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THE SOUTHERN PLANTER; 

Beboteti lo Slartcultttre, ^Horticulture, strt the jL'ouseholDi &m. 



Agriculture is 


the 


nursing mother of the Arts. 
JCenop/wn 


1 Tillage and Pasturage are 
State. — Sully. 


the two breasts of the 








C. T. BOTTS <fc L. 


M. BURFOOT, Editors. 






Vol. 


II. 




RICHMOND, 


DECEMBER, 1842. 


No. 


12. 



PRINCE GEORGE COUNTY. 

SANDY SOILS. 

Some months since, we published replies of 
Dr. Harrison to the inquiries of the Virginia 
Board of Agriculture, and we are indebted to 
our friend of the American Farmer for the fol- 
lowing comments upon them. There is a large 
portion of our country, to which they are equally 
applicable : 

11 Product of Corn in Prince George 
Count y, Va. — In the reply of Robert Harrison, 
Esq. to 'some of the queries of the Board of 
Agriculture, for the State of Virginia, so far as 
the county of Prince George is concerned,' we 
find the following paragraph : 

" ' Corn. — The average product per acre in 
that section of the county that has received an 
application of calcareous manures, we consider 
equal to four barrels, and the remaining portion 
of the county is considered not to exceed two 
barrels per acre. And we believe it more fre- 
quently falls below, than exceeds this estimate.' 

" In the same paper, the estimated average 
product of ivheat on marled land is stated at ten 
bushels, and that on lands not marled atfive bushels 
per acre. Now it must be evident to every cal- 
culating mind, that neither of these yields can be 
said to be remunerating, and it must be equally 
evident that, notwithstanding, by the operation 
of marling, the product has been increased one 
hundred per cent, something remains to be done 
to bring the land of Prince George up to a pro- 
per state of fertility. What that something is, 
shall be the purpose of this paragraph, and we 
enter upon the inquiry under great feelings of 
delicacy, because we know that in that region 
of Virginia, there are numerous gentlemen of 
first rate intelligence and great practical skill in 
agriculture, infinitely more competent than our- 
self to suggest a remedy. So great indeed is 
our embarrassment, that if we were not encou- 
raged by the saying of Sir Walter Scott, that 
he had never conversed with a man from whom 
he had not been able to learn something, we 
should not make the suggestions we are about 
to advance. 

" It would appear from the paper of Mr. Har- 
rison, that clover has only been introduced into 
the course, of rotation pursued upon the marled 
lands, and that upon those which have not been 
Vol. 2—34 



marled, ' the process of rotation is corn, oats, 
sometimes rest, but most frequently pasturage' — 
a course of rotation unfortunately too well cal- 
culated to continue the infertility of the soil. It 
is possible, that clover could not be grown, — cer- 
tainly not advantageously — upon lands averag- 
ing but ten bushels of corn, or Jive of wheat to 
the acre, but even as impoverished as such lands 
must necessarily be, the fact of the melioration 
produced by the application of marl, shows, that 
it is susceptible of being improved, and where- 
ever lime in that form is not attainable, we think 
that plaster of Paris, if sown over the fields 
while in a state of ' rest, 1 or pasturage,' would 
tend to increase its fertility, and that, if instead 
of devoting it to either of these purposes, suc- 
cessive crops of buckwheat were ploughed in, 
each crop receiving, previously to being ploughed 
in, a bushel of plaster to the acre, that in the 
course of a few years, those lands might be 
brought up to a state of profitable fertility, and 
that if in addition to the buckwheat and plaster, 
marl or lime were applied, that its ratio of im- 
provement would be greatly accelerated. In 
the part of Virginia of which we are speaking, 
three crops of buckwheat might be grown and 
turned in in a single season, and when it is con- 
sidered that this plant, from the construction and 
size of its leaves, extracts a very considerable 
portion of its food from the elements, there will 
but few be found, we think, to doubt that it 
would act as a fertilizer of the soil. It is a re- 
ceived maxim among agriculturists, that any 
lands which will grow clover, may, by the appli- 
cation of lime, be brought up to a state of ferti- 
lity, equal, if not superior, to its virgin condition, 
provided a judicious rotation of crops be adopted 
and pursued — and that the lands of Prince 
George could be so brought up, we do not en- 
tertain the scintillation of a doubt — their suscep- 
tibility to improvement is most amply illustrated 
by the change for the better already wrought 
upon those portions of them where marl has 
been applied. The increase already effected of 
from two to four barrels of corn, and from five 
to ten bushels of wheat, shows, that the addition 
of the marl has supplied one of the ingredients 
of which the soil had been robbed b} r improvi- 
dent culture, and would indicate that, in addition 
to the calcareous principle furnished, nothing is 
wanted now, but nutritive manures, to render the 
work of melioration complete. 



266 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



" If the farmers in that region had ample sup- 
plies of barn-yard and stable manures, where- 
with to give short periodical dressings to their 
fields, no one will doubt but that they could 
grow good crops ; but however necessary ani- 
mal and vegetable manures may be — and we 
freely admit that they are — still lime, in some of 
its forms, must be superadded to impart any 
thing like permanency to any improvements to 
be effected, as it is just as essential to the soil, 
as condiments are in the preparation of dishes 
for the human appetite." 

In the American Agriculturist we find another 
system of renovating poor sandy soils, which 
consists in rolling and turning in clover. That 
turning in crops of clover, buckwheat, or Ken- 
tucky blue grass, will improve the land on which 
they grow, there can be no manner of doubt ; 
and this process is like the rolling of a snow 
ball, the progress slow and difficult in the be- 
ginning, but gaining power in geometrical pro- 
portion with its increase. Any addition of lime, 
plaster or manure, that can be afforded, will of 
course hasten the result. Nor is there any end 
to this operation. The process may be con- 
tinued until the land becomes gorged with its 
own products. But this is equally true of clay, 
as of sand, in fact of any soil. Some may be 
the better for an addition of lime ; where there 
is too much sand, a little clay may be added, 
and vice versa. But this is no new discovery — 
Adam undoubtedly knew that he would improve 
his garden more by turning in his peas and 
beans, than by gathering and consuming them. 
The misfortune is, that although the cultivators 
of these poor lands know this as well as Adam 
or the Editor of the American Farmer, they 
generally find the crop barely sufficient to fill 
their own stomachs, as our friend may surmise 
from Dr. Harrison's statements. If the Editor's 
advice had been accompanied with instructions 
for living a year or two without eating, it would 
have been much more practical. 

But if circumstances will justify the return 
of the crop to the land, what crop shall be used, 
the buckwheat of the American Farmer, the 
clover of the agriculturist, or the blue grass of 
our friend Gen. Steinbergen ? We declare for 
the latter, where the soil and climate suits, next, 
we believe the clover returns more in proportion 
to what it draws from the soil, although we arc 
inclined to think, that the buckwheat will grow 
when neither of the other two will start. 

Mr. Allen says that in New England, where 



he made his observations upon the renovai'on 
of sandy soils by means of clover, great credit 
was given to the frequent use of the roller ; this 
corresponds exactly with General Steinbergen's 
idea of the value of the trampling of cattle on 
such land. See Planter, Vol. 2d, p. 1. 



TO MAKE GOOD SHINING BLACK INK. 

Take two ounces of nut-galls in coarse pow- 
der ; one ounce of logwood in thin chips ; one 
ounce of sulphate of iron ; three-fourths of an 
ounce of loaf sugar. Boil the galls and log- 
wood together in three pints of water till the 
quantity is reduced to one-half. Then the liquor 
must be strained through a flannel into a proper 
vessel, and the remainder of the ingredients 
added to it. The mixture is then to be stirred 
till the whole is dissolved ; after which it must 
be left at rest twenty-four hours. The ink may 
then be decantered from the gross sediment, and 
must be preserved in a glass bottle well corked. 



For the Southern Planter. 
GREEN SAND AND WORM FENCE. 

Messrs. Editors, — I have just returned to the 1 
house from ascertaining the result of an experi- 
ment, made to determine the value of green sand 
applied to corn, which I suppose may not be 
unworthy a place in your paper. To you, 
Messrs. Editors, or the bulk of your readers, I 
need not describe this manure ; so much hav- 
ing been written about it in the "Cultivator," 
under the name of " Jersey marl," and in the 
11 Farmers' Register," under the names of green 
sand, gypseous earth r &c. — though I dare say 
you will be surprised to hear of it so high up 
the country. 

From Professor Rogers' description of this 
earth, published in the same pamphlet with Mr. 
Ruffin's Essay on Calcareous Manures, and his 
suggestion that it probably might be found in 
Virginia at some considerable distance above 
tide water, I was lead to a discovery of it on my 
farm in 1835, an account of which was pub- 
lished in the Farmers' Register in October or 
November, 1S36. 

Mr. Ruffin's low estimate of its value, my 
own want of energy, &c. have for six years 
prevented even an experiment until the one here- 
inafter noticed, of the results of which your 
readers must judge for themselves ; as for my- 
self, I feel resolved to pay more attention to it 
for the future, in the confident assurance that I 
shall be amply repaid for any judicious applica- 
tion to the sod, a small quantity, in its worst 
possible state for application, having caused so 
considerable an increase of crop. 

The experiment was this. Last spring, while 
the planting of corn was going forward, I carted 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



267 



out several loads of green sand in a wet and 
sobbed state, and dropped a handful on each hill 
of corn for five successive rows, then drove down 
stakes to mark out these rows, then five rows 
were left without any green sand, and so on, 
alternately. The land was of course equal, and 
was cultivated alike. During the summer the 
marled part looked most flourishing, and upon 
being gathered to-day, weighed as follows : 

1st. 5 rows with green sand applied, weighed 103 lbs. 
1st. 5 rows without any, do. 85 

Gain caused, 18 

2d. 5 rows with the green sand, weighed 110 
2d. 5 rows without any, do. 75 

Gain caused by sand, 35 

3d. 5 rows with sand, weighed 92 

3d. 5 rows without any, do, 55 

Gain, 37 

4th. 5 rows with sand, weighed 50 

4th. 5 rows without, do. 58 

Loss, 8 

5th. 5 rows with sand, weighed 28 

5th. 5 rows without, do. 14 

Gain, 14 

Thus you see that there was a marked im- 
provement caused by the green sand: I say 
marked, considering the small quantity applied, 
and the state in which it, was when applied, 
being wet and clammy, and not resembling gun- 
powder, as it becomes upon being exposed to the 
air and frosts. The loss in the fourth instance, 
was evidently caused by the depredation of some 
animal on the five marled rows. 

Upon averaging the five different experiments, 
.as they may be called, I find, by calculation, 
that the gain caused was upwards of forty per 
cent. — an increase, had it only been general as 
it might have been, of no small consequence in 
these hard times. 

I have thus, Messrs. Editors, given you an 
account of a small experiment, in the hope, that 
it may elicit the publication of others, made 
with the same substance ; that the public gener- 
ally, and we the owners of such deposites, in 
particular, may come to right conclusions in the 
premises. 

Sharpe Carter. 

N. B. — My sheet not being filled, I would re- 
commend to my brother farmers to place a stone 
under the corners of their fencing, which saves 
some labor and a vast deal of timber. This is 
done in the best and most expeditious manner 
by having stones of the proper size carted and 
thrown along where the fence is to run, two or 
three yards apart ; the person laying the worm 



can put one under the end of each rail as he 
lays it down, and get along almost as fast as 
wiihout this little hindrance. He who will try 
it once, I am persuaded, will never lay rails on 
the ground again. 

