THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 

23eoote& to Hgrfcuiturr, horticulture, ana tue ^ouseholfc &trts. 

Agriculture is the nursing mother of the I Tillage and Pasturage are the two breasts 
Arts. — Xenophon. o f the State. — Sully. 



FRANK: G. RUFFIN, Editor. 



P. D. BERNARD, Proprietor. 



Vol. XIH. 



RICHMOND, MARCH, 1853. 



No. 3. 



For the Southern Planter. 
SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE. 

BY PROFESSOR GILHAM. 

NUMBER IV. 
(Continaed from page 6, Vol. XIII.) 



Having shown in previous numbers that the 
organic elements of plants are carbon, oxygen, 
hydrogen and nitrogen; that carbonic acid, 
water and ammonia are the principal sources 
of supply of these substances to plants; that 
the inorganic bodies found in plants are po- 
tassa, soda, lime, magnesia, oxyde of iron, 
oxyde of manganese, silica, chlorine, sulphuric 
and phosphoric acids; that although the quan- 
tities of these bodies required by vegetation 
are comparatively small, they still are as ne- 
cessary as the more abundant organic bodies; 
and that the soil is the only source of supply 
of the inorganic food of plants; it remains lor 
us to consider the origin, composition and pro- 
perties of soils. 

GENERAL ORIGIN OF SOILS. 

Soils have their origin in the disintegration, 
or wearing down of the rocks which compose 
the crust of the earth. In mountainous and 
very hilly countries the rocks are protruded 
above the surface of the soil, and in maay 
places scarce any thing is to be seen except 
the naked rocks, while in more level regions 
they are found embedded far below the earth's 
surface. Wherever found, however, they are 
more or less exposed to atmospheric influences. 
These influences appear at first sight to have 
but little effect, as numberless instances are 
within the experience of almost every one, in 
which rocks have been exposed for many years, 
■jt even centuries, without undergoing any ap- 
parent change; but if we consider for a mo- 
ioent that soils have been forming for thou- 
gands of years, we can readily understand 
that if the atmosphere has any influence upon 
the rocks, a portion, at least, must eventually 
be reduced to that fine state of division known 
as soil. 

The action of atmospheric agents in the 
disintegration of rocks and formation of soils 
Vot. XIII.-3. 



is both chemical and mechanical. The car- 
bonic acid of the air, although so small in 
quantity, exerts a powerful influence; first, by 
its slowly attacking certain minerals and rocks, 
by which existing combinations are destroyed, 
and new ones produced, whereby the rocks 
are either reduced to some form of soil, or left 
in such a state as to yield without difficulty to 
the other agencies which are constantly in 
operation in the air for the same purpose; and 
secondly, by its property of being absorbed by 
water, a property which, it will be remem- 
bered, adds materially to the solvent power of 
that fluid. 

The oxygen of the air, too, attacks certain 
rocks, particularly those which contain the 
protoxyde of iron and the sulphuret of iron. In 
the first case the protoxyde passes to the state 
of peroxyde of iron, (iron rust,) by the absorp- 
tion of oxygen, and in the second case the 
sulphur and iron both become oxydised, the 
sulphur passes to the state of sulphuric acid, the 
iron to protoxyde of iron, and these uniting with 
each other form sulphate of iron (copperas.) 

Water acts by its, solvent powers upon those 
constituents of the rocks which are in the 
smallest degree soluble in that fluid, and in 
this, as was stated above, it is greatly assisted 
by the carbonic acid which it holds in solution. 
Again, water, by entering the poresof the rocks, 
softens them, and makes them yield much more 
readily than they would otherwise do; and 
when frozen, by the great power exerted in its 
expansion, it destroys their cohesion entirely, 
so that when the ice melts, the rock falls to 
pieces, and sometimes to fine powder. Water 
also acts by its transporting power, carrying 
the finer particles to great distances sometimes, 
and by the force of attrition, causing the gra- 
dual wearing away of the larger ones. In 
mountainous regions all the finer parts of the 
soil as it is formed are removed from the tops 
and sides of the mountains, and carried into 
the valleys below. In cases where streams 
which have their rise in such regions, overflow 
their banks in time of freshets, the solid matter 
held in suspension is deposited over large areas 
in the form of mud, forming the soils of river 
bottoms, or what are called "bottom lands." 

The rocks wnich compose the earth's crust 
contain very little organic matter, and many 
of them none at all, hence when soils are first 
formed they necessarily contain but a small 
proportion of it. Nature, as we have seen in 



66 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



a former number, has so constituted plants 
that they derive most of their organic food 
from the air, while some depend upon that 
source alone for their supply. Now, in the 
first formation of a soil'those plants only which 
are capable of living at the expense of the 
air will take root. The growth is at first very 
limited; the first plants die, and falling to the 
earth, mingle with the soil; decay sets in, but 
before it is completed another growth is ma- 
tured, dies and rots. Thus a small quantity 
of organic matter is taken from the air and 
added to the soil; this process continues, each 
generation of plants making a small addition 
to the organic matter already collected, until, 
finally, the soil assumes a rich dark color, and 
will support a luxuriant vegetation. 

Plants have another very important influ- 
ence in preparing the soil for successful culti- 
vation. Their roots, particularly the roots of 
trees, penetrate sometimes to the distance of 
many feet below the surface ; by so doing, they 
are more firmly fixed in the ground, are more 
free from drought, and they meet with supplies 
of inorganic matter which they could not ob- 
tain in sufficient quantity from the surface soil. 
The sap, holding inorganic matter in solution, 
rises to the leaves, where it is spread out to 
the action of the atmosphere, by which it is 
evaporated, and more or less of its inorganic 
matter deposited. This process continues until 
the pores of the leaves becoming choked up, 
as it were, the leaves cease to perform their 
proper functions, change color, die and finally 
fall to the ground. These in their decay leave 
large quantities of organic matter, which be- 
comes incorporated with the soil, while all the 
inorganic matter which they contained, and 
which, as we have stated, was drawn from 
various depths below the surface, now becomes 
part of the surface soil, and, having once been 
in the circulation of plants, the substances 
which compose it, are better fitted for the wants 
of succeeding races. It is by this annual lop- 
dressing of leaves that the soil is brought, in 
many instances, to the condition of great fer- 
tility; and so beneficial is it that the very 
lightest soils will, for a few years after the re- 
moval of the natural growth, produce abundant 
crops. 

COMPOSITION OF SOILS. 

From what has been said in relation to the 
origin of soils it is manifest that they must 
differ very materially, both mechanically and 
chemically, and that a knowledge of the geolo- 
gy of a district of country is essential to a true 
appreciation of the qualities of its soils. Be- 
fore speaking, however, of differences resulting 
from differences in the rocks, we will devote 
a short time to the consideration of the various 
substances to be found in soils. 

From the statements made in our last num- 
ber it follows that every soil which is fertile 
without the aid of manure of any kind, must 
contain all the substances to be found in the ashes 
of cultivated plants, and in quantities sufficient 



to yield constant supplies to growing crops. 
These substances have already been enume- 
rated; all truly fertile soils are found to con- 
tain them all, together with alumina <and more 
or less organic matier. This organic matter 
having been derived from thepuccessive races 
of vegetables that have grown upon the soils, 
it follows that it must be composed of the same 
elements that are found in the plants them- 
selves, namely: carbon, oxygen, hydrogen and 
nitrogen. Carbon is the predominating ele- 
ment, and it is to this that the dark color of soils, 
rich in organic matter, is due. The proportion 
of nitrogen is always small, but the presence 
of some little is important, as it is to this that 
we must look for sufficient supplies of ammo- 
nia. But though organic matter is necessary 
to fertility, there does not seem to be any fixed 
proportion required, as fertile soils have been 
found to contain from two to fifty per cent, of 
it; and most soils that are permanently fertile 
contain from five to ten per cent. 

The presence of organic matter in the soil 
is of importance in various ways: First, it 
ministers directly to the growth of vegetation 
by supplying plants with food through their 
roots. Under the influence of air and mois- 
ture the organic matter of the soil is gradually 
decomposed, and the new products, carbonic 
acid, water and ammonia, are formed. Abun- 
dant supplies of water are obtained by vegeta- 
bles from the atmosphere, and much the largest 
portion of the necessary carbonic acid is de- 
rived from the same source; still all plants 
seem to flourish better when they can absorb 
more or less carbonic acid through their roots. 
It is now an admitted fact that some ammonia 
is brought down by rains from the atmosphere, 
and that in soils capable of retaining it this 
ammonia ministers to the growth of vegeta- 
tion; but far the greater part must come from 
the soil itself, and hence the importance of 
plentiful supplies of organic matter rich in 
nitrogen. Secondly, the presence .of organic 
matter in the soil materially affects its mecha- 
nical condition. It lightens stiff clay soils, 
puts them in a condition to be more readily 
worked, and renders them more permeable to 
air, by which those changes which are so ne- 
cessary to fertility may go on with more ease 
and certainty. In light sandy soils its effects 
are equally beneficial; they retain moisture 
better, and what is of equal consequence, they 
retain manure longer. Thirdly, the dark color 
which organic matter communicates to soils, 
gives them the property of absorbing heat bet- 
ter; a property which renders the germination 
of seed more certain, and makes the crops 
earlier. 

From what has been said it follows that, in 
a soil which is under constant cultivation, the 
organic matter must be gradually dissipated; 
that such is the case, no farmer who does not 
use much stable manure, or turn in green crops, 
will deny; but it is found that the exhaustion 
goes on more rapidly than would be required 
to supply food to the crops. The mere stirring 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



67 



of the soil, by which the air gains free access 
to all its parts, will cause its gradual removal; 
and this, taken in connection with that con- 
stantly consumed by growing crops, renders 
the final exhaustion of the organic matter of 
the soil inevitable, unless returns, in the way 
of organic manure of some sort, be made. 

Before returning to the discussion of the 
various substances which compose the inor- 
ganic part of the soil, it will be well to say a 
few words in relation to the rocks from which 
soils are derived. Rocks are of two kinds, 
stratified and unstratified. The stratified were 
once deposiies of clay and mud in the bottoms 
of oceans, lakes, ponds, estuaries, &c. which 
have hardened and been thrown above the sur- 
face of the waters by volcanic forces; the un- 
stratified were once in a state of fusion by the 
internal heat of theeanh; some of them were 
thrown out while in a melted state, and left to 
cool upon the surface, while others, solidified 
under the vast pressure of the ocean, and of 
other rocks, and were afterwards thrown up 
by the same volcanic agencies. Now it is 
found that the rocks which compose the earth's 
crust are, taken as a whole, whether stratified 
or unstratified, made up, for the most part, of a 
very few simple mineral substances. These 
substances are silica, alumina, lime, oxyde of 
iron, and occasionally potassa, soda, and one 
or two others. 

Except in limestones, a particular class of 
stratified rocks, silica is in large excess over 
all the others, and as most of the carbonate of 
lime is removed from limestones before soil 
can be formed from them, leaving even here 
an excess of silica, it follows that silica must 
be the leading constituent of all soils; and 
some,such as very poor sandy soils, are almost 
entirely silicious. Alumina is, in most cases, 
the next most abundant body in soils; it is the 
base of all clays, clays being true chemical 
salts, silicates of alumina. It is a very common 
mistake to suppose that very stiff clay soils 
are almost entirely made up of alumina, and 
are destitute of silicious matter; all clay soils 
that are workable, contain more or less un- 
combined silica (sand) which may be separated 
from the clay by careful washing; but the clay 
itself being a salt of silica, is composed, in its 
pure state, of about CO parts of silica and 40 
of alumina to the 100. 

It will be remembered that alumina is not 
found in the ash of plants, and hence it is not 
required by them as food; at the same time a 
due proportion of this substance is of great 
importance to the soil. It has been long known 
that clay soils retain manures well, especially 
those which are riph in ammonia, but it is only 
within the last year that a satisfactory expla- 
nation of this important property has been 
given. Professor Way, Chemist to the Royal 
Agricultural Society of England, has, by a 
Ion? series of experiment, discovered that in 
soils which have this power of absorbing and 
retaining ammonia, there always exist what 
are known to chemists as dov.bk sails ; that these 
3c 



double salts are the silicates of alumina and 
potassa, or soda; and that when ammonia is 
presented to a soil which contains either of 
these double salts, the potassa or soda is re- 
placed by the ammonia, and the compound be- 
comes double silicate of alumina and ammonia. 
This compound is not volatile, and is very 
slightly soluble, properties which render its 
existence in the soil of the utmost importance. 
The mechanical condition of a soil depends 
upon the proportion existing between the clay 
and uncombined silica, or loose sand. Very 
light sandy soils retain moisture badly, and 
hence are more liable to suffer from drought 
than stiffer soils. Again, from their light na- 
ture, and from their having but little clay pre- 
sent, their power of retaining manures is very 
limited, consequently they are difficult to keep 
in good condition. They possess the advan- 
tages of being easily worked; of admitting 
free access of air to the roots of plants; of 
permitting the roots to penetrate with ease; 
andofbeins: "quicker" than clay soils. Very 
stiff clay soils, on the contrary, are very diffi- 
cult to work; do not admit air freely; offer 
resistance to the down ward progress of the roots 
of plants; are very retentive of water, b}' which 
they are too wet in ordinary seasons, and in 
lime of diought they dry very hard, crack 
open, and destroy the roots of plants; besides, 
j the evaporation of so much moisture from the 
surface, instead of sinking, makes such soils 
very cold, and consequently crops grown in 
them must be late. If, however, a soil is com- 
, posed of a proper admixture of clay and i-and, 
,the defects of both light and stiff soils are 
avoided, and we have all the mechanic*] con- 
\ ditions of a fertile soil fulfilled. Mast writeis 
1 classify soils with reference to the proportions 
of clay and sand they contain, bin theie ap- 
pears to be but little practical benefit resulting 
from such a classification. When mechanical 
delects exist in a soil, resulting from the ad- 
! mixture of clay and sand, the knowledge of 
■ the relative proportions of clay and sand will 
, do the farmer no good, since it is out of bis 
power to alter them in any appreciable degree; 
it will be of much more service to him to know 
j how he can, by skilful cultivation, overcome 
' natural defects. 

The next most abundant substances found 
in soils are oxyde of iron and lime. Most 
agricultural writers place lime before the oxyde 
j of iron, and no doubt in many instances lime 
j predominates, but so far as our observation 
I goes, the oxyde of iron is far the most abun- 
, dant of the two in the soils of this country. 
! The oxyde of iron is very similar to ammonia 
I in its chemical relations, and it has been as- 
serted that it plays a part in retaining manures 
akin to that performed by alumina, but this is 
by no means well established. It has an im- 
portant influence upon the color of the soil, 
the yellow and red colors of clays being always 
due'to its presence; and it is a necessary con- 
stituent of the ash of plants. Lime exists in 
the soil in combination with carbonic, silicic, 



63 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



(silica), sulphuric and phosphoric acids, or as 
carbonate, silicate, sulphate and phosphate of 
lime — the two last mentioned being always in 
small quantity. The soils of Virginia have 
not been thoroughly studied, but so far as we 
can learn, the prevailing salt is the silicate; 
and this is true, even in the valley, where the 
soils rest upon, and have been formed from, 
limestone. There are large tracts of land in 
the State that are almost destitute of this very 
important constituent — of this, more in time. 

Whenever a soil is formed from rocks con- 
taining much of the mineral talc, the propor- 
tion of magnesia is large, and the soil is gen- 
erally cold and sterile; but in most soils the 
proportion of magnesia is small, and instead 
of being hurtful, is actually necessary to ve- 
getation. 

The remaining constituents are in small 
quantity even in the most productive soils, and 
•what is a little remarkable, among these sub- 
stances we must look for those which are in 
greatest demand by growing vegetation; most 
of them are removed in larger quantities than 
the more abundant substances, and when the 
soil is exhausted by cultivation, lime, or some 
one or more of these bodies are found to have 
disappeared. The occurrence of some of the 
most important constituents of the soil in such 
small quantities, and their.consequent liability 
to exhaustion, seems to be designed by an all- 
wise Providence to lead man, while he is ex- 
erting his physical powers in the mechanical 
operations of agriculture, to apply his intellect 
to the study of the soil, that while he is pre- 
paring food and clothing for the body, the 
mind may also be richly clothed and fed. 
Potassa and soda are of importance in the 
formation of the double salts spoken of under 
the head of alumina, by which the ammonia 
in the soil, and that brought down by rains, is 
made, as it were, one of the fixed principles 
of the soil. These alkalies also supply plants 
with all their silica. Silica, it is well known, 
is very insoluble, and so are all of its salts 
except silicates of potassa and soda. The 
silicates of these bases are some of them very 
soluble, and it is to their existence in the soil, 
that the absorption of silica by the roots of 
plants is due. Besides supplying vegetation 
with a part of its ammonia, and with all of 
its silica, potassa and soda are of themselves 
necessary parts of the inorganic food of plants; 
in this respect potassa is of far more conse- 
quence than soda. Phosphoric and sulphuric 
acids are always in very minute proportions 
in the soil; the phosphoric acid is always in 
combination with some base, such as lime; 
and such is generally the case with sulphuric 
acid; but some soils which are unproductive 
from the presence of sulphuret of iron, contain 
it in an uncombined or free state. Both these 
acids are necessary to the soil; of the two, 
phosphoric acid is far the most largely con- 
sumed, and is much the most difficult to re- 
plaea. Chlorine, while found in the ash of 
plants, is in very minute proportions, and does 



not seem to be of much importance to most 
plants, as there appear to be few soils which 
are not capable of supplying this element in 
sufficient quantity for the most luxuriant crops, 
provided the other necessary substances are 
present in quantities sufficiently large. 

Thus far we have spoken of the composition 
of the soil, supposing it fertile ; that is, capable 
of producing abundant crops of the various 
cultivated plants without any aid from manure. 
Let us look for a moment to those which are 
more or less unproductive, or barren. Some- 
times a soil may contain all of the substances 
enumerated above, and still be unproductive — 
a condition which may result from two causes: 
There may be some noxious substance pre- 
sent, such as protoxyde of iron, or free sul- 
phuric acid; or the mechanical condition of 
the soil may be a bar to fertility. But by far 
the most frequent cause of the barrenness of 
soils is the absence of one or more of these 
substances which every fertile soil is found to 
contain. In soils that are productive by the 
aid of ordinary dressings of stable or other 
manure, it generally happens that some one or 
two bodies are in too small quantity in the soil, 
or are entirely absent; but when the soil is very 
unproductive it always results from the ab- 
sence of several of the necessary constituents. 

