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of prosecutions 1,798, of persons imprisoned 453. The amount of penalties received .£2,995.

Tobacco is a government monopoly in France, Austria, Sardinia, Parma and Tuscany, and also (under licenses to companies) in Spain, Portugal, Naples and the Papal Slates, who regulate the price as they please. The consumption of tobacco in France (sold by government) in 1844 was 30,864,276—in 1850, 40,943,000 lbs. English. The quantity smuggled is no doubt considerable. Dogs are employed to smuggle from Belgium into France. In 1830 as many as 4,360 dogs thus employed were killed on the frontier, and 3 francs reward paid for each, and that was about the average number annually destroyed. Of course the number that escaped must have been much greater, to have supported the business. About 10,000 hhds. tobacco have been annually imported into Gibraltar, a free port, for smuggling into Spain.

The cultivation of tobacco iu Virginia and North Carolina was formerly much more extensive than it now is, and much of the best land was worn out and left waste by the reckless management of the planters. Georgia and South Carolina were also tobacco producing States until the introduction of cotton. The Western States will henceforward be the largest producers, but the cultivation in Virginia and North Carolina, now much more judicious than formerly, will probably rather increase than diminish, as the increasing facilities of transportation will enable those who have suitable lands, far from market, to engage in the cultivation, which is very profitable, if skilfully conducted, as the high prices paid for fine quality evince.

In 1851 New York imported from abroad 27,222 bales tobacco, chiefly for making into cigars, and 14,827 hhds. coastwise, chiefly from New Orleans.

It may be more curious than useful to state that during the colonial government of Virginia tobacco was by law adopted as a currency. Fines and penalties were fixed at so many pounds of tobacco—so also was the salary of the clergy and of other persons. The price was fixed by statute. All that was received by the inspectors as merchantable, bore the same value. Planters or farmers were required to cultivate a certain quantity, and if the produce exceeded the demand they were restricted to less. The fixed price was about 16 or 17 shillings per 100 lbs.

Until about 40 or 50 years ago tobacco was sold by presenting the inspector's receipt, or tobacco note, as it was called, without regard to quality. The purchaser never saw it, and the only or the chief criterion of value was the weight. A heavy hogshead was worth more than a light one, as freights were very high. At that time the judgment of the inspectors was important. Unmerchantable tobacco was burnt, and what is now called 'lugs," and constitute a considerable portion of the crop, was not brought to market.

The small planter with his "tobacco note" would hawk it through the street from store to store, with "Mister, do you buy tobaccol" It was very common to see a placard at a ' store window, "cash for tobacco"—as it now is, "cash for rags." The larger planter generally dealt with one merchant, from whom he obtained supplies of every sort—clothing, hardware, crockery, groceries, medicines and school books. At the expiration of the year, or as soon as his tobacco was inspected, he called on the merchant for his aceount, which was usually settled by selling the tobacco to him at the current market price. The business was then almost monopolized by Scotch and English merchants, who took eare to secure good profits on both merchandise and tobacco, and then originated the aversion of planter lo merchant, which yet exists, in a degree, as already mentioned..

The primitive mode of bringing tobacco to market was curious: road wagons were scarce, roads bad and transportation high. The hogshead of tobacco was actually rolled to market on its own periphery, through mud and mire and stream. The cask was made of good oak staves, well hooped. The tobacco was pressed in, layer by layer, by a lever some 30 or 40 feet long, inserted in a mortise made in a large tree for the fulcrum, against which the hogshead was placed. When fully packed and headed a wooden spike, some two feet long, was driven into the centre of each head. The ends, projecting some inches, were rounded, and thus formed an axletree, to which shafts, made of a split sapling, were fitted. On these, _^' in front of the cask, a few slabs were nailed, ^i!-» making a platform, and with sides to it a box, in which were stowed provision for man and horse, a frying pan, a hoe, an axe, and a blanket. Attached to the rear was a contrivance for carrying fodder. If the distance was moderate, the hogshead was thus rolled on its hoops as tires; but when the distance was considerable (50 to 150 miles) rough felloes were spiked at each end of the hogshead, about the quarter hoops, and these rude tires served to keep the cask out of the mud and prevent its being worn through.

The "tobacco roller," as the driver (usually the owner) was called, did not seek the shelter of a roof on his journey,—sometimes of a week,—but at nightfall made a fire in the woods by the roadside, baked his hoecake, fried his bacon, and rolled up in his blanket he slept by the fire under the lee of his hogshead.

Arrived at market, it was no small labor to remove with wedges the felloes, and to draw out the axletree pins—frequently only the projecting ends were cut off and the other parts left in the tobacco. Of course a good deal of injury was done by these numerous wooden spikes driven into the tobacco, and frequently in wet roads the water would find its way through the cask and damage the contents. With a sharp axe ; the wet tobacco would be

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trimmed off. The process of inspection and weighing completed and the note issued, the ^''tobacco roller" would march off with it to the street of business, and when he found a "Mister" who would "buy tobacco" and they could agree upon a price, with further stipulations frequently as to how much he would trade out in goods, a bargain was closed, and strapping the blanket on the horse's back he rode home. These men generally travelled in parties of several, and would have a merry time of it. if the weather was not too severe nor the roads impassable.

A "tobacco roller" might occasionally, but very rarely, be seen on his way to Petersburg within the last two or three years,—but the journey from beyond the Roanoke, which then consumed six days, is now performed on the railway in as many hours, and for the labor of 250 horses, and as many men and boys, (for a boy accompanied the man) for 10 days going and returning, is substituted a train of cars with 3 men, one-fourth of a day, and at one-fourth of the expense, if road wagons were employed instead of "tobacco rollers." Much'of the land which was formerly worn out and suffered to grow up in "old field-pines" is now again brought into cultivation and produces the best tobacco for manufacturing.— But for the process of cultivation aDd "curing" I must defer to those who can judiciously describe it. This article has already been extended to a length which may prove tedious to the reader.

| Since writing the preceding we have met with a weekly periodical, recently commenced in New York, "The United States Economist," a commercial and statistical paper, which appears to be conducted with great industry and judgment. From an article in that we compile the following:

"A letter of the Governor of Virginia, dated James City, January 22,1622, says, there was not more than 60,000 pounds tobacco made in the colony—but in 1639 the Assembly passed a law which recites that 'Whereas, the ex-

cessive quantity of tobacco of late years planted in the colony has debased the quality,' and enacts that 'all the tobacco planted this present and the two succeeding years in the colony, be absolutely destroyed and burned, excepting so much in equal proportion to each planter as shall make in the whole 120,000 lbs. stripped and smoothed,' &c. In consideration whereof the creditors of the planters were compelled to 'accept and receive 40 lbs. so stripped and smoothed, in full satisfaction of every 100 lbs. now due them.' 'The yearly export for 10 years ending 1709, was 28,858,666 lbs. of which 11,260,659 lbs. was consumed in Great Britain, and 17,598,007 lbs. in other European countries. In 1744-'5-'6 the average annual export was 40,000,000 lbs.; from 1763 to 1770 the average was 66,780 hhds. of about 1000 lbs. or 66,780,000 lbs.

"As we have now approached the period when the exportation of tobacco arrived at a point from which it has vibrated (sometimes a little above or below it) we subjoin a statement of the exportation for the years 1772-'3-'4: 5, which will furnish the remarkable fact that (compared with any succeeding four years since that period) the annual exportation of tobacco just before the Revolution was about the same that it has been at any time since, prior to 1840, in our most prosperous periods.

Years.

1772 1773 1774 1775

Av'g:e

Lbs. exported

from United

Colonies.

97,799,263 100,472,007

97,397,252 101,828,617

99,374,785

Consumed

or retained

in Great

Britain.

Consumed or

on hand in

other countries

in Europe.

97,791,805

3.695,564

18,698,337

27,623,451

7,458 96,776,443 78,676.915 74,205,166

During the 7 years of the war, from 1776 to 1782, the total export from the United States was 86,649,533 lbs. or an annual average of 12,378,504 lbs. Of the whole export 34 millions pounds were captured by the British.

The exports from the United States in 1787-'8-'9 averaged 89,103,666 lbs. From 1791 to 1795 average 80,000 hhds. annually. least year

(embargo) (1811 to 1814—war)

The weight of a hogshead of tobacco is much greater now than formerly. Originally being less compactly pressed and in smaller casks, the average was about 600 lbs. At this time Kentucky averages about 1,300 lbs. and

60,000 58.000 71,200 9,600 3,125 62,300 66,900 " 64,100 " 83,150 " 79,000 " 94,500 96,000

the average of all kinds, Kentucky, Virginia Ohio and Maryland, we estimate at 1,200 lbs! The annual average exportation for the 21 years from 1815 to 1835 inclusive, was 82,760 hhds. which, at 1,200 lbs. per hogshead, makes

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99,313,000 lbs. The annual average from 1772 to 1775 was 99,374,785 lbs. Which establishes the remarkable fact that the exportation of leaf tobacco remained stationary for a period of 60 years. Since 1835 the average is 117,000 hhds. but at a lower average of price.

When our exports of leaf tobacco for 2 or 3 successive years much exceed one hundred millions of pounds, for some succeeding years they are reduced below that standard. The Revolutionary War gave a check to the exportation of tobacco, from which it has never recovered; for until that period the annual average increased regularly and steadily. For the 31 years immediately preceding our Revolution our exports of tobacco annually increased nearly 2,380,000 lbs. and for 60 years since that period it has remained stationary, except when interrupted by wars or other difficulties. The reason is apparent. Before the Revolution all Europe depended on us for supplies of the article, but these being cut off by the war, Europeans turned their attention to growing it for themselves and have continued to cultivate it, while they have checked its consumption by onerous duties. It is remarkable that the increased consumption in the United States has been the main depend-ance of the grower of tobacco. The removal of taxes on other articles in England has favored the consumption in some degree—although on that article there has been no change since the duty was lowered in 1825 from four to three shillings per pound.

CONSUMPTION OF TOBACCO ACCORDING TO LATEST RETURNS.

U. States

France*

G.Britain*

Pounds.

81,934,000 40,943,000 28,063,000

Population.

23,081,000 35,400,000 27,435,000

Per head.

3 lbs. 8 oz. 1 lb. 2i oz. I lb. 0£ oz.

The quantity sold in France by the Regie was, snuff 14,914,000 lbs.; smoking 24,447,000 lbs.; cigars imported 437,500 lbs.; cigars made in France 1,144,500 lbs.

The difference between what the government pays for all its tobacco and what it costs the consumers, constitutes the tax. Cost ©8,643,721; sales $24,762,990; profit 16,119,269 dollars. This gives a tax of about 40 cents per pound, but a part of this, say 10 cents, constitutes the profit of the retailer appointed by government.

The French government now encourages the cultivation of tobacco in their colony of Algeria. The report for 1852 is 1,073 planters, cultivating 1,005 hectares of land, estimated to produce 1,780,000 kilogrammes, of which 700,000 grown by natives. In 1851 there were only 137 planters of 446 hectares. The hectare is about 2J acres—100 kilogrammes are equal to 221 pounds English.

* Exclusive of what is smuggled.

Communicated to the Virginia State Agricultural Society.

AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY, &c. '

EY EDWIN G. BOOTH.

[Published by order of tbe Executive Committee.]

In accordance with the arrangement, that each member of the Executive Committee of the State Agricultural Society-shall write for publication an article on some subject connected with agriculture, and yielding to the suggestion that agricultural machinery, &c. shall constitute the basis of my communication, I proceed to the performance of the duty which is thus incumbent on me. I hope we will all evince a disposition, in this way at least, to devote some attention to the position in which we have been placed. I will premise that this particular subject has probably been assigned me in consequence of my having previously published some essays embracing it, and I consequently cannot discuss it very fully, without unprofitable repetition. The remarks to which I refer (published in the April number of the present volume of the Planter,) were chiefly confined to the successful combination of steam and water power, and the machinery connected with it. I may state « lhat the whole operation has continued ii£l>! entire harmony and success, as the President of the Society and the Editor of the Planter can attest from recent personal observation.

I suppose, however, it is proper to confine myself to the machinery incident to agriculture. The importance of all machinery is regulated by the valuable purposes to which it can be applied. When the wheat crop, as in my section, formerly consumed from one-fourth to one-third of its value in its transportation to market; when the want of facilities for improvement confined its cultivation to a small surface of Jot and fresh land; when it had to be trodden out and cleaned slowly, it was almost an affliction for a man to beencumbered with a very large crop. I heard a gentleman once say that he had hauled all he could with his own teams, had hired in addition all the teams he could command, and had lefi the balance in his granary. When this state of things existed, the machinery incident to its production and preparation justified but little attention. Butnow,circumstances have undergone a wonderful change, and command for this crop and its incidental

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machinery an importance paramount to 4 any other—and I shall regulate my com--*munication accordingly.

Such uniform perfection in ploughs causes diversity of opinion, but I think very slight actual difference. The Mead-ville, Mayher and Cuff and Brace are, 1 think, more generally used in this region, and most highly approved. There is a growing disposition to use larger ploughs with more horses, and to plough deeper, and consequently to select ploughs in reference to this object. I heard my friend, Capt. Wm. G. Overton, (whose practical judgment is universally admitted by all who know him,) say that he could fallow as much or more land, with one four-horse plough than with two two-horse ploughs. This I certainly did last spring, where the draught in stiff low grounds was too much for two horses, causing stoppages, and cutting into the broken furrows. The four-horse plough was decidedly easier to the ploughman. I should suppose, except under peculiar circumstances, two horses and a two-horse plough would be sufficient. The next machine in order is the drill. I have witnessed its operations when conducted with peculiar skill, and while 1 have never yet met with a single individual who used it who did not speak favorably of it,

iconfess it commands less of my admira-on than any recent improvement.

