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I am satisfied if my neighbor's corn had not been disturbed after it was thinned, and hand-hoed, he would have made at least fifty per cent, more, or fifteen instead of ten barrels per acre.

The past season (1853) in a great drought, when a portion of my corn land become very hard, and I apprehended the worst consequences, the land having been merely coultered before planting, not thoroughly subsoiled, I injudiciously set in the single barshare, throwing the mould next the com, and split the middle with the double shovel. Luckily, this operation was soon stopped by a genial shower, but the mischief had been done to the few rows so treated, for although up to that time the corn in those rows on the best land, had looked well and promised better than on any other part of the field, the product was at least twenty per cent, below the other portion of the cut, which was but twice passed over by the double shovel or cultivator.

Heavy crops of corn are said to be raised on the western prairies by the simple process of ploughing deep and thoroughly inverting the sod, and then, with a sharp instrument, making a hole on the reversed furrow, then dropping and covering the corn and leaving nature to do the rest. If this be true, it is an instructive lesson, and one which I have endeavored to follow, as shown in my "Essay on the Improvement of Worn-out Lands."* 'Tis true, we on the Atlantic board have not the prairie of the "West, but, by my six-field system which appropriates each field to at least two years successive close grazing, to be followed by corn, we have an artificial prairie, which treated as I have recommended, has never, failed, with me, to bring fifty per cent, more corn than can be produced by any other mode of cultivation practised in the old States.

Tho. Ap C. Jones.

Fairfax County, Va., October, 1853.

Specification No. 8.

.Experiments on the Benefits and Products of Guano, compared to costs.

I submit to the Virginia State Agricultural Society the following experiments on the benefits and •products of Guano, compared to costs, and in doing ■so, I wish to be considered a competitor for the pre-miutn offered on that subject.

1st. The first week in October, 1850, I sowed on ten acres of fallowed land ten bushels of blue stem •wheat, applying at the same time 200 lbs. of Peruvian guano per acre. The wheat and guano were both ploughed in together with single horse ploughs, and then harrowed. The yield was 240 bushels of good wheat, or 24 bushels per acre and to the seed of one. The land on which this experiment was made, was very poor, and would not, under the • most favorable circumstances, without the guano, have yielded five bushels per acre. Two years be-* fore, it yielded less than a barrel and a half of corn per acre. The guano cost me $47 81k the ton ol 2240 lbs. delivered at my landing, or $4 27£ per acre. 2d. Between the 1st and 15th of November, of the same year, I sowed on thirty acres of corn land twenty-five bushels of the early purple straw wheat, applying at the same time 190 lbs. of Peruvian guano per acre. Both the wheat and guano were ploughed in with single horse ploughs, and left just as the plough left them. The yield was 600 bushels of wheat, or twenty bushels per acre, and twenty-four bushels to one of seed. The land on which r this experiment was made, was poorer than that on

* Sent to the Committee on Branch II.

which the preceding experiment was made. The cost of the guano was the same per ton, and $4 06 1-12 per acre.

3d. The last week in October, 1851,1 sowed seven bushels of blue stem wheat on six acres of com land, applying at the same time 225 lbs. of Peruvian guano per acre, and ploughing in both wheat and guano with single horse ploughs. The land was then rolled with a heavy log roller. The yield was 144 bushels of wheat, or twenty-four bushels per acre. This land would, probably, have produced five bushels per acre without the guano. The corn had been manured in the hill, and yielded about four barrels per acre. It was not measured. The past summer this land was covered with clover knee high. The cost of the guano was $49 00 par ton of 2240 lbs. or $4 92 1-6 per acre.

4th. The last of September, 1852, I sowed on nineteen acres of land, which had been fallowed in July and August with a heavy two horse plough, twenty-three bushels of blue stem wheat, and applied at the same time 220 lbs. of Peruvian guano per acre. Both wheat and guano were ploughed in as in the preceding experiments. The land had been harrowed before the wheat and guano were sowed. The yield was 520 bushels, or twenty-seven seven-nineteenth bushels per acre. This land consists of the ten acres mentioned in the first of these experiments and nine acres adjoining. About two-thirds of it was guanoed in the fall of '48, and the whole was guanoed in the fall of 1850. These previous applications of guano had greatly improved the land, and it would probably have yielded from eight to ten bushels of wheat without the aid of further manuring. The costs of the guano was 343 32 per ton of 2000 lbs. or $4 76£ per acre. It is proper that I should state, that the greater part of the wheat grown on this land (four-fifths of it) was exposed to the long rains which fell during the latter part of the summer, and a great deal of it was thrown away in the straw. The guano and wheat, in all of the above experiments, were ploughed in from two to three inches deep. No gypsum was used with the guano.

5th. In February and March of the present year, I sowed 1500 lbs. of Peruvian guano on nine acres and 17 perches of land, throwing it on the hard ground. I then threw the land up into four feet beds with a two horse plough. About one-half of these beds had a two horse harrow run over them. About the middle of April I split the beds with a single horse plough and dropped the corn two feet apart in the furrow, covering it with a two horse harrow. The corn came up beautifully and stood well. When about half leg high, and when the land began to be very grassy, 1 threw the dirt from the corn with a single horse plough, and followed with the hoe as rapidly as possible, cutting away the grass and weeds and pulling the dirt around the corn where it had been left too naked by the plough. Ten days after, I threw the dirt back to the com with the same plough, running but one furrow and leaving the beds as flat as I could. About six days after this, and with the same plough, I broke the middles out entirely finishing the whole process before the 20th of June. After harvest, I ran over it with the hoes, chopping away the bunches of grass and weeds where they occurred and pulling off the suckers, of which there were not a few. At the first working of the corn it was thinned out to one stalk, except occasionally where the growing plants looked unusually vigorous, in which case two stalks were left in a hill. The nine acres and 17 perches yielded ninety barrels of com, a specimen of which I have brought with me for exhibition. The cost of the

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guano was $43 32 per ton of 2000 lbs. or S3 59 per acre. The quantity per acre 166 lbs. Eight acres of this land in 1847, the year that I bought it, yielded seven barrels of corn, less than a barrel to the acre. It has since been thrice dressed with guano for wheat, and about one-half of it has been limed. I gave for it $6 33 pe r acre. The following figures show the profits per acre, after deducting the cost of the land, the cost of the guano, and the costs of cultivation: 10 barrels of corn, at $'3 per bbl., $30 00

Fodder, shucks and stalks, 5 00

Cost of land, Cost of guano, Cost of cultivation,

Balance after paying cultivation,

Richmond county.

Thomas Jones, Jr.

Specification No. 10.

Experiments with Tide Marsh Mud as Manure.

The formation known as marsh mud is very abundant on all the rivers in the tide water region, but as the scope of the inquiry embraced in the 10th article, of the list of subjects for experimental reports, seems to refer to all the various formations, the base of which is vegetable matter in combination with mud or alluvium, it may not be irrelevant for me to premise that alluvial matter, suitable to be carted out on the land or to be mixed in farm pens with lime, abounds throughout all the Southern Atlantic States. The deposits from the great rivers which penetrate far inland are uniformly found to be richer than on the short streams which have their source in a lower or more sandy region. There are, however, formations to be found in every part of our tide water region, where the deposit is of a local character and in many places of considerable depth, which are of much value to the farmer. The deposits from our rivers are of immense extent, but rarely available for agricultural purposes. The regular visits; of the .tide and the extreme lowness of the formation making them inaccessible with carts to be profitably resorted to, except in certain v^y favorable places. Wherever marsh mud is situated so as to permit it to be drained, there can be little difficulty either in obtaining it or in ascertaining its fertilizing properties. The farmer in search of rich alluvium, available to be carted out, will in our tide water region find it usually where the deposit of leaves and rubbish and the rotting down of grass has filled up bottoms at the heads of coves and small valleys. There the running waier brings down every thing it can carry with it, gradually filling up the low level, until the accumulation of sediment and grass, in alternate layers, forms something like a natural compost. Of peat proper there is none in Eastern Virginia—that formation belongs to a'cooler and more moist, climate than ours. Spongy formations, made up of the roots of marsh grass, are sufficiently common in the extensive salt and fresh marshes which are found at various points on the shores of our broad rivers. I have found the fibrous roots more unmanageable than the rotted matter lying below them, and less fertile. The intelligent farmer can have little difficulty in distinguishing a formation which is rich in itself from

one which is to be used merely as a base to be operated on by other agents. A detail of my experiments in the use of marsh mud, so called, at my farm of Eagle Point, in Gloucester county, will best explain my views. The land in question lies on. Severn river, a salt water stream which bounds on two sides of the farm. I bought it twenty-three years ago, finding it, in common with all the country then, miserably worn down. This tract is so flat and low that I soon found it necessary to siBk my ditches in many places to the level of low water. In doing so I had to cut through marsh formations which He at various places around my shore, and my attention was early directed to the value of the material as a fertilizing agent which I threw out of my ditches. Fifteen years ago I began regularly to widen and deepen my ditches, and having carted the mud from the outlets, where I cut through the marsh, back on the most convenient parts of my field, found such encouragement that I soon began to extend my operations; this I have continued to do ever since. The marsh mud in question is found usually covered with salt or fresh water grass according to its proximity to the salt water or otherwise. Generally there is a tough mat of roots for the first spade in depth, and below that a soft formation, evidently made up of rotted roots and leaves with the washings down of the soil from the land above. The depth of this formation varies much, as it is evidently an encroachment on the old level. In many places I expose logs covered by the marsh, mud and lying, perhaps, on a bed of sand; elsewhere I am stopped by the tide water, which fills the cut before I can get through a deeper bed of the mud. This formation I find common on the rivers in this region, but varying much in its fertility; deriving as it does,"its chief richness from the adjacent lands, it partakes of the character of the contiguous soil or that from which it receives its deposit. In procuring the mud, I have found it necessary to adapt my management rather to the peculiar circumstances of thfcfarm or the command of labor I might have at the time, than to any preference I might have for the mud in a dry or frosted state, over the fresh condition. It is well to throw out a large quantity ahead and then to cart it on the land in a dry and pulverized condition, yet I think that there is little difference in the economy of the operation whether the mud is carted on the land fresh or dry, it being: more important to find full work for the hands and team at a leisure time than to cart the mud dry, and when the loading the carts for short distances and spading up the mud makes one operation it more than counterbalances the additional weight occasioned by the water, besides that in many cases the salt water^is in itself no disadvantage. I have frequently occupied my hands in spading in the salt marsh in winter advantageously, which does not freeze as readily as fresh Avater marshes do, and have been able to work comfortably when in other places the ground would be too hard frozen to be penetrated at all by the spade.

The mixing of marl or lime in compost with, marsh mud will be found to improve both, and on a small scale would be beneficial, but in going over a large surface the double hauling will be found to be a serious objection. I early observed an efflorescence on the mud and marl produced by the combination which was evidently a carbonate of soda mild and fertilizing. I have been led to apply the mud freely to land which has been over-marled with excellent results. These experiments, so called, have ceased to be experiments with me, and rather belong to a permanent part of my system of improvement, having regularly applied more or less of

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the above described mud to my fields for the last fifteen years, and varying according to the convenience of the fields, 1 happened to cultivate, to the deposits, but have averaged not less than fifteen acres a year during the last twelve years. The quantity applied has varied with the strength of the mud and the distance I had to cart it, the number of cart loads, being one horse or mule tumbril loads, averaging about fifty to the acre. In conclusion, I would remark that while the application of marsh mud is laborious when used as a means of extensive improvement, it will be found in many cases to be profitable. When nature has denied to a region otherwise favored the better qualities of soil, every thingjnust be turned to account which can beiused as a fertilizer. In my case the mud originally encumbered the banks of my ditches; after removing that, 1 was induced to go farther, and have now gone over some two hundred and twenty acres, besides what has been used in the summer farm pens which tells admirably. The rough sod being most beneficially trodden by the cattle and saturated with their manure at periods when it is difficult to find any thing else to place in them. Wheat and corn are alike benefitted by salt mud; corn stands dry weather remarkably after the application, and the weight of the ear and size of stalk alike show the good effect.

I would remark that in reviewing the experience 1 have had in the use of marsh mud, 1 find myself unable to state more accurately than I have done what would be the proper quantity to apply to the acre, the substance varying as it does so much in strength or fertilizing properties, and being so heavy that the farmer is interested in applying as little as will do when he has any considerable distance to haul it, besides marsh mud ranking as it does in a low scale with the substances which produce any decided change or impression on soils, is only suitable to be used on a large scale by farmers who may happen to have a strong force. Under the stimulus of high prices the English farmer has hauled sea sand a considerable distant to improve his land; when marsh mud has to be removed only a short distance, it must happen in numberless cases that it will be found most valuable used either in compost or placed upon the land in its raw or natural state. I have found marsh mud more beneficial than ordinary farm pen manure, and more lasting in its effects on my crops, and when found as is ofen the case convenient to poor point land which can be limed, or marled, but not manured without hauling a great distance, its value will be fully appreciated by any farmer who will make a fair trial of its improvingfproperties.

• John R. Bryan.

Eagle Point, Gloucester County, Va.

Specification No. 12.

Experiments with Sulphate of Barytes as a Manure.

Barytes as found in its native state, is either a sulphate, or carbonate, and is sometimes called "Heavy Spar." In various localities in the counties of Rockbridge and Bottetourt, as well as on Cedar Creek in the counties of Shenandoah and Frederick, it pppears in the former shape, or, as a Sulphate of Barytes. One, the Carbonate of Barytes, has been considered a virulent poison—the other, the Sulphate, was only remarkable for its ponderosity, the specific gravity (being nearly double that of gypsum) until this property attracted lhe attention of the manufacturers of white lead, and it is believed to be used to a considerable extent by

them, in adulterating that article. And it is probable we are indebted chiefly to the search of one of their agents, for the knowledge we now have of its value as a fertilizer. For it was this which called the attention of an enterprising farmer on Broad Creek, the late John Ackerly, to it, and induced him to have a wagon load ground, and sowed as plaster, under the impression it was really a native gypsum. And I was informed by him, that its good effects on the clover on which it was sown, were as manifest as where the Nova Scotia plaster had been sown alongside. Though an illiterate man, he was observant, and indeed possessed more acumen than usual, and his experiment was made under the mistaken belief it was a native gypsum, for he was totally ignorant of the difference between a Sulphate of Lime, and a Sulphate of Barytes. The result, however, satisfied me it was worthy of further investigation; and as we were ignorant of the affinities which governed the action of the Snlphate of Lime, it might be, that the Sulph. of Barytes (which I knew this to be) would be equally efficacious. With this impression, I had a wagon load dug from the road side on Elliott's Hill, within a mile of me, and after passing it through my corn crusher, ground as plaster—the whole beingaccomplished with about the same labor attendant on the crushing and grinding of gypsum. This was carefully sown in separate rows or strips, about fifty feet apart, on a field of oats and clover, in the spring of 1849. In consequence of unforeseen delays, this was not sown until the first of May, when the oats were several inches high. The ground being a high knoll of lime and soap stone, and the season unusually dry, the oat crop was a short one, and I was disappointed in finding no perceptible improvement in my oats on the strips sown. After harvest, however, the weather became showery, and as soon as my stock had tramped down the stubble, these became visible, and there was a decided and marked superiority in the clover in the rows where the Barytes was applied. Here was at once a pleasing and most decisive evidence of the value of the article; and recollecting its insolubility—being greater even than that of the Sulph. of Lime, I could without difficulty account for its want of action on the oat crop—rain and moisture being essential, and necessary to produce those affinities and chemical combinations which science has not, as yet, fully and satisfactorily explained. To the mere farmer, the result was most gratifying, and this determined me to withdraw this field from its regular rotation, and devote it entirely to the experiment; and though it is now approaching five years since the Barytes was applied, theie is no sensible diminution in the strongly marked verdure of those strips. In my letter to the Editor of the Southern Planter, published in the November number for 1851, of that invaluable agricultural Journal, page 3*25, to which I would also refer for the remarks of Mr. Ruffin and Professor Rogers, I say "I can distinguish the deep green strips where the Barvtes was sown, near a mile distant, almost as plainly as the pen-marks on the paper on which I write." However strong this language may seem to be, there is no exaggeration, and it is equally applicable now, after a lapse of near five years. In the above letter, I mention the luxuriant growth of white clover; and this has now yielded to a grass indicating a still higher grade of fertility. I mean the green sward, or English blue grass, as some call it,— not the genuine blue grass growing on a poorer soil, and a great pest in the wheat or corn crop. In the fifty feet spaces between these strips, there is at this time a thick growth of the fall, or crab grass, which, not being able to get through the compact mat or

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sod of the green sward, contrasts curiously with it— the latter in bloom presenting a reddish hue. Having omitted to mention it in my letter to Mr. Ruffin, I will here state, that after my hands had sown the strips up and down the hill, and one across horizontally—I had the bags which had been used, shaken parallel to the latter, and the good effects of even this small quantity, are s'ill manifest, and very striking! It may be well enough, also, to slate that a few other strips were sown on a different aspect of a hill, though on a similar soil, with the same decided benefit.

Elsewhere I have referred to the experiments of the Rev. George D. Armstrong, made at the same time of my own. He was then the able Professor of Chemistry and Natural Philosophy in Washington College, and his use of the Baryta, was necessarily on a smaller scale. I feel, however, authorized to refer to them, as being decidedly beneficial on his garden vegetables, and also on a small lot of clover. In further proof of its efficacy, I would also refer to the experiments of William Paxton, Esq., residing on James river, in this county, on a free or sand stone land, on which the clover was as much benefitted, apparently, as if gypsum had been used. But in a conversation which I have just had with Daniel Crigler, who lived with me whilst I was conducting my experiment, but now lives near Elliott's Hill, I am informed, that in planting his corn, he dropped the ground Barytes and ashes, on several rows, "in the hill," and on the adjoining rows omitted to drop any thing; but next to the omitted rows, he dropped plaster and ashes, as is very customary here. And the result of this experiment, which does him great credit, was, that whilst the plaster and ashes produced its usually good effects, there was a remarkable superiority inlherowsonwhichtbe Barytes was applied, and the intermediate "omitted" rows, presented a puny and yellow appearance. This application of Mr. Crigler's was on an exhausted limestone land, and is interesting, as proving (what I did not doubt myself) the great value of this mineral on com, as well as clover. In addition, I may say, that a son of Mr. Saville, of the same neighborhood, was induced to. try the Barytes, on a row of peas in the garden, which resulted in like good effects. The Baryta used by them, as well as myself, was procured on Elliott's Hill, and I am sustained in pronouncing it a pure Sulphate, both by Professor Rogers and Major Gilham, the accomplished Professor of Chemistry in the Virginia Military Institute.

