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THE 



SOUTHEKN PLANTER, 



A MONTHLY PERIODICAL, 



DEVOTED TO 



AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE AND THE HOUSEHOLD ARTS. 




; 

— ^V- v 

VOLUllE XV. 

FRANK: G. RUFFIN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR. 



RICHMOND: 

PRINTED AND "PUBLISHED BY P. D. EERNARD, SOUTH TWELFTH STREET. 

1855. 



s 



c 






H6K5 




THE 




*mu% to agriculture, horticulture, m* the ^ousehoia m-is. 



Agriculture is the nursing mother of the Arts — 
Xenophon. 



Tillage and Pasturage are the two breasts of the 
estate. — Sully. , 



PRANK: G. RUFFIN, Editor and Proprietor. 
Vol. XV. 



P. D. BERNARD, Publisher. 



RICHMOND, JANUARY, 1855. 



No. 1. 



For the Southern Planter. 

OX THE CULTIVATION AND MANAGEMENT 
t OF TOBACCO. 



BY THOMAS D. EDMUNDS. 

This crop in our section of Virginia is the source 
i TT whence we derive most of our ready money 
I cannot conceive why it is that we do not more 
frequently hear from our brother planters in rela- 
tion to it, unless, indeed, they ascribe the impo- 
verished condition of Virginia to its cultivation 
and think that on that account it ou^ht to be ex- 
punged from the record of farming 'productions 
Be this as it may, it does not appear that in our 
present circumstances we can very well afford to 
dispense with it. With most of us a large propor- 
tion of our land is in a poor and exhausted condi- 
tion while we have generally a laboring force ca- 
pable ot cultivating a much greater breadth in the 
ordinary grain crops, than with our limited means 
ol improvement can be cultivated profitably We 
are obliged therefore, to devote the better portion 
of our land to the tobacco crop from its requiring 
more labor, and making better profit on that labor 
than other crops. Otherwise we should have to 
incur an amount of debt not reconcilable with pru- 
dence for the means of enriching our soil, or to 
adopt the disagreeable alternative of selling off a 
portion of our labors in order to adjust their num- 
ber to the ricner portion of our lands that would 
yield a profitable return for their cultivation in 
farm crops. But it is not every one who cultivates 
it that succeeds in making it profitable. There is 
no other article which admits of such a wide diver- 
sity of price and quality, and which so well repays 
extra labor and skill in the assortment and manage- 
ment ol it. For instance, a difference of two dol- 
lars per hundred (a very common one) in the ave- 
rage price of a crop, resulting in favor of the best 
hlfwfn'i *" other thi "S 3 ^ing equal, will show 
\Z^U I' tLe a F' re ," ate I' rofit of Production is 
tion ' , Up ° n S C sk,IfuI and Judicious applica- 
tion of labor ,n the management of the crop and 
d we suppose a general attention to this department 
•T the business and a consequent improvement, to 
..he M«ne extent, in the market value of the whole 

wM i \? SimpIe P rocess of arithmetic 

will demon: trace that the gain to the tobacco pro- 
ducing portion of the State would be more than 

£t m £ , ?\ 0ne hU [ ldred aml ihi *y thousand dol- 

f %» ' *??' v ' ,thf ' ut adverting to the difference 

Voi^XV , 7 Pr ° daced bv thc ^equalities of 



management and want of judgment in the selection 
and preparation of land, for plant-beds, planting 
and cultivation of the crop, &c. If we take these 
into the account, and again suppose a general im- 
provement in the quantity produced such as would 
result from universal good management and iudi- 
cious application of labor and skill we should have 
another addition to the aggregate profit of cultiva 
tion even larger than the one above supposed 
Since then the necessity for the cultivation of this 
crop m our circumstances is so obvious it becomes 
a matter of the greatest importance that a system 
of cultivation and management, upon which so 
much depends, should be adopted that shall yield 
the most profitable returns from the land and labor 
employed in the production of it. With the view 
therefore, of eliciting information I venture to offer 
a few suggestions, hoping, in return, to draw from 
my brother farmers such instruction as will enable 
us all so to improve our practice as to allow the 
highest rate of production and maximum prices 
for our crops. in<.^» 

1st As to the raising of planta. Ls there not 
room for improvement here 1 How does it happen 
that so many fail to raise plants? It is true that 
the depredations of the fly are often so destructive 
as to produce a failure, but there are other causes 
of failure the remedy for which is in our own 
hands. Among the most prominent of these is the 
too limited space generally allotted to the produc- 
tion of plants and the want of due care in the lo 
cation, burning and drainage of the ground bv the 
neglect of which the seed-beds are often so cold as 
to be uncongenial to the growth of the plant whilst 
from that very condition they are particularly in- 
viting to the ravages of the fly. The advantage to 
be derived from a certainty of planting in due *ea 
son and to the desired extent, will fully justify "the 
expense of preparing ample grounds, well drained 
(some time before burning,) well burnt, deeply* 
stirred, finely prepared, and thickly cove/ed with 
brush. It is also important that in laying on the 
brush, the but ends should rest on the fans A 
southern or eastern exposure should be selected 
for the beds, and, ,f practicable, protected on the 
north and west by some kind of growth. Now let 
us compare the product of two crops. One bv thV 
proper observance of the above su<™estions i« 
planted in good season, with plants of good size 
and vigorous growth, and a remunerating cropls 
the result, while the other failing to observe these 
■suggestions, suffers frpm the evils of deficiency of 
plants or the backwardness of their growth =o that 
late planting is unavoidable and often the reduction 



4 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



of the crop from what it might have been under 
other circumstances is from one-third to one-half. 
It will at once be seen what a loss is avoided by a 
proper attention to the due preparation of grounds 
for the rearing of plants, and what a difference oc- 
curs in the money value of the two crops. One we 
will suppose makes twelve thousand pounds from 
fifty thousand hills, of a 'quality to command ten 
dollars per hundred, which is twelve hundred dol- 
lars; the other at two-thirds or one-half a crop, 
which, if it were of a quality to command the same 
price, a thing very improbable, would be only nine 
hundred or six hundred dollars, as the case might 
be. Yet there has been no remission of labor in 
favor of him who produced the short crop, for the 
land required the same cultivation as if there had 
not been a vacant hill in the field. He could not, 
therefore, remunerate his loss by a diversion of 
labor to any other more profitable employment. 

2d. We do not properly regard the advantages to 
■ be derived from manuring well, either with strong 
concentrated manures, such as may be made by 
composting the weak productions of the farm-pen 
with Peruvian and Mexican guano, or by the use 
of strong, well rotted manure from the stables and 
ho"--pens.' The reason for the use of finely de- 
composed manure for tobacco is that it has only 
four months in which to ripen (a short period) 
during the dryest and hottest season of the year, 
consequently the manure ought to be in a state to 
minister to the rapid growth of the plant, for it it 
be too coarse it will keep the land open and thirsty, 
and thus check the growth, injure the quality and 
curtail the quantity of the crop. It has been found 
with us that with the use of coarse, weak manures, 
it requires six or seven plants to make a pound, 
and that the average production per acre is not 
more than six or seven hundred weight, while with 
well rotted, strong manure, four plants will make 
a pound or one thousand pounds to the acre, the 
difference in favor of the latter, calculating the 
product of each mode of manuring, at ten dollars 
,,er hundred, is thirty! dollars per acre. Extend this 
calculation to one hundred farmers, each cultivating 
ten acres and it will be found to produce the enor- 
mous sum of thirty thousand dollars. Away, then 
with the system of half-way manuring, and adopt 
the alternative one which produces such results as 
this What if we suppose the cost of such prepa- 
ration and manuring as we recommend to be thirty 
dollars per acre 1 Are there not, then, left seventy 
dollars for profit 1 

3d But to obtain such a result the land should 
-be well prepared for the young and tender plant 
for it can no more thrive on land badly prepared 
Ahan it can feed on coarse, unrotted manure 

After havin^ prepared the land and made the 
hills, set out the plants, placing the long-legged 
-ones deeper than the rest, and if the ground should 
be wet, some precaution is necessary to guard 
against pressing the ground too hard around the 
stalks Serious injury is done from it; the ground 
bakes around the stalks, and if dry weather follow, 
it causes indentures on the stalks and so checks 
the growth that it rarely recovers from it. I am 
inclined to think the plants should not vary too 
much in depth from the one occupied m the patch. 
-The cultivation should vary according to the land; 
the distance should be fully three and a half feet 
apart in order that it should have scope for the 
extension of the leaves and a free circulation of 
Sir for even at that distance, if manured with 
strong and finely decomposed manure, it will be 



difficult to pass along the rows to worm and succor 
it without breaking the leaves. Some might object 
to growing it so large, urging the coarseness as an 
objection. If they were certain to be remunerated 
by greater prices then it might be good policy to 
grow it fine. If not certain, then they are losing 
by it. Without certainty of securing a price suffi- 
cient to make up the loss sustained from the dif- 
ference of weight, the true policy would obviously 
be to aim at the greatest amount from an acre 
which could be raised. The objection to growing 
it too coarse may be measurably remedied by top- 
ping high, say from eighteen leaves down to six, 
without'decreasing the weight, always taking care 
to pull off the plant-leaves. The topping should 
be regulated according to the time it has to stand 
out. Tobacco will ripen, with the ordinary seasons, 
in about six weeks after topping. High topping 
gives a finer texture, and from some experiments, 
I am induced to believe the weight is increased 
sufficiently to balance the cost of all the extra labor 
of worming, succoring, cutting and housing the 
additional leaves. As the tobacco will be large* 
than the ordinary topping and cannot be hung in 
the barns without risk of damaging, it should, as 
a preventive, be cut in two pieces and split, by 
which means you may get clear of all the dirt, 
except the lower part of the stalks. May not high 
topping be a preventive of the spot! If a redun- 
dancy of sap and hot weather is the cause, it seems 
to me that the greater the number of leaves the 
less sap to the leaf, and consequently the less liabi- 
lity to spot. But to lay aside all philosophy about 
it," and come to practical observation. Without 
intending to assert anything positively in reference- 
to this part of the subject, I will merely say that 
the high topping, so far as my observation goes, 
has not spotted as badly as the low, whether it did 
not, from that cause alone, I will not undertake to 
say', but should this be the observation of many 
other farmers, it might strengthen the evidence. I 
believe that the spot is regarded as one of the 
greatest evils incident to the tobacco crop. Con- 
vinced of this myself, I have thrown out these far- 
mer-like notions" in hopes that it may bring out 
further light on the subject, 

• 4th. The working of tobacco ought to commence 
as early as a stand can be had, in order to give the 
plants a broad growth. Very frequently it is per- 
mitted to stand too long after it is planted, and con- 
sequently assumes a narrow growth, which cannot 
be materially changed afterwards by any kind of 
working. The working should cease early, m order 
that it may begin to ripen. It is a loss of time to 
work it after it has had enough to mature it. I 
have seen it worked frequently, when the tobacco 
would have come to maturity much better without 

5th. Curing may be performed in various ways 
to suit the particular quality of tobacco. This 
branch of the subject should be studied and well 
understood. Nothing more is needed to prove it 
than simply to compare the sales of two planters 
who have grown tobacco with equal success, and 
upon similar lands, the one doubling the other in 
price, as is frequently the case. How can this differ- 
ence be accounted for in any other way 1 The fact 
is too apparent. Many will confess that they have 
arown as good tobacco as others, and yet make 
Tower sales. How much is lost to the planters of 
Viminia by not attending to this department of the 
crop may be easilv estimated by extending the cal- 
culation"of the difference between a high and low 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



price to the whole crop of the State. Take, for 
instance, the difference between five dollars and 
ten, which is very common, extend the calculation 
again to one hundred planters, making ten thou- 
sand pounds of tobacco each, and we have the enor- 
mous sum of fifty thousand dollars. It is very im- 
portant that it should be permitted to stand out, if 
the season will admit of it, until it is fully matured, 
as, like an apple or peach, it is sweetest and best 
when properly ripe. It is very difficult to describe 
ripe tobacco ; hence some say when you think it 
ready for the knife let it stand out one or two 
weeks. Tobacco ripens differently according to the 
land it is grown on. On fresh lands it will ripen 
yellow or dapple; on lands inclined to be springy, 
such as black-jack, it will ripen more uniformly 
yellow and the leaves will generally be thin and 
silky; on light lot land it will generally ripen yel- 
low ; on red, stiff lands it will ripen of a green color ; 
it will become thick and brittle, and when pressed 
between the fingers will crack; it will also have 
changed when ripe, as the plants naturally change 
from green to yellow ; it is evident that they must 
part with that substance which gives it that green 
color. What it is I shall not stop to inquire into, 
nor is it material. Probably it may contain some 
acid peculiar to its kind, which, as the ripening 
process goes on, is evaporated or changed into sac- 
charine matter. Tobacco for manufacturing pur- 
poses should be exposed to the air on scaffolds, 
and if ripe and sun-cured it will have that sweet 
aromatic flavor so peculiar to good tobacco. The 
cutting should be completed by going over twice, 
if possible. After cutting it should be carried to 
the scaffolds, and hung about eight plants to the 
stick and closed on the scaffolds for the purpose of 
sweating, by which process the green "color is ex- 
pelled and the tobacco becomes yellow, which is 
far preferable. I have never seen any good manu- 
facturing tobacco of a green color. After hanging 
on the scaffolds sufficiently long to yellow, but not 
too ion", to sour, it should either be thinned or 
removed to the barn. If suffered to remain on the 
scaffolds longer, care should be taken when it be- 
gins to brown in spots to have it removed to the 
bam before it is caught in rain, and then thinly 
hung six or eight inches apart, which is very im- 
portant to prevent moulding, as it will do when the 
sterns and leaves touch. After having attended to 
the various part.- Decessary to grow good tobacco 
we may yet be disappointed. It must, in the sixth 
place, be neatly managed. 

I venture to give my plan hoping that it may 
induce others, more experienced than myself, to 
relate their manner of managing, for it is very cer- 
tain that rny prices range low, in comparison with 
many others. 

The order for stripping and tying should be pliant. 
My cutters pull off the grojnd leaves, of course; 
they are my best judges of tobacco. They, also, 
assort it by making three kinds, throwing the best 
to select hands to tie up. They are to refuse any 
that, does not class >viti. the best, if by accident 
any should be fouud there. The second quality is 
thrown over to the more inferior hands. The same 
thing i- required of them. In this way ail assort. 
After it. is stripped I then hang up in the top of 
the barn each class to itself until the last of March 
or fir.s! of April, aud then after the tobacco has 
drieil ! select soft, warm weather to strike down 
for prizing. During the prizing, the hands are cau- 
tioned against putting any inferior bundle with the 
good In thi 3 way it i.i .ag:,iu assorted while prizing. 



For the Southern Planter. 

REPOPvT OF THE AGRICULTURAL COMMIS- 
SIONER. 

To the Executive Committee of the Virginia State 
Agricultural Society. 

It is my duty to report my proceedings as Agri- 
cultural Commissioner under your appointment, 
which may be done very concisely, with the aid of 
reference to annexed and longer papers, connected 
with the service in question. 

The duties required of the Commissioner, and 
also of the assistants whom you authorized him to 
appoint, were stated as follows, in your proceed- 
ings of March, 1854: 

" To visit such counties, agricultural districts, 
or particular localities, as may be deemed by the 
Commissioner most suitable to aid and to be aided 
by his services for the Society; to gather, (either 
directly, or by and through any farmers or others 
aiding his inquiries,) useful agricultural informa- 
tion ; to encourage and induce the establishment 
of County Agricultural Societies, auxiliary to the 
State Society, and formed and working upon a 
proper and uniform general plan ; to hold conver- 
sational discussions with such Societies or with 
other meetings of farmers, and to address such 
meetings in furtherance of his duties on any sub- 
jects designed to promote agricultural instruction 
or improvement ; to endeavor to obtain agricultu- 
ral reports of particular counties, or to collect facts 
and materials for future reports; to solicit and ob- 
tain new members and donations for the State So- 
ciety; and to report to the Society, through the 
Executive Committee, in general, whatever he ma? 
have done, and especially and particularly the use- 
ful agricultural facts and instruction, not generally 
understood or practised, which he may have collec- 
ted, or received from other persons. " 

Soon after my appointment, I published through 
some of the newspapers the annexed notice, marked 
A, and, soon after, the one marked B ; and next a 
plan or general form of constitution (C) foracouD- 
ty Agricultural Society, or Farmers' Club, to serve 
as convenient suggestions and ground-work for 
any new establishment of either kind of associa- 
tion. 

