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THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 

»ebcftet> to Agriculture, aiortfculturc, nuti t he ^ousefrolfr am. 

ijfculture is the nursing mother of the I Tillage and Pasturage are the two breasts 

A ...o __ f^mmrnhJim. «*» I of the StatC— Sulty . 



■ginuHuy •■ o 

( Ans.—Xenophon. **^ 



Vol. Xr. 



RICHMOND, FEBKUARY, 1851 



No. 2 



R. B. GOOCH, Editor. 



P. D. BERNARD, Proprietor. 



TERMS. 

One Dollar and Twenty-five Cents per 
annum, which may be discharged by the pay- 
ment of One Dollar only, within six months 
{from the date of subscription. Six copies tor 
Five Dollars; thirteen copies fot TtN Dol- 
s.AUs,to be paid invariably in advance. 



MR. NEWTON'S MARYLAND AD- 
DRESS. 

We find in the address of the Hon. Wil- 
Joughby Newton, delivered before the Mary- 
land Society on the 25th of last October, all 
ihe merits which weie attributed to it at the 
lime by the press of Baltimore city. It puts 
forward valuable and practical information in 
a style remarkable for strength and terseness. 
In speaking of the state of agriculture in Ma- 
ryland and Virginia, he says: 

"It hns been very much the fashion of 
late, with a certain class of writers, whose 
views are readily adopted by the unthink- 
ing multitude, to decry the state of agri- 
culture among us. Maryland and Virgi- 
nia are a usually selected, by way of il- 
lustration. A few half-observed facts are 
hastily collected, dignified with the name 
of statistics, and in defiance of the true 
principles of the Baconian philosophy, 
made the foundation of a comprehensive 
theory. A. stranger, who has never visit- 
ed our cheerful Presides, seen our well 
til 



led fields, or enjoyed the elegant hospi 



tality of our refined and enlightened peo- 
ple, has no conception of our true condi- 
tion. He has been taught to believe that 
poverty grass, broom straw and old field 
pines, constitute our chief productions. And 
because our population has not kept pace 
with that of the manufacturing States of 
the East, or the new and teeming West, 
we are supposed to have reached a prema- 
ture decay, exhibiting a melancholy pic- j fore — 
Vol. XI.-2. 



ture of homes abandoned, flocks dispersed, 
and lands desolate and uncultivated. Mo- 
ral and political philosophers, eager to 
build a system, taking this 1o be our true 
condition, immediately set about to account 
for it. Some, with ready zeal in ihe cause 
of a sentimental philanthropy, find this 
blighting curse in our peculiar instiutions, 
and the species of labor with which our 
fields are cultivated; others, who deem our 
labor the best and most productive in the 
world, trace, with certainty, our supposed 
decline to the grinding influence of North- 
ern monopoly, and would find for it an ef- 
fectual remedy in unlimited free trade; 
whilst a third class, at the head of which 
stands the Nestor of the agricultural press, 
attributes it. with equal confidence, to the 
dispersion of our population, and the sepa- 
ration of 'the plough, the loom and the an- 
vil,' and thinks we can fee relieved from 
our condition of degrading inferiority, only 
by an 'efficient tariff of protection.' 

"There appeared, some years ago, in the 
Encyclopedia Americana, an article enti- 
tled k A general description of Virginia,' at- 
tributed to the pen cf a distinguished gen- 
tleman, a native of the county of Northum- 
berland, now a resident of the city of Rich- 
mond * In this paper, which now forms a 
part of the history and literature of the 
country, and has doubtless had great in- 
fluence in forming opinion as to the agri- 
cultural condition and resources of Virgi- 
nia, we are informed, that 'in very many 
instances, agriculture, among us, affords a 
bare subsistence, whilst in others it yields 
a net profit of from 2 to-3 per cent.; and of 
Eastern Virginia it is said that 'it is in gen- 
eral low. level, sandy and unproductive, 
and parts of it exhibit almost as desolate 



an aspect as the pine barrens of Jersey.' 
The views expressed by this author were 
derived, in part, from the information of 
others, but may be mainly attributed to the 

♦ The author alluded to is understood to be Jas. 
E. Heath Bsq. The fact has been made public be- 



34 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



strong impression made upon his youthful I implements and machinery, the finest and 
mind by the pine forests and wasted fields ; most fashionable varieties of live stock, 
over which he gambolled in his boyhood, j and the most convenient, elegant, anojwell 

arranged farm buildings, the proprietor is 



If this gentleman could now revisit the 
scenes of his youthful sports, he would find 
that the forests of pine and fields of broom- 
straw, that so unfavorably impressed him, 
have given place to luxuriant crops of 



surprised that he realizes no profit on his 
large investments, and abandons agricul- 
ture in disgust, as utterly unproductive. 
The truth is, our farmers cannot afford to 



grass and grain,* and his credulity would | sacrifice utility to mere taste. With fami- 
be taxed to the utmost when informed that I lies to support, and children to educate, 
the hopelessly barren spot of his natiyity ' they are under the necessity of drawing 
has been so improved that for a series of! from their estates a considerable cash in- 
years the entire farm has yielded an aver- j come, and this can only be done by corn- 
age of more than 20 bushels of wheat to ! bining economy with efficiency, in all their 
the acre; in one instance, as much as twen- | operations. In this view of the subject, our 
ty-five bushels, through the entire crop, agriculture is by no means as bad as it has 
and upon the most highly improved part of been represented. Our farms may not be 
the field as much as forty bushels to the cultivated in the Flemish style; our live 
acre. He would also learn that these im- stock may not all be of the most approved 
provements are not confined to a single fa- varieties, nor our machinery and farm 
vored spot, but are extending over the buildings of the most elegant and expen- 
Jarger portion of Eastern Virginia, and es- sive kinds, yet I venture the assertion, with 
pecially that portion heretofore regarded as entire confidence, that we have in Mary- 
most unproductive. In this part of Virgi- j land and Virginia as good practical far- 
nia, people are beginning to learn — what; mers, and as profitable farming, taking in- 
experience sooner or later will teach the | to view the capital invested, as are to be 
settlers of all new countries — that the black J found in any quarter of the world." 
mucky soils, rich in humus and covered ,' , 

with a rank vegetation, so alluring to those After blowing up the picture given above, 
in search of fertile lands, are by no means j Mr - Newton proceeds to remark upon the 
the most valuable. They have discovered summing up of the theory of agriculture as 
a hidden treasure in their poorest lands, given by a Scotch writer, who puts the matter 
and ascertained by experience that the re- j i n these words "Keep your lands dry, clean 
gion of which Beverly, the historian, gives ' and nch « We quote that porlion of * his re _ 

so unpromising a description, extending ma rks upon the function " Keep your lands 
throughout Eastern Virginia and Mary- .,„,., , . , , 

land,?nd familiarly called the 'forest,' be- •"* whlch relates more particularly to his 
cause the last to be cleared by our ances- own experience in the use of fertilizers: 
tors, is susceptible of the very highest im- J "Calcareous matter is the great want of 
provement, and may be cultivated at a , m0 st of our lands, and in some form is es- 
rateof profit on the capital invested, almost; sential to permanent improvement. It 
beyond credibility. I should be regarded as the basis of all our 

" The most perfect husbandry is not al- i operations, and never to be dispensed with 
ways the most profitable; and in estima- for any substitute. From long experience 
tin<r the state of agriculture among any , in the, use of lime, I am satisfied that the 



people, we should never lose sight of the 
circumstances by which they are surround- 
ed. The neat, garden-like culture of the 
Flemings, and of some of the most highly 
improved counties of England and Scot- 
land, can only be attained, with profit, in a 
densely peopled country. A farm thus cul- 
tivated, among us, may please the eye or 
gratify the taste of an amateur, but the 
proprietor will soon be convinced that with- 
out other means of supporting a family, he 
must become bankrupt. Hence the high- 
pressure farming which we occasionally 
see in the neighborhood of our cities, is 
rarely successful. With the most perfect 



French plan, of light and frequent dress- 
ings, is not only much more economical, 
but much safer, in our climate, than the 
heavy dressings common in Great Britain. 
Fifty bushels of slaked lime to the acre, [ 
have found amply sufficient for any of our 
lands, and a greater quantity often attend- 
ed with injury to the soil and crops, whilst 
twenty-five bushels will answer every pur- 
pose on thin lands, deficient in vegetable 
matler. Ashes, bone dust, and the various 
marine manures that abound on the shores 
of the Chesapeake and its tributaries, will 
be found important auxiliaries in the work 
of 'keeping your lands rich,' whilst the ne- 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



35 



cessity of clover and the proper grasses, to 
any system of permanent improvement, is 
too obvious to require comment, 

"The various manures compounded by 
chemists and manufacturers, should also 
engage your careful attention. They 
should not be recklessly thrown aside as 
humbugs, without trial or investigation, 
nor adopted and extensively used with 
blind confidence in their efficacy. I have 
used many oi' these manures by way of ex- 
periment, and the profit realized upon them 
has not justified me in enlarging rny ope- 
rations. Poudrette, manufactured in Bal- 
timore; Bommer's manure, Chappel's ferti- 
lizer and Kentish & Co.'s prepared guano, 
an my hands, (used, it is true, upon a small 
scale,) have not realized the promises 
made in their behalf Yet I would by no 
means discourage the praiseworthy efforts 
of the manufacturers, and hope they will 
persevere until, by lessening the bulk and 
increasing (he power of their compounds, 
they may be able to prepare an article 
that for cheapness, convenience of appli- 
cation and efficacy, shall equal or surpass 
the best Peruvian guano. 

"In the effect of guano, especially the 
Peruvian, I have never been disappointed. 
\ have used it now for four years, with en- 
tire satisfaction, having each year been in- 
duced to enlarge my expenditure, until last 
year it. reached ei^ht hundred dollars, ami 
lor the crop of wheat, this fall it exceeds 
one thousand. I have observed with asto- 
nishment its effect in numerous instances, 
on the poor 'forest lands,' alluded to in a 
former part of this address. What the tur- 
nip and sheep husbandry have done for the 
Sight lands of Great Britain, the general 
use of guano promisestodo for ours. Lands 
a \'ew years ago deemed entirely incapable 
of producing wheat, now produce the most 
luxuriant crops. From 15 to 20 bushels 
for one sowed, is the ordinary product on 
our poorest lands, from the application of 
200 lbs. of Peruvian Guano. I may re- 
mark, it is not usual, in Eastern Virginia, 
to sow more than a bushel of wheat to the 
acre, and that I deem amply sufficient. 
Upon this subject 1 hope a few details may 
not be considered tedious or uninteresting. 
I applied last fall $350 worth of guano, 
partly Peruvian and partly Patagonian, on 
a poor farm in 'the forest,' which cost a 
few years ago four dollars an acre, and 
reaped 1089 bushels of beautiful wheat 
from 78 sowed. Forty-six bushels were 
sowed on fallow, (both guano and wheat 
put in with the cultivator, followed by a 
2b 



heavy harrow,) and yielded 790 bushels, 
or over 17^ for one. A considerable part 
of this was dressed with Patagonian gua- 
no, and was much inferior to the other por- 
tion. A lot on which 15 bushels were 
sowed, and dressed with Peruvian guana, 
was threshed separately, and yielded 301 
bushels, or over twenty for one. The 
whole cost of the farm was $1520, and 1 
have good reason to expect, with a favor- 
able season, from the crop now sowed and 
dressed with guano, a bushel of wheat lor 
every dollar of the prime cost of the farm. 
Many other instances of profit from the use 
of guano, equally striking, have occurred 
among my neighbors and friends, but I 
confine myself to those stated, because 
having come under my immediate obser- 
vation, I can vouch for their entire accu- 
racy. It has been frequently objected to 
the use of guano that it is not permanent. 
It would be unreasonable to expect great 
permanent improvement from a manure so 
active, and yielded so lari'e a profit on the 
first crop. Yet I have seen some strik- 
ing evidences of its permanency in heavy 
crops of clover, succeeding wheat, and in 
the increase of the crop of wheat on a se- 
cond application. As an instance, I may 
mention that two years ago I sowed upon 
a single detached acre of 'forest land,' 
one bushel of wheat, and dressed it with a 
barrel of African guano, costing $4, and 
the yield was seventeen bushels. Last 
fall the same land, after remaining one 
year in clover, was again sowed with one 
bushel of wheat and dressed with 140 lbs. 
of Peruvian guano, costing $3, and the pro- 
duct was 22 bushels. Yet I would advise 
no one to rely upon guano exclusively. Its 
analysis shows that it contains salts of am- 
monia, alkaline phosphates and the other 
mineral elements necessary to produce the 
grain of wheat, but is deficient in most of 
the elements of the straw and roots of the 
plants. Hence, (says Liebig) 'a rational 
agriculturist, in using guano, cannot dis- 
pense with stable dung.' We should, 
therefore, be careful not to exhaust the soil 
of organic manures, but by retaining the 
straw of the wheat, and occasionally a crop 
of clover, which plant contains a large per- 
centage of the alkaline carbonates, which 
are entirely wanting in guano, furnish all 
the elements necessary to the entire wheat 
plant. In this view of the subject, and lor 
many other reasons, that I cannot stop to 
enumerate, there cannot be, when guano 
is extensively used, a more judicious rota- 
tion than the Pamunky five field system 



36 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



in which clover occupiesa prominent place. 
I have now enumerated some of the most 
prominent means by which you may 'keep 
your lands rich.' I would not discourage 
the use of others. Science is daily making 
discoveries in the art of enriching the earth, 
and we should discard nothing, without a 
irial, which promises to be useful; always 
bearing in mind that the wisest economy 
is entirely consistent with the most liberal 
expenditure, in the purchase of manures, 
provided we take care, by judicious expe- 
riments and observation, to ascertain their 
efficacy, and lhat we get back our capita!, 
with an actual net profit, in cash, on all 
our investments. This latter caution is in- 
dispensable, in our country, where new 
lands are so abundant and cheap, that 
highly improved farms can never be rated 
in the market at their true value/' 



For the Southern Planter. 

INSPECTION OF GUANO. 

Among the projects now before the Legisla- 
ture, I have observed one which has for its ob- 
ject the repeal of some of the inspection lavs 
of the State. A petition from Buckingham, 
headed by ihe venerable Major Charles Yan- 
cey, asks that the law requiring fish, lime, 
spirits, plaster and guano to be inspected before 
sold, shall be repealed; and the matter is now 
under consideration. 

The laws regulating the first named articles 
have long been in operation, and their policy 
has seldom been questioned or doubted. The 
act providing for inspections of guano and 
plaster of paris was passed last year. It pro- 
vided for two inspections, one at Richmond and 
the other at Petersburg. Under it, Dr. John 
N. Powell was appointed for Richmond and 
Mr. Thomas S. Pleasants for Petersburg— one 
of them a Democrat and the other a Whig — if 
the opponents of the measure deem the political 
opinions of the incumbents important to be 
known, or suspect that party ruled the selection. 
Dr. Powell is a man w r ell versed in his pro- 
fession, largely engaged in farming, and has 
used guano from its first introduction up to the 
present time. He now expends about $400 
annually in its purchase and is a judge of the 
article practically as well as scientifically. — 
Mr. Pleasants is well known as an agricultural 
writer in the various journals lor more than 
twenty years. His articles have always com- 
manded attention, and especially those on 
guano, in the use of which he has had a very 
large experience. 

Presuming, then, that no objection can be 
urged against the men, I ask what serious one 
can be sustained against the measure? It may 
be agreeable to dealers to have the inspection 



abolished ; but how farmers can desire such a 
thing — particularly those distant from the ports 
of entry — I cannot divine. It really seems to 
me that there is as much reason for doing 
away with inspection of flour and tobacco. It ' j 
is urged ihat the inspection entails an additional 
cost which the farmer consumer has to pay. — 
Now, consider with regard to tobacco, of which 
the farmer is the producer: does he not have lo 
pay the cost of inspection ? Undoubtedly, he 
does; for it is deducted from the proceeds of 
the sale. The cost of inspecting a hogshead 
of tobacco, say 1500 lbs. is #1. The cost of 
inspecting a ton of guano say 2000 lbs. (the 
short ton,) is 20 cents— a price so low that it 
barely pays for the expenses. Thus we find 
that it costs more than six times as much to 

| inspect the one as the other. 

But if it be a burden upon the faimer to have 
this cost of inspection added to the price he 
pays for his guano, I answer by asking what 
expense of government, of trade, or of com- 
merce is there lhat is not defrayed by the pro- 
ducing classes, of which the agricultural con- 
stitute more than three-fourths'? Can he escape 
the burden, if burden it be ? The consumer of 
guano may congratulate him.-elf that our go- 

I vernment does not impose an ad valorem duty 
upon it, but instead of so doing is usi".g ail the 

i powers of diplomacy to have the heavy expo'' 
duty of the Peruvian Government taken off. 
This done, or even the duty reduced, importa- 
tions of guano will be more frequent and the 
price of the article will fall. But does not the 
history of all trade in new articles of com- 
merce assure us of an irresistible tendency to 
practise fraud in their sale? Where could j 
the temptations be greater than in a high priced 
article like guano?" All faimers are not judges 
of its genuineness. Some of the most intelli- 
gent have been deceived by using a spurious 
article. Honest dealers themselves, receiving 
it second hand, have been deceived, and have 
innocently sold adulterated stuff to their cus- 
tomers. Hence the necessity of inspection. 