Below we insert a table taken from Norton's 
Elements, which forcibly illustrates the posi- 
tion we have assumed. 





Soil 


Soil 




In one hundred 


fertile 


fertile 


Very- 


pounds. 


without 


with 


barren. 




manure. 


manure. 




Organic matter - 


9.7 


5.0 


4.0 


Silica - - - - 


64.8 


83.3 


77.8 


Alumina - - - 


5.7 


5.1 


9.1 


Oxyde of iron - 


6.1 


3.0 


8.0 


Lime - - - - 


6.9 


1.8 


.4 


Magnesia- - - 


.9 


.8 


.1 


Oxyde manganese 


.1 


.3 


.1 


Potassa - - - 


.2 


- - 


- - 


Soda - - - - 


.4 


- - 


- - 


Chlorine - - - 


.2 


- - 


- - 


Sulphuric acid - 


.2 


.1 


- - 


Phosphoric acid 


.4 


.2 


- - 


Carbonic acid - 


4.0 


.4 


- - 


Loss - - - - 


1.4 


- - 


.4 




100 


100 


100 



It will be observed that the barren soil is 
not wanting in silica, alumina, or oxyde of 
iron, but that those substances which in the 
fertile soil exist in least quantity, are in the 
barren one entirely absent. 

Thus far we have said nothing in relation to 
the differences in soils resulting from differen- 
ces in the geological features of the country, or 
of the mechanical conditions necessary to pro- 
ductiveness; in our next we will consider these. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



69 



For the Southern Planter. 
FRENCH MERINO SHEEP. 

Mr. Editor,— la yourDeeembernumber, 1852, 
page 380, you recommend strongly a combin- 
ed expenditure for the above breed of sheep. 
Your object, of course, is to obtain for the 
pood Old Dominion the most profitable to the 
farmer. I have given ample proof of the sin- 
cerity of my belief, that the improved Cots- 
wold is more profitable than all others to the 
farmer, by importing, at very heavy rates, the 
best of England; they having won the highest 
prizes of the Royal Agricultural Society in 
many contests. I have not been disappointed 
in my expectations, even in the sales of part 
bred yearling muttons; and if I can come across 
a breed of sheep calculated to be more profita- 
ble, I pledge myself that my improved Cots- 
wolds go overboard for that breed at once; 1 
will not sacrifice my interest to any other feel- 
ing in this matter. 

Many look to yoa for information, and if 
led to the purchase at heavy cost of animals 
that profit not, your usefulness will be im- 
paired: be careful then for the sake of your 
patrons, how you urge any expenditure with- 
out due comparison and consideration; let us 
sift their pretensions to that character — in do- 
ing so, I shall only calculate their profit for 
general farming purposes; their sales as breed- 
ers not being a fair criterion. I presume you 
will agree with me that in a grain growing 
farming country, the prime, indeed almost the 
only profit in sheep raising, is the mutton; 
and that breed is the most profitable which 
will enable the farmer to turn around his capi- 
tal with profit, at the least expeuse of any 
kind. Farming and vjooI growing cannot be 
so united as to make both profitable: it would 
require too many sheep to make wool growing 
the object of profit, if profit is also expected 
from growing grain, tobacco, or cotton. Farm- 
ing and sheep grazing can be very profitably 
united when the breed is judiciously selected, 
one being auxiliary to the other. These two 
branches of husbandry can be more profitably 
united than any other, because' the fleece (to 
which alone wool growers look for their pro- 
fit) ought to pay amply for the keep, the car- 
cass to be clear profit — these advantages no 
other animal render. Do the French Merino 
accomplish this'? You say, the owners of the 
French Merino keep the ewes until three years 
old, the buck four, before they are permitted 
to copulate, and say it approvingly; most pro- 
bable that is desirable, if not necessary to that 
breed of sheep — but where is the profit then \ 

Here I might stop: for what prudent farmer 
would wish a breed of sheep, whose breath 
was in their nostrils, to remain without propa- 
gating their species three and fouryears? and 
what would that be in comparison with the 
improved Cotswold 1 A ewe of the improved 
Cotswold breed in the three years at the lovxst 
calculation, with a single lamb each year, will 



have given in that time, in muttons alone, and 
independent of three additional fleeces, $24; 
and it might be (twins each year) $48; which 
would give six additional heavy fleeces: twins 
are more usual than uncommon with this 
breed, they have been known many times to 
have three at a birth; and raised them, too, 
for they are great nurses. 

In the above calculation §8 is fixed on, be- 
cause in this country no, even part bred, yearling 
mutton of this breed sold to the butcher this 
fall under $8 each. There is but little yolk 
in the Cotswold fleeces, and when washed, the 
wool is generally dean, and with but slight 
loss from yolk, and it is not uncommon for 
their first fleeces to give 10 lbs. washed wool ; 
service and breeding checks its growth after. 
How will the French Merino ever catch up 
with this start 1 But, sir, throw away this 
three years' advanced supply, for the sake of 
comparing their after value. The French Me- 
rino can only sell his mutton once in three or 
four years, i. e. that mutton must have that 
age before he comes to market. In that time, 
the improved Cotswold can sell three or four, 
or according to twins, six or eight; each one 
(I will engage at a higher price than the three 
or four year old) of the French Merino, and I 
think you will find, doubly as much, both being 
put on the same treatment. This statement, 
you will see, is made solely in reference to 
mutton, and the multiplicity of the fleeces in 
favor of the improved Cotswold is not at all 
considered. Do you think I have priced them 
too highl Why, sir, I have used the lowest 
given by butchers for even part bred yearlings. 
Butchers, last summer, offered $5 for some 
sucking lambs, and I sold last November to 
them, the wether lambs that were lambed the 
preceding spring, and not thorough-bred, for a 
fraction over $8 10 each. All the sales were 
made on the farm ; the farmer not bound to 
drive them one foot — the butchers were here, 
saw and handled them before purchasing, and 
no man knows the value of a mutton better 
than an experienced mutton butcher. Now, I 
question much if this sale of lambsisnox. higher 
than can be made to the butcher of the French 
Merino mutton at four years old. As to the 
Cotswold, this is no theory: there is the proof— 
it is not the occurrence of this one year only; 
it has been so for years. 

As to the French Merino, I take the autho- 
rity relied upon by yourself, our distinguished 
minister, Mr. Rives, and Mr. Gilbert; one of 
them owning the sheep, deeply interested, and 
not at all disposed to disparage them — Mr. R. 
in effect says, and truly, "owing to their ex- 
traordinary oily secretions, as given in the dirt 
and grease, it is reduced one-half by process 
of washing even on the sheep's back— two- 
thirds after undergoing the further washing 
for manufacturers uses." I do not think he 
means two-thirds are to be deducted after the 
one-half is taken out; that would make the 
fleece ridiculousty insignificant. Mr. G. says, 
" by means of the good care given to them, and 



70 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



the judicious selections of rams, (the Italicising 
mine) to unite with the best ewes, there was 
obtained from them some rams which at three 
years old weighed 90 kilos, (by your calculation 
something uhder 200 lbs. live weight of course) 
and gave 8 kilos, of wool, (about 16 lbs.) ewes 
which brought 60 kilos, (about 132 lbs. live 
weight of course) and gave 6 kilos, of wool, 
(about 13 lbs.) Scale them to suit the manu- 
lacturer, and you have (two-thirds off) 5 lbs. 
and a fraction to the ram, and 4 lbs. to the 
ewe, and this after " good care and judicious se- 
lections of best eiocs and rams, " an d " not permitted 
to propagate until 3or& years old," (according to 
size.) Give the same advantages to Mr. Dox's 
Merinos, and how far will they be behind them'? 
The yearling, improved Cotswold, without that 
extra treatment, would beat them greatly in the 
amount of money to the fleece. (Mr. Camp- 
bell's sales of wool were in the north — from 
which must be deducted transportation and 
commissions to get ours there.) But as to 
mutton, do you consider "with judicious selec- 
tion of best rams and ewes, and good care for 4 
years, 200 lbs. live is great weight for a 4 year 
old ram; 132 lbs. for a live ewe, 3 years old, nei- 
ther permitted to propagate before? But reduce 
it to mutton, the ram, when his head, with his 
monstrous horns, is off, will most probably 
draw under 100 lbs. — the ewe about 65 or 70 
lbs.; requiring all this to "obtain" it, and only 
some have reached it at that. Why, sir, we 
should think not much of even a part bred year- 
ling, of the improved Cotswold, that under 
such treatment would not far excel the ram, 
gross, and much farther net — the ewe not 
worthy consideration inourestimation. I will 
say to you that when you visit this section of 
country — and your duty requires you to do so — 
to see how far we profit by your valuable 
paper, if I do not prove this position to your 
satisfaction, you being the judge, I will put be- 
fore you and your friends to discuss, a saddle 
of mutton of the improved Cotswold (yearling) 
not grain fed — that you may draw comparison 
of with your favorite Southdown— and will, 
where a difficulty may occur, give you "sum- 
'at" to wash it down. Indeed I may with per- 
fect safety, I believe, say, our muttons on our 
ordinary treatment on grass alone have brought 
110 to 130 lbs. net fall, after one year old. 

But Mr. Gilbert further says, by continuing 
that extra treatment, he has raised rams weigh- 
ing at three years old 126 kilos., 275 lbs. live 
weight, (near 140 net) and 12 kilos, of wool, 
(about 26 lbs — Mr. Campbell, in your Jan'y 
No , 1853, claims no such weights) and ewes 
100 kilos. (220 lbs., about 110 or 120 net,) and 
9 kilos, of wool, (about 20 lbs.) — scale it: for 
the buck, less than 9 lbs.; the ewe, less than 
7 lbs. This gives them every advantage — is 
calculated as the growth of each year, andit 
may be, three and four years growth — this was, 
by his own statement, the brag, topmast round 
of the ladder, with extra treatment and care — not 
even permitted to propagate in that time. How 
will they compare with the improved Cots- 



wold, as near to that treatment as we know 
of— an improved Cotswold mutton has been 
brought to 300 lbs. net — much heavier than the 
best French Merino gross live weight, and 
much heavier than double as much net; at the 
same rate of good care, the yearling improved 
Cotswold can beat the very best French Meri- 
no at any age. An improved Cotswold ram, 
well raised the first year, never pushed after, 
and each year attended to from 50 to 75 ewes, 
weighed 420 lbs. alive, bordering on double as 
much as the best French Merino; and gave 
18| lbs. of wool one year, 18J lbs. the next — 
37i lbs. in two years of washed wool — more 
than doubk as much each year. But the ordi- 
nary run of the best French Merino flock even 
at full age, are a long way behind the yearling 
improved Cotswolds on our ordinary keep: 
the more generous the keep, the farther will 
the Cotswolds beat them. 

Messrs. Gilbert and Cugnot were the owners 
of these sheep, greatly interested in making 
them important in the U. States, and were 
giving information to the American Minister;, 
of course they kept their best; did they weigh 
one to prove the weight to Mr. Rives'? Did 
they show him one likely to produce such a 
fleece! I presume not. We know nothing of 
those gentlemen, whether they are to be relied 
on, or of the sanguine temperament that dou- 
bles every thing in their estimation. Why is 
it, the English (who are near neighbors, and 
not inconsiderable manufacturers) have not 
procured this breed of sheep 1 ? Because they 
know they are not so profitable for an agricul- 
tural country. Some object, that manufactu- 
rers do not like Cotswold wool to manufacture 
as being too long. Throw the wool overboard 
and you will still find the Cotswold the most 
profitable to the farmer. But do not the French 
Merino claim to be long wool tool Can such 
weights exist without length of fibre 1 and is 
it easier to manufacture Merino character of 
long wool, than the Cotswold (mouselin de 
lain) character? I presume not, and although 
factories may complain, I do not hear of their 
giving any more per pound for any other kind. 

I had the pleasure of seeing some of these 
sheep in the fall of 1851 at the Baltimore fair; 
one (I was informed) held at $2000, and I 
doubted greatly the possibility of there being sur- 
face enough to bring the weight of fleece each 
year, or carcass claimed for them ; the keeper, 
I understood, admitted two and a half years' 
growth of wool. A gentleman of age and ex- 
perience, and well informed on sheep, said, if 
what he heard was true, and his informant 
was to be relied upon, and acquainted with 
these sheep and their management, that he 
would not be surprised at any weight of fleece 
they brought them to in the dirt. The fleece 
was permitted to grow some years, and occa- 
sionally sweet oil poured and Scotch snuff 
dusted in it, to create artificial yolk— (proba- 
bly this is what Mr. Campbell, in your Jan'y 
No., 1853, p. 11, alludes to in his remark, "by 
some sleight of hand"). I do not vouch for this, 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



71 



as 1 received it I give it to you: admit it un- 
true, and it does not alter at all my position. 

I have a letter from a gentleman claiming 
to have both the common and French Merino, 
who says, with the same treatment, fairly tried, 
there is but little, if any, difference between 
them. I had the pleasure of receiving a visit 
from the President of the Agricultural Society 
of one of the counties of Ohio, who mentioned 
that some gentleman in his county, bought a 
ram of that breed for $1000: with the first 
fleece they were not dissatisfied; the next in- 
duced them to consider him but little, if any, 
better than the common merino. 

Do you not consider it best to pause, ponder 
well, and fully investigate, before you advise 
such an expenditure in Virginia. I have fully 
tried the improved Cotswold's, and honestly 
believe them, to the farmer who designs farm- 
ing as well as raising stock, as yielding greater 
profits, each and every year, at less expense 
and trouble, and sooner and surer return, not 
only, than any other breed of sheep, but, than 
any other animal. When I find them excelled 
by any other animal in these essential, i. e. 
that yields the surest and greatest profits in 
the shortest time, I shall immediately change. 

Pardon my occupying some space to 'Anon,' 
page 384, same No. I am happy to see him 
again in your journal: he is so fair, liberal 
and able, that you ought not to permit his pen 
to be idle. His "if" is well put in, for I claim 
not "that knowledge and judgment" he de- 
scribes in my communication over the signa- 
ture of " Valley of Virginia." In writing over 
my own signature now, I must disclaim all 
intention by doing so, of offering inducements 
to gendemen to purchase of my stock, but as 
having some experience in sheep, it was quite 
proper I should venture my feeble pen in the 
discussion of the relative qualities of the dif- 
ferent breeds of sheep, in order that farmers 
of the different sections of Virginia may de- 
termine which breed to them would be most 
profitable. 

Although excelled by none in beauty and 
finish, the Bakewell or Leicester, owing'to the 
manner in which they were originated, are no- 
toriously defective in constitution, yet 'Anon,' 
found them profitable. As you will see, I 
have been importing none but the best of the 
improved Cotswold, and have been closely 
observing all importations of that breed, and 
with the exception of a few besides mine, I 
have no knowledge of any being imported into 
the United States. I have known many con- 
sidered thoroughbred that were crosses of 
Cotswold on Bakewell or Leicester ewes. 

Here let me correct an error:— Your able 
correspondent, C. (another whose pen should 
not be permitted to rust; such "birds can be 
made to sing" by assailing their position, not 
with the expectation of gaining any thing but 
defeat in such contest, but to enrich your jour- 
nal by their essays,) has fallen into, page 198, 
vol. 12. The improved Cotswold and new 
Oxford are the same sheep. The originator 



of the latter, from whom I have mostly pur- 
chased, wrote me they were pure Cotswold, 
that he gave them that name to distinguish 
them from the other flocks, as he had mostly 
carried the high prizes, and gentlemen were 
purchasing their bucks from him — there is 
no Leicester cross in them — the improvement 
brought about by judicious crosses and avoid- 
ing incestuous intercouse. They are noto- 
riously a hard constitutioned sheep, and the 
committee on sheep in England strongly ad- 
vised all breeds to take a cross of them, and 
to obtain early maturity, hardihood of consti- 
tution, size, enlargement of fleece, and propen- 
sity to take on fat. Mr. Randall of N. Y. on 
sheep, somewhere says, that the N. Y. farmers 
were parting with their fine wool sheep, not 
finding them profitable — some to go into the 
dairy business, others into the large early ma- 
turing sheep — and the butcher of New York, 
when he purchased a lot of muttons of me — 
some at $35, some at $25, each — said he could 
purchase the carcass of the merino delivered 
at his stall for$l each. Who is more alive 
to their own interest than a New York farmer 
who abandons them as unprofitable? Can this 
be the most profitable for Virginia? If so, 
then it must be in the fleece, and if 'Anon' will, 
not admit that more money can be made to 
the Cotswold than to the Merino fleece, I shall 
conclude he has not the right breed of improv- 
ed Cotswold, and of this there is some proof in 
the fact of his getting but about 7J lbs. to the 
fleece in the dirt. I know from experience, 
negro cloth made from this wool doubly out- 
lasts any other, the fibre is longer and stronger 
and makes a much stronger yarn, and although 
manufacturers complain, they do not give 
more for other wool per lb., and admit it makes 
more durable cloth for negroes. . 'Anon's' sale 
of muttons was $4 each, and says, "nor can 
the mutton be sold readily, if at all, for $G 
each." Of course in this he speaks of his own 
section of country, being in the dark as to his 
"whereabouts," I can know nothing about it: 
but as it roust be clear to every mind that his 
valuable communication is free from all dis- 
position "to disparage large sheep," I must 
conclude that either the butchers have not 
done him justice, or he has not the right breed 
of improved Cotswold, as will be seen, by re- 
ference to the statement hereinbefore made, 
in reference to sales of muttons this fall in 
this country. Will 'Anon' allow me to give 
an account of sales of muttons last summer, 
and some facts in connection with them? If 
my ability with the pen was equal to his, I 
could make it interesting to him; but if he is 
a farmer he will bear with my plain farmer 
language. The proprietor of one of the hotels 
of a watering place in this region was always 
a purchaser of the small breed of muttons, 
objecting to the prices for the Cotswold: cir- 
cumstances induced him to purchase a lot of 
yearling part bred Cotswolds, and after that, 
in July and Augnst last, (1852) bought all the 
yearling part breds he could get at $6i each^ 



/ 



72 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



after shearing: time and not fed one mouthful 
of grain, saying, he would hereafter purchase 
of this breed on the score of economy. Con- 
nect this with the sales mentioned before in 
this communication, and I claim from 'Anon's' 
candor and fairness an acknowledgment that 
no sheep, or arrangement of sheep, can remu- 
nerate like this in a grain, tobacco or cotton 
growing region. I agree with 'Anon' that 
"expectation ought not to be inordinately ex- 
cited," and have stated nothing but plain, stub- 
born facts as known in this country, divested 
entirely of theory or speculation, and not even 
instancing thoroughbreds, in reference to the 
improved Cotswolds; and I here admit that 
the Southdown at four years old is a better 
mutton than a Cotswold at that age— but con- 
tend that the latter in his yearling form is as 
good (and gives as much or more) mutton than 
the Southdown at any age, and in this way 
more profitable to the farmer: the Cotswold 
when older tallowing too heavily for the pal- 
ate, though the very thing for the butcher. 

