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THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

For the Southern Planter. BOOK FARMING.

JWr. Editor, —Permit me to relate to you an anecdote which happened to dispel, in one instance at least, the horror so universally entertained of book farming. My nearest neighbor, Mr. A. is a strong minded but conceited and uneducated man. Fie is withal possessed of a good deal of practical knowledge, and has been tolerably successful in his operations. Some four or five years ago, I came into the neighborhood quite a novice, and very gladly availed myself of the information which my neighbor, very good naturedly but very pompously afforded me. At that time I took the Cultivator, and imagined I was receiving much information from its pages: my sagacious neighbor, however, who had begun to entertain some hopes of my eventually making a former, under his instructions, quite gave* me up, I believe, when he found that I was induced to place airy dependence in what he sneeringly called "working by book rules." I argued the matter with him, but all to no purpose; at length I hit upon the following expedient: I wrote him a little note, requesting him to send me his plan for the cultivation of sweet potatoes, in the culture of which his pride had been much elated by his notorious success. With this request he promptly complied, and wrote me very full and satisfactory directions on the subject. This communication I forwarded to the late Judge Buel, and it appeared in the next number of the Cultivator. I sent the paper over to Mr. A. with a note stating that the directions, although valuable in themselves, had become worthless because having been printed, they now properly came under the head of book farming. Not even the old gentleman's own argument when turned upon himself, was powerful enough to persuade him that any advice, emanating from so sage a person as himself, could be rendered valueless, even by being printed: and although he at first manifested a little pettishness at the trick put on him, not many weeks afterwards I found the Cultivator on his table, and he has since acknowledged to me that the young and inexperienced ought certainly to apply to their older and better informed friends for advice ; he begins to think that putting the advice in print does not hurt it at all; but he still insists, (drawing himself up with considerable importance,) that nobody but an individual rather advanced in life, skilful and experienced, should be permitted to write for agricultural papers. I only answer him, with a complimentary bow, that none others ought to be permitted to give advice.

Mr. A. is now a book farmer, and having united the experience of others with his own shrewd observations, begins to be in reality, what he conceited himself to be five years ago.

A Farmer.

From the Farmers' Cabinet. DISEASES IN HORSES.

Mr. Editor, —"An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure." A great many remedies for cholic, grubs, &c. have been at various times suggested, of more or less value. I once applied to a celebrated stock man for the best remedy for grubs ; his answer was " keep a plenty of salt ahvaj 7 s within reach of your horse's mouth." Upon this hint I acted, and have now for five years been using troughs divided into three parts, the middle for grain or mixed food, one end boxed up to the floor for long food, with a box for salt at the other end : if that box is ever found without salt my feeder gets an overhauling. This as well for my cattle as my horses, for they are all stalled. Now, sir, I know cf no other respect in which my mode of feeding differs from my neighbors, and yet since I have adopted this plan, with an average of thirty head of stock, I have not known a single case of disease amongst them. If by it I have saved the life of only 1113- meanest ox, I have made three hundred per cent, on the cost, which is as good an outlaj 7 as ought to be expected at farming.

When I see some of my neighbors calculating that the cultivation of such a root will pay fifty per cent.; such a new variety of com an hundred, I frequency laugh in my sleeve, because I know that the men proposing these magnificent returns, are, at that very moment, entirely indifferent to an hundred little fixtures, that, would pay three or four hundred per cent, by the saving and facilities they would cause. My rule is, if I have ten dollars, to ask myself how I can invest it to give me the greatest return, and until I get my farm rich, and provided with certain fixtures and conveniences, 1 am not going to any extraordinary outlay for improved corn, spring wheat, or Berkshire pigs; because I know that I am yet in want of several things, that will repay me many fold better than improved corn or pigs either. I want to "prepare my cage before I buy my bird." Am I not right 1

Yours, &c. Martin.

To a certain extent, if we may be permitted to say so, we assuredly think our correspondent, Martin, is right. We have certainly seen some, young- beginners especially, allured by the extravagant calculation sometimes made by sanguine writers, invest money and labor in projects (good perhaps in themselves,) to the neglect of somematter, much more material tothem at that particular juncture, which heing more familiar, was not perhaps so attractive. As our writer says, the mere fact, that such an investment will probably be profitable, should not always induce one to make it. The question should be, is it the best investment that could be made under the particular circumstances of the case? \\ c think we have seen some farmers with fencing very indifferent, stabling not of the best, or pastures of the richest, who had laid out large sums of money in buying fine Durham cattle, at high prices. We are not

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sure but that some such idea, as that the cage had better have been fixed before the bird was caught, did come across our minds upon such occasions.

CAPITAL.

We have been permitted to copy the following from a letter, written by a very celebrated agriculturist of this state, to his son, who had consulted him as to the propriety of selecting agriculture as a profession:

My Dear Son:

The occupation you propose to adopt, is one highly honorable in itself, and one that 1 think peculiarly suited to your investigating mind and industrious habits. But let me warn you thai it is one much misunderstood, and one, in which frequent mistakes and miscalculations are made in the outset.

One of the greatest errors committed in farm ing, arises from an erroneous impression that this business may be undertaken with less capital than most others. This I conceive to be the prolific source of many difficulties, which will readily suggest themselves to the mind of any one, who has been engaged in conducting a manufactory of any kind. How often is it that we see a manufacturing establishment, in itself good, and under favorable auspices profitable, failing entirely for want of necessary capital? How, in this respect, does the farmer differ from the manufacturer? What is he, indeed, but a manufacturer? How ofien does the most pressing work remain undone, and the season pass unimproved for want of means to procure necessary labor or implements ? How ofien is the farmer working at the greatest disadvantage with old or imperfect tools, because he lacks the means of purchasing new ones? Like every other producer, he is obliged to spend money before he can get it back, and it is the height of folly to commence the business without sufficient float 111*2: capital, to meet contingent expenses. The mechanic knows that, unless he can provide a sufficient capital, not only to lay in a certain amount of stock, but also a sufficient sum in ready money to meet unavoidable and contingent expenses, he had better remain a journeyman in the employment of others; but the inexperienced farmer imagines that if he can get credit upon his land, and hire his negroes, he may trust to Providence for the balance. Is it wonderful that he is disappointed, and that when all his bright visions have vanished, he lays 10 the door of his occupation, what was the natural consequence of his own egregious folly ? I do not mean to say that a small business may not be well done with a small capital; but that in this,as in every other business,success very much depends upon regulating the scale upon which the business is done, by the amount of capital

that can be commanded. A great deal too depends upon the proper distribution of capital. To make this or any other business lucrative, certain fixtures and conveniences are absolutely necessary; and when I have been told by a farmer that he could not afford to build warm and comfortable stabling for his cattle, or to avail himself of a decided and admitted improvement in an agricultural implement, 1 have been inclined to ask him what he would think of a blacksmith, who informed him that, he meant to blow his fire with his mouth, because he could not afford to buy a pair of bellows.

