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THE 

Devoted to 


SOUTHERN PLANTE 

Agriculture, horticulture, and the Household 


R; 

Arts. 


Agriculture is the nursing motlier of the Arts. Tillage and Pasturage 

Xenophon. 


are the two breasts of the Stale, 

Sully. 


C. T. BOTTS, EorroR, 


MAIN 


STREET. 


Vol. I. 


RICHMOND, FEBRUARY, 1841. 




No. 2. 



TERMS. 

ONE DOLLAR per annum — six copies for 
$5. To be paid always in advance. Twenty 
per cent, allowed all Agents. 

|l3^ Postmasters, generally, are requested to 
act as Agfents. 



THE PLOUGH. 

[In the February Cultivator, an article upon 
the plough, noticed in our first number, is very 
ably concluded. The Editor sums up, in the 
following words, the result derived from the va- 
rious experiments detailed.] 

•' From the results of these various experi- 
ments those of Mr. Pusey, those at Worcester^ 
and those described in the Magazine, it would 
seem, in the first place, that the friction or adhe- 
sive power of the plow is much greater than has 
usually been allowed, and that consequently the 
less surface there is exposed, the less wall be the 
draft. This opinion receives corroboration from 
the fact that the skeleton ploAV used in some 
parts of England where the clay is stiff] a plow 
in which the cutting part is narrow, and the 
mould-board of narrow bars of iron, run, easily 
with two horses, where three or four would be 
required to move the Scotch plow with its long, 
broad, smooth iron surface. 

2d. That the shorter the working part, or 
that part of a plow exposed to friction, can be 
made, consistent with steadiness of motion in 
the ground, the easier will be the draft. This 
arises from t\yo causes — the less weight of the 
implement itself; and less space for adhesion of 
earth or friction. ~ It is not to be inferred, how- 
ever, that such short, square-breasted plows, 
will do the best work ; on the contrary, the long 
plows invert the earth more completely ; the 
advantage is only in the matter of lightness of 
draft. 

3d. That a wheel plow is to be preferred to a 
swing plow, where lightness of draft is a great 
object. On smooth, or well cultivated lands, a 
wheel acts favorably several ways; it lessens 
the surface or friction draft in the same degree 
that a weight can be easier rolled than slid over 
the ground ; and it regulates the depth without 
that constant attention of the plowman that 
some other forms of this implement require. 
The wheel, however, will not make a poor 
Vol. 1—2. 



plow a good one, though it may obviate some 
of its deficiencies. On soft, clayey land, the 
wheel plow is inadmissible, as the wheels clog" 
and add to the weight to be drawn. 

4th. That a harness should be so constructed 
as to give the greatest effect both to the muscu- 
lar force and weight of the horse, and hence the 
nearer he is brought to the point where the 
power is to be exerted, the better. Horses 
abreast have much more power than when in 
line; and experience shows that a team w^orksf 
more easily when part of the weight is sup- 
ported by the back rather than wholly by the 
neck. 

5th. That a pace of 2 J or 3 miles per hour, 
occasions no heavier draft than a pace of H 
miles per hour. This is an important fact, 
where much plowing is to be performed, and it 
is clear the pace must add to or detract much 
from the value of the farm or road horse. The 
pace, however, when once established, cannot 
be essentially quickened without causing much 
additional distress to the animal ; and the rate 
of travelling is in a great measure dependent on 
the training of the colt. Neither man nor beast 
can exert themselves beyond their usual habits 
for any time without great suffering; both man 
and animals have the power of accustoming' 
themselves to movements arrid exertions, which 
unless the result of habit, would be impossible 
or fatal. 

6th. While the Worcester experiments show 
that in the same soil, some plows have more 
than 100 per cent, advantage in the lightness 
of draft, the experiments of Mr. Pusey show 
that the difference in p'wer required to plow 
loamy sand, and clay loam, is not less. By 
overlooking this important fact, and by not 
adapting the plow and the ^eamtothe difference 
in the soils, some farmers are guiky of the most 
cruel treatment of their animals. A pair of 
horses is expected to perform labor that would 
severely tax the labors of four, and this per- 
haps, is one way to account for the " villainous 
foundered and spavined" beasts that throng our 
streets, ^vorn out in a few years, and turned over 
to the tender mercies of some biirbarous master, 
when if properly treated, they might have been 
relied upon for many years longer. 

7th. It may, we think, fairly be inferred from 
these experiments, that there are two elements 
of resistance to be taken into account in th<j 



IS 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



construction of plows, one arising from the, 
weight to be moved, and the other arising from 
friction and tenacity. The first is the subject of 
rrmthematical calculation ; and the best methods 
of obviating it may be ascertained with cer- 
tainty. The last is continually variable, dif- 
fering almost in every field, and therefore not to 
be met by any demonstrations of theory. The 
experiments of Mr. Pusey prove that the very 
construction best adapted to divide and raise the 
earth, is the one that ofTers the most resistance 
by friction. Thus the Scotch plow, constructed 
on mathematical principles and of a most beau- 
tiful model, an implement that expends less 
power in moving the earth than almost any 
other, owing to the increased friction it occa- 
sions from its extent of surface acted upon, is 
one of the very heaviest draft plows, to be 
found. This was proved not only by the expe- 
riments made by Mr. Pusey, but by those insti- 
tuted at Worcester, in both which cases the 
Scotch plow worked heavier than almost any 
others. We think also that too little attention 
in constructing plows, has been paid to the line 
of draft. It is well known that with a single 
exception, plows are so constructed that the 
point of the share is in that line, or in other 
words the landside of the plow coincides per- 
fectly with the line of draft. This is evident by 
the birdseye view given of the most celebrated 
English and Scotch plows in the Encyclopedia 
of Agriculture, or by an examination of most 
American plows. The plow noted as an excep- 
tion, is Prouty & Mears' Centre Draft Plow, 
the one that obtained the $ 100 premium, 
at the Worcester Fair, and which worked 
100 per cent, easier than some other plows on 
the ground. In this plow the coulter and the 
point incline to the landside so far, that the draft 
is equal on both sides of the beam, as was proved 
by its showing no disposition to deviate from 
its course, when left to its own guidance, and of 
course imposing no labor on the plowman or the 
team in their efforts to keep it in a proper po- 
sition," 



SWEET POTATOES. 

We were applied to, a short time since, for 
some instruction as to the best mode of culti- 
vating sweet potatoes. When we inquired of 
our friends where we could get the desired in- 
formation, we were universally recommended to 
a Mr. Joseph Bernard in this vicinity, who has, 
it seems, obtained an unrivalled reputation for 
the cultivation and keeping of this valuable root. 
Accordingly, we made the application, and Mr. 
Bernard very kindly furnished us the following 
detailed particulars of his mode of cultivation. 

He lays off a bed of any required size, say 
twen;ty feet in length by ten in width, from 



which he removes six inches of the surface 
earth; this, according to the usual method of 
making a hotbed, he boards up all round, sloping 
to the front; the boards at the back, or north 
side, being two feet high, whilst the front or 
south side is only one foot in height. He then 
banks up the earth removed against the outside 
of the board, all round. In the bed so prepared 
he puts fresh stable manure to the depth of 15 
in. after it is well pressed, keeping the surface 
flat and level. On this he lays fine rich mould, 
free from seed of any kind^ 2i inches deep, and 
upon that he places his plantings, one inch 
apart, and covers them with two and a half 
inches more of the same mould thrown over 
lightly, and not pressed down. This is done as 
near as possible to the 10th of April, and the 
time he considers important. His bed he covers 
with a sloping shelter to turn off the rains, but 
raised a few inches in front to admit the light 
and air, which is removed, however, as soon as 
the plants come up. 

While the plants are sprouting, he takes a 
piece of light, poor sandy soil, which ought to 
have been fallowed the preceding fall. This 
he again ploughs and rakes down fine and level, 
about the last of April. He lays off his rows 
with a single plough not more than two inches 
deep, four feet apart, running from north to south, 
these trenches he fills icell with any kind of old 
well rotted manure ; then with a single plough 
he turns a furrow on each side of the row, so as 
to put a cover over the manure about 3 inches 
deep. This depth may be attained, with care, 
by the use of the plough alone, without an after 
resort to the hoe. 

Upon these ridges, levelled down smooth and 
even, the plants are set. 

In three or four weeks from the time of 
planting, if the bed has been properly attended 
to, the plants will have attained the height of 
some 3 or 4 inches. When this is the case, he 
avails himself of such a season as is generally 
used for setting out cabbage plants, taking espe- 
cial care that the ground is not too wet, which 
is even worse than being too dry. In drawing 
them, he places one hand on the bed, over the 
root, and with the other gently disengages the 
plant from the mother root, taking care not to 
injure the fibres of the root, which he wants to 
afford a succession of plants. 

