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neficent Creator has ordained that the same substances, by a mere modification of circumstances, should produce wine, vinegar or manure; such inquiries I deem idle and unprofitable speculations. Practical minds will be content with a careful observation of the facts and gratefully accept the benefits conferred in the products.

Decay, decomposition, eremacausis—that chemical change which animal and vegetable substances undergo when exposed upon the surface of the earth to the vicissitudes of the weather—is a distinct and peculiar process, differing from the processes of combustion and putrefaction, not only in the circumstances, but also in the quality and chemical composition.of the product.

It is a well ascertained fact that the body of a horse or cow located properly for putrefaction, yields manure enough to produce thirty bushels of wheat. Decayed by this process it leaves no manure. The ricks of hay or straw which the farmers, in their barn-yards, convert annually into many loads of valuable manure, if subjected to this process form a trifling residue destitute of fertilizing qualities. Wood decayed by eremacausis leaves a valueless product. When properly putrefied it makes good manure.

This residue of eremacausis is a substance capable of undergoing the putrefactive process, if mixed with lime or ashes, in compost heaps, or when ploughed under.

It must be a subject of great interest to the practical farmer to ascertain the precise circumstances necessary to generate the putrefactive process, for the value of the product always depends on the perfection of the process. No other residue will feed all plants in all soils in every variety of climate. It is itself incapable of experiencing any other chemical change, and is, consequently, indestructible.

In vain have scientific investigations been bestowed with a view to ascertain the combinations which constitute its fertilizing properties. That this does not depend upon the ammonia which it contains is manifest, for the French chemists prepare a manure as valuable as guano, (poudrette,) from which every particle of ammonia is expelled by quick lime, and is then dried on heated plates. This proves conclusively that the fertilizing value of manure does not depend upon ammonia, or any other volatile substance—and no one of the mineral salts, which by analysis is demonstrated to exist in it, can be proved to be possessed of fertilizing virtues, when separate from manure itself.

Ashes, the residue of combustion, is a peculiar substance, differing from all others in color, consistency and quality. It obviously contains salts which can be obtained from no other chemical change of vegetable matter. Potash for the manufacture of soap is extracted from this residue only. Ashes, when recently made, prove injurious to all vegetation, consequently it cannot be manure. When incorporated with the earth, however, it does possess the power of fertilizing it. Its moihis operandi I will now attempt to explain.

Vegetable substances, when ploughed under, are favorably located for putrefaction; that is, they are placed in a close, cool, dark and damp location. There is, however, one circumstance wanting which is known to be indispensable to the generation of the putrefactive process—that is a contact of air. This property of the atmosphere, so important in effecting chemical changes of every kind, scientific investigations have proved to reside in the oxygen.

If this be true, of which I do not entertain a doubt, any substance which contains oxygen will produce similar results; that is, it will complete the chain of circumstances necessary to generate the putre- » factive process.

If vegetable substances be ploughed under when saturated with water, the decomposition of the water will furnish the oxygen necessary, and manure will invariably be the product. A similar result will be obtained by lime or unleached ashes, the oxides of calcium, potassium and sodium, being capable of furnishing sufficient oxygen to generate putrefaction in those vegetable matters which are mixed with the earth. Leached ashes, or ashes deprived of the potash by lixiviation, will readily experience putrefaction, and they will always prove to be more valuable manures when placed in a close ash-house or damp cellar, than when thrown in heaps exposed to the weather.

That the surface of the earth itself when closely covered with any substance whatever, will readily undergo a chemical change is plainly manifest, for it is found changed in color, consistency and fertility, and I venture the assertion that the experience of the practical farmer will teach him that the manure made by this chemical change in the earth itself, caused by shade, will prove to be a much more valuable manure than the best Peruvian guano.

E. T. Baldwin.

Winchester, July 28,1854.

For the Southern Planter. NECESSITY OF GOOD STOCK IN VIRGINIA.

Mr. Editor, —In the last numbers of the Planter you have favored your readers with some remarks upon the " Necessity of Good Stock in Virginia." These remarks, it would seem, you intended to apply to Eastern Virginia, as distinguished from Western Virginia. If you had applied them only to Western Virginia I would not now impose upon your goodness by requesting an insertion of these strictures. But allow me to raise my voice against the attempt to convert Eastern Virginia into a stock raising country—at least the south side portion of it. South side Eastern Virginia is not and cannot be a grazing country. He who has visited the counties of Western'Virginia—the rich table lands of Montgomery, Pulaski and Wythe, or the Trans-Alleghauy counties of Tazewell, Mercer, Russell, &c. &c.—can see the force of this remark. There the soil is eminently adapted to the growth of grass; it springs up spontaneously. You have but to clear out the under growth to convert the native forest into a grassy meadow, and on the sides of hills, too steep to cultivate, cattle and sheep will find luxuriant pastures.

You say these lands are remote. For that reason they are adapted to stock and nothing" else. Eastern Virginia can never be able to compete with them in raising stock. But I will copy the whole sentence to which I have referred. You say: "We need not cite statistics to prove that the lands of Tide Water and Piedmont, with every advantage of climate and contiguity to market, with loss natural waste lands, and with a soil better, on an average, than that of the Valley, do not come within 50 per cent, of their value, and are worth only about 33 per cent, more than the still more remote and inaccessible lands of Trans-Alleghany," &c. For

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that very reason we should cultivate our crops— make as much tobacco and wheat as we can, consistent with an improvement of our estates, and let stock alone. But you agree that stock will help improve our lands. So it will. And we are compelled to keep a few work oxen and a few milch cows, and these will he as many as we can afford to keep upon our thin, short grass lands. As regards sheep, we are compelled to keep enough for wool for our negroes, and these will be as many as our poor ridges will sustain.

But is this entering into the stock raising business? Is this doing things upon a large scale? Upon a scale large enough to justify our buying Devons, and Durhams, and Herefords, &c. &c. &c.

You certainly meant that we should raise cattle for market, and sheep, to sell their wool and perhaps, also, for mutton. In all these we cannot compete with our brethren west of us. They can fatten five steers with less expense and trouble than we can one. And, as I have said above, most of the Trans-Alleghany country is not arable, and the higher portions of it are too cold and moist for the cereal crops, but they produce grass more finely than those favored with a warmer climate. It can never, then, become an agricultural section, and must always be a grazing country, to which its remoteness from market offers but a small impediment.

But we are not remote from market—all our lands are arable—we have a genial sun, and more slave labor than our western brethren, and our country, then, must be an agricultural one—it is the unalterable law of nature, and we must succumb. We cannot afford to raise stock to any extent—we cannot afford to be amateur farmers, (as an acquaintance in Davidson county, North Carolina, is.) Tobacco and wheat pay much better, and by a judicious management, with the assistance of the stock necessary to our business, we can improve our lands rapidly. But, perhaps, you will ask, if some of our planters have not a great maity negroes, and find it necessary to keep a large stock of sheep to clothe them, and would not a flock of a'hundred and fifty or two hundred justify the purchase of some of the improved varieties'? In answer to this I will beg you to bear in mind that wool —very coarse wool—thrift and hardihood is all we want. We want not mutton—we want not beauty or symmetry of form. The most hardy sheep, then, that will give the greatest amount of coarse wool, is the variety we need, and if you will demonstrate that some other breed than the native will do this, I will try to persuacfce some of my rich neighbors to improve their stock of sheep.

Some of the fint , stock Arms in Virginia are in the county of .u«i bv©me v y. The farmers have many of the impr >>. cd breeds of stock. They have been grazing for many years. They received their farms from their fathers as grazing farms. Had a stranger five years ago asked if they could be induced to plough up their meadows—to " turn over" their green pastures, and convert them into tobacco lots and wheat fields, they would have given an emphatic negative. But what do we hear from those regions now! Are they still following in the footsteps of their fathers? Self-interest—an enlightened self-interest—the love of gold, was too great a temptation—they could not resist it. Their county has been penetrated by the Virginia and Tennessee Rail B,oad—they have an easy access to market, and according to the last accounts are endeavoring to reap the benefits of it, by selling all their fine

stock (retaining only a few for plantation use,) and "breaking up" some of the greenest fields the eye of the writer ever beheld.

Farmers and planters of Virginia, consult these men, if you want to know any thing about stock, and learn from their experience the better way of appreciating your contiguity to market and the geniality of your climate.

South Side.

For the Southern Planter. IMPROVED SHORT-HORN CATTLE.

Mr. Editor, —I promised to write for your paper a short history of the Short-Horn cattle. I am induced to write it from the belief that there are very few persons in Virginia who know any thing about the history of these cattle, or what was their true origin. From a remark you made to me, at our Show last November, I take it for granted you have read the history of the Short-Horns written by the Rev. Henry Berry, and published in Youatt's " Treatise on Cattle." Your remark was, that the Short-Horns were a "cross breed." I, too, have read Youatt. I believe it was the first work I read on cattle, having purchased the work soon after I commenced farming. I thought for years that this was their true history; subsequent reading, reflection, and conversations with persons who are well acquainted with the true history of the Short-Horns, have convinced me that there is very little reliance to be placed upon Dr. Berry's history, so far as the improvement of the Short-Horns is concerned. If any person wishes a full history of these cattle, he can find it in "Allen's American Herd Book," and in Stevens' edition of Youatt, published by C. M. Saxtou, New York, and I presume for sale by most of the booksellers in Richmond. To these works, particularly the last, and to various articles in the American Agriculturist, I am indebted for what little I know about the history of the Short-Horns. To write a full history of the Short-Horns for your paper would make my article too long. Besides, Stevens' edition of Youatt costs but $1 25, and should be in the hands of every grazier and breeder of cattle. The work was edited by Mr. Ambrose Stevens, of New York City, and I doubt whether any man living knows more about Short-Horn cattle, or is a better judge of them. Should you visit New York I would advise you to call on him; you will find him an agreeable and accomplished gentleman; and if you are fond of cattle and "cattle talk," you will find him not only ready and willing, but able, to afford you any information you wish. I am greatly indebted to him for his courtesy and kindness to me whilst visiting New York. He accompanied me every where I wished to go, and showed me all the fine stock I wished to see.

I am thus particular in stating the sources of my information, because I do not wish to pretend to know more about the Short-Horns than I do. I merely know enough about them to know that I know very little. What I vvish to do is to rescue my favorites from the charge of having been improved by a descendant from a miserable little hornless Scotch cow; and to show you that the Short-Horns, a hundred years ago, and more, long before this Galloway cross was made or thought of, presented the same pictures of thrift, beauty, excellence and profit that their descendants do at this day—that the Short-Horns at Charles Colling's sale,

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October the 11th, 1810, uncontaminated by this base mixture, brought higher prices than the Galloway cross—that their descendants do the same at the present time—and that for all the evidence to the contrary, they are as ancient a race of cattle as any in England. This I know is entirely different from the general belief that they were a large, coarse, thin-skinned, sleek-haired, bad handling race of cattle which were found in the counties of Durham and York, celebrated for nothing but giving a large quantity of very poor milk, until improved by this Galloway cross.

You will probably recollect that Berry wrote two histories of the Short-Horns. One, in pamphlet form, was published in 1824, and republished in 1830. In this first history he says nothing at all about the Short-Horns having been improved by the Galloway cross. If you will turn to Youatt you will find that he tries to make out in his second history that this cross Avas one of the main features in their improvement. In his first history his object was to show that they were an ancient race of cattle, and says, "There exists authentic evidence of facts which place the Short-Horns on a level, at least, with any of their rivals, however high the antiquity they boast." In the first, or pamphlet history, he says: "As early as 1745, living witnesses informed him; a breed of cattle existed on the banks of the Tees, in color resembling what is called the improved breed of the present day, except that the fashionable roan was not quite so prevalent; possessing a fine mellow touch, good hair, light offal, particularly wide carcass, and deep fore-quarters, they were also justly celebrated for extraordinary proof (tallow) when slaughtered, resembling thus closely their descendants of the present day."

"In 1740 Mr. Milbank, of Barmingham, stood preeminent as a Short-Horn breeder, and it is on record, that a five year old ox of his weighed, dressed, the four quarters, 2100 lbs., beside 224 lbs. of rough tallow; and a cow of the same stock, a daughter of the old Studley bull, weighed upwards of 1540 lbs. The Studley bull was described to Mr. Berry, by a person who had often seen him, as possessing ' wonderful girth and depth of fore-quarters, very short legs, a neat frame, and light offal.' Had he added mellow handling, which, no doubt, the animal possessed, nothing more essential could be said of the good Short-Horns of the present day, and yet this bull existed long before the Messrs. Colling appeared as breeders; for he was the sire of Dalton Dick*#old at the then high price of fifty guineas to Maynard & Wetherell, in whose possession he served cows at half a guinea each. These circumstances forcibly prove that Mr. Mil-bank must have possessed a very valuable' stock of cattle, even at that early period, namely, more than one century since."

As a proof of what the Short-Horns did before and about the time the Messrs. Colling commenced their career of breeding, Mr. Berry records the following facts of their great weight and early maturity :

" ' Sir Henry Grey, of Howick, bred two oxen, which weighed, at six years old, 1820 lbs. each.

" ' Miss Allen, of Grange, bred a three year old heifer, fed on hay and grass alone, which weighed 1200 lbs. The same lady also bred two three year old steers, fed in a similar manner, weighing respectively 1288 and 1344 lbs.

" ' Mr. Waistell's four year old steer weighed 1540

lbs. Another, of the same age, bred by Mr. Simp" son, fed on hay and turnips alone, weighed 1890 lbs-

" 'A cow, from Mr. Hill's stock, weighed 1778 lbs. A Northumberland ox, bought by Mr. Wais-tell, yielded 364 lbs. of tallow.

" 'Mr. Coates slaughtered a heifer, fed on turnips and hay, which, at two years and two months old, weighed 952 lbs.; while a seven months heifer of his came up to 476 lbs.; and a steer, exactly three years old, 1330 lbs.; and another, two months older, 1470 lbs.

" 'An ox, bred by Mr. Hill, six years old, weighed 2124 lbs.

" ' Two Howick oxen, at seven years old, respectively, weighed 2137 lbs. and 2136 lbs. of beef, with 231 and 224 lbs. tallow.

" 'Mr. Charge's ox, of same age, weighed 2362 lbs. with 192 lbs. of tallow.'

"Thus much," adds Mr. Berry, "for the Tees-water cattle, the originals of the improved Short-Horns, ripe in points, possessing fine symmetry and light offal, their descendants are not a breed of yesterday, liable and likely to degenerate to-morrow; but they possess the important advantage of being descended from a long line of animals, in which existed, in an eminent degree, the good points which are now admired of themselves."

In Mr. Berry's second history, the one in Youatt, he says: "Whatever had been the merits of the Teeswater cattle, it is certain Mr. Colling greatly improved them." He found the Teeswater, like all other extravagantly large cattle, frequently of loose make and disproportion. He was sensible, also, of the difficulty of breeding, with any thing like certainty, large good animals; and though he has declined on all occasions to throw any light on his views and proceedings, the writer thinks he can detect, in the very outset, and through the progress of his practice, a resolution to reduce the size of this breed, and at the same time, and by that means, to improve its form. This he is supposed to have effected through the medium of a bull called Hub-back, an animal respecting which there has been much controversy, principally touching the purity of his blood, a question now of little importance, because it is admitted on all hands that Mr. Colling adopted another cross, which prevails in a majority of superior Short-Horns of the present day.

This last cross is the Galloway. Dr. Berry then goes on to state some particulars respecting Hub-back, " that it appeared probable he possessed.on one side the imported blood. The possessor of his dam was a person in indigent circumstances, and grazed his cow in the highways. When, afterwards, she was removed to good land, near Darlington, she became so fat that she did not breed again; and her son, having the same feeding propensity in a high degree, was useful as a bull during a very short period. The quality of his flesh, hair and hide are supposed to have been seldom equalled, and being smaller than the Teeswater cattle, he was well calculated to forward Mr. Colling's views." There is a note in Youatt which says that Hubback was bought by Colling when very young and that when he began to serve cows he confined him to his own herd.