It is said, why inspect guano here, since it 
has already been inspected at the North? — 
Now, with me, the fact of its inspection at the 
North and passing through the hands of second 
and third holders, would be an additional rea- 
son for a re-inspection here; because I would 
rather buy it out of the hold of a ship coming 
direct to Norfolk, or City Point or Richmond, 
than from a Yankee clipper. But laying that 
aside, and presuming fair dealing always, do 
we not know what a great affinity guano has for 
water, and how liable it is to lose its valuable 
qualities by too long exposure to atmospheric 
air? It maybe injured by storage in damp cel- 
lars, or by being flooded in a gale on the At- 
lantic coast, or by the careless and frequent 
handling of it by draymen and others. Many 
instances of this have occurred in the re-ship- 
ment from New York and Baltimore to Rich- 
mond. Are the farmers willing to run the risk 
of buying a damaged article, at full price, 
merely for the sake of saving a cent a pound 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



37 



for inspection? If the article be injured either Norfolk, or any other point, in order to buy a 
on the voyage from Peru, in the storehouse of supply? They must either become importers 
the Northern importer, or in its transit to Vir- themselves' which is impracticable— or rely 
ginia, it ought to be maiked accordingly, and on their commission merchants, who may be 
then the purchaser would know how to esti- , no judgps — or order direetly from the dealers, 
mate its value. The law has worked well who rru.y be interested in getting off a spurious 
thus far. A huge quantity has failed to come : article. The farmer's saiest reliance is in the 
up to the standard of inspection, and the bags ; continuation of the inspection, 
containing it have been so branded. No. 1 is ! G. 

worth more than No. 2, and by keeping up the | 

inspection both farmers and dealers will soon i 
find out the difference. 

I had hoped that when an attempt to intro- 1 
duce scientific analysis into our State for the : 
benefit of agriculture, ha'd partially succeeded ; 
— that is, as far as guano and plaster are con- 
cerned — there would have been an acqdiesc- 
ence on the part of the opponents of the n<ea- 
sore, at least for a short time 



PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURE. 



We are glad to see an increased interest 
awakening hereabout upon this subject. What 
was thrown out as a suggestion— we do no* 
claim to have originated it — has become fact, 
Awor'cUs to plaster." *We have inexhaust-j and a conversational Agricultural Club has 
ible beds of that useful fertilizing mineral ! been formed at the Capital of Virginia. It 
within our own State. At present, however, j is composed of members of the Legislature, 
they are generally inaccessible to those most; c /, „ . , «... 

desiring to use them, and hence our plaster 1 of the ^> nvenl1 ™ ™* Citizens. Severai 
comes from the North, almost entirely. But! meetings have been held and were well at- 
we are prosecuting a canal and making rail-i tended. We were present at that which was 
roads into the heart of the counties where held on the 30th of January in the Senale 
those plaster beds he. We shall before many ! _, . „ _ _, . , . _,, 

years he able to supply ourselves. The in-! Chamber, Gen. C. Braxton in their Chair. A 
spection of plaster will become a necessity, if! considerable portion of the time was consumed 



we mean to buy our own Southern produc- 
tions in preference to Northern; because I 
take it that the State of Virginia, after having 
spent so many millions to get at her resources, 
will give some advantage to her own citizens 
in the use of those which they particularly 
need. An inspection will be absolutely re- 
quired in order to protect the plaster of our 
own mountains from that brought to our sea- 
ports in vessels. Many farmers have been 
taken in by buying the ground plaster which 
comes in tierces. It is this article with which 
the inspectors now have to deal. Their duty 



in arranging the Constitution and details of or- 
ganization. Messrs. H. A. Wise, Edmund 
Ruffm, J. R. Edmunds, Dr. Maupin and others 
took an active part in the proceedings. Mr. 
Ruffm and Dr. Maupin read essays, which wilt 
be found in the next number of this journal. 
They will speaks for themselves. Both were 
listened to with marked attention, and after- 
wards ordered to be published. The best feel- 
ing prevailed and the Club is destined, we 



in regard to it is more important than the duty | think, to produce most beneficial results, 
of the inspectors of lime, which also comes in j 

tierces, and is chiefly used by mechanics, the j 

bricklayers, stonemasons, and plasterers. The 

inspection of lime is generally acquiesced in. SALJERATUS. 

Now, if mechanics who handle an article 

themselves, necessarily, and who therefore The OhioCultivator, published atColumbus, 

have every opportunity of judging of its value I has lately had an accession to its editorial man- 



or worlhlessness, require an inspection before 
purchasing, surely the farmer, and especially 
all those owning large estates or numerous 
farms, like Major Yancey, much more requires 
it; for the reason that he cannot possibly ex- 
amine the article which he has to use. He 
must leave its application to his overseers and 
servants, and, therefore, the plaster which they 
are directed to sow (if it have come in tierces 
and is not ground at a neighboring mill) should 
pass the inspector's ordeal. 

To conclude, I will suppose every man a 
judge of guano and plaster. The large body of 
farmers reside at a distance from the towns 
where these articles are kept. Shall they be 
" the way to Richmond or 



agement in the person of Mrs. Josephine C. 
Bateham, who has assumed the chair of the 
"Ladies' Department." She publishes an ad- 
dress, in which the several Lady contributors 
are announced by name. We extract the fol- 
lowing recipe, crediting it as we find it in the 
pages devoted to the Ladies' Department: 
11 Liquid Saljeratus — Put the salts into a bot- 
tle and add water till nearly the whole is dis- 
solved and cork up for use. A little experience 
will show you the quantity to use, and it in- 
sures a perfect and uniform distribution of the 
alkali in every part of the flour, and avoids 
those unsightly and disagreeable tasting spots 
in biscuits that can hardly be avoided when 
used in the early state." — Ex. 



38 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



EXTRACTS FROM EDITOR'S CORRE- 
SPONDENCE. 

" Fulton, Kentucky, January, 1851. 
"I had intended sending for your Southern 
Planter before this, but the thief of time has 
hitherto stolen the privilege. Enclosed you 
will find one dollar. The farming interest in 
this portion of the West (near the mouth of the 
Ohio,) is looking upwards very much. We are 
crowded with emigi ants to this vicinity. Land 
has increased very rapidly in price, and the 
productions of this county pay the sturdy far- 
mer well for his labors." 

" Roanoke Bridge, January, 1851. 
" I shall advise all of my neighbors to take 
the Planter, as a Virginia Agricultural paper 
adapted to the wants of the community. I 
think with a little effort you might add hun- 
dreds to your list, by advertising in the politi- 
cal papers edited and circulating in the Stale, 
commending it to every man engaged in the 
cultivation of Virginia lands; advocating, as it 
does, the only means of restoring the worn 
lands — manuring and ploughing deep, and un- 
ceasing perseverance to accomplish the end; 
adding yearly to the improved land, at least 
manuring enough to quicken the dead land, 
preparatory for herdsgrassin all springy lands, 
and for clover in the dry. When the Danville 
Railroad gives us the facility of procuring 
lime, piaster, marl, &c. I feel confident we shall 
awake and do what has been too longneglected. 
We have on the route of the Danville road 
fine scenes to improve, extensive broomsedges and 
hen-nest fields, soon to be followed by Nature's 
restorative, (old field pine,) unless the Dagon 
and subsoil ploughs are put in motion. Now is 
the time to send the Planter to every nook 
(and if not superfluous, to every corner) of the 
State. I hope, sir, to procure more subscribers 
in my neighborhood." 



nary purposes, and when this the case, it 
j should be fed to swine. If you have any 
old peas that have remained a long time 
on hand, and have become mouldy, place 
them in a tub and pour on scalding water. 
This will restore them at once to their 
original sweetness, and render them as 
good for cooking as when taken originally 
from the pods. The cultivation of peas 
and oats as a feed for swine after the man- 
ner which the Germans call "mezzlin." is 
good economy, and deserves to be gene- 
rally introduced. If is not perhaps gene- 
rally known that the mixing of two grains, 
or two kinds of grain, after this manner- 
gives in almost every case, and under al- 
most every variety of circumstances, a 
greater aggregate yield than would he ob- 
tained from either, if sown separate or 
alone. No food, perhaps, is more nutri- 
tious and stimulating than oats and pea 
meal, and those who have hogs to fatten, 
should endeavor to produce a sufficiency of 
it to "make their pork," without intruding 
upon their grain bins; and this every far- 
mer may do with perfect ease. On good 
soil, the pea is a prolific bearer, and in fa- 
vorable seasons, makes a good crop. 



Bensalern, Jan. 10, 1851. 



B. 



From the Germantown Telegraph. 

PEAS, A FOOD FOR HOGS. 

Mr Editor, — Among the numerous ar- 
ticles ordinarily used as feed for swine, the 
pea is perhaps the most nutritious and val- 
uble. Ground into meal, or prepared by 
soaking, it is scarcely possible to conceive 
of a more healthful or alimentary diet. 
When other articles are abundant, how- 
ever, the pea crop is generally too valua- 
ble to be appropriated, profitably for this 
purpose, as the market price of good peas 
exceeds, considerably, that of Indian corn; 
but it often happens that the pea is injured 
by the "bug," and rendered unfit for culi- 



From the Plough, Loom and Anril. 

NIGHT SOIL— ITS VALUE. 

The best of all manures is the one which in 
our country is almost universally wasted. In 
Belgium, where agriculture is carried to great 
productiveness, they "order things differently." 
There, the estimate is, by nice calculation, 
that it is worth $10 for every individual, man, 
woman and child. We traverse sea and land, 
send to Africa and South America to bring 
elements of fertility which at home we throw 
away, on every farm in the country. What 
an immense amount wasted in our cities! It 
must be the most valuable, containing the ele- 
ments of all kinds of food consumed by man, 
and in returning these to the soil, we return 
the identical constituents which former crops 
and animals had taken from the land. Night 
soil contains the phosphate of lime, which is 
indispensable to the growth of animals' bones 
and to the nutriment of plants, and which is 
not supplied from the atmosphere, like car- 
bonic acid and ammonia. All fluid and solid 
excretions should be preserved by mixing 
them with burnt clay, saw dust, ashes, peat 
or wood charcoal, &c 

"We have a great deal to learn, and alas, 
much more to practice, that we have learned. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



39 



From the Southern Cultivator. 
MANAGEMENT OF NEGROES. 



% Mr. Editor,— As the proper management of 
'" our negroes is a subject not second in impor- 
tance to any discussed in your columns, I hope 
it will not be deemed amiss if, in giving my 
views, I enter somewhat into detail. That on 
some points I shall be found to differ in opinion 
from some of your readers and correspondents, 
is to be expected. I shall not, however, object 
to any one's expressing his dissent, provided 
it be done in the spirit of kindness. 

Our first obligation is undoubtedly to pro- 
vide them with suitable food and clot! ing. 
Here the question arises — What is sufficient 
t'oodl For as there is a difference in practice, 
there must be also in opinion among owners. 
The most common practice is to allow each 
hand that labors, whether man woman or child, 
(lor a boy- or girl ten years old or over, who is 
healthy, and growing rapidly, will eat quite 
as much as a full grown man or woman,) 
3j lbs. bacon, if middling, or 4 lbs., if shoulder, 
per week, and bread at will: or if allowanced 
in this also, a peck of meal is usually thought 
sufficient. With plenty of vegetables, tribal 
lowance is quite sufficient; but if confined to 
meat and bread, negroes who work hard will 
eat a peck and a half of meal per week. 

As I live on my farm and occasionally in- 
spect the cooking for the negroes, I see that 
they have enough, but nothing to waste; and I 
speak from personal observation, when I state, 
that if without vegetables they will eat this 
quantity. 
V With very little trouble we can always dur- 
ing spring and summer, have plenty of cab- 
bage, kale or mustard for greens, also squashes, 
Irish potatoes and beans. In fall and winter 
sweet potatoes, turnips, pumpkins and peas. I 
believe there is no labor devoted to a provision 
crop, that pays equal to that bestowed on a 
plain kitchen garden. As there is no vegeta- 
ble of which negroes are more fond than of the 
common field pea, it is well to save enough of 
them in the fall to have them frequently dur- 
ing the spring and summer. They aie very 
nutritious; and if cooked perfectly done, and well 
seasoned with red pepper, are quite healthy. 
If occasionally a little molasses be added to 
the allowance, the cost will be but a trifle, 
while the negro will esteem it as a great lux- 
ury. As most persons feel a great reluctance 
at paying out money for little luxtuies for ne- 
groes, I would suggest the propriety of sowing 
a small patch of wheat for their benefit. The 
time and labor will never be missed. Many 
persons are in the habit of giving out the al- 
lowance to their negroes once a week, and re- 
quiring them to do their own cooking. This 
plan is objectionable on various accounts. 
Unless better provided for taking care of their 
provisions than is common among negroes, 
some will steal the meat from others, and the 
loser is compelled for the remainder of the 



week to live on bread, or the master must give 
him an additional allowance. The master can 
not expect full work from one who is but par- 
tially fed; while on the other hand, if he will 
give the loser an additional supply, the negroes 
soon learn to impose upon his kindness, by be- 
ing intentiot. ally careless, or by tradingofftheir 
meatand pretendingithasbeenstolen. Another 
objection is tha'. some are improvident, and 
will get through with their whole allowance 
of meat before the week is gone, and conse- 
quently are a part of their time without any. 

To making the negroes do their own cook- 
ing the objections are still more weighty. It 
encroaches upon the rest they should have both 
at noon and at night. The cooking being done 
in a hurry is badly done; being usually buint 
outside while it is raw within; and conse- 
j quently is unhealthy. However abundant may 
I be their supply of vegetables, the hands have 
I no time to cook them, and consequently are 
| badly fed, and have not the strength to do as 
j much labor as they could otherwise perform 
\ with comfort. 

The plan pursued by the writer is, to weigh 
i out a certain amount of meat for each day; a 
i portion of which is given to the cook every 
i morning, to be boiled for dinner, and with it 
. are cooked as many vegetables and as much 
| bread as the negroes will eat; all of which is 
I usually divided among them by the Foreman. 
I In the evening enough is cooked for both sup- 
| per and breakfast; so that by the time we are 
| done feeding stock, supper is ready, and the 
! hands have only to eat and they are ready tor 
\ bed. When the nights are long the meat for 
I supper and breakfast issometimesdivided with- 
I out cooking. In addition to the above, the 
j negroes, during spring and summer, usually 
j get plenty of milk once a day. During fall and 
j winter the quantity of milk is more limited, and 
what molasses they get, they are made to win 
j by picking cotton. 

To make one negro cook for all is saving 
of time. If there be but ten hands, and these 
are allowed two hours at noon, one of which 
is employed in cooking their dinner, for all 
purposes of rest that hour had as well be spent 
in ploughing or hoeing; and would be equal to 
ten hours' work of one hand: whereas the fourth 
of that time would be sufficient for one to cook 
for all. As there are usually a number of ne- 
gro children to be taken care of, the cook can 
attend to these, and see that the nurses do their 
duty. I would add that besides occasional per- 
sonal inspection, it is made obligatory on the 
Overseer frequently to examine the cooking, 
and see that it is properly done. 

One of your correspondents has endeavored 
to prove that lean meat is more nutritious than 
fat. It is, however, a well known fact that the 
more exhausting the labor the fatter the meat 
which the negro's appetite craves, and it agrees 
well with him. This J regard as one of the 
instincts of nature; and think experience is 
opposed to your correspondent's theory. 
As to clothing, less than three suits a year of 



40 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



every day clothes will not keep a negro decent, 
and many of them require more. Children, 
particularly boys, are worse than grown per- 
sons on their clothes, and consequently require 
more of them. I have never been able to keep 
a boy, from ten to sixteen years of age, decently 
clothed with less than four suits a year; nor 
would that answer, if some of the women were 
not compelled to do their mending. It is also 
important that women who work out should in 
addition to their usual clothing, have a change 
of drawers for winter. 

As no article of water- proof, suitable for an 
outer garment, and sufficiently cheap for plan- 
tation use is to be had in the stores, the writer 
would suggest the propriety of having foreach 
hand, a long apron with sleeves, made of cotton 
osnaburgs, and coated with well boiled linseed 
oil. In the fall, when picking cotton, this apron 
may be worn early in the morning until the 
dew dries off, then' laid aside. By making it 
sufficiently loose across the breast, it can be 
used as an over-coat at any time that the negro 
is necessarily exposed to rain. 

Patching may be done by the women of wet 
days when they are compelled to be in the 
house. Or when a breeding woman gets too 
heavy to go to the field, she may be made to do 
a general patching for all hands. 

in furnishing negroes with bed clothes, it is 
folly to buy the common blankets, such as sell 
for a dollar or a dollar and a quarter. They 
have butlittle warmth ordurability. One that 
will cost double the money will do more than 
four times the service. 

Besides whole clothes, negroes should have 
dean clothes, and in order to do this, they 
should have a little time allowed them to do 
their washing. As it is not convenient for all 
hands to wash at the same time, they may be 
divided into companies, and a certain evening 
assigned to each company. Those whose time 
it is" to wash should be let off from the field 
earlier than the rest of the hands, and on that 
night should be free from all attention to feeding 
stock. The rule works equal; for those who 
have to do extra feeding on one night are in 
their turn exempt. It should, however, be an 
invariable rule not to allow any of them to wash 
on Saturday night, for they will be dirty on 
the Sabbath and render as an excuse that their 
clothes are wet. On some large plantations it 
is the daily business of one hand to wash and 
mend for the rest. 