To set them out he makes a dibble of a piece 
of wood, about 2 inches in diameter, and about 
2ifeet long; four inches from the bottom he 
inserts another piece, at a right angle, 16 inches 
long, which being the distance between the 
plants, the instruments tapered and sharpened at 
the point serves to lay of the distance, and 
make the hole for the plant at the same time. 
7'he following cut will more clearly show thi» 
simple and useful contrivance. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



19 




The plants must be set as deep as the first 
leaf" and the holes must be lightly filled with 
fine earth, taken between the fingers, and gently 
pressed against the plant. 

When the plants have fairly begun to grow, 
he throws a furrow to them on each side, with 
a single plough, taking care not to cover the 
plant. Attention must be paid to keep grass 
from about the vines, until they begin to run 
freely, after which they should not be disturbed. 
Hence the necessity of poor, clean ground, that 
troubles you less with grass, which you cannot 
disturb the vines to eradicate. 

Mr. Bernard is very careful never to cover too 
much vine — he assumes that every point of the 
vine that is covered sends forth fibres, and pro- 
duces tubercles; hence, if too many joints are 
covered, he would have a great quantity of 
small potatoes, instead of a lesser number of 
fine ones. His plantings, on the contrary, he 
obtains by pursuing this course of frequent 
covering. 

This is Mr. Bernard's mode of cultivation: his 
method of keeping, which is peculiar, and which 
has been very successful, shall be given in a 
subsequent number, before the period when it 
will be required. This though we will suggest 
at present, that Mr. Bernard is fully satisfied that 
potatoes raised upon a limed or calcareous soil 
are much easier kept than when they are raised 
upon land wanting that property. 

Mr. Bernard is a plain, sensible, practical 
man, who was raised at the north to the busi- 
ness of farming. He began here with 60 acres 
of poor land, which he has increased in value 
from ten to forty dollars per acre, and in four 
years, he has cleared two thousand dollars, be- 
sides supporting his family, from the sixty acres. 

He considers the sweet potato by far the 
most valuable root crop he has ever seen, and 
declares that if the northern climate permitted 
its cultivation, it would supersede all other root 
crops in that section. He says that he has 
found it fully equal to Indian corn for fattening 
beeves, and much superior for his hogs. He 
has killed hogs fattened on potatoes alone, and 



found the fat as firm and fine as that made by 
the corn itself. As a food for stock he thinks 
nothing can be superior to it. 

The sweet potato vine he thinks an extraor- 
dinary fertilizer, and is very sure, that when 
turned in it affords a great deal more to the land 
than the root takes from it. 



GREAT NATIONAL COLLECTION 
OF INVENTIONS. 

It is with the most lively pleasure we hail 
the following circular which has been issued 
from the Patent Office at Washington. 

To collect in addition to the models, actual 
specimens of American inventions at the seat 
of Government will be to confer a great na- 
tional favor upon the people of this country. 

There is no calculating the good that may 
result from such an arrangement. The collec- 
tion of models even formed a most interesting 
exhibition; but models frequently are very im- 
perfect, and afford but an indistinct idea of the 
working of a machine. To have a point at 
which any new invention may be actually in- 
spected, with the opportunity of obtaining any 
information about it that may be required, will 
be of the most evident and incalculable advan- 
tage to every operator in America. 

As a matter of course, every manufacturer of 
an article of which he is not ashamed, will 
avail himself of the opportunity so liberally af- 
forded him. 

The devotion which Mr. Ellsworth has shewn 
to the interest of the agricukural community 
entitles him to its most hearty thanks and zea- 
lous co-operation. 

Pateyit Office, Nov. 20, 1840. 

Notice is hereby given that the Hall in the 
new Patent Office for the exhibition of manu- 
factures, is now completed. The Hall is spa- 
cious, being 273 feet long, 63 feet wide, 30 feet 
high, and fire proof. 

Agents whose names arc annexed, will re- 
ceive and forward free of expense, articles which 
may be deposited with them. These articles 
will be classified and arranged for exhibition, 
and the name and address of the manufacturer 
(with prices when desired,) will be carefully af- 
fixed. Few, it is presumed, will neglect to im- 
prove the opportunity now presented of contri- 
buting their choicest specimens to the National 
Gallery of Amxrican Manvfacturps^ where 
thousands who visit the Seat of Government will 
witness with pleasure the progress of the arts 
in these United States. 

If fairs, in limited sections of our country, 
have excited interest, what must be the attrac- 
tions of a national exhibition, enriched by daily 
additions. 

The Agriculturist may be gratified to learn, 



^0 



THE Southern planter 



that commodious rooms are provided for the ex- 
hibition of agricultural implements, and also for 
the reception of seeds for exhibition or distri- 
bution. 

The Commissioner of Patents being author- 
ized to collect agricultural statistics, avails him- 
self of this opportui.ity to solicit information of 
the condition and character of the crops in the 
several sections of the country. These data 
will aid him in presenting with his annual re- 
port, the aggregate amount of products of the 
soil, and it is hoped that the public may be 
guarded from the evils of monopoly, by show- 
ing how the scarcity in one portion of the land 
may be supplied from the surplus in another. 

Names of agents who will receive and for- 
ward packages for the Patent Office. Collec- 
tors of the Customs at Portsmouth, N. H., 
Portland, Me., Burlington, Vt., Providence, R. 
I., Philadelphia, Baltimore, Richmond, Charles- 
ton, Savannah, New Orleans, Detroit, Buffalo, 
Cleveland. Surveyors of the Customs — Hart- 
ford, Ct, St. Louis, Pitlsburg, Cincinnati, Lou- 
isville, R. H. Eddy, Boston, Mass., David Gard- 
ner, (Custom House,) New York. 

HENRY L. ELLSWORTH, 
Commissioner of Patents. 



POTATOES. 

A correspondent of the Boston Cultivator 
seems to think, from experiments, that the Ro- 
han potatoes have been greatly overrated, and 
that they are neither so productive nor so nutri- 
tious as a potato he designates as the long red, 
sometimes called long Johns. He very correctly 
remarks that erroneous and exaggerated conclu- 
sions are frequently drawn from the result of 
novel experiments. When we get any thing 
new, he says, we are sure to plant it on the 
very best land and take the best care of it, and 
the product is too frequently compared with 
others, without a due allowance for these cir- 
cumstances. 

In his estimate of the two potatoes, the Edi- 
tor of the Cultivator fully concurs. 

A Mr. Grove also, in the last number of the 
Albany Cultivator, adds his testimony against 
the value of the Rohan, both with regard to 
quantity and quality. He prefers what he calls 
the •' Merino, a flesh colored long potato." 



FENCING. 

Mr. Editor^ — I was very much pleased with 
the description of your correspondent S's mode 
of constructing his stables, and am resolved to 
follow his example as soon as circumstances 
will permit. I think I can suggest one or two 
improvements upon his plan, but of that here- 
after. My present object is to say, that the 
mode he recommends for securing the ground 



end of his posts from rot has been adopted by 
me for my fencing posts for several years. I 
was induced to resort to it from a statement 
made me by a northern gentleman to this effect. 
He informed me that his grandfather, who was 
a very eccentric and particular man, kept an 
exact diary of his farming operations, from 
which, he found that some white oak posts, 
Avhich, upon being moved, were found perfectly 
sound under ground, had been set more than 
thirty years. A detailed account of the mode 
of operation was given in the diary, and it corres- 
ponds exactly with the method recommended by 
your correspondent, viz: charring and pitching. 
A very important subject sir is this of fencing, 
as to the best and cheapest mode. Much cer- 
tainly will depend upon situation, and I believe 
it has generally been conceded that in a thickly 
timbered country like Virginia, the worm fence 
is the cheapest. This I hold to be a great mis- 
take, for, whilst it is certainly not so pleasing to 
the eye, I think it costs half as much again as 
a post and rail fence, made in a proper manner. 
It is all important in a fence of this sort that the 
post, in which so much of the labor consists, 
should be of durable material. If you have 
locust or mulberry, or even cedar convenient, no 
artificial preparation is necessary ; but if not, I 
believe a little labor in using the burning and 
pitching process will render common white oak 
equal to either. Now sir, if you can get dura- 
ble posts, the chief labor of your fence is done, 
once for all. My plan is to take such posts, and 
under cover, in rainy weather, I set my hands 
to morticing. This is done by flattening two 
of the sides with a broad axe, which is the 
work of one hand, most accustomed to the use 
of the tool. Two others are employed in laying 
off and boring holes with a two inch auger, and 
a fourth uses a very long narrow axe, that I 
have for the purpose, in removing the wood be- 
tween the holes, every two of which are, of 
course, bored close together to form the mortice. 
It is surprising what skill will be readily ac- 
quired in the use of the morticing axe, and with 
what facility the mortices will be made with a 
little practice. I generally use Avhite oak trees, 
split up into triangular posts, about five inches 
on the back or narrowest side. If the fence is 
intended for the bank of a ditch, I cut four mor- 
tices about a foot apart — if the fence is to be put 
up without a ditch, six mortices may be required, 
disposing them so as to make the fence close 
enough at bottom, whilst the upper part may 
be left more open. The usual rail is flattened 
and slipped into these mortices, and I have my 
fence complete. 