You will perceive that there is an attempt to throw suspicion upon the purity of Hubback's pedigree. At the time Berry wrote his histories Hub-back's pedigree had been published, and was as well authenticated as any in the Herd Book. " In a letter published by George Baker, of Elemore, in the Farmer's Journal in 1821, he says, attempts

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have been made, by hearsay evidence, and otherwise, to question the blood of Hubback. I send you his pedigree. I have the authority of Mr. Chas. Colling to say, he always considered him a thoroughbred Short-Horned bull.'''' There is no doubt that Mr. Berry was willing for it to appear that it was doubtful whether Hubback was a pure Short-Horn. He had become deeply interested in breeding the Galloway cross, and wished to make it appear that all Short-Horns were mixed bloods.

I will now extract from Mr. Stevens' history of the Short-Horns the history of this Galloway cross, and you will find that so far from having been made for the purpose of improving the Short-Horns, it was made by mere accident:

"The Galloway cross was made by chance; and the alloy stock had no value, except as conferred by the Short-Horn blood in them, and in spite of the Galloway strain.

" In the first volume of Coates' Herd Book, page 102, is the following: ' O'Callaghan's son of Bolingbroke, red and white, bred by Col. O'Callaghan, of Heighington, got by Bolingbroke, dam a red polled Galloway Scotch cow. This cow and another of the same breed, were purchased of Mr. David Smurthwaite, near Northallerton, by Mr. George Coates, who sold them to Col. O'Callaghan. O'Callaghan's son of Bolingbroke, when a few days old, became the property of Mr. C. Colling, and was the sire of Grandson of Bolingbroke.'

"Col. O'Callaghan lived near Ketton, and when he got these two Galloways, in 1791, he arranged with Mr. Colling to bull them, and by agreement, Mr. Colling was to have the bull calves and the Colonel to retain the heifers. One dropped a heifer and the other a bull calf in 1792; the latter, by the bargain, was Mr. Colling's. He was kept a bull until about a year old. Johanna, (a very moderate co?v,~) got by the same bull, (a very moderate one,) not having bred for two years, was, in 1798, turned to run with this young bull. He got her in calf, and was then castrated and fed as a steer, and was never used to any other cow. In 1794 Johanna dropped a bull calf, the grandson of Bolingbroke, one-fourth Galloway. Old Phoenix produced Favorite in October, 1793, and had no calf in 1794 nor 1795, and during all this time was bulled by Bolingbroke and other bulls of the pure blood, until, as a last hope, she was turned into the straw yard in the winter of 1795-96, to run with this grandson of Bolingbroke, and lie got her in calf; and she in the autumn of 1796 dropped the cow Lady. Mr. Colling never used this grandson of Bolingbroke to any other cow. Lady's first calf was Washington. Mr. Colling used him to only three or four cows one season, and these produced nothing of any particular value. He was used by Mr. Colling no more; and he never used any other bull out of her or her daughters. The alloy in his hands was confined to Lady, her daughters, and the produce of her daughters. He never suffered the blood to run into his Daisey tribe, his Duchess tribe, nor the rest of his Lady Maynard tribe."

" But," says Mr. Berry, " it will probably be admitted that the prejudice against this cross was at the highest at the time of Mr. Colling's sale. The blood had then been but little, if at all, introduced to other stocks, and it was manifestly the interest, whatever might be the inclination, of the man) 7 breeders who had it not, to assume high ground for the pure blood, and to depreciate the alloy. What said public opinion, unequivocally certified by the stroke of the auctioneer's hammer 1 Lady,

at fourteen years old, sold for two hundred and six guineas. Countess, her daughter, nine years old, for four hundred guineas. Laura, another daughter, four years old, for two hundred and ten guineas. Major and George, two of her sons, the former three years old, the latter a calf, for two hundred guineas, and-one hundred and thirty; besides a number of^others, more remotely descended from Lady, which all sold at high prices. Lady and her descendants sold for a larger sum than any other family obtained."

The above is calculated, and I have no doubt was intended, to produce a false impression, for "the family of Lady, her daughter, an^ the produce of her daughters, numbered thirteen at the sale of Mr. Colling in 1810, and were so much more numerous that they sold for a larger sum than any other family. No other family numbered over Jive. The alloy family sold for 2082 guineas, and averaged 160 guineas; the Phoenix family, including Comet, averaged 491 guineas, and without Comet, arveraged 237 guineas; and the Daisy family averaged 175 guineas. The pure blood brought higher prices than the alloy; and in the leading families of the pure blood made higher averages. No other family could make so great an aggregate.' 1 ' 1 Mr. Youatt, in a note, says it is most probable that the unquestionable merit of Lady and her descendants is to be attributed more to her dam than to her sire, for the grandson of Bolingbroke w T as not known to be the sire of any other remarkably good animal. This is no doubt true, for Lady herself was but one-eighth Galloway. Let us, however, look at individuals. Countess one-sixteenth Galloway sold for 400 guineas. Lily, of the pure blood, sold for 410 guineas. The highest price that a bull of the alloy brought was, Major, one-sixteenth alloy, who sold for 200 guineas. Comet and Petrarch, both of the pure blood, sold much higher—one for 1000 and the other for 865 guineas. Of the bull calves of the alloy, Young Favorite sold for 140 guineas; he had one-thirty-second part Galloway. Cecil, a calf of the pure blood, sold for 170 guineas. Of the heifers, Young Countess, having one-thirty-second part alloy, sold for more than any other; she sold for 206 guineas. Young Duchess, of the pure blood, sold to Thomas Bates for 188 guineas. It was from this last, however, that the cattle whose prices I gave you in my last were descended. Mr. Bates never used any of the Galloway blood, and I would like to know if any of the descendants of Lady have ever brought such prices as these pure Short-Horns % But I think I have said enough to prove to you that the Galloway cross did not irwprove the Short-Horns—that they were good long before this cross was made, and that the pure blood sold higher at Colling's sale, in October, 1810. They alsolold higher at Robert Colling's sale in 1818, and at Mr. Mason's, 1829, Earl Spencer's, 1848, Mr. Bates', 1850, and at Earl Ducie's, 1858. You may rely upon it that they can "boast as high antiquity as any of their rivals."

Nor were they crossed with the white wild breed. Bailey in his Survey of Durham (1810.) says, "About seventy years since, (1740,) the colors of the cattle of Mr. Milbank and Mr. Croft were red and white, and white, with a little red about the neck, or roan." Now at this period, 1740, there were no wild cattle except in Chillingham Park, Northumberland, Craven Park, Yorkshire, and Cha-telheraut Park, Lanarkshire, Scotland. Mr. Berry fixes the period of 1740 as the time at which the improvement by supposed crossing was made in

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the Short-Horns. Then the persons making the cross must have gone to one of these parks for the means. What is the character of these cattle 1 Culley, in 1785, described them thus: " Their color is invariably a creamy white, muzzle black, the whole of the inside of the ear and about one-third of the outside, from the tips downward, red, horns white with black tips, very fine and bent upward; some of the bulls have a thin upright mane about an inch and a half or two inches long." " Such," says Mr. Stevens, who examined them in 1848, " they are now, and a personal examination of them authorizes the statement." "Mr. Culley omitted to say thjey have a dull, ferocious eye, encircled Wy a black ring. If this was the cross which gave rite white color to Short-Horns, it would as cer-! 'inly have given the black nose, the black tipped i orn and the dull, ferocious eye, with its black rim-. Was a Short-Horn, of known purity, of white color, with these characters, ever seen?"

Now, I ask you to weigh these facts calmly, and then let us know how the Short-Horns were crossed. But if the Short-Horns were improved more than fifty years ago by a cross, is it not time their breeders were making another cross to keep up the improvement'? There is no one who pretends that they have been crossed in the present century, and if you will take the pedigrees of some of the best of the descendants of this Galloway alloy, I think you will find they have not more than one-two thousand and forty-eighth part Galloway. That is, if the animal possessed 2048 pints of blood, for instance, one pint of it would be Galloway, and the balance Short-Horn. Or if he weighed 2048 lbs. one pound would be Galloway, and the balance Short-Horn. I have seen some Short-Horns, whose pedigrees run back in known crosses of pure Short-Horn blood to the year 1739, and you have only to examine them as I have, to be convinced that there is nothing which could be added by crossing with the Galloway. I refer to the Princess family of Short-Horns imported by Col. Sherwood and Mr. Stevens, of New York.

Nor is it true, as asserted by Mr. Berry, that Hubback soon became useless as a bull, from fat, or that he was purchased when quite young. It will make my article too long to state all the particulars respecting Hubback, but I cannot help giving you the following: Hubback was calved in 1777, as you will see by referring to the Herd Book. He was purchased when a calf by a Quaker, who sold him again to Mr. Fawcett, who kept him until 1783, when be was purchased by Mr. Waistell and Rob't Colling; and so far from having been confined to Chas. Colling's stock, he was kept and let to cows when in Fawcett's possession, at one shilling each. He was kept by Waistell and Robert Colling during the summer of 1783, and Waistell had eleven and Colling seventeen cows served by him during the season. Charles Colling proposed to buy him fall of 1783, when the bull was nearly six years old, and Waistell and Robert Colling parted with him. Charles Colling used him but two seasons and sold him to a Mr. Hubback in Northumberland. Whilst Colling owned him he had no name, for he was not called Hubback until after he was sold to a ge;i! le-man of that name (Hubback,) at North Seaton in Northumberland. lie was used by Mr. Hubback until 1791, when he was fourteen years old. Mr. Bates, the great breeder, saw him and calves of his in 1791, got, of course, the year previous.

I shall endeavor to answer your note to my article in the July number of the Southern Planter.

I shall, however, make some remarks upon the last part of your note first, where you say, " Last summer we met with a case in point, stated in one of the letters of some man who had been sent from the West by a cattle importing company to buy stock in England. He observed a coarse headed bull in a noted herd, and on asking why such an animal was kept, received for answer, that though he had never taken a prize himself, he was the getter of prize-takers—the vigor was there, and his aspect was the proof of it."

I suppose the person to whom you allude is Mr. Stevenson, of Indiana; and if so, you will find the remark in the " Indiana Farmer" for August 15th, 1853. The herd of which he spoke was Mr. Booth's, of Warlaby, one of the very best, no doubt, in England. By turning to Mr. Stevenson's letter again, I think you will find that you have made his words too strong. His words were: " The bull that he is breeding from is the most inferior looking animal in his herd, with a heavy, ugly horn." But he remarked to me, "he is a getter of winning stock. He gets the best calves of any bull I have, and it is not abways the best looking bull that gets the best calves." There is a very great difference between breeding from a coarse headed bull, and one with heavy horns. There is no breeder that I am acquainted with, who will breed, in preference, from a coarse headed bull. If his head is coarse, his bones are apt to be coarse. A bull should have a masculine appearance, but no coarseness. To get vigor, you might just as well contend that the animal should have coarse legs as a coarse head. In fact, one generally accompanies the other. Mr. Booth, I have no doubt, had better reasons for breeding from this bull than because his horns were heavy. I do not know what bull it was, but I have no doubt he was of his very best blood,- or that he was very superior in some important point in which his cows were, probably, defective. Some of the very best breeders use bulls which are defective in some points, if they are properly descended and are very superior in the most important points. I was informed by a gentleman, who knew him well, that the celebrated breeder, Mr. Bates, used his bull, " Short-Tail," (No. 2621 in the Herd Book,) as much as any bull he ever owned; and that Short-Tail was very defective in almost every point, except his brisket and his handling. Short-Tail was of his best blood, and he relied upon that to enable him to get good stock. Some of the very best Short-Horn bulls I have ever seen had rather heavy horns; I remember one in particular, which I saw in Kentucky. With the exception of his horns, which were rather heavy, and had a bad set, I considered him one of the finest bulls I ever saw.

I will now turn to the first part of your note. You say: "What we meant by being uncertain is this: there is less uniformity in breeding Short-Horns than either Devons or Herefords. With a Devon bull, even on a native cow, you are apt to get a calf strongly marked with the Devon points. With a Short-Horn bull, even on a Short-Horn cow, you cannot predict what sort of animal the progeny will prove, either in color or quality; and though there may be a sprinkling of premium animals, the average of excellence will be less."

In breeding from a Devon bull, I admit you will get mostly red calves. They would be all red if the bull and cows are thorough bred; for there are no pure Devons of any other color. The Devons are an ancient race of cattle, and have always been

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bred for their red color. That is the reason they transmit it with so much certainty. The Short-Horns, you know, are red, or white, or a mixture of the two, or roan. They have never been bred t for any particular color; but you will never see a Short-Horn bull and a Short-Horn cow produce a calf of any other colors than the above. That the Devons or Herefords transmit their points or quality with more certainty than the Short-Horns, I deny. If the Devon is a well bred animal and the Short-Horn not, he will, of course, breed with more certainty, and the reverse will be the case if the Short: Horn is well bred and the Devon not. You are a Devon man, and I suppose paid great attention to the Devon class at our State Show at Richmond; I, too, examined them very carefully, for I was called upon as a committee man to award premiums in the Devon class. Whilst I admit I saw some most excellent Devons, candor compels me, also, to say that I saw some, said by their owners to be thorough bred, whose expenses I w T ould not have paid home if they had been given to me and I had wished to breed Devons. Some of them were very dark red, with faces nearly or quite black. It would be quite easy to breed red Short-Horns if the color was an object; but there is no breeder, who understands his business, who will sacrifice any point which he deems of importance for the sake of color. There is a general prejudice against white, from most persons thinking it an evidence of tenderness. This, however, is a mistake. I have seen white Short-Horns which were as hardy and as easily fattened as red or roan. If they have good yellow skins and good hair, I care nothing about the white hair. But if there is any one thing which makes the Short-Horns more attractive than another, it is their brilliant and ever varying colors. I wish you could see a dozen or two rich roans, intermingled with white, reposing under the shade of sugar trees, in the rich blue/ grass pastures of Kentucky. You would think, at a little distance off, that you were gazing upon hillocks of tulips and roses, and carnations and dahlias.

If you will refer again to the Indiana Farmer you will see why Short-Horns are sometimes uncertain in breeding excellence. There are four letters from Mr. Stevenson in the same number of the Farmer. In the one of 25th July he says, in describing the market at Darlington, "On the north side of the square, ranged in a row, are two thousand Short-Horns." In his next, of the 26th, he says: "The large number of Short-Horns, mentioned in my last, may somewhat startle your readers. But permit me to inform them that the Short-Horns are the common cattle of this country, and are fount! on every farm. See cattle when you will, and you see the Short-Horn colors of red and white and roan—and you find the form, too, and the horn. They have existed here time out of mind." And again: " I wish to impress upon your readers the fact of the Short-Horn race prevailing here universally. It is without pedigree. Indeed the history of its ancestry could not be ascertained, for this race has existed here beyond the memory of man, and at a time when no one thought it necessary to keep this kind of registry of it. But Mr. Colling, it was thought, greatly improved the race of Short-Horns by some system of breeding never made known, and it is the descendants of this race that are pedigreed. Now the impropriety of relying upon imported cattle in our country will be seen. It is not sufficient that they trace to imported cattle, because the common Short-Horns of

the country may be imported, and I have no doubt often are. I could have selected hundreds of heifers here to-day, at from £7 to £12, that would have puzzled the very best judges to have told from the descendants of Colling's cattle. I asked a breeder, to-day, why they were not as good as the pedigree or improved breed. ' They do not breed with the same certainty,' was his reply. He then went on to point out some imperfections in those before us. There are but a few men here, comparatively, that have paid attention to purity of blood—they have been well paid, though, for this attention."