In the first place, I am unable to perceive any saving of labor, which generally is the chief object pursued. The land ought to be well fallowed and harrowed before the drill is applied. These two first operations generally complete the seeding in this part of the country—making the operation of the drill extra.

It is true the labor of a seedsman may be considered as saved—but three hands have generally attended the drill, when I have seen its most skilful performance. Again, there is so small a portion of our surface suitable for it, as stumps, roots, rocks or clods (which cannot always be avoided.) are great impediments. The chief difficulty in this region is. that though you may alter it, to sow thicker or thinner with uniformity, still it is rarely the case that the seedsman should keep across a field without altering the quantity several timea, which he cannot do (or will not so often) as well with the drill as with the hand. There is said to be a saving in the quantity of seed. I have, however, never yet seen a drilled field where the wheat did not seem thinner than it would profit-

ably bear. Different years are so variable that the estimate of increased product is frequently very uncertain.

I may remark that about ihe best lowland crop I have ever seen, (Mr. John A Sel-den's, at Westover,) and highland, (Mr. John A. Scott's, of Prince Edward,) were both drilled. But with such land and management the result would have probably been the same with either system. Being anxious to foster every new and desirable improvement, it is not my desire to discourage the use of the drill; indeed, I would buy one at a fair price, (about sixty dollars.) I do not, however, for the reasons stated, see anything to justify the most extravagant price asked, merely because it is a new and patent article. I have seenoneat sixty-five dollars (Moore's, I believe.) We are, however, too much inclined to regard a low price as indicative of imperfection. I sincerely wish success to this and every other attempted improvement.

The next operation is the reaping, and I regret that so much consumption of time on other matters may encroach on this, so highly important. There is so much sensitiveness amongst the proprietors and advocates of these machines, that I would approach the discussion with reluctance, but for the consciousness of intending nothing more than benefit to my fellow-man, and the discharge of the duty which has been assigned me. It is a subject of importance, both from individual and national considerations. I will here remark that there seems to be almost a censurable backwardness in most farmers in withholding from the public the results of their experiments, particularly when unfavorable. It is too common where a machine is purchased and fails, to lay it aside in silence, although the fact of its purchase may on that account lead many into a similar difficulty. I know that this backwardness does not result from any want of philanthropy or indisposition to render important service to their country. They desire these results, but are only slow and reluctant to appear before the public. I shall act on the supposition that they are willing to be used as instruments of usefulness to the agricultural interests—not objecting to the introduction of their names in attempting to accomplish humane and philanthropic objects. Anonymous statements and references lose much of their force on this account; and the subject I now commence requires the best evidence

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the nature of the case affords, particularly | as I shall oppose the usual current of opi-nion as indicated by the various premiums secured; M'Cormick's, being a Virginia reaper, would secure my prepossessions in its favor, if consistent with truth and a proper regard to mechanical merit. But i although it has generally secured the premiums on a half hour or half day trial, and may continue to do so, I think I shall be able to prove that it is the most magnificent and costly humbug in its line. I j regard it as unfortunate that at the World's Fair the premium was ihus secured for America, as the result I fear will strip us of the incidental renown. Speaking thus plainly, I must be permitted to adduce my evidence in my own way. Mr. William Allen, of James River, has tried half a dozen of M'Cormick's reapers, and offered to make me a present of the whole of them. He has used Hussey's, I believe, with success and satisfaction. Mr. Corbin Warwick, of Beaver Dam, has tried four of M'Cormick's—two with some attempted improvement. One succeeded better than any I ever heard of; but was abandoned and never tried by him after the first crop. Mr. Warwick informed me that he afterwards purchased two of Hussey's—but only used one because it kept enough of! his hands employed in securing his crop, which is a large one. Mr. R. B. Boiling has tried both, and in a letter to me after the harvest of last year, he remarks; "But for three of 'Hussey's Improved Reapers,' would have had much difficulty in securing my crop. Tho machines work beautifully, one especially, which I wish you to see, and will say more about it to you when we meet. A little more weight and consequently strength of castings, will make them almost everything an enlightened farmer can desire. No one who seeds thirty acres even of land capable of bearing twenty bushels to the acre, can afford toliarvest without one; and the larger the crop the greater the saving to the operative."

Mr. Burgwin, of Roanoke, has perhaps tried more of Hussey's than any one farmer, and also M'Cormick's, I believe. I understood him to give Hussey's the decided preference. I have been informed that Dr. Wilkins, of Brunswick, bought one of M'Cormick's, and, not making the ■usual preparation otherwise, thereby endangered his crop. He, a subsequent season, bought two, and one of his neighbors informed me both were left on the field as

worthless, or at least not answering his purpose. I was informed that his neighbor, Mr. Broadnax, tried two,and that whatthey did was very imperfectly done. Mr. Wm. Old, of Powhatan, tried one of M'Cormick's one harvest; during the next harvest, I saw it lying amongst the "things that were." I learn he had it fixed up and started again the late harvest, but soon laid it aside again. Dr. Henry Lewis, of Brunswick, has tried one of M'Cormick's. Though I have conversed with him on the subject, I do not recollect its particular operation. I believe he has abandoned it. I know that when in pursuit of repairs for his, he saw mine, (made by Hussey,) and pronounced it, from inspection, superior to his. Col. J. W. Gilliam, of Brunswick, has tried M'Cormick's, and abandoned it also.

I have been more particular in this enumeration, because I felt bound to embrace every one I had seen or heard of from reliable personal information. There may be some inaccuracies of information, which I hope will induce correction and a more perfect account, as so large an expenditure ought either to be obstructed or directed into the proper channel.

From this account, it may be stated that not one of M'Cormick's reapers has ever operated any profitable length of time in this region. In other sections it must be different, because I hear they are highl approved. While the best machines sometimes fail and break, or are not understood in their management, I think I may safely assert that not one of Hussey's has ever failed when fairly tried, and it is proper to make the same references to all I ha ve heard of from reliable information. I have already alluded to a number in contrast with M'Cormick's by the same persons. The first introduced into this section was by myself—or it was rather sent to me as a valuable present by the friend from whose letter I have quoted above in commendation of them. There was some difficulty in first starting it, both by him and myself. In my case, I attributed it to the slow and careful entrance into the wheat; and the additional fact that the stubble in the row, necessarily cut by the cradle for the horses, was higher than the shears, but not high enough to fall back out of their way. They consequently fell down amongst the shears, choking them. The machines should be put into the wheat with as quick and rapid motion of the horses as possible in a walk. Mine completed the fourth crop a few days since,

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cutting the last minute equal to any preceding. I will here remark that much skill

l> is necessary in placing the hands around the field at proper distances, instead of following the machine in a crowd. Mr. William Bland, from his satisfaclionat the operations of mine, purchased one, and has tried it two crops with entire success. Capt. R. W. Bragg, of Lunenburg, also purchased one, and after harvest returned bis personal acknowledgments to me for my instrumentality in inducing him to do so. Mr. Wm. Irby, of Lunenburg, Messrs. Edward C. Robinson and John A. Hills-man, of Amelia, have all used Hussey's; and I learn from each one that the performance was successful. Mr. William S. Archer, of Amelia, was induced to secure my services in the purchase of one, by witnessing the successful operation of mine on May weeds, (the harvest having passed when he was at my house.) It reached him after the wheat harvest was over. I understand that a trial on oats, under unfavorable circumstances, was not satisfactory. On wheat, and suitable ground, &c. there need be no apprehension.

I will here remark to persons who may purchase these machines, there are certain portions most likely to break or get out of order, requiring double sets. I would always prefer two entire blades, though Mr.

kHuseey says he has less apprehensions about them than any other part. There should certainly be double sets of bolts and screws, confining the crank, wheels, &c; it is true any blacksmith can make them. I was once considerably interrupted by the loss of a screw-tap, and though a small circumstance, it may be useful to others.

I have now noticed all of both kinds of machines known to me or of which I have reliable information of their performance on wheat. I saw one of Hussey's fixed as a mower, running on Mr. William B. Harrison's Upper Brandon. All of Hussey's can be fixed to cut clover, &c. at an additional cost of ten dollars. The platform is removed, and the blades let down lower. Thus fixed, even amongst water furrows, this machine was performing admirably. I think Mr. Harrison told me it performed well on wheat. I recollect to have seen an account of the satisfactory performance of one at Brandon during the visit of President Fillmore last year. In that whole region there is not one of M'Cor-mick's I believe in use, while Hussey's are universally preferred. There is no part of

the country to which you can more safely go than that for whatever may be useful or gratifying or better calculated to excite the innocent and patriotic exultation, "I am an American citizen." Regarding the population, fertility and improvement of soil, judicious cultivation, &c. the boasting foreigner may be referred to that region of country, to silence all invectives, and challenge admiration, unless, as in many instances, he may possess tastes and feelings which it would not be desirable to gratify. But to return from this seeming digression, though the kind of country may have an important bearing on its practices and preferences.

My remarks have been sufficiently protracted ; but it is important for the crop to be threshed and fanned for market. There has been great perfection in wheat threshers—each claiming some points of peculiar attraction. I am inclined to think that the Virginian can as well be supplied by Wells & Cochran, of Petersburg, or Smith and Baldwin, of Richmond, and others in the State, as elsewhere. It is an important consideration to procure all machinery in reference to the convenience of repairs.

I think it is generally a mistaken idea to undertake, by very heavy machinery, to thresh a larger quantity with a single drum. Such machinery generally has a very great strain upon it, and is likely on this account to break, and break down the horses. The difficulty consists in getting the wheat to the drum. Hands crowding together are apt to be in each other's way. If the size of the crop require rapid threshing and justify it, and if Whitman's railway power, taking up but little room, can do what is claimed for it, I would decidedly prefer to run two drums—dividing the hands. I have no doubt that in this way much more wheat can be threshed, with more ease, than when so many hands are crowded together.

In the communication in the April number, describing the harmonious combination of steam and water power, and the various purposes to which they could be applied, I expressed the belief that wheat could be threshed by the addition of a band and threshing box. I have since tested it, and found that a band extending from the fly or balance wheel of the engine, on the whirl of the drum, was all that was necessary to thresh with great power and rapidity. Much advantage can frequently be derived from elevating the drum on a platform several feet above the floor or

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ground, in superseding the necessity of moving the threshed wheat, while the operation of threshing is in progress. This arrangement, with a straw carrier, reduces considerably the number of hands necessarily employed, and was more convenient to me in consequence of threshing with my engine on the side of a hill. There has been much improvement recently in fan mills. I believe the Bamborough has now the highest reputation—though in Richmond or Petersburg, I have no doubt, as good fans can be purchased as elsewhere. I was induced to try Reynolds', made in Richmond. Its performance is remarkable, considering its easy motion and rapid progress. With proper attendance, it will chaff out 100 bushels in one hour easily. I have seen it chaff out 11£ bushels in five minutes, fed by four hands, I believe. The bottom is taken out of the hopper entirely—the wheat falling on one| coarse sieve. It can be made to per-1 form as rapidly the second time, though it! is desirable to be more careful and steady. It is remarkable that a fan mill, possessing the apparent perfection of Grant's, should \ not do better. Two of my most judicious j neighbors have tried it, and unite in a very j unfavorable account of its performance. There are some excellent fan mills made I near James river, above Richmond, and no doubt in other portions of the State. A | grain shovel to change the position of wheat, and to assist in feeding the mill, is worth its cost each day that it is used, in saving much labor. I believe the machinery incident to wheat has now been fully reviewed. Parker's corn sheller and oat cutter command a general preference. I believe it may be safely asserted that all the machinery made in Virginia is about as good as can be procured elsewhere, and regarding the convenience of repairs, should be preferred. It would not be remarkable if, in this respect, a mechanical should surpass an agricultural region. I have, however, never been inclined to accord any superiority to other sections, unless favored by peculiar advantages.

I fear that the length of my communication will induce regret at the arrangement which has induced it. I suppose that the postponement of legislative action furnishing the means of offering premiums, &<:. will prevent the desired fair or agricultural exhibition the present fall; and if nothing should be done under the distinguished head of the Agricultural Executive Committee, I fear it would be difficult

to find any person hereafter willing to assume the command. I have attempted to comply with the requisition made on me, t ' hoping that a similar compliance by the other members of the Committee will so contribute to the advancement of our common cause as to repay their trouble and evince a disposition to accomplish the purposes of our appointment.

For the Southern Planter.

• ANNUAL ADDRESS,

Delivered by Fabian Armistead, President of the Prince George Hole and Corner Club, No. 1, at the house of Robert Gilliam., Esq. December 12lh, 1851.

Gentlemen, —This day is the closing meeting for the present year, and the seventh year of the successful operation of this Club. It must be a source of gratification to our members, that during this period our proceedings have been conducted in a manner reflecting the highest credit on them.

I am sure there is not a member here present, who would pretend to say that he has not been benefited by his association with this Society.

In my last annual address, the statistics of the Club, furnished on that occasion,*? showed a progressive improvement of our farms and products from our commencement.

In my examination of the farms of the Club for the present year, I am pleased to say that they are much improved on the last, and the ratio of our products fully sustained. The agricultural interest of the present day with us, and indeed in almost every clime and country on the habitable globe, has acquired an importance and character hitherto unknown. In contemplating the vast resources of this wide and extended land, and the great amount of intelligence and research brought to bear on this interest, resulting as it has done in the manifest improvement of agriculture in general, men of other vocations in life have been disposed to regard it in a more favorable light, believing it to be not a mere menial pursuit, but one requiring as much ability and science for its successful prosecution as any other in life. Hence it is that we find men of the highest attainments engaged in agricultural pursuits.

