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118
AGRICULTURAL.
' DANIEL LEE, M. D., Editor.
SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 8, 1859.
THE STUDY OF GRASSES (HO. 6.)
Lucern, ( Mtdirago sativum) It may be doubt
ed whether there is any one forage plant that
better deserves cultivation in the Southern At
lantic and Gulf States than the perennial-rooted.
trifoliate plant known by the name of French
clover, or Lucern. Being indigenous in the hot
climate bordering on the Mediterranean in the
south of Europe, it is better able to withstand
the tropical heat and aridity of our summers
than common red clover, which is a native of
central and western Europe in the latitude of
Germany and the British Islands. There are
many species of the genus medicago , some of
which are valuable shrubs in Italy and Greece,
and ought to be introduced into the cotton grow
ing States. They will be described hereafter.
Common luccrn has an interesting history, and
according to Pliny it was introduced into Greece
from Media in the time of Darius. It was called
by the Roman agricultural writers Medica; and
for twenty-live centuries, it has maintained its
medicinal character in the south of Europe. “Os
all the plants which please us’’ says Columella,
the herb medica is the most excellent; because
one sowing lasts ten years, and affords common
ly four, sometimes six cuttings in a season—be
cause it enriches the land that produces it, and
fattens all kinds of lean cattle, and is a remedy
for such cattle as are sick —and because one
jugerum of it completely feeds three horses for
a whole year.” Pall a Dll'S cites the same au
thority as follows: “One sowing lasts for ten
years, and the plants may be cut from four to
six times in a year. It enriches land, fattens
lean cattle, and cures sick cattle; and a jugerum
completely feeds three horses for a whole year.
Pliny agrees with these two authors as to the
number of cuttings, but asserts from his own
investigations of the matter that the plant con
tinues so long as thirty years. Varko joins the
Medica and cytisus together, [the cytisus is a
shrub of the same genus] and says that both
are fit for feeding sheep, that they easily fatten
them, and produce much milk. Aristomacrus
the Athenian strongly recommends the cytisus
as food for sheep, and when dry, for swine like-'
wise. He says, “working cattle fed on medica
despise barley. That “it excels all other forage
in producing milk of and excellent quality and
in large quantity; and by the experience of all
it is found to be the best medicine for the disease
of cattle."
The cultivation of lucem is of unknown anti,
quity in Old Spain and the south of France, but
in Holland, Belgium and England its introduc
tion is of a comparatively recent date. Perhaps
no man in the last century investigated its mer
its more searchingly than Jethro Tull. At
once a thoroughly practical farmer and a good
classical scholar, he studied the geoponics of the
ancients with great success, and improved on
both their systems of tillage nnd their theories-
Tull was not only a student, but one who
brought rare genius, talent and perseverance to
the original investigation of agricultural facts.
It was his practice carefully to remove the earth
from the roots of plants, and learn from personal
observation both the depth and lateral extent to
which they attained in different soils, and under
different modes of culture. In the chapter which
treats of'Lucem, he says: “It has a tap-root
which penetrates deeper into the bowels of the
earth than any other vegetable she produces.’’
Again: “Its roots are abundantly longer than
the roots of St. Foin; I have one that measures
very near two inches in diameter; those which
are higher than the ground have a bark like a
tree** Lucem is the only plant in the world that
can pretend to equal or excel St. Foin. I have
known instances of the pinguifying [fattening]
virtues of this medica hay that came up to the
highest encomiums given it by the Romans;
which being to the vulgar incredible, I forbear
to relate, but leave to be confirmed by the ex
perience of others when it becomes frequent
[common] in England.”
Few farmers in England could read in the
early the last century; and our author
was sadly annoyed by the prejudices and hos
tility of “the vulgar.” He found that “Lucem
is much sweeter than St Foin or any other ar.
tificial or natural grass.”
“Lucem makes great improvement in the
south of France; there when their too sandy
land is well prepared, and very clean, they sow
it alone, in March and at Michaelmas as we do
clover.”