From the above it is incontrovertible, that in the Sulphate of Barytes, instead of a worse than useless article, we have found a most valuable fertilizer, and .while we leave the modus operandi, to further scientific research, we may rejoice that such an addition has been made to the means of recuperating and improving our lands. «

Since writing the foregoing, I have received from Major Gilham, the subjoined very interesting letter in reply to some inquiries made of him, in connection with this subject. Knowing his readiness at all times to contribute to the cause of agriculture, or to aid in any scientific research, I shall take the liberty to copy his letter entire, with the exception of a single paragraph, not immediately relevant. Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, Oct. 19,1§53.

My Dear Sir,— Yours of the 10th instant, accompanying two samples q£ minerals, supposed to be Sulphate of Baryta, was received in due time, and in accordance with your request, I have examined both specimens. The sample from "Elliott's Hill," which you say is some of the same that you have

been experimenting with so successfully, is pure crystalized Sulphate of Baryta; the other, from "Short's Quarry," is nothing more than a peculiar form of limestone, which most probably contains more or less magnesia, together with a very small quantity of phosphoric acid.

Some years since Professor Armstrong made an experiment with Sulphate of Baryta upon a clover lot, using it in alternate strips with plaster. I saw the clover, which was very fine, and could see no difference between those portions treated with plaster and those to which the baryta had been applied. This experiment I did not regard, however, as perfectly satisfactory, for no spaces had been left where neither plaster nor sulphate of baryta had been applied, and hence one could not be certain that either had been beneficial. Some two years ago I learned that you had used sulphate of baryta upon clover, and that you had applied it in such a way that, if beneficial, the benefit must be apparent. Feeling interested in the matter, I visited your farm, and became convinced from seeing the field upon which you had used the mineral, that for clover, or permanent pasture, a better manure could not be desired. My visit occurred, you informed me, something like three years afier the application, and at that time the cross lines along which the sulphate of baryta had been strown, were as distinct almost as the lines on this paper. This was in the latter part of November or early in December, and at that time the strips upon which the baryta was sowed, were well set with blue grass, affording excellent pasture, while on the remaining portions of the field the grass was almost entirely dried up. To my mind, nothing could be more satisfactory than your experiment.

*********

Your experiment not only establishes the fact that the sulphate of baryta may be used as a substitute for plaster upon clover and permanent pasture, but you have also proved it to be more lasting in its effects. .

When I saw your pasture the barytes had been applied for three years you informed me, and still the effects were visible as far as the pasture could be seen, and I understand that, even now, the manured strips are quite as conspicuous as at that time. The fertilizing power of sulphate of baryta must, of course, be due alone to the sulphuric acid which it contains, and this would lead to the conclusion that, in very many instances, the effects of plaster upon the grasses are due to the acid of the plaster, rather than to the lime. The greater permanence in the effects of the sulphate of baryta over plaster is due, I conceive, to the insolubility of the former, and to the difficulty with which it is decomposed by chemical agents. Chemists have no solvent for it, and to decompose it they arc obliged to resort to the use of the alkilies, and a strong heat. Your experiment proves that the agencies at work in the soil, are sufficient in time, and at common temperatures, to effect those changes in the mineral, which the chemist can only produce by the aid of his furnace.

It may not be amiss to state that, in consequence of the "equivalent" of baryta being much higher than that of lime, an application of 100 pounds of plaster will supply as much sulphuric acid as 132 pounds of sulphate of baryta.

Respectfully, your obedient servant,

William Gilham, Prof. Chemistry Virginia Military Insitute,

Dr. R. R. Barton.

I need not say a word in commendation of this letter. The Committee on "Essays and Experiments," will fully appreciate its value. I will ody

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add that, though this mineral is not found, as yet, in very extensive beds, except on Catawba, in Botetourt, it is believed to exist throughout our limestone valley; and, as Mr. Ruffin states in the Planter, page 324, that it is found in Fauquier, Greene and Albemarle, and I know it is in Bedford, it is probable, as he states, that it does exist "in the whole tier of Piedmont counties." To those disposed to try its virtues, I would say, have it ground fine, as gypsum should always be, and as it is not volatile, like barnyard manure, and more insoluble than plaster, apply it early, and probably January and February would be the most favorable months for its application.

All of which is respectfully submitted to the Committee on "Essays and Experiments," by

Rob. R. Barton, M. D.

Branch II. Specification No. 1.

ESSAYS OR WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS.

Essay on Enriching and Improving Worn-Out Lands.

It may appear preposterous and even ridiculous in the eyes of some, for a ploughman of the main, to attempt to enlighten the lords of the manor upon agricultural subjects, and more espexially, for a sailor to undertake to instruct the genuine farmer as to what he ought, or ought not to do, for the Renovation of Worn-out Lands in Virginia. Be that as it may, the invitation of the Society upon this branch, as indeed upon every ramification of agricultural knowledge and improvement, is so expansive and liberal, and being so large a beneficiary from the writings^of others, I feel called on to contribute all I do know, if of any value, to the general stock of useful knowledge to be diffused through the Agricultural Society of my native State.

To my task, then, and what I may write will partake more of the character of a simple narrative or journal of my own doings than of a treatise derived from the doings of others.

First, I will show what my land was in IS 19, when I took it in hand. Secondly, what it is now in 1853. Thirdly, by what means it has been resuscitated and brought to its more than pristine fertility. Fourthly, a system of rotation, for the guidance of young farmers of the most limited means,—and lastly, some observations on Lime and Liming;—on Manures and Manuring:—concluding with a formula for compounding various manures and the formation of cheap compose.

In the first- place, then, January, 1819, found me in possess ion of land in Fairfax county, Virginia, s0 poor, as, even in that, then proverbially poor county ; (of which it was often said, the more Fairiax land a man owned, the poorer he was,") to be known and designated by the commissioners vvh 0 divided the old family estate, as Poor Bill n<wt the Dower. One-half of my 140 acres %va« it) virgin wood consisting of the varieties common to this section of Virginia. The quality of the land, originally, was middling, and aV\ the cleared portion was thoroughly exhausted by the tobacco and corn system of our

progenitors, who in their laudable desire to enrich posterity left their children fields poor indeed. This isolated patch drawn from a worn-out tobacco plantation of 3000 acres, was without improvement of any description; there had never been even a negro cabin on any part of it; it was not fenced in; nor was there a wheelbarrow load of manure about the premises; nor was there, at that day, within my reach, any of the powerful, concentrated manures now so freely used.

No agriculturist, young or old, ever embarked on a more forlorn hope than did I, when I undertook to renovate worn-out soil in Fairfax. 'Tis true, I had a small income of about $700 per annum from another source, but what was that compared to my wants? I had houses of every description to build, labor to hire, feed and clothe; farm to stock out and out, and my own personal and somewhat extravagant wants real and imaginary to provide for. In short, I had every thing to buy and nothing to sell; and what was worst of all, I was discouraged by old farmers, on every side, some of whom affirmed that Fairfax land could not be improved. "Plaster would not act at all," and as to clover, it was a greater impoverisher even than corn and oats, the alternating crops of those times.

The first decisive step I took was to sell forty acres of my wood-land to enable me to erect a house to live in. That left me about 70 acres of thoroughly exhausted, worn-out, naked and gullied cleared land, to commence on. The agricultural condition of the neighborhood in which I settled, will be better understood, when I state that in 1820, the whole 3000 acres of which my 140 acres were a part, did not yield three tons of clean hay per annum.

If at the commencement of my agricultural experiments I was discouraged by the example and predictions of those among whom my lot was cast, I assure the reader, the results of the first few years were by no means cheering, but having put my hand to the plough, my faith was too strong to allow me to look back in despair, although I did not always reap where J sowed, and frequently gathered not, where I had scattered with a liberal hand. Such was my beginning in 1819. The third year thereafter, I cut a little clover for hay and had one acre of reclaimed swamp land well set in timothy. This year I erected a permanent shelter for cattle with a loft capable of holding 35 or 40 tons oj hay. While this building was being erected, it was the laughing-stock of the neighborhood, as well as of the passers-by on the turnpike. The best farmer of the vicinity, at that day, after a careful survey of my premises, cow house and hay m,ow, declared, that the whole county of Fairfax would never make hay enough to fill them!! Was not this encouraging to a young farmer? But what is the result? For twenty years past, that mow has not been able to contain one-half of an average crop. Fields which did not produce even poverty grass when I took them in hand, now produce Kentucky blue, i. e. English lawn grass, spontaneously,

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and those which did not return three bushels for one, when seeded with rye, oats, buckwheat, &c. &c, now yield from fifteen to twenty-seven, and as high as thirty-two bushels of wheat per acre, from thirty to as high as seventy-two bushels of oats per acre, from eight to fourteen and as high as seventeen barrels of corn per acre, and an average of one and a half tons of cured hay, and as high as three and a half tons per acre at a single cutting, and all other crops usually cultivated on market farms in like proportions, besides having over six hundred fruit trees in full bearing of the most choice seed and stone varieties.

Having thus shown what my land was when I took it in hand in 1819 and what it now is in 1853, and lest any may be incredulous, I will here insert two extracts from Ruffin's Farmers' Register, for the years 1838 and 1839. in proof of the practicability of reclaiming the worn-out lands of Virginia and Maryland, and of raising them to the highest state of productiveness.

EXTRACTS.

"Memorandum of the culture and products

of an acre of land in the county of Fairfax, by

Thos. Ap C. Jones, for seven consecutive years,

taken from the 1st and 2d pages of Volume VI,

Ruffin's Farmers' Register.

In 1831, produced 600 bushels of turnips

at 25 cents per bushel, $150 00

In 1832, Oats 72f bushels, sold at 45 cts. 32 72 Stubble turned in and sowed with wheat and clover seed in September.

In 1833, Wheat, (lodged and did not fill well,) only 19 bushels, sold at $1 25 per bushel, 23 75

In October mowed the stubble and got one and a half tons of cow food, worth $12, 12 00

In 1834, Clover, June cutting, 3 tons, 36 00 September, 1-|- tons, at $12, 12 00

Fallowed after second mowing and sowed with wheat, harrowing in fifty bushels quick lime at. the same time.

In 1835, Another bad wheat year, (blossoms washed off by hard rains.) only 22 bushels, at $1 25, 27 50

Mowed the stubble in September, one and a half tons of mixed hay, worth $12, 12 00

In 1836, Clover and herds grass. 3|- tons,

$15 per ton, 52 50

Second crop ploughed under, preparatory for corn.

In 1837, Planted latter part of April, with Baden's twin corn, four feet six inches each way; put a good handful of ashes, lime andplasterof Paris combined, in each hill; product over ten barrels, say 10, at $3 50 per

barrel,

35 00

$394 27

The above land received from two to three bushels of gypsum annually put on at various periods, but never failing to follow the scythe with a good dressing of plaster. Ground plaster costs from $7 to $9 per ton in Georgetown. Fresh lime, at kilns in Georgetown, in 1834, cost 15 cents per bushel, now 12^ by the quantity. From these data, let the skeptic make any deductions he may think proper, for expense of cultivation, at the highest wages for man and beast, and add interest on all cost and charges, and still there must remain a clear profit but little short of $50 per annum, from rather less than one acre of ground, which, previous to manuring in 1831, was utterly worthless, but is now considered rich. It has on it 30 flourishing young apple trees just getting into bearing, and promises a good crop of wheat seeded the last of October.

"Product of ten acres of land on the Sharon farm in Fairfax county, Virginia, (owned by Thomas Ap C. Jones,) improved by liming and manuring, for the year 1838.

Taken from Ruffin's Farmers' Register, Vol. VII, pages 153, 154 and 155. Five acres of wheat produced 117 bushels at

$1 60, - $187 20

Straw of the same,

28 25

Three acres produced eleven tons, sixteen cwt. of cured clover hay, worth on the farm 50 cents per cwt. 130 00

Clover seed from the same ground, 2|-bushels, worth now $15 per bushel, 37 50

Rye, and the straw from one-fourth of an acre, 12 00

Three-fourths of an acre in sugar beets, ruta baga, carrots and turnips, and more than one-fifth of an average crop, in consequence of drought, but according to present prices worth $75, 75 00

Fruit and cider sold from peach and apple trees growing on the above land, 251 00

One acre of turnips, gross amount, as per Statement No. 1 (below,) 255 20

Apples and cider and other fruits consumed at home, and what remains on hand at this time, 86 00

Five pigs raised in a pen and fed on grass and offal fruit from the above ground and kitchen slop, killed at ten months old, weighed 734 lbs. at 8 cts. is $58 72; deduct two barrels of corn for last feeding ($8,) 50 72

$1,113 37 One thousand one hundred and thirteen dollars and thirty-seven cents, from which I leave the reader to make his own deduction for the year's expense of cultivation and marketing. This much I affirm that no acre of the above land, except the one in turnips last year, has ever cost $15 to improve it, and that every acre has paid me from $25 to $50 annually since the lime and manure were applied.

I have now a lot, something less than an acre of orchard grass and clover up-land, subs oiled, limed, manured and sown down with rye, or-

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chard grasa and clover in 1844. It has been twice mowed each year since 1846, and for the last four years, after cutting the orchard grass seed.

The present year the yield of orchard grass seed is 20 bushels, which we sell readily on the farm for $1 50 per bushel. The stubble and clover mowed, as soon as the seed was removed cut one and a half ions of good hay, and on the 5th of October, a ton and a quarter of good cow hay (worth $2) was taken from the same land, and it is now (October 28th) good pasture.

VALUE.

20 bushels grass seed $1 50 per bushel, $30 00 1| tons of hay, first cutting, 75 cents per

100 lbs. - ! 22 50

1J tons of hay, second mowing, ($12,) 12 00

$64 50 Cutting, curing, hauling in, stacking, threshing seed, and $3 worth of fertilizer worked into compost and sown broadcast in the latter part of March, 6 00

Neat profit for 1853, $58 50

These results show what I had done up to 1839.* and what others may likewise do, and in most cases, and in all cases of old settled farmers, in less time and at less expense than I have incurred.

To give a full and circumstantial detail of all the means and appliances employed to produce the results stated, would occupy far more time and space than can be appropriated to an essay designed for the working 1 farmer. If I may now claim to be a practical farmer, and a successful renovator of worn-out lands, how I have accomplished this important end, I will endeavor to reveal in the rules I shall recommend for the use of all young farmers, who from whatever cause or motive may feel disposed to devote their time and energies to the cultivation of the soil.

I will suppose the young farmer already in possession of the land, and that he is supplied with at least three work horses or mules, one yoke of oxen, one good two horse plough of the barshare kind, and a one-horse barshare plough, one subsoil plough, one clod and one seed harrow, one two-horse roller, and labor equal at least to two and a half men, besides a woman to cook, milk and wash. 1 will suppose, too, that he has a comely and notable wife, both willing and competent to share with her lord and protector in all the cares as well as pleasures of life. Also that he has a proper complement of all farming implements, tools, &c, necessary to carry on a farm, among which there must be a two-horse wagon, a horse cart and an o.v cart. This outfit is computed for a farm of from 120 to 150 acres, according to circumstances. If the young farmer has more land than mean3 to

* Up to this time (1839) I had depended almost, entirely upon the resources of the farm for manuring. With the exception of lime and plaster, my use of foreign or purchased manures had been confined to experiments upon the smallest scale.

stock it well and cultivate it thoroughly, then my advice is by all means to sell off as much of his surplus land as will put him in possession of funds sufficient to thoroughly cultivate and speedily improve the residue. I have somewhere met with an old proverb which I earnestly commend to all farmers, whether young or old, viz. that "Two acres of land on top of each other are better than three side by side.''' For example, in 1832 I got from one acre of well manured land, 72f bushels of oats, having sowed three bushels. The same year I rented an adjoining field of 23 acres, which had been in corn, the previous year. On that field I sowed 30 bushels of oats, and after giving the landlord his third, and taking out the seed, I had 120 bushels left for my profit—rather less; for upon each of the 23 acres there w T as the same labor bestowed, as upon the one —the manuring and eight dollars' worth of time, about the value of twoacres of land at that time, made the diiference.

As my purpose is to lay down rules for the young farmer of minimum means, which the affluent and more experienced agriculturist may easily extend or modify to meet their own enlarged ability and circumstances, I shall take for illustration an even hundred acres; thirty of which, we will suppose to be in wood, leaving 70 acres for the plough. Of this 70, I will appropriate 10 acres to buildings, gardens and orchards, hence I have 60 left for farming purposes proper. I will divide these into 6 fields of 10 acres each, and number them 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6." I will suppose, too, that the young farmer is in possession and prepared to break ground at the opening of spring; of course he has employed all the working weather of the winter months of the year, i. e. January, February and March, in getting rails and repairing fences, &c. &c. until the ground was sufficiently dry for ploughing for corn, or, if any portion of his land was in summer crops the previous year, for oats.

When the corn ground is to be broken for the first time, which I will suppose to be in nothing better than poverty grass, I would hitch the best one of my three horses to the one-horse bar-share plough, and turn the furrow three or four inches only, following at the same time, and in ihe same track, with the substratum, alias, subsoil plough, drawn by the other two horses, as deep as they can pull it, which if it be Davis' (formerly of Georgetown, D. C.) primitive substratum plough, with my improved point,* will be from eight to twelve inches. This operation at once provides a tilth of twelve inches on an average, still retaining near the surface, where it should be, the little vegetable mould, as food for plants, while at the same time a receptacle is furnished, sufficient in most cases, to absorb and hold all the rain that falls at any one time,

* My improvement consists in substituting a steel point, or shoe, in the place of the circular double bevelled cast iron self-sharpening plate of about seven inches diameter, with which the lower end of curved coulter was armed as a rooter to loosen and raise the subsoil.