I here beg leave to introduce on this occasion several experiments as made by

1J

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members of this Club, and would be much . gratified if I could give the experiments S made by each member; but this I have not been able to do, from their being made returnable to this meeting. The first I will introduce, was made by Mr. John D. Matthews, of Prince George Court House, with guano on oats. That he might accurately test the true value of guano, he seeded four hundred and forty-two square yards of unlimed and otherwise very ordinary land without guano; the yield was thirty-one pounds, making per acre three hundred and forty-five pounds. He then seeded the same amount of land alongside, of the same quality, guanoed at the rate of one hundred and fifty pounds per acre, well mixed with wood ashes, at the rate of five bushels per acre, and ploughed under eight inches deep, which yielded fourteen hundred and fifty-two pounds, making a difference in favor of the guano of eleven hundred and seven pounds per acre. I think it well to state here that Mr. Matthews seeded six acres of land in oats, guanoed and ashed at the above rates, which produced eighteen hundred and eighty-four pounds per acre, being better than the piece he experimented on.

The next I will invite your attention to, was made by Mr. William C. Rawlings, being guano on wheat, at his farm called Jk Frozen Island, on land noted for its sterility and not limed. The quantity of guano used per acre was one hundred and sixty pounds, mixed well with one peck of plaster, and ploughed under six and eight inches deep. Mr. Rawlings reported that the portion of the field ploughed under eight inches made much the best yield. He, in order to ascertain the true value of the guano, left a portion of the land un-guanoed, which proved so inferior it was not worth the cutling. It is the opinion of persons well acquainted with this land, that five bushels of wheat per acre would have been the greatest possible yield without the use of guano. The area of this field was about twenty-seven acres, which produced nineteen bushels per acre, making a difference in favor of guano of fourteen bushels of wheat.

The next experiment I will lay before you, was made by Mr. Coriolanus Russel: guano on wheat at the rate of two hundred pounds per acre, and ploughed in six inches deep; land unlimed and as sterile as Mr. Russel could wish. The crop of corn preceding the wheat only made a barrel and a half per acre. The yield of this

field was twenty-two bushels per acre, of fine quality.

It is the opinion of the Club that Mr. Russel is indebted to the guano for seven teen bushels of this wheat.

My object in introducing the above experiments is with a view of drawing the attention of this Club more generally to the use of this great renovator of poor lands, placing such lands on a footing in point of products, with the most highly improved, at less cost than other manures and with more remuneration.

Notwithstanding guano has been known among us for a number of years as being one of the best and most highly concentrated manures, it is a matter of surprise, considering the exhausted condition of much of our lands, that it has been so little used; but like all new things, it has been distrustfully viewed.

From the experiments made with this article in our Club, under the immediate supervision of some of our members, and from theflattering results from almostevery quarter, there can be no longer grounds to doubt of its great utility. Scepticism must now give way to positive and irrefragable results. Many not so sceptical have been delerred from its use by the high price of the article; this objection is, however, fully met by the great per centage realized on the outlay.

From the evanescent properties of this article, as represented, many have doubts as to its durability as a manure, but I feel authorized, on the evidence of practical and discerning farmers, to say it is as lasting in its effects as any other manure in use. And it is now not at all questionable that the land will be left improved after harvesting the crop.

We are informed by the chemists of the day that guano is extremely volatile, and hence it is recommended to plough it under as soon as applied .to the land; and some say. in order to arrest the escape of the ammonia, plaster should he combined with it. There appears to be, however, much diversity of opinion on this subject.

In a recent controversy, emanating from a very distinguished source, a great difference of opinion as to the utility of plaster as mixed with guano existed. There was a great amount of evidence introduced on both sides, but it was so conflicting in its character, that it has left us still in doubt.

Chemistry is a science as interesting as it is valuable, and many theories in agriculture have grown out of it, and been

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sent forth to the world, without testing or reducing them to practice. I must confess I am a little dubious on this subject, and am inclined to believe that the agricultural chemistry of the day, as presented, is a little tinged with humbuggery.

Such theories have been prematurely acted on, and no doubt have done an injury to agriculture that might have been averted by first ascertaining if they could be supported by practice.

Hence I conclude that theory and prac-ice must go together. In this way, we would go on understandingly and the farming interest be substantially improved.

Ammonia is understood to be an essential ingredient to the growth of plants, but if it is as volatile as represented, I am inclined to believe that in the application of our manures in the ordinary way, there is but little of this ingredient left to go to the land.

Considering the length of time necessary in making these deposits of guano, and the circumstances under which they were made, and the manner of transportation from place to place in bags, it must be reasonable to conclude that much of this ingredient would have been disengaged. Hence I am of the opinion that ammonia is not as easy of escape as we are told.

Recent developments will go far in establishing my position, as men of science and practice have ascertained that guano, harrowed in with wheat, is as striking in its effects, if not more so, than when ploughed in.

The application of guano and its effects are as yet but little understood, and I fear that too much importance has been attached to its evanescent properties.

If I may venture an opinion as to the best application of guano for wheat, I would say incorporate it well with the surface soil by means of small ploughs or cultivators, so that it may come in immediate contact with the roots of the wheat. This appears to me to be the most common-sense view of the subject, and harmonizing fully with the received opinion that manures should be kept near the surface.

It was the custom formerly, and no doubt is still practised to some extent, to plough under all manures when applied to lands, designed for cultivation, believing it to be the most effectual method of guarding it against evaporation, and otherwise improving the land. It has been discovered, however, more recently, and I believe very

generally practised, that to apply manures to the surface in the way of what we farmers style top-dressing, and more particu-/ larly to grasses, is more conducive to the growth of plants and more improving to the land.

If this is the case, which I have no reason to doubt from my own experience, let me ask what becomes of the ammonia? for in its flight, the plants can imbibe but little of its nutritive qualities.

If what I have shown proves anything at all, what must be the inference? It is that guano, with other manures, may be used with advantage applied on the surface to grasses, wheat, &c.

I claim not to be prophetic, but I believe the day is not distant when this application of it. will be most approved and practised, while the old custom of covering it deep in the earth will become obsolete.

As agriculturists associated for purposes of improvement, it is our duty to reduce to practical purposes the theories of the present day; this is the only way we will arrive at the truth of them. And in order to carry out the object of this Society, the results of our experience should be disseminated around us that others may be benefited as well as ourselves. Other societies are in the habit of doing this, and I think it worthy of imitation.

It is the universal custom of farmers iqrj this region of country to cultivate grain almost exclusively. From the great increase of wheat in this country, with full crops in Europe, and the consequent low price of the article, it becomes necessary that we devote more of our time and attention to other departments of husbandry, hitherto almost entirely neglected. There are many thousands of dollars paid away annually by this community to the West for mules and horses to cultivate our farms, that might easily be supplied at one-fourth the cost, by directing our attention to the raising of them. It may be urged that we are not prepared to do this for the want of sufficient pasturage. Lay your farms off in five or six shifts, and you will always have one for grazing purposes; even if the area of your fields is curtailed by this system, I doubt very much if your grain crops would be diminished. The area being less, you could devote more time to its cultivation and improvement.

The article of pork is another drain on your wheat money, taking away from among us its thousands, that might be, if not entirely, yet partially checked, by devoting

1

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a part of our time to that department. I will, however, remark, and it affords me

} much pleasure to do so, that some of our members are very successfully engaged in this department; though they may not raiseenough for theirconsumption,yet they are handsomely remunerated for their trouble. Hay is another article that might be cultivated with us; for almost every farm in this section of country has rich alluvial bottoms, admirably adapted to the growth of the grasses, that are now in a great measure neglected or unappropriated, but with a little trouble might be rendered a fruitful source of profit. If due attention was paid to the preparation and laying down such lands in grass, we might wholly or in part supply the demand of our principal marts, that now receive their supplies from the North. In this way the foreign article would be driven out of our markets, as it would not be able to come in competition with ua.

Unless we are prepared to supply the home consumption, it is vain to talk of non-intercourse, or to form societies for the purpose of interdicting Northern articles.

In a previous address, I dilated very fully on the importance of ^ubsoiling our lands. As no action has been taken on this subject as yet, I will invite your par-

i ticular attention to it. I will simply remark that vegetable as well as animal bodies, are supported by a free and unrestrained circulation of the particular principles that impart to them volatility.— Hence it is, if the circulation of the animal be suspended, death inevitably ensues.— So with the vegetable kingdom. If the particular agents that sustain the plant and bring it to maturity be withheld, it also must perish or prove unproductive. Then I am of the opinion that the subsoil plough is the most effectual means of promoting these agents. As the most of our lands are imperfectly drained, this operation would have the effect of carrying off much of the surplus water that does much damage to the crops.

In view of the benefits of our Society, as manifested in the condition of our farms, it cannot fail in carrying conviction even to the hearts of those who have predicted our downfall, that there is something to be gained by associations of this character. I am fully persuaded that all of you feel an abiding interest in this Society, and that it is your hearts' desire that it be perpetuated even unto our children. Judg-

ing of the future by the past, I am not apprehensive as to our destiny.

If we conform to the rules and regulations of our Society, we have nothing to fear; but, on the contrary, if we are regardless of them, this Society, that has been so long the pride and boast of its members, will, like many others that have preceded us, collapse into a state of indifference and imbecility, well calculated to defeat the end for which it was formed.

Then, gentlemen, let our motto be Agriculture and Agriculture alone, and there will be nothing to thwart us in the final consummation of this Society.

FATTENING CATTLE AND SHEEP IN WINTER.

The necessity of manuring the soil by natural or artificial means, before the maximum produce can be obtained, is now all but universally admitted; and whatever difference of opinion exists as to the best means of obtaining and applying manure, all agree that it must be obtained and applied in some way or other, or the soil will gradually become impoverished and incapable of profitable cultivation. In some localities it may be good economy to increase and preserve the fertility of a soil by purchasing artificial manures, depending principally on them, and selling off the farm nearly all the produce, and so making no manure by stock. For this purpose, good Peruvian guano, at two and a half cents per pound, is decidedly the cheapest and best artificial manure at present offered for sale. But the great body of farmers cannot purchase artificial manures; neither would it pay them if they could; their chief reliance must be on the manure made during the winter months, by cattle, sheep, and other stock, consuming produce grown on the farm. A consideration, therefore, of the effects produced by feeding a given amount of produce on a farm, cannot fail to be useful and interesting to every farmer. There are many scientific matters connected with such an inquiry, which it would be interesting to us and to some of our readers to discuss; but at this time we must confine our remarks to the vital question—Will it pay?

In the July number, page 205, we gave the results of some valuable experiments instituted by the Worcester Agricultural Society, Massachusetts, in regard to the economy of cutting food for stock. From

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the same experiments we have arranged the following table, which shows the amount of bay consumed weekly by each one hundred pounds live weight of animal, the weekly increase of fat, &c. upon each

one hundred pounds live weight, and the amount of increase which one ton of hay will produce. The bottom line shows the mean live weight of the animals with which the trials were made:

There is remarkable uniformity in the results obtained by the four New England experimenters, both in regard to the quantity of food consumed per cent, of live weight of animal, and the increase obtained upon each one hundred pounds of live weight, and consequently in the weight of meat produced by one ton of hay. The last column is the mean result of many experiments as given by Boussingault. The amount of food consumed per cent, of live weight is more than double any of the others, and so is the increase per cent.; so that the weight of beef produced" by the consumption of one ton of hay, is nearly the same throughout the series; and we may safely take the mean result as a pretty correct indicative of what we shall obtain in common practice. The mean of the whole of the experiments is one hundred and six pounds of increase (which we shall consider as fat and meat) for each ton of hay consumed. From this it is evident that, in most places, feeding cattle in winter is attended with direct loss, or at least with no profit. How far the value of the manure may compensate for this loss, we shall inquire further on.

In some extensive experiments on sheep feeding, Mr. Lawes found that South Down sheep eat, per one hundred pounds live weight, five pounds two ounces American oilcake, and sixteen pounds two ounces of clover hay per week; and in-

creased one pound three ounces. Another lot eat per one hundred pounds live weight, five pouuds two ounces linseed, and fourteen pounds twelve ounces clover chaff; and increased one pound one ounce and three-quarters per week. In the first experiment, four hundred and thirty-six pounds of oilcake, and one thousand three hundred and seventy-eight pounds of clover are required to produce one hundred pounds of increase. In the second, there is required four hundred and sixty-five pounds of linseed and one thousand three hundred and thirty-one pounds of clover hay to produce one hundred pounds of increase. The four hundred and thirty-six pounds oilcake, at twenty dollars per ton, would cost four dollars and thirty-six cents; the one thousand three hundred and seventy-eight pounds clover hay, at six dollars per ton, would be worth four dollars and fourteen cents; making the cost of producing one hundred pounds of mutton eight dollars and fifty cents—or eight and a half cents per pound.

From these facts it is most obvious that if feeding is a paying business, it is in the value of the manure made by it, and not in the mere production of beef, mutton, or pork. The whole question, then, of the economy of feeding cattle in winter, appears to rest on the vafcje of the manure made in producing one hundred pounds of meat. To answer this question satisfac-

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torily, requires much more data than we

at present command. There are, too,

a many points involved in its settlement that

* are much disputed. Under such circumstances, therefore, we submit our own views, believing that they will ultimately be found not far from the truth.

