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AGRICULTURAL.
DANIEL LEE, M. D., Editor.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1859.
HEW PLOWS, AND NEW PLOWING.
Dr. D. Leb—Sir: You will gratify myself and
other readers of the Field and Fireside, by giv
ing us a review or critique on the first article m
Deßow's Review for November, on the four furrow
ridge system of plowing, Ac. ~
* B. J. M., Edgefield.
The article referred to is introduced to the
public with a much louder flourish of trumpets
by the Editor of the Review, and the au
thor, than the subject demanded ; but as we
happen to know both Mr. Dbßow and his friend
Mr. Flbischmanw, and would rejoice to see the
latter make as much money out of a real im
provement in plows and plowing, as we know
Mr. McCormick has made from his reaper, we
shall give this “Four Ridge System” of corn
and cotton culture the benefit of about all that
can be said in its favor. The paper in question
occupies some eighteen pages in the Review,
and we must necessarily pass over, without
notice, much that might very properly receive at
tention. Mr. Flbischmann says:
“ The plow with which the new mode of
plowing is accomplished, is a simple combina
tion of known parts. It costs about as much
as three ordinary two-horse plows. It will re
quire in new prairie lands, one yoke of oxen
more, to execute at once the whole operation of
opening the prairie, and of plowing the centre
furrow. In old cultivated lands, two yoke of
oxen will suffice. I prefer a wheel plow to a
swing plow. The new plow being so arranged
that it requires no holding, and no further hand
ling than to take it from, and to put it into the
ground; thus one able bodied man, who under
stands plowing and driving cattle, is sufficient
to plow in one day two acres, with twelve inches
deep centre furrows—preparing the land in the
most suitable manner, for corn, tobacco, cotton,
and sugar, and affording all facilities to inter
mingle the sub with the surface soil, and chang
ing the nature of the land in the most desirable
manner.”
Again he says, in another place :
“ This new mode of plowing consists in open
ing a wide furrow, say from 18 to 24 inches or
more, and four indies deep, splitting the slice
in two, and turning ono part of it to the right
and the other to the left of the furrow. The
next furrow is to bo opened parallel to the first
one, and care must be had that the slices are
placed side by side. The new plow with which
wo execute this mode of plowing, has in the
roar another double mould board plow, which is
set from six to eight inches below the main plow,
thus opening in one and the same operation, a
smaller but deeper furrow. The first and wide
furrow being four inches deep, the small ono
eight, makes the centre furrow twelve inches in
depth."
It is in this centre furrow where the earth is
stirred 12 inches, that the row of corn, cotton,
tobacco or sugar cane is planted. Can Mr.
Flbischmann, or any one, give a good and suffi
cient reason for plowing a single narrow furrow
under a row of corn or cotton twelve inches
deep, that will not go far- to prove that all the
ground between these deep furrows, and be
tween the rows of corn and cotton, ought to be
plowed more than four inches deep ? What good
cultivator of the soil would prefer leaving so hard
and so wide a baulk between every two rows of
corn in his cornfield ? If tillage to the depth of
twelve inches is really desirable to give the
roots of agricultural plants a larger, deeper, and
a richer pasture, why not break up and pulver
ize at once the earth to that moderate depth, all
over its surface which is cultivated at all ?
We are sorry to express an opinion adverse
to the usefulness and success of this new tillage
machine. It has no advantage over the double
Michigan plow, which we used thirteen years
ago ; and it is inferior to the steel Wisconsin
plow that took the first premium at the late State
Fair at Atlanta, and with which Mr. Hart, at
Union Point, is now plowing land for wheat
fourteen inches deep with a pair of heavy stout
mules. Mr. W. J. Eve, of Augusta, has four
steel plows with which ho breaks up land to an
equal depth ; and we might name others who
practice deep plowing not merely under corn
and cotton rows, but between as well. Mr.
Flbischh Ann's idea of saving a considerable
share of the hand labor in plowing by having a
machine that needs no holding, and requires only
one hand to four or six oxen, or mules, is per
fectly sound ; for there is neither agricultural
wit nor wisdom in having three persons to follow
three mules all day, when one hand will do all
the work that human hands and heads can do,
for the aid of the mules. Twelve years ago we,
time and again, pointed out this remarkable
waste of human labor at the South, where each
mule or horse receives the whole attention of a
man or woman, boy or girl. This is precisely
like picking out cotton seed by hand instead of
separating the seed by the use of a gin. Six of
our common plows may be worked together in
a gang, without holding, and with one driver,
and do much better plowing than they now do.
