THE Ectootcfc to glflrCrulturc, horticulture, ana the f^oitscholU arts. Agriculture is the nursing mother of the Arts. — XenopAon. Tillage and Pasturage are the two breasts of the State. — Sulli/. FRANK: G. RUFFLN, Editor and Proprietor. T. BAILIE, Publisher. Vol. XV RICHMOND, OCTOBER, 1855 No. 10. From jjhe Horticulturist. STRAWBERRIES AND THEIR CULTURE. The discussion of the strawberry question, which has occupied the pages of agricultural and horticural journals so largely for a few years past, has been the means, directly and indirectly, of advancing materially the culti- vation of that fruit. We find ample evidence of this in the more abundant supply of our markets, and in the production of a large num- ber of seedling varieties. Recent letters from correspondents in all parts of the country, as well as reports of late exhibitions, all testify to the very general interest which is felt on the subject, and the progress that has been made. But, after all, we are constrained to say that our cultivation is yet very imperfect. The size and appearance of the great bulk of fruit offered in market, convince us of this. Those who know how to cultivate, are in many cases slovenly, or act upon the principle that good culture will not pay ; while there are many .who fail for the want of correct information on the subject. We have now before us a large number of inquiries on the subject. One wants to know how to prepare the soil ; ano- ther when to plant; another'' how to plant. Several correspondents who are well informed on the subject of cultivation, ask us to give them the names of the best perfect flowerino- sorts, as they are tired of keeping separate the staminate and pistilate varieties. We have therefore thought it best to offer a few hints which will serve as a general answer. We will state here, at the outset, that to cultivate the strawberry successfully, is but a simple matter. To grow large, handsome, fine flavored fruit in abundance, it is not necessary to employ a chemist to furnish us with a long list of specifics, nor even to employ a gardener by profession, who can boast long years of ex- perience. Any one who can manage a crop of corn or potatoes, can, if he will, grow straw- Vol. XV.— 10. berries. We may say this much by way of encouragement, because so much has been said in regard to various methods ot culture, and various applications and specifics, that some people have become persuaded that a vast deal of learning and experience are necessary to produce large crops of strawberries. Judging from what we have seen, we believe that the great cause of failure is negligence. The strawberry plant— not like a tree, which, when once set in its place, remains there — is constantly sending out shoots (runners) in all directions, taking possession of the ground ra- pidly around the parent plant. In a short time, therefore, unless these runners are kept in check, the ground becomes entirely occupied with. plants, the parent plant becomes exhaust- ed, and the ground can no longer be stirred or kept in such condition as is necessary to sustain their vigor. The result is, the ground is cov- ered with a mass of starved and weakly plants, choking up each other in a hard, uncultivated soil, and producing a sparce crop of small, in- sipid berries, that dry up on their stocks before they are ripe, unless it happens to rain every day. The constant stirring of the soil around the plants, is one thing which in our climate is ab- solutely necessary to successful cultivation ; and any system of culture which precludes this, or throws any obstacles in its way, is de- fective. If any one will examine his straw- berry beds, he will find the plants along the outer edges of the beds, where the soil has been kept clean and fresh by the frequent use of the hoe, vigorous and healthy, with luxuriant dark green foliage, and large, fine fruit; while in the interior of the beds, where the plapts have grown into masses, and covered all the ground, so as to prevent its cultivation, they are yellow and sickly looking, and the fruit poor and worthless. This we see in our own grounds, and everywhere that we find the plants grow- ing under similar circumstances. Does not 290 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. this show the necessity of cultivation close around the plants '? No matter how deep we may trench the soil, or how unsparing we may be with manures, or how copiously we supply moisture, this cultivation cannot be dispensed with, if we aim at producing fine fruits audi abundance of them. "But,'' says our cultiva- tor, "by allowing the ground to be all occu-j pied with plants, we save all the labor which would be consumed in removing the runners, and we avoid the necessity of applying a mulch- ing to keep the fruit clean." Very true, you save some expense ; but what do you get in return ? A crop of fruit not fit for the table — small, insipid, and so dirty, if a heavy rain occurs about ripening time, that it must be put through the wash-tub before it is placed o. u - table. It is possible that the market growei may be able to produce berries of this kind at a less price per quart than he could by a careful, cleanly and thorough system of cul- tiav ; but then he can expect to sell such fruit Oi 1; when no better can be had. We have d bts, however, as to the economy of bad culture in the long run. If a proper system were adopted at the outstart, and followed up with regularity, it would not be found so pro- fitless or expensive. In this, as in every kind of culture, a system is absolutely neces- sary. A certain routine of operations, which are easily executed if taken at the right time, become burthensome when deferred, and being so, they are not unfrequently put off altogeth- er. Precisely thus is it that strawberry beds are neglected, both in market gardens and private gardens, until they are grown wild be- yond hope of recovery. Now, we say to every one who wishes to cultivate strawberries, re- solve at once upon abandoning the "lazy-bed" system ; and if you cultivate but a square rod, do it well. We advise planting in rows not less than two feet apart, unless ground be very scarce, when eighteen might suffice, and the plants to be twelve to eighteen inches apart in the rows. In extensive field culture, the rows should be at least three feet apart, in order to admit the use of the plow or cultivator between them, or even the passage of a cart to deposit ma- nures or mulching materials. The spade and wheel-barrow are too costly implements for an extensive culture where labor is scarce and high, as with us. From the time the plants are set until the fruit is gathered, the runners should be cut away as fast as they appear, and the ground be kept clean of weeds, and well worked. In the falh or before the setting in of win- ter, a mulching of half-decayed leave-, or ma- nure, should be placed betwee^n the rows, com- ing close around the plants; leaving the crown or heart uncovered. This mulching prevents the plants from being drawn out and weaken- ed, or destroyed by freezing and thawing in winter. We have sometimes covered the en- tire beds, plants and all, with newly-fallen leaves, and by raking them off early in spring, the plants came out in fine order. In the same way we have covered them with clean wheat straw, and found it to answer as well. In all the northern and western States some winter protection is of great service, although not in- dispensable. In field culture, the earth might be ploughed up to the plants, as is done with nursery trees, in such a manner as to afford considerable protection against the action of frost on the roots. As soon as the fruit begins to attain its full size, and approach maturity, the spaces be- tween the rows which up to this time have been under clean culture, should be covered with straw, litter or moss. This will serve the dou- ble purpose of keeping the fruit clean and re- taining moisture in the soil. When copious supplies of water are applied, which should be always done when practicable, stable litter is a good mulching, and the water poured on it carries down with it to the roots of the plants the fertilizing materials which it contains. The application of water in abundance we must again recommend to all who want the finest fruit. Rains are very good, but they cannot be relied on, and they always deprive the fruit of its flavor, while artificial waterings do not. On this account theFreneh gardeners say that the strawberry "prefers water from the well to water from the clouds." It is sup- posed that the electricity which pervades the atmosphere during our summer rains, affects the flavor of the fruit. When the crop has been gathered, the mulch- ing material between the rows should be re- moved, and the ground be forked over, so that if plants are wanted to form a new plantation, their growth will be encouraged. The same plants should not be relied upon for more than two crops. The labor of making a new bed, save the trenching of the soil, is no more than that of planting a plot of cabbages. As to the season for planting, we would re- commend the spring for large plantations, be- cause then there is comparatively no risk of failure. The amateur, however, who wishes only to plant a bed in his garden, may do it at any time he can procure good plants. If the growth of runners is encouraged in July, after the fruit is gathered, well-rooted runners may be had about the first of September, or it may THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 291 be sooner. The young plant nearest the parent should always be chosen, if possible. In plant- ing during the month of August or Septem- ber, rainy weather should be chosen, if possi- ble ; but it may be safely done, even in a dry time, by using water freely. Water the plants well before taking them up, as it injures the roots very much to draw them out of dry ground ; then water the soil thoroughly where they are to be set, before planting. A sprink- ling will be of no use : it must go down deep, as a heavy rain would. Set- the plants in the evening, and shade them a few days with boards set on edtje, forming a sort of roof over them. Mulch them, too, with short litter ; and it will be well, if the plants be large, to remove some of the lower and larger leaves. Plant- ing can be done safely in spring until the plants are in blossom — and all summer, for that mat- ter, with proper care. We have thus briefly sketched the princi- pal operations in strawberry culture ; not in regular order, it is true, but we hope so as to be understood. We are not writing a book, and cannot enter into all of the details with minuteness. We have said nothing of the soil, and will only remark that any good gar- den soil, fit to produce culinary vegetables, or any farm land, fit for grain or root crops, will produce good strawberries ; but it must be deeply plowed, or trenched, say twenty inches at least, and liberally manured with well-de- composed stable manure or good compost. The quantity of manure . must vary according to the degree, of natural fertility of the soil. In one case, a quantity equal to six inches deep all over the surface would not ue too much ; while in other cases, half that would be enough. We would prefer not to make a strawberry plantation twice on the same ground ; but when circumstances render it inconvenient to change, rows of youag plants might be set, or allowed to establish themselves from the runners, be- tween the old row3, which can then be turned '• under with the spade, and will serve to enrich the ground. Nosy as to varieties. On this point there is a great diversity of opinion, and we cannot hope to name a list that will be acceptable to a large number of persons, at least in many parts of the country. Planters must have re- course to the best experience to be found in their rer-pective localities ; in the meantime we snail express our opinion of a few varieties, and let it go for what it is worth. It happens that in this country the greater Dumber of our most productive varieties have but one ast of the orrrans of fecundation. A fruitful flower must have both pistils and sta- mens perfectly developed. The stamens are regarded as the male oi'gans, and the pistils the female. When a flower has well-developed pistils, but no stamens, or imperfect ones, it must be impregnated by the pollen of other flowers. Where a flower has no pistils, or has imperfect ones, it is utterly barren. A large number of our best American varieties — such as Hovey's Seedling, Burr's New Pine, Mc- Avoy's Superior, Moyamensing, &c. — are wanting in stamens, and therefore foreign im- pregnation is necessary. In Europe this dis- tinction is not observed to any extent, and all the English and continental varieties, as far as we know, are hermaphrodite. In this country very many of them fail from an im- perfect development of the pistils, and are consequently barren, owing doubtless to the effect of climate and culture. It is not neces- sary that the two should be in close proximity; they are sure to get impregnated if in the same garden, as the pollen is carried about from one flower to another by insects. The beds of the different sorts may be kept entire- ly separate. Mixing them up is a bad way, as the one outgrows and overruns the other, and they become so confused that nothing can be done with them. On this account many have grown tired of keeping up the distinction, and have resolved to cultivate hermaphrodite sorts only. The following varieties arc the best on the long lists of those we have tested on our own grounds : Pistillate. — Burr's New Pine, Jenny's Seedling, McAvoy's Superior, Hovey's Seed- ling, Moyamensing, Monroe Scarlet, and Crim- son Cone. The finest flavored variety among these, is Burr's New Pine ; the largest, Ho- vey's Seedling; and the finest and best for market, Jenny's Seedling and Crimson Cone. Hovey's Seedling, in Western New York, and in many parts of the west, is a very moderate, and in many cases a poor bearer. We have had no crop so heavy this season (when all bore well) as on the Monroe Scarlet. Staminate, or Hermaphrodite. — Large Early Scarlet, Walker's Seedling, Iowa, Bos- ton Pine and Genesee. All these may be grown successfully for market, and are good without being first-rate in flavor. We think much more of Walker's Seedling now than we did last season. It is very hardy, and a great bearer. It appears to be a seedling from the Black Prince. The Boston Pine is the most uncertain on the whole list; without good soil and culture, it fails entirely. Beside the above lwt, we would recommend 292 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, to amateurs, who are willing to bestow thorough cultivation and care on their plants, the Bri- tish Queen, which, when well grown, surpasses in size, beauty, and excellence, any we have named. The Bicton Pine — a large and beau- tiful white variety, which ripens late. We have had a fine crop of it this season, although our plants being set last year were seriously injured last, winter. Like all the foreign sorts, it needs protection, and a deep, rich soil, with abundant moisture. The Wood Strawberries — red and white — bear most profusely in all places, and last a long time ; besides, they part freely from the calyx, and are therefore easily and rapidly picked, and their flavor is rich and agreeable to most people. In addition to these we must mention the Bush Alpine (having no runners) — -perpetual bearers, if kept liberally supplied with moisture. They deserve much more extensive cultivation than they now re- ceive. With their assistance, we may enjoy strawberries not one month only, but four months. To keep Silk. — Silk articles should not be kept folded in white paper, as the chloride of lime used in bleaching the paper will pro- bably impair the color of the silk. Brown or blue paper is better ; the yellowish, smooth Indian paper is best of all. Silk intended for dress should not be kept long in the house before it is made up, as lying in the folds will have a tendency to impair its durability by causing it to cut or split, particularly if the silk has been thickened by gum. Thread lace veils are very easily cut ; satin and velvet being soft are not easily cut, but dresses of velvet should not be laid by with any weight above them. If the nap of thin velvet is laid down, is is not possible to raise it up again. Hard silk should never be wrinkled, because the thread is easily broken in the crease, and it never can be rectified. The way to take the wrinkles out of silk scarfs or handkerchiefs is to moisten the sur- face evenly with a sponge and some weak glue, and then pin the silk with some toilet pins around the shelves on a mattrass or fea- ther bed, taking pains to draw out the silk as tight as possible. When dry, the wrinkles