1846 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
207 
iSgHffl3gflfflBSB& m B' $35 
will bear pulling, by hand, and hoe it directly after the 
bull-tongue. I do not thin out before the hoe, and do 
not allow the hoe to thin. I thin out to as near 20 
inches as I can, preferring about 18, thus giving about 
700 plants to the acre. Of this thick stand and firing 
I will speak hereafter. 
If I have no heavy beating rains, I cultivate with the 
cultivator and harrow, or. sometimes give a working 
with a double shovel-plow. I discard the turning plow 
from all cultivation, excepting in an emergency, which 
seldom occurs, as the cultivator, or harrow, or double 
shovel will clean five acres per day. 
If I plant corn land or grain land, I flush the land, 
then lay off. rows 4 feet deep and cover as before. I 
endeavor to plant and cultivate on a level, which is 
very nearly secured in the first, by having land bedded 
up over the former year’s water-furrow, and in the last 
surely. My hills to corn are merely such as are thrown 
up by surface culture, and are next to no hill. One 
material thing towards the increase of my present crop 
is, when I cultivate the last time, about or before the 
corn is in tassel, I sow down nearly one-half bushel of 
peas per acre, and cover by this last plowing with the 
cultivator, which leaves the peas scattered pretty well 
throughout the middle. This crop shades the land, and 
gives a very heavy crop of vegetable matter to be 
plowed in. 
Now about the thick stand and close planting. My 
objeet is to shade the land early, and prevent the evapo¬ 
ration of the moisture. I planted last year land to corn 
that was cleared in 1838, cropped every year since, 
with no manure at all until 1842; the land is level, and 
was, when cleared, thin land. I planted it 4 feet by 
about 18 inches, and the crop was nearly if not quite 50 
bushels per acre. It fired it is true, but the drouth was 
very severe, and, by the by, it had been manured for 
the two preceding years with cotton seed scattered 
broadcast—a manure that will fire corn in a dry year. 
I have planted thus for five years, and have averaged 
on high land, where the overflow of creek or river did 
not reach, full thirty bushels since I have adopted this 
plan. Previous to 1840, I planted corn 5 feet by two 
feet, and never made the crops I have since. I see but 
little more fired corn than previously. A neighbor* of 
mine planted last year two acres to corn three feet by 
one, land highly manured broadcast with cotton seed, 
turned under about 5 inches. The crop fired, but not 
snore than the other parts of his plantation; but no 
matter, for he made 98 bushels of corn from a measured 
acre, and the corn w r as measured. He is a neighbor 
that I have known for twenty years, and will risk my 
right arm on his veracity. This thing was never be¬ 
lieved there before, he believing on distance, and it 
was planted at my request. Did our Eufaula friend 
ever see corn fire as bad in a garden where there was 
deep tilth, as in the same tilth in the field? The gar¬ 
den was cultivated with the hoe, the roots not “all 
tattered and torn.” I may allude to another friend in 
an adjoining county ,f who made over 100 bushels, if I 
remember rightly, by planting in drills 3 feet by 1. No 
manure. 
I presume our Eufaula friend does not mean to be 
particular as to a planter who has 100 to 150 acres in 
corn, and that the experience of one who plants 75 
acres will do as well. I have averaged 30 bushels an 
acre on 100 acres, and risking not being believed, I fear¬ 
lessly state the result. I am so far from thinking that 
I have done great things, that I feel I have not done all 
I should do, and will not be content until I have 
Eufaula brother, was brought about by a private letter; 
if it is so, I am proud and happy to answer it publicly— 
referring in confidence to my numerous visitors and in¬ 
timate friends as vouchers for my good intent. 