Believing that an important service to agricultu- 
ral improvement could be effected by even the par- 
tial and limited execution of one or more agricultural 
surveys of counties, or smaller sections of Virgi- 
nia, I prepared an extensive scheme of proper sub- 
jects or headings, as suggestions for the frame-work 
of any such survey and report, which scheme was 
reported to the next meeting of the Executive- 
-Committee, approved and ordered to be published. 
[D] This was done, and, as was also the case with 
all other publications made by me, under your au- 
thority and general directions, no expense on this 
score has been caused to the Society. For such 
printing of all my different papers, I have been in- 
debted especially to the liberality and public spirit 
of the several publishers of the Richmond Dis- 
patch, Enquirer, Examiner and Southern Planter. 
In the hope of inducing either County Agricultu- 
ral Societies, or other voluntary associations, to aid 
in effecting agricultural surveys of their respective 
counties, I obtained, either by my particular re- 
quests, or by their own voluntary and welcome of- 
fers, the promised aid of the following gentlemen 
as assistant Commissioners, viz: Thos. L. Preston 



\ 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



of Smythe county, B. Johnson Barbouv of Orange, 
P. St. George Cocke of Powhatan, Richard Irby of 
Nottoway, John E. Edmunds of Halifax, Willoughby 
Newton of Westmoreland, and Professor Charles 
Stuart of Mecklenburg. These assistants were in- 
vested, (under your previous resolution and autho- 
rity,) within their respective counties or other 
named limits, with all the powers and duties of 
the Chief Commissioner. That they have done no 
more, and especially in regard to the chief object 
of obtaining county surveys, may be sufficiently 
accounted for in the universal deficiency of aid 
from any County Agricultural Societies, or other 
associated individuals offering and giving their com- 
bined labors of investigation for the object in view. 
The only reports thus obtained, or now in progress, 
are from Richard Irby, Esq. of the county of Not- 
toway, and Willoughby Newton of Westmoreland, 
and are the praiseworthy, but necessarily imperfect 
labors of these two unaided individuals. These 
reports, not yet completed, will hereafter be ap- 
pended and marked R and S. 

My journeys and visits to different County Agri- 
cultural Societies, and Farmers' Clubs, and to 
neighborhoods, where either have been established 
subsequently, were confined to such as specially 
invited my presence and aid. A greater number 
of like invitations had to be declined, because of 
my want of time, or the want of travelling facili- 
ties to remote places. I have attended meetings 
of Agricultural Societies, or Farmers' Clubs, or 
otherwise more full and promiscuous public meet- 
ings, in Prince George, Gloucester, Nottoway, Ame- 
lia, Powhatan, Prince Edward, and Cumberland; 
and with each, either joined in conversational dis- 
cussions, or otherwise, and at more length, offered 
verbally my opinions and views of the matters of 
debate, or delivered addresses suitable to the occa- 
sions. A digested report of one of the most regu- 
lar of these discussions, (of the Powhatan Farmers' 
Club,) I had prepared and published, to serve as a 
sort of working model for such action — which re- 
port is annexed, [E.j My services of this kind 
have been incidentally extended to other places, 
and even into North Carolina, and perhaps not in- 
effectually, both for my gathering information, and 
conveying some useful instruction. It would be 
impossible to determine, and improper for me to 
estimate, how far this action of mine may be use- 
ful, either immediately or remotely. 

In the course of this business, and my recent 
intercourse with practical observant and reliable 
farmers, I have gathered and noted many matters 
of useful information, and mostly for instruction 
in practice, and each of which, if alone, would have 
been deemed by most persons, (though very incor- 
rectly,) of too little importance to be reported for 
publication. Such is far from my opinion, as to 
any useful facts, or of instruction in the most tri- 
vial matters. I have written and afterwards pub- 
lished these " Minutes of Agricultural Facts and 
Observations," to the number of 90, at successive 
times, and which are here embodied and marked 
F. This collection and publication have been made, 
not only for the intrinsic and practical value' of the 
matters thus presented, but also to show, by ex- 
ample, to every reader, how much of useful infor- 
mation and instruction might be afforded to all, if 
every one would communicate to the State Society 
even but one such small matter of personal expe- 
rience or observation in practical agriculture. 

There are also annexed three other papers (se- 
verally marked G, H, I,) which were mostly pre- 



pared at my request and delivered to me as Com- 
missioner. These are : 1st, " On the Distemper of 
Cattle," by Dr. William S. Morton of Cumberland. 
2d, " On Hillside Terraces," by Gen. John H. Cocke 
of Fluvanna; and 3d, by F. N. Watkins, Esq. of 
Prince Edward, a carefully prepared and valuable 
report of the population, statistics and condition of 
a body of emancipated negroes; and also, of like 
statistics of others remaining as slaves in the same 
neighborhood. These pieces have been very lately 
received, and are still in manuscript, as well as 
other agricultural communications, sent voluntarily 
by their writers to the Commissioner, (and marked 
K, L, M and N.) For, though the papers of the 
Commissioner, and all other communications to the 
State Society, approved by the sub-committee of 
publication, are authorized by the Executive Com- 
mittee to be published, these and some other much 
older papers have necessarily remained unpublished 
for the want of present space in the Southern 
Planter, and the absence of any proper organ of 
the Society for publishing promptly all its transac- 
tions. On account of this condition of things, your 
Commissioner, and, also the sub-committee of pub- 
lication, in regard to other communications, have 
had to be indebted, for access to the agricultural 
public, almost exclusively to the courtesy, or the 
voluntary offers and gratuitous action of' sundry 
different newspapers, whose publishers have se- 
lected, and of course, at their own choice and con- 
venience, such of the communications and other 
papers as the respective editors thought proper to 
admit and send out as suitable to their readers. 

In regard to one duty and authority committed 
to my charge, almost nothing has been done, or 
attempted. This was the soliciting and obtaining 
subscriptions of new members, and donations, to 
the State Agricultural Society. At the very outset, 
of my operations, it was found that the authorizing 
resolutions of the Executive Committee, in this re- 
spect, were misconstrued and misrepresented, and 
aspersions cast on the committee, and on me as its 
agent. Therefore, I was not willing to occupy 
ground which could be so grossly misunderstood 
and misrepresented. Subsequently, I have in no 
manner whatever exercised this part of the pre- 
scribed duties. And when, as thus, not asking any 
thing for the pecuniary aid of the Society, nor even 
alluding to it, it is not strange that almost nothing 
has been tendered or received. The gross amount 
of the few subscriptions and donations which have 
been made through me, has been paid over to the 
Treasurer, (as stated in the accompanying paper 
marked 0,) without any deduction, or any charge 
otherwise made for my personal, travelling or any 
other expenses. 

It is my duty to acknowledge, with thanks, that 
my travelling expenses, during this service, have 
been much lessened, and my labors as Commis- 
sioner facilitated, by the liberality of the officers 
of the following companies, viz: The Richmond 
arid Danville, the South-Side, the Richmond, Fre- 
dericksburg and Potomac, and the Central Rail 
Road Companies — and the Rappahannock (Old Do- 
minion) Steamboat Company. These companies 
voluntarily offered to me free tickets for my con- 
veyance during my term of service — and also the 
Virginia and Tennessee Rail Road Company, for 
one journey to and from Montgomery and Pulaski 
counties. One of these courteous offers I have had 
no opportunity to use. On all other routes tra- 
velled, and in every mode, my conveyance has been 
paid for or provided by myself. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



7- 



As little as I may have done, or as little as even 
much better ability could have effected in the time 
of my short service, (now closed by its limitation,) 
I think that it has served to suggest to many minds 
the important benefits that may be achieved by 
similar action, if by more and better hands. Such 
partial and limited services as mine, cannot do 
much more than merely indicate how much more 
might be done for the promotion of agricultural 
knowledge and improvement, by inducing a general 
system of county agricultural societies and clubs, 
which, whether so named or not, would necessarily 
be auxiliary in action to the State Agricultural So- 
ciety; by inciting these associations, and also nu- 
merous individuals, to contribute, from their several 
stocks or supplies of information, to the great com- 
mon treasury for all; and to incite to, and aid in, 
the discussion and investigation of all doubtful and 
important questions. A still more important ser- 
vice, if to be so obtained, will be the making of 
correct agricultural surveys of as many counties 
as may be induced to undertake this aid to agri- 
cultural progress — and which, whenever carried 
through, though instructive and beneficial to the 
whole agricultural community, will be especially 
so to the particular counties or districts so examined 
and reported upon. 

Edmund Ruffix, 
Agricultural Commissioner . 
Oct. 28, 18-54. 



For the Southera Planter. 
FRUIT. 

According to tite census returns of "1850, Virginia 
was the largest tobacco growing State in the Union ; 
in whea L t'le fourth, and corn the seventh. In or- 
chard products, eleven of her sister States surpassed 
her. In 1860 the orchard products of Indiana were 
valued at 3324,000; Illinois, $446,000; Missouri, 
6514.000: Ohio. ,00-3,000; Maine, $324,000: New 
Hampshire, $248,000; Vermont, $315,000 ; Massa- 
chusetts, % 463,000; New Jersey, $607,000; Penn- 
sylvania, J72o,000 ; New York, $1 ,761 ,000, and Vir- 
ginia only -177,000! 

Impressed with the belief that our orchards are 
sadly neglected, and that our own comfort, as well 
as our pecuniary interests would be promoted by 
bestowing more attention to the culture of fruit, 
I design offering a few remarks upon the subject, 
and especially in reference to apples. The value 
of good fruit, as an article of food, is almost uni- 
versally acknowledged, and argument upon such 
a topic would be deemed superfluous. The young 
and the old — the bond and the free — the ignorant 
and the enlightened — admire and appreciate fine 
peaches, apples, &c. The neglect of fruit culture 
in Virginia has not resulted from any indifference 
to fruit, but is attributable to other causes. Our 
orchard products are inconsiderable, because the 
farmers and planters of the State (with a few honor- 
able exceptions) have had their time and thoughts 
almost wholly engrossed with the cultivation of 
corn, wheat, oats, tobacco, &c, and the raising of 
itock. Had they devoted more labor to their or- 
chanK every agriculturist would have raised fruit 
enough for his family and some for sale. We may 
not be able to rival the farmers of Delaware and 
New Jersey in raising peaches, but the landholders 
of Hasten Virginia would probably find it profita- 
ble V) raise peaches for market. Pine apples can 



be raised in every county throughout the Commoa- 
wealth. The apples produced in Albemarle, Nelson, 
&c, are superior in flavor and size to any which 
the writer has ever seen in New York, Philadelphia 
or Baltimore. An intelligent Pennsylvanian who 
had paid great attention to fruit, and who had tra- 
velled through many States of the Union, recently 
stated that he regarded the Piedmont region of 
Virginia as decidedly the best portion of the United 
States for the production of fine apples. 

While the improvement of land and the cultiva- 
tion of the usual crops demand, and should receive 
our attention, our orchards should not be disre- 
garded or forgotten. The greater the variety or 
our products, the greater our prosperity. The an- 
nual income of the farmer ought not to be dependent 
upon one or two products of his soil. We cannot 
expect to raise good fruit by planting out trees in 
a careless manner and bestowing no labor subse- 
quently : on the contrary, some attention and skill 
are essential in planting trees, which rarely fail to 
remunerate the owner for the care and industry 
required annually to insure their growth, maturity 
and preservation. The amount of labor is small 
in proportion to the reward obtained, and without 
labor a crop of no kind can be. secured, if it lie 
urged that apple trees do not bear fully every year, 
it must be remembered, that we do not always 
make a full crop of corn, wheat, &c. notwithstand- 
ing all of our care and exertions. Mr. R. Pell, of 
Ulster county, New York, says that hi; has for some 
years been experimenting upon the apple tree, 
' ' having au orchard of 20,000 New town pippin trees . 
It has been my study to assist nature so as to en- 
able the trees to bear every year. If supplied with 
the proper sustenance, apple trees will bear every 
year. Three years ago I scraped all the rough 
bark off a portion of my trees in April and washed 
the trunks* and limbs within reach with soft soap, 
trimmed out all the branches that crossed each 
other, early in June, and painted the wounded part 
with white lead, to keep out the moisture; then 
split open the bark by running a sharp pointed 
knife from the ground to the first set of limbs, in 
the latter part of the same month, which prevents 
the tree from becoming bark bound, and gives the 
inner wood an opportunity of expanding. In July 
I put one peck of oyster-shell lime around each 
tree, and left it piled about the trench until No- 
vember, when I dug the lime in thoroughly. The 
following year I collected from those trees 1700 
barrels of fruit; some of which was sold in New 
York for $4, and the balance in London at $9 per 
barrel. Strange as it may appear, they are UteralMj 
bending to the ground with the finest fruit I ever saw. 
The other trees in my orchard, not treated as above 
are barren, next year being their bearing year." Will 
not the farmers of Virginia profit by Mr. Pell's ex- 
ample 1 The farmers of our State should not con- 
tent themselves with endeavoring to raise fruit 
enough for their own families, but they should go 
further and produce fruit in such abundance as to 
supply the demand in every city, town and village 
in the Commonwealth. The pippins of New York 
&c., should be superseded in our own cities by the 
pippins of Virginia. That apples can be profitably 
raised in Virginia for market has been fully demon- 
strated. Mr. W M , an intelligent and 

wealthy farmer residing in Nelson county, near to 
no rail road, and eighteen miles distant from the 
James River Canal, has sold apples to the amount 
of $1000 net per annum, besides making large crops 
of wheat, corn, &e. Heretofore many fanners haye 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



declined making exertions to produce fruit for sale 
"because of the want of access to good markets. 
This reason can no longer be urged as an excuse 
for neglect. Rail roads are now penetrating va- 
rious portions of the State and affording facilities 
for the safe and speedy transportation of all agri- 
cultural productions. By our rail roads and the 
James River Canal fruit can now be promptly for- 
warded to our cities and towns to supply their 
wants. Those owning land along and contiguous 
to our several rail roads, the James River Canal 
and our navigable rivers, should arouse from their 
apathy upon this subject, and go to work imme- 
diately. Nothing can be gained by delay. Many 
thousands of fruit trees should be bought and 
planted in Virginia this fall, and for several suc- 
ceeding years. At present, the supply of fruit on 
most farms is inadequate for home consumption. 
This is particularly true throughout the tobacco 
growing counties. No one need apprehend any 
material reduction in the price of good fruit for 
many years to come. The increasing population 
of our cities and towns will give a hearty welcome 
to all the good fruit which is likely to be raised in 
the State for the next century. Do the farmers of 
Virginia doubt whether they would be remunerated 
should they attempt to raise apples for market 1 
Instead of anticipating failure, let us see what the 
farmers of other States have done, and then con- 
sider whether their example does not afford en- 
couragement. The following are extracts from the 
letters of Northern farmers, and communicated to 
the Commissioner of the Patent Office. Mr. Smith, 
of Maine, remarks in 1851, "Apples are the only 
fruit cultivated to any extent. Thirty years ago, 
apples were a rare article, but now, by the indus 
try of our farmers, lots are annually shipped to the 
West Indies and other places." Mr. Guptill, of 
Maine, observes, " There is but one opinion among 
those who understand any thing about the matter, 
and that is, that nothing pertaining to the farm 
pays so well as orcharding. A neighbor of mine, 
who has a fine orchard, has often said to me he 
wished that his whole farm was planted with apple 
trees. His farm is among the best for raising fine 
cattle and horses and for dairy purposes." Mr. 
Spear, of Vermont, states, " That some of his apple 
trees were grafted forty or fifty years ago : those 
have borne abundantly. There are orchards which 
yield from $200 to $500 to the acre. The Baldwin 
is our best apple for winter and spring use." Mr. 
Day, of Connecticut, " Many apple orchards in this 
vicinity, of four or five acres, yield a net profit of 
$500 per annum." Mr. Copp, of the same State, 
"The two kinds of fruit most certain here are 
peaches and quinces. With me, as yet, neither have 
failed ; and I think I can raise either, at the present 
high price of labor at forty cents a bushel." Mr. 
Howe, of New York, " The cultivation of fruit, and 
especially of apples, is now commanding great at- 
tention. It is estimated that from 400,000 to 500,000 
bushels are sent from Wayne county; this county, 
(Ontario,) it is believed, exports a large amount." 
Mr. Van Buren, of Georgia, "The interest mani- 
fested in the cultivation of fruit is decidedly on the 
increase in this county. The apple crop can, most 
undoubtedly, be made one of the most profitable, 
if not more profitable than any other that can be 
grown here. The best keeping Northern varieties 
are the Esopus Spitzenburg, Newtown Pippin and 
Northern Spy." Mr. Blue, of Missouri, "Apples 
are a very sure crop, and fruit culture is exciting 
much attention." (Vide Patent Office Report of 



1851.) Mr. French of New Hampshire, " Mr. Ro- 
binson planted his orchard fifty-five years ago, and 
still enjoys the fruit of his labor. His orchard co- 
vers about two acres of land. In 1847 he refused 
the offer of $000 for his apples, upon the trees, to be 
gathered by the purchaser. Upon careful inquiry, 
I am satisfied that the net income of his two acres 
has averaged $300 a year for ten years past. I 
have charge of a small orchard in the same town, 
covering about half an acre. In 1847 I selected 
eight barrels of the apples and sold the remainder 
for $100 on the trees. In 1849 I gathered fifty-five 
barrels, for which I realized $125 above all ex- 
penses of care and cultivation for the year. These 
are small matters, compared with grand operations 
in wheat fields and cotton plantations; but these 
small matters add to the wealth of the country." 
(See Patent Office Report of 1849.) Mr. French, of 
New Hampshire, "In the present year (1852-53) 
it is a fact beyond controversy, that many farmers 
in the county of Rockingham have received more 
money in exchange for their surplus product of 
apples than for any other article raised upon their 
farms. Ten years ago, he would have been a bold 
man who had predicted that fruit would one day 
become a principal source of wealth to any part of 
New Hampshire." The same gentleman continues, 
"Throughout New England we hear much com- 
plaint every spring, that fruit trees are winter-killed. 
Of one hundred and sixty young apple trees which 
had been set in my orchard, about thirty were se- 
verely injured by the winter of 1851-'52, and many 
more somewhat affected." A writer in the New 
England Farmer states that he knows " an orchard 
of forty Baldwin apple trees that yielded more than 
three hundred barrels of fruit of the best quality 
the past season, and about the same quantity in 
1850." He says, further, "the ground about these 
trees has been kept in a perfectly pulverized state 
for half a dozen years or more, and manured like 
a garden." 

