34 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



considerable expense as well as labor, it is not 
likely to be adopted even if found to be a pre- 
ventive. In very large pieces of woods, the 
flies are not so likely to injure plants. But at 
the present day the woods are so cut down that 
many planters have no such places. After all 
the experiments that have been tried, with re- 
spect to flies destroying tobacco plants, the situa- 
tion of the bed has been found to be of more 
consequence than any thing else ; that is, places 
where the flies are not likely to be. I have been 
rather tedious on choosing suitable places for 
planting beds ; for I consider, that upon these, 
in a great measure depends the successful grow- 
ing of a tobacco crop. 

"Almost any kind of soil or situation might 
be made to grow plants, were it not for the flies. 
These little insects are the greatest obstacle to 
the culture of tobacco. If it was not for them, 
the cultivation of tobacco would be as successful 
as any other culture. 

u The best and surest time to sow plant-beds 
in upland is about the middle of March. Beds 
sown at this time will produce more plants, and 
require less picking or weeding to keep the grass 
and weeds out. There are several objections to 
the custom of sowing seed in the winter months. 
One of them is, if there should be a warm spell 
of weather shortly after the seed are sown, they 
will come up too soon and are likely to be killed 
by hard freezing weather. Another objection 
is, the beds, from having been prepared too early, 
become so hard before the warm weather com- 
mences in earnest, that the plants will not grow 
kindly. The plants also frequently come up 
in a sickly state, and very often remain so. 
Whereas, beds that are sown in March, from 
having been lately prepared grow the plants off 
quickly. The seed comes up quickly and in a 
healthy state, and the plants are not injured by 
drought, as much as they would be, had the 
beds been prepared in the winter. .The best 
time to sow lowland beds is about the first of 
April. 

" In preparing plant-beds, it has been the cus- 
tom from time immemorial to burn them over 
with brush or wood. This no doubt is the best 
way where it can be done. It certainly is best 
to burn a place that has not been used for a 
plant-bed for several years before. But a bed 
that has been sowed the preceding year, will 
grow plants without being burned again. A 
planter who is scarce of stuff to burn his beds 
with, may obtain a great deal of briers and 
brush by clearing up early his land intended for 
corn and tobacco that year. I have frequently 
burned beds with briers and leaves. Briers can 
be put in a cart with a pitchfork and put over 
the bed with the same. Beds, before the seed 
are sown, should be well pulverized and cleared 
of all root or other litter. When sowing the 
seed it is best to sow one half the seed intended 



for the bed, and then rake them in the ground. 
The other half of the seed should then be sown 
across the way the others were sown, and the 
bed then trod or patted. By this mode of sow- 
ing the seed the bed is prepared for dry or wet 
weather ; that is, should the weather be dry, 
the seed raked in will come up ; if the weather 
is wet, both sowings will come. The surest 
way to have plants is to sow plenty of seed in 
a bed. It is true, beds will be better with a cer- 
tain quantity of plants in them ; but as plants 
are liable to be destroyed in so many ways, it is 
surest to sow thick. A great many plants are 
destroyed by picking the grass out of the beds. 
Besides, thick sowing is a great security against 
the flies. Beds that are thinly set with plants 
are soon cleaned when the flies get in them ; 
whereas, beds thickly set may be considerably 
eaten by flies, and yei plants enough left : hence 
the trite saying "sow some for fly and some for 
I." I have known persons to miss planting 
their crop of tobacco by not sowing seed enough 
in their beds; but I never knew to miss by 
sowing too many. Beds that have too many 
plants in them can be raked and the plants 
thinned. This has for a long time been cus- 
tomary. A rake for the purpose is soon made. 
I have made the teeth with twenty-penny nails. 

" Plant-beds, if the land is not rich should be 
manured. This can be done before the seed are 
sown or afterwards. If the land is poor it is 
best to manure the bed before it is sown. Any 
well rotted manure will answer, but stable ma- 
nure is best. Ashes answer very well for light 
soils, and have the advantage of having no grass 
seed in them. In saving manure for plant-beds, 
care ought to be taken to prevent grass seed 
from getting with it ; so that stable manure, to 
be free from grass seed, ought to be saved when 
the horses are not turned loose out of the stable, 
and when they are fed on some kind of food that 
contains no seed. Corn-blades are one of those 
kinds of food. Hen-houses and the roosts of 
poultry furnish good manure for tobacco beds. 
Hog-pens also furnish good manure for plants. 
When beds are manured after the plants are 
up, the manure should be put on in a very fine 
state. 

"It is a custom with many planters to cover 
their beds after they are sowed with pine or ce- 
dar brush. This is a very good waj' to get the 
plants up, as the brush keeps the land moist. 
The brush should be taken off the plants soon 
after they are up, as it makes them tender and 
what is termed long-legged. 

" To keep up places for tobacco beds from 
year to year, as soon as they are done with for 
that time, they should be hoed or wed up, and 
then covered with straw or tobacco stalks, three 
or four inches deep." 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



35 



AMERICAN MACHINERY. 

From the New York Mechanic wc make the follow- 
ing' extract: 

" It is stated that a company in Trieste, Aus- 
tria, have despatched an agent to buy the entire 
machinery of a flouring mill, and to take it over 
to Trieste. Some shipments of wheat having 
been made to the United States from Austria in 
1835, '37, it was ascertained by those that sent 
it, that when it was ground up in this country, 
better flour and more in quantity was produced 
than could be obtained from the same quantity 
in Austria. The knowledge of this fact caused 
the mission of the special agent for the purposes 
above named." 'A New York paper says : 

" The agent on his arrival at New York, con- 
tracted with the Lafayette Burr Stone Company 
at the corner of Robinson and Washington sts. 
to construct eight run of mill stones, of a suffi- 
cient size to turn out three hundred barrels of 
flour per day. These sixteen stones are now 
completed, and have been shipped. The running 
gear and the working gear have all been made 
in this city, and the whole will cost about fifteen 
thousand dollars. A miller from Richmond has 
also been engaged to go out to Austria, to work 
the mill three years. In short, this country fur- 
nishes every thing connected with it except the 
frame of the mill." 

The City of Richmond probably stands without a 
rival in the art of making flour, which is as much attri- 
butable to our climate and the skill of our farmers, as 
to the perfection of our machinery. The combination 
secures her forever the supremacy in the flour market. 

The miller alluded to in the above extract is Mr. Robt. 
H. Kuhn, a young- gentleman who was brought up 
under the care of his father, an old miller in the cele- 
brated Gallego establishment; he lived for several 
years also at the Columbia Mills. He stands high for 
his integrity, and his skill may be inferred from the 
opportunities he has enjoyed of learning his business. 



We publish the second number of our unknown cor- 
respondent, A Naturalist, with much pleasure. With- 
out pretending to any originality, he condenses in a 
clear and simple style the generally received principles 
of vegetable physiology, which, in their nature, must 
be introductory to practical deductions. Whilst we 
eschew every thing like long dissertations upon mere 
theoretical opinions unsupported by facts, we hail with 
pleasure any elucidation of scientific principles; for 
our great object is to open the science of agriculture 
to the popular view. We only ask that such articles 
may be, like our correspondent's, as short, clear, and 
popular as practicable, free, if possible, from technical 
terms, and adapted to the comprehension of the hum- 
blest capacity. 

THE INFLUENCE OF CULTIVATION ON 
VEGETABLES. 

The object of cultivation is to place plants 
under circumstances the most favorable for their 
growth, and experience has taught us that to 



do this, we must subject thern to the influence 
of the soil, of moisture, of the atmosphere, of 
heat, and of light. 

Chemical analysis demonstrates to us that 
vegetables contain a great variety of substances, 
many of which can only be introduced into 
them by absorption — this function is performed 
by the roots of plants, nature paving adapted 
them to the purpose of receiving the water con- 
tained in the earth, and of conveying it into the 
interior of the plant — this water derives from 
the soil and holds in solution or suspension car- 
bonic acid gas, (the most useful part of manure) 
carbonate of soda, and of potash, metallic oxydes, 
silex, and many other materials ; so that the first 
step towards the successful cultivation of plants, 
consists in placing them in a soil capable of af- 
fording these substances. 

The effects of moisture are indispensable to 
plants, (as has been seen above,) since water is 
the only vehicle by which the materials for their 
support, and increase in volume, can be conveyed 
from the soil, to those organs, destined to appro- 
priate foreign substances to the purposes of ve- 
getable life. As the atmosphere is necessary to 
the respiration of animals, so it is to that of ve- 
getables. The green parts of plants have the 
power of decomposing the carbonic acid gas 
contained in the air, (and retaining the carbon 
for the purposes of the plants, and allowing the 
oxygen to return to the air,) as well as that ab- 
sorbed by the roots, and thus enable the plant to 
add to its volume. The atmosphere is necessary 
to enable the trunks and roots of plants to exe- 
cute one of their functions, which is to yield the 
superabundant portions of carbon, which act re- 
quires the presence of the atmosphere ; in conse- 
quence of which it is hurtful to exclude the air 
entirely from these parts of plants, skilful culti- 
vation in fact requiring that the earth should be 
broken up and kept light about the roots, in or- 
der to favor this operation. 

The effect of heat on vegetables is purely 
physical, augmenting evaporation and dilating 
the cells of their tissues, and thus arousing them 
in early spring from the lethargy of winter, by 
causing the evolution of their buds, and the as- 
cension of their sap. Various plants support a 
great degree of heat; the viiex agnus-castas 
grows in a volcanic soil, with a temperature of 
eighty degrees of the centigrade thermometer, 
whilst other plants resist cold to the same extent, 
the leucoion vernum flourishes in the snow, and 
the flowers of the hazel tree have been known 
to support cold to six degrees below zero, with- 
out appearing to be altered, delicate as these 
flowers are. 

Light controls some of the most important 
phenomena of vegetable life; for it is by the 
agency of light that the carbonic acid gas of 
the atmosphere and of the sap is decomposed — 
light too opens the pores of vegetables to permit 



36 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



the escape of the superabundant moisture, and 
to establish a communication from the outside 
of the plant to the interior; indeed, light is so 
important to plants that they cannot survive its 
protracted absence. 

Observation has taught us that light colors 
fruits, and that heat accelerates their maturation, 
so that the highest colored and earliest fruit, is 
ripened on a tree trained against a black wall * 
where the light and heat of the sun can produce 
the greatest effect. Skilful cultivators take ad- 
vantage of the sun's light and heat to give taste 
to vegetables, or to deprive them of it, by ex- 
posing them to, or withdrawing them from its 
influence ; thus we expose melons, peaches, &c. 
to the sun, whilst we keep lettuce, cabbage, car- 
doons, &c. in the shade, in order to render them 
less bitter and more tender. 

Thus much of the physiology of vegetables 
is deemed important, Mr. Editor, to the under- 
standing of the improvement of vegetables by 
cultivation, which shall be the subject of the 
next paper from A Naturalist. 

C. T. Botts, Editor of S. Planter. 



BERKSHIRES AND DURHAMS. 

What bold sceptics those Boston boys are. 
In days of yore, they dared to raise a doubt as 
to the jure divino of kings, and now they do not 
hesitate to sneer at the pretensions of Berkshires 
and Durhams. It seems they hold certain week- 
ly meetings, {in old Faneuil probably,) where a 
Mr. Colman had the temerity to more than in- 
sinuate, that Durham cattle, for the pail, were 
not equal to the native stock ; and other free 
spirits, not having the fear of speculators before 
their eyes, declared that Berkshires are selling 
for more than they are worth. These insinua- 
tions have not been without their effect upon the 
excellent Editor of the New England Farmer, 
who says, that the report is that butchers and 
meat sellers dislike the pure Berkshires, and he 
concludes with the following pretty broad hint 
as to his own opinion : " Those,'' he says, " who 
have them already and like them, will of course 
continue to keep them ; those who have fair hogs 
of a different breed, may do well not to incur 
much expense to obtain this famous kind, until 
their relative worth is better understood." 

An intelligent, farmer, it was stated, in the 
neighborhood of Boston, who recently slaugh- 
tered Berkshires, found his pork so indifferent 
that he would not eat it, and several concurred 
in the statement, that, notwithstanding their 
roundness of appearance, they do not measure 
so much in the rib as some less valued breeds, 
thereby verifying the old maxim, that " all is not 
gold that glitters." 

* It ha8 been observed tbat plants protected from the 
motions of the wind by walls or espaliers, grow fo a 
larger size than under other circumstances. 



It w r ould be strange indeed, if, after all the 
discussion upon the merits of the true breed, we 
should discover the tests, at the same moment, 
that we found that they were not worth talking 
about. We should be pleased to have some 
statements of facts from any of our own people, 
if such there be, who have slaughtered and 
cured some of the Berkshires. We see no rea- 
son why they should not make as good bacon 
as any other hog, and care should be taken that 
an unfounded report does not retard the progress 
of a stock, that, judging by the eye alone, cer- 
tainly promises a great improvement. We de- 
sign to give fairly the views of both sides in the 
contest, which we see is about to arise on this 
subject, as well as our own conclusions, so soon 
as we collect facts on which to found an opinion. 



To the Editor of the Southern Planter. 

