The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1880-12-07

mereial fertilizers or farm yard manure,
in October or November, If practicable,
thoroughly break up, and, If convenient,
harrow the surface Of the coil and SOW in
ysstfroQf onts. Care should be taken,
however, that the /" lands made in plow-
ing should not be more than tsree feet
apart. The oats will grow of and by
shading the earth, effectnaily keep down
the weeds and grass In early spring. Not
waiting to harvest the crop, but COM
mencing about the 18th of April, with an
ordinary scooter plow, open the "land," ,"
or water furTow, and then with the mar
rowest half shovel to be obtained, run
once on each side of the open furrow, fll
ing it mp, making thereof q slight ridge,
not over foot in width. Now the ground
is ready for planting; and the seed, at
the rate Of one bushel per acre, should be
dropped in hills eighteen inches asunder,
about thirty grains to the hill, and lightly
covered with the foot or IN ordinary
board. It will germinate in seven, or
eight days, and, protected by the stand
ing grain from the birds and grass, con.
tinue to thrive until the oats are taken off
in the latter part of May or first Of June.
The after cultivation. consists in breaking
out the "middles " with scooter. or mar
row turning plow, and cleaning the hills
of rice when needful, by the passage of a
hoe between them. Two additional plow-s
iDgs and one hoeing will usually suffice to
make the crop. M
BY pursuing the above course, not In
frequently thirty bushels of oats and the
same quantity of rough rice may be gath
cred per acre inside Of one year. When
not sowed in oats, break up aud turn in
all weeds and grass in the fall, (if the
land is lying fallow, or in February or
March if planted the previous yearO and
after careful narrowing, lay off in rows
II feet apart, and SOW as directed above,
after the spring has fairly opened AT.
terwards, cultivate with plow and hoe as
usual. When the heads turn down and
only . few grains remain green nezt TO the
staM is the proper time for harvesting
Never attempt to use the cradle and
scythe, as they knock the rice down and
occasion great loss. The implement em-
ployed in cutting is the ordinary hand
sickle. The rice should be laid after it is
moved for one or two days according as
VIZ "O-eSAAoA oCI fOA VIC csoOpAV ~
dry. When the straw is cured it is ready
to be bound in sheaves, and either housed
or securely stacked The ordinary clean
ing process, in the absence of machinery,
consists of threshing the sheaves, spread
out upon plank floor or yard covered
with impacted clay. with ordinary fail
sticks. When by this means the grain
has been separated from the straw, it is
winnowed from rough scafold, ten or
fifteen feet in height, all the light .frag-
ments of straw and false rice, called
" falling" being borne away by the least
wind. 1t is now ready to be measured,
sacked and shipped to market, there to be
pounded and barrelled up for expectation.
1t has been demonstrated in practice, time
and again. that ordinary sandy pine land
that will not produce over seven or eight
bushels per acre of corn, planted side by
side in the same field with corn and white
rice, will yield fifteen bushelsof the latter.
The rice sells readily at from 81 10 $l.se
per bushel On fair uplands that will
make bale of cotton to two acres, forty
bushels of rice is not considered an extra
ordinary production in the single acre.