THE SOUTHERN PLANTER,'" 

V BcbotetJ to Hgrfculture, Wtovtltultuvt, anti the JUouseiioto ens 
f 

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



Arts . — Xenopkon 



of the State.— StiUy. 



FRANK: G. RUFFIN. Editor. 



P. D. BERNARD, Proprietor. 



Vol. XII. 



RICHMOND, JULY, 1852. 



No. 7. 



For the Southern Planter. 
SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE. 



INTRODUCTORY. 

I design to present a series of short es- 
says to the readers of the Planter, upon 
some of the elementary and fundamental 
truths of scientific agriculture. There are 
already a number of valuable works upon 
this subject, and some of them are written 
in such a style as to commend them to all 
classes of readers. I have reason to be- 
lieve, however, that many farmers read the 
Planter attentively, who would not set 
themselves down "to the stur'y of a book 
upon scientific farming. To such larmers 
I desire particularly to address myself. If 
by the presentation of plain truths in a 
plain way, I succeed in awakening an in- 
terest on the subject of agricultural che- 
jyiistry in any of your readers. I trust that 
they will be induced to consult the works 
of Norton, Johnston, &c and to practise 
the coarse recommended by these distin- 
guished authors. 

Belore entering upon the subject, how- 
ever, it will be necessary to say something 
.in relation to the properties of those sub- 
stances which are most generally found in 
the soil and in the air, and which take part 
directly or indirectly in the mysterious pro- 
cesses of vegetaiijn. But these remarks 
must be brief, too brief I fear to be of 
much service to those who have not turned 
their attention to the study of chemistry. 
And here let rne recommend to any far- 
mer who is n*t familiar with the principles 
of chemistry, to provide himself with a 
copy of such a work as Silliman's, Fownes' 
or Johnston's Chemistry for Colleges. He 
need not set himself down to the regular 
study of the science at all — let him keep 
the book by him for reference in his agri- 
cultural reading, just as many persons keep 
Webster's Dictionary by them in writing: 
and I promise him that before he is awaTe 
of it. he will be chemist enough to appre- 
ciate any agricultural production. 
. Vot.XII.-7. 



Oxygen is the first substance to be con- 
sidered. This is an elementary body, that 
is, it contains but one kind of matter, and 
when not. in combination with other bodies 
is always gaseous. It is universally dif- 
fused in nature, and constitutes about one- 
half of the ponderable matter of the globe 
Its chemical attraction or affinity for most 
other elementary bodies is 'very remarka- 
ble; and there is scarce, one of them with 
which it cannot be made to unite. When 
found in the earth it is always in a stale of 
combination, and the number of these com- 
binations is almost without limit. In the 
atmosphere it exists in the uncombined or 
free state, and very many of the chemical 
properties of I he air are to be attributed to ' 
this gas. When oxygen unites with another 
body, the latter is said to be oxidised, and 
when the union is sufficiently rapid to pro- 
duce heat and light, the substance oxidised 
undergoes combustion, or is burned. The ' 
decay of vegetable matter consists in the 
union ot the oxygen of (he air with tile 
elements of the decaying body, constituting 
what may be called a slow combustion. 

Hy'drogen is also an elementary sub- 
stance, and when not in combinalion with 
other bodies is always gaseous. It is "j ven 
oft in bubbles when a piece of zinc, onron 
is thrown into sulphuric acid, (oil of vitro!) 
diluted with seven or ei<rht times its vo- 
lume of. water. Tt is the lightest subslance 
in nature, is exceedingly inflammable, and 
produces water by its combustion. 

Water is composed of one atom, or 
equivalent of oxygen, and one atom of hy- 
drogen. It is universally diffused; pos- 
sesses the power of absorbing small quan- 
tities of certain gaseous substances (bund 
in the atmosphere, and of dissolving more 
or less of. the mineral matters contained in 
the earth. 

Nitrogen is an elementary body which 
is remarkable for its negative properties, or 
for having very weak affinities for other 
bodies. It is a constituent of the atmos- 
phere, where it occurs in the free state 



: 



194 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



Its most important compounds are nitric 
aciil and ammonia. 

Nitric acid ( aqua fortis) is a well known, 
and very strong acid. It is composed of 
one atom of nit.-Oiren and five of oxygen. 
It has a strong affinity for a certain class 
of bodies called bases forming with them 
compounds known as the salts of nitric 
acid, or the nitrates. Some of ihese are 
of importance to the farmer, and will be 
mentioned as we progress. 

Ammonia is a gaseous compound of one 
atom of nitrogen and three of hydrogen. 
It is called an alkali from its properly of 
uniting with and neutralizing the proper- 
ties of the strongest acids; with these sub- 
stances it forms salts, most of which are 
soluble, while one of (hem is also very vo- 
latile. Ammonia is absorbed in large 
quantity by water, the solution is called li- 
quid ammonia. It has a very pungent, pe- 
culiar odor, and powerfully affects the eyes 
and nose. It is given off in large quantity 
in the decay of animal matter, and in the 
fermentation of stable manure; and it is 
to this that the sore eyes and diseased 
longs of horses kept in close stables, are 
to be attributed. 

Carbon in the various firms of charcoal, 
lampblack, coke, &c. is too well known to 
require description. When burned, it 
unites with oxygen in the proportion of one 
atom of carbon to two of oxygen, and 
forms carbonic acid. 

Carbonic acid is. when in a free state, 
a heavy gas, which extinguishes flame. 
and acts as a poison to the animal system 
if taken into the lungs. It is a feeble acid 
and may be displaced from its combina- 
tions with effervescence by any of the 
etronsr acids. Its salts are known as the 
carbonates. Water that has been lately 
boiled will absorb its own volume of the 
gas. and the pleasant taste of spring and 
well water is due to its presence. Its pre- 
sence in water increases the solvent powers 
of the latter very much, a property which 
6hould not he lost sight of, as it is of great 
importance. 

Tbe atmosphere is the gaseous, elastic 
medium which surrounds the earth, and 
is principally made up of the two gases 
oxys/en and nitrogpn intimately mixed. 
More properly four-fifths of its volume is 
nitrogen, and the remaining fifth oxygen. 
It also contains small quantities of carbonic 
acid, and watery vapor, together with a 
very minute portion of ammonia, &c. but 
the volume of all these substances taken 
together, is eo small as to make but a frac- 



tion of one per cent, of the whole atmos- 
phere. It is to be remarked, however, that 
although the amounts of carbonic acid and 
watery vapor are s > small, they are inva- 
riably present, and just as necessary to the 
atmosphere as oxygen itself. It is not sup- 
posed that the nitrogen of the atmosphere 
undergoes any appreciable change in quan- 
tity, or that it takes any part in the many 
chemical phenomena taking place in the 
atmosphere, but such is not the case with 
the other constituents. These substances 
if 1 may be al.owed to use the term, are 
always at. work; here one takes pari in an 
action which removes it there it is replaced; 
but in all the-e transformations, nature has 
so fixed her laws, as that nearly the same 
proportion of each shall be kept up — the 
balance is never destroyed. Combustion, 
respiralion. and the decay of organic mat- 
ter, remove oxygen from the atmosphere, 
replacing it by an equal volume of carbo- 
nic acid ; while growing vegetation, as we 
shall see in our progress, absorbs carbonic 
acid by its leaves and roots, appropriates 
the carbon to its wants, and gives oft' the 
oxygen to be again converted into carbo- 
nic acid, and again to enter into the circu- 
la'ion of succeeding races of vegeiables. 
Water is evaporated from the surfaces of 
the sea and earth, and returns to them 
a<rain in the form of rain; thus any excess 
in the atmosphere is removed, and at the 
same time the surface of the earth, the ri- 
vers, &c. are kept supplied with water, 
and continue in a condition fined for the. 
existence and perfect development, of ve- 
getable and animal life. 

Let us now look at a few of these sub- 
stances that are obtained exclusively from 
the earth; ihe most abundant and univer- 
sally diffused of which is silica. 

Silica is a compound of the body silicon 
and oxygen, in the proportion of one of 
the former to three of the latter. It occurs 
in the free stale in the form of rock cr\s- 
lal. flint, white sand. &c. or in combination 
will) the oxides of the metals, forming 
salts known as the silicates. These salts, 
except two, are remarkable for their inso- 
lubility. 

Svlpknr is an elementary body. It is 
very inflammable, and in burning yields a 
very unpleasant and irritating gas railed 
svlphxirovs acid, which is composed of one 
atom of sulphur and two of oxygen. If 
the sulphur is oxidised in the presence of 
a base, i' uniles with oxygen in the pro- 
portion of one to three, forming siJphnric 
acid (oil of vitriol.) This acid is well 



'■ 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



195 



known as a powerful anil highly corrosive 
acid, which unites with anil neutralizes the 
strongest bases, forming salts known as the 
sulphates. Sulphur exists in many places 
in conibin ition with iron, constituting sul- 
phuretof iron; this sulphuret, on exposure 
to air anil moisture, very frequency be- 
comes oxidised, the sulphur taking the 
form of sulphuric acid, the iron that of the 
oxide of iron. 

Phosphorus is an exceedingly inflamma- 
ble body; in combustion, it unites with oxy 
gen in the proportion of one atom ol'phos 
phorus to five* of oxygen, forming phospho- 
ric acid. Phosphoric acid is the combina- 
tion of phosphorus found innature,and isal- 
ways in union with certain bases, forming 
the phosphates ; ii is universally diffused. 
but in very small quantity. The principal 
supplies of it are obtained from the bones 
of animals, which contain it in large 
quantity. 

Pota.ssa is the oxide or rust of the metal 
potassium, and is a powerful alkaii, uniting 
with and neutralizing the strongest acids. 
Its most commonly occurring and vveil 
knownsalt, is the carbonate which isohtain- 
ed from wood ashes by lixivialion and eva- 
poration. When thus obtained it is called 
potash-, and after solution in water, and a 
second evaporation, by whhh it is partially 
purified, it is called pearlash. The nitrate 
of potassa, (nitre or saltpetre) is another 
salt of importance, for as we progress we 
shall find that the presence of both nitric 
acid and potassa in the soil to be of the first 
importance. 

Soda is the oxide of the metal sodium., 
and is very similar in its chemical proper- 
ties to potassa. The carbonate of soda 
is gotten in large quantities from the ashes 
of seaweeds. 

Potassa and soda unite with silica in 
certain proportions to form common 
glass, which it is wel! known is perfectly 
insoluble; they also unite with it in the 
soil, hut in such proportions as to form the 
soluble silicates of these bases. It is by 
thi* mean? that silica is taken into the cir- 
culation, and is carried to all parts of the 
living plant. 

Lime is the oxide of the metal calcium,. 
anil is gotten from its carbonate, common 
limestone The carbonic, acid is driven off 
during the process of burning, leaving 
what is cal'ed quick lime, which is a dirty 
white, brittle solid. When it is exposed 
to air, or water is sprinkled upon it. it 
heals, swells and falls down to a very fine 
pare white powder, which is slaked lime. 
7 o 



In the process of sinking, water unites che- 
mically with the lime, and it becomes what 
chemists call a hydrate, it has a strong 
affinity for the acids, and forms with them 
the salts of lime. When lime is exposed 
to air and moisture, it gradually absorbs 
carbonic acid, and returns to the form of 
the carbonate. The carbonate of lime is 
insoluble in pure water, but soluble in wa- 
ter charged with carbonic acid; it has al- 
ready been stated that spring and well 
water contain carbonic acid ; hence we 
should expect to find more or less carbo- 
nate of lime in the spring and well water 
of ail countries, in which lime abounds in 
the rocks or in the soils, and such is al- 
ways found to he the case. 

The sulphate of lime, (gypsum, or plas- 
ter) is a well known and very valuable 
salt of lime; it occurs in extensive beds in 
many perU; of the world, is very slightly 
soluble in water, and may be delected in 
most springs and running water. The 
phosphate of lime is perhaps the most im- 
portant salt of lime to the farmer, not that 
it is more necessary than some others, but 
because it is so scarce, and so difficult -to 
replace, when exhausted from a soil by- 
improvident cultivation. This substance 
is insoluble in water, but becomes slightly 
so in water charged with carbonic acid. 

Magnesia is the oxide of the metal mag- 
nesium; it is known as a very fine, li« hit, 
tasteless, white powder. It plays the part 
of a base, and forms with acids the salts 
of magnesia. The two most commonly oc- 
curring of these are the carbonate, and the 
sulphate, (epsom salts.) The carbonate 
is insoluble in pure water, but becomes 
slightly soluble in water which contains 
carbonic acid; the sulphate is very soluble. 
The carbonate of magnesia sometimes oc- 
curs associated with carbonate of lime in 
limesione, forming magnesian limestone. 

Alumina is the oxide of the metal alu- 
minum, and when pure is white. It has 
the proper'ies of a base, forming salts with 
the acids. It occurs iti great quantity. in 
the earth in union with silica, forming clay. 
Pure clay is white; common clay is colored 
by the presence of small quantities of fo- 
reign matter. Clay has a powerful attrac- 
tion for moisture, and for certain gases, as 
ammonia. 

Iron is too well known to require descrip- 
tion; in combination with oxyj/en it is uni- 
versally diffused. The ore from which tho 
principal part of the iron of'commerce is ob- 
tained, is whit chettrs s term the piroxide, 
and is a compound of two atoms of iron 



196 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



to three of oxygen. Common iron rust, 
formed whenever iron is exposed to air and 
moisture, is this same oxide. This is also 
the form in which iron generally occurs in 
the soil, in clays, &c. communicating to 
them the various shades of red and yellow. 
There is anoiher oxide, the protoxide, 
where the metal and oxygen are in the 
proportion of one atom of each ; this is 
frequently in combination with sulphuric 
acid, constituting sulphate of iron, or com- 
mon copperas. 

Manganese is a metal which resembles 
iron in some respects; one of its oxides, the 
peroxide, is very generally diffused, but 
not in such quantities as the oxide of iron. 
The color of the oxide is black. 

Chlorine is when pure an elementary, 
gaseous body; it has a yellowish green 
color, is very irrespirable, is a powerful 
bleaching agent, and is remarkable for its 
strong affinity for the other elementary bo- 
dies. Its combinations with the elements 
are called chlorides, some of which occur 
in nature. Chloride of sodium (common 
salt) is, as its name imparts, a compound 
of chlorine and the metal sodium. Chlo- 
ride of calcium is a compound of chlorine 
and the metal calcium, the base of lime. 

I have now given the names, and a tew 
of the properties of those substances most 
important to be known before entering 
upon our subject; in future numbers I will 
endeavor to show how these substances, 
under the influence of heat, light, and the 
principle of life, keep up a vegetation 
which beautifies the earth, and supplies 
food to the myriads of beings that dwell 
upon it. 

Note to the word Affinity. — Affinity is the 
force to which all chemical phenomena are 
due, and it is the attraction exerted between 
dissimilar particles of matter when brought 
very near to, or in actual contact with each 
other. Alcohol and water, for example, have 
an affinity for each other, and after mixing, 
cannot be separated without the utmost diffi- 
culty, because affinity has established a true 
chemical union. But if oil and water, which 
have no affinity for each other, are mixed, the 
mixture may be agitated for any length of 
time, and still the moment it is allowed a little 
repose, the oil will separate from the water 
and rise to the surface. 

Note to the word Equivalent. — The equivalent 
of a body expresses the relative proportion in 
which, this body unites with others. For in- 
stance, oxygen unites with hydrogen in the 
proportion of eight to one, with carbon in the 
proportion of eight, or some multiple of it, to 



six, wih nitrogen in the proportion of eight, 
or a multiple, to fourteen, &c; the number 
eight is hence the equivalent of oxygen, that 
of hydrogen being regarded as unity. The 
equivalent is frequently called atom. 

Note to the word Salt. — A salt is a compound 
body composed of an acid and base in chemi- 
cal union, the base being in most cases the 
oxide of a metal. Common plaster is a true 
salt, the sulphate of lime, and its name is so 
framed as to indicate that it is a salt formed 
by the union of sulphuric acid and lime. 

When a salt is composed of single equiva- 
lents of its constituents, it is said to be neutral, 
a super salt when the acid is in excess, and a 
subsalt when the base predominates. 



For the Southern Planter. 

GUANO. 

Mr. Editor, — The article known as gua- 
no, variously pronounced (as guanno, gau- 
no,gwano, but whose proper pronunciation, 
according to the best authorities to which 
1 have had access, is gwarno,) [whah-no — 
Ed.] has recently attained such importance 
in our country, as a fertilizing agent, that 
any information in regard to its origin, its 
early use, or its natural history, will doubt- 
less interest the readers of your valuable 
journal. i 

With a view of contributing to their 
amusement and of exciting them to a fur- 
ther investigation of the subject, I offer 
the following: 

The celebrated naturalist Cuvier, in 
referring to an analysis of the article, by 
the renowned chemists, Fourcroy and 
Vauquelin, say, "This analysis has so 
great a resemblance to that of pigeon's 
dung that there is reason to believe, with 
Mr. Humboldt, who brought this guano to 
Europe, that it is nothing but the excrement 
of birds, which frequent the. islands of the 
South Seas, in immense numbers." 

It had been doubted if the article was an 
animal substance; and if animal, whether 
it was composed of the decayed bodies as 
well as the excrements of the birds. By the 
investigations of the French chemists, and 
the still earlier researches of a learned 
Jesuit named Acosta, who published a 
work styled "The Natural and Moral 
History ofthe East and West Indies," 
as long ago as the year 1604, it was ascer- 
tained that while there are bodies of birds 
mingled, to some extent, with their dung, 



r 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



197 



it is to this last named substance that the 
enriching property of die guano is mainly 
^ ascribable. 

The learned author, above referred to, 
whose book was published in London two 
hundred and forty -six years ago, does not 
say to what particular kind of birds the 
world is indebted for this valuable manure, j 
I have elsewhere seuii it stated ihai the 
bird itself was called guano. [We have 
heard that is the Span ; «h for dung. — En.] 
Whether this be oerrect or not I am not | 
competent to decide. However this may 
be, I believe it is conceded that the ierti-j 
lizing properties cf the article are owing to i 
the fact that the birds affording it, fed on 
Jsk. 

