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THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

official papers referred to by him, for the following:

" The immediate result of Mr. Maury's labors is, that ocean voyages under sail are shortened from ten to twenty per cent.; and if this result be followed out to its legitimate consequences, who can undertake to prescribe a limit to the benefits they confer ? Who will undertake to estimate the mere pecuniary saving to the navigating interest in the decreased expenditure for outfits, provisioning and manning ships; the decrease in ocean risks, not only to ships and cargoes, but to lives of seamen and passengers, and the enhanced value of merchandize by a more speedy delivery?

" Before the publication of these charts a voyage from our eastern ports to San Francisco, under canvas, occupied, on an average, one hundred and eighty days; but now, the average voyage of vessels using these charts is one hundred and thirty-six days; and in several instances it has been performed in less than a hundred, -and in one case in eighty-eight days. In those passages between these ports which have been performed in half the time formerly occupied, the vessel's course through the sea has been precisely that which is traced for her upon the chart.

" The ' Melbourne Argus,' (Australia,) publishes a list of all the arrivals at that port from Europe and America, from December 31, 1853, to July 7, 1854, by which it appears that the average passage of all vessels without the charts was one hundred and twenty-four days, while the average of those (from the same ports) using the charts, was ninety-seven days."

Mr. Dobbin, the Secretary of the Navy, speaking of these charts, says, " They have not only added to the honor of the country, but saved thousands of dollars to its citizens."

President Fillmore, in his annual message of December 2, 1851, says, "that by these charts the passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific ports of the country has been shortened by about forty days.

" The achievements on sea quietly and gradually effected by Lieutenant Maury, although not attracting the admiration of the multitude nor dazzling the beholder with sudden flashes of triumph, have reflected honor upon himself and his country, have brought remote nations in comparative proximity to each other; have promoted commerce by pointing out to the mariner new paths on the great deep, where favorable winds and currents le7id friendly aid. His ' Wind and Current Charts' and 1 Sailing Directions' are saving millions of

money by shortening the voyages of merchant vessels freighted with treasures.

" I am officially informed that it was stated in a paper read before the British Association last year, that it was estimated in India that a set of wind and current charts for the Indian Ocean, like those that have been constructed at this office for the Atlantic Ocean, would produce an annual saving to British commerce, in those seas alone, of not less than $1,000,000, (£250,000,) and for British commerce in all seas of $10,000,000 a yeasf This estimate was based on the coudition of shortening the voyage only one-tenth, (whereas the average length of the passage to all places beyond the equator has been shortened much more;) and the estimate was again repeated at the last meeting of the Association in Liverpool. It has also been estimated that the value of these charts to the commerce and navigation of the United States is equivalent in the saving of time to several millions a year." (Annual Report of the Secretary of the Navy, December 4, 1854.)

■ Now the beauty of this plan is, that all this has been accomplished without any expense to the General Government, save the office expenses necessary for the discussion of the observations and publication of the results ; which expenses amount only to some' $15,000 a year. Every shipmaster provides himself with instruments at his own expense, and then makes, records and transmits the observations to this office for the use of the government, without charge of any sort save for postage.

But this system of research, with its teem-, ing results, is confined to the sea; therefore! it may be asked by some farmers, What havfi we landsmen to do with it ? I say, in reply., that by extending it to the shore results alto-' gether as important to landsmen may be ob-i tained, and that too by means equally as simple and as unexpensive.

The germination of the seed and the growth of the plant are but the display of a meteoroI logical force, the expression of atmospherical laws, which, when rightly understood, cannol fail to confer upon agriculture and the well being of States benefits as signal as the study of the movements of the same grand machine' at sea has conferred upon commerce and navi 'l gation.

I appeal therefore to the farmers, and al who are interested in the matter on shore, td follow the example of the sailors, and puJ their shoulders to the wheel, and help alomjj the undertaking. Man by nature is a me' teoroiogist, and everybody, whether ashore o|

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afloat, has. even if he have not the intelligence to perceive it, an interest in it.

Should this appeal be heeded, I shall have more to say as to details; for I am prepared to submit a plan by which as much may, I think, be done for agriculture and the sanitary cause by meteorological co-operation and ob-gervatio»s on the land, as has been done by them at sea for commerce and navigation.

Suffice it for the present to say that it will cost nothing more than willing minds and a trifling amount of money, to be expended under government auspices, to give the plan a trial.

Respectfullv, &c. M. F» Maury, Lt. U S. N.

For the Southern Planter.

IMPROVEMENT OF LAND IN THE PIEDMONT

REGION OF VIRGINIA.

Mr. Editor: —I know not how to apologize for my seeming temerity in venturing to dissent from the present very popular teaching on the subject of composting manures as a means of renovating worn-out land in our portion of the State. Notwithstanding all I have read in the Planter and elsewhere on the subject, from what I have observed of its results I lean to the opinion that composting will never bring about any speedy or general improvement here. The system so long prevalent among tobacco growers, of concentrating all the manure the plantation would afford upon the strips of branch land for that crop, has worked out its natural consequences, viz : the decrease of the annual production of grain crop, by increasing the proportion of worn-out land, till we have many of us but the skeleton of a once noble heritage. To recommend to such a people the compost heap appears to me cruel to the last degree. As well attempt to storm Gibraltar with a pocket pistol.

1st. It is impracticable for want of material with which to commence, and from the undulating and even mountainous state of our country. 2d. The relative value of land and labor here is such that it cannot be afforded. 3d. The span of human existence and human patience is too short. 4th. The improvement of land can be done more cheaply, speedily and profitably in another way, viz: by making the land furnish the materials, perform the labor, and pay a profit at the same time.

An all-wise and beneficent Creator has placed within reach, in most parts of the State, the means of enriching it, and to us he has given, with a delighful climate and abundant

springs of living water, a soil whose natural product is grass. Grass, therefore, I believe to be the only reliable basis for improvement. I think gentlemen who commend compost forget that labor here, as in most Southern States, has now become the real estate of its owners, and that its comparative value with land is altogether different from what it is in densely populated States at the North. We are not therefore ready for that system, and I hope never will be. The dogma so often published in Northern newspapers, that a farmer may be measured by his manure heap, has no terrors for me.

Now, sir, suppose the case of a young farmer coming into possession of an estate in Central Virginia of 1000 acres, 700 of which is cleared, but worn out, covered with broom straw, briars and sassafras, with galls and gullies in abundance, no fencing, and buildings in a dilapidated condition, and with a weak force of hands and teams He writes to you for advice, how to make a living first, and then a fortune. Would you send him your last number of the Planter, with the article on Compost, advising him to make compost enough to cover his corn-field at the rate of forty-nine loads per acre, as a panacea for his troubles ? Would he not inevitably surrender before the Herculean task, sell out, and move to the West ? I believe hundreds have done so, driven by this hopeless undertaking. I am quite sure this would not be your prescription.

Supposing myself in this forlorn condition, (which by-the-bye was not far from true four years ago,) I will endeavor to sketch, a plan which I deem entirely feasible and applicable to a tract of land of any size capable of division into at least seven fields. Let it therefore contain seven fields of 100 acres, more or less. I would select the corn-field of the previous year for oats, flush with three-horse ploughs, sow in March, harrow in seed well, and sow plaister, half bushel to the acre, as soon as they are up. I would take a broom-straw field, clean up, burn off, fill gullies with log dams and brush, secret ditch, if necessary, and plough thoroughly with three horses for corn, and fence it in.

I would buy fifteen tons of Peruvian guano for my fall crop of wheat, and break up all my oat field, and the poorer half of my cornfield ; sow all this in wheat with 200 lbs. of guano. On the oat field I would sow one gallon of timothy seed per acre, and cover the galls with brush; and if there be any steep hill sides liable to injury from washing rains, I would give them a double dose of guano,

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and sow herd's grass and orchard grass with the timothy on them, and leave them for permanent meadows. The next spring sow one gallon of clover seed and one bushel of plais-ter per acre, on the same oat field. I would here remark, that in these days of joint worm I think that wheat should all be sowed by the 15th of October, or it will hardly make a crop which will pay expenses. The next year I would take up another broom-straw field, and treat it as before, and in summer, my second oat field, with the part that was in wheat, plow up,'sow 200 lbs. of guano, and wheat and grass seed as before advised.

This system I would continue until the whole farm had been subjected to it. I think I shall find that about one-third of my oat fallow fields will be too poor to sprout clover, and that perhaps the guano may fail to ensure a stand if the summer be a dry one. Nothing daunted, I will resow the galls with timothy, and select this field upon which to winter my plantation stock, (except hogs,) and feed on the thinnest land all my fodder and straw, in as great profusion as the supply will allow. Here will be rapidly formed a thick turf of timothy and blue grass, which the action of the guano, aided by the hoof of the stock, will be sure to produce over the whole field. Each succeeding oat fallow I would treat in the same way, allowing no stock to go on during the first year till November. The feeding of cattle on the grass land would be my application of manure. The perfect tilth produced by three consecutive crops, aided by the briar scythe while in turf, will effectually cleanse the land of foul growth.

These turf fields must have an annual dressing of half a bushel of plaister in March. In the fall of the third year I would commence grazing by purchasing thirty head of thrifty western cattle. The turf field having been sacredly reserved for them (and the grass seed allowed to mature and fall,) will give them such a wintering as will make them ready for a June market. Every succeeding year will bring on a new turf field, until there are four, and as each came in I would increase the number of cattle thirty head, until I got 120, which would be the grazing capacity of the farm. In case there should be corn to spare, it would be found advisable to divide the lot of cattfe, and feed about two barrels per head on one turf field, which will make them extra early, and command a fine price. This is the only plan by which corn can be profitably fed at the price it usually bears here.

Supposing the farmer on such a tract to start with the equivalent of ten good men

hands, three plough teams, and two pair of oxen, he can make an additional crop of tobacco, say about 7000 hills per hand. He can select fifteen acres of land from his corn field, suitable for this crop, apply to it what manure he is compelled to make at his stables, and finish out with guano. This land will be a portion of the corn field previously advised to go in wheat the succeeding fall.

Now let us review his progress at the end of seven years, when he has performed the entire circuit of his farm. I will give only what I believe would be a fair average of crops for that length of time, and will only give gross sales. The expenses would vary with different farmers, therefore each one can best calculate them for himself. There would be 150 acres in wheat annually, which would average ten bushels per acre. The tobacco would be about 12,000 wt., worth $5 per cwt., and the cattle would yield a profit of $10 per head, without corn feeding. The corn and oat crop I will allow entirely for consumption on the farm.

For the first three yeare he would stand thus :

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I have no doubt that any tract of land of this productive capacity will readily command |40 per acre, woodland included, when in its first named condition it was worth not over $20. The proprietor will therefore have doubled its value, or made $20,000 in this item. Now let us try one year in his second rotation.

His crop of wheat will rise to an average of 15 bushels per acre.

150 acres wheat, 2,250 bush., at $1, 2250 12,000 weight of tobacco, - 600

60 cattle at $10. - 600

60 do. corn fed, at $20, - 1200

50 acres of oats, 20 bushels, at 25 c, 250 30 hogs fed with the cattle, at no cost, 225

$ 5120

You will call me an enthusiast, but, Sir, J have seen more accomplished than I have (described, though requiring longer time. The

troduction of guano has greatly facilitated he improvement of land by almost ensuring he stand of fall grasses, and hastening the growth of blue grass and green sward. Nor is there anything new in the theory of improvement of poor land by grass, for it has been the practice of the counties in the Northern part of the State for more than 30 years, arrying wealth and prosperity with it where-3ver practised. The wonder is, that it progresses so slowly toward the central portion, here the land has an equal natural capacity for grass.

This communication has so little of novelty >r originality to many of your readers, that I im quite ashamed to send it, but there is yet

large portion of the Piedmont region to which the grazing of cattle would prove an nestimable blessing.

Albemarle, April 21si(, 1855. C.

whether the bolting of flour is advantageous was very early agitated, as early, indeed, as the reign of Louis XIV.; for an ordinance issued by him in 1658, prohibited, under certain penalties, the regrinding of bran, and its mixture with the flour. It is not always easy to ascertain how much bran a bushel of wheat contains, as different specimens of wheat give very different results. That bran is not an entirely worthless or innutritious article, is fully demonstrated by the results of an analysis made by M. Millon, of France—the sample being from a soft French wheat grown in 1848 :—

Starch, dextrine and sugar, 53.00

Sugar of licorice, 1.00

Gluten, 14.90

Fatty matter, 3.60

Woody matter, 9.70

Salts, 50

Water, 13.90

Incrusting matter and aromatic principles, 3.40

BROWN BREAD—WHEAT BRAN.

Mr. Editor —It is said by those who are amiliar with the statistics of the bread trade n our principal cities, that there is a rapid-y increasing prejudice against brown bread ,mong all classes. Why is this ? Brown wear]—that from good maize—if properly md honestly manufactured, is certainly far onducive to health and longevity than »read from wheat flour, especially if the latter ;d, arid only the finer parts kneaded nto the loaf. It may not be altogether so jfistocratie an article of diet; but of its superior value and cheapness there can be not Lightest doubt. In France tHg question

100.00

The logical inference deducible from the foregoing tabular exhibit is, that bran is a nutritive substance, and of course, as such, should not be thrown away. Every pound of bran which we sift from the ground wheat diminishes the value of the mass, and consequently is a clear loss to the consumer, and indirectly to the nation. The economical suggestion, therefore, which springs from these views is, some method should be adopted to economise every particle of the alimentary matter contained in the product of the wheat field, and that if regrinding is necessary to the accomplishment of this result, it should be performed. The mania (we can call it nothing else,) so universally prevalent at this day for flour " white and fine," and for bread so light that it can be seen through, is hurrying thousands into the dyspepsia, and from dyspepsia into the grave, to say nothing of the pecuniary distress to which it gives rise as a legitimate result.

The more simple, or, in other words, the coarser our accustomed food, the more certain we are to escape disease. The ancients, if we may credit the most authentic historians, were far less addicted to luxury than the moderns. Galen asserts that he had seen butter but once in his life. Anciently, the Greeks and Romans used no alcoholic beverages, they being wholly unknown, as were tea, coffee and chocolate. They were also ignorant of the tropical spices—mace, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, pepper, curry and pimento. The bean in common use was a variety indigenous in marshes, and of which they were excessively

166

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fond. Spinach, buckwheat, sago, tapioca, sa-lep, arrowroot, and even the potato, were unknown, as likewise the orange and tamarind. Their .usual daily food consisted of articles now almost universally unknown or neglected. Among their favorite dishes, we find enumerated the following : the mallow, the ox-tongue (herb), sweet acorn, and lupine. Radishes, sorrel and lettuce were held in the highest esteem. The flesh of wild asses, of young-dogs, of the dormouse, the fox and the bear, was considered a luxury, and eminentlv conducive to agility, health and strength. They partook also habitually of the flesh of lizards, of paroquets, and other rare birds, and were remarkably fond of the Crustacea and testacea, employing as seasoning rue and assafoctida. Philadelphia. Jan. 15, 1855. B.

Remarks. —The above is a valuable and an interesting article, from a high source, and such as is not often found in the " Housekeeper's Department" of a newspaper or periodical. The statements made are, in our view, mainly correct, and deserve the serious attention, not only of housekeepers, but of the whole community. It is undoubtedly true that the wholesome, highly flavored, substantial bread that we formerly enjoyed, is gradually passing away, and the unwholesome innutritious article, as white as starch itself, has taken its place. This cannot last. The high qualities of maize, too, for human consumption, must shortly be recognized; and the almost totally discarded, but to us delicious rye bread, must again assume its place at the family board.

Germantown Telegraph.

