138 
THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
f min Uie New jiiigUiid t’uriiier. 
ROOT CULTURE— ROl'A I ION OF CROPS— DEEP 
PLOWING. 
We have as yet sevii no wiiier dispiuing the 
neces.^ity ur utiiu\ liI iiMaunug Lunu lu keep up 
or increase its leiiiiity ; i)Ui u would .lot gieai- 
!y suipii.se us il some one, to sliow liis supei loi 
sagacity, dii slioiily attack this (^generally cou- 
sidereci ) s.t Led point in agiicuhuie. 
in one agi icutiural [lapei , w e ljud some writer 
attacking root Lullur-- ; m anoiliei, we see the 
doctrine ot' rotaiion assade.; and in anotiier, 
some one, bolder than the rest, attempts to sliow 
that deep plo-WDig is a “ liuiubug” — or not what 
it has “ been cracked up to be” — in fat, that it 
is detrimental lo tne larmer’s interest. 
Upon the first ot these topics — root culture — 
we are awaie some ditference oI opinion exisU 
among farmers — and gnod tanners, too, v\ e 
conless ouiselt on the 'side ot the roots. We 
have cultivated them to a considerable e.xient - 
carrots and ruia baga especially — and our ex- 
perience in their use has highly commended 
them to our fa vor. There is this advantage in 
roots, (aside trom others,} which we consider oi 
much importance: tiiey enable us to get rid ot 
a good ileal of coarse lo.lder., by being mixed 
with It, wnile upon such feed the stock thrive as 
well as il' kept on tne best hay. We cannot join 
^vith those who thinK root culture unprofitable, 
though we have a high respect lor the judgment 
of some who hold this opinion. 
The expediency ol a rolafvm of crops is also 
called in question, and by some seemingly ridi- 
culed. In ihe article headed “ Change ol Crops,” 
copied into last week’s Farmer, .a case vvascited 
in disjrroof ol the necessity of rotation, w'here 
rye had grown well on the same land 27 succes- 
sive ye rs. Now', the mere fact that a particu- 
lar soil gives a good crop oi one kind for many 
successive years, is no very conclusive proui 
lo our mind, that i\\o principle of rotation i.s not 
sound and well founded. We were once show n 
a field bordering on the sea-shore, which we 
were inlormed had continued to give excellent 
crops ot grass yearly for 26 years, w ithout the 
applicaiioji of any dre.ssir,g. Such instance.s' 
are rare, and can only be regarded in the light 
ol “exceptions to a general cule.” Why, it is 
to this principle ol rotation, judiciously carried 
out, that many ot the English farmers mainly 
ascribe ihe great improvement which they have 
effected in tlieir husbandry; and in our own 
country, w'here the proiier “course” has been 
ado! ed the rotation system has been lorn 1 not 
only an improvement upon olilcustoms, but one 
of the m ist important aids wdiichihe increased 
wi.sdom ol the ivorld has given to agricukure. 
Rotation of crops is otie ot the mos* pro ni- 
neni features of the improved system ol husband- 
ry. Under the old method of larming, the land 
was cul.ivated w'iihout regard to the noLure 
ot the crops grown, and when it v/as thought 
that it required rest, the losing practice ot fal- 
lowing w'as resorted to. But little importance 
was attached to the fact of one crop being more 
exhausting than another, or that it wasgood poli- 
cy to succeed a crop which left nnlking in the 
ground, by o ie that left its r wls, to compensate 
in a measure forw'hatit had taken trom the soil. 
The rotation system as founded upon the utili- 
ty of a change of crops tor the benefit of the soil, 
and vve hazard little when we say that it has 
been found as profitable in practice as it is phi- 
losophical in theory, in these remarks, w'e 
have no reference to the “ excretory theory” ot 
De Candolle, which, we think, is so tar from 
being proved, that it is yet^ebaieable. 