In. building houses for negroes it is important 
to set them well up, (say 2J or 3 feet from the 
ground to the sills) so as to be conveniently 
swept underneath. When thus elevated, if 
there should be any filth under them, the mas- 
ter or overseer, in passing can see it, and have 
it removed. The houses should be neat and 
comfortable, and as far as circumstances will 
allow, it looks best to have them of uniform 
size and appearance; 16 by 18 feeet is a con- 
venient size for a small family. If there be 
many children in a family a larger house will 
be nicessary. 



Many persons, in building negro houses, in 
order to get clay convenient for filling the 
hearth, and for mortar, dig a hole under the 
floor. As such excavations uniformly become 
a common receptacle for filth, which generates 
disease, they should by no means De allowed. 
In soils where the clay will make brick the sav- 
ing of fuel, and the greater security against 
fire, render it a matter of economy to build 
brick chimneys. In all cases the chimneys 
should be extended fully two feet above the 
roof, that there may be less danger in discharg- 
ing sparks. They are also less liable to smoke. 
In consequence of negro houses being but one 
story high, the lowness of the chimneys renders 
them very liable to smoke from currents of 
wind driving down the flue. This may be ef- 
fectually prevented by the following' simple 
precaution. Around the top of the ihimney 
throw out a base some 8 or 10 inches wide and 
from the outer edge of this draw in the cap at 
an angle of 35 or 40 degrees with the horizon 
until true with the flue. No matter in what di- 
rection the wind blows, on striking this in- 
clined plane the current will glance upwards 
and pass the chimney, without the possibility 
of blowing down it. A coat of whitewash in- 
side and out, every summer, adds very much to 
the neat and comfortable appearance of the 
buildings and is also, by its cleansing and pu- 
rifying effect, conducive to health. The cost 
is almost nothing, as one barrel of good lime 
will whitewash a dozen common sized negro 
houses, and any negro can put it on. 

If there be not natural shades sufficient to 
keep the houses comfortable, a row of mulber- 
ries, or such other shades as may suit the own- 
er's fancy, should by all means be planted in 
front, and so as to protect the houses on the 
sowth and southwest. 

The negroes should be required to keep their 
houses and yards clean; and in case of neglect 
should receive such punishment as will be likely 
to insure more cleanly habits in future. 

In no case should two families be allowed to 
occupy the same house. The crowding a 
number into one house is unhealthy. It breeds 
contention; is destructive of. delicacy of feel- 
ing, and it promotes immorality between the 
sexes. 

In addition to their dwellings, where there 
are a number of negroes, they should be provi- 
ded with a suitable number of properly located 
water closets. These may contribute an in- 
come much greater than their cost, by enabling 
the owner to prepare poudrette; while they 
serve the much more important purpose of cul- 
tivating feelings of delicacy. 

There should at all times be plenty of wood 
hauled. Surely no man of any pretensions to 
humanity, would require a negro, after ha v ng 
done a heavy day's work, to toil for a quarter 
or a half mile under a load of wood before he 
can have a fire. An economical way of sup- 
plying them with wood is to haul logs instead 
of small M'ood. This may be most conveni- 
ently done with a cart and pair of hooks, such 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



41 



as are used for hauling slocks to a saw-mill. 
Such hooks will often come in use, and the 
greater convenience and expedition of hooks 
instead of a chain, will soon save more lime 
than will pay for them. 

The master should never establish any regu- 
lation among his slaves until he is fully con- 
vinced of its propriety and equity Being thus 
convinced, and having issued his orders, im- 
plicit obedience .should be requiied and rigidly 
enforced. Firmness of manner, and prompt- 
ness to enforce obedience, will sr.ve much 
trouble, and be the means of avoiding the ne- 
cessity for much whipping. The negro should 
feel that his master is his law-giver and judge; 
and yet his protector and friend, but so far 
above him, as never to be approached save in 
the most respectful manner. That where he 
has just cause, he may witli due deference ap- 
proach his master and lay before him his trou- 
bles and complaints; but not on false pretexts 
or trivial occasions. If the master be a tyrant, 
his negroes may be so much embarrassed by 
his presence as to be incapable of doing their 
work properly when he is near. 

It is expected that servants should rise early 
enough to be at work by the time it is light.— 
In sections of country thai are sickly it will be 
found conducive to health, in the fall, to make 
the hands eat their breakfast before going into 
the dew. In winter, as the days are short and 
nights long— it will be no encroachment upon 
their necessary rest to make them eat breakfast 
before daylight. One properly taken care of, 
and supplied with good tools, is certainly able 
to do more work than under other circum- 
stances. While at work they should be brisk. 
If one is called to you, or sent from you, and he 
does not move briskly, chastise him at once. — 
If this does not answer, repeat the dose and 
double the quantity. When at work I have no 
objection to their whistling or singing some 
lively tune, but no dravMng tunes are allowed 
in the field, for their motion is almost ceriain 
to keep time with the music. 

In winter a hand may be pressed all day, but 
not so in summer. In the first of the spring a 
hand need not be allowed any more lime at 
noon than is sufficient to eat. As the days get 
longer and warmer, a longer rest is necessary. 
In May from one and a half lo two hours, in 
June two and a half, in July and August, three 
hours' rest at noon. If the day is unusually 
sultry, a longer lime is better. When the 
weather is oppressive it is best for all hands to 
take a nap at noon. It is refreshing and they 
are better able to stand pressing the balance of 
the day. Hands by being kept out of the sun du- 
ring the hottest of the dav, have better health, 
and can do more work through the season than 
those who take what they call a good steady 
gait, and work regularly from morning till 
night. They will certainly last much longer. 

If the corn for feeding is in the shuck the 
husking should be done at noon; and all corn 
for milling should, during summer, be shelled 



at noon, that as the nights are short the hands 
m;.y be ready for bed at an early hour. 

If water be not convenient in the field where 

! the hands are at work, instead of having it 

brought from a distance in buckets, it w ill be 

j found more convenient lo have a barrel fixed 

on wheels and carried full of water to some 

! convenient place, and let a small boy or girl 

j with a bucket supply the hands from the bar- 

! rel. Some persons make each negro carry a 

'jug or large gourd lull of water to the field 

[ every morning and this has to serve for the 

day. 

During fall and winter, hands may be made 
j to pack at night what cotton has been ginned 
in the day. The women may be required to 
j spin what litile roping will be necessary for 
j plough lines, and to makesome heavy bed quilts 
! for themselves. Besides this there is very liltle 
that can properly be done of nights. 

One of the most important regulations on a 

i farm is to see that the hands get plenty of sleep. 

I They are thoughtless, and if allowed to do so, 

| will set up late of nights, borne of them will 

| be up at all hours, and others instead of going 

| to bed will set on a stool or chair and nod or 

| sleep till morning. By half past nine or ten 

j o'clock, all hands should be in bed and unless 

in case of sickness or where a woman has been 

up with her child, if any one is caught out of 

bed after that hour, they should be punished. 

A large sized cow bell that could be heard 
two miles, and would not cost more than three 
or four dollars, would serve not only as a sig- 
nal for bed-time, but also for getting up of a 
morning, for ceasing work at noon, and resum- 
ing it after dinner. Where the distance to be 
heard is not great, a common bar of cast steel 
hung up by passing a wire through one end, 
may be struck with a hammer and will answer 
in place of a bell. 

Most persons allow their negroes to cultivate 
a small crop of their own. For a number of 
reasons the plan is a bad one. It is next to 
impossible to keep them from working their 
cropon Sabbaths. They laborof nights when 
they should be at rest. There is no saving 
more than to give them the same amount, for 
like all otheranimalshe is only capable of doing 
a certain amount of labor without injury. To 
this point he may he worked at his regular task 
and any labor beyond this is an injury to both 
master and slave. They will pilfer to add to 
what corn or cotton they mav have made. If 
they sell their crop and trade for themselves 
they are apt to be cheated out of a good pottion 
of their labor. They will have many things in 
their possession under color of purchase which 
we know not whether they obtained honestly. 
As far as possible it is best to place temptation 
outof their reach. We have all their time and 
service, and can surely afford to furnish them 
with such things as they ought to have. Let us 
spend on them in extra presents as much as 
their crop (if they had one) would yield. By 
this means we may keep them from whiskey 
and supply them with articles of service to a 



42 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



much greater extent than they would get if 
allowed to trade lor themselves, while we avoid 
the objections above stated. 

Believing that the strolling about of negroes 
for a week at a time during what are called 
Christmas holidays, is productive of much evil, 
the writer has set his face against the custom. 
Christmas is observed as a sacred festival. On 
that day as good a dinner as the plantation 
will afford is served for the negroes, and they 
all set down to a common table, but the next 
day we go to work. From considerations both 
of morality and needful rest and recreation to 
the negro, I much prefer giving a week in July 
when the crop is laid by, to giving three days 
at Christmas. 

On small farms where there are very few ne- 
groes, it may be proper to allow them to visit 
to a limited extent, but on large plantations 
there can be no want of society, and conse- 
quently no excuse for visiting except among 
themselves. If allowed to run about they will 
rarely ever take wives at home. The men wish 
an excuse for absence, that under pretext of 
beingat their wife's house, they may run about 
all over the neighborhood. Let it be a settled 
principle that men and their wives must live to- 
gether. That if they can not be suited at home 
they must live single, and there will be no fur- 
ther difficulty. If a master has a servant and 
no suitable one of the other sex for a compan- 
ion, he had better give an extra price for such 
an one as his would be willing to marry, than to 
have one man owning the husband and another 
the wife. It frequently happens where hus- 
band and wife belong to different persons that 
one owner sells out and wishes to move. 
Neither is Avilling to part with his servant, or 
if one will consent, the other is not able to buy ; 
consequently the husband and wife must part. 
This is a sore evil, surely much greater than 
restricting to the plantation in making a 
selection. 

In the infliction of punishment it should ever 
be borne in mind that, the object is correction. 
If the negro is humble and appears duly sensi- 
ble of the impropriety of his conduct, a very 
moderate chastisement will answer better than 
a severe one. If, however, he is stubborn or 
impertinent or perseveres in what you know to 
be a falsehood, a slight punishment w 7 ill only 
make bad worse. The negro should however 
see from your cool, yet determined manner, 
that it is not in consequence of your excited 
temper, but of his fault, and for his correction 
that he is punished. As a general principle the 
legal maxim that "it is better ninety and nine 
guilty persons should escape than one innocent 
should suffer," is correct. It, however, has its 
exceptions. If, for instance, the negroes take 
to killing your pigs, or stealing your chickens 
and eggs, and you cannot ascertain who are 
guiltyi it is only necessary to put the whole 
crowd on half allowance of meat for a few 
days and the evil will end. This remedy is ! 
better than a perpetual fuss and suspicion of I 
all. 



In the intercourse of negroes among them- 
selves, no quarreling nor opprobious epithets, 
no swearing nor obscene language, should ever 
be allowed. Children should be required to 
be respectful to those who are grown, more es- 
pecially to the old, and the strong should never 
be allowed to impose on the weak. Men 
should be taught that it is disgraceful to abuse 
or impose on the weaker sex, and if a man 
should so far forget and disgrace himself as to 
strike a woman, the woman should be made to 
give him the hickory and then ride him on a 
rail. The wife, however, should never be re- 
quired to strike her husband, for fear of its un- 
happy influence over their future respect for, 
and kindness to each other. 

The negroes should not be allowed to run 
about over the neighboroood; they should be 
encouraged to attend church when it is within 
convenient distance. Where there are pious 
negroes on a plantation who are so disposed, 
they should be allowed and encouraged to hold 
prayer-meetingsamong themselves; and where 
the number is too great to be accommodated in 
one of the negro houses, they should have a 
separate building for the purposes of worship. 
Where it can be done, the services of a minis- 
ter should be procured for their special benefit. 
By having the appointments for pieaching. at 
noon during Summer and at night during win- 
ter, the preacher could consult his own conve- 
nience as to the day of t'^e week, without in 
the least interfering with the duties of the 
farm. 

A word to those who think and care but lit- 
tle about their own soul, or the soul of the ne- 
gro, and yet desire a good reputation for their 
children. Children are fond of the company of 
negroes, not only because the deference shown 
them makes them feel perfectly a: ease, but the 
subjects of conversation are on a level with 
their capacity, while the simple tales, and the 
witch and ghost stories so common among ne- 
groes, excite the young imagination and enlist 
the feelings. If in this association the child be- 
comes familiar with indelicate, vulgar, and las- 
civious manners and conversation, an impres- 
sion is made upon the mind and heart, which 
lasts for years— perhaps for life. Could we in 
all cases trace effects to their real causes, I 
doubt not but many young men and women of 
respectable parentage and bright prospects who 
have made shipwreck of all their earthly hopes, 
have been led to the fatal step by the seeds of 
corruption, which in the days of childhood and 
youth were soAvn in their hearts by the indeli- 
cate and lascivious manners and conversation 
of their father's negroes. If this opinion be 
correct, an effort to cherish and cultivate the 
feelings and habits of delicacy and morality 
among our negroes is forcibly ur^ed upon us 
by a regard for the respectability of our chil- 
dren, to say nothing of the prospects of both 
child and servant in another world and of our 
own responsibility when the great Master shall 
require an account of our stewardship. 

I have given you, Mr. Editor, an outline of 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



43 



my own management. If any of your corres- 
pondents will point out a more excellent way 
he will benefit your readers, and much oblige 

*\ your friend. 

■ " Tattler. 

Sleepy Hollow, Sept. 1850. 



DRAINING. 



The fact is probably known to most of 
the readers of this paper, that in Great 
Britain drainage, ns a principle of correct 
husbandry, is regarded as ranking next in 
importance to rotation, and that the most 
important improvements effected during 
the last half a century, have been the re- 
sult, principally, of its adoption. I do not 
profess to be practically familiar with the 
subject of draining, as the locality in which 
my agricultural labors have generally been 
engrossed is of a nature that requires the 
application or water, (irrigation) rather 
than its discharge. Notwithstanding all 
this, I contemplate the subject as one of 
vital importance, and shall therefore en- 
deavor briefly to exhibit my views of the 
theory of draining. 

It is probably understood by most prac- 
tical farmers that there are two distinct 
kinds of draining. These, to the readers 
of Von Thaer, and of other agricultural 
writers who have treated upon this subject, 
need not be be specifically described; but 
those who profess familiarity with works 
of this description, will merely observe that 
one relates to the draining of "boggy" 
land, the other to that which is rendered 
"wet" by position, or lack of sufficient de- 
scent to pass off the water falling upon it, 
during showers or storms of rain, either in 
the spring or fall. Great disadvantages 
are oftentimes experienced from both 
causes, and much land that otherwise 
would be valuable for purposes of grazing 
or tillage, is consequently lost. 

It was not till towards the close of the 
last century that the drainage of bogs 
was introduced, to any extent, in England; 
and with us, much as we boast of our im- 
provements, and desirable as the object 
must appear to everycandid and judicious 
mind, it has as yet been practised only on 
a limited scale. 

In the year 1796, the British Parliament 
voted the sum of one thousand pounds 
sterling to an individual, (a Mr. Elbington) 
to induce him to disclose the method dis- 
covered by him of freeing low lands and 
boggy lands from their supernatant waters. 



This beinir regarded as a liberal offer, Mr. 
E. came forward in accordance with the 
expressed wishes of his countrymen, and 
freely divulged the modus operandi, and 
the manner of its discovery. This he did 
to an agent expressly appointed to receive 
the communication by the Board of Agri- 
culture, by whom an octavo volume with 
plates, giving an account of his experi- 
ments, was soon after published. A recent 
writer en this subject says: 

"Dr. Elbington made his discovery by 
accident. Having occasion to drain a tract 
of boggy land, he cut a ditch, four feet 
deep, to the nearest, brook; but he found 
that this drained only a part of the surface, 
without affecting the origin of the difficulty. 
He took a crow-bar to ascertain what the 
under-strata was, and struck it down into 
the bog to the length of the bar, and upon 
withdrawing it the water ran offin a steady 
stream into this ditch. This stream con- 
tinued to run till it left the surface perfectly 
dry. From this circumstance he formed 
his theory." 

All bogs, it has since been ascertained, 
have their origin as such, in springs, either 
below their surface or in near con'actor 
proximity with their sides. In order, there- 
fore, perfectly to drain a piece of land, it is 
only necessary to ascertain the locality of 
the supplying fountain, and to furnish for 
its discharge, a channel such as is required 
by nature; that is. one with a sufficient de- 
scent to prevent the water from standing 
and soaking into the soil over or through 
which it is required to pass. "In all cases 
where the springs are so elevated as to ad- 
mit of their being reached by a common 
ditch," says our author, "drainage is ac- 
complished by the ditch alone." In some 
instances, however, we are compelled to 
penetrate several feet below the surface, 
often, as many as fifteen, before striking it. 
A ditch of this depth, it will readily be per- 
ceived, would be a costly affair, especially 
if of any considerable length; but this ap- 
parently insuperable objection is easily got 
over by Mr. E., whose theory fully meets 
this and every other difficulty. " After dig- 
ging the ditch, and ascertaining where the 
head ot the spring is likely to be, he bores 
through the bed of the bog till he strikes the 
main bed of water, which, by its pressure, is 
immediately forced up, and runs in a con- 
tinual stream until the bog is drained. 