GUANO.

In the application of guano it is necessary to keep in view its powerful properties, and to exercise great care to prevent its coming into immediate contact with the newly sown seed or the foliage of plants and flowers. It never should be placed in contact with seeds; for all seeds, in the process of germination, give off a greater or less quantity of carbonic acid and vinegar; and these acids, having strong affinities for the ammoniacal portion of the guano, are apt to attract it so powerfully as to check and even destroy vegetation.

[ Union

Flour in New York has declined some 50 and 62 £ cents per barrel, this week; and it is stated that several parcels for June delivery have been sold as low as $8 75.

SORE SHOULDERS IN HORSES.

In reply to an inquiry as to the best treatment for a horse of tender skin, whose shoulders get chafed by the collar from the shortest work, the editor of the N. Brit. Agriculturist gives some directions, of which the following is the sum and substance :

He says, when a sore is actually formed by the chafing of the collar, the horse should either be laid off work, or the collar stuffing should be removed so as to prevent pressure on the wound. A mixture containing half an ounce of sulphate of zinc to a quart of water should be continually applied, by means of a soft rag saturated with the mixture and laid upon the sore. This plan of keeping the part constantly wet tends to abate inflammation and soreness, and rapidly induces the healing process. If the horse cannot be allowed to rest, the collar must be eased as before directed, the sore well bathed with water, and then dressed with the above mixture before going to work and on coming from it. If the skin be unbroken, and merely tender or somewhat thickened, and perhaps rather knotty, a strong solution of common salt in water is a very excellent application. It may be applied by means of a rag saturated in the solution and laid upon the part affected. The same treatment is applicable to bruises by the saddle as well as to those by the collar; it being essential to the cure in both cases that the collar or saddle should be made to fit properly.

The strong solution of salt may do something towards toughening the skin where it is tender, and easily chafed or bruised; but we should expect a still better effect from a strong decoction of white oak bark, or a solution oi tannin in water. By the application of eithei of these before the skin has actually beeonw broken, or as soon as any signs of tenderness make their appearance, galls and sores from saddle or collar may usually be prevented. A few trials of the oak bark decoction with a little alum, as well as the property it has U\ tan and toughen, incline us to expect moro from it than from a solution of common salt.

Alb. Cul

FAMILY JARS. Jars of jell}', jars of jam, Jars of potted beef and ham, Jars of early gooseberries nice. Jars of mincemeat, jars of spice, Jars of orange marmalade, Jars of pickles, all home made. Jars of cordial elderwlne, Jars of honey superfine :— Would the only jars were these That occur in families.

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167

3EFUL HINTS FOR VIRGINIA GARDENERS. For the Southern Planter. BY E. G. EGGELING, FLORIST.

June is usually a very hot month, and ings comparatively little work for the kitck-. garden. If there should not be much rain ithing will do the land so much good as fre-lent hoeings. This will not only promote e growth of the vegetables, but will destroy e weeds and grasses, which are likely to errun the garden, unless they be guarded ;ainst.

Cabbages. —Seed for fall use may still be wn. If any of those heretofore sowed are rge enough, they may be transplanted during e month. Observe, that those which are t out now, and which have to stand a long ne, should be put in the poorer soil, else ey will grow off rapidly and mature too on to be kept through the winter. Cabbages ly be transplanted so late as August, and len set out late should have rich soil to Lrry them on. The result of my experience iwever is, that cabbages raised in poorer ound keep much better through the winter an those raised in richer soil. Melons and Cucumbers. —This is an ex-llent season for planting melons and cucuni-rs. Some have already been planted, but e weather has continued so cool and unfa-irable that they have made but little pro-ess. It will therefore be advisable to plant full crop now.

Peas. —Black eye, or corn field peas, should : planted; and in order to have a constant pply for the table through the season, let em be planted at intervals of a week apart )m each planting, throughout the month. Strawberries. — Immediately after the nit is off the vines the bed should be tho-ughly cleaned of all weeds, and hoed and aded, that the runners may easily take root, id make strong and healthy plants, to go to the new plantations. In every well regu-ted garden a new bed is made every year, as e plants wear out every three years. The rlier the plant3 are put out in the fall, the ore fruit they will bear the ensuing spring.

The Detroit Democrat states that the sight ' the wheat fields in the northern part of e State is perfectly glorious. The breadth wn is tmusnally great, and the staple is a ;ep green, almost to blacknes , rank; i fcfon ick and high. With all allowance for ca-it may be most confidently predicted eat crop aallj

mt and excellent.

SHEEP BREEDING.

Breeders of sheep, no matter of what variety, should be cautious in selecting their bucks, and look not only at the good qualities of the individual, but also to his adaptation to the ewes, choosing an animal that will amend any imperfections in wool or carcase which may be observable in the females. The requirements of their flocks of ewes should be particularly noticed, and a careful separation of them made, so as to ascertain more accurately their precise defects, and to point out with greater certainty the peculiar kind of buck necessary to rectify these defects. This should be done before procuring the buck : not to buy first, and then try and suit the ewes to him afterwards.

Never purchase a buck from an unknown flock. An inferior buck from a flock of well known repute will produce better stock than an accidental good one from an inferior flock. By all means keep to a "good strain;" adhere to flocks of well known and deserved celebrity; you are far more certain as to the result. It is always better for a breeder to hire a buck than to buy one. Bucks now-a-days are so highly kept, so pampered, that the vast number of them are defective stock-getters. A yearling buck is generally supposed to be fully equal to serve seventy-five to eighty ewes; but a two-year old buck should not have more than seventy to .seventy-five.

In making choice of a buck to suit the ewe flock, regard should be had to every requirement. Neither wool nor mutton ought to take precedence—both must be held of equal value. If any quality is to be discontinued or of necessity given up for the time, let it be beauty or symmetry, or some minor point. These are truly good in their places, but never give up the main qualifications—a good fleece, a fat buck, and a full symmetrical proportion of great substance. As far as possible, put a short-legged buck to a long-legged ewe; a full-chested buck to a narrow-chested ewe; a heavy wooled buck to a light wooled ewe; and so on, as judgment dictates, endeavoring to obtain from- the male what is wanting in the female.

In breeding what arc termed " half breeds" or "grades," great care should be taken to obtain bucks from good flocks, or the end will be defeated. The very best bucks should be used, possessing every good qualification of wool., mutton and symmetry. It is quite a mistake to suppose that any buck will do for half breeds; No such thing. If half breed p are to retain favor with the grazier they must be bred with every care and atteatiou to the many qualifications. I'd any breeders use

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buck lambs for this purpose. This is wrong : no breeder can tell what a lamb is to make in his future life.

In all cases use the best buck, or the best kind of a buck you can obtain, and be not too nice about the price. I have known many flocks to make from seventy-five cents to a dollar and a half per head more than others of the like size, solely from better and more correct breeding; and the difference is far greater as they grow up and are fattened.

[London Farmerh Wag.

American Pickles. —Do not keep pickles in common earthenware, as the glazing contains lead, and combines with vinegar. Keep pickles only in stone and wood ware. Any thing that has held grease will spoil pickles.

Vinegar for pickling should be sharp, but not the sharpest kind, as it injures the pickles. If you use copper, bell metal, or brass vessels for pickling, never allow the vinegar to cool in them, as it then is poisonous. Add a table spoonful of alum and a tea-cup of salt to each three gallons of vinegar, and tie up a bag with pepper, ginger root, and spices of all sorts in it, and you have vinegar prepared for any kind of common pickling.

Stir pickles occasionally, and if they are soft ones take them out and scald the vinegar, and pour it hot over the pickles. Keep enough vinegar to cover them well. If it is weak, take fresh vinegar, and pour on hot. Do not boil vinegar or spice over five minutes.

Test for. the Expediency of Drainage. —John Johnston, of Seneca county, N. Y., gives in the American Agriculturist the following plan to ascertain whether land needs draining:

" Dig holes about two and a half feet deep in different parts of the field; put a cover over the holes so that rain water cannot get into them, and if they fill with water until within a foot or so of the surface in ten or twelve hours, then the land requires and will pay well for draining. I think I hear F. I. B. and many others say, that those holes will fill up on any land, if the ground is wet at the time ; but I tell them it is not the case. You may dig as many drains as you please on dry lands, and they will never run water unless the snow is melting on the surface. If P. I. B. had stood over the making of between forty and fifty miles of drains, as I have done, he would be a better judge of what was wet and what was dry land. To the unpractised eye, land that looks dry is gorged with water six inches below the surface."

ARE LARGE OR SMALL SHEEP MORE PROFITABLE.

Ever since the days of the far-famed Mr. Bakewoll, of Dishley, Leicestershire, ther< have been two opinions, whether large oj small sheep are the most profitable. The breeders of small sheep say, that an anima may be good and not great, and great and noi good, and that size has nothing to do witl profit. It is not what an animal makes, s< much as what, it costs in making; and that j larger number of small sheep can be kepi upon a given number of acres than largei sheep, the lesser sheep not consuming so mucl food per head as the larger.

The breeders of large sheep say that thei can produce more wool and mutton per acri by breeding large sheep than small; and tha Mr. Bakewell lived when fat, flesh or tallow made as much per pound as lean flesh. Sine that time, through the gas, one pound of leai flesh has made as much as two pounds of fa when pared off as tallow, and that there i more lean flesh in proportion upon large sheep such as Lincolns and Cotswolds, than upoi the true bred Leicesters, that are now am have been famous for fat flesh, small bone, am a great propensity to fatten at early maturity Many people have an idea that the sheep ar all small that are bred in Leicester, which i erroneous.

Last year I traveled through several coun ties to find wool, mutton and size combinec I found at Drayton on the Welland, in Leices tershire, four miles from llockingham castk 140 rams belonging to Mr. Byran Ward, a: eminent grazier, who feeds yearly upon gras from 500 to 600 oxen, and shears 2000 sheej Mr. Ward's rams have plenty of wool, siz< and lean flesh, clifted all through their back with small, fine, thin heads, which denote well-bred animal, and a propensity to fatte: at an early age. Mr. Ward's sheep are style' by many " Old Leicesters," because they hav more wool and size than the pure-bred " Ws Leicesters," and have a great resemblance t the best long-wooled Lincolns.

There are now many flocks in the county c Leicester that have been crossed with Lincolr and Cotswolds, to increase size and wool; an there are many flocks left of what they sty] pure-bred New Leicesters. By the ram sak at the Petersborough Fair, last year, th Lincolnshire sheep seem to be gaining gvouuc as they made more money than any other kin of long-wooled white-faced sheep.

Mark Jjine F,.qrrc$

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From the Maine Farmer.

MANURE FROM THE SEA.

The ocean seems to be a vast reservoir of products, from which may be taken an almost unlimited supply of material, by which to replenish the exhausted fertility of the earth.— Notwithstanding those dwelling on the seaboard have been so conversant with it, they, in fact, know but little about it. We have never had a doubt that its waters, saline and nauseous as they are, might be used advantageously in some kind of compost. A series of experiments, however, would be necessary to test its merits and demerits in regard to such use.

Sea weeds have been used for manure for centuries, but the use of them is confined to the vicinity of the shore. Fish have also been used for dressing near the shores where they are caught, but generally in such a way as to make them a nuisance, on account of the nauseous stench they send out, rather than by a proper and suitable preparation of them, so as to be transported to a distance and used at pleasure.

It has more thanonce been proposed by men who have thought upon the subject, to adopt some method of a cnemical character, by which it could be put into a suitable shape for manures. To so prepare them as to save their peculiar ingredients, that make them valuable for dressing land.

Within a few years, experiments have led to the adoption of a mode of manufacturing a sort of guano of them, which may be barreled up and sent to any distance. Perhaps an account of this fact may be of service to those of our readers and friends who live on the seacoast, if no others.

In 1851, Mons. De Molon, a Frenchman, established a manufactory of fish manure in Newfoundland. He has since in company wiih Mons. Thurneysen established a similar manufactory on the coast of France.

The Central Agricultural Society of France, have had their attention turned to this last manufactory, and appointed a committee to visit it and examine its products.

This committee have made a report in detail, and we are indebted to the Rural New Yorker for the following extract from it :

" The apparatus used in the manufacture consists of a steam engine of ten horse power, and a steam boiler of eighteen horse power, two double coppers, hung on gudgeons, for eooking the fish by heat; twenty-four lever to press the fish after cooking ; a rasp similar to those used in beet sugar manufactories ; -a large stove, heated by one of Ohausse-

not's calorifiers ; and a conic mill, similar to a coffee or gypsum mill.

"The fish or refuse is first put into the inner receptacle of the boiler, which contains about 1000 lbs. The change being completed, and the copper hermetically sealed, a jet of steam is introduced between the outer and inner sides, heated to about 3£ atmospheres. The steam circulates between the two sides of the boiler, which are only about two inches apart, arid into a tube eight inches in diameter, placed upright in the inner boiler. An hour suffices to complete the cooking ; when, by an easy movement, the copper is made to turn upon the gudgeons, the steam escapes, and by the removal of the lid the cooked fish falls on the floor. It is then pressed, and afterwards rasped up as fine as possible, and the pulp conveyed to the drying room, which is of peculiar construction ; but our space forbids a description. After drying, it is thrown into a mill, by which it is reduced to a powder, ' perfectly dry and fine,' ready for transportation and use.

"The personnel of the establishment consists of six men and ten children ; the consumption of coals 506 lbs. per day. The amount of manure made per day is about five tons. The water pressed out of the cooked fish is allow-td to cool, when the oil which rises to the surface is skimmed off. One hundred pounds of fresh fish afford two and a half pounds of oil, which sells readily at about ten cents per lb. The price charged for the fish manure is thirty-four dollars per ton. It contains 12 per cent, of nitrogen, (equal to 14| per cent of ammonia,) and 22 per cent, of phosphate of lime. Good Peruvian guano contains say 16 per cent, of ammonia and 25 per cent, of phosphate of lime, and sells in this country at present, for $.50 per ton. English authorities agree in estimating the value of phosphate of lime in guano at two cents per lb. (In co-prolite, apatite, animal charcoal, &c, it can be purchased for less than one cent per lb.) The 25 lbs. phosphate of lime, therefore, in 100 lbs. of Peruvian guano is worth only 50 cents, consequently we pay $2 for 16 lbs. of ammonia. This would leave the ammonia worth 12| cts. per lb. Applying these figures to the fish manure, its value per 100 lbs. would be

22 lbs. phosphate of lime at 2 cts. per lb. 14i lbs. of ammonia at l2J cts. per lb.

SO 44 1 81

82 25

"Or, when Peruvian guano is worth $50 per ton, this fish manure is worth $45 per ton. It will be seen that we have allowed nothing for ingredients of guano other than phosphate and ammonia. The fish manure would contain as

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much of these as the guano, and, therefore, in These menhaden fish were very plenty. Coi

estimating the comparative value of the two manures, we may leave them both out of the calculation without affecting its accuracy. If Peruvian guano is worth $50 per ton, this fish manure is worth $45 per ton, and therefore is much the cheaper fertilizer, since it is sold at $34 per ton.

"Messrs. De Nolan and Thurneysen propose to establish factories similar to that at Concar-neau on other points of the French coast, as well as on the coast of Newfoundland, and on coasts in the North Sea, which they estimate will furnish upwards of three hundred thousand tons per annum, or ' at least equal to that which is extracted from the Peruvian Islands in the form of guano.' The factory at Newfoundland, in its present condition, can make, it is said, 10,000 tons of fish manure per annum."

The question now arises, are there not situations on the coast of Maine, where menhadens and the refuse of more valuable fish can be manufactured into valuable manure, in the same way,—what says our friend " Amon," who dwelleth by the sea side ?

