THE 



SOUTHEBN PLANTER. 



lOebotefc to garfcultutre, horticulture, autr the ^ouseholtr &vts. 


Agriculture is the nursing mother of the Arts. — 
Xenophon. 


Tillage and Pasturage are the two breasts of the 
State. — Sully. 


FRANK: G. RUFFIN, Editor. P. D. BERNARD, Publisher. 


Vol. XIV. RICHMOND, MAY, 1854. No. 5. 



For the Southern Planter. 

ESSAY ON IMPROVING AND ENRICHING POOR 
LAND. 



BY WILLIAM D. GRESHAM. 

In presenting to the Virginia State Agricultural 
Society for one of its premiums the following essay 
" Upon Improving and Enriching Poor Land," the 
author is actuated by no other desire than to im- 
part the experience he has obtained from his efforts 
to improve the desolate wastes and barren hills of 
his own estate. 

The practicability of " improving and enriching 
poor land, whether naturally poor or naturally rich, 
or good, and subsequently exhausted by severe 
cropping," is a question no longer to be doubted, 
if the facilities for improvement are properly used. 
All that is required is a well directed energy and 
industry on the part of the farmer, to double, if not 
treble, the increase of his crops. In discussing this 
important subject I proceed to give my views under 
the three following heads : 

I. The means to be used. 

II. The agents required. 

III. The proper rotation of crops and division of 
land. 

I. THE MEANS TO BE USED. 

The first and most important step to be taken by 
the farmer in " improving and enriching poor land " 
is a complete and thorough drainage, by means of 
both surface and under-drains, if necessary. There 
are few operations connected with the permanent 
improvement of arable lands which produce more 
immediate and thorough amelioration. Much of 
the low lands of this State would be essentially 
benefited by having shallow or deep drains cut 
through them as the occasion may require. These 
would carry off the water during the early spring 
and in the more advanced periods of autumn, when 
large quantities accumulate and have a tendency 
to abridge the fruitfulness of plants by washing 
and drowning their more superficial roots. Water, 
in excess, is as hurtful to the vegetable system, as 
the want of it. All vegetation demands a certain 
supply of moisture for the solution of valuable 
matter in the soil and to reduce it to a state of 
fluidity. Too much prevents decomposition, as is 
the case of submerged muck, which is known to 
remain in an undecomposed condition for years. 
And this is the reason why the valuable, substances 
contained in the soil of low grounds do not have a be 
Vol. XIV.— 5. 



neficial effect upon the vegetation which those lands 
produce. On examining the qualities of such lands, 
they are almost invariably found to possess acid 
properties, resulting from redundant moisture. The 
acid requires to be neutralized before the soil or its 
vegetable constituents can be rendered available 
for agricultural purposes. Burning the surface of 
low lands after they have been effectually drained, 
will have a beneficial tendency. The ashes will add 
certain mineral constituents, which will be of essen- 
tial service in effecting a permanent mechanical 
amelioration in the texture of the soil, and in re- 
ducing it to a proper condition to receive other 
manures that may be applied, and which will act 
beneficially. 

Draining, if it be performed at a proper time, 
involves no very onerous expense. The work may 
be let out by the job, or performed by farm hands, 
often in seasons when there is little else to employ 
them, but, by whomsoever performed, care should, 
be taken to accomplish it in the most thorough 
manner. A poor or insufficient drain occupies the 
land to no advantage. If it chokes in consequence 
of inequalities or sudden turns, it will invariably 
effect more harm than good. It should proceed as 
nearly on a straight line as practicable, and never 
have less than two inches fall to every fifty rods of 
its extent. This will insure sufficient velocity in 
the current to carry off all the water that will be 
likely to accumulate in ordinary storms, without 
exposing the drain to injury from washing. 

Covered drains, as they deface the fields less, are 
now almost universally preferred to the old fash- 
ioned open ones, and if laid sufficiently deep in the 
soil, they oppose no obstacle to the cultivation of 
the surface, or to the passage of carts, which is an 
objection to the open drain, especially where not 
only a main channel, but numerous branch drains 
are rendered necessarj^. Draining tiles are now 
advertised for this purpose, and are found to be 
highly useful and economical; they save much 
time; are very durable, and when properly formed 
and laid are not liable to choke. 

Another method of constructing under-drains is 
to dig (if the substratum is of clay or other tena- 
cious soil) a trench some three feet wide by eighteen 
inches deep, and along the centre of this sink an- 
other of the same depth and eight inches in width. 
This is then covered with flat stones, or in case they 
cannot be obtained, with green poles and bushes, 
and covered with the soil which had been removed. 
There are many other plans recommended for co- 
vered drains, but after all that can be advanced in 
favor of the several systems or methods of drain- 



130 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



ing, that which is effected by means of tiles is un- 
questionably the most efficient and economical. 
The work is much more speedily performed, and 
there is little or no danger of a failure. The dura- 
bility of good draining tile and the perfect manner 
in which they are introduced, obviates many of the 
unpleasant and expensive contingencies attending 
the introduction and use of other materials, espe- 
cially, stone, brick and wood. With a proper de- 
scent, they rarely choke, and being remarkably hard 
and impervious to water, and proof against the 
chemical action of the soil, do not admit of the 
escape of the water, but conduct it off without al- 
lowing a particle to escape. 

The importance of drainage is sufficient to re- 
commend its adoption, upon practical principles, 
by every person who has stiff, wet lands to improve. 
For an excess of moisture prevents the process of 
decay, or the decomposition of the organic matters 
in the soil, and thus cuts off a- regular supply of 
food from the growing crops. Not only the swamps 
and low lands require it, but there is much other 
land which is too wet in the early part of the season, 
or on which there are springs that saturate the sur- 
face. Such lands may be hard, and may even bear 
ploughing, yet they are both cold and sour, and 
require to be thoroughly drained. 

Very low, peaty, or mucky lands, which are af- 
fluent in soluble matters, are very valuable under 
a judicious system of improvement, of which drain- 
ing must be regarded as the primary or initial step. 
By the removal of stagnant water from these lands, 
and thereby the prevention of noxious exhalations, 
the climate is rendered . more healthy and genial, 
both to animal and vegetable life. Indeed, since 
the introduction of draining in the tide water re- 
gion of this State, agues and fevers, occasioned by 
the humidity of the soil and the consequent impu- 
rity of the atmosphere, have been in a great mea- 
sure prevented, and the health of the inhabitants 
improved. 

The next important " means to be used" in im- 
proving and enriching poor land, is deep plough- 
ing and thorough pulverization of the soil. Most 
lands that have become impoverished by culti- 
vation, have been reduced to sterility by shal- 
low ploughing, and the consequent washing away 
of the soil, rather than by the exhaustion of the 
powers of production by the growth of crops. 
For it is a well attested fact that, a larger por- 
tion of the vegetable matter of an improperly 
ploughed soil is carried off by the dashing rains of 
summer than has ever been used in the production 
of crops ; or should it not be carried off the ground, 
remains to settle into a compact impervious mass, 
of little use in supplying moisture or nourishment 
to the roots of plants. The great benefit derived 
from the retention of moisture in the ground, in 
order to its improvement as well as in regard to the 
production of crops, has, no doubt, been exempli- 
fied in the experience of all practical farmers in 
tracing the covered drains through their fields, by 
the greater luxuriance of the vegetation over or 
near them. Most of the rain that falls during the 
summer months is in hasty showers ; therefore, when 
land is well pulverized, say to the depth of eight 
or ten inches, it will not only receive, but retain a 
much larger amount of water than such as has re- 
ceived but a superficial ploughing. The more tho- 
roughly land is ploughed, the better chance there 
is for a good crop, no matter what it is — for when 
land is completely pulverized, the weeds can be 
more easily destroyed ; the earth itself retains more 



moisture than when badly wrought and cloddy, and 
it is in a better condition to receive any and all ma- 
nures, and of rendering them available to the crop. 
The subject of ploughing does not receive that at- 
tention from farmers to which it is entitled. The 
practical part no tiller of the soil will hesitate to 
perform, but the theory also should be properly 
understood in order to avoid the evils resulting 
from the skinning process so generally pursued. 
Deep ploughing is absolutely necessary in the cul- 
tivation of all crops, especially corn — the extension 
of its roots, the amount of moisture to be supplied, 
the constant supply of oxygen to act upon the hu- 
mus of the soil, converting it into carbonic acid, 
together with the inorganic elements required for 
its formation, are all promoted by deep ploughing. 
By deep ploughing a new surface is brought up to 
be acted upon, and more of the inorganic and or- 
ganic elements of the soil, Avhich have been dor- 
mant and entirely useless to crops, are brought into 
requisition, and the land itself thereby improved. 
In a recent communication from a distinguished 
farmer in answer to some queries in regard to 
ploughing r; he says : " For about fifteen years I have 
been ploughing as deep as I could on the farm 
where I now reside, without having, in a single in- 
stance, injured the crop or land; and more than 
this, I have in the mean time restored the land 
from the most extreme state of poverty to that of 
at least good farming land." Stiff clay fields that 
are intended for spring crops should be ploughed 
every opportunity through the winter, when the 
ground is not wet, taking care to lap the furrow 
slices so that the water which falls may find drains 
beneath them to carry it off. The action of frost will 
have a tendency to break down the tenacity of such 
soils, and greatly improve their texture. Nothing 
is better calculated than exposure to freezings and 
thawings, (after winter ploughing, when effectually 
done at a time when the land is not saturated with 
water,) to effect this desirable object. If ploughed 
when wet the object will not only be defeated, but 
the soil Avill remain in a bad condition throughout 
the season. Where a tenacious stiff substratum 
lies near the surface, so that the roots of the crops 
will come in contact with it, and the growth of the 
plants be thereby impeded, subsoiling, or trench- 
ploughing, should be resorted to, and will be found 
entirely successful in the amelioration of the land 
as well as of great benefit to the crops. Harrow- 
ing, which is intimately connected with ploughing, 
is one of the most important operations, and one 
not sufficiently attended to. I contend that all 
lands should be thoroughly harrowed before being 
cultivated in any crop. It is from deep spading 
and harrowing that gardeners depend mainly for the 
successful cultivation of vegetables. Although 
they may use many different and useful manures 
to the greatest extent, yet they know that if the 
tilth is shallow and the harrowing imperfect, the 
product of their crops will be short, and especially 
so in a time of drought. 

The third and last "means to be used" by the 
farmer in improving and enriching poor land which 
I shall mention, is the extermination of briers and 
sassafras sprouts. This is one of the most difficult 
and disagreeable operations the farmer has to per- 
form in the improvement of his land. The diffi- 
culty of their extirpation has long been a barrier 
to the successful cultivation of crops. Indeed, I 
consider them more formidable as foes to improve- 
ment than broomsedge and p.overty grass. Many 
unavailing remedies have been prescribed for these 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



131 



pests, such as " pasturing cattle upon them ;" " dig- 
ging them up in the month of July," &c; hut I 
and several of* my neighbors have found the follow- 
ing prescription for their extirpation to be entirely 
successful. In the month of June or the first of 
July, take a grass scythe and cut them off about 
two or three inches from the ground. This will 
cause them to bleed freely, and if an application 
of from one to two bushels of salt to the acre be 
made immediately, their eradication may be confi- 
dently expected. Salt being injurious to the grow- 
ing vegetation its action will at once be under- 
stood. It, however, imparts to the land certain 
valuable mineral properties in the form of chlorine 
and soda, and in this manner improves the texture 
of the soil. Upon a piece of land proverbially poor, 
and which, from its poverty-stricken appearance, 
had been thrown out of cultivation for several years, 
owing to the extensive growth of briers and sassa- 
fras sprouts, the above prescription was used in the 
month of June, 1851. In August an application of 
thirty-five bushels of lime was made, and the land 
allowed to remain until the following spring, when 
it was, in the month of May, broken up with a 
large double plough, and a bushel of peas seeded 
and raked in. The peas grew off finely, and in the 
month of August a bushel of plaster to the acre 
was scattered over the peas. The following month 
they presented a fine growth of green vegetation, 
to be turned in for wheat. The wheat grew off 
finely, attracted observation, and was a subject of 
general remark, owing to its growth and appear- 
ance. The wheat has been carefully saved and ac- 
curately measured and the result was 15 bushels 
to the acre. 

II. AGENTS REQUIRED. 

Under this head it will be necessary to describe 
some of the indispensable inorganic and organic 
agents required by the farmer "in improving and 
enriching poor land." The first I shall mention 
is lime, which I regard as the substratum of all 
permanent improvement — the grand agent that pre- 
pares for the crops nearly all the food which the 
earth furnishes, and " in improving and enriching 
poor land," must be used either in its simple sub- 
stance or substituted by other calcareous earths. 
So great has been the action of lime upon land in 
some sections of our State, that it has been re- 
garded as a sure 'panacea for the "ills and cures" 
of all poor land, especially upon those lands which 
abound in acids and which are discernible in the 
large and luxuriant growth of the acid grasses 
which they produce. Lime is an agent in the ame- 
lioration of arable land, but he who relies solely 
upon it to effect every thing in making his land 
more permanently productive, will necessarily find 
himself disappointed. But he who judiciously uses 
it as an auxiliary to other substances, positively 
nutritive, will have the gratification of realizing 
his most sanguine expectations. Fertility, in a 
measure, depends upon its presence in a soil, but 
there are other elements which are equally essen- 
tial to the growth and maturation of grain and 
plants. The office of lime is to restore the capacity 
for production, but without additions of other sub- 
stances, convertible into food for plants, its benefi- 
cial effects must necessarily be arrested. Soils, 
which may have been long in culture, and appa- 
rently exhausted, by a severe course of cropping, 
become charged with quantities of inert vegetable 
matter, which, on the application of lime, is trans- 
ferred into decomposing bodies, and converted into 
nutritive manures for the growing plants. It neu- 
5 £ 



tralizes acids found in many soils which are hurtful 
to vegetation, and which sometimes abound even 
in humus, according to the character of the plants 
from whose decay it has been formed. Applied to 
the surface of grass land a year, or even two years, 
before being broken upfit will more thoroughly 
incorporate itself in the soil, through the agency 
of the frosts and rains of winter. By the force of 
its specific gravity, its tendency is to sink into the 
earth, to diffuse itself through the mass, and to act 
generally on the soil. When thus applied its good 
effects are more visible in the first crops, from the 
fact that the moment it is applied to the surface of 
such lands its agency in preparing the food of plants 
commences, and incorporated thoroughly with the 
soil, it combines with, and immediately operates in 
reducing all the root fibre and insoluble organic 
remains of the natural herbage it may happen to 
meet with, and thus convert into nutriment for the 
succeeding crop what was before of no service; 
and if any acid or noxious rejected matter should 
be left by the plants of the previous rotation, the 
acid and noxious principles are neutralized and the 
soil purified and enriched at the same time. The 
action of lime is manifold : it will render stiff clays 
more friable and easy to be cultivated, and from 
the minuteness of its particles readily insinuate 
itself into the clay, disengaging by its strong ac- 
tion organic matter contained in the aluminous 
masses, destroying the continuous solidity of the 
clay, and liberating the gases contained in it. 
While on the other hand, upon light soils its effects 
are equally beneficial, combining with any organic 
manures that may be added to the soil, it prevents 
their wasteful and too rapid escape ; and by thus 
rendering the soil more retentive of moisture, and 
improving its texture and consistence, eminently 
promotes and increases its fertility. My preference 
has long been given to oyster shell lime, owing to the 
phosphoric acid it contains, and which causes it to 
act much more promptly than stone lime. It can- 
not be dispensed with in the improvement and per- 
fecting of any soil, unless it should be naturally 
calcareous, a condition easity detected by its ef- 
fervescence when tested with acids, whilst its ab- 
sence from a soil may as readily be known by the 
growth of the acid grasses. The quantity of lime 
per acre, which can be used advantageously varies 
with the condition and original character of the 
soil — highly improved land will bear a heavier 
dressing than poor land. On a soil of medium con- 
dition the usual dressing is forty or fifty bushels, 
while on very poor land twenty or thirty bushels 
per acre is deemed most advantageous to commence 
with, the application to be repeated at intervals 
until a sufficient quantity is obtained. Applying 
lime with accuracy can be done with no very great 
trouble. Obtain stakes twenty-one feet long, and 
check the entire field over each way; the check 
being seven yards square, they contain forty-nine 
square yards; and if we allow 4900 square yards 
to make an acre, and a half bushel of lime is de- 
posited in the middle of each square, it would 
make exactly fifty bushels to the acre. Stakes 24 
feet long would make nearly forty bushels to the 
acre ; and in this manner any amount can be applied 
that may be desired. I regard this as the most 
successful way of applying lime, the checks being 
perfectly visible, and the lime being deposited in 
the. middle of the square the hands can spread it 
over the whole space with great accuracy. All 
agricultural writers and chemists agree upon 100 
to 150 bushels of lime to an acre as a sufficient 



132 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



quantity for almost any lands, and its beneficial ef- 
fects will last from fifteen to twenty years, no other 
application being needed for that space of time. 

Plaster being a combination of lime and sulphuric 
acid, it will be necessary to mention its beneficial 
effects in this connection. To the extent of the 
quantity of lime it contains it benefits all soils 
which lime would benefit in the same manner and 
by the same chemical process. It possesses the 
valuable additional property of fixing the ammonia 
contained in manure, and applied to land it fixes 
the ammonia in the soil which is formed by the 
slowly decomposing roots and other substances 
found in it. Plaster will attract ammonia and other 
gases Seating in the atmosphere and fix them about 
those plants which feed principally upon the air, 
by means of their leaves, as well as acting as direct 
food for them, either in supplying the sulphate of 
lime, or by its decomposition affording the sulphur 
necessary for their development. It is particularly 
useful in dry seasons on light, calcareous soils, from 
the fact that it attracts and absorbs moisture from 
the atmosphere. All vegetables and plants derive 
their nourishment from the air as well as the soil, 
w r hile many live almost entirely from what they re- 
ceive from the air and water; therefore, to all, and 
particularly to the latter, or the leguminous class 
of plants, is plaster beneficial. It is indispensable 
in the cultivation of clover and other broad leaved 
plants; and when putrescent manures cannot be 
supplied clover and plaster must supply their places. 
No where can plaster be more judiciously used than 
from time to time on the manure heaps, over the cat- 
tle yards, sheepfolds and in the stables, in absorbing 
and fixing the valuable properties of manure which 
are constantly escaping in the form of gases. I 
would, therefore, advise the use of plaster in all 
the vegetable and animal manures raised upon the 
farm, as well as its liberal use upon all green crops 
designed for the improvement of land. 

Marl. — This is another agent " in improving and 
enriching poor land," and may be regarded by those 
who possess it as equally important as lime, for it 
not only performs all the offices of lime, but from 
its combination with other inorganic and organic 
substances found in the soil, renders it, where it 
can easily be obtained, much more valuable and 
efficient. So great is the deficiency of farmers in 
the knowledge of agricultural chemistry and che- 
mical analysis, and their consequent ignorance of 
the qualities of the marl which they use, that many 
who have tried it have become dissatisfied with its 
action and abandoned its use. Marls, which, from 
a superficial view, appear to have the most shell and 
other valuable properties, especially those through 
which water charged with carbonic acid percolates, 
are found by analysis to contain but a small portion 
of carbonate of lime. Feeling the want of proper 
means to analyze marl, and knowing it could be 
done with but little trouble, to ascertain the amount 
of carbonate of lime it contained, many years since 
I wrote to the late lamented and distinguished agri- 
culturist, Gen. Corbin Braxton, and obtained from 
him his mode of analyzing marls, which I here ap- 
pend, as a cheap and simple plan for enabling the 
farmer to arrive at the amount of carbonate of lime 
his marl may possess : 

"One hundred grains of carbonate of lime is 
composed of 46 grains of carbonic acid gas and 54 
grains of caustic lime; therefore, if you wish to 
ascertain the quantity of carbonate of lime in any 
earth, take a piece of It, a fair sample, and dry it 
well to get all the moisture out of it — pound it 



finely in a mortar, and weigh out 100 grains ; hav- 
ing provided yourself with a thin, wide mouth glass 
vessel — an old quinine bottle answers very well — 
then put into it enough muriatic acid, mixed with 
three times its quantity of water, say one drachm 
of acid to three drachms of water, if you think 
your marl has not more than 20 per cent, of car- 
bonate of lime, and for every 20 grains of lime you 
think your marl has, add another drachm. If your 
marl has 40 per cent, take 2 drachms of acid and 
6 drachms of water; if 60 per cent., 3 drachms of 
acid and 9 drachms of water. In that proportion 
having put what acid and water you may want in 
the vial, then balance it in a scale with any thing 
you may have at hand. Having done this, add 
gently to the water and acid the 100 grains of marl 
already weighed out, and when the effervescence 
is entirely over, put the vial in the scale again and 
weigh it, to ascertain the quantity of carbonic acid 
gas that is lost. Say 17 grains — that is, the vial 
with the 100 grains of marl that was put into it 
weighed less by 17 grains — you then work it out 
by the Rule of Three : 

Say 46 100 17 

100 

46 J 1700 L36.44 
138 



320 
276 



44 
About 37 per cent, of carbonate of lime." 

The calcareous earths used in Virginia are the 
miocene and eocene marls and green sands, which 
are found in extensive quantities in the tide water 
region of the State. The miocene marls contain 
mostly clay and shell, and are valuable for the 
amount of carbonate of lime they possess, and if 
applied to light soils act in a twofold capacity — in 
supplying lime and clay, which improve the tex- 
ture of such soils. The eocene marls and green 
sands, especially those found on the Pamunky and 
James rivers, are mostly valuable for the lime, 
plaster, potash, soda and other valuable substances 
which they contain, as will appear from the analy- 
ses made by Professor Gilham of the Virginia Mi- 
litary Institute, who seems to have made the first 
and only correct analyses of these marls which 
have ever yet been submitted to the public. The 
action of the marls found upon the Pamunky river 
is more valuable than any manure I have ever yet 
seen applied. It is that which has rendered the 
farms on it so valuable and given them a celebrity 
which is not surpassed by any lands in the State. 
The Retreat farm, in Hanover count} 7 , by the ap- 
plication of this marl has been brought from a state 
of great sterility to the most highly improved con- 
dition of any land in that section of country — and 
it may truly be said that those regions which abound 
in deposits of this article are blessed with mines of 
inestimable wealth. 