will have disappeared. The reason of this is obvious to every person. It is a nice job to dress light colored silk, and few should try it. Some silk articles should be moistened with weak glue or gum water, and the wrinkles ironed out by a hot flat-iron on the wrong side. — Scientific American. CHEAP FURNITURE AND ORNAMENTS FOR ROOMS. In the article on cheap furniture in the last number, the following paragraph was omitted : Pretty window seats, ottomans, &c, are easily made by taking a box of suitable size and shape, turning it bottom up, cushioning with cotton, hair, moss, hay, or old woollen rags, and covering it with remnants of car- peting or cloth to suit the other furniture. Almost every family has some boxes that might thus be turned to good account, making inexpensive seats that the family will greatly prefer to chairs, and giving an air of conifort and competence that will make home much more attractive. Do not make the seats too high or narrow, or the cushions too hard, and if for common use cover with some modest color that will not show dirt readily. The boxes -can be made with lids and hinges to hold wood, clothes, or other articles, if desired. Mrs. Cutler and others have from time to time giv A n descriptions of ornamental articles that could 'be made at home easily ; to these we have a few to add. At the exhibition of the American Institute in New, York, last fall, was a very beautiful centre table — home made. A thick plank was cut into a circle of the required size and mounted upon a standard terminating in three feet. This was entirely covered with split acorns, put on in various fanciful designs, laid in glue, paint, or other cement, and the whole covered with two or three coats of varnish. The eifect was very beautiful indeed. We have seen old picture frames, fitted up in the same style, that were really elegant. An equally pretty and more delicate mode of ornament is made from the fresh cones of the pitch pine. Separate the scales and put on as you would acorns, overlapping the scales as they are in nature. Pretty flower vases, picture frames, &e., ean be cut from pasteboard, then, if the cones are soaked in warm water, the scales can be sewed on with stout thread, then let the whole be varnished before the cones become shrivelled, and they will appear more plump permanently. — Mass. Ploughman. The following is said to be a sure process to get rid of caterpillars. With a common gim- let we bored a hole into the body of a tree, some two inches deep, perhaps, whHi we filled with sulphur, and then plugged up the hole. In a short time, say forty-eight hours, they were seen crawling about the yard, and in less than six days not one was to be found remain- ing on the tree. This is a simple but sure way. THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 293 From the Richmond Whig. HOW TO SECURE WHEAT IN WET WEATHER- Whig, a com- Observing. in the Richmond . tnumcation from Lunenburg, which speaks of the great destruction of wheat in that part of the country, from wet weather, I am induced to give to the public rny experience, in regard to the management of a wheat harvest under such circumstances — this embraces a period of 40 years or more. The communication from Lunenburg states, that in many instances, the wheat was suffered to remain on tie ground four or five days — this was a great and fatal error, as I can assert from the most ample and satisfactory experience. About 30 years ago, when I lived in the county of Essex, upon the Rappahannock ri- ver, there was the finest growth of wheat I ever remember to have seen but once. The rain commenced with the harvest, and contin- ued during the whole of it, and for somo days after it terminated, I felt myself perfectly at a loss how to proceed. But having an intelli- gent and experienced Overseer, consulted him as to what had best be done. He recommend- ed, that I should contrive to cut the wheat, re- gardless of rain, and put it up immediately in cocks of about five bushels, securing the tops, by spreading a sheaf of wheat upon the top of each, and not to open or disturb them, until all appearances of rain had ceased. I readily adopted his plan, and did not disturb the cocks until the wheat was removed to the barn for thrashing. When I commenced moving the wheat, I found the outside of the cocks as green as a meadow, and so much sprouted that most of it was lost. But although the straw, on the inside, was mouldy, the grain was in a perfect state of preservation, and the crop, both as to ouality and quantity, the best I ever re- member to have made; and I have always pur- sued the same method since, and with equal success ; nor have I ever dreaded a wet har- vest since. The greater part of the crop of which I speak, was cut when the rain was pour- ing down in torrents, and put up immediately as I have said, and not again disturbed until it was removed to the barn yard. My neighbors pursued a different plan ; cutting and putting up their wheat as I did. But when the sun would come out, (as it frequently did,) they had their wheat shocks opened to dry ; thus frequently subjecting the whole of their wheat to the action of the sun, and having to put them up again hurriedly, before they were thorough- ly dried, they were loosened so much, as to be thoroughly penetrated by the rain and spotted through and through. Whereas my wheat hav- by rain, and not opened again, was so compact, that neither the rain, nor the rays of the sun, could penetrate far into the shocks, and I found the wheat on the inside uninjured, and of most excellent quality. And I will add, that to secure a crop of wheat, under such cir- cumstances, it is better not to tie the wheat in bundles, as it packs much closer when not tied. Considering the information of very great im- portance to farmers, and believing that it would be more apt to influence those acquainted with me than an ananymous communication, I sub- scribe my name to it William Oarnett, Formerly of Essex Co., Ya. Convenient and wholesome Food. A very cheap, convenient, and palatable dish may be prepared with the common pilot bread, which is a hard, dry cracker, made of flour and water. These can be purchased by the barrel at a price but a little higher than flour, pound for pound, as they are generally made by machinery, and the cost of making and baking is but trifling when it is done on a large scale. We see the price of pilot bread is quoted in this market at less than half a cent per pound above good flour, and as they are nearly as dry as flour they are about as nutritious. They will keep longer than flour without deteriorating or becoming stale. They can be used in a variety of ways, such as put- ting them into stews of meat,, or meat and potatoes; they improve "hash" materially, and are a good substitute for "crust'' in pot pie, having the advantage of always being light and wholesome. For an ordinary, every day dish, put them into an oven after the bread is removed, or into a stove oven, and let them dry thoroughly ; then break them up and pour boiling water over them, and add a little salt, and butter, cream or milk. We know of no more easily prepared, more whole- some, and more palatable dish than this for the breakfast, supper, or even for the dinner table. Working animals of 'every kind should be treated with care and attention. Warm sta- bles, properly ventillated; good fare, regularly dispensed to them; well littered stables, cur- rying and rubbing down night and morning, and water three times a day, are great pro- moters of health, — and at no season of the year is such treatment and care more needed than at this, when the poor animals have to ""«" "«•»- perform their daily labors amidst every degree irtg been put up, after being thoroughly soaked of inclement weather. 294 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. HOW WILD GEESE ARE TAKEN. " The way they catch geese," says the .Buffalo Republican, " on the western waters, is sufficiently wonderful, without at all taxing the incredulity of any one. They are very fond of a small and very active eel, armed with sharp head and teeth, whose habits insist upon its swimming very near the surface of the water. It is very seldom the geese can get hold of this choice morsel, and when they do, they do they have a grand jollification over it. This eel the hunters use as a ■bait for their geeseships. A short time since two hunters went out to catch wild geese'. One hunter laid down in his canoe with a trout line attached to his wrist, and on the other end, in the water, was tied the nim- ble, sharp-headed eel before spoken of. The canoe floated slowly through the marshes, and came gradually among a large flock of geese, and the eel swimming along close to the sur- face. One venerable Ion vivant of a goose gobbled up the eel, like a flash ; also the eel had made its ' way through the body of the epicure, and lo! the goose was ' on strong.' Another goose, afflicted with a luxurious pal- ate swallowed the eel, but without any par- ticular satisfaction, as the eel, hardly noticing an obstruction, travelled through the < goose grease ' with scarcely an effort. And so this identical eel travelled and travelled, until seventeen geese were on the string, and our scientific friend, thinking he had been for- tunate enough, commenced hauling them into the boat. But, wonder of wonders, the seven- teen "•cese rose upon their wings as one goose, and before our friend of the canoe could make a will or say a prayer, he was lifted bodily from the canoe, through the combined efforts of the seventeen geese attached to his wrist, and ere he was aware of it, was thirty feet above the water. A friend of his on shore, who saw the difficulty, and his riffle being for- tunately loaded, shot off the string and rescued his friend. So, instead of wild goose our hunter got cold duck; and, although he fishes no more for wild geese with eels, he is prepared to affirm, asseverate or swear to the truth of the foregoing." ' WASH YOUR OWN LACES. The difficulty of getting laces washed right,., especially out of a great city, is very great. Every lady, therefore, should know how to- wash her own thread lace. If any fair lady iff- ignorant of this art, we can teach her in a very few words. Let her first rip off the lace,, carefully pick out the loose bits of thread, and roll the lace very smoothly and securely round' a clean black bottle previously covered with old white linen, sewed tightly on. Tack each end of the lace with a. needle and thread, to keep it smooth, and be careful in wrapping not to crumble or fold in any of the scollops or pearlings. After it is on the bottle, take- some of the best sweet oil,, and with a clean sponge wet the lace thoroughly to the inmost fold3. Have ready, in a wash-kettle, a strong lather of clear water and white Castile soap. Fill the bottle with cold water to prevent its bursting; cork it well and stand it upright in the suds, with a string round the neck secured to the ears or handle of the kettle, to prevent its knocking about and breaking while over the fire. Let it boil in the suds for an hour or more, till the lace is clean and white all through. Drain on the suds, and dry it on the bottle in the sun. When dry, remove the lace from the bottle, and roll it round a wide ribbon block, or lay it in long folds, place it within a sheet of smooth white paper, and press it in a large book for a few days. Remedy for Gapes in Chickens. — A correspondent -says, "Tell those of your read- ers who are interested in raising chickens, that a small pinch of gunpowder given to a chicken with the gapes will effect a sure and complete cure in from one to three hours time, and leave poor chick healthy and hearty. I speak from what I know, having tried the remedy with perfect satisfaction." WHITEWASH FOR OUTHOUSES AND FENCES. Take a clean barrel that will hold water. Put into it half a bushel of quicklime, and slack it by pouring ovei it boiling water suffi- cient to cover it four or five inches deep, and stirring it until slaked. When quite slaked, dissolve it in water, and add .two pounds of sulphate of zinc, which may be had at any of the druggists, and one of common salt, and which in a few days will cause the whitewash to harden on the wood-work. Add sufficient water to bring it to the consistency of thick whitewash. To make the above wash of a pleasant cream color, add 3 lbs. yellow ochre. For fawn color, and 4 lbs. umber, 1 lb. In- dian red, and 1 lb. lampblack. For grey or stone color, add 4 lbs. raw um- ber, and 2 lbs. lampblack. The color may be put on with a common whitewash brush, and will be found much more durable than common whitewash. — Scien- tific American* THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 295 SHORT-HORNS, THEIR PEDIGREES, AND MILKING POWERS. In my last letter to you on the subject ol shtf sugar to every pound of fruit — and some use only a quarter of a pound of sugar to a pound f fruit — while some use no sugar at all. To keep peaches, pare and cut them up. If thrown into cold water, they retain their firmness and color. Heat them in the cans as above — or, boil them ten minutes in a syrup. In this way, strawberries, raspberries, cherries, plums, peaches, &c., &c, may be kept for any length of time, in the same condition they were sealed up, and with their flavor unchanged. For small fruit, it is best to make a syrup without water, and boil the fruit in it for odIv a few minutes. Mr. Doddridge of this city, has experimented largely with the use of different kinds of cans, and gives the following instructions : Peaches, quinces, pears, apples, should be peeled, quartered, and the seed removed before preserving. They should be placed in a kettle and brought to a brisk boil, with as little stirring as will prevent them from scorching, to avoid breaking the fruit. The fruit should, be kepi boiling while the cans are being filled. Tomatoes should be boiled and the skin taken off, and then placed in a kettle and brought to a boil, and kepi so while filling the cans. Fill the cans quickly to overflowing from the boiling material in the kettle, and immediately place on the cap, (which should be warm,) fitting it closely to the shoulder of the neck of the can. Blow or wipe the moisture out of the gallery, which the heat of the can will in a little while dry off. This takes less time than filling. with cold fruit, and heating the can up in boiling water. Fresh stewed fruits of all kinds may be kept in these vessels. It will only be necessary to stew the fruit as for the table, addfng the amount of sugar required to make it palatable ; fill up the vessel with the hot fruit, and seal at once. All ripe fruits preserved in this way, will be found as fresh in the winter season, as if just taken from the tree and stewed. How to know that the Can is Hermetically Sealed, and thoit the contents mill keep. — The contents, as soon as they cool will slightly shrink, leaving a vacuum, and the top and bottom of the can will become concave, from the pressure of the external air. If the concave condition of the top and bottom remain, all is right. But if they swell out fermentation has commenced. As soon as this is perceived', open, and heat the contents, as at first. These directions apply to every kind of can, the only difference being in the modes of sealing, and for these particular directions always accom- pany the cans- These cans are manufactured and Bold extensively in all the large cities, and we pre- sume at other places also. The quart cans are sold at $1.50 to $225 per dozen, the two quart cans at ~2."