A fish manure factory has been started in Rhode Island by Mr. Halliday. In the Massachusetts Plowman of the 10th inst., is a report of the discussion at one of the Legislative Agricultural meetings in Boston, where we find Dr. Chas. F. Jackson discoursing, among other things, of fish manures, as follows :—

Tons of fish, containing animal matter, were annually thrown away on our coasts. It was surprising, for all this was better than guano.— Mr. Halliday has established a large factory in Rhode Island for the manufacture of an artificial guano from the menhaden fish, of which there was a great supply.

They were soaked in a mixture of one-twelfth sulphuric acid and eleven-twelfths water. In effect they were pickled. Then they were dried, ground up in a mill and mixed with gypsum, peat, chalk, or pulverized marble.

The oil of the menaladeu is valuable. The fish are steamed slightly and pressed in cakes. After the oil is saved the refuse makes in the way described, a manure as good, if not better than Peruvian guano, and we have ample means of making it on our own coast.

Mr. S. B. Halliday, of Providence, said he had used from one to six or eight tons annually. He had been experimenting carefully and found it cheaper to buy guano at $55 per ton, than to cart stable manure. He had found the latter te be rather costly.

Three years ago he began to use the fish.—

procure them to almost an unlimited extent. In a few hours they were changed into a s< of paste. They must be composted and p: pared scientifically as described, because 1 cause decomposition takes place so soon wi them.

They would in a very short time smell badly they could not be carried inland. Yet this pickling process the smell was at once i rested, absorbed and retained in the compo

There is an incorporated company in whi Mr. Halliday stated he was interested, and wished others to join and take shares.

For the Southern Planter.

PEACH WORM—PEACH TREES FROM SE1 —SIZE OP TREES FOR TRANSPLANTING VARIETIES OF APPLES, &C.

' I am pleased to see that fruit culture beginning to attract public attention. A gd orchard is a luxury and a source of profit, doubt much whether any portion of an on nary farm contributes as much to comfort ai profit combined as that devoted to a good ( chard. ,

As the peach worm is one of the mc formidable enemies to the peach tree, I ta' the liberty of calling the attention of the pu lie to a remedy published in the Anieric; Agriculturist, May, 1842 : " L. Physic, Philadelphia, says, a mixture of one ounce saltpetre and seven ounces of salt, applied < the surface of the ground, in contact ai around the trunk of a peach tree seven yea old and upwards, will destroy the worm, pr vent the yellows, and add much to the produ and quality of the fruit." I suppose a small quantity would be sufficient for a tree wh< first planted out, I made the experimei myself some years since, and found it an effe tual preventive of the worm. I do not kno whether it will destroy the worm where it a ready exists.

It is a matter of some importance to kno whether trees raised from peach stones ma be relied on for producing good fruit. Yot correspondent a few months ago gave son: instances in which persons had been succesi ful in raising good fruit in that way. I nr self have known some instances of good fru raised by that mode, but I have also know a much larger number of instances in whic it has proved an entire failure. The lat Major K. of Prince Edward, being muc pleased with the Heath peach, procured large quantity of the seed and planted thei in a nursery. On planting them out he gav

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171

a few of the most unsightly to a favorite servant. The only Heath peach among them was one of those planted out by the servant.

H. F., Esq., of Appomattox county, informed me that he planted a large quantity of stones, saved from some very fine peaches, which he purchased in Richmond for that purpose. Every tree proved worthless, not one producing fruit fit to eat; and after the loss of several years by the experiment he purchased budded trees from a nurseryman.

Dr. P. of Lunenburg, states, that being much pleased with the White and Black Heath, (by the latter I presume is meant the Reorgia peach), he procured about a peck of [he seed, half of which was planted by himself and half by his neighbor. There were mt two trees which proved true—one of each rariety.

These cases show that the seed cannot be •elied on; and unless a man would run the •isk of losing three or four years in getting an Orchard, he had better buy budded trees at face.

A prevailing error in planting orchards, according to my observation, is the idea that r ery large trees are preferable to those of niddling size. The late A. J. Downing, one if the most experienced fruit culturists in the Jnited States, in his celebrated work on fruits tnd fruit trees has the following remarks: : It is a maxim, equally well settled both mong theorists and the best practical men, hat health, immediate vigor, and duration, ,re all greatlyfpromoted by transplanting fruit rees of small size—from three to six or seven eet. "We are fully aware with what iinpa-ience the beginner, or a person who knows ittle of the culture of trees, looks upon trees f this size—one who is eager to stock a gar-len or plant an orchard with large trees, hinking to gather a crop the next year. The atter may indeed be done; but the trans-ilanting so affects the tree, that its first scanty rop is followed by a long season of rest and eeble growth, while the plantation of young rees is making wood rapidly, and soon comes ato a healthy and long continued state of pro-luctiveness—often long indeed before the arge trees have fairly arrived at that condi-ion. The small tree, transplanted with its ystem of roots and branches entire, suffers ittle or no check; the older and larger tree, osing part of its roots, requires several years o resume its former vigor. The constitution if the small tree is healthy and unimpaired : hat of the large is frequently much enfeebled. \. stout and vigorous habit—what the nursery nen call a good stocky plant —is the true

criterion of merit in selecting trees for transplanting. Trees intended for orchards, being often more exposed than those in gardens, should be somewhat larger : not less than six nor more than eight feet is the best size."

My own observation corresponds with the ideas ©f Mr. Downing. Large trees seem to be stunted by their removal, and seldom grow off as well as smaller ones after transplanting. This is particularly the case where they have stood too long in the nursery, and their growth has been already checked by standing too close together there. I well recollect that the late Mr. Tazewell Morton (a most acute observer,) many years ago, in illustration of the idea that trees should be transplanted small, pointed out to me two trees growing near each other in the street of Farmville—the one which was much the smaller at transplanting being then nearly double the size of the other. I prefer a vigorous tree two years old, and from five to eight feet high, to any other size.

As it regards varieties, I tnink Mr. Jones, in your February number, has made them altogether too few. There is as much difference of taste about apples as any thing else. Many do not like either Rawles' Jeanette or the Winesop, though both are favorites of mine. The flavor of the Winesop I do not admire; but it is an early and full bearer, and keeps well. The Royal Pearmain, Prior's Red, Golden Pippin, Summer Pippin, and common Russett, are, I think, not inferior to any of the varieties mentioned. Northern varieties of apples do not generally do well in Eastern Virginia. Their fine, late keeping winter varieties generally prove fall apples here, though their peaches usually preserve their reputation in our climate. But " faraway birds have fine feathers," and many thousand trees were purchased last year from Northern agents at just double the price at which trees of as good size, and of varieties better adapted to our climate, could have been purchased of nurserymen in Virginia. And yet we shall probably see or hear some of the purchasers figuring at meetings for promoting southern interests by purchasing goods only of merchants who have imported directly from Europe.

It must be admitted that our nurserymen and implement makers are rather deficient in enterprise in effecting sales. They are either too high minded or too indolent to travel themselves or send agents through the country ; while agents of northern mechanics and nurserymen are scouring the country, and selling more threshing machines, wheat fans,

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

reapers and fruit trees to Virginians, than are sold by all their own mechanics and nurserymen. S.

P. S.—Since writing the above I have seen your March number, in which Mr. Jones has extended his catalogue of apples, and added one of other fruits. His Drap d'Or is here called Summer Pippin, and is one of the best summer apples. The varieties of peaches which he mentions have, I believe, all been fruited in my neighborhood, and are highly esteemed. I have most of them. I must be permitted to add to them the Red Rareripe, (not Prince's, which is a late variety,) which ripens here the first of August, and has no superior at that season. The best Peach for all purposes which I have ever seen, goes here under the name of Pure Yellow Cling—its nursery name being unknown. S.

To the Editor of the Southern Planter.

In several trips, which I have had the pleasure to make recently through the counties of Charlotte, Prince Edward and Nottoway, I have been pleased to notice the revival of interest on the subject of agriculture which prevails through that interesting section of our state. This degree of interest is, without doubt, to be attributed to agricultural societies and publications. Whenever it has been my fortune to be cast among the citizens of these counties, my admiration has been excited by the high state of moral and intellectual culture which is found among them. With the soil, except for planting purposes, I am frank to confess I have never been much pleased. In the county of Amherst, from which I write, the revival in agriculture has been felt to a limited extent only.

In order to aid in the promotion of this good work, I propose to improve a few leisure moments in making to you a statement of my mode of the cultivation of Indian corn—the most important crop cultivated in Eastern Virginia; but being so common, its real value is often overlooked. In making this statement, as it will be only an outline of a system of cultivation adopted by me, and pursued with success for several years, I shall be compelled to speak of myself.

The practice of the farmer must vary with climate and soil. My lot is cast in one of the Piedmont counties of the state, " the red land district"—a deep red clay soil, a vein of the Green Mountain land of Albemarle.

In the preparation of the land for corn we plough and harrow; depth of ploughing the object aimed at, without reference- to fine tilth as in the cultivation of wheat and other crops.

Rows laid off four and a half to five feel wide, with the shovel plough; hills eighteer inches to three feet, in proportion to the stoul land. In the bottom of this furrow we run i two horse trowel poiut coulter as deep as the team can draw it. This furrow of the coultei we consider of great advantage, collecting anc retaining moisture at the roots of the plants and giving depth to the roots. Seed con soaked twelve hours, rolled in plaster; soake< simply to soften the grain, that more plaste: may be retained. Plaster and ashes, twi thirds ashes one third plaster, table-spoonfu applied to each hill. Stable and barn yan manure applied broadcast. Cover \vith singl horse trowel point coulter, one furrow on eacl side of the corn. The corn up, as soon a large enough to escape the birds and insects let the cultivation commence; and now is th time for the exercise of industry—a very im portant qualification for the good farmer.

Let the corn be cultivated while young We go over first with single horse trowel pom coulters, breaking the whole row thoroughly running as close to the corn as we can, weed ing and thinning together, one stalk in th hill, after the coulter, leaving the land level.

The second and third times we plough th whole row deep, with the old fashioned sing] shovel plough; follow each time with the hoe avoid hilling The deep cultivation with th plough and hoe should cease some time befoi the shooting or tasseling commences. Th land to be kept clean, even until the coi shall be matured, by any process the faruu may adopt; we chop with hoes. The open tion of gathering the fodder, (if gathered i all,) to be delayed six or eight days later tha usual. By this delay some loss will be su tained in the value of the fodder, but the h jury to the corn almost entirely avoided.

This, you discover, is a brief outline of m own system, to be varied of course accordin to soil and other circumstances. But for a the clay lands of Eastern Virginia I am sati fied it will be found well suited.

Respectfully,

Amherst co., Va. J. B. L. William

March 28th, 1855.

For the Southern Planter. GUANO.

Has any one in Virginia plowed undi guano with a three horse plow in the sprit for corn, at the rate of one or two hundr< pounds per acre, or has any one used it on tl plowed surface and harrowed it in ? Auswi through the Planter. A. Subscriber.

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173

For the Southern Planter. A BRIEF EEPLY TO MR, RUFFIN.

Facts closely observed, and experiments carefully conducted and often repeated, are items of information which the farmer everywhere most needs, as the basis of a rational and enlightened agriculture. Theories, in agriculture, are a sort of bagatelle, with which scientific men may occasionally amuse them-selves, and farmers of a speculative turn, but seldom much to the edification or profit of any one; and in no pursuit to which the mental and physical energies of man have been directed is the practice of theorising to be so much deprecated and discountenanced as in agriculture. There are in farming, as in every other science, many so called false facts and much false experience; and the former has often been made the basis, and the latter tho props, of many a plausible and beautiful, but fallacious and hurtful theory; the fallacy and evil of which are well illustrated by an anecdote I have heard told of the " facts and experience" of a young Englishman, a medical student, who went to Paris to complete his professional education, when it so happened he was called to attend a Frenchman with typhoid fever. The disease was treated scientifically, and the man of course drugged secundem artem and to his heart's content, but without any apparent abatement in the fever, and death seemed inevitable. One day however the patient expressing a wish to eat some salt herring, he was humanely gratified, and, post hoc sed non propter hoc, the man, much to the surprise of his physician, soon got well, who immediately recorded in his note book as follows: "Typhoid fever—a Frenchman cured by eating salt herring." Soon after this he went back to England, and there encountering the same disease in a robustious Englishman, he confidently administered his new remedy—salt herring—and this patient in a little while died. A note was now made as follows: " Typhoid fever—an Englishman ate freely of salt herring and soon died;" and immediately following was a N. B., to this effect: " In* typhoid fever salt herring cures a Frenchman, but kills an Englishman"

But in this place it is proper to remark, that the undersigned does not wish, in any thing he may say, to be regarded as the "censor," of Mr. R., nor indeed of any one else; and it is to be regretted that Mr. Ruffin should have felt himself personally aggrieved at having his theoretical opinions respectfully and modestly controverted; and unless, in-

deed, he applies the epithet of " censor" to any one who may venture, in any manner, however deferential, to question his views,-! can see no appropriateness in his application of the word.

It will be manifest to every one familiar with Mr. Rufiin's ".Essay on Calcareous Manures," and who has ever read the article by the undersigned, above alluded to, that in his two articles recently published in this paper Mr. R. has not only retreated from his own original position, but endeavors to place me in a position I never occupied. It will be recollected that he consumes many pages of his book in the labored but abortive attempt to prove by dint of ingenious logic, that all soils growing sheep sorrel, broom grass, and old field pines, etc., are poisoned with an acid, and upon this assumption, which is only so much mere guessing on his part, he proceeds to state and establish the monstrous proposition, that such a soil " cannot be durably and profitably improved by putrescent manures, without previously making it calcareous?'' These are the plain and naked propositions I attempted to controvert; but now Mr. Ruffm, as if conscious of his inability to maintain these positions, very adroitly shifts his attitude, throws himself behind a battery of some thirty odd farmers in Prince George, and then, backed by his friends, challenges me to assail or deny his position that "liming in the proper manner and quantity will destroy sorrel and prevent its return' 1 ' 1 ! Why, don't Mr. Rufnn, and every one else who read my article, know, that so far from denying this fact he so defiantly proclaims, I did in the outset admit this peculiar action of lime on sorrel soils, in indirectly (though not by neutralizing acidity,) eradicating sorrels, and in these explicit words : " it is not to be doubted that liming causes sorrels to disappear," &c, for which a brief but clear explanation was given ? These thirty odd gentlemen ail agree in their testimony that lime destroys sorrel —or, in other words, that it causes it to disappear ; but do they render Mr. Ruffin any assistance in the dilemma his hypothesis, that " sorrel soils are acid," involves him in ? Will they depose m his behalf that lime destroys sorrel by simply neutralizing free oxalic acid in the soil, when they have no sort of proof from Mr. Ruffin, or from any one else, that there is any acid in such a soil ? but on the contrary, the positive assurance from the most reliable chemists, that in point of fact it does not exist in this or any sail? These are the questions, and the only ones, I was controverting. And Professor Johnston, who is

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER,

considered good authority on all questions in analytical chemistry, speaking of the acids of sorrers, (and he makes no distinctions) says, " It (oxalic acid) is not known to exist in the soil, or in the waters, which reach the roots of plants, when it is found in living vegetables, therefore, it must like the other substances the// contain-, have been formed or elaborated in the interior of the plant itself. Just so— and Dr. Dana, and others also testify much in the same way. And Mr. R. himself admits as much; and lie even goes further, and says one of the sorrels (wood sorrel) " will groAv on a soil "calcareous to excess," but seeing that this fact conflicts with his acid theory, next sets about explaining it away. And how do you suppose he does it? By showing that wood sorrel is botanically a different plant from sheep sorrel. Still the fact remains that both plants abound in one and the same acid; and I submit, that the mere circumstance that one " is a trefoil and pod bearing plant" and the other has leaves like " narroio and barbed arrow points," is quite immaterial; and since according to Mr. Rufhn's own showing, one of them cannot by possibility obtain any acid directly from the soil, neither by analogy is it at all probable that the other does; and whilst the assertion of Prof. Johnston that the acids of all the sorrels " are elaborated in the interior of the plants themselves,' 1 is doubtless entirely correct, it is probable that all other vegetable acids, the various sugars, and the other organic compounds in general, are " elaborated in the interior of plants" by a process purely vital and peculiar to the plant, with which the soil has nothing directly whatever to do.