It very frequently happens, that a former, with a more than sufficient capital invested in land, negroes and stock, is absolutely in want of a floating capital, out buildings and implements.

That, under such circumstances, he does not convert a portion of his superfluities into means which will supply his wants, is not less strange than true, and this love of fixed capital, this devotion to extensive landed •property, even lo the risk of straitening and cramping himself, is ihe besetting sin of the southern farmer. How often do we see men of extensive pioperty, farming under the most disadvantageous circumstances for the want of ready money ? They prefer the dignity of doing a large business badly, to the satisfaction of doing a smaller busines well. Let him sell five hundred of bis thousand, or two hundred and fifty of his five hundred acres, and make a like reduction in his negroes and stock, and wiih the means thus obtained, let him provide for the better cultivation and keeping of the balance, and my life upon ii, ihat at the end of the year he will find his clear profit doubled, and this effected with half the vexation and nouble that attended his former course.

There is no more uphill business than farming, without a sufficient amount of means to supply its various demand?, and there is surely no more elegant and charming occupation, when it is satisfactorily conducted, which 1 repeat, can be done only by a man who, in homely, but expressive phrase, is btforc-hand-'d, that is, provided with means to meet every call that his business will make upon him.

To this thing of injudicious outlay is to be altnbuted much of the farmer's difficulties. Let him, instead of laying out all his means in a large tract of land, reckon what will be required to erect good buildings, and purchase ihe best implements, make good enclosures, &c. and then buy only as much land, as he can purchase with the balance of his money.

There are other points which I must make the subject of a future communication. Yours, &c.

We showed the above, in manuscript, to one of our friends, who expects shortly to commence the life of a farmer, and he begrs that we would respectfully solicit

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some of our experienced agricultural friends to communicate, through the columns of the Planter, full and specific advice fur the judicious outlay of five thousand dollars in farming . What proportion of it should be devoted to buildings, what tostock, what to implements, what should be reserved for contingencies, and what appropiiated to the purchase of land? Will not some of our agricultural friends confer such a favor upon him and the community!

To the Editor of the Southern Planter.

Why is it, that, of all the arts and sciences, agriculture, the most noble, the most universal, and the most important, has attracted so little the attention of scientific men % Why is it, that the labors of the student and philosopher, applied to other subjects, command the respect and admiration of the world, and meet only with scorn and contumely when devoted to this most important branch of human industry?

Truth is powerful, and the public is generally very discerning, especially upon subjects in which they are peculiarly interested. Is the universal prejudice, ihen, against vvhat is called book farming, founded in justice ? We verily believe, that, heretofore, to a considerable extent, it has been. The truth is, agriculture is a science, and like all other sciences is founded on fact. Now, sir, scholars in the popular acceptation of the term, have, heretofore, been the only persons who could be induced to appear before the public ; and they are generally very little informed of the facts belonging to agriculture, for whilst the philosopher in his closet, may become fully acquainted with all the motions of the heavenly bodies, whilst with his retort and crucible he may elaborate chemical facts, every moment, it is only by a long and tedious apprenticeship, that he can become acquainted with the more intricate, and more slowly elaborated facts, of agriculture. He must await the revolution of the seasons for the develop . ent of a single experiment, and he must have held the plough himself, to have become fully acquainted with the mechanical department of the science, upon which much 0/ its success depends; and you might just as reasonably expect a literary essay from the uneducated husbandman, as a valuable agricultural essay from a mere belles lettres scholar.

But, sir, a better day is dawning for the American agriculturist. The educated and the talented, now that the more attractive professions of law and medicine have become so crowded, are thrown back upon this most independent and charming occupation. They will soon redeem it from the disrepute into which it has most unjustly fallen; and the day will come, when to be a distinguished scientific agriculturist, will confer as much honor, as excellence in any other pursuit.

Men are beginning to learn too, that truth is

the essence of all valuable literary productions, and that its absence cannot be atoned for by the most flowing words or the most polished style.

Encourage this spirit. By every means in your power, induce the practical farmer to lay aside his reserve, and 10 furnish you wiih facts.

With the most ardent wishes for your success, and with a determination to follow the advice I give others,

I remain your obedient servant,

Arator.

It is with great pleasure we publish the above, from a most valued correspondent, especially the promise contained in the latter part of it. To his sentiments on this subject, in which he is a perfect enthusiast, we most heartily respond. Is it not singular that for every other art an apprenticeship is considered necessary, and yet is it not true, that for this most complicated and ! extensive science, no previous information is requited? Indeed, the general opinion seems to be, that not < ven talent is requisite, for if a man has a son, of whom he despairs making any thing else, he, of course, intends him for a farmer. A greater mistake was never made, than to imagine that this art can be practised to the greatest advantage, without a devotion and a reach of mind, that is hardly required by any other, in the whole circle of the arts and sciences; and that men without talent and without information do partially succeed at it. only proves the very great natural advantages and profits of the business, which we believe to be, generally, much underrated.

SEED WHEAT. The name of the distinguished author of the following article would reconmend it to the consideration of every farmer in Virginia, even if its intrinsic merit, and the importance of the subject did not command attention. It is extracted from an old number of the Viiginia Herald, and we do not know that it has had a more extended circulation, than that afforded by the columns of that paper.

To the Editor of the Virginia Herald:

*Vr,—As the time of harvest is approaching, I address through your paper, my brother farmers, on the importance of allowing wheat intended for sowing, to be entirely ripe before reaping. Accident last year, and eve-Hght 1 his year, have convinced me of the piopriety of this course.

In the year 1829, having selected my handsome ears of Mexican w heat, and sowed it in the fall of the same year, it was forgotten last year, until my little son reminded me that it ought to be gathered. It was then from seven to ten days after my other wheat of ihe same kind had been cut. This wheat was then gathered and deposited in a bag. Last October.

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this wheat was seeded on the same day, in the same manner, and adjoining to other Mexican wheat. No selection of land was made for if, as no experiment was intended. It has survived the fly, and the last severe winter with little injury, but not more than one-third of the adjoining wheat has been left alive. From its present appearance, it will produce, I believe, two-thirds more than its adjacent neighbor.

