The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1869-10-28
HOYT & CO., Proprietors.


the entire absence of those ridges and
hills, made by the plow and the hoe'
which mark the rows in our held gener-
ally. The next noticeable pecullarlty
was it's perfect cleanness. No fringe OF
crab grass and no struggling weeds were
to be seen. Mr.. Dickson does not at
tempt to make crop of cotton and a
crop of grass on his land at the same
time. The cotton was sight worth
i. travelling all the way from Charleston to
see. We had seen nothing like 1t during
cur Journey. Some small patches on
town lots in Sparta and elsewhere could
show plants quite as tall perhaps, but the
pre-eminence Of Dickson's cotton lies IN
its staIky growth, its numerous heavy
branches-and, above all, in its prolific
fruitage-the bolLs and squares clustering
thicklg in double roaos upon the branches.
"I do not cultivate cotton for the weed"
Mr.. Dickson remarked, "but for the
bolls."
There had been severe drouth, and
much of the cotton we had seen else
where had shed leaves, squares and bolls
TO greater or less extent, but here we
observed no loss of this kind, the plants
being fresh, healthy and vigorous from
bottom to top. In brief, here was cottou
that promised yield of two bales to the
acre; and it was not on rich bottom
land, but on what people are pleased to
call "pine barren mot fresh pine
barren either, but land that has been un-
der cultivation for seventy gears, and was
so poor and worn out when Mr.. Dickson
bought it, we were told, that no one else
would have it at any price With these
facts in view, one begins to appreciate the
results of his improved system OF farming.
The field of which we have been speak
ing will, under Mr.. Dickson's cultivation,
produce forty bushels of corn to the acre,
and his corn crop never fails! No drouth
burns it up. 81 can tell in the spring.
MIR. Dickson said, "where the dry streak
will fall in the summer. 1t always tol.
lows bad farming" The "dry streak
never falls on his corn-6eld. We shall
see why when we come 10 examine his
mode of planting and eultivating corn.
We might speak at much greater length
of what We saw and heard during our
brief visit to Mr.. Dickson's plantation,
but what our readers are most interested
in learning is, how the results we have
described arc attained. Mr.. Dickson is
successful. He makes heavy crops ON
poor land. He has acquired wealth by
planting. Every planter and farmer, 1t
is presumed, would like to be. and do the
same and each is anxious to know how
the thing is done.
MR. p1cKsoNs SYSTEM.
We can tell our readers, in brief, how
Mr.. Dickson farms, but we cannot ensure
every man who may essay to follow his
example, the s;imo success. Few possess
Ills intellectual capacity, his sound judy,
ment or his executive abilities ) but all
NAV improve and approach, if they can
not reach, Mr.. Dickson's high position
among the great agricuiturlsts OF the
present day.
The principal points in Mr. Dickson's
system. as they struck US in our examln'
alton of his operations, are:
l. A deep and thorough preparation OF
the SOIL
2. The liberal use of manures.
8. Level and ShaIloo cultivation.
4. Rotation of crops.
s. Economy of labor.
Do YOU say that there is nothing new
in all this? Perhaps not. In theory the
principles which underie the system
have, in the main, been long since accep.
ted by the best Informed agriculturists OF
Europe and America; but our practice,
with few exceptions, has been diametr
cally opposed to them, as will more stri'
kinglv appearDwheh we look at the mat
ter somewhat in detail
First, then, in regard to the prepara-
ton of the soil Mr.. Dickson's maxim is,
+" plo,o as deep as you can," or say from
eight TO fifteen inches and subsoil every
forth year, accommodating all the vegetable
matter you can on the surface to be turned
in. Land thus prepared admits the air,
holds moisture ard allows the roots OF
plants to penetrate deeply, and thus en-
sure themselves against drouth. DO our
farmers generally prepare their soil in
this way, or make any approximation to
it?
In the second place, everybody knows
that manure is very good thing for
growing crops, but we so on, year after
very little of it. Mr.. Dickson, knowing
that manure, judiciously applied, will pay,
uses it freely But what kind OF manure,
and how much? In the first place he re-
turns everything to the land (atter being
eaten or uscd) which he has taken from
it. except the lint of the cotton, and, in
addition, gathers leaves, pine straw, and
the scrapings of swamps, and digs muck
and spread in his stock yards and to scat
ter broadcast over his lands. Then he
makes up the required amount of the fer
tilizing elements by the application of
concentrated compound composed OF Pc
ruvian guano, dissolved bones, common