The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1869-03-03

-"Mapes' subsoll litter" 1t LOOKS
like a big, slender, fat iron at
tached to the plow-beam. 1t goes
six or eight inches below the bot
| tom of furrow-bed, lifting and
breaking up the hard-pan, but not
turning it, He used it in all his
fields, and went on adding blood,
and bones, and fish. and lime, and
dung, to the soil, till he made a
place which is pronounced the
best in the United States. There
| is a surface of twelve inches alike
through the mass, Of dark color,
mellow and fine, neither muddy
in wet weather, nor dusty in
draught Below this is a SUBJ
soil that for six inches is mellow
and porous, though unfertilized.
| And below this are tile drains on
most of the tract, forty feet apart.
Some idea of the vigor Of this soil
may be obtained by knowing that
Mr.. Quinn, the manager, who re-
allies upon the surface all the
plans and cal :ulations Of the pro-
ftssor, can plant cabbages on that
| persimmon lot of seven acres, two
and half feet apart each way,
and be sure that ninety out of
every hundred will head. 1t
makes no difference whether it
| rains or not, on the Mapes farm.
In 1863, when there was a parching
| drouth over half the country, the
blades of corn all fired and turned
| yellow, the lower leaves Of cab
| bages shrivelling and dropping off,
Mr.. Quinn made fill crop. He
| kept a small subsoil litter con-
stantly moving between the cab
bay rows, and thus drew moisture
from below, since it was not given
from above. A good plowing is
frequently as helpful, and some
times more so, than a generous
shower.
Does the Mapes farm pay?
| Yes, it does. as we'll as any
| equal area in the country. For
agricultural purposes alone, these
acres are worth $4,000 each. The
old mansion has been replaced by
an elegant and spacious home.
One finds pictures and carving,
broad galleries, we'll filled aIcoves,
and pleasant grounds, all bought
with what came from the soil.
The gross income from the sale
Of fruits and vegetables is from
$4,000 to $4,000 a year,-the
average coming to about $4,000.
The labor bill is about $1,000, and
the expenditures for money from
$500 to S4OO. This leaves a net
profit of s6.OO0-,ten per cent on
100000. The original cost of the
tract was sl25 per acre, or 1000.
Ali the Improvements we have
described, the removal of the
stones, the draining, the subsoiling.
the generous manuring, the
spacious home, with it's comforts
have been developed from the soil
itself. In other words, these
forty acres, such as we have de-
scribed have raised a family from
penury and almost starvation to
comparative opulence, surrounded
them with every appointment ot
comfort and taste, and are, to-day
a thousand per cent more valuable
as a farming property than when
the professor first began to carry
ont upon them his "book farming
ideas of hillside drainage, deep
tillage, and special manuring.
In January, 1866, this model
farmer died. Gods finger touched
him, and he was laid to sleep be.
meath the sod he loved, in the
bosom Of the soil he had studied
with so much enthusiasm. But
his influence is not buried. While
he lived lie constantly reported to
the world the results of his studies,
and gave mankind the full benefit
Of his talents. These writings re-
main and the farm remains,-the
example and the proof of all, "a
severe and eloquent rebuke to all
sneers about book-farming. Let
the skeptic who may believe that
stage coaches are as good as cars,
who believes that six inches oi
mellow earth are as good as twelve
who poohs at such expressions as
"superphosphate," ''sulphate OF
op,p,op;o - Dopd nlopt, frnit in 9