I wish to communicate to the public through 
the medium of your paper, a simple, but effica- 
cious, if not an infallible remedy, for that vexa- 
tious disease in horses called scratches. I have 
never known this remedy, when properly ap- 
plied, to fail to effect a cure even in the most 
aggravated cases. It is, to cleanse the ancles 
and parts affected with warm soap-suds, then 
take fresh (warm if you can get it) cow dung, 
and spread it on a piece of coarse cloth, and 
apply it to the diseased parts — the cloth should 
be large enough to completely envelope the leg, 
and should be securely fastened in front by 
strings sewed on to it. The dung should be put 
on sufficiently broad to cover the parts affected, 
and thick enough to retain moisture for twelve 
hours, at the end of which time it should be re- 
moved, and a second application made, which 
scarcely ever fails to remove inflammation. It 
may, however, in some cases, be necessary to 
make a third application, after which (or when 
the inflammation is removed) the ancles should 
be carefully washed, and annointed with mutton 
tallow moderately warm. My reason for pre- 
ferring this mode, is, that it will effect a speedy 
and permanent cure, without subjecting the horse 
to the slightest pain. I wish also to communicate 
a remedy for the relief of horses that may chance 
to be choked, which is as simple, and at the 
same time as efficacious as the one above. It 
is simply to bleed the horse in the mouth. 

Your readers, Mr. Editor, may feel inclined at 
the first view to sneer at this remedy, but "a 
second sober thought" will, unless I am much 
mistaken, work a wonderful change in its favor. 
The horse, when bled in the mouth, will lap the 
blood with his tongue and endeavor to swallow 
it, and this, coining in contact with the sub- 
stance by which he is choked, has a tendency 
to moisten and dissolve it, and also slightly to 
distend the throat, thus rendering the passage of 
the substance into the stomach comparatively 






THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



37 



easy. Simple as this remedy may seem, Mr. 
Editor, I assure you I have seen it almost imme- 
diately successful in a most aggravated case, and 
when all other remedies had failed. J. W. 
Hanover Co. 10th March, 1841. 

Our readers in this neighborhood will easily recog- 
nise in J. W. of Hanover, a gentleman well known for 
his care and success in the treatment of stock. Al- 
though there are many efficient remedies for the 
scratches, the Captain thinks the preceding to be pre- 
ferred both on account of its certainty, and the speedy 
cure it effects. Our readers may depend upon it. 




ther of these opinions, but are desirous of avail- 
ing- themselves of any means of reducing labor 
and adding to their conveniences, 1 send }ou the 
enclosed drawing of an arrangement that 1 have 
found a great convenience in handling my cooked 
food. The drawing represents the usual fur- 
nace with a copper boiler, over which sets a 
cask, with holes in the bottom, suspended in an 
iron frame, to which is affixed a lever, working 
on a gallows. With this lever one man raises 
the cask containing the steamed food, as soon 
as it is sufficiently cooked, up and off from the 
boiler. Another, whilst it is in this position, by 
causing it to revolve in the eyes in which it is 
swung, empties it into a tub or bin of cold water 
setting by, when the cask is again returned to 
its place. 

If any of your readers avail themselves of 
this product of my ingenuity, it is but fair to 
ask them to give me some information or effort 
of their brain in return. Otherwise, to make 
use of it amounts to embezzlement at least, if 
not downright stealing. 



Yours, 



J. B. 



Mr. Editor, — Is it not somewhat singular that 
the poorest farmers, those who most need them, 
are the very last to avail themselves of labor- 
saving and economical contrivances ? They are 
indeed in a double sense the poorest farmers. One 
would think that after all that has been said and 
written on the undisputed and indisputablesaving 
from steaming food, that every man, whose 
means enabled him to raise only a small crop, 
would provide himself with so cheap an appa- 
ratus as a steaming box, that they might make 
the littlo they raise go as far as possible. The 
large and wealthy farmer may afford the waste 
of feeding raw food, but that certainly is not the 
case with many who are not provided against it. 
Why is this? *Do they doubt the fact? If they 
have reason to do so, it is most important they 
should give their views to the public — if they 
admit it, why are they without such an appa- 
ratus a moment longer ? They lack the money 
to make the purchase — let them sell an acre of 
land, if necessary ; it will save them more food 
than the acre will make. Nobody seems blind 
to his own interest but the farmer. In every 
other branch of business, men watch with the 
eye of a hawk for every opportunity of reducing ! 
labor and cheapening their products, whilst the 
farmer seems to think either that his present 
system is perfect, or that it is already so profita- 
ble that he need take no pains to make it more 
so. For the benefit of those who entertain nei- 



Richmond, March 13, 1841. 

C. T. Botts, Esq. 

Dear Sir, — Why is it that we see men so 
eager to embrace new theories on most subjects 
of doubtful utility, to the entire neglect of those 
about which there is no possibility of doubt? 
For instance, let some scheming stranger intro- 
duce a subject, which will create the impression 
that a speculation may be made (and thereby en- 
trap the unwary,) and you will see three-fourths 
of our population eager to have a hand in it, 
never supposing for an instant that they may be 
losers thereby, but calculating how much they 
will realize; and then propose some plan by 
which mankind in a moral, intellectual, as well 
as pecuniary point, may with certainty be im- 
proved, and you will perceive those same persons 
advance with the utmost, caution and distrust. 

The above reflection was suggested by my 
attendance, for the first time, at a meeting of the 
" Henrico Agricultural and Horticultural Socie- 
ty," held this day in Richmond. It is a matter 
of astonishment to me why there has never been 
such a Society in this vicinity, ere this; and 
now that there is one formed, a nucleus around 
which to cling, that gentlemen of fortune and 
leisure should not step willingly forward, with 
their names and money to its assistance, is a 
still greater cause of wonder. Do they think 
such a Society is of no use? The continued 
success attendant on similar societies of other 
countries, as well as the more northern portions 
of our own, will be sufficient to give a negative 
answer to this. Can they suppose for a mo- 
ment that we have arrived at perfection in the 
agricultural world? No, they cannot— then 



38 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



why this apathy on a subject which ought, of 
all others to be the absorbing topic of talk and 
action ? Can it not be made profitable ? The 
fact that the farmer supports himself and the 
rest of creation by the sweat of his brow, proves 
that it is profitable under the worst manage- 
ment. And what will it not be, if we strive to 
improve our system, by emulating the agricul- 
tural portions of other countries 1 They have 
found out that the formation of societies have 
had the most beneficial effect, and our land-tillers 
will come to the same conclusion, after they find 
that book-farming is not so terrible a thing as 
most of them have taken it to be. Agricultural 
publications are beginning to be duly appreciated. 
Intimately connected with the reading of them 
is the formation of societies. By means of both 
we may enlarge our views, by an interchange 
of opinions and ideas. We frequently meet with 
a hard-fisted practical farmer who will readily 
impart to an inquiring friend any information, 
verbally, that it may be in his power to give, but 
who will say that he cannot write for a paper. 
All we want is for him to give it to the public 
in the rough state, and they will be perfectly 
willing to make all due allowances for any little 
imperfections in orthography or diction. To re- 
turn to our " Society :" — of its officers it is suffi- 
cient to state in this place, that they have been 
selected generally for their practical utility : they 
are men who may either " hold or drive" as oc- 
casion may offer ; who, if their own exertions 
or unflagging zeal in the cause which they have 
espoused, can do any thing, will reap the reward 
at no distant period, which the founders and sup- 
porters of such institutions invariably attain. 
Let me urge it as an imperative duty upon all 
classes to come forward, if not for themselves, 
for their country and their posterity. The prac- 
tical farmer needs no stimulus to press on in the 
good work. He sees in prospective the ultimate, 
as well as present good to be derived from it. 
Come then one and all, lose no time in enrolling 
your names on the list of members, pay up your 
dollar, and then to finish the business so well 
begun, call at No. 3, Governor street, and sub- 
scribe to the Southern Planter. 

I am your well wisher, R. H., Jr. 



It is with pleasure that we comply with a request to 
give insertion to the following- minutes: 

At a meeting of the Henrico Agricultural 
and Horticultural Society at the Washington 
Tavern, 13th March, 1841, 

Rev. Jesse H. Turner took the chair, and W. 
H. Richardson was appointed Secretary pro tern. 

On recommendation of the Executive Com- 
mittee, the following gentlemen were elected 
honorary and corresponding members, viz : 

James Barbour, of Orange— Jas. M. Garnett, 



of Essex — Edmund Ruffin, of Petersburg — 
Thomas J. Randolph, of Albemarle — Hill Car- 
ter, of Charles City — Charles J. Faulkner, of 
Berkeley — Dr. Carter Braxton, of King Wil- 
liam — General John H. Cocke, of Fluvanna — 
Archibald M. Harrison, of Fluvanna — Richard 
Sampson, of Goochland — Randolph Harrison, 
of Goochland — William J. Barksdale, of Ame- 
lia county. 

Thomas S. Dicken, and Richard G. Haden, - 
were elected Vice Presidents. 

The following resolution was passed : 

Resolved, That it be recommended to the mem- 
bers of this Society, to procure for their own 
use the Farmers' Register, and the Southern 
Planter. 

And then the meeting adjourned. 

J. H. Turner, President. 

W. H. Richardson, Secretary pro tern. 

(We hope that in this Society we have the 
nucleus of an institution that will do honor to 
the State of Virginia. It certainly starts with 
the fairest prospects. Its officers are well se- 
lected, being all plain, sensible men, remarkable 
for their soundness and discretion, and devoted 
to the cause of agriculture. The President, by 
his wise and successful operations upon a very 
unpromising soil, has demonstrated his capabi- 
lity to afford instruction to others, whilst his in- 
tegrity and suavity eminently qualify him for 
the station he fills. Our own opinion is that in- 
stitutions of this character will seldom be suc- 
cessful, except in a large city, and that opinion 
has been strengthened by observations made in 
the north, where they most prevail. Want of 
funds is the general difficulty. The most at- 
tractive, interesting, and strengthening feature 
in such an institution is its exhibitions. For 
these money is wanting, and to rely upon indi- 
vidual contributions altogether, is extremely pre- 
carious. In the northern cities, where they have 
charged a small fee for entrance to these exhi- 
bitions, the attendance has been overflowing, 
and in this manner a fund has been created 
which ensured the continuance of the Society. 
Funds, we repeat, are the very life spring of 
such an institution, and any facilities by which 
they can be secured are to be most highly va- 
lued. All this Society needs from the farmers of 
Virginia is a start. Will they withhold it from 
an institution that may redound so much to their 
advantage ? an arrangement whereby they can 
have an opportunity to exhibit the effect of 
their own labors and witness those of others 1 
wherein, they will be enabled by an annual 
meeting, and free interchange of opinions, to 
add to their own knowledge the experience of 
farmers from all parts of the Commonwealth ? 
And to effect these mighty ends what is required? 
That the farmers of the Commonwealth (for to 
all is the invitation extended) become members 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



39 



of this Society by remitting their name and one 
dollar to this office, where the books are depo- 
sited, for the present. On this subject we con- 
clude by referring our readers to the able article 
from R. H., Jr. in another column.) 



For the Southern Planter. 

Experience derived from the cultivation of a 
small farm in the neighborhood of Richmond, 
has impressed the writer with the following views 
for the promotion of the interest of the owners 
of the soil, similarly situated. 

If the owners and cultivators of the soil in 
the vicinity of Richmond, will make up their 
minds to make the exertions, and give the per- 
sonal attention requisite, I do not doubt, but that 
it is certainly within their reach in a reasonable 
time, to make their lands not only fertile but 
rich, and during the process, derive compensation 
for the labor, and also a handsome interest on 
the capital employed. By cultivating such crops 
as the consumption of the city encourages, it 
can be afforded to apply fertilizing manures and 
substances from the city, which can be procured 
on terms that will justify the expenditure, and 
in a few years leave the land rich. 

An error prevailing with many, is that they 
endeavor to make too much surface rich in one 
year. Select as much as can be cultivated well, 
and manure generously in the hill or furrow, im- 
mediately where the crop is to grow : and after 
the deposit of manure is thus made in the hill 
or furrow, sprinkle it over, and whiten it with 
lime ; and with the hoe, or plough, mix the de- 
posit with the earth, and plant the crop. By 
planting in the same land several years and 
changing the hill or furrow, the manuring be- 
comes general, and quite as good a yield is had 
every year as though the manuring was equal 
all over the surface. By thus adopting the hill 
or furrow 
root, or tobacco 
year. 

Crops that will yield the greatest value, on 
the smallest surface, are best suited to the te- 
dious system of manuring — Irish and sweet po- 
tatoes, beets, carrots, turnips, cabbage, peas, to- 
matoes, corn, and hay — I would also enumerate 
tobacco as liable to but few casualties, not a great 
exhauster, and as yielding a large value on a 
small surface. The great variety of fruits suited 
to our climate, consumed in the city, can be 
profitably raised in the vicinity — melons and 
wine no doubt can be profitably made. It is a 
great desideratum to have as much of your crop 
as can profitably be, consumed on the planta- 
tion. I should consider that butter and cheese 
would promote that end, and be profitable : that 
sheep, veal, and hogs for shoats, and early ba- 
con, should be raised. I doubt the propriety of 
raising cattle at much expense, they being here, 



manuring, the whole of the corn and 
crop, can be manured every 



very subject to a fatal disease — also I doubt the 
propriety of raising horses except on roots and 
hay. 