These hints are worthy of observation, 
particularly by those who have large tracts 
of wet land which require draining before 
they can be improved. — Olive Branch. 



44 



THE SOUTHERN PLATER. 



From the Knickerbocker. 
THE FARMER'S ELEGY. 

On the green mossy knoll, by the banks of the 

brook 
That so long and so often hath watered his 

flock, 
The old farmer rests in his long and last sleep, 
While the wa'ers a low lisping lullaby keep: 
He has ploughed his last furrow, has reaped 

his last grain; 
No morn shall awake him from slumber 

again. 

The bluebird sings sweet on the gay maple 

bough; 
Its warbling oft cheered hirn while holding the 

plough : 
And the robins above him hop light on the 

mould. 
For he fed them with crumbs when the season t 

was cold. 

Yon tree that with fragrance is filling the air, 
So rich with its blossoms so thrifty and fair, 
By his own hand was planted, and well did he 

say, 
It would live when the planter had mouldered 

away. 

There's the well that he dug, with its water so 

cold, 
With its wet dripping bucket so mossy and old ; 
No mure from its depth by the patriarchdrawn, 
For the "pitcher is broken"— the old man is 

gone! 

And the seat where he sat by his own cottage 

door, 
In the still summer eve, when his labor was 

o'er, 
With his eve on the moon and his pipe in his 

hand, 
Dispensing his truths like a sage of the land. 

'Twas a gloom given day when the old farmer 

died; 
The stout-hearted mourned, the affectionate 

cried, 
And the prayers of the just for his rest did 

ascend, 
For they all lost a brother, a man, and a friend. 

For upright and honest the old farmer was; 
His God he revered, he respected the laws; 
Though fameless he lived, he has gone where 

his worth 
Will outshine, like pure gold, all the dross of 

this earth 



AGRICULTURAL GEOLOGY 

Mr. Josiah Holbrook, of Brattleboro', Ver- 
mont, with the productions of whose prolific 
pen the Northern Agricultural journals teem, 
has recently commenced writing for the Wash- 
ington Union on agricultural geology. 



BARNUM'S AMATEUR FARMING. 

In the fall of 1810, Mr. P. T. Barnurn (now 
well knoAvn in connexion with the name of 
Jenny Lind) delivered an address before the 
Fairfield (Connecticut) Agricultural Society, 
of which he had been elected President. It 
was quite an elaborate production, anil we but 
do the author justice when we confess to hav- 
ing read far worse garbage in a yet more di- 
luted form. So soon as we received our co y 
we noted the two passages below and deter- 
mined to present them to our readers, as too 
good to be lost: 

Selling Potatoes.— "In the fall of 1848," 
said Mr. B., "my head gardener reported 
that I had SO bushels of potatoe- to spare. 
So, of course, I directed them sold. They 
brought 67 cents a bushel. But, like most 
all small farmers, he sold the largest, and 
left us nothing but 'small potatoes' to eat 
at home. But the worst is to come. In 
March, we had not even a dish of small 
potatoes. So we nought more than we 
sold, and paid $1 25 a bushel at that! My 
experience, therefore, is, that a farmer had 
better ascertain first how much he wants 
for his own consumption, before he sends 
his produce to a cheap market." 

Trim.mrng Fruit Trees by an Amateur. 
Another of Mr. Barnum's experiments was 
in the horticultural line, and was related 
by him with such inimical good humor, 
that his large audience was nearly con- 
vulsed with laughter. "Having been elect- 
ed President of the Fairfield County Agri- 
cultural Society," continued he, "I felt the 
importance of my having a little 'practical 
experience as a farmer. Having read a 
little about pruning, and watched my gar- 
dener awhile, I armed myself with a keen 
carving knife and set to work on my own 
hook. My first essay was upon a lot. of 
young cherry trees. Half an hour, and my 
sharp knife g,\ve them quite a symmetrical 
appearance, and removed all redundant 
limbs and sap absorbing sprouts and suck- 
ers; and I prided myself somewhat upon 
this first effort as a pruner, and, of course, 
expected suitable commendation from my 
gardener for the labor I had saved him. 
Judge my astonishment, then, as lie ap- 
proached with a rueful countenance, and 
expression of "Well, sir, you've done it 
now!'' "Why, yes, I fancy I have. How 
do yon like my work?" said I. "Like it! 
JF/jy, sir, you have cutoff all the grafts ! 7" 
This was a sad blow to my farming aspira- 



M 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



45 



tions. But as I never despair, I shall con- 
tinue to go ahead with improvements, but 
shall be a litile cautious how I use the 

j\ pruning knife, until I le:irn to know a sprout 

Rf from a graft. 

"I hope the relation of my experience 
as a fanner wont deter many others from 
seeking the same employment; for if they 
are capable of using the pruning knife at 
all, I think they are capable of learning to 
distinguish, perhaps, at less cost than I did, 
the useful from the useless, and if they did 
not, perhaps a little sprouting, a la mode 
our young days, might help to improve 
their education." 



SCUPPERNONG GRAPES. 

The following letter, written by an intelligent 
North Carolinian, (Mr. Weller, we presume,) 
we extract from the Alabama Planter: 

You ask me to state what I know of the 
"Scuppernong grape." My dear fellow a vo- 
lume as large as a Di'tch cheese would not 
convey to others what I know — my full expe- 
rience, experiments and expenses in regard to 
that luxury of the old North State, the unpre- 
tending, honest, true, unrepudiating old North 
State! Why he who never ate scuppernong 
grapes perfectly matured. has no idea of God's 
blessing, bounty and goodness in the grape 
44 line." Such a grape was never dreamed of 
in Madeira or sunny Italy; tfeesouthof France 
has nothing to be compared with it; Andalusia 
has nothing so sweet, so rich, so positively su- 
perior to all other productions of the vine. 

The first vine of this name was found in 
Tyrrel county, North Carolina, near the banks 
of Scuppernong river, a small tributary of Al- 
bemarle Sound, by some of the party compos- 
ing the first Anglo Saxon settlement on Roan- 
oke Island, headed or commanded by Sir 
Walter Raleigh. One small vine, root and all 
was transplanted very soon after on Roanoke 
Island, where only a lew years since I saw it, 
then in a flourishing state, owned by a man 
named Cuthbert, and was told by old Abra- 
ham Baum, then 84 years oJd, that when he 
was a boy the vine was the largest on the 
Island. It covered nearly half an acre of 
ground,and bore bountifully to the very extre- 
mity of the branches. It continues to grow, 
and only wants an extension of scaffolding:. — 
It should never be pruned; give it room and 
let it run. When took thick, the covered or 
under small branches die, rot, crumble and fall 
down, making a good manure. 

This superlative vine will not grow from a 
cutiing one time in a thousand; but itiseasily 
propagated by turning a vine to the earth, doub- 
ling it gently,, and covering the dou.bie care- 



fully, with rich loose soil. It takes root very 
soon, and the next season may be severed from 
the parent branch, transported in earth (the 
new roots) lo any distance, and safely trans- 
planted, which should be in dry, loose, but 
rich soil. Decomposed shells, sand, iron fil- 
ings and paiings of leather are admirably 
adapted to hasten the growth. It will bear in 
three years from the planting, and invariably 
produces better fruit when near saU water. 

As a table grape, when perfectly ripe there 
is none equal to it. For making wine, twice 
as much can be made from an acre, as can he 
made from any grape in the world. For many 
years, a delicious grape cordial or preserved 
grape juice, has been made in the eastern and 
northwestern part of North Carolina. When 
a few years old it is very rich and sweet, and, 
although it is called and known as Scupper- 
nong wine, it is not a wine, as it never is per- 
mitted to ferment, brandy being added to the 
juice immediately after its being expressed. — 
It is, when carefully prepared, a desirably rich 
and luscious cordial. 

Various attempts have been made to make 
a genuine wine from the juice, without adding 
spirits; in only one instance, to my knowledge, 
has success attended the trials, and then by 
accident, and why good wine was the result 
then could not be ascertained or discovered. — 
The pure juice was left in a large cask, and 
three years after it was found reduced nearty 
one-half by evaporation and leakage, the re- 
maining liquid being a wine of the very best 
description. Samples were sent to New York, 
Baltimore and Charleston, where the most ac- 
complished wine bibbers of the day, withoui 
knowing what it was, pronounced it most ex- 
cellent indeed, and worth four dollars per 
gallon. 

The same process has since then been fol- 
lowed, as nearly as possib!e,but the liquid has 
been found always after the lapse of years 
something like hard cider. But that good wine 
can be made from the crape, there is no doubt. 
That this grape will flourish and bear well in 
any region near the Gull, in Florida, Alabama, 
Louisiana and Texas, there is no doubt; and 
that in every resepect, it is a most superior 
grape, there isnodoubt Itmustnot be planted 
in low, wet, or marshy grounds. Sandy, hilly, 
shelly, loamy soils, where the influence of the 
sea atmosphere ean be felt, is decidedly the 
best. Have 1 said enough for you ? 



Dr R. T. Baldwin, of Winchester, has 
brought out another of his "shade" articles in 
■'•'The Plough, the Loom and the Anvil, 1 ' for 
December. He appears more than convinced 
of the truth of the theory he has advanced, 
and says, "It is no longer a mooted question 
in the Valley of Virginia thatr/Z/ soils alike may 
be made exceedingly fertile by shade alone." The 
positions of Dr. B." will probably be again ex- 
amined in the Planter. 



. 



46 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



For the Southern Planter. 

SPIKEY ROLLER. 

Still let me country culture scan, 

My farm's my home — my brother man — 

And God is every where. 

Mr. Editor, — I would advise our estimable 
friend, of Bunluce, not lo be too sanguine, for \ 
he has no more knowledge o.f J. Y. of O. than 
had the English people of the individual who 
said to them, "datwmtinis umbra." You must 
excuse my vanity and egotism, for 1 cannot 
otherwise express myself. I know fall well 
he will, being a man of heart as well as letters, 
and eould he but know the pleasure with which ' 
I comply, as far as I can, with his request, by ; 
the instinct of an infallible sympathy, I can 
readily imagine what emotions must fill his 
kindly bosom. I 

The roller is thus constructed : Three sets j 
of arms pass as right angles through a shaft 
twelve inches square, five feet long — the arms j 
being sufiaeiently stout to admit of having | 
firmly attached to them, by pins and nails, : 
felloes broad enough to. nail, zigzag, the slats | 
composing the cylinder, to prevent splitting. 
These felloes should be three inches wide, at 
least; also the slats three by two, five feet long, 
and jointed so as to form the circle around the 
whole like the staves of a tierce. The slats 
should project but a short distance beyoad the j 
outside set of arms and felloes, to prevent . 
breaking off. Wing gudgeons, two inches in j 
diameter, are let into the ends of the shaft, j 
which should be well boarded, and the frame j 
should be close enough to the ends behind to ■! 
keep the poller clean as it revolves, A tongue 
and hounds, as to a wagon, constitute part of 
the frame; and also a board behind for the 
driver to stand on. The machine stands five 
feet high when completed, and boxes casa be 
appended to- the aides and front of the frame, 
in which stones, bricks, or earth may be put j 
to increase the weight of the roller, as desired. | 
Two good horses can work this roller, but they 
thould be shifted or rested frequently. I shifted , 
mine four times a day. The axle of this roller 
being nearly on a direct line with the power i 
applied to it, and the bulk presented to the ] 
ploughed surface being so much greater than ! 
mat of a stone, solid iron op wooden roller, 
that would bury in the soft ground, whilst 
the work is equally well done, there is all the 
difference imaginable in the draught. The 
rulling should succeed the ploughing or har- ■ 
rowing as soon as practicable, to receive its ' 
full benefit; and I omitted in my November 
communication to say that land rolled in the ! 
fall should be rolled again in the spring; this 
operation being rendered necessary by the 
beaming; of which Col. Roane speaks. This 
should be done whilst the ground is dry — by 
no means when wet. 

I confess my inability to answer our friend's 
inquiry relative to, the affinity of ammonia for 



water, air, or soil; but a gentleman of science, 
now engaged in a variety of chemical experi- 
ments, will inform me satisfactorily on this 
subject, the result of which I will communi- 
cate through your valuable paper. 

"In point of fact," my experience in guano 
is limited to what I said formerly, and I am 
yet to see the person that has used it wiih de- 
cided advantage on improved lands. On the 
contrary, its most beneficial effects have been 
produced on those confessedly poor. Now the 
land on which our friend tried his experiments 
is what is termed good, and to my certain 
knowledge, much of it fine land — having been 
long since undergoing the process of improve- 
ment under his skilful application of marl, 
putrescent manures, enclosing, &e. and he is 
far more entitled to give than to receive les- 
sons on farming and husbandry. I ask you 
and him to excuse the prolixity and awkward- 
ness used in this commnieation.. 
Yours, &c. 
¥ Joel Younser. 

Oberlin,Ja%. IS, 1851. 

P. S. — Heart white oak should be used in 
making this toller, being heavier, less destructi- 
ble, and in every respeet belter adapted to the 
purpose than any other timber. If properly 
made, and due eare observed with it, many 
generations may have its use. After being 
thoroughly seasoned, it should be painted welh 

J. Y. 



PROF. NORTON ON INDIAN CORN. 

Mr. John P. Norton is the Chemieo-Agrr- 
eultnral Professor at Yale College, and is now 
editing an American edition of Stephens'" 
" Farmers' 1 Guide"— a valuable work written 
with an eye lo the husbandry of the British 
Isles. This woik is divided into four parts, 
denominated after the seasons, and to each 
part Professor Norton affixes an appendix in- 
tended to adapt the book to the practice of 
American agriculturists. With all due respecj 
for Professor Norton's abilities as evinced by 
his books and his communications to the agri- 
cultural journals, we regard this as the least 
successful of his efforts, so far as oar own 
South is concerned. But his task is not over, 
and we have more to see and read. 

The appendix to that part of the book en- 
titled "Spring" concludes as follows: 

"Any notes, however brief, upon American 
agriculture, would seem incomplete without 
at least a few words relative to the cultivation 
of our greatest national crop — Indian corn. 
This is a chief article of produce from north 
to south, and from east to west. The varieties 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



47 



cultivated in Canada, and the Northern States 
generally, while less imposing in appearance, 
produce equally well with the large Southern 
varieties, having stalks from twelve to sixteen 
feet in length. 

" Indeed the premium crops at the North are 
usually larger than those that we hear of at 
the South, while the average product per acre 
of New York, Ohio, and other Northern Stales, 
is, to say the least, quite as high as that of 
Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky, and the other 
great corn growing States of the South. The 
aggregate amount of the crop for the whole 
Union is enormous, being probably near six 
hundred millions of bushels in a favorable 
year." 

This remark, here so broadly made, we have 
often heard made before and without contra- 
diction, we never could bring ourselves to be- 
lieve. Most of the com in those portions of 
the Northern States, where the remark would 
certainly apply, is cultivated in small lots, or 
what we would term such. But there is many 
a farm in those States whereon as sorry crops 
are to be found as amongst us. Our best corn 
crops are not generally seen while growing 
by those who fudge us. The export of corn 
from Virginia, for instance, is no criterion 
whatever for estimating the extent of .the crop; 
because our consumption Is so enormous, and 
we might add, wasteful. Much of our crop 
never sees the inside of a corn crib. Abroad, 
persons are apt to estimate our acres under 
cultivation far above the mark. The marshes 
of Eastern Virginia and the waste land (once 
under crop) would constitute an empire for a 
prince, whilst Western Virginia affords almost 
boundless forests never touched by a freeman's 
hand. 

The aggregate production of the Union, as 
above estimated, will be more than reached 
by the eensus of 1850. At the last census it 
was 377,531,875. 

"April and May are the rsonths for planting 
corn at the North, it is seldom that much is 
done before the 15th of April, and it occa- 
sionally runs rather far into June. The pre- 
vious cultivation should not differ materially 
from that previously described as best for 
potatoes, the great aim being tG secure a 
deep and mellow soil. The land is generally 
ploughed during the preceding autumn, and 
then cross-ploughed in spring. Many, how- 
ever, prefer planting immediately upon the 
t/urf, turning- it over flat, and harrowing until 
a good depth of fine mould is secured. Ex- 
cellent crops may be grown in this way, but 
if Lbe turf is not turned entirely over, or if it 



is disturbed by the harrows, the field is apt to 
be very grassy and weedy. On the Western 
prairies a boy is sometimes set to follow ihe 
plough, and drop seed in every other furrow; 
the next furrow is turned over upon it, thus 
laying the grass side on the corn. This is 
called a sod crop, and could only be success- 
ful, even in an ordinary degree, upon land na- 
turally very light and mellow. In some places 
it is the practice, when ploughing grass land 
for Indian corn, to turn two furrows in oppo- 
site directions, so that they meet together and 
form a broad ridge, leaving the turf under 
them undisturbed. The corn is planted on 
these ridges, and is often quite good, but the 
practice is extremely slovenly. The crop is 
inevitably grassy, unless the greatest caie is 
taken in cleaning, and that is not to be ex- 
pected from farmers who pursue such a sys- 
tem: a portion of the ground, nearly half, in 
fact, is left undisturbed, so that the roots only 
penetrate it with difficulty, if at all. 