In the first place, it is necessary to have some standard manure, the value of which is fixed, to compare with that made by feeding with different substances. For this purpose we know of nothing better than Peruvian guano, the consumption of which is now very great, and is steadily increasing. Its retail price is two dollars and fifty cents per hundred. A first rate sample contains sixteen per cent, of ammonia, and twenty-five per cent, of phos-f»hate of lime, &c. The phosphate of ime, is worth about one cent per pound; for it can be purchased for that in other forms, such as animal charcoal. Therefore, the price paid for ammonia in guano is nearly sixteen cents per pound, and we know of no cheaper source of it. The hay used in the experiments given in the table, was what is called "English meadow hay." It contains 1.2 per cent, of nitrogen, or one ton would contain ticenfy-four pounds nitrogen. We may estimate the amount of ammonia in the excrements to be equal to the amount of nitrogen consumed in the food. Therefore, in consuming one ton of

* hay by cattle, we get one hundred and six pounds beef and twenty-four pounds of ammonia in the manure, worth, at sixteen cents per pound, three dollars and eighty-four cents. The ton of hay, too, would contain fourteen pounds phosphate of lime; and estimating that three pounds phosphoric acid are retained in the increase of animal, would leave eight pounds phosphate of lime in the manure. This, as we have said, is worth eight cents. If we call the potash, soda, sulphuric acid, &c. worth eight cents more, we get, in consuming one ton of hay on the farm, by horses, cattle, or sheep, four dollars worth of manure. The one hundred and six pounds of beef, at five cents per pound, is five dollars and thirty cents. Adding the four dollars worth of manure, makes the return for one ton of hay, nine dollars and thirty cents.

With these data, any farmer can tell whether, in his locality, it is preferable to sell the produce or consume it on the farm— it depends on the relative price of hay and meat.

If oilcake and clover hay be used as

food, the manure will be much more valuable than where hay only is eaten. Thus, taking the results of Mr. Lawes, above quoted, we have, to produce one hundred pounds of mutton, four hundred and thirty-six pounds oilcake, which contained 21.84 pounds of nitrogen, and 1.378 pounds clover hay, containing 29.0S of nitrogen— making in total food consumed to prodnce one hundred pounds increase, fifty-one pounds of nitrogen. According to our former estimate, this would give fifty-one pounds of ammonia in the manure, and, at sixteen cents per pound, would be worth eight dollars and sixteen cents. The oilcake, too, would contain 8.72 pounds phosphoric acid, the clover hay 6.24 pounds. This, estimating three pounds as taken up in the one hundred pounds increase, would leave about twenty-four pounds of phosphate of lime, &c. in the manure, worth twenty-four cents. If we allow ten cents for the potash, soda, &c. the value of the manure made in producing one hundred pounds of meat with oilcake and clover, will be eight dollars and fifty cents. This, it will be seen, is exactly the value of the food eaten, reckoning the oilcake at twenty dollars and the clover hay at six dollars per ton; so that we get the one hundred pounds increase of animal for nothing, except the labor of attending the animals.

From these facts, which are undoubtedly true in their comparative character, we conclude that while it is of questionable economy to feed hay to cattle in winter, the production of meat by oilcake and clover chaff is attended with considerable ultimate profit. There are probably no other substances used as food, that would give so good a result; clover containing more nitrogen than meadow hay, or any of the different kinds of grasses, and oilcake is perhaps the most highly nitrogenous substance used as food by herbivorous animals. Beans, peas and lentils approximate closely to oilcake in their per centage of nitrogen; and their growth and consumption on the farm cannot be too highly recommended, or be too extensively adopted by all farmers. Even admitting that, weight for weight, the cereals wheat, rye, oats, barley and maize are as good for | feeding purposes as the leguminous seeds beans, peas and lentils, or as oilcake, | (which, however, is by no means the case,) the manure made from them would not be half so valuable; and. as we have shown, it is to the value of manure that we must look to make fatting stock a profitable bu-

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siness. Leaving the value of the manure out of the calculation, feeding is in most cases attended with direct loss; reckoning the value of the manure, and feeding with oilcake, beans or peas, and clover hay, it is attended with considerable profit.

Many will be inclined to object to these conclusions. We submit them, however, hoping that they will not be cast aside with a careless perusal, but be thoroughly investigated, when we think their justness will be evident. At all events, if they lead to thought and an examination of the matter, some good will be accomplished. The value of manure we have estimated according to the present price of guano. The subject is a deeply interesting and important one to every cultivator of the soil.— Genesee Farmer.

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RICHMOND, DECEMBER, 1852.

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HIRING NEGROES.

We have proposed for sometime past toy write one or two essays on the management of negroes, but various business engagements and the desultory life of an individual who has to read, write, electioneer and solicit contributions for a paper, and at the same time to manage a large plantation, not in the best manner, by the way, leave us but little leisure for the preparation and reflection we would bring to the task. We have not proposed to undertake this task from an idea that we possess a peculiar fitness for it, or that our own management is unexceptionable, or even much better than ordinary; but we have long perceived that herein lies the greatest defect of slave agriculture, and we think that the attention of every slave-holder ought to be called to it.

For the present, we shall limit our remarks to one department of the theme which it is appropriate to speak of just now, because in one month more it will be too late for a year to come.

We allude to the hiring of negroes. As this thing is at present conducted, it is an injury to all parties, the hirer, the hiree, the negro himself, and society at large. Formerly, the owner himself exercised some care in se- I lecting a master for his slave, and placed him where, in his judgment, he ought to be; but now the negro is permitted to "choose his master," as it is called; in other words, he is permitted to exercise a faculty of which he has less than of any other quality, to wit, discretion, and under circumstances which leave him no room to give fair play to what little he has. The strongest characteristic of the negro, whether it proceed from his original nature, or the circumstances in which he is placed, is idleness. And when this liberty is allowed him he will select that master who will grant him the largest license in that respect. The consequences are what might be expected; he either selects a master who he knows will indulge him, will exact but little labor, and grant him many privileges and a good deal of time for himself, or he is bribed by money, or the promise of privileges, to live with some one who, possibly from hope of a certain profit to accrue from a modicum of labor, is willing to take him on such terms, and thereby plants

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the germ of rebellion in the contract for obedience, and stipulates himself into a certain P amount of servitude.

The insubordination of the negroes in Richmond, attributed, as it has been, to certain other causes to which it is not due in any great measure, if at all, is mainly owing to this mode of hiring. If a tobacconist agrees to give negroes five or ten dollars to get them to live with him, allows them to board themselves for a pittance, which is but another name for grog money, and grants them privileges which are not less demoralizing to their characters than deleterious to their health, it should not be deemed surprising that the overseerin defence of his own life is sometimes compelled to substitute the pistol for the lash. If the servants in private families are permitted to act as nightly porters at railroad depots, to get money as they can by occasional jobs, to lead idle lives, to roam whither they will, to give suppers, sometimes champagne suppers, and to go quit of punishment or reprimand for many a fault, we cannot wonder that drunkenness, discontent, mutiny, and sometimes crime should supervene.

And when the farmer or planter so far forgets the proprieties of his station as to elec-Jfoneer with negroes whom he wishes to hire, he must expect to lose respect of the slave, and be compelled either to deal rigorously with him in the outset, or to relax the discipline of his whole plantation, to the injury of his own negroes, the derangement of all system, the forbearance of all just accountability, and the consequent detriment of his affairs.

One would suppose that deductions as obvious as these would be made by all—and so they are. But none are willing to act on them independently. Each distrusts another's inflexibility, each fears the influence of competition from his fellow, and so all follow a road which will do more to render the slave worthless than all the efforts of Garrison, Birney, Beecher, Stowe, Hale, and that whole class of fools and Pharisees, who, under the guise of philanthrophy, would feed fat their grudge against a people whose attributes and privileges are at once their envy and their detestation.

And all this is owing to the simple fact that the old rule is reversed, and the man enquires,

aye, enquires with insolence, into the character of the master. "Are you for hire 1 ?" said the late Judge Scott to a likely black. "I am, sir, what is your namel" "John Scott," said the Judge. "Very well," rejoined the black, "I'll enquire into your character, sir, and if I like it, I'll come and live with you." The Judge never made another effort to hire. We could fill pages of the Planter with similar cases, many of them coming under our own observation, and some of them within our own experience, for we too have met the scowl of the hireling.

Under such circumstances salutary restraint becomes intolerable to the negro, as it is to all other men when release can be had by demanding it, until presently he not only refuses to choose a master, but refuses to accept one at all. We have known all the negroes belonging to one estate to act in this manner, compelling the disheartened and disgusted agent to send them to their master to be sold. It is within the observation of some who will read these remarks, that last hiring season, about Charlottesville, masters were compelled to persuade, exhort, and even pay their own negroes to go where they had been hired. And not a few who were prevailed on to go over the mountains to work in the Valley came back and refused to return in defiance of command and entreaty, thereby subjecting their kind hearted owners to whatever forfeit the nature of the case made necessary. Thus, by a just and necessary reaction, the owner has his share of inconvenience, chagrin and humiliation, and is made to feel—only in reverse—"the horrors of slavery."

What is true of Charlottesville is doubtless true of every town, village, and hiring station of Virginia. And it is felt everywhere to be a serious evil.

We are no alarmists. We have slept with our doors wide open when insurrection was talked about, and never expect to close them from that cause. We have no dread of any such consequences, and no anticipation of anything else than such occasional and solitary acts of violence, rendered somewhat more frequent perhaps by this cause, as have always occurred in every society, only more rarely in the slave States than in others. All our fears in this regard are for the negro. We do

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not anticipate abolition either from the insurrection of the negro or the freak of the fanatic. When it does come, it will be brought about by the worthlessness of the negro. He will be liberated because bondage don't pay. And ■we do not wish to see him liberated before Vie appointed, time; because we prefer the state of society which is built upon a slavery basis, as on the whole superior to any other as at present organized. We do not wish to see his value impaired, his happiness diminished, his civilization retarded; nor do we wish to see the industry of the country crippled, its products diminished, its development checked, and the migration of the negro accelerated beyond the natural and safe current of events. Yet all these must result, if there be not some corrective of the deplorable practices of those who own and are responsible for the slave.

Whence proceeds this thing"? Not from fear in any case, unless it be, in a very few cases, fear that the slave may abscond, but from an indisposition to use the necessary energy, from a conviction that the negro will bring his value from somebody and give no trouble in the getting it—from that sort of weakness which is called good heartedness, the dislike to hurt the negro's feelings, by curbing him and making him feel the difference between master and slave, and from the fear of being thought "a bad master." And the hirer, who must have the labor, is compelled to succumb, or lose his money. This is the whole secret. Now it is foolish—"we beg everybody's pardon," as Mr. Webster said—but it is foolish, thus to sacrifice so many interests to the weakness of the master and the caprice of the slave.

We do not mean, in remedy of this evil, to indicate a harsh discipline as needful to preserve order among slaves. On the contrary, we believe it injurious to their character and to their masters' interests, as it is repugnant to the feelings of every refined nature. But we do maintain, what all experienced men must concede, that certain restrictions are necessary, and that punishment, moderate but certain, if deserved, must be used to enforce them. The sensibility which pleads for large liberty for negroes, as for children, is a morbid one. The negro is, in some respects, a child—all his life a child; he cannot be fully operated upon

through the moral sense; and always, at present, more degraded in freedom than in bondage, humanity, even more than policy, required that he shall not have too much discretion. Nothing is more true than that where it is the duty of one set of men to command, and of another to obey, that implicit obedience is absolutely necessary. There is no safety to arjy party but in full obedience to wholesome laws founded on the necessity of the case and an enlightened moral sense. In this case the necessity cannot be set aside—it is absolute; and religion, humanity, justice and common sense call upon us to stand up to our responsibilities under it. As the parent is wrong who permits his child to choose his teacher, so in kind, but worse in degree, is the master who permits his slave a license which all the promptings of his nature lead him to abuse. We say, then, let masters assume a manful responsibility—let them do their duty with firmness; let them choose a good home for their slaves, where they will be well worked, well clad, well fed, well watched, and well whipped if they deserve it, and let them compel the slave to accept this provision; let the refractory be dealt with in a summary manner. When this cannot be done, it is far better for the slave that he should be sold to those whfcj have too much regard for him and themselves ' to permit him to try and take care of himself. And we say to those who hire, combine and refuse to take a slave except from his master or his master's agent. Better do as we have done, offer a bounty of five dollars a head to those who will not consult their slaves. There is not a farmer or a housekeeper or manufacturer or tradesman or mechanic in town, who would not find it to his interest to do so. Concert to that effect, especially in cities, can easily be arranged when men set to work about it. And we hope, though we feel it to be against hope, that they will do so and remedy this great and growing evil. Had we not deemed it such, we had not written these remarks. We have been advised not to do so. "We will shock people," say some kind friends; we will "injure the Planter." To this, after weighing it carefully, and in the spirit which dictated the admonition, we have only to say that the thing is an evil, existing r among us, not to be concealed from ourselves,

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or not worth concealing from anybody else. It requires a remedy, and some one to propose -it; and if we are to suffer because we have ventured to prescribe for what comes strictly within our province, be it so. Whatever others may do, we will do our duty.

"THE SOIL OF THE SOUTH" AND ,: THE TROPICAL FARMER."

We hare been requested to call the attention of our readers to these two papers, and we do so with pleasure.

The Soil of the South is an agricultural newspaper, printed at Columbus, Georgia, and well edited by Chambers and Peabody. The latter gentleman, who seems to be the main editor, is somewhat distinguished as a horticulturist, particularly for his mode of raising strawberries, which he produces for a good many months of the year, and of fine quality. His method has been published, and we shall give it to our readers at the proper time.

