' New York State College of Agriculture At Cornell University Ithaca, N. Y. Library Cornell University Library S 501.D56 A practical treatise on agriculture; to w 3 1924 000 291 686 Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924000291686 PRACTICAL TREATISE DAVID DIG Sparta, Georgia. EDITED BV J. DICKSON SMITH. MACON, GEORGIA: J. W. BURKE&CO., PUBLISHERS. 1870. AGRICULTURE; TO WHICH IS ADDED ^t %ut^Qx'B IbWisIj^It f rttm. DAVID DICKSON, Sparta, Georgia. EDITED BY J. DICKSON SMITH. MACON, GA.: J. W. BUEKB AND COMPANY. 1870. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, by J. Vf. BURKE & CO., In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of Georgia. Editor's Preface. In presenting this volume to the Public, for the Author, it is hut due him to state some facts relative to its production. The Author has labored zealously in the cause of Agriculture, and for many years past has been writing for the journals of the day, in obedience to the expressed desire of the people; but such has become his fame as a planter, because of his extraor- dinary success, that clamorous appeals have been made to him for a full exposition of his peculiar system of agriculture, in book form. This Mr. Dickson could not undertake, because of his business engagements, and the heavy taxes upon his time by visiting friends and correspondents; and it was not until the Editor had suggested an expedient by which the work could be accomplished without much labor or effort on his part, and, at the same time, promising to prepare the work for the press, that Mr. Dickson consented to the undertaking. Accor- dingly, the original treatise of this volume was dictated by Mr. Dickson, and taken down, verbatim, by a competent phonogra- pher — the late Mr. A. E. Marshall, Secretary of the Georgia Senate. In proposing to assist the Author, I had promised to re-write and express more fully his views, thus hurriedly dic- tated ; but finding his style so admirable — so terse and practi- cal, I decided to submit it just as it emanated from the lips of the Author. Many points have, doubtless, been overlooked, and some, perhaps, not very clearly expressed; but enough has been written, and in a style sufficiently intelligible, to enable (3) 4 Editors Preface. the reader to obtain a practical view of the Author's system. By adding to this original treatise the Author's published Let- ters, the reader will have a comprehensive view of the " Dick- son System of Farming." The Editor has taken the liberty of premising a " Brief His- toric Sketch of Agriculture," and has added a carefully prepared "Resume" of the Author's Letters, and a brief but authentic account of his " Career and Success as a Planter." He has also appended some extracts from a learned teacher — Professor Ville, of Paris — on the subject of "Agricultural Chemistry," which are accurately expressive of the Author's views upon these subjects. With this explanation, this volume is submitted to the Pub- lic, and earnestly commended to the attention of every student of that noblest of avocations — Agriculture. The Editok. Contents. PAGE Historic Sketch OF I Agriculture 9 Letter PROM Cotton Commissioner OF India 19 The Farm : Size — Rve-field System — Eotation of Crops — Order of Crops — Soils for the Different Crops, etc. ... 21 Means op Improving Lands: Eotation — ^Deep Ploughing — Yegetable Mold — Manuring — Subsoiling — The Phi- losopher's Stone — Turning in Vegetable Matter, etc.... 25 Manures: Ammonia — Dissolved Bones — Potash — Land Plaster — Salt — The Compound — Commercial Phos- phates — Lime — Cotton Seed, etc 29 Peruvian Guano : Its Source and l^ature — Its Talue as a Fertilizer — When Commenced its Use — Applicable to all Crops, etc 32 The Dickson Compound : Test of its Value — Superior to Bone and Peruvian Guano alone — Prevents Eust — Ex- periments—True Test of Profit — What Amount Pays Best — Use on all Crops, etc '. ... 33 Compost : How Prepared — How Used — Economy of Labor — Sources of Benefit, etc. .., 36 Organic and Inorganic Substances: How Ascertained — Test of Comparative Value — Importance of such Know- ledge, etc 38 Agriculture as a Science : Tact in Working — All Move TogetherT-rHabits of Plants— Nature's Laws — Vitaliz- ing the Atmosphere, the Water, etc 40 Breaking Land : The Object — ^Depth — Ploughs ifecessary — Subsoiling — Time for Breaking — How to Break Land, etc. 43 Cultivation op Crops: The Objects — Proper Method — The Philosophy of the Subject— Vegetable Mold— Ex- (5) 6 Contents. PAGE tent of Soil, and Depth of Pulverization — Depth of Cultivation, etc 47 The Dickson Sweep : The Kind of Iron Made of — Sizes — Length of Stem and Wings — Proportions — How Set — The Principle of Mechanism, etc 50 Cultivation of Corn : Preparation of the Land — Laying the Eows — The Distance — Dropping the Seed — Ma- nuring — Covering — Time for Planting — Ee-planting — Ploughing Corn — Planting Peas — Pulling Blades — ■ How to Preserve Corn, etc 52 Cultivation of Cotton : Width of Eows — Depositing the Guano — Listing — Subsoiling — Making the Bed — Open- ing the Eows — Sowing the Seed — Time of Planting — Cultivating — When to Cease Working — Picking — Se- lecting Seed — Eust — Hoeing Cotton, etc 57 Wheat : Will the Crop Pay ? — First Method — Second Me- thod—Third Method— Eust in Wheat— Other Small Grain, etc ' 63 Potatoes, Turnips and Wheat, on the Two-fleld System, to Save Labor : Sowing Turnips — Cultivation of Pota- toes — Digging and Saving, etc 65 Sugar Cane : Land Suitable — Time of Planting — Cultiva- tion, etc 68 Ground Peas 69 Apples, Peaches 70 Small Fruits: Strawberries — Easpberries, etc 72 The Vegetable Garden : Ij-ish Potatoes — Cabbage — Beets — Tomatoes — Onions — Melons — Cantelopes, etc 74 Care of Stock 77 Eaising Hogs : The Breeds — Pastures — Fattening — Gene- ral Management, etc 78 Saving Bacon 80 Honey: Management of Hives — Taking the Honey — How Honey is Obtained — Government amongst Bees — Hab- its, etc 81 Cider Making 84 Vinegar Making 85 Our Present System of Labor : Its Decrease — The Causes Contents. — Our Compensation — Method of Hiring — Policy in Managing — How to Calculate Wages, etc Experts: Cotton Picking — Ploughing — The Axe — Maul and Wedge — The Hoe — The Hewer — Manufacturing — Wagoners, etc Let tjs be Independent : Pay Cash — Keep Cash Capital — Save the Profits — Export Cotton — Make Supplies — Encourage Manufactories — Increase the Price of Cot- ton, etc LETTEES. I. BOOK-P ARMING II. Mt Crops III. Observations on Manures lY. Improving our Lands ... V. Cultivation of Corn VI. On Manures VII. Experiment on a Sixteen Acre Lot of Cotton VIII. Answer to Mr. Dent... . IX. Improving Land with Peas. X. Commercial Manures ... . XI. Commercial vs. Home-made Manures XIII. Corrections XIV. The Dickson System of Farming XV. Eeplt to Mr. Gift XVI. Extract from Letter to James A. Nisbet XVII. Cotton Seed, etc XVIII. Improving Lands XIX. Answer to Mr. Crawford, etc XX. On Immigration XXI. Cultivation of Cotton ... . XXII. The Five-field System ... . XXIII. Immigration Again XXIV. Corn and Fodder XXV. Guano, etc XXVI. On Manures XXVIL On Manures ... XXVIII. Eeply to "F. J. E 86 89 92 96 100 102 107 113 118 123 128 131 134 138 144 146 149 154 157 160 165 171 178 180 182 189 190 193 196 199 Contents. Eestjme op Agriculture ' Sketch op the Author's Career and Success as a Planter Concluding Argument on Immigration The Chemistry op Agriculture Translator's Preface On the Science of Vegetable Production On the Assimilation of Carbon, Hydrogen, and Oxygen by Plants On the Mechanical and the Assimilable Elements of the Soil On the Analysis of the Soil by Systematic Experiments in Cultivation PAGK 207 235 249 259 261 268 279 287 296 On the Sources of the Agents of Vegetable Productions.. 298 BRIEF HISTORIC SKETCH AGRICULTURE. BY THE EDITOR. A GENERAL retrospect of Agriculture, with a careful re- SMWieof its present status, will tend to encourage the plan- ter of the present day, and inspire him with hopeful views of the future. It will exhibit results highly gratifying to those who are enthusiastic in the course of ijnproved farming. Such review will discover actual advance- ment, decided progress in the great work of agricultural revolution, and point to a bright future. It teaches planters to be no longer content with meagre results — a mere subsistence, but, to raise their figures for handsome dividends. It will unmask many glaring errors in the popular system of farming, and exhibits a practicable system of correction and relief Radical changes are taking place in Agriculture, and in showing what has been accomplished within comparatively a few years, by men who have taken a scientific view of the subject, the reader can readily imagine and calculate what may be the progress in the .future, by following up the same spirit of enterprise and research. If much has been ac- B (9) 10 Brief Historic Sketch. complished by a few men in a short time, what may not Agriculture hope for the future ? What has been done on a small scale, may be done generally. From time immemorial, Agriculture has been but a plodding avocation, directed by no determinate principle. As a mere habit, it has descended to us from our pri- meval ancestors, and even down to the beginning of the present quarter century, no material change had marked its plodding course. The developments of art and science, giving new impulse to life in other professions, seems not to have affected Agriculture^^ Without organization, with- out system. Agriculture had not even entitled itself to the name of Science. . It wa,s but a plebian calling, swayed by prejudice and superstition, in which the moon was the great director, and nothing was right that did not accord with old ancestral notions. Such was Agriculture in the olden times, and such were some of the weights and barriers that fettered, and trailed it along in the same old beaten track. When we trace its history on down to the present day, we will note the continued existence of many of these same old clogs and barriers that have ever retarded the progress of Agriculture, and kept it in the back- ground. In fact, it requires no very close observer to discern the fact that these very same causes are still in operation, with the effect of staying the tide of advance- ment. Adherence to the same old stereotyped notions — blind devotion to ancestral opinion — indisposition to innovate old land-marks, and the general want of enter- prise and research among the people, aU contributed to retard progress in this, the noblest of all professions. The old system of farming in our own country, up to Brief Historic Sketch. 11 comparatively a few years ago, was but a series of errors. No fixed principles of science or philosophy ;, no recog- nition of the laws of nature in their application to vege- table life, has seemed to guide planters. To plow and to plant, was the sum total of their motto. As to how these should be done, there was no question. The old plan was the only plan. The pumpkin and the rock stiU balance weU. The necessity of change, ,tbe possi- bility of improvement seemed not to have occurred to our Fathers. The rich forest lands of the South were cut down, and by a murderous system of cultivation, were worn out — wantonly wasted. While fresh and pro- ductive, they yielded subsistence to the cultivator. But the axe must anon be re-applied to the forest for fresh acres to be similarly immolated. Cut down, wear out and move west to new lands, was the watchword ; and so long has this reckless and senseless policy been pur- sued, that a vast area of our country has been sacrificed, and, to day, presents but the appearance of a waste wil- derness. The cream of the soU has escaped, its fertility destroyed by improper, reckless cultivation. Our rich- est lands were foolishly wasted. But progress, the spirit of the age, already begins to impress Agriculture with its importance, and to arouse it from its slumbers. It begins to assume that position to which its importance entitles it, and is now clearly recognized as a science. The soils are being analyzed and appropriate fertilizers adopted. The principles of organic and inorganic chem- istry applied. The habits of plants are being carefully studied. The mechanical arts are appealed to for econ- omy and labor-saving. The Agriculturist is prying deeply into the study of nature and nature's laws, and is Indus- 12 Brief Historic Sketch. triously applying this acquired information to the practi- cal operations of his profession. Farm products, per acre and per hand, have been in- creased by modern improved farming to that extent that would have seemed wonderful to the planter of twenty years ago ; and lands are now yielding good dividends, that a few years ago were not considered worth the price of the " plot and grant." Look to the premium list of the late Agricultural Fair in the city of Macon. Eigh- teen bales of cotton, averaging 480 pounds, produced on six acres of land ! What results, compared with the crops of our Fathers ! Even four bales per acre have been made, and the products of other crops in proportion. Formerly one bale of cotton to three or four acres was considered a crop ! Now it requires three or four bales per acre to take the premium. Such are some of the results of :the study and appli- cation of science to Agriculture, and which were pre- dicted years ago, by those who presumed to proclaim error in the old system, and to indicate the principles that should guide in Agriculture. Not only are such crops produced under the improved system of farming, but our lands are being preserved and permanently im- proved, and the axe that has been taking down the forest pine will soon no longer be needed. The increased divi- dends of crops is sufficient compensation for the study of improved farming ; but when we add the material benefit that our land receives from this system of culture, we can realize the aggregate of benefit. We not only get larger dividends from the same labor and expenditure of means, but we are improving instead of impoverishing and destroying our lands. Brief Historic Sketch. 1 3 This spirit of enterprise that is now stirring the Agri- cultural South to revolution, had its origin in the minds of a few original thinkers, who have pushed forward this noble work with commendable zeal. These men, more than twenty years ago, recognized the fact that Agricul- ture was not what it should be, that it was environed with error, and that not one-tenth of the available capacity of our land had been reached. They found that ignor- ance prevailed. That there was no study of the laws of nature in their application to vegetable life, no thoughtj given to the chemical composition of the soil, and the^ supply of proper chemical food to plants. All was a mere routine habit ! These enterprising, pioneering minds conceived the correct idea that practical Agriculture should be based 1 upon the study of tjie laws of nature, and that all the ' available agencies of science and art should be employed. Applying these thoughts, these men first directed atten- tion to the impolicy of cultivating poor lands, when rich lands pay so much better. This conviction, at once sug- gested the use of fertilizers, and led these enquiring minds into the chemical laboratory, for the analysis of the soil and the plants to be grown from it, in order that appropriate fertilizers might be selected for the different soUs and crops. This was a decided advance in a vital direction, and has led to the most important improve- ments that are now claimed for modern Agriculture. Commerce was appealed to for guanos, which were applied under the directions of chemistry, to the differ- ent crops and soils. Mr. Dickson was the first to intro- duce guanos as fertilizers in this country, and to him are we indebted to-day for the incalculable benefit we are 14 Brief Historic Sketch. now deriving from their use. As an experiment, he tried Peruvian guano. He tested other guanos, and in a long series of experiments, he clearly demonstrated their value as fertilizer^. The impatience of many denounced them as vrorthless. But behold the result ! Almost every planter in Georgia is now using the commercial fertilizers in some form, and avowedly to his benefit. Mr. Dickson's experiments, extending through a series of years, with guano and other commercial manures, finally determined his preference for a certain combina- tion of articles, which he has published to the world, and which the reader will find noticed in this book as the " Dickson Compound." This, he has found the best for all crops, and has proven by actual results, that it pays, when applied to cotton, from one hundred to three hun- dred per cent. A great variety of commercial manures and compounds are now being used, and to the wonderful increase of Agri- cultural products. So overwhelmingly has the policy of fertilizing been demonstrated by Mr. Dickson and his com- peers, that hardly a planter now thinks of planting a crop without some kind of guano. The people rejected these teachings for a long time ; but they have, at last, become convinced by the demonstration of actual results and are now using everything they can get in the way of guano. The revolution is complete on this point. All now admit the correctness of the policy of improving lands and making them rich instead of moving about in search of fresh or rich lands. Most planters are now convinced that it pays to fertilize every crop for the sake of that crop, to say nothing of the gradual permanent improve- ment of the land. Brief Historic Sketch. 15 These agricultural reformers, led by Mr. Dickson, in pointing out various errors practiced in the old system, suggested the importance of planting in a deep, well pul- verized and well mixed soil. They accordingly intro- duced large turn plows and subsoUers to break the land deep, that it might hold moisture and allow the roots of plants to run out deep and wide in search of whatever chemical food was present in the -soil. These arguments have finally prevailed, though for a long time resisted by prejudice and incredulity. These turn plows are now used on most plantations, breaking the land deep, in lieu of the old scooter that simply stirred the surface, and left the crops to parch and wilt under every little drought. In accordance with the same course of reasoning fromj the laws of nature as applied to vegetation, these originalj thinkers discarded the oldjpractice of deep culture, as^ equally violative of these laws. They suggested shallow or surface cultivation, contending that the roots of plants should never be cut, as nature had wisely put them forth for the growth and development of the plant. That the soil once planted should be given to the planted crop and not afterwards disturbed by the cultivator. The winged sweep was accordingly substituted for the old scooter and shovel plow. Surface- or shallow versus deep culture was adopted as the most rational, and is now being exten- sively used. No cultiYator is now so popular as the Dickson Sweep, which the reader will find described in these pages. The reform on this subject is progressing, but the revo- lution is not yet complete. Very many planters still advo- cate deep cultivation of crops, and some even the subsoU culture. But this error is now being exposed by many 16 Brief Historic Sketch. intelligent writers and scientific farmers; and the practice wUl, in all probability, be entirely abandoned at an early day. This error is too barefaced, too palpable to be long entertained and practiced in this eidightened age of Agri- culture. Like may other antiquated notions and deep- grounded prejudices that have long embarrassed the pro- gress of Agriculture, it is already being swept away by the irresistible march of truth and science. "Failures in practice demonstrate errors in theory, and clear heads and skilled hands are unravehng the wonderful mysteries that lie along the line of cause and effect." Another characteristic feature of modern improved farming is the employment of improved machinery and all manner of agricultural implements to save manual labor. This is an aU-important step in view of the present scarcity of labor, and its general demoralized and dis- organized condition. ' Such are some of the changes that have taken place, within a few years, in our agricultural system. Intelli- gent minds, aided by patient and methodical research, have aroused the agricultural world from that lethargy that has held it speU-bound for centuries. New light has been thrown upon these subjects, and a spirit of enterprise and enthusiasm has been infused into the torpid minds of planters that is destined to work out marvelous results. They are being moved from their old stereotyped notions, and most planters now admit the possibility of improve- ment. Prejudice is yielding to the astounding results of Mr. Dickson's farming. Those sturdy old nerves are fal- tering, and thousands are falling into the improved system of farming — the head and front of which is Mr. David Dickson. The reader wiU notice a sketch of his career Brief Historic Sketch. 17 as a farmer, and the results reported must necessarily convert the reader to faith, in the man, or the truth of his system. There is magic somewhere. What has been\ accomplished ought to be repeated. What Mr. Dickson has done can and ought to be done by every planter. If liberal investments in guano, and the adoption of the proposed changes in Agriculture pays Mr. Dickson, why may it not pay every planter ? True, much depends upon the man, and his judgment in applying these prin- ciples to the farm ; but the regret is that all planters have not yielded their prejudices and adopted the im- proved system. Many old planters are stiU obstinate, and will not depart from old habits. They are joined to their idols and cannot be moved by any argument. There is one fact self-evident, farmers must change their poUcy, or abandon the business of farming. They must adopt every expedient that promises to save labor. They must economize labor — make every dollar's invest- ment pay. It will be observed that these changes in modern Agri- culture are material — radical changes. The geiuus of the age has demonstrated wonderful power in man in appropriating and utilizing the elements of nature. Ag- riculture has caught the inspiration, and is being greatly benefitted "by those teachings. Valuable fertilizing ele- ments are being extracted from every source in nature. Air, earth and water are made subservient to the wants of the Agriculturalist. The rains of winter and spring are saved and converted into cotton and corn. The air that floats upon the earth to-day is transformed into the milk and butter that supply our tables to-morrow. A thousand elements of nature that formerly were considered 18 Brief Historic Sketch. unavailing are now being utilized by modern Agricultu- ralists. Mr. Dickson has frequently, by the journalists of the day, been proclaimed the "pioneer" of this movement, the " head and front " of this reformation, but he is in fact its real author. I notice very recently some persons taking credit to themselves for " premium " crops grown under what they call their system of farming, that is exactly — as described by themselves — the "Dickson system," as promulgated twenty years ago, and is famUiar to every agricultural reader. Why not give Mr. Dickson credit for what is known to be due him ? He not only correctly conceived the great principles of this important reform, as embodied in this concise treatise, but has labored with indefatigable zeal to demonstrate them practically on the farm. He has turned the current of popular sentiment in the right direction, and accomplished an immense amount of good. Let his teachings be studied by every planter and applied to the farm. Then wiU be seen to vanish the magic that attracts so many thousands to the farm of the ^^ prince of farmers." The secret will be unveiled and earnest planters may attain a degree of suc- cess approaching that of Mr. David Dickson. LETTER FKOM THE COTTON COMMISSIONER. of CENTRAL INDIA. To show the importance now being attached to Mr. Dickson's views on the subject of Agriculture, and the extent of his reputation as a scientific planter, the reader is referred to the following letter, showing the fact that Mr. Dickson's fame is world-wide, and that his opinions are commanding attention, and his " System of Farming" being adopted in Central India, the great cotton growing country. Editor. NAGPORB, CENTRAL INDIA, July 31, 1869. Dear Sir: I have read with so much interest your letters on the use of "fertilizers" and "selected seed" in the cultiva- tion of cotton, published in the " Cotton Supply Reports," and the " Southern Cultivator," that I am tempted to send you a copy of my last report on the cotton cultiva- tion of these provinces, ]by which you will see that the plan recommended by you has received attention in this part of India. (19) 20 Letter. With your permission, I shall do myself the pleasure of forwarding regularly to you copies of my cotton re- ports, and shall look forward with interest for further valuable information from your pen in the " Southern Cultivator," which I receive regularly through my friend, Mr. Kettridge, the Consul of the Central States of Bom- bay. I remain, dear sir. Yours faithfully, H. RIVETTE CARNAC. THE FARM. When we worked slave labor, the larger the farm the more economy there was, because one hand could do the milling and cooking, and you would not have to stop a hand for every business ; but now it would be different. I should think a thousand acres and upwards would be the most desirable size for a farm, laid off into divisions so as to be cultivated on the five field system. I would have a permanent pasture, one field should rest, one field should . have cotton, one corn, and one small grain. I would put in cotton. after rest, corn after cotton, small grain after corn, and rest after small grain. If you only have five fields and wish to keep up the vegetable mold to a desirable standard, sow peas after the crop is off, always using commercial fertilizers as the most desirable in aU kinds of farming. In using com- mercial fertilizers you should not overlook the point of saving home manures. The more manures bought, the more home manures should be saved and applied to the farm. One of the objects in the system of rotation of crops recommended, is seen from the- fact that all plants do not receive the same kind of material from the soil ; one kind draws more phosphate and another more ammonia, and some draw very little of either. If you were to plant one kind of crop alone you would soon exhaust the (21) 22 The Farm. land of that particular kind of nutritive element required. I would let the land rest in order for it to accumulate vegetable mold, and to make it produce more annually than it would without rest, and thus save labor. The vegetable mold would keep the land open and porous and soft so that the roots could penetrate through it. I would plant cotton after rest, because the land is then in a better condition for the cotton, there being no corn stalks in the way, and less crab grass, the land having been covered up to obstruct its growth. Expe- rience has also shown that the land, when cultivated in cotton after rest, wiU produce a healthier weed, and wiU retain water better to keep the guano soluble. The veg- etable mold darkens the soil so that it will receive the heat better and keep it up better during the twenty-four hours. It does not throw the reflection of the sun back on the plants to burn and scorch them. The vegetable mold in the land from rest is becoming soluble the year round, and during the growth of the crop is becoming soluble ; and when partially decayed it acts like a sponge in holding the water and letting it out gradually to the roots of the plants. If there should be a surplus of water, it leaves the land porous enough for the water to pass through into the subsoil and prevent its damaging the crops. It is proved by experience that corn grows better after cotton than after any other plant, and that it is more easily cultivated. It makes heavier and sounder corn. Corn, when cultivated on my system, leaves the land in a beautiful condition, and there is less labor necessary to prepare the land for small grain. The corn crop could be gathered in time for the small grain, while the cotton The Farm. 23 crop could not, and these are the only two summer crops. The reason that I prefer rest to succeed small grain is because the land is then smooth, no open furrows to wash, and it is covered with stubble and small grass to protect it. I would prefer brown or mulatto soil for cotton, with a moderate gravel. The subsoU should not be retentive of water, but it should let the water percolate through, but not open enough to leach the land. From my obser- vation I find this kind of land more productive. I find such soU makes the stalk more bushy and productive, and bear better through the season ; the fruit comes thicker on the Hmbs, and less falUng of squares. For the growth of corn I would take the same soil, up to the blue limestone and the black prairie land, and what is called strong land of the river bottoms. The most sandy lands can be cultivated by sticking the particles of sand together with vegetable mold, and it would be a great addition to add muck or river mud, or any other substance that would stick the sand together, and make it dark enough to prevent reflection, and close enough to hold the water. Even cotton can be cultivated on the sand in this way. Sandy land I consider the lowest grade ; the sandier the land the lower the grade. It requires deep soils for all plants that they may be able to stand such a siege of drought as we had this year. The deeper the soil the better it will stand dry weather, and the better it will stand wet weather, as there»will be more place for the water to settle below the roots. If the water stops on a pipe clay it turns the plants yellow and they become unhealthy. For wheat, I would take the very same soil as I would 24 The Farm. for cotton. Wheat will succeed on the heavier lands better than cotton. The same thing may be said of oats. I do not think there is any particular difference between oat soils and wheat soils, but oats would suit better on low, flat lands than wheat. Wheat requires land that is better drained, either by natural or artificial means. Rye wiU grow anywhere corn will grow, and wiU do better on light or sandy soil than either wheat or oats. Means of Improving Lands. Rotation of crops is one of the means of improving land. Deep and deeper ploughing every year, and in- corporation of vegetable mold, even if you have to resort to two vegetable crops on the same land the same year ; returning the whole proceeds of the cotton plant to the soil, except the cotton lint ; making as much manure un- der the shelter as possible ; and using as much litter to absorb the whole of the urine and excrements of the stock and no more. These comprise my system of im- proving land. All the scrapings from the low lands and fence corners, swamp mud, muck out of the ponds and bottoms, use to the fuU extent you have teams and labor to do, spread- ing it over the land. Use commercial manures on all crops planted, up to from one to eight hundred pounds to the acre of " Dick- son's Compound." All land should be subsoiled, at least once in three or four years, and, if you have the means, it will pay to subsoil every year. Tou should never run more than one course without subsoiling. I do not con- sider soU up to its full capacity, until you have twelve inches of soil, and six inches of subsoil. The greatest of aU the means of improving land is to use the commer- cial manures every year, because you not only improve the land, but it will also pay you to use them, out of C ^25) 26 Means of Improving Lands. the crops grown. I consider this the philosopher's stone in all farming. You may talk of machinery, but there is no such thing as labor saving, if you neglect manures. These are the greatest labor saving machinery that can be adapted to the planter's use. While other machijjery might exhaust the land, these will draw greater crops and still improve the lands. But at the same time, while I consider them the greatest means of saving labor, they give you capital to increase your labor saving machinery in the same proportion that they increase your crops. I would not deter the farmer from all labor saving ma- chinery. I look upon manures and machinery as the best means that we can add to our present labor. In all instances, before you commence improving land, the land should be well drained or hiU-side ditched. There is no such thing as improving land without draining it where it needs it, or using the means to prevent the fer- tilizer from being washed off after they have been placed in the soils. There is another means of improving land by turning in vegetable matter. Poor land will not produce vege- table matter sufficient to improve the land materially, without the use of commercial or other fertilizers, to in- crease the quantity of the green crops to be turned in. By the use of fertilizers you can get two green crops a year to turn in, either of grass, peas, weeds or clover, and cultivated grasses where they would succeed, where otherwise you could get but one. The object of turning in these green crops is to gain aU the crops need from the atmosphere, besides what they get from the sub-soil. The carbon from the decaying green crops is a retainer of the ammonia until the crop draws it out either from the Means of Improving Lands. 27 rain or snow, or its own decomposition. We have already stated that rest is one of the means of improving land. While the land is at rest decomposition goes on all the time as though the crops were there, and the rest helps to make the decomposition of the vegetable mold ready for the crop that follows the year afterwards. Rest gives you a year's supply of vegetable mold to make another crop with. (See Letters 4, 9, 18.) MANURES. Ammonia, I consider the most important crop-grower, the main spring that puts all the rest in action. The most easily exhausted of all the manures. The princi- pal means of returning it to the earth is by green crops and Peruvian guano. Dissolved Bones, I consider second in the list, furnish- ing the principal things that make the seed — one of the most important ingredients in the chemical composition of the seeds and grain. Potash, I consider third in the list. Land plaster and salt, either combined or separate, will pay their cost, but the greatest benefit they do is to keep the other manures active, preventing rust, and assisting the crop in stand- ing dry weather. With a sufficiency of the above ingre- dients farmers will be able to find most of the other ingredients necessary to produce plants in the soil. It is admitted that every article composing the plant must be present in the soil, but I do not think it necessary that they should be in exact quantities. It will do to have more of one ingredient and less of another. The '■'■Com- pound" is about as near perfect as a manure can be made, and it does not put you to the trouble of getting all the ingredients of plants and combining them, it being doubt- ful whether all the others would pay, the five principal ones enabling the plant to find the balance. Should they (28) Manures. 29 fail, all economical means should be used to find out what particular item is wanting. There is a great variety of commercial phosphates. Their value depends on their solubility. While insoluble they are worth nothing to the crops. If cold water fails to make them soluble, the test must be made with the acids to ascertain their true value. Lime, I consider one of the basis of permanent im- provement — -judging from nature. We never find a lime- stone country but what it is rich. The mammoth bones are never found except in a limestone country, showing the necessity of lime in the soil to produce large animals. Wherever hme prevails to any extent, the greater effort should be made to keep up the nitrogen and all ammonia forming substances in the soil, such as the use of green crops, and other means which have already been pointed out. Experience proves that rest and green crops are much more valuable in Ume lands than in other varieties of land. Cotton Seed is very valuable as a manure, being easily decomposed, and returning to its natural elements as food for plants. All articles of a vegetable nature, when re- duced to their natural elements, are valuable as fertilizers. Manures are not alone valuable for the food they sup- ply to plants, but they render the land more easy to cul- tivate and assist the crops in standing either wet weather or dry weather. They cause less friction and resistance to the plough or hoe. Manures I consider one of the best economizers of labor that we can use in a hilly, broken or gullied country — vastly more preferable to emigrants, because if the production becomes too great you can aban- don the use of them for a season. 30 Manures. Ill addition to the present profit that is derived from the use of guanos and other fertilizers, I consider it our moral duty to increase the productiveness of the land equal to the increase of population. Succeeding genera- tions should find it as easy to live as the present, and we should look upon ourselves as being only tenants-at-will, haA'ing only a life-time estate in the soil, with a right to will it to posterity — ^posterity having an equal claim to the soil when they shall have come into existence, that we have now. (See Letters No. 3, 4, 6, 10, 11.) PERUVIAN GUANO. Peruvian Guanos are obtained from Peru and the Chinchi Islands. The prevalent opinion is, that they are a deposit of birds. My opinion is, they are a formation caused as other formations are, such as gold, iron, coal and plaster, in those countries where they would not be wanted, and where they would be preserved for their present use. My reason for this opinion is founded on the great quantities of these guanos. In making a cal- culation of the number of birds that could sit on these islands and feed within a reasonable distance of each other, they never could have got a sufficient quantity of fish to produce the phosphates and ammonia that are found in the island, containing, as these guanos do on an average, 16 per cent, of ammonia and 30 per cent, of bone earth. I have not the means now of ascertaining the thousands of tons that have been taken from those islands, but it reaches several millions of tons, and still the quantity is not exhausted. In my practice I have found Peruvian guano to be the best fertilizer I have ever used. I find it to be the best to compound bone earth and other substances with. In a large majority of manures the principal value is the amount of nitrogen and ammonia they contain. I do not under estimate the bone earth and other substances, but consider ammonia at the head of the list. C31) 32 Peruvian Guano. I commenced the use of guano in 1846, and gradually increased the use of it until the present time, never hav- ing omitted to use it except the last four years of the war, when I could not obtain it. With a proper system of rotation of crops, and returning all the crops to the land except the lint of cotton, land may be improved with Peruvian guano alone, but not so fast as when you combine with the soil all the elements of plants. I con- sider guano applicable to all crops. I do not know of any crop that ammonia would not benefit — ammonia being necessary for all plants. It would pay the best on those crops that bring the most mon^y — cotton being that crop in this section, and tobacco in other sections. Ammonia I consider the best single ingredient to grow green crops with to return to the earth, thereby producing more ammonia and thirty per cent, of bone earth to be re- turned to the soU, and losing no other ingredient that was abeady in the soil. (See Letters No. 10, 11, 3, 6.) DICKSON'S COMPOUND. This (1869) has been the diyest year that I have known since I have been a farmer, there having been but very little rain since the 27th of April. (I write on the 8th day of November.) Many branches and creeks on my place have not a drop of water in them; my mill has not turned since the first of May, and there is not a drop of water in the pond, though I have an unusually tight dam. It has been one of the best years to test the value of the different modes of farming, in my whole farming expe- rience. The negroes have notions of their own, and I have thought proper to let them be convinced of the value of the "Compound" by their own experiments. Some of them have used, on a portion of the crop, bone and Peru- vian guano alone ; others used on the balance of the crop the full " Compound." They are enabled now at any time, day or night, to see the difference between the effects of the full "Compound" and the bone and Peru- vian guano alone — the crops, raised with the former having stood the drought better, kept greener, made larger ears of corn, and more of them, and finer cotton. This year has been considered one of the most disas- trous for rust, but I have had less rust this year than usual, not exceeding one or two per cent, on the planta- tation, and having a great deal of land that is subject to rust. I tried this year an experiment on a plot of land (33) 34 DicJcsoris Compound. that failed to make cotton fifty-two years ago, both on ac- count of rust and poverty. I planted that plot on the 19th and 20th of May, and the cotton on it was flourishing, with no rust, except on about one half of an acre of flat wateroak land on one edge. It has produced the largest bolls of any cotton on the plantation, having used about 800 pounds of the "Compound" to the acre. This plot has produced, I believe, and aU visitors believe, no less than one bale of cotton to the acre. It would require no less than 400 pounds of the "Compound" to do this, still any one will find that it will pay a good in- terest on the money to use a thousand pounds of the "Compound" to the acre. No man should object to mak- ing an investment in this "Compound" when he is paid from four to ten times the interest on his money that he would get by loaning it to a bank, a railroad, or his neighbor. The true test to decide what is the most profitable amount of manure to be used, is just to take off the legal rate of interest on the amount that is used, and then count the doUars they have made over, and not the per cent, that any given quantity makes. For instance, you would use one hundred pounds of it to the acre, the cost being, say four dollars per hundred pounds, the interest would be twenty-eight cents; it would gain six dollars, making one hundred and fifty per cent. There is six dollars made per acre above the rate of interest. If you use four hundred pounds per acre at a cost of $16, the interest is |1 12. If it only gained one hundred per cent, there is $16, showing $14 88 clear profit, an advance profit over one hundred pounds used, of $19 16, making this gain on a profit of fifty per cent, less gain from the guano. I admit that Dickson s Compound. 35 there would be a less percentage, but the estimate is made in order to show that the profit is greater the more guano is used after deducting the legal rate of interest until you reach the amount of about one thou- sand pounds of the guano to the acre. In each of these calculations, the labor is the same, and a large crop is as easily gathered as a small one. Large ears of corn are more easily gathered than small ones, and the same is true of perfect boUs of cotton. In addition to this you have the advantage of the great stimulus to work that a fine cotton and corn crop gives to the laborers. This "Compound" I have used on all sorts of crops ; and I use it because I consider it the most perfect com- pound, without going into the minutse of all the elements that enter into a crop, and when I find out it is not the best I will change the ingredients, and publish them to the world. I will continue to make experiments^ and should I find any article that increases the productive- ness of crops, I wUl add it to the "Compound." (See Let- ter No. 10.) COMPOSTS. All stock manures should be raised under the shelter, as far as practicable, and with as little labor as possible. It should be taken from where it has been deposited and carried to where it is to be used, never permitting it to be thrown into the rain, or exposed to heat to be burned up and become of less value. It should be spread on the ground and applied immediately, so that the decom- position shall take place exactly where it is wanted. In this way the earth will take hold of all the gasses, and other substances formed, and retain them for the crop. In addition to the droppings of the stock,, everything that has been of a vegetable character, such as the de- composition of trees, is of value when applied to the land, and I consider the cheapest and best mode to take it where you find it, and carry it to the nearest place where you want to use it. Lime spread over where you have deposited it wUl reduce it to plant food by the aid of moisture, heat and light, in sufficient time for the plant, which wiU be a great saving in handling and rehandhng it from three to four times ; the extra labor being of more value by increasing the amount by hunting waste deposits. In manure as well as in all other things, the great consideration is to economize labor. One of the great objects, aside from the immense profits of using commercial manures is, that it gives you the means of Composts. 37 increasing your composts. It gives jou increased food to be used ; it increases your cotton seed and grass to be turned under; it causes weeds and other things to spring up early in the winter, to be turned under in the spring, without any loss or trouble of using green crops. These weeds are not valuable as manure until they are turned under, but the hogs require much less corn by feeding on them, and the weeds protect the lands from washing during the heavy winter rains. Land washes much less when fertilizers are used, for the reason that they encourage deeper ploughing, make double, to three times the amount of litter to protect the land ; cover the land earlier in the winter and spring with a dense growth of weeds, and when at rest, growing from two to three times the quantity of weeds to be turned under in the summer, or to remain over if not turned under, to shade and protect the land. One of the benefits of shade on land when at rest, is that there is a less amount of manures becoming soluble, and there is less leaching of the land during its year of rest. (See Let- ters, Nos. 3, 6, 11.) ORGANIC AND INORGANIC Substances. But few farmers being acquainted with chemistry, they can ascertain the organic and inorganic substances by the use of fire. For instance, take ten bushels of cotton seed, and reduce them to ashes by fire. Having weighed them before reducing them, weigh the ashes that are left ; the amount set free comes from the atmo- sphere, the amount remaining is inorganic. To tell the A^alue of these, as food for the crops, is done by apply- ing the ashes of the ten bushels of cotton seed to a given quantity of land, and seeing the increase ; and then applying ten bushels of green seed to the same quantity of land, deducting the per cent, made over nothing: this will show what was left to organic mat- ter. What is true of cotton seed will be true of all seeds, or plants, or wood, both as to weight and to the increase when applied to future crops. Almost all flesh and oil is obtained from the atmosphere. The bones, void of the nitrogen and oils, are from the earth. Finding by the above experiment that such a large proportion of the plant comes from the atmosphere, is one inducement why we should grow green crops and other crops to be turned into the land, and from (38) Organic and Inorganic Substances. 39 every source to let as much atmosphere into the land as possible. The more organic matter we have in the soil, the more we can command annually from the at- mosphere. Agriculture as a Science. In my system of deep preparation, thorough manu- ring, and surface culture, the results depend altogether on the time and judgment when to work, where to work, and the style of the work. To be successful, and to pay dividends, you must do the greatest quan- tity of work with the least labor. That art is acquired by studying practice. To attain it, you must approach the perfectness of a juggler, or sleight-of-hand man. With a peculiar sleight, one man will throw an axe into a piece of timber, with half the force of another, and with the same or a better result. It is absolutely necessary to come to time. AU the operations should move at once ; this is just as essential as it is for a team of mules in a wagon. To perform all these things successfully, you must have absolute control over the laborer. Every farmer should teach this art to his laborers. If the farm hands on one plantation only learn this, they wiU always be offered inducements by other planters to leave. The hands on the place should be taught to do every kind of work with facility and ease. Nothing pays so well in hoeing, as to get every bunch of grass. Taking up a bunch of grass injures a crop of cotton, equal to bad ploughing, if not perfectly done. To be successful in planting, you must study the (40) Agriculture as a Science. 