THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
29 
each cross of the plough, and cover from one to 
two or three inches with a harrow, hoe or 
plough. 
6. CiiVivulion. So soon as the young plants 
appear, run round them, with a cultivator, har- 
r6w or light plough to destroy the young weeds, 
and loosen the earth. Keen the ground free of 
weeds and open to the influence of the atmos- 
phere, till the plants are about three feet high, 
when they should be laid by, by tne use of a cul- 
tivator; or, in the absence of a cultivator, and 
when the land has been ploughed, the harrow 
should pass both ways to leave the ground loo.se 
and the surface level. Generally, about the 
same cultivation given to corn will answer well 
for Artichokes. 
7. D igging. This is the most troublesome 
job in the management of this crop; and if the 
hoe is the dependence, the labor will bo very te- 
dious. The better plan, is to lay^ off a land as 
for breaking up the ground, so soon as the frost 
has killed the under leaves of the stocks. The 
plough should run from6 to|) inches deep, and 
let the hands, big and little, pass directly after 
the plough, to pick up, that none of the roots 
may be covered by the next furrow. 
8. Yield. The produce to the acre is various- 
ly estimated from 500 to 1000 bushels, and it is 
probable the turn out on medium land would be 
nearer the laOer than the former. 
9. Uses. In England and other parts of Eu- 
rope, the tubers have been considered quite a 
delicacy for man, and without doubt they make 
the most beautiful pickles. But their chief im- 
portance, in this respect, is their use in feeding 
hogs. From the middle of October to the mid- 
dle oflNovemher, the hogs may be turned on the 
Artichokes, and with salt always in troughs, to 
which they can have access, they will grow and 
thrive till next spring, particularly, if the ground 
is n./t too hard for rooting. 1 have not experi- 
mented to ascertain the quantity of hogs to the 
acre of good Artichokes; but from the ob.serva- 
tionof two seasons, I am of the opinion 20 head 
will do well on an acre lor four months. As 
some have complained their hogs would not 
foot after them, it may be necessary, as hogs, 
like men, know not much before learning, that 
they be taught to root after them. This is done 
by calling the hogs after a plough that will 
throw out the roots, till the grunters learn their 
habitation, which will require but a very short 
lime. 
10. Iniprooement of Land. As the stocks 
grow from ten to fifteen feet in height, and the 
thick, porous foliage, much of the food of ihe 
plant is received from the atmosphere, and there- 
by the soil is not so heavily taxed as by other 
crops, the ground is protected from the killing 
rays of the sun andthestock and leaves falland 
rot very soon. These advantages, with the ma- 
nure from hogs, afford the cheapest, and amongst 
the richest coats in my knowledge. It is my 
conviction, (in the absence of long experience,) 
that Artichokes in summer, and Hogs in win- 
ter, will enrich our poor lands cheaper and 
much better than upon any other plan. To be 
sure, a farmer cannot have all his land in Arti- 
chokes, but every one should have enough to 
support his hogs through the winter, and I ven- 
ture those who give this crop a fair trial, will re- 
luctantly abandon it. 
11. General Remarks. A few farmers of my 
acquaintance have informed me, that they have 
succeeded with Corn and Artichokes together, 
and it is highly probable this will prove a suc- 
cessful mode of cultivating these two crops, but 
on the system of “one thing at a time,” we 
would prefer each crop separately. Some have 
supposed the second year’s growth on the same 
ground would be more valuable than the first ; 
but this is a mistake. The plants grow so thick 
the second year, that not more than half a crop 
can be anticipated. It might answer, to plough 
out rows and cultivate the second year ; but the 
Ipractice of putting Artichoke lands in something 
esethe second year, is the plan 1 must prefer. 
Amongst the arguments which might be used 
in favor of this crop, it should not be forgotten 
that there is no labor of digging, but for seed; 
that more troublesome weeds and grasses are 
completely smothered out; and last, but not 
least, the youns' plants the second year are more 
easily subdued than almost any weeds known. 
Take Artichokes all in all, I think them worthy 
the attention of ev'ery farmer who wishes to en- 
rich his lands, or raise his pork with a small 
outlay of grain. 
USE OF LIME. 
We have ever been among the mo.?t zealous 
advocates for the use of lime ; but in all our ad- 
vice we have recommended ra/ifttur to be observ- 
ed in its application ; and that before using it, it 
would be well to ascertain whether the soil is or 
is not deficient in it. We hear one person say 
that it had acted like a charm upon his land, 
while another will tell you, that he used it with- 
out effect upon soil of precisely the same texture 
where its good effects had been so manifest. 
The reason oi this ifierence in effect, might be 
accounted for m one of the.se ways: 1st. That 
the land of the one had organic remains in it, 
and the other none. Hence the necessity for 
the analysis of soils, so that the farmer ma\ go 
to work intelligently. That lime is one of the 
most powerful agents in the improvement of 
soils, there can be no doubt ; but that lime alone 
will make a poor soil rich, we never have and 
never will believe. The food of plants consists 
ofseveral substances, all of which is necessary 
to be present in the soil, before its fertility can 
be perfected — among these substances we hold 
lime to be of the very first importance — but we 
have long thought, that the quantity of lime to 
the acre, could be very materially decreased be- 
low a hundred bushels, as the only benefit to be 
derived to the growing vegetables from it, is 
from that part which is dissolved by the rains, 
which part is small indeed, in any ope season. 
Why then make a large ouilay for lime, when a 
small one would answer for all present purposes. 