Can the keeping in the bag be the cause of this superiority ? I believe not, because in several previous years, seed has been kept by me in the bags, and no similar result has taken place; my inference thence, is, that this difference must be owing to the entire ripeness of the seed. Should any reader of this communication have doubts on this subject, it would give me great pleasure to show him the growing wheat, which will convince, I should think, the most skeptical.

From my twenty-four years experience as a farmer, I am also satisfied, that the smut is mainly attributable to unripe seed wheat. My seed wheat has been always riper than that of my neighbors, and during that period, I have never seen but six smutted heads in my own crops In a conversation with the late Mr. Isaac Williams, he confirmed my opinion, by stating to me the same practice of one of his nearest neighbors, attended by the most entire success.

In making this communication, the interest of wheat growers is my sole object, and if, by it, their crops should be increased, it will contribute to the happiness of your obedient servant,

John Taylor.

Liberty Hill, Caroline.

HAY.

It has often occurred to us, that this is a crop much and strangely neglected in Virginia, and, we believe, in the southern country generally— and why it is so, we have been somewhat at a loss to divine. That it pays better, under certain circumstances than any other crop, not excepting cotton itself, can, we believe, be easily demonstrated. When suitable land is once prepared, the after cultivation is nothing, and the gross yield in our markets, is certainly not less than forty dollars per acre.

As to the extent of market, we can only say that there has been a time when 5,(00 bales of northern hay, averaging 400 lbs. per bale, w T ere sold in the city of Richmond alone, in one year. Why is this? Is there any thing peculiar in their soil or climate to render us dependant upon the north for this article? Assuredly not. We were struck with a singular fact that happened to come to our own knowledge a few years since, whilst on a visit to the north. A gentleman whose hay crop generally came to the south, frequently to Richmond, had given $200 an acre for good grass land, hundreds of miles

from his market, whilst lands within fifty miles of that very market, of very superior qualitv, would not sell for $50 an acre. That some portions of our soil are, or can be made equal to any north of the Potomac, nobody can doubt. Is there any difficulty in the climate ? Although some grasses may not grow so well with us, yet certainly, in the great variety known to the agricultural world, it cannot be, but that there are some to which our genial climate is peculiarly adapted.

Indeed, we have heard the opinion frequently expressed by a most judicious and observing man, long the keeper of a livery stable in this city, that the hay raised in our own vicinity possessed a sweetness and flavor that induced his horses to prefer it greatly to that brought from the north.

But we are very apt to do as our fathers did before us, and because they made only corn, wheat, and tobacco for market, so will we, without regard to increased demand for other crops.

The northern hay, we believe, is never preferred, except, for the portable and convenient shape in which it comes. The bales, in which it is packed, enable a larger quantity to be put in small compass, a great desideratum in a crowded city, or in any bulky article intended for market. We want very much a cheap and convenient hay press, and we have already made a memorandum to look for such an article, in a trip we contemplate making, shortly, to the northern cities.

In the mean time, we shall be much obliged to any of our correspondents, who will furnish us with the result of their experience, in the cultivation of grasses in Virginia.

GREAT YIELD.

In the Ithaca Chronicle, we find the following statement of the amount and value of production from one-fourth acre of land in that village, cultivated by Mr. Aaron Curtis, who furnished it for publication:

140 bushels of onions at 50 cents, $70 600 head of cabbages, at 5 cents, 30

50 bushels beets, at 50 cents,

25

$125

We doubt very much, if this quarter acre did not yield a greater nett profit, than some pretty extensive farms we wot of.

'Tis true this appears to have been done in the vicinity of a village, where, probably the facilities of producing were greater than could be commanded on a more distant farm, and where the product was more merchantable. If a farmer in Virginia should cultivate many quarter acres in this manner, he might perhaps experience a difficulty in finding a market for his products, and we look upon accounts of such yields,

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which we frequently see from the north, rather as curious, in exemplifying what may be obtained from a small portion of ground, than as examples to the farmer, especially the southern farmer, to follow on a more extensive scale. His great crop must always be, corn, oats, hay, wheat and tobacco, none of which require the great outlay and quantity of labor, that were certainly expended on this quarter acre. Such things belong rather to horticulture than agriculture. There is, however, a certain point of fertility, to which every acre should be brought, for even these crops, before another is put in cultivation. The question for the farmer is, how he shall bestow his labor so as to obtain the greatest yield, not in bushels, but in value. Suppose he has ten acres of land, and five hundred bushels of manure, shall he put it all on one acre, and cultivate that only, or shall he divide the manure and the labor amongst the ten acres? Now, we imagine, the answer to this question will depend upon a variety of circumstances. His land may be so poor, that the five hundred bushels of manure, applied to one acre, would cause it to yield as much as the same amount scattered . over the whole ten. Thus he saves all the la- i bor and expense of manuring and cultivating I the other nine acres, by applying all his means to the one acre. But his land may be compara- j tively rich, and although it be true perhaps that i the amount of yield is in exact proportion to the amount of fertilizing application, up to a certain point of fertility, there is a point, beyond which it does not hold true. Certainly a man would be mad, to apply a thousand bushels of manure to a yard square. Now the quantity that may be applied profitably, is certainly greatest where root crops, or garden vegetables are raised, and although these are not sufficiently cultivated and attended to in the south, it would be folly for a man, either north or south, to hope to cultivate many acres as profitably as Mr. Curtis did his quarter acre. We hold then, that to gather and concentrate manure up to a certain point, which depends somewhat upon the crop cultivated, is the great secret of farming. We hold also, that the profitable fertilizing point is much lower in those crops, which are in universal demand, than those raised by Mr. Curtis, which are more limited in use, and which will not keep, if they are not sold. Still we are afraid, that it will be long before the generality of our lands are brought even to the point desirable for our crops, and we apprehend that we shall be considered a little premature in warning our subscribers against putting too much manure to the acre yet awhile.

continue so, yet, undoubtedly, much that is subsidiary, much that will add to the comfort and pleasure of the agriculturist, is yet to be acclimated. The American Farmer states, that an eminent horticulturist, in New York, has recently gone largely into the culture of the Lan-guedoc Almond, the best variety of this fruit raised in France. He has raised in the vicinity of New York city, this year, 10,0( 0 of ihese trees, many of which are five feet high, having made a most luxuriant growth. He is confident the trees will prove perfect]}' hardy and in the third season will yield fruit abundantly.

In Texas, an enterprising horticulturist has a nursery of olive trees which are growing finely. This is among the most valuable of all the vegetable productions of the earth. The tree begins to bear when it is three years old, and continues to produce largely to a very great age, improving its fruit every season for many years after its first yield.