There is, however, no advantage in double mould
board gang plows, which will turn two furrows
to the right, and two to the left. Better work
can be done by turning all the furrows one way,
and by having a solid, steady and strong team.
Forty years of close observation of the plowing
of horses, mules and oxen, teach us that the last
named are the cheapest and best for breaking up
land, particularly late in autumn, winter, and ear
ly in spring. We are always happy when hold
ing a good plow drawn by six well broke oxen.
With a sharp coulter and shire, small roots
never stop the team ; while the soil is, or may
be, stirred as it ought to be. To have a quick
step, and due activity, steers must be kindly
treated and liberally fed. Give them nutritious
pastures and hay, a little meal, turnips, or sweet
potatoes ; so that after a life of useful toil on the
farm, a trifle will make them into excellent beef.
Mules now cost too much, and good horses sell !
too high for agricultural purposes. Let us en- j
courage, then, the breeding and breaking of su
perior oxen for plowing, as well as other farm
bowkemi vxs&s rat
work. The general intro iuction of first rate
plows, and the very best kind of steers to ope
rate them, will do more for the improvement of
southern agriculture than almost any thing else.
First of all, we must prepare for raising a full
supply of forage, grass and hay, for cattle. —
Do not starve oxen, cows, horses and mules, and
then complain that they yield no profit. Either
raise more food, or keep less stock. If any de
sire to feed cotton and com plants well next
summer, now is the time to plow deep, and pre
pare the soil to yield the maximum of plant
food which its resources can furnish. We of the
sunny South, should winter-fallow, not summer
fallow our ground. If we pulverize the
earth as thoroughly and deeply as grape grow
ers and vineyard planters do, can there be a rea
sonable doubt that our cotton, corn and wheat
fields will be far more fruitful ? Mr. Fleicsh-
MANN„says the farmer in “ four years ” will get
all the ground cultivated on his plan, plowed to
the depth of twelve inches. It is far better to
plow it a foot deep at once, if the work is really
desirable at all. To deep plowing, as to almost
everything else, thero are exceptions. The
subsoil may contain an excess of acid salts,
which it were well to avoid. It may be a pipe
clay that cannot nourish plants ; or the subsoil
may be too open and leaky; but these cases are
rare. Nearly all recent experiments and gene
ral experience encourage the practice of deep
and thorough tillage—of plowing the whole sur
face gone over in away that shall move the lar
gest possible number of earthy particles into
new positions, and give an inappreciable space
between them for atmospheric air, dew and rain.
See the article on “the chemical effects of tillage,”
in the next number. We believe in deepening the
staple of the soil, and object to the plan set forth
in Deßow’s Review, mainly on the ground that it
assumes four inch plowing between rows of cot
ton, corn, tobacco and sugar cane is deep enough.
It would be wiser to plow all the field eight
inches, and then twelte inches with two good
furrows under each row. Nor will it bo so easy
a matter to turn a furrow two feet wide and only
four inches thick, as somo may suppose.
Strong teams attached to plows that will do
good work without holding, will be the next step
in practical field culture. These teams will
grow and multiply on every well managed farm
—a fact that cannot be affirmed of steam en
gines for plowing. The teams will yield much
valuable manure ; while the ashes of a loco
motive are of little account. Steam plowing is
in the remote future when oxen cannot bo kept
in consequence of the great number of human
mouths to consume all that the land is capable
of supplying in flesh-forming substances. Cows
that will yield much milk will plow long after
working oxen, horses and mules shall have been
forgotten. To a thoughtful mind, the future of
agriculture presents features of profound inter
est. Our little clam shell operations in moving
the soil with a bull tongue, scooter and hoe, single
handed, involve a prodigious waste of labor; but
we must not expect to jump from one extreme
to the other at a single leap. Lot us obtain the
very best plows, roar the very best working cat
tle, and use both to the best possible advantage,
and we shall huvo done something for the im
provement of our race.
