Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1873-02-13
Agritultnral department.
From the Rural CarOlinian.
THOUGHTS FOR THE MONTH.

4
THOUGHTS FOR THE MONTH.
There will be found no time for ideness
during this short, but busy month. "Push"
is the word now. If we loiter at this time,
the push will be sure to come little later, and
it will be the work that will push us, and not
we who shall push the work. Keep the plows
running, and see to it that every furrow is
we'll made The days of scratching" the soil
are over. Mr. Dickson said to us one day, II
can always tell, in advance, where the dry
streak will fall in the summer. 1t always
follows the bad farming" There is more in
this than is generally thought. Lazy, slip
shop, surface-scraping, land-skinning farmers
always have "bad seasons" 1t is sure to be
too dry or too wet, too cold or too hot "Just
my cussed luck" Slack says. "My crop is all
burned up on this droughty upland. If |
should have made good crop" Next year
Mr. Slack plants the low field, but his "cussed
luck" follows him still. 1t is too wet and his
crop is drowned out. So it will be to the end,
unless he shall pursue more rational mode
of culture, and manifest less aversion to work.
Mr. Slack does not read the Rural Carolinian
or we might be tempted to say more for his
special benefit. For those who do read it.,
this will be sufficient hint. Do not forget
that the better the winters work is done, the
lighter will be that Of the spring and summer,
and the better will be the crops.
We hope the readers Of the Rural Caro-
linian were wise enough to plant oats in the
fail, and to plant early and largely, but if
any failed to get in enough, we advise to try
spring crop by all MEANS for although the
chances are not so good for the fall sown oats,
fair crop may be got and will hel p greatly.
The oat plant is not so particular in regard to
soil as many others, but it must not be too
wet. The land intended for spring oats should
have been plowed early in the winter and
cross plowed before sowing. The early break
ing up, however, is not essential. The time
of sowing must, of course, vary with the soil
and season, as we'll as with the latitude. In
this latitude and southwark, we would sow
during the present month, if the land be not
too wet, but March will not be too late, if you
can not pet them in sooner. Writers on agri-
culture mention nine or ten varieties of the
oat. One of the heaviest and best is the
Black Poland, sometimes weighing fifty
pounds to the bushel but the safest kind for
our climate seems to be the Red Oat, known
by its brownish red husk and its exemption
from rust.
Some advocate the deep cultivation of
corn and contend that the breaking of the
roots does no harm, but, on the contrary, is a
benefit, tending to fruitfulness, as in the case
of non-bearing pear tree. 1t is onl ly under
certain conditions that root-pruning will ben
eft tree, and it is doubtful if these condi-
tions exist at all in the case of corn. We
have no doubt, however, that corn crop is
sometimes benefited by deep cultivation not
because the roots are thus cut and mangled,
but in spite of this destruction of the plants
feeders. Stiff soils, especially when badly
prepared, often become, during the growth of
the crop, very compact and hard, impervious
alike to the tender roots of the plants and to
air and moisture. To cut the root of the
corn, in such cases, in deeply breaking up the
soil between the rows, if done when it is toler-
ably moist, is less evil than to leave it in its
undurated condition. The same process on a
loose, sandy soil, and in dry time, would ut
terly ruin the crop. This is another hint in
regard to the benefit of brains in farming.
- It would be folly to lay down precise
rule, either in regard to the time or the mode
of planting corn, for the guidance of all the
readers of an agricultural magazine. Diver
sities of climate and soil, as we'll as other i'm
portant considerations, must necessarily modi-
fy the practice of the planter: but when we
say, prepare the ground thoroughly and in
good season, and plant as early as the weather
and the state of the soil will permit, we think
our advice can hardly be called in question.
1t is true that late planted corn sometimes
gives better crop than that which is put in
earlier, but this is the exception. AS a rule
the early planted corn is best.
On we'll drained uplands, with sandy
soil, We have been accustomed to, LAY off" our
corn land with pretty deep furrows, so that,
when the corn is properly covered, the chill"
will be an inch or two below the general level.
The first working brings the whole field to
something like an even surface, and subse-
quent cultivation does not change it much,
being very shallow. We have seen fields
thus planted and worked, looking green and
healthy, and making fine crops, when neigh
boring fields, ridged up and more deeply cul-
tivated, have "6red'' badly, and made almost
a total failure from the effects of drought.
Low and imperfectly drained land, where the
greater danger is from an excess of moisture,
cannot, of course, be treated in this way, and
our readers will not understand us as advising
the same mode Of planting for all soils and
situations.