Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1872-11-07
agricultural department.
From the Southern CultIvator for November.
THOUGHTS FOR THE PRESENT MONTE

Cotton has opened this season 50 rapidly,
that probably little remains to be picked.
We have never known it to open 80 early and
so rapidly. If crowding it on the market has
worked detriment to the farmer by depressing
prices, the early gathering of the crop may be
of great advantage in clearing the way for
next years operations One of the greatest
evils OF, cotton planting, is the incessant labor
it requires from January to January again.
This year some two months will be liberated
from its exacting demands. This will give an
opportunity for putting wheat in nicely, and
pressing forward the turning over Of land.
Select dry time for ploughing in the seed.
Experience has shown this to be very i'm
portant element of success. Two acres ofvery
rich land will furnish family with bread !;
surely every farmer in the South can afford to
SOW that much.
FALL PLoUGhING.
Procrastination is natural to most of U.s..
We need the spur of a present necessity to
urge us forward. One says, II shall have
q plenty of time after Christmas to break up
all my land. I have always done it hereto
fore and can do it again" Perhaps he for
gets, however, that there have been seasons
when in order to get it done after Christmas,
he was obliged to plough when his judgment
told him it was too net. Granting an abund-
ance of time, however, it is vastly better to
plough before than after Christmas. Land
turned over in the fall, will invariably be soft
and mellow in the spring this cannot always
be said of that turned over in the spring.
The air will have brought its chemistry to
bear on the former, and the frosts will have
pulverized it vastly better than clod.crushers,
harrows and other human implements could
have DONE The vegetable matter turned un-
der will have had longer time to decompose
and get ready to nourish the succeeding crop,
and last of all, abundant experience has de-
monstrated that crops grow better on fall
ploughed than spring-ploughed land In
pring-ploughing, the land, as said before, is
very apt to be too wet. Even if the surface
is dry enough, the underlying clay may be-,
and often is, entirely too wet, and at each
successive breaking, the plough presses and
solidi6es the soft plastic clay into compact
layer or "hard pan" through which waite. can
neither descend nor ascend with any degree
of facility. ...r =
Again, packing rains are likely to fall soon
after spring ploughings these run the land
together and cut off the entrance of the air,
with all it's beneficial results. In addition, it
is bad policy to throw this hard work on the
mules so late in the season, giving them no
time to rest, and prepare for the exhausting
work of spring and summer. It's very i'm
portant to begin the planting Of a crop with
stock in the best possible condition. A very
common mulein good condition will carry his
row with really fine mule, if the latter is
poor and worn down with previous heavy
work. ....r.. .... ......s
Discussing the relief of work stock on. the
farm, brings up again the question of water
power for ginning and other like operations.
We desire to awaken attention to this very
important matter, and the present is fitting
time for prospecting" because it is one of
comparative leisure, and the streams being
low at this season, one would not be, led to
over-estimate the amount of water at bis COM
mand. The first thing to be ascertained is
the amount of water available. This can be
done by selecting some place in the stream
where there is the greatest fall, and turning
the water into trough nearly level, letting it
fall into barrel or hogshead, and observing
accurately with watch the time necessary to
fill it. Half dozen or more of these "timings"
should be made, and the average or mean re-
suit taken. From the known capacity of
barrel, calculate the amount of water for one
minute in cubic feet. The next point is to
ascertain the amount of fall which can be
had. This may be done by running level
line with an ordinary rafter level from high
est point in branch to point opposite to that
in the branch where it is supposed the gin
ought to be placed. Having reached this
point, place an ordinary carpenters level in
position at the ground, and sight along its
upper surface, and mark the point where the
line of vision strikes a pole held ~uprightsin
the branch. The distance between this point
and the surface of the branch gives the re-
quired fall. .: ...--':.. 80: -
Having the amount of water and the fall,
the power of an overshot wheel may be COM
puted by the following rule: Multiply the
weight Of water in Tbs. discharged upon the
wheel in one minute, by the distance in feet
from the centre Of the opening in the gate to
the surface Of the tail race; divide the pro-
duct BY $4,000 and three-fourths of the quo
tient obtained will be the horsepower. Ex-
ample: The volume of water discharged upon
an overshot wheel is 100 cubic feet per min
ute-the height is 15 feet; what are the
horses power? 100H 62.5* ID Is '.....
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