Mr. Ruffin seems to have a mortal hatred for the old field pine. It is in his opinion an everlasting and special breeder of acid; as soon as it springs up it begins to " pour its leprous distilmcnt" on the soil, and speedily the whole earth becomes surcharged with the deadly poison. Alas! into what fatal mistakes does an erroneous theory often involve us! Many of these very soils, where the pines have accomplished their work of renovation, are the finest tobacco lands we have, as thousands would testify; and there are not many, I incline to think, who will admit that the beautiful arrangement by which pine soils annually enrich themselves from the falling of the leaves of the pine, is merely one for acidifying and poisoning the soil.

But to return to Mi . Ruifin's theory for a moment: will any one in middle Virginia endorse Mr. Ruffiu's assumption, that a soil which permits sorrel to grow "cannot be du-

rably and profitably improved by putrescent manures, without previously making it calca-i reous," when there are hundreds of farmers in Virginia and elsewhere who know the contrary to be true, and that without liming, as Mr. Ruffin proposes, or the use of any other anti-acids, they have been able to bring their soils up to a very high state of impreve-ment. Facts like these, in the possession of thousands, are sufficient to settle this question forever; and really I had thought it so settled an axiom in logic, that one single well established fact is sufficient to discredit and overthrow any mere hypothesis, however ingeniously constructed, that Mr. Ruffin would yield this point.

But in justice to him it is proper to state, that he objects to having extended the application of his theory to other soils than those of tidewater Virginia. Yet I must contend, that if it is necessary to the growth of sheep sorrel in his section, that the soil shall contain oxalic acid, there appears no good reason why the same kind of sorrel should not require the same kind of acid in soils elsewhere.

It would be easy to give a somewhat plausible explanation of this peculiar action of lime, in eradicating sorrels from the soils of tide-water Virginia, without having to assume hypothetieally the presence in such soils of any free oxalic acid, which it is not probable exists there any more than it does elsewhere. It is known, for instance, that the acid in sheep sorrel and in other sorrels is in combination with potash, and that such plants do not particularly require a calcareous soil. Clover, however, must have a good deal of both potash and lime, or it will not flourish. It is known, moreover, that when sorrel grows to the exclusion of clover, it indicates a soil somewhat deficient in available lime. Now good quick lime in many ways, and better than carbonate of lime or ordinary lime, readily supplies the salines necessary for the vigorous growth of clover; and it being a more hardy plant than sorrel, soon, as a necessary consequence, eats out. as we sometimes say, the sorrel.

But after all it makes no sort of difference, practically, I confess, with him who resides in the lime region, whether Mr. Ruffin's theory be true or false, since the result of liming there is uniformly satisfactory, and that is all that concerns the farmer, (and this may account for the ready reception, in that locality, of Mr. R.'s theory.) But if the farmer of middle Virginia, where no marl can be had, and good slacked lime in many localities costs from 25

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175

to 30 cents per bushel, is induced to believe that his sorrel soil is acid, and "cannot be {durably and profitably improved by putrescent (manures without previously making it calca-jreous," he would assuredly do one of two J things, either of which would show a bad judgment : he would either cease altogether to improve his land by applying putrescent manures, and by many other available and certain means of improvement, or he would incur such an expense in liming, (and often when his land did not need it) as would bankrupt him for life.

The foregoing remarks conclude all I have to say on the subject under discussion. If they fail to convince any one, perhaps I should fail even were I to write more; and besides, your readers are by this time, Mr. Editor, chemically speaking, super-saturated with lime.

P. B. Pendleton.

Louisa Co., Va., April 23, 1855.

HOW WE KEEP OUR HENS. Hen-house, in the appropriate sense of that word, we have none. We have no doubt of the utility cf those structures, and that something very much better than our contrivance could be get up, with a little leisure to plan it and money to build with. But we have had eggs and chickens enough, for the last five years, to satisfy our editorial ambition, without the trouble of putting up a hen-house. Our barn stands on the south side of a hill, and under a part of it we have <n cellar excavated, stoned, and pointed with mortar. It makes a snug warm room, about 20 feet by 10, opening to the south. A large ventilator communicates with the barn above, and the door is kept open at all times, except in snow storms and the coldest nights when the thermometer is in the neighborhood of zero. On such occasions, when Jack Frost is out in state, we close the door. On either side of the cellar there are large long poles put up for roosts, three on a side, and at such heights from the ground that they are easily reached by the fowls, and that the droppings from the upper row of fowls fall clear of their neighbors below them. Underneath the roosts we keep a good supply of charcoal dust or muck, and in addition to this we make a constant use of piaster. As often as every morning, m mild weather, and every other morning in cold, we sprinkle a large shovelfull upon the droppings. This keeps the air perfectly sweet and absorbs the most of the ammonia. The olfactories are a very good meter for the ne-

cessary quantity of plaster, and the rule is, to sprinkle as much and as often as you can detect any unpleasant odor. This is essential to the health of the fowls, and we have no doubt that more fowls die of bad air, from, lack of attention, than from all other causes united. The manure made in this way is very powerful; not equal in value to guano, pound for pound, but much cheaper than guano at the cost of its manufacture. It forms a very handsome item in the annual profits of keeping fowls.

In the yard upon which the cellar opens we have a large pile of refuse cabbages, not quite good enough for market, and a little too good for the compost heap. These are gathered late in the fall, when frozen, and covered with salt, hay or other refuse matter. The hens have constant access to them, and get all the green food they want. This, with the other attentions, keeps them in fine health. They have pounded oyster shells both in the cellar and in the yard, and fresh water every day. The staple feed is Indian corn, raw, soaked, and in meal scalded. This is varied with oats, and the sweepings of grain stores and screenings from the city.

We should probably get some eggs without further effort, but to make success certain we give fish two or three times a week. A small fish, caught in all our salt-water creeks and ditches, called the mummychaug, makes excellent feed for fowls. Pish offal from the market, or butcher's offal, would probably answer as well. Beginning the fowl season November 1st, with a flock of pullets hatched the preceding April, we have eggs, constantly and in abundance, through the coldest weather. The quantity increases after February, and in the three following months it rains eggs on our hill, and the thunder of Shanghai eloquence wakes the echoes of every morning hour.

We keep, in their purity, White Dorkings, Buff Shanghais, and Chittagongs. The Asiatic fowls are the only reliable winter layers, and make early chickens for broiling, better than any variety we have tried. The cross of the Dorking with the Shanghai makes a very plump, fine-fleshed fowl for the table; and they are not bad layers. The Buff Dorking, made by this cross, is a very handsome, sprightly bird. With a stock of forty or fifty fowls we raise all the eggs and chickens used in a large family, and from a debit and credit kept for several years, it appears that each fowl pays about a dollar clear profit. No other investment on the premises pays so well. American A srHtulturist.

THE SOUTHERN PLANNER.

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

RICHMOND, JUNE, 1855.

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UP^ It is indispensably necessary that subscribers ordering a change should say from what to what post office Ibey wish the alteration made. It will save time to us and lose none to them.

|3f° Postage on the Southern Planter, (when paid in advance,) to any part of the United States one cent and a half per quarter, or six cents per annum.

THE PREMIUM LIST. In the List of Premiums which we send to our subscribers with this number of the Planter, an error remained undiscovered till a considerable number of copies were issued. The premium (519) relating to wire grass should read $50 instead of $500.

WHEAT GLEANER. A friend, whose statement we do not hesitate to endorse, represents that he has used one of the horse rakes advertised by Mr. II. M. Smith, and that as a gleaner of wheat, to which purpose only he has as yet subjected it to trial, he decidedly prefers it, both for the superiority of its construction and the effectiveness of its operation, to any other implement of the kind with which he is.ac-quaintcd. He would not be compelled to dispense with the use of his for three times its value, and recommends its introduction into general use, especially upon the very fair and liberal terms offered by the advertiser.

THE PROSPECTS OF THE CROPS IN VIRGINIA. Whatever may be the prospects of the crops, especially the wheat crops, elsewhere, it is generally gloomy, in Virginia. In some sections joint worm, in others joint worm and chinch bug combined, in others the chinch bug alone, in nearly all an unexampled drought following a dry hard winter, have so checked the wheat, that we, no alarmists at any time, do not expect that Virginia will make one-third of a crop. For oats the prospect is at this time no better, if so good, and for corn we should have no hope were it not that in the course of things we are bound to expect rain before long.

What rain we have had has been small in quantity and very partial in extent, and we hear on all sides that the water courses were never so low before at the same season of the year. Now, aH around us, and we hear the same of other sections, they are as low as we ever saw them at the close of a dry spell in August.

It is useless to expect to make full crops, even of corn, under such circumstances. The winter supply of rain, which saturates the ground and keeps the streams up, is exhausted, and much more copious showers than we generally have or can now expect will be necessary to keep the ground in its ordinary, and, so far as vegetable growth is concerned, necessary hygrometric condition.

Nor need the farmers expect full crops next year: the clover and grass crops are as short as every thing else, and the clover fallows of this year will hardly be luxuriant enough to add much fertility to the Soils they grow on.

It is some satisfaction to know that under such a state of things the prices of produce are highei than they were ever known before, and that one third of a crop will bring almost as much rnonej as a full one would have done some few years ago.

The above remarks are predicated upon the hope of rain in some short time. If it does noi come, and the present drought continues one month longer, we really think there is danger o: a famine in Virginia.

Who ever remembers to have known before o: only two. rains in the month of April, and as manj as three frosts in the month of May ?

The wool crop of the West is now being prepared for market, The Guernsey (Ohio) Time? learns from its exchanges and woolgrowers thai tis years clip will be equal to those of pasl years, and that the price per pound will be equa at least to that of last year.

The crops in Tennessee thus far promise a ricl harvest.

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177

SOWING PEAS AS A PREPARATION FOR WHEAT.

A subscriber wrote to us a few days ago as to the propriety of seeding peas upon the stubble of this years' wheat crop with a view to seeding wheat upon the same land this fall on the pea fallow.

As a public answer will be of service, we will state here what we saw a few days ago.

The fine farm of Pichonochee, on the Chicka-hominy, five miles from Richmond, must have been observed for several years by every one who has passed through it on the Central Rail Road. And not the least noteworthy feature is the field which lies broad side of the Rail Road, between it and the swamp, with a crop of wheat, now the third in succession, that, but for the drought, would have made some twenty five bushels to the acre. We paid a visit to the worthy proprietor, Mr. Matthews, to get the history of that field, and now give it from notes made on the spot:

Mr. Mathews purchased the land in the year 1849 and seeded this particular field in wheat in the fall of that year. Its crop was not measured separately, but it did not exceed seven bushels per acre as a maximum. In the month of July, before the shocks of wheat were hauled out of the field, peas were sowed on this field, at the rate of one bushel per acre, broadcast on the stubble, ploughed in with a one horse plough followed by a harrow, (or drag, or rake, as we are sorry to see it improperly called in some places.) The peas were ploughed under from the 20th September out, and wheat sowed upon the land. The product was twelve and a half bushels of good wheat per acre.

In 1852 the land was planted in corn and made six barrels per acre, and was again sowed in wheat. In 1853 the wheat yielded sixteen bushels per acre, and was followed by peas and wheat as before. In 1854 the crop of wheat was twenty three bushels per acre, and was again followed by peas and wheat. In 1855 the wheat is cut short by the drought, but from what we saw we think it safe to estimate that in a fair season it would have made twenty five bushels per acre.

The land Mr. Mathews called stiff, but we who have STIFF land thought it a light soil,—clay with a fair admixture of sand. It had been pre-previously owned by the Messrs. Haxall, and had never been limed by them. Nor has Mr. Mathews applied to it any other manure than what the peas themselves have furnished.

But whether with or without lime, it is remarkable th2t -six successive crops should have been removed from the land not only without any diminution of fertility, but with a rapidly progressive improvement.

Whether this mode of cropping can be judiciously applied to all lands, we cannot say. We

know from our own experiments, at Shad well, and from the report of Mr. Noland's experiments at Rox, that is would not suit the south west mountain lands or the dry creek lands, generally thought the best of that region in Albemarle, and we doubt whether it would be proper in any lands that are already saturated with vegetable matter. Nor can we venture an opinion as to the time at which this rotation will cease to improve the land or the crop. But we are inclined to the belief that it will only produce more speedily that exhaustion in the product of wheat which we have been laughed at for maintaining as a consequence of the repeated succession of the clover crop.

We prefer now not to encumber the statement of what appears to us as a very remarkable fact with any theory as to the operation of peas as a fertilizer, or the duration of the fertility they produce.

There are not facts enough known, or if known, they are perhaps not yet so systematized as to authorize anything of the kind. But if a few of our friends choose, they can, in a few years, by proper experiments, throw a great deal of light on this subject; and it is very evident that such experiments can be conducted for six or eight years without the loss of a cent, either in time or trouble.

In looking at the statement of Mr. Matthews' course of cropping it will strike the reader as singular that whereas after the first crop of peas, twelve and a half bushels only of wheat was made, after the corn crop which followed that wheat, sixteen bushels was made.

FINE WOOL. The annexed quotations will show the superiority of our wools to those of the New England and Northern States. We give them because we have often asserted that better wool can be grown

in Virginia than at the North.

6 Cts.perlb

New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Michigan, Vermont, New Hampshire,—

Choice Saxony fleece, - - - 47 a 50

Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia,— Choice Saxony fleece, - - - 50 a 55

If the want of skill in the business here in Virginia is taken into consideration, we shall find ample room for encouragement in these prices. We think we once demonstrated that the wools of Virginia were superior to those of either Pennsylvania or Ohio. But to satisfy those who may contend that Virginia ranks with Ohio and Pennsylvania because the wool is nearly all grown in the neighborhood of Wheeling, arid that that region should not be classed with ours, we subjoin the prices obtained by the Messrs. Crenshaw for the wool they sold, and which we promised, in \

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55 cts.

50

40

35

33

30

our last notice of their wool depot, to give the

public. They are as follows :

Extra Saxony and Merino fleece,

No. 1,

No. 2, Merino fleece,

No. 3, part blood fleece,

No. 4, part blood fleece,

No. 5, native fleece,

These wools, it will be remembered, were all grown in Middle, Southwestern, or Southeastern Virginia, in some parts of which the business is just commencing, and in no part, as a general thing, is it equal to Northwestern Virginia, where such men as Jesse Edgington have been at it all their lives.

A TEST OF THE PROFITS OF WOOL

GROWING. We call attention to the following premiums, offered by Crenshaw & Co., of this city, through the Virginia State Agricultural Society at its fair next Fall, viz:

For the most valuable fleece of wool, in proportion to the live weight of the animal from which it is sheared, $20

For the second best do 10

For the heaviest fleece, without regard to its

staple, ---- 10

For the finest fleece, without regard to its weight, ... 10

Hides. —Each fleece must be washed and accompanied with a certificate that the sheep belongs to the party who offers the fleece, and that the sheep was sheared last year, in the State of Virginia, and that the fleece, to his own knowledge, is not more than twelve months old. In estimating its weight and value, reference will be had to its condition.

