180 
THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
From the Farmers’ Cabinet. 
TO HAVE GOOD CROPS. 
Fanners are apt to place loo much depen- 
dence upon manure, supposing tha' il they ap- 
ply that in sufficient quantity nothing else is 
required of them. This error is nut, ol course, 
oi equally evil tendency to that of using no ma- 
nure at all; but 1 w as almost ready to say it w as 
not very much less so. If the soil be not pro- 
perly prepared lor its reception, and il the ma- 
nure be not properly made, preserved and applied, 
it will matter little whether the “manure neap” 
resembled a mountain or a mole-hill. But it 
cannot be expected that the minute aetails ol all 
the practice involved in all this, can be given in 
the space afforded by any periodical. One great 
point is to cultivate no more land than you can 
cultivate well, both as to labor and manure. If 
you have more land and less money and labor, 
than you can use with full effect, turn a portion 
of land into money by selling it, and apply the 
proceeds to the improvement of that retained. 
Thus reduce the size of your farm to the capa- 
city of your efficient forces — labor and money — 
instead ol trying to extend your stinted forces 
over too wide a surlace, and thus weakening 
them and destroying their efficiency. The se- 
cond principle is, to put your soil into good con- 
dition, by liming, deep pUnoing, manuring, and 
correcting its proportions of clay and sand when 
practicable. All laud, in my opinion, ii'ill be 
greatly benefited by the application of lime. — 
Some requires more, some less, to produce the 
same results, but all lands require it as a con- 
stituent ol the soil. You will find lime most 
active on red lands, but it is useful on all lands. 
Deep plowing is, in my opinion, essential to suc- 
cessful farming. If you have a thin soil, by 
deep plowing, liming .md manuring, you will in 
a very few years, secure a deep soil. Even 
though you do turn up a portion of blue clay 
with your four-horse plow, don’t be frightened 
at the sight of it. It is better to have blue clay 
mixed in a deep soil, than a hard pan of it under 
a thin one. But if you find too much clay thus 
turned up, correct its stiffness by carting sand 
upon it, and mixing it with the clay. A carl 
load of sand is olten ol more value to a soil 
than the same quantity of manure. Reverse 
the process, if any portion of the land be too 
sandy — carry clay to it, and thus stiffen it. 
The advantage of deep plowing is almost in- 
calculable. It will ultimately make a deep soil, 
and a deep soil is essential to a good crop in a 
dry season. The roots of the plants strike 
deeply into it, instead of spreading out hoiizon- 
tally near the sufface, as they are compelled to 
do in a thin soil, and are thus .secured from the 
effects of drought. The rain sinks into a deep 
•soi^, and is thus preserved to the uses of the 
crop; while in a thin soil, it runs off, is socm 
evaporated, or stands on the surface, doing little 
good in the former cases, and absolute injury in 
the latter. I should not only plow deep, but I 
should follow in the iurrow of the four horse 
plow with a good substratum plow, and this 
with the liming, judicious manuring and proper 
rotation, I should calculate upon PiS my security 
lor a good crop, always. I believe this practice 
to be not only the best preventive of winter- 
killing and injury from drought, but also of in- 
jury from the fly. By this practice you secuie 
a robust constitution to the plant, and, of con.se- 
quence, thus enable it ^o withstand, without 
harm, the pressure upon the sap vessels occa- 
sioned by the flax-seed pupa of the fly, as it be- 
comes embedded in its surlace. In illustration 
of the good effects of deep plownng, I will refer 
to the practice of garden culture. Who ever 
doubted that deep spading — even two or three 
.spits deep — was not only useful, but necessary 
to success7 And in what does a garden differ 
from a farm? In size— nothing else. 
Manure caanot alway.s be obtained, nor can 
enough be made by every one for the whole 
farm. But a vast amount may be obtained and 
made, more than is now usually done. By a 
little management, the manure now made may 
be increased in value, without increase of quan- 
tity. Properly constructed manure pits should 
be prepared, with shed roofs to protect their con- 
tents from the effects of rain & d sun.sbine. All 
manure should be deposited in the pits while 
fresh — befoie the rain has washed away its salts, 
or the heat of the sun evaporated its volatile 
principles. Every kind of vegetable and ani- 
mal offal should be thrown into tne manure pits. 