Ashes. — The action of unleached and leached 
ashes upon land as a promoter of vegetation ren- 
ders it necessarily an agent " in improving and en- 
riching poor land." Ashes are a valuable manure, 
not only for the potash they contain, but for many 
other of their constituents, which cannot be re- 
moved by leaching, and which preserve a value 
very little inferior to those which have not under- 
gone that process. They are highly worthy of the 
attention of the agriculturist for the many sub- 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



133 



stances essential to vegetation which they contain, 
particularly potash. Although the quantity of the 
potash contained in them may be small, yet by its 
chemical action of decomposing and rendering solu- 
ble some of the most intractable, though essential, of 
the mineral constituents of manures, and reducing 
them to a condition of suitable nutriment to crops, 
it renders them a valuable and permanent manure. 
All clay lands contain potash unless deprived of it by 
long continued and exhausting cultivation, conse- 
quently its action on light silicous soils is much more 
apparent, and in supplying the silicate of potash, 
that which forms the outer coat of all vegetable 
substances, and thereby giving them the power of 
production, renders it most valuable for such soils. 
After a sufficient quantity of lime or marl has been 
applied to land it becomes the duty of the farmer 
to commence Avith an application of ashes, as they 
supply the soil with still more of the alkalies which 
they require for production. The effect of the ap- 
plication of ashes has been visible in the expe- 
rience of all farmers who have tried them, but as 
a full supply can only be obtained in the imme- 
diate neighborhoods of cities, and that only at a 
high cost, owing to "the supply being unequal to 
the demand," and then often in an adulterated con- 
dition, I shall urge their use no further than to re- 
commend them whenever a genuine article can be 
obtained at a fair cost. 

Guano. — The value of guano is now universally 
known and its use rapidly extending throughout 
our country. To the farmer who has neither the 
advantages of lime nor marl and who is remote 
from navigation, it may be said to be essential in 
improving his land, for it places him almost upon 
an equal footing with him who has the advantages 
of marl, or who from his proximity to market can 
avail himself of lime. An experience in the use 
of guano for several years, together with an obser- 
vation of its effects under the management of others, 
induces me to believe it is a most valuable agent, 
not only for the advancement of improved lands to 
a still higher state of fertility, but for the resusci- 
tation of those long since exhausted and aban- 
doned. There is no agent which the farmer can 
employ so prompt in its action as guano. It is un- 
questionably one of the cheapest, most profitable 
and concentrated fertilizers that can be used. By 
its prompt action it not only soon reimburses its 
cost by the increase of the crop to which it is ap- 
plied, but leaves the land in a fine condition for the 
growth of clover and other grasses. This manure 
has scarcely ever failed of producing a good crop 
whenever it has been fairly tried, unless the article 
used was of an inferior quality or a dry season fol- 
lowed after its application. It is beneficially ap- 
plied when ploughed in from three to four inches, 
as spread upon the earth, and for permanent ef- 
fects should be ploughed in still deeper. All top- 
dressings with guano are inexpedient and wasteful, 
as from the volatile nature of the active parts of 
the manure, great loss must inevitably result from 
all such applications, and because more moisture 
than is to be found on the surface, is necessary to 
excite and carry on that progressive state of de- 
composition which is required to render guano 
most available for present production and future 
improvement. Guano is the most active of ma- 
nures. The large quantity of ammonia it contains 
and its evanescent nature, renders it necessary that 
something should be used to fix its volatile parts. 
It is recommended by most practical farmers to 
mix a peck of plaster with every 100 pounds of 



guano. By this mixture the sulphuric acid of the 
former, from its greater affinity for ammonia than 
for lime, is liberated, when a new compound is 
formed between the two former, that of sulphate 
of ammonia, a form in which the latter salt is much 
more moderately soluble, and therefore longer re- 
tained in the soil, and the more durably efficacious 
as the food of plants. Guano may be used with 
entire success in the first process "in improving 
and enriching poor landj" It prepares the soil for 
the application of lime or marl, supplies it with the 
necessary vegetable substances to be acted upon 
by them, and renders the improvement of the land 
permanent. Two hundred pounds of guano are 
applied usually to the acre when the land is in 
moderate heart, and when the soil is good one hun- 
dred pounds have been known to act beneficially. 
It has mostly been applied to the wheat crop, yet I 
have seen it applied to young corn with great be- 
nefit after it has been worked the first time. About 
one hundred pounds to the acre, strewed each side 
of the young corn, the plough following imme- 
diately after the application, throwing the dirt to 
the corn, and thereby covering the guano, at once 
gives it a start in growing. In my immediate 
neighborhood upon poor forest lands corn has been 
made equal to that on river bottoms in this manner. 

Bone Dust. — This manure, composed as it is, of 
50 per cent, of the phosphate of lime and 44 per 
cent, of gelatinous matter, which is easily decom- 
posed in the soil and converted into manure, cannot 
fail in producing important effects in the process of 
"improving and enriching poor land." From the 
very large quantity of cartilagineous matter con- 
tained in bone dust, it may be considered both a 
mineral and a nutritive manure, and to comprise 
within itself much that is necessary to impart fer- 
tility to the soil. The finer bones are ground, the 
sooner do they yield up their fertilizing properties 
to the land. In sandy loams they act more effi- 
ciently than upon stiff soils, as the porosity of the 
earth offers less obstruction to the influences of the 
sun and air in securing the degree of heat and 
moisture always necessary to carry on decomposi- 
tion and prepare them to give up their mineral 
and animal properties to the wants of the growing 
plants. From twelve to fifteen bushels of bone 
dust are a sufficient application for an acre of land, 
but a combination of bone dust with sulphuric acid, 
ashes and Avood mould, is usually recommended 
and preferred, as by such combinations it adds still 
more of the valuable constituents to the soil. The 
great difficulty of procuring bones unadulterated, 
(as they are frequently boiled in the glue factories 
before being ground, by which process they lose 
much of their nutritive and fertilizing qualities, 
together with the high cost at which they are ob- 
tained,) renders their application doubtful, as guano 
in supplying the phosphates, could be substituted 
in their place at a more reasonable cost, and with 
almost equal advantage. 

Having described some of the inorganic, or mi- 
neral agents, which a productive soil must contain 
in quantity and variety suited to the wants of the 
peculiar species of plants, it becomes necessary to 
mention some of the organic agents, or vegetable 
and animal substances, which by their economical 
use the land may be made a contributor to its own 
restoration and to the maintenance and increase of 
its own fertility. And the first I shall mention is 

Clover. — This grass belongs to the leguminous 
class of plants, and derives a large portion of its 
nourishment from the atmosphere, and when as- 



fa 



134 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



sisted by plaster derives a still greater portion than 
it could if left unaided by this mineral, whose pe- 
culiar province it is to attract nitrogenous matter 
from the atmosphere, thus increasing the growth 
of this fertilizing grass. No land can be preserved 
in a condition of fertility unless the system of cul- 
ture observed embraces clover, for it benefits the 
land by its shade while growing, as well as by the 
valuable matter it contains when turned under by 
the plough. Without clover it is impossible to carry 
on economically a progressive state of improve- 
ment, but with clover and lime, marl or ashes, any 
soil capable of growing it may be brought to a 
most desirable state of fertility. Without clover 
or other grasses lime confers but temporary benefit, 
as it must have the materials to work up into ma- 
nure, and these can only be secured to the soil by a 
liberal cultivation of clover or other grasses. There 
are but few, if any, farms which supply a sufficient 
quantity of vegetable and animal manures through 
the ordinary process of accumulation to counteract 
the exhaustion of the soil, consequent upon the 
annual removal of crops. My preference has long 
been given to clover as the cheapest means of sup- 
plying this deficiency, being the best of all the 
grasses for the purposes of food for stock, as well 
as for the improvement of the soil, and in conjunc- 
tion with lime, marl or ashes, it forms a sure basis 
upon which rests the solid improvement of land. 

Peas. — The use of peas for the improvement of 
land is extensively used by farmers, especially upon 
light soils where clover does not flourish. Peas 
bear many branches and a luxuriant foliage, which 
qualify them to absorb the fertilizing gases of the 
.air, and hence when turned under in a green state, 
will restore to the earth not only all they have 
gained from it, but all they have extracted from 
the atmosphere. The ploughing in of green vege- 
table matter on the spot where it have grown 
may be followed successfully as a method of ma- 
nuring and enriching all lands where other manures 
•are less abundant. It is in the tide water region 
•of our State practised by some of the most suc- 
cessful and scientific farmers, who have adopted it 
-in their regular system of rotation for the purpose of 
'.manuring for the wheat crop. There are two modes 
■■•adopted in sowing peas, especially after an appli- 
cation of lime or marl. The first mode is to fallow 
.up the land in the spring of the year, and about 
the last of May or first of June sow a bushel of 
•either €lay, black or Shinney peas to the acre and 
rake them in the land, and in the month of Sep- 
tember plough them in the land in the green state 
for the benefit of the wheat crop. The other, and 
more extensively used mode, is to sow the peas in 
the corn fields while working the corn the last time, 
{say from the 25th of June to the 10th of July.) 
They are sown as soon as the corn is worked and 
•cultivators or rakes follow, which both cover the 
pea and prepare the land for the better growth of 
the corn, and in the fall they are turned in with 
the wheat. The turning in of green crops demands 
the attention of all farmers desirous of " improving 
and enriching poor land," as they impart to the land 
all they have drawn from the earth and atmosphere, 
and, of -course, increase organic matter in the soil. 
Wheat Straw- -This is a most valuable manure, 
and one not sufficiently attended to by the farmer. 
Where large crops of wheat are made and the whole 
of the straw cannot be carried through the stables 
and cattle yards, what remains is often left for 
years to decay, and thereby lose much of the va- 
luable properties contained in it before it is applied 



to the land. It is within the scope of my recollection 
when straw was but slightly regarded by the far- 
mer, and frequently sold or given away from the 
farm, and never used unless it had undergone a 
process of decomposition ; but there is now an adage 
frequently used, " that the farmer who sells straw 
becomes poor, but he who buys it becomes rich." 
An experience in the use of straw for a number of 
years induces me to believe that applied upon clo- 
ver fields the year previous to their cultivation it 
will greatly enhance the value of the crops and 
land. AVheat straw contains all the inorganic mat- 
ter required for its production, with the exception 
of what has been required for the grain, as well as 
a large portion of the vegetable matter contained 
in its structure ; it therefore follows if it is returned 
to the earth it must impart all the valuable sub- 
stances it contains back to the soil. If straw is 
applied and remains upon the land until ploughed, 
its benefit will be great from the shade it imparts, 
and when ploughed in, decomposition takes place, 
which, of course, promotes an increase of produc- 
tion, as well as improvement to the land. 

Barn Yard and Stable Manures. — This is the main 
stay of the farmer, and he who does not act upon 
the principle that the accumulation of manure is 
the business of his calling will find, to his sorrow, 
that before he can calculate upon success he must 
make it the first article of his faith. The barn 
yard may be called the farmer's laboratory, from 
which he may draw his supplies for the improve- 
ment of his land, and he should have a constant 
eye to the accumulation of not only all the offal 
from his stock, but all the decaying vegetable mat- 
ter from his farm. When his barn yard and stables 
fail to afford him supplies he should go to the 
woods, to the ditches, to the marshes and the fence 
corners, cart and wagon the resources there to be 
found into the cattle yard, spread them and strew 
plaster over the surface, and the excrement and 
the liquid voidings from the stock will convert 
these substances into good manure. The greatest 
negliglence prevails amongst farmers in relation to 
the manner in which they attend to their barn yard 
and stable manures, for how frequently can it be 
seen that the location of the yards are upon hill 
sides, and the manure when saturated with water, 
running down to an adjacent stream, by which 
prpcess they lose one-half of their value; or if 
not thus wasted, the evaporation which is con- 
stantly going on in the nutritive portions of ma- 
nure is almost equally as great, which, if saved by 
proper arrangements, would render the manure 
doubly efficacious. To prevent the evaporation of 
the valuable properties of manure, plaster should 
be used as suggested in the foregoing part of this 
essay. The mixture of plaster with manure fixes 
the ammonia in like manner as it does in guano. 
There is nothing which the farmer can use so judi- 
ciously as plaster over the manure heap. It is es- 
sential in well regulated and ventilated stables and 
cow sheds in preserving the health as well as the 
eyes of the animals from the exhalations of the 
noxious, if not poisonous gases, which are con- 
stantly escaping from the manures. Much could 
be added upon this important subject, but this 
essay having already transcended the limits in- 
tended for it, I shall conclude with advising a more 
careful accumulation and preservation of barn yard 
and stable manures. 

III. ROTATION OP CROPS AND DIVISION OF LAND. 

The true secret of all successful agriculture is 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



135 



to draw from the soil to its utmost capacity of pro- 
duction, consistent with its uniform and progressive 
improvement. How to arrive at this knowledge is 
the great desideratum, and has by successful agri- 
culturists been only obtained by a judicious system 
of rotation of crops. This important and essential 
aid to agricultural success is but little understood, 
or if understood, but little practised in Virginia. 
Necessity, " the mother of inventions," has induced 
some of the farmers to attempt some rotation by 
which the capacity of their lands might be im- 
proved by following one species of crops by a dif- 
ferent one, and substituting some green crop for 
improvement between the different crops for profit. 
In many sections of the country it is imagined that 
the only condition of a rotation is that the same 
plant be not cultivated annually and that a succes- 
sion of corn, wheat, oats, &c. is as much a system 
of rotation as any other plan — but the true object 
to be desired in all rotations is, to ascertain how far 
it will economize the manure in the soil, or what 
may be added artificially, and thus the greatest 
amount of production secured. Most scientific 
writers upon agriculture agree that the three fol- 
lowing rules are the true principles upon which 
every system of rotation of crops should be based : 

1st. That each plant requires a particular food 
and should, therefore, be repeated at as long inter- 
vals as possible. 

2d. That seed crops, being particularly exhaust- 
ing, are to be interchanged with green ©r forage 
crops and roots. 

3d. That plants which require hoe tillage, being 
cleaning crops, should follow those which are sown 
broadcast and encourage weeds. 

These rules I believe are tenable, and should be 
kept in view in every system of rotation. Stimu- 
lated by example and the march of improvement, 
a number of farmers have abandoned the old three 
shift rotation of corn, wheat and grazing, and have 
adopted the more modern five shift rotation. — 
There are many who have signalized themselves 
in this respect, and of whom it may almost em- 
phatically be said they have changed "the bar- 
ren waste to the fertile fields," but preeminent 
among those who have accomplished this desirable 
object is Edmund Euffin, whose name and fame are 
identified with the improved agriculture of Virgi- 
nia. He has, in a recent communication to the 
Executive Committee of the Virginia State Agri- 
cultural Society, given an interesting account of 
the different systems of rotation in Virginia. The 
one most approved of by him is the six shift rota- 
tion which he has adopted, and to which I refer all 
who are desirous of having more instruction on 
this important subject. The rotation which is now 
most generally practised is the five shift rotation, 
with peas broadcast with the crop of corn. This 
rotation consists of having two fields in wheat and 
one in corn. Thus : 

1st year. Corn, with peas broadcast in the grow- 
ing corn, to be fallowed in with the wheat. 

2d year. Wheat. 

3d year. Clover. 

4th year. Wheat on clover fallow. 

5th year. Rest, with partial grazing. 

This rotation, of course, requires that land be 
divided in five equal parts, separated by fences, or 
not, to suit the convenience of the proprietor. 

With a proper rotation of crops, our own re- 
sources of fertility and the aids now brought within 
our reach, we shall no longer suffer the reproach 
of poverty and sterility, which has so long been 



applied to our State. With the application of pro- 
per energies and proper principles to our agricul- 
ture^ we can make Virginia the garden spot of the 
world, and preserve the rising generation from rais- 
ing the cry of " Westward, Ho!" 

In submitting this essay to the Virginia State 
Agricultural Society I have not attempted the in- 
troduction of any new truths or elucidation of any 
new principle, but those which I have submitted 
are the result of my observations and experience, 
aided by the suggestions of others. I doubt not 
they will be more clearly illustrated by others who 
may submit their views upon this important sub- 
ject to the Society ; yet notwithstanding their many 
imperfections, they are respectfully submitted to 
the consideration of the Society. 



For the Southern Planter. 
ESSAYS ON AGRICULTURE. 

NUMBER I. 

Mr. Editor, — By your permission I propose to 
furnish your readers with a few communications 
on agriculture, the result of some experiments, &c. 

There are two important questions upon the sub- 
ject of agriculture, than which, perhaps, there is 
none of more utility. They are these : What was, 
originally good soil % and what is necessary to re- 
store it to its original state after it has been ex- 
hausted'? The consideration of these questions 
will occupy a few pages. 

1. Good Soil in its original state. — The whole earth 
may be considered as one vast compost heap, com- 
posed of various substances. This compost heap 
is composed of mineral and vegetable matter, and 
is so arranged as to produce the materials for .the 
support of animals. The Creator so arranged the 
soil that it should produce various plants,, and that 
these plants should return their refuse matter to 
the earth again, in order to keep up its original 
fertility. But man has disarranged this order; he 
has taken crop after crop, and returned*, nothing, 
until he has reduced rich land to barrenness. . If 
this be so, what must be done 1 The answer is ob- 
vious. Restore to the soil the exhausted ingre- 
dients. We say exhausted ingredients, because it 
is rarely the case, perhaps never, that all the ele- 
ments of a good soil are wanting. But to produce 
this restoration we must know what a fertile soil 
is; in other words, the materials of which it is 
composed. The following enter into the composi- 
tion of soil without manure: Organic matter 97 
parts out of 1000, silica (sand) 648, alumina 57, 
lime 59, magnesia 8, oxide of iron 61, oxide of 
mangenese 1, potash 2, soda 4, chlorine 2, sulphuric 
acid 2, phosphoric acid 4, carbonic acid 40. Now 
let us compare this with barren soil. It contains 
organic matter 40, silica 778, alumina 91, lime 4, 
magnesia 1, oxide of iron 81, oxide of manganese 
a trace, potash none, soda none, carbonic acid none. 
Now it will be seen from this contrast that barren 
soil lacks more than one-half organic matter, and 
where there should be 59 of lime it has only 4, (a 
deficiency of 55,) and where there should be mag- 
nesia 8 there is only 1. This is a great deficiency. 
But of other important matters there is none — 
potash, soda, chlorine, sulphuric acid, phosphoric 
acid, carbonic acid, all important ingredients, en- 
tirely wanting. Where all these ingredients exist 
in due proportion there is good soil, and where 
they become less the soil is. less productive, and 



136 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



when exhausted we have a Darren soil. But sup- 
pose the silica remain at 648, whilst there is an ex- 
haustion of phosphorus, potash, lime, organic mat- 
ter, &c, still the soil is exhausted. 

Now if we will have the soil analyzed we will 
be able to determine scientifically what it needs. 
In other words, (as Davey explains it,) according 
to " refined common sense" we will know what our 
land needs. We would urge upon all farmers with 
poor lands, to have them analyzed. But are there 
no means of ascertaining the constituents of soil, 
apart from analysis, and consequently their defects 
when exhausted'? Yes, to a considerable extent. It 
is to ascertain what substances enter into the com- 
position of the various crops raised. If a certain 
piece of land brought good crops, and now brings 
none, it follows that the crops have taken away the 
materials to produce them. Now if we know what 
these crops were composed of, then we can put the 
same thing into the soil, and restore it to its origi- 
nal productiveness. This is a practical fact, with 
which every farmer ought to be acquainted. An- 
other important matter is, to know the composition 
of the natural growth of the land. Take land well 
set with well grown oak, hickory, sugar tree, pop- 
lar, dogwood, &c, and you have land that will 
bring good corn, wheat, rye, oats, tobacco, &c. 
Now exhaust this land by excessive cropping, and 
it will grow up in old field pine, and they will be 
succeeded in years by oak, hickory, &c. Now this 
land will bring grain again. It is restored. Nature 
thus gives us an important idea. It teaches clearly 
that if we will return to the soil the ingredients 
contained in the primary growth we will restore 
the land to its original fertility. But to do this 
we must know what these, ingredients are. A 
knowledge of these matters, in our judgment, 
constitutes the great secret of making the land 
rich and keeping it so. We shall place before the 
reader the inorganic and organic matters contained 
in the most important vegetables of the natural 
growth, as well as cultivated plants. And whilst 
we claim no originality, but write the substance of 
what we have learned from various chemical and 
agricultural authors, yet we shall adopt our own 
way of communicating what we have to say. 

The following will show the amount of inorganic 
substances contained in several kinds of trees : 





Wood. 


Leaves 


Willow, - 


0.45 


8.23 


Elm, 


1.88 


11.8 


Poplar, - 


1.98 


9.22 


Beach, - 


0.36 


6.69 


Oak, 


0.21 


4.5 


Birch, - 


0.34 


5.0 


Pitch pine, 


0.25 


3.15 



Now let us see the amount of inorganic matter 
contained in our commonly cultivated plants. Ac- 
cording to the analysis of Sprengel, as quoted by 
Professor Johnson, we have the following : 



Grain of 


Per cent. 