Now let us compare this neat and substantial 
fence with the unsightly icorm that usurps its 
place in our country generally. I use to a pan- 
nel six rails and a post, instead of ten rails, a 
rider and two stakes ; so that I have a saving 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



21 



of five rails nnd two stakes to ofTset the cost of 
my post and setting, When you considei' the 
labor, proverbially great, of splitting rails, and 
the serious expense of hauling them, you will 
find that it will more than counterbalance all the 
expense of the post. Remember too that the" 
chief labor on my post is done in the winter, 
during wet weather, when the hands can be 
doing little else, so that in the spring, when my 
fencing is wanting, it is all ready to go up. 1 
have not estimated the additional quantity of 
timber that is required to surround a plantation 
with a crooked fence over a straight one, nor 
have I yet adverted to the ground that is not 
only lost in the corners of such a fence, but 
which becomes an eye sore from the weeds with 
which it is frequently overrun. 

There are several other advantages in a post 
and rail fence, which will be obvious to the 
farmer, but would be tedious to enumerate. But 
if sir any of your readers feel inclined to make 
the experiment, they shall have any additional 
information upon the subject I am enabled to 
give. 

Your obt. servant, H. 

If any of our readers desire it, they can procure a 
morticing axe such as is spoken of above by caUing on 
the Editor of this paper. 




The following is from the pen of an experienced 
medical friend and one entirely to be relied upon. 

Mr. Editor, — It was with much pleasure I 
saw your coriespondent "M." recommend the 
clyster pipe as a mode of administering medi- 
cine to the horse. I would suggest to those, 
who will not provide themselves with such an 
instrument, that a very good substitute may be 
formed by securing a smootb hollow reed to the 
end of a common bladder, filled with the injec- 
tion. My own experience leads me to confirm 
the opinion of "M." that it is the best mode of 
physicking all animals. The mash is uncertain, 
and is always unavailable, when, as is most 



frequent, the sick animal loses his appetite. I 
myself have been, on one occasion, an eye wit- 
ness to the fatal effect of the common practice 
of drenching, and have heard of several others 
in which the lives of the most valuable animals 
have been sacrificed to this dangerous custom. 

The above sketch is intended to illustrate the 
difficulty that may, and sometimes docs, occur 
in this mode of administering medicine. 

The engraving represents a longitudinal sec- 
tion of the horse's head and neck, the parts as 
marked above. Now, the horse, like all other 
animals, receives food into the stomach through 
the passage (d) the gullet, whicli lies back of 
the windpipe (c) leading to the lungs. So ex- 
tremely sensitive is the coating of the windpipe, 
through which the animal breathes, that the pre- 
sence of any extraneous matter produces great 
irritation and frequent death. To guard against 
such an occurrence, the upper end of the wind- 
pipe is protected by a lid (h) attached to the 
the tongue, which acts as a valve and closes the 
windpipe, whilst the food passes over it into the 
gullet. Now, when the horse's head is thrown 
up, and an attempt made to force a distasteful 
draught down his throat, in his struggles to re- 
sist it, it is possible, that the valve may be raised 
and the contents of the drenching bottle emptied 
into the windpipe. 

We see here the danger of the practice, not 
uncommon in drenching, of drawing out the 
tongue, which has a tendency to raise the valve 
with which it is connected; also, the injury that 
may result from stroking or pinching the throat 
of the animal, an expedient frequently resorted 
to to make him swallow; the tickling sensation 
caused by this operation may induce him to 
cough, whereby the valve is raised. 

When it is absolutely necessary to drench, I 
think it very possible, that an elastic tube might 
be affixed to the mouth of the bottle, long 
enough to pass over the epiglottis or lid into the 
gullet, whereby all danger would be avoided. 



PLANTING CORN. 

As the season for corn planting is approaching, we 
copy the following valuable hint from an old paper. 

One of the most important improvements, in- 
troduced by scientific farmers in the culture of 
this very important crop, within a few years, is 
the planting of from four to six times the usual 
quantity of seed ; and, at the first hoeing, pull- 
ing up all but the proper number of plants, 
leaving the best and most thrifty ones to form 
the future crop. Experiment has shown the 
great advantages resulting from this course, if 
confidence is to be placed in the reports of our 
most successful farmers, upon this subject; or if 
science and the laws of analogy are to be trusted 
in this, as well as in other cases. Every farmer 
must have seen the difTerence in the size, ap- 



r. 



22 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



pearance and thrift of the corn plants, in the 
same hill. What farmer would undertake to 
breed indifferently from a healthy, or a sickly 
race of animals'? Why not apply the same 
principle to vegetable productions ? 

The additional quantity of seed, recommended 
in the culture of this crop, the expense of which 
is but trifling, enables the husbandman to select 
the healthy plants only, for the crop, removing 
all the sickly ones, and with them, the danger, 
i[ any exists, of communicating disease to such 
as remain. Within a few days, an intelligent 
farmer who had seen the experiment tried, ex- 
pressed to us the fullest belief, that this improve- 
ment in planting had added one fourth to the 
quantity and value of his crop. 

As we know that some of our readers look 
down with scorn upon humble prose, we enforce 
the injunction of plentiful planting on them, by 
subjoining the metrical reply of an old farmer to 
the question, how many kernels he put in a hill, 
which was as follows : 

One for the blackbird, 

One for the crow. 
One for the cut-worm, 

And two to groio. 



THE INFLUENCE OF CULTIVATION 
ON VEGETABLES. 

There appears to be a permission from nature 
to effect certain changes in vegetables, whilst 
she retains an inherent property in the plant to 
revert to its original creation, which is manifested 
by their tendency to run wild as we call it. To 
satisfy ourselves that the productions of the ve- 
getable kingdom are greatly obedient to skilful 
cultivation, we have but to compare a cultivated 
field with a neglected common of the same soil, 
and in a situation exactly similar; or to take 
some of our most common vegetables and ask 
of nature to show us a native grain like wheat, 
a native fruit like the apple, a native bud like 
the cauliflower, or a native root like the po 
tato — we should ask in vain, for it is by means 
of the observations and discoveries of successive 
generations, and the application of those disco- 
veries in such a manner as to make each one 
an improvement on the one before it, that men 
have been able to cultivate the cereal grasses m- 
to wheat, rye, and barley, which are now the 
bread and the drink of so many millions. In 
the same manner, by cultivating the apple, the 
pear, the peach, the plum, and countless other 
fruits, we have been able to turn the original 
design of nature in maturing seed, and render- 
ing this operation secondary to the growing of a 
repast for us. 

We have taught the cruciferd, (or cabbage 
tribe) having four petals in their flowers, to lin- 
ger in the bulbs of their stems, their leaves, or 
their flower buds, and there form for us stores 



of provision, and we have educated some varie- 
ties of the potato out of the habit of bearing 
flowers akogether, and other plants out of the 
habit of maturing seed ; and by skilful cuhure 
we have converted the dahlia and many other 
plants into double flowers, which in their natu- 
ral state had but one row of petals, and have 
so improved their size, and beauty, and number, 
that the flowers have ceased to befloicers, whilst 
they have become the highest ornaments of our 
gardens. 

I propose, Mr. Editor, to treat hereafter of the 
means that have been used to effect these 
changes, as well as of the physiological laws 
of vegetables upon which these means have 
operated, if you should think the above remarks 
entitled to a place in the Planter. 

A Naturalist. 

C. T. BoTTs, Editor of the S. Planter. 

We shall be very happy to hear farther from a 

J^aturalist. — Ed. 



PROFITS OF FARMING. 

The profits of farming have been, at best, 
considered doubtful, whilst many have been 
used to look upon it rather as a means of spend- 
ing a fortune, than of making one. This we 
have long considered a great mistake, and having 
known a gentleman, who, by farming alone, 
had realized a handsome independence from a 
very poor piece of land, in the county of Han- 
over, we applied to him for an explanation of 
the fact, that he had so signally succeeded at a 
business, which in his part of the country is 
generally considered an unprofitable one. After 
some hesitation arising from that modesty which 
is characteristic of him, Mr. Edmund Winston, 
the gentleman to whom we allude, consented 
that we might inform the public that he com- 
menced life, 20 years ago, with a paternal estate 
of 150 acres of very poor land, and eleven hun- 
dred and seventy dollars in money. Since that 
time, Mr. Winston has realized from farming an 
increase of property, which he estimates at 
$ 30,000, but which his neighbors rate much 
higher ; having, in the meanwhile, by the same 
means, raised and supported a considerable fami- 
ly in the greatest comfort and respectability. 

Mr. Winston states that whilst the amount 
was something smaller, he had no difliculty in 
clearing ten per cent, per annum on his capital, 
over and above the support of his family, and 
that even now, he certainly clears at least 7 per 
cent, on the whole amount. 

