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against trees, or any rough object, till the nose bled, and the surface was raw. Throat swelled between jawbones and cud was lost. Made efforts as if to swallow now and then, refused to eat and drink, and died in two or three days from attack, in great agony, running about just before death as if mad.

Post mortem. —Nothing wrong as far as examined, but the manyfold or many-plies, (the third stomach.) This was stuffed full of very dry matter, manifestly the fragments of cornstalks, chewed quite fine, but apparently incapable of undergoing the preparations for passing the manyfold.

It was said that the cows ate the balls of cornstalk material which the hogs had chewed and spit out, attracted, perhaps, by the sailing which the hogs' saliva imparled.

Mr. B. Ficklin, of Albemarle, also lost several cows, under exactly the same circumstances, some years ago.

Mr. Fret well, of Albemarle, lost all the cows (1848,) that ran with hogs fed to "stalk and all,'' except a breachy cow which would net stay in the lot.

Mr. Hugh Minor lost one (1849,) which was feeding in the same way, and which a neighbor told him would die if not removed. Mr. M. purposely left it there, and in a few days it did die in precisely the way described above, and the manyfold was found stuffed with the chewed stalks.

In Loudoun county, 1850, a similar disease was very fatal on some farms, where there was no feeding on stalks. It was alleged to be epidemic, and depending, like all epidemics upon a specific miasm.

For the Southern Planter.

THE COST, PROFITS AND ECONOMY OF LABOR.

There is nothing connected with the husbandman's occupation upon which his profits and success in his vocaiion so immediately depend, as on the labor employed by him, and his management of it; this is especially'true in a sparsely sealed country like ours, where lands are cheap, and the facilities of obtaining the means of living abundant, and the profits of well directed labor are large; and in Virginia, where slave labor is used, the importance of this consideration is enhanced by the hi^h price of slaves, produced by the demand for that kind of labor in the cotton gro win" State* and by the increased wages paid fnHabor to be employed on the numerous public works now in progress in the State. Labor is the most costly item in our farm accounts at all times however; and in those sections of our

Slate where free labor is used, either altogether or for the greater part, we find the most tmpie and satisfactory proofs of it— in the very small numoer of laborers kept regularly on the

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farms—in the greater use of labor-saving machines and contrivances of all kinds—in the cultivation only of such lands as will probably yield a profit on the tillage— in ihe use of a greater number of draugnt animals as a substitute for manual labor—in the appropriation of many of their lands to grazing—and in the selection of such staple crops as require the least labor in their management. And slave j labor is by no means exempt from the charge of costliness, ahhough the owners of slaves do not give the same evidences of it in their economical use of them; but the greater cheapness of this species of labor over free labor may be clearly shown by a very simple calculation, by which it is manifest that the expense ot rearing and mainiaining them, to an a»e when they become profitable, will make such labor from thirty to fifty per cent, cheaper than, free labor.

To be profitable, labor must be directed by an intelligent eye to the end to be accomplished and with a proper adaptation of ihe means to the end; it is the neglect of this rule in agricultural operations, which produces the disastrous results so often wi messed among our fa lining friends, by which whole families are beggared with the means of abundance with in their reach, and which has made the term "farming-profits" a bye-word and a reproach to its vota* nes. It has now become an established fact that (arming on poor land is a losing business (which, though generally true, has fortunately" some honorable exceptions;) even on land of average iertility, wiih ordinary management and economy, it is esteemed barely a decent living, and on rich land alone it is profitable • and this results, in a great measure, from the non-observance of this rule. How many instances do we see of large farms of poor land overrun with swarms of negtoes, who like locusts, consume everything made on the'land and not content with this, they go abroad "seeking whom they may devour." In such cases there is no adaptation of the means to the end—there is too much labor on the farm and even if diligent in their work, there is no profit made to be put to thecredit of either labor or land. Again, we see many farmers who cultivate large landed estates (in some cases of rich, in others of poor land,) with an amount of labor not equal to the proper cultivation ol one hall the surface; and in consequence over cropping, (and not unfrequently overworking,) with its attendant train of evils iollows.exhibiticghalf tilled crops, half fenced fields, and unchecked waste in all its forms buch management as this yields but little profit, and leaves both farm and laborcreditors to "a beggarly account." In other cases it often happens that farmers undertake to cuiti vate their lands with an insufficient team in manifest violation of the modern enlightened, policy, which substitutes draught animals as laras practicable, for manual labor, and the profits of labor is the necessary sacrifice And it is a mistake equally fatal to profitable farm-

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ing to use improper or unsuitable implements of husbandry, or such as are in bad order, as is too frequently the custom, and justify such a practice on the ground of economy, forgetting that the plough, axe, or hoe is of little cost, compared with the labor by which they are made productive. Economy in agricultural operations is indispensable to profitable results, but it is not economy in little matters alone, which secures this end, as many seem to think, (such as the use of a few barrels of corn, more or less in the year.) but economy in labor is the main lever in its accomplishment. There is nothing gained by this "saving at the spigot and losing at the bung" method of economy, and the fanner whose operations are conducted on such views of economy cannot reasonably expect to realize any profit from labor. It is as little to be expected that labor will yield any profit when it is applied to poor land, such as, unaided by manure in some shape, will not produce a crop more than sufficient to pay the interest on the cost of the l anc l_an enlightened system of agriculture should avoid the costly expenditure of labor on a soil, which does not pay the expense of cultivation, and it were better policy even to sink the small profit made on such land, (by leaving it waste) rather than incur the greater loss of sinking the profits of labor. An outlay of labor on such unproductive lands is justifiable, however, under some circumstances— such as the improvement of small spots of poor land in a field, or even the cultivation of poor fields on farms, having other productive lands, for the purpose of enriching them, and thus getting them in condition to be more profitable; or with a simultaneous dressing ol manure on them, which will insure a profit on the labor expended on them, if not the first year, certainly in a rotation of crops. There are certainly many lands which are not "worth cultivating" unless improved, and their continued cultivation cannot yield any profit to labor; but a moderate investment in labor and other means may soon put them in condition to yield a fair profit on the cost of the land and its improvement, in the shape of grazing profit, and such lands should be so treated. The various farm operations, even in their minutest ramifications, all involve this question of the profits and economy of labor; and in view of this fact, it is not surprising that farming profits are frequently so small, when it is considered that these operations are so often left to the control of ignorant slaves, or to the direction of managers deplorably uninformed of the value and economy of labor, experience alone, with many such, being the only guide by which fhey regulate the complicated affairs of the farm. Hence it is that we see, in the execution of a small job of work, twice or thriVe as many hands sent as are requisite to perform it, and the surplus of labor thns emploved, and the time lost in travelling "to and fro" is a total loss. An indifferent, half-worn axe, or one too light or dull, is placed in the hands

of a good axe-man, and a loss of ten, twenty or thirty per cent, is sustained; a like result follows the use of an indifferent scythe, cradle, or plough; and the use of a wheat machine out of repair, where frequent stoppages for repairs and fixing are required, often costs more in loss and labor than the price of a new one. Hauling bulky but light articles in small cart or wagon bodies, not adapted for such service, working one horse in a two horse plough or cultivator, is too often practised, whereby neither the driver nor team can earn fair wages; moving fences from one part of the farm to another for temporary purposes, and many of the other items of transportation on the farm, as they are usually conducted, are attended with a like waste of labor. All these smaller details of want of economy in farm labor (and many others not enumerated) make an amount of waste appalling to contemplate; sufficient indeed to bankrupt any estate, and the systematic practice of very few of them will inevitably lop off all the profits of labor. Even the intelligent proprietorsome-times fails to disco ver the loss which he is thus sustaining in his farming operations, in time to save his estate from ruin; and this is owing chiefly to the fact of his entrusting the management of his farm entirely to overseers and negroes, (which system offers a premium upon laziness to the proprietor, and upon neglect and mismanagement to the overseer;) to his keeping no accurate (arm accounts, and striking a balance of profit or loss annually; (and this because habit and education have so trained him;) and likewise to the fact that farmers in Virginia, (where slave labor is extensively used) for the most part, own the Irfbor, by which their farms are tilled, and not having to pay fixed wages for it, by the day, week, month, or year, they naturally become careless as to the manner in which it is applied, and remain ignorant of what profit it yields them; and it requires a succession of disasters, the failure of income, the pressure of debt, or the stimulus of some other equally urgent cause, to open their eyes to their true condition.

Thus it appears that want of economy in labor is the undoubted cause of unprofitable farming with a vast number of the craft, in spite of the pteponderating advantages which attach to slave as compared with free labor; and it is equally apparent that waste of abor is the natural tendi ncy of a system based on slavery; and it reqimes all the energy and attention of our best farmers to counteract it, and to show, as they sometimes do. a balance sheet, which compares favorably with the most profitable fatming in any country.

How are these evils to be remedied'! and what can be done by the citizens and by the government of the State! are questions of grave importance, and should claim the matu-rest consideration ol every true-hearted and loyal son of the Old Dominion. The cases enumerated in this essay,in illustration of the want of economy in farm labor, naturally

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suggest their own retried} ; but the tendency to waste of labor, arising from the institution of slavery, is especially to be guarded againsl, because its influences are secret and imperceptible, and are so interwoven with the fabric of society, that they are more difficult to be thrown off. A partial remedy for it,however, would be found in the keeping a regular account with the farm and its labor, which would show, at short intervals, the profit or loss, in proper connexion, and thus enable the proprietor to correct his errors, and so alter his management as to render it productive; this would be lmmedintely beneficial in the manner indicated, and in addition, would tend to increase his interest in his affairs, and stimulate him to a more diligent attention to all his farm operations, which, of itself, would remove many of the causes producing waste of labor; but a radical cure for this evil tendency can only be made by the systematic and proper education of those who intend to pursue agriculture as a profession. Mnch has already been done by the farmers of Virginia, in their individual capacity, to elevate their profession and to make it lucrative; numerous examples are familiar to all. oi ?uch men, whose intelligence and energy have not only enriched their own farm^ ana filled their purses, and surrounded their fa r Ji,ies with the comforts and luxuries of life, b ,t, by their practice and precept, they have ' ;en instrumental in spreading the blessings of plenty and independence around them; much is now doing, and can still be done, by individual enterprise towards accomplishing the same result, nnd remedying the evil practices by which agriculture is retarded and kept Jback; this may be accomplished, to a limited extent, iy the influence which every^good farmer has it in his power to exert on his c le of neighbors arocmd him, and more widely, by coernunicatir.g to all the fraternity, through the pre< , whatever information of value he may possess, and by his pen exciting an interest and keeping alive a proper spirit, in the profession. And much more might bertone,in this behalf, by the associate effort of the farmers of Virginia, if the zeal, so necs.ary to the s:i"?ess of everv undertaking, were not wanting; bat this method of improving the practice of agricu'ture has failed so often, and so signally in Virginia, that it would be scarce worth an.'.her trial, without strong and decided manifestations o r a better feeling. The State could do much for the advancement of agriculture, (and doubtless would, if its councils were not so much infested with time serving politicians,) by re.noving the various drawbacks to the profits of farming, in the shape of oppressive fens:: laws, and the like; by an enH^' ned system ■ f public it , .overnents; bur, above all, by educating her citizens, and bv establishing scientific and practical agri-C tliural schools, in which those, who are di.-tine ' to till th- •joil, may be trained and qualified to develop the dormant resources ot Virginia, v. uh profit to themselves and advan-

tage and honor to their kind and fostering mother—whose wisdom would manifest itself in thus "casting her brea'd upon the waters, that sbe may find it after many days." The wealth of a country consists, in a great measure, in its population; on the character of this, on its moral and intellectual development, depend the prosperity of the Stale, and its influence and position among the nations of the earth. Virginia has inexhaustable stores of wealth in her citizens—in her labor; she has fertilized her sister States from the outpourings of her abundance, and yet there is no fail in "the widow's cruse of oil"—how far she has come short of her true position, how far she has "hid in the earth the talent with which she was entrusted," how far her labor and her resources have been, and still are, permitted to run to waste for want of development, it well becomes her governors, her legislators, and berstatesmen to pause and enquire. Educate the people, and the State is enriched. Educate the people, and the Slate must be improved and elevated to her irue destiny among nations.

WlLLtAM W. MtNOR, P. H. GoODLOE.

Albemarle Co., January 18, 185*2.

NUTRITION IN VARIOUS GRAINS.

Wheat is one of the most important of our crops. The grain contains from fifty to seventy per cent, of starch, from ten to twenty per cent, of gluten, and from three to five per cent, of fatty matter. The proportion of gluten is said to be largest in the grain of quite warm countries.

It is a singular fact that, in all the seed of wheat and other grains, the principal part of the oil lies near or in the skin, as also does a large portion of the gluten.— The bran owes to this much of its nutritive and fattening qualities. Thus in refining our flour to the utmost possible extent, we diminish somewhat its value for food. The phosphates of the ash also lie to a great degree in the skin. The best fine flour contains above seventy pounds of starch to each hundred. The residue of one hundred pounds consists ol ten or twelve pounds of gluten, six to eight pounds of sugar and gum, and ten to fourteen pounds of water and a little oil.

Rye flour more nearly resembles wheaf-en flour in its composition than any other; it has, however, more of certain gummy and sugary substances, which make it tenacious, and also impart a sweetish taste. In baking all grains and roots which have much starch in them, a certain change takes place in their chemical composition

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By baking, flour becomes more nutritious, and more easily digestible, because, more soluble.

Barley contains rather less starch than •wheat, also less sugar and gum. There is little gluten, but a substance somewhat Jike it, and containing about the same amount of nitrogen.

Oat-meal is little used as food in this country, but it is equal, if not superior, in its nutritious qualities to flour from any of the other grains; superior,I have no doubt, to most of the fine wheaten flour of the northern latitudes. It contains from ten to eighteen per cent, of a body having about the same amount of nitrogen or gluten.— Besides this, there is a considerable quantity of sugar and gum, and from five to six per cent, of oil or fatty matter, which may be obtained in the form of a clear, fragrant liquid. Oat-meal, then, has not only abundance of substance containing nitrogen, but is also quite fattening. It is, in short, an excellent food for working animals, and, as has been abundantly proved in Scotland, for working men also.

Buckwheat is less nutritious than the other grains we have noticed. Its flour has from six to ten percent, of nitrogenous compounds, about, fifty per cent, of starch, and from five to eight of sugar and gum. In speaking of buckwheat or of oats, we, of course, mean without husks.

Rice was formerly supposed to contain little nitrogen; but recent examinations have shown that there is a considerable portion, some six or eight per cent, of a substance like gluten. The per centage of fatty matter and of sugar is quite small, but that of starch much larger than any grain yet mentioned, being between eighty and ninety per cent.; usually about eighty-two.

