'* 'THE SOUTHERN PLANTEEr~ A £ts U -^n;^ nUrSing m ° ther ° f the I ™*f and Pasturage are the two breasts _^ I ot the State. — Sully. Vol. XII. RICHMOND, DECEMBER, 1852. No. 12. We invite particular attention to the following very able, instructive and interesting article. The author, with characteristic delicacy, has withheld his name, but we are so unwilling that one who has so well deserved the gratitude and approbation of our readers should appear as a stranger among them, that "we take the responsibility" of intro- ducing to their attention Samuel Mcbdecai, Esq. whose intelligence, moral worth and force of cha- racter have long maintained for him a rank among the first of our merchants.— Ed. So. Planter. Communicated to the Virginia State Agricultural Society. TOBACCO. [Published by order of the Executive Committee.] The production of tobacco in the United States, according to the tables of the last cen- sus, was about two hundred mil, ions pounds and the proportion of each State, in round numbers, was as follows jTermont, permitted, and it is extensively cultivated in Cuba Brazjl and no doubt in other pans of fcouth Ameanca.* AVe have not the means of ascertaining the - production of foreign countries, but it is pro- | bable that of the several countries in Europe | does not fall short of one hundred millions i pounds. France one-fourth of this, Hungary one-fourth, Holland, Germany, the Ukrain{ and other parts one-half. This estimate must however be taken with many grains of allow- ance m the absence of statistics to which to reler We will give those tables pertaining to this country to which we have access, embracing nearly all the information respeciing this ar- ticle in such general use (however useless 1 ) which we protess to offer-and first of ; VIRGINIA. 'Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, - Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina Georgia, Florida, Alabama, - Mississipp Louisiana, - Texas, Arkansas, - Tennessee. - Kentucky Ohio, , - Michigan, - Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin, - California, - Oregon, New Mexico, 120,000 lbs. 1,384,000 " 70,000 " 858,000 '< 21,215,000 " 56,517,000 " 12,058,000 " 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848) 1849 ! 850 . -m Inspect- ed. Hhds. Foreign Export 56,146 52,156 56,788 45,883 51,126 42,679 51,726 36,725 . I 32.398 51.8061 Leafand Stems strips 34,445 32,765 36,236 20,496 17,471 21,200 16.560 13,256 19,643 10,560 3.953 13,771 6,074 3,245 2,000 2,687 2,182 3,220 5,488 4,030 3,430 4,501 3,850 5,019 Manufac- tured and shipped coastwise. 22,010 18,120 18,880 24,449 24,890 24,537 36,149t 24.954 27,720 28.276 28,953 38 853 Stock 1st Oct. 8,719 11,100 13,420 14,363 21,873 19,110 18,127 15,979 11,500 14,450 14,353 13,535 proportions inspected at the several a lor the last four years are as follows: 1849 1850 1851 nond, burg, ; i burg, : /Hie, Clark- her, J 8,803 9,085 ! 0,465 3,163 2,908 507 17,086 9,521 7,968 3.413 3,570 392 15,678 7,220 5,810 1,425 2,141 324 1652 24,119 10,489 10,700 2,255 4,001 242 ' 4 .904 41,950 32.598 51,806 rooo I. n l' . J. OKU " It w.ll thus be seen that the plant may be jrown in almost every part of this country is it may in almost every country in Europe md is, more or Jess, where the cultivation is Vol. XII.-12. In Paraguay 9 rmlhons pounds of fine quality, t Tins excess cannot be in the quantity manu- factured It may partly arise from shipments coast- w.se, for re-sh.pment lo Europe, and partly from error in stocks, but is otherwise unaccountable. 362 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. The foreign export was thus distributed in same years: 1849 1850 1851 1852 G. Britain, 9,667 Do. for orders, 551 1,908 5,416 France, Belgium, Holland, Bremen, Italy, &c. 3,267 1,478 6G3 1,045 2,972 850 314 881 3,558 430 1,025 1,432 1,910 BALTIMORE INSPECTIONS. Years. Maryland Ohio. (Kentucky, Total. , &c. 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 34,580 23,490 30,689 27,085 25,013 15,219 9,702 13,664 13,9G5 16,798 19,643 10,570 3,953 13,771 The export of 1851 is the smallest on record. The average export from 1840 to 1849 was 24 000 hhds. and in former years it was much larger, but it is now substituted by Western to- bacco, while the great mass of the crop of Vir- ginia and N.Carolina is manufactured at home. The inspections of Virginia embrace the crop of North Carolina, which is nearly all brought to our markets. In addition to the quantity inspected, there is probably equal to 7000 to 8000 hhds. manu- factured from loose tobacco. Of this a large Quantity is brought to our markets during the winter and spring, and 35,000 to 40,000 boxes, made chiefly from uninspected tobacco are sent from the Roanoke country to Petersburg for shipment to Northern markets, besides a large number of boxes sent from the same quarter by wagons to the Southern and West- ern interior, to supply retail dealers, Average 28,171 I3,869j__887_|_^930 772 703 1,248 783 931 50,571 33,906 45,601 41,833 42,742 EXPORTS OF TOBACCO FROM BALTIMORE. a | % 1 1 '■- ca T3 D a -o m c O S3 o 5 < fa < O 1847 22.967 7,819 11,388 9,413 1,895 53,482 1848 12,787 7,910 3,103 4,959 131 38,890 1849 18,821 13,783 8,725 9,562 1,033 51,924 1850 15,864 7,814 5,973 8,177 b,b40 44,368 I85ljl2,654| 9,694 4,154 2,327 5,29;i 34.124 Av 1 16.018 9,404| 6.668 6,857 1-2,978 44,557 The Maryland hogsheads are much lighter than those of Virginia or Western, weighing 600 to 900 against 1100 to 1400. NEW ORLEANS RECEIPTS AND EXPORTS. Years. 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 Receipts. 92,509 82,435 71,493 72,896 55,588 55,882 52,335 60,304 64,030 89,695 G. Britain. France. 27,437 22,523 12,553 24,505 9,695 19,867 14,017 16,820 13,223 14.023 11,645 11,104 9,013 4,288 3,497 4,954 10,640 2,056 4,182 13,948 N. Europe. 21,618 20,175 19,051 13,301 8,018 10,475 7,039 I2,72 r - 9,393 26,81 S. Europe. Coastwise. 7,536 14,349 11,029 12,516 17,849 12,079 10,347 11,975 l3,8o9 21,731 21,655 13,098 17,033 7,435 11,317 12,989 10,853 14,379 13,844 17,199 Total. * 89,891 81,249 68,679 62,045 50,376 60,364 52,896 57,955 54,501 93.715 The export of tobacco from the United Stat- Mai ifts has been as follows: Years.! Hogsheads, 1839 1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 Value. 78,995 119,484 147,828 158,710 94,454 163,042 147,168 147,998 135,762 130,655 101,521 145,729 95 945 ©9,832,943 9,883,657 12,576,703 9,540,755 4,650,979 8,397,255 7,469,819 8,478,270 7,242,086 7,551,122 5,840,247 9,951,023 9.219,251 Snuff. Lbs. Value. 