Many of the products, now peculiar to the old world, are probably susceptible of cultivation in the new; and whilst, most probably, those which are the great staples of the country will

The Quebec Mercury contains answers to interrogatories, propounded by the Agricultural Society of Lower Canada, to the celebrated agriculturist, Sir John Sinclair, in which he expresses the opinion, that the improved dairy cows, in the western counties of Scotland, are certainly now the most celebrated and valuable breed of milch cows in Great Britain, or any other part of Europe. That the fair average of the annual returns of milk given by thousands of the best of the Ayreshire dairy cows, when they are in good condition, and well fed, and when they drop their calves about the end of the month of April, will be nearly as under. First 50 days, 24 quarts, - - 1200 Second " 20 " - - 10CO

Third " 14 « 710

Fourth " 8 " 400

Fifth " 8 " 400

Sixth " 6 " - - 300

4000

He says that the Durham, or Teeswater, breed are superior, as dairy cows, to any other breed in England, and if they were as well fed and treaied as the Scots dairy stock, they would equal them in beauty and good qualities.

Some milch cows, of the best sort, and in good condition have been sold as high as 25/, but young cows, from two to three years old, and in calf, may be procured of the best sort, at from 10/ to 12/ each, or still cheaper.

For the propagation of a dairy race, bulls that have most of a feminine aspect, are preferred to those that are more masculine. A dairy bull of good shape and quality, may be procured for about 14/to 15/.

He states moreover, that the quantity of butter yielded by cows, depends more on the food

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given them, than on any peculiarity of ihe breed of cattle. Clover, turnips, and new herbage afford most milk. Natural pasture, or what is called old turf, yields milk which produces most butler. To make the best, butter, milk should not be allowed to stand longer than from IS to 24 hours, since the first cream cast up is always the best. Sixteen quarts of mdk, he states,from the Scots dairy cows, will on an average, yield 24 ounces of butter, so ihat the average return of these cows, when of good quality, in right condition, and properly fed, is 375 lbs. avoirdupois of butter, per cow, per annum.

From this statement, we infer, that the favorite Durhams are not esteemed the best milch cows, and that some of our credulous farmers, who have paid a thousand dollars for a cow, purchased in England probably for $100, if Sir John is to be believed, have been pretty well humbugged.

well rubbed up, and nvxed wiih a pint and a half of warm gruel, which, if it did not operate, might be succeeded by a second injection, of a pint of linseed oil mixed in a pint of warm water. The assafcetida must be well rubbed up, and gradually mixed with a pint of water, Which will become thick and milky in appearance. Let ihe injection be well slit red when it is administered. Bye the bye, every man, who keeps stock, should have a large clyster pipe, as be will frequently find it much the most efficient and convenient mode of administering medicine. But if he has no such instrument, cholic may be relieved by drenching the animal with two table, spoonfuls of laudanum, mixed in a pint of linseed oil.

If you choose to make my practice public, my name as authority, is at the service of your readers. M.

For the Planter. GRUBS IN HORSES.

A Doctor Harding, of Kentucky, I think, wrote once a very ingenious essay, to prove that there was no such disease as the grubs; but, that the worm was a natural inhabitant of ihe horse's stomach, and never commenced its ravages upon it until afier death.

Certain it is, that happening to be present at the deaih of a horse, last summer, which was occasioned by an accident in our streets, I was curious enough to make a post raonem examination, wiih the assistance of a medical friend, We examined the horse's stomach, in an hour after his deaih, and found it riddled by the worms. It was exacily such a case, as would have been held to be confirmation strong of the grubs theory, if the cause of death had not been known. To be sure, this only goes to show, that the fact of the stomach's being perforated, is not evidence of death from grubs. But if it so happens that this fact, the only one ever advanced to prove the existence of the disease, turns out to be no evidence of its truth, what becomes of the theory? Now sir, this question is not an idle one, or unimportant, in its consequences. If grubs never attack the horse, what is the cause of the violent pain to which he is sometimes subjected? Having been much interested in the subject, from the fact that I owned some very valuable blooded stock, this point attracted my particular attention, and from all that I can see and hear, 1 have become satisfied, with Dr. Harding, that there is no such original disease as grubs; but that ihat, which is so frequently mistaken for it, is neither more or less than violent cholic. Acting upon this supposition, I have treated ihe disease as such, and with great success 1 have never failed to relieve a horse, by giving him an injection, composed of a half 02. of assafcetida,

SOUND SEEDS.

As the season approaches when our readers will be sowing and planting, we take the liberty of abridging from Cobbett's valuable treatise upon Gardening, some directions as to the choice of seeds, the importance of which is too manifest to be dilated on.

He says, 1 know of no seed, which, if sound and really good, will not sink in water. The unsoundness of seeds arises from several causes; unripeness, blight, mouldiness and age, are the most frequent of these causes

The way to try seed is this. Put a small quantiiy of it in lukewarm water, and let the water be four or five inches deep. A mug, or basin will do, but a large tumbler glass is best ; for then you can see the bottom as well as top. Some seeds, such as those of cabbage, radish, and turnip, will if good, go to the bottom at once. Cucumber, melon, lettuce and endive, and n any others, require a few minutes. Parsnip and carrot, and all the winged seeds, require to be worked by your fingers, in a little water, and well wetted before you put them into the glass; and the carrot should be rubbed to get. off part of the hairs, which would otherwise act as feathers do to a duck. The seed of beet and man* gel wurtzel, are in a case or shell. The rough things we sow are not the seeds, but the cases in which the seeds are contained, each case containing from one to five seeds. Therefore the trial by water, as to ihese two seeds, is not conclusive; though if the seed be very good, if there be four or five in a case, shell and all will sink in the waier, after being in the glass an hour. And as it is a matter of such great importance, that every seed should grow, in a case where the plants stand so far apart; as gaps in rows of beet and mangel wurtzel are so very injurious, the best way is to reject all seed that will not sink, case and all, after being put into war.T. water, and remaining there an hour.

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There is another way of ascertaining this important fact, the soundness or unsoundness of seeds, and that is, by sowing them either in a hotbed or under a handglass. But there is this to be said, that with a strong heat under, and with such complete protection above, seeds may come up that would not come up in the open ground. There may be enough of the germinating principle to cause vegetation in a hotbed, and not enough to produce it in the open air and cold ground. Therefore, I incline to the opinion, that we should try seeds, as our ancestors tried witches, not by fire but by water; and, that following up their practice, we should reprobate and destroy all that do not readily sink.