On our lands I believe the ploughing in green 
crops cannot be relied upon to obtain desirable 
fertility; it may, however, be indulged in as a 
valuable auxiliary. 

If no other motives should induce us to throw 
in our mite, through your well conceived publi- 
cation, but to aid in bringing about a prudent 
and prosperous population to leave our children 
with, I should regard that of itself sufficient. I 
am disposed to subscribe to an idea expressed by 
the Massachusetts Agricultural Society, "that 
no extensive community or society of people can 
be happy and prosperous unless their business 
and amusements are at home." 

A Subscriber. 



ROTARY KNITTING LOOM. 

Messrs. Walker & Mclntyre have, for the 
last two or three days, been exhibiting at our 
office a knitting machine, that has attracted uni- 
versal admiration. The} 7 demonstrated its ca- 
pacity to turn off forty pair of stockings a day 
by the simple revolution of a crank, within the 
power of a child twelve years of age. The 
cost of knitting a pair of stockings is estimated 
at one cent. It is equally applicable to forming 
a negro sock or a silk shirt. We are not suffi- 
ciently acquainted with knitting looms to insti- 
tute a comparison between this machine and 
others of the same kind, but, from the represen- 
tations of those better informed, believe that the 
advantages are manifold. The quality of the 
work is certainly very far superior to that from 
any other machine we ever saw, and in no re- 
spect inferior to the product of the most skilful 
hand. The instrument is extremely simple, and 
within the management of any person of ordi- 
nary ingenuity. We doubt not that this inven- 
tion is destined to have a wonderful effect upon 
the price of all kinds of knit goods. We shall 
watch its progress with great interest. 



We find, as we expected, great difficulty in 
procuring communications from those best able 
to afford them, the practical farmers of the 
country ; they seem to have an unconquerable 
aversion to putting pen to paper, and yet, they 
constantly urge upon us the necessity of fur- 
nishing the results of well tried experiments. 
Whence are we to obtain them ? Mr. A. tells 
us that, although he can do nothing to help us, 
Mr. B. ought to afford us his assistance, and 
Mr. B., perhaps in a few hours afterwards, calls 
to express his astonishment that Mr. A. does not 
exert himself to impart to the world some of his 
valuable information. Each is impressed with 
the obligation that lies upon the other to furnish 



40 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



his quota to the common stock of knowledge, 
but neither recognises the rule as applicable to 
himself. 

A very erect, spruce old gentlemen called at 
our office a few mornings since, as we supposed, 
for the purpose of subscribing to our paper. 
Far different, however, was his intent, for walk- 
ing in a very stalely manner, up to our table, 
and striking his cane upon the floor, he asked, 
if it was our intention to dwell upon the paved 
streets of Richmond, and teach the farmers of 
Virginia how to cultivate the soil. We replied, 
that we had formed no such presumptuous 
expectation, but that we had humbly hoped to 
afford gentlemen, such as he appeared to be, ex- 
perienced and learned, an opportunity, through 
our columns, of conveying the results of their 
experience to their younger and less observant 
countrymen — he paused a moment, and ob- 
served there might be something in that, and 
finally had his name enrolled amongst our sub- 
scribers, giving us reason to believe that the 
world should no longer want the light of his 
knowledge. 

Now toe ask our readers do yow expect us to 
dwell upon the paved streets in the city of Rich- 
mond, and from our own resources afford you a 
constant supply of the facts you so loudly call 
for ? To do so would certainly be a little un- 
reasonable. Lend us then your assistance — 
stand not back because of a supposed incapabi- 
lity of writing ; we want no fine words ; give 
us those facts that are worthy of observation, 
and which must more or less come under the 
cognizance of every man, who pretends to till 
the earth — give us the naked fact ; from our 
wardrobe we will contrive to furnish it with a 
dress. Of those who can, and do not, contribute 
to agricultural papers, there are several classes. 
First, there are those who are too inert, to do any 
thing which does not redound to their immediate 
advantage — there is another, we hope a small 
class, who are so selfish as to desire to conceal 
the knowledge they possess ; and there is still 
another, that are willing and able to communi- 
cate knowledge, without being aware of it. In 
the course of time facts have become so familiar 
to them, that they are supposed to be known to 
every body else — they forget that a practice uni- 
versal in one region, may be totally unknown 
in another. Every man too has some way of 
doing something, that he thinks better than his 
neighbor's; let us hear it, and perhaps he will 
hear of another better than his own. 

Every one can afford us some assistance — if 
he has knowledge he can impart it ; if he has 
none, he can inquire for it, and thereby be the 
means of extracting it from others. 

Upon written communications, however, we 
have but little reliance — we know the inaptitude 
of farmers to write, in spite of the most striking 
appeals to their patriotism. But there is an- 



other process, more productive of information. 

j We have, in the back room of our orhce, a pa- 
tent knowledge press ; in the shape of a point 
of interrogation, under which we sometimes put 

i a burly farmer, and give him a squeeze. The 
effect is prodigious ; sometimes, at the very first 
turn of the lever, information flows from him 
like sugar from the maple tree. Such is the 
virtue of this machine, that it never fails to elicit 
something good. The operation is by no means 
an unpleasant one, and we call it the squeezing 

process — farmers generally are respectfully in- 
vited to come and try it — if required, the most 
confidential secrecy is observed with respect to 
the name of the individual operated upon. 



HEMP. 



During the last week, Major Yancey called 
to see us, and happy were we to find the old 
gentleman looking as hale and hearty as he did 
ten years ago. Whatever the Major may be in 
politics, he is certainly a wheel horse in agricul- 
ture. We gladly availed ourselves therefore of 
the opportunity of taking him into our back 
room, and putting him under the press. The 
consequence was, as might have been expected, 
that we obtained information of the most impor- 
tant kind to our agricultural friends. The first 
subject upon which the Major expatiated was 
hemp. Every farmer should cultivate at least 
two or three acres of hemp, for his own use — 
he will find it simple and convenient in the ex- 
treme. The crop is a fertilizer, rather than an 
exhauster. A piece of rich ground should be 
well prepared and sowed broadcast. The Major 
has in the last twenty-five years taken twenty- 
five successive crops from two acres of land, 
without adding a particle of manure during the 
time, and he thinks the ground in better condi- 
tion now than when he began. He only needs 
a windlass and the common flax break to con- 
vert this hemp into leading lines, bed cords, hame 
strings, and all the other purposes that rope is 
needed for. The Major declares that there are 
no two acres on his farm that he esteems more 
valuable than these two, which are regularly 
put in hemp. 

From this celebrated farmer we also obtained 
some valuable hints upon other subjects, such 
as tobacco, wheat, the use of lime, &c, with 
which we shall furnish our readers from time to 
time. 



J\Ir. Editor, — All my hopes of a very fine 
litter of Berkshire pigs have been nipped in the 
bud in consequence of their being eaten up, 
hair and hide, tooth and toe-nail, by their unna- 
tural mother; and this too, notwithstanding I 
have pursued the system of change of food, 
recommended as a preventive by Dr. Morton. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



41 



Can any of your readers account for this per- 
version of the laws of nature, which is, I be- 
lieve, peculiar to the bog, and which becomes 
an important point because of the value the 
animal is assuming. If we w r cre possessed of 
more extensive knowledge of the facts connected 
with the subject, we might be enabled to draw 
deductions which would lead to means of guard- 
ing against a consequence, which in its nature 
is very provoking, to say the least of it. The 
only facts that t myself have noticed as con- 
nected with the subject are, that of two sows 
which pigged about the same time and under 
similar circumstances, the after-birth was care- 
fully removed from the one, whilst no such pre- 
caution was taken with respect to the other. 
The one from which the after-birth was taken 
eat her pigs, the other did not. I only state the 
facts, without saying, or even concluding, that 
th^re was any other relation than an accidental 
connexion between them. 



Yours, 



B. S. 



BONE DUST. 



In a conversation held a few days since with 
Mr. Richard G. Haden, he informed us, that, 
during the last summer he procured a quantity 
of bone dust from the north, which he drilled 
in with a part of his turnip seed, by way of ex- 
periment — the result satisfied him, that he was 
more than remunerated by the increase of that 
crop for all the expense of the dust — he has not 
yet had an opportunity to form any opinion as 
to its permanent effect upon the land. Mr. Ha- 
den cannot be particular as to the quantity of 
bone dust that he used, but thinks that it might 
have been about a gill to the running foot — he 
sowed it in a continuous stream in the drill, so 
that an unbroken line of bone dust could be rea- 
dily perceived from a considerable distance. Mr. 
Haden. promises to inform us of his observations 
upon its future effects, but, if he never sees any 
thing more of the bone dust, he considers himself 
a gainer by the operation. We asked him to 
compare the cost of bone dust with that of stable 
manure — he said it was difficult to do so, be- 
cause of the variation in the cost of stable ma- 
nure. When made by the fanner himself it 
varies with his management and mode of cre- 
ating it, and when purchased, so much depends 
upon the distance hauled, that it is impossible 
to set an average price upon it. He, himself, 
lives within two miles of the cit}^ of Richmond, 
where he can buy stable manure for a cent a 
bushel. Under such circumstances, he thinks 
that the manure that he can either make or pur- 
chase for one dollar, is infinitely more efficacious 
than the bone dust he can get for the same 
amount ; but then he considers that drilling ma- 
nure, as he always does, for his turnips, mangel 
Wurtzel, and other drilled crops, is a very tedious 
Vol. 1—4 



and lengthy business; he often has not time to 
effect it; then the bone dust, which is more 
easily disposed of. enables him very much to ex- 
tend his drilled crops; and this he esteems a 
wonderful advantage. From Mr. Haden we 
have obtained a fund of practical knowledge, 
which we shall bounteously communicate to our 
readers. We know of no one gentleman upon 
whose assistance we place more reliance than 
upon that of Mr. Haden, and if our readers 
knew him as ^ell as we do, they would be most 
happy to know that he is earnest and indefati- 
gable in his desire to impart as well as to obtain 
information. 



AMERICAN FARMER, 

[What a wonderful change the last twenty 
years have wrought in the agriculture of the 
United States. Barbarous and" exhausting sys- 
tems by which the most fertile plains were re- 
duced to cheerless deserts, hare been aban- 
doned — ignorance has been enlightened — science 
has been brought to the aid of practice, and 
agriculture has assumed her station amongst 
the noblest arts. Principally instrumental in 
effecting this happy change has been the exten- 
sion of agricultural papers, which are more nu- 
merous at this time in America than in the 
whole world besides. This single fact speaks 
volumes for the effect of our free institutions, in 
dispelling the clouds of darkness that rest upon 
the human mind. The farmers of America, that 
class which is so numerous in every Country, and 
which is so ignorant elsewhere, pay for and re- 
ceive more information than the balance of the 
world. The effect must be, that notwithstand- 
ing its immature state, this country will soon 
rank first in the world for her agricultural know T - 
led^e. Whilst our people exult in this proud 
reflection, they should never forget who was the 
pioneer in the attempt, which is to result in these 
happy consequences. Mr. John S. Skinner, in- 
spired certainly more by a patriotism than any 
pecuniary gain he could hope from the under- 
taking, established we believe, in the city of 
Baltimore, the first agricultural paper ever pub- 
lished in America. The old American Farmer 
is still edited by Mr. Skinner with unflagging 
ability. The agricultural community owe him 
a debt of gratitude they never can repay, and 
from the fraternity he is entitled to the greatest 
respect, not only on account of his seniority, but 
for his uniform courtesy and politeness. 

To the people of the south, particularly, the 
Farmer is recommended, as well by its locality, 
as its devotion to their peculiar interests. 

As a small recompense for the pleasure and 
information we have derived in by-gone days, 
when we were one of the farming community, 
from the early numbers of the American Farmer, 
we lend our assistance to give circulation to Mr. 



42 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



Skinner's liberal proposal. With great pleasure 
will we receive subscriptions for the paper at our 
office.] 

A PROPOSITION. 

The publisher of the American Farmer 

proposes that 

Any one obtaining 20 subscribers for the Ame- 
rican Farmer, and remitting the money there- 
for, ($50,) for one year, (or become responsible 
for the same,) shall receive for his trouble a 
handsome full-bred Berkshire, eight to ten 
weeks old, or a pair of Tuscaroras, (a cross 
of the Berkshire on the China,) caged and 
furnished with food, if necessary, to any part 
of the United States. 

Or, for the same number, and on the same terms, 



shall receive any agricultural implement, fruit 
or ornamental trees, shrubs, seeds, or books, 
to be found in catalogues, which will be for- 
warded to subscribers at a distance in a few 
days, to the value of $12 50. 

Jllso, any one obtaining five subscribers, and re- 
mitting $10 therefor, shall receive volume 1 
or 2 of the new series of the "American 
Farmer," neatly bound in boards if required, 
or forwarded in sheets to any part of the 
United States. 