All England acknowledges the improvement 
of land by sheep and turnip culture, indeed, 
date their improvement from that; and so 
strongly is it acknowledged, that farmers are 
recommended to sow salt on all wheat lands 
manured by sheep, to strengthen the growth 
of straw to prevent its lodging: but then has 
'Anon' lost sight of the fact, that although 
England largely manufactures, there is proba- 
bly not one flock of small breed of sheep in 
England— it requiring too many mouths to 
make a small sum of money, and too small, 
and too slow (from the time it takes them to 
mature) to be profitable; and although it is ad- 
mitted their manure improves the land, still it 
takes too many to manure a small piece of land. 

I am too plain a farmer to have any thing 
to do with theory— I deal in stubborn facts 
only. In comparing the fattening properties, 
I allude to grain feeding alone as the surest 
way of testing it. Large numbers of small 
sheep have been fed in this country every year 
and by exceedingly prudent feeders, and yet I 
know not one now, who will agree to feed an- 
other, on account of its taking so much grain 
to fatten them as to render them unprofitable 
and injure the sale of their part bred. I pre- 
sume, instead of filling themselves, lying down 
and ruminating like the Cotswold, they ram- 
ble a great deal, travel-off their food in place 
of converting it into fat— requiring more food 
to sustain their travel, which injures the grass. 
I have seen sheep so extraordinarily fat with- 
out suffocation, as to render me incredulous 
as to sheep dying from fat. 

In conclusion, (do you not rejoice?) let me 
say to "C." and 'Anon,' if they will join you 
in your dutiful rambles to this region, we will 
give you all "A Highland welcome," and 
make them associate judges with you on all 
these matters. 

Josiah Wm. Wahs, 
Near Berryville, Clarke county, Va. 

January 12, 1853. 



For the Southern Planter. 
MARL. 

Mr. iMtor,— Many years ago, before the in- 
troduction of marling, every unseasonable crop 
year, corn was imported into some neighbor- 
hoods of this county for domestic consumption, 
not enough being made for use. It was parti- 
cularly the case in the neighborhood around 
Cabin Point, where a portion of the population 
was engaged in the lumber business, partly 
from necessity, as much of the land was bo 
poor that it would not yield enough to pay for 
its tillage. After Mr. Ruffin discovered and 
made known the value of marl as a fertilizer 
of naturally poor and worn out soils, and re- 
commended its application, a change soon took 
place. Now, from the same landing where a 
few years ago cargoes of corn were brought 
and retailed to the surrounding neighborhood, 
thousands of barrels of corn and a great deal 
of wheat are annually shipped ! This is mar- 
vellous, yet it is a fact. The product of some 
farms, where skill and industry obtained, has 
been quadrupled, and all have been more or 
less improved; those where clover and peas 
were used as auxiliaries to the marl, especially 
so. Swift said, "that whoever could make two 
ears of corn or two blades of grass to grow 
upon a spot of ground where only one grew 
before, would deserve better of mankjnd, and 
do more essential service to his country, than 
the whole race of politicians put together." 
We Virginians do not agree with the learned 
Dean, because, perhaps, we are a race of poli- 
ticians ourselves. 

Nemo. 

Swiry County, Jan. 20, 1853. 



For the Southern Planter. 

M'CORMICK'S REAPER. 

Mr. Editor, — I notice in your last number a 
communication from R.Grigsby, Esq. referring 
to one of mine, written by request of the Agri- 
cultural Executive Committee and published 
by its order. When a gentleman is solicited 
to write an article on any subject, he is, of 
course, expected to express his own views. 
As it is by a collision of sentiment iiiat the 
true light is frequently elicited, I am rather 
gratified than otherwise at such collision — de- 
siring that error may be exposed and truth 
made triumphant. If th«re is one expression 
in my ccmnuni cation deemed personally dis- 
respectful to Mr. M'Cormick, it was uninten- 
tional, and is most cheerfully withdrawn. It 
is sufficient to command my admiration for 
any individual to attempt an agricultural im- 
provement, as even failures in such efforts 
have furnished materials for subsequent suc- 
cess. But if the manufacture has not answered 
the purpose for which it was designed, or is 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



73 



defective in its construction or performance, a 
declaration to the contrary cannot be properly- 
desired by any person. The term "numbug" 
amongst farmers is only intended to convey 
the idea or opinion that the article (not inventor) 
falls very far below the estimate of its friends, 
though they may be conscientious in their re- 
commendations. 

I was placed in the position somewhat of a 
reviewer. Aware of the sensitiveness of in- 
ventors and their friends, I thought the fairest 
way of discussing the subject of reaping ma- 
chines was to make special allusion to every 
one of both kinds I had ever seen, or concern- 
ing which I had received reliable information. 
As some gentlemen are, I think, unjustifiably 
fastidious on the subject, even when intended 
for the promotion of the public good, I would 
not have introduced names except to afford 
the opportunity of correction, if my informa- 
tion or impressions were erroneous, and thus 
remove injustice. I named the owners of about 
twenty-one of M'Cormick's machines, or per- 
sons who had tried that number. I have con- 
versed with all but two or three, and repeat 
the declaration that not one has performed sa- 
tisfactorily, while seventeen of Hussey's had 
succeeded well. With these tangible accessi- 
ble facts what is the use of talking or writing 
about personal or partisan attacks, or what the 
machine has done elsewhere? What indivi- 
dual, possessed of such facts, would be so de- 
ficient in philanthropy as not to communicate 
them when it was rendered his duty, even at 
the risk of animadversion or vituperation'? 
None can wish more sincerely than myself 
that it were otherwise. I used the expression 
"half hour's trial" because I had seen one run 
about that time in a manner to secure a pre- 
mium against the world, and at its expiration 
laid aside as worthless. It cuts by means of 
a saw, or serrated blade, and when the wheat 
affords sufficient resistance, and stands erect, 
and the blade is sharp, it does cut admirably; 
but if the wheat is inclined or light, so that the 
reel cannot act on it, or the blade becomes dull, 
it passes over it, merely beating it to the ground. 
Again, it seems to me that no set of human 
muscles can withstand the labor longer than 
half an hour of walking as fast as horses, and 
at the same time raking out wheat by a lateral 
muscular operation. It, however, in this re- 
spect has some advantage of Hussey's, in 
placing the wheat at the side. Both machines 
need theimprovementofdischargingthe wheat, 
as even when riding the labor to the hand is 
considerable. I understand there is an im- 
provement in Hussey's by which the wheat is 
thrown at the side; but with too much addi- 
tional machinery and labor. I make these 
sus-sestions, hoping for a correction of the 
difficulty. 

Mr. Grigsby remarks, "I also appeal through 
you to Mr. Booth and the Executive Commit- 
tee, to give Mr. M'Cormick a chance," &c. 
and suggests James river as a proper arena 
for the opportunity. James river is a great 



place for good farms, good farming, good fel- 
lows, and, indeed, every thing that is good, 
(except Mr. Grigsby might add M'Cormick's 
reaper,) and I could not insist upon a change 
of venue, (two trials would not be too many,) 
but I can only say, that my residence is in 
Nottoway county, about thirty miles from Pe- 
tersburg, near the South Side Rail Road, con- 
necting with the Richmond and Danville Rail 
Road, and furnishing a rail road connection 
with both Richmond and Petersburg — all rail 
roads are liberal in such matters — I have suf- 
ficient surface prepared for the reaper in high 
land and low grounds to afford a full trial — I 
will furnish every facility in my power and "a 
good harvest dinner," or more, and I will be 
very glad to see Mr. M'Cormick, Mr. Grigsby, 
or any of their friends or others feeling an in- 
terest in such matters. Three members of the 
Executive Committee are convenient, and as 
steam annihilates distance the others can at- 
tend without difficulty. I think I can safely 
promise a good attendance of the Executive 
Committee and the Agricultural Club of Not- 
toway and others. I repeat, I shall be gratified 
to afford the "chance" desired and the "har- 
vest dinner;" and, moreover, I will be gratified 
if Mr. M'Cormick or any body else can show 
and operate a machine superior to Mr. Hus- 
sey's, for it is idle to suppose any farmer to be 
actuated by any other impulses or preposses- 
sions than those which favor the triumph of 
merit. 

Edwin G. Booth. 
Nottoway, Feb. 15, 1853. 



For the Southern Planter. 
GUANO AS A PERMANENT FERTILIZER. 

Mr. Editor, — At your request, and for the 
information of the large number of farmers 
yet inexperienced in the use of guano, I pro- 
ceed to give you some account of my own ex- 
perience with it, and opinion of its effect as a 
permanent fertilizer, in conjunction with clo- 
ver—and that this article may not cumber the 
pages of your valuable journal, shall condense 
it as much as possible. 

I commenced using the article in the year 
1847, and applied 3 tons procured in Boston, 
there being none nearer at that day. This was, 
I believe, the Schabo Island Guano. The next 
year I used ten tons of Saldana Bay Guano, 
and every year since have applied from ten to 
fifteen tons, having spread it over a surface of 
near four hundred acres of land — some in our 
forest, and the rest on the Rappahannock river. 
Until last fall I have always used plaster with 
it, in the proportion of one part of plaster to 
two of guano. Last fall I used it without 
plaster, and certainly if I am to judge by this 
one trial without plaster, I have gained no- 
thing by using it alone. 

It is right that I should show the only in- 



74 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



stance of failure on wheat in all this time, and 
will do so, as a former article of mine might 
lead some one into error. In May, 1851, I 
commenced fallowing Rappahannock river 
land for wheat, and sowed Peruvian Guano, 
200 lbs. per acre and 100 lbs. plaster before 
and as the land was fallowed. Before the 
time for a second ploughing of this land pre- 
paratory to seeding wheat, 1 had a prodigious 
growth of crab grass; and on all this land 1 
had a complete failure of the wheat crop: 
whether from the grass rendering the land too 
porous for wheat, or some other reason, I do 
not say; but there is now a fine stand of clo- 
ver, having a very strong and thrifty appear- 
ance, and the land itself many shades darker 
in color. 

In the winter of 1851, I ploughed up two 
fields guanoed and clovered in the years 1847 
and ; 48. All this land was previonsly very 
poor; part of it a mere desert. The growth 
of clover had been very good. One field, that 
guanoed in 1848 with 400 lbs. per acre, made 
over seven barrels of corn per acre — that gua- 
noed in the fall of '47 with 200 lbs. per acre, 
failed, in consequence of worms cutting off 
the corn, to make more than five barrels per 
acre. On both these fields, at the time of 
ploughing, I applied broad cast about 125 lbs. 
of Peruvian Guano per acre. It will be re- 
membered that the year 1851 was exceedingly 
dry, and all the month of July, the blades of 
corn were so wilted, that it was impossible 
the corn could make well. The crop was cer- 
tainly a good one for any high land in so se- 
vere a drought. 

In 1852 I ploughed a field for corn, guanoed 
in the year 1849 with 300 lbs. of African Gua- 
no (Saldana Bay) without applying any more 
guano. On this land, where formerly clover 
would not grow, I had a remarkably fine 
growth of clover. I sowed the seed in Sept. 
when the wheat and guano was seeded: and 
one month after the harvest of 1850 the clover 
was all over the field knee high to a tall man, 
and entirely hiding the land. It was the same 
or nearly so, in 1851, a very dry year. This 
field last year made over eight barrels of corn 
per acre — part of it, a large part, having a 
very imperfect stand of corn. This land be- 
fore it was guanoed in 1849, and clovered, was 
extremely poor, it would not have averaged 
over two barrels of corn per acre. 

I also planted last year a piece of land from 
which the pine growih had just been cleared, 
on which no manure of any kind was applied, 
except about 100 lbs. of guano per acre, spread 
broad cast before ploughing. Owing to cer- 
tain circumstances, I was unable to do more 
than half work the field, yet it made about six 
barrels of corn per acre. My conclusion then 
is, that guano is as permanent as any kind of 
manure: and when the small expense of the 
application of it to the land is considered, the 
cheapest manure with which I am acquainted. 

My opinion is, that for corn or any other 
crop, it should always be applied broad-cast, 



it being not only a direct fertilizer in itself, 
but alsoasolvent of otherwise insoluble vege- 
table remains in the soil, and this I conceive 
not its least valuable effect. 

I do not deem it necessary to say much 
about its effect on the wheat crop on very poor 
land. It has become nearly as necessary 
hereabout to farmers as bread to a hungry 
man. The effects are various; depending on 
quality of land, and the quantity and mode of 
application, perhaps. I have known as high 
as 30 bushels per acre to be made from very 
poor land. 

And in conclusion, I would strenuously ad- 
vise all farmers to sow clover wherever it is 
applied, and to use plaster either with the 
guano, or on the surface of the land. 

I am, very respectfully, 
H. Fairfax. 

Cameron, K. Geo,, Feb. 3, 1853. 



For the Southern Planter. 

THE SCIENCE AND PRACTICE OF 
AGRICULTURE, 

EXPLAINED BY WAY OF QUESTION AND ANSWER. 

Mr. Editor, — I send you the first lesson of 
the Science and Practice of Agriculture, explained 
by way of Question and Answer. Should you 
think this mode of conveying instruction will 
contribute to the usefulness of your columns, 
it will be continued; otherwise, you may com- 
mit it to the flames, and the writer will approve 
of your better judgment. 

An Original Subscriber. 

Question. "What are the fundamental prin- 
ciples of agriculture"? 

Answer. To keep the land dry, clean, and 
rich. 

Q. What is the first principle in order! 

A. To keep the land dry. 

Q. What are the benefits arising from 
draining'? 

A. It corrects the sourness, or acidity, 
which is so inimical, to the growth of the nu- 
tritive class of plants. It also removes the 
adhesiveness of wet soils, thus rendering them 
accessible to the atmospheric influences — it 
moreover increases their temperature. 

Q. If we plough or manure lands under 
such circumstances, do we derive the full ad- 
vantage of these operations 1 

A. Their benefits are obtained only to a 
very limited extent. 

Q. What is the most approved system of 
draining! 

A. The Deanston or furrow system, now 
being pursued in Scotland. 

Q. In what does this consist 1 ? 

A. "The field is thrown into ridges, of from 
sixteen to thirty feet broad, according to the 
tenacity of the soil in the direction of the slope, 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



75 



and nnderdrains are laid in every central fur- 
row, so deep, that when covered, the materials 
of the drain shall not be disturbed by the plough. 
A cross drain is laid upon the upper margin of 
the field , to catch the water coming from above, 
and another at the lower side, which should 
be six inches deeper than the furrow drains, 
to receive and convey off the water from them." 

Q. What may be observed in regard tq 
this*mode of drainingl 

A. "Although the agriculturist may not be 
able to reach, in every respect, the model pro- 
posed to him, it is yet important that the model 
be good in itself, so that his own practice may 
become as perfect as the circumstances in 
which he is placed will allow." 

Q. What is the second principle 1 ? 

A. Keeping the land clean. 

Q. Why is this process necessary 1 ? 

A. Weeds and noxious plants spring up 
spontaneously, and increase with exceeding 
rapidity. If, therefore, we allow the nutritive 
powers of the soil to be expended upon these, 
the cultivated plant must suffer in proportion. 

Q. May we expect that these natural pro- 
ductions of the soil will ever be finally ex- 
tirpated? 

A. "Cursed is the ground for thy sake. * * * 
Thorns, also, and thistles shall it bring forth 
to thee. * * * In the sweat of thy face shall 
thoaeat bread, till thou return unto the ground." 

Q. What is the third principle in order of 
good husbandry 1 ? 

A. Richness — almost universally attainable 
by manuring only. 

Q. How would you define manure 1 ? 

A. Any thing, whatever, may be called ma- 
nure which, when applied to the soil, either 
furnishes the proper food of plants, or is es- 
sential to their structure. 

Q. Why is manuring necessary 1 ? 

A. Plants derive their growth and nourish- 
ment from those elements with which a boun- 
tiful Providence has enriched the earth. This 
store has been confided to us in trust, and it is 
both our interest and duty thus to regard it. 
The farmer, therefore, who carries off the an- 
nual contributions from this fund, in the form 
of crops, and makes no return, may be likened 
unto the spendthrift, who wastefully expends 
both capital and interest. On the other hand, 
he who uses his best endeavors to make a 
compensating return for what he receives, is 
not only useful to his own generation, but is 
thus enabled to transmit his patrimony, unim- 
paired, to posterity. 

Q. If the operations of agriculturists were 
governed by the foregoing principles, what 
would be the result 1 ? 

A. Agriculture would be a means of wealth, 
independence and happiness, and the soil of a 
country progressively improved. 

ON THE NUTRITION OF PLANTS. 

Q. What are the influences through the 
agency of which the growth and nourishment 
of plants is maintained 1 ? 



A. The soil, the atmosphere, and solar light. 

Q. Of what does the soil consist 1 ? 

A. Of sand or silica, clay or alumina, lime, 
magnesia, oxyde of iron, potassa, and some one 
or two other substances, soda, and decomposed 
animal and vegetable matter, in variable pro- 
portions. 

Q. Of what is the atmosphere composed 1 ? 

A. The atmosphere is composed essentially 
of two gases, oxygen and nitrogen; it also 
contains aqueous vapor, and a small propor- 
tion of carbonic acid. 

Q. Is light simple and homogeneous, or a 
compound. 

A. Light, when resolved into its constitu- 
ent elements, was found by Sir Isaac Newton 
to be composed of seven different colored rays: 
violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange and 
red. 