The late Professor Benjamin Smith Bar- 
ton, whose researches into the curious' 
were prosecuted with great ardor and per- 
severance, was of the opinion that it is the 
deposit of the dung from all the different 
species of sea fowl common to the coast of 
that region. 

When we regard the enormous piles of 
the article, rising as they do to mountain 
heights, the opinion of the learned Profes- 
sor appears to be founded in reason. 

That your readers may have a proper 

idea of the extent cf these accumulations, 

I make the following extract from Acosta's 

book. After spftaking of the birds of that 

fcicountry, which were remarkable for their 

^oeautiful plumage, he says' 

1; There are other birds at the Indies, 
contrarie to these, the which serve to no 
■other use but for dung, and yet perchance, 
they are of no lesse profitte. I have con- 
sidered this, wondering at the providence 
of the Creator, who hath so appointed, 
that all creatures should serve man. 

"In some islands or pkarts, which are 
joyntng to the coast of Peru, wee see the 
toppes of the mountaines all white, and to 
sight, you would take it for snow, or for 
some white land, bitt they arc heap es of dung 
of sea fowle, which go continually thither: 
and tbereis so great abundance, asitriseih 
many elles, yea many launces in height 
which seemes but a fable — they go with 
boates to these islands, only for the dung. 
for there is no other profile in them. And 
this dung is so commodious and profitable, 
«ss it makes the earth yeeld ereat aboun- 
dance of frmte. They cal this dung gua- 
no, whereof the valley hath taken the name, 
which they cal Limagvano, in the valleys 
of Peru, where they use the dung, and it 
is the most fertile of all that counirie. 
"The quinces, pomegranels, and other 



fruites there, exceede all other in bountie 
and greatness; and they say, the reason 
is, for that the water wherewith they water 
it, passeih by a land compassed with this 
dung, which causeth the beauty of this 
fruite. So as these birdes have not only 
flesh to serve as meate, their singing for 
recreation, their feathers for ornament and 
beautie, but also their dung serves to fatten 
the ground. The which hath been so ap- 
pointed by the soveraigne Creator, for the 
service of man, that he might remember 
to acknowledge and be loyal! to him from 
whom all good proceedes." 

You will see from the above extract, 
Mr. Editor, that guano, although but re- 
cently introduced into this country, is "no- 
thing new under the sun/" We may rea- 
sonably infer, as the heaps of the article 
were piled mountain high two and a half 
centuries ago and constant additions have 
been since daily made to them, that we 
need entertain no apprehensions that the 
supply will fail. 

If the above shall serve to interest or 
amuse any of your readers who have ex- 
perimented with the guano, I shall think 
that they will be under some obligation to 
render me an equivalent service. I will 
not, however, claim it in kind, but ask that 
it be paid in instruction. 

I hope that some of them will, through 
your columns, inform me as to the result 
of their experiments with this manure, on 
corn and tobacco plants. I desire informa- 
tion as to the proper time and mode of -ap- 
plying it as well as in relation to the effect 
produced. 

I am your obedient servant, 

Thomas P. Atkinson. 

Danville, Va. June 1, 1852. 

It is too late now to put it on either. On 
some future occasion we will publish direc- 
tions, but very full ones may be found in the 
ba-jk numbers of the Planter for the last twelve 
months. 



To Stew Ducks. — Take a duck, either 
wild or tame, split it down the back, make 
some stuffing with stale bread, the liver of 
the duck, spice, sweet herbs, onions, butter, 
pepper and salt, all chopped up together; 
fill up the duck with it and sew up the 
back; put it into a pot with water enough 
to cover it; stew it till the water is almost 
stewed away, then add a little wine and a 
lump of butter to what remains, which 
makes the gravy, and brown the duck 



198 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



For the Southern Planter. 

MUTTON SHEEP— BREEDS AND 

MANAGEMENT. 

Mr. Editor,— As you expressed a desire for 
me to write you an article on the subject of 
the mutton sheep, I shall attempt it, not with 
the expectation of contributing one item to 
the information of those who have heretofore 
made it a study, but solely for the benefit of 
«uch as have not thought the subject worihy 
of investigation. For the information here 
attempted to be given I am indebted mainly 
to the various authors on sheep husbandry, 
partly to observation and a tittle experience. 

The English have divided sheep into three 
classes: the long, middle, and short or fine 
woolled. 

The two former of these embrace all of the 
breeds best adapted to the shambles, and there- 
fore are emphatically the mutton sheep. The 
fine woolled sheep require very different ma- 
nagement, and are designed by Nature for a 
different purpose, but with them I have nothing 
to do under this head. 

The breeds which have been found most 
prpfi able in our State are the Lincoln, the 
Leicester, the Cotswold, the New Oxford (a 
cross of the two latter), and the South Down. 
All of the above breeds have their peculiar 
merits, and each has its admirers. All of 
them are long woolled except the South Down, 
which has a middle wool. 

Of the Lincoln I know very little, except 
that like all other animals of iis native shire 
it is remarkably large. The Leicester is a 
very finished sheep, both in form and fleece, 
and was perhaps the favorite breed before the 
introdurtion of the Coiswold. The Leicester, 
or Bakewell, possesses all the requisites for a 
mutton sheep, save that it is delicate in con- 
stitution. 

The pure blood Cotswold has been, in a 
measure, eclipsed by the New Oxford (a com- 
bination of the Cotswold and Leicester)— 
This is now, perhaps, the most highly ap- 
proved breed in the United States. Its enor- 
mous carcass, capacity lor fat, early maturity 
and weight of fleece, justly entitle it to high 
consideration from the farmers of the Stale. 
Its wool, though in length frequently from ten 
to fifteen inches, is yet comparatively fine, and 
is used in the manufacture of monslin de lain 
and worsted fabrics. This breed has been 
brought to great perfection in our own Slate 
by Messrs. M'Cormiek, Dr. William M'Guire 
and Col. Josiah W. Ware of Clarke county. 
No care or expense has been spared by Col. 
Ware in the improvement of his flock. Not 
content with the best blood to he obtained in 
the United States, he has imported from Eng- 
land at very high cost the Successful competi- 
tors for prizes at the Royal Agricultural Show 
at Exeter. These sheep are beyond doubt the 
best in the world, as they are beyond compe- 
tition. The fl.ece of the improved Cotswold 



varies from len to eighteen and a half pounds 
of washed (on sheep's back) wool, according 
to the age and sex o( the animal, and the car- 
cass vaties fiom one hundred and thirty to two P'* 
hundred pounds neat, when well fattened. 

The South Down is inferior to eiiherof the 
above described breeds in size of fleece and 
carcass. It is, however, generally considered 
greatly supetior in the quality of its mutton. 
Such is the estimation in which this mutton 
is held boih in England and Scotland, I am 
lold, that epicures buy it at a high price when 
the butcher leaves the head on the carcass, so 
as to certify his blood. The wethers at two 
years old, and well pastured, will weigh from 
eighty to one hundred and ten pounds neat, and 
the fleece, which is next 10 the Merino in lex- 
lure, varies from five to eight pounds, according 
tosex and age. The writer isof opinion that 
as much mutton can be made from a given 
amount of pasturage and food from the South 
Down as from either of the larger bieeds, *iih 
the ordinary management which we give to 
sheep in this Stale. The Scili Doun from 
his closeness of fleece will endure cold and 
wet far hetler, and his greater activity enables 
him to live on thinner herbage. 

In determining upon a breed of sheep it is 
of superlative importance that the breed should 
be adapted to the nature of the farm they are 
to inhabit— the kind of keep they will have, 
and the market they are designed for. 

It must be remembered that the largest 
breeds require the most luxuriant pasturage 
in summer and the best lood and shelters in 
winter. They must be kept^>n land which is 
dry and at the same time easy to travel over,>|si 
as their size and construction impede locomo- " 
lion greatly. The size of the flock must be 
proportioned to the extent of range they will 
have, most especially wiih the mutton sheep, 
as they are the most fastidious of all animals 
in taste, and will suffer great hunger before 
they will eai anything soiled by the hoof or 
otherwise. 

It is impossible to state what quantity of 
land is necessary to graze one hundred sheep, 
as everything depends on the quantity of herb- 
age the land will afford. It is sufficient to say 
that the muiton sheep requires an abundance 
at all times to bring him to perfection. 

MANAGEMENT OF THE MCTTON SHEEP. 

In i his climate the strict observance of a fevr 
simple rules is siiffiVieni to ensure success with 
any of the breeds of thi> variety. For the sake 
ol convenience I will divide these into summer 
and winter management; premising as of fir^t 
impoitance that no huck should he allowed to 
breed to his own offspring, and therefore il is 
most convenient to change him every two 
years. It has been well ascertained that the 
best economy is to buy the best bred and best 
formed bucks, wiih little regard to cost, as 
the prime ci st will be amply repaid in the su- 
peiiority of the first set of 1 imhs. The time 
required to bring a flock to perfection, by the 



I 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



1« 



use of thoroughbred bucks, is less than half 
tehere only grades are employed. 
Ihfc Winter management commences with the 
^period when the buck should be put with the 
ewes. Supposing that he has been kept sepa- 
rate from the ewes the previous summer, and 
lhat (he lambs had been weaned on the first of 
September previous, the best time for this 
purpose, all things considered, is the fifteenth 
of October. The period of gestation is about 
five months; the lambs may therefore be ex 
peeled about the tenth of Ma.vh. A buck in 
bis prime will serve, on good pasture, seventy 
ewes in three or fuur weeks; at the expiration 
of which time he should be removed and put 
with the wethers in a secure field, until again 
wanted the following year. A greater number 
of ewes may be seived by patting them to the 
buck in small numbers, say four or five at a 
time, and blacking the breast of the buck with 
Jampblack and oil, by which means he will 
teavc his mark. He should be well fed on 
grain during this lime. 

Sheep require very little dry food in winter, 
when the ground is not covered with snow, it 
they have a clover field or timothy meadow . 
to range upon. The best dry food is clover 
hay or corn lodder; the next is oat or wheat 
straw or chaff. My experience is decidedly 
against timothy hay, particular!" for pregnant 
ewes, having found it consn'pating, and there- 
fere very dangerous. Shelters should be pro- 
vided nsainst bad weather, and where there 
are not better, those made with straw, so as to 
keep off the rain, are all sufficient. Too much 

Wins cannot be taken to shelter sheep dun'ng 
iny or snowy weather, more especially those 
breeds that carry heavy fleeces, which when 
saturated with water, will freeze, and thereby 
destroy the constitution of the animal, if not 
cause its immediate death. 

I am satisfied that more than three-fourths 
of all the disease that the sheep is heir to, is 
referable to exposure in bad weather. When 
the ground is frozen or covered and access to 
green or succulent food cut off, it is all impor- 
tant to supply them with a i'ew potatoes or 
apples cut up, cabbages, or pine tops. Where 
ii is practicable, ihey should have the grazing 
of a wheat or rye field until the ground becomes 
soft. They will not do the slighesl injury 10 
the crop; on the contrary, if th?re is fly in the 
wheat the grazing will be very advantageous 
to it. Salt must be given once per week. 

Summer Managemmt. — The next important 
period in course is that of yeaning. The flock 
should now be placed in some convenient field, 
where they tnav be seen several times during 
everv day. The fields should be free from 
ditches or creeks, as they are very liable lo 
pet into these in so helpless a condition thai 
ihey will die before relief can he afforded — 
Hogs must be kept away as they will eat the 
lambs as fast as ihey are dropped. Crows are 
al-o very destructive to young lambs by pick- 
ing out their eyes Ewes frequently require 
assistance in bringing their lambs, and there- 



in 

■ 



fore should be watched closely. Yeaning 
usually requires from three to four weeks; this 
accomplished, the next thing to be attended to 
is castration and docking. This should not be 
postponed, as is usual, till shearing time, the 
wea.her being then frequently loo warm; be- 
sides which the lambs should have time to re- 
cover from the woinds belore shearing season. 
Castration may be performed thus: The 
lamb being laid on his back, the person holding 
him catches one fore leg and one hind leg in 
each hand the operator places his foot upon 
the tail; he then cuts off one-half the testicle 
bag and presses the testicle out, until the out- 
side skin can be split sufficiently to allow the 
testicle to slip out; he then separates the skin 
at the connecting point, and drawing the tes- 
ticle gently out, scrapes back the outside skin 
until the cord is reduced to a thread, when it 
must be severed. When both testicles are 
thus removed, the wound must be wellsmeaied 
with a mixture of train oil and tar; a vessel 
containing which should be previously pro- 
vided. Thisdone tire lambshotild be removed 
to a block close by, to be docked— the same 
person holding him on bis back as belore, lays 
the tail straight across the block; the operator 
then lakes an axe and (ays it across the tail, 
one and a half inches fiom the root; he then 
strikes the axe with a mallet sufficiently hard 
to sever the tail at one blow. The oil and tar 
are immediately applied as before. If the 
owner uses an ear-ma ik it should be now given; 
but the writer is decidedly opposed to such 
marks, {unless marie with a pun.h,) as no- 
thing is more disfiguring to the animal than 
cropping the cars. The operation of docking 
contributes greatly to the featity, cleanliness 
and health of the animal, and should be per- 
formed on all the flock in the manner above 
described. It may as well be omitted entirely 
as to leave a greater length of tail than one 
and a half inches. 

At this time it is necessary 1o perform ano- 
ther act of mercy to the flock at large; this 
is lasging, which must be carefully and tho- 
roughly performed with shears, removing all 
the wool between the hind legs, in danger of 
being cloaged with manure, or which has 
already been saturated with blood at lam! ing, 
in order to keep off the m?g?ot fly which isever 
ready to attack the sheep upon the smallest 
pretext in warm weather. 

Wash ing sheep reqniies much care and judg- 
ment. The state of the weather, and the d. n- 
rliiion of the animal, mu^t be well considered. 
From the first to the fifteenth of May, we 
generally have weather suitable for this ope- 
ration. A vat, t j n feet Uns, three fei t d.'ep, 
and f>ur feet wide, made like- the fort bay of 
a mill, with a draw-rate at each end, and fixed 
in the bank of an ice-pond, will answer the 
•foni'le purpose of a waste gate and sheep tub. 
A close pen beine made near the pond, the 
sheep should be put into it with as little exer- 
cise as possible, and all pains taken to avoid 
heating the animal before he is put into the 



200 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



water. The hands employed can stand out- 
side the vat, and wash three at a time, not 
more than five minutes being necessary for 
them to remain in the water. They must then 
be kept on a clean grass field for several days, 
until quite dry. Shearing is usually performed 
in a slovenly manner, which is bad economy. 
The writer prefers shearing on a clean floor; 
providing each shearer with a bag filled with 
straw as a cushion, and seating him on the 
floor, the sheep is taken into his lap with his 
head under the shearer's left arm, the shearer 
then opens the jacket along the middle of the 
belly, up to the cheekbone, carrying his clip 
all the way every time. This is done until be 
reaches the backbone, when the animal is 
turned over, and the operaiion reversed until 
he again reaches the backbone, and the job is 
done. I never tie sheep while shearing, find- 
ing they struggle much less and are more 
easily handled not tied, after the operation is 
commenced. 

The fleece taken off should be removed to a 
table and spread out (clean side down) to its 
natural size. The side should then be folded 
over to the middle; the shearer then mounts 
the table on his knees, and begins rolling up 
the fleece as lightly as possible, until he rolls 
up two-thirds. The remainder of the fleece 
should then be twisted into a rope by an as- 
sistant, wrapped tightly around it, and tacked 
under. Fleeces thus put up, may be very con- 
veniently handled, and sent a long distance 
without coming untied. After shearing, a 
mark may be put on the sheep with a paint 
brush, which will last a long time. After 
shearing, the wethers and bucks should be 
put on the best pasture the farm will afford, 
while a more inferior one will answer for the 
ewes and lambs. They require no further at- 
tention if in good health until the first of Sep- 
tember, save salting once a week. 

On the first of September, wean the lambs 
by placing them in a field where the buck will 
not have access to them. These lambs are not 
to be put to the buck until their second fall, 
when they will be about seventeen months 
old. 

The flock of breeding ewes should be picked 
over every fall, and the oldest and most infe- 
rior ones sent to market. As a general rule, 
a ewe should not be retained as a breeder (un- 
less a very fine one,) longer than five years. 

As a protection against dogs, I have for six 
years found bells to answer admirably. At 
least one-third of the flock and all the wethers 
should have bells on. Sheep managed well, 
I consider the most profitable of all farm stock, 
and will contribute more to the improvement 
of land, when not allowed to eat off the young 
clover. With regard to the diseases of sheep, 
it is far better to rely on the means of preven- 
tion, (viz: good food and shelter,) than of cure; 
but for further information on this subject, 1 
will recommend Morrell's American Shepherd 
as containing "all things necessary" to sheep 
husbandry. 



My article is decidedly long, and I would 
fain curtail it, but that 1 do not see where to- 
do so. It is likewise, "flat, stale and unproti-#t- 
table" to those who are already informed on 
the subject; but all are not so, perhaps, who* 
tead the Planter. 

C. 



For the Southern Planter. 

THE LAW OF ENCLOSURES. 