41 habits of plants, their wants, and the best climate and soil adapted to them. Cotton I consider a sun plant, growing the best in a latitude of from 30 to 34 degrees, avoiding most of the casualties in that belt. The evidence of its being a sun plant is seen from the fact, that as soon as the sun rises the cotton holds out the broadest surface of its leaves to the sun, and moves round with the sun, and is never done growing tiU it is killed by the frost. Its habit is to elaborate the food, to return it to the squares and bolls, and mature it as fast as it is done. In order to mature the greatest quantity of it before the worm or frost comes, you must have at least eight stalks to the yard. Corn is an annual. It delights in a latitude a little higher than cotton. The higher the latitude that corn wiU certainly mature, the greater quantity can be made per acre, everything else being equal. Unlike cotton, it commences elaborating substances for the corn at once, and returns it to the storehouse in the centre of the stalk, to be brought out at the proper time of shooting and maturing the ear, which is one reason why I plant com thin and cotton thick. If there should not be enough soluble matter in the soil for two stalks, the re- sult would be no ear, or a very poor nubbing. If there is only one stalk left, and there is enough soluble matter in the place allotted to .that stalk to make two ears, one stalk will take it all and even more, and will make from two to four ears of corn. Another advantage in planting corn thin is, that it will make a larger crop in a dry year, when corn is more in demand and at a better price; and if seasonable, a single stalk will D 42 Agriculture as a Science. always be double-eared, if the land is in good heart. The higher the latitude, the thicker the corn may be planted, but even then, it can be overseeded. The true test is, never to exceed one hundred and thirty-three ears to the bushels the land ought to make. Agricultural science is based entirely on natural laws. From nine-tenths to nineteen-twentieths of all the sub- stances that sustain life and build up bodies come from the atmosphere. The great object of study and practice is to know how to vitalize the atmosphere, and to work up the manures into the soil. We have but few text- books on this subject. We have to begin almost at the beginning. When these subjects are reduced to prac- tice, and written out in the form of text-books, the study of Agriculture as a science will be comparatively an easy one ; but under no circumstances will the work ever be performed with success unless with preparation by the planter, and study of all the laws,, practices and arts, time and mode of cultivation. One object should be to vitalize water, and to make the greatest yield from the least water ; and there never has been a year when there was not water enough to make fair crops, pro- vided the cultivation was done with care and science. I believe the cultivation of corn can be carried to such a point, that you can make a full crop with two good seasons. BREAKING LAND. The object of breaking land is to render it porous ; to place the litter beneath the surface to be out of the way in cultivation ; to make the land spongy enough to hold water; to receive the rain more readily; to pre- vent washing ; to let in the light, heat and moisture ; to decompose and render the surface soluble for plant food; to enable the roots to penetrate in all and every direction; and to prepare the land so that the sweep will pass over it easily and lightly during the whole of the cultivation. Land should be broken from eight to twelve inches. Such as has not been well broken, should be broken every year one to two inches deeper, until you get to the maximum, which I consider to be twelve inches, with six inches beyond as subsoil. The advantages of deep breaking are, that it protects the land, and enables it to retain moisture sufficient to carry the plant through any ordinary season of drought. I have never known a year, but that, with proper break- ing, proper manuring, and surface culture, you would not make an average crop. There is no such thing as failure, when man does his duty in the cultivation. Pro- vidence has provided all the necessary means to make a competency. While the land is fresh broke and porous, the roots penetrate and occupy the whole of the soil, (43) 44 Breaking Land. and come down into the subsoil that is broke. During the cultivation, the rain on the lands settles the soil to the roots of the plants, and enables them the more com- pletely to draw all the soluble matter out of the earth. The settling on the roots has been proved valuable in more ways than one. I will only mention the difiFer- ence in time it takes seed to come up when the earth is pressed closely to them, and when it is scattered loosely over them. They will come up in twenty-five to seventy-five per cent, less time when the earth is packed moderately around them. There is a great variety of ploughs, all answering nearly the same purpose. The plough that is set so as to screw the land over with the least draft, or to pass it up the inclined plane or mold board the easiest, is the best. The principal objection to this kind of plough is its liability to break, and its high cost. I find the cheapest plough I have ever used is a wrought- iron turn-plough of the make of the old "Allen" plough, now called by many people the "Dickson" turn-plough. It should contain from twenty to thirty pounds of iron, according as to whether you wish to use one or two horses, and cut from seven to ten inches, as you may wish to use one or two horses. The making would be from two to three dollars, besides the iron and stocking. It could be stocked for seventy-five cents; some me- ^chanics might charge a doUar. I would say, where the soil does not reach more than .from four to ten inches, I would prefer the common long scooter of four to five inches width to subsoil with, un- til you obtain a depth of soil of from nine to twelve iinches. The reason why I would use the scooter is, Breaking Land. ' 45 because it mixes a portion of the soil every year with the subsoil. After a sufficient depth of soil is obtained, I should prefer ploughs that are known as subsoil lift- ers. I have no doubt that subsoiling every year would increase the crops more than if you subsoiled once in a rotation. I would prefer to subsoil every year for cot- ton, because cotton is the best paying crop, and you would feel the extra cost less. I have subsoiled for both corn and small grain with satisfactory results. Breaking must be commenced in time to do it full and well by planting time. Usually, it should be com- menced by the first of December, and not later than the first of January. In this climate, on my farm in Hancock county, it is best, taking ten years tpgether, that the breaking be done not more than ten days be- fore planting time; this, however, we know to be im- practicable in all cases. My reasons for late ploughing are based on practical observation. In warm, wet win- ters, the land is much damaged by washing and leaching, by early breaking, and runs together closer than it would if the ground had not been broke. In cold, dry springs and Avinters, I have found the early ploughing to do much the best; but from observation I find that we have only about one of them in ten years. If I lived in a cold climate, I would recommend to break early and deep, where the ground freezes from seven to twelve inches or over, where the rains are not so heavy, and a large portion of the time the land is covered with snow. In all climates above 36 degrees, I would give it as my opinion, that land would be ma- terially benefitted by fall ploughing; and the further north you go of that line, the more benefit would be 46 * Breaking Land. received from fall ploughing. The freezes and snows would make up for all the disadvantages that apply to the line south of 33 degrees. I do not_ consider it a question when to begin breaking land; the point is, you must begin in time to do the work before planting, and take all the advantages and disadvantages that may" come; and the better the breaking is done, the easier the land is cultivated, and the larger the crops. I al- ways consider the preparation the half, and the heaviest half, of making the crop. Cultivation of Crops. Some of the objects of cultivating crops are to keep the weeds and grass out from drawing the substance from the plants, and to keep the surface broke so as to let in light, heat and air. If a small amount of loose earth is on top, it prevents the surface from heating too rapidly below, and acts as a blanket to keep the earth from discharging the heat too rapidly at night. This small fine pulverization on top, say from a half to an inch, comes to the dew point much earlier than a solid body, and secretes moisture and the elements of the atmosphere much earlier in the night and more ra- pidly. It retains the elements of the atmosphere to be washed deeper down when it rains, and protects any further evaporation below the moisture until that is dis charged. I consider it just as deleterious to cut the roots of a plant as I would to cut the veins of an ox when I have him fattening. The object of the roots is to penetrate in every direction the surface and the depth below, to gather the food and send it up to the blades to be ela- borated by them into food for the stalk and the grain. If the roots are cut off, the whole supply of nutriment is cut off; if enough roots are left in deep ploughing to prevent the plant from dying straight out, it may be recuperated for awhile, but it would have the same effect (47) 48 Cultivation of Crops. as putting an ox on half food when he is fattening. There is no necessity of breaking land the second time, if it has been done well the first, and sufficient carbon and vegetable mold incorporated into the soil. All lands require it equally, whether clay or sand, but for different reasons. You want vegetable mold to open the particles of clay, so that the roots of the plant may penetrate ; you want the vegetable mold to close the particles of sand, that it may retain moisture — the me- chanical effect on both soils are equal. So with the manureal effect. Taking all things together, I consider a dark clay land the best. It receives heat more gradu- ally, and parts with it more gradually, making a more uniform heat during day and night, which is just as essential to plants as to animals to continue their life and growth. Vegetable mold, I think more advantageous to lime land than to either of the other kinds, for the reason that it consumes in them faster, rendering them soluble in passing away. We need lime in lands to restore them to their former fertility by green crops, when it is indicated that nothing is lacking in them but a veget- able mold. One reason why we should have a large extent of soil and depth of pulverization is, because the roots are many times longer than the limbs or stalljjs, Sometimes going as many as five or six times the length of the Umbs or stalks of corn and cotton. Whilst in the preparation of the land the plough- ing should be in all eighteen inches, the cultivation should not be more than a half-inch to an inch deep ; but the man who prepares his land by breaking it eighteen inches deep, and cultivates six inches deep. CuUivation of Crops. 49 Avill injure his crops less than the man who prepares six inches deep, and cultivates six inches deep, leaying no prepared land for the roots to occupy to sustain the crop. The Dickson Sweep. The stem should be of iron, three inches wide and three-fourths of an inch thick. It should be cut square off of a bar, fourteen or fourteen and a half inches long, leaving five and a half inches stem above the wing to come on the foot of the plough. The balance of the stem is to put the wing on, and to form the point. The use of the point is that you can hold the sweep much more steadily, and it acts as a rudder to keep every little bunch of grass or twig from throwing it out of its position. I find the most A^aluable size to be from twenty-two to twenty-six inches, never less and never more. The wings should be cut out of the best Swedes iron, just half the length of the width of the sweep. The width of the iron in the wings should be three and a half inches by one-half inch, and they should be cut diagonally across the iron varying about one inch from a true line, and when the wings are put on, the end of the wings should lack very little of being in a straight line with the upper end of the stem. If put square on, they would not discharge the dirt, on account of too great a slope, and they would dodge for every little resistance, instead of cutting it. The sweep should be put on the stock so that when jDOwer is applied on the end of the beam it would not be inclined to go in or (50) The Dickson Sweep. 51 come out of the ground. They should always be kept sharp, if the smith has to work on them once a day. They wiU usually last from three to ten days without sharpening. Cultivation of Corn. On commencing the preparation of the land for the corn crop, the manager should ride into the field, and ride over it, selecting his circle to plough on a level; never using more than five or six hands in the same land. If there are more hands, he must select two or more lands at the same time, going round in a circle, on a level, or if the field is level, going round the edge ; and as you may select one or two-horse ploughs, each plough will follow the other aU round, and finish in, the centre. Turning the land down-hill, enables the plough to go two inches deeper if the ground is broken than it would if straight lands were taken across the fields. The manager or inspector of the ploughing should ride inside of the circle, going the opposite direction to the plough hands, riding round and round until he is satisfied. He will see after the first round, whether the hands have changed since he was present, by the last circle. In order to break land to the best advantage, you should dispense, as far as practicable, with fencing. I am of the opinion, that it never pays to keep forests to fill your land with cross fences. The advantage to the stock is never equal to the delay they cause in plough- ing, and to the damage to the lands, which is to be estimated not only by the land they occupy, but also the guUies which they cause, and the loss of time they (52) Cultivation of Corn. 53 occasion in turning on each side of the fence with the plough. The first thing is to settle the capacity of your land to produce corn, as to the number of bushels in an ordi- nary year, and never exceed one hundred and thirty- three stalks to the bushel. Seventy-five stalks can be made to yield a bushel, and I have made a bushel off' fifty stalks the field over. Taking land that will make from ten to thirty bushels of corn to the acre, I would have rows seven feet apart, and drop the grains three feet distant. I would open the furrows with a shovel plough, seven feet distant, running an opposite direction with another shovel plough, throwing the dirt out by measure seven to eight inches. If cotton seed or commercial manures are used, the quantity being determined upon, I would drop the grains just three feet apart. If you prefer thinning to one stalk, drop as many grains as you wish, three or four inches from the manure, always dropping in front of the manure the way you are going. Cover Avith a harrow, not exceeding one inch to one and a half inches. It is best to go the same way with the dropper, that you may not pull the manure over the seed. The usual time for planting, in 33 degrees north lati- tude, according to the coldness and wetness of the ' spring, is from the tenth of March to the first of April. If any hiUs should be missing, it should be immediately replanted, as soon as the corn comes up, and it will be just as forward as the other corn. If more than one grain is dropped, just as soon as the stalks have three blades, they should be thinned to one, never having more than one stalk in a hUl. 54 Cultivation of Corn. It is not necessary to commence working the corn before the 20th of April to 1st of May. One reason for this is that earlier working is a loss of time, and if the corn plant is hilled up before there are lateral roots to it, the plant all below an inch or inch and a half wUl perish, thereby losing all the advantages of putting the corn in deep ; but there would not be a loss from the deep preparation. In the first ploughing, I would side with a twenty-two inch sweep, the back of the right wing elevated about one inch and a quarter, so as to sift in dirt to make it about an inch of being on a level with the common sur- face. The middle can be broke with the same size sweep, the back of both wings elevated, finishing out the seven feet with four furrows. A horse should plough three and a half acres a day. This work, if well done, will stand from three to four weeks. It should then be ploughed just as at first, with the right wing a little more elevated, running very close to the corn, leaving a perfectly level surface, finishing out the middles with three furrows. I use the fifth fur- row for making a beautiful place for planting peas. Five horses should plough fourteen acres a day. From the 15th of May to the 1st of June, I find the surest time to plant peas. This should be done between the second and third ploughing, running a shovel furrow ' in the middle of the corn rows. One hand can drop for one plough. Drop six or seven peas a distance of not over two feet; cover with a harrow. Two hands and one dropper will plant sixteen acres of peas a day. The next ploughing is the last and final ploughing. It should not exceed a half inch in depth. Side the corn Cultivation of Corn. 55 with a twenty-two inch sweep, the right wing elevated, the left wing one-half elevated. The peas side with a twenty-six inch sweep, the right wing half elevated, the left wing elevated, going a half-inch deep. If this is well done, it leaves a beautiful surface, not a bunch of grass in the pea or corn row. No hoe-hands are ever needed in the cultivation, if the plough-hand does his duty. Should the hand who sides the corn leave a bunch of grass, he should get it with his hand or foot. This will make him more careful to do the work right; and he can go his sixteen and two-thirds miles a day, take care of his horse, and do everything that is necessary to be done. All the labor required to cultivate corn is less than one day per acre, requiring only thirteen days ,tq culti- vate fourteen acres ; and if weU done, it will get the largest crop out of the land that it is possible to get any one year. To plant the pea crop costs only one-eighth of an acre per day in the ploughing, and one-sixteenth of a day's work per acre to drop it. This will make the peai and corn crop, after the land has been prepared, re- quire only one day's work per acre, or a fraction more. There is a great diversity of opinion about pulling blades. I have found by practice, that if the " Com- pound" is used, especially salt and plaster, the corn wUl be fully matured before the fodder begins -to damage, and it will be much heavier than if it was not used, and there will be no loss of corn whatever from pulling the blades. There is no food that stock like better than well-matured fodder, nicely cured. Those who have a different opinion, and.have made a test of the corn, have always pulled the fodder too soon. The object is, first, 56 Cultivation of Corn. to cultivate corn for the sake of the corn; and when the corn is made all it can make, there can be no objection to saving the fodder. I have on hand corn six years old, perfectly sound and clear of wevils, and I have frequently kept it till three years old. Having been often called upon to answer the question, hotv to preserve corn, and not having had time to answer such letters, I will give my practice. The plan is, to plough deep, manure well, cultivate the surface only, keep it clean, and every ear will be sound and heavy. No other corn can be kept long but sound, pure corn. Use the yellow flint variety for long keeping. That corn you wish to keep the longest, let it thoroughly cure in the field, pull it when it is thoroughly dry, from the middle of November to the middle of December, put into a dark house, fill it full. This corn will stay till you use it. I should have mentioned that I always put it up in shuck, put it in as close as possible ; and if a rat-proof house is used, so much the better. (See Letter, No. 5.) COTTON. Lay oflf the rows four feet; run the second furrow seven or eight inches deep ; deposit the fertilizers intended to be used either with the hand or fertilizer sower, at the rate of four hundred pounds or upwards to the acre. With a long scooter plough run on each side of that fur- row, and cover it up. Run the same plough in those fur- rows a second time, or the subsoil plough, if preferred. Use a good turn plough, and run on the side of each of those scooter furrows, and scooter furrows in each of those turning furrows, or a subsoil. Split out the middles with a large, shovel, as deep as the horse will pull it. That finishes the bed. When ready to plant, open with a small, short bull- tongue. Sow the seed with the hand or cotton seed sower — the cotton seed sower preferable. If the cotton seed sower is used it finishes the whole operation at once. The earlier cotton is planted the lighter it must be covered. Cotton may be planted from the first of April till the 15th of May. From the 10th to the 25th of April I consider the best time. You may plant, with high ma- nuring, as late even as the 1st of June. By extending your planting over the longest periods you can raise the E (57) 58 Cultivation of Cotton. largest crops, the bulk being put in about the 15th to the 20th of April. In the first working of the cotton, side with a twenty- two inch sweep, with the right wing tolerably flat, going very close to the plant, not exceeding a half inch depth in the ploughing. It may be hoed by scraping with a sharp No. 2 Scovell hoe any time after ploughing. Leave two to three stalks in a hill, the width of the hoe being the space that the stalks should be apart. Some advan- tage is gained by keeping as near the middle as possible. You will be able to see what grass the plough left. The shaving of the grass with the hoe will act as a second working of the crop. It will always be safe, if you can, to return to the cotton once in three weeks. Side, shallow, and close again the second time. Occa- sionally, to keep the surface very level, you may run the plough in the middle of the row. By leaving the proper periods between the' ploughing, you may carry the point about the 1st to the 10th of August, which is a very good time to cease working cotton. Cotton may be made with two to three ploughings. Four sidings and two middle splittings are all that it ever wants under the most unfavorable circumstances. The greatest amount of work the cotton requires is only ten furrows to the row for all cultivation. The whole ploughing occu- pies just one and a fourth days' work per acre, under favorable circumstances ; and it may be completed with three-fourth day's work per acre. It is essential that each of those ploughings should be done very shallow and close, never stopping for dry weather. If the ground stays wet, you may stop a few hours and hoe. The hoeing and ploughing during the cultivation of the crop closes up the Cultivation of Cotton. 59 land sufficiently to cause the fruit to set finely. At the beginning of the planting it was sufficiently porous for the roots to penetrate in every direction, and to any de- sired depth. The cotton plant is like the cultivated plum or cherry, requiring the land to be pretty close around the roots to set its fruit well, and prevent its drowning in excessive rains^ To cause early maturity the rows of the cotton should be one way four feet apart, and there should be from two to three stalks in a hill, at the dis- tance of every nine inches. When the cotton fruit com- mences to bloom, each stalk will bloom and take on just as many bolls as if there were only three stalks to the yard. This system, stated above, will insure eight stalks to the yard, if hoed with care, which is one hundred and sixty-six per cent, more stalks than if one stalk is left for every twelve inches. By placing the stalks thick in the driU, and wide apart, the land is less shaded, and^gets more light and sun. If you wish to shade with a given number of plants, the more equally the land is divided the more completely is it shaded. ' Prepared, manured, planted and cultivated, as directed, there never has been any reason, any year, to prevent you from having .a good average crop. This being the dryest year I have ever known, has satisfied me of this fact, for I have a good average crop. If you pursue the above plan, and get three favorable weeks from the 20th of July, you will get a good average crop. Thin plant- ing, as a general thing, latens the crop. If seasons have been regular, and the above directions h'ave been carried out, the plant wUl be completely checked by the 2.0th of August, and need no topping. Topping is advantageous where we find the boUs have not come on soon enough, 60 Cultivation of Cotton. and, if topped, should be done from the 5th to the 10th of August. In very rich land the distance between the rows may be from four to six feet ; probably some of the Mississippi bottoms may want eight feet: No land is so poor that the rows of cotton should be nearer than four feet. If you have not land enough to plant as many rows as you wish, purchase more. A four foot row will make more than a three foot row; it is just as easy cul- tivated, if the season is favorable, and more easy if they are not. (See Letter No. 12.) Picking should commence as early as the cotton commences opening, and the cotton should always be sunned before the seed matures or hardens. If the crop appears to be large, it will have to be picked by the hands. Hurry them up ; admit a little trash to increase the quantity picked. The falling off in pricfe by picking a little trash, is^ot so disastrous as to let the cotton stay and waste, and turn back for the sake of picking it clean. To raise cotton for seed, the best boiling plats should be selected that is on the plantation. Manure it well, and cultivate as directed above. Plant in it the most select seed on hand, and in working the cotton you should always pull up the stalks that prove unprolific, even if it makes a vacuum. When matured, from the second and third pickings, select the best stalks, those that have limbs sufficiently well to contain from six to seven bolls from a half inch to an inch apart. The best known variety to commence with is the "Dickson's Select," this variety having outlived every other in pro- ductiveness and popularity. The cotton for seed should be picked when dry, and Cultivation of Cotton. 61 put up when dry. This will always insure a healthy plant. If the seed is partially damaged, the plant will continue to die out for weeks after it comes up, and sometimes fail even to make its appearance after sprouting. I would select cotton for seed e-very year. Select enough every year to plant to make seed to plant the entire crop the succeeding year. (See Letter, No. 13.) Rust is simply poverty of the land. This poverty is produced from various causes, such as wet lands that leach, lands that are too porous to hold water, that re- ceive too much rain at one time and get too dry at ano- ther, and letting it get grassy so as to rob the plant of what little nourishment that is there. The hilly, sandy land can be improved by mixing with them a vegetable mold, and using a sufficient quantity of "Dickson's Com- pound" with surface, culture. The wet lands have to be drained to increase their fertility. Red land and post- oak land that are sufficiently dry need nothing but enriching; and the true system for everybody is, to make the land as near virgin soil as possible. I have never known in this section new lands to rust. The black prairie lands I am unacquainted with, but I under- stand they are liable to rust; but I believe the same system of keeping them fuU of vegetable mold up to the virgin standard, and the use of the "Compound" manure, would succeed in making cotton in them. The sulphuric acid that is in plaster might to some extent Supply the place of carbonic acid that is deficient by long cultiva- tion. The above is true in my practice. As to the black prairie land, it is a mere suggestion, but I believe that it will succeed. 62 Cultivation of Cotton. The heavier the cotton bolls, the more care is neces- sary, by previous preparation and manuring, to sustain ' the plant. The same care should be taken not to cut the roots of the cotton plant with the hoe, as is used to prevent their being cut by the plough, as the same damage would be the result in either case. Care should also be taken not to skin or bruise the shanks of the cot- ton with the hoe. The hoe should never be raised more than eighteen inches from the ground to hoe cotton. The hoe should be kept sharp, and grass should be cut just below the crown. Scratch out the word chop, and use the word hoe or scrape. This matures cotton earlier, and renders it less likely to be damaged by boll worms and caterpillars. By planting your cotton thicd, and cultivating shallow, you dwarf it by the large number of bolls set on the plants, and render the plant less liable to caterpillars and ball worms. (See Letters, Nos. 7 and 21.) WHEAT. Wheat is a more tender plant than either oats or' rye, and requires more care in its preparation and manuring. The best preparation for wheat will be the best prepara- tion for oats, rye and barley. There are many ways that are good to raise wheat, but the most thorough preparation is the best ; but in the Cotton States I would not undertake to say whether it will pay to go to the extent of preparation that is practiced in the Northern and Western. States. I will state that I have succeeded well in raising wheat. Use from two to three hundred pounds of the " Com- pound," and from a half bushel to a bushel, according to the quality of the land, of seed. Turn over the land about four inches deep, following each furrow with a subsoil, and drag a fine brush over the land with a pair of horses, always moving the brush on a level if it re- quires to cross the ploughing. This plan has succeeded well. The second mode is to turn over deep, subsoil, harrow or brush the land, sow the wheat and manure the same time, harrow it in, then roU. The third plan is simply to raise grass with a prospect of having a .crop or more of wheat. Sow the wheat and manures, if you intend any, at the same time. Turn over the land with a turn plough four inches deep, brush, (63) 64 Cultivation of Wheat. or not brush, as you think proper. If the wheat comes sufficiently to pay for cutting, do so, if not, turn the stock on it, and use the grass as a pasture during the balance of the year. Rust damages hill and dry land less than wet or low lands. So far as my observation has been, rust is en- tirely from the atmosphere, increased by the condition of the land, and I know of no preventive for it. The early varieties are less subject to it. Later varieties produce more per acre, provided they are not attacked. Wheat can be saved with a common scythe blade, or more profitably where the reaper can be used, always using a thresh as the means of getting it out. The main profit derived from the culture of wheat is the fact, that it leaves you, after cutting, a large quantity of vegetable matter, to be incorporated into the soU, to increase the quantity of cotton per acre the succeeding year. Patri- otism says, make your meat and bread at home, and be. independent. All of the above plans are applicable to every other species of small grain. The cultivation of small grain is necessary to carry out a system of rotation of crops, and if you do not sow them you must rest your corn lands. Now choose between the two systems, sow small grain, or rest your corn lands. You can hardly fail to make less on them than the worth of the seed in sowing. Potatoes, Turnips and Wheat, ON THE TWO FIELD SYSTEM, TO SAVE LABOR. Select two plats of land for this purpose, according to the size of the family. No. 1, sow in wheat, prepared and manured well. After the wheat is cut, turn the land over and harrow it ; should it get grassy, plough it again. From the 20th of July to the 15th of August is a good time to sow turnips. Lay the rows off three feet distant. Open the furrows about six inches deep ; use compost and commercial manures, with ashes sufficient to make it very rich. Bed the land as though you were going to plant cotton, and strike it off. Open by hand with a little hook. In the smaU furrow deposit the seed and cover them about an inch deep. When they have three or four leaves pull your hoe, four inches wide, through the drill. Leave from two to four plants in a hill. A few days afterwards, side as you would cotton; and then, when the leaves are about three inches long, go over and cut any grass that may have been left, and thin the plants to one plant in a hill. In case, after- wards, there should be any grass or pursley, it must be taken up clean, leaving nothing to come to seed but the turnips. The next spring this is the potato lot. If not rich (65) 60 Potatoes, Turnips and Wheat. enough for potatoes, some commercial manures may be added ; if considered rich enough, nothing. Plant the potato draws twelve inches apart in the ridge ; I prefer them thick, as they will not grow so large, and make more bushels to the acre. Cultivate the potatoes with a sweep, as you would cotton. When you wish to lay by, you can have a sweep that wiU set the hill. Side the potatoes with a sweep. Run a shovel furrow in the middle. Put your clevis on the top side of your plough ; use an old sweep whose point has been worn short. Hold your plough handles well up ; let your horse move pert ; and if the first furrow does not throw your bed out sufficiently, run your sweep back in the same furrow, making two sweeps to each middle. You will have a nice flat bed. If this work is well done, you will need no hoe in the potato patch. In digging time, plough on each side to show the potato, and then with a long shovel plough run in the middle, splitting out the potato ridge, and throwing all the potatoes out. The hands should follow the opera- tion of each furrow, to pick them up. Potatoes should be handled without bruising. You should never dig until the frost has melted each morning. The least frost on them will prevent them from keeping. I prefer good open dry weather for digging. There are many ways to save potatoes, that have often been published. I will give only one plan. Dig a hole, a round circle, about six inches deep, where the water will not settle; fill it full of straw; pour about fifteen to twenty bushels of potatoes on top of the straw, and then round them up. Cover the pota- toes with straw ; a few corn stalks may be laid around Potatoes, Turnips and Wheat. 67 the straw, but this is not essential. Set up your forks, and cover well. In one or two days, put dirt around the hUl one-half way up, as thick as you intend, but not less than seven or eight inches; and as the potatoes sweat and dry out, you can continue to add dirt until you get to the top of the hill. They keep either with a smaU hole left at the top, or none, about equally well. By having two lots, the two lots will produce three crops each year — a crop of wheat, a crop of potatoes, and a crop of turnips — wheat first, turnips second, and potatoes third. Sow wheat as soon as you dig potatoes ; as soon as the wheat is off plough the land for turnips ; plant the turnips the last of July or the first of August ; use them out, except a few rows for seed, by the time to plant potatoes. Sugar Cane. Mr cultivation of sugar-cane has been very limited, but quite successful; planting it about six feet apart, with the same preparation as corn, with a little heavier manuring. Sugar-cane has a greater quantity of roots than corn, and more care should be taken not to destroy them. I have found a rich alluvial soil, moderately dry, or a rich, heavy clay land, as best for sugar-cane ; but land thin- ner, or a little more sandy, I have found to produce less quantity, but it would contain more sugar to the size of the stalks. About the middle of February is the usual time I have planted in this latitude. The seed should be stripped of all the fodder, to prevent its heating the cane and destroying the eyes. Occasionally, lay cross pieces to keep the cane from lying. too close together, and causing it to heat. Cover it sufficiently deep to keep the frost out. This is only to instruct those that wish to make small quantities. Those who have followed it as a business must certainly know more about it, as a business, than I do. (68) Ground Peas. Ground Peas are sometimes cultivated between corn, for stock. For a patch for family use, choose a plat of good mulatto land, clay subsoil, moderately rich, with a little addition of the " Compound." Lay off about three feet distant, three inches deep, and drop the seed in the ground four inches apart, and cover lightly. ' The time to plant is as . early as they will escape the frost. Cultivate on a level with a sweep. Keep the ground loose under the vine, and never cover the vines when they begin to run. There is one sort that runs up straight. Top them off. If the land is too sandy, or too rich, the pods will fail to have the fruit in them, and make what is called pops. (69) Apples, Peaches. Apples require a strong, clay land. They succede well in coves and valleys. They should be planted about three or four inches deeper than they are in the nursery, to prevent their blowing down. Train the body four feet high. Pruning should be done annu- ally, before the limbs become of any size, and kept moderately open. The land should be cultivated every other year in cotton, and the succeeding year turn un- der two green crops of peas. It will do well if you manure highly every year in cotton, always returning as many seed back as were taken off. Caterpillars should be taken off clean every year before they eat the leaves off. Examine for worms about the roots and other places. If the plough traces skin the trees while young, a black bug will get in the bark and kill the tree. Apples do not succeed very well in this latitude ; but enough can be made for home use for cider, and supply the vinegar. Cotton succeeds much better under apple trees than it does under peach trees. Plant apple trees twenty fe'et each way. I have no particular varieties that I can recommend with certainty. Summer fruits do bet- ter than fall and winter fruits. Peaches require strong, clay rolling land, not very rich, planted ten feet in the row, and sixteen feet apart. (70) Apples, Peaches. 71 No crop can be raised to any profit on the land, except peas be turned under. I find this thick planting always to produce less rotten peaches and sweeter ones ; the reason, as I suppose, is, that the trees evaporate the excessive moisture by being planted thick, to a greater extent than when they are planted thiii. I have found by observation, that peaches in an orchard, thickly planted, rot a great deal less than an open tree out in the field. The late varieties require richer land than the forward kind. I have entirely failed to raise pears in the sandy lands. Small Fruits. Strawberries require a mulatto soil, inclined to clay. They require a deep cultivation. The manure should be scrapings from rich lands, ashes and phosphates, with a small sprinkling of salt and plaster; and as land is cheap in this country, I would recommend a large patch, since by working them they could be repaid. It is left to the taste of the cultivator whether he will have his strawberries near his house or near a stream. There are many popular varieties. I will only name the one I am now cultivating — " Wilsons Albany !' After the ground is thoroughly spaded or subsoiled, ploughed deep and leveled, lay off the rows by a small mark four feet apart; plant each hill from eighteen to twenty inches apart. Cultivate level, and clean as you would cotton. They may be either mulched in the spring by straw, or kept clean by cultivation, as the cultivator may choose. One plat will answer the purpose. The second year, make a mark in the middle of the row, and spade it up deep, adding fresh maniires and vegetable matter. Late in the fall, or early in the spring, set out a row in the middle, and at the end of the bearing season the old row may be hoed up. Every fall the patch should be ploughed, subsoiled and leveled, and a small quantity of manure added. Repeat the (72) Small Fndts. 73 operation annually, as long as you wish to eat straw- berries, cream and sngar. ^ Raspberries require a deep, loamy soU. Plant them in rows six feet apart. Set up sticks to keep them straight. Keep them clean by hoeing and ploughing, as you would corn. After bearing, cut down all the old canes. , Another mode is to plant them around the edge of the garden, and tie them back to the garden fence, and keep them worked clean. If you plant sufficiently, and cultivate them either way, you wiU never fail to have a plenty. They are a certain fruit. I have had but little experience with the other small fruits. The Vegetable Garden. Irish Potatoes require a rich, loamy land, a little inclined to clay. The mode of planting them is this : After making the land rich, break up, and prepare deep ; lay off four feet, about six inches deep ; put in compost or commercial manures around the potatoes, after drop- ping them about fifteen inches apart. They may be dropped whole or cut in halves ; cover level with the surface. They may be mulched now eight inches deep with pine straw, or given one working, with a small hill made round the potatoes after they are up, and then mulched with straw. Many years they succeed finely without mulching. The best variety I have found for cultivating, is the " Early Goodrich," and they are quite early. Two or three different plantings should be made, in October, the first of January, first of February, and the last planting about the first of March. A fall crop may be planted in June, but it will not succeed unless it is seasonable. They do not keep well in this climate, but may be kept sufficiently well by treating thenj as you would sweet potatoes. There should be a less quantity put in the hill, which must always be sheltered and kept dry. Callage only succeeds in this latitude in summer. The land must be clay, and rich with manures and (74) The Vegetable Garden. 75 phosphates. They must be given four feet by two, and cultivated shallow and frequently. If sowed early, look for cabbages from the middle of May till about the first of September. I have found it difficult to succeed with fall cabbages. For the cultivation of heets I have a peculiar way, always preferring the small, young, tender beet, never to exceed an inch and a half in diameter for the best in quality. To obtain this you must have a rich soil, and deep preparation. Sow once a month. Sow your plants quite thick, and you may commence eating by the time they are a half-inch in diameter. I prefer the long blood beet, but the turnip beet is the best for forward- ness. I prefer the round tomato, small cone, not to exceed an inch and a quarter, or an inch and a half at the far- thest, in diameter. They require nothing but rich land, planting and cultivating. They are always the best on the fresh vines. To obtain the young vines, plant fre- quently. If you do not have the plants, you may cut off the limbs and transplant. They do best when stuck, and this is absolutely necessary. Onions are easily made, requiring only a rich land, deeply prepared. In addition to other manures, ashes and hen manure are fine. Mark off the land after the preparation twenty inches ; set your plants about two inches in the ground, and four inches apart ; keep clean. Melons should be made on a large scale, both water- melons, nutmegs and muskmelons. A patch should be planted every two weeks, from the first of March to the first of August. Fresh vines always produce the best 76 The Vegetable Garden. melons. Moderately sandy or loamy land is best adap- ted to their cultivation. Old fields, or pine lands that have been cut down and let lie for one or two years for the straw to rot, is one of the best varieties of soil. The ground should be laid off about twelve feet each way. After it has been deeply ploughed, dig a hole about three feet square, and put in- eighteen inches of manure. Thus prepared and planted, it should be cultivated as other crops. Use as much manure as you would for ten or twelve hills of corn. Plough them as long as the vines will admit of it; even when they are three or four feet long you can turn them up and plough them. Almost any variety of land will make watermelons. First years land I have never thought quite so good for watermelons. If you wish to make large watermelons, leave but one vine in the hiU; watch your patch, and puU off those that have a runted appearance early ; let them get ripe before puUing. The cantalope, nutmeg and muskmelon may be all cultivated the same way, requiring only less distance, say six feet. Care of Stock. To get the greatest amount of labor from mules and horses, without injuring them, requires the greatest care in feeding, watering and housing. Where oats can be easily made, half-feed on oats and half on corn, with fodder and hay, is the best food for horses. I have long contemplated grinding the corn or oats, and baking it into bread for horses, but never tried the experiment. I think that would be the best preventive of colic of anything that has ever been tried. Large, dry and open stalls, one mule to each stall, I consider the best mode of housing them. It is neces- sary to take all the advantages for working them with ease. Kindness is necessary, the horse doing much bet- ter when treated kindly than when fretted and abused. If a mule or horse is well treated by those who work them, they will become attached to them and do better service. (77) Raising Hogs. I WILL simply give my practice under slavery, which will be equally efficient now, when freedmen become more honest. Always select the best boars and sows out of the best breeds. Having carried the land through a state of improvement with guanos for a number of years, incorporating bone dust into the soil, it will pro- duce a fine growth of weeds on the land after laying'by, which will grow finely until they are turned in. The practice is to move the hogs along before the plough, from field to field, giving them only a bushel of corn to a hundred in number. Let them feed on the supply of turnips during January, February and March, and on the rye and grass until about the first of May, then return the hogs to their permanent pastures, and let them run on lands that have been at rest. They will not injure the weeds at this time, and having such a fine start they will continue to improve. Having sown, the previous year, some of my corn land in wheat, oats and rye, and saved what I could of them, being on an aver- age of about two-thirds of the crop, I turn the hogs on this field, where they wiU be weU sustained until pea- time. If you wish to fatten early, plant a field in early peas; turn your stock into the corn and peas. I have always been accustomed to put peas in every corn row, and corn (78) Raising Hogs. 79 land being in good heart with former manuring, would make peas suf3&cient to last until February. Peas never kill hogs; but particular kinds of soil in the field may kill them, such as clay, pipe-clay, and prairie lands. The best preventive is a plenty of vegetables, such as pota- toes, pumpkins, turnips, and a plenty of salt and cop- peras. On my land, none die from eating peas. About the middle of August, select out your hogs you wish to fatten; feed them with corn awhile, say three or four weeks, or until the pea field is ready for them. When they have eaten off the peas, put them up in pens, well littered, three or four in a pen, and feed them on corn. The best way is to have the corn ground, and cook it for them. Under this system, I used to raise from eight to twelve hundred pounds of pork, per each hand. By fencing the whole lands, many things accumulate that sustain the hogs, which amount to a great deal in the whole. Stock should never run on the same field two years in succession, but should be changed, in order to allow an accumulation of worms, bugs, mussels, fish, and many kinds of roots — all of which hogs devour greedily. They are also fond of herbs and wild fruits. Hogs in the swamp, feed to a considerable extent on leaves that have been rafted up, and are in a decaying state under the water. This I know, from killing wild hogs in good order, and, on opening their maws and in- testines, have found nothing in them but these decayed leaves and muck, and from having often seen them eat- ing these leaves in branches and swamps. TO SAVE BACON AFTER IT IS CURED. Get you some ashes, by burning sweet-gum, hickory, and maple, either separately or all mixed. Take down your meat about the first of March, wipe it well to get all the skipper eggs off. Have a rack of round sticks, on which other sticks are laid twelve inches apart ; lay the meat on it, and cover over the fleshy part well with ashes. As soon as the skipper fly makes its appearance, use the common fly poisons in smoke-houses, made up just as for house flies ; renew it twice a week, and it wUl attract the attention of the skipper flies, and kill them, and run out the rats too. If the above receipt is followed strictly, there will never be a skipper in the whole number of your hams and shoulders. A dark and tight house is always preferable, so that the ventilation comes down through the top of the house, whicli should be well wired to keep the flies from coming down. (80) HONEY. Honey may be obtained in sufficient quantities for the use of families, by simply having boxes made of twelve inches plank, two feet four inches long-. A little atten- tion is requisite in order to keep the worms from collect- ing around the edge of the boxes, and going up and eating the honey. Always have hives ready when the bees swarm in the spring of the year, and a good place for them to settle on ; saw off the limb when they have . settled, place it to the mouth of the empty gum, which should be elevated about four inches. With a little attention, the bees will soon go in. At night, move the gum to the bench where it is to stand permanently, which should always be in a shady place, and protected from the rain. About the 10th to the 15th of May, is the proper time to take the honey out, which may be done by tying a sheet around the mouth of the gum, laying it on a table, with the head a little the lowest, blowing in a little smoke, then with a knife with a little blade cut across the honey, and take it out in squares, scrape the sides of the gum clean, and return it to the bench from whence it came. If handled nicely, the hive will be equal to a new hive. This is the easiest and plainest way to obtain honey. The improved hive, with supers on top, furnishes a more neat and easy way of taking it. C81) 82 Honey. Honey is obtained from flowers, and from the honey- dew that comes on a dry year. The comb is secreted from the abdomen of the bees ; young bees only being capable of producing wax. No hive has more than one queen. I have sometimes known two queens to come out, which fact you can ascertain soon by the bees being agitated. Looking under the gum, or around the hive, you will find one of the queens taken a prisoner. If you take her out from the gum, all will be quiet. In other instances, I have found the hives without any queen, by the agitation of the bees. Look round "on the ground and other places, and you will find the queen with a small knot of bees on her ; take her up and carry her to the gum, and all wiU be quiet. Bees have not changed their habits in the memory of man. They raise quite a number of queens in swarming time. If any of them have the least blemish in the world, they are put to death, and thrown out of the hive. I have often found as many as six or eight of them in front of the hive. On examination, I could see the fault for which she was killed — she having been im- perfect in some particular. The same thing is true of the neutral bee : each one is examined, and should the least blemish be found on it, it is put to death. When the swarm is perfect, and the queen also, the first favor- able day they swarm out. There are many other habits I have noticed in the bee. Some ventUate the hive, in hot weather, by fan- ning with their wings ; some carry in water, and some compound it with bread to make food for the young bees; some bring the honey, and the others the bee- Honey. • 83 bread ; but no two kinds of bread are ever deposited in the same cell. Every thing is order, system and indus- try. All the cracks in the gums the bees seal with sweet-gum. I have, when a boy, often taken it from the gums and chewed it. Cider Making. Cider, in a great measure, depelids on the quality of the fruit from which it is obtained. A variety of crabs, known as cider apples, is of the first class for cider ; many other varieties of apples make good cider, such as the Shockley, Romanite. It is necessary that apples should be sound and fully ripe to make a first article of cider. Beat or grind fine, and let it remain twelve hours without pressing. Press out all the juice, and strain it into a clean barrel ; it wUl keep better when the barrel is full, and stand the weather better. To let it ferment like wine wiU improve the quality of the cider. To make cider to keep through the winter, put into it one pound of clarified sugar to the gallon. To make it for bottling, and long keeping, put two pounds sugar to the gallon, and let it ferment. At the end of six months, it may be bottled, and will keep till used. I have some now that is fourteen years old. If you desire to make fresh cider of it at any time, put small quantities of it into a jiig, add about half the quantity of water, let it stand till it begins to ferment, and it will be ready for use, having the appearance and taste of cider just pressed, only a purer article. (84) Vinegar Making. Put the cider into a very tight barrel, and at the end of two or three months draw it off, and put it into a new barrel. If it does not have the appearance of a suffi- cient body and proper acidity, add a little whisky once a month, till you give it a sufficient body. Time will convert it into first-rate vinegar. Our Present System of Labor. The present system of labor does not exceed sixty per cent, of slave labor, involving fully a loss of one- third of the labor by the men going to villages, railroads, mining, and other enterprizes. One-half of the women and children are absent, housekeeping, idling, and other things. Under the slave system, the women and child- ren were the mainspring of cotton-raising. The loss of labor and inefi&oiency of labor, are about equally compen- sated by the increased price of our products. One of the reasons why there is a deficiency of labor is, that the men take Saturdays to go to public meetings ; they do not work as many hours in the day as they formerly did, and their work is not of as good a character. Each family must have its housekeeper and washer, and must send to mill, if they only send a half-bushel of corn. A great loss in their labor also results in their having to stop to gather fire-wood, and attend to their gardens and patches. The only partial compensation we will ever get for this loss and inefficiency of labor, is the increased price of our products — the high price of cotton. I submit, is it good policy to encourage immigration to bring down these prices, and lose the only benefit that we can ever derive from the result of emancipation ? The best method of hiring, I consider to be wages — a (86) Our Present System of Labor. 