6 
THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
From the Chronicle and Sentinel. 
GREA.T YIBLI> OF CORN. 
We publish below, says the Louisville Jour- 
aal, an account of the manner of cultivating an 
acre of com, by George W. WillaamSy of Bour- 
bon county, Kenfucky, with a certificate of a 
committee of the Bourbon County Agricultural 
Society, appointed to measure the com and the 
land. We like this method of doing things of 
this kind. To learn only that a man grew a 
certain amount of com per acre is extremely 
unsatisfactory. It is of no use to the communi- 
ty and often excites suspicion, of imposition. — 
But we should always have the manner of cul- 
ture along with a well authenticat 'd statement 
of the amount of produce and the measure of the 
land. 
In a private letter to us, Mr. Williams states 
that he considered the yield of this acre a failure, 
on accoimt of wind and blight, and he expects to 
hear of much larger crops. As to his oat crop, 
he says : 
“I make no report of oats. It was so much 
blown down, tliat I did not think it worth while 
to have it measured in the way directed. My 
overseer, however, did measure it, and, to my 
astonishment, reported 4B bushels many bush- 
els were left on the ground.” 
September 27, 1843. 
Gentlemen: — The Bourbon County Agri- 
cultural Society have appointed you to measure 
an acre of corn cultivated by me, with the view 
©f forwarding the result to the Jefferson Agri- 
cultural Society, and I am required to give to 
you, first, a detailed account ofthe mode of its 
cultivation,, describing the soil and whole treat- 
ment from the fall of 1842 to the gathering ofthe 
crop.” This- I proceed to do in as concise a 
manner as 1 can. The acre wasinclosed about 
the 1st of September, 1842 is in a square, and 
includes land, one half of which had been ex- 
hausted by long previous cultivation in corn 
and other crops, and, when inclosed, was such 
land as,. I suppose, in the common way of plan- 
ting corn, might have yielded 35 or 4i0 bushels 
per acre the other half inclosed was good hemp 
land,, a small part of it being, in fact, too strong 
even for hemp. Early in September, I com- 
menced feeding 110 hogs within the inclosure, 
and continued to do so until they were fatted, 
which was about the 10th of November. In 
March following,. I carted from the stable green 
stable manure- enough to cover, with a light 
coat, the whole of that part of the ground which 
had beea exhausted by former cultivation ;. be- 
ing careful to have none put on the other and 
better half. As soon as the frost was out of the 
ground, which did not occur tiM after the Its of 
April. I ploughed it well^ harrowed and cross- 
ploughed it,^ in this way pulverizing the soil 
thoroughly.. On the 14th of April, with a shov- 
el plough, I laid it off into rows each way, two 
feet apart, and planted it, dropping two grains to 
the hil4 I covered with a harrow, and followed 
the harrow with the roller. The whole after- 
cultivation was done with a hoe, which was te- 
dious and required an amount of labor I had not 
anticipated on account of the growth of grass, 
timothy, and clover, and of many weeds. I gave 
it two hoeings, and, to have done it justice, it 
should have had the third. The crop was great- 
ly injured and reduced by the occurrence of two 
storms of -wind which sv ept nearly the whole 
to the ground, and besides many ears were en- 
tirely ruined by bUght, the consequence of Prais- 
es received ifi hoeing. On the 7th day of Sep- 
tember, I had the crop cut and put into stacks. I 
cut it thus early because being mostly on the 
ground and many rains occurring, the crop was 
injuring very much. My hands are today en- 
gaged in shucking it, and I will be gratified to 
have you measure it tomorrow. 
Very respectfully, (Stc,, 
GEO. W. WILLIAMS. 
Messrs. E. Clark & W. W. Forman. 