The farmers of the Northern States pay great 
attention to planting out their trees properly, and 
subsequently sparing no exertions to ensure their 
growth and productiveness. Hence the farmer is 
amply rewarded for his industry and supervision, 
notwithstanding his trees are liable to be ■winter- 
killed. In accordance with the request of Mr. John 
S. Skinner, Mr. Allen Dodge furnished a paper on 
the care and cultivation of orchards in New Eng- 
land. The following are extracts from that com- 
munication: " The notion that a fruit tree will live 
and flourish, on being thrust any how into the 
ground and left to take care of itself, has here long 
been exploded. The holes in which the trees are 
set should be dug wide enough to admit all the 
roots without bending or diverting them from their 
natural direction, and if wider, all the better. The 
subsoil should be removed from the bottom at least 
a foot deep in shallow soil, and its place- supplied 
with good surface soil or compost. Care should be 
taken to plant out the trees no deeper than they 
grew in the nursery. Mulching of newly trans- 
planted trees is by all means to be recommended, 
as it retains in the ground sufficient moisture to 
carry them safely through the severe droughts that 
often occur in summer. When every thing is done 
in the matter of transplanting to insure success, 
the farmer must not vainly suppose that his trees 
will take care of themselves. On the contrary, he 
must exercise due forecast, and from year to year 
see to it that the ground is properly stirred and 
manured, if not on the entire field, at least around 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



every tree. The most thrifty and productive or- 
chard I ever saw was cultivated every season : it 
was ploughed, manured and planted in beans, &c, 
not of an exhausting nature; and from it 1500 bar- 
rels of large merchantable apples have often been 
gathered in a single year. When swine will fatten 
without good food — when cows will yield large 
quantities of milk without good pastures — when 
, steam engines will go without being supplied with 
fuel, then may we expect to see orchards without 
manure or cultivation growing vigorously and yield- 
ing good crops of large and fair fruit." 

R. T. H. 
October 20, 1854. 



From the Virginia Sentinel. 

THE TRADE IN GUANO. 

This subject, so interesting to farmers, has 
also engaged the earnest attention of our gov- 
ernment, both in its legislative and executive 
departments. 

During the session of Congress just con- 
cluded, a Select Committee was raised to take 
cognizance of the whole matter, and to devise 
some plan to procure the removal of the exist- 
ing restrictions upon American vessels engaged 
in the Guano trade, and to place that trade 
upon a more just and liberal basis. That 
Committee, on the 31st of July, made a report 
of fifty-three pages, composed chiefly of copies 
of treaties and diplomatic correspondence, and 
prefaced by some remarks of the committee- 
men, and concluding with certain recommenda- 
tions. We shall present to our readers an ab- 
stract of the subject, based upon a careful ex- 
amination of said report, and upon such fur- 
ther facts as our own inquiries have brought to 
our knowledge. We shall not be deterred by 
the fear of being prolix; because there are 
few subjects in which so much interest is felt, 
and which are yet so little understood. 

Guano, spelled Huano by the Spaniards 
and Peruvians, and so invariably written by 
Mr. J. R. Clay, our Charge des Affaires 
at Lima, has been in use in Peru from the 
time of the Inca,s ; but its introduction into 
other countries is of very recent date. It is 
found in various parts of South America and 
in Mexico and Africa ; but the principal, and 
by far the most valuable deposit is met with on 
the three barren and uninhabited islands of 
Chincha, lying about eight miles west of the 
coast of Peru, to the government of which 
country they belong, as unsold public lands. 
These islands are very small, but the guano 
beds are so very thick that it will be impossi- 
ble to exhaust them under a century, the quan- 
tity being variously estimated at from twenty 
to fifty millions of tons. 

Guano became an article of regular export 



to England in 1839, and to the United States 
in 1845; the quantities used in each being, at 
first, quite small, but steadily increasing from 
year to year. In 1845, only 14,450 tons were 
sent to England. In 1850, according to Mr. 
Clay, it had reached 80,000. We are not ap- 
prised of the present consumption there. 

We are informed that the quantity imported 
into this country during 1853, was 47,000 tons, 
and that the probable quantity of the present 
year will be 100,000. The committee, indeed, 
estimate the importations of the present year 
at 200,000 tons. The great advance, however, 
which has taken place in the price demanded, 
has operated to check consumption, while it 
has caused loud and general complaint. Du- 
ring last year, it was sold in large quantities at 
$46 20. At the commencement of the pre- 
sent year the price was fixed at $50. Now, by 
a circular letter of the Peruvian agent, which 
lies before us, bearing date May 27, 1854, it- 
appears that "in consequence of the increased 
rates of freight, 1 ' the price has been raised to 
$60, for any quantity under five tons, with a 
decrease in price as the quantity increases to 
200 tons, when $55 is named as the price and 
a small discount allowed for each payment. 

From the beginning of the trade in guano 
down to the present time, the whole business, 
from the digging and lading of the guano, to 
its sale in foreign ports, has been conducted ex- 
clusively by the Peruvian Government, through 
its agents and consignees. It has not, as a 
simple proprietor, invited purchasers to its 
guano banks, but as a shipper and trader, has 
carried the guano to the points of consumption. 
In our inquiries, therefore, as to the price at 
which guano ought to be afforded to our far- 
mers, two prominent elements present them- 
selves: 1st, What is the effect of the present 
mode of conducting the trade? and 2d, Does 
the Peruvian Government, in fixing the price 
of guano, evince a proper degree of liberality 
to consumers? 

First, as to the mode of conducting the 
trade : The documents published in the re- 
port of the committee, show the belief of our 
government, (in which the committee express 
their concurrence,) that the trade would be 
much more cheaply conducted, and conse- 
quently the price of guano be lower in foreign 
ports, if Peru were to withdraw from its trans- 
portation, and content herself with selling it at a 
fair price at the islands, to all who might there 
present themselves as purchasers. The ar- 
gument is, that governments cannot manage 
questions of business details so prudently and 
advantageously as interested individuals, acting 
under the stimulus of competition, would do; 



10 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



and the expenditures to which the argument 
applies in the case before us, are those for lading 
the ships at the islands, and the freia'ht-char&es 



two years ago, the sole agency for the sale of 
guano in the United States, for the term of five 
years, we believe. So that Peru is not only, 



thence to foreign ports. Our government has, disinclined, but unable, and daily becoming 
therefore, earnestly labored, during the last more so, to change her system of conducting 



three administrations, including the present, to 
induce Peru to change her system. Our di- 
plomacy has, however, been entirely fruitless, 
and there, is, indeed, no probability of success 
for a long time to come. Peru has several ob- 
jections. She fears that in the competition 
which would undoubtedly ensue from the pro- 
posed change, her guano would be so adultera- 
ted as to lose its reputation, and thus diminish 
her revenue by diminishing its sales. For ex- 
ample, vessels instead of going to the islands in 
ballast, which they would be at the expense of 
there discharging, would reach there partly 
laden with Patagonian or other inferior guano, 
or even common earth, which they would inter- 
mix with the guano of the Chincha Islands, and 
pass it all as such. Under the present arrange- 
ment, Peru can keep up its credit by insuring 
its purity. But another and the controlling 
reason is, she is not at liberty to change her 
system. Being greatly straitened, as stated by 
her minister, Senor Tirado, for funds to pay 
the debt incurred during her war of Indepen- 
dence, she,. in 1839, accepted advances of money 
from certain capitalists and merchants of Eng- 
land, on terms by which they undertook to in- 
troduce the use of guano into Europe, and sell 
it as the agents or consignees of the Peruvian 
Government. These parties made an immense 
profit by their agency ; but Senor Tirado ar- 
gues that the arrangement was also very bene- 
ficial to Peru, whose government would not 
have been able to bring guano into foreign use, 
" had it not been for the interest felt, and the 
ability displayed, by the consignees." Their 
success at once established the reputation of 
the guano banks as a source of credit to Peru; 
and capitalists have ever since eagerly met the 
recurring wants of her treasury on similar 
terms. This facility of obtaining loans by 
grantinc- mortanses on her guano banks, and 
commissions on all sales of that article, has 
unhappily stimulated the extravagance and cor- 
ruption of her rulers ; so that her public debt 
is growing larger, and the amount of the mort- 
gages heavier. The debt of Peru is stated in 
the report of the committee at fifty millions ; 
of which more than one-half is held by Eng- 
lish capitalists, on terms which not only bind 
the guano banks, but stimulate for the employ- 
ment of the lenders as sole agents for dispo- 
sing of that article in Europe. Barreda &, 
Brothers, of Baltimore, by making advances 
of money to Peru, acquired in like manner, 



the traffic ; and our advice and importunities 
on the subject, only serve to offend and annoy 
her government, as the following extract from 
a letter of Mr. Clay to this government, on 
the 1 1th of November last, will attest : 

" The fact is, that as the Peruvian Govern- 
ment relies entirely upon the amout produced 
by the sale of its guano, in the United States 
and Great Britain, to pay the interest upon 
the national debt, it is a delicate subject to 
touch upon and on which to offer suggestions, 
and I have always found it necessary to ap- 
proach it with caution ; for as the Peruvian 
nation is the owner of the deposites, the diplo- 
matic agent who represents to its government 
the necessity of a reduction in the price at 
which it is sold, risks being met at the thresh- 
old by the intimation that the possessor of an 
article of trade has the undoubted right to dis- 
pose of it as he may think proper. The feel- 
ing on the part of this government is, that the 
manner of disposing of the guano, and the price 
at -which it is sold, are considerations which be- 
long entirely and exclusively to the Peruvian 
nation, and are not subject-matter of negotia- 
tion with foreign powers. 

Under the present system of contracting 
with the mercantile houses for the sale of guano, 
the government can obtain an advance of money, 
at any time it may be required, without the 
trouble of negotiating a loan in the manner 
adopted by other nations. This is found to be 
very convenient, as the government applies to 
the consignees for the sum it needs, the agents 
furnish the money, and render a semi-annual 
account of their sales and advances to the 
treasury, where they are not exposed to public 
scrutiny, as they would be in the United 

States." 

* * * * * * * 

The Peruvian Government being thus shut 
up by both necessity and incbnation to her 
present mode of disposing of guano, it remains 
to be seen with how much judgment and libe- 
rality to the consumer she has exercised her 
assumed duties. This being a question of 
fipurcs, we shall at once introduce them. 

The cost of delivering a ton of guano in one 
of our ports, is made up of several items which 
we shall state separately : 

1st. The cost of digging and loading in at 
the islands. This, Including bags for the 
•' ground tier," Mr. Clay stated in his letter 
dated October 20th, 1850, at $2 per ton, with 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



11 



a probable increase in cost as the guano near 
the shore was removed. We have heard a much 
higher figure named as the price now paid by 
the Peruvian Government. 

2d. Freight to this country : this is very 
fluctuating. It was once as low as $6 to $10. 
Mr. Clay states it in 1850, at $12 to $15. In 
1853, Mr. Marcy says private contracts could 
behadat$15; Peru however, allowed $20. 
During the present year, freights have risen 
enormously, being $25 at the time the present 
price was fixed on guano ; but being since hard 
to obtain at even $30 per ton. 

3d. The bags in which the guano is un- 
loaded on its arrival for delivery to custo- 
mers — 16 bags at 15 cents, $2 40; also, as- 
sistance in discharging cargo 60 cents. In all 
$3. 

4th. The agent's commission. We under- 
stand that of Barreda"s to be 6|- per cent. 

5th. Insurance for the sea voyage. 

6th. The charge for the guano itself, inde- 
pendent of the cost of getting it here. This 
is entirely arbitrary on the part of Peru, and 
is expressed by the residue after deducting the 
expenses of transportation, commission, &c, 
from the selling price. 

Collecting these figures and applying them 
to the years 1853 and 1854, we have the fol- 
lowing: 

1. Cost of loading in, &c 2 75 3 00 

2. Freight 20 00 25 00 

3. Bags and unloading, say 3 00 

4. Agt's com. at 6J per cent 3 05 3 57 

5. Insurance risk for sea voyage . 1 20 1 50 

6. Price received by the Peruvian 

Government for the guano 
imply 16 20 18 93 

. . 20 355 00 
In the above we have set down the freight 
in 1854 at $25, that being the rate on which 
the present price of guano was based. The 
rate subsequently advancing to $30 or even 
$35. reduced the profit of Peru to $13 93, or 
less. 

In reviewing the various items, there does 
not seem to be any room for reduction on the 
1st, 3d and 5th, if indeed they arc not too low. 
The price of freight is probably somewhat 
above what private merchants could have got 
it at. The agent's commission is too high, 
but its. reduction would not make much differ- 
ence in the aggregate. The price which Peru 
appears to receive for the simple guano is pretty 
high, though probably not much above what 
we would be willing to consider fair. Mr. 
Clay in a letter dated December, 1851, 
mates its value at the islands at $20 per ton. 
If Peru had demanded at the islands, of 
shipping merchants, the price she appears to 



have netted, we doubt if they could have fur- 
nished us with guano at as low figures as above. 
They would have avoided the charge for com- 
mission, and probably effected a saving in 
freight ; but the profit on the investment and 
enterprise to which they would feel entitled, 
would balance if it did not greatly surpass 
the savings. The commission of 6 J per cent, 
would have given place to a much higher rate, 
for interest and profit. On the whole, there- 
fore, we very much question that if Peru had 
acceded to our request and changed the mode 
of selling guano, whether we should not have 
been losers in more ways than one, instead of 
gainers. However that may be our only hope 
is in the good management and moderation of 
the Peruvian Government. 

After what we have stated it will readily be 
presumed that we do not concur in the recom- 
mendations of the committee. These recom- 
mendations are two : 1st. That our govern- 
ment be urged to renew its negotiations with 
Peru for the abolishment of the present sys- 
tem ; which is a worse than useless effort, im- 
possible of accomplishment, and of more than 
doubtful expediency if it could be accom- 
plished. 2d. If Peru still decline our propo- 
sition, then the committee recommend a sliding 
scale of duties on guano, so as to admit it free 
if offered at a certain price, and imposing du- 
ties as the price increases, up to final prohibi- 
tion when the price reaches a certain maximum. 
This recommendation, is, in our judgment, 
liable to grave objections. Why should gov- 
ernment undertake to judge for the farmer and 
tell him at what price he may buy guano, and at 
what other price he shall not ? It is the policy 
of our government not to decide for the people, 
questions affecting then- private and personal 
interests ; but to leave them to their own sa- 
gacity. The public will not endure such inter- 
ference. It is a singular relief too, against 
high prices, to increase the duty as the price 
increases. The user of guano, between the 
Peruvian Government and his own, would in 
such case find himself between the upper and 
the nether mill-stone. 

Like all other business questions-, this will 
best adjust itself, and work out its natural and 
proper result. Farmers aft^r consultation with 
each other, or by the exercise of individual 
judgment, will cease to use guano when it 
ceases to be profitable, without being coerced 
thereto by government. 

All that our govern] can do is to use its 
influence with Peru, inducing her to be content 
with as small a price for her guano as possible, 
and aid her if opportunity offer, in the economi- 
cal management of the tri 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



It does not appear that there is any discrimi- 
nation in the price of guano, made by Peru 
against this country as compared with other 
countries. On the contrary, Senor Tiralo says 
that in consequence of greater expenses the 
price is somewhat higher in Egland than here ; 
and the committee also inform us that " in 
England the agriculturists are now protesting 
against the price ; knowing at the same time, 
that such price is inflicted on them by the cu- 
pidity of their own capitalists." 

A word in reference to the retailing of guano 
by private dealers. Merchants now purchasing, 
receive it on the wharf at the price we have 
stated, $55 per ton, with a credit of one to 
four months, or a correspondent discount for 
cash. It costs them 50 cents per ton to get it 
into their warehouses. Then comes insurance, 
storage and interest if they fail of speedy 
sale. 

But they buj r by the long ton and sell by 
the short. A short ton therefore, costs them 
in their warehouses, $49 55. From this, every 
one can judge of the reasonableness of the price 
they may ask. It is novt offered in this city, 
by several dealers at $50 for the single ton, or 
$49 75 for larger quantities. 

Prior to January last, the price per long ton 
demanded by the Peruvian agent was $46 20. 
It was then raised to $50, based on the en- 
gagement to pay $20 freight, On the 27th of 
May, as already stated, it was increased to $55, 
freight having advanced to $25. There has 
been no addition to the price since, although 
freights have advanced from $30 to $35 per ton. 

We have laid the whole question before our 
readers, that they may understand how to cal- 
culate and what to expect. 



FLAX CULTIVATION IN THE WEST. 