87 contract setting forth the duties of each party. The policy of managing freedmen is, to act firmly, and truly, and honestly with them, and require them to do the same; and as a good stimulus to do this, never pay them more than half wages till the end of the time for which they contracted to work. On plantations of any considerable size, the actual necessaries should be kept, and sold to the freedmen at a profit sufficient to pay all risk and interest on the money. Those who work on shares should divid.e the profits and responsibilities with the land owner. The rent of the land should be one- third of all the crops gathered; another third should pay for the horse-power, machinery and tools. The laborer should have one-third, he finding his own hoe andaxe, it being impossible to keep such things as plan- tation tools. The whole direction of the labors, the management, gathering and the sale of the crop should . be held by the land owner. What is left on the fields, and the use of the pasture, should be the land owner's, after the hands cease to gather the crops. As the land owner furnishes the land, and all the expense of the tools, the laborer should pay him two-thirds the value of all the days that he was not employed. One objection to the cropping is this : you cannot carry the improvement plan to the extent that is de- sirable. The laborers are unwilHng to do as deep ploughing as is required — to purchase as much ferti- lizers as will pay a profit. You would lose the services of the laborers on rainy days, and at other times be- tween crops, that might be used to great advantage on a farm. In hiring laborers, a man should never allow less than 88 Our Present System of Labor. fifty per cent, profit on the labor, for he is taking the risk, and paying for the laborer, the land always coming in for a third. Where the farm is rented to parties of capital that furnish everything, the land should be kept up by manuring, the fences should be repaired, all the droppings of the farm saved and applied to the crops, the buildings should have all the repairs done on them where mechanics, are not required ; the land should re- tain one-half. No renter or cropper should ever think of having stock to the extent of depredating on the em- ployer's land ; should the contract be made for raising , stock, I know of no reason why the land should not draw an equal proportion of stock as well as of crops. Seed and shucks should never be removed from the land. When new renters come, furnish them seed, and let them use the shucks ; when they leave, let them leave the shucks. If they make more than one crop, let them use the seed for manure until they leave. The way to make the estimate to get the fifty per cent, on the work, is to take ofi" one-third of the cotton crop for the land, one-third for the fences, including the ma- chinery, and then give the laborers, in wages, what would be equal to two-thirds of one-third of an average crop. The reason for reserving this one-third is, that the employer takes all the risks of storms, drouths, worms, caterpillars and boll worms, and of prices les- sening, and of every other disaster. Let the laborer share the risk and insurance. EXPERTS. No system can prosper without learning all the opera- tives and laborers to be experts, whether agricultural or manufacturing, or anything that is done requiring labor. The first thing to do, in regard to any of the operations of labor, is to teach the laborers how to do it ; the next ' thing, to do it with more ease and efficiency, and to learn to do better and better work every day. For instance, take a boU of cotton. They must be taught, with the greatest speed, how to throw the hand into the boU, and puU out all of the cotton with one lick, not waiting to see whether any was left in the boll or not, always having in mind to strike but one fick at the boll, and as soon as that is done, to strike at another boll. I have, in five minutes, learned a hand to pick one hundred pounds more of cotton per day than he had picked on the previous day, and from that point he wiU continue to improve. The greatest efficiency I have obtained in hands picking cotton was seven hundred pounds-— equal to three good bags a week. The same improvement can be made in other species of labor on the farm. One hand will plough so as to fatten his horse, doing a full, good day's work ; while another hand will do inferior work, hardly so much as the other hand, and reduce his horse to poverty. A hand using a sweep or plough, can arrive at such effi- G , (89) 90 Experts. ciency, that lie can do the ploughing and hoeing, and go his sixteen and two-thirds miles per day, which is a day's work. This is ray practice, not having to put a hoe in the corn field, and having had the cleanest crop of corn in the neighborhood. The same efficiency may be acquired with the axe. Quick motion; throw the axe with the proper spring and line, so as to go precisely to the line, with a sleight that will knock oiit the chip. The same thing with the maul and wedge. One man will make rails with less than half the labor another • does. If a laborer will watch these experts, and do as they do, he will effect the same results. With the hoe, some hands will chop and motion a dozen times at a bunch of grass ; an expert will keep his hoe sharp, and pull it through the row, leaving everything clean behind, and can strike to the sixteenth of an inch, any time, of the place he wishes. The same thing is true of the hewer using a broad- axe. One will strike a dozen licks to get to the line, the last one will probably go through the line into the timber. The expert, with his improved eye and mo- tions, strikes to a hair's breadth the first lick of where the line should be, and carries it equally through to tbe bottom of the timber, doing from two to three times the work per day as the botch. Still more true is it when you set experts to manu- facturing, making shoes, or tending machinery of any kind. One operative in a factory will draw three or four threads while another will draw only one, or will attend to four looms while another will attend to but two. Experts. 91 There is a great difference also with wagoners, one re- quiring double the time to gear his team that . another does, fumbling around his team, hunting up things to do, and losing two or three loads on the plantation in a day with a six-horse team, and losing enough to pay for three experts per day. The same improvements may be made in art and exe- cution in using plantation machinery and gearing that can be made in any other profession and art. These examples, I think, are sufficient. Improve and draw on your imagination for the balance. (See Letter, No. 16.) Let us be Independent. The farmer should, by all means, save a portion of his income accumulated from year to year, and get in a con- dition to buy everything for cash. Sell cotton for cash. Other things may or may not be sold on time. When you mortgage your crop, you lose your independence to that extent. Keep a cash capital equal to one year's expenses. Invest in stocks that are readily converted into money ; it will enable you to hold your cotton until you can get a price that will be remunerative. Make all supplies at home that can be made; and as you accu- mulate capital, you can enter into joint stock companies for manufacturing, banking, discounting — filling up the whole vacuum, so that a foreigner's dollar can find no investment here. But having a mortgage on your pro- perty, will create a tax for all future labor. In the course of time, the planters will have the capi- tal here to export their cotton directly to Europe — bringing goods directly here, and saving all accumula- tions of profit, freight, and other contingencies. The planters in the Cotton States can save forty millions of dollars annually, without feeling the loss of necessaries or luxuries. This forty millions of 'dollars, if invested in railroads and manufactories, would soon put us on a par with any portion of the world. In a few years, this forty miUions of dollars, with the interest on the first (92) Lei us he Independent. ' 93 forty millions, would enable us to purchase a large por- tion of the bonds of the world. Tribute would come from every portion of the world to the cotton regions, instead of going out as it now does. We are making about three hundred millions of dollars worth of cotton a year, at the prices it has ruled for the last three years. This forty millions of dollars, counted as income, will amount to near fourteen per cent, of the aggregate value of the cotton crop, and any people that can save such per cent, can certainly become independent. Cotton does the best in this latitude, but to continue to make it pay, the cotton planter should make his whole suppKes — corn, cotton, meat, and everything ne- cessary to run the farm ; then the balance of the labor will make more money than if the Avhole labor was en- gaged in making cotton, by the increased price of the cotton. What corn you wish to use at home, you should not count the cost of making, but make it, and you will be remunerated in the increased price of the cotton. Encourage manufactories, that they may be supplied with the products of your farms, spinning up the cotton, woi'king up the raw hides into shoes, that you may get them without any carrying trade to any distant portion of the world to be manufactured and brought back — get them at a less price, and make a profit on the products, furnished them. Take this labor from the cotton field, and increase the price of your cotton in the same ratio. APPENDIX. Most of the following letters were originally pub- lished in the ''Southern Cultivator" and other popular journals of the day. A number of them, however, have never appeared before. These letters are all valuable, and contribute to make up the "'Dickson Si/stem of Farming." The reader will notice that some- of these letters were written as far back as 1859 ; but in collecting them for the benefit of the readers of this volume, the Editor has placed first on the list those .that have been written since the war, and are more interesting and important to the reader of the present day. These older letters, however, will be found well worth perusal. The Editor exceedingly regrets that he has not been able to collect all of Mr. Dickson's letters, in conse-^ quence of the fact that the files of some of these jour- nals have been destroyed, and the letters cannot be found. Superadded to the republication of these letters, the reader will find a ''Resume of Agriculture," or "Brevities from the Writings of Mr. Dickson;''' also, a brief "Sketch of the Author s Career as a Farmer." Editor. (95) Letter No. i. Book-Farming. Sparta, Georgia, February 24th, 1868. Editors Southern Cultivator: Some men are horn generals, some mechanics, some orators, some farmers — some adapted to one profession, and some to another ; but the great mass of men have to read, study and practice, to become efficient in any calling they may select ; and if they apply themselves faithfully, and do not rise above mediocrity, they should quit that business, and try some other. Whatever has been accomplished by man can be done again, and ought to be done better, with all the accumulated knowledge of the past before us. What is book-farming ? It does not mean to take a book in your hand, and go to the field; but it means you should read and study everything that you can possibly bring to bear on farming, and store it away in your head. But be sure to master the subject, and learn the true plan. This is the science of agriculture. Study bad practice as well as good, and learn of the latter the errors, that you may avoid them. Read books until you become so perfect in theory, and in the use of tools and (06) Book-Farming. 97 manure, that you will have confidence and the nerve to act, and act at once — not lose time running about to your neighbors, to see Avhen to do a thing and how to do it. Do not let frost, or wet or dry weather cause you to doubt or dally. Fortify yourself with books before you begin — such books as will teach you every- thing necessary to your success ; and do not forget that you can learn something from almost every profession. Book-farming means for the farmer, just what book- learning does for the physician. The medical student must read all the books and attend all the lectures, and the dissecting room, until he can pass, then take his medicine and instruments, go out to practice, and test his knowledge. So with book-farming. You must read and study, not only agricultural books, but all books that will apply in any way to that profession. You need the knowledge of a general, to enable you to discipline your laborers to come to time — to move all at once — to know when to charge and when to retreat. You need the knowledge of a banker, when your money is made, to know how to invest it (and this is a very important point). You want the knowledge of a book- keeper, that you may keep your accounts correctly. In this, many farmers fail — they fool themselves, not know- ing how to keep their debtor and creditor accounts — get in debt, and become bankrupts before they are aware of it. You must have some knowledge of mechanics and machinery, or you will never know how to keep imple- ments and machines in order or use them; and if the farmer is ignorant, how can he instruct the laborer? You should even have a sufficient knowledge of law to know how to keep out of the courts. You should have 98 Book-Farming. some knowledge of commerce and trade, for you have to buj and sell. You should learn from the merchant order and punctuality. This is no small item in a life- time business. How is all this to be acquired ? By reading and hard study, and making an application of the knowledge ac- quired. Knowledge is power, in agriculture as well as other things; and how are you to get knowledge? Only by reading, study, and application. With knowledge, you can use the hand as well as the tongue more effec- tively. You must learn the use of tools. A man that has a perfect use of tools, can do double the work one can, who knows nothing about their use. Railroads and steam- boats have brought men together, and have furnished a partial remedy for want of books. Messrs. Editors, can you tell what the farmer is now gaining by the use of manures, and by the knowledge received through agricultural papers ? Or can you tell what is lost to Georgia by not taking the agricultural papers, and keeping up with the improvements of the day ? By reading agricultural papers, each farmer may learn and practice all the improvements of every farmer in the State. Who would not subscribe and pay for an agricultural paper, for such a reward as that ? No man has a right to put his light under a bushel. Farmers, come out, and let your lights shine ! If you cannot afford to give it away, by contributing to the Southern Cultivator, put it in book form, and sell it. If you have improved tools, take out patents for them, and sell the rights, or give them to the public. Young men, read, practice, and qualify yourselves for Boole-Farming. 99 one of the noblest of callings. Do not commence where your fathers did, but where they are now, and where the best farmers in the State are, and being young, active and vigorous, make every eflfort to surpass the best. Be assured there is much to learn yet. Messrs. Editors, call on all the farmers to subscribe and pay for your paper, and contribute to it; and at given periods, condense all the matter, put it in book- form, for the use of the present and future generations- I do not think you have a single reader that would con- tend that if all the agricultural books were sealed up, and all the agricultural papers stopped, and associa- tions of farmers abandoned, that agriculture would ad- vance much this generation. It would certainly fall back during the next. Agricultural reading (especially monthly papers) begets a spirit of emulation, quickens energy, and imparts knowledge and confidence. Agri- cultural papers have the same effect on the farmer that political papers have on the politician — the bible on the Christian. The farmer has nerves and brailis, and needs to be stimulated and quickened. A good w;eekly and monthly agricultural paper is the very thing to do it. The three great essentials are : first, the theory (true plan) of farming; second, the art of controlling labor, and executing all work to the best advantage with least labor; third (last and best), success depends on a quick perception, wise judgment, that seldom or never errs. How is this to be acquired, except by the use of books, in conjunction with practice ? In conclusion, I wjU say, to succeed you not only must be superior to your laborers, but you must be so far ahead of them that they shall know that your plans 100 My Crops. are wise, easy to put in practice, and certain of success. Then they will follow you in a charge, as good soldiers will the best of generals. The laborer must have confi- dence in the man that directs. How are all these quali- fications secured ? I repeat, through books, hard study, observation and practice. Very truly yours, DAVID DICKSON. Letter No. ii. My Crops Sparta, Georgia, March 20th, 1867. Editors Southern Cultivator: One of your correspondents wishes to know hoAV much corn and cotton per acre can be made by ma- nuring and cultivating as I recommend. I will state what my crops averaged, thus managed, under the old system. On eight hundred to one thousand acres of thin pine land, eighteen bushels of corn was the lowest average. The highest average I ever made was twenty-six bushels and one peck per acre. The lowest acre produced twelve bushels, the highest thirty-eight bushels, on upland, with My Crops. 101 two thousand stalks per acre. It was easy to find ears of corn that weighed twenty ounces. My last crop of cotton, under the old system, was grown on nine hundred and fifty acres. I made eight hundred and ten bales. The greatest amount I ever made per acre was on four acres of upland. I used four hundred pounds of guano, with the usual quantity of salt and plaster for turnips, and fed them off on the lot. The following spring, I added one hundred pounds of guano, one hundred pounds dissolved bones, one hun- dred pounds salt, and fifty pounds plaster per acre, and put in cotton. The crop was twelve hundred pounds seed cotton per acre. DAVID DICKSON. Letter No. hi. Observations on Manures. A Correspondent of Mr. David Dickson requests his views in regard to the value of the Soluble Pacific Guano, compared with Peruvian, to be given in the col- umns of the Southern Cultivator, and we are favored with the following communication in response. — Editors Southern Cultivator. Sparta, Georgia, April 4th, 1867. Editors Southern Cultivator : You will see by the enclosed letter that I am re- quested to use my pen to test the value of a compound called Soluble Pacific Guano, as compared with Peru- vian Guano. I appeal to the corn and cotton plants to decide their real value. I am friendly to all pure guanos in their natural state, but prefer mixing them myself, and saving the profit; and for one, will buy that manure which pays the best. It is not in any of my books or prac- tice, that by adding a fertilizer to the land, I kill that land. And, as I promised to give you some reasons why (102) Observations on Manures. 103 ammonia will improve the land, I will do so, without using any argument to convince any person thereof, against his will. I will state facts, just as I think they exist, and will not attempt to write a learned essay ; and as its appearance on paper will not be attractive, to reap its value, you must look to the soil, and transfer its conclusions into practice. I will divide manures into their two recognized class- es, inorganic and organic, to compare their value. In- organic manures, such as lime, potash, phosphoric acid, etc., are the bases of all fertility, and where they abound in considerable quantities, will enable plants to gather and appropriate much more of the organic manures. But plants and seeds are not always made up of specific quantities, any more than a hog is. Take a fat hog that will weigh three hundred pounds, and one of the same age very poor, that will weigh only one hundred pounds, and analyze the two, and see how different is the pro- portion of all the parts, according to the Aveight of each animal, and how various the proportions of bone, nitro- gen, carbon, etc. With a full supply of nitrogenous and carbonaceous matter, corn and cotton, etc., may be made with much less, in proportion, of potash and bone arth. Take a cord of black-jack wood off a poor pine or black-jack ridge, where there is but little organic matter, and set , the organic matter free by burning the wood ; then take the second cord cf black-jack wood from a rich bottom, where the organic matter abounds in great quantities, and relatively in much greater proportion to the inor- ganic matter ; burn this as you did the first cord. The cord of wood from the poor land, will contain nearly 104 Observations on Manures. double the quantity of phosphate of lime and potash that exists in the wood from the rich land. All soajo- makers have found this true as to potash. Now to compare the two manures : take one hundred bushels of cotton seed, and set all the organic matter free by burning the seed ; then take one hundred bush- els of cotton seed, and put it in the hills of corn on five acres. Then put the ashes — the total inorganic matter of the one hundred bushels of burnt seed — on the hills of five acres of corn. Then plant' five, acres without any manure. The diff"erence in the crops of the three pieces, will show what the organic and inorganic parts are worth. My opinion is, that one bushel of raw cotton seed is worth, for the growth of plants, as much as the ashes of the one hundred bushels of burnt seed. This I consider a fair test of the difference in value between the phos- phates and alkalies on the one hand, and carbon and ammonia on the other. I had four hundred thousand pounds of cotton and seed burned in one house. The whole manure was not worth to me as muchi as one thousand pounds of seed. Second, take the manure of ten horses for one year, dropped under cover, and set all the organic, parts free by burning, thereby wasting its ammonia. Then take the manure from the like number of horses, dropped in like manner. Use this on twenty acres of cotton ; use the ashes on twenty acres of the same kind of land; then plant twenty acres without any manure. Cultivate them all alike, and the difference will be a fair test between phosphate and ammonia, except that the com- mercial phosphates are mostly insoluble — the ammonia Observations on Manures. 105 always soluble, or will be in due time, which is a great item in favor of ammonia. Now I will state a different way to prove that am- monia is the cheapest and most expeditious means to renew the fertility of land, and make it productive. In the first place, I wiU refer you to clover. Every person knows the effect that clover has on worn land, in a climate where it will grow. The chief things added to the soil by a clover crop, are carbon and ammonia. In the South, the cow-pea will answer the same end, if sown early, manured with two hundred pounds of Peru- vian guano, and turned under from the 1st of July to the 1st of August ; then at the same time seeded again with peas, using one hundred pounds of guano. Feed off" with hogs and beef cattle, which wiU generally pay for all expenses, and leave the land twenty dollars bet- ter — the increase in value to be decided by the increased production of the next cotton crop, compared with that of a part of the field that you have left unmanured, and not sown with peas. If any man will try this experiment on one acre each way, and fails to get his money back next year, in cot- ton, I will send him the Cultivator dixxsmg vaj YiSe. AU acknowledge the importance of turning under green crops. The only thing lost by their drying, is their ammonia. I have made money by giving my land one year in four, to gather ammonia and humus. You will see that by all the above tests, it will be decided almost exclusively in favor of ammonia. I now wiU refer you to the Northern and European systems. The farmers of the Northern States are improving their lands almost entirely by increasing their supplies of am- H 106 Observations on Manures. monia — growing hay, clover, oats and rye, and keeping stock to eat these crops annually; not gaining but losing phosphates, and gaining nitrogen — making the land rich, and the land making the owner rich. We all know something about English agriculture. Ammonia is the foundation. Ammonia from the atmosphere ; ammonia from Peruvian guano; ammonia from the turnip, hay and clover, etc., returning merely the bone earth to the soil, which has been extracted by ammonia, which last is constantly increasing in its relative amount. I must close, and leave the subject hardly com- menced. In all this, I see great encouragemeiit ; for with a little ammonia, we can gather large amounts every year, and put it at compound interest — getting larger returns from year to year, by adding thirty pounds of ammonia annually, and getting good divi- dends on the investment. I believe str^ongly in natural laws. Study nature; trace all things from cause to effect, and effect to cause, but do not go to extremes, as some do — advocating sur- face manuring because the trees drop their leaves on the ground, contending that it is nature's plan to manure the surface. I think there is some doubt whether she is trying to manure at all, or making an effort to pro- duce her like, and has no choice where. the leaves shall fall. At all events, it is a little safest to add a little science, experience and art, to help old Nature. DAVID DICKSON. Letter No. iv. Improving our Lands. Sparta, Georgia, May, 1867. Editors Southern Cultivator : Land can be improved, and eventually made rich, under a system of proper culture, by atmospheric agen- cies alone. But this agency can be greatly quickened by the use of Peruvian guano. The better the soil, the better drained and preserved it is, and the deeper ploughed, the more rapidly the land can be improved. The ammonia and carbonic acid of the atmosphere, con- tinually formed and deposited in the land, will yearly improve the crops, which, under a proper rotation, will leave more in the soil than they take from it. The richer a soil grows, the more will the plants grown upon it take from the atmosphere, and the more rapidly can its fertility be increased. I do not underrate the value of any manure that sup- plies the "elements which it takes to make a perfect grain of corn or seed of cotton ; still you must allow me latitude to urge the claims of ammonia in particular, and also those of carbon, though with less fullness as to the latter. These two elements are relatively the cheapest, (107) 108 Improving our Lands. when we consider their effects upon the crop. Animals, trees and plants derive a very large portion of the ele- ments by which their size is increased, and growth maintained, from the atmosphere. Organic matter de- rived thence, makes up a large portion of the food that maintains us. We may consider that the land is the bank — ^lime, phosphoric acid and potash are the specie (gold and silver) to do business on. Carbon and ammonia are the currency, which is greatly in excess of the specie capi- tal — at least ten to one. The more specie you have in the bank, the more currency you can control, and the greater the amount of deposits. This bank is unlike a financial one in this respect — its business is to call in currency, and not to issue it. It must induce deposits to be made in it, and the richer it is to start, the easier this can be done. To be successful in farming, and gather ammonia and carbon rapidly, and at once, you should use annually two hundred pounds of guano on each acre, to cause your cotton to grow taller, to have broader leaves, and your corn to have broader blades, that they may present more leaf-pores or mouths, with which to gather more food from the atmosphere, to be deposited in this land bank. The guano, besides its ammonia, also contains what is equivalent to about fifty pounds of superphos- phate in the two hundred pounds used, increasing to that extent the specie basis in this bank. There are just as many ways to improve land as there are to waste it; and by close economy and industry, you can gather the fertilizing elements much faster than they are wasted by the crops. Nature helps to waste. Improving our Lands. 109 and helps to return. The rains leach and wash away fertility, while plants and evaporation from the sea, return it, to some extent, to the land. We get a great deal of the most valuable kind of manures out of the sea, in shell and other fish. I promised to tell you how the ammonia on the Chin- cha Islands could be used as a currency. There is a large quantity accumulated there — enough, if converted into meat and bread, to feed the whole population of the globe for years ; and if aU the excrement derived from this food was annually returned to the soil, it would enrich the land very rapidly. The admitted opinion is, all this vast amount of ammonia and phosphate on the Chincha Islands was gathered from the sea by birds only — ^they feeding a few miles along the coast, and returning to roost at night, leaving there most of Avhat they gathered in the day-time. Now, if a few birds have accumulated all this — occupying not more land than one or two counties to feed on — what can the whole multitude of farmers do, with their stock spread over the whole globe? I say, that they can make every acre rich, if they will. Providence intended the earth should increase in fertility as rapidly as it does in population. Every man that assists in removing this dormant guano, lying- idle and useless on the Chincha Islands, and puts it in circulation, creating therewith food and clothing, is a benefactor to his kind. The country suffers for want of a share of this surplus ferti- lizing material. Remove the deposit, and apply it to our crops, and it will enrich the land, and even that which escapes will enrich the atmosphere, to be gathered in again by growing plants. 110 Improving our Lands. By using two hundred pounds of Peruvian guano per acre annually, you double the relative products of your growing crops, compared with land fresh from, the forest, and with crops that have no guano. Therefore, you will get a double proportion from the atmosphere. It is even possible, that enriching the land in Europe, has, to some extent, lessened the fertility of the atmo- sphere in this country. The richer you make your land, the more you can draw from the atmosphere annually to deposit in bank. The greater these deposits, the greater the dividends in this land bank, as well as in a financial bank. Now, in the relation required, to use ammonia in the best way, both to improve the land, and get large crop dividends, you must have five fields. First, a permanent pasture; one for cotton; one for corn ; one for small grain ; one at rest. The field that rested last year, put in cotton this year, with two hun- dred pounds of guano. The field that was in cotton last year, plant in corn, manuring with the cotton seed ; putting in the middles cow peas at the proper season, for manuring the crop that follows, and it will pay to ~ manure them for this purpose. The field that was in corn last year should be sown in small grain, with two hundred pounds guano per acre. The field that had small grain last year, should rest after harvest, up to from the 1st to the 20th of July of the next year, then put in peas, with one hundred and twenty-five pounds of guano. To put the peas in, do this way : start all your pkughs round each cut on a level; use turn ploughs; have a pea-dropper after every third plough; drop six or seven peas in a hill, every two feet ; follow with the guano, drop it within four inches of the peas. Improving our Lands. Ill If the guano comes in contact with the seed, you ivill have a lad stand. If you have not time to plant the peas, let the land rest the balance of the year. This will become the cotton field of next year, whether it is put in peas or not. This is the rotation : first, rest ; second, cot- ton ; third, corn ; fourth, small grain ; then rest. Cot- ton after rest, corn after cotton, small grain after corn, rest after small grain. [Where clover succeeds, it can be sown with the small grain, and will gather fertility faster than the spontaneous growth. — Editors Southern Cultivator^ Now, you must recollect, everything made on the place, after it is used or eaten, except the lint of cotton, which really takes nothing from the soil, must he returned to the land. In addition, gather muck, scrapings of swamps, leaves, and pine straw, carry to the nearest field, and scatter broadcast. Don't he afraid of mud and pine straw hurting your land — ^heat and moisture will make it right. All vegetable matter placed on your fields, will in due time turn to corn and cotton. Handle manure as little as possible, but handle a great deal of it. The field is the place to make it, the plough to stir it, and the sun and water to turn it into corn and cotton. But before putting it on your fields in this way, use enough muck and straw in your stock yards to absorb the ammonia of the stock droppings, and take up the urine, and have as much saved of this under shelter as possible. Once a week sprinkle it with plaster. Do not handle or pile it. The first time you stick your fork in it, pitch it in the cart, and carry it to the field. Make every lick count — manure loses every time it is turned over or piled- Let all your spare time be spent in gathering 112 Improving our Lands. new lots of manure ; carry to the nearest field at once ; but not to the lot, to get twice as heavy, by the addi- tion of water. Messrs. Editors, I do not say this is the only plan, or the best plan ; but it is one that will certainly improve your land, and pay good dividends, if you can get re- liable labor. You have had my receipt for what I think one of the best manures, except I would add ten pounds of potash, or one bushel of wood ashes. I leave it out for two reasons — the scarcity of potash, and the exhausted financial condition of the country. This article is not designed to underrate superphosphates, but to show that ammonia is the cheapest and best of all manures, and that, judging by my experience, it will not exhaust land, but may be the means of enriching it. If it fails, it is the man's fault — ^not that of ammonia. DAVID DICKSON. Letter No. v. Cultivation of Corn. Sparta, Geokgu, January 6th, 1868. Editors Southern Cultivator : There is a great demand for me to re-write my plan of cultivating corn, preparation of land, etc., by new subscribers, and by persons who are not subscribers to your paper. In the first place, I refer them to my system of im- provement, rest and rotation, given in the Southern Cultivator last year. Many inquire, when is the proper time to break up land ? I write for this latitude, and every person must make due allowance, as his farm may be north or south of this line. The ploughing must be commenced the first day of January, to get it done in time, or as soon as you are done sowing wheat. If I had my choice, and could get all the work done in one day, I would not have the ploughing done more then ten days before planting, for the following reasons, derived from actual experience : If it is a dry, cold, freezing winter and spring, the fall ploughing is the best; in some springs of this kind, as those of 1839 and 1854, I left belts through the middle of a field, which (113) 114 Cultivation of Corn. were not ploughed until a few days before planting, and I could distinguish the belts all through the year — the corn in them being from eighteen to twenty-two inches lower than the rest. For the crop and improvement of the land, in about one winter out of seven, fall plough- ing is the best. In the cases where the belts were left, when the winter was warm, and the rains abundant, the late ploughing would beat the early ploughing twenty- five per cent, in the crop ; besides, according to my ex- perience, there is less loss from washing. Land must be well broken before planting, so commence in time to do it — the later it is done the better for the land, taking seven years together, but not so good for teams. Have good turning ploughs, and according to your ability, use one or two horses, and subsoil; ride over the field, and lay ofi" the land so that the horses will go round on a level, and the dirt will fall down hill — a team will break up the soil nine inches deep in this way, as easily as they could seven inches on a level piece of land. Continue to take the lands in the same way until the field is finished, one team following another — all the time going round the circle ; and if you subsoil, have one team between each turning plough, running in the bottom of the furrow. When you finish, the field is ready for planting, if the proper time has arrived. In deciding this point, you must be governed by the wea- ther — ^it varies from the 10th of March to the 1st of April. According to my experience, a man only gains hard work and more of it, by very early planting. Now for the planting. Lay off furrows mth a long shovel plough, on a level, seven feet apart. Commence at the opposite end, with a longer shovel, and open out Cultivation of Corn. 115 the same furrow. The reason for this is, you get up to trees and stumps, and make a better finish at the ends. This furrow should stand open seven or eight inches deep. Whether you use compost, cotton seed or guanos, let each hand have his three-foot measure, and deposit the manure in the bottom of the furrow, just three feet apart. Then drop the corn within three or four inches of the manure, one or more grains, as is your custom — dropping on the near side of the manure, as the dropper goes ; then, with a very light harrow, cover the corn one or one and a half inches deep. The harrow should go the same way the dropper goes, to keep fromi pulling the manure on the grain. If you coyer deep, you lose all the advantages of low planting (but not the deep breaking), and for this rea- son — corn, in good weather, will come up from a depth of one to six inches, but will strike out roots about one inch from the surface of the ground, and all below that will perish. That is one reason why I am opposed to dirting corn as soon as it comes up — it brings the root of the stalk to the top of the ground. My plan is to finish the first working from the 20th of April to the 10th of May. Sometimes, I have not finished till the 25th of May. With the land well turned, very little grass and weeds will come up, ex- cept in the bottom of the furrow, and this is easily managed. For first ploughing, have a heavy twenty-two inch sweep, with the right wing so set that its back end will not be more than one inch above the ground. This is to run near the corn, and should fill the furrow within one or one and a half inches of the general surface. 116 Cultivation of Corn. Break out the middles with the same sized sweep, with the backs of both wings turned up. If the ploughing is well done, four furrows will finish out, four hands com- pleting fourteen acres every day, by going sixteen miles a day. Second ploughing : have the wings of the siding sweep turned a little more than half up ; run close to the corn, leaving nothing for the hoe — ^for if the plough- ing is well done, there is no use of a hoe. Break out the middles with three furrows, to make a good place to plant peas. From the 1st of June to the 20th is a good time to plant peas. Proceed in this manner. After the second ploughing, run a shovel furrow in the middle of a corn row ; drop one bushel of peas to every eight acres — say six to eight peas to a hill. You can plant sixteen acres per day, and will use two bushels to each plow. Cover with a harrow. Third and last ploughing : pair your hands, one to side the corn, and one to side the peas. The hand that sides the corn will need a twenty-two inch sweep, right- hand wing well turned up, and it should run close to the corn, not going more than half an inch deep; the left wing should be nearly flat. The hand that sides the peas will need a heavy twenty-six inch sweep, with the right wing set at a medium height, and should run it near the peas, filling the pea-furrow entirely up. The left wing should be up, to push the dirt near the corn. This is the last ploughing, and if well done, the ground Avill be as smooth and level as a floor, with not a spear of grass to the two hundred acres, nor a weed to be seen in the field. In old times, I required every hand to clean the crop as he went — what the plough left to " Cultivation of Corn. 117 be removed with the foot and hand. From thirteen to sixteen miles, according to the condition of the crop, was a day's work. . Such pine land as mine (some of it very poor) should average from twenty to twenty-five bushels per acre ; and, wet or dry, if the work is rightly done, there is no such thing as a failure, as my many visitors, from all parts of the country, will testify. Messrs. Editors, I have been too lengthy in des- cribing the preparation of land and cultivation of crop, to give my reasons for a choice of manures. I use, after a long experience, Peruvian guano, dissolved bones, land plaster, and salt, and have them mixed at home. I wish the Southern Cultivator was in every man's hands. It would pay good dividends. Very respectfully, DAVID DICKSON. Letter No. vi. On Manures. Sparta, Georgia, February 10th. 1868. Editors Southern Cultivator : You wish to hear from me again on the subject of Manures. I do not know what to say, unless I repeat what I have already said, adding the result of one more year's experience. I am well aware, many are desirous of knowing where to purchase, of whom, and of what kind ; but their lack of knowledge is their fault — the result of not taking the Cultivator. Twenty-two years ago (1846) I saw an advertisement in the American Far- mer, Baltimore, Md., describing the fine effects of Peru- vian guano. I ordered three sacks, and tried it. I found it to pay well. I used it sparingly at first, being at that time the only one in Georgia who used it, so far as I know. I continued to increase the quantity annu- ally until 1861. That year I used, of all kinds, thirteen thousand dollars' worth. Last year, I used twelve thou- sand dollars' worth. Being the pioneer, I lost a great deal of money in making trials of other guanos. At present, the people have plenty of light to guide them in purchasing manures. See Dr. Hamilton's experiment, (118) On Manures. 