I have made the above long extract for two reasons—one of which is, that I hope your readers, who have any idea of breeding Short-Horn cattle, will remember it. It may save them from purchasing miserable grade brutes, which have been fattened, up, pedigreed, and sent to our shows for sale, and on which not the least reliance can be placed, so far as their power of transmitting good qualities to their descendants is concerned. I told you something of the same kind in my last. Another reason is, I think it an answer to your remarks, that the Devons and Herefords breed with more certainty; for says Mr. Stevenson, " See cattle when you will, and you find the Short-Ham colors of red and white and roan — and you find the form, too, and the horny He says, too, that "he could have selected hundreds of heifers, which it would have puzzled the best judges to have told from Colling's cattle." I do n»t know how to prove to you that the Short-Horns transmit their qualities with as much certainty as Devons or Herefords; but I am willing to submit them to any test. The above remarks of Mr. Stevenson, when applied to two thousand head of Short-Horns sent to market to be sold, not for breeders, but for their milking or grazing qualities, ought, I think, to be conclusive as to their possessing transmissible qualities, reliable and unmistakable. To show you, however, although I may be wrong, what perfect confidence I have in their progeny having "qualitj^," I will tell you what I will do. There are two herds of Short-Horn cattle in Kentucky, one belonging to Jame-and the other to Abram Renick—the two herds number, I suppose, about forty cows together. I will take all the heifer calves from both herds at $100 each, and I will agree to purchase and make you a present of a better Devon bull than any at our Show, if you will buy them for me at that price. The address of the Messrs. Renick is Clin-tonville, Bourbon county, Kentucky. There are a great many fine cattle in Kentucky besides these two herds, but I do not think I have ever seen in Kentucky, or any where else, such uniformity of excellence. The reason I say nothing about bull calves is that I do not need a bull, and I would like very much to buy some good heifers. I think every breeder who pretends to have first rate stock ought to be willing to Warrant the bulls to get good stock. And if any fair, candid gentleman in Virginia, will purchase a bull calf of either of the Renicks, which they will recommend as of their best stock, I will myself warrant him to get good stock, and if he does not I will take him and pay the purchase money, for I have as much confidence in the men as I have in their stock.

But I must return again to the Indiana Farmer. You will recollect that the Kent,uckians sent three of their best judges to England in the spring of 1853, to purchase Short-Horns. In the Farmer for the 15th June, is a letter from one of them, Chas.

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T. Garrard, taken from the Paris (Bourbon County) Citizen. From this letter I will make a few extracts, for he describes some of the most celebrated herds in England. After describing one or two herds and his trip from Liverpool to Otley, he says: "We then went to Chas. Townley's, near Burnley. He has one of the finest herds in England. He has 50 or 60 head, 80 or more of which are fine stock — two cows, one of which, Alice, he had just taken to Ireland to a great show, and received the highest prize; she is one of the finest cows in England, no doubt; she will weigh in her present condition 13 or 14 hundred pounds. He has another, Butterfly, nearly as large, and that has been winner of more prizes than any cow in England of her age. The bone in the fore legs of each of them is not larger than an ordinary eight month's calf's in our country; they could not be bought for money; but are too large, old and fat, for us at any price. Some of his heifers, one year old, are likewise so fat as almost to insure them to be barren." He then went to see several herds. Sir Charles Tempest's, containing 35 or 40, some of which were very good, but would not sell any he wished him to price. H. Ambleu's, near Halifax, who had a fine herd of some 50 or GO. T. H. Fawkes, near Otley, had 75 or 80 head of fine cows and heifers, but would not price a single one. He then went to Mr. Bray's, near Harrowgate. He had 20 to 25 head; some fine cattle, " one two year old bull which we thought worthy to examine his pedigree, but it would not do." So you see even if the bull pleases and the pedigree does not, they do not buy. He then visited Maynard, near Ripon, and next Mr. Booth, of Warlaby, who, he says, •" has some of the finest cows, heifers, and the finest young bull, in the estimation of many, that is in this part of England, if not in all the country. He is white, and so are several of his finest cows—his others are rich roans. "We could not induce him to price a single bull or heifer to us. He will not sell any of his fine bulls, but lets them out at from 50 to 100 guineas for the use of them for one year. Every thing is very high in this country, and Short-Horns in particular."

You call the Short-Horns, "the boasted and beautiful, but delicate and uncertain.'" Think you their breeders would refuse to sell, at any price, these delicate and uncertain animals 1 Or that then-breeders would give as much as a Devon or Hereford costs for the use of a bull one season, if they could not "predict what sort of animal the progeny will prove either in color or quality?" And this, be it recollected, is in the country of their origin, where they have been bred in their excellence more than a hundred years, and from which they have been exported to every country whose agriculture is improving. But further, says Mr. Garrard: "Nearly all the cows, and many heifers, which we see, that would suit us, are so fat as to utterly forbid our buying them, if Ave could do so; which, with the difficulty added of getting the owners to agree to sell to us, will make it extremely difficult for us to get what we came to this country for. We saw at Charles Townley's a three year old white heifer, made barren by feeding, which I think I would be safe in saying is the finest animal in all England—yes, in the world. She is so fat that you can scarcely feel a bone in her, except her head and legs. If I see her again I will take her measurements, to let •ur folks have an idea of a fat Short-Horn heifer. She would weigh some 14 or 15 hundred, or I would rather say, it would be guess work. I have never seen any thing of the

sort before. She is the greatest mass of flesh I ever have seen or ever expect to see again."

Mr. Stevenson states the same thing of some others, in the letter referred to in the preceding part of this article. Speaking of Mr. Willson's T herd, he says; " He has a cow that has won ten or eleven prizes, but she is so fat that it would be difficult to say whether she has a bone in her or not. I next visited Mr. Booth, one of the very best breeders, and who won several prizes a few days since at the Royal Agricultural Show. He showed me a heifer calf, very beautiful and very fat." It seems they get very fat when calves as well as at three years, or older. "Next, about twelve cows were shown; these were on pasture, but in exceedingly fine condition. Here I saw a red cow that has won quite a pile of prizes; she, too, was a moving pile of tallow. Next, two roan cows, in stables, were shown me, and how to convey to you an idea of the amount of fat they carried will be difficult, and I am sure I would not likely be credited. Next two two year old heifers were shown, in about the same condition. Five or six bulls were next brought forth and shown one by one. Mr. Booth would price nothing." It seems from the above, that there is. not the least uncertainty in breeding Short-Horns, at least as far as early maturity and propensity to fatten is concerned; and I ask you in all candor, whether delicate animals will get as fat as the above are described to be 1 You will probably say, they were pampered and extravagantly fed. I have given you descriptions not only of particular animals, but of whole herds; but I will answer that it is not reasonable to suppose that breeders who—at least some of them—pay a rent, by the year, for their land, far higher than land can be purchased for in this country, would breed and feed a race of animals which costs more to keep than they are worth. Would it not be more reasonable to suppose that the Short-Horns pay, and pay well, for the food consumed— that their breeders are fully alive to their superiority, as feeding animals, over every other breed of neat stock now existing—that they believe, and have good grounds for believing, for the belief is founded on experience, that so far from being uncertain, they have carried, and with proper care on the part of their breeders, will still carry, from generation to generation, the same pre-eminent qualities.

I am fearful I will tire the ]>atience of yourself and your readers, of whom I suppose at least three-fourths live east of the Blue Ridge, and care very little about cattle of any kind. It was with extreme reluctance that I consented to occupy so prominent a position in your paper. It was, you know, at your urgent solicitation that I consented to write you some articles on cattle. On account of old College recollections, I was induced to aid you, if I could, in your laborious undertaking. I would have preferred an anonymous signature, but you thought it best to sign my proper name; so if your readers think I occupy too much space in your paper, and that it would be better occupied in the discussion of " Guano and its effects," " The best Remedy for the Joint-worm," or "Which is the most profitable breed of Chickens;" they must blame you and not me. At the risk, however, of being tedious, I must notice your other objection: " But we also join issue upon the other pofnt raised by Mr. Mathews. We have been taught to believe that the bulls are not so apt to beget, and the cows less apt to conceive, than in any of the other races.

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This is a natural consequence of the system that has been adopted in their rearing and management. Every thing has been sacrificed to early maturity, or the habit of laying on fat," &c. You will see, from the extracts taken from Mr. Garrard's letter, that many are made barren by high feeding. It will be a long time before cattle are made barren in Virginia by high feeding. Our people seldom try how much fat they can put on in a certain time, with a certain amount of food—but rather how many cattle they can keep alive through the winter. So this .objection is not likely to apply in Virginia for some time. I will answer you candidly, however, that my own experience has been, that the bulls are as sure getters, and the cows conceive as readily, as any other race whatever. I do not think they breed to as advanced an age,. generally, as the natives, or rather scrubs; but I have known a great many to breed to a very advanced age—having a calf, and frequently twins, every year. But do not all animals which come early to maturity, cease breeding earlier than those which are slower in coming to perfection 1 It is certainly the case with the South Down, the Cotswold and New Leicester sheep. But I think the objection to the Short-Horns of very little importance; for when the cow ceases breeding she will, with a good summer's grazing, yield you 10 or 15 hundred weight of good beef, with from 150 to 200 lbs. of neat (not rough) tallow. As I told you, I have no experience with Devons or Herefords, but I suppose they do not breed as long as scrubs. It would be very well, however, if these last would cease breeding altogether; and if it was not that it would look too much like interfering with "private rights," I would be glad if the Legislature would pass a law requiring the whole of them to be spayed, and would be in favor of holding an "extra session" for that purpose alone. I think the owners of scrub bulls, and rams, should at least be required to keep them on their own premises.

I can not now, but wall hereafter, give you the weight of Short-Horns fed in Kentucky, where they are never housed, as further evidence that they are not delicate—not picked animals, but whole herds. Very few good bull calves have been made steers-of,.as yet, in this portion of Virginia, have patience, however, and we will show you some at Richmond after a while that will be worth looking at.

I have said very little about the Herefords, as to color, &c, for you say yourself that your ideas of them were suggested by reading and not by experience. I do not believe they transmit their color, or any thing else, with more certainty than the Short-Horns. If I am not mistaken, I saw some years since, in a Kentucky paper, a letter written by Mr. A. B. Allen, a first rate judge, and a gentleman of great experience, in which lie stated that he saw a great many Herefords, in England, which were roan, and I think some white. I am not so sure about white, as it is several years since I read the letter, but I feel pretty sure about the roan. They are now claiming great excellence for what they call in England the gray Hereford. It is strongly suspected that they got some of these colors, together with some good points, by crossing with Short-Horns. Get in the cars, however, and go to the next New York show, and examine them for yourself. I think you will admit that good Short-Horns cannot be improved, in any way, by a cross with Herefords. At least this is my opinion,

Short-Horns—even the Devons for Old Virginia. For this last I would select a Short-Horn bull, small of his kind, with small bones, good hair and fine handling qualities. More of this, however, hereafter.

I have given you in a preceding part of this article the weight of the Short-Horns in 1740 and in 1780. In my next I will give you the weight at different periods down to the puesent time, in order to show you that they " are not a breed of yesterday, liable and likely to degenerate to-morrow." It will be as easy to establish their claims to good milking as to quick feeding.

Truly yours,

Alex. S. Mathews.

Wythe County, 1851.

For the Southern Planter.

BLUE STONE AS A PREVENTIVE OF SMUT IN WHEAT.

Mr. Editor, —I promised to give you the result of my experience in soaking seed wheat in a solution of blue stone as a preventive of smut in the succeeding crop.

My opportunities for making contributions to the fund of public information on subjects relating to agriculture are very limited, as my farm occupies but little of my attention, but I consider it the duty of every one interested in the success of that main support of all other employments, to add something if lie can, though it be but a mite, to the stock of facts, that the public may be enabled to make a profitable use of them. I comply with my promise the more readily because you were kind enough to furnish me, in the fall of 1852, with a manuscript copy of the directions in advance of the publication in the Planter, which would have been too late to try the experiment with my whole crop.

According to the directions I prepared the solution—I do not now remember the strength, but it was very strong, as I remember using a large quantity of the blue stone. The wheat was soaked from twelve to sixteen hours, and every bushel of my crop was carried through the process before sowing except a sir.all quantity, referred to below. The germinating quality was not affected, the wheat coming up well. There was a small quantity of smut in the seed which was thus prepared, and as well as could be determined, by close observation, the crop of 1853 had about as much smut as the seed from which it was raised. The common theory about this disease is, that it is very contagious— one of the smallest particles of the black powder contained in the smut-pod being supposed to be sufficient to communicate the disease to the produce of every grain with which it has come in contact. For the purpose of testing the truth of this theory, and also the efficacy of soaking in blue stone water, my overseers sowed a small quantity without soaking. To make the experiment more satisfactory, they took wheat which had gone over the tail of the fan with which was mixed a large quantity of the smut-pod. This was stirred and rubbed so as to get the black powder all over the grain before sowing, and the result was just such a crop as that sowed with the best wheat and which had been prepared by soaking in the solution of

blue stone. Two men, in whose statements I con-but I believe all other races may be improved by I fide most implicitly, on different farms, both in-

a

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formed me that they could not discover any greater proportion of smut in this than the general crop.

After this experience I sowed my present crop without any preparation as a preventive of smut, though the seed, as before stated, had some smut in it. One of the same overseers informs me that he has not as yet, though nearly done threshing, discovered in this crop any smut at all.

These are the simple facts of the case. I have no doubt that the best remedy for all the impurities in wheat is to let the seed get thoroughly ripe, and then expose as little as possible either to rain, dew or sun.

Very respectfully,

> E. Fontaine.

Beaverdam, Hanover, Aug. 3,1854.

For the Southern Planter. DISTEMPER AMONG CATTLE.

Mr. Editor, —Since the appearance of Dr. Morton's communication in the Southern Planter for July, on " Distemper among Cattle," I am induced to believe that I should have been more explicit in a communication of mine on the same subject in the June number, over the signature of W. E. H.

My father lived and died in Charlotte county, Virginia, and in his treatment as a preventive for the distemper he, also, for some two or three years cautiously prevented all intercourse with the infected cattle of his neighborhood, as the disease was considered contagious; but after this period, in consequence of an imperfect fence, his cattle would frequently get with his neighbors' distempered stock, and roam on lands on which distempered cattle had grazed and died, and yet his cattle entirely escaped this contagious and fatal disease, which raged in that neighborhood for, I think, some six or eight years, but finally died out.

This treatment of my father is a very strong case, yet I think the Doctor's precautionary directions should be scrupulously observed by all those who are introducing fine cattle in the State, especially that portion where this disease has once existed, and I will add, let them have a liberal supply of red clay and salt.

I have been a resident of this State for about eight years, in which time, and previously thereto, the distemper has been prevailing in this and the surrounding neighborhoods, but I am in hopes, from present appearances, is subsiding. When I moved from Charlotte I brought only my oxen with me, and continued my former treatment, clay and bait, with the exception of one .year, (1851,) when I lost two of my oxen brought from Virginia, three milch cows, a bull and heifer with the distemper. I will say that the parent stock of my milch cows, &c. were said to be free from distemper, as this disease had not gotten to the neighborhood from whence I purchased them, and that I have, with the exception of the years 1852 and 1853, sedulously prevented my cattle from getting with those of my neighbors, as I was not a believer in the doctrine held here, "that this disease was not infectious." With all my precaution, united with the neglect of my former treatment, my cattle by some means contracted this disease, and the result was as above stated. Some of my friends have adopted the treatment as detailed in my former communication on this subject, and with the most satisfactory results.

Here I can but relate an anecdote of a neighbor, wino, upon my recommendation, was induced to try the efficacy of clay and salt, and observed to me when I saw him again, "that he examined his trough some five or six days after filling it, and his cattle had nearly eat up all its contents."

I have, Mr. Editor, been thus explicit in order to illustrate more fully my former communication on this important subject, in the hope that those of your readers who are interested will give it a trial, and note the result.