Tull planted the seed in drills some thirty
inches apart, and cultivated between them with
his famous horse-hoe. ne generally used less
than two pounds of seed per acre, and was care
ful not to cover it no more than a half inch
with light earth. He says: “I have seen Lucem
in the comers of vineyards in many places in
Franclie Compte and Switzerland, not above two
or three perches together, which they will have
at any expense to cure their horses when sick.’i
“I have one single lucem plant in a poor ara.
ble field, that has stood the test of two-and
twenty winters, besides the feeding of sheep at
all seasons, and remains yet as strong as ever.’’
Wo will cite briefly from a few recent and
jiving authors.
‘Wilson says: “Lucem is sooner ready for
cutting in the season (spring) than any of the
grasses; and in a favorable year, may be two
or two and a quarter feet high, so early as about
the middle of April,” [in England.] “It ought
always to be cut before coming into blossom, or
at latest, as soon as the flower begins to develop,
as it will then grow again with the greatest vig
or and luxuriance.” Speaking of its cultivation
on rich land, spade-trenched, he remarks that
<SHR£ SOTOHEEM VXS&H £IH VX&3SBXBS.
it will yield “from April to November, an amount
of produce which utterly astonishes all mere
clover and rye-grass farmers.”
Rye-grass farmers have reported the cutting
of one hundred tons of green feed from an acre
in twelve months.
Mr. Rod WELL reported to the National Board*
of Agriculture, that he “kept 23 farm horses
in a thoroughly good condition, on eleven acres
of lucem twenty weeks.” He sowed twenty
quarts of seed to the acre on rich and deeply till
ed ground.
Three years ago the writer dropped, by acci
dent, a single seed of this plant on a patch of
Bermuda grass, which grew, and has continued
to multiply itself till the lucem now covers several
square yards, presenting a thousand or more
well seeded plants.
We have just purchased eight pounds of the
seed of Mr. La Taste, of this city, for experi
mental purposes. It cost a quarter of a dollar a
pound; and if put in drills, will seed two acres
as thick as we care to have a stand for growing
seed. We shall try some broadcast with tur
nips, and use Hoyt’s super phosphate of lime
as the manure, and sow seed where we are cul
tivating Bermuda grass for sheep pasture. —
White clover, lucern and Bermuda, if not fed too
closely, will make excellent permanent grazing
lands in this State. Where land is so cheap,
fifty acre fields are small enough ; and in these
we would have patches of tall oat grass, blue
grass, orchard grass, red top, and timothy mixed,
and growing in all moist places. The study
should be to make the soil do its best for the
economical production of horses, mules, cattle,
sheep, and hogs. The long tap roots of lucem
will draw the bones of live stock up into their
food, from the deep sub-soil; and bone-dust is
a valuable manure.
If there is any truth in the prolonged history
of agriculture, or any wisdom ih the agricultural
experience of many generations, then the forage
plant under consideration is second to no other,
to nourish and preserve the health of all our
most useful domestic animals. One hundred
pounds of it converted into mold or manure will
yield to the soil six times moro ammonia than a
like weight of wheat straw, rye straw or corn
stalks. Its medicinal properties consist partly
in its aperient character, and partly in its ten
dency to keep open the biliary ducts, as well as
the intestinal canal. Like green red clpver, if
eaten in excess, the fermentation that ensues
causes the hooven or wind cholic, which some
times proves fatal. It is prudent to partly dry
all green, succulent plants cut and fed to work
ing and dairy animals in stables or stalls. The
cultivation of lucem seed for market can
hardly fail of being profitable ; for it is easily
raised and sells high. The management is like
that of red clover, which will be fully described
hereafter. As an element in all permanent pas
tures in the South, lucern deserves a fair trial.