4,215,01 6,!787,00fc 7,504,000 4/34,000 3,404,000 6,0'7,000 5,313,000 6,855,000 7,845,000 6,699,000 7,160,000 5,919,000 7235,000 42,467 37,000 69! entire harmony and success, as the Presi- dent 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 agri- culture. 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 afflic- tion 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 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 367 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 refer- ence 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 con- ducted with peculiar skill, and while 1 have never yet met with a single individual who used it who did not speak favorably of it, i confess 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 ope- rations generally complete the seeding in this part of the country — making the ope- ration 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 proba- bly been the same with either system. Being anxious to foster every new and de- sirable 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 rea- sons stated, see anything to justify the most extravagant price asked, merely be- cause 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 improve- ment. 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 sen- sitiveness amongst the proprietors and advocates of these machines, that I would approach the discussion with reluctance, but for the consciousness of intending no- thing more than benefit to my fellow-man, and the discharge of the duty which has been assigned me. It is a subject of im- portance, both from individual and na- tional considerations. I will here remark that there seems to be almost a censurable backwardness in most farmers in withhold- ing from the public the results of their experiments, particularly when unfavora- ble. 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 back- wardness does not result from any want of philanthropy or indisposition to render im- portant 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 use- fulness to the agricultural interests — not objecting to the introduction of their names in attempting to accomplish humane and philanthropic objects. Anonymous state- ments and references lose much of their force on this account; and the subject I now commence requires the best evidence 3GS THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 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 pre- miums 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 magni- ficent 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 suc- cess and satisfaction. Mr. Corbin War- wick, 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 after- wards 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 con- sequently strength of castings, will make them almost everything an enlightened farmer can desire. No one who seeds thirty acres even of land capable of bear- ing twenty bushels to the acre, can afford toliarvest without one; and the larger the crop the greater the saving to the ope- rative." Mr. Burgwin, of Roanoke, has perhaps tried more of Hussey's than any one far- mer, and also M'Cormick's, I believe. I understood him to give Hussey's the de- cided preference. I have been informed that Dr. Wilkins, of Brunswick, bought one of M'Cormick's, and, not making the ■usual preparation otherwise, thereby en- dangered his crop. He, a subsequent sea- son, 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 pro- nounced 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 enu- meration, because I felt bound to embrace every one I had seen or heard of from re- liable 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 some- times 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 al- ready 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 com- pleted the fourth crop a few days since, THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 369 cutting the last minute equal to any pre- ceding. 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 per- formance 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, un- der unfavorable circumstances, was not sa- tisfactory. 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 al- ways 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. Har- rison's Upper Brandon. All of Hussey's can be fixed to cut clover, &c. at an addi- tional 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 perform- ance 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 boast- ing foreigner may be referred to that re- gion 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 pro- tracted ; but it is important for the crop to be threshed and fanned for market. There has been great perfection in wheat thresh- ers — 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 get- ting the wheat to the drum. Hands crowd- ing 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 de- cidedly 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 num- ber, describing the harmonious combina- tion 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 370 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 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 neces- sarily 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 else- where. I was induced to try Reynolds', made in Richmond. Its performance is remarkable, considering its easy motion and rapid progress. With proper attend- ance, 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 ma- chinery 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 re- markable if, in this respect, a mechanical should surpass an agricultural region. I have, however, never been inclined to ac- cord any superiority to other sections, un- less favored by peculiar advantages. I fear that the length of my communi- cation will induce regret at the arrange- ment which has induced it. I suppose that the postponement of legislative action furnishing the means of offering premiums, &<:. will prevent the desired fair or agri- cultural exhibition the present fall; and if nothing should be done under the distin- guished head of the Agricultural Execu- tive Committee, I fear it would be difficult to find any person hereafter willing to as- sume 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, Presi- dent of the Prince George Hole and Corner Club, No. 1, at the house of Ro- bert Gilliam., Esq. December 12lh, 1851. Gentlemen, — This day is the closing meeting for the present year, and the se- venth year of the successful operation of this Club. It must be a source of gratifi- cation to our members, that during this pe- riod 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 commence- ment. 