I trust the importance of this matter will be an am¬ 
ple excuse for my having written at such length. I 
might have merely answered the query, but I felt that 
to do all the good I aimed at, I should make other 
statements. And rather than leave a stone unturned, I 
beg to make a statement. This place was under the 
control of what were considered good and experienced 
overseers for several years, and as they had failed to 
grow 25 bushels per acre, and had given distance, I 
was ridiculed as being wild and theoretical in daring to 
attempt an improvement; “a Dr. to teach,”—and as 
my friend “ Coke ” says to me in a private letter, “they 
even deny the improvements they see.” But in the 
teeth of all opposition, not a visitor dare now deny but 
I have made a great advance. I am not vain, am past 
being ft tickled,”—have had so much that *the salt has 
lost its savor, but I say this to encourage others to 
persevere in well doing. If I am not mistaken in my 
Eufaula brother, he may be a younger planter, but an 
older man, though I have been an “ old man ” for 30 
years, it being my school-boy nick name. At all events 
I am his and your friend, M. W. Phillips. 
Log Hall, Edward's Depot, Miss., March 28, 1846. 
Note. —In connection with the above communica¬ 
tion, we received a letter from Alexandr McDonald, 
Esq., of Eufaula, Ala. It seems that Dr. Phillips was 
under the impression that Mr. McDonald wrote the 
article signed “ A Young Planter,” in our number 
for March last, (page 86.) Dr. P. therefore first sent 
the above communication to Mr. McD., with the re¬ 
quest that, after perusal, he would forward it to us. In 
reference to it, Mr. McD. says—“ I infer from his (Dr. 
P.’s) letter to you on the culture of Indian corn, that 
he supposes me the writer of the piece signed “A 
Young Planter,” on page 86, current vol. of the Culti¬ 
vator. My friend is however mistaken. I have at no 
time appeared in our agricultural papers, only under 
my proper name; indeed I have long thought that all 
who write, should do so under their true names. I for¬ 
ward Dr. P.’s communication to you most cheerfully, 
believing as I do that no man is better calculated than, 
he to throw light on the important subject therein 
treated of.” 
In relation to the product of corn-lands in different 
sections, Mr. McDonald observes—“ It is not at all sur¬ 
prising that we find farmers in the vallies of the Mis¬ 
sissippi, Wabash, &c., cultivating lands which produce 
100 bushels of corn to the acre, while on our light, sandy 
soils we gather but ten to fifteen bushels per acre; but 
it is surprising that we should be content with the ten 
to fifteen bushels per acre, and not make an effort to in¬ 
crease the quantity. I have taken the same view of 
the subject that I find my friend of Mississippi has done, 
that is, either to improve my land or abandon it.” 
As to means of improvement, Mr. McD. thinks the 
lands in his section must be highly manured. “ Be¬ 
lieving so,” he says, “ I have, since the first of last Janu¬ 
ary, hauled out and spread over a portion of my farm 
about forty thousand bushels of compost manure. So 
soon as I manure my lands, I propose to plant closely. 
My experience is in favor of close planting where the 
land will bear up under it; but I have seen several 
fields of corn entirely ruined by close planting.” 
brought my entire crop to an average of 50 bushels per 
acre. I can do it I am satisfied, and without dropping 
a pound of my average of 7 bales of cotton, averaging 
400 lbs. each. 
I have been laboring for the last 6 years in endeavor¬ 
ing to induce my brethren of the plow, to examine for 
themselves, to attend personally to their own business, 
and to apply the best energies of their minds to their i 
calling. And I entertain a hope that this call from my | 
* A. K. Montgomery, of Hinds county. 
i R. Y. Rodgers, of Warren Co. 
Dried Strawberries. —Last summer, by way of 
experiment, when strawberries were plentiful, the wri¬ 
ter attached threads to their stalks, and hung up a few 
which were over ripe to dry. I placed them inside a 
window facing the south, where they have remained 
from June last until the present time (March 28.) They 
have just been tasted, and the result is most satisfactory. 
That sweet refreshing acid which is peculiar to the 
strawberry in full perfection; the flavor of the fruit 
without any watery taste, is delicious. The straw- 
ii berry thus dried is a stomachic .—London Far. Jour . 