I always sow new seed in preference to old, if in all other respects I know the new to be equal to the old ; and as to the notion, that seeds can be the better for being old, even more than a year old, I hold it to be monstrously absurd, and this opinion I give as the result of long experience, most attentive observation, and numerous experiments, made for the express purpose of ascertaining the fact.

COMMUNICATED.

If, sir, you think the following worthy a place in your paper, you and the public are welcome to it.

Having become full}'' satisfied of the economy and expediency of housing and stalling all my stock, I resolved in 1837 to build a stable for the purpose. I fell upon the following plan, which more than answered all my expectations. I do not know that there is much novelty about it, but as it is recommended by its cheapness, and as I found it extremely convenient, I submit it, with the subjoined sketch, for your consideration.

All your readers, I presume, know how to build a house, " post in the ground." For such purposes as this, I believe it to be the best and cheapest mode.

I premise, that being compelled to use white oak posts, to prevent their rotting, I charred the Vol. 1—2

but-end and then filled up the clefts, and covered the whole with a good coat of pitch, or boiled tar; taking care to extend the operation to about twelve inches beyond the part to be inserted in the ground.

At the expense of being considered tedious and minute, I give you an exact description of the building; for this, although perhaps uninteresting to the general reader, is, I know by experience, extremely desirable to the individual who may determine to avail himself of it.

The sketch represents the front view of the stable, and is nothing more than the usual form of a barn, with sheds off, supposed to be stripped of weather-boarding.

The building was erected by setting in the ground, two feet deep, four rows of posts, the front ones of which are seen as A H, B G, C F, and D E. In each row there were eight posts, six feet apart. The posts in the extreme rows were eight, and those in the two centre rows were fifteen feet out of the ground. The distance from F to G, or the width of the centre building was twenty feet, from E to F, and from C to H, or width of sheds, was ten feet. Each shed was, by this means, divided into seven stalls, each stall 16 feet by 6. Each stall was partitioned off separately, and had a door of its own. The lower part of the centre building was open, and joists 3 by 10 were notched into the long posts, three feet from the top, thus giving a room below of 42 by 20, with a pitch of 12 feet, leaving a spacious loft above. The house was built of good timber, well shingled and painted.

In the partitions which separated the lower rooms from the sheds on both sides, a width of 16 inches was left open, just above the troughs in the sheds, so that the feed might be distributed to all the animals from the main room. In this room below, against the backside, were placed locked bins, to contain ground food. The long food to be cut up, was of course deposited in the loft above. When the food passed through the cutting knife, it fell into a funnel in the floor above, which conducted it into a large box beneath, with a portion partitioned off for mixing.

The large room below, served not only as a deposit for tools and implements, but was used chiefly as a work room in rainy weather. This alone was worth the cost of the whole building. My cattle used the stalls in one shed, and the horses the other. Every ox and milch cow, as well as horse, was turned into their own stall at night, w T ell littered, rubbed and fed.

I fell upon this plan, Mr. Editor, because, not being over rich, I found I could not offurd the old system; and sir, it is wonderful the difference this simple arrangement made in my annual profits. Well housed and well littered, my stock, I am sure, upon half the food they destroyed before, looked much more lively and

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healthy. 1 found two horses less expensive, and more effective than four. One milch cow, under the new, gave me more and better milk than five under the old system, and my oxen were fat enough for beeves through the whole winter.

When the pitiless storm came, and the winter winds whistled around me, I could lay down and sleep in peace, because I knew my cattle were protected from its fury, which, under other circumstances no honest, farmer can do.

There is some inconvenience, but many more advantages, in having your stalls separated, with a separate door to each. You can turn in your tired beast unfettered and unhaltered, to dispose of his wearied limbs at pleasure. In case of a fire, you can extricate him much easier, and you can clean your stables, (a thing to which particular attention should be paid) with much greater facility.

When I have added that bars were substituted for doors to the stables, in summer, I believe I have imparted all upon the subject worthy your attention. S.

EARLY CUCUMBERS.

Mr. Editor, —As you propose to bring horticulture within the scope of your consideration, I w 7 ill inform your readers of a very successful plan resorted to by an old gardener of my acquaintance, which ma}' be interesting to those who are curious in the production of early vegetables. He filled any small vessel, (he generally raised a number of cymlins or gourds for the purpose,) with rich mould, in which he planted his cucumber seed, as early as probably the first of February; keeping them in a room where they were protected from the cold and frost, and being portable, it gave him very little trouble to expose them to the sun, at favorable opportunities. When there was no longer reason to fear injury from the frost, he had finely developed plants, which he set out in the open ground, by merely preparing a hole, in which he deposited the undisturbed mould, breaking the gourd, or removing the sides of the vessel, which he sometimes made of plank with sides and bottom to hinge. In this way, he always had two or three dozen cucumber vines, which were ahead of those raised in his neighbors' hotbeds, because they had not been retarded by transplanting. A large hotbed might be substituted as a deposit for the gourds, which would save the trouble of moving in and out of the room. There are of course other vegetables to which the same process would be applicable. H.

THE PLOUGH.

This instrument, so necessary to, and so characteristic of the farmer, is much neglected. The most important and the most expensive operation to be performed by the husbandman,

is to be effected with this implement. It is, therefore, a point of the greatest importance, that he should have his plough of that form and shape, that is calculated to work in the best and easiest manner ; and farmers, generally, are little aware of the very great difference in ploughs in this respect; and whilst they have provided themselves with patent churns, and patent beehives of the latest construction, they continue to use a plough, the idea of which ma} 7 have been obtained from the Georgics of Virgil, or from the sample preserved in the Chinese exhibition. This is what is vulgarly termed, "stopping the spigot and opening the bung.'' It is certain, that many farmers are doing inferior work w 7 ith double labor, and all, for want of knowing what is the best construction of plough. The truth is, the farmer is seldom a mechanic, or the mechanic a farmer, and without the combination of the two qualities, this important instrument cannot be brought to perfection. Different forms are required, undoubtedly, for different soils, but we are inclined to think that there are some forms, used in our own neighborhood, that are very unsuitable for cultivating any soil that has yet been discovered. As the art of spelling is said " to be no great accomplishment, yet to be without it betrays the extremest ignorance," so to have the best plough, is neither very difficult of attainment, nor a feat on which a farmer should greatly pride himself, yet to be working with an indifferent one, is abominable.

In the last number of the Cultivator, there is a long and detailed account of some experiments made in England, which whilst it is neither finished, nor entirely satisfactory, proves, beyond a doubt, that some ploughs work with half the labor of others in use. This fact is ascertained by an instrument called a dynamometer, which may be readily imagined, but is imperfectly described, as showing the power expended in the draft, by the compression of springs inserted between the plough beam and the chain.