I am very much biassed in favor of Dr. M.'s suggestion, that " what we term the North Carolina distemper is probably the ' bloody murrain of Scotland,' &c. and brought to this State by Scottish immigrants." An old neighbor of mine, now dead, and who forrnerty traded to Fayetteville, informed me that " the first case of distemper he ever heard of in this State was near Fayetteville;" and as we know that Fayetteville was settled principally by the Scotch we may very safely infer that this disease originated from infected cattle brought over by the immigrants. So, Mr. Editor, as I am an adopted son of Old Rip, and can but feel some pride in her fair fame, I most heartily unite with the Doctor in saying "we shall have to restore the old name, and associate something far better than distemper with the name of the good Old North State." Yours respectfully,

William R. Hatchett.

Casioell Co., N. C, July 24,1854.

P. S.—Our crops here are suffering intensely for the want of rain, and still more so in some adjoining neighborhoods and counties. W. R. H.

For the Southern Planter. HOW TO RAISE FOWLS AND WHAT KIND.

Mr. Editor, —I like to have my hen-house near a grove where the hens can have a good shelter in winter from the cold and in summer from the scorching rays of the sun. Nothing adds more to the health of fowls than a good shade and a plenty of running water. Some imagine thatjiens ought not to be fat when they go to setting. * They say they will not set well, which, in my mind, is a very erroneous idea, for if you set a lean hen and she is at all annoyed by vermin, she is apt to die, on account of feebleness.

How to Get Rid of Vermin. —Never have more than twenty hens and two or three cocks to a henhouse of common size, and once in a week, or even a month, catch your hens and put a little sweet oil, on their heads (if not setting) and a little under their wings; and instead of having the nests made of straw, and the like, make them out of trash tobacco, which will drive the vermin from the hen, and when she hatches the chickens will be free of lice, their fatal foe.

When you put the hen out with chickens put also this lice destroyer in the hovel; and at dinner for a week or so leed with a small piece of fat meat, cut up and put in the dough. Feed three times a day. Chickens should be turned out quite early, if dry; if not, not until it is dry. After my chickens get to be as large as quails I feed them in the morning on dough; at twelve on wheat, and at nigh't on dough again.

1 think 1 can take the Earl of Derby or the Mexican game and raise as many fowls, by following the ^

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above rules, as any body can with any other kind of fowl or by following any other mode. The Mexicans and also the Derbys are superior to any kind of fowl I have ever seen for strength, for the delicacy of their flesh and for beauty and courage.

I have been raising fowls for twelve years, and have tried all plans, but never raised many until I adopted the above mode and got the above named fowls.

John Lander.

For the Southern Planter. BRUNSWICK AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.

At a meeting of the Brunswick Agricultural Society, held at Ebenezer Academy on Wednesday, 19th July, the following resolutions were adopted:

Resolved unanimously, That this Society heartily approves the establishment of the Union Agricultural Society of Virginia and North Carolina at Petersburg, and the organization of similar Associations wherever located in this State; but it is recommended, as important and necessary to the progress of agricultural improvement in Virginia, that all such Societies should be auxiliary to the Virginia State Agricultural Society.

Resolved, That the Corresponding Secretary be instructed to send copies of the above resolution to the editors of the Southern Planter and Southern Farmer for publication, and also a copy to the Secretary of the Union Agricultural Society of Virginia and North Carolina.

John R. Buford, Cor. Secretary Brunswick Agricultural Society.

From the Ohio Farmer.

GUANO.

The State of Maryland has an Inspector of Guano, who is required by law to publish for the benefit of the public, tables exhibiting the marks which are now used by the Inspector to designate the quality of the different varieties of Guano imported into the State. We give his Report at length.

FIRST PERUVIAN GUANO.

All Guano marked "Peruvian," letter A, contains Ammonia and its elements, equal to from 15 to 18 per cent.

Do. do. do. B, from 12£ to 15 per cent.

Do. do. do. C, from 10 to 12| per cent.

Do. do. do. D, from 7 to 10 per cent.

SECOND MEXICAN GUANO.

All Guano marked "Mexican," letter A, Contains Phosphoric Acid equal to from 45 to 55 per cent, of Bone Phosphate of Lime.

Do. do. do. B, 35 to 45 per cent.

Do. do. do. C, 25 to 35 per cent.

THIRD WHITE MEXICAN GUANO.

All Guano marked "White Mexican," letter A, contains Phosphoric Acid equal to from 75 to 85 per cent, of Bone Phos. of Lime.

Do. i do. do. B, from 65 to 75 per cent.

Do. do. do. C, from 55 to 65 per cent.

FOURTH AFRICAN GUANO.

All Guano marked " African," letter A, will contain Ammonia and its elements equal to 2 per cent., and Phosphoric Acid equal to 35 per cent., and bone Phosphate of Lime.

MEXICAN GUANO.

In making a scale to indicate the quality of Mexican Guano, (the chief value of which as a fertilizer depends upon the per centum of Phosphoric Acid it contains,) I have so constructed it that the purchaser may readily ascertain its commercial value, as compared with Bone Phosphate of lime, estimating the Phosphoric Acid as the per centum of that combination of Lime and Phosphoric Acid, as indicated by the letter in the table. Unadulterated "Ground Bones" or "Bone Dust" will average about 50 per cent, of Bone Phosphate of Lime. In adopting a standard for the best quality of the ordinary Mexican Guano, I have after much investigation and examination of all the cargoes imported since the 1st of May, 1854, together with data furnished me by Doctors Hig-gins, Piggott, and Bicknell, who have examined several cargoes imported during the last year or two, adopted the above table, fixing the maximum per cent, of Phosphoric Acid as equal to 55 per cent, of the Bone Phosphate of Lime. I have seen no lot exceeding 55 per cent., on the contrary, several have fallen far below it. The quality of each lot then will be indicated by the letter as arranged in the table.

An article has been recently imported from the Carribean Sea in the form of irregular, friable white lumps, which when ground has the appearance of a white powder slightly tinged with yellow. Upon analysis it is found to contain a large quantity of Phosphoric Acid, and all the constituents of the ordinary Mexican Guano. From its chemical composition as thus ascertained—its physical appearance—the locality from which it is obtained, and the character of the deposite as learned from those who have seen it, I have concluded, that it is an old deposit of Guano, brought into its present condition by long exposure to the atmosphere, and the bleaching effects of the alternate rain and sun of the climate from whence it is obtained.

As the article contains a very large per cent-age of Phosphoric Acid, as will be seen by the analysis below, I could not classify it with the ordinary Mexican Guano, and have therefore denominated it "White Mexican Guano," and arranged a separate table to indicate its quality. This becomes the more necessary, as upon examination of three different cargoes, I have found a difference in quality to exist, though

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they yield a much larger quantity of Phosphoric Acid than the best ordinary Mexican.

Analysis of average samples of this article, taken from the ship "Junius:"

Water, 4.26

Organic Matter, 6.39

Phosphoric Acid, 37.08

Lime, 45.48

Per Oxide of Iron, 0.12

Carbonic Acid, Alkalies, traces of Sand and Magnesia, 6.67

100— It will require 80.25 per cent, of Bone Phosphate of Lime to yield 37.08 per cent, of Phosphoric Acid, the quality obtained from these average samples.

The lot imported in ship "Junius" contains more Phosphoric Acid than subsequent lots, and I have accordingly taken it as the standard for this article, and so arranged the table. The quality then will be indicated by the letters as placed in the scale.

AFRICAN GUANO.

In arranging the table for African Guano I have taken as the standard a cargo recently imported from Saldanha Bay, it being the lot now in the market. Its quality is indicated by the letter as adopted in the scale for African.

Wm. S. Reese, State Inspector of Guano. Baltimore, June 1, 1854.

Prom the Soil of the South. VEGETABLES AND THEIR COOKERY.

We have long labored to improve the culture and quality of the various vegetables in culinary use. But this labor were vain, unless our housewives, cooks, boarding-house keepers, and crack hotels know how to cook them.

We are led into this train of reflection by dining recently at a first class hotel. The backward spring had made vegetables a rarity. We consulted the bill of fare (which by the way was the waiter,) and ordered squash. In the interim, our fancy pictured the golden marrowy substance floating on the melted butter. The servant presented a black looking substance. We told him we wanted squash, early squash, that bright yellow, tender, delicious vegetable. This is it, master. Well, we thought, possibly there is some new method of cooking it—French, Chinese, or Japanese. At it we went. Sundry things seemed to hold the substance together. Ah! thought we, Chinese squash, for here were the Rat's tails. We are not squeamish; can eat what any body else can. We must confess our first impressions of Chinese squash were not very favorable. But

even the enchantment which French, Chinese or Japanese, had to the taste, was at last dissipated, when we found the dark color of the squash, came from the iron vessel in which it was fried, and the strings which seemed to 4\ bind it together, instead of being rats> tails, were bacon rinds.—Shades of epicures! what a dish for free born Americans, and a Horticultural Editor to eat! And this is not the only delicate morsel that is ruined by the cooks of the country. All vegetables have a flavor of their own, which the cook should study to retain.

The peculiar flavor of asparagus, green peas, green corn, tomatoes, squash, egg plant, and salsify, cannot be imitated by art, but is very easily spoiled by the cook.

There are many vegetables that should be cooked so as to preserve the green color, such as asparagus, spinach, green peas, snap beans, okra, &c; this cannot be done if cooked in iron. Brass, or vessels lined with porcelain, will preserve the green of nature. How often do we see okra as black as ink from being cooked in iron vessels, and green peas that are black peas. It is not the looks alone, but the flavor is not as good as where the green is preserved.

Vegetable Soups. —All vegetables that are put into soups, should be put into cold water, and gradually brought up to the boiling point. This will cause the vegetable to diffuse its flavor throughout the whole mass. Irish potatoes should never be put in soups, until first having been cut up in hot water, this extracts their bitterness, and renders them fit to mingle in the other vegetable mass. The meats to flavor vegetable soups, may be beef, veal, mutton or chicken, and like the vegetables, should be put into cold water. There are fewer good soups made in the country, than almost any other dish, and the reason is obvious; it takes time to cook them. An okra gumbo soup, should boil incessantly six hours, then the flavor of the meat, vegetables, and condiments are so intimately and delicately blended, that they all seem one delicious mass. Salt hardens water and flesh, and should not be put into soups

until the mass is well done. #

Asparagus. —This delicious vegetable is not yet appreciated in the up-country of the South. Tie the stalks in small bundles, and drop them into boiling water, with a good portion of salt, ten or fifteen minutes boiling is enough. Place some slices of soft toast in a deep dish, and take the asparagus up on the toast, saturate the whole with sweet butter and pepper to taste.

Green Globe Artichoke. —Take off the seed down, wash them clean and soak them in cold water, drop them into boiling water with

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a handful of salt, and boil until tender, which will take some two hours, when taken up, drain them well, and serve up with melted butter.

Snap Beans. —Having taken off the strings, snap them, and drop into boiling water, with the addition of salt, try with a fork, and when tender, take up, and serve up with melted butter or good sweet cream. Many cook snaps with meat. But they are only greens cooked with meat.

Butter Beans. —Having shelled them, drop them into cold water; as the water boils, add salt, try with a spoon, and when done, serve up with melted butter.

Beets. —No knife should ever touch a beet previous to boiling; rub the leaves off by hand, for if there is a wound made in the beet, the best of its juices will be lost in boiling. Drop the beets into boiling water with a handful of salt. Most cooks take beets from the boiling kettle and place them in cold water for the ease with which the skin peels off. This should never be done, as they part with one half their flavor. When taken from the pot, let them drain, then peel and slice them, butter, pepper and salt them, or pour good vinegar over, which many prefer.

Cabbages. —There are more ways to cook a fine cabbage than to boil it with a bacon side, and yet few seem to comprehend, that there can be any loss in cooking it, even in this simple way. Two-thirds of the cooks place cabbage in cold water, and start it to boiling, this extracts all the best juices, and makes the pot liquor a soup. The cabbage head, after having been washed and quartered, should be dropped into boiling water, with no more meat than will just season it. Cabbage may be cooked to equal brocoli or cauliflower. Take a firm, sweet head, cut it into shreds, lay it in salt and water for six hours. Now place it in boiling water, until it becomes tender—turn the water off, and add sweet milk when thoroughly done, take up in a colander and drain. Now season with butter and pepper, with a glass of good wine and a little nutmeg grated over, and you will have a dish little resembling what are generally called greens. *

Cauliflower and Brocoli. —The flower heads of these delicious vegetables, may be cooked like the cabbage, or as the asparagus. They should be dropped in fair, boiling water, taking care not to let them boil too long, as tli£ buds will drop off. Season with butter, pepper and salt, with the addition of a little white wine.

Carrots. —This vegetable is but little used, except in soups; yet they are very palatable and healthy, containing a great amount of nu-

triment. They should be placed in boiling water, and served up with melted butter, pepper and salt.

Celery. —This delicious vegetable is not generally appreciated, as a cooking vegetable. Wash the stems clean in salt and water, and drop them into fair boiling water. After boiling twenty minutes take up and drain; place some toasted bread in the bottom of a dish, now lay the celery over, and season with melted butter, pepper, salt, and such other condiments as the taste may dictate.

Cucumbers. —Who ever heard of cooking a cucumber ? we hear our readers exclaim ! Try it; and then tell your neighbors how well a poor man may live in this country. Take the cucumber just as it begins to turn yellow, peel and slice it into salt and water; drop it into cold water and boil until tender. Season with salt and pepper—mix with batter and fry.— Few can tell it from egg plant.

Indian Corn or Boasting Ears. —Who don't know how to cook roasting ears ? but if every body does know how to cook them, it is seldom we find green corn upon the table, with all its good qualities preserved. It is no wonder that our negroes are so greedy for pot liquor, when in nine cases out of ten, it contains all the best of the vegetables. Corn boiled in the ear should be dropped into boiling water with salt to season. Corn cut from the ear, and boiled in milk seasoned with butter, pepper and salt, is an excellent dish. Corn cut from the cob after boiling, and mixed with butter beans, seasoned with butter, pepper and salt, makes succotash, a capital dish. Corn oysters is a delicious dish: grate the green corn from the cob, season with salt and pepper, mix in batter, and fry in butter. Green corn pudding is a great delicacy: grate the corn from the cob, mix sweet milk and flour until of the consistency of paste, season with anything the taste may dictate, and bake in a hot oven—it should bake quick.

Onions and Leeks. —Many object to these vegetables, that they are strong, and taint the breath, but if onions or leeks are boiled in milk, they will leave no taint upon the breath. Onions that are to be fried, should first be cut up in cold water—it extracts much of its spirit, and makes them pleasanter.to the taste. Take them from the water, and drop them into boiling lard or butter; season as,they fry, with salt, pepper, &c.

Egg Plants. —Peel the fruit, and cut them into thin slices, boil in salt and water, until quite tender; drain off the water, and add sweet milk, crumb in toasted bread, and whilst simmering gently, add butter, pepper, &c. ? and

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break in three or four fresh eggs; take up before the eggs cook hard, and you will have a dish almost equal to stewed oysters. To fry egg plants, they should be peeled, cut into thin slices, parboiled, then dipped in batter, which has been highly seasoned, and fried in butter or lard; either way, they are delicious.

Okra. —This vegetable should be cut up fine for soups; but when it is designed to bring it on the table whole, the stems should be carefully cut off, and the okra dropped into boiling water, if the pods are young, twenty minutes is long enough to boil; take up, draw off the water, add butter, pepper and salt. A good portion of salt should be in the water when boiling. This is one of the vegetables that should never be boiled in iron.

Parsnips. —This vegetable bears cooking with meat, better than most others. It may be boiled with beef, pork or mutton. It is also very fine cooked in fair water, and served up with melted butter.

English Peas. —Green peas to be good, must be young, and of quick growth; after shelling, drop them into boiling water, with a little salt; there should be just enough water to cover the peas: twenty minutes boiling will cook them. Just before taking them up, add a lump of sweet butter, with pepper and salt to taste; cook them in brass or porcelain.

