THE 



SOUTHERN PLANTEE. 

IBcbotc^ to ^QvUuitnvey JgortCtulture, autr the J^ouseliolti ^rts. 



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



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



FRANK: G. RUFFIN, Editor. 



P. D. BERNARD, Publisher. 



Vol. XIY. 



RICHMOND, AUGUST, 1854. 



No. 8. 



For the Southern Planter. 

GRADUATED OR GUARD DITCHES FOR HILL- 
SIDES. 

[published by order of the executive committee of 
the virginia state agricultural society.] 

SKETCH OF A DISCUSSION 

At a Meeting of tiie Powhatan Farmers' Club, No. 1 , 
lield on May lUh, 1854. 



"The construction, use, advantages and disadvantages 
of graduated furrows on hill-sides, to guard against the 
washing by heavy rains."* 

Mr; LcAvis E. Harvie, of Amelia, said that he 
was an unwilling witness in behalf of hill-side or 
guard ditches. Formerly he had been much op- 
posed to their use, but had been driven by neces- 
sity to adopt them ; and was now satisfied that they 
could be so constructed as materially to prevent 
the washing and abrasion to which the rolling lands 
in this region are peculiarly exposed. These lands, 
while they are generally based on clay, have a large 
admixture of sand; and from this cause, and on 
'account of their being undulating and sometimes 
precipitous, are apt to wash in gullies, or the soil 
is abraded, and the hills are left bare and galled. 
He tried to arrest this by ploughing deep and ho- 
rizontally around the hills, and cultivated his crops 
in the same way, leaving the land as level and 
smooth on the surface as possible. This was suffi- 
cient to prevent injury from ordinary rains; but 
he found invariably, after heavy rains, that his 
. land was much injured, and that much labor was 
required to repair the damage done, and to restore 
the land to its former condition. He was deterred 
for some years from resorting to the graded or ho- 
rizontal ditches, from having seen several farms 

* This subject had been pi'eviously fixed on for discus- 
sion, at the request of Edmund Rufiin, Agricultural Com- 
missioner, by whom this sketch has been prepared and re- 
ported, by the permission, and with the aid, of the several 
farmers who stated their experience and opinions of the 
practice in question. The interesting and useful character 
of this subject will be appreciated by intelligent farmers. 
In addition, the Commissioner trusts that this manner of 
discussing important, yet questionable subjects, will be ap- 
proved by all ; and that other clubs, or meetings of farmers, 
will use the like mode of investigating other important sub- 
jects, and report the opposing opinions to the State Agricul- 
tural Society, for public use and benefit. E. R. 
Vol. XIV.-8. 



upon which they were used, but improperly con- 
structed and injudiciously located, and where, con- 
sequently, the injury from washing had been greatly 
increased by them. In consequence, however, of 
an extraordinary fall of rain which disfigured and 
seriously injured one of his fields, then in wheat, 
he determined to use graded ditches on the field 
that was to be sown in wheat the ensuing fall. The 
experiment was made, and the ditches located and 
constructed with much care, and he found then, 
and ever since, where the same care has been be- 
stowed, that generally speaking his lands have been 
preserved from destructive washing. Occasionally, 
some of the ditches are broken or overflowed ; and 
where such is the case, there is made one bad wash, 
and only one; whereas, without the ditches at the 
same time, the damage would be general. 

Great care should be taken to locate them so as 
to intercept the water on the hill-side before it has 
accumulated and been precipitated sufficiently to 
commence abrading the soil ; and they should be 
projected around the hill until they reach a point 
at which they can be discharged without injury. 
Such a position can almost always be found with 
due care and precaution. In making the ditches, 
the upper side opposite the bank, should be deepest, 
so as to cause the water to press against the hill, 
and not the bank. Generally there should be from 
two to three such ditches on each hill-side. The 
one nearest the foot or base of the hill is of great 
value in i^reventing the deposit of sand on the flat 
lands below, which deposit will, in the absence of 
hill-ditches, fill up the water-furrows or open ditches 
in the low-land. 

The value of these hill-ditches to the flat land at 
the base of the hills, is scarcely, if at all, less than 
to the high land they are constructed to protect. 
They conduct the water, w^hich would inundate and 
surcharge the land, around the flat to the stream 
or creek ; and thus the water on the bottom land 
is no more than what falls in rain on the surface. 

The fall given to the hill-ditches should vary with 
their length and exposure. In sharp curves, or in 
passing across valleys, an increased fall is proper 
and necessary. In breaking the land, he ploughs 
across the ditches, and after a few years' cultiva- 
tion, if they are properly constructed and kept 
cleared out, there is no difficulty in hauling across 
them, for they become mounds without a ditch in 
most places, and then, if the water overflows them, 
they do not break. It is much better to give them 
too much than too little fall, for it is much easier 
to arrest the washing inside than outside of the 
ditch; and there is more injury usually resulting 



■?il 



226 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



from the accumulation and deposit of sand m these 
dUches, than from washing in them. They are very 
valuable in protecting galled land m the Process of 
being reclaimed, and in filhng up gullies if the 
bottoms of the gullies are first covered with brush 
or rubbish of some kind. . , ^^ . • a 

Mr William Old, of Powhatan, said that m ad- 
vocating the system of hill-side ditching or furrow- 
[nahe like Mr. Harvie, could not be charged with 
behi- influenced by any pride of consistency mas- 
much as he stood recorded in the Farmers' Regis- 
ter when edited by his friend, Mr. Edmund Rufen, 
^s most decidedly opposed, and that, too, after 
some limited experience.* But, notwithstanding 
ids strong objection to such ditches at the time al- 
luded to, he continued to use a few of them m some 
peculiarly exposed situations, until their practical 
benefits so grew upon his confidence that he now 
u^es them upon all the slopes of his f-m wh^^^^^^^^ 
is practicable to obtain convenient outlets for them 
All persons cultivating the rolhng lands above tide 
water are aware that very great i^.l^^T is done es- 
pecially to so much as is under cultivation of hoe- 
crops by everv heavy fall of rain. Although all 
are aWare of the existence of this constantly re- 
curring evil, it is probable that there are many who 
have never considered its full extent. When tor- 
rents descend, and carry off masses of soil, niakmg 
large gullies over a field, the injury is so obvious 
that the least observant may properly estimate it. 



* Mr Old's first and unfavorable opinion of these guard- 
ditches was reported, (from his verbal information to the 
EdUor ) in Vol. X. of Farmers' Register, 1842, in the fol- 
low n' passage. Such entire change of opinion of a farmer 
of so much practical knowledge and sound judgment, serves 
^ give inci eased value to his later corrected and p-e^ent 
views on this subject. 

«'Mr Old is altogether opposed to the practice of gra- 
duated ditching on hill-sides, generally, through a form, for 
the purpose of preventing the washing ot the land He 
tJsoL short ditches of this kind, on very f-or^b «^P- 
sitions, and as merely a partial preventive. He has seen 
bnd thus treated, which the ditches alone spoiled more 
han III the washing could do in a century of other judi- 
lus cultivation; and which was far more disfigured and 
TZred afterwards, by the water breaking over the bank. 
«"^ it certainly will do, with all the care that can be used 
Supposing eln (what is far beyond the truth) that the bes 
arrang d and constructed ditches, always kept in perfect 
order could effect their designed purpose, of carrying off 
the redundant rain-water, it would be impossible by any 
farmer's care, to prevent accidental and unlooked-for stop- 
pTes which would be first made known by turning out 
fhe water of a ditch, cutting a gully, breaking by the accu- 
mulated force across the next ditch and bank below, and 
ncreastng its track of devastation thence to the bottom of 
he descent. As an example of the insecurity of he sys- 
em he e erred to one of the graduated ditche., (such as 
aWe mentioned,) through his corn-field, which being shor 
and frequently under his eye, he had sevei-al tunes himsdf 
examined th/oughout its whole length, and with a hoe le- 
m'wed every commencing obstruction. This care was in 
Td lilion to all general superintendence and repairing. Late 
tn the year he found that the water had broken over, and 
had beeun to cut a gully. The cause was, that the fodder 
^of haS been gathered on a part of the adjoining corn, 
"s it decayed on the stalks the small light bits had been 
b own off\y the wind, and some had fallen in the ditch. 
Thrfirst rafn floated this light stuff along tlie ditch, until a 
St w or small root, or some such thing, caught and stopped 
a few bits, which served to slop more; and as the muddy 
water settled and filled the crevices, finally mace a dan 
rident to throw out the water. Had this dUch been . 
the top of the hill, and several other ditches below, tins 
slight cause would have broken every one, and with more 
and more damage at every successive breach. 



importance. But, in his opinion, much injury a.. . 
waste of soil-indeed to a greater aggregate aniount 
in the course of the year-was done by washings 
of a less striking character. There are many falls 
of rain that pass generally and rapidly over the 
surface, but not so concentrated or violent as to 
tear up the foundation, or wash the land into gul- 
lies vet quite sufiicient to carry ofif, by general 
abrasion, much of the soil, or at least matter, both 
organic and inorganic, that constituted its pnncipal 
vaTue After every beating ram that falls, the sand 
may be seen separated and deposited in every de- 
pression of the^surface, besides the large quantity 
hat is precipitated to the flats and streams below 
This is but the silex left, after washing away ail 
soluble matter and the more minutely cnyided and 
'iiahter particles of the soil, of which these con- 
stTtuted a part. This, so far, is a comple e loss of 
soil He siid that a great deal of this injury can- 
not be prevented, but he thought that much of it 
might be, and by the means now under considera- 
Uon If you can lessen the volume of water that 
passes over the surface, you will, to that extent, 
e^sen the iniury done by it. Suppose, then you 
htv^ a slope' in'one of your fields, 150 yards m 
breadth, it is obvious, that when one fthese de- 
structive rains occurs, if the water that falls upon 
the first or upper fifty yards (for example) be per- 
mitted to descend and unite with that which falls 
upon the next lower breadth of fifty yards, and these 
two with that which falls upon the third or lowest 
part, that three times as much water will be pass- 
incT over the lower section as there was^upon the 
firtt and that too with greatly augmentea veiOCity. 
If then by one of these furrows, the descending 
water, at the end of the fin.t fifty yards, was ar- 
rested and conducted gently otf to some place 
where it maybe discharged ^ithout ii.i^;ry--ana 
so likewise, for the water of the next bvcauth, by 
another ditch, at the end of the second nivision 
then the whole fall of rain will have been disposed 
of without any greater accumulation on any one 
nortion of the land, thus divided into sections, than 
what falls upon that portion. These means would 
obviouslv prevent much of the washing and injury 
that would be produced without them. This seems 
so clear that no argument can be necessary to prove 
or enforce it. The question then is as to the prac- 
ticability of constructing the ditches, so as to guard 
aoainst their breaking and discharging their pent- 
up volumes of water over the lands below, so as to 
do as much or more injury than would have been 
done by the rain-floods, if no such attempt had, 
been made to divert them. This, he adn.itted, was 
a dancrer entitled to serious consideration, and one 
with which for years he had been so deep y im- 
pressed as to deter him from adopting lull-side , 
ditches He had witnessed upon several tarms the 
most destructive eftects produced by them where 
thev had been inaccurately laid off, careles.^ly con- 
structed, and badly attended to. But he nad now, 
bv many years experience, become perfectly satis- 
fied of the practicability of using them, with care 
and attention, so as to avoid any injury resulting 
therefrom. But he was not now an adxocate lor 
the indiscriminate use of them, as practiced by 
some of his acquaintances. Before adopting them 
ui.on anv field, it is necessary to examine it care- 
fi llv aiid then to determine where the water con- 
ducted bv them is to be discharged, and whether 
it can be so discharged without producing as much 
iniury as it would do if suffered to pursue its course 
directly down the sloping surface without mterrup- 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



227 



tion. In many situations on his own farm, he can- 
not use them, for want of the proper outlets. Where 
there are several small streams passing through a 
farm, separating different hills from each other, 
they form the most convenient places for discharg- 
ing therein these hill-side furrows. Where such 
streams are wanting, It may sometimes be found 
convenient to discharge the ditches outside of tlie 
plantation, in the woods, or on other uncultivated 
lands. He had occasionally used, very advan- 
tageously, old gullies that had heen filled up with 
hushes, and that had their bottoms protected from 
washing by a thick growth of briers, grass, &c., 
but only where it was practicable to take the Avater 
off from the lower end of the gully by a graded 
ditch to some stream, so as to avoid throwing the 
water on the flat land below. 

So much as to the propriety of making such 
ditches at all. Now as to the manner of doing it. 

He graded the lines for the furrows, he said, with 
a common rafter level, which he supposed all were 
familiar with, having the span twelve feet, and gave 
a general fall to the furrow of two inches to each 
span, increasing it occasionally to two and a half, 
where the hill was steep and the turns short. If 
the furrow is to be emptied into a stream that de- 
scends through the farm, the descent of the furrow 
should be in the direction opposite to the descent 
of the stream, so that the descending grade of the 
one, and the ascending grade of the other, may 
bring them together. If there is any particular 
place on the slope designed to be furrowed, that is 
especially desired to be protected from washing — 
such as a partially cured gall — take the upper mar- 
gin of this as a starting point, and grade descend- 
ing both wa,ys. When it is desirable to run a fur- 
row as high up the hill as the outlet will permit, 
the head of the stream or ravine designed to re- 
ceive the discharge, must, of course, be made the 
starting point, and the furrow be marked off upon 
an ascending grade all the way. When a starting 
point has been determined on, and you have pro- 
vided yourself with a handful of small sticks, cut 
about twelve or fifteen inches long, place one of 
them at this point and one foot of your level by 
the side of it, and move the other foot, until the 
cord to which your plummet is attached indicates 
a fall of two inches, then place another stick by 
the side of that foot, and move the level forward, 
placing the hind foot of the level precisely in the 
place from which was moved the front one — and so 
on to the end. When a line is thus marked off by 
sticks stuck up at twelve feet from each other, it 
will present a very zig-zag course, and one that it is 
unnecessary to follow with the furrow exactly ; but, 
by walking back on the line, and taking up half 
the sticks and slightly moving others, you may pre- 
serve the general grade without these numerous 
sinuosities. Having thus laid down the line, run 
three or four furrows of a plough along it, throw- 
ing the slices down the hill, and then form the bank 
by drawing out the loose earth with hoes, taking 
care to make the top of the bank as level as possi- 
ble, by drawing the earth backwards or forwards 
along the bank, as may be required. In opening 
the furrow, make it deepest at the upper side, or 
next to the hill, so as to avoid as much as possible 
the pressure of water against the bank. In furrow- 
ing a steep hill-side the greatest care and attention 
are necessary — more fall should be given, say 2^ 
inches in twelve feet, at least, — more width, and 
more depth of the upper part of the furrow. For 
the loose mass of earth, of which the bank is com- 
8h 



posed, being thrown on lower ground, will, at its 
Ijase, be as low as the level, and a portion of it 
even belowthe bottom of the furrow, so as to ex- 
pose it very much to be cut away by the current 
that passes along the furrow, until the bank becomes 
settled and sufficiently compact to resist abrasion. 

Mr. Wm. H. Harrison, of Amelia, was opposed to 
the general use of hill-side ditches; 1st, because of 
the various interruptions to the proper breaking up 
of land which they cause. It is well known that a 
hill can be ploughed better, and in shorter time, 
when ploughed around, so that the furrow-slice Ls 
always turned down the hill. But this is impossi- 
ble, when the surface of the hill is cut up by a 
succession of hill-side ditches. In this case, the 
plougliing of the hill has to be done in sections; 
and in ploughing each section, half the furrows 
must be thrown up the hill, and the ending furrow 
left in the middle is almost certain to wash. It is 
true, this may be obviated by ploughing across the 
hill-side ditches; but Mr. H. considered this as very 
dangerous, hy greatly weakening the bank of the 
ditch, and greatly increasing the labor of keeping 
it open. A second objection to hill-side ditches, 
was the great difficulty of keeping them open, in 
a country as much infested as this with running 
briers. These soon choke the ditch, unless watched 
with more care than most persons have time to be- 
stow. The paths which cattle make across the 
banks, and the burrowing of moles, constantly tend 
to break them. 3dly. Whenever such break takes 
place, from any cause, the injury by washing is 
much greater than if the water had followed its 
natural course. This is particularly the case where 
there is a succession of ditches, one above the 
other. In this case, a break in an upper ditch is 
followed by a continuous break in all the lower 
ones, and a deep gully is formed by a single rain. 
4thly. The great difficulty of emptying these ditches 
properly. If the streams or draining ditches, into 
which the hill-side furrows empty, have any dis- 
tance to pass through flat land, before they reach 
the main stream, Mr. H. had always found such 
lateral ditches filled up by the accumulated wash- 
ings from the hills, thus brought down in a mass. 
5thly. If the hill-side ditches be of considerable 
length, this greatly increases the liability to break, 
and its own tendency to wash into a gully. 

Mr. H. had once used these ditches very exten- 
sively, but of late years had filled up most of them 
with decided advantage. He still used them with 
much advantage by the side of roads, and at the 
foot of hills and gullies, to protect the subjacent 
lands from the water and wash from above. In 
other cases he thought they were a costly and dan- 
gerous substitute for deep ploughing and sub-soil- 
ing. Such was his experience. His observation 
led to the same conclusions ; as several of the worst 
washed farms in the country were those on which 
hill-side ditches had been longest and most exten- 
sively used. 

Mr. William L. Booker, of Amelia, said he had 
been using graduated ditches for fifteen or twenty 
years, and an observer of them from the time of 
their first introduction in the county of Amelia, by 
Mr. William T. Eggleston, who then resided at the 
Court House; that at first be was opposed to them, 
but ultimately found that his objections were all 
applicable to improper location or construction, or 
negligent and improper management. He agreed 
with Messrs. Old and Harvie as to the mode of con- 
structing them. 

He preferred rather the bank to the ditch — and, 



228 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



therefore, made it his object, as soon as the ditch 
is completed, so to plough the land as to fill the 
ditch, leaving the hank untouched, and suffering 
or rather inviting the sod to form. He differs with 
Messrs. Old and Harvie as to the propriety of their 
mode of ploughing across the ditches, because, if 
from neglect or other cause, a breach should occur , 
in the upper bank, it would most likely result in 
breaking all those below it ; and because, if a breach 
is once made, the water would not again resume its 
proper course until the bank was mended — whereas, 
if sod is suffered to form on the bank, these results 
would not follow, as the water Avould resume its 
course in its proper channel as soon as the rains 
subside, and, though there might be an overflowing 
of the ditch, no breach would be made. 

Most persons who object to the system, are in 
the habit of so ploughing their land as to form a 
bank above the lower bank, and thus greatly di- 
minish the capacity of the ditch to take off the 
water. 

If, in ploughing, the operation is commenced in 
the bottom of the ditch, and the furrow thrown up 
to the bank, the bank will be gradually increased, 
and no bank formed above it to confine the water. 
If the land between the ditches is ahvays ploughed 
the same way, throwing the earth above and below, 
and finishing in the middle, the finishing furrow 
will be gradually deepened into a ditch, and the 
ground made uneven. To avoid this, at each alter- 
nate ploughing he reverses the operation, commenc- 
ing the second ploughing by throwing the earth to 
the middle in the form of bedding, and thus cor- 
recting by the second ploughing the errors of the 
first. 

Mr. P. St. George Cocke, of Powhatan, said that 
his experience in the use of hill-side or graduated 
furrows or ditches had been extensive within the 
last fifteen years — as practised upon plantations in 
the county of Brunswick — upon his place in the 
county of Powhatan, and also upon the black cane 
lands of Lowndes county, Mississippi, in connection 
with the cultivation of cotton and corn. 

Brunswick county is situated above the head of 
tide water, and is in the same geological range of 
country with Powhatan, Amelia and Nottoway 
counties — the soil being based upon the granite, 
or gneiss rock, and varying from a light grey gra- 
velly, or sandy texture, to that of a heavy red clay. 
The surface is undulating, and near the streams of 
water, broken with hills and valleys. 

This country has all been worked and gullied by 
the old two-field system of tobacco and corn culti- 
vation, with shallow ploughing, and no small grain 
crops or grasses to smooth the surface and retain 
the soil ; and in such condition of the land, the use 
of graduated hill-side furrows is undoubtedly most 
useful, to arrest the further washing of the surface, 
and to aid in filling up and smoothing the gullies, 
and restoring the surface to its natural condition ; 
but he thinks that after having used the furrows 
and effected the above objects, they may, as a ge- 
neral i)ractice, be dispensed with, whenever hoe- 
crops are followed by small grain, and these last 
by clover and grasses. In other words, it is his 
opinion that it is shallow ploughing, up and down 
hill, and leaving the land all winter and spring in 
naked hills and ridges, that cause the washing and 
gullying; and that deep ploughing, sub soiling, and 
other thorough tillage of the soil, with a suitable 
rotation of crops, in which the hoe-crop shall be 
followed by small grain, and this by clover and 
grasses, will speedily and effectually arrest the in- 



jury to the lands — which injury is now sought to 
be prevented by the use of the hill-side furrow. 

In fact, he is now abandoning the old furrow^s, 
having used them for the above mentioned pur- 
poses, and by deep ploughing, (with three horses) 
and a five-field rotation of crops, the washing has 
ceased, and the lands are rapidly improving. 

But the hill-side furrows often subserve a useful 
purpose in drainage, and he frequently uses them 
to arrest and carry off" the superfluous water of 
heavy rains from extensive slopes or hill-sides, 
thereby preventing the overflow or saturation of 
the soil of the flat land adjoining such slopes. 

In Lowndes county, Mississippi, upon the black 
cane lands cultivated in cotton and corn, and where 
the cultivation is necessarily shallow, and the land 
kept perpetually under the hoe and plough, he has 
found great profit result from the use of furrows, 
in the following respects : 

First. Chiefly by effecting a better drainage of 
the lands, the surface of which is scarcely undu- 
lating enough to pass off with sufficient rapidity 
the torrents of rain that fall in that climate. By 
means of the graduated furrow, the same water is 
received and conveyed off" at regular intervals over 
the slopes, and discharged through main drains or 
ditches in the flats below ; thereby preventing its 
too great accumulation at the foot of the slopes or 
elsewhere, which before the use of the furrows 
often resulted in great injury to the growing crops. 

Secondarily. By preventing the washing aAvay 
of the soil, or gullying of the land — the tendency 
towards which, however, in these lands, is slight, 
owing to the peculiar mechanical qualities of a 
soil strongly impregnated with lime. 