The pits should be so situated near the barn or 
under it, that they would receive the mine ol all 
the animals. There sh mid be two [ its, that the 
contents of one might be digesting, while the 
other was receiving materials. The mode ol 
preparing the manure, time of applying it to 
the land, the quantity to be applied to the acre, 
the mode of afiplication, &i;. &c., are, and of 
necessity must be, left to the discretion of the 
farmer. There is, however, one kind of ma- 
nure that I think is too much neglected, and it 
is often ihe only one that can be made availa- 
ble. 1 allude to turning in green crops. 'I'urn- 
ing in a clover lay for this purpose, is common 
enough; bull think the object may be attained 
more quickly by turning in crops ol corn sown 
broadcast. Two, if not three crops ol corn, 
could be grown and turned in, in the couise of 
a season. That this kind of manure should af- 
ford all the benefit of which it is capable, the 
land should have been previously limed; or, if 
not previously done, a good dressing of lime 
should be turned in with the )’Oung corn. 
General principles suit all, and the details of 
their application must be varied to suit each 
particular case. In conclusion, theoretical 
knowledge is invaluable to a farmer, as it is to 
all other professions, but it requires practical 
knowledge, intelligent perseverance, and untir- 
ing industry, to carry out its principles and pro- 
duce their full effects, 
Gideon B. Smith. 
From the Columbia Planter. 
Fairfield District, Sept. 12, 1843. 
Dear Sir — The labor of the manuring sys- 
tem consists in the accumulating proces.s, and 
the transportation and distribution. The first I 
regard as a mere bagatelle, compared with the 
latter, owing to the interference of the peculiar 
system ol agriculture pursued in this district; 
one which, while 1 dislike it, I cannot discard. 
As my chief opposition to it grows out of its 
conflicting svilh my manuring operatins, it will 
be relevant to my subject to explain my objec- 
tions in the course of my remarks; and this I 
shall do in the hope that some one of your pa- 
trons, more inventive than myself, may be able 
to obviate my difficulties. 
1 have a cow-house, 100 feetlong by 25 wide, 
which stands in the midst of an enclosure 150 
feet by 75. A part of the house is divided into 
stalls for milch cows; another portion is cut off' 
for calves, and the rest is left open for the igno- 
bile vulgus. Each division has its proportion of 
unsheltered area, so as to obviate the evil of 
personal rencounters, which would necessarily 
grow out of too close contact. The loft is floor- 
ed in its whole extent, and affords ample room 
for a sufficiency of shucks. As soon as ray 
“pen” is emptied in the eaily part of the spring, 
I recommence to “trash it,” and for that purpose 
I employ two tilt-carts, each with an appoint- 
ment of two boys and a woman, in conveying 
leaves from the w'oods. The former load and 
drive, the latter rake. I do not use hoes in col- 
lecting the leaves, but rakes with open teeth, 
less I impoverish and expose tne earth, so as to 
cause the trees to die. My carts are supplied 
with high moveable frames, formed of light 
laths, to enable them to carry a quantity consis- 
tent with the trifling weight of the material. — 
When I have covered the area of my pen with 
one layer of leaves closely placed, I level them, 
clean out my stables, which have been ai.so 
“trashed” from time to time, and distribute the 
contents over the whole surface. I then hasten 
to cover over the whole pen with another layer 
of leaves, so as quickly to exclude the stable 
manure from the sun. I also re-litter my sta- 
bles promptly, for it is essential, in my opinion. 
to have a lay 1- 1 lU Mauie cuiupo-sl to nueivcne 
the successiv e stiai. oi ii.icr liuui li t woous. 
in the uteaniiiuc, tt<o, iu_v caiileare Uigniiy col- 
lected in li.e pen, am. t>re led on .'imeks and 
straw, whifti Lie uoiiy iti:ov\n imo laeks that 
run tiiroi.gh the cem.e ol tne nuuse. 