For ten subscribers and $20, volumes 1 and 2 
do. do. 

For twenty do. and $40, volumes 1 and 2 Ame- 
rican Farmer, and 3, 4 and 5 Farmer and 
Gardener, all bound, if desired. 



BACHELDER'S PATENT CORN PLANTER 




This implement has given great satisfaction 
to the members of the Legislature, and others 
to whom it has been exhibited in our city during 
the last week. We have not had an opportu- 
nity of seeing it in operation, but its construc- 
tion is so simple that its efficiency cannot be 
doubted. Our exchange papers from the south, 
the east, and the west, speak of it in the highest 
terms. The Editor of the Farmers' Monthly 
Visiter, a paper of very high repute, published 
in New Hampshire, declares it to be far the best 
implement of the kind he has ever seen. It is 
intended for the sowing or planting of any kind 
of seeds, but is peculiarly adapted to planting 
corn. The intervals can be increased or lessened 
at pleasure, and with a little attention the opera- 
tion is made certain. The peculiarities of this 
machine are that it does not open a furrow, con- 
sequently does not need coverers, which increase 
the expense and complicatian of other machines. 
It also has an excellent apparatus for guaging 



the depth of the planting. We are clearty of 
opinion, to say nothing of increased expedition 
and saving of labor, that a farmer with a large 
corn crop to plant, would save more than the 
price of this machine in one year, from the ad- 
vantage to be derived from the uniformity both 
of depth and distance, which the most particu- 
lar hand cannot equal. Not the least of its re- 
commendations is, that the implement is remarka- 
bly well and substantially made. We have 
ordered a half dozen, several of which are al- 
ready bespoken. Price $25. 



BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 

[Of all the classes in our community the first 
in numbers and importance is undoubtedly the 
Agricultural; and yet, we are about io re- 
cord the first Legislative enactment in Virginia 
intended for their peculiar benefit. We are no 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



43 



groat admirers of Legislative interference gene- 
rally in any branch of business, and think that, 
most frequently the favors of the Legislative 
body are as ill timed and injurious as the car- 
casses of the ass in the fable, dissatisfying and 
destroying where they are intended to please and 
preserve. But with the following we have no 
fault to find — it proves at least that Virginia is 
aroused to the importance of her agricultural 
interest. Indeed, if the selections are well made, 
and gentlemen can be found, (which we doubt 
not,) who will discharge a laborious duty faith- 
fully for the honor alone which it will bring to 
them, and the benefit it will bestow upon their 
country, then, inestimable are the advantages 
to be derived from the following :] 

BILL TO ESTABLISH A BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 

Whereas, it is represented to the General As- 
sembly of Virginia, that the agricultural com- 
munity have various interests, requiring the 
fostering care of the State, which should be ex- 
tended to them according to some system ap- 
proved by observation and regulated by experi- 
ence. And whereas, it appears to the General 
Assembly that these ends would be promoted by 
the establishment of a Board whose duty it 
should be to present to the Legislature from 
time to time a general view of the agricultural 
statistics of the Commonwealth — to inform the 
public of the progress of improvement — to com- 
municate such facts, as when collected and di- 
gested, may promote the agricultural interests 
of the State: and to suggest such measures for 
the adoption of the General Assembly, as the 
aforesaid Board may deem proper for the devel- 
opment of the resources, and the protection and 
advancement of that important branch of indus- 
try in the Commonwealth ; 

Be it therefore enacted, That a Board, to be 
called a " Board of Agriculture," shall hereafter 
be constituted, to consist of eight members, to 
be appointed triennially by the Executive of 
this Commonwealth ; of whom two shall be se- 
lected from each of the four divisions of the 
State, as specified in the second section of the 
third article of the Constitution, for the appor- 
tionment of representation in the House of De- 
legates ; any three of whom may constitute a 
quorum for the transaction of business. 

Be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty 
of said Board to present annually to the Legis- 
lature a general view of the condition of agri- 
culture in the State : — to report the nature and 
quantity of the agricultural staples, so far as 
they may be able to ascertain the same : to col- 
lect and digest such facts in relation to the im- 
provement and cultivation of the soil, and the 
best modes of preparing its various products for 
their appropriate uses, as they may think would 
afford useful information to the agricultural com- 
munity — to report, so far as they may ascertain 



the same, the relative degrees of encouragement 
afforded by the State of foreign and domestic 
markets to the various agricultural productions 
of this Commonwealth, and to suggest to the 
Legislature such measures as they may deem 
desirable for the development of the resources, 
and the promotion of the general interests of 
agriculture in this Commonwealth. 

And be it further enacted, That it shall be the 
duty of said Bdard to hold one session in each 
year, at such time and place as may be fixed 
upon by the Board, with the consent of the 
Executive. 

This act shall be in force from the passage 
thereof. 

Let it not be forgotten, that this bill, passed on the 
20th March, 1841, is the result of persevering- action on 
the part of the Henrico Agricultural Society. 



KICKING COWS. 

From the Cultivator we learn that a Mr. Kid- 
der has communicated to the Hancock Agricul- 
tural Society a mode which he pronounces an 
effectual cure for the bad habit which cows 
sometimes acquire of kicking under the opera- 
tion of milking. This is neither more nor less 
than to tie their heads up a few times, until they 
become perfectly quiet. We can see that this 
would effectually prevent a cow from kicking 
up, that is 3 from raising both her hind legs off 
the ground at the same time, because, for this 
action the head must be thrown down, but we 
do not exactly see how it would prevent the cow 
from kicking out with one leg, which we believe 
is the most common practice. But Mr. Kidder 
speaks with great confidence of the success of 
his remedy in every case, and its simplicity cer- 
tainly entitles it to a trial. 



CLOVER IN CORN. 

We notice a piece in the agricultural papers, 
stating that a Pennsylvania Senator near Phi- 
ladelphia, who is a good farmer, is in the habit 
of sowing a full crop of red clover the last time 
he works his corn. His success is reported uni- 
versally good, and if this S}'stem were success- 
ful in the southwest, we believe it would contri- 
bute much to our husbandry. It is said the 
corn shades and protects the young clover, so 
that it gets a firm set, and gives a good crop 
the spring after sowing. Has any one in the 
west tried it 1 — Agriculturist. 

LARGE GARDENS ON SMALL FARMS. 

[The most profitable acre on every farm is a 
well cultivated garden. Not only is the product 
more abundant, but the nett profit is infinitely 
greater. Why is this? Because of its supe- 
rior cultivation; because of the concentration of 
labor, whereby a small surface is made to yield 
a product as great as a larger one, and the con- 



44 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



sequent saving of the labor, which is lost in the 
frequent traversing the greater space. The cost 
of production consists in the expense of ma- 
nuring, working, reaping, and sowing. Now, 
suppose a man has thirty acres of land, and a 
given amount of manure and labor, if you can 
show him that the manure applied to one acre 
will yield as much as if scattered over the thirty, 
will he not save himself the labor of spreading 
it over the other twenty-nine? It is true that 
the one acre, to produce the same yield as the 
thirty, will require a much more minute and te- 
dious cultivation than any one acre of the thirty, 
but certain it is, that the same amount of yield 
can be obtained with less labor than will be re- 
quired to cultivate the whole thirty, and that, for 
the reason we have before mentioned, viz : the 
saving caused by the smaller space to be tra- 
velled over in the frequent operations of plough- 
ing and hoeing, reaping and sowing. The man 
who, under such circumstances, does not con- 
centrate all his force and means upon the single 
acre may be likened to a miner, who would leave 
a solid seam of gold to hunt over a tract of land 
for surface ore. 

There is undoubtedly a limit to this mode of 
cultivation ; there is certainly an extent of labor 
and of manure to be applied to an acre, beyond 
which it is not profitable to go, but that point 
we are afraid is and will be for a long time be- 
yond the common standard of our country. 
Until an acre of ground however is brought to 
that point, it is the height, of folly in any culti- 
vator of the soil to cultivate more than a single 
acre. What is that point it will be asked, to 
which we now allude, and of which we have 
spoken before 1 The answer will depend upon 
the crop that circumstances will render profita- 
ble. For some crops the point is much higher 
than for others ; as for roots and vegetables it is 
much greater than would be necessary for wheat 
and rye. The question then occurs, to what 
extent can you use root and vegetable crop 1 
The difficulty of keeping the most of them li- 
mits the market for them as well as the home 
consumption, and it unfortunately happens, that 
those crops, which are not so profitable, because 
so much of them cannot be raised on the same 
surface, keep best, and must continue to be the 
great agricultural staples, until this difficulty is 
removed from roots and vegetables. But the 
great error is, that here, to the south, we do not 
cultivate these profitable crops, so much of which 
may be raised upon a small surface, even to the 
extent for which there is a demand for them 
If we are right in our supposed value of them, 
the farmer should first secure these crops to the 
extent to which he can use them, before he turns 
his attention to another more unprofitable acre. 
If any is to be neglecied, it should surely be the 
poorest and least profitable. The various uses 
tp which these root crops may be applied is not 



properly understood among us ; if they were 7 
the farmer who now has only a single acre in 
this kind of cultivation, which he denominates 
his garden, would exiend it to several acres, and 
attach more importance piobably to his garden 
than any other portion of his ground ten times 
as great in surface. 

We have been led into this article by the fol- 
lowing excellent extract from the Farmers' Ca- 
binet:] 

"And now let me say a word in favor of a 
large garden, even upon a small farm", if the 
experiment were to be made, it would surprise 
any one to see how much the consumption of 
meat in a family could be reduced, to the mani- 
fest advantage and comfort of all, by the substi- 
tution of large quantities of vegetables of diffe- 
rent varieties ; and I would recommend, that at 
all times a greater quamity of these should be 
cooked than are expected to be eaten by the 
family; this, and a great variety, would be an 
I inducement to their expenditure, if they were 
well prepared ; and every fragment that remains 
should be gathered up, and fed to the poultry, 
with the water also in which they have been 
boiled with the meat ; all this, if well mashed 
up and mixed with meal, will afford excellent 
food for poultry of all kinds, and is by far the 
best means of affording plenty of eggs the year 
through, after all that has been said and done 
upon that subject. 

"A calendar of work to be performed every 
month in the year in such a garden, would take 
but littte space in ihe pages of the Cabinet ; and 
if a few remarks at the commencement were to 
be added, pointing out the benefits and advan- 
tages to be derived from a more plentiful use of 
vegetables, and a less consumption of salted 
meats in this hot and dry climate, the result 
would, no doubt, be happy, and very much tend 
to the preservation of the health of the agricul- 
tural community in general. K. 

" N. B. — It would be an excellent plan for the 
farmer to devote an hour or so to the garden be- 
fore breakfast in the morning; then, if all hands 
turn to heartily, much labor could be performed 
in a very short time."" 



FOOD FOR HORSES. 

Can the Editor of the Jeffersonian Republican 
give us any information as to the practical cha- 
racter of his correspondent "A Mountain Far- 
mer," who recommends the use of d/y chop feed. 
It is contrary to the universal custom, is cer- 
tainly objectionable in some respects, yet conies 
from him who "speaks as one having authority." 



SHEEP. 

Wc have loner thought that this animal was too much 
neglected in Virginia and the southern country gene- 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



45 



rally. We know a very practical farmer, who thil.kfl 
the sheep, beyond question, the most profitable animal 
that has yet been domesticated. In pursuance of these 
views, and to bring- attention to the subject, we copy 
following - from the Farmers' Cabinet: 

STALL-FED SHEEP. 

JMr. Editor, — I find in the Quarterly Journal 
of Agriculture, a very interesting- account of 
two experiments on stall feeding sheep. One is 
at a loss to comprehend why this is not oftener 
practised in this country than it is, for the ad- 
vantages would be great, not only in the sup- 
ply of the market with a superior quality of 
meat, but to the feeder, who would find a ready 
sale for his sheep, at a considerable advance in j 
price: while the convenience of stall-feeding 
sheep — their quiet, cleanly habits rendering them 
a peculiarly pleasant household family — must be 
apparent to every practical man. After this, 
comes the advantage in point of quality and 
quantity of wool, the first of which ought to 
weigh with the wool-buyer in this country, as 
it does in every other where this system is pur- 
sued. The greater variety of articles as food 
for fatting sheep, which might be grown here, 
would be of very considerable moment, for to no 
other stock is a change of diet of so much im- 
portance, as is well known to all who have 
practised the system of slall-feeding, whether 
for making fat mutton or house lamb. 

The first experiment was conducted by Mr. 
Wilkin, with sheep, a cross between the Cheviot 
and Leicester or Dishley, of the age of over one 
year, denominated technically, Hoggs. The 
best sheep in the lot weighed 157 pounds alive, l 
indicating about twenty pounds per quarter, dead 
weight ; they had been kept in a shed and open 
court since the 25th of November — the time of 
slaughtering being the 16th of April — and the 
average increase of live weight during that time 
on each sheep was forty-eight pounds and a half. 
The daily weight of turnip for each sheep was 
seventeen pounds, and the cost of grain and oil- 
cake for each was seven shillings and six pence. 
The increase of value was from twenty-two to 
twenty-five shillings; and afforded a considerable 
profit on stall or house-feeding. 