Straw of 


Per cent 


Wheat, 


1.18 


Wheat, 


3.51 


Rye, 


1.4 


Eve, 


2.79 


Barley, 


2.35 


Barley, 


5.24 


Oats, 


2.58 


Oats, 


5.75 


Field beans, 


2.14 


Field beans 


3.12 


Peas, 


2.46 


Peas, 


4.47 



Now if the reader will examine these tables he 
will find that the cultivated crops take a much 
larger amount of inorganic matter from the soil 
than forest trees, and that the straw of the former 
contains more than the grain, as well as the leaves 



of the latter more than the wood. And whilst the 
trees generously return the leaves to mother earth 
our forefathers returned nothing. Could we expect 
any thing else than exhausted land 1 And is it not 
evident that if we return the ingredients extracted 
the land will be renovated. 

But it is not enough to know that plants contain 
inorganic matter without knowing what they are. 
They are the following: 

Chlorine, Phosphorus, Potassium, 

Sulphur, Aluminum, Sodium, 

Calcium, Iron, 

Magnesium, Manganese, 

Silicon. 

These substances are combined with others, and 
some times among themselves. Chlorine forms 
chlorides, iodine forms iodides, as the iodide of po- 
tassa; sulphur forms with hydrogen gas, sulphu- 
retted hydrogen, and with oxygen sulphuric acid. 
Phosphorus forms with hydrogen, phosphuretted 
hydrogen, and with oxygen phosphoric acid. Po- 
tassium forms with oxygen potassa, commonly 
called potash, and with chlorine the chloride and 
chlorate of potash. Sodium forms with oxygen 
soda, with carbonic acid the carbonate and bicar- 
bonate of soda, and with chlorine common table 
salt. 'Calcium forms with oxygen quick lime, with 
sulphuric acid plaster of Paris, or sulphate of lime, 
with muriatic acid muriate of lime, with carbonic 
acid carbonate of lime, with nitric acid nitrate of 
lime, &c. Aluminum forms with oxygen alumina; 
silicon forms silica, or sand; iron forms oxides of 
iron; magnesium forms magnesia. The above are 
the principal mineral constituents of plants. To 
these we must add the following non-metallic ele- 
ments : oxygen, hydrogen, carbon and nitrogen. In 
our next we shall show the amount of these ingre- 
dients entering into the composition of cultivated 
crops. 

Wm. H. H., M. D. 



For the Southern Planter. 

DIGESTED OR UNDIGESTED STRAW. 

Mr. Editor, — Without meaning to depreciate the 
able address of Mr. Edmunds, or the excellent cri- 
ticism on some of his positions by F. B. Watkins, 
in the last number of the Planter, I will venture to 
suggest, in regard to the principal point of differ- 
ence between these gentlemen, viz. the compara- 
tive value of digested and undigested straw, that 
it is not "worth a straw" to the practical farmer, 
in which way it is decided; at all events, to him 
who has a due regard to the general improvement 
of his land and the good condition of his stock. I 
know that a great deal has been said and written 
upon the subject, but I really do not think, with 
all deference, that the play has been worth the 
candle. Simple as the question is, it is narrowed 
down among plain practical farmers to a still sim- 
pler form, viz. whether it is expedient to keep 
cattle enough to eat up all the straw in order to 
make manure. And many a farm have you and I 
seen, Mr. Editor, where the appearance of the land 
and the stock afford abundant proof of the absur- 
dity of pursuing such a system. In determining 
the number of stock which it is desirable to keep, 
I conceive that the very least of all considerations 
bearing upon the question is that under discussion, 
indeed, I make bold to say, it is an item which 
should not enter into the calculation at all. My 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



137 



view of the whole subject is simply and briefly 
this: first, how many oxen are required • for the 
work of the farm, and how many cows for the dai- 
ry'? That point being settled, if it be desired to 
fatten cattle for market, I would inquire how many 
can be grazed, without detriment to the landl And 
if the land be in that condition which makes it im- 
portant to graze it, and trample it, then how many 
are required for that object 1 By some such mode 
of reasoning, the question being settled, how much 
stock should be maintained upon the farm, all will 
admit that these must be fed, and fed well, with 
all the straw they can eat, and something better 
than straw if it is to be had; and that all the resi- 
due of the straw, or so much as is necessary, be 
put under their feet as a receptacle for the manure — 
for surely the most ardent advocate of the undi- 
gested theory would not consider the value of the 
straw impaired by its being saturated with the 
voidings of stock. I do not think I am acquainted 
with a farm in this portion of the State where the 
amount of straw will not feed in the winter (such 
a feeding as it is) double or treble the number of 
stock which can be supported in the summer, with- 
out great injury to the land. What matters it then, 
whether a cow furnishes you with an amount of 
manure of greater value than the straw she eats, 
if she is to help herself to double pay from the 
very life-blood of your lands in the summer ] The 
question of "wintering" a neighbor's stock (he 
should be a very near neighbor, or his cattle would 
rarely get back to him without a good bite of grass 
to sustain them,) is of such rare occurrence that 
it is of no moment to the matter in hand ; but I 
shall never believe that it is any more profitable to 
feed a cow for her manure than it is to feed a horse, 
until I see more satisfactory proof of it than has 
yet been presented to me. The number of a far- 
mer's stock then, being regulated without the 
smallest reference to his crop of straw, let him 
feed them as well as possible, make and save by 
every means, all the manure he can from them. 
" Them's my sentiments," though they may not be 
worth a corner in your paper. 

Very truly yours, 

G. F. H. 



Prom the Horticulturist. 

MANAGEMENT OF SMALL GARDENS. 

One of the finest features in the country 
towns of America, is that almost every dwell- 
ing has its garden — small in many cases it may 
be, but still a garden, and capable of yielding 
many of the comforts and pleasures of garden- 
ing. The most active improvers of our day, 
the men who are really doing most for the dif- 
fusion of a taste for gardening, are the resi- 
dents of country towns and villages, with their 
acre, half acre an(L even quarter acre lots. 
Taking this view or the subject, we naturally 
regard the management of small gardens with 
much interest, and therefore propose, now and 
hereafter, to offer a few hints, in order, if pos- 
sible, to establish more correct views in regard 
to the principles which should regulate their 
formation and treatment. 



From pretty extensive observation, we have 
come to the conclusion that one oithe most 
serious and prevalent errors in the management 
of small gardens, is attempting too much. 
This grows very naturally out of the desire 
that almost every man feels, to gather around 
his residence the greatest possible variety of 
interesting scenes and objects; in other words, 
to make the most of his limited space. In 
laying out a garden, the design may be good, 
and it may, in the first place, be properly exe- 
cuted; but no sooner is this done than new 
trees or plants are fancied, and probably a 
neighbor's garden suggests some new walk or 
divisions — and thus one little alteration after 
another is introduced, until the original plan is 
effaced, and the whole becomes a piece of patch- 
work. We have seen many charming little 
front gardens utterly ruined in this way. Now, 
the beauty of a small garden, and the pleasure 
it may afford, lies not in a variety of embel- 
lishments, but in simplicity and high keeping — 
few walks and few trees. 

Numerous walks destroy the unity and ex- 
tent of a small piece of ground, and add very 
materially to the cost of keeping; and as a 
regular gardener is seldom employed in such 
places, the walks become neglected, and grown 
over with grass arM weeds, resembling more a 
cattle path than any thing else. The princi- 
ple, therefore, should be rigidly adhered to, of 
having only such walks as are absolutely indis- 
pensable, and these to be kept in the best or- 
der. A good, well kept walk, is not only a 
great beauty, but a great comfort, whereas no- 
thing is so useless and ill-looking as a bad or 
neglected one. In most cases a single walk, 
and that a foot walk, six or eight feet wide, in 
proportion to the extent of the ground, will be 
quite enough. 

The position of the entrance gate and the 
course of the walk must be determined by the 
shape of the grounds and the situation of the 
front door of the dwelling. If the space be- 
tween the house and the street be narrow — say 
twenty or thirty feet — and the front door be 
in the centre of the building, the most conve- 
nient, and probably the best arrangement, is 
the common one — having the gate opposite the 
door, and the walk straight. It would be much 
better if houses of this kind were so construct- 
ed as to have the main entrance at one side, so 
that the ground in front of the principal rooms 
might be kept in a lawn, embellished with a 
few appropriate trees. This would be a more 
agreeable sight from the windows than a gravel 
walk, and persons approaching the house would 
not be directly in front of the windows. When 
the house stands back a sufficient distance, event 



138 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



if the front door be in the centre facing the 
street, the walk should approach it by as easy 
curves as possible from one side, leaving the 
ground in front unbroken. A curved walk, 
however, is not only inconvenient, but obvious- 
ly inconsistent, in a very limited space. 

Box, and all other kinds of edgings, to walks 
that run through grass plots, are not only out 
of place, but add greatly to the expense of 
planting and keeping. Such things are only 
appropriate in flower gardens, to mark the out- 
lines of walks and beds. Hedges of privet, 
red cedar or arbor vitae, are occasionally plant- 
ed along the edges of walks, but are entirely 
superfluous, and have a bad effect, unless to 
screen a wagon road to out-buildings, or to se- 
parate a front garden or lawn from the kitchen 
garden, or such objects as it may be desirable 
to conceal. Such hedges have also a very good 
effect when placed immediately behind a low 
open front fence, forming, in that case, a back 
ground to the lawn, when viewed from the 
dwelling. 

Planting, in most of our small gardens, is 
carried to such an excess, as to convert them 
into miniature forests. There must be the 
universal row of horse chestnuts, or something 
else, within the fence; and then the interior is 
dotted over closely with all 'manner of shrubs 
and plants. A corner is probably cut up into 
something like a child's flower garden; small 
beds filled with tall, straggling plants, lying 
over the box edgings, covering the walks, and 
giving to the whole a neglected and confused 
appearance. Such management displays no 
taste, and gives no satisfaction. 

We would discard these straight rows of 
trees, and convert the whole surface into as 
perfect a piece of lawn as could be made. This 
we would embellish with a few, very few, ap- 
propriate trees, mostly evergreens, having as 
great a variety among them as possible, both 
in regard to habit of growth and tint of foliage. 
The smallest plot, managed on this principle, 
may be made beautiful. A single tree, such 
as a Norway spruce, a deodar cedar, a hemlock 
spruce, or any other fine evergreen — or even a 
deciduous tree, such as a magnolia, a tulip tree, 
a linden, horse chestnut or mountain ash — 
standing on a lawn, having ample space on all 
sides to develop its fair, natural habits and 
proportions, is always a beautiful object, and 
cannot fail, though a common tree, to attract 
attention and admiration; but plant three or 
four, or half a dozen such trees where one 
should be, or crowd up the one with under- 
shrubs and other objects, and you at once de- 
stroy the character and expression of the tree, 
and produce a confused mass that cannot fail 



to be disagreeable to every one whose taste has 
been even slightly cultivated. 

Few people seem to appreciate fully the beau- 
ty of a piece of lawn — a beauty which is at 
once cheap and permanent. Most of us desire 
to be economical; but what economy is there 
in cutting up small gardens into walks, flower 
borders and beds, and in planting them all over 
with trees and plants ? These walks and bor- 
ders need constant care, or they soon become 
unsightly; they need a constant succession of 
flowering plants to keep up a display. The 
culture of flowers along borders and among 
trees, is never successful or satisfactory. They 
must have a place allotted to themselves, where 
they can be tastefully grouped, and receive pro- 
per attention. A very important point is the 
selection of suitable trees for small gardens. 
We very often see trees of the largest class 
planted where there is no room for them, sim- 
ply because such trees are planted in every 
garden. The litte front gardens of street houses 
in some of the English towns, delight every 
one who sees them, by the appropriateness of 
their arrangement and ornaments. 

A spot of bright green lawn, garnished with 
two or three laurels or rhododendrons, and 
some climbing roses or honey-suckles around 
the windows, and these all glittering with high 
polish, like a new coin from the mint — no cut- 
ting up into all manner of misshaped beds and 
borders, no entangled masses of trees and 
plants. We hope this matter will be consi- 
dered, for a reform is great needed. We shall 
have more to say on the subject hereafter. 



THE GAME FOWL. 

We take the following interesting article 
from a work lately published in England, en- 
titled "The Poultry Book:" 

Game Fowls as a Stock for Profit. — From 
the numbers of game birds, of greater or less 
purity of blood, that are seen in the farm-yards 
of this country, it is evident that, in an econo- 
mical point of view, they must be favorably 
regarded by many who pay but little attention 
to form and feather. Now, there is probably 
a general acquiescence in the common idea of 
the ever quarrelsome disposition and pugnacious 
habits of this bird that greatly prejudices its 
claim to the poultry yard ; but those who have 
studied it most carefully will confirm our opi- 
nion that, his rule once recognized, the tho- 
rough-bred game cock is not justly liable to 
such objections. Competitors, it is true, he 
will not brook; but if, after the preliminary 
trial of strength, precedence is allowed him, 
(and few of other varieties will long contest 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



139 



it,) he manifests nothing of a vindictive spirit, 
and is easily induced to allow the companion- 
ship of other cocks in a subordinate position. 
The dunghill and other birds — the Hamburgh 
in particular — will renew their combats day 
by day, and the victor of one hour is often the 
fugitive of another. But with game fowls the 
cock of the i walk claims and receives general 
homage; and not only abstains himself from 
these scenes of strife, but insists that his com- 
panions also shall exhibit the same peaceable 
demeanor. The younger birds, it is true, do 
not always settle among themselves who is the 
best man ; but woe betide them if their appeals 
to arms are witnessed by their senior. 

In suitable localities game fowls are kept at 
very small cost; for when indulged with a good 
grass walk, a little corn, morning and evening, 
is found sufficient to keep them in good order; 
they are thus well suited to the farmer's present- 
system of poultry-keeping; for after ten weeks 
or three months old, the greater part of their 
food is procured abroad, and their owners' corn 
but sparingly required. Yet, kill a game fowl 
when you will, it is always in good condition; 
and thus, where fowls are not put up to feed, 
they afford a ready supply whenever they may 
be wanted. 

Mr. Roscoe tells that game chickens at five 
months old, if well fed, should weigh [dressed] 
5 lbs. the couple. This supposes good feeding 
and attention while young, and a good run so 
soon as they are able to profit by it. There 
certainly can be no question of the superiority 
of such birds as dead poultry, over the stuffed 
and crammed tenants of feeding coops; they 
truss capitally, and their plump, full breast will 
bear comparison with any occupants of the 
poulterer's counter. 

If any of our readers should desire the ne 
plus ultra of excellence in a fowl, let him eat 
and pronounce his opinion on the wing of a 
well-fed game pullet, and we would have no 
fear of his disagreeing with this expression of 
our judgment on the good qualities of these 
birds for the table. A celebrated physician at 
Liverpool once declared his conviction that 
there was more nutriment in one of Knowsley 
[Derby] game fowls than in the largest capon 
that the London market could possibly produce. 

As Exhibition Birds. — The Birmingham 
exhibition of 1852, contained the best collec- 
tion of game fowls that probably were ever 
collected together at one time in one place. 
Continuous wet weather had greatly marred 
the beauty of most of the classes on that occa- 
sion ; but the vigor and hardihoodof the game 
seemed to have carried them well through what 
had evidently proved so severe a trial to many 



of their neighbors. A game fowl, too, steps 
out of his basket, after a journey by sea or 
land — which would test most severely other 
fowls — as unconcerned and apparently as in- 
different to fatigue as if brought from his walk 
but half an hour previously. 

Diseases. — When we come to speak of dis- 
eases peculiar to game fowls, our readers' pa- 
tience need not be severely tested, for of all 
fowls none appear more exempt from the usual 
maladies of the poultry-yard, either as chickens, 
or in their more matured state ; and even when 
attacked, their great constitutional strength 
generally carries them through their maladies 
with few casualties. They require, like other 
chickens, to be watched when feathering, and 
distemper to be guarded against by careful 
housing and protection from wet, administering 
their food in small quantities, not less than 
three or four times daily. 



From the Boston Cultivator. 

CULTURE AND MANAGEMENT OF TOBACCO 
IN CONNECTICUT. 

To persons who have not given some atten- 
tion to the culture of tobacco in New England, 
it may seem strange that the crop should be 
here regarded of so much importance as to 
justify the publication of an article under this 
head. But if we look at the census returns 
of 1850, we shall find that the amount of the 
crop in Connecticut and Massachusetts is by 
no means trifling. The total product for the 
United States is put down at 199,739,746 lbs., 
of which Connecticut produces 1,267,624 lbs. 
and Massachusetts 138,346 lbs., making an ag- 
gregate for these two States of 1,406,070 lbs., 
which was probably worth to the producers, 
$140,607. When we consider that nearly the 
whole of the latter amount was produced in a 
small district along the Connecticut river, and 
that it furnishes this (or a greater) annual in- 
come to a few cultivators, the details relating 
to the management of the crop cannot be un- 
interesting. 

In a late visit to the residence of Paoli La- 
throp, Esq., South Hadley Falls, we obtained 
from him much information in regard to this 
subject. Mr. L. has been for several years 
engaged in the tobaceo culture, in which he has 
been highly successful, and as the entire ma- 
nagement of the crop is under his immediate 
supervision, the particulars which we furnish 
may be fully relied on. 

The seed is sown as early as the state of 
ground will admit, on a moist, rich soil, pre- 
pared as for a bed in the garden. It is scat- 
tered broadcast at the rate of a table-spoonful. 



140 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



to the rod. The ground is then rolled or trod- 
den hard. This is preferable to raking the seed 
in, as when it is buried, even with a rake only, 
much of it does not come up. Mr. L. would 
prefer burning brush on the ground before sow- 
ing the seed, if the material could be conve- 
niently procured, as the heat destroys most of 
the seeds of weeds that are near the surface, 
and the ground is left clean for the tobacco. 
The transplanting is done from the 25th of 
June to the 4th of July. The plants are set 
in a warm, deep, mellow soil, in rows three feet 
and four inches apart, and at intervals of two 
and a half feet in the rows. Vacancies that 
occur from the death of the plants, are imme- 
diately filled. The plants are attacked by the 
ordinary cut-worm, the best security against 
which is to have the plants large and thrifty 
at the time of setting. The ground is kept 
clean and light by the use of the hoe and the 
"cultivator — the latter being usually passed be- 
tween the rows four times, the two first in con- 
nection with the hoe, which is not, commonly, 
required afterwards. 

The tobacco worm is the most formidable 
enemy to the crop. It attacks it about the 
time of the second hoeing, and it is necessary 
to look the plants over, carefully, and kill the 
worms, two or three times a week till the crop 
is cut. The plants are left to grow till they 
are as much as possible into blossom without 
forming seed. The tops of all plants which 
are in a proper state, are then broken down to 
a good sized leaf. In two to three weeks after 
this operation, it is ready to cut. Before it is 
cut, all suckers are broken off. It is cut in a 
fair day, and allowed to wilt to such a degree 
that it can be handled, but not so as to burn 
by the sun, which would injure it as much as 
a frost. It is sometimes cut in the afternoon 
and left on the ground till the dew is off next 
morning. It is then taken up and hung im- 
mediately in the drying-sheds, which (Mr. L.'s) 
are made in bents of twelve feet square and 
five feet one above another. Each bent has 
from seven to eight poles, on which the tobacco 
is hung — two stalks being attached by twine 
across the poles — thirteen pair to each pole. 
The builing is made with doors all round the 
sides, so that the admission of air can be nicely 
regulated. 

The time which the tobacco is allowed to 
hang, depends on the weather — it must not be 
taken down till it is perfectly cured, which can 
readily be told by a practiced eye. It should 
be taken down in a damp day, the leaves stripped 
from the stalks, sorted into two kinds — wrap- 
pers and fillers — the tobacco being wholly used 
for cigars. The leaves are tied in "hands" of 



three-quarters of a pound each. It is then 
ready for sale. The article is well known in { 
the New York market under the name of Con- 
necticut seed-leaf tobacco, and it brings a higher 
price than any other grown in this country. 

The average yield usually obtained to the 
acre, is about 1600 pounds. Mr. Lathrop fre- 
quently obtains a ton to the acre. It brings 
at home from $8 to $16 a hundred. Mr. L.'s 
crop for the last two years, has averaged a re- 
turn of $280 per acre. 

This tobacco is\not used till it is a year old. 
It goes through a " box sweat" in the following 
March after it has been packed. Some of it 
is used for the home manufacture of cigars, 
and some is exported. Most of it is sent to 
Germany; some goes to Cuba, where it is made 
into " Spanish" cigars and sent back and sold 
to the American smokers. 

As to the comparative cost of the crop, Mr. 
Lathrop thinks it is about as much expense to 
raise tobacco at the rate of 2000 lbs. to the 
acre, as to raise corn at the rate of 50 bushels 
to the acre. He would not advise going into 
the business on a large scale, without some per- 
son acquainted with the details of management. 

Contrary to what is experienced under the 
culture of tobacco in Maryland, Virginia, and 
other States, it is not, in the Connecticut val- 
ley, an exhausting crop. Mr. Lathrop's mode 
of preparing the ground, is to put on ten cords 
of ordinary barn manure to the acre. The pre- 
vious crop may have been either clover or corn 
or potatoes. Tobacco is usually continued three 
years on the same ground, but for the last two 
years only six cords of manure to the acre are 
used each year. Under this course, the soil is 
greatly improved. It is generally admirably 
fitted for wheat, except -that it is sometimes 
made too rich. It leaves the soil remarkably 
clean from weeds. The tobacco stalks, after 
the leaves have been picked off, are spread in 
the fall over winter grain, for which they are 
an excellent manure. 

Cheap, temporary structures are often used 
for drying tobacco. But Mr. Lathrop's build- 
ing is 72 feet long and 36 wide, with posts 
15 feet high, and holds about three tons. It 
is well finished, and cost a little over $500. 



To Make Good Starch for Bosoms and Col- 
lars. — Take one tea-spoonful of starch for every 
shirt, dissolve in cold water and set it over the fire 
to boil, stirring carefully all the time to prevent 
burning; let it boil gently fifteen minutes, then 
take it from the fire and strain through a piece of 
muslin, and to every four shirts allow a piece of 
sperm as large as a common sized pea, and the 
same quantity of white wax ; boil these in the starch 
fifteen minutes; dip the articles into the starch 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



141 



while hot, wring them and hang them by the fire 
to dry. When dry, sprinkle them quite wet and 
roll them very tight for an hour or two, and then 
they are ready for ironing. Your iron must he very 
smooth, entirely free from rust or dirt of any kind ; 
rub hard and quick until every part of the bosom 
or collar is perfectly dry. — Ohio Farmer. 