Of all the evils which depress the agricuf- 
tural interest of our State, none are inore se- 
verely felt than those which have been entailed 
upon it by the unwise legislation of our fore- 
fathers; and, yet. if any thing like a general 
interest could be imparted to the farmers of 
Virginia, none could be more easily removed. 
Controlling by its vast majority over all other 
combined interests in the Stale, the entire field 
of legislation, it has 'protected every other interest, 
but its ovni, and whenever, through its repre- 
sentatives, a statute is originated, having ir» 
view the protection of " the nursing mother 
of the arts," those watchful guardians of out- 
interest have not even the sagacity to give 
their act of legislation a proper title. Thus, 
the law regulating enclosures any sane man 
would have entitled, "an act to au I liorize tres- 
passes of cattle on neighboring proprietors, and to 
prevent all indemnification therefor;" and this 
particular act confirms the justice of the fore- 
going remarks. Though no intelligent farmer in 
Eastern Virginia, not a candidate for public favor J/fo 
denies that the increasing scarcity of fencing- 
material and cost of labor demands some mo- 
dification of this law, yet such is the apathy 
of the sufferers, that no efficient steps have 
heretofore been taken to abate this evil. By 
it, all Virginia is declared a common, except 
such portion of its arable surface as has a line 
of fortifications around it. The sacred right of 
property has been brought by it into dispute 
and contempt. The widow, the orphan and 
the poor farmer, all especial favorites of the 
law, have been impoverished by its operaiion. 
Who can fail to account for the amalgama- 
tion of so many of the small freeholds, and the 
consequent loss to the State of its best citizens? 
Does not every neighborhood contain some 
large estate in the hands of a weal thy proprietor, 
composed of these small freeholds which have 
been worked without profit and sold at a sac- 
rifice, because the labor of fencing was too 
greatalax upon their poor proprietors 1 And af- 
ter the contribution of atleastone-twelfth of the 
labor of the farm, and the conversion of its 
best timber into rail?, what is the farmer's gua- 
rantee against loss? The law directs a fence 
to be made of a specified height throughout, and 
in case of his sustaining a trespass from neigh- 
boring stock, throws upon him the whole bur- 
then of proof. Admitting that a fence can be 
constructed from our ordinary materials, every 
panel of which is sufficiently strong to defy 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



201 



vibe most persevering assaults of stock, whose 
l^energies are quiekened by famine, and capa- 
5Jole of withstanding high winds and storms, 
yet trespassing stock will find their way into 
his fields, and then what is his recourse? He 
obtains from a magistrate an order for the sur- 
vey of his fence, and while this is being made 
at one end i the owner of the trespassing stock 
can secretly make gaps in the other, if he is 
evil disposed, and wishes to avoid the payment 
of damages. And how is it possible to deter- 
mine the exact amount of damage which has 
been sustained by a wheat or corn crop, the 
dense cover of which may have harbored hogs 
for days before they have been discovered - ? 
All the provisions of the law are inoperative, 
and not one case of trespass in a hundred is 
tried before a justice of the peace. Unless 
considerations of mutual courtesy and friend- 
ship induce farmers to restrain their stock, 
they are maimed or killed as the only means 
of protection, thus engendering those deadly an- 
imosities which destroy the harmony of whole 
neighborhoods. I find it impossible to con- 
ceive any better right which a neighbor, who 
keeps more stock thaD he can feed, has to turn 
them out to forage upon me, than to pursue the 
same course with his slaves, and allow them 
to gain a sustenance by appropriating the sur- 
plus of his neighbors. And if the Legislature 
wishes to abolish the right of property, and lend 
their countenance \o the existence of a system 
of communism, such as was never conceived of 
even by the most thorough-going disciple of 
-Proudhon, let it engraft upon this act concern- 
ing enclosures, a foither provision, compelling 
all farmers to keep a certain number of locks 
upon their corn houses and barns, and prevent- 
ing him from recovering damages, if lie has 
left any means of access to rogues. After this 
Jong summary of the evils resulting from the 
existence of this law on our statute book, the 
question will be asked "cuibono?" Some great 
counterbalancing advantage to so ranch evil 
lo one elas*, must of necessity result to another. 
One would imagine that the State so far from 
having to depend upon the West for a large 
portion of their supplies of pork and beef, ex- 
ported largely, and yet in no country on earth, 
can there be found, such a number of lean, 
worthless, "praise God barebones" slock, as in 
Virginia. Were they assessed for taxation 
underthe ad valorem system the commissioner 
could not act upon them iw I ivi dually, so small 
is their value-, but having to depend upon their 
own resources for a support from their earliest 
infancy, they will yield to no stock in the world, 
in point of general information, cunning aud 
perseverance. 

As the tide wafer section suffers more than 
any other portion of Virginia, I suggest that an 
effort be made to obtain r.uch a modification of 
the pre-^t law, as will accomplish the objects 
sotiidn for, to be applied lo that portion of the 
State first. I am convinced, thatonce adopted 
in any one county or neighborhood, the f ivo- 
raide result of wch a modification, as would 



restrain hogs and cattle, upon the agricultural 
interest, would insure the repeal of this law 
in all Eastern Virginia. The importance of 
this subject will excuse the length of this com- 
munication. You can give no more effectual 
aid to the cause you advocate, Mr. Editor, than 
by encouraging the agitation of this reform, 
and I hope you will give your subscribers, 
your own views on the subject. 

J. B. M'C. 
Nelson county, May 17, 1S52. 



From the Cultivator. 

HAY AND FODDER-CUTTING 
AND CURING. 

It may be safely averred that there is 
not a single operation on a farm that can- 
not be, and that ought not to be conducted 
upon scientific principles. Hencetheutility, 
the necessity of a scientific education of 
farmers. If the remark be true of farm 
operations generally, it is more especially 
so of the subject of hay-making. In this 
we require a knowledge of vegetable 
physiology, of chemistry, of pharmacy. 
Vegetable physiology will teach us the 
nature and functions of the various organs 
and parts and juices of the plants with 
which we have to do; chemistry will leach 
us the theory, and pharmacy the art of 
curing and saving the article in the best 
manner. There is no doubt that a very 
iarge portion of the nutritive matter of 
hay, and all kinds of fodder, is lost by a 
want of knowledge of this kind. The 
writer of this has never seen a hay-field 
at haying time, that he was not forcibly 
impressed with this truth. To illustrate 
this subject — suppose a pharmaceutist, the 
Shakers, for example, were to gather 
their medical herbs, and cure them, and 
house them in the same way that hay and 
fodder are usually gathered, cured and 
saved — what, let us ask, would they be 
worth? Gathered at very improper sea- 
sons, cured in such manner as to ferment 
and evaporate all their intrinsic virtues, 
and at last housed in a place, and in a con- 
dition, to make assurance of its destruc- 
tion "doubly sure," it may well be con- 
ceived they would not be worth much. 
There are certain rules to be observed in 
this, as in all things, to attain ihe highest 
degree of perfection. Every kind of hay 
and fodder will be good or good for no- 
thing, according to the degree of attention 
to these rules. The grase should be al- 
lowed to attain the highest degree of per- 



202 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 






fection before it is cut, and that desrree is 
found to be at the time of flowering or 
blooming, just before the seed begins to 
form. It being a herbaceous plant, ihe 
whole natural object of it is to make seed, 
and afl its juices are, at the time of flow- 
ering, in their richest state. This is the 
time to cut it. If cut before this lime, the 
juices are imperfect, and ihe fibrous mat'er 
immature; and if delayed beyond this lime, 
more or less of ihe richness of these juices 
is expended in making seed. If ihe seed 
is allowed to become ripe, the hay is com 
paratively worthless. We never saw a 
load of hay in the market for sale, that did 
not exhibit unequivocal signs o\' having 
had a very large portion of its rich quali- 
ties exhausted, either before it was cut, or 
in curing. When it is understood, thai if 
allowed to ripen seed perfectly, ihe grass 
loses all its rich juices, nnd becomes mere 
dry straw, woody fibre, a little silicate of 
potash, and a very trifling quantity of ve- 
getable extractive matter, the importance 
of cutting it at the right lime will be 
apparent. 

And here it is proper to mention another 
error of almost, if not quite equal impor- 
tance. It is that of mixing different kinds 
of grass together. There are scarcely 
any two grasses that flower at the same 
time, exactly, and if two be mixed that 
flower at different times, one or the other 
will be greatly deteriorated by being cat 
too soon or too late. All grasses should, 
therefore, he kept in distinct meadows. 

The curing process is. however, of much 
the most importance. No matter at what 
times the grass be cut, if it be not proper 
ly cired, the hay will be worthless, in pro- 
portion to this imperfection. Two tons of 
iiay shall be taken from the same field, the 
one cured properly, the other carelessly — 
and the one shall be worth twenty dollars, 
while the other will be dear at any price, 
except for mere straw. Let us descend 
to particulars, for the subject is sufficiently 
important to authorize it. Nearly the 
whole nutritious properties of the hay are 
in a fluid, or semi fluid state, highly sus- 
ceptible of fermentation; and if fermenta- 
tion takes place, they will be immediately 
dissipated in vapor. The object to be at- 
tained is to cure the hay, by evaporating 
the water only, of these juices, leaving the 
saccharine and other principles in a solid 
stat in the body of the grass. But if the 
juices of ihe grass be altowed to fer- 
ment, then all these principles are rapidly 
changed, and pass off' with the water in 



vapor. The usual n ethod of curing hay, 
especially in the Middle States, permits th^ 
green cut hay to lay ir> masses till it gelt" 
more or less heated, especially the under 
ponion of it. This heat is produced by 
fermentation. We usually see the hay- 
in the swath till the next < ay, and then it 
is merely turned over, and even thai very 
carefully. The underside will then be 
found to be very warm. Now, all this is 
wrong. The hay should he shaken up 
lightly, and loosely, so lhat none of it wilt 
lay in compact masses, and that the at? 
may pass freely through it. It should be 
gathered into winrows as late as possible 
in the evening, and these should he well 
opened and turned, and loosened, early in 
the morning, so as to avoid spontaneous 
fermentation. If ihe weather he fair, the 
hay cut yesterday will he fit for cocking 
this afternoon, but it is not ready for hous- 
ing or stacking. A great error is often 
committed in cocking hay. in allowing it 1a> 
remain in these small stacks too long. 
When cocked, the hay is merely wilted, 
not. cured, and if allowed to remain in 
rocks, will ferment there. The}' should 
he opened and spread about, and re-cocked 
several times before being permanently 
stacked or housed. Shaking hay about 
has a great effeet in curing it, much more 
than is generally supposed. It exposes ifo 
to fresh air, which carries off the watef y ' 
and the ofrener it is shaken up, the sooner 
and better it will be cured. Many object 
to shaking up the hay while the dew is on 
it in Ihe morning. This is an error. A 
sroood shaking at this time will effectually 
dry it. 

G. B. S. 



For the Southern Planter. 

D5SEASE IN THE HEAD OF SHEEP. 

Mr. ErIUnr, — By comparison of views, we 
may arrive at useful result.-, and (trust your cor- 
respondent R in your March number, page 
85, will not take offence at my expressing 
through your columns, my impression lhat he 
is mistaken, as lo Ihe disease of sheep In 
his communication, he says he nsver saw the 
sack he mentions, the use of the lenon saw al- 
ways bursting it. He will never see it in my 
opinion — nor will he ever see one recovered 
by the remedies lie mentions as used by the 
Ruropeans. The disease is what is called in 
this pari of the country the stretches, and is 
caused by the conMipaiion of the bowels, 
brought on by the want of green and succu- 
lent food. Il mostly atiacks theep in the best 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



203 



^.condition, because of fuller habit, and rarely 
* (in comparison ai least,) afflicts maiden ewes, 
' wethers, bucks, or ewes nursing lambs, but is 
much more frequent with inlamh ewes. The 
remedy is to be applied upon the first appear- 
ance of the symptoms — bleed freely, and get 
an operation on ihe bowels as soon as possible; 
a copious discharge will relieve them, if not 
too far gone; a large dose of flax seed tea, in- 
cluding Vie seed, is a good medicine — a full 
pint, if not more. In a very violent ease, 1 
should he disposed to givea small dose of cro- 
ton oil (ihough I have never done so,) as the 
most active medicine for the purpose. Sails, 
I am disposed to think, is more active with 
sheep, given in a dry than in a liquid stale — but 
prevention is better than cure I am inclined 
to think R. never saw a case in spring sum- 
mi-r or fall, when sheep could get grass; it oc- 
curs only in the winter months, when neither 
grass or succulent food of any kind could be 
gathered by them. 

To keep their bowels in a wholesome state, 
I have sometimes .succeeded in keeping them 
in that state by a little Epsom salts, mixed 
with their salt; but the best preventive is to 
feed them on turnips, (Ruta Bnga,) cut up; as 
a snbsiiiute, potatoes raw, cut up; beets, pars- 
nips any roots, oreven eabbageleaves assmall 
feed of either every day, or twice a day; if 
not fancied bv them, sprinkle a little salt over 
them until palatable. The disease is not 
known in England, because they use the Ruta 
. Ba?a there freelv — the manure made by it 
Pimply remunerates the cultivation of the crop. 

Valley of Virginia. 
June 20, 1852. 



For the Southern Planter. 

SUPERIORITY OF THE FARMING 
PROFESSION. 

Mr Editor, — It is much the habit of most 
persons to indulge a complaining temper, as 
it regards their own lot in life, and many 
are disposed to ihink thai disappointments and 
untoward events befal them more certainly, 
and with more oppressive energy, than others 
who stand around them. This is an unjust 
complaint against Providence, arising oui of 
the foet thai we know more of our own trou- 
b'es than we c^n do of any one else's, and as 
it is we who are hurl by ihem, we feel them 
much more keenly than when endured by 
another. Now, there is no class of our com- 
munity, who indulge this complaining spirit 
to a greaierextentthan ihe planter and fanner 
of Virgmia; and none, I am assured, have less 
reason for it. L"nk to ihe planter's employment 
in what aspec you may, whether as to the ef- 
fect it has on his moral being or social enjoy- 
ment, or whether as a source of sustenance to 
a growing family, aod a sure means for the 



future settlement of that family, and I contend 
that it stands unrivalled by any of the indus- 
trial pursuits of the country. Let us examine 
it in the various views presented, and 1 appeal 
lo the honest experience and sober reflection 
of every candid man in the community for the 
truth of my position. 

When God created Adam, he placed him, 
in his state of purity and innocence, in the 
Garden of Eden, and ordered for his employ- 
ment the cultivation of the earih as one besi 
suited and most congenial to his unconupted 
nature. So long as he remained innocent, his 
employment afforded him occupation and de- 
light. When his fall came, the labor in which 
he before took delight, became a painful bur- 
den, sent by Providence as a bitter curse upon 
his transgression And ihough many of the 
pleasures of agriculture are blackened and 
marred by man's disobedience and mora! ruin, 
yet many beauties still cluster around it ; such 
as a pleasing sense of dependence on a good 
Providence for the genial rains, and a strong 
feeling of gratitude when they are sent. His 
social qualities are cultivated, be' ause there 
is nothing to interrupt or retard their growth. 
He envies no one, and is envied of no one. 
His swelling bulks and replenished garners 
have taken nothing from his neighbor; hut are 
the result of his own toil and God's kind Pro- 
vidence. Not so with other pursuits. The 
doctor quarrels with his neighbor doctor, be- 
cause he imagines that the patients placed 
under his care should have fallen into A?'s hands. 
The lawyers quarrel over theirneighbors' trou- 
bles at the rate of fifteen shillings ahead ; and 
the smooth, smiling, complaisant merchant has 
a hitter enmity rankling in bis heart, because 
his neighbor meichant sells a few cents lower 
in the yard ttan he does. And so on through 
all the pursuits of life. It will he found that 
they are calculated to kindle and foster unkind 
feeling.and to disturb social harmony. From 
all these the planter is measurably exempt. 

That it is the best, surest and cheapest means 
of supporting a family, is so generally con* 
ceded, thai it has almost become an axiom. 
Take an instance: Let a man with a wile and 
three or four children, (by no means a rare 
attendant on matrimony in these parts) go on 
a small farm, worih three thousand dollars, 
work three hands, and the other usual appli- 
ances of cropping in this country. Say his 
means reach five thousand dollars, all told— 
the interest on which is three hundred dollars. 
If he be industrious and judicious, (aid most 
of our young men born to small expectations 
are so,) he will rai~e enoush not only to sup- 
port his fiimilv, hut to do it in a style of com- 
fort and abundance, not surpassed by many of 
thesmall potentatesof Europe. Placeanother 
individual, like circmsianced, in town; (for 
you must cut him off" entirely from agriculture 
to make a fair comparison,) let him pay his 
rent.ruv his fuel his marketing of every sort, 
and all the other little drippings resulting from 
such a situation, and al the end of five years 



204 



THE SOUTHERN PLATEE, 



the interest of his five thousand dollars will 
be consumed, and the principal gone along 
with it. And during the time his living wilt 
have been infinitely lesscomfortable and abun- 
dant than his country friends. But this is too 
plain a proposition to be debated, and 1 pass 
lo the next. 

That it is the surest means for the future 
settlement of a family is of easy demonstra- 
tion, if the sound lessons of experience have 
not faded from the memory of all observing 
men. Look around through the land, and see 
who are the aiost independently seabed young 
men in the commonwealth, and I venture to 
say, that with an occasional exception, they 
will be found to be the sons of planters. AH 
planters who are sober, industrious and judi- 
cious, more or less succeed in their pursuits. 
Do all doctors do so? here and there, one by 
ihe foreeof high qualifications, andsurrouaded 
by fortuitous circumstances, attain to com- 
fortable independence, and some to wealth. 
But when you look at the poor and hungry 
crowd, which drag out a miserable existence, 
wailing for their turn to come, we must deter 
mine against this as a calling for life. Do the 
lawyers do so? here and there one towers 
above his humbler brethren, in the career of 
reputation and wealth, while many, very many 
of his associates in the profession carry to 
their graves, and carry only that, the sreen 
bag with which they first tank their seats in 
ihe bar. Will this picture do? I think not. 
Do all merchants succeed in their pursuits? 1 
After a long life of labor and toil of body, of 
anxiety and solicitude of mind, when his exe- 
cutors are called to make out bis balanee sheet, 
he is too often found to have passed into a 
bankrupt's grave. It has been ascertained, by 
a careful examination of the htistory of the 
mercantile operators in the city of New York, 
which city boasisof :i community of merchants, 
who stand as high for mercantile shrewdness 
and acumen as any in the world, that a large 
portion die bankrupts, very many never im- 
prove their estates, and that not more than five 
in one hundred die or retire from business with 
enhanced fortunes. Does this present a picture 
comparable to that of the Virginia farmer, or 
one at all calculated toinvite our acceptance? 
I have selected these as the leading pursuits 
of life, those to which all our young men are 
attracted, whohave the means; with what good 
judgment, if the above statement is true, 1 
leave the reader to determine. Why then 
should agriculture be neglected and despised. 
The doctors may have their patients, the law- 
yers may wrangle over their cases, and the 
merchants may pinch the profits on their yard 
sticks; but give me a soft, fern'le, generous 
soil, with all the necessary appliances to make 
it productive, and a few tons of sruano lo 
quicken its failing energies, and I will far out- 
strip them all in the career of contentment, 
happiness and wealth. 

South Side. 
Mecklenburg, Virginia. 



From the Albany Cultivator. 

THE DIFFERENT HAY PRESSES. 