S. C. 
Barren Hill, Nottoway, Nov. 3, 1842. 



SWAMP LANDS. 
There are thousands of acres of uncultivated 
swamp lands in the South, which, if properly 
managed, we believe to be worth ten times the 
price of reclaiming them. We are well aware 
that to drain these lands and bring them into 
cultivation, is a heavy, and, as it is frequently 
conducted, a bootless work. We also know 
that there are a few of them irreclaimable, or if 
to be reclaimed at all, only at a price greater 
than the value of the land. Renovating poor 
high land is an expensive and tedious operation, 
and to bring it to the fertility of some of our wet 
swampy lands, will cost ten times as much as 
to reclaim the latter, especially if the} 7 can be 
freed from overflowing without the use of banks. 
But to reclaim a swamp, great judgment and 
skill are frequently required, for the want of 
which, thousands are sometimes expended with- 
out returning hundreds to the injudicious opera- 
tor. Upon this subject, we give our readers the 
experience of that capital farmer, Mr. E. Phin- 
ney, of Massachusetts, as detailed in " Colman's 
Fourth Agricultural Report," 

" I consider my peat grounds by far the most 
valuable part of my farm. They are more va- 
luable than my wood lots for fuel, more than 
double the value of an equal number of acres 
of upland for the purposes of cultivation, and in 
addition to these, they furnish an inexhaustible 
supply of the most essential ingredient for the 
compost heap. Some years since, I occasion- 
ally sold to my neighbors, a few rods of my peat 
land, annually, to be cut out for fuel, at $3 per 
rod square, being at the rate of $4S0 per acre, 
but finding this sum to be less than its value for 
cultivation, especially when laid to grass, I have 
declined making further sales at that price. I 
have raised upon my reclaimed meadows, seven- 
ty-five bushels of corn, five hundred bushels of 
potatoes, and from four to five tons of the best 
hay at the first and second cutting, to the acre, 
at a less expense of labor and manure than 
would be required to produce half this crop upon 
my uplands. 

" To render these lands productive, they should 
be thoroughly drained, by cutting a ditch around 
the margin of the meadow, so as to cut off the 
springs and receive the water that is continually 



268 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



flowing in from the surrounding uplands. If 
the meadow be wide, a ditch through the centre 
may be necessary, but this will be of no use 
without the border ditches. This being tho- 
roughly done and the surplus water all drawn 
off, the next step is to exterminate the wild 
grasses and herbage of every kind that grow 
upon the surface. To effect this, the method 
heretofore, and now by some pursued, is to cover 
with sand or gravel from three to six inches 
deep, top-dress with manure, sow the grass seed, 
and rake or bush it over. This, for the first 
year or two, will give a good crop of hay. But 
after this, I have invariably found that the more 
hardy and coarse kinds of wild grass would 
work their way through the sand or gravel, and 
completely supplant the cultivated grasses, when 
the whole must have another covering and an- 
other top-dressing, or be abandoned as worth- 
less. If to be planted with corn or any of the 
root crops, my course has been to turn over the 
turf or sward, with a plough having a wrought- 
iron share and coulter, both ground to a sharp 
edge, in the driest season, say in the month of 
September, roll down as hard as possible, carry 
on the following winter a sufficient top-dressing 
of compost, about twenty cart loads to the acre, 
and in the spring spread the same, and plant 
with corn or roots, without disturbing the sod. 
When the corn or root ciop is taken off, the 
surface is made smooth with the cultivator or 
hoe and harrow, and late in November, or just 
before the severe frosts set in, sow with herds 
and red-top seed, half a bushel of the former 
and a bushel of the latter, to the acre ; the field 
is then rolled, which completes the process. If 
the plough does not turn the sward entirely over, 
it will be necessary to follow with the bog- hoe, 
to level the uneven places. By keeping the 
sod undisturbed during the cultivation, a more 
firm and compact surface is formed, upon which 
oxen or horses may walk, generally, without 
danger of miring. If the ground be intended 
for grass without the intervention of a hoed crop, 
the turf is turned over as before stated, in Au- 
gust or September, or as early in the season as 
the surface becomes dry enough to admit the 
oxen or horses upon it, then follow with the hoe 
and roller, and make such parts smooth as may 
be left uneven by the plough, and late in No- 
vember cart and spread on not less than twenty 
cart loads of compost to the acre, made of equal 
parts of loam or vegetable mould and stable 
dung, then sow the grass seed and bush and roll 
down. 

" If, after all requisite draining, the land still 
remains so wet and miry as to render the use of 
the plough impracticable, the bog-hoe must be 
resorted to, and the whole turned over by hand, 
the top-dressing carried on in the winter and the 
grass seed sowed in the spring, and if done be- 
fore the frost is all out, it may be bushed and 



rolled down, otherwise it must be raked in by 
hand. The cost of turning over with the hoe 
will not exceed twenty dollars per acre at the 
usual prices of labor. 

"This mode of culture completely subdues 
the natural grasses and wild herbage, and gives 
a compact, rich surface of vegetable mould, 
which will give an abundance of crop of the 
best hay for four or five years without the aid 
of more manure. If the sod be disturbed and 
attempted to be pulverized in the course of the 
cultivation, the surface when laid to grass will 
be loose and spongy, an extra top-dressing of 
compost will be required, and after all, the sur- 
face will never become so compact, nor the pro- 
duce by any means so great. 

" Should meadows be found too soft and miry 
to admit of being ploughed in the summer or 
autumn, and the expense of turning with the 
hoe be thought too great, I would recommend 
ploughing in the spring, when the frost is out 
to the depth of three or four inches, carting on 
the manure and then sowing or planting at a 
convenient and proper season. 

"The most important part of the business in 
reclaiming these meadows, consist in taking off 
all the surplus water by judicious draining, and 
in thoroughly exterminating the natural herbage 
and grass. This being effected, we have our 
rich bottoms equally as productive as the deep 
allu vials of the West, and obtained at a cost 
and sacrifice very much less." 



STONE FOR BUILDING. 
In the Journal of Commerce, we find some 
very judicious remarks upon the use of stone in 
building, to the effect, that too many are indif- 
ferent to the properties of the stone they use, 
provided it be hard. Some stone is so porous 
and of such an absorbent nature, as to make 
the walls givy or damp, whilst other kinds, as 
those of a limestone character, are entirely free 
from this defect, so that buildings and cellar 
walls erected of such, afford apartments perfect- 
ly dry. 



For the Southern Planter. 

Some time ago, at the request of two of my 
most respected farming friends publicly expressed, 
I undertook to give some account of my mode 
of farming. Among other things the call em- 
braced such a rotation of crops as I was in the 
habit of practising. This call, thus publicly 
made, and respectfully expressed, I did not feel 
at liberty to decline. Accordingly I commenced 
a series of articles which appeared successively 
in the Farmers' Register. At length, in prose- 
cution of my plan, and in response to the call, 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



269 



I took up the hackneyed subject of rotations, in 
which I attacked no one's theory, but simply 
gave the result of my own observations and 
practice. To this there speedily appeared a 
reply signed William M. Peyton, of Big Lick, 
Roanoke County. This reply was soon after, 
transferred, " by particular request" from the Re- 
gister to the Southern Planter. 

Now to all this, thus far, I have not the 
slightest objection. But I do object to the ex 
parte manner in which this thing has been done. 
That a reply should appear to a certain article, 
whilst that article is carefully suppressed, is to 
say the least, a little out of the common line of 
doing such business. If the Planter ohose to 
become a party in the above controversy, fair 
dealing requires, as it seems to me, that the 
whole transaction should be presented just in the 
order in which it occurred — first the article re- 
plied to, and then the reply. But the order here 
employed, — to use a homely but expressive 
phrase, — " is to put the cart before the horse." 
But it seems that the reply was inserted by 
" particular request" Now who made this par- 
ticular request, the motives why it was made, 
and the want of fairness in not extending the 
request to the article as well as to the reply — 
are matters that I have never taken the trouble 
to inquire into. But as this little matter of eti- 
quette in fair dealing, seems to have been en- 
tirely forgotten in the present instance, it seems 
to me, that the Editors ought to have supplied 
it. 

This reply furthermore, is ushered in by some 
editorial remarks, in which, as I think, an at- 
tempt has been made to prejudge the case. The 
Editors say, " We have not been unobservant 
spectators of the contest between these distin- 
guished gentlemen, and we have failed to give 
our readers heretofore the benefit of Mr. Peyton's 
handsome and able defence of the established 
doctrine, simply, because it afforded so complete 
a refutation of Parson Turner's views. A no- 
vel idea had been advanced, and, in our opinion, 
clearly refuted." A little further on, those 
" views" of mine are figuratively pronounced to 
be " poison." Now these are broad assertions, 
and if they are intended merely to express the 
opinion of the Editors as individuals, I have no 
objections to them. But then the Editors will 
allow me to say, that they in common, with the 
other members of their fraternity, occupy a con- 
spicuous station, and that therefore any opinions 
expressed by them are calculated to have a 
commanding influence. Here then it is asserted 
and that too by the highest authority, that my 
" views" are " poison" and that Mr. Peyton has 
ably and handsomely refuted them ; and yet all 
these views are carefully concealed ? In other 
words, we have the Editors' opinion prejudging 
the case, and warning their readers against these 
poisonous views. 



But my object is not to have this obnoxious 
article published in the Planter. If any are 
anxious to see it, they may find it in one of the 
late numbers of the Farmers' Register. But I 
request, as a matter of mere justice, that my 
rejoinder to this reply, may appear in the Planter, 
and with this, so far as at present advised, I shall 
be content. I will simply add, that this request 
would have been presented at an earlier date, 
but for the fact that the Editors have been ab- 
sent and I did not wish to agitate this thing be- 
fore their return. 

J. H. Turner. 

In the first place, we return our thanks to 
Parson Turner for his forbearance to " agitate 
this thing" for such a length of time, knowing 
the inconvenience his self-denial must have oc- 
casioned him. 

We are gravely accused of two crimes, to 
which it becomes us to respond ; first of " care- 
fully suppressing" an article of Parson Turner's, 
published in the Farmers' Register, and second- 
ly, of " prejudging" a controversy then going on 
| between the Parson and Mr. Peyton. 

To the first charge we plead guilty, and if it 

be a crime to carefully suppress, by failing to 

! reprint, all we see that we think little calculated 

j to interest or instruct our readers, we have much 

1 to answer for. 

As to the charge of ''prejudging," if Mr. 
Turner means that we ought not to have ex- 
| pressed an opinion until he was done writing 
upon the subject, we have only to declare our 
conviction that such a rule would amount to a 
total suppression of our opinions — for knowing 
as we do the Parson's " bottom" and the " wind" 
of his adversary, we hardly hope to live to see 
the end of this controversy. 

But Mr. Turner says, " if they are intended 
merely to express the opinion of the Editors, as 
individuals, I have no objection to them." We 
are glad to hear it ; our remarks were assuredly 
intended only to express our individual opinions ; 
although we might have been aware of the opi- 
nions of others, we certainly did not mean to 
express them. If our position, as Editors, ren- 
ders us such remarkable individuals, as Mr. Tur- 
ner would flatter us to believe, it would be hard, 
if our elevation should deprive us of the right, 
which, it seems, we might exercise in an hum- 
ble capacity. 

The truth is, we were requested to publish 
this correspondence, and under the influence of 
that request, we did what we did not mean to 



270 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



do before, culled from it what we thought wor- 
thy of publication ; in doing so, we expressed 
our opinion decidedly, but most respectfully, 
of the merits of the controversy, as it then 
stood. In this opinion, we may have erred, but 
it was an error of the head, and liable as we 
may be to such errors, we are and must be the 
sole and absolute judges of what shall fill our 
columns; Parson Turner has only the right, 
which we are happy to say he enjoys in com- 
mon with thousands of others, to give his ad- 
vice as a friend and patron of the paper. 