Committee to be chosen hereafter and announced in lime.

It will be observed that these premiums look to the question of the profits of sheep-breeding, as far as it can be settled in this way. We know that it is contended by good judges that the carcass is more entitled to be taken into the estimate than the fleece, and should of itself decide the question of profit, but we do not conceive, that that is the question here. These premiums, at least the two first of them, go to decide that other issue, whether the wool of the large and coarse breeds is more profitable than the wool of the fine and small breeds the issue which we joined sometime ago with Col. Ware, who avers that the Cotswolds, in this particular, surpass all other sheep, we holding then and now that Merino and Saxony sheep are in this respect the most profitable.

The other question, which is distinct from this, is properly kept out of view here, though we hope that that also can be brought to the test of a premium.

CURING CLOVER HAY.

Below we append the remarks of Mr. Ruffin on this subject, as requested by a friend some time since. We fear that there will be but little occasion for it this year, as we hear of but very little clover to cut anywhere. The note which we proposed to append, containing the amendment en Mr. Ruffln's original plan of curing hay, we deem unnecessary, as that plan substantially is now adopted by Mr. Ruffin.

From Essays and Notes on Agriculture, By Edmund Ruffin, p. 136.

The mode which I have adopted is upon the principle of curing the grass in the shade, and by air instead of sun—and of never moving the clover after its leaves are dry or crisp, (if they become so at all,) until it is carried to the house or stack. There is less labor, less danger of damage from rain, and more value in the product, than in any other process of which I have heard the manner and results. It is proper to say that the plan is not original with me. The attempt to cure hay in cocks (and of course mostly in the shade,) has often been made—and successfully, when high winds and heavy rains did not damage the cocks The plan of preserving their upright position by skewers was first suggested and used by the late Col. Claiborne W. Gooch, who wrote a communication embracing this contrivance, for the Farmers' Register, (vol. i. p. 162.) The plan was improved upon, and the practice reported to the same publication, (vol. x., p. 414,) at my request, by a very young farmer, Edmund Ruffin, jr., of Prince George county, who, since, with myself, and others seeing our practice, have successively cured clover in this manner.

While thus duly acknowledging the first sources of instruction on this subject, it is also just to add that in my own later operations there are important improvements on the practices of my first guides. As at first recommended (by Col. Gooch,) the " skewer," as its name implied, was designed by him mainly to hold together the different parts of the cock, and to prevent the top being blown off, when raised very high. The skewer was stuck into the cock after it had been built 4 or 5 feet high, and then was directed to be thrust in only 18 to 24 inches. Of course it did not then reach the earth. And when in later practice, it usually extended to the earth, the attachment was so slight that no support to the cock was thereby gained. This forcing the skewer down through the heaped and still green grass also served to compress it, and so far obstructed the admission of air to the interior of the cock, and the readiest evaporation of moisture. This defect made necessary another objectionable procedure, viz: the opening the cocks for two or three hours immediately preceding the carting in the hay to the stack, or the house. Both the first greater compression of the lower part of the cock, and the after opening it for so long a time to the sun, are in opposition to the principle of the process, and the object sought, i. e., to cure the grass in the shade, and by access of air only, and avoiding as much^as possible all improper exposure to sun, and the retaining of moisture.

Withoi

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179

Without further reference to others practice or opinions, or noting differences, I will proceed to describe my own present preferred practice, as improved by the experience of this plan, in the whole clover harvests of the last ten years.

When the clover is nearly or quite in the best state for mowing, for hay, (that is, when about one fourth of the heads are turning brownish,) that operation is begun, after dinner, or about 2 o'clock, P. M. When cut so late in the day, no other labors will be necessary. The grass is left in the swath, as cut, until the next forenoon, when the dew has dried off. If clear of dew when mown, there will be none except on the mere surface of the swaths. When quite free from dew, and also when some few of the upper leaves have become crisp, under the effect of sunshine, then it is time to begin the first fork-work. Other hands, with iron-prong forks, begin with the oldest mowing, and throw the swaths into small heaps, without any care for their shape, and each merely large enough to supply at least one good fork-full. These heaps might be put immediately into cocks, if required by approach of night, or threatening of rain. But otherwise they will best be left until the forks have gone over all the grass that is partly wilted by exposure in the swath. The making of these heaps is a facility for the subsequent cocking, and therefore is no addition to that labor. But after being thrown into these heaps, it is best to let the grass so lie a while, for two reasons. First, a new surface being then exposed to the sun, more wilting of the greener clover will take place, and less water (in the sap) will go into the cock, without danger of hurt by too much drying in the sun. Secondly, this heaping is a veiy easy and rapid operation, and so serves quickly to place out of danger the grass beginning to be crisp on the surface of the swaths.

After the heaping, (or an hour or two after beginning to heap, if different sets of hands are employed.) the cock-building is begun. The clover tisually is then throughout the heap more or less wilted, or " fallen," but still full of sap, or juices, except the very few leaves crisped before the heaping. Stakes or skewers should have been previously prepared, and brought on the ground. These are either of rived timber, or otherwise (and better) cut of any tolerably straight sapling wood, though young pines of second growth, where standing thick, furnish much the best. They may be from 5 to 6 feet long, and l\ to 2 inches through at the large, and 1 inch, or less, at the small end. Both ends should be sharpened by a hatchet. A pin, made of strong and tough wood, pointed, and rather larger than the large point of the stakes, is driven into the ground about 8 inches deep, to make a hole to set the stake, and which is so placed firmly and upright. The stakes are so placed in rows, and at such distances as trial will show is required for the cocks. The cock-builders now begin, by placing a heap of the grass around the bottom of each standing stake, and closely and evenly around. This, and enough to make the base, should not be more than 15 inches from the central stake to the outsides. Other clover is placed on this base, with the fork, putting it loosely cd the pointed top of the stake, and forcing it downward to its place. The thickness of the cock may be a little enlarged when 12 or 15 inches above the ground. But it is best not to permit any to be pore than 3J or at most 4 feet across the middle. The main oljject of the stake is to prevent the cock

falling, or being blown over by high winds. With this support, the cocks may be raised at first to G or 7 feet high. They will afterwards settle considerably—and the more in proportion to the succulence of the clover, and the lightness with which it was laid on in the cocks. Moderately pressing down the grass when building the cock is proper, to avoid too much settling afterwards. But the cock should not be made too compact at first, so as to exclude the entrance of air, and so prevent the proper curing of the grass. A little experience will show the improper extremes to be avoided.

The foundation, of clover wrapped around the stake at the ground, serves to make a more compact base, 2i to 3 feet across, and rising to about a foot high. But when the cock is finished, the looser placed clover usually hangs over the sides so as to make the cock appear as wide at the ground as midway or higher up, or from 3J to 4 feet in diameter. Still, the grass, when first laid on, is more supported by the stake than on the ground. As proof of this, if the pine stake is green and flexible, the completed cock may be made to vibrate by the hand, from side to side, so as to show that, as yet, the stake bears suspended the greater weight of the cock. This loose state allows the air to penetrate during the curing of the hay.

As the cock settles, the grass holds more or less to the stake, and especially to the rough bark of pine. This causes almost every stem to droop from the centre toward the circumference of the cock—and so to shed rain which would otherwise penetrate the very open texture of clover cocks. This manner of settling gives a pointed top to the cock, even if made broad-topped at first. The pointed upper end of the stake usually permits the top of the clover to settle below the point. But sometimes the upper clover is held up by the stake, like a hood over the lower and main part.

The annexed profile illustrations and references may be of some use for direction to those who have not made any trial or personal observation o& this plan for curing hay :

a, a, a, a, surface of the ground.

c, c, stake, 5 to 6 feet long, set 8 inches in the ground.

b, b, Compact foundation of grass, wrapped around the stake, about 2h feet broad.

d. the completed cock, spread out in raising.

.

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e, e, looser part, overhanging the foundation.

/, the more usual shape of the cock, after curing and settling down.

g, A, the shape after curing, when the top of the hay remained suspended on the point of the stake, and formed a covering hood over the lower body of the cock.

The outside of the cock shelters all the interior from the sun entirely, and more or less from the rain. Of course the mere outside is damaged by being over-dried in the sun—or is made somewhat like the ordinary clover hay, cured by exposure to sunshine. But all the interior usually cures perfectly, the leaves remaining on the stems, and mostly preserving their green color, and many of the flowers their red tints. Heavy showers and transient rains, during the curing, will not prevent this result, or to but small extent. Very heavy rains driven by strong winds, or long-continued spells of rain, certainly will be injurious ; but to much less extent than even moderate and transient rains with aay other mode of curing. I have had Tery bad weather in some of my clover hay harvests ; but though labor was thereby increased, and hay somewhat damaged, I have never lost, by bad weather, altogether, a ton of hay, in this mode of curing.

According to the weather, and condition of the grass, the cocks will usually have to stand from 4 to 7 days. I have in one case housed the hay (avoiding close packing) on the second day; and once, when the clover was cut too green, and the cocks bnilt too compactly, and too large, they stood 8 days, and then had to be opened, to remove some internal dampness, which had caused mouldiness in the middle. This w T as the only case of such error and its injurious effect. In ordinary cases, and with only ordinary rains, nothing is required after cocking, until the hay is fit to be housed.

When the first cured hay is fit to be housed, or stacked, the removal of the cocks ought to be begun early in the morning, while the hay is pliant, (or " gives," or is "in case,") from the effect of the dam}) night air. A moderate dew still remaining on the cocks is no objection to proceeding. But any greater degree of wetness, from recent rain, I would not risk, if the hay had to be immediately packed closely, and in large bulks. After beginning, the carting-in of the cured hay, and storing it, should proceed as fast as possible, while the hay continues pliant. But as soon as it begins to be rigid and crumbly from increased drying by the sun and dry air, the hauling should be suspended until the next morning.

Preceding the loading of the carts, for half an hour or an hour, (according to the weather,) the loaders pull out the stakes, and then turn over the cocks, nearly upside down, but leaving the old bottom somewhat facing the sun. This part will usually be a little damp, from contact with the ground—(though not always, if cocked on dry ground—) and this, or any other remaining dampness, will be speedily removed by this little exposure to sun and air. The cocks must not be so exposed longer than necessary, before being carted in ; and should be housed or stacked as soon as possible afterwards. When the earth is dry, the cocks may have so little dampness at bottom as not to need being thus turned, before being put in the carts. If very slightly damp at bottom, that small damp portion only of each cock may be left and opened, and will usually be dried enough for the carts in an hour.

Hay so cured will be inviting in color and odoi will be eagerly preferred by horses and mules to th best corn-fodder, or other hay cured in the ordi nary manner. And if it is in any respect less va'. uable as food, no evidence of the fact has com uuder my observation. Green clover or clove hay, is my only long forage for some months c of every year, and is used without stint as long a it lasts.

For fear of rain, the hay ought not to remain i tie cocks longer than it is cured enough for hon sing. But oh more than one occasion, part of m hay was still in cocks, and not cured enough t house, when wheat-harvest was begun, and whic occupied all the force for more than two weeks.-After this long exposure the cocks were hauled k and though there was more depth of sun-burnin, and injury thereby than usual, the interior ha; was still excellent—and the whole together, aver aged, was tolerably good hay—and much prefera ble to most of the northern or other meadow ha; sold in the towns.

Stacks or ricks of clover hay are troublesom to build, and to secure from rain. They should b well trodden, while building, for compression, am to prevent more than the unavoidable settling and should be topped with straw, to keep outrairj Putting clover in houses is very far the cheape and safer plan.

The stakes should be brought to the barn-yan with the loads of hay, and placed under shelter. I so taken care of, they will serve for many years.

It should have been stated earlier that clove ought not to be cut for hay while any dew remain on it—though a very little remaining will dry oi the clover after being cut, and as lying in th' swath. This rule will delay the mowing general! to from 9 to 11 o'clock, A. M. All the clover cu each day before about2 P. M. may be cocked tha evening. All cut after that time may remain ii the swath until next day. If the grass is wette< thoroughly by rain in the swath, and before bein; wilted, there will be no loss, except of labor ii opening and turning the grass, which will then bi required to dry it. As soon as this accidenta moisture is entirely removed, the heaping an( cocking should proceed, as in other cases.

The slight moisture from dew just before and t< twilight, need not suspend either the mowing, o: the putting of grass before heaped into cocks.— But I would prefer not to make heaps from th< swath after dew was perceptible on the clover.

The clover after being cut, usually lies in th< swath, under from 3 to 5 hours of sunshine, and ii the heaps, an hour or two longer. And all cut af ter2P. M. usually lies in the swath until nex morning, and until the dew has dried off. Bu when there has been danger of a spell of rain, oi on the evening preceding a Sunday, I have cocked (and cured safely,) all the clover cut before 4 P M. and within two hours after the mowing. Ir such cases, the cocks should be smaller than usual and the fresh-mown clover laid on more lightly than directed above for the ordinary procedure.

The minute directions necessary for any nove! practice, and the many details required to be described, are apt to cause readers to suppose the labors to be great, because the first instruction! may be tedious. For this reason, as I infer, some farmers have, without trial, rejected this mode ol curing hay, since my first publication, upon the erroneously supposed ground of there being greatei labor required. On the contrary, the labor is less

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181

than of any other known mode, as well as the success and the profitable results being incomparably greater. I have not yet heard of any one who had fairly tried this treatment of clover hay who did not approve it for saving of labor, as well as for other greater benefits. No one who will try this mode, without neglect of any of the necessary directions, will fail to approve it, or will deem any other known mode preferable, or even cheaper, without regard to difference of'value in the results.

But easy and cheap as this plan is, large operations may be conducted still more cheaply. In the directions stated above, it was designed to conform practice as nearly as possible to the principle and theory of curing hay in the shade. And when there is more than enough of force, and time, to secure in this perfect manner all the clover for mowing, it will still be most economical to pursue this plan carefully. But for large operations, and when the supply of the material and demand for the product are much greater than all the time and force that can be given in this careful manner to the work, then it will be cheaper to slur over and slight the work in less important parts, for the purpose of securing a much larger quantity of hay —of hay somewhat inferior, indeed, to the best that may be made, but still good, and far better than most of the hay or fodder usually consumed on farms, or sent to market.

For large operations, or for small, if of enough space and in any one place,) the far cheapest mowing of clover is by a mowing machine. When this is done, the mowing should be commenced, as in other cases, in clear weather, and at or soon after mid-day. The cut grass is left by the operation of the machine, (McCormick's,) in rows, but spread over the ground much more thinly and evenly than in the swaths left by the scythe. Of course, the sun has more access, and will sooner begin to cause damage. Still, it will not be necessary to begin to change the surface until late in the forenoon of the next day, when a considerable portion of the upper clover leaves will have become crisp from sun-burning. This of course is so much damage and loss ; but is compensated in other respects. A revolving rake, drawn by a horse or mule, will draw up into " windrows" or long heaps, the grass of more acres than had been mown in the same length of time by the mowing machine—and this will go over some 15 acres a day, or at that rate for the hours at work, when the grass is free from remaining dew. This first heaping of the clover, by horse-power, may be permitted to stand (if rain does not threaten) until the forenoon of the third day ; or as long as may be without much damage being caused by sun-burning on the upper leaves of the changed surface. Then will follow the first hand-labor, which will be the putting the clover into cocks, on stakes, precisely as befere directed. But with this greater previous exposure to and partial injury by sunshine, there will have been obtained a much more advanced state of curing of the grass. This better curing will keep the cocks more open to the admission of air, and either permit them to be made of somewhat larger size than usual, (if required to stand longer than for curing,) —or if no longer, the complete curing will be much sooner effected, and the hay be ready to be housed or stacked.