Passing a few days recently in Southern 
Ohio, and a part of Indiana adjoining, we were 
much gratified to see the large fields of flax 
which abounded in that rich agricultural region. 
We saw hundreds of acres devoted to this va- 
luable object; but sorry to say, for the most 
part, with only half its legitimate purposes, 
that of its seed, in view by the cultivators. 
Seed is the only object for which the mass of 
the crop is produced. For the want of proper 
machinery to dress it, the lint is thrown away, 
and rotted in the barn-yards. Machines, how- 
ever, are beginning to work their way into the 
flax-growing country, two or three being al- 
ready established in and about Springfield, in 
the Mad River valley. When machines of the 
right kind are permanently established, we see 
no reason why flax will not become a continual 



crop in the Western States, north of the Ohio 
River, as hemp is at the south of it. It is an 
excellent crop for a rotation, leaving the ground 
clean, light and free; in this particular, an ex- 
cellent preparation for wheat, and not consi- 
dered more exhausting than the cereal grains. 
As now cultivated, for seed only, it is sown 
at the rate of one to two bushels to the acre, 
according to the quality of the ground — too 
thin for good lint. It grows high and branch- 
ing, and on good laud, yields twelve to fourteen 
bushels per acre. The cultivation is simple. 
A single ploughing on mellow, free soils, a 
dressing with the harrow, then sowing, and a 
brushing in of the seed, is sufficient. When 
the crop is matured, it is mowed, or cradled, if 
very stout. Mowing, however, is the usual 
way of cutting. After drying on the ground, 
it is carefully bound into bundles, and the seed 
whipped out by hand-beaters. 

There are large fields of the white, or Ca- 
nary flax in growth. It is somewhat larger 
than the common flax, and thought by its cul- 
tivators to give a greater yield of seed. We 
saw specimens of stalks (or straw) just previous 
to blooming, which were three and a half feet 
long, a fan- sample of the whole field. The 
flax seed of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, must 
be worth millions of dollars the current year, 
as every field we saw was of the finest growth, 
the season being moist and warm. Oil mills 
are frequent. The highest price, in cash, is 
paid to the farmers for the seed; the oil finds 
a ready market in the Eastern States, and thou- 
sands of tens of the cake are transported to 
this city for shipment to England. It sells at 
the mills where manufactured, according as 
they stand contiguous to canal and railway 
communication . at ten to fifteen dollars a ton. 
The mills have paid for seed the past two or 
three years, $1 25 to $1 50 per bushel. 

When the sale and preparation of the lint 
shall become an important object in flax culti- 
vation, as by the introduction of proper dress- 
ing machines, we trust it soon will be, the crop 
will be much more profitable. The yield of 
seed will be less, as it must be thicker sown to 
give a finer fibre. It may have to be some- 
what earlier pulled, or cut, and a less propor- 
tion of the seed may be marketable. The cul- 
tivation may have to be somewhat nicer.- The 
method of harvesting will be more expensive, 
as the crop must be pulled, or cut close to the 
ground, as with hemp; but all these increased 
labors and expenses will be doubly compen- 
sated by the sale of the lint, which yields some 
four hundred pounds to the acre of well dressed 
flax, worth six to eight dollars the hundred. 
In Ireland the average is about two tons of 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 






straw per acre, which yields about five hundred 
pounds of dressed flax. 

It is a matter of surprise that, in a country 
where cotton and hemp have arrived, years ago, 
at an advanced state of improvement in their 
manufacture, flax, an equally valuable article, 
in the extent to which it is used, should be so 
far behind. The flax-cotton, about which so 
much was said a few years since, for linen fa- 
brics, proved a failure ; for, by shortening its 
fibre, the desirable characteristics of the linen 
article was lost. That could be spun on cotton 
machinery, or something near like it, but flax 
proper, requires manipulations of its own. 
With a broad growth of the article among our 
farmers, and efficient machines to break and 
dress it into marketable shape, we have little 
doubt that it will afford a profitable staple of 
manufacture, even into many articles where 
hemp is now used. For all the coarse, heavy 
purposes, hemp, as now, must be recpiired, its 
great length of fibre affording a strength that 
flax is unequal to; but if we cannot go into 
manufacture of fine linens, coarse ones, with 
threads, twines, cords, and various articles, may 
be made in this country, of great consumption 
among our own people and trades, and building- 
up for their fabrication permanent establish- 
ments, adds largely to our wealth and resources. 
American Asricultiirist. 



MANTJRE FOR FRUIT TREES. 

Vv e select the following prescription by A. 
J. Downing, from the second volume of the 
Horticulturist : 

" The best compost for all fruit trees (without 
endeavoring to suit the wants of each particular 
fruit,) is a compost of peat or swamp muck, re- 
duced, or rendered available to plants, by un- 
leached wood ashes. The peat should, if possi- 
ble, be dug and carted out in the winter, though 
it will answer if dug in the spring. As early 
in the spring as is convenient, mix thoroughly 
the wood ashes with the peat, in proportion of 
five bushels of good hard wood ashes to one 
wagon load of peat. Let the heap lie a week, 
turn it over to incorporate more thoroughly, 
and in two or three weeks it will be fit for use. 
This compost or manure contains largely lime, 
potash, phosphate and vegetable matter, the 
elements most necessary to the growth and 
health of fruit trees generally — and in a state 
ready for food for these trees." 

In a subsequent number of the Horticulturist 
is a letter from L. Wyman, Jr. of West Cam- 
bridge, in which he says : 

" I have used and recommended the compost 
yon speak of in the March number of the Hor- 



ticulturist, in your article on ' Special Manure 
for Fruit Trees,' as a manure for the pear tree 
in particular. I have usually added to the 
compost, say in measure, one peck of fine iron 
filings, or one peck and a half of crude turn- 
ings of iron, to each load of peat or muck, and 
in that proportion for a larger or smaller quan- 
tity ; and have always noticed the most favora- 
ble result 

" Two years since I applied this compost to 
a large pear tree which stood in a damp, loamy 
soil, but which had not borne any fruit of con- 
sequence for six or seven years in succession, 
although it grew rapidly in size, and sent out 
a large number of fine healthy shoots. The 
owner of the tree proposed engrafting some 
other kinds of scions upon the stock, it being 
a fine variety (the Andrews.) I recommended 
'one year's patience.' He then said, ; What 
would you do with it?' I replied, 'I would 
attempt to remove it, or give it a better soil, 
and one more adapted to its wants.' He re- 
marked, ' Very well, take it under your charge; 
I will spare it this year.' 

"After examining the soil very carefully, I 
found as before remarked, a clayey loam, quite 
damp, and the tree growing in a lone situation. 
I caused nearly all the earth to be removed 
from the roots of the tree, and the turf taken 
off in a circle seven feet in diameter, leaving the 
tree in the middle of a pan caused by a removal 
of the sod and earth. I then applied a suffi- 
cient quantity of compost to fill the hole full, 
the whole new soil rising a little above the body 
of the tree. The quantity of muck used was 
one quarter less in this instance, as I believed 
the tree required not so large a quantity of 
muck as one would growing in a higher loca- 

-sir 

tion, but rather more sand. I used sand. My 
compost was formed as follows : three parts of 
muck to one part of sand, and a proportionate 
quantity of potash water; and iron filings, one 
peck and a half to the load. The tall or lead- 
ing shoots of the tree were shortened, the tree 
well scraped and trimmed, &c. The result of 
this application was a full crop of pears, and 
the tree making, the same year, a good growth 
of wood, every way healthy; the fruit, two 
barrels and one-half, grew fair and ripened well; 
and the tree has ever since borne a good crop, 
and continues to grow vigorously. This is, to 
my own mind, a sufficient test of the utility 
and value of the compost you commend in your 
widely extended and truly valuable work. 

" Salt, as an article of manure for the plum 
tree, I have long known to be valuable, and 
have used it to a considerable extent." 

The black mud of swamps and marshes, 
commonly called muck, is very extensively used 



14 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



in the manure heap, and ' sometimes by itself, 
as a fertilizer, by our Eastern farmers and hor- 
ticulturists, with the best results. It is well 
known that swamps and marshes, when made 
sufficiently dry by draining, produce the most 
enormous growth of corn and other luxuriant 
feeders, but will not answer for crops of a ten- 
derer growth. This has probably led to expe- 
riments with muck as a fertilizer, with/valuable 
results. 

The usual plan of using it is to haul it to 
the barn-yard, and mix it with the manure heap, 
afterward carting the whole to the fields. Those 



who have muck 
valuable. 



on their farms will find it 



For the Southern Planter. 

CLOVER. 

Mr. Editor, — Be pleased to republish Mr. Ed. 
Ruffihrs essay, published in the Planter some years 
ago, giving a plan of curing clover for hay. But 
few of the present subscribers to the Planter have 
read it ; indeed it seems to have attracted but little 
attention. I have tried it several years, and can 
vouch for the truth of almost every word of it. I 
think I have made a little improvement upon it. 
Mr. Ruffin, if I remember aright, after turning the 
recently cut clover, so as barely to wilt both sides, 
throws into little heaps, enough to be conveniently 
taken by the hay-fork and carried to the little stack. 
I tried this plan with a part of my crop one year, 
and found the scorching sun not only parched the 
top of the piles, but permeated them to a very 
considerable depth. Since then I let one side be 
exposed to the sun just long enough barely to wilt 
it; then turn and lap the rows, and let the other 
side be also dried and wilted. Then at once take 
from the rows to the little stack*. This is not only 
a saving of labor but makes better hay. 

I am glad to perceive that Nature's time of sow- 
ing clover, and the grasses generally, is gaining 
ground. The usual time of sowing is the latter 
part of the winter and first of the spring. When 
seed are cheap it may be well enough to try that 
time. I have tried it repeatedly, but have very 
rarely succeeded in getting a good stand. Last 
spring I succeeded, notwithstanding the dry sum- 
mer. I had a piece of wheat which came up very 
sparingly. I ran an iron-tooth dragover it, imme- 
diately followed by a sparse sowing of clover-: . ed. 
The seed ' i dediately followed by a pretty 

heavy roller. The w) not only uninjured, 

but I beli . ■ ■ ■■ leflti h i ■ ■■ i ,■ I rate 

stand of clove 

Three yi ;o I b ugh! om< tine clover-seed 

at a pretty high price. ! . q the latter part 

of February and the first two weeks in March. It 
proved almost a total failure. Determined not to 
be foiled and thrown out of my routine, after I 
had cut my wheat I ran the iron-tooth drag over 
the v. heat ; : ubble the latter part of August or first 
wee' ember, immediately following the drag 

i clovi eed, without the roller. Upon the 

greater part of the land I harvested quite a heavy 
crop of ha I I ummer. You may judge when I 
assure you that one hand, without help, earned 
i ' di llai in one day, and two hands, starting 



about eleven o'clock, earned about fourteen dollars 
before night. It is proper to mention, however, 
that forage was very scarce and selling very high. 

Some salt their clover in storing it away. My 
horses are fond enough of it without any sucli 
briberj". They never tire but always thrive upon 
it. Upon Mr. Ruffin's plan it will keep without 
salt. Don't let it sun-burn or get wet; let it have 
air and it will keep, if put up barely wilted. But 
it must be protected from extraneous moisture. 
That ruins it, whereas if it has air enough it will 
very rarely spoil by its own sap. 

There is a prevalent error, I think, in giving all 
of the clover to the land to enrich it. To be sure 
land that has been bare, "without any vegetable 
matter turned into it, or land that is too stiff can 
never be injured by the green fallow, but generally 
it is best to cut off the clover, and you may pay 
off in full by stable-manure, plaster and slacked 
ashes. 

I had several years ago a fine lot of clover, alt 
of it high enough to cut. But a part of the lot 
being rather poorer than the rest of it, I left the 
clover to enrich the soil ; while the part that was 
cut clean brought forth a second crop, almost a.s 
heavy as the first, with scarcely a foul weed in it. 
The part not cut, instead of a second crop of clover, 
paid me off in broomstraw, lifeeverlasting and 
other pest weeds, and the next year in a crop of 
worms, which very materially injured the crop. 
To produce a good second crop, the clover ought, 
to be reaped with a keen blade, and not bruised 
during the operation, for the whole energy of the 
roots are exhausted in striving to resuscitate the 
wounded stalks. 

T. H. A. 

Halifax C. H.. Dec. 31, 1854. 



ANALYSIS OF GARDEN VEGETABLES. 

We recently alluded to the interesting contribu- 
tion of Dr. Salisbury, to the transactions of the 
New York State Agricultural Society, of a paper 
containing analysis of various garden vegetables. 
As we have no room to give these analyses, we 
have briefly condensed some of the conclusions 
arrived at by Dr. Salisbury, which afford valuable 
suggestions for experiments in the culture of these 
products. 

The roots of the Vegetable Oyster, contain a large 
per eentage of sugar, dextrine, and albumen, which 
accounts for their richness.— They contain about 
five per cent, of water more than the potato, that is 
about 81 per cent, for the root, and 85 for the top. 
Dr. Salisbury recommends the following compo- 
nent parts for a special manure for this vegetable, 
viz : 33 parts of asl^s, 10 parts common salt, 5 
parts plaster. . 

The root of the Carrot is rich in sugar, dex- 
trine, albumen, and starch. One ton of the roots 
contains 141 pounds of sugar, 30 pounds of dex- 
trine, -ih pounds of casein, 17 pounds of albumen, 
9 pound's of starch, U pounds of gluten, and 1-5 
pound of fat. One hundred pounds of ashes, 50 
pounds of common salt, and 10 pounds of plaster, 
will supply the inorganic matter taken by a crop 
from the "soil; or, in other words, will form the 
constituent of a special manure for a soil which 
happens to become alike destitute of the materials 
of these substances— if there should happen to he 
Such a soii, and if this fact could be determined. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



li 



The root of the Beet is about nine-tenths water. 
One ton of the fresh roots of the turnip beet con- 
tains C2 pounds of sugar, 20 pounds of dextrine, 
and 12 pounds of albumen, casein, and gluten 
taken together. The long blood beet contains 
about twice as much sugar, and about twice as 
much albumen, casein and gluten. The white 
sugar beet is less rich than the latter, but richer 
than the former in materials. Three hundred 
pounds of ashes and 200 pounds of common salt, 
are recommended as a special manure for a crop 
of 20 ton.-. i 

Muskmclor. and Watermelon. — Dr. Salisbury re- 
marks on these, " The muskmelon contains a very 
large per centage of phosphoric acid and soda, 
and considerable potash; the watermelon a large 
per centage of soda and potash, and is unite rich 
in phosphoric acid. The occurrence of these bo- 
dies in such quantity in these plants, explains to 
ns why dead animal matter, as flesh, bones, &c, 
common salt, and ashes, have such marked influ- 
ence in promoting their growth and productive- 
ness. 

The Cucunibcr is similar in composition, but is 
most remarkable for the very large proportion of 
water it contains, being o.bout 00 V per cent. In 
other words, a ton of cucumbers contains only 70 
pounds of solid matter, the remaining 1.930 pounds 
feeing water! — Country Gentleman-. 



from ihe Indiana Farmer. 
MOKE FACTS FOR FARMERS. 

It is a fact that all domestic animals can be 
improved in size and value. One hundred and 
fifty years ago the average weight of cattle at 
the Smithneld Market was not over 370 pounds, 
and that of the .sheep 28 pounds. Now the 
average weight of the former is oyer *00 pom 
and of the latter SO pounds. 

The average weight of cattle, properly termed 
beeves, in the Now York market, is-about 700 
pounds, and sheep 50 pounds. 

Theavera . • ii , weight of the heaviest drove 
of beeves of 1 00 in number ever brought to 
this market was 2067 pounds, weighed from 
dry feeding, in Illinois, last spring. 

The mode of selling cattle in New York is 
at so much per pound for the estimated weight 
of meat contained in the four quarters. The 
estimation is made upon the live weight of cattle 
as follows : 

A drover iu buying a lot of grass-fed, com- 
mon stock in Illinois should never calculate to 
get an estimate of over onc-hsclf here of the 
live weight there. That is, if the drove aver; i ge 
12 cwt. they will nakc cwt. of meat each. 

Medium beeves may be estimated at 54 or 
55 pounds per cwt. Good beeves at 56 or 57 
pound,. Extra good, large and fat, from 58 
to 62 pounds per cwt. 

In the Boston market the weight is generally 
estimated upon "five quarters/' that is, the pro- 
duct of meat, fat and skin. There the cattle 



are generally weighed, and the product esti- 
mated upon an average, 64 pounds per cwt. 

In New York not one bullock in ten thou- 
sand goes upon the scales to determine his priee 
to the butcher. 

It is a fact that cattle of a large breed or 
variety are the most profitable for the grazier 
who feeds for beef. It is doubtful whether that 
will hold good with poultry. Dorking fowls 
are medium size, and a much esteemed variety. 
They have five toes. 

Timber should be cut while the tree is in its 
most rapid season of growth, and near the close 
of the growing season, when the terminal bond 
of each limb is fully formed. Saw logs cut in 
winter always decay on the outside more or less 
if left over, while summer cut logs keep sound 
for years. Hickory cut in winter soon suffers 
with - powder-post." If cut in August it will 
keep forever. 

Posts should always be set top end down. 
They will last twice as long. Put six inches 
of broken stone in the bottom of the hole. 