Indian corn is the last that we shall notice. This contains about sixty per cent. of starch, nearly the same as oats. The proportion of oil and gum is large, about ten per cent.; this explains the fattening properties of Indian meal, so well known to practical men. There is, besides these, a good portion of sugar. The nitrogenous .substances are also considerable in quantity, some twelve to sixteen per cent. All these statements are from the prize essay of Mr. J. H. Salisbury, published by the New York State Agricultural Society. They show that the results of European chemists have probably been obtained by the examination of varieties inferior to ours; they have not placed Indian corn much above

the level of buckwheat or rice, whereas, from the above, it is seen to be ( 'in most respects superior to any other grain."

Sweet corn differs from all other varieties, containing only about eighteen per cent, of starch. The amount of sugar is, of course, very large, and the nitrogenous substance amounts to the very large proportion of twenty per cent.; of gum to thirteen or fourteen; and of oil, to about eleven. This, from the above results, is one of the most nourishing crops grown. If it can be made to yield as much per acre as the harder varieties, it is well worth a trial on a large scale.— Prof. Norton.

For the Southern Planter. APPLICATION OF PLASTER TO CLOVER

Mr. Editor,—I feel flattered by the complimentary notice of your correspondent of Lunenburg of my communication in the March, number of the Planter, and shall be much gratified, if by any suggestion of mine, my old friend and school-mate may be enabled to "cause two blades of grass to grow where only one grew before." As stated on a former occasion, 1 regard the successful culture of the artificial grasses (red clover, in particular,) as the basis of all agricultural improvement, upon an extended scale; and the farmer who neglects them, or esteems them even of secondary importance in his annual operations, is doomed, in a large majority of cases, to witness the gradual, but sure, deterioration of his estate, and to the mortification of feeling himself become poorer and poorer every year. For the correctness of this opinion, I appeal to every district and to every farm in the State, dependent upon its own resources for the means of improvement.

In the communication referred to, it is stated "the fall sowing of plaster, on land to be sowed in clover the ensuing winter or spring is preferred, that it may be dissolved by the winter rains, and thus made available, to sustain the young clover during drought in spring and summer." Your correspondent wishes to know whether thisopinion is the result of experiment and observation—whether I have known plaster applied to clover in the spring to result in a failure, and when applied in the fall to the same or similar land, to prove decidedly beneficial—what is the general character of such a soil, whether red or gray, and whether deficient in lime or not.

When I commenced the fall use of plaster with a view to a successful stand of clover, the general impression of the country was, that if applied in thespring it would cause the wheat to rust. Having, at the time, but little -personal experience in such matters, and con-

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fiding in the correctness of this impression, I resorted to fall sowing to avoid the anticipated difficulty. The result exceeded my most sanguine expectations. There was in no instance any visible effect on the wheat, (and subsequent observation leads to the conclusion that plaster does not act directly on wheat,) but the effect on the young clover the following fall and spriDg was most striking—though applied always to the poorest portions of a field, and to land, from its texture, least adapted to clover, the thickness and vigor of the plants distinctly marked the line of its application. If the plaster is sowed early in March and there should be sufficient rain to dissolve it iu time to act on the young clover as soon as it vegetates, I perceive no reason why it should not answer the same purpose as fall sowing. But March and April are often cold and dry, and much of the young clover perishes in these months, in unfavorable localities, from the want of appropriate food to sustain it. Besides, there is no economy or other advantage from deferring the application of plaster till spring. While I have never applied it to young d/wer in the spring, it is my invariable practice to apply it at that period to clover of one and two years' standing, and have sometimes failed to secure its usual effects for that season, should the application be a little too late, and succeeded by dry weather. This result is obvious on my clover fields at this time, from not having applied the plaster at an earlier period.

My farm lies wholly on the South-West I mountains and partakes of the general character of the red lands of that district. Much of ^ it, the gravelly portions especially, are admirably adapted to the growth of clover; but the soil in other parts, and generally the more elevated, is comparatively free from stone, of a deep red color, and very light and spongy. It has been to land of this latter description only, that 1 have found it necessary to apply plaster in the fall, to secure the young clover. For a number of years I pursued the course recommended, as long as the necessity for it existed. My land has been plastered so often, and is so well stocked with clover seed, that recourse is had to fall sowing now, only when unimproved land is brought into cultivation. But whenever resorted to, as before remarked, the result has been most satisfactory and as decided as could have been expected from an ordinary application of stable manure. It is believed the difficulty of procuring a stand of clover on our light, red lands results more from the mechanical than the physical constitution of the soil. Its want of adhesiveness and great porousness, render it highly pervious to solar heat. The surface soil becomes very dry, and the tender plant often perishes from the want of moisture, before its roots have penetrated to a sufficient depth to obtain it. Hence the valueof plaster toattractand retain moisture and the roller to give compactness to the soil.

Lime is found by analysis to exist in sufficient quantity in the generality of our red lands, though I am not aware that this particulai description of soil has been subjected to experiment. It may be inferred, however, that it is to be found in it also, as I have observed no effect from applications of from forty to one hundred bushels per acre. In the midst oi o.ur red lands, and most frequently on the branches, there are occasional strips of gray or white land, very unproductive, on which lime acts with decided effect, particularly in increasing the crop of grass.

Not being acquainted with the character of the land in Lunenburg, I, of course, can make no recommendation worthy of confidence, but beg leave to suggest to your correspondent the following experiment: After his laud has beer, well ploughed for a spring crop, spread on five contiguous acres ten, twenty, thirty, forty and fifty bushels of slaked lime respectively pd acre, and harrow well so as to incorporate the lime thoroughly into the soil. In the fall sow-wheat and immediately thereafter one bushel of plaster per acre—and the last of February or first of March following, one bushel of clover seed to twenty acres or three pints to the acre. Jf the soil is very light, roll it with a heavy roller soon after the seed is sown. A comparison of the subsequent crop of clover on the several limed acres and on the unliined will, I think, indicate the wants of his soil and the extent of the deficiency, if it be lime, and lead to useful inferences.

It sometimes happens that cloyerseed sown in thespringfailsfromdroughtand othercauses to vegetate, except partially, and this occurs most frequently on fresh or indifferently prepared land. In such eases the first crop is, to:: considerable extent, a failure, and the farmer erroneously supposes his seed lost. During the summer and fall of the first year, under more favorable circumstances, the seed sowed the preceding year and much that is deposited by the growing crop vegetates, and fills up the vacant intervals, presenting a well set and even crop the second year. This fact shows the impropriety of the course pursued by some farmers in ploughing in the first crop and ihe impolicy of adopting any system of rotation that does not admit of two full crops of clover—a shorterperiod than twoyears being insufficient to secure the full benefit of the clover system. Light applications of surplus wheat straw or other coarse litter to the more doubtful pans of a field as soon as the wheat is threshed, are highly beneficial in protecting theyoungclover from the scorching effects of the sun, and in preserving a greater degree of moisture. This is a valuable auxiliary to the success of clover, and should never be neglected by the provident farmer.

Having thus attempted briefly to answer the questions propounded, I will remark, in conclusion, that I am happy to learn the taste of my old college mate has led him into agricul-cultural pursuits, and shall be pleased at ail

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times toexchange viewswith him through the Planter on subjects of interest to our profession. I apprehend my views, as expressed in the March number of the Planter, have, by some of your friends, been misconstrued. In that communication I did not recommend a quart of clover seed as sufficient to the acre. My recommendation was a bushel to twenty acres, which would be a fraction over three pints to the acre—equal, if I mistake not, to one grain of seed to every three-fourths of a square inch per acre. I stated, as my opinion derived from observation, that a quart of seed to the acre, aided by half a bushel or three pecks of plaster, was more to be relied on in a bad season than double the quantity of seed without the plaster, and in this opinion I am happy to find you concur.

James Newman.

For the Southern Planter. DO SHEEP IMPROVE LAND 1 ?

Mr. Editor,—I see in your September number, page 2G4, "Ignoramus 1 ' seems surprised at the idea that sheep improve land, that it ■was contrary to what he has heretofore been taught and wishes to hear more about it—be says: "here in lower Virginia it is a prevailing opinion that land should never be grazed and that sheep are more injurious than any other stock. 1 ' I have been looking for a reply from some experienced farmer more able with the pen than myself on the subject; for surely no farmer possessing information sought by another ought to withhold it, and certainly no place is so desirable to record that information as in an agricultural journal, for it. is presumed that farmers who take it, (and all ought,) will have the numbers bound, and thus hand down through their library to future generations, all information acquired that may he useful. Had this course been pursued by our forefathers, much valuable information would have been preserved that has gone with them to the tomb.

With this view I will try to satisfy "Ignoramus," lamenting that some more able person had not taken up the subject. I will however say to "Ignoramus" that I cannot on paper explain to him my views as perfectly as I could in conversation. If he will give me the pleasure of receiving a visit from him (you can give him my name if he is disposed to do so,) 1 will be happy to welcome him and show him all 1 can. I heard an old and good farmer say once that when he visited for information, he always visited bad farmers and learnt from seeing the defects, that did no! exist among good farmers—"Ignoramus" may come probably and do likewise. The tact is, much more information might be gained and certainly no injury caused by a little sociable visiting among farmers. I have some experi-

ence with sheep, as you know, and it proves to me that sheep certainly improve land greatly. No doubt " the prevailing opinion in lower Virginia," is. to some extent, right; but that land should never be grazed, is carrying it too far, for a farmer must then depend solely on grain. If he is not willing to do (hat, and concludes upon grazing at all, he ought to conclude upon the animal most profitable with the least injury and greatest improvement to the land, horse, cattle or sheep; 1 suppose the farmer must have some of each, but I mean which will he select for profit—i. e. to make money. I consider the sheep the most profitable for various reasons; they require less care and trouble, less grass, less ground—the wool pays for the keep—the higher the keep, the more ample the remuneration—no other animal with us pays its keep with a fleece. But then the farmer must select that breed that is most likely to render the greatest profit in the shortest time, and be at least auxiliary to the farm. To make grazing profitable, and also to improve the land, it is necessary there should be an abundance of grass to support the animal plentifully, without grazing the land too close. For if a farmer has barely a sufficiency of grass to support life, and in a drought a great deficiency, you may rely upon it, it would be a skinning process, that must ruin the land and the animal, and materially cripple the farmer. It is not so much the fault as the abuse of the system, and if farmers will not confine themselves within proper limits, the skinning process must injure the land, the starving part the animal, and the two will skin the farmer. The English farmers recommend salt to be sown on land manured by sheep, to prevent the wheal from falling, by strengthening the growth of straw—so highly do they think of it; but then they neither overcrop or overstock. My conscience smites me for the length of this, but I cannot help saying to you, that in accordance with my views heretofore expressed, I made a visit in the spring of last year to that hospitable region, the famed Eastern Shore of Maryland, to that spirited farmer, Mr. James N. Goldsborough, near Easton. I wish the Old Dominion had many such—he has nearly every description of improved stock: the bred horse, improved short horn cattle, improved Cotswold sheep, improved hogs, and even improved poultry, of all kinds. Will you not agree with me that such a spirit is of incalculable value to a community'? Here also was a helpmate worthy of him, for the order, arrangement and industry in her department, were by no means excelled in Iris. Mr. Editor, she was from the Old Dominion, I am proud to say—"think of that Master Brooke." But to my object—I was struck with the richness and sweetness of the milk and butter so abundant on the supper table, which I was afterwards informed commanded the highest prices in market. In rambling over the fields, I inquired of Mr. Goldsborough how it happened that the milk and butter on his table

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were so entirely free of the flavor of garlic, when his cows seemed to feed so freely on it; that my section of the country looked with so much horror on it, that its growth would materially injure, if not entirely destroy the sale of a farm. He replied, he cared very little about it, the flavor was very easily expelled— when the maid returned from the cowpen, tbey poured (without measuring, for if not sufficient they added to it,) but a small quantity of boiling water in the milk, (not sufficient to affect its richness,) and being very volatile, it was expelled at once, perfuming the whole room for a time, and that heavy manuring would destroy the weed. The first remedy was so simple and seemed so efficacious, and the latter so admirable, being one of those experiments, that if it did not accomplish the object, (and I was assured it would by others,) would certainly improve greatly the subject, that I determined to communicate it to you. This eradication of an enemy by kindness, is the scripture mode of heaping coals of fire.

Mr. Editor, all this may be of no use to you, not worth its room in your columns; if so, there is a place in which it will create a flame. Consign it to its proper place, and the disposition you may make of it, 1 assure you, shall be entirely satisfactory to its author.

Valley of Virginia.

Mr. Editor, —In my former, I stated my belief that sheep would improve land and in that agreed with the northern correspondent that ■ Unoramus" referred to—then the question is, 1 what breed of sheep improves or most improves it, and at the same time, renders the farmer the greatest profit in the shortest time. Tarn satisfied the large improved breed of sheep is the profitable sheep for all such purposes; no doubt the northern correspondent would claim the Merino or small breed of sheep. To get at the profit, we must compare and see which is more entitled to the consideration of Virginia farmers, and the proper way to arrive at the truth is, not to see which commands the more money to the pound of wool, in that branch of the subject, but which gives more money to the fleece. In this calculation, I will give the Merino, or small breed of sheep, every advantage; I will give them the highest weight of fleeces and the highest prices, and to the large improved breeds, the lightest fleeces and the prices we sell at here in our own neighborhood. The finest wool I see quoted in New York at forty cents per pound, two and a half pounds to the fleece, (much more than claimed for an average flock,) would be one dollar to the fleece; but say fifty cents, and that only gives $1 25 per fleece; but give them one dollar per pound, and no person pretends to that, and they have $2 5D. All will admit this is doubly too much; besides, the fine wool is not suited to our countrv. We do not clothe our negroes with broadcloth, it is not suited to their comfort or uses; and one of each of these commis-

] sion and transportation must come as well as

losses, for they must seek a northern market.

Take the best breed of improved large sheep

and take into the calculation only washed

wool, of course, the fleeces are lighter, fair

fleeces, (I mean sheared in proper time— the

year's growth,) yielded as high as eighteen and

| three-quarter pounds at thirty-three cents per

pound, (the price I sell at here.) This would

, buy three of the ordinary fine wooled sheep,

; fleeces, bodies and all, at the average prices

i and weights, of fleeces they in stock order; but

I this would not be fair, it is a very extraordinary

fleece—then take the lightest weight, six pounds

I at thirty-three cents would be SI 98, and

' would not be fair to the large improved breed,

! but would render a Virginia farmer as much

I clear money as the fine wool sold in New York

i at one dollar per pound. Can the Virginia

fanner hesitate as to which yields him the more

| money per fleece. Of course he will bear in

■ mind I allowed the fine wool every advantage;

; the heaviest weight claimed in the dirt for it,

and more than double as much per pound as the

highest quotations in New York, lor the finest;

I its opponent's lightest fleece calculated at home

prices.