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 sus- tained. 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 cha- racter 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 inte- rest, resulting as it has done in the mani- fest 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 en- gaged in agricultural pursuits. I here beg leave to introduce on this oc- casion several experiments as made by 1J THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 371 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 ac- curately test the true value of guano, he seeded four hundred and forty-two square yards of unlimed and otherwise very ordi- nary 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 along- side, 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 plas- ter, 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 with- out the use of guano. The area of this field was about twenty-seven acres, which produced nineteen bushels per acre, mak- ing a difference in favor of guano of four- teen 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 ex- periments 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 concen- trated 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 irre- fragable results. Many not so sceptical have been delerred from its use by the high price of the article; this objection is, how- ever, 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 question- able 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 differ- ence 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 agri- culture have grown out of it, and been 372 THE SOUTHERN PLATER, 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 in- jury 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 essen- tial ingredient to the growth of plants, but if it is as volatile as represented, I am in- clined 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 neces- sary in making these deposits of guano, and the circumstances under which they were made, and the manner of transpor- tation from place to place in bags, it must be reasonable to conclude that much of this ingredient would have been disen- gaged. Hence I am of the opinion that ammonia is not as easy of escape as we are told. Recent developments will go far in es- tablishing 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 at- tached 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 sur- face soil by means of small ploughs or cul- tivators, 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 improv- ing 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 far- mers 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 rea- son 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 sur- face 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 dis- seminated 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 al- most 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 rais- ing 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 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 373 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 trou- ble. 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 prin- cipal 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 compe- tition 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 ar- ticles. 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 re- mark that vegetable as well as animal bodies, are supported by a free and unre- strained circulation of the particular prin- ciples 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 pro- moting these agents. As the most of our lands are imperfectly drained, this opera- tion 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 pre- dicted our downfall, that there is something to be gained by associations of this cha- racter. 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 ap- prehensive as to our destiny. If we conform to the rules and regula- tions of our Society, we have nothing to fear; but, on the contrary, if we are regard- less 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 Agri- culture 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 maxi- mum 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 ap- plied in some way or other, or the soil will gradually become impoverished and inca- pable of profitable cultivation. In some localities it may be good economy to in- crease and preserve the fertility of a soil by purchasing artificial manures, depend- ing 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; nei- ther 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 far- mer. 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 ques- tion—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 374 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 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: ■a § « el . :*> d -a >> a; as §5 <3 1 ffl be a j ° Boussingault. The mean of nume- rous experiments. Hay, or its equivalent, consumed per week by each 100 lbs. live weight of animal. 17.07 lbs. 13.80 lbs. 18.25 lbs. 16.80 lbs. 37.50 lbs. Increase of animal per week up- on each 100 lbs, live weight of animal. 0.84 lb. 0.73 lb. 1.11 lbs. 0.91 lb. 1.87 lbs. Increase of animal for one ton of hay consumed. 98£ lbs. 106 lbs. 122 lbs. 108 lbs. 100 lbs. Mean weight of animal. 892 lbs. 1110 lbs. 900 lbs. 1567 lbs. 748 lbs. There is remarkable uniformity in the results obtained by the four New England experimenters, both in regard to the quan- tity 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 ex- periments 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 Ame- rican 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 four- teen pounds twelve ounces clover chaff; and increased one pound one ounce and three-quarters per week. In the first expe- riment, 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 lin- seed 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 thou- sand 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, ap- pears to rest on the vafcje of the manure made in producing one hundred pounds of meat. To answer this question satisfac- THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 375 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 circum- stances, 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 am- monia, 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 phospho- ric acid are retained in the increase of ani- mal, 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 ma- nure. The one hundred and six