Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, South-Carolina) 1852-1852, 1852-09-03

gradually tnu5 permitting LIS f'Nth SuliaSe W
imbibc much Of the water during its fall. A
good soaking rain Of twelve hours, i'll ordinary
seasons, will not make a rise Of more than about
one inch on the eartL's surface, which is about
equal to one hundred tons Of water per acre.
If your land is broken deep inhibition is more
rapid, so you will perceive that rain seldom if
ever falls, which can raise the water sufficiently
high to overflow your ridges. In a dry season,
when the ground is hard, and benign Providence
rreets YOU with welcome shower, instead Of its
running ont of your field, almost as fast as it
falls, or collecting in the lowest places, you can
retain it in equal quantities just where it fell,
each mi ddle watering the roots of the plants i'll
the ridge below it.
But suppose you may say, why not give these
rows little fal Just sufficient to take of the su-
periluity of water or why not have drain bitches,
irving fall of three inches to the stride Of the
level, twelve fec) Or mere if YOU prefer it {!
Ny rep py would be this: that YOU can easily
make your ridges so that they will retain what
water falls, and see no necessity for nor ad-
vantage to be gained, by running it out Of the
field whereas can point out considerable dctri-
mcnt to accrue therctrom. Thus the richest,
and best constituents of Your soil are always
the lightcst, either floating on the surface OF the
water or being suspended by it, whereas the
minerals, or heavy portions. sink. Many Of the
most valuable salts arc easily dissolved in rain
WATER and thus carried away. Also a plain
geological fact is here presented to your mind,
the frequent or constant running or dripping Of
water Oh particular portion Of the carth's sur
face lays the foundation for and creates pebbles.
If You will examine your gullics, or water fur
rows, even those of recent standing, YOU will find
many hardened concretons, which ere long will
be pebbles This process Of allowing water to
run down the rows, however slow it may ira
verse them, causes the soil to become harder,
(bakcs it as it wcre) by taking away the lishtest
constituents, and leaving the heavier it breaks
up in plowing in clots all of which acts directly
counter to the known laws of minute divisibility,
which presents proportionatcly greater surface,
for the action and reaction of chemical agents.
Look at tic banks Of every creek in your
ncighborhood that ovcrtowS, then ask yourself
from whence came the loose loan and sediment,
and drift. A:madvcrt for moment to the
banks of the great flowing Nile," and think
that you will readily admit, the rows should all
be put on level, where the land will admit Of
it. But when We pass all angle Of 45 degrees,
and rs we continno to ascend, you will have to
give a rroportionate fall in your rows, varying
from trec to six inches the stride, as the ncccs-
>itv of tic case demands And now We will &C
ccpt tic hill side bitches, because we cannot do
without them; they carry Il great deal Of our
agricultural chemistry out Of the field, it is evi-
dent; We should therefore avoid them, if posi-
bic, never using item except when the elevation
demands it. w. \. RAISEs, NJ. D.
Horn Lake, HISS, July, 1852.