TO EXTINGUISH CHIMNEYS ON FIRE. 
317 
crop,—admitted by both parties, and several intelli¬ 
gent friends. 
Again,a friend of mine, whom I will call G., almost 
invariably leads off in the selling time ; yet he has 
generally grass enough to make good feed for “ lean 
kine.” He is certainly later cleaning off his crop 
than any of us, and has more grass to kill, murder, 
and smother, yet none of us on rich or poor land 
exceed him in the income. 
Again, another friend, W., who has long since 
been numbered with the dead, objected strenuously 
to cleaning out his crop often, declaring that it al¬ 
ways “ threw it back”—stunted it. 
Yet there are others who have opposite opinions. 
And I give the opinions of intelligent and trust¬ 
worthy gentlemen, regardless whether they agree 
with me or not. I am not orthodox, nor do I hope 
there is a solitary man simple enough to follow me. 
My object is, to ferret out the best plan, not caring 
whether science or tom-foolery gives the principles. 
There are those who object to frequent culture, and 
especially to late culture, on the ground that 
cotton grows too long, grows too fast, and 
after each plowing, that it sheds a vast number 
of squares. They say that the plow cuts the root, 
which checks the growth for one, two, or three 
days, owing to moisture; that an increased number 
of roots are thrown out, and the cotton commences 
a rapid growth, throwing off the small fruit, blooms, 
and squares. Is this so, or not, brother observing 
planters ? Again, it is said that earth can be too 
light for cotton ; that it grows slower it is true on 
firm earth, but that it fruits better and casts finer 
forms and squares. 
No one can deny but that the yield per acre is 
getting less and less; yet we cultivate cleaner, if 
not better, every year. Is this owing to the age of 
our land ? But does not the same land produce 
more corn ? Once more; does not land planted 
with oats and fed off to stock, produce more cotton 
for one or two years than before ? Is this product 
owing to the vegetable matter turned in, as we have 
believed, or is it due in part to the consolidation of 
the land ? No crop-bearing land keeps so firm as 
that of the oat-crop. These are no trivial questions, 
and ought to be solved by experiment. 
I give a few facts here, and leave them before the 
intelligent and practical planter. My corn-crops 
have increased yearly, since 1839 ; my cotton-crops 
have dwindled from 2,400 lbs. in 1834, down to 
about 12 or 1500 in 1845. Up to 1840, my fields 
were fed off every fall and winter by stock. Since 
then, no stock, comparatively, have been admitted. 
In the fall and winter of 1845, I covered the earth 
in a part of my orchard with rye straw, badly 
threshed, with the view of protection from heavy 
rains, and to get rye on the land to plow in, in the 
following spring. The cotton was no better ; the 
corn this year is the best on those poor places that 
I have had on them for ten years. My rich, low- 
ground field, is good for 40 to 50 bushels of corn 
per acre, and is as light and mellow as when I grasped 
it from nature; yet my cotton-crops have not in four 
or five years been up to one bale per acre. One of 
my friends has similar land, that does not make 
cotton, yet 50 to 70 bushels of corn have been 
gathered. 
I know full well that cotton vegetates readier, 
grows offearlier, and more rapidly, when the earth is 
pulverized fine ; but whether it will continue so to 
do, is another matter. I am also informed, that 
some lands across the big pond require tramping to 
give a fair crop. Yet it does not follow that the 
same practice which would be best on an ujdand 
hard soil, as my east field, would be the best for my 
west field; therefore we need more accuracy than 
a mere statement of facts. We need the whole 
truth, and we cannot get at it without a survey and 
correct analyses. So far as this farm is concerned, 
I am satisfied no one routine will do for one year. 
My west field is barely above overflow, a portion 
of it being overflowed yearly, though of growth in¬ 
dicative of rich land. When I came here, it was cov¬ 
ered with cane some thirty feet high. The soil is 
dark (not black), very light and mellow. It does 
not bake, nor is it ever hard—and it produces corn 
magnificently, but, as I said above, it does not pro¬ 
duce cotton. The coming winter I intend to 
admit stock on it, and endeavor to break it up 
early. 
My east field is thin hickory-flats, .with some 
post-oak growing on the sides of the natural drains 
from the upland level. This land I intend to drain 
with secret ditches, plow deep, turn under the 
leaves, pea-vines, and stalks. I will try to cultivate 
often, but use a surface-tool, either of the horse-hoe 
family, or the cultivator. I think my low ground 
is too loose a soil to grow cotton well, and that there 
is no real need for deep plowing ; but to turn under 
out of the way, the stalk, &c., I must plow tolera¬ 
bly deep, and if I could get to the clay, to mix with 
the soil, I might do much good. 
From the fact that our water is too hard to wash 
with, I judge we must have lime enough in the 
soil, and more than this, cotton and corn-stalks that 
will measure three or more inches, rot in the soil 
ere a year rolls round. 
If the top of the earth be merely scraped, or 
stirred, so as to break the hard crust that forms on 
it, I do not consider there would be any disadvan¬ 
tage—the roots are not cut, and the tool would tend 
to consolidate the earth. 
I have endeavored to keep my crops clean, and 
although I would make less thereby, I shall con¬ 
tinue the plan ; but I am not satisfied that it is the 
best for a large yield, being willing to admit that 
two or three workings, and laying by early, have in 
former years made more cotton. I mean, made a 
greater yield per acre from the same description of 
land, not from the same field, as the age might cause 
the difference. M. W. Philips. 
Edwards Depot, Miss., June 2, 1847. 
To Extinguish Chimneys on Fire. —First shut 
the doors and windows of the room containing the 
fire ; stop up the flue of the chimney with a piece 
of wet carpet or blanket; and then throw a little 
water or common salt on the fire. By this means the 
draft of the chimney will be checked, and the burn¬ 
ing soot will soon be extinguished for want of 
air. If every fire-place were provided with a 
damper, or shutter of tin-plate, or sheet-iron, 
fitting sufficiently tight to stop the draft fires in 
chimneys would become of little consequence, as it 
would only be necessary to apply this damper to 
put them out. 