Upon all light, sandy, and rolling lands, through- 
out the cotton-growing region, he does not doubt 
the necessity of hill-side furrows to prevent the 
speedy and absolute destruction of the soil, so long 
as the present system of naked, shallow, and per- 
petual tillage shall be continued upon such lands ; 
but he believes that even in this case, the use of 
furrows can delay only, and not prevent, the ulti- 
mate destruction of all such soils. 

Mr. Old, in answer to an objection stated by Mr. 
Harrison, said that his use of hill-side ditches did 
not prevent the great convenience and advantage 
to breaking up the field by the ploughs running 
around the hills, and throwing the furrow-slices 
down hill. He ploughed in this manner, just as if 
no such ditch existed. When the plough had to 
cross a hill-side ditch, it was usually at a very acute 
angle, so that the shallow ditch, and its low and 
flat bank, presented no obstacle. But the plough- 
man took care, when crossing the bank, to make 
the plough run quite shallow, so that, while break- 
ing the surface, not to disturb the base and com- 
pact mass of the bank. The loose earth thus thrown 
or left in the ditches, or as much of it as required, 
was afterwards drawn out by broad hoes. The 
banks were cropped in the same manner as the field 
generally — and brought as good, if not better, wheat 
than any other portions of the field. He would 
much object to the different practice, (recommended 
by Mr. Booker,) of leaving unploughed strips along 
the banks which would more often be nurseries of 
running briers, than of grass sod. He was sur- 
prised at this practice of ploughing each interval 
(^between two ditches,) separately, which required 
half the furrow-slices to be thrown up-hill, which 
he would deem a very serious objection. 

When the field had been thus ploughed flush, for 
corn, and the guard ditches cleaned out, the corn 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



229 



rows were marked off, beginning alongside of, and 
parallel to, tlie upper sides of the ditches. Thus 
the rows continued, generally, along and around a 
hill-side. But at the short curves of the ditches. 
The corn rows were made to run out straight, and 
ended as each one readied ihe ditch. As the mark- 
ing off of rows reaches the ditch next above, of 
course they will not exactly coincide with the 
course of the bank, and some short rows will be 
required to fill out the interval. But, taken alto- 
gether, the tillage rows are long, not inconveniently 
curved, or too much varying from a level any- 
where ; and there is no waste of land or of crop, 
except in the narrow bottom of each side ditch. 

In reference to the remarks of Mr. Cocke, Mr. 
Old said that while he admitted that any ordinary 
rains might be absorbed by very deep ploughing, 
and so not produce washing, yet sometimes there 
fell rains so heavy and sudden, that, if not con- 
ducted off, the surplus must escape in torrents down 
the hill-sides, and would gutter and wash off the 
ploughed and loose layer of earth. In such cases, 
however rare, the washing might be even the greater 
in proportion to the previous depth of the plough- 
ing. But he denied that preventing the land from 
being washed into gullies, was the only benefit re- 
sulting from the use of guard furrows. The rapid 
passage of large volumes of water over the land, 
must necessarily do great injury, by a general abra- 
sion of the soil, by carrying off tlie soluble matters, 
the minutely divided particles, and the decayed ve- 
getable matter, which constituted the chief value 
of the soil. This view of the subject will be forci- 
bly illusirated by calling the attention of every 
observant farmer to the fact, that he may manure 
a galled place on his farm as highly as he pleases, 
and if left exposed to be passed over by every rain 
that falls until the next rotation, the improvement 
will have disappeared, the manure will have been 
washed out, and the same gall will have to be cured 
again, and that too when the washing has not been 
to the extent of forming a gully. 

Mr. F. G. Ruffin, of Albemarle, said that he could 
not spea.k positively of the necessity of hill-side 
ditches to a soil v.ith which he was not familiar. 
But in Albemarle he thought they were considered 
evidences of bad farming. The soil upon which 
he resided, the South- West Mountain, was not only 
peculiarly porous in texture, but it rested upon a 
substratum of broken and decomposing rock, and 
there was ample evidence of the percolation of w^a- 
ter to considerable depths through both the surface 
and the substratum — not only in rail road cuts and 
other excavations, where a deposit of mud between 
the seams of the rock had been found at a depth 
of eighteen feet from the surface, but also in the 
bold wet- weather springs, which rose after heavy 
rains at the foot of the hills, not unfrequently in 
hard trodden roads, in streams as large as one's 
arm. 

There were some jjortions of this land where the 
soil was too deep for the most favorable action of 
this kind, but in those, as in the variety of other 
soils in Albemarle, even on the steepest hill-sides, 
he had never seen ditches resorted to. Deep plough- 
ing was considered sufficient for all ordinary rains, 
and those that would not be absorbed by the greater 
depth, and consequent greater sponginess, of the 
soil, would break any ditches that would be com- 
patible with cultivation of the land. He had seen 
rains in Albemarle, almost water-spouts, that did 
great damage to the hills ; one, in particular, upon 
a portion of a field of his own, from the effects of 



which the land had not recovered in fourteen years. 
But a mill-dam would not have stood agaiust it, 
much less a ditch bank. 

In laying off corn rows, it was usual, there to 
lead the furrows by a gentle grade to the depres- 
sions on the face of the slope, into which they emp- 
tied ; and as those depressions were frequent, the 
furrows were rarely long. It was not thought good 
management to make them long, as the current of 
water was thereby increased in volume, and more 
soil was moved. 

After what he had heard to-day from gentlemen 
of greater age and experience than himself, espe- 
cially from those who had changed their opinions 
on this subject, he would not presume to say that 
ditches were unnecessary in Amelia and Powhatan; 
but still he thought that a longer rotation, which 
would give a turf upon the land, and that turf sub- 
verted to a depth of seven or eight inches for corn, 
the ploughing to be finished by or before Christmas, 
so as to kill or cripple the bore Avorms, and pulver- 
ize the soil by the winter frosts, would go far to 
obviate the necessity of these ditches. 

In answer to questions put by some of the mem- 
bers, Mr. R. said — The hills in Albemarle were not 
steeper than he had seen in Amelia and Powhatan, 
but there were many more of them, and they were 
longer ; could not say that he perceived much dif- 
ference in the general texture of the soils; the 
South-West Mountain lands, though remarkably 
adhesive, were thought rather too light and open 
for first-rate wheat lands; the soil on Fighting 
Creek* reminded him a good deal of some of the 
soils on Ivy Creek, in Albemarle; there he had 
known a field of Mr. Garth's, a part of it which 
was in oats, so riddled by rain, shortly after the 
crop was seeded that he had re-ploughed and re- 
seeded the whole of it ; but Mr. Garth never used 
hill-side ditches. The Ivy Creek lands were light, 
easily worked, with a good deal of sand in them, 
and were considered first-rate tobacco lands. 

Mr, Charles Selden, of Powhatan, said that after 
what had already been stated by others, it would 
be useless for him to offer any argument in favor 
of hill-side ditches. He would be content to state 
his decided approbation of their use, and his con- 
currence with what had been said as to their ad- 
vantages, both to prevent the washing away of soil 
and to aid its improvement. The abuses of the 
system, and their ill consequences, he did not con- 
sider to be reasons against the proper use. 

As to the labor and cost of construction, each 
farmer must decide that for himself, and according 
to the circumstances of his land. If, deeming the 
theory correct, and the application to his land pro- 
per, a beginner should take for trial a piece of 
ground the most subject to injury from washing, 
and make the required ditches, according to the 
directions stated in the earlier part of this discus- 
sion. He would add to these directions what he 
deemed an importa.nt part of his own practice. In 
the first ploughing out the ditches, he found two 
good plough-furrows enough for the highest seventy 
yards of each ditch. For the next seventy, as the 
rain-water fiows downward and increases in volume, 
three furrows' width is given to the ditch, — and so 
on, an additional furrow's width is given for every 
additional seventy yards' length of the ditch, to its 
place of discharge. 

The graduated ditches or their banks are not an 

* Dr. John B. Harvie's farm, on which the meeting 
the Club that day was held. E, R. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



impediment to ploughing around the hill, which is 
the general practice in Mr. Selden's neighborhood. 
The omitting to plough thus, when breaking up the 
field, would lose one of the most convenient means 
for keeping the ditches in order. It is only neces- 
sary to raise the point of the plough when it is 
cutting across or along a bank, so as to go shallow, 
and to cut up the weeds and briers, without dis- 
turbing the foundation of the bank. After being 
thus ploughed, the running the plough for one or 
Uyo furrows along and in the bottom of the ditch, 
to loosen the earth and break the roots of anything 
that has grown therein, Avill leave the ground ready 
for scraping out the ditches with hoes, and put the 
ditches and banks in order. They will rarely fail 
to answer a good purpose for the succeeding rota- 
tion of crops, without being liable to fill up or 
break, if managed as directed. 

Mr. S. said it had been argued that the washing 
away of the finer and more fertile parts of the soil 
(which was more or less done on all hilly lands,) 
v/as not a loss, as what was thus removed from the 
upper part was deposited at the foot of the hill. 
In answer, he would say, that if there had been no 
such washing, the land at or near the top of the 
slopes would have continued as fertile as at the 
foot. He thinks more injury is done to the flat 
lands lying under hills, by there being deposited 
there barren sand and clay Avashed from the bot- 
toms of gullies and other denuded and barren sub- 
soil on the hill-sides above, than the benefit received 
from the muddy water bringing and depositing the 
richest and finest parts of the soil. 

He could not say how far the objection applied 
to hill-side ditches making the small streams more 
liable to overflow. But as the water from rains 
would pass along greater distances, and at less speed, 
before reaching the streams below, he thought this 
objection could not apply to a proper and judicious 
system. 

It had been stated that graduated ditches would 
toot answer for stee'p slopes. He thought there were 
very few hill-sides in that neighborhood so steep as 
to forbid their use. He had these ditches on two 
hills, as steep as any in the neighborhood, and it 
was known that the plan answered well there. It 
is certainly true, that a steep hill-side will require 
the ditches to be more frequent, or nearer together, 
than more gentle slopes. And thus it may be, that 
on a very steep slope, the ditches and their banks 
might occupy a large proportion of the whole sur- 
face at that place, and have cost more labor for 
their construction and preservation than such par- 
ticular spot would be worth for cultivation. But 
this did not prevent such ditches being effective for 
such steeper ground, or the work there being made 
to suit with and in aid of the general plan for the 
whole field. 

Mr. Edmund Ruffin, of Hanover, said that it had 
been intimated in this discussion, and he knew it 
was a common opinion of many residents of this 
upper country, that the lands of the tide water re- 
gion were so nearly level that the washing of hill- 
sides was there but a small evil. It is true, that 
much of the land near the sea-coast is very level 
and low. But in the higher half of this region, 
lying nearer to the falls of the rivers, the high 
lands bordering the rivers and their small tiibutary 
streams, have many hill-sides much steeper than 
any of this upper country ; and for miles back from 
the rivers, many of the farms are as hilly as in this 
neighborhood, and as much need care to prevent 
(iestr active washing away of the soil, as any lands 



whatever. Still, he did not believe that this plan 
for prevention, which had undoubtedly been so be- 
neficial hereabout, could be advantageously adopted 
(or but in few cases of peculiar shape of surface) 
on tlie high and hilly lands of tide water. For- 
merly, as Editor of the Farmers' Register, and in 
the first volumes of that w^ork especially, he had 
done much to gather and diffuse information on 
this subject. He believes that to his thus eliciting 
information, especially from the pens of Messrs. 
James C. Bruce of Halifax, Richard G. Gaines of 
Charlotte, and N. F. Cabell of Nelson, the agricul- 
tural public is indebted for the first publication 
and diffusion of instruction on this important sub- 
ject. But his own practical experience is so limited , 
that it would not be worth mentioning, except that 
the statement is due to candor, and to this occasion. 
On the high and hilly farm in Prince George county, 
formerly owned by Mr. R., and then, as now, under 
the direction of the present proprietor, Edmund 
Ruflin, Jr., a field was laid off", and guard-furrows 
made, carefully and well, according to the then re- 
ceived directions and best lights. But, in obedience 
to the views then deemed best, the descent given 
to the fuT'rows was only one inch in twelve feet. 
According to the later views stated here to-day, 
this error alone was enough to ensure failure. In 
addition — the field had been recently ploughed 
flush, (for corn,) the graduated trenches made sub- 
sequently, (by ploughs and hoes, as just described 
by Messrs. Harvie and Old,) and of course the 
banks were composed, for the most of their height, 
of recently moved and loose soil. Of course, there 
was neither the descent of the furrows necessary 
to conduct rain-floods, nor solidity of banks to re- 
sist their washing through. It was no wonder, that 
the washing of the field was made the worse, by 
this attempt to guard against it. In consequence, 
as soon as possible, the furrows were filled up, and 
the effort has not been renewed. But besides these 
particular defects, (of too little fall in the furrows, 
and of the newness and softness of the banks, ope- 
rating in this case.) there are natural features of the 
hilly surfaces of the tide water lands very different 
from this middle region, and which would be great 
obstructions to the general use or efficacy of hill- 
side ditching. Here, the hill-sides, though high, 
are not often very steep, and are long and regular, 
or without frequent variations of direction. Those 
below the falls vary frequently in their rate of slope, 
and in the direction of the curves, which, also, are 
often short and abrupt. Thus, any graded line, 
marked for a hill-side ditch, would necessarily bo 
very crooked, and cross many of both projecting 
and receding curves. The soil also, usually, and 
sometimes the sub-soil, is sandy; and the heavy 
sand washed across the intervals of tilled land, into 
the graded ditches, by rain-floods, would soon make 
obstructions, cause the water to over- top and break 
across the adjoining bank, which, because of its 
loose, sandy texture, would be totally unfit to resist 
being washed through and down to its foundation. 
A'ery lately, when in South Carolina, he had con- 
versed on this subject with some intelligent jilanters 
of the upper part of that State, and of middle 
Georgia, in reference to scenes which he had pre- 
viously seen. Edward Palmer, Esq. of Fairfield 
District, South Carolina, and the Hon. William C. 
Dawson of Greensborough, Georgia, and others, 
stated that the use of guard-trenches, on their hilly 
lands, had been found an improvement of inestima- 
ble value. This practice in Georgia has been found, 
wherever used, to be the greatest possible safeguard 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



23 



against the generally disastrous cifocts of the heavy 
rains of tliat climate falling on the sloping lands. 
Mr. R. said that such results might have laceu an- 
ticipated there. The fields in middle Georgia, are 
kept almost continually under tilled or hoe-crops, 
and mostly of cotton, which latter culture requires 
the soil to he kept always clean and well pulver- 
ized. The very frequent ploughing, and always 
shallow, (which is so much the worse for washing,) 
the general or entire ahsence of broad-cast or un- 
filed crops, and there being no grass crops, or for- 
mation of sod, in the short intervals between the 
tilled crops — all must dispose the hilly lands of the 
more Southern States to be much more damaged 
by being vv-ashed, than most well-managed lands in 
either middle or lower Virginia, Avhich have but 
one tilled crop, (tobacco or corn,) in a rotation of 
four, five, or six years. Of course, the benefits of 
guard-ditches must be much greater on those cot- 
ton lands than even in this hilly region, where their 
operation is found to be so greatly beneficial. 

With his slight practical experience, Mr. R. said 
it became him to speak difhdently. But, from all 
that he had this day heard from good practical far- 
mers, whose experience and opinions deserved high 
respect, as well as from his previous observations, 
he arrived at conclusions differing from those of 
both the thorough approvers and opposers of this 
practice. He entirely concurred in the belief of 
the great benefits so obtained. But he thought 
that under like conditions of soil, surface, and rains, 
and also of judicious construction, the benefits of 
guard-ditches will be the greater in proportion to 
the extent or prevalence of the following conditions, 
vi/. frequency of the occurrence of tillage crops, 
the more perfect and long-continued pulverization 
of the soil, (as for cotton or tobacco,) and especially 
the practice of shallow ploughing — the infrequency 
of broad-cast crops, as wheat, peas, (as a manuring 
crop,) and still more of the land remaining at rest, 
and not grazed, under grass, or weeds, or even in the 
less safe state of pasture. The reverse of all these 
conditions, and especially with the deep ploughing 
under of much vegetable matter, would render less 
necessai'y, and less profitable, the use of graduated 
trenches; and perhaps, (as had been stated by Mr. 
Cocke,) in cases of higlily enriched lands, under 
broad-cast crops and grass most generally, the be- 
nefits of this practice may be less than its cost. 
Thus, undoubtedly beneficial and valuable as this 
improvement is generally, its use seems to indicate 
a transition state of agriculture; presenting, truly, 
evidence of great progress achieved in judicious 
improvement, but of a mode of improvement which 
will be hereafter the less practiced (where nov>^ in 
use,) in proportion to the nearer approach to the 
highest condition of improved culture and ferti- 
lization. 

It had been remarked in this discussion that the 
lime-stone mountain lands did not wash because 
of the open fissures of the underlying lime-stone, 
which served as under-draining, and drew down the 
excess of rain-water from the surface. It is true, 
that there is some mechanical eifect of this kind, 
and, in some cases, operating even to an injurious 
extent on lime-stone land. He had learned from 
the late J. Sampson, Esq., that in his vegetable 
garden grounds at the Red Sweet Springs, he had 
attempted, and without success, the irrigating the 
crops, because the water carried on, sunk so rapidly 
through the open texture of the soil, and the still 
more open fissured rock below. But, besides this 
mechanical operation, (and which is the same, 



though less in degree, in the peculiar South-W- 
Mountain lands, adverted to by Mr. F.G. Iluflin in 
his remarks,) Mr. 11. thouglit that the well-known 
less liability of hilly calcareous lands to be washed 
by rain-floods was more generally owing to their 
chemical than to their mechanical constitution. No 
persons had such good opportunity to know the fact 
and to judge of the cause, of this greater exemp- 
tion, as those farmers, who, like himself, had marled 
or limed land of previously the worst chaiacter for 
being easily and hopelessly (as then supposed) da- 
maged by washing. The addition of lime to soil, 
before greatly deficient in that necessary ingredient, 
gives greater mutual attraction and adhesiveness to 
all the different parts, so as to resist their easy sepa- 
ration and removal of any one part by rain-floods. 
He would not occupy more time hj digressing on 
this particular branch of the subject. But there 
is no question that calcareous soils, wliether na- 
tural or made so artificially, are much less liable 
to be damaged by being washed. 



For the Southern Planter. 
ON IMPROVING OR ENRICHING POOR LAND— 

WHETHER NATURALLY POOR OR NATURALLY RICH, 

OR GOOD AND SUBSEQ,Uf:NTLY EXHAUSTED BY 

SEVERE CROPPING. 

BY WILLIAM H. HARBISON. 

It seems to me that in commencing the work of 
agricultural improvement a preliminary step should 
be to take a general and thorough survey of the 
soil of the faim to be improved. My object in 
doing this would be to ascertain whether from the 
similarity of the soil of the different portions the 
same rotation of crops would be applicable to the 
whole; or whether, as often happens, from the di- 
verse character of the several parts, a varied ro- 
tation Vv'ould be advisable. The fact being estab- 
lished that there is sufficient uniformity of soil to 
make it expedient to embrace the whole area of 
cultivable land in a general system, the next step 
should be to consider the amount of labor to be 
employed on the farm ; also taking into the account 
the degree of poverty of the soil, in order to deter- 
mine the proper rotation of crops. If the force is 
an adequate one, and the land only moderately 
poor, let the farm be divided into five fields, and 
let the rotation be corn, wheat, clover, wheat, pas- 
ture. If, on the other hand, the force is weak, and 
the land excessively poor, I would recommend a 
more extended rotation, and would divide the farm 
into six or seven fields. The six field rotation w^ould 
be, corn, peas or rye, wheat, clover, wheat, pasture. 
The seven field system would only vary from this 
in allowing the clover field to remain unbroken for 
two years. 

It being a well known fact that the value of both 
calcareous and putrescent manures is greatly di- 
minished, if not wholly lost, when applied to lands 
that are sobbed by water, the next thing to be done 
should be to establish the most thorough system 
of drainage over the whole of the arable surface 
that requires it. 

It is undoubtedly a great advantage to the farmer 
to have his fields enclosed, but the expediency of 
doing it or not must be determined by the circum- 
stances of the case. If fences around the fields 
are to be dispensed with, a standing pasture, of at 
least half the size of one of the fields, should be 



232 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



iiclosed; and be it remembered that the worst 
land on the farm for cultivation is often the best 
for this purpose. Without such a pasture it would 
he very difficult and very troublesome to subsist 
the requisite number of cattle and sheep for the 
uses of the farm. I am by no means one of those 
who consider the conversion of the refuse matters 
of a farm into manure, by the agency of animals, 
as a useless process; on the contrary, I have been 
surprised, indeed I may say shocked, to hear the 
affirmative of that proposition maintained by some 
of our farmers who are highly skilful in other re- 
spects, on the ground that no addition is made to 
the mass, and in truth, that the quantity is consi- 
derably diminished by undergoing the process. 
This is one of the many fallacies propagated by 
the agricultural chemists ; and if my memory serves 
me rightly, the idea was first started by Sir Hum- 
phrey Davy. Great names, however, cannot conse- 
crate great errors, though for a time they often 
give them wide currency. The food of man is of- 
ten very much diminished, bpth in bulk and weight, 
by undergoing the process of cooking, and yet who 
believes it to be less nutritious on that account 1 
May not a due preparation of the food of plants 
also add to its efficacy 1 I think it may, and from 
my experience, does. 