*" 



Messrs. Editors, — In reply to the inqui- 
ries of your correspondent in regard to 
pressing hay, I will give you theexperience 
of farmers in this neighborhood, (Durham, 
New Hampshire,) where the raising mar- 
ket hay is the chief agricultural business. 
Hay was pressed for the Portsmouth, New 
Hampshire, marker, in this town twenty- 
five or thirty years ago, and the first press, 
and only one lor several yeaFs, was on the 
farm of N. Woodman. That press was 
constructed on the model of an old cotton 
press, then ased at Portsmouth far packing 
hay. It was an upright bos, eight or ten 
feet high, with one large wooden screw 
coming down in the centre through a beam 
at the top; this was stationary. Next was 
used an upright box with two smaller 
screws, one at each end, and abeam across, 
which was brought down by the screws. 
This was portable, and was carried about 
among the farmers, and the only one in town 
for some years. Either of these presses, 
with four hands and a horse, usually pua 
up twelve bales of hay per day, or about 
two tons. About 1830, a new patent press 
appeared. The box was horizontal, or 
upon the side on the ground. The power • 
was applied with east-iron wheel and pi-£ 
nion work. About three cog-wheels and 
pinions were used. It was precisely on the 
Baodel of the small jack screw, used in 
loading cotton ships at the south. Next 
was U3ed the same form of box, with the 
power of a lar^e rope over pulleys, instead 
of the wheel works. In both these presses, 
four hands and a yoke of oxen put up, 
commonly, from twenty-five to thirty bales 
per day. or about four tons. Both were 
portable. Next appeared an upright box, 
in which the hay was pressed down front 
the top as in the first two above mentioned. 
The power was applied by chains winding 
on axles, turned with same power of wheel 
and pinion work. This was portable and 
did good service. Five men turned out 
thiriy-five or forty baf.« a day, or five ions 
and more. Next came the presses now in 
use. One is called the Railroad Press, and 
patented; the other is called the Elbow 
Press, and is understood not to be a patent. 
Both have an upright box, and press the 
hay from the bottom upwards, and the bale 
is taken oat above, on a staffing, and 
weighed, and hoisted away with fackle 
andfall. The raiiroad press has for its 
power^ two. heams coining near together 



i 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



205 



under the box, and there attached with a 
hinge joint to a strong mass of wood, called 
a "follower," lhai moves up and down the 
box. The other ends reach out in opposite 
directions, and rest upon an iron rail on a 
strong timber, and are made so as to move 
easily over it, by a solid iron truck at the 
end. As they stand, they form something 
like the letter A, only more flat. Then by 
chains, and a windlass and wheel in the 
centre, the lower ends are drawn up till | 
they are along the rail nearly perpendicu- I 
]ar to the ground, and parallel to each | 
other. So the power rapidly increases as 
it is most required. The elbow press is in 
the main constructed in the same way, 
except that the power is applied by two 
toggle joints, (the joints of iron, and the 
arms of wood,) standing, when the follower 
is down, not unlike two V's placed oppo- 
site. ( <£> ) They are then drawn to- 
gether by a chain passing round a truck 
in the arms just below the joints, and 
wound upon a windlass in the centre, 
which is turned by a stout yoke of" oxen 
drawing out a rope wound on the circum- 
ference of a large wheel attached to the 
windlass. Five hands, with a yoke of 
oxen, where the hay is conveniently situ- 
ated, will usually press from forty-five to 
sixty bales per day, or from seven to nine 
tons. Both these are portable. One yoke 
of large oxen is sufficient to work either, 
or to move them from place to place over 
an ordinary road. 

The elbow press is called the best, and 
is here preferred to the other. Both are 
used extensively. Durham is chiefly an 
agricultural town. It has about fifteen 
hundred inhabitants. In 1830, about one 
hundred tons of pressed hay may have 
been sent to market. In 1840, as much as 
five hundred tons were sold; and at the 
present lime, 1852, no less than two thou- 
sand tons of pressed hay are annually sent 
to market. Lee, Newbury, Greenland, 
Stratham, Rollinsford, and other neighbor- 
ing towns, are largely interested in the 
same product. 

To secure the bales, small withes of 
withewood, gray beach, or alder, are used, 
about an inch through at the but, and 
from six to ten feet long. Two, of suffi- 
cient length, are twisted, and the tops 
lapped and wound strongly together, mak- 
ing a band long enough to reach around 
the bale and tie. Five bands are put on 
a bale. The withes, trimmed ready for 
use, cost from thirty to forty cents per 
hundred. The price for pressing hay is 



one dollar and fifty cents per ton — every- 
thing requisite, use of press, oxen, withes, 
&c. included. 

The cost of the elbow press is from one 
hundred dollars to two hundred dollars, 
according to the excellence of the material 
and the work. The railroad press may 
be a little more. 

If any, among your numerous sub- 
scribers, know of a better way of pressing 
hay, or of securing the bales, (for this now 
takes all the time of one good hand, be- 
sides the cost of the withes,) we should be 
glad to have him give us the information 
through your columns, as any improvement 
in this matter would be hailed with plea- 
sure and satisfaction by the farmers in this 
neighborhood. 

C. F. W. 

Durham, N. H. Feb. 1852. 



CHEMISTRY APPLIED TO THE ME- 
CHANIC AND FARMER. 

Chemistry possesses also great interest 
from its application to the arts of daily life. 
It is the object of industry in acting upon 
the outward world to produce two classes 
of changes in the materials which it em- 
ploys. The first are mechanical changes, 
which influence only the forma of matter, 
as in the operations of cabinet making and 
cotton spinning; the second are chemical 
changes, wrought in the nature of the sub- 
stances used, and altering their properties, 
as in glass making and tanning. In both 
these cases the changes which take place, 
are governed by certain fixed principles or 
laws, to which the workman must conform 
if he would operate successfully. The 
principles cf mechanics, taught by natural 
philosophy, are quite generally understood; 
indeed, as this science considers only the 
relations of masses of matter which readily 
strike the senses, it was very naturally in- 
vestigated earlier, and has always been a 
more popular study than chemistry, which 
inquires only concerning the relations of 
invisible atoms. Yet the laws which con- 
trol chemical action are as unchangeable 
as those which hold the planets in their 
places; every kind of matter is subject to 
them, and no vocation in which they are 
concerned can be pursued to the best ad- 
vantage unless ihey are clearly understood. 
The farmer, the miner, the metallurgist, 
the paper maker, the bleacher, the dyer, 
the druggist, the soap manufacturer, the 
painter, and innumerable other craftsmen, 



206 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



vre constantly acting upon chemical sub- 
st mces — constantly deal'ng with chemical 
Jaws — and hence, it is clear, require to 
know what they are. The greatest eco- 
nomy of process ami perfection of product 
can only be obtained where ilie. principles 
of a <namifacture are distinctly compre- 
hended. In such case the skilful operator 
is enabled to work with the natural laws, 
and not against, or regardless of them. 
It is said that in civil affairs it is always 
beat to keep the law on our side, but in 
dealing with nature this is vastly more im- 
portant; because, when natural laws are 
violated th 're is no such thing as escaping 
the penalties. 

A most instructive illustration of the 
effect of neglecting chemical principles, 
while th ee of mechanics are thoroughly 
understood and applied, is afforded in the 
present condition of the United States ca- 
pitol at Washington. The architectural 
beauty and mechanical excellence of that 
edifice are well known; but the freestone 
(sandstone) of which it is constructed was 
selected without due attention to its che- 
mical and physical properties, and is to- 
tally unfit for its purpose, being rapidly 
acted upon and crumbled to dust by the 
common atmospheric agents. This de- 
structive process has been partially ar- 
rested by the free use of paint; but the 
Secretary of the Interior has informed 
Congress that this expedient is ineffectual, 
and that unless scientific men come to the 
rescue, and invent some new preparation, 
which, by being applied to the stone, shall 
completely protect it from the action of the 
air, the whole structure will he reduced to 
a mound of sand in one-fifth the time that 
it would last if built ol common marble. 
It is thus seen that chemical principles are 
involved even in avocations most purely 
mechanical; so that the best reasons exist 
for making them objects of universal study. 

Among the various occupations which 
require a knowledge of this science to be 
successfully carried on, that most noble, 
useful, and universal of all human pursuits, 
agriculture stands prominent. The farm 
is a srreat laboratory, and all these changes 
in m-Uter whi'-h it is the farmer's chief hu- 
Binoss to produce, are of a chemical nature. 
He breaks up and pulverizes his soil with 
plough, harrow and hoe, for the same rea- 
son that the practical chemist powders his 
minerals will) pestle and mortar; namely, 
to expose (he materials more perfectly to 
the action of chemical auents. The field 
can only be looked upon as a chemical 



manufactory; the air, foil, and manures 
are the farmer's raw materials, and the 
various forms of vegetation are the pro- 
ducts of manufacture. The farmer who 
raises a bushel of wheat, or a hundred 
weight of flax, does not fabricate them out 
of nothing; he performs no miraculous 
work of creation, hut it is by taking a cer- 
tain definite port'O.i of his raw material 
and converting it into new substances, 
through the action of natural agents: just 
as those substances are again manufac- 
tured in the one case into bread, and in 
the other into cloth. When a crop is re- 
moved from the field, certain substances 
are taken away from the ground which 
differ with different kinds of plants; and if 
the farmer would know exactly what and 
how much his field loses by each harvest, 
and how in the cheapest maimer that loss 
may he restored, chemistry alone is capa- 
ble of giving him the desired information. 
To determine the nature and properties of 
his soil, its adaptation to various plants, 
and the best methods of improving it; lo 
economize his natural sources of fertility; 
to test the purity and value of commercial 
manures, and of beds of marl and muck; 
to mingle composts arid adapt them to 
special crops; to improve the quality of 
grains and fruits; to rear and feed stock, 
and conduct the dairy in the best manner, 
farmers require a knowledge of this sci- 
ence. Nor can they, as a class, much 
longer afford to be without it; for it has 
always been found that the application of 
scientific principles to any branch of in- 
dustry puts power into ihe hands of the 
intelligent to drive ignorance from the field 
of competition; so that as discoveries mul- 
tiply, and informat on is diffused, those 
farmers who decline to inquire, in'o the 
principles which govern their vocation, or 
who prefer the study of politics to that of 
agriculture, will have occasion to groan 
more deeply than ever over the unprofita- 
bleness of their business. — Youmans. 



THE DAIRY— MAKING BUTTER. 

As the dairy season is now fairly upon 
ns, a few thoughts upon butter m >kiug, 
with espcial reference to the quantity 
which may he made per cow, and the mode 
of doing it, may he profitable, hnd we hope 
interesting. Those persons who have gone 
on for years, satisfied with a yield of from 
one hundred to one hundred and tweniy- 
five pounds per cow, supposing that about 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



207 



the maximum production, may not. thank 
us f'>r disturbing their repose, and will pro- 
bably reply that the cases to which we 
shali refer, are extraordinary ones, or per- 
chance doubt the correctness o! the state- 
me-its altogether. To such we have ordy 
to say, if you are satisfied with your pre- 
sent doing, others have no right to com 
plain, beyond the general desire for ati im- 
proved system of management, and wish 
to elevate tie character of the New York 
dairies, to thehighest point of improvement. 

Twenty years ago, good managers were 
content with one hundred to one hundrpd 
aid twenty-five pounds per row, of buttc r 
Tap standard has been going higher and 
higher since, until now, the dairymen who 
mikes less than one hundred and fifty lbs. 
is rather ashamed to name the quantity. 
and can seldom recollect exactly how much 
he did make. He usually has : 'a large 
family to use the milk and butter," and his 
"cows are, many of ihern heifers, and he 
did not expect much from them," or some 
si niter excuse. 

In this age of improvements, we insist 
tint one hundred and fifty pounds should 
bs ihe minimum, even of poor dairies, 
while no good dairymen should be satis- 
fied short of one hundred and seventy-five 
to two hundred pounds. This proposition 
may startle some who are slow to believe, 
but as the doctrine, that what has been done 
can be done again, holds good in this, as 
in other matters, there can be no good 
reason why such results should not be 
attained. 

This brings us to a statement of a Cew 
in-tancesofsuccessful management, which 
have come to our knowledge, instances 
which are worthy of being held up as ex- 
amples, before the thousands who have 
never reached equal successful results. 

The instances to which we refer, may 
not be the most remarkable which have 
been reached, but they are certiirdy re- 
spectable, and we will thank any of our 
readers who have don°, better, to commu- 
nicate the (acts for publication. 

VVe chanced a few days ago. to call on 
three farmers in the same neighborhood, 
within sight of each other, all of whom 
have beenquiiesucc.essful in butiermaking. 
The first was our old friend Lewis Sames, 
of Lee. who. several years ago, used to 
make about one hundred and eighty lbs. 
per cow. from a dairy well selected and 
well managed. He has however, since 
let out his dairy, and has not now so good 
z. Jot of cows as formerly, having pur- 



chased several to increase the number, to 
correspond with the increased size of his 
farm. He last year made (from we think 
near twenty cows) an average of over one 
hundred and seventy pounds per cow, to 
sell, besides the quantity ci.n.-umed in the 
family. His dairy is now increased to 
twenty-eight cows. 

Mr. George Hitchcock, npar by, from 
ten cows, made to sell over 1,S00 pound? 
of butter, on an average of a little more 
than one hundred and eighty lbs. per cow. 
Among hi- cows, were one two years old, 
and two three years old heifers. Mr. PL 
feeds a little meal to his cows in the spring, 
UMtil the orass affords a full bile, and in 
the autumn as ihe feed fails, feeds corn- 
stalks, from corn sown broadcast and cut, 
and fed green. This he considers a very 
profitable practice. 

Mr. Roswell Spinning, also in the im- 
mediate vicinity, milked last season, four- 
teen cows, and made to sell an average of 
one hundred and ninety-seven pounds of 
butter per cow. He feeds during the 
spring from two to three quarts of meal, a 
mixture of corn ground with the cob and 
oats, per "day, until good feed is afforded 
in the pastures, and, like his neighbors!, 
takes good care of all his cows all the 
year. ~ 

Here then, are three examples of suc- 
cessful results in butter making, showing 
what may he dune with good coWs, good 
feed, and. good management. Now who 
will undertake to say that this system is 
not more profitable than that usually prac- 
tised. Those who have so successfully 
tried it have no doubt upon die subject, 
and they certairdy are the best qualified to 
judge. 

Let us look a moment at the value of the 
products of these cows. There is no ex- 
act date to shew the amount used in the 
families, hut taking the average, of these 
three dairies and the amount made, it is 
not much, if any less than two hundred 
pounds per cow. The average sales we<-e 
about fifteen and a half cents, but we will 
say two hundred pounds at fifteen cents, 
amounts to $30. Add value of same 
same for pork, which is variously estimated, 
hut which is certainly with good manage- 
ment, worth three dollars per cow, and we 
have a total of thirty-three dollars, a re- 
sult far above that usually reached by dai- 
rymen, and affording a very handsome 
profit on the business. 

If it is asked how this is accomplished, 
I the answer is given in few words. Have 






208 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



none but good cows, keep them well win- 
ter and summer, and take good care of the 
milk and butter. The very system which 
produces such large quantities, also ensures 
a good quality of butter, and consequently 
a fair price and ready sale. 

Such are a few facts, hastily prepared, 
which may be serviceable to the readers of 
. the Farmer. That they may at least awa- 
ken a spirit of inquiry is our earnest wish. 
[New York Farmer. 







--■ r J -' ■'. V£-..-s»!S*i 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 
RICHMOND, JULY, 1852. 

TERMS. 

One Dollar and Twenty-five Cents per 
annum, which may be discharged by the pay- 
ment of One Dollar only, if paid in office or 
sent free of postage within six months from 
the date of subscription. Six copies for Five 
Dollars; thirteen copies for Ten Dollars, 
io be paid invariably in advance. 

g^T Subscriptions may begin with any No. 

3^»No paper will be discontinued, until all 
arrearages are paid, except at the option of 
the Publisher. 

O" Office on Twelfth, between Main and 
Cary Streets. 



§Qf Communications for the Southern Plan- 
ter, upon other than business mailers, may be ad- 
dressed to the Editor, Frank: G. Ruffin, Esq. 
at Shadwell, Albemarle Co., Va., which will in- 
pure their being more speedily attended to.- 

Business letters will be directed as here- 
tofore to "The Southern Planter," Richmond, 
Va. 

gjp Postage prepaid in all cases. 



TIMELY WARNING. 

All subscribers who do. not order a discon- 
tinuance before thecommencementof the new 
year or volume, will be considered as desiring 
a continuance of their papers, and charged 
accordingly. 



WHEAT-THRESHING AND CATTLE- 
SHELTERS. 

FOUR THINGS WORTH KNOWING. 

There are three things which always bother 
a farmer in threshing wheat: the suffering of 
himself and his hands from the dust; the wor- 
rying of his oxen from heat; and the wear 
and tear of his horses from the constant strain 
of working the machine. But these three 
things are easily remedied. 

1st. The dust may be entirely excluded 
from the nose and lungs by simply adjusting 
a moist sponge, made to fit like a muzzle, to 
the mouth and nostrils. It is not troublesome 
or difficult to make — only make a tolerably 
thick, close fitting muzzle out of a sponge, 
stuff small pieces of the sponge into the larger 
holes and stitch them in with a thread, fasten 
it on by tape strings above the head, (twine 
strings will cut,) and keep it moist by rinsing 
it as often as it becomes dry. The philosophy 
of it is simply this: the pores of the sponge 
are very crooked and irregular, and the dust 
in its permeations settles on the moist surface 
and becomes mud. One can breathe and 
speak through this new style of respirator 
perfectly well, and will sustain only the in- 
convenience of some little increased heat 
about the mouth, but nothing comparable to 
the trouble from the dust. Every hand whose 
business keeps him near the threshing box 
should have one, and be made to wear it, or — 
be threshed himself. 

