Cheraw gazette. [volume] (Cheraw, S.C.) 1835-1838, 1836-11-29
RURAL ECONOMY.
MEMORANDA, FOR THOSE WHO WOULD M
PROVE IN HUSBANDRY.


PROVE IN HUsBANDRY.
Draining, manuring, alternating crops,
and root culture, arc the best and cheapest
means of increasing the profits Of a tillagc
farm-they form the basis of good hus-
bandry.
1. Draining-The frs: requisite is to
Givest soil of surplus moisture. Lands
that are wet upon the soil or sub-soil, will
not bring good grain or grass. If the evil
is owing to surface water, it stagnaes in
summer, and becomes prciudicial to crops
growing upon i. andto animals. lfit pro-
ceeds from springs, it keeps the temperature
orthe soil too low for healthy vegetation. In
either case it prevents the land being work
ed early, or during wet seasons, and retards
the decomposition of the vegetable matters,
which should serve as the food of plants.
When properly drained, wet or marshy lands
are among the most productive soils, as they
generally abound in vegetable ma ter, accu-
mulated and preserved by water. With
out draining, they are comparatively unpro-
ductve. and are often nuisanccs.
2. Mdnures are the true food of plants,
be the spcculations of theorists what they
may. Every farmer may demonstrate this
truth in his practice. We can no more OBJ
tain good crops from poor soil, than we
can obtain good beef from Il lean pasture.
Vegetable matters constitute alike the raw
material for beef and for corn. The ele-
mentary matters of both are materially the
same.-Every vegetable and every ANNA!
substance, or whaever has been such, how
ever nauseous and offensive, con aims food
for our farm crops and the fertility of our
soil, and the profits of our husbandrv, will
depend in great measure upon the ccono-
my with which we husband this vegetable
food, and the Judgment with which we apply
it to our crops Without good crops we
cannot rear good animals; and without ami
mails we cannot have dung 10 enrich our
grounds. Every crop we take from field
serves more or less TO exhaust the soil Of
fertility and unless we return 20 it some
equivalent in the form of manure, it will in
time become barren waste. Again, Us
. animal and vegetable matters begin 10 fer
ment, and to dissipate their ferilizing prop
critics, as soon Us they are brought in con-
tract with heat, moisture and air, they should
be buried in the soil in the spring at kr,hcst,
in an incipient state of fermentation. And
as the hocd crops, such as corn, potatoes.
beans, ruta baga, Sc, thrive best upon the
volatile parts Of manure, the long manure
should be fed to them. The farmer wio
has good soil, should take care to keep it
good; and he who has poor soil should
strive constantly to make it better, as every
advance he makes in improving it, increases
his productive capal.-This preservation,
or increase of fertility, cannot be well effect
ed, without due regard to
3. Alternating Crops. Few soils will
bear arepetition Of the same crop for sue
cessve years, even with the aid Of dung,
without dminution ofproduct, whether in
tllage or grass. One reason ofthis is, that
each kind ofcrop takes from the soil spe-
cifc food, which other kinds do not take in
like quantity. Hence, during an ntermis-
sion of four or five years there is ordinarily
restored to the soil the specific food of that
kind which it is capable of growing. Guilt
waited crops are sometimes grouped, IN al
ternate husbandry, in three classes. viz. dry
crops, embracing all the small grains, and
which are most exhausting; I'd, grass crops,
embracing timothy, orchard grass and
other perennial varieties, which exhaust less,
but which run out Or sensibly diminish in
product, in few years; and Sd, green crops,
comprising clover, turnips, &C., which puI.
verse and ameorate the soil, and exhaust
least Of all. Where convenient a crop oI
one Of each ofthese classes should follow
in succession. the grass continuing 20 occu.
py the ground whilcit continues TO yield a
good crop of hay. If retained too long in
grass, the soil becomes too compact, and
impervious to the genial influences Of hea
and air. 1t is particularly recommended
that two dry crops should not succeed eac'
other, except wheat or rye may follow oats
when the latter is made fallow crop upon
an old grass ley. Although the deteriora,
ton under bad system Of cropping may
be slow, and almost imperceptible, yet both
science and experience teach us that it is
inevitable, and fatal 10 the ultimate hopes O.
the husbandman. Many of the old States
afford amentable evidence this truth.
4. Root Culture is one OF the best gifts
which modern improvement has bestowed
upon husbandry. 1t gives the most anima
food with the least labor; it is, under gooc
management, the most certain in lis returns
it gives the most manure: it best amclo
rates the soil, and fits it for dry crops; an,
it affords an important link in the chain o
alteration. Il is considorcA lie h;,siS o.! COO.