When we asked Mr. Winston if he was 
aware of any peculiar cause to which he could 
attribute his success, he declared that he knew 
of nothing except that he always attended 
strictly and industriously to his business, being 
always the first at his stables in the morning, 
and the last at nis^ht. He thinks that the same 



THE SOUTHERN PLANT^IR 



23 



consequences will always result from the same 
course, and that there is no difficulty with in- 
dustry and management in securing an inde- 
pendence even upon the poorest land. This he 
thinks can be effected by industry alone, and 
with the knowledge he now possesses, he thinks 
he himself could have done much more than he 
has done. 

Mr. Winston is now certainly acknowledged 
to be a most judicious practical farmer, whose 
opinion, not less than his example, will be poten- 
tial where he is known, and we venture to 
promise our readers some rich treats from in- 
formation gained from him. 

There is one thing we must never forget in 
estimating the profit of farming, the security of 
the invesment. The business may fee slow ; 
that is, there are many speculations, many va- 
rieties of trade, Avhich, if they are successful, 
will make a fortune sooner than farming, but no 
man at this business, with industry and atten- 
tion can fail to make a support at least, whilst 
the quicker modes, be it remembered, people the 
world with bankrupts. We venture nothing in 
the assertion that of an equal number of farmers 
and traders, taken for a series of years, the sum 
total of the gains of the former class will greatly 
exceed those of the latter. If it be certain then, 
that the industrious farmer maybe sure of inde- 
pendence, and need entertain no fears of the 
result of his venture, how much of ease and 
contentment, health and happiness, does not this 
single fact secure him. What an advantage it 
is to be relieved from the sleepless nights and 
watchful vigils of the anxious speculator, whom 
an hour's news may place on the pinnacle of 
wealth, or sink into the abyss of poverty. — 
There is no life so cheerful, so healthy, so in- 
dependent, or so ennoblin 

FARMER. 



g, as that of the 



LIQUID MANURES. 

Mr. Editor., — I send you the following ex- 
tract from an old number of the Baltimore Far- 
mer and Gardener, because I have tested the 
value of both the soot and soap suds therein 
recommended, and know of no suggestion so 
simple, which is at the same time so beneficial. 
My name, if required, is at the disposal of your 
readers. • O. 

•' In the preceding volume of this work, page 
134, there is a very interesting article on the 
propriety of using liquid manure for purposes of 
horticulture ; a solution of soot and water is 
therein recommended, in the proportion of six 
quarts of the former to a hogshead of the latter. 
This mixture has been found to exert a most 
salutary influence on Peas, Asparagus, and a 
variety of other vegetables to which it has been 
applied. We do not doubt the fact stated, and 
would here observe, that the soap suds made in 



a farmer's family, which is mostly thrown away, 
is one of the most effective manures that can 
be applied to vegetables and flowers of all kinds. 
From an experience of several years, we cap 
testify to its invigorating effects, and recom- 
mend its use with confidence. There are but 
few families, anywise extensive, who do not 
make a sufficient quantity of this article, in the 
course of the year, to keep a garden of tolerable 
size, not only in good condition, but rich enough 
to secure good crops of vegetables." 



SEED WHEAT. 

February 19, 1841. 

My Dear Sir, — My own experience confirms 
the value of Mr. Taylor's recommendation (pub- 
lished in your first number,) to permit seed wheat 
to remain until it becomes thoroughly ripe. — 
My wheat crop has been entirely free from smut 
for the last eleven years, whilst my neighbors, 
in many instances, have complained much of it. 
I know of no difference in our cultivation, ex- 
cept, that I never plough or sow my land, when 
it is the least wet. Uniform experience has 
proven the injurious effects of such a practice in 
a clay soil. But I always reserve my seed 
wheat, which is the most forward, until the crop 
is out, and then gather it after it has had time 
to become thoroughly matured, taking care to 
do so before the dew is evaporated on account 
of the shattering to which the very ripe wheat 
would otherwise be subjected. It is, however, 
but just to add, that my crop suffers occasionally 
from the ravages of the fly. 
Your obt. servant, 

James McIlhany. 

C. T. BoTTs, Esq. 

The above is from a member of the Va. Senate and 
a gentleman well known in his own county (Loudoun) 
for his successful farming. We should be very much 
pleased if we could induce our correspondents gene- 
rally to follow the excellent example set them by Mr. 
McIlhany, and discard that false delicacy which in- 
duces them to withhold their names from their com- 
munications. 



AMERICAN SILK. 

The Macon Intelligencer states, that at the 
late court term of Macon county, Georgia, one 
of the Judges, A. E. Earnest, Esq. appeared 
in a full suit of silk (including coat, pantaloons, 
stockings, pocket handkerchief and stock) pro- 
duced and manufactured wholly and entirely 
in his owm family. Judge E. is of the opinion 
that domestic silk will, before many years, be 
found the most economical article for negro 
clothing, as well as for ladies and gentlemen. 
When such examples become common, we shall 
have hopes for our country. 



24 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



FLOWERS. 

Some one has observed, that the cultivation and re- 
finement of a people may be measured by their devo- 
tion to flovi^ers. They are the holiday garb of nature, 
and there is certainly something very refined and ele- 
gant in their cultivation. 

To watch the rapid bursting of a little seed into the 
full blown flower, with its freshness, its fragrance, and 
its gorgeous dyes, is, as it were, to enter the magic 
show box of nature. No amusement more befits the 
farmer's wife, the farmer's daughter, or the farmer 
himself, than the cultivation of flowers. It is therefore 
with much pleasure that we copy fjom the Farmer's 
Cabinet the following excellent directions for rearing 
one of nature's greatest favorites. 

THE DAHLIA. 

Sir, — I find in the Magazine of Horticulture 
an article on the management of the Dahlia, 
which is deserving the notice of those who are 
interested in the cultivation of the most superb 
of all the flowers which adorn our gardens, at 
that season of the year, when the beauty and 
bloom of the spring and summer varieties have 
passed away. It is there stated, "that the best 
general bloom is always to be found upon those 
roots which are planted on a moderately rich, 
sandy loam soil, in a cool situation, as in hot 
and dry seasons they do not suffer so much from 
drought, as those planted upon a gravelly or 
sandy bottom. Planting the roots on a proper 
soil near the margin of a river, or other large 
body of water, seems best adapted to insure a 
perfect blooming of this exquisitely formed flow- 
er ; the constant evaporation from the surface in 
hot weather, producing a humidity in the at- 
mosphere, much more congenial to the nature 
of the plant, than can be obtained by any artifi- 
cial means." As an instance, mention is made 
of Thorburn's garden, which is situated on Long- 
Island, opposite Hurlgate, and within about 
twenty feet of the waters of the East River, 
where the Dahlia has not failed for several years 
to produce an abundant bloom ; while in the 
interior, cultivators have, in many places, been 
unable to obtain a hundred flowers from as many 
roots ; and from my own observation, the re- 
mark is just, for the best blooms which I wit- 
nessed the last season were in situations similar 
to that pointed out on the Delaware, in a garden 
reaching to within a very few feet of the river, 
and on the banks of the Schuylkill, every plant 
being loaded with blossoms of the most perfect 
form and delicate varieties, of remarkable fresh- 
ness and vigor; while on other plantations, more 
remote from water, where the plants had grown 
to an enormous size — more like trees than plants 
of annual growth — scarcely could be found a 
single well formed flower, with numerous buds 
which never opened at all. 

I have an idea that a great improvement in 
the cultivation of this most valuable addition to 
our autumnal flowering plants might be made, 



by placing each root in a large pot, instead of 
into the border of the garden; there would, I 
conceive, be many and great advantages result- 
ing from this practice. And, first, the roots may 
be committed to the earth much earlier than 
would be safe, if they were planted into the bor- 
der at once, as the pots could be kept under 
shelter — a piazza for instance — until the plants 
had shot forth, and then be plunged into the 
borders, pots and all, to remain during the flow- 
ering season; this mode being as applicable to 
those plants stuck in pots in the green-house, as 
they could be removed to large pots most con- 
veniently. Second, at the approach of winter, 
the pots could be removed from the border into 
the piazza, or into the house, or other shelter, 
where they might continue their blooming, and 
bring many blossoms to perfection which would 
otherwise be cut off by the frost, or be prevented 
from opening at all if exposed in the borders. 
Third, a proper soil might be prepared artifi- 
cially, so as to suit the different sorts of flowers, 
it being found that the mottled varieties require 
a gravelly soil to bring forth their beauties: and 
others doing better in those soils that are tena- 
cious; and in these pots the roots might remain 
during the winter, if found better adapted to 
their safety than taking them out; it is pre- 
sumed, however, that in either case, it would be 
advisable to replace the earth with fresh mould 
at the time of planting the roots in the spring, 
and this could be prepared during the winter, by 
exposure to the atmosphere and agitation, the 
grand secret of preparing mould for the potting 
of plants of every description. D. E. 



NEW AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 

Mr. J. F. Schermerhorn has called upon us, 
within the last day or two, for the purpose of 
bringing to our notice two agricultural imple- 
ments lately invented by him. 