2d. The distress of the oxen from the heat 
may be entirely obviated by working them 
under covers, like horse covers, kept moist. 
A piece of coarse oznaburgs, such as come 
around bales of raw cotton, fitted with strings 
lo tie to the bottom of the ox bo w, with a rude 
girth and as rude a crupper, answers every 
purpose. Wet it thoroughly, put it on wet, 
and keep it so, as far as possible, by giving 
the ox a shower bath with a bucket of water, 
or taking it off and soaking it. It is astonish- 
ing what relief it gives. At first the oxen 
may be refractory and attempt to kick it off, 
but they soon come to understand it and relish 
it very much. Our friend, Mr. Newman, with 
whom we dispute the originality of this inven- 
tion, uses it on his oxen in hauling his wheat, 
some five miles, lo market, and finds his ac- 
count in it. Let the skeptical try it on one 






THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



2G9 



ox in a team and see how speedily he will 
iJake in his tongue. Any gentlemen who has 
^fgver had a wet jacket will easily comprehend 
that a bullock may experience the same cool- 
ness that he has done from evaporation at the 
surface. 
3d. The wear and tear of horses in working 
; the wheat machine may be greatly mitigated 
by changing the teams; that is, if there are 
four horses working the machine, and four 
hauling up wheat, let them swap work every 
four hours, or about that interval. By doing 
it the horses will keep up their order and do 
more work than by the common plan. And 
their buttocks will not, by distressing and dis- 
figuring scars, indicate, as they too often do 
at the close of threshing, how greatly their 
powers have been overtaxed. The number of 
consecutive hours that the horse works is a 
matter of much more importance to his dura- 
bility, and consequenily, to his health and his 
master's interest, than is commonly supposed. 
There is one case recorded, of coal hauling 
in Scotland, where by the device of breaking 
up eighteen miles of travel into four stages of 
four and a half miles each the quantity hauled 
by each horse in a team of four went up from 
three tons two hundred weight to seven tons 
Weekly, a difference of very nearly four tons 
per horse. 

Many of our readers will remember the as- 
tonishing ride of Col. Fremont in California, 
of eight hundred miles in eight days including 
all stoppages and nearly two days' detention. 
This feat, of one hundred and twenty miles a 
day with the first relay, and one hundred and 
twenty-five miles a day with the second, was 
performed by means of frequent changes, each 
of the parly having for his own use three 
horses, which were successively caught and 
put under the saddle at distances of about 
twenty miles. 

So much for these three things, as to each 
of which we speak from actual experience. 
Now for the cattle-shelter. 
Most persons, as the straw is threshed, put 
it up in round stacks or in long ricks on level 
ground. This should by no means be done, 
but it should be slacked so as to form a good 
shelter for cattle, as it may be without diffi- 
culty, trouble or expense. Select a site on 
a sloping hillside, if convenient, if not, build 
' a wall, (of stone is best,) from east, to west 



about two feet high: then draw a parallel line 
about eight feet from it. At proper distances 
in this line, say ten feet, insert strung posts 
showing four or five feet above the ground 
and about two feet in, well rammed: mortise 
strong plates upon these posts, (the mortising 
may be done with a two inch auger.) Across 
this parallel place stout poles, twelve to four- 
teen feet long, leaving just the intervals that 
you would in a rack; in fact, you have only 
made an enormous rack with an upward in- 
clination of two feet in eight. Upon this ele- 
vated grating your straw should be stacked, 
and it will afford your cattle a fine shelter 
which they can gradually consume without 
troubling any one to feed them and the straw 
will at the same time be kept out of the mire. 
For the back wall a strong double fence to be 
stuffed with straw may be substituted, but it 
should be very strong or it will break down 
with the weight of straw. Of course, where 
a farmer has been sensible enough to have 
good shelters for his cattle these remarks do 
not apply. 



OUR PROSPECTS. 

A year ago we took charge of the Planter. 
Since -then there has been added to our list 
about 1,400 subscribers, when we should have 
had in the same time 14,000. About five- 
sevenths of these we ourselves have obtained 
in such spare time as we have had and by some 
pretty hard electioneering, or, in plain words, 
begging. There is hardly a paper at the North 
of the same rank which does not boast its 30, COO 
or 40,000 subscribers, and it is somewhat mor- 
tifying to see Virginians so backward in this 
business, to see them require coaxing where 
Yankees volunteer. But we hope this will be 
corrected after awhile. 

It is very desirable to enlarge the Planter, 
and we have several times been asked why we 
have not done it. It is evident that with so 
small a list of subscribers it is out of our 
power. Some persons have proposed to us to 
double the size and the price of the paper; we 
are willing; but we suspect we should lose 
more than half our list were we to attempt it, 
and as for new subscribers, they could not be 
had. It is worth a dollar now in many in- 
stances to get that amount subscribed, and 



210 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



when the price is raised ihe difficulty would 
be increased in geometrical proportion. 

That diffifulty will be considerable at all 
events for some time to come; for are we not 
just in the beginning of a Presidential elec- 
tion"? And every farmer will read his Whig 
paper or his Democratic paper — how few alas! 
read both — and will read it with as lively an 
interest as if he was the director and not the 
puppet of the poliiicians. Happy man, he 
thinks he rules ihem, at least helps to do it. 
The Planter is now to be handed to the lady 
of the house, whilst the husband hastens to 
see if "those rascals" have succeeded in prov- 
ing Scotta "Sewardite"orPearce a drunkard. 

We fear that it will be vain to ask Parmer 
A to subscribe to the Planter. He has just 
taken '-The Campaign," a cheap pnper to last 
during the canvass. You need say nothing 
now to B about your remedy for the joint 
worm, for he is on "the committee of vigi- 
lance," lias no time to attend to such things, 
and the joint worm wont come again until 
after the election. Nor ask C about his to- 
bacco; he has not seen it for a week, having 
been to hear "a great stump speaker" "give 
it to" or "catch it from" another stump 
speaker, and had for several days before been 
overhauling the file's of "The Crisis" or "The 
Yeoman," to get "an important fact" f..r the 
said stump speaker, to wit, how many more 
editors of newspapers President So and So 
had appointed to office than President Tims 
and So: Nor tell D the hogs are in his corn- 
field, for he will only refer vou to the overseer, 
he himself being just about to start to "the 
mass meeting:" Nortalkio E of subscribing two 
dollars to the Stale Agricultural Society, for 
he has just come from the great State Conven- 
tion, has paid his own expenses and subscribed 
five dollars to the Central Executive Commit 
tee fund for "circulating documents and for 
olh-r expenses of the election," and worse than 
all has found out that his wheat has been 
heated to the tune of ten cents in the bushel 
by "the carelessness of my manager:" Nor 
propose 10 F to join a county agricultural soci- 
ety, for he is a member of the Democratic As- 
sociation and has to watch "a clique that are 
trying to control it:" Nor to G to aid in form- 
ing a Hole and Corner affair, for he is a mem- 
ber of the Scott Club, and has to he'p to sing 
the "glees!" 



Such impottant business as this, that is to 
say the business of working in ttaces, with lifi 
privilege of swelling the while, is destined \ c 
occupy the time of so many this sumn er and 
fall, that we hardly expect to do more th: n 
keep the hold we have, trusting to mend it 
when "the excitement" is cooled down. And 
is it not right and reasonable it should be sot 
For did not the Virginia delegation bring for- 
ward Franklin Pearce, with rarest concord, 
each man of said delegation, except two, ori- 
ginating the nomination? And are not Vir- 
ginia WhiiS bound todefeal thisman with "the 
gallant Son of 'the Old Dominion'?' " 

Poor Old Virginia! Mother of States and 
of statesmen, and mother too of some chil- 
dren of quite other calibre, how Ions will these 
children neglect their own interests and your 
glory? When will they cease to bow their 
necks to the yoke of aspiration 1 



TOBACCO— ANSWER TO CORRES- 
PONDENTS. 

"A Subscriber" from Gordonsville desires 
to know "if it would do to take a crop of oats 
from land which brought tobacco the preceding 
year, and as soon as the oats are gotten offflW 
plough up the stubble, put in a crop of buck- 
wheat and turn it under, so soon as it attained 
its green growth, to serve as a tnantning for a 
crop of tobacco the succeeding spring; or if 
it would be better to turn the oats under and 
let the buckwheat alone." 

As to the buckwheat we cannot say much, 
having no experience with the crop; but we 
shoul I not recommend its use this way, or in 
any other as a gteen manuring crop where clo- 
ver will grow, as, we presume, it will all about 
Gordonsville and Orange C. H. As far as we 
could venture to advise when we are enliiely 
ignorant of the quality of the land and the ro- 
tation pursued, we would say that the better 
plan in our ju Igment, would be to save the 
oat crop, then "stubble up" the lot for rye or 
wheat to be followed with clover, and lake a 
fresh piece of land far tobacco, to he manuied 
' with the ordinary manures of the farmer, or 
' with guano ploughed in in the fall. If any 
buckwheat is to be used as manure for 
tobacco, let it he on another piece of land. 
j This latter crop does not bear repetition well, 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



211 



except on very rich lands; anil if it did, it 
ftlpuld be bad farming to repeat it. The im- 
provement of the land is one of the most valu- 
able features of the tobacco crop when well 
managed, and the first object after getting the 
crop off, should be to get the land that pio- 
duced it well lateen in clover. In thisinstancei 
it would have been better farming to have 
seeded clover with the present crop of oats. 
The most highly improved estates in Albe- 
marle have been managed in that way. 

DEATH OF HENRY CLAY. 

The " Farmer of Ashland" is no more. He 
Hid in Washington Ciiy on Tuesday, June 
29th, at half past tleven o'clock. For monihs 
past the public mind has been prepared for 
Ihe painful intelligence, but its realization 

as necessary to show with what intense 
feeling of sorrow the uation would receive it. 
The mournful "minute gun" — the solemn toll 
of the church bell— the almost entire suspen- 
sion of business — the weeds of mourning in 
every mansion — the gloom depicted in every 
countenance — .he sorrowful throb of every 
jfcm, speak in unmisiakeable languaee that 
' a mighty man has fallen in Israel!" For 
| half a Cintury he served his countiy wiih a 
patriot's heart and a giant's mind — and he 
has gone down to the -'City of the Dead" 
with the grateful tribute of a nation's tears. 
Others have filled a higher official position, 
but none have left a more honorable renown 
or a more stainless name. It is no part of 
our duty hereto record his services — the na- 
tion acknowledges them. His historv belongs 
to hK country — his fame to posterity. They 
will judge him by his merits. Peace to his 
ashes! 



REPUBLICATION OF DeBOW'S REVIEW. 

In our adverti-ing columns will be found a 
pro-pectus of the lepublication of the back 
numbers of the above review in a condensed 
foim. As the sole repository of southern and 
■western statistics we consider it a work ol 
value. The greatest want we encounter is 
the want of josi snch information as is here 
otTcred. To the large class of formeis in Vir- 



ginia who look beyond the naked details of 
their business, and would compare it with 
other pursuits, we should think this woik, the 
only one of its kind, must be necessary. 



SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE. 

We call attention to the first number of 
Major Gilham's Essay on Scientific Agiicul- 
ture, which will be found on another page. 

We know loo little of such matters to speak 
with confidence of Major Gilham's ability to 
treat this very important subject in a satisfac- 
tory mannet ; yet, we have confidence in him, 
because he is Professor of Chemistry in a Slate 
Institution of high rank, and because v.e be- 
lieve him to be a thorough gentleman. We 
again entreat our friends who wish their soils 
analyzed to send them to him, in preference 
to sending them out of the Slate. 



From the Albany Cultivator. 

INACCURACY IN FARMING. 

We are unwilling to believe the frequent 
remark that farmers are less intelligent 
than other classes of the community, or 
that their business is less perfect than that 
of many other professions. A great deal 
of uncertainly and conflicting views exist, 
it is irue, with regard lo many points in 
their practice. But we must not forget 
that even what are termc', by way of emi- 
nence, the learned profesek ns. furnish 
plenty of examples of similar differences 
of opinion. The 'glorious uncertainty of 
the law' is proverbial, in spite of the thou- 
sands of *vise heads which have exerted 
their shrewdness for centuries 10 establish 
uniform justice; for even at the present 
dfiy the most prolound jurist is in some 
cases at a loss to say whether he may not 
be actually commiliing a crime against the 
law; and ihegreaiest giant in legalachieve- 
ment is he who can creep through the 
smallest keyhole of techiical evasion. If 
we look at medicine, we shall hardly re- 
gard all difficulties! settled, when there are 
almost as many systems for keeping ihe 
corporeal machine in repair, as there are 
in Parisian fashions — while cold water, 
hot water, steam and red pepper, alternate- 
ly exert their powers on ihe same disease; 
and cakes of ice and caniharides, mineral 
poisons and vegetable poisons, mercury 



/ 



212 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



are denounced. J\or snail we, in taking 
large masses of people together, find more 
general intelligence among carpenters, 
tailors, blacksmiths, bricklayers and butch- 
ers, than in the agricultural community. 
All of them furnish occasional examples 
of brilliant mental achievement, and many 
of singular stupidity. 

But there is one par'icular in which the 
farmers are decidedly in the back ground. 
It is one in which they have no adequate 
idea of the immense i.iss they are sustain- 
ing. A thorough reformation in this par- 
ticular, the country over, would effect as 
great a change as steam engines have in 
travelling, or in manufactures. The de- 
ficiency we here refer to, is the want of 
rigid accuracy, by weighing and measur- 
ing, in conducting the various operations 
on a farm, and recording the results syste- 
matically. 

The correction of this evil would imme- 
diately do more to improve and render 
profitable this great art of arts, than all 
that chemistry, botany, geology, s.ubsoiling 
and tile draining could ever accomplish 
without it. It would be perfectly astonish- 
ing what an amount of fog and cobwebs 
would be cleared away from agriculture 
in a few years if it could be thoroughly 
and universally applied in practice. We 
have heard of a certain Yankee ship-cap- 
tain who kept his "reckoning" upon a shin- 
gle; which answered a very good purpose 
in connexion with some shrewd guessing, 
until a fellow-countryman on board, in an 
idle hour thoughtlessly whittled it all away. 
Yet he possessed a decided advantage 
over many farmers, who keep no reckoning 
whatever. They find out perhaps at the 
end of the third year at furthest, by the 
amount of their debis, which way their 
vessel is drifting, or whether they are ma- 
king any progress; but what ii is that gives 
the impetus, — whether favorable gales, 
turned to the best advantage, — or beating 
against the wind to great disadvantage, — 
or even rowing with main strength with 
no wind at all, — they have an exceedingly 
indefinite knowledge at best. 

To come a little more to particulars. 
There is not one farmer in a hundred but 
will apply his most skilful mathematics in 
reaching: the precise value of what passes 
out of his hands — the produce dealer can- 
not defraud him of a single half-dime. 
The most accurate balance, and the most 
correct measure, give the true account of 
all he sells. But in all the transactions 
with his own farm — transactions in which 



it is of the highest moment that he should \ 
know whether he is gainer or loser — eve#f| 
ry thing is enveloped in the darkness of un-?', * 
certainty. He may not know after years 
of trial whether his profits or losses pre- 
ponderate in the making of pork, — in the 
fattening of beef, — in the manufacture of 
cheese, — in the cultivation of grain, — in 
deep or shallow ploughing, — in coarse or 
fine wool sheep, — in rounded Berkshires, 
or clipper-built hand-pikes, — orinanything 
else which may be done or managed in 
two ways. A good farmer informed us 
that he had found a decided benefit in a 
dressing of leached ashes to his field; but 
the measured amount of benefit or the 
number of bushels applied per acre, were 
hid in the mists of conjecture; conse- 
quently be was unable to say whether it 
would pay to draw ashes for manure two 
miles or ten. Another had used shell marl 
under the same circumstances and with a 
like unknown result. A third had found 
an increase in his crops from the use of 
swamp muck, but whether this increase 
would pay the expense, double or quadru- 
ple it, remained locked up with the secrets 
of the unknown. 

What should we think of a railroad 
company that should conduct nil their in- 
ternal arrangements by guesses; whiot/; 
should spend days at the end of each ha*' 1 
year in discussing, arguing and trying to 
estimate the profits of the road, with a 
view to declaring a dividend? The ba- 
lance sheet of a bank or other corporation 
must not contain an error of a single cent; 
why should not the farmer know all his 
accounts with his fields with a faint degree 
of the same accuracy ? The cotton manu- 
facturer can tell to a fraction the cost of 
his fabric; but how few even among our 
best agriculturists know how much a cer- 
tain animal, or a bushel of grain, has cost 
them ; and what seems still more surpris- 
ing, is, that after numerous premiums have 
been offered hy agricultural societies, we 
are still very much in the dark about the 
comparative value of roots and grain, of 
ground and unground food, of the best 
way of raising potatoes, and of a multitude 
of other points of great importance, and 
of which weighing and measuring would 
furnish at least a proximate knowledge. 

If a single farmer would expend fifty 
dollars a year in the time and labor re- 
quired to measure his fields or portions of 
them ; to reckon accurately the amount of 
manure applied to each portion ; to record 
faithfully the quantity of labor expended; 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



213 



and the number of bushels yielded ; if he 
Savould try some of the best modes for the 
J 'feeding and management of cattle, horses, 
sheep and swine, in connexion with diffe- 
rent breeds or fragments of such breeds. 
he could scarcely fail to possess in ten 
years an amount of knowledge not at pre- 
sent enjoyed by one in ten thousand. 
What then would be the condition of the 
art, if every intelligent cultivator should 
adopt a similar course — what an accumu- 
lation of valuable knowledge would be 
thrown together; what a sun-light would 
be sent into every dark corner of doubt, 
and the dim objects of twilight become 
clear and obvious in full glare of day. 

Nearly the whole expense for beginning 
this proposed improvement is a weighing 
machine like a hay scale, in which cattle, 
loads of hay. ccc. may be quickly ex- 
amined; to which may be added a common 
grocer's or miller's balance for smaller ob- 
jects ; baskets of accurate measurement, 
half-bushel measures, a tapeline for mea- 
suring land, and cart-bodies and wagon- 
boxes with accurately estimated contents. 
Weighing animals once a week during the 
various experiments in fattening could be 
quickly accomplished with such conveni- 
ent scales ; and the small platform balance 
irould enable one in a moment to deter- 

ine the weight of a cow's milk or butter, 
a fleece of wool, or a bushel of grain. It 
is the want of facilities of this kind deters 
many from accuracy. 

If any of our readers wish definite di- 
reciions how to keep clear and distinct ac- 
counts, they will find the outline of an ad- 
mirable specimen on pages 509, 510 and 
511. of the last volume of Colman's Eu- 
ropean Agriculture, which we earnestly 
commend to their aitention. 



