AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
307 
otherwise be distilled, will not be in demand'?! 
Would not gallons of whiskey kept out of 
a family by a prohibitory law, let into that 
family more than one half bushel of corn ? 
If so, then let your distilleries be closed, 
and all the corn will be wanted and used. 
It is stated to be a fact by those who are 
extensively acquainted at the West, that the 
farmers throughout the corn-growing region, 
have really found a better market for this 
grain in fattening pork than distillers have 
furnished them. It needs no labored argu¬ 
ment to show that when corn is applied to 
the fattening of hogs, it seldom failsof yield¬ 
ing a greater profit, than when sold to the 
distiller. Numerous experiments have been 
made to prove this point. A writer in the 
Ohio Cultivator, in 1853, stated that he could 
make, and had made, pork at the rate of lib. 
for every 3f lbs. of corn. But others affirm 
that it will require 5 lbs. of corn to make 1 
lb. of pork. Suppose now the latter esti¬ 
mate to be correct; then one bushel of corn 
will make lli lbs. pork, which at 5 cents 
per pound would be 5G cents per bushel—a 
greater price than distillers in the West 
are in the habit of giving for corn. They 
are generally unwilling to pay over 30 or 35 
cents per bushel, when pork is worth 5 cents 
per lb., and consequently corn is worth 5G 
cents per bushel. 
Mr. J. Scobey, a reliable farmer of Frank¬ 
lin Co., Indiana, has lately furnished me the 
results of two experiments made by himself. 
Tn the first trial he met with a loss of two 
of his hogs by death, after having fed them 
four months ; yet he sold the residue of his 
hogs, when fattened, for enough to cover his 
loss and pay him at the rate of 45 cents a 
bushel for his corn, when the market price 
was only 25 cents. In the second experi¬ 
ment he took young pigs, and fed them until 
nine months old on nothing but corn and 
water. These, when sold at the low price 
of 41 cents per lb., yielded him enough to 
bring his corn up to 55 cents per bushel. If 
this same corn had been taken to the distil¬ 
lery and sold, it would not have yielded him 
more than 30 cents per bushel. 
In view of these incontrovertible facts, 
where is the danger that our farmers will be¬ 
come poor, or be injured at all by the opera¬ 
tion of prohibitory laws I There can not be 
any real danger, notwithstanding the alarm¬ 
ing predictions and menaces of bar-room po¬ 
liticians, and angry liquor dealers. These 
vain menaces and pitiful predictions may re¬ 
mind one of a certain speech made in the 
British Parliament, when the subject of 
abolishing the slave trade was agitated in 
England. A certain boisterous politician in 
a set speech declared that if “ the Bill for 
abolishing the traffic in slaves should pass, 
in less than ten years the streets of London 
would be deserted, and the city itself would 
be deserted.” Yet we are assured on the 
most recent and reliable authority, that Lon¬ 
don, instead of meeting with such a terrible 
disaster, has nearly doubled her wealth and 
population since that famous speech. So I 
am confident in the opinion that our corn 
trade will grow better and better, after the 
fires in every distillery in the land shall 
have gone out—that crime will be less fre¬ 
quent, and of course jails, penitentiaries and 
prisons will be less tenanted—that vagabond 
poverty will be less seen—that thousands of 
families will be saved from want and wretch¬ 
edness—that industry, economy and thrift 
will be more generally prevalent among all 
classes of people—that order, law and relig¬ 
ion will be in the ascendant—and that in¬ 
temperance and vices of every name, and 
lawlessness will be abolished.—J. R. Good¬ 
win, in Northern Farmer. 
Give your children education, and no ty¬ 
rant will trample on their liberties. 
HOEING—ITS PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE. 
BY A PRACTICAL FARMER. 
Hoeing is that minor operation in tillage 
of which plowing may be considered the 
foundation, and which is to be followed up 
and be completed by the cultivator, the roll¬ 
er, and the harrow. The two great objects 
to be attained is the most perfect subdivis¬ 
ion of the soil and the truest cleanliness. 
In the one case it can only, for the most part, 
be accomplished before the crop is sown; 
but in the other, it can be proceeded with 
while the crop is growing, and with the 
greatest prospective advantage to it. 
Hoeing: its Principles. —The true prin¬ 
ciples of hoeing consist in the minute subdi¬ 
vision of the soil, the aeration ofthe soil,and 
the extirpation of weeds from the surface. 
The minute subdivision of the soil. —Jethro 
Tull says, that “ as soon as the plowman has 
done his work of plowing and harrowing, 
the soil begins to undo it, inclining towards 
and endeavoring to regain its natural speci¬ 
fic gravity; the broken parts by little and 
little coalesce, unite, and lose some of 
their surfaces ; many of their pores and 
interstices close up during the seeds’ incu¬ 
bation and hatching in the ground; and, as 
the plants grow up, they require an increase 
of food proportionable to their increasing 
bulk; but, on the contrary, instead thereof, 
that internal superficies which is their artifi¬ 
cial pasture gradually decreases. The earth 
is so unjust to plants, her own offspring, as 
to shut up her stores in proportion to their 
wants ; that is, to give them less nourish¬ 
ment when they have need of more ; there¬ 
fore man, for whose use they are chiefly de¬ 
signed, ought to bring in his reasonable aid 
for their relief, and forceopenher magazines 
with the hoe, which will thence procure 
them at all times provisions in abundance 
and also free them from intruders—I mean, 
their spurious kindred, the weeds, that 
robbed them of their too scanty allowance.” 