To be sure, lime also performs a mechanical ope- 
ration, in the change of the texture of the soil, 
and in so far as this effect may be desirable, a 
larger dose of lime may be productive of bene- 
fit. But w'hy apply 109 bushels of lime, per 
acre, to an old exhausted field, where there was 
nothing lor it to act upon, when 25 would an- 
swer better? Our views' are, that before land, 
which may have been completely impoverished 
by bad culture, can be materially benefitted by 
the usi' of lime, that two or three green crops — 
say of buckwheat or rye — should be ploughed in. 
Either of these crops may be grown by applying 
a bushel of plaster to the acre at the time of-sow- 
ing. If this course of improvement were pur- 
sued, there would not be so many croakings 
about the inefficacy of lime. Lime, to act effi- 
ciently, must be combined with vegetable or ani- 
mal manure — with these, there can be no ques- 
tion of its meliorating powers, but we do most 
seriously question its capacity, alone, of mak- 
ing an infertile soil a rich one. 
With regard to the quantity oflime to be ap- 
plied to an acre, there is great diversity of opin- 
ion — .some apply 100; some more than that, 
while others think 80, 60, or 50 bushels to the 
acre is preferable, and then there are those who 
think 25 bushels enough ; and we confess that 
we are among those who think favorably of the 
least quantity named, unless there should either 
be a larger quantity of organic remains in the 
soil, or some two, three and four green crops be 
first ploughed under. We reason in this way. 
If 25 bushels to the acre is more lime than can 
be dissolved in one rotation, why should we de- 
prive ourselves of the use of the money which 
the difference between 25 and 100 bushels 
would cost % If then, for present purposes, 25 
bashels will answer for an acre, is not our inter- 
est to lime four acres with a hundred bushels, 
instead of putting that quantity on a single acre ? 
The outlay in money, to purchase a hundred 
bushels oflime, deters many small farmers from 
using it ; whereas if they could be satisfied that 
25 bushels would answer as well, they would 
not hesitate to undertake the liming of their 
land ; and thus would the improvement of our 
worn out soils go on more certainly and steadily 
-yfor let what be said, that may, the first cost of 
lime, at the rate of a hundred bushels to the here, 
is a most formidable consideration, where a man 
has from 100 to 400 acres requiring improve- 
ment. 
We will conclude by repeating what we have 
before said — that we believe, in all cases of im- 
proving lands much exhausted by cultivation, 
that lor present purposes — say for a rotation of 
four or five years— 25 bushels ot li.me, besides 
costing so much less, would be better than 100 
bushels per acre— that it would be better tore- 
peat 25 bushels per acre every fouryears, until 
100 bushels had been applied, than 'to put the 
latter quantity on at one tin e. 
American Farmer. 
SOWING INDL\N CORN BROADCAST. 
A correspondent of the Albany Cultivator, 
writing from Memphis, Tenn., Nov. 23d, says: 
“Having seen sundry interesting communica- 
tions in your valuable journal, relative to the 
immense yield ofcorn sown broadcast, I am in- 
duced to give you '■ my experience,” though it 
is the result of an experiment on a small scale. 
In the spring of ’42, I prepared two squares in 
my garden, each 20 feet by 30, and sowed them 
with corn, about half a gallon to each square, 
though this is too much. V/hen about waist 
high, 1 commenced pulling it up by the roots, 
and feeding it green, to a fine Durham heifer and 
some pigs — the latter devouring it as greedilv as 
the former. 
“ I pulled up and re-sowed these squares four 
times during the season, and kept the animals 
infineorder, without anything else worth nam- 
ing. This year I did the same thing; and I am 
satisfied nothing will produce half as much as 
corn thus planted or sown. Every time I strip- 
ped a square, it was forthwith highly manured, 
and at once spaded up and resown ; and this sea- 
son I had corn thigh high when frost came. I 
generally fed the corn as it was pulled up, but 
sometimes, for relish or change, it was cut up 
and seasoned with meal and salt.” 
IMPROVEMENT OF OLD FIELDS. 
As there are doubtless many worn-out old 
fields that have, for years, produced nothing 
but poverty grass, we should like for some en- 
terprising proprietors of such to make an effort 
to bring them back to a state of fertility; and 
would suggest that by sowing a bushel of plas- 
ter, per acre, on them during the present month, 
ploughing them up as soon as the spring crops 
are in, and then sowing a bushel ol buckwheat 
to the acre, and ploughing that crop in as soon 
as it gets into, blossom, we have no doubt that 
the soil would bear a crop of rjm without any 
thing else; and that, wfith the addition of five 
bushels of lime per acre, spread evenly, a very 
fair crop of wheat mightbe grown thereon, with- 
out any addition of other manure: and we have 
as little doubt, that clover seed might be sown 
the ensuing spring, with a good prospect ot a 
fair crop ofgra.ss, provided the plants vrereplas- 
tered as soon as the wheat crop was cut. We 
have seen a very good pasture of white clover 
produced by ihe application of plaster en such 
fields as we have described, without the aid of 
any other manure, by simply harrowing the 
ground after the plaster had been sown a few 
days, the precaution having been taken, in sow- 
ing the plaster, to select a moist day to do it in ; 
and xve can see no reason to doubt that, with 
the addition of a green crop ploughed in, a very 
fair one of grain might be grown. The cost of 
such an experiment as we have suggested, is 
comparatively so small, that we hope some one 
will test it. 
American Farmer. 
Turnip Fly. — Lime slightly strewed over 
turnips (just up) before the dew is off the ground 
in the morning, most effectually and invariably 
preserves the crop front the fly, &c. ^ 