Plow and subsoil the ground in the most thor
ough manner before sowing the seed; and treat
the plants precisely as you would red, white or
yellow clover. The old Romans covered the seed
with a light wooden harrow, regarding an iron
plow or harrow to cover the seed of medica, or
to work among the plants, as most injurious to
the crop. It was carefully weeded by hand, and
at great expense. Southern enterprise and tal
ent ought to excel as much in growing this South
ern plant as they do in producing cotton. The
reason why the Romans acquired so strong a pre
judice to the use of an iron plow or harrow to
cover lucern, was the then unknown fact that
both buried the seed so deep that it could not
germinate. A simple roller passed over the seed
sown 911 mellow ground, is sufficient to make it
grow. As we are in doubt as to the best month
for putting the seed into the ground, we shall
sow it at different times, and learn what we
may from actual experiment. February is, per
haps, the safest month in the climate of Augus
ta ; although we prefer September for theoreti
cal reasons. We want the plants to develop as
much root as possible before the heat of a semi
tropical sun in summer surrounds them in early
life. Henco. our policy is to make the most of
Autumn, Winter and Spring growth. Occasion
ally, the frosts of winter will kill a few plants.
If so, fill up the vacancies by replanting or sow
ing. Every farmer should raise his own seed as
soon as possible, of whatever kind. He can then
have good seed and use it freely.
High Prizes. —ln a list of premiums, to be
awarded at the Fair to be held in St. Louis, Mo.,
from September 26th to October Ist, we notice
the following: SI,OOO for the best through-bred
bull of any kind; SI,OOO for the best roadster
stallion in harness; SI,OOO for the best through
bred stallion; S3OO for the best steam plow;
and four prizes of $125 each, and two of SIOO
each, for the largest and best crop of wheat of
named varieties.
The prizes altogether amount to twenty thou
sand dollars. The public spirit evinced by the
citizens of St. Louis is worthy of all commenda
tion.
ESP The Southern Rural Gentleman, publish
ed at Grenada, Miss., of the 27th ult., comes to
ps with the salutatory of Dr. M. W. Philips, as
its Agricultural Editor. Dr. P. has large expe
rience as an agricultural writer, and is distin
guished alike for ability, zeal, and indefatigable
labor to promote Southern agriculture.
—• »
Too Much Rain.— Our exchanges are com
plaining of an excess of rain in nearly all the
cotton growing districts of the South. To what
extent the crop will be injured, it is of course
impossible to say; but that the damage will be
serious in many places, cannot be questioned.—
Late corn is benefltted by the rain that has fall
en in this region; while peas and grass will
afford a fair chance for making hay.
THE TRUE CONDITION OF NORTHERN AGRI
CULTURE
We clip the following figures and remarks
from an able article in the Albany (N.\.) Country
Gentleman of August 18th :
But how are these bright visions to be recon
ciled with the stem fact that the rural popula
tion of this country, if not becoming extinct, is
at least rapidly diminishing, comparatively if not
absolutely ? How by these rosy colored theo
ries do we explain the fact that in this very
county of Onondaga, with a soil as fertile as
any reasonable man could ask for, with a cli
mate healthy and invigorating, with the very
best markets at all times for every variety of
agricultural produce —where, in fact, there ex
ists every inducement fop the prosecution of ag
riculture ; that nevertheless the rural population
has not increased at all for fifteen years ? And
the same is true of very many parts of the State.
The censui, will, I am sure, bear me out in say
ing that nine-tenths of the increase in the popu
lation of the State for the last fifteen years, has
been in our cities and large towns. To support
this proposition, the population of a few ol the
counties of the State, being those which are al
most entirely agricultural, are subjoined :
1340 1850.
Cayuga . 50,333 53,571
cEenang* 40,785 80,015
Columbia.. 48,252 44,891
Cortland 24,607 24,575
Greene *. 80.446 81,187
Herkimer 87,477 88.566
Livingston. 87,777 37,948
Montgomery 35,818 80,SOS
Ontario..... 43,501 42,672
0t5eg0........ 49,623 49,3*5
Senecca 24,874 25,853
Tompkins 82,296 81,516
Wyoming 84,245 82,148
485,044 481,975
Or in other words, while the whole State in
creased in population more than forty per cent.,
thirteen of the counlies, almost entirely agri
cultural, decreased. Nor will it do to account
for this by the large emigration to the West,
which has been going on for the last few’ years.
