The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1875-05-28
AGRICULTURE.
Mr. Hardaways Intensive System.
Cnrrasnnnaanna Of S,-,thar- CrI-.-..-.-r

MI RdIuaWdy intensive system.
Correspondence of Southern CuItivator.I
EDITORS SOUTHERN CULTIvAToR
You agricultural tea ,hers shoot over
the mass Of us farmers, and labove our
means of comprehension. You give US
credit for more reason and observation
than we possess. It looks presumptu,
Gus for me to launch my little bark and
run in range of ironsclads, but | will
risk it
Now, Mr.. Editor, q see you endorsed
Mr.. II if you and Mr.. Hardaway will
get on your horses, ride into the horse
lots at each house, look in the fence
corners at the pillow stocks, in the cracks
of the fence at the plows, on the corner
fthe stable or OF the front gate of the
wagon at the wood pile, at the pillow and
wagon gear; notice, while you a in the
lot, where the stable manure was piled
when the stable was cleaned out. look
into the crib at the corn, in the loft over
the stable at the oder, look at the mules
and notice how the cows are fed, as YOU
pass along see if the cotton rows are
hOrizOntalized, etc e; | think, in three or
four hours, the conclusion yOu'reach will
be, "we never will lift those fellows with
a chemical luse to our she lis"
The intensive system Is a smart, nice
thing, but | will show you now it will
hurt US. 1t reduces the acrege one>
half or more Now, land is no object
with Us. We all know, too, that double
the rain falls on two acres compared
with one So it throws away 1ne-half
of the rain we get and with all Of it we
cant make both ends meet IT, after
we get the first coat of grass killed, it
would rain every other evening, we
could make as much as we could gather.
1t concentrates manure. We are par
ticular 10 scatter stable manure thin tc
keep 1t from burning The MANIPULATED
compounds we buy fire the crop the irst
dry spell Some say, too, that it : half
saud. That system ploughs deep. We
don't believe in deep ploaghing-ia>t
kills land, 1t Is So. Mr.. 4. bought hIuI IA
tremendous big pillow, listened it to the
exile OF his wagon, hiJ"hed Oh four mules
put the WAGNER up 70 drive, and where
he ploughed nothing grew, not even
grass for two or three years.
We want a system to transform air,
water, solar heat, and light, in.o grass
and grain. Tell US how to DO it and Illus
trate it by what we see every day, and
keep telling till we learn. We must
work out our ownsindependcnce
If you get in deep water, | wOult ike
to get that Georgian, q forget his
signature who said thai Il horse could
get more to eat on two acres than be
could on orc, to help my bark ashore
.. f. G.
Wiunsboro, S c.
We reply briefly to some Of the points
made by cur correspondent. Land j.
abundant, it Is true, but what about
labor il requires twice Is much OF nat
to cultivate two acres as it does to
plough and hoe one. Ii requires also
twice as much horse power and twice
Is many p!ows, and twice as much renc-
ing for enclosure. Grant that double
the rain falls OH two acres I'll t does on
one. On the other hand, only a small
part Of the rain water that falls Is pIac~
tiCally utilized on shallow ! lnnghed
imperlectly preE ared land Break land
deep and make it rich, so that il will be
filed W tn the debris Of the heavy crops
raised upon it, and it " Ill stand drought
twice as well as a thallow~pluughed
pcOr soil. Manure Will seldom burr"
crop, If put deep in q well~bTUken soil
filled WitI vegetable matter. Deep
ploughing may or may not be in
furious. If the soil proper is thin, and
much raw clay is brought up to be sur
face at once, the land may be very ser
rious'y injured for a time, but if the soil
is deepened gradually by bringing
small but fresh portion of the subsoil to
the surface every year, it will be very
much improved.
Air, water, heat and light are all essen
tial agents in plant growth, but they are
not all that are necessary. The ashes
of plants (mincral matters from the soiD
are equally essential and how to enable
plants to get these,is the problem which,
since the time of the great Liebig, has
most occupied agricultural chemists.
Long conducted experiments have pretty
well settled the point that phosphates Of
lime and potash are the only substances
it is important to supply in the great ma
jority OF soils. These, with the aid Of
nitrogen accommodating plants, (peas
clover &c ) ana deep glouching, to en-
able plants to utilize the substances al
ready in the soil, are the agents by which
our agriculture Is t. be redeemed and
the toll Of the husbandman enabled to
scatter plenty Ger a smiling land. -
Ed. So. Cult