May I here say, and be pardoned for saying, what 
has long been my opinion in regard to the true basis 
of the science of agriculture — that the practice of 
skilful men engaged in agriculture, in other words, 
the experience of experienced and sagacious men, 
whose time and talents are devoted to the subject 
and that only, is the true basis of that science. My 
gorge has often risen to see agricultural chemistry 
wrongfully made the corner stone of the stately 
edifice. That chemistry may and does occasionally 
make discoveries that practical men are daily turn- 
ing to great advantage, is not to be denied. She 
is a potent auxiliary, and to this point her just 
claims extend, but no farther. In the highly inte- 
resting and beautiful agricultural address delivered 
by the Hon. William C. Rives, on a recent occasion 
at Saratoga, in New York, I was very much gratified 
to see this same opinion strongly maintained, on 
the authority of a Mr. Pusj^, who is represented 
to be one of the foremost agricultural writers of 
England, Having j^roceeded to a division of the 
farm into five fields, let one of them be well ploughed 
for corn, taking care to penetrate as deep as the 
nature of the soil will permit, without mixing too 
much of the dead subsoil with the surface earth. 
On soils accessible to lime, and on which it acts 
well, let a handsome dressing be applied, varying 
from thirty-five to one hundred bushels, according 
to the capacity of the soil to bear it. I would pre- 
fer using lime to marl, of the ordinary sort, at the 
outset, unless the marl was very easy of access, 
and very rich in calcareous matter, because the 
work of calxing can be carried on so much more 
expeditiously, from the fact that a much less quan- 
ti'ty of lime will have the desired effect, and that 
the requisite quantity of calcareous matter, there- 
fore, can be so much more easily transported in 
that shape. It seems to me, too, that from the 
slight causticity of lime, not too much slacked by 
either air or water, a more immediate effect is ob- 
tained than from calcareous matter in the milder 
and more effete shape of marl. Lime, when brought 
even from the Hudson to James river, loose in the 
hold of a vessel, is found to act much more hap- 
pily, when applied, without unnecessary exposure 
to rain and air, as soon as it is landed. I would 



also give the corn field a dressing of about 200 lbs, 
of guano to the acre at the time it receives the 
second ploughing, say when the corn is about twelve 
inches high; and at the last ploughing would lay 
it down in peas, sowing a bushel to the acre. My 
object in doing this would be to procure a good 
seed bed for the ensuing crop of wheat, and at the 
same time be adding to the vegetable matter in the 
soil. Clover must be sown on this field the spring 
after it goes in wheat. During the winter and 
spring another field must be ploughed up and 
limed; and after giving it 100 lbs. of guano to the 
acre, let it be laid down in peas, as a preparation 
for wheat: and when the wheat is sown let the dose 
of guano be repeated. Go on in this way through 
the entire rotation, using clover and plaster, and 
making and applying on the clover field all the pu- 
trescent manures possible. I am in the habit of 
collecting during the winter, and scattering over 
my farm pens, all the ashes I can lay my hands 
on. It will be well, perhaps, to adopt this plan, 
which certainly improves the mass of manure very 
much. 

Under the six and seven field systems it would 
be necessary the first year to break up and lime 
three fields ; the corn field to receive a dressing of 
guano, as under the five field system, but not to go 
in peas till the second year. The other two fields 
should be served as above, soAving guano and peas 
as a preparation for wheat. One of these fi.elds 
must be sown in clover the spring after it has been 
laid down in wheat. This course of improvement 
should be continued on all the fields in proper or- 
der until, by the due use of lime or marl, and pu- 
trescent manures, the crops of clover become suffi- 
ciently heavy to justify the abandonment of the 
use of guano on the clover fallow. 

The corn field under these systems (the six and 
seven field) may be laid down in rye in August or 
September, instead of reserving it for a pea fallow 
the next year, and a very rough harrowing would 
suffice to cover it. Let it be fed to hogs as it 
stands, when mature. It is stated on high autho- 
rity that rye, used in this way, is very much relied 
on as an improver in Ohio. I think, though, I 
should myself prefer the pea fallow as a prepara- 
tion for wheat, for the obvious reason that a scat- 
tering of rye would almost inevitably be found in 
the crop of Avheat that followed. 

As I told an old friend and former manager of 
mine, some time ago, who now cultivates a farm of 
his own, labor is so high now-a-days that no one 
can afford to make bad crops, and the magic of 
guano must be resorted to when other means fail. 
It must be admitted, however, to be a most expen- 
sive manure. 

Whatever opinions I may once have held in re- 
gard to the expediency of making small applica- 
tions of lime, after an accumulated experience of 
many years since that time, I am now in favor of 
repeated and large doses on lands that will bear it, 
and as an agent in imiirovement I estimate lime far 
more highly than guano, at the price we have to 
pay for it. Guano may be used to great advantage 
on poor lands, and on lands not accessible to calca- 
reous manures, and not improvable by them, and 
on plantations on which large crops of tobacco are 
grown. I know it is a controverted proposition, 
but my observation, backed by an actual expe- 
rience of moie than ten years, leads me to the con- 
clusion that that crop is rather inimical to a high 
state of agricultural improvement, when full crops 
are aimed at. This arises from the fact that it ex- 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



233 



acts so much labor in its culture and preparation 
for market. Hence the great value of guano to 
the tobacco grower, whose hands are so much tram- 
melled during the winter months — the season ge- 
nerally devoted to improvement by farmers. It 
may at least be doubted whether guano can be 
used profitably on lands well improved by lime and 
the putrescent manures of the farm, and producing 
clover kindly. In the last thirty years we have not 
had three as fine seasons for wheat in succession as 
the last three, and there is no manner of doubt 
that guano has been credited with much that is 
due to the seasons. It is a remark that is often 
made that guano has put the poor and the rich 
lands very much on the same level. Any reflecting 
person, however, who v/ill make the right calcula- 
tions, will soon see that the gap between them is 
very wide still. Take a farm of five fields, and 
suppose by the application, annually, of 200 lbs. of 
guano per acre to the corn field and one wheat field, 
at a cost of $50 per ton of 2000 lbs. the same result 
is obtained that a neighbor gets on land that cost 
S30 per acre ; and so on to the end of time. It is 
perfectly clear that the guano is an annual tax of 
$2 per acre on the whole arable surface, in the case 
above stated. This is the interest on S'33 33^, and 
of course a capitalist had better purchase good 
land at S30 per acre than incur this annual expense. 
It must be borne in mind, too, that the poor land 
is worth something, the value of which should be 
an element in the calculation. It will be contended, 
however, that the guano, though an evanescent ma- 
nure, does leave some improvement; and this is 
undeniably true. I admit, too, that it increases the 
means of making putrescent manures. The supe- 
rior advantages, however, of good land in produc- 
ing clover and other grasses, in the profits arising 
therefrom, would, in my opinion, be a fair and full 
oflTset to all this. There is a good deal of land, 
though, in Virginia that I doubt not, in the value 
of all the crops raised upon it in a series of years, 
would more than double the product of poor land, 
when fructified, as above, by guano. I leave it to 
others to calculate the value of such land upon 
these data. It must certainly be worth considera- 
bly over $Q0 per acre, if the above reasoning is 
correct. 

An old farmer, well known to me, jocosely re- 
marked, some time ago, that he felt, when a guano 
man vaunted of his crops of wheat, and did not 
state the outlay in guano, that he was taking an 
undue advantage of his fellow-farmers. There 
seems to be some show of reason in it, too, when 
one refers to the fleeting nature of the manure, and 
reflects that it enters so largely, as an item, into 
the cost of production of the crop. The old fellow 
admitted that he sometimes used guano himself, 
but he said it was always with the feeling, or some- 
thing approaching it, that an old sportsman would 
experience when caught in the act of poaching 
partridges. 

There is only one subject more that I wish to 
touch upon, and I am done. The most defective 
feature of our Virginia management, in my judg- 
ment, is our neglect (for I plead guilty myself when 
arraigned on this charge) to use the proper means 
in making and collecting all the manure possible 
on our farms, and preparing it in the best way, and 
in preserving it from waste till applied to the land. 
On my lands, well prepared manures applied on 
clover, produce much better and heavier crops, 
both of that grass and of grain, when broken up, 
than straw alone. This seems to contravene the 



shade theory of that most worthy gentleman, Dr. 
Robert Baldwin, of Winchester. My way of ac- 
counting for the effect of shade on land is this : 
When shaded by any substance, neither soluble nor 
putrescent, it becomes friable and mellow to a very 
great depth, as is admitted on all hands, producing 
that very state of the soil that was aimed at by 
Jethro TuU in his celebrated mode of culture, and 
which, by-the-by, is said, for a time, to have pro- 
duced most remarkable results. Tull rejected the 
use of manures, and relied on breaking the land 
very deep, and preparing the soil for the reception 
of crops by the most perfect and thorough pul- 
verization. In both of these cases, as I take it, the 
earth is stimulated to do its utmost by the potent 
agency of heat and moisture in decomposing all 
the inert vegetable matter and any other substances 
capable of decomposition, to be found in the soil ; 
and I cannot doubt that either system, long con- 
tinued, without a fresh supply of vegetable matter 
in some shape, (and both systems reject the use of 
it, as unnecessary,) would end in producing utter 
and hopeless sterility on any ordinary lands. There 
may be soils, so constituted as to bear such treat- 
ment, but I have no knowledge of them, except 
from books. When putrescent or soluble matters 
are used as a covering for the land I can very well 
see how the land receives direct and very essential 
benefit otherwise than upon the shade principle. 

The late Fielding Lewis, Esq. of Charles City, 
who as an agriculturist was greatly in advance of 
his age, and who had the honor, as I believe, to be 
the first farmer in Virginia who used lime success- 
fully as a manure, used to say that a horse, pro- 
perly littered, would compensate, very nearly, if 
not fully, for the grain used by him, in the manure 
thus made. The annual loss to Virginia in the ne- 
glect of this matter of making manures, is im- 
mense ; but there is a spirit of improvement abroad 
which, I trust, is destined to make our dear old 
State blossom as the rose. Vireat semper, semper 
floreai. 



For the Southern Planter. 
QUAKER MANAGEMENT OF DAIRY COWS, 

REARING CALVES, AND FATTENING HOGS. 

Mr. Editor^ — Thinking the following, written to 
me by a member of the society of Friends, contains 
much both interesting and instructive, I enclose ii 
to you for publication in the Planter. 

Respectfully yours, D. H. Hatton, 

Nansemond County, Va. 

Respected Friend, — Having duly received a letter 
from you requesting a detail of the minutia of our 
dairy husbandry, &c., &c., I now proceed, at this, 
my earliest opportunity, to reply. 

And 1st. Of the feeding and general treatment 
of our milch cows in winter. As the habits of our 
community are industrial, we rise at half past five 
o'clock in winter, and, that chores may be done, 
and all things ready for business, our herdsman 
rises a.t half past four o'clock and feeds the stock 
with hay, cleanses stalls and prepares for milking, 
which is performed at six o'clock. At eight o'clock 
they are messed, giving one peck of beets, carrots, 
or potatoes, and two quarts of wheat bran or shorts 
to each cow, wet to a swill. At nine o'clock they 
are again fed with hay, also at twelve, and three, 
and seven o'clock in the evening. About half pasL 



234 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



four o'clock, P. M., they are again messed, as in 
the morning; if loss roots are given, more bran is 
added, to the amount of four quarts per mess. 

Our winter milch cows are M'atered in the stall, 
morning and evening all they will drink ; for this 
purpose, water is brought into the stalls by aque- 
ducts, which much facilitates the labor of watering. 
The cows watered in stall are only turned out when 
the weather is pleasant and warm, and then not for 
much length of time ; for, we deem it a great ob- 
ject to keep them warm; and to facilitate this, our 
stables occupy the basement of our barns, which 
are made of stone, neatly laid, and plastered and 
whitewashed inside, to make them sweet, light and 
clean. Twice per Aveek our cows receive, just be- 
fore watering, two table spoonfuls of fine salt per 
head, in winter, and a little more when on grass. 

We feed cabbage, turnips, &c. freely, and to pre- 
vent the taste in the milk and butter, we put one 
quart of boiling water to ten quarts of new milk, 
when it is set for cream. We have learned that in se- 
ven or eight hours from the time of feeding the above 
articles, milk will taste badly, consequently care is 
taken to inform the dairy woman whenever these 
articles are fed. The water thus applied, renders 
the milk and butter perfectly sweet and good. 

In summer we seldom milk but twice each day, 
at five o'clock, A. M. and half past six, P. M. In 
all points mentioned we are very regular and pre- 
cise, for which we have clocks in our stables. 

2. Of rearing calves. All calves intended to be 
raised are weaned at four weeks old, and fed by 
hand, except bulls, or some special breeders, which 
w^e generally put on a poor cow for the season — 
when commencing to feed by hand, we only give 
about four quarts of new milk for the first four 
days ; for the second four days, we add half morn- 
ing's milk to night's, or vice versa: at eight days 
feed milk twenty-four hours old, continuing this 
through the season, increasing the quantity to six 
quarts, and taking the milk even when skimmed 
at the ordinary time, finding they do better than 
not to have it at all. By degrees a little bran is 
added to the milk, in order to learn them to eat it. 
When learned, they are fed about one pint each, 
per day, together with roots and hay at pleasure. 
They at all times have free access to water, which 
is brought to their stall by aqueduct. Calves fed 
on milk need water. 

3. Of the feeding of fattening hogs. At present 
we do not keep them ; when we did do so, their food 
was all cooked, except their swill from the dairy 
and kitchen. They were regularly fed three times 
each day, giving them on an average about eight 
quarts of corn per head, per day; that is, for the 
last four weeks before slaughter, in which time no 
swill or roots are fed: the object of this is, to 
harden the pork; perhaps it would not be very 
profitable to feed in this way for market. The 
v?hole period of fattening Avas about three months ; 
:he first eight weeks potatoes, pumpkins, squashes, 
lic-c, &c., are cooked and put with the cooked 
■neal; the meal being cooked by itself requires a 
longer time to cook; they are fed of this mixture 
all they will eat three times each day. Our hogs 
used to average about 500 lbs. for a drove of fifty 
or more — they have averaged as high as 600. It is 
the decided opinion of some of our best herdsmen, 
that, since all we can have of a hog is carcass, the 
sooner this is obtained, the better; of course we 
Toed all they will eat of fattening material as above 
'':-om birth till slaughter. Others think they will 
arrire at about the same size by common food for 



store hogs. But one thing our experience justifies, 
and that is, that a pig may be made to attain three 
times the heft in the first six months of its exist- 
ence by rich and plentifal feed, that it will by the 
common method. 

Yours truly, G. B. A. 

To D. H. Hatton, Nanscmond county, Va. 



From the Journal of AgricuUure. 

IS AMMONIA THE SOLVENT OP SILEX IN THE 
SOIL 7 



BY LEVI BASTLETT, WARNER, K. H. 

Mr. Harris, in his review of " Theories Ex- 
amined and Explained," advances the idea that 
it is ammonia, and not potash and soda, that is 
the agent for rendering soluble the silica — a 
substance so necessary for giving stamina or 
stiffness to the straw of vrheat, stems of corn 
and other cereals. 

In the October number of the Genesee Far- 
mer he says: ''We know that the amomit of 
ammonia brought to an acre of land each year, 
by rain and snow, is much more than a crop 
of wheat ever contains ; but where is the evi- 
dence that in the growth of the plant there is 
not a destruction of ammonia? Mr. Law^es 
contends that there is such a destruction, and 
demonstrated it by his experiments; that, in 
fact for every pound of ammonia organized in 
the wheat plant, there is at least five pounds of 
ammonia used by the plant in the performance 
of its functions. Mr. Lawes did not clearly 
perceive how and for what purpose this destruc- 
tion took jjlace, but was, nevertheless, convinced 
of the fact. Recently the experiments of Prof. 
Way render it exceedingly probable that am- 
monia is used as the solvent and vehicle for 
carrying silicic acid to the plant, and eva'porat- 
i?zgwhen the silica is deposited; just as water 
is know^i to do in depositing the elements of 
plants. Chemists have always had a difficulty 
in accounting for the manner in which silica 
was conveyed to the plant; the theor}^ behig 
that it was as a soluble salt of potash or soda ; 
and the patent of Professor Liebig was for ma- 
nufacturing this soluble silicate of potash, &c.; 
but from the foct that this patented manure 
has failed to increase the w^heat crop, not only 
in England, but in German}^, under the imme- 
diate superintendence of Liebig himself, it is 
more than probable that silica is not taken up 
as a silicate of potash. Admit the opinion of 
Professor Way, and we can account for the 
benefit of summer follow on heavy soils — for 
tlie manner in which silica is deposited — and 
for the fact, that in the growth of wheat there 
is an immense destruction of ammonia, as there 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



235 



would also be in the growth of all the cereals 
and other plants containing a large per centage 
of silica. Will Mr. B. examine and explain 
this theory, not from what we say about it, but 
from the article itself, published in the last 
Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of 
England?" 

Not having had the perusal of the Journal 
here spoken of, I cannot express my opinion of 
*' this theory" as there advocated. But judg- 
ing from observation and well known facts, I 
thmk the probabilities are altogether in favor 
of the "potash theory;" though there is no 
question but that ammonia — a volatile alkali — 
like the fixed ones, potash and soda, does pos- 
sess solvent powers; and that it may act on 
silex and other mineral substances in the soil, 
and in some degree render them soluble. If 
ammonia is the agent that renders the silex — 
the comminuted particles of the white flint, or 
quartz rock — soluble, so that it may be taken 
up by the plant, thereby giving the stems suffi- 
cient strength to preserve their upright posture ; 
then we might always expect to find the stiffest 
straw and grasses, where the ammonia most 
abounds. On the other hand, where ammonia 
least abounds, we should expect to find the 
weakest and most lodged straw and grass. But 
nil experience and observation prove the exact 
reverse of this, as can be vouched by hundreds 
of observing persons in the Granite State. 

Many a barn is so situated, that the wash 
from the yard strays over a portion of the 
mowing land; the grass upon which is rank 
and succulent, in the early season, before the 
proper time for cutting; but it lodges badly, 
and made into hay, it is exceedingly light in 
weight, in proportion to its bulk. It contains 
too much organic, and is deficient in inorganic 
or mineral matter. There is an excess of am- 
monia in the soil, derived from the wash of the 
barn-yard. But according to this new theory, 
the herdsgrass on such land, instead of being 
prostrated ere it is fully headed out, ought to 
stand up stiflf as cane poles. 

The effect of ammonia on plants is to induce 
luxuriant stems and foliage, as is the case with 
grass in the immediate vicinity of manure heaps. 
By a sufficient application of sand and wood 
ashes the evil is corrected, in a good degree, 
and the grass is prevented from lodging. 

Many of our farmers are in the habit of 
carting out their manure in the autumn, and 
depositing it in large heaps on the inverted sod, 
where corn is to be planted the following sea- 
son. In the spring, these heaps are subdivided 
into smaller heaps, placed over the field at suit- 
able distances from each other, then spread and 
harrowed in. The ground is then planted. 



Next season the land is ploughed, and sown 
with wheat; and on these spots where the dung 
lay in heaps, the grain almost invariably lodges; 
the straw is rusty or mildewed, and the kernel 
shrunk. Now these bad effects are caused by 
excess of ammonia in the soil, where the heaps 
of manure lay through the winter. I presume 
there is also a larger amount of soluble mineral 
matter in the soil, where the heaps were, than 
on the other portions of the land. But, ac- 
cording to Mr. Lawes' experunents, any amount, 
great or small^ of mineral matter does not af- 
fect the wheat crop. This over luxuriance ia 
due to excess of ammonia; but, according to 
the theory under consideration, this same am- 
monia should prepare soluble silica so abun- 
dantly, that the crop in lieu of being prostrated 
by its own weight, ought to stand up as " stiff 
as a poker !" 

Others of our farmers plough their sward 
land in the fall, or spring; cart on from their 
barn cellars forty or fifty loads per acre of this 
strong green manure, rich in ammonia; work 
it in with harrow or cultivator, and then plant 
with corn. The crop ranges from fifty to se- 
venty-five bushels. Now is there not a much 
larger destruction of ammonia in this crop of 
corn than in a crop of thirty bushels of wheat ? 
There is undoubtedly a much larger amount 
of silica in the stalks, leaves and cobs of the 
corn than there is in the straw and kernel of 
the wheat. 

Admit the theories which Mr. Harris is ad- 
vocating, to be true, and the conclusion is in- 
evitable that our farmers are working wronr 
end foremost. If they wish to raise a larg 
crop of wheat, they should sow their green mc- 
f Hired land with wheat, instead of first plant- 
ing with corn, as the amount of ammonia :' = 
vastly greater than it will be the succeedin , 
season; and, ammonia being the solvent of sil - 
ca, there will be an abundant supply in th' 
soil to prevent the prostration of the wheat . 
Beautiful, however, as may be the theories c". 
Mr. H. our farmers will be slow in adoptinc 
them; they will for the present let the con 
crop precede the wheat. 

I have seen hundreds of crops of rye an . 
wheat on burnt land, most of them heavy, an- 
scarce ever saw one lodged. A few years ag(\ 
a farmer in this town, felled, in the month c: 
June, the trees on an acre and a half of lanc. 
In August they were burned; and, the seaso:.> 
being very dry, the fire made a clean sweep ci 
every thing except the bodies of the larges^^T 
trees; these were cut up and piled and burner. 
The ashes were spread, seed sown, and all har- 
rowed in. Next summer, the yield was sixt^- 
six bushels, or forty-four bushels to the acr*\ 



236 



THE SOUTHEEN PLANTEE. 



Much of the standing grain was seven feet 
high, and none of it lodged. In the process of 
burning, all the ammonia in the wood was driven 
off; that in the soil, to a certain depth, was 
also expelled, and the rains which followed, dis- 
solved the potash contained in the hundreds of 
"bushels of ashes. This potash set free much 
of this ammonia in the soil; for wood ashes 
contain the very alkalies which the chemist uses 
in his analysis to separate the ammonia from 
the other substances with which it is in combi- 
nation. 

In the above named case there was a most 
abundant supply of potash, and apparently a 
scarcity of ammonia. Which of the two sub- 
stances was the "solvent and vehicle" for sup- 
plying the enormous quantity of silica required 
for this large product of straw and grain? 
Common sense, if interrogated, would answer 
the probability is all on the side of the " potash 
theory." 

On the banks of our rivers and smaller 
streams we find the alluvial to the depth of 
several feet made up almost entirely of silicious 
sand, upon which is annually grown a fair crop 
of red-top grass. This, when properly cured, 
has the appearance of being the very first qua- 
lity of fodder. But when fed to cattle in the 
winter they reject it, and nothing but extreme 
hunger will tempt them to eat it. The rejec- 
tion is owing to the great amount of gritty or 
silicious matter contained in the texture of 
the stems and leaves. The soil, or alluvial, 
forming the immediate banks of the streams 
are made up of sand, which mostly consists of 
particles of quartz, felspar and mica. The two 
last contain silicates of potash and soda. In 
the dry, hot weather of summer there is a rapid 
evaporation of water from the depths of the 
lower soil. This, as it rises through the po- 
rous sand, dissolves the potash in the felspar 
and mica. The potash, in turn, renders solu- 
ble the silica, which being abundant, the grass 
takes up so large a quantity, that it is rendered 
hard and wiry, thus making it difficult for the 
cattle to masticate it, while at the same time it 
is innutritions and tasteless for lack of a due 
proportion of organic matter — of nitrogen, in 
particular. 

There can be no question but that ammonia 
freely applied to such soil, would not only add 
to the growth of the grass, but vastly add to 
its nutritive qualities. Professor Way has 
shown by his experiments that sand does not 
possess the power of fixing the salts and gases 
of manures; and, by the same rule, it does not 
possess the faculty of fixing the ammonia that 
fall in the rains. But, admitting Mr. H-'s po- 
sition, these embankments ought to contain the 



greatest amount of ammonia in order to afford 
so abundant a supply of soluble silex ! 