From the Germantown Telegraph. 

IMPORTANT IMPROVEMENT AND ECONOMY IN 
THE MANUFACTURE OF FLOUR. 

A recent English paper contains a detailed 
account of a remarkable invention, which is 
likely to effect a complete revolution in the 
manufacture of flour. The invention was, in 
its imperfect and unfinished state, exhibited at 
the World's Fair in London, and having now 
been completed, is rapidly coming into use in 
England, France, Austria and Mexico. The 
flour ground by the mills formed upon the mo- 
del of this invention is preferred by the bakers 
who have tried it, to all other flour which they 
had previously used, as it is more nutritious 
and more apt to rise easily and certainly than 
any other. 

It was stated, by a committee of the House 
of Parliament, that by this invention 8 1 ,857 , 1 20 
quartern loaves, in addition to those which are 
now made from the same quantity of wheat, 
would be produced, giving a clear saving of 
upwards of £2,000,000 per year. As a ma- 
chine which effects such astonishing results can- 
not fail to become of vast importance, we copy 
from the Mechanics' Magazine the following 
information in relation to it : 

" On the 9 th of February, a large party of 
engineering gentlemen, and of others engaged 
in an extensive way of business, as millers, as- 
sembled at the flour mills of the Messrs. Pavitt, 
High street, Wapping, to witness the perform- 
ance of two mills constructed by Mr. Middle- 
ton, on the principle of Westrup's patent. In 
the same establishment are seven other mills 
of the ordinary construction, and the trial of 
relative merits was between the two conical and 
the most effective pair of the flat mills. The 
result proved to be immensely in favor of the 
conical system ; while the quality of the article 
produced, according to the opinion of expe- 
rienced bakers, is far superior. The economy 
of this new system of grinding is found to effect 
very sensibly the detail of operations both in 
the mill and in the bake house. In the former 
it becomes possible to grind up a large portion 
of farinaceous matter now rejected in the form 
of bran; that is to exhaust the' husk of the 
clavel more completely, and therefore to yield 
a larger quantity of pure farina. In the latter, 
the tedious, but critical duty of watching for 



what is technically termed "the sponge," or 
rising of the dough, is quite superseded.- At 
present, if this be neglected, the dough falls 
again in the oven, and the bread is sold at a 
reduced price, which is a serious disadvantage. 

Under the conical system of grinding, in 
consequence of the greater proportion of glu- 
ten contained in the mass, the acids do not 
escape so rapidly and the sponge takes place 
in the oven. 

Upon the whole, there is a large gain to the 
public, for besides saving in fuel, it is capable 
of increasing the bread of the people to the 
value of £2,460,428 a year, which at 6d. per 
loaf would give them 8 1 ,857, 1 20 more quartern 
loaves a year. 

The "conical" mill is intended to obviate 
the defects of the flat mill, and a very few re- 
marks will suffice to show that its inventor has 
not only detected their causes, but has brought 
into operation a most philosophic, and there- 
fore successful, combination of grinding and 
separating agencies, by which these defects 
have disappeared to an extent which leaves little 
to be desired. The beneficial changes effected 
may be succinctly enumerated. First, the re- 
duction of the weight of the running stone from 
14 cwt. to 1^ cwt., by placing it beneath in- 
stead of upon the fixed one; second, the re- 
duction of the size of the stones in the propor- 
tion of 3.34 to 1; and thirdly, the giving to 
the stones a new form — that of the frustrum of 
a cone. The advantage of lessening the diame- 
ter and weight of a mass, of which the one is 
4 cwt. and the other 14 cwt., will be apparent, 
when it is considered that its effective velocity 
is 120 revolutions per minute, and that this 
velocity must be sustained against the enor- 
mous friction of the grinding surfaces. The 
altered position of the running-stone admits of 
a much more delicate adjustment of the op- 
posing surfaces, and gives to the miller an easy 
and effective control over the most important 
portion of his operation. The conical form 
facilitates the discharge of the flour, and ob- 
viates the clogging and over-heating of the old 
practice. In addition to advantages, by a ju- 
dicious modification of the ordinary mode of 
dressing, or rather by a combination of the 
mill with the dressing machine, a perfect sepa- 
ration of the flour from the bran is effected at 
the moment th# grist escapes from the stones. 
The bran still remains in the mill and falls 
by its own gravity to a second pair of stones in 
all respects resembling those already described. 

Both pairs of stones are mounted on the same 
spindle, and of course impelled by the same ( 
gearing. The operation of the lower pair need 
not be described; they complete the process, 



142 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



and leave nothing unconverted into flour which 
could add either to the weight or the quality 
of the loaf. In considering this arrangement, 
we cannot fail to be struck with the analogy 
subsisting between it and that which we ob 
serve in the construction of the jaws of ani 
mals — a circumstance which assures us of its 
philosophical superiority. 

There were three trials as regarded the old 
system and the new. The first experiment on 
the old mill gave a discharge of 1 6 lbs. of flour 
in five minutes, which was equal to 192 lbs 
per hour ; while upon the patent mill there was 
a discharge of 38£ lbs. in five minutes, or 462 
lbs. per hour. The difference, therefore, on that 
experiment was against the old system 270 lbs. 
per hour. The second experiment tried was 
even more favorable as regarded the new system. 

Two conical mills worked against two on the 
flat principle for one hour, ascertained exactly, 
and with the following results : 

Conical mill (No. f) produced 8f bushels. 

Conical mill (No. 2) produced 7| bushels. 

Flat mill (No. 1) produced 3 bushels. . 

Flat mill (No. 2) produced 3 bushels. 



From the Journal of the U. S. Agricultural Society. 
SQUASHES AND PUMPKINS. 

BY THADDEUS WM. HARRIS, HARVARD COLLEGE. 

I am now acquainted with ten different kinds 
of pumpkins and squashes belonging to the same 
group as the Valparaiso, Cuba and Marrow. 

1. The mammoth pumpkin, of Potiron (Cu- 
curbita maxima.) The fertile flowers have five 
stigmas, and the fruit five carpels ; having raised 
it in my own garden during the past summer, 
I can voueh for the fact. 

2. A glaucous or greyish-green pumpkin or 
squash, more or less turbinated or top-shaped, 
growing to a large size (three and a half feet 
or more in circumference,) mistaken by some 
seedsmen for the mammoth pumpkin. It was 
raised in my garden in the summer of 1851, 
and was found to have four or five stigmas and 
the same number of carpels. 

3. Mr. Cole's Connecticut pie-squash or pump- 
kin. Spherical or spheroidal, three and a half 
feet in circumference. Raised in my garden 
in the summer of 1 85 1. Stigmas mostly four; 
in a few flowers, five. Carpels mostly four ; a 
few of the fruit had five. 

4. Elongated Valparaiso squash, tapering 
very much at each end, striped longitudinally 
with white. Raised from Valparaiso seed in 
the summer of 1851, in my garden. Stigmas 
and carpels five in number. 



5. The common ovate Valparaiso I have not 
raised; but have bought and cut many speci- 
mens, in all of which I found four carpels. I 
have examined the young fruit, growing in 
grounds of my friends, and found often five 
carpels. 

6. The autumnal marrow, introduced into 
notice and use by Mr. Ives of Salem. This 
forms an exception to the general rule in the 
fruits of this group; having ordinarily only 
three carpels, and but three stigmas. Four in 
some . rare cases are, however, to be found, as 
already stated. 

7. The Cushaw squash, probably introduced 
from Louisiana, where it was known and culti- 
vated more than one hundred years ago. It 
is mentioned by LePage du Pratz, in his His- 
toire de la Louisiane, Vol. II, p. 11, by name 
of Giromon en forme de corde-chasse (hunting 
horn,) and by the translator of the work by the 
vernacular name of Cushaw. This is a crook- 
necked squash, with permanent nipple-formed 
style, and stem like that of the marrow. It 
has only three carpels, at least I found but 
three in the few specimens that grew in my 
garden in 1852. It is so tender and delicate 
that it rots in our climate before it becomes 
fully ripe. 

8. The Acorn-squash, evidently nothing but 
a variety of the one called by French writers 
Le Pepon turban (Cucurbita piliformis of 
Duchesne.) Fine specimens were raised in my 
garden in the summer of 1851. It is the hea- 
viest squash of its size that is known to me, 
and one of the best flavored. Flowers mostly 
with five stigmas, some with four; carpels five 
or four. 

9. Mr. Stetson's Cuba squash. Though I 
have not yet cut it, I am convinced from its 
external characters that it must contain five 
carpels. 

1 0. Mr. Dunn's round rough-skinned pump- 
kin or squash, weighing one hundred and fifty 
pounds, which was exhibited at the annual Hor- 
ticultural Exhibition. This probably had five 
carpels — if its external characters are to be 
relied upon. 

In the same group are to be placed Mr. 
Hyde's Coquimbe squash, and Mr. Pope's Ca- 
lifornia squash, which were exhibited last Sep- 
tember. The number of carpels in those is 
unknown to me, not having seen them cut. 
Probably in both will be found more than three 
carpels. 

I have enumerated these kinds in order to 
show that the group, characterized by me, has 
been established upon personal examination and 
dissection of most of the known varieties ; and 
that the character of five or four stigmas and 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



143 



the same number of carpels (rarely three) is 
one which prevails in this group. 

Heretofore it has generally been understood, 
and is so stated by most botanists, that pump- 
kins and squashes were originally natives of 
Asia. On the contrary, I find in ancient works 
abundant evidence that they were unknown in 
the Eastern Hemisphere before the discovery 
of America, and that they were originally na- 
tives of the tropical and warm parts of Ame- 
rica, and that they were extensively cultivated 
by the native Indians from Canada to Chili, 
before any European settlements were made on 
this Continent. 

After a very careful examination of the plants 
and the fruits of as many kinds as I could ob- 
tain or raise, I have discovered certain distin- 
guishing characters which will enable us to 
class all of them in three natural groups. These 
are, 

1st. Summer squashes — such as the broad 
scalloped,' the long and warted, the round or 
orange, the variegated or gourd-squashes, and 
various other kinds. Most of these (but not 
all) have upright vines which do not run, (hence 
sometimes called bush-squashes,) and small or 
feeble tendrils or claspers. Their leaves are 
very rough, and mostly five lobed (like a grape 
vine leaf.) The fruit when cut across is found 
generally to have five double rows of seeds; 
more rarely, only three double rows. The fruit- 
stem is enlarged next the fruit, and is deeply 
five-furrowed and five-angled. The fruit (which 
ripens early) is fit to be eaten only in an unripe 
state, or while it still remains tender. When 
fully ripe, the rind becomes whitish or pale, 
hard and brittle, like a gourd-shell; and the 
pulp is dry and spongy. The seeds are small 
and thin, and of grayish or dirty yellowish color. 

2d. Pumpkins and winter squashes — includ- 
ing our common New England field pumpkins, 
the crook-necked squashes, the custard squash, 
and many other kinds. All these have running 
vines, with strong branched tendrils or claspers, 
very rough more or less deeply five lobed leaves, 
and a five furrowed and five angled fruit-stem, 
which is very much enlarged towards the fruit. 
On being cut across, the fruit is found to have 
only three double rows of seeds. The fruit is 
fit to be eaten only when fully ripe, and it may 
be kept, with care, all winter. It does not dry 
up like summer squashes, but finally rots and 
becomes soft and spoiled throughout. The rind, 
mostly thin and tender, never becomes dry, 
woody and brittle ; and the pulp remains fleshy 
and succulent till it decays. The seeds are 
larger than those of summer squashes, but are 
also thin and grayish or yellowish. 

3d. Nippled pumpkins and squashes — such 



as the mammoth pumpkin or potiron, your Cuba 
squashes, Valparaiso squashes, the acorn squash, 
the autumnal marrow squash, and some others. 
All these have running or climbing vines, with 
strong branched tendrils. The leaves are rather 
soft, some of them as soft and velvety as those 
of the mallow; they are never deeply lobed, 
but more often nearly round or heart shaped. 
The fruit stem is short, thick, wrinkled, but 
not five angled and not five furrowed, and when 
green is nearly as thick at one end as at the 
other. The fruit when cut across, is found 
generally to have four or five double rows of 
seeds, more rarely only three double rows; and 
I have found this smaller number only in the 
autumnal marrow squashes, and it is by no 
means a constant character even in them, four 
or five double rows being occasionally found in 
them. The fruit is fit to be eaten in autumn 
and winter, and only when fully ripe. It is 
always distinguished, however various the shape 
and size, by having a small nipple-like projec- 
tion at the blossom end, this projection beipg 
the permanent style of the blossom, the rind, 
which is generally remarkably thin and tender, 
never becomes hard, dry, woody and brittle. 
The flesh, often of a rich orange color, and re- 
markably sweet and fine grained, never dries 
up or becomes spongy like that of summer 
squashes, but remains succulent till it rots. 
The seeds are large, broad, thick or plump, 
mostly of a beautiful clear white color ; but in 
certain very dark fleshed varieties, the seeds 
are of the color of old ivory, or cream colored. 
Now, I am strongly inclined to the belief 
that all the pumpkins and squashes of this third 
division were oi'iginally natives of the tvestem 
side of America, as Chili, Peru, Mexico and 
California. Some of them have doubtless been 
introduced into the West Indies, whence they 
occasionally are brought to our markets. 



Prom the Farm Journal. 
CHICKENS. 

Mr. Editor, — Perhaps at this peculiar period 
of hen-roost celebrity, while the attention of far- 
mers and house-holders is so urgently directed to- 
ward the improvement of their chickens, a woman 
may be permitted to give the result of her own ex- 
perience, for the benefit of those unfortunate mor- 
tals who are unable to obtain the far famed Shang- 
hai or other imported crowers and cacklers. 

I have been nominal mistress to flocks of chickens 
during at least twenty summers, but for a great 
part of the time I left the management of the poul- 
try yard to whoever was pleased to attend to it. 
And it was managed after this manner : the eggs 
were collected for eating, as long as the cool spring 
weather continued, and no hens permitted to sit 
until May or June : then the earliest chickens were 



144 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



eaten in the fall, and the late half-grown ones kept 
to perpetuate the stock : it is a popular belief that 
late chickens lay best in the spring. Well, our 
chickens deteriorated sensibly ; they grew to be no 
larger than pheasants, and many of the young chicks 
were cripples, and unable to walk. We were al- 
ways changing with our neighbors, not only crowers, 
but hens and settings of eggs; all to no purpose. 
Finally I begun to philosophize upon the subject. 
I always preserve the earliest setting of peas, beans, 
and other garden vegetables, for seed, and so im- 
prove my varieties ; and I now resolved to try the 



same with my fowls. I observed that half-grown 
chickens in the fall were only half-grown chickens 
the next spring. So I commenced by "setting" 
my hens as early as they showed an inclination to 
hatch, and then selecting the largest and finest of 
the chickens, for mj^next summer's stock. (I also 
keep one crovver for every five hens, and have no 
lame chicks.) Now I have as large, fine, hardy 
and prolific fowls as any reasonable woman can 
desire to possess, without the extra care and nurs- 
ing which is required by the imported breeds. 

Lydia Jane Peirson. 



THE MORGAN HUNTER. 




We take pleasure in publishing the following 
notice, accompanied by the portrait of the noble 
little stallion Morgan Hunter, little at least, if the 
term is applicable to a horse, which though only 
fourteen hands an inch and a quarter high, yet 
weighs about eleven hundred pounds, and is in his 
form the model of a road horse. We have seen 
this animal, and can truly say that his portrait does 
not do him justice. He does not " mount " perhaps 
quite as well as that represents him, but his head 
and neck are both finer than they appear here. 
Coming up in form and action, spirit and docility 
to all the characteristics which we have seen attri- 
buted to the Morgan horse, Ave have no doubt that 
he is of that strain, and the only thins; that induces 
us to suspect him, is that we cannot imagine what 



could make the yankees send a specimen appa- 
rently so perfect, so far from home. 

This horse is now spending the spring and early 
summer in Charlottesville, and will make a full 
season in Augusta. 



THE CURRYCOMB. 

The free use of the currycomb is equal to many 
a quart of oats in the course of the winter, but it 
should be used judiciously. Having tied the horse 
up pretty close, take hold of the left check of the 
halter in your left hand, and curry him alone; his 
neck to his shoulders, and so go all over his body to 
the buttocks, down to his hocks — then change your 
hands, and curry him before on his breast, and lay- 
ing your right arm over his back, join your right 
side to his left, and curry him all under his belly 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



145 



to his chest, and so all over very well, from the 
knees and shoulders upwards. This side completed, 
\ go to the offside, and do that in like manner, re- 
versing positions. Then with a cotton cloth, dust 
off all the dirt raised by the currycomb. The brush 
is next to be used, beginning atth,e head, and going 
down to the fetlocks, (which should be washed if 
dirty,) keeping the brush clean with the currycomb. 
Lastly, take another cloth, and rub him down until 
his coat looks smooth and bright. 

This system of horse cleaning can be easily 
learned, and the improved appearance of the horse 
will prove its excellence. Cleanliness, in man or 
beast, is all-important. — New England Cultivator. 




THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 

RICHMOND, MAY, 1854. 

TERMS. 

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invariably in advance. 

Hj= No subscription received for a less time than one 
year. 

l£jf* Subscriptions may begin with any number. 

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

f^T Office on Twelfth, between Main and Cary streets. 

ADVERTISEMENTS. 

A limited number will be inserted at the following 
rates: for each square of ten lines, first insertion, 
Si— each continuance, 75 cents. Advertisements 
out of the city must be accompanied with the mo- 
ney, to insure their insertion. p. d. b. 

POSTAGE ON THE PLANTER, 

When paid quarterly or yearly in advance. 
To any part of the United States one cent and a half 
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§Tjf"It is indispensably necessary that subscribers or- 
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and lose none to them^ 

NOTICE. 

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tions, and they will be charged accordingly. 



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

In two former numbers we have called attention 
to the above subject. We now proceed to show 
how the stock may be obtained cheaply and in a 
short time. 

The best mode of doing this is by the principle 
of combination, and there is nothing new in apply- 
ing it to this business. More than fifty years ago, 
Bakewell, the eminent English breeder, from whom 
the New Leicester sheep derive that synonyme, as- 
sociated with himself several other farmers, known 
collectively as the Dishley Club, after the name of 
Bakewell's residence, for the purpose of improving 
various kinds of stock, and all that they took in 
hand they improved to a degree of excellence never 
before reached by any of them. Some of these, 
it is true, we mean the long horn breed of cattle, 
have been permitted to recede to their original in- 
feriority, but the fact that they attained the high 
position he gave them, proves that even in the most 
unpromising cases, system, skill, and combination 
can rapidly regenerate an inferior breed. It ma/ 
give an idea of the advantages that we possess for 
the purpose of improvement to state that British 
cattle now weigh more than double what they 
weighed about seventy years ago, and that we not 
only have their improved breeds to found our im- 
provements upon, but that as the average weight 
of our cattle is now greater than theirs was at that 
time, we start from a higher point in the scale, with 
the advantage also of a better general system of 
agriculture. 

Suppose the object to be the introduction of an 
improved breed of cattle, for instance, the Devon. 
Let a club of, say twelve gentlemen, associate for 
the purpose, or at least let twelve shares of stock 
be created to be taken by not more than twelve 
members. Let them select such cows, either from 
their own or their neighbors' herds, as combine in 
color and other characteristics the strongest points 
of resemblance to that breed. Then let one bull 
be purchased at a cost of $150, and limited to 36 
cows, or three for each member of the club — an 
ample number, if the strongest and healthiest off- 
spring be desired. Let him be travelled to different 
points, as stallions are, or let the cows be sent to 
him at one place, as may be most convenient. Sup- 
pose that thirty calves are the result. Let every 
male be castrated or made into veal, and let the 
heifers be well reared. 

Once a year let these animals be exhibited, and 
give to males and females each in their class a pre- 
mium of four dollars for the best, with no subse- 
quent lower premium. The next year give pre- 
miums of the same amount to the two year olds 
of each sex, and also to the yearlings as before, 
and so on to the third year. After which they may 



146 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



be committed to the private care of their masters. 
Now if the same man shall have taken the same 
premium each year on any animal, or otherwise 
three premiums, he will have obtained twelve dol- 
lars, about equal to his interest in the bull, which, 
by this means, will have cost him nothing, and the 
other members (or shares) of the club will each 
have contributed about a dollar to him. But if 
they have competed for the premium, as they should 
be made to do under a penalty equal to its amount, 
then the superior attention paid to their own ani- 
mals will have paid them, perhaps ten times over, 
the amount they have contributed. 

Then let the premium animals, and none others, 
be sent to the Annual State Fair, and let the card 
of exhibition state that it is the premium animal 
of each particular club. In this way the Fairs of 
Virginia, whether County, District or State, would 
soon be supplied with their own stock, and those 
equal to any in the world. 

We said that every male should be castrated, be- 
cause a half blood cannot be relied on to propagate 
me qualities of the sire ■ and for another reason : 
they ought not to be permitted to get into other 
hands, as some would if kept. Neither ought a 
neighbor to be allowed to send his cows to the bull. 
Such restrictions look selfish and churlish, but they 
are neither. We all know that what comes cheap 
is but little regarded, and that it is much more the 
neglect of stock, coupled, it is true, with much ig- 
norance of the suitableness of particular varieties to 
given localities , than any worthlessness of the breeds 
themselves that has caused so many persons to be- 
come disgusted with the business of stock raising 
in Virginia. From this cause if the benefits of the 
association are attempted to be conferred on out- 
siders we think that the character of the whole 
breed will be injured, and the improvement sought 
to be introduced will be hindered or delayed. This 
restriction, too, will stimulate others to the like 
associations, and thus tend to produce a healthful 
rivalry and competition in the business. After the 
services of the bull have been availed of for one 
set of cows until his calves have become of suita- 
ble age he c,an then be disposed of, and another of 
the same breed substituted ; or, what is much bet- 
ter, he can be kept, restricting him to the same or 
a similar lot of cows, to produce half breeds, which, 
in their turn, shall produce quarter breeds, and so 
on, until in a few years the desired strain shall be 
pure for all practical purposes, and in a few more 
reach that purity which is required by the fasti- 
diousness of the herd book. 