Q. Are not these three influences equally 
deserving of our attention 1 ? 

A. Each is alike essential to the result, and 
hence must be alike entitled to our regard. 

Q. Which one of them has not received 
any thing like a proper share of attention 1 ? 

A. The influence of solar light. 

Q. How would you illustrate the importance 
of studying these several agents in connection 1 ? 

A. A house consists of a great number of 
parts; each of which' was included in the 
design of the architect, and is as much the 
product of his ingenuity and skill as the 
building itself. These parts were formed, 
and may exist, separately; but in this state, 
they answer no valuable purpose. It is only 
when brought together, and arranged in proper 
order, that they constitute a building. 

In like manner, science consists of a num- 
ber of particular facts. Whilst these remain 
isolated, the mind will be wearied with at- 
tempts at particular solutions. It is only by 
bringing the separate links together, and con- 
necting them, that we can complete the chain 
of cause and effect which binds the series into 
one harmonious whole. 

Aliquis. 



For the Southern Planter. 
THE CAUSE OF SMUT IN WHEAT. 

Mr. Editor, — I make a few extracts from a 
paper published in the Universal Magazine in 
London, in the year 1757, on the cause of smut 
in wheat, "and on several other useful parti- 
culars relating to that useful species of grain." 

"The smutty ears are perfect in the chests, 
and almost so in the fulness of the grain, even 
so far that the chests of many ears did strut; 
so that the smut must fall on the grain late, 
and when it is towards a fulness, for it cannot 
grow after it has taken smut. I could very 
rarely find a smutty ear, but all its tillows 
were so too; so that from thence I suppose the 
smut arises from the root, and not from any 



76 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



poison in the air, which would not distinguish 
between the tap root and the tillow. I also 
observed in the fibres of the roots of the smutty 
wheat a general brittleness, and the earth more 
starky and dry about them, and I perceived, 
for the most part, a stream or streak of a 
brown stain, the breadth of a pin, in the first 
joint above the root. So that I am apt to be- 
lieve that the smut arises from a total defect 
of sap at the root, and a blight from a partial 
one, when some of the fibres may still live; 
so the grain being feebly supported does only 
shrink or wither.'' 

"Some farmers were saying, that dunged 
land, as had been always observed, was more 
subject to smutty wheat than folded land. If 
so, the reason must be, because the dung hol- 
lowed the ground, and, therefore, the longer 
the dung, the greater the danger." 

"The original of brining and liming seed- 
wheat seems to be purely an English practice." 

"I had wheat brined and limed for sowing, 
but much rain coming, and the ground being 
wet, I could not sow it for a fortnight. At a 
fortnight's end I had several people with me 
about measuring harvest work; so asked their 
opinion, whether such wheat would grow or 
not; one said, he had known wheat that had 
not been brined and limed above a week, and 
a great deal of it did'not grow. Another, it 
depended on the high degree to which it was 
limed, if it was so highly limed that it shrunk 
and shriveled, it would not grow; but in case 
the kind looked plump and smooth, there was 
no danger. A third was of opinion, that there 
was great difference in the manner of brining 
it, for if the wheat had been steeped in brine, 
it would be much apter to burn by lying in 
lime, than it would have been only sprinkled 
with brine in the morning it was limed. Note, 
thi3 brined wheat was not sowed till Novem- 
ber the 7th, which was seven weeks after it 
was limed, and yet it grew and came up so 
thick, that it seemed to have received no pre- 
judice." 

" It was universally observed, that the wheat 
that was killed by the winter of 1708, was not 
killed by frosts, thougii they were very intense, 
but by the winds, which drove the frosty par- 
ticles in such a manner, as to penetrate into 
the roots of the corn; this may be supposed to 
be effected with their angles, which lanced the 
fibres and cut them to pieces, like as fire by 
its subtle corpuscles in its rapid motion may 
be supposed to penetrate and divide bodies. 
It was plain the wheat on our hills in Hamp- 
shire and our high grounds, was cannonaded; 
for the driven snow, as it was carried to the 
hedges by the wind, battered the wheat and 
cut off the blade, and the wounds it made 
opened portals, for the fierceness of the wea- 
ther to enter the roots. Wherever the wheat 
lay out of, or sheltered from the wind, in those 
places it was saved; but if the ridges and fur- 
rows lay parallel to the north, or north-easterly 
wind, then the wheat in the furrows was also 
destroyed; but wheat lying under the shelter 



of hedges was saved. From the sad experi- 
ence of this year, we may in our hill countries 
conclude it to be good husbandry to have a 
special regard, in the sowing of wheat lands 
thaf lie exposed to the north or easterly winds, 
to sow under furrow, or at least a cast over 
and a cast under, that thereby the wheat may 
lie the deeper, both from the penetrating power 
of the winds, and from their power of uncov- 
ering the earth and laying the roots of the, 
corn naked. Also, to leave our grounds a Utile 
rough and not harrow them loo fine, it being ob- 
served that the wheat saved itself much belter, when 
the knobby clods sheltered it. Also, to have a re- 
gard, when grounds lie bleakly exposed to 
those winds, not to cut down the hedges, 
which may be a fence to it, before February." 
The Magazine says, "The above exiracts 
are from Lisle's Husbandry," a work publish- 
ed about that time. 



For the Southern Planter. 

ROLLING CORN IN GUANO— PREVEN- 
TION OF SORE THROAT IN HOGS. 

Mr. Editor, — Owing to your oft repeated re- 
quest to subscribers to send you an account of 
any experiments they may make in the way of 
farming, and also having seen it often stated, 
that seed of any sort would be killed by com- 
ing into direct contact with guano while sprout- 
ing: I have concluded while sending my sub- 
scription to your paper, to give you an account 
of a small experiment I made last spring roll- 
ing corn in guano before planting. I soaked 
my corn until it was considerably swollen, 
and then put in two portions of guano and ofie 
of plaster, stirring the corn until it became 
perfectly coated with the mixture, and I as- 
sure you it came up finely, and I did not have 
to replant a single hill where the guano was 
used. It had a much better color, and got out 
of the way of the cut-worm much sooner than 
that where plaster alone was used. I think it 
quite a desideratum to have something that 
will give corn a good start and push it up out 
of the clods, and at so trifling an expense: a 
bushel of guano is enough to plant a large 
field used in that way. I have frequently no- 
ticed, that during a cold spring, corn is a long 
time taking a start, and sometimes is almost 
entirely destroyed by the cut-worm, so I would 
recommend all farmers to give my plan (for I 
shall always pursue it hereafter,) a trial, and 
if they are not benefited, it will not cost much. 
I cannot say whether it affected the yield of 
the crop but I think it did as much as could 
be expected from so small a portion. 

1 have frequently lost many hogs with 
swelled throat, the only name I know for a 
very troublesome disease, and some one told 
me that spirits of turpentine, given on a little 
corn two or three times a year, was a preven- 
tive. I have sinc« been in the habit of using 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



77 



it, and have never lost a hog with that disease, 
and believe it is entirely owing to the use of 
the turpentine, as I frequently lost them before. 
Yours, truly, 

John L. Brooke. 

Fauquier, Feb. 14, 1853. 



From the Ohio Cultivator. 

DRAINING AS A MEANS OF IMPROVING 
LANDS— AMMONIA IN RAIN WATER. 

We have long been convinced that no 
improvement would be found so beneficial 
on most of the clay lands of Ohio, as under- 
draining. But the expense of the work 
as compared with the value of the land 
haa hitherto been an insuperable objection 
to such improvements, in the minds of our 
fnrmers. The time has come, however, 
when the value of the land, and the ability 
of the ownera, render it both expedient and 
profitable, that under-draining should be 
practised on many farms, and we are con- 
vinced it will be done quite extensively as 
60on as our farmers understand the advan- 
tages 'and profitableness of the operation, 
and can procure the best material lor its 
performance. 

Every farmer understands the impor- 
tance of draining wet lands, so as to remove 
standing water from the surface, but very 
few have any just conception of the injury 
done to crops and the soil by an excess of 
moisture beneath the surface, or of the be- 
nefits which result from the filtration of 
rain water through clayey soils, where it 
is allowed to pass off into under-drains, or 
a porous subsoil. In speaking, therefore, 
of under-draining as a means of improve- 
ment, we have reference to lands not com- 
monly ranked as wet, but those of a level, 
clayey character, with compact subsoil, and 
forming a large portion of the best wheat 
lands in Ohio. Experience has abundantly 
6hown that thorough draining of such lands 
will pay a liberal return for the capital in- 
vested. 

Chemical science, and experiments in 
practical cultivation combine to prove the 
importance of ammonia as a promoter of 
vegetation. It ip this element which gives 
the principal value to guano and stable 
manure; (see article on ploughing in green 
crops, in the Ohio Cultivator, October 15, 
1S52;) and as rain water, as it falls from 
the clouds, contains a small portion of am- 
monia, the importance of securing this va- 
luable substance in the soil, instead of al- 



lowing it to run off the surface, is one of 
the strongest arguments in favor of under- 
draining and deep tillage. It is also an 
argument for which we are indebted to 
modern science, and one that has given a 
great impetus to these kinds of improve- 
ment in Great Britain. But there are many 
other ways in which draining is found to 
operate as an efficient means of improving 
lands; and here we cannot do better than 
to extract a few paragraphs from the vo- 
lume of C. W. Johnson, (of England,) on 
"Modern Agricultural Improvements:" 

It was an early and just observation of 
those great improvers of agriculture who 
followed in the train of Walter Blyth and 
of Jethro Tull, that the removal of land 
water is the foundation of all good farm- 
ing. It is true that the axiom is admitted 
pretty universally, that it is an operation 
now carried on with almost annually in- 
creased perfection and profit to the farmer, 
and it would perhaps be still more system- 
atically and advantageously extended if 
the occupier and the young cultivator more 
clearly understood the ill effects which 
land water produces, even at considerable 
depths, on the crops which grow over it. 

The question sometimes occurs to the 
young farmer, "What difference is there 
between rain water and that which was 
once rain water too, that in the land ? Why 
should we covet an abundant supply of the 
first, and be anxious for the removal of the • 
last? Is there any difference in their com- 
position?" This difficulty the chemists of 
our time have very readily answered. — 
They have shown, amongst other causes 
of difference in their value, that rain water 
contains ammonia, of which land water is 
commonly destitute. This presence of am- 
monia in rain water has been placed, as 
Liebig remarks, beyond all doubt; it may 
also be detected in snow water, and it is 
worthy of observation, that the ammonia 
obtained by the chemical philosopher from 
these sources possesses an offensive smell 
of perspiration and animal excrements, a 
fact which leaves no doubt respecting its 
origin. 

It is to the presence of ammonia, then, 
in such waters, that one source of this ef- 
fect may be attributed. It is true that the 
ammonia contained in rain water is in very 
minute proportions, and in spring water 
the proportion is probably still less; but 
then it must be remembered, what is not 
commonly very clearly understood, that 
the weight of water which annually falls 
upon the farmer's fields is very great. " If," 



78 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



remarks Liebig, (Organic Chem. p. 75,) 
"a pound of rain water contains only one- 
fourth of a grain of ammonia, then a field 
of 40, 000 square feet must receive annually 
upwards of 80 lbs. of ammonia or 65 lbs. 
of nitrogen (ammonia is composed of ni- 
trogen and hydrogen;) for, by the obser- 
vations of Schubler, (made in Germany,) 
about 700,000 lbs. of rain fall over this sur- 
face in four months, and consequently the 
annual fall must be 2500 lbs. This is much 
more nitrogen than is contained in the form 
of vegetable albumen and gluten, in 2650 
lbs. of wood, 2800 lbs. of hay, or 20 tons of 
beet-root, which are the yearly produce of 
such a field; but it is less than the straw, 
roots and grain of corn (wheat) which 
might grow on the same surface would 
contain." 

[In Ohio, and other central parts of the 
United States, the fall of rain is about 36 
inches per year — which is 1\ gallons, or 
75 pounds to the square foot — 1625 pounds 
to the square yard — 3932 tons to the acre. 
The average amount of rain in England 
is very nearly the same as in this country, 
but falls more frequently, in lighter show- 
ers. It is easy to see that although, as has 
been stated, the amount of ammonia in a 
pound of water is very small, yet the thou- 
sands of tons which fall in a year upon an 
acre of land may contain as much as any 
kind of growing crop demands. — Editor 
Ohio Cultivator.'] 

Of the use of this alkali to the farmer's 
crops there is no doubt, for as the same 
great chemist adds, "no conclusion can 
have a better foundation than this, that it 
is the ammonia of the atmosphere which 
furnishes nitrogen to plants." The way, 
too, in which ammonia is formed in the 
soil, by the decomposition of its organic 
matters, affords us one easily understood 
reason for the advantages derived by the, 
removal of its land water, a process which 
is thus clearly explained by Professor John- 
ston: "Ammonia is naturally formed during 
the decay of vegetable substances in the 
soil. This happens, either as in animal 
bodies, by the direct union of their nitrogen 
with a portion of the hydrogen of which 
they consist, or by the combination of a 
portion of their hydrogen with the nitrogen 
of the air; or when they decompose in con- 
tact with air and water at the same time, 
by their taking the oxygen of a quantity 
of the water, and disposing of its hydrogen 
at the moment .of liberation, to combine 
with the nitrogen of the air, and form am- 
monia. In the two latter modes, ammonia 



is formed most abundantly when the oxy- 
gen of the air does not gain the readiest 
access. Hence, in open subsoils, in which 
vegetable matter abounds, it is most likely 
to be produced; and thus one of the bene- 
fits which arise from thorough draining 
and subsoil ploughing is, that the roots 
penetrate and fill the subsoil with vegeta- 
ble matter, which, by its decay in the con- 
fined atmosphere of the subsoil, gives rise 
to this production of ammonia." 

It is evident, then, that if the surface or 
subsoil is already surcharged with stag- 
nant land water the entrance into it of the 
rain water, which is so beneficial to the 
crop by the presence of ammonia and at- 
mospheric gases, and also by, promoting 
the decomposition of the materialsof which 
the soil is composed, is entirely prevented; 
and, moreover, by this occupation of the 
soil by land water, another ill effect upon 
the soil is produced, its temperature is re- 
duced. "The presence of too much water 
in thesoil,"says Professor Johnston, "keeps 
it constantly cold. The heat of the sun's 
rays, which is intended by Nature to warm 
the land, is expended in evaporating the 
water from its surface; and thus the plants 
never experience that genial warmth about 
their roots which so much favors their rapid 
growth." 

An important effect is observable in all 
soils properly prepared to receive heat and 
water, and permit their descent, viz. that 
the transmissions of accessions of heat 
downwards continues during the afternoon 
of the day (in summers,) and throughout 
the night, whilst the superstrata (chiefly 
from seven inches upwards) are losing 
some amount of their heat by conduction 
upwards and radiation. Such is the in- 
fluence of good and deep drainage and 
ploughing upon the temperature of the 
soils thus improved. But the benefit doe3 
not terminate there; others follow from 
those operations, advantages which are 
thus well described by Professor Johnston: 
"Vegetable matter becomes of double va- 
lue in a soil thus dried and filled with at- 
mospheric air. When soaked in water, 
their vegetable matter either decomposes 
very slowly or produces acid compounds, 
more or less unwholesome to the plant, 
and even exerts injurious chemical re- 
actions upon the earthy and saline consti- 
tuents of the soil. In the presence of air, 
on the contrary, this vegetable compound 
decomposes rapidly, produces carbonic acid 
gas in large quantity, as well as other com- 
pounds on which the plant can live, and 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



79 



even renders the inorganic constituents of 
the soil more fitted to enter the roots, and 
thus to supply more rapidly what the se- 
veral parts of the plant require. 

It is to such labors as these that the far- 
mer's gratitude is justly due: their value 
can hardly be too highly rated, and in the 
result no mean harvest has been produced; 
for there is no branch of agriculture that 
has attracted more general and successful 
attention within the last few years than 
the improved drainage of the land. Sci- 
ence has here gone successfully hand in 
hand with practice, to a very useful and 
very profitable extent. "It was only in 
1835," says Mr. Pusey, "that we heard in 
England, that a manufacturer in Scotland, 
Mr. Smith of Deanston, had found the 
means of making all land, however wet 
and poor it might he, warm, sound and 
fertile, and that this change was brought 
about by two processes, thorough draining 
and subsoil ploughing. His rule of drain- 
ing was this, that we are not to endeavor 
merely to find out hidden springs, and to 
cut them through by a single drain, which 
in some of our books appeared to be re- 
garded as all that was necessary, but that 
as the whole surface of retentive soils is 
rendered wet, not by accidental springs, 
but by the rain, the whole surface of the 
field must be made thoroughly dry by the 
under-drains running throughout at equal 
distances. Any field," he said, "however 
wet, might be so dried, provided these 
under-drains were cut sufficiently near to 
each other." This was the principle of 
thorough or frequent draining asserted by 
Mr. Smith of Deanston, in 1S35; and this 
principle, which was then new and startling 
to the generality of farmers, may now be 
regarded as firmly established. 

As regards furrow draining on tenacious 
clay soils: the drainage of these soils has 
generally been done in shallow depths, un- 
der the prevailing common opinion that 
otherwise the water would not get into the 
drains. The contraction which the clay 
beds undergo when cut through by parallel 
drains has thus been entirely overlooked. 
Thi3 contraction, however, is most, impor- 
tant, so much so (as I have found by ex- 
perience) that drains dug from 30 to 40 
inches deep have operated to much greater 
advantage than those of shallower depth. 
The bed of clay contracts itself near the 
drains as deep as the drains are made; rind 
the deeper the bed of clay is contracted, 
the larger will be the fissures for the water 
to percolate through to the drains. In well 



drained land, the water does not enter the 
drain by the furrow, but percolates through 
the fissures (formed by contraction) from 
the ridge to the drains. 



GRUELS FOR IMPROVING CATTLE, &o. 

In the "Edinburgh Journal of Natural 
History," we find the following passage: 
"We are assured by Mr. Youatt, that in 
Auvergne fat soups are given to cattle, 
especially when sick or enfeebled, for the 
purpose of invigorating them. The same 
practice is observed in some parts of North 
America, where the country people mix, 
in winter, fat broth with the vegetables 
given to their cattle, in order to render 
them more capable of resisting the severity 
of the weather. These broths have been 
long considered efficacious by the veteri- 
nary practitioners of our own country in 
restoring horses which have been enfeebled 
through long illness. It is said by Peall 
to be a common practice in some parts of 
India to mix animal substances with the 
grain given to feeble horses, and to boil 
the mixture into a sort of paste, which soon 
brings them into a good condition, and re- 
stores their vigor. Pallas tells us that the 
Russian boors make use of the dried flesh 
of the Hamster reduced to powder, and 
mixed with oats; and that this occasions 
their horses to acquire a sudden and ex- 
traordinary degree of embonpoint. An- 
derson relates, in his 'History of Iceland,' 
that the inhabitants feed their horses with 
dried fishes when the cold is very intense, 
and that these animals are extremely vigo- 
rous, though small. We also know that 
in the Feroe Islands, the Orkneys, the 
Western Islands, and in Norway, where 
the climate is very cold, this practice is 
also adopted; and it is not uncommon in 
some very warm countries — as in the king- 
dom of Muskat, in Arabia Felix, near the 
Straits of Ormuz, one of the most fertile 
parts of Arabia, fish and other animal 
substances are there given to the horses 
in the cold season, as well as in times of 
scarcity." 