Now let me call the attention of "Ignora-i mus" to their comparative value as muttons. j The ordinary or light breed of sheep require more age to mature, do not take on fat like the ' large breed of improved sheep, and. (start not Mr. Editor,) do not require the quantity of i grass or feed that the smaller do; do not think j that I am throwing the glove to your more able | correspondent, "Anon," in the February No. j to meet with such defeat as his more able pen may give me, for we both may be right; it ; may be that where grass is scarce and it is ; necessary to ramble a great deal to fill them-j selves, it may require more food for the larger sheep, because the smaller sheep are better I travellers; but when that is the case, the farmer is overslocked and his farm must suffer-from the skinning process, but give a suffici ency of grass to both, and I contend (from ex-' perience too,) that the large improved breed of j sheep will fatten in half, if not one-third the time of the small breed of sheep, and upon much less grass. They have a tendency to | take on fat and are always muttons, and it is ; well known among persons experienced in j sheep, that a fat sheep will nothing like con-j sume as much as a poor one. The large improved breed of sheep are sluggish; they wander but little, fill themselves and lay down, and ruminate like cattle, and (where they get enough to eat,) when they get up, manure the ground like calves or cattle, and of that consistency, (not in small balls like other sheep,) as all admit is infinitely richer. The small sheep are always rambling-, travel their feed off instead of converting it into fat, and consequently require much more to fatten them; and when fattened, the taUow alone of the large sheep, even yearlings, will purchase the small one, out and out—wool, skin, carcass and tal-

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low. I have tried it and feel convinced, and so are others who have tried it, that we can fatten three, even yearlings, of the large improved breed of sheep, on the grain it takes to fatten one of the small breed of sheep, or the same in reference to an abundance of grass. As to profit, it is by no means uncommon for the muttons of the improved large sheep, even when yearlings and not grain fed, to sell at shearing time, after being sheared, for $7, never under $5 each, and ihey not thoroughbred— thoroughbred being too valuable to alter. Last summer was one of distressing drought in this country, doubtful if any corn would be made, and 1 sold my muttons in Avgust, [yearlings,) unfed with grain and not tlwrmigkbred, for 39 each, never before, under $M5eack; the small she«p rarely sell, viell fed and four years old., over $2 50; thus, while the ownerof the small breed sellsone mutton for$2.50,1 can have sold four for from $3o to $40, at that rate, upon infinitely less trouble and feed—you know this is not theory, it is every year's experience. Can cattle, with no fleece to oay for their keep, render such profit clear to the grazier in one year, per head, with improvement, instead of injury to the land, and with such little trouble and feed 1 Another consideration is, the early maturity of this sheep renders it unnecessary to keep four lots of muttons on hand to sell one. They sell out clean every year as yearlings at high prices; if kept to a greater age they sell higher. I have sold some muttons for $35 each, and refused $50 each for others. They were thoroughbred and older. The small bred sheep must have age, and it takes too many to make a small sum of money, to be profitable to a farmer who connects farming with sheep raising. As to manure, in quantity and quality, there can be no comparison; the indissolvable little balls from the small sheep cannot compare with that from the large improved sheep, having the consistency and almost quantity of cattle. The Enarlish agree in its excellence, and recommend the sowing of salt on land manured from sheep, to prevent its lodging, by giving more strength to the straw; but then the English of course have reference to the large improved breed of sheep, having very few others. But in addition to this I will say to "Ignoramus," if he will on his poor hills or knolls, make an ample, though temporary shelter for sheep, allowing them to go in and out at pleasure, covered with straw or any other way, so as in the winter to exclude the air from every part but the south, and in the summer to make a shade, but to admit the air from all sides, and keep that shelter abundantly bedded with straw, leaves, or something else that will answer as well, and when trampled and saturated with droppings and urine, clean it out in a heap and make a new bed, he will be astonished to see what amount of manure of the best quality he can make in this way, and how thoroughly the knoll will be manured. What I write, Mr. Editor, is from experience, though in my plain

farmer manner. I have tried other sheep, but you know, adopt for my uses the large improved breed of sheep, always taking care to get the best, though costly, and you can form some idea that I have not lost by this system. lu my calculation, I have not taken my stock sheep; my sales of breeders would not give fair play to the small sheep; therefore, I have counted the sale of muttons only.

You know the good Old Dominion has many years, heretofore, been tributary to the North; and I am sure, Mr. Editor, you will feel gratified to learn that I have somewhat changed that state of things, and New York and Philadelphia now seek their muttons of me in the Valley or Virginia.

MANURES-FRESH AND FERMENTED.

The leading agriculturists of England are discussing with much zeal the comparative advantages of fresh and fermented manure. Those that advocate the use of manure before fermentaiion or putrefaction takes place, appear to realize the largest benefits from these iertilizers. ]f the principle of letting dung, urine, straw and other trash, wholly rot in the ground where crops ought to grow, be sound practice in the cool climate of England, it must be far more important in the warm climate of our cotton-growing States. When green clover, pea vines, grass or vegetables of any kind are turned in with the plough, the soil receives all the nutrient elements contained in the plants; but if they were cut and rolted belbre they were mingled with the earth, their weight and substance would be reduced from fifty to seventy-five per cent. It is to avoid all loss by fermentation that fresh plantsand fresh manure are recommended. To illustrate this subject still further, we copy the following from a number of the London Farmers' Magazine:

Fermentation has been divided into three stages; the vinous, or sweet; the acetous, or acid; and the putrefactive, or the rotten. The first two are confined to saccharine plants; the last comprehends a wider range and includes almost every animal and vegeta-table. The three are not always necessary; the acetous takes place without the vinous, and the putrefactive without either. Farmyard dung undergoes the last two processes. By the putrefactive fermentation, very disagreeable effluvia are produced, and the substances are resolved into carburetted hydrogen gas, carbonic acid, ammonia, if nitrogen be present, water acetic in some cases, and solid carbonaceous matter.

For a long lime past, farm-yard clung has been prepared for the use of green crops, by being carried from the feeding yards at convenient times during winter, and laid in an oblong heap of any required length, eight or ten yards in width, and about six feet high. The

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heap is formed of banks in the breadth of four or five feet, which are pulled from the carts, _ run back to the proper place, and the materi-' als are laid loosely together. Fermentation immediately goes on, and has wholly ceased when the application is made of the dung to turnips in the midsummer months. A more recent method consists in carting to a heap in the field at convenient times during winter and spring, the mixed straws and solid and urinary faeces of animals from the feeding yards which are mixed as well as possible in the wet and dry substances which will occur. The loaded carts pass over the heap, which is sloped at both ends, and the materials are spread evenly and thinly over the whole extent. The pressure thus formed prevents the fermentation, and the heap is turned over and loosely compacted about ten days before the dung is required for the various crops. Then a very active lermentation commences, and during the utmost heat of it, the dung is laid in drills while smoking and steaming, covered immediately, and the turnip seed sowed and pressed close down upon the dung by a light roller. This way affords more bulk of dung than the first mode, and the use of a more active substance.

Very much success has attended both these modes of preparing farm-yard dung, and with not much apparent difference, though the last must be preferred. My own practical experience has been long, extensive and varied, almost beyond the common lot of the middle age of man; and I adopted the latter plan, both on praciical and scientific grounds. The fsame experience afforded very ample means of making observations and noting results, and of drawing conclusions from experience, the only true source of human knowledge.

Two wide ridges of a clay field of wheat fallow, of medium quality, remaining to be manured, after the fermented heap in the field was expended, I directed them to be covered by the newly made stable-dung of the summer by the horses eating vetches, and which appeared to be dry straw and some excrements. It was very rough, and when ploughed into the land, the bulk of it temained above ground. The rains of autumn tended to decompose the straw, and the seed furrow in October covered the bulk of it, which was again pulled up by the harrows, and torn along over the surface. From the first appearance of the wheat a superiority was most evident of these two ridges beyond the rest of the field. The color of the blades was a darker green, the roots tillered more abundantly, and the stalks were more numerous. The crop was thicker planted during summer, and attained an earlier maturity. The grain was more plump, and more golden in the color. The young grasses were more plentifjl and abundant, owing to the rich and finely comminuted matrix of materials created by the harrowing in the spring of the mellowed earths and the decomposed dang. Hence the dung need not be fermented

for wheat, and will be best applied in the early spring months as a top-dressing on the young wheat.

When the quantity of fermented farm-yard dung allotted to a field of turnips has failed to complete the manuring of the extent, I have frequently directed the necessary quantity to be brought from the yard of the cow-shed, where it was carefully voided and had a limited mixture of straw. Being laid in the drills in the usual quantity, and treated like the other parts of the field, the fresh dung never failed to raise better turnips than the fermented manure; and the superiority appeared in the very first growth of the plants, and was maintained throughout the season, and at the end of it, the bulbs were larger and more numerous. Experience has shown me this fact more than once or twice; and hence farmyard dung need not be fermented for turnips, but may be used in the freshest state, when the quantity will be larger and cover more ground. In order to obviate the constant objection of not being able to cover in the ground, the fresh straw of rank growth, I have (several years ago) suggested that all straws used to litter, be cut into lengths of a few inches, which the turnip drills can easily receive; and the sowing of the seed will not be at all impeded by the coulters of the sower catching the rough straw of the manure. Cutters will perform this process by being attached to the steam power of the threshing machinery.

Bones are in the same predicament as farmyard dung in respect of the fresh or healed condition. I have had them ground in the forenoon and sown in the forenoon; heaped for weeks, and naturally heated; and have had them mixed and heated with fine earths and quick-lime, water and urine. The results were nearly the same on the new red sandstone soils of South Northumberland, the iron sands of Surrey, and on the loose poachy earths of Breconshire, where the soil immediately reclines on a rock of the upper horizontal layer of the old red sandstone. Hence the fresh condition of bones is preferable, as it saves the expense of heating them.

I have sent these remarks in consequence of the scoffiing taunts cast on Mr. Mechi's observation "that the days of dung-heaps are being numbered." I have much pleasure in supporting him by the facts of experience: and the present discussion on covered stalls may be settled by covering over the whole farmery like the terminus of a railway. Agriculture has been much indebted to persons of Mr. Mechi's calibre, for they bring enlightened, and unbiassed minds to bear upon the subject; and if they often get wrong, they are sometimes right. The education of a farmer consists wholly in a net work thrown over his mind, with meshes so strong and narrow, that no escape can be made from the prejudices which generaiion after generation has engendered and transmitted. The customs or practices oi those who have gone before us, though

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it be ihe principle of a most dangerous nature, and very erroneous complexion, is seldom excluded from any serious deliberation, and it is generally a power of too great strength for reason to grapple with; and pursues with the most unrelenting persecution, all those who doubt the truth, or question its authority. But gradual encroachments will continue to be made on its prerogative; as it exists, in many cases, on mere opinion and simple prescription.

J. D.

For the Southern Planter. POWHATAN AGRICULTURAL CLUB.

The Powhatan Agricultural Club, at a previous meeting, appointed lour of its members to report to the Club, at its April meeting, subjects for experiment. The gentlemen having been called on for reports, Mr. Hilary Harris read the following:

The intelligent and practical farmer, when he looks abroad over the face of an extended and diversified country, cannot fail to be impressed with the fact, that within the last twenty years the relations of things have greatly changed; while the prices of our agricultural productions have remained stationary, (if they have not retrograded,) the price of labor has advanced from fifty to one hundred percent. This fact of itself must teach us that we must devise means by which our productions can be cheapened,or we must be driven from competition with our more favored, more enterprising and more energetic neighbors. The wholesome balance which has hitherto existed between the price of labor and the worth of its productions has been disturbed by causes which I shall not now attempt to explain: it is sufficient that we know the fact, in order to direct us to a remedy. The equilibrium must be restored, or we shall be crushed beneath the stroke of the vibrating beam. Let us call no longer on Hercules or the government, but put our shoulders to the wheel. Modern discoveries—the arts and sciences have taught how two bushels of wheat may be made to grow where but one grew before; and we are all sufficiently enlightened in arithmetic to know that two bushels of wheat at fifty cents produce as much money as one bushel at a dollar. This is a solution of the enigma—this the panacea that will cure the malady. How to raise the greatest amount of crop wilh the least amount of labor becomes now the greatobject of enquiry. This can be effected in two ways: by increasing the feriility of our lands, and thereby enlarging their capacity for production by the aid of a given amount of labor; and secondly by calling to aid those labor-saving improvements and appliances, (of which this age seems to be so abundatly prolific,) and thereby effecting wilh a given amount of force a double portion of labor. This state of things is common to

every branch of human industry, in every nation, and under every condition of labor, without regard to political or social organization. We have seen the price of manufactured goods reduced from one hundred to five hundred per cent, while the artisan employed in their production has been demanding and receiving higher wages with each succeeding year. How is this seeming paradox to be accounted for? It has been effected simply by the improvement in machinery; by enabling one man to accomplish what it used to take ten, fifteen or twenty to perform. Now, how is a like state of things to be arrived at in our profession'? Simply by using the like means to attain them. Look to the other industrial pursuits of life (for they seem to be "wiser in their generation than we,") and imitate their examples. Form associations, clubs or societies for the promotion and accomplishment of your object. Break up from the seclusion of solitude, bring mind in contact with mind, and we shall presently witness those happy results which have accrued to other branches of labor from united action. An English calico weaver, who has been driving a successful trade in that article, suddenly finds himself underbid and supplanted in the market by a French dealer, and what does he do 1 ? Does he continue to struggle on as he was in this unprofitable competition until ruin and bankruptcy overwhelm him"? Or does he institute a careful supervision of his labor and machinery, find out the defects and apply the remedy"? Aye, he does more; if his neighbor has found out some improvement to which he is a stranger, an intelligent mechanic flies on the wings of steam to copy and adopt it. Modern improvements have produced cheap and speedy transportation, and our marts of commerce will be flooded with the productions of distant and fettile regions. They have new and fertile lands to exhaust; we worn-nut and exhausted fields to reclaim. Under this state of things what shall we do? Shall we abandon the homes of our childhood, the graves of our forefathers, and the proud laurels which Virginia has nobly won, in arts, arms and in government? Or shall we relinquish old habits and old prejudices, (acknowledging no inferiority,) and resolve to maintain a fearless competition with all the world ? This we can do, and must do. Let every friend of agriculture lay his shoulder to the wheel and let us all make a long and a strong pull, and a pull altogether. Grains form the mountain and drops form the ocean. Let us divide out our labors and go to work. Let each member of our club tax himself with at least one experiment, and communicate the results accurately to the society. In furtherance of these views, I would suggest to the cl.ub the propriety of some experiments calculated to cheapen the production of tobacco plants. Our present mode of raisins tobacco plants is laborious and expensive, and by the aid of guano, I have no doubt, would be greatly cheapened. I think on virgin lands that burn-

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ing might be dispensed with, and thereby a great saving of fuel and labor be accomplished

In all tobacco intended to be worked up in our markets, the labor of assorting it on our farms might be probably dispensed with, and could be much better done at the factory where they keep hands for that especial purpose and who understand its classification much better than we do.