This, without going into all the minutia3 which 
would be required in the by-laws of such an asso- 
ciation, is the outline of the plan we propose for 
improving all the stock of Virginia of every kind 
and in every place. We have illustrated it by cat- 



tle, but with more or less of modification it applies 
to every other kind of stock. We deem it entirely p 
practicable and advisable, not as a supplantation 
of private enterprise, ever the best mode of im- 
provement in all things, but as substitute for it in 
all cases where want of information or want of 
means shall form obstacles to improvement. 

As to its rapidity of operation it can be easily 
seen that in the case of cattle it will be speedy, 
and more so with some other sorts of stock. The 
heifer will be ready to breed at two years old, her 
calf at the same age, and so on, giving intervals of 
thirty-three months between each generation. The 
first generation will be half blood, the second three- 
quarters, the third seven-eighths, and the fourth 
fifteen-sixteenths, or what is called full blooded. 
This takes place in eleven years. If a portion of 
the original female stock be also thoroughbred the 
period of getting a good stock will be diminished. 

"A Farmer," says Morel de Vinde, though we 
forget who Morel de Vinde is, "desires to have 
a flock of 300 sheep — he purchases a sufficient 
number of ewes, say twelve, eight or four. The 
first year his flock will be composed of two classes, 
pure and hybrid. He keeps the females for breed- 
ing. When he will have accomplished 300 female 
Merinoes there will no longer be a hybrid in his 
flock. To obtain this he will require eleven years 
if he commences with twelve Merino lambs ; twelve 
years if he commences with ten; thirteen if he 
commences with eight; fourteen with six, and fif- J 
teen with four." Supposing in each case the usual 
proportion of ewes. 

The kinds of stock should be * adapted to each 
locality, and breeders should remember that the 
most fashionable are not, therefore, the best for 
their lands. We have seen on the farm of a friend 
on the Southside, a herd of Short Horns which 
were about as well suited to his pastures as camels 
would have been to his ploughs, and on the same 
farm the delicate, sluggish, lubberly, foul nosed 
Cots wold sheep, instead of the compact, clean 
limbed, hardy Merino or Saxon, or the equally 
hardy, active and sprightly South Down. 

In the matter of sheep we have spoken before. 
Of cattle, instead of saying any thing of our own, 
we submit the following condensed statement of 
the merits of different breeds presented by Mr. 
Howard, the Editor of the Boston Cultivator, at a 
late meeting of the Agricultural Club of Boston: 

"As Dairy Stock — 

"1. For poor and rough soils, the Kerry breed, 
indigenous to the mountains of Ireland, and repre- 
sented by all authorities as combining remarkable 
hardiness cf constitution with superior dairy qua- 
lities, especially for the production of butter. 

"2. For better soils, and for milk-selling esta- 
blishments, the Ayrshires. 

"3. For cities and towns, the Jerseys, at the 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



147 



same time testing them by fair trials, as to general 
"V adaptation. 

"4. A selection from the common, or so called 
native stock, to be subjected to a systematic course 
of breeding. 

" 5. Crosses of the Ayrshire and of the Jersey 
with the common stock, the offspring to be kept 
separately for a sufficient period to ascertain their 
qualities. 

"As Fattening Stock, of Secondary Value for the 
Dairy — 

"1. For poor and rough soil's and a severe cli- 
mate, the West Highland Scots. 

" 2. For somewhat better soils, the Galloways 
and Devons. 

" 3. For medium quality of soils, the Herefords. 

"4. For the best soils and milder climate, the 
fattening variety of Short Horns. 

" The Herefords, Devons and West Highlanders 
are excellent draught cattle. 

"In this climate, owing to the extremes of heat 
and cold, strength of constitution is an important 
requisite in cattle that are obliged to undergo more 
or less exposure at all seasons. On this account, 
as well as for other intrinsic properties, the lecturer 
advocated strongly the introduction of the West 
Highlanders." 

Several of these breeds of cattle are not known 
here at all ; but they are very meritorious and de- 
serve to be investigated. The Kerry cows, parti- 
cularly, we think suited to the short grass of much 
of our country, and we believe, though we express 
the opinion with hesitation, and frankly avow that 
it is the result of reading and not of observation, 
' that for the chance they have had the Herefords 
deserve vastly more notice than they have received. 
We think that with the same chance they would 
now have been better stock in every way than the 
boasted and beautiful, but delicate and uncertain 
Short Horns. 

Be that as it may, any is better than none, and a 
plenty better than a few. They and all other stock 
are necessary to a high state of agriculture — and 
the farmers who do not keep enough stock to make 
manure and to bring revenue, cannot be expected 
to enrich their lands or keep up their fertility. 



South Down ram, "Ivy," with the hope that he 
may never have any horns at all. 

To Mr. J. F. Hansbrough, Stevensburg, Culpeper, 
who has sent us $55, the boar pig, " Lewis," and 
the sow pig, " Joanna," with the earnest wish that 
their tails may always remain curled as handsomely 
as at present. 

We shall be happy to hear from all these gentle- 
men at an early day, that we may know how they 
wish their animals consigned. 



AWARD OF PLANTER PREMIUMS. 

Though the Premium List of the Planter closed 
on the first of April, as it was limited to do, yet 
we could not publish it in the April number be- 
cause the full returns were not in. We now an- 
nounce the result. 

To Mr. F. N. Watkins of Farmville, Prince Ed- 
ward, who has sent us for new and old subscribers 
the sum of $207, we award the first prize of the 
thoroughbred Devon bull calf, "Farmington the 
First," with the hope that his horns may never 
grow less. 

To Mr. William W. Garrett, Rumford Academy, 
King William county, who has sent us $100, the 



OATS AND LATE CORN FOR HOGS. 

Now is the time to make arrangements for hogs. 
Fence off a portion of the oat field, say ten acres 
for fifty hogs, and do it before the oats get so high 
that you will think it a pity to haul rails through 
them, and before the corn gets so high that you 
will not be able to spare the time from it. Turn 
in the hogs when the oats are three-fourths ripe. 

In this month, too, plant corn (two acres for fifty 
hogs) thicker than your regular crop is planted, to^ 
cut up and give to them green, stalk and all, after 
the first crop for that purpose is exhausted or be- 
come too ripe. 

That first crop is easily provided for by refrain- 
ing to thin, or by leaving twice as thick, two acres 
of your regular crop. And remember not to let 
your cattle get to the refuse of this feed left by 
hogs, as if they do they will surely die. Feed out 
in the roasting ear. 

A correspondent recently told us that the article 
we wrote on this subject some time since was worth 
many years' subscription to the Planter. To those 
who had no other means of arriving at the fact 
than through the columns of the Planter we know 
it was worth, or will be just double the quantity 
of pork they had before, and at no increase of 
expense. 



DERBY'S HORTICULTURAL REVIEW AND 
BOTANICAL MAGAZINE. 

We are indebted to the courtesy of the publisher 
for the March number of the above periodical, pub- 
lished at Cincinnati, and edited by John A. Warder, 
M. D. and James W. Ward, Esq. — price three dol- 
lars per annum for twelve numbers of 48 pages each. 
We take pleasure in recommending it to those of 
our readers who desire to possess themselves of an 
able work adapted to instruct and entertain them 
on the subjects of Horticulture, Floriculture, Botany 
and allied sciences. The typography and pictorial 
illustrations of this number are beautiful specimens 
of art, and the high order of its contents in talent, 
taste and judgment is creditable to its conductors 
and contributors. If its present character is well 
sustained in its future numbers it cannot fail to 



148 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



win its way to public favor, exert a salutary moral 
influence, and establish a just claim to be regarded 
as a work of standard authority and usefulness in 
the department of which it treats. From a very 
inviting bill of fare contained in its table of con- 
tents, we pass over several interesting articles, es- 
pecially one on Beauty in Architecture, and single 
out for a few extracts one communicated by S. B. 
Gookins, Esq., on the "Culture of Rural Taste," 
with particular reference to the embellishments of 
home — 

"That spot of earth supremely blest; 
A dearer, sweeter spot than all the rest; 
* ****** 

Here woman reigns, the mother, daughter, wife ; 
Strews with fresh flowers the narrow way of life, 
In the clear heaven of her delightful eye, 
And angel guard of loves and graces lie ; 
Around her knees domestic duties meet, 
And fireside pleasures gambol at her feet." 

We proceed to add the extracts above referred 
to, that our readers may see that the praise we 
have bestowed is fully justified: 

" Taste is the perception of beauty, and a correct 
taste is the true standard of judgment, in respect 
to the harmonious relation of parts. It presents 
us a very wide field of observation, comprising 
painting, poetry, architecture, etc., and brings to 
the standard of judicious criticism, every product 
of artistic skill." 

" The social condition, the habits of life, the cha- 
racter of the climate, and many other considera- 
tions, determine the fitness of the appointments, 
and surroundings of our habitation." .... 

"No better field can be found for the display of 
a refined and cultivated taste than is opened to us 
here ; for it is the surroundings of home that clothe 
it in a comery garb, and commend it to our admi- 
ration." . 

" But the chief consideration is the moral effect 
of a refined and cultivated taste upon the country 
in general, and upon the family relation in parti- 
cular. Let us indulge for a moment in a fancy 
sketch. Here is the dwelling of a comfortable far- 
mer; it is substantial, plain, unostentatious, but 
just in its proportions, and adapted to his condition 
and wants; his grounds are judiciously arranged, 
and his tenement is surrounded by orchards and 
gardens, and embowered in roses and evergreens. 
These elegancies have cost him little. His stalwart 
limbs are usually devoted to the operations of his 
farm, but his eyes have also been opened to the 
beautiful in nature, and he has reclaimed a few 
hours from his more laborious pursuits, and planted 
a few shrubs and trees — kind nature has done all 
the rest. The club of Hercules was enwreathed in 
roses while he slept; so the sylvan graces have 
beautified his home during his hours of repose. 
His children have caught the inspiration, and with 
an appetite formed for these pure delights, what 
vicious pleasures shall have power to draw them 
thence'?" 

" The pleasures we derive from the embellish- 
ments of home, are not merely pleasures of sense. 
The eye is delighted, it is true, but there is an ele- 
vating, ennobling sentiment of the heart, brought 
into exercise by the care we bestow upon these 



objects of our regard. Who cannot remember, 
when in the days of childhood, he planted an apple J »- 
seed, a melon, a sunflower, or even an humble bean 1 
How often, during the period of germination, did 
you visit the spot; and when, at last, you found 
the smooth surface slowly bursting up, and you 
peeped under, and saw the two first leaves — instinct 
of life, coming forth as it were, at your own bid- 
ing — how did your young heart dance with delight ! 
and how did you go, day after day, to watch its 
development, as one leaf after another was un- 
folded, and the stalk extended and finally the flower 
and the fruit appeared. 

"Nor do we in mature life, feel less regard for 
those things toward which we hold the relation of 
a foster-parent. We watch the growth of a choice 
rose or dahlia, or a favorite graft, with as much 
interest as the child did his sunflower. ■ It is not 
difficult to understand why these things give us 
pleasure. The phrenologist would say, the organ 
of philoprogenitiveness is agreeably affected. I 
would say, God loves the excellent and beautiful 
works of his own hand, and he has imparted the 
same sentiment, in a degree, to us, whom he has 
fashioned in his own likeness. 

"In general, woman's heart is more susceptible 
to these impressions than man's. It is her peculiar 
forte to love, to foster, to cherish and to rear. Old 
or young, she is the universal mother." . . . 

" Here, then, is a field for the exercise of wo- 
men's rights, the possession of which no one will 
contest, and the power of which none can deny. 
Here is a mine, whence the choicest gems of earth 
are dug — gems which adorn the home circle with 
those rich treasures of purity and love, which shall 
not fade when the purest carbon shall have lost its 
lustre. Intellects developed, and affections moulded 
under the influence of happy homes will be the 
source of our purest pleasures here : 

"And when the frosts shall come, 
Transplanted, they shall bloom anew, 
Impearl'd with drops of heavenly dew, 

In their eternal home." 



REPORT OF GEN. WM. H. RICHARDSON 

To the Virginia State Agricultural Society, of Ms 
operations as their agent. 

In explanation of the late appearance of the fol- 
lowing report, it is proper to say, that it was not 
presented to the Executive Committee until the 
February meeting, and was then mislaid by their 
Secretary and not found until a recent period. 

To Philip St. Geo. Cocke, Esq., 

Prcs't of the Viginia State Agricultural Society. 
Sir, — Having according to the best of my judg- 
ment and ability discharged the trust committed 
to me, and the general meeting of the Society being 
at hand, it seems proper that I should make some 
report to you ; although from the necessity for long 
continued and active exertions and of passing almost 
continually from place to place, it has been impos- 
sible for me to collect and arrange the materials for 
such a report as you desire, and as at first I had 
hoped to present. I have in fact, only reached the 
city this morning, and am not yet in possession of 
all the returns it is desirable for me to include. I 
am therefore restricted to a general outline of the 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



149 



series of operations projected between us in Febru- 
ary last, having for the leading objects the union 
of mind as well as of numbers — the awakening of 
a general interest in the cause of agricultural im- 
provement throughout the State — and the mani- 
festation in a great Cattle Show and Fair, of her 
boundless resources, agricultural, mineral and in- 
■ dustrial. 

Immediately upon the arrangement proposed by 
yourself and Mr. Williams, recording secretary, 
(subsequently confirmed by the Executive Com- 
mittee,) the work was commenced, and I very soon 
found that it would require extraordinary exertions 
and my whole time with all the aid which could 
be obtained. 

This important agency having been committed 
solely to me, the first consideration was, how most 
effectively and promptly to attain the ends pro- 
posed in its creation. As one of the most exten-i 
sive and potent, I sought and obtained the aid of 
the newspaper press, which almost every where 
has been liberally and promptly exerted for the 
Society, from the commencement of my agency to 
this date — thus rendering a service to the agricul- 
ture of the State which cannot easily be repaid 
and should never be forgotten. Bills in great 
numbers, have also been printed and circulated as 
extensively as possible. 

The season being unfavorable for operations in 
the country, I commenced the canvass in the prin- 
cipal cities, devoting to each as much time as could 
be profitably employed. Richmond, Petersburg, 
Norfolk and Alexandria have all contributed more 
or less liberally — the merchants and mechanics par- 
ticularly so in each of them. In Petersburg the 
subscription was taken with unsurpassed prompti- 
tude and liberality — and without injustice to others, 
py; it is but sheer justice to that patriotic city to state 
the fact, that in proportion to her population she 
has outstripped them all in a prompt and public 
spirited support of the important objects of my 
agency. 

I found it impracticable to obtain suitable aids 
to divide the State with me until the month of 
May, when my son like myself having been dis- 
missed from the public service of the State, was 
as you will recollect, prevailed upon to assist me. 
Our united and unremitted exertions have covered 
an extended line of operations, embracing the 
larger portion of the State from the seaboard into 
the Alleghanies, and as far as the county of Wythe 
in the south-west. In addition to this, we have 
sought aid by correspondence and otherwise, with 
such counties as we could not reach, and where 
necessary, offering every inducement at our com- 
mand, to secure it. To give you some estimate of 
the extent of this correspondence, I may state here, 
that I have used in it myself more than 400 post 
office stamps. 

In the cities subscriptions were freely given as 
for the encouragement of a great State enterprise — 
but through the country generally, except on the 
south side of James river, little or no interest was 
manifested at first in the success of the Society, of 
which many had never heard, and few cared for. 
Fortunately, however, we received in almost every 
county the active co-operation of enlightened and 
public spirited gentlemen, and I can now confi- 
dently report that there exists a wide spread and 
zealous interest in the cause which will triumph- 
antly sustain the Society, and that the approaching 
Cattle Show, unless interrupted by bad weather, 
will far surpass any thing that had been hoped for 



in the beginning. More than enough fine stock 
to fill all the stalls and pens has been promised, 
together with many specimens of the manufactures 
of our own people, including agricultural imple- 
ments, woollen, worsted and cotton fabrics — mine- 
rals — marble — red freestone, lately brought into 
use by the Orange and Alexandria rail road passing 
through beds of it in the county of Prince Win. — 
native cement, &c. &c. These will occupy all the 
grounds prepared by the city of Richmond. 

As regards the number of members and amount 
of subscription received by us, it may seem to have 
come short of our first expectation. I have, how- 
ever, paid into bank to the credit of the treasurer, 
more than $2000, and shall probably add to it $400 
or $500. My son's collections will approximate to 
$2000 more, we suppose. At any rate the two will 
not fall below $4000, sufficient with the amounts 
pledged from several counties to pay all the ex- 
penses of the Cattle Show, and more, without esti- 
mating gate money. You will recollect how much 
from the beginning was considered dependent upon 
the success of this first great effort, which my cor- 
respondence with you during the year has informed 
you I have kept steadily in view. When, therefore, 
an amount sufficient for the purpose had been se- 
cured, our efforts were directed almost exclusively 
to securing the stock and other materials to con- 
stitute an imposing exhibition of the resources of 
the State, and to excite such an interest among the 
people as would induce them to attend it. The 
facilities so liberally afforded by most of the rail 
roads will aid materially in this, and with such a 
concourse as the Cattle Show will probably bring 
together, the Society will get more members than 
could otherwise be enrolled in a five years canvass. 
' In addition to the means already mentioned, I 
have kept in the papers for some months past, a 
standing notice that we would attend as many of 
the courts as possible — but requesting those whom 
we might not find it possible to see, and who might 
wish to become members of the Society, to inclose 
their names and subscriptions to Chs. B. Williams, 
Esq., recording secretary of the Society, or to my- 
self at Richmond : and I am happy to find that a 
considerable amount has in this way been remitted 
to Mr. Williams. This will be largely increased 
by those who will become members, at the Cattle 
Show, as many have promised us they would do, 
if it should be in their power to get here. The 
gate money, if the weather shall prove fine, may 
be estimated at from $1500 to $2000 at the least. 

The want of a certain conveyance from Alexan- 
dria to Acquia Creek, which some time since I 
suggested the expediency of providing at the ex- 
pense of the Society, will cut off from the Cattle 
Show most of the stock, manufactures and imple- 
ments from the rich counties in the lower part of 
the Valley, and from Loudon, Fauquier, Fairfax, 
&c, except Mr. Hugh M. Nelson's stock, which he 
is determined shall be here, although he has to bring 
it by way of Baltimore. These counties, by means 
of the Orange and Alexandria and Manasses Gap 
rail road, and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, would 
have concentrated at Alexandria, where I hoped 
that a boat would be provided for it on the part of 
the Society if it was not by that city. They will 
not rely upon the mail boat, and ought not; be- 
cause that could carry but a small portion of stock 
or implements, and could not possibly stop long 
enough to take them on board, even if it had room 
for all. I had no authority to charter a boat, and 
perhaps went too far in proposing it. But I knew 



150 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



that no premiums the Society can offer, constitute 
a sufficient inducement to the proprietors of valu- 
able stock to incur the risk and inconvenience of 
conveying it to a distant place of exhibition — and 
that they can rarely be induced to do so without 
some exertion on the part of the Society or its offi- 
cers — more especially when, as in this case, the 
Cattle Show was a first attempt, and of course un- 
certain of success. 

However this may be, I but state a well known 
fact, that both my son and myself have exerted 
every faculty of body and mind, without regard 
to fatigue, exposure or expense, with an eye single 
to carrying out the important trust committed to 
us — with what advantage to the Society, the future 
must determine. 

Furthermore, I entertain no doubt whatever that 
the Society can be sustained without legislative 
aid so long as its operations are judiciously directed, 
and so be independent and free to pursue its own 
course without interference or deleterious control 
from any quarter. 

Nothing more occurs to me at this time as neces- 
sary to be mentioned. I regret that this report is 
so meagre, and also the necessity I am under of 
speaking of the labors of myself and my son. 
That could not be avoided to some extent in any 
report, and I have endeavored in this to go no fur- 
ther than justice to ourselves seems to require. 

I ought not to close it without a grateful acknow- 
ledgment of the hospitality and kindness with which 
we have been favored throughout our whole tour. 

I am, sir, with high respect and esteem, 
Your ob't serv't, 

Wm. H. Richardson, Gen. Agt. 

Richmond, Oct. 29, 1854. 



Prom the Soil of the South. 
A TREASISE ON THE CULTURE OF CORN. 

BY JAMES M. CHAMBERS. 