The same facts whose existence here we have
been deploring, exist ;liere to a more remarka
ble extent. Mr. Horace Greely, an accurate
and careful observer, and one who generally
speaks within bounds, estimates that more than
one half of the people in Illinois, live in cities
and large towns. Only think ol it: in that fer
tile State, where nature has poured out her fa
vors for the agriculturist in such generous pro
fusion ; where, unlike these barren New Eng
gland hills, on which the weary labors of years
only enables the liusbanaman to w’ring a scanty
subsistence from the flinty soil, she has not only
provided him with larms of the most inexhausi
ble richness, but has cleared them up for him, all
ready for the plow, heaved up the soil in graceful
undulations, just rolling enough to secure drain
age, and not so much so as to prevent cultivation;
and yet in spite of all these inducements, more
than one half of the people of that State pre
ferred to live jp a condition of unproductive de
pendence in-cities, to going forth and obtaining
an honorable livelihood from the cultivation of
the soil.
These facts seem to be utterly at variance w’ith
the generally received opinion ip regard to the
superiority of the profession of agriculture, in its
intellectual, physical and moral results, as com
pared with other pursuits.
One reason why so many farmers and their
families abandon agriculture and a country life to
reside in towns, is the want of intellectual, so
cial and religious advantages in rural districts.
Mothers, fathers, brothers nnd sisters, all see that
a sequestered residence on a farm in the interior
deprives them of mental and moral culture, of
social and educational benefits, which they
would enjoy if they lived in a city, or even in a
flourishing village. In place of purchasing li
braries, maps, and other aids to intellectual im
provements and contentment, farmers think of
nothing but digging money out of the soil to be
expended elsewhere, or hoarded at home.—
Small effort is made to elevate the standard of
general intelligence, and refine the society of
our agricultural population, except in towns.—
Hence, we witness the skinning of the land to
gratify the morbid taste for the fashions and
vices of village and city life. American civili
zation is at best only semi-barbarism. It every
where, north, south and west, fells the forest,
and tills the earth a few years in a most savage
manner, and then forsakes its steril fields as an
impoverished and worthless heritage. No one
generation has been taught from infancy to love
and embellish the farms where it first saw the
light of the sun. No home attachments bind
children to the pursuit of agriculture, and make
them collect in riper years all their wealth, and
cherish their brightest hopes of happiness in
connection with rural labors, honors and amuse
ments. The dullness of country society is due
to the want of care and culture —to the lack of
reading, and social intercourse. Isolation is the
bad rule now in vogue.
MEAT BRINE POISONOUS.
The brine in which pork and other meats have
been pickled is a poison to horses and hogs.—
This was urged several years ago by Mr. Rey
nal, a distinguished veterinarian of France, and
last week, says the Kentucky Turf Register, we
were a personal witness to its practical demon
stration. A gentleman in the village of Law
renceport, Ind., emptied brine from a pork bar
rel into his lot. A herd of hogs, as also one
horse, partook of it, and the result was the horse,
and seven hogs out of nine, died in less than six
hours from the time the barrel was emptied.
All waste brine should be put on the compost
or dung heap, or be spread in the garden to kill
worms. It is a good manure. We read in the
Apostles of “salt not fit for the dung heap" —
showing the use it was sometimes applied to.
—
Maladies of Plants. — The Revue Horticole,
of Paris, has a letter from a learned botanist,
Julius Kuhn, upon the subject of the maladies
of plants. Whenever a plant does not receive
proper nutrition from the soli, disease is the re
sult. Deep cultivation is one of the best reme
dies that can be applied. He recommends all
true culturists to use the microscope to discover
the causes of the disease.
The microscope is doing much for the advance
ment @f both horticulture and agriculture; and
intelligent cultivators will interest as well as
instruct themselves by learning to use it, and
study parasitic fungi, insects, and the maladies
of their several crops.
bots and cholic in horses.