119 in January number, and those of Dr. Pendleton and Mr. Davison, in February number (1868) of the Cultivator. The planters of G-eorgia, and other Cotton States, could save enough money by heeding the les'sons taught by these three experiments, to take one hundred thousand copies of the Southern Cultivator. It is very strange that the planters will not support an organ — yes, even a daily organ — devoted entirely to their interests. The planter should not only learn to make money, but he should be a good financier — ^learn hovsr to invest it : first, so as to get the greatest comfort from the part spent in living; and secondly, the safest investment, yielding largest dividends — dividends, too, that will not hurt anybody, but be advantageous alike to those now living, and to posterity. From my experience, I will give my plan, hoping that many others will give theirs. I am for an annual ma- nure — a soluble manure — one that will return the prin- cipal, or at least seventy-five per cent, of it, with one hundred and twenty-five per cent, profit, or double the investment. I am in favor of an investment that never pleads for time, or complains of usurious interest, or calls for relief or repudiation, but will punctually square up accounts, with one hundred per cent, profit. Such an. investment is soluble bones and Peruvian guano. Lend it to your land, in sums of from five to fifteen doUars per acre, at six to nine months' time, and if you do your duty — plough deep and cultivate shallow — the payment will be sure. Your land will be left in better condition; money will be furnished to put back the same amount of manure the next year, and ample dividends made to live on and make other investments. The word 120 On Manures. " stimulate" is improperly applied to manures. Plants have no nerves for them to act upon. When you see plants growing very rapidly, to which manure has been applied, do not think they are drunk. The truth is, the manure is soluble, and not permanent ; and the roots of the plants are absorbing it, and the blades working it up for the crop. I have no use for a permanent manure. If permanent, it is not soluble ; if not soluble, it never will enter the roots of plants; and if it does not enter the roots of plants, your money is gone. No manure is worth a cent, if permanent. The Atlantic ocean would not be permanent, if its supplies were cut off — if the rain ceased, and all the rivers were stopped. Supposing it level at bottom as well as the top, and one thousand feet deep, stiU it would dry up in less than two hundred years — a shorter time than some lands in Virginia have been cultivated. So, away with your permanent ma- nures ; but be ever vigilant to save aU home-made manures possible, of every variety — pine straw and swamp mud included. Manipulate your sandy land with clay, your clay land with vegetable mold. Plough deep, rotate your crops, and rest your lands. Buy lots of soluble manure, and save twice as much as if you bought none. Is there a single planter who would lend money to be paid in equal installments of twenty years, with low interest ? Yet, if he uses permanent manures, he cannot expect much better luck. Is there one that is unwilling to lend his money at six and nine months, have it under his control all the time, and get prompt payment — ^receiving seventy-five per cent, of the princi- pal, and one hundred and twenty-five per cent, profit ? Give me the manure that will pay promptly, with good On Manures. 121 dividends. Do not be afraid that it will exhaust your land. Put the cotton seed back, together with the ma- nure from the straw, corn, oats and shucks, with the straw used to save the manure and bed- the stock; also what the crops got from the atmosphere. I would like to have my land exhausted that way. There is only so much corn and cotton in any manure, and the sooner you get it the better. It will pay. The loss wUl be smaller, and only one year's work required. The same is true of land. There is only material enough in it to make a given quantity of corn or cotton, and the greater quantity you get each year the better. Do not understand me that I am for exhausting land. Not so. Each year put back more than you take from it. Accu- mulate a large fund in soluble mold and other manure, and never let it be said by posterity, that it is harder for them to live because you lived before them. Leave your land better than you found it. Improve agricul- ture, so that a given quantity of labor may produce double what it now does — double the capacity of the land. Then each agriculturist wiU be able to consume four times as much as he does at present in necessaries and luxuries. This can be done. During my day, the planters in Hancock county liave doubled their crops. There were more planters in Hancock county who made ten bales per hand in 1861;, than there were who made five bales to the hand in 1845. I repeat, buy Peruvian guano and dissolved bones, and some salt and plaster, where the freight is not too high. Try on a small scale (or large, if you wish), all pure guanos, and be governed by the result. For one, I wiU not touch a manipulated manure. I 122 On Manures. It creates a middle man, to compete with me in bones, guano, etc. If there is anything to be gained by mix- ing, I want to make it myself, and then I know also that it is pure.- I want no manure that will not pay, without the addition to it of Peruvian guano. Suppose Dr. Pendleton had mixed his Peruvian gu- ano with sand — ^half and half — it would have paid two hundred and twelve per cent. ! Good ! But four hun- dred and thirty is better. Planters, make a little money by the teachings of the Cultivator — take it for the balance of your lives, and leave it as a legacy to your children. I say for one, never give it up, but build it up higher still — make it a weekly, and finally a daily — not only that it may teach you concerning agriculture, tools, machinery, etc., but that it may advocate your peculiar interests. Very respectfully yours, DAVID DICKSON. Letter No. vii. Experiment ON A SIXTEEN ACRE LOT OF COTTON. Sparta, Georgia, February lOth, 1868. Editors Southern Cultivator: Thinking it best to tell what I have done, instead of giving advice that I do not follow, I will give you the details of the preparation, manuring, plant- ing, cultivation and production of a sixteen acre lot, planted in cotton; and as many may desire to know all the particulars, I will be as explicit as I can be in a letter. First, the land is good pine land, and has been under the plough nearly seventy years, and as many as fifty- five years in cotton. About twelve years ago, it was sown in oats, with two hundred pounds of guano and bones mixed with salt and plaster, and made thirty or thirty-five bushels per acre — ^all fed off by turning stock in the field. Four years ago, I left it uncultivated until the middle of July ; there was then a heavy growth of weeds on it, just grown. I turned them in, and dropped peas in every third furrow. The result was a large (123) 124 Experiment. crop of vines, and at least fifteen bushels of peas per acre. These were fed off by beef cattle. That, if you c&Rit rest, is all the field ever had. The lot lies between two branches, running north and south ; on one slope, next to the branch, is a second growth of pines ; the other is a peach orchard. The cotton was planted on the top of a level ridge, lying within one- fourth to one-half of a mile of Little Ogeechee. It was planted in cotton in 1866 — manured with about one hundred and fifty pounds of bones and Peruvian guano each, and one hundred pounds of plaster. I commenced the third day of May, with two horses, to prepare the land : cotton rows four feet apart ; ran two furrows in the middle of each row, which stood open about eight inches deep, and applied to each acre two hundred and fifty pounds soluble bones, one hundred and sixty-five pounds No. 1 Peruvian guano, and one hundred pounds plaster. Salt being too high, I omitted that. The mix- ture was deposited in the bottom of the furrow ; then covered with a long scooter plough, going about as deep as the other two furrows ; then ran on the side of each scooter furrow, with a good turning plough, going seven inches deep. After preparing about six acres in this way, I opened with a small buU-tongued plough ; dropped the seed and covered lightly with a board, part of it with a harrow. I continued in this way until the lot was planted, finishing the 15th of May. The land being freshly prepared, and a little dry, it did not come up well. The 25th of May, had a fine shower, and on the first morning of June, there was a first-rate stand. About the first of June, I turned the ploughs back to finish the preparation, running a scooter, twelve inches long, in the Experiment. 125 bottom of each turn-plough furrow, going seven inches deeper ; then ploughed up the old. stalks with a large, long shovel plough, going under the old cotton stalks — making nine furrows to the row in preparing the land, taking nine days, with one horse, for every eight acres, which was equal to a full subsoiling. You observe that the preparation was not expensive. Including planting, it was eleven days' work to eight acres. The cotton soon stretched up well; The first plough- ing was done with a heavy twenty-two inch sweep (right wing towards the end nearly flat, the back edge of the wing about one and a fourth of an inch above the front edge in elevation). I then hoed out to a stand, the width of a No. 2 ScoviU hoe, leaving one to three stalks in a hiU. Cotton standing thick in the drill will be much forwarder than that which is thin. Give it the necessary distance between the rows. The second ploughing was done with the same kind ■ of sweep, with both wings elevated. The second and last hoeing followed in a few days. The third plough- ing ran one furrow in the middle of the rows. The cultivation with the plough occupied one horse five days for each eight acres, which makes two days ploughing for each acre, and about two days hoeing for the same. The cotton grew so rapidly, it did not need any more work. I hired the picking of most of it, at forty cents per hundred pounds. The lot averaged about three thousand (3,000) pounds per acre, but owing to 'a storm and other causes, I gathered only twenty-seven hundred (2,700) pounds and a fraction, which will make two good bales to the acre. I picked out one hundred bolls 126 Experiment. in two separate parts of the lot, at four o'clock in the evening of a dry day. Each weighed twenty-one ounces. In the lot was an Irish potato patch, that had been ma- nured and mulched with straw twice. I think that por- tion made at the rate of six thousand pounds per acre. The next best place, was about one acre of old pine field, first year, which made, I think, about five thousand pounds. If you expect such results, you must not cut the roots of the cotton. Cotton is a sun-plant, as you will see by its turning its leaves to the sun, as the latter moves through the heavens. So have a deep water fur- row in the spring, work flat by hot weather, and on level land run the rows north and south. The cotton would have been much better, planted the 10th of April. The seasons were as fine as they could be up to the 28th of July. After that, too much rain. The hands I had were all new, and very sorry ; the ma- nure was badly mixed, and badly put on. I found, during the wet weather, where the most ma- nure was put, it stood the test best — especially the part that had the most Peruvian guano on it. There was some rot, owing to the density of foliage and wet wea- ther ; some boll worm and caterpillar on about one-half of the patch. The seed planted was of the "David Dickson, Oxford, Georgia" variety, selected twice by myself, and would sell for more than the cotton, if I did not wish to plant them myself. There are none for sale this year. I purchased my manure of first hands, by Messrs. John Merryman & Company, and got the best article at the lowest price in the market. The cot- ton is unsold. The seed I will use. Experiment. 127 Below is the cost of one acre.: COST OF MANURE AT PLANTATION. 250 pounds soluble bones $8 25 165 pounds No. 1, Peruvian guano 6 25 100 pounds plaster ... 1 25 Mixing and putting on 25 Horse, two days, $1 00 per day Plough hand, two days, 50c. per day Hoe hand, " " " Dropping seed Picking Manure ' . . . Whole expense per acre Count the seed and lint, and you wUl see what ma- nure will do. Respectfully yours, DAVID DICKSON. |17 00 . $2 00 . 1 00 . 1 00 25 . 10 80 . 17 00 . $32 05 Letter No. viii. Answer to Mr. Dent. Sparta, Georgia, April 2d, 1868. Mr. John H. Dent: Dear Sir — To be brief, I will answer yOur letter to me without quoting from it. J stated that I wrote for the latitude of my place near Sparta, and due allowance must be made for any other locality, whether north or south of that line. Where land is frozen or covered with snow, most of the time, whether sand or clay, I would prefer plough- ing it in the fall. The higher the latitude, where corn will ripen before frost, the thicker you may plant it, and the more it will make per acre, other things being equal. I still contend, that two thousand stalks of corn are enough for an acre in this county. Under no circum- stances, would I put more than one hundred and thirty- three stalks to the bushel of corn the land ought to make, and I have made one bushel of corn for every fifty-two stalks in the field. I once sold a gentleman corn nearly three years old, and he told me that four ears of it weighed five and a quarter pounds. I prefer (128) Answer to Mr. Dent. 129 good distance one way. You have land in your county, that would bear three thousand stalks, or more, per acre. In planting them, I would give six feet one way, and regulate the distance in the drill so as to give the number of stalks I wished. Your fine clay soil is just what I would like to have ; and the rag weed I see grows finely there, as well as peas, clover and grass. Turn them under, divide the fine particles, and make your land mellow; plough deep and cultivate shallow? and you will have no trouble in growing crops. Clay lands will bear the same treatment as sandy lands, with the same results, and with less difiiculty. If you have two hogs fattening, one white, representing sandy land, the other red, representing red land, and you cut the veins and let out the blood every two or three weeks, the result would be the same — just so cut- ting the roots of corn every two or three weeks, on red or sandy land, would involve the same loss. I do not care what color your land is, or whether sand or clay, if you keep up a full supply of vegetable mold, break deep before planting, and cultivate lightly afterwards, the result will be good, wet or dry. . In the distance I give, there are twenty-one square feet for each stalk of corn. If there is enough soluble matter in that space for two, or even three ears, one stalk will take it up, but if there is only matter enough for one ear of corn, and you put two stalks, and water is scarce, at earing time, you will miss gathering, even that one ear. Again, if it is a dry year, thin planting will always beat ; and corn always commands a better price then. I visited your county in 1866, and, in my judgment. 130 Answer to Mr. Dent. the error of your people, in making corn, was four- fold — First, they did not keep a sufficient quantity of mold in their lands,* for such close, stiff soil. Second, they ploughed too shallow in preparing for the crop. Third, they planted too thick: ' Fourth, cultivated too deep. I saw fields that had from four to six thousand stalks to the acre, between Madison and Rome, that made from nothing up to five bushels to the acre. The best corn I saw in Floyd county, was grown by a gentleman whom I raised, and his corn was cultivated and planted as I do mine. Very respectfully, DAVID DICKSON. Letter No. ix. Improving Land with Peas. Sparta, Georgia, April 4th, 1868. Editors Southern Cultivator : You wish my experience in growing peas, and turn- ing them under whilst green. The benefits of growing green crops and burying them in the soil for the benefit of future crops, are too well understood to be questioned by any one; but it has opened a question in agricultu- ral economy that has not been settled so satisfactorily. The English farmers formerly used a half-ton of ground bones per acre, to grow a single crop, but they have found that by dissolving two hundred pounds of bones in acid, at a cost of fifty per cent, on the price of the bones (making the Avhole cost equal to that of three hundred pounds of bones), that it will produce the same effect at an outlay of only thirty per cent, on that of the former mode — the latter method giving them the means of returning the same amount of manure to the land the next year, as the former did, by producing the same amount of hay, turnips, and other forage to feed to stock. Now, admitting that it will pay to grow peas and (131) 132 Improving Land with Peas. clover, to be turned under as fertilizers, the following questions arise : At what time should they be turned under, to insure the greatest benefit? Would it pay better to feed them off the land than to cover them with a plough ; and what do they lose by drying before being turned under ? Here, again, the question of soluble and insoluble manures is involved. I have always taken the side of soluble manures as being the most economical. Dry pea vines and clover will soon become soluble. I wUl give you my practice. It is one that will pay, although I will not say that it is the best. First, keep your land in good heart ; let the field that you intend to sow peas on remain fallow, until you lay by your corn — say from 1st to 20th of July. You will then have a large growth of green weeds to turn under. Start your teams with good turn ploughs, running off the lands as nearly level as you can, and go round and round until that land or cut is finished. Start the pea dropper after every third plough, and the hand with the manure after the pea dropper. Drop the manure within four inches of the peas. If you find the peas will make from seven to fifteen bushels per acre, turn stock in upon them, placing salt in places over the field, to cause the most of the manure to be dropped on the field. Then invest all the profit arising from feeding stock on the field, in bones and Peruvian guano for the next crop ; and you will find this system will pay. I have adopted it with both wheat and cotton, with good success. If the peas fail to fruit, turn them under whilst green. Second Plan. — Plant peas the first of April, same as above; turn under before the stems become very woody, and plant and manure a second crop at the same time Commercial Manures. 133 that you are turning under the first crop of vines, and treat the second crop as you did the first. The true policy is to secure the greatest amount of soluble vege- table mold you can accumulate with the least cost. Very truly, yours, DAVID DICKSON. N.B. — I prefer peas planted and cultivated on a level, both for the land and crop, and for sowing small grain after the pea crop. Letter No. x. Commercial Manures. Mr. David Dickson, of Sparta, has favored us with a letter for publication in the Southern Cultivator, in which he replies to various letters of inquiry, received from all quarters, upon agricultural topics. Editors Southern Cultivator : Fertilizers should be purchased as near first hands as possible, for many reasons, such as these : The planter should make the profit himself; he gets the manure purer, as well as much cheaper; and if we do not pursue this course, as money is abundant north, all manures will be bought up as soon as landed, shipped south, and sold at high rates. I will give you an instance. Last season, Peruvian guano was worth in New York and Baltimore (the only places imported into), $60 in gold per ton, of two thousand two hundred and fifty pounds. Gold was worth |128 to $130 in green- backs. It was bought up by traders, sent to Augusta, and sold there for $130 in greenbacks, for only two thousand pounds. Make your own calculations as to the profit. (134) Commercial Manures. 135 I am asked often, what kinds of manures to purchase, as well as at what market ? As I do not wish to act against any person's interest, I will simply give my experience. Permian guano, and a hind called Colum- bian guano, are the only kinds that have ever paid in my hands. When I gave a receipt, several years since, and published it in the Southern Recorder, to use one-half Peruvian and the other Columbian guano, which was a mineral guano, I then considered this the best prepara- tion ; but the Columbian guano has been exhausted for a good many years — therefore, I recall that receipt. I have no doubt but some of the phosphatic guanos have some considerable value ; but they are held too high to pay in my hands. Try them yourselves, at first on a small, or large scale if you wish, and test them on their own merits. You will find some guanos advertised as permanent manures. I want to avoid that kind, for I think it is true of some of them at least, that when I use them, my crops do not remove them. / prefer the land that will come to see me the first year, and bring a large interest, in the form of cotton, corn, wheat, etc. The true system in manuring, is to get the manure back the first- year, with a living profit, and rapidly to improve the soil up to its original capacity, and carry it beyond that in the same ratio as the increase. We are only tenants at will, and have no right to use the soil in a way to destroy its capacity to maintain the present popular tion, and its future increase. When the people understand the difference in an acre of land that wiU produce a hundred pounds, and one that will produce five hun- 136 Commercial Manures. dred pounds of lint cotton — that this difference exists in the present value of each of these two acres of land, we then will begin to improve our farms. As to ploughing and cultivating, I only have time to say now, plough from eight to fifteen inches deep, and subsoil every fourth year ; or better subsoil one-fourth every year. Then cultivate smooth, level, and shallow the last ploughing — not more than one-half inch in depth. The great inquiry is, on what kind of land to use the guano and other commercial manures. I say, use it on all lands you plough or cultivate — or everywhere, ex- cept in a hole of water, or on a rock. The treatment of various kinds of soil does not vary so much as we might suppose. Extremes are likely to meet. First, rest your lands. Let a sandy soil rest, for the following reasons : to accumulate vegetable mold ; to turn the sand dark; receive the heat, and prevent reflection and burning what is above ground ; hold a uniform heat; fasten the particles of sand together, so as to receive and hold the water — all of which are .important, besides the increase of its fertility. On the other hand, rest a clay soil, to accumulate veget- able mold ; to darken the soil, as in the other case ; to open the particles of clay, that it may receive the rain, let in the air, light, gases, retain uniform heat and moisture, besides increasing its fertilizing qualities generally. In conclusion, the manure I now use, is pure dis- solved bones, land plaster and salt, crowned with the best of all manures — Peruvian guano. Purchase the pure article, and do your own mixing. Commercial Manures. 137 For one acre, take : Peruvian guano 100 pounds. *Dissolved bones 100 " Salt 100 " Land plaster 50 " All well mixed, and when you lay off for cotton, open at least eight inches, and deposit the manure along the fur- row, and bed as usual. For corn, open eight inches, drop the manure in hills three feet apart, drop the corn within three or four inches of the manure, cover all at once, about one and a half inches deep. Let it stand four or five weeks without work. Very respectfully, DAVID DICKSON. * Superphosphate without admixture of dirt. — Editors South- em Cultivator. Letter No. xr. Commercial vs. Home-made MANURES. Sparta, Georgia, May"3d, 1868. Editors Southern Cultivator : I had written to you that for the present I should not occupy any space in the Cultivator, but as the planting interest might suiFer somewhat from the article of Mr. Gift, in the May number, if not answered, I have con- cluded to reply to some of the points in it. It is dis- tasteful to me to say so much about my affairs, and must be to others, and I can only get my consent to do it, from the hope that good may result to the farming interest, so much paralyzed by the results of the war. You are aware that all my practice and teaching has been, that the use of the manures I recommend, gave the farmer the means of making and using double the quantity of home-made manures. I again repeat this, and as well as I can, with demoralized labor, still practice upon it. I not only consider it hurtful to the purse, but sinful to waste manures, or not to use the necessary pre- cautions to save them. My motto is, to increase the (138) Commercial vs. Home-made Manures. 139 fertility of the soil in a greater ratio than the popula- tion increases. My soil furnishes a portion of the food to raise fish and oysters in the Atlantic ocean, and if I can make a profit and improve my land by using the excrement of birds fed on fish, etc., it is my duty as AVell as my interest to do so. General S. Johnson (I quote from memory), just he- fare the battle of Shiloh, said, "the true test of a general was success." He admitted, sometimes it was a hard rule, but the only one that he could be judged by. I say, it is the only test that will do to try a farm- er by. Now, I do not consider that I am on trial by Mr. Gift's article ; but the discussion involves a vastly important subject — one that will survive and be of in- terest after this generation has passed away. Mr. Gift says, in substance, that it is astonishing that I should have overlooked the great profits of home-made manures. He is mistaken in thinking that I have overlooked them. One of the reasons that I use commercial manures is, that I may save double the quantity of home-made ma- nure. I make double the crops, have twice the amount of forage to feed away, and twice as much cotton seed for manure. Mr. Gift has- very much over-estimated the manure he could save from the number of stock named, as I will show, by an estimate of the horses only. He estimates the ammonia alone, from forty horses (after deducting one-third), sixteen thousand and seventy pounds, at forty cents per pound, equal to six thousand four hun- dred and twenty-eight dollars ($6,428). He will not doubt that the corn and fodder are worth more as ma- nure before they are qaten by the horses, than after 140 Commercial vs. Home-made Manures. they are consumed ; then he may save the third he admits he will lose. The manure that will drop in the stalls from forty horses that work in the day (say eight hours in the field and on the road), three hundred days at work, and sixty in the pasture, day and night : 40 horses, 1 peck each for 300 days, makes, 3,000 bush. 40 " 10 lbs. fodder per day each makes, 120,000 lbs. The corn at %\ per bushel, makes |3,000 The fodder at $1 per 100 lbs., makes 1,200 |4,200 One-third dropped in the field, and on the road, while at use 1,400 $2,800 You see there is only two thousand eight hundred dollars worth of the raw corn and fodder dropped in the lot by the forty horses. Mr. Gift makes the ammonia alone in three thousand bushels of corn and one hundred and twenty thousand pounds of fodder (after deducting one-third), worth six thousand four hundred and twenty- eight dollars, whilst the whole was worth in the market, before being fed, four thousand two hundred dollars. Mr. Gift prices ammonia at a higher rate than it costs in guano. 2,000 pounds dissolved bones, cost me at home, $67 00 2,000 " Peruvian guano, at home 92 00 The phosphate in that is worth one-half as much as the bones — deducting $33 50 for that, leaves $58 50 for the three hundred pounds of ammonia (at fifteen per cent.) in the two thousand pounds of Peruvian guano Commercial vs. Home-made Manures. 141 (that I used last year contained sixteen and one-half per cent.), making its cost 19 J cents per pound. If Mr. Gift had seen the blaze that three hundred bales of cotton made, besides oats, wheat and machinery, and fifty-five fine mules, and other stock and property taken from me, he would think I had felt General Sher- man, if not seen him. It is true, that I made fine crops before I used guano, bones, salt and plaster, but nothing to compare with crops made with them. I will teU Mr. Gift some of the good guano, etc., does. It is self-sustaining ; it is punc- tual in payments ; never repudiates or asks an extension of time ; wants no stay-laws or military orders ; pays promptly, and on an average as much as one hundred and twenty-five per cent, — sometimes a small per cent., and at other times as high as four hundred ; it enables one to make double the quantity of home-made manures ; improves the land ; gives the means of keeping more and better stock ; improves crops ; makes the laborers more cheerful and willing to work ; puts money in the hands to do fancy farming; purchases good machinery and tools ; will afford some luxuries as well as substan- tials ; enables you to work freedmen, when they would bring you in debt without it. If I could realize all the profits on $12,000 to $20,000 worth of guano, I could do well throwing in the use of land, horse-power, tools, capital to furnish supplies, together with my attention, which alone increases the crop more than one half. As large as you thought my investment last year in ma- nures, my losses in stock and by theft was equal to that. The guano and the rise in cotton were the only things that saved me. 142 Commercial vs. Home-made Manures. Guano pays back the purchase-money in cotton lint, which is but little loss of matter, and the guano fur- nishes more than that loss, and leaves a still larger amount in pocket. It enables one to plough twelve inches deep in a thin soil, inasmuch as the guano placed near the roots of plants, gives them vigor to go forth and find the soluble matter that is diffused so thinly through the land ; without the use of some concentrated manure, the plant would never have vigor to hunt up the crop food so deeply mixed in the poor land. I will tell you something that guano did for me when I could direct labor and be obeyed. I made per hand ten to fourteen bales of cotton, eight hundred to twelve hundred pounds of pork, one mutton, three-fourths of a fat beef or three hundred pounds, eight to ten colts per year, with corn, wheat, oats, rye, etc., to sell, amounting to $100 per hand ; to keep one yoke of fine young oxen for every three hands, to aid in hauling muck, straw, and manure generally; and keep two hundred acres of land under a good fence per hand ; six to seven head of cattle, ten to twelve head of hogs, five sheep per hand — all besides being a cotton planter. Instead of penning my stock to make manure, I left a shade tree for every twenty-five acres of cleared land. The stock would feed until full, then go to the shade to rest, and would drop but little manure until they got in motion, twenty to one hundred yards from the tree. I would place salt over the field in the right place ; make straw pens and shuck pens in the right place in the field ^sometimes litter around them. I know this plan paid in meat, manure and dollars. The result is stranger than fiction. The profits have astounded me ; and no Commercial vs. Home-made Manures. 143 person who did not know what I commenced with, and what I had in 1861, can believe so much could be made in so short a time by farming under any system, with or without manures. Messrs. Editors, I am willing to rest the case with the farmers, as to commercial manures, where Mr. Gift leaves it ; but if you think this will benefit any of your readers, you may publish it; but under any circum- stances, I close now on this subject, and leave the ques- tion of ammonia, bones, etc., to those who are interested in its use. Very respectfully, DAVID DICKSON. Letter No. xii. — See Letter No. 6. Letter No. xiii. Note from Mr. Dickson. In a private note to us, Mr. Dickson makes the fol- lowing remarks, whicli we take the liberty of laying before our readers. — Editors Southern Cultivator. Sparta, Georgia, September 4th, 1868. There are several points with regard to which I do not stand before the people in a true light. One is, that a man that can make good crops on a blowing sand, can not make them on good land. Another is, that there is only a particular kind of land that it will pay to use guano upon. I have never endorsed a manipulated ma- nure, or a worthless compound of 'any kind. I am ready to stand on anything I have ever recommended ; for my recommendations have always been given only after successful trial. Another is, that I make no manure at home. All my writings prove the reverse of this. With poor land, but little manure will be accumulated, with- out purchasing manures. Can any man believe that ammonia and phosphates would ever fail, where a plough ought to run ? I have been often asked, what kind of land paid best with guano ? I have but one reply — ^land (144) Note from Mr. Dickson. 145 that pays best without it. Land could be so rich, that sixteen pounds of ammonia would make but a small per centage of profit ; but we have none such in Georgia. Panola's neighbor could not have understood my plan, or could not have executed it properly ; for I tell you there is no failure in it. My land commences on the granite hills in Hancock county, and runs to the rotten limestone and long moss in Washington county, and contains some of every kind of land in Middle Greorgia — ^from red rocky hills to a blowing sand, twenty feet to the clay — from a mulatto soil to a pipe-clay ; and I tell you, if a man can make corn and cotton on a blowing sand, he can make it any- where above water, off" of a solid rock. Truly, DAVID DICKSON. Letter No. xiv. The Dickson System of Farming. Sparta, Georgia, December 5tli, 1868. Editors Southern Cultivator : There is much confusion throughout the country as to the plan of agriculture I pursue — some using the solid sweep as a part of my plan. Let me say, I would not have one of them. Moreover, there are other plans called mine, that I cannot endorse. I will give my plan in a very few words. First, drain the wet land, and if you wish, or it needs it, ditch the hill sides ; then deepen your soil, charge it well with vegetable matter, either by rest or sowing oats and feed- ing off in the field, sowing and turning under pea-vines or clover and other grasses, where they will succeed, etc. ; then plough deep, and subsoil to the extent of your ability. Q-ather all the manure possible from pre- vious crops, cotton seed, manure from stock, leaves, pine straw, and mud and other scrapings ; then add each year to each crop of corn, oats, cotton, wheat, etc., such soluble ammonia and bone earth, etc., as Peruvian guano and dissolved bones, land plaster, salt, and wood ashes (146) The Dickson System of Farming. 147 may have in them — the latter if to be had, in any form, at a price that would warrant its use. Plant corn eight inches below a level ; put the manure within three or four inches of the seed, and cover about one and a half inches deep. Cultivate shallow — first ploughing one and a half inches deep, second one inch, and third one half inch. I prefer a heavy, sharp sweep, twenty-two to twenty-six inches wide, either for corn or cotton. Former communications will show how I pre- pare land for cotton and corn. If you carry out this plan well as to order and time, it will never fail. One of your correspondents from South Carolina, in criticising my plan, says you cannot make corn without a wet July. I have made a first-rate crop of corn, with no rain after the 19th of June, and can do it every time. Below, I will tell that gentleman and others how to do it. I have never had to resort to the extreme there described, but it will pay. If you wish a fort to stand a hot and protracted attack, you must water and provision, as well as man it, in order that it may hold out until the siege is raised — remembering one day unprovided for may prove fatal, so if you wish a cotton plant or a corn stalk to stand a hot burning sun, and a dry north-west wind, from four to ten weeks, and come out safely, you must water and put 'in sufficient soluble food to last. How is that to be done ? Answer : by deepening the soil, ploughing deep, subsoiling, and filling it with humus, that it may retain the greatest amount of water. The soil is like a sponge, if too porous water will sink through it, if too close it will hold but little. I find that humus, clay, and a due proportion of Sand, constitutes the best of soil, to sue- 148 The Dickson System of Farming. ceed uuder all circumstances, with soluble plant food in abundance. I will now give you a plan that will carry the cotton plant through eight or ten weeks of drought with safety, and enable it to get ahead of the caterpillar — the boll- worm may come too soon for a full crop — but one need not fear the caterpillar, if they do not come before the first of September. Always remember, the soil must be good and deep, and subsoiled six inches deeper, and fur- nished with a good supply of guano, dissolved bones, plaster and salt. A cotton plant to stand two weeks (always remember to use the "Dickson Select" seed), must have four inches of soil and six inches subsoil ; three weeks, six inches soil, same subsoiling; four weeks, eight inches, same subsoiling; and for every week of dry weather, you will need an additional inch, with the same six inches subsoil, broken below. So you wiU see, to stand a ten weeks' drouth, you must have a soil sixteen inches deep, with six inches broken below. This plan will hold the forms and bolls during the whole time, and not give them up when it rains ; but should you prepare right, and your supplies give out, or surrender one week, before reinforcements come, in form of water, much is lost, and it may be too late to start anew. If you prepare and carry out this plan well, you may expect from four hundred to twelve hundred pounds of Hnt cotton per acre, according to the character of the land, locality, etc. Truly yours, DAVID DICKSON. Letter No. xv. Reply to Mr. Gift, etc. Sparta, Georgia, October 1st, 1868. Editors Southern Cultivator : One of the great duties of man is to combat error and disseminate truth. Dr. Pendleton has sufficiently de- monstrated that the cheapest and best plan to save manure from stock whilst grazing or eating off crops from fields, is to have the manure dropped by the stock where it is eaten; and I will add, the urine soaks into the soil at once, and the excrement, like a post, com- mences rotting at the surface next the ground, and being covered by the sounder part, the earth absorbs the am- monia as fast as formed. My stock whilst grazing, drop manure regularly over the field — the object of giving them shade trees, is to keep them out of the swamps. I contend, this plan gives cheaper manure, more beef and less labor than any other. The next point I will consider, is Mr. Gift's financial statement. He says, "suppose ten thousand planters use manure as Mr. Dickson does, it would be a drain upon the country of one hundred and twenty millions of dollars." True; but he stops too soon. He does not (149) 150 Reply to Mr. Gift, etc. tell you what the drain would bring back. Ten thou- sand persons planting as I do, would produce ten mil- lions of bales of cotton (my crop in 1861 was one thousand bales — last year very little less). The ten millions of bales at the present price, would give one thousand millions of dollars ; one-half of this due to the use of the manure, would place five hundred millions of dollars to its credit; deduct then, the cost of the ma- nure (one hundred and twenty millions), and it leaves three hundred and eighty millions clear profit, as the land will be benefitted to the full amount of all the labor. I like such drains as that — it gives power and profit. In 1861, four thousand planters raising such a crop as I did, would have made four millions of bales. Last year, it would have taken but a few over two thousand planters, to have produced a crop equal to that of 1861 (each one making as much as I did) ; so you see the only thing we have to fear, from using guano, and making the most of it, is over-production. All money drawn from a country, is not a drain on it, as I have shown in the case of guano, and will further illustrate by many other cases. The six Eastern States spend millions for raw cotton, wool and hides, etc., etc., and convert them into manufactured articles at a con- siderable cost, and then sell them for three times as many millions of dollars. Is that a drain on her dollars? She has to-day millions more by the operation, and her power is hard to limit. Great Britain sends abroad money for every conceiv- able object. Raw cotton, wool, hides, lumber of all descriptions, iron, bread, meat, cheese — then gives em- ployment to her subjects, in manufacturing out of these Reply to Mr. G-ifl, etc. 151 the various articles used by man, and increases the value of these raw products many hundreds of dollars. The surplus made on the raw material, is invested in bonds of all nations, to draw in for all time to come, future dividends, and increase her power and wealth. Germany is pursuing the same policy as Great Britain, with the same results of profits and power. So with other nations. Now we can purchase fifty millions dollars' worth of guano in its raw state, and clear one hundred millions of dollars on it in nine, months, and expend nothing ad- ditional in manufacturing cotton and grain out of it. What say you to that ? Are you not willing to have the money ? I say, let any foreigner have your dollars, when you can with certainty make two dollars in nine months, clear of cost, for every dollar spent. It is in every man's mouth, keep your money at home. That is impossible — money is not productive, unless kept moving. This is the point : keep your labor at home — manufacture everything at home that you can make to any advantage — spin your cotton and wool in Georgiaj and convert it into cloth — work up raw hides into shoes — Clumber into ships — wheat into flour — corn into bacon and lard — grass into beef, mutton and wool — iron ore into all manner of useful implements, etc., etc. Do all this, and a great deal more, and you will have no occa- sion for complaining of a scarcity of money. I could name a great many other things which might be done at home, but the above will serve to illustrate my argu- ment. In the June number, page 166, "Panola" does me great injustice. I will not quote what he says, but ask 152 Reply to Mr. Gift, etc. him to read what he Avrote, and then read what I said about organic and inorganic manures. I was not asked for it, nor did I stop short of the conclusion, as he re- ports. As to cotton planters not having time to turn the weeds on stubble land under in July, I will say, some people never have time to do anything — others have time to do all that is necessary on a farm ; part of my plan was always to come to time. Panola says one of his neighbors once tried my sys- tem by the card, and failed. I have had men to come to me for a receipt to farm, who proposed to go to a dis- tant State to oversee. I never thought of giving one to any person. It is hard to transfer knowledge, and much harder to transfer art and judgment. Calomel, opium, quinine and the lancet^ are four of the great agents in physic. Who would pretend they are the same in every man's hands. Much depends on the time and manner each are given, on the state of the pulse, fever, etc. When they do fail, is it the man or the medicine ? My plan is to follow the laws that govern the uni- verse. Plants and animals, when assisted with art and judgment, never will fail. Where there is a failure, it is the agent, and not the plan. If Panola's neighbor failed, it was his fault, not my plan. Is it not remarkably strange, that Panola thinks the plan in Greorgia would not do in South Carolina ? I know he did not have the right sort of sweeps, or he would not think they would keep a mule poor to drag them on top of the ground. A mule will fatten, and do the work right with my sweeps. He says he laughed at his friend about his Dickson plan. If he could see my crop of cotton now, he would Reply to Mr. Gift, etc. 153 feel sad for that laughter, and feel he had very much damaged his neighbor. I have cotton on old land, planted from 7th to 10th of May— rain 29th May, 20th of June, 29th of July, 4th of August, 29th of August, and caterpillar 1st of September — that vrill make two bales per acre. Will you laugh at that result ? If you had not laughed at your neighbor, he might have been doing as well. Some people cannot believe that anything can be done which they cannot do themselves. Mr. Grift's friend thinks it would be an easy matter for me to gather a crop such as I could make on his rich land — did you ever know a doctor to choose a broken-down constitu- tion to cure easily, when diseased ; or a farmer that would choose poor land to make the best crops on ? Dr. Lee, after visiting me, said in the Cultivator, that I had demonstrated to the men of small means, that not only a living could be made on poor land, but a large fortune ; and the great majority of land being poor, there was no calculating what might be done ; this is about the sub- stance. Some of your writers say they have tried guano, and it failed. It should have been, they failed. Respectfully yours. DAVID DICKSON. Letter No. xvi. Extract from a Letter written to James A. Nisbet. Experts. * * * * During last year, I learned some valu- able new lessons. One was the training of hands to do double the amount of work, with more ease, and less of sweat and muscle. My former hands, being better trained than others, had better offers than I could give, and nine-tenths of them left me. I then employed hands from as many as forty plantations ; and got none that knew how to work to any advantage. I had hands before the war that could pick six hundred pounds of cotton in a day, all by daylight; and all hands that went to the fields averaged three hundred pounds per day, without any Avhite man in the field. All of my trained hands have now applied to come back, preferring one-third of the crop gathered on my place, to one-half on the places worked last year. Whilst I owned them, they told me to plant thirty-eight acres in corn and cotton, and seventeen acres in wheat and oats, and they would cultivate it with my aid, in preference to twenty acres under an overseer, and could do it with more ease. My crops before the war, averaged me |1,000 per hand. (154) Experts. 