pounds of beef, at five cents per pound, is five dol- lars 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 valu- able 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 clo- ver 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 oil- cake, too, would contain 8.72 pounds phos- phoric 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 phos- phate 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, ex- cept 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 clo- ver 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 oil- cake is perhaps the most highly nitrogen- ous substance used as food by herbivorous animals. Beans, peas and lentils approxi- mate closely to oilcake in their per centage of nitrogen; and their growth and con- sumption on the farm cannot be too highly recommended, or be too extensively adopt- ed 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- 376 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 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 inves- tigated, 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 ac- cording to the present price of guano. The subject is a deeply interesting and important one to every cultivator of the soil. — Genesee Farmer. THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. RICHMOND, DECEMBER, 1852. TERMS. One Dollar and Twenty-five Cents per annum, which may be discharged by the pay- ment of One Dollar only, if paid in office or sent free of postage within six months from the date of subscription. Six copies for Five Dollars; thirteen copies for Ten Dollars, to be paid invariably in advance. gj" Subscriptions may begin with any No. 0*No paper will be discontinued, until all arrearages are paid, except at the option of the Publisher. ii* Office on Twelfth, between Main and Cary Streets. TIMELY WARNING. All subscribers who do not order a discon- tinuance before the commencement of the new year or volume, will be considered as desiring a continuance of their papers, and charged accordingly. 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 con- tributions 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 leis- ure for the preparation and reflection we would bring to the task. We have not pro- posed 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 at- tention 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 in- jury to all parties, the hirer, the hiree, the ne- gro 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, dis- cretion, and under circumstances which leave him no room to give fair play to what little he has. The strongest characteristic of the ne- gro, whether it proceed from his original na- ture, 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 in- dulge 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 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 377 the germ of rebellion in the contract for obe- dience, and stipulates himself into a certain P amount of servitude. The insubordination of the negroes in Rich- mond, 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 sub- stitute 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, discon- tent, mutiny, and sometimes crime should su- pervene. And when the farmer or planter so far for- gets 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 discip- line of his whole plantation, to the injury of his own negroes, the derangement of all sys- tem, the forbearance of all just accountability, and the consequent detriment of his affairs. One would suppose that deductions as obvi- ous as these would be made by all — and so they are. But none are willing to act on them independently. Each distrusts another's in- flexibility, each fears the influence of compe- tition from his fellow, and so all follow a road which will do more to render the slave worth- less 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 privi- leges are at once their envy and their detes- tation. 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 obser- vation, and some of them within our own ex- perience, 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 de- manding it, until presently he not only refuses to choose a master, but refuses to accept one at all. We have known all the negroes be- longing 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 com- mand 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 hu- miliation, and is made to feel — only in re- verse — "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 soli- tary 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 378 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, not anticipate abolition either from the insur- rection 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 civili- zation retarded; nor do we wish to see the in- dustry 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 correc- tive 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 weak- ness which is called good heartedness, the dislike to hurt the negro's feelings, by curbing him and making him feel the difference be- tween master and slave, and from the fear of being thought "a bad master." And the hirer, who must have the labor, is compelled to suc- cumb, or lose his money. This is the whole secret. Now it is foolish — "we beg every- body'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 pre- serve 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 pre- sent, more degraded in freedom than in bond- age, 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 ab- solutely 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 responsi- bilities 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 com- pel 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 manufac- turer 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 re- marks. 