fCERTIFiCATE.J 
We, the subscribers, appointed by the Bour- 
bon County Agricultural Society, to measure 
one acre of corn cultivated by George W. Wil- 
liams, do certify that we have measured the 
i same accurately, and there is 127 bushels, ©gal- 
lons, 1 quart, 1 pint,, and half pint, to the acre. — 
W e were exact in the measurement of the land 
as well as the corn. Given under our hands this 
28tb of September, 1843i 
EDWIN CLARK, 
W. W. FORMAN. 
Planters of Georgia ! you especially who al- 
ready ''know enough about farming” we corn” 
mend to your particular attention the facts con' 
tained in the above article. How many of you 
raise, as the average product of your farms per 
acre, one-tenth of this yield 7 How many of 
you cultivate an acre of corn upon yourpoor ex- 
hausted lands with less labor than Mr. Wil- 
lia ms bestowed in the cnlture of this % And yet 
you raise fifteen to twenty bushels, while he 
raised one hundred and twenty-seven! nearly 
equal to the average production in Georgia of 
ten acres ofland 1 This is no imaginary pic- 
ture : every observant man knows that the aver- 
age com crop in Georgia does not equal two 
barrels per acre 1 Why is this 1 It is because 
there has been no spirit abroad in the land for 
improvement — it is because almost every plan- 
ter in the land is foolishly striving to see how 
many acres ofland he can cultivate, while little 
attention is paid to the system of culture or to 
the improvemaat of the soil. It is no argument 
against this large yield of com that it was only 
accomplished upon a single acre ; experiments 
should always be made in a small way — and an 
experiment on one acre serves as well to show 
what may be accomplished by an enlightened 
system of culture, as an experiment on one hun- 
dred acres— and. in the event of a failure the con- 
sequences are only one-hundredth part as disas- 
trous. 
But we have another object in view, in call- 
ing attention to this article, and it is to ask — 
Do not these facts force the mind of every intel- 
ligent, reflecting planter, to acknowledge the 
important benefits to be derived from Agricul- 
tural Societies 7 We think so. Why not, 
then, form them in every county and neighbor- 
hood 7 Shall we grope on in poverty, ignorant 
of the improvements of the age, while all the 
world are enriching their estates, filling their 
purses, elevating and refining their intellects, 
and improving their lands, by the aid of Agri- 
cultural Societies and Clubs 7 
These are grave and important questions, and 
they deserve the grave consideration of those to 
whom they are propounded. Let the planters 
of the entire South contemplate the consequen- 
ces to those who come alter them, if they persist 
in that system of culture which has already quite 
exhausted one of the most fertile regions on the 
continent of America— let them survey in their 
mind’s eye the squalid poverty which will be 
entailed on those who will be forced, from ne- 
cessity, to dwell upon and cultivate! these worn- 
out and exhausted lands, and then let them con- 
trast all this with the other side of the picture, 
a view which must be presented of the whole 
face of the country looking like a well cultiva- 
ted garden; a bounteous plenty rewarding the ' 
labors of the husbandman, and domestic peace 
and quiet reigning supreme throughout the land, 
— all, all the results of an enhghteaed system of 
Agriculture, the immediate consequence of har- 
ing in every county and neighborhood, Agricul- 
tural Societies and Clubs. 
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 10, 1844. 
THE BACK VOLUME. 
All new subscribers who may desire it, can 
obtain the first volume, neatly bound in boards,, 
at one dollar the volume. 
SEND IN YOUR LISTS: 
As it is very important in regulating our edi- 
tion to know what number of subscribers will 
probably be obtained, we bag our Mends to send 
in their lists at the earliest possible day. 
SEND US MORE SUBSCRIBERS. 
However unwilling we are to trespass upon 
the indulgence of our readers, and to occupy 
our columns with matters pertaining to our own 
affairs, nevertheless w’e deem this a fit occasion, 
being the first number of our second volume, to 
add a few words to what we have previously 
said, to induce a zealous effort on the part ofthe 
friends of the “Southern Cultivator” to ex- 
tend its circulation. Of the interest which 
many warm friends have taken in its behalf, 
we have already had many flattering evidenceg 
in the shape of a long list of patrons, and to all 
such we should be wanting in justice to our 
own feelings, not to extend our most sincere and 
grateful acknowledgments. There, too, are 
others who have promised a zealous co-opera- 
tion, from whom we have not yet heard, but we 
doubt not they are faithfully discharging their 
duty to themselves and their country, in their 
efforts to aid the extension of the circulation of 
an agricultural journal. We made an earnest 
appeal to the patrons of the first volume to go 
among their neighbors and friends, and invite 
their co-operation in furthering of our views. 
Many have already responded — most nobly re- 
sponded — to this appeal, and we beg leave to re- 
new it, and to include,, also, those who have 
been recently enrolled on our list of Mends for 
the second volume. Every man has his influ- 
ence in society, and each subscriber to the 
“Southern Cultivator” may readily obtain one 
other, and many of them can obtain a hun- 
dred. 
The necessity of some exertion on the part 
of our friends, now that our enterprise is in its 
infancy, is very apparent to every reflecting 
mind. In the first place, we are unable to pub- 
lish the work unaided by the friends of agricul- 
ture, and as w© have before remarked, we are 
quite confident that no friend of the cause de-. 