155 I divide thus : $200 for manure, $200 for horse-power, tools, etc., $300 for land, and $300 for labor. My esti- mate is now, when hands work well, to divide as follows : First, take my pay for all purchased manures ; the bal- ance to go — one-third for land rent, one-third for horse- power, and all tools, including gins, wagons, carts, wneat thresher, etc., hoes and axes excepted, which each hand should furnish, and one-third to the laborer, being divi- ded among the hands that produce ; the cotton seed to be returned to the land, and all crops left in the field nngathered to go to the owner of the land. Now as to commercial manures, etc. I am written to frequently to know of whom I purchase, and what kind I use. John Merryman & Company, of Baltimore, are my agents ; but there are other parties who will do jus- tice. Money is so plentiful at the North, that specula- tors purchase each cargo as it arrives, and hold it for an advance ; so that the planters must act upon some uni- form plan. The only plan I see now, that will do any good, is this : Send your check on to Baltimore, with instructions not to purchase any manipulated or mixed manures. Many of them, no doubt, have merits ; but the planter had better do his own mixing. Then he will know what he has got, and save the profit. The best manures bring the crop of bolls on cotton early, and a drought then, with half a crop, would check the growth, whilst the cotton with an inferior manure, and but few bolls, would not be injured. The rains setting in would injure the first far more than the last. The manures I am now using are composed thus : Peruvian guano, bones, salt and plaster — one hundred pounds of the last. Bones are of but limited supply. Resort must be had 156 Experts. to some of the phosphatic guanos, of which Colunabian paid best, but is now exhausted. The true plan is, to try all manures on their own merits, then do your own selecting and compounding. There are some of the phosphatic guanos that I have not tried ; but my opin- ion is, that they are too high to pay a profit. Manures should yield at least double the cost, to pay for capital, labor, taxes, and all risks of worms, drought, flood, etc. Very truly, yours, DAVID DICKSON. Hancock County, January 2d, 1867. Letter No. xvii. Cotton Seed. Spakta, Georgia, February 10th, 1869. Editors Southern Cultivator : I went into the business of selling cotton seed unwil- lingly ; but it has paid me very well, and will pay pur- chasers better, if they will manage them properly. I will give my views as to the best manner of keeping them pure and improving them. There is a belt of land running through Georgia and other Cotton States, that I consider the home of the cotton plant — possibly the bot- toms in the West may be better adapted to it. The Southern line commences in Georgia above Augusta, and ends just above Columbus, embracing the Southern gra- nitic region — mulatto, pine, and oak and hickory lands, and extending about one degree North. I prefer the Southern part of this belt. The North end of my farm is included in this Southern part. I have sold no seed made on the Southern part of my farm — it being too sandy to keep the seed up to the desired standard. Planters living South of this Une, would do well to ob- tain seed from this region once in three or four years. If that trade should spring up, seed could be delivered, (157) 158 Cotton Seed. sacked, to the nearest depot, at fifty to sixty cents per bushel. South of this belt, the cotton plant is inclined to produce too niuch weed and too little fruit. In it, with proper preparation, rotation, manure and rest, you can make the cotton plant just what you please, as gen- tlemen from all parts of Georgia can testify, who have seen my crop — making two hales per acre on cotton from twenty-six to twenty-eight inches high. To improve the cotton plant, you should select seed every year, immediately after the first picking, up to the middle of October, selecting (in the case of Dickson seed) from stalks that send out one or more suckers near the ground, sometimes called arms. These arms need not be looked for on poor land. Secondly, from those that send out limbs thick with three to six bolls, from a half-inch to one and a half inches apart on the limbs. If you do not keep your land well charged with humus, the cotton limbs will be too short ; manure weU, plough deep, cultivate with the sweep very shallow; scrape with the hoe instead of digging or chopping — if you cut the cotton roots, you wUl make stalks instead of bolls. On all farms, there are some acres that pro- duce cotton better than others. Seed for planting should always be selected from these spots. I will here answer some of the thousand questions asked me by as many hundreds of persons ; receiving from one to two hundred letters per week, I cannot answer any of them. If they would only take the Southern Cultivator, they would be in possession of all the answers they wish. Messrs. Editors, if you would use the same amount of energy in extending the circula- tion of your paper as you do in getting it up, you might Cotton Seed. 159 get from fifty to one hundred thousand subscribers. The present is a most favorable time to do so. Go to work in that direction. Many planters have visited me the last year, and they were astonished that my cotton, planted the 10th of May, was more forward than theirs, planted the 10th of April. I often told them, in a joking way, that they were root cutters ; they often confessed that they put the turning plough to the cotton the first ploughing, then .the shovel plough the balance of the season, getting no boUs until after the cotton was laid by. To those who wish to know my distance in planting, etc., let me say, I do not approve of hill planting. I would not have a row nearer than four feet. Use a No. 2 Scovell hoe; leave two to three stalks in every hill ; distance between hills the width of the hoe. There are many reasons for this ; the best one is, it makes it more forward. To those who wish to know my opinion about the various manures, I refer them to what I have often said in the Southern Cultivator. I will merely mention that I consider ammonia the first, soluble bone the second best, salt and plaster a gpod preventive of rust in cotton, besides possessing other good properties. Those who wish to hear from me, must , take the Southern Cultivator. The pen cannot come to time with type and the steam press. I must be allowed to work the way I can do the planter the most good (if any) . I cannot do it with the pen alone. I must have the aid of type and steam. Very truly, yours, DAVID DICKSON. Letter No. xviii. Improving Lands. Sparta, Georgia, March 4tli, 1869. Editors Southern Cultivator : Dr. Pendleton's experiments with various commercial manures, on old land near Sparta, are very valuable to the people of the South, especially those giving results of the second crop, on the same rows, without additional manure. He is right in saying, that no plat of ground can be found that will produce the same by the acre, or one-half, or one-eighth of an acre. His plan, however, has its faults — the manured may smother the unmanured rows to some extent, and the manured will cross over to each other row, and draw supplies from the opposite row, and the more soluble manure, like ammonia, will suffer most. He thinks ammonia is exhausted the first year ; I do not. I think the following plan about as good as any to test manures. Lay off rows, not less than seventy yards long — one hundred and forty will be better. Have four rows, four feet apart, then leave a space six feet ; then four rows more, four feet apart, and leave a space six feet. Con- tinue in this way until you get enough rows to try all (160) Improving Lands. 161 the manures you desire. Weigh out quantities of the same money value for each plat, and deposit in the four rows, and leave every alternate four rows without any manure. The two rows on each side of the manured plat should be picked separate, and the yield compared with that of the four rows in the centre, and the ratio per cent, of the two sets be given, also that of the un- manured rows on each side of the manured. While I look on Dr. Pendleton's experiments as very valuable, I think his comments very unfortunate. If they are correct, he has made a great discovery, to-wit : That nitrogen or ammonia is of no value in growing cotton in Middle Georgia. What will he do with his objection to Mr. Gift's plan of hauling manure to distant fields ? If Dr. Pendleton is correct, Mr. Gift has nothing to do but pile his manure, let it dry, and burn it. Set the carbon (which is quite cheap as a manure) and the nitrogen free, and the- whole difficulty of hauling is solved. With a yoke of oxen, he can carry all of his phosphates to his most distant fields in a few hours. If Dr. Pendleton is right, what becomes of the green crop manuring? We have been taught to believe that it was the nitrogen added that paid for the time and ex- pense. What also becomes of the rest system? Dr. Pendleton's comments explode that too ; nothing of im- portance being added but carbon and nitrogen. What becomes of the British turnip system, or the Northern system of growing hay and grain, to feed stock to accu- mulate nitrogen with a loss of phosphates, etc., to in- crease future crops ? Why does the farmer, when he wishes to turn in a green crop, select the plants that contain the most nitro- 162 Improving Lands. gen, such as clover and peas? It is because practice has proved their value. Take one thousand (1,000) bushels of cotton seed, now worth two hundred doUars, to ma- nure with, set the nitrogen and carbon free by fire, and what would you give for the phosphates and other salts left ? I do not think they could be sold for ten dollars. Why is it that the rich lands in Kentucky, as they term it, tire when they are full of all mineral manures ? I will give you my opinion. It is, that the excess of lime, and perhaps other minerals, renders all nitrogenous matters soluble. The ammonia is soon given off to the plants, whilst the manure has not been returned. What is the remedy? Sow it down in that nitro- genous plant, clover, and in two years the exhausted land is restored almost to virgin productiveness. From the earliest days to the present time, practice proves that nitrogen (ammonia) is the great crop grower. To command nitrogen you must have all the necessary salts contained in the various plants. The more minerals, the more nitrogen you can command; the more nitrogen you store awray in your land, the more you can obtain from the atmosphere. I advocate mixing all the valuable manures, to grow perfect plants ; but if you use only one, let that be am- monia, because it is the cheapest and best crop grower ; but ammonia is benefitted very materially by soluble bone. Salt and plaster are a good preventive of rust ; and for land subject to rust, I think my compound almost a perfect manure, and would be quite so, if there was plenty of potash in the land, or it was added by sowing ashes. To be successful in mining, you must first find the Improving Lands. 163 mine; to be successful in agriculture, you must know where all the elements of plants are, and how to control them, and make the most out of them. I would be very much pleased if Dr. Lee and others would give us an article, through the Cultivator, stating what parts of trees, plants and animals are composed of the atmospheric substances, what of the minerals in the ground, what portion inorganic matter contributes to the life of plants, and what portion organic matter contri- butes. I think such an article would do good. Messrs. Editors, I am anxious that you should extend the circulation of the Cultivator, so that every man in the South should receive and pay for it. Could you believe that three-fourths of the almost daily visitors at my house, who come from points fifty to one thousand miles distant, do not read any agricultural paper ; yet it is so. To be placed on the stand, and questioned and cross- questioned for hours, on the subjects I have written about so often, is very troublesome. I am receiving many letters daily, asking questions that I have .an- swered thousands of times ; they accumulate so fast that I cannot answer any but business ones. I receive many letters daily, asking what kind of manure to use, how to use it, whether in the bed, at planting time, or after the cotton comes up. They only have to read the Southern Cultivator,* and find every answer. I get many more, describing every field they have — wet, dry, thirsty, all sand, rock, clay, black, etc., etc., etc., and wishing to know whether manure will do on their land. * Or the Southern Farm and Home, an elegantly illustrated agricultural monthly, at $2 per annum, by J. W. Burke & Cb., Macon, Georgia. 164 Improving Lands. I thought I had answered that to the satisfaction of every person. I will repeat the answer again. Use manures every where you plough and plant, ex- cept in a hole of water, or on a rock. If you cultivate land, it will pay to use manure, and it will pay best on land that pays best without it — the safest without ma- nure is the safest with manure ; and your labor will be more certainly rewarded by using manure on all the land you plant. You can and must accumulate manure in the same ratio as you buy it — the more you purchase the more you can make at home. I will not write an article in this paper on immigra- tion, but will ask a few questions. We have the goose (the land) and the golden egg (the cotton plant) ; wiU you give them over to foreign capital and foreign labor ? or will you retain them for yourselves, children, and grandchildren? Give us liberty and the constitution, and without the help of man or dollars, we can fill the land with machinery, dollars, and every thing else ; and make cotton enough for the world, even though it should require ten or twenty millions of bales. I will ask another important question. How can two millions of people live easier in Georgia than one can ? We are getting more money for two million five hundred thousand bales of cotton than we could get for five millions of bales. It is sufficiently hard now for our landless to obtain land. Think of them — take care of your own poor, be- fore you invite those of other countries to come. I have merely alluded to these various subjects, and leave it to your readers to supply the argument. Very truly, yours, DAVID DICKSON. LiETTER No. XIX. Answer to Mr. Crawford, etc. Sparta, Georgia, April 28th, 1869. Editors Southern Cultivator : You ask me to explain Dennis' letter. Before I com- mence, I must express my dissent from some of your views. I write from recollection, and if I mistake you, please correct me. You recommend a bull-tongue plough ; with such an implement, dividends are impossible. You are too afraid of a little clay on top, and equally afraid of subsoiling generally. This I have gathered from your writings. If you do not wish to be understood so, cor- rect me. One inch of clay each year, over a good soil, will do no harm in any land. I take the ground, that if my system is carried out, there is no use to break the ground but once a year. It requires until the first of May to do it right, and that is soon enough to finish. If you go to work with a bull-tongue then, you will lose two-thirds of your crop. I maintain you can make larger dividends with the sweep than with the bull-, tongue, even if used only the first ploughing. There is no use for the second breaking with bull-tongues or (165) 166 Answer to Mr. Crawford, etc. rooters, to make the most out of land or labor. I will repeat what my system is again. Fill your land with humus, to stick the sand together, and to darken it. This will prevent its reflecting the heat, and will cause it to receive it gradually, and part with it in the same way. These are some of the good results, in addition to its manurial qualities. With clay land do the same thing, to render it open, and make it ploughahle at all times. Plough deep and subsoil. Use all possible manures to be had on the place, and pur- chase largely of the best manures in the market. Get manures, as perfect plant-growers as can be found ; but you must have ammonia and soluble bone. With this preparation, you will have no use for second breaking. Plant corn at least seven or eight inches below the surface; cover one to one and a half inches deep. There may be a little spot in South Carolina where this plan will not answer, but I have been in twenty of the States (South Carolina included), and I have never seen such a place. You know my system both with hoe and sweep, is to shave off" the grass. ANSWER TO MR. CRAWFORD DENNIs' LETTER EXPLAINED. There are many ways to lose money. In 1866, many white people had no means to make a living. I started quite a number, investing from five hundred to one thousand five hundred dollars for each one. Some did well, and are now able to carry on business for them- selves. Some failed to pay me the first dollar. The negroes I worked were not able to pay out. All my old hands were offered one-half they made — everything found them. I could not give that, and all left me, and Answer to Mr. Crawford, etc. 167 I could not aflford to train up a new set, to be taken off the same way.. Here I will explain a clause in my letter to Mr. Nis- bet. Instead of reading, "I never knew hoAV to get work out of a negro, until after the war," it should read, "I never knew how little work other people got out of negroes before the war." My old hands could do fifty per cent, more work, and with more ease, than any I have ever employed since. Each one could do any kind of work done on the farm; the new comers could only do one or two kinds of work, and that not Avell. The crop of 1866 was made with high-priced manure, corn and bacon — ^the corn and bacon I had on hand ; but you must take stock when you begin, and consider the price the products will bring when made. The stealage in tools, stock, corn, and other things, was great, and there was a failure in carrying out my plan. Mr. Dennis reported the number of hands right. It included a class of renters on the south end of my place that I never see. If they send for me to conie and get rent, I send after it. None of them paid rent during the war. At that time there were twenty-one familes. They made from one to two bags of cotton a-piece, or per hand. Cotton lost was not counted. At the time the statement was given him, the ginning was not finished. ■ It turned out about five and three-quarters bales per hand; the best companies making seven bales, the poorest four. The last year (1868), the best companies made eight bales per hand, the poorest companies about four. Mr. Crawford asks if the Dickson plan is a failure. I tell him no. The failure is in the man; if carried out to the letter, it will not fail. I have been pursuing the' 168 Answer to Mr. Crawford, etc. plan since 1845. Commenced with guano in 184&, in a small way. Did not use it heavy until 1856, and it has never failed in the first instance to make good crops, wet or dry, nor even when caterpillar prevailed. The Southern Cultivator purports to publish all my letters in the January number, when it only goes back two years. My letters commenced about 1857 in that paper, and also the American Farmer. Mr. Crawford says he never has seen where I recom- mend a sweep over twenty-two inches. It is because he has failed to read ; if he will read he will find the twenty-six inch sweep. 1 have tried thirty-three inches, but found them wanting, and had them shortened to twenty-six inches. Mr. Crawford says he thinks my cotton plan is correct, all but late planting, and has come to the conclusion that I prefer the 10th of May to plant cotton. In 1866, the best cotton I made was planted from the 14th to the 16th of May. I com- menced the 1st of April; you cannot tell until the seasons pass over, what is the best time to plant. There is nothing made but hard work, by planting summer crops in the winter. I consider any time,, from the 5th of April to the 1st of May, a good time to plant cotton, and probably 10th to the 20th of April will succeed best most years. Last year, I planted two six-acre pieces as an experiment, on land that refused to make cotton fifty years ago on account of rust. I used about eight hun- dred pounds of my compound per acre. The land had been in corn the year before. The weeds were thick, and near twelve inches high. Commenced preparing the first lot the 23d of May; planted, 25th of May; good stand, the 2d of June ; light shower, 20th of June ; no Answer to Mr. Crawford, etc. 169 rain after that until 29 th July ; caterpillar one inch long, the first day of September; made one good bale per acre; about one-sixteenth of an acre rusted. The second lot planted the 2d of June; too dry to come up ; light shower, the 20th of June ; came up the 26th of June; manured as above, and same kind of land, and made about seven hundred pounds seed cotton per acre ; had caterpillar and boll worm. This is only valuable to show that it is better to work late than not at all. For Mr. Crawford's benefit, I will give him the result of my sixteen acre lot, added to, and now twenty acres. I had but a few hands, that I kept employed at my saw mill and other jobs untU ten o'clock. The 3d of May, I commenced the twenty acre lot, and finished the 10th of May; commenced planting the 7th of May; turned under a fine coat of green manure ; used eight hundred pounds of my compound per acre. It made thirty-two bales — the last one being a bag and a half, and paid a dividend, on four thousand dollars, per acre, after paying all expenses and improving the capital ten per cent, on what it would sell for ; but, as I wish to be fair, I will state, the sale of the seed increased the nett dividends two-thirds or more, but the lint alone paid a nett divi- dend, on one thousand dollars or more, per acre. I am for the plan that preserves the capital best, and pays the largest dividends. I have no doubt, that on good cotton land, a fair year, I could make one hundred bales of cotton, with one No. 1 mule : commence opera- tions the first day of December ; subsoil every acre ; use twenty-five dollars' worth of manure per acre ; and finish the 1st of May ; cultivate sixty acres. 170 Answer to Mr. Crawford, etc. I did want to enter my protest against the folly of immigration, in the June number of the Cultivator, but this explanation prevents it. Very respectfully, DAVID DICKSON. P. S. — The estimate of the stock was right. It in- cluded twenty-seven mules and horses killed, one stolen, many damaged ; a large lot of No. 1 oxen killed ; cows, sheep, hogs and goats, to the number of many hundreds, stolen. I am doing better now — have had but little for them to steal, except cotton and corn. I have com- menced declaring dividends again. I have perfectly sound and sweet corn, made in 1864, clear of weevil. I may say something about thick rows, and thick plant- ing of cotton hereafter. D. D. Letter No. xx. On Immigration. Sparta, Georgia, June 10th, 1869. Editors Southern Cultivator : I wish to draw the attention of the cotton planters of the South to the subject of immigration. It is one of great interest, and if successful, I think will prove de- structive to the cotton interest. I do not wish my views to prevail unless they are right. I wish both sides to be heard, and hope those who can wield the pen, and who agree with me, will be heard ; the other side has been heard already, and we have been taxed to promote this, cause. The State of Georgia is moving for our destruc- tion. The negro we have with us, and we cannot get rid of him if we would. They will not die out, as most of our Northern friends and many of our people think. The next census will show a large increase. The only way to make it tolerable for them to live amongst us, is to give them employment. With full employment, they will steal less, be more law-abiding, and a less nuisance in every way. Do we want more labor, and for what ? The agricultural interest at the South is chiefly valuable. (171) 172 On Immigration. for its production of cotton, tobacco and rice. Can we make more money by doubling the quantity of labor than we can out of what we now have ? Do numbers increase the quantity of labor pro rata, or will the divi- dends be greater for all concerned ? Can the first million of people in Georgia, having the first choice of lands to cultivate, and the balance for pasture, make more or less than the second million, having the poorest half to culti- vate, and no waste land for stock to graze on ? Is the second million likely to be more skillful, industrious, law-abiding and enterprising, etc., etc. ? I think hifetory teaches us that a population, with plenty of room and land, . are more cheaply governed than a dense popula- tion — can live better, and can have more labor to spare for improvements. What country has built the same amount of railroads and factories as the United States ? The United States having plenty of lands to cultivate, by selecting the best, can, with one-half of its laborers, make a plenty of all the products of the soil, whilst the other half can build railroads and machinery of aU kinds, and work them. The Cotton States, with their present labor, can build more railroads, erect more factories, develope more mines, carry education and refinement to a higher point, than if the population was increased four- fold. With cotton at twenty-five cents per pound, you have money to do whatever you wish collectively. In 1848 and '49, with nine hundred thousand to one million bales of cotton in Liverpool, cotton sold in Augusta at four and a half to five and a half cents. With three hundred and fifty thousand to four hundred thousand bales at present in Liverpool, cotton is selling in Au- gusta from twenty-five to twenty-nine cents per pound On Immigration. 173 Why do you wish to make the change ? Our Northern friends say, if we do not produce cotton cheaper, we will lose the trade. I am willing to lose it, if it can only be held by making cheap cotton. If they would take a little more interest in preventing the loss of our liberty, instead of the loss of the cotton trade, it Avould inure to the benefit of both sections. Give us our liber- ties and constitutional rights, with our best men to represent us in all departments, and we can make as much cotton as the world wants, at fair prices, if it be ten millions of bales, without an outside man or dollar. Good government would do more to develope this country than all the men and money in the world. Cotton planters, it is not to your interest to sell your land at a mere nominal price. How can you invest your money to any better advantage ? Land must advance in price. In thirty years, without a single immigrant, Georgia will have a population of two millions of people, the sons and daughters of the present population. Be patient; wait for the natural increase, and what may voluntarily come. Do not spend your money to hasten an over-populated country. It will come soon enough ; and when it does come, you will have no outlet. Some are willing to cut their lands up into ^mall lots, and give every alternate lot to immigrants, thinking it wiU more than double the price of the balance. What do you care what your lands are worth, if you have none to sell — besides, it would reduce the price of cotton more than one-half, and the land you have left would not pay per acre one-half of the dividends they do now — ^reducing your profits three-fourths. You have a plenty of native poor people to seU land to, if you wish to part with any. 174 On Immigration. Do those who have no laad, wish competitors in labor, and in the land market — reducing your wages one-half or more ? Do you wish a great increase of money capital, reducing the rate of interest to the standard of Europe, causing all property to rise, in proportion to the fall of interest ? Your wages are fixed by the surplus of cotton you have to export, and the price it will bring in Liverpool. Your prosperity depends upon the scarcity of labor and a high rate of interest. You have nothing but your labor — you cannot borrow money, even if it gets down to two per cent. The value of your labor being fixed by the value of cotton in Liverpool, where interest is low, you can, by residing where it is high, acquire proportionally, much more land in a given time. To those who have land to sell, or more than can be worked, let me say, the very scarcity of labor will make one-half of your lands bring in annually more money than if all was planted ; the other half is worth five per cent, to grow broom sedge for grazing, and will advance more than five per cent annually. For the safety of the manufacturing interest, especially in cotton, it is not prudent to push it too fast — not faster than markets can be found for the products manufactured. Just as sure as the winds return the water, to be condensed and fall again above the shoals, the people here will possess the money, and energy, and skiU, to put the water to work ; and to effect this most speedily, we want a scarcity of labor, that there may be a scarcity of cotton, and corres- pondingly good prices. With cotton at twenty to twenty-five cents per pound, we can in Georgia appropriate ten dollars towards in- creasing our manufacturing interest with more ease than On Immigration. 175 one dollar, with double the labor, and cotton eight to twelve cents. Where are the laborers best fed and clothed ? — where labor is scarce. Where does land pay the best jprofits ? — where labor is scarce ; and the reason is, the products of the farm bring the best prices under these circumstances.' I am equally opposed to begging for money to be brought to the South, to be invested. If capitalists come of their own accord, let them come, but it is not to our interest that they should. You now own the property of Georgia ; if you sell one half of it, you will own but the other half. It is very difficult to transfer real property from one country to another. The most you would get, would be the means to live and dress fine for a few years. What we want, is a system of saving, and properly investing, each year. We could, and ought to save annually fifteen millions of doUars, to be invested in machinery. That would pay future dividends, to be re- invested. I am for more labor too ; but I want such as we may never regret acquiring. Accumulate all sorts of labor-saving machines ; improve your land to a capacity dpuble its present rates; improve your systems fully double of what they now are. Learn to do fully fifty per cent, more work, with the same labor than is now done, and with more ease ; learn to apply your labor to greater advantage than is now done : do all, this, and more too which can be. done, and you will find your pro- ducts ample, without any increase of population. I am for non-action by Georgia — non-action of our people. Leave the subject of immigration to time, and the free will of those who wish to come arapng us, and be of us. 176 On Immigration. We owe our prosperity at this time entirely to the scarcity of labor — ^many negroes having refused to work; others being employed in repairing torn-up railroads, and building new roads. If all the negroes had gone to work on the farms, and done full work, it would have taken twenty years to reach our present situation. The scar- city of labor is the only blessing we now enjoy as a result of the war. The scarcity of labor in the South gives us the pro- ceeds of the very labor some people wish to transfer here. The profits of one hand in the cotton field, give •us the labor of two in Europe. Transfer him here, and he will compete with the labor we now have, or he wUl labor with those we now have, to lessen their profits, and bring about a state of things which will get up strikes. You must, recollect, a strike in the cotton or harvest field is not like one in a cotton mill or on a railroad. If the mill stops, what has been done is not lost ; if the hands refuse to move any more dirt, what has been, re- mains. Not so with wheat and cotton ; all is lost, unless you continue to advance. The guano must be pumped up into the cotton bolls, and they must be gathered by uninterrupted labor. One more point I will mention, and then leave the subject to be discussed fully, I hope, by abler pens. The press of the South has labored earnestly to get the cotton planter to make all his supplies at home, urging it as being the cheapest policy. Now, every cotton planter knows that nothing pays as well as cotton, and all the presses in the world cannot change his opinion. But if the press will strike at the root of the evil, they may do incalculable good. I will state what it is ; I On Immigration. 17T have always practiced it ; both the true interest of the cotton planter and patriotism should make all adopt it. Apply one-half of aU labor and land to the making of full supplies of all kinds that are needed on the planta- tion, and enough to spare for those engaged in other pursuits. Do this, and you will get more money (take ten years together) for the other half of labor and land engaged in cotton culture, than if the whole was em- ployed to produce cotton. If this is true, immigration is certainly not to our interest, and why should not the. cotton planters consult their interest, as well as other people. Very respectfully, DAVID DICKSON. Letter No. xxi. Cultivation for Cotton. Sparta, Georgia. I WILL suppose you have planted a full crop, for your labor and stock. After the cotton is Avell up, side very close with a twenty-two or twenty-four inch sweep very sharp, and set tolerably flat. Then, in a few days, com- mence hoeing with -a sharp No. 2 Scovill hoe. Scrape through the drill very lightly, leaving from one to three stalks in the hill, the width of the hoe. I would prefer two in each hill. Leave no grass to bunch and cause a future bad stand. In many instances, it is best, when half over the first time, to turn back and clean what has been hoed. If cotton can bo ploughed every three weeks it is often enough, and if well done, in most cases will stand four weeks. It is best for the hoes to come about half way between the ploughings, say ten days behind ; as by this plan the cotton will be kept clean, and get the advantage of frequent stirring, which should be surface stirring. Cotton can be hurt as bad with the hoe as with the plough. Continue ploughing till the 15th to 20th of August, say one-eighth to one-quarter inch deep, in the same manner as the first time. Once or twice during the season, shave out the middle with one furrow (178) Cultivation for Cotton. 179 to keep the land level. The hoeing should continue as long as the ploughing. If you side cotton four times, that will take one day per acre; and split the middles twice, one-fourth of a day ; in all, one and a fourth days per acre for the plough. This is' certainly cheap enough, and , if well done, is full enough work. I prefer to place my rows wide apart, and leave the plants thick in the drill, for this reason. All land has its capacity, with or without manure — greater when ma- nured and prepared deep — to sustain a certain number of plants. The cotton plants commence when small to take on and mature bolls, and continue until they ex- haust the soluble matter, or reach the full capacity of the land. Two stalks will do that much sooner than one, and will so avoid late droughts, caterpillar, boll worm and early frosts. Of well manured and cultivated cotton, eighty boUs will make one pound. In four foot rows there will be about three thousand six hundred and seventy-five yards of rows per acre. With hills nine inches apart, and two stalks in each hill, there will be eight stalks per yard ; and then ten bolls on each stalk willmake three thou- sand six hundred and seventy-five pounds, or two bales per acre. Five bolls per stalk will make one bale per acre. This can be accomplished by good land, good work, and heavy manuring. Very respectfully, DAVID DICKSON. Letter No. xxii. The Five-Field System. August 25th, 1869. Dear Sir — I have found by actual experience that the five field system is the most profitable : One field for a permanent pasture, one for small grain, one for corn, and one for cotton. First, rest after small grain ; cotton after rest; corn after cotton; small grain after corn; rest after small grain; then the rotation over again. The vegetable mold or humus must be kept up to a good standard ; it should approach virgin soil. Cotton will grow after cotton for a number of years in succession, if you add plenty of manure, but not so well as in the rotation. Rust, in my opinion, is nothing hut poverty, which is caused variously — the land being too porous, springy, sandy, not regularly worked, or want of vegetable mold, potash, phosphoric acid, salt and plaster. Sudden changes of season, heavy leaching rains, hot, dry weather are unfavorable. The best remedy I have found is to drain the surplus water off, close the particles of sand or clay with veget- able mold and the use of my compound, with the addi- tion of potash in some form, or ashes, four hundred to (180) The Five-Field System. 181 eight hundred pounds per acre. This amount is not an expense, but will improve the land and pocket. The more bolls cotton takes on, the more likely to rust, if the material that makes the bolls becomes ex- hausted from any cause — by drought, excessive rain, or by grass robbing the plant. I have an eight acre lot, that refused to make cotton more than fifty years since, on which I put eight hundred pounds per acre of my compound, and it is now green, and growing under ex- cessive drought and sun. Deep preparation, heavy manuring often, and surface- working, constitute the true policy. I find when salt and plaster were used, the cotton has stood the drought best, and has less rust. DAVID DICKSON. Letter No. xxiii. Immigration Again. Sparta, Georgia, October 7th, 1869. Editors Southern Cultivator: I could not finish what I had to say on immigration in my first article — will close, however, in this. I will not reply to any criticism on my views hereafter, as I have no interest to serve that is not common to every planter, to-wit : the prosperity of the South. I have never held any office, and do not wish to do so. I speak and write simply what I believe is the true inter- est of the cotton planter, without regard to pleasing or displeasing. I will use round numbers, these will be near enough for all purposes. It has been about ninety years since the close of the Revolutionary War. The population then was estimated at about three millions ; to this original number a few have been added since, by pur- chase of territory and annexation, but not enough to alter the results materially. During these ninety years, we have been engaged in wars (including the Indian wars) as much as one-sixth of the time, and what is the result? The population of the United States has in- (182) Immigration Again. 183 creased thirteen-fold, reaching now, probably, thirty-nine millions. Taking the ninety years together, there has been an increase of population equal to the original num- ber, once in about every seven years, including the limited immigration. Who can want a greater increase of population than that ? And as long as there is suffi- cient room to produce all the necessaries of life, the increase will keep up to these figures. Is there any one that wishes to encourage a system that would stint the food of their own children, so as to stop the natural in- crease of a well provided population? Taking thirty- nine millions as the number of persons in the United States at present, let us see what they wiU be in ninety years more, or in 1959 (and some who are children now will be alive then), thirteen times thirty-nine millions makes five hundred and seven millions of persons. Messrs. Editors, we will now try the figures in the case of Greorgia ; and what is true of Georgia is true of all the Cotton States. The population of Georgia is now about one million two hundred thousand- — thirteen times that amount is fifteen millions six hundred thousand. Now, is there anything that will prevent the ratio of increase for the next ninety years being equal to the past ninety years, but a scarcity of food, and clothing, and room ? It is often said, that the South is the gar- den spot of the world. Heretofore, we had permanent and limited labor, and the cotton plant, together with an extensive forest before us. All is changed now — the best of the forest is gone ; and it requires a greater num- ber of acres in the South to support its people than in regions farther North. It is much more difficult to re- tain the soil and improve it. Here the land is not frozen 184: Immigration Again. and covered with snow six months in the year; the sixmmers are much hotter and longer; heat hastens ex- haustion when under the plough ; and the heavy rains damage the land the year round : therefore, we need more land, that we may rotate the crops and give the soil rest. Labor is chiefly valuable, not on account of the aggregate of what it produces, but the money value after paying for labor and all expenses. The amount of labor that will produce the greatest nett profit is what I want. I contend we now have it in the Cotton States. The laborer and his family has to be first fed and clothed, no matter what the price agreed on for labor, before cap- ital gets anything. It is said, we want more labor. Can we get more laborers without at the same time getting more con- sumers ? Or is it meant, we want more persons without capital ? If so, I am opposed to that plan. I had rather have less labor, and have a majority of the people inter- ested in property, morals, true religion, and everything that is desirable. A large population has a tendency to develope a central government and a standing army. I will leave it to some divine to say what effect the intro- duction of Chinamen would have on religion, morals, etc. Had it not been for the clause prohibiting slavery, which Virginia put in the articles ceding the North-west territory, and the immigration of Europeans, we would not have had the late war and its results ; and even if the war had come, there would have been no "lost cause." Immigration is the chief cause of the changed character of the Government of the ITnited States, and a continuance of the former will hasten the overthrow of the latter, with all its attendant consequences. Immigration Again. 185 Cotton-planters! the whole capital of Europe,- in- cluding money and machinery, together with that , of the North, is striving to increase the quantity of cot- ton, and to reduce the price. Tou have no concert of action ; a panic increases your anxiety to sell cotton-^ this feeds the panic still more. Your only remedy is to make only what is wanted, at paying prices, keep out of debt, be the creditors, make the most of your supplies at home — then, and only then, will you have power. Messrs. Editors, there is a great deal said about the capital the immigrants bring to this country. I do not think they bring any, except enough to exchange during the first year's residence, for articles that would be ex- ported during that year, if not consumed by the immi- grants, such as bacon, cheese, corn, flour, lard, etc. Thp gold returns to Europe, in place of the above articles, to pay for their clothing, etc. A country being rich, is a very different thing from a population being rich. Suppose Greorgia had five hun- dred millions of taxable property, and one million of inhabitants, and you add two hundred millions taxable property and one million of population, the people would be poorer than at first. Population does not lessen taxes. Thirty years ago, with one-half of the present population, we did not pay more than one-tenth of the present tax. Under the Adams' extravagant adminis- tration, a tax of about two dollars and fifty cents per head, with a population of five millions, was paid. Un- der Mr. Johnson's administration, with an average po|pu- lation of thirty-five millions, nearly five hundred millions were paid to the Grovernment, or sixteen dollars per M 186 Immigration Again. head. Let each reader figure for himself, and make up his mind accordingly. Messrs. Editors, I would not reply to my friend's review of my first letter on immigration, but through courtesy to him, as he has asked it. I am willing to go before the cotton planter and take a vote, without a re- joinder. I will reply without quoting him, referring the reader to his letter. One of the benefits of scarcity of labor is, it gives high priced cotton, and thereby gives us a monoply of all commercial manures ; and only one- half the land being required to produce the same amount of cotton, deeper ploughing can be done — this will hold moisture, to keep the manure soluble, and make the insoluble soluble. More care in cultivation follows ; the best and most level lands will be selected ; the worn and gullied lands will go into forest again, to equalize the seasons as to cold and hot, wet and dry. The very scarcity of labor will enable planters to acquire a cash capital, and with that, if they are true, they can dictate terms. I feel no apprehension that the negro will or can force the planter to sell his land. Mr. Moore, I do not believe that the increase of price of grain in the great North-west, is due to the hundreds of thousands of immigrants annually settling there. If it was true, I would not want such immigrants ; they could not make bread for their own consumption. It must be found in other causes, as depreciation of the currency, conversion of grain into meat for cities, for export, and the gradual impoverishment of land. I take issue again, Mr. Moore, on the amount of labor that can be spared from a dense population, compared with a sparse one. European experience shows, that Immigration Again. 187 only about one man out of each hundred of the popula- tion, can be spared, without creating a scarcity of the necessaries of life. The United States, taking both sections, furnish from six to eight to the hundred. If the South, previous to the war, had taken the native white man and negro to build her railroads, instead of employing immigrants, cotton would have advanced to such an extent as would have twice paid for the whole work, thus getting the roads for nothing, and still have enough to pay for all iron, etc. Georgia, for the last four years, has repaired and made more miles of new roads, built more factories, shops, houses, etc. (all with Georgians), than any one million two hundred thousand people ever did since the creation of the world, and in this lies the secret of our success. I will only touch upon one more item, viz. : low rate of interest. Dense population has a tendency to centre property in a few hands — property in the hands of a few, has a tendency to lower the interest, because the few do not consume the whole interest ; if more gener- ally diffused, all would be consumed. Low interest at home causes capital to seek investments where interest is high. For instance, Europe purchases bonds here that pay five to seven per cent, interest, to be re- invested year after year, still making money centre to the lowest point of interest, and rendering it more difficult for those to live who have no money. This country, in less than ten years, will pay a tribute in interest to Europe of more than one hundred millions of dollars on bonds having been principally consumed in luxuries. I am no apologist for the negro. I would be glad for 188 Immigration Again. him to feel the stimulating effects of immigration, if it could be done without injuring the white race. I shall now take final leave of this question, com- mending it to the calm and thoughtful consideration of the thousands of planters at the South who have as deep an interest in it as I have. My object has not been to provoke controversy, but to caution my fellow- countrymen against a policy, which, in my humble judg- ment, is fraught with ruin to the South. Yours, truly DAVID DICKSON. Letter No. xxiv. Corn and Fodder. Editors Southern Cultivator : Let me say a few words on pulling fodder. Make the corn for the sake of the corn, and if the work is prop- erly done, with deep preparation, liberal manuring, and the ground is kept clean by shaving off the grass with the sweep, the corn will he made and hard, while the fodder is still green and good. Then the fodder may be puUed off without hurting the corn in the least. Fodder may be kept green on the stalk two or three weeks after the corn is hard, by using salt and plaster around the hill as a manure. There is no better food for stock than fodder well saved. Very Respectfully, DAVID DICKSON. N. B. — If you wish, I will give you some reasons why ammonia is more valuable to crops than phosphates, and show that it will not exhaust the land when used right. D. D. (189) Letter No. xxv. Guano, etc. Sparta, Gteorgia, February 22d, 1859. Editor of the Southern Countryman : Dear Sir. — I will commence at the first of your enqui- ries and continue through the list. I use a large wrought iron turning-plough, weight twenty-four to thirty-two pounds, without the stock; cuts nine to twelve inches in width; average depth seven inches. I commence at the foot of the hill and circle round on a level, and finish on top. By this plan four mules can do as much work as five, and do it better, cut a wider slice, and go deeper. In making fences I have an eye to this plan. All litter is buried so deep that it is not in the way of cultivation, and the grass seeds are so deep that they do not come up until late in the spring. I prepare and plant until the 1st of May, sometimes get done by the 25th of April. You ask what is my rotation of crops. I have no reg- ular rotation. I always select the best land for cotton, continue it in cotton from two to six years ; then corn, and sow down that fall or spring in wheat or oats, and rest one year after the small grain crop. Any land will make corn if ploughed and cultivated right. (190) Guano, etc. 191 My fields are managed thus : One-fourth in cotton, one-fourth in corn, about one-fourth in -wheat and rye, and about one-fourth at rest — the less valuable land being put to grain and rest. Most frequently, about one-half the small grain is fed off to stock. There has been no two years that I have used the same quantity of guano per acre.- For cotton, seventy- five to one hundred and fifty pounds; corn, one-half that amount; wheat, seventy-five to one hundred and twenty- five pounds; oats, fifty to one hundred pounds. The cost has varied from $46 up to |67 20, in Baltimore, per long ton, (two thousand two hundred and forty pounds.) I have used guano twelve years. You ask what efi'ect it had upon my land. If properly used it will benefit land. You, here, no doubt, will ask what is the proper plan to use it. I will give you my plan. Use it freely for cotton, say in the following proportions : one hundred pounds best Peruvian guano, seventy-five pounds phos- phatic guano, one bushel of salt, and one bu-5hel of land plaster that has been prepared with five per cent, of pot- ash, per acre of cotton. Leave the stalks, etc., in the field, and return the seed. Sell two hundred and fifty to three hundred pounds of lint. Land will wash less on account of a great quantity of litter on the field. Under this plan, tell me where there is any loss of or- ganic or inorganic matter. I think it will increase both. Use the same for oats and wheat, and feed off the crop. Let the field go to weeds the next year, and turn under. Will you be good enough to show me the loss or gain of this plan ? Use cotton seed for corn. If you wish to improve 192 Guano, etc. your land, use one hundred pounds guano in the pea- crop, between the corn rows ; feed off with hogs and beef cattle. I do not write what I fail to practice. You ask, if I prefer to use the purchased manures separate or com- bined, and in what proportions, and on what crops ? Peruvian guano needs no help. I prefer the mixture to improve land, and use it on all crops. For one acre of turnips, use four hundred pounds of the mixture I have described, in the drill. I prefer (to' buy the various kinds of guano in their pure state, a\id mix them to my own fancy. As I am often written to on the subject of guano, I will add that I purchase in Baltimore, of Mr. Samuel Sands, who has always sent a good article, and promptly. Yours truly, DAVID DICKSON. Letter No. xxvi. On Manures. Sparta, Georgia, July 1st, 1859. Rev. C. W. Howard: Dear Sir — You wish me to answer the following points in your correspondent's letter. He does not seem to understand what I meant by saying, I had not used the same quantity of guano, per acre any two years. I commenced using seventy-five, and have gra- dually increased the quantity each year up to the -pre- sent time to one hundred and seventy-five pounds per acre for cotton; seventy-five to one hundred pounds per acre for corn ; seventy-five to one hundred and twenty- five for wheat and oats ; four hundred pounds for turnips and potatoes. Mr. Jarrett wishes to know how I get five per cent, of potash in the land plaster. Mr. Samuel Sands, of Baltimore, Maryland, as I stated in a previous letter, is my agent, and whatever I wish in the way of fertilizers, I order from him. Mr. Sands will have any per cent, of potash to land plaster that you wish. Mr. Jarrett wishes to know why I recommend using guano free for cotton. It is because cotton is the best paying crop. Using guano for cotton the last of March and (193) 194 On Manures. first of April, commence selling cotton in September — in six to nine months you will have the money in- vested in guano back with the profits. 