MR. DAVID DICKSON’S FARM AND FARMING.
A correspondent of the Southern Cultivator
gives the following description of Mr. David
Dickson’s farm and farming, in the November
number of that journal:
“ A good deal has been said about Mr. Dick
sou’s farming, and as much more might be said,
and the half not be told. Truly he has, and is
producing most wonderful results on pine land,
much of which, a few years ago, was considered
almost worthless. He has now about thirteen
thousand acres of pine land in one body, besides
a large landed estate in Texas that he has never
seen; but on which he is planting very success
fully, his businesss there being managed by a
relative, formerly from this county, (Hancock.)
who occasionally visits him in order to learn his
lessons more fully, and witness whatever im
provements have been made.
After spending the night with him, we rose
early in the morning, mounted our horses for
the purpose of seeing the growing crop, and
rode without stopping until 12 o’clock, passing
through and round many large and fine fields of
corn and cotton, and then not seeing half of the
crop. His fields being scattered over thirteen
thousand acres of land, one day's ride is not suf
ficient to see his entire crop. He has from 000
to 1,000 acres in cotton, and 860 in corn, which
we venture to say, and without the fear of con
tradiction, is the best average crop in Middle
Georgia. Mr. D. estimates his corn crop at 25
bushels per acre, and most of the gentlemen
present, in which he concurred, judged his cotton
as promising to make at least 1,000 lbs. per acre.
These results have been brought about by the
liberal use of guano and other fertilizers, which
he calculates, by long and close experiments,
are paying 100 per cent, on the investment; and
by an improved system of deep preparation and
light surface cultivation, which cannot be given
in an article like this, and must be seen to be un
derstood and appreciated.”
It will be recollected by the close reader, that
Mr. Dickson states, in our last issue, that he
‘•opens a wide, deep furrow” under the row where
cotton seed is to be planted, and then mixes
the guano or phosphates with the earth, by run
ning “ a deep scooter furrow through the fertili
ser to mix it with the earth.” Mr. D. alludes
incidentally to ‘‘the vast quantity of land in his
native State that needs improving;” and having
done so much to demonstrate the practicability
of making improvements that will enrich the
owner of a poor soil or of a worn-out plantation)
he will confer a still greater benefit on Southern
agriculture by giving the public, through the
Field and Fireside, a description of his system
of cultivating cotton, com, peas and wheat.
Never have we known the agricultural mind so
open to conviction, and so eager for instruction
as it is at this time; ami Mr. D. will, we trust,
favor our readers with a plain account of his
practice as a planter. Facts are always valua
ble to those who are able to understand their
true meaning; and a cultivator of so large expe-
rience, and so good a judge of the powers of na
ture in the production of cotton, grain, and other
crops on thin land, must have gathered a rich
harvest of useful knowledge. "We flatter no
man, but seek the great truths of good hus
bandry and wise tillage wherever there is a rea
sonable ukmikia ot nuding them. The State of
Georgia has reason to oe proud of its Hancock
planters, although it has hundreds, perhaps
thousands, in other counties, who are their
equals in skill, enterprise and intelligence. All
should do something to elevate and magnify
their calling. The greatness of the Roman em
pire depended, mainly, on the agricultural idea of
making two blades of grass grow where only one
grew before. To make the South greater than
Rome was, when at the zenith of her wealth
and power, we have only to secure that fruitful
ness of soil and of intellect implied by covering
the earth every summer and winter, with a rich
carpet of living verdure. Barren fields give no
life, no strength, no enjoyment. To make a
desert and call it planting, is to disgrace the
name of planter.
HOYTS SUPERPHOSPHATE.
Wo have received a gentlemanly note from
Messrs. Tiios. P. Stovall A Co., relative to our
recent remarks on Hoyt’s Superphosphate, in
which they kindly offer to give us a ton of this
fertilizer for experimental purposes, intimating
that, in case it shall fail to be a very superior ar
ticle, they “ will retire from the trade.” We
should be glad to test its value on cotton, com,
clover, lucerne and peas next year, in compari
son with guano from Jarvis Island and Baker’s
Island, and other fertilizers, and would make the
trial as fair and perfect as possible. It gave us
pleasure to publish promptly and commend Mr.