The first is called the Cylinbric Tiller 
AND Planter, and isvery handsomely figured 
in a late number of the New York Mechanic. 
It consists of a frame, in which is fixed a cylin- 
der 7 feet long, with twelve rows of iron teeth, 
nine inches in length, which are intended to cut 
up the soil in the revolution of the cylinder ; be- 
hind this cylinder is placed a shaft with spiders, 
upon w^hich, it seems, the sod, raised by the 
teeth of the cylinder, is intended to be thrown, 
and, in its revolution pulverized. Back, again, 
of the spider shaft is placed some one of the 
many planters or sowers, covcrers, and rollers, 
now in use. 

The cylinder is designed to do the work of 
the plough, the s})ider shaft of the harrow, and 
the whole, drawn by three horses, is intended to 
complete, at once, the several operations of 
ploughing, harrowing, seeding, and rolling. 

We incline very much to improvements, cspQ 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



25 



cially in agricultural implements, and we 
would wish to speak with difTidence of a ma- 
chine we have never seen in operation, which 
we may possibly misconceive, and undervalue. 

The inventor designs it fortheprarie lands of 
the west, but thinks that it will work well on 
the old level land of the Eastern States. That 
there may be lands so light and friable that throe 
horses can work up six or seven feet in a breadth 
may be possible ; but we do not think we have 
ever seen such, in any tolerable body. It may 
be however, that Mr. Schermerhorn, in getting 
rid of the friction of a mould board, which has 
been shown to be a large proportion of the labor 
of ploughing, may have greatly increased the 
efficiency of his team; if so, and the wor^ is 
effected as perfectly as with the common plough, 
there is no telling the extent to which he has 
benefitted the agricultural community. We 
think, under any circumstances, Mr. Schermer- 
horn will find that the planting, covering, and 
rolling, had better form the subject of a second 
implement; for whilst, to us, who have served 
a long apprenticeship to mechanics, the combi- 
nation presents no difficulty at all, yet we have 
generally found that separation, rather than 
combination, which to them is complication, 
was most desirable for the unskilful hands in 
which farming implements a re commonly placed. 

The second invention of Mr. Schermerhorn is 
designed as a mode of applying other than hu- 
man power to the common art of ditching, 

A particular description of this machine 
would occupy too much of our space ; suffice 
it to say, that the earth is removed by a 
scoop made of boiler iron, a quarter of an 
inch thick, two feet and half long, the shape 
■of the ditch to be cut. This scoop, armed with 
thin knives is drawn easily through clean land, 
{for like the tiller it is only designed for such) 
by three oxen, until it has traversed its own 
length, when a perpendicular cutter descends in 
front, and divides the earth. Then the scoop 
and its contents are raised by a compound lever, 
to which three other oxen are attached, and the 
earth in the scoop by a proper apparatus is de- 
posited on the side- of the excavation, about ten 
inches from the edge, when the scoop returns to 
the hole, to be again drawn forward by the three 
first oxen.. 

This machine has been actually worked in 
the presence of a committee of the United 
States Society of Science and Mechanism, in 
N. York, who make the most favorable report 
of its operation. They say, 

" By this machine was made the most per- 
fect and complete ditch and bank, your Com- 
mittee have ever seen. The ditch was four feet 
at the top, three feet deep, and one foot at the 
bottom. The bank was just the reverse of the 
ditch, being four feet at the bottom, three feet 
high, and one foot at the top, and which toge- 
Vol. 1—2*. 



ther, must make a very good and efficient fence 
for the prairies of the west, in which we under- 
stand this machine is more particularly intended 
to operate. 

"Your committee do not hesitate to recommend 
this machine to the public, as one of real value 
and great utility, for its simplicity, durability, 
cheapness, facility of working, and keeping it 
in order, (which will not be much more than to 
keep a plough in order) and in their opinion, far 
exceeds any thing of the kind, that has been 
brought into use. Your committee are of opin- 
ion, That six yoke of cattle and three or four 
hands will be able to make from fifty to eighty 
rods of ditch and bank in a day." 

Mr. Schermerhorn deserves great credit for 
the ingenuity displayed in the invention of these 
machines, and we hope he will eventually reap 
from them something much more substantial. 

We shall be extremely pleased to hear from 
the practical operation of the Tiller, and from 
Mr. Schermerhorn himself, who seems to be de- 
voted to the cause of agriculture, a communi- 
cation will at all times be acceptable. 



SUGAR BEET. 

Dr. W. S. Morton, in a very sensible address 
delivered before the Cumberland Agricultural 
Society in Nov. last, recommends strongly the 
culture of the sugar beet. He says : 

" The turnip, which in the moist climate of 
Great Britain, has done so much for agriculture, 
will rarely succeed here. Our climate is too 
liable to drought in the fall season for this root ; 
but I can most confidently recommend the beet. 
I have been cultivating this crop for stock, on a 
small scale, for some seven or eight years, and 
have never experienced a failure. My best 
crops have, however, been invariably produced 
in the driest years. I believe that six or eight 
times as much food for cows, sheep, or hogs, 
may be produced from the same quantity of 
land in this crop, as in any other that I have 
ever tried. The kind which I greatly prefer, is 
the white Silesian sugar beet; it withstands 
cold much better than the mangel wurtzel, and 
I believe is more nutritious. 1 received a few 
seed in the fall of 1836, from my friend Mr. 
Ruffin, of Petersburg, and have scattered them 
largely since; with what benefit to my friends 
I cannot tell, but to myself, I consider them al- 
most indispensable. I believe that no man, who 
would provide a plenty of beets or pumpkins to 
feed his milch cows for one winter, could be 
satisfied without them afterwards. The recom- 
mendations of the beet as food for stock, in our 
agricultural journals, are so strong and so re- 
spectable, as to render a refusal to try them, by 
those who love economy and comfort, quite in- 
excusable. Their product is prodigious on the 
richest land, and they are well worth cultivating 



26 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



on that of medium quality. If the introduc- 
tion of turnip husbandry into England, is con- 
sidered there the greatest era in their agricultural 
history, we may well be thankful, that a root, 
much richer and more productive, is found so 
well adapted to our arid country. There are 
two things specially to be attended to in its cul- 
ture. The soil should have a clay substratum, 
and the land should receive a thorough winter 
or fall ploughing, to destroy insects. I lost 
every young beet on three-fourths of the land 
planted last spring, from neglecting to plough in 
the fall, I made out a fine crop, however, from 
transplanting." 

Hogs. — Dr. Morton also, in the addressabove 
alluded to, states, that he has great reason to 
complain of an unnatural but not uncommon 
habit prevalent amongst his sows, that of de- 
stroying their own pigs. This he entirely 
remedied by simply providing them v.'ith the 
greatest possible variety of food ; and also, by 
furnishing them with, by way of condiment, oc- 
casionally, a little salt, sulphur, rotten wood, 
charcoal, &c. 




The plan and description of the machine re- 
presented in the engraving is copied from the 
Domestic Encyclopedia. It is a simple and 
valuable contrivance for making use of the 
power to be derived from a fall of water, when 
that power is too insignificant to justify the 
erection of a common water wheel. 

There are a variety of purposes to which it 
may be applied, and it is adapted to any situa- 
tion where there is a constant stream of three or 
four inches, and a fall of fivo or six feet. The 
engraving represents it as used in working a 
forcing pump for the purpose of raising water. 

A is a pipe, two inches in diameter, tlirough 
which the stream is made to flow in such a di- 
rection as to flill mto the bucket B, when the 
latter is elevated ; but as soon as it begins to de- 
scend, the stream passes over it and flows pro- 
gressively to supply the wooden trough or well 
in which is placed the forcing pump C, three 
inches in diameter. D is a Iqrge wooden tub or 



cylinder, which is filled with stones, bricks, or 
other convenient matter, and should weigh about 
240 lbs. The bucket is suspended to the long 
end of the beam, and is so placed that its weight 
when nearly filled, shall overbalance the weight 
of the cjrlinder D, which of course will cause 
it to descend. 

At E is fixed a cord, which, when the bucket 
approaches to v»?ithin 4 or 5 inches of its lowest 
projection, is extended and opens a valve in the 
bottom of the vessel through which the water 
is discharged, when the ^veight of the cylinder D 
again preponderates, and the bucket is brought 
up to catch the water again. The frame and 
other parts are too clearly delineated to need ex- 
planation, and the whole cost, without the pump, 
cannot exceed fifty dollars, made in the best 
manner. 

This engine was first erected at Irton Hall, 
in England, and there applied to raising water 
for purposes of irrigation, which is there consi- 
dered of immense benefit, especially to meadow 
lands. It has been sometimes resorted to, and 
it is said profitably too, at an expense of thirty 
pounds sterling, ($133 33) per acre. This 
mode of raising water is certainly more eco- 
nomical and more manageable than that of wind 
mills frequently recommended. 