In the case above cited (and the facts can be 
proved by hundreds of our farmers) the chances 
are again altogether in favor of the "potash 
theory," 

In Silliman's Journal for July, 1852, 1 find 
a paper on the analysis and character of the 
soil in the Scioto Valley, Ohio, by David Wells, 
of Cambridge, Massachusetts. He examined 
a soil which "has been cultivated fifty-one 
years ; forty-five crops of corn and two or three 
of wheat have been taken off from it : it has 
also been a few years in grass or clover. It 
has scarcely diminished in fertility, and now, 
with the most ordinary culture, yields, on an 
average, one year with another, eighty bushels 
of corn to the acre," and all this without ma- 
nuring. What an amount of ammonia must 
have been fixed in the fodder and grain of these 
fifty-one years cropphig ? And for every pound 
of ammonia fixed in the plant there was a de- 
struction — so says this new theory — of at least 
five pounds of ammonia ! It strikes one that 
this soil must have originally contained more 
ammonia than Dr. Krocker ever talked about ; 
and that the rains must have annually brought 
down to each acre more than Liebig ever 
dreamed of Will Mr. Harris explain this 
matter ? Will he inform us from what source 
or sources this inexhaustible supply of ammo- 
nia has been derived ? 

The scouring rush (gun-bright) and mares- 
tail (equisetum) are plants that grow most lux- 
uriantly in wet, silicious or sandy soils. The 
plants, when mature, dry, and carefully burned, 
leave from eighteen to twenty per cent, of ash, 
mostly silica. How much ammonia does it 
require to dissolve and convey twenty pounds 
silica from the soil into these plants? Mr. 
Lawes, in some of his experimental plots of 
ground, applied at the same time 300 pounds 
of potash, 200 pounds of soda and 150 pounds, 
each of sulphate and muriate of ammonia. 
Potash and soda are each stronger alkalies, 
and possess much greater solvent powers over 
organic or inorganic matter, than ammonia. 
Now did the wheat plant take from the soil 
only such silica as was dissolved by the ammo- 
nia, and reject that dissolved by the potash and 
soda ? Did it make use of the ammonia only 
as the "vehicle" for conveying from the soil 
all the silica required by tlie plant? If so, it 
must be confessed the wheat plant possesses 
very nice discruninating powers, indeed ! 

As a scientific and practical question, these 
difi'ercnt theories have much interest, but should 
the " new theory" prove the true one, it will 
also prove that Liebig, Johnson, Norton, Jack- 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



237 



son, Dr. Lee and many others of the best sci- 
entific writers on agriculture have long been 
groping in "pitchy darkness" in this particular 
matter. 



From the Providence Journal. 
RANCID BUTTER. 

BY OWEN MASON. 

"A French scientific journal states that it 
has been ascertained by frequent experiments 
that the bad smell and taste of butter may be 
entirely removed by working it over in water 
mixed with chloride of lime. The discovery 
was made by a Brussels farmer, whose practice 
is to take a sufficient quantity of pure cold 
water to work it in, and put into it from twen- 
ty-five to thirty drops of chloride of lime for 
every ten pounds of butter. When it has 
been worked until the whole has been brought 
in contact with the water, it should be worked 
again in pure water, when it will be found to 
be as sweet as when originally made. The 
experiment can easily be tried, and we commend 
it to our citizens who are driven to the neces- 
sity of buying rancid butter, or of using none. 

Another effectual mode of renovating butter 
is said to be, to churn it over with milk until 
the old salt and bad taste are all removed, and 
then work it over and salt it afresh. We find 
the above in the Syracuse Star, and think it 
may be worth a trial." 

The above article has been extensively co- 
pied into agricultural as well as political news- 
papers. We have tried both of the methods 
described, as well as some of our own, and 
have found them all utterly ineffectual for the 
renovation of butter that has once become 
rancid. The best disposition to be made of 
such butter is to put it into the receptacle for 
soap grease. Anything so offensive, to all but 
those of the coarsest taste, must be unwhole- 
some. 

Pure butter, that is salted with pure salt, 
may be kept for years without becoming rancid ; 
this we know to be a fact, and butter makers 
would do well to inform themselves of all the 
causes productive of rancidity, or any other 
quality that interferes with its preservation or 
injures its flavor and relish. 

In an editorial article of the Journal, some 
weeks since, almost all the poor butter was 
charged to the want of skill or attention on the 
part of the dairy women. A correspondent, 
whose communication is rather too long for 
publication, comes up to the defence of this 
useful class of the community, and attributes 



nearly all the poor butter to the neglect of 
farmers in providing suitable places for the 
keeping of milk and butter. A short essay, 
by one of the best judges in the State, was 
published in the transactions of the Rhode 
Island Society for Encouragement of Domestic 
Industry, and in pamphlets for general distri- 
bution, in which the author, while he does not 
overlook the circumstances influencing the qua- 
lity of butter noticed by the Journal and its 
correspondent, points out several others, and 
very comprehensively the means of avoiding 
them. 

That writer considers that the use of impure 
salt, from Liverpool and Onondaga, is one of 
the most common causes of that rancidity and 
bitterness that characterize, in a greater or less 
degree, by far the greatest portion of the but- 
ter brought hither from New York. 

That the quality of butter made in New 
York has constantly deteriorated, from what- 
ever cause, we think is undeniable. Time was 
when there was no difficulty in procuring a 
prime article, and "Goshen butter" had a re- 
putation equal to the best products of our own 
dairies; but of the butter for winter use, sold 
in this market during the past two years, three- 
fiths would be branded as grease in England, 
and it deserves no better name any where. 

The exorbitant prices it has commanded 
for some time past seems to have produced a 
perfect recklessness in regard to its quality, 
both on the part of the makers of it and the 
large dealers, and the market has at length be- 
come glutted with the execrable stuff. We 
wish no greater punishment to them than that 
they should be compelled to eat the article 
with which they hoped to grease the throats of 
their customers at the rate of thirty cents per 
pound. Good butter is both a necessary and 
a luxury, and it constitutes a most important 
item in the disposable products of the farm ; 
the whole community are therefore interested 
in having all the causes investigated and ex- 
posed which, contribute to the deterioration of 
its quality, and the authorities of New York 
are specially interested in ascertaining what 
portion of the mass of bad butter, sent from 
that State, is fairly attributable to the employ- 
ment of impure salt. We have seen many 
analyses of the New York salt, some purport- 
ing to have been made by authority, and all 
representing it of the purest kind. That the 
purest salt may be made from the brine springs 
of Onondaga there is no doubt, and yet it is 
difficult to find commercial samples, even qf 
that which is sold under the name of " dairy 
salt," in which the presence of lime, magnesia, 
and sulphuric acid may not be detected by tlie 



238 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



I 



appropriate tests, showing contaminations of 
two or more of the following articles, viz. ep- 
som and glaubers salt, sulphate of lime, and 
the chlorides of calcium and magnesium — 
precisely such ingredients as a chemist would 
prescribe with which to make bitter butter. 

Very recently, at our suggestion, a friend 
has subjected to chemical examination every 
variety of salt to be found in this market. 
Among the six or eight varieties examined, 
that from Syracuse, called dairy salt, was the 
most impure, while the purest variety was that 
from St. Martin's, as prepared and ground by 
Messrs. Sweet & Angell. 

The term "rock salt," though erroneously 
applied, is meant, in this vicinity^ to designate 
the clean, coarsely crystallized article, produced 
by solar evaporation, and imported from the 
West India Islands. The very best samples 
of this salt are always procured by our most 
skilful butter makers, by whom it is carefully 
washed, dried and pounded or ground very 
fine. If carefully selected and thus prepared, 
it is generally sufficiently pure for the purpose. 
If any doubt of its purity exist, it may be de- 
termined by the following process. If distilled 
water cannot easily be procured, collect some 
rain water as it falls, in a clean earthen pan, 
(not from the roof,) and in it dissolve a portion 
of the salt. Take half a gill of the solution 
and add to it three or four tea-spoonfuls of a 
solution of carbonate of soda, and boil in a 
glass dish or a well tinned vessel a few moments, 
then pour into a tumbler. If the solution 
become milky, and a white sediment form, the 
presence of lime or magnesia, or both, is cer- 
tain. Into a wine glass of another portion of 
the solution, put drop by drop, a solution of 
chloride of barium, and if the liquid become 
milky and a white precipitate form, the presence 
of sulphuric acid is certain. Salt upon which 
these tests produce these effects is unfit for 
butter making. If, however, the solutions 
show only a very slight milky tinge, as when 
a drop of milk is added to a wine glass of 
water, the foreign contaminations are not in 
such quantity as to materially injure the salt. 
These tests are easily applied, inexpensive, and 
sufficiently decisive for practical purposes. The 
carbonate of soda and chloride of barium can 
be procured of any scientific apothecary. 

We commend the essay alluded to above to 
those who are engaged in butter making. Co- 
pies can be obtained of the Secretary of the 
Rhode Island Society for the Encoui'agement 
of Domestic Industry. 

Fr^AUD IN Butter Making. — The recent 
exposures that have been made of the adulte- 
yation and inanufacturc of milk in New Yoi'k, 



are so disgusting in their details, that we should 
suppose an inhabitant of that city could hardly 
look at a milk pot without a sensation of nausea. 
It would seem, from the following article, that 
similar practices are resorted to in the making 
of butter, but we defy the most ingenious ras- 
cality to make, of whatever materials, a worse 
article than is now often sold in the market : 

" The Boston Herald, in an article on this 
subject, says unprincipled speculators have 
been, and are still at work adulterating butter 
prepared for the market — though the blame is 
generally thrown on the dairies. From evi- 
dence that has come to our knowledge, says 
the Boston Herald, we are persuaded that this 
adulteration is extensively practised. A cor- 
respondent who has purchased and tested the 
base article, writes as follows : 'A new fraud 
appears to have been discovered in butter mak- 
ing. The fraud is this: The butter maker 
adds a substance which appears to be of a ve- 
getable nature to the real butter. A dealer, of 
whom I purchased a few lumps, told me that 
the express-man who delivered the butter to 
him from Grreenfield, acknowledged that when 
they churn the cream, it is now an almost uni- 
versal custom to put rennet into the butter- 
milk, to turn it to a cheese, and so work it with 
the butter for market, increasing the quantity 
about thirty per cent. I discovered the fraud 
by melting the butter in the oven, and found 
that a substance equal to one-third the original 
weight was left. The person of whom I pur- 
chased the butter says that this fraud is very 
extensively practised, especially for the New 
York market.'" 



COCHIN CHINAS— A LONDON STORY. 
" Rara avis in terris." 

" Oh, Willie, dear, before you go, I want a 
favor !" 

"Well, what is it now?" said Willie, in a 
gruff, good tempered sort of way, as if he was 
rather used to hearing of these "favors." — 
Willie was an officier de dragons, six foot three, 
with a great yellow, well twisted moustache, 
and looking altogether just what he was — " a 
swell," and a gentleman. 

"What is it now?" asked Willie. 

" Oh, please then, don't be angry, but I've 
heard so much about them — and before you 
leave town, I should like it so much — you can 
get them in town, I know; and I only want 
one, just one, you know?" 

" No, I don't know, you know — come, out 
with it, Polly— what is it?" 

"Well, then — here whisper — I want a Co- 
chin China, please, sii*." 



TilE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



239 



Willie's weakness was a little, round figured, 
light haired, laughter loving beauty, whose great 
point was to go with the fashion just as far as 
she could go. Gustavus Brooke, the Aztecs, 
and the Cochin Chinas all came in for a turn 
sooner or later — and Willie, glad, perhaps, to 
get out so cheap, swore " by Jove ! she should 
have the best chicken in London." 

Willie went on to his club, where he dropped 
at once on the man who knows everything, from 
what Lord Aberdeen is going to do, down to 
what will really be John Scott's nag for the 
Derby. There was one or two kept at most of 
the clubs in town, little or great. 

"Ah, I say. Smith, how are you? I want 

to buy a a a Cochin China. Can 

you tell me where I can get him ?" 

" Of course I can, my dear fellow," says 
Smith, delighted; "Anderson for horses, you 
know." 

"Ah, yes." 

" Gunter for ices." 

"Ah!" 

" And Bailey for chickens." 

" Oh, ah ! thank'ee. Where is he to be 
found?" 

"Close by here — Mount street; your cab 
will take you there in two minutes." 

And to Mount street Willie went, where he 
repeated his wants to Mr. Bailey in propria 
persona. "Certainly, sir; will you walk this 
way, and allow me to show you some of my 
stock?" 

" Well, no, thank'ee ! I don't know much 
about them myself; I'd rather leave it to you; 
but I want a good one, you know — one of the 
best, you know." 

"Yes, sir, certainly." 

" And send it to Thingammy Cottages, Al- 
pha road, will you? and I'll settle with you 
when I come back to town." 

* * # * * # 

" If you please, ma'am, the man has brought 
the fowl — such a big one ! and please, where 
shall I put it?" 

"Where shall you put it? — why, where you 
always do, you silly girl — in one of your pan- 
tries, of course." 

"But it's alive, ma'am." 

"Dear me, how stupid of the people! — but 
is'nt the gardener here to-day? Well, get him 
to kill it, for I shall want it for dinner to-mor- 
row, you know, as Miss Hamilton is coming, 
and I should like to give her a treat." 

" Yes, ma'am." 

When Willie got back home again, the day 
after the dinner, matters evidently were not 



quite " to rights." Polly was half sulky — " he 
had disappointed her — liad'nt done as he pro- 
mised." 

"But how?" 

"Why, that horrid Cochin China — such a 
skinny, lanky, stringy thing, they could'nt eat 
a bit of it." 

"Why, hang the fellow!" said Willie, "I 
ordered the best in London." 

"Well, you only look at it, then; I have 
kept it on purpose for you to see." 

And Willie, on inspection, was fain to con- 
fess that he was "a leggy beggar, and a good 
deal over-trained," and so went on to Mr. Bai- 
ley in a frame of mind accordingly. 

"I say, you know, I ordered a Cochin China 
fowl from here the other day." 

" Yes, sir — certainly," 

"And, don't you know, I told you to send 
a good one, you know, one of the best sort." 

"Yes, sir; I remember it, perfectly — and 
the bird was sent as you wished to — " 

"Ah — yes — but it tcas^nt a good one." 

"Indeed, sir, I am sorry to hear that — I 
only know it was one of the best of my birds. . 
Where may the fault be?" 

"Well, he was'nt fat, you know." 

" Perhaps not fat, sir," said Mr. Bailey with 
a deprecatory smile; "in very fair condition, 
though, I'm sure. Any thing more serious 
than that, sir, may I ask?" 

" Yes, there was — he was tough, sir, infernal 
tough!" 

^^ Tough P'' repeated Mr. Bailey, changing 
color. 

"Tough," echoed the guardsman — "they 
could hardly eat a bit of him. Why the deuce 
did'nt you send a good one, as I told you ?" 

" Sir," said Mr. Bailey, in a slow, emphatic 
tone of voice, "I am very sorry there should 
be any mistake; but I did send a good one — 
a great deal too good, I'm afraid, for your pur- 
pose. The bird I sent was one of the best 
bred in England. He was got by Patriarch, 
dam by Jerry — great grandam the Yellow 
Shanghai — great, great — " 

"Oh, mind that!" interrupted the dragoon, 
"what's that got to do with it?" 

"Just this, sir: six weeks ago I gave six- 
teen guineas for him at the hammer, and he ia 
entered to you at Uvo-and-twentyP 

* # * # ■ * * 

" It was rather an expensive feed, you know," 
said Willie, as he commented over the story; 
" and, by Jove ! if Madam goes on in this way, 
I should'nt be at all surprised if I have to 
give two or three thousand for a Durham short 
horn, to get her a bit of beef for a Christmas 
dinner." 



240 



THE SOUTHEHN PLANTER. 



For the Southern Planter. 
ESSAYS ON AGRICULTURE. 



BY WM. H. H., M. D. 
NUMBER II. 

The first thing we propose doing in this number 
is to place before the reader the amount of the 
several ingredients entering into the composition 
of cultivated crops. We shall place before the 
reader what has been taught by Sprengel, Johnson, 
Norton, Liebig, Hockhardt and others. 

The ash of wheat and wheat straw show that 
IGOO lbs. contain the following substances : 

Grain of wheat. Straw of wheat. 

Potash 2.25 0.20 

Soda 2.40 0.29 

Lime 0.96 2.40 

Magnesia 0.90 0.32 

Alumina 0.20 0.90 

Silica 4.00 28.70 

Sulphuric acid 0.50 0.37 

Phosphoric acid 0.40 1.70 

Chlorine 0.10 0.30 

The ash of barley stands as follows : 

Grain. Straw- 

Potash 2.78 1.80 

Soda 2.90 0.48 

Lime 1.06 6.54 

Magnesia 1.80 0.76 

Alumina 0.25 1.46 

Oxide iron a trace. 0.14 

Oxide manganese 0.20 

Silica 11.82 38.56 

Sulphuric acid 0.59 1.18 

Phosphoric acid 2.10 1.60 

Chlorine 0.19 0.70 

Of the Ash of Oats. 
In 1000 lbs. of the grain of oats are contained 
26 lbs., and of the dry straw about 57i lbs. of in- 
organic matter, consisting of 

Grain. Straw. 

Potash 1.50 lbs. 8.70 lbs. 

Soda 1.32 lbs. 0.02 lbs. 

Lime 0.86 lbs. 1,52 lbs. 

Magnesia 0.67 lbs. 0.22 lbs. 

Alumina 0.14 lbs. 0.06 lbs. 

Oxide iron 0.40 lbs. 0.02 lbs. 

Oxide manganese 0.00 lbs. 0.02 lbs. 

Silica 19.76 lbs. 45.88 lbs. 

Sulphuric acid 0.35 lbs. 0.79 lbs. 

Phosphoric acid 0.70 lbs. 0.12 lbs. 

Chlorine 0.10 lbs. 0.05 lbs. 

Of the Ash of Rye. 
In 1000 lbs. of rye the ash of the grain contains 
10| lbs., and the straw 28 lbs., which consists of 

Grain. Straw. 

Potash) 5.32 lbs. ( 0.32 lbs. 

Soda ] '....0.00 lbs. ^O.lllbs. 

Lime 1.22 lbs. 1.72 lbs. 

Magnesia 1 .78 lbs. 0.12 lbs. 

Alumina 0.24 lbs. ) r.r,r ^\^^ 

Oxide of iron 0.42 lbs. ] ^"^"^ ^*^^' 

Oxide of manganese 0.34 lbs. 0.00 lbs. 

Silica 1.64 lbs. 22.97 lbs. 

Sulphuric acid 0.23 lbs. 1.70 lbs. 

Phosphoric acid 0.46 lbs. 0.51 lbs. 

Chlorine 0.09 lbs. 0.17 lbs. 



Of Ash of Beans — Peas. 

FIELD BEAN. FIELD PEA. 

Seed. Straw. Seed. Straw. 

Potash 4.14 16.56 8.10 2.35 

Soda 8.16 0.50 7.39 0.00 

Lime 1.65 6.24 0.58 27.30 

Magnesia 1.58 2.09 1.36 3.42 

Alumina 0.34 0.10 0.20 0.60 

Oxide of iron 0.00 0.07 0.10 0.20 

Oxide of manganese. 0.00 0.05 0.00 0.07 

Silica 1.26 2.20 4.10 9.96 

Sulphuric acid 0.89 0.34 0.53 3.37 

Phosphoric acid .... 2.92 2.26 1.90 2.40 

Chlorine 0.41 0.80 0.38 0.04 

Of the Ash of the Turnip^ Carroty Parsnip and Potaio. 

ol B & 6 

S O Iz; H 
» PS « < 
rt PS K H 
U oj <; o 
H o p< a< 

Roots. Leaves. Roots. Tops- 
Potash 23.86 32.03 35.33 20.79 40.28 81.09 

Soda 10.48 22.02 9.22 7.02 23.34 0.00 

Lime 7.52 62.0 6.57 4.68 3.31129.7 

Magnesia 2.54 5.9 3.84 2.70 3.24 17.0 

Alumina 0.36 0.3 0.39 0.24 0.50 0.4 

Oxide of iron... 0.32 1.7 0.33 0.05 0.32 0.2 

Oxide manganese 

Silica 3.88 12.8 13.37 1.62 0.84 49.4 

Sulphuric acid. -8.01 25.2 2.70 1.92 5.40 4.2 

Phosphoric acid- 3.67 9.8 5.14 1.00 401 19.7 

Chlorine 2.39 8.7 0.70 1.78 1.60 5.0 

Of the Ash of hidian Corn. 

Carbonic acid . . .'. a trace. 

Sulphuric acid 0.5 

Phosphoric acid 49.2 

Chlorine 0.3 

Lime 0.1 

Magnesia 17.5 

Potash 23.2 

Soda 3.8 

Silica 0.8 

Oxide of iron 0.1 

Charcoal and loss 4.5 

Having placed before the reader the ingredients 
of rich and barren soil, and the substances con- 
tained in the natural growth, and also in our culti- 
vated crops, we are now prepared to present our 
essay " On Improving and Enriching Poor Land;"' 
bat this we defer until our next number. 



DIGGING MACHINE. 

An implement under the above designation, in- 
vented by Mr. Matthew Gibson, of Newcastle-upon- 
Tyne, already known to agriculturists as the ori- 
ginator of the patent Northumberland Coal Crusher, 
has been daily at work, for some weeks past, on the 
farms of Sir Hedworth Williamson, Bart., at Monk- 
wearmouth, and of Mr. Barnes, of Whitburn, near 
Sunderland. During the past week the powers of 
this admirable appliance to agricultural tillage have 
been further tested on the farms of Mr. T. T. Hall, 
of Ovingham, Tyneside, Mr. R. AV. Swan, of Walls- 
end, and Sir W. C. Treveylan, Bart., of Wellington, 
Northumberland. Its powers, in all the trials re- 
ferred to, were exhibited on clayey soil, and work- 
ing at a depth of nine inches, at the rate of three- 
quarters of an acre per hour, with four horses, 
throughout the whole day, with no more exertion 
than that required for ordinary ploughing. The 
implement consists of a number of cylinders of 



''^: 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



241 



about tliree and a half inches in diameter and six 
inelies long, revolving on a fixed axle. On each of 
the cylinders is cast a disc, twelve inches in diame- 
ter, which is furnished with ten teeth or prongs, of 
hardened malleable iron or steel, fourteen inches 
long, of a curved or cat-claw form, springing from 
its periphery, and which, partly by the weight of 
the implement, and partly by the strain of draught, 
is forced into the ground, and, as the implement 
advances, digs or forces up the soil — in fact, each 
prong performs precisely the office of a pick or 
hack in loosening the soil. This forking up or 
loosening of the soil is not the only important office 
of the implement, but from the curved form of the 
teeth it brings all roots and fibrous matter within 
the depth of its operation to the surface, thus pro- 
ducing a clean as well as a free tillage, or at once 
acting most effectively as a grubber, in bringing up 
root weeds, and at the same time performing the 
most important function of the plough in aerating 
the soil. The implement is mounted on a strong 
frame, partly of cast and partly of malleable iron, 
and furnished with a simple but most ingenious 
apparatus for regulating the depth of working in 
the soil. — Mark Lane Express. 




THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 

RICHMOND, AUGUST, 1854. 



TERMS. 

One Dollar and Twenty-five Cents per annum, 
which may be discharged by the payment of One Dollar 
only, if paid in office or sent free of postage within six 
months from the date of subscription. Six copies for Five 
Dollars; thirteen copies for Ten Dollars, to be paid 
invariably in advance. 

I^J^ No subscription received for a less time than one 
year. 

g^^ Subscriptions may begin with any number. 

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

1^^ Office on Twelfth between Main and Gary steets. 

ADVERTISEMENTS. 

A limited number will be inserted at the following rates : 
For each square of ten lines, first insertion, One Dollar; 
each continuance, Seventy-five Cents. Advertisements 
out of the City must be accompanied with the money, to 
insure their insertion. 



It is indispensably necessary that subscribers or- 
dering a change should say from what io what post office 
they wish the alteration made. It will save time to us and 
lose none to them. 

NOTICE. 
f^P^ If subscribers do not order a discontinuance of the 
Planter before the commencement of a new year, or volume, 
it will be considered as a renewal of their subscriptions, 
and they will be charged accordingly. 

0^^ Postage on the Southern Plaater, (when paid in 
advance,) to any part of the United States one cent and a 
half per quarter, or six cents per annum. 



VIRGINIA STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 

The arrangements for the fall exhibition of this 
Society are rapidly progressing, and we look for- 
ward, with confidence to a better exhibition this 
year than we had last. 

Richmond has given five thousand dollars, in full 
of the pledge made for her at the last meeting, and 
has voted a full police force and five thousand dol- 
lars to refit the grounds. These will be much en- 
larged and rearranged so as to give more room for 
stock of all kinds, and to allow of a course for ex- 
hibiting horses in harness and under the saddle. 
The Marshal's arrangements also are nearly com- 
pleted. The .Committees on Premiums have all 
been appointed, and will be published in an extra 
along with the September number of the Southern 
Planter. At the same time the Rules of the Com- 
mittee of Arrangements will also be published, and 
it will be seen, we doubt not, that every provision 
has been made that care and forecast can anticipate. 

Now is the time for entries to be made, and as it 
will save the Secretary and all parties a good deal 
of trouble w^e would be glad if those intending to 
exhibit would enter their respective articles as 
early as practicable. 



DISTRICT AND COUNTY AGRICULTURAL 
SOCIETIES. 

We are very glad to learn that the Societies of 
the State already existing are flourishing and mak- 
ing liberal arrangements for their fall exhibitions. 
The Seaboard Agricultural Society has already pub- 
lished its list of premiums, and we regret that want 
of space compels us to omit an extended notice of 
them. But our limits forbid this, as we would 
have to notice in that way several more. It makes 
but little if any difference, however, as the local 
papers are very kind in publishing every thing of 
the sort. In the same class stands the Society of 
the Rappahannock Valley, which holds its next 
fair at Fredericksburg. We have heard nothing of 
the Wheeling or Valley Agricultural Societies, but 
presume that their usually spirited officers are not 
idle. Several new Societies have also been formed 
and still more will be formed this summer and fall. 
We shall endeavor to get a list of all of them, their 
officers, territories and general features. 

But there is one of these new Societies about 
which we feel some embarrassment. We mean the 
"Union Society of Virginia and North Carolina," 
lately established, which is to hold its first fair this 
fall at Petersburg, and to which the citizens of that 
public spirited tovm have subscribed with cha- 
racteristic and natural liberality. We certainly 
have no wish to insult that Society by total silence 
or to discredit it by comment; yet we must choose 
between these different alternatives, or by such 



242 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



commendation and encouragement as it would be 
agreeable to bestow, risk an embroilment, not less 
disagreeable, with similar Societies. 

If we understand their organization aright, they 
include within their jurisdiction a very considera- 
ble proportion of North Carolina and all that part 
of the State of Virginia lying south of the James 
River which is embraced within one of the Dis- 
tricts of the Commissioners of the Board of Public 
Works, or about one-third of this State. But North 
Carolina has a chartered and successfully operating 
State Society of her own, to which she claims the 
allegiance of all her citizens. In the various sub- 
districts of the Southside, too, are several Societies 
which may not willingly merge in the larger Insti- 
tution which is contemplated. Thus Norfolk and 
Princess Anne and other contiguous counties, some 
of them, too, rather injudiciously, we think, within 
the limits of North Carolina, have a successful So- 
ciety of their own, and Lynchburg has just estab- 
lished one — Bedford will soon follow suit — and 
Washington and other rich and fertile counties of 
the south-west have begun the work there. If this 
be so, then each may charge that to establish a 
more extended Society is to trespass on its manor. 
We have heard already that the papers of North 
Carolina are resenting the action of the Union So- 
ciety. We presume that Norfolk will not relinquish 
her hold, and that the other Societies will not forego 
their inchoate organization. It is not for us to settle 
such difSculties. When they are composed we shall 
be prepared to give a cordial welcome to the estab- 
lished Societies. But we deem it due to the rela- 
tion this journal sustains to farmers to say dis- 
tinctly that we hold the Virginia State Agricultural 
Society paramount, and hold that all others in the 
State should be auxiliary to it. And as cooperation 
is, we understand, the avowed object of this Union 
Society, an(J the condition affixed by Mr. Bruce to 
his acceptance of its presidency, we do not hesitate 
to say that it ought to have a fair trial. At the 
same time it would be uncandid not to declare that 
we do not see at this time how such materials as 
compose the above society can accord with each 
other, or harmonize with the Society. On the con- 
trary, we apprehend that it may, under its present 
assumed limits, injure both very materially. 

We are well aware that what we have said is lia- 
ble to misconstruction ; that it will be attributed to 
hostility to a rival Society and to our position as a 
member and officer of the Executive Committee 
of the State Society. To such objections, if they 
shall be made, we reply, in advance, that we are 
hostile to a rival Society, if there be one, and that 
as a member of the Executive Committee it is our 
duty to see that the constituency we represent sus- 
tains no detriment. But we wish it distinctly un- 
derstood that in the above remarks we speak for 



ourselves alone, and do not commit any of our as- 
sociates to the sentiments we have uttered. We 
speak as an individual and as Editor of the Southern 
Planter. 



COUNTY AND INDIVIDUAL PLEDGES TO THE 
STATE SOCIETY. 

We call the attention of delinquents to the fact 
that a good deal of the money pledged to the Vir- 
ginia State Agricultural Society has not been paid 
in. We do not suppose it can make any great dif- 
ference to the individuals, but it makes a good deal 
to the Society. What is the interest on a few hun- 
dred to an individual amounts to the interest on 
several thousand to the Society. All the funds as 
they come to hand are, by order of the Executive 
Committee, permanently invested in State or City 
stocks, and every day's delay is a positive loss of 
several dollars. The pledges were all to have been 
redeemed on the first day of May last. 



TO THE READERS OP THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 

We would ask your attention to the following 
requests : 

1, "An Essay on Raising Tobacco," by Captain 
BucHi-TER STiTH'-of Bruuswick county, was printed 
in this State, as we learn, early in the last century, 
and reprinted, as our informant thinks, in Rich- 
mond, at the Enquirer office, somewhere between 
the years 1820 and 1824. We have reason to be- 
lieve that copies of this pamphlet are still extant 
somewhere in Virginia. As this essay is wanted 
for the use of one of the committees of the Virginia 
State Agricultural Society, we would ask the favor 
of any of our readers in whose possession it may 
be, to forward a copy by mail to this place, " To 
the Secretary of the Virginia State Agricultural 
Society." It shall be carefully preserved and re- 
turned to the owner at the next Annual Pair. 

2. Stith, the historian of Virginia, says, that in 
the year 1620, "At Sir Edwin Sandys's motion, 
there was translated, by some of the London Com- 
pany, a French treatise (recommended as excellent 
in its kind) concerning the Management of Mul- 
berry Trees and Silk, which was printed at the 
Company's expense, and sent over in sufficient num- 
bers and distributed among tJic people.^'' — (Page 183.) 
Is there in all Virginia a copy remaining of this 
treatise 1 If so, it will, most probably, be found 
among the descendants of the Huguenots. This, 
also, is wanted for use of the same committee. 

The loan of these treatises, or either of them, will 
be duly appreciated and thankfully acknowledged. 
As above intimated, they may be forwarded by 
mail, and shall be returned to the owners in No- 
vember next or whenever required. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



243 



I WOOL DEPOT IN RICHMOND. 

We congratulate the wool growers of this State 
that there is at last a depot in Richmond for the 
sale of their wool, and that it is in such good hands 
as those of the Messrs. Crenshaw. 

These gentlemen are not without much expe- 
rience in the sale of wool, having been for a long 
time the consignees of a large amount of the trade 
of South-Western Virginia, of which wool is one 
of the leading staples. But they have, as will be 
seen, obtained the services of Mr. Waterhouse, a 
very skilful wool stapler, who was so long in the 
employ of the late woollen factory of this City. 

At the North these wool depots have been found 
indispensable, and there are a good many of them. 
We think that every word said of them in the ad- 
vertisement of the Messrs. Crenshaw is strictly 
true, and that they deserve the encouragement of 
the agricultural community for their enterprise. 

Read their advertisement and give them a trial. 



NEW BOOKS. 

We have received from A. Morris " The American 
Form Book," containing legally approved prece- 
dents for agreements, arbitrations, assignments, 
bonds, wills, deeds, &c., by Benjamin Tate, Coun- 
sellor at Law — a new edition — edited by Alexander 
H. Sands, Counsellor at Law, containing, in addition 
to the original work, forms of deeds of bargain and 
sale, lease, trust and release under the Code of 
Virginia; also forms of attachments under the 
same ; mode of holding to bail under acts of 1851 
and 1852, and other forms, valuable to clerks, at- 
torneys, notaries, justices and sheriffs; prepared 
by the Editor, with a complete index. Price, with 
the new Constitution prefixed, $1 50, without it 
$1 25. 

This is a useful book to the farmer and magis- 
trate, and we do not well see how either can get 
along without something of the sort. 

We have also received from J. W. Randolph & 
Co. a book, lately published in New York, entitled 
Farm hnplements, and the principles of their con- 
struction and use, an elementary and familiar trea- 
tise on mechanics, and on natural philosophy ge- 
nerally, as applied to the ordinary practices of 
agriculture, with 200 engraved illustrations, by 
John J. Thomas, 

This is a book which we think every farmer 
ought to possess and study. It embodies the lead- 
ing principles of natural philosophy in their more 
common application to the practices of modern 
approved farming — principles, without a correct 
knowledge of which, no man can thresh wheat, 
cut it by machinery, plough his land, or perform 
any the simplest piece of work on his farm to ad- 
vantage. Thirty years ago, when the labor of the 



farm was more a matter of thews and sinews, it 
mattered not so much if a man was entirely igno- 
rant of the correct principles of machinery. A 
knowledge derived from practice or long observa- 
tion of the capacity to endure in the horse and the 
laborer was all that was necessary. But now a 
better time has come upon us, and the true secret 
of operation in agriculture, as in all other useful 
works, is to economize in the expenditures of labor, 
and with nothing like as much fatigue as it for- 
merly took to do the work of one man to make a 
machine do the work of five men for each horse 
employed, or a still greater amount where steam is 
used. This secret the work before us attempts to 
teach, and from it the reflecting mind will learn 
much directly, and much more from its own sug- 
gestions. We very cordially commend it to the 
young farmer, who often learns more from his own 
mistakes than from the conservatism of older men. 
We have also received from an unknown hand a 
book entitled "T/ie Modern Horse Doctor,''^ by Dr. 
George H. Dadd, of Boston. We do not think that 
he teaches any thing that is not better taught by 
Porcival and Youatt. We rather incline to the opi- 
nion that most that is good in his book has been 
borrowed, and most that is bad is his own. 



EXPERIMENT WITH LIME, 

[from the papers of the NOTTOWAY CLUB.] 

Our friends, the farmers of the Nottoway Agri- 
cultural Club, have done us and the public the favor 
of sending, for publication in the Planter, such 
essays and reports of experiments and other mat- 
ters of value as we can cull from them. This step 
is worthy of all imitation, and we trust it will be 
imitated by the other Clubs of the State. In that 
way we shall amass a store of materials of great 
value, by which the whole agricultural community 
will be greatly benefited. 

In performing the duty imposed upon me by the 
rules of our Club, to present some annual contribu- 
tion in writing to its archives, scarcely any subject 
of experiment or discussion has stronger and more 
interesting claims to notice than the properties of 
lime and plaster as manures. The constant terms 
of eulogy with which they have been pressed upon 
the attention of the tillers of the soil by eminent 
writers on agriculture, together with the undoubted 
success with which they have been attended in the 
hands of experimentalists, invest them with an iu- 
terst of no common character. If the writings and 
successes of Edmund Rufiin and Willoughby New- 
ton were alone known upon this subject, it would 
be enough to enkindle the enthusiasm of all who 
inherit the patrimony of pine forests and broom- 
sedge fields. But when, in addition to this, we see 
no inconsiderable portion of the State of Virginia 
exchanging the dreary aspect of desertion and de- 
cay for one of greenness and prosperity, and invit- 
ing to her bosom of plenty the children who had 



f 



244 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



\ 



forsaken her in poverty, and all through the won- 
drous agency of calcareous manures, what mquiry 
is more fraught with interest for us than the one, 
w^hether we are in a position to derive those advan- 
tages from them which they have bestowed upon 
others 1 

It was under such a view of this subject that I 
determined to attempt some satisfactory solution 
of the question, whether my own land, at least, was 
susceptible to the peculiar influence of these agents'? 
I had experimented before, in a difierent location, 
with oyster-shell lime, with very discouraging re- 
sults, it must be confessed. But my mind was not 
thoroughly satisfied of the inefficiency of calcareous 
manures upon the soil of this, our middle region of 
Virginia. And although the soil of my first expe- 
riment might have been considered peculiarly fa- 
vorable for such an experiment, inasmuch as it was 
fresh pine land and well supplied with humus or 
the organic remains of vegetable life, still I desired 
to subject the proposed investigation to a thorough 
test: no less than this — whether lime and plaster, 
in liberal application to a naked and barren soil, 
would manifest a beneficial operation'? Accord- 
ingly, I selected for experiment a plot of land of 
very inferior quality, supposed to be something less 
than an acre in extent. It was old land, of an argil- 
laceous or clayey texture, which had been exposed 
to heavy grazing, and was covered with a very in- 
considerable quantity of vegetable matter. Po- 
verty-grass, persimmon and blackberry bushes were 
the growth most congenial with its nature. 

On the 7th of May, 1853, six or seven tierces of 
Thomaston lime, partially air-slacked, were applied 
to one-half of the above plot of land, say, at the 
rate of about seventy-five bushels of slacked lime 
to the acre, allowing five bushels of slacked lime 
to the tierce. The whole piece was afterwards bro- 
ken up with the plough; and on the 19th of May 
one bushel of plaster of Paris was applied to nearly 
the entire portion which had been dressed with 
lime. On the same day with the last application, 
each half was planted with corn and cultivated in 
pretty much the same mode throughout the growth 
of the crop. On the 1st day of July, after a very 
dry June, and in less than two months from the 
planting, the growth of corn upon the dressed half 
presented more size and vigor, under similar cir- 
cumstances, than upon the other. On the 1st day 
of August, after a very wet July, a considerable 
superiority was still manifested by the same part, 
and to the end was this superiority maintained. 
So evident and decided was the effect of my expe- 
riment that I did not consider it worth while to be 
very minute and exact in estimating the compara- 
tive results upon the dressed and undressed por- 
tions of land. I suppose the applications made 
were productive of scarcely less than one hundred 
per cent, increase of the crop. I doubt, however, 
whether the difference would have been so great 
if the experiment had been conducted upon land 
of greatly superior quality. 

The result of this experiment is verj'' gratifying 
to my feelings, as it convinces me that the mineral 
manures are not perfectly inert upon our lands — 
and, moreover, they seem to have a directly ferti- 
lizing effect upon the soil, independently of, or in 
addition to, any indirect agencies which they may 
possess through the medium of organic textures, 
or otherwise. The profit, however, derived from 
their use in this case has not so far been at all com- 
mensurate with the outlay. The supposed gain 



and loss in this experiment may be thus stated at 

the rate, per acre, 

15 tierces Thomaston lime, (75 bushels slacked,) 

at SI 25, - - - - $18 75 

2i bushels of plaster, - - 1 25 



1 acre of dressed land — produce $4 00 
1 acre of undressed land — produce 2 00 



S-20 00 



00 



Loss, (not including freight, &c.) $'18 00 

The increased value of the land, produced by 
such an application, I cannot undertake at present 
to calculate. Neither am I prepared to say with 
how much less cost the same amount of gain may 
have been attained. But the simple knowledge of 
the energy of calcareous manures upon the soil of 
the middle region is a triumph of which I am proud. 
Another interesting feature in this experiment is 
the apparently direct action of mineral manures 
upon vegetable growth. Some authorities upon 
this point are calculated to encourage the idea that 
minerals enter the field as a sort of Generalissimo 
of the forces of vegetation, and expend their in- 
fluence in separating and combining, in modelling 
and marshalling them for action, without themselves 
immediately sharing in the conflict, or, if the illus- 
tration be more apposite, as a Drum Major, with 
his music, or the Quarter Master, with his spirit 
rations, to stimulate the inert and tardy forces of 
the fruitful humus to energy and duty. Boussin- 
gault says, "Ashes, gypsum or lime, spread upon 
barren land, would not improve it in any sensible 
degree." But he continues, "Azotized organic mat- 
ter, absolutely void of saline or earthy substances, 
would probably produce no better effect; it is the 
admixture of these two classes of principles, which 
constitutes the normal manure that is indispensa- 
ble to the improvement of soils," seeming thus to 
identify the two classes of manures in their action. 
But what does he mean when he classes mineral 
manures with stimulants, and says: "It must still 
be admitted that we are far from understanding 
exactly in what way they act," Mr. William C. 
Rives used lime at the rate of 80 bushels (slacked 
measure) to the acre. He says: " Some accounts 
which I had read of its eflfects elsewhere, not ex- 
pressed with the accuracy and discrimination so 
much to be desired in such communications, had 
led me to expect a decided effect from it upon the 
growing crop — by which I mean the crop of either 
corn or wheat, immediately succeeding the appli- 
cation of the lime. In this I Avas disappointed." 
He goes on to remark: "My first disappointment, 
however, in regard to the eflTects on the growing 
crop, was more than compensated by the marked, 
unequivocal and decided effect, I have never failed 
to perceive from the lime alotie in the clover suc- 
ceeding the. wheat crop — Avith Avhich it has been 
my general practice to apply the lime at the time 
of seeding, harroAving in the lime and Avheat at one 
and the same operation." By the Avay, the same 
gentleman's experiments Avere confined mostly to 
a close, gravelly loam, of a broAVuish or gray color, 
and he quotes the proverb, 

" He that marls sand 
Will soon buy land, 
But he that uiai-ls clay 
Throws all away." 

But in my experience the truth of the proverb 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



245 



is not verified. Dr. Blaettennan, former Professor 
in the University of Virginia, says: " The chief be- 
neficial purpose served by lime is its chemical ac- 
tion upon the organic matter of the soil — an action 
which proceeds slowly and imperceptibly, but which 
causes the organic matter itself ultimately to dis- 
appear, and after it has thus disappeared, fresh 
additions of lime produce no farther effect." But 
he qualifies and explains himself thus : " The bene- 
ficial effects of lime are particularly apparent, even 
on the first crop, after its application to such land 
as, from the great accumulation of acids of organic 
origin in it, had been rendered incapable of bearing 
a crop of any useful' plant — such land cannot, with 
propriety, be called sterile, for it will bring spon- 
taneously a tolerable crop of sheep sorrel, a better 
still of broomsedge, cinque-foil and hen's nest grass, 
nay, even a very luxuriant crop of pines." Another 
writer says, "A raw potato is not only a very nau- 
seous but a very unwholesome food. It contains 
properties almost poisonous to man. But cook it — 
the heat changes these properties and it becomes a 
delicious and nourishing dish. In this way mineral 
manures, such as lime, plaster, ashes and salt chiefly 
work." From such sentiments and statements as 
the foregoing, it would not be very unreasonable 
to expect an application of mineral substances alone 
to our poorest lands to be unattended by any very 
immediate and decisive effects — at least with us, 
who are prone to think that one of the grand sources 
of poverty in our lands, is the want of organic re- 
mains in them, which we are continually endeavor- 
ing to supply by means of the various putrescent 
maaures. Unless, then, we adopt the seeming pa- 
radox of Dr. Blsetterman, that our poor lands are 
not, properly speaking, sterile^ and do yet contain 
much organic nutriment for plants, though in a 
state of inertness, until, by some process or other, 
it is made effective by mineral manures, is it not 
fair to presume, from the experiment detailed above, 
that these latter substances may act as direct fer- 
tilizing agents to land as well as those of an or- 
ganic nature 1 

Respectfully submitted, 

George Fitzgerald. 
Nottoway, Jan. 19, 1854. 



TOMATO CATSUP. 



CATTLE DISTEMPER. 