The second experiment was made by Mr. 
McBiyde. During the month of December, 

1838, he tied up a number of the pure Leicester 
breed in stalls, and fed them on turnips, rice, sa- 
go, sugar, and linseed oil ; and in December, 

1839, he tried the same experiment on a lot of 
common-bred wethers; he gave them daily a 
quantity of linseed, and as many turnips as they 
would eat, and the experiment far exceeded his 
expectations. The quality of the mutton was 
of the finest description, and the wool, by being 
sheltered, one day from the cold and drenching 
rains, and the sun and drying winds the next, 
was soft and fleecy, far superior to that on the 
same kind of sheep which had been fed abroad; 



and another great advantage which the stall 
possesses over trie field-feeding is, preservation 
from the diseases which the damps and vicissi- 
tudes of the weather often engender. The whole 
lot was sold to Mr. Boyle for slaughter, and so 
high was his opinion of their excellence, that 
he paid seven shillings per head more for them 
than for others of the same lot that had been 
field-fed. 

Mr. McBryde remarks, " although the last lot 
has proved exceedingly prosperous, yet the pure- 
bred Leicesters were more so; and although at 
first confinement to the stall they consumed a 
greater quantity of turnips, yet in the end there 
was a great saving, as they did not require near 
so much as they would have done in the fields. 
The nutritious quality of the linseed made the 
mutton of the very richest flavor, peculiarly firm 
and juicy." He expresses his opinion that many 
farmers will try the experiment, for during both 
seasons those tied up in the stalls were exceed- 
ingly healthy — far more so than the lot from 
whence they were taken at random, and required 
but little attendance. The first which was killed 
weighed eighty-two pounds of mutton, having 
eighteen pounds of fat. Joshua Stiles. 

Berks County. 



As there are many persons that, even in summer, 
cannot obtain green meat for cows, we copy the follow- 
ing from the Western Farmer, notwithstanding the 
season, for which it was intended, has passed: 

WINTER FOOD FOR COWS. 

Mr. Charberf, the director of the Veterinary 
School of Africa, had a number of cows which 
yielded twelve gallons of milk every day. In 
his publications on the subject, he observes that 
cows fed in the winter upon dry substances give 
less milk than those which are kept upon a 
green diet, and also that their milk loses much 
of its quality. He published the following re- 
cipe, by the use of which his cows afforded him 
an equal quantity and quality of milk during 
the winter as during the summer: 

"Take a bushel of potatoes, break them whilst 
raw, place them in a barrel standing up, putting 
in successively a layer of potatoes and a layer 
of bran, and a small quantity of yeast in the 
middle of the mass, which is to be left thus to 
ferment during a whole week, and when the 
vinous taste has pervaded the whole mixture, it 
is then given to the cows, who eat it readily." 

The sugar-beet answers the same purpose 
well. 



MEASURING CORN. 

The following rule for nscertaing the quan- 
tity of shelled corn in a house of any dimen- 
sions, is by Win. Murray, Esq. of South Caro- 
lina, and was read before the St. John's Collec- 
tion Agricultural Society, and communicated 



46 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



by them for publication in the Southern Agri- 
culturist. 

Rule. — Having previously levelled the corn 
in the house, so that it will be of equal depth 
throughout, ascertaining the length, and breadth, 
and depth of the bulk; multiply these dimen- 
sions together, and their products by four, then 
cut off one figure from the right of this last '< 
product. This will give so many bushels and 
a decimal of a bushel of shelled corn. If it be 
required to find the quantity of eared com, sub- 1 
stitute eight for four, and cut off one figure as 
before. 

Example. — In a bulk of corn in the ear, 
measuring 12 feet long, 11 feet broad, and 6 
feet deep, there will be 316 bushels and eight- 
tenths of a bushel of shelled corn, or 633 bushels 
and six-tenths of ear corn, as : 

12 12 

11 11 



132 
6 

792 
4 



132 
6 

792 



316,8 633,6 

The decimal 4 is used when the object is to 
find the quantity in shelled corn, because that 
decimal is half of the decimal 8, and it requires 
two bushels of ear corn to make one of shelled 
corn. In using these rules a half a bushel may 
be added for every hundred, that amount of ears 
results from the substitution of the decimals. 



quarters, till j^our pit or cistern is full, and ready 
to be cleansed out, to give room for another 
" making/'' When the material is thrown out of 
the pit, it will be always necesssary and proper 
to cover it over entirely with weeds or some kind 
of refuse, as straw, &c. but the more vegetable 
matter the better. It will be found, if this pro- 
cess be earnestly persevered in, that a greater 
quantity of this kind of manure to produce fine 
crops, than is usually made from the farm yard, 
will not be necessary, and the good effects will 
remain in the soil, and appear on the future 
crops. Buts should be made in different parts 
of the surface of the heap, the liquid being al- 
ways immediately covered over. Lime in suc- 
cessive layers would greatly add to the richness 
and value of the above compost, and leaves from 
the woods might be added to it occasionally with 
great advantage. Now, learned essayists, clas- 
sical theorists, and scientific exposers of modern 
terms may laugh at this simple plan of agricul- 
tural enrichment, but here is a matter on which 
we may exercise nearly all our senses — we can 
see it, touch it, most certainly smell it, and at any 
stage of the process we can readily hear it. But 
before concluding, we must observe, that different 
manures are adapted to different soils and dif- 
ferent plants, and a long continuance of the same 
manure to the same soil is often injurious. We 
must here also remark, that we have known 
many farmers to draw manure, at a dear rate, 
from towns, w T ho were allowing much liquid 
manure, for want of a trifling arrangement in 
the stables, viz : wooden gutters, to " waste its 
sweetness in the desert air." E. J. H. 



From the Western Farmer. 
HINTS FOR MAKING MANURE. 

As it is not in the power of small farmers and 
gardeners to keep a sufficient number of ani- 
mals to make a large quantity of manure, (usual- 
ly prepared in the farm yard,) to form a source 
of wealth so much neglected in situations really 
requiring these means, and difficult to obtain 
them, we will now give some directions for the 
best substitute for this purpose. First, then, dig 
a pit in a convenient part of the farm or garden 
premises down to the clay, if there be any, or a 
kind of tank or cistern near the house would be 
still better, and put a layer of finely broken earth 
on the bottom, on which throw for some little 
time, say a week, all the suds, dirty water, and 
ail other liquids from the house and farm that 
can be collected, — the whole to be properly 
mixed together with a shovel, the operator stand- 
ing on the brink of the pit or tank ; and after- 
wards a thin layer of earth, road scrapings or 
sods to prevent evaporation. In another week, 
or as often as possible, add another layer of 
finely broken earth, and other liquids from ail 



LUCERNE. 
It is now time that farmers and gardeners 
were sowing this valuable grass : some diversity 
of opinion exists as to the question of drilling 
or sowing broadcast ; in either case, the ground 
should be nicely prepared and made very rich. 
It forms an excellent edging for squares in gar- 
dens, where it answers the double purpose of 
ornament and profit by its most productive yield. 
Its value is beginning to be understood, and its 
cultivation is too general to make any particular 
directions necessary. It has been considered 
very valuable because of its early maturity, and 
the fact of its affording green food at a time 
when none other can be had. Against this use 
of it, however, we are cautioned in the following 
extract (taken from the Western Farmer,) from 
a little work published by order of the French 
government, to be distributed amongst the dairy 
keepers of Paris and its vicinity: 

"Lucerne given green, alone, without discre- 
tion, before the flowers open, covered with dew, 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



47 



or wet with vain, and not yet withered a little by 
the sun, is apt to give cows the gripes, and blast 
or blow them, a disorder which sometimes ends 
fatally. This plant, so far from being cooling, 
as some have imagined, is really very heating. 
It not only makes the milk of middling quality, 
but it is even certain, and fanners who are can- 
did acknowledge it, that this milk taken alone, 
is of a heating quality. It. has also been ob- 
served by farmers, that when pressed by a defi- 
ciency of other nutriment, or from economy, they 
are induced to keep their cows on green lucerne, 
and especially the second crop, and on no other 
food, they are subject to eruption, and an oozing 
of a yellowish or reddish fluid, which generally 
first appears on the pasterns of the hind legs, 
and spreads successively to the hocks, the thighs, 
the udder, and the belly. It does not often at- 
tack the fore legs. The skin chops, or is drawn 
up into folds, and exudes a sharp humor, which 
gradually dries, and forms yellowish crusts or 
scabs, which gradually fall off with the hair, 
and leave the skin naked. The thighs are so 
inflamed that the animal feels great difficulty in 
lying down. 

" This eruption causes so much weakness 
sometimes, that the cows cut the inside of the 
leg with the opposite foot, and make themselves 
bleed : the appetite and milk diminish, but at 
the same time they ruminate, and do not appear 
in other respects ill : it is observed that they al- 
ways drink more than other cows. It continues 
about fifteen days, and terminates more quickly 
when the farmer does not apply butter, fat from 
the frying-pan. or other greasy matter to it which 
is a common practice with them. The using 
these greasy and rancid applications leaves swell- 
ings in the legs which are a considerable time 
in going off. The sooner the cause of eruption, 
lucerne, is taken away from the cow, the more 
quickly does the disease cease ; but the farmer 
has not always a sufficient quantity of other 
food to give them : he must then mix with, the 
lucerne as much as he can of that fodder, whe- 
ther green or dry, which he can procure ; which 
should not be given till the day after it has been 
cut; during this time it should bespread out, 
and exposed to the sun. It will be useful also 
to sprinkle it with water in which some salt 
has been dissolved, immediately before it is given, 
and it should be given in smaller quantity than 
usual. In addition to these measures, they 
should be allowed white water to drink ; that 
is, water with a little flour mixed up in it ; the 
eruptions should be kept clean with warm wa- 
ter, or with an infusion of elder flowers : this, 
with walking exercise, pure air, good litter, and 
a strict attention to cleanliness, will soon subdue 
the disorder, which, though not of a very dan- 
gerous nature, is extremely disgusting, and can- 
not fail of giving those who see it a distaste for 
milk." 



We ore generally a little shy in repeating- floating' 
rumors of wonderful improvement*, which frequently 

turn out to be wonderful humbugs; but the following 
is so important in its nature, and comes in such an un- 
questionable shape, that we are induced to copy it from 
the Boston Cultivator, a paper of the highest respecta- 
bility: 

A NEW MODE OFJMAKING CLOTH. 

A correspondent of the Post writes from Lon- 
don that an American by the name of Wells 
has invented a new mode of manufacturing 
woollen cloth which will reduce the expense not 
less than three fourths. It is made without 
'spindle and without loom, and is fully equal to 
I any spun or woven broadcloth. Our readers 
, well know that hats have long been made of 
I wool without a single thread, and that the body 
| of the manufactured article is more firm and 
durable than any woven cloth. 

If it be a fact that three-fourths of the labor 
I may be saved by compressing the wool instead 
i of spinning and weaving it, the advantage to 
\ this country will be greater than to any other in 
proportion as labor is higher here than elsewhere. 
I The writer of the letter says : 

About six months ago, I was introduced to 
an American who visited this country for the 
purpose of securing a valuable patent for a new 
method of manufacturing woollen cloth. I ex- 
amined numerous specimens of the cloth, all of 
which appears very well, and possessed impor- 
tant improvements over the English broadcloth, 
and cassimere; but as I know little about the 
article, I did not make any mention of it at that 
time, for however sanguine an inventor of any 
new instrument may be, or however strongly 
convinced the discoverer of any new theory or 
system may be, that it is superior to all others, the 
public do not always find it to prove such. As 
this woollen cloth is now offered for sale, and as 
several of the large London houses have pur- 
chased hundreds of pieces for the purpose of in- 
troducing it, I am justified in calling attention to 
it. The Colonial Gazette thus noticed the patent 
several months since : " Mr. Wells has invented 
a machine, and has discovered a process by 
which woollen cloth of every sort is produced 
at less than a fourth of the cost hitherto usual. 
The material is not woven but compressed. Two 
urchins, with the machine, can turn out one 
hundred }'ards of the broadcloth in twelve hours ; 
and where twenty-four shillings were demanded 
per yard, six shillings afford the new manufac- 
turers abundant remuneration. We have in- 
spected and handled, as roughly as we liked, 
specimens of every variety, from the finest scar- 
let cloth for officers' uniforms, down to blankets 
and carpets, and we certainly could not, either 
by sight or touch, distinguish them from corres- 
ponding pieces made in the old fashion." 

The new cloth is likely to create a great re- 
I volution among the manufacturers, for already 



48 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



they discover that it is something more than a 
mere bubble of an hour. The Austrian govern- 
ment has purchased the right to manufacture in 
Austria, and several other rights to manufacture 
it in England and France have also been pur- 
chased. There are four or five large mills now 
in constant operation in this country, which turn 
out daily several hundred pieces of the cloth of 
various qualities. Soon the markets here will 
be filled with it, and no doubt a large quantity 
will be sold in the United States, as Mr. Wells, 
who is a New Yorker, informed me that so soon 
as he had completed all his arrangements for 
supplying the European markets, he should es- 
tablish several large factories in America. Mr. 
Wells has worn a frock coat made of his new 
cloth, almost every day during the last six 
months, and it is an elegant garment even now ; 
the material being compressed, there is no thread 
in it, and the nap has the same smooth, glossy 
appearance as when I first looked at it. The 
cheapness, durability, and beautiful appearance 
of this cloth must give it a decided advantage 
over all other kinds. So far it has met with 
great favor from the most extensive dealers in 
cloths in London. 



but the best in use; although, I always prefer 
hanging my gate to the outside, rather than the 
inside of the post; by this means, the post pro- 
tects the gate from the consequences of careless 
driving. 