Notasulga, Ala., Aug. 20,1859.
Mr. Editor : You will confer a favor on many
of your subscribers by publishing in the South
ern Field and Fireside a recipe for the Bots or
Grubs and the Cholic, in horses and mules.
There has been an unusual quantity of the for
mer disease among our mules and horses in this
section of country, recently, and many of us
have sustained losses from not knowing how to
treat the disease successfully. Yours,
A Subscriber.
Human power over disease, whether in man
or his domestic animals, is not so absolute as
the remarks of our correspondent would seem
to imply. It is better to prevent horses and
mules having the cholic by never allowing them
to have an excess of green corn or other green
feed, and keeping them constantly supplied with
salt, than to depend on any recipes to cure them
of this distressing complaint. Pretty fast ri
ding to work off the wind in the stomach is a
common reined}’ for cholic, and one that is gene
rally effectual. Recently slaked and burnt lime,
partly dissolved, and partly mixed in a bottle of
water, given as a drencli, will speedily absorb so
much carbonic acid in the stomach oi an animal
having the cholic, as to relieve it at once.
We have little confidence in bot remedies.—
Perhaps the spirits of turpentine is as good as
any. Two ounces given in a drench is
enough for a dose. Some horses will eat it in
wet com meal, or wheat bran. If any one
knows an advantageous or useful prescription for
either of the affections above named, he will
oblige our agricultural readers by giving it to
the public through our columns.
——
The Tobacco Crop in Connecticut. —The
New Haven News says the tobacco all over Con
necticut promises great things at present The
cultivation has spread out of the valley of the
Connecticut, and now there are few towns in the
State in which tobacco patches here and there
are not to be found. The prices of a few years
past have ruled so high as to present irresistible
temptations.
———
Gen. Stetson's Astor House Farm in New Jer
sey, comprises 300 acres, in a high state of cul
tivation, on which are fifty choice imported cat
tle, producing 450 quarts of milk per day, 400
head of swine, and 4,000 hens, roosters, and
other “gallinacious indiwiddles.”
—— •
[Written for the Southern Field and Fireside.]
ROTATION OF CROPS.
No. IL
We commence the rotation with land two
years in fallow. It is thoroughly broken up, as
soon after the finishing of picking cotton as can
be done, in order to preserve the litter of weeds
and grass from being borne away by the winds.
If covered with a heavy, tough sod, as of Ber
muda grass, the two horse harrow is run over it,
in a dry time, at right angles to the directions
it was plowed, and repeated, if necessary, to
secure a good tilth, some time before preparing
to plant. The field is laid off into rows three
feet, three inches, or four feet wido. Allow us
to say here that the width of rows and the dis
tance between plants in the drill, should always
depend on the fertility of the soil, but we en
deavor to give such distance as will, of an ordi
nary season, allow the plants to shade two
thirds of the land at midday by the first day of
August—and manure in the drill for cotton. If
the land be too poor, after this application of
manure to bring a fair crop of corn per acre
without more help, or if it be land well set in
Bermuda grass, we prepare and apply manure
in the same drill, and plant to cotton again. In
the first case where the soil is too poor to bring
a good crop of corn, we plant to cotton the se
cond year for the purpose of again manuring it,
•as more manure is applied in the drill for cotton
than in the hill for corn, and our object is two
fold, to improve the soil so that it will go through
with the succeeding crops unaided, and to make
the cotton crop from the least amount of land.—
In the second case where the land is possessed
by Bermuda grass, in addition to improving the
soil, and producing the cotton crop off of the
fewest aerDs, is the consideration of getting the
land free from grass so as to make the corn crop
with the least labor. If, however, the soil, with
the first application of manure,is able, and after
the first crop of cotton is sufficiently cleared of
Bermuda grass, it will be seen our arable land,
about one-half, is infested with this grass, and
we are obliged to make a provision for it, as
we have long since learned that land set in it
requires peculiar treatment, which, if it does not
get, becomes arduous to till and poor to yield,
but if rightly managed, is easily worked, and
produces best —to bring a renumerative crop of