The paper is as well conducted as any of its price at the North, and we would advise our friends who take Northern journals to add \his to the list, or if not, to exchange one of them for this. We go for the encouragement of .southern productions of all sorts, and to the exclusion of Northern productions, if necessary, when the Southern have equal merit. But we do not think it necessary to discontinue Northern journals in order to take Souihern, though the latter are much better adapted to our circumstances.

Southern papers have themselves somewhat to blame for the neglect they have encountered; in too many cases they copy from the North instead of bringing out the talent and experience of their own farmers. For instance, one af their standards is Professor Mapes, for whose editorial lucubrations, so far as practical value is concerned, though they are un-loubtedly clever, we would not give a button.

We claim to have set them an example in his respect. When we hear of a good thing hat has been done by a farmer, we write to im at once to make it public; and our co-umns show that a number of them have re-ponded to such an appeal to their patriotism, heir courtesy and their pride. Others may lo so as easily as we have done; and we have

■;

no doubt that the usefulness and reputation of their papers will be much increased by doing it.

Whatever may be the comparative average of agricultural excellence, there is no question with us that the good farmers and planters at the South are superior to those at the North, and their contributions will of course be more instructive and valuable.

The Tropical Farmer is an agricultural journal, of sixteen quarto pages, which has been recently started by Maj. Lewis C.Gaines, at Oceola, East Florida. We wish him all success, and can say that we have been interested in the perusal of his paper. As a record of tropical agriculture, it will possess a value and interest that no other region can supply.

By the way, it is a shame that the Farmer and Planter of Pendleton, South Carolina, is so inadequately supported that the editor thinks he shall have to merge it in a political paper. How can Southern Rights men permit such a reflection on their patriotism, spirit and intelligence! How many gentlemen waste money enough at Newport and other Northern sink-pockets to sustain a first rate agricultural journal at home! Let them travel if they will; and to the North as soon as elsewhere. It will improve them, and will give them, we hope, fraternal feelings towards people who are citizens of this great Republic and therein our equals. But let them learn, as they may by keeping their eyes open whilst abroad, that their first duty is to domestic interests; and that the retrenchment of expenditure in a very few luxurious indulgences will give a fund for munificent contribution to languishing enterprises at home.

STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.

The meeting of the State Agricultural Society takes place in Richmond on the 16th instant. We hope that not only the present members, who are very few, but a large gathering of those who mean to become members, will assemble to help the good cause. We believe there is not a single State of the rank of Virginia, or anything like it, that has not had its agricultural fair this fall. Our exchanges are filled with their proceedings; and we feel some shame at not being able to

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

chronicle anything of the sort for Virginia. The Presidential election is now over, and we trust, that some attention will be paid to matters at home. Virginia says she made the nomination at Baltimore, and that made the President. Let her now make an agricultural society—she will find it a less difficult task, and one that will redound fully as much to her advantage, if it is conducted as it should be.

RUFFIN'S ESSAY ON CALCAREOUS MANURES.

We have received from J. W. Randolph, the publisher, and proprietor of the copy right, the preface and contents of the new edition of this celebrated work. We are happy to learn that the whole of it will be out by the 15th instant. We commend it in advance to every farmer of the State. To the tide-water farmer it is a necessary of agricultural life.

OSAGE ORANGE HEDGE.

The following account of the hedge of Prof. Turner, of Jacksonville, Illinois, is taken from the Valley Farmer. We commend the facts to those who want hedges, merely stating that it would be unreasonable to expect such rapid growth in a soil as inferior as ours is to the rich lands of Illinois. But we know that they will grow and thrive here, having had ample opportunity of ascertaining that fact by personal inspection, not of a hedge, but of a row of osage orange that had been intended for a hedge in the vicinity of Petersburg.

Whilst we are wating to see if the hedge will grow, the Yankee encloses his whole farm with one.

Plants may be had of General Willam H. Richardson, near Richmond, at a reasonable price.

"We will speak now of the hedges. Mr. Turner's home lot of fifteen acres, is enclosed on all sides with an osage orange hedge, some of it four years old and all of it three. The fence outside of it has not been removed yet, though there is no necessity of its remaining any longer, for we do not think any thing could pass the hedge. We examined carefully to find a place where a chicken or a rabbit could crowd through, but could find none, and as for

any animal forcing his way through, or jumping over it, we do not think any ' critter' would try it more than once. We would remark here that during our absence, we rode to and examined a hedge in Green county, Illinois, made of plants set out two years ago last spring. It was along the highway, and the fence had been taken from it. It had proved perfectly adequate to turn all kinds of stock, though not as thick at the bottom as we should have preferred it. It is all important in the growing of hedges that the plants should be cut back several times so as to procure a close growth at the bottom, for if this is not attained at first, there is no remedy for it afterwards, only to cut it all down and let it start up new from the stumps. We saw enough to convince us that this plant, properly cultivated, will make a hedge adequate to turn all kinds of stock, and that it may be kept in order with no extraordinary amount of labor.

"Mr. Turner has several hundred thousand of thrifty plants in his nursery designed for setting out next spring, and his arrangements for preserving and putting up are of the very best kind."

FRENCH MERINO SHEEP.

It has always been considered a most desirable thing to obtain a flock of sheep which, with the finest quality of wool, would give also the heaviest carcass. For a long time, and after repeated trials, it was deemed una^ ;ji tainable, and the fine woolled sheep were nor' thought suitable for the shambles; but perseverance, which conquers all things, has at last brought it about so nearly—to within "a shade"—that future breeders may safely calculate to reach the goal. The sheep which now present this rare combination are the French Merinos.

We had seen in our various agricultural exchanges such extraordinary accounts of these animals as to try our failh; so we wrote some time ago to the Hon. William C. Rives, our Minister at Paris, to ask an authentic account of them. He has done us the favor to furnish one, as will be seen by the following letters, and has, as his own letter will show, taken the trouble to verify the account by a personal inspection of the two most noted flocks in France. Mr. Rives will hardly claim our thanks for this act of kindness, though he has them. To a farmer so zealous, enthusiastic and public spirited as himself, it was a labor of love. As far as politics have permitted him, he has always been diligent in agri-

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

3S1

cultural pursuits, and had he devoted his energies and rare labor to them he would I have been even more distinguished in that line than in the one he has chosen, because, we think, it would have been more congenial to his tastes. When at home, we know that he always takes a leading interest in the business of Ins farm, and when abroad he does not forget it; as witness his recent importation of a fine young stallion of the celebrated Cleaveland— English coach horse—breed, and his constant purchase at high figures of what are supposed to be the best breeds of stock and mutton sheep that this country affords. That he has not succeeded in improving his stock to the extent of his aspirations and efforts is the fault of his other avocations. To do so through the agency of others is impossible.

One thing in the stock line remains for him to do. Let him bring home with him a mare and stallion of the Norman breed. It is a strain we have never had in Virginia, and we incline to think them the best roadsters in the world, and capital for all other sorts of work.

But revenous a nos moutons. We invoke the attention of all enterprising farn;ers who have the capital to spare to this breed of sheep. It is now an established fact that Virginia, as a >vool growing region, excels the North, at one time considered the home of the fine wools. The flocks of those Northern gentlemen who have brought them hither prove it. A gold medal was lately awarded to Mr. Dox, at the Fair of the New York Institute, for the best specimen of fine wool; and his is the most recent flock.

It is time that Virginians should begin the work, and not leave the glory of its consummation to those who may justly claim the honor of its commencement. But how shall it be done'? Read the letters below and see how it has been done, and then improve upon the copy. Get a few Merino or Saxon ewes, and let two or three—where it is beyond the means of one—club in and buy a buck at successive intervals of two years, until a stock is obtained which shall rival that of any other country.

One thing only have Messrs. Cugnot and Victor Gilbert omitted, that is material. We have seen it in another letter of one or the other of them. Their rams are kept from service until fully matured, and their ewes are I

not permitted to breed until they are three years old. This is a great point; and no loss attends its observance. The quality and quantity of both wool and mutton fully repays it. One other thing also, which some may deem of moment. The Merino mutton is said to have a strong flavor; theirs is said to be free of it.

Paris, October 20,1852.

My Dear Sir, —I have now the pleasure to send you letters addressed to me by the two most distinguished breeders of French Merino sheep, which 1 have carefully translated jand which I hope you will find to contain, in a condensed and satisfactory shape, the information you desired for the columns of the Southern Planter. I have visited both of these gentlemen at their farms, and spent a day with each of them in looking at their fine flocks and making myself acquainted with their system of management. It was quite refreshing to me to steal away from duties of a very different character here, and to resume, though for a brief season, my favorite pursuits under the guidance of brother farmers, whose cordial hospitality, as well as practical intelligence in our common calling, made me forget for the time that I was in a foreign land.

I also visited, in company with one of these gentlemen, the national flock at Rambouillet, which is the parent stock from which Iheir own, as well as the other private flocks of Merinos in France, derive their origin. Whether it be owing to the system of breeding in and in which has been practised there, or to whatever other cause, I found the sheep at Rambouillet of decidedly inferior size to those of Messrs. Gilbert & Cugnot, though stinted in nothing necessary to their fullest condition. The males seemed to me inferior also in their conformation. The females, however, while smaller, appeared to be well proportioned, and even handsomely and symmetrically made, which is not always the characteristic of the Merino race. According to the information I received, the product of wool at Rambouillet is less than that on the farms of Messieurs Gilbert & Cugnot by two or three pounds to the fleece (unwashed.) This defect of quantity is probably counterbalanced by some shade of superiority in quality. It must be borne in mind in estimating the yield of wool by the Merinos that, owing to their extraordinary oily secretions, the weight of the fleece as it is generally given, (in the grease and dirt,) is reduced one-half by the process of washing, even on the back of the animal, and nearly two-thirds after undergoing the farther washing to which it is subjected in the hands of the manufacturer to prepare it for his uses.

The question oi what kind of sheep is most profitable to the agriculturist in any given situation is one which is exceedingly complex, depending upon considerations of locality.

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

soil, convenience to market, and relative demand for wool or mutton, with other circumstances not easy to define. In some situations it will be the interest of the farmer, undoubtedly, to give his attention excl usively or mainly to the fine-wooled sheep. In others, the long or middle-wooled breeds, combining the qualities of better mutton with an abundant, though coarser fleece, will prove more profitable. It is fortunate for us in the United States that the great extent and diversified character of our country will probably make it the interest of different portions to devote themselves to different branches of this growing husbandry, and thus prevent either from being overrun by excessive competition, while a large career will be opened to both. Which of them will best suit our circumstances in Virginia, considered in a general point of view, is a question to which my attention is now earnestly directed, and I hope to be able, during the short remnant of my sojourn on this side of the Atlantic, to collect farther data, from the experience of England as well as this country, that may assist us in coming to a wise conclusion on the subject.

In the hope of renewing our communications face to face on this and kindred topics, before many more months have passed, I remain, my dear sir, very truly and cordially yours,

W. C. Rives.

P. S.—The letter of Monsieur Gilbert contains, in part and with some modifications, what appeared in a notice of his flock published, a few months ago, in the "Middlebury Register," Vermont; but it supplies, in addition, some very important and interesting matter, particularly in the statement he gives of the average product of wool of his vjhole flock, instead of giving only the extraordinary yield of the best animals, and also in a more detailed account of the composition, management and disposal of his flock, wiih details entirely new and of much interest with regard to the culture, administration and general economy of the farm at Wideville.

W. C. R. To F. G. Rvffin, Esq. Editor So. Planter.

[translation.]

Wideville, Oct. 14,1852. To Mr. Rives,

Minister of the United States at Paris: The Merino sheep were imported from Spain into France in 17S6. The dueen of Spain made a present to the King of France of a flock consisting of both ewes and rams. One-half of this flock was sent to Rambouillet, where it still exists, and the other half was placed at Croissy, near Paris, under the charge of Monsieur Chanorie, where they remained until 1819, at which period they were sold. The rams which came from Spain weighed

at three years old 65 kilogrammes,* and yielded six kilos, of wool in the grease, and the ewes weighed 40 kilos, and gaye 4| kilos.( of wool. Ten years after their arrival in France, by means of the good care given to them and the judicious selection of rams to unite with the best ewes, there was obtained from them some rams which at three years old weighed 90 kilos, and gave 8 kilos, ol wool, and some ewes which weighed 60 kilos, and gave 6 kilos, of wool of as good quality.

This progress was due to the attention bestowed on them in France, both with regard to nourishment and the careful selection of animals for reproduction, while in Spain the flocks were mixed confusedly together, the good uniting with the bad indiscriminately. It was only in 1800 that they commenced making any considerable sales of the increase of the flocks at Rambouillet and Croissy. My father, born of a family of cultivators, was occupied from his youth with the raising of sheep. As soon as he was apprised of the arrival of the Spanish flocks in France, he went every year to visit them; and he became satisfied by repeated observations that our climate would agree well with them, and that they offered a great advantage over our French races by their product of wool and were equally advantageous for mutton. In 1800 he bought at Croissy a ram and eight ewes, continuing every year thereafter to buy from two to four ewes down to 1810. In 1811 he bought fifty ewes and five ram lambs, and in 1819, when the whole flock at Croissy was finally sold, he bought fifty-four more ewes out of the flock^ These animals cost him from 120 to 300 franc*' the head.