For this crop, I lay it down as indispensably ne- 
cessary, that the earth should be broken deep and 
thoroughly. The process of preparation may vary 
with the nature of the soil. The time of planting 
in this climate, where the summers are hot and 
long, and droughts frequent, should be just as early 
as may be practicable, to escape the spring frosts, 
and the culture should be early and rapid. First, 
then, I say, the earth is to be prepared by deep, 
close and thorough ploughing. This is neces- 
sary, to give an opportunity to the small fibrous 
roots, which are so numerous with this plant, to 
shoot out and penetrate the earth easily, to retain 
proper moisture when dry, and to absorb excess of 
moisture when wet. Next, I would secure a deep 
and thorough breaking of the earth immediately 
about where the young roots first begin to spread, 
by a deep and close listing with some long plough ; 
nothing in use among us is better for this ope- 
ration than a well made scooter. This done, the 
opening furrow, checking across the list, in which 
to drop the seed, should be deep and so wide as to 
stand well open, free from clods or turf; and the 
seed corn being dropped in the check, then cover 
with the hoe, by drawing a small portion of loose 
earth upon the seed, which should when planted 
not have more than a depth of one and a half or 
two inches of earth upon it. I would put in three 



or four grains where only one was to stand, esteem- 
ing it much better to thin than to replant, thereby^ 
securing an early, regular and good stand. As soon 
as the young corn was up, with about four blades, 
the first working should be given. My process 
would be to plough with a long scooter or coulter, 
running as near the corn as possible, without 
ploughing it up, and breaking out the whole mid- 
dle deep, close and thorough, leaving the whole bed 
soft and well pulverized. The hoes should follow 
close after the ploughs, cleaning the surface about 
the stalk, leaving no young grass or weeds, and re- 
turning enough soft earth to cover the roots of the 
corn a little deeper than they were before ; and at 
this hoeing, I should thin out ordinarily all except 
the one stalk which was to be left to make the 
crop. In about twenty days the ploughs should 
return again. At this time, if the ploughing pre- 
viously had been deep and thorough, I should not 
plough quite so deep as at the first. But this also 
ought to be a deep ploughing, and the middle of 
the row also to be well broke and pulverized. A 
small mouldboard ought to be attached to the 
plough, running next to the corn, so as to place a 
greater depth of earth on the roots, thereby securing 
moisture and protection from the hot sun. Now 
is the time, when the roots are spreading rapidly 
and widely, seeking nourishment and moisture in 
the soft and well ploughed soil. At this working, 
care should be taken, that when the work is done, 
each furrow should well fill up its predecessor, so 
that every inch of earth should be broken, and no 
furrows in the bed should be seen standing open 
to expose the roots as they shoot across, but all 
should lie smooth and soft. At this working the 
hoes should also follow, cleaning any hills which 
the plough should have slighted, straightening up 
the bent stalks, pulling out any surplus stalks or , 
suckers, and cleaning round the stumps and trees. 
Care should be taken at this working to leave no 
grass or weeds near the stalk. If the ploughs have 
faithfully performed their duty, but little will re- 
main for the hoes to do. The corn will now be 
sufficiently large to bear the dirt, and a good plough- 
man with a well fixed plough, will throw the soft 
earth around the root of the stalk, covering up 
most of the grass, which as yet must be very small 
and young, and sufficiently hilling the corn, leaving 
the work nearly complete, without the aid of the 
hoe. In these workings, I would greatly prefer 
that the earth should be in a moist state ; but re- 
gard it unsafe to delay the work, more than a few 
days at most, to wait for just such seasons as would 
be preferred. As a general rule, in the cultivation 
of the crop, it is not best to regard the seasons too 
much, but move directly and energetically forward, 
leaving the results to be controlled by Him who 
" giveth the early and the latter rain." 

About three weeks after this working, the third 
and last should be given. The operation of laying 
by corn is one requiring more discretion and judg- 
ment usually than any other, and much, after all, 
must be left to the judgment of the planter, de- 
pendant upon the circumstances of the case. It 
would sometimes happen that it had been dry, and 
every thing standing as when left; at another time, 
hard rains will have ensued, and all the former 
have been undone, the land washed and settled 
hard and close again. What to do, and how to do, 
must be determined very much by the necessity 
and circumstance of the case. If the seasons had 
been ordinary, plough shallow and not very close, 
leave the surface of the bed smooth and soft, with- 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



151 



out having torn the roots of the corn much. The 
feather is now hot, and the roots of the corn matted 
and spread thick through all the earth from row to 
row. The stalk needs all the nourishment and sup- 
port which the roots can give, and it is at great 
hazard now to cut off* these supplies. Hence the 
necessity of those early, rapid and thorough work- 
ings, which I have recommended, hefore the roots 
have so spread out ; before the weather has become 
so hot; and before the stalk, now sappy, needs so 
much support. As I have previously remarked, I 
now repeat, this crop must be worked rapidly and 
thoroughly. It will not do to let the young ctorn 
stop growing, or the stalk ever become hard. It 
must be pushed from the beginning, and if ample 
justice has not been done in the earlier workings, it 
is in vain to hope by later workings to make good 
a corn crop which has been permitted to surfer in 
the earlier part of the season. . My motto is, begin 
early, work often, and lay byisoon. The roots of 
corn grow up upon the stalk, and are all the while 
seeking the surface — hence the necessity of adding 
more earth. 

At the last working, if I wanted to make the 
crop perfect, I would pass over with the hoes after 
the ploughs, clean out every thing, pull off suckers, 
straighten up the bent stalks, and draw some more 
earth around the roots of the corn, giving greater 
protection against the scorching heat of the sun, 
and retaining moisture longer about the root. My 
opinion is, if proper attention has been given in 
throwing dirt to the stalk in former workings, that 
not a great deal remains to be done in that way at 
the laying by. 

It remains now for something to be said about 
distance of rows, number of stalks, hill and drill 
corn, &c. Taking the common lands of our coun- 
try for my basis, and it is perhaps best in a treatise 
*)f this sort, to select a medium grade, I would 
give my preference to hill corn, rather than drilled, 
and to one stalk in preference to two, in the hill. 
I would have the hills four and a half feet one way 
and three and a half feet the other, and leave one 
stalk in each hill. The first ploughing should be 
the narrow way, the two last the wide way of 
the rows. My objection to drill corn, is founded 
mainly in the difficulty in getting the stand uni- 
form in the distance of the stalks from each other, 
and I think it requires a little more labor in its 
cultivation. My objection to the two stalks in the 
hill are, that the one stalk is better fed and sus- 
tained when standing alone; that two would be 
thrown together to seek their supplies from the 
same space of earth ; that consequently more vigor 
will be imparted to one than could be to the two ; 
that in time of drought the two will suffer the more 
than the one ; that the two stalked corn cannot be 
so conveniently worked either with the plough or 
hoe, and will not produce such large ears. I admit 
that there may be frequently, perhaps generally, 
more in number, but the ears of the one stalk will 
be uniformly larger, the yield as great, and the 
quality of the corn better. On river bottoms, where 
the lands are richer, more stalks may be crowded 
upon the lands; more and different workings may 
be required ; and of course the plan should be so 
varied as to suit the circumstances of each case. 
It will be borne in mind that my theory is made out 
to suit the medium average lands of the country. 

In the close, I would remafk that I have written 
for practical men ; have presented facts, rather than 
scientific theories, and if there is any merit in my 
thoughts, the plan is easy of comprehension and 



adoption by the great body of planters. In the 
selection of seed, I have only to add, that I like 
that corn which has the least cob and most grain, 
and would select those ears which have deep, long 
grains. I have no doubt that much improvement 
may be made by a judicious selection of the seed 
for corn planting ; by selecting from the field those 
ears where two may be found on the same stalk, 
and where the ears are large, well matured and 
well filled. The benefit of this plan has been very 
fully demonstrated. It will be found, however, to 
be true, that almost in the same proportion as the 
number of ears are multiplied their size will be 
diminished. Between these two extremes will, 
therefore, be found the best seed, and the best 
guide for its selection. As to the varieties of corn 
cultivated in this country, my preference is for that 
which seems to have fallen in as a sort of medium 
betwixt the old gourd seed and the flint, possessing 
the peculiar qualities of neither, but a sort of com- 
bination of both. 

I might enlarge this treatise by speaking of the 
kinds and methods of manuring, but as that pro- 
perly constitutes a separate branch, and our So- 
ciety have called for a separate treatise on the ap- 
plication of manures, I shall not trespass upon your 
patience by adding more. 

In the above valuable essay on corn culture we 
do not wish to be understood as endorsing all that 
the Editor of the Soil of the South recommends, 
but it is necessary to criticise only one thing. It 
may do in Georgia and Alabama to plant corn 4£ 
by 3£ feet, as he recommends, but it is not near 
so thick as it ought to be planted in this latitude, 
though the custom in many places is to plant at 
least as wide. But we believe that for one barrel 
lost by thick planting in the South, thousands, per- 
haps hundreds of thousands, are lost by the oppo- 
site plan. The best rule, according to our obser- 
vation of the practice in this region among good 
farmers and on good land, is 5 feet by 18 to 20 and 
24 inches, according to fertility, and on low grounds 
as little as 15 inches, one stalk in the hill — for thin 
land we think the extreme distance 5 by 2 feet 
ample. — Ed. So. Planter. 



DRYING HOUSE FOR FRUIT. 

Some time since a subscriber to the Planter asked 
us to give a description of a house for drying fruit. 
We wrote to a friend in Rockingham to describe 
one we had seen on one of his farms, and here is 
his answer. 

The business of drying fruit for market is a very 
profitable one, and we wonder that so few people 
engage in it. 

, Mr. Editor, — The dry house at Detrick's is of 
brick, one brick thick, on a stone foundation a foot 
high. The brick part is four feet ten inches high, 
seven feet one inch square from out to out, with a 
door in one side two feet three inches wide, and as 
high as the house will admit. In each end there 
are three rows of frames, with two openings each, 
large enough to admit drawers two feet nine inches 



152 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



wide and three inches deep, making six drawers at 
each end. These drawers are made with slats in 
the bottom an inch wide and one-sixteenth of an 
inch apart. On the inside of the house there are 
three pieces of laths three inches wide by one inch 
thick, built into the wall on each end as far as 
the door will admit, so as to support the inner end 
of the drawers; they are just opposite the lower 
edge of the frames that holds the drawers ; there 
are also strips that run from the frames to the ^aths 
to hold the drawer as it runs in. Each drawer has 
two knobs to draw it out with. The top frame that 
holds the drawer is two rows of brick from the top, 
and there is one row of brick between the frames. 
On the top of the brick work is a frame and tight 
floor, and on the floor is built a brick chimney for 
a stove pipe. Over all is a good shingle roof put 
on as other houses, and the gables weatherboarded 
up. It has a good stove in the centre of the 
house. 

I have given you a description of the Detrick's 
dry house, according to your request; but I would 
advise that the dry house be made of timber, and 
made larger. It has been found that the brick 
ones are damper than the wood, and do not dry 
fruit so well. The house should be much larger 
and plenty of space between the drawers. 

From what I have seen of dry houses, if I were 
about to make one, I would take four posts, four 
inches square, and plank them together as if I 
were making a goods-box, using inch plank and 
making the joints tight, and have the timber per- 
fectly dry. I would make it twelve feet by ten, 
and six feet high in front, and five behind, cover it 
tight by laying the plank on the top, and then bore 
holes in the plank and put poles across to hold the 
common dryers ; making three or four tier of poles 
on each side of the stove. Make the door in the 
high side and make it tight. 



SOWING CORN FOR FODDER. 

In answer to an inquirer, the Albany Cultivator 
gives the following directions to cultivate this crop 
with the most success, which we copy as being 
valuable, especially to farmers and dairymen who 
read the Telegraph. 

We have cultivated corn for fodder for many 
years, and find it, all things c6nsidered, the most 
profitable crop we can raise. It may be sown dur- 
ing the comparative season of leisure just after 
corn-planting, and secured at the next season of 
leisure just after haying and harvesting. After 
repeatedly cropping the same ground, we are satis- 
fied that it rather enriches than impoverishes the 
land, no grain being formed, and a vast bed of roots 
remaining. Nothing is equal to it for reducing 
rough, turfy, weedy land, to a state of cleanliness 
and good tilth. We believe it the best fallow crop 
in the world, to precede wheat. 

It should never be sown broadcast. The imperfec- 
tions of this mode are the chief reasons that the 
crop has not become more generally introduced. 
It requires more seed, and leaves the ground in a 
fouler condition than when sowed in plowed drills. 
We have tried both ways to our entire satisfaction 
as to the comparative value of each. The follow- 
ing is the best mode for sowing, cultivating, and 
securing the crop: 

Plough and harrow the ground as for any other 
crop; furrow it with a one-horse plough, three feet 



apart ; let a man pass along one of these drills with 
a half-bushel basket on his left arm containing^ 
shelled corn, and strew the seed in the furrow at • 
the rate of about forty or fifty grains to a foot, 
which will be about two and a half or three bushels 
per acre. He will do this evenly with a little prac- 
tice, as fast as he can walk. If sowed thinner, the 
crop will be smaller. We have found by accurately 
weighing and measuring, that twenty grains to the 
foot yielded only two-thirds the crop afforded by 
forty grains to the foot. Immediately after the 
sower, follows a man with a one-horse harrow or 
cultivator, or with a two-horse harrow, lengthwise 
with the furrow, and covers the seed. Two men 
will thus plant six or seven acres in a day. 

When the corn is six inches to a foot high, run a 
one-horse cultivator between the rows. This is all 
the dressing the crop needs. No hoeing is neces- 
sary, for the dense growth soon smothers all else ; 
and in the autumn, when the crop is cut off, the 
earth is left as clean as a newly ploughed field. 

It is to be harvested about the first of autumn. 
If the crop is very heavy or much "lodged," it is 
cut by reaping. If straight and even, a common 
scythe will answer the purpose, a little practice 
enabling the operator to throw it smoothly with 
the heads in one direction. After partly drying, 
for a day or two, the best way is to tie it in bun- 
dles and put it up in large shocks, although raking 
by a horse into winrows for cocks, might answer 
well for large fields. It must dry for some weeks. 
It can never be safely put into large stacks. The 
most perfect way would be to place it in small 
stacks or long upright rows, under a large shed. 
Even if the stalks appear perfectly cured after 
several weeks exposure, they will certainly heat 
and spoil if stacked in the ordinary way. Hence, 
the stacks must be quite small, freely salted, and; 
well ventilated by means of three or four poles 
placed upright in the centre. We have found the 
stalks to retain a good condition when left in large 
well made shocks on the field, till wanted in winter. 
Curing is the only difficulty with this crop, and 
this ceases when understood. 

Land that will yield thirty bushels of corn to the 
acre, will afford about jive tons of dried fodder. 
Moist land is better than very dry, as it is more 
affected by drought than ordinary corn crops. We 
have not found the cost, including interest on the 
land, to exceed SI. 50 per ton for the dried fodder. 

For soiling, or feeding green, corn fodder often 
proves of the highest value, when pastures are 
burnt by drought. For this purpose, it may be 
sown at different periods till mid-summer. 

We have ourselves repeatedly tried to cure corn 
fodder and have never yet succeeded. If a prac- 
ticable plan of curing it could be found, it would 
be well nigh invaluable to the farmer and planter 
of the South. Mr. Lewis Bailey of Fairfax, in his 
Essay on the Management of Milch Cows, lately 
published in the Southern Planter, says it can be 
easily and economically, cured by making a top 
stack of it, as they are now made in many places 
to hold shucks and pumpkins. Only he counsels 
that the layer of fodder be a good deal thicker 
than is usually put on the rails in that form of 
stack or shed. The plan having succeeded per- 
fectly with him is well worth a fair trial by others. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



153 



"An Agriculturist," says the Richmond Dispatch, 
",who has tried the experiment satisfactorily, says 
/ifchat a few seeds of tomato dropped into the hill 
with cucumbers, or a tomato set out, which he says 
is the best, will keep off the black fleas and the 
striped bugs, as they dislike the flavor of that ve- 
getable." 



For the Southern Planter. 
WATER FENCE. 

Mr. Editor, — The following is a description of 
a good and substantial plan for a water fence, of 
which, if you think proper, you can give your 
readers the benefit. In the first place, cut a ditch 
across the stream of sufficient size to receive a log; 
after which commence to build on the log thus : in 
the ditch, at each end of and upon the log, pens to 
be filled with rock extending down the stream, say 
eight feet; upon those pens, at a distance from the 
log in the ditch, of say six feet, and about two or 
two and a half feet from and above the level of the 
log in the ditch, put across the stream a substantial 
log, which can be well secured by the pens and 
rock by the time the pens are high enough to join 
your fence to. After having thus well secured your 
two logs, take of white oak rails of the right length 
to reach from one log to about one foot over the 
upper log", (which will incline at about forty-five 
degrees,) place them at such distance apart as to 
prevent hogs from passing between, and secure 
them at bottom with a pin, and at top with a pin 
or spike, so as to keep them in place. The best 
height for the water fence is the lowest that will 
prevent hogs getting over, which will not require 
it to be high. Horses nor cattle will not attempt 
to jump it, as it will require a leap of some eight 
or ten feet to pass over it, which they would not 
do, if it was not in the water. 

The advantages of this fence are, that it is very 
substantial, and as soon as the water commences 
to rise, it will pass over every thing that comes 
down the stream without hanging or breaking down, 
and when the water falls there is a good fence, 
which may require the grass and trash to be cleaned 
off, which can soon be done. , 

This description is much longer than I intended 
it, but I think it will give the plan. 

Wm. E. G 

Weaversville, April 18, 1834. 



commences running, its growth is very rapid, and 
it must not be neglected then, on pain of spoiling 
the beauty of the arbor. As soon as it is tall 
enough to reach the first twine or strip, attach it 
to it, and train it to follow across. When it has 
reached the opposite side, start it back on the next 
twine above, and so on, until it reaches the top. 
The leaves — being of that sort that follow the sun — 
will, at the heat of noon — the time when a shade 
is most required — all point in one direction, and, 
in consequence of the leaning position of the lat- 
tice-work, form a single roof that entirely excludes 
the rays of the sun. This arbor shingles so na- 
turally and neatly, and the joints are so well closed, 
that it will even turn rain. On a bright summer 
morning, the front of this arbor presents the ap- 
pearance of a broad platform of green leaves laid 
flat, with flowers sprinkled all over it. One can 
hardly form a conception of its beauty until he 
sees it. The flowering bean will form an arbor 
almost as pretty as the morning glory; and to 
either one of these arbors a matchless splendor 
may be added by planting " cypress vine," and 
training it so that it will freely intermingle with 
the branches of the other vines. — Exchange. 



Lima Beans. — Observing, for several years, that 
those hills of Lima beans which were shaded by 
the others produced fewer and inferior crops than 
the vines exposed on the outer rows, I have adopted, 
with advantage, the plan of planting in borders, 
wherever I could put them without casting the 
shade on other crops. New hands pick their Lima 
beans, for winter use, in a young, unripened state; 
nothing could be more erroneous. Let them get 
nearly dry on their own vines, and soak them for 
use two nights before boiling, putting the water 
on them hot. It is a good plan to sprout the beans 
under a pane or two of glass before planting them 
round the poles. — Horticulturist. 



TO GROW A BEAUTIFUL ARBOR. 

Prepare a box of rich, mellow earth, and place 
it in the sunshine. Plant" therein the seed of the 
"morning glory/' which, of course, must be wa- 
tered and cultivated in the ordinary way. When 
the vines commence to run, a lattice-work must 
be erected for its accommodation, in the following 
manner: Plant two small posts or poles as high 
as the arbor is desirable, parallel, and inclining to- 
wards the house or whatever you wish to shield 
from the sun, and from the direction that the sun 
comes, at an angle of about forty-five degrees. 
From one of these posts to the other, tie twines, 
or nail very small strips, at the distance of three 
inches apart, all the way up the posts, commencing 
some three feet from the ground. When the vine 



PAYMENTS TO THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 

To the ISth of February, 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 : 

J. A. Womack to January 1855 

Chas. Guerrant to July 1854 

William S. Harris to January 1855 

Joseph T. Henley to January 1855 

William T. Jolly to January 1855 

Joseph Jones to January 1855 

Ro. P. W. Fountleroy to January 1855 

Thomas Pratt to January 1856 

James Young to January 1855 

Col. AVilliam Bailey to January 1855 

F. B. Welton to January 1855 

Dr. D. S. Morgan to June 1855 

William J. Weir to January 1855 

H. A. Watkins to January 1855 

T. J. Randolph, Jr; to January 1855 

Dr. John M. Garnett to January 1855 

R. M. Garnett to January 1855 

John R. C. Taylor to July 1855 

S. C. Snead to July 1855 

William Old, Sr. to January 1854 

Ambrose Ford to January 1855 



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2 00 


1 00 


1 00 


1 00 


2 00 


1 00 


1 00 


1 00 


1 00 


1 00 


2 00 


2 00 


5 00 


2 00 



154 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



5 00 



Benoni Carlton to January 1855 $1 00 

William A. Cocke to January 1855 5 00 
Dr. Wm. S. Brockenbrough to January 1855 1 00 

Major J. A. Watson to January 1855 1 00 

Joel Elam to January 1855 1 00 

T. H. Anderson to January 1855 1 00 

Col. C. B. Killebrew to January 1855 ' 1 00 

Dabney W. Waller to January 1855 1 00 

R. H. Dulany to September 1858 5 00 
Dr. Austin Brockenbrough to January 1855 1 00 

W. B. Hudnall to July 1854 2 00 
A. G. Ashby to January 1855 
Dr. J. B. Floyd to January 1855 
J. B. Smith to January 1855 
Dr. A. W. Downing to January 1855 
Dr. W. E. Brickhouse to January 1855 
J. E. Humphreys, P. M. to Jan. 1855 

Madison Pitzer to January 1855 2 00 

Dr. J. J. Williams to September 1854 3 00 
John Thomas Walker (in full) to Sept. 1854 5 00 

J. B. Edwards to January 1855 1 00 

Dr. J. T. Ligon to January 1855 1 00 

William B. Irby to January 1856 3 00 
Estate of Winter Bray (in full) to Jan. 1855 3 00 
Col. N. Goldsborough to January 1855 ^ 
Edward M. Dawson to January 1855 
M. Tilghman Goldsborough to Jan. 1855 
Edward Lloyd, Jr. to January 1855 
Capt. C. Lounds to January 1855 
Kennedy R. Owen to January 1855 
William Haywar.l to January 1855 
J. W. C. Loud to January 1855 v 
George R. Goldsborough to January 1855 
Thomas R. Holliday to January 1855 
Thomas P. Williams to January 1855 
Thomas R. Hughlett to January 1855 
J. Lloyd Chamberlain to January 1855 J 