2d. Cotton does not exhaust land. There is very little inorganic matter sold annually from a cotton field — the principal loss in making cotton is the clean culture, the soil washing off and leaching by heavy rains. Guano is a partial remedy for that ; it will lessen the season of ploughing two or three weeks, by making the cotton that much more forward, and producing double the quantity of litter to plough in for the next crop, in leaves, cotton stalks, seeds, etc., which will protect the land the second year somewhat. By using guano free, you may curtail the number of acres cultivated. To get the full benefit of guano, land must be rested, to grow weeds, and accumulate vegetable mold. Also, use it on the pea crop for the same purpose. Peruvian guano, under a bad system, will exhaust land. The mixture I recommend, which was published in the Southern Countryman, under a good system, will make land rich. The use of guano is objected to by some thinking it lessens the interest in home-made manure. It should be made the means of doubling the home-made manure, increasing the cotton seed one-third, doubling the wheat and oat straw, producing twice the quantity of weeds when land is at rest, doubling the quantity of peas and vines — and the more of all such manures produced and saved, the better guano will pay. I am in favor of making the land produce double what it does now, in- stead of duobling the number of slaves by the'importa- On Manures. 195 tion of wild Africans. Double the productiveness of the land, and it will be worth four times the present value. Double the number of slaves, and the price will depre- ciate one-half. You are laboring hard, and to the point, in the South- ern Countryman. There is one more subject I would like for you to embrace. We want more manure ; and the cities of Greorgia can furnish part of it in superphos- phate of lime and poudrette, and add greatly to the health of the places. Cannot you induce some persons to undertake it? The. planters of the South ought to take at least twenty thousand copies of your paper ;* and, rather than your enterprise should fail, you may set me down for ten numbers. Yours, very truly, DAVID DICKSON. * Or the SouTHEEN Farm and Home, an elegantly illustrated agricultural monthly, at $2 per annum, by J. W. Burke & Co., Macon, Georgia. — Bditoe. Letter No. xxvir. On Manures. Sparta, Georgia, December 7th, 1859. Mr. Samuel Sands, Editor Rural Register, Baltimore, Maryland : Dear Sir — Enclosed I send you Mr. George W. Fish's letter, making inquiry in regard to my latest method of mixing guanos. I receive a great many inquiries of the same kind, asking still further information, which, while it is a pleasure to me to impart it, T find it difficult to answer all the letters I receive. Mr. Fish asks if I would recommend any change from my formula published last spring, to-wit : First. 100 pounds No. 1 Peruvian. 75 " best phosphatic guano. 1 bushel salt. 1 " land plaster, prepared with five per cent, of potash. To be used on one acre for cotton, or one-half to two- thirds for corn, wheat or oats. I did not offer the above as the best mixture, but as (196) On Manures. , 197 one that would improve the land, and pay good profits. And where the planter resides twenty miles or more from a railroad, I would say, use only one-half of the salt and land plaster. Below I give two mixtures, that I think as good as can be made from the commercial manures in market, viz. : Second — For One Acre of Cotton. 175 pounds Sands' Excelsior Manipulated guano. 25 " bones, dissolved with sulphuric acid, dried, with ten per cent, of potash. J bushel land plaster, with five per cent, of potash, i " salt. No fears need be entertained that the potash will in- jure the guano, if applied the same day it is mixed. Third — For One Acre of Cotton. 100 pounds No. 1 Peruvian guano. 50 " bones, dissolved with sulphuric acid, with five per cent, of potash. 50 " phosphatic guano. J bushel salt. h " land plaster, prepared with five per cent, of potash. I " good ashes will do in place of the potash. Every planter must be governed by the quantity of money he wishes to invest in manures, as to how much he will apply to each acre 5 and the mixtures I offer above, will do either for one, two or three acres. 198 On Manures. The Mode of Application for Cotton. Run the furrow intended for the cotton row with a shovel plough; then run back in the same furrow; open to the depth of seven inches ; then drill the mixture in the bottom of the furrow with the hand, or with White's Cotton Planter. Some use a funnel three feet long — one end to drag in the bottom of the furrow, the other end resting on the hip, and drill through the funnel. Cover the guano by running with a long scooter plough on each side of the guano furrow, next each side of the ridge, with a good turning plough ; split the middle with a large shovel plough, and the bed is complete, ready for planting. Plant the usual way. For Corn. Open the furrow seven inches deep, by running with a shovel plough twice ; drop the guano three feet apart in the furrow ; drop the corn within three or four inches of the guano ; with a light harrow, that will run in the fur- row, cover the corn one and a half to two inches deep. The land should be well ploughed, seven to ten inches deep, before planting. For all small grains, sow the guano at the same time with the grain. Plough all in together. To get the best results from commercial manures, the home-made manures should be increased from year to year, and the land to have full rest one year in four, to grow weeds to turn under. Scatter over your land all the muck, swamp mud, leaves and straw you can. Guano will convert them into corn and cotton. Yery respectfully, yours, DAVID DICKSON. Letter No. xxviii. Reply to "F. J. R. ?? Sparta, Georgia, June 12th, 1860. Editors Southern Cultivator : 1 have just read an article in the June number of your paper from " F. J. R.," headed, " All is not gold that glitters. Truth is mighty, and must prevail." If I consulted my own feelings, I would not reply to any part of his statements ; but I am ever ready to do my friends justice, and serve the good cause of Agricul- ture. I shall not try to make any display, or use any hard .words ; but if the truth, that " T. J. R." says must prevail, turns the table on him, I hope he will bear it kindly. For the truth of what I say, I refer to Han- cock county. I will refer to each point in " F. J. R.'s" article in as few w^ords as possible, and take them in order. " F. J. R." states, that " a modern Mecca has loomed up in Hancock county, Greorgia, and there are numerous devotees of agriculture, who, with scrip and staff, have desired to make a pilgrimage to the shrine where such wonderful virtues exist, and where such unaccountable profits loom up upon paper, so incredible to believe." (199) 200 Reply to '' F. J. E." The people of Hancock knoAv those reports of crops and profits are far below the mark ; but they can't believe the fifty to one hundred white men story. " F. J. R." is wofuUy mistaken about the unaccount- able profits looming up on paper. The profits have loomed up on broad acres of land, negroes, mules, etc., at the rate of eighty per cent, per annum, or twelve hundred per cent, in fifteen years. " F. J. R." says, " Middle Georgia, with her worn-out gullied hills, has almost with one accord turned her eyes to the salvation held out by the Mecca in our midst, sit- uated in Hancock county." I will only say, let the many friends from every part of Georgia who have vis- ited our county, say whether they have been disappoint- ed or not. The next allusion is to the eleven bales of cotton. Even that is below the amount. Fifty-five hands in 1859 made and gathered six hundred and sixty-seven, which is more than twelve bales to the hand, besides one hundred dollars worth of corn, meat and wheat sold, per hand, or fifty-five hundred dollars. All white labor was fairly counted. "F. J. R." says, "But just imagine that, after being fuUy posted up by disinterested parties, how utterly flattened out and completely wilted I (he) have be- come, when I have learned from good authority that in one particular case, (where newspaper pufl&ng has done much,) where eleven bales of cotton were made to the hand, on the place, no account was given or a word said of the fifty to one hundred white hirelings in alinost ' constant employment upon the farm — sowing, reaping, mowing, mauling rails, making gates and bars, scattering , Reply to ''F.J. R." 201 manure, and doing every other kind of work, except the actual planting and working of the land." Here he has been badly gulled ; and the worst part of it is, he has endorsed his authority as good. We know of no man so corrupt as to make such an assertion before the people of Hancock county. These lands were once considered not worth cultiva- ting, and the people had from a very small amount to no property at all ; but since " the Mecca has loomed up," they have suddenly become rich. I wiU tell you by what sort of people I am sur- rounded. They are as clever, and as wealthy, as any man's neighbors in Georgia, and do not have to hire out to get a hviug. There are twenty-nine of them that join land with me, on the outside ; twenty-five slave- holders, having from ten to over one hundred slaves each, and owning from two hundred and fifty* acres of land to more than eight thousand each — several from one to three thousand acres each ; and four that do not hold slaves. All these neighbors are surrounded by slave owners. This little territory I have described is nearly twenty- five miles long, and more than twelve miles wide. I know of no part of Georgia where there are so few white men, compared with the territory and slaves. There are from five to seven slaves to one white per- son. It is too absurd to think that in a county with double the number of slaves to the white population, and that scarcely votes seven hundred, one man could employ from fifty to one hundred white laborers, for all the work he has enumerated for the fifty to one hundred men would not average one hand for one 202 Reply to "F. J. E." month in each year. What a difference in the esti- mates ! " F. J. R." says, " our (his) friends make no boast of what they can do." If he does not call the banter to Hancock against the goose-pond district of Oglethorpe county a boast, many others will. Before Hancock will accept the banter, he must answer the following ques- tions in the af&rmative : Has your county, with fifty- five hands on one plantation, produced in one year a crop of corn, wheat, oats, cotton and meat, worth fifty- five thousand dollars ? If not, Hancock cannot accept the banter. Did any planter in Oglethorpe ever make in any one year, above all expenses, clear, the whole negro, horse and land property ? If not, then Hancock county cannot accept the banter. The writer has done it on Washington county soil. I will copy from book the force at my Washington county place, joining this, five miles off", and then give the crop. If Oglethorpe has not done as well, then do not banter us any more. All told, my force amounted to four hands. I paid out not exceeding four hundred and fifty dol- lars, board included, for regular hands only, which would have made about three hands, about one-half of which were white. Now for the crop. Saved and hauled to a gin on one of my places, and ginned and packed, outside of the making fence, one hundred and sixty-seven thousand pounds of seed cotton, at the price of neighborhood for cotton in the seed. Refly to "F. J. R." 203 167,000 pounds cotton, at |2 80 |4,476 4,820. " pork, at So 385 Corn, oats, fodder and potatoes, I will put down low, say 500 Six beeves, at |15 each 90 S5,451 Can Goose-pond district come up to the above? If not, then Hancock cannot accept the banter. The above result was made without any white man on the place to direct; the cotton-picker, Harris, coming once a week to get his lessons from me, and the aid of a hired negro, Harry. Harris had no authority to whip. I did not visit the place the first-time till June, then not more than seven times afterwards. The books were kept by a young man on the place. Messrs. Editors, your articles on Hancock farming (called "puffs" by "F. J. R.") have created a greater in- terest in farming, from Maryland to Texas, than all the articles you ever wrote, and are doing more good — caus- ing the people to read, think, act and improve in every thing appertaining to agriculture. You have, no doubt, written hundreds of articles that contained more science and thought, that left the readers wiser, but none that created such intense interest as "the Hancock puffs." In conclusion, I will say, that I am not the only man in Hancock, by hundreds, that is making large crops and large dividends ; and if " F. J. R." is not satisfied that a negro hand can and does make eleven bales of cotton in one year, he will accept my profits, as more than one hundred gentlemen in Hancock will endojse. They 204 Reply to ''F. J. R." know what I had to start with, and what I have now. The whole of the white labor has been paid for. None of my property was bought on speculation. It was pur- chased with the profits of each year, afterwards con- verted into gold. If you consult my wishes, you will commit this to the flames; but if you think it will contribute anything to the noble cause of Agriculture to publish it, then it is your will, not mine. Very truly, DAVID DICKSON. RESUME OF AGRICULTURE ; BKEVITIES FROM THE WRITINGS MR. DICKSON. Resume of Agriculture. All acknowledge the importance of turning under/ green crops for the ammonia. The only thing lost by drying is the ammonia. I have made money, by giving my land one year in four to gather ammonia and humus. Ammonia is the foundation of English agriculture. With a little- ammonia, we can gather large amounts every year, and put ft at compound interest. I believe in natural laws. Study nature; trace all things from cause to effect, and effect to cause. There are just as many ways to improve land as there are to waste it. Nature helps to waste, and helps to return. Providence intended the earth to improve in fertility, as it increases in population. The richer you make land, the more you can draw from the atmosphere annually. If the guano comes in contact with the seed, you will have a bad stand. (207) 208 Resume of Agriculture. Rotalion. — First, rest; second, cotton; third, corn; fourth, small grain ; then rest. Cotton after rest ; corn after cotton; small grain after corn; and rest after small grain. Every thing made on the place, after it is used or eaten, except the. lint of cotton, must be returned to the land. All vegetable matter placed on your fields, Avill, in due time, tui-n to cotton and corn. Handle manure as lightly as possible ; but handle a great deal of it. Manure loses every time it is turned over and piled. Of all manures, ammonia is the cheapest and best crop-grower, and does not exhaust the lands. The best time to break land for planting corn is ten days before planting ; but the rule is, commence in time to break it. In about one year in seven, fall ploughing is the best for the crop, and improvement of the land. When the winter is warm, and the rains abundant, late ploughing is best by twenty-five per cent, in the crop. Land must be well broken before planting. Com- mence in time to do it; but the later done (in this latitude) the better for the land. - Plant corn from the 10th March to the 1st April. Resume of Agriculture. 209 A man only gains hard work, and more of it, by very early planting. Lay off corn rows seven feet apart, with a long shovel, and open out the furrow with a longer shovel. The corn row should stand open eight inches deep. Drop the manure three feet in the bottom of the furrow. Drop the corn within three or four inches of the manure, on the near side of the manure, as the dropper goes. Cover with a harrow, one and a half inches deep — the harrow going the same way the dropper goes. First ploughing : use twenty-two inch wing sweep, the right wing turned down a little ; four furrows to a row. Second ploughing : use same sweep, with right wing more elevated. Split middles with same, both wings up ; five furrows to a row. Third ploughing : side the corn with twenty-two inch sweep ; the peas with a twenty-six inch sweep ; siding the corn first, and then the peas. From the 1st to the 20th June, plant peas. Run shovel furrow in the middle ; drop six to eight peas every two feet, and cover with harrow. Mr. Dickson first used Peruvian guano in 1846; and was the first man in Georgia that used it. 210 Resume of Agriculture. Annual manures are preferable ; they ought to double the investment. Soluble bones and Peruvian guano will square up ac- counts, with one hundred per cent, profit. The word stimulate is improperly applied to manures ; this effect is owing to its solubility. A manure that is permanent is not soluble; and if not soluble, it will never enter the roots of plants. No manure is worth a .cent, if permanent. Be vigilant to save aU home-made manures possible. Manipulate your land with vegetable mold. Plough deep, rotate your crops, and rest your lands. There is only so much corn and cotton in any manure, and the sooner you get it the better. There is only material enough in land to make a given quantity of corn and cotton ; the greater quantity you get each year the better. -i^ Lay off cotton rows four feet apart, with a shovel plough ; double furrow ; and put in the guano eight inches deep. Ridge with a long scooter, five inches wide; make the bed with turn ploughs ; subsoil the turn plough furrows ; split out the middle with shovel. Plant with a cotton seed sower, and cover with a board, or har- row. Resume of Agriculture. 211 First ploughing: run twenty-two inch sweep, with right wing turned dOwn ; hoe out to two or three stalks to the hiU every nine inches, ten days after ploughing. Second ploughing : use same sweep, the right wing turned up a little more. Third plowing : in same way ; run a third furrow in the middle to level. Cotton standing thick in the drill will be much for- warder than that planted thin. Cotton only requires distance one way. Mr. Dickson has made on some acres six thousand pounds seed cotton per acre. A sixteen acre lot made three thousand pounds average per acre. Be careful not to cut the roots of cotton. Have a deep water furrow in the spring ; work flat by hot weather. On level land, run the rows North and South. In wet weather, cotton with most manure does the best. The Dickson Cotton is the only seed known that has stood the test of time ; and, instead of degenerating, it has steadily improved. The higher the latitude where corn will ripen before frost, the thicker it may be planted, and the more it will make — other things being equal. 212 Resume of Agriculture. Never put more than one hundred and thirty-three stalks to the bushel of corn the land ought to make. Two thousand stalks of corn per acre are enough for this county (Hancock). I have made one bushel corn to every fifty-two stalks in the field. Turn in the weeds, grass, peas and clover, and make the land mellow. Plough deep, and cultivate shallow, and you Avill ha-\'e no trouble in growing crops. Clay lands will bear the same treatment as sandy ^ lands, and with less difficulty. No matter the color of land, or whether sand or clay, keep up a full supply of vegetable mold; break deep before planting, cultivate lightly — the result will be good. In the distance I give, there are twenty-one square feet for each stalk of corn. If there is enough soluble matter in that space for two, or even three ears, one stalk will take it up ; but if there is only matter enough for one ear of corn, and you put two stalks, and water is scarce at earing time, you will miss gathering even that one ear. If it is a dry year, thin planting will always make the most. Four distinct errors keep planters from making good Resume of Agriculture. 213 corn crops : 1st. Not keeping sufficient mold in the land. 2d. Ploughing too shallow in preparing for the crop. 3d. Planting too thick. 4th. Cultivating too deep. Keep your land in good heart. Two hundred pounds dissolved bones will produce all the fertilizing effects of one thousand pounds of bone dust. To manure land with peas, sow the peas the first of July. Drop the peas and guano in every third furrow, as you break the land. If a good crop be made, feed off with stock — otherwise turn under. The true policy is to secure the greatest possible amount of soluble vegetable mold you can accumulate with the least cost. Peruvian guano and Columbian guano are the only kinds that have ever paid in my hands. Avoid permanent manures. Use the kind that will come back to us the first year, and bring a large interest in the form of corn, cotton, wheat, etc. The true system of manuring is, to get the manure back the first year, with a living profit. We are only tenants at will, and have no right to use the soil in a way to destroy its capacity to maintain the i present population, and its future increase. Subsoil one-fourth of your land every year. 214 Resume of Agriculture. Use the guano on uU lands you plough or cultivate — or everywhere, except in a hole of vrater or on a rock. Let sandy soils rest, to accumulate vegetable mold, and fasten the particles of sand together. Rest a clay , soil, for the opposite purpose of disintegrating the parti- cles of clay. Increase the fertility of the soil in a greater ratio than the population increases. The use of commercial fertilizers gives the farmer the means of making double the quantity of home-made manures. Success is the only test that will do to try a farmer by. Some of the advantages of using guano are : It is self-sustaining; punctual in payments; never repudiates, or asks an extension of time ; wants no stay laws or , military orders ; pays promptly, on an average, one ' hundred and twenty-five per cent., sometimes as high as four hundred per cent. ; improves the land ; improves crops ; makes the laborer more cheerful and willing to work; purchases good machinery and tools; enables you to work freedmen, when they would bring you in debt without it. Mr. Dickson has made as high as fourteen bales of cotton per hand, besides other produce, stock, etc., to the market value of |1,000 per hand. Manuring will not exhaust land, if you put back each year more than you take from it. Resume of Agriculture. 215 Improve agriculture, so that a given quantity of labor may produce double what it now does ; double the capa- city of the land. With poor land, but little manure will be accumulated without the purchase of manures. That land pays best with guano that pays best with- out it. Drain wet lands ; ditch hill sides ; then deepen your soil to the extent of your ability. My " Compound" I consider as near perfect as a ma- nure can be made. It makes cotton bear early, and open early, and keeps it from rusting. The "Compound" I use on all crops, and find it the best crop-grower of any combination that I have ever used. Humus', clay, and a due proportion of sand, constitutes the best of soU to succeed under aU circumstances. A cotton plant, to stand two weeks' drought, must ! have four inches soil and six inches subsoil; three/ weeks — six inches soil, and same subsoiling; four weeks | —eight inches, and same subsoiling; and for every week \ of dry weather, an additional inch, with the same six inches subsoiling. To stand a ten weeks' drought, break the land sixteen inches, and six inches subsoU. If you prepare and carry out this plan well, and 216 Resume of Agriculture. manure liberally, you may expect from four hundred to twelve hundred pounds lint cotton per acre. The best plan to save manure vrhile grazing is, to have the manure dropped by the stock where it is eaten. The object of leaving shade trees, is to keep the stock Irom the swamp. Keep your labor at home. Always come to time. It is hard to transfer knowledge, and harder to trans- fer art and judgment. The planter should follow the laws that govern the universe. Failures are to be attributed to the agent, not to the plan. Not only can a living be made on poor land, but large ■ fortunes. By training, hands can do double the amount of work, with more ease, and less sweat and muscle. Mr. Dickson's hands used to pick three hundred pounds of cotton per day, and some as high as seven liundred pounds. Mr. Dickson's crops, before the war, averaged him $1,000 per hand. In paying hands crop wages, the planter should first Resume of Agriculture. 217 take pay for all purchased manures ; the balance to go, one-third for land rent, one-third for horse-power, agricultural implements, etc., and one-third to the la- borer. The planter should mix his own manures, and save the profit of manipulating. Fertilizers bring a crop of bolls on the cotton early. There is a belt of land running through Georgia, that I consider the home of the cotton plant. South of this belt, the cotton plant is inclined to pro- duce too much weed, and too little fruit. In this belt, with proper preparation, rotation, manure and rest, you can make the cotton plant just what you please. The southern line of this belt commences above Au- gusta, and runs on a line above Columbus, and extends about one degree north. Planters living south of this belt, would, do well to obtain seed from this region once in three or four years. To improve the cotton plant, select seed every year, after the first picking, up to the middle of October, taking the best stalks, and the best bolls on the stalks. In selecting the Dickson cotton, which is the most prolific cotton of the day, select those stalks that send out one or more suckers from the ground, sometimes called arms. Secondly, from those that send limbs thick, with three to six bolls, from a half inch to one and a half inch apart on the limbs. 218 Resume of Agriculture. On all farms, there are some acres that produce cotton better than others ; seed should always be selected from those spots. I do not approve of hill-planting ; nor would I have a row nearer than four feet for cotton. Leave two or three stalks in every hill, the distance of nine inches. Cotton planted thick in the drill matures and opens earlier. Cotton requires distance but one way. As manure, I consider ammonia the first, soluble bone the second best, salt and plaster good preventives of rust in cotton, besides possessing good fertilizing properties. Ammonia is not exhausted the first year. Practice proves that nitrogen (ammonia) is the best crop-grower. To command nitrogen you must have aU the necessary salts contained in the various plants. The more minerals, the more nitrogen you can com- mand. The more nitrogen you store away in your land, the more you can obtain from the atmosphere. When land begins to tire with excess of lime and other minerals, sow it down in nitrogenous plants — such as peas, clover, etc., and turn them under. Resunu of Agriculture. 219 I advocate mixing the valuable manures, to grow per- fect plants; but if you use only one, let that be am- monia. It is the cheapest and best crop-grower. Ammonia is benefitted materially by soluble bone. I consider my compound almost a perfect manure; and would be quite so, if there was plenty of potash in the land. To be successful in agriculture, you must know where all the elements of plants are, and how to control them. Manure everywhere you plough and plant ; your labor wUl be more certainly rewarded. It pays to use manure, and it wiU pay best on land that pays best without it. Accumulate manure in the same ratio as you buy it — the more you purchase, the more you can make at home. We have the goose and the golden egg, in our lands and the cotton plant; let us not give them over to foreign capital and foreign labor. Give us liberty and the constitution, and without the help of man. or dollars, we can fill the land with ma- chinery, dollars, and everything else, and make cotton enough for the world. With bull-tongue ploughs, dividends are impossible. Do not be afraid of a little clay on top, or sub^oiling generally. 220 Resume of Agriculture. One incli of clay each year, over a good soil, ■will do no harm in any land. If my system of farming is carried out, there is no use to break the ground but once a year. It requires till the 1st of May to do it right, and that is soon enough to finish. I maintain you can make larger dividends with the sweep than with the bull-tongue, even if used only the first ploughing. There is no use for the second breaking with bull- tongues or rooters, to make the most out of land or labor. Fin your land with humus, to stick the sand together, and to darken it. This will prevent its reflecting the heat, and will cause it to receive it gradually, and part with it the same way. With clay lands, do the same thing, to make it plough- able at all times. My system, both with hoe and sweep, is to shave off the grass. The hands I had before the war could do fifty per cent, more work, and with more ease, than any I have ever employed since. Mr. Crawford asks if the Dickson plan is a failure? I tell him, no ! The failure is in the man. If carried out to the letter, it will not fail. I have been pursuing this plan since 1845. Com- Resume of Agriculture. 221 menced with guano in 1846, and it has never failed, in the first instance, to make good average crops, wet or dry. You cannot tell till the seasons pass over what is the. best time to plant cotton. There is nothing made but hard work by planting summer crops in the winter. From the 10th to the 20th April is the best time to plant cotton; but if you cannot plant sooner plant in May. Made last year nearly a bale cotton per acre on land planted in June. It is better to plant late than not at all. In 1868, I planted a twenty acre lot, finishing the Ifith day of May; used eight hundred pounds of my compound per acre. It made thirty-two bales. The lint paid a nett dividend on one thousand doUars or more per acre, after paying all expenses, and improving the capital ten per cent, on what it would sell for. In- cluding the sale of the seed, it paid a dividend on four thousand dollars per acre. I have no doubt that, on good cotton land, a fair year, I could make one hundred bales cotton, with one No. 1 mule ; commencing operations the 1st day of December ; subsoil every acre ; use twenty-five dollars worth of ma- nure per acre, and finish the 1st of May; cultivate sixty acres. The only way to make it tolerable for negroes to live amongst us is, to give thfem employment. 222 Resume of Agriculture. History teaches us that a population Avith a plenty of room and land, are more cheaply governed than a dense population. Give us our constitutional rights, with our best men to represent us in all departments, and we can make as much cotton as the world wants, at fair prices, if it be ten million bales, without an outside man or dollar. Planters ! do not sell your land at a mere nominal price. Do not spend your money to hasten an over-populated country. It will come soon enough. Tour prosperity depends on the scarcity of labor, and a high rate of interest. Just as sure as the winds return the water, to be con- densed and fall again above the shoals, the people here will possess the money, and energy, and skill to put the water to work. We want a scarcity of labor and cotton, and corres- pondingly good prices. Laborers are best fed and clothed where labor is scarce. Land pays the best profit where labor is scarce, be- cause the products of the farm bring the best prices. It is not our interest that capital should come South. Accumulate all manner of labor-saving machines ; im- JResume of Agriculture. 223 prove your land to a capacity double its present rates ; learn to do fifty per cent, more work with the same labor ; learn to apply your labor to greater advantage ; and you will find your products ample, without any in- crease of population. Leave the subject of immigration to time, and the free wUl of those who wish to come among us. The scarcity of labor is the only blessing we now enjoy as a result of the late war. Apply one-half of all labor and land to the making of fuU supplies of all kinds that are needed on the planta- tion, and enough to spare for those engaged in other pursuits, and you will get more money than if the whole was employed in making cotton. Leave no grass to bunch and cause a future bad stand. Plough cotton every three weeks, and let the hoes come ten days behind, cleaning it perfectly. Continue ploughing cotton till the 15th or 20th Au- gust. Once or twice during the season shove out the middle with one furrow, to keep the land level. The ploughing of cotton requires one and a fourth days per acre. All land has its capacity, with or without manure — greater when manured and prepared deep, to sustain a certain number of plants. 224 Resume of Agriculture. Cotton plants commence when small to take on and mature bolls, and continue until they exhaust the soluble matter, or reach the full capacity of the land. Two stalks wUl do that much sooner than one, and will so avoid the late drought, caterpillar, etc. Eighty bolls of well-cultivated and matured cotton will make a pound. In four feet rows, there will be eight stalks per yard, and ten bolls on each stalk will make three thousand six hundred and seventy-five pounds, or two bales per acre. The vegetable mold must be kept up to a good stand- ard, approaching virgin soil. Cotton will grow after cotton a number of years in succession, with plenty of manure. Rust is nothing but poverty, caused by the land being too porous, springy, sandy, not regularly worked, or want of vegetable mold, potash, etc. The remedy is — drain the surplus water off, close the particles of sand or clay with vegetable mold, and the use of the "Dickson Compound," with the addition of potash in some form. The more bolls cotton takes on, the more likely to rust. I find where salt and plaster were used, the cotton has stood the drought best, and has less rust. Make just the amount of cotton wanted, at paying Resume of Agriculture. 225 prices, keep out of debt, be the creditors, make the most of your supplies at home : then, and only then, will you have power. One of the benefits of the scarcity of labor is, it gives high-priced cotton, and thereby gives us a mo- nopoly of all commercial manures, and only one-half of the land required to produce the same amount of cotton. Scarcity of labor will enable planters to acquire a cash capital, and with that they can dictate terms. Make the corn for the sake of the corn; but when the corn is made and hard, and the fodder still green and good, pull it off — it will not hurt the corn. I use a large wrought-iron turn plough, cutting seven inches deep, and twelve inches in width. In breaking land, commence at the foot of the hill, and circle round on a level, and finish on top. All litter will be put out of the way, and the grass seed covered so deep, that they cannot come up. Any land will make corn, if ploughed and cultivated right. Guano, properly used, will benefit land. For cotton, use from four hundred pounds to eight hundred pounds of the compound per acre. The more used up to eight hundred pounds, the greater will be the profit. 226 Resume of Agriculture. If you wish to improve the land, use one hundred pounds of the "Dickson Compound" on the pea crop, between the corn rows. I use the " Dickson Compound" on all crops. For turnips, use four hundred pounds of the mixture in the drill per acre. Wheat, turnips and potatoes may be raised on the two field system — three crops every year. Follow the wheat crop with turnips in August. Sow the other field in wheat in the fall, and the first in potatoes in the spring. Follow the potatoes with wheat, wheat with turnips, etc. Double the productiveness of land, and it will be Worth four times the present value. Before the war, Mr. Dickson's farming operations realized him eighty per cent, per annum, or twelve hun- dred per cent, in fifteen years. With fifty-six hands, Mr. Dickson made and gathered, in 1859, six hundred and sixty-seven bales cotton — over twelve bales per hand, besides one hundred dollars worth per hand of corn, bacon, etc., making fifty-five thousand dollars. Mr. Dickson once bought a plantation in Washington county, with the negroes, stock, and every thing com- plete, and paid for the whole with one -crop. Experience has shown that land when cultivated in Resume of Agriculture. 227 cotton after rest, will produce a healthier weed, and will retain water better to keep the guano soluble. The reason that I prefer rest to succeed small grain is because the land is then smooth, no open furrows to wash, and it is covered with stubble and small grass to protect it. I look upon manures and machinery as the best means that we can add to our present labor. Rotation of crops, deep and deeper ploughing every year, incorporation of vegetable mold, returning the whole proceeds of the cotton plant except the lint to the soU, making as much manure as possible — comprise my system of improving lands. The object of turning in green crops, is to gain all the crops need from the atmosphere, besides what they get from the sub-soil. Peruvian guano is a natural formation, and not the deposit from birds. Several millions of tons have been taken from the Peruvian islands. Peruvian guano is the best fertilizer I have ever used, its value depending upon the large amount of ammonia it contains. The true test for deciding what is the most profitable amount of manure to be used is, to take oflf the legal rate of interest on the amount that is used, and then count 228 Resume of Agriculture. the dollars they have made over, and not the per cent, that any given quantity makes. The profit is greater the more guano is used, after de- ducting the legal rate of interest, until you reach the amount of about one thousand pounds to the acre. Large ears of corn are more easily gathered than smaU ones, and the same is true of perfect bolls of cotton. Compost manure should be spread on the ground, and applied immediately, so that the decomposition shall take place exactly where it is wanted. In manure, as in all other .things, the great considera- tion is to economize labor ; and one of the great objects of using commercial manures is, that it gives you the means of increasing your composts. Almost all flesh and oil are obtained from the atmo- sphere. From every source, let as much atmosphere into the land as possible. With a capital of $25,000, Mr.. Dickson made in fifteen years, $500,000 by farming. Mr. Dickson, when a plough-boy, conceived the princi- ples of his present improved system of farming, which he put into practice when he began his farming operations. His trained hands used to cultivate and gather fifty acres to the hand — thirty-three acres in corn and cotton, and seventeen acres in oats. Resume of Agriculture. 229 His best hands could pick three bales of cotton per week, and many of them two bales per week, during the best of the season. Taught his hands to make but one pick at a boll, and go ahead. Picked the balance of the boll, if any should be left, at the winding up of the season. In fifteen years, Mr. Dickson doubled his capital twenty times by planting. The three great cardinal points in the Dickson System of Farming are — deep preparation, thorough manuring, and surface culture. To be successful in planting, you must study the habits of plants, their wants, and the best climate and soil adapted to them. The higher the latitude, the thicker corn may be planted ; but even then it may be over-seeded. The great object of study and practice is, to know how to vitalize the atmosphere, and to work up the manures into the soil. There is no such thing as failure, when man does his duty in the cultivation. During the cultivation, the rain on the land settles the soU to the roots of the plants, and enables them the more completely to draw all the soluble ma,tter out of the soil. Where the soil does not reach more than from four to 230 Resume of Agriculture. ten inches, I prefer the common long scooter of four to five inches width to subsoil with, because it mixes a por- tion of the soil every year with the subsoil. Breaking must be commenced in time to do it full and well by planting time; and the better the breaking is done, the easier the land is cultivated, and the larger the crops. One of the objects of cultivation is, to keep the sur- face broken, so as to let in light, heat and air. I consider it just as deleterious to cut the roots of a plant, as I would to cut the veins of an ox when I have him fattening. One reason why we should have a large extent of soil, and depth of pulverization, is, because the roots are many times longer than the limbs or stalks, sometimes five or six times their length. As far as practicable, dispense with fencing. Five horses should plough fourteen acres of corn a day. All the labor required to cultivate corn is less than one day per acre. Corn manured and cultivated on my plan, will be fully matured before the fodder begins to damage, and there will be no loss of corn from pulling the blades. • How to preserve corn. — By proper preparation, ma- nuring and cultivation, the ears will be sound and heavy. Resume of Agriculture. 231 No other corn can be kept long. Use the yellow flint variety. Let it thoroughly cure in the field. Pull it when dry, about the last of November. Put it up in the shuck, in a dark, tight house, and fill the house full. The earlier cotton is planted, the lighter it must be covered. In cultivating cotton, never stop your ploughs for dry weather. The hoeing and ploughing of cotton, during the culti- vation of the crop, closes up the land sufficiently to cause the fruit to set finely. By placing the stalks thick in the drill, and wide apart, the land is less shaded, and gets more light and sun. When I make a good crop, I always admit a little trash in picking — trashy cotton selling better than blue cotton. In picking cotton, make but one pick at a boll. Pick the odd seeds left, in the winding up of the season, if I had time. By making one or two bales to waste, a good hand can gather twenty bales cotton in a season. My policy has been to make the most money with the least labor and capital, even if it appeared to be wasteful. Teach your laborers how to work; how to do it with ease and efficiency; and to do better and better work every day. 232 Resume of Agriculture. Save a portion of your income every year, and buy every thing for cash. Keep a cash capital equal to one year's expenses. Make all supplies at home that can be made. The cotton planter should make his whole supplies — every thing necessary to run the farm. The premium cotton crop, exhibited at the State Fair in Macon, in 1869, of eighteen bales on six acres, vras cultivated according to the Dickson plan. SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR'S CAREER, SUCCESS AS A^PLANTER. Career as a Planter. By the Editor. Mr. Dickson was reared on a farm, and while yet a plough-boy, conceived the principles of agriculture that now distinguish the system of farming which has im- mortaUzed his name, and brought him not only fame but fortune. While ploughing and hoeing corn, in his boy- hood, it occurred to him that that method of cultivating was wrong. He says, "while ploughing — cutting the roots of plants — I could see the effect of hot days behind me in less than thirty minutes, and it would continue for days to damage the crops, more or less according to after seasons. Even with the hoe, digging round the corn, and hilling up, I could see 'the corn wilt at once, in hot and dry weather ; and the corn would fire more or less, and sometimes be thus prevented from silking well. How was this to be prevented ? I formed my opinion then, and put it in practice as soon as I com- menced planting." Again, he says, "I saw new land, full of mold, never baked, was always easily worked, and would stand a long drought and a heavy wet spell. The conclusion was, to keep all land in the virgin state, as near as possible. How was this to be done ?" . The reader will notice that these observations and (236) 236 Career as a Planter. inquiries struck at the very foundations of agriculture. His close study of nature had detected a fundamental error, and his genius readily devised the remedy, which has already been elaborately set forth in the pages of this book. When, years afterwards, Mr. Dickson had determined to invest his all in farming, so strong was his faith in the truth of the convictions of his youth upon these agricultural subjects, that he adopted them in his prac- tice, discarding the old stereotyped system of farming as erroneous. In developing the principle of his newly- conceived system, and reducing it to practice, he found that one preparation of land was all-sufficient for each crop ; that the lands would be improved, would produce double the crop per acre ; and that a hand could culti- vate fifty per cent, more acres, and obtain twice the dividends. Here, then, was not only improvement — double pro- ducts per acre, but great economy of labor and horse power. With labored research and experiment, Mr. Dickson finally reduced these original conceptions to a well-organized system, which is now submitted in book form to the public. His peculiar views, his experi- ments, and the results of his agricultural operations, have been gratuitously contributed to the public through the journals of the day ; but to correct some wrong im- pressions that have been created by correspondents, I wish to give the reader an authentic account of Mr. Dickson's success in farming, under his peculiar system,, which is now being unfairly and illegally claimed and appropriated by many persons who have learned the lessons from Mr. Dickson. Even competitors for pre- Career as a Planter. 237' mium crops describe at length what they assume as "my" plan, while three words would express the whole? The Dickson Plan ! " Facts are stubborn things/' and actual' results outweigh all theoretical speculation; I state authoritatively what Mr. Dickson's success has been. At twenty-one years of age, Mr. Dickson started out with $1,200. By merchandise and trading, he made |25,000 in fourteen years. At this period (1845) he invested all his means in lands, negroes, stock and agricultural utensils, and commenced farming. He pur- chased two hundred and sixty-six acres of land, for which he paid from one to two dollars per acre, and for some as low as fifty cents per acre. This land had been producing four bushels corn per acre, and two hundred pounds seed cotton. On beginning to plant, he followed his own peculiar notions, putting in practice the conceptions of his boyhood ; and these constitute the guiding principles of the Dickson System of Farm- ing to-day. These early impressions have been verified by experience, and thoroughly demonstrated by success- ful results. He says his crops were fine from the very first, and that he has never failed to make good average crops, no matter the seasons. The reader will observe, that Mr. Dickson's first crop was a success ; and that, at that time, guano had not been introduced. This fact tends to correct the impres- sion that Mr. Dickson's success in farming has been attributable alone to the liberal use of " ammonia," — in other words, to the employment of guanos. He says his crops were good from the first ; and every reader of this volume knows that he did not use much guano 238 Career as a Planter. until 1857. Yet his crops were "fine" from the very first, and paid good dividends ! What does this show ? Clearly, that most of his success as a farmer has been due to his peculiar method of treating his lands, and cultivating his crops, and not materially to his feeding his land with ammonia. The principles of cultivation, in his system, are essentially different from the popular system of agriculture, and to this system, as a whole, must we attribute his success. Peruvian guano, or even the " Dickson Compound," used according to the common plan of farming, would not produce half such results. The "magic"- is to be found in the way it is used, and the general policy of treating and cultivating the lands. It is a great mistake to say, that guano has made Mr. Dickson. The fact is, Mr. Dickson has made the guano market. Native genius, good judgment, his study of nature and her laws, and their application to agriculture, have made Mr. Dickson. True, guano has been a potent agency in his hands ; but it has paid better with him than it has with nine-tenths of the planters, because he has used it in accordance with the principles of rational agriculture. But the liberal use of fertilizers constitutes an important ingredient in his system of farming. Guano has paid him, while it has proved worthless with many who have not employed it with a proper system of cultivation. Mr. Dickson's system must be taken as a whole ; and in calculating his results, guano must come in only for a part of the credit. Mr. Dickson had planted nine years before he used guano to any considerable extent; and yet his crops were good. In 1846, the second year of Mr. Dickson's planting. Career as a Planter. 