302 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
ingly, have found it injurious. 'I he latter have 
not only broken up the subsoil, but have brought 
it to the surface in large quantities and buried the 
rich top-soil in its place. The consequence has 
been, that their plants, trees, or crops grown in 
this cold, stiff ground have been almost a failure. 
And the failure has been all tbe more provoking 
because of their high-raised expectations. Many 
of these unsuccessful cultivators have become 
disgusted with book-farming, and now' denounce 
every new thing recommended. All they now 
wish to know or to practice is, “the good, old 
way.” 
Now, is not this as foolish as was their hasty 
and thoughtless adoption of trenching ! Trench¬ 
ing, properly understood, is generally, the simple 
breaking up of the stratum of soil next below 
that which is commonly plowed, and then return¬ 
ing it to its place. It does not necessarily mean 
the bringing of it to the top. If the ground is 
well broken up to a good depth, and perhaps a 
little manure or some light opening substance 
mixed with it, tiiis will tend to make it porous 
and warm, it will allow the surface vVater to pass 
off, and the roots of plants to descend, if they so 
require. In the case of old, worn out soils, espec¬ 
ially in gardens cropped for generations with the 
same vegetables, it is well to bring up occasion¬ 
ally to the top a little of the virgin soil to keep 
up the strength of the surface. This should be 
done, however, only just so fast as it can be pul¬ 
verized and ameliorated, and made lit lor the 
purposes of vegetation. With these qualifications 
our mitlo still is, “Trench, trench !” 
How Rice is Grown and Prepared for 
Market..I. 
Prepared, by an Editor sojourning at the South. 
Taking the New-Orleans and Opelousas rail¬ 
road, at the Gretna Station, opposite to the city, 
fifteen miles of travel brings you to Saint Charles, 
one of the principal rice growing parishes in 
Louisiana. In the Plaquemme parish, also, there 
is a rice district, lying below the sugar plantations, 
and extending thirty miles or more on both sides 
of the river. 
THE RICE REGIONS 
are by no means confined to these parishes, but 
it is here that we find the largest rice plantations. 
There is hardly an acre of soil in the whole Delta 
that could not be profitably cropped with this 
grain, and should Cuba ever be annexed to tiiis 
country, and the sugar trade of this State be 
transferred to that island, as it assuredly would, 
the cane plantations would eventually all become 
rice fields. There is a vast belt of country, ex¬ 
tending a hundred miles from the Gulf and 
several hundred miles across, and far into 
Texas, that is better adapted to rice than any 
other crop. It is the unanimous testimony of 
those who are engaged in this business in this 
region, that it is more healthful than the cultiva¬ 
tion of cotton and sugar, the periodical flowing of 
the lands checking the malaria ; and that it is en¬ 
tirely free from the malignant diseases which make 
the Atlantic rice districts so destructive to life. 
Rice can be grown, profitably, in all the South¬ 
ern States, and if the miserable policy of growing 
only one thing upon a plantation, is ever supplant¬ 
ed by an economical husbandry, this crop will 
form an important item in the produce of every 
plantation that can command water for flowing. 
There are millions of acres all along the Missis¬ 
sippi, and its branches below Memphis, better 
adapted to rice than any thing else, and should 
the demand ever be made,-they can produce 
enough of this article to feed the world. 
The Atlantic rice district, though yielding nine¬ 
teen twentieths of all that is produced in the 
country, is a much smaller territory, lying along 
the coasts of the Carolinas and Georgia. For a 
distance of fifty miles inland, cypress swamps and 
marshes are the almost uniform scenery. These 
are flanked by a narrow sand bar or beach, 
through which there are occasional inlets, giving 
access to the tide, which twice a day dams the 
fresh water streams, and floods the lagoons and 
swamps. The soil of these swamps, when once 
reclaimed, is of extraordinary richness. The 
great rivers, swollen with rains, bring down from 
the mountains their mineral treasures, and the 
vegetable spoils of the forests along ther banks. 
Every tide brings in tbe silieious wash of the sea, 
and the rich silt of the salt lagoons, and thus we 
have the alternate deposits of the rivers and the 
tides, and such a mixture of mineral, animal, and 
vegetable substances, as can hardly occur under 
other circumstances, by natural agencies. The 
result is a deep, rich soil, which only needs re¬ 
claiming, and the systematic flowing required by 
the wants of this crop, to keep it in the highest 
state of fertility. 
CLEARING FOR A RICE PLANTATION. 
Whoever has seen a Cypress swamp, with its 
strongly buttressed trunks, and its endless suc¬ 
cession of knees and knobs, understands some¬ 
thing of the nature of this work. The favorite 
location is one adjoining the main land, or the 
sandy islands which are left nearly dry at the 
ebb of the water. It must be nearly level, or 
slightly inclined toward the natural channels, 
through which the tide flows ; and it must be so 
far from the sea that the water will not be brack¬ 
ish, as salt is poisonous to this crop. 