The. result of these experiments goes to show, that Hart's improved Berkshire wheel plough was the one requiring the least draft. It was particularly compared with Ferguson's improved Scotch plough, which it was found to excel in several particulars. Cuts are given of these two ploughs, but they afford us an imperfect idea of the shape of the mould board, and exhibit little, but that the one is, as its name imports, a plough with a wheel in front, which regulates the depth of the furrow, and which was supposed to act very advantngeously, except on soft ground, where the wheel, instead of governing the depth of the furrow, sunk in the soil, and dragged through it like a coulter.

Mr. Pusey, the experimenter in this case, discovered that the rule laid down in books generally, that "the draft increases according to the square of the depth of the furrow," was entirely

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erroneous, for whilst the dynamometer showed the power required, in a furrow of 5 inches, to be equal to a resistance of 322 lbs., the resistance in a furrow of 12 inches in the same soil, was only 7U0 lbs., instead of 103684 lbs., which it would have been by ihe same rule. This is a matter of considerable importance, and has great bearing upon the question of deep ploughing-, which has been objected to on account of the supposed great increase of labor.

In a somewhat similar experiment made at the Worcester ploughing match in Mass., it appeared that a plough, constructed by a Mr. Charles Howard, was found most effective for lapping the furrows, and one by Messrs. Prouty and Mears, the best for flat furrows.

We shall procure one of each of these for exhibition at our office as soon as possible.

For the Planter. MANURE.

The long mooted question as to the mode of applying manures, seems to be carried by the current of public opinion, in favor of Top Dressing. With respect to the wheat crop and the grasses in general, there can be no doubt that the most economical and efficacious mode is to scatter the manure upon the surface in early spring, whilst the ground is yet frozen and susceptible of being pressed without injury.

As to the mode of its operation, that is not of so much importance to the great mass of farmers, as the fact that it is the best mode. Still, as the peculiar operation of manures, and the whole subject, of the vegetation of plants, is not only of the greatest importance, but even yet involved in the greatest mystery, it may not be altogether useless to call the attention of your readers more particularly to the subject. And let me premise what I am going to say, by assuring the public, that I have no favorite theory upon the subject, to which I am about to bend the facts. This I consider the great bane of agricultural communications, and editors themselves are not always invulnerable to the charge. By the importance which they sometimes attach to a favorite theory, manifested by the zeal with which they defend it, and the neglect of facts, which are always to them of secondary importance, they remind me of a conversation L happened to overhear in one of our bookstores. A gentleman asked for Judge ******'s late work upon the constitution,whichthe bookseller handed him, remarking, that the Judge had anoiher work ready for the press, the object of which was to show, that " the great error of the banking system was the basing paper money upon a metallic currency at all;" and that the Judge was only waiting to obtain some information upon the subject of banking before he published his work. Now sir, many agricultural writers, I think, not

only form, but unlike the careful genileman above alluded to, actually publish their theories, before they obtain their information.

But let not gentlemen take this charge too seriously to heart. Sir Humphrey Davy, himself, fell into the same error, when, having concluded that the best mode of using manure was to plough it in, he proceeds to explain it by saying, "exposure evaporates the most valuable part of it." But suppose Sir Humphrey had lived at the present day, when the fact is known, that the most efficacious mode of using manure, is that of surface application, what would he do? Would he pervert a well established fact, for the purpose of sustaining a false theory ? We think not. He was not the man to commit an error twice. His intellect was too expanded to be narrowed to a single idea—he would diligently investigate a fact, which is in such direct opposition to preconceived opinions; he would probably, discover that the portions of manure evaporated by exposure, are not necessary or conducive to the growth of plants—he would find, that the nutritious particles sink to the roots of the plants, just when they are fit to make use of them, instead of being removed out of their reach by the time they become operative ; and from these, or other facts, to which a minute investigation would lead, he would draw conclusions probably, of the very highest importance to agriculture. Will not "haughty" science now-a-days stoop to a theme so humble? Let her remember, that the end may ennoble the means; and that its powerful influence upon the fortune of mankind, may impart sublimity even to a dung heap.

Our country has still a Silliman, known through the world, and within our own bosom we have a Rodgers, to whose peculiar province this important subject properly belongs. Would it be, Mr. Editor, too much for the farmers of Virginia to ask of the latter gentleman, that through the columns of your paper, he would be pleased to shed some light upon the constitution and operation of manures ?

Yours, B.

We respectfully unite with our correspondent, B, in requesting-Frofessor Rodgers to turn the light of science upon this, or any other important subject of agriculture, and assure him that any thing from his pen will always find a ready welcome in the columns of the Planter.— Ed.

COMMUNICATED.

Does it not happen, sometimes, that farmers, like other people, are deceived by appearances, especially in the choice of their stock ? Is not an animal sometimes selected, perhaps at a high price, for its mere beauty, without sufficient regard to its adaptation to the particular use for which it is designed? We by no means despise a good appearance, even when we have an eye

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chiefly to profit, but we are enough of utilitarians to consider beauty to be frequently dependent upon fitness. We are sure that we have seen some very beautiful Durham cattle, purchased at a very high price, that, except to please the eye, were very far inferior to much lower priced, and greatly despised, because ignobly born, animals. The truth is, this stock of cattle is considered valuable, some for the shambles, and some for the pail; and as almost opposite qualities are required in the one and the other, the animal should be examined with special reference to the purpose for which it is designed. We recollect once, desirous to purchase a good milch cow, we applied to a very conscientious and upright gentleman, who, we were informed, wished to dispose of such an one. He stated that he had a young milch cow, of noble blood and beautiful appearance, (as indeed she proved to be,) which could be bought at a high price. The only earthly objection, he said, to her as a milch cow, was, that she gave very little milk, and what she did give was rather indifferent. We think it probable that there is a good deal of the .same sort of stock in market, not so honestly described, and we would only remind our brother farmers of the old adage, " all is not gold that glitters."

GATES .