239 ha made his first trial of guano. " I saw," he says, " an advertisement in the American Farmer, Baltimore, of the wonderful effects of Peruvian guano. I procured three sacks, and used it, and finding it paid, used it in increased quantities, till 1855 or 1856, then went into it fully." Very soon after this, Mr. Dickson commenced having bones prepared with acid, according to English farming, furnishing what we now use as "Dissolved Bones." This he combined with Peruvian guano, and ultimately he added land plaster, salt and potash. This combination was the result of a great deal of experi- menting with all kinds of guanos ; and, as the reader knows, it is now his favorite " Compound." The reader will notice on 123d page, an experiment with this compound, and the result. With |17 worth per acre, the crop was three thousand pounds per acre the field over — ^equivalent to two bales, which at the market value at that time was worth $250. Some acres of this field produced six thousand pounds per acre. On page 33 will be found an experiment, showing the great advantage of using the whole compound — the bene- ficial effect of the addition of land plaster and salt to Peruvian guano and dissolved bones. This formula was produced by Mr. Dickson, and was the result of a vast amount of experimenting with all kinds of guano, and which, he says, is as near perfect as a manure can be made. With this mixture, together with his improved system of farming, Mr. Dickson has produced those "fabulous" results with which he is accredited. Before the war, his crops averaged him from ten to fourteen bales cotton 240 Career as a Planter. per hand, and nearly one bale per acre, besides an abun- dance of corn, fodder, bacon, etc. He raised enough bacon and grain to pay for two-thirds of his guano. He cultivated and gathered fifty acres to the hand — thirty- three in corn and cotton, and seventeen in wheat and oats. Such was his economy of labor, and his system of management, that the visitor might ride through his farm, without seeing a weed or a bunch of grass in his crop. His hands would gather — some of them three bales cotton per week, and many of them two bales, during the favorable part of the season. Corn and fod- der were always stored around him in abundance. He has made as high as six thousand pounds cotton per acre, and his average crop has been nearly one bale per acre. I have seen much of his crops for the last three years, and have not seen many acres in any of these crops that I estimated at less than one bale to the acre. True, the crops that I saw were on the best part of his farm, and received the most of his attention. I saw a field of his last fall, planted in June, that had fourteen hundred pounds cotton to the acre. Mr. Dickson says, that last year (1869) was the dryest and hottest year he ever saw ; that he had but one rain during the summer, and that in August. And yet he made a good average crop. I saw his crop in November, and consequently know what I say. He made last year — that is, all his tenants, black and white — between seven hundred and eight hun- dred bales cotton. These facts verify what Mr. Dickson claims for his system of farming — that good crops can be made with the least rain that can fall any summer, and that if the work is properly and thoroughly done, there need be no such thing as a failure. The many Career as a Planter. 241 reports made by visitors and correspondents, as to Mr. Dickson's crops, are substantially true. He has had unprecedented success during his whole farming career, without a single failure, and still sustains his reputation, by producing larger and still larger crops. He has no successful rival as a planter ; and it may truly be said of him, " he stands at the head of jS^ijrofession." He once bought a plantation, with the negroes, stock and every thing on it, and paid for the whole with one crop. He did not visit the place till June, and only once or twice afterwards that year. In 1859, Mr. Dick- son, with fifty-six hands, made and ga^thered six hundred and sixty-seven bales of cotton, besides one hundred dol- lars worth per hand of bacon, corn, et(j. So successful was Mr. Dickson in making money by farming, that his little plantation of two hundred and sixty-six acres rapidly extended its area, and now, in the language of a correspondent, " he owns the domains of a prince." He has bought up the lands around him, in some directions for ten mUes, and now owns a body of twenty thousand acres, besides ten thousand acres in Texas. When the war began, his property was worth, by fair estimate, $500,000, clear of all encumbrance. This he had made in fifteen years by farming, with a capital of |25,000 to start with. Not a dollar had been made outside of his farm. Here is a striking contrast between the profits of trade and merchandise and farm- ing. It took him fourteen years as a trader to make $25,000; but during the fifteen years succeeding, he accumulated $500,000 by farming — ^not counting eight hundred bales of cotton, and a large. supply of bacon and grain, given to the Confederate Government, and 242 Career as a Planter. destroyed by Federal soldiers. He delivered to the Grovernment four hundred bales cotton, for which he got nothing ; and after the first year of the war he planted no cotton, but raised provisions for the army, and for most of which he received no pay, not even in Confeder- ate money. General Sherman burned four hundred bales cotton, took all his stock, and a large amount of provi- sions. He owned two hundred and fifty (250) select negroes, which were worth fifty per cent, more than the average of negroes. Since the war, Mr. Dickson has been planting cau- tiously, " not caring to save money tiU we had a govern- ment that would protect us in person and property." He says his crops have been fair, but his dividends less than before the war, because of bad labor, stealage, killing stock, etc. He is now working on the tenant system, and is again making his nine hjindred bales cotton, including his Texas crop, and declaring good dividends. He spent, last year, $14,000 for fertilizers, and has bought $20,000 worth for the present crop (1870). He uses the "Compound" exclusively for all crops, and plants the "Dickson Cotton." He owns thirty thousand acres of land, a good deal of railroad and company stock, besides his plantation stock, farm- ing implements, etc., amounting, in the aggregate, to not much less than half a million dollars. Add to this amount, his losses from the war, and the emancipation of his slaves, which he says were "worth $300,000," and the reader can approximate what would have been Mr. Dixon's wealth, as the profits of twenty-five years' farming, on a capital of twenty-five thousand dollars — losing near five years of this time, for during the war he Career as a Planter. 243 planted no cotton, but raised provision crops for the Grovernment. Estimating all these losses, who can say that Mr. Dickson would not have been worth, to-day, one million dollars, but for that unfortunate war, that swept away his earnings ? Mr. Dickson has always lived* well, entertained a great deal of company in sumptuous style, and allowed himself every comfort and luxury that heart could de- sire. He has devoted more than half his time, since he has been farming, to his visiting friends, who, attracted by his fame as a planter, came from all parts of the United States to see his farm, and obtain information in regard to his system of agriculture. He has rode with them thousands of miles, and through all kinds of wea- ther, and written and read no telling how many wagon loads of letters, besides his contributions to the agricul- tural journals. Having an innate fondness for agriculture, Mr. Dick- son gave himself to its study with all the zeal of a devotee, and would have given it "all the energies of his intellect," but for the diversion occasioned by con- stant interruptions and taxes upon his time. In esti- mating the sum total of his success in his agricultural pursuits, a large sum must be placed to his credit for this loss of time. For many years past, not a mail, perhaps, that does not bring him from a dozen to several dozen letters, to be read and answered, on the subject of agriculture. This requires time, and a great deal of time ; and his house is scarcely ever free of company and visiting friends. True, he is delighted to see them come, and often invites company; yet, the attentions 244 Career as a Planter. thus necessarily devoted, occasion neglect of his busi- ness, and lessen his products. Very many persons think that Mr. Dickson's reports as to large crops, are taken from his fancy-brag patches, and that his general crop does not correspond. This is uncharitable, as well as untrue. He claims credit for his general results — so much corn and cotton per hand. Like a general in the army, he operates from his head- quarters at home. His farm consists of many little farms, which he seldom visits, and some he has not seen since the war. He furnishes the implements and material, and gives direction ; but the execution of the work is entrusted entirely to the laborers, having no overseers or superintendents ; nor did he ever have an overseer even in slavery times, except on one place. It is evident, then, that . Mr. Dickson's success has been attributable to the advantages of his system of farming, together with his general policy and management. He has been richly rewarded for his zeal and research in the study of agriculture ; and the reason that so few approach him in results is, they do not follow his teachings, or his practice. Success depends upon the adoption of his system as a whole. Guano alone is not the "potent charm;" neither is deep breaking of the land, or subsoiling, or surface culture, or rotation of crops ; but all these agencies must be taken in com- bination. The neglect of one may paralyze the whole. This system is drawn from the study of nature's laws, and not one of its precepts may be safely violated. Many who undertake to follow the Dickson plan of farming, do it only in part, and consequently the failure. Its beauty and strength consists in the union of its Career as a Planter. 245 parts. Adhere rigidly to the principle, and carry it out in practice. Study it as a system — as a whole. Exe- cute it with tact and judgment, and confidently expect results approaching the success that has rewarded the labors of Mr. Dickson. I neglected to state that a large part of Mr. Dickson's lands cost him good prices. The lands in that section are generally thin pine lands, and sold very low until Mr. Dickson gave them reputation by making them pro- duce large crops. The last land he bought cost him eighteen dollars per acre ; the same land having sold for one dollar per acre thirty years before. The reader can thus judge of the quality of the land on which Mr. Dickson has operated, and made his for- tune by farming. I had fain hoped that Mr. Dickson would have written this sketch himself, that the public might know, from bis own pen, all the facts pertaining to his most remark- able success as a planter. But his modesty prevented him ; and I could not prevail upon him to write it. The reader may feel assured, however, that the facts as stated are correct ; and their publication becomes allowable, as illustrating the system of agriculture presented. No theory in agriculture, or in any other branch of science, can be entertained, unless it be practical ; nor can any system of farming commend itself to favor, that cannot be demonstrated by successful results on the field. " Let us, with renewed energy, and with Mr. Diek- son's spirit, and in the light of his teachings, apply ourselves to a system of improved, intelligent, remuner- ative agriculture." Immigration. Sparta, Gteokgia, March 31st, 1870. Dr. J. DicJcson Smith: Dear Sir — You wish to have my further views on the policy of immigration to the Cotton States. I should have answered sooner ; but every time I set apart a few hours for that purpose, I have been interrupted by com- pany. The great cry of the friends of immigration is, to de- velope the resources of the Cotton States. That might do, if it did not increase the recipients as well as pro- ducts. I entirely disagree with them. The people of the Cotton States own the soil, mines, water-power, etc., and I contend that we have the labor to develope these resources more effectually than if we had more, and re- ceive all the profits. It is our first duty to provide for our own household, and take care of our own poor. We can do it more effectually, and with greater profits to ourselves, than we could with an increase of labor. Under our present sparse population, there is plenty of land and room for all, and abundant employment for our children. This will not be the case, when once our country becomes flooded with immigrants. Our own children may even want that daily employment neces- Q (249) 250 Immigration. sary to earn them a scanty subsistence, instead of being encouraged and stimulated, as they now are, by all those incentives to action that spring from remunerative labor, as well as from the innumerable openings for enterprise now presenting themselves in our Southern States. One writer, who objects to my views, asks, "Who built the railroads of the South?" and answers, "Immi- grant labor built them." That is too true ; but it was a great evil, and loss to the South. Under the old sys- tem, we had too much labor. It reduced what we had to export to too low a figure. Sugar five to eight cents, cotton seven to ten cents ! Instead of building our rail- roads with immigrant labor, we should have done it with our slaves, to the extent of one-fourth of aU labor em- ployed in producing cotton, rice, sugar, and tobacco. Who wiU say that, if one-fourth of the labor had been employed in building railroads, factory dams, fish dams, ditching, improving homesteads, planting orchards, etc., we would not have made fifty per cent, more clear money than we did with all the labor ? The fifty per cent, clear money would have purchased aU the raUroad iron, cotton machinery, etc. Under that system, we might have spun and woven one-half of the cotton, and had as many roads as we wanted-^all of which would have been clear profit, getting as much money, all the time, for three-fourths of the cotton, as we would for the whole. These are no new ideas of mine. They were formed and expressed early in my cotton career. The first full cotton crop that I ever made (1847), I held my cotton eleven months, and sold the entire crop at four and a half cents per pound. Now, if not more than one- Immigration. 251 fourth a general crop had been made that year, or three- fourths had been burned after it had been made, the balance would, in all probability, have brought ten to fifteen cents. Would it not have been better to have taken cotton hands, instead of immigrants, to build these railroads, and saved the money, by increase of prices, to pay them, instead of paying the immigrant out of low- priced cotton? When you get immigrants, you get competitors for the labor we have, as well as their own labor. In a former article on this subject, I showed that a sparse population could be governed more cheaply than a dense population; that there were less forgeries, less robberies, and less of all the vices of the day. If you get immigrants, you get all the isms known in the world. If you wish a standing army, encourage immigration. AU dense populations require a standing army to pre- serve peace, and to protect life and liberty. Public liberty is near enough gone now ; but a dense popula- tion would preclude aU possibility of its ever returning. Eeflect on history, and the present population of the world. Look to China, for instance. If people can live cheaper and better in a dense population, why do they leave a dense population and their homes, to go thou- sands of miles to find a sparse population? It is be- cause plenty of land and room insures plenty of all that is needed. I see it stated, since the war with the American Colonies, that England has lost, by emigration, six million five hundred thousand persons; yet she has, to-day, more than four times the agricultural products that she had then. The loss of the surplus population 252 Immigration. gave the balance room to work and accumulate. How was this done ? By improving the soil with manures ; doubling it, by going down twice as deep ; making it produce four times as much ; putting one portion of the savings in improved implements of farming, and another portion in manufacturing. Now, this is the kind of labor I want. They produce dividends, and the owners get them. Two tons of good guano will produce more cotton than an immigrant would — even if he belonged to you, like the guano. Both pay in their own cost. This is the only evil in guano : it is likely to cause an over- production ; but in the case of guano, you only have to cease buying it. You hav'nt it to take care of. The immigrant you must work and feed. In the case of machinery, all you have to do is, to cease to apply the water and steam until the surplus is consumed. Give me guano and machinery for ever, instead of immigrants. I contend we can get more of both without immigrants, than with them. Cotton from twenty to twenty-five cents per pound, leaves a large amount, each year, to invest in machinery and guano, if we will. Immigrants, and cotton at eight to twelve cents, will leave nothing. Since the war, I have paid about ten cents per pound for labor alone to produce cotton. Say, cotton has averaged twenty-four cents, one-third is eight cents,- and the use of houses, wood, teams, etc., are equivalent to two cents more — making ten cents per pound. Some give more. It makes no difference what terms you agree upon with labor, you have to feed and clothe ' the laborer and his family. Suppose you had double the number of labor- Immigration. 253 ers, and you employed them at the lowest wages, feed and clothe them and their families, and sell your cotton crop at ante-war prices, where would be your profits ? Again, scarcity of labor and high prices for cotton gives us a monopoly of the guano market. Guano, ap- plied to crops, at the rate of from eight to twelve dollars per acre, will more than double the crops — producing more than the labor, land, stock and machinery; and the cost of the guano not much above the loss in ma- chinery, mule-feed and tools, to say nothing about the expense of the labor. Then, think of the difference ! By doubling the number of laborers, without guano, you would exhaust and ruin the soil. Guano, to produce the same amount, will improve the soil in more ways than one. Whoever uses guano, will break his land deeper, and prepare it more thoroughly. As I claim to be the first who introduced guano in the Cotton States, I will caution you against over-pro- duction of cotton. Use guano, and leave off immigrants ! Produce about two million five hundred thousand bales only, till prices above twenty cents per pound stimulate a farther increase. Prepare for a panic by constant . investments in stock, securities and machinery, even if not more than one hundred dollars annually. It will be a beginning. Keep at least six months cash on hand for necessaries, that you may not have to force cotton sales. Should a cotton' panic occur now, or after this, it would produce, in many cases, starvation. Make all your supplies, and the balance of your labor in cotton will bring more money than all would. Every man be- lieves this, yet some say, " give us immigrants." If you want to change a wrong principle permanently, strike at 254 Immigration* the evil ia truth. All the writers say, " make your sup- plies at home, and thereby keep your money at home." I must admit, I cannot see it in that light. How can money be kept at home, and what good would it do if kept there ? Money is only valuable as the cheapest and most convenient medium of exchange. These are my views. The cotton plant is a great power for good, and a rich legacy for us. How to make the most of it, should be the serious study and action of all. This is the remedy : Do not let it come below twenty cents, and, if possible, keep it up to twenty-five cents. I do not think it to our interest to carry it beyond that price. How is this to be done? Make all your supplies at home, and you will get the same amount of money for the balance of the labor that you would get for the whole, devoted to cotton. You would have less use for money, and more to put in machinery ; and having more resources, you would suffer less in any panic. Money will go where it can buy most, and centre where it is worth the least rate of interest. A man having money in Europe, where it is worth only three per cent., will come here for securities at five and six per cent. Continued for years, it centres all dividends to' that point, on securities. Some complain that labor is scarce, and a few get all ; but they are better off under a scarce system, than they would be under an abundant supply. Their labor would be worth double; whereas, if there was an abundance of labor, and cheap labor, it would produce cheap exports. In this case, none but large and skillful capitalists could work and feed the labor, and it would be the means of centering capital in a few hands. A man of capital and Immigration. 255 skill could work labor at a profit, when a small capital and less skill would lose money. What now prevents the land from getting into a few hands, but the fear and uncertainty of getting labor ? I will venture my advice : Hold on to your land ; plough deep; manure; rest; improve your homes; make your supplies ; save money to invest ; and finally, when called from the world, leave your land to your children, that it may support them and their children, as it did you ! The cotton plant is a power that, if used right, will in a short time give us all the capital we wish, and make us the creditors of the world ! Let us strive to be the creditors. It is a much more preferable situation than to be the debtors. Beware of foreign capital. It wiU only displace your own, and be a growth that will ever keep you in the back-ground. Very truly, DAVID DICKSON. THE CHEMISTRY OF AGRICULTURE. The Chemistry of Agriculture. The reader will find, in the following pages, some interesting extracts taken from a series of Agricultural Lectures, by M. GtEOrge Ville, Professor of Vegetable Physiology in Paris, which will give him an insight into so much of the subject as practically concerns the agri- culturist, and will constitute an important addition to the author's practical work. The views of the lecturer are thus embodied in this book, for several reasons. Intelligent agriculture is based upon scientific principles ; and the planter, to be successful in growing remunerative crops, must know something of Chemistry. The author does not essay to treat seriatim upon this subject, preferring to reproduce the lessons of professional teachers. Professor Ville is thus appealed to, because of the exact accordance of his views with those of the author. Is it not remarkable that two men, living thousands of miles apart, in dif- ferent countries, should entertain and express, upon the same subject, views precisely similar? And yet such a coincidence has occurred. Mr. Dickson con- ceived and promulgated, more than twenty years ago, the identical views no^v taught by Professor Ville on the subject of improved farming. Their views accord perfectly, as the reader will observe ; but Mr. Dickson (259) 260 The Chemistry of Agriculture. was just twenty years in advance — showing his innate perception of the truths of nature, and their application to agriculture. By altogether different steps of re- search, both have demonstrated the same great truths, arriving at precisely the same results. On the question of fertilization of soils, both agree on the same chemical substances as constituting the perfect manure. The formula worked out by Professor Ville, composed of nitrogenous matter, the phosphates, lime and potash, and which he showed increased agricultural products in France five hundred per cent, or more, is exactly equi- valent, in chemical composition, to the Dickson Com- pound, which Mr. Dickson suggested, and has been using for nearly twenty years, and which is now being extensively employed by planters, to the wonderful in- crease of their field products. The lecturer also expresses correctly the author's views on the subjects of the analysis of the soils — the impracticability of analysing them in any other way than by the application of fertilizers to the different crops — ^rest, rotation of crops, etc. These extracts are, therefore, commended to the reader, as expressing Mr. Dickson's views, not only on improved agriculture generally, but also, on the subject of agricultural chemistry, which, the author says, are better expressed than he could possibly do himself. Editor. The Chemistry of Agriculture. 261 Translator's Preface. The researches of M. Ville, which are now placed at the head of the most important discoveries science has yet made for the benefit of agriculture, were, like all innovations, received at first with something more than coldness and indifference. It has ever been thus : the most pregnant ideas — those destined to exercise the happiest influences upon society — are always accepted with reluctance ; for they disturb preconceived notions, they upset so many plausible theories, and humble our conceit; therefore they are always met with objections and opposition from your "practical men" alarmed at the scientific rigor of the formula, and from savants always disposed to oppose one theory by another. But true science ultimately makes its way, notwithstanding, by virtue of that providential power which, amid a host of obstacles and diversions, finally achieves progress. Many chemists, even the most illustrious, had devoted themselves to the study of the natural agents of fer- tility, previously to M. Ville. Their investigations led to most important results ; but in spite of the advan- tages they offered, they left a general impression of insufficiency, and discouragement soon succeeded enthu- siasm. Animal charcoal and guano, for example, gave rich harvests ; but it was soon found that they were expedients, and not specifics. Even farm-yard manure justified the title of perfect manure but very incom- pletely. It did not always respond to what was re- quired of it ; and moreover is not sufficiently abundant to restore to the soil all that is taken from it — as the 262 The Chemistry of Agriculture. residues of a harvest consumed at a distance cannot all be returned to the field, which, it may be said, leaves us with exhaustion in prospective. So true is this, that, even where manure is collected with the greatest care, the necessity for supplying the evil with stimulants is still felt. FossU manures present themselves to supply this deficiency, and they certainly possess great value ; but do they unite every quality necessary to secure us against fresh disappointment? There lies the pith of the question. When agriculturists demand an analysis to test the richness of a field, and repair its losses after each har- vest, they lose sight of the fact, that each field has its own peculiar wants, and what will suit one may not suit another. It is by stating the problem in these terms that M. Ville has arrived at its solution. He has studied the appetites of each plant, or at least, of those three great families of plants upon which agricultural industry is mostly exercised, viz., the cereals, leguminous plants and roots ; and he has deduced from this study the formula of a normal manure. There is nothing extravagant in stating that light has thus replaced darkness, that order has succeeded to chaos, and that the phantom of sterility is laid. If, like all mundane things, the system is perfectible, the spe- cialization of manures — or, to speak more correctly, the nutrition of plants — ^is the law which will make agricul- ture pass from the condition of a conjectural to that of a positive science. To operate with greater certainty, M. Ville removed every element of error or doubt from his experiments. The Chemistry of Agriculture. 263 and proceeded by the synthetic method. He took cal- cined sand for his soil, and common flower-pots for his field. Ten years of assiduous observation and experir ment led. him to recognize that the ahment preferred by cereals is nitrogen; by leguminous plants, potassa ; by roots, the phosphates ; we say the preferred element, but not the exclusive; for these three substances, in various proportions, are necessary to each and all, and even lime, which humus renders assimilable, must be added. These facts proved in pure sand, by means of fertili- zers chemically prepared, were next repeated in the soU of a field on the Imperial farm at Vincennes, at the expense of the Emperor, who, with that sagacity and tact which marks his every public act, recognized in M. Ville, even at the time he was violently opposed and unpopular, the man most capable of turning the con- quests of science to the advantage of agriculture : he extended a generous and powerful hand to the professor, and the most complete success has crowned his glorious initiative. During the past four years, curious visitors, drawn to the farm by the report of M. ViUe's experiments, have been shown a series of square plots, manured and sown in conformity with rules laid down to test their efficacy. Upon some of these plots the seed has never been varied; the same soil has been planted four times in succession with wheat, colza, peas and beet-root ; giving them, at the commencement, a supply of the normal manure, and adding annually what M. Ville terms the dominant ingredient, that is to say, the special manure of the series. Upon the other plots, the seed alternated during the quarternary period at the expense of the 264 The Chemistry of Agriculture. normal manure, by changing the dominant according to the nature of each plant introduced into the rotation ; and under these conditions, the crops have reached to results of irrefutable eloquence. But as a proof necessary to satisfy prejudiced minds, side by side with the plots which had received the com- plete manure, others were placed in which one or more of the elements were omitted. In the latter, vegetation Avas languid, and almost nil, proportionally to the quan- tity and quality of the absent ingredients, to such a degree, that what was wanting could be ascertained by the decrease of vigor in the plant. A little practice thus leads to an appreciation of the qualitative richness of a soil. For the suppression of one of the principles of fertilization produces in each vegetable family differ- ences, which indicate to the observer the part which each principle performs, and the proportion in which it is absorbed. These experiments, the fundamental bases of theory, have not, however, the regulating of agricul- tural practice for their object. M. Ville assigns four years to the action of the normal manure, replenished after each harvest by the dominant element ; renewing this normal manure, however, upon the first signs of a falling off in the crops. By adding, according to M. Ville's system, nitrogenous matter, phosphate of lime and potassa — that is to say, a normal or complete manure — to calcined sand, the seed- wheat being equal to 1, the crop is represented by 23. Upon withdrawing the nitrogenous matter from this mixture of the four elements, the crop fell to 8.83. Upon withdrawing the potassa, and retaining all the others, the crop only attained to the figure 6.57. The Chemhtry of Agriculture. 265 When the phosphate of lime was omitted, the crop was reduced to 0.77; vegetation, ceased, and the plant died. Lastly, upon abstracting the lime, then the crop, the maximum of which was represented by 23, was only 21.62. From the above facts we draw theSe conclusions : that if the four elements of a perfect manure, above named, act only in the capacity of regulators of cultivation, the maximum eflfect they can produce implies the presence of all four. In other words, the function of each ele- ment depends upon the presence of the other three. When a single one is suppressed, the mixture at once loses three-fourths of its value. It is to be remarked, that the suppression of the nitro- genous matter, which causes the yield of wheat to fall from 23 to 8.33, exercises only a very moderate influ- ence upon the crop, when the plant under cultivation is leguminous. But it will be quite otherwise if, in such case, we remove the potassa. If we extend the experiment to other crops, and suc- cessively suppress from the mixture one of the four agents of production, we arrive at the knowledge of the element which is most essential to each particular crop, and also which is most active in comparison with the other two. For wheat, and the cereals generally, the element of fertility, par excellence — that which exercises most influence in the mixture — is the nitrogenous mat- ter. For leguminous plants, the agent whose suppres- sion causes most damage is potassa, which plays the principal part in the mixture. For turnips and other roots, the dominant element is phosphate of lime. 266 The Chemidry of Agriculture. By employing these four well-known agents, M. Villa's system may well replace the old system of cultivation. With him, the rule that manure must be produced upon its own domain is not absolute. During four succeeding years, M. Ville has cultivated, at the Vincennes farm, wheat upon wheat, peas upon peas, and beet-root upon beet-root; and he entertains no doubt that he could continue to do so for an indefinite period, the only condition necessary to be fulfilled being — to return to the soil, in sufficient proportion, the four fundamental elements above named. Suppose we wished to cultivate wheat indefinitely. We should at first have recourse to the complete ma- nure, and afterwards administer only the dominant ele- ment, or nitrogenous matter, until a decrease in the successive crops showed that this culture had absorbed all the phosphate of lime and potassa. As soon as a diminution in the crops manifests itself, we must return to the complete manure, and proceed as before. Suppose that, instead of an exclusive culture, it be desired to introduce an alternate culture in a given field. We commence with the agent that has most influence on the plant with which we start. If that be a leguminous plant, we at first administer only potassa. For wheat, we should add nitrogenous matters. If we conclude with turnips, we have recourse to phosphate of lime ; but when we return to the point from which we started, all four elements must be employed. As may be seen, this system differs radically from that hitherto adopted. It has not for its basis a complex , manure administered to the soil by wholesale, in which we endeavor to turn all its constituents to account by a The Chemistry of Agriculture . 267 succession of different crops. In M. Ville's system, he supplies to the soil only the four governing agents of production, which are added gradually, one after ano- ther, and in such manner as to supply each kind of crop with the agent that assures the maximum yield. The expelriments at Vincennes were quite conclusive, but M. Yille wished to verify them on a larger scale. For this purpose, land on the estate of Belle Eau, near Donzere, in Dauphiny^ was placed at his disposal, wherein to open a new field of experiments. The results were just the same. On the 4th of July last, an audience of two hundred farmers, and others interested in the pro- gress of agriculture, assembled under the lofty trees at Belle Eau, to listen to the professor's explanations, and witness the proofs of the soundness of his new system. He stated that the experimental field, divided into seven equal portions, was sown in November last with " Halle tt Wheat." One portion received no manure at all, consequently the product, both ears and straw, was weak and frail. Each of the other portions was ferti- lized with one of the substances which constitute wheat (phosphate of lime, potassa, lime and nitrogen). They presented a series of interesting piroducts, the last of which — that is to say, the most advantageous as to yield ■ — was reaped from that portion of the soil fertilized with an artificial mixture of all the constituent substances united. Devoid of all scientific nomenclature, which frequent- ly embarrasses most agriculturists, M. Yille's lucid and brilliant expose convinced the most incredulous. Almost every auditor retired with the firm resolution of repeat^ ing the professor's experiments for himself 268 The Chemistry of Agriculture. All manure must contain principles, mixed in certain proportions, the combination of which is indispensable. In this particular, M. Ville has invented nothing, but limited himself to the specializing and better defining their effects, without, however, forgetting those which are purely mechanical. It remains now for practical men to combine and prepare fertilizers of each kind, and to apportion their application according to the rules here laid down. This is a simple detail of execution ; and if we are compelled to have recourse to chemical products to complete the elements of fertilization, they will not replace the residues of animal consumption, nor render them useless, but will allow M. Moll's beautiful formula to subsist in all its truth — " The purification of cities by the fertilization of the country." Charles Martel. On the Science of Vegetable Production. In consequence of the persevering efforts given to the study of plants of late years, agricultural production has been raised to the rank of a scientific problem. It is in this spirit that I have for many years studied it at the Museum of Natural History. Here, my language will be more simple, familiar and practical; it will, never- theless, retain its scientific character, science being the essential basis of every thing I have to tell you. If we seek to define the conditions which determine vegetable production, the influences which modify its growth and the forces which govern its manifestations, we The Chemistry of Agriculture. 269 must commence by going back to the elements of veget- ables themselves. We must separate from the vegetable its organic individuality, and consider only the chemical combinations of which it is the seat and the result. The analysis of all known vegetables, or the products extracted from them, leads to this very unexpected fact, that fifteen elements only concur in these innumerable formations. These fifteen elements, which, alone, serve to constitute all vegetable matter, are subdivided into two groups : 1st. The organic elements, which are encountered only in the productions of organized beings, and the source of which is found in the air, and in water. They are — Car- bon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen. 2nd. The mineral elements, which resist combustion, and which are derived from the solid crust of the globe. They are — ^Potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, sili- cium, sulphur, phosphorus, chlorine, iron, manganese, aluminium. Vegetables are, in fact, and from the special point of view where we place them, only the varied combinations of which these fifteen' elements are susceptible. In the same way that a language expresses our most delicate and profound thoughts, as well as the meanest, by means of the small number of letters which compose its alpha- bet, so do vegetable productions assume the most varied forms and dissimilar properties by means of these fifteen elements only, which compose the true alphabet of the language of nature. Now, if it be so, we are justified in likening the veget- able to a mineral combination, a more complicated one, doubtless, but which we may hope to reproduce in every 270 The Chemistry of Agriculture. part by means of its elements as we do with the mineral species. This proposition, how astonishing soever it may appear to you, is nevertheless the exact truth. To prove it to you, permit me to establish a parallel between ve- getables and minerals, from the different points of view which more especially characterize the latter. We wiU commence with their mode of formation and growth. First, we perceive only differences. A crystal sus- pended in a saline solution, grows by the deposit of molecules on its surface, similar in composition and form to those which constitute its nucleus. These molecules, diffused through the solution, obey the laws of molecular attraction, and thus increase the mass of the primitive crystal. The vegetable, on the contrary, does not find diffused vegetable matter in the atmosphere, nor in the soU with which it is in contact. Through its roots and leaves it derives its first elements from without, causing them to penetrate into its interior, and there mysteri-- ously elaborates them to make them ultimately assume the form under which they present themselves to our eyes. We can, nevertheless, say that the process of vegetable production has something in comihon with the formation of a mineral. For in both cases we see a centre of at- traction, which gathers up the molecules, etc., received from without. In the more simple case of the mineral, the combination of the elements is previously accomp- lished ; only a mechanical grouping takes place. In the more complex case of the vegetable, the combination and mechanical grouping are effected at the same time, and in the very substance of the plant. In both cases, a formation is engendered by the union of definite or de- finable material elements. The Ohemistry of A.grieulture: 271 From the point of view of composition, vegetables ap- pear at first more simple, since they are derived from fifteen elements only, while at least sixty concur in the production of minerals; but in reality they are more complex, since each plant always contains the fifteen ele- ments at once, while minerals, taken individually, never contain but a very small number, five or six at most. Among vegetables, the combination is also more intimate. In minerals, each of the constituents preserves up to a certain point, its individual properties. In the sulphates, for example, it is easy to prove the presence of sulphuric acid by adding baryta to it, which gives, the insoluble precipitate of sulphate of baryta in these salts as well as in sulphuric acid itself. Besides, in thus withdrawing the sulphuric acid from a sulphate, we have not destroyed the sulphuric acid, we have only displaced it. But with the group of elements, which form a vegetable, it is not so; in them all individual character disappears. Who can per- ceive the carbon, the nitrogen, the potassa, etc., which constitute the plant ? Only the whole manifests its pro? perties, and we cannot separate an element from it, ex- cept by destroying it past recovery. Notwithstanding these essential differences, we have nevertheless, in both cases, to do with material combinations, that is to say, with phenomena of the same nature, one of which is more complicated than the other ; they are two distant terms of the same series. Let us conclude this parallel by comparing the forces which in both cases determine the grouping of the ele- ments. When attraction is exercised at great distances, in the planetary spaces, for example, it depends only on the reacting masses, and not upon their nature ; when. 272 The Chemistry of Agriculture. on the contrary, attraction is exercised in contact, as in chemical combinations, it depends at the same time upon the mass and the nature of its elements. This new and more complex form of general attraction is called affinity. Gravitation, the first term of the series, which we call universal attraction, governs and harmonizes the move- ments of the stars; affinity, the second term of this same series, regulates the play of mineral combinations. If we examine the formation of vegetables from this point of view, we shall see that it represents a still more complicated case of universal attraction, a third term of the series, if I may be allowed the expression. Here, in fact, the result depends at the same time on the re-acting masses, on the nature of the elements present, and on the action of a new force, situated in the embryo, which dif- fuses itself from thence throughout the vegetable, and impresses its special stamp upon the combination pro- duced. Take two seeds of the same sort, having the same weight ; remove from each of these seeds a morsel also of the same weight, only let one include the embryo in the amputation, and in the other let the embryo be left out, and take instead a fragment of the perisperm ; then put both upon a wetted sponge. The seed without embryo will soon enter into a state of putrefaction ; the other,' on the contrary, wiU give birth to a vegetable capable of absorbing and organizing aU the products re- sulting from the disorganization of the first. There isj then, in this embryo a new power, of organic essence, which modifies the ordinary course of affinities, and im- presses upon the combinations present a special form, of which it is itself the prototype. The formation of the vegetable is not the only case The Chemistri/ of Agriculture. .273 where foreign forces come thus to modify, the ordinary- play of affinities. Mix hydrogen and nitrogen together in the dark, there will be, no combustion. Submit the mixture to the ' action of the solar rays, an explosion immediately takes place, and the gaseous mixture is re- placed by a new product — hydrochloric acid. Here then are two elements incapable of entering into combination by themselves, but which acquire this faculty by the in- tervention of a foreign force — light. Mineral chemistry abounds in examples of this kind. In the greater complication of A^egetables under these different relations, I consider it then to be correct not to see a sufficient reason for believing that nature has traced a line of absolute demarcation between minerals and vegetables, nor to admit that the laws of their form- ation have nothing in common with those better known laws which regulate the productions of the inorganic king- dom. I think,' on the contrary, that nature is uniform in her general laws, and that by attentive observation aided by experiment, we may arrive at knowing them in all their effects. I perceive then nothing irrational in the attempt to arrive at the artificial realization of the condi- tions in which they are exercised to produce vegetables, as science has already succeeded in doing with mine- rals. This conclusion will acquire, I hope,: a stronger and stronger evidence as we penetrate deeper in our researches, and .1 shall at once give a very striking con- firmation of it, in showing you that nature does not pass suddenly from the mineral to the vegetable, from crude matter to organized matter, but that there exists, on the contrary, a class of compounds which lead us insen- sibly from the one to the other, and form the bridge 274 The Chemistry of Agriculture. which unites these two series of productions. These compounds which, for this reason, we name transitory products of organic activity, range themselves in two dif- ferent groups — hydrates of carbon and albumenoids. The following is an enumeration of them : TRANSITORY PRODUCTS OP ORGANIC ACTIVITY. Hydrates of Carbon. Albumenoids. I-luble j.^S". JFibnne. C Gum Tragacanth, ~) Semi-soluble . ■] Mucilages, >■ Caseine. (^ Pectin e. ) f Gum Arabic, ") Soluble •] Dextrine, (• Albumen. (Sugars, ) All these bodies form a regular series, of which the types I have characterized are only distant terms. But in nature we find all the intermediates by which we can pass insensibly from each one to that which follows it. It is thus that cellulose presents itself to us under very different states of cohesion, from the wood and perisperm of the date, where it is extremely hard, unto the young shoots of all kinds of vegetables, and the skins of fruits, where it is not more solid than starch paste. The latter, which in the apple, potato and wheat, is in solid globules, and isolated like grains of sand, is found in a viscid state in other plants, and thus passes gradually to the form of gums and mucilages. Between the latter and the sugars that crystallize, we find the uncrystallizable sugars, etc. But the analogies which these bodies^ present with each other do not stop here. It is, in fact, possible to convert them artificially from one into another by the very simple reactions of the laboratory. Under the influence of dilute The Chemistry of AgricuUur6. 