Dickson's very favorable experiment with a ton
of Hoyt's Superphosphate; and we had once
before spoken in its praise from personal obser
vation on Beach Island. Still, we must say in
justice to the great interest involved, and the
South, that it Would be better to manufacture
this manure in Augusta for Messrs. T. P. Sto
vall A Co., than have it done in New York.—
Salt for agricultural purposes can bo delivered in
this city for fifty cents per 100 lbs., and there
fore it is unwise to buy it at three times that
price, or thirty dollars for 2000 lbs. in the city
of New York or in Baltimore. The Phosphate
of lime is no cheaper in those cities than in Sa
vannah, nor can it be; while charcoal and
swamp muck will come as cheaply from Georgia
forests and swamps as from any in the world. —
The only thing we lack is sulphuric acid, and
that is precisely what all these phosphatic com
mercial fertilizers also lack to produce soluble
phosphoric acid. Now, if planters are to pay
the price of a super-phosphate for a su6-phos
phate, simply because it has passed through sev
eral unnecessary agencies and manipulators’
hands, then we say they had better purchase
the subphosphato of the parties who sell it to
Mr. Hoyt, Mr. Rhodes, Mr. Reese and Mr.
Mapes. In place of increasing the value of
bone earth as a manure, they dilute and adul
terate it with cheap salt, cheaper gypsum, and
still cheaper swamp mud and sand. They may
use a little oil of vitriol, potash and ammonia,
and thus give the farmer’s crops a taste of so
luble manure, which tells in the product and se
cures a certificate to aid in selling more dirt and
more charcoal at fifty dollars a ton. The coun
try is getting overstocked with such patriots.—
Messrs. Thos. P. Stovall A Co. are just the men
to get up the best possible fertilizer for cotton
and sell it as cheap as it can be sold at a living
profit. As soon as we have completed analyses
now in hand, they and all our readers shall have
a recipe for such a fertilizer.
— Ml ■
GRASS CULTURE AT THE SOUTH.
Dr. Lee — Dear, Sir; I sent you a sample of
the grass I wrote about that came up with my
lucerne, and herein enclose you a few of the
seed. I think they should be sown soon. The
seed are very small, owing in part, no doubt, to
their being so overgrown by the lucerne. I
shall get up some of the original grass, and
transplant, to see if it stand the winter, and
grow from old roots. I have but a poor opinion
of any grass that we have to sow annually. Still,
we had better have those than none. I know
nothing of the grass seed sent, farther than re
lated, to-wit: I found the grass in several small
places amongst lucerne, the seed of which I re
ceived from the Patent Office.
Give them a trial, and please let me have your
opinion of the grass—whether worthless or val
uable. Very respectfully, yours,
John Bonner, of Hancock Co.
We are much obliged to Mr. Bonner for the
seed sent with the above letter, and shall give
them a fair trial. Grass culture and Stock hus
bandry aro destined to flourish in the Southern
States, which contain over five lmndrod million
acres of land that is not fenced, nor used at all.
A pretty extensive stock range this, and mainly
an open country, from the Ohio river to the At
lantic, and from the Chesapeake to the Rio
Grande. What a magnificent field lor grazing
purposes! Grass culture, Wool-growing, and
Stock-raising generally, cannot fail to force
themselves into notice, as exclusive planting im
poverishes the virgin soil of the South. Hus
bandry that is worthy of the name, must follow
a devastating system of bad tillage, or the whole
of the planting States will become a barren
• waste, and uninhabited. Now is the timo to
inaugurate a wise system of agriculture that
shall use grass to produce at once large crops of
wool for market, and an adequate supply of man
ure for all cotton, corn and wheat fields. Grass
will do this, and a great deal more, when proper
ly cultivated and studied. Let us cover a few
thousand acres with perennial verdure as an ex
periment, and see if it be not a valuable im
provement. Green pastures in winter, spread
out over whole States and territories, and cover
ed with fat cattle on a thousand hills, would do
honor to our good sense and industry.
ZW* It is not too late, during the present
month, to sow rye for the winter fields.
THE STUDY OF SOILS —CHAPTER Y.
The Philosophy of Improving Soils.
BY THE BDITOR.