"The custom of manuring corn in the hill, 
after the same manner that I have mentioned 
under the head of potatoes, is happily fast be- 
coming obsolete. The manure is now eitiier 
spread broadcast before ploughing, or placed 
in drills, the former being the prevalent mode- 
Heavy manuring is essential to this crop on 
most land; but where the soil is already very 
fertile, there is some danger of forcing too 
luxuriant a growth of stalks and leaves, so 
that the ears are small and ill ripened. This 
is particularly to be feared on such land when 
highly nitrogenous manures are added; inor- 
ganic manures might, at the same time, prove 
beneficial. 

"If the land is poor, and not well manured, 
a distance of three feet between the hills seems 
advisable. In the opposite case, two feet and , 
a half in one direction by two in the other, is 
not uncommon; although three feet between 
the rows seems better, as admitting light and 
air more freely, and also the passage of a cul- 
tivator between the rows in one direction. It 
has even been planted at distances of a foot 
in the rov/s, and very heavy crops have been 
thus obtained, but only by the use of a variety 
having a small stalk, upon a remarkably rich 
soil, and with the concurrence of a very fa- 
vorable season. In all ordinary cases, such 
thick planting only produces a great burden 
of stalks and leaves, with little corn, and thai; 
of an inferior quality. 

"Two and a half feet in the rows, and three 
feet between them, seem proper distances to 
recommend for good soils at the North; the 
Southern varieties are so large that three, four, 
and even five feet, are always left between the 
hills in each direction. 

" Marking the rows with a marker is fast be- 
coming universal; the appearance of the crop 
is not only neater, but its cultivation easiei 
and more effective, for the reason that all 
horse implements pass readily through the 
rows at a gauged width, the only care bein^ 
to keep the horse in a straight line- 



48 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



"I have already, under the proper head, 
mentioned the necessity of a good machine 
for dropping corn in hills at equal intervals, 
and have described one which seemed well 
adapted to the correct performance of this 
operation, 

"The soaking of Indian corn, for twelve 
hours before planting, promotes the rapidity 
and certainty of its vegetation. If left in wa- 
ier so long as to sprout, there is danger of its 
perishing in case a few days of dry weather 
succeed the planting. Various steeps have 
been found beneficial. Nitrate of potash, or 
saltpetre, a little common salt, or a small pro- 
portion of sulphate of iron or copperas, have 
been frequently used with marked effect; mu- 
riate of ammonia is another good ingredient 
of this steep. An excellent practice is to roll 
the seeds, while yet moist from the stee|\ in 
plaster of Paris; some also recommend a co- 
vering of tar previous to applying the plaster, 
in order to keep off crows. There is some 
danger of making a thick, hard coating ia this 
way, that will prevent the seed from sprouting, 
being both water and air proof. 

"A small quantity of plaster, or of plaster 
and ashes mixed, also occasionally a little 
lime is often thrown upon eaeh hill of corn 
after the first hoeing, in the same manner and 
with the same effect that has been mentioned 
under the head of potatoes. About a gill is 
applied to each hill." 

Most of us would find this rather a trouble- 
some process, if we had the materials at hand. 
And, moreover, is Professor N. certain, that 
lime and plaster act well together, when thus 
applied f 

"Care is well bestowed ia the selection of 
seed for this important crop. For this purpose 
early and well formed ears, from, stalks having 
at least two each, should be selected in the 
field, picked, and kept by themselves ia a dry 
place, until required for use. The seed corn 
should then be taken from tie middle of the 
cob alone, leaving thai which covers aa inch 
or two on each end asinferior. This latier fact 
has been proved by a variety of experiments." 

Further than this, the top ear should be al- 
ways preferred. 

"As might be expected, the varieties of corn 
are very numerous, 1 shall only notice a few 
of those that are most prominent. 

"At the North, yellov.' varieties greatly pre- 
dominate, while at the South, we find more 
■commonly the white, having seeds of superior 
size. Many varieties are only designated by 
the number of rows on the cob: there is the 
eight-rowed white flint, the eight-rowed yellow 
flint, the six rowed, the twelve-rowed, &c; 
some kinds even go as high as sixteen rows, 
but in this case the seed is small,, and the cob 
very large in proportion. 



"Other kinds are earned from the shape of 
their seed. Thus, a number of varieties of 
gourd-seed corn a?e in great repute at the 
South and West. The^e have a remarkably 
large seed, lighter a:od more faiinaceous than, 
the flint varieties generally cultivated at the 
North, making also a white j and more laste- 
j less meal/' 

This China tree corn was introduced here 
I at the South some eleven or twelve years ago, 
I and was tried. We know of no one who con- 
; tin lies to use it, although so many were willing 
! to pay twmtif-fivs cents per ear, jor the seed. 

"A variety called tie Chiaa Iree corn has 

1 been highly spoken of at the South, but I have 

i never seen h. It is said to produce a very 

! unusual amount of leaves, and is, therefore, 

valuable for fodder The small Canada com 

has been extensively introduzed at the North, 

• but it is too diminutive a variety to compete 

! with others almost equally hardy and early in 

! ripening, and which are at the same time far 

mors productive: such are the Duiton and the 

Brown. 

"The DuHon corn is extensively cultivated, 
but seems, in many districts at least, to have 
passed the acme of its popularity Its cob is 
very large, and to this is, doubtless, fio be as- 
cribed a part of its present disfavor. These 
large cobs a?e difficult to- dry thoroughly when 
the corn is stacked before husking, or piled in 
the crib before shelling. 

"In bad seasons this peculiarity prevents its 
early drying, and frequently causes it to mould, 
I think the deterioration in this variety is ow- 
ing, in a good degree, to carelessness in the 
selection of seed, and to mixture with iaferior 
kinds. It is probable tkat careful cultivation 
for a few years would restore much of its ori- 
ginal celebrity, as I have visited many farms 
where st does not seem to have lost ground at 
all. 

"A variety which has gained much favor in 
some sections within the last few years, has 
been called the Brown corn, from the name of 
its originator, a farmer on one of the islands 
\ in Lake Win i piss togee. It was produced by 
j careful cultivation in a high latitude, and for 
successive years, of selected seed from the 
common eight-rowed ysllow corn. The bur- 
ends of the cobs are small, and the points en- 
tirely covered with kernels. The eapsare from 
ten to thirteen inches in length, the stalk me- 
dium size, and prolific. More than a hundred 
bushels per acre have been grown. From all 
that I have seen and heard of this variety, I 
\ am inclined to think that we have few that 
surpass it. 

"The Oregon and the Baden varieties have 
been cultivated with success at the South. — 
The Golden Sioux, the King Philip, and the 
Yellow Dent, are Noithein yellow varieties. 
The Rhode Island White Flint and the Tus- 
carora, are two of the white kinds that have: 



TFIE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



49 



found favor at the North The Dutton corn 
is said to be an improved variety of the Golden 

Sioux." 

| 

Many other varieties might be mentioned 
in addition to the above. We name only two, ; 
with both of which we are well acquainted, j 
The "Maryland twin corn," as it is called, is 
a very productive variety. It is now exten- j 
sively cultivated on the lower James, York ' 
river and its tributaries. The other variety i 
is well known in this vicinity, to which it was i 
first sent twenty-one years ago from the county ; 
of Bedford. It is prolific and especially re- ! 
markable for the whiteness of its meal. 



the Prairie Parmer. 



ELEMENTS OF SCIENTIFIC AGRICUL- 
TURE. 

Such is the title of a little work of 200 
pages, written by John P. Norton, Professor 
of Scientific Agriculture in Yale College; 
and published by Eraslus A. Pease & Co. 
Albany, New York. 

Of the qualifications of Professor Norton 
to speak on such mailers this journal has 
already spoken. We have already said, 
that of all writers on what, is called "Sci- 
entific Agriculture," from Professor Liebig 
1 down to — we do not know where to fix the 
nethermost limit — we prefer him, as being 
the most practical, the least hobbyish, and 
as best adapting his teachings to the popu- 
lar comprehension. Of this opinion the 
work before is entirely confirmatory. We 
have read it through, with unfailing inte- 
rest, from beginning to end ; a feat, that de- 
spite the sternest resolution, we have often 
been unable to accomplish with books of 
similar import. It not only contains an 
abundance of the "elements" of agricul- 
ture, scientifically considered, but they are 
presented in a way open to the comprehen- 
sion of any man of ordinary common sense, 
and common acquirements. It is in fact a 
book of pleasant reading, whether the in- 
formation it imparts is to be used or not. 

Thus much for the -general character of 
the work; let us turn to its particulars. — 
Plants are divided into an organic and an 
inorganic part. The way of dividing the 
one from the other is by fire. That which 
burns and is lost in burning is the organic, 
and that which is left as ashes when the 
burning is done, is the inorganic part. The 
inorganic portion of plants is by far the 



largest; comprising ordinarily from 90 to 
97 lbs. in every hundred. What becomes 
in burning of this inorganic matter? It is 
driven oil' into the air, and is lost ; it, in fact, 
becomes air. We e in then take a quantity 
of solid timber and turn 90 of every 100 
parts of it into air, simply by the use of 
fire. If then this timber can be turned into 
air, it is plain it was made from the air at 
first. It then becomes important to know 
from what sort of air it was made. There 
are four sorts, known by the names, Car- 
bon, Oxygen, Nitrogen and Hydrogen. — 
These four constitu'e the whole organic 
parts of plants of every sort; comprising, 
as was before said, from 90 to 97 parts of 
every 100. 

The inorganic parts of plants, or the 
ashes, though so much less in quantity, 
contain a far greater number of elements. 
Potash, s^da, lime, magnesia, oxydeofiron, 
oxyde of manganese, silica, chlorine sul- 
phuric acid, and phosphoric acid, are all 
found in plants, though not always all of 
them in the same plant. They are of as 
much importance too as the four sorts of 
air or gas. at first named. The quantity 
of ashes obtained from different plants dif- 
fer in quantity and quality; and the pro- 
portion found in the same plant also differs. 
The bark and leaves of a tree contain a 
larger proportion than the wood. 

How then do plants get their food? that 
is, whence, and how, do they obtain both 
these sorts of materials, which go to build 
them up? They obtain them from two 
sources — the atmosphere and the soil, and 
by two instrumentalities, their roots and 
their leaves. The inorganic food is all 
taken by the roots, while the organic to re- 
ceived in both ways. Much of their food 
is also taken, not pure, but in combination 
with other substances, and is elaborated 
by the plant itself. Carbon, which is the 
first of the organic elements, and of which 
every plant contains a large proportion, is 
supplied in the shape of carbonic acid gas, 
which exists in the atmosphere, and is ab- 
sorbed by the leaves. These are full of 
pores by which ihis gas is taken up; and 
as it consists of carbon and oxygen, the first 
is retained, and the latter ejected. Carbon 
is also obtained by plants from the soil by 
the roots. Oxygen and hydrogen are also 
taken up by the leaves. Nitrogen, of which 
our later chemists make a great deal, and 
which in degree is necessary to vegetation, 
is thought to be taken up mostly throusrh 
the roots, either as ammonia, or as nitric 
acid, of both of which it is a constituent. 



50 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



But although the organic elements of 
plants are but four; the substances found 
in the plants are many. We have oils and 
sugars, many of each, starch and the sub- 
stances, with the ten thousand tastes and 
odors known to the vegetable world. 

It is not only true that plants contain 
these two classes of elements, viz: the or- 
ganic and the inorganic, but the same ele- 
ments are found in the soil. A good soil 
will contain in itself those substances which 
are wanted in the plants it is fo produce. 
If rye, or wheat, or Indian corn is to be 
grown upon a particular field, that field 
must contain the matters which are found 
in wheat, rye or Indian corn. Can any- 
thing be plainer? The mode of separating 
the organic and inorganic parts of the soil 
is the same as for separating them in plants, 
viz: by fire. But while the proportion of 
ashes from plants is but from seven to ten 
in the hundred, that proportion is reversed 
in the soil; for its incombustible parts are 
generally as many as ninety or ninety -five 
in the hundred. There are peat lands 
where the organic parts are largest; but 
these are exceptions. The organic parts 
of the soil are composed of precisely the 
same elements as those 'of plants, and the 
same is true of the inorganic. Professor 
Norton gives the following table, as show 
ing at a single view, what soils of different 
sorts possess, and what they should possess 
to be fertile. 

Soil fertile Soil fertile Very 
without manure, with manure, barren. 
Organic matter, 9.7 5 4.0 

Silica, 618 83.3 778 

Alumina, 5.7 5.1 9.1 

Lime, 5.9 1.8 .4 

Magnesia, .9 .8 .1 

Oxyde of Iron, G.l 3.0 8.1 

Oxyde of Manga- 
nese, .1 .3 .9 
Potash, .2 
Soda, .4 • 
Chlorine, .2 
Sulphuric Acid, .2 .1 
Phosphoric Acid, .4 .2 
Carbonic Acid, 4.0 .4 
Loss during ana- 
lysis, 1.4 .4 
The above substances being found, both 
in the soil and in the plants which grow [ 
from it, the conclusion is obvious. It will 
be noticed that several of the elements 
here enumerated, are only in very small I 
quantities in the fertile soil. It must not J 
be inferred that their presence is therefore 
unnecessary ; since these are the very mat- j 
ters wanting in the barren soil. 



When it is ascertained that a soil is bar- 
ren or infertile, the next thing is to remedy 
the difficulty by the application of the miss- 
ing substances. Hitherto this has been 
mostly a work of experiment; and experi- 
ment, it must be acknowledged, has in com- 
mon cases done very well; since the appli- 
cation of barn-yard manures, containing, 
as they do, most or all of the materials that 
are wanting, is the very best thing to be 
done. 

There is however one difficulty other 
than the lack of proper ingredients, which 
will infallibly render any soil barren. This 
is the presence of too much water. This 
acts in various ways to prevent fertility. — 
It chokes the soil, and prevents the admis- 
sion of the air, which is essential as we 
have already seen to fertility; it lowers 
also, by the same means — the temperature 
of the soil. Consequently the decay of or- 
ganic substances is arrested, and various 
bad acids accumulate, rendering the soil 
in popular language sour. Land therefore 
to be fertile must be dry not only at the 
surface but to the depth to which roots or- 
dinarily run. Our author presents the pro- 
per mode of effecting this; but which we 
will not now consider, reserving it to a fu- 
ture occasion. 

The following table is presented show- 
ing the proportion in which the organic 
elements are contained in some of the com- 
mon plants: 

Peas. Beans. Wheat. 

Silica, 0.56 1.48 1.92 

Iron, 0.68 0.34 53 

Lime, 2.96 5.38 3.02 

Magnesia, 7.75 7 35 13 58 

Phosphoric Acid, 38.34 35.33 45.44 

Sulphuric Acid, 2.63 2.28 

Potash, 27.12 21.71 24.18 

Soda, 17.43 21.07 10.34 

Chloride of Sodium, 1.88 3.32 

99.35 98.26 99.11 
It is a singular fact, that on whatever 
soil these or other grains, or plants, are 
grown, they contain about the same ele- 
ments. They will have what they want 
or nothing; they cannot be put off with 
substitutes. 

It will be seen in the above table that 
the composition of different plants differs 
from each other ; some containing more 
phosphoric acid, some more potash, and 
some more lime. When, therefore, one 
crop fails, on a particular piece of land, it 
is no certain indication, as those know who 
know nothing of chemistry, that some other 
cannot be grown. This lies at the founda- 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



51 



tion of rotation of crops, bv which the fer- 
tility of the soil is preserved. 

In respect to the elements in the soil 
|\ which the different crops consume, they 
W may be divided into classes. In the grains, 
phosphoric, acid predominates. In the 
roots, potash and soda; and in the grasses, 
lime is a leading constituent. This division 
shows us what should be the leading dis- 
tinction in a rotation. It should be between 
grains, grasses, and roots. These again, 
as we have seen, differ in composition from 
each other; and the kinds of each should 
be alternated among themselves. 

Thus far, this is very plain and evident 
work; but there is one difficulty which may 
have occurred to the reader, and that is, 
how is the farmer to know what the diffi- 
culty may be when he finds his lands infer- 
tile? how shall he know which or how 
many of the elements in the table are miss- 
ing? The reply is, he must have resort to 
the chemist; and here our author puts in a 
special caution that the former apply to one 
who is competent for his work; since a mis- 
take may involve heavy outlay and disap- 
pointment. The analysis of a soil, he de- 
scribes as a very delicate operation; requi- 
ring much time, care, and especial skill. In 
this advice we concur. Suchis thedifficnlty 
attending the subject, that we have some- 
times been inclined to think that no practi- 
cal analysis could be of the least use; since 
} errors as regards the least constituents of 
the soil are the worst of any. There has 
been also another difficulty in this analysis 
of soils, very puzzling to practical men. — 
Chemists themselves have not been agreed 
as to the results or aims of their analyses. 
Hence, one would give us so much crenic 
and apocrenic acids; while another de- 
scribes the constituents as laid down in this 
book; and still another has a third set of 
terms to mark the extreme of his analysis. 
What could anybody know about it while 
chemists could not come out at the same 
place, after all their delving about in the 
fogs and nitrogen and carbons? 

Professor Norton's examinations have a 
plain and reasonable look. The terms he 
uses are such as ordinarily well read peo- 
ple know something of. In short, he comes 
as near as he can to meet the plain yeoman; 
and when he can get no nearer to him, he 
beckons him with a familiar nod and smile 
to come over and be acquainted. 