By substituting a pestle and mortar in the 
place of a piston and pump, we have known it 
applied with great advantage to the pounding 
of corn into fine hominy, for feeding, which it 
will do most effectually. 

There is hardly a farm in Virginia on w^hich 
a stream cannot be found fit to drive this simple 
machine, and there is no farmer that ought not 
to be perfectly prepared to erect it without going 
off his plantation. There are many purposes to 
which such a constant acting power could be 
applied, that would pay the cost of erection with 
usury. It will work while you are asleep. 



For the Planter. 
THE VALUE OF COMPOST. 

No point of economy and management is 
perhaps more worthy of attention, and none pro- 
bably so utterly neglected by the farmer of the 
south, as that of preparing and increasing the 
manure heap. It is indeed the raw material 
from which he manufactures his products, and 
the cotton manuflicturer, who would fail to pro- 
cure sufficient raw materials for the supply of 
his looms, would be about as wise as the flirmer 
who neglects his compost. 

A circumstance, that occurred to the writer 
of this article, may serve somewhat to illustrate 
this position, and may be considered not altoge- 
ther unworthy of note. 

Some years ago, in the division of a large 
hereditary estate amongst several legatees, of 
which I was one, it happened that there were an 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



sr 



old negro man and his wife among the slaves, 
who being considered chargeable, a question 
arose as to the disposition to be made of them. 
Moved by the consideration of their being old 
and faithful family servants, I offered to take 
them and provide for them. Of course no op- 
position was made, and I carried them home. 

To make the most of a bad bargain, I pur- 
chased an old horse and cart, and made it the 
sole duty of the old man, with his horse and 
cart, to deposite on the manure pile the leaves 
of the forest, which it was the business of the 
old woman to collect together for him on every 
good day. The plan, thus resorted to from ne- 
cessity, proved infinitely more productive than 1 
had ever calculated on, and I entertain very se- 
rious doubts, whether any two hands on my 
plantation were ever worth more to me than this 
chargeable old man and his wife ; that is, I mean 
to say, that the result of their labors was per- 
haps more beneficial than that of any other tv^'o 
hands on my plantation. Now Mr. Editor, how 
many chargeable negroes are there in Virginia, 
that might be as advantageously employed? 



Mr. Editor^ — There is much in a name, and 
hereabouts, we are not altogether satisfied with 
the one you have adopted. If you will pardon 
the liberty, I would suggest one that we think 
would be more appropriate to your design and 
the character of your valuable little work. As 
you propose to skim the agricultural periodicals 
of the day, and serve up the proceeds in your 
paper, suppose you had called it the Agricul- 
tural Cream Pot. 

A little club, of which I am a member, have 
been talking the matter over, and thinking the 
title very appropriate, we hope that even now 
you will adopt it. Yours, 

Hanover. 

We publish the above, partly because it is 
complimentary, and partly because it affords us 
an opportunity of saying a word or two upon 
the size of agricultural papers. We have been 
cheered in our short career by much more of 
compliment, both in public and private, than we 
had any right to expect from our humble under- 
taking, and we have received support and en- 
couragement which we know has been elicited 
rather by approval of the plan of the work than 
any merit of ours in the execution. We are 
happy to say that we have heard but one objec- 
tion, except to that of our name. Some of our 
correspondents have complained that our sheet 
was not as large as some other agricultural pe- 
riodicals. It is true, but who ever he' u'd, as our 
" Hanover" friend would say, of a cream pot as 
large as a milk pail? 

We hope we will not be considered guilty of 
the indelicacy of drawing an invidious compa- 
rison between ourselves and others — nothing is 



farther from our thoughts; we only mean to say, 
that we started with the design of performing 
for the farmer a very laborious monthly job, viz: 
that of extracting and condensing into a small 
space the sum and substance of the agricultural 
productions of the day. When it is considered 
how much of those journals are occupied with 
matter foreign to our climate and soil, it will 
readily be seen that, if the work is well done, 
it must of necessity occupy but little space, the 
very object that we thought desirable to the 
agricultuVal community; but if we were mis- 
taken, and if our subscribers continue to in- 
crease, and demand more paper, they shall have 
it with pleasure. For whilst the expense of 
publishing a large paper is rather greater than 
a small one, the labor is much less: since, it is 
much easier to tell the printer to copy an arti- 
cle, than to study and condense that article for 
your readers. 

Still, there is reason in every thing, and we 
frankly admit that our present sheet is not as 
large as wq should like to have it even ac- 
cording to our own views, and nothing shall 
keep it long at its present size but a want of 
patronage, which, from present appearances we 
have no sort of reason to anticipate. Will the 
farmers of the country, who are pleased to see 
such an attempt made, and we know there are 
thousands such in Virginia alone, will they take 
an active part for us, using a little exertion to 
obtain us subscribers ? Subscribers themselves 
may rest assured, that every additional subscrip- 
tion they will obtain for us shall redound to their 
benefit, as we design and expect, for a long time 
at least, to lay out every cent we receive in en- 
larging and improving the paper. We are 
devoted to it, heart and soul, and nothing but 
apathy or indifference upon the part of the com- 
munity it is intended to benefit, shall prevent its 
successful progress. 

As to the suggestion of our correspondent, 
the name he proposes so well expresses our de- 
sign, and when properly understood, is so en- 
tirely free from arrogance, inasmuch as it signi- 
fies nothing more than a gleaner of other men's 
fields, that we have half a mind to adopt it. 
The Cream Pot — there is no mistaking or con- 
founding it with the numerous Farmers and 
Planters that are rife in the country — we like it 
hugel}^, and if we did not flatter ourselves that 
we were already extensively known as the 
Planter, we might possibly consent to become 
the "CiiEAM Pot." 



Broom Corn — how introduced. — A lady in 
Philadelphia held an imported clothes whisk in 
her hand. Whilst examining it as a novelty, 
Dr. Franklin found a single grain attached to 
the stalk : this he planted, and a large and in- 
creasing article of usefulness has been thus per- 
petuated in the United States. — Nat, hit. 



38 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



LIME. 

The value of lime as a fertilizer, is too univer- 
sally acknowledged, to need any exposition at 
this time. The greatest difficulty is the cost of 
the article, and as we apprehend, that to many 
who have ready access to the unburnt lime, the 
cost of burning is still a heavy item, to them we 
recommend the following method of effecting 
this object, taken from the American Farmer. 
We think it probable that no mode calculated 
for general use, would be more effectual or 
more economical. 

To burn lime, get if you can, three large logs, 
say two feet in diameter, and of any length ac- 
cording to the quantity of shells to be burned, 
place these logs on the ground, parallel to each 
other, at the distance of two feet apart. Thus, 
three logs, with their two intervening spaces, 
each of two feet width, will make a base of ten 
feet wide. On that foundation, the shells will 
rise as high as they can well be pitched up. 
Between the three logs, in the spaces each of 
two feet width, pack as much brush and rubbish 
wood as you can, until these more combustible 
materials rise to the height of the logs. Then 
throw up shells as long as you can get them to 
lie on one another. The apex of the heap of 
shells will be as high as it is convenient to throw 
them, until rolling down they will fall over the 
sides of the outside logs. Set fire then to the 
brush, and the heat, radiating upwards, will 
completely burn the whole mass of shells. As 
the mass begins to sink at last in the centre, the 
shells which had rolled down to the outside of 
the log5, may be thrown up, to be more com- 
pletely burned. It is said that a kiln, made in 
this way, 18 or 20 feet long, will burn about 
1000 bushels. 



GAINSBOROUGH'S HUSKING AND 
SHELLING MACHINE. 

A machine under the above title is much 
lauded in a communication to the last American 
Farmer. It may be had of Messrs. Sinclair 
and Moore, Baltimore. We have made a me- 
morandum to enquire more particularly into its 
merits without any very sanguine expectation of 
being highly gratified. 



PORTABLE SAW MILLS. 

Two are very highly spoken of in the last 
Farmer; one, the invention of a Mr. Geo. Page, 
of Baltimore, and the other described in a letter 
from the inventor, Col. Hamilton of N. York, 
himself The modus operandi of neither is 
fully explained, and we are constrained to ad- 
mit that our doubts of the practicability of a 
good portable saw mill, to be worked by animal 
power, have not been removed by any thing we 
have yet seen of either of these machines. We 



should be glad, however, to learn more upon 
the subject, because such a thing is a great de- 
sideratum to the agricultural community. 



POUDRETTE. 

Although some contrariety of opinion exists 
as to the value of this article, its convenience 
and powerful action seem to be universally ad- 
mitted. We expect soon to make arrangements 
to procure it as it may be wanted by our friends, 
and invite them to make experiments for them- 
selves. When we obtain it, we will give full 
particulars of price, mode of using, &c. 



We have been requested to copy from the American 
Turf Register for January and February 1S39, the fol- 
lowing remedies for the grubs and colic in horses, 
which our correspondent, a gentleman of great expe- 
rience and sagacity, says that he has used with signal 
success. 