The pasture at Croissy being much better than that of Rambouillet, the animals there were finer, and this was the reason that my father preferred making his purchases there. In 1821 he bought a ram at Rambouillet. Although these two flocks were of the same family, he obtained a great advantage by allying the blood of the Rambouillet flock to that of his own proceeding from the Croissy flock, inasmuch as there had been a complete separation between them since 1786. This experiment demonstrated that the same race may be improved by renewals from its own blood, when there has been a separation for some years. The change of pasturage and the different system of management which each proprietor follows, produce modifications that render a subsequent union between the branches advantageous.

This practice has been accordingly pursued by us. From 1821 to 1827, my father bought five rams at Rambouillet. At the latter period he transferred his flock to me, which then consisted of 209 ewes from three to six years old,

* The kilogramme (that is a thousand grammes) is the precise equivalent of two French pounds. The French pound is about one-tenth more than ours, being equal to 1 lb. 1 oz. lOi dr. avoirdupois.

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383

of 176 ewes of one to two years old, and of 90 ram lambs of six months old. In 1832 I ^bought fifty-five ewes at a sale at Rambouillet. Since then, I have bought several ewes and two rams of that flock to renew, from time to time, the blood of my own, choosing for re-producteurs the animals the best formed, and carrying the greatest quantity and finest quality of wool. By this means, I have raised rams weighing, at three years old, 125 kilos, and yielding as much as 12 kilos, of wool, and ewes weighing 100 kilos, and giving 9 kilos. of wool.

The good system of management established by my father is my guide. In following his principles, my flock has acquired a high character in France and abroad. Since 1820, we Lave sold yearly from 80 to 100 jams and as many ewes to the various parts of France, where the raising of Merino sheep is pursued. It was on the 11th of May, 1840, that I had the pleasure of a visit from Mr. Taintor of the United States, to whom I sold two rams and seven ewes. Since that period, I have made yearly shipments to him of ewes and rams, and they have succeeded admirably with him, and he has made my flock known in America as it is in France. For three years past I have sold rams and ewes to Mr. Francis Rotch of Olsego, State of New York, to Mr. Isaac de Forest of the same State, to Mr. Sandford of Vermont, and to Mr. Jewett of Middlebury, Vermont. I have sold, to be delivered in 1853, twelve ewes and two rams to Mr. Leon Narischirine of Saint Petersburg in Russia.

> My flock now consists of 280 breeding ewes of from eighteen months to six years old, and of 260 lambs nine months old, half male and half female. Each animal (meaning the average of the flock) has given me 6 kilos. 50 grammes of wool in the grease, which I have sold at 2 francs 40 centimes the kilo. The sale of the surplus of my flock each year is from 240 to 250 ewes and rams. The high reputation it has acquired in France and foreign countries gives me great facilities in making sale of them. The price of the ewes varies from 200 to 600 francs, and that of the rams from 300 to 1000 francs, according to quality. There are rams of the reserved portion of the flock which go as high as 2000 francs.

According to the experiments made by my father and which I have continued for the improvement of the race of Merinos, we have acquired the ceriain conviction that it is necessary to pasture them on healthy lands, rather dry than moist, not to let them graze in the dew, and to renew their blood every five or six years. If these periodical renewals are postponed for a longer time, it will be found difficult to maintain the flock in the same degree of excellence and it will be impossible to improve them. When I put the ewes with the rams, I separate the ewes into as many lots as I have rams, giving to

each ram the ewes which best correspond with him both in form and wool, and taking care that the ram possess the particular qualities in which the ewes are deficient. I sometimes take out an individual ewe and put her to a particular ram which will best correct her defects. It is by these means put carefully into practice and renewing the blood of my flock, that it has acquired a superiority over that of Rambouillet, which is maintained entirely by breeding from itself.

I cultivate 275 hectares* of land of a calcareous soil, more dry than moist. I follow mainly the triennial rotation, with the addition of artificial grasses. I cultivate annually 55 hectares in wheat and rye, 65 hectares of oats, 35 hectares of luzerne, mixed with bourgogue and clover, for the winter feed of the sheep, 30 hectares of artificial prairies of bourgogue, mixed with wild succory, for green food, and have besides 10 hectares of natural meadow. Of the fallow (jachires) I cultivate 15 hectares in March peas and lentils for the winter feed of the sheep, 10 hectares in vetches for green food, and 25 hectares lie uncropped. The 35 hectares which remain are waste land in which the plough cannot be introduced on account of the quantity of stone in the soil. All the crops are applied to the nourishment of the animals on the farm, except the wheat and the rye. The flock of sheep consists in the winter of 540, with the 260 lambs that are born, making a total to keep in the winter of 800 sheep, 20 cows and 14 horses. I buy every year to complete the necessary supply of food 1800 hectolitrest of bran.

I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, your very devoted servant,

Victor Gilbert.

[translation.]

Donairitre Pres Rambouillet, 1 October 15th, 1852. $

Monsieur, —I have now the honor to address to you the notice you requested from me of the origin and formation of my flock.

My father, who was a notary, desiring that I should follow the same career, caused me to study the law; but my taste for agriculture made me renounce the profession of a notary, and in 1818 I exchanged the pen for the plough. At that epoch the Merinos had multiplied considerably. The first flock, imported into France in 1786, had been placed at the Royal farm of Rambouillet; and even as late as 1800, they were not able to find purchasers for the increase. The French cultivators did not then foresee that this fine race would one day become a source of riches for them.

In order to propagate the race, lambs were given to the farmers in the neighborhood who

* The hectare is about two and half acres of our land measure.

t The hectolitre is near three bushels of our measure.

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

applied for them. In this way, Monsieur De-lamotte, an agricultural proprietor near Rara-bouillet, formed a small flock for himself. Ceasing to cultivate in 1818, he sold his Merinos and I became the purchaser. I profited of another occasion which presented itself the year following. Monsieur de Saint Didier, proprietor of the fine domain of Vervins, near Rambouillet, and a banker at Paris, had imported from Spain a flock of ewes, which he placed on a farm attached to his chateau. Occupied exclusively with the business of the exchange and commercial speculations, his flock of sheep, as well as the rest of his agricultural concerns, was abandoned entirely to agents, and brought him nothing but losses. He leased his farm and sold his flock. I bought a hundred of them. Those I bought of Monsieur Delainotte were very superior in respect of the wool to the Spanish Merinos of Monsieur Saint Didier. The fleece of the latter was not uniform. On some parts of the body it showed a great deal of fineness, while on others it presented a very coarse staple. This, it appears, is still the case with the Spanish sheep, as but little attention is paid in that country to the improvement of the animal.

For a long time I bought rams at the Rambouillet farm, at from 800 to 1500 francs the head. Since, I have gotten them from my friend Gilbert whose flock, founded by his father, goes back to a more ancient origin than mine. We now mutually exchange our rams, and thus maintain the purity of blood, which •we should run a risk of losing by getting from others. Though the two flocks may thus be said to form but one and the same family, we yet obtain by this exchange, (and the more so on account of the difference of pasture on our farms,) a species of cross which renews the blood, and avoids the disadvantages of the system of breeding in and in practised at the Rambouillet farm.

By a continual selection of the best rams and selling off each year the ewes which have the least good qualities, and taking care especially to assign to each of those that are retained the ram best suited to correct any deficiencies which may be remarked in them, either in respect of form or fleece, I have succeeded in raising rams which weigh as much as 125 kilogrammes at two years old and give a fleece of 1S3 kilogrammes.*

It is this degree of success which has obtained for my flock the reputation it now has, and which induces flock-masters, and particularly breeders of rams to come and buy tups of me at the highest prices which have been known down to the present dav. I have sent lately to America a ram of 30 months old, (No. 13,) for which I refused in France 2400 francs, and I have one of 18 months old

* The kilogramme is the equivalent of two French pounds, and the French pound is about one-tenth more than ours.

for which a French cultivator offers me 3000 francs after serving my ewes the next season^

Our sales to America go back to the 10th? May, 1846. It was Mr. Taintor of Connecticut, to whom we made our first sales, and who introduced my flock and that of Mr. Gilbert to the knowledge of American farmers. We have since had the visits of several American breeders to whom we have sold both ewes and rams; but it is Mr. Jewett of Vermont, to whom we have sent the greatest number.

If you should desire any farther details it will give me great pleasure to communicate them to you.

I have the honor to be your respectful servant,

Cdgnot. Mr. Rives, Minister of the United States.

THE CLOSE OF THE VOLUME.

With this number Volume XII. closes—and we would take occasion to remind many of our subscribers who are in arrears, that another year's subscription has been added to their indebtedness. From all such we would be glad to hear as soon as convenient. Some, no doubt, (very few we hope) will wish to discontinue—such will confer a favor by immediately informing us, stating the post office to which their papers have been sent. Jj

With the new volume will be a good tinrf. for new subscribers to begin. Will not our friends exert themselves a little to give us a long list to commence the new year with! We give them a paper worth more than a dollar to any man, and we feel that in asking them to aid us, we ask them to aid a cause in which they are interested in common with us.

For the Southern Planter.

SHEEP,

THEIR PBOFITS—AND THE IMPROVEMENT OP LAND BY THEM.

Mr. Editor,— Allow me to congratulate myself, and your readers generally, upon the appearance of a correspondent from the "Valley of Virginia." If success be a criterion of knowledge and judgment, he is the one from whom we can all derive much information. Let us hear from him often.

With these sentiments, it may appear inconsiderate to dissent from any of the positions taken by him; but, where they seem to be paradoxical, or even to transcend ordinary experience, it may be well to question them a little.

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385

Not that I would enter into a discussion as to the comparative merits of large and small sheep: their profits, and the improvement of land by them, will be treated of here; and the somewhat equality between different improved breeds will be maintained.

1st. Tlieir Profits. —In January, 1850, I purchased twenty ewes in lamb, cost S80, of tolerably high grade Bakewell's. They were driven twelve or fifteen miles through snow and muddy roads; and, in consequence, probably several died, which, wiih what were stolen, reduced them to fourteen within a twelve-month. The next fall, a buck lamb was presented to me, a cross between Cotswold and Bakewell; this, too, died the following sumcuer, probably from excessive fatness. In addition to these losses, several of the flock have been stolen from time to time. The sales have been as follows, viz:

1850, 89 lbs. wool, at 21 cents, 18.70

1851, 152 " " " 22 " 33.44

1852, 207| " " " 20 " 41.55 " 14 lambs,* " S2 00 28,00 " 40 muttons, " 4 00 160.00

First cost,

281.69 80.00

20169 Estimating, now, the interest and salt as equalized by the mutton and lamb consumed on the farm, we have a clear profit of $200, upon twenty ewes in two years and a half, as an ordinary transaction, and that, too, under ;nfavorable circumstances. The grass consumed was not missed, and the little winter provender used, was quite repaid by the manure. What other operation on the farm has been so profitable"? None, it is believed. And how much more profitable would it have been with the sheep and wool and prices of the "Valley of Virginia!" As he truly intimates, grazing cattle would be a small business in comparison! But could we expect his prices to continue long, and especially after such sheep shall have become more diffused 1 — Here are a few facts to answer in part. I know two very fine flocks, about 150 each, of high grade Cotswold. They averaged this spring about 7| pounds of wool in the dirt, which was sold to the manufacturer for 20 cents, whodid not fancy it most, or very much, for making negro clothing, his cards not being adapted to it, nor it for that kind of clothing. It is best for mouslin de lane, and our negroes do not use that any more than broadcloth as ordinary wear. Nor can the mutton be sold readily, if at all. at $6. Could that be obtained, or still better, $8, and the wool be sold at 25 cents, it is believed these large sheep would soon supersede all others hereabouts, in spile of some drawbacks. The object of the writer is not to disparage large sheep—as witness,

*Mo.?t of these by a Merino buck last fall.

the statement above about his own—it is to attract the attention of farmers to a source of wealth at present disregarded by them. And the statements of the Valley writer only sets that forth in a stronger light. But as disap-poin tment depresses our exertions, our expectations ought not to be inordinately excited; and the ordinary profits of sheep husbandry are sufficient to insure its prosecution if once undertaken in Virginia anywhere west of tidewater.