Boxes for prizing would be much cheaper and better than hogsheads. They would require less timber, would keep the tobacco straighter, and less mechanical skill in their construction. Probably some method of baling might be cheaper and more portable than either.

Some experiments calculated to test the propriety of priming or not priming.

Some experiments calculated to test the relative merits of the different varieties of tobacco adapted to our soils and culture.

The success of experiments calculated to test the value of guano as a fertilizer for tobacco, has been various and contradictory. I would suggest that experiments be carefully and accurately made with regard to the propriety or impropriety of its use in the production of that crop.

The brute force employed on our farms is an expensive but powerful auxiliary in the performance of farm labor. Some experiments calculated to test the relative merits of the horse, the mule and the ox could not fail to elicit valuable information.

The wheel carriages on our farms are ill adapted to many of the uses to which they are applied, and subject us to great loss of time and labor, particularly in the transportation of bulky articles. 1 think for many of our purposes the height of the wheel might be diminished and the length of the axle increased. A great advantage might be thus gained in the increased load, and a great diminution in the amount of labor necessary to make the load.

The subjects of fuel and fences demand a searching inquiry. Thev absorb a large portion of our labor and inflict upon us a great deal of wear and tear of body and mind. Tight houses and stoves, I should think, would be the remedy for the one; the fence law for the other.

Some experiments calculated to find out the cheapest and speediest method of curing sailed lands would be highly profitable and interesting to the community. A very large portion of our lands, which were originally best, require to be reclaimed from that condition before they can be brought under cultivation.

The advantages ot deep ploughing have never, as I have known, been subjected to accurate experiment. This is loo important a subject to be left to conjecture, and should no longer be left to battle with old prejudices and errors. These have in all countries too successfully choaked the growth of improvement

The rotation of our crops and fields ought

to come under careful revision. The practicability of now getting concentrated manures and the facility of their application, seem to demand it. Our lands must no longer be left to the recuperative powers of nature, which acts slowly, much too slowly for this age of steam, and thereby subjecting us to a greatly increased amount of labor to bring them into suitable tilth for the production of crops.

After the reading of the report, on motion of Mr. P. St. George Cocke, it was resolved, unanimously, that Mr. H. be requested to furnish the secretary with a copv of the same for publication in the Southern Planter.

For the Southern Planter. RAINY-DAY THOUGHTS.

Mr. Editor, —The necessity of a thorough improvement in the agricultural condition of Eastern Virginia is admitted by all. Our lands, originally rich, have been so greatly impoverished that they hardly repay the cost of ordinary cultivation; and we must either abandon them for more fertile region^, or adopt improved methods of cultivation and management. The latter will be preferred by every true Virginian; and it is fortunate for all such that a few men, of greater sagacity and energy than the mass, have established the fact that our exhausted fields may be made productive by the judicious use of means within the reach of all. Among these, besides the manures that can be made on every farm, are guano, plaster, lime and clover, -thorough draining and deep ploughing. It is true that many are unable to procure lime at prices that would warrant its free use; and it may be true that without lime many portions of old Virginia cannot be permanently improved; but the facilities for transporlion are increasing, and this difficulty will probably be diminished. In the meantime, it is certain that we can employ the other agents enumerated, with confidence, and that they will quickly repay their cost and leave a surplus of profit to be expended in lime for more permanent improvement.

My object, however, is to notice some other means for the renovation of ourfallen fortunes, not so frequently mentioned as the above, but hardly less important. It is beyond doubt that one prolific source of the evils to be remedied is the practice of entrusting our lands to the care of hired agents unfit for the task. Many of them are both ignorant and dishonest. 1 do not use the latter epithet in its restricted sense, as a synonym with thievish, but in its more enlarged signification, as implying the opposite of that virtue which prompts its possessor to do to all others as he would have them do to him; which prompts an agent, not merely to refrain from doing a positive injury to his employer, but also to promote his employer's interest to the utmost of his ability. Ii' the

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ageni fail to exert all his skill and energy, or if he waste his time in gadding about, he is surely not acting as an honest man: for he is paid to promote the interest of the principal, and to devote to it all his time. Certainly this is his simple duly; and it is readily conceded that some overseers have a disposition to do it. But the many do not come under this exception; and some who do, have zeal without knowledge. Now, if the owner would cast away all false pride and selfish indolence, and apply himself to the knowledge of his interest, and the management of his business, such agents might be dispensed with: and who can doubt that the change would be productive of vast benefit! Here and there is a planter or farmer, who by necessity, is obliged to rely upon an overseer: let him employ one; but let him select a man qualified for his business, and pay him such wages as an efficient and faithful manager merits. Other landholders are able to give a partial supervision to their estates, and such might employ lads, (if in this age of steam, progress and emancipation, any of that class of mankind are extant) and direct them in all things. But whenever practicable, the owner should manage his estate without the intervention of a stranger between the master and the slave.

Another means is suggested by the fact that the farmers of Eastern Virginia buy, annually, large supplies of beef, butter, hogs and horses from the West. If we would raise, every man his own supply of these, the gain would be great. We would consume upon the land more of its products, and would be enabled to

strength of union. The old fable of the bundle of slicks must be acted out by the landholders of Easiern Virginia, ere our hearts shall be gladdened, by seeing the promise of the suppliant candidate redeemed by the independent representative. But more than this is to be effected by organized associations. The effects already faintly shadowed forth, would soon mount up to a crowniDg triumph: agriculture would be placed, where it ought to be, in the public esteem. She would take her merited rank in front of the secular avocations, and her professors, as truly "professional men," as lawyers and doctors who affect to look down upon them, would wield then the power to which their numbers entitle them now. The respectability of agriculture would be recognized, and the talent and intelligence of the young, would no longer seek other paths to distinction: for agriculture would be a POWER in the State, controlling all other powers.

Yet, another means, potent for the regeneration of Virginia agriculture, must be mentioned: it is the liberal and hearty support of a journal, ably conducted by a Virginia agriculturist, and devoted to our interest. You must pardon me, Mr. Editor, if I make you the trumpeter of your own praise: it is not tor Ccesar, but for Rome. The Planter is the journal intended. During its brief existence it has doubtless repaid its patrons ten fold; and some who sneer at it would be surprised, if they would look into the matter, to find that it had given them good for their evil! Some judicious suggestion they have had, or some

return to the soil what we now sell for money importantexperiment they have gotknowledge

to pay the western grazier. No surer mode of impoverishing laud can be invented than the practice of exporting beyond its limits everything it produces. Such is not nature's method: the vegetation of this year's growth derives support from the decay of the last year's crop, and the forest sheds its harvest of leaves to repay the earth for its bounty, and to provide new stores of food for the coming spring.

Another means of promise is the association of agriculturists in county societies, subordinate to a State society, for the purpose of creating an agricultural interest in the State, similar to the great manufacturing interest of the North: an interest to be felt in popular elections and in the halls of our General Assembly. We want many things which we are not likely to get without such an interest. We want an agricultural chemist, and a board or bureau of agriculture. We want inspectois of guano, plaster and other mineral manures, who can ascertain their true value. We want the means of inducing the application of science and industry and skill to the invention of machines, and the discovery of better practices in agriculture. We want relief from what the demagogue terms the poor man's law, (the fence law;) and we want a universal relief from demagogues in general. We shall not have these wants supplied till we learn the

of, from a subscriber to the Planter, has had its origin in the "book" they ridicule.

But the disposition to sneer is passing away, for it is becoming manifest to all that book farmers are the best farmers. An intelligent traveller said to me, as we rode by a dilapidated church in a county not famous for good morals, that he always estimated the character of a community by the condition of its houses for worship; he was sure of finding a moral and orderly population around well built and well preserved meeting-houses, and the reverse. It is a safe rule; but not safer than it is to estimate the character and condition of an agricultural community by the degree of support they give to agricultural journals; and if the Planter fail for want of subscribers, I, for one, shall despair of Virginia, at least, for one generation. To become successful farmers we must be enlightened farmers. Respectfully,

T. T. T.

March 31st, 1852.

Reducing Bones for Manure. —The American Farmer gives the following method of reducing crushed bones without sulphuric acid. Mix two bushels of ashes and one of salt, with

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each bushel of crushed bones; moisten the bones, and leave the whole in pie four or five weeks before using the mixture, shovelling it over two or three times during that period. ' This is certainly a very economical method of dissolving bones.

From th* Farmer and Planter. BROOMSEDGE.

Messrs. Editors,—In your last issue I noticed a call for information in regard to the management of sedge land. The improvement or reclamation of this land has received a good portion of my time and attention for some three or four years. In this portion of Virginia, where the lands are poor, we find them covered with broom-sedge or poverty grass, and running briers. When covered with the former, we consider them readily improved, of the latter always a hard case to manage. My system of reclaiming worn-out lands covered with sedge is as follows: The land is checked off for marling in the fall; the marl is then hauled to the land and a heap of five bushels deposited in each square—giving to each acre, if well set in sedge, from three hundred to four hundred bushels of marl. The land is then ploughed up by a good two-horse plough, to the depth (not regard-' ing the poverty of the soil,) of seven or eight inches, taking care to lift the plough around the heops of marl. As soon as the land is fallowed, the marl is regularly spread over the surface, permitted to remain in this situation until March, when (if I have time) it is well harrowed—it is then laid off and planted in corn. My object in applying marl in this way is to keep it near the surface, that it may be subject to the influence of the atmosphere, frosts, &c. I have never had it to fail to act well on the first crop when thus applied. To carry out this improvement, I reserve all the peas I can spare and seed them among the corn the last working. These are turned in, in September or October, and the land seeded down in wheat and clover, if I can seed by the 10th of October, if not, the clover seed are sown in February following. Now permit the land to have two years' rest, and my word for it (stiff or light soil,) you will find at the end of two years your field not only improved, hut in fine heart, capable of producing remunerating crops of corn, wheat, &c. In regard to the clover, keep all stock from it for the

first year, and the second year you will be able to cut a fine crop of hay from every acre, especially if the soil is stiff— on light soils it is more difficult to secure a stand of clover, yet, as a means of securing a stand of clover on light soils, seed in September, and apply one bushel of plaster per acre in February or March. The clover will not only be benefited thereby, but it will add materially to the yield of the wheat crop. I differ with you, Messrs. Editors, in regard to "burning off the sedge on light soils." I would thank no man to carry fire into a sedge field of mine, let the land be ever so light, that is, if I intended to carry out the system of improvement here detailed. I do not know how it would answer under any other circumstances.— But the question naturally arises before the inquiring mind: What would be the cost of this improvement? Suppose the land, now poor, to be worth two dollars per acre. Cost of marling (one mile carriage) six dollars per acre; clover seed, one gallon per acre, seventy-five cents; one bushel of plaster, fifty-five cents; two years' rent of land, when at rest, four dollars—the rent is put down at the probable rent before improvement—total cost, eleven dollars and thirty cents. Suppose the land before the application of marl would yield eight bushels of corn at sixty cents, four dollars and eighty cenls—after the application, only ten bushels the first year, six dollars; yield of wheat before the application of marl and return of pea fallow, five bushels, five dollars; after the application, &c. eight bushels, eight dollars. The cost of improvement, eleven dollars and thirty cents; increase of crops, worth four dollars and twenty cents; actual cost of improvement seven dollars and ten cents.— Value of land after improvement ten dollars. The cost of peas and worth of peas and worth of clover crop, I neglected to take into the above account, which your readers can figure out at their leisure.

The above is no imaginary case—the writer can show lands that before the improvement generally gave the above yield of corn (never being wise enovgh to risk the wheat crop on such lands) that now give a return of thirty to thirty-five bushels of corn and ten to fifteen bushels of wheat— the lands are still improving. Wherever I have carried out the above system on moderately stiff soils I have never failed of being amply remunerated and gratified, by seeing such lands rapily coming to a state of fertility.

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER

If the above will benefit you or your readers, my object will be accomplished.

The present.—I am now engaged in applying litter and mould gathered from the forest with hilling hoes, (from lands which I never expect to bring into cultivation.) to my corn shift for this year. This is evenly spread, and turned in by a large two-horse plough running from seven to eight inches deep, followed by a subsoil plough, drawn by two stout horses, running from ten to twelve inches deep—average depth of stirred land from sixteen to twenty inches. It is my intention to treat my entire corn shift in this way; to accomplish which it will take from twelve to fifteen days—the land is poor and light, fine clay subsoil, about six or seven inches below the surface. It is my purpose to apply lime to the surface this spring and next fall; sow peas last working of the corn—seed down in wheat and clover in September and October, applying at the same time from one hundred and fifty to two hundred pounds of <iuano per acre. I have told enough, so I will bid you adieu. Your obedient servant,

Thos. E. Blount. Burleigh, Sussex Co. Va. Feb. 1851.'

FLAX AND COTTON.

Governor Farwell, of Wisconsin, has written a lucid and forcible letter to the State Agricultural Society, urging the propriety of a far more extensive cultivation of flax in that State. Wheat has proved a very uncertain crop there, and some other staple must be extensively substituted. Governor Farvvcll shows clearly that the climate and soil of Wisconsin are admirably adapted to the growth of flax; that twenty-five dollars per acre would not be a large average yield, while forty dollars per acre may be obtained; and that the importation and sale of ten thousand bushels of seed at a cost of fifteen thousand dollars, would secure a crop worth at least two hundred and fifty thousand dolkus for the present year, and not less than two million dollars the next year.

Mr. John Galbraith, who has grown flax tn Waukesha county, in each of the four last years, has had three good crops and one middling one. [During those four years, we believe there have been two or three signal failures of the wheat crop.] An efficient braking machine is now in opera-

tion at Beliot, where flax straw is regularly purchased by the ton, rotted, dressed, and sent eastward to market. And if the Governor's recommendation is seconded, there \ will soon be similar establishments in nearly every county, with oil mills, where seed may likewise be sold for cash.

The flax culture fn this country will be considerably extended this season.. Hon. H. L. Ellsworth, formerly United States Commissioner of Patents, will sow five hundred acres (his season. As seed will doubtless be dear for a year or so, it is computed that thirty dollars per acre may be obtained from good land well cultivated in the Eastern States. The labor is hardly equal to that required to secure an average yield of Indian corn. Twenty bushels of seed have often been grown on an acre, and this alone will probably be worth twenty-five dollars; while the straw will range from five dollars to ten dollars per ton, as it shall be further from or nearer to braking machinery. Twenty bushels of seed and two tons of straw are considered a fair yield per acre in England.

