Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1869-01-22
"a 9 .RfD, GU q =T y R AL, !.
Book Farming7-Common Sense, !

4 from tho - MlllcuSeVllto ICcc0rder ::
| ). In talking with somo mon, and especially
those who don't read, wo may say think, if we
happen to montion anything about what we
have read OIL tho subject Of plowing, planting,
&c, we are told by tho ignoramus that they
don't care to hearapything about "book farm
ing" as if tho great part of so called "book
farming" was not the result Of observation,
experiment, and investigation. When man
thinks andreason upon tho subject and then
experiments to develop the trut1, Of his men.
tai conclusions and puts down on paper his
thoughts and results, it is called by many
"book farming" because it may appear in
some agricultural work 10 bookiorm.
Wc wish that we could get our people to
read more Of "book farming" then they would
soon find out that what they read was common
sense, relative to plowing, planting, 60. 1t
is not Shook farming" to declare as u truth,
that land brokcn up four inches viii not yield
as much as that brokon up six OF eight, and
that land broken up ten inches will yold more
still, aud that deeper grows the roots anL more
moist the soil, stronger the plant and moro
sure tho crop. Nor is it "book farming" to
| declare as another truth, that June sun will
sooner cvaporate the moisture from tho laud
broAon UP only four riuohes u great deal quick.
or than that broken up eight or ten inches
deeper. Nor is it 8 book larnug" to declare
that tho deeper tho soil is plowcd the longer
it will resist the offocts Of drought in sun
mer; and the way to savo your crop from a
six or ninc weeks drought, is to drive your
p!ow in tho spring eight or nine inches into
the soil. No necessity to turn up tho aoil,
but mako your soil spongy 40 that it will ro-
tain moisture, inhalo moisture, and hold the
spring rains that fall so beautifully aud ro.
freshipgiy in hIay and juno, and you can
then laugh ut the dry weeks iu July aud Au.
gust, when your Drop is maturing
Roots, like wilcawako and energetic luan,
wants simply fair play, and if the farmer will
broak up his land even twelve inches, tho roots
Of his corn, cotson, wheat, 30, will find the
last inoh and repay back in healthy voturu
| with good dividend. But an exhausted
soil wants something else besides mere rlow-
ing; it wants the proper food to give it
strength, and that food is good fertilizer
| from tho stable, and the manures now offered
for sale all over the country. Mr. Dickson,
OF Hancock, deserves as great honor at the
hands of Middle Georgia planters, we may
| say Of tho State, as did Dr.. Jcnner at tho
hands Of the Medical fraternity whom he dis
covered the virtues of cow-pox as progon-
tive of small pox. The following views from
the haGsango Raporter," are so we'll t,ned
and acnsibio t;lst we give them 1t says r
"Tilllins the soil is really soicncc which
cannot bo properly understood except by in
telligent, study aud practical, application.
No moro can q farmer 10 fuliytsuooesyfu, un-
less he understands tho scishceof agriculture,
than physioiapaoan bo Successful who does
not understand tile soionce ottxmcdioinc and
tho proper application Of Sy1yarous disoa.
soS to which 'heeshsis ssi4s Tho SOIL like
all things else, has its Sdiad6ses .and its rene
dies, Hence, tie proper 3ulld ilSldcrstanding Of
these diseases and asho appliaati8p Of right rem
cdies, is;nse eessary,to be anderstood to bo sue
ccssfully treateS and renovated ms physicians
rcnovate broken dowo:ka ka.aaa constitutions
!, "Ehere are two ptiscipl success in ag.
riculture which aAoalIas8 Ispt s.oasiily in
Wow BY the ihsalligon fssrmsr,,yiz:
"a. Deep and CLOSE pio8iag, thoroughly
turning up the soilsto the 9Iay.
"2. Tie propsf mixing and application of
y the commercial fsrtilizcfs. sss.
a."Sin. .reggartl3to the frst, itis principle prac
siced oy our most successful planters, who
have long discarded the Ignorant idea that
deep plowing, turning the clay to tile sim,
ihipovcrishes the pfoductiyeuess of the soil.
TO ilustratsSthc falsity Of this idea wo will
relate ,fuffat given to ,,s fewdays aeo. A
gentleman determined to trrn out a certain
I.psfton Of field, for so,nc reason wc do not
femember dug ditch twelve feet vide and
three feet deep across hla field. He subsc.
quently dctcrmineafnot to turn out the field
und soshl!cd up t'lesiiteh, planting corn and
plopghing throqgh2it as othcr parts Of the
field, Thcsresulto Of it was that he gathered
four times thoamosutof corn from the ground
in which the ditch was dug than lie did from
tho amount of land sdjoiuing tho ditch.
"In regard to the second principle, that
of employing fortilizcrs, it is only necessary
to call the attention OF our readers ia tj,a ov