William H. Carter to April 1855 2 00 

Randolph Ammonette to January 1855 1 00 

S. M. Kennedy to January 1855 1 00 

Capt. H. Chandler to January 1855 1 00 

Capt. John Milner to January 1855 1 00 

James W. Conway to January 1855 1 00 

John Garthright to January 1855 1 00 

David Lee to January 1855 1 00 

A. Phillips to January 1855 1 00 
Powhatan R. Page to January 1855 1 00 
William Hall to July 1854 1 00 

D. C. Anderson to January 1855 1 00 
Waller Taylor to January 1855 1 00 
H. T. Drewry to January 1855 1 00 
John Page to January 1855 6 00 

E. J. Gresham to January 1855 1 00 
Charles D. Pettus to January 1855 1 00 
John T. Anderson to January 1855 1 00 
William P. Tatum to January 1855 1 00 
G. Boulware to January 1855 1 00 
Miss Mary Thompson to January 1855 1 00 
L. M. King to July 1853 2 00 
J. S. Cowan to January 1855 1 00 
L. 0. Byers to January 1855 1 00 
Joseph Mann to January 1855 1 00 
William B. Randolph to January 1855 1 00 

B. C. Jones to January 1855 2 00 
Lewis C. Botts to January 1855 1 00 
William T. Noel to January 1855 1 00 
William Grimes to January 1855 1 00 
Capt. John Faulkner to January 1855 1 00 
George Blane to January 1855 1 00 
Robert Bunton to January 1855 1 00 
William C. Tucker to January 1855 1 00 
Dr. George Field to January 1855 2 00 
William Henderson to January 1855 1 00 



Dennis Simmons to January 1855 

William Callis to January 1855 

Buford Kirtley to January 1855 

Professor W. K. Pendleton to January 1855 

Dr. P. B. Pendleton to October 1854 

Powhatan Jones to September 1853 

Dr. J. H. Ellerson to January 1855 

Ronald Mills to January 1855 

W. J. Young to April 1855 

Williamson Talley to January 1855 

Benjamin L. Holladay to January 1855 

Morgan Utz to January 1855 

Thomas Scott to January 1855 

J. R. Jones to March 1855 

E. B. Jones to January 1855 

Andrew J. Wise to January 1855 

Thomas 0. Rowlett to January 1855 

J. A. Starr to January 1855 

William B. Yancey to July 1854 

William S. Miller to January 1855 

Henry Hill to January 1855 

John Irvine to September 1854 

Dr. C. Whitaker to January 1855 

J. B. Sinclair to January 1855 

Dr. W. S. Fowler to October 1854 

Edmund Henshaw to July 1854 

B. Boykin to January 1855 
E. C. Jordan to January 1855 
J. D. Whitelow to January 1855 
T. D. Morgan to January 1855 
George H. Burwell to January 1855 
W. H. Rector to January 1854 
M'Laughlin & Carter to January 1855 
Thomas W. Jones to July 1854 

A. B. Nelson to July 1854 
Robert Stringfellow to October 1854 
Granville I. Kelley to January 1855 
James F. Jones to January 1855 
John Brown to January 1854 
Thomas G. Gibson to June 1854 

C. C. Beckham to June 1854 

J. F. Hansbrough to January 1855 

W. S. Major to January 1855 

J. C. Major to January 1855 

Ambrose P. Hill to June 1854 

John C. Green to June 1854 

Daniel F. Slaughter to June 1854 

William B. Slaughter to June 1854 

S. S. Bradford to June 1854 

John A. Inskeep to June 1854 

John H. Rixey to June 1854 

Dr. R. K. Long to June 1855 

Dr. A. Taliaferro to June 1854 

John Wharton to June 1854 

Major R. C. Brown to June 1854 

James Wager to June 1854 

James L. Stringfellow to January 1854 

Dr. George Morton to January 1855 

Benjamin Farish to June 1854 

George Ficklin to June 1854 

Holden Hudgins to January 1855 

Z. C. Vaughan to January 1855 

W. C. Bell to January 1855 

Estate of N. Bell (in full) 

James A. Bell to January 1855 

Col. J. Hargrave'to January 1855 

William H. Trent to January 1855 

William H. Taylor to July 1853 

Charles Bruce to September 1856 

William G. Friend to January 1855 

0. N. Pemberton to June 1854 

Col. P. Withers to July 1854 

Garland T. Whcatley to September 1854 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



155 



WILLIAM P. LADD, 
APOTHECARY AND DRUGGIST, 

No. 319, head of Broad Street, Shockoe Hill, Rich- 
mond, Virginia. 
DEALER in English, Mediterranean, India and 
all Eoreign and Domestic Drugs and Medi- 
cines; also, Paints, Oils, Varnish, Dye-Stnffs, Win- 
dow Glass, Putty, &c. For sale on the most ac- 
commodating terms. 

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

SINTON <& SONS' NURSERY, NEAR 
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA. 

AS the season for planting has arrived, the sub- 
scribers would respectfully call the attention of 
their friends and the public generally, to their large 
and extensive collection of Fruit Trees, embrac- 
ing, perhaps, a selection that has not been surpassed, 
for the climate of Virginia, and nearly all propa- 
gated 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 Lo- 
gan Waller's Commission House, where any orders 
left will be punctually attended to, and letters ad- 
dressed to the subscribers, Richmond, will receive 
prompt attention. 

nov— tf JOSEPH SINTON & SONS. 

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, 
and carefully shipped to any part of the United 
States, for which a reasonable commission will be 
charged. 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 

GENERAL. AGENCY 

For the Sale and Purchase of Lands. 

FRAiNK: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 ^hey are willing to pay, &c. Our charges 
will be moderate. 

Office at the office of the Virginia State Agri- 
cultural Society. jan — tf 



STEPHEN H. FISHER, MANUFACTU- 
RER OF BOOTS AND SHOES, No. 228, 
j»/uad Street, north side, between 3d and 4th streets. 
Richmond, Virginia, keeps constantly on hand a 
full assortment of ready made Boots and Shoes ol 
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 qualiiies always on hand. 

fpfAU work warranted..Jpl 
f^ Farmers are invited to give him a call, 
oc — ly 



FRUIT TREES, «fcc. 

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

Plums — Coe'sGold Drop, Monroe, Royale Hative, 
Yellow Egg, or Magnum 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, White 
Doyenne, oi Virgalieu, Canton, Onondaga Tyson. 

Dwarfs, on Quince Slocks — Soldat Saborem, Doy- 
enne de Pais, Louise Bonne de Jersey, Beurre Gou- 
balt, Van Mons Leon le Ciere, Beurre Capiamount, 
Glout Morceau, Stevens' Genesee, Madeleine, Dear- 
born's Seedling, Bartlett, White Doyenne, Tyson. 

i3=-Also, Grape Vines, Asparagus Roots, Rhu- 
barb, Strawberry and Raspberry Plants of different 
varieties, Roses, Magnolias, Evergreens, Green- 
house Plants, &c. &c. JAMES GUEST, 
Hollywood Nursery, 
Square above the new Western Square, 

feb— tf Richmond. 



ZIMMERMAN & CO.'S CELEBRATED PATENT 
! PREMIUM THRESHER, CLEANER AND BAG- 
GER, which received the first premium at the Crystal Pa- 
lace, New York, this making ten premiums in two seasons, 
in competition with the most celebrated Separators of the 
day; proving conclusively, that simplicity in construction, 
cheapness in price and durability in machine, is being fully 
appreciated, and the old complicated costly separators must 
yield their place to a superior machine. This Machine, for 
threshing, separating, cleaning twice, screening and bag- 
ging, (by one simple operation,) all kinds of Grain — the 
greatest labor-saving machine extant; for simplicity, dura- 
bility, cheapness and capacity, it has no rival in the world, 
k is capable of turning out, ready for the mill or for seed, 
from 300 to 500 bushels of wheat per day, with six or eight 
horses, and eight hands — or from 500 to 800 bushels with 
twelve horses and as many hands, doing the work cleaner, 
and breaking less grain, than any machine now in use. 
This machine received the first premiums at the Maryland 
State Fair, Baltimore, in 1852- and 1853; the Washington 
County Maryland Pair ; Valley Agricultural Fair of Virginia, 
in 1852 and 1853; the Rappahannock Agricultural Society, 
at Port Royal, Virginia; Indiana State Fair, Indianapolis, 
1853. 

This machine is so simple in construction, that the one 
fan and shoe completely cleans and bags the grain, dis- 
pensing with all the complicated machinery (and consequent 
liability of derangement) in all other separators, thus making 
it more desirable to the farmer. 

§!5|PShop Prices of Zimmerman & Co.'s Thresher, 
Cleaner, Bagger and Power — Thresher, Cleaner and 
Bagger complete, 6 and 8 horses, $175; Power for same, 
$100 — making $275 for the whole complete. Thresher,/ 
Cleaner and Bagger, 36 inch Cylinder, $200; Power for 
same, $135, for 8, 10 and 12 horses. This machine is 
complete with Band, Wrenches, &c. 

fjgp References. — Samuel Sands, Esq., Editor of the 
"American Farmer;" Col. Edward Lloyd, Easton, Md.; 
Capt. D. Cox, Northumberland county, Va.; Hill Carter, 
Esq., Richmond; Richard Willis, Esq., Richmond; Col. 
Charles Carroll, near Ellicott's Mills, Md.; F. Nelson, Esq , 
Richmond; Col. B. Davenport, Jefferson county, Va.; Dr. 
Harding, Northumberland county, Va.; Captain Harding, 
Northumberland county, Va.; Hugh Nelson, Esq., Clarke 
county, Va.; Charles Mason, Esq., King George county, 
Va.; S. W. Thomas, Esq., Clarke county, Va ; Dr. T. J. 
Marlow, Frederick city, Md.; David Boyd, Esq., Frederick 
city, Md.; Ezra Houck, Frederick city, Md ; Samuel Holt, 
Middletown Valley, Md.; John Clagett, Hagerstown, Md. 

B3F The above machines are manufactured in Charles- 
town, Jefferson county, Virginia. All orders addressed to 
us will be attended to with promptness, and all Threshers 
sent out warranted to come up to the standard. 

ZIMMERMAN & CO. 

ap— 3t* 



156 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



STOVES AND FANCY IRON CASTINGS, 

Exhibited at the Virginia State Agricultural Fair, 
By Messrs. Bowers, Snyder & Carter. 

THESE Gentlemen erected Works, about two 
years since, by which they have been exten- 
sively supplying the State with articles for which 
we have heretoiore depended entirely upon northern 
foundries. 

Their Cooking Stoves have given entire satisfac- 
tion to all Virginia housewives who have used them. 
On the door of one of these we notice a representa- 
tion 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 de- 
signed to increase the draught of the fire, which is 
made to revolve vertically upon a pivot. 

These manufacturers, in a modest, unpretending 
way, are rendering good service to the State, by de- 
veloping her resources in this branch of domestic 
industry. E. B. Spence, 

H. M. Smith, 
James Pae, 
Committee on Household 



I have sold principally, for the past two years, 
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 

EAGLE FOUNDERY. 

THE subscriber having removed to the large 
Foundery, just erected by him and fitted out 
with machinery of the latest and most approved 
style, is, in addition to the manufacture of Tobacco 
Flattening Mills, prepared to receive orders for Sta- 
tionary Steam Engines, Saw and Grist Mills, Agri- 
cultural Machines, Tobacco Presses of every de- 
scription, and all kinds of Iron and Brass Castings. 
He pledges himself to execute faithfully, and with 
dispatch, all work entrusted to him, and "respectfully 
solictsacall from his friends and the public generally. 
The highest cash prices paid for old cast iron, 
brass and copper. " PHILIP RAHM, 

ja— ly Cary, between Pearl and 15th sts. 



W 'ANTED, an Overseer who understands the manage- 
ment of Stock as well as the cultivation of Wheat 
and Corn, to go to Matthews county, Virginia. None need 
apply without the best recommendations as to qualification, 
character and industry. Apply to 

ap— 3t* PUBLISHER OP SO. PLANTER. 

HAY PRESS. — I am making a superior and highly ap- 
proved Hay Press, with which three men can com- 
press from three to five tons of hay per day. It attracted 
much attention at the late fair, and was awarded the highest 
premium. H. BALDWIN, 

mar— 3t 148 Main Street, Richmond. 



OUPERIOR SWINE AND PREMIUM POULTRY.— 

O I am prepared to engage pigs by my large Byefield and 
superior Suffolk boars, from matchless sows of the following 
breeds : Byefield, Suffolk, Skinner, Essex, Chester, Dela-* 
ware, Cheshire and Russian — most of them of mammoth \ 
size. 

The finest collection of ornamental and domestic Poultry 
in Virginia — receiving the premium as the finest collection 
and upon individual pairs. They consist of the following : 
Brahma Pootra, Imperial Chinese, Colatta, Dorking, Span- 
gled Hamburg, Seabright and African Bantams, Sumatra 
Pheasant Game, Ablin Game, Mexican Game, Ebon Game, 
Crested Turkey, Purple Turkey, Pure White Turkey, Bre- 
men Geese, Hong Kong Geese, Wild Geese, Crested Black 
and White Ducks, Java Ducks, Penguin Ducks, Rouen 
Ducks, Aylesbury Ducks, Pure White Guinea Fowls, Ita- 
lian Pea Fowl, Madagascar or Lopped Eared Rabbits — ears 
22 inches long, 5 broad. 

The above are bred in separate apartments, and can be 
obtained at moderate prices by addressing 

JOHN G. TURPIN, 

mar — tf Clover Dale, near Petersburg, Va. 



BROWN & SHOOK, General Commission and For- 
warding Merchants, corner Union and Franklin streets, 
Richmond, Virginia. All business carefully and promptly 
executed. mar — ly 



UNITED STATES HOTEL., 

(formerly union,) 

Comer s(f Main and Nineteenth Streets, Richmond ', 
J. E. NORRIS, Proprietor. 
mar — tf Price of Board, per day, $1 50. 



GREAT REDUCTION IN PRICES OF HATS AND 
BOOTS.— J. H. ANTHONY'S Fashionable Hat 
Store, Columbian Hotel Corner. The cheapest place in 
the city of Richmond to buy hats and boots is at the above 
store, where every article sold may be relied on as repre- 
sented. By this means he has gained a good run of cus- 
tom, and his customers feel satisfied. Below is a list ot his 
prices, which will be strictly adhered to: 

Best quality moleskin, - - - $3 50 

Second quality moleskin, - - 3 00 

Best quality silk, - - - 2 50 

Second quality silk, - - - 2 00 

Fine Calfskin Sewed Boots only three dollars and fifty 
cents. 

Also, Caps, Shoes and Umbrellas. 

J. H. Anthony has made an arrangement with one of the 
best makers in the city of Philadelphia to supply him with 
a handsome and substantial calfskin sewed Boot, which he 
will sell at the unprecedented low price of three dollars and 
fifty cents. The attention of gentlemen is respectfully soli- 
cited, as they are the best and cheapest boots that have ever m 
been offered for sale in this city. He intends to keep but 
the one kind, and sell them at one price. mar '54 — tf 



AGRICULTURAL WAREHOUSE. — The subscriber 
continues to manufacture Agricultural Machines, viz. 
Horse Powers, Threshers, Fan Mills, Hunt's Patent Wheat 
Drill, Hay Rakes, Hay Presses, Straw Cutters, Corn Shelt- 
ers, Hillside and Subsoil Ploughs, Corn and Cob Crushers, 
Cultivators, Harrows, &c, all of which will be made in the 
best manner and the most approved patterns. My Horse 
Power and Thresher, with self-oilin<r box, have been in use 
three seasons, and uniformly pronounce 1 the best in use. 

Machines repaired, Castings in Ircn and Brass furnished 
at short notice. H. BALDWIN, 

mar — 3t 148 Main Street, Richmond. 



MANNY'S PATENT REAPER AND MOWER.— 
This machine has been extensively tested for the last 
two years in the Northern and Western States, and pro- 
nounced the best in use — a premium has been awarded to 
it at every fair at which it has been exhibited. It is desirable 
that those who may want a Reaper, or Reaper and Mower, 
should forward their orders early, to avoid disappointment. 

H. BALDWIN, 
mar — 3t 148 Main Street, Richmond. 



IIVE STOCK AGENCY.— In compliance with repeated 
J solicitation, the subscriber offers his services tor the 
purchase of Horses, Cattle, Sheep, Swine and Poultry. His 
long acquaintance with different breeds and breeders of 
these animals, gives him superior facilities for procuring 
the best. SANFORD HOWARD, 

Office of the Boston Cultivator, Boston, Mass. 
N. B. — Some of ihe best Suffolk and Essex Pigs can be 
had in this section, at $30 per pair, at two months old. 
mar — 3t 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



157 



PREMIUM THRESHERS. 

FARMERS wishing to obtain these superior 
machines, will secure themselves against dis 
appointment and confer a great favor upon the sub- 
scriber by giving their orders as early as convenient. 

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

The Pitts Patent Thresher, with separator and 
cleaner attached, to clean wheat or other grain at 
one operation, is placed prominently in advance of 
all machines aiming to accomplish this object by 
having the first premium offered for the best machine 
for this purpose awarded to it. Although the one 
exhibited by me was a very rough one, and gotten 
on the ground in a great hurry and exhibited with- 
out even a decent coat of paint upon it — and under 
many other disadvantages. The machine manufac- 
tured for the exhibition could not be gotten here in 
time. 

Persons wishing to procure this superior and 
justly celebrated machine, may obtain full descrip- 
tion of its peculiar advantages and adaptedness for 
large estates or for a travelling machine to thresh 
for toll, by addressing the subscriber, who is sole 
agent here. 

I have a few of the above machines ready for 
work, but on account of the heavy expense o£ get- 
ting them up, and the length of time necessarily 
consumed in doing so, it is very important to get all 
orders as early as possible. 

Price of horse power, with thresher, separator, 

and cleaner, in one frame and mounted upon wheels 

for moving from field to field or from farm to farm, 

Ah $400. This machine can be seen at my Factory, 

■and any inquiries by lctterwill be answered promptly. 

Premium Straw Cutters, 

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

I wish to ask especial attention to my Patent 
Straw Cutter for hand purposes. This machine re- 
ceived the first premium at the Virginia State Fair, 
and also at the Rappahannock River Society's Fair, 
and at the Norfolk Fair, and has the unqualified 
recommendation of many thousands now using them. 
Price SI 0, warranted to give satisfaction on trial. I 
am also manufacturing Smith's patent double plough, 
known as the Michigan Double Plough. This 
plough received the first premium offered for a 
three horse plough, which was divided between the 
subscriber and Mr. French, who exhibited the same 
plough, as will be seen by official report in Planter 
as above. 

I have Hussey's Reapers ready for the next har- 
vest: please call and examine. 

H. M. SMITH. 

feb— 4t 



BOOKS, PIANOS, MUSIC, &c. 

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



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

The Chemical Field Lectures for Agriculturists, 
by Dr. J. A. Stockhardt; translated from the Ger- 
man: edited with notes by James E. Tesehemaeher. 

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 Ame- 
rican Agriculture, being a practical treatise on soils, 
manures, draining, &c. and every staple product of 
the United States, with the best methods of planting, 
cultivatingand preparation formarket, by R. L. Allen 

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

The Monthly Journal ofAgriculture, containing 
the best current productions in promotion of agri- 
cultural 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 disco- 
veries 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 Con- 
nection 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, Skin- 
ner 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. 



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, 

ja — tf Woodville Depot, Albemarle, Va. 



ANALYSIS OF SOILS, &c. 

THE undersigned is prepared to execute the an- 
alyses 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. 



158 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 




KOSSUTH. 

THIS fine bred young trotting stallion 
having commenced his season at the stable of 
the subscriber, on the Mechanicsville Turn- 
pike, one mile from the city of Richmond, 
will, on the first of April, be at the farm of 
Mr. Thomas J. Dean, four miles above Goochland Court 
House, where he will also make a regular stand of two days 
in each week throughout the season. In passing Mr. Sam'l 
Duval's, (Powel's old tavern,) he will make a short stay, 
giving those in that neighborhood an opportunity of securing 
his services. The season to close on the 1st of July. 

Terms. — $20 the season, if paid previous. to the 1st of 
July, or $25 after that time; and $30 to insure — insurance 
forfeited by parting with a mare, and all mares considered 
by the season, unless expressly understood to the contrary. 
Groom's fee $1. 

Kossuth was foaled in Columbia county, State of New 
York, on the 9th of July, 1847; is a beautiful rich dark 
brown, five feet two and a half inches high, of great mus- 
cular power and symmetry of form, docile disposition, and 
can trot his mile inside of three minutes, and has been pro- 
nounced by trainers the most promising young horse they 
had ever seen. His colts, dropped last spring, are equal to 
any in the State, and as a proof of it, $200 a piece has been 
refused for several of them when six months old. 

Pedigree. — Was sired by the renowned trotting horse 
New York Black Hawk, out of the trotting mare Lady of 
the Lake. The sire of Black Hawk was the celebrated 
stallion Andrew Jackson, (the sire also of Kemble Jackson, 
Henry Clay, Miller's Damsel, and a large number of other 
fast ones,) the fastest trotting horse" of his day — having 
beaten Daniel D. Tompkins, Fire King, Lady Warrington, 
Modesty and others. He was sired by Young Bashaw, 
who was by imported Grand Bashaw, and he by Wildair, 
and Wildair by Cade, who was by the Godolphin Arabian. 
Tjhe dam of Andrew Jackson was Whynot, and she by 
imported Messenger. 

Black Hawk's dam was the distinguished trotting mare 
Sally Miller, who has trotted her mile in two minutes and 
thirty seconds, and was not excelled by any horse of her 
time. She was got by Tippoo Saib, and he by imported 
Messenger, her dam by Gunpowder. Black Hawk's time 
with heavy weight is the best on record up to the time of 
his death, and established his claim to be the best trotting 
stallion in America. 