corn, we have broken down with sticks, the
stocks, as early as other more important business
will allow, and then bare the stubs very close
but not deep, with the cast-turning, or Allen
plow, for the sake of securing from the winds
and rains, and decomposing the leaves and
fragments of stalks, to aid in feeding the suc
ceeding crop. When ready to plant corn, wo
check the land off, if sandy, five and a half feet,
but if stiff and clayey, five feet the wide way,
the narrow way being the width of the cotton
rows, and the balk where the stubs stand an
swers to mark the cross. A word here in re
gard to the proper distance to give corn—we de
sire to the land by having the plants stand
thick as can be done without impairingthe quan
tity and quality of the product. Superficial cul
ture requires that the plants should have more
space than deep culture. The furrow which
with the balk, forms the check, if first made
with a scooter plow, seven inches wide by elev
en inches long, and then a shovel plow eleven
inches wide is run in this furrow for the pur
pose of widening and deepening it. The grains
of corn are dropped in this furrow just opposite
the centre of the balk as nearly as can be done,
in order to have the plants stand in a
straight line each way. We cover the corn
with narrow scooters, three inches wide and
eleven inches long, by running a furrow on eith
er side of the grain the wide way. Care ought
to be taken not to cover the grains too deep,
three inches depth of earth over them being suf
ficient.
A brief account of the manner of tilling land
thus planted to com, may not prove uninteres
ting, and we deem it necessary as the usual
mode of cultivation practiced would not answer
to insure as good a yield as the land <sn render.
The first ploughing is given the wide way. The
plants are run around with scooter ploughs
four inches wide, and eleven inches long, and
arc made to pass into the earth as deeply as
possible, there being no occasion to fear going
too deep. The remainder of the middle is plough
ed out with scooters, seven inches wide, and
eleven inches long, and they are also required to
do the work deeply and thoroughly. The sec
ond ploughing is executed the narrow way with
the last named scooters entirely, and is done
as deeply and thoroughly as the first. The third
ploughing is given when an occasional tassel is
visible through the field, and we use
the cast turning plough, in land free from roots
and stumps, and the Allen plough where they
exist. In performing this working, the ploughs
are not allowed to go deeper than two or three
inches, and are not permitted to pass close to
the plants unless there is young grass, and
then the earth moved on either side by the
plows, is just allowed to meet so as to cover the
grass, but not to be heaped against the stalks.
Peas are dropped in the cent e furrow between
the plants the narrow way which are covered
with earth in siding the corn. The middles are
ploughed out with the same plows except a nar
row balk in the centre which is left for the pur
pose of again planting peas. In ten or twelvo
days, as soon after a good rain as the earth is in
order to plough (if we are so favored as to get
it) peas are dropped on eitheV side of the balk
alternately, two to three feet apart, and the balk
split with a shovel plough, which operation
covers them. These three ploughings, with
hoeing and thinning of the plants after the first
ploughing constitute the culture we ordinarily
give corn on upland.'
It may be thought, well, what of it? In re
ply wo say that in the preparation but little la
bor is consumed—that we have not yet seen
any other mode practiced, more efficient in pre
serving the manure so long applied to the soil,
from being washed away by rains, and evapora
ted by the sun and air from exposure to them—
no other way more effective in causing the wa
ter to remain where it falls, until it percolates
and evaporates—and no mode of preparation
combined with the method of culture, which
cause to be lost by the effects of tillage, less of
the elements of food existing in the soil, and at
the same time rewarding labor with crops com
mensurate with the productiveness of the land
and the propitiousness of the season. The char
acteristic features of this method of preparation
and culture, are thoroughness, economy oflabor
and frugality in the resources of the soil. And
in truth any mode of preparation and culture,
not bearing marks of the existence of these prin
ciples, ought to be avoided by the young farmei%
owning unproductive land and possessing no “
ready money, if he desires to accumulate wealth
and preserve the old Homestead.