Having laid out the boundary of the planta¬ 
tion, the first business is to clear the timber and 
brush for about three rods in width along this 
line. A ditch is then dug, and an embankment 
formed with the excavated earth, which shuts oft 
the tide water, and gives the laborers undisturb¬ 
ed possession of the inclosure. Inside of this, a 
permanent embankment, or levee is made, to 
resist the heaviest floods. It is usually five or 
more feet high, and fifteen broad, and all wood 
and stumps are carefully removed, to guard 
against accidents from holes left by their decay. 
The eartli for this levee, is mostly obtained from 
a broad ditch inside of the levee. This canal an¬ 
swers the purpose of transportation, as well as 
irrigation. 
As the levee-ing goes forward, the trees arc cut, 
or girdled, all over the inclosure. The trees and 
brush are diawn into piles for burning, and at a 
dry time in Spring, they are fired, making enor¬ 
mous bonfires, in which the negroes take great de¬ 
light. They are not, however, all consumed, and 
charred stumps and logs, and the rotting, girdled 
trees remain for many years, the naked skele¬ 
tons of the once noble forests. 
The cleared land has several sub-divisions, to 
facilitate the work of flowing, and for conve¬ 
nience in tillage. The lines of these divisions 
are formed by ditches and embankments of 
smaller size than the main ones upon the out¬ 
side. Commonly, the levees are seven or eight 
feet wide at the base, and about three feet high, 
with ditches of corresponding size, and a space 
of eight or ten feet all around between levee and 
ditch. Every field must be furnished with a 
trunk and gate, to let in and pass off the water, 
at the pleasure of the cultivator. At high tide, 
any one of the fields can be flooded, without flood¬ 
ing the others; at low tide, it can be drained, and 
remain so as long as the crop demands. The 
fields are sub-divided into small lots of a half 
acre, or less, each, surrounded with small nar¬ 
row ditches called “ quarter ditches.” When the 
gates are open at the fall of the tide, the water 
runs out rapidly from these minor drains into the 
outside ditches of each field, and from these 
through the field trunks into the canal, or the 
main embankment ditch, and from this through 
the main trunk into the river. A tide gate at this 
point, prevents the return of the water, unless it 
is artificially lifted. 
From this plan of a rice plantation, it will be 
seen, that those nearest the sea, can not alwavs 
be drained at the most fitting time, on account of 
long continued high tides, while those most re¬ 
mote from it, in case of long continued drouth, 
can not be flowed, on account of low water in 
the river. These are also liable to an untimely 
overflow in case of freshets in the river. These 
facts in regard to the location of the plantations 
give rise to the terms 
“freshes” and “salts” 
in the vernacular of the rice districts. In time 
of a great flood, there will be more or less of the 
plantations, that can not he drained for some days, 
or weeks perhaps, and if this occurs at a critical 
time of the crop, it is greatly damaged—and the 
event is noticed in the commercial and broker’s 
reports. On the other hand, in time of drouth, 
the rivers are low, and the salt water is carried 
up further than usual, by the tides. If this hap¬ 
pen in the time of flowing, the plant is killed 
outright, or greatly damaged. It will he seen from 
this tact, that rice is no more sure than the other 
great crops of the south, sugar and cotton. 
PREPARATION FOR SOWING. 
On most of the plantations, this is still done 
with the rude clumsy hoe, which is the usual ac¬ 
companiment of negro labor. The first process is 
termed “chopping” which turns and mixes the 
ground about three inches deep, and is a very 
poor substitute for plowing, if this were practi¬ 
cable in such soft land. The hoeing process is 
repeated, as near to the time of sowing as possi¬ 
ble, when all the clods are crushed or mashed fine, 
and this is technically known as the “mash.” 
The planting usually commences the latter half 
of March, where the state of the land allows it. 
The first operation is the opening of the drills, 
which is here termed “trenching.” They have 
narrow hoes for tiiis purpose, about four inches 
wide, making drills the same width, about two 
inches deep, and thirteen inches apart. Tbe most 
skillful hands in the field set the first trenches, 
making them as straight as possible, and far 
enough apart to allow of two drills between. The 
common hands follow, making the intermediate 
trenches. The accuracy with which these guide 
rows are laid out, with the eye only to direct the 
strokes of the hoe, is truly surprising. 
As fast as the trenches are opened, light hands, 
women or boys, follow, sowing the seed Jt is 
scattered thickly over the whole breadth of ihe 
trench, so that it takes from two to three bushels 
to sow an acre. Other hands lollow immediate¬ 
ly, covering it lightly with their hoes, and com¬ 
pleting every field on the day it is begun. 
Guinea Fowls a Protection to the Poultry 
Yard. —A. J. Farnliam, Bucks Co., Pa , writes 
that Guinea Fou ls are nearly a protection against 
the depredations of hawks in the poultry yard. 
When one appears they set up their peculiar clat¬ 
ter which alarms the hawk, and lie leaves with¬ 
out his dinner. This may be so. hut we should 
prefer tbe music of one old musket to that of a 
dozen guinea fowls for this purpose—yea, one of 
them. 