Performances of Black Hawk. — November 17th, 
1847, beat Jenny Lind over the Union Course, match $500, 
mile heats— Black Hawk to a 250 lb. wagon, Jenny Lind 
to a skeleton wagon, weighing about 75 lbs. — winning the 
first and third heats in 2:40 — 2:43; Jenny Lind winning 
the second in 2:38. 

April 25th, 1848, beat Lady Sutton over the Union Course, 
in a match for $700, with an inside stake of $500, mile 
heats, best three in five, 250 lb. wagons — time, 2:43 — 2:43 — 
2:42— 2:45|. 

May 15th, 1848, beat Americus over the Union Course 
in a match for $2000, three mile heats, to 250 lb. wagons- 
time, 8:31 — 8:36; for further performances, see Turf Re- 
gister for 1847 and 1848, where will also be seen the chal- 
lenge of his owner to trot him against any horse in the 
world, for any amount, from $500 to $5000, which chal- 
lenge never was accepted. Subsequently, $13,000 was re- 
fused for him. Honest John, half brother to Kossuth, has 
also distinguished himself on the turf, as a horse of un- 
common speed and power, with heavy weight. 

In 1850, he started ten times for purses and stakes, and 
won eight. 

In 1851, he started eight times, winning five. 
June 22d, 1852, over the Union Course, he beat Black 
Harry, in a match for $1200, two mile heats, to wagons — 
time, 5:27—5:28. 

October 18th, 1852, for a purse and stake of $550, he 
beat True John, two mile heats, to 250 lb. wagons — time, 
2:28^—5:37^. 

June 1st, 1853, Kemble Jackson, (half brother to Black 
Hawk,) trotted over the Union Course against five of the 
best horses in this country, for a stake and purse of $4000, 
three mile heata, to 250 lb. wagons, winning in two straight 



heats without making a break, in the unparalleled time of 
8:03— 8:04£, and for whom his owner refused $16,000. 

September 21st, 1853, Miller's Damsel, (half sister to 
Black Hawk,) in a match for $500, over the Centreville « 
Course, beat Jenny Lind, mile heats, best three in five, to ' 
wagons — wagon and driver weighing 470 lbs., winning the 
first, third and fourth heats — time, 2:49 — 2:46 — 2:47. 

October 19th, 1853, in a match for $500, over the Cen- 
treville Course, mile heats, best three in five, to 250 lb. 
wagons, beat Lady Haynes in three straight heats — time, 
2:43—2:47—2:49. 

Aprd 21st, 1853, Black Douglass, a grandson of Andrew 
Jackson, made his first appearance on the turf over the 
Hunting Park Course, in a match with Flora Temple, for 
$500, mile heats, best three in five, in harness, and won in 
three straight heats — time, 2:35£ — 2:30J — 2:35. 

Cassius M. Clay, to whom was awarded the first pre- 
mium, last October, at the Springfield, Massachusetts, Na- 
tional Horse Exhibition, is also a grandson of Andrew 
Jackson. 

Lady of the Lake, the dam of Kossuth, without training 
has trotted her mile in 2:49, and as a roadster, was not sur- 
passed for game and endurance. She was by Sherman 
Morgan; her dam a thoroughbred Mambrino mare. 

Thus it will be seen that Kossuth is not a chance horse, 
but belongs to a trotting family, and the very best in Ame- 
rica, and traces his blood through a long line of choice an- 
cestors — all celebrated for speed and great endurance — and 
goes back to some of the purest Arabian and English 
horses ; and I assert, without fear of contradiction, that he 
is the best bred trotting stallion that has ever crossed the 
Potomac. 

Persons wishing to breed fast and serviceable road stock, 
are invited to call and examine the horse, and they can also 
have an opportunity to see him move, and I think I can 
satisfy them that he is not only a descendant of trotters, but 
is himself a trotting horse. 

Persons sending mares from a distance can have them 
well taken care of at my stable at forty cents per day r and 
those sent to Mr. Dean's farm, at a reasonable price. 

Richmond, April, 1854.— tf H. J. SMITH 



AT THE SOUTHERN AGRICULTURAL IMPLE- 
MENT MANUFACTORY AND SEED STORE, 

can be found a large collection of the strongest and most 
useful articles for the Southern farmer, as will be seen by 
reference to the report of the committee on that branch at 
the Virginia State Agricultural Fair., held here in November 
last, that the premium for the largest, strongest and most 
useful collection of Implements was awarded to Mott, Lewis 
& Co. We are daily adding to our assortment from our 
large Machine Depot, Ploughs of all kinds from the most 
approved patterns now in use. Among them may be found 
the justly celebrated Wiley or Mott Plough, with double 
points; Minor & Horten of Nos. 18, 18£ up to No. 22; 
Hitchcock, Nos. 21 and 21J ; improved Davis', both wrought 
and cast share; improved M'Cormick, improved Livingston, 
from the original patterns, and many other kinds too nu- 
merous to mention. Also, castings for all ploughs, by the 
piece or ton ; Corn Cultivators of different kinds ; Tobacco 
Cultivators; Harrows, from one-horse up to four-horse; 
Corn Shellers, from the single spout up to the Virginia 
Sheller and the Premium Mumma Sheller; Corn and Cob 
Crushers; Straw Cutters of all patterns from $7 up to $55; 
Grain Cradles of the most approved patterns ; Grass Snathes ; 
Churns, Ox Yokes, Store Trucks, Hay and Straw Forks, 
from 62 J cents up to $1 50; Spades, Shovels, and many 
other articles too numerous to mention. Also, Landreth's 
best Garden and Field Seeds. All of which will be sold 
on as reasonable terms as they can be had from any North- 
ern city. Call and examine for yourselves. 

MOTT, LEWIS & WILLSON, 
ap — 4t Sign of the Plough, No. 36 Main Street. 



M'CONNELL & BURTON, 
DENTISTS, 

Main Street, between 9th and 10th Streets, Richmond, Va. 

JOHN M'CONNELL. W. LEIGH BURTON. 

ap— tf 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



159 



GENERAL AGENCY AND COMMISSION BUSI- 
NESS. — The subscriber tenders his thanks for the 
many calls heretofore received, and again offers his services 
on reasonable terms. Now for sale many Farms in Mary- 
ryland and Virginia, Stallions, Bulls, Bucks, Boars, of im- 
proved stock; improved Fowls of all kinds; Mares, Cows, 
Ewes, Sows; Ewes one-half and three-fourths Cotswold; 
Calves at three months old, one-half Alderney ; South Down 
Ewes with their lambs. For particulars address (post paid) 
the subscriber, MARTIN GOLDSBOROUGH, 

38 Holliday Street, Baltimore, Maryland. 
P. S. — Answers to letters particularly desired. M. G. 
may — tf 

REMOVAL.— SAMUEL SUTHERLAND respectfully 
informs his friends and the public that he has removed 
his Gun and Pistol Store from his late stand, opposite 
the Banks, to a house opposite Eagle Square, in room No. 
132, which has been handsomely fitted up, especially for 
the accommodation of himself and his patrons, and where 
he is now opening a new and splendid assortment of Guns, 
Pistols, Cutlery, Canes, Fishing Tackle, and all kinds of 
goods desired by Southern Sportsmen, embracing many 
articles useful to farmers and housekeepers generally — all 
of which he offers at reasonable prices, by wholesale or re- 
tail. Thankful for past favors, he respectfully invites his 
friends and customers to call and see him at his new stand, 
may — 3t 

VALUABLE ALBEMARLE FARM FOR SALE.— The 
subscriber offers for sale that valuable and well known 
farm, the D. S., situated on the waters of Ivy Creek, 3h 
miles from the University of Virginia, 4| from Charlottes- 
ville, and immediately on the Staunton and Charlottesville 
Turnpike, and Virginia Central Rail Road, in one of the 
most beautiful sections of the State, and in a neighborhood 
long proverbial for its highly cultivated society, its fertile 
lands, its pure and abundant water and general healthful- 

i ness; also possessing the greatest facilities to the best of 
markets. The D. S. contains 695 acres, about one hundred 
acres in timber, and the balance in a fine state of improve- 
ment. It has for many years been considered one of the 
most productive farms in the county, producing finely all 

j the various crops of this section. There is an abundant 
supply of running water in every field, and large portions 
of the farm could be converted into watered meadow. The 
improvements are good and of every variety. Being anxious 
to sell, terms will be made very accommodating. Address 
GEO. B. STEPHENS, 
ap — tf Woodville Depot, Albemarle, Va. 



SUTTON & BROTHER, Commission and Forwarding 
Merchants, north side Basin, between 11th and 12th 
streets, Richmond, Virginia, will give their personal atten- 
tion to the sale of Flour, Tobacco, Wheat, Corn, and all kinds 
of Country Produce; also to the purchase and shipment of 
Guano, Plaster, Agricultural Implements, &c, and will at- 
tend promptly to the forwarding of all articles intrusted to 
their care. 

References. — Messrs. Kent, Paine & Kent, Richmond; 
Sterling Claiborne, Esq. Nelson ; Daniel H. Hoge, Esq. Mont- 
gomery; George D. Davis, Esq. Lynchburg; Dr. Archibald 
Graham, Board of Public Works; Hon. R. M. T. Hunter, 
Virginia ; Hon. Paulus Powell, Virginia ; John I. Donaldson, 
Esq. Baltimore; Messrs. Conkling, Barnes & Shepherd, 
New York ; Messrs. Blair & Merwin, New York. 

N. B. — Liberal advances made on consignments. 

FRANCIS V. SUTTON. Jr. 

ap— 2t* CORYDON H. SUTTON. 



PREMIUM WHEAT FANS.— We are sole Agents for 
the Rockaway Fan, for which the premium was awarded 
at the Virginia State Agricultural Fair in November last, 
and are prepared to receive orders for the same at the ma- 
nufacturer's prices in Baltimore. We have also for sale 
Hickok's Premium Cider Mill, at manufacturer's price; 
Taylor's Patent Hames, the very best article now in use. 
All of which we shall be happy to supply our customers 
with at our Southern Agricultural Implement Manufactory 
and Seed Store, sign of the Plough, No. 36 Main Street, 
ap— 4t MOTT, LEWIS & WILLSON. 



QOUTHERN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT MA- 
IO NUFACTORY AND SEED STORE.— We would call 
the particular attention of farmers to our Horse-Powers and 
Threshing Machines, that we and many others consider the 
best in use, on account of simplicity, durability and economy 
to the user; easy kept in order, giving little or no dust to 
the feeder; the strongest and most durable in use. We 
call the attention of those in want to send in their orders as 
early as possible, as we do not wish to disappoint any who 
may be in want of a good machine, as we were unable to 
supply the demand last year for a great many, owing to 
not receiving the orders in time. We build from four-horse 
sweep power to twelve-horse. Also Mott, Lewis & Willson's 
Wrought Iron Railway Horse-Power for one or two horses. 
All of which we warrant to give entire satisfaction, and do 
more work in a given time, according to team, than any 
machine in this State. We will refer to a few gentlemen, 
if necessary, who live in different counties, and have used 
our machines, so that those, who are in want of a superior 
machine can inquire of its merits : Francis Nelson, G. T. 
Brumly and Dr. L. C. Crump, New Kent; Col. Thomas 
Willcox, Dr. William A. Selden and Dr. James Willcox, 
Charles City ; Dr. N. M. Osburn, Prince George ; J. P. Ta- 
liaferro, York county ; Fielding Taylor, T. M. Stubblefield, 
William H. Roy and W. P. Smith, Gloucester; Henry Cox, 
Henrico; George Taylor, Hanover; William M. Harrison 
and H. L. Brook, Richmond city; Colonel Hancock and A. 
W. Dunn, Chesterfield; Robert Dunn, Petersburg; Hon. 
Wm. S. Archer, Dr. Scott, V. Archer and W. V. Southall, 
Amelia ; William E. Green, Charlotte ; Randolph Harrison 
and Julian Harrison, Goochland; I. R. Barksdale, Albe- 
marle; D. C. Dejarnett, Caroline; Col. C. G. Coleman, 
Louisa; H. M. Nelson, Clarke, and many other gentlemen, 
who have used our machine, and any of those gentlemen 
will, with pleasure, give their opinion of its qualities. We 
also manufacture Zimmermann's Improved Machine for 
threshing, cleaning and bagging at one operation. This 
machine is gotten up in the best manner, of the best mate- 
rials, and warranted to perform well. It has taken the 
premium over the Pitts' New York or Buffalo Machine at 
several fairs, and it is classed a No. 1 machine. We manu- 
facture three sizes, 24, 30 and 36 inch machines, four, eight 
and twelve-horse powers, and cheaper than any other ma- 
chine for the same purpose. Those who are in want of a 
first class Thresher will please send in their orders early. 
Thankful for past favors, we shall endeavor to merit a con- 
tinuance of the same. 

MOTT, LEWIS & WILLSON, 
Sign of the Plough, No. 36 Main Street. 
ap— 3t 



LAND FOR SALE.— Two tracts, one of 33 7£ acres, near 
New Glasgow, good improvements, red soil, very sure 
for wheat; part in clover and timothy. Also, 993 acres, 
within five miles of Buffalo Springs, thirteen of the Canal ; 
fine tobacco and grain land, with three tenements; about 
four hundred acres cleared and in good heart. Post paid 
letters for particulars, directed to New Glasgow, Amherst, 
Virginia, will be promptly attended to. 

mar— 3t* I. I. & J. M. HITE. 

JW. SMITH, Plumber and Gas Fitter, 13th Street, 
• between Main and Cary, Richmond, Va. Bath Tubs, 
Water Closets and all other Water Fixtures, Gas Pipe and 
Fixtures put up to order; Hydraulic Rams, Lift and Force 
Pumps for Farms, Rail Road Stations, Mills, &c. &c. put up 
at short notice. Orders from the country promptly attended 
to. 

J. W. S. will attend to laying down Cast Iron Pipe for 
Water or Gas Works in any part of the United States. 

mar — tf 

PURE GAME FOWLS.— The subscriber takes pleasure 
in the announcement to the public of his stock of Game 
Fowls, which he keeps on hand and for sale. Thorough- 
breds from the best stock of Earl of Derby, Brush Head, 
Mexican, Guillotine and Creole Game. Prices ranging from 
two to ten dollars per pair, according to quality and age. 
Fowls sent to any part of the United States in good order. 
Address JOHN M'L. ANDERSON, 

ap— tf Ruther Glen P. O., Caroline Co., Va. 






160 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



CONTENTS OF NUMBER V. 

PAGE 

Essay on Improving and Enriching Poor Land 129 

Essays on Agriculture, No. 1 • • • • • 135 

Digested or Undigested Straw 136 

Management of Small Gardens 137 

The Game Fowl 138 

Culture and Management of Tobacco in Connecticut" 139 

To Make Good Starch '• 140 

Important Improvement in the Manufacture of Flour •• 141 

Squashes and Pumpkins 142 

Chickens 143 

The Morgan Hunter, with a Cut 144 

The Currycomb 144 

Necessity of Good Stock to Virginia Farmers, and How 

they may Get it 145 

Award of Planter Premiums 147 

Oats and Late Corn for Hogs 147 

Derby's Horticultural Review and Botanical Magazine- 147 
Report of Gen. William H. Richardson to the Virginia 

State Agricultural Society 148 

A Treatise on the Culture of Corn 150 

Drying House for Fruit 151 

Sowing Corn for Fodder 152 

Water Fence 153 

To Grow a Beautiful Arbor 153 



DR. M'LANE'S VERMIFUGE. 

fpgp*" During a practice of more than twenty years, Dr. 
M'Lane had attended innumerable patients afflicted with 
every form of worm disease, and was induced to apply all 
the energies of his mind to the discovery of a vermifuge, 
or worm destroyer, certain in its effects ; the result of his 
labors is the American Worm Specific, now before the public, 
which is perfectly safe, and may be given alike to children 
of the most tender age, or to the aged adult; it purges 
mildly and subdues fever, and destroys worms with inva- 
riable success. It is easy of administration, and as it does 
not contain mercury in any form whatever, no restrictions 
are necessary with regard to drinking cold water, nor is it 
capable of doing the least injury to the tenderest infant. 
An incredible number of worms have been expelled by this 
great vermifuge. 

Purchasers will please be careful to ask for Dr. M'Lane's 
Celebrated Vermifuge, and take none else. All other ver- 
mifuges, in comparison, are worthless. Dr. M'Lane's ge- 
nuine Vermifuge, also his Celebrated Liver Pills, can now 
be had at all respectable drug stores in the United States 
and Canada. 

The Great Restorative. — Fever and Ague Cured 
by Dr. M'Lane's Liver Pills. — Mr. Jonathan Hougham 
of West Union, Park county, Illinois, writes to the proprie- 
tors that he had suffered greatly from a severe and pro- 
tracted attack of fever and ague, and was completely re- 
stored to health by the use of the Liver Pills alone. These 
pills unquestionably possess great tonic properties, and can 
be taken with decided advantage for many diseases requiring 
invigorating remedies; but the Liver Pills stand pre-eminent 
as a means of restoring a disorganized liver to healthy 
action ; hence the great celebrity they have attained. The 
numerous formidable diseases arising fron^ a diseased liver, 
which so long baffled the skill of the most eminent physi- 
cians of the United States, are now rendered easy of cure, 
thanks to the study and perseverance of the distinguished 
physician whose name this great medicine bears — a name 
which will descend to posterity as one deserving of grati- 
tude. This invaluable medicine should always be kept 
within reach; and on the appearance of the earliest symp- 
toms of diseased liver, it can be safely and usefully admi- 
nistered. 

Purchasers will please be careful to ask for Dr. 
M'Lane's Celebrated Liver Pills, and take none else. There 
are other pills, purporting to be liver pills, now before the 
public. Dr. M'Lane's Liver Pills, also his Celebrated Ver- 
mifuge, can now be had at all respectable drug stores in the 
United States and Canada. 

For sale by PURCELL, LADD & CO. 

may — It Corner Main and 14th street, Richmond. 



GREAT PREMIUM FAN, patented December 20, 1853. 
Montgomery's Celebrated Double Screen Rockaway 
Wheat Fan, has, during the past year, been proved to bf , S 
the best Fan ever offered in the Middle States, having takei* I 
premiums over all that have been offered to the public from 
every quarter of the United States. It took the first pre- 
mium at the Maryland State Agricultural Society's Exhibi- 
tion, in October last, where all the most celebrated Fans 
were in competition. 

The first premium at the Virginia State Agricultural So- 
ciety's Exhibition, in November last. 

The Maryland Institute awarded silver medals to it at its j 
Exhibitions in 1852 and 1853, as superior to all others on j 
exhibition. 

The first premium was awarded at the Talbot County j 
(Maryland) Show, in 1852; and 

The first premium at the Prince George's County (Mary- : 
land) Exhibition, in 1853, by the special vote of the Society, 
in consequence of its superiority and value, it being con- : 
trary to their standing rules to award premiums to articles i 
made out of the county. 

We annex the following certificate from a respectable far- : 
mer of St. Mary's county, and any number of others could ] 
be published if necessary, all tending to show the decided \ 
superiority of this Fan over any others that have ever been < 
introduced in the Middle States — and as the manufacturers j 
devote their whole attention to this one article, and rely for 
its continued success upon the faithfulness of its make, as i 
well as the superiority of its principles of construction, far- \ 
mers and others may rely on having their Fans made of i 
the best materials and workmanship. 

St. Geramers, St. Mary's Co., Md., Oct. 6, 1S53. 

This is to certify, that I have tried Messi-s. J. Montgo- 
mery & Brother's Wheat Fan in some tailings I made in 
cleaning a part of my crop, which I did not think could be 
made worth anything ; it extracted from a bushel and 
half of filth about three pecks of pure wheat. I must say- 
that I never saw a Fan that can even come in competition 
with J. Montgomery & Brother's Rockaway Wheat Fan, 
for screening wheat. Benjamin M'Kay. 

REFERENCES. 

City of Baltimore: John S. Williams, foot of Commerce 
street; Messrs. Seth & Godwin, No. 4 Bowly's wharf; E. 

B. Harris, No. 4 Bowly's wharf; Michael Dorsey, Light 
street; Thos. J. Hall, Light street; N. E. Berry, Lombard 
street, near Charles; R. D. Burns, foot of Bowly's wharf; 
Mr. Wilmer, No. 2 Bowly's wharf — all commission mer- 
chants. 

Virginia references: Hon. William S. Archer, Virginia; 
Gen. B. Peyton, Virginia; Hill Carter, Virginia; Lewis G. 
Harvey, Virginia; Rowlett Hardy & Co., Petersburg; A. 

C. Lane, Richmond; Robert Cole, Richmond, Virginia ; M 
Heartwall, D. I. Payner, James B. Lundy, J. Ravenscrc 
Jones, Geo. W. Field, Col. Isham Trotter, John WinbeiJ- I 
Win. Towns, Jas. Hays, Sr., Dr. Wm. W. Oliver, Samuel 
M'Gehee, William M. Watkins, William I. Scott. 

We are prepared to sell State or County rights to tht 
who wish to manufacture our Fan. 

All orders addressed to the undersigned at the Baltimore 
City (Md.) Post Office, will be promptly attended to. 
J. MONTGOMERY & BRO. 
No. 155 N. High st., between Hillen and Gay streets, 
may — ly Baltimore. 



SUFFOLK PIGS.— The subscribers are prepared to re- 
ceive orders for pure Suffolk Pigs, bred from stock im- 
ported by the late William Stickney in 1848, and by the 
subscribers in January; also an importation of twelve in 
October, 1S53. Address 

JOSIAH STICKNEY, Watertown, 
Or, ISAAC STICKNEY, Boston, Mass. 
ap— 3t 



IMPROVED SUPER PHOSPHATE OF LIME— The 
subscriber is manufacturing the above at his Bone Mill, 
a short distance from the city, of the best and purest kind 
Farmers are requested to examine his before purchasing 
elsewhere; the quality will speak for itself, and his price is 
the same as that manufactured out of the State. 

may— tf R. R. DUVAL.