275 acids and prolonged boiling, all are resolved into grape sugar, which seems to be the least organized form — the nearest to mineral nature that the type can assume. As if to give a superior reason to all these approximations^ elementary analysis assigns one and the same formula to all the compounds. Each contains twelve equivalents of carbon united to the elements of water, which entitles them to the denomination of hydrates of carbon. Besides this series of ternary compounds, we also find in all vegetables the albumenoids which to the three elements above indicated, join a fourth, nitrogen, in an important quantity, and two others, sulphur and phos- phorus, in very small proportions. These compounds, much more complex than the first, present themselves under three essential forms : insolu- ble, semi-soluble, and soluble, to which the three types, fibrine, caseine, and albumen respond. Like the pre- ceding, they are met \vith in nature under very varied conditions, and may be converted, one into another, by the reactions of the laboratory. The hydrates of carbon and the albumenoids form then two parallel series, which exist side by side in the substance of all vegetables, and which are constantly undergoing the various transformations of which they are susceptible. Let us show what takes place during the germination of a grain of wheat. The hydrate of carbon exists in the dried grain under the form of starch, and the albumenoid under the form of fibrine or gluten. In proportion as the water penetrates the .perisperm, it swells, becomes milky, and then it contains albumen, dextrine, and true gum. Subsequently, when the blade is elongated, when the 276 Tlie Chemistry of Agriculture. leaf begins to respire, you will find sugar and cellulose, which are produced at the expense of the original starch. By the side of these bodies you will find albumen de- rived from the gluten. Let us examine, on the other hand, what takes place during the formation of the seed. In beet-root, for ex- ample, sugar exists. In proportion as the seed is formed the sugar disappears ; but on the other hand, the seed is full of starch. During the foliaceous life of the plant, its juice contains albumen : when the seed is formed, the greater portion of the albumenized principle is found concentrated in an insoluble form. We are then fully justified in believing that these bodies are being constantly transformed into each other in the very substance of the vegetable, and that they are like the several steps of a ladder, by which crude matter gradually ascends to the rank of completely orga- nized matter. But we have seen that in the laboratory these transfor- mations are effected by energetic chemical agents. What can be the cause which determines these same effects in the substance of the plant? When sulphuric acid con- verts baryta into the sulphate of that base, it combines with it, and there no longer exists either baryta or sul- phuric acid. The two constituents are confounded in the product of the combination, which is sulphate of baryta. When the same acid converts starch or cellulose into sugar, things do not proceed exactly in the same manner. After the transformation, we find the acid wholly free. By its presence alone it acts like the solar ray upon the mixture of chlorine and hydrogen ; and sulphuric acid is not the only body which possesses this property. The The Chemistry of Agriculture. 277 albumenoids, of which, we have just spoken, possess it in a higher degree, especially when they have begun to undergo a change by contact with the oxygen of the atmosphere. Putrid gluten rapidly converts consider- able quantities of starch into dextrine and sugar, and' that without being itself disturbed by the exercise of its own modifications. The cause of the changes which the hydrates of carbon undergo in the substance of veget- ables resides therefore in their encounter with the albu-r menoids, which are themselves modified under the influ- ence of water, the oxygen of the atmosphere, and the mineral agents derived from the , soil. We may then, finally, refer the greater part of the work of vegetation to the reciprocal action of the hydrates, of carbon, albu-; menoids and minerals. You perceive that all through this extremely complica- ted chemical operation, we always encounter the appli- cation of the general laws of chemistry, for the actions of contact are not peculiar to vegetables. They are also frequently encountered in the reactions which are effec- ted without organip agency, oidy they predominate in the phenomena of vegetable life. The study to which we devote ourselves, therefore, warrants the parallel we have drawn between minerals and plants, from the point of view of the superior laws of their production. I shall conclude by confirming this resemblance, and showing you that the sepa,ration in the substance of the vegetable of the various elements com- posing it, is submitted to a law as well .determined, I may say, almost as geometrical, as the arrangement of the molecules in a crystallization. Let us begin with the minerals. Considered as a 278 The Chemistry of Agriculture. whole, they are more abundant in grasses than in trees. The latter contains only 1 per 100 upon an average, while grasses contain from 7 to 8 per 100. The reason of this is very simple. In a salt marsh, th^ quantity of salt deposited in summer is more con- siderable than that produced in winter, because during summer the temperature being higher, the evaporation is more active. So also in vegetables, the quantity of mineral matter they contain is great in proportion to their evaporation. Now herbage being in contact with the atniosphere in every part, it is the seat of an evapo- ration much more active than that in trees, which con- tain completely sheltered organs. We find a rigorous application of this law in the tree. The sapwood con- tains less mineral matter than the heart, the heart less than the bark, the bark less than the leaves. In the green leaves of trees there is less than in the leaves that fall in autumn. In leguminous plants, the pod is richer than the seed, and in the seed there is more in the skin than in the bean. The distribution of mineral matter in the subs- tance of a vegetable obeys therefore an invariable law, it is in direct relation with the activity of evaporation. If we examine what takes place with regard to the nature of the elements, we see that here also fixed laws prevail. Phosphoric acid, potassa and magnesia prevail in the seeds, the alkaline earths and iron on the contrary prevail in the stalks. ^-^ The alkalies increase in proportion as we approach the fruit and young shoots. They are much less abundant in those organs which - are old and have less vital ac- tivity. The Chemistry of Agriculture. 279 Phosphoric acid is disseminated in a nearly uniform manner throughout the vegetable, and suddenly increases when it arrives at seeding. As to the organic elements, the laws are no less pre- cise. Carbon, oxygen and hydrogen, which in the state of hydrates of carbon form the general framework, are found diffused nearly uniformly throughout all the organs. Nitrogen, which forms an essential portion of the.albume- noids, of which the most important part consists in the active task of the formation of the tissues, is found in the greatest quantity in all the recent shoots, and especially in the seed, the last product of annual vegetable activity. We have arrived in this lecture at defining vegetables as material combinations of an order superior to mineral combinations, but like them, dependent upon the associa- tion of the first elements under the influence of the gene- ral laws of chemistry. This definition leads us invincibly to the hope of producing them artificially, and in every part, by means of their elements placed at our disposal, under conditions where they are susceptible of assuming this kind of combination. It remains for us to examine the means we can employ to attain this aim. On the Assimilation of Carbon, Hydrogen and Oxygen BY Plants. In our first discourse we arrived at the consideration of the vegetable as a material aggregate, having the closest analogy with chemical combinations. We have seen that the laws which preside at its formation differ in no res- pect, in a philosophical point of view, from those which 280 The Chemistry of Agriculture. regulate the production of the compounds of mineral che- mistry. If it be so, in order to penetrate the mysteries of the production of vegetables, the first thing we have to do is to ascend to the origin of their elements, and afterwards inquire in what conditions, and under what in- fluences, these elements enter from without, and combine together in a special manner to produce the vegetable. Let us commence this study with the organic elements, which are : Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen. The carbon cannot penetrate vegetables, except under the form' of carbonic acid. This gas arrives by two dif- ferent ways. 1st. By the roots, which draw it from the soil, where it is produced by the spontaneous decomposi- tion of organic matters. 2nd. By the leaves, which take it from the atmospheric air, where it exists permanently. In order for the carbonic acid to be absorbed, it is ne- cessary that four essential conditions be realized. The first is of organic nature, and resides in the green color of the organs of vegetables. The petals of flowers which are variously colored do not absorb carbonic acid ; the leaves, the bark, and the pericarp of green fruits, on the contrary, absorb it in abundance. In the generaliza- tion of this fact, it may be objected that purple leaves, and leaves that are almost white, exist, which also absorb carbonic acid from the air. I find the reply in a recent work by M. Cloez. This chemist has shown, that the leaves referred to, notwithstanding their different aspect, contain large quantities of green matter. It is then safe to say, that the function under consideration depends upon this green matter. Whatever the color of the organs, carbonic acid is never absorbed in the absence of solar light. This second ex- The Chemistri/ of Agriculture. 281 ternal condition of the vegetable is also as indispensable as the first. Would you wish to prove it ? i?ass a cur- rent of air into a large receiver containing a young vine with its leaves, and connected with an apparatus capable of measuring carbonic acid. You will perceive, as M. Boussingault has done, that in the sun, the atmospheric air, in passing over the green leaves, loses nearly one- half its carbonic acid, while in the dark, on the contrary, it gains a very considerable quantity. Not only, then, the leaves absorb no carbonic acid in the dark, but they also constantly emit it, to the destruction of a portion of their substance. When the leaves are a,ttached to the plant, they disengage more carbonic acid than when they are removed, because that which the roots derive from the son, not being decomposed in the vegetable, comes then to be exhaled from the surface of the leaves. A third indispensable condition, also, is the interven- tion of a certain temperature. MM. Gratiolet and Cloez have shown that the leaves of the potamogeton, which, in water a,t 54° P., disengages abundance of oxygen, ceases to do so when the temperature is lowered to 37° F. Now, as we shall soon see, this disengagement of oxy- gen is precisely the certain index of the absorption of carbonic acid. Finally, the fourth and last condition of the phenome- non is the presence of oxygen in the atmosphere in which the leaves are placed. Theodore de Saussure has proved that in an atmosphere of hydrogen or nitrogen, contain- ing carbonic gas, this gas is not absorbed by plants. On the contrary, the phenomenon manifests itself whenever oxygen forms a portion of the surrounding gases.. What becomes of the carbonic acid thus absorbed by 282 The Chemistry of Agriculture. plants? While this substance resists the highest temper- atures, and the most powerful chemical reducing agents, in the substance of plants this acid is decomposed, its carbon fixes itself in the vegetable, and its oxygen is re- moved. Hence the disengagement of oxygen which takes place on the surface of leaves immersed in water. This fact, one of the most important which science has disco- vered in this century, has been brought to light by the labors of a whole generation of savants, but it was prin- cipally by Theodore de Saussure that the conditions were defined. He saw that the quantity of oxygen emitted was equal in volume to the carbonic acid absorbed, and that minute quantities of nitrogen were disengaged. This disengagement of nitrogen, since proved by MM. Gratio- let and Cloez, has recently been denied by M. Boussin- gault. . Not wishing to insist upon this point, which has no interest in agriculture, I shall merely remark that, in all the experiments made, one condition, which could alone give value to their results, has been wanting. For it to be legitimate, in fact, to extend to vegetation the facts observed in these experiments, they must be performed upon vegetables in progress of development, constantly increasing in weight, and not upon detached portions, which may, it is true, still give vital manifes- tations, but the ephemeral existence of which is neces- sarily accompanied by special phenomena of destruction. The assimilation of the carbon, so interesting in a phy- -siological point of view, presents only an insignificant interest for agriculture; there need be no fear of its ever failing, for the atmosphere contains an unlimited supply of it. .In proportion as vegetation appropriates it, animal respiration, by an inverse effect, restores it in equivalent The Chemistry of Agriculture. 283 quantities. This harmony between the two organic Icing- doms, first observed by Priestly, and so brilliantly ex- plained by Dumas in his Statistics of Organised Beings, is nevertheless only an infinitely small one among the causes of the permanence of the atmospheric carbonic acid. Among geological phenomena causes of loss exist which are much more powerful than vegetable absorption. The disintegration of felspars removes colossal quantities of this acid from the air, but volcanoes and the formation of - pyrites constantly restore it in quantities no less impor- tant, so that its composition presents under this relation • quite a satisfactory stability for agriculture. Carbon enters into the composition of all plants in the proportion of about 50 per 100, when they are dried. It is to this element that the variation in the weight of crops is due. The quantity plants assimilate depends in great measure upon the surface of their leaves, and also a little upon their special nature. Experiment has proved that plants which, upon an equal surface of ground, fixed most carbon, were those that presented the greatest foli- aceous surface. We have seen also, that with an equal surface of leaves, plants fix quantities of carbon differing a little according to the species. The oxygen and hydrogen found in vegetables are un- doubtedly derived from water; this latter may be assimi- lated naturally, as is proved by the existence of hydrates of carbon in the substance of vegetables in which oxygen and hydrogen are found in the proportions necessary to form water. But the formation of resins, essential oils, and fat bodies, in which hydrogen predominates, shows that in certain cases water may be reduced, like carbonic acid, and that its oxygen may be eliminated. Whatever 284 The Chemistry of Agriculture. it be, the origin of the oxygen and hydrogen once estab- lished, we have no need to dwell on this point, for the plants, not being deficient of water, are in consequence abundantly provided with these two elements. It is not the same with nitrogen. Plants contain it only in relatively very small quantities, but they have an indispensable need of it, and as in certain cases it may fail, it is necessary to study with the greatest care every thing that concerns the assimilation of this element. If the crops contain such quantities of nitrogen of which the soil can render no account, we must look to the atmosphere as its origin. The air contains 79 per 100 of elementary nitrogen; nothing appears more rational than to find there the origin sought. But chemists, accus- tomed to see nitrogen gas offer a great resistance to com- bination, have at first preferred to refuse to it all inter- vention in the phenomena of A^egetation. To restore it to the place which this preconceived opinion, or one found- ed upon incomplete experiments, had caused it to lose, it was necessary to have recourse to extremely delicate ex- periments, which it is impossible to describe in this place. Here another subject of discussion presents itself: the nitrogen of the air — ^is it absorbed naturally by plants, as I have always maintained ; or does it take place, as recently suggested, only by the intermedium of nitrifi- cation previously accomplished in the soil, which would thus be a real artificial nitre-bed ? Doubtless, in certain cases, important quantities of nitrates may be produced in the soil ; but I none the less persist in saying that nitrification cannot account for the excess of nitrogen in the crops. If the nitrogen of the crops came from the nitrogen formed in the soil, is it not evident that an arti- The Chemistry of Agriculture. 285 ficial addition of nitrates would produce the same effect as a natural formation. Now there exists, in fact, some crops, that of wheat, for example, the addition of nitrates to which increases the yield. But there are others, as you may see for yourselves by inspecting the experimental field, upon which nitrates exercise no influence. Peas, for example, have not assimilated more nitrogen with a strong ma- nure of nitrates than without the addition of any nitro- genous compound. It is then quite evident, that if in certain cases natural nitrification can play a definite part, it may, on the other hand, serve as a general ex- planation of the excess of nitrogen in the crops, and that the true and great origin of this nitrogen resides in the atmospheric nitrogen directly absorbed. And moreover, what is there, in a theoretical point of view, so repugnant to the admission of this absorption ? As we speak of nitrification in the soil, who can deny that in the substance of leaves, where nitrogen undoubt- edly penetrates, where it constantly meets Avith nascent oxygen, ozonised, the formation of nitric acid must be at least as easy as it is in the soil? And when w« perceive these organs endowed with a chemical power sufficient to reduce carbonic acid, is it then inconceivable that they are capable of causing nitrogen to enter into com- bination more readily than it does in our laboratories ? No ! the absorption of nitrogen, proved by experiment, is not irrational, and it is only habit and prejudices that oppose this doctrine, which alone is susceptible of giving us the clue to the phenomena of vegetation, and reacting vsefully upon agricultural practice. If the nitrogen of the air can contribute to vegetable 286 The Chemistry of Agriculture. nutrition, is it to be said that we are not to trouble our- selves about supplying nitrogen to our crops, and that with regard to this element we find ourselves in the same state of security and weakness as with the first three that occupied our attention ? Doubtless, no ! Prac- tice on a large scale has proved the utility of nitrogenous manures, and I have myself proved that the yield of the cereals is considerably increased by the introduction of nitrogenous material into the soil. Of all the substances I have tried, the nitrates have always given me the best results, when I have operated on a small scale, and when the quantity of nitrogen sup- plied to the crops was inferior to that which the yield should have contained. On the large scale, M. Kuhl- mann has obtained similar results. But at the experi- mental farm at Vincennes, I have observed no difference between the employment of nitrates and of ammonial salts. This is due, doubtless, to the manures I had re- course to, and which I intended for several successive years, having been supplied in very large quantities, and that the plants, always finding in the soil an excess of assimilable nitrogen, prospered as well in one case as in the other. Therefore I do not hesitate to say, that I place the nitrates in the first rank among nitrogenous matters useful to vegetation. Next come ammoniacal salts, and a long way after them, organic nitrogenous matters, which, to act usefully, must be previously con- verted into nitrates or ammoniacal salts. All that we have said concerning nitrogen iflay be summed up in the following conclusions, the agricultural importance of which cannot be questioned. 1. Generally speaking, the nitrogen of the air enters into the nutrition The Chemistry of Agriculture. 287 of plants. 2. In connection with certain crops, especially vegetables, this intervention is sufficient, and the agri- culturist has no occasion to introduce nitrogen in,to the soil. 3. With regard to the cereals, and particularly dur- ing their early growth, atmospheric nitrogen is insuffi- cient, and to obtain abundant crops it is necessary to add nitrogenous matters to the soil. Those which best fulfil this object are the nitrates and ammoniacal salts. On the Mkchanical and the Assimilable Elements of THE Soil. The logical order of our inquiries conducts us imme- diately after the assimilation of the organic elements, treated of in our last lecture, to the same question in respect to the mineral elements. But these bodies pene- trate the vegetable only under the form of aqueous solu- tion, and before showing you the effects they produce, when absorbed, it is necessary that I should make known, to you the medium from whence the roots derive them. The soil is, at the same time, the support of the roots, the recipient of the solution that feeds them, and the laboratory Avhere this solution is prepared. It is com- posed essentially of three constituents, Avhich concur, each in a certain proportion, to give to the whole the properties which I proceed to enumerate. They are — humus, clay and sand. Humus is of organic origin. It possesses a deep brown color, almost black. It is the cause of the dark color of vegetable mould. It dissolves in alkalies, with which it produces an almost black liquor. Acids separate it from 288 The Chemistry of Agriculture. this solution under the form of a light, floculent precipi- tate of a deep brown color. While it remains moist it will dissolve slightly in water, but when once it is dried it will no longer dissolve in it. It does not crystallize ; and under the action of heat it is decomposed, leaving •a carbonaceous residue. If the chemical properties of humus are difficult to characterize, its presence in the soil is none the less useful to agriculture. It absorbs water with great energy, and greatly increases in volume under its influence. By this property it contributes to maintain the coolness of the soil by retarding its drying. When humus is put in contact with an ammoniacal solu- tion, it removes the ammonia from it, but retains it only by a very feeble affinity, for it is only necessary to in- troduce a large quantity of water to recover it. How- ever, it does not fix combined ammonia ; that is to say, when it is combined in ammoniacal salts. Mixed with, carbonate of lime or marl, does it acquire the faculty of fixing ammoniacal salts also ? By this manner of com- porting itself with ammonia and ammoniacal salts, the utility of which are recognized in our previous lecture, humus renders important services to vegetation. It pre- vents, at least partially, the loss of the ammonia which results from the spontaneous decomposition of nitroge- nous organic matters buried in the soil. Moist humus, exposed to the air, undergoes a slow combustion which makes of it a constant source of carbonic acid. The part played by this acid in vegetable nutrition is of the high- est importance, as was shown in the preceding lecture ; still the small quantity produced by the decomposition of humus can scarcely, by its direct absorption, favor the development of plants which otherwise find it abundantly T}i& Chemistry of Agriculture, 289 in the atmosphere. Besides, we do not attach very great importance to the humus under this relation. But the carbonic acid which it unceasingly produces in the soil fulfils another function, incomparably more useful. It serves to dissolve the mineral matters, phosphates, alka- lies, lime, magnesia, iron, etc. It causes the disaggrega- tion of fragments of rocks containing useful matters which water alone cannot attack, and which, without it, would remain inert in the soil. Carbonic acid derived from humus is then as a whole, the principal agent of solution capable of supplying plants with their mineral aliment. Clay intervenes no more directly than humus in veget- able nutrition. Nevertheless, its presence in arable land is of unquestionable utility. Clay is a hydrated silicate of alumina, retaining its water with great persistence, forming with it a very plastic paste, which serves to fabricate pottery. Its presence in the soil imparts con- sistence to it,. diminishes its permeability, and maintains its coolness by retarding the passage of water. Like humus, clay fixes ammonia by a kind of capillary affin- ity, but it also possesses this property with regard to all saline solutions. By its agency the soluble salts resist flowing waters ; still more, it removes from highly charged saline solutions a much larger quantity of saltSj and yields them up again to the water when it arrives in sufficient quantity. In a very fertile soil, that is to say, one much charged with soluble salts, when little water is present, the solution it produces might attain to such a degree of concentration as to become injurious to plants. In this case, the clay, by appropriating the greater part of the salts, sufficiently weakens the solu- tion. If, on the contrary, abundant ' rain falls, the clay 290 The Chemistry of Agriculture. gives up what it had previously taken, and thus re-es- tablishes the equilibrium betv^een seasons of drought and rainy weather. In these circumstances, the clay acts as a sort of automatic granary, which, out of its abundance, stores up superfluous aliments to distribute them again when scarcity prevails. It regulates the strength of the alimentary solution, as the fly-wheel of a steam engine regulates its motion. As for the sand, it forms part of all soils, of which it is the essential constituent. It communicates to the soil its principal physical properties, and its permeability to air and water. It tempers the properties of the clay, and by its association with it, realizes the condition' most favorable to the development of plants. We have studied the inert elements of the soil — those which enter into its composition to at least 99 per 100, but which, nevertheless, concur in vegetable production only by their physical properties. It now remains for us to examine the elements which exist in but very slight proportions in the soil, but of which the part played is capital in the life of plants, since without them vegetation is impossible. Here, as with the or- ganic elements, we commence by removing from the discussion the principles which are found in sufficient quantity in all soils, and of which, consequently, agri- culture has no need to concern itself. For this reason we pass by in silence, silica, magnesia, iron, manganese, chlorine and sulphuric acid. Phosphate of lime, potassa and lime remain. These are the essential minerals, such as, associated with a nitrogenous substance and added to any kind of soil, suf&ce to render it fertile. With them we can actually fabricate plants. The Chemistry of Agriculture. 291 At the commencement of my experiments, fifteen years ago, strucls with the weakness of the old chemists with regard to the problems raised by vegetation, a weakness which I shall account for in my next lecture, I decided upon attempting a new method. The soil could not be known with accuracy, for chemical analysis had com- pletely failed in ascertaining its composition. I resolved to substitute for it an artificial mixture, all the elements of which were clearly defined. In this way I arrived at producing vegetation, in pots of china biscuit, with cal- cined sand and perfectly pure chemical products. In these ideal conditions I instituted the four following experiments : 1. Calcined sand alone. 2. Calcined sand, with the addition of a nitrogenous substance. 3. Cal- cined sand, with minerals only (phosphate of lime, po- tassa and lime). 4. Calcined sand, with the minerals and a nitrogenous substance. I sowed on the same day, in each pot, 20 grains of the same wheat, weighing the same weight, and kept the soils moist with distilled water dui-ing the entire duration of vegetation. At the harvest I observed the following facts : In the sand alone, the plant was very feeble ; the crop dried (veighed only 93 grains. In the nitrogenous substance alone, the crop, still very poor, was however better; it rose to 140 grains. In the mineral alone, it was a little inferior to the preceding; it weighed 123 grains. But with the addition of the minerals and the nitrogenous substance, it rose to 370 grains. From this first series of experiments we conclude that each of the agents of vegetable .production fulfils a double function : 1. An individual function variable according to its nature, since the nitrogenous matter produces more 292 The Chemistry of Agriculture. effect than the minerals, and as either, employed separ- ately, raises the yield above what the seed could produce by itself in pure sand. 2. A function of union, since the combined effect of the nitrogenous substance and the minerals is very superior to vphat each of these tAvo agents produces separately. But it is not sufficient to prove the relation of depen- dence which exists between the action of the nitrogenous matter and the minerals, taken en masse; we must take account of the special action of each of them. Let us then institute new experiments, in which we associate variable mineral mixtures with a nitrogenous substance, always the same, and employed in the same quantity. Let us commence by suppressing, among the minerals first employed, the phosphate of lime, and in its stead associate, with the nitrogenous matter, a mixture com- posed only of lime and potassa. In these new conditions, vegetation is not possible. The seeds germinated and scarcely arrived at four inches in height; the plants withered and died. A mixture of potassa and lime is therefore injurious to vegetation. To make it useful, phosphate of lime must be added. Do you wish to prove it? Make a fresh experiment with the same agents and a trace of phosphate of lime, 0.01 grains in 1000 grains of soil, and you will obtain a plant — meagre it is true — but which does not wither and die. When the phosphate of lime is in sufficient quantity, the crop rises to 370 grains, as before stated. There exists then between the phosphate of lime on the one part, and the potassa and lime on the other, a relation of unity. analo- gous to that which we have shown to exist between nitrogenous matter and minerals. The Chemistry of Agriculture. 2&3 To render an account of the part played by potassa, let us make a fresh experiment, from which we will banish this alkali, and in which, consequently, the soil will be fertilized with the nitrogenous matter and a mix- ture of lime and phosphate of lime. Here the plant does not die, but the crop is inferior to that given by nitroge- nous matter alone ; it descends to 123 grains. Potassa is then an indispensable element, in a less degree how- ever than phosphate of lime, since its absence does not, as with the preceding, cause the death of the plants. Seeing that soda replaces potassa in most industrial uses, we inquire if it might not do the same with respect to vegetation. Experiment has defeated this hope. In the absence of potassa, soda exercises no influence upon the yield, which remains just the same, whether it inter- venes or not. It is then indisputable that, with regard to wheat, potassa is of the first necessity, and that soda cannot be substituted for it. It remains to explain the part played by Ume. Here the question becomes much more complicated.. The me- thod we employed just now, and in which we made only pure and artificial products to enter, leads us to results of little importance only. An experiment made with nitrogenous matter, phos- phate of lime, and potassa only, gave a crop of 340 grains, while we obtain 370 grains with the complete manure, by which I understand, the mixture of nitroge- nous matter and the three essential minerals — ^phosphate of lime, potassa and lime. This slight difference seems to indicate that lime plays only a secondary part. Never- theless, agricultural practice obtains very good effects from it. We must then seek by other ways to discover 294 The Chemistry of Agriculture. what may be tlie nature of its action. If we substitute a mixture of sand and humus for pure sand without lime, the yield remains like the preceding equal to 340 grains. In the absence of lime, the humus has then no action^ either useful or injurious. But if we add lime (in the state of carbonate) in this same experiment, the yield immediately rises to 493 grains. The lime which in the absence of all organic matter, influences the yield in but an insignificant manner, manifests on the contrary a very decisive action in the presence of hurhus, which produces no effect of itself when alone. There exists then be- tween lime and 'humus a remarkable relation of unity. All the experiments lead us to this final conclusion— that the soil to produce plants, must contain, under an assimilable form, a nitrogenous matter, with phosphate of lime, potassa ^nd lime, and that to insure the efficacy of this latter, the presence of humus is indispensable. You will now comprehend without difficulty why agricultural experiments made upon soils more or less fertile have not led, and cannot lead, to any general practical .conclusion. Suppose that an agriculturist had the idea of adding to a field abounding with phosphate of lime, a manure containing a mixture of nitrogenous matter, potassa and lime, he wiU obtain a magnificent harvest, because the phosphate of lime in the soil united to the matters brought by the manure, wiU complete the latter, and the plants will find everything necessary to secure their development. This agriculturist will sound the praises of his manure. Others, imitating his example, will try the same experiment. But if it happens that their fields contain no phosphate of lime, far from yielding the mar- vellous results promised, tuis manure will, on the con- The Chemistry of Agriculture. 295 trary, lower the yield, for we now know that in the absence of phosphate of lime, a mixture of nitrogenous matter, potassa and lime is injurious to vegetation. This example will, I think, suffice to explain all the mistakes that cultivators have experienced in the course of agricultural experiments, and to justify my method, which consists of removing everything unknown from the soil, by substituting -for the latter an artificial mix- ture of definite composition. Now that by delicate and precise experiments we have arrived at the knowledge of the superior laws of the pro- duction of vegetables, shall we remain contented with ..philosophically contemplating them, and continue to fol- low, as before, a blind empiiical practice? Shall we ; continue without concern to exhaust the soU around us, and restore to it, in the form of manure, only a small portion of what it yields to us in the form of crops, ready to transfer our industry elsew;here, when our country re- fuses to nourish us, as the Arab transfers his tent and his flocks ? Or shall we continue, in despair of the cause, to surrender ourselves blindfolded to the charlatanism of adulterated manures and the traders in an agricultural panacea? No! these truths, so simple and so fruitful, will quit our laboratories to enter into daily practice. Our industry will seek the elements of fertility in the vast quarries where nature has stored them up, and agri- culture, henceforth, confident in itself and its products, will assume greater attractions, and come to range itself, like all other branches of production, under the essen- tially progressive banner of supply and demand. 296 The Chemidry of Agriculture. On the Analysis of the Soil by Systematic Experi- ments IN Cultivation. We know that there exists in the soil materials which do not enter into vegetable production except as a sup- port to the roots, thus realizing a kind of recipient for the useful elements. We designate them by the name of mechanical agents. We call assimilable agents all those which, at a given moment, penetrate the plant in the state of aqueous solu- tion, to form afterwards an integral part of its tissues. We rank in a third class the assimilable agents in re- serve, all the organic and mineral debris which contain useful elements, but which cannot give them up to water until after a previous decomposition. We are thus led to the following classification of, the elements of tbe soil, a truly natural classification, as it rests upon the facts which we have derived from the results of cultivation itself. 2. Active assimilable agents Organic. COMPOSITION OF A FERTILE SOIL. r Sand. I. Mechanical agents | Clay. (^ Gravel, r Humus. < Nitrates. Ammoniacal Salts. Potassa. Soda. Lime. Magnesia. Soluble Silica. Sulphuric Acid. Phosphoric Acid. Chlorine. Oxide of Iron. Oxide of Manganese, Assimilable agents | Undecomposed organic matters, in reserve \ Undecomposed fragments of rocks. Mineral.. The Chemistry of Agriculture. 297 For a soil to be fertile, it is not sufficient that it con- tains potassa, phosphoric acid, lime and nitrogen ; these agents must also exist in an assimilable form, that is to say, in a state in which the water in the soil can dissolve them, to convey them into the interior of plants through the spongioles of their roots. Suppose that a soil con- tains a feldspathic sand instead of a quartz sand. Chem- ical analysis would show the presence of all the agents useful to vegetation, and still this soil would be of a desolating sterility — ^for, in feldspar, these bodies are combined in silicates which water cannot dissolve. Not only then is it necessary to determine the presence and quantity of the useful elements, but analysis, to be fruit- ful, must also occupy itself with the kind of combinations in which they are engaged. Leaving aside then the chemistry of the laboratory, we deduce a more certain method, one in which we em- ploy no other re-agent than the plant itself. You will remember that four essential agents suffice to assure the fertility of soils, and that the suppression of one of them lowers the yield to a very important extent. Now, con- ceive a soU naturally provided with phosphates, is it not evident that the suppression of phosphates in the manure supplied to it wUl produce no bad effect ? Reciprocally, whenever the manure without phosphates produces a crop equal to that from a manure which does contain it, we shall be justified in admitting that the soil is natur- ally provided with it. Do you wish to be similarly in- structed with regard to lime, potassa and nitrogenous matter ? Cultivate the same soil with manure deficient in lime, potassa and nitrogenous matter, and according as they produce good or bad crops draw your conclusions 298 The Chemistry of Agriculture. as to the presence or absence of these agents of fertility. This new method banishes all hypothesis, since it rests upon the following facts, proved by experience, namely : 1. That the association of minerals and an assimilable nitrogenous matter produces good crops everywhere ; while isolated, these agents are always inert. 2. That lime produces a useful effect only in presence of humus. 3. That lime and humus produce great effects only in a soil provided with minerals and nitrogenous matter. This method adapts itself to all the wants of cultivation, since it is sufl&cient to scatter a few handsful of a fertilizing manure upon a field, to indicate at the time of harvest what the soil contains, what it wants, and consequently, what must be added to it to render it fertile. Lastly, it is essentially practicable, as it requires no difficult mani- pulation, no apparatus, and employs only the usual pro- cesses of cultivation. The plant therefore becomes in our hands one of the most perfect instruments of analysis, the only one, in the present state of science, susceptible of mrking known practically the composition of soils. On the Sources of the Agents of Vegetable Productions. We have shown that the fertility of soils depends on the presence, in their substance, of the elements which we have called assimilable agents. From this it evidently results that, to render a barren soil fertile, it will suffice, in most cases, to add the whole of these elements to it. This is, in fact, what the experiment with calcined sand proves, where such a mixture realizes conditions of fer- tility equivalent to those of a good soil. We may say, The Chemistry of Agriculture. 299 then, that this mixture is the ideal mixture, the manure par excellence. The great natural store of nitrogen is the atmosphere. We have seen that vegetation in general enjoys the fac- ulty of drawing from it the greater portion of the nitro- gen it assimilates. The idea of imitating nature, and of procuring nitrogenous compounds hy causing the nitrogen of the air to enter into combination, has for a long time presented itself to the minds of chemists. Let us now proceed to the study of the phosphates. Phosphoric acid is widely diffused in nature ; it exists in very small proportions in most of the crystalline rocks, where it is in combination with alumina and oxide of iron. In this state it is useless to vegetation, as water cennot dissolve it. In the sedimentary soils, it presents itself, on the contrary, under a form essentially assimil- able to that of phosphate of lime. But in general, the soil contains only traces of it, some ten-thousandths at the most, and in many countries where cultivation has been long continued, the soil has become wholly ex- hausted of it. Fortunately, there exists upon certain points of the globe, considerable quarries of it, suffi- ciently abundant to repair the losses of the past, and secure the wealth of the future. ' Chalk, which forms such immense deposits, always con- tains phosphate of lime — the proportion is much greater the deeper we descend. At the base of the cretaceous strata a peculiar mineral is met with, in fragments of various sizes, which contain as much as 50 per cent, of phosphate of lime. When guano began to be noticed, no one then sup- posed that it was possible to find a substitute for the 300 The Chemistry of AgricuUure. farm dung-hill. It was this that attracted the attention of chemists and agriculturists to artificial manures, and such was the state of ignorance that continued to prevail till within a few years, that the fertilizing properties of guano were exclusively attributed to the nitrogen it con- tained. Whatever ideas were entertained of its action, the good results it produced showed also for the first time that it was possible to obtain very good crops by processes that finally broke up the traditions of the past, and opened to agriculture the entirely new path of arti- ficial manure. Guano forms extensive deposits upon the islands scat- tered in the Pacific ocean, and upon the coast of Peru, It is supposed to be produced by the excrements of birds that feed upon fish. Its composition is not quite favorable to this hypothesis. It contains much more phosphoric acid, proportionally, than the excrements of birds. It therefore seems to me more probable that it contains both the excrements and the skeletons of birds. Whatever it be, guano containing both nitrogen and assi- milable phosphate of lime, constitutes an essentially fer- tilizing substance. To convert it into a complete manure, it is sufficient to add to it potassa and lime. Guanos are not always of the same composition. Their richness in nitrogen varies from 5 to 14 per cent., and their contents in phosphates extend to 25 or 35 per 100, Therefore, before employing these products, it is necessary to sub- mit them to analysis, both to guard against adulteration, to which they are frequently exposed, and to ascertain the quantities that should be employed. Index. * Agriculture, History of " Eesume of PAGE 9 207 " as a Science 40 Ammonia 28 " as a Currency Apples, Culture of 109 70 Appendix Answer to Mr. Crawford ... 95 165 Breaking Lands " " Time for ''.In' 43 45 " " Ploughs for Bank, Agricultural ... Bacon, To Save 44 .-.. 108 80 Beets, Culture of 75 Bees, Eaising " Their Habits and Grovernment 81 82 Book Farming 96 Carnac, Letter from 19 Canteiopes Career as a Planter 76 235 Corn, Cultivation of 52 112 " Soil suitable for 23 " How to Preserve 56 " Average Crop " and Fodder 100 189 Cotton, Cultivation of 57 " Soil suitable for 23 " a Sun Plant 41 (301) 302 Index. Cotton Picking " Selecting " for Seed " Hoeing... " Sixteen Acre Lot " Seed , Cabbage, Culture of ... Cider Making Commercial Manures ... " " vs. Home-made Manures Composts Chemistry of Agriculture Crops, Eotation of " Cultivation of Cultivation of Crops ... Cotton Crawford, Answer to Mr. Dennis' Letter Explained Lent, Answer to Mr. ... Dissolved Bones Dickson Compound " Sweep " System of Farming ... " Success as a Planter Experts ... Farm " Size of Fodder ... " Pulling... Five-field System Fruits, Small ... " F. J. E.," Eeply to Garden Yegetables Ground Peas Gift, Eeply to Mr. PAGIi ... 60 ... 60 ... 60 ... 62 ... 123 ... 157 ... 74 ... 84 ... 134 ... 138 ... 36 ... 259 ... 21 ... 47 ... 47 ... 178 ... 165 ... 166 ... 128 ... 29 33 157 ... 50 ... 146 ... 235 89 154 ... 21 ... 21 ... 189 ... ■ 55 65 18D ... 72 ... 199 ... 74 ... 69 ... 149 Index, 303 Guano ., PACK 190 " Peruvian 31 Green Crops, Turning in 26 Hoeing Cotton ... 62 Hogs, Eaising 78 Honey 81 Immigration, Letters on 171, 182 249 Improving Lands 160 Inorganic and Organic Substances ... ... 38 Independent, Let us be ... ... 92 Irish Potatoes 74 Labor, Our Present System of 86 Lands, Improving of 25 107 " Means of Improving ... 25 Let us be Independent ... 92 Lime 28 Manures ... 29, 118, 193 196 " Observations on 102 " Commercial 134 138 " Mixing ... 162 " Where to use i-)u 164 " Application for Cotton 198 " " " Corn ... ... ... 198 Melons, Cultivation of ... ... .* • 75 Mixing Manures 162 liTesbit, J. A., Letter 154 Onions, Cultivation of ... ... .•. 75 Organic and Inorganic Substances ... 38 Peas, Cultivation of ... ... ... 54 " for Improving Lands ;.. 131 Peaches, Culture of 70 Peruvian Guano ... 31 Potash ... 28 304 Index. Potatoes, Cultivation of " Digging " Saving Profit, Test of Easpberries, Culture of Eesume of Agriculture Eeply to " P. J. R" .. " Mr. Gift " Mr. Dent Eotation, Order of " for Improving Land Eust in Wheat . . . " Cotton... Sandy Land Science, Agriculture as a Small Grain " Fruits ... Stock, Care of ... Sweep, Dickson... Sugar Cane Strawberries, Culture of S/stem of Labor Success as a Planter The Chemistry of Agriculture Test of Profits The Five-field System Tomatoes, Culture of ... Turnips, Culture of , Wheat, Soil for " Cultivation of " East in Yegetable Garden Yinegar Making Yille, Professor, Lectures of... AGRIGULTtlRAL PAPSR. A Monthly Paper of THIRTY-TWO PAGES, devoted exclusively to AGRICULTUEE, HORTICULTURE, And Matters Eelating to the Field and Fireside. While we do not desire to disparage any of the Agricultural publications which are now receiving public patronage, we do not believe that any of them exactly covers the ground which we propose to occupy. We intend to issue a FiiiST-Cf.AS.f Pai'I!!!, both as to 3[atier and Execution. We shall employ the BEST TALENT which the country affords in every department, and we in- tend to spare no pains to niaK-e the paper a reliable authority to all seeking information on everything relating to THE FARM AND THE HOUSEHOLD. Eminent practical Agriculturists will contribute articles concerning the PREPARATION AND CULTURE OP THE SOIL. Skilled Horticulturists and Fruit-Growers will keep our readers posted in regard to the GARDEN AND ORCHARD. Persons of acknowledged experience and skill in the raising and care of Stock, will devote their attention to this important subject. THE DOMESTIC DEPARTMENT Of the household, the Kitchen, the Larder, the Store-Room, and the Fowl Yard, with approved recipes in all the branches of housewifery, shall be at- tended to carefully. We have made-arrangements to illustrate the text with appropriate WOOD ENGRAVINGS, And while the greater portion of tllp paper will be devoted to the instruction and benefit of the heads of the house, the amusement of the Young Peo- ple shall not be neglected. The covers and a few pages at the end of each number of the "THE SOUTHERN FARM AND HOME" will be reserved for advertisements, and will be a most valuable medium for business men to communicate with the public. We invite onr friends and patrons to make early application for the limi- ted space which we can set apart for advertisements. TERMS-IN VARIABLY IN ADVANCE. SEttgl© GepEes^ on© year ^i ©Qi ;>«©Ss OB© yeap ■ S @@) one jseatPj ■ 7 i® Sk BCTOmtilDS 4 QlQ) J. W. BURKE & CO., Macon, Ga.