Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-02-26

scattered, / had the land thoroughly
and closely cross ploughed with
long, sharp ball-tongued ploughs,
and then narrowed off smoothly.
And now came the nice point-how
should / plant it SO as to develop
the full productive capacity. of the
land? The customary mode of
planting corn in this mountain dis
trict is to check it three and a half
feet each way, leaving two stalks
where the land is sufficiently level
to admit of cross tillage. But /
knew that would not give the full
capacity for the want of stalks
upon the land | next cons
sidered the plan of the con-
tinuous drill, which might |
have given me stalks enough, but |
would have confined me to tillage |
on one side of the row of plants,
thus leaving q certain parcel Of land |
untitled by the plow-the spaces
between the stalks. / determined |
to strike compromise between the
two modes, SO as to retain the adj
vantages of each, and to ebviate
their disadvantages, as far as could
be done. [ had the land checked
by rows three and a half feet apart
an one direction, and three in the
other. I deposited the seed at the
intersections of the rows, being
careful to scatter it little, so that
the corn might be not strictly in
hills, but more properly in punches
the stalks from six to ten inches
apart in the bunch-marking off
the rows sufficiently to be conven-
iently plowed in both directions. 1t
was my intention to leave four
stalks in each bundle, but finally
determined to leave three From
many of these punches we gathered
five or six good ears of corn, and
from none of them less than three.
1 planted a small variety of corn,
cultivated thoroughly with four
plowings and one hoeing, dressed it
heavily with plaster and ashes,
and realized the finest yield ever
made. 1t was judged that it would
render one hundred bushels per
acre, but by a measurement, which
l regard as reasonably accurate, it
yielded eighty-fve bushels to the
acre.
Mr.. Archibald Thweatt, of Din
widdie county, Va, communicates
to the Southern Planter and Farm
er the easiest way to make corn:
Prepare the land we'll by deep
ploughing and narrowing, as late
before planting as can be reason
ably done. If the land is wet and
springy, throw it up in single beds
five feet apart. When planting
time arrives, open a furrow with a
five tooth harrow, the front tooth
being out and q small shovel hoe
in the centre piece, but in rear of
the other four teeth. Drill the corn
from six to ten inches apart in this
furrow made by the shovel, hoe ac-
cording to the strength Of the land,
and with the same instrument (the
shovel hoe being Off cover the corn,
or cover it with a three tooth har-
row (the front tooth being OUT,
this will be equal to what may be
called crossing corn ground the first
time. When the corn is about FIVE
inches high, give it one furrow with
the fve-tooth harrow, having the
teeth longer and narrower than the
made, (the front tooth
out,) by making the horse walk on
the centre of the row, and the two
front teeth not so close together as
to cover up the corn, or, if pre-
ferred, run one furrow on each side
with a double shovel one-horse
plough, which is little
more work. The second time
run one furrow with a trowel
hoe on each side, with a small
to throw earth to the
corn, or with q One-horse double
shovel plough. The middle not yet
broken does not affect the corn in
iuriously, as the roots have not eX-
tended to their distance. Then 90
over the crop one furrow at time,
the dirt meet between the
stalks, by the two first burrows with
a Dagon, until the whole row is
finished. If you wish the ground
to be left more level, run one fur
row with five-tooth harrow in the
middle of the rows. Thus it will
be observed that a good crop of
corn can be made with half the
ploughiDg that was done in old
times-this plan requiring only
eight burrows, and, if necessity COM
pels, you can dispense with the two
trowel hoe burrows, but the crop
will not be quite as good. The
thinning and killing of the corn
with the hand hoe VIII not be as
much work as the checking the
land and replanting the corn; and
it will not be absolutely necessary
to hill the corn, if the plOughing
has been well executed. When the
ground is very dry, plough every
other row instead Of every row at
the last ploughing. This plan will
answer for many other crops be
sides corn, with variations as to dis
4 l. "a, 4 "A 1