2d. Their Improvement of Land. —"What has transformed Norfolk county, England, from one of the poorest to one of the most productive in the kingdom"? Sheep and turnip husbandry. Cattle might have been used (and have been measurably,) to convert the raw material into manure, if they could have been substituled, but the fact that sheep have been chiefly used, shows that they are not deleterious to the soil. Again, could any one have seeti the corn last year, and the wheat this year, (both years excessively dry in the growing season,) on an exhausted farm near me—produced by sheep having been grazed upon it for three or four years, he would hesitate no longer as to their power of improving land. Nor could cattle, or even large sheep, have produced the same effect, principally from the scarcity of grass, and also, from the character of the droppings; i. e.if large sheep's aresosi-milarto cattle's. And here I would adduce the opinions of one of Fauquier's most judicious sons, as confirmatory of my own. That county has been most materially improved in wealth and fertility of soil, by a system of grazing pursued for fifteen or twenty years. That gentleman thought sheep manure far better than that of cattle, from the fact of its being in the shape of those despised little pellets; believing that on bare ground they were less impoverished by evaporation and washing, than the large and incoherent mass of cow dung; and that in grass, they soon became enveloped and overshadowed, and even incorporated with the soil; whereas, even in grass, the other manure, from lying on lop of it, suffered the same diminution of value as in the first case, and became a comparatively inert, pulverulent mass. The "Valley" will thus see that all do not admit that pultaceous manure is infinitely richer than indissolvable little balls; and this brings me to questioning his positions again. Let us admit that Cots-wolds will fatten more rapidly than Merinos, it will result that a piece of good grass that will fatten ten of them, will do it more rapidly than it will ten or even one of the Merinos. But suppose a piece of good grass will only fatten ten Merinos, will it fatten ten of the others at all, or would they exhaust it and starve? Your correspondent thinks not.— Well, if they eat less, (which is by no means allowed,) and retain more for fat and flesh and

wool, how can they void more and richer manure'? It is granted that manure from fat

animals is better than that from lean ones; but

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

that arises from the better food as to quantity and quality consumed by them. When the food, however, is the same, and the animals are in good condition, unless the one retains more of the strength of it than the other, the manure will be equally good, when dropped. And it is not granted that Merinos will not acquire and continue in as good condition as the large sheep on good pasturage, or even better on indifferent pastures, nor that they will not improve land in an equal or superior degree. A few facts may be here introduced. The writer of this having resolved for various reasons to replace his large sheep by Merinos, had a number of each in the same pasture during the winter, and up to this time. They fared alike in all respects; but the large sheep consisted of a selection (with their descendants,) from the top of a good flock; and the Merinos were the cullings (with one good buck,) of only 20 ewes, out of a flock of some 200 or 300. At shearing time, they were in about equal condition—most of them very fat—and I would hesitate to decide which had the advantage. Suffice it to say, some of the Merinos were so fat—with lambs by their side too—as to excite apprehensions that they might die under the shears from what is termed melting of the fat. It may not be amiss to mention, in conclusion, that the fleeces averaged at the mill $1 03 for the large sheep, at 20 cents per pound, (being a fraction over five pounds,) and SI 17 for the small sheep, at 30 cents per pound, (being a fraction under four pounds,) and also that the fleeces of the beforementioned very superior flocks averaged about $1 50.

This subject, Mr. Editor, has been treated of briefly and superficially. My mite, however, has been thrown in to assist in arresting the attention of farmers, and also to maintain the somewhat equality between the different races of good sheep, It depends very much upon localities and circumstances, which should have the preference; some being more profitable than others, under certain conditions, as to markets and the quality of land, and its adaptation to the nutritive grasses, and also as to climate. Perhaps in Piedmont Virginia, the Cotswolds would answer best as mutton sheep, beside their wool, with good grass on riehland; the Southdowns as mutton, beside their wool, on good grass upon thinner land; and the Merinos for wool, mutton and lamb, upon the generality of land, in this section of country.

The preceding was written some months ago, but not forwarded, from circumstances unnecessary to mention. Since then, and at the time of the delivery of the mutton, $5 per head could have been obtained as readily as $4 at the time of sale. This would have been a considerable increase in the per centage of profit.

In attempting to bring land into a high state of improvement by sheep, it is well to know that they have a specific influence upon it.

They extract and remove from it, in their wool and otherwise, the phosphate of lime, . and in such quantities that their long continued^ grazing might materially affect the production of grain crops. It would be proper, then, to add guano or bone-dust to the land, as occasion required, which together with their organic manures would keep the soil in a progressive state of improvement. A similar exhaustion of the phosphates is produced by the removal of butter and cheese from a dairy farm; as is shown by experience in the great cheese county of Chester, in England. After producing cheese of the best quality for ages, which could not be imitated or equalled in other counties of unlike soil, even by removing the Chester cows and Chesterdairy-maidstothem, it commenced failing in the quantity and quality of cheese, and even in the number of cows that could be fed per acre; nor could crops of grain be raised. To remedy the defect, it was only necessary to apply bone-dust, phosphate of lime, and, like magic, its former fertility and productions were restored. In like manner, bone-dust may become necessary upon sheep farms.

"Anon." November, 1852.

MR. ED. RTJFFIN'S COMMUNICATIONS.

We have a few copies of the September, October and November numbers on hand, con- Jj taining the very able and instructive articled?'''] of Mr. Edmund Rupfin, communicated to the State Agricultural Society. These articles have been pronounced by some of our most enlightened farmers to be the very ablest and best they have ever seen in an agricultural journal; and we are pleased to state their publication has procured us a number of new subscribers. Others who wish to secure the numbers containing them should send in their names immediately—or they may be too late.

FINE CHEWING TOBACCO.

Messrs. Gilliam & Matthews, enterprising manufacturers of tobacco in this city, have sent us a sample of their "Winesap" brand which, after trial, (and an experience of 30 years in chewing the "weed," we think, entitles us to be a judge,) we pronounce good— very good. We have never seen any tobacco more beautifully put together and cased.— These gentlemen put up their tobacco more particularly for the New Orleans trade, but

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

387

such as this must find ready sale in any market. They are very liberal in giving the -planters high prices, having paid $46 for the leaf of the sample sent us, and we take pleasure in recommending them to sellers of the raw material as well as buyers of the manufactured, p. D. B.

PAYMENTS TO THE SOUTHERN PLANTER,

From November Ilk to December 1st, 1852.

All persons who have made payments early enough to be entered, and whose names do not appear in the following receipt list, are requested to give immediate notice of the omission, in order that the correction may be made in the next issue: Capt. N. Ward to January 1854, $1 00

Dr. M. H. Harris to July 1853, John Smith to July 1853, L. H. Minor to September 1853, Dr. Thos. J. Wooldridge to Sept. 1853, William T. Johnson to January 1853, Rev. Wm. Crawford to January 1854, Thomas G. Turner to July 1853, Dr. Joseph S. Dejarnette to Sept. 1853, Dr. George Fleming to September 1853, T. L. Farish to July 1853, Dr. E. F. Burkhead to July 1853, James C. Carter to July 1853, William C. Thurman to July 1853, Edward Farneyhough to July 1852, ■J. H. Moon to September 1853, S. M. Baker to July 1853, John W. Goss to January 1854, John T. Johns to September 1853, M. B. Jarraan to January 1853, Willis M. White to September 1853, William Rodes to July 1853, William J. Fife to September 1853, J. C. Moncure to September 1853, Pleasant Sowell to September 1853, Daniel E. Hickman to January 1854, Meredith Jones to July 1853, Peter S. Roler to July 1853, P. R. Norment to September 1853, George Rives to July 1853, Dr. W. H. Macon to September 1853, Meredith Helm to Julv 1853, John Snider to July 1853, Thomas E. Blount to January 1855, Robert A. Hill to Januarv 1853,

D. D. Ross to October 1853, Robert Norfleet to January 1854, Briuon Howell to January 1851, A. Cheatham, Jr. to July 1852, J. Muschett to September 1853, Horace A. Richards to September 1853, J. B. Townley to January 1855,

E. J. Meany to September 1853, Ed. L. Travis to January 1854, Jarnes Birdsong to September 1853, Maj. H. D. Thrower to Sept. 1853,

Charles Woolfolk to July 1853, $1 00

J. W. Old to January 1854, 1 00

Richard Stokes to August 1853, 1 00

Dr. John Arrington to September 1853, 1 00

William Plummer to September 1853, 1 00

S. B. Jones to September 1853, 1 00

Bryan W. Nowlin to September 1853, 1 00

Jos. W. Harper to July 1853, 1 00

William R. Biggs to September 1853, 1 00

John Burr to September 1853, 1 00

James G. Hurst to July 1853, 1 00

Thomas B. Gresham to January 1854, 3 00

Isaac N. Baxter to September 1853, 1 00

John P. Boyd to January 1853, 1 00

John C. Page to January 1853, 1 00

Robert Guy to September 1854, 2 00

James B.Jones to January 1853, 1 00

John Jeter to January 1853, 3 00

James Trice to January 1853, 1 00

James T. White to January 1853, 1 00

John Wickham to September 1854, 2 00

Thomas C. Chandler to January 1854, 2 00

Dr. Theo. Leith to October 1852, 1 00

W. G. Maury to January 1854, 1 00

L. L. Singleton to September 1853, 1 00

Gen. John H. Cocke to January 1854, 1 00

W. W. Colvin to June 1853, ' 1 00

John Aldridge to July 1853, 1 00

B. G. Dunlap to July 1853, 2 00

George Hammen to September 1853, 1 00

William Branch to July 1852, 1 00

David Byars to September 1852, 1 00

John Shuey to July 1853, 1 00

William F. Gordon, Jr. to July 1853, 1 00

L. E. Harvie to January 1855, 10 00

Wm. A. Winfree to September 1853, 1 00

Charles Selden to September 1853, 1 00

Dr. W. Nangle to January 1853, 4 00

George G. Lee (6 copies) to Sept. 1853, 5 00

Maj. James Walker to September 1853, 1 00

Samuel B. Findley to July 1853, 1 00

Col. Samuel M'Clung to July 1853, 1 00

Thomas A. Field to January 1854, 2 00

Rev. Willis Hnckstep to July 1853, 1 00

David T. Laird to June 1853, 1 00

William Flannagan to September 1853 1 00

EAGLE FOUJTDERY.

THE subscriber having removed to the large Foundery, just erected by him and fitted out with machinery of the latest and most approved style, is, in addition to the manufacture of Tobacco Flattening Mills, prepared to receive orders for Stationary Steam Engines, Saw and Grist Mills, Agricultural Machines, Tobacco Presses of every description, and all kinds of Iron and Brass Castings. He pledges himself to execute faithfully, and with dispatch, all work entrusted to him, and respectfully solicits a call from his friends and the public generally.

The highest cash prices paid for old cast iron, brass and copper.

PHILIP RAHM, je—ly Cary, between Pearl and 15th sts.

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER

CONTENTS OF NUMBER XII.

PAGE

Tobacco—communicated to the State Agricultural Society, by Sam'l Mordecai. .361 Agricultural Machinery—communicated to the State Agricultural Society, by

Edwin G. Booth 366

Annual Address before the Prince George

Hole and Corner Club 370

Fattening Cattle and Sheep in Winter 373

Hiring Negroes 376

"The Soil of the South" and "The Tropical Farmer" 379

State Agricultural Society 379

Rutin's Essay on Calcareous Manuees.. .380

Osage Orange Hedge 380

French Merino Sheep—Letter from Hon.

W. C. Rives 380

Close of the Volume 384

Sheep—their Profits and the Improvement

of Land by them 384

Edmund Ruffin's Communications 386

Fine Chewing Tobacco 386

Payments to the Southern Planter 387

OSAGE ORANGE PLANTS FOR LIVE FENCES,

THE best and most durable enclosure for farms, gardens or lots. 1 have some of these plants for sale—$1 per hundred—and would be glad if those who want them would inform me as soon as convenient, de—4t WM. H. RICHANDSON.

ANALYTICAL, LABORATORY

FOR THE ANALYSIS OF SOILS, &c— The undersigned announces, that through the liberality of the Planters of the adjacent counties, there has been established, in connection with the Department of Chemistry in Randolph Macon College, an Analytical Laboratory, for the analysis of soils, marls, plaster, guano, minerals, &c, and for instruction in Analytical Chemistry. The Laboratory will be furnished with the most approved appara-ratus and choice re-agents, with every desirable facility. He has associated with him Mr. "William A. Shepard, •who was recently assistant to Professor Norton, in the Yale Analytical Laboratory, and who comes with ample testimonials of skill and capacity. Young men can pursue any studies in the College they may wish, while they are receiving instruction in the Laboratory. Copious written explanations will always accompany the reports of analysis. The charges for analysis and instruction will be moderate—the design being to make the Laboratory accessible to the people at large. Packages left with Messrs. Wills & Lea or Smith & Dunn, Petersburg, Virginia, will be forwarded, free of charge, to those who send them. For further information, address CHAS. B. STUART,

Professor of Experimental Sciences, Randolph Macon College, Va. oc—tf

PRODUCE MARKETS.

Richmond, Nov. 29, 1852. {

Tobacco. —The recent advices from the English and German markets have caused a more active demand for all descriptions of tobacco, especially useful kinds.

The slock of old on sale is very much reduced in Richmond. Sweet sun-cured tobacco is much wanted—none for sale in market. We sold the past week 75 hhds. old lugs at $4 75 and $5. Some line lugs at $5 50 and S6 25.

Wheat. —Good samples red and white sell readily at SI 10 and $1 15. We contracted for delivery by first March, several large crops at $1 12i for red, ©1 17| for white.

Sheaf Oats— $1 25 and S150; clean, 40 and 50 cents. Last sale of old corn, 70 cents; new,66j cents, delivered in December. Cora will be in demand.

Accounts from Liverpool to 17th November are received. Wheat and flour in demand. Owing to the advance in freights, grain and flour are dull in New York.

Tazewell S. Morton & Co. Produce Commission Merchants.

ANALYSIS OP SOILS, &c.

THE undersigned is prepared to execute the analyses of Soils, Guano, Marls, Plaster, &c. &c. at the Laboratory of the Virginia Military Institute. Packages may be for-, warded through Webb, Bacon & Co. Rich/' 1 mond, or Echols & Pryor, Lynchburg.

Persons desiring further information will please address

WILLIAM GILHAM, Prof. Chem. and Agriculture, V. M. I. Feb. 1,1852. Lexington, Va

H

SOUTHERN FRUITS.

OPEWELL NURSERIES, Fredericksburg, Virginia.—The Proprietor offers for sale a large stock of Fruit and Ornamental Trees, Evergreens, Roses, &c. Having witnessed the evil of circulating numerous Northern Fruits, without proper regard to proving their quality and adaptation to a Southern climate, the proprietor has looked more to the South for his Winter Apples, and has introduced many superior varieties, perfectly adapted to our long hot summers; and keeping late in the Spring.

Also a large stock of Pears, Cherries, Peaches, Plums, Apricots, Grapes, Strawberries and other Fruits—a fine stock of Roses and other Flowers. His prices are low. For particulars see Catalogue, which will be sent to all post-paid applicants. Trees packed in the best manner, and shipped according to orders to any part of the United States.

oc-2t* HENRY R. ROBEY.