%5mi 



Prom the Plough, Loom and Anvil. 

ON THE REARING OF CATTLE. 

BY C. W. WOOD, OP WOODHOUSE, ENGLAND. 

How Cew farmers are there who under- 
stand the rationale, the why and wherefore 
of most of their agricultural operations; 
and what chance is there for improvement 
•when they are content to follow blindly in 
the beaten track of their predecessors, with- 
out inquiring if there be not a better path? 
What chagrin and disappointment might 
have been avoided, and how much time 
saved, by many importers and purchasers 
of improved cattle, had they read and acted 



upon the following advice, which we con- 
sider one of the best, because one of the 
most practical and comprehensive con- 
tributions ever made to the agricultural 
press. 

The heading of this article formed the 
subject of a paper read by Mr. Wood at 
the June Quarterly Meeting of the Lough- 
borough Agricultural Association. Mr. 
Wood confined himself strictly to the sub- 
ject, not of breeding or of fattening, but of 
rearing stock; treating it under the follow- 
ing heads: 1. The Constitution and Eco- 
nomy of Agricultural Cattle. 2. The State 
and Condition in which they Exist. 3. 
Their Food and Genera! Management. 

In the consideration of the substances 
which compose the animal frame and their 
qualities, a key may be found to many se- 
crets in the general management of young 
cattle, particularly as regards their habits 
and their lood. Science points out to us 
a framework of bones, (the principal in- 
gredients of fibrin and gluten,) to give 
form, uprightness, stability and strength to 
the machine; next, an attachment of mus- 
cle, (composed chiefly of fibrin and gluten) 
to give motion and activity to the body: 
and lastly, a respiratory and circulating 
apparatus, to supply heat, nourishment, 
and life to the whole, in order to resist the 
chemical powers from without. Seeing, 
therefore, that we have a mixed machine 
to deal with, it is self-evident that mixed or 
combined means are needed to cany out 
the first intentions of nature, and without 
which life could not exist. We must have, 
first, starch or sugar, to supply carbon for 
respiration; second, fat or oil, to keep up 
the fat which exists, more or less, in the 
bodies of all animals; third, gluten or fibrin, 
to supply muscle and cartilage; fourth, 
earthy phosphates, for the supply of bones; 
and fifth, saline substances, sulphates and 
chlorides, to replace what is daily rejected 
in the excretions. 

The second proposition requires to be 
clearly defined, viz ; the state or condition 
of animals. We find this to be three-fold, 
each of which requires our anxious atten- 
tion. We have, first, a fcctal state, or one 
in connexion with the mother, which exists 
before birth; secondly, a state of growth 
or development, which comprehends the 
period from birth to maturity; and thirdly, 
the state of the full grown animal. 

We have no control over the condition 
of the foetal animal, except through the 
medium of the mother, of the general 
management of which I shedl speak pre- 



214 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



sently. Of the second condiiion, Niture 
must be closely observed and carefully 
imitated, in order that the third or ultimate 
condition may be healthy, full grown and 
useful — the great object of the farmer, to 
repay him for all his expense, anxiety and 
toil. 

It is a very false economy to stint the 
allowance of food to a young animal. New 
milk, or the flour of all leguminous plants, 
such as beans, peas, &.c. which contain 
casein, with an infusion of oil-cake,* to 
promote fat, seems nearly to approximate 
to the composition of ordinary milk — 
skimmed milk hei'g destitute of the prin- 
cipal ingredient required by nature for the 
support of respiration. Thib, in addition 
to warmth and cleanliness, will always 
keep the vital powers predominant over 
chemical — the cardinal point in the rearing 
of cattle. 

I now come to my third position, viz: — 
'•'their food and general management;" 
and a more important and profitable sub 
ject cannot engage your attention. It 
must he considered in detail. I will begin, 
therefore, as I proposed, with the foetal 
condiiion of the animal, and take a calf as 
a general example. It, like hII other ani- 
mals, is supported and nourished by the 
blood circulating from the mother through 

iisown body, from the moment of its ear- ' quantity ol blood is increased, more oxygen 
liest formation up to the time of its birth; is taken in the lungs, and consequently 
which blood contains, ready formed, all the more carbonic acid is given oft. A certain 
various substances which are necessary proportion of bone and muscle must also 
for its own sustenance and existence. The be supplied to the voting animal by the 
cow forms a new and complete animal ; it <™'l given t" the mother, or the bones and 
also secretes food fbr this new animal, muscles ol the mother herself will belaid 
which is to sustain and increase it for a under contribution to supply it. This must 
considerable time after its birth; for the be effected by the quantity of phosphates, 
milk, line the blood, is the most perfect food gluten, fibrin, or cas< in. which arc 
and contains every substance of which the 



and then, forsooth, to expect a fine healthy, ii 
offspring, with an abundance of milk for/' 
its sustenance? And if such brilliant ex- '' 
pectations are not realized, the fault is to 
lie laid upon the poor beast — "She is not 
a good milker;" or to the land — "It will 
not do for rearing, or for dairy purposes;" 
in short, upon any thing rather than upon 
their own stupid, ignorant and thoughtless 
minds. Breeding stock, gentlemen, cannot 
be kept too well; they are, in truth, feeding 
stock to others, and ought to have the best 
a farm affords; the best pastures in the 
summer, with cabbage and commen tunips 
in the autumn: Swedes, sweet straw, oil- 
cake, [corn meal,] and hav in the winter; 
and in the sprinrr after calving, some man- 
gel-wurzel, steamed potatoes and hay until 
the grais time again. 

To nourish the young animal in the 
wombofits mother, an additional quantity 
of food must be given, and this quantity 
must be increased as the state of pregnancy 
advances; and the kind of additional food 
must readily supply the materials of the 
growing bones and muscles of the foetus, 
and contain a larger quantity of starch or 
sugar also, than the mother in herordinary 
state would require. This is required by 
the circumstance that the mother must now 
breathe for herself and her young; the £ 
quantity of blood is increased, more oxygen^.' 



bo ly is built. When sucking is at an end, 
should we not invtate nature, a sure fcnd 
unerring guide to philosophic truth? Any 
animal — whether cow, horse, sheep, or 
pig — having its own existence to support, 
(I will add in agricultural language, ''in 
good condiiion ') a new animal to form, 



given 
in the (ood with which ihe mother is fed. 
An animal thus kept, will be in the most 
profitable condition to rear its young; and 
bear in mind, that as the calf grows rapidly, 
the I'od it requires increases da ly with 
its hulk, and the demands upon the mother 
every day hecome greater. At this period, 
therefore, the cow must obtain larger snp- 



and one also to feed, is, to say the least of pi'" of food to sustain herself and to pro- 
duce a sufficient quari'ity ol milk tor her 
calf. If, then, adequate supplies are not 



it, in a most important and interesting con- 
dition. Is such an animal to be sent, to 
feed upon a scanty pasture, io be turned 
into a miserable and wet farm-yard, or kept, 
upon straw and an occasional turnip, until 
she is little better than a bag of bones; 



* Indian corn, the glory of American agriculture, 
is more ihnn an equivalent for this main-stay of the 
British feeder. — Ed. 



given, a portion is daily laken from her 
own substance which causes her to be lean 
and feeble, and heryoungstinted and puny 
in its growth. 

What has been said regarding the food 
given to the cow. will be more or less ef- 
fective in promoting the growth of the 
young animal solely on milk; whep richer 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



215 



* 



* 



in rurd, it will promote more muscle ; when 
richer in phosphates, more bone; anil in 
butter, more fat. Milk is a perfect food lor 
a growing animal; nothing is wanted in 
it. The mother selects all the ingredients 
of this perfect food from the substances 
which are mingled in her stomach from 
the food she eats; she changes them che- 
mically in such a degree as to present them 
to the young animal in a s'ate in which it 
can most easily, and with least labor, em- 
ploy ihem for sustaining its body, and all 
this at a given and appointed moment of 
time. In due time, the young animal be- 
gins to feed for itself, and then the mother 
improves in condition. Warmth, exercise 
and good food are all that then is required; 
always bearing in mind that, as nature 
prepares the food for young animals in a 
state in which they can most easily digest 
it, so we should prepare by boiling or 
steaming all dry food and roots for the 
same purpose. In the crowing animal, 
the food has a double function to perform — 
it must sustain and it must increase the 
body. Hence, whatever tends to decrease 
the sustaining quantity, (and cold, exercise 
and uneasiness do so.) will tend in an equal 
degree to lessen the value of a m'ven weight 
of food in adding to the weight of an ani- 
mal's body. To the pregnant and the 
milking cow, the same, remarks apply. — 
The custom of allowing young cattle to 
remain during the whole winter in straw- 
yards, exposed to all the variations of wea- 
ther, cannot be t<->o loudly condemned. — 
Oil-cake, it is true, which is sometimes 
given in la rue quantities, makes some small 
amends by the supply of carbon to the sys- 
tem; but if a warm, drv and clean shed 
was substituted, with turnips instead of 
cake the condition and quality of the ani 
nial would be very much improved, and a 
considerable savin? of expense be effected, 
to j.ay nothing of the improvement of the 
manure. 

All vegetables contain, ready formed, 
(which they extract from the food on which 
they live.) the Fubsfanc s of which the 
parts of animals are composed The ani- 
mal consequently draws, ready formed. 
the materials of its own body from the 
vegetable food it eats. The starch, sugar 
and gum ia vegetables are to supply c.ar- 
b n for respiration. Carnivorous animals 
obtain it from the fat of the food; starving 
animals from the. fit of their own bodies; 
and young animals, which live upon milk. 
by the sugar it contains. In the young 
animal we find an excess of life; it has to 



increase as well as sustain ih-elf. In the 
full grown animal we find the daily waste 
ol substance, which is carried out of the 
body in the excretions, made up by the 
gluten, phosphates and saline s-ubstnticea 
in the food, and a balance kept up between 
the powers of life and the bodily struc'ure; 
it. simply has to sustain itself In the old 
animal, v\ hen life is diminished', we obst rve 
a proportionate decrease of bodily sub- 
stance. 

It is interesting and wonderful when we 
j thus trace the existence of the bodily struc- 
ture of all animals ready formed in the 
( vegetable, which property in vegetables is 
formed during their growth — is derived 
from sourcts purely gaseous and inorga- 
nic, by chemical, mechanical and physical 
j operations. It is the duty of the practical 
; farmer to adopt these methods for im- 
proving the sod; hut this forms no part of 
my subject. 

Sheep.— The additional value to your 
flock by this mode of management, and 
especially in giving them some dry food, 
such as hay or corn, before lambing, is very 
great. It gives firmness <f fibre, and adds 
greater vigor to life, a greater activity to 
the vital powers, by which alone if is ca- 
pable of resisting disease, and of arriving 
at an early maturity. The improvment 
of the fleece, by such a course, will be fifty 
per cent. The old breed were kept from 
two years to two years and a half old be- 
fore Fold, and rarely exceeded ten pounds, 
or fifteen pounds a quarter. It is true, 
breed has much to do with this question; 
but in sheep of the same breed, kept in 
different ways, a difference of twenty -five 
per cent, may be frequently observed. To 
insure a healthy offspring, a good fleece of 
wool and of sound staple, sheep require to 
be kept well, in the spring months particu- 
larly. 

I'ips. — Pigs ought never to lose the fat 
or condition they receive from the mother, 
which is easily kept up by milk, peas or 
beans, and all of which contain flesh. A 
>rnall quantity of oil-cake, once or twice a 
day, in addition to turnips, mangel-wurzel, 
or any vegetable food; fed in this way, 
many months are saved in time, and vou 
have the advantage of summer feeding, 
which, on account of the warmth, is by far 
the best period for this purpose. 

Horses. — I need only say that where 
great muscular development is required, 
as in the case of race horses which run for 
the two-year old stakes, they are corned 
very high as soon as they can eat it; and 



\ 



216 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 






it is astonishing to see the strength and 
activity resulting from such a plan. Early 
maturity is very profitable here. Give 
your yearlings plenty of oats and beans, 
with steamed potatoes during the winter, 
and you gain a complete year in time, be- 
sides the increased value you put upon the 
animal; and in summer feed them upon 
rye or clover, the best possible iood for 
horses. The sooner they are broken in 
the better; their tempers become quieter, 
and they thrive more. I wish to mention 
here the great value of salt to all young 
animals; it destroys bols and worms; it 
promotesdigestion,and assists thesecretion 
of healihy bile, the medium through which 
respiration is supported; this, however, 
should be given in moderate quantities. 

Having now spoken upon the general 
management of the various kinds of cattle 
usually reared by the farmer, I shall con- 
clude with a lew remarks upon their food; 
and I deem you will not consider this out 
of place. The amount of food, either for 
man or beast, which a given acre will pro- 
duce, depends considerably upon the kind 
of crops which is raised. Thus a crop of 
thirty bushels of wheat will yield only 
ahout foruteen hundred pounds of fine flour, 
while a crop of six tons of potatoes will 
give about four thousand four hundred 
poundsof an agreeable,dryand mealy food. 

It is said, on the authority of the Board 
of Agriculture, that a crop of clover, tares, 
rape or potatoes, cabbage, or turnips, will 
furnish at least three times as much food 
for cattle as an equal breadth of pasture- 
grass of medium quality. This, however, 
being but a hint, I will at once give you a 
table of the nutritivequalities of the various 
sorts of food now in common use. It is 
selected with some care from the various 
tables published, and has direct reference 
to the subject before us, on account of the 
proportion of gluten, starch and oil which 
each ai tide contains. 

In the root crops I place — first, carrots; 
second, mangel-wurzel; third, Swedes; 
fourth, potatoes; fifth, cabbage; sixth, com- 
mon turnips. 

In the green crops — first, dills; second, 
rye; third, clover; and fourth, grass. 

In the corn crops — first, beans; second, 
peas; third, lintels; fourth, wheat; fifth, 
barley and Indian corn; sixth, oats; se- 
venth, rye; eighth, buckwheat. 

In the straw crops — first, pea straw, 
which is nearly equal to hav; second, oat 
and barley straw; fourth, wheat and straw; 
fifth, rye straw; and sixth, bean straw. 



Three pounds of oil-cake are equal to 
about ten pounds of hay. ^ 



THE PHYSICAL AND INTELLECTUAL 
PLEASURES OF FARMING. 



We are unable to resist the temptation to 
transfer to our pages the following communi- 
cation from Frederick Holbrook, one of the 
associate editors of the New England Farmer, 
to the columns of that paper, in answer to the 
queries of a correspondent. 

Mr. Holbrook's connected style rarely al- 
lows of the selection of detached passages. 
So closely do what precedes and what follows 
depend one upon another, that a fragment gives 
as little idea of the whole, as a Philadelphia 
brick would give of a Chestnut street block. 
"Good wine needs no bush." So, without 
any palaver, we let our friend speak for him- 
self. — Ed. Journal of Agriculture. 

I come now to a direct practical answer 
to your question — "In what does the se- 
cret consist of finding any real substantial 
pleasure in the operations of farming?" 
Among other things you name "the mo- 
notonous business of holding the plough 
from early in the morning to late in the 
evening." As too commonly conducted, I 
grant the ploughing is not a particularly 
agreeable business, and that you have de- 
scribed it quite tersely. Too many plough-/)"! 
men, having little or no thought about the 
true philosophical principles of their busi- 
ness, are more anxious to get over the 
greatest possible breadth of land in a day, 
than to do proper and the best work. — 
They cut their furrows too shallow, and 
as wide as, or wider than the plough can 
possibly turn them, and what portion can- 
not be got over with the plough aided by 
the foot of the ploughman, rolls back into 
its bed again, and the next time round its 
"grass sidp up" is put out of sight by the 
"cut and cover" operation, making a high 
ridge of earth with a deep hole beside it. 
The furrows are also very crookedly cut, 
and, therefore, do not match together at 
all well. The ploughman twists and turns 
himself in all manner of shapes, is vexed 
with his plough, scolds at and whips his 
team furiously, labors and tugs and sweats 
away, "from early in the morning to late 
in the evening," and can show you as big 
and as mean a day's work as you could 
wish to see, with hardly a rod square of 
passably good work in the whole piece. 
I would not allow such a workman to 
plough a day for me if he would do the 
work for nothing and pay ten dollars for 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



217 



the privilege. But if properly conducted, 
6ay for ten hours in a day, which is all a 
| /nerciful man will require of his animals 
of draught, however he may be disposed 
as to himself, ploughing is one of the finest 
and most exhilarating employments in the 
world. 

Did you ever investigate the accurate 
philosophy of the plough and of ploughing? 
Take a highly improved modern plough, 
and study it. Look at it as a whole im- 
plement, and at its several parts, and re- 
flect what a world of profound study it 
lias cost to produce that same implement. 
What high mechanical principles it in- 
Tolves, and how beautifully do they com- 
bine together to produce an exact and 
most valuable result. There is the mould- 
board alone, although an exact mathema- 
tical combination, yet it is a problem for 
you, (I speak advisedly,) which, if you 
have not solved it, its solution will give 
you a pretty sharp brush, with all your 
mathematics. Then, too, a combination 
of mathematics, a little varied to suit each 
case, will give you the best form of mould- 
board for sandy and gravelly soils, for clay, 
and heavy moist soils generally, and for 
best working stubble land. The plough 
best adapted to sandy, and generally light, 
dry soils, will lay flat furrows, accurately 
• shut in beside each other, thus preventing 
p<too great natural tendency to evapora- 
tion, incident to such soils. Your mathe- 
matics will show you that a coulter set 
bevelling to the land, an inclined landside 
1o the plough, and a concave-lined mould- 
board, all contribute, to facilitate the laying 
of flat furrows, and that it. would be diffi- 
cult to drop the edges down accurately 
beside each other without these several 
provisions. The plough best adapted to 
clay and other heavy or moist soils, cuts 
rectangular furrows and lays them at an 
inclination of forty five degrees to the ho- 
rizon. Your mathematics will show you 
that this is the best position for the furrows 
of such soils to be placed in. It can be 
undeniably demonstrated that none but 
rectangular furrows, whose depth is to 
their width as two is to three, can be laid at 
an inclination of forty-Jive degrees ; that 
rectangular furrows, whose depth is equal 
to two-thirds their widih, and which are 
laid at an inclination of forty-five degrees, 
present, in their projecting angles, a greater 
surface of soil toiheameliorating influences 
of the atmosphere, and greater cubical 
content? of soil for the harrow to operate 
on in raising a deep fine tilth, or seed-bed, 



and permit underneath them a freer circu- 
lation of air, and passage from the surface 
of superfluous moisture, than furrows of 
any other form or proportions that are 
practicable to be turned. The plough in 
the very best manner adapted to the work- 
ing of stubble lands, will bo higher in the 
beam to enable it to pass obstructions, and 
shorter in the turn of its mouldboard than 
either of the preceding, will have a greater 
depth of iron in the back parts of the 
mouldboard, which will tend to throw its 
loose stubble furrow all over to an inverted 
position, and leave a perfectly clean chan- 
nel behind it for the reception of the next 
furrow. Thus you see there is quite a 
philosophy in ploughs and ploughing, which 
the intellectual farmer is bound to under- 
stand. 