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, THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 379 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 atten- tion 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 horti- culturist, 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 neces- sary, 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 experi- ence of their own farmers. For instance, one af their standards is Professor Mapes, for whose editorial lucubrations, so far as practi- cal 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 inte- rested 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 intel- ligence! How many gentlemen waste money enough at Newport and other Northern sink- pockets to sustain a first rate agricultural jour- nal at home ! Let them travel if they will ; and to the North as soon as elsewhere. It will im- prove them, and will give them, we hope, fra- ternal 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 re- trenchment of expenditure in a very few luxu- rious indulgences will give a fund for muni- ficent contribution to languishing enterprises at home. STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. The meeting of the State Agricultural So- ciety takes place in Richmond on the 16th instant. We hope that not only the present members, who are very few, but a large ga- thering of those who mean to become mem- bers, 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 380 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 agricul- tural 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 per- sonal 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 jump- ing 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 desi- rable 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 perse- verance, which conquers all things, has at last brought it about so nearly— to within "a shade" — that future breeders may safely cal- culate 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 ac- count 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, enthusi- astic and public spirited as himself, it was a labor of love. As far as politics have permit- ted 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 for- get 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 consum- mation to those who may justly claim the ho- nor 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 quan- tity 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 infor- mation 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 intel- ligence in our common calling, made me for- get 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. Whe- ther 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 wash- ing 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. 382 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. soil, convenience to market, and relative de- mand for wool or mutton, with other circum- stances not easy to define. In some situations it will be the interest of the farmer, undoubt- edly, to give his attention excl usi vely or mainly to the fine-wooled sheep. In others, the long or middle-wooled breeds, combining the qua- lities of better mutton with an abundant, though coarser fleece, will prove more profi- table. 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 communica- tions face to face on this and kindred topics, before many more months have passed, I re- main, my dear sir, very truly and cordially yours, W. C. Rives. P. S. — The letter of Monsieur Gilbert con- tains, in part and with some modifications, what appeared in a notice of his flock pub- lished, a few months ago, in the "Middlebury Register," Vermont; but it supplies, in addi- tion, 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 de- tailed account of the composition, manage- ment and disposal of his flock, wiih details entirely new and of much interest with regard to the culture, administration and general eco- nomy 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 be- stowed 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 al- lying 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 con- sisted 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. THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 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 qua- lity 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 cha- racter 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 ave- rage 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 for- eign 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 por- tion 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 im- provement of the race of Merinos, we have acquired the ceriain conviction that it is ne- cessary 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 im- possible 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 quali- ties in which the ewes are deficient. I some- times take out an individual ewe and put her to a particular ram which will best correct her defects. It is by these means put care- fully 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 calca- reous 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 ac- count 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 con- sideration, 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 mul- tiplied 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. 384 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 Me- rinos 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 im- ported 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 agri- cultural 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 Ram- bouillet farm, at from 800 to 1500 francs the head. Since, I have gotten them from my friend Gilbert whose flock, founded by his fa- ther, 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 espe- cially to assign to each of those that are re- tained the ram best suited to correct any defi- ciencies which may be remarked in them, either in respect of form or fleece, I have suc- ceeded 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 ob- tained for my flock the reputation it now has, and which induces flock-masters, and parti- cularly 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 Connecti- cut, 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 ser- vant, 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 an- other 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 im- mediately 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 my- self, and your readers generally, upon the ap- pearance 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 in- considerate to dissent from any of the positions taken by him; but, where they seem to be pa- radoxical, or even to transcend ordinary expe- rience, it may be well to question them a little. THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 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 pur- chased twenty ewes in lamb, cost S80, of tole- rably high grade Bakewell's. They were driven twelve or fifteen miles through snow and muddy roads; and, in consequence, pro- bably 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 con- sumed was not missed, and the little winter provender used, was quite repaid by the ma- nure. 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 expecta- tions 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 tide- water. 