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43

and thus more effectually than by any other-device within reach of the farmer of limited means, arrest washing, to which cause is to be attributed, the exhausted state of the once fertile, but now worn-out lands of Maryland and Virginia. The cause of exhaustion once removed the work of renovation becomes progressive; slow, it may be, if unaided by art and science, but time alone, in the end would bring back the land to its primeval state, if surface washing were effectually arrested. Nor is the safeguard against washing the only benefit derived from subsoiling exhausted lands, especially if the substratum be a compact, tenacious clay, (like my own,) for as clay soils are more retentive of moisture, and part with it much slower than gravelly or sandy loams, it follows, of course, that the greater the quantity of rain absorbed by the earth loosened to a great depth, the more there is^ept in store, and slowly given out, to nourish the growing crops. On land thus treated I have never known the corn crop to fall below an average one; and when the land has been limed, and when manures have been judiciously applied I have cut as heavy grass from hill tops as from bottom lands.

Supposing the ground to have been broken as directed, and left in the rough state, till the time of planting approaches, which is better indicated by nature than by the almanac, or than any man's notion of a particular day; for if you plant too soon, that is, before the ground is warm enough to sprout .the seed quickly, you will, assuredly, have much replanting to do, which is sometimes attended with more labor and expense than the first planting. If you plant too late, the culture of your corn will interfere with your clover and grain harvests, and your corn may be injured by early frosts; so that, as in most other acts of man, a middle course is best for planting. In this and like matters, we may profitably follow nature's laws. I have found the budding and blossoming of forest trees a good criterion for planting corn, and sometimes some seeds—for instance, when the leaf of the tulip, or wild poplar tree is the size of half a dollar. Indian corn may be safely planted; and when the chestnut blossoms are fading, buckwheat may be sown with a fair prospect of a crop.

As short a time as practicable before planting corn, the corn-ground should be rolled and thoroughly harrowed, and then marked off with a double mould-board plough, or what is better, the old Dutch plough, long used in Virginia and some parts of Maryland for that purpose, at such distances as may be determined, according to soil, situation and climate. I plant as close as I can, to allow room for after-culture. The poorer the land, the closer I plant, regulating the number of stalks to the acre, by the number left in the hill, rather than by the distance between the hills of checkered, or the rows of stepped or drilled corn. Twelve hours at least, before you intend to commence planting your corn, dissolve half a pound of copperas in some boiling water, into which pour about a gill of tar, add as much

more water as will make thirty gallons, then put your seed-corn in: stir it well and allow it to soak twelve hours, at least. When ready for planting, take the corn out, and let it drain a while; then roll it in Plaster of Paris, and put four or five grains in a hill. It will not be long coming up, nor much troubled by crows and the like, and will seldom require re-planting. The next process, if your land was not subsoiled when broken up, is, to run-a naked, sharp coulter as near the corn on each side as a horse can walk, and as deep as he can draw it. This done, as soon as your first planting is large enough to thin, run your two horse heavy harrow over it, following at the same time with hand hoers to thin and draw a little earth'about the remaining plants: without any other cultivation than this, excepting a good handfull of plaster, wood ashes and lime, applied on the hill after covering, I have made eleven barrels of corn to the acre from several acres. As a general rule with me, the culture of Indian corn after it is planted, consists in surface culture, taking care never to disturb the sod if any was turned under, and above all, never stir even the surface of corn ground when wet. A good general rule, alike indispensable to preserve the fertility of the land and to insure good crops, is not to work corn unless the dust will follow the plough, nor after the roots have extended so far as to be disturbed by the implement. Strict adherence to these rules for the cultivation of all summer crops, will not only insure fair crops, in any season, but will redeem that most valuable of all grain, Indian corn, from the unjust charge, so pertinaciously insisted on by all bad farmers, of robbing- mother earth of her native fertility and rendering her powerless to produce. The young farmer will probably find it necessary to secure all the corn fodder he can the first two or three years. If so, that is best done by cutting the tops and pulling the blades as soon as the outside shucks of the ear turn brown; but corn intended for bread should not be cut off nor gathered before November, after some black frosts; nor even then, unless the cobs are dry. Thus ends the culture for the first year's corn crop, which, be it remembered, was on field No. 1. As early in the spring of the second year as practicable, the cornfield of the previous year is to be thoroughly ploughed, harrowed and sowed down in oats, when immediately thereafter, Field No. 2 is to be taken in hand and treated in all respects as was Field No. 1. As soon as the oat crop is removed from No. 1, turn down the stubble, this time with the two-horse plough, followed in the same furrows by a coulter drawn by one horse, if you have no more. Roll and harrow pretty much as directed in preparing the corn ground, and in the last days of September, or first ten days of October, sow down with wheat—if to be sown broad-cast, soak the seed in strong brine, from 12 to 24 hours, and roll in lime. If to be drilled, which i3 preferable, the seed must be made dry by lime and plaster, and then farmed. Clover seed may be sown on the wheat after harrowing, but before

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any rain falls, or any time in spring after the snow is gone, and until April.

We are now in the third year, with Field No. 1. As soon as the wheat is removed, turn your swine in as gleaners, but no other stock, until there has been a biting frost, when moderate grazing with cattle will be rather beneficial than otherwise. As the most trying ordeal through which young clover has to pass, on thin lands particularly, is the sudden transition from shade to a parching July sun, by the cutting of grain on which it is sown, it is of the first importance towards guarding against the destruction, in a few hours, of a good set of young clover, that it should receive a generous dressing of Plaster of Paris the same evening or following morning. One bushel per acre without any admixture, but finely ground, is the least quantity that ought to be applied at that critical season.

Early in the spring of the fourth year, that is, as soon as the frost is out of the ground, and the clover and meadow-grass leaves begin to expand, dress with a compost of one bushel of plaster of Paris, two bushels of wood ashes, one peck of common salt per acre—double the quantity of ashes would be better, (if ashes are scarce, any rich earth or fine manure that can be conveniently sown by hand will answer, in equal proportions with ashes,)but bear it in mind that after the ground is once covered with snow, no hoof or tooth ought to be admitted on young clover, especially should sheep and horses be kept offj for the buds that are nipped by them in winter and early spring can never recover from it, and many will be entirely destroyed.

Clover fields treated as I have directed, will be in full bloom by the middle of June. When one-third of the blossoms have turned brown, is the proper time to put in the scythe, and this must not be neglected on any account, for although there may not be a remunerating crop for hay to take off the land, it should be mowed and mowed all over, too, as there is no better extirpator of noxious weeds, brambles and the like than the scythe, in May, June, July and August. Moreover, i^ the clover is thin and light, mowing before the root is exhausted by the ripening of the first crop, will cause the roots to throw out many additional seed stalks for the second growth, which although it may not be so tall as the first, will certainly be much thicker, and cover the ground better; [here remember, whenever you mow over dry land, follow the scythe ivith a dressing of plaster, if nothing else']. The second growth of clover is the seed crop, but if the young farmer cannot save the seed without cutting the clover, he had better let it fall and lie on the ground, keeping all stock off until vegetation is checked by autumnal frosts— then, but not till then, it may be pastured without detriment, except when the ground is very wet and soft, and as in the previous year, not after mid-winter. This brings us to the fifth year, with a fair prospect of a tolerable crop of clover, if my directions for last year were

now exercise some discretion; he may mow for hay in June, or he may pasture off, taking care not to turn in stock any sooner than he would have finished mowing. Thenceforth, until April of the sixth year, he has a pasture for cattle, horses and sheep, and the'more of them he puts on it and the closer he grazes this year, the better for the land. It is the practice of many good farmers to break up their land lor corn, the preceding autumn—my experience teaches me differently. I have always found that blue grass, turned over in autumn was not killed by frost, and gave a deal of cross-ploughing and other work in spring, to get the ground in good order for planting, and a great deal more work in after culture, than when the sod is turned as short a time as possible before planting: besides this, you lose your best pasture, for sheep in particular, from early frost in autumn till March —say four months in every year on an average. But whether you break up in Ipring or autumn, No. 1 must go in corn the sixth year, and is to be ireated thenceforth pretty much as was the first rotation. Fields Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, follow No. 1 in annual succession, and as near as may be, under similar treatment.

The reader will probably be surprised that I have said so little, as yet, about manures. The omission was intentional; first, because I did not suppose the young farmer had much of that on hand; and secondly, because I am endeavoring to lay down a plan for the renovation of worn-out lands, in the hands of farmers and farmers' sons, who for want of means, or by reason of remoteness from regular supplies, must depend on the resources afforded by their own premises; and lastly, because 1 have thought that a separate section devoted to manures, would be better than to break the thread of my narrative by recommending this or that manure, or this or that time or place of applying it. Besides, I am quite sure that my young fanner in the first five or six years of his operations, however successful, has hardly been able to rake and scrape together more manure than was necessary for the production of potatoes and other culinary vegetables, on the ten acres set aside in the beginning for buildings, gardens and the orchards, which, f presume, were planted out in the second or third year at farthest, and will, of course, require annual manuring as well as annual cultivation in summer crops, such as potatoes, turnips, sugar beets, ruta baga and the like, for seven years at least for apple, and all the while for peach trees.

The thirty acres of wood-land, set apart for fuel and fencing, ought to be well enclosed for a permanent hog-pasture and for cattle in early spring, and at all seasons when the ground is too soft to turn cattle on cultivated fields. I have not introduced in my rotation summer fallow, as generally understood, for wheat; first, because it is not likely that the young farmer had a clean field for that object, nor suitable manure to enrich one. All the worn-out lands of Maryland and Virginia with which I am ac-

strictly adhered to. The young farmer may Iquainted, are more or less infested with blue

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45

grass and garlic to a degree forbidding the pro Suction of good merchantable wheat from summer fallowed ground. Wheat upon oat or bar ley stubble, which was in corn the preceding year, is not only the best remedy against garlic but is the very best process to insure a full crop of clean wheat on any land.

It must be apparent to every practical farmer that no stiff land—land best adapted to the production of wheat—can be put in proper con dition to receive the seed, when deeply ploughed in mid-summer, by once harrowing, even when the roller precedes or follows the harrow; espe cially if the land has been pastured. Such land at that season can never be easily ploughed, unless so moist as to bake very hard under an August sun, and often to a degree that no harrow can properly pulverize by once or twice passing over it. I know it has been often said, and will be again said, that a rough fallow is the surest lay for a wheat crop; the clods are said to serve as protection to the weak plants during winter and by gradually mouldering away as spring advances, constantly supply fresh covering to roots exposed by the high winds of March blowing away the fine earth which covered them. That such is the operation and effect to some extent, can not be denied; but it is far better to prevent the evil than to cure it by such means. Let your oat or barley stubble be well prepared, the finer the better, and put your wheat in, in good season, with Pennock's or any of the many seed drills now largely in use, and my word for it, you will have nothing to fear from winter killing, nor from the blowing away of dry earth from the roots in spring time. How often do we hear the farmer complain that his wheat is too thin, the winter has killed it, the fly destroyed it, will not make half a crop, &c, &c. While these lamentations are going on, one might traverse the field after harvest, by stepping from clod to clod, which at time of seeding were a foot or more in diameter, and through which no germ of seed did or could possibly pass, while the seed from the hand of the sower, falling on such rough ground, rolls off and interlaps with the seed from neighboring clods, and collects so thickly as to stifle and smother all. So that from one cause or another, a portion of the ground is entirely too thickly and another too thinly seeded, while in the aggregate, by reason of missing spaces, nearly one-tenth of the superficies bears no fruitful plants. Is it then at all surprising that some of the finest wheat lands of the Shenandoah valley and of the opposite counties of Maryland yield an average of only about twenty bushels of wheat per acre, whilst occasionally, with better farming, but no better land, forty, fifty or more bushels are produced? If land which yields twenty or twenty-five bushels under the common mal-practice of rough summer fallow, were treated differently and more after the manner I have suggested, fifty or sixty bushels per acre would be more common than twenty or thirty now are.

ON MANURES.

What I have to record under this head I will

premise by endeavoring to correct two very prevalent errors in regard to lime as a manure.

First, then, lime, practically speaking, is not of itself a manure, yet, at the same time, no soil, other than alluvial, annually flooded, can be certainly fruitful and permanently productive, that does not contain a due portion of lime in some form or other, to be absorbed by the rootlets of plants for the perfection of both straw and grain. I have known some curious blunders and much detriment to the progress of liming, by the use of lime as a manure, in comparison with strong, putrescent manures; for instance, a shovelful of each was, by a novice put on the hills of alternate rows of corn. The result of such ill-judged experiments need not be told.

Another common error, and one little less fatal to the general use of lime as an auxiliary renovator is that it must be applied in quantities so large as to interdict its use by most farmers who derive support entirely from an exhausted soil. I was a great sufferer under this popular error. When I commenced farming, there were but few, if any, native periodicals devoted exclusively to agriculture, and adapted to the wants of our own country; consequently, we had to look abroad for agricultural light, which, when received, was illy adapted to our resources, our climate, or our worn-out lands. The English works with which we were most familiar, told us of liming by the 1, 2, 3, 5, and even 800 bushels per acre! and in Pennsylvania, where liming was first brought into much use in the United States, 40, 60 and 120 bushels per acre were generally administered. I commenced with about 40 bushels per acre, and ] have occasionally applied 60, and as much as 80 bushels on one occasion. The result was highly satisfactory in each case, but the expense was entirely beyond the means of most farmers. Long experience and close observation have satisfied me that lime in far smaller quantities than is generally supposed, may be applied in various ways and with great advantage. I have had good results and lasting benefits from the application of as little as 15, and even down to jive bushels of fresh burned lime per acre, mixed with three or four times its bulk of road scrapings, and even of virgin soil dug out of banks on road sides, spread on grass lands in autumn. Lime, thus neutralized by clay or earth, forms a most valuable ingredient for making compost; indeed, a single bushel of lime well mixed with ashes, dry earth and the like, to prepare it for sowing by hand, applied to one acre of wheat and harrowed in with it, on land destitute of lime, will have a very salutary effect in hardening the straw and producing well filled heads. The mode of applying manures being a subject of such diversity of opinion among the best farmers, I feel some distrust in recording my own experience. Some plough it in as deep as they can, some shovel or harrow in, and some top-dress by spreading it on the surface and particularly on grass lands, and there let it lie. Some do these things in the spring time, some

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in winter, and some at seed time, and a few directly after harvest or mowing.

The result of my own long experience after a fair trial of all the modes practised or recommended, is that most manures should be kept near the surface within the reach of air, light, heat and moisture. There are some exceptions to this general rule—for instance, when rough manure is used in the drill, (the best mode for raising Irish potatoes in the tide water counties of Maryland and Virginia,) it must be buried deep; so, too, when rough manure is applied to corn ground in the spring of the year. This last practice I seldom pursue now-a-days, and for two reasons—first, the difficulty and cost of hauling such a bulky article any considerable distance, in spring time, before the ground has become settled after the alternate freezing and thawing of winter, and the great damage done to roads and fields traversed at such season. Moreover, I do contend, the opinions of many to the contrary notwithstanding, that the rough manure of the farm-yard, of a winter's accumulation, removed in March for the corn field were, it suffered to remain in the yard, occasionally strewing plaster of Paris and sulphate of iron (copperas) over it until more thoroughly decomposed by the genial heat of spring and early summer, although it might lose 50 per cent, in bulk, one load of the thus concentrated manure would be equal, as a fertilizer, to four of the rough mass in which it was found in March. This is a subject of peculiar interest to the owners of large farms, say, of 500 or more acres. Let any one count the cost of manuring ten acres of land for corn, with manure to be hauled 1200 yards from the farm-yard, in the months of March and April, and he will find that he had better sell the extra teams he has to keep for such hauling, and lay out their value in lime and some of the highly concentrated manures, than to continue the old practice.

T shall be asked how I expend or apply my home-made manures. I will tell you in as few words as I can. In the first place, I have, as the reader may remember, a standing farm-yard or cow-pen in which my cattle are penned every night, winter and summer. The pen is surrounded by stalls for the milch cows and work oxen, while the young and dry cattle have shelters under which they retire at will. The centre of the yard is concave, so as to retain all liquids that fall into it, while there is dry ground round and about for the cattle to stand or lie down on. This yard is abundantly littered with straw, cornstalks, &c. from early autumn till late spring. Back of my horse-stables there are receptacles where the horse litter is deposited morning and evening. This last manure is applied exclusively to top-dressing mo winggrounds in early spring and autumn, but the best time of all, is as soon after mowing as possible, although it be under the withering sun of July, or August! This idea will, doubtless, startle many practical farmers, all professors of the art and science of farming, as much as it did me when first recommended by an eminently successful

English farmer, still living in this county. At first, I thought my friend was quizzing me, but he became so earnest and entreated me so hard to try it, if with one load only, that 1 consented, and applied it on a piece of fresh mowed timothy meadow, neither high nor low ground, and at the rate of only five cart loads per acre; the result was a heavy second growth equal to half the first crop, and when in August the part so dressed might have been mowed, the stubble of the undressed portion was not hid by the after growth. The crop of the succeeding year was 20 per cent, better than on land of the same quality top-dressed in the usual way and time. Travelling in the State of New Hampshire, a year or so afterwards, on a farm where was growing the best timothy I ever saw in New England,I saw wagons in August hauling cured grass from the meadow to the barn, and return-ing with manure from the barn to the meadow! My farm-yard or rough manure is applied chiefly to the potato crop, planting at convenient seasons through the months of March, April and May. The fine manure or scrapings is worked into composts* and applied to corn in the hills, to garden and field crops, such as ruta baga, beets, carrots, &c. &c. and to oat and barley ground, sowed broadcast and harrowed in; to buckwheat and turnips in July, and to rye and wheat at the time of sowing.

Having said thus much about manures of the farm yard, the practical farmer must choose his own time and method of using them, according to the circumstances in which he is placed.

