The Lancaster ledger. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1852-1905, 1852-08-25
From The Soil Of the South,
A Retrospective Sketch.

We have now passed through the period
OF work in the crop, and may profitably re-
view the lahors and operations of the past
season, that the experience thus gained may
not be lost, but carefully noted and remem-
bered, making us wiser for the future, by
the recollection ef our successes or our fai-
lures, and the causes which produced them
The popularity of the seasons and their in
fnences upon the crops, all go to make mp
the sum of practical knowledge, and have in
them lessons If instruction for the future
Our methods Of culture, and the effect upon
the growing crop, are all to be remembered,
if we would grow wiser as we grow older.
In these reflections we imagine not few of
our friends will find that they would have
done better to have planted less, and cult
waited more perfectly, We have been on the
lookout little to see how our instructions
have been obeyee. and how the business of
culture has proceeded. Some fields which
we have noticed have exhibited liberality of
feeling on the part of their owners which
made it hard to say on which side they be-
longed, whether they were for the grass or
the crop, 80 equal was the contest. We
had not expected any such neutrality, and
though the signs seemed to point that way,
yet our charity had not allowed us to con-
alude that there was indeed any such want
of preference. We rccolect the anccdote
of our friend A., the butcher, and sup
pose IN his case we may perhaps find the
eXplanohon. A-was an epeagctic, bust
ness sort of man. and had gone out on
horseback into the country to seek supplies.
He bought pig at one place and n calf at
another, and undertook to carry them both
home. Accordingly he tied each with line
and mounted his horse to lead them. II go
happened that the horse, (who was n mettlc-
some steed) the pig and the calf, all took
notion at the same time to run away. With
line i'll each hand and the bride in his teeth
he resolved to run the race. He soon foudd
however, that he was oyertasked, and that
the rider must be sacrificed or something
given up. We do cot recollcct his decision,
but you can guess at the balance of the story.
If any body has been in strait, and felt,
along in June, when the days were hot and
the showers frequent, and the grass grew as
well upside rs down, that they had under
taken too much, leave them to make the
application, and correct all errors and mis-
calculations for the future. We saw, in our
examination, some corn which showed sipns
OF m"ltreatment. That and the grass had
Ter many weeks grown rs quietly and peace
ably together as if in "Eden's Garden" when
just after the wet spell in June, the strongest
mule and best plowman We're set to work
with the large turning plow, to do the dou-
bic work of killing and burying at tho same
operation. The corn lacked distressed and
seemed to have put oh yellow, as n badge of
mourning for the sudden loss of compan
ion with which it had lived in such intimate
association for so long time. We fear il
never recovered from its Affections again.
But we hope no blame may be attached to
the master we doubt not he was doino his
best, and holding on with both hands and
his teeth all the time. We advise the record.
ing in the farm journal just woat were his
faelngs, and especially all relcntings about
over cropping, which may have come up
just then. Our memory is treacherous, and
will not do to be trusted until next planting
time; and unless we have some record of tho
contlis's and the difficulties, and the rcsolyes
of the past, we will be sure to forget again.
Sickbed repentancea are rarely to be trusted.
We have taken some notes for ourselves;
for though wo were not quite run to the
teeth, we had both hands full. The moral
OF the whole story is, that we attempt too
much. We may stsuggle through with
these large crops, but it is debatable oues-
ton whether our immediate gains are preat-
er, while there can be no doubt about those
that are ultimate. We will find most gene
rally that some interest has to be sacrificed
and given up in the yield Of the growing
crop, without saying anything of the wear
and tear of the land and operatives, and the
loss of that quiet and peace which belong
peculiarly to snug and we'll managed bust.
ness, and which we esteem to be of great
yalna o'