To cure the grubs. Taks 1 pint molasses, 
1 pint new milk and one ounce laudanum ; put 
these ingredients in a bottle and after shaking 
it thoroughly, administer the dose. In half an 
hour afterwards give the horse a pint of castor 
oil and he will soon discharge the grubs. 

I have never failed in a single instance, of 
curing a horse attacked by the grubs, if they 
had not eaten his maw. 

To insure a horse against grubs, the dose 
above mentioned should be given spring and fall. 

To cure the colic. Take four large onions 
and beat them in a spice mortar until you have 
them well bruised : then add a pint of whiskey 
and strain the whole through a piece of linen — 
give the dose. It will relieve in 20 minutes. 
When a horse has the colic it may be readily 
seen from his swellinsf. 



HESSIAN FLY. 

In opposition to Miss Morris' theory, publish- 
ed in our last, a writer in the Cultivator from 
Hamburgh, N. J., asserts that he made repeated 
experiments by sowing patches of wheat in the 
open ground, and other parcels on cotton under 
a glass, about the middle of September. Upon 
examination, on the 25th of October, he found 
by the aid of a microscope, nearly every plant 
that grew in the lot perforated near the top of 
the ground, and containing from three to eight 
eggs or nits each, whilst those taken from the 
cotton had no perforation nor nits about them. 
From that time, which was eighteen years aoo, 
he states that he has delayed sowing his wheat 
until October, that the frost might kill the fly 
before it had an opportunity of depositing its 
ogg in the tender plant, and the consequence 
has been, that since that time, he has not been 
troubled with the Hessian fly. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



29 




We have here a portrait of a very fine Berkshire Boar, the property of the Rev. Jesse 
Turner of this vicinity: the likeness was drawn by the portiait painter, Mr. Petticolas, and en- 
graved on wood by Mr. J. B. Martin of this city. Although we do not think the painter has in 
some respects done full justice to the animal, this we will say, that it is rather more like a hog than 
some pictures we have seen lately, that were intended to represent that interesting brute. Mr. 
Petticolas, although standing very high as a delineator of the human countenance, and remarka- 
ble for the style of his painting, is not a "professed animal painter, and is therefore not perhaps 
aware what parts the rule of the profession require him to enlarge and what to diminish, to please 
the improved taste of the public for that old fashioned animal. He has been living in retirement 
for some time, and strangely imagined that it was his business to furnish something like the ani- 
mal whose portrait he was employed to draw; and the Parson too, in the simplicity of his heart, 
seems to have fallen into the same error. The consequence has been, that, between them, we 
have a picture of a very fine animal very well engraved, that must be universally condemned ; for 
it is certainly as like any thing else as the fanciful and unnatural representations we have lately 
had of the improved Berkshires, where the painter seems to have taken a mode as the beau ideal 
of a hog. And yet we are credibly informed that this amimal, which was purchased by Mr. 
Alex. Shelton of"this city from Mr. Bement of Albany, is a thorough bred Berkshire, of the most 
superb form and appearance. Indeed, a gentleman who takes great interest in such matters, au- 
thorises us to use his name in saying, that he has visited the most celebrated stocks of hogs to 
the north, and that he has seen nothing superior, scarcely any thing equal, to this boar. Mr. 
Shelton says that nothing bat the objection to breeding in and in would have induced him to have 
parted with him for three times the sum of $50, for which sum he was sold. The boar is pur- 
posely kept in only moderate order, as he is represented, and is estimated to weigh, in his present 
condition, about 400 lbs. 

We are much indebted to the enterprise which induced Mr. Shelton to introduce so fine an 
animal amongst us. His stock is widely disseminated, and has obtained great reputation, so 
that Mr. Shelton has some difficulty in supplying the demand. 

These pigs are sold at $20 a pair, and we freely offer our services in procuring them for 
any of our country friends. 



SYSTEM. 

System is as essential in farming as in any other occupation of life. Let the farmer, there- 
fore, who has never reduced his methods to order, commence now ; let him examine his farm, 
make a map of it, number each field, and having provided himself with a memorandum book, 
(a few sheets of paper doubled will do, if a better one cannot be had,) and a regular debt and 
credit kept with each field. Charge to the field the manure, labor, seed, &c., and credit to it the 
crop taken from it, whether of grass or grain. It is only in this way that any thing like an esti- 
mate of profit or loss can be correctly form.ed. In another part of your book, enter in separate 
columns all the cash received or paid out by you. Look it over occasionally, and see if any pur- 
chases have been improvidently or needlessly made. This will be particularly necessary, if you 
are in the habit of purchasing articles on credit, one of the very worst practices in our opinion, 
into which a farmer can fall. 



30 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



STEAMING. 

Mr. J. D. Lowndesof this vicinity has kindly 
called upon us to say, that he has for some time 
been using a very simple apparatus for steaming, 
which he finds extremely economical anJ con- 
venient. He has a cast iron pipe, somewhat of 
a semi-circular shape, the two ends of which go 
through the outer wall of his kitchen chimney 
into a hogshead of water. The heat of the 
kitchen fire causes a circulation of water through 
the tube, by which the whole mass is heated in 
an inconceivably short space of time. 

By means of this simple and ingenious con- 
trivance Mr. Lowndes saves both the fuel and 
trouble of two fires, and has hot water for steam- 
ing, or other purpose, whenever his kitchen fire 
is burninof. 



HARRISON BEEF. 

We see by the Leesburg Washingtonian that 
a pair of mammoth bullocks, entirely white, 
raised by Mr. R. L. Wright, in the county of 
Loudoun, were sold in the city of Washington, 
in anticipation of the crowd on the 4th of March, 
for the round sum of five hundred dollars. So 
that Virginia has the honor not only of having 
given birth to the President elect, but also of 
having furnished the beef for the inauguration. 
Encouraging this certainly to Virginia breeders. 



PROTECTION FOR PLANTS IN WINTER. 
We are warned in a late number of the 
Maine Cultivator from using straw to cover ten- 
der plants during the winter months. It is not, 
they say, so much the cold of our winters ihat 
destroys tender roots, as the wet that is suffered 
to freeze into ice about ihem. Our common 
pine boughs, frequently used for the purpose, are 
probably much to be preferred, since being more 
compact, they are less absorbing and turn the 
water better. 



PEACH TREES. 

A communication in the last number of the 
Farmer's Cabinet, signed B. H., asserts that the 
decay of the peach tree, is, in a great measure, 
owing to the practice of grafting, whereby an 
imperfect union takes place; sickly growth is 
the consequence, and the diseased tree is then 
rendered vulnerable to the attacks of the worm, 
which completes its destruction. He recom- 
mends strongly the practice of planting out, 
every year, a row of the seeds of the finest 
peaches to be obtained in the market, and pruning 
them in their places, until they produce fruit, at 
which time those of inferior sorts could be 
grafted, and others of fine fiavor, might ?be per- 
mitted to remain, with the expectation of their 
retaining health and vigor for many years to 
come. Peaches of the finest flavor may be ob- 
tained from trees the third year, by planting the 
stone, without grafting or budding. 



RECIPE. 

To make a plaster which will relieve the 
breasts of a nurse, hardened and inflamed by cold. 

Melt together 8 oz. mutton suet, 4 oz. bees- 
wax, and 4 oz, rosin. Add to them whilst on 
the fire, a gill of linseed oil and half a gill of 
sweet oil. When cold, it is fit for use. The 
breast should be well rubbed with sweet oil and 
spirit, mixed in equal parts, as hot as can be 
borne, and then the plaster should be applied, 
spread thin upon a linen rag. 

[The above was obtained, many years ago, 
from a physician of high standing, and has been 
found not less efficacious with the brute than the 
human family. Young animals frequently suf- 
fer very much from hard and inflamed breasts, 
which, if not relieved, produces very serious con- 
sequences both to the mother and the offspring. 
The above recipe has been always found to af- 
ford the most speedy relief After one trial of 
its powers, no family will be without a constant 
supply of the plaster.] 



AMERICAN PLOWS ABROAD. 

American plows are becoming celebrated 
abroad, and if the various trials made at home 
and abroad of the power required to move them 
may be relied upon, they are superior in ease of 
draft and perfection of work to any others. — 
Our plows have found their way to Russia, 
are creating a new era of agriculture in Turkey, 
are to be seen at the Agricultural Schools in 
France, and at the late meeting of the English 
Royal Agricultural Society, an Amerif^an plow 
was exhibited which elicitf d the greatest admi- 
ration; and though not allowed to enter into 
competition with the English plows, was tried 
by many distinguished and noble persons, and 
pronounced a most superior implement. 

Alb. Cultivator. 

MISCELLANY. 

EDUCATION. 

How much more powerful is example than 
precept, and how much the one is sometimes 
neglected even where the other is most scrupu- 
lously enforced. 

Parents frequently take the greatest pains to 
instil into the minds of their children lessons of 
love, charity, and the christian virtues, yet, in- 
considerately exhibit before them the marks of 
anger violence and unbridled passions. How 
shocked those very parents would be to know, 
that they had been sowing in the mind of a be- 
loved child the fruitful seeds of the very vices, 
which it had been the object of their lives to 
repress and smother. 