A NICE WAY TO DRESS A COLD FOWL. — Peel 

off all the skin, and pull the flesh off the hones 
in as larse pieces as you can, then dredge it 
with a little flour, and fry to a nice brown in 
butter; dress it up in rich gravy, well sea- 
soned, and thicken with a piece of butter rolled 
in (lour; just before you serve.it up, squeeze 
in the juice of a lemon.— Ex. 



80 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



Clover-sick Land. — A mixture of nitrate 
of soda, gypsum and salt, produced a deep 
green, dense mat of clover; when the part so 
dressed was thin, pale and hungry. The 
quantity having been only a few acres, it must 
be regarded as a guide to experiment, rather 
than an established remedy. A ton each of gyp- 
sum and fishery salt, and half a ton of nitrate 
of soda, well mixed, may be strewed, in damp 
weather, or light rain, over fifteen acres. 
Where fishery salt cannot be had reasonably, 
hide salt or any other foul with animal matter 
may be substituted. Clean salt I have not 
tried.— W. Prideaux. 




THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



RICHMOND, MARCH, 1853. 



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It will save time to us and lose none to them. 



SEVERAL MODES OF PLANTING, MA- 
NURING CULTIVATING AND KEEPING 
THE IRISH POTATO. 

A correspondent of January 25th asked in- 
formation about raising and keeping Irish po- 
tatoes, and also about the best mode of ma- 
naging a certain piece of land. Of the land, 
not having seen it, we cannot tell much, and 
perhaps could not do any thing for it if we 
had seen it. But as an editor, like a physician, 
must prescribe something in order to keep up 
his reputation, we would say, that it seems to 
us that the land, "a light, black soil, very pro- 
lific in grass, weeds and sheep sorrel, capable of 
bringing a good crop of corn, but incapable of 
producing wheat or oats, abounding in fibrous 
roots and other vegetable matter, which, even 
after ploughing, remains for months with little 
or no change," it seems, we say, that the land 
suffers primarily from surplus water, and su- 
perabundant vegetable matter, and secondarily 
and derivatively from acidity. If this be so, 
the remedy is very simple, and, in view of its 
advantages, very cheap. Let it be drained of its 
surplus water, and then apply lime copiously. 
In this particular case we should think quick- 
lime, and perhaps two or three successive 
doses, say, one a year, after every fallowing, 
would be the best form of application. But 
for the details of that business we would refer 
our correspondent to a book which if he has 
not now, we beg, for his own credit, that he 
will get as soon as he goes to Richmond — we 
mean the final edition of the Essay on Cal- 
careous Manures. 

"With respect to the potatoes, we present 
him two plans — that followed by Mr. Joseph 
Rennie, who is one of the most successful 
and approved practical market gardeners near 
Richmond; and another, which, in localities 
where it can be practised, is the best we have 
found out, after having tried several. It is 
simply to cover the ground thoroughly with 
straw or leaves, having first dropped the pota- 
toes. The communication of our own on this 
subject republished from the Planter of Feb- 
ruary, 1848, page 42, which will be found at 
the bottom of this article, will explain the 
process (and its rationale,) which we practised 
then, and have practised since, with uniform 
success, and which is well known and very 
common in our county wherever the materials 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



81 



to cover with can be had or spared. As dry 
as last season was and as unfavorable to the 
potato crop, the best potatoes, by long odds, 
that we saw, and equal to the best crop of any 
year, were grown upon straw covered land. 

The only failure we ever heard of attending 
this plan was our own in 1851. Having 
planted the potatoes, we waited until they 
came up and then applied a heavy coating of 
straw to them. The consequence was that 
the vines were wilted and killed, and it was 
so dry that the tubers never sprouted again, 
and we lost the whole crop — a proof, by the 
way, of the excessive drought of that year; 
for in an ordinary season the vines might 
have been killed several times and would have 
sprouted again, as is not unfrequenily the case 
with the early plantings when frosts nip them. 
The best plan for raising very early potatoes 
for family use is to rely upon volunteers. We 
have now for four years had them very early 
from the same piece of ground — a small plat 
in the garden — which has been regularly ma- 
nured and ploughed every fall or early winter, 
but not planted; for the small tubers left at 
the summer's digging continue to grow, and 
serve abundantly for seed. But the crop, though 
a very good one in point of quality, and ample 
for a family supply, is hardly enough for mar- 
keting. 

Another mode of getting early potatoes, re- 
commended to us by a lady friend of ours, 
who is the best kitchen gardener we know, is 
to plant late in the fall and cover with straw 
or leaves— leaves and other fall sweepings of 
a yard will answer. She told us that as long 
as she practised this plan she was sure to have 
a dish of potatoes on the first day of June, 
which is early for this country. 

This latter mode may answer for those gar- 
dens which do not admit of fall ploughing or 
spading. 

Spring Grange, near Richmond, ) 
February 7th, 1853. \ 
Mn Editor, — As yon desire mc to write out 
my practice in the cultivation of the Irish po- 
tato I will do so, and if you think it contains 
any thing that will be of use to others it is at 
your disposal. Bat the cultivation of the po- 
tato is *o general and so well understood, and 
so rnurh has been written on the subject, that 
you will find my practice of little use; still, if 
you can select from it any thing that may help 



the inexperienced, it will answer the purpose 
for which it is written. 

1. To Prepare Manure. — We have preferred 
stable manure with straw litter about half rot- 
ten, or guano, or both. Other manures, such 
as hog or cow, can be mixed with the stable, 
but no corn stalks. 

2. To Prepare the Seed Potatoes.— I have al- 
ways cut mine about a week or ten days before 
planting, which gives the wound time to heal, 
and also saves time, as they can be cut when 
other work of importance cannot be done. 
They ought to be spread out on a cellar floor 
after cutting, to dry, before being put in heaps. 
Some cut and then roll in plaster, which may 
answer if not cut beforehand, as above ad- 
vised. 

3. Preparing the Ground. — Much depends on 
working the soil when in proper order — that 
is when it pulverizes most freely. It ought to be 
ploughed at least six or eight inches deep and 
well harrowed; and if not broken fine then, it 
should be rolled or otherwise reduced to fine 
tilth. As to the time of planting so mur.h de- 
pends on the soil, climate, season, &c. that no 
particular time can be fixed. I have succeeded 
best by planting from the 10th to the 20th of 
March, for my main spring crop. They have 
come up stronger and more equal than when 
planted earlier, and are not so liable to be cut 
down by our late frosts. 

4. Method of Planting. — I will name but two, 
as they are the most simple, expeditious and 
successful of any that I have tried. The one 
is to spread the manure broadcast and plough 
it in, and the other is to spread in the rows 
and plant the potato on the manure. If the 
ground be mellow and somewhat rich and the 
manure not too long, should prefer to spread 
evenly over the ground and plough it well in. 
It is very important that the manure should 
be well broken and just sufficient to cover the 
ground. The sooner the potatoes are planted 
after the manure is spread and ploughed in, 
the better. The furrows can be drawn with 
the single plough about two and a half feet to 
two feet nine inches apart from row to row, 
and the seed can be covered with the plough. 
If manured in the row, it will require the fur- 
rows (o be a little deeper, and the potato to be 
planted on the manure about nine or twelve 
inches apart in the row. If manured with 
guano, draw the drills the same width, sow 
the fine guano along the drill, say about three 
hundred pounds to the acre, and run a coulter 
in the drill after sowing, and then with a fork 
or hoe break a little of the earth from the 
ridges in the bottom before planting the potato. 

5. After- Culture. — We work our potatoes only 
once, and that as soon as possible after they 
are fully up, say from four to six inches high. 
I have worked them in two ways: first, I have 
run a coulter close to the potatoes on each 
side, and then hoed the weeds from around 
them, completing the working by earthing 
them up with a small plough; and sometimes 
I have ploughed the earth from the potatoes, 



82 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



and thrown it back again, so as to loosen the 
earth around them. 

I ought to have stated that in covering the 
potatoes with the plough, if early, I leave them 
until all fear of frosts are over and then har- 
row down to ahout four inches of the potato; 
but if it is a late planting, and the ground is 
in good order, I run a light roller along the 
hills, which leaves them the right depth. 

For late planting any time in June suits us; 
and they might be planted a little fartherapart, 
say three feet and at least one foot to fifteen 
inches in the row. As the sun is very hot in 
June it is best to plant in the morning or even- 
ing, when the ground is cool. 

I have but little experience in keeping the 
potato of the spring crop, and do not know 
that they can be kept good. I think the best 
way for the fall crop is in pits^ither round 
or oblong, made like the roof of a house, say 
four feet wide and as long as is convenient; 
then cover with straw or hay, and upon that, 
earth ten or twelve inches thick. If a turf is 
put on the top so as to prevent the wet going 
down, the better. A little litter might be thrown 
over all in very bad weather. 

Josiph Rennie. 

another mode. 

Mr. Editor, — Your correspondent, "H." from 
Amherst, "would like to know, through the 
columns of the Planter, what has been the 
experience of some of our extensive potato 
raisers in Virginia," as to the effect of soil 
and mode of planting on the soundness of the 
Irish potato. Although not an "extensive po- 
tato raiser," I venture to give "H." my expe- 
rience in the premises, and am very sorry to 
say that it differs widely from his own. 

Selecting my seed of a productive and hardy 
variety, and of unsuspected soundness, I tried 
my fall crop in two modes: 

1. About two-thirds of an acre was cleared, 
grubbed, and coultered only once, merely to 
aid the grubbing; the rows, about two feet 
wide, were laid off as shallow as possible with 
a shovel plough; and the potatoes, cut and not 
plastered, were dropped about a foot apart; and 
the whole completely covered about six inches 
thick with leaves, having brush superposed to 
keep them in place. The land was not touched 
again until the potatoes were gathered. I had 
seen this plan ingeniously recommended as 
producing a degree of coolness and moisture 
which would amount to an artificial climate, 
such as the potato delights in, combined with 
a porousness, said to be best suited to its habits. 
The result, in point of product, fully justified 
my expectations. The potatoes were unusu- 
ally large and very abundant, the best crop, 
judging by the eye, [ ever saw; but they were 
badly injured by what I took to be rot. They 
were in all stages of a decay, which seemed 
to commence in a concentric ring of a light 
color, becoming darker as decay progressed. 
Others were much speckled with the white 



fungous growth, which, I am told, character- 
izes this singular disease. 

2, I planted about half an acre in a piece of 
new ground, partly the site of several tobacco 
plant beds a few years ago. This land was 
well ploughed, and kept in good tilth and 
in a very light, friable condition the summer 
through. The potatoes were planted as above, 
and yielded well, though nothing like the other, 
either in quality orsize of tuber; butthequan- 
tity of the crop was equally bad. The whole 
was gathered about the 10th of November. 

I have been informed that a gentleman in 
Charlottesville, who made an extraordinary 
crop after the first plan I have mentioned, lost 
the whole in about two weeks by rot. His 
were gathered before frost. 

Having heard that when diseased they would 
keep better out of the ground, I covered mine 
with straw in a tobacco house, and hope to 
preserve enough for seed and family use. The 
j defective ones I have, from time to time, picked 
I out and boiled for hogs, with no injurious effect 
that I could perceive. 

The soil was in both instances the warm, 
dark colored, gravelly clay loam of a mountain 
hollow, well exposed to the sun. 

Frank: G. Ruffin. 

Shadwell, Allemarle, Jan. 13, 1848. 



POWHATAN AGRICULTURAL CLUB. 

The annexed proceedings of the Powhatan 
Agricultural Club are of a character to com- 
mend them to the favor of all who sympathize 
in their belief in "the importance to the agri- 
cultural interest, of building up a State Agri- 
cultural Society." They have shown their 
faith by their works, in transmitting to the 
Treasurer the amount necessary to constitute 
nine of their number members of the State 
Society— the other three having previously 
become members. The appeal they address 
to other similar Clubs it is hoped will meet 
with a responsive action corresponding to the 
bright and encouraging example it is now our 
privilege to commend to their emulation, and 
that the fruit may speedily appear in a large 
accession to the list of members, and in the 
presence, at the general meeting of the State 
Society to be held on the 10th of March next, of 
a numerous delegation from such associations : 

At a meeting of the Powhatan Agricultural 
Club, held on the 7th of February, 1853, it was 
unanimously 

Resolved, That the members of this Club, 
deeply impressed with the importance to the 
agricultural interest of building up a State 
Agricultural Society, will forthwith and indi- 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



83 



vidually become members of the Stale Society, 
and pledge themselves to use their individual 
efforts to procure members for the same. 

Resolved, That the Secretary of this Club be 
instructed to correspond with other similar 
Clubs — inform them of the action of this Club, 
and appeal to them to unite with us in efforts 
to procure members to the State Agricultural 
Society. 

Resolved, That, for the purpose of concerting 
some general system for the agricultural im- 
provement of the State, the Clubs throughout 
the State be requested to send one or more 
delegates to the State Society, at its meeling 
to be held in the city of Richmond on the 10th 
day of March next. 

Philip St. George Cocke, 
President Powhatan Agricultural Club, 



We invite the attention of our readers to 
the advertisement of sale of Devon cattle, by 
W. P. & C. S. Wainwright, at, Rhinebeck, 
Duchess County, New York. 



OSAGE ORANGE. 

This being the season for planting hedges 
of this most valuable live fence, we again call 
attention to it. Plants may be obtained of 
Gen. William H. Richardson, at Richmond, 
whose advertisement will be found iu the 
Planter. 

mode of planting. 

''Dig a trench wide and deep enough to re- 
ceive the plants, in single or double row, as 
the case may be, throwing away the subsoil, 
if poor, and filling in with surface earth of 
good quality, mixed with a little well rotted 
manure, unless the soil be rich. The distance 
and mode of setting the plants is 6 to 7 inches 
apart, in a single line. But where a very close 
hedge is required, as around a garden or or- 
chard, it is best to set the plants in two rows, 
one foot apart, and the plants one foot apart 
in each row, than in one row opposite the va- 
cancies in the other— thus: 



For the exterior fencing of a farm the single 
row is believed to be quite sufficient. 

Before setting the plants, cutoff all the tops 
to within an inch of the surface, or ground 
mark, (indicated by the yellow color of the 
roots.) Set the plants by line, one hand hold- 
ing them while another fillsjjp the trench with 
finely pulverized earth. Or the plants may be 
set and then cut off even with the surface. 
When set, the earth should be just level with 
(be 'ops when cut off. 

Keep the plants clear of weeds during the 
first summer, and in the fall it is a good plan 



to apply a dressing of half rotted chip or wood- 
pile manure, two or three inches deep along 
the line of plants." — {Extract from Ohio Culti- 
vator.') 

The hedge may be planted any time during 
this or the next month, but the sooner the 
better. 



SALE OF GOOD STOCK. 

Elsewhere will be found an advertisement 
of the sale of Mr. John Wilkinson at Mount 
Airy. Of his cows we know nothing, though 
we have no doubt, from his profession and 
locality, that they are good; and we under- 
stand that they have been selected according 
to the Guenon marks, which we believe in. 
But we have seen a specimen of his hogs at 
the residence of our estimable and public spi- 
rited friend, Ro. L. Wright, Esq. near Wheat- 
land, Loudoun county. He gave sixty-five 
dollars for a sow which took the first prize at 
the Baltimore Fair in 1851, and high figures, 
though we forget them, for one or two others. 
The animals and their progeny we thought 
the finest we had ever seen. They are of the 
famous Duchess County breed. 

Mr. Wilkinson informs us that the pigs and 
prizes of one of these sows, "Old Pink," now 
six years old, have amounted in the past five 
years to $1340. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE HOLE AND 
CORNER CLUB OF ALBEMARLE. 

We are occasionally written to for copies 
of the Constitution of our Club by subscribers 
who wish to form similar associations. To 
save the trouble of copying and to give the 
desired information in a more agreeable form 
we publish it below. We do not give it as a 
model, for likely enough it may be improved 
upon, but only as a specimen by which others 
may be guided. 

PREAMBLE. 

Among the causes which seem now to retard, 
in this section of the country, the improvement 
of agriculture, both as a science and as a 
source of profit, and which tend to render 
farming an irksome, instead of a pleasant oc- 
cupation, we note the following as chief: 

1. Careless and inaccurate experiments, of 



81 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



which the results are either altogether unsatis- 
factory, or lead to erroneous opinions; 

2. A slovenly and incomplete execution 
of farming operations, whereby fields, half 
ploughed and crops half tilled, fail to realize 
our expectations; 

3. Insufficient and inimethodical attention 
to beasts of the plough and stock of all kinds; 

4. A want of careful attention and accurate 
observation whereby wrong and hasty opinions 
are often formed ; 

5. The absence of combined exertion to im- 
prove our profession; 

6. The want of a sufficiently free and social 
interchange of individual views and experience 
among farmers; / 

Wishing to remove these and all other ob- 
stacles to the improvement of our profession 
as far as we can, we have determined to asso- 
ciate ourselves into a neighborhood club, for 
the purpose of testing the theoretic branches 
of husbandry by more thorough and accurate 
experiments and observations, with a view o/ 
exciting a desire for, and determination to 
have, better preparation, tillage and general 
culture, by frequent neighborly visits and in- 
spections of the condition of each others' 
farms; and with the hope, by a free and unre- 
strained exchange of our different views and 
opinions, of eliciting the truth, deriving mu- 
tual knowledge and improvement, and pro- 
moting sociaffeeling and happiness. And as 
it seems meet and necessary when men unite 
for the attainment of a common object, that 
they adopt organic rules for the direction and 
government of their combined efforts, we do 
adopt the following as the basis of our organi- 
zation: 

CONSTITUTION. 

