Southern standard. [volume] (Columbus, Miss.) 1851-1856, 1851-05-24
Hillside pitching, Again.

o;,, the services of a friend; but when health
fa;Is or adversely comes and we feel our necd OF
aid we learn to appreciate the advice OF the one,
- tho. kindness of the other. We suppose the
nlanting community to be in this condiuon' amer
The ruinous rains which have so recently swept over
our farms, bearing away the soil, ana deiacinS
powed surface OF our neiuS' anu
the enquiry has arisen in many
I do to save my land from devastation ana rum
MANY have sought and found that protection III
hillside ditching and many more have no oouD'
heen looking to this, as one OF the things WHICH
must be DONE at some more CONVENIENT ttDte' anu
inst now. after this new demonstration OF want |
resolve to act. Perhaps some who are VIKING
NAV need instruction. and all will doubtless hear
with pleasure, the method pursued and the results
If successful practice We like these kind OF de-
T,onatrat;ons from one who can tell US what has
baen done rather than well framed theory, as 10
what can be We have before asked tor commu-
nicatons on this subject and in the absence OF any
recent improvements made known 10 US or any
better thoughts of own to offer, we Puolsn d
communication from one whose experience Is oio
and whose success has been complete, and thihK II
not the less valuable because it was written year
aro This article also has the merit of being plain,
PRACTICAL and therefore easy of comprehension
and adoption. To those who are inclined to make
stand against the further depredations upon their
fields by washing rains, we commend the carelul
rerusaI of the communication of r. d. Powell,
ST.. who commenced his operations in Va, stop
ped his gues and saved his lands from washing
there and is now operating successfully at Column
| bus, Mississippi. These are the arguments and
the proofs that ought to tell and if we suffer loss
when the remedy is so perfectly within our reach,
let the blame and the consequences, all be ours
This might be the conclusion, and no one allowed
to enter protest, if the of the soil termlna
ted with our occupancy. But poSterlty has inter
ests and claims An old friend of ours once re-
marked, that when he came to manhood he was
mad with all the generations which had gone be-
FORE for though they had lived long, and had good
opportunity, they have failed to provide for him.
and that he had his fortune all to make for himself
This complaint may be reversed by our successors,
and urged perhaps with more propriety, when it Is
said YOU inherited a good country, but so abused
it in its USE that you have squandered all for your
use and benefit, and have left none for us
Soil Of the South.
The washing of broken or billy cultivated lands
can be prevented and the low lands dried, by
ming correctly hillside bitches.
: First-Run off your bitches with a rafter level,
giving one inch fall on said level for every ten feet
l The feet of the level being ten feet apart boy
will follow whoever carries the level, and every
time he moves it, will make chop with hoe.
Second-After you done running off the
ditch with the level, you then take two horse
turning pillow, and pillow out the ditch by following
2 the chops, except where chops are not made one
after the other, but run more like the worm Of
e crooked fence. Where you find them in this
: way, walk ahead of the team, and let the pillow
! follow you, leaving some of the chops on youl
right and some on your left to keep the ditch
II in handsome form, and to run it as near as pos
= sible by the level. The said pillow, after running
u the first furrow, throwing the dirt dorm hill, vii
: return the lower side throwing the dirt up hill
q so to only let it meet the fresh dirt thrown on
, of the first furrow and continue the burrows de
Il scrbed till you run three, turning the dirt dow
> hill, and three turning the dirt up hill, to form
. strong bed then let your hoe hands follow anC
Is pull all the dirt out of the three burrows the up
y per side upon the bed formed below by the pillow
,, You will then have ditch from 16 to 10 inche
ii wide-then let the pillow run in the ditch three
y times and pull out that dirt also on the saiC
III bed on the lower side of the ditch as before ant
you will then have a ditch from to 0 inches deep
Oh which will take off large quantity of water
These bitches must be thick enough on the hill
e sides take off the water before collects enough
Is to wash away the soil from the corn and cotto
1 rows. 1t depends upon the steepness of the hill
1 sides how far these ditchese should be apart
le have run them from 90 to 40 and 60 yards apart
OF ANY person can run the level after using it shor
= time. The most important part of hillside ditch
~ ing is to know where to start from. Where Their
y valley between two hills begin the first ditto
II high up IN this valley, and run it out down Hill
both sides of this valley, each hill SIDE an
: then step off many yards as you wish to com
;" mence another one below the first ditch, and OF
~ posite the place you commenced the first one
ie running it out in the same way as before Pre-
y coed in running your ditches as described, owe
- the plantation where the land lies right On
~ long hillside, you must begin the first ditch b
Is going up as high you find there has been co
~ lection of water enough on the hillside to CON
I mence washing away the SOIL and begin your fir.
III ditch, and then the bitches below it as befor
- directed You will find, if your bitches are we
~ run on the hsides, they take all the water thu
falls on the hills from your fiat or low lands; anC
of course they dry off much sooner and the pool
- er hill soil is not washed down on the low an
nc richer lands
" All your and cotton rows can be ru
it straight, and up and down hill across the bitches
ed the Plower being very particular to lift the plo
over the bitches
Remember, too, that it is not the water that fall
of upon your land that washes away the soil but
is the collection of it after it falls and the ditch,
"a must be thick enough to receive the water in poo
~ time to prevent the washing. If you should fin
81 your bitches are not thick enough, after irwin
% them, add IN another wherever you choose.
d Experience will be your best teacher. after 70
10 commence. GU can run well horizontal rows, b
"a running them with little more fall than the ditcl
80 es have, to prevent the water from breaking II
81 BEDS Begin those rows on the lower side Of II
20 upper ditch, and run off the rows down TO II
80 next ditch, emptyng all of them into the ditch h