Had "Scientific Agriculture" begun ten 
years ago, where it is now in this book, a 
thousand men would know something of it 
ten years hence where one will now. 



From the New England Farmer. 
COLTS. 

Of all our domestic animals, the horse 
stands in the foremost, rank. Although 
steam and railroads have lessened the ne- 
cessity of his aid, they have not lessened 
his value in the market, or the pleasure 
which he still affords to those not so much 
bent on business and gold, as amusement 
and healthy exercise. 

The labors of the horse seem to be 
changing from year to year, and have in 
some degree been mitigated. If we look 
back but a i'ew years, we find him travel- 
ling the bark-mill from morning till night i 
and before the invention of steam engines 
and railroads, he was destined to perform 
the very arduous labors of the stage-coach, 
in the duties of which, from high feeding 
and hard driving, he was soon worn out. 
But the modern application of steam seems 
to be sent in mercy for his relief. If steam 
has not entirely superseded the use ol ihe 
horse for the work, it has certainly very 
much curtailed the requirement of this kind 
of labor. He is now mostly used for pleas- 
ure riding, and short excursions, requiring 
the cultivation of different features and 
qualities than those heretofore demanded. 
Speed and activity are the qualities sought 
for now, in place of strength of body and 
limb, which is better fitted for the draught. 

The horse is susceptible of the most per- 
fect training, and can be -made to know 
your wishes almost before they are ex- 
pressed, and possessing great activity and 
strength, when properly encouraged, will 
use them to the utmost of his power. The 
attachment of the horse to his master is 
well known, and a reciprocity of feeling 
between the horse and his keeper is fre- 
quently very great; but we are sorry to 
know he is sometimes most grossly and 
wantonly abused. 

The horse, though, when kindly treated, 
will manifest great attachment and per- 
fect, obedience, submitting to severe labors, 
will sometimes exhibit great and provok- 
ing obstinacy. This leads to cruelty, and 
sometimes unmerciful beating. 

From experience and observation, we 
are fully satisfied that whipping only in- 
creases the difficulty, and makes him more 
obstinate. Although it is somewhat diffi- 
cult to command one's temper, when the 
horse, knowing your wishes, persists in re- 
fusing to obey, still I am satisfied that 
kindness will sooner bring him to obedi- 
ence than an opposite course of treatment. 



52 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



When in full health and plight, he will 
be as fond of moving forward as you are 
to have him do so. A little patience is 
much belter than the whip. We once 
asked a horse-dealer how we should man- 
age a contrary horse. He replied "Never 
let him know but that he behaves just as 
you want to have him." 

Horses are often made vicious in break- 
ing, as it is called, and in training, when 
young, by bad management. In breaking 
colts into the harness, they should never 
know that they can break away. When 
convenient, the younger you begin with 
them the better. Accustom them gradu- 
ally to the halter and harness. 

The halter, in the first place, should be 
so strong that they cannot break it when 
made fast to a substantial post. Thev will 
seldom try its strength more than once or 
twice; and the same with any part of a har- 
ness If they find they can break a halter, it 
is seldom forgotten, and becomes a very vi 
cious habit. After two years old, they may 
be placed by the side of a steady horse, 
and afterwards in a light carriage, followed 
up every day for some little length of 
time. 

In shoeing the first time, be sure you get 
a good, strong smith, that will hold the 
foot as long as he wishes; not too long at 
first, lest he should be weary. Horses are 
notunfrequently very troublesome through 
life by a fault in first shoeing. 

The signs of a good road horse, and for 
speed, are a small head, a short back, and 
flat legs. Something may be be known by 
the countenance, which cannot well be de- 
scribed. A bright full eye, wide nostrils, 
and a wide projecting forehead, may be 
considered some of the signsof courage and ! 
long wind. The color of horses depends • 
somewhat upon fancy; but bay, dapple j 
grajr and black are the most preferred in j 
our country. 

Now, let us bespeak for this noble am- ! 
mal kind treatment, good keeping, and 
light burdens. With such gentle usage, 
the horse will love and serve you faithfully I 
for twenty-five, forty, and even fifty years ! 
Do not, maim or disfigure him by the cruel j 
practice of pricking, nicking, or even cut- 
ting off a single hair, which the Author of j 
Nature has furnished him with for his spe- , 
cial accommodation. And good taste will 
require, that in his natural garb and form, 
he actually shows the best, and is the most 
comfortable to himself. Curry and groom 
him every day, and give him a blanket and I 
a warm stable in cold weather, and clean I 



straw to lie on. Talk to and with him, for 
he will soon understand your language, 
and manifest signs of recognition, or the 
tenor, at least, of your words. 



REMARKS ON BREEDING. 

As an illustration of the effects of in-and- 
in breeding, the following instance is re- 
lated to us as having occurred in a par- 
ticular neighborhood in this county. A 
farmer of a sour, unsocial disposition, who 
as much as possible avoided all intercourse 
with the rest of the world, and shunned 
asking the slightest favor of a neighbor, 
lest he mighi at some time be desired to 
reciprocate the kindness shown him, for a 
long series of years, bred his cattle entirely 
from his own stock. In consequence of 
this course, such a herd of misshapen, un- 
gainly, big-headed quadrupeds were pro- 
duced that they could scarcely be recog- 
nised as belonging to the cattle kind ; and 

" 's wolverines" were lor a long time 

the butt of ridicule in the whole vicinity. 

The careful breeder, upon either sys- 
tem, will avoid using, even for a single 
season, any animal possessing obvious de- 
fects; for such defects, once introduced in 
but the slightest degree, are liable to be 
transmitted and re-appear even afterseveral 
generations have passed. To the many 
curious and valuable facts already on re- 
cord relating to this subject, the following 
may be added: — A portion of the fowls 
possessed by Constant Clapp, Esq., were 
formerly of the '"downy" breed. But. this 
variety, so strongly marked, had run out 
and entirely disappeared from his premises 
for eight years, when three of these downy 
individuals, perfect in every pariicular, re- 
appeared among his flock — showing that 
the blood, though apparently obliterated, 
had yet been lurking there, generation af- 
ter generation. 

It was a favorite theory with the late 
distinguished General Schuyler, a man of 
extensive observation, of deep penetration, 
and sound judgment, that the true charac- 
ter, either of a man or beast, could be as- 
certained by looking at the parentage from 
which he had descended; and as an illus- 
tration of this, he used humorously to re- 
late the. incident, that in the early years of 
the Dutch trade with the East Indies, one 
of his ancestors, being a sea captain, 
had gone thit her, and returned with a 
wife — a Mongolian lady, whom he had 
married in his absence. And the blood 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



53 



of that cross continued still to cling to the 
descendants two centuries after wards, de- 
spite of all their efforts to eradicate it — so 
that, down to the present day, in oar branch 
and another of the family, one of these con- 
founded East Indians would occasionally 
be making his appearance! — T;am. N. 
York Ag. Society. 



From the Berkshire (Mass ) Culluiist. 

RUSSIAN SUPERSTITION ABOUT 
POTATOES. 

When potatoes were introduced into 
Russia, towards the end of the hist century, 
the people conceived a great dislike to them 
and called them the ''Devil's fruit," on ac- 
count of some foolish tales that had been 
told of this nowalmost indispensabieedible. 
One story was, that they were creaied on 
purpose for the Devil, when he complained 
on being turned out of the garden that he 
had no fruit. He was told to dig for it 
which he did and found potatoes. Hence 
the common people of Russia, who are 
very superstitious, would neither plant nor 
eat them at first. 

There is a curious and somewhat similar 

tale in Scotland, about the introduction of 

potatoes into thatcount-y, at a period long 

k before that assigned in history, lor their in- 

I traduction by Sir Walter Raleigh. 

The legend is, that one Michael Scott, 
who was called the Wizard of the North, 
entered into a compact with the Devil to 
rent a farm in partnership. The Devil was 
to furnish money and the wizard do the 
labor, giving him alternate crops. That 
is, the first year he was to have al! that 
grew below the surface and the next year 
all that grew above, and the wizard the 
other part. Thinking to outwit the Devil, 
he planted all his land in wheat the first, 
year, and all in potatoes the next, so the 
Devil got nothing but stubble and vines. 
But he beat the wizard at last, for the se- 
vere system of cropping exhausted the 
land, so the wizard could neither raise 
wheat nor potatoes, and was obliged to 
grow more honest to his land as well as to 
his landlord. 

It would be well for some farmers at the 
present day, who follow the same disho- 
nest course, in the cultivation of rented 
land, as well as their own, to take the hint 
or they may find themselves in a fair way 
of being ruined. 

Some of the first cultivators of potatoes 



picked and eat the balls, and conceived a 
violent dislike to the new kind of fruit, and 
at once said potatoes were good for nothing. 
Opinions have very much changed since 
then. R. 



Fiom the Alabama Planter. 
NORTHERN PEACH TREES. 

It appears that in the last year or two, 
there lias been almost an entire failure in 
the fruiting of all the peach trees brought 
from the north, east and west; in conse- 
quence of which, public opinion seems now 
to set strongly against them; and whether 
this opinion has been properly founded or 
not. is a matter that I think deserves some 
examination, which I will very briefly at- 
tempt to do. 

Every body who have cultivated north- 
ern peach trees, have not failed to observe 
how tenaciously they cling to their north- 
ern habit of blooming late in the spring, 
and to this very fact is to be attributed all 
the failures that have occurred, so far as I 
have observed. 

In the spring of 1849, my northern peach 
frees began to blossom about the last of 
March, and 1st of April, and on the 15th, 
and 16th of April, the weather was nearly 
as cold as at any time during the previous 
winter, which, as a matter of course, killed 
all the young fruit that had shed the blos- 
som, as well as all that was in bloom. 

In the spring of this year (1850) my 
northern peach trees were more tardy in 
preparing to blossom than they were last 
year. About the 20th of March, I could 
just discover that the fruit buds had began 
to swell a little. Eight days after this, 
(28th March) we had an excessively cold 
day and night; this severe cold, as might 
have been expected, killed all the fruit in 
the bud. I had a greater number of trees 
loaded with fruit buds, nearly ready to 
open, and so dead were they killed, that 
they remained in that half expanded state 
until they were forced off by a general rush 
of sap late in the spring. I examined a 
great many of those fruit buds with my 
knife, and found that they were perfectly 
dead. 

I think the foregoing observations will 
sufficiently explain the failure of last year 
and this year, with our northern peaches. 

Our native peach trees alwa) T s blossom 
very early in the spring, very often in Feb- 
ruary, and to this alone were they indebted 



54 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



both last year and this year for their par- 
tial success. The main and only draw- 
hack to our success with our northern 
peaches, is certainly to be found in their 
late habit of blooming. And if we can in- 
vent any plan by which we can coax them 
to blossom two or three weeks sooner in 
the spring, we can have plenty of the very 
finest peaches. 



ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LAND- 
SCAPES. 

Mr. Downing, in his letters from England, 
makes the following remarks on the difference 
between English and American landscapes: 

"The chief difference, after all, between 
an English rural landscape and one in the 
older and better cultivated parts of the 
United States, is almost wholly in the uni- 
versality of verdant hedges, and the total 
absence of all other fences. The hedges 
(for the most part of hawthorn) divide all 
the (arm-fields, and line all the roadsides — 
and even the borders of the raiKvays, in 
all parts of the country. I was quite satis- 
fied with the truth of this conjecture, when 
I came, accidentally, in my drive yester- 
day, upon a little spot of a few rods — 
where the hedges had been destroyed, and 
a temporary post and rail fence, like those 
at home, put in their place. The whole 
thing was lowered at once to the harshness 
and rickety aspect of a farm at home. The 
majority of the farm hedges are only 
trimmed once a year — in winter — and 
therefore have, perhaps, a more natural 
and picturesque look than the more care- 
fully trimmed hedges of the gardens. 
Hence, lor a farm hedge, a plant should be 
chosen that will grow thick of itself, with 
only this single annual clipping, and which 
will adapt itself to all soils. I am therefore 
confirmed in my belief, that the buckthorn 
is thefarmer's hedge plantfor America, and 
I am also satisfied that it will make a bet- 
ter and far more durable hedge than the 
hawthorn does, even here. 

Though England is beautifully wooded, 
yet the great preponderance of the Eng- 
lish elm — a tree wanting in grace, and 
only grand when very old, renders an Eng- 
lish roadside landscape in this respect, one 
of less sylvan beauty than our finest scenery 
of like character at home. The American 
elm, with its fine drooping branches, is 
rarely or never seen here, and there is 
none of that variety of foliage which we 



have in the United States. For this rea- 
son (leaving out of sight rail fences,) I do 
not think even the drives through War- 
wickshire so full of rural beauty as those 
in the valley of the Connecticut — which 
they most resemble. In June our meadows 
there are as verdani, and our trees incom- 
parably more varied and beautiful. On 
the other hand, you must remember that 
here, wealth and long civilization have so 
refined and perfected the details, that in 
this respect there is no comparison — noth- 
ing in short to be done but to admire and 
enjoy. For instance, for a circuit of eight 
or ten miles or more here, between Leam- 
ington and Warwick and Stratfort-on- 
Avon, the roads, which are admirable, are 
regularly sprinkled every dry day in sum- 
mer, while along the railroads the sides are 
cultivated with grass, or farm crops, or 
flowers, almost to the very rails. 



4> 



GARDEN MANURES. 

Frequent complaints are made by those 
who are limited in their gardening opera- 
tions, that whatever manures they do ap- 
ply to their gardens, burn up their crops 
when the heat of summer comes on. We 
have felt this inconvenience too, and in 
looking around to find a remedy, have 
come to the conclusion that whenever a 
garden requires active stimulating ma- 
nures, they should be applied in the fall or 
winter; in this way, rank stable manure 
may be applied and spaded, or ploughed 
under immediately. It will have become 
by spring the proper food of plants, and 
as all manures leach upwards, the surface 
soil will be in fine condition for the growth 
of vegetables; whereas if the manure is 
applied at planting time, especially the 
( crude manures generally applied here, just 
i as vegetables are most required, they are 
i fired by the action of the sun on the ma- 
nure, and the gardener is mortified to find 
his labor and money thrown away. What- 
ever manures are applied in the spring, 
should be well rotted or of a cooling na- 
ture. There are many families that annu- 
I ally waste a barrel or two of leached ashes, 
! when had it been applied to the garden 
| patch they would have had "yearly yorks" 
as well as their neighbors. The soap suds 
from the wash tub is a manure that may 
be applied with safety, and with profit in 
the spring, and yet how few ever use them, 
except to enrich the earth around their 
kitchens, and make loathsome mudholes, 



TF1E SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



55 



when perfumed flowers, luscious fruits, and 
mammoth vegetables, might have been 
made by them. We do not vet properly 

appreciate the importance of a garden, with a jmheous system c»t grazing, wdl most 

invariably insure a good yield of wheat. I 



dressing of manure. It makes it ripen ear- 
lier than it would without it. Deep ploughing, 
early seeding, an early application of plaster, 
with a 



am aware that many differ with me, but this 
is the result of experience on my part, and it 
can pass for what it is worth. 



Amherst, Jan. 20, 1851. 



I. I. H. 



The bearing that it has upon the happi- 
ness and health of a family, is plainly per- 
ceptible whenever we find a well conducted 
garden; how highly important then that 
we should understand the proper food of 
plants. He would certainly be a mad 
physician who would give his fevered 
patients stimulants to raise the fever higher 
and higher, until vitality was consumed. 
So with the gardener, plants are frequently 
stimulated to death, for the want ofproper 

cooling food. Our gar'den soils can scarcely We subjoin some excellent suggestions 
be too rich, but it must be a richness re- from C. W. Hoskyns, on the subject of 



From the American Agriculturist. 
STEAM PLOUGHING. 



tentive of moisture, and not as would be 
the case if the stable manure was applied 
in the spring — be a richness which burned 
everything in contact with it. Be, then 



steam ploughing, which we find in a late 
number of the Agricultural Gazette. That 
a wide departure is to be made from the 
present mode of ploughing, whenever the 



for your wagons and your wheelbarrows, steam engine shall be substituted, we have 
load them up, and cover your gardens < not the slightest doubt. There is a serious 



quickly; plough them up, turn the manure 
under, and when the early seed time comes, 
you need not fear but a harvest will fol- 
low. — Southern Recorder. 



injury to the subsoil from the use of the 
plough, as there is a pressure upon it equal 
to the weight of the implement, the entire 
superincumbent furrow to be lifted, and 
the force required for dividing the uplifted 
mass of earth from the stationary portion 
below. In some fields that have long been 
subjected to cultivation, at uniform depth, 
the surface of the subsoil has nearly the 
j density of a stratum of rock. This opposes 
It has been my practice for several years ! a serious obstacle to the progress of roots, 

past to plaster my wheat and grass, and as I j anf j materially lessens the growth and 

have been invariably benefited by its use, when j amoun t of the crop 

others have supposed that they ruined their j There jg a c J servative or counteract- 



For the Southern Planter. 
PLASTER ON WHEAT AND GRASS 



crop of wheat by its use alone, I will state ! 
the cause of my success and of their failure. 
Most farmers postpone applying it until March 
or April to wheat, and their wheat is invaria- 
bly rusted, unless we have a dry spell about 
the time it is filling. From close examination 
for several years past I have found ihat plaster 
has not time to dissolve when applied in the 
spring, until the wheat gets to be about two 
feet in height ; then the ground being kept moist 
the plaster dissolves, and causes a soil of se- 
cond growth in the stalk and blades of the 
wheat, and the first hot, moist day, rust ap- 
pears, and the wheat actually bleeds to death. 
Those who use plaster (and every farmer 
should) on wheat, must apply it at the rate of 
a half or a bushel per acre as soon as possible 
after seeding. It should never be applied after 
the first of January. January or February is 
the best time to apply it to grass. If applied 
early it has time to dissolve, and brings on 
the grass much sooner. Those who "apply 
plaster late in the spring to grass will find it 
about the roots at mowing time just as it was 
when sown. If applied to wheat as soon as it 
is up it has nearly the same effect as a top- 



I ing effect produced at, or near the surface, 
by the action of frosts and the elements, 
by which the particles of the soil are so 
effectually separated, that when dug from 
a hole and again, (however carefully and 
lightly,) returned to it, they fail to fill up 
the space before occupied. But we be- 
lieve this is seldom the case with the 
subsoil. 