As to the words " poison" and " antidote," to 
which Mr. Turner seems to take some excep- 
tions, it is evident, they were only figurative ex- 
pressions for error and refutation, and, as such, 
were perfectly respectful. It gratifies us, as it 
always does to oblige Mr. Turner, to present to 
oar readers the selection he himself has made 
from his rejoinder to Mr. Peyton's reply : 

" Having settled these preliminaries, I will at 
once proceed to the matter in controversy. And 
what is it ? Mr. Peyton and the Editor seem 
both to have fallen into a mistake on this point. 
This makes it necessary that I should more par- 
ticularly 'define my position.' Both of these 
gentlemen go upon the supposition that I am 
opposed to rotations of every kind, and under 
every circumstance. This I plainly and positively 
deny ; nor is this inference fairly deducible from 
any part of my published piece. I hesitate not 
to avow that I am opposed to rotations for the 
common, and, as I think, universal purposes for 
which they are resorted to. And what are 
these? To increase a fertility which already 
exists, or at least to maintain it, or in other 
words, to make the subsequent crop greater than 
the preceding, or at least equal to it. Hence it 
is, that in nearly or quite all the treatises I have 
seen on this subject, of which there have been 
a great many in the Farmers' Register, the 
writer almost invariably concludes in language 
to this effect — that ( under this system, my land 
is constantly improving.' Indeed, I can con- 
ceive of no valuable purpose which can possibly 
be answered by a rotation, unless it be one or 
the other of those stated above. Now the po- 
sition which I take at this time, and which I 
took in my published piece, is that all crops, 
grain, grass, and of every other kind, when re- 
moved from the soil, are exhausters, some to a 
greater and others to a less extent, but generally 
in proportion to the amount removed. This po- 
sition I regard as almost self-evident. If there 
be any axiom in agriculture, I think this ought 
to be one. For what is it that has wasted away 
the fertility of our lands, until in man}' instances 
it is almost totally destroyed 1 Is it not that 



constant and injudicious cropping to which they 
have been subjected — taking off every thing 
that we could lay hands on, and supplying no- 
thing in return ? Here, then, is an evil inflicted 
upon the land, and it is cropping that has done 
it. Now can it be conceived that subsequent 
cropping will repair the injury of previous crop- 
ping? I will believe this when 1 can prevail 
on myself to think that the right way to repair 
a theft is to go and steal more. Or, as in this 
present controversy, Mr. Peyton gives me a 
drubbing, and, by way of soothing my pains, 
and thus repairing the injury, the Editor steps 
forward and gives me a more severe one. 'Noli 
me tangere'—here is Latin, but I will translate 
it—' hands off, if you please.' This, then, is 
one respect in which I am utterly opposed to all 
rotations ; and I must remain in the same mind 
until the ingenuity of these or other shrewd far- 
mers can convince me that one injury can be 
repaired by another. 'Judaus Apella credat, non 
ego. 1 This Latin is a little harder than the 
other; I therefore leave it to Mr. Peyton to 
translate. I am also utterly opposed to rotations 
on the score that there are in the soil certain 
ingredients which may be so taken up by any 
one crop as to leave the soil in a state unfit to 
reproduce that same crop. If there be any ex- 
ception to this, it is perhaps a crop of flax. But 
Mr. Peyton tells us ' that a single swallow 1 does 
not make a summer.' Here then is proof posi- 
tive, that absolute reliance cannot be placed up- 
on a single exception ; or if this proof is not 
already strong enough, 'my Lord Coke' will 
help it out. But when I speak of a soil, I of 
course mean a fertile one ; for a poor exhausted 
soil will produce no crop of any kind. This, if 
I understand him, is the main ground on which 
Mr. Peyton relies in his plea for rotations. In 
support of it, he states it as a notorious fact, 
that lands in his section of country, when so 
exhausted that they will not produce grain 
enough to pay for the cultivation, will neverthe- 
less produce large crops of clover. Old tobacco 
lots also are restored in the same way. Liebig 
also helps him out with a case in which some 
one near Gottingen, (a great way off,) by rais- 
ing a crop of wormwood, so exhausted the soil 
of its potash, that ' it refused to bear grass for 
many years.' Now, here is a hard case, Mr. 
Peyton, Liebig, the Gottingen farmer, and, what 
is much harder still, facts against me. And 
what shall I do with it? T will try to dispose 
of [he facts, and if I succeed in this, I will leave 
Mr. Peyton, Liebig and the Gottingen man to 
dispose of themselves. 

" The first fact is that lands near the Big 
Lick, in Roanoke county, (mark the position,) 
when they refuse to produce grain, having, as I 
suppose, parted from all the peculiar ingredients 
fitted for that crop, will nevertheless produce 
large crops of clove?: Now, although my pre- 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



271 



sent location is so near a city that I snuff the 
smoke of it every time the wind sets strong 
from that quarter, yet I happened to be born 
and reared to a large youth in a county adjoin- 
ing the one which numbers Mr. Peyton among 
its citizens, and therefore I know ' a thing or 
two' about these very lands. It is true that 1 
do not know the particular farm which Mr. Pey- 
ton occupies ; nor have I the pleasure of know- 
ing that gentleman himself, but I speak of the 
general character of the lands in that neighbor- 
hood ; and I do know that they were originally 
exuberantly rich. They are a part of those 
1 valley lands,' which have a limestone founda- 
tion for their substratum ; lands, as is proved in 
Kentucky and Pennsylvania, peculiarly adapted 
to the grasses, and to the growth of clover in 
particular. I have even seen clover growing 
luxuriantly in the woods on those lands. In- 
deed clover, although one of the artificial grasses, 
seems almost indigenous to that soil. It really 
seems almost as natural for clover to grow there, 
as for crab-grass to grow here. Now, in a soil 
naturally rich, and at the same time naturally 
disposed to produce clover, I am not surprised 
that it should grow, and grow vigorously, on a 
sod which refuses to produce an article to which 
it is not so congenial. The old worn-out tobacco 
lots are recruited, I presume, in the same way, 
and on the same principle. And as to Liebig's 
Gottingen farm, (I wish it was near enough for 
me to visit it,) it proves just nothing at all, or, 
if possible, less than nothing. It seems that a 
man, in his eagerness 'to obtain potash, planted 
his whole farm with wormwood.' Whether he 
got a crop or not, we are not told, and we are 
not told a great many other things which, in a 
matter of authority, 1 should like to know ; but 
I presume he did get one, for he so ruined his 
land that it refused to bear grass for several 
years. Refused to bear what? We are told 
grass. But grass was not the last crop that it 
produced ! When I came to this, I thought 
that Mr. Peyton must have made a mistake in 
his quotation, or that the printer must have made 
one. But no ! All is right. Liebig says that, 
after producing the wormwood, the land refused 
to bear grass. Now why a rotationist should 
refer to this as authority, I cannot conceive. — 
Wormwood, surely, is not the same thing as 
grass. In appearance they are very different, 
and in taste still more so. Why, then, should 
the wormwood incapacitate the land to bear grass, 
a thing so different from itself? But it seems 
that the potash was so taken up by the worm- 
wood, that none was left for the grass. Potash, 
then, cannot be one of the peculiar ingredients 
which is necessary to one crop and not to an- 
other. Here it was necessary to at least two 
crops, and for aught I know, equally necessary 
to twenty crops besides. And so it falls in with 
my theory, that the same ingredient, which I 



have taken the liberty of calling fertility, is just 
as necessary to one crop as to another. "W ith 
this statement, I am at no loss to account for 
the failure in the man's grass crops. The worm- 
wood exhausted the lands not only of their pot- 
ash, but of their fertility, a thing which in my 
estimation is of much more importance. If the 
man, instead of puzzling his brains about the 
deficiency of potash, had only gone to Liebig 
and got some of his ammonia, and applied it 
pretty liberally, I doubt not his farm would have 
produced heavier and better crops of grass than 
they ever did before. Give me, therefore, this 
one peculiar ingredient, fertility, and I care not 
a fig for all the other peculiar ingredients put 
together. 

"But I have a little more to say about this 
Gottingen farmer, so much relied upon as au- 
thority by your correspondent, Mr. Peyton. — 
According to Liebig's account of him — and this 
is all I know — I suspect that he was but a very 
poor farmer after all. He risked the productions 
of a whole year upon a single crop ! Now I 
never knew even a gambler, rash and fool-hardy 
as gamblers commonly are, to risk his whole 
stake upon the cast of a single die. I wish the 
man had tried wormwood a second time, when 
he failed in grass. But I suppose that Liebig 
had drilled him too well in the doctrines of rota- 
tion, for this. 

" There is another reason why I am opposed 
to this peculiar ingredient system ; and that is, 
that, in my present circumstances, I should find 
it too expensive and too troublesome to practise 
upon. On this plan, as I am not a chemist, I 
should have to employ one ; and as Liebig stands 
higher in authority than any other man, I think 
I should prefer him. I could get Macaire, Prin- 
cep, or De Candolle, or some other Frenchman, 
perhaps, a little cheaper ; but still, for certain 
reasons, I think I should prefer Liebig. Now, 
although, as I have had occasion to state else- 
where, the income of my farm is pretty consi- 
derable, still I fear that the increased income 
would not pay his salary. This, then, would 
be but a bad bargain. In fact, I doubt if the 
whole income of many farms would be sufficient 
to pay him. What then should I, and others 
situated as I am, do for our chemist % I am 
aware that this objection does not lie as it re- 
spects Mr. Peyton ; for I see from his communi- 
cation that he is a chemist, and therefore need 
not employ one. But I, and perhaps more than 
nineteen-twentieths of the other farmers of Vir- 
ginia, would each have to employ one, or at 
least one for every neighborhood. And the rea- 
son is simply this, that before I could venture 
with any prudence to plant my corn or sow my 
wheat in any field, I must first ascertain if that 
field contained the peculiar ingredient, and in 
that peculiar quantity, which are necessary to 
insure a crop. See how much Liebig's Gottin- 



272 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



gen farmer lost by not employing- his chemist — 
his whole crops of grass ' for many years !' — 
Why this would ruin me, body and estate. But, 
jesting aside, it would really gratify me to see 
this visionary scheme carried into actual opera- 
tion. And if Mr. Peyton will establish a farm 
on this principle — and, being a chemist, he is 
the fittest person that I know of to do so — I 
will leave my smoky atmosphere, and, with his 
permission, visit it. Such a thing appears very 
well on paper ; I wish to see how it looks in 
practice. In fact, I have been a dyspeptic for 
nearly the last twelve months, and should be 
glad of an apology to visit the salubrious moun- 
tain region that he inhabits. How delightful, 
then, on such an excursion, to visit a field culti- 
vated on this scientific plan — corn here, potatoes 
there, wheat, rye, oats, beans, pumpkins, turnips, 
not forgetting wormwood, every thing arranged 
in scientific order, according as the peculiar in- 
gredients can be found, which are suited to each 
particular crop ! 

" Now my theory on this whole subject is so 
simple and plain, that I am rid of all this vexa- 
tious trouble and expense. There is no chemist, 
except the cook, on the place, and yet we get 
along pretty well. Grass, it is known, is my 
main crop, and as I plant no wormwood to ex- 
haust the potash, I have had, with the exception 
of one unusually dry year, very fair crops. I 
go upon the simple principle, that every crop of 
every description which I take off, and appro- 
priate to my own use, is injurious to the land. 
If I see any field, or any part of a field, begin- 
ning to fail — and this I see much more frequently 
than I wish — I never send for a chemist to tell 
me what is wanting. I already know that it 
wants fertility, and this want I endeavor to sup- 
ply by manure. And in the applications of ma- 
nure I never trouble myself to inquire what 
special ingredients it contains — whether humus, 
or geine, or ammonia, or silicate of potash, or 
phosphate of lime, or ' a thousand and one' other 
hard names infinitely more familiar with Liebig 
and Mr. Peyton than they are with me. It is 
enough for me to know that these manures im- 
part to my land fertility — ' the one thing need- 
ful' to every crop. 