Editor of Southern Plrmier, — In perusing the es- 
say of W. S. Morton, of Cumberland, on the "Dis- 
eases of Cattle," in the last number of the Planter, 
I was reminded of some circumstances of this dis- 
ease that occurred here some few years ago that 
seemed strongly to confirm some of the conclusions 
arrived at in that essay. Some years ago a con- 
nexion of mine, from Ohio, took a drove of horses 
to Baltimore, and sold them there. He then pro- 
cured a drove of mules and conveyed them to the 
southern part of this State, in Southampton or the 
adjacent counties, and there disposed of them. 
And being willing to trade wherever he went, and 
knowing that the graziers of this county were not 
fully supplied with cattle the fall before (this being 
early in the spring,) he bought a drove of the small 
cattle of that region and brought them into Lou- 
doun and sold them. It being before pasture was 
plenty, he brought them to my barn-yard and fed 
them with hay until they were sold. During the 
summer almost every individual who bought cattle 
out of this drove had the disease introduced among 
his own stock, though not one of the southern cattle 
died with it. So that it seems that infected cattle 
grazing on grass will communicate the disease to 
healthy cattle that graze on the same grass. I only 
bought one, a heifer that had a calf while here, 
and my milch cows passed daily through the barn- 
yard where these cattle were, but they did not feed 
with them, and none of my cattle were attacked 
with the disease. Some of my neighbors lost about 
half a dozen cattle more valuable than any they 
purchased out of this drove. These southern cat- 
tle fattened kindly, but did not increase much in 
size ; and were another drove to come here from 
that region, I question very much whether our 
farmers would, from their present experience, suffer 
them to enter their enclosures at all, much less to 
purchase any; they would have nothing to do witli 
them. The disease has not appeared since that 
season. 

Yardley Taylor. 

Loudoun County, Va., 1th mo. 21st, 1854. 

P. S. — The weather lately here has been very hot 
and dry; our corn is suffering very much and pas- 
tures drying up. Our wheat crop is large — the 
earlier ripened grain is good, but the late is some- 
what injured with the rust. Y. T. 



The following recipe for this pleasant and valua 
ble condiment has been handed us by a gentleman 
who has tried it and says it will do. As he knows 
what is good as well as most people, we give it 
without hesitation to the cooking public : 

" One gallon skinned tomatoes, four table-spoon- 
fuls of black pepper, four table-spoonfuls of salt, 
three table-spoonfuls of mustard, one table-spoon- 
ful of allspice, eight pods of red pepper. Contents 
ground fine, simmered slowly in vinegar in a bell- 
metal kettle three or four hours and strained through 
a wire sieve and bottled close. So much vinegar 
is to be used as to leave half a gallon of liquor 
when the process is over." 



To Clean Brass. — Rub it over with a bit of flan- 
nel dipped in sweet oil ; then rub it hard with finely 
powdered rotten stone, then rub it with a soft linen 
cloth, and polish, with a bit of wash-leather. 



For the Southern Planter. 

SHADE TO DESTROY WIRE GRASS. 

Mr. Editor, — I was reminded by your July num- 
ber of my intention to inform you of the fact, that 
shade will destroy wire grass and prevent its exten- 
sion. In 1840 my family spent the winter in Geor- 
gia, and found the wire grass used as a yard grass, 
and prevented from extending merely by laying 
logs around the circumference of the yard. It has 
existed for forty years in a field adjoining one of 
my own, and has not extended into my field, sepa- 
rated only by a common rail fence and a slight 
hedge-row. The field in Avhich it is has not been 
cultivated for many years, and wherever it has 
grown up in bushes and shrubs the wire grass iias 
almost entirely disappeared. It has existed for the 
last ten years in another field of the same neighbor 
on one side of a common crooked rail fence, wi^k" 
out any hedge-row, and has not penetratW at ail 



246 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



into the adjoining field. There can be no doubt 
that the shade of the fence alone has prevented its 
extension, showing that it will not grow in the 
shade. I have no doubt it can be eradicated by a 
cover of leaves, straw or any other material which 
will shade the land for a single summer. 

Silas Blow. 
Appomattox, July 10, 1854. 



JOINT WOKM CONVENTION. 

At a Convention of farmers held at Warrenton,- 
Fauquier county, Virginia, on Tuesday the 13th of 
July, for the purpose of taking some action with 
regard to the ravages of the joint worm, James K. 
Marshall, Esq. was chosen President, and R. W. N. 
Noland, Esq. appointed Secretary. 

On motion, a committee of twelve was appointed 
to draught resolutions expressive of the views of 
the Convention. After due consultation, a set of 
resolutions were reported to the Convention, by the 
Chairman, Dr. R. E. Peyton. As amended, they 
read as follows : 

1. Resolved, That, in the opinion of this Conven- 
tion, the successful culture of the Avheat crop is of 
the greatest importance to the prosperity of the 
Piedmont and V^alley sections of Virginia, whether 
we view it as it respects the interests of the farmer, 
or of our commercial towns, or of our rail roads. 

2. Resolved, Tliat the injury done to the wheat in 
the sections of the State, above named, by the ra- 
vages of the joint worm, is so serious and exten- 
sive that it may well excite the deep concern of all 
interested ; and that from past experience we have 
reason to fear that unless something be done to 
destroy or check the progress of said insect, we 
shall in a few years be compelled to abandon, for a 
time at least, the culture of wheat altogether. 

3. Resolved, That in view of the heavy loss that 
would be sustained by the abandonment of said 
crop, and the impossibility of immediately adopt- 
ing any substitute in its place, we deem it of the 
utmost importance to ascertain some effectual re- 
medy for the evil above named; and that if one 
can be found we consider it the duty of every man 
in the community zealously to carry it into practice. 

4. Resolved, That, in our opinion, the following 
course is the best adapted to prevent the immediate 
ravages of said worm, and ultimately to destroy it 
altogether: 

1. To prepare well the land intended for wheat, 
and to sow it early in the earliest and most thriity 
and hardy varieties, and do nothing calculated to 
retard the ripening. 

2. To use guano, or some other fertilizer, libe- 
rally; and to use it always when seeding corn land 
or stubble. 

3. To burn the stubble on every field of Avheat, 
rye or oats, and all thickets and other harbors of 
vegetable growth contiguous to the crop ; and we 
furthermore recommend our farmers to sow their 
crops in as large bodies and in compact forms as is 
practicable ; and, if possible, that neighbors arrange 
amongst themselves to sow adjoining lields in wheat 
the same year. 

4. 'I'o feed all the wheat straw" or other that may 
be infested, in racks or pens, or on confined spots, 
and in April to burn all the remains. Also, on or 
before the first day of May, to burn carefully all 
the straw that has not been fed. 

5. Rtsolved, That we will, all of us here present. 



exert ourselves to have this plan carried into opera- 
tion in our respective neighborhoods. 

6. Resolved, That whilst we deem it our duty to 
use all the means in our poAver to rid the country 
of this pest, we do so with a sincere acknowledg- 
ment of our dependence upon Divine Providence, 
with an humble petition for his blessing, and with 
submission to his will. 

Mr. Carter offered the following resolution, which 
was unanimously adopted: 

Resolved, That a committee be appointed in each 
magisterial district, with powder to add to their num- 
ber, whose duty it shall be to visit the farmers in 
said district, and to persuade all residing therein 
to consent to adopt the plan of burning the stub- 
ble, &jC. and to superintend the process. 

The Convention then adjourned. 

James K. Mar.shall, President. 

R. W. N. NoLAND, Secretary. 

Among the speakers on the occasion were Messrs. 
John Hill Carter, R. W. N. Noland, R. E. Peyton, 
James F. Jones, Richard Payne, J. Q. Marr, Winter 
Payne, and others. A good deal of debate arose 
upon the question of the recommendation of guano 
as an anti-joint worm fertilizer. Mr. Lane, of Rap- 
pahannock, stated that he had found Mapes' ferti- 
lizer equal to Peruvian guano, on his farm. 



A FEW WORDS ON CONFECTIONERY. 

Ratafia Cream. — Boil three or four laurel 
leaves in oue pint of cream; strain it: when 
cold, add the yolks of three eggs beaten and 
strained, sweeten it, put in a very little brandy, 
scald it till thick, stirring it all the time. 

Orange Cream. — Squeeze the juice of three 
or four Seville oranges to the rind of one; put 
it over the fire with nearly a pint of thin cream ; 
take out the peel before the cream becomes 
bitter. When the cream has been boiled and 
is cold, put to it the yolks of four eggs, the 
whites of three, beaten and strahied; sugar to 
taste; scald it, stirring all the time till thick 
enough. 

Blanched Cream. — Take a quart of the 
thickest cream that can be got ; sweeten it with 
fine sugar and orange-flower water; boil it, 
and beat the whites of twenty eggs with a little 
cold cream ; strain it, and when the cream is 
upon the boil, pour in the eggs, stirring it well 
till it comes to a thick curd; then take it up 
and strain it again through a hair sieve, beat 
it well with a spoon till it is cold, and put into 
a dish. 

Burnt Cream. — Make a rich custard with- 
out sugar, boil in it some lemon-peel; when 
cold, sift sugar over it, and burn the top with 
a salamander. 

Sweetmeat Cream. — Take some cream and 
slice some preserved peaches into it; (apricots 
[Or plmns, if preferred.) sweeten the cream with 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



247 



tine sugar, or the syrup the fruit was preserved 
^ ^ in ; mix all well, and put it into glasses. 

Lemon Cream. — A large spoonful of bran- 
dy, six ounces of loaf sugar powdered, the peel 
and juice of two lemons, the peel to be grated. 
Mix these ingredients well together in a bowl; 
then add a pint of cream, and whisk it up. 

Barley Cream. — Two pounds of lean veal, 
a quarter of a pound of pearl barley, boiled in 
a quart of water very slowly till it becomes 
the consistence of cream, which should be 
passed through a fine sieve, and all salted to 
your taste. 

Pompadour Cream. — Beat the whites of 
six eggs to a froth with one spoonful of brandy; 
sweeten it; stir it over the fire three or four 
minutes; pour it into a dish; melted butter or 
cream (boiling) over it. 

Rhenish Cream. — Boil one ounce and a 
half of isinglass in a pint of water. Strain it 
through a sieve, and add eight eggs well beaten, 
half a pint of Rhenish or other white wine, 
the juice of two lemons, and the peel of the 
same, grated with as much pounded loaf sugar 
as may suit the taste. Let them boil all to- 
gether, very slowly, until the mixture is of the 
consistence of custard; then strain it through 
thin muslin into china cups. It will not turn 
so well out of anything else as out of china. 

Ice Cream. — Sweeten the cream; put it into 
I a tin for the purpose, with a close cover; set it 
into a tub of ice that is broken to pieces ; with 
a good quantity of salt ; when the cream thick- 
ens round the edge, stir it, let it stand as be- 
fore till of a proper thickness, turn it out, first 
dipping the tin in cold water; it must stand in 
the ice four or five hours. 

Swiss Cream. — A pint of cream, sweetened 
to your taste, and the peel of a lemon, to be 
set over a slow fire till it boils; the juice of a 
small lemon and a little flour beaten up with 
it, to be mixed with the cream, and let it boil 
a few minutes longer; then strain through a 
sieve. Lay your cake in the dish, and pour 
the cream upon it. It should be made the 
day before it is wanted. 

Cherry Ice Cream. — Take half a pound 
of preserved cherries, pound them, stones and 
all; put them into a basin, with one gill of 
syrup, the juice of a lemon, and a pint of 
cream; pass it through a sieve, and freeze it 
as usual. 

Blanc Mange. — To one quart of milk add 
:>ne glass of isinglass, a quarter of a pound of 
iugar, a quarter of an ounce of cinnamon, a 
ttle grated nutmeg, half the peel of a lemon, 
•nd a bay leaf; simmer over a slow fire, stir- 
. 'ng it till the isinglass is dissolved ; pass it 



through a napkin into a basin, and pour into 
a mould. This can be made of any color or 
flavor that will not curdle the milk; the milk 
of bitter almonds may be added to flavor it. 
Soyer recommends Arney's blanc mange pow- 
der as being excellent. 

Jaune Mange. — Dissolve one ounce and a 
half of isinglass in a pint and a half of water, 
add to it one pint of white wine, the yoUcs of 
eight eggs, and the juice of three lemons; boil 
the peels in the liquor, beat the eggs with the 
juice of the lemons, sweeten to your taste; 
boil it all together, strain it, and put it into 
moulds. 

Jacque Mange. — To two ounces of isinglass 
add a pint of water, dissolve it over the fire, 
and add the rind of two large lemons, grated. 
When it has boiled a little, put in a pint of 
white wine, then the yolks of eight eggs tho- 
roughly beaten, the juice of two lemons, and 
sugar to taste. The eggs, lemon juice, and 
sugar should be previously mixed together with 
a small quantity of the wine. Add the whole 
together, and keep stirring it one way until it 
boils. Then strain through muslin, and pour 
into cups or moulds that have been well rinsed 
in cold water. — Germantown Telegraph. 



MILK-PANS— SOILING COWS. 

Some experiments made in Germany for the pur- 
pose of ascertaining v/bat kind of material is best 
for milk-pans, resulted as follows: 

Tinned milk-pans 7.07 Hanover lbs. butter. 

Glass " 7.04 " " " 

VS^ooden " (not painted) •• 6.96 " " " 

Earthen ware 6.92 " " " 

Wooden " (painted) 6.67 » " " 

In connection with the above experiments others 
were made in relation to feeding cows, from which 
it appeared that there was required for one pound 
of butter — 

Of milk produced by stall-feed- 
ing with green clover, 15.00 Hanover qts. milk. 

With green tare and clover, •• • 15.67 " " " 

By pasturing, 12.84 " " " 

This shows that the cows gave the richest milk 
on pasture. But the difference in the quality was 
probably owing to a difference in the kind of food 
eaten by the cows, and not to the mamicr of feeding. 
The pastures, it is presumed, contained grasses in- 
stead of clover — the former, as many dairymen 
know, being best for the production of butter. — 
Boston Cultivator. 



SHIPMENTS OF PRODUCE. 

On the 3d July the New York mail steamer Roan- 
oke received qu board, at Smith's wharf, Norfolk, 
2270 barrels, pVincipally potatoes, 470 baskets and 
26 boxes tomatoes. On the 4th, the Jamestown 
took in 1500 barrels, and being full, could receive 
no more. On last Saturday, 1800 barrels potatoes, 
&.C., and 600 baskets tomatoes were shipped to New 



\l 



248 



THE SOUTHEKN PLANTER. 



York by the Roanoke. The Philadelphia steamer 
received about 800 barrels of potatoes, principally. 
The Baltimore steamers take away, says the Argus, 
about 800 barrels daily. 



How TO KEEP GATHERED FrUIT AND FlOWERS 

ALWAYS FRESH. — A friend has just informed us 
that fruit and flowers may be preserved from de- 
cay and fading, by immersing them in a solution 
of gum-arabic in water two or three times, waiting 
a sufficient time between each immersion to allow 
the gum to dry. This process covers the surface 
of the fruit with a thin coating of the gum, which 
is entirely impervious to the air, and thus prevents 
the decay of the fruit, or the withering of the 
flower. Our friend has roses thus preserved which 
have all the beauty of freshly plucked ones, though 
they have been separated from the parent stem 
since June last. To insure success in experiments 
of this kind, it should be borne in mind that the 
whole surface must be completely covered; for if 
the air only gains entrance at a pin-hole, the labor 
will all be lost. In preserving specimens of fruit, 
particular care should be taken to cover the stem, 
end and all, with the gum. A good way is to wind 
a thread of silk about the stem, and then sink it 
slowly in the solution, which should not be so 
strong as to leave a particle of the gum undissolved. 
The gum is so perfectly transparent, that you can 
with difficulty detect its presence, except by the 
touch. Here we have another simple method of 
fixing the fleeting beauty of nature, and surround- 
ing ourselves ever with those objects which do 
most elevate the mind, refine the taste, and purify 
the heart, — Country Gentleman. 



WEIGHT OF SEASONED AVOOD. 

The following table shows the weight of a cord 
of seasoned wood : 

White ash 3450 lbs. 

Beach 3236 lbs. 

Chestnut 2333 lbs. 

White elm 2592 lbs. 

Scaly bark hickory 4469 lbs. 

Pig nut hickory 4241 lbs. 

Red heart hickory 3705 lbs. 

Iron wood 3218 lbs. 

Hard maple 2878 lbs. 

Soft maple 2668 lbs. 

White oak 3821 lbs. 

Pin oak 3339 lbs. 

Red oak 3254 lbs. 

Chestnut oak 3030 lbs. 

Pine 1900 lbs. 

Lombardy poplar 1774 lbs. 



Remedy for Toothache. — The London Lancet, 
which is considered good authority in such matters, 
states that a mixture of two parts of the liquid 
ammonia of commerce with one of some simple 
tincture, is recommended as a remedy for tooth- 
ache, so often uncontrolable. A piece of lint is 
dipped into this mixture, and then introduced into 
the carious tooth, which immediately stops the 
pain. It is stated to be eminently successful, and 
in some cases is supposed to act by neutralizing 
an acid product in the decayed tooth. 



PAYMENTS TO THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 

To the lUh of July, 1854. 

Estate of Capt. Wm. Kidd to Jan. 1855 
James P. Anderson to January 1855 
Matthew White to June 1854 
John Noble to January 1855 
S. Edmunds to January 1855 

A. W. Burruss to July 1855 
Robert A. Hill to January 1855 
C.J. Thompson to July 1855 
William Hankins, Sr. to July 1855 
Franklin Minor to July 1855 
Nelson Talley to January 1855 
John S. Adams to January 1855 
M. B. Carrington to January 1855 
Samuel E. Lee to January 1855 
James M. Stout to July 1855 
Dr. W. J. Harris to January 1855 
James H. Ferguson to Jaiiuary 1855 
Corbin Warwick to July 1855 
James E. Tucker to July 1855 
Goodrich Wilson to May 1855 
S. P. Ryland to January 1855 
H. St. George Harris to July 1854 
John W. Bowles to July 1855 
J. H. Etheridge to January 1856 
Dr. William Meredith to .luly 1855 
Carter H. Page to July 1855 
Lewis Bailey to January 1855 
Robert Daniel to April 1855 
Joseph N. Goodman to April 1855 
George A. Fleet to July 1855 
Major George Wilson to January 1856 
Fendall Chiles to January 1855 
Dr. Enos F. Gunter to January 1855 
.John H. Bibb to January 1855 
William H. Jones to January 1855 
William J. Shumate to September 1854 
Samuel M. Teel to January 1855 
Thomas Garland to July 1854 

B. T. Brown to July 1854 
J. E. Smith to January 1855 
G. W. Macon to July 1855 
W. H. Southall to July 1854 
P. H. Goodloe to July 1854 
,1. Warwick Woods to January 1855 
Willis M. White to September 1855 
Robert Pollard to January 1855 

C. P. McKennie to April 1855 
R. T. W. Duke to September 1854 
William Ross to January 1855 
John A. Thompson to July 1854 
Robert Lucas, Jr. to July 1854 
Richard Callaway to January 1855 
Peter Quarles to January 1855 
E. W. Burruss to July 1854 
Albert Quisenbury to July 1855 
H. M. Dickinson to July 1855 
James A. Walker to July 1855 
Robert S. Bonham to January 1855 
George W. Houston to January 1855"" 
H. B. Jones to January 1855 
Z. Johnson to January 1855 
J. C. Willson to January 1855 
T. H. Walker to January 1855 
Samuel Willsoii to January 1855 
Shem Heatwool to Julv 1855 
Major R. P. Brown to August 1853 
Dr. P. R. Berkeley to January 1855 
Thomas K. Bridgeforth to May 1855 
Petersburg Library to January 1854 



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$1 00 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



249 



George R. Rogers to July 1855 

R. C. Dickinson to January 1856 

William Payne, Sr. to January 1855 

George W. Cabell to January 1855 

James Walker to September 185i 

James C. Dcnty to January 1855 

Estate of N. C. Daniel, dec'd, to Jan. 1854 

Robert B. Moorman to June 1855 

R. N. Trice to January 1855 

L. L. Lea to January 1855 

Orris Moore to January 1855 

W. Sandidge to January 1855 

James Collins to June 1855 

J. A. Ratliff to January 1855 

William M. Parker to July 1855 

G. A. Bake.r to June 1854 

Stephen McGavock to July 1855 

Dr. James E. Robertson to July 1855 

Benjamin F. Akir to July 1855 

Col. Thomas Brown to January 1855 

Dr. George W. Briggs to January 1854 

William P. Parish to January 1855 

William B. Philips to January 1855 

John Massie to January 1855 

Edward J. Thompson to January 1855 

William Calterton to January 1855 

Colin Calterton to July 1854 

James L. Saunders to July 1855 

N. Q. Lipscomb to January 1855 

Dr. James B. Rogers to January 1851 

Col. W. A. Bell to July 1857 

Col. Lloyd Noland to September 1854 

John Morton to July 1855 

Thomas J. Holley to July 1855 

Andrew K. Fulton to January 1855 

A. A. Clarke to September 1854 

Michael Wallace to January 1854 

D. H. Gordon to September 1853 
Hart & Hayes to January 1855 
Uryant Stevens to January 1855 
W. D. Henry to January 1855 ' 
S. S. Alsop to January 1855 

Dr. John R. Taylor (2 copies) to Jan. 1855 
H. C. Alexander to January 1855 

E. Hickerson to January 1855 
Ab. Rowe to March 1855 
Jos. Alsop to January 1855 
Robert Garland to January 1855 
W. P. Bledsoe to July 1855 
William Patrick to July 1854 
Robert Wilson to July 1855 
Francis K. Nelson to January 1855 
Dr. Charles Brown to July 1855 
Erasmus Taylor to January 1855 
James Law Hooff to January 1855 
James W. Cook to July 1855 

Dr. Andrew Field to July 1855 
Dr. W. B. Price to July 1855 
Hilary Harris to July 1855 
Bevil G. Ross to July 1855 
George Campbell to July 1856 
George D. Gravely to January 1855 
A. B. Davidson to January 1855 



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COTSWOLD BUCKS.— For sale three high grade Cots- 
Avold Bucks — one four years old, one two years, and 
one one year — and six Buck Lambs. The latter by my full 
blood Buck, purchased last fall for me by Mr. Sands, editor 
of the American Farmer, from Mr. Reybold, of Delaware. 
The lambs are from high grade Cotswold and South Down 
ewes. Price fifteen dollars each, deliverable at Gordons- 
ville Depot, Orange county. R. B. HAXALL. 

Richmond, August 1, 1854. -2t 



PRIME MERINO STOCK FOR SALE.— The under- 
signed having associated himself with Col. Philip St. 
Geo. Cocke, for the purpose of growing fine wool and rais- 
ing choice Merino Stock, and ultimately upon a very exten- 
.sive scale in both Powhatan and Brunswick counties, is 
now prepared to offer 75 buck lambs, old enough for deli- 
very in September next. 

These lambs are sired by three Bucks which have taken 
prizes in two different States of the Union. One of them 
took the first prize in the State of New York for two years 
in succession. A large number of our Elwes have been 
purchased from very superior northern flocks. I have on 
hand some good stock Bucks ready for use this fall. 

I will box up and deliver for transportation, either on the 
James River Canal or Danville Rail Road, with proper 
directions for feeding and without extra charge, any stock 
ordered, but will in no case be responsible for accidents or 
losses occuri'ing after such delivery. The cash must in all 
cases accompany orders. 