Squash. —The early bush and crookneck, are only fit to cook when very young: cut the steins and flower ends off, and drop into boiling water; when done, take up and drain through a colander, then with a wooden spatula mash until the mass is perfect jelly. Now add sweet butter, salt and pepper, and serve up for the table. Marrow squashes should be split open, the seeds taken out, the skin taken off, and dropped into boiling water; when done, take up and mash; add sweet butter, salt and pepper; break three or four eggs into the mass, stir it well, place it in a shallow dish and bake it; should the squash prove dry, a little sweet milk may be used to moisten it: cooked in this way, it will prove what its name imports— Marrow, indeed.

Spinage. —This is one of the most delicions of the whole tribe of the greens family. Wash the leaves carefully, and drop them into boiling water, in which therchas been a little salt put; ten or fifteen minutes will be enough to cook them. When done, take up and drain through a colander; now season with butter, pepper and salt, and lay over some slices of toasted bread, and serve up for the table.

Salsify or Vegetable Oyster. —Wash the roots perfectly clean, and drop them into boiling water; when done, take up and mash;

add sweet milk and flour sufficient to make a batter, season with salt and pepper, and such other condiments as the oyster requires, and fry in butter. Another way in which they are very delicious is, to grate the root on as fine a grater as it will pass through; add sweet milk, just enough to cover it, and boil; when done, add flour enough to make a batter; season with salt and pepper, break two or three eggs in, and stir the whole together; fry in butter or very sweet lard, and the resemblance to oysters is complete.

Tomato. —There are as many ways of cooking this vegetable as there are tastes. We find the following to answer our purpose: drop the fruit into scalding water, which will cause the skins to come off easily; place them in a brass or porcelain vessel, with a table spoonful of sugar to every quart of skinned tomatoes, and stew; when the tomato is well done, take up, add some crumbs of light bread, with a lump of butter, place in shallow vessels and bake; they are very nice when stewed, but when baked are delicious.

Turnips. —A turnip that has grown quick, will eat well boiled whole, with a leg of mutton. Most turnips have a strong taste, and should be put into cold water when started to boil. To boil turnips to mash, they should be put into fair water; when done, take up and drain, mash with a wooden spoon or spatula, add salt, pepper and sweet butter, and serve up. When at the Fair of the Southern Central Agricultural Society, last fall, we learned from Col. Summer, of South Carolina, a way to cook turnips, which every one that trys will get more than his subscription's worth for this paper. Peel the turnips, and slice them, boil them in fair water, with the addition of a little salt; just before the turnips are done, add to the water a table spoonful of sugar to every quart of sliced turnips; take up and drain. Season with pepper and butter, and serve up for the table.

Irish Potatoes. —There are many ways to cook this vegetable to make it delicious, and yet our hotels seldom have them fit to eat upon their tables. An Irish potato to be good, must be mealy when boiled. To secure this, select good potatoes, wash them clean, cut the skin from both ends, drop them into boiling water, with a handful of salt, the moment a fork will penetrate them freely, turn the water all off, and let them steam until dry; take up hot and send to the table. Those left over dinner, may be sliced and fried. Salt them well, and fry brown. Another method of cooking the potato is to peel and slice them raw; let them soak in cold water two hours before cooking, to extract the bitterness. Now boil in salt and water;

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273

when nearly done, turn off the water, substitute sweet milk, add a lump of butter, with black pepper, and serve up for the table. Another way of cooking the potato is to make it into bread. Boil the potatoes; skin and mash them by hand; add sweet milk, and one half flour, stir it well; season with salt and butter; turn into deep dishes and bake.

Vegetable Seasoners. —Parsley, celery, thyme, sage, onions, garlic and other seasoners, should not be put into soups or stews, until the soup is nearly done; chop fine, and put in five minutes before the soup is taken from the fire.

Green Peppers. —A good dish is made from peppers, which is called in the West Indies, Devil Hash. Chop equal portions of fresh beef and green peppers very fine, add an onion and some parsley, season with salt and fry in sweet lard.

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

RICHMOND, SEPTEMBR, 1854.

TERMS.

One Dollar and Twenty-five Cents per annum, which maybe 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.

83^" No subscription received for a less time than one year.

fpp^ Subscriptions may begin with any number.

j$5§P" No paper will be discontinued until all arrearages are paid, except at the option of the Publisher.

§3^ Office on Twelfth between Main and Cary 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.

f3P" It is indispensably necessary that subscribers or-dering a change should say from what to what post office they wish the alteration made. It will save time to us and lose none to them.

NOTICE.

fjJP^ 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.

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

PRINTING OFFICE FOR SALE.

In consequence of continued ill health, the subscriber proposes to sell his book and job printing office, which has a very fair run of job business. He also offers for sale the Southern Planter, which now has a large and increasing patronage. If any person feels disposed to pur-hase, and desires it, the building in which the office is, will also be sold.

For information, address (post paid,)

P. D. BERNARD, Richmond, Va.

THE FAIR GROUNDS.

The Fair Grounds of the State Agricultural Society, at Richmond, will be much enlarged and improved this fall. The walks are all being properly graded, drained, and beautifully gravelled, so that if it is dry, there will be no dust; if wet, no mud. The plots are many of them handsomely turfed, with trees set out in them and they will be occupied with buildings, (not tents,) sufficient to accommodate all specimens that may be sent to them; and the arrangement of the stalls will be so altered as to improve the appearance of the grounds, whilst they are enlarged at the same time.

Entries have begun to be made of the various articles, animals and implements, and it will be a great accommodation, not only to the Secretary and the Marshal, but to exhibiters, themselves, if they will make their entries as soon as possible. Now, we have ample time to make them all—then, as was the case last year, we may not have.

THE HORSE COURSE AT THE FAIR.

This course is, perhaps, the best of the kind in the United States. The whole of one square from Franklin to Grace street has been generously ceded by its different owners for the occasion, and it will be fitted in the shape of an ellipse, for a trotting and riding course, the track laid with tan bark, a stand for the judges in the centre, and the spaces at the upper and lower ends and the corners appropriated to stabling for horses and bulls. The horse course at Springfield where there were so many fine horses exhibited, and where the show was restricted entirely to horses, was only a quarter of a mile, or 440 yards in circuit; but our course is 556 yards. That we expect to be the chief attraction of the ground. We have heard of several fine horses that will be brought to the Fair, among others, we learn that that most liberal and public spirited gentleman, Mr. Dulany, of Loudoun, has sent to England by a competent agent for several fine horses of different breeds, which are expected to be here in time for our Exhibition. One of them is to be a Suffolk stallion, a specimen of the best work horse in the world.

Would it not be well if the owners or exhibiters

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of jacks were required to show their paces on this ring, each jack mounted by his owner 1 We know one large gentleman, a very particular friend of ours, who with his noble jack would cut a figure on the grounds.

THE RAIL ROADS AND THE FAIR.

The liberality of the rail roads is again manifested in behalf of the Fair. The Central and the Danville and the Lynchburg and Tennessee, all, in fact, that have been heard from, have been just as liberal as the Executive Committee have asked them to be, and seem anxious to cooperate with the Committee to the extent of their power and means. We can never forget that the rail roads last fall made the Society. Before, it was but a name. They gave it substance, and we cannot doubt will do so again. AVe do not expect from them the extravagant liberality of last year, but reasonable terms we think we can now promise from all.

The following are the terms of the Central and the Danville Rail Roads:

"The Board of Directors of the Central Rail Road Company have passed a resolution to carry all persons who exhibit evidence of being life members of the Virginia State Agricultural Society, free, going to and returning from the next Annual Fair at Richmond.

"Also, that all persons who produce evidence of being members of the Society for the present year, if they have paid their fare going to Richmond, may return free.

"That the freight on all subjects of exhibition will be required to be paid going down, but if not sold and the articles are offered to be carried back by the same owner, they will be taken free, and the original payment refunded."

Extract from the minutes of the Danville Rail Road Directory:

"Resolved, That the life members of the Virginia State Agricultural Society and such annual members as exhibit evidence of payment of their annual dues to the Society, be returned free on the road upon payment for their down trip. And that all animals and articles intended for exhibition and premiums be transported to and from Richmond on the road free, at the risk of the owners."

Surely if any Society deserves it, they do. Their premium list amounts to about $8000, and without pretending to rival them, who are so much older, wealthier, and under more experienced guidance, than our Society, we cannot but feel more pride in the fact that our premiums amount to just about the same sum.

NEW YORK STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.

This noble Institution holds its next Fair in the city of New York. Hamilton Square, in that city, containing eighteen acres, has been given up to the Society; and the American Institute, which holds its Fair every fall, will unite with the Society. With the wealth and enterprise of New York to help out a Society itself remarkable for those prime elements of success, we cannot doubt that they will have the most brilliant exhibition they have ever yet held. We wish them all possible success.

PATRICK HENRY'S RESOLUTIONS ON THE STAMP ACT.

It gives us great pleasure to announce that our indefatigable antiquarian friend, N. F. Cabell, Esq. of Nelson, Chairman of the Committee on Honorary Testimonials, has obtained, among other valuable and interesting original documents for exhibition at the State Fair, the original manuscript Resolutions of Patrick Henry on the Stamp Act, offered to the Houise of Burgesses, in Williamsburg, just three days before their adjournment, and passed by that body in 1765. As the commencement of the Revolutionary struggles, this precious relic possesses a higher value than any other document in the world except its legitimate ancestor, the magna charta of Runnymede, and a sight of it alone will repay a trip to the Fair. It has been lent, for the occasion, by his son, John Henry, Esq. of Charlotte, by whom it is held as the most sacred of all the memorials of his great ancestor.

We have not space now to enumerate several other interesting things of the same sort, all emanating from, or closely connected with, the planter and farmer statesmen of Virginia, or of others eminent in the profession. And we shall withhold one other matter which we have taken special pains to prepare as a pleasant surprise to the assembled farmers of the State.

ORATOR OF THE FAIR.

We omitted to notice, at the proper time, the fact that William Ballard Preston, Esq. of the county of Montgomery, late Secretary of the Navy under Mr. Filmore's administration, had been selected to deliver the annual address at the approaching Fair. We owe an apology, both to Mr. Preston and the public, for this omission, which was purely accidental.

ERRATUM.

In the Planter of last month, the Essay on the Improvement of Poor Land, credited to William H. Harrison, Esq., was written by William B. Harrison, Esq. of Brandon, in the county of Prince George; further, was one of the essays which competed for the premium at the Fair last fall, and was not written "for the Southern Planter," as was erroneously printed.

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275

IMPROVED SHORT-HORNS.

We take the liberty of presenting two articles, from our friend Mr. Mathews, in one, as owing to accidental circumstances that one intended for outlast number reached us too late. He apologizes for their length; we think it unnecessary to do so—to read them has been a treat to us, and we are bound to suppose that a majority of -our readers have the same good taste that we have, and feel the same interest in a' subject, which if not of immediate importance to them, is yet of very great importance to a large, and perhaps the finest, part of their native State.

Mr. Mathews treats his subject con amore, and handles it so ably, that we confess he' has shaken some of our strongest convictions. We have the promise of one or two more articles from his pen, and we bespeak, even from those who own no cattle, a careful perusal—they will repay it.

HOW TO SELECT PUMPKIN SEED.

Some two years ago, walking out to a friend's hog-pen with a gentleman who had been a successful planter, he remarked to us that there were too many he pumpkins in the pile of that he saw, showing that the seed had not been well chosen. We asked him to explain, and he told us what he said was well known and practised upon in Alabama. There is, as our readers know, a sort of scar at the end of each pumpkin just where the bloom drops off. There are two classes of these scars—the large and the small. The small scar denotes what he called the he pumpkin, the large one, the she pumpkin. Seed selected from the latter, he assured us, would give a much larger pumpkin than from the former. Having failed entirely in this very important hog crop for the last two years, we have been unable to test his accuracy in the matter by any experiments of our own. But from the character of our informant we had no doubt of the fact. We give it now, that persons as they feed them out may select the seed, and make the experiment for themselves. Let them be taken from each kind of pumpkin, and be planted far apart, so that there shall be no chance of the pollen of the two mixing. A couple of years will settle the matter.

If it holds good with pumpkins we see no reason why it should not be equally true of the cymbline and melon and gourd family, and perhaps cucumbers also.

In feeding pumpkins to hogs or any other stock, as we have mentioned before, they should be gutted, and the seed thrown away—otherwise the strong diarrhoeatic properties will not only prevent the pumpkin from fattening, but will also hinder the corn from doing it.

For the Southern Planter.

COLONEL WARE MORE IN SORROW THAN IN ANGER.

Mr. Editor, —I have read your article in your July number with sorrow at the bad spirit and ill feeling manifested, I think, unworthy an agricultural, however much it may accord with the habits of political journals. Journals can only be beneficial to the agricultural interest by encouraging a frank and free interchange of sentiments on all questions connected with the subject. Can that be obtained by applying offensive epithets and ascribing selfish, interested motives to correspondents who offer pieces on any subject connected with if? Can an editor justify himself to an agricultural community for bringing his private prejudices and feelings to operate by that course against such free discussion'? In this I do not purpose to discuss with you any subject, but to correct some remarks and insinuations you make of myself, for your first sentence states you admit my piece "purely because," thus apologizing for admitting it at all, and I do not wish a place on any other principle than of agricultural right, and with that the right to a treatment in accordance with the decent courtesies of life.

I did not expect you to consider mine a reply to you. I have rarely, if ever, met a man that considered himself answered in any question where two sides exist. It so happens that nature implants in the bosom of most men a large portion of self-esteem, and I cannot from your pen disc-over that you are in the slightest degree deficient of your share. Seeing your indignation so unnecessarily aroused, induced me to re-peruse your as well as my pieces—for to do injustice was farthest from my wishes and intentions. When you compared your section of country advantageously with mine, I deemed a reply proper, and thought it would be a matter of pride to you, as a Virginian, to see two sections of Virginia contending for superiority, and was really surprised to find from your tone and manner you seemed to consider it presumptuous, and gave offence. Well, sir, that is matter of opinion—let it pass. Others, as well as myself, still entertain the same opinion. All I have conversed with on the subject read your editorials to the same purport that I did. I will call your attention to them. April number, page 114, " There is no danger now of a surplus of cattle, though every subscriber to the Planter should go at once into the business." Same page, of a gentleman keeping "450 Merino sheep on 230 acres of land without any food except what they could pick up on a bare pasture." Again, page 115, "the same gentleman wintered 600 sheep on less than 230 acres of land," &c. Again, another gentleman "in the county of Nelson on 500 acres of land, with about 150 acres in woods and the balance so utterly worn out as not to be worth cultivating, started two years ago with a flock of 530 sheep," &c, and strongly recommended the Merino as sheep that "will bear crowding on the land better."—Page 115. In all this was there one word, either by way of advice, instruction, dictation or suggestion, in favor of preparation by grass 1 or of "repose under grass'?" You cannot say that in each there was a grass preparation ; for you instance the Nelson case as too utterly worthless for cultivation; the other as bare; and your advice was to all Virginia, and not to the counties only you name in your July number

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as so poverty stricken. From these extracts and your boasts of their success and profits, and your advice given, I could draw no other conclusion. Can any other person'? Even your disclaimer in your July number seems to be contradicted by this, from page 211, "Sheep browze a great deal, and when they cannot get sufficiency of other food, they will not only eat bushes in greater quantities than cattle will, and of kinds which cattle reject, but they will chew up running briers by the yard;' 1 ' (Italics by me.) And by this, in the next page, "we, who scout the omnipotence of guano, do not see how, by means other than these, or by some similar plan, these lands are to be restored to, and retain, their native fertility." Now, I have known and kept many varieties of sheep, and whether full grazed or not, they will eat bushes and sometimes weeds, but never yet have known them eat so eagerly the running brier. They will nibble them a little occasionally, and but very little at that; not so freely as weeds, and, I presume, both as a medicine. The cravings of hunger must be great, I think, that drives them to that wholesale consumption. When briers are mowed and the new growth, as tender as asparagus, puts up, sheep of any kind (for their nature is the same) may be tempted to eat it when their pasture is scant.