*i) to iS;j 50. The cement to be used with the self- eaufig cans is furnished gratis with the cam, hut as ail additional supply would be ted iri successive years, we will give the re- cipe for its manufacture, as furnished by Mr. Dod- dridge : Take fib. Rosin. } lb. Beeswax, and G oz. Shellac: boil, and stir tgether. AN ENGLISH EXPERIMENTER ON WHEAT. We have been much interested in reading a pamphlet published last year, in London, entitled " A word in season ; or how to grow wheat with profit. Addressed to the Stout British Farmer." The writer, whoever he may be, bases his mode of cultivation on Tull's system of deep and thorough pulverization of the soil and using no manure. This system, as far as it goes, is a good one. The finer you can get the soil pulverized the better. It is a point too much neglected by our farmers, many of whom seem to act on the oppo- site extreme from Tull's method. Tull depended wholly on pulverizing the soil and no manure — they depend wholly on manure and no pulverizing of the soil. Now we recommend both. Pulverize as much and as fine as you can, and manure all that you can. The author of these experiments claims to have improved on Tull's method by going deeper than he did. Tull never dug deeper than the soil — but he dives into the subsoil and brings up, from the depths to which he goes, all the fertilizing ele- ments which he contends lies imbedded there, waiting for man to seize upon them and bring them into action. He does this by spading the land two spits deep — that is a depth equal to twice the length of the spade blade. He goes two feet deep. He contends that clay loams contain an al- most inexhaustible supply of the mineral matter necessary for the growth of wheat, and that these materials, when the clay loam is perfectly pre- pared and brought to the action of the sun, dews, rain, and air, supply to every one the requisites necessary for a large wheat crop. By means, says he, "of the deep stirring, uplifting fork, in lieu of the glazing and level plough, I bring up those mineral treasures, inch by inch, to be disinteg- rated and decomposed by the summer fallow ; ex- posing them gradually year otter year, till I reach the limited depth of two feet, beyond which it is neither needful nor convenient to go." Instead of sowing broadcast as we do, he drills or sows it in rows, leaving intervals of three feet between his cluster of rows. That is, he has a bed two feet wide on which are three rows of wheat a foot apart and then an interval of three feet between these, which gives a space of five feet breadth to every three rows of wheat, thus : 1ft. 1 1ft. 1ft- 1 1ft. space, j space. 2 feet. 3 feet, interval. space. | space 2 feet. These rows (being winter wheat,) he sows in September. These three feet spaces are to be spaded or trenched, as soon as the rows of wheat are up, to within three inches of the wheat. The spaces between the wheat are hoed until the blades spread so as to meet. This mode of sowing the seed in the drill, is peculiar. " For my three rows of wheat, I make channels with a three wheeled presser, the edges of which are sharper than usual, in order to cut through the land, to the depth of three inches. Boys or men follow, and drop single grains in the channels, about two or three inches apart. The seed thus lying^ deep on a hard bed, and the land being well drained, I am not afraid of the plants being bit by the frost; so I cover the seed and close up the channels with the rollers." He says, that he has had wheat three successive years on the same acre of land, raised by this pro- cess, without manure. That of the first year he 298 THE SOUTHERN PLANTEE. took no account of, but accurately measured the produce of the two last years, and the yield was the same in both cases, namely : four quarters and two bushels. An English "quarter"' we believe, is eight bushels, the yield therefore, was thirty-four bushels!! certainly, a great yield for an 'acre. This yield he attributes to "that unsown, well tilled interval of three feel, between each tier of rows." The writer then goes on to state that, being so well satisfied with this mode of culture, he took a four acre field that had been pretty well exhausted, and littered it in 1850-51, in the same way. The wheat was sow-n in October. The whole cost of culture, including interest and taxes, was $73.62i. He obtained in 1855, from this October sowing, twenty quarters and a half of clear wheat — allow- ing eight bushels for a quarter, is 164 bushels, or over thirty bushels to the acre ! He estimates the wheat worth $209.25, and the straw worth $80— being eight tons at $10 (English price) per ton. This left a total profit of $185.75 on the operation — a pretty good job, there being, as he states, one moiety of each of these four acres in wheat, and the other moiety fallow — the land exhausted— no manure— little more than a peck of seed to the half-acre — and yet the yield of 164 bushels or over forty bushels to the acre ; and for the en- couragement of others, he adds : there was noth- ing whatever in these operations which were so successful here, to prevent their application to any extent elsewhere. These things are worth thinking over, and the principles worth examining into- There is one obstacle, however, tn our way, which will hinder our following, in this country, his advice and ex- ample, and that is, the difficulty of getting men at reasonable prices, to spade up and till the inter- vals as he did. How far the new "digger" will act as substitute for this, remains to be seen. We sent to England to obtain this pamphlet, where it h ad gone through thirteen editions. We may refer to it again at some convenient time. SALT AND GUANO. The following article, from the Mark Lane Ex- press, contains some facts .which should be under- stood. Large quantities of salt, similar to that named below, may be purchased from tanners, re- packers of pork in the city of New York, and else- where. Some experiments, lately reported upon the ac- tion of common salt when mixed with guano are instructive as well as suggestive of further exam i- i ations. It is well known that guano, when used as top dressing, is best applied in rainy weather, and that its ammonia is rapidly dissipated by expo- sure to the sun and winds. Again, in top-dressing cereals with either cubicpetreor guano, it has been found advantageous to mix the guano with a certain proportion of common salt, the salt being found to pieserve that hardness of the straw which guano has a considerable tendency to weaken. To ascertain the extent to which the exposure of guano in a dry atmosphere diminishes the amount of its ammonia, and the effect produced in fixing that ammonia by an addition to it of half its weight of common salt, was the object of M. Bar- ral, the editor of the Journal d' Agriculture Pra- tique, in some experiments which are reported in the last number of the Edinburg Qaurterly Jour- nal of Agriculture, We need only describe in his words one trial, where he observes: " Wc left in the open air, in plates, during 15 days, equal weights of the pure guano, and the guano previously mixed with salt. At the end of that time we examined anew the amount of nitro- gen, and found that the pure guano had lost 11.6 per cent, of its nitrogen, while that mixed with salt had lost only 5 per cent." These experiments furnished us with more than one valuable suggestion; they not only show the importance of using common salt in conjunction with ammoniacle manures, but they clearly prove the importance of protecting these from the action of the atmosphere. It should never be forgotten, in fact, by any of us, that when we smell very strongly any manure, there copious emanations are going on deteriorating the value of the fertilizer; a loss that, either by the use of some chemical fixer, or of nature's own unfailing fixer, the soil, might have been very commonly prevented. The quality of the common salt used is of some importance; the kind which we have always pre- ferred is the oil-stained fishery salt, chiefly ob- tained from the Cornish pilchard fisheries. The fishermen of that magnificent coasts pile up in their store-room these fish in large banks — first a layer of salt, thei. a layer of pilchards, then salt, then fish, till a heap is formed several feet high- As these are a very oily fish, the oil soon begins to drain from them through the salt, and reaching the paved floor on which the pile is resting, is con- ducted by channels formed in the pavement, into little cisterns. The oil (which is very valuable for certain manufacturing purposes) turns the salt of a yellow color; and its mixture, added to a proportion of other fishey matter, rather adds to the value of the salt as a manure. Barley. — The Rochester "Democrat" says: — "There has within a few days been an unusual movement in Barley, a demand having arisen for the article in Philadelphia, and agents sent into the State to make purchases. They have in many cases bought up the crops on the ground, paying farmers what the latter regarded as a fair price.— In view of the doubt respecting the ultimate en- forcement of the Maine law.malsters in this region have not been anxious to buy, and have no doubt kept out of the market from a determination to show the farmers that the effect of the prohibitory liquor law would be to depreciate this description of grain, and thus influence tneir votes at the next election. But while the Brewers here have stood aloof, the crop has bden taken by foreign buyers, who visited the farmers at their homes, and enga- ged the grain in anticipation of the harvest. Now that the demand for the local trade has arisen, pri- ces hare gone up rapidly, and those who have dis- posed of their stocks are dissatisfied. Barley has been selling for nine shillings lately, and the coun- try buyers, it is said, pay even more. Our masters are unwilling to quote even at nine. We noticed sometime since that an agent had beenengaged by Philadelphia houses to buy barley and other pro- duce for which theCatawissa Railroad had opened a new market to our producers. It is evident from the course which has been taken that the competi- tion is to be immediately felt in this region. Wheat from Memphis. — The Memphis (Tenn.) Whig says that Shipments of wheat were made from that port on the 5th instant, destined both for New York and Liverpool. This is> something new in the course of trade, as the like was never known before the pie.-ent season. THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. ; iTEmm UPd'c LADY MILLICENT. Calved, W _ ! 1847; color, roan; bred by F. H. Fawkes. Esq., Farnley Hall, England; property of S. Thome, Thornedaie, Washington Hollow, Dutch- es* co., N. Y. Got by Laudable, (9,282,) dam MJ1U- cent, by Grou hy, (6„051); Fair Frances, by Sir Tbo. Fairfax, (5,196) ; Felden, by Young Colling, (1,843); Lily, by Bed Bull, (2,838); by Son of Colling (2,131); by Partner, (2,400; ; by R. Alcock's bull, (19.) Lady Millicent was imported last fall by Mr. Thome, in company with eight other short horn cows and heifers. She is a fine, noble cow, having all the characteristics of the short horned cattle. She dropped a superior white heifer calf last March, got in England by Lord of Braurth, (10,465.) 300 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. BAIN- EVAPORATION AND FILTRATION We have before mentioned a paper, pre- pared for the transactions of the New York State Agricultural Society for 1854, on this subject, by Hon. Geo. Geddes. From an atten- tive perusal of it, we find it contains matter which would be very valuable to the farm- er. Meteorogical facts have not received that attention from the agriculturalist, and not un- til recently from the government, that they deserve. Mr. Geddes well remarks, that " One of the things to be looked at in select- ing a new home is the rain-guage, and the gov- ernment would do the world a great favor to have raiu-guages kept at all the frontier posts, and at every station in the country, and pub- lish the reports, property arranged in tables, for every work." It has been ascertained from records kept in various parts of Europe and America, that there is annually more rain along the Atlantic- coast than in the interior. But the wants of agriculture do not depend so much on the quantity of water as on the manner in which it falls. Thus, some districts which in the course of the year receive an unusual quantity of rain, suffer much from drouth. In Ens- land the annual fall of water is stated to be 3"2 inches. Along the Atlantic coast of the U. States it is at different points from 38 to 40 inches, and in the State of New York, taking the average from about forty points of obser- vation, it is 35 inches. Yet the climate of Britain is much more moist than that of the United States. There the number of rainy days is greater, and the rains more- moderate than here. There is also a great variation in different parts of our own country. In the warmer and more level portions, rains often come in heavy showers, washing and packing the earth injuriously ; in the cooler and more mountainous sections there is a regular con- densation of vapor, and the rains fall lighter and in a longer space of time. Some of the principles involved in evapora- tion and filtration, are given by Mr. G. in the following paragraphs: When the frost leaves the ground in the spring it is full of water, and a cubic foot of this saturated earth is to water in its specific gravity as five to three ; dried to the moisture suitable to have seed put in it, it loses one- twelfth of its weight ; when perfectly dried it loses one-third. Mr. Dalton, in making his experiments, came to the conclusion that when it had lost one- sixth of its weight by drying, it was not too dry to support vegetation. When it had lost two-ninths it appeared like top soil in summer. Hence every foot of earth in depth, so satu- rated, contains seven inches of water, and it may part with a quarter of its- water, or even one-half, and not be too dry for supporting ve- getation. This is the fund of waiter with which we start in the spring — say three inches in depth, within one foot of the top of the ground. Hoots of plants go down lower than this if the soil is mellow and not flooded with water. Mr. Dalton T s experiments, made with a cy- lindrical vessel, ten inches iii diameter, three feet deep, filled with gravel, sand, and soil — having a discharge pipe at the bottom, by which to measure the quantity of water that runs off, and which gave perfect drainage— the top of the soil being covered with grass, the whole buried so that the top was even with the ground, shows that earth that is moderate- ly moist will take up three inches of water without carrying it beyond the point of satu- ration. This amount had in the preceding dry month been taken up by the plants and evap- orated, and, without making the soil too dry, had so. drawn upon it that it could imbibe three inches, which fell in four days. Ordinary plowing does not bring into use mo.re than six inches in depth of soil ; extra- ordinary ploughing may reach as low as one foot. Subsoiling and trenching to the depth of three feet would give to the plants all that Mr. Dalton claims for his experiments. Where ground is cultivated only six inches deep, it only holds, subject to. the purposes of vegeta- tion, (if no account is made of water rising up through the hard earth beneath,) one inch and a half of water. If cultivation goes down one foot the quantity of available water is dou- bled. If the soil is broken ftp still deeper, though it may be that the roots of the plants may not go down beyond a foot, yet the water from lower down will rise up by capillary at- traction, and supply the evaporation from the superior parts of the soil. So it results that while one foot of earth will hold for the uses of vegetation three inches of water, three feet will hold so much that it can part (without be- coming too dry,) with three inches, and then receive in the course of a four days" rain ano- ther three inches, without overflow or discharg- ing from the drains beneath. D It will be noticed that in the estimates com-, prised in the last paragraph, no account is made of water rising from the earth below the depth of cultivation. Now it is evident that wheth- er water will rise from below this or not, de- pends on the condition of the underlying stra- ta. It is well known that some soil is natu- rally just in that state which favors capillary THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 301 action. Other soil is. in a different state, and needs changing, artificially. Further along, Mr. Geddes speaks of soils in this happy " na- tural condition" which needs not drainage and subsoiling. He says : In a country thoroughly underdrained to the depth of three feet, "and deeply subsoiled, neither drouths nor excessive rains are much feared by the cultivator ; a large proportion of the water that falls is treasured up in his sub- terranean reservoirs, and any excess is carried off by his drains. Some districts of country have a soft, mellow soil, just clay enough, and just sand enough to give it proper consistency, and then this soil underdrained perfectly by an open gravel or shelly rock. This is the natural condition of most of that part of this State that has been denominated by the geologists the "Onondaga Salt Group." It is a narrow strip of land, but little observed east rf Madison county. It widens westward, and crosses the Niagara river at Grand Island. Most of this soil is drained just enough; but in some cases the shale comes so near to the top of the ground that the drainage is excessive, until by deep cultivation the underlying soft rock has been brought to the action of the frosts and atmosphere, and thus disintegrated and softened down and made soil. In other cases — as saucer-shaped vallies where the soil ba< washed from the surrounding hill sides — it is bo deep over the shale, and made tenacious of water by being packed tight in the process of transportation and