C

M\ Editor, —Much of late years has been written upon the subject of farm gates, and having been, a few years ago, something of what may be termed a fancy farmer, I resolved that in so important an article, I would have the best, without regard to cost. Accordingly, after examining all I could find written upon the subject, I constructed two or three different kinds, with some improvement of my own, determined to test their respective advantages and enlighten the world upon the subject. Some of them cut a very handsome figure. One of them, in particular, I prided myself upon, and frequently declared to my neighbors that nothing could excel it. The next year I had a projecting kind of jack leg carpenter, from Hanover, living with me in the capacity of overseer, and desiring to have a gate for a particular purpose very quickly erected, in a certain position, I requested my jack-of-all-tradee to construct one for me, that

might answer until I could replace it with one of my fancy favorites. He went to work after the manner of his country, and made me a gate of the following fashion. A B and C D are posts of the usual kind, from B to D is extended a piece of timber, flattened on the top, and in this piece is bored a hole, in which is inserted the lower end of a common glass bottle, reversed, so that the lower end of E F, one of the uprights of the gate, may work in the sink always found in that part of the bottle. The upper hinge was formed by morticing into the gate post a piece of two by six tough wood, not liable to split, in the centre of which was bored a two inch hole, through which the upper end of E F, being rounded, might pass, and in which it might revolve. Besides E F there were two other uprights, J K, G H, of lesser length, being only the height of the gate. These three uprights were split and hewed out of a cedar tree, the long one when finished, being three by four, the other two, two and a half by four. The slats were neither more nor less than skinned cedar poles, round and straight, of about an inch and a quarter in diameter, passing through round holes bored in the three uprights and wedged at the two extremes. From J K to G H was nailed or pinned a narrow piece of inch plank, to which was attached the common wooden latch, as is shown in the engraving.

Now my man being a clever tinker, the gate certainly presented a much neater appearance than I had expected, and worked admirably, but I still looked upon it as only a temporary affair, to be replaced by one of my magnificent painted gates, with the long iron hinge on the top rail, taken from the Cultivator, as soon as leisure should permit.

Well, sir, I was so fortunate as never to find leisure to take down that gate, until I discovered that, in point of cheapness, durability, and convenience, it was very far superior to its more showy rivals. I have now no other gate on my farm, and the philosophy of the thing I take to be simply this. The difficulties to which gates are liable proceed from the tendency to swag, and the danger of being broken by the velocity which they acquire in falling to. You see then at once the value of a light gate. My maxim is "a heavy gate can never be a good one." Now my Hanover gate, as I call it b}' way of distinction, is probably the lightest that can be imagined. The wood used is peculiarly suitable for the purpose, uniting toughness with lightness in a wonderful degree. Another important point too was here carefully attended to by my cute observer, which is generally overlooked by more learned heads. To use his expression, "the stuff was all gotten out with the grain," which renders the same weight at least tenfold as strong.

I am aware that a great many of your readers, especially in this part of the country, may con-

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sider this communication as valueless, because, to them such a gate is as familiar as a worm fence: many however are ignorant of their existence, and very few of those who use them, I believe, are aware that, when carefully made, and well put up, they are indeed more valuable than some they may have seen or read of, that looked much better and cost much more.

GENERAL McDTJFFIE'S ADDRESS.

An anniversary address was delivered, before the State Agricultural Society of South Carolina, on the 26th November, 1840, by that distinguished statesman, General George McDuffie. Gen. McDuffle's reputation as a farmer, though more limited, is not less securely established, than his fame as a politician. He has met with that incontrovertible mark of excellence in his profession, that is not to be gainsayed, success. Any thing that falls from the lips of so talented and experienced a farmer, must be read with avidity, and we wish our limits permitted us to transcribe the whole address, which is marked, throughout, by sound sense, clothed in plain and unaffected language.

The first great error that the General points out in southern farming, is the exclusive direction of the whole available labor of the plantation to the production of the great market staple, and the consequent neglect of all the other commodities, which the soil is capable of producing, and which are essential to supply the wants of the establishment. He seems to think, that he must be but an indifferent farmer, who buys any thing that his farm could produce. And anticipating the objection, that other products can be raised only at the expense of a portion of the staple crop, he goes on to show, that if there is less of the staple produced, it will bring even more money, upon the principle, that an increase of an article above the effective demand diminishes the price, not in proportion to the excess, but in a still greater proportion, so that if the planter makes 50.0 bales of cotton, and buys his stock and meat, he loses w T hat he expends in these articles, because if he made only 250 bales of cotton, and raised his own stock, he would get as much, probably more, for the 250 bales, than he would have gotten for the 500.

Now, although this reasoning is more especially applicable to South Carolina and the cotton growing States, because, in this article there is an over production in this country, yet it is undoubtedly a general truth, that the" less a farmer makes for market, the better, provided he substitutes for the excess, articles of equal value, which be needs for his own consumption ; not exactly for the reason the General gives, viz: because he thereby decreases the marketable staple, and consequently increases the price; because

we apprehend that would not always be the effect. For, if those who raised the slock for him, can no longer find a market for stock, they will produce something else, which, if soil and climate permit, may be the very slaple, whose quantity he sought to diminish. And we are not prepared to say, that a farmer can never purchase some products of the earth cheaper than he can raise them ; but we think with Gen. McDuffie, that great errors are committed, by failing to take into consideration how much time and food is unemployed on our farms, that could be appropriated only by making our products more diversified.

Another adjuration which he earnestly addresses to the farmers, and which he might as well have extended to every class of his countrymen, is, "to keep out of debt." He stalks before his hearers the ghost of Mississippi, whose bright prospects have all been withered by this blighting influence.

He quotes and endorses the celebrated exclamation of John Randolph, who, in the midst of one of his splendid rhapsodies, in the Senate of the United States, paused, and fixing his eye upon the presiding officer, exclaimed, Mr. President, I have discovered the philosopher's stone ; it consists in these four plain English monosyllables, PAY AS YOU GO.

He also relates a saying of an old friend, who, never making a large crop, was considered a bad planter. And when asked, how he got rich so much faster than his more energetic neighbors, replied, " my neighbors begin at the wrong end of the year. They make their purchases at the beginning, on a credit, I make mine at the end of it, and pay down the cash."

Indeed there is no point in the address, upon which the General lays more stress, and none that he argues more ably or eloquently, than the evil consequences of pecuniary embarrassment. We sincerely recommend to our readers a perusal of the whole speech.

RARE FLOWER.

Perhaps few of our readers are aware of the effects which may be produced on fruits and flowers by what is commonly called budding, or inoculating the limbs of trees. We saw a flower, from the garden of a gentleman (who has made many experiments of this kind) combining the qualities of the rose and peach blossom. The stem and leaf were of the peach, except that of the latter was slightly serrated, similar to the rose leaf; the leaves of the flower were of the color of the peach, and taste of the rose; the farina resembled that of the peach. The flower was about four times the size of the peach blossom.— Old paper.

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HESSIAN FLY.

