Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1874-01-29
[Original.l
IMPROVING THE SOIL.

The annual return is not the ONLY thing that
should be considered by the tiller of the soil.
This is an important consideration, but tits by
no means of the first Importance Our roll
ing lands will not last more than ten years,
unless great care is taken in the manner of
cultivation. They will wash away by the
rains; and in washing away, they will destroy
the fertility of the lowauds. Every farmer
is aware that by certain mode of culture, a
field can be made 70 yield good crops for a
few successive years, and then it will not pay
for the working. Sixty years ago. our fathers
we're accustomed to plow up and down the
hills, and for few years they realized good
crops. There are many reasons to account for
this In the spring, cotton, and in fact all
kinds of crops, are injured by cold rains.
During these spring wet spells, the ground
becomes saturated with water and the young
plant becomes sickly. The horizontal mode
of blowing is calculated to retain the water,
and the up and down hill mode acts as drain.
No plant will do we'll in stagnant water !;
hence, the old mode of plowing up and down
the hill often had a temporary advantage
over the horizontal mode, now generally prac-
ticed. The loss, however, was always greater
than the gain. The soil washed away in a
few years, and left the once productive fields
nothing but gullies.
Bya proper mode of cultivation, land ought
to improve, in productive properties, each
year. This is not simple, untested theory.
The soil of England is infinitely more produc-
tive than it was in the days of George the
Third. The cultivated fields of Massachu-
setts are intrinsically, worth ten times as
much as they were at the time of the Revo-
luton.
Land may be worn out in various ways
We mention only two. 1t may be worn out,
or exhausted, by working out of it all the
vegetable matter and it may. be worn out by
neglecting to rotate the crops. In both cases,
it becomes inert. The vitality of the soil
seems to be gone. So soon as land becomes
deprived of vegetable matter, it becomes sad
and hard to work. 1t will not stand much
wet nor much dry weather. 1t is difficult to
get it in proper condition, either to plant or
cultivate crop. Such land is improved by
returning to it proper supply of vegetable
matter. A crop of grass turned under will
increase the productiveness of such land.
Land may be planted in corn or cotton for so
many successive years, that all the food con-
tanned in it, which is necessary to the growth
and productiveness of that particular crop, is
exhausted. The land becomes poor in some
ingredients, whilst it may be rich in Others
Is is of the utmost Importance to the owner
of farm, to cultivate it in such a manner
that instead of becoming poor and unprodnc'
tive, it will become rich and productive. The
best way to improve farm is by preventing
it from becoming poor. The two great ex-
hausters of our fields are the rains and the
sun. BY the former, the vegetable matter Is
washed out; and, by the latter, the fructlty-
ing principles of the soil are drawn to the
surface and blown away by the winds. A
rich piece of land will become poor III few
years, if it is kept exposed to the hot suns OF
summer; and a poor piece of land will be-
come rich, if it is kept covered with vegeta-
ton for few years.
CoRN-MEAL AND CHICKENS FOR THE CUls'
cUL1o.-A correspondent of the OHIO Farmer
states that he kept plum-tree free from cur
culios by sprinkling the ground under the tree
with corn.meal. This induced the chickens
to scratch and search. The meal was strewn
every morning from the time the trees bios
somed until the fruit was large enough to be
out of danger. The consequence was that
the fowls picked up the curculios with the
meal, and the tree being saved from the pres
ence of the insects, was wonderfully fruitful.
BIRDS vs. INsECrs.-The thrush works
from halfpast two in the morning until half
past nine in the evening, or nineteen hours.
During this time he feeds his young two hum
dred and six times Black-birds work seven
teen hours; the male feeds the young forty
four times, and the female fifty:tve times.
The titmouse spreads before its offspring four !1
Il, lo,y