" But Mr. Peyton states another strong case 
upon the authority of Macaire, Princep, and 
'alluded to by Liebig, in which kgummosoe 
(beans, reader) are represented as having so 
filled the water in which they grew with their 
excretions, that a second crop would not grow 
in the same, whilst corn plants grew vigorously 
in the liquid ;' and he calls upon me by name to 
account for this strange phenomenon. This 
case, I frankly confess, is too hard for me. I 
have planted beans, it is true, and I have a very 
flourishing crop of them in my garden at this 
time, but I never plant them in a liquid. I al- 
ways plant them in the soil, just as I plant corn 



or potatoes, or any thing else ; and if. the soil is 
a fertile one, and I cultivate it well, I never have 
any trouble about their growth. I beg leave, 
therefore, to refer this strange affair, and all 
others of a similar character, to Liebig, or Ma- 
caire, Princep, or some other of the chemical 
fraternity. Mr. Peyton tells me that the ' genius 
of De Candolle revived and illustrated' this very 
thing. Liebig afterwards 'modified it,' in some 
slight degree ; but I suppose the gentleman is 
not satisfied with the modification, and therefore 
calls on me to modify it still further. Really, 
sir, I would like to gratify you, but this whole 
affair is too refined for me. I never plant beans 
in the way these gentlemen speak of, and there- 
fore know nothing about it. But if you must 
have a further modification, I think it more than 
probable that the very next writer on chemical 
agriculture will modify the whole away, and then 
at least one of us will be gratified. 

"And here, I will take occasion to say, is the 
foundation of all the objection that I have to 
scientific agriculture, or to farming on scientific 
principles. A chemist takes a vessel from his 
laboratory, in it he pours water, and in the water 
he puts some beans, just as I have seen my wife 
(she is a great florist) place her bulbous roots in 
flower vases, containing nothing but water and 
perhaps a little cotton to support the roots. In 
a little while the beans vegetate and show some 
disposition to grow. After a while the water 
becomes discolored. The first beans are now 
taken out, and others are put in the same liquid. 
These latter will not grow, but corn plants grow 
vigorously ! And what can be the cause of it 1 
Some cause must be assigned, and, for a better, 
here it is. The first beans so poisoned the wa- 
ter with their excrements, that the latter posi- 
tively refused to grow. And this one, solitary 
experiment, tried, not in the field, but in the 
chemist's laboratory, and tried, too, in an ele- 
ment foreign to the growth of the article, is 
made the foundation of an extensive principle, 
which is to give a new aspect to the whole sci- 
ence of vegetable physiology ! From the time 
of the first farmer, down to the time that this 
experiment was made in a chemist's shop, it 
was a matter of universal notoriety that, pro- 
vided there was sufficient fertility in the soil, a 
second crop would succeed a first ; but now it is 
found that the first crop so poisons the land by 
its excrements that the second will not grow. — 
And so all the previous facts, which were so 
well established, must be made to yield to this 
one solitary instance. It is to fooleries of this 
character that I am utterly opposed ; but to 
sound science, brought to the test of practical 
utility, and found pure, I am as decidedly a 
friend as can be found in America or Europe 
either. 

" But I am losing sight of my subject. Hav- 
ing now shown that I am no rotationist, either 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



273 



on the peculiar ingredient system, or for the sake 
of increasing, or even maintaining, a present fer- 
tility, which, by the bye, as I still think, fairly 
covers the whole ground, I will proceed to state, 
that I advocate a change of crops, whenever 1 
can make a greater profit by so doing. The 
profit, then, is the leading idea, by which I am 
governed in this thing. In illustration of this, 
I will suppose that there is a piece of ground 
just recovered from the forest. I will not sow 
grass, or wheat, or any other broadcast crop 
there, because it is certain that with the soil un- 
broken, and the large quantities of litter on the 
ground, the seeds wound not vegetate, and 
therefore a crop could not be reared. But 1 will 
plant corn, or tobacco, or some other crop there, 
which I can cultivate on the plan of drill hus- 
bandry, and in this manner may ultimately so 
cleanse and pulverize the land as to make it 
more profitable in a broadcast crop. Or, there 
is a field which has borne several crops of grass : 
this field is now so filthy that it does not yield 
a profitable crop ; at least the crop in something 
else would be more profitable, paying me at the 
same time for the labor of changing the crop. 
As a matter of good management, then, I would 
root up the grass, and substitute its place with 
that other crop. But this is not rotation. It is 
merely a change of the crop, not to effect any 
of the purposes of a rotation, but to make the 
land with its cropping as profitable as possible. 
If the field would yield a fairer profit in grass 
than in any other crop, I would continue it in 
grass for ever, and so of other crops. 

"And now I hope I have fully ' defined my 
position' on the subject of rotations, and here, 
perhaps, I ought to drop Mr. Peyton. But there 
is another little matter to which I must call his 
attention. And, first, I am pleased that he had 
the courtesy to append his own proper name to 
his strictures. I have read these strictures with 
no unkind or even indignant feelings. The 
whole style of his piece shows that he is a scho- 
lar and a gentleman. I am not certain, but I 
suspect that my unknown antagonist is a young 
man. I like to see ardor and boldness in youth, 
but the gentleman will excuse me for saying 
that these qualities usually give place, in after 
age, to caution and modesty. With these re- 
marks, I will call Mr. Peyton's attention to two 
sentences, in which I think he has done me in- 
justice. I will not quote the objectionable sen- 
tences entire, but simply call his attention to 
them. He says, ' Mr. Turner sets out rather 
ominously, in the midst of a strange confusion 
of technical terms,' &c. Now I am utterly at 
a loss to conceive what can be Mr. Peyton's 
meaning in this and what follows. When I 
first read this, I thought I must have been be- 
trayed into some incautious expression. I there- 
fore carefully looked over the piece again ; but. 
still I cannot conceive on what this assertion is 
Vol. 2-35 



founded. If Mr Peyton will have the goodness 
to point out that 'strange confusion of technical 
terms,' I will in disgust and mortification blot it 
from my manuscript. A little further on, he 
charges me with an attempt to ' varnish,' &c. 
Now all my positions are so plain, and all my 
illustrations are so simple, that I need no var- 
nishes to cover their defects. 

" The other object ionable sentence occurs near 
the beginning of the strictures. It is there said, 
that from my 'successful farming and well writ- 
ten communications,' &c. and then it is more 
than insinuated, that I am trying to pervert my 
influence to the injury of my brethren. To this 
grave charge, I again plead 'not guilty.' But 
even if guilty, I am consoled with the fact, that 
there is such an able opponent to make the anti- 
dote commensurate with the bane. With these 
remarks, and with the kindest feelings, I take 
leave of Mr. Peyton." 



THE NEW WORLD. 

We are again indebted to the liberal and ta- 
lented Editor of this excellent newspaper for 
extra copies of his work. As the nature and 
style of our publication forbid our making him 
that return which he has a right to expect from 
his exchanges in general, viz: an advertisement 
of his prospectus, we will endeavor to relieve 
ourselves, in part, from the burden of his kind- 
ness by recommending the publication in general 
to the readers of light literature, and by espe- 
cially bringing to the notice of the agricultural 
community his full and complete edition of Lie- 
big's Organic Chemistiy, furnished in an extra 
copy of the New World, for twenty-five cents. 

Furthermore, if the publishers please to send 
to our office a few copies of the work, we will 
endeavor to dispose of them to our agricultural 
friends, without charging the one or the other a 
cent of commission. 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 

We are pleased to see that this valuable pe- 
riodical, which in the hands of Mr. Ruffin has 
been not less an honor than a benefit to the 
State of Virginia, will be continued under the 
superintendence of Mr. Thomas S. Pleasants, a 
gentleman, as represented to us, worthy the ho- 
nor of the post to which he succeeds. 

Although, from unknown causes, we have 
not received from Mr. Ruffin those little profes- 
sional courtesies to which we considered our- 
selves entitled, yet, as our professional relations 
have ceased, any little asperities that they may 



274 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



have engendered, sleep with them. From the 
merits of the work we have never withheld the 
expression of our most unqualified admiration. 
We venture the assertion, that within the last 
ten } 7 ears, the wealth, the standing, and the com- 
fort of the agricultural class in Eastern Virginia, 
have been increased in a fourfold degree, and 
much of this great good is to be attributed to 
Edmund Ruffin and the Farmers' Register. 



Note. — Is it possible that this man can have 
lived in such obscurity as not to have known of 
our existence? 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 
When we returned home we found on our 
exchange list the imposing name that heads 
this article. What, we exclaimed, "another 
Richmond in the field !" Oh no, says the clerk, 
with great earnestness, the paper is published at 
Natchez. The queerness of this reply half 
diverted the vexation we began to feel from this 
infringement upon our rights, and we asked to 
see this new born brother, who had not yet been 
introduced to our acquaintance. Accordingly, 
we were shown a very imposing pamphlet of 
16 quarto pages, marked S. P. Natchez, Miss., 
$3 per annum. In its showy cover, its gaudy 
trappings, its extensive pages, and its assuming 
price, we perceived no family likeness to our own 
cheap, unassuming, modest, meritorious, dear lit- 
tlework,andwesetthefellowdown as an impostor. 

How does this Editor justify this vile robbe- 
ry? Because that love sick, foolish, girl of 
Shakspeare's, declares, there is nothing in a name, 
does he think he may steal one at pleasure? 
Rather, should he have remembered what that 
sharp, cute, fellow, lago, saj's upon the subject. 
He declares that a robber on the highway, we 
quote from memory, is more of a gentleman 
than such a fellow as this, and that he who 
steals a good name is worse than the taker of a 
purse. Now our name is as good as lago's, and 
we will warrant our purse as poor, consequently, 
what he says of himself and the name stealer, 
is equally applicable to us and this Mississippian. 

The circumstances would justify us, we are 
aware, in inditing a very severe article against 
the perpetrator of this robbery; but, like good 
Christians, we have written him a private letter, 
pointing out the enormity of his crime, and per- 
suading him to surrender what he has so foully 
taken. If this letter exercises its due influence, 
we have determined not to mention the subject 
in public, and in that event, we beg all those 
who may happen to see this, to say nothing 
about it. 



From the Boston Cultivator. 
ECONOMY OF FUEL. 
comparative value of green and dry wood. 

A very important consideration to be attended 
to in the saving of fuel, is the manner, or modus 
operandi of cutting' it. A farmer who is the 
owner of a good wood lot, should make it a 
standing rule to cut smooth as far as he goes. 
This running helter skelter through a valuable 
growth, felling one tree here, and another there, 
is bad management, and should ever be avoided 
by those who desire to preserve their wood in a 
healthy and growing state. Where the growth 
is thick, it must be obvious that large trees can- 
not be cut without elFecting a very material and 
decided injury to the surrounding growth. Some 
will be broken, others torn up by the roots, and 
of those that escape immediate ruin, many will 
be so lacerated as greatly to retard their growih. 
The French, from whom we may borrow many 
important lessons in the great science of Do- 
mestic Economy, generally cut all smooth; and 
this plan, which we have seen practiced in this 
country, in several instances, appears to us to 
be the only one worthy of being pursued. We 
have now growing a piece of oak wood on a 
hill that twenty years ago this autumn, was cut 
over and burnt. The growih is now quite large 
and thrifty, most of the trees being from four to 
six inches in diameter, and very thick ; much 
more so indeed than a proper regard to their ra- 
pid increase would probably permit. 

One more remark and I shall have done. It 
is generally contended that so far as mere eco- 
nomy, or the saving of fuel is involved, green 
wood is far more profitable than dry. This is 
another fatal mistake. To say nothing of the 
superior comfort of having dry wood, in winter, 
there are many advantages to be gained from it 
on the score of expense. 

There are some kinds of green wood which 
contain not less than forty-two per cent, of wa- 
ter — a sufficient quantity, as every one will per- 
ceive, to absorb a very large proportion of the 
heat or caloric produced by the combustion of 
the wood, for in the deflagration of one hundred 
pounds of wood, it is necessary, in the first place 
to convert the forty-two pounds of water or 
aqueous vapor, into steam, and this act alone 
must, as a natural consequence, require a very 
considerable proportion of all the heat produced 
by the conflagration of the wood. 