Of all the concentrated natural and chemical manures, now in general use by farmers and gardeners, Peruvian guano is decidedly the favorite. It may not always be so; it ought not to be the case now. That, upon extremely poor lands, incapable of vegetable production without the use of powerful stimulants, 200 lbs. of guano per acre will produce an astounding crop of wheat, &c, cannot be" denied; and if clover seed be sown with the fall crop, or on it, in early spring, a fair crop of clover may follow next year, if the season be favorable, and if that clover be well plastered and ploughed down in June, and again ploughed and seeded with rye or wheat in August or September, there will be an improved base to work on, by a regular rotation such as I have already laid down, which must be pursued or the benefits of the guano will be lost, and the land will be in a worse condition than ever; but guano should not be applied the second time to the same land, unless in combination with other fine manures; nor should it ever be applied in its crude state to land that is in good heart, i. e. land that will bring thirty bushels of Indian corn or fifteen bushels of wheat per acre, without it; not but that guano on some such land might increase the product of both wheat and corn enough to pay for itself, but if it should, the soil will be robbed of its fertility, and will be left in a far worse condition than when the guano was first applied, at least such have been my own results

* See Appendix for recipe.

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in its use, and such is the universal character I admixture, but on account of expense, about a

of guano in Peru, as I there learned, upon per sonal inquiry, from the mouths of all persons (with whom I conversed) engaged in gardening and agricultural pursuits around the city of Lima, the capital of Peru, from whence we obtain the best guano. I have frequently been in Peru, first in 1825, again in 1842-3, and more recently in 1848, and on each and every occasion, I took the greatest pains to obtain all possible information as to the value of guano as a manure, and the mode of applying it to field and garden culture, as well as to its effects upon the land, and with one accord and without a solitary exception, I was told that land stimulated by the use of guano, soon became utterly worthless, unless the stimulus was kept up by repeated applications. This was the reason as signed for so little use made of guano, where the cost of the article is merely nominal, not exceeding half what we willingly pay for leached ashes in the District of Columbia.

Of all the concentrated manures for sale in our sea-board cities, crushed bone or bone dust is undoubtedly the best; its effect on the soil is both prompt and permanent. At least, a single application made by me fifteen years ago, is still quite visible, although the ground has been heavily cropped ever since. 1 found that one bushel of crushed bone was equivalent to one double horse cart load of good i'arm yard manure. Forty such loads is the least that will enrich an acre of worn-out land sufficiently for a good crop of corn; hence at the present price of bone dust, that manure is beyond the means of most farmers for the renovation of poor land. Poudrette, of the Lodi, New Jersey, works is an excellent manure for forcing vegetables to early maturity, hence its great value to market gardeners in the vicinity of cities, but like guano, it imparts little or no abiding fertility to the soil.

Chappell's Fertilizer has opponents as well as friends. Its effect does not appear to have been uniform in the hands of different persons, nor even when applied by the same person at different times—so some say. Such discrepancy, however, is not very marvellous, since we know oC no human agency that can by any possibility produce precisely the same results in the product of the soil, every year for a series of years. If this be true, and no practical farmer can gainsay it, ought the Fertilizer, any more than guano or other manures all various in their effecls, to be condemned and thrown out of use? The cost of the Fertilizer, ($1.00 per 100 lbs.) is too high for farmers in general, 600 lbs. per acre being necessary to bring very poor land up to a productive state. I am now in my third year's free use of this chemical preparation, with highly satisfactory results in every instance, the cost being the only objection so far with.me, but even this is much reduced when the prolonged beneficial effect of this renovator is duly considered and compared with that of guano. The first two years I used the Fertilizer (Chappell's) I put two barrels or 600 lbs. to the acre without

year ago, I commenced a more economical use of it by admixture with cheaper substances, obtained without money, such as rich earth,.or fine manures sufficiently pulverized to be conveniently sowed by hand. For proportions see appendix.

Of the Phosphate of Lime, to be purchased in most of the large cities on the sea-board, I have only used Chappell's bi-phosphate of lime, 100 lbs. of which, in combination with other more bulky substances, to be sowed broadcast by hand, and harrowed in with small grain, or sowed in the-drill, or dropped in the hill for corn, and all sorts of roots, makes one of the best manures I have ever tried. See appendix. Plaster of Paris, slacked lime, wood ashes and common salt combined in due proportions, may after all, at the same, or less cost, be more profitable to the farmer than any manure yet known.

Considering lime as the only sure foundation of any system of farming which may be adopted for the renovation of lands exhausted by injudicious culture—I will devote a few lines to that particular subject, by stating what I would do, if I had my work to go over again, and which of course, I recommend to all other beginners, in their efforts to improve worn-out lands.

First, then, when your land has been well broken up, for corn in the spring of the year, spread on it from 30 to 60 bushels of dry slacked lime. When the farmer is near enough to kilns to get the fine lime fresh drawn, and can get it on the land before it slakes, thirty bushels of that sort will be still better than the larger quantity slaked, but be very careful not to let your lime get wet before it is spread and harrowed in. If you are so remote from lime kilns as to be able to haul only one load a day, it will be better to buy the fresh burned and best lump lime, because in that slate it is much lighter, and when water-slacked, will increase from three to five-fold. Such lime ought to be put under cover and slacked immediately with strong brine. Lime of the quality described and treated accordingly, acts very promptly, mechanically as well as chemically; mechanically in reducing stiff, rigid clays to a loose friable texture, and chemically by neutralizing acids unfriendly to vegetable production, and by combining with loose and light soils, they are rendered more adhesive and retentive of moisture; in other words, lime judiciously applied to stiff land renders it light, while it imparts to lands too light, a firmer or more compact texture. This dogma, paradoxical as it may appear to many, is fully established by every brick chimney or stone dwelling in the land. All who build such houses, know that lime and sand, (the latter largely predominating in all light soils,) with water, are the materials used by masons for the formation of mortar, which in a short time becomes as hard, if not harder than the bricks. It is also well known, that if stiff'clay or rich mould were to be used with lime for mortar, instead of sand, that when

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dry, it would moulder away, and become impalpable dust. Now with these plain truths before us, it is only necessary to apply smaller portions of lime to our lands, varying according to their texture, and we can have stiff or light land as we may choose or will it.

Most writers on lime applied to agriculture, and many practical liming farmers, too, recommend a repetition of lime every fourth year in increased doses of 50 or 100 per cent, on the previous dressing, until you get up to 120 bushels per acre at the end of the eighth year. I have not done so, nor do I consider it absolutely necessary, or always expedient at such short intervals. Better extend the time according to my cycle of six shifts, applying the lime to your corn land, in any convenient quantity, not less, however, than you commenced with, say 30, 40. up to 60 bushels per acre. Finally and emphatically, be it remembered, that if your land is naturally deficient in lime, that deficiency must, in some way or other, be supplied, or you never can reap the full benefits of manuring. Your crops, particularly wheat, will be uncertain in quality as well as in quantity without lime, however rich your land maybe; and in times of drought, your crops of all descriptions may fail entirely, whereas, on judiciously limed land, similar crops under like circumstances will escape almost unscathed.

Thomas Ap C. Jones.

Fairfax county, Va., October, 1853.

APPENDIX.

Combination of Concentrated Manures to be applied by hand.

No. 1.

Soap boiler's ashes 2 bushels, plaster of Paris 1 bushel, common salt 1 bushel—to be sown per acre on all meadows or other grass land in late autumn or early spring.

The proportion of ashes may be increased to any available quantity, say as high as 10 or 12 bushels, which is as much as can be conveniently sowed by hand. When ten bushels of ashes are used, this is a fine dressing to be harrowed in with any fall or spring crop, or as a top-dressing for winter grain; and by reducing the salt to one-fourth of a bushel, and adding one bushel of lime, if your land has not been previously limed, and allow the mass, after being thoroughly incorporated, to remain one or more weeks in the heap, you will have a fine compost for corn hills; a small handful to be dropped with corn, potatoes and the like.

No. 2. Super or bi-phosphate of lime 100 lbs., plaster of Paris 60 lbs., common salt 15 lbs., thoroughly incorporated with two, three, four or five times their bulk of any light, rich earth or scrapings of the lanes and farm-yard after the rough manure has been removed, forms another excellent dressing to be harrowed in with any kind of grain. A small handful dropped in corn or potato hills, and for early spring dressing of mea-

dows, will be found in many cases equal to 200 lbs. of Peruvian guano.

No. 3.

Chappell's Fertilizer 600 lbs. per acre, sowed broadcast and harrowed or shovelled in, /have found to be equal for the first, and far better on succeeding crops, than 300 lbs. of Peruvian guano.*

No. 4.

Chappell's Fertilizer 300 lbs., Peruvian guano 50 to 100 lbs. per acre, better than 300 lbs. of Peruvian guano.

Composts to be Spread from the Cart.

No. 5. Wood ashes 100 bushels, plaster of Paris 10 bushels, fresh slacked lime 10 bushels, common salt 10 bushels. From five to twenty bushels per acre, but never to be ploughed in, and, except on grass land, not less than ten bushels per acre ought to be used.

No. 6. Rough compost is readily made on a large scale by strewing the valleys on your wood land, where is generally a large deposit of leaves and other vegetable matter with lime, at any season of the year, and at all convenient times after one good rain has fallen. Scrape into winrows, and when you are ready for forming compost, heap alternate layers of this vegetable mould with the rough gatherings about the farmyard, and with a moderate sprinkling of each layer or so with common salt or strong brine, and a bushel of gypsum for each acre to which the compost is to be applied, makes a good and durable dressing for wheat to be applied during winter and early spring, especially immediately after clover seed had been sown.

Thomas Ap C. Jones.

Specification No. 6.

Essay on the Properties and Value of the Southern Pea, or " Cornfield Pea."

In submitting the following essay on the varieties of the cornfield Pea, its cultivation, &c, to the favorable judgment of the Virginia State Agricultural Society, I have only to premise that, except in one or two instances, I have treated of those facts alone with which I am experimentally acquainted, or which have come under my own observation.

In treating the subject, I shall consider, 1st, The varieties of the pea, and their comparative value: 2d, The soils best adapted to the growth of the pea: 3d, The best and most profitable mode of cultivating, either as a crop, or as a

+ For two years I used Chappell's Fertilizer without admixture—generally two barrels, 600 lbs. per acre. Last autumn I sowed the poorest part of a fresh field with one barrel, or 300 lbs. per acre, shovelled in with wheat. The product was equal to 23 bushels per acre, and much the best where the Fertilizer was used. The weight per bushel, to say nothing of the increased quantity, was 64 against 61.

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subject of rotation in a general system of crop-ing: and 4th, Its properties as an article of food and forage. v

The varieties of the cornfield pea are very numerous, and if all the names which could be collected in the country were written, their number would fill several pages, because the same Fea in different sections goes by different names, will mention those which I know and have cultivated, in the order of preference which I would give them, and then refer to those which have been cultivated by others.

1st. The Shinney Pea. This I esteem the most valuable variety of the field pea. It is a speckled pea, and may be a cross between the gray or clay pea and the black-eye pea. It is very prolific, yielding on favorable soil, with good seasons, as much as fifty to one. It produces a very heavy crop of vines, as much so as any pea that I know, and for this reason is highly valuable as a fertilizer. It matures early, and continues to bear until frost, and will thus admit of early or late planting. In my latitude, 36 deg. 30 min., I have planted a crop in May, cut off the vines on the 1st of August, when the earliest pods were just full, and then, after frost on the 20th of Oct., gathered a very good crop of peas from the vines which had sprouted from the stubble. The same season I have gathered peas from seed planted on the 1st Aug. The pea is large and heavy, and of a delicate flavor, it is excellent on the table to those who are fond of this vegetable. I have found hogs prefer it to the tory or bass pea, planted in the same field, and they did not touch the latter until they had eaten all of the former. It would I think be an excellent variety as a preparation for a* wheat crop. The seed planted in May or June, would make a crop by the end of August or beginning of September, which might be picked or fed off to hogs, and the vines turned in for September sowing. This pea will not, like the tory or bass*, and the black pea, bear exposure to the winter. It is on the contrary liable to mould and sprout after prolonged wet, followed by warm weather. It is, however, equally hardy with the gray or clay pea and other varieties of the cornfield pea.

The Clay or Gray Pea, I would rank next in order. It is, as its name indicates, a gray or light yellow pea; is a good bearer, and yields heavy vines. It is a soft pea, and for this reason is preferred by stock and hogs to the coarser varieties, such as tory pea, &c. It is not so forward as the shinney pea, nor will it bear as late. It is a heavy pea, and from the fact of its being preferred in cities and elsewhere, as food for stock, it is perhaps more generally cultivated than any other variety. It will not bear exposure to prolonged bad weather; it is liable to be stained and turned dark by wet, and for this reason should be picked out as early in the fall as practicable.

The Bed, Tory, or Bass Pea, is another variety, possessing different qualities from either of the foregoing, and also exceedingly valuable. Its distinguishing characteristic is its ability to

withstand wet and bad weather. For the late winter feeding of hogs and stock, it is a very valuable crop. It will last through the winter. In part of a field which I had last year in this pea, and which was grazed by hogs and sheep through the winter, (which was both wet and warm) I found in the spring a great many sound peas on the vines and ground, and after the land was ploughed for corn many of them sprouted; as may be supposed from this fact, it is a hard, coarse pea, and stock will not eat it as long as the softer and more delicate kinds last.

It is a good bearer, and yields a very heavy crop of vines. It does not mature early, and for this reason should be planted as early as possible, where seed is an object. It is of a dark chocolate red, and its color is not of course affected by the'weather. The crop may be picked out at any time during the winter, and this operation may thus be left until other more pressing and important work is done. The sooner, however, after a frost the crop is gathered the better, as successive rains beat the pods off of the vines, and some of them will mould and rot, or sprout if warm.

The Black-eye Pea, another variety, is a good table pea, often cultivated in the corn field. It is, however, a very delicate kind—a small bearer —not producing a great crop of vines, and will not bear exposure to hard weather, every rain staining and injuring the ripe peas. From these facts it always commands a high price in market; but I do not think it deserving a place amongst those peas which may be ranked as fertilizing preparatory crops. It matures early, however, and by September the crop is made. The vine sheds its leaves early, and if the weather be dry and the force large, so as to pick out the crop soon, it might be made a profitable crop as a preparation for wheat, but its profitable culture depends upon so many contingencies that it can never be very generally or largely cultivated.

The Calivant, is another variety: it is a small round, white pea, a good bearer, and making a good crop of vines. It is betler as a variety for the table, and cannot enter into competition with the three first named varieties.

The Three Crop Pea, or as I call it, the Tri-bus Pea, is a small gray pea—very forward, and a good bearer of both pea and vine. 1 have not had an opportunity of testing its virtues or merits on a large scale. A friend two years ago sent me about a gill of the seed, stating that it would produce three crops in a year—this was in South Carolina. From this quantity of seed, I have raised enough to enable me in the next year to plant an acre, after which I will be better able to speak of its value. If it will mature earlier than the Shinney and yield a heavy crop of vines it will be valuable as a preparation for wheat.

The Chickasaw, is another variety of pea, of which I received a small quantity of seed two summers ago. It is a small round greenish pea, not unlike the seed of okra. It is a very prolific bearer, numbering sometimes six or seven pods

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on the end of the seed stalk, and continues to blossom and fruit until frost. It matures early, and makes a heavy growth, shooting up in good soil four feet high. It is not a trailing or running vine, and for this reason would be more easily and perfectly turned under by the plough. It is said to be very hardy, and able to resist any degree of cold and wet, and equal in this respect to the Magothy Bay or Eastern Shore Bean: so that when once the land is well set in it, it will continue to grow unless cultivated out; this 1 have not been able to test, nor am I acquainted with its value as food for stock, although I have heard that it is excellent in this respect, and from the appearance of the pea, I should think it to be so. When the pea is very ripe the pod bursts open, and I should fear from this fact a difficulty in saving seed. I have seen this pea recently exhibited at the agricultural Fair of this State as the Oregon Pea. I believe it to be a native of South Carolina, and to derive its true name from the tribe of Indians of that name who occupied a portion of that State. The Black Pea, is another variety, with which I am not experimentally acquainted. Mr. C. and Mr S., my neighbors, have cultivated it, and speak highly of its virtues. It is said to be a good bearer, and to produce a good deal of vine. 'It is said also to unite in itself the two desirable qualities of being very hardy, and at the same time of delicate flavor, and will thus form a valuable acquisition to those who raise the pea as food for stock. It is also said to mature early, and will thus bear later planting than many other varieties. I have been promised by a friend in Virginia a bushel of this seed, and if its excellencies are all that they are said to be, I shall regard it as a very valuable acquisition to the stock of corn field peas.

The foregoing comprise the varieties of the pea with which the writer is best acquainted, either experimentally or by reputation; and in estimating their comparative values he would certainly give the preference to the shinney pea. Its abundant yield, both of seed and vine, its early maturity and quick growth, entitle it to the first rank in the list of vegetable fertilizers. It will compare favorably with any other variety of pea that I have seen under all circumstances; •whether planted as a crop by itself or in the corn field, or sown broadcast as a pea fallow or at the last working of the corn.

The pea, like other vegetable productions, thrives best in certain soils, and will yield a heavier crop on those soils most favorable to its growth than upon others less so; at the same time I believe there is no crop which can be so universally grown, or which will more readily adapt itself to-every soil and situation within certain latitudes. It most delights in a warm, sandy soil, not too rich, and the subsoil of yellow sand. On such a soil it will produce quick and heavy crops of both seed and vine. It will do almost equally well on a yellow sand with a clay subsoil, and also on a rich, sandy loam, but in these cases the crop of seed will not be so abundant, although the crop of vines will be

very heavy. But in almost any soil where the land is tolerably good, and not deficient in lime, the pea will, if sown or planted with care—with favorable weather—make a'good return, and furnish an enriching and improving crop to the land. Peas will not grow well upon land which is not well drained.

The different methods of planting or cultivating the pea are as numerous as the varieties, and each one has his favorite plan, which he considers the best. The writer will give the different methods which he has pursued and some of those pursued by others, and that to which he gives the preference.

