142 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[Mat, 
and of other crops would have found a lodge¬ 
ment below the temporary surface influence of 
parching suns, and find access to unfailing sup¬ 
plies of moisture and nutriment. 
Fall plowing, to turn up the lower soil, and 
expose it to freezing and ah- during Winter, acts 
like a charm on Spring sowings and plantings. 
But by far the best means of deepening a soil, 
is the use of a subsoil plow. This implement is 
very like a common plow, with the upper and 
main part of the mold-board cut off; or rather 
it has a low, narrow, lifting flange in place of 
the mold-board, so set that it lifts and breaks in 
pieces the soil. It is run in the bottom of the 
furrow, following the common plow, two teams 
being required for the operation. It breaks up 
and pulverizes the subsoil without turning it up 
to the surface. This admits air, and after a year 
or two the subsoil is fitted for being brought to 
the surface. Such an operation pays on any soil. 
It begins to pay on the first crop, and continues 
to return a very large yearly interest on the cost. 
Mr. Mapes strongly recommends a subsoil 
plow which he claims to have invented or de¬ 
signed. It is called the “lifting” or “mole” 
plow. To us this seems the poorest kind of an 
implement for a subsoil plow. It is like a thin 
double wedge, with a shaft running up to the 
beam, and its principal effect is to lift up the 
soil a little and let it partly fall back, with¬ 
out pulverizing it more than the few cracks 
made. The common subsoil plow, which thor¬ 
oughly disturbs, breaks up, and pulverizes the 
subsoil, is doubtless by far the better implement. 
Pumpkins Alone and Among Corn. 
Doubtless thousands of the readers of the Agri¬ 
culturist regard the corn field as the only place 
for raising pumpkins. But, however little the 
harm that pumpkins do the corn—and we be¬ 
lieve that in good seasons they produce a quan¬ 
tity of food which much more than counter¬ 
balances the evil which they may do—they will 
yield a much larger and finer product if planted 
by themselves. Putting the hills 8 feet apart, 
two or three good shovelfuls of well rotted ma¬ 
nure being dropped on the surface and covered 
by a little earth, the pumpkins will luxuriate in 
unobstructed sunshine and upon the fat of the 
land: and when Autumn strips away the leafy 
covering under which they hide, a golden har¬ 
vest will be disclosed which will do one’s heart 
good. Low growing, small stalked varieties of 
corn do not essentially interfere with the 
ripening of good crops of pumpkins. But if 
planted with corn they should in no wise in¬ 
terfere with the thorough culture of the corn. 
A good plan is to drop seed in every other hill, 
in alternate rows, and it is very important to 
secure good seed. The medium sized, round 
dark orange colored, fine grained varieties are 
best, and usiMLy the earliest, most prolific, and 
the best keepers. The cheese pumpkin is prefer¬ 
able for family use or for market. 
Field Beans with Corn. 
■—■— • 
One of the crops used to fill out corn, when 
it grows scantily, or has altogether failed in bills 
or spots, is the white bush bean. There is wis¬ 
dom in the selection. The leguminous and ce¬ 
real crops are considered so essentially dis¬ 
similar in their drafts upon the soil, that they are 
adapted to follow each other in any rotation. 
So far as we are aware, experience has not yet 
discovered that corn suffers essentially, if at all, 
for having a large crop of beans grown at the 
same time upon the soil. A heavier draft is, of 
course, made upon the soil if a large crop, be 
taken off. It is a common practice in some 
good farming communities, to drop a few beans 
on the south side of every corn hill having less 
than three stalks. Another method is the fol¬ 
lowing : The corn being in hills equally distant, 
in rows running both ways, at the second hoeing, 
after plowing or running the weeder both ways, 
plant beans between the hills in the rows running 
one way. Others plant similarly at the same 
time that the corn is planted. 
Beans cultivated by themselves are a very 
profitable crop, not exhausting to the soil, and 
an admirable food for sheep. They uniformly 
bring a remunerative price, and are sometimes 
very high and in great demand. They do best 
on good corn land, not richly manured, in rows 
2k feet apart, kept well weeded and hoed. 
Tobacco Cultivation—No. III. 
The farmer who cultivates this crop, if he 
would succeed, must stand ready at all times to 
neglect every thing else for it. It must have the 
choice manure of the farm, and when the time 
comes to transplant, the tobacco must be set, if 
the weather favors, no matter what stands in 
the way; then the plants killed by grubs, or 
those that fail from other causes, must be re¬ 
newed immediately, and the regular tillage of 
the soil, and weeding, must suffer no interrup¬ 
tion. Soon the worms begin to appear, and as 
the plants grow they multiply; they find more 
hiding places, and doubtless more escape the 
eye of the cultivator. Neglect of them is fatal to 
success, and the tattered, worm-eaten leaves 
show a single day’s neglect. As the plant ap¬ 
proaches maturity, the topping, suckering, and 
the never ceasing worming, demand of the cul¬ 
tivator unceasing watchfulness and activity; 
and finally, when the plant is nearly ready to be 
cut, and day after day adds to its value, up to 
the very latest time before a frost would ruin it, 
all hands must be held ready to leave every 
thing else to harvest the tobacco. The culture 
is disagreeable work after the plants attain 
any considerable size, and at all times requires 
the eye if not the hand of the master. 