Locust Trees make most valuable timber, 
and grow quick and easy from the seed, if it is 
scalded with boiling water, or still better, lye, 
and then planted as you would beets or onions,. 
and the plants are about as sure as those vege- 
tables to live when transplanted. 

S vi. t applied at the rate of four quarts to a 
ton of hay will aid materially in its preserva- 
tion, and make it more nutritious and whole- 
some for stock, and is just about the amount 
usually fed by a good farmer to an ox while 
eating that quantity of hay. 

Composition Roofs are cheaper than fin, 
better thai; shingles, are perfectly tight, and 
almost fire proof against sparks, when made a? 
follows : 

.Sheet the rafter with close boarding up and 
down. Cover this with felting paper, laying 
sheets to break joints, with one-third ex- 
posed, just as you would courses of shingles. 
Fasten the courses to the boards by nailing 
thin strips of lath, aud also upon the eaves, 
sides and all exposed edges. The whole is now 
covered by the "composition,'' which we be- 
lieve is jus f . r, !i as caulkers use, that is, boil- 
ing pitch. It saturates the paper and sticks 
the sheets altogether and to the boards. As 
fast as one man puts on pitch enough, another 
must cover it with clean gravel, dried by heat- 
ing- in a very hot sun, or an iron pan over the 
fire. Make a complete gravel surface in the 
hot pitch, and your roof will lie very tight and 
durable. 

King Birds. — it is a fact that they do eat 
bees. That is settled. And it is almost indis- 



M 



16 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



putably settled that the birds never touch a 
working bee. They pick out the drones and 
destroy them, as all drones should be. These 
are beautiful birds, and should never be de- 
stroyed, because they are both ornamental and 
useful to the farmstead. 



From the Ohio Cultivator. 

HOME-MADE FURNITURE. 

In the present pecuniary troubles, many a 
wife finds an unusual necessity for practising 
the strictest economy in household matters. 
Perhaps housekeeping is just to be commenced, 
and the great problem is, how much furniture 
and how many conveniences can we afford to 
procure ? A little money must go as far as 
possible. Such would, perhaps, like to be ini- 
tiated into the art of making cheap articles of 
furniture — both useful and ornamental. Many 
a neat and comfortable sofa or lounge, chair, 
stand, bed, book-shelves, &c. &c, have we seen, 
that cost its owners almost nothing. 

A few boards, a little stuffing, and a few 
yards of shilling calico, put together with in- 
genuity, will give a tasteful and even elegant 
air to an otherwise bare and comfortless room. 
Most of the work we shall describe can be done 
by the females of the household, and we are 
sure will afford them more pleasure and com- 
fort than the so-called " ornamental" worsted 
work, bed-quilt piecing, &e. And in almost 
every family there is enough mechanical inge- 
nuity among the boys, if not among the girls, 
to do the sawing and nailing. 

The barrel chair is a very easy and comfort- 
able, as well as cheap and pretty seat. It can 
be made by taking a stout oak barrel with one 
end out, sawing half through the barrel at the 
proper height for a seat, and leaving the other 
half full height, rounding off the top, for the 
back of the chair. Stretch stout bagging across 
and nail it firmly on for the seat ; make a cushion 
to rest upon this, and if the barrel is large 
enough to allow it, cushion the back also, by 
tacking on sheets of cotton batting, which costs 
but a trifle at any of the stores, or stuffing with 
any other cheap material. Now cover the en- 
tire chair with worsted stuff, glazed furniture 
calico, or any thing else convenient, and cover 
the edges with cord, gimp, braid, or even a 
narrow band of the same. 

A simple lounge can be made by taking a 
broad, thick plank, strengthening it by nailing 
on cross pieces underneath, and inserting four 
short legs ; add a cushion filled with straw and 
cotton batting over it; cover the cushion with 
any material you wish, and add a valance of 
the same to conceal the legs. A back and 



either one or two ends may be added, if de- 
sired, by nailing on boards and cushioning them 
like the seat. 

A cot bedstead, many of you know how to 
make. Take four sticks about four feet long 
and three inches square, bore an inch hole 
through the middle of each, and put a round 
stick, sis feet long, through, and pin through 
the ends; arrange these like the four legs of a 
saw horse ; then to form the sides, connect the 
head and foot posts by nailing a rod or strip 
of board on to their tops; take a piece of bag- 
ging six feet by four, stretch it across and nail 
it firmly on to the side pieces. To strengthen 
this, make a narrow head board, nail on a small 
rod at each end, and bore holes in the side 
pieces at the head to receive them. By lifting 
this head board out, the bedstead can at any 
time be folded together and laid aside, if not 
wanted. 

A convenient seat for children, or for the 
garden, is made like a cot bedstead, with the 
head board omitted. The sticks for the seat 
should be one foot long, those for the legs, one 
foot six inches long. Bind a bit of carpeting 
for the seat. These are so light, and so easily 
folded and carried about with one hand, as to 
be very convenient. 

Hanging booh shelves is another article of 
furniture easily made, and very convenient. 
Por a small size, take three planed boards one- 
fourth of an inch thick ; let the largest shelf be 
about thirty inches long by eight wide, the other 
each one inch narrower and two inches shorter 
than the one below it. If convenient, paint, 
or oil and varnish them. Bore a gimlet hole 
in each of the four corners; take a stout cord 
and pass it down through one hole in each shelf, 
taking care that it is at the same corner of 
each; then pass it up through the remaining 
holes in the same end, making a knot in the 
cord under each shelf for it to rest upon. Pass 
a cord through the other end in the same man- 
ner, and tie the four ends of the cord together a 
foot and a half above the upper shelf, and hang- 
it up. 

To make a icorkstand, both light and orna- 
mental, procure from a carpenter an exact oc- 
tagon, (eight sided,) sixteen inches across, made 
from two inch plank for the base, and another 
the same size, of one inch plank, for the top. 
Bore an inch and a half hole in the centre of 
each, into which insert a post for a standard 
long enough to make the whole the height of 
a common table, and cover the whole with 
furniture calico. For this purpose, sew toge- 
ther like a bag two breadths of the calico, each 
about three inches longer than the height of 
the stand; now slip this over the stand, and 



TxIE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



17 



tack the upper end of the cloth smoothly round 
on to the edge of the upper plank; pass a rib- 
bon or heavy cord round a little above or be- 
low the middle of the standard, tying the cloth 
back tightly; then turn the lower edge over 
the base plank; nail it on to the bottom, making 
the whole resemble an hour-glass. Put a little 
cotton batting on the top of the upper plank, 
and cover that also. About two and a half or 
three yards is sufficient for the whole, unless, 
which is quite desirable, pockets are added. If 
so, these should be semi-circular, plain back 
and full front, drawn with a cord. Tack one 
of these on each side of the top, and conceal 
the tacks with a row of braid. 




THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 

RICHMOND, JANUARY, 1855. 



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S^p*" No paper will be discontinued until all arrearages 
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ADVERTISEMENTS. 
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TO THE SUBSCRIBERS TO THE SOUTHERN 
PLANTER. 

Having disposed of the ,: Southern Planter/' it 
becomes my duty formally to take leave of the 
patrons of that journal. I have been connected 
with it from its commencement, fourteen years 
since, to the present time, as publisher or proprietor. 
During that period I have received many evidences 
of good will on the part of the subscribers to the 
Planter, which it becomes my duty, as it is my 
pleasure, thus publicly to acknowledge. I have 
been, from year to year, cheered on in the prosecu- 
tion of the enterprise by the aid apd cooperation 
of many patrons who felt interested in permanently 
establishing in this city an agricultural journal of 
high character. Through their generous efforts I 
have succeeded in making the Planter what it now 
is. My heartfelt thanks, therefore, are due, and 
are hereby cordially tendered, to them. 

In disposing of the Planter to Mr. Ruffln I enjoy 
the satisfaction of knowing that it passes into able 
and competent hands. For upwards of three years, 
as the readers of the journal know full well, he has 
conducted it with unecpaalled ability and success. 
The past affords an earnest of the future. Under 
his direction and control it is destined to become, 
I verily believe, the ablest journal, devoted to the 
cause of agriculture, in the whole South. Nay, 
more, it will become an ornament to the profession. 

May I not hope, in conclusion, that those who 
have for so many years illuminated the pages of 
the Planter by their contributions will continue 
their labors for the good of the cause 1 

P. D. Bernard. 



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

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

["•■;-"'' i' 1 ' '■■'J i : <»> the Southern Planter, (when paid in 
advance,) to any part of the United States one cent and a 
half per quarter, or six cents per annum. 



TO THE SUBSCRIBERS TO 
PLANTER, 



THE SOUTHERN 



For the first time in my life I have made a spe- 
culation. I have become the sole proprietor of the 
Southern Planter. 

My motive in the purchase was to put the Planter 
on a somewhat different footing, to have the respon- 
sibilities of the whole office upon myself, and to 
simplify its management and its affairs generally. 
I have bought it tit a high price, but with, the hope 
that, the great agricultural interest, which I have 
for several years endeavored to serve, would, at 
least, bear me harmless in the venture. And I am 
emboldened to think it will, because in three and 
a half years that I have been connected with the 
paper, I have run up the number of its subscribers 
from some eighteen hundred, perhaps a little less, 
at the rate of nearly one thousand per annum . 
But to succeed the number must still be very con- 
siderably increased. Of more than eighty thou- 
sand farmers in the State, only about four thousand 
six hundred take this paper, and many more than 



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20 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



From the Boston Traveller. 
INTERESTING FROM THE CHINCHA ISLANDS. 

We have been favored with the perusal of a 
private letter from the Chincha Islands, dated 
the 19th February, which contains some items 
of public interest, which we are permitted to 
copy. 

There were at the islands, at the date of 
the letter, one hundred and sixty vessels of 
various sizes, from 300 to 2200 tons burthen — 
averaging probably 800 tons. The estimated 
average time for loading with guano was forty 
days. 

The rate of exportation of guano from the 
islands is said to be one thousand tons a day, 
which it was thought would not exhaust the 
heap in ten years. A geological survey, made 
by order of the United States government, had 
estimated that eight years would exhaust the 
supply. We extract from the letter as follows : 

" There are three of the Chincha Islands, 
lying in a line, N. and S., the passages between 
them being less than half a mile. The wind 
is always S. and E. and it is never known to 
rain. The North island is the largest It is 
nearly circular, and about one-third of a mile 
in diameter, and about one hundred feet high. 
Some parts of the coast are steep, liigh cliffs, 
and others sandy and rocky coves of gradual 
ascent from the shore. The heap of guano 
continues to deepen to the highest point of the 
island, where it is one hundred feet in depth. 
Fancy a large, old-fashioned loaf of brown 
bread, laid on a table but little larger than the 
base of the loaf, and you can pretty nearly see 
the pile of guano on either island. The laborers 
commence digging and proceed along the top 
of the rock in the direction of the centre, from 
all parts of the island ; and, therefore, in then- 
progress, have shown the guano in the very 
steep side from the base rock, eighty feet high ; 
and from every part it appears to be the same 
substance — hard and close. 

" Every spoonful is dug with a pick, and when 
loosened is as dry as powder, and of course 
dusty. If left in a pile but a brief period, it 
again becomes hard, and must again be loos- 
ened with a pick; from the base to the top are 
found feathers, eggs, and stones of all sizes, 
some weighing even two or three tons. I have 
taken out many perfect feathers, far from the 
top; g|rid near and upon the surface have seen 
what appeared to be bone and flesh decomposed. 

" It is thought the pile now called guano, is 
the decomposition of sea animals, of which 
there are multitudes now, and they are pre- 
sumed to have been far more numerous in an- 
cient days, before the white man came to de- 



stroy. Sea lions of a large size — a ton weight — 
seals and endless quantities of sea fowls have 
been the inhabitants of these islands for my- 
riads of years, and the islands have been the 
burial places of these animals ; for if wounded 
they crawl up to the top — so say the knowing 
ones. Birds and bird lime go to increase the 
pile. Guano is really decomposed animal mat- 
ter, but whether this was the way so vast a pile 
accumulated, or whether the islands were thrown 
up from the bottom of the sea with the deposit 
upon them, you must judge for yourself. 

" The second island is similar in size and 
pile to the one described. The third one has 
not been touched yet. It is much smaller, but 
well loaded. Guano secretes large quantities 
of ammonia, and confined as it is in a ship's 
hold a man cannot stay more than five or ten 
minutes at a time among it. Besides large 
lumps of pure ammonia, are daily found appa- 
rently decomposed bones, eggs, &c, and among 
other items a man in a perfect state of preser- 
vation — the real ammonia, strong as volatile 
salts. 

" Now do you wish to know how all those 
ships are loaded, and a thousand tons per day 
dug and sent from the island ? Well there are 
about 100 convicts from Peru, and about 300 
Chinamen from the Celestial Empire. The 
former are in the right place; the latter were 
passengers that engaged passage in an English 
ship for California, and engaged before they 
left their own country to labor after their arri- 
val for a limited time to pay their passage ($80.) 
Instead of being landed at California, the ship 
brought them direct to this place and the cap- 
tain sold them for three and six years, accord- 
ing to the men, to work out their passage; and 
here they are slaves for life. 

" They are allowed four dollars per month 
for their food, and one-eighth of a dollar per 
day for their labor, with a pile of guano before 
them which will last the next ten years ; and 
long before it is exhausted the majority of them 
will be dead. Each man is compelled, to bring 
to the shoot five tons of guano per day. A 
failure thereof is rewarded with the lash from 
a strong negro ; and such is their horror of the 
lash, and the hopelessness of their condition, 
that every week there are more or less suicides. 
In the month of November, I have heard, fifty 
of the boldest of them joined hands and jumped 
from the precipice into the sea. In December 
there were twenty- three suicides; this is from 
one in authority ; in January quite a number, 
but I have not learned how many. I was a 
few days since on the South island, and there 
saw two of the most miserable starved crea- 
tures. They had swam across on their wheel- 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTEK 



21 



barrows, and fully determined to die. I could 
not feed them, and my heart ached for them; 
so after we reached the ship a boat was de- 
spatched with bread and water for their relief. 
Perhaps this availed nothing, for they must 
either return, or some one must feed them daily. 

•• The Chinese, it is said, are educated to be- 
lieve in the transmigration of souls, and there- 
fore think if they leave this life they shall re- 
turn to their own country. It is thought that 
faith induces them to leave their wheelbarrows 
and commit suicide. 

<: Thus by diminishing the number of la- 
borers, the exports are reduced, and to meet 
the demand of so many ships, two English 
ships (one of which has been here before) are 
soon expected with other loads of passengers 
from the Chinese dominions, deceived, most 
probably, with the idea of going to California 
to dig gold. In fact, it is said, the first batch 
of Celestials had dug many days before they 
were undeceived. 

" The process of loading the ships is either 
by placing the ship close to a steep, rocky cliff, 
and have the guano run through a large canvas 
hose from the top of the hill into the ship's 
hold. Five hundred tons per day are put on 
board by this method ; and as there is seldom 
much wind or swell, a ship can lie very well. 
Boats that go under smaller shoots, are some- 
times loaded and return to the ship, where it 
is taken on board in tubs made of barrels." 



From the American Cotton Planter. 

RUMINATION. 

The following article from the Genesee Far- 
mer more clearly and briefly describes the pro- 
cess of rumination than anything we have seen 
on the subject. It also explains what we said 
-ometime since in an article in the Journal on 
•Economy of Feeding," viz: the importance 
of fully incorporating all the grain that is fed 
to stock in the form of fine meal with the coarse 
food. It has been found by those who have 
fed crushed corn and cob in a dry state, as 
many are in the habit of doing, that its effect 
Is injurious to the intestines of the animal, be- 
sides the great loss sustained by feeding in that 
state. We do not believe that animals can be 
fed on meal, bran, or "brewers' grains and 
distillers' wash" alone for a long time and re- 
main in a healthy condition. All the impor- 
tant organs adapted to the process of rumina- 
tion remain inactive and dormant, and must 
finally result in disease and the death of the 
animal, but not so when these substances are 
incorporated in the coarse food : 



"Rumination is the remastication of food 
by a ruminant animal. Liquid or attenuated 
food passes at once into the third and fourth 
stomachs, and is not remasticated; but all other 
food, particularly such as consists of compara- 
tively dry and solid vegetable matter, descends 
into the rumen, is there slowly macerated, passes 
by little and little into the second stomach, and 
is there separated by compression into a liquid 
and a solid portion, the liquid to pass on to the 
third and the fourth stomachs and the solid to 
be returned in pellets up the gullet for such 
remastication as shall reduce it to a pulp, and 
fit it to pass direct, by re-deglutition, into the 
third and fourth stomachs. The remastication 
is effected while the animal lies at ease — and 
constitutes what is popularly called ' chewing 
the cud' and takes place only upon matter 
which nothing short of an operose process can 
reduce to perfect pulpiness or liquidity; and 
the regorging which attends it differs widely 
from the belching or vomiting of a non-rumi- 
nant animal, and is regularly conducted by a 
specially constituted organism as deglutition 
or absorption or secretion or any other ordinary 
act or function of the animal system. 