You say, "the motive of Col. Ware we take to be this: he is ' as much interested in fine stock as the most of men.' He raises Cotswold sheep, and we do not admire them. It is not enough for us to say, there is profit in all, but we must agree with him that his are beyond all comparison the best, and adopt his motto, aut Cotswold, aut nullus. We not having done this, he undertakes to reply to us," &c. Now, where did all this come from'? from anything from me? Not at all. I did not even name the Cotswold. It is from your own brain operating on that quality, already mentioned, as liberally bestowed on you by nature, and it forces me to say what I wished to avoid, as some might think it meant discourtesy, when only intended to relieve you from the thought, that in honest truth I declare positively, that in the whole range of my acquaintance I know not the man, who has thought of animals at all, about whose opinion of animals, of any kind, whether good or bad, I have so little concern or care as of yours.

Now as to your charge of interested motive, " speculation." In order to have the best sheep, I get each year the winners of the high prizes of the Royal Agricultural Society of England. It takes but five to win that, and all must know to purchase the prize winners of England must incur heavy expenditures. Cannot any person see that in supplying the public with their produce my flock must necessarily continue small a long time. Were not one single one ordered from me for Virginia I could easily sell double as many as I can raise, and not one that I could at all spare is ever left to two years old. Then if each farmer in Virginia was to order one from me it could not add one cent to my purse. Where, then, can the interested, speculative motive be? If I had that motive, instead of advising against it until prepared with grass, would I not, like you, urge the purchase, prepared or not'J It must be clear to all liberal minds, that my motive could only be that Virginia should have that kind that profits most. My principle is to have of each hind of animal some of the highest quality— to procure which is, of course, costly, aud but few can be procured. Now it so happened, in cattle I had fancied the very cattle you also denounce, but

have selected differing from the general rule. I sought the high milking family of the improved Short-Horns, and two of my cows (mother and daughter) gave large quantities of milk and butter, and their cream churned into butter with a teo^-spoon in fifteen seconds. I refused for the daughter $700. The third I bought when largely in her teens for $500; she was killed before getting her home. She gave " 9 J gallons of milk per day and 20^ lbs. of butter per week." Her cream churned in a churn into butter *"in three seconds by a stop watch." The report of the committee "was received unanimously, as the Society witnessed the fact." And your charge of selfish motive against me about sheep was no more applicable than cattle, and surely the Virginia public will agree I have done my part towards elevating her agricultural character, in stock at least. When you charge me with doing you injustice in your position, in such indignant terms, would not gentlemen think, that smarting under such wrongs as you profess to do, you would be particularly guarded in not misstating me, and thus " come into court with clean hands'?" Now, where did you get the charge from that I complained of your not admiring the Cotswold'? or that I required you to agree with me that they were beyond all compare the best? or that I had any motto of aut Cotswold, aut nullusl and above all, that I ever required your adoption of if? For I made no such demand in any part of my communication; so far from it, I was writing on the subject of farming only, and did not even mention Cotswold. Why is it you cannot understand that a Virginian can act on other than sordid, selfish views ? Do you not see that when you make such entirely groundless charges, unsustained by one single word in my communication, that upon an old rule, you are opening the door for the strongest suspicions that your mind was poisoned by entertaining that selfish, sordid motive of speculation yourself? for you carefully mention you own the very same sheep you seem so fretfully anxious in urging Virginia to adopt. It was well your article was headed in large letters, "An Answer to Col. Ware," like the Dutchman's tavern sign, " dis is de man, dis is de horse," for except my name to it, the design would hardly have been discovered. But why complain of my " undertaking to answer" you, when you say you were "willing to have them criticized by abler hands'?" Is it because I do not come up to your standard of " abler hands V Who is to be judge of that? I will admit it; but why fix a standard at all, for on some subjects connected with farming, the gigantic mind of Littleton Waller Tazewell could get instruction from a very plain practical farmer'? But if that is to be the standard and you are to be the judge, do you ever expect to find a man, differing from you, to come up to if?

I have neither said, nor mean to say, any thing with a disrespectful intention; nor will I ascribe a single unworthy motive to you. But do you think it could not be done ? Or that when you are ascribing such to others, that you are more free from it (from persons of your disposition) than others? How easy it is to say, as many 3^ou will find, think and say, that you hold the office of Secretary of the Virginia State Agricultural Society, with a salary of $1500 per year—for doing what ? What equiva-lenl service is rendered the Agricultural Society for this large sum ? Can any man tell ? The Secretary of the Maryland State Agricultural Society (the Editor of the American Farmer) for the same du-

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ties of the same office receives not one cent. With all this gratuity, not having the liberal public spirit to bring into Virginia the costly animals that have made England famous and have brought the public spirited to her shores from all parts of the world as purchasers, at high rates, of improved Short-Horns and improved Cotswolds, pouring wealth into her lap and elevating to a high standard the agricultural character of Kentucky, Ohio and other States—and Virginia has had some reputation in the city markets—but from what other but the improved Short-Horn and the improved Cotswold has she had that reputation? And yet you make war upon them especially—the only animals of the kind that can elevate her agricultural character, as they have done that of other States, and brow-beat their advocates from your columns. You take the low priced animals, such as never can elevate Virginia's agricultural character—such as Mr. Randall, of New Yqrk, (the advocate of Merino sheep for the South,) said in his writings, New York was rejecting from her pastures, as unprofitable—"some going into the dairy business, others into the large early maturing mutton sheep, as much more profitable." The sheep that numbers in Ohio and Pennsylvania say " cannot be profitable unless they can get 60 cents per pound on the farm for their wool," and are about abandoning them—a sheep that has been tried in this country at a cost of $1500 for a buck and $400 and $500 for ewes, and so rejected as none to be found here now. You calculate upon having these cheap animals, and by lauding them to the skies and brow-beating the advocates of others from your columns, you can by slight expenditure gratify your views of " speculation," and keep Virginia's agricultural reputation always at a low standard, instead of placing her foremost of the first. I only state this to show you how fully as easy it is to ascribe selfish motives, speculation, to you, as it is for you to ascribe it to others, and certainly with at least as much show of justice, and certainly after ascribing such motive to me you could not complain at having it retorted. Occupants of such tenements ought to be careful of throwing stones. I do not charge such motive—I utterly disclaim doing so. I have truly stated my object.

Now, sir, I will say the calculation of 7 sheep to the acre was not mine, (nor was it a calculation of a "bare pasture,") but of one of our most experienced, oldest, best and most successful farmers, and was considered by no means an extravagant calculation—his sheep were always good and his base was on them. Further, I will say ours is a grain growing country, and when the grass that Kentucky prizes appears in our land we plough it up, as interfering with our wheat; and this is the reason Kentucky pastures differ from ours and are better. Our flocks of sheep in consequence of our system are all small, but good; it is one of the smallest branches of our agriculture.

I have never boasted of the number of my sheep— the number of acres, or quality of my land, or my capacity as a farmer, consequently your insinations of being in secondary positions does not disturb me, as I presume it is of no consequence to any but myself, and you may entertain your own opinion on them all, whether correct or not.

Your ideas of the weight of the part bred Cotswold muttons I sell; of the improved Short-Horns being "delicate and uncertain," even in your explanation of your meaning; of the improved Cotswold (I mean thoroughbred only) being delicate,

(I suppose you mean in constitute, for it seems neither Mr. Mathews nor myself Could understand you,) sluggish, lubberly, foul nosed Cotswold sheep; all seemed to me so entirely erroneous, that I fear the instruction you sought to give, and which you think Mr. Mathews so benefited from, will prove but a stumbling block. Our experience in this country has been that no animal so strongly marked his get as the improved Short-Horned bull, and no cow with us bred with greater regularity and certainty ; and what farmer, acquainted with thoroughbred Cotswold, would recognize them in your description'? Not one word applicable but "sluggish;" and all, who know any thing about sheep, know that to be an indication of aptitude to fatten and protection from dogs. Who ever in this wide world knew sheep to be recommended by a judicious man for being "active," a race, saddle or light draught horse quality 1 I can only conclude you are not accustomed to or acquainted with high and thoroughbred improved Short-Horns and Cotswolds, but have formed your opinion from part breds, brought into Virginia as thoroughbreds, as described by Mr. Mathews, or such as have been raised to thoroughbreds (as you consider them) by the system of breeding you recommend to get thoroughbreds, in page 146, second column, and which system drove me from the North to England, to insure pure bred. Would Mr. Mathews be content with such as thoroughbreds, got up by such a system 1 Now I must be pardoned for not taking such instruction from one who clearly shows he knows so little of either thoroughbred Short-Horns or Cotswold, as the errors above prove you to be, and probably never owned a single thoroughbred of either, in preference to the highest authority in England, where the improved Short-Horns have swept the palm of superiority from all competitors, and the standing committee on sheep of all kinds, in England, composed of the most experienced breeders, have recommended a " cross of the improved Cotswold on all breeds of sheep, to give them size, early maturity, aptitude to fatten and hardihood of constitution." From which cross on the South Down, the Oxford Downs have sprung, and all judicious men acknowledge that their early maturity, size, and aptitude to fatten was the improvement over the South Down, acquired from the Cotswold. Nor can I take "instruction" from a man who can recommend for profit a breed of sheep that can sell their wool for no more money per fleece than a Cotswold, and whose lambs as muttons will not sell before four years old, and then only for from $2 50 to $3, in preference to a Cotswold that will sell their fleece for as much or more money and his yearling part bred mutton for $10 each regularly; thus selling $40 in mutton, at least, by the time the Merino can sell one for $2 50 or $3. Nor can I take instruction from a man who considers the Ayrshire "valueless," comparatively with the Dcvons —among others (note, page 214.) Nor can I take instruction from a man who recommends such a system of procuring thoroughblood as in page 146. I should always look with distrust upon the stock recommended by any person who advocates such a system. I should fear meeting the fate, spoken of in Holy Writ, as falling to the blind leading the blind.

Josiah Wm. Ware, Near Berryvilk, Clarke Co., Va.

ANSWER.

We reply reluctantly, but decidedly, to the above

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article of Col. Ware, (which we insert ahead of our remarks that they may not anticipate his, and in that way, possibly do him an injustice,) reluctantly, because such controversy does no good, and is generally productive only of ridicule or disgust. Col. Ware charged us with theorizing, with recommending what would make an English farmer "laugh at Virginia's notion of improving land,"' &c.—in a word, he attacked our agricultural reputation, which, such as it is, we shall always defend against him and every one else, and laid down the law with an air which we would not brook. We shoAved that he had misrepresented us, and we ascribed it not to his want of correct apprehension, but to interested motives—one or the other it must have been, and we believed it to be the latter, because in a private note he promised, when he had time, "to reply to our article against Cotswold sheep and improved Short-Horned cattle," and because in the same note, he says, "you were wrong, as an Editor, to try and make any impression on the public, by advising against particular breeds. You would be going far enough in showing the profit of those you prefer, without advising farmers not to purchase particular breeds that you know, (Italics our own,) your patrons are profitably using at great expense. Probably, you will not find such another instance of an Editor's course in the wide world." It was offensive for any one to suppose himself our "patron," and still more to approach us in a "private" note, and, on that ground, attempt to influence the course of this paper. It was an indirect threat to compel our silence, or our commendation; and we determined, instantly, to let him know that he had missed his man, and that the Planter would speak its real sentiments, gainsay them who might. We do not pretend to know much, we are not proficients in stock breeding, nor adepts in tillage, but what we think, it is our duty to say. We owe that to the public; and whilst we wish everything canvassed, and our errors exposed, we will not be misstated without rebuke, nor tampered with without resentment. Neither will we consent not to form or express an opinion on any subject, and to stand in respectful silence whilst our "patrons" puff their stock and mislead the public. We do not set ourselves up to be the champion of the agricultural interest, nor yet their knight errant, roving in search of grievances to be redressed. But our position is a pledge to protect that interest and we shall do it. As a matter of course we expect the animosity of the men whose speculations we thwart, or whose extravagances we expose—and Ave may be overborne by them; for the public generally lets its defenders fight such battles without much assistance, and is rarely grateful, at the moment, to those who open its eyes, and Avill not let it be deceived, or deceive

itself. But Ave shall persevere in the path of right— preferring our own approbation to the plaudits of others—and endeavor to meet such adversaries as best Ave may.

Like a member of Congress, avIio makes a motion to get in his five minutes speech under the rule, and then withdraws the motion, Col. Ware charges us Avith speculating in fine Avooled sheep, and says he does not mean it. We take the speech, and he may do as he chooses with the motion. Suppose Ave had had no such sheep: hoAv Avould Ave have stood then, recommending one breed and OAvning another'? Hoav easily might it have been charged that Ave were theorizing. We did own them, and kept them until a change of residence, to within sight of Richmond, made another breed, obviously proper. We then sold them as follows: to one gentleman who had bought one hundred such eAves last fall at $5, Ave sold our best hundred at that price, to be paid in his common sheep, he being satisfied, after a year's trial, to double his flock; Ave have engaged the balance to one gentleman at another gentleman's valuation; Ave engaged every buck lamb to a butcher at $3, and of our own accord, before he ever saAv them, abated fifty cents, because Ave thought he had estimated them too highly—he Avas satisfied with the discount—and so Ave got for lambs what Col. Ware puts four year old sheep at; Ave have sold the ewe lambs to an established wool groAver at his own valuation Avhen he gets them; we are fattening the wethers for the shambles: we have sold one ram at $10: Ave have given one away to a friend; and Ave have four left, which Ave shall dispose of as Ave think proper. We have never advertised one of them, and though Ave think them, (their prevailing cross is Saxon,) every bit as good as the Merinoes, Ave have publicly advised purchasers to take the Merino—all this Ave did, because Ave meant to have " clean hands;" and Ave have them.

In the same spirit, Col. Ware prefers and disclaims the charge that Ave get $1500 a year "gratuity," (i. e. for doing nothing,) from the Virginia State Agricultural Society. This gives us an opportunity of setting that matter right, and it has been both misunderstood and misrepresented. When in the Society, last fall, the motion Avas made which created that office, Ave Avere absent at home, a Avitness in court, and kneAv nothing of it. It Avas a subject which had never been discussed in the Executive Committee, nor mentioned in that body, so far as* Ave know—one gentleman only had conceived the plan, and Ave did not knoAv his purpose in regard to it. The first intimation that Ave had that it Avas to be created, Avas an invitation to accept it. When it was tendered us, without solicitation, by the Executive Committee, unanimously, with one exception, we took it on trial, and Ave Avere taken on trial; it wafl so expressly understood. If the Executive

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Committee, by their action, conferred a gratuity, or pensioned a favorite on the Society, let Col. Ware, or any one else, hold them accountable for it. If he really thinks they have, it is his duty to impeach them; and, as the party most interested, we now invite him to do it at our next annual meeting. If the Editor of the American Farmer, " for the same duties of the same office receives not one cent," he has more money, more leisure, more " liberal public spirit," more industry, or deeper designs than we have. We certainly will not work for nothing. It is not pleasant to us to give these private details, which, but for Col. Ware's insinuations, Ave had withheld from the press; but we are not ashamed to give them. We stand erect: and if by any inu-endo of his, Col. Ware expects the pleasure of seeing the Editor of this paper

"Vailing his high top lower than his ribs"

he is mistaken. Not anxious to establish a character by courting attack, we are yet so conscious of rectitude as to defy investigation. Let it come; but when it does, we hope, for his own sake, that the prosecutor will be bold enough to maintain his ground, and will have risen above that safest, but most discreditable of all modes of assault, which denies the palpable purpose at the very moment it aims the blow.

