Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1858-10-09

DEEP PLow1Ne.-very much has been said,
and much more needs to be said, on the subject
of deep plowing. In his address, delivered last
week, at the State Fair at Pittsburgh, VIM. A.
Stokes, Esq, said some very sensible and per-
tinent things on thesubject. We cannot forbear
quoting from it He says:
Having your farm of size adapted to your
means, the next point is, how is tito be cult
vatedI Various, in many other respects, this
one general rule may be safely followed-that
the soil should be cultivated to the greatest
practicable, available depth. say practicable.
meaning attainable by ordinary means, and
when I.speak of avaiLqbls depth, mean such a
depth MS will stir up soil capable of contributng
to vegetable life.
1t would be bad economy, to resort to ex--
cessive power at monstrous expense for the
purpose of penetrating the ground to great
depth, and it would be absurd to stir up a
subsoii composed of gravels, stones or such
other materials as hardly contributes to fertility
But with these reasonable limitations, the deep
| er you plough the better
Consider for moment, that the aggregate
productive power of land depends upon the
quantity rendered available for vegetable life.
| Whether this aggregate be of great superficiea
and shallow depth, or of limited surface and
greater depth. The absolute quantity of avail
able matter, the proportions being preserved,
will remain the same. II one man cultivates
one hundred acres to the depth of four inches,
and his neighbor, with only Fifty acres, ploughs
eight inches deep, each, in point of part, cult
Yates the same quantity of ground. The only
difference is, that one has it spread over larger
surface than the other
AS much of the cost of cultivation depends
almost exclusively on the extent of the su4Juce,
it is clear that the more condensed the farmers
operations the better 1t is cheaper to raise
thirty bushels of wheat from one acre than it is
to raise 1t on two acres, and SO with all other
| crops The real extent of our farms NAV be
enormously enlarged tloDntoard8, without buy.
| ing the land-wiIhout increased taxation
without additional cost for fencing, keeping all
snug, compact aud under eyes, In a wet
season, deep blowing, and especially subsoiling,
operates as series of drains to carry off the
suPerhuouS moisture; in dry season it affords
a reservoir of water, which dampens the earth
and nourIshes plants, so that by deep blowing
We almost defy the contingencies of weather.
The sound sense Of all that is said has very
often impressed itself on our mind. Whilst i'm
provement and revolution is going on in all other
branches of business, that of Turning Che very
foundation of wealth and existence itselO seems
to make no advance, in our country. The great
fault is that our farmers are rapacious and try
to cultivate Too much land. We never in our
life heard farmer complain that he had too
much land, yet the truth is that half of them
have too much.
1t isa truth beyond all dispute, that moro
money may be made out of farm fifty acres,
properly cultivated, than what is ordinarily
made out of our wide Northumberland farms.
Nearly any one may be convinced of this that
will only take the trouble to look at the subject
in the light of fair calculation, still the broad
extent of surface presents such attractions that
farmers, in the face oftheir own interests, con-
SANITY clamor away for more lands. Now it is
true that themor land that is cultivated the
greater will be the production, yet, it don't, by
any means, that the more surface that is plowed
and sown, the greateris the production.
The true philosophy oftho productiveness of
land is well expressed above 1t consists in the
quantity rendered available, and the quantity
rendered available depends as much on.depth as
superficial extent of land. But the advantages
ofhaving the same available quantity, incon-
densed limits, are SO apparent that the mere
Suggestion is sufficient to show the excellence,
ofthe system contended for Tfz
Our farmers ought to pay more attention to
this subject. As a general thing, they are the
hardest laboring class of the community, and
stick to their work the closest, yet they study
progress less thanany others.
---&s@S.S--
Tue "AuTocKAr" STILL L1vrs.--It appears
that the general apprehension that the aAuto.
crat oflthe Breakfast Table" in having married.
is about to gofrom the Atlantic into "a state of
Iretiracy," is misrepresentation. The Boston
Transcript says:
Who could have invented the stupid story
that the wise and genial "Autocrat" was going
to susPend!-that he had finished his imperial
talks and retired to his inaccessible ralace2-
Not We. We never thought of him but rs one
OF our fast friends-our guide and philosopher
while life is left. We are glad to be informed,
as we have been, that the papers which have
commanded such universal admiration, are to
be continued indetinitely-with new title Ger.
tainly-but with all the characteristics which
have given to them their brilliant and enduring
fame. Whoever made up the false report de.
serves never to readsanother witty nor pathetic
linei to be banished, in fact from the antocratic
presence.
TuE newspapers are after the Rev. Ralph
-Hoyt for accepting the offer of Lola Montcz to
lecture in mid Of the rebuilding of his church in
New York. One snys-"wc may soon expect