2d. Their Improvement of Land. — "What has transformed Norfolk county, England, from one of the poorest to one of the most produc- tive in the kingdom"? Sheep and turnip hus- bandry. 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 — pro- duced 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 incor- porated with the soil; whereas, even in grass, the other manure, from lying on lop of it, suf- fered 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 ma- nure 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 ma- nure'? It is granted that manure from fat animals is better than that from lean ones; but 383 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 descend- ants,) from the top of a good flock; and the Me- rinos 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 ad- vantage. Suffice it to say, some of the Me- rinos 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, how- ever, 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 condi- tions, 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 qua- lity 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 man- ner, 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, en- titles 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 mar- ket. They are very liberal in giving the -planters high prices, having paid $46 for the leaf of the sample sent us, and we take plea- sure in recommending them to sellers of the raw material as well as buyers of the manu- factured, 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, 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 4 00 1 00 I 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 3 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 2 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 2 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 2 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 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 manufac- ture 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 dis- patch, all work entrusted to him, and respect- fully 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. i 388 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER CONTENTS OF NUMBER XII. PAGE Tobacco— communicated to the State Ag- ricultural 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 Tro- pical 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 connec- tion with the Department of Chemistry in Ran- dolph Macon College, an Analytical Labora- tory, 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 desira- ble facility. He has associated with him Mr. "William A. Shepard, •who was recently assist- ant to Professor Norton, in the Yale Analyti- cal 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 explana- tions will always accompany the reports of analysis. The charges for analysis and in- struction will be moderate — the design being to make the Laboratory accessible to the peo- ple 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 to- bacco, especially useful kinds. The slock of old on sale is very much re- duced 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, Plas- ter, &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, Fredericks- burg, Virginia. — The Proprietor offers for sale a large stock of Fruit and Ornamental Trees, Evergreens, Roses, &c. Having wit- nessed the evil of circulating numerous North- ern Fruits, without proper regard to proving their quality and adaptation to a Southern cli- mate, the proprietor has looked more to the South for his Winter Apples, and has intro- duced many superior varieties, perfectly adapted to our long hot summers; and keep- ing late in the Spring. Also a large stock of Pears, Cherries, Peaches, Plums, Apricots, Grapes, Strawber- ries 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 or- ders to any part of the United States. oc-2t* HENRY R. ROBEY. INDEX. Albemarle Hole and Comer Club, Expe- riments of the - - 9 Agricultural Societies, Plan for the For- mation of - - - - 36 Agricultural Education, - - 39 Agricultural Machinery— Communicat- ed 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 31 1 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 Plas- ter 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, - . 133 390 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 INDEX 391 ''•ate Agricultural Society, Communica- tion from Edmund Ruffin, Esq., to the 257 .mm in Wheat, - - 273, 307 State Agricultural Society, Communica- tion by Edmund Ruffin, Esq., to the 289 Smut, .... 315 Southern Fruits, - - - 317 State Agricultural Society, Communica- tion 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,- - - 318 392 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. PLANTATION BOOK. JW. RANDOLPH, Richmond, Virginia, • has just published the Plantation and Farm Instruction, Regulation, Record, Inven- tory and Account Book, for the use of ma- nagers of estates, and for the better ordering and management of plantation and farm busi- ness, 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, Jour- nal or Daily Record, Medicines, Manure Ta- bles, Mechanical Power, Effect of the Labor of an Active Man, Inventory of Negroes, Oxen, Washington's Letters to his Steward, Planta- tion Management, Police, Ploughing Rules, Planting Distances, Physicians' Visits, Quan- tity 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 Ne- groes, 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 experi- enced 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 bene- fits 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 trans- action of business." — Richmond Dispatch, "The Book we should suppose to be indis- pensable 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, in- dustry and energy especially vital to a suc- cessful 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 dis- coveries in Agricultural Chemistry; by F. Faulkner. A Muck Manual for Farmers; by S. L- Dana. Farmer's Land Measurer, with a set of use- ful 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 obser- vation; by Henry Coleman. This is a very popular work. Johnson's Chemistry and Geology, with their application. Johnson's Dictionary of Gardening; by Da- vid Landreth. London's Gardening, for Ladies; by A. J. Downing. Squarey's Agricultural Chemistry, Boussin- gault, Rural Economy, Buist's Kitchen Gar- dener, Landscape Gardening, and Rural Ar- chitecture; 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, Horti- culture, and Raising Stock, of any celebrity. Richmond, March 12, 1851.— lv I Mo/y-c;::: ting