I am much pleased with the practical charac- 
ter of 3'our paper, and hope it will find its way 
into the hands of every farmer in Virginia. 



Yours, 



P. H. 



SAW DUST. 




Mr. C. T. Botts : 

Sir, — I liked the " Hanover Gate" of your 
correspondent in some respects very much ; but, 
whilst he writes very sensibly on the subject, 
there is a very important part of every gate that 
he has entirely omitted, both in his cut and de- 
scription — I mean the brace. I herewith send 
you a drawing of a gate that I have been long 
using, to my entire satisfaction, made also all of 
cedar, "gotten out with the grain," that I think 
is superior for common purposes to any other I 
have ever seen. The frame is made by tenoning 
four pieces of hewed cedar, if you please, toge- 
ther, and then running cedar poles through thorn 
in the manner indicated in the drawing — each 
slat here serves as a brace, and the whole makes 
a remarkably strong, neat and light gate. A 
light narrow slat may run across the gate, and 
serves as a latch. The hinges described by your 
correspondent I know to be not only the cheapest, 



The "Cultivator" says, that where abundance 
of straw cannot be obtained, saw dust may be 
used to advantage as a litter for stables, pigge- 
ries, &c. where, hy absorbing the liquids of such 
places, it will make a valuable addition to the 
dung heap. It is used in this way by the 
Shakers at Canterbury, N. H. who think it pre- 
ferable to straw as a litter for stables. 



ROHAN POTATOES. 

In the last Cultivator there are several attes- 
tations as to the value of Rohan potatoes, and 
Mr. J. A. Thompson the gentleman who first 
introduced them, expresses the opinion that much 
of the prejudice that exists against them has 
arisen from the use of a spurious article, which 
he avers has been extensively sold and cultivated 
in some parts of the country, and also from the 
use of the genuine potato before it was well 
ripened. 



At a meeting of the Executive Committee of 
the Henrico Agricultural and Horticultural So- 
ciety, on the 27th Hay of March, 1841, the fol- 
lowing were determined upon as the subjects for 
and amounts of the Premiums to be awarded at 
the first exhibition of the Society, which will be 
held on Wednesday, the 26th day of May next, 
instead of the time heretofore reported, viz: 

1. For the best Horse or Colt, calculated to 

produce the best stock for the draught 

or saddle $15 

2. For the best Brood Mare do. - - 10 

3. For the best Jack - - - 15 

4. For the best Bull for domestic purposes 10 

5. For the best Milch Cow - - 10 

6. For the best yoke of Oxen - - 10 

7. For the best Boar of improved breed 15 

8. For the best brood Sow, to be exhibited 

if practicable with her litter of pigs 10 

9. For the best specimen of Fruits, the pro- 

duction of the exhibitor — a fruit bas- 
ket of the value of - - 10 

10. For the best specimen of rare and beau- 

tiful Plants or Flowers — a silver 
bouquet holder of the value of 10 

11. For the best specimen of Vegetables 15 

12. For the best cultivated Market Garden, 

not loss than one acre — a set of gar- 
den tools of the value of - - 15 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



49 



$10 



LO 



10 



l; 



15 



13. For the best specimen of domestic Wine, 

the production of the exhibitor 

14. For the best specimen of domestic Silk, 

not less than one pound, the produc- 
tion of the exhibitor 

15. For the best specimen of Butter, not 

less than 5 pounds — a silver cream 
pot of the value of 

16. For the best suit cf Clothes of Virginia 

manufacture, _ the premium to be 
given to the producer of the mate* 
rial of which the clothes are made 

17. For the best specimen of Agricultural 

Implements, including cutting ma- 
chines, corn-shellers, &c. - 

The Committee have not felt themselves war- 
ranted in offering higher premiums at this time, 
but will increase and enlarge the subjects as the 
funds of the Society may enable them to do. 

They deem it proper to give notice, that at 
■the Fall Exhibition the following additional pre- 
miums will be given, and that they will be as 
large as shall be practicable, to wit: 

For the best Cultivated Farm. 

For the best Field of Corn, not less than five 
acres. 

For the best Crop of Turnips, Beets, Carrots, 
Parsnips, Sweet or Irish Potatoes, not less than 
half an acre of each. 

For the best Piece of Domestic Carpeting, 
not less than twenty yards. 

For the best Hearth Rug. 

For the best Table Cloth. 

For the best Counterpane, Bed-quilt or Comfort. 

And for other articles of household industry. 

The members who have not subscribed to the 
Constitution, and the citizens generally, will be 
called upon by some member of the Society to 
enable them to become members. 

Jesse H. Turner, 
Thomas S. Dicken, 
Richard G. Haden, 
William H. Richardson, 
Joseph Rennie, 
William D. Wren, 

Executive Committee. 

The Executive Committee desires us to state, 
that it is expected a Fair will be holden during 
the exhibition, for the sale of such articles and 
animals exhibited as the owners may choose to 
dispose of. Here a fine opportunity will be af- 
forded those desirous of seeing and supplying 
themselves with the best stock the country will 
afford. 

It is desirable that those persons intending to 
compete for premiums, should enter their names 
as soon as possible, which may be done by ap- 
plication to any member of the Committee, or 
to the Editor of this paper. 

Individuals to whom premiums maybe award- 
ed, can receive the same either in money or in 
the shape of plate as they may prefer. 
Vol. 1 — 5 



SWEET POTATOES. 

Mr. Dicken, (Vice-President of the Henrico 
Agricultural Society) called at our office to state 
his entire approval of Mr. Bernard's mode of 
cultivating sweet potatoes, (see page 18,) with 
one exception. He prefers cutting off the first 
fibres that are put forth ty running a plough or 
cultivator close to the hill, instead of throwing 
the earth to them, which he does at the second 
working rather than the first. By this means 
he lessens the number of fibres, and prevents the 
accumulation of small potatoes, or strings, as 
they are technically termed. 

Mr. Dicken says he was inclined to think his 
neighbor, Mr. Bernard, was riding a hobby, in 
his estimation of the value of sweet potatoes, 
until he gave them a fair trial ; he is now satis- 
fied that, as food for stock, they are invaluable. 



GARDENS. 

From Cobbett, whose excellent little work on 
the subject ought to be in the hands of every 
gardener, we condense the following directions 
for locating and preparing a garden. The im- 
portance of the subject, and the excellence of 
the matter must form our apology for the length 
of the article. We have been at some pains to 
collect and condense his views upon the subject. 
These directions are intended chiefly for those 
who have their gardens yet to make, but may 
be valuable to all : 

" The ground should be as nearly on a level as 
possible ; because, if the slope be considerable, 
the heavy rains do great injury, by washing 
away the soil. However, it is not always in 
our power to choose a level spot ; but, if there 
be a slope in the ground, it ought, if possible, to 
be towards the south. For, though such a di- 
rection adds to the heat in summer, this is more 
than counterbalanced by the earliness which it 
causes in the spring. By all means avoid an 
inclination towards the north, or west, and to- 
wards any of the points between north and 
west. 

"The garden should be an oblong square with 
the length from cast to west twice as great as 
the breadth from north to south. By this form 
three important advantages are gained. First, 
we get a long and warm border under the north 
fence for the rearing of things early in the spring. 
Second, we get a long and cool border under the 
south fence for shading, during the great heats, 
things, to which a burning sun is injurious. 
Third, by this shape of the area cf the garden 
a larger portion of the whole is sheltered, during 
winter and spring, from the bleak winds. 

From a kitchen-garden all large trees ought 
to be kept at a distance of thirty or forty yards ; 
for the shade of them is injurious, and their 



50 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



roots a great deal more injurious, to every plant 
growing within the influence of those roots. 

" Grass, which matts the ground all over with 
its roots, and does not demand much food from 
any depth, does not suffer much from the roots 
of trees ; but, every other plant does. A kitchen 
garden should, therefore, have no large trees 
near it. In the spring and fall tall trees do great 
harm even by their shade, which robs the garden 
of the early and the parting rays of the sun. 
It is, therefore, on all accounts, desirable to keep 
all such trees at a distance. 

If it be practicable, without sacrificing too 
much in other respects, to make a garden near 
to running water, and especially to water that 
may be turned into the garden, the advantage 
ought to be profited of; but as to watering with 
a watering pot, it is seldom of much use, and it 
cannot be practised upon a large scale. It is 
better to trust to judicious tillage and to the dews 
and rains. The moisture which these do not 
supply cannot be furnished, to any extent, by the 
watering pot. A man will raise more moisture, 
with a hoe or a spade, in a day, than he can 
pour on the earth out of a watering pot in a 
month. 

The plants, which grow in a garden, prefer, 
like most other plants, the best soil that is to be 
found. The best is, loam of several feet deep 
with a bed of lime-stone, sand-stone, or sand, 
below. 

We ought to reject clay and gravel, not onty 
as a top soil, but as a bottom soil, however great 
their distance from the surface. 

Oak trees love clay, and the finest and hea- 
viest wheat grows in land with a bottom of clay; 
but if there be clay within even six feet of the 
surface, there will be a coldness in the land, 
which will, in spite of all you can do, keep your 
spring crops a week or ten days behind those 
upon land which has not a bottom of clay. 
Gravel is warm, and, it would be very desirable, 
if you could exchange it for some other early in 
June; but, since you cannot do this, }^ou must 
submit to be burnt up in summer, if you have 
the benefit of a gravelly bottom in the spring. 

Having fixed upon the spot for the garden, 
the next thing is to prepare the ground. This 
may be done by ploughing and harrowing, until 
the ground at top, be perfectly clean ; and then 
b}' double ploughing : that is to say, by going 
with a strong plough that turns a large furrow 
and turns it cleanly, twice in the same place, 
and thus moving the ground to the depth of 
fourteen or sixteen inches, for, the advantage of 
deeply moving the ground is very great indeed. 
When this has been done in one direction it 
ought to be done across, and then the ground 
will have been well and truly moved The 
ploughing ought to be done with four oxen, and 
the plough ought to be held by a strong and 
careful ploughman. 



This is as much as I shall, probably, be able 
to persuade any body to do in the way of pre- 
paring the ground. But, this is not all that 
ought to be done ; and ii is proper to give direc- 
tions for the best way of doing this and every 
thing else. The best way is, then, to trench the 
ground ; which is performed in this manner. 
At one end of the piece of ground, intended for 
the garden, you make, with a spade, a trench, 
all along, two feet wide and two feet deep. You 
throw the earth out on the side away from the 
garden that is to be. You shovel out the bot- 
tom clean, and make the sides of the trench as 
nearly perpendicular as possible. Thus you 
have a clean open trench, running, all along one 
end of your garden ground. You then take 
another piece, all along, two feet wide, and put 
the earth that this new piece contains into the 
trench, taking off the top of the new two feet 
wide, and turning that top down into the bottom 
of the earth of the new two feet, and placing it 
on the top of the earth just turned into the bot- 
tom of the trench. Thus, when you have again 
shovelled out the bottom, and put it on the top 
of the whole that you have put into the trench, 
you have another clean trench two feet wide 
and two deep. You thus proceed, till the whole 
of }'our garden ground be trenched : and then 
it will have been cleanly turned over to the depth 
of two feet. 

There is no point of greater importance than 
this. Poor ground deeply moved is preferable, 
in many cases, to rich ground with shallow til- 
lage; and when the ground has been deeply 
moved once, it feels the benefit for ever after. A 
garden is made to last for ages ; what, then, in 
such a case, is the amount of twenty dollars? 
It is well known to all who have had experience 
on the subject, that of two plants of almost any 
kind that stand for the space of three months in 
top soil of the same quality, one being on 
ground deeply. moved, and the other on ground 
moved no deeper than is usual, the former will 
exceed the latter one-half in bulk. And, as to 
trees of all descriptions, from the pear-tree down 
to the currant-bush, the difference is so great, 
that there is room for no comparison. It is a 
notion with some persons, that it is of no use to 
move the ground deeper than the roots of the 
plant penetrate. But, in the first place, the 
roots go much deeper than we generally sup- 
pose. When we pull up a cabbage, for instance, 
we see no roots more than afoot long; but, if 
i we were carefully to pursue the roots to their 
utmost point, even as far as our eye would assist 
us, we should find the roots a great deal longer, 
I and the extremities of the roots are much too 
J fine to be seen by the naked eye. Upon pulling 



: up a common turnip, who would imagine, that 
! the side, or horizontal roots extend to several 
\feel? Yet I have traced ihem to the length of 
| four feet ; and Mr. Tull proved, that they ex- 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



51 



tended to six feet, though he could not see them 
to that extent with his naked eye. But, though 
the roots should not extend nearly to the bottom 
of the moved ground, the plants are affected by 
the unmoved ground being near at hand. If 
this were not the case, plants with very short 
roots might be cultivated on a brick pavement 
with earth laid upon it to the thickness of a 
foot ; and yet, no plant will live and thrive in 
such a state, while it will do very well in ground 
along side the pavement, though moved only a 
foot deep. Plants require a communication 
with, and an assistance from beneath, as well 
as from above, in order to give them vigor and 
fecundity. Plants will live and will grow to a 
certain extent in earthen pots, or in boxes made 
of wood ; but there must be holes in the bottom 
of both, or the plants will die. 

