The Industrial Resources, Etc. of the Southern and Western States Volume 3; Embracing a View of Their Commerce, Agriculture, Manufactures, Internal Improvements, Slave and Free Labor, Slavery Institutions, Products, Etc., of the South (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1853 Excerpt: ... first operation, on the contrary, is to burn your trash, thereby destroying the best manure that can be used for renovation of the soil and production, and then, before cleaning your ditches, you commence plowing and planting. The consequence is, that when the season is wet, your ground, being saturated with water, becomes stiff and clammy; that your plows move in it with the greatest difficulty, and at best only scrapes it, and that your canes are bedded in mud or earth as hard as brickbats, according to the weather--all things destructive of good vegetation; whilst my field being completely drained before I begin plowing, my teams of four stout and well-fed mules walk over it rapidly, leaving behind them as deep a furrow as needed, and the ground, thus loosened at a proper depth, being ever relieved by my drains of all surplus water, retains a porosity which affords to my canes a dry bed and a cover of fine soil, whereby life is secured to almost every eye of the plant; and then again your land being stiff and clammy for want of draining, and mine not, my planting is completed before yours is half done. I plant my canes eight feet apart, and according to the quality of the land; I place from two to four canes in each furrow, lapping the same the whole length. There being plenty of room between my rows of cane, I work two-horse plows with ease, and without disturbing the young plants shooting out, or the fibres forming in the deep soil prepared, all which is of great importance, for the moment the young roots are disturbed, the plants turn yellow and their growth is suddenly checked, and so remain until new fibres restore them again to a healthy condition, which seldom takes place in less than a fortnight; thereby throwing back the growth and maturity of ...