It has been ascertained by actual experiments, 
that of Newcastle coal, one pound avoirdupois, 
is required to convert six pounds of water into 
Steam, and that two pounds of common wood 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



275 



will generally impart about the same quantity 
of heat as one of coal. It will hence be seen, 
that to convert forty-two pounds of water into 
steam the heat produced by seventeen pounds 
of wood will be required. Now, by deducting 
the forty-two pounds of water from one hundred 
pounds of wood, we have left but fifty-eight 
pounds of dry wood. Hence, no less than sixty 
per cent, of the gross weight of green wood is 
entirely thrown away. The steam in the act of 
evolution, emits no heat, as it ascends directly 
with the smoke and thus causes actual loss of 
more than one-half the wood consumed. This 
is a startling calculation, but one upon the ac- 
curacy and correctness of which we may safety 
rely with the fullest confidence, and no one, it is 
presumed, who will take the trouble candidly to 
reflect, will find cause to deny its truth. Every 
farmer, therefore, should endeavor to burn dry 
wood. To cut and split, in the spring season, 
a sufficiency of fuel to suppljr his winter wants, 
is but a small job compared with that of getting 
it up during the inclemency of winter. 



GUINEA GRASS. 

Along with some grass roots, for which we 
are indebted to the public spirit and politeness 
of Mr. Garnett, we received the following note : 

Messrs. Botts & Burfoot: 

Gentlemen, — I now send you the Guinea grass 
roots which }'our North Carolina friend requested 
you to procure for him ; and with your permis- 
sion, I will avail myself of this occasion to pub- 
lish once more, what I think of this grass, as I 
find that some of my good friends have attri- 
buted to me opinions which I never entertained. 
Not that I consider these opinions at all impor- 
tant to any of my brother farmers. But having 
once published them, and perceiving that some 
persons have thereby been induced to make a 
trial of the Guinea grass, I owe it both to them, 
and to myself to guard them, if I can, from 
forming any erroneous opinion on the subject. 

The good friends to whom I allude, have 
called it "my favorite grass," preferring this, I 
presume, to the somewhat ruder term — "hobby]' 
although it means pretty much the same thing. 
But the truth is, that if I must have a hobby — 
like most of my brethren — it shall neither be of 
grass, nor straxo; and as to the grasses, I have 
been content to rank them as those have done 
who have most experience in their culture. — 
What I formerly said of the Guinea grass I 
still think ; and it is, that it will produce a 
greater weight of green food — counting the four 
cuttings which it will certainly bear, at an aver- 
age height of between two and three feet, in 
high, dry land, of ordinary quality, than any 
grass of which I have any knowledge. I infer 



from this, that it would yield a greater quantity 
of such food, on high, dry land, of any quality. 
I have also said, that it will stand drought better 
than our other grasses, that horses and cattle eat 
it very freely, for I have seen them do it. How 
it would compare with other grasses in nutritive 
properties I do not know, as none of them, I be- '' 
lieve, have yet been analyzed in this eountiy. 
It is certainly a coarse grass, if suffered to reach 
a greater height before cutting, than I have 
mentioned, and therefore less suitable for hay 
than the grasses commonly used for that purpose. 
It is also hard to extirpate, but not more so than 
the red top, which is generally preferred to all 
others, for very wet land. From all these facts, 
then, which I have noticed for four years, I deem 
myself authorised to say of the Guinea grass, 
that in all high, dry, and even sandy soils of 
ordinary quality, such as are unfit for either 
clover, orchard grass, timothy, red top, or mea- 
dow oat, it will produce a much greater weight 
of green food than any of them ; that it will 
stand drought much better, and that horses and 
cattle eat it freely. But in all situations where 
the climate and soil are well adapted to clover, 
orchard grass and timothy, it might content any 
farmer to cultivate no other kinds. Still, the 
knowledge of their excellence should not prevent 
small experiments with other grasses ; for our 
maxim should be, that there is no stopping place 
for those who wish to acquire a thorough know- 
ledge of husbandry, in all its branches. Let 
your friend then, proceed to make a small expe- 
riment with the Guinea grass roots, which I 
now send you for him. They should be buried 
in the earth until the ground ceases to freeze in 
the spring. Then cut the roots into pieces two 
or three inches long, and plant them in well 
prepared land, between twoand three inches deep. 
Let the rows be twelve inches apart, and place 
the cuttings in each row, at the distance of eight 
or nine inches. The plants will require working 
the first year; but after that they will occupy 
the ground to the exclusion of any other growth, 
and will bear cutting at least four times a year. 
In one season I cut it five limes. With sincere 
wishes for the success of your paper, 
I remain, gentlemen, 

Your obedient servant, 

James M. Garnett. 



CEMENT FOR PORCELAIN, GLASS AND 
STONE. 

This cement is a natural product, which with- 
out being abundant, is in sufficient quantities for 
ordinary purposes. The large snails which are 
found in gardens and woods, and which some- 
times have been used for food, have a vesicle, at 
the extremities of their bodies, which contains 
a w ? hitish substance, having a greasy and gela- 
tinous appearance. If it is applied between two 



276 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



surfaces, whatever be their hardness and com- 
pactness, and the surfaces be brought together 
throughout, so strong an adhesion is ultimately 
formed, that if violent means be resorted to, they 
frequently break elsewhere, than at the juncture. 
All that is necessary, in order to give the cement 
its full power, is to allow it time to dry. 



MR. RIVES' SPEECH. 

From the excellent address delivered by the 
Hon. William C. Rives, before the Agricultural 
Society of Albemarle, we extract the following 
remarks on the use of 

LIME. 

"Being somewhat of a pioneer in the lime 
husbandry in this portion of the State, I feel 
myself called on, gentlemen, to give you the re- 
sults of my experience. I have used about 
12, COO bushels of it, (slacked measure,) from a 
quarry opened for the purpose on my own land, 
which has been spread over about 150 acres, at 
an average, therefore, of 80 bushels to the acre. 
Some accounts which I had read of its effects 
elsewhere, not expressed with the accuracy and 
discrimination so much to be desired in such 
communications, had led me to expect a decided 
effect from it upon the growing crop — by which 
I mean the crop, of either corn or wheat, imme- 
diately succeeding the application of the lime. 
In this, I was disappointed ; but the discrepancy 
is probably accounted for by the fact that I have 
not hitherto used lime in combination with pu- 
trescent manures from the farm-yard or the sta- 
ble, while others have most probably done so, 
though that circumstance was not noted in the 
communications to which T refer. My first dis- 
appointment, however, in regard to the effects 
on the growing crop, was more than compen- 
sated by the marked, unequivocal, and decided 
effect I have never failed to perceive from the 
lime alone in the clover succeeding the wheat 
crop — with which it has been my general prac- 
tice to apply the lime at the time of seeding, 
harrowing in the lime and wheat at one and the 
same operation. The increased luxuriance of 
the clover has furnished, of course, conclusive 
evidence of the improvement of the land from 
the application of the lime, and has in its turn, 
enured to the still further amelioration of the 
soil. All my observations in regard to lime 
would lead me to the opinion that it is the most 
permanent of all manures, and to concur in the 
conclusion so forcibly stated by Dr. James An- 
derson, one of the most copious and able of all 
the British writers on agriculture, who in his 
most valuable ' Essay on Lime' sa}^s, ' that its 
effects on the soil will be felt, perhaps as long as 
the soil exists; 1 and this conclusion he justifies 
by the mode of its action altering the nature 



and constitution of the soil itself, and enduing it 
with capacities and affinities which it never be- 
fore possessed. My applications of lime have 
been almost entirely on a close gravelly loam, 
of a brownish or gray color; and the result of 
a single experiment on land of a different de- 
scription would lead me to believe that it is not 
adapted to the red ferruginous clay soils of the 
sides and base of our south-west mountains. It 
is a proverb in England and Scotland that 

" 'He that marls sand 
Will soon buy land ; 
But he that marls clay 
Throws all away.' 

" The reason that Dr. Anderson suggests for 
the comparative inefficiency of marl on clay 
soils is, that clay forms a large proportion of 
marl, and the addition of clay to clay, therefore, 
cannot be expected to produce so good an effect. 
The same reasoning would furnish a solution of 
the supposed want of adaptation of lime to the 
red clay soils of the south-west mountains pro- 
per^ and of its unquestionable efficacy on the 
adjacent gray loams, as a chemical analysis of 
the two soils has, I understand, disclosed the 
existence already of two per cent, of lime in the 
former, and of hardly any sensible quantity 
whatever in the latter." 

Mr. Rives, with great propriety, states that 
his impressions as to the effect of lime upon 
clay soils are grounded upon a single experi- 
ment, and we will add, that we hope the result 
will not deter him from making others. It is 
by no means uncommon to find clay soils defi- 
cient in lime, where, of course, the application 
must be beneficial. It is very possible however, 
that the clayey portion of Mr. Rives' estate may 
abound in this necessary ingredient, whilst the 
gravelly parts may be deficient in it. Nor 
should either the Scotch proverb, or Dr. Ander- 
son's suggestion, close the door to the applica- 
tion of lime to clay soils. In both instances, 
the term marl is used instead of lime] and in 
both cases, English marl is referred to. Now, 
although the term, as used in England, is a little 
indefinite, and is frequently, we believe, applied 
to pure clays, it is never used except to express 
a strong admixture of clay. But in the first 
place, an inhibition of clay to clay, does not in- 
clude an application of lime to clay, and in the 
second place, the organic remains, that we term 
marl, are frequently found in connection with an 
unctious sand, that has proved extremely bene- 
ficial to a close clay soil. 

We do not conceive, that the fact of the pre- 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



277 



sence of two per cent, of lime in a soil, should 
preclude a further application. 

A little farther on, Mr. Rives makes the fol- 
lowing judicious remarks upon the subject of 

IMPROVEMENT. 

11 For myself, I will only say that I have al- 
ways found the best application I could make 
of money derived from the land, was to return 
it back to the land in the shape of improve- 
ment. There is no investment of capital which 
can be more safe, and in ninety-nine out of a 
hundred cases, none half so profitable. If by 
laying out five dollars in manure on an acre of 
land you make it produce you twenty bushels 
of wheat w T orth a dollar a bushel, when it pro- 
duced but five bushels before, and this product 
is renewed to you every four years in an ordi- 
nary rotation of crops, have you not secured an 
interest of one hundred per cent, on the outlay 
you have made, and at the same time, increased 
the value of your land four hundred per cent. ! 
And yet results such as these, extravagant as 
they may seem, and though we may be uncon- 
scious of them ourselves, are often achieved by 
a liberal and spirited system of improvement. 
The passion of us Virginia formers is to acquire 
more land — not to make the land we already 
possess more productive. If a farmer should 
add yearly to his possessions a hundred acres of 
land, he would doubtless consider himself getting 
along very prosperously in the world. But if 
at no greater expense he can make a hundred 
acres of land twice or thrice as productive as 
they were before, is he not doing much better, 
with the great advantage of having a more 
compact surface on which to concentrate his la- 
bor and care. 

" The misfortune of our Virginia agriculture 
is that we have already too much land for the 
labor we can bring to cultivate it. As we are 
not likely to make a voluntary curtailment of 
the extent of our farms, the greatest practical 
reform that can be introduced into their manage- 
ment is to curtail Xhe arable surface on each, 
and to lay down a larger portion of our lands 
to grass. Instead of wasting the energies of 
our soil by annually spreading over a wide sur- 
face a superficial, negligent, and teazing culti- 
vation, yielding comparatively nothing, how 
much better would it be to cultivate one-half or 
one-third of the space we now do, to concentrate 
upon that all our resources of labor and improve- 
ment, and to leave the rest to recruit itself by 
the healing processes of nature. Liebig has 
explained in a very ingenious and philosophical 
manner the process by which lands laid down 
to grass are constantly renewing and improving 
themselves, and has thus confirmed the deduc- 
tions of our own observation by the demonstra- 
tions of science. Should any one doubt whether 



we should derive from the reduced surface, better 
cultivated, a product equal to that of the whole 
under inadequate culture, let him recollect the 
instructive story told by old Columella, in his 
De re rustica, of a Roman vine-dresser, who had 
a vineyard and two daughters; when his eldest 
daughter was married, he gave her a third of 
the vineyard for a portion, and yet he had the 
same quantity of fruit as before; when his se- 
cond daughter was married, he gave her the 
half of what remained, and still the produce of 
his vineyard was undiminished. 