It seems, that even in agricultural science, we are doomed to bow in submission to the superior excellence of the gentler sex. It appears, by a late number of the Farmer's Cabinet, that a Miss Morris, of Germantown, has been bestowing some attention upon that mischievous little insect, known as the hessian fly, and that notwithstanding his cunning, he has been unable to elude the feminine curiosity of the lady. She has established the fact, to her own entire satisfaction, " that the ovum of this destructive insect is deposited by the parent in the seed of the wheat, and not, as previously supposed, in the stalk or culm. She has watched the progress of the animal, since June, 1836, and has satisfied herself that she has frequently seen the larva, or insect in its first stage, within the seed. She has also detected the larva at various stages of its progress, from the seed to between the body of the stalk and the sheath of the leaves. According to the observations of Miss Morris, the recently hatched larva penetrates to the centre of the straw, where it may be found of a pale greenish white semi-transparent appearance, in form somewhat resembling a silk worm. From

one to six of these have been found, at various heights, from the seed to the third joint. They would seem to enter the pupa, or second state of existence, about the beginning of June.

" To prevent the ravages of this destroyer of the grain, it will be proper to obtain fresh seed from localities in which the fly has not made its appearance. By this means, the crop of the following } 7 ear will be uninjured: but in order to avoid the introduction of straggling insects of the kind from adjacent fields, it is requisite that a whole neighborhood should persevere in this precaution for two or more years in succession.

"This result was obtained, in part, in the course of trials made by Mr. Kirk, of Buck's county, Pennsylvania, with some seed wheat from the Mediterranean, in and since the year 1837. His first crop was free from the fly, but it was gradually introduced from the adjacent fields; and, in the present year, the mischief has been considerable."

As we know that some of our male friends, in this section of the country, where the question is one of paramount importance, entertain different views on this subject, we invite them, if their gallantry will permit, to enter the lists with the lady.

FORREST'S PATENT GRAIN PLANTER

The cut represents a machine for planting grain and sowing seed, invented and patented by a Mr. John M. Forrest, of Princess Anne county, Virginia. A model of the machine has been left at our office, by a gentleman, from the county of Princess Anne, who speaks very highly of its operation. We expect in a few days to have one of the machines for exhibition. Farmers, and the public generally, are invited to call and examine it.

The Sower itself, apart from the fixtures for opening and covering the rows, is neither more

nor less than a hollow wooden drum, with a hole in the surface. This drum works on the ground, as a wheel, and, in its revolution, drops the grain through the hole aforesaid. By bevilling the hole inwards, we are assured it is prevented from clogging, and a very simple conductor, on the inside, leads the grain, unerringly, to the hole. We are perfectly aware, that thousands of inventions, and especially agricultural inventions, are any thing but improvements; and therefore hesitate to express an opinion upon an article which we have not seen tried ; but this we will

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say, that if Mr. Forrest's machine does its work, I Captains from Walter the Penniless to Napoleon as well as we have been assured it does, its cheapness and simplicity entitle it, certainly, to the preference over any other we have ever seen.

MISCELLANY.

Under this head, we have determined to devote one page of our paper, notwithstanding its agricultural character, to polite literature. We have done so, under the supposition, not a violent one we hope, that our paper will enter no family, where this page will not be welcome to, at least, a portion of it. We devote it, particularly, to the ladies and younger members; not meaning to insinuate that the head will lack the taste to appreciate its contents, but intending only to express our desire of securing the approbation of that class, which is, and ought to be, so potential in every family. There is no farmer in Virginia, we hope, who will object to relieving the tedium of his homelier toils, by reading, monthly, one page of curious facts or well selected anecdote, although, it may not come exactly under the head of his professional duties. We shall endeavor, occasionally, to present our readers with scraps of chosen poetry, hoping to gratify those who have a taste for the divine art, and to inspire it in those breasts, that are now dead to its charms. We will certainly promise, that, unless seduced by the strongest temptation, we will not exceed, in this department, our prescribed limit of a single page.

Bonaparte, compared with these moveable types of Johannes Faust ?"

ORIGIN OF THE WORD LADY.

Formerly, when the affluent lived all the year round at their mansions in the country, the lady of the manor distributed to her poor neighbors, with her own hands, once a week or oftener, a certain quantity of bread, and she was called by them the Leff day, that is, in the Saxon, the bread giver. These two words were in time corrupted, and the meaning is as little known as ' the practice which gave rise to it; yet it is from I that hospitable custom that, to this day, the ladies of Great Britain alone serve meat at their own table.

PRINTING.

Of all the thousand comments, that we have heard and read upon the importance and benefit to mankind, derived from the art of Printing, the following-, taken from an old number of the Foreign Review, seems to us by far the most grand in conception and the most elegant in diction:

"When Tamerlane had finished building his pyramid of seventy thousand human sculls, and was standing at the gate of Damascus, glittering with steel, with his battle axe on his shoulder, till his fierce hosts filed out to new victories and carnage, the pale on-looker might have fancied that nature was in her death throes—for havoc and despair had taken possession of the earth, and the sun of manhood seemed setting in seas of blood. Yet it might be on that very gala-day of Tamerlane, a little boy was playing at ninepins in the streets of Mentz, whose history was more important to them than twenty Tamerlanes ! The Tartan Khan with his shaggy demons of the wilderness, passed away like a whirlwind, to be forgotten forever—but that German artizan has wrought a benefit, which is yet immeasurably expanding itself, and will continue to expand itself through all countries and through all time. What are the conquests and expeditions of the whole corporation of

The following exquisite little gem is from the pen of Mrs. Southey, (Caroline Bowles,) and is sufficient, of itself, to immortalize her:

THE PAUPER'S DEATH BED.

Tread softly—bow the head—

In reverent silence bow— No passing bell doth toll— Yet an immortal soul

Is passing now.

Stranger! however great,

With lowly reverence bow; There's one in that poor shed— One by that paltry bed—

Greater than thou.

Beneath that beggar's roof,

Lo! Death doth keep his state:

Enter—no crowds attend—

Enter—no guards defend This palace gate.

That pavement, damp and cold,

No smiling courtiers tread ; One silent woman stands Lifting with meagre hands

A dying head.

No mingling voices sound—

An infant wail alone; A sob suppress'd—agen That short deep gasp, and then

The parting groan.

Oh change! Oh! wondrous change—

Burst are the prison bars— This moment there, so low, So agonized, and now,

Beyond the stars!

Oh ! change—stupendous change !

There lies the soulless clod: The sun eternal breaks— The new immortal wakes—

Wakes with his God !