deposit, that draining is necessary. In some localities clay predomi- nates, so as to require subsoiling and draining; but these are exceptions. In many other parts of the State there are soils that neither re- quire underdraining nor subsoil plowing, and the owners of these districts should be careful not to be carried off the balance of their own good judgment by the. reports they see of the great utility of underdraining in Seneca coun- ty and other places, where a tenacious soil is un'krdrairied by a tenacious rock of clay. Enough has been said in the previous pages of this article to show the utility of deep culti- vation and thorough-draining, where it is de- manded by the nature of the soil, and it was thought equa]ly necessary to warn the reader against the folly of laying out money in those casc^ where it vould do no good. Mr. Geddes' farm, which, as to productive- v • id permanent fertility, is one of the best r saw, is on this formation called the '»'Onondaga Salt Group." In repeated visits which we have had the pleasure of making to w; have observed the great advantages of . al texture of the soil to which he al- ludes. We invite particular attention to Mr. G.'s remarks, that this, as well as some soils in other districts, "neither requires underdrain- ing nor subsoil plowing." The caution which he interposes on this subject should be heeded by all farmers who design to use their brains in regulating their operations. Let deep cul- tivation and thorough draining be practised "where it is demanded by the nature of the soil." In the following extract Mr. Geddes de- scribes a state of things which we have fre- quently witnessed. The remai-ks will apply with special force to much of the land in the western part of Vermont, along Lake Cham- plain, of which our readers may recollect we have lately spoken :^ Some soils do not appear to suffer from an excessive supply of water, when first put un- der cultivation, that afterwards require drain- ing. This was the case in some parts of Onon- daga county. When the soil was first put un- der the plow, it was lighter and more porous than it was after repeated cultivation — just as earth, by being removed from a cutting, in the construction of a road, to an embankment loses a part of its bulk; so that it is computed by en- gineers that it takes ten yards of earth, mea- sured in a cutting, to make nine yards after it has settled in an embankment. Whoever has been engaged in the construction of post fen- ces has observed this tendency of earth to pack together when it is moved. It is commonly said that a post can be put in the hole, and then all the earth that was dug out of it can be put in too. Perhaps another reason that these soils when new are dry enough, and af- terwards require draining, is that the cavities and water courses produced by the roots of trees are filled up by cultivation. FOOD CONSUMED BY DIFFERENT SORTS OF FARM STOCK. In Boussingault's experiments, the average flaily consumption of 17 horses and mares, aged from 5 to 12 years, and weighing on an average 1079 lbs., was 33 lbs. of hay each, per day, equal to 3. OS lbs. of hay per day to each 100 lbs of live weight. His milch cows weigh- ing on an average 1466 lbs., are also allowed 33 lbs. of hay per head per day. This gives to each 100 lbs. of live weight 2.25 lbs. of ham- per day. As might be expected, Boussingault found that 14 growing animals, from 5 to 20 months old, required more food^ or 100 lbs. live weight required 3.08 lbs. of hay per day. Boussingault estimates from his experiments that pigs consume an equivalent of hay per 02 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. •lay, equal to 3 per cent of their live weight, Sljeep, too, require about the same amount. In some experiments made in consequence of premiums offered by the Worcester Coun- ty (Mass.) Agricultural Society on the econo- my of cutting food for stock, a pair of working- oxen belonging to A. H. Hawes, and kept at moderate work, weighing 3134 lbs., consumed 75.2 lbs. of hay per day; or 100 lbs. of live weight consumed 24 lbs. of hay per day. A pair of steers, belonging to Harvey Dodge, weighing 2220 lbs., consumed 51.2 lbs. of hay per day, equal to 2.84 per cent, live weight. Two dry cows belonging to C. B. Demond,and weighing 1734 lbs., consumed 43.5 lbs. of hay per day, or 2.42 per cent, of their live weight. Two milch cows, belonging to W. S. Lincoln, weighing 1800 lbs., consumed 43.2 lbs. of hay per dav, equal to 2.4 per cent, of live weight. Mr. Barnum's elephant, weighing 4700 lbs., consumes 100 lbs. of hay and a bushel of oats per day; 100 lbs. live weight, therefore, con- sume 2.12 lbs. of hay and O.G81bs. of oats per day, or, estimating, as Boussingault does, that 68 lbs. of oats are equal to 1001bs. of hay, the elephant consumes 3.12 lbs. of hay per day for each 100 lbs. live weight. To recapitulate, therefore, 100 lbs. live weight of animal re- quires of hay per day, in Working horses 3.08 Working oxen 2.40 Milch cows, (Boussingault's) 2,2-5 Do do (Lincoln's) p. 2.40 Young growing cattle 3.08 Steers 2.84 Dry cows 2.42 Pigs (estimated) 3.00 Sheep 3.00 Elephant 3.12- There is considerable difference in these figures, but certainly not as much as might be expected from such various animals. The ele- phant consumes the most, the working horses and young cattle the next highest amount, then the sheep and pigs, and what is surprising, the large milch cows of Boussingault consume least of all. Working oxen would appear to con- sume less than horses. On the whole, these figures give little indication that large animals consume less in proportion to their weight than smaller ones. — Country Gentleman. HORTICULTURAL QUACKERY. In the American Farmer for July, among other directions under the head of " Work for the Month," we find the following directions : " Examine your peach trees a few inches be- neath the surface of the ground, and wherever you find a puncture, or the exudation of gum, thrust a knitting needle, or a piece of wire, or the point of a knife into the hole, work it about' and you will kill the worm; then fill up the hole with a mixture composed of two parts of soft soap, one part flour, sulphur, and one part salt, then paint the trunk of the tree, from the point at which the earth had been dug out to the limbs, throw back the earth that had been dug out, and sow around the trunk of each tree a mixture composed of half a peck of lime, half a peck of ashes, 1 pint of salt, and 1-8 lb. of saltpetre, and each year thereafter strew around the trunk of the tree at the ground, half a peck of lime." It is to the sentence in italics to which we wish to call attention, as it involves the viola- tion of an important physiological law. Very frequent cases are recorded by our exchanges of the destruction of trees from practices simi- lar t© the one here noticed. In reference to this subject, we find the following in the Country Gentleman of the 19th ult. : " Some cultivators seem not to be aware of the existence of evaporating pores in the bark of trees. We see an evidence of this want of knowledge, in tin? frequent attempts that are made to prevent grafts from drying, by merely closing the ends with wax, and other similar attempts. Improper applications to the bark, by closing these pores, frequently causes the death of the trees : instances of which are of- ten seen recorded in the papers. When we see oily substances recommended as remedies to prevent the attacks of insects, &c, we may confidently predict the destruction of the trees. As examples, we clip the two following state- ments from exchange papers, now on the table before us :" Sure Cure for the Curculio. — Mr. Jas. Taylor of St. Catherines, Canada West, hav- ing learned from the Tribune that a Mr. Jo- seph Mather, Goshen, C. W., had found a mixture of sulphur, lard, and Scotch snuff, rubbed freely upon the body and branches of a plum tree, an effectual remedy against the curculio, writes to that paper that he (Mr. Taylor,) trifed it upon some of his choicest trees, and had a splendid crop of plums. But mark the result : Every tree so treated, ex- cept one or two young ones, is now dead ! Sure remedy, that ! — Amer. Agr. Tar and Oil for Trees. — The Ozaukee County Advertiser says : In the May number of the Chicago Prairie Farmer, an article appears, contributed by A. G. Hanford, Esq., of Waukesha, recommend- ing the use of "tar and linseed oil, equal parts mixed," to be applied while warm to fruit trees, to destroy the "bark louse." While in Wau- kesha, a few days since, we chancedto visit the THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 303 Orchard of Mr. A. Griffin, who with a sadden- ed countenance, pointed to his once thrifty and productive orchard, how totally destroyed, hy the application of tar and linseed oil. It ap- pears that he had heard of the success of the experiment as tried by 0. S. Rathburn, of Brookfield. and resolved to make the trial on his own orchard, the result of which was the entire destruction of a beautiful and bearing orchard. The structure of woody plants consists prin- cipally of woody tissue or fibre and cellular tissue. These two tissues exist in relation to each other in different plants in different pro- portions Trees and shrubs are mostly woody fibre, while soft, succulent herbs are almost entirely composed of cellular tissue. " When the stem is first called into exis- tence, it is merely a small portion of cellular tissue : an organic substance, possessing nei- ther strength nor tenacity, and altogether un- suited to the purposes for which the stem is destined. If such matter formed exclusively its solid contents, the stem would have neither toughness nor strength, but would be brittle like a mushroom, or like those parts of olants of which cellular tissue is the exclusive com-, ponent ; such, for example, a*s the club-shaped spadix of an Aram, or the Soft prickles of a young rose branch. Nature, however, from the first moment that the rudiment of a leaf appears upon the growing point of a stem, oc- cupies herself with the formation of woody matter, consisting of tough tubes of extreme fineness, which take their rise in the leaves, and which, thence passing downwards through the cellular tissue, are incorporated with the latter, to which they give the necessary degree of strength and flexibility. In trees and shrubs they combine intimately with each other, and Bo f >rm what is properly called the wood and inner bark ; in herbaceous and annual plants, they constitute a lax fibrous matter. No woody matter appears till the first leaf, or the seed- leaves, have begun to act; it always arises from their bases ; it is abundant, on the contrary, in proportion to the strength, number and devel- opment of the leaves ; and in their absence is absent also : 1 v\'iien woody matter is first plunged into the cellular tissue of the nascaiit stem, it forms a circle a little within the circumference of the stein, whose interior it thus separates into two pario; namely, the bark or the superficial, and the pith or- the central portion , or, in what are called Endogens, into a superficial coatine analogous to bark, and a central confused mass of wood AiA pith intermingled. The effect of thi-.. in Exogens, is, to divide the interior of a perennial stem into three parts, the pith, the wood, and the bark. "As the cellular tissue of the stem is not sensibly lengthened more in one direction than in another, and as it is the only kind of organ- ic matter that in stems increases laterally, it is sometimes convenient to speak of it under the name of the horizontal system ; and, for a similar reason, to designate the woody tubes which are plunged among it, and which only increase by addition of new tubes having the same direction as themselves, as the perpen- dicular system. "Wood properly so called, and liber or inner bark, consist, in Exogeus, of the perpendicular system, for the most part ; while the pith and external rind or bark are chiefly formed of the horizontal system. The two latter are connec- ted by cellular tissue, which, when it is pressed into thin plates by the woody tubes that pass through it, acquires the name of medullary rays. It is important, for the due explanation of certain phenomena connected with cultiva- tion, to understand this point correctly ; and to remember that, while the perpendicular sys- tem is distributed through the wood and bark, the horizontal system consists of pith, outer bark, and the medullar} - processes 'which con- nect these two in Endogens, and of irregular cellular tissue analogous to medullary rays in Endogens. So that the stem of a plant is not inaptly compared to a piece of linen, the hori- zontal cellular system representing the woof, and the woody system the warp." From the above explanation, we see that there is an extensive free communication be- tween the atmosphere and every internal por- tion of a plant, and numberless facts similar to those we have presented, prove conclusively that this arrangement cannot be violated with impunity — but that if it is not always fatal to the life of the plant, it is injurious in a very serious decree. Whitewash. — Poor whitewash is serious injury to a Avail ceiling, and when once on, it is difficult to get it off or properly cover it, and produce a clear white appearance. This is the season for cleaning up, and we will give the recipe for a first rate wash : Quick lime, slacked by boiling water, stirring \i until so slacked. Then dissolve in water white vitriol, (sulphate of zinc,j which you get at the druggists, at the rate of two pounds of zinc to a half bar- rel of whitewash, making it of the consistency of rich milk. This sulphate of zinc will cause the wash to harden, and to prevent the lime from rubbing off; a pound of fine salt should be thrown into it. 304 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER THE SOUTHERN PLANTER RICHMOND, OCTOBER, 1855. TERMS. One Dollar and Twenty-five Cents per annum, which may be discharged by the payment of One Dollar only, if paid in office or sent free of postage within six months from the date of subscription. Six copies for Five Dollars; thirteen copies for Ten Dollars, to be paid invariably in advance. §3F~ No subscription received for a less time than one year. [p^* Subscriptions may begin with any number. |3P* No paper will be discontinued until all arrearages are paid, except at the option of the Editor. ~* Office corner Main and Twelfth 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. ggf* 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. [?2§f Postage on the Southern Planter, (when paid in advance,) to any part of the United States one cent and half per quarter, or six cents per annum. "WHAT THEY THINK OF US." It is a custom of some papers, better honored in the breach than in the observance, to publish the commendations bestowed on them by other pa- pers. We do not admire this plan, and if we had praises enough from our cotemporaries to make it worth while to collect them — which we have not, and from our o\v% fault, no doubt— we would hard- ly venture, even for money, into that kind of ego- tism. But what our subscribers think of us is a matter of more moment. From one circumstance we fear we are not held in very high estimation by them, and that circumstance is the failure to pay their subscriptions. Tlfcre are tvo ways in which subscribers may shew their appreciation of an edi- tor's labors : the first is to read him ; the second to pay him. We fear we are not read, because so few people have responded' to the invitation we lately gave them to pay their dues. And from this and other reasons, we know we are not paid. One of the strongest of these other reasons is that we did not get money enough last month and the month before to pay the clerk hire and printing bill of the paper, and had to advance three hundred dollars out of our private funds. This is not right. If gentlemen think the Planter an indif- ferent paper, we do riot ask them to take it, nor complain of an opinion, whi^h is perhaps correct. But we do say that we would much rather they would pay up and "stop the thing," than take it and continue in our debt. The want of $9000 makes a vacuum in any man's pocket : it creates a great gulf in ours. MEETING OF THE STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. We presume that every body knows that the Fair and Exhibition of the Virginia State Agricultural Society is to take place on Tuesday, the 30th of October, and to last four days, as usual. We pre- sume, too, that every body will be at it, as usual. We have been asked occasionally by some of its friends, why we have not made a fuss about it- We have two answers to give : First, that we do not exactly know how to puff; second, that if we did the Virginia State Agricultural Society