Certain it is, that the conduct of a man should 
no where be so guarded as in the prcvsenceofhis 
child. The petty vices of human nature should 
no where be more carefijUy repressed, and he 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



31 



should receive precepts of virtue from one with 
whom he is accustomed to associate only what 
is noble and good. 

These remarks have been called forth by the 
following excellent observations on Mrs. Opie's 
"Illustrations of Lying," in the London Lite- 
rary Gazette. 

" There is one class of lies, which we are a 
little surprised did not attract a larger share of 
Mrs. Opie's attention — Lies lold hy parents to 
their children. 

" We believe that the slight regard in which 
strict truth is held among mankind is princi- 
pally owing to the lies which are told to chil- 
dren by their parents, during the few first years 
of their lives. Then is the time that permanent 
impressions may be as well made as at any 
later period. It is then probably, that what is 
called the natural propensity of a child is un- 
folded. Many persons who have great abhor- 
rence of lying, and whip their children if they 
detect them in it, yet make no scruple of 
telling and acting to them the most attrocious 
falsehoods. There are few parents who do not 
do this in a greater or less degree, though 
doubtless without dreaming that they are guilty 
of criminal deception. With many, the whole 
business of managing their children is a piece 
of mere artifice and trick. They are cheated 
in their amusements, cheated in their food, 
cheated in their dress. Lies are told them to 
get them to do any thing that is disagreeble. 
If a child is to take physic, the mother tells him 
she has something good for him lo drink ; if re- 
cusant, she will send for the doctor to cut off 
his ears, or pull his teeth, or that she will go 
away and leave him, and a thousand things of 
the same kind, each of which may deceive 
once and answer the present purpose, but will 
invariably fail afterwards. 

" Parents are too apt to endeavor to pacify 
their children, by making promises which they 
never intend to perform. If they Avish, for in- 
stance, to take away some eatable, which they 
fear will be injurious, they reconcile them by 
the promise of a ride, or walk, or something else 
which will please them, but without any inten- 
tion of gratifying them. This is lying down- 
right. People think nothing of breaking their 
promises to children, if the performance be not 
perfectly convenient. But they are the last 
persons to whom promises should be broken, 
because they cannot comprehend the reason, if 
there be one, why they are not kept. Such 
promises should be scrupulously redeemed, 
though at a great inconvenience, and even when 
inadvertently made. For the child's moral ha- 
bit is of infinitely more consequence than such 
an inconvenience can be to a parent. 

"We have only noticed a few of the cases of 
lying to children, but enough to illustrate the 
frequency of it. And yet, after having pursued 



a course of deception for two or three of the 
first years of life, if the parent then finds his 
child is trying to deceive him, and will tell a 
downright lie, he wonders how he should have 
learned to do so, for he always "taught" him to 
speak the truth ; not reflecting that he has bf en 
lying to him from his very birth. So he attri- 
butes those habits to an innate disposition and 
tendency to falsehood, which he has himself 
been fosterinof and nourishinof from the first." 



A habit, much too common among our coun- 
trymen, and one for v/hich they are most ridi- 
culed by foreigners, obnoxious as it is to every 
principle of good breeding, is very wittily sati- 
rized in the following pun taken from and old 
paper : 

"As several gentlemen of the bar were a few 
days since in conversation, one of them, under 
favor of the wind, received a portion of his 
neighbor's saliva upon his summer's coat. " Mr. 

R ," said the sufferer, " if this is the way 

you treat other persons' habits, you cannot ex- 
pect to rate as a gentleman." 



AUCTIONS. 

Strange enough, most of the ordinary usages 
of life, social, commercial and martial, may be 
traced up to the remotest antiquity. Who 
would suppose that a sale by auction, and the 
red flag, which denotes the locality of him of 
the hammer, could, by the stretch of fancy, be 
assimilated with the Roman General, or Impe- 
rator, wielding his baton, or truncheon ; the 
symbol, in all ages, of military command? And 
yet they are the same, as far as their functions 
with respect to sales are concerned. The sys' 
tem of sale by auction originated with the 
Romans, who sold their spoils in war under a 
spear fixed in front of the General's tent. The 
spear was decorated with, or in the immediate 
vicinity of the crimson standard, which indicated 
the tent or residence of the supreme commander, 
in the centre of the camp. 



The celebrated John Stow, in his Survey of 
London, relates, that there is an old tradition of 
a flitch of bacon, due, by custom, from the Prior 
of Dunmore, in Essex, 'to him that had lived 
seven years with his wife, without any disa- 
greement between them ; if he should come and 
demand it, there, at the Priory, on his oath. 
He never heard of but /Arcc applications for the 
flitch ; and he has thought it worth while to pre- 
serve the names of the applicants. They were 
Stannel de Ayston, Thomas Leyfuller and 
Richard Wright. If the custom had only been 
continued to these improved times of ours, no 
doubt the Prior of Dunmore would find it no 
sinecure to supply the applications that would 
be made by the loving lords and dutiful dames 
of the present day. 



32 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 







To " Arator," who requests us to give a de- 
scription in our paper of C. T, Botts's straw 
cutter, of which he speaks in the highest terms, 
we answer, that uniting in our person the cha- 
racter of editor of the paper, and proprietor 
of the cutter, delicacy forbids our complying 
with his request, unless he should make it over 
his own signature, then our motives could not 
be misunderstood. 



Several subscribers have sent us their names, 
stating that they will pay for the paper at some 
future time. It is with regret that we inform 
such gentlemen, that obvious necessity com- 
pels us to adhere to our rule of collecting in 
advance. The sum we require for subscription 
is so small that it is clearly not worth opening 
an account for. The fact of a name being on 
our subscription list is the only account we keep 
of the transaction, and that alone entitles the 
owner to the paper. Of course, those gentle- 
men to whom we allude, will receive this num- 
ber containing this notice, and receiving it in the 
spirit in which it was intended, will, we hope, 
place their names in our book by remitting us 
one dollar, either through a Post Master, or if 
they please, at our expense. 



The Editor respectfully offers his services to 
his friends and subscribers in executing any agri- 
cultural commission in this city, or in obtaining 
for them any information they may desire, which 
it is in his power to supply. Such communica- 
tions will always be received and attended to 
with pleasure. 



POSTAGE. 

The Planter is published on one sheet, and 
by the decision of the Post Master General, is 
subject only to newspaper postage: that is, one 
cent on each number within the state, or within 
one hundred miles of the place of publication, 
out of the state — and one cent and a half to any 
other part of the United States. 



BOOK AND JOB PRINTING, 

Neatly executed on the most liberal terms, by 

ISAAC LYON, JlgH, 

14th Street, Richmond, Virginia. 



CONTENTS OF NO. II. 



Plough — Result of experiments on the draft 
of, page 17. 

Sweet Potatoes — Mr. Bernard's mode of cul- 
tivating, 18. 

Inventions — National collection of, at Wash- 
ington, 19. 

Potatoes — The comparative merits of differ- 
ent kinds, 20. 

Fencing — Advantages of the post and rail, 
20 ; ready way of constructing, 20. 

Drenching — Danger of explained, 21; clys- 
tering recommended, 21. 

Corn — Plentiful planting recommended, 21. 

Cultivation — Its influence on vegetables, 22. 

Farming — The profits of, 22. 

Wheat — Mr. Taylor's plan of saving seed 
approved, 23. 

Manures — Soot and soap suds, the value 
of, 23. 

Silk — American, full suit of, worn by Judge 
Earnest, 23. 

Dahlia — The proper treatment of, 24. 

Agricultural Implevients — Two new ones 
for ploughing and ditching, 24. 

Sugar Beet — Dr. Morton's recommendation 
of, 25. 

Sows — To prevent their destroying their 
young, 26. 

Water Poicer — How to use economically a 
small fall of water, 26. 

Compost — Its value, 26. 

Broom Corn — How introduced, 27. 

Lime — Cheap and easy mode of burning oys- 
ter shells, 28. 

Corn Shelter — Gainsborough's noticed, 28. 

Saio Mills — The value of portable ones 
doubted, 28. 

Pou(lrctte—\Xs value, 28. 

Grubs and Colic — To cure, 28. 

Hessian Fly — Miss Morris's theory, 28. 

Berkshire Boar — A likeness and description 
of Parson Turner's, 29. 

System. — The value of, 29. 

Steaming — Mr. Lowndes's plan for a steam- 
er, 30. 

Plants — To protect in winter, 30. 

Peach Tree — Grafting injurious to, 30. 

Recipe — A salve for an inflamed breast, a 
sovereign remedy, 30. 

Ploughs — Estimate abroad of American, 30. 

Education — Essay on lying, 31. 

Spitting — Anecdote of, 31. 

Auctions — Origin of the red flag, 31. 

Matrimonial Quarrels — John Stow's anec- 
dote of, 31.