270 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Sept. 
2 
suture, clearly perceptible; skin, light green, beauti¬ 
fully marbled with a deeper tint of the same color; 
stalk, slender, straight, and slightly inserted; flesh 
greenish, juicy, high flavored, and lusciously melting; 
separates from the stone ; season, last of August. 
U REAGLES r ANCIENT CITY.” 
“Reagles’ Ancient City.” —Like the two preced¬ 
ing, this also originated in my grounds. It is evident¬ 
ly a seedling from the Washington. It has thus far 
proved to be very hardy, and a profuse yielder. The 
branches are smooth and glossy, of reddish gray color. 
It is an ereet grower, and propagates with great fa¬ 
cility. Fruit of the largest size, roundish oval ? suture, 
profoundly marked from stalk to apes ; skin, clouded 
orange, with a few red spots on the side exposed to the 
sun; flesh yellow, melting, juicy and luscious; stalk, 
short, crooked, and deeply inserted ; separates from the 
stone; season, last of August. C. Reagles. 
The Summer Fallow. 
Of late years we see but few summer fallows—they 
seem to have “ gone out of fashion ” with the wheat 
crop—still they have their uses, and we will give a brief 
statement of the same. 
The object of summer fallowing is threefold—to 
clean, to deepen, and to mellow the soil. 
1. Clean culture is desirable because weeds detract 
\ from the perfection of the cultivated crops grown at 
the same time on the same soil. The useless plants 
take up the elements which would otherwise be taken 
up by the useful—a trite statement, but one ton little 
heeded by the farmer. Hence the summer fallow is 
employed to free the soil of weeds—(a weed, it should 
be remembered, is “any plant out of place,”) by the 
destruction of their growth and of their seeds which 
may be contained in the soil. A true fallow is bare of 
all vegetable growth—it rests from the production of 
plants of any kind. This character should always be 
given them as far as possible. The plowing should be 
performed early—the sod carefully inverted—if sandy, 
turning flat—if clayey, lap furrows—and doing the 
work as regards moisture, when it will be most effec¬ 
tive. Rolling will be beneficial on most soils—after 
this, the harrow thoroughly employed, and again the 
wheel cultivator or gang-plow, so as to destroy the 
weeds which may appear, as well as to excite the ger¬ 
mination of those which lie dormant in the soil, that 
they also may be destroyed. 
2. Deep culture is beneficial because it enlarges the 
capacity of the soil to supply nourishment to plants- 
A deep, free soil will allow the fine rootlets of growing 
crops to extend through it at pleasure, and such a soil 
is filled with their roots in a manner surprising to every 
one on a first examination. Numerous healthy roots 
ensure a vigorous growth of that part of the plant 
above ground—such as is never observed on a hard and 
shallow soil. We believe deep plowing has never fail¬ 
ed to benefit well-drained soils, (not naturally too po¬ 
rous and light already,) unless the subsoil was of a 
very peculiar character. In such cases, deepening 
will prove beneficial if gradually performed—an inch 
or two may be brought to the surface at each plowing 
without injury. 
3. Fine culture—the thorough pulverization of the 
soil—is also necessary to its full productiveness. The 
ground should be open to the influences of air and 
moisture—should be free to the shooting of the most 
minute rootlets of the growing crop. The ameliorating 
effects of fallowing are in part due to the thorough dis¬ 
integration of the soil by mechanical working and long 
exposure to atmospheric influences. Little addition of 
fertilizing elements may be made, but those lying inert, 
concealed in the debris of rocks, or waiting admixture 
to excite into action, are reduced or enlivened, and 
thus add to the power of the soil. A mellow soil at¬ 
tracts, as weli as takes up, more moisture than a hard 
one. It is thus more likely to be in a state fitted for 
receiving benefit from the air, from its own ever work¬ 
ing forces, and from the mechanical stirring and mani¬ 
pulation it receives. 
Thorough culture, lastly, is the only profitable way 
of managing a summer fallow, or any part of the farm 
To plow carelessly with half-turned furrows and fre¬ 
quent baulks; to leave the field for weeks to grow up 
to grass and weeds ; to plow but four or six inches deep 
where one owns good soil much farther down, is some 
distance from the right way —from the true uses of the 
summer fallow. 
-« ♦ 9 - 
Fresh vs. Fermented Manure. —A correspondent 
of the Mark Lane Express, has several times tried 
the experiment of placing fresh dung from the cow¬ 
shed in drills for turnips, in comparison with that which 
has been fermented, and always found the first to pro¬ 
duce the superior crop. He suggests that if straw fi>r 
litter were first passed through a cutting machine, all 
manure could be applied at once from the yard. It 
would certainly much facilitate its handling and mix¬ 
ture with the soil. 