The tobacco cultivator is subject to one very 
great temptation, to which if he yield, he per¬ 
manently damages his farm. The worn-out to¬ 
bacco lands of Virginia, Maryland, and Ken¬ 
tucky testify to the ruin sure to follow in the 
wake of the shiftless culture of the weed. 
Throughout those tobacco-growing regions with 
which we are acquainted, as a general rule, be¬ 
side the fine looking tobacco field, stands the 
half-starved corn. The hill-sides wave with rye, 
or lie bare in fallows, waiting the revolving cy¬ 
cle when they will again be able to bear a crop 
of rye or buckwheat. Three-quarters of all the 
manure made on the farm, and very often all of 
it, is applied to the tobacco-field, and year after 
year it is planted upon the self-same plot, and is 
depended upon as the only source of ready 
money. As a system of transferring the wealth 
of the land to the banks, railroad and insurance 
companies, this works well. The errors of such 
a system are so patent that it is a wonder any 
one follows it, but the temptation is great. 
When the tobacco crop takes its place in any 
systematic rotation , following some hoed crop, 
it may be of very great utility and profit to the 
farmer, and gradually he will be able to increase 
the land cultivated, and still have manure 
enough, and not rob the rest of the farm either. 
Under all circumstances then, we are prompted 
to ask each tobacco raisSr: May you not culti¬ 
vate other crops with less risk and equal profit, 
if you devote the same labor and care to them ? 
Lima beans, peas first and cabbages to follow, 
early potatoes followed by cabbages, and other 
crops which might be named, are worthy of 
careful consideration. 
But if tobacco is to be raised, by all means do 
it thoroughly. Early in May, or before, manure 
and plow deeply, and if any portion of the sub¬ 
soil is brought up by this operation, apply and 
work in to the surface a good dressing of wood 
ashes. The plant demands and withdraws from 
the soil a large proportion of potash; and be¬ 
sides, this is one of the very best ameliorators 
of soil which has not been exposed to the ac¬ 
tion of the air. The manures desirable are: barn 
yard manure, rich composts of any kind, bones 
in any form, home-made poudrette, hog manure, 
etc. Guano is not desirable, except perhaps 
in very small quantities, as it affects the color 
of the ash, and perhaps the color of the cured 
leaf unfavorably. A light dressing of salt or 
lime, or of both, on the surface is productive of 
good results, but avoid heavy applications. 
The ground thus well prepared as for a corn 
or root crop, but richer, remains until after the 
10th of June when we may expect settled hot 
weather soon to come. It is then harrowed thor¬ 
oughly, or lightly plowed, and harrowed, and 
rolled, marked out in rows three or three and- 
a-half feet apart, and the first cloudy or rainy 
day after the 15th of June, the plants are set 
three feet apart, or even nearer in the rows. 
It is the practice of some tobacco cultivators, 
and on some land it is desirable, to plow in or 
harrow in about a third part of the manure 
when the land is worked in June; others set out 
the plants, manuring “ in the hill ” with pou¬ 
drette, superphosphate, etc.; and others make 
no further addition of manure after the ground 
is once well prepared as we have described. 
Young plants in the seed bed maybe brought 
forward very much by occasional waterings at 
evening, with weak guano water or other li¬ 
quid manure. 
Hints on Corn Planting. 
“ One swallow don’t make it Summer,” and a 
few pleasant days do not make it corn planting 
time. Early planted corn is very apt to fail, to 
rot in the ground, to become the prey of birds, 
squirrels and mice, to be cut by the grubs, or 
to be checked or killed by frosts. Corn needs 
the hot, moist weather of the last of May, or first 
of June, to bring it forward rapidly and vigor¬ 
ously. The rhyme of some old almanac has 
grown into an adage, 
“ See your corn field in May, you’ll turn sighing away 
But see it in June, and you’ll sing a tune.” 
Or another version of the same idea is : 
“Your corn in May will make you pray, 
When you see it in June, then you’ll sing a tune.” 
The doctrine often stated that corn makes 
roots in May, is an error, so far as it conveys the 
idea that corn will make roots faster or better in 
cold rainy weather than in warm; but correct 
if it only inculcates the desirableness of plant¬ 
ing so that the corn shall be just breaking through 
the ground and ready to take advantage of the 
first hot weather. Corn planted early in May, 
and struggling for life during the first three 
weeks of its existence, will be completely out¬ 
stripped by that which is planted two weeks 
later. The late planted will be evener, larger, 
and more productive; and we presume also, just 