Albemarle Hole and Comer Club, Experiments of the - 9 Agricultural Societies, Plan for the Formation of - - - 36 Agricultural Education, - 39 Agricultural Machinery—Communicated to the State Agricultural Society, y Edwin G. Booth, 360 Appeal in Behalf of the Planter, by "A

Subscriber," 69 Iddress to the Farmers of Virginia, by

Frank: G. Ruffin, 97

jricultural Science, How to Advance 109

Agricultural Society, Constitution of 112

Advertisements, - - 114 Answer to Correspondents, - -147,276

Agricultural Chemistry, - 180

Agricultural Editorship, Difficulties of 235

A Small Virginia Farm, - 243

Application of Fertilizers to Gardens, 245

Holstein Dairy, ... 3^0

A Simple Way to Pack Eggs, • 853 Annual Address before the Prince George

Hole and Corner Club, - 370

B.

breaking Colts, ... 59

Jacon Hams, to Cure 68

Jroomsedge, ... 175

utter-Making, ... 243

5ull for Sale, - - 317

lue Vitriol for Smut in Wheat, 317

C.

olic in Horses, Remedy for 13

iolic in Horses, Use of the Trochar, 70

'lover does -not Exhaust Land, 82

olic and Bots in Horses, - 111

orn—Very Important, - 114

orn, Cultivation of - - 139

lonespondence. Extract from 149

'orn Crop, Best Mode of Cultivating the 149

PAGE

Clover, Application of Plaster to 16G

Clover, - - - 181

Cattle, Murrain in - 183

Cocoa Nut and Palm Tree, - 185 Chemistry Applied to the Mechanic and

Farmer, .... 205

Cattle, on the Rearing of - 2l3

Catching Flies, - - 230

China Fowls, - - 276

Clover—Plaster—the Roller, 309

County and District Agricultural Society 311

China Fowls, with a cut, - - " 314

Cattle and Sheep, Fattening, in Winter 373

Close of the Volume, - 384

D.

Daniel Lee, M. D. - - 103

Draining, .... 117

Dollar's Worth about Hogs, 144

Do Sheep Improve Land? - 168

De Bow's Review, Republication of 211

Deep Ploughing, ... 228

Dews and Frosts, ... 340

Dialogue, .... 344

B. Epes' Island, Report on 6 Erratum, - - - 21,148,317 Extract from a Letter, - 26 Experiments in the Application of Plaster to Manure, - - 66 Enclosure System of Virginia, 230

F.

Farming in Surry, ... Q Fencing, - - - - 35,137 Farmers' Club of Nottoway, - 36, 142

Farms, Number of, in thirteen States, 38

Farming in Augusta, - 51

Farming in Tide-Water Virginia, 55

Free and Slave Labor, Estimated Costs of 71

Fall of Rain in 1850 and 1851, 73 Four Eras of Agricultural Condition in

a Particular Locality, - . 133

INDEX

PAGE

Foot Rot, .... 139

Farmer's Journal, ... 146

Flax and Cotton, ... 176

Farming Profession, Superiority of the 203

Farming, Inaccuracy in - 211 Farming, the Physical and Intellectual

Pleasures of ... 216

Flax-Cotton, or British Cotton, 238

Fences on the Banks of Streams, 242

Fence Building, a new mode of 272

Fine Virginia Wool, - 342

Formidable Losses, ... 352

G.

Good Gardening Book, - 22

Guano on Tobacco Plant Beds, 19

Gypsum, Influence of, on Vegetation, 40 Gypsum as a Manure, Suggestions for Experiments to Determine the Value

of 42

Guano, Use and Permanency of 59

Guano,

67, 196, 310

Guano, its Use and Permanency, 77

Good Management, - - 112 Gestation of Domestic Animals, Period

of 153

Guenon's Theory of the Milch Cow, 277

Grasshoppers, Manure, Subsoil Ploughs, 349

H.

Hollow Horn in Cattle, 5, 53, 79

Horse and Mule, Comparative Expense

of, to the Farmer, -Hole and Corner Club, Essay of the ■ Hot Beds, -

Heaves, ....

Hillside Ditches, Horses, Stringhalt in Harvest, -

Hawk Catching, ... Hilling Indian Corn, -Hay and Fodder—Cutting and Curing Hay Presses, the different -Henry Clay, Death of How to Kill Ants, ... Hiring Negroes,

12 22

24,52 59 151 154 177 182 184 201 204 211 250 376

Manures, Philosophy of -Management of a Farm in Pr. Edward, Marl, Analysis of some Specimens, Mad Itch, .... Manures, Fresh and Fermented, Mutton Sheep, Breeds and Management, Mineral Manures, Theory of Manures, ....

New Year's Salutation, New Books, .... Nutrition in Various Grains, National Agricultural Convention, -

O.

Onions and Peas, ... Osage Orange, ...

Osage Orange, from the Slip, Our Prospects, ...

Oat Straw, .... Osage Orange Hedge,

P.

Potato—its Progress of Vegetation, Plaster of Paris vs. Ammonia, Ploughing, .... Plantation and Farm Book, -Plum Pudding, a Poetical Recipe for Powhatan Agricultural Club, Peach Trees,

Premium Crops of Wheat, -Ploughing and Seeding,

J.

January Number, Joint Worm, -Jerusalem Artichoke,

86 271,312,313,338 - 351

I/.

Lands, Bottom Overrated -

Lungs, the -

Lime-Burning in Pennsylvania,

Lime, -

Livingston County Plough, -

Law of Newspapers,

Land, Improvement of

Labor, the Cost, Profit and Economy of

Law of Enclosures, -

M.

Manures, Management and Application of - 22,120

28 74 119 122 161 161 163 200

a.

Quick Beef Growing,

PAGE 41

U i

15-162 170 198 240 342

16

147 165 241

14 19

58

209 276 360

27

33

89

113

1541 1721

2471 345' 35i<

/'" 235'

173

245 i 305> 380 386'.

R.

Rainy Day Thoughts,

Root Crops, Attention to

Rat-Proof Corn Crib,

Rufrin's Essay on Calcareous Manures,

Ruffin's, Edmund, Communications,

S.

Sheep Husbandry, Europeans. American 25i State Agricultural Society, 27,49,89,113,248 Soup, .... 38

Sheep Husbandry, 48

Soils, Analysis of 55

Sheep, Disease of 85

State Agricultural Convention, - 81, 89 Servants, Management of 106

Steam and Water Power, 107

State Agricultural Society, Report on

Premiums, ...

Salt for Fixing Ammonia in Manures, Southdown Sheep, ... Sugar from Indian Corn, Scientific Agriculture, 194, 211,225, 27|

Sheep, Disease in the Head of - 202 Seasonable Recipes, ... 240 Seed Wheat, .... 250

Strawberry Culture, ... 25?

129 151 180 18S

391

''•ate Agricultural Society,Communication from Edmund Ruffin, Esq., to the 257 .mm in Wheat, - - 273,307 State Agricultural Society, Communication by Edmund Ruffin, Esq., to the 289 Smut, .... 315 Southern Fruits, - - 317 State Agricultural Society, Communication from Edmund Ruffin, Esq., to the 329 Stall Feeding, an Experiment in 347 Six-Square Butter Mould, - 350 Subsoil Plough, - - 353 Stale Agricultural Society, 379 Sheep, French Merino. Letter from Hon.

W. C. Rives, ... 380

Sheep—Large and Small Breed, 38-1

T.

Tobacco, - 3, 109,148,361

Tobacco, Fine Chewing - 386 Tobacco—Communicated to the State Agricultural Society, by Samuel Mor-

decai, .... 361

Tobacco Plants, 12

Thanks, Vote of - 53

Tobacco Beds, Application of Stalks to 71

Tomato Plants, ... 80 o Correspondents, - • - 86,114

PAGE

Tillage, .... 140

The Joint Worm, - - 179

To Contributors, - - 181

To Stew Ducks, - • 197

The Dairy—Making Butter, 206

Tobacco—Answer to Correspondents, 210

To Prevent Bots in Horses, - 250

To Make Hens Lay, - 250 The Hessian Fly, the Black Fly and the

Joint Worm, - - 282

To Keep Potato Seed, - 309

Three Recipes for the Ladies, 316

To Keep Out Frosts, - 341

Timely Warning, - - 345 The Soil of the South and the Tropical

Farmer, 379

w.

Wheat, Soil and Preparation, 11 Worn Out Lands in Virginia, 65 Wheat Reapers—Saunders' Winnower, 82 Wheat Threshing and Cattle Shelter-Four Things Worth Knowing, 208 Weights and Measures, - 240 Whooping Cough, Recipe for 272 Well Done, .... 308 Wheat Drills, - 313 Worn Lands,- - 318

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

PLANTATION BOOK.

JW. RANDOLPH, Richmond, Virginia, • has just published the Plantation and Farm Instruction, Regulation, Record, Inventory and Account Book, for the use of managers of estates, and for the better ordering and management of plantation and farm business, in every particularly a Southern Planter. Order is Heaven's first law— Pope, Price $2, or six for $10; a larger edition for the use of cotton plantations, price $2 50.

Contents. —Actual number of pounds to a Bushel of Wheat, Articles received for use of Plantation, Brick-Kiln, Births of Negroes, Balance Sheet, Cows, Cultivation, Contents of a Corn Crib, Clothing to Negroes, Diameter of a Horse Mill, Deaths of Negroes, Directions how to use this Book, Expenses and Sales for the Year, Form of a Contract with Manager, Force of a Draught Horse, Horses, Hogs, Instructions to Managers, Implements, Journal or Daily Record, Medicines, Manure Tables, Mechanical Power, Effect of the Labor of an Active Man, Inventory of Negroes, Oxen, Washington's Letters to his Steward, Plantation Management, Police, Ploughing Rules, Planting Distances, Physicians' Visits, Quantity and Value of Produce Made, Quantity of Work of a Man and Two Horses, Rules for the Government and Discipline of the Negroes, Rotation Tables for Cultivation of Crops, Rural Economy, Sheep, Steam Engines, Stock and Implements, Tools, &c. used by the Negroes, Weight of Materials, Weights and Measures, Wind Mills, Water Wheels, When a Horse Draws to Advantage, &c. &c.

There are extra sheets for monthly and yearly reports, for the use of those who do not live on their farms. The Book will be sent by mail free of postage to any one who will remit the price in money or postage stamps.

This Book is by one of the best and most systematic farmers in Virginia; and experienced farmers have expressed the opinion, that those who use it, will save hundreds of dollars.

"Every farmer who will get one of these Books, and regulate all his movements by its suggestions, cannot fail to realize great benefits from it. We cannot too highly commend it to the consideration of agriculturists."— Richmond Whig.

"It will prove a most valuable assistant to the planter, manager or overseer, and a work that will facilitate them greatly in the transaction of business."— Richmond Dispatch,

"The Book we should suppose to be indispensable to any one having the management of a large estate."— Richmond Republican.

" We hope many farmers will buy the work, and make an effort to keep things straight."— Southern Planter.

" It is full of useful information and is well calculated to induce a methodical system, industry and energy especially vital to a successful and profitable cultivation of mother earth."— Richmond Enquirer, June—tf

TO AGRICULTURISTS.

MORRIS & BROTHER have received th following valuable Books, pertaining t«-Agriculture:

Elements of Scientific Agriculture, or the connexion between Science and the Art of Practical Farming. This was the prize essay of the New York State Agricultural Society; by J. P. Norton, M. A.

Elements of Agricultural Chemistry and Geology; by Jas. F. W. Johnston.

American Agriculturist, for the Farmer, Planter, Stock Breeder, and Horticulturist; by A. B. Allen; numerous plates. The 8th and 9th volumes of this most valuable work are received, also complete sets. Every farmer should have this work.

American Farm Book, on Soils, Manuresi Drainings, Irrigation, Grasses, Grain, Roots, Fruit, Cotton, Tobacco, Sugarcane, Rice, and every staple product of the United Stales.— This is a perfect farmer's library, with upwards of 100 engravings; by R. L. Allen.

Farmer's Manual, with the most recent discoveries in Agricultural Chemistry; by F. Faulkner.

A Muck Manual for Farmers; by S. L-Dana.

Farmer's Land Measurer, with a set of useful Agricultural Tables; by Jas. Pedder.

American Husbandry.—Series of Essays on Agriculture, with additions; by Gaylord and Tucker. ,

Farmer's Encyclopaedia; by Cuthbert W. Johnson. V

Productive Farming, with the most recent '] discoveries of Liebig, Johnston, Davy, and others.

European Agriculture, from personal observation; by Henry Coleman. This is a very popular work.

Johnson's Chemistry and Geology, with their application.

Johnson's Dictionary of Gardening; by David Landreth.

London's Gardening, for Ladies; by A. J. Downing.

Squarey's Agricultural Chemistry, Boussin-gault, Rural Economy, Buist's Kitchen Gardener, Landscape Gardening, and Rural Architecture; by A. J. Downing.

Fessenden's American Gardener.

American Fruit Book, withfulliustructions; by S. W. Cole.

Downing on Fruit Trees.

Theory of Horticulture; by Lindley.

Florist's Manual; by H. Bourne; 80 colored engravings.

Bridgman's Kitchen Gardener.

In addition to which, Morris & Brother have all of the late Works on Agriculture, Horticulture, and Raising Stock, of any celebrity.

Richmond, March 12,1851.—lv

I

Mo/y-c;:::

ting