Article 1. We will call our association "The 
Albemarle Hole and Corner Club, No. 1." 

Art. 2. The officers of the Club shall consist 
of a President, Vice President, Recording Se- 
cretary, Corresponding Secretary, and Trea- 
surer. 

Art. 3. It shall be the duty of the President, 
and in his absence of the Vice President, to 
preside at all the meetings of the Club, to pre- 
serve order, to appoint all committees, and to 
call meetings of the Club whenever he may 
deem its interests require it. 

Art. 4. The duty of the Recording Secretary 
shall be to keep a full and regular record in a 
bound book of the proceedings of the Club, 
subject to the inspection of any member of 
the Club, and he shall, at every meeting, read 
the minutes of the preceding meeting, with a 
view to the correction of the same and for the 
information of members. 

Art. 5. It shall be the duty of the Corre- 
sponding Secretary to conduct all the corre- 
spondence of the Club, and to prepare for pub- 
lication all parts of proceedings, reports of 
committees, &c. which the Club may order to 
be published. And he shall lay his corre- 
spondence before the Club when required to 
do so. 



Art. 6. It shall be the duty of the Treasurer 
to receive and keep all the funds of the Club, 
to pay all the expenses which shall be ordered 
by it, and to keep a separate account, and 
make a report and exhibit of the same at the 
end of his term of office. 

Art. 7. The officers of the Club shall con- 
tinue in office one year from the date of their 
election, or until others are elected in their 
places. All elections shall be viva voce. 

Art. 8. The Club shall consist of not more 
than twelve members, each the proprietor of a 
farm, and in case there shall be more than one 
person interested in the cultivation of a farm, 
he shall also be a member; and no farm situ- 
ated more than twelve miles from the forks of 
the Rivanna river shall be embraced in the 
limits of the Club. 

Art. 9. The Club may elect honorary mem- 
bers of the most distinguished agriculturists 
or scientific men of the vicinity, whose privi- 
lege it shall be to attend any of the meetings 
of the Club, assist in its deliberations and in- 
terchange with its members views and opi- 
nions on all subjects connected with the great 
interests of agriculture. 

Art. 10. Membership shall be constituted by 
subscription to the rules of the Club— and may 
be dissolved by voluntary withdrawal, or by 
failing to attend three successive meetings, 
unless excused by sickness or absence from 
the neighborhood. 

Art. 11. New members and honorary mem- 
bers shall be elected only by unanimous vote; 
but all other questions shall be decided by a 
majority, except so far as may affect the rules 
by which the Club is organized, to alter or 
amend which, a vote of two-thirds of the mem- 
bers shall be required. 

Art. 12. The Club shall meet on Saturday 
on one of the Club farms, in regular succes- 
sion, once in every three weeks, beginning on 
the second Saturday in March and ending on 
some Saturday in November, (except that one 
meeting shall be held in January,*) and every 
meeting shall designate the farm on which the 
next meeting shall be held. 

Art. 13. The Club shall meet on the day and 
farm appointed at ten o'clock, A. M. and pro- 
ceed to examine into and inspect all the opera- 
tions in execution at the time, the condition of 
the farm, stock, horses, &c. the general mode 
of culture, rotation of crops, the subject of 
manures, and all other branches of husbandry, 
making such inquiries as may occur to them, 
and suggesting such improvements as they 
may think proper. 

Art. 14. The Club shall dine with the owner 
of the farm on which the meeting is held, and 
after dinner they shall discuss in an orderly 
and temperate manner, by conversation, and 
not by speeches, such agricultural subjects as 
may have been selected for discussion or as 

* Since abolished. 'Now no January meeting, 
and meetings appointed by lot at beginning of the 
year. 



THE [SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



85 



shall occur to ihem if none hare been selected 
No sabject shall be introduced into the con- 
versations of the Club, unless it be of kin to 
agriculture, and politics shall be especially 
excluded. 

Art. 15. If the day appointed for the meeting 
of the Club be such as to prevent it, the meet- 
ing shall be held on the farm appointed, on the 
Saturday next succeeding. 

Art. 16. At each meeting a subject shall be 
selected for discussion at the next meeting; 
and when the discussion shall have been 
finished any two members may call for a de- 
cision of it by a vote of the Club; in which 
case each member shall concisely give his 
opinions and the reasons therefor, in the order 
called on by the President; an abstract of 
■which shall be recorded by the Secretary. 

Art. 1 7. Any subject selected for experiment 
by the Club shall be tested by a committee of 
three members, who shall make it in a fair 
and impartial manner, and shall report sepa- 
rately all the facts and circumstances which 
may attend it. Any member may suggest a 
sabject for experiment, and as often as the 
Club may deem it expedient a committee of 
three shall be appointed to suggest experi- 
ments. This being the most important object 
of the Club, it shall be imperative on the mem- 
bers appointed to make an experiment, to do 
so with care and attention, and to embrace in 
their reports all the circumstances and impor- 
tant features of the experiment, and all such 
facts developed in its progress as may conduce 
to accurate conclusions. 
A copy: Teste, F. E. G. Carr, R. S. 



Having written to Mr. Wilkinson for his 
views on the preservation and application of 
yard manures, he, being very busy in making 
his arrangements to give up his school, de- 
volved the task on G. T. Hammond, one of his 
pupils, a young gentleman of 16, who has, as 
will be seen by the reader, executed it in quite 
a creditable manner. 

For the Southern Planter. 

THE PRESERVATION AND APPLICA- 
TION OF YARD MANURES. 

Mr. Editor,— Prof. Wilkinson, my worthy 
preceptor, has just handed me your letter, in 
which you desire his "views on the preserva- 
tion and application of Yard manures," which 
he says, on account of his onerous and mani- 
fold duties, he cannot possibly attend to at 
present, and has therefore, much to my sur- 
prise, bade me respond to it as best I can. 

I have, after some hesitation, consented to 
attempt to embody in the following, such ideas , 
on this important subject as I have gathered 
from the lectures and writings of my esteemed i 



tutor, and from such authors as he has recom- 
mended to me, in connection with my expe- 
rience derived from a farm practice of only 
one short year. 

The prevailing practice throughout the 
country in the North is to allow all the ma- 
nure to lie exposed to the rain and sun, with 
running streams in the lowest part of the en- 
closure—three most efficient mediums of dis- 
sipating its most valuable ingredients — and 
from what I have heard on the system prac- 
tised in the South, it is no better there — in 
fact I am induced to think that it is, if possi- 
ble, worse. 

I have heard Prof. W. say, repeatedly, that 
he was satisfied that the beneficial effects of 
Yard manure made from the haulm of the 
cereal crops, the excrement of the domestic 
animals of the farm, etc. was not one-tenth of 
what it would be if properly preserved and 
applied. 

Now the question arises, what would be the 
most judicious mode of preservation and ap- 
plication 1 This would of course, like most 
other practical operations of the farm, be con- 
troled or modified by a variety of local cir- 
cumstances — such as the pecuniary ability of 
the farmer, the fertility of the soil, the price 
of products, labor, &c. the character of the 
climate, and perhaps others that I am not ac- 
quainted with. 

Taking each in order I would consider the 
farmer burdened with debt to the degree that 
he could scarcely meet the annual interest on 
his bonds, and the bills for the absolute neces- 
sities of his family, quite excusable for some 
degree of neglect in this most important 
branch of husbandry; though perhaps, even 
under such pecuniary embarrassment some 
would say there was no means by which he 
could sooner extricate himself; but 1 know 
full well, to say the least of it, "that his row 
is a hard one." 

In the case of a soil naturally such as to 
produce full crops without the return of their 
waste or offal, we can excuse what might 
justly, under other circumstances, be consi- 
dered a wilful waste. But such cases are 
only found in rich alluvial districts, the prai- 
ries, and the like — they are certainly very 
rare in the old states, where the high price of 
land, heavy taxes, and generally worn out 
fields, have become proverbial. It is in these 
that the necessity of renovation calls impera- 
tively on the farmer to husband every means; 
but, alas! how little is the call heeded — how 
sluggard like do farmers generally plod on. 

But I am proud to say, that there are a few 
honorable and very creditable exceptions — 
among whom I know of no one who has so 
effectually applied the deductions of scientific 
investigations as my preceptor, not only in hus- 
banding and applying the materials of fertili- 
zation, but in almost every branch of farming. 
He tells us that cattle, or live stock, can be 
kept most economically in stables or sheds — 
that even sheep, of which he has kept large 



86 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



flocks, do much best in yards with shelter from 
storms, and where they cannot graze any dur- 
ing the foddering season — that all such sheds 
and stables should always be kept well littered 
with the haulm of the crops, and in the ab- 
sence of a sufficiency of this material, that 
leaves, sea weed, saw dust, dried peat, and 
even spent tan bark may all be used with ad- 
vantage as absorbents of the liquid, the most 
valuable portion of animal excrement — that 
manure thus made should never be exposed 
to the dissipating influences of the sun and 
rain, that manure vaults directly under the 
animals are most economical and efficient; 
that fine, dry charcoal and small quantities of 
ground gypsum should be frequently applied 
to the housed manure heaps, and lhat all fer- 
mentation and decomposition in manure be- 
fore it is incorporated with the soil should be 
avoided as much as possible, as it is always 
attended with waste, which is effectually pre- 
vented when the decomposition takes place in 
the soil, as the volatile particles are absorbed 
by the soil and retained therein until appro- 
priated by the growing crop. 

He contends that by applying all the yard 
manure to the soil in a long or decomposed 
state, and turning it in with the first tillage for 
a rotation of crops, the decomposition of the 
manure is such as to supply from time to time 
the amount of nourishment needed in the dif- 
ferent stages of the successive crops to be pro- 
duced, more in accordance with the wants of 
the crops than can be effected by any other 
system, and also that the waste or dissipation 
of that invaluable substance that defies sci- 
ence to confine it, and yet allow its free gene- 
ration by exposed decomposition, is in no way 
so effectually prevented. 

What is more he practises what he preaches, 
and the results are, crops that surprise all who 
see them growing, and disappoint all his com- 
petitors at the agricultural fairs. 

There are, however, circumstances when 
barn yard manure preserved and applied as 
above recommended, without other than ordi- 
nary manipulation in preparing it, would be 
unfit for the crops: e. g. in the culture of roots 
every year on the same land — (carrots, beets, 
parsnips, and the like,) when the land is na- 
turally rather dry, the long, undecomposed 
manure could not be supplied in sufficient 
quantities to be sufficient for the crops without 
producing injurious mechanical effects, that 
is, by increasing the porosity of the soil and 
exposing it to the destructive effects of drought 
— this we avoid by chopping all, or the greater 
part of the stalks and straw used for litter, as 
well as for feeding; which admits of spreading 
it more suently, and incorporating it more 
thoroughly with the soil, hence avoiding the 
difficulty above alluded to. 

Many of your readers may say that it would 
be entirely too expensive to prepare stalks and 
straw for litter by cutting — but it is not so 
much so as one might imagine. 

We cut at the rate of 80 bushels per hour 



with one horse power, hence, you perceive the 
stalks and straw of a large crop is reduced to 
the fine state in a few days. 

It is more convenient for litter, and full two 
thirds of the labor of forking the manure into 
the carts and spreading it on to the fields is 
saved by having it short; besides the great 
advantage arising from having it spread uni- 
formly. 

Prof. W. also tells us, that it is important 
to have the manure of all the domestic ani- 
mals mingled; that the deficit in one is suppli- 
ed by another; that the tendency to rapid fer- 
mentation in that from the horse stable is mo- 
dified by that from the cows, and that from the 
stye and henery is rendered safer for applying 
in contact with the seed, the germ of which is 
often destroyed by the burning caustic charac- 
ter of these manures. He has recently plan- 
ed a suite of farm buildings for a gentleman 
in Massachusetts who has a farm of nearly 
300 acres, and in this plan he has provided 
for all this, by arranging the stables, styes and 
henery all on one floor, over a large manure 
cellar, into which the manure falls through 
trap doors. 

The dimensions of this barn are 200 ft. long, 
40 ft. wide, and 46 ft. high, from the road or 
drive way in the manure cellar to the peak — 
it is to be three stories high, with a cart-way 
the whole length of every floor. It is to stand 
on a fish pond dam 24 ft. highland there is 
to be a 24 ft. diameter water wheel in the cel- 
lar for grinding feed, threshing, cider making, 
wood sawing, &c. 

There are to be stables for 50 head of cattle, 
6 horses, 50 to 100 swine, 300 sheep, and 500 
dunghill fowls. 

I should like very much to see a plate and 
description of these buildings in your paper, 
and I am confident that your readers would 
derive much valuable information on the sub- 
ject of farm buildings, also, on the preserva- 
tion of manure, and the most economical food 
for and mode of keeping stock. I am aware 
that farm buildings like the above described, 
which will cost, with appurtenances, about 
$7000, are much beyond the means of the 
common farmer; but it does not follow, that 
none of its arrangements can be modified to 
meet the necessities of the mass, which I be- 
lieve they may be, and that too to infinite ad- 
vantage. 

In your State and further South, a mere 
covered enclosure for the provender, live stock 
and manure, I believe, is all that is necessary. 
This may be effected with comparatively little 
expense, and I am of opinion that Prof. W's. 
plan for preserving yard manure, in the essay 
accompanying his " premium plan of Barns," 
published in the American Farmer, is the be.vt 
adapted for general use in the South of any 
other. 

It is to have in the yard where the cattle are 
kept, or near the stable, (which would be much 
preferable), a shed for the manure, made by 
setting two rows of round posts in the ground, 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



87 



laying upon these, plates, on which to rest the 
feet of the rafters, the tops of which are mitred 
together and nailed both ways, on these he re- 
commends to put a roof of straw thatch. It 
is not to be enclosed on any side; this admits 
of moving the manure from the shed without 
inconvenience. 

He says that the excrement, litter from the 
stables, and all refuse vegetable matter not 
needed for feeding or litter should be deposited 
nader this shed, in which it will be protected 
from waste, and. the weight to be carted out 
will be from 70 to 90 per cent, less in the form 
of rain water than would be the case if expos- 
ed as is usual. 

I remain your ob't serv't, 

George Tillinghast Hammond. 
Mount Aiiv Institute, near Germantown, Pa. 

Feb. 1st, 1853. 



POTATO ROT. 



Some time last year we saw it stated in 
"The Plough, Loom and Anvil," that this de- 
structive disease might be avoided by covering 
the land and seed with leaves or straw. At 
the time we sought but could not find an article 
embodying our own adverse experience in 
1847. Having since found it and decided to 
publish it for another purpose in this number, 
we call the attention of northern papers to the 
facts it presents. 



For the Southern Planter. 

ONE IDEA ON SEED CORN. 

Mr. Editor,— Observation, satisfactory to 
myself, leads me to the belief that the prolific 
quality of corn depends in a very great mea- 
sure upon the thickness of the crop from which 
the seed is taken. All farmers know if corn 
be planted close the number and size of the 
ears are lessened ; while if greater distance be 
given, the plant bears large, and in many cases 
double ears. My idea is, if corn be crowded 
for a succession of years, it will, if I may so 
express myself, acquire the luibit, of producing 
bgktly, which property it will not lose for se- 
1 veral years, even under a different cultivation. 
Take seed from a crop which has been thus 
crowded and plant at any distance you please 
and you will have some stalks without ears, 
and many with but one small one. I have 
found the most prolific double-eared corn, after 
several years close planting, lose its prolific 
character and yield but one ear to the stalk. 
I think, therefore, every farmer should plant 
a portion of his crop thin expressly for seed, 
and from this select the larger of the double 
ears for planting. Seed, thus selected, may 



be planted much closer than that commonly 
used. 

I hope, Mr. Editor, some of your corn plant- 
ing readers will test the truth of this theory, 
and report their experiments to the Planter. 
My own opinion is, that it is strictly true, and 
by acting upon it any of us "can make two 
ears of corn to grow where but one grew 
before." 

Very truly yours, 

R. W. N. Noland. 

Albemarle county, Va. *■ 

We had noticed the deficient fruitfulness of 
thick planted corn that our correspondent 
speaks of, but had never the wit to suggest 
a remedy. We hope our friends will try the 
thing for themselves. It can be tried in a 
pumpkin patch without loss or trouble; and 
the land appropriated to pumpkins can be 
made to grow the seed corn. — Ed. So. Pl. 



Agency for the Purchase of Stock. — See 
the advertisement of Mr. Goldsborough. We 
have no acquaintance with him ourselves, but 
his list of referees includes some gentlemen of 
high character. We mean to give him a trial. 



PEACH TREES 



"Peach trees should be carefully exa- 
mined about the roots at this time, and a 
sharp knife used to clear away all gum, 
grubs and dead bark. Wash with soft 
6oap and soot, and draw the earth up 
around the tree in a small hillock." 

The above is from one of our exchanges, 
the Ohio Farmer. 

We object to using n sharp knife about 
the roots of the peach tree. Knives do 
more hurt than good. Place something 
around the tree to exclude the borer and 
you save it; but cutting and hacking the 
bark of the tree to find the borer is worse 
than scratching after a flea bite. 

Peach trees will not bear wounds on the 
limbs. Small twigs may be cut, such as 
will heal in one summer — but larger 
wounds should never be made. 

Wood ashes placed around the trunks 
in May, annually, will keep the borers 
away. It is said that herbs of various 
kinds, offensive to the fly that deposits the 
borer, will answer the same purpose. — 
Tanzy is said to be effectual when placed 
about the trunks. We recommend pre- 
ventives in preference to cures. — Massa- 
chusetts Ploughman. 



88 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



From the New England Farmer. 
MR. FRENCH'S ADDRESS. 

We have been favored with a perusal, 
in manuscript, of an address delivered by 
our Associate Editor, Mr. French, before 
the York County Agricultural Society, at 
Saco, Maine, in October last. 

Under his description of "the peculiar 
position which Woman occupies in New 
England Society," we make an extract, 
and under that of "Washing Day," an- 
other, being all we can find room for at 
present. We have no hesitation in saying 
that the address is one of the three best 
we have ever seen. v When the reader has 
perused the extracts below, he will be glad 
to see more of it. 

Look, for a moment, at the condition of 
a majority of the wives of respectable far- 
mers, aye, and of men of all other classes 
in your own county. What are the duties, 
which, by general consent, devolve upon 
them? 

What do you, sir, and you, expect of the 
lady who presides over your household? 
Did you ever consider for a moment, how 
many and various and constant are her 
cares and trials? 

