The Canton mail. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 18??-1882, 1875-12-04
PLANTATION TOPICS.
EXPERIENCE ON SOUTIIER,
SOIL.


The natives of any country or region,
accustomed to routine handed down
from father to son for generations, arc
very apt to be blind to the faults OF
the system of agriculture practiced
among them. 1t is easier to run in the
old ruts than to break out new paths.
1t requires no outlay of thought, and
they follow the beaten track, no matter
how devious. A stanger, coming in
contact with conditions of climate, soil
and labor, new to him, finding the
routine to which he has been accustomed
broken up, and being compelled to
study the novel problems before him,
is far more likely to find new and bet
ter ways of doing things. If candid
and free from prejudice, he will examine
with respect the methods pursued by
his new neighbors, many of the details
of which are the results oflong expert
ence, and will adopt them, so far as he
finds them apparently good; but while
learning many valuable lessons. he will,
in return, teach those around him
that is if they, too, be found willing to
learn-some things which they, from
being so welded to their old ways,
would not otherwise have found out.
We may laugh at the plumbers which
the northern farmer, commencing OPP
erations in the south, is pretty sure to
make, even if he be not particularly
conceited, but, ten to one, he will, if
he perseveres, make Il better southern
farmer than a majority of those to the
manor born. A correspondent of the
Country Gentleman, writing from
Aiken, S. c., furnishes case in point,
and also a good illustration of the adj
vantages which the south holds out to
immigrants from the north and west.
The writer was New Yorker--a
business man-broken down in health,
and seeking, first of all, rest and recu-
peration. At Aiken he found large
number of old residents, who, origi-
nally brought there to die, had re-
manned there summer and winter, and
in the course of years had entirely re-
covered their strength. The testimony
as to their former condition, and the
evidence of their complete restoration,
led him to purchase plantation near
Aiken, and enter upon the novel life
ola southern farmer.
Sunlight, fresh air, the opportunity
of outdoor exercise every day with
the absence of injurious influences,
such as dampness, malaria, etc, } con-
stitute the remedies which nature
furnishes, in favored localities, for the
healing of diseased lungs, or indeed
for almost any debilitated condition of
the body. These he found there, and
they brought back his lost strength,
and he became again well man. 1t
is with his farming experience, how
ever, that we have to do. His article
is too long to be copied in full, but we
make copious extracts.
LIME FOR COTTON.
We planted the first year but one
acre of cotton. From reading agricul-
tural papers, and from observation, /
had developed Il theory that cotton
needed Il great deal of lime. So in
planting my experimental acre, re-
solved to test that idea 1 selected Il
piece of land with a sandy loan on
the surface, but with a subsoii of yell
low clay only about six inches from the
top of the ground. About half the
acre had been at one time garden;
the other half had never been MANFRED.
The rows were laid off three and Il
half feet a part; Il furrow was opened,
and two hundred and forty
pounds of Peruvian Guano (Chincha)
sprinkled in them. Four burrows, of
Il light one-horse plough, were then
into bed over each MANFRED
furrow, a shallow furrow was made i'm
the bed with a narrow "bull tongue"
plough, exactly over the guano, the
cotton seed was sprinkled in this filrrow,
two bushels to the acre, and covered
with a flat board fastened upon
plough-stock.
All this was, of course, done by the
direction of my foreman, as | knew
of preparing land for cotton.
Now came my part, and when [ ordered
three barrels of air-slacked( stone) lime
to be sowed broadcast upon the surface
Of the ground, over the newly-planted
seed, there were predictions that the
crop would be burned up by the lime,
etc. But an order from the owner
must be obeyed, and the lime was spread
Is directed. The cotton came up in a
lew days and at once turned such a
lark, greasy color, that my negro
hands shook their heads, declaring that |
hey never saw cotton look like that
before. My foreman, however, was
delighted, and foretold great things
rom the experiment. 1t was tended
n the usual way, except that it grew
% fast that it could be ploughed but |
vice, instead of four times-the
ordinary number. We had IL drouth
If over five weeks duration in July
md August, but the subsoiling enabled |
he cotton to endure it without losing
many forms. We gathered from the
ere one thousand eight hundred and
ixty-seven pounds of seed cotton,
which, after being ginned and baled,
old i'll Augusta for few cents over
me hundred and four dollars
EXPERIENCE IN PLoUGHING.
My farm seemed determined to
make the stranger welcome in every
way, and produced that year more
ruit than ever since that time. The
Experiment. with the one acre of cot
on had answered so well that | had
etermined to plant more another
ear; accordingly, the plows were
tarted early in November, and in
ew weeks my cotton field of twenty
wo acres was broken. A portion was
roken with two-horse Watt plough,
nd part with the ordinary (single
orse) southern half-shovcl This
as an experiment as to the effect of
sing different ploughs. | was very
snorant of all farm matters except
.ock :; natural taste and surroundings
adj given me knowledge of cattle.
lules and horses. OF hogs and sheep
had yet to learn. In the ncighbor-