The principle suggested by Mr. Hos- 
kyns, has, as an experiment only, (for we 
are not aware of its adoption as a practical 
matter,) been for some years introduced 
into France, and perhaps into England 
and elsewhere; and we have had a small 
cultivator constructed on the same princi- 
ple, which, however, has justly failed to 
command any favorable attention. Thus 
we are left just as far from any utilitarian 
discovery as before. But to the quotation. 
Mr. H. says: I hold it to be an idea fun- 
damentally erroneous to attempt to com- 
bine steam machinery with the plough. 



50 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



And I hope I am not presumptions in re- 
peating my conviction, that, until the idea j 
of the plough and in a word, of all draught- 
oultivation is utterly abandoned, no effec- 
tive progress will be made in the applica- 
tion of steam to the tilling of the earth. I 
repeat what I have said before, that plough- 
ing is a mere contrivance for applying ani- 
mal power to tillage. Get out of animal 
power, and you leave ploughing behind 
altogether. Get into steam power, and you 
have no more to do with the plough, than 
a horse has to do with a spade. It is no 
essential whatever of cultivation that it 
should be done by the traction of the im- 
plement. Spade work is perpendicular. 
Horse work is horizontal. Machine work 
is circular. 

Whoever would now dream of retaining 
the firm of the hand flail in the threshing 
machine, or that of the oar in a steamship, 
or of putting the piston rod to work at the 
lever end of a pump handle? Yet doubt- 
less these bastard attempts were all made 
in their day, till the several inventors had 
come to see in turn that 

! 

'"Tis good to be off with the old love 
Before ye be on wi' the new!" 

lam aware that I am repeating myself, 
unavoidably, in all this; but no one can 
imagine, without trying it, the difficulty of 
making the mechanical part of the ques- 
tion intelligible to the agriculturist, and 
the agricultural part to the machinist. The 
steam engine has no taste whatever for 
straight draught. Fie Is a revolutionist, 
in the most exact sense of the word. He 
works by revolution; and by revolution only 
will he cut up the soil into a seed bed, of 
the pattern required, be it coarse or fine. 
And that, it is my firm belief, he will be 
seen doing at a handsome average, before 
a very large portion of another century 
shall have passed over our heads. Why 
should it not be? Why should not a strip, 
or lair, of earth be cut up into fine tilth at 
one operation, (and sown and covered in, 
too,) as easily as a circular saw cuts o 
plank into sawdust? As to employing a 
steam engine to turn a drum, to wind up a 
rope, to drag a plough, to turn up a fur- 
row, and all this as a mere prelude for an 
after amusement to all the ancient tribe of 
harrows, scufflers, rollers, and clod crush- 
ers, to do supplementally the real work of 
cultivation, it. remindsoneof "the house that 
Jack built.'* One can hardly blame the 
iron ribs of any respectable boiler for but st- 



ing at the first pull at a task so utterly at 
variance with every known law of mechan- 
ical advancement, so offensive to the eco- 
nomics, I hod almost said the very ethics ^ 
of the steam engine. 

I trust I may be forgiven for so boldly 
speaking; but I am sorry to think of one 
useful shilling being thrown away in the 
attempt, unprofitable, even if successful, of 
harnessing steam with horse harness, to do 
horse work in a horse's way; the imple- 
ment itself, whose wretched work it is put 
to accomplish, being a tool with the sen- 
tence of death written upon it, (be it as 
ancient as it may,) for its tyranny to the 
subsoil, which bears the whole burden and 
injury of its laborious blundering path. 

I say the plough has sentence of death 
written upon it, because it is essentially im- 
perfect. What it does is little towards the 
work of cultivation; but that little is tainted 
by a radical imperfection — damage to the 
subsoil, which is bruised and hardened by 
the share, in an exact ratio with the weight 
of soil lifted, plus that of the force required 
to effect the cleavage, and the weight of 
the instrument itself. Were there no other 
reason for saying it than this, this alone 
would entitle the philosophic machinist to 
say, and see, that the plough was never 
meant to be immortal. The mere inven- 
tion oi' the subsoiler is a standing commen- 
tary on the mischief done by the plough. 

Why then should we struggle for its sur- 
vival under the new dynasty of steam? 
The true object is not to perpetuate, but 
as soon as possible, to get rid of it. Why 
poke an instrument seven or eight inches 
under the clod, to tear it up in a lump by 
main force, for other instruments to act 
upon, toiling and sweating and treading it 
down again, in ponderous attempts at cul- 
tivation wholesale — when by simple abra- 
sion of the surface by a revolving-toothed 
instrument, with a span as broad as the 
hay-tedding machine, or Crosskill's clod 
crusher, you can perform the complete 
work of comminution in the most light, 
compendious, and perfect detail? 

Imagine such an instrument, (not rolling 
on the ground,) performing independent 
revolutions behind its locomotive, cutting 
its way down by surface abrasion, into a 
semicircular trench about a foot and a half 
wide, throwing back the pulverized soil 
(just as it flies back from the feet of a dog 
scratching at a rabbit hole;) then imagine 
the locomotive moving forward on the hard 
ground with a slow and equable mechani- 
cal motion, the revolver behind, with its 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



57 



cutting points, (case hardened ) playing 
upon the edge, or land .side of the trench, 
as it advances, and capable of any adjust- 
ment to coarse or fine cutting, moving al- 
ways/orwanZand leaving behind perfectly 
granulated and precisely inverted, by its 
revolving action, a seed bed seven or eight 
inches deep, never to be gone over again 
by any after implement except the drill, 
which had much belter follow at once, at- 
tached behind with a light brush harrow 
to cover the seed. 

Why did steam reject the pump handle 
and the oar? Because in both the lever- 
age is obtained by loss of labor and time, 
occurring during the back movement of 
the handle, a movement ncessary to the 
manual, but not to the mechanical agent. 
For the same reason, whenever it is ap- 
plied to till the earth, it will antiquate 
every instrument that cultivates by traction, 
because traction is not only unnecessary 
to cultivation, but is inherently mischievous 
on other grounds, apart from the clumsi- 
ness, inaccuracy and incompleteness of the 
work it turns out. 

But the stones! There is much fear ex- 
pressed for the teeth of the circular cutting 
implement I have described, when they 
come in contact with stones. The objec- 
tion would have been equally valid, at first 
sight, against the plough or the scuffler. — 
Let me see the instrument in use where 
there are no stones — (and there are plenty 
of broad acres in England of this class) — 
and it will not be long before it gets upon 
the others. If it cost five pounds an acre I 
to clear them out, it must be done, and, 
would in such case, well pay to do it. But 
the truth is, that the instrument itself sug- 
gests the kind of machine, which, with a 
little adaptation, (greater power and slower 
motion,) might perform this preliminary 
service at the least expense. If land is to 
be like a garden in one respect, I see no 
good reason why it should not in all. I do 
not think stones will stand long in the way 
of steam, nor be readily preferred to bread; 
if, where there happen to be none, a steam- 
driven cultivator can be brought to bear, 
which, after the simple and beautiful ex- 
ample of the mole, shall play out the long 
comedy of our present field cultivation in I 
a single act, present a finely granulated 
seed bed by a single process, almost at the 
hour required, and trammel up the long 
summer fallow into the labor of a day, with 
an accuracy as perfect as the turning of a 
lathe, and an aeration, (and consequent! 
oxygenation,) of the soil as diffusive and ' 



minute as that of a scattered mole heap, or 
the dust flying from a steam-saw bench. 

Implement makers and mechanicians 
would not be long in understanding all this, 
if they were not under the supposition, re- 
ceived at second hand by them, and there- 
lore the more difficult to eradicate, that 
ploughing is a necessary form of cultiva- 
tion to be kept in view. Once let them be 
made fully to perceive that ploughing is 
merely the first of a long series of means 
towards the accomplishment of a particu- 
lar end, that end being the production of 
a seed bed, of suitable depth and texture, 
and with the soil as nearly as possible in- 
verted in its bed — and I do not think they 
will be long setting the steam engine about 
its proper task, in the proper way. But 
their attention is distracted, at present, 
from the end to the means. They are 
taught to think that the plough is a sine 
qua non — that steam cultivation of neces- 
sity implies steam ploughing, and they are 
led to give up the task in despair, because 
they are at fault upon a false scent. 

We have many rolling implements em- 
ployed in the field, but we have only one 
instance of a revolving implement. The 
clod crusher and the Norwegian harrow 
roll, the hay-tedding machine, (one of the 
best instruments ever invented,) revolves. 
I use the words arbitrarily, but the differ- 
ence I allude to is very important. The 
first are liable to the evil of clogging; be- 
cause they derive their axis motion from 
the soil as they pass over and press upon 
it. This action must not be confounded 
with that of a machine which has its cause 
of revolution within itself independent, 
and acting upon the soil as a circular saw 
acts upon a board, or the paddle wheel of 
a steamer, upon the water. The teeth of 
a saw clear themselves, by the centrifugal 
motion they communicate to the particles 
they have detached from the substance 
they act upon. A circular cultivator, steam 
driven, will do the same, for 1 have proved 
it. It does so more effectually according to 
the speed, (of revolution,) and the state of 
moisture of the soil. This last incident is 
as it should be; for it is not desirable that 
a clay soil should be dealt with when in an 
improper state for cultivation; and one 
great advantage of such an instrument as 
I point to would be that it would so greatly 
enlarge the choice of a suitable period, by 
its compendious accomplishment of the 
whole work of culture. 

To illustrate still further the subject of 
steam ploughing, we append from a late 



58 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



English paper, a description of a new ar- 
rangement with steam ploughs. We look, 
however, upon all the experiments, rather 
with the wish than the hope, that anything 
hitherto attempted will prove effectual for 
accomplishing the object. 

The engine moves across the centre of 
the field on a light, portable railway. The 
ploughs advance and recede on either side 
of the railway, at right angles to it. 

The ploughs employed consist of four 
ordinary and four subsoil ploughs, fixed in 
a frame. They are directed by a person 
standing upon a small platform. 

Two such ploughs, one on either side 
the railway, alternately advance and re- 
cede; the advancing plough working, and 
the other idle until it regains its proper po- 
sition lor ploughing the next four furrows. 
On the completion of the four furrows both 
ways, the engine and side frame advance 
each three feet. 

The ploughs are attached to an endless 
chain, one hundred and fifty yards in 
length. They can be detached at pleas- 
ure, or shifted from one side of the chain to 
the other. They travel at the rate of Jive 
miles art hour. Provision is made in case 
they strike against any impediment. 

Arrangements are made to suit irregu- 
larly shaped fields and to increase or di- 
minish the number of ploughs, if necessary. 

In the present state of things, it is diffi- 
cult to form a correct estimate of the value 
of the invention in a commercial point of 
view. I will only say that a machine of 
the power, and with the arrangement de- 
scribed, would perform the work usually 
done by sixteen ploughs, driven by as , 
many men, and drawn bythirty-two horses. 
Requiring itself the attendance of eight 
men, and a horse to draw the water for 
the engine, it would thus save the labor of 
thirty-two horses and eight men. Against 
this must be set an expense of five shil- 
lings a day for coals. 



Prom the Plough, Loom and Anvil. 

THE CULTIVATION OF THE APPLE. 

As there is no neglect in matters of domes- 
tic comfort and economy, more glaring, nor 
one, perhaps, more characteristic of our coun- 
try, than the failure of farmers in many of the 
States to provide an abundance of good fruit, 
at least for their own table— nor one that we 
have, for thirty years, more pointedly exposed; 
there would seem to be a propriety in occa- 
sionally publishing good directions for planting 



and managing fruit trees. What follows as re- 
! spects the apple, seems to be of that character, 
but there, as every where, the thought recurs, 
that various and good fruit, is rarely or never 
to be found in any abundance, for general en \)\ li)f 
joyment, except where population is thick, and 
that cannot happen, where all are engaged at one 
: pursuit. There must be diversity and good re- 
turns to labor. There are probably, twenty 
( thousand masons, at least in New York, within 
I a circle of three or four miles; but how long 
! could they remain there, to buy the farmer's 
! good fruit and melons, berries, milk and pota- 
i toes, were the other pursuits to decline and 
| those who follow them to disappear from the 
i city, leaving the masons to themselves! So 
should we have, throughout our own country, 
I all who are now employed in Europe in fabri- 
cating for jour use and consumption, iron from 
I ore, cloth from wool, glass from sand and lime, 
1 pottery from clay, and so with a thousand 
other things, whereof the raw materials so 
much abound with us. No nation posscs- 
; sing such materials can ever wisely or eco- 
economically go abroad for the manufactures 
produced from them. God intended inter- 
national commerce to be supported by the 
\ interchange between different countries, of the 
\ things he gave to one and not to the other — 
but where He gave the raw materials of a man- 
ufacture He intended in His benevolence, to 
{ make it a matter of controversy between na- 
| tions, not which should give to "labor the least 
reward, but by which should labor be best re- 
warded and most elevated, so that to that 
point labor should be most strongly attracted, 
and the arts advance fastest under the strong- 
est stimulus. Any other supposition is an im- 
pious impeachment of the goodness of Pro- 
vidence. 

To return to our subject, be who wants to 
see and to enjoy fruits, aye, and flowers too: 
in their greatest variety and excellence, must 
turn his face and go to the bleak North, and 
he will reach what he seeks only when lie 
comes into the cold, dreary, sandy and rocky 
lands of Massachusetts, where every trade is 
carried on, and where men have had the sa- 
gacity to avail themselves of steam and ma- 
chinery, to multiply a thousand times their own 
natural capabilities — there the first thought of 
every farmer, is to provide himself an abun- 
dant supply of good, wholesome, delicious fruit; 
both as a matter of economy and as a matter 
of luxury; well knowing that, lor any surplus 
he may have, a market is at hand, in the de- 
mand created by the presence of industrious 
thriving classes," who are otherwise employed, 
and have neither land nor fruit. 

The apple amongst fruits, appears to hold 
the same rank as wheat among cerealia, or 
potatoes among roots; it is not a luxury only; 
from habit it has become almost one of the ne- 
cessaries of life, and so deserves our attention. 
The apple is recorded to have been first intro- 
duced into England by Leonard Mascall, in 
the reign of Henry the VIII. The only fruits 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



59 



indigenous to Britain, were, we are told, the 
acorn, the sloe, the hazel nut, and the crab; 
and although cultivation and skill have pro- 
duced an almost unlimited number of varieties 
H^f them, yet the seeds or kernels of our best 
apples, when sown, naturally reproduce the 
original parent fruit — the crab or wilding, as 
the filbert also does the common hazel nut. 

Botany however, teaches us that we can ob- 
tain apples from the blossoms of any sons we 
choose to innoculate together, with almost as 
much certainty as to the iesi.lt as in crossing 
different races of cattle. 

Apples are propagated by seed. The ker- 
nels sown in February or March, in mild 
weather, the earlier the belter, on clear light 
ground. They should be sown in beds three or 
four feet wide, covering them about an inch 
deep with earth. They will be fit to trans- 
plant the following Michaelmas, or spring, 
and in about five or six years trait may be 
expected. 