Among other modern Tuiprovements (or so 
considered) now being attacked by certain wri- 
ters, is ihat oi deep plowivg. This is one of the 
very last features ot improved husbandry that 
we should have expected to see arraigned lor 
faults. We had been convinced, from our ow'n 
experience, and the concurrent testimony ot ob- 
serving farmers, that deep plow’ing was all that 
it ever had been recommended to be by its most 
zealous advocates an invaluable help to the 
tanner in improving the lertiliiy of his soil, (of 
course increasing its products,) and saving ex- 
pense toi inanme, oi eiianling Inui tu apply it | 
where inure needed. We l ad convinced uur- 
^ell — and the conviction is as firm as ever — lliat 
deep plowing and manure were the larmer’s 
.-lieet .mcliur— his mam reliances. W’e reler 
paiiicularly tu our Northern and Eastern tar- 
mers; —to those who till me prairie soil of itie 
W'est, w e liave no refcience. 
To us it seems not a hide surpri-sing that this 
practice ot deep plowing, which bodi here and 
on the oiher side of U.e ylilaniic, has been con- 
sidered, universally, so tar as we aie aware, as 
of the greatest ad vantage to ihelaimer, should 
now be decried by a w riter, who, gilieu beyond 
all others in the faculty of discernmei.t. has dis- 
covered that it works the farmer no good. 
However advantageous to our farmers may 
be the culture of roots or rotation ol cro| s, we 
deem either of these of less impoi lance than me 
improvement oi deep pLo icing — and w'e are quite 
confident that he or iliey w ho shall attempt to 
write it into disrepute, will find ihai it has secu- 
red too la.st a hold on the tavor ofuur enlighten- 
ed husbandmen, ever to be abandoned tor the 
old “shallow” system, which (with all due 
reverence lor the departed,) was indeed shallow 
in more respects than one. 
From the Alb-dny Cultivator. 
CLEAN CULTURE. 
It is a fact that ground which is kept from ve- 
getation ol any kind, w'lll not dry up so much 
as that on which a crop is grow'ii. There are 
many who doubt this, but it tliey w'ould make a 
pioper examination, iheirdoubts will be remov- 
ed. Make an experiment — take a piece of 
ground in the garden, and hoe it over every day, 
or otlen enough to keep all kinds of vegetation 
Irom starting. Sow another piece adjoining, 
with grass, cr some kind of grain. Alter a 
drouth of two or three weeks, examine both 
pieces by digging into them with a spade or 
shovel. The earth ot the grass or grain plat, 
will be found dry like ashes, to the depth per- 
haps ol a loot or more. The other plat w'ill be 
dried in only two or three inches— below that it 
will be tound quite moist. Examine the ground 
in an oichard in a diy lime, and .fit is pot natu- 
rally a wet piece of ground, it will be found dry 
to a great depth. It there is a tree in your corn 
field, sec if the ground is nut much dryer near 
it than on similar ground aw'ay from the reach 
of its roots. The fact is, ihei'oots of vegetation 
bring up ihe moisture from a greater depth be- 
low the surface, than itcould be done by simple 
evaporation. This may be known by noticing 
how much more moisture is required to support 
a crop of corn when the stalkN are nearly full 
grown, than in its earliest stages. 
Now, from all this we deduce an argument in 
favor of clean culture— ihal is, a culture which 
permits no useless vegetation to grow among 
cultivated crops; the advantage of which would 
be lo give the crop the w'hole benefit ot the mois- 
ture and other nutriment of the soil, instead of 
giving a portion to the worthle s weeds. 
In a dry lime, we frequently hear farmers say, 
“ it will not do to work my corn or potatoes, 
they need all the glass and weeds to keep the 
ground trom drying up.” Now this, as we 
have shown, is all a mistake; the grass and 
weeds make the ground dry taster and deeper. 
But it is alleged that corn has been injured by 
plowing or working it when the weather was 
very dry. 'We admit that this effect may have 
followed under particular circumstances: that 
is to say, if corn gets too large before it is work- 
ed, injury may be done. The reason is, that the 
roots have become extended, and the plow cuts 
off so large a portion ot them, that the remainder 
cannot supply the stalk, and it soon withers. 
This is the way the “ fired” corn, sometimes 
spoken of at the south and west, is generally 
produced. i But it is only when the roots of 
corn have become widelj' extended, and are 
torn and mutilated in the operation ot working 
it, that any such consequence follows. If the 
crop is worked, as it ought to be while it is 
small, no fears of injury need be entertained. 
From tlie tjiiuiheiii Rlanler. 
PHILOSOPHY OF WHEAT CULTURE. 