Thus 1 go on tili nece.ssii}’ compels n e to re- 
move my iiiUlcs iruiii me cari to i..t j low in 
the past i-Du sevtri.1 ,,it cei.ing season.', as soon 
as my cri',- has been i.ianie , 1 have agoinstarted 
one cart, two noys ..Uu a w^ man, at i.ie iia.'h- 
ing Ol my pen, oua the removal to it oi tne com- 
post from the siaoles. Alw .y.' in tne latter part 
of July, I stall aiiuiher can, prope 1) oinceied, 
ancl keep them buih sit adily at the work till the 
w-'asting ol my cutiun in ihe fielus compels me 
to reduce my “ti.ish loree”'to one-h.-li. In the 
month ol September, 1 asually make a pen i.n a 
neighboring fitlu, which is “lesiing,” and which 
1 w ish to manuie tne n x yeai, am; iimsh and 
[ en my cattle upon ii till me commen' emt m of 
winter. As soiiii as my cow house j en is mas 
abam.onetl, 1 emjffo^v ..11 my w.'guii.s, and as 
many k.boiers asaie nece&.saiy to keep them in 
incessant motion, m ictiiovii gihe ctC) osits from 
it to what I call li.y “iimiiuiea uelu,” one winch 
1 have nourisheu h.ii^nij ana wuiKcd Lain for 
many years, and wluci., like a well trained gla- 
diator, iniproves gradually m der t ae meat: ic.it. 
The compost ihuscaincu luioihe fi id isiiiiown 
into a conical heap, in a central position, and 
covered w'ith “law trasn” or straw, i now suf- 
fer the surlace oi my cow-house pen to dry and 
indurate, ready lor tne new crop ol leaves, oth- 
erwise it becomes wet, solt and boggy, in w inter. 
In w'inter I recommence to trash it, and de.sert 
my “fall pen.” 1 now have my main stock of 
manure deposited in its proper field, ana my 
“fall pen”periecied in my fancy field of the year; 
and I consider the first process of the .sy stem 
complete. All this 1 have regarded as nothing 
— but now comes the real difficulty. 
In find, Mr. Editor, that I shall have to divide 
my subject into three pans; the first embracing 
what 1 have already’ written; the second the 
transportation and minute distribution ol the 
manure; and the third, its effects. To each of 
these heads I will devote a chapter, ^nd I there- 
fore close my regular treaties lor the present; 
but as my paper is nut filled, I will indulge my- 
self w ith a short digression. 
If you feel a curiosity to ascertain how' little 
the generous soil of Fairfield has been requit- 
ed for her bountiful protraction, visit her, and 
take an inventory of the rakes, horse-carts, and 
well littered cow’-pens and slable.s, to be found 
within her borders; and observe how the food 
her fields so much crave is suffered offensively 
to cumber and pollute the lanes which lead to 
the dwellings of her improvident and ungrate- 
lul inhabitants. The offence to your olfactory 
nerves would be lost in your sorrow that you 
had found an illustration of the fact, that pearls 
are sometimes cast before swine; lor a thing un- 
clean in itself may be rendered “a jewel” by its 
usefulness, and the “lords of creation” may re- 
main as unwise as “the beasts of the fields, ”by 
thetr neglect of reason, the attribute of man. I 
take this censure as freely to myself as I bestow 
it upon others, for I have left undone much 
more of w'hat I know to be practicable, than I 
have accomplished. 
Yours, &c. 
Farmington. 
Chicken Hatching. — Some enterprising per- 
sons in Brooklyn, L. I. have established an In- 
stitution in that city for the purpose of hatching 
chickens on a large scale, which is dignified 
W’ith the name of Polotokion. It comprises 
five or six long buildings, and several acres of 
land. 
They have a similar affair in England called 
the Eccaleobeion, which is in successful opera- 
tion and turns out one hundred chickens a day. 
The practice has long prevailed in Egyjjt, and 
recently has been introduced in France. Reau- 
mur, we believe, first succeeded in raising chick- 
ens by means of the common overi. The mod- 
ern aparatus consists of a series of flues sup- 