Neither care nor expense will be spared to procure and 
keep up Stock of the purest and best quality; and I assure 
the Southern Agriculturists that it is designed to make thi.s 
one of the most intei'esting and best wool growing and 
stock raising establishments in the United States. 

I invite persons interested to call on me at my residence 
at Belmead, or to address me by letter as below. 

THEODORE N. DAVISSON, 
Jefferson P. O., Powhatan co., Va. 

jun — 4t 



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.k 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 provez'bial for its highly cultivated society, its fertile 
lands, its pure find abundant water and general healthful- 
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 
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. 



WOOL! WOOL!! — Receiving, as we do, large quanti- 
ties of wool for sale, we are enabled to off^er induce- 
ments to manufacturers and dealers to examine our stock, 
and in that way can generally obtain better prices than can 
be had for small parcels. We solicit consignments from 
the Wool Growers of Virginia, with the assurance that we 
can obtain the very highest prices for their fleeces, and that 
no effort on our part will be spared to afford them satisfac- 
tion. CRENSHAW & CO., 

North side of the Basin, Richmond, Va. 
June — tf 



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



MERINO SHEEP.— The subscriber has from 50 to 75 
Ewes with lambs, to dispose of. They will be sold 
low if application be made early. Post office, Mount Plea- 
sant, Spottsylvania County, Virginia. 

ault D. M. WHARTON. 



WM. A. BUTTERS, 

BOOKSELLER AND STATIONER, 

autf No. 157 Main Street, Richmond, Va. 



250 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



PUBI^IC SALE OF VAl^UABLE LAND. 

'W/ ILL be sold on the premises, on tlie 30th day 

VV of August next, the tract of land on which 
we reside, lying on Gold Mine creek, in Louisa 
county, six miles north of the Court House. 

This farm contains 414 acres, 280 of which are 
in cultivation, the balance in timber, about 50 acres 
being in original growth. 

The cleared land is highly improved, the soil 
being unsurpassed for its susceptibility to improve- 
ment by means of clover, plaster, &.c. Adjoining 
the gaiden is a vineyard of 4 acres, which, with 
good management, will yield a large quantity of 
superior wine. 

The farm is Avell supplied with all the necessary 
out-buildings, and the dwelling house is large and 
well finished, containing eight rooms, besides pas- 
sages and ample cellars and attic. 

For further information persons may address Dr. 
J. L. Burruss, or Lucian Minor, Esq., Louisa Court 
House, Virginia. 

Term.s. — One-third of the purchase money in 
cash; the balance in two equal payments, atone 
and two years, with interest. 

Crops and stock will be sold at the same time.? 
L. J. BURRUSS, 
J. L. BURRUSS, 
M. E. BURRUSS, 

ault C. M. BURRUSS. 

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

The Chemical Field Lect'Jres for Agriculturists, 
by Dr. J. A. Siockhaidl; translated from the Ger- 
mar>: edited with notes by James E. TesehemcEher. 

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

'I'he American Farm Book.or Compend of Ame 
rican Agriculture, being a practical trt'aiise on soils, 
manures, drjiining, &c. and every staple product o( 
the Unifed States, with the best methods of planting, 
culiivalingand preparation furmarket, by R.L.Allen 

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

'The Monthly Journal otAgr iculture, containing 
the best current productions in promotion of agri- 
culiura) improvement, including the choicest prize 
essays issued in Europe and America, with original 
contrihntions from eminent larmers and statesmen, 
3 vols. 8vo., John S. Skinner, Editor. 

The Principles of Agriculture, by Albert D. 
Thaer. 

I'he Farmer's and Planter's Encyclopasdia o( 
Rural Affairs, embracing all ihe 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 observaiions, by Eienry Colman. 

Chemistry in its Application to Agriculture and 
Physioloa:v," by Justus Liebig, M. D. 

'I'he Book of ihe Farm, detailing the labors of 
the farmer, ploughman, field worker, &c., by Henr> 
Stephens. 

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

Bookseller, Stationer, and Dealer in 

feb— If Piano Furies, 97 Main street. 



STOVES AKD FANCY IRON CASTS NGS, 

Exhibited at the Virginia. Stale Agricaliurul F'air, 
By Messrs. Bowers, Snyder & Carter. 

THESE Gentlemen erected Worlis, about twc 
years since, by which they have been exten- 
sively supplyirig the State with articles lor which 
we have heretolore depended entirely upon northern 
foundries. 

Their Cooking Stoves have given entire satisfac- 
tion to all Virgmia housewives who have used them. 
On the door of one of these we notice a representa- 
tion of a sheaf of wheal, in which the head?) and 
even the distinct grains stand out in beauiilul reliet. 
They exhibit a specimen of parlor stove especially- 
worthy of notice, lis 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 mantfacturers, in a modest, unpretending- 
way, are rendering good service lo the State, by de- 
veloping her resources in this branch of domestic 
industry. E. B. Spence, 

H. M. Smith, 
James Pak, 
CcnnmHtee on Honsehold Implements. 

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

Charles D. Yale, 
I30, Main Street, Richmond, Virginia, Depot for 

Bolion & Yale's "Caloric Air Furnace." 

jan 1854 — ly 



-«r* 



EAGLE FOUNDEKY. 

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 manufaciure 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 Ca.si'ings. 
He pledges himself to execute faithlully, and with 
dispatch, all work entrusted to him, and tespecifully 
solicisacall (rom hisfriendsand the public generally. 
The highest cash prices paid lor old cast iioii, 
brass and copper. PHILIP RAHM, 

ja— ly Gary, beiween Pearl and Inih sts. 

BOOKS, PIANOS, MUSIC, &c. 

JAMES WOODEOUSE, Wholesale and Re- 
tail Dealer in Bo>'KS, Piano Fortes, SrATtON- 
ERY, Music, &c. 139 Main St, Richmond, Virgmia, 
Constantly on hand, a full supply ot siar-dard 
Agricultural Works. oc— tf 



SINTON (*t SONS' NUKSERY,NEAR 
RICH!VH)ND, VIRGINIA. 

AS the season (or planting has arrived, the sub- 
scribers would respectfully call ihe attention of 
their friends and the public generally, to their large 
and extensive collection of Fruit Trees, embrac- 
ing, perhaps, a selection thai has not been sui passed, 
for the climate of Virginia, and nearly all propa- 
gated from fruit-bearing trees in their own oici.ard. 

Catalogues, with direciicns (or planting, may be 
had at William Palmer's Seed and Plough Store; 
at Peyton Johnston & Brother's Apothecary Store; 
at C.J Smtcm & Go's. Hardware Store, and at Lo- 
2:an Waller'.^ Commission House, where anv oiders 
left will be pun'^iually attended to, and letters ad- 
dressed to the subscribers, Richmond, will leceive 
prompt aiteniion. 

nov— if JOSEPH SINTON & SONS. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



251 



WOOL. DEPOT. 

Richmond, June 22, 1854. 

Dear Sir, — Having been engaged for years past in the sale of Wool, we are fully aware of the difficulties that the 
Wool Growers of this State have labored under to obtain for their Wool its fair market value. P'or this there are two ' 
^ causes — one is, that in each lot of Wool, indeed in each bag of Wool, there are several grades, and each purchaser has 
to buy some Wool that does not answer his purposes; he could not, therefore, afibrd to pay the full value for an article 
that he did not want, and which he only bought because it was not assorted. All who are familiar with the sale of 
tobacco, are fully aware of the loss that the planter sustains who does not assort his tobacco. It is the same case with 
Wool, to a considerable extent. 

Another reason is, that the receipts of Wool have been light, and so scattered that it was difficult to get together a 
sufficient quantity to attract the attention of purchasers. We have found this operate so strongly that we have not 
generally attempted to make sale of small parcels of Wool, but allowed our receipts to accumulate; and we have 
generally obtained from three to five cents per pound moro for such large parcels than could be had for small lots. The 
Wool interest of Virginia is now rapidly increasing, and we think is destined, in a short time, to become an extensive 
trade. Already there is a sutFicient quantity grown, if concentrated to one point and properly graded, to overcome, to 
some extent, the difficulties referred to above. We think this can be best accomplished by a well conducted Wool 
Depot. This city appears to be the most accessible point for a majority of the Wool Growers in Virginia. 

Being already in this ti-ade, and having an extensive acquaintance with the producers as well as the manufacturers 
and dealers in Wool, we have determined to open such a Depot in this city, in connection with our present business. 
In order to conduct it in the most satisfactory manner, we have engaged the services of Mr. John Watehhouse, who 
was long and favorably known as the efficient Agent of the late Woollen Factory in this city. 

All the Fleece Wool sent to us and tub washed Wool, so far as it is practicable, will be graded, and each quality put 
together, unless the owner prefers that his Wool should be sold alone — in that event he will so direct us. 

Our charges will be — 

Commission for selling, 2| per cent. 

Storage, gradmg, fire insurance, advertising and labor, 1 cent per lb. 

We shall always sell for cash, unless we find it to the interest of the owners to sell on time. In that event, we will 
••charge 2^ per cent, guarantee. We will be prepared to cash all such sales as soon as made, deducting the interest. 

We hope the establishment of such a Depot will meet with your approval, and that we may be favored with your 
consignments. Yours, most obedient, CRENSHAW & CO., 

Grocers and Commission Merchants, North Side of the Basin, Richmond, Va. 

^J§?^ Liberal advances will be made on consignments of Wool, when required. 

Genuine No. 1 Peruvian Guano always on hand, and for sale on the best terms. C. & CO. 

autf 



COTSWOLD OR NEW OXFORDSHIRE SHEEP.— 
The subsci-iber has for sale a number of yearling Bucks 
of the Cotswold or New Oxfordshire breed, which he will 
sell at any time when called for. This flock has been bred 
from some of the best ever imported, and are supez-ior to all 
other breeds for large carcass, heavy fleece, early maturing 
of constitution, and defy all competition with other breeds 
for profit. The clips of the tW'O Bucks which were imported 
last year weighed 17 lbs. of each, of washed wool. A lot 
of wethei-s slaughtered last March averaged, alive, 308 lbs., 
and when dressed for market, 206? lbs. Gentlemen are 
invited to call and see for themselves, or communicate by 
mail. Address WILLIAM REYBOLD, 

au3t Marshmount, near Delaware City, Del. 



PITTS' PREMIUM THRESHER, SEPARATOR AND 
CLEANER combined, and upon wheels, adapted to 
threshing and bagging wheat in tlie field, a few more just 
to hand. H. M. SMITH. 

July— 2i 



UNITED STATES HOTEL, 

(formerly union,) 

Corner of Main and Nineteenth Streets, Rlchnwnd. 

J. E. NORRiS, PROPPaETOR. 

Price of Board, per day, $\ 50. 

mar — tf 




tfLi^n^mx on. n 



SEYMOUR'S PATENT GRAIN DRILL. 

This is emphatically the Premium Drill of our country, having 
taken the First Premium at every Fair of the New York State 
Agricultural Society, since its first introduction, in 1849, including 
the Highest Prize and Diploma at the great trial of Agricultural 
ImplementsTmade by this Society at Geneva, in July, 1852. 

The machinery is remarkably simple, permanent, and easily 
kept in repair, and all the parts are so clearly presented to the 
view of the operator, that he can readily see if any thing is not 
correct; and the grain falls from the seed box to the tubes, (a space 
of several inches,) in full view, so that in passing over the field, he 
may be constantly assured that the seed is deposited as is designed. 
The usual size is made with nine teeth, eight inches apart; but 
any other size, and teeth any distance apart, can be made to order. This Drill with nine teeth runs easier than some 
drills with only seven teeth. The teeth are all placed in one rank, unless ordered to be put in two ranks. It is believed 
by those who have made experiments, and given the subject their careful attention, that the evils caused by lumps, 
stones, &c., being thrown by the teeth in the hind rank into the furrows made by the teeth in the front rank, are, in 
most cases, far greater than the advantages gained. This fact has induced the inventor to construct his Double-Ranked 
Drill so that the teeth can all be placed in one rank, at pleasure, thus obviating, in this Drill, the objection to all other 
two-ranked drills. The pi-ice of the drill, with teeth in two ranks, is ten dollars higher than those w^ilh teeth in but 
one rank. 

A valuable improvement has been made in the Drill this season, (1854.) which prevents the shrinking and swelling 
of the wood from affecting the correctness of its operation. This drill is made small enough to be drawn by hand for 
garden purposes, when ordered. 

The following are the advantages this Drill possess over other grain drills, viz. It sows all grain and seeds, from peas 
and corn, to grass seed, as well as any other drill sows wheat, not failing thus to perform in sowing even beet or carrot 
seed; and it is difficult to clog it with any of the trash and foul stuff coinmonly found in grain, such as straw, chaff, 
stems of tare or other weeds. It will also sow any grain soaked and rolled in lime, plaster, ashes, guano, poudrette, 
&c. &c. It also sows lime, plaster, ashes, and all dry fertilizers which are fine enough to pass through the machine. 
Whatever it will sow in drills it will just as readily sow broadcast, by removing the drill lubes, which is very easily 



252 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 

done. It is remarkably simple in its construction, and very durable. It is easily understood and kept in order by 
common laborers, or repaired by common mechanics, such as are at hand in nearly every neighborhood or town. 

The price is but little in advance of any other approved grain drill, and quite below that charged for many which 
are far less adapted to the wants of the farmer or [)lanter than ihis — and in view of its utility, simplicity, convenience 
and durability, it is believed to be by far the cheapest drill in the world. i 

When ordered the following extras are added to the Drill: 1. A 'Feeder," to prevent clogging in sowing damp 
plaster and other fertilizers. 2. A "Grass Seeder," which is a box and fixings for sowing grass seed broadcast, in 
front of the drill teeth while drilling ; or it may be used while sowing plaster broadcast from the main box. 3. A 
set of ' Horse Hoes," to cultivate the wheat in the spring. The drill teeth are removed and these are put in their 
place. With these extras added, the Machine is capable of sowing grass seed, hoeing the wheat, (which also hoes 
in the grass seed,) and sowing plaster all at once. 
Extract from the Report of the Hon. Benj P. Johnson, Secretary of the New York State Agricultural Society, 

who was the Agent of the State of New York, appointed to attend the Exhibition of the Industry of all JNations, 

held in London, 1851: 

"There were various drill machines, very perfect in their construction and arrangement, yet too complicated and 
expensive for introduction into this country. They do not possess any material advantages over our own drills, which 
are afibrded at one-third the price of the best English drill." 

Extract of a letter from Mr. Brewer of Oneida County: 

"Mr. Seymour: Dear Sir — I inquired of the Hon. Benjamin P.Johnson, Secretary of the New York State 
Agricultural Society, where I could get the best Grain Drill, and he directed me to you. You will therefore, please 
send me one, &c." 

I have used several kinds of grain drills, among which was Seymour's Drill, and I find it to be the besi one I have 
ever seen. I have used it two seasons and it has never yet been out of repair, S. G. Patterson. 

Marengo, Michigan, 1853. 

Hon. C. H. Carroll, of Livingston County, N. Y.: Dear Sir — I bought of Mr. Seymour, of East Bloomfield, 
one of his grain drills, last season with which I sowed my wheat last fall, my barley and my oats in the spring andi^ 
also drilled in a piece of corn, and in every case 1 found the drill to perform as I desired, doing its work as Mr. 
Seymour has represented ii to do in his advertisements. Very respectfully, 

July, 1853. S. C. Culbertson. 

Judge Carroll says Mr. Culbertson's word is as reliable as that of any man in the county. 

Mr. Seymour : Sir, — With the grain drill which I purchased from you my son, a lad sixteen years of age, has 
put in about fifty acres of wheat for me, and with some of it about a bushel and a half ppr acre of ashes and hen dung 
was mixed, and all to my entire satisfaction, and I must say 1 prefer it to any I have ever seen. Ira Peck. 

Mr. Seymour : Dear Sir, — The eleven-tooth drill you exhibited at the Ontario County Fair last fall, and sold to me, 
I have fairly tested, in putting in my spring crops, and find it works admirablv and answers my fullest expectations. 
I have drilled in seventy bushels of oats and as much barley, and my buckwheat, which are now up, and growing 
finely. Although the drill has eleven teeth, I do not think it any too large (or a common team, and it is wide enough 
to put in three rows of corn at once. R. Stephens. 

Hopewell, July 5, 1852. 




SEZMOUR'S PATENT BROADCAST SOWIIVG MACHINE. 

This Machine is well known in Western New York, also in 
many other parts of the United States, and is universally acknow- 
ledged to be ihe best implement in our country for the purposes for 
Avhich it is intended. It sows cod ectly all kintis of grain, (and any 
desired quantity per acre,) from peas to grass seed, including wheat, 
rye, oats, barley, buckwheat, rice, lipnip, flax clover and timothy 
seed; also plaster, liine, salt, ashes, bone dust, &c. &c. It is ca- 
Ig pable of dusting every inch of ground on an acre of land, with less 
than half a bushel of plaster, and ihirt}'^ or forty bushels of lime 
may be thus evenl}' a['i)lied to the same amount of land. It sows 
ten feet wide, or may be made narrower to order. This machine 
has been much improved by substituting iron in several important parts, in the place of wood, making it a very durable 
article. It has received the highest recommendations from hundreds of the best farmers in our country, and received 
eight premiums from Agricultural Societies, besides the Highest Prize and Diploma at the Trial of Agricultural 
Implements, held at Geneva, July, 1852. 

The following is from the Albany Cultivator of June, l848 by the editor, Mr. L. Tucker: " This cut represents 
Seymour's Sowing Machine advertised in our last. It has been extensively used in Western New York and is 
TOUch approved. We saw muny acres of various kinds of grain on the farm of .lohn Dclafield, Esq., near Geneva, 
last season which had been sown with this machine, and we never saw grain stand more evenly on the ground. Mr. 
Delafield assured us that he could sow any thing — lime, plaster, poudiette, guano, &c., or any seed, from grass seed 
to peas, or Indian corn, with perfect exactness, graduating the quantity per acre to a pint." 

Mk. P. Seymour : Dear Sir, — I have been familiar with the operation of your Broadcast Sower and your Grain 
Drill for some years, and justice requires me to say that I think them equal to any machines of the kind, in all 
respects, and Jar superior in the most important, viz. the manner of discharging the grain, plaster, vtanure, cf-c, 
from, the hopper. Yrurs truly, Enos Boighton. 

Those who know Mr. Boughton will put the most implicit confidence in his commendation. These niacliiiie;: are 
in use by many of the first farmers in the States of New York, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin, 
Michigan, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware New Jersey, Kentucky Virginia, Worth Carolina and Tennessee, 
and also in Canada, to all whom we refer for their reputation, believing that all who have given them a fair trial will 
commend them. 

f^ Directions for using, accompany each Machine. All communications promptly attended to. 

C. H. Sf^'-YMOUR, Manufacturer, 
East Bloomfield, Ontaria County, New York 1854. P. SEYMOUR Patentee. 

Prices.— Drill with 7 teeth S80; 9 teeth ^90; 11 teeth $100. Broadcast Sower $55. Extras— Feeder S6 ; Horse 
Hoes S2 each; Grass Seeder $15. ault 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



253 



FOR SALE! A BEAUTIFUL AND VALUABLE ES- 
TATE. — Desirous to close my business in Frederick 
county, and remove to a central part of Virginia more con- 
venient to a large landed estate I own in that quarter, I 
olfer for sale, Springdale and Bartonsvillc, with various 
Mills, forming certainly one of the finest estates in the whole 
country. Springdale contains upwards of 800 acres offer- 
tile land chiefly limestone, or of a kind, mixed soil, upon a 
clay basis, all admirably adapted to wheat, corn, timothy 
and clover. There are about 60 acres of creek bottom of 
surpassing fertility, which might be cultivated twenty years 
in succession with but little depreciation. Indeed, the en- 
during quality of the soil is a characteristic of the whole 
farm, justifying stubbhng and repeated continuous crops. 
For example, I have a small field which for twelve years 
has been in wheat or corn, and in all that time never failed 
to yield a noble crop. Three or four successive crops of 
wheat from the same ground is a common practice with 
me, without injury to the land or of any abatement of quan- 
tity produced. 

The improvements on this estate are those which taste 
and a free expenditure of money for fifty years could make. 
There are 65 miles of limestone fencing, 5 miles of paling 
and plank, and the balance of locust stake fencing. There 
are 26 enclosures from lots of 4 or 5 acres to fields of 50 
acres. The wood land, 170 acres, consisting of open forests 
of black walnut, ash, hickory and oak, is divided in eight 
lots, all enclosed and yielding pasture for sheep and cattle. 
A fine stream flows a mile and a half through the farm, and 
never failing springs rise in many of the fields. 

The dwelling-house is a well constructed building of two 
stories, covered with tin roof, having dining-room, parlor, 
library, six chambers, beside four cellar and three attic rooms. 
There is a large and handsome piazza in front and a portico 
in the rear. The building is 90 feet in length, including 
the wings, of substantial hewn, square limestone, and hav- 
ing eight dormer-windows. A two story stone building, 50 
leet in length, used as a negro quarter. An extensive barn, 
with stone underpinning and shedding; excellent stabling, 
stone and frame, sufficient for thirty head of horses; also, 
houses for hay and extensive shedding for cattle; two corn 
houses, one rat-proof, capable of containing 1000 barrels of 
corn, besides granaries for wheat, oats, &c.; carriage house, 
ice house, admirable dairy, with a large limestone spring 
very convenient to the house; large stone smoke house, 
overseer's house, wagou and cart sheds, and other conve- 
nient out houses. 

The Village consists of stone house with eight rooms, 
long used as a wagon stand, large stone blacksmith shop, 
wagon and cooper shop, several excellent buildings, occu- 
pied by mechanics, with stabling, stone smoke houses, gar- 
dens, &c. 

There are two excellent and large orchards of selected 
summer and winter fruit, the proceeds of w hich I sold one 
year for a 1200. 

The Merchant Mill is a three story building partly of 
stone and partly frame, capable of grinding 20,000 bushels 
of wheat annually. It does also a large share of country 
grindmg, and has a valuable plaster and saw" mill attached; 
also, near it a miller's house, stabling, garden, &c. 