The different methods of cultivating the pea maybe divided into two heads—planting and sowing—and these heads may again be subdivided into two divisions—planting as a separate crop, and planting in the corn field with corn; second, sowing broadcast as a separate crop, and sowing broadcast in the corn field at the last working or laying by of the corn.

In planting as a separate crop, break up the land, if possible, in winter, and at the time of planting, (which in this latitude is best during the first fifteen days of June,) run off the land in rows 4, \\ or 5 feet distant, either by running one furrow or listing with three furrows, according to the condition of the land. If it is grassy it should be listed—drop the peas from two to three feet distant in the row, from ten to fifteen peas in a hill, and cover with the hoe, harrow, plough or cultivator with the front hoe removed. After the peas have made two or three of the second leaves, run the bar of the plough as near as possible, throwing 1he earth from them, as in the first working of corn, and, if necessary, throw out the middle and run over them with the hoe, cutting out the grass and weeds, and again, a little after the vines have commenced to run, plough again, throwing the earth to them. This is all the cultivation necessary, and on good land, with favorable seasons, it will give a good return for the labor spent—say an average of sixteen or twenty bushels to the acre, which, at seventy-five cents per bushel, will equal twelve or fifteen bushels of wheat at one dollar per bushel. This method of planting will take about one peck and a half, or three half pecks, to the acre.

In planting peas in the corn field with corn, the usual plan is to check the corn at the distance of, say 4 by 5 feet, or any other distance which may be preferred, having reference, of course, to the double crop upon the land. The corn at the first working is ploughed in the wide rows, and at the second working through the narrow rows. At this working the plough runs a furrow through the middle of the row between the corn, and hands follow after the plough, dropping the peas in this furrow just between the hills of corn; the plough following or returning covers the peas either with the mould-board or the bar, as the director may prefer. At the next and subsequent workings of the corn the peas get the benefit of the work, and after the fodder is stripped the peas grow off

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rapidly, and I have seen them by September cover the land completely. A good crop of peas planted in this way will yield about ten bushels, and sometimes produce a heavy crop of vines. It is, of course, more backward and more uncertain as a crop when planted in this way than when planted as a separate crop, in consequence of the shading of the corn. The quantity necessary to plant an acre in this way with from ten to fifteen in a hill is about one peck to the acre. In planting peas in drilled corn there are many methods, one to plant and cover as in checked corn in the middle, between the rows, three or four feet apart. Of course it is not possible in this way to drop them between the hills of corn. In this method at the next working of the corn the peas are left on a ridge in the middle between the rows. I have seen very good crops made in this way. Another method is just before the second working of the corn to drop the peas between every other hill of corn, and cover with the plough, throwing the earth to the corn. This is an unsafe plan, as if it is dry and the ground hard, the peas are apt to scatter and fail to come up, and those which come up out of the row will be ploughed up in the subsequent workings of the corn. Another method which I have heard recommended.by a gentleman from Louisiana, as practised by himself, is, at the last working of the corn to sow the peas thickly as cotton seed in the first furrow run next to the corn on each side of the row; the next furrow covers the peas, and the work is done. This method takes fewer peas than broadcasting, about three pecks to the acre. The peas are left upon the side of the ridge, and are thus more certain to come up; and being planted closely cannot fail to cover the land with a heavy growth of vegetation.

Another method which combines both planting and sowing is to drop the peas, as above described, between every other row, and in the next row to sow broadcast at the last working of the corn.

In sowing peas broadcast in corn the method pursued is very simple. The sower precedes the ploughs, and sows generally at the rate of one bushel to the acre, the ploughs, cultivators or harrows following and covering the peas. Heavy crops of both peas and vines are often made in this way, but the crop is not certain and sometimes altogether fails. The writer has sown as much as two bushels to the acre at the last working of corn, and the year in which it was tried being very dry, the portion of the field thus heavily sowed had the finest growth of peas, but it was in consequence of the drought; one bushel to the acre is, perhaps, the most judicious and economical quantity.

In sowing peas broadcast as a fallow crop in preparation for wheat or other crops, the land should be broken up in the winter deeply, and about the first week in June (in our latitude) the peas sowed at the rate of one bushel or five pecks to the acre, and either harrowed in with a heavy harrow or ploughed in with single ploughs, according to the state of the land.

Another plan, and which, under favorable circumstances succeeds admirably, is at any lime in the end of May or during the month of June, when by reason of too wet weather, (which sometimes occurs at this season of the year,) the land is too wet to plough the crop of corn, sow peas at the rate ot one bushel or five pecks to the acre, and let the ploughs follow, turning under peas, weeds, grass and every thing upon the surface of the land. From the fact of very dry spells occurring with us at this season of the year for the last three years, this method has failed and been, in a great measure, discontinued; for with a full corn crop the ploughs are fully and constantly employed, and cannot be withdrawn from their regular work to put in this crop with proper expedition; and without rain the land is then so hard that a double plough would fail to turn under the growth then upon it, and the cultivater would be rewarded with a crop of crab and fox-tail grass, rather than peas. But when every thing hits, peas sown and ploughed in in this manner make excellent crops.

In estimating the comparative value of the different methods herein treated of, either as a separate or seed crop, or as a rotation preparatory to other crops, the writer is disposed to give a decided preference to the first plan, viz. that of planting as a separate-crop. The reasons are obvious; the land is broken up in the winter at a time when the labor can well be bestowed without much interference with the regular work of the farm; the peas can be planted early, or at a selected time, either immediately after planting corn or after the first working; the cultivater is more certain of a crop or stand of peas; by the subsequent cultivation the crop of peas and vines is increased, the crops of weeds and grass destroyed, and the land Iei't clean for the next crop. The two ploughings which the crop requires can be given at times when, by good management, the work can well be spared and its compensating advantages, as partially enumerated, are ample and great. The ease with which the crop can be gathered, when planted in this way, and thegreateramount which the hands can pick per day are also important advantages. A hand in the pea field can pick twice as much as in the corn field. If the cultivater is a wheat grower his peas being more forward he can, even after saving seed peas, turn under a heavier and more valuable growth of vegetable matter than where the peas are sown broadcast or planted in corn; or he may run his hogs through the peas before turning under and get a great deal of cheap pork without sensibly lessening the crop of vegetation, as these animals consume only the peas, without destroying the vine. If he is a corn planter or stock raiser he secures in the same way a heavier crop of peas, either for sale or consumption, and his hogs or other stock can derive the full benefit of the crop. In gathering the crop the usual task in the pea field is two bushels to the hand—in the corn field from one bushel to one bushel and a half. Some of my

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hands last year picked four or five, and one upwards of six bushels. I paid them per bushel for all picked over their task. This was done in the pea field.

The hands are supplied with baskets which they fill with peas in the haulm. As fast as they are filled they empty them upon yards, previously made in any convenient part of the field or headland, by scraping off the surface soil with a hoe. After they have carried enough to make up their task (which they soon learn by experience) they beat them out with short sticks provided for the purpose; they are then fanned, measured, and carted to the house. Another method is to house them in the haulm and afterwards thresh them out at any convenient time. The objections to this plan are, that it takes more house room and hauling, and there is greater difficulty in estimating the work of the hands.

It only remains to consider some of the properties of the pea as an article of food and as a vegetable fertilizer.

As the former the writer regards it as highly valuable. As food for horses it is excellent either ground into meal or used whole; in the latter case, it is best to soak them a few hours before feeding. As food for stock their value is well known, and it is unnecessary here to dilate upon it. As foocLfor hogs there is no crop equal to them. Hogs taken up and allowed to run through a good pea field will take on fat with great rapidity, and need very little corn to bring them into good condition for the slaughterer's knife. The pea pods are greedily eaten by cattle and constitute a wholesome food. As an article of forage or fodder there is none superior to the pea vine. Horses and cattle will eat it with avidity, and in preference to any other kind of fodder. The difficulty of saving these vines has constituted the chief objection to their use. The writer believes that they can easily be saved by cutting them off close to the ground with sharp hoes, in the month of September, and then, having first provided forks and poles, plant the former in the ground in a straight line and place the poles upon them, so that when placed a common sized man can clasp his hands over the pole. Place rails, with one end resting upon the ground the other upon the pole, about six or eight inches apart, after the manner of a top stack or fodder house, as it is called, leaving both ends open, and upon these rails throw the vines until they are about one foot deep, throw over all some straw or grass, and a good supply of the best fodder for milch cows or any other kind of stock will be obtained.

It is scarcely necessary to dwell at any length upon the value of the pea as a fertilizer. Its virtues in this respect are too well known. Experience has fully proved its great value as a preparation for wheat or other small grain, or for corn or cotton.

Its dense shade softens and ameliorates the land; its long roots penetrating to a great depth, brings up from the subsoil fresh supplies of valuable constituents. Its broad leaves deriving

their chief sustenance from the atmosphere, first shade, and then by their decay enrich the soil with vegetable matter, and the heavy crop of vines add rich stores of wealth to the soil without any previous great demand upon it. Chemical analysis bears out the knowledge of experience by showing the constituents of the pea to be such as are most needed by wheat and other gramineous crops. Add to this, the quick growth, and the short space of time which it has possession of the land, and we have in it the cheapest and most valuable of all vegetable fertilizers.

I have thus traversed the whole ground necessary to be covered in treating of this crop; and it only remains for me to express the hope that what I have here written may prove beneficial to those needing this species of information, and be the means of inducing those engaged in the cultivation of the earth, and improvement of the soil committed to their trust to try some of the methods of cultivation herein explained. Respectfully submitted,

P. M. Edmondston.

North Carolina.

Specification No. 8.

Essay on the Treatment and Management of Milch Cows.

The writer respectfully submits the following essay, on the management and treatment of milch cows, to the Committee on Essays of the Virginia State Agricultural Society, hoping it will not be uninteresting, although it may have no claim to the prize.

I have, for a number of years past, made the dairy the principal business of my farming operation. From personal application, my own labor and experience, 1 am induced to offer for your consideration the following remarks, based upon the practical system of what I have found for the past ten years, not only a very profitable one, so far as the receipts of the dairy amounts to, but also as a means of improving one of the poorest, worn out farms in Fairfax county. I have for several years soiled my cattle, to a limited extent, keeping my cows in the stable of nights during the summer, feeding green feed night and morning. During the winter our cows are turned out of the stables about one hour each day; in the mean time the stables are then cleaned and well littered with straw. I think our cows are kept more comfortable and healthy in the stables than to expose them a longer time to the changes of the weather during the winter season. In proof of this, I will mention that I have not had a sick cow on my farm for the last fifteen years.

I will now give a description of my mode of feeding during the year. From the 5th to the 10th of May we commence cutting and feeding green rye, night and morning. I mix at first an equal proportion of hay with the rye, and lessen the quantity of hay as the rye gets older. If I am short of hay I mix straw with the rye, pass it through the cutting box, and with the

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addition of meal it makes excellent feed, either for cows or working teams. We continue this feed until our orchard grass and clover is fit to cut, which is about the 24th of May. Continue this leed until my broadcast corn is fit to cut, which is from the 20th of June to the 10th of July. I commence cutting as soon as the corn begins to blossom, and continue feeding this, night and morning, until about the first or middle of November. The corn fed late in the fall is more or less injured by frost. However I find it preferable to hay, although hay is often fed with it. From the middle of November we begin feeding turnips with the tops on, just as they are pulled from the field, without cutting, together with the addition of such tops as are taken from the turnips put away for later feeding. We feei\ corn fodder and hay while feeding turnips, .and give slop. The turnips fed twice a day and long feed three times, until we commence feeding green feed in spring. Should our turnips not lasfuntil spring we feed our best hay with as much good slop as our cows will drink. If our hay is not of the very best quality we pass it through the straw cutter mixing with it at the same time oats, not threshed. We also use the most of our corn fodder after passing it through Rogers' fodder cutter and grinder. I think it good economy to cut all long feed except the best quality of hay. Our cut feed is made tolerably wet, meal and salt added, and mixed twelve hours before feeding—fed morning and evening. We feed no cut feed or slop without the addition of salt; and also have a trough in the yard supplied with salt, which the cows have access to when turned from the stable. By the use of green feed, fed in the stable during the summer and fall, it will be observed we have considerable carting to do. For this purpose, as well as for cutting feed with the straw cutter, and many other conveniences on the farm, I would highly recommend the practice of working cows, believing, from long experience, that cows will do as much work as steers of the same size, and when well fed and moderately worked will give as much milk as if not worked. I will now give a statement of my system to produce a sufficient quantity and succession of succulent food through the seasons. My first crop of broadcast corn I commence sowing about the middle of April, (allowing one acre for 20 cows,) sowing at intervals of about two or three weeks up to the middle of July. I broadcast my manure—sow the corn without ploughing, at the rate of three bushels and a naif per acre; plough, it in about three inches deep, following with a subsoil plough; harrow with a light harrow, and finish with a roller. If the first sown piece of corn gets too ripe, and a later sown piece is large enough to begin feeding, we cut the remainder of the first sown piece with grass knives or a short cradle, leaving it lay on the ground three or four days.

I will here state my mode of keeping broadcast corn in good condition, which is, on fodder houses—leaving the house open at each end for a free circulation of air. I have never succeeded

in keeping my broadcast corn good until I pursued this plan. I recommend this feed highly to farmers for milch cows, horses and oxen. The first of my farming in Virginia 1 commenced sowing corn, finding that poor land would not answer to rely on for a supply of grass during the latter part of summer and fall. I think I am justified in saying that I am, in a great measure, indebted to the present fertility of my farm from the liberal use of broadcast corn. On a farm of less than one hundred acres I have usually sown from eighteen to twenty-five bushels. Summered and wintered on the same farm from forty-five to fifty-five head of cattle and horses, the greater part consisting of milch cows.

I find green rye also a valuable article for spring feed. I sow about the first of September on light, warm land, well manured, for my first crop; for a later sown piece I sow much thicker; and on land that will not bring the crop forward as early in the spring as the first sown piece I prefer orchard grass with clover, both for grazing and soiling, believing it to be one of the most valuable grasses I have, and particularly on land where it is desired to continue long in grass. I cultivate the ruta baga and red top turnip in drills, hoeing the crop once and ploughing twice with the subsoil plough. I believe we may with the same cultivation and manuring produce, on an average, as large crops per acre in Virginia as are usually grown in England.

I will give a brief description of my stable, believing we have conveniences that lessen labor and keep our cows in a more cleanly condition than any stable I have seen.

My stable is 60 by 32 feet—18 cows on one side and 14 on the other, leaving room near the centre of the barn for turnips, meal bin and delivery of running water. The stable on each side is 10 feet, the passage 12 feet, including mangers. Each cow is chained to a staunchion in the centre of the stall, allowing them to feed on either side of the staunchion, with a slop tub in the partition of every other stall, resting on the side of the manger next the stable, which enables two cows to use one tub without disturbing each other, also is not in the way of cleaning the mangers. We have a dijt floor near the manger, then a plank floor two feet wide, making the floor the cows stand on vary in width from four feet to four feet nine inches. I find a variation of six inches in the width of the floor will keep one cow clean, while a smaller sized cow on the same floor would require" washing before milking. I have a drain behind the cows one foot wide and one foot deep, leaving a passage sufficiently wide. My system of feeding is to remove every thing from the mangers that is left at a former feed, and the mangers, passage, and all things connected with the arrangement for feeding, should be kept as cleanly as possible.

Fifteen years since, when I came to Virginia, my farm of one hundred acres would not produce hay sufficient to winter two horses and four cows. I have bought very little manure since

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that time, and cultivate no more acres, yet am enabled to summer and winter on the same farm over fifty head of cattle and horses.

I must ask the indulgence of the commitee in presenting the above lengthy essay, as I have not had time to present the ideas I wished to express in a more explicit form. With much respect, I remain,

Very truly, your obedient servant,

Lewis Bailey. Fairfax, November, 1S53.

APPENDIX

To Professor Gilliam's Essay on the Analyses of Marls nrlovjer Virginia, fyc. m The proportions of ammonia in No. 16, and of phosphoric acid in No. 17, of ihe list contained in

my communication to the Committee of the 15th ot February last, being somewhat remarkable and unexpected, I felt it to be proper that I should examine other specimens from the same locality, in order that I might arrive at the mean, or average, fertilizing value of the earths, and ascertain whether the results already communicated in regard- to them, were to be relied upon. I accordingly requested Mr. Ruffin to furnish me with a number of samples, taken from different points in the beds. He selected nine samples of the blue clay, No. 16, of my first communication, and twelve of the "olive earth," No. 17. Average samples of each of these earths were made up by taking, for the blue clay, nine equal parts from the nine differen samples of clay, and for the "olive earth" twelve equal parts from the twelve specimens of that earth, and thoroughly mixing the component parts of each. These average samples I have analyzed, and the results of the analyses will be found in the following table:

The following table shows how much of each of the principal fertilizing constituents would be added in a dressing of four hundred bushels of either earth per acre, and also the amounts of these same constituents, that would be added in a dressing of four hundred bushels of these earths mixed in equal proportions. In these calculations I assume a bushel of each earth to weigh ninety pounds, as in the former case.

These results differ somewhat from those obtained for Nos. 16 and 17, but while they differ, the general fact is established that, the blue clay contains more ammonia than any of the other beds, and the olive earth contains far more phosphoric acid than is to be found elsewhere, in any of the marls or their associated earths.

When I penned the Essay submitted to the committee on the 15th of February, I deemed any account of my methods of analysis as unnecessary, but as I wish to present the essay for the "Ruffin Premium," an outline of the course pursued' in the analyses may not be out of place.

The organic matter and water were determined in every case, by heating a known weight of the marl or earth, in a weighed platinum basin, until all trace of organic matter was removed; the loss of weight gave the two. It is to be observed that this process is not perfectly exact, in cases where the bisulphuret of iron is present, as the heat necessary

* Numbered continuously with those of the first communication on the marls.

to expel the organic matter, also effects a partial decomposition of the bisulphuret; but the error could have no effect upon the practical results.