" In order to understand the process of ru- 
mination, we must advert to the manner in 
which the four stomachs communicate with the 
gullet and with one another. The gullet is an 
extensive membranous tube, much more com- 
plicated in ruminating quadrupeds than in man, 
the muscles which surround it being strong, 
and consisting of two rows of fibres, crossing 
one another, and running spirally in opposite 
directions; and these muscles, by their con- 
tractions, so powerfully force the morsel of 
food beo-un to be swallowed onwards into the 
inlet of the stomachs, that the process of de- 
glution once commenced cannot be stopped, 
even by the will of the animal. The gullet 
enters just where the first, second and third 
stomachs approach one another, and discharges 
itself almost equally into the first and second. 
Connected with it is another organ which may 
be termed the cud-duct. This is sometimes a 
groove and sometimes a tube, according to its 
action; and runs from the termination of the 
gullet to the third stomach, with the first sto- 
mach on the left, and the second on the right, 
and discharges itself almost equally into the 
second and the third. It has thick prominent 
margins, which can be brought to meet so as 
to form a complete canal, and thus constitute 
a continuation of the gullet across the second 
stomach into the third. All these parts, the 
gullet, the cud-duct, the first, the second and 
the third stomachs, not only communicate with 
one another, but all communicate by a common 



22 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



point, the point where the gullet terminates, 
where the -cud-duct commences, and toward 
which the three stomachs open or end. Now 
in the process of returning the macerated food 
for remastication, it is the cud-duct, together 
with the shut termination of the gullet ap- 
proached to the shut inlet of the inanyplies, 
which forms the pellets. To understand the 
mechanism by which these are moulded, let it 
be marked, first that the cud-duct extends from 
the termination of the gullet to the inlet of the 
manyplies; secondly, that when it contracts, it 
approaches one or the other of these apertures; 
thirdly, that of these two apertures, the termi- 
nation of the gullet is habitually shut, and the 
inlet of the manyplies, naturally straight, can 
be so narrowed as almost to close by its own 
contraction; and fourthly, that when the first 
two stomachs, compressed by the abdominal 
muscles and the midriff, contract, they push in 
consequence the materials which they contain 
both against the two apertures opposite to each 
other, and against the cud-duct opposite the 
two stomachs. The two stomachs, in this man- 
ner, in proportion as they contract, push the 
materials contained in them between the mar- 
gins of the cud-duct, and the cud-duct also 
contracting, causes the two apertures of the 
gullet and of the manyplies to approach ; while 
the two apertures being closed and brought 
nearly together, seize upon a portion of the 
aliment, and detach it in the form of a pellet. 
The aperture of the gullet is closed during the 
act of detaching the pellet, because at that 
instant the midriff is contracted, and it only 
opens when the midriff is relaxed; and the 
aperture of the manyplies is closed, because at 
that instant the manyplies, as well as other 
stonmchs, is contracted. From these circum- 
stances, it is obvious that the pellet must be 
detached, as it could not otherwise be seized 
by the two approaching apertures — that the 
pellet must be round, for this is the form of 
the cavity formed by the parts of the organ 
employed in the process — and that the pellet 
must be about an inch, in diameter, for the 
cud-duct, when contracted in the act of forming 
the pellet, is aboutan inch in length. How beau- 
tiful a contrivance — how exquisitely adapted to 
the structure and wants of the animal — and 
how minutely and highly illustrative of the 
all-pervtvding beneficence and skill which every 
where shine out in the works of the Creator ! 

" One important practical lesson suggested 
by the nature of rumination is the proper feed- 
ing of cows, in order to produce the greatest 
quantity of milk. If they are fed on very dry 
food, such as hay, the greater portion of fluids 
in the blood will be spent in the process of ru- 



mination and digestion, and the milk will be 
scanty; but if they be fed on aliment which 
abounds in liquid, such as mangel-wurzel or 
brewers' grains and distillers' wash as in Hol- 
land, they will ruminate much less ; a quantity 
of saliva will be wanted for chewing the cud, 
and a large proportion will go to the produc- 
tion of milk, though this will be thinner, and 
not so rich in cream as the milk produced from 
drier food. It is questionable whether cows 
fed wholly on distillers' wash would ruminate 
at all any more than calves, which, so long as 
they suck, never ruminate. 

"Another important practical lesson has re- 
ference to the giving of medicines, and is stated 
as follows by Clater: ' We may, to a great ex- 
tent, send medicine into what stomach we please. 
We may give it in a ball, and it will fall into 
the paunch, and thence go the round of all the 
stomachs; or it may be exhibited in a fluid 
form, and gently poured down, and the greater 
part of it passed at once into the third and 
fourth stomachs. That which is meant to have 
a speedy action on the constitution or the dis- 
ease should be given in a fluid form. That 
also which is particularly disagreeable should 
be thus given, otherwise it will enter the paunch, 
and be returned again in the process of rumi- 
nation, and disgust the animal, and perhaps 
cause rumination to cease at once. This would 
always be a dangerous thing, for the food re- 
tained in the paunch would soon begin to fer- 
ment, and become a new source of irritation 
and disease.' 

"A third important practical lesson has re- 
ference to the sweating of the domestic rumi- 
nants, particularly sheep. Sweat is a produc- 
tion of the fluid portion of the blood, or arises 
from the same source as the salivary secretion 
employed in rumination; and hence the flow 
of it is more to be dreaded in ruminating ani- 
mals than in others, inasmuch as it greatly di- 
minishes the supply of fluid which ought to be 
employed in rumination. If sheep are sweat- 
ing while they ruminate there will be two eva- 
cuations of fluid at the same time, the body 
will be dried, and the blood exhausted and 
heated by the loss, while thirst will supervene, 
so as to make them drink till they are incom- 
moded and their temperament altered. Sweat- 
ing is also hurtful to sheep in other respects, 
for the fibres of their wool are thereby de- 
prived of a part of their nourishment, which 
the sweat carries out of their body, while the 
heat which occasions the sweat, causes the wool 
to grow too rapidly to acquire sufficient con- 
sistence." 



No sweet without sweat, no grains without pains. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANT h 15 



23 



From the Mark Lane Express. 
WHEAT TRADE. 

The estimated extra breadth sown in the 
United Kingdom last season is one-tenth above 
the average, equal to 1,600,000 quarters. On 
the other hand, there is an excess of produce 
above the average of from one-sixth to one- 
eighth. Taking the mean of one-seventh, our 
account of the present crop and stock stands as 
follows : 

Quarters. 

16,000,000 
1,600,000 



Average produce. . - 
Excess in breadth one-tenth. 



Excess of produce one-seventh. 



17,600,000 
•2,514,285 



20,114,285 



Quarters, - 

If to this we add one million and a half of fo- 
reign grain, we have an aggregate of 2 1 ,6 1 4,285 
quarters to meet the consumption of the year, 
which is estimated at 21,000,000. There will 
still, however, be the usual stock of the coun- 
try — now minus 5,000,000 quarters — to be 
made up. For it would be monstrous to sup- 
pose that in a country like this, there should 
be no stock on hand to fall back upon in an 
emergency. We shall, therefore, require an 
importation this year of from four to five mil- 
lion quarters, to place us in the average condi- 
tion we have hitherto found ourselves in, in 
regard to the stock of wheat. 

We shall next take a look round, and seek 
how this supply is to be obtained. As we have 
just stated, any calculations for the future, 
founded upon the experience of the past, are 
not to be depended on. With present appear- 
ances, it is not at all likely that we shall obtain 
the usual supply from the Black Sea ports, even 
if the Danube is free to navigation, and the 
Crimea and Odessa were in the possession of 
the allies — as I hope will soon be the case. 
The consumption and waste of such large ar- 
maments, and the disarrangement of commerce 
and agriculture under the iron rule of war, to 
say nothing of the probable prohibition of the 
Czar to his subjects from supplying the allies, 
or conducting commerce with them from the 
interior — all these circumstances lead me to 
think that the quantity of wheat we shall ob- 
tain from Southern Russia this season will be 
small. And with respect to the Danubian Prin- 
cipalities, they have been for twelve months the 
seat of war, and are still occupied with vast 
armaments. Under the Russian coercive domi- 
nation, neither agriculture nor commerce could 
be conducted with any regularity; and it is 
probable that not only was a large portion of 



the land left unsown last autumn, but that 
much of the growing crop has been destroyed 
by military operations, and in furnishing the 
Russian cavalry with green food; for no eco- 
nomic considerations would, by any possibility, 
enter the mind of a Russian officer. We shall, 
therefore, have much less grain than usual from 
the Danubian and other Turkish Black Sea 
ports, if v:e get any at all, which is very 
doubtful. 

From the Mediterranean ports, with the ex- 
ception of Egypt and Syria, we shall obtain 
but little wheat. France and Italy are, for 
the present, closed against exportation by pro- 
hibitory laws. The former country, and the 
United Kingdom, has exhausted her stocks of 
old native wheat, and is compelled to fall at 
once upon the new crop, which, however good, 
will not be enough to meet the consumption, 
and provide the usual reserve stock. It is pro- 
bable that France and England will continue, 
as last year, to trade mutually with each other 
in wheat, according as the market fluctuates. 
If the price falls here below that in France, 
the latter will be buyers in our market, and 
vice versa. 

With regard to the Baltic* and northern 
countries, with the exception of Russia, the 
stocks of old wheat are exhausted. Not only 



had the merchants the stimulus of high prices 
to induce them to ship to the utmost, but the 
insecurity and the uncertainty as to what course 
the war would take, induced them to export to 
the last quarter to England and France, as the 
only countries where it would both be safe, and 
obtain remunerating prices. The crops in those 
countries are good, and we shall probably get 
an average quantity from thence, if no untoward 
events cause a blockade of the Baltic ports. 

Wc now come to the United States of Ame- 
rica; and if the accounts of the maize crop — 
and wheat, also, in some parts of the Union — 
be correct, their prices will probably be too 
high this season to allow of their shipping more 
at any rate than the usual quantity this season. 
It is stated in the American papers, that the 
corn crop (maize) is at least one-fourth deficient, 
which amounts to 125,000,000 bushels, or 
15,625,000 quarters. And, with regard to 
wheat, in some of the Western States, where 
the largest quantity is raised, the crop is very 
deficient — in many cases amounting to a total 
failure. To what extent this may be the case, 
it is impossible to say; but, taking the defi- 
ciency in both crops into account, it will mate- 
rially affect the export of wheat from the States, 
and also, probably, draw off a considerable por- 
tion of the supplies from Canada, where the 
crop is represented to be excellent. 



24 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



Under these circumstances, I estimate sup- 
plies for the next year as follows : 

The northern ports, 

Mediterranean, 

Black Sea ports, 

United States, 

Canada, ... - 



Quarters. 

1,750,000 
500,000 
300,000 
800,000 
400,000 



3,750,000 
This may probably be made up to four mil- 
lions from the quarters that do not come under 
the sections above given ; but I cannot, by any 
possibility, see where we can increase that quan- 
tity, unless "a sudden transition from war to 
peace" should restore our northern trade to its 
accustomed channels. However, with this quan- 
tity added to the abundant crop, we shall be 
able to reinstate the country in nearly the same 
condition, as to stock, that it has usually held; 
and we need not fear that prices will materially 
fluctuate throughout the season. 



APPLE MOLASSES. 

We are requested to republish the following ar- 
ticle, which oijjginated in the Republican Journal. 
Although but a little more than a year since it ap- 
peared in the, columns of the Farmer, it will bear 
repeating, ana is very seasonable, at this time. 

The juice of the sweet apple, it is probably well 
known to most of our readers, makes an excellent 
molasses. The article, when properly made, is 
pure, possessing a vinous or rather brandied flavor, 
which renders it greatly superior for mince, apple, 
or tart pies, to the best "West India molasses. If it 
is made from sour apples, a small quantity of im- 
ported molasses may be added to modify the 
flavor. Beet made with it, possesses a brisk and 
highly vapid flavor, which common molasses does 
not impart. Four and a half barrels of good cider 
will make one barrel of molasses, costing in ordi- 
nary seasons, about $5 50. One who has had con- 
siderable experience in manufacturing this article, 
says :— 

' : I make little cider ; my apples are worth more 
fed to my hogs, than for cider ; but I make a prac- 
tice of selecting my sweet apples, those that fur- 
nish the richest, heaviest liquor, and make a 
cheese from them, using the cider thus obtained, 
for making apple or quince preserves, boiling 
down for molasses, and keeping two or three bar- 
rels for drink or ultimate conversion into vinegar. 
When new from the press, and before fermentation 
commences, that which I intend for boiling is 
brought to the house, and boiled in brass, to the 
proper consistence ; taking care not to burn it, as 
that gives the molasses a disagreeable flavor, and 
taking off all the scum that rises during the pro- 
cess. The quantity to be boiled, or the number of 
barrels required to make one of molasses, will de- 
pend greatly on the kind of apples used, and the 
richness of the new liquor. Four, or four and a 
half are generally sufficient, but when care is not 
used in making the selection of apples, five barrels 
may be necessary, but let it take more or less, 
enough must be used to make the molasses, when 



cold, as thick as the best West India. When boiled 
sufficiently, it should be turned into vessels to 
cool, and from thence to a new sweet barrel, put 
into a cool cellar, where it will keep without trou- 
ble, and be ready at all times." 

But the making of molasses is not the only im- 
portant use to which sweet apples may be applied 
as connected with culinary affairs. Apple butter, 
as it is made by the Germans in Pennsylvania, is 
a most excellent article. The modus operandi pur- 
sued by those who are most expert in the manu- 
facture of it, is the following: — ■ 

Having selected six bushels of fine ripe fruit, 
and divested them of the rind, quarter and care- 
fully core them. Boil down two barrels of sweet 
cider to one, and deposit the apples in the boiled 
down cider. Keep up a brisk Are under the ket- 
tles, and stir the contents continually to prevent 
burning. The boiling and stirring must continue- 
uninterruptedly till the whole mass is reduced to 
a pap about the consistency of thick hasty-pud- 
ding. It is then allowed to cool, and may after- 
wards be deposited in jars for future use. When 
thoroughly made, it will be nearly as solid as 
first rate butter, and will keep many years ; in- 
deed, it improves by age. The Pennsylvanians 
make it only once in seven years. It is so much 
superior to the ordinary apple sauce, that no one 
who has fairly tested its value will afterwards, we 
are confident, willingly consent to be without it. 
The flavor is superior, and there is a neatness and 
solidity about it greatly superior to that of the 
ordinary apple sauce. Its price in the market is 
also higher. 



ANALYSES OF SOILS. 

Yt'e are not a little gratified to observe senti- 
ments advanced by us on this subject some time 
ago, finding an echo in a journal conducted with 
so much talent as the " Michigan Farmer." Thus 
speaks the Farmer : 

" During the past ten years there has arisen a 
class of men, who at all times were willing to make 
all the processes of agriculture depend upon the 
announcements which were to come from the la- 
boratory of the chemist. A few samples of the 
soil of a field were carefully put in paper, or were 
bottled up in vials and labelled, and dispatched to 
a medium, who advertised to pronounce, after a 
careful analysis, just what any field might need to 
make it grow any crop, in any given quantity. 
According to the notions which they promulgated, 
it was just as easy to grow a crop of wheat on a 
field of dry sand, as it was on the best limestone 
soil, that ever lay " out of doors;" and so with all 
other crops, these mediums would prescribe as 
quickly for a soil, as a spirit rapper for a diseased 
human being. In fact the processes were very 
much alike. The analyst had a little vial of earth 
sent him from a distance, the spirit rapper had a 
lock of the hair of the patient to manipulate. As 
a matter of course, the one judged about as cor- 
rectly of the condition of the field, as the other did 
of the state of the human body. But both had the 
faculty of clothing the results of their examina- 
tions in a semi-classic jargon, which had all the 
ring of true science, and the dupes who consulted 
them were for the most part well satisfied, until at 
the last the manifest utter worthlessness of the 
prescriptions, raised some doubt as to the value of 
the opinion of the analyst, which became with the 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



25 



lapse of time, certainties so fixed, that the very 
word analysis would raise a smile of contempt on 
the faces of those who had paid their five and ten 
dollars, no matter how appropriately it might be 
used. 

It is far from our purpose to cast a slur upon the 
services which science has rendered to agricultue ; 
hut there was a time when it was actually believed 
that science was to do every thing, and practical 
ability nothing. That time is past for the present, 
but there remains a few amongst us who would 
seem still to have a cringing desire to make us 
believe that the knowledge of the " elements" was 
of far more importance to know how to handle a 
plough, or to swing or sharpen a scythe. Even 
the most scientific of the r>rofessors themselves 
have been carried away with the idea that the 
time had come when they could compel the earth 
to yield at their mere bidding, and with no labor. 
Liebig, the most celebrated of them, invested a 
great part of his means in the manufacture of a 
compound that was to prove more fertilizing than 
guano, and which would be of general application. 
The great chemist found out his mistake, after 
dear bought experience ; his compound proving 
totally worthless in its application to the growth of 
crops. S. W. Johnson, an editorial correspondent 
of the Country Gentleman, who is at present pur- 
suing a course of chemical instruction at Munich, 
in Germany, in a recent letter, gives strong testi- 
mony as to the uncertainty and imperfection of the 
results obtained from the best and most carefully 
conducted analyses, even when performed by men 
of the utmost science. He says: " Boussingault 
long ago pronounced them Ttwre curious than use- 
ful." Stockhardt, (one of the most eminent of the 
German school of agricultural chemists,) in his 
lectures, published in 1853, on agricultural che- 
mistry, declares that " to estimate the productive 
quality of a soil by chemical analysis, is at this 
time impossible, and will indeed, remain impos- 
sible." » 

The same writer mentions an instance in which 
three samples, of 14 different soils were selected, 
and distributed to several chemists to analyze. 
The chemists selected were such men as Liebig, 
Rose, and others of a like reputation. Out of the 
42 analyses, no two were alike in all particulars. 
Of course the analyses of each soil approximated 
in a greater or less degree, but in some of the 
soils very important elements were found by some 
of the chemists, while other chemists reported 
their analysis without being able to find the same 
element. The same writer adds : 

"The addition of a ton of guano to an acre of 
soil, would make no perceptible difference in the 
results of an analysis ! But the farmer knows that 
a soil now giving a moderate crop, will often yield 
a very heavy one, by adding to it a few hundred 
weight of guano, and be totally spoiled for several 
years, on addition of a ton. Yet chemical analysis 
would give him results practically identical in all 
these cases. 