is not supposed to be in need of it. We would as soou think of puffing Congress in order to convene the politicians, big and little, that compose that re- spectable body ; or of " praising up" the Virginia Legislature to make sure of a quorum. No, no> the Society now numbers, men,women and children, upwards of twelve thousand : it is a settled and powerful institution, beyond all compare the largest and most imposing of its kind in the U. States ; it has held the two most brilliant exhibi- tions that have ever been held, and on the best ap- pointed fair grounds in the Union, except perhaps in Kentucky. Its members have manifested more enthusiasm and more of " simple, solid, hard mo- ney" liberality than any other two or three socie- ties of other States put together; it has twice assembled more of " her beauty and her chivalry" than Virginia ever before saw brought together, and has on those two occasion? introduced to friendly converse the pick of every part of the St.ite except the distant and almost detached Northwest. It is the grand festival of agriculture, the great entertainment annually given by Richmond. And when it is known, as we presume it is, every where, that the same invitation has been long ago ex- tended to every citizen ©f Virginia, and on the same terms, we do not see the use of beginning to beat the drum some months before the muster. What will be the character of the Fair, we have no means of ascertaining. As little had we before. Exhibitors as a general thing say nothing of then- purposes before hand, and at each previous Fair they have taken us completely by surprise. But we have heard that our friend Col. Kent, means to have something fat on hand, that Mr. Cloyd is aiming at something fatter than he had last year, and that McGavock has the fattest bullock he eve! THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 305 did. have, and that he means to make him the bos y or the boss— our informant was not certain which — of the fat cattle. Our old friend Mr. Burwell, of Powhatan, is " backing and filling" " the best yoke of steers in Virginia," &c. James Newman, Esq of Orange, is feeding what he means to be " the best carcass of slaughtered mutton," on a mixture of corn meal and suet. Dr. Woods is putting some corn into a few choice liogs of his admirable breeds, and various others that we hear of " wil] come if they can," which means they can't be kept away. But let us pass to other matters. There will be one or two questions perhaps for the Society to consider, in reference to which we desire to say a word. The first of these questions is their action on the Constitution which will be submitted to them. It will be recollected that at the last meeting the President was required to appoint a committee to revise the present Constitution and report such amendments as might to them seem expedient. That committee, composed of gentlemen of charac- ter and ability .has had two laborious and protracted meetings, and will shortly have a third to com- plete their work. That they have worked faith- fully and zealously we know, for we were necessa- rily present during much of their deliberations and they have framed an instrument which they have deemed the best under the circumstances and the most likely to meet the wishes of the Society. We take leave to bespeak for it in advance a calm consideration, and a regard to the difficulties under which it has been framed. For ourselves we dis- approve it, but we mean to vo& for it. It contains ample provisions for its own amendment, and can therefore safely be adopted. Defective as it may be, and as we think it is, anything is better than the wild confusion which 6ur last meetings exhibited, and which must always ensue when three thousand gentlemen in mass attempt to legis- late, or to deliberate. . The second question is, what shall be done with the money already in our coffers, and how shall we rai.-e more 1 A great annual exhibition, however u-eful and interesting, cannot be the whole end and aim of a large agricultural society. The Legislature having failed, we think acciden- tally, to grant the largess asked of them by the So- ciety, the Executive Committee have been at a stand, end for want of means could not prosecute any of the plans of improvement which have been suggested by various persons. What these plans may be, it is not proper to discuss in this place; but we humbly submit that it would be more profita- ble, if wcare to have debate at the next meeting to discuss such things than some others that have distracted the .Society. But these are matters which can be more appro- priately brought forward in the annual report of the Executive Committee, and they are here mere- ly alluded to that members, if they decide to act on them, may not come entirely unprepared. The reason why the committees have not been sooner announced is, that so large a portion of those appointed, and notified of their appointment, have not replied to the notice. It is very desirable to know, before the public announcement is made, whether those appointed will serve ; and it is there- fore deemed' prudent to wait until the latest mo- ment. The Rail Road and other transportation compa- nies of the State were addressed some time ago, to know on what terms they would transport passeu- gers and articles of all sorts intented for exhibi- tion. With the exception of the Va. & Tennessee Road,, which declines .giving any gratuitous as- sistance, those that have been heard from have de- termined, with their usual and expected liberality, to transport on the same terms as heretofore, and there is no doubt that the rest will follow suit. "BEWARE 0? CUTTING WHEAT PREMA- TURELY." " One of the largest wheat growers in the State of Delaware, who uses between fifty and sixty tons of guano a year, informs us that he lost near- ly three thousand dollars by cutting his wheat pre- maturely, and thereby causing it to shrink badly, at the harvest of 1852. He was induced to deviate from his usual practice by reading an extended ar- ticle on harvesting wheat,' written by Mr. Edmund Ruffin, of Virginia, who is generally regarded as high authority, being himself a pretty large \\heat grower." * *■*.*.* The foregoing, which is the beginning of an arti" cle in the "Working Farmer" of August, copied from the " Burlington Gazette," is a serious though a loose and general charge, made without any specifications upon which to found a defence. We do not question the occurrence of the heavy loss stated — or, it possibly, might be, any amount or number of such losses. But in all such cases, we are confident that the loss was caused, not by the folloioing of the advice and directions here charged as being the guide to error and disaster, but the neglect of some of the important particulars direc- te 1 in the essay in question.. We have some gene- ral and personal acquaintance with Mr. Edmund Ruffin's practice in this respect, conforming as nearly as circumstances will permit, to his direc- tions referred to above. We have never heard of his having suffered any loss from his early reaping -f wheat, nor of any other person's doing so from truly following his precepts. And we have heard from him that he has aimed to reap as early as he has advised others to do in every harvest since about 1821 ; that he lias never lost by it, or re- gretted having begun to reap too soon; while in every harvest, he has had to regret that, for want JOG THE SOUTHERN PLANTER of sufficient force and speed of operations, a pro- portionate quantity of every crop was reaped riper, and much riper, than the state preferred, and that by this unavoidable delay, -much waste and loss have been incurred. FINE FRUIT. About ten days ago, we received per Adams & Co.'s Express, freight paid, a box of fruit, contain- ing pears, apples and peaches, from Mr. H. R. Ro- bey, proprietor of the Hopewell Nurseries, near Fredericksburg. We never eat apples when we can get peaches, nor either when we can get pears, nor pears when we can get figs. But having no figs we ate— we and some friends, Mr. Robey, of course' sent more than enough for "just you by yourself"— all the pears that were then eatable, and found them first rate ; then we fell upon the peaches, and found them delicious— almost as good as if they *had been brandied; to which, by the bye, Mr. Ro- bey has a peach admirably adapted. The apples we left for a more convenient season. They were very large and apparently fine. If we are to judge the trees by their fruit, we should say Mr. Robey has some good trees ; and the people of Freder- icksburg and the country around, need not go to the North — that eternal North— to get anything in the plant line. P. S. We have since eaten some more pears, and feel better. Dreamed last night that we were the Duchess D'Angouleme in hoop petticoats, hanging by a Chinese queue, from a pear tree, and were proposing to " pear off" with a Mr. Bartlett; when Mr. Robey came in and began to eat Mr. Bartlett, pronouncing him very juicy and sweet as sugar. Whereat our ladyship was so shocked that we at- tempted to fly the orchard, but tripped in our un- accustomed attire, fell down five miles and knock- ed out three teeth. Waked up very much stunned at the end of the trip, congratulating ourself that it was no worse, and that the drapery had proved so good a parachute. Mean to read no more fruit tree catalogues about bed time. GUINEA FOWLS vs. RATS ONCE MORE. A correspondent from Orange writes that Guinea fowls will not drive off rats, as he knows of cases in which they both infest the same curtilage. — So do we : in our own case, we have had a hen- yard, where one side of the enclosure was the gable end of a smoke house. The Guineas lived there, and the rats destroyed two or three hun- dred weight of meat every year. It is proba- ble that their first introduction annoys the rats — their nocturnal clatter will annoy folks — and drives them away; but they will soon become accustom- ed to it, and return. Any other unusual noise, if loud, and constantly repeated, will cause them to depart, but only for a season. Thus, we have al- ways heard that Gov. Randolph once rid a barn of them by causiug a drum to be beat all night in the barn, for two or three nights in succession. We do not know if they returned, but presume they did. For the Southern Planter. DRAINAGE. Mr. Editor : Sir : — At your kind request, I submit some of the details of my practice, upon the much neglected subject of ditching, in our State. It is a difficult matter with me to give any general directions, suitable for all occasions and locali- ties. I think, however, I can point out some important labor-saving plans, combining great efficiency, as well as thereby relieving the operation of ditching of many of its terrors, of expense and tediousness, in this era of rapid progression. In taking possession of a farm in Virginia, where the previous management was according to the customs of the olden time, you are apt to be confused by the old ditches, fences, hedge rows and bushes, in running your drains in proper places. It is, therefore, necessary to take a comprehensive view of the fall of the coun- try, and particularly the fall of the whole land you design ditching. In doing this, discard all the old ditches and other draw-backs from your eye, as much as possible. Set out with the determination to leave no open ditch wher- ever the body of water can be compassed, safe- ly, with a secret ditch.* Open ditches offend the eye by their annual crops of briars, alder, &c.j besides, in most cases, becoming nullities. The freezing and thawing of winter, or the dashing rains of summer, almost invariably fill them up, or cause them to change their course. It is necessary, where you have no river or creek, to receive your secret ditches, to have one, and sometimes, though rarely, two, main open ditches, in a land, to carry the wa- ter from the covered drains, and from the sur- face. Open ditches should be located in the lowest places; the banks, while the operation is going on, should be drawn off, according to the quantity of earth, by ploughing and scoop- ing, to the distance, (each side of the ditch,) from 5 to 10 yards. This must be done to enable the surface water to flow from all parts of the land, freely into the ditch. The old *It is very important to notice your Iand,when per- fectly saturated, after a long spell of wet weather: the narrow ditches are intended for ordinary land ; when the body of water requires it, widen the ditches to 10 inches. THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 307 plan of leaving two high banks on each side of the ditch, did more harm than good. Upon this new plan you can plough and cultivate nearly to the water's edge. This practice pre- vents the growth of noxious weeds, so univer- sal upon the high hank ditches. Secret Ditches* — An experience of some twelve years has reduced my practice to the following mode of constructing under drains. In the first place, it is my invariable rule to haul the stone in place before a spade is suf- fered to be put in the ground. I either run the line of ditches with a plough, or set up a number of stakes. I will venture to assert, that more time and labor has been lost from the neglect of this rule, than would have ac- complished half as much more ditching. The caving in of the banks, after a few rains, ren- ders the undertaking almost as tedious as the first cutting. I have two sets of spades and long-handle shovels — one set of the common size, and another set to work in the bottoms of the ditches — the spades 5| inches wide at the edge, and the shovels four and a half inch- es wide. My "labor-saving ditches," as I call them, arc commenced about 2 feet wide at the top, with the ordinary spade ; then draw in gradually to the depth of three feet, when the additional foot is cut with the narrow spades and shovels. I hold it to be good policy and great economy, to dig all secret ditches at least 4 feet deep, when the requisite fall can be ob- tained. The moment you finish a line of ditch- ing, turn right around and lay the stone. Have a quick boy on the bank to hand the stone to the'layer. If you have fiat stone set them all edging, upon the principle of the arch. For instance, the sides of your ditch, for a foot or so from the bottom, are from 7 to 9 inches wide. If the bottom is very soft, and many craw-fish abound, first lay a thin atone on either side of the bottom, then upon these lay the largest stone edgeways, bringing them together at the top; then wedge these be- hind with all sizes, top dressing with the small- est. It is a safe rule to raise the stones to ful- ly 2 feet in height. This can be done in these narrow ditches with fewer stone than is used in ditches cut three feet icicle and 2£ deep. If you have round stone, throw them in at ran- dom, only taking care to put enough. An in- verted sod, usually to be" had on the bank, * ft frequently happens persons are deterred from covering ditches, because of low places of When this is thecase, let the surface wa- ter of these into the secret ditch', by deep furrows, only observing to put a load or two of small rock jim, where the furrow enters the ditch. This will prevent any derangement or obstruction to the operation of the under drain. makes the best covering, before the dirt is drawn upon the ditch. My rule is, to fill my ditches with a two horse plough, with some use of the hoe, in finishing off. Pine poles and all kinds of wood, I utterly discard, as material for making drains. The labor justi- fies more lasting substances. Gentlemen upon tide water, who have no rock upon their land ought, by all means, to use tile, and be sure they are large enough and well burnt. Ne- groes are old fogies, all the world over, and it is difficult to convince them that it is less la- borious to cut a narrow ditch than a wide one. They say they have not room to work. My hands have to stand in the bottom of the ditch- es, which are about 7 inches wide, with one foot before the other. You hare less than one-half the earth to cut and throw out in the narrow ditches, and the stone can be laid in half the time, and being supported by the narrow banks or sides, are less liable to get out of place. If I could show you the mouths of my ditches, you would have such ocular demonstration to sup- port all I have stated, that you would not hes- itate to adopt a similar practice. I do not claim originality in this system. It is very generally the usage in Scotland and parts of Ireland, and perhaps of England also. I omifted to say when sods are not to be found upon the ditch banks, pine brush constitute t? covering for the stoae, not to be surpassed by anything known. I have thus hastily given you the details of my draining, as I promised you, together with with as much "elaboration" as you will proba- bly desire. I have written it particularly for yourself, not that I think myself capable of imparting learning in this branch, but because you put the request in a way I could not well refuse. If it is worth the ink and paper to publish it, you are welcome to do it. Hoping it may be of some service to yoursef, at least, I sign myself openly, A Secret Ditcher. For the Southern Planter- TO THE READERS OF THE PLANTER Who hare , or may hereafter Juive Seymour's Broad, cast Sowing Machine. We will suppose the machine before you in the condition in which you receive it, provided it reaches you in good order. First put on the wheels — observing that the wheel with the heaviest casting, c»r " quick motioned zizzag" is the right hand wheel as you sit in the chair to drive the horse. The wooden lever belongs on this side, and is operated by the wheel to 308 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. give a quick, vibrating motion to the " seed rod," " plaster rod," &c., while the iron lever is operated by the " slow motioned zizzag" on the left hand wlj*el to operate the " feeder." A cord passing from the upper end of the wooden lever over the pulley, to the left leg of the chair above the middle, is very convenient for the operator, enabling him to stop the sew- ing at pleasure, merely by placing his foot upon the 'cord. The shafts and 'seat being put in place, the machine is ready for action. The " rods" for sowing may be changed by raising a small iron slide inside of one end of the box, and drawing out one rod at that end and putting in another. The amount of seed per acre must be determined by the operator. Let him set the machine so the seed he wishes to sow will just pass. This with a medium motion of the rod, (or at ail events with the shortest motion of the rod,) will give as small a quantity as is ever desired, and the quantity may be increased by increasing the motion of the rod, or by enlarging the passage for the seed. The index shows when you enlarge the passage for the seed — thus it may be increased to any desired quantity, (varying, if you wish as little as half a pint at a time,) within the capacity of the machine, which is from a peck of grain to ten bushels or more, and from two quarts to three bushels of clover or timothy seed, or of the two mixed, and from one peck to twenty bushels or more of lime, plaster, &c. It is proper here to say, the dryer the lime, plaster, guano, &c. the more per acre may be sown, for when damp they require a larger space to discharge the same amount. And now a word to those who have, or may have Seymour's Grain Drill. The seed box and mode of distributing the seed and regulating the quantity is the same as in the Broadcast Sowing Machine. It is so obvious how every part goes that it would seem difficult to make a mistake in put- ting it together. The wonder is, that so simple a machine is capable of doing, with almost no machinery, all which is deemed important, that any other grain drill will do, while it is divested of that complication in which most of them so largely share. Directions for using are found in each machine. P. Seymour, Patentee of Seymour's Broadcast Sowing Machine, and Seymour's Grain Drill. For the Southern Planter. But especially for Mr, W. J Bingham. GRASSES, SHEEP, &c. about grasses, sheep, He that rises late, must trot all day, and scarce overtake his business at night. Sir : — You inquire &c, to which I reply. If you have abundance of hay for winter, and grass for summer, then perhaps the Dur- 'hani cattle are preferable to any other ; but on ordinary keep the Devon, or the black Scotch polled are to be preferred. The Scotch cattle above alluded to are black, with red back, no horns, short legs, heavy bodies, thick bides, hardy, and easily fatted ; and everything con- sidered, I incline to think they are for general purposes, the most profitable breed of cattle in our country. I had a few some years past, but discarded them and started after the fash- ion, which I now regret. If you have a convenient market for mut- ton, then the carcase should be the predomi- nant object, and consequently the larger the breed the better, provided that breed will fat- ten kindly. If the marketing your mutton would cost much, then wool should be the pre- dominant object, and consequently the finer the quality the better. But what will you do with your old sheep ? It is true that a healthy wedder or buck will live to the age of 30 or even 40 years, and yield his fleece annually ; but what is to be done with the old ewes ? In my younger days I was a breeder of sheep, but not now ; yet, if I were, I should prefer the Spanish Merino, which combines both va- luable carcase and valuable wool. But, Sir, let me tell you that no man can succeed in any manner of business unless he takes pleasure in attending to that business, consequently if you cannot condescend to occasionally follow your shepherd and sheep all day, with an ash-cake in one pocket and a bottle of water in the oth- er, touch not the sheep business. ■ There is no profit, worth consideration, on a stock of less than 1000 sheep. In a healthy region, from one to two thousand can be kept in a flock, in health, provided the shepherd does not permit them to lie in filthy places. And I will also make the declaration that no man can profit by breeding sheep on lands which are fit and proper for agricultural purposes. Elevated, broken, and rocky lands, and loca- tions secluded from market are proper for sheep walks—" The cattle on a thousand hills arc mine, saith the Lord." If your: fences are not tall, then you should not own a tall sheep, for certainly over he goes, and then over goes short legs also. As to the proper grasses which you should sow, I thought I had been sufficiently explicit THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 309 in nry late communication, to which I beg leave to call your further attention. But one re- mark I will now add, that is, if your lands are liable to broom, let your seeds at first be prin- cipally red clover, so that by the application and effect of plaster, the land may be advanced beyond the natural broom point. Red clover is not valuable for grazing purposes, principal- ly because of its being so easily killed by the treading of stock, but it is well to scatter a few seeds with other grasses, that the grazing animals may have variety. Above I have said that sheep should net be kept on land which is fit and proper for agri- cultural purposes. Now, although I do not intend to modify this declaration, yet it may need explanation. There are some few spots, other than alluvial bottoms, which from natu- ral causes or peculiar management, become surcharged with vegetable matter, and hence (m part,) too porous to yield a crop of corn or wheat equivalent to their apparent ability. Such lands are wanting what is generally term- ed animal matter; that is, the droppings of ani- mals, their respiration and perspiration, in quantities equivalent to the vegetable matter ; in addition to which the tramping of the ani- mals will also add to the improvement. For this purpose, perhaps, sheep are to be preferred. And for the eradication of sassafras and briars perhaps sheep are preferable to any other ani- mal; but when these purposes are effected what is to be done with the sheep ? For grazing purposes the most valuable grass m our State is the green sward, especial- ly for sheep ; and I very much doubt the suc- cess of sheep breeding in Va., where the green sward docs not appear without sowing, except in some of the western counties, where the ti- mothy has become indigenous. I would not dissnade Mr. Bingham from his purpose of at- tempting to profit by breeding cattle and sheep for market, but as he asks my opinion, I an >wer, I think his locality (Orange county, N. G.,} unsuitable for either purpose. The mur- rain, the rot, the, flies, and ticks, will be down upon his stock ; and in proportion to the in- crease of the herd of the flock, so the increase of disease. Let him, however, hold on to what he has on hand, and let his increase of stock only be proportionate to his increase of confi- dence. As to the Murrian, (distemper,) I suppose Mr. B. is better acquainted with the disease than I am, for it is common in. his neighbor- hood, but is seldom seen north of James River. But having suffered by the rot, I can tell him how to detect it, and the remedy. If a sheep coughs vehemently with head up, the disease is asthma, and not dangerous ; but if the cough is suppressed with head down, it is rot, (con- sumption,) and the only remedy is to fatten him as quickly as possible, and away to mar- ket. And as this disease is infectious, the diseased sheep should be separated from the flock so soon as the disease is detected. I say be in haste to fatten, for if the disease is suf- fered to run longer than three or four months, the animal will ^thereafter not fatten, but be- come poorer for eight or ten months, when death overtakes him. I do not think that the above recommended act would be fraudulent, for surely a fat sheep cannot be objectionable. In consideration of the natural habits of the sheep, I incline to the opinion that the Creator intended they should be continually under the control of man. Unlike all other animals, they are too lazy or stupid to seek a proper shelterfrom the scorching sun or pelting storm; and when they have taken a position by the side of a fence or log, they hold on till near sun down, and return thither day after day, unless beat and kept off by sticks and stones. Perhaps the hot sun and accumulated stench produces the rot. Sheep should be kept on the coolest and cleanest portions of the pas- ture ground during the heat of the day, and on the warmer portions before and after. I doubt whether a sheep will ever die of disease in a healthy region, during the grazing season provided the shepherd performs his duty. If any person is disposed to doubt that a sheep will live to be 40 years old, let him sig- nify that doubt, and I will prove my assertion by a certificate from Mr. Thomas Allen, of this county, whose mother owned the sheep re- ferred to. Now, friend Bingham, I have answered your interrogatories to the best of my ability. Please pay me in something of the like kind, through the same medium I send this. Yours, Za. Detjmmokd. For the Southern Planter. CORN FODDER. In the last number of the Southern Planter a correspondent writes in terms of commenda- tion of the practice of cutting off corn at the ground to rid the land of the crop, and save the provender for winter use. The plan he proposes, for shocking the corn would be en- tirely impracticable in this county, where the plant grows from 10 to 16 feet high. If I understand his plan, he shocks around a stake, and after tying, withdraws the stake from the top. Now, as our corn shocks are fully 1 3 10 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, feet high upon an average, it would take rather a greater length of leg and arm than is usually seen in these parts. Ic has been my practice for ten years to cut off corn, and I have found but little difficulty in securing both fodder and corn. As the shuck begins to dry or the grain is well in the dough state, I com- mence cutting off. The operation may be done with safety much earlier than is usually supposed. In commencing let one hand enter the corn in the row selected for the shocks, leaving about eight hills behind him— take four stalks from hills forming a square, draw the tops together and tie them; then let each hand cut off as many stalks as he can conve- niently hold in one arm, rest the buts upon the left thigh, (which assists in moving it from hill to hill,) and without dropping the turn carry it at once to the shock. The important point to be observed in shocking is to place the stalks "square" to the shock, as they are leaued to a common center at top. If they be placed obliquely to the shock it " twists" in curing, and the whole will tumble down. If the corn be cut green, it is best to make the shocks but half the proper size with the first cutting—cutting eight rows and leaving eight alternately through the field. This allows the interior of the shock to cure before the rest is added to it, and enables us to make the shocks oi larger size. In this case I tie the shocks twice, otherwise but once ; and this may be done either with splits prepared for the pur- pose, grape vines, corn stalks or broom corn 11ns last ties better than Indian corn, and is more easily procured than either splits or vines. By planting broom corn through tlie held at convenient points the tyers are always at hand. The shocks stand sixteen rows apart one way— the distance the other depending of course upon the thickness of the corn and size of shock. The strips occupied by the corn may be seeded in oats, and the whole land tnus brought into grass at once. K the corn be very tall I cut the stubble two or three feet high, which lessens the weight stalk without loss of fodder, and makes the shocks stand up better. I agree with your correspondent that the fodder thus saved is equal to blades and tops, and I am very sure I can rid the land of crop by this system with two-thirds the labor ex- pended in the blade pulling and top cutting process. Yours truly, R. W. N. N. Jlox, Albemarle Co.. Va. Below will be found the republication of a valu- able article from Dr. Thomas W. Meriwether, on the remedy against joint worm. So certain is the remedy in the hands of Dr. Meriwether, that he has concluded, after full trial of its efficacy, to compete for the premium of $500, offered by a portion of the Executive Committee for the disco- very of some available and sufficient remedy against the joint worm. By the terms of the sche- dule, the remedy must be presented in time to be tried this fall, and hence Dr. Meriwether publishes it now, in advance of the meeting of the Society. How far the presence of Chinch Bug should deter from early seeding, must depend on the judg- ment of each farmer. Our own experience with Chinch Bug is so limited that we do not know what to advise. Fur the Southern Planter. THE WHEAT CROP AND ITS ENEMIES. Mr. Editor : — Whilst the wheat is " root- ing," as our great farmer Rogers used to ex- press its winter growth, let us endeavor to dive into some of the mysteries of this won- derful plant. The chief of these at psesent is, the destroying joint- worm, which has dimin- ished the crop of this and several adjoining counties from 30 to 50 per cent. Yet, in the midst of it, for the last two years, my crops have been the best I ever made. Of this fact I will give the reasons, so far as I know, in the hope of throwing some light on this en- grossing topic. A short review of the wheat culture of Virginia may be of interest to our younger brethren, and illustrate more clearly our present difficulty. In old times, before the Hessian fly, when the wheat was often sowed and ploughed in at the last working of the corn, almost the only limit to the crop was in the extent and fertility of the land. This suc- cess encouraged its cultivation, till the wheat patch, as it was then called, expanded into the wheat field. Then came the fly, so destruct- ive under this system, that it was called Hes- sian, after a ruthless and unprovoked enemy, and erroneously supposed to be brought over by them. The habits of this insect being carefully investigated by Gov. Barbour, Gen. Cocke, and others, showed the danger of too early seeding, and the advantage of grazing and other means of diminishing its ravages. — To avoid their fall deposit of eggs on the blades of the wheat, it became the settled practice not to begin sowing earlier than the first to the fifth of October. This delay of a- full month or more from the former usage, be- sides subjecting the* latter part of the crop to the spring attack of the fly, aggravated enor- THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. ill niously the danger from rust — the universal enemy to the wheat. The necessity of early ripening to escape the rust, while prevented from early sowing by the fly, led to the trial of every possible variety of wheat, nor is any one kind even yet decided on as the best. — The Mediterranean has at least the two-fold advantage, that it may be sown ten days earlier, and ripens nearly as much sooner, than the white flint and other standard kinds. Its culture, in spite of many objections, is extend- ing, and of this our crops in this region partly consisted when first attacked by the joint- worui. In the panic occasioned by this dreadful ene- my, which has driven some of our farmers" off the field, we could not at first say that it spared any kind. But on closer inspection, the old proverb proved true — " the devil take the hindmost." The joint-worm kas'a