The carbonic acid was, in all cases except where the proportion was very small, determined by the aid of a "Carbonic acid apparatus," consisting of a very light glass flask of some three ounces capacity, provided wilh a tightly fitting cork, through which passes a small tube; the tube is attached to a larger one by means of a cork, and in the larger is placed chloride of calcium in small fragments. In the interior of the flask is a small inclined tube. In using the apparatus some 50 or 60 grains of marl are weighed out, and placed, together with a little water, in the flask; the inclined tube is filled with hydrochloric acid, and very carefully let down into the flask, to avoid spilling any of the acid upon the marl; then the cork containing the other tubes, is placed in the mouth of the flask, and the whole very carefully balanced.

The flask is now taken from the balance, and slightly inclined, so as to let a portion of the acid flow from the tube upon the marl; effervescence commences immediately, the carbonic acio> escaping throush the chloride of calcium, which absorbs any adhering moisture. The operation is repeated until effervescence ceases, and all the acid is poured out of the tube; after standing a short time, the flask is gently heated to expel any remaining carbonic acid, and after standing long enough to cool, it is returned to the balance, and the loss of weight determined. The loss of weight gives the proportion of carbonic acid, from which it is easy to determine the percentage of carbonate of lime.

To determine the sulphuric acid, a weighed portion of the marl or earth, usually about 150 grains, is placed in a capacious basin, an abundance of water added, and heat applied; after digesting for some time it is filtered; more water is added, heated, and filtered, as before, and so the process is continued until the filtrate ceases to become milky on the addition of chloride of barium. Chloride of barium is now added to the filtrate, which is allowed.

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to stand for twenty-four hours, and then it is filtered; the filter is then dried, heated to redness, and weighed. From the weight of the sulphate of baryta, we are enabled to calculate the proportion of sulphuric acid, and of sulphate of lime.

To ascertain the*presence, and determine the 'amount of phosphoric acid, a known weight, say from 150 to 300 grains, is digested for some time in dilute hydrochloric acid over a water bath. The solution is filtered into a capacious basin, and ammonia added until a precipitate begins to form; then a few drops of acetic acid is added, and an excess of acetate of soda, and heat applied. By this means the phosphoric, acid is all thrown down as phosphate of iron, mixed with oxyde of iron. The contents of the basin are now thrown upon a filter, and the filter well washed with hot water; the precipitate is then dissolved in hydrochloric acid, ammonia is added until a precipitate begins to form, and then an excess of hydrosulphuret of ammonia. This throws down the iron as black sulphuret, leaving the phosphoric acid in solution. The sulphuret of iron is separated by filtration, and the solution evaporated until it loses*all odor of hydrosulphuric acid, when it is again filtered. To the filtrate ammonia and solution of sulphate of magnesia are added, and alter standing for some time, the phosphate of magnesia falls down as a white crystalline powder. By the usual process the quantity of phosphate of magnesia is found, from which the proportion of phosphoric acid follows by simple calculation.

To determine the oxyde of iron, alumina, potassa, soda and bisulphuret of iron, a weighed portion of the marl or earth, generally 150 grains, is digested for a number of hours in dilute hydrochloric acid over a water bath; the iron, alumina, potassa and soda are dissolved, while the bisulphuret of iron is left untouched.* The solution is filtered, and the filter well washed. The contents of the filter are thrown back into the basin, treated with dilute aqua-regia, heated for a few minutes, and filtered. Ammonia in excess is added to the filtrate, which throws down all the iron of the bisulphuret as oxyde of iron. From the proportion of oxyde of iron the proportion of bisulphuret is obtained by calculation. The insoluble residue, after being treated with aqua-regia, may be taken as the insoluble silica.

To the original solution ammonia is added in slight excess, which throws down the iron and alumina mixed. This is filtered, the precipitate dried, heated and weighed.

To the filtrate which flows from the filter containing the oxyde of iron and alumina, chloride of barium, or solution of baryta, is added, which throws down the sulphuric and phosphoric acids. It is filtered, the filtrate heated, carbonate of ammonia added in excess, and again filtered. The filtered solution is evaporated to dryness, and heated to redness. Then it is dissolved in water, filtered, a little hydrochloric acid added, evaporated to dryness, heated to redness, and weighed; the weisht is the potassa and soda as chlorides, mixed. The mixed chlorides are dissolved in water, chloride of platinum added, and evaporated nearly to dryness, when the potassa is thrown down as double chloride of platinum and potassium. From this double chloride

* The above process for effecting the solution of the oxyde of iron, alumina, potassa and soda, differs from the one ordinarily adopted, which is to heat the substance to .be dissolved with an excess of carbonate of baryta. The one I have used is recommended in Booth's Encyclopedia of Chemistry, article ' Analysis," and I am certain that for the marls and green sands it is correct, as I have tested it by aetual comparison with the other method.

the potassa, and the chloride of potassium may be found, and the latter beingsubtracted from the mixed chlorides, gives the amount of chloride of sodium, from which it is easy to get the proportion of soda.

The ammonia, which is of course a constituent of the organic matter is determined upon the same principle that the nitrogen of an organic body is determined; but the apparatus differs some what from that in use for organic analysis. About 300 grains of the substance under examination is mixed with caustic potassa in small fragments, and put into a small iron mercury bottle, to which a piece of wrought iron tube is attached; to the extremity of the tube is attached a "nitrogen tube" by means of a perforated cork, and in this tube is placed pure dilute hydrochloricacid. The "bottle" is then placed in a charcoal furnace heated to redness and kept at this heat so long as any gas escapes. The potassa, in connection with the heat, effects the perfect expulsion of all the ammonia, which is taken up by the hydrochloricacid as it reaches the "nitrogen tube," forming hydrochlorate of ammonia. When gas ceases to issue from the tube, the "nitrogen tube" removed, its contents poured into a porcelain or platinum basin, and evaporated to dryness over a water bath; water is added, the solution filtered, chloride of platinum added, and evaporated nearly to dryness, when the ammonia is thrown down as double chloride of platinum and ammonium. From the double chloride, the proportion of ammonia may be found.

The balance used in the analyses is a very delicate one, and is known among chemists as the "Robinson" balance.

Respectfully, your obedient servant,

William Gilham.

Virginia Military Institute, Oct. 25,1853.

APPENDIX

To Mr. Edmund Rvjjiri's Essay on the Theory and Laws of Rotation of Crops, d/c, in continuation thereof

A very important use and profit can be made of the pea crop, in diverting the matured peas from their purpose of manuring the field, to serve as food for the hogs designed to be fattened for slaughter. This is deemed the most profitable use of the pea crop in North Carolina and the more southern States—and this use-is the main object of the culture, where the growth is most favored by climate. Now that I sow a kind of pea (the early black) which ripens early enough to perfect the grain in this region, besides gathering enough for seed and for food, hundreds of bushels of ripe peas are ploughed under. If the hogs designed for slaughter are suffered to eat as much of this richest of vegetable food as they can take after the partial gathering for seed, and before the ploughing, they will be nearly fattened before having or requiring corn-feeding. In this manner, on my usual extent of pea-fallow, fifty hogs may be nearly fattened, with a saving of two hundred bushels of corn. It is true, that all of the product of ripe peas thus consumed, is so much of the richest of the manure abstracted from the improvement of the field where grown. But the case was above supposed possible when the manuring by this rotation might be greater than desirable; and this different direction of the product is but the taking of one kind of profit instead of another less needed. But this change will be only a lessening, and by no means an entire removal of manuring value of the crop. For though the peas are, doubtless, much the richer manuring portion of the \rtiole plant, yet even when these are mostly

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taken away, the residue of vines and roots still return much more to the land than the growth had abstracted of fertility. This fact is sufficiently proved by the general course of culture pursued, and continued improvement of lands obtained, by some of the best farmers and largest pea-growers in North Carolina, who thus usually gather, or consume (by hogs in the field,) nearly all the ripe peas of their crops, and who, notwithstanding, have continued to improve their lands greatly, under rotations of crops which, but for the pea growth, would be necessarily and greatly exhausting of fertility.

Edmund Ruffin.

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

RICHMOND, FEBRUARY, 1854.

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SCHEDULE OP PREMIUMS FOR THE VIRGINIA STATE AGRICULTURAL FAIR.

In the Extra that accompanies this number of the Planter the reader will find the Schedule oi Premiums for our next Fair. We invite particular attention to it, satisfied that it is, in some respects, the most nearly perfect of any in the world.

In some respects it might, perhaps, be altered for the better; for instance, the department of agricultural implements might, perhaps, be enlarged, and made, as it is in England, to come nearer the amount of the premiums for animals, and the department of fruits, &c. should, we think, correspond rather to the importance of the subject than to the extent ol land or capital now devoted to it. But when the large amount appropriated is considered we hardly see how more money could now be spared to these branches. The Executive Committee adopted the list after a good deal of consultation, and offer the result to the members of the Society. It is as follows: Premiums for agricultural experiments, $1,925 Essays and other written communications, of useful agricultural information, 790

Best crops and products, 630

Livestock, .... .2,497

Agricultural implements, 990

Fruits, fruit trees, flowers and vegetables, 133 Dairy, honey, hams, &c. 33

Household and domestic manufactures, - 173 Special and individual premiums, 530

Additional premiums distributed among different branches, about 600

Total, &S,301

With some few yet to come on the list in the class of individual premiums and premiums on imported agricultural implements.

In view of the uncommon liberality of this list we cannot doubt but that there will be an increased number of competitors for the prizes, and a number of visitors even greater than we had at the first Fair.

We are induced to think so, not only from the very great interest the last Fair excited, and the report that was carried home in regard to it by all parties, but also from the fact that the extension of the rail road lines will give increased facilities for the conveyance, both of visitors and stock.

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NECESSITY OF GOOD STOCK TO VIRGINIA FARMERS, AND HOW THEY MAY GET IT.

The low state of the live stock in some of the finest parts of Virginia is a source of anxiety sometimes to their owners, and we have heard some of them speak despondingly of efforts to improve them. That they must be improved and increased vastly in numbers, as well as in quality, before Virginia can take her proper place in the agricultural scale is almost too plain a point to argue. We have several times lately had occasion to show that England, the most productive country in the world and the most remarkable for her growth of wheat, which is computed to average twenty-four bushels per acre annually, devotes 66 per cent, of her arable lands to meadow and pasturage, and that, too, when it takes, in addition to the fixed capital of her farmers, a cash capital of forty dollars per acre, (or about five times the value of an average fee simple in Virginia,) to conduct her farms, of which something like nine-tenths are rented lands. And that England and Wales, with a population of one soul to two acres, and an area less than Virginia, had seven mil-

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lions more sheep alone, not counting other stock, than the whole United States put together, the numbers being as 28,000,000 to 21,621,483. We have also showed that Ohio, greatly the heaviest wheat grower in the Union, devoted only one-ninth of her soil to that staple, one-ninth again being devoted to Indian corn, nearly the whole of which is fed—and 21 per cent, to meadows and pastures. And this, though she has a fine soil for wheat, a mild, humid climate, exactly adapted to it, and such facilities for market as are afforded by an extensive lake boundary, 1418 miles of rail road, probably now 600 miles more— for the figures are last year's—920 miles of navigable canal, and 450 miles of river shore.

To her deficiency in grass and in stock, and to her want of attention to such as she has, as much as, if not more than to any other cause, do we attribute the present condition of our Virginia agriculture.

Long years ago Arthur Young, the great English agriculturist, said, writing to General Washington, in comment on a system of cultivation which Mr. Jefferson had recommended, "But I have a heavier objection than this, and which bears upon the pith of the subject. How can Mr. Jefferson produce annually 5000 bushels of wheat, worth .£750, by means of a cattle product of only £1251 I do not want to come to America to know that this is simply impossible: at the commencement it may do, but how long will it last3 This is the management that gives such products as eight and ten bushels an acre. Arable land can yield wheat only by means of cattle and sheep; it is not dung that is wanted so much as a change of products. Repose under grasses is the soul of management, and all clearing and tillage to be given in the year that yields green winter food. By such a system you may produce by means of forty oxen and five hundred sheep 5000 bushels of wheat; and if you raise the oxen te fifty and sheep to six hundred, you may have so much more wheat; but it is only by increasing; cattle that you can increase wheat permanently. £125 from cattle to £750 from wheat would reduce the poorest farm in the world to a caput mortuum, that is to say, to ten bushels an acre, which must be nearly such."

We have seen just such effects as Young predicts from a rapid wheat rotation on very fine lands, we have read of many more than we have seen, and we have no doubt that such will always follow on lands of ordinary quality; on all, indeed, except those whose natural fertility makes them exceptional cases.

Guano may be thought a substitute for stock. We have heard intelligent farmers contend that it is, but we are compelled to differ with them. It is a great blessing to the farmer, but it is not a manure of universal application or endless duration. It cannot be, as a glance at facts will show. "In a crop of wheat," says Professor Hallowell, a practical man, "of twenty-five bushels and three thousand pounds of straw to the acre, there are removed from the soil about thirty-two pounds of potash and soda. But of the 7.97 pounds of alkaline salts'eon-tained in one hundred pounds of guano, about six pounds may be considered a liberal estimate of the quantity of potash and soda; that would be twelve pounds of these alkalies put on the land in an application of two hundred pounds of guano. But as the crop contains thirty-two pounds, it leaves the acre of land with twenty pounds less of these important alkalies than before it was cropped, notwithstanding the liberal application of guano. As previously remarked, these alkalies exist in comparatively verv small quantities in the soil, and yet . they are indispensable to the growth of wheat and

every other crop. Now, in a common sense view of the subject, what will be the consequence of continued cropping, and dressing the ground at this rate with guano'? It must ultimately exhaust the soil of these elements, and the larger the crops the more rapidly will these elements become exhausted, and then the lands will become again 'worn out,' and less reclaimable than ever." He extends his remarks to other elements of crops which we need not notice. ,

Guano will, it is true, become the basis of reform in our agriculture, because it will leach farmers what good crops are, and thereafter they will not be content with what they formerly made. But of itself and by itself we are well convinced that it will produce but a fitful improvement. We do not mean to disparage it any more than the doctor disparages calomel when he says it is not a king-cure-all. We are friendly to its use, but we mean to say that its greatest benefit will be in teaching the value of manures, and opening the way for stock husbandry. The experience of Peru, who has used guano, perhaps for centuries, amounts to nothing, because the guanoed lands are always irrigated at each application, twice and thrice in the course of a crop; and water judiciously flowed overland is well known to be of itself a source of vast fertility, and is thought to be the best solvent of those substances which exist in the soil awaiting such action to fit them for the food of plants. In England, moist, rainy England, which buys all the manure she can lay her hands on, the trade in guano decreased from 243,014 tons in 1851 to 129,889 tons in 1852—(of 1853 we have no accounts.) The frauds in the article and the high price are the assigned causes. But there it is not considered a substitute but only an aid of the manures of the farm. "It may probably be said," remarks Professor Anderson, Transactions of the Highland Agricultural Society of Scotland, October, 1852, page 434, (italics ours,) "That if the statements 1 have made are correct, that guano, far from being beneficial, ought, in the long run, to be inferior to farm-yard manure; and it would certainly be so if we depended on it alone. Its peculiar advantages are as an auxiliary, which supplies a quantity of certain constituents in an immediately available condition, in which they are requisite for producing the rapid growth of the crop through the early stages of its existence; and the enormous mass of farmyard manure which must be used when large crops are expected, is dependent, to some extent, on the small quantity of its constituents which exist in that condition; so that w« generally employ a larger total quantity of the valuable constituents of farmyard manure thanis required for the whole rotation, merely, that by doing so, we may get a sufficiently large amount of those which we wish to act rapidly. The peculiar merit of guano is, that by mixing it with farm-yard manure, we can bring up the quantity of immediately available constituents without adding unnecessarily to those which are to be long dormant in the soil. The practical fact is that under liberal management by farm-yard manure alone, a soil becomes gradually richer in organic matter, ammonia and phosphates; and it is quite possible, so long as that excess remains to raise crops by the addition of the rapidly acting manure alone; but it is a system which the good farmer will only employ under exceptional cases."

Here, we ascribe a somewhat different action to guano. We have heard of some of its most remarkable results on the poorest lands, and would mention, as an instance only of them, a well attested case where it produced twenty-seven bushels per acre on poor land and only four on rich land of the

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

same farm. This effect we think is due to its solvent power as much as to its nitrogen, but in the nature of things its action on such lands, if unaided, will produce more rapid exhaustion. The analysis made of a very rich soil in Ohio compared with that of a very poor soil in Massachusetts, showed less diversity in composition than in molecular structure. The Ohio soil was nearly as fine as flour, the Massachusetts sample as coarse as sand; and hence was supposed to result a difference in solubility sufficient to account for the difference in productiveness. If this be so, the poor soil, which by means of 200 lbs. of guano elaborated 1620 lbs. of wheat, or an excess of 1420 lbs. will, of course, have had its solvent (or productive) powers more severely taxed than a richer roil, when natural agents, always superior to artificial ones, are constantly at work. Hence exhaustion will more speedily follow the application of guano.

On the other hand, if the land shall begin to improve, and by means of other agencies, as clover, say, continue to acquire fertility, then, precisely as the fertility increses, is the effect of guano diminished, until, as in the case of good lands, it will cease to repay the application For we have heard of many cases of good lands where guano has failed to act.

We repeat, so fearful are we of misconstruction, that we desire to see guano used, but we warn our farmers not to expect to make of it a substitute for other manures, or to rely upon it to the exclusion of well kept stock in greater numbers than they are used at present.

Western New York with her sheep makes more wheat than any old State, and buys but little guano She does not need it, her lands are too good for it, and the stereotype about her prodigious falling off in wheat is a mistake. Sheep keep up her wheat.

And what is true of New York is still more true of Virginia. Lime will improve the lands of tide water, though, except on her most fertile alluvions, there is a limit to improvement, even there, by that means alone. But lime, whether desirable or not, cannot be obtained for the lands of middle Virginia. It is an error to suppose that rail roads will bring it cheap—they cannot transport cheaply enough for agricultural purposes any article which weighs eighty pounds to the bushel. On an average it will not cost the farmers who live on the line of the road less than fifteen cents a bushel—to say nothing of those who must haul it ten, twenty or thirty miles— and it can hardly pay at that price. It is by no means certain that the lands want lime. Experiment alone can decide that point. Thousands of bushels of lime have been waste!! on the soils of Massachusetts, and our farmers .should consult that experience far enough to save themselves from like loss.

