THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
159 
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1843. 
Back Numbers. — All new subscribers to tke 
‘Southern Cultivator” can be supplied, with the 
back numbers. 
LMPROVEMEm' OF CORN, &c. 
As the season for harvesting this valuable 
crop is now near at hand, we commend to the 
reader’s attention the article under this head, in 
this number, which we copy from the “Ameri- 
can Farmer.” The labor ol' selecting seed corn 
in the manner suggested, is indeed small when 
compared to the immense value of the seed over 
that ordinarily obtained from the crib at plant- 
ing time, and we look lorward to the day, as aot 
far distant, when this mode of selecting seed 
will be very generally adopted by our planters. 
CULTDRE OF CORN. 
We have to thank our friend Rutheiford for 
the subjoined letter, giving his experiments in 
the culture of corn on a new system. We are 
the more obliged to him, who we know to be a 
young farmer, because ol the excellence of his 
example to the old men, in giving us the results 
of his experiments— an example which we 
trust will not be lost on our planters generally. 
The experiment speaks for itself, and we com- 
mend the letter to the careful consideration of 
our readers— let them reflect upon its truths and 
improve upon its suggestions. 
Crawford Co., Sept. 15, 1843. 
Messrs. Editors — The communication which 
I am about to make, I designed making to the 
Albany Cultivator last year, and would have 
done so had it not been for my aversion to ap- 
pearing in the public prints. I at several times 
thought of making the communication over a 
fictitious name, but reflected that lacts are not so 
apt to be received as sucA, unless a man vouches 
for their truth in his own proper name. 
it may be proper to say, in the outset, that I 
am cultivating land on Flint liver, which I set. 
tied some four years since for my father, and 
which, in the common language here, is “as 
rich as land ever gets to be.” 
Last year I planted for experiment one acre 
of corn in tlie following manner; — The ground 
was first broken very deep and then laid olTkao 
feet each way— the corn planted in the checks 
and covered with the .foot. When it was up 
about half leg high, I had it flat weeded and 
thinned to one stalk. When silking I had it flat 
weeded again, and this finished the cultivation — 
it never having been plowed at all. About the 
time the com was grown, a severe wind pros- 
irated it in several p aces, so that I feared my 
experiment would fail at last. In addition to 
this disaster, it being in an exposed situation, 
the sqnirrels destroyed a good deal — the outside 
row was, 1 think, entirely consumed. At a pro- 
per lime I had what was left gathered, shucked 
out, and measured the ears in a barrel in the 
same manner as we purchase and sell corn. I 
had one barrel shelled, and as 1 had no measure 
upon which to depend, I weighed the corn thus 
shelled. According to the weight of this bar- 
rel, the produce of the acre, as gathered, was 
five thousand one hundred an 1 four pounds. 
Now farmers difler as to the weight of a 
bushel of corn. In the Southern States it varies 
from 50 to 56 pounds; the latter being the maxi- 
mum weight. This I allowed, and you will 
perceivi*, upon calculation, that this will make 
it 91 bushels ; nd nearly half a peck. 
I have given you the result of an experiment 
tried under many disadvantages. I will now 
give you the reasons which induced me to plant 
as I did. It is a fact well known, that corn ma- 
tures better in a colder climate than ours, and 
from this I inferred that it suffered too much 
from the int -nse and collected heat of the sun in 
our climate. This is one reason why 1 planted 
so close, for when grown in midsummer, the 
ground, and therefore the roots, would be pro- 
tected from the sun by the shade of the corn it- 
self. Another reason was, that in appropriat- 
ing a given number of stalks to the acre, they 
had better be planted at equal distances from 
each other in every direction, so that the roots 
of one stalk will not interfere with those of an- 
other. By this system you make it more profi- 
table, as every particle of earth will be reached 
by the ror ts, and no portion of soil be free from 
effort while other portions are overtasked. 
Another reason was, that when planled so as 
to shade the ground, (strange as it may appear,) 
it would better stand a drought, by preventing 
the largest portion of a shower from evapora- 
ting, as is tl e case where the sun has free ac- 
cess to the ground. That this idea may not ap- 
pear so novel, I ask you to reflect that the spots 
which remain moisl for the longest time in the 
woods are those which are covered with the 
densest growth. 