'■' Practice has taught that exhausted land often 
recovers its fertility wonderfully, by laying a sea- 
son or two in fallow. Yet in this case nothing is 
added to the soil. On the contrary, its organic 
matter must waste by the ordinary process of de- 
cay. The renewal of fertility, depends merely 
upon a change in the condition of the soil. Ingre- 
dients before insoluble, become soluble and avail- 
able ; but analysis, at present, is by no means able 
to follow and estimate these changes. In fact, if 



it be admitted that the chemist can estimate quan- 
tities with the utmost accuracy and nicety desira- 
ble, yet he cannot get qualities, conditions, in their 
true light. His attempts at this must ever re- 
main vague and unsatisfactory ; for the soil is the 
subject of perpetual changes, wnich he can only 
imperfectly understand, much less imitate. 

" So much depends upon the physical condition 
of the soil, that analysis alone, can form no safe 
basis of judgment. Nothing but lichens and 
mosses will grow on a block of granite. Reduce 
the granite to pieces as large as a pin's head, and it 
forms a poor soil. But grind it to a fine, impalpa- 
ble dust, and wheat sown in it will grow and ma- 
ture, if it have suitable weather. Yet granite is 
granite, " though it be brayed in a mortar." It 
contains the needful inorganic elements, but they 
are slowly soluble in water. Increase the surface 
on which water may exercise its solvent action a 
million times, as is done by pulverization, and 
proportionately increase the quantity of matter, 
which the granite may yield to water and to plants 
in a given time. By simple pulverization, we may 
convert a mountain of rock into a field, in which 
the tender grains will almost reach perfection." 

We have been induced to quote these remarks 
relative to the analysis of soils, because we ob- 
serve from several communications, which have 
reached us lately, there appears to be a great 
stress laid upon the benefits to be derived from a 
knowledge of the analysis of the soils of particular 
fields, as if there were some peculiar applications 
which would aid them, far more than good 
cultivation and the manure bed. There may be- 
something that would prove advantageous for a 
short time, as a temporary stimulant, but at last 
the farmer who tries them will find that he will 
have to return to the first principles of deep 
ploughing and thorough cultivation, and that 
stimulants exhaust in proportion to their power, 
of forcing an unnatural yield. 



THE CATTLE TRADE. 

New York City is the great cattle market of the 
Union, all the cattle-raising States looking to that 
region as the regulator. During the present year 
there have been sold at the markets in the City of 
New York 155,796 beeves, 41,085 cows and calves, 
and 470,617 sheep and lambs. Their aggregate 
value is put down by the Courier at $1 1,287 ,034, 
which is an increase of $2,072,089 over sales of last 
year. The material increase in the value is ascribed 
to the large quantities of stock sent to California 
from the Western States across the plains, which 
otherwise would have found markets on the Atlantic . 
The excess of 1854 over the previous year is not 
considered at all in proportion to the increase of 
the city wants. — Richmond Wliig. 



PRINCE WILLIAM AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 

A meeting of farmers in Prince mlliam county, 
Virginia, was held on the 13th ult. at Gainesville, 
for the purpose of forming an agricultural society. 
Charles H. Hunton was elected President; Bazil 
Brawner, Fred. Foote and John B. Dogan, Vice 
Presidents; Dr. J. B. Grayson, W. W. Monroe, W. 
L. Carter and Edmund L. Berkley, Secretaries ; and 
Dr. C. B. Stuart, Treasurer. — Richmond Enquirer. 



« 



26 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



FERTILIZERS ON GRASS. 

What, is the cheapest manure for mowing lands, 
is a question not easily answered. Probably, no 
one fertilizer is the best under all circumstances. 
We tried an experiment last spring, which has set- 
tled this question for our own premises. The lot 
selected for the trial was an old mowing field, laid 
down a dozen years ago, or more, and cutting not 
far from a ton to the acre. Four plots of ground, 
of four square rods each, adjoining each other, 
were measured off, staked and numbered. 

May 3d, in a rain, we sowed 15 lbs. of DeBurg's' 
super-phosphate of lime upon number one. On 
No. 2 we sowed 15 lbs. of Mapes' improved super- 
phosphate of lime. On No. 8 we put 15 lbs. of 
Peruvian guano, that had been moistened and mixed 
with charcoal cinders for a fortnight. On No. 4 we 
put nothing, hi order to show the natural product 
of the land. 

A week after the application the plot manured 
with the guano could be distinguished, at. a dis- 
tance, by its greater luxuriance, and darker green. 
The effect of the super-phosphate was not very 
manifest. About the 1st of July, the grass upon 
;he several plots was carefully cut, dried and 
weighed. No. 1 gave 84 pounds; No. 2, 70 pounds ; 
No. 3, 104 pounds ; and No. 4, 59 pounds. The fol- 
lowing tabular arrangement gives a better compa- 
rative view : 



Date of ap- 


Date of 






Manure. plication. 


Cutting. 


Area. 


Lbs 


Nothing Mav 3d. 


•lulvlst. 


1-40 acre. 


59 


Mapes' Improv- 








ed Sup. Lime !: 




,; 


70 


DeBurg's Super 








Phos. Lime 


" 


'• 


84 


Peruvian Guano :l 


''■ 


" 


104 



It will be seen that the manures were applied in 
about twice the quantity usually recommended, or 
at the rate of 600 lbs. to the acre. The return for 
Mapes' super-phosphate of lime was 11 lbs. of hay 
tor fifteen pounds of the manure; DeBurg's gave 
25 pounds ; and the guano 45 pounds. — Am. Ag. 



Poultry dung, if saved properly, will he found 
nearly as good, if not quite as good, as guano. The 
evacuations should bo gathered weekly, put away 
in a barrel, and sprinkled over with pulverized 
iehareoo.1 or plaster. 



A bargain is said to be a ludicrous transaction 
in which each party thinks he has cheated the othor. 



PAYMENTS TO THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 

To. the 1st of January, 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 ma^ be made in the 
next issue: 

Dr. L. Roane to January 1855 84 00 

William G. Maury to January 185f> 1 00 

Bowling Clark to November 1855 1 00 

John A. Payne to November 1855 1 00 

John Andrews to November 1855 1 00 

Charles II. Lynch to January 1856 1 00 

Dr. George S. Newman to November 1855 1 00 



John II. Barksdalc, Jr. to January 1855 

Col. Francis Yates to July 1855 

Joseph Starry to July 1855 

William M. fate to April 1856 

William Frazier to July 1855 

John Churchman to November 1855 

Thomas O. Soyers to January 1856 

William G. Daniel to January 1855 

Capt. H. E. Seott to January 1856 

John N. Griffin to June 1855 

L. II. Taliaferro to June 1855 

William L. Paunill to January 1856 

Col. Braxton Davenport to January 1855 

James II. Fitzgerald to July 1855 

Christopher T. Lutherlin to November 1855 

James M. Dillon to January 1856 

J. Haw Jones to January 1855 

Peter Hanger to January 1855 

John C. Laird to January 1856 

Capt. William Walden to January 1855 

J. R. Motley to July 1854 

S. A. Buckner to January 1855 

J. B. Lightfoot to January 1855 

Mrs. Susan K. Powell to July 1855 

Ro. W. Bragg to January 1855 

A. J. J. Brown to January 1855 

James M. Fitzgerald to January 1856 

John T. Childrey to January 1855 

T. C. Proctor to October 1855 

Frank Crocker to December 1854 

J. P. Machin to July 1855 

Sharpe Carter to January 1856 

Miss Charlotte Carver to January 1855 

Dr. W. T. Walker to January 1856 

Col. Samuel Drake to January 1856 

William D. Clopton to January 1855 

John Hunter to November 1855 

Dr. D. C. Winfree to May 1855 

Lewis Mabry to October 1855 

Col. VV. C. Knight to January 1856 

Hugh Chandler to May 1855 

Capt, Ro. G. Haile to Juby 1855 

William J. D. Bell to October 1855 

F. W. Brown to June 1855 

A. G. Ware to November 1855 

James Howison to January 1855 

F. J. Jeifress to November 1855 

Nathaniel S. Goffegon to January 1855 

J. H. Evans to November 1855 

Col. Joseph Martin to July 1855 

Estate of Wm. Greenhow to January 1851 

William S. Dance to January 1856 

H. Carpenter to July 1855 

Ebenezer McGregor to January 185R 

Addison Dunlap to January 1853 

James H. Jameson to Juno 1855 

Capt. F. M. Wiley to April 1854 

Capt, James Lindsay to January 1855 

James M. Ranson to September 1855 

John Strong to November 1855 

John Wootton to January 1854 . 

P. II. Hurt to July 1855 

Col. T. C. Dennis to September 1856 

A. B. Carter to September 1855 

A. W. Hansen! to September 1855 

James M. Ilitc to January 1856 

R. Skipwith to January 1855 

John G. Norvell to September 1855 

Dr. W. W. Anderson to January 1855 

Daniel 0. Bass to January 1856 

Albert Kennedy to July 1855 

Henry T. Watkins to October 1855 

Co!, W. Cardwell to January 1855 



©4 00 
2 00 
2 00 
00 
00 
00 
00 
00 
2 00 
2 00 
1 00 



00 

00 

50 

00 

00 

00 

00 

50 

00 

00 

1 00 

1 00 

1 00 

1 00 

3 00 

8 00 

1 09 

2 00 
1 00 
1 00 
1 00 
1 00 

3 00 
1 00 
1 IK) 
1 ©0 
1 00 
1 00 
3 00 
1 Of 
i 00 
1 00 
1 00 
1 00 
1 00 

1 00 

2 00 
1 00 
1 00 
6 00 
1 00 
1 00 

1 00 

2 00 
00 
00 
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00 

\ 00 
I 00 
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1 00 
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2 00 
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I 09 
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1 CO 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



27 



Felix B. Welton to January 1856 

J. E. Smith to July 1855 

W. G. Friend to January 1856 

William Murray to January 1856 

G. A. Chaffin to July 1855 

C. T. Baylor to January 1855 

David Lee to January 1856 

John H. Lee to January 1856 

Thomas Clarke to January 1855 

Henry M. Yaughan to April 1855 

Thomas Leigh to January 1856 

Elijah D. Hundley to April 1856 

Joseph K. Anderson to January 1855 

Post Master at Gill's Creek to January 185G 

George Bouton to July 1855 

Benjamin Hoover to July 1855 

George H. Toler to April 1855 

Dr. George Fitzgerald to January 18-56 

Col. J. Grigg to January 1855 

Dr. George W. Ruffiii to January 1856 

Samuel Hancock to Jannarv 1855 

L. H. Knight to July 1855 " 

Dr. S. Davis to April 1856 

P. C. L. Burwell to January 1855 

Judge R. C. L. Moncure to November 1855 

John M. Conway to January 1856 

Major Samuel L. Brook to January 1856 

Peter D. G. Hedgman to January 1856 

John Schooler to January 1856 

Peter D. Lowrv to January- 1855 

Dr. S. Fletcher to March 1855 

Robert H. Vest to January 1855 

G. M. Dettor to January 1856 

William R. Briggs to September 1855 

William F. Barner to January 1856 

N. Horsely to January 1856 

John G. Guthrie to July 1855 

James M. Carter to July 1855 

William E. Clopton to November 1855 

W. J. Bingham to January 1856 

R. N. W. Keeling to January 1855 

T. L. Burgess to January 1856 
William F. Gunn to January 18-56 

M. H. Effinger to June 1855 

William S. Davis to December 1855 

William H. Clore to January 1850 

Peter C. Lauck to January 1856 

T. W. Chapman to January 1856 

J. C. Clements to May 1855 

J. D. Howie to May 1855 

Jordan Harris to January 1856 

S. R. Irving to January 1856 

Thomas Massie to January 1855 

Charles Massie to January 1856 

John Parker to January 1850 

Miss E. C. Christian to January 1856 

B. Davis to January 1850 

G. W. Southall to January 1855 

R. N. Mead to January 1856 

0. B. Williams to January 1856 

Dr. Williams to January 1856 

R. Campbell to January 1856 

H. F. Patterson to January 1856 

G. II. Tirnberlake to January 1856 

W. H. Wuiler to January 1856 

Dr. J. R. Taylor to January 1856 

Dr. J. R. Taylor, Jr., to January 1856 

D. B. Hancock to January 1856 

W. Massie to January 1850 

Dr. B. P. Williams to January 1850 

J. Lipscomb to January 1850 

J. K. C. Chamblisa to January 1856 

W Old to January 1855 



SI 00 


1 00 


1 00 


2 00 


1 00 


3 00 


1 00 


1 00 


1 00 


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1 00 


2 00 


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2 00 


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1 00 


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1 00 


1 00 


1 00 


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2 00 


1 00 


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1 00 


1 00 


2 00 


1 00 


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1 00 


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1 00 


1 00 


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1 00 


1 00 


1 00 


I 00 


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2 00 



S. L. Pidgeon to January 1856 
Judge Field to January 1856 
E. H. Flournoy to January 1850 
A. T. Caperton to January 1850 



-n oo 

1 00 
1 00 
1 00 



A TKIN'S SELF-RAKING REAPER AND MOWER. 
XI Three seasons' use of this ingenious, beautiful, and 
yet simple Machine, furnish convincing proof of practical 
worth. Three hundred, scattered into 19 different States 
the past season, mostly in inexperienced hands, and nearly 
all giving good satisfaction, cutting from 50 to 600 acres, 
proves it not only strong and serviceable, but also simple 
and easily managed. It saves not only the hard work of 
raking, but lays the grain in such good order as to save at. 
least another hand in binding. 

It is warranted to be a good, durable Self-Raking Reaper, 
and I have also succeeded in attaching a mowing bar, so 
that I also warrant it as a Mower. 

Price at Chicago, of Reapers, $170;' of Mowing Bar, 830. 
Discount on the Reaper $15, and on Mowing Bar $5, for 
cash in advance, or on delivery. Price of Mower S120. 

[Qp^ Pamphlets, giving all the objections and difficulties, 
as well as commendations, sent free, on post-paid applications. 

Agents, suitably qualified, wanted in all sections where 
there are none. J. S. WRIGHT. 

"Prairie Farmer' Warehouse, Chicago, Dec, 1854. 

ja5t 



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

Best quality moleskin, - - S'3 50 

Second quality moleskin, - - 3 00 

Best quality silk, - - 2 50 

Second quality silk, _ - ' - 2 00 

Fine Cajfskin Sewed Boots only three dollars and fifty 
cents. 

Also, Caps, Shoes and Umbrellas. 

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



FARM, STOCK, CROPS, NEGROES, &C, FOR 
SALE. — The subscribers are authorized to sell a valu- 
able farm in the county of Buckingham, 55- miles from the 
Court House, containing upwards of S00 acres, having on 
it every necessary improvement, consisting of a handsome 
two story dwelling just completed, barn with threshing 
machine, stables, corn crib, carriage and ice houses, black- 
smith's shop, &c, with a kitchen and meat house about to 
be erected. It has also a fine garden and an orchard oi 
choice fruit, embracing almost every variety grown in Vir- 
ginia. It will be sold with the growing crops, (175 bushels 
of wheat and 100 bushels of oats have been seeded) stock, 
tools and implements of every description, and 10 first rate 
farm and house servants, one of whom is a good black- 
smith. 

This firm is situated in a region proverbial for health 
and agreeable society, 15 farms and dwellings being in 
view from the dwelling. 

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

For terms, &c, apply to 

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

jun — if 



MM 



28 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



WOOL DEPOT. 

Richmond, June 22, 1854. 

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

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

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

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

Our charges will be — 

Commission for selling, 2£ per cent. 

Storage, grading, fire insurance, advertising and labor, 1 csnt per lb. 

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

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

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

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

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

autf 



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

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

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

Horse-shoe Tile. 

41 Inch calibre, 818 per 1000 feet. 

3§ do. 15 do. 

2£ do. 12 do. 

Sole Tile or Pipe. 

3 inch calibre, $18 per 1000 feet. 

2 do. 12 do. 