This property is 5^ miles from V»''inchester, a flourishing 
town of near 5000 people, and the terminus of the rail road 
connecting with Baltimore. The Manassas Gap Rail Road, 
connecting with Alexandria, Washington and Richmond, is 
only 11 miles south. The projected rail road from the Ma- 
nassas Gap to the Coal Field will pass only a mile from 
Springdale, while the Valley Rail Road from Winchester 
to Staunton, iindoubtedly soon to be made, will touch upon 
the farm. The Great Valley Turnpike, extending from 
Winchester to Tennessee, passes nearly a mile and a quarter 
through the farm, over which several mail coaches are 
driven every morning and evening, directly in sight of the 
house. These, together with the large number of carriages 
and other vehicles, hourly passing through a densely settled 
country, give to the farm a most cheerful aspect. The 
morning papers from Washington and Baltimore are re- 
ceived every day soon after dinner. The celebrated Capon 
Springs are but 20 miles off — Jordan's Sulphur but 10. 
There are 20 churches of various denominations within a 



circle of 6 miles. A mile and a half from the farm is the 
village of Newtown, containing nearly 1000 inhabitants, 
with churches, an academy, post office, several stores, and 
various mechanic shops, &c. The farm is surrounded by 
a refined society, and in forty minutes a gentleman can take 
his family to Winchester over a beautiful turnpike to church, 
or upon a visit to a very clever and genteel people. 

Sincerely desirous to sell this estate, but to avoid all hig- 
gling and needless applications, I will state my price for the 
whole, including the mills described, is 872,000 — one-half 
cash, the balance I am content to say two, four, six and eight 
years, the purchaser paying interest and securing all by a 
lien on the property. There are three farms united, with 
improvements on each, but I will not separate them in any 
sale. A good manager may always calculate on from 5000 
to 6000 bushels of wheat each year, worth at the home 
market an average of •$ 6000. This is a clear net crop, for 
the corn, hay, stock, &c., will more than pay all expenses. 
The mills, houses and orchards, will rent for $1200 per an- 
num — thus making an income of $7200 from about $80,000 
invested, including stock on farm, &c., or about 9 per cent. 
Such is the admirable tilth of this farm, its cleanness, con- 
dition of the fences, its level or gently rolling surface, &c., 
eight laborers can cultivate it. A healthier spot can hardly 
be found on earth. In a family of some 75 persons, includ- 
ing tenants, for 35 years, I have never known a case of 
bilious or intermittent fever. 

To the wealthy merchant or professional man, who wishes 
to retii-e from business and enjoy health and ease, at a de- 
lightful residence, or the industrious farmer, looking to a 
profitable investment of his money, the extraordinary con- 
veniences and resources of this farm present equal attrac- 
tions. No one will purchase so valuable an estate without 
some personal acquaintance. To those at a distance dis- 
posed to inform themselves, I refer to a number of friends 
or neighbors who have visited this farm, many of whom are 
extensively acquainted with the facts set foi'th in this adver- 
tisement. In the event of a sale, the purchaser may have 
leave to sow wheat this fall, one hundred acres being already 
ploughed for the purpose, and I will give complete posses- 
sion by the first of next October, if desired. 

References. — Hon. James M. Mason, Senator; Hon. 
A. A. H. Stuart, Staunton, Vii-ginia ; Charles Barnard, Esq., 
Boston; Moncure Robinson, Benjamin Etting, Esqs., Phi- 
ladelphia; A. P. Kennedy, S. K. Burkholder, Esqs., Balti- 
more; Capt. L. M. Powell, Capt._ William McBlair, United 
States Navy, Washington; Ro. B. Boiling, Esq., Petersburg, 
Virginia; William H. Macfarland, R. B. Haxall, Samuel 
Marx, Esqs., Richmond, Virginia; Myer Myers, Esq., Nor- 
folk, Virginia; James K. Marshall, Esq., Alexandria, Va.; 
John G. Meem. Esq., Lynchburg, Virginia; Dr. Rice, New 
Market, Virginia; Dr. R. T. Baldwin, T. A. Tidball, H. M. 
Brent, James Marshall, Joseph H. Sherrard, D. W. Barton, 
Eisqs., Winchester, Virginia; John S. Magill, William S. 
Jones, Joseph Long, James Chipley, F. B. Jones, James 
Gilkeson, Esqs., Frederick county, Virginia. 

R. W. BARTON. 

Near Winchester, Va., July 10, 1854. — autf 



WILLIAM P. LADD, Apothecary and Druggist, 
No. 319, head of Broad Street, Shockoe Hill, Rich- 
mond, Virginia, dealer in English, Mediterranean, India and 
all Foreign and Domestic Drugs and Medicines; also, Paints, 
Oils, Varnish, Dye-Stuffs, Window Glass, Putty, &c. For 
sale on the most accommodating terms. 

|!^°' Orders from Country Merchants and Physicians 
thankfully received and promptly attended to. 
jan '51 — tf 



AGENCY FOR THE PURCHASE AND SALE OP 
IMPROVED STOCK.— Stock Cattle of all the difl'er- 
ent 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. Wm. H. Richardson, Richmond, Virginia 

N. B. — All letters, post-paid, will be promptly attended 
to. 

ap '53— tf 



254 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



FARM, STOCK, CROPS, NEGROES, &C., FOR 
SALE. — The subscribers are authorized to sell a valu- 
able farm in the county of Buckingham, 5-^ miles from the 
Court House, containing upwards of 800 acres, having on 
it every necessary improvement, consisting of a handsome 
two story dwelling just completed, barn with threshing 
machine, stables, corn crib, carriage and ice houses, black- 
smith's shop, &c., with a kitchen and meat house about to 
be erected. It has also a fine garden and an orchard of 
choice fruit, embracing almost every variety grown in Vir- 
ginia. It will be sold with the growing crops, (175 bushels 
of wheat and 100 bushels of oats have been seeded) stock, 
tools and implements of every description, and 16 first rate 
farm and house servants, one of whom is a good black- 
smith. 

This farm is situated in a region proverbial for health 
and agreeable society, 1-5 farms and dwellings being in 
view from the dwelling. 

The owner desiring to remove to the South, and being 
unwilling to break up the relations existing among his ne- 
groes, will dispose of the whole at a great bargain. 

For terms, &c., apply to 

MARTIN GOLDSBOROUGH, Baltimore, or 
RUFFIN & AUGUST, Richmond, Va. 

jun — tf 



SUPERIOR SWINE AND PREMIUM POULTRY.— 

k3 I am prepared to engage pigs by my large Byefield and 
superior Sufiblk boars, from matchless sows of the following 
breeds : Byefield, Suftblk, Skinner, Essex, Chestei-, Dela- 
ware, Cheshire and Russian — most of them of mammoth 
size. 

The finest collection of ornamental and domestic Poulti-y 
in Virginia — receiving the pi-emium 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. 



IMPROVED SUPER PHOSPHATE OP LlME.~The 
subscriber is manufacturing the above at his Bone Mill, 
a short distance fi'om 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. 



G\ REAT REDUCTION IN PRICES OP HATS AND 
r 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 
pi'ices, which wall 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 witli 
a handsome and substantial calfskin sewed Boot, which he 
will sell at tlie 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 
been ofTered for sale ni this city. He intends to keep but 
the one kind, and sell them at one price. 
mar '54 — if 



GENERAL AGENCY FOR THE SALE AND PUR- 
CHASE OF LANDS —FRANK : G. RUFFIN, Secre- 
tary of the Virginia State Agricultural Society, and N. 
AUGUST, Notary Public and Accountant, ofier then- ser- 
vices to the public as General Agents for the sale and pur- 
chase of lands in Virginia, and in the Southern and West- 
ern States. Those wishing our services, having lands for 
sale, are requested to furnish us with a full description of 
snch property, and the terms, &c., upon which they are 
willing to sell ; and those wishing to purchase are requested 
to inform us of the locality in which they wish to purchase, 
the price they are willing to pay, &,c. Our charges will 
be moderate. 

Office at the office of the Virginia State Agricultural So- 
ciety. 

jan — tf 



GREAT PREMIUM FAN, patented December 20, 1853- 
Montgomery's Celebrated Double Screen Rockaway 
Wheat Fan, has, during the past year, been proved to be 
the best Fan ever offered in the Middle States, having taken 
premiums over all that have been offered to the public from 
every quarter of the United States. It took the first pre- 4" 
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 
Exhibitions in 1852 and 1853, as superior to all others on 
exhibition. 

The first premium was aw^arded at the Talbot County 
(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 
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 
devote their whole attention to this one article, and rely for 
its continued success upon the faithfulness of its make, as 
well as the superiority of its principles of construction, far- 
mers and others may rely on having their Fans made of | 
the best materials and workmanship. 

St. Geramers, St. Mary's Co., Md., Oct. 6, 1853. 

This is to certify, that I have tried Messrs. J. Montgo^ 
mery & Brother's Wheat Fan in some tailings I made in 
cleaning a pait of my crop, which I did not think could be 
made worth anything ; it extracted from a bushel and a 
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. W^illiams, foot of Commerce 
street; Messrs. Seth & Godwin, No. 4 Bowly's wharf; E. 

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

Virginia references: Hon. William S. Archer, Virginia; 
Gen. B. Peyton, Virginia; Hill Carter, Virgmia; Lewis G. 
Harvej'^, Virginia; Rowlett Hardy <Si Co., Petersburg; A. 

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

We are prepared to sell State or County rights to those 
who Avish 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. 



THE SOTJTHEEN PLANTER. 



255 



I 1 MPORTANT TO AGRICULTURISTS.— I desire to 

JL call the attention of the farmers of Virginia, Maryland, 
&c., to my patent attachment for grinding and distributing 
guano, and to give notice that I claim to be the true and 

i original inventor of these machines now on sale at the agri- 
cultural waz-ehouse of Addison & Meade, Alexandi-ia, Va., 
and which will be for sale at the warehouse of Baker & 
Brown, Winchester, Va. They are also in possession of 
many farmers in Clarke, Jefferson, Culpeper and other 
counties. Although a patent has been granted by mistake 
to Messrs. Henson & Rhor of Charlestown, Va., for a part 
of my machine, I have taken measures at the Patent Office 
to establish my original exclusive title to the invention 
claimed by them, and ^hall enforce my rights by the due 
course of law. 

Persons desirous of obtaining these machines, or wishing 
to purchase rights for counties, States or territories, will 
please apply to me at Summit Point, Jefferson county, Va., 

I or to Addison & Meade, Alexandria, Va., or to Baker & 
Brown, Winchester, Va. Farmers can have the attachment 
affixed to any drill by application as above, 
jun— ;Jt T. F. NELSON. 



/CRYSTAL PALACE.— World's Pair, New York, United 
v->' States of America — Association for the Exhibition of 
the Industry of all Nations. 

EXCELSIOR. 

The Association for the Exhibition of the Industry of all 
Nations awards to Elisha S. Snyder of Charlestown, Jef- 
f'.^rson County, Virgina, the highest premium Bronze Medal, 
with f^pecial approbation, for the combination he has effected, 
und the practical application he has given the same, in his 
Labor Saving Machine for Threshing, Separating, Cleaning 
and Bagging Grain. Hon. Theodore Sedgwick, President 
of the Association; Hon. Henry Wager, Western New York, 
Chairman; Watson Newbold, Esq. Columbus, New Jersey; 
Col. John W. Proctor, Danvers, Massachusetts; Maj. Philip 
R. Freas, Germantown, Pennsylvania; Hon. Henry S. Bab- 
bit, Brooklyn, Long Island, acting Secretary in. Class 9, 
Jury C. 

My Patent Premium Threshing, Separating, Cleaning 
and Bagging Grain Machine, is for sale, which received 
the first, premium at the Crys'al Palace, New York, over 
all Threshing Separating, Cleaning and Bagging Grain 
Machines on exhibition, thus proving conclusively that sim- 
plicity in construction, cheapness in price and durability in 
my machine, is being fully appreciated, and the old and 
new costly inferior complicated Separating Machines, must 
yield their places to a superior Labor Saving Machine. 
The celebrated Machine for Threshing, Separating, Clean- 
ing twice. Screening and Bagging Grain by one simple 
operation. The greatest labor saving Machine in the world 
for separating all pure and impurities. This Machine throws 
the straw to itself, the chaff to itself, the wheat in the bag, 
the screenings to itself, and the smut and cheat to itself 
Every thing has a place, and every thing is in its place to 
suit the conveniences of the farmer. For simplicity, dura- 
bility, cheapness and capacity, it has no equal in the world. 
As for what has been stated in the ditlerent papers concern- 
ing Mr. 'ZiimmeriTian's Machine receiving the first premium 
at the Crystal Palace, New York, is false, and not true. It 
is also stated that Mr. Zimmerman received a number of 

premiums at and other fairs. That I know nothing 

about; perhaps he did; but it is very easy to win the race, 
as the boy said when he ran by himself But, my honora- 
ble friends, this was not the case at the World's Fair, New 
York. Mr. Zimmerman had a number of other boj^s to 
run with besides himself, which made the race more diffi- 
cult for him; so much so, that he, Mr. Zimmerman, was 
neither first nor second; so you may judge where he w^as. 

These are facts that cannot be denied. The undersigned 
Vvould inform the public that his Farmers' Labor Saving 
Machine for Threshing, Separating, Cleaning, Screening 
and Ba?;ging all kinds of Gram, is for sale. Farmers wish- 
ing to b'jy the best Machine in use, will address Joseph 
Glaze, Frederick City, Maryland. Those wishing to pur- 
chase the Patent Right to manufacture the Machines, will 
address me at Charlestown, Jefferson County, Virginia. 
ELISHA S. SNYDER. 

July 1, 1854— 12t 



STEPHEN H. FISHER, Manufactuker or Boots 
AND Shoes, No. 228, Broad Street, north side, be- 
tween 3d and 4th streets, Richmond, Virginia, keeps con- 
stantly on hand a full assortment of ready made Boots and 
Shoes of his own manufacture, for Ladies' and Children's 
wear, which he will sell as low as can be purchased in this 
city. Boots and Shoes for Gentlemen and Boys on hand, 
or made to order at short notice. Servants' Shoes of all 
qualities always on hand. All work warranted. 

^i^" Farmers are invited to give him a call. ocly 

VALUABLE TRACT OP LAND on Guinea Creek 
AND Appomattox River in Cumberland county, for 
sale. 

The subscriber offers for sale the valuable estate known 
as "Mill Mount," formerly the residence of Dr. Montgo- 
mery Osborne, situated on the waters of Appomattox River 
and Guinea Creek, in the county of Cumbei'land, imme- 
diately in the vicinity of the Stony Point Mills. 

"Mill Mount" contains 934 acres: 200 acres are in ori- 
ginal forest, 223 acres low grounds and second low grounds 
on the river and creek; and 108 acres in four tobacco lots 
on high land. The dwelling house is a large and commo- 
dious one, and is situated on one of the most beautiful and 
romantic spots in eastern Virginia; the neighborhood is 
proverbial for health and its fine society. 

The subscriber being in bad health and determined to 
sell, a good bargain may be had by early application to 
him. Any other information that may be wanted can be 
had by addressing the subscriber, "Stony Point Mills P. 
O." Cumberland county, Va. 

July— 2t STEPHEN C. ANDERSON. 

PREMIUM THRESHING MACHINES. — The sub- 
scriber is prepared to furnish Threshing Machines and 
Horse Powers of the most superior construction. Having 
received the first premium at the Virginia State Agricultural 
Society for the best Threshing Machine without separation, 
he feels confident in recommending them to farmers. As 
a proof of their durability, he is able to refer to hundreds 
which have been in use for from 15 to 20 years. Various 
sizes from S50 to $100, all warranted to give satisfaction. 
The usual variety of machines are at my manufactory. 
The Revolving and Wire Tooth Horse Rakes should be on 
every farm. H. M. SMITH. 

July— 2t 

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 tlu-ee-fourths Cotswold; 
Calves at three months old, one-half Alderney; South Dovrn 
Ewes with their lambs. For particulars address (post paid) 
the subscriber, 

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

A LBANY TILE WORKS, corner of Patroon and Knox 
tx. streets, Albany, N. Y. Drain Tile of the following 
descriptions and prices suitable for land drainage, always 
on hand in lai'ge or small quantities of the first quality, 
delivei'ed at the docks and railroad depots free of cartage : 
Horse- shoe 1\le, 

4i inch calibre, $18 per 1000 feet. 

3^ do. 15 do. 

2h do. 12 do. 

Sole Tile or Pipe. 

3 inch calibre, -1^18 per 1000 feet. 

2 do. 12 do. 

Lai-ge Tile for drains about dwellings, yards, &c., of 
various sizes, .S4 and $8 per 100 feet. Sole Tile, 4 inch 
cahbre, for sink drains at Si jier 100 feet. Drain your land 
and save your crops. Orders from a distance will receive 
prompt attention. A. S. BABCOCK. 

Albany, April 20, 1854. jun— tf 



256 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



CONTENTS OF NUMBER VIII. 

PAGE 

Graduated or Guard Ditches for Hill-Sides 225 

Improving or Enriching Poor Land 231 

Quaker Management of Dairy Cows, &c 233 

Is Ammonia the Solvent of Silex in the Soil 1 . . 235 

Rancid Butter 237 

Cochin Chinas — a London Story 238 

Essay on Agriculture, No. 2 240 

Digging Machine 240 

Virginia State Agricultural Society 241 

District and County Agricultural Societies 241 

County and Individual Pledges to the Virginia 

State Agricultural Society 242 

To the Readers of the Southern Planter 242 

New Books 243 

Experiment with Lime 243 

Tomato Catsup 245 

Cattle Distemper 245 

Shade to Destroy Wire-Grass 245 

Joint Worm Convention 246 

A Few Words on Confectionery 246 

Milk-Pans — Soiling Cows 247 

How to Keep Fruit and Flowers Always Fresh. 248 
Remedy for Toothache 248 



READ, CONSIDER AND ACT WISELY. 

IMPORTANT TO FARMERS! 



What is that 
you have got 
there boy, and 
what doing? 



Ah! Massa, dis de Wells' Seed 

Sower — de berry best ting in de 

world to sow de clober and de 

.limoty seed, de plaster, de go- 

, no, and de wheat. I 

I sows 25 acres in one 

day massa — try 

him. 




WHAT DO THE PHYSICIANS SAY? 

Listen to the testimony of an eminent physician 
favor of McLane's Vermifuge, which is now universally 
acknowledged to be the best in use; even membei-s of the 
medical faculty (who are so often opposed to the use of pa- 
tent medicines,) cannot withhold their approval of this in- 
valuable remedy : 

LiND, Stark Co., Ohio, Jan. 8, 1849. 

I have used Dr. McLane's Worm Specific in my private 
practice, and am prepared to say that the unparalleled suc- 
cess with which I have prescribed its use, both for children 
and adults, induces me to say the most in its favor of any 
specific or patent medicine ever before brought to my notice. 
The mode of administration, the smallness of the dose, and 
the certainty of its efhcacious effects, give it, in my opinion, 
a decided advantage over any other medicine of the kind 
before the public. 

1^^ Purchasers will be careful to ask for "Dr. McLane's 
Celebrated Vermifuge," and take none else. All other ver- 
mifuges, in comparison, are worthless. Dr. McLane's Ver- 
mifuge, also his celebrated Liver Pills, can now be had at all 
respectable Drug Stores in the United States and Canada. 

HAVE YOU A DISEASED LIVER? 

^^° The question, though startling, is sufficiently sug- 
gestive, when the fact is taken into consideration that dis- 
eases of the Liver have become most alarmingly frequent 
in the United States. Indeed, there are few foi-midable dis- 
eases that are not in some way traceable to a deranged state 
of that important organ. Many of the complaints usually 
classed under the head of Consumption, have their origin 
in the Liver. "Any remedy that would insure regularity 
and healthful action in the Liver, would be a blessing to 
mankind!" has been the exclamation of thousands. That 
remedy has been foimd ; it is safe and sure. When a fair 
trial has been aftbrded it, it has never been known to fail. 

Reader, have you any disease of the Livei-, or disease 
which you believe proceeds from hepatic derangement? 
Jjose not a moment, but purchase a box of Dr. McLane's 
Pills, and they will restore you to health. It is the only 
remedy yet discovered, in which implicit confidence may 
be placed. 

1'^^^" Purchasers will be careful to ask for "Dr. Mc- 
Lane's Celebrated Liver Pills," and take none else. There 
arc other Pills, purporting to be Liver Pills, iiow before the 
public. Dr. McLane's Liver Pills, also his celebrated Ver- 
mifuge, can now be had at all the respectable Drug Stores 
in the United States and Canada. 

For sale by PURCELL, LADD & CO. 

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



It is only by the use of valuable improvements that we 
can reasonably expect to keep up with the age in which 
we live, and public opinion everywhere has placed M. D. 
Wells' Improved Patent Seed Sower in the first class of 
agricultural implements. The above drawing exhibits it 
in use, and any ordinary mind must at once be impressed 
with the certain conviction that it is an indispensable im- 
plement of husbandry, and that every good farmer should 
have it. By its use you save time, which is money and 
labor which costs money, and experience in using it proves 
you will not be driven from the field unless by very rough 
weather, and the almost mathematical precision with which, 
the seed is distributed, compared with hand sowing, renders 
it self-evident in the opinion of the best fiirmers that a sav- 
ing or gain of two dollars per acre is made in two crops of 
grass and the succeeding crop of wheat, one year's inte- 
rest on an acre of land at $33|, and sowing three acres 
pays for a machine with lid at $Q. 

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

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

fe — tf Store, No. 36, Main Street. 



jVj ERINO SHEEP.— Having increased my flock of Me- 
iVJ. rino Sheep on my farm, in Orange county, to Over 
800 I am now prepared to sell a few choice yearling Bucks 
and Ewes. To all w ho have any acquaintance with Col. 
Henry S. Randall of New York, and the reputation of his 
flock, it is only necessary to say that the yearlings I pro- 
pose selling are the product of ewes purchased of him when 
he sold out last year, and selected by him personally as the 
best in his flock. I have his letters, saying that he was 
offered the same price for his ewes by his neighbors, but 
that in starting the growth of fine avooI in Virginia it was 
very important to have good sheep, and as he knew these 
were superior, he preferred selling them to go there. I 
shall sell no bucks except such as show marks of supe- 
riority. All who want to raise their flocks to a high stand- 
ard at once Avill do well to apply early, as I have but a 
limited number for sale. Address by mail, or apply to 
WM. G. CRENSHAW, or 
CRENSHAW & CO., 
June — tf North side of the Basin, Richmond, Va. 

PERUVIAN GUANO.— Having on hand, and engaged 
to arrive, a large supply of Guano, we solicit orders. 
All who buy of us may rely on getting it genuine, as we 
sell none except W'hat comes direct from the Peruvian agents. 
CRENSHAW & CO., 
June — tf North side of the Basin, Richmond, Va. 



M*CONNEIiIi & BURTON, 

DENTISTS, 

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

JOHN M'cONNBLU W. LEIGH BURTON. 

ap— tf