Four companies are now engaged in the manufacture of linen thread in this country—at Cohoes, New York; Wilmantic, Connecticut; at Clinton, Massachusetts; and at Andover, Massachusetts. The Cohoes thread was never excelled in Great Britain, nor anywhere else. (There are probably others; but these we know.) W And a company has just been formed to manufacture linen fabrics at Fall River, Massachusetts, with a capital of five hundred thousand dollars. There ought to be thirty such companies organized and operating forthwith, and if the tariff of 1842 were still in force, there would be.

In England, the business goes on prosperously. One land owner will sow two thousand acres of flax this year. Claus-sen's flax-cotton machinery is evidently saining favor. His works at Stepney, near London, are a focus of public interest.— There the cotlonizivg process (splitting the flax fibre by saturating it first in a solution of soda, and then one of sulphuric acid,) is completed in a few minutes, and at a trifling cost. It has previously been steeped, however, in a cold solution of caustic soda, for some twenty-four hours.

In England, flax straw costs, as yet, some fifteen dollars to twenty dollars per ton, delivered, while it may be profitably grown in this country for five dollars. We trust its production will henceforth be rapidly extended.— New York Tribune.

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THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

RICHMOND, JUNE, 1852.

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HARVEST.

The far-famed harvest is approaching, that annual crisis in the farmer's hopes and labors which determines, to a great extent, the profits of his yearly products. Though we expect but a small return from our own investment this year, owing to the destruction by the joint-worm, we hope that many of our subscribers may reap an abundant harvest, and we shall give them some few hints about its management.

The first and most important thing to look at is the condition of the cradles, to see that they are properly constructed. They should be made of light and seasoned, but sound and strong materials. A great improvement on the old mode of making them, though one but little known, is the substitution of wire braces to the fingers for the wooden ones in general use. These are to be made of wire about the size of a large goose quill, with a screw thread cut on each end: one end screws into the finger and the other passes through the post with a tap on each side of it. The fingers of a cradle require to be let out or taken up, according to circumstances. When the wheat is wet from dew or a slight shower, they must be drawn in, and let out as the grain dries. Now this necessity of drawing them up occurs the very moment when the wooden braces have become wet, swollen and unmanageable. But the screws are worked equally well at all times. Besides hardly any two men cut with a cradle hung in the same way and with the fingers set out exactly in the same manner, and in this way of fixing them each man can in a very short time, and without trouble alter his cradle to suit himself. They are lighter also, and do not cut up and weaken the fingers by the large holes which the wooden braces require for their reception. And lastly, they are cheap and durable.

We would urge that the operation be commenced as early as the grain will bear it; and in deciding upon the proper time to begin the farmer should be governed rather by the condition of the grain than of the straw. Wheat will sometimes be in the dough state when the straw is partially green. Such wheat cannot gain by delay; while there is still sap in the straw it will cut so much more easily that fifty per cent, more may be saved in a day

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Jhan when the straw becomes dry and hard, and when cut before it is ripe and the heads hang down there is much less loss from shattering. If a full force cannot be commanded to secure the crop in good time, it may be economy to lose a little in the beginning by shrinking rather than to risk the loss of more both by shattering and shrinking. Grain cut before perfect maturity, diminishes in the size of the berry but not in the weight per bushel. After the grain once becomes dry standing in the head, it softens with every night's dews, and lightens as it dries in the day, and the daily loss is quite serious in this way: and if drenched by heavy rains it will lose two or three pounds to the bushel. On the whole it should be an object to have the crop secured as soon as possible, and the farmer should not be too nice in calculating what he may save where he risks so much, not only from these causes but from the chance of storms.

When the harvest commences some steady, good reaper should be selected to lead the gang, with orders to take a steady, moderate gait that will allow all the other cutters to keep up their rows, to lose no time, to wait for no one, and when he has cut out his row to walk back and commence another without delay. Each cutler should have his place as- ! signed him with a positive prohibition from crowding the man immediately in front of him. The best cradlers cut wider rows, the ; inferior cut narrower, and thus all keep to-! gether.

Each cradler should be followed by a binder •who is to bind the wheat in good sized bundles, as large as can be tied with a single length of straw. When tied let him drop the bundle smartly on the butt end so that most of them will stand erect. This will ascertain if the bundle is well tied and insure detection if it is not. The binder must keep up. Some people do not bind their wheat, but we prefer the : plan decidedly; it is heaped and shocked much more easily and handled throughout with less loss. The binder should be followed by heapers, and they by shockers to put the wheat in "dozens" or shocks according to the con-1 dition of the grain, care being taken if it is "dozened" to put as many of them logether as will afterwards make a good sized shock containing from two and a half to five bushels of wheat.

Some recommend that a revolving horse-rake follow immediately after the heaping to glean the scatiered wheat. But we doubt the policy of this. It encourages careless cutting, and it rarely saves much wheat. What it does get is so tangled that it can hardly ever be put up so as to be sheltered from rains, and as the rake generally comes after the shocks or dozens it is frequently left on the ground, where it is almost sure (o be caught in rain, and even if saved is so full of gravel, small stones and diit as to injure the sample, and sometimes the wheat machine. When the hogs can be got into the field speedily they make the best gleaners, and when they cannot, and considerable waste is unavoidable, as it sometimes is, a raker had better follow after each pair of binders.

By propetly proportioning the work and by selecting a good leader each hand is tasked throughout the day, every falling back is instantly observed, and the operations are simplified because they are systematized.

How many acr^s per day should be cut to the hand depends so much on the state of the wheat as to ripeness, its standing up, &c. and on the weather, thai it is impossible to say accurately. We know a case where a gang of nine cradlers,not selected but belonging solelf to one estate, averaged five hundred and tifte? 4 bushels of wheat to the cradle in eleven days, cutting over three and a half acres per day, but this was an extraordinary feat. It was supposed that three of them cut two thousand bushels of the grain. As far as it is allowable to speak of anything so uncertain we may say that two and a half acres is a fair average.

Care should be taken as to the diet. The meals should be regular, without too much, fresh meat or vegetables. Upon the disuse of ardent spirits we have substituted coffee twice a day. It is most refreshing to an exhausted man. Rice is the best vegetable, and to induce them to eat it, it should be cooked in various ways and with various condiments—(we must usually give it to them as a dessert.) Its somewhat constipating quality guards against diarrhosa. They should not have too much fresh meat or vegetables for the same reason that a horse at a period of unusual exertion; should not have grass or green corn. Supper, of bread and molasses, or something of thei sort, should be given in the field when they

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quit work. From dark to daylight at that tason is only eight hours, and a laborer restores the whole for sleep and should not be Inquired to seek his supper after he gets home. Frequently, as harvest is a season of excitement with them, negroes will sit up at their sports or their prayers nearly all night after a bard day's work, but this should on no account be permitted. They are on the next day neither as fit for work nor as safe from atiacks of sickness. Time is gained by giving two hours' rest at dinner. Sixteen hours a day of such violent labor is too much for human muscles and sinews to endure for many days together. As a drink we would recommend the following, though as we have not access to the recipe we are not sure that the proportions are :xactly right: Ten gallons water, one gallon nolasses, two quarts of vinegar, and one pound )f ginger. We prefer ice water as cold as it an be made. Many persons who have not fried it may think it will be death, but it is a tniitake. An overheated man cannot drink lis fill of ice water, and it is rather the quan-;ity taken into the stomach than the tempera-;ure that produces cramp. In Albemarle it lasbeen customary to use it for at least twenty

fear

they put forth all their strength for us, and is a time of some enjoyment with them, it is a pity to use harsh means if they do not absolutely require it. Good temper, conciliation, and a little management will usually effect more than harsher measures.

If the farmer permits his overseer to ride, which nine times in ten he ought not to do, he should at all events dismount him in the harvest field, and set him the example by dismounting himself. Both can superintend the wo r k much better on foot.

We always give them a grand dinner at the end of harvest and invite the hirelings to the feast, also a day's holiday. It increases the spirit with which they work, and we have never found that we sustained any loss by it, even in the busiest and most backward lime.

Iqp we have never had a negro cramped or nade sick in the harvest field from that or any Hher cause.

But as sickness may come from some pre-iisposition to it, even where every precaution ! las been used, we advise that a sufficient num-Jer—a small box—of pills, made after the fol-' owing recipe, be constantly carried in the jocket to be used when the first symptoms of :ramp or diarrhoea appear—one will generally tuffice if taken at that time and an additional jne, except in a very severe case, will hardly ver fail to produce relief. We know nothing )f them ourselves but they are recommended >y a friend in whom we have great confidence, Hid who assures us that, having commenced heir use from medical advice, he knows their ifficiency from experience: Pulverized opium 18 grains, pulverized capsicum (red pepper) 18 grains, gum camphor 12 grains, made into >.i pills.

An appeal to their pride, and kindness, never Displaced on the slave when judiciously ma-: lifested, should be the main agents in getting) he work out of them. As it is a season when

THE JOINT-WORM.

This dreaded enemy of wheat has again made its appearance in Albemarle, in Nelson also, as we hear, and we presume in all the other places that it infested last year.— We understand from the few farmers we have seen that it has already done them more harm than it did last year. Our own wheat we have just examined, and we would gladly compromise for half a crop from present appearances.

As it may have made its appearance in some new places we would say for the information of those who have never seen it, that the wheat which may have been looking very well, all at once in the course of a few days begins to fall back, and presents a peculiar sedgy appearance. Occasionally one or two stalks will rise in a bunch above the rest as green and vigorous as if nothing had happened, and will head much in advance of the rest, many of which will never head at all, or the head will be unable to escape from the boot. Many of the blades are mildewed, and sometimes splotches of a whitish mould will be seen upon them. A few stalks will be bent in the joint at angles of various degrees of inclination, and just where the bend occurs there will be a thickening of the Made, accompanied with transverse wrinkles on its upper side. Wi:hin, the stalk will be shrivelled and moulded to the altered form of the blade. The nidus of the maggot which is deposited can

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

be discerned in the shape of light colored ovoid elevations generally on the inside of the blade. The maggot itself, if it is hatched, cannot as yet be seen by the naked eye.

We have had some correspondence on the subject with Dr. Harris of Cambridge, Mass. perhaps the best entomologist in the United States, and he is now examining several specimens that we have sent hiin.

In a letter written to us before he had seen these he tells us that he supposes it to be identical with a similar fly which several years ago made its appearance in Massachusetts in the barley and caused the culture of that grain to be discontinued for a season. The difference was that that insect penetrated the straw, and this the blade; but Dr. Harris supposes that to have been accidental. But we think it is not well settled yet that ours does confine itself to the blade.

We are very well assured, from inspection of our wheat, to-day, (20th May,) that the stalk has been penetrated in numerous instances, though for want of a microscope we cannot be absolutely certain. We know, however, that the stalk is affected, to all appearance, as the blade generally is.

We presume the fact to be that at the time when the mischief is most plainly exhibited the stalk is too hard for the fly, which is at that time restricted to the blade, but that the sedgy wheat which never rises has had its stalk penetrated and the productiveness thereof destroyed when its tenderness was no obstacle to the ttibe of the fly.

We are thoroughly convinced that he will do so far more faithfully than it will be done by; the majority of those who offer to do it at tit' North. If we are not very much mistaken ht? has already by the analyses we published last month of some specimens of marl, thrown more light on that question than all the other analysts put together. We know that Mr. Edmund Ruffin, without pretending to decide absolutely upon their truth or precise value, has already begun to act upon the deductions they justify. We hope that every farmer who wishes his marl analyzed will send them without fail to Major Gilham.

AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY.

In the July number of the Southern Planter Major Gilham of the Military Institute at Lexington will commence a series of familiar essays on the very important subject of Agricultural Chemistry. From the study which Major Gilham has devoted to the subject we have reason to believe that he will treat it with ability, and invest it with sufficient interest to make it attractive. We bespeak for it, in advance, a careful and candid perusal In this connexion we would again call the attention, as we do without solicitation, of all of our friends who wish their soils analyzed, to the fitness of Major Gilham for the task.

SOUTHDOWN SHEEP.

It will be seen by reference to our advertising columns that Mr. Raleigh Colston of Albemarle, has for sale two rams of this celebrated breed of sheep. They are very fine animals. We were so much pleased with them that we obtained one of their brothers for our own use. For ordinary lands, if not foi all, they are, in our judgment, preferable to the Cotswold, or New Oxfordshire, or Bake-well, getting their living on a more inferioi pasture, being hardier, vastly superior as m^'.; ton, and making the best lambs for the butcZVJ Their wool is also finer, though of course the fleece is not so heavy.

Mr. Colston's sheep are no doubt quite as pure as many that a northern man would speak of as thoroughbred and ask fifty dollars apiece for. And it is quite a merit in our eyes thai they are bred in Virginia, by a Virginian, and are advertised in a Virginia paper, and en. dorsed by a Virginia editor. Why should we send to the North for anything which is to be had as low and of as good blood or quality right at home"?

But nothing in the above is to be considered as disparaging to Aaron Clement of Philadel phia. If persons are determined to buy fronr. home,.(and many will be compelled to do so,' let them trust to him and they will not regret it

MARYLAND STATE CATTLE SHOW

The Maryland Agricultural Society have, fixed upon the last Tuesday and three following days of October for their Cattle Show in 1S52

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TO CONTRIBUTORS.

kin a very kind notice which was recently taken of the Planter by "The Dispatch," the Editor says, truly, that we have endeavored to draw oat the abundant talent and ample experience of our own farmers without resorting to the essays of Northern farmers who do not understand our wants. That has really been our design, and until lately we have been tolerably successful in it; but our friends are beginning to forget us. Let us beg them to aid in supporting the stand they have already enabled the Planter to take. It is a matter in which their character is as much concerned as ours.

CLOVER.