However dull and monotonous the busi- 
ness of ploughing may be to you, it is not 
at all so to me. Starting my team a-field 
of a bright spring's morning, with my 
plough all bright and clean from its winter 
quarters, I feel as honest a pride and plea- 
sure at the thought of my occupation as I 
ever do when engaging in any employ- 
ment. I strike out my lands with a furrow 
as straight as an air line. .After this is 
accomplished I gauge my plough to cut 
deep furrows, and as narrow as is possibly 
compatible with the depth, and then take 
them off the land of uniformly exact depth 
and width, never allowing a crooked fur- 
row to be seen in my ploughing. To me 
it is very exhilarating to see the furrows 
roll off my polished mouldboard, and lay 
beside each other with as accurate a finish 
as though they had been joined by a car- 
penter's tools, and to think, as my eye sur- 
veys the smoking soil thus prepared, how 
mother earth always delights in bountifully 
rewarding the careful husbandman, — that 
she invites a liberal, intelligent and accu- 
rate cultivation, by returning as compen- 
sation a greatly increased crop. I say to 
myself that I am one of the number en- 
gaged in an operation without which man 
would not have bread, civilization could not 
advance or be sustained, and which was 
one of the fundamental operations early 
contributing to elevate man from the bar- 
barous state, and fix him in the abodes of 
civilization. I remember that the plough 
has been regarded with a sort of sacred- 
ness by men in every age, (hat even far 
back — 

" In ancient times, tlie sacred plough employed, 
The kings, and awful fathers of mankind;" 



21S 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



and that now, it employs many of earth's 
choicest spirits. This occupation brings 
me tine health, refreshing slumbers, and 
while engaged in it, I can think as accu- 
rately as under any other conditions what- 
ever. Indeed, if I were called upon to 
prepare a public address, an article for the 
press, or to engage in any other intellec- 
tual exercise, I could fix upon and arrange 
my subject, and bring to it quite as much 
vigor of thought and shape it into as logi- 
cal an arrange, nent, as under any other 
circumstances. 

My friend, you will find more or less 
philosophy connected with the proper per- 
formance of almost any of the methods of 
agriculture; and that many subjects, re- 
quiring further scientific inquiry, existeven 
in the commonest operations of husbandly. 
Your soils need to be fully understood that 
you may supply iheir wants and correct 
their superfluities. The various ingre- 
dients or properties of your manures must 
he known, together with the theory of com- 
posting, and must be applied properly. 
The properties that go to make up your 
crops must be founJ '>ut, so that you may 
best adapt the crops to the soil, or if your 
eoil is deficient in ingredients requisite to 
the raising of some desirable crop, they 
must be supplied by proper manures and 
cultivation. Fruits, for home use and for 
sale, must be produced, and a world of 
scientific investigation may be well em- 
ployed, in finding out their best manage- 
ment, the character and habits of insects 
injurious to them, and the best means of 
preventing their depredations. The wet 
lands must be properly drained, which re- 
quires a combination of science wi'h prac- 
tice. Irrigation produces wonderful ef- 
fect?, may perhaps he within your reach, 
and its theory and best management must 
be found out. The philosophy of breeding 
domestic animals, a beautiful and interest- 
ing study, generally poorly understood and 
miserably practised in our oountry, must 
be investigated. 
****** 

I have been thus earnest in stating the 
ca-^e as I understand it, because our agri- 
culture has been quite long enough cursed 
with a prevailing sentiment that the farmer 
does not need much knowledge, and could 
not use it practically and profitably if he 
had it. It is claimed by many that the 
principles of correct cultivation are few, 
and all found out; that farming is a mere 
monotonous routine, for physical labor to 
conduct; that he is the best farmer who 



can do the b ; ggest day's work with his 
hands, who can skin his farm the cleanest 
and put the proceeds of his fertility at in- 
terest, spending little or nothing for the im- 
provement of himself and family, and no- 
thing to make home attractive. 

Talk to many of our people of the ad- 
vantages of applying the sciences to the 
cultivation of the ground, and about better 
educating the farmer, and they will tell 
you that it is simply ridiculous nonsense. 
I I say that these things are a curse to agri- 
| culture every way; and particularly so 
because| many of our brightest and most 
enterprising young men, sickening at the 
thought of engaging in a pursuit ihus ad- 
vocated and practised, and unwilling 

"To drudge through weary life without the nid 
Ol intellectual implements and tools," 

go off to other pursuits, when, if they 
could have had one- half the thorough 
| training to fit them for farming which they 
I were obliged to go through to be prepared 
I for some other pursuit, we should now see 
much more of correct, profitable cultiva- 
tion than is seen. 

I have to say to you, in conclusion, my 
i young friend, that if you wish for a field 
| of honorable usefulness, second to no other, 
for a naturally dignified pursuit where ^ 
! cultivated intellect may find full scope,*' 
I where, by a practically judicious applica- 
I tion of the natural sciences which illustrate 
agriculture, you may wield a large influ- 
ence for good to others then stick to your 
i farming. True, it will not bring you great 
i wealth; that is with difficulty attained, by 
j comparatively a lew; it usually requires 
| of him who seeks it the devotion of his 
every energy, while it is not his greatest 
good, but sometimes proves an evil either 
to himsell'or children. But an enlightened 
cultivation of ihe earth will give you a 
competence, and will prove favorable to 
mental culture and viitue. Your home, 
though modest and inexpensive, may be 
adorned in many little ways which will 
teml to make it the tasteful and fitting 
abode of virtue. A moderate outlay will, 
in these days of improvement, furnish you 
an assortment of the very best books, so 
that, seated bef ire your hearth you may 
commune with the choicest thoughts of 
gifted men. While abroad in the fields, 
nature will give you lessons of the deepest 
import. Your lands will furnish you a 
laboratory for the testing 1 and practical 
application of science. These things are 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



219 



within your reach — not like wealth, d ffi- 
cult, and hard to be won, and only .by a 
few, — they are 

" No special boon 
Fer high and not fi>r low, for proudly grace 
A: d nit fiir meek .■(" heart. The smoke ascends 
T" heaven as lightly from the collage hearth 
As r r >m the haughty paUce. He whose soul 
Tenders this true equality, may walk 
The fields of earth with gratitude and hope." 

F. HOLBROOK. 



PAYMENTS TO THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 
Fiom Jane blh,, to July 1st, 1852. 

All persons who have made payments early 
enough to be enteied, and whose numes do 
n >t appear in the following receipt list, are 
requested to give immediate notice ot ihe 
omission, in order that the correction may he ( 
made in the next issue: 

W. F. Lewis, to July. 1854, S3 00 I 

Mrs. Charlotte Carver, to Jan. 1853, 
Joseph Ricks, to May, 1853, 
Div-id H. Claik, to Jdnuaiy, 1854, 
William P. Ncwliill, to January, 1853, 
Dr. N. K. Foster, to September, 1853, 
James Allen, to June, 1853, 
William P. Forbes, to May, 185?, 
V. M. Eppes, to January, iS53, 
James K. Wright, lo January, 1853, 
William Jeter, to July, 1852, 
Robert A. Kent, to July, 1852, 
Samuel Tunstall, to January, 1853, 
."j^'^mes Brown, to July, 1851, 
I ar Rob't Henderson, to January, 1853, 
Gen'l C. Braxton, to July, 1852, 
Dr. W. P. Braxton, to January. 1855, 
Thomas Durrett, to January. 1853, 
Joseph Allen, to Januatv, 1853, 
Hush Rileigh, to July, 1852, 
William Palmer, to July, 1852, 
William C. Menniss, to January, 1853, 
Dr B. M. Jones, lo Januaty, 1H52, 
William H.'nkins, to July, 1852, 
William S. Dnpree, to July, 1852, 
James R. Dnpree, lo Julv, 1853, 
John D. Priddy, to July, 1853, 
William Hankins, to Julv, 1853 
Capt F. Letter, to July, 1*53, 
William S. Dupree, to July. 1853, 
George L. Bayne, to July, 1853, 
Capt.G. A. Wood, to Julv. 1853, 
C. O Lipscomb, to Julv, 1853, 
William H Eubank, to J> ly, 1853, 
J)seph L Watkins, to Julv, l«&3. 
Capt. R. H. Williams, to July, 1853, 
P. K Wood, to July. 1853. 
Lan^sfon Arvin, to July, 1853, 
Col Alexander Fleet, to Januarv, 1853, 
Col. M M Millner, to Mav, 1853, 
Richard E G. Adams, to May, 1853, 
Je-se H Heath, to June, 1853, 
C J. Meriwether to Janti?rv. 1853, 
T. J. Taylor, to January, 1853, 



1 00 


1 00 


1 00 


1 00 


1 00 


1 00 


1 Oil 


1 00 


1 00 


3 00 


1 00 


1 00 


l 00 


2 00 


1 00 


4 00 


3 Oil 


2 00 


2 00 


2 00 


1 00 


1 00 


1 50 


50 



1 



y 10 oo 



i no 
i oo 

1 (10 

1 oo 
i on 
4 oo 



J 



A S. Jones, to January, 1853, 
John W. Old, to January, 1853, 
A. K Yancey, to January, 1853, 
Nathan Parker, to January, 11-53, 
James Fontaine, lo January, 1853, 
James Paxton, to January, 1853, 
S. B Atvvill, to July, 1853, 
J W. Scott, to July, 1853, 
John S. Cowherd, to January, 1853, 
John H. M'Kitmey, to January, 1&53, 
Archibald Gills, lo July, 1853, 
Thomas W. Bradlev, to May, 1853, 
J H. Eihendge, lo January.1853, 
William Payne, Sr. to January, 1853, 
Lemuel Turner, to January, 1853, 
Thomas W Downer, to July, 1853, 
Mose D. Echols, to January, 185 S, 
John G. Hughes, lo September, 1853, 
John Ituff, Sr. to June, 1853 
Peyton Gryrnes, to July. 1853, 
Ro Morrison, lo June. 1853, 
Hugh W. Mackey, to June, 1^53, 
John Currie, Sr. to May, 1853, 
James H. Bowyer, to June. 1853, 
John A. Cress, to June, 1853, 
Robert Allen, lo June, 1853, 
G A. Baker, to June, 1853, 
Major J. C Huiton, to June, 1853, 
Roherl Sterrett, to June, 1853, 
James A F. Randolph, to June, 1853, • 
Andrew Lindsay, to June, < H5:s, 
J. L Campbell, to June, 185.N, 
William Ackerly. to May. 1853, 
Reuben Grigsby, to May, 1853, 
John M'Coiltle, to June. 1853, 
John G. Pole, to June, 1853, 
M. H Effinger, to June, l!-53, 
■ John W. Hamilton, to June, 1-53, 

Matthew White, lo June, 1-53, 
' Ro. C. M'Clure, lo June, 1853, 
John F. Harper, lo May, 1853, 
1 John C. Laird, to June. 1853, 
R. C. Noel, to June 1853, 
John C Bell, lo June, 1853, 
W. F. Poague, to June, 1853, 
Joseph Sieele, to June, 1853, 
Dr. William M. Gold, lo June, 1853, 
James Montgomery, to June, 1S..3, 
John Hamilton, lo June, 1853, 
John G. Hamilton, 10 June, 1853. 
Dr W. A. Wilkinson, to June, 1853, 
William Clark, lo June, 1853, 
Dr. D. S. Morgan, to Jui e 1853, 
H. M. Bowver, to June. 1853. 
Ro. B. Moorman, to June. 1853, 
Dr. John A. Davidson, to June, 1853, 
Dr. F. E. Luckett, to June, 1853, 
James T. Marshall, to June, 1853, 
Samuel W. Marlin, to July, 1852, 
Jonathan Leathers, to Septeml er, 1852 
H. Z Shacklef'ord, to April. 1853, 
John O. Harris, lo Ja'Uiarv, 1853, 
| A F. Terrill, lo January. 1853. 
■ Edwin Thurnian, to January. 1853, 
i J^mes W. Twyman, to Julv 1853, 

Emanuel Gersi, to May, 1853, 
I Thomas Hardin, lo January, 1853, 



SI 00 
2 OO 

1 00 

2 00 
5 00 
5 (.0 
1 00 

1 00 

2 00 

1 00 

2 00 

1 00 

2 (.0 

1 00 

2 00 

i to 

1 00 

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

3 00 
1 00 
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1 00 
1 00 
1 00 
1 00 
1 (0 
1 00 
1 00 
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1 00 
1 00 
1 00 
1 00 
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1 00 
1 00 
1 00 
1 00 
1 01) 
1 00 
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220 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



BeBow s s Industrial Resources 

AND PROGRESS OP THE SOUTH- 
ERN AND WESTERN STATES, in 
three large and closely printed volumes, small 
type, double columns; handsome print, paper 
and binding,— being a digest and abridgement 
of ihe 12 volumes of DeBow's Review. Price 
5510, or S3 33 per volume. 

Defirous of supplying the large and conti- 
nually increasing demand for the complete scries 
of (he Review, in 12 volumes, now exhausted, 
and which it would require a very large outlay 
to reprint, the editor has been induced to make 
a selection of all the important and valuable 
papers contained in them from the beginning, 
condensing, re-arranging and completing to 
date, and throwing the subjects after the man- 
ner of the encyclopaedias, into alphabetical 
order. In this manner everything of interest 
and importance will be preserved in a conve- 
nient form for reference ; and the volumes will 
constitute the only repository for the shelves 
of the library, of such information, which by 
means of the monthly numbers hereafter will 
always be brought down to date. 

The Volumes will embrace ihe gistof every- 
thing that has appeared in the Review relating 
to the Southern and Western Stales. (An im- 
perfect index of which will be found at the 
opening of the 10th volume.) 

To wit: Their History, Population, Ge- 
ography, Statistics; Agricultural Pro- 
ducts, of Cotton, Sugar, Tobacco, Hemp, 
Grains, Naval Stores, etc. etc. — Manufac- 
tures; detailed accounts, statistics and his- 
tory of all branches,— Internal Improvements; 
complete statistics of Rail Roads, results pro- 
fits, expenses, costs, advantages, miles in pro- 
jection, construction, completed, etc.; Plank 
Roads, Canals, Navigation, etc. — Statistics of 
Health and Diseases, ivealth and progress; rela- 
tive condition, whites and blacks; Slave Laws 
and Statistics, management and amelioration 
of slavery, — origin, history and dcfeiiccs of slavery 
and slave institutions; the valuable treatises of 
Harper, Hammond, Dew, on slavery, etc.; 
Commerce op the South and West in all of 
its minute particulars, etc. together with an 
historical and statistical sketch of each of the 
stales and cities, — the domestic and foreign trade, 
resources, manufactures, etc. of the United Stales;- 
the Census Returns from 1790, with the com- 
plete statistics or the census of 1850. 

The volumes will be issued in September, 
October and November, 1852, and orders are 
solicited in advance, payable on delivery to 
Merchants, or to the parties themselves. 

DeBow's Review, of which this is a con- 
densation, is published monthly in New Or- 
leans, and other southern and western cities, 
112 to 140 pages, small print, fine paper and 
engravings, and treats of all the great indus- 
trial matters relating to the Southern and 
Western Slates, and incidentally of the North 
and the Union. Terms $5 per annum. 



The volumes hereafter will be uniform with 
the condensed series. 

A few sets of the complete work may be had 
at the office, in 12 large and handsomely boun£? 
volumes. Price $42. Single numbers sup- 
plied to make up sets, and binding furnished 
on reasonable terms. 

f^-Orders on Commission Merchants in ci- 
ties or towns, payable on sale of crops, re- 
ceived as cash. 

J. D. B. DeBOW, 
Ed. DeBow's Review, Merchant's Exchange. 
New Orleans, July, 1852— 6t 

PIEDMONT FEMALE ACADEMY. 
npHE Second Term of the First Session of 
JL this Institution will commence on the 20th 
of July. The subscriber is making an im- 
provement by which he will be enabled to take 
five or six more young ladies after the 20th of 
next month. Terms SCO for five months for 
board and tuition in all the English branches 
and alsoin the French language. An additional 
fee of $15 will be charged those who take 
lessons in music. Address the subscriber at 
Gordonsville, Orange County, Virginia. 
July— 2t 'J. W. GOSS. 

ANALYSIS OF SOILS, &c. 

THE undersigned is prepared to execute 
the analyses of Soils, Guano, Marls, Plas- 
ter, &c. &c. at the Laboratory of the Virginia 
Military Institute. Packages may be for- 
warded through Webb, Bacon & Co. Rich- 
mond, or Echols & Pryor, Lynchburg. m 
Persons desiring further information wit* 
please address 

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



DAILY AND WEEKLY DISPATCH. 

THE Daily and Weekly Dispatch, publish- 
ed at the office on Governor street, near 
Main, Richmond, Virginia — commenced in 
October, 1850— have reached a very astonish- 
ing popularity. The Daily Dispatch is a 
penny paper and has an immense circulation 
in Richmond and contiguous towns. It affords 
the best medium for advertising. Subscribers 
in the country furnished with the paper at the 
low price of Four Dollars per annum. 