Large Tile for drains about dwellings, yards, &c, of 
rarious sizes, $4 and $8 per 100 feet. Sole Tile, 4 inch 
calibre, for sink drains at $4 per 100 feet. Drain your land 
and save your crops. Orders from a distance will receive 
prompt attention. A. S. BABCOCK. 

^Albany, April 20, 1854. jun— tf 

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

Refer to Gen. Wm. H. Richardson, Richmond, Virginia- 
N. B. — All letters, post-paid, will be promptly attended 



to. 



up '53— tf 



^UPERIOR SWINE AND PREMIUM POULTRY.— 

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

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

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

JOHN G. TURPI N, 

mar — tf Clover Dale, near Petersburg, Va. 



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

§jy Orders from Country Merchants and Physician* 
thankfully received and promptly attended to. ja'51tf 



G1 ENERAL AGENCY FOR THE SALE AND PUR- 
f CHASE OF LANDS.— FRANK : G. RUFFIN, Secre- 
tary of the Virginia State Agricultural Society, and N. 
AUGUST, Notary Public and Accountant, offer their ser- 
vices to the public, as General Agents for the sale and pur- 
chase of lands in Virginia, and in the Southern and West- 
ern States. Those wishing our services, having lands fcr 
sale, are requested to furnish us with a lull description of 
snch property, and the terms, &c, upon which they are 
willing to sell ; and those wishing to purchase are requested 
to inform us of the locality in which they wish to purchase, 
the price they are willing to pay, &c. Our charges will 
be moderate. 

Office at the office of the Virginia State Agricultural So- 
ciety, jatf 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



29 



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

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

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

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

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

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

The Principles of Agriculture, by Albert D. 
Thaer. 

The Farmer's and Planter's Encyc!opa?dia of 
Rural Affairs, embracing all the most recent disco- 
veries in agricultural chemistry, adapted to the 
comprehension of unscientific readers, by C. \V. 
Johnson, Esq. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bookseller, Stationer, and Dealer in 

feb— tf Piano Fortes, 97 Main street. 



ANALYSIS OF SOILS, &c. 

THE undersigned is prepared to execute the an- 
alyses of Soils, Guano, Marls, Plastf r. &c. &c. 
at the Laboratory of the Virginia Military Institute. 
Packages may be forwarded through Webb, Bacon 
& Co. Richmond, or Echols & Pryor, Lynchburg. 
Persons desiring further information will please 
address WILLIAM GILHAM, 

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

FINE STOCK FOR SALE.— I offer for sale a Devon 
Cow, 4} years old, that took the first Premium at the 
First Cattle Show of the Virginia State Agricultural So- 
ciety as the best Devon Cow over three years old. A large 
and very well formed Durham Cow, 1 1 years old, a very 
large milker; and two promising Durham Bull Yearlings. 
Also, seven Cotswold Sheep — one Buck und six Ewes — 
all young. 1 have, also, on hand a few pair of superior 
Essex, Chester County and Grade Pigs, which I wish to 
sell. TH. A. HARDY. 

Norfolk, Va., Dec. 1, 1834.— 2i* 



STOVES AND FANCY IRON CASTINGS, 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bolton & Yale's "Caloric Air Furnace." 

jan 1854— ly 



EAGLE FOUNDERY. 

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

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



BOOKS, PIANOS, MUSIC, &c. 

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



SINTON & SONS' NURSERY, NEAR 
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA. 

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

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

nov— tf JOSEPH SINTON & SONS. 



30 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



CRYSTAL PALACE.— World's Fair, New York, United 
States of America — Association for the Exhibition of 
the Industry of all Nations. 

EXCELSIOR. 

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

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

premiums at and other fairs. That I know nothing 

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

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

July 1, 1854— 12t 



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

may— tf R. R. DUVAL. 

SITUATION AS MANAGER WANTED.— Any gen- 
tleman of Virginia or North Carolina having a large 
estate and who desires to engage, as manager of the same, 
a well educated «nd experienced farmer in whom implicit 
confidence can be placed, can hear of an individnal who 
caa furnish the highest evidences of his capability and 
trustworthiness. 

Address JAMES J. BORDEN, 

de3t Washington City, D. C. 

WM, A. BUTTERS, 
BOOKSELLER AND STATIONER, 

ae No. 1E7 Main Stheet, Richhond, Va. 



THE CHIJUCHA ISLANDS. 

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

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

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

Tonnage Dues, 25c per ton 1 75 00 

Clearance dues, Pisco 4 00 

Com'n on Charter 150 00 

At the Islands 345 00 

Manguera Fees, mooring •■ • $20 00 

Pilot attending 24 00 

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

163 00 

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

Com'n shipping & boat hire, 

$2 each 32 00 

Market bill for beef and vege- 
tables, 3 months 300 00 

Water bill for the Islands • • ■ 50 00 

Crew shipped to go home, 16 
men, at 835 per month, 2 
months in advance, $70 
each, is 1,120 00 

Com'n ship'g and boat hire, 

$5 each ■ • • 80 00 

Water to go home 30 00 

Captain's expenses at Callao * 

and Lima 25 00 

-2,597 00 

Add for caulking ship 200 00 

" " gratification to trimmers and 
pilots 30 00 

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

JJROWN & SHOOK, General Commission and For- 
i3 warding Merchants, corner Union and Franklin streets, 
Richmond, Virginia. All business carefully and promptly 
executed, 
mar — ly 

UNITE!) STATES HOTEL., 

(formerly union,) 
Corner of Main and Nineteenth Streets, Richmond, 
J. E. NORRIS, Proprietor. 
martf Price of Board, per day, $1 50. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



31 



stilx, victorious: 

GREAT PREMIUM FAN, patented December 20, 1853. 
Montgomery's Celebrated Double Screen Rockaway 
Wheat Fan, has taken the following premiums the past 
year: The first premium at the Virginia State Fair, Rich- 
mond, 1854; the first premium at the Maryland State Fair, 
held at Baltimore, 1854; the first premium at Frederick 
City, Frederick county, Maryland, 1854; the first premium 
at the North Carolina State Fair, held at Raleigh, 1854; 
the first premium at the Union Fair, held at Petersburg, 
Virginia; and the first premium awarded by the Seaboard 
Agricultural Society, held at Norfolk, 1854. The Maryland 
Institute has awarded three Silver Medals, in 1852, 1S53 
and 1S54. 

CERTIFICATES. 

St. Geramers, St. Mart's Co., Md., Oct. 6, 1853. 
This is to certify, that I have tried Messrs. J. Montgomery 
& Brother's Wheat Fan in some tailings I made in cleaning 
a part of my crop, which I did not think could be made 
worth anything; it extracted from a bushel and a half of 
filth about three pecks of pure wheat. I must say that I 
never saw a fan that can even come in competition with J. 
Montgomery & Brother's Rockaway Wheat Fan for screen- 
ing wheat. Benjamin McKay. 

Prince George County, Aug. 15, 1854. 
To all whom it may Concern : This is to certify, lha< 
we have particularly examined the operations of the Mont- 
gomery Fan, and find it, according to our judgment, to be 
the very best fan we have ever seen, both as regards the 
speed and the goodness of the work done. We have pur- 
chased two of them, one for Mrs. Worthington and one for 
our own use. B. D. Mullikin, 

Jas. McE. Mullikin. 

Great Mill», St. Mary's Co., Mb., Aug. 28, 1854. 
I purchased of you, a short time since, one of your No. 1 
Extra Rockaway Fans, which has given entire satisfaction, 
and performs better than I could have possibly imagined. 

i. Edwin Coad. 

I'armington, Albemarle, Va., April 28, 1854. 
I am so much pleased with the Fan I ordered from you 
at our Agricultural Fair at Richmond, last November, and 
which I have been using at my farm on James River, that 
I am determined to order one for my estate here, and will 
be obliged to you to have me one made, consigned to my 
son, T. J. Peyton, merchant, Richmond. 

Bernard Peyton. 

This is to certify, that we, the undersigned, have tried 
the Wheat Fans of Messrs. J. Montgomery & Brother, and 
we take pleasure in saying that we regard it greatly supe- 
rior to any fan we have ever seen tried. We are of opi- 
nion that the Wheat Fan of J. Montgomery & Brother will 
in a day fan out more wheat and do it cleaner than any fan 
w. e ■-'• saw tried. We can, with the utmost confidence 
retojniueud it to the favor of the farmers of Virginia. 
John Oseorne, 
Sam'l C. I.eorand, 
of Charlotte County, Virginia. 

Stony Point, near Yorktown, Va., May 22, 1854. 
Your Fan is a perfect machine, doing all that is claimed 
for it, and answering the highest expectations. 

3. R. COUPjLAND. 

KKfERKNCEa. 

City of" Baltimore: John S. Williams-, foot of Commerce 
■Creetj ftfea re. S'-th &, Godwin, No. 4 Bowly's wharf; E. 
B. Harris, No. 4 Bowly's wharf; Michael Horsey, Light 
Mreel; Thos. J. Hall, Light street; N. E. Berry, Lombard 
street, near Charles; R. D. Burns, foot of Bowly's wharf; 
Mr. Wilmer, No. 2 Bowly's wharf — all commission mer- 
chant.. 

Virgin j. reference*: Ken. William S. Archer, Virginia ; 
Gen. B. Peyton, Virginia; Hill Carter, Virginia; Lewis E. 
tforvie, Virginia; Rowleit, Hardy & Co, Petersburg; A. 



C. Lane, Richmond; Robert Cole, Richmond, Virginia; M. 
Heartwall, D. T- Payner, James B. Lundy, J. Ravenscroft 
Jones, Geo. W. Field, Col. Isham Trotter, John Winbeiks, 
Wm. Towns, Jas. Hays, Sr., Dr. Wm. W. Oliver, Samuel F. 
M'Gehee, William M. Watkins, William I. Scott. 

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

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

may — ly Baltimore. 




SCOTT'S LITTLE GIANT PATENT CORN AND 

COB MILL, 

Patented May 16, 1854. 

The attention of Planters, 
Farmers and Stock-feed- 
ers in general, are respect- 
fully called to this Mill as 
the most important article 
of the kind now in use ; not only well adopted for grinding 
Cob Meal for Stock, but Grits for the table, and especially 
Bread Meal from corn not fully ripe or dry in the fall. 

In setting this Mill no mechanic or frame work is wanted, 
only requiring to be fasted to a floor or platform. Easily 
adjusted and used by any body, even a child. 

The Little Giant has received the first premiums a( 
the late Agricultural Fairs of Missouri, Kentucky, Mary- 
land and other States ; and that in the most complimentary 
manner; as well as the most ready commendations from 
the thousands witnessing its performance. 

These Mills are guaranteed in the most positive manner ; 
and No. 2 warranted to grind 10 bushels of feed per honr 
with one horse, and offered at the low price of $44, all 
complete, ready for attaching the team — No. 4, at $66, 
grinds 2tl bushels per hour with 2 horses. 

Manufactured by SCOTT & MOCKBEE, No. 7 Bal- 
| derston Street, near Light Street, Baltimore, Maryland 
Liberal discount to dealers. State'and County Rights for 
'sale. 

From, the Cincinnati Gazette. 

Corn and Cob Crushers. — We stepped in yesterday 
to the establishment of Messrs. Scott & Hedges, No. 9 
Water Street, and witnessed the performance of Scott's 
Patent Corn and Cob Mill, called the "Littls Gi- 
ant," and can assure those who are in need of a mil! for 
grinding ear-corn for feeii, or cracking corn and oats to- 
gether, that this article is the best adapted for that purpose 
of any thing we have ever examined. With one horse, 
they ate able to grind at the rate of from 10 to 12 bushels 
per hour, breaking all the corn and pulverizing the cd> 
completely. The whole mill, ready to hitch the horse to, 
weighing about 300 lbs, and sold at the low price of $44, 
and warranted at that— it docs strike us it will soon find 
its way to every good farmer and economical teamster in 
the whole country. In regard to the style and workman- 
ship of this Little Giant, we must say it is a little ahead 
of the rest of the family, and no wonder, for it is Western 
born. no3t* 



PIGS OF IMPROVED BREED FOR SALE— I have 
for sale, to be delivered at weaning time, a good many 
pigs of improved breed. I have produced it myself from 
crosses of the Surry (or Suffolk), genuine Berkshire, (Dr. 
John R.Woods' stock), Irish Grazier, Chester County, No 
Bone and Duchess. I think them superior hogs of medium 
size, and for fourteen years they have not had a bad crc*w 
among them. I prefer that purchasers should view my 
brood sows and my boar on my farm, three miles below 
Richmond. 1 will not sell them in pairs, because the in- 
and-in breeding would depreciate the stock at once and 
cause dissatisfaction, but I will sell in one lot several of the 
same sex. Price 85 per head for one, and an agreed price 
for a larger number. They will be delivered on the Basin 
or ui -jny of the Rail Road Depots free of charge. 

FRANK: G KUFPIN 
Sumner Hill, ChcstfrlieJd, Jan. 1, 1855. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



CONTENTS OF NUMBER I. 

PAGE 
On the Cultivation and Management of Tobacco, by 

Thomas D. Edmonds 3 

Report of the Agricultural Commissioner to the Execu- 
tive Committee of the Virginia State Agricultural So- 
ciety 5 

Fruit 7 

The Trade in Guano 9 

Flax Cultivation in the West 12 

Manure for Fruit Trees 13 

Clover- • ■ 14 

Analysis of Garden Vegetables 14 

More Facts for Farmers 15 

Home-Made Furniture 16 

To the Subscribers to the Southern Planter 17 

A Word of Apology 19 

Pay up 19 

Cattle Raising 19 

Buekwheat 19 

The Model Farm 19 

Interesting from the Chincha Islands 20 

Rumination 21 

Wheat Trade 23 

Apple Molasses 24 

Analysis of Soils 24 

The Cattle Trade 25 

Prince William Agricultural Society 25 

Fertilizers on Grass 26 

nents to the Southern Planter 26 



READ, CONSIDER AND ACT WISELY. 
IMPORTANT TO FARMERS! 



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



Ah ! Massa, dis de Wells' Seed 

' I Sower — de berry best ting in de 

I world to sow de clober and de 

stimoty seed, de plaster, de go- 

i no, and de wheat. I 

) sows 25 acres in one 

day massa — try 

him. 




A VALUABLE FAMILY MEDICINE. 

\jSf So celebrated has Dr. McLane's Vermifuge become, 
that it is regarded as the only specific cure for worms. Fa- 
milies should never be without a supply of it. At this sea- 
son, particularly, when worms are so troublesome and fre- 
quently fatal among children, parents should be watchful; 
and on the first appearance of those distressing symptoms 
which warn us of their presence, at once apply this power- 
ful and efficacious remedy. We are confident that it only 
requires a trial, to convince all that it richly merits the 
praises that have been lavished upon it. It is safe and in- 
fallible. Volumes of certificates can be produced, showing 
its great medical virtues. 

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

ANOTHER CASE OF FEVER AND AGUE CURED. 

W3P 'A few da)'s ago we recorded an astonishing cure of 
Fever and Ague by the use of Dr. McLane's Liver Pills. 
We have now another to mention, viz: that of Mr. James 
Sharpe, of Madisonburgh, who states that he had labored 
under a very severe attack of Ague and Fever, and was 
soon restored by the use of these Pills. Mr. Sharpe also 
expresses an opinion, founded on observation, lhat the Liver 
Pills are the best for bilious complaints ever offered in his 
section of country. 

Although long known as a sovereign remedy for chronic 
cases of Hepatic derangement, or diseases of the Liver, the 
proprietors of Dr. McLane's Pills were not prepared for the 
frequent, but gratifying evidences of its general utility and 
curative capacity. In this respect, this invaluable medicine 
has exceeded their most, sanguine expectations, and induced 
them to hope that it will be introduced into every family in 
the United States. 

JJIF' Purchasers will be careful to ask for Dr. McLane's 
Celebrated Liver Pills, and take none else. There are other 
Pills, purporting to be Liver Pills, now before the public. 
Dr. McLane's Liver Pills, also his Celebrated Vermifuge, 
can now be had at all respectable Drug Stores in the United 
States and Canada. 

For sale by PURCELL, LADD & CO. 

jult Corner Main and 14th streets, Richmond. 



It is only by the use ot vaiuame improvements that we 
can reasonably expect to keep up with the age in which 
we live, and public opinion everywhere has placed M. D. 
Wells' Improved Patent Seed Sower in the first class of 
agricultural implements. The above drawing exhibits it 
in use, and any ordinary mind must at once be impressed 
with the certain conviction that it is an indispensable im- 
plement of husbandry, and that every good farmer should 
have it. By its use you save time, which is money and 
labor which costs money, and experience in using it proves 
you will not be driven from the field unless by very rough 
weather, and the almost mathematical precision with which 
the seed is distributed, compared with hand sowing, renders 
it self-evident in the opinion of the best farmers that a sav- 
ing or gain of two dollars per acre is made in two crops of 
grass and the succeeding crop of wheat, one year's inte- 
rest on an acre of land at $33^, and sowing three acres 
pays for a machine with lid at S6. 

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

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

fe— tf Store, No. 36, Main Street. 



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

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



M'CONJIELL & BURTON, 
DENTISTS, 

Main Street, between 9th and 10th Streets, Richmond, Va. 
JOHN M'CONNELL. W. LEIGH BURTON. 

ap— tf