"We would not be understood as fully en-iorsing the following views contained iu an agricultural address of Mr. Gowan of Mount Airy, near Philadelphia. But we present them as the doctrines of a farmer who has fairly ;arned a title to respectful consideration on any subject of practical agriculture. But his lotion of the unimportance of turning under ?S>en clover simply because it is green, was ;he notion of John Taylor of Caroline:

"While treating of plaster, clover, from association, naturally presents itself; and as time will not permit to enter upon cropping and culture. I feel inclined to make a passing remark upon it here. There is a prevailing opinion that clover is favorable to the land as a non-exhauster, if not an ;nricher of the soil. If it derive this character from the idea that it draws more louri.-hment from the air than the soil, I »eg leave to dissent. I am not much of a jeliever in the doctrine of atmospheric nu-:rirnent, and yet I am not prepared to re-ect it in toto. A close observation will jstablish. I think, that it is owing to the ihade the clover imparts to the land that t exhausts so little of the soil. Buckwheat urnishes another instance, with this dirfer-ince, that the supply required to fill the lead or mature the grain in the buckwheat, s greater than what is needed to form the lowers of the clover. Shade is a wonder-ol conservator of soil; and this suggests low careful we should be to expose our |

land as little as possible, in a bare or naked state, to the severity of our summer suns and winter frosts. But to shade may be reckoned the loss sustained in the clover, end consequent gain to the land, from so much of it being left on the field at haymaking, especially when thecloveris grown with timothy, a practice that cannot be too strongly condemned. The top-dressing thus given involuntarily to the land, from the best and strongest parts of the clover— the fine leavesand flowers strewn around— contributes in no small degree to the good condition claimed for the soil after crops of clover; add to this, the quantity of clover roots spewed out upon the land through freezing and thawing, left to rot upon it, and you have almost the sum total of the causes which lead to the hypothesis that clover is a non-exhauster, or improver of the soil. If this be the case, is it not proper we should look closer into cause and effect, and not blindly follow illusive practices, so subversive of our own prosperity? I must not be understood as condemning the practice of growing clover: I condemn it not, but insist ihat every crop grown should be well husbanded, and put to its proper use, and not wasted on the field where it is grown. And here it may not he out of place to explain why clover and timothy should not be grown together.— One ruling objection is, they do not ripen at the same time. If the clover be cut when ready for mowing, the timothy cut with it is of little account, not having attained its growth; it shrivels astonishingly in the sun while drying; what is of it is acid, disagreeable in taste, and unwholesome, from not having matured or elaborated its sap. If, on the other hand, the timothy is left to ripen, the clover then is almost a total loss, nothing of it reaches the barn fit for cattle, or even fit to supply the place of straw. Independently of this, if a fine sod is desirable, as it undoubtedly should be, it never can be found with timothy and clover. Why? Because, from the start at growing till the end of their respective terms, they are in habit, taste, and condition uncongenial, and, therefore, inappropriatelyput together. While growing together the first season, the bushy head of the cloverpusb.es aside or smothers the tiny blades of the young timothy; next spring, much of the clover has been forced from the ground by the frosts of winter, leaving the stems and roots of the timothy sadly exposed to the freezing and thawing of March, with its occasional chilling

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

winds; and hence the impossibility to find a continuous, compact sod, on any field thus cropped. And who takes the pains to calculate the loss on spaces left bare where the clover stood, or reflects on the impropriety of wasting land and labor? When timothy is required, it should be sown alone, and permitted to mature suitably for hay. Orchard grass and clover may be sown together, because they ripen at the same time, and delight in the same soil; but where a good, well-set sod is wanted, to last for several years, no red clover should be sown with the timothy or orchard grass. The clover should be kept by itself, and confined to fields or patches intended soon to be broken up.

"There is another remark, however it may conflict with preconceived opinion or established usage, a sense of duty compels me to make; and that is, of all the time-wasting, land-cheating practices, none is more to be deprecated than that of turning in green crops, as a succedaneum for manure. In whatever place this is practised, however strong the land may be at the start, the system, if persevered in, must inevitably bring the land, its owners and the country into a slate of poverty. No good husbandman would think of pursuing such a course. Think of the time lost in preparing ground for a crop, seeding it, and instead of allowing it to mature, to be gathered to the barn, ploughing it under, to serve as manure to the land on which it was raised! Manure, indeed! To call the acidulated water, which the decomposition of partly grown clover, buck wheat, &c, produces, manure, would be a misnomer—the calling of a thing by the wrong name. Where a winter crop in the spring shows nnmistakeable signs of proving a failure, a clever farmer should, and would plough it in, and substitute a summer crop in its stead, so as to provide against loss of time producing, and to get what he could for the manure he had bestowed upon the winter crop the previous fall. It is intolerable, the cant of want of vegetable matter in (he soil, as excuse for turning in green crops. No soil that is well supplied with barn-yard manure, and laid down to grass occasionally through a judicious rotation, can be destitute of vegetable matter. If the turning in, year after year, scant crops of clover and the like, be persisted in, the land so treated must, in a brief period become not only destitute of vegetable mould, but of every other organic ingredient necessary to fertility."

ERRATUM.

A mistake occurred in the last number in. ascribing an article sent us by a gentleman from King George, on the Culture of Corn, to the Prince George Hole and Corner Club.— The introduction to that article was mislaid, and the Prince George article was the one written by Mr. Russel.

Our subscriber of Western Branch, whose paper goes to Portsmouth, failed to subscribe his name to his letter of May 11th, inclosing one dollar for subscription to this paper for the year 1852. He will please send it that we may give him credit.

DE BOW'S REVIEW.

The June number of this valuable periodical has been received. We have not yet had an opportunity to read it. When we have done so, we will speak of its merits.

From the Rural New Yorker. HAWK CATCHING.

A singular but effectual method for destroying hawks, that greatest terror to all poultry yards, has recently been communicated to me. My informant says he took -no less than seven the first day. They had previously been so frightened with powder and ball, that he could no longer reach them with his rifle. The world will not be much the wiser, or fowls generally more safe, on account of his discovery, unless it be published; and, should you deem it' worth publishing, you may give it to your readers.

It is simply to erect, in an open field near by, a post a few inches in diameter made square at the top, and say five or six feet above the ground. Place on this, a smart steel trap, fastened with a short chain. The intruder will be sure to take his stand there, it being a capital spot to make hi3 observations; he sets foot on treacherous ground, is easily captured, and should be removed soon so as not to alarm others.

Lansing; Michigan, 1851.

J. M. C.

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

183

I

From the Southern Cultivator. MURRAIN IN CATTLE.

I Mr. Editor, —Distemper in cattle seems . :o be caused in this section by undue ex-: josure to the hot sun. A bare pasture, ' vith but little shade, is therefore unfavora-jle. The cattle are thus compelled to feed n the heat of the day; and this evil is some-imes increased by their passing through i long lane to the cow-pen before sunset, ind reluming after sunrise in the morning. It is found that when an animal is first ittacked. he separates himself from the lerd, seeks some retited spot, hangs his lead, and ceases to ruminate. If he can )e discovered within four or five hours after his symptom appears, the disease maybe irrested by drenching with a decoction of joke root. The urine is now reddish; a Tew hours later it is bloody, and at this ;tage of the disease no cure is known. He expires in less than twenty-four hours. When cattle are furnished with an un-imited supply of clean, strong ashes and fait, they usually escape. Of this mixture, say one of salt to twenty of ashes, 1 have known my cattle require a pint a day on in average, to each animal for weeks in succession. Air slaked lime and salt have itso been used as a preventive; and a dis-Vfuished agriculturist in this State confers this as infallible. By mixing a little meal with it it is made more palatable.

The disease usually breaks out here in June, where precautionary measures have been imperfectly attended to, and no subsequent care or attention will arrest it. I ve lost several by it the present year. Unless the ashes are clean, cattle will not tburh them; and the owner may be deceived in supposing they have a plentiful supply, when, in fact, they are suffering.

The plan pursued in preparing the drench, is to put a double handful of the poke root in a half gallon of water, and boil down to a quart. Give it milk-warm, and repeat the dose in eight or ten hours.

J. A. Near Bealtvford, N. C. Oct. 1851.

Mr. Editor. —In your August number I see an article over ihe signature of G. W. L. requesting that some of your readers would furnish a recipe for the cure of the murrain. I would recommend him to drench the animal with a strong decoction of peach-tree leaves, produced by boiling; use say from one quart to one gallon. I

have myself tried it and have known it tried with great success.

Before discovering the above remedy I resorted to the treatment of the veterinary physicians of England without success; which is depletion by blood-letting, and purgatives, and changing the cattle to poorer pasturage. What is called the murrain in the portion of the South with which I am acquainted, differs widely from what is called the murrain in Europe. It is there considered entirely inflammatory; in the South it is inflammatory to some extent, but not so much so as in Europe, consequently requires a different treatment.

James Davis. Evergreen Hill, Polk Co. Texas, Sept. 6.

Mr. Editor, —In the August number of the Cultivator I offered an inquiry in re-j ference to the treatment of Murrain in Cattle. In the September number you have expressed a desire that I will favor you with a full description of the symptoms of this disease which has proved so fatal \ to the cattle in a large district of Madison county. I will here remark, that I have had some experience and made some observations with my own stock, and those j of my neighbors since the year 1S45, for I j have escaped its ravages one year only j since that time up to the present. The cause that produces the disease is so ob-( scure that I believe no one, at least in my knowledge, has, as yet, been able to detect it; it remains a mystery hidden in the ar-j cana of nature, to be discovered only by patient research and philosophical induc-j tion. It is possible that chemistry, assisted j bv physiojogy, may yet reveal the mystery. Almost every farmer who has observed this disease has some favorite theory, and unfortunately for the advancement of truth, scarcely any two of us will agree. Among the popular causes assigned for this disease, I will mention a few: the extensive broomsedge fields unenclosed, that in a great measure supply our cattle with pasturage during the spring and summer months. Others attribute it to the immense number of ticks that adhere to our cattle, while others say it. is for want of salt; these, with a thousand other causes, are assigned, which are too frivolous to mention.

I am salisfied that the causes assigned above,together with all others I have heard ascribed, are unfounded, destitule of any foundation in truth. They are mere opi-

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER

nions hastily formed, and are as often, as they deserve to be, nastily discarded. It has been among my cattle since 1S45, as I before remarked, every year except 1848, and during that year I pastured my cattle on broomsedge alone, and they were never healthier; they were fat all the season and as fine beef as our market affords. Now if the pasturing on broomsedge will produce murrain, why were my cattle free from it when they grazed on broomsedge and that alone? During that season one of my neighbors in sight lost thirty-two head; they grazed as my stock did, and drank the same kind of water, (limestone.) To attribute it to the ticks is equally unfounded, if not ridiculous, for I have had my cattle to die of it that never had a tick on them. It cannot be regarded as contagious, for I have known the cattle of one man to pass directly among those of another which had it, and graze round Ihe dead carcasses of those which have died of it, and yet escape its ravages. There are two kinds of murrain—the bloody and dry; the bloody is generally most fatal— the symptoms are not materially different. Symptoms. —The eyes are weak and languid, the horns are cold generally and hollow, excessively prostrated, and in attempting to walk they stagger as though they were under the influence of buck-eye or ivey. The whole nervous system appears to be prostrated and the faculties of the secretory organs suspended. A cow may milk well in the morning, and if attacked during the day no milk will be found secreted in the udder at night. In a few hours after the attack, the ears hang as though the animal had neither the energy nor ability to elevate them. They are not disposed to eat or drink. On a post-mor-tem.examination, the brain is disorganized, altered in appearance and color; the kidneys in a high state of inflammation; the bladder filled with urine of a bloody hue ; the stomach frequently disorganized, and filled with a red or yellow fluid; in fact the whole animal organization presents an appearance differing widely from those that die with any other disease. This disease appears to be peculiarly fatal to milk cows. I have never known a cow attacked while giving milk, that ever recovered. I need not mention any of the remedies that I have used, as none of them have ever been successful. I have attempted to sketch briefly the developments of this fatal disease; if I have been Successful in any degree, so that any of your correspondents

can offer any antidote that may result in I arresting it, 1 shall feel that I have accoix^i plished that which I greatly desire. t i

J. W. L.

From the Herald and Free Press.

HILLING INDIAN CORN.

Mr. Iredell, —It is a mooted question in the agricultural world, and will probably, long remain an undecided one, whether Indian corn should be "hilled." For my own part, I must confess that both observation and experience have convinced me that it should not. I do not intend to discuss the subject philosophically, in this paper, but merely to state the result of experiments. In the summer of 1850 I had a piece of corn—comprising about on* acre—half of which I hilled up with a, broad, conical hill at the last hoeing, the other being left flat. Both plans were de-J cidedly good, and both had received thai same quantity of manure, and precisely the same cultivation, with the exception j above named. In July there came a heavy j tornado, and the corn in both pieces was ] much prostrated, but on examining I found that the hilled piece was broken off, in I many cases, indeed in almost every htfLl while the unbilled or level part, had I 1 ! caped. The consequence was, that thei plants on the latter rose, while those oil the former did not, but retained, to a great extent, the recumbent position they had been compelled to take by the wind. There was also a very perceptible difference in the quantity of the crop in favor of the former. Now let us examine the reason for. this. When fresh soil is brousht up around the corn stafk, it induces a fresh evolution j of brace or lateral roots, and this every time fresh accessions of dirt are made. But the brace roots do not tend in a very powerful degree, to the support of the plant; they are too superficial—the soil is] light, and they sway with the swaying of the plant. Besides, the effect of the dirt-is to blanch and render brittle the portion of the stalk around which it is placed, and I consequently liable to snap off before even a moderate wind. If no dirt was to be brought up, the original laterals or brace roots would extend themselves, acquire size and energy, and be capable, by their magnitude and strong hold upon a firm soil, of supporting the plant in any wind; My plan is to plant so as to have the rows

,

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER

185

rn both ways of the piece, i. e. cross each tfher at right angles, which admits of orking the crop with the harrow or culti-'tor, and to keep the surface entirely %vel. There is no philosophy whatever, n making any elevation above the roots 10 far a erned

very reflecting person, that the exposure »f an extra extent of surface, in a dry time, s in the case of hilling, must increase the Sect of drought.

Ageicola.

all are made from the wood of the tree. His spoons, his forks, his basins, his mugs, his salt-cellars, his jars, his child's moneybox, are all constructed from the shell of the nut. Over his couch when born, and over his grave when buried, a bunch of

s the support of the plants is con- j cocoa-nut blossoms is hung to charm away and it must be obvious, I think, to ! evil spirits.— Dickens' Household Words.

SUGAR FROM INDIAN CORN.

THE COCOA-NUT PALM TREE.

A patent was granted in 1850 for making sugar out of com meal, which is worthy I of notice. Twenty-five bushels of corn I meal are mixed with one hundred and fifty ! gallons of water, at a temperature of one When the Cingalese villager has felled ! hundred and seventy-five degrees, and to ne of these trees after it has ceased bear- j this is added twenty-five pounds of vitriol, to ng. (say in its seventieth year.) with its which, after stirring well, fifty more gallons runk he builds his hut, and his bullock j 0 f water are added, and the whole run into tall, which he thatches with its leaves.; a boiler, (a leaden one we presume,) when ■lis bolts and bars are slips of the bark; | the contents are boiled by high pressure y which he also suspends the small shelf 1 steam. The boiling is continued until, by vhich holds his stock of home-made uten- j the trial of a little iodine, with a portion of Is and vessels. He fences his little plot; the mixture in a saucer, it does not turn f chillies, tobacco, and fine grain, with i blue, which shows the operation to be combe leaf stalks. The infant is swung to : plete. Chalk is then added to neutralize 'eep in a rude net of coir-string, made any of the free sulphuric acid, when the om the husk of the fruit; its meal of rice : whole liquor above the sediment- at the nd scraped cocoa-nut is boiled over a fire j bottom,is run oR'and concentrated to chrys-f cocoa-nutshells and husks, and is eaten tallize. This is one of the wonders of )Qh dish formed of the plaited green leaves j chemistry; sugar is now made of corn, by if^he tree, with a spoon cut out of the ■ boiling it along with a virulent acid.— Sci-ut-shell. ! eniijic American.