By this mowing a.nd raking by horse-power, not only will there be great increase of force and of

time for securing clover hay, but other very important advantages in cleansing the land of weeds, and sustaining the growth of clover longer. So-cheap and rapid is the operation of mowing, that the farmer can not only afford to mow all his good clover, but also the weeds where the clover is so sparse as not to be worth saving. If what is thus mown is left scattered over the land, it will not act to impede, but will serve as manure to the next and succeeding growth. The seeds and growth of most bad weeds are destroyed for that year. The clover, if thick enough, will furnish a clean second growth for mowing for seed, if desired. And if permitted to remain through the next succeeding summer (the third after the sowing of the seed,) the growth of clover for that year will be as thick as in the preceding year. Whereas, if it had not been mown in the preceding year, the clover, (a biennial plant) would have completed its growth and fructification, and died—and its place would have been mostly filled by coarse and worthless weeds.

THE POULTRY MANIA.

In past numbers of the Merchant's Maga* zine, we have from time to time noted the details of numerous manias that have had their day in the commercial world—the tulip mania, the famed South Sea expedition, the Mississippi scheme, etc., and we have now to add to the list a few words upon the subject of the poultry delusion which has for the past five or six years " run riot" over this and other countries.

A cotemporary has lately remarked with much truth, that " since the tulip mania it may be doubted if anything more singular than the ' hen fever ' ever disturbed the minds of men I But the tulip mania was confined to very narrow limits. It ranged only amongst Dutchmen, in the little republic of Holland, whilst the hen fever affected people throughout a country from which you might take as much land (and water) as would suffice to make the United Provinces ten times over without missing it. It ran over a whole empire, and seems to have been as acutely felt by the men of Louisiana as by those of New England."

Unlike the tulip mania the hen fever appears to have grown out of a real desire to improve the articles that were the object of speculation. The Dutch cared no more for the improvement of tulips than they did for the improvement of stones. The tulips were the certificates of fancy stocks, of stocks in companies that never had, and never were intended to have, an existence. " People laugh at the tulip mania," says Beekman, " because they believe that the beauty and variety of the flowers induced florists to give such extravagant prices; they imagine that the tulips were purchased so excessively dear in order to

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

ornament gardens; but this supposition is false." The hen speculators, in the proportion of a thousand to one, did look to great improvement in poultry, and some of them, judging from the extravagance of their language, must have expected the appearance of a breed that should be found equal to laying eggs by the dozen on demand, which would have been a great thing for contractors, had it been realized. It is very certain that people were mad on the subject of hens, and that they acted extravagantly, crazily, and but too often with the rankest dishonesty of intention.

It can scarcely be credited, yet there is really no doubt that this " epidemic," the effect of which has been costly to the people of this country and England, has been serious, yet it has resulted in good, though the experience has been dearly bought. Until the statistics have been placed before us, by statements based upon reliable authority, we had not believed that this mania had actually been carried to that extent which the accounts seem to verify.

For instance—during the height of" the poultry mania in England, in the years 1852, 1853, and 1854, the price paid by British "fanciers" of pet fowls, ranged—for the Dorking breed, $40 to $50 for a single pair ! As high as $ 125 were paid at a Birmingham poultry show for a pair of diminutive " Seabright Bantams." A pair of " Cochin China" favorites at a metropolitan exhibition in London, in 1852, were held at $700! In the winter of 1852, the " Cottage Gardener" stated that within the last few weeks, a gentleman near London sold one pair of fancy " Cochin China" fowls, for thirty guineas, ($150,) and another pair for thirty-two. guineas, ($160)". At this period £1 sterling was not an unfrequent price, each, for these Chinese chickens, just hatched, or " twelve guineas ($60) the half-dozen at one month old !" The Bury and Norwich Post (England) asserted at this time that " in our own neighborhood, we happen to know that a young cock and two hens (of the Cochin China variety) have been sold for thirty-two guineas, or $160." In a notice of an English exhibition of fowls, in the year 1853, a British journal remarks that in this show " there is a pen of three geese, weighing forty-eight pounds; and among the Cochin China birds are to be found hens which, in the period that forms the usual boundary of chicken life, have attained a weight of seven or eight pounds. Of the value of these birds it is difficult to speak without calling forth expressions of incredulity. It is evident that there is a desperate mania in bird-fancying, as in other things. Thus, for

example, there is a single fowl to which is affixed the enormous money value of 30 guineas; two Cochin China birds are estimated at 25 guineas; and four other birds, of the same breed, a cock and three hens, are rated in the aggregate at 60 guineas—a price which the owner confidently expects them to realize at the auction-sale on Thursday. A further illustration of this ornithological enthusiasm is to be found in the fact that, at a sale on Wednesday last, one hundred and two lots, comprising one hundred and ten Cochin China birds, all belonging to one lady, realized £369 4s. 6d.; the highest price realized tor a single one being 20 guineas."

Another British journal stated, a short time previously, that " a circumstance occurred which proves that the Cochin China mania has by no means diminished in intensity. The last annual sale of the stock of Mr. Sturgeon, of Greys, has taken place at the Baker-street Bazaar. The two hundred birds there disposed of could not have realized a less sum than nearly £700, or $3,500, some of the single specimens being knocked down at more than £12, and many producing £4, £5, or £6 each."

At the Boston Fowl Show in 1852, three Cochin Chinas were sold at $100; a pair of grey Chittagongs at $50 ; two Canton Chinese fowls at $80 ; three grey Shanghae chicks at $75 ; three white Shanghaes at $65 ; six white Shanghae chickens, $40 to $45, etc.; and these prices, for similar samples, could have been obtained again and again.

In this same year a Boston agricultural journal stated that " within three months extra samples of two-year old fowls, of the large Chinese varieties, have been sold in Massachusetts at $100 the pair. Several pairs, within our own knowledge, have commanded $50 a pair, within the past six months. Last week we saw a trio of white Shanghaes sold in Boston for $45. And the best specimens of Shanghaes and Cochin China fowls now bring $20 to $25 a pair readily, to purchasers at the South and West."

In 1853 and 1854, Mr. G. P. Burnham, ol Boston, a somewhat noted fancier in this country, sent out to England a cage of grey Shanghaes, for which he received $100 for a trio. A single pair of these same fowls, having carried away the first prize at a show in Birmingham a few months afterwards, were immediately sold, says the London Field, by Mr. Baily, to whom Mr. Burnham sent them, to a Mr. Taylor, oi Shephard's Bush, at the enormous sum £100 oi sterling, or $500 !

In this country, for four or five years, th(

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

183

average price of what were deemed by the " initiated,' 7 first-class China fowls, of known purity of blood, ranged at from $10 to $25 j for a single pair—and hundreds of choice birds j have been quickly sold at double these figures | in the last three years. The furore of these j monstrous domestic fowls was by no means I confined to any particular portion of this i country ; but, as in England, it pervaded all | classes, from the queen to the peasant, and ex-j tended from the Tyne to the Isle of Wight— ; so, on the American continent, from Passama-■ quoddy Ray to Texas, everybody was more or j less affected with the curious, inexplicable, be-I witching desire to possess themselves of these j foreign fowls !

Messrs. James French & Co., of Eoston,

I have recently published a work by George P.

iBurnharn, Esq., from which we learn that in a

single year (1853) his sales for this fancy stock

reached nearly twenty-three thousand dollars.

j His orders in that season from Louisiana and

Mississippi, oftentimes came in sums " varying

from $500 to $1,200 and $1,500 each, and in

j September, 1853, a single shipment was sent

by him to Louisiana amounting to $2,230 !

A copy of the Liverpool Express in January 1854,^ states that " the great metropolitan j show in London, just then closed, surpassed ! all its predecessors ; and that the excitement in England, at that time, was at its height,"— The editor asserts that " it was not an easy thing to exhaust the merits of the three thousand specimens of the feathered tribe there shown. No one," continues the writer, "who is at all conversant with natural history, can fail to find abundance of material for an hour's instruction and amusement. The general character of the exhibition has been already indicated; but this is one of those cases in which no description, however elaborate, can supply the place of personal inspection."

The British correspondent of the Boston Post, but a short time previously, wrote that " the fowl fever, which has raged with so much violence in New England during the last three years, has extended to this country. There was a great crowing among the cocks at the late Smithfield cattle-show, and there seems to have been a still louder one at the Birmingham fair."

" The mania for the purchase of fine fowls," continues this writer, ' : was as furious there as if each of them had been the hen in the fable that found the jewel in the dunghill. Some pairs brought as high as £40, ($200.) One very fine pair of Cochin Chinas sold for £50, ($250.) In the catalogue some were marked at £100, the valuation prices of owners who

did not wish to sell. With you, in America, the rage for fowl-raising is simply one of fancy and profit, but here it is the result—and a very beneficial one, too—of tree trade. The price of eggs and poultry, owing to the great demand, does not fall; the price of grain, owing to free importation, does fall ; and hence the great profit which is realized in keeping fowls."

This monster " bubble," like its illustrious predecessors, has at length exploded, however, if we may credit the author of the " History of the Hen Fever," [now just issued,] and from whose readable book we have, in this article, made our present " statistical" extracts. Large sums of money have evidently been expended in this transitory delusion, and many persons— with the best of good intentions—have found themselves vastly in error in regard to the prospective %>rofits arising from the traffic in this very uncertain species of property !

For the Southern Planter.

Mr. Editor —Being desirous of procuring a wheat drill in time for seeding my crop of wheat next fall, and wishing to gain all the information which I possibly can ere purchasing, as to the best implement and propriety of using it, will such of your subscribers as have given the " drill" a fair trial give us the benefit of their experience through the columns of the Planter ? An extensive and skilful wheat-grower, who resides in Sussex county, remarked to me, that having given the drill a trial, he could not bo induced to sow another crop broadcast, save in stumpy land, where the drill would not operate. I saw a wheat drill at the State Exhibition last fall, with which I was much pleased, from the hasty examination which I was enabled to give it. There was a guano attachment, by which as small a quantity as fifty pounds of that manure could be sown, if desired. As the drill to which I allude was manufactured in this State, I have eagerly scanned the advertising pages of each succeeding number of the Planter hoping to see it advertised for sale, but have been disappointed.

Apropos to advertising—it has often been a matter of surprise to me, that persons having articles for sale, such as implements, animals, &c. &c. should be so remiss in advertising. Are not such penny wise and pound foolish ? And many of those who do advertise fail to name their prices, which I think they always should do. h* #### .

We see it mentioned that the locusts lliave appeared in great mirnbers in parts of Alabama and

Mississippi.

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

Castle Hill, March 25, 1855.

My Dear Sir : —An absence of several days from home has prevented me from sooner acknowledging the receipt of your favor of the 19th instant. I can very well conceive that the few lines I wrote to you, to accompany Francis' letter, should have been regarded by your compositor as private. I am very much obliged to you for the prompt manner in which you have taken measures to repair the omission accidentally made by him.

The delay to which you refer in making our report on the Essays offered for General Cock's prize has been owing to difficulties inherent in the subject, as well as the difficulty of personal communication among the members of the committee. I hope we shall be able to send it in to you very soon.

I do not know whether you take the "Spirit of the Times." In the No. of the 10th instant, there were some remarks of the Editor, (a high authority on the subject of Horses,) respecting the Black Hawks, and the necessity of size for the most fashionable and profitable class of horses, and the prices given for each in the New York and Northern markets, which I think it would be desirable to be known to our Virginia breeders, as timely corrections of an error to which, I think, there is now great proneness among them. I enclose these remarks, and if ,5-011 should not disagree with me as to their practical value, I think you would render a service to our brethren by publishing them in the next No. of the Planter.

I remain, my dear sir, with great respect very truly and faithfully, yours,

F. G. Ruffin, Esq., W. C. Kites.

VERMONT BLACK HAWK, LADY SUFFOLK, ETC., THE MORGANS AND BLACK HAWKS.

Boston, Feb. Z2d, 1855.

Dear Sir: —* * * As friend " Acorn" wrote you a short time since in relation to Lady Suffolk (as being at D. Edgar Hill's, Bridport, Vt.,) I would inform you that I have quite recently sent an artist to Vermont, for the purpose of painting Black Hawk and Lady Suffolk. I am happy farther to inform you, that he has returned, and has a very beautiful portrait of Black Hawk, (taken alone in his stable,) and also Black Hawk and Lady Suffolk in one convass (as being in an open field). It was taken at great expense, and is now in the hands of the Lithographer ; I am promised, and I expect it to be, the best Lithograph (of horses) ever taken in this country.

As soon as it is printed (which will be in three or four weeks) I shall he most happy to send you a copy of each, with my compliments.

Very truly, &c, N. H. H.

The following communications on the subject of " Black Hawk Horses" appeared in the Boston "Cultivator," of the 24th ult. :—

Messrs. Editors : —I have noticed the articles lately published in your paper on the origin of Black Hawk, and am glad the facts relating to that subject have been put in an authentic form.

I have not much acquaintance with the Black Hawk stock, but have seen several with which I am well pleased. A friend of mine residing in a distant State, writes me that he saw something in the "Spirit of the Times" of Oct. 14th last, in re-

gard to the stock having been made " undersized' by breeding " in-and-in,"—and that they lackec " height," &-c. As he has some idea of attempt ing to improve the horses of his section, he wishe to be informed as to the correctness of this state ment. Any information through the " Cultivator' will be gladly received. Roxburt. Feb. 17,1855. Yours, T. A.

In-and in, as applied to breeding, is an arbitrar term, but perhaps all agree that it means couplini animals of some degree of affinity. It is not ver clear what is to be understood by Black Haw] stock having been bred in-and-in. The progeny 0 Black Hawk have not^ been bred together in bu very few instances, and" those few have occurrei mostly within a year or two. The statement allc ded to could not, therefore, apply to this course 0 breeding, and there is but one other way in whicl what any one pretends to call in-and-in breedin; could take place, and that is by coupling mares c Black Hawk's get with him. The first instance i: which this lias been done, was with a mare ownei by S. W. Jewett, of Weybridge, Vt. Theoffsprin, of this union, of course three-fourths Black Hawfc is a mare, coming five years old, of good siz< with ample bone and muscle, and remarkable fo speed in trotting. Her weight at two and a ha] years old, was 910 lbs. ! So much in reference t her size having been lessened by the way in whic' she was bred. She is now in foal by Black Hawi which will make the issue seven-eighths of hi blood. The next season after this mare was pre duced, her dam brought another foal by Blac Hawk. That was a colt, and he is now in Wester New York. These two are all that have been bre in this way, except one foal in 1853, and four i 1854. It is evident that the two first mentione> are the only animals of sufficient age to justify foi ming an opinion in regard to their size or othe properties, and though they certainly exhibit n deficiences, it would not be right, whatever the might have been, to judge the whole family by on or two specimens. We have seen several of th three-quarter blood yearlings, which are ver promising.

As to Black Hawk stock wanting " height," the have generally as much ( fifteen and fifteen and half hands) as most of the horses which have bee highly distinguished, either as roadsters, fast trol ters, or racers at long distances, and it might b asked, what would be the utility of more 1

Notes by the Editor.