Dr. Lee, who is oneo) ilie must Ue.vuail Iriends 
of agriculture in America, read a veiy able pa- 
per belore a meeting at the Stale Hnuse in Al- 
bany, last winter, upon the cuhivaiion ot wheat. 
He calls to mind that liomtheanaljsis ulSpren- 
gel, the mineral propmtum ol the [dam amounts 
only to three per cent, of the whole, an^ that 
wood ashes presents very nearly the same mine- 
ral C(<nslituents and in the same piupoiiions; 
w’heiice he infers, that soils the most wanting in 
these constituents, may be supplied w'iih a suffi- 
cient quantity for all w'heat bearing purposes by 
a small dressing of ashes. He goes on to say : 
“ Being but s.lowly decomposed by the vital 
action of plants, ashes are an enduring fertilizer 
when compared with stable manure. Mixed 
witn quick lin e, their good effects are more 
speedily obtained. Lime will render alumini 
either in the soil or in leached ashes, soluble in 
water, so that it can enter ilie minute pores of 
roots. Clay in the soil is alw'ays combined wdth 
a large portion of silica ; and before it has been 
exhausted by continual cropping, it holds in 
combination considerable potash and soda. — 
Lime, by combining with aiumiai, the basis of 
clay, jiberates these alkalies and silica, which, 
uniting chemically, form solublesilicates of pot- 
ash and soda. These also enter into the circu- 
lating nourishment of plants, and are decompo- 
sed in the stems of grasses and cereals. The 
silica goest,o make vegetable bone, to keep the 
plant upright; while the potash and soda go 
back to tl'.e earth, to dissolve, as before, another 
portion of sand, to be also absorbed, and trans- 
iormed into bone. It is in this way that a lew 
ashes, applied to a sandy soil, will enable grass 
and grain to take up the eighty-one per cent, of 
flint found in their ashes. Lime w'ill do the same 
thing on clay soils, lor the simple reason that 
they generally do not lack potash, soda and mag- 
nesia. 
“ The quantity of lime and ashes to be ap- 
plied to an acre, will depend entirely on their 
cos' at the place w'here they are to be used. A 
lew' bushels will be of essential service; but a 
larger dose will be better. 
“ i eome now to speak of the organic elements 
of the wheat p’tant, which, as I have already n- 
timated, form ninety-six or ninety-seven per 
cent, of its substance. Water and its constitu- 
ents, oxygen and hydrogen, carbon and nitro- 
gen, are the four elementary ingiedients of all 
cultivated plants, beside their minerals. As 
there is no lack of water or of its elements, oxy- 
gen and hydrogen, our atienlion w'ill be confined 
Id obtaining a full supply ol carbon and nitrugen. 
These are indispensaole, and fortunately nature 
has provided an amount of caibun and niirogea 
in the air, il not in the soil, more than equal to 
all the w'anisol vegetation. A large portion of 
the fertilizing elements of vegetable mould, in a 
lich soil, is carbon, and a smalj. portion is rii.iroi- 
gen ; both ol w'hic'i are usually combined with 
other substances. These important elements 
are often neatly exhausted in fields which have 
been unwisely cultivated ; and 1 have paid much 
attention to the subject of cheap aad practical 
renovati-'a. 
“ By the a id of clover and buckw'heat, dressed 
with gypsum, ashes, lime, or manure, and plow’- 
ed in when in blossom, much can be done in the 
w'ay ol augmenting the rich vegetable mould so 
desirable, to a certain degree, in all soils. Straw, 
cornstalks, leaves of forest trees, and sw'ainp 
mack, made into compost with lime and ashes, 
are of great value. Charcoal well pulverized, 
and saturated with urine, I regard as the cheap- 
eaand most useful leitilizer that can be applied 
to a poor soil, for the production of wheat oral- 
most any other crop. 
“ The earths contained in charcoal, as the 
analysis of its ash demonstrates, are identical 
with the earths tound in the wheat plant. Coal 
contains a very large portion ot carbon, and 
w ’ll imbibe from the atmosphere a large quan- 
tity ot nitrogen in the form of ammonia and its 
carbonates. Unlike stable manure, thi salts of 
lime, potash, soda and magnesia, it will not 