When he goes a fishing by torch-light, \

lis net i3 of cocoa-nut fibre; the torch or

hule is a bundle of dried cocoa-nut leaves

nd flowerstalks; the little canoe isatrunk

f the cocoa palm tree, hollowed by his

>wn hands. He carries home his net and

lis string offish on a yoke, or pingo, formed

»f a cocoa-nut stalk. When he is thirsty

le drinks of the fresh juice of the young .

fat; when he is hungry, he eats its soft requested to give immediate notice of the

ternel. If he has a mind to be merry, be , omission, in order that the correction may be

a glass of arrack, distilled from the J made in the next issue: ermented juice of the palm, and dances | Braxton Davenport, to January, 1853, the music of rude cocoa-nut castanets; j ac kson & Williamson, to Jan. 1853, f he be weary, he quafi's toddy of the un- j George H. Toler, to April, 1853, ermented juice, and flavors his curry with j E. Jacobs, to January, 1854, ,-inen'ar made from this toddy. T. Y. Tabb, tcr July, 1853,

Should he be sick, his body will be rub- ! William Sydnor,-to April, 1853, )ed with cocoa-nut'oil; he sweetens his i £ B - St0 J, all > ^January, 1853 „ffee with ja SS ery, or cocoa-nut sugar, | ^ ^fcjg* A P n , !853, md soitens it with cocoa-nut milk; it is i w w Michau ' x to July 1853 »p;,ed by the light of a lamp, constructed j James ' M . Bosher, to January, 1853, rom a cocoa-nut shell, and led by cocoa- j Dr . W. A. Fuqua, to January, 1853, lutoil. His doors,hiswindovvs,his shelves, | Dr. W. S. Easley, to May, 1853, its chairs, thewater gutter under the eaves, | John F. Link, to April, 1853,

PAYMENTS TO THE SOUTHERN PLANTER,

From May 1st to June bth, 1852.

All persons who have made payments early enough to be entered, and whose names do not appear in the following receipt list, are

$1 00 1 00

1 00 4 00

2 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER

George Poage, to August, 1852, ftl 00

J. W. Bell, to July, 1853, 1 00

J. B. Breekenridge, to July, 1853, 1 00

S. B. Brown, to January, 1853, 1 00

R. N. Trice, to January, 1853, 1 00

Arthur Brown, to September, 1852, 1 00

H. Chandler, to September, 1852, 1 00

Joseph W. Hutt, to September, 1852, 1 00 Presley Saunders, to September, 1852, 1 00 T. H. Bowcock, to September, 1852, 1 00 Landon C. Berkeley, to September, 1853, 1 00

1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 5 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 5 00 1 00 1 62 1 00 1 00

1 00

2 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 0 77

Thomas Betterton, to May, 1852, Peter Boisseau, to January, 1853, William Pollard, to January, 1853, Robert Harvey, to May, 1853, Robert Roades, to January, 1853, John Carroll, to January, 1853, William Morton, to May, 1853, Capt. Jacob Morton, to June, 1853, Orris Moore, to January, 1852, R. A. Kidd, to January, 1853, J. L. Thomas, to January, 1853, Col. W. B. Davis, to January, 1853, Paul Jones, to May, 1853, B. W. Belsches, to Januarv, 1852, Dr. D. C. Winfree, to May, 1853, Dr. George W. Morris, to June, 1852, Garrett Cunningham, to January, 1853, Warner Lewis, to January, 1853, Capt. W. A. Lee, to January, 1851, B. C. Jones, to January, 1853, Dr. A B. Hooe, to January, 1853, Col. James S. Dillard, to April, 1853, R. T. Bibb, to January, 1853, Daniel Hatcher, to January, 1853, John H. Sandford, to May, 1853, William C. Graves, to July, 1853, Mrs. E. B. Murphy, to April, 1853, \Ym. M. Harrison, to January, 1853,

A. C. Hartman, to July, 1852, Albert G. Green, to April, 1853, George W. Claiborne, to April, 1853, ) William S. King, to April, 1853, S Edward A. Carter, to April, 1853, ) Joseph M. Fowlkes, to April, 1853, 1 Thomas B. M'Gehee, to April, 1853, [ William G. Bradley, to April, 1853, ) Howsfin A. Clarke, to April, 1853, ') Thomas Harvey, to April, 1853, Henry M. Vaughan, to April, 1853, j. Major T. H. Staples, to April, 1853, | T. D. Bichardson, to April, 1853, J James Sims, to January, 1853,

H. B. Brightwell, to April, 1853, "1 H. G. Richardson, Jr. to April, 1853, | W. A. Armistead, to April, 1853, |

B. H. Brightwell, to April, 1853, John W. Ritchie, to April, 1853, Richard W. Dalby, to April, 1853, John B. M'Gehee, to April, 1853, ! William II. Carter, to April, 1853, { F.P.Wood, to April, 1853, Thomas H. Almond, to April, 1853, j Thos. E. Perkinson, to April. 1833, j Wm. E. Bradshaw, to April,'l853, Joseph Blanton, to April, 1853, James B. Anderson, to April, 1853, J

2 25

2 25

85 1 00'

10 78

George W. Ranson, to April, 1853, 3 Isaac Pleasants, to April, 1853, John Thompson, to April, 1853, Pike Powers, to April, 1853, Thomas J. Michie, to April, 1853, D. Burkheart, to April, 1853, John J. Grantham, to April, 1853, Frank T. Forbes, to April, 1853, James Henshaw, to July, 1852, R. F. Grimes, to January, 1854, John A. Fleet, to January, 1853, John Walker, to May, 1853,

D. W. K. Bowles, to January, 1853, Joseph S. Perkins, to May, 1853, John White, to January, 1853, Thomas J. Rains, to April, 1853, Ed. Y. Hamlin, to January, 1853, John D. Brown, to January, 1853, Adams Suchbaugh, to April, 1853, Gideon Flippo, to July, 1853,

Col. M. M. Payne, to April, 1853, C. S. Wainwright, to June, 1853, Col. T. J. Boyd, to January, 1853, Dr. John S. Trible, to January, 1853, Robert W. Fernihough, to Jan. 1853, George W. Philips, to January, 1853, David C. Belfield, to January, 1853, ' Orville Jeffries, to January, 1853, W. A. Love, to May, 1853, John P. H. Russ, to April, 1853, William S. Wright, to January, 1852, William M. Tate, to April, 1853, R. H. Harrison, to January, 1853, Joseph H. Skelton, to January, 1853, W. A. Binford, to January, 1852, Thomas B. Martin, to Januarv, 1853, George W. Kyle, to January, 1853, Dr. Wm. P. Mosely, to January, 1853, Mrs. L. W. Barlow, to January, 1853, A. R. Spencer, to January, 1853, Samuel D. Morton, to January, 1853, John B. Spencer, to April, 1853, Cornelius Gooch, to January, 1853, William T. Wright, to January. 1853, John W. Paxton, to January, 1853, Charles C. Highiower, to January, 1853, Capt. N. N. Witcher, to April, 1853, J. O. Pollard, to January, 1853, Capt. Sterling Lipscomb, to Jan. 1853, H. B. Littlepage, to January, 1853, Edwin G. Scott, to May, 1853, William S. Thornton, to May, 1853, Daniel Mayes, to May, 1853, Robert P. Taylor, to January, 1853, William Britiingham, to January, 1853, Isaac Rose, to January, 1853, Elbert F. Redd, to Mav, 1853, John H. Parkhill, to Januarv, 1853,

E. M. Jones, to January, 1853, A. K. Shepard, to January. 1852, William Mann, to July, 1851, (in full,) N. F. Cabell, to January, 1853,

Dr. B. M. Francisco, to October, 1852, John Chandler, to January, 1853, Elijah D. Hundley, to April, 1853, W. Land rum, to January, 1853, A. D. Toot, to January, 1853,

V< 01 0'

en

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oo! 00 i 00 j 00 00 00 00! 00 j

oo! 00 I 00 I

oo I

00,

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00

001

00

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00 00

2 00 6 75 5 00 1 00 1 00 1 00

3 00 1 00

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

187

James Fife, to January, 1853, K. S. Nelson, lo January, 1853, /T. Oscar Rodgers, to July, 1852, JW. A. Rogers, to June, 1853, ffcev. A. L. Holliday, to May, 1853, "Benjamin Estes, to May, 1853, James T. Alexander, to January, 1853, Albert Branch, to January, 1854, James S. Walker, to June, 1853, Julian Harrison, to April. 1854, John H. Barksdale, to May, 1853, Wm. Weaver, to May, 1853, N. B. Hill, to May, 1853, Col. J. Hargrave, to January, 1853, W. Parsons, to January, 1853, R. F. Dillard,'to January, 1853, Adolph Dill, to January^ 1853, James E. Williams, to May, 1853, Dr. W. S. Morton, to May, 1853, Stephen Hicks, to May, 1853, Thomas J. Stevens, to May, 1853, Richard Jones, to January, 1853, John M'AlisteV, to January, 1853, David H. Clarke, to January, 1853, John Hughes, to January, 1853, Robert Moore, to July, 1853, T. M. Washington, to May, 1853, George G. Tyler, to May, 1853, Dr. Carr Bowers, to January, 1853, Dr. C. B. Stuart, to May, 1853, Dr. John B. Grayson, to May, 1853, Wm. W. Monroe, to May, 1853, D. H. Gamble, to April, 1853, A. T. Goodwin, to January, 1853, Thomas R. Gresham, to January, 1853 Corbin Watkins, to January, 1853, . \ F. Carl'on, to Januaiy, 1653, S*. W. Diggs, to January, 1853, James Jones, to January, 1854, Wm. Doswell, to July,"l853, Joseph J. Dnval, to July, 1852, John B. Oniohundro, September, 1852, C. Glover, to June, 1853, Wm. M. Branch, to May, 1853, Estate of Samuel Finch, dec'd (in full. Wm. O. Fontaine, to January, 1853, James Chesher, to May, 1853. Goodrich Wilson, to May, 1853, J. W. Ware, lo January, 1853, John D. Turner, to July, 1852, Marshall Hairston, to January, 1853, Wm. Cleaveland, to June, 1853, Richard I. Cocke, to June, 1853, Joseph Payne, to June, 1853, Baylor Temple, to July, 1852, T. B. Hamlin, to January. 1853, Josiah W. Dewberry, to May, 1853, Thomas R. Bridgefonh, to May, 1853, William Weeks, Jr. to May, 1853, William J. Pngh, to May, 1853, William H. House, to June, 1853, W. Colwell, to January, 1853, B. Dickman, to January. 1853, Thomas W. Lowry, to January, 1S53, Hugh Chandler, to May, 1853, Thomas L. Jones, to January, 1853, Corbin Warwick, to January, 1853,

SI 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00

1 00

2 00

1 00

2 00 1 00 1 00 1 00

1 00

2 00

1 00

2 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00

1 00

2 00 5 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00

, 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00

3 00 7 00 3 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 3 00 1 00 1 00 1 00

1 00

2 00 2 00 1 00 1 00

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From the American Agriculturist.

THE DOG DISTEMPER AGAIN.

The best remedy is the simplest. The distemper in the dog is an inflammation of the lungs and the membranes which surround them. It is something akin to consumption in the human system. The stomach of the animal, in distember, is always oppressed with a large quantity of mucus, which keeps the lungs, membranes, &c. in a state of constant irritation. Hence the severe cough which accompanies this disease—the cause removed, of course the effect ceases; and the patient recovers. Take a handful of flue table salt, hold open the dog's mouth, pour it down his throat, and hold his jaws together until the salt is all dissolved and swallowed. In about a nitnute he will vomit, and throw up great quanties of mucus, and in many cases will throw up a little bladder, about the size of a pigeon's egg, which he should by no means be allowed to swallow again. The salt maker the dog very sick, but it only lasts a fes-minutes, and it is not in any way dangew ous; this process should be repeated every other day for a week, diminishing the dose at each time. This never injures the constitution of the animal, as sulphur most certainly will, if he is exposed to wet weather. Salt is the remedy which 1 always use with my pointers, and it never fails. A Constant Reader.

AGRICULTURAL, WAREHOUSE.

THE subscriber continues to manufacture Agricultural Machines and Implements, such as Horse Powers, Threshers or Drums, Fan Mills,different patterns; Seed Drills,different patterns; Corn Mills, Corn and Cob Crushers, Straw Cutlers, Corn Shellers, a va-rietv; Hill Side and Sub Soil Ploughs, Cultivators, Harrows, Grain Cradles, Reapers, &c. &c. all of which will be made in the best manner, and of approved patterns. My Horse Power and Drum, with self-oiling box, have been tested three seasons, and uniformly pronounced to be the best in use.

Machines repaired in the best manner.— Castings in Iron and Brass furnished at short notice. H. BALDWIN,

ap—3t 148, Main street.

OSAGE ORANGE PLANTS FOR HEDGES.—A few thousand raised by myself, for sale.

WM. H. RICHARDSON.

Richmond , Jan. 1,1852.—31.

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

DEVON BULLS FOR SALE.

THE subscribers, having lately eniered upon the business of Breeding Devon Cattle, now, tor the first time, offer tor sale some of' their Bull Calves. Theirstock is all recently imported from the celebrated herds of Messrs. George Turner and James duartly, Devonshire, England, who are well known as ihe first breeders of Devons in the world; and being in no way related to the older importations into this country, their bulls will afford a good opportunity for crossing the old slocks.

Those we now offer are Uncas and Keokuk; the first, calved March 19th, 1851—the other, February 17th, 1852; their pedigree is the same, viz: sire, " Megunticook," grandsiie, "Prince Albert," dam, "Non-Pareille," by " Lord Lynedock." " Megunticook" won the first prize at the American Institute in 1850, and at the New York State Show in 1851.— "Non-Pareille" won the first prize at Barnstable, Devonshire, in 1810', and at the New York State Show in 1851. "Prince Albert" and "Lord Lynedock" were both favorite prize bulls of Mr. Gluartly. Also "Red Jacket, calved May 5th, 1852; sire, " Megunticook," dam, "Meadow Lilly," by " Baronet," grand dam, "Helena," bred by Mr. James GUiartiy.— "Baronet" has won four first prizes, including that at the Royal Agricultural Society's Show, at Norwich, England, in 1849.