" This anecdote of the Roman agriculturist, 
gentlemen, points the full force of its moral 
against that fatal mania for emigration which 
has hitherto carried off so large and valuable a 
portion of our population to seek wider domains 
for themselves and their families in the prairies 
of the West. It is not more land that we need. 
We have enough, and more than enough alrea- 
dy, if properly cultivated and improved, for our- 
selves and our children after us. It is industry, 
improvement, good husbandry we want, to de- 
velop the natural capabilities of our soil, and to 
make it adequate to every reasonable wish, and 
even to the fondest dreams of prosperity and 
wealth. With these, seconding the gifts of Pro- 
vidence by which we are surrounded, we shall 
have nothing to envy in the untamed abundance 
of the West, tempting us from the cherished 
scenes of our childhood and the hallowed tombs 
of our ancestors. I am happy to believe, gen- 
tlemen, that a brighter day is now dawning 
upon us, and that the eminent natural advan- 
tages and superior capabilities of Virginia are 
beginning to be appreciated, at their true worth, 
by the citizens of our sister States, as well as 
to be more and more felt by her own children. 
While emigration from our borders has, in a 
great measure, ceased, other States are begin- 
ning, in their turn, to send to us tributes of their 
moral, industrious, and enterprising population, 
attracted hither by the advantages of our cli- 
mate, our numerous navigable rivers, our water 
power, our mineral resources, our favorable geo- 
graphical position, our kind and improveable 
soils. Of these welcome swarms from kindred 
hives, I have recently become acquainted with 
one of so interesting a character, embracing per- 
sons of great respectability, from one of the old- 
est and most highly improved counties in the 
State of New York, (the county of Dutchess) 
that I cannot deny myself the gratification of 
reading to you a letter I have recently received 
from an intelligent citizen of the county of Fair- 
fax, in answer to some inquiries I addressed to 
him, giving me the particulars of their settlement 
and establishment in that county. 

" [Here Mr. Rives read the letter referred to, as 
follows :] 

" 'J proceed to make the following answers to 
your inquiries. 



278 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



" 'How many citizens of New York have 'pur- 
chased land in your county ? 

" 'Answer. From the best information I can ob- 
tain there are about fifty -six families that have pur- 
chased land, some of which have not removed, but 
the greater part of them now reside in the county ; 
these families average from three to five persons, 
making about two hundred persons in all. 

" '■How much land in all have they purchased? 

" 'Answer. Thirteen thousand five hundred and 
thirty-two acres. They have very generally pre- 
ferred small sized farms, from one hundred and 
fifty to two hundred acres, but they have been com- 
pelled to purchase large farms, or rather large tracts 
of land, which they are cutting vp as fast as they 
can. 

" 'Have they been sufficiently long established to 
indicate what their system of farming may be ? 

" 'Answer. / do not think they have. But their 
system so far as I have observed it, is in favor of 
the cultivation of grass over that of grain, and thus 
far they have made rapid improvements in the ap- 
pearance of their farms, if nothing else. They re- 
mark that if clover will grow well, they are satis- 
fied they can make the land rich. 

" 'Have they used lime, and with what effect ? 

" 'Answer. I do not think they have used lime 
to any extent, so as to know what its effects will be. 

" ' What appears to be the prospect of a farther 
accession of settlers from that quarter ? 

" 'Answer. The prospect seems to be very good. 
I have no doubt from the information I have ob- 
tained, that they will continue to come amongst us. 
They seem to be delighted with the climate and gen- 
erally pleased with our people, and I know of no 
one who has settled here who is desirous to return 
to the North. There is now a strong disposition 
amongst the wealthy farmers of Dutchess county 
[the richest county in the State) to purchase lands 
and remove to this county. JVluch might be done 
by our legislators to promote this emigration so im- 
portant to our impoverished and wilderness state, but 
I forbear to enter upon this topic at the present? " 

It is the proverbially light sandy soils of the 
county of Fairfax, probably one of the poorest 
in the State, that these sharp, cute, Yankees 
prefer to any thing they can obtain in their own 
country for the same money. They are right. 
We sincerety believe that the light, worn-out 
soil of Eastern Virginia, from the facility with 
Which, under good management, it may be 
renovated offers the best opportunity of invest- 
ment to the agriculturist, that can now be found 
in the Union. There is but one thing that the 
active, industrious farmer of the Northern States 
has got to learn, to enable him to lead a life of ease 
and comfort in Virginia, which he has hereto- 
fore known only in his dreams. We allude to 
the management of slaves, a great art, the 



importance of which is not sufficiently consi- 
dered by the natives of the South, and is totally 
unknown to the inhabitants of the North. 



SPEEDY CURE FOR A FOUNDERED HORSE, 

I send you the following prescription, which 
you may give a place in your useful paper, if 
you think it will be of any advantage to planters 
and travellers. 

As soon as you find your horse is foundered, 
bleed him in the neck in proportion to the great- 
ness of the founder. In extreme case?, you may 
bleed him as long as he can stand up. Then 
draw his head up, as common in drenching, and 
with a spoon put far back on his tongue strong 
salt, until you get him to swallow one pint. Be 
careful not to let him drink too much. Then 
anoint around the edges of his hoofs with spi- 
rits of turpentine, and your horse will be well in 
one hour. 

A founder pervades every part of the system 
of a horse. The phlegms arrest it from the 
blood ; the salt arrests it from the stcmach and 
bowels ; and the spirits arrest it from the feet 
and limbs. 

I once rode a hired horse 99 miles in two 
days, returning him at night the second day; 
and his owner would not have known that he 
had been foundered if I had not told him, and 
his founder was one of the deepest kinds. 

I once, in a travel of 700 miles, foundered my 
horse three times, and I do not think that my 
journey was retarded more than one day by the 
misfortune, having in all the cases observed and 
practiced the above prescription. I have known 
a foundered horse turned in at night on green 
feed; in the morning he would be well, having 
been purged by the green feed. All founders 
must be attended to immediately. 

South-ivestern Farmer. 



OVERSEERS. 
From an address delivered by our former fel- 
low-citizen, John T. Leigh, Esq. before the Union 
Agricultural Society of North Mississippi, we 
make the following extract : 

" It is the duty of every farmer to give per- 
sonal attention to his own business. He ought 
at all times to know the situation of his farm, 
his servants, his crop, his stock, his tools. This 
cannot be done without attention. 

" Frederic the Great was his own prime mi- 
nister, his own treasurer, his own commander- 
in-chief, his own intendant of public works, his 
own minister of trade, justice, home and foreign 
affairs, his own master of horse, steward and 
chamberlain — not that he actually performed all 
the manual duties of the different offices; but 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



279 



he examined and saw thai they were performed ; 
ail , every one of than. 

" He who was faithful and trust-worthy was 
retained and rewarded ; whilst he who was not 
attentive, prompt and honest in the fulfilment of 
his duties, was discharged ; and, as he had the 
power, the offender punished. 

" What was the consequence? 

11 All the affairs of his great empire flourished. 
Surely, if one man could give his personal at- 
tention to the affairs of a whole nation, we 
planters and farmers may give personal attention 
to the affairs of our plantations. If we have 
managers, and they are good, they will be pleased 
and stimulated to see their employer daily ex- 
amining into their plans, their work, their labor; 
advising with, consulting and directing them in 
their course. If they are not good, their want 
of skill or industry will soon be discovered, and, 
before too late, may be remedied. The good, 
faithful, honest manager will be rewarded, his 
character as such raised, the demand tor his ser- 
vices will increase his wages. Thus all — all 
who intend to do right, employer as well as 
manager — are interested in the planter's looking 
well and constantly into his own affairs. 

" There is a great mistake prevailing among 
many employed as managers on farms. They 
think thevigilant eyeof theemployer is indicative 
of too much suspicion of their want of manage- 
ment or attention. But it is not so. The em- 
ployer will always be pleased to find his affairs 
well managed, and the really good manager 
will, or ought to be pleased to see his employer 
examining particularly and minutely into his 
management. If well done he gets his reward. 
None then but those who are careless, or lazy, 
or not trust-worthy will or ought to object to a 
rigid review of their management. But object 
or not, it is the duty of the employer to do it — 
and no planter can thrive who shrinks from his 
known duty. 

"In the State of Virginia from whence I 
lately removed, there was a considerable spirit 
of improvement prevailing in every class of so- 
ciety among the farmers and their managers 
(overseers as they are called) man} T of whom 
were paying great attention to reading agricul- 
tural works and gaining information in any way 
in their power. Some of the overseers read and 
improved and 'profited by it much more than their 
employers. Many are ages ahead of the old 
fashioned planter." 

A former may read all the books that have 
ever been written, and become as profoundly 
versed in the science of agriculture as Liebig 
himself, but if he does not give his constant, 
vigilant, personal, superintendence to every de- 
partment of his business, he will never meet 



with the success, that crowned the labors of the 
Prussian monarch. 



FOOD FOR CHICKENS. 

A correspondent informs us that raw dough, 
made of fine meal is injurious to chickens, yet 
this is the principal food given to young chick- 
ens, and we have no doubt that it has occasioned 
the death of many thousands. We were aware 
of the injurious effects of this food before we 
received the information and had discontinued 
its use. We copy from our intelligent corre- 
spondent as follows : 

"It makes little difference what chickens eat 
after they are nearly as large as quails, four or 
five weeks old say, but to stuff a young brood 
as soon as \\\ey are out of the shell, and the first 
two or three weeks with dough made of fine 
meal, you will do better than I can if you save 
one half. I know it is the common food for 
young chickens, and I suppose because it is ea- 
siest got, but the consequence is, eight times out 
of ten you will find a dead chicken about every 
morning in or about the coop. They commence 
dying off from one to two weeks old. Now 
the true waj> is simply this — if your hen can 
run at large don't feed them at all, unless you 
should have a great number about your pre- 
mises ; if to be cooped up, locate them on a dry, 
sandy spot exposed to the sun in the morning, 
and out of the way of cold winds by all means. 
Let them fill up with dirt, (which they will do 
as soon as they are put to the ground.) 

"After that (though don't be afraid they will 
starve, nor be in too great a hurry in taking 
them from their nest) the first feedings, say two 
or three, should be cooked fresh meat, eggs 
boiled hard and cut fine, shells and all, or curd, 
if you have it, then dough made of samp, that 
is yellow corn ground coarse and suffered to 
stand awhile to swell, and boiled potatoes either 
mixed with the dough or plain occasionally, is 
proper food, if given sparingly. Chickens are 
always over-fed when very young. The old 
hen must have hearty food of course, give her 
corn. Since I have adopted this way of start- 
ing them at first I rarely lose a chicken b}^ sick- 
ness, and if the cats and rats will let them alone 
I can raise about all that come out." 

Cracked corn that may genera \\y be had in 
cities and other large places of business, is t;bout 
the same as the samp above recommended. — 
Chickens like other animals want variety in 
food. They are very fond of rice raw or boiled 
as may be convenient in supplying them. This 
will not be expensive, as one cent's worth to 
each chicken will answer till he is five or six 
weeks old, when it is not of so much importance 
about their food. They will eat whole grains 
of rice when two or three days old. 

If it be not convenient to get other food than 



280 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



Indian meal, mix one-fourth part Indian bran 
with the meal, and then pour on hot water and 
make a dough ; we have succeeded well with 
this as a principal food. A little brown bread 
occasionally for a change is good. 