[Chapter V.—Continued.] —One may separate
one hundred and fifty pounds of carbon and the
elements of water from a barrel of flour, and still
leave, with its nitrogen and incombustible mat
ter, four times more of carbon, oxygen and hy
drogen, in weight, than of the other ingredients
in the flour. If guano contained 95 per cent of
its weight in charcoal and water, as wheat does
it would never be worth $4 a barrel as a fertili
zer. In one hundred pounds of dry corn there
are ninety-seven of carbon and the elements of
water; and it is generally easier to grow forty
bushels of this grain on an aero than twenty of
wheat. Experience shows that the same food
of cereals which will produce twenty bushels of
wheat will yield forty of maize. The prominent
fact that guano and the best nightsoil operate
equally to promote the growth of all cultivated
plants, indicates that all require ammonia and
phosphates; which is true. It also indicates
that the things contained in nightsoil and in
the dung, or in the excrements of fish and flesh
eating animals, are not abundant in ordinary
soils ; which is also true. As it takes not far
from five pounds of corn to form one of beef, we
should not be surprised to find that nature is as
true to vegetable as to animal life, and so ena
bles a pound of beef to produce five of corn.
The quantity ofdifferents kinds of food consum
ed to form a given weight of flesh is an interest
ing study. Three and a half pounds of cooked
corn-meal have yielded one of pork; or three
hundred and fifty pounds have produced one
hundred of the flesh and fat of swine. Thrifty
sheep give quite as large a return; cattle a little
less. This whole subject needs further investi
gation. The circumstance that some animal
perchance eats the beef in advance of corn
plants, affects not the purpose of nature in the
least.
The reader may infer from the remarks offered
on “the philosophy of improving land,” that we
regard good economy in feeding plants, and in
saving the most valuable raw materials for mak
ing them, as the direct road to such improve
ment. We assume that the soil has been prop
erly drained and limed, if it needs either, and
that it does not lack vegetable mould. In addi
tion to what has been said about the elements of
crops, and their scarcity in ordinary soils, we
desire to call attention to a few of the best plants
for enriching land, which draw from the subsoil
and atmosphere the most valuable atoms consum
ed in making human food and clothing. Some
plants, like mosses, flourish on naked rocks;
others can subsist on sterile sands; while by
far the larger part of the vegetable kingdom
would have no existence, unless the surface of
the earth possessed nearly the degree of pro
ductiveness now exhibited. Destroy this pro
ductiveness by tillage or other means, and in
time you make a barren, naked desert. But, in
stead of impoverishing the earth, a sound public
policy demands that we Bbould increase its nat
ural fruitfulness, to meet the increasing wants
of an ever-augmenting population To achieve
this result in the most economical manner, re
course must be had to the agency of growing
vegetation. Among the plants best adapted to
the improvement of land are the grasses, trifo
lias, legumes, turnips, and other root crops. In
skillful hands, these can be so managed as to
produce a great deal of cheap manure to enrich
the surface of the earth, while the
substance of the manure will be mainly drawn
from the subsoil and the atmosphere. Peas have
proved tho best crop in the southern States for
the renovation of partially exhausted fields ; but
we are inclined to believe that a legume called
sainfoin, sanctum faenum, or “ holy hay,” which
has long been cultivated in the south of Europe,
and is remarkable for the length of its roots and
the depth to which they descend iuto earth, will
be found, on a fair trial, a more valuable plant
The roots of the pea plant do not descend so far
as those of clover and lucerne, and, on that ac
count, do not draw so much of the mineral food
of crops from the deep resources of the earth ns
is desirable. In an interesting chapter on “ St.
Foin,” Jethro Tull remarks:
“The reason why St. Foin, in poor ground,
will make forty times greater iuciease than tho
natural turf is the prodigious length of its per
pendicular tap root. I have been informed by
a person of undoubted credit, that he has brok
en off one of these roots in a pit, and measured
the part broken off, and found it fourteen feet.
This tap root has a multitude of very long hori
zontal roots at the upper part thereof, which fill all
the upper stratum or staple of the ground; and
of the thousands of St. Foin roots I have seen
broken up, I never found one that was without
horizontal roots near the surface, after one sum
mer’s growth.”
