Bristol news. [volume] (Bristol, Va. & Tenn.) 1867-189?, 1869-01-22
8ieIS anb GARDEN.
A Small Farm Well Titled.

A Small Farm Well Titled.
Our system Of farming has been Wis
iouury and prodigal. What we could
not give away we hayc mnde haste to
destroy, We have cleared the land of
its fine timber, and cultivated the rich
soil in such slovenly manner, that It
has washed away. We still march
westward, destroying as we 60, aud leav-
ing behind us desert of worn out
fields, cut up by gullies, and red with
clay banks. Nature, to hide our crime,
covers them over as soon as she can
with broom sedge and pine bushes.
Heretofore, hand was expected to
cultivate 25 to 80 acres but he never
did it, otherwise than to so scratch over
it, as to wear it out and cause 1t to wash
away in or 10 years. Ten to fifteen
acres--and ten better than ffteen--are
as much as any hand can cultivate prop.
oIly.
Select your land so as to get all tho
natural advantages you can, and as soou
as cleared and fenced, have it properly
dtched-the hill. sides by horizontal
ditchiDg, and the wet or seepy parts by
covered bitches. Remember, this re-
quires no little skill and experience, and
that these bitches are expected to ho
permanent There is no sense in spen-
ding money, time and labor to put ma
nure on land, when the next rain will
wash it away, or when the soil is so wet
your manure will sour or seep away.
Your next step is to manure David
Dickson, the most successful planter of
Georgia, uses commercial mauures en-.
tirely, but these cost money in advance,
which every farmer does not have.
George w. Gift, the most successful
gardner of Tennessee, says make your
own manurcs, from your stables, COW
lots, hog pens, swamp muck, &c. As
/ have elsewhere said, in speaking Of
the two systems of these distinguished
men, truth lies not in extremes, but in
a happy medium. When the land
a5ounds in the necessary salts, the ma
nure should be made as Mr.. G.. says.
If there is vegetable manure without a
proper admixture of salts, these should
be supplied by purchase, Gs praoticsd by
Mr.. ID. but If the land is defcent in
both, proper blending of the two will
prove best. This may be done by buy
ing the requisite salts and putting them
on the compost reap, so as to mix them
with the other ingredients, or by scatter
hos ba IN
and supplying the vegetable manure by
green crop, to be grown during sum.
mer, and turned under, The green
crops will be greatly increased by put
sing them on in spring. Green crops
should be turned under while Towering,
and before seeding; besides, if your
green crop consists of weeds and grass,
you destroy them by preventing their
seeding.
have improved portions of my farm
bypenning my cows on the poorest spots
which lie well, and blowing it under
every two or three weeks When | get
that spot as rich as | desire | move the
pen. | am particular to have every
COW penned During the winter feed
them in the pen. L also fatten my
hogs on my cultivabo lands Many,
rather than carry them water, make
their lots on branch, where all their
droppings, and the cobs, which are the
best Of manure, wash away, They place
their horse lots in the same way. No
thrifty farmer will do that.
Deep and thorough tillage will, in a
great measure, compensate for want Of
ditchiug and maturing uplands, Where
the land is thoroughly and deeply plowed,
the rain, instead of running off and
carrying the soil, will filter through it,
leaving more or less richness. During
summer, the roots of vegetables will
beome manure, so that in process of
time, the land will become rich as deep
us it is plowed Southern CultiUator.