certain time to change from its chrysalis state and come forth to work; but if a little before this time the wheat can head, the straw is then too hard for them, and they seek that which is more tender. — Their mode of operation is to pierce the outer covering near the joint, and deposit their eggs, which soon hatch and cut off all nourishment from above that point. Upon these facts we base our practice, which is to sow in good time and with the best preparation the earlier kinds of wheat, and push them in every way to the speediest maturity. We begin by the middle of September, or as soon after as we can get ready, and sow for the first week or ten days of pure Mediterranean, then of one- thirl? early purple straw mixed with it, and finish y, ith the purple straw alone. If any Poland or late wheat at all, it should be sowed early in October on tobacco land, or the most favor- able spots as to fertility and exposure. The white May wheat we are now trying, to see if that will not head the enemy. My neighbor, F. K. Nelson, tried his last crop in three ways, and all turned out well. First, prime clover, fallow, sowed early in Mediterranean; second, well manured land in the same , and third, the corn field in early purple straw, with guano. These three methods seem likely to succeed. I know of no other. Ordinary fallow, or good corn land, may do with one hundred pounds of guano to the acre ; but two hun- dred pounds are necessary if the land be poor. The wheat drill with the jruano attachment, will, I hope, do great things for us and the whole country. A single experiment with it in Fauquier is enough, at least, to attract atten- tion. Three strips of land, sowed side by side, the first, without help, brought fifteen bushels to the acre; the second, with two hundred pounds of guano broadcast, fifteen ; and the third, ■ drilled with fifty pounds of guano, twenty bushels. Yours, sincerely, Thos. W. Meriwether. Albemarle, February, 1854. For the Southern Planter. In your September No. is a communication signed Yardly Taylor, commenting on Dr. Baldwin's theory of promoting the fertility of soil. The spirit of that piece is in anything but good taste. It is arrogant, and its allusion to Cobbett's maxim is vulgar — but let all that pass. Mr. Taylor says : " What is the differ- ence between woody and vegetable fibre in a state of decay, and wood in a state of putre- faction?" This is asked in triumph. Pray, Mr. Taylor, do you not know the difference be- tween decomposition and putrefaction ? If you do not, then in your own words you have "exposed your ignorance." The error of Mr. Taylor is that lie pins his faith on names ; and names in this age are worth just as much as they will bring. Dr. B. offers his second premium of $100 for proof that "any substance whatever pos- sesses the fertilizing qualities of manure ex- cept the residue of putrefaction." Sulphate of lime, says Mr. Taylor, is not the " residue of putrefaction," and yet he has seen it " increase greatly the crop of wheat and clover." So, too, Mr. Taylor, you have seen a fellow who drinks whiskey freely sTvell up and grow as fat as a bear, but did the whis- key feed or did it stimulate his appetite ? Ou Dr. Baldwin's third premium, Mr. Tay- lor is somewhat cloudy and confused. He says of " inorganic matters," " they never un- dergo the putrefactive process." Now if Mr. T. will take a brick and place it in a wet, cool vault or cave, he will find that it will ultimate- ly crumble into humus. This is putrefaction and a fertilizer. If the brick is resolved into its original elements — silex, lime, &c, &c. he will find that neither of these elements sepa- rate or combined in the brick is a fertilizer — this is decomposition. The error of the moon now Mr. Editor, is that great writers — and they seem to be conclusive with Mr. T. — have as- sumed that inorganic matters never undergo the putrefactive process. Who told them this negative proposition ? If it be true, let them attempt to prove a negative. The law re- quires no man to prove a negative simply be- cause it is impossible, but' Mr. T. and other great writers assume most conveniently this negative position, and flare up because they are asked respectfully to prove it. 312 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. Now, sir, if you cannot prove your asser- tion, don't be quite so presunvptious in promul- gating it, nor so pugnacious when you are asked for some facts to sustain you. Mr. Tay- lor, but for his " pecuniary means," is willing to risk $100 if Dr. B. will prove the converse of the proposition. If the converse cannot be proved, as Mr. T. lustily asserts over and over again, where is the peril to his pecuniary means ? And besides, he would have the satis- faction of putting the doctor in a corner — which Mr. T. knows well is not easily done with a truly philosophic writer, who follows strictly the Baconian method of building his theories on facts. Mr. T. in his last paragraph complains that Dr. B. has never once " condescended to no- tice any objections or inconsistencies," &c. &c. Now, my dear Mr. Editor, I ask you, for the love of the brethren, would it be in good taste for a man who thinks before he writes to spend his time, so valuable to a physician in full practice, in answering writers, many of whom evidently write before they think ? Dr. B. 1 presume has no time to teach any body the difference between putrefaction and decomposi- tion. He has no time, and from what I have beard of him, no taste to bandy back such a sentiment as that quoted from Cobbett by Mr. T. The truth is, sir, that the old fogies in agriculture must back out. Dr. B. started with declaring the " science" of agricultural chemistry a humbug; and after he said so the Agricultural Society of Maryland, in a solemn resolution, reiterated the same opinion. He de- clares that nothing applied to vegetation feeds plants but that which has in some form under- gone the putrefactive process; that whilst de- composition precedes putrefaction it is not ne- cessarily followed by it, and unless so followed it yields no nutriment. Now all this is very simple. If any man can find anything applied to the root of a tree or vegetable in an exhausted sod, which will make it grow, except what has in some form and to some extent undergone the putrefactive process, let him print it. The Dr. says he finds by actual experiment that if an exhausted soil is covered, or as he chooses to call it, is shaded, that the surface of the earth so covered or shaded becomes rich and fertile, and he thus infers that the same chemical ac- tion has taken place, which does take place when you apply manure or any matter which is putrefactive. He finds by experiment that it does not matter what the covering sub- stance is — although the effect produced depends much upon its being done right, as in all other cases the way in which you do a thing is al- most as important as doing it at all. He tells his brother farmers to take their straw and cover their knolls and spots, and that it will manure, or rather enrich ten times as much ground as it would do if reduced by the putrefactive process to manure, and then spread. This is all very simple — and all he asks is for them to try it. If he is right, he has made a great and sublime discoveiy. He has got clear of the jargon of the schools, and the Don Quixotism of chemical agriculture. He has doubled and tripled and quadrupled the products of the soil, and thus swelled the individual and aggregate wealth of the coun- try ; and if no other man bless him, my blessing shall be on his head. A Jefferson Farmer. For the Southern Planter. Gentlemen of the Virginia S'ate Agricultural Society : The precarious state of my health and the pressure of private engagements require that I should decline a re-election to the honorable post to which your partiality has hitherto assigned me : and I therefore give this timely notice in order that you may be prepared, at your approaching annual meeting, to fill that honorable office. I shall ever gratefully remember the kind and constant support of my numerous friends in the society, as well as their hearty co-opera- tion and generous efforts, whilst we have for three years past labored together to establish the prosperity and usefulness of our State Ag- ricultural Society. Pmi.rr St. Geo. Cocke. Retreat, Sept. 8, 1855. For "the Soul hern Planter. Mr. Editor: Dear Sir, — I have wished to inform you, that I gave last spring a fair trial to gas-tar as a means of preventing the depreciation of the bud-worm. My crop of corn was planted, as recommended in the -Southern Planter, and in no preceding year have I suffered more from the worm. The season was an unfavora- ble one for the germination of the grain, the spring being very dry until the 19th of May, up to which date corn came up badly and grew very slowly. I used, too, a small quan- tity of guano' in the drill to force the corn to be strong enough to resist the worm. My de- cided opinion is, that gas-tar produces no bene- fit whatever. Very truly yours, Ed. T. Taylor.' THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 311 For the Southern Planter. OVERSEERS. Their term of service begins on the 1st of January. This is attended with many incon- veniences. It is the most inclement season of the year to move them and their effects to their new home, when the roads are generally bad and the rivers often frozen. Their interest and their employers combines in favor of changing the time to either the 1st of August or of September. This is properly the com- mencement of the agricultural year. The new overseer will make the necessary preparations for the sowing of the wheat crop, which he will himself reap before the end of his service; will have the care of the fodder and corn which has been made under the charge of his prede- cessor, and will feel an interest in making early arrangements for the next year's crop. It is a favorable season for the removal of families, and at a time when farm work is least pressing, and exposure is least apprehended. The re- moving overseer would have the benefit of sel- ling his garden products and his poultry to his successor, or to his employer. The wheat crop is next in importance to that of corn. It is more likely that the overseer who will reap it, will bestow more care in sow- ing it than he who will probably never see it during its growth. It will be the more his in- terest to secure good and abundant provender for the teams and stock under his charge, and to make timely preparations for the ploughing, manuring, and tillage of Jhe crops he will su- perintend. In the expediency of the proposed change, every farmer concurs. To accomplish it, the act must be general The difficulty is, how to begin it. The planter may, perhaps, desire a later day. Rut will not his interest, too, be promoted by entrusting the tobacco crop to a new overseer on the 1st of August or of September? A reform may be effected through the means of the State Agricultural Society at its next meeting. E. T. T. For the Southern Planter. CHINCH BUG. Mr. Editor: Rear Sir : — As the ravages of this insect are attracting considerable attention in almost every quarter of the State east of the Alle- ghany mountains, and are becoming more fre- quent than formerly, I would recommend to your readers the practice of sowing buckwheat in their corn fields as a protection against it- A neighbor of mine, Mr. Stout, and myself) both tried it this season, and in both instances the effect was very evident, particularly in that of Mr. Stout, the ravages the bug ceas- ing the moment it came in contact with the buckwheat. I also had a buckwheat fallow, and it was very rare to see a bug in that portion of the wheat field, although they swarmed up to the very line. Rut I regard the experiment at Mr. S's. as decisive of the fact that to a con- siderable extent the practice will prove success- ful. Of course, I do not mean to say that this would be of any avail in very dry seasons, when the corn would be destroyed before it at- tained the height of your knee. It costs but little to try this, as in all proba- bility, the buckwheat will remunerate the la- bour, should the corn be lost. T. G. For the Southern Plantei. ANALYSIS OF THE TOBACCO PLANT. Randolph Macon College, ) Sept, 13th, 1855. ^ I herewith send you for publication an analysis of the ash of the leaf and stalk of the tobacco plant, made in my laboratory, by my assistant, Mr. Shepard. No time or labor has been spared to have the analysis correct, and without hesitation I commend it to the confidence of those who take an interest in such things. The tobacco was obtained in the month of March, 1854, from the farm of Dr. Wm. H. Jones of this county, and was of the " Orinoco" kind. Leaf. Stalk- Sulphuric acid 2.95 per cent. 4.12 per Chlorine 5.93 " 14.42 Phosphoric acid 6.08 " 6.70 ' Lime 35.83 " 26.34 Potash 30.46 " 35.32 Soda 2.95 " 1.14 Magnesia 6.96 " 8.30 Soluble silicas 1.59 " .17 Charcoal and sand 6.95 " 3.88 Iron, merely A trace. A trace. cent- 99.70 100.39 The amount of ash in the dried leaf was 18.47 per cent. We did not determine the per centage of ash in the stalk. For compari- son I have arranged the analysis of the leaf after the manner of Johnson, and annexed the analysis of Hungarian tobacco gathered from two localities, found in his large work : :14 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. I. II. Analysis, nfthr Analysis of Viginia Leaf. Hungarian No. 1. Sulphate of lime 5.12[ Chloride of sodium 5.C5 Choride of potassium 5.50 Potassa Lime Magnesia Soluble silica Charcoal and sand, Phosphate of lime Soda Iron A Phosphate of iron 27.03 32.07 7.11 1.63 7.10 8.19 trace. 7.14 p. c 6.91 " 9 -91 " 20.40 " 27.87 " 9.72 " 12.13 " .56 " it 7.00 " III. Analysis of Hungarian No. 2. 6.35 p. c. 3.49 " 3.93 " 12.14 " 45.90 " 13.09 " 8.01 " 1.49 " 0.07 " 5.48 100.00 100.00 100.00 The per centage of ash in the dried leaf of Hungarian No. 1, 21.28, and in No. 2, 23.68. A remarkable peculiarity about the Virginia leaf in the absence of iron — in the Hungarian iron is found in respectable quantity. Many other points of interest will present themselves to those who will take the pains to inspect and compare the tables. I have never met with a previous analysis of the tobacco stalk. Chas. B. Stuart, Prof, of Chemistrv. uine worth, occupy that stand, and meet with that reward that his talents and honesty and his modesty entitles to. Respectfully, yrs. &c, W. H. Macon. Mr For the Southern Planter. Mt. Prospect, Sept. 3, 1855. Editor ; Dear Sir, — I desire through your journal to express my great admiration as to the ex- cellency and completeness of the Threshing Machine built by John Haw of Hanover. This machine was exhibited at our last an- nual fair, and this season it has threshed a crop of five or six thousand bushels, doing its work as beautifully and as thoroughly as it was possible' for any machine to do, threshing and cleaning the wheat at the same time. Besides this one, Mr. Haw has built some four five others, (one of which I have,) all of which have worked to the entire satisfaction of those who have them. I do not think I could well say too much in favor of this machine. I am confident that all who will give it a trial will be pleased with it. I think for $500 Mr. Haw would build a machine to work 16 horses, (mules,) that "would thresh 1000 bushels of wheat per day. I do not like, Mr. Editor, to appear extrava- gant, or to run away with the thing; but I do desire to see such a machinist, and he a Vir- ginian, who stands so ] : > 1100 d> do 1st year, 3c each,- • I)o 1000 seedlings, Jr. each Total 8' 133 20 Pei haps some may think it is impossible to have so much on so small a surface. I would just say that my beans and carrots grew 6 40 5 00 5 00 14 00 12 50 33 00 r, 00 From the Baltimore Sun. BENEFITS OF DROUGHTS TO LAND. [Laboratory of State Chemist. No. 29, Exchange Buildings] It may be a consolation to those who have felt the influence of the late, long and pro- tracted dry weather to know that droughts are one of tin* natural causes to restore the con- stituents of crops and renovate cultivated soils ■ The diminution of the mineral matter of cultivated soils takes place from two causes : 1st. The quantity of mineral matter carried off in crops and not returned to the soil in ma- nure. 2d. The mineral matter carried off by ram water to the sea by means of fresh water streams. ' These two causes, always in operation, and counteracted by nothing, would in time render the earth a barren waste in which no verdure would quicken and no solitary plant take root. A rational system of agriculture would obvi- ate the first cause of sterility, by always re- storing to the soil an equivalent for that which is taken off by the crops ; but as this is not done in all cases, Providence