You are, perhaps, an amateur farmer; 
you have, like a true and thriving Yankee, 
built a large and elegant house — not so 
much because you need it, as because your 
neighbors live in fine houses. And, be- 
sides, you are a growing man in the world, 
and have been representative to the Legis- 
lature, and are liable to go to Congress, 
or be President of the United States. 
There is no knowing what may not befall 
you, and it is well to keep up appearances 
in the world, and be ready for any honors 
that may be thrust upon you. 

You have a large family of children, 
and they are all to be educated, and of 
course have no time to work. Your boys 
must be fitted for college, and your girls 
must be taught music, and French, and 
drawing, besides the common branches of 
learning. Your wife is expected to see 
that your elegant house and furniture are 
kept in order — that the children are kept 
neat and orderly, at all times. You have 
a fancy for Devon and Ayrshire and Short- 
horn cows, and perhaps exhibit them at 
the Annual Fair, and your wife must take 
interest enough in your affairs to look well 
to the dairy. 

You have a great propensity to clear up 
swamps, and build stone walls, and improve 
your farm, and your kitchen is filled with 



hired men, and nobody but your wife knows 
what to get for breakfast, dinner or supper 
for them or the family. 

Then you are a generous, hospitable 
sort of fellow, and often invite your friends 
from other towns, whom you happen to 
meet, home to dine, and your wife is relied 
on, to do the thing up handsomely, for the 
credit of the establishment; and, although 
the three youngest children have just had 
the whooping-cough, and have kept her 
awake half the nights for the last month, 
the amiable lady is expected to appear at 
the table, dressed like the wife of a gen- 
tleman, as bland as a moonbeam, and play 
the agreeable to your guests, with the 
same matronly grace, as if she had passed 
the whole morning over her books and 
music. 

You expect to see your breakfast upon 
the table punctually at the hour, and the 
children washed and neatly dressed in their 
places, at the table. You expect to see 
the table handsomely laid, and the food 
properly cooked and served up. You ex- 
pect the good lady to be ready and at lei- 
sure, at all times, morning and evening, 
to receive calls of friendship or ceremony, 
and especially those of your own friends. 

You expect to find your wardrobe always 
in perfect order, with no button or loop or 
string missing. If a child is ill, there is 
nobody but the mother to watch over it by 
night or by day, and the depressing, never- 
ceasing solicitude, and exhausting offices 
due from a mother to her infant, can be 
delegated to no other. 

In short, sir, you expect your wife to be 
at the same time cook and chambermaid, 
lady and serving girl, nurse and sempstress 
and governess, laundress and dairymaid. 

At length, you see, with a sad heart, that 
her eye is losing its lustre — that her form 
is becoming daily more frail — that the elas- 
ticity of her spirits is gone, and at last the 
thought, the sickening, crushing thought, 
is forced upon you, that she, whose youth- 
ful image, radiant with health and happi- 
ness, has never passed from your heart — 
she, who alone has remained to you true 
and constant, through sickness and health, 
in trials and prosperity — she, the mother 
of your children, who has so long been 
about you and your pleasant household, 
like a good angel, doing all kind offices for 
you and your loved ones — she who is more 
to you than all the world beside — may die. 

And now, perhaps, an effort is made to 
relieve her, and changes are effected in 
the household arrangements— and house- 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



89 



keepers and servants are procured; the 
daughters are called on to aid in the do- 
mestic affairs, and the grand schemes of 
improvement are suspended and no com- 
pany is invited. But it is all in vain. The 
hectic flush is on her cheek, and sorrow 
and fearful forebodings sadden every heart. 

For a time, almost like a pure spirit from 
the realms of bliss, she glides about from 
room to room, still watchful for the comfort 
of others, and forgetful of self. • 

But, I will n^t attempt to fill up the pic- 
ture, and trace the sure decay of strength 
and beauty and life by slow consumption. 
At length' '• there is rest in Heaven." 

Have I exaggerated the trials of a New 
England wife? I wish it were true that 
no one of us could call to mind an original 
from which my picture might have been 
drawn! I wish it were true that no one 
of us were conscious of past thoughtless- 
ness, or unreasonable exactions, by which 
an undue portion of life's burdens have 
been cast upon the sex least able to bear 
them. 
******** 

Washing day is a day in the calendar 
to be remembered — a day when woman 
reigns supreme — rains in more senses than 
one — a day which furnishes an excuse for 
cold coffee, and a picked up dinner — a day 
when every woman claims a's part of her 
prerogative, to wear her hair in papers 
and scold, and even "kick the wee stools 
o'er the mickle," if she feels in the humor — 
a day when the goodman of the house is 
brought fully to appreciate his own little- 
ness, to feel that he is but aa a grasshopper 
in the sight of any woman, armed with a 
mop or water pail. 

And this noted and justly celebrated day 
comprises one-seventh of a man's life, and 
he»who has reached his grand climacteric 
has lived through nine whole years of 
washing-days, a consideration as terrific 
to the- young householder, as it is consola- 
tory to those in old age, who believe that 
the t ials of this world are to be deducted 
from the discipline of the next. 

From the importance of this subject, in- 
volving, as it does,.one-seyenth of all our 
earthly happiness, one would suppose that 
pltHi-.-ophers and statesmen, laying aside 
their other schemes for the amelioration 
of m m'a condition, would have devoted 
them elves exclusively to the abolition or 
■litigation of washing days. 

"P. Jt the world has gone on," as Dick- 
ens has remarked, "and revolved round 
the bod, and turned on its own axis, and had 



lunar influences, and various games of that 
sort" and washing days have come and 
gone, and the human race has rather in- 
creased than lessened in numbers, and men 
have settled down upon the idea, that the 
trials of that dreadful day, like the exist- 
ence of sin on^ earth, are to be reckoned 
among the inscrutable dispensations of 
Providence, to be patiently endured, with 
such courage as we can put on for the oc- 
casion. 

To be sure, like old father Adam, in the 
garden, men are prone to charge this evil, 
like all others, upon the woman, and I pro- 
pose, by way of illustrating my subject, to 
bring the question directly before the ap- 
pointed tribunal, whether the worst trials 
of washing day, like most others of do- 
mestic life, are not fairly chargeable upon 
the want of proper attention and foresight 
on the part of the men. 

And I charge upon our prisoner, in the 
first place, that he and the large class 
whom he fitly represents, have not made 
suitable arrangements for the convenient 
supply of the two essentials of housekeep- 
ing — wood and water. 

Your wood-house, sir, is not near enough 
to your kitchen. Your wife is obliged to 
go out of doors in summer*and winter, to 
reach it — perhaps to go down a flight of 
steps, and bring her wood up. Often she 
finds no dry fuel of suitable kind cut and 
split for use, and you would be ashamed 
to have it known, how many times she has 
taken the axe into her own hands to make 
up for your negligence. 

And then the water — we have all seen 
it again and again, and you cannot deny 
it. Instead of having a cistern of soft 
water, with a. pump in your wash-room, or 
an aqueduct leading into your house, you 
have, year after year, depended on a well 
of hard water, five rods off, with a well 
post that leans hard to the east, and a 
sweep loaded with old cart boxes at one 
end, and a crooked pole and leaky bucket 
at the other, and the girl whom you took 
young and blooming from her home, and 
vowed to love and cherish, goes there, day 
after day, and year after year, and draw3 
water for her household ! 

And, again, what sort of a washboiler 
does she use? Is it nicely set in brick- 
work, in a convenient place for use, or 
does she hang a big kettle on the crane, 
half the length of the house from her wash 
bench, or is she, for want of a better, com- 
pelled to use a half-sized tin boiler on tho 
cook stove in dog days? 



90 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



And where is her clothes line? Have 
you provided, in some sunny spot, shel- 
tered from the winds, one of the rotary 
frames lately introduced, on which the 
whole wash may he hung by a woman in 
a few moments without moving her basket, 
or have you some convenient out-build- 
ing, where the line may be kept always 
stretched, without being slackened by the 
weather'? 

No such thing, sir. In the first place, 
the line is not half long enough, for you 
never have returned the piece you bor- 
rowed to tie up your broken wagon shaft, 
and you never paid any attention to the 
oft-repeated, quiet suggestion, that things 
were not exactly convenient for drying the 
clothes, and so the females of your house- 
hold, after working in a hot. room over hot 
water, half the day, must find a place to 
dry their clothes as best they can. And 
we all know how it is done, for we see it 
every Monday of our lives. 

The line is first tied to the old well post. 
It is then carried to a post in the garden 
fence; next, a long stretch is made to the 
old sweet apple tree, and a turn taken round 
one of its principal limbs— then round the 
latch of the wood-house door, and lastly, 
back to the well post, forming an irregular 
parallelogram, with the longest sides sup- 
ported by the long-handled pitchfork and 
the rake, borrowed from the barn for the 
occasion! 

And now, what says the accused to our 
charges? It will avail nothing to set up 
poverty in his defence, for as has been truly 
said, "no man is so poor as to be obliged 
to have his pigs-trough at the front door," 
and we may add, no man is too poor to 
split his own firewood, and bring the water 
to wash with. 

And so he may as well plead guilty, and 
save our jury the trouble of a verdict. 
And henceforth, we will charge a fair pro- 
portion of the trials of washing day upon 
the neglect to provide the best possible 
convenTences for performing what is at 
best a disagreeable office in housekeeping. 

I have ventured upon this mode of illus- 
trating what I deem, after all, a subject of 
serious interest— the busy and care-worn 
life of New England matrons. 

These burdens which b^ar so heavily 
upon the wives of our farmers as to con- 
stitute a great objection to the choice of 
agriculture as a business, with any consi- 
derate man, result, as we have seen, in 
part from the want of servants or reliable 
help. This difficulty arises legitimately 



from the principles of equality, inherent in 
the constitution of our government, and 
which we should not seek to change. 

But this is by no means the whole secret 
of the trouble. Much of it results from 
causes which lie within our own control, 
to some of which allusion has already been 
made, and others may readily be named. 



PAYMENTS TO THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 
From February 1st to March 1st, 1853. 

All persons who have made payments early 
enough to be entered, and whose names do 
not appear in the following receipt list, are 
requested to give immediate notice of the 
omission, in order that the correction may be 
made in the next issue: 
Andrew L. Mills to January 1853 $1 00 

B. J. Barbour to January 1854 1 00 

E. H. Osborne to January 1854 .1 00 

Dr. J. H. Ellerson to January 1854 1 00 

John Trent to January 1854 ^ 

John H. Coleman to January 1854 
Wm. C. Kunely to January 1854 ! r nn 
John S. Adams to January 1854 f ° 
Jonas Meadow to January 1854 
Nelson Talley to January 1854 J 
Col. Cary C. Cocke to September 1853 1 00 
Mr. Wade to January 1854 1 00 

G. H. Burwell to January 1854 1 00 

Wm. Patrick to July 1853 1 00 

Charles A. Patrick to January 1854 1 00 

Col, C. B. Killebrew to January 1854 1 00 
Dr. W. L. Wight to January 1854 2 00 

Dr. James H. Latane to January 1854 1 00 
Edmund Ruffin to January 1854 1 00 

John Winfield to January 1853 4 00 

Robert Stringfellow to January 1854 1 00 
Capt. Arthur Slaughter to January 1854 1 00 
H. T. Kidd to January 1854 1 00 

Dr. Thomas Johnson to January 1854 1 00 
Dr. Paul J. Carrington to January 1854- 1 00 
Edwin N. Palmer to January 1854 1 00 

Hartwell Chandler to January 1854 1 00 

Thomas Cooke to January 1854 1 00 

Richard Rouzee to January 1854 2 00 

Hilary Harris to January 1854 1 00 

Edmund Goode to January 1854 1 00 

B. W. Leigh to January 1854 1 00 

Wm. H. Whiting to January 1854 1 00 

A. D. Martin to January 1854 1 00 

B. H. Dawson to January 1854 1 00 

A. J. Richardson to January J 854 1 00 

B. C. Drew to January 1854 1 00 
H. M. Harlow to June 1853 1- 00 
Jesse Whitehead to January 1854 1 00 
Richard B. Lyne to January 1854 2 00 
George Campbell to January 1855 2 00 
Francis Staples to January 1854 1 00 
Capt. Thomas Lang to January 1856 1 00 
Dr. R. A. TJrquhart to January 1854 5 00 
A. B. TJrquhart to January 1854 5 00 
L. J. Bowden to January 1854 1 00 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



91 



Hill Carter to January 1854 
Martin Tutwiler to July 1853 
Thomas Wilson to June 1853 
James Whitehead to January 1854 
Clement R. Morton to March 1854 
Frederick Butler to January 1854 
Major R. H. Allen to January 1854 
Dr. Thos. H. Venable to January 1851 
John A. Selden, Sr. to January 1854 
John A. Selden, Jr. to January 1854 
Capt. Thos. L. Hines to January 1654 
Maj. Edwin J. Redd to January 1854 

A. A. Ashby to January 1854 
Col. R. W. Carter to January 1854 
Thomas Paramore to January 1854 
Dr. H. Field to March 1854 

T. B. Robertson to January 1854 
Robert N. Kelso to January 1854 
Miles Selden to January 1854 
Thos. R. Joynes (omitted) to July 1852 
Thos. L. Pleasants to January 1854 
Fred. W. Smith to January 1854 
Richard F. Darnell to January 1854 
Dr. Wm. L. Graham to July 1853 
C. B. Williams to January 1854 
Boiling- Jones to January 1854 
Jacob Graves to January 1854 
W. M. Ambler to January 1854 
Edward Porter to January 1854 
J. R. Jones to March 1854 
E. A. Morrison to January 1854 
Hugh M. Nelson to January 1854 

B. Boykin to January 1854 ~) 
T. Whitaker to January 1854 

W. A. Ancrum to January 1854 [> 
John Workman to January 1854 | 
John Desaussure to January 1854 J 
J. W. Brockwell to January 1854 
Robert Robinson to January 1854 
Capt. Thomas F. Spencer to Jan. 1854 
John H. Arnold to January 1854 
Peter G. Ellett to January 1854 
Wm. P. Scott to January 1854 
Jos. K. Anderson to January 1854 
Lulfe Woodward to September 1853 
Jefferson Spindle to January 1854 
Edward Waller to January 1854 
Dr. Hawkins Stone to January 1854 
R. H. Lorton to January 1854 
James W. Logan to January 1854 
Capt. E. Turner to January 1854 
A. J. Knhn to September 1853 
George B. A. M'Carty to January 1854 
Robert Healy to January 1856 
W. D. Norvell to January 1854 



«3 00 



1 00 



00 
00 
00 
00 
00 
00 
00 
00 
00 
00 
50 
00 
00 
00 
00 
1 00 



4 16 



1 00 
1 00 
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1 00 

2 00 
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1 

2 

1 
1 
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7 
1 
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00 
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5 00 
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Mrs. Mary T. Moseley to January 1854 1 00 

Col. Ed. Shelton to January 1864 1 00 

W. D. Mansfield to January 1854 1 00 

Dr. S. S. H?nley to January 1854 2 00 

Re-.'. Ssrnuel Taylor to January 1854 1 00 

Wm. B. Harrison to January 1854 1 00 

Wm. F. Black well to January 1854 1 00 

Dr. W. H Twyman to July 1853 1 00 

George A. Smith to January 1854 7 00 

Wm. Mathews to January 1854 1 00 

Wm. H. Nicholson to January 1854 1 00 

Gen. O.G. Clay to January 1854 3 00 



James Ferguson to January 1854 
James R. Sterrett to January 1854 
J. Duke to July 1853 
J. C. Dickinson to January 1854 
Francis R. Hooff to July 1853 
Stephen A. Norfleet to January 1855 
Ed. P. Chamberlayne to January 1854 
B. B. Wilkes to January 1854 
James Gait to January 1854 
Estate of Wm. Gait to January 1853 
John Hart, Sr. to January 1854 
Dr. Watson to January 1854 
Col. D. B. Hancock to January 1854 
Dr. W. T. Thompson to July 1853 
Dr. S. A. Hart to January 1854 
James M. Trevillian to October 1853 
Rev. James Fife to January 1854 
H. Minor to October 1853 
Frederick Roberts to September 1853 
Philip Edge to July 1853 
Dabney Minor to September 1853 
B. Wood to July 1853 
Henry B. Jones to January 1854 ^ 
George W. Houston to January 1854 
J. J. M'Bride to January 1854 
J. W. Culton to January 1854 
Major J. Brooks to January 1854 
Samuel Willson to January 1854 
Zachariah Johnston to January 1854 
James C. Willson to January 1854 
Dr. Wm. M. Gold to January 1854 
P. Trotter to January 1854 

D. -Brown to January 1854 

T. H. Walker to January 1854 
M. Buchanan to January 1854 
Capt. J. J. M'Nutt to January 1854 
W. B. Slaughter to June 1853 

E. Brummall to July 1853 

Thos. W. L. Fauntleroy to Jan. 1854 
Dr. John R. Garnett to January 1854 
Robert A. Calvert to January 1854 
Frederick P. Brauner to January 1854 
Wm. M. Harrison to January 1854 
Andrew B. Irick to July 1853 
George Rogers to January 1854 
W. O. Goode to January 1854 
Wilson Winfrey to January 1854 
George N. N. Porter to March 1854 
Wm. H. Goodwin to January 1854 
George Williams to July 1854 
Wm. T. Mason to January 1854 
James M. Johns to January 1854 
Daniel Ammen to January 1854 
Rev. Geo. T. Wilmer to January 1854 
W. H. Roy to January 1853 
Dr. H. W. Tabb to January 1854 
W. C. Lipscomb to January 1851 
Milton Kirtley to January 1854 
Temple Walker to January 1854 
John B. Down man to January 1854 
P. C. Smith to June 1853 
D. X. Branch to January 1848 
George E. Naff to January 1854 
David Turner to January 1854 
Z. M'D. Roberts to January 1854 
Chas. Brock to January 1854 
Wm. Cowherd to January 1854 



$1 00 


1 00 


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3 00 


1 00 


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6 00 


2 00 


1 00 


2 00 


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92 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



Allin L. Archer to January 1854 $1 00 

M. R. Kaufman to January 1854 1 00 

Morgan Utz to January 1»54 1 00 

Oliver P. Gray to January 1854 1 00 

James S. Walrond to January 1854 1 00 

John M. C. Venable to January 1854 1 00 

John W. Stone to January 1854 1 00 

D. J. Payne to January 1854 1 00 

N. B. Massenburg to January 1855 3 00 

Gen. Wm. H. Richardson to Jan. 1854 1 00 

Enos Silling to September 1853 1 00 

C. H. M'Cormick to January 1853 C 00 
Rev. John T. Clark to January 1854 1 00 
Franklin Grayson to January 1854 1 00 
P. P. Nalle to January 1853 1 00 
Wm. Smith to January 1854 1 00 

D. S. M. Crump to January 1854 1 00 
Dr. L. C. Crump to January 1854 1 00 
James Dickinson to January 1854 1 00 
John H. Tyree to January 1853 2 00 
Gen. H. B. Woodhouse to January 1854 1 00 
H. F. Woodhouse to January 1854 1 00 
Joseph H. James to January 1854 1 00 
Wm. G. Overton to January 1854 1 00 
Williamson Talley to January 1854 1 00 
M. Wilson to January 1853 5 00 
Wm. C. Rives to January 1850 5 00 
J. A. Watson to January 1854 1 00 
Richard V. Watkins to July 1854 1 00 
R. B. Hendrick to January 1854 1 00 
A. K. Shepaid to January 1854 2 00 
John S. Skyrin to January 1854 2 00 
Wm. Y. Downman to January 1854 2 50 
W. L. Figgatt to June 1853 1 00 
Thomas M'Corcle to June 1853 1 00 
Major T. J. Jackson to June 1853 1 00 
Thos. L. Preston, Jr. to January 1854 1 00 



IMPROVED SHORT-HORJT (Durham) 
CATTLE FOR SALE. 