Another was, that it would save labor in ,he 
cultivation; for when the corn is high enough to 
sh?de the ground, weeds and grass cease to 
flourish. And still another reason was, that it 
saved the necessity of cutting the roots with the 
plow. I know this is a controverted point 
among practical farmers; but I would just as 
soon expect that an animal would be more 
thrifty by having his limbs broken or his mouth 
lacerated, as to suppose that a plant would be 
more vigorous in consequence of having its 
leaves or roots injured. The latter, vegetable 
phisiology teaches us, serve as the mouth, and 
the former as the lungs, of plants. It has again 
been objected, that such close planting prevent- 
ed the com from getting air, which was neces- 
sary for its health. It has seemed strange that 
this objec.ion should have been urged, for if a 
philosopher were experimenting in pneumatics, 
he would hardly say his receiver was/'air-figAi” 
if it had a crack of two feet in it. Finally, 
Messrs, Editors, we may theorize on the subject 
as much as we please, and there may be as many 
objections urged as it is possible to produce, yet 
unprecedented success and a full “crib” will 
answer them all — at least to my satisfaction. 
There were two other acres connected with 
the one upon which the experiment was tried, 
part on one side and part on the other, planted 
and cultivated in the usual way. The product 
of both together scarcely equalled the one I n* 
port, though the com had been worked oftener. 
This year I have p Anted some 8 or 10 acres af- 
j.er pretty much the same plan, and it is decided- 
ly the best corn I have; the freest from weeds 
and grass, and will doubtless produce double of 
any other com on the plantation, though the 
land is equally good elsewhere. 
I am your friend, truly, 
Williams Rutherford, Jr. 
Newnan, September 16, 1843. 
Messrs. Editors — I see in the Cultivator, 
No. 15, page 114, a communication from Mr. 
John Farrar, of Putnam county, describing his 
mode of making corn. He states that his land 
is broken and stony, and to prevent them from 
w’ashing, he ditches his hill sides. W ould Mr. 
Farrar be so good as to inform us, through the 
Cultivator, his manner and mode of ditching; 
how wide, deep, and what distance apart they 
should be, and all the practical information he 
possesses on the subject? As the lands in our 
county are broken, and^of a coarse sandy loam, 
and w’ashes rapidly, if it could be prevented by 
ditching, the value of it would be considerably 
enhanced. 
Would you give us in theCultivator the price 
of plows, com-shellers, straw-cutters, &c. in 
the Augusta market, and oblige yours, &c. 
A. B. L. 
Note by the Editor. — In answer to the en- 
quiry of our correspondent, A. B. L., we will 
reply as distinctly as possible. A good article 
of Straw Cutters can be had at from S20 to 
$50; Corn Shellers, from $10 to $20, and Plows 
from $3 50 to $15, at the Agricultural Reposi- 
tory of Alexander Philip of this city. 
THE FARMER’S PROFESSION. 
The following is an extract from an address 
delivered before the Oneida County [N. Y. j Ag- 
ricultural Society, by Anson S. Miller, Esq. 
Princely patriarchs, prophets, kings, philoso- 
phers, the great of all ages, have honored agri- 
culture with their particular regard. The pur- 
suit is indeed laborious; but labor is no longer 
an evil, except in its excess. The cheerful per- 
formance of labor by man, has freed it from its 
original curse. It is now a boon of heaven — the 
condition of unnumbered blessings. The far- 
mer’s calling is full of moral grandeur. He 
supports the world — is <he partner of nature, 
and peculiarly ‘a co-worker with God.’ The 
sun, the atmosphere, the dews, ihe rains, day 
and night, the seasons — all the natural agents — 
are his ministers in the spacious temple of the 
firmament. Health is the attendant of his la- 
bors. The philosophy of nature exercises and 
exalts the intellect of the intelligent farmer. — 
His moral powers are ennobled by the manifes- 
tations of supreme love and wisdom in eveiy 
thing around him — in the genial air, the opening 
bud, the delicate flower, the growing and the ri- 
pening fruit, the stately tree- -in vegetable life 
and beauty springing out of death and decay — 
