Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1868-05-21
Aaritnltnral department.
From the Southern, Cultivator.
IMPROVING LAND WITH PEAS.
SPARTA, GA, April 4th, Iooo.
TJ.~.. O.,kI o.... n, ,,1tc,ofos " M, WI

my experience in growing peas, and turn
ing them under whilst green. The bene'
fits of growing green crops and burylng
them in the soil for the benefit OF future
crops, are too well understood to be ques-
toned by any one; but it has opened a
question in agricultural economy that has
not been settled so satisfactorily. The
English farmers formerly used half ton Of
ground bones per acre, to grow single
crop, but they have found that by dissol-
wing two hundred pounds of bones in acid,
at a cost of fifty per cent on the price Of
the bones, (making the whole cost equal to
that of three hundred Tbs. of bones, that it
will produce the same effect at an outlay
of only thirty per cent on that of the for
mer mode-the latter method giving them
the means of returning the same amount of
manure to the land the next year, as the
former did, by producing the same amount
of hay, turnips and other forage to feed to
stock. - ....:... ...-
Now, admitting that it will pay to grow
peas and clover, to be turned under IS fer
tilizers, the following questions arise: At
what time should they be turned under
Would it pay better to feed them off the
land than to cover them with plow, and
what do they lose by drying before being
turned under7 Here, again, the question
of soluble and insoluble manures is involved.
I have always taken the side of soluble
manures as being the most economical.
Dry pea vines and clover will soon become
soluble.
I will give you my practice. 1t is one
that will pay, although I will not say that
it is the best. First, keep your land in
good heart; let the field that you intend to
sow peas on remain fallow, until you lay by
your corn-say from the twentieth of July.
You will then have large growth of green
weeds to turn under. Start your teams
with good turn plows, running off the lands
as nearly level as you can, and go round
and round until that land or cut is finished.
Start the pea dropper after every third
plow, and the hand with the manure after
the pea dropper. Drop the manure in four
inches of the peas. If you find the peas
WILL make lrOm I W IC UuSueiS Pei dCl q,
turn stock in upon them, placing salt IN
places over the field, to cause the most of
the manure to be dropped on the field.
Then invest all the profit asising from feed
ing stock on the field, in bones and Peruvi-
an guano for next crop, and you will find
this system will pay. have adopted it
with both wheat and cotton, with good sue
cess. If the peas fail to fruit, turn them
under whilst green. is3-. Z. q.
Second Plant.-Plant peas the first of
June, same as above; turn them under be-
fore the stems become very woody, and
plant and manure second crop at the
same time that you are turning under the
first crop of vines, and treat the second
crop as you did the first. The true policy
is to secure the greatest amount of soluble
vegetable mold you can accumulate with
the least cost. ..... ..
Very truly, yours,
DAVID DICKSON.
N. B.-I prefer peas planted and culti-
waited on a level, both for the land and crop,
and for sowing small grain after the pea
crOn.