CALVES, three-fourths or seven-eighths 
blood, of this stock, may be bought of me 
at $15, if taken at weaning time. If a male 
is wanted, it will be necessary to engage him 
in advance. 

Good cows, with young calves'of like blood, 
not weaned, may now be bought, for prices 
varying from $55 to $G5, for each cow with 
her calf. 

My cattle are descended from Berry, im- 
ported by Edwin G. Booth, esq. of Nottoway, 
and bought for him by the Rev. Henry Berry. 
This gentleman, esteemed one of the best 
judges and breeders of cattle in England, se- 
lected this as the best calf he knew, and of the 
best family of "Improved Short-Horns." (Mr. 
Berry's letter containing that statement was 
published in the Farmers' Register, vol. V, 
page 383.) Some years after, I and others 
bought the bull for $400. My present bull is 
by Berry, and from a cow also of the same 
pure blood, but of different descent from the 
original English stock of "Improved Short- 
Horns." EDMUND RUFFIN. 
MarWoume, (near Old Church P. O.) mar— 2t 



THOROUGH-BRED DEVONS for Sale 
by W. P. & C. S. WAIJiWRIGHT. 

BULLS.— 1. Uncas:— calved March 19th, 
1851. — 1st prize as yearling at American 
Institute show in October, 1852. Sire, " Me- 
gunticook ;" grandsire, " Prince Albert" (102): 
dam, "Nonpareille," by "Lord Lynedock." 

2. Red-jacket:— calved May 5th, 1852.— 1st 
prize as calf at American Institute show 1852. 
Sire, " Megunticook:" dam, " Meadow Lilly," 
by "Baronet" (6); g. d. "Helena." 

3. Osceola:— calved Sept. 11th, 1852. — Sire, 
"May-boy" (71); grandsire, " Duke of York" 
(37); dam, " Moss-rose," by "Duke of York," 
(37); g. d. " Nonpareille." 

4. Dacotah:- calved October 29th, 1852.— 
Sire, "May-boy," (71); dam, "Red-bud," by 
"Megunticook;" g. dam, "Nonpareille," by 
"Lord Lynedock." 

HEIFERS.— 1. Rose:— calved Oct'r, 1849; 
bred by Mr. R. C. Gapper, Canada West. — 
Sire, "Major;" g. sire, "Billy;" dam, "Cher- 
ry," by "Billy;" g. d. "Beauty." In calf by 
" May-boy." 

2. Gazelle: — calved October, 1850; bred by 
Mr. R. C. Gapper, Canada West.— Sire, " Rob 
Roy;" grandsire, " Santa Anna ;" dam, " Cher- 
ry." In calf by " May-boy," (71.) 

These pedigrees run back to the best herds 
in England: — "Megunticook," "May-boy," 
and "Nonpareille, "having beenimported from 
the stock of George Turner, Esq., and "Hele- 
na," from that of James duartly, Esq., by 
ourselves; while "Billy" and "Beauty" were 
imported by Mr. Gapper from that of Mr. 
James Davy. 

Animals delivered free of expense in New 
York, or Albany. Our stock may be seen at 
all times on our farm, three hours from New 
York by Hudson River R. R. 

The numbers in brackets refer to the Eng- 
lish Herd Book. 

Rhinebeck, Dulcliess Co., N. Y. mar— 3t 



CHOICE POULTRY. 

THE subscriber offers for sale the following 
varieties of pure blooded Fowls, viz: Cochin 
China or Canton Fowls; Black, White, 
Buff and Brown Shanghais; Chittagongs 
or Gray Shanghais. 

The above are the largest and best variety 
of fowls bred in this country, and are from 
stock originally imported by the subscriber. 
Gentlemen, Poultry-keepers and others, desir- 
ous of procuring choice Poultry may depend 
upon the above stock being purely bred and 
warranted true to their name. Address 
CHARLES SAMPSON, 
West Roxbury, Mass. 

The different varieties of these beautiful 
fowls may be seen at my residence on First 
Street, between Main and Cary Streets. 
W. A. BUTTERS, 139 Main Street. 

Richmond, Nov. 1, 1852 — ly 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



93 



CLASSICAL. AND MATHEMATICAL 
SCHOOL. 

RUMFORD ACADEMY, KING WIL- 
LIAM, VA. — This school is about two 
miles from Sharon Church, on the stage road 
between Richmond and Tappahannock. So 
healthful is the location, that but few cases of 
serious sickness have occurred in the school 
since its establishment in 1804. No expense 
is spared in providing for the physical com- 
forts of the pupils; treated in every respect as 
young gentlemen, they are required to conduct 
themselves as such. 

The subscriber, who has been engaged eight 
years in guiding and instructing youth, will be 
aided by competent assistants. 

The usual English Course, including Che- 
mistry and Philosophy, an extensive course 
of Mathematics, and the Latin, Greek and 
French Languages will be taught. A recess 
of one week will be given at Easter. 

Terms.— For board and tuiiion, with every 

necessary except lights and stationery, from 

15th of January to 1st of July, $84; payable 

one-half 1st of May, the other half 1st of July. 

JOHN H. PITTS, 

ja — tf Aylett's P. O, King William.. 



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 charged. Apply to 
AARON CLEMENT, Philadelphia. 
Refer to Gen. W. H. Richardson, Richmond, 
Virginia. 

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



EAGLE FOUNDERY. 

THE subscriber having removed to the 
large Foundery, just erected by him and 
fitted out with machinery of the latest and most 
approved style, is, in addition to the manufac- 
ture of Tobacco Flattening Mills, prepared to 
receive orders for Stationary Steam Engines, 
Saw and Grist Mills, Agricultural Machines, 
Tobacco Presses of every description, and all 
kinds of Iron aftd 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. 



NEW PLASTER AND BONE MILL. 

ri^HE subscriber offers for sale fine Ground 
JL and Calcined Plaster, both of the best 
and purest quality; he has also a Bone Mill 
attached, and intends to keep a supply of 
Ground Bones, fine and pure. Farmers and 
others are invited to call and examine lor 
themselves. His prices shall be as low as the 
same quality articles can be bought for, North 
or South. The highest cash price will be paid 
for dry bones, delivered at his Mill adjoining 
the Paper Mill, 
oc— tf R. R. DUVAL. 



DR. VALENTINE'S RECIPE FOR 
MAKING ARTIFICIAL GUANO. 

No. 1. Dry Peat,* - - 20 bushels 

No. 2. Wood Ashes, - 3 bushels 

No. 3. Fine Bone Dust, 3 bushels 

No. 4. Calcined Plaster, - 3 bushels 

No. 5. Nitrate of Soda, - - 40 pounds 
No. 6. Sal Ammoniac, 22 pounds 

No. 7. Carb Ammonia, - - 11 pounds 
No. 8. Sulph: Sodas, 20 pounds 

No. 9. Sulph: Magnesia, - 10 pounds 

" 10. Common Salt, 10 pounds 

* If peat cannot be obtained, use garden mould, 
or clean rirgin soil instead. 

Directions for Mixing. — Mix Nos. 1,2, 3, 
together — mix Nos. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, in four or 
five pails of water, or enough to dissolve the 
ingredients. When dissolved, add the liquid 
to the mixture, (1, 2, 3,) and mix as in making 
mortar. When thoroughly mixed, add No. 4, 
(the calcined plaster,) which will absorb the 
liquid and bring the whole to a dry state. Mix 
under cover in a dry place — pack so as to ex- 
clude air — observe the proportions in making 
small or large quantities. The above receipt 
will make one ton, which will manure seven 
and a half acres of land. 

Having furnished the above to a number of 
farmers who have tested its qualities — many 
thinking it equal to natural guano— the sub- 
scribers have made arrangements to furnish 
any quantity during this season, and will sell 
the ingredients exclusive of the Peat, Wood 
Ashes, Plaster and Salt, (articles on every 
farm,) at the low price of $10 per ton. One 
sugar hogshead will hold ingredients enough 
for five tons. All orders will be carefully and 
promptly executed, and sent to any part of the 
State. 

R. R. DUVAL & BRO. 

Chemists and Druggists, under the American, 
Hotel, Richmond, Va. oc — tf 



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



OSAGE ORANGE PLANTS FOR LIVE FENCES, 

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



94 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



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— rrt I> *Z 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



95 



one operation — being simple in construction, 
economical to the farmer, and will thresh more 
in a given length of time than any Machine 
in use. This Machine took the premium over 
some five or six machines at the Maryland 
State Fair, in October, 1852, by acclamation. 
"We manufacture them from 2 horse-power up 
to 12 horse-power. We also manufacture 
Ploughs, Cultivators, Harrows, Grain Cradles, 
Wheat Drills, Corn and Cob Crushers, Corn 
Shellers, Straw 'Cutters of different kinds, 
among which are Smith's Virginia Patent, 
being cheap and simple in its construction, 
Revolving Horse Rakes, Premium Wheat 
Fans. We will also keep for sale Reapers, 
Mowing Machines, and all kinds of useful 
implements, such as are used by Farmers, 
Planters and Gardeners. We would call par- 
ticular attention to the Wiley or Mott Pre- 
mium Double Pointed Cap Plough, of compo- 
sition metal. One of these Ploughs will last 
as long as three or four of any other kind now 
in use, and the metal will stand rocky or 
stumpy land as well as steel wrought shares— 
the shares only costing from 25 to 45 cents 
each— will plough from 20 to 30 acres each— 
the cap fitting right in the wear of the mould- 
board, the cap costing only from 25 to 45 cents. 
This Plough can be kept in order by the farmer 
or any of the hands, from five to six years. 
With this Plough the farmer is his own black- 
smith. The Ploughs all warranted, and also 
warranted to put the ground in better order 
than any Plough now in use. Also Wrought 
Share Ploughs, both Right and Left; among 
which are the Improved M'Cormiek's, with 
Cast Landside and Heels; Livingston County 
Plough, of all sizes; Subsoil Ploughs of the 
best patterns. 

N. U. Mott being a practical and an expe- 
rienced workman for fifteen years in the dif- 
ferent branches of the business of manufac- 
turing of implements, we feel safe in saying 
that articles purchased of us will prove of 
superior workmanship. Call and examine 
for yourselves, when we will be happy to ex- 
hibit our goods. 

MOTT, LEWIS & Co. 
Sign of the Plough, 36 Main Street, 3 doors 
below the City Hotel. 

fe— 3t 



WILLIAM P. LADD, 
APOTHECARY AND DRUGGIST, 

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

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

f^T Orders from Country Merchants and 
Physicians thankfully leceived and promptly 
attended to 
ja 1851— tf 



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

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

Johnston's Agricialtural Chemistry — a new- 
edition, in one volume, 12mo. cloth, gilt — SI 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 cents. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chemistry Made Easy for Farmers, paper — 
25 cents. 

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

Dana's Prize Essay on Manures — 25 cents. 

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

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

Canfield on the Breeds, Management, Struc- 
ture and Disease of Sheep — $1, 

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 — $6 bound in two 
volumes. 

Youatt and Martin's Treatise on Cattle, 
with one hundred illustrations, edited by Am- 
brose Stevens, Esq. — $1 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 — S3. 
mar — ly 

ANALYSIS OP SOILS, &c. 

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

Persons desiring further information will 
please address 

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



95 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



COXTEXTs OF XUMBER III. 

FAGS 

; : ::: :: i:r::. ::; Nc -1 co 

F:er.:i Merit:: Siee; 6d 

:: 72 

M : : mirk's Reaper 72 

Gin if i rermzei: z erriLirsr To 

Tie 5:ienee and Pracice of Agriculture, 

Z::.mei :j War ;;" ^ies::.i am An- 

Tie I:.'; ::' 5r. :: iz Wnea: 75 

Rollisz _ . n ■ Guano — Prevention of Sore 

Tina: in H:gs 76 

Draiaizr as a Means of Imploring ]>..-. is. 

-• ~ ~~ .~.i~ i iNa:er 

Groets for hnpcorag lie. ic 79 

6 Z :e Warn Dress a Cold Fowl 73 

5e en ::::e5_f ?.ii::r \Lizz^.zz Cil- 

tiraiiag aril seeping the Irish Potato... SO 

r:-:::: Agrir: ' r/.C.zz 82 

Cine I lire — M:ie :;" F.zzzzs &3 

Bale :: " >: : i Stock 83 

C:r-?:i:-:i:i ::' :i: h.:.: 

of Albemarle 83 

Preservation and Application of Yard ila- 

i : : ;i 55 

7 : i : : 7. . : . 57 

L:;" : r-: :" ieei Cirr. 57 

Peaca Trees 87 

M .• . =i :i ; Aiirees . 68 

7: n -.; :; lie 5:i:ierr_ 7:::;: 90 



I 



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AGEXCY. 

AM willing to assist gentlemen in purchas- 
ing and selling farms, stock, and pooltry cf 
;ry description; to attend to receiving and 
petty forward ig animals; also, to procure 
table overseers and laboring men for iarm- 
llanters: all of which will be attended 
small commission. My position as 
:: :ie Mirr .ici ii::Ar:::.:::ii 
rives me advantages of knowing ma- 
iii ~ :~: i: : i ;:: :.-:. which with my 
zzz^'.zizz :: ! = r_i :iu:e = ne :: el- 
agency ~tu land, men and stock. I 



.-- i: 

~.z~z 






TAYLOR'S PATENT HA.MES. 

P'lW'-'.Z z.zzzzz.i zz'.zz : vi : 

y.zzz in -Zz: z~z i it. 11 :';;— — i::i 

£n: iriver ::' i_rses.beinga -avmgof expense 
as we.l i; me. if .zt- :n :e i .eiei is 



_. ■ - -1 IV- rl . .r r r Tr.T ZzlZ." 

rj-1-.i z.z:.z:zzz: :n ^i-rie: :: 

ii : ; a:;~ = : i ie;e ;iine = 

— e e ri..;: t_ i: le M = .::. n: 7eii5j.- 

rania State Fairs and were universally ap- 

.-: . :" ii- i :.::. . i: — r .i i _ ;;iri ./ :_: 

These Han e; ii i i 

MOTT, LEWIS & Co. 
f ike Plough, 3 doors be.owCuy Hotel, 
I.;:., i: ■' z. 
fe- 3i 

FOR SALE — A thoroughbred Ball of the 
Ayrshire and Do rham breed, in tee health 
and rigor— color rich red, with slight white 
spots in the flank, characteristic of Ike Ayr- 

5: ':- : - -.-.ei;--e.T :e- 

neenoVd on both sides from Imported Stock 



7 I 



of stock, &c enquire of 



::—::' 



MARTIN GOLDSBOROUGH. 
HzrruonvUU, Baltimore Co., ML 
Refer to 

C. B. Calvert & C. Hul. Washington Cirr; 

G. W. Hughs : Wes: River. Md ; J. H. Golds- 

::::;ii z.n::z. M: ?. 2-l:-eiei- _ie:- 

!. 5. G. Fisher, Philaia.. Pa: C. P. 

'Holcomb,Wilmirr::r.. Dei : C:. J.W.Ware, 

Berryviiie, Va.: I G. Wright, H ilmingtoBjX. 

|Caroiina: J. W. H. Brownf.e!;. Cii:!e5::i_ s. 

C^ McGill RobtnsoB, Looisrille, Kv.: Wo, 

;A Lake Vicksbnrg, Miss.: Dr. Henry M. 

'.:: i;:n. HontsviEe, Ala.; T. Hav-s-i.- ni 

M: R. Hayward, Tallahassee. Florida 

mar — tf 

FIXE STOCK FOR SALE. 

* LL the vainable stock of Cows. Swine 

^ri_ and Horses. a!>o Machines. Implements, 

'■":_ : r iii - :rr_. :e :: ...e M::r: A:~ 

I Agricoltoral Insiitnte, Germantown, Pennsyt- 

Mi2. will be sold on the premises on the Ian' 

] of March, inst. Gentlemen, at a distance, 

-~z : : ii z : : : : i re z ; e i :'. j a : : -.z i ::;_-:.e ? :e 

:med that A. C.ei.ei: E : : :: r: e- 

r i. an excellent judge of stock cf all kinds, 

attend the sale and make porchases to 

JOHN* WILKI>"aON. 

BOOKS. PIANOS. MUSIC, ic. 

-\-A5H i WOODHOC5E. Wi .esaie and 
_\ R.e^il Dealers in Bores, Piaxo Foe? is, 
i ... . i:. '■'-: Mill 5.. F.iii- 
} mood, Virginia. 

Constantly on hand, a full supply of stand 
in .'-:■=.: :titi?j.i Wcass. 

1S53. 

BEST PERUVIAN GUANO.— I am now 
prepa red to receive orders from cus to me rs 
for best Pee:tv;.i>." Ghho, at reduced z 

aeeuxe i supply for :. 

:: - ■ — : : . i; -;".. :" c er. '. :r. :'--:ir :ers 
- it delay. HUGH W. FRY.