Apples may, however, be raised from seed 
in the short space of four years by the follow- 
ing mode — Sow the kernels in separate pots in 
November, and place them in a green-house 
during winter; they will vegetate in February; 
at midsummer the plants should be moved 
into a seed-bed, in rows about fourteen inches 
apart. In the autumn of the following year, 
transplant them into a nursery, at the distance 
of six feet; every succeeding winter prune 
away all small lateral shoots, leaving the 
stronger laterals to the bottom, and so dispo- 
sing the branches, that the leaves of the upper 
shoots may not shade those beneath. 
L Grafting I prefer to be done while the stock 
^is young, and in the nursery, as the graft be- 
ing put into the stock, about one loot from the 
earth, becomes in fact the stem of the future 
tree, and is not liable to be broken off by high 
winds or split by a heavy crop of fruit, as is 
sometimes the case in cleft-grafting, when the 
stock is older. Splice-grafting on small trees 
is also more certain; not one graft in twenty 
ought to fail; and if the land is kept, as it 
should be, in high condition, they will shoot 
from two to five feet, and in two, or at most in 
three years, be fit for the orchard. I exhibit a 
young tree grafted the 10th of April last, now 
five feet high, and three-quarters of an inch in 
circumference. Grafts may be sent any dis- 
tance, by the simple plan of inserting the lower 
end in a potatoe. In 183G I brought home ap- 
ple and crab grafts from the farthest settled 
part of Canada. I was two months travelling 
home: they came perfectly fiesh, and have 
since borne fruit. The potatoes I exhibit to 
day are descended from those I brought home 
with the grafts stuck in them eight years since. 
Budding is an operation that may be per- 
formed even earlier than splice-grafting, and 
has the advantage of not materially injuring 
the stock should it fail, which if done in proper 
season, (August or September,) will scarcely 
be the case to the amount of one per cent. 
There appears to exist an analogy in animal 



and vegetable life in many things; thus, the 
natural decay of individual families, not only 
of man but of the inferior animals, has its pa- 
rallel in the history of the apple. There are 
some kinds of old fruit that cannot be kept 
long in a healthy state — they strike readily 
from the graft, flourish for a tew years, and 
then begin to canker, and die back one year 
what they grew the preceding. Of these 1 will 
mention the russet, orange pippin, orange pear- 
main, and golden pippin; and there are symp- 
toms of decline in young trees grafted witii 
that very generally useful apple the bromley. 
I have tried most of these old sorts on the most 
vigorous young slocks, both by budding and 
grafting', but the seeds of degeneracy and de- 
cay are transmitted from ihe parent tree, so 
that premature decline and disappointment is 
the consequence. This predisposition to de- 
cay also appears to invite that pest to nurse- 
ries and orchards, the alphis or American 
blight; the best remedy I know of is simply to 
cut out the infected pari with a keen knife, 
and afterwards wash the stem or bough with 
strong soap-suds applied with a brush and well 
rubbed in. 

The site of an orchard should be near the 
dwelling house, on good quality of soil, and 
rich deep land, with a subsoil either natura'ly 
dryer that can be made so by draining. Soil on 
which the elm grows freely is, we may be sure, 
fit for the growth of the apple or pear. No 
foot-path or road should cross ihe orchard, and 
an impenetrable fence of hedge and ditch, or 
better still, a strong stone wall should sur- 
round it. Previous to planting, the distances 
between the trees should be fixed on, and the 
whole field laid out in right-angled lines, a 
straight stake being placed at each intersec- 
tion. Thus only can ihe trees be planted in 
lines so as to be perfectly straight when viewed 
in any direction; and while the planting is 
proceeding, a person whose eye can be de- 
pended on should superintend it from various 
parts of the field, previous to the earth being 
filled in— as a single mistake of a few inches 
will throw all out of square. By this method 
the greatest number of trees can be planted in 
a given space, so as to afford to each an equal 
space to occupy with roots and branches, be- 
sides the advantage of passing with carts or 
wagons to carry hay or collect fruit; or if 
the field be arable, the plough can thus cross 
in any direction, so as to leave but a narrow 
portion untilled. 

As regards distance, some persons who have 
written on planting orchards recommend the 
trees to stand twenty-two yards from each 
other; but from my own observation and ex- 
perience, I think half that distance (that is, 33 
feet) will, on the average, of land and seasons, 
produce more fruit, and the trees will come 
earlier into bearing. An orchard on pasture 
land (and there are few arable in Gloucester- 
shire) should be appropriated to the specific 
purpose of a fruit manufactory, the under crop 
of grass; being quite a secondary consideration. 



60 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



The best orchard I know, as a constant bearer, 
is one where the branches of the trees meet 
each other in every direction, and shade the 
whole ground. I account for this by consid- 
ering that there are no intervals for ihe keen 
winds of spring to find a current through, so 
as to check the sap; and, prodded the or- 
chard is exposed to the full influence, of the 
sun, and on the south side, I do not think it 
can be too much sheltered from every other 
quarter. 

A probable reason for earlier bearing in an 
orchard thickly planted would be that the trees 
have less space for their roots to extend: and 
as a tree seldom produces much new woud 
and fruit at the same lime, it seems a reasona- 
ble conclusion, that as there is not much sur- 
plus sap to form new shoots, blossom-buds will 
be formed instead; and as nurserymen tell us, 
that if by any means we can once cause a tree 
to produce fruit, it will after continue the habit, 
and as we do not require apple trees for tim- 
ber, a diameter of 33 feet is large enough for 
the head of a fruit tree. 

Having determined to plant an orchard, the 
first thing to be prepared ready for transplant- 
ing is a heap of compost formed of old turf, 
slaked lime, and farm yard manure; these 
should be well turned and mixed together dur- 
ing the spring and summer preceding, so as 
to form a mass of material resembling the 
mole-casts on deep good land— indeed, could a 
sufficient quantity of this be obtained, it would 
at once form the material required. The holes 
should be dug in the winter, so as to expose 
the soil to the action of the frost. If the sub- 
soil be clay, the earth should be cast in three 
divisions round the hole, so as to place sepa- 
rately the turf, the second quality of soil, and 
the subsoil clay— the latter to be spread or 
carted off. The second quality should then be 
returned into the holes, the turf chopped fine 
and levelled on it, and it will then be fit for the 
reception of the roots of the tree— about a 
wbeelbarrowfu) of the compost to each tree 
being within reach of the planters. 

Far too little pains are generally taken in 
the important operation of planting. To do 
this well, three persons should always be em- 
ployed—a lad to hold the tree upright; a man 
kneeling, to manage the roots, spreading them 
with the ends inclining a little upward, while 
the third levels the prepared soil underneath 
them, so that when loosed they may be nearly 
horizontal, and radiating even on all sides from 
the stem, like the spokes of awheel; more 
soil should then be levelled amongst them with 
the hand, while the tree is slightly shaken, 
taking care that the crown of the roots shall 
not be below the level of the surface of the 
ground. The roots will at length be covered 
with mould, and the man who had the care of 
them, best knowing their position, should tread 
the mould over them. The treading should 
be firmly not violently done— the heel of the 
shoe first coming in contact with the soil on 
the outside of the hole, and the toe will then 



gradually press the earth to the centre of the 
roots. This is very different to the usual me- 
thod of throwing in coarse clods, and stamping 
on them so as to Jorm a puddle of clay impene- 
trable to water, as I have often seen done in^KT" 
planting. I am aware that trees so planted 
will, if the roots are good and the stock healthy, 
after a struggle for a year or two, overcome 
these impediments, but by following the rules 
I have laid down, there will be scarcely a 
check to its growth. 

The planting being completed, the tree should 
be defended from cattle, high winds and other 
casualties, by two stakes one each side, with 
two cross bars at top and two at bottom: a 
piece of tar twine passing across them and 
round the tree prevents the wind from moving 
it out of place, until the roots are well esta- 
blished. On pasture land it will be necessary 
to have upright paling nailed to the bars, 
reaching from the root to the head, which, if 
of a propei' height, (that is about six feet,) is 
thus securely protected. I prefer February as 
the time for planting. Mild, serene weather, 
if possible, is to be chosen, and all the neces- 
sary operations should be going on at the same 
time, under the personal supeiintendence of 
the master. One trusty person should prune 
the injured parts of the tree, and cut off all 
broken roots, and such as are inclined to be- 
come tap or perpendicular ones, forming at 
the same time with his knife a fair balance in 
the proportion of root and top, the former rather 
preponderating, and the tree should pass at 
once out of his hands into those of the three 
planters; these should be followed the same 
day by the persons employed to fence the trees 
(the materials for which they should be ready 
prepared) so as to leave all finished and secure 
at night. Should this be neglected, and a wet 
windy night succeed, injury will be done that 
cannot be remedied. 

The trees if purchased of a nurseryman, 
should be selected in September, and marked 
with the buyer's name on parchment shreds. 
A liberal price being paid, few nurserymen 
would object to their stock being picked out, 
and the best plants of the season are thus se- 
cured with more certainty as to sorts. The 
day for planting being fixed, an order for the 
trees to be ready one day before will bring 
them fresh to hand, and the neglect of this pro- 
duces more failure than any other cause. If 
the stocks are reared at home, they should be 
taken up and replanted the same day. To give 
a list of fruits would be an endless task, and 
produce, I think, little practical good— the 
same apple in different localities bearing fre- 
quently different names. 



* \ 



ACCEPTABLE PRESENT. 

Our thanks are due to Col. W. M. Woods 
of Nelson for a barrel of luscious Pippins, 
raised on his farm. They are similar to the 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



61 



variety known as the "Albemarle," but the 
Colonel claims them as Nelson Pippins, be- 
cause raised in that county. The honor of 
^■producing such fine apples is worthy of being 
contended for by any county. We can assure 
our generous friend that full justice has been 
done to this "offering of his first fruits" — and. 
if we were not afraid of being called greedy, 
like Oliver Twist, we would ask for "more." 
No apple in the world, in richness of flavor 
and all the qualities of good eating fruit, is 
superior to the pippin raised in Albemarle, 
Nelson, &c; and we have been often sur- 
prised that our fruit dealers imported so great 
a quantity from the North, when they might 
obtain a better article at home. But, we sup- 
pose, it is like it is in every thing else. Vir- 
ginia can or will do nothing for herself if 
foreign producers will supply her demands. 
This ought not to be. She must ever remain 
in a state of commercial vassalage, unless she 
will rely more upon her own resources and 
depend less upon others. Virginia merchants 
should give preference in their purchases to 
Virginia farmers, especially when the home 
production is equal to the foreign, and the far- 
mer should act upon the same rule. By such 
reciprocity both would be benefited. At all 
^events, Virginia ought not to be dependant 
"upon the North for apples, and we hope that 
Col. Woods may find his orchard a source of 
profit beyond his most sanguine anticipations. 



VIRGINIA AND TENNESSEE RAILROAD. 

This important work, destined, as we be- 
lieve, to form a connexion between Memphis 
on the Mississippi and tide-water Virginia, 
and to afford the means of rapid transit from 
that point to Richmond, Petersburg, Norfolk, 
and perhaps York river, is steadily advancing 
not only in public favor, but in the actual ex 
ecution of some of the most difficult portions 
of the undertaking. During the past summer, 
we had an opportunity of observing the sub- 
stantial manner in which the grading thus far 
has been executed. It will be a road for use, 
and if the present plans are carried out, will 
stand the brunt of the heaviest transportation. 
The cars and machinery for the road are in 
the course of construction here in Virginia, 
and Mr. J. R. Anderson of Richmond is build- 



ing nine lucomotives, to be put on when the 
superstiucturc shall be ready. 

The corporation of Richmond has recently 
subscribed $100,000 to the prosecution of the 
road beyond Salem, and the State has put an 
important spoke in the wheel by its subscrip- 
tion (of three-fifths) to the capital stock of the 
So th side railroad which will connect it with 
Petersburg direct, and with Richmond through 
the Danville road. 

The census statistics are not yet published; 
and we cannot therefore give a statement of 
the agricultural resources of the counties 
through which the road will be located. But 
looking at the returns of the population, we 
find an increase beyond the expectations of the 
most sanguine well wishers of the South- 
western Virginia. Lynchburg itself, in her 
streets, shews thrice the bustling activity of 
business, in proportion to population, that 
Richmond does, and her trade, or we should 
rather say the agricultural resources which 
create that trade, is continually increasing. 
Campbell county shows a gain of about 18 per 
cent. in population over the census of 1840; 
Bedford 19; Roanoke 55; Montgomery 14; 
Floyd 4G; Wythe 33; Smythe 25; Pulaski 3Gi; 
Washington 12|; Carroll and Grayson 39; 
Tazewell 58. These are only the chief coun- 
ties which will be tapped by this road. Others 
are within a short distance of its track. If 
such an increase of population has taken place 
without facilities of getting to market, what 
may we not anticipate when the means of 
cheap transportation are placed at every man's 
door? We take it that the managers of this 
road mean to pursue the liberal policy to- 
wards the farmers which they have indicated, 
and not rely for the support of the work upon 
the rapidity with which they may be able 
to whirl passengers from border to border 
through our State. The Commonwealth of 
Virginia will have outpoured her treasure up- 
on a bootless object, if a really useful enter- 
prise, in design, be converted into a mere ap- 
paratus for getting people to Philadelphia and 
New York in a hurry. 

The distance from Lynchburg to the Stale 
line is 210 miles. Mr. Garnelt, the Engineer, 
states that the proper charge ior transpouing 
wheat will be 7 cents per bushel for 100 miles 
and 10 cents for 200 miles; which is certainly 
very liberal. A large amount of salt and plas- 



64 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



CONTENTS OF NUMBER II. 

PAGE. 

Mr. New i em's Maryland Address 33 

Inspection of Guano 3(5 

Progress of Agriculture 37 

Salacratus 37 

Extracts from Editor's Correspondence. . . .38 

Peas a Food for Hogs 38 

Night Soil— Its Value 38 

Management of Negroes 39 

Draining 43 

The Farmer's Elegy 44 

Barnum's Amateur Farming 44 

Scuppernong Grapes 45 

Spikey Roller 46 

Professor Norton on Indian Corn 40 

Elements of Scientific Agriculture 4ii 

Colts 51 

Remarks on Breeding 52 

Russian Superstition about Potatoes 53 

English and American Landscapes 54 

Garden Manures 54 

Plaster on Wheat and Grass 55 

Steam Ploughing 55 

Cultivation of the Apple 58 

Acceptable Present 60 

Virginia and Tennessee Railroad 61 

Horticultural Remarks for February 62 

The Patent Office 62 



-v-^ 



COMMERCIAL. RECORD. 
WHOLESALE PRICES CURRENT, 

Reported for the Southern Planter by 
NANCE & GOOCIJ, COMMISSION MERCHANTS. 

Tobacco— New Leaf $7 50 to $14. Lugs 
$3 to p 50. Old Leaf #10 to $15. Average 
sales about $ 12. Lugs from $8 to $10. Prices 
have declined since our last report, owing to 
a disposition among holders to realize, and the 
large quantity of new in bad order forced upon 
the market. Sales in foreign markets since 
our last report limited in amount, but at sa- 
tisfactory prices. We advise planters to prize 
in good keeping order, neither too dry to open 
freely, nor so soft as to endanger its preserva- 
tion in sweet condition. 

Floor— Richmond Canal $4 62fc. Scotrs- 
ville #4 75. 

Wheat — From $1 to #1 10 for white. 

Corn — 67 cts. 

Guano— $50 per 2000 lbs. for Peruvian. 

Salt — #1 75. 

Fish— Herrings, Cut $6 75 to $7. Mackerel, 
No. 1 , SO. No. 2, $8 50 No. 3, $6. 

Bacon— Virginia cured 10 cents hog round. 

Richmond, February 19M, 1851. 



OSAGE ORANGE PLANTS-For 
Hedges. A few thousand raised by my- 
self for sale. 

WM. H. RICHARDSON. 
Richmond, Dec. 10. 1850— 3t. 



AGRICULTURE.— New works and sup4 
plies on Agriculture, and subjects coin 
nected with the Farmer's interests. 

Lectures on Practical Agriculture, by Jas. 
F. W. Johnston. 

Farmer's Encyclopaedia, by Cuthbert "W 
Johnson. This book should form a part of 
every farmer's library. 

American Farm Book, on soils, manures, 
drainings. irrigation, grasses, grain, roots,' 
fruits, cotton, tobacco, sugar cane, rice, and 
every staple product of the United States— A 
more than 100 engravings, by R. L. Allen. 

American Agriculturist, for the farmer, 1 
planter, stock breeder, and horticulturist, by 
A. B. Allen; numerous plates, 

European Agriculture, from personal obser-' 
vations, by Henry Coleman. 

Application cf Chemistry and Geology to; 
Agriculture, by J. F. W. Johnston. 

Lectures on Agricultural Chemistry, by A. 
Petzholdt. 

American Husbandry, series of essays on 
Agriculture, with additions by Willis Gaylord 
and Luther Tucker. 

Armstrong on Agriculture. 

A Muck Manual, for farmers, by S. L. Dana. 

Teschemacber's Elements of Horticulture.' 

Farmers' Land Measurer, with a set of use- 
ful Agricultural tables, by Jas. Pedder. 

Farmers' Manual, with the most recent dis-' 
coveries in Agricultural Chemistry by F.1 
Falkner. 

Productive Farming, with the recent disco^] 
very of Liebig, Johnstone, Davy, and others, i 

A Treatise on Agricultural Chemistry, by] 
C. Squarey, Chemist. 

Chemistry applied to Agriculture, by J. A g 
Chaptal. 

Rural Economy, or Chemistry applied to, 
Agriculture, by J. B. Boussingault; with notes 
by George Law. 

Family and Kitchen Gardener, by R. Buist. , 

Landscape Gardening and Rural Architec-I 
ture, by A. J. Downing. 

Johnson's Dictionary of Gardening, by DaJ 
vid Landrelh. 

New American Gardener, by T. G. Fes-r 
senden. 

Gardening for Ladies and Companion to the \ 
Flower Garden, by Mrs. Loudon; edited byA.j 
J. Downing. 

Complete Florist, a manual of gardening. ] 

American Fruit Book," with full instructions, 
by S. W. Cole. 

Fruits and Fruit Trees of America, by A.J 
J. Downing. 

The Theory of Horticulture, by J. Lindley^ 
edited by A. .1. Downing and A. Gray. 

Complete Gardener and Florist. 

Florist's Manual, more than 80 colored en- 
gravings, by H. Bourne. 

Kitchen Gardener's Instructor, by T. Bridg- 
man. 

For sale by 

MORRIS & BROTHER. | 

de 1850— tf