It is therefore of the greatest importance, 
that the ground be moved to a good depth, and 
he who is about to make a garden should re- 
member, that he is about to do that, the effects 
of which are to be felt for ages. There is, 
however, one objection to trenching in certain 
cases. The soil may not only not be good to 
the depth of two feet, but it may be bad long 
before you come to that depth, and, in this case, 
the trenching, in putting the good soil at bottom 
might bring a hungry sand, or even a gravel or 
clay to the top, which must not be done by any 
means ; for, even in the case of trees, they 
would perish, or become stunted, because their 
roots would not find their way from the bad soil 
to the good. In such cases the top soil must, 
in the trenching, be kept at the top ; and, in order 
to effect this, your mode of proceeding, in the 
.trenching, must be somewhat different from that 
described. 

Your first trench must be opened in the man- 
ner described ; but you must not then proceed to 
turn the top of the next two feet into the bottom 
of the trench. Let us suppose, now, that you 
have your first trench, two feet wide as before 
directed, open and clean. This being the case, 
take a foot deep of the next two feet all the 
way along, and, for this once, throw it over the 
open trench to add to the earth that you have al- 
ready thrown out of that trench. Then you 
will have the bottom foot of earth left. Dig out 
this and turn it into the bottom of your open 
trench, and then the first trench will be half 
filled up, and }?ou will have got your second 
trench open. Then go to a new two feet wide, 
that is the third two feet. Take the top foot, 
deep off from this, and throw it on the top of 
the earth that }^ou have just turned into the first 
trench ; and then, where the first trench was 
there will be earth two feet deep ; the bad soil 
at bottom and the good soil at top. Then you 
go on regularly. 

At the end of your work, you will, of course, 
have an open trench and a half ; and this must 



be filled up by carrying the earth, which came 
out of the first trench, round in a cart or wheel- 
barrow, and putting it into the space that you 
will have open at last. 

It must be observed, however, that though 
the soil be good in its nature down to two feet 
deep, that which comes to the top in the first 
mode of trenching, will not be immediately, so 
good for use, as the soil which has been at top 
for ages. It is, in such a case of great advan- 
tage to place the old top soil at the bottom : be- 
cause when roots find the soil good to such a 
depth, the plants and trees thrive and bear sur- 
prisingly. But, then, the new top soil must be 
exceedingly well worked and well and judicious- 
ly manured, in order to make it equal to the old 
top soil ; which object is, however, very soon 
accomplished, if the proper means be made 
use of. 

Thus will the ground be prepared; and here I 
close my directions with regard to the nature 
and preparation of the soil. But, it seems ne- 
cessary to add a few words on the subject of 
manures as adapted to a garden. It is generally 
thought, and, I believe, truly, that dung, of any 
sort, is not what ought to be used in the raising 
of garden vegetables. It is very certain, that 
they are coarse and gross when produced with 
the aid of that sort of manure, compared to what 
they are when raised with the aid of ashes, 
lime, rags, and composts. And, besides, dung, in 
hot soils and hot climates, add to the heat ; 
while ashes, lime, rags and composts do not.; 
but, on the contrary, they attract, and cause the 
earth to retain moisture. 

All the ground in a garden ought always to 
be good ; and it will be kept in this state if it 
be well manured once every year. Perhaps it 
will scarcely ever be convenient to any one to 
manure the whole garden at one time ; and this 
is not of so much importance. Clay, or any 
earth, burnt, is excellent, manure for a garden. 
It has no seeds of weeds or grass in it. A com- 
post, made of such ashes, some wood-ashes, a 
small portion of horse-clung, rotten leaves, and 
mould shovelled up under trees, round buildings, 
or on the sides of roads. All these together, 
put into a heap, and turned over several times, 
make the best manure for a garden. 

A great deal more is done by the fermentation 
of manures than people generally imagine. In 
the month of June take twenty cart loads of 
earth, which has been shovelled off the surface 
of a grassy lane, or by a road side, or round 
about barns, stables, and the like. Lay these 
twenty loads about a foot thick on some conve- 
nient spot. Go and cut. up twenty good cart 
loads of weeds of any sort, and lay these well 
shaken up, on the earth. Then cover the weeds 
with twenty more cart loads of earth like jl^e 
former, throwing the earth on lightly. Ip tjvfcd. 
days you will see the heap smoke as if ajjh fire. 



_ - <* » 



% 



2 



52 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



If you put your hand into the earth, you will 
find it too hot to be endured. In a few days the 
heat will decline, and you will perceive the 
heap sink. Let it remain a week after this, 
and then turn it very carefully. This will mix 
the whole well together. You will find the 
weeds and grass in a putrid state. Another 
heating will take place, but less furious than 
the former. Turn it a second time in seven 
days; and a third time in seven days more. 
And by this time you will have forty cart loads 
of manure, equal in strength to twenty of yard 
dung, and a vast deal better for a garden, or, 
indeed, for any other land. It is not expensive 



to obtain this sort of manure ; and such a heap, 
or part of such a heap, might at all times be 
ready for the use of the garden. When such a 
heap were once formed, some ashes, fish-shells 
or bones reduced to powder, or other enlivening 
matter, might be added to it, and mixed well 
with it ; and thus would a store be always at 
hand for any part of the garden that might 
want it. 

[Although intended for gardeners, farmers may 
1 derive many useful points from these observa- 
| tions ; they could not well be more condensed, 
I and the subject would not admit of division.] 



STRAW CUTTER, 




C. T. Botts, Esq, Editor of the Southern Planter : 

Dear Sir, — Having used one of your Straw Cutters for more than twelve months, I 
heartily unite with "Arator" in recommending it to the agricultural community, and should he 
not furnish you with his real name, you are at liberty to use mine in a request for a description 
and promulgation of it in the Southern Planter. 

You may recollect that, it was with some difficulty that I was induced to even look at your 
Cutter, being at that time under the impression that the old fashioned one I was using could not 
be excelled. A single look, however, served to convince me of my mistake and induce me to 
make the purchase — subsequent experience has only confirmed my opinion of its value, and I 
am satisfied that it has already saved me more than its cost. 

I shall send you an order, in a few days, for one to go to Lynchburg, which I hope will be 
the means of introducing it in that section of country. 

Very respectfully, &c. Henry Ludlam. 

[Having received several other requests of a similar character, I have had a very handsome 
engraving of the Cutter prepared, which is so distinct as almost to explain itself. 

The cutting part is made entirely of iron, compact and solid, finished in the heaviest and 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



03 



most substantial manner ; it may be packed in a box twenty inches square and sent over the 
world, without injury. You may screw it on any kind of box, or on a stump, if desired, being 
totally unconnected with the wood work. It consists of two perfectly plain, straight knives, 
which any blacksmith can make, screwed on a twisted head. By the revolution of a crank 
these knives are made to pass by a stationary cast-steel knife, from heel to toe, so as to cut 
upon the principle of a pair of shears. The feeding- apparatus is most perfect, consisting simply 
of one cog-wheel working in another, without the use of a spring, or any thing that can by pos- 
sibility require adjustment. v 

The superiorit} r of this Cutter is supposed to consist in its extreme simplicity. The roughest 
and most careless hand may use it with impunity. I defy them to injure it except by gapping 
the knives, the restoration of which is within the power of the meanest capacity, since they are 
as easily ground as an axe or a chisel. Of the quantity of food that it will cut, and the manner 
in which it will cut it, 1 sa} T nothing, except, that I keep by the side of it every other description 
of cutter of any note, that I can find, that the purchaser may judge for himself. Hundreds of 
testimonials can be adduced of its superiority, if necessary ; but one from Mr. Thomas Samp- 
son, of the firm of D. I. Burr & Co., so well known for their mechanical establishment in this 
city, is the one most relied on. Mr. Sampson is a Scotchman by birth, well acquainted with the 
agricultural implements both of Great Britain and America, of whose mechanical skill it is 
useless to speak. He pronounces the Cutter the best he ever saw. 

The iron part alone without the wooden box is packed and sold for $30 — complete $35. 

P. S. A box, not exhibited in the engraving, is used to cover the knives and cutting part, 
which affords a complete protection against accidents, and also keeps the straw from flying. 

The reader is respectfully referred to a voluntary communication on this subject, in the Whig 
of March 22d, from Mr. Garland Hanes, who unites in his own person the characters of me- 
chanic and farmer, and who has been long celebrated as a maker of agricultural implements.] 




TO THE READER. 

Our subscription list is increasing so rapidly, 
and we have received from every part of the 
State so many flattering letters of encourage- 
ment and promises of support, that we have not 
hesitated at once, to give to our paper the form 
and shape that we consider worthy of the ex- 
tensive patronage we believe it is destined to 
enjoy. In point of style and execution we think 
we may now say it has not its superior in any 
agricultural paper in the Union. The size is 
increased one half, which, in our opinion, makes 
it almost too large ; certainly, no further exten- 
sion can be desirable. 

If we make such exertions to furnish a paper 
worthy of our good old State, will not our 
friends do something to assist us in the expense 
we incur? We know they will; we have alrea- 
dy had the most substantial proofs of the fact. 
Of our personal friends we ask assistance for our 
own sake — of the farmers we ask assistance for 
the sake of the agricultural interest, and of the 
community generally we ask assistance for the 
sake of a dissemination of knowledge in their na- 



tive State, which can only be effected in a cheap 
form, by bringing information within reach of 
the humblest means. When we ask an indivi- 
dual to assist us, we do not mean to ask him for 
his subscription : we mean to request him in the 
name of human improvement, to lend his assist- 
ance to our partly disinterested and wholly lau- 
dable enterprise. Every exertion upon the part 
of its friends, continued and repeated, is neces- 
sary to sustain a paper so handsomely gotten 
up, at so small a price. Let us get fairly under 
way, and we will trouble them no farther. If 
our own exertions then will not sustain us, we 
are content to sink. But, in the mean time, we 
earnestly request our well wishers to extend the 
knowledge of our establishment as far as their 
convenience will permit ; hundreds of their neigh- 
bors, by a little exertion, may be induced to co- 
operate in a design, which must eventuate to 
the benefit of all ; for without arrogance we 
think we may venture to say, that every sub- 
scriber must get more than his dollars worth in 
j the course of a year. It would be hard indeed, 
I if, engaged as we constantly are, in reading, 
! sifting and reporting, the product of our years 
: labor should not be worth more than one hundred 
j times the price that is paid for it. Let it be re- 
\ membered that every individual reaps the same 
j benefit from our exertions as if we were laboring 
; for him alone. Can it be then, that any one can 
i go wrong in subscribing to. our paper? Surely 
| not; the investment is a good one, the only 
doubt can be between this and other periodicals. 
I Here we have but little to say. Our exterior 



54 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



knows no superior: and in point of ability we 
will not fear a comparison with the ablest peri- 
odicals in America, if we effect our object ; that 
object is, to secure the assistance of the farmers 
of Virginia; for whilst the conductor of this 
paper places but little reliance on his own talent 
or experience, he believes that the farmers of 
Virginia possess more agricultural skill and in- 
formation than belongs to any other State in 
this Union. This assistance may be elicited by 
zeal and industry, and in those qualities the 
Editor will yield the palm to no cotemporary. 



nish any kind of seeds gratis, we shall always 
expect the individual receiving them, if the pro- 
duct is valuable, to return us at least double the 
number the succeeding year for public use. 



POSTAGE. 

We inadvertently in our last number gave our 
assent to the transmission of subscriptions at our 
expense. We find we were rather green in do- 
ing so. Postmasters, to w T hom as a class we 
beg to return our thanks for the courtesy we 
have received at their hands, will always frank 
such communications, so as to save the expense 
of postage to both parties. Our eyes were opened 
to the necessity of making this requisition by 
the following circumstances. A gentleman wrote 
to us requesting us to send our first number for j 
examination ; we paid 12^ cents for the request \ 
and complied with it. He then said he should 
like to see the second number, this also was sent, 
and another 12^ cents paid. This morning we 
received his enclosure of one dollar, for which 
we had to pajr twenty-five cents, leaving us the 
nett sum of fifty cents for the year's subscription, 
a good deal less than the paper cosls us. 

To guard ourselves therefore against absolute 
loss, we are compelled to require that henceforth 
all letters, addressed to the Southern Planter, 
shall come to us free of postage. 



It may appear from our dates as though w r e 
had treated the month of March with utter con- 
tempt. 

