing ea- 
sier than tu procure that number ii the farmers 
will only determine to do it. Since the com- 
mencement ol the publication, I have sent some 
two hundred dollars to the publishers, and I 
know I could have done much more by a great- 
er effort. Now, I do hope that the cultivators 
of the soil ot niy native State, (Georgia,) will 
rally around the Cultivator. 1 make the above 
proposition from long experience ol the profit 
as wCil as pleasure of reading agricultural pa- 
pers. I now receive, monthly, some six of 
those works, and indeed I would be at a com- 
plete loss without them. 
I was highly pleased the last summer in vi- 
siting the editors ol the diflTerent agricultural pa- 
pers, at the high, the very high stand that the 
Southern Cultivator held among the farmers 
in difierent parts of the United States. 
Mr. Editor, there is a thousand ladies that 
would pay their dollarfor the Cultivator to aid 
them in the management ol their gardens, if the 
subject was only brought before them. There is 
a thousand lawyers that would, each, give a 
dollar lor the Cultivator to enable them to en- 
ter into conversation on the highly important 
subject of husbandry, if for no other object; for 
no man wishes to be dumb when the subject of 
agriculture is mentioned. Now, Mr. Editor, if 
one thousand can’t be had to enter into the above 
proposition, I will be one of five hundred, or 
any number that will come up to the mark. 
Any sacrifice sooner than lor the Cultivator 
to stop. Where is the Southern farmer that 
would not leel his pride touched in a moment 
by such attacks as Mr. Holmes, of Maine, is 
throwing at us. 
One word as to the seasons, in conclusion. 
The month of April has been a complete anti- 
pode of the same month last year. April ol 
’45 was a continuation ol dry weather. April 
oi ’46, a continuation of rain, and some con- 
siderable cold, and washing rains, that upon the 
whole the stand of cotton is poor generally. 
The corn crop, the gold of ihej farmer, looks 
well. The wheat crop, it is thought, has been 
somewhat injured by the large amount of wet 
weather. 
Hoping your efforts to improve the agricul- 
tural interests ol our common country will 
prove successful, I am, sir, your friend and obe- 
dient servar t, Alexander McDonald. 
FAifaula, Baibour Co., Ala., May 9, 1846. 