We say, then, they must improve by stock, or, in the long run, improve not at all. We do not speak of such moderate improvements as judicious farmers now make with the ordinary materials and means of the country, but of an improvement commensurate with the general progress of things, and necessary to us, if we would regain our lost ascendancy, or even maintain our present second rate position.

The population of the United States now doubles in every quarterof a century, and impending events may accelerate this rapid rate. If we mean to preserve our r.'te of wealth and population, our products should also double, and our lands be put in condition to keep up with' this arithmetical ratio. It is a blessing that we have guano to begin with, and that it will enable us to leap, as it were, into

a better system, to slock our lands with cattle and grasses withouc that loss of revenue which John Taylor of Caroline contemplated under the old system, but which he urgently advised all to submit to in consideration of the benefits he promised from experience.

How shall the stock and grass be obtained? We answer, with less difficulty than one would expect. But as we have occupied now all our spare space, we shall resume the subject in March.

For the Southern Planter. INJURY TO TOBACCO PLANT BEDS BY FLIES

A REMEDY.

Mr. Editor, —The ravages of the fly on the tobacco plant beds of Eastern Virginia have so much increased of late years as to call for a more certain preventive or remedy than any heretofore suggested. A first, and sometimes a second series of plants is devoured by the insects, and before a third can attain a growth sufficient for transplantation, the early seasons have passed. The loss occasioned by the delay alone in planting must have been immense; and during the present year many growers of tobacco wholly failed in occupying a part of their hills made for that purpose.

During a-recent visit to the county of Amherst I met with Mr. James W. Phillips, an intelligent citizen and planter of that county, with whom I conversed at large on the best modes of rearing and managing tobacco. From him I learned that he was in possession of a remedy against the fly, which he had tried with unvarying success for thirteen years past, with the exception of one year, when no flies appeared. He had not divulged it before, but is willing that it should be made public now. And as it is both simple and cheap I send for publication in the Planter a copy of what was written down from his dictation:

"As soon after the cattle are taken in from grazing and put up for winter feeding as we may be certain that their manure will be free from grass seeds, a quantity of this is collected and stored in several barrels. Old flour or lime barrels will answer the purpose. Over each layer of eight or ten inches thickness, pour water until it is moistened through, and then sprinkle a handful or two of slaked lime. About four or five handfuls generally suffice lor a barrel. These are either to be kept under shelter or covered during wet weather. As soon as the fly makes its appearance—which is generally from the last week in March to the middle of April—sprinkle the mixture, which will now be thoroughly pulverized, over the beds so as nearly to cover the plants. The flies will cease to trouble them and the manure will stimulate their growth as well or better than any other he has ever tried. Mr. P. covers his beds with brush, as is the general custom, and rather thicker than usual; but never removes it entirely until shortly before the plants are drawn. He thinks it better to have two layers of brush, one across the other, as in case the plants are too much shaded, the second may be removed without disturbing the first, and thus injuring the plants."

The remedy here proposed may not be as new to all your readers as it was to myself. But I doubt if it be generally known, and Mr. Phillips assures me that, as thus compounded, it is original with him. I have heard of liquid manure, or a weak solution of guano, or the brine of fish being poured over the beds—of lime or plaster of Paris, either singly or successively, sprinkled over the plants—but not with uniform results. It has been said that if brush fires

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

59

be kindled at night to the leeward of the beds, the flies will be attracted by the flames. Recent observers of the habits of these interests also tell us that they rarely or never rise more than three feet from the ground, and that beds enclosed by a tight plank fence of that height will keep them out. Of the efficacy of either of these modes I know* nothing; but the first I suppose would be but temporary, and the other both troublesome and expensive. Mr. P.'s continued success was attested by several of his neighbors, and his preparation may be considered worthy of trial by many others during the coming season. Should it prove equally efficacious under a variety of circumstances, he will have entitled himself to the thanks of our planters generally, and perhaps to some more solid testimonial of their obligations.

4 N. F. Cabell.

Nelson, Dec. 7,1853.

[The above article was crowded out at an earlier period, but we hope it is still in time. All persons who try this remedy, which is certainly inexpensive, will please report result to Southern Planter.— Ed. Southern Planter.]

PAYMENTS TO THE SOUTHERN PLANTER,

From 1st December, to the 1st January, 1854.

All persons who have made payments early enough to be entered, and whose names do not appear in the following receipt list, are requested to give immediate notice of the omission, in order that the correction may be made in the next issue: Ebenezer M'Gregor to January 1855 W. L. Wallace to September 1854 Rev. W. Timberlake to January 1855 J. T. Mann to November 1854 John A. B. Thornton to January 1855 Miles C. Tunstall to January 1855 A. B. Carter to September 1855 Dr. Robert Harrison to January 1855 Dr. B. P. Morriss to September 1854 Edwin J. Bates to December 1854 M. Harrison to January 1855 George Calvert to December 1854 Samuel Howell to December 1854 James Long to December 1854 H. H. Reck to December 1854 John Edmunds, Jr., to November 1854 R. O. Morris to January 1854 John T. Sawyer to November 1854 George T. Brumley to December 1854 F. W. Coleman to December 1854 John Echols to December 1854 R. H. Kinney to December 1854 William S. Dancl to January 1855 Martin James to January 1855 A. Tompkins to December 1854 James A. Walker to July 1854 John Shuey to July 1854 James F. Jones to September 1854 L. H. Minor to September 1854 Orville Allen to Septemcer 1852 Capt. James Cormick to December 1854 Frederick Wilson to December 1854 James S. Garrison, Sr., to December 1854 Borum & Fisher to December 1854 James Newby to January 1855 Henrv Erwin to December 1854 Dr. William Collins to December 1854 John M. Hodges to December 1854 James H. Johnston to December 1854 Col. George Blow to December 1854

$1 00 1 00 1 00

1 00

2 00 1 00

1 00

2 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 o

00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 4 00 1,00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00

00 00 00 00 00 00

1 00

2 00 1 00 1 00

1 00

2 00

1 00

2 00

1 00

2 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00

J. P. Shuster to December 1854 $1 00

Col. William Etheridge to December 1854 1 00 F. M. Marchont to December 1854 1 00

James Nichols to December 1854 1 00

W. W. Sylvester to December 1854 1 00

George H. Deshield to December 1854 Sidney Weller to December 1854 D. H. Hatton to December 1854 Henry Butt to December 1854 George H. Wilson to December 1854 William R. Hamburg to December 1854 Henry B. Styron to December 1854 Edgar Burroughs to February 1855

A. R. L. Keeling to February 1855 John J. Burroughs to December 1854 H. F. Woodhouse to January 1855 W. P. Smith to January 1854 Robert Peed to December 1854

B. L. Christian to January 1854 ' William Benton to July 1854 B. P. Noland to September 1853 William Rogers to July 1854 Isaac Vandeventer to jnly 1854 Henry T. Harrison to July 1854 Joseph Mead to July 1854" John Janney to July 1854 William Williams to July 1854 Noble S. Braden to July 1854 William Giddnjgs to December 1854 John Aldridge to July 1854 Mrs. E. O. Carter to September J853 Robert L. Wright to July 1855 Yardley Taylor to July 1854 Col. John H. White to July 1854 John George to July 1854 Robert A. Ish to July 1854 John Snider to July 1854 James M. Laidley to January 1S56 William S. Davis to December 1854 Littleion J. Chappell to January 1854 J. R. Bryan to January T855 R. W. Morris to September 1854 Albert S. Jones to December 1854 A. K. Bowles to January 1855 J. S. Spangler to January 1855 Col. Joseph Martin to July 1854 Garland Haines to January 1856 R. Kirkiand to January 1853 J. B. Lundy to January 1853 J. A. Riddick to October 1853 T. C. Proctor to October 1853 Charles Turnbull to October 1853 Turner Saunders to October 1853 John E. Shell to October 1853 R. H. Sharpe to January 1854 John H. Lewis to October 1853 Thomas Green to October 1853 Edward Dromgoole to October 1852 George B. Clark to January 1854 William H. House to June 1854 M. Noble to January 1855 JohrvE. Crowder to December 1854 William B. Sanderson to December 1854 1 00 Thomas M. Powers to December 1854 1 William Holman to December 1854 1 William A. Perkins to December 1S54 1 Dr. R. P. Walton to December 1854 1 William C. Flournoy to December 1854 1 Joel J. Scott to December 1854 1 James Woodfin to December 1854 l 00 Capt. Benjamin Allen to December 1854 1 W. S. Daniel to December 1854 l J. P. Woodson to December 1854 1 Henry J. Brown to December 1854 l W. M. Thornton to December 1854 1

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 25 00 2 00 1 00 1 00 1 00

00 00 00 00 00 CO 00 00 00 00 00 00

00 00 CO CO 00 00

00 00 00 00 00

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER,

William M. Bagley to January 1855 !

John Morton to January 1855

R. H. Whitfield to January 1854

James M. Smith to January 1855

Col. P. W. Meredith to January 1855

Col. W. C. J. Rothrock to January 1854

Dr. James M. Blanton to December 1857

Dr. Carter to January 1855

R. Turnbull to July 1854

P. W. Hairston to July 1854

Lewis Mabry to October 1854

William Rixey to June 1854

Benjamin C. Anderson to September 1854

Samuel T. Chandler to January 1855

Col. T. C. Dennis to September 1854

James R. Cumpton to January 1855

R. W. Grisvvold to January 1855

Capt. Jacob Morton to June 1854

Capt. Samuel D. Morton to January 1854

Henry M. Vaughn to April 1854

William H. Clark to January 1855

Larkin Hundley to January 1854

John T. Van Deusen to January 1855

James E. Harris to September 1854

George W. Ruffin to January 1855

William A. Leavitt to January 1855

A. G. Moody to January 1855 Robert Campbell to January 1855 Thornton Hanshaw to January 1855 Josiah Duke to July 1854

J. J. Daly to January 1855 Dr. S. Maupin to January 1855 Patterson Allen to January 1855 Thomas Hite to January 1855 Thomas E. Baylor to January 1855 Dr. John M. Shelton to January 1855 Robert Henderson to January i855 N. Sowell to January 1855 Jame R. Leath to January 1855 Dr. James L. Cabell to June 1854 Meredith Helm to July 1854 Samuel W. Martin to July 1854 Dr. D. E. Watson to January 1854

B. H. Eubank to September 1853 William Rodes to July 1854 Rev. James Fife to January 1853 J. H. Maddex to September 1854 Dabney Minor to September 1854 James Davis to January 1855 Dr. S. Patrick to January 1855

Judge George W, Summers to January 1855

George H. Matthews to December 1854

Richard H. Carter to September 1854

Thomas F. Buck to December 1854

William P. Winfree to January 1854

R. G. Grigg to January 1854

Capt. G. Choice to January 1855

Judge Field to January 1855

Dr. George C. Scott to January 1855

Dr. J. F. Earley to January 1855

Dr. William Martin to January 1854

Col. John Mercer Waller to January 1855

William H Mitchell to November 1854

Manlius Chapman to January 1854

W. M. Tate to April 1855

Daniel Wilson to September 1854

Joseph C. Burton to January 1854

N. W. Harris to January 1855

John S. Hardaway to January 185G

B. A. Curry to July 1851

B. W. Roper to January 1855

L. D. Horner to January 1855

Dr. John A. Davidson to June 1857

Richard V. Waikins to July 1851

George W. Whitfield to January 1855

a oo

2 00 5 00

8 00

00

00

00

00

00

00

00

00

00

00

1 00

1 00

1 00

1 00

1 00

1 00

1 00

2 00 1 00 1 00

1 00

2 00

3 00 1 00 1 00 1 00

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 1 00

5 00

00

00

00

00

00

00

00

00

5 00

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1 00

R. F. Gaines to January 1855

A. P. Sennett to December 1855 S. J. Cabell to December 1855 T. M. Shelton to December 1855 Frank Vicars to December 1855

B. S. Thompson to December 1855 Frederick Gillum to December 1855 Dr. George Fleming to September 1854 Jacob Graves to September 1855 John G. Guthrie to July 1854

R. U. Brooking to January 1S54

Mrs. Dr. W. B. Smith to Januarv 1855

Dr. E. G. Clay to September 1854

Rev. William Crawford to January 1855

James D. Massenburg to January 1855

Joseph E. Gillet to May 1855

Warren Edwards to May 1855

Alfred Ricks to January 1855

Fras. W. Connor to January 1855

John Lawton to January 1855

H. H. Cocke to January 1855

Camm S. Garrett to January 1854

Edward W. Shepherd to January 1855

R. S. Farmer to January 1855

A. D. Martin to January 1855

Rev. Samuel Taylor to January 1855

D. H. Flournoy to January 1855

E. F. Perkinson to January 1855 Col. R. W. Baylor to September 1855 R. B. Washington to July 1854 Capt. James G. Hunt to July 1854 Martin Slaughter to January 1855 Henry Taylor to January 1855 Jabez Gravely to Januarv 1855 William W. Garrett to January 1855 H. S. Hathaway to January 1854

N. W. Diggs to January 1854 James K Marshall to January 1855 Dr. J. L. Burroughs to October 1854 John A. Hutchens to January 1855 Frederick Hanbury to January 1855 William L. Parson to January 1855 Dr. H. T. Minor to January 1855 Archibald Gills to January 1S54 Benjamin R. Woody to January 1855 John C. Moncure to September 1854 James D. Watts to January 1855 R. C. L. Moncure to January 1855 James Ruffner to January 1S55 Woodson Hughes to January 1855 Charles Yates to July 1854 James D. Gibson to April 1854 A. & W. Hogue to April 1855

A. Wright to April 1855 Columbus Stanley to April 1855 Henry G. Tucker to April 1855

B. H. Smith to April 1855

A. W. Gluarrier to April 1855 'John A. Wright to April 1855 Joel Ruffner to Apjil 1855 William Gilkeson to April 1855 John G. Carr to April 1855

F. Brooks to April 1855

J. S. O. Brooks to April 1855

Edward Lewis to January 1855

Samuel Hannah to April 1855

S. A. Miller to January 1855

J. D. Lewis to January 1855

William Tompkins, Jr., to January 1855

B. L. Cole to January 1854

J. R. Coupland to January 1855 Samuel L. Brooke to January 1855 Peter D. G. Hedgman to January 1855 John M. Conway to January 1855 John S. Ellis to January 1855

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

61

SUFFOLK PIGS.

THE subscribers are prepared to receive orders lor pure Suffolk Pigs, bred from stock imported in 1848 by the late William Stickney, also by the subscribers in January last. Address

JOSIAH STICKNEY, Waterton, Or, ISAAC STICKNEY, Boston, Mass. Boston, August, 1853—6t.

AGENCY FOR THE PURCHASE AND SALE OF IMPROVED STOCK.

STOCK Cattle of all the different breeds, Sheep, Swine, Poultry, &c. will be purchased to order, ind carefully shipped to any part of the United Slates, for which a reasonable commission will be iharged. Apply to

AARON CLEMENT, Philadelphia. Refer to Gen. W. H. Richardson, Richmond, Va. N. B.—All letters, post-paid, will be promptly attended to. ap—tf

NEW PLASTER AND BONE 311 LL.

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

Dr. VALENTINE'S RECIPE for MAKING ARTIFICIAL GUANO.

Dry Peat,* ... 20 bushels

Wood Ashes, ... 3 bushels

Fine Bone Dust, 3 bushels

Calcined Plaster, 3 bushels

Nitrate of Soda, - - 40 pounds

Sal Ammoniac, 22 pounds

Carb Ammonia, - - 11 pounds

Sulph: Sodas, 20 pounds

Sulph: Magnesia, 10 pounds

Common Salt, 10 pounds

No. 1. No. 2. No. 3. No. 4. No. 5. No. 6. No. 7. No. 8. No. 9. " 10.

* If peat cannot be obtained, use garden mould, *r clean virgin soil instead.

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

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

R. R. DUVAL & BRO.

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

HALL <fc SPEER, PLOUGH MANUFACTURERS, No. 166 Penn Street, Pittsburgh, Patentees of the celebrated First Premium Iron Centre and Hillside Revolving Beam Ploughs, also manufacture Patent Lever, Centre Lever, Improved Peacock, Wrought Mouldboard, Creole, Valley, and every other description of Ploughs, Plough Castings, Cultivators, &c.

Morton & Booker, Agents, Richmond, Va.

Watkins & Morton, Agents, Petersburg, Va.

Agencies will be established in all the principal towns throughout Virginia, so that points can be supplied regularly and conveniently.

nov—6t* H. & S.

J. W. SMITH,

\3th Street, below Main, Richmond, Virginia,

PLUMBER AND GAS FITTER, and dealer in Lift and Force Pumps, Hydraulic Rams, and all kinds of Apparatus for raising and distributing water; Lead, Wrought and Cast Iron Pipe, for Steam, Gas, or Water Circulation. Planters and others in want of Water or Steam Fixtures, Pumps or Hydraulic Rams, would do well to send their orders, as every thing sold or put up, is warranted to give satisfaction, or no charge.

f3* Orders from any part of the country promptly attended to. Prices moderate. dec—tf

SINTON & SONS' NURSERY, NEAR RICHMOND, VIRGINIA.

AS the season for planting has arrived, the subscribers would respectfully call the attention of their friends and the public generally, to their large and extensive collection of Fruit Trees, embracing, perhaps, a selection that has not been surpassed, for the climate of Virginia, and nearly all propagated from fruit-bearing trees in their own orchard.

Catalogues, with directions for planting, may be had at William Palmer's Seed and Plough Store; at Peyton Johnston & Brother's Apothecary Store; at C.J. Sinton & Co's. Hardware Store, and at Logan Waller's Commission House, where any orders left will be punctually attended to, and letters addressed to the subscribers, Richmond, will receive prompt attention.

nov—tf JOSEPH SINTON & SONS.

LIFE INSURANCE MUTUAL BENE-FIT COMPANY. Office at the Book Store of Knowles & Walfold, corner of Main and 11th streets, Richmond, Virginia.