Several animals from our herd will be exhibited at the New York State Show, to be held at Utica in September next, and at the American Institute in October. They may all be seen at any time on our place, two miles north of Rhinebeck Landing, on the Hudson river. (As yet we have not any heifers for sale.) W. P. & C. S. WAINWRIGHT.

Rhinebeck, Duchets county, N. Y.

je-3t

PILKINGTON'S OR LUCK'S IMPROVED PATENT SMUT MACHINE.

THIS Machine has proved itself to be one of unrivalled excellence. It is warranted to answer every purpose of the most complete and expensive machinery of screens, rubbing stones, fans, &c. and will thoroughly clean the most smutty wheat. It is the best contrivance to take out chess, onions, and heavy grit, that has ever been used by millers. This machine is provided with selecting oil feeders to the journals, and requires to bev,i'. j i but once a week. It wholly does away with the small fan. It runs at the rate of one thousand revolutions per minute, requiring but little power. We have sold a large number of these machines, and they have in every case given entire satisfaction. Price JjifiO.

A B. ALLEN & CO. New York Agricultural Warehouse, 189 and

191 Water street, New York.

Jane, 1S52—3t

PLANTATION BOOK.

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

Contents. —Actual number of pounds to a Bushel of Wheat, Articles received for use ol Plantation, Brick-Kiln, Births of Negioes, 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 Mansger, Force of a Draught Horse, Horses, Hogs, Instructions to Managers, Implements, Journal or Daily Record, Medicines, Manure Tables, Mechanical Power, Effect of the Labor of an Active Man, Inventory of Negroes, Ox~n, Washington's Letters to his Steward, Plantation Management, Police, Ploughing Rules, Planting Distances, Physicians' Visits, Q.uan-' tity and Value of Produce Made. Quantity of Work of a Man and Two Horses, Riil -s r orthd Government and Discipline of the Negroes, Rotation Tables for Cultivation of Crops, Rural Economy, Sheep, Steam Engines, Stock and Implements, Tools, &c. used by the Negroes, Weight of Materials, Weights and | Measures, Wind Mills, Water Wheels, When a Horse Draws to Advantage, do. &c. j

There are extra sheets for mon*hly .'ffiijl yearly reports, for ihe use of those who do not live on their farms. The Book wi 11 be sent by mail free of postage to auy one who will remit the price in money c postage stamps.

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

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

"It will prc's a most valuable assistant to the planter, manager or oversepr, and a work that will facilitate them grea.iy in the transaction of business."— Richmond Dispatch.

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

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

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

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THE SOUTHERN PLANTER,

189

EWI3 G. MORRIS' Third Annual Sale, by Auction, of Improved Breeds of Do-

stic Animals, will take place at Mount

•dham, Westchester County, (11 miles Citv Hall, New York,) on Wednesday, ne 9, 1852. James M. Miller, Auctioneer. Application need not be made at private "e, as I decline in all cases, so as to make it

object for persons at a distance to attend, ale positive to the highest bidder, without serve.

Numbering about fifty head of Horned ock, including a variety of ages and sex, nsisting of Pure Bred Short Horns, Devons d Ayrshires; Southdown Buck Lambs, and very few Ewes; Suffolk and Essex Swine, atalogues, with full Pedigrees, &c. will be ady for delivery on the 1st of May—to be tained from the subscriber, or at the offices

anv of the principal Agricultural Journals

stores in the Union. This sale will offer e best opportunity to. obtain very fine ani-als I ever have given, as I shall reduce my rd lower than ever before, contemplating a p to Europe, to be absent a year, and shall

t have another sale until 1854. It will be seen by reference to the proceed-gs of our State Agricultural Society that I as the most successful exhibitor of Domestic Dimals at the late State Fair.

I will also offer a new feature to American ■eeders —one which works well in Europe, »t is, letting the services of male animals; and

II solicit propositions from such as see fit to it.

Conditions. —The animal hired to be at the ,k of the owner, unless by some positive ne-or carelessness of the hirer; the expense transportation to and from to be borne

wishes them, and they must be returned to me again on or about Chiistmas day. By this plan the party hiring gets rid of the risk and trouble of keeping a Buck the year round. All communications by mail must be prepaid, and I will pre-pay the answers.

L. G. MORRIS. Mount For dham, March, 1852—3t.

at

LIVINGSTON COUNTY PLOUGH.

riAHE subscriber having greatly increased I his facilities for manufacturing the above Ploughs, will be able to supply orders for Ploughs or Castings on a larger scale of the following numbers and sizes: No. 1. One Horse Plough "\ No. 2. Light 2 Horse Plough / No. 2J. " " " "

No.3. Heavy" " " i

No. 4. Three Plorse Plough J No. 4. Heavy 2 Horse Plough No. 5. Three Horse Plough No. 6. Four Horse Plough; but

generally used for 3 horses. )

These Ploughs are now displacing all others in many counties in Virginia. They are composed entirely of cast iron, wilh chilled points, &c. b'rom the simplicity of their construction, and the ease with which they are kept in order, they are peculiarly adapted to lave labor.

Personsdesirous of further information concerning these ploughs are referred to the fol-

Right Hand.

Left Hand.

lowing gentlemen, who now have them in use: Wm. A. Woods, Esq Charlotte County, G. S. Harper, Esq. Appamattox County, David Anderson, Jr. Louisa County,. F. G. Ruffin, Wm. Garth and P. H. Goodloe, Esqrs Albemarle County, Virginia. Persons disposed to deal in the Livingston ■; the term of letting, to be one year or | Covnty 'Plough, in neighborhoods wh^re they ss. as parties agree; price to be adjusted by j are no t already introduced, and on sale, will Hies—to be paid in advance, when the Bull i please address M. BRYAN,

taken away; circumstances would vary the j Steel's Tavern, Augusta Co. Va

ice: animal to be kept in accordance wilh ■ ■ .

ttra'ciions of owner before taking him away.' DAILY AND WEEKLY DISPATCH. I offer on the foregoing conditions three i HnHE Daily and Weekly Dispatch, publish-lebrated Prize Bulls "Major." a Devon,! JL ed' at the office on Governor street, near ne years old; "Lamartine," Short Horn,! Main. Richmond, Virginia—commenced in ar ye?rs old; "Lord Eryholme," Short October, 1850— have reached a very astonish-on", three years old. Pedigrees will be , ing popularity. The Daily Dispatch is a ven'in Catalogues. ■ penny paper and has an immense circulation

At the time of my sale, (and I would not! in Richmond and contiguous towns. Itaffords rtwi'h them before.) I shall have secured ; the best medium for advertising. Subsciibers o or three yearly setts of their progeny; I in the country furnished wilh the paper at the ! as I shall'send out in August next a ne'w I low price of Four Dollars per annum.

The WEEKLY DISPATCH is published at On.j Dollar Per Annum, and is therefore one of the cheapest Newspapers ever published. It is a handsome sheet and contains the News of the Day, together wilh Literaiy Se-jectfons from tne very best st tirces. The list is already very large and constantly increasing. e yearling Bucks, winners also, bred by me, j No paper wth be sent until paid for in advance. >m Bucks and Ewes imported direct from Hugh R. Pleasants is the chief contributor e above celebrated breeder; they will be let j to the editorial columns of the Daily and the same conditions as th» Bulls,excepting t Weekly dispatch. Address the Proprietor, at I will keep them until ihe party hiring! Richm nd, v

iportation of male animals, I shall not wan e services of either of these next year. I >uld not sell them, as I wish to keep control their propagating qualities hereafter. [ also have one imported Buck, the prize inner at Rochester last fall imported direct jm the celebrated Jonas Webb; and also

Virginia.

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

AUSTRALIAN WHEAT.-VERY SUPERIOR. rPHE berry of this grain is extra large, and JL makes the best of flour. It produces a greater average crop than any other variety now grown in New York. Several years'experience in its cultivation, proves that it is less liable to rust or mildew than other kinds; and as the stalk is large and strong, it is also less liable to blow down or lodge. Price, $4 per bushel. (Hher varieties of wheat, such as the "White Flint, Mediterranean, Black Sea, &c.

Also Agricultural Implements of all kinds, and Field and Garden Seeds.

A. B. ALLEN & CO. 189 and 191 Water street, New York.

june—3t

EAGLE FOUNDRY.

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

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

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

COCHIN CHINA AND SHANGHAE FOWLS.

THE subscriber has for sale a few pairs of Pure Blooded Fowls, from the above stock, originally imported by himself, warranted true to their name, and not surpassed by any other stock, for good qualities, in the country. Reference given in regard to them if desired.

Orders addressed to the subscriber for the same will receive attention.

CHARLES SAMPSON. West Roxbury, Mass. June, 1852.—2t

2 SOUTHDOWN BUCKS FOR SALE.

THE subscriber has for sale Two Bucks of the Southdown Blood. These Sheep are descended from the best Southdown stock in England. They are grandsired by the buck imported by Bishop Meade from the flock of Mr. Webb, and they are sired by an equally good and well bred sheep, obtained of the late Dr. M'Caulay, near Baltimore. This sheep has a long pedigree of illustrious ancestors. My Lucks are seven-eighths Southdown and the remainder Cotswold and Bakewell blood, and are now one year old, and ready for service in October next.

RALEIGH COLSTON, Near Woodville Depot P. O. Albemarle.

VALUABLE AGRICULTURAL] WORKS for sale by NASH & WOOD-HOUSE, Eagle Square.

The Complete Farmerand Rural Econorr^| and New American Gardener, by T. J. FeslHI den, in one volume, about 700 pages, clotij I gilt—SI 25.

Johnston's Agricultural Chemistry—a new edition, in one volume, l2mo. cloth, gilt—SI 25,

Johnston's Elements of Agricultural Che-mistry—50 cents.

Johnston's Practical Agriculture, one vol cloih—75 cents.

Buist's Family Kitchen Gardener, cloth— 75 cents.

Hoare's Treatise on the Cultivation of the Grape Vine on open Walls—50 cents.

Sheep Husbandry, by H. S. Randall—SI 25.

Stephens' Book of the Farm, complete—$4.

Browne's American Poultry Yard, tenth edition— SI-

Allen's American Farm Book, one volume-Si. Mail edition—75 cents.

Allen's Diseases of Domestic Animals, one volume—75 cents.

Chemistry Made Easy for Farmers, paper— 25 cents.

Southern Agriculture; or, Essays on the Cultivation of Corn, Hemp, Tobacco, Wheii &c—Si.

Dana's Prize Essay on Manures—25 cents,

Miner's American Bee Keeper's Manual—' SI. Mail edition—75 cents.

Brown's American Bird Fancier—50 cents. Mail edition—25 cents.

Canfield on the Breeds, Management, Strut-ture and Diseases of Sheep—SI.

The American Architect, the cheapest best work of the kind published in the wor/d,l complete in 24 numbers, at 25 cents each, (j S'5 for the work complete—S6 bound in two volumes.

Youatt and Martin's Treatise on Cattle,; with one hundred illustrations, edited by Ambrose Stevens, Esq.—SI 25.

Youatt on the Breed and Management oil Sheep, with illustrations—75 cents.

Elements of Agriculture, translated from thej French, by F.G. Skinner, adapted for Schools— | 25 cents.

Gunn's Domestic Medicine; or, Poor Man'i Friend in Affliction, Pain and Sickness—$3

mar—ly

UNION AGRICULTURAL WAR& HOUSE AND SEED STORE.

EALPH & Co. No. 23 Fulton street, New 1 York, near Fulton Market, Dealers in al the most approved Agricultural and Horticull tural Implements, Imported and America!] Field and Garden Seeds, Ornamental Shad* and Fruit Trees, Guano, Bone Dust, PourlretM &e. Wrought Iron Ploughs, T7ucks, Barrows &c. &c. always on hand. Also, the Excelsioi or California Plough. mar 3l j

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THE SOUTHERN PLANTE

191

ANALYSIS OF SOILS, &c.

THE undersigned is prepared to execute the analyses of Soils, Guano, Marls, Piaster, &c. &c. at the Laboratory of the Virginia Military Institute. Packages may be forwarded through Webb, Bacon & Co. Richmond, or Echols & Pryor, Lynchburg.

Persons desiring further information will please address

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

FRUIT AND ORNAMENTAL TREES AND SHRUBS.

THE Subscriber offers for sale a select assortment of Fruit and Ornamental Trees and Shrubs, a number of new Evergreens, and a good collection of Greenhouse Plants, especially of Camellias, Roses. Geraniums; also, Dahlia Roots, Pceonias, with Bulbous Roots, Garden and Flower Seeds, &c.

All orders thankfully received and promptly attended to. Prices moderate.

The subscriber is commencing a Nursery for the growth of Fruit and Ornamental Trees and Shrubs, in which the greatest care will be taken to grow only those fruits that are adapted to the climate; and all will be worked on seedling stocks. The subscriber has secured the services of an experienced Nurseryman, and thinks he will be able to suppiy those who may favor him with orders with good Plants at reasonable prices.

Catalogues will be published soon and can be had on application. Address , JOSEPH RENNIE, Richmond, Va.

COMMISSION HOUSE IN RICHMOND "TTTITH the view of giving our friends and W all others who may favor us with their patronage, the advantages of both markets, we have established in the City of Richmond a house for transacting a General Commission Business, to be conducted by Tazewell S. Morton, under the style of Tazewell S. Morton & Co.

The business of Watktns & Morton, will be conducted in Petersburg by Samuel V. Watkins, assisted by John A. Morton, as heretofore.

It is our purpose to adhere strictly to the Commission Business; giving our undivided attention lo the sale of the staple products of the country, viz: Tobacco, Wheat, Corn, Flour, Cot! on, &c.

We return our thanks for the liberal patronage that has been bestowed on our concern in Petersburg, and to the dealers in produce and merchandise in that city we feel under many obligations for the generous liberality and punctuality we have at all times met with in our transactions with them.

TAZEWELL S. MORTON & CO.

Richmond., Va. WATKINS & MORTON,

ja y.

Petersburg, Va.

TO AGRICULTURISTS.

MORRIS & BROTHER have received the following valuable Books, pertaining to 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, Manures, Drainings, Irrigation, Grasses, Grain, Roots, Fruit, Cotton, Tobacco, Sugarcane, Rice, and every staple product of the United Slates.— This is a perfect farmer's library, with upwards of 100 engravings; by R. L. Allen.

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

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

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

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

Farmer's Encyclopaedia; by Cuthbert W. Johnson.

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

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

Johnson's Chemistry and Geology, with their application.

Johnson's Dictionary of Gardening; by David Landreth.

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

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

Fessenden's American Gardener.

American Fruit Book, with full iustructions: by S. W. Cole.

Downing on Fruit Trees.

Theory of Horticulture; by Lindley.

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

Bridgtnan's Kitchen Gardener.

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

Richmond., March 12,1851.—ly