In a note, the same author has these re
marks:
“There is a vulgar opinion that St. Foin will
not succeed on any land where there is not an
understratum of stone or chalk to stop the roots
from running deep; else, they say, the plants
spend themselves in the roots only, and cannot
thrive in those parts of them which are above
ground. I am almost ashamed to give an answer
to this.”
“ It is certain that every plant is nourished by
its roots,as an animal is by its guts; and tho
more and larger roots it lias, the more nourish
ment it receives and prospers in proportion to
it. St. Foin always succeeds where its roots
run deep; and when it does not succeed, it nev
er lives to have long roots,” See.
There is strong sense and plain Saxon in what
this English farmer writes, who was about a
century ahead of his time in agricultural im
provement.
He says: “ Any dry ground may bo made
to produce this noble plant, be it ever so poor;
but the richest soil will yield the most of it, and
thj best. If you venture to plant with the
drill, according to the method wherein I have al
ways had the best success, let the land be well
prepared before you plant it.” Tull was careful
not to cover tho seed over a half inch in
depth, and not to have it thick in the drill, par
ticularly on poor land. In France, with decent
culture, two or three good crops of this “holy
hay ” are made in a year. In favor of thin seed
ing and the resources of the subsoil, Tull has the
following remarks:
“It is common to see a single St. Foin have a
bigger tap root than twenty thick ones, [thickly
planted,] and their length is in proportion to
their bigness; therefore, that single plant may
well be supposed to have twenty times more
depth of earth to supply it than all those twenty
small roots can reach to. And though these
under strata are not so rich as the upper, yet
never having been drained by any vegetable,
they do afford a considerable quantity of nourish
ment to those which first enter them."
The above was written a hundred and thirty'
years ago, and before subsoiling and the analy
sis of soils were known. Science and experi
ence have alike demonstrated the fact that tho
” order-strata ” of an impoverished soil nre rich
er than the earth or stratum at the surface. The
following practical suggestions are worthy of at
tention
‘Notwithstanding I commend the planting
of St. Foin thin, that most of the roots may be
single, yet I have fields that were drilled with
but four gallons of seed to an acre, and yet, the
rows being seven inches assunder, the roots are
so thick in them that the ground is covered with
the plants, which seem to be as thick (in ap
pearance) as most sown St. Foin whereon seven
or eight bushels are sown on an acre. I have
other fields that were drilled with about two
gallons of seed to an acre, (which is five seeds
to each square foot,) the rows sixteen inches
assunder, that produce better crops though the
ground be poorer. The drilled St. Foin, being
regular, is more single, though as thick as the
sown, and for that reason always makes a better
crop, and lasts longer than the sown that is of
the same thickness, but irregular.” And he
says: “ I have now a great many single St
Foin plants in my fields that are near thirty
years of age, and yet seem as young and vigor
ous as ever; and yet it is common for thick St.
Foin to wear out in nine or ten years, and in
poor lands much sooner if not oftened manured
with soot, peat ash, or coal ash.”
Wood ashes and lime would doubtless be the
best fertilizers in most districts of the United
States. We invite particular attention to the
age or long life of this legume, or “ttoly hay.”
It reminds us of the “ tree of Heaven,” (China
tree,) whose multitudinous roots spread all over
a small neighborhood, and whose leaves are de
voured so greedily by cattle.
Tull learned to cultivate St. Foin in Langue
doc, where he spent several years, and was able
in England to cut his earliest crop in the begin
ning of May, before blossoming. He divides the
crops into four sorts, viz.: “ Ist, the virgin; 2d
the blossomed; 3d, the full grown; 4th, the
thrashed hay.” Although the following re
marks are a little too ethereal, in the main they
are true: “ The first of these (virgin hay) is best
of all beyond comparison; and, except lucerne,
has not in the world its equal. This must be
cut before the blossoms appear; for when it
stands until full bloom, the most spiritous, volatile
and nourishing part of its juices is spent on the
next generation; and this being done, all at
once the sap is much depauperated, and the St.
Foin can never recover that richness it had in
its virgin state. And though in blossom it bo
literally in the flower of its age, it is really in
the declension of it. If it be said that what is
not in the stalk has gone into the flower, it is a
mistake, because the greater part of its quintes
sence perspires thence into the atmosphere.”
