The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1856-10-28

what warmer than ours the deposition of
moisture. under the forms of rain. hail or
snow. instead of being confined to particu-
lar seasons, occur, as with US, in success
sion-one or the other of them, at moder-
ate intervals, throughout the year. The
modes of culture, therefore, that are appro-
pirate to these famous countries, may be
expected TO approach more nearly to what
obtains amongst ourselves. 1t is possible,
therefore, that by the study of ancient clas-
ses, some of which touch incidentally upon
the topic of agriculture. and few, Us Viz
gil. Cato, Varro and Columel!a, treat pro-
| fesse eddy of it, we may be able to learn
something in regard to the best methods Of
managing our farms here in North Carolina
In point of fact we can find in them vcry
title that is beyond the science and skill
of an intelligent negro on any common
plantation.
We will leave the ancients then, pass by
the dark ages, and come down at once TO
comparatively modern times. Britain, the
country of the ancestors of most us. was
long like the rest of Europe, thinly peopled
and badly cultivated. Even after the re-
vival of learning, the business of farming
was not at higher level in regard to either
theory or practice than amongst the ancient
Greeks and Romans. The first considera-
bic improvements were suggested by man
! in whose views and plans for better method
of culture. truth and orrOr were strangely
mingled. Down to his time nearly all crops
I had been sOwn broadcast, as the snail
grains are generally with US.
| In 1871, or one hundred and twenty five
years ago, Jcthro Tull published his trea-
/ tise on horsc-hoeing. He was an earnest
and keen observer, and noticing the effect
produced bv u careful cultivation and the
! I0osening of the soil, he drew the conclu-
sion that the one and only thing required
! for the production of good crop, beyond
| the mere eradication of the weeds, is to
| open the ground repeatcdly-to keep it,
| in fact, always loose and mellow, so that
! the roots of the growing plants may easily
penetrate it in search of the HOuriShment
/ they require. lie made small account of
manure, almost the only use of which he
represented to be to divide the tcrrestrile
matter, which affords nutrimcnt to the
! mouths of the vegetable rootlcts which end
can be accomplished, he said, more COM
| plrtely and in a way in all respects pre-
ferahlo, by tiliagc. Tull begins by SHOW
/ ing that the roots of plants extend much
! farther than is commonly believed, and
| then proceeds to inquire into the nature of
| the food. After examining several hypo-
theses, he decides this food to be fine par
ticlcs of earth. 1t = necessary, therefore,
not only to pulvcrize the soil by repeated
ploughings before il is seeded. but as it be-
comes gradually more and more compress
ed and hardened afterwards, recourse must
he had to tillagc, or horse-hocing, as he
called it, whilst the plants are shooting up,
which also destroys tho weeds that would
deprive them of the nourishment that is in
readiness for them. His system Of tillage
was very much the same that has long been
/ practiscd in this country in the culture of
/ corn, and at later date of cotton, only
| he woUld discard manure altogether as too
| filthy u substance to be employed in the
/ production of what is to be used for food :;
and he would apply the method or process
of ploughing or horSo-hoeing with some
/ kind of coulter or cultivator to the crops,
where each plant occupies much smaller
| space than does q stalk of corn or cotton,
as in the case Of turnips and wheat. Of
/ course, when the ground is to be stirred
| between rows which are SO much nearer to-
! gether, it becomes indispensable that those
rows be perfectly straight and true, their
/ distances from each other exactly equal,
! and that the whole business be conducted
/ with the utmost care and precision. Tull
/ contributed indirectly, therefore. to the neat
ness and beauty of the agriculture of Great
! Britain, and the perfection of the methods
now in use there. The turnip crop, in
! particular, which receives so much atten-
! ton there, thrives wonderfully under this
! kind of management and if introduced into
smaller patches that are seen at this season
Of the year somewhere about every planta-
ton in North Carolina, would have an ex-
cellcnt effect. With the same expenditure
of manure crop of equal goodness would
be produced over a much larger surface,
! and we should have better supply of an
article On which to feed our wives and
daughters during the winter. Tull repre-
! scented a rotation of crops to be unneces-
sary al least, if not utterly useless.
Tho origin Of the modern chemistry dates
no further back than a single century. In
1856, DR.. Black published his Thesis de
| Magncsia Alba" in which he showed that,
besides the air we breathe, there Is at least
one other kind with properties wholly diff
fcrent, and it became probable that there
| are others still; not improbable that there
are many other such substances.-
| Chemists entered with ardor into the new
: field of Investigation that va in Sucb man