The WEEKLY DISPATCH is published 
at One Dollar Per Annum, and is therefore 
one of the cheapest Newspapers ever publish- 
ed. It is a handsome sheet and contains the 
News of the Day, together with Literaiy Se- 
lections from the very best sources. The list 
is already very large and constantly increasing. 
No paper will be sent until paid for in advance. 
Hugh R. Pleasants is the chief contributor 
to the editorial columns of the Daily and 
Weekly Dispatch. Address the Proptietor, 
Richmond, Virginia. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



221 



AUSTRALIAN WHEAT-VERY SUPERIOR. 

^HE berry of this grain is extra large, and 
makes the best of flunr. It produces a 
ater average crop than any other variety 
now grown in New York. Several years' ex- 
perience 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, S4 per 
bushel. Other varieties of wheat, such as the 
While 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 
targe Foundry, just erected by him and 
fitted out with machinery of the latest and most 
approved style, is, in addition to the manufac- 
ture of Tobacco Flattening Mills, prepared to 
receive orders for Stationary Steam Engines, 
Saw and Grist Mills, Agricultural Machines, 
Tobacco Presses of every description, and all 
kindsof Iron and Brass Castings. He pledges 
himself to execute faithfully, and with dis- 
patch, all work entrusted to him. and respect- 
fully solicits a call from his friends and the 
public generally. 

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

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

&,>CHIN CHINA AND SHANGHAE 
FOWLS. 

THE subscriber has for sale a few pairs of 
Pure Blooded Fowls, from the above 
Mock, originally imported by himself, war- 
ranted 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 Roxbunj, 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 srrandsired by the buck 
imported by Bishop Meade from the flock of 
Mr. Webb, and they are sired by an equally 
pood and well bred sheep,obtainecl 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 ser- 
vice in October next. 

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



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

The Complete Faimerand Rural Economist 
and New American Gardener, by T. J. Fessen- 
den, in one volume, about 700 pages, cloth, 
gilt— SI 25. 

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

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

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

Buist's Family Kitchen Gardener, cloth — 
75 ci j nts. 

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

Sheep Husbandry, by H. S.Randall— $1 25. 

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

Browne's American Poultry Yard, tenth edi- 
tion— SI. 

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

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

Chemistry Made Easy for Farmers, paper — 
25 cents. 

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

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, Struc- 
ture and Diseases of Sheep — SI. 

The American Architect, the cheapest and 
best work of the kind published in the world, 
complete in 24 numbers, at 25 cents each, or 
S5 for the work complete — So' bound in two 
volumes. 

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

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

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

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

mar — ly 

UNION AGRICULTURAL WARE- 
HOUSE AND SEED STORE. 

EALPH & Co. No. 23 Fulton street, New 
York, near Fulton Market, Dealers in all 
the most approved Agricultural and Horticul- 
tural Implements, Imported and American 
Field and Garden Seeds, Ornamemal Shade 
and Fruit Trees, Guano, Bone Dust, Poudrette, 
&c. Wrought Iron Ploughs, Truck's, Barrows, 
&c. &c. always on hand. Also, the Excelsior, 
or California Plough. mar 3t 



222 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



DEVON BULLS FOR SALE. 

THE subscribers, having lately entered upon 
the business of Breeding Devon Cattle, 
now, lor the first time, offer lor sale some ol 
their Bull Calves. Their stock is all recently 
imported from the celebrated herds of Messrs. 
George Turner and James GLuattly, Devon- 
shire, England, who are well known as he 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 

thjse we now ofier are Uiicas and Keokuk; 
the first, c, lived Mtrch 19th, 185! — the other, 
FeDru.iry 17th, 185 - 2; their pedigree is the 
same 1 , viz: sire, " Megunticook, : ' grandsiie, 
"Prince Albert," dam, " Nou-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 Barnsta- 
ble, Devonshire, in I84ti, and at the New York 
State Show in 1851. "Prince Albert" and 
" Lord Lynedock" were both favorite prize 
bulls of Mr Ct'ianly. Also "Red Jacket, calved 
May 5th, 1852; sire, " Megunticook," dam, 
" Meadow L'lly," by " Baronet," grand dam, 
" Helena," bred by Mr. James 0,'iartly. — 
" Baronet" has won four first prizes, including 
that at the Royal Agricultur il Society's bhow, 
at Norwich, England, in 1849. 

Several animals from our herd will be exhi- 
bited at the New York State Show, to be held 
at Utica in September next, and at the Ame- 
rican 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. WAINVVRIGHT. 

Rhinebeck, Duckets 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. Il is the best contrivance 
to take out chess, onions, and heavy grit, that 
has ever been used hynrllers. This machine 
is provide! with s»lf-acfing oil feeders io the 
journals, and requires to he oiled bin once a 
week. It wholly does away with the small 
fan. It runs at the rate of one thousand revo- 
lutions per minute, requiring but little power. 
We have sold a large number of these ma- 
chines and they hive in every case given en- 
tire satisfaction. Price $00. 

A. B. ALLEN & CO. 
N:w York Agricultural Warehouse, 189 and 

191 Water si reet, New York. 

Jtine, 13j2 — 3t 



TO THE AGRICULTURAL PLANTERS 
OF VIRGINIA 

C Compound Chemical, Manures. — John fQjft 
J tlewell's (late Kettlewell & Davison'S, y 
Agricultural Depot, Baltimore, Maryland 
Renovator, Generator, Biphosphaies, Mixiurc 
of Potash and Plaster, Pure Ground Plaster, 
with every description of Chemical residium 
for the improvement of Crop and Land. 

The undersigned, after five years' experience 
and a very considerable outlay of capital, has 
finally triumphed over every obstacle of doubt 
and prejudice, and is prepared to demonstrate 
that, for Crop and Land, he can present to the 
public the cheapest and best manure known 
to the age. 

His Compounds contain Ammonia, Potash, 
Diphosphate Soda, indeed every Chemical ele- 
ment, in a powerfully concentrated foim, which 
the soil requires. Any one who doubts this 
tan have his Salts an: lyzed at ihe expense of 
the undersigned, and if they fail in ihe test, he 
will return the money, if purchased. 

In Wheat, he is willing to admit, that so 

powerful a stimulant as Guano, will, in many jj 

soils, pioduee a larger first crop, but veiy far 

less in a third crop, than his Salts. In Corn 

J and Glass, he challenges a fair trial, upon any 

soil with Guano or any o her manure — and 

for any forfeit that would make i lie experiment 

interesting For Corn and Grass, he avers 

j tbat ihere is no Manure equal to his from a 

j first to a fourth crop; and he is able to estab. 

! lish it by experimental proof. 

His " Biphospiiates" are pure, dissolved 



with the strongest s-ulphuric Acid, and #■> 
Bones fresh. In England, no manure i.-Pfti 
higher favor, or more sought after lor Crop 
and Land. 

His " liENOVATOit" is a Compound of every 
Chemical which science and experience have 
shown to be necessary to renovate worn-out 
land. 

His "Generator" is a compound made ex*' 
pressly for Tobacco, and is wor.hv the most 
careful investigation of the Planter, 

His "Plaster and Potash" is also manu- 
factured for the growih of the Tobacco Plant 
and when the almost absolute necessity ol 
Potash is known, for the growth of prime leal 
Tobacco, th' % value of this article may be tea.- 
dilv est mated. 

His "Ground Plaster" is so well known 
and so eagerly sought from the most distant 
sections of the Union, that he deems it only 
necessary to say, that below the standard he 
has adopted, the undersigned will never permit 
it to go. There is no article which the Farmer 
buys ihat he is more imposed upon, than in 1 
this one. of universal use. 

In the January number of the American 
Farmer, the following reply is made by the 
ediior of that valuable paper, in reply to the 
enquiries of a correpondent. 

' Were we to plant Corn in land so poor,' 
that when unaided by manure, would only 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



223 



' wduce five bushels ot' Wheat, we certainly 
7ouid not rely upon less than four hundred 

r".nds ol' Guano, producing a good rrop.' r 
.<o*', not relying upon less than four nun 
red pounds would certainly imply that an 
dditional hundred pounds would do no harm. 

Those four hundred pounds of Guano, with 
ransportation, woufi cost the Farmer not less 
fiau teu dollars per acre, which, with the ex- 
cuses of cultivation, would require "a very 
ood crop" 10 temunerate, provided no durable 
enefit was rendered to the soil. Now, what 
ermanent benefit does Guano render to the 
and ? What is its value, except <he firs: crop? 
)oes it operate like a similar powerful slimu 
an t upon the human mind? with prodigious, 
lmost delirious excitement? to be followed 
y a commensurate depression and exhaustion? 
s Guano a stimulant or a manure? 

These questions the experience of the Far- 
rier ran best answer. But at the present 
rices of grain they are of vital importance 
lihough in agriculiural journals hut little 
iscu>sed. In Pennsylvania, the most lasting 
lanure is called the best — further South, the 
rst yield is the standard. Now, when these 
Salts are intended lor Corn, the undersigned 
ever recommends more than one barrel tothe 
ere, (three dollars.) if applied in the hill — or 
wo barrels for the poorest worn-out land. If 
lie Corn crop is to he followed wim a Wheat 
rop one harrel in the hill, and one broadcast 
? recommended, slightly harrowed in — in this 
ray, 'he Salts are more efficacious than when 
pp'ied ivilb the Wheat at seeding lime. For 
a»ting benefit to Land, these Salts are only 
'4-iirdinate to fresh lime. As a top-dressing 
iiey are certain and valuable 

The price of the triphosphates are four dol- 
ars per barrel; the Renovator three dollars 
)er harrel, or twenty one dollars per ton. 

The price of the Tobacco Generator is four 
lollars per barrel; the Mixture of Potash and 
Sronnd Plaster two dollars and fifty cents per 
>arrel; valuable for anv crop, hut indispensa 
)le for prime tobacco leaf. There is one dol- 
ar and fifty cents' worth of Potash in every 
>anel 

His Plaster is sold exclusively by Messrs. 
Deane & Brown of Richmond, and Messrs. 
Walkin-; & Morton of Peleisburg. 

Freight from Baltimore to Richmond and 
Peter^iurg, seventy-five to eighty-seven and a 
lalf rents per ton — transportation not being 
more expensive, coaming te; ms and laborers, 
if as much so. as hauling out barn-yard ma 
mre. No man need make an extravagant 
;xperiment; therefore, no great risk is neces 
sarv to make a trial. The Agriculturist can 
Drder from the undersigned, to he shipped to 
Richmond or Petersburg, and to the care o 
each particular Agent, upon whom the under 
signed can draw free of expense 

All -urns under fif.y dollar*, rash; over fifty 
dollais, four monihs. over one hundred doi 
lars, six months, for acceptances, 



Instead of publishing certificates, which is 

' more expensive and less satisfactory, the un- 

Idersigned begs leave to refer to the following 

'names. He has taken this liberty without 

consul ta lion or permission ot tl e parties named, 

i but from their intelligence, success and enter- 

I prise as Agriculturists, and their character as 

gemlernen of the highest respectability and 

I honor, he has no doubt but what they would 

cheerfully impart their experience and infor- 

mution, many of them having largely used 

these Salts. The postal direciion of each 

1 party is affixed. It may be proper to observe 

. that the Salts do not produce as heavy a stalk 

' in Corn, as Guano. For its yield the farmer 

' must look to the grain of the Corn. 

REFERENCES. 

Professor Higgins, State Chemist of Mary- 
| land, Baltimore, for its Chemical constituents; 
' Rev. J. S. Armistead, Stony Point post office, 
Cumberland county, Va ; Joseph W.Twyman, 
Esq. Earlysville, Albemarle counly, Va.; John 
M. Dow, Esq. Washington City, D. C ; Dr. 
Win, Mosher, Catonsville, Bakimoie county, 
' Md.; Dr. William Kiikwood, Prince Georges 
county, Md.; Wm.H Herbert, Esq. Beltsville, 
Prince Gporires county, Md.; Seih W. War- 
field, Esq. Sheriff Howard District, Mr .; Dr. 
Wm. J. Saddler, Saddlersville, Queen Anne 
county, Md ; W. W. W. Bowie, Esq. Prince 
Georges county, Md.; George E. Yeaunan, 
Warrenton, Fauquier counly, Va ; General 
Henry S. Stiles, Cecil county/Md.; EL E. Bate- 
man, Esq Easion, Talbot counly, Md.; Arthur 
M'Court, Baltimore; Dr. Robert Dor.-ey, of 
Edward, Franklin, Baltimore county, Md.; 
I John L Stavesberry, Treasurer of Raltimore 
counly, Baltimore; Peter Gowan, Esq. Laurel, 
Howard counly, Md.; Col. Horace Capron, 
; Laurel, Md ; Carrville S. Stansbury, Esq Bal- 
timore county, Md., with hundreds of other 
names, but the above is amply sufficient for 
all practicable purposes. I he Messrs. Bar- 
bours of Orange county. Va. have also used 
the Salts, with what effect the undersigned 
has never heard. 

Pamphlets will be furnished to all who feel 

I interest enough to investigaie; and who are 

j willing to believe ihat there may be progress 

J in Agriculture, equal to other branches and 

enterprises of life. 

JOHN KETTLEWELL. 

Office at the Wholesale Drug Store of Ober 
& M'Conkey,cornerof Lombard and Hanover 
streeis. 

Factory, Federal Hill, Baltimore, where, for 
personal investigation, I inviie all persons lhai 
take an inierest in Agricultural pursuits, who 
vi rit Baltimore, and to whom I wi 1 cheerfully 
explain my whole process. There is no secret 
in it. 

Orders addressed to DEANE & BROWN, 
Richmond. Va. will be promptly attended (o 
for John Ketllewell. mar 3i 



\ 



V 



924 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



CONTENTS OF NUMBER VII. 

PAGE 

Scientific Agriculture 194 

Guano 196 

To Stew Ducks 197 

Mutton Sheep— Breeds and Management. 198 

The Law of Enclosures 200 

Hay and Fodder— Cutting and Curing. ..201 

Disease in the Head of Sheep 202 

Superiority of the Farming Profession. . .203 

The Different Hay Presses 204 

Chemistry Applied to the Mechanic and 

Farmer 205 

The Dairy— Making Butter 206 

Wheat Threshing and Cattle Shelters — 

Four Things Worth Knowing 208 

Our Prospects 209 

Tobacco — Answer to Correspondents 210 

Death of Henry Clay 211 

Republication of DeBow's Review 21 i 

Scientific Agriculture 21 1 

Inaccuracy in Farming 211 

On the Rearing of Cattle 213 

The Physical and Intellectual Pleasures 

of Fanning 216 

Payments to the Southern Planter 219 



WILLIAM P. IiADD, 

APOTHECARY AND DRUGGIST, 

No. 319, head of Broad Street, Shockoe Hill, 
Richmond, Virginia. 

DEALER in English, Mediterranean, India 
and all Foreign and Domestic Drugs and 
Medicines; also, Paints, Oils, Varnish, Dye 
Stuffs, Window Glass, Putty, &c. For sale 
on the most accommodating terms. 

§3f Orders from Country Merchants and 
Physicians iHankfully received and promptly 
attended to. 
ja 1851— tf 

AGENCY FOR THE PURCHASE AND 
SALE OF IMPROVED STOCK. 

STOCK Cattle of all the different breeds, 
Sheep, Swine, Poultry, &c. will be pur- 
chased to order, and carefully shipped to any 
part of the United States, for which a reasona- 
ble commission will be chirged. Apply to 
AARON CLEMENT, Philadelphia. 
Referto Gen. W. £i. Richardson, Richmond, 
Virginia. 

N. B. — All letters, post-paid, will be prompt- 
ly attended to. ap— tf 



BOOKS, PIANOS, MUSIC, &c 

NASH & WOODHOUSE, Wholesale and 
Retail Dealers in Books, Piano Fortes, 
Stationery, Music, &c. 139, Main St. Rich- 
mond, Virginia. 

Constantly on hand, a full supply of stand- 
ard Agricultural Works. 
ocj— tf 



GREAT REDUCTION IN PRICES OF 
HATS AND BOOTS. 

J. H. ANTHONY'S FASHIONABLE HAfi 
STORE, Columbian Hotel Corner. 

THE cheapest place in the city of Rich- 
mond to buy Hats and Boots is at the 
above store, where every article sold may be 
relied on as represented. By this means he 
has gained a good run of custom, and his cus- 
tomers feel satisfied. Below is a list of his 
prices, which will be strictly adhered to: 
Best quality moleskin, - - S3 50 
Second quality " 3 00 

Best quality silk, - - - 2 50 
Secor.d " " ... 2 00 

Fine Calfskin Sewed Boots only three dol- 
lars and fifty cents. 
Also, Caps, Shoes and Umbrellas. 
J. H. Anthony has made an arrangement 
; with one of the best makers in the city of 
I Philadelphia, to supply him with a handsome 
; and substantial Calfskin Sewed Boot, which 
; he will sell at the unprecedented low price of 
< three dollars and fifty cents. The attention of 
gentlemen is respectfully solicited, as they are 
the best and cheapest Boots that have ever 
been offered for sale in this city. He intends 
I to keep but the one kind, and sell them at one 
price- se— ly 

riMIE RICHMOND AND PETERSBURG 
JL RAIL ROAD COMPANY respectfully 
inform farmers living on the Roanoke River 
and on the line of the Raleigh and Gaston 
Rail Road, that they are transporting tobac* 
and other produce between Richmond and Y't« 
tersburg with promptness and despatch, run 
ning daily trains of eight wheel covered cars, 
securing tobacco and goods from damage. 
Tobacco consigned to the care of J. Lynch, 
Rail Road Agent, Petersburg, will be for- 
warded, free of commissions, to Richmond. 
Goods purchased in Richmond and consigned 
to the Rail Road Agent at Gaston will be for- 
warded up the river without charge for for- 
warding. THOS. DODAMEAD, 
Sup't R. & P. R. R 
June 24, 1851— tf 

VIRGINIA AXES. 

THE undersigned, in connexion with their 
Rolling Mill, have erected an extensive 
Manufactory of Axes, Hatchets, and Tools 
generally, which they warrant equal to any 
manufactured, and offer at Northern prices. 
They solicit the patronage of the agricultural 
community. 
R. Archer, -^ R. ARCHER & CO. 






K. ARCHER, -V 

A. D. Townes, I 
R. S. Archer, C 
C. Dimmock. J 



oct— ly 



BOOK AND JOB PRINTING executed 
at this Office with neatness and dispatch. 
Office South Twelfth Street.