has provided a way of its own to counteract the thriftless^ ness of man, by instituting droughts at proper periods to bring up from the deep parts of the earth food on which plants might feed when rains should again fall. The manner in which droughts exercise their benefi -ial influence is as follows : During dry weather a continual evaporation of water takes place from the sur- face of the earth, which is not supplied by any from the clouds. The evaporation from the surface creates a vacuum, (so far as water is concerned,) which is at once filled by the water rising up from the subsoil of the land ; the water from the subsoil is replaced from the next strata below, and in this manner the cir- culation of water in the earth is the reverse to that which takes place in wet weather. This progress to the surface of the water in the earth rrianifests itself strikingly in the drying 318 THE SOUTHEEN PLANTER up of springs, and of rivers and streams which are supported by springs. It is not, however, only the water which is brought to the surface of the earth, but also all that which the water holds in solution. These substances are salts of lime, and magnesia of potash and soda, and indeed whatever the subsoil or deep strata of the earth may contain. The water on reach- ing the surface of the soil is evaporated and leaves behind the mineral salts, which I will here enumerate, viz : Lime, as air-slaked lime ; magnesia, as air-slaked magnesia; phosphate of lime, or bone earth ; sulphate of lime, or plasier of Paris; carbonate of potash, and soda, with silicate cf potash and soda, and also chloride of sodium or common salt. All indispensable to the growth and production of plants which are used for food. Pure rain water as it falls would dissolve but a very small proportion of some of these substances, but when it becomes soaked into ttfe earth it there becomes strongly imbued with carbonic acid from the decomposition of vegetable mat- ter in the soil, and thus acquires the property of readily dissolving minerals on which before it could have very little influence. I was first led to the consideration of the above subjects by finding, an the re-examina- tion of a soil which I analysed three or four years ago, a larger quantity of a particular mineral substance than I at first found, as none had been applied in the meantime. The thing was difficult of explanation until I re- membered the late long and protracted drought. I then also remembered that in Zacatecas and several other provinces in South America, soda was obtained from the bottom of ponds, which were dried in the dry, and again filled up in the rainy season. As the above explanation depended on the principles of natural philoso- phy, I at once instituted several experiments ta prove its truth. Into a glass cylinder was placed a small quantity of chloride of barium, in solution; this was then filled with a dry soil, and for a Ion 0, time exposed to the direct rays of the gun on the surface. The soil on the surface of the cylinder was now treated with sulphuric acid, and gave a copious precipitate of sulphate of baryta. The experiment was varied by substituting chloride of lime, sulphate of soda, and carbo- nate of potash, for the chloride of barium, and on the proper re-agents being applied in every instance, the presence of those substances were detected in large quantities on the sur- face of the soil in the cylinder. Here then was proof positive and direct, by plain experi- ments in chemistry and natural philosophy, of the agency, the ultimate, beneficial agency, of droughts. We see, therefore, in this, that even those things which we look upon as evils, by Provi* deuce are blessings in disguise, and that we should not murmur even when dry seasons afflict us, for they too are for our good. The early and the later rain may produce at once abundant crops, but dry weather is also a be- nificent dispensation of Providence in bringing to the surface food for future crops, which otherwise would be forever useless. Seasona- ble weather is good for the present, but droughts renew the storehouses of plants in the soil, and furnish an abundant supply of nutriment for future crops. James Higgins, Maryland State Agricultural Chemist. TO PRESERVE WHEAT FROM WEEVIL. It is hardly necessary to say that as soon as pos- sible after the wheat is dry alter harvest, it should be threshed out, for if left in small shocks or hand stacks, the weather, the weevil and the bird, will' soon bring down a very respectable crop to a very short one. I therefore hasten it into large stacks and barn, and thresh it out as soon as my other avo- cations will permit me. The first year or two I was much perplexed in sunning and keeping, or trying to keep it free from weevil, by sunning, and thought that this, (the weevil) if nothing else, would prevent persons from attempting to grow wheat to any extent. I have since adopted a plan which has been attended with entire success. When having my wheat sunned, I noticed that when a barrel of wheat was left for any length of time without sunning, the weevil commenced their rava- ges on the wheat exposed to the atmosphere; the top of the wheat for two or three inches would be completely destroyed, and below that the wheat completely free from weevil. Along the joints of the staves and at the bottom also, would be weevil eaten; in fact, where the atmosphere came to the wheat through crack or crevice, the weevil hatched out and permitted the atmosphere to penetrate still deepei in. I also noticed that if I left a small bulk in a barrel hr box, that it was soon destroyed. I therefore came to the conclusion that if I could exclude the atmosphere from it I could save much time in sunning. I therefore built me a small framed wheat house and daubed it well on the in- side with clay, floor and sides, cleaned out my wheat and put it in at a door at the top of the house; it did not quite fill the house, and I thrust straw in the intervening space between roof and wheat, and packed it in closely. I was completely successful, and- found nothing to complain of but the scaling off of the clay, and that it had to be daubed every year. Finding wheat remunerative, I extended my crop, and harvested in 1852 a crop of one thousand bushels. There wad but slight demand for it, as every one who attempted to raise wheat was quite successful, and I was at some loss how to store it away, but finally appropriated one- third of my pick room to it, and adopted the fol- lowing plan to exclude the atmosphere: I took up the floor and filled between the sleepers with straw, THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 319 replaced the floor and laid it close ; nailed slats on I the tamarind. Its growth is rapid, its form the studding, and thrust straw between them and the weather- boarding, thus making a wall of straw in addition to the weather-boarding. Three sides of this division of the pick room was done in this way, and a board partition on the fourth side, this had no straw. I now threshed out my wheat and put up in the chiff— the division was full to within a foot of the top; this space was closely packed with straw. Twelve months afterwards I cleaned up from this pen a fraction under five hundred bushels of wheat, and there was no sign of flying weevil, except a fe\r on the side that had no wail of straw. My experience, therefore, for ten years, is that to exclude wheat perfectly from light and the atmosphere, is to secure it from the effects of the flying weevil. I act upon the same principle with my corn, and house it in as large a bulk as possible, and find the centre of a large crib will be sound long after the sides and bottom have been destroyed by the black weevil. — American Cotton Planter. BIRDS AND INSECTS. Wilson Flagg, in a late number of Hovey's Magazine, makes five classes of insects, aud as many of birds, actiDg as natural checks upon the increase of insects. The swallows are the natural enemies of the swarming insects, living almost entirely upon them, taking their food upon the wing. — The common martin devours great quantities of wasps, beetles and goldsmiths. A single bird will devour five thousand butterflies in a week. The moral of this is, that the hus- bandman should cultivate the society of swal- lows and martins about his land and out- buildings. The sparrows and wrens feed upon the craw- ling insects that lurk within the buds, foliage and flowers of plants. The wrens are pugna- cious, and a little box in a cherry tree will soon be appropriated by them, and they will drive away other birds that feed upon the fruit; a hint that cherry growers should remember this spring and act upon. The thrushes, blue-birds, jays and crows prey upon butterflies, grass-hoppers, crickets, locusts and the larger beetles. A single fami- ly of jays will consume 20,000 of these in a season of three months. The wood-peckers are armed with a stout, 1 jag bill, to penetrate the wood of trees, where the borers deposit their larvae. They live al- most entirely upon these worms. [Rural New- Yorker, April. symmetrical, its foliage beautifully delicate, and it is altogether highly ornamental ; be- sides, it is perfectly free from blight, as well as from the depredations of insects. If cultiva- ted on our Western prairies, it would doubtless form a valuable acquisition. " From the growth of some tamarind seeds which I obtained at a confectioner's shop some eight j-ears since, I have a tree standing in my yard, eighteen inches in circumference. The past season it perfected its fruit, which, in qual- ity, was equally as good as that imported. — The seed may be sown in drills, about four in- ches apart, and covered from two to three inch- es deep, with light, rich soil. They may be sown either in the fall or spring. If in the latter, they should be exposed to the weather during the winter previous, in order that their hull or coverings may be acted on by the frost. When grown to the height of three or four feet, the young trees may be transplanted iu the sites where they are permanently to re- main." The TamabWd in Virginia. — Wm. M. Bir.glcton, Esq., of Winchester, communicates tli^ following to the Commissioner of Patents : " Of all the ornamental trees propagated MBOBg us, either foreign or native, there is none, in my judgment, more desirable than The California Qi'arrjbs are yielding some of the finest white, black and variegated marbles in the world. They are said tobe fully equal to the finest kinds of Egyptian or Italian, and are found in exhaustless quantities. CONTENTS OF NUMBER X. Strawberries and their Culture 289 Cheap Furniture and Ornaments for Rooms 292 How to Secure Wheat in Wet Weather 293 - How Wild Geese are Taken 294: Short-Horns 295 Preserving Fruit by Hermetical Sealing 29G ; - An English Experimenter on Wheat '. . . .297 Salt aud Guano , 298 Millicent 299 Rain, Evaporation and Filtration 300 Food Consumed by Different Sorts of Farm Stock 301 Horticultural Quackery 302 What They Think of Us.. : 304 Meeting of the Agricultural S -ciety 304 Beware of Cutting Wheat Prematurely 305 The Fruit 300 Guinea Fowls vs. Rats 300 Drainage 300 Seymour's Broadcast Sewing Machine 307 Grasses, Sheep, &c 308 Corn Fodder 309* The Wheat Crop and its Enemies 310 Overseers ;-ji;; Chinch Bug $18 Analysis of the Tobacco Plant 313 'J' he Logan Grazier 314 Ripening of Apples and Pears 315 Antiseptic Paint * y]i; Benefits of Droughts to Land 317 Two Acre Farm 3 i 7 To Preserve Wbe;'t from Weevil 31s Birds and Injects 31 u- 320 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. PAYMENTS TO THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, To the 29th of September, 1855. All persons who have made payments early enough to he entered, and whose names do not appear in the following receipt list, are requested to give immediate notice of the omission, in order that the correction may be made in the next issue : W F Watts January 185G Jas Collins January 1856 W P Waugh September 1856 W P Quesenburv. January 1857 E Hensbaw July 1856 W D Snead January 1856 W L Waring January 1856 H Taylor January 1857 N Quesenbery January 1856 . J W Goss July 1856 W C Graves July 1856 E C Satchell September 1856 W SDupree July 1856 ^ G L Bayned July '56 Capt G A Wood July '56 C Lipscomb July '56 W H Eubank July '56 Capt R H Williams July '56 W B Purcell July '56. J- Club W H Pettus Julv '56 T B Purcell July '56 R E Knight July '56 J L Watkins July '56 R Lipscomb July '56 P L Lipscomb July '56 Col S D Crawford August '57 D A Tapscott Dec pd J T Ellis P J Carrington January 1856 Geo Turner Sept '56 J T Hoskins July '56 "W A Bearing Nov '55, P Saunders April '56 E G Lcijrh January '56 W A Perkins Dec '55 J F Moses January '56 II G Wood Jan '56 Capt J Robinson Oct '56 John IToffu an July '58 S A Brock Sept '56 J M Adam Sept '55 J Hightower January '56 A R Anderson Sept '56 R M Whaley January '56 J Dryden April '55 Dr J Mayo Jan '56 Gen J II Hammond June '56 H T Watkins Oct '58 T M Hushes Oct '56 T J Preston April '56 DO Witt April '56 F Slaughler July '56 W Fitzgerald Nov '56 Capt W II Carter Oct '56 A B Nichols July '56 E A Tilman Nov '56 Col R R Drown January .'57 E L Travis Jan 57 Thos Staples July '56 H M Dickinson July '56 $1 00 1 00 1 00 10 00 5 00 7 50 1 00 1 00 5 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 5 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 3 00 1 00 2 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 3 00 2 00 1 00 2 00 1 00 1 50 1 00 2 00 1 00 RICHMOND MARKETS, October I, 1855. WHEAT— White §1 9o@82 00; Red 81 90@$1 95; por bushel. FI.OUK— Family, $10 50(911 50; Superfine, $3 75 @9 per barrel. M'LANE'S VERMIFUGE IN TEXAS. Hear what the Proprietor of the "Star Hotel" has to say of the wonderful effects of M'Lane's Vermifuge : Star Hotel, Cbntreville, Texas, .Aug. 22, 1854. I feel in duty bound to make the following state- ment: Several of my children have been unwell for the last week or two. I called at the "Big Mortar" to get some Oil of Wormseed and other truck, to give them for worms. '1 he Druggist recommended M'LANE'S VERMIFUGE, but having, heretofore, ttied evety Vermifuge, in my knowing, without advantage, I told him it was not worth while, as my children appeared proof against them all. He said to take a bottle, and offered if it done no good to refund the money. To satisfy him I done so, and the effect was so much better than expected that I got another bottle, and the result was most astonishing. Three of my chil- dren discharged a great number of the largest worms I ever saw. To a young man, my Mail Carrier, who was weak, puny and poor as a snake, for a month or so, I gave two doses, which brought from him at least a pint of what's called Stomach worms! Strange as this may appear, yet it is as " true as preaching." How the boy stood it so long as he did, with ten thousand " bots" gnawing at his stomach, is the greatest wonder to me. All these cases are now doing well. No doubt the lives of thousands of children have been saved by the timely use of this extraordinary medicine. Don't fail to give it a trial. se THOS. R. THURMAN. f^r" Purchasers will be careful to ask for DR. M'LANE'S CELEBRATED VERMIFUGE, and take none else — all others in comparison are worth- less. Dr. M'Lane's Vermifuge, also his Celebra- ted Liver Pills, can now be had at all respectable Drug Stores in the United States. se ly DR. M'LANE'S CELEBRATED LIVER PILLS IN TEXAS. Travis Co., Texas, June 12, 1854. Messrs. Fleming: Brothers, Pittsburgh, Pa. Gentlemen: This is to certify, that my mother had been subject to periodical attacks of sick headache for a great many years; all the usual remedies failing to give relief, one of your pam- phlets accidentally falling into her hands, she at once determined to try DR. M'LANE'S CELE- BRATED LIVER PILLS, and immediately pro- cured a box, from the use of which she received great benefit, and so long as she continued to use them was entirely relieved. We have now been in Travis Co., Texas, for the last four years, 'and not being able to procure these valuable pills, her attacks of sick head ache have again returned— for time back has been grad- ually getting worse — and has determined me to send to you for a few boxes of Dr. M'Lane's Cele- brated Liver Pills. 1 herewith enclose you one dollar, for which you will please send me Pills per return mail. Address Austin, Texas. I think you would do well to establish an agency in Austin ; Ihe Pills are well known here and would meet with ready sale. MEREDITH W. HENRY. ft^ Purchasers will be careful to ask for DR M'LANE'S CELEBRATED LIVER PILLS, and take none else. There are other Pills, purporting to be Liver Pills, now before the public Dr. M'Lane's Liver Pills, also his. celebrated Vermi- fuge, can now be had at all respectable Drug Stores in the United States! se ly \