To continue the account, we say that hogs in
tended to fatten are allowed to have the run of
corn fields first, and as soon as there is an ap
pearance of scantiness of food suited to them,
they are removed and cows are assigned their
place. We do not permit cows to remain in
corn fields, as long as pinching hunger may
force them to consume what little of vegetable
matter may lie on the earth. In February,
usually from the first to the fifth (the condition
of the earth as to wet and dry and temperature,
must influence) the fields in which corn grew
the preceding year, are planted to oats. The
lands are laid off in the direction of the narrow
way of the corn, about ten or twelve feet wide,
and one bushel of seed sown to the acre, (many
persons object to this quantity saying it is too
much; but our intention is to have so dense a
growth of oats as to choke down other growths,
until they are removed, and for ten years wo
have succeeded, having made from eight to
twenty bushels per acre) and ploughed in with
the cast turning, ploughs wherever they can be
used, as land uprooted by them does not so soon
become compacted and is less likely to bake
than after the Allen plough. Where we design
cutting the oats for horse feed and seed (and
that is always from the best land) we run the
harrow for the purpose of better fitting the sur
face for the use of the cradle. The oats intended
for feed are cut before ripe, and cured like hay,
(only when the stems and leaves are much
affected with rust,) and then they are allowed to
ripen in order that stock shall only eat the heads.
Seed oats are always allowed to ripen thorough
ly. As soon as all the oats reaped, are removed
from the fields, the hogs, except sows and young
pigs, are let in to consume the remainder. No
stock is permitted to run on this land, excepting
these hogs, until the grass, weeds and peas
(with the latter the earth is nearly covered or
dinarily) are about to seed, and then cows are
allowed to enter long enough to prevent this
process, but not to remain so long as to graze
the plants close to the ground.
After oats the land is allowed to lie in fallow
two years, during which time it is grazed lightly
at intervals, by ho’gs first, then cows, and then
sheep, for the purpose of allowing no grass nor
weeds that either will eat, to go to seed, and
all other kinds we will endeavor to exterminate.
We will annex here that where one wishes to
grow wheat, it is equally as well, only it inter
feres more with the cotton operations. We are
beginning to plant a small portion of the com
land to wiieat, and perhaps will continue to do
so, if we find it to be to our interest. Oats are
preferable for food for all kinds of stock, in our
judgment, and we can produce more of them on
an acre of laud, but wheat commands a better
price and more ready sale. We are, however,
in the habit of consuming all provender at home,
and if we dispose of any produce besides the
cotton lint, it is cows, sheep and bacon.
Oats constitute an important part of the food
we give stock. We consider them mixed with
corn and fodder, better than either separately.—
That it requires less labor to produce them, than
corn, none will doubt, and though they are
classed amongst those plants which exhaust the
soil most rapidly, we cannot but think when a
proper estimate is made of the loss of fertility
sustained, especially in our climate, on account
of the greater amount of tillage the one requires
than the other, we should consider the soil is
less taxed in growing oats than corn. And
another consideration: Oats are a more fouling
crop than corn, and cropped soils want,
occasionally, such crops for the purpose of accu
mulating vegetable matter to farm humus. And
again, and another advantage of a small grain
crop preceding a fallow is, that the surface is
left smooth and level, in which condition it is much
less likely to wash and becomo gullied.
It may be deemed improvident to permit land
to remain in fallow so long. We might think
so, too, if labor were cheaper, and land higher
in value and more productive. We deem it
much more wise, to allow poor land to lie in fal
low, and employ the labor requisite to cultivate
it, in making composts and improvements, than
to till it when the crop it gives only feeds the
stock and pays for the labor. In tho one case
wo are supported, our land becoming more ex
hausted, and no per centage on the capital and
labor invested; but in the other case we are sup
ported, our labor is remunerated, and our capi
tal, tho land, is enhanced in value. Let our
system of Agriculture be changed, from one of
exhaustion to one of improvement, and lands
will increase in value, and labor will be clienp
enened.
A Planter.