Farmers' Journal. 



THE BEARING-REIN. 

The following article, from the London Far- 
mers' Magazine, upon the abuse of the bearing- 
rein, which has been frequently published of 
late, attracted our attention some months ago. 
We were much struck then with the excellent 
style of the article and the clearness and perspi- 
cuity with which the author enforced his views ; 
but so novel were these views, and so much did 
they militate against preconceived prejudices, 
that we determined to scan them narrowly be- 
fore passing an opinion upon them. We have 
now applied and tested them thoroughly, and 
the result is, that we have come to consider 
the bearing-rein the most useless, cruel, and 
tasteless fetter to which the horse has ever 
been subjected. We can perceive no possible 
use in this rein, except to restrain a horse 
from kicking up, by preventing him from throw- 
ing down his head ; for any other purpose, it 
would be just as reasonable to apply it to the 
riding as the draft horse. 

Like all new converts, we have become very 
zealous in the cause, and, running from one ex- 
treme to the other, instead of admiring a "high 
head," we hope the day will come, when the 
man, who ties up his horse's head, will be classed 
in the same category with him who beats his 
wife. 

With all our predilections for condensing, we 
have not been able to abate one jot or tittle of 
this capital article. In addition to the cogent 
arguments of the writer, we would merely hint 
to the lazy driver of a sulkey in the South, 
where the streams that cross the road afford the 
only opportunities of watering, the superlative 
pleasure of being released from the eternal te- 
dium of getting down to unhook the rein. 

" There is much mismanagement and conse- 
quent misery inflicted on horses through the 
force and continuance of custom, habit, and pre- 
judice; particularly evinced by the use of the 
bearing-rein. 

" The Editor is impelled by a wish to do 
good, prompted by attachment to the horse, and 
compassion for that much abused and most cru- 



elly treated animal ; influenced too, as he hopes, 
by a sincere desire to serve and benefit the own- 
ers. It is his object, by what he trusts will be 
found sound reasoning, to bring into disrepute, 
and (as soon as may be) into disuse, that tor- 
menting part of the harness, the fixed bridle or 
bearing-rein. 

"It is a principle in mechanics, that whenever 
agent or instrument suffers the least resistance 
from restraint, friction, or other wear or tear, it 
will do its office with the most care, with the 
greatest economy of time, and with the least 
expenditure of strength and money ; and this 
whether the agent or instrument be an animal 
or a machine. Hence, to ensure the full exer- 
cise of an animal's power in the safest and most 
easy way to itself, we should be careful not per- 
manently to disturb its natural posture. The 
question to be decided is, whether or not it is 
most judicious and proper to give a horse the 
free use of his head, or prevent him from having 
that use. 

" It must be admitted that whenever a horse 
trips or stumbles, nature prompts him to try to 
save himself, and he instantly extends his neck 
and head for the purpose as a man would his 
arms : this natural effort increases the animal's 
danger if his head be at all confined by the 
bearing-rein, because the tug which he gives 
with his mouth is communicated to the harness 
upon his ba^k to which the rein is hooked, and 
the effect is the same as if a man were with 
both his hands to lay hold of the collar of his 
coat to save himself. To render the bearing- 
rein or bridle of any utility in saving an animal 
from falling, it should be of great strength and 
substance, and fastened behind and above, or it 
will be useless. 

" The dorsal muscles or sinews of the back 
in all quadrupeds run longitudinally or horizon- 
tally from the head and tail, and those extremi- 
ties are main working powers — what the arms 
are to a walker or laborer, the head and tail are 
to the animal ; tie a man's arms to his side, and 
even a gentle push or trip will throw him down. 
This is the effect produced by the bearing-rein. 
The horse's head being fixed, he is unable to 
use it as nature intended, and therefore if he 
trips or slides his head is of no use. When 
horses stumble, they often break the bearing- 
rein, and thus getting the head free are enabled 
to save themselves. We all know that when a 
horse is down, the first thing done is to ' give 
him his head' that he may get up. We do not 
mean to say that a horse will never stumble if 
worked without a bearing-rein, because we know 
that they sometimes fall whilst loose in the field ; 
but we assert without fear of contradiction, that 
the surest way to keep a horse on his legs is at 
all times to give him free use of his head. The 
more he is crippled the more he needs his head. 
The bearing-rein may probably be of some use 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



281 



in 'breaking* a colt,' and may, perhaps, help to 
1 get up his head' until he has been ' taught his 
paces,' but afterwards it can a swer no end, ex- 
cept souring his temper, making him jib, dead- 
ening his mouth, wasting his strength, hurting 
his wind, injuring his sight, lessening his speed, 
abridging his services, shortening his days,throw- 
ing him down, and breaking his knees : all these, 
it is fearlessly asserted, proceed daily from the 
use of this cruel appendage. 

" When running loose, the horse's neck is 
usually extended as straight as his back ; in this 
manner horses would generally work. It is the 
natural position, and the nearer we approach to 
it the better for the animal, for he is then at ease ; 
and (though little remembered) his pulmonary 
action, or breathing unimpeded. It is absurd to 
make a bend or an angle, (if at all acute or 
sharp) in a water-pipe, or hose ; so it is absurd 
and cruel too to bend back out of its natural 
line the wind-pipe of the horse by the use of 
the bearing-rein. In the former case a full vo- 
lume of water cannot be obtained ; in the latter 
the free breathing of the animal (so essential to 
its comfort, and even to its life) is hindered.^ 
Denied this may be ; disproved it cannot. The 
effect of restraining a horse by the bearing-rein, 
is to prevent him from getting up to the collar. 
If the bit is in the least degree affected by the 
bearing-rein ; in other words, if it is not entirely 
loose in the mouth, the horse is checked, and 
besides being kept from the full free exercise of 
his strength, he is prevented from leaning the 
weight of his body into the collar. 

11 We are aware that many who admit that 
bearing-reins are not safe, use them because they 
like to see a horse look well, like to see him hold his 
head up, fyc; but a kind and humane man would 
not have such foolish desires ; the care and com- 
fort of his horse would be his only object. The 
mischievous effects before stated are often over- 
looked by many to whom the use of the bearing- 
rein is as natural as the saddle or any part of 
the harness. The Editor has often found very 
kind and respectable men, wholly ignorant of 
the pain and agony which their horses have en- 
dured. 

" There is one infallible proof constantly to 
be obtained of the cruelty of the use of the 
bearing-rein, and of its injurious effects, though 
we believe very few persons are aware of it. — 
Whenever a horse has been worked with a tight 
bearing-rein, the corners of his mouth become 
raw, inflame, fester, and eventually the mouth be- 

* It would be well if there were more colt bend- 
ers — the tempers of horses are not studied by the 
generality of colt breakers; horses' tempers vary as 
much as men's. 

t It is the opinion of many eminent, veterinary 
surgeons, that "roaring and blindness are produced 
in carriage-horses and wagon-horses, by the bearing- 
reins." 

Vol. 2-36 



comes enlarged on each side; in some cases to the 
extent of two inches. Even before the bit has 
produced these visible effects, if the corner of 
the mouth, under the bit, be touched, the animal 
will flinch as if from hot iron. Let this be the 
sign with every master and servant. 

" To what are these enlargements attributa- 
ble ; what causes them ? Nothing but the fric- 
tion of the bit in the efforts of the horse to get 
up to his work. How dreadful to see a horse 
heavily laden ; his neck bent into a perfect curve ; 
his mouth open; his eyes ready to start out of 
their sockets. The ignorant, though perhaps 
not cruelly disposed driver, looks on with admi- 
ration to see how 'handsome' his horse appears, 
and imagines that the tossing head, open mouth, 
and gnashing teeth are signs of game and 
strength, whilst on the contrary, they are the 
most unequivocal evidence of distress and ago- 
ny. Let an}' one test the truth of this by loos- 
ing the bearing-rein, and he will immediately 
find the horse go faster, keep his mouth shut, 
and his head in one stead}' - horizontal position* 
A short time since the Editor stopped a wagon 
to look at the mouth of the shaft horse — he 
found the mouth actually cut open by the bit 
at least two inches on each side : the wagoner 
said 'he know'd it sure, 'twas the fair wear of 
the ir'n /' The man was open to conviction, and 
upon the cause of this dreadful punishment be- 
ing shown he altered the rein. 

" The propensity to jib, if not actually caused, 
is much increased by the bearing-rein. In as- 
cending a hill the freest horse may be compelled 
to stop and refuse to exert himself, knowing that 
he can put no more strength till the head is 
loose. A short time since, in Southampton- 
street, Covent Garden, the Editor of this pam- 
phlet saw a crowd collected looking at a scaven- 
ger's cart, fully loaded, drawn by an immense 
horse. The street is a moderate ascent, and the 
horse had stopped just below the top of the hill : 
the driver turned the horse round down the hill, 
then up, and with his help-mate very humanely 
assisted by pushing. The horse, without being 
flogged or spoken to, went on steadily wiih his 
very heavy load to about the place he before 
stopped at, and again ' gave up :' he was sweat- 
ing much, and appeared to be a game good 
horse. The Editor went up to the driver and 
advised him to unhook the bearing-rein ; the 
man said, ' it's nau use, I have turned him around 
three times.' The Editor said, 'he must be a 
good horse to take to the load three times,' and 

* The dray horses in London exhibit the most 
painful examples of the cruelty of using a tight bear- 
ing-rein. Whether at work or standing they will be 
found in continual torment— tossing their heads, or 
resting the weight of them on the bit, and so drawing 
back the corners of their mouths, as nearly to outsplit 
the ligatures;— at work, instead of going on steadily, 
they "bob" their heads, feeling the check at every 
step they take. 



282 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



pressed him to unhook the rein ; the man re- 
plied, 'the ause 'ill fall down.' The Editor 
coaxed him to try; the rein was unhooked, and 
immediately the horse took the load from the 
spot where he stood : the man said, ' he never 
saud it done afore.' It is not uncommon for 
considerate drivers to unbear their horses at the 
foot of a hill, which is a very strong proof of 
the folly of using the rein at all. It has been 
and may again be advanced as a plea for its re- 
tention, that a horse after,; having been used to 
the rein will miss it, and so be liable to fall if he 
trips after it is taken off. A trial will prove 
that this is not the result. 

" It is a common opinion that when a horse 
trips or stumbles, it is the rider or driver who 
pulls him up, by the sudden jerk or shortening 
of his reins, and prevents an actual fall ; hence 
the moment a horse takes a false step, the rider 
or driver tugs the rein with all his might. We 
frequently hear it said, ' the horse was going to 
fall, but I pulled him up! — I kept him on his 
legs !' As well might a fly resting on a coach- 
wheel boast of its kicking up a dust; as well 
might a wagoner seated on the shafts, think to 
pull up a wagon which had lost its fore wheel. 
Such expressions are proofs of the ignorance of 
those who make them, because when they be- 
come aware of the fact that the horse has stum- 
bled the danger is over — the animal has reco- 
vered itself, and their tug is useless. To help 
an animal effectually there must be ' where* to 
stand on,' and both an arm and a rein strong 
enough. A bearing-rein is fixed to the falling 
horse and falls with him — it cannot save him ; 
it keeps a horse from seeing and avoiding stones 
and other impediments, it is a hindrance not. a 
help; an injury, and not a benefit. If he fall 
with a bearing-rein he must break his knees or 
the rein, or its hook, or the crupper; if he trips 
without one, and the driver c gives him his head,' 
by instantly slackening the reins (what few in- 
experienced Englishmen will either do, or be- 
lieve to be judicious) the creature is set at liber- 
ty, and will probably quickly recover himself, 
unless receiving, a3 he is almost sure to do, many 
heavy lashes. It cannot be supposed that a 
horse stumbles willingly, therefore to punish him 
for it is unjust, and only adds to his fear. 