We transfer the communications above to th " Spirit of the Times," in the first place to oblig the writers, secondly to reiterate the expression c our opinion (as expressed in our issue of Oct. 14t last,) that the Black Hawk stock of horses in Vei montare " under-sized" from having been so Ion " bred in-and-in." The same was the case wit the Morgan stock. It is the fashion in New Eng land to measure horses by their weight —to com pare a " chunk" to a Bucephalus ! Has there bee bred a pair of Black Hawk carriage horses in al New England, sixteen hands high 1 Is not the 01 dinary height fifteen hands or thereabouts 1 The; have a fine turn of speed, great endurance, an good tempers, but lack height, length and style-As superb carriage horses, they are quite out c the question. The elegant turn-outs of our prir

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

185

cipal cities are purchased by dealers from Western New Fork, Illinois, Kentucky, and Missouri. With carriages almost as heavy as an omnibus, fine size is required, with beauty, spirit, and action.

The Black Hawks are game and gay little fellows to ride or drive, but fashionable people who keep carriages—especially in the Atlantic cities— require horses that, as the dealers express it, " can look over a two-storied house !"' For such, the most extravagant prices, are paid, and there is a ready sale. There are two pairs in this city which cost S'2,800 to our knowledge, and a third for which $3,000 has been refused. There are probablv more than one hundred nairs which cost from SL200 to $1,500.

Is it not the fact that the Black Hawks have I generally as much height (fifteen or fifteen and a half hands,) as most of the horses which have been highly distinguished either as roadsters, fast trotters, or racers at long distances 1" No such thing! The Black Hawks are not "generally"' anywhere near "fifteen and a half hands." Moreover, the best horses which have appeared on the Turf. in this country, whether as racers, trotters, or roadsters, have had height and length; with few exceptions. We could name hundreds, but Peytbna (nearly 17 hands), Grey Eagle, Monarch, Lecomte, Lexington and Paul Pry, Dutchman. Trustee(trot-ters,) will suffice.

" There appears to be no end to the Black Hawk and Morgan Stallions in New England; the mania for them has only been equalled by the Hen Fever. It is high time the breeders there should turn their attention to the subject seriously. By breeding ony large roomy mares to the Black Hawks the present evil may be partially obliterated; but, gentlemen, you want a nciv strain of blood. I See what the importation of a few stallions from England has effected in this ceuntry within twenty years! Why, the Turf has been completely revolutionized. The great "cracks" in the times of Eclipse and Henry, and for ten years afterwards, could hardly save their distance with the horses of the present day. The descendants of Leviathan, Glencoe. Margrave, Trustee, Sovereign, and other popular imported stallions, have improved our stock to an almost incredible extent. We have always, and very naturally, been fond of the Morgans and the Black Hawks, but we deem it our duty to express our opinion that the stock has been so long "bred in and in," that a remote cross is absolutely necessary to give height, substance and action. More than every thing, we want size combined with beauty for splendid carriage horses. Look at the horses employed by Adams & Co. in their Express wagons. Most of them came from Vermont, but they are not Mor-gaas. Why one of the little Black Hawks would only be "the big dog under the wagon."

and Tennessee there is a large deficiency. The falling off in number is 349,403 head—and in number and pounds equal to 463,066 head—being about 20 per cent. With reference to the product of lard, we have found it impossible to arrive at any satisfactory conclusion. The yield of leaf lard is unquestionably less than last year, by at least five pounds to the hog ; but in many cases sides were rendered into lard to a considerable extent ; and thus the deficiency in the former will be made up to some extent; still, taking the entire West, the. average yield per hog, of all kinds, must be less than that of last year."

We omit the figures in detail, but give the following recapitulation as all that is really necessary to publish at this point :

States. 1853-4. 1854-5.

POP.K TRADE OF 1854-5.

The Cincinnati Price Current on the 7th March last, published a partial statement of the number of hogs packed in the West during the season of 1854—5, expecting to be able in a week or two

i .■ fcer to present a full exhibit. It how presents a pretty full statement, embracing all the principal points, but first remarks : "It will be seen that the Western States show an increase in 'lie aggregate, while in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky

Ohio 718,650

Tennessee 50,880

Indiana 611,820

Kentucky 502,925

Iowa 48,060

Illinois 344,047

Missouri 130,025

Wisconsin 50,900

Detroit, (Mich.).... 7,500

Buffalo, N. Y 8,000

571,165 6,000 505,830 337,997 102,131 413,946 128,261

39,272 5,000

15 000

Grand Totals.

2,473,807 2,124,404 2,124,404

Deficiency in number 349,403 In Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee and Indiana hogs fell considerably short in weight. This deficiency we estimated, in publishing a partial statement a few weeks since, at 8 per cent. This is rather a low, but upon the whole, a fair estimate. The total number of hogs packed in those States, as above, is 1,420,794 ; and 8 per cent, deficiency on this number is 113,663. Adding this to the decrease in number, the total falling off is 463,066, as follows :

Number 349,403

Decrease in weight equal to 113,663

Total Deficiency 463,066

In Iowa, Illinois, Missouri and Wisconsin, the hogs averaged about the same as last year. In some portions there was a falling off, but in others an increase, thus bringing up the average.

In our statement made at the close of the season of 1853-4, we estimated the average weight of hogs packed in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee at 208 lbs. Deducting 8 per cent, from this, the average for the past season would be 192A lbs. In other States the average last year was 218 lbs, and this year we estimate it at the same. Taking these figures as the average, the crop, reduced to lbs, compares as follows :

1853-4. 1854-5. Ohio. Kentucky, Indiana

and Tennessee 391,956,200 273,502,845

Other States 128,515,796 153,486,980

Total 520,445,996 426,989,825

Showing a deficiency of 103,457,171 lbs., being a trifle over 20 per cent. The increase in pounds last year over- the preceding year's crop was 22 J _r per cent. The product of this season is, therefore, 20 per cent, less than that of 1853-4, and 1\ per cent, greater than that of 1852-3.

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

VIRGINIA STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.

STATEMENT Exhibiting the financial condition of the Virginia State Agricultural Society on the 1st day of March, 1855, " stating generally the sources from which all funds have been derived, and particularly what portion belongs to the Permanent Fund and what portion to the Contingent Fund of the Society" prepared and published in accordance with a resolution adopted by the Executive Committee, With November, 1854 :

I)h.

C&SH.

Contingent Permanent Fund. Fund.

To cash balance in Treasury Old Society, paid over by L. D. Crenshaw to Gen. B. Peyton, lcte Treasurer.

To cash received from B. Peyton, on account annual members

To cash received from B. Peyton on account of 49 life members

To cash received from Gen'l W. H. Richardson, General Agent:

On account of 64 life members

On account annual members.. 2,876 00

Less commissions on the whole amount ■ 1,539 00

To cash received from Wm. H. Richardson, Jr :

On account of life members

On account of 935 new annual members.. 1,870 00

On account of old me rubers 16 00

On account of other sources 56 00

Less commissions on the whole amount-

1,942 00 545 50

To cash received from Prank: G. Ruffin:

On account of life members

On account annual members.

To cash received from Chas. B. Williams:

On account of 31 life members 620 00

On account of donation Edmond, Davenport & Co. 40 00

On account of donation new Virginia Steamboat Co. 25 00

On account annual members.. 3,750 00

On account balance J. Ravenscroft Jones' county pledge 62 00

On account of donation Mad Sontag • • ■ LOO 00

On account of gate fees, first exhibition. 1,947 17

On account of rent of booths, second exhibition 200 00

To cash received from John A. Graves, Amelia county:

On account of 8 life members

On account of 1 annual member, $2, less commissions 20c.

To cash received from Alex. & Jas. M. Donnan, Petersburg:

On account of 222 annual members 222 00

Less commissions 22 30

To cash received from Ed. D. Eacho, Richmond:

On account annual members. • 1,216 00

On account of badges sold 4 25

Less commissions-

1,220 25 122 00

To cash received from J. T. Childrey :

On account annual members.

Less commissions,

■ 57 00 . 5 70

To casii received from Sheriff of Brunswick :

On account annual members

Less commissions

67 00 • 6 70

To cik1i received from Sheriff of Nottoway:

On account annual members $10 less commissions $1 ■ • To cash received from Edmund Ruftin, late Commissioner:

On account of life members

On account of Wm. Carter's donation

•360 00 •200 00

To cash eived from city of Richmond (certificate of stock) to pay expenses of polic &c , . econd exhibition :

To ca li received in office of the Society:

On account of be members.. 22,860 00

On unl of contributii ns, donations and county pledges. 15,294 90

$ 139 50 1,052 00

1,387 00

1,396 50

121 00

6,059 17 1 80

199 70

1,098 25

51 30

60 30 9 00

1,000 00

12,575 52 42,159 90

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

187

Contingent'! Permanent Fund. Fund.

Amouats brought forward

To cash received in office of the Society:

On account annual members. $5,622 00

On account badges sold 693 95

On account of entrance fees, 2d exhibition. 3,439 75

On account of entrance on tobacco W. Crampton 3 00

On account interest, less difference in premium on Stocks, and interest paid-- •• 1,878 88

On account over payment by Gen. B. Peyton 1 25

On account over payment by Gen. W. H. Richardson 1 00

Ce.

Cash.

By cash paid on account premiums, first exhibition (1853)- ■ By cash paid on account premiums, 2d exhibition, (1854).

By cash paid expenses, 1354 ■■ By cash paid expenses, 1955-

By eash paid to balance •

3,047 00 3,165 00

3,853 37 5,876 28

12,575 52

11,139 8!

42,159 90

$23,665 35 $42,159 90

6,212 00

9,729 65 7,723 70

$23,665 35

42,159 90

$42,159 90

In city of Richmond stocks at par, invested in the corporate name of the Society !

Loan on city stock •

Balance in hands of Treasurer

Balance to credit of Society-

45,250 00

4,500 00

133 60

>$49,883 60

The act of incorporation of the Society is as follows:

An act to incorporate the Virginia State Agricultural Society, Dec. 13, 1853.

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly, That the Virginia State Agricultural Society is hereby constituted a body politic and corporate, by the name and style of the "Virginia State Agricultural Society," with a capital of not less than five thousand nor more than two hundred thousand dollars, and with the right to hold lands not exceeding one thousand acres.

2. The said Company shall be subject to the provisions of chapters fifty-six and fifty-seven of the Code of Virginia, as far as the same may be applicable.

3. This act shall be in force from its passage, and shall be subject to any alteration, amendment or modification at the pleasure of the General Assembly.

ADDENDUM TO THE STATEMENT OP THE FINANCIAL CONDITION OP THE VIRGINIA STATE

AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.

-Statement of amounts received by Wm. H. Richarpson, as General Agent of the Virginia State Agricultural Society in 1853, viz :

From 1470 new members at two dollars each -._..__ 2,940 00

From old members, annual subscriptions, and from new members (not life) who have paid more than two dollars: viz:

Dr. M.L. Anderson, Albemarle, (old) ....... j

H. Baldwin, Richmond, (old) ........ j

Bondurant and Elliott, (subscription) -_---__g

Benjamin Harrison, Prince George, (new member) ---.-. 4

Randolph Harrison, Cumberland, (new member) 4

E. B. Jones, Brunswick, (old) ....... _ 1

Keen, Chiles & Baldwin, Richmond, (subscription) - 5

Andrew Keysc-r, Page, (new member) ----- 3

Lttdlam & Watson, Richmond, (subscription) ------ 5

Frankfin Minor. Albemarle, (old) .---...]

Miner, Albemarle, (old) -.--....]

.Patterson & Cooper, Petersburg, (subscription) ----- 4

Wm. C. Rives, Albemarle, (subscription) ----- 5

K. B. Spence, Richmond, (subscription) ---- 5

I i 1. ley & B;yant, Richmond, (subscription) .... 4

Taylor, (old, withdraws) ----- j

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

LIFE MEMBERS.

Jos R. Anderson, Richmond, Adie & Gray, Richmond, Win. Allen, Surry, -

Wm. J. Barksdale, Amelia, J. P. Ballard, Richmond, (had paid two dollars,) Breeden & Fox, Richmond, Boyd, Edmond & Davenport, Richmond, Robert B. Boiling, Petersburg, Robert Beverly, Fauquier, Nathaniel Burwell, Clarke, Geo. H Burwell, Clarke, Thos. A. Ball, Jr, Fredericksburg, Richard H. Cunningham, Culpepper, Jos. H. Crenshaw, Richmond, Wm. W. Crump, Richmond, Dr. C. C. Cocke, Fluvanna, W. G. Cazenove, Alexandria, Dr. Wm. C«le, Prince George, Jos. B. Cocke, Prince George, Jas. Dunlop, Richmond, -

Ro. J. Dunn, Petersburg, [-

David Dunlop, Petersburg, Henry Dangerfield, Alexandria, William Fowle, Alexandria, James Green, Alexandra, Wm. B. Harrison, Prince George,

Dr John B. Harvie, Powhatan, (had paid two dollars,) Edward H. Herbert, Princess Anne, Kent, Payne & Kent, Richmond, Wm. H. Macfarland, Richmond, Mitchell & Tyler, Richmond, Gustavus A. Myers, Richmond, Nicholas Mills, Richmond, Jno. C. Major, Culpeper, Hugh M. Nelson, Clarke, Thos. R Price, Richmond,

C. W. Purcell, Richmond,

Wm. Palmer, Richmond, (had paid two dollars,)

Robt. Powel Page, (a youth,) Clarke,

O. N. Pemberton, Culpeper,

Thos. D. Quarles, Richmond,

Jos. W. Randolph, Richmond,

Philip Rham, Richmond,

E. Ruffin, Jr., Prince George,

Frank G. Ruffin, Albemarle, (had paid three dollars,)

Thos. J. Randolph, Albemarle, (had paid three dollars,)

Judge Jno Robertson, Richmond,

Wm.B. Randolph, Henrico,

J. Milderberger Smilh, (American Hotel,) Richmond,

Gen. E. P. Scott, Greensville,

Jno A. Seldon, Charles City,

John Stuart, Henrico,

Jas. Thomas, Jr. Richmond, • -

Geo. W. Turner, Jefferson,

Warwick & Barksdale, Richmond,

A. S. Wooldridge, Chesterfield,

D. Ward & Co, Columbian Hotel, Richmond, -Jno. P. Willcox, Prince Geerge,

Dr. Wm. N. Wellford, Culpeper,

Commission to Agent for the first 1000 members, 1 dollar ead» Commission on balance 2,198—25 per cent-

Balance,

Paid as follows : To B. Peyton, Treasurer, To Wm. G. Crenshaw, Treasurer,

20

20

20

20

18

20

00

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20 18 20 20 20 20 20 20

20 20 20 20 18 20 20 20 20 20 20 17 17 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20

1,000 00 549 50

1,258 08 4,198 00

1,649 50

2,548 59

The above is the rate of commission proposed to Gen Richardso Committee. ,

id subsequently confirmed by the Executive PHILIP ST GEO COCKE. GH. B WILLIAMS.

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

189

THE JOINT WORM.

