The Sumter banner. [volume] (Sumterville, S.C.) 1846-1855, 1853-10-05
From the Charleston Mercury.
ERlG Small qnnainS.

attention which they SO fully merit and
so amply repay. 1t is pretty gencr-
ally proved that Wheat cannot be
produced on our Sea Island lands, but
it is not necessary to 90 far from
salt waterin order to be able to grow it
with reasonable success. When it can
be grown SO chcaply, can see no rca-
son for dcvoting every effort to the
production ota staple 50 uncertain, and
at times, SO unp,nftablc, as Cotton,
and depending upon other to supply
us with wheat -four, which can be made
quite as good and as chcaply at home.
10 raise Barley, it is absolutely ne
cessary that it should be sown in
land rather sandy, and either natural.
ly rich or made SO by liberal manurng
Barley is not used among us as
food, but when cut green is the sweet
est, and among the earliest, of all the
small grains, and when ripe, furnishes
excellent and very early food for hur-
ses and poultry.
Rye can be grown i'll aln ost cv-
cry soil, even the poorest, though it
prefers sandy one, and the produ
very materially depends upon the fer
tility ofthc soil. For cutting q ecu, it
is neither SO early nor SO palatable to
stock, as either Wheat or Barley, but
it can stand severe cold and close pas
turing much better than either of them.
The Oat is the most valuable as
well as the most generally cultivated
in the lower country of all the
small grains.
For cutting green or pasturing, Sep
tember is the proper month for SOW
ing all Of these grains, but when the
grain is the consideration, October is
the better season. When sown later,
both Wheat and Rye are less produc-
tive, more liable to rust, and more un.
certain; while Oats and Barley may be
proftably sown during the months of
January, February and March, though
the earlier they are sown, the more
productive and certain the crop will
generally prove. An excellent time
to SOW Oats is the first half ofJan.
uary, rs when sown at this time they
will be up and green before the cold
spell that we usually have in Febru
ary, which would kill them if in the
white sprout.
The largest and best crops Of all of
these grains that have ever made were
made, by running furrow with a
small plough, whether Barsharc or
Bull-tongue, on the Cotton, Corn or
Pea beds, as close to the stalks or
vines, which need not be cut for this
purpose, as can be done convenient
ly, turnin the earth downwards into
the alley. The grains are then sown by
hand, and covered by another furrow,
Of the same plough, talk n from lit
tie higher up.
The quantity of seed necessary will
materially depend upon the fertility of
the soil and the time Of sowing. Early
sowing and fertile soils require less
seed than late sowing poor soil, when
sown in the above manner about half
the usual quantity of seed per acre on
iy is required rs it ,ilIcrs much more;
when large crop is, desired, and the
cotton seed can be had, six parts of
cotton seed may be mixed with each
part of grain, and the two sown to-
gether. 1t is easy to Judge when the
sowing is as thick as desired. have
successfully pursued another plan in
root potatoe land, where no hogs are
kept or allowed to have access; this
consists in stripping down the vines and
siding or undermining the beds as
usual, then strew or SOW the oats &c
over the vines &c. and cover by pull
ling with care, the earth from the mid
die Of the bed across the alley, so as
to cover all or most ofthe seed. Crops
sown in either way neither admit of
nor require any further cultivation,
even in very stiff soils, resist drought
or rains much better than when sown in
the usual way, and produce very near
ly, ifnot quite, as much. The pat sea
son | sowed l l-2 acres Of Rye and
4 acres of Oats to the hand, by the
first method, without missing the Ia
Dor required to sow the crop, and
although the spring was unusually
unfavorable yet made the largest crop
of both these grains that ! have ev-
er made, and both filled well.
have made good crops of both
Rye and Oats by ploughing up the
land, trenching furrows every 25 inch
es with the bull tongue plough, and
covering with another furrow Of the
same plough; when thus sown, they
require to be worked in the spring at
least once, and the best cultivation then
in stiff soils, is one furrow of n subsoi,
or rather ground mole plough: which
breaks up the soil three or four inch
es deep. Without some such plough.
ing, the crop. on such soils is apt to
be poor, even though worked through
with the hoe. This working can very
seldom be given without much incon-
venience. The crop thus made, ev-
en- though it may sometimes prove a
better one, yet always costs much, and
sometimes more than it is worth.
If the corn, &c. stalks are at any
time cut down these crops might, ev-
en- in bedded lands, be harvested with
little labor or loss of time, by using