" It must not, however, be inferred that all 
who use the bearing-rein approve of it. Ser- 
vants, when men of humanity, experience, skill, 
and character, are ofien found to admit its folly 
and usclessness, but dare not lay it aside. 

"It is said that the ladies powerfully obstruct 
the removal of this useless and injurious instru- 
ment. It is hoped that the few who drive find 
the many who keep their own horses, will give 
the best and strongest denial to this scandalous 

* Archimedes said, "Give me a ]>lnee to ptand on 
and I will move the world/' 



imputation, by immediately reprobating the use 
of the rein. Could their poor horses answer the 
questions — Why do you continually toss your 
heads when standing in harness? Why do 
you stretch open your mouths, shake your heads, 
and gnash your teeth ? Why do you turn your 
heads back towards your sides, as if looking at 
the carriage? they would answer — all, all this 
is done to get relief from the agony that we are 
enduring by having our heads kept erect, and 
our necks bent by tight bridles. 

" To ladies the Editor would appeal with ear- 
nestness. His heart has ached when passing 
the horses of the nobility and others at the doors 
of houses in London, to see the unceasing mo- 
tion of the heads of the poor creatures, the 
coachmen sitting at their ease, perfectly uncon- 
cerned, and often doubtless unconscious of the 
agonizing pain of the muscles and sinews of 
the neck the horses are enduring. No humane 
person could knowing^ suffer such cruelty to 
be practised. It is true that to the eyes of ig- 
norant people, horses tortured with the bearing- 
rein look 'very fine,' but the true connoisseur 
will never be pleased at such distortions. 

" England, where the best, horses and the best 
drivers are to be found, England (it is said) is 
the only country in which that bane of the horse, 
the bearing-rein, is used ! In France it is not 
used, and, as the natural consequence, horses in 
that country seldom fall to the ground ; or so as 
to hurt themselves. At the very instant a horse 
stumbles the French coachman slackens the 
rein, that the horse may save himself. 

"It. is sincerely hoped that the entire removal 
of this punishing bridle will be speedily effected 
by the powerful aid of veterinary surgeons, by 
the owners and drivers of private carriages, no- 
ble and gentle, at once abolishing this useless, 
tormenting appendage; by the society for the 
prevention of cruelty to animals lending to this 
object their aid unitedly as a body, and indivi- 
dually as members; by giving circulation in 
newspapers and periodicals to the experience of 
the good effects of going without them ; by the 
public patronizing those vehicles in which the 
servants do not use the bearing-rein ; by humane 
travellers feeing well these coachmen who in 
this respect obey the dictates of humanity, sound 
policy, self-interest, and common sense. The 
Editor is aware that, no good coachman would 
condescend to use bearing-reins, arc! persons 
much accustomed to travelling, if \hcy see the 
horses come out with bearing-reins, immediately 
conclude the driver is one of the old school, or 
that he is not ' up to his work ;' and they are 
generally right, for it will be found that he is 
not able to command his horses so well as the 
man who drives without them. The least re- 
flect ion will show this must be so. If the horses 
have bearing-reins they lean their heads on them, 
and the coachman's reins may be seen loose and 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



283 



dangling on the horse's back ; if on the contra- 
ry, he drives without, he has the horses in hand 
always, and guides them as he pleases. This 
is more plainly the case with post-chaise drivers 
and hackney coachmen, whose reins are only 
used occasionally when they have hearing-bri- 
dles, instead of being always tight in their 
hands. 

11 The effect of bearing-reins upon coach- 
horses is shown at every stage when the horses 
are taken off. If they have bearing-reins they 
may be seen tossing their heads incessantly, al- 
though jaded, panting, and enveloped in steam: 
surely the poor creatures would not thus exert 
themselves in a state of great fatigue, if some 
greater distress were not affecting them. It is 
the agony of the sinews under the neck and 
throat, which being restrained so long, ache as 
if a man's arm were to be kept in a painful po- 
sition. Horses which have done their stage 
without the bearing-reins, when taken off, stand 
with their heads down, breathing freely, and in 
comparative comfort. How often upon chang- 
ing horses do we see the kind horse-keeper of a 
stupid bearing-rein coachman instantly unbear 
his horses and thus entitle himself from the hu- 
mane traveller to the fee which the coachman 
had forfeited. At the time this paper is being 
published, the Editor has remarked that bearing- 
reins are more used in Bristol by coachmen and 
more cruelly tightened by carmen, than in any 
other place in the west of England ; not only 
by carman plying for hire, but by the drivers of 
the splendid dray-horses which are to be seen in 
that city." 



SUBSTITUTE FOR GLUE AND CAULKING. 

The remarkable properties of a new cement, 
have lately been tried by the master ship-wrights 
at Woolwich, England, by advice of the lords of 
the admiralty. The experiments were highly 
interesting, and the results very important. Two 
pieces of African wood, called teak, very difficult 
to join by glue, on account of its oily nature, 
had a coating of the composition in a boiling 
state, applied, and shortly afterwards bolts and 
screws were attached to the end of each piece, 
and the power of a Bramah's hydraulic engine 
applied, to the extent of nineteen tons, when the 
chain broke, without the slightest perceptible strain 
where the joining had been made. A still larger 
chain, of one and a half inches, was then ap- 
plied, which broke with a strain of twenty-one 
tons, also without effect upon the cement ! 

Four pieces of hard wood were then joined 
together, weighing collectively over four thou- 
sand four hundred pounds, and carried to the top 
of the shears in the dock yard, seventy-six feet 
high, and precipitated upon the hard granite 
wall below, without the joints yielding in the 
slightest manner ! 



A number of oak plank, eight inches thick 
and sixteen inches square, were then united with 
the cement, together, eight feet in height and 
eight feet in length, of the size of a first rate 
ship of war, without any thing else in the form 
of a bolt, or security of any kind, and it was set 
up as a target at the butt, in the masses, in the 
presence of the officers artillery, &c. Several 
shots were then made into the cemented planks, 
the effects of which were wonderful. They tore 
the wood to pieces but had no effect upon the cement. 
A hole six inches in diameter was then bored in 
the centre of the target, and a three and a half 
pound shell inserted and exploded by a slow 
match, which tore the wood into small splinters, 
without in the least separating the composition. 

A valuable property of this composition, in 
addition to its wonderful tenacity, is said to be 
its capability of expansion in warm climates, 
like India rubber, and yet it will not become 
brittle under the coldest temperature. It is not 
surprising that it has become a great favorite 
with naval officers, as it is so clean as to resem- 
ble very much the French polish. 

The value of the composition on board of 
vessels at sea may be illustrated by another ex- 
periment tried with it. Eight pieces of wood 
in the form of a mast, were joined together and 
a strain applied to another mast of an entire 
piece of wood, when the latter first gave icay ! 
Ship carpenters will, therefore, find no difficulty 
in effecting repairs at sen, with this extraordi- 
nary cement at hand. Nor is its value confined 
to the above or naval purposes, but it must be- 
come equally great for all purposes of the arts, 
where, the joining of parts is necessary, as it is 
insoluble in water. Its cost is only about half that 
of common glue. The great saving, too, by its 
universal adoption, and the important uses to 
which it may be applied, are incalculable. A 
Mr. Jeffrey is the inventor, and the composition 
consists of shellac and India rubber, dissolved in 
napt/tdj in certain proportions. 

New York State Mechanic . 

We think the above smells strongly of hum- 
bug. 



NEWSPAPER LAW. 

The law is, and so the courts decide, that the 
person to whom a paper is sent is responsible 
for the payment, if he receive the paper or make 
use of it, even though he never subscribed for 
it. His duty in such a case is not to take the 
paper from the office or place were it is left, but 
to notify the publisher that he does not wish for 
it. If papers are sent to a post office, store, ta- 
vern, or other place, and are not taken by the 
person to whom they are sent, the postmaster, 
store or tavern-keeper, &c. is responsible for the 
payment unless he immediately gives notice to 



284 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



the publisher that they are not taken from the 
pffiee or place where they are sent. 
' Extract from the Post Office Regulations, 
pas;e 50, section 118: — "In every instance in 
which papers that come to your office are not 
taken out by the person to whom they are sent, 
you will give immediate notice of it to the pub- 
lisher, adding the reasons, if known, why the 
•papers are not taken out." 



A bet against time was won by an Arabian 
horse at Bangalore, in the Presidency of Mad- 
ras, running 400 miles in the space of four con- 
secutive days. This occurred on the 27th July, 
1841. 



When the stopper of a glass decanter becomes 
too tight, a cloth wet with hot water and ap- 
plied to the neck, will cause the glass to expand, 
so that the stopper may be easily removed. 




OUR NEXT VOLUME. 

With this number we complete the second 
volume of the Planter. The work enjoys what 
we have labored to procure for it, the reputation 
of being one of the most practical and useful pe- 
riodicals published in the Union. In saying 
this, we arrogate nothing to ourselves, except 
the gift of prophecy, for we grounded the work 
upon the prediction that such would be the ef- 
fect of drawing out the information of Southern 
farmers, and we boldly assert that our corre- 
spondents have fully verified the prediction. All 
that we have done, has been, to select, arrange, 
.and sometimes, condense, the views of others. 
Such additions have been lately made to our 
lists, both of subscribers and correspondents, that 
we think we may venture to promise our read- 
ers that the third volume will not be less enter- 
taining and instructive than the two that have 
preceded it. Additional arrangements have been 
made to give effect to the embellishments and 
mechanical execution of the work. 

It is with no little pride and satisfaction that 
we look back upon the career that we have run. 
Starting without patrons, we relied upon our 



own exertions and the liberality of the agricul- 
tural public of the South for support. We were 
told that the work would be a failure, that there 
was no patriotism, no love of home in the South. 
It is a base slander, without the shadow of foun- 
dation. The Planter was most generously sus- 
tained, through times without a parallel, chiefly > 
at first, because it was a Southern paper, and 
there is not a people upon the face of the earth, 
that so fondly cling to their own institutions as 
those of this Southern country. Notwithstand- 
ing the hardness of the times, our list is now of 
the most satisfactory character ; but this matter 
of dollars and cents, although a very good thing 
in its way, and, by the bye, very necessary to 
the support of a paper, is not all we have gained; 
what has been infinitely more grateful to us, is the 
meed of approbation bestowed upon our humble 
labors, and the kindly relations that have been 
engendered between us and thousands of our 
fellow-citizens, relations, that we humbly hope, 
will continue to exist, as long as they have a 
dollar in their pockets. 

0^=- That we may know what increase to 
make in our edition, we would be much obliged 
to such of our friends as intend to remain with 
us, to renew their subscriptions as soon as it 
may be convenient. 



(tjr* The reprint of the January number has 
been delayed until we could ascertain what edi- 
tion would be required. It will be mailed to 
those subscribers that have not received it, dur- 
ing the present month. 



CONTENTS OF NO. XII. 



Poor Sandy Soils — Mode of renovation discussed, p. 
265. 

Black Ink — Recipe for making, p. 266. 

Green Sand — Experiment -with, p. 266. 

Worm Fence — Directions for laying, p. 267. 

Swamp Lands — Value of, when reclaimed, p. 267. 
How to drain them, p. 268. 

Stone for Building— The different properties of dif- 
ferent kinds, p. 269. 

Rotat ion of Crops— An essay on, from Mr. J. H. Tur- 
ner, p. 268. 

Guinea Grass— Its character and properties, p. 275. 

Cement — Obtained from snails, p. 275. 

Lime — Mr. Rives' remarks on, p. 276. 

Improvement — To be effected by cultivating less land 
more highly, p. 277. 

Emigration to Virginia — Account of, p. 278. 

Founder — To cure speedily, p. 278. 

Superintendence— The necessity of the personal su- 
perintendence of the farmer in every department 
of his business, p. 278. 

Chickens — The proper food for, p. 279. 

The Bcarins-Rein— Reasons for abolishing it, p. 280. 



NON-CIRCULATING