B. W. KNOWLES, Agent.

After paying all losses and expenses, the receipt's

of this company on the 1st July, 1853, amounted

to $2,036,877 39

Paid in dividends to the insured, 360,921 40

Leaving a net capital of Si,675,955 99

Showing a business unprecedented in life insurance.

The annual dividends average over one-third the premium paid, thus making the actual cost very low.

A few dollars paid annually secures hundreds or thousands to the policy holder. dec—3t

ANALYSIS OF SOILS, &c.

THE undersigned is prepared to execute the analyses of Soils, Guano, Marls, Plaster, &c. &c. at the Laboratory of the Virginia Military Institute. Packages may be forwarded through Webb, Bacon & Co. Richmond, or Echols & Pryor, Lynchburg. Persons desiring further information will please address WILLIAM GILHAM,

Prof. Chemistry and Agriculture, V. M. I. Feb. 1,1852. Lexington, Va.

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

GENERAL AGENCY For the Sale and Purchase of Lands.

FRANK: G. RUFFIN, Secretary of the Virginia State Agricultural Society, and N. AUGUST, Notary Public and Accountant, offer their services to the public as General Agents. for the sale and purchase of lands in Virginia, and in the Southern and Western States. Those wishing our services, having lands for sale, are requested to furnish us with a full description of such property, and the terms, &c, upon which they are willing to sell; and those wishing to purchase are requested to inform us of the locality in which they wish to purchase, the price they are willing to pay, &c. Our charges will be moderate.

Office at the office of the Virginia State Agricultural Society. jan—tf

STEPHEN H. FISHER, MANUFACTURER OF BOOTS AND SHOES, No. 228, Broad Street, north side, between 3d and 4th streets, Richmond, Virginia, keeps constantly on hand a full assortment of ready made Boots and Shoes of his own manufacture, for Ladies' and Children's wear, which he will sell as low as can be purchased in this city.

Boots and Shoes for Gentlemen and Boys on hand, or made to order at short notice. Servants' Shoes of all qualities always on hand.

I^All work warranted.«d f^j* Farmers are invited to give him a call, oc—ly

GENERAL AGENCY.

THE Subscriber offers his services, as Agent, to buy and sell, land; furnish men homes; selling, renting, and buying houses in Baltimore; furnishing improved Stock and Poultry of every description: also, to buy Guano, sell grain, and other articles of farm production. And begs leave to refer those desirous of employing an Agent, to the President and other officers of the Maryland Agricultusal Society, and to the Secretary of the Virginia State Agricultural Society.

MARTIN GOLDSBOROUGH, ja—ly No. 38, Holliday street, Baltimore, Md.

WILLIAM P. LADD,

APOTHECARY AND DRUGGIST, No. 319, head of Broad Street, Shockoe Hill, Richmond, Virginia. DEALER in English, Mediterranean, India and all Foreign and Domestic Drugs and Medicines; also, Paints, Oils, Varnish, Dye-Stuffs, Window Glass, Putty, &c. For sale on the most accommodating terms.

|^-Orders from Country Merchants and Physicians thankfully received and promptly attended to. ja 1851—tf

rooks/pianos, MUSIC, &c.

JAMES WOODHOUSE, Wholesale and Retail Dealer in Books, Piano Fortes, Stationery, Music, &c. 139 Main St., Richmond, Virginia. Constantly on hand, a full supply of standard Agricultural Works. oc—tf

OAAA BARRELS Chemical Fertilizer, s6\JV)\) 1000 bbls. Poudrette,

200 tons Ammoniated Super-Phosphate of Lime, for sale, by C. B. ROGERS,

feb—U Nv. 29, Market street, Philadelphia.

FRUIT TREES, <fcc.

I HAVE for sale, a choice lot of PLUM AND PEAR Trees, ol the following named varieties:

Plums —Coe's Gold Drop, Monroe, Royale Hative, Yellow Eg£, or Magnutn Bonum, McLaughlin, Bleecker's Gage, Smith's Orleans, Coe's .Late Red, Columbia, Long Scarlet, Prince's Imperial.

Standard Pears, on Pear Stock —Van Mons, Beurre Deil, Osband's Summer, Stevens' Genesee, While Doyenne, or Virgalieu, Canton, Onondaga Tyson.

Dwarfs, on Quince Stocks —Soldat Saborem, Doyenne de Pais, Louise Bonne de Jersey, Beurre Gou-balt, Van Mons Leon le Clere, Beurre Capiamount, Glout Morceau, Stevens' Genesee, Madeleine, Dearborn's Seedling, Barilett, White Doyenne, Tyson.

f^fAlso, Grape Vines, Asparagus Roots, Rhubarb, Strawberry and Raspberry Plants of different varieties, Roses, Magnolias, Evergreens, Greenhouse Plants, &c. &c. JAMES GUEST, Hollywood Nursery, Square above the new Western Square,

feb—tf Richmond.

READ, CONSIDER AND ACT WISELY.

IMPORTANT TO FARMERS!

What is that ji^ | Ah! Massa, dis de Wells'Seed you have got ljt|| Sower—de berry best ting in de there boy, and /JgjpSt l wor ld to sow de clober and de what doing? |fff| / |§V tim0, y' see d, dc plaster, de go-no, and de wheat. I sows 25 acres in one day Massa—try him.

It is only by the use of valuable improvements that we can reasonably expect to keep up with the age in which w« live, and public opinion everywhere has placed M. D. Wells' Improved Patent Seed Sower in the first class of agricultural implements. The above drawing exhibits it in use, and any ordinary mind must at once be impressed with the certain conviction that it is an indispensable implement of husbandry, and that every good farmer should have it. By its use you save time, which is money and labor which costs money and experience in using it proves you will not be driven from the field unless by very rough weather, and the almost mathematical precision with which the seed is distributed, compared with hand sowing, renders it self- evident in the opinion of the best farmers that a saving or gain of two dollars per acre is made in two crops of grass and the succeeding crop of wheat, one year's interest on an acre of land at 833}, and sowing three acres pays for a machine with lid at $6.

The first premium was recommended for this machine at the late Virginia State Fair, and four of the committee (all having use for if) engaged one each ; and we think if governed by your interest vou will do likewise.

MOTT, "LEWIS & WILLSON, Sole agents for Richmond—Agricultural Implement

fe—tf Store, No. 36, Main Street.

ALBEMARLE LAND FOR SALE.

THIS farm, on which the subscriber resides, lies on the eastern slope of the South-West Mountain, six miles from Charlottesville by the public road, and three miles and a half by riding way. It contains 316* acres, 100 acres in wood, the remainder divided into six fields, with water in each, and the advantage of luxuriant clover crops turned in. Gentlemen desirous of purchasing are invited to view the premises, or for further particulars address ARCH'D N. DOUGLAS,

fe—It Charlottesvile, Albemarle, Va.

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

63

PREMIUM THRESHERS.

T^ARMERS wishing to obtain these superior . machines, will secure themselves against dis mdintment and confer a great favor upon the sub-:riber by giving their orders as early as convenient.

My threshers, so long regarded as superior by all ho have used them, have when brought in compe-lion with all the best machines of Northern as well ; Southern Manufacturers at the late Virginia State 'air, received so marked a distinction, by the award ' the first premium, that I need only refer to the ficial report of the committee in the Jan. number f the Southern Planter to satisfy all who wish to urchase.

The Pitts Patent Thresher, with separator and eaner attached, to clean wheat or other grain at le operation, is placed prominently in advance of 1 machines aiming to accomplish this object braving the first premium offered for the best machine ir this purpose awarded to it. Although the one shibited by me was a very rough one, and gotten i the ground in a great hurry and exhibited wiih-jt even a decent coat of paint upon it—and under lany other disadvantages. The machine manufac-ired for the exhibition could not be gotten here in me.

Persons wishing to procure this superior and istly celebrated machine, may obtain full descrip-on of its peculiar advantages and adaptedness for trge estates or for a travelling machine to thresh >r toll, by addressing the subscriber, who is sole srent here.

1 have a few of the above machines ready for 'ork, but on account of the heavy expense ot get-ng them up, and the length of time necessarily Dnsumed in doing so, it is very important to get all rders as early as possible.

Price of horse power, with thresher, separator nd cleaner, in one frame and mounted upon wheels >r moving.from field to field or from farm to farm, ; $400. This machine can be seen at my Factory, nd any inquiries by letter will be answered promptly.

Premium Straw Cutters.

In calling attention to my large stock of imple-lents, comprising Threshers of all sizes, Horse 'owers from 4 to 10 horses, Wheat Fans, Corn-hellers, Seed Drills, Horse rakes, Cradles & Scythes, Lay Presses, Hussey. and McCormick Reapers, &c.

I wish to ask especial attention to my Patent traw Cutter for hand purposes. This machine re-eived the first premium at the Virginia State Fair, nd also at the Rappahannock River Society's Fair, nd at the Norfolk Fair, and has the unqualified ecommedation of many thousands now using them, 'rice $10, warranted to give satisfaction on trial, am also manufacturin Smith's patent double plough, :nown as the Michigan Double Plough. This dough received the first premium offered for a hree horse plough, which was divided between the ubscriber and Mr. French, who exhibited the same ilough, as will be seen by official report in Planter .s above.-

I have Hussey's Reapers ready for the next hardest; please call and examine.

feb-4t H. M. SMITH.

A MORRIS, 97 Main Street, is constantly sup-• plied with all New and Standard Agricultural Works. The subscriber respectfully invites the attention of the public to his extensive assortment of Books on Agriculture, among which may be found—

The Chemical Field Lectures for Agricultures, by Dr. J. A. Stockhardt; translated from the German: edited with notes by James E. Tesehemseher.

The Field Book of Manures, or the American Muck Book; treating of the nature, properties, &c. of all the principal manures in common use, by D. J. Brown.

The American Farm Book, or Compend of American Agriculture, being a practical treatise on soils, manures, draining, &c. and every staple product of the United States, with the best methods of planting, cultivating and preparation for market, by R. l! Allen.

Elements of Agricultural Chemistry and Geology, by James F. W. Johnston, M. A.

The Monthly Journal of Agriculture, containing the best current productions in promotion of agricultural improvement, including the choicest prize essays issued in Europe and America, with original contributions from eminent farmers and statesmen, 3 vols. 8vo., John S. Skinner, Editor.

The Principles of Agriculture, by Albert D. Thaer.

The Farmer's and Planter's Encyclopaedia of Rural Affairs, embracing all the most recent discoveries in agricultural chemistry, adapted to the comprehension of unscientific readers, by C. W. Johnson, Esq.

European Agriculture and Rural Economy, from personal observations, by Henry Colman.

Chemistry in its Application to Agriculture and Physiology, by Justus Liebig, M. D.

The Book of the Farm, detailing the labors of the farmer, ploughman, field worker, &c, by Henry Stephens.

Elements of Scientific Agriculture, or the Connection between Science and the Art of Practical Farming, by John P. Norton, M. A.

An Essay on Calcareous. Manures, by Edmund Ruffin: 5th edition, amended and enlarged.

The Farmer's Barn-Book, by Clater, Youatt, Skinner and Mills.

Together with many other valuable works on farming, the treatment and management of cattle, &c. A. MORRIS,

Bookseller, Stationer, and Dealer in

feb—tf Piano Fortes, 97 Main street.

REAPERS ! I am now supplied with Hussey's Reapers with all the late improvements. From he great success of this machine throughout the :ountrv, and particularly in the heavy growth of >vheat"on James River, I feel great confidence in •ecommending them to farmers. Call and examine :hem. H. M. SMITH.

feb—It

AMMONIATED SUPER-PHOSPHATE OF LIME.

THIS very superior fertilizer, having been fairly tested by Farmers and Planters, is acknowledged to possess many advantages over Guano. At the same price per ton, and sown in equal quantity, its first effects are equal, if not superior, on most crops to those of Guano, whilst they last much longer. It may be applied as a top dressing until April, with as much benefit as if used at the time of sowing.

Manufactured and for sale at the Seed and Agricultural Warehouse of C. B. ROGERS,

feb—11 No. 29, Market street, Philadelphia.

IMPROVED SUFFOLK PIGS !

THE undersigned can now supply Gentlemen who are in search of purely bred stock of Suffolk Pigs. Price five dollars.

GRAY BOULWARE. fe—It* Bowling Green, Caroline County, Va.

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

CONTENTS OF NUMBER II.

PAGE

Experiment to Test the Effects (in profit or loss) of the Usual Mode of Saving Corn Fodder, &c. by Edmund Ruffin, Jr 33

Experiment to Test the Action of Lime as Manure above the Falls of the Tide-water Rivers of Virrginia, on Different Soils, by Com. T. Ap C. Jones 34

Experiment in the Tillage of Indian Corn, by Comodore Thomas Ap C. Jones 35

Experiments on the Benefits and Products of Guano, compared to costs, by Thos. Jones, Jr... 36

Experiments with Tide Marsh Mud as Manure, by John R. Bryan 37

Experiments with Sulphate of Barytes as a Manure 38

Essay on Enriching and Improving Worn-Out Lands, by Commodore Thos. Ap C. Jones 40

Essay on the Properties and Value of the Southern Pea, or Cornfield Pea, by P. M. Edmond-ston 48

Essay on the Treatment and Management of Milch Cows, by Lewis Bailey 52

Appendix to Professor Gilham's Essay on the Analyses of Marls in Lower Virginia, &c 54

Appendix to Mr. Edmund Ruffin's Essay on the Theory and Laws of Rotation of Crops, &c. .55

Schedule of Premiums for the Virginia State Agricultural Fair 56

Necessity of Good Stock to Virginia Farmers, and how they may get it 56

Injury to Tobacco Plant Beds ^y Flies. 58

ROWE'S PRIZE CRUSHER

HAS never failed to take all the honors, and all the premiums, wherever exhibited in competition with others. It is the only mill in the world that makes a thorough mixture of corn cobs and shucks, and pulverizes straw and hay, with ease and facility, when mixed with corn and cob. It has no rival for crushing tan bark, rock plaster or shells. It reduces fresh shells to a proper consistence for land, at the rate of one barrel per hour, by the power of two mules; or three bushels of the hardest plaster, or eight bushels of ears of unshucked corn—all of which the patentee guarantees, or no sale. For particulars, adddress, (post paid,)

A MOST DESIRABLE FARM FOR SALE.

Q/XQ ACRES of Land, 16 miles from Rich-AjkJ^J mond, 70 acres being "James river low grounds" and the residue the best quality of up-land on clay bottom, separated from the 70 acres by the "James River and Kanawha Canal." which passes through the farm, and over which there is a bridge, to be supported in perpetuity at the expense of the Canal Company. The hidings on the farm are comfortable and beautifully located, commanding ihe most picturesque view of James river. This farm offers peculiar advantages from the facility of communication^ with Richmond—one of the best markets in the country—the proverbial fertility of "James river lands," and the tact that such a farm is rarely offered for sale. It will be sold unusually low, if application be made soon, and on accommodating terms, with the growing crops, cattle, horses, mules and farming implements, including a new "Hussey's Reaper," &c. &c. &c.

3pTThere are 135 bushels of wheat sown, and about 60 acres ploughed for corn. Apply, pre-paid, to

GODDIN & APPERSON, Richmond, Va. Or to P. D. BERNARD u Publisher So'n Planter.

Baltimore Sun, Philadelphia Ledger, and National Intelligencer insert three times each, and send accounts 10 this office for settlement. feb—3t

T !

STOVES AND FANCY IRON CASTINGS,

Exhibited at the Virginia State Agricultural Fair, By Messrs. Bowers, Snyder «$s Carter. HESE Gentlemen erected Works, about two years since, by which they have been extensively supplying the State with articles for which we have heretolbre depended entirely upon northern foundries.

Their Cooking Stoves have given entire satisfaction to all Virginia housewives who have used them. On the door of one of these we notice a representation of a sheaf of wheat, in which the heads and even the distinct grains stand out in beautiful relief. They exhibit a specimen of parlor stove especially worthy of notice. Its style and finish are highly-ornamental. Its chief merit consists of a door designed to increase the draught of the fire, which is made to revolve vertically upon a pivot. . These manufacturers, in a modest, unpretending if i -n rn J" -'way, are rendering good service to the State, by de-

Nashvill e, Tennessee? ] vel J opiDg her reso b u?ces in this branch of domestic industry. > E. B. Spence,

H. M. Smith, ■ James Par, Committee on Household Implements.

CHOICE FOWLS FOR SALE.

THE Subscriber having devoied special attention, for the last three years, to the breeding of the finest Fowls known, takes pleasure in the announcement, that he keeps on hand and for sale, thoroughbreds from the best stock of Brahma Pootras, Grey Chitligongs, White and Buff Shanghais, Cochin Chinas, Black Spanish, and Bolton Greys Fowls, on favorable terms. Orders by mail promptly attended to. Address E. H. BLIVEN,

ja—2t Bridgewater, Oneida county, N. Y.

ALBEMARLE PIGS.

I AM prepared to receive orders for Albemarle Pigs—a breed made.by crossing several varieties, which will grow to good size, and fatten easily at any age. This breed received some of the highest prizes at the Virginia State Fair. I have, also, four boar pigs, from my large Delaware Sow, (estimated to weigh, nett, near one thousand pounds,) which will be ready for delivery in a few weeks. Address, (post paid,) JOHN R, WOODS,

-tf Woodville Depot, Albemarle, Va.

I have'sold principally, for the past two vears, the stoves manufactured by Messrs. Bowers, Snyder & Carter, at the Richmond Stove Works, and have found them to give my patrons entire satisfaction, both in their operation and durability.

Charles D. Yale, 130, Main Street, Richmond, Virginia, Depot for

Bolton & Yale's "Caloric Air Furnace."

jan 1854—ly

OSAGE ORANGE PLANTS FOR LIVE FENCES.—The best and most durable enclosure for farms, gardens or lots. I have some of these plants for sale—SI per hundred—and would be glad if those who want them would inform me as soon as convenient.

WM. H. RICHARDSON. Richmond, Jan. 1,1854.—3t.

SOUTHERN PLANTER (1841)

Vol. 14 1854

Missing: no. 3, March