We come now to Col. Ware mending his hold on the Cots wolds. In illustration of our remarks we had cited a highly cultivated English farm which kept an equivalent of nearly two sheep for each acre. Contrasting the lands of Clarke-and Jefferson with that farm, Col. Ware stated that they could "graze advantageously seven sheep to tfie acre." He now repeats it, and refers to "one of the most experienced, oldest, best and most successful farmers" of that region as his authority. But the truer it is, the worse for him. Why don't he do it, and make $6125 per annum from his flock, or nearly four and a half times as much as he does make according to our liberal estimate of one sheep to each acre of his land at $10 per head ? (a price, by the way, which fair yearling calves now readily command in the South-West.) Because, he says, his "is a grain growing country," and sheep constitute "one of the small branches of our agriculture." But why so "small," if so much can be made from it 1 We have seen the results of Mr. Harry Turner of Jefferson's wheat farming tabulated from his journals, somewhat intermittently kept, it is true, of many years. The average, if our memory serves us, was a fraction less than 15 bushels per acre on what was a model farm. Suppose Col. Ware's farm, or farming, 33£ per cent, better, and give him 20 bushels. For fourteen years past our crops in Albemarle (as near to market, whether in freight or distance, as Col. Ware's)

have netted us, on an average, only about 80 cents. Allow him $1. Deduct $5 per acre for expenses of the crop at home, and he has $15 per acre against $70 or $35 (just which he pleases, but one or the other,) from sheep, and a difference of $55 or $20 per acre per annum against the wheat crop.

Another of Col. Ware's reasons for not keeping as many sheep is, that he gets " each year the winners of the high prizes of the Royal Agricultural Society of England. It takes but five to win that;" so his stock is small; kept so by supplying the public. Let us see. Col. Ware has been professing to do this thing for five years, to our knowledge. This will give him, if there were one ram in each annual lot of five, five rams. The male produce of his imported ewes will, upon any fair calculation, amount to four times as many more by this time, which, with the imported parents, will make enough, at 60 ewes to each ram, (see Morrell's American Shepherd, p. 289,) for fifteen hundred ewes. This leaves out of the estimate the progeny of thoroughbred ewes that he had before he commenced importing u the Queen's prize" animals, and themselves capable of producing " yearling part bred mutton at $10 each regularly." It is very evident, therefore, that he can easily raise that number if the land will " graze seven sheep to the acre advantageously," and that his importations, so far from hindering will aid him in the business. If he " can now easily sell double as many as he can raise," and "never ha's one that he can spare over two years old," how is it that he sells thoroughbred ewes, in lamb by his imported bucks, and those, too, that have taken high premiums, for only $50 each, as was the case with some he sold Messrs. Newman, Willis & Scott, of Orange] If each buck is worth $100, and that we think is his price, how can he sell for half that sum a ewe which will produce, either a ewe lamb, worth more than $50 as a breeder, or a buck lamb—probably a pair of them—worth, as the case may be, $100 or $2001 And how can he, as he did on one occasion, sell some thirty choice ew T es out of his flock, and buy a flock of a neighbor 1 If his statements are accurate he cannot afford to do it, for the more difficult it is to procure a few of the highest quality, the more precious are their progeny. Those who choose to believe that it is liberality in him to sell them at these prices may do so, but we are compelled to think that he keeps his flocks small because they will not thrive in large numbers, and because the land will not carry "seven sheep to the acre advantageously" without grain —as Col. Ware, we think, has found by experience—even under a much milder rotation than is now r adopted in his neighborhood. And so thinking we think Col. Ware has made statements about his sheep and his land which, as we understand them, cannot stand investigation.

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As a mode of getting thoroughblood we proposed to breed the common stock to thoroughbred animals, and their progeny again to thoroughbred, and so on, " until in a few years the desired strain shall be pure for all practical purposes, and in a few more reach that purity which is required by the fastidiousness of the Herd Book." We are a little surprised that Col. Ware objects to this, for his "pure bred" Gotswolds that he sent to England for, (where only three pure breeds exist, the New Leicester, Cheviot and South Down—Morrell, page 265,) are nothing else but the old Cotswold extensively crossed with the Leicester. See Morrell, p. 126. And we had not supposed that he would have depreciated his own sheep by repudiating the principle on which the breed is formed. " Thoroughbred" is a word derived from the turf, and there is applied to horses which derive their blood in unbroken succession, on both sides, from Arabs or barbs—Godolphin Arabian was a barb—and yet if he knows anything, he knows that fifteen-sixteenths is considered thoroughbred for all practical purposes; and that if it were not, some of the finest horses ever in America, among them, Sir Charles, Ball's Florizel, and even Boston, his near descendant, would be excluded from the course and the stud. He also knows that the term is more latitudinously applied to cattle, and still more to sheep. Is Col. Ware so fastidious when he goes to sell] Does he inform purchasers that his "pure bred" Cotswold are a mixed breed ? And does he never sell any grade ewes to improve the flocks of the country % As to the propriety of the system we recommended, we refer to Morrell, page 274. We had not looked into it until Col. Ware's strictures made it necessary to fortify ourselves with authorities, than whom there is none higher than Mr. Morrell, fully endorsed as he is by the New York State Agricultural Society's Executive Committee. In truth, it was unnecessary to refer to any book in a matter of common sense.

The quotations from what we had written to prove how accurately he had construed us, omit one sentence. At page 114 we say, " We do not, of course, expect that the whole of the region we speak of shall go at once up to the number" [of stock on the model English farm] "here indicated, or that the whole of it is so fertile as to possess the same acreable capacity." It is unlucky that Col. Ware should give the sentence immediately following to sustain himself, without noticing the vital qualification of its antecedent. It would seem as if he had a trick of this kind. But admitting our imputed recommendation of the English quantity; as the lands in Clarke can so easily carry seven sheep to the acre, it cannot do harm to the lands in Eastern Virginia to carry less than two, and Col. Ware by reflecting on this point might have

been spared all the trouble he has taken in their behalf.

Our " ideas of the weight of his part bred Cotswold muttons he sells" are " entirely erroneous." How ] Above or below the mark % We put them at 180 lbs. gross weight—100 lbs. net. If they go higher than that, then the absurdity of his statement is still greater, because it shows them on pasture "not one-seventh as good" to be more than four times better than their English congeners. If they go lower, then we wish to know, first, the weight, and second, who gives more than ten cents per lb. for mutton, taking the average of a flock 1

The idea that it offended us to have the claims of Clarke and Jefferson for supremacy asserted by any one is a mistake. We admit freely the fertility of those lands, which we know, from minute, personal inspection, to be unsurpassed by any others, and unequalled, except, perhaps, in the valley of James river, and some smaller districts. We never said otherwise: but Col. Ware appropriates what we said of the whole to his neighborhood, which, fertile and beautiful as it is, is but a small part of the great Valley of Virginia. Equally erroneous is the idea that we have "private prejudices" against Col. Ware or his sheep. We bear him no grudge: his character is not of that order which creates grudges. It is very true that we have not felt that "large portion of self-esteem" he ascribes to us grow any smaller in his company—unless it might be by comparison: but we have never felt that he was a man to dislike any more than to admire. And what can have prejudiced us against his sheep % So we do our duty in recommending sueh as we deem best, it concerns us no more than any other man if every sheep in Virginia was a

Cotswold, except that we should see no more

mutton fit to eat. We are not the shepherd of the Commonwealth, and why fret ourselves about its sheep: we have quite other demands upon our temper. We think the Cotswold are good sheep in their place —vastly better than the natives of Eastern Virginia. Their wool, though heavier than any other, is the least valuable that we make, especially for negro clothing, the purpose to which, strangely enough, it is thought particularly adapted; for it is not a fulling or cloth making wool, but an inferior combing wool—the lowest grade of wool grown in the United States; and they do not make mutton equal to several other breeds, but they are prolific and good milkers: they mature early, and a sprinkling of them does very well to sell to butchers to " grease" their other carcasses w)* v _ as Colonel Ware calls it, that is. to transfer fat from them to leaner muttons. They are, on the whole, a fair mutton sheep, fattening kindly but flavoring indifferently; but they are not adapted to Eastern Virginia generally in its present condi-

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tion. And in saying this, we are better friends to them than those who invest them with extravagant and sometimes impossible merits, which every body will believe they have at first, and come to rate them ultimately as much below their true deserts. We are now done with Col. Ware for the present. We shall not stop to ask him how it is that his sheep, eating less than any other breed, yet make more fat and more manure than any others, as he says they do, nor to argue several other points which, in his enthusiasm, he has claimed in their favor. Our readers have had enough of the subject. We do not apologize for the mode in which we have treated it or the length of our remarks because all we have said has been in duty to ourselves and to them.

J. Horace Lacy, Esq., has consented to deliver the address before the Rappahannock Agricultural Association, which holds its next annual meeting in Fredericksburg. It is unnecessary to say that an address from Mr. Lacy will add greatly to the interest of the occasion.

B. Johnson Barbour, Esq., of Orange county, has accepted an invitation to address the Loudoun Agricultural Association 5T their next meeting.

For the Southern Planter. BRINING AND LIMING SEED WHEAT.

Mr. Editor, —After fifteen years of what was considered the successful use of brining and liming seed wheat in preventing smut in wheat I published the fact in the Planter. Two consecutive years now satisfy me the conclusion arrived at was fallacious, and I retract the opinion. On the contrary, I have heard of three well authenticated cases of much injury being done to the vegetative power of the seed by the process. Who can give a remedy %

Thomas Meaux.

Amelia, August 21,1854.

PAYMENTS TO THE SOUTHERN PLANTER,

From the Soil of the South.

SALT A PREVENTIVE OF WEEVIL AND SMUT IN WHEAT.

Messrs. Editors, —I never have written a line for publication in my life—farming is my occupation— but sometimes I think that if every farmer was to do so we would have no Soil of the South; so for the promotion of it, I will drop you a few lines, and you can do with them as you please.

I saw an article in the Farmer and Planter, some time in the fall, telling how to prevent smut in wheat, which was to soak the seed in brine. I have put my wheat up in salt for twenty years, for the purpose of keeping the weevil out, which it does effectually. I put about a pint of salt to three bushels of wheat. If these two great objects can be accomplished by so simple a process, it is worthy of a trial by those who raise wheat.

To the 25th of August, 1854.

George E. Welsh to January 1855

James F. Harper to May 1855

T. R. Dunn to January 1854

Dr. Robert R. Barton to January 1857

Walker R. Ogden to July 1855

F. Burns to August 1855

N. B. Whitfield to July 1855

R. G. Johnson to July 1855

Thomas Rollins to Julv 1855

Trent W. Cox to July 1854

John B. Smith to August 1855

John Mosby to September 1854

R. B. Hendrick to January 1855

John L. Carpenter to July 1855

S. Basset French to January 1856

E. Lazenby to September 1855

Dr. John E. Friend to January 1855

Gilderoy Yeatts to March 1854

Moses Myers to January 1855

T. S. Morton & Co. to July 1854

R. L. Welbourne to October 1854

A. H. Hankins to September 1855 John W. Scott to July 1855 James D. Smith to July 1855 Edward Lightfoot to June 1855

P. F. Boisseau to January 1855 ^

John E. Perkinson to January 1855 Dr. T. W. Neal to January 1855 J. B. Williamson to January 1855 W. W. Wallace to January 1855

B. W. Bailey to January 1855

Dr. W. J. Cheatham to January 1855 E. E. Jefferson to January 1855 Daniel Worsham to January 1855 J E. G. Leigh to January 1855 Travis H. Eppes to January 1855 John L.'Brooke to January 1855 Dr. William R. Holt to January 1855 J. A. Ferguson to January 1855 Edward Porter to January 1855 Anderson Hughes to January 1854 S. B. Atwill to July 1855 J. M. Doswell to August 1855 Rev. F. H. McGuire to July 1854 James A. Bruce to August 1855 Thomas L. Page to January 1855 William A. Winfree to September 1854 John F. Edmunds to January 1857 Capt. N. W. Hunt to August 1855 R. B. Watkins to July 1855 Nelson W. Elsom to July 1855 M. L. Anderson to July 1855 S. F. Sampson to July 1855

C. H. Lewis to July 1854

Dr. E. F. Birckhead to July 1855 John White to July 1855 George W. Harris to July 1854 George Rives to July 1855 L. Brockenbrough to April 1855

n oo

1 00

1 00

2 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

7 50

GUANO AND WHEAT DRILLS—We are now receiving orders for PENNOCK'S celebrated Wheat Drill, with Nelson's Guano Attachment. By the use of the Attachment, at least two-thirds of the guano is saved to the farmer, a ;d as fine a crop of wheat is insured. We warrant the Drill to work well. Persons wishing them will please send in their orders as soon as possible.

MEADE & EACHES, R. S. Huck's Old Stand, Fairfax Street, se2t 4 doors from King, Alexandra, Va.

282

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER

THE HORSE, THE HORSE,

TVTOBLEST OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS, and the 1 l one most frequently ill-treated neglected and abused. We have just published a book so valuable to every man who owns a Horse, that no one should willingly be without it. It is entitled the modern horse doctor, and is from the pen of that celebrated English Veterinary Surgeon, Dr. George H. Dadd, well known for many years in this Country, as one of the most successful, scientific and popular writers and lecturers in this, branch of medical and surgical science. The book which he now offers to the public, is the result of many years study and practiced experience which few have had. From the numerous and strong commendations, of distinguished men and the newspaper press, we select the following: Extract from a letter from Hon. John II. Clifford, Ex-Governor of Massachusetts.

New Bedford, May 11, 1854. Dr. Dadd,— Dear Sir:—I hope your new work on the noblest creature that man has ever been permitted to hold in subjection, (the Horse,) will meet with that success, which all your elForts in this direction so well deserve. Your obedient servant

John H. Clifford.

From Hon. Marshall P. Wilder.

Boston, May 13, 1854. Dr. Dadd,— My Dear Sir:—I am greatly obliged to you for the valuable treatise, the results of your own investigations which you have recently issued, hoping that it may meet with the patronage of a discriminating community. I remain yours with great regard

. Marshall P. Wilder.

The Modern Horse Doctor, by Dr. G. H. Dadd, is a manual of genuine science, and ought to be owned and studied on the score of humanity, as well as interest, by every man who owns a horse.— Boston Congregationalist.

Dr. Dadd has had great experience in the cure of sick horses, and explains the secret of his success in this vol.— New York Tribune.

The author of this work is well known as a most skilful veterinary surgeon. His book is based on the soundest common sense, and as a hand-book for practical use, we know of nothing to compare with it.— Yankee Blade.

We know Dr. Dadd well, and are satisfied that he possesses most, important qualifications for preparing such a book as this.— New England Farmer.

Messrs. Jewett &, Co. have just published a very valuable work by Dr. Dadd, a well known veterinary surgeon, on the causes, nature and treatment of disease, and lameness in horses.— Farmer's Cabinet.

This is one of the most valuable treatises on the subject, ever published; and no owner of that noblest of ihe animal race, the horse, should be without it. Especially should it be in the hands of every hotel and livery-stable keeper. To many a man would it be worth hundreds of dollars every year.— Ind. Democrat, Concord.

By far the most learned and copious work on the horse and his diseases we have ever seen.— N. Y. Evangelist.

One of the greatest and most commendable qualities of this work, is, it is practical and plain to the comprehension of those farmers and others for whom it is mainly designed. The course of treatment favors generally a more sanative and rational system of medication than that recommended in any previously existing works on farriery. No farmer or owner of a horse should be without this book. Stable keepers, stage proprietors and hackmen, we believe, would derive profit by having at least one copy hung up in their stables for use and reference by their stable men.— Daily Ncxcs, Philadelphia.

There is more common sense in this book than any of the kind we have ever seen, and farmers and owners of horses would find it a matter of economy to possess themselves of it. It will be of more service than the counsel ©fa score of ordinary doctors.— Albany Courier.