The aroma, or “quintessence" of “holyhay”
in blossom, is doubtless something very nice,
but subsequent experience in hay-making and
vegetable physiology does not sustain the prac
tice of cutting forage plants before they blossom
to improve the food or crop. Our author says:
“ The owner of this hay, if he be wise, will not
sell it at any common price, but endeavor to
have some of it every year if possible for his own
use.” A full crop of this hay cut when in blossom
is 3 tons per acre. In stacking St.Foin,Tull recom
mends pulling up a basket in the centre of the
stack, a3 the rick is made to form a “vent-hole”
for air to circulate through and carry off damp
ness. Sainfoin seed is cheap and abundant in
France; and we should be happy to see the cul
tivation of this perennial, deep-rooted legume
fairly tested in the central and southern States,
where we believe it would bo valuable. Its
seed is worth more per bushel than oats, and is
hardly inferior to peas as food for domestic ani
mals.
Lucerne, the herba medico of the Romans, has
maintained a high reputation in the south of
Europe for twenty-five centuries. It has been
succesfully cultivated in Chili. Peru and Brazil,
and from the last named country introduced into
this under the name of Brazilian clover.
If the Chilian clovor seed ordered from Valpa
raiso should turn out to be a variety of the med
icago sativa, or sainfoin, we shall not be disap
pointed. Mr. Loudon, in his Encyclopedia of
Gardening, says: “Lucern is highly extolled
by Roman writers; it is also of great antiquity
in Spain, Italy and the south ofFrance; is much
grown in Persia and Peru, and mown in both
countries all the year round."
Wo have traced the roots of this plant grow
ing in the light, sandy soil of Georgia to tho
depth of 34 inches; and, like sainfoin, peas, and
red clover, it draws largely on the atmosphere
for its organic nourishment.
With a directness from the “ well of English
undefiled” which we cannot but admire, Tull
speaks of its “ tap root that penetrates deeper
into the bowels of the earth than any other veg
etable she produces.” He describes a plant on
his farm 22 years old, and still in its youth. He
says: “ Its roots are abundantly larger than the
roots of St. Foin; I have one that measures very
near 2 inches in diameter; those which are high
er than the ground have a bark like a tree.
Upon this account, and by its stalks springing
again just below the place where cut off, and by
the woody hardness of its stalks when they
stand too long without cutting, it seems that lu
cerne is of a nature nearly approaching to that
of a shrub. It is the only hay in the world that
can pretend to excel or equal St. Foin.” This
“ medica ” and classical hay, which was cultiva
ted in bedß by tho Romans without iron-plough,
hoe or rake, is too well known to need any en
comiums. It does best in a deep, permeable
soil; and where the sub-soil is compact, it must
be broken, either by trenching or the use of
the sub-soil plough. Like St. Foin, it is best
Cultivated in drills, which should be far onougli
apart for a horse to walk between the rows to
draw a hoe or cultivator.
If these plants shall prove as popular in this
country as in Europe, it will be a very profitable
business to raise their seeds for sale. Alter the
farmers began to sow clover seed in the north
ern States for the purpose of renovating wheat
lands, the production of this seed was for many
years the most profitable branch of agriculture
known in that region. At present, clover seed
is too cheap for the business to bo very remu
nerative. We do not believe that lucerne or St.
Foin, is likely to take the place of clover in any
district where the latter does well; but they are
worthy of trial on “ clover sick ” fields.
The pines that grow spontaneously on the im
poverished and abandoned fields in the southern
Atlantic States, present a very instructive lesson
to all that seek to understand nature’s process
for restoring fertility to the surface of the earth.
Nature hauls no lime, nor marl, nor manure of
any kind. She never ploughs, nor hoes, nor
stirs the soil at all; yet she forms a black mould
whore man had robbed the ground of this ne
cessary aid to the support of the higher orders
of plants and animals. To study closely her op
erations in the process of enriching soils, is the
highest wisdom of the practical husbandman.
The seeds of pine trees have a structure that pe
culiarly fits them to he carried a great distance
by birds and winds, and scattered far and wide
over the whole surface of the earth. Under fa
vorable circumstances these seods germinate and
grow into forests. We have stCMied only tho
sprouting and growth of tho seed of the long-