The truth is we got all wrong in consequence 
of an error in the first number, which was dated 
January instead of February. In this number, 
however, we have gotten right, and we hope 
henceforth to go on smoothly, issuing the paper 
regularly the middle of every month. Our de- 
sign though, is still to furnish twelve numbers 
during the year 1841, so that the second volume 
may begin with January, 1842. 



Farmers on a visit to our city, without regard 
to any thing but the fact that they are farmers, 
are invited to call at our office, where they may 
spend an hour to relieve the tedium that some- 
times besets a traveller in a strange place. We 
keep files of our exchange papers, which shall 
always be at their disposal. 



Having enlarged our paper, we have concluded 
to extend somewhat our miscellaneous head, 
which we find a favorite one with the public. 

MISCELLANY. 



NEW SEEDS. 

Through the politeness of the Representative 
from this District, we have obtained from the 
Patent Office a variety of seeds for distribution. 
These seeds have been sent home by the foreign 
consuls and patriotic travellers, and may be pre- 
sumed to have been much esteemed in their re- 
spective countries — they are made up into small 
packages, some containing not more than half 
a dozen seeds. They will be distributed to any | 
part of the State of Virginia, without regard to ] 
location, if early application be made at our 
office. The recipient, will be expected to care- 
fully cultivate and report to the Editor the cha- 
racter of the product. 

If any gentleman is in possession of any rare 
and valuable seed which he is desirous of dis- 
seminating, either for love or money, we will be 
pleased to take charge of it on his own terms. 
We have already been promised a few seeds of 
a valuable winter melon, which we shall distri- 
bute amongst our friends. Whenever we fur- 



How often do we see politicians of the present day 
advocating- general principles that excite our warmest 
admiration, yet permitting- their passions or prejudices 
to prevent their application to particular cases. Illus- 
trative of this point is the following anecdote of 

BISHOP PORTEUS. 
In one of the debates in the House of Peers in 1794, 
a noble lord quoted the following lines from Bishop 
Porteus' poem on law : 

"One murder makes a villain; 

Millions, a hero! Princes are privileged 

To kill, and numbers sanctify the crime. 

Ah! why will kings forget that they are men ; 

And men, that they are brethren? Why delight 

In human sacrifice'? Why burst the ties 

Of nature, that should knit their souls together 

In one soft bond of amity and love? 

They yet still breathe destruction, still go on, 

Inhumanly ingenious to find out 

New pains for life; new terrors for the grave. 

Artificers of Death! Still monarchs dream 

Of universal empire growing up 

From universal ruin. Blast the design, 

Great God of hosts! Nor let thy creatures fall 

Unpitied victims at ambition's shrine." 

The Bishop, who was present, and who very warmly 
advocated that particular war, was asked by a noble 
Earl on the opposite side, if he were really the author 
of the excellent lines here quoted? He replied, "yes 
my lord ; but they were not composed for the present 
war." 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



55 



SQUINTING. 

Dr. Bolton, of this city, has recently per- 
formed, probably for the first time in this State, 
the highly ingenious and novel operation for 
squinting. It has been so completely success- 
ful, that it is now, (three weeks since,) impossi- 
ble to distinguish which eye was formerly sub- 
ject to this unsightly deformity ; in addition to 
which the sight of the eye is much improved. 
The operation is entirely free from danger, and 
almost from pain ; it occupies but two or three 
minutes, is adapted to any age, and is almost 
certainly successful. Who will fail to avail 
themselves of this opportunity, happily afforded, 
to obtain relief from that sinister expression al- 
ways imparted by an obliquity of vision'? 



HANGING. 

Richard Penn, Governor of Pennsylvania, at 
the time of the revolution, was in company with 
several members of Congress, one of whom re- 
marked, that such was the crisis, u they must 
all hang together." " If you do not gentlemen," 
said Mr. Penn, " I can tell you, that you will be 
very apt to hang separately." 



The American Farmer well remarks that the 
following anecdotes of ex-President Adams are 
worthy of being recorded : 

"A worthy and respectable gentleman, some- 
what impatient for office, applied to Mr. Adams 
to turn out a certain postmaster, and in the way 
of inducement, placed in his hands certain essays 
which that officer had written in opposition to 
Mr. Adams' election. Mr. A sent for the Post- 
master General, and telling him he was urged 

to remove Mr. , inquired if he, having 

that Department, in his charge, was satisfied 
with the manner in which the office was con- 
ducted. ' Perfectly well,' answered the Post- 
master General. ' Then,' said Mr. A. ' tell him 
he has nothing to fear — he may write against 
me as much as he pleases.' 

" On another occasion, he was waited on by 
a committee of his friends, most respectable gen- 
tlemen, with a request that he would remove a 
certain officer. ' O yes,' said he, ' certainly — it 
shall be done.' The applicants, delighted with 
the success of their mission, were about to de- 
part, and indulge in mutual felicitations ; when 
the President said dryly, ' But, stop gentlemen — 
what has this officer done? of what mal-feasance 
has he been guilty V ' Oh, nothing, sir, in his 



character; but he is opposed to 



official 

I Oh !' said Mr. A. 

opposed to me, am 



you 



is that all ? Well, if he is 
I not opposed to him 9 If 
t be let alone !' " 



that be all, he mu 

Upon a similar occasion, when application 
was made to the venerated Washington to eject 



an individual from office, whose crime was that 
he was opposed to him, he is said to have con- 
founded the applicant by asking, if he could 
show that the obnoxious individual was opposed 
to the country. 



JURIES. 



In this country, thanks to the free character 
of our noble institutions, it is not often necessary 
to vindicate the independence of jurors. But 
even here, judges have sometimes forgotten the 
dignity and courtesy due to this humble, but fa- 
vorite tribunal. Such an one was eloquently 
reproved in the following address, reported ver- 
batim by the late Rev. Edmund Butcher. The 
whole circumstance proves that true eloquence 
is the child of nature. 

A judge on the Northwest Circuit in Ireland 
tried an action for assault, brought by a neigh- 
boring land owner against a poor tenant who 
had resorted to this method of redressing wrongs 
of the most grievous character. The jury found 
him not guilty. 

"The judge was enraged, and told the jury 
they must go back and reconsider the matter: 
adding, he was astonished at their giving such 
an infamous verdict. The jury bowed, went 
back, in a quarter of an hour returned, when 
the foreman, a venerable old man, thus addressed 
the bench : ' My lord, in compliance with your 
desire, we went back to our room ; but as we 
there found no reason to alter our opinions or 
our verdict, we return it to you, in the same 
words as before — not guilty. We heard your 
lordship's reproof; but we do not accept it. as 
properly applying to us. Individually and in 
our private capacities, it is true, we are insigni- 
ficant men ; we claim nothing out of this box, 
above the common regard due to our humble, 
yet honest stations; but, my lord, assembled 
here as a jury, we cannot be insensible of the 
great importance of the office we now sustain. 
We feel glad that we are appointed, as you are, 
by the law and the constitution, not only to act j 

impartially between the king and his subjects, j 

the offended and the offender, but to form the 
barrier of the people, against the possible influ- 
ence, prejudice, or corruption of the bench; to 
which we do not wish to offer the smallest de- 
gree of disrespect, much less of insult ; we pay 
it the respect which one tribunal should pay to 
another, for the common honor of both. This 
jury did not accuse the bench of partiality or 
oppression — no, w r e looked upon it as the sanc- 
tuary of truth and justice; still, my lord, we 
cannot erase from our minds the records of our 
school books. By them we were taught that 
kings and judges are but fallible mortals ; and 



56 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



that the seat of justice has been polluted by a 
Tressiliah, a Scroggs, and a Jeffreys.' The 
judge frowned at these words, but the intrepid 
juror thus proceeded : ' My lord, I am but a poor 
man, yet I am a freeborn subject and a member 
of the constitution — nay, I am now higher, for 
I am one of its representatives ; I therefore claim 
for myself and fellow-jurors, liberty of speech.' 

"The judge here resumed his complacency 
and the orator continued his address : ' We have 
nothing to do, my lord, with your private cha- 
racter in this place, it is veiled by your official 
one : we know you here only m that of a judge, 
and, as such, we would respect you — you know 
nothing of us but as a jury ; and in that situa- 
tion, we look to you for reciprocal respect, be- 
cause we know of no man, however high his 
titles or his rank, in whom the law or the con- 
stitution would warrant an unprovoked insult 
towards that tribunal, in which they have vested 
the dearest privileges they possess. We sit here, 
my lord, sworn to give a verdict according to 
our consciences, and the best of our judgments, 
on the evidence before us. We have, in our 
minds, discharged our^duty as honest men. If 
we have erred, we are accountable, not to your 
lordship, nor to the king who appointed you, but 
to a higher power, the King of kings !' 

" The bench was dumb, the bar silent ; asto- 
nishment and applause murmured through the 
crowd, and the poor man was discharged." 



rale the alcohol. We do not think any of our 
readers are quite so fastidious, and we will be 
much obliged to our good housewives for their 
recipes, even if they should be dashed with a 
little spirit. 



In 1811 a gentleman made a bet of one thou- 
sand guineas, that he would have a coat made 
in the course of a single day, from the first pro- 
cess of shearing the sheep till its completion by 
the tailor. The wager was decided at Newbury, 
on the 25th of June in that year, by Mr. John 
Coxeter, of Greenham Mills, near that town. 
At five o'clock that morning, Sir John Throck- 
morton, bart. presented two Southdown wedder 
sheep to Mr. Coxeter, and the sheep were shorn, 
the wool spun, the yarn spooled, warped, loomed, 
and wove ; and the cloth burred, milled, rowed, 
dried, sheared, and pressed, and put into the 
hands of the tailors by four o'clock that after- 
noon : and at twenty minutes past six the coat, 
entirely finished, was presented by Mr. Coxeter 
to Sir John Throckmorton, who appeared with 
it before upwards of five thousand spectators, 
who rent the air with acclamations at this re- 
markable instance of despatch. 



The Editor of the Chicago Agriculturist and 
some of his readers seem to have gotten into a 
kind of snarl upon the subject of alcohol. He 
published, it seems, a household recipe in which 
alcohol was enumerated amongst the ingredients 
recommended. Some of his teetotaller readers 
took this in high dudgeon, and the Editor inge- 
niously defends himself on the ground that the 
baking, which is also recommended, will evapo- 



SMOKING. 

The following ancient mode of smoking has 
at least the claim of sociability, and, we should 
suppose of economy, to recommend it. We think 
we have lately seen some long nines in the mouths 
of our city youngsters, that would be well adapt- 
ed to this particular use of the fragrant weed. 

Lionel Wafer, who published his travels upon 
the Isthmus of Darien in 1699, says of the In- 
dians of that country, " Their way of smoking 
when they are in company together is thus : A 
boy lights one end of a roll and burns it to a 
coal, wetting the part next it to keep it from 
wasting too fast. The end so lighted he puts 
into his mouth, and blows the smoke through 
the whole length of the roll into the face of every 
one of the company or council, though there be 
two or three hundred of them. Then tbey> sit- 
ting in their usual posture upon forms, make 
with their hands held together a kind of funnel 
round their mouths and noses. Into this they 
receive the smoke as it is blown upon them, 
snuffing it up greedily and strongly as long as 
ever they are able to hold their breath, and seem- 
ing to bless themselves, as it were, with the re- 
freshment it gives them." 



CONTENTS OF NO. III. 

Tobacco— Preparation of Beds, p. 33. 
Machinery — American, foreign demand for, p. 35. 
Cultivation — Its influence on vegetables, p. 35. 
Berkshires and Durhams — Theirvalue contested, 36. 
Scratches— To cure, p. 36. 
Choking— To cure, p. 36. 
Steamer — Fixed with a lever, p. 37. 
Agricultural Society of Henrico— Noticed, p. 37. 
Manuring — In the hill recommended, p. 39. 
Tobacco— Affords greatest yield from a gi ven space, 39. 
Knitting Loom — Walker & Mcln tyre's noticed, p. 39. 
Communications — Necessity for, p. 39. 
Hemp — Major Yancey's opinion of, p. 40. 
Sous — Destroying their pigs, complained of, p. 40. 
Bone Dust — Recommended by Mr. Hadcn, p. 41. 
American Farmer — A proposition from, p. 41. 
Corn Planter — Bachelder'a noticed, p. 42. 
Boardof Agriculture— Hill to establish in Ya. ; p. 42. 
Cows — To prevent from kicking', p. 43. 
Clover — Sowed in corn, p. 43. 
Garden— Should be large, p. 43. 
Sheep — Stall-feeding recommended, p. 15. 
Cotes— Winter food tor, p. 45. 
Corn — Rule for measuring, p. 45. 
Manure — Hints for making, p. 46. 
Lucerne— Account of, p. 46. 
doth — New method of making, p. 47. 
date — Another plan of, p. 48. 

Saw Dust — Recommended as litter for stables, p. 49. 
Premiums — Offered by the Henrico Agricultural So- 
ciety, p. 48. 

Sheet Potatoes—Value of, confirmed, p. 49. 
Gardens— Cobbctt's directions for making, p. 49. 
Straw Cutter— C. T. Botts's recommended, p. 52. 
Address — To the reader, p. 53. 
New Seeds — Offered for distribution, p. 54. 
MUccllany y p. 54.