Thus wrote Tull 125 years ago ; and those 
quaint and homely phrases contain the pith 
of the whole subject. Hoeing—deep con¬ 
tinuous hoeing, judiciously applied—does 
surprisingly advance the growth of plants. 
It prevents the soil regaining its natural sol¬ 
idity. It keeps open the soil, and by break¬ 
ing and subdividing it, causes it to present 
innumerable surfaces, interstices, or crevices, 
into which the young rootlets will penetrate, 
and extract their daily food as it is required ; 
whereas if no new surfaces or interstices are 
presented, the plant has to force its own un¬ 
aided way in search of this food, which 
much retards its progress by exhausting its 
powers upon a given spot too long. But if 
the soil is constantly stirred, subdivision 
goes on, and new particles of soil are brought 
into contact witfi the searching rootlets ; be¬ 
sides this, the very tread of either man or 
horse will so shake and jar the earth around 
as to open many pores, into which the roots 
will find a way, long after the operation of 
hoeing is of necessity given up, and thus the 
crop is progressively and safely brought for¬ 
ward to maturity. 
The aeration of the soil. —This is one of the 
most important principles involved in hoeing. 
It is an undoubted fact “ that the roots in¬ 
crease their fibers every time the earth is 
stirred about them,” and consequently the 
plants themselves grow the faster, providing 
of course, fair judgment is exercised in di¬ 
recting the operation. This manifest ad¬ 
vantage can only be rightly attributed to the 
supply of food thus communicated to the 
plants by promoting the admission of at¬ 
mospheric influences into the soil, and by the 
minute disintegration of the soil, its subdi¬ 
vision and repeated stirrings making a new 
and plentiful “ internal superficies ” in it, 
The theory of the food of plants. —The 
modes by which it-is supplied from the soil, 
from the artificial aids now generally adopted 
and from atmospheric influences, as also the 
appropriation of these various life-giving 
properties by the plants, is somewhat be¬ 
yond the sphere of inquiry of a plain practi¬ 
cal farmer; but if my readers would trouble 
themselves to read upon the subject they 
will find the simple fact as I have stated it. 
The great object, therefore, in hoeing, 
should be to provide a deep, loose soil con¬ 
tiguous to the plant, for the reception of then- 
food from the atmosphere, that the near and 
spreading rootlets may be induced to pos¬ 
sess themselves of it; and the correspond¬ 
ing one should be with a view of providing 
a large extent of internal superficies or 
openings in and around which the plants can 
fix their rootlets and obtain food. 
The extirpation of weeds from the surface. 
—Cleanliness is indispensable to good culti¬ 
vation; hence, one great principle in hoeing 
is the eradication of weeds. I shall reserve 
for my next paper, on the practice of hoe¬ 
ing, any notice of the ways and means by 
which it is accomplished. I only wish now 
to draw attention to the principles involved. 
Weeds will grow everywhere, and they will 
grow apace ; they must be kept down, and, 
if possible, destroyed. Hoeing—repeated 
hoeing in all its variations—is the best 
method hitherto discovered for the destruc¬ 
tion of weeds during the growth ofthe crop. 
In row culture it is an admirable adjunct to 
agriculture ; and in broadcast sowing it may 
be advantageously adopted—the horse-hoe 
for deep culture, the hand-hoe for surface 
work. 
There is something very encouraging in 
the consideration of these principles, the 
mere outlines of which I have but pointed 
out. If the surface of the earth or soil is left 
untilled, neither air nor moisture can be im¬ 
bibed to any extent. The evening’s dews are 
taken up by the morning’s sun. Hoeing pro 
vides a suitable deposit in the upraised mold 
for whatever gaseous matter or moisture 
may descend upon it. In this way food is 
found both for the spongioles or rootlets, as 
well as the many mouths of the leaves or 
blades ; this is, in fact, the act of feeding the 
plants. Another great consideration is that 
this very feeding creates greater necessity 
for food, it gives more mouths in the blades 
and leaves, more roots and fibers, all requir¬ 
ing daily supplies or sustenance. Now hoe 
ing or stirring the soil is the great means of 
its replenishment, and the faster the plant 
grows the more and deeper hoeing it requires, 
and which it ought to receive so long as it 
can be given without injury being sustained 
by the operation itself. This continuous 
hoeing will, of course, insure the destruction 
of innumerable weeds, which would other¬ 
wise infest the soil, partially exhaust it, and 
damage the crop, besides leaving a large 
progeny for future condemnation. Hoeing, 
then, is the greatest means to promote the 
full and healthy development <?f the latent 
powers ofthe soil, by its continuous break¬ 
ing up and subdivision of the gradully con¬ 
solidating soil, by its rendering admissible 
every atmospheric fertilizing agency, and by 
the destruction of every obnoxious and in¬ 
truding weed.— Mark Lane Express. 
Poll Evil.— For the benefit of those who 
have or may hereafter have horses that have 
poll evil or fistula, I would say, don’t sell the 
animal for a trifle, or give him away ; but 
cure him sound and well. I care not how 
long it hasbeen running, it can be cured with 
one dime ; yes, one dime’s worth of muriatic 
acid will cure the worst case of old poll evil. 
First wash the sore well with strong soap 
suds, then drop eight or ten drops ofthe acid 
in it twice a-day, until it has the appearance 
