Knoxville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1875, 1870-05-18
How 10 Meet Drought.

a Georgia farmer urges the Importance
of deep blowing i'm case of a drought. He
says that fields that were thus cultivated
last year stood the drought wonderfully.
The following article from the southern
Planter and Farmer in regard to the best
way of meeting drought will be found
interesting and useful:
"When an individual suffers with dis
ease, or n community is depressed III con-
sequence of pecuniary or political trouble,
the first anxiety Is for q remedy, and an
application is urged with vigor. While,
then, our State Il suffering from this Sc
we're drought, let us profit by this expert
ence and guard against II in future, II
possible.
The question has been frequently put
to me during the past few weeks of-How
is the corn on the farm? All your corn
burned up, | suppose. 1t is the case with
nearly all the fields ! have seen, must
confess, but the corn on about one hum
dred acres of the farm scarcely show any
sign of dry weather, and there appears to
be but slight cause for all this, which | can
best give by briefly describing our last
four months experience. The best corn
is on ground plowed twice-first very
early in the sprng, and again at planting
time; by this means we expose the ground
to spring frosts, pulverizing it completely,
killing the larva of insects. The fields
were not broken up by the trio we so often
see of a boy mule and culture or jumping
shovel, but a large pillow, three heavy horses
and a man were found necessary to do the
work to our satisfaction; and with a steady
gait and strong pull, the horses were able
to perform their parts WELL turning over
considerable ground during the course of n
day.
"When ready for planting, we pulver-
lied the ground well with thirty-four-
III
was fairly out of the ground, we put in
some steel-toothed cultivators; but this
mode of procedure met with great oppo-
sition from several of the neighbors who
had never used them, and predicted that
unless we used the single toothed cultiva-
tor we would fail to make a crop of corn.
We felt willing to risk it, ms we knew the
virtue of the cultivators from years of eX-
perence. Suffice il to say, that to-day
will show a very marked difference i'll this
corn and that of any of the neighbors.
"Yhe virtues of these horse-hoes or cul-
tivators no one believes in until AN actual
experiment proves them to be superior to
any invention cotton up for the cultiva-
ton of corn and all the root crops. The
mode of operating with them is to run
them as close TO each side of the row as
possible, and when this is done carefully,
almost every weed and spear of grass is
rooted up, ready to be killed by the sun,
and leaves the ground thoroughly pulver-
lied several inches; and if this is repeated
once in ten days, until the corn is too high
to work with safety, the cultivator will
himself be rewarded for his labor, and have
the satisfaction of not only seeing fodder
in his fields, but food for himself also.
eff the farmers will plough their land
deep-cultivate carefully so as to kill the
grass and excite capillary attaction.thcy
need fear no dry SPELL and they will he
convinced that two STRINGS of the ground
are equal to one rain.'