We deem this decidedly the best and most reliable work on the "Cause, Nature, and Treatment of Disease and Lameness in Horses," ever published.— Nantucket In quirer.

What we have read of this book induces us to regard it as a very sensible and valuable work; and we learn that those much more competent to judge of its value have given it their unqualified approval.— Ev. Traveller, Boston.

This book supplies a great desideratum, which Skinner's admirable treatise on the horse did not fill. Every man *? may be his own veterinary surgeon, and with much greater safety to this noble animal, than by trusting him to the treatment of the empirical itinerants who infest the coun» try. It is well illustrated, and should be purchased by every man who owns a horse.— Ev. Mirror, N. Y.

This is a book that should be forthwith put into the hands of all who own or drive horses whether for the dray or gig, for the plough, omnibus or road, for hard service or pleasure.— McMakin's Courier, Philadelphia.

A good, clearly written book, which should be in the hands of every man who has a horse whose ills his affection or his purse make it worth while to cure.— Bangor Mercury.

This is a scientific, thorough and complete treatise upon the diseases to which one of the noblest of animals is subject, and the remedies which they severally require.— Troy Daily Budget.

It is a valuable book to those who have the care of Horses.— Hartford Herald.

He is not worthy to have a horse in his care who will hot use such a work to qualify himself for his duties to this animal.— Commonwealth, Boston.

Published by JOHN P. JEWETT & CO.,

Boston, Jewett, Proctor. & Worthington

Cleveland, Ohio.

se—3t !2P Eor sale by all Booksellers.

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

These Iambs 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 Ewes 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 occurring 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 this one of the most interesting 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.

jun4t

SUFFOLK PIGS from the stock of Prince Albert, which gained the gold medal at Smithfield Club, England, also the first prize at the exhibition of the Norfolk Agricultural Society, Massachusetts, 1S53, two to three months old, supplied with food delivered on board Express cars or vessel on receiving thirty dollars per pair. Or they will be sent to any part of the United States, upon receiving a certificate of deposit for forty dollars, from the Postmaster, that upon their reception, in good order, free of expense, he will pay. Address JAMES MORTON,

West Needham, Mass. Or GEORGE H. P. FLAGG,

Boston, Massachusetts. se3t*

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

283

CRYSTAL PALACE.—World's Pair, New York, United 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, Jefferson County, Virgina, the highest premium Bronze Medal, with special approbation, for the combination he has effected, and 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. Babbit, 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 Crystal Palace, New York, over all Threshing Separating, Cleaning and Bagging Grain Machines on exhibition, thus proving conclusively that simplicity 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, Cleaning 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, durability, cheapness and capacity, it has no equal in the world. As for what has been stated in the different papers concerning Mr. Zimmerman'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 honorable friends, this was not the case at the World's Fair, New York. Mr. Zimmerman had a number of other boys to run with besides himself, which made the race more difficult for him; so much so, that he, Mr. Zimmerman, was neither first nor second; so you may judge where he was.

These are facts that cannot be denied. The undersigned would inform the public that his Farmers' Labor Saving-Machine for Threshing, Separating, Cleaning, Screening and Bagging all kinds of Grain, is for sale. Farmers wishing to buy the best Machine io, use, will address Joseph Glaze, Frederick City, Maryland. Those wishing to purchase the Patent Right to manufacture the Machines, will address me at Charlestown, Jefferson County, Virginia. ELISHA S. SNYDER.

July 1, 1854—12t

]\TOTICE.—DRAYTON G. MEADE, (late of the firm IN of Addison & Meade,) and WILLIAM EACHES,

having entered into a copartnership, under the name of MEADE & EACHES, for the sale of Agricultural Implements, Seeds, Manures, &c, having bought out the entire stock of R. S. Huck, and located at his old stand on Fairfax street, east side, between King and Prince, will continue to keep on hand a full and complete assortment of the various articles in their line of business, and will always be happy to see their friends, and all who may be pleased to give them their patronage. D. G. MEADE,

WM. EACHES.

IJSp" The undersigned having sold his stock of Agricultural Implements, &c, to Messrs. Meade & Eaches, returns his thanks to his friends for their past patronage, and respectfully asks a continuance of the same to his successors.

Alexandria, Sept. 1—2t R. S. HUCK.

WM. A. BUTTERS,

BOOKSELLER AND STATIONER,

au No. 157 Main Street, Richmond, Va.

THE CHINCHA ISLANDS.

AS many ships to our address are under charter to proceed to these Islands to load Guano, we beg to submit some particulars relative to the detention of ships and the expenses of loading.

All vessels may expect to lay out the full number of their lay days before loading is completed. A bonus of $10 to $15 per day, for every day saved, is sometimes paid as a gratification to officials. Most ships are kept a month after arrival, before an order is given to ballast, after which it is decided whether they are to load by lighter or by "Mangu-era," or shoot, by which the Guano is run into the hold.

The " Manguera" discharges from 400 to 500 tons per day. All ships dry up very much, from being exposed to a hot sun, and nearly all are obliged to caulk before leaving, unless they have been very recently caulked. Vessels should be provided with oakum and pitch, and English Caulkers can be obtained at $4 per day and board. American coin or Sovereigns are best for disbursements—the former passing at par, and the latter at $5 each. Captains of vessels, short of funds, can obtain money of resident Houses, if well accredited, at 6 per cent, premium upon sight bills, or draw upon their charters at 12 per cent, premium. The following were the Port Charges and disbursements for a ship of 700 tons: Callao. —Stamps, $5; Sailing License, $11 •• • $16 00

Tonnage Dues, 25c per ton 175 00

Clearance dues, Pisco 4 00

Com'n on Charter 150 00

At the Islands 345 00

Manguera Fees, mooring-•• $20 00

Pilot attending 24 00

Trimm'g Fees, 17c reg'r ton 119 00

163 00

Crew to load from Callao and back, 16 men three months each, at $20 per month •• • 960 00

Com'n shipping & boat hire,

. $2 each 32 00

Market bill for beef and vegetables, 3 months 300 00

Water bill for the Islands- • 50 00

Crew shipped to go home, 16 men, at $35 per month, 2 months in advance, $70 each, is • 1,120 00

Com'n ship'g and boat hire,

$5 each-- 80 00

Water to go home '• 30 00

Captain's expenses at Callao

and Lima 25 00

2,597 00

Add for caulking ship 200 00

" " gratification to trimmers and pilots 30 00

$3,335 00 There is another charge for hire of water casks (2 cents per gallon,) to carry water from Callao to the Islands, which the charter says is to be delivered "free of expense." The water has to be bought, and if the ship has no spare casks, they have to be hired. There is also a chance of losing $50 on the boats or lighters used in ballasting or loading, vessels arriving purchasing of those leaving and when loaded, but not always obtaining as much as they expended, se—tf HUSSEY, BOND & HALE.

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

UNITED STATES HOTEL,

(formerly union,) Corner of Main and Nineteenth Streets, Richmond,

J. E. NORRIS, Proprietor. martf Price of Board, per day, $1 50.

JUL

284

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

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

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

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

The American Farm Book, or Compend of Ame rican Agriculture, being a practical treatise en soils, manures, draining, &c. and every staple product of the United States, with the best methods of planting, cuhivatingand preparation formarket, by R.L.Allen

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

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

The Principles of Agriculture, by Albert D. Thaer.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bookseller, Stationer, and Dealer in

feb—if Piano Fortes, 97 Main street.

ALBEMARLE PIGS.

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

ja—if Woodville Depot, Albemarle, Va

ANALYSIS OF SOILS, &c.

THE undersigned is prepared to execuie the analyses of Soils, Guano, Marls, Plast* i &c. &c. at the Laboratory of the Virginia Military Institute. Packages may be forwarded through Webb, Bacon & Co. Richmond, or Echols & Pryor, Lynchburg. Persons desiring further information will please address WILLIAM GILH 4 M,

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

STOVES AND FANCY IRON CASTINGS,

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

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

Their Cooking Stoves have given entire satisfaction to all Virginia housewives who have used them. On the door of one of these we notice a representation of a sheaf of wheat, in which the heads and even the distinct grains stand out in beautiful relief. They exhibit a specimen of parlor stove especially worthy of notice. Its style and finish are highly ornamental. Its chief merit consists of a door designed to increase the draught of the fire, which is made to revolve vertically upon a pivot.

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

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

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

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

Bolton & Yale's "Caloric Air Furnace."

jan 1854—ly

EAGLE FOUNDER!'.

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

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

BOOKS, PIANOS, MUSIC, &c.

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

SINTON & SONS' NURSERY, NEAR RICHMOND, VIRGINIA.

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

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

nov—tf JOSEPH SINTON & SONS.

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER

285

FARM, STOCK, CROPS, NEGROES, &C, FOR SALE.—The subscribers are authorized to sell a valuable farm in the county of Buckingham, 5i 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, blacksmith'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 Virginia. 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 blacksmith.

This farm is situated in a region proverbial for health and agreeable society, 15 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 negroes, 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.— I am prepared to engage pigs by my large Byefield and superior Suffolk boars, from matchless sows of the following breeds: Byefield, Suffolk, Skinner, Essex, Chester, Delaware, Cheshire and Russian—most of them of mammoth size.

The finest collection of ornamental and domestic Poultry in Virginia—receiving the premium as the finest collection and upon individual pairs. They consist of the following: Brahma Pootra, Imperial Chinese, Colatta, Dorking, Spangled Hamburg, S,eabright and African Bantams, Sumatra Pheasant Game, Ablin Game, Mexican Game, Ebon Game, Crested Turkey, Purple Turkey, Pure White Turkey, Bremen Geese, Hong Kong Geese, Wild Geese, Crested Black and White Ducks, Java Ducks, Penguin Ducks, Rouen Ducks, Aylesbury Ducks, Pure White Guinea Fowls, Italian 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 OF LIME.—The subscriber is manufacturing the above at his Bone Mill, a short distance from the city, of the best, and purest kind. Farmers are requested to examine his before purchasing elsewhere; the quality will speak for itself, and his price is the same as that manufactured out of the State.

may—tf R. R. DUVAL.

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

Best quality moleskin, $3 50

Second quality moleskin, 3 00

Best quality silk, 2 50

Second quality silk, 2 00

Fine Calfskin Sewed Boots only three dollars and fifty cents.

Also, Caps, Shoes and Umbrellas.

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

("1REAT PREMIUM FAN, patented December 20, 1853. X 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 premium at the Maryland State Agricultural Society's Exhibition, in October last, where all the most celebrated Fans were in competition.

The first premium at the Virginia State Agricultural Society'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 awarded at the Talbot County (Maryland) Show, in 1852; and

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

We annex the following certificate from a respectable farmer 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, farmers 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. Montgomery & Brother's Wheat Fan in some tailings I made in cleaning a part of my crop, which I did not think could be made worth anything; it extracted from a bushel and 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. Williams, foot of Commerce street; Messrs. Seth & Godwin, No. 4 Bowly's wharf; E.

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

Virginia references: Hon. William S. Archer, Virginia; Gen. 6. Peyton, Virginia; Hill Carter, Virginia; Lewis G. Harvey, Virginia; Rowlett Hardy & Co., Petersburg; A.

C. Lane, Richmond; Robert Cole, Richmond, Virginia; M. Heartwall, I). 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 wish to manufacture our Fan.

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

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

Office at the office of the Virginia State Agricultural Society.

jan—tf

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER

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. For 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, afford 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 more 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 sufficient 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 trade, 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 Waterhotjse, 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 h per cent.

Storage, grading, 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 2i 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.

I3?" 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

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

H3P Farmers are invited to give him a call. ocly

GENERAL AGENCY AND COMMISSION BUSINESS.—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 improved stock; improved Fowls of all kinds; Mares, Cows, Ewes, Sows; Ewes one-half.and three-fourths Cotswold; Calves at three months old, one-half Alderney; South Down Ewes with their lambs. For particulars address (post paid) the subscriber,

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

ALBANY TILE WORKS, corner of Patroon and Knox streets, Albany, N. Y. Drain Tile of the following descriptions and prices suitable for land drainage, always on hand in large or small quantities of the first quality, delivered at the docks and railroad depots free of cartage:

Horse-shoe Tile.

4k inch calibre, $18 per 1000 feet.

3£ do. 15 do.

2£ do. 12 do.

Sole Tile or Pipe.

3 inch calibre, $18 per 1000 feet.

2 do. 12 do.

Large Tile for drains about dwellings, yards, &c, of various sizes, $4 and $8 per 100 feet. Sole Tile, 4 inch calibre, for sink drains at $4 per 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

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, 3k miles from the University of Virginia, 4| from Charlottesville, and immediately on the Staunton and Charlottesville Turnpike, and Virginia Central Rail Road, in one of the most beautiful sections of the State, and in a neighborhood long proverbial for its highly cultivated society, its fertile lands, its pure and abundant water and general healthful-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 improvement. 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.

COTSWOLD OR NEW OXFORDSHIRE SHEEP.— The subscriber 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 superior 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 two Bucks which were imported last year weighed 17 lbs. of each, of washed wool. A lot of wethers 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.

COTSWOLD BUCKS.—For sale three high grade Cotswold 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

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

287

FOR SALE! A BEAUTIFUL AND VALUABLE ESTATE.—Desirous to close my business in Frederick county, and remove to a central part of Virginia more convenient to a large landed estate I own in that quarter, I offer for sale, Springdale and Bartonsvillc, with various Mills, forming certainly one of the finest estates in the whole -ountry. Springdale contains upwards of 800 acres of fertile 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 enduring quality of the soil is a characteristic of the whole farm, justifying stubbling 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 quantity produced.

The improvements on this estate are those which taste and a free expenditure of money for fifty years could make. There' are 6h miles of limestone fencing, 5 miles of paling nd 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 o*k, 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 having eight dormer-windows. A two story stone building, 50 feet 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, wagon and cart sheds, and other convenient 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, occupied by mechanics, with stabling, stone smoke houses, gardens, &c.

There are two excellent and large orchards of selected summer and winter fruit, the proceeds of which I sold one year for 81200.

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 grinding, 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 Winchester, 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 Manassas Gap to the Coal Field will pass only a mile from Springdale, while the Valley Rail Road from Winchester to Staunton, undoubtedly 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 asped. The morning papers from Washington and Baltimore are received 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 higgling and needless applications, I will state my price for the whole, including the mills described, is $72,000—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 annum—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, condition 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, including 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 retire from business and enjoy health and ease, at a delightful residence, or the industrious farmer, looking to a profitable investment of his money, the extraordinary conveniences and resources of this farm present equal attractions. No one will purchase so valuable an estate without some personal acquaintance. To those at a distance disposed 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 forth in this advertisement. 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 possession by the first of next October, if desired.

References. —Hon. James M. Mason, Senator; Hon. A. A. H. Stuart, Staunton, Virginia; Charles Barnard, Esq., Boston; Moncure Robinson, Benjamin Etting, Esqs., Philadelphia; A. P. Kennedy, S. K. Burkholder, Esqs., Baltimore ;*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., Norfolk, 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, Esqs., 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, Richmond, Virginia, dealer in English, Mediterranean, India and all Foreign and Domestic Drugs and Medicines; also, Paints, Oils, Varnish, Dye-Stuffs, Window Glass, Putty, &c. For sale on the most accommodating terms.

fpgp 1 Orders from Country Merchants and Physicians thankfully received and promptly attended to. jan '51—tf

AGENCY FOR THE PURCHASE AND SALE OF IMPROVED STOCK.—Stock Cattle of all the different breeds, Sheep, Swine, Poultry, &c. will be purchased to order, and carefully shipped to any part of the United States, for which a reasonable commission will be charged.

Apply to AARON CLEMENT, Philadelphia.

Refer to Gen. Wm. H. Richardson, Richmond, Virginia.

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

ap '53—tf