New Market, Caroline Co. • April 13th, 1855. To the Editor of the Southern Planter:

Dear Sir —As the season of joint worm and its ravages approaches, suffer me to invite your attention to a few reflections on the extermination of this pest, partly the result of my own observations. I have examined with some care and diligence the 1 habits of this insect, since its first appearance afforded me an opportunity of studying its history and instincts, with the hope that a remedy might be discovered or plan devised which would afford a prospect of protection against what is inconceivably the worst enemy the wheat crop has ever had to contend against. That the crop will be entirely destroyed if the increase of this pest is in proportion to its past reproduction, no one can doubt who will look with a little attention into the matter. Two years ago it made its appearance in this neighborhood for the first time, and it will be within the bounds of reason to assert that the increase in that time is a million-fold ; and judging from the innumerable almost developed flies now to be found in the stubble where it has not been burnt or ploughed in, the ratio of increase will be kept up. It strikes me forcibly, that in view of the present and prospective value of the wheat crop, particularly to Lower Virginia, where we cannot make up the loss by grazing, as our lands are not adapted to grass, that this subject of joint worm and its remedy is one of paramount importance. I do not presumptuously suppose that I can contribute aught on this subject which will be new to you, nor do I wish to accomplish more than toexcite your wonted energy and endeavor, if you think with me, to convince the farmers of Virginia, all of whom must act in concert, that it is extremely probable, at the least, that this terrible enemy of our prosperity can be destroyed, if with one accord they will it. Can the joint worm, (which by the way is not the proper name, as it is never found in the joint,) be destroyed sooner •than the appointed time when nature will accomplish that desideratum, either by the production of some other insect or parasite at war with it, or by some inscrutable process which she will never divulge, even to the keenest observation 1 The solu-^tion of this question involves another: Has this rinsect special habits and instincts 1 Does it breed exclusively in the wheat or cereal family 1 Mr. Kowiand, of Albemarle, who has studied the habits of this insect very closely, with care and attention, and with natural fitness for such research, assured me, in a conversation I had with him, that he had failed to find the little worm, the initial state of the fly, in any of the grasses, and that he believed it was to be found nowhe-j in the vegetable world, except in the cere^ ' .amily. My own observation and research^ ead me to the same conclusion, which anai- y likewise strengthens. Certain insects have habits and instincts as characteristic as we note among the members of the Higher creation, and by which we always know their,. They form the abode of their young, des-''■■ pre erve and perpetuate the species, in

Obedience to a law of nature which they cannot ■ tnd their instincts, obeying this law, drive

them to certain plants which supply the proper : - on for their development. Any one who will take the trouble to examine, will find that the

worm, from which the fly, the perfect form of the destroyer, is evolved, always lodges through the winter in a cell invariably formed in the same part of the wheat plant. Pull up an old plant in a last year's stubble field, where the vast reproduction is now silently going on, and you may almost tell by the touch the number of larvag or little worms it contains. Each cell or nodule slightly projects with one worm in it, and lies in close contact with or by the side of, another, with distinct septa betwixt them, two worms never being found in one cell. The cells without exception are found in the foot stalk or petiole of the blade, between the point where it falls off from the straw and its insertion around the margin of the joint. The presence of these cells on the straw impeding the circulation, prevents the evolution and filling of the head, when the plant is not advanced to that state which our farmers call " in the boot," ard when advanced to that stage, as the injury is - o-nerally more on one side than on the other, an ?x-crescence is the result, and a bending down marks the presence of the enemy. The early attack produces what we term " sedging." Betwixt the outer and inner cuticle of the petiole or sheath of the blade is a pulpy cellular substance, very apparent in the corresponding part of the blade of the Indian corn, and precisely similar in structure in the wheat—which a common lens will display. In this cellular substance the fly always deposits its eggs, and the cells develope here by what .appears to be a separation of the inner "and outer cuticle of the said petiole which attaches the blade to the straw.

These minute details may appear trivial and of no practical importance; but I respectfully submit that they are by no means useless or contemptible in the settlement of the question upon which the destruction of joint worm hinges : that is, whether or not it is peculiar to wheat, oats or rye. Observation fails frequently from the minuteness of the object; and here every naturalist knows analogy steps in oftentimes and supplies the proof, otherwise imperfect. I have heard that the fly came out of broom sedge, from the woods, and from many other sources, but have failed to find any evidence of a positive character that this famine-producing development is going on in any grass or weed which I have inspected—and I have looked with great interest for such evidence. Admit that from the minuteness of the object sought it may escape the closest scrutiny, still, in the absence of one single unmistakeable worm lodged in other plants or weeds or grasses (which has not been found,) analogy and the laws of nature assert, that as certain physical traits characterize the reproduction of this fly, it must of necessity come from where the proper conditions of its _ well-being and reproduction are supplied; which we have seen, as to locality and structure' are so uniform. Many believe that the supply comes from woods, &c, from the fact that the edges of fields are most injured. This may be accounted for in two ways: the fly evidently seeks the shade, for it is almost always, while depositing its eggs, found under the blade", to one side; and hence the deformity in some cases. Or it may be driven by winds against fences, and stopped by woods which border fields, from whence it gets -back to its work of mischief. These, however, are mere suggestions, and nothing more. Some other cause may determine its work to the margins

190

THE SOUTHEKN PLANTElt.

of fields; but it is almost certain, however, that it has only the one source which I have indicated.

Well now, it will be asked, how educe the remedy, the all-important practice, from what you will perhaps consider theory in great part 1 I answer, that in my opinion the establishment of the one fact, that joint fly invariably and of necessity comes from the same source, and that the stubble or old straw, the remedy is available. Let every wheat-growing farmer change his system, if it be necessary, for a few years, and put the wheat land of the year before in corn, or at all events let it be ploughed soon enough for the cells containing the worm to rot, when they must of necessity perish. All straw should be passed through the farm pen, hauled out and ploughed in by the 15th of April, the stack yard raked, and residuary straw burnt, relying even on leaves for bedding for horses. With the present value of wheat, which must rule high while the war in Europe lasts, is it not worth the expense (if there be any) and pains of the farmer to adopt these precautions for a few years 1 When the fields can be burnt in very dry weather, so as to destroy all the diseased stubble, it would doubtless be equally as effective ; but this cannot be done; for where there is least cover generally there is most joint worm, and this plan cannot therefore be effectual, for there are always spots which will not burn. The plough in time is the remedy. The farmers in my neighborhood propose to change their system for this object; but to be effectual it must be universal. I repeat earnestly that the remedy is practicable, and in most cases the plan will give little additional labor, and will not be more exhausting. Those who have time and teams may fallow the stubble, as I have done this spring, and sow peas for another crop of wheat the following fall. Several systems might be indicated by which little additional labor will be entailed and the land improved, which your practice will suggest. To cause such a plan as I propose to be generally adopted would perhaps require some action on the part of the Agricultural Society of the State, the Executive Committee of which might induce committees in the different counties to urge the farmers of their counties t® act with one accord in this all-important matter. Let the effort be made, at all events. To make the ploughing more effectual, a roller should precede the plough to make the stubble flat. I find whenever the diseased straw lies on the ground in a depression, where it is in contact with water for a few days, the worm perishes. I therefore infer that it is not very tenacious of life.

I have given you these reflections for whatever ihey are worth; such thoughts, and more valuable, may have occurred to you, and doubtless have come to you from many intelligent sources. My aspirations reach no further than to urge you, if this skeleton of a plan be deemed of any practical value, to lend your energies to the task and convince the farmers of Virginia, if it can be done, that joint worm shall be destroyed.

Very truly your friend,

Jno. Roy Baylor. May 8th.

P. S.—You will see by the date of the above letter that it was written several weeks ago, and not sent, because I fancied in my daily examinations of these insects that a change was in progress which I thought might be the result of the ."ry, warm weather at that time, likely to rid us of

this nuisance without any agency of man • ' alas ! the three or four days past dispel the f< hope, for they have come upon us in numb far exceeding my gloomiest forebodings. '. worm has passed through the latter stages of development more slowly however this year tl it did last. I saw the fly hatched out in the o air last year the 23d of April: the first evol : this year came out on the 10th of May. W the injury to the crop of wheat from the vast roads of myriads of these flies at a time when plant is enfeebled by the protracted drought, i be, is really disheartening to anticipate.

Sincerely,

J. R. B

SOAP, WHITE LEAD, AND OIL.

It is not so generally well known as it should that a mixture of the above named ingredie makes an excellent coating for gates and fen and outbuildings. The addition of the soap (s soap only is to be used,) considerably diminis the expense of the paint, without in any deg lessening its durability, or the facility of lay it on.

I have a house, the north-west side of which i painted with this mixture nineteen years ago, ; the paint is now much more brilliant than that; upon the other sides at the same time, though latter was of the best quality of white lead ; oil, and four heavy coats applied, while of soap paint I applied but two. Fences pain with this mixture, as well as the roofs of bui ings, for which purpose any coloring matter pigment may be substituted for the lead, end much longer than those painted with pure oil pa The alkalescent qualities of the compound tend indurate the fibres of the wood, and render th impervious to those atmospheric influences wh are the chief cause of decay and rot. The qu tity of soap to be used can be best ascertained experiment; on this point no definite rules can prescribed.—A r . E. Farmer.

Accounts from the northern part of Georgia r resent that many people in that section are with corn or the means to procure any. Horses ; mules are turned out into the wilds to wait grass or starve, so that no plowing can be done, ( planting must be done with the hoe.

RICHMOND MARKETS, MAY" 29, 18«

Apples —Va. $5 per bbl. none in market.

Bacon —City cured, none in market; Western Si (new) held at 10c, new Shoulders, 8|a9c, Hams, lOJa c, Smithfield ho2 round, 10£c. Queen City Hams, 13

Butter— Mountain 24 to 25 cts., Roll 20 to 23 cts; Goshen 25a28 cts., old and inferior, SalOJ cts.

Beeswax —25J-a26§ per lb.

Cotton —9}a9J cts. per lb.

Cotton Yarns —17al8 cts., cash. Cotton Cordal cts., per lb.

Corn —We quote 105all0 cts., per bushel.

Corn Meal —$1 15.

Coffee— Rio lOialli cts, Laguyra llf c, Java c, Mocha 15 c.

Flour —We quote country superfine at S'lHa) extra $12, family $12Jal3. Stock very light and I little arriving.

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER.

191

Flaxseed —We quote at Si 62J per bushel.

Feathers —Live geese 40 cts. per lb.

Fish— Herrings, N. Carolina, clipped, $7 25 per bbl., Halifax, clipped, No. 1, S5J; No. 2, f5. Shad—Last sales Sll; Mackerel, No. 1, 821 per bbl., No. 2, $12 50, No. 3, mall, 35 50a5, No. 4, S4 50a5, medium 5 50a6, large 9 25 i9 50.

Ginseng —30 cts., per lb.

Grass Seeds —Clover 86 75a7 per bushel, Timothy ?4a4 25, Herds' Grass §1 25al 50 per bushel.

Guano —We quote 850 from wharf, S50 50 delivered, "or Peruvian, Mexican Guano S30aS'35.

Gunpowder —Dupont's and Hazard's Sportin?, P, PP, ind FFF, S4i, Blasting, S2,75aS3 per keg.

Hoop Poles —We quote at 87 per thousand.

Hides —Slaughtered 6} cents per lb., green weight; calf ;kins, green, Si. No Spanish Hides in market.

Hat —Sales from store 81 50.

Iron and Nails— Pig Iron, S32aS40, Swedes 8107 50, English refined and Tredegar 895, Common English 30, American country 835. Cut Nails 4a4Jc.

Liquors —Brandy, Otard, Dupuy & Co. $3a5 per gal.; V. Seijnette, 82 25aS4; Sazerac, 83 25a 84 50; Hennessey, S3 95aS5; Peach, scarce at SlaSl 25; Virginia Apple, 60c. 85c; do. o'd, 75c.a8l 50; Northern do, 55a75c; Imitation, ; 5a47ic. Rum, New England, 45c. Gin, Holland, 8la Si 50; American 45 cts.

Lead— Pig 6Aa6jc, cash and time.

Lard —Prime Lard, inbbls. 11 allic, in kegs, llalljc. a pails, 13c.

Leather —Good stamp 20a22c, per lb., damaged 18c, loor 15al~c, upper leather 81 50aS3, as in size, weight .nd quality, the latter price only for superior heavy sides, ikirting and harness Leather is more plenty with less lemand. We quote 20 to 29c, as extremes, principally ales 22a26c.

Lime —81 50 in store, 81 37J from vessel.

Molasses —New Orieans 30a33c per gallon. Cuba, »7a28. Porto Rico, 33a35.

Oats —Stock very light—sales at 65a66cts. per bush.

Offal —Bran, 27 Jc per bushel; shorts, 50c; brown stuff', iOc. shipstuff", 100c.

Potatoes —We quote 81 25 per bushel.

Plaster —Lump sells at 85 25 on the wharf, ground !9 per ton, calcined 82 50 per bbl.

Rye— 81 30 per bushel.

Rice —New 6|a7 cts. per pound.

Salt —Liverpool fine 81 60 per sack from wharf.

Sugars —Pair to strictly prime New Orleans 5a6j cts., toffee Sugar 7|a8f, refined loaf 9falO}, crushed and lowdered 8Ja9§c.

Shot —7a7£ cts. per lb.

Teas —Imperial and Gunpowder 55ca8l 20.

Tobacco —The inspections of Tobacco continue large; l*o the receipts. We notice in the past week some drv hipping Tobacco which sold atSlO,50al2,87i ; all Tobacco £ good quality and in dry order, is a shade higher. We uote inferior Lugs at 84,75a5,2o; good, 85,50a6,75a7. n/erior Leaf S7,50a8,50; good S9al0; fine stemming >ll,50al2,50; fine manufacturing 8l2,50al8,50.

Wheat— A lot comes in occasionally, which brings !2 40aS2 55 per bushel.

Wikes Port, Burgundy, gla2,50,Tort Juice S2,50a

Madeira, Sicily, 45a8l,75, old Madeira, 82,50a4, Sherry, 'ermartin, Buff Gordon and Amontilado, 82a4,50.

Wood— Oak 83 50 per cord, $2a2 25 for Pine, retail 4 50 for Oak, $3a3 25 for Pine.

Wool. —The following quotations are for sales of about 0,000 lbs., made at Crenshaw & Co.'s Wool Depot in Ms city, all of the wool having been previously graded ccordin^ to quality and condition : Extra fleece Saxony nd Merino, 53c; No 1 do. do., 50; No. 2 do. part blood, 06.; No. 3 do. do., 35c; No. 4 do. do., 33c'.; No. 5 do. ative, 30c Tub washed, No. 3, 29c; do., No. 2, 30c; lo., No. 1, 32c. Unwashed 20 to 25 per cent, discount as i condition.

Beep— 85 50.aG.33i- per cv.t. gross, which isSllal.3 net.

Hoor-:—87J- per hundred, supply moderate.

Sheep —Mutton :-;<;l!.; f-,r 83a7 a piece for ordinary and tpeiiot Sheep, Lamb) . : 50 I ■ "Oeach.

Stocks —Va. 6 per cents, (34 years) no sales; Va. 6 per cents (25 years) $99; State Coupons $97; Bonds guaranteed by the State, $96; Richmond City Bonds, (Si-years) 897; Va.Bank stock 75 ; Farmer's Bank stock 106; Exchange Bank stock 810G; Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroatt stock, 95 dol.; Va. Central Rait Road stock 35 dol.; Richmond and Petersburg Rail Road stock 45 dol.; Richmond and Danville Rail Road stock, 50 dol.; James River and Kanawha stock 13 dol.

PAYMENTS TO THE SOUTHERN PLANTER,

To the 29/A of May, 1855.

All persons who have made payments early enough to be entered, and whose names do not appear in the following receipt list, are requested to give immediate notice of the omission, in order that the correction may be made in the next issue:

R. Hawes to July 185'5, F. Moden to July 1856,

F. D. Wheelwright to January 1856, Ro. H. Dudley to January 1856, E. Jacob to January 1856, Col. T. Bronaugh to January 1855, Mrs. Susan J. Jones to April 1856, Edmond, Davenport & Co. to January 1855, John F. Wren to January 1856, H. O. Gill to January 1856, C. Dillard to January 1858, Dr. Geo. Field to January 1856, Samuel Woods to July 1855, W. A. Jones to January 1856, P. Quarles to January 1856, N. H. Turner, jr., to May 1856, Dr. Thos. Latand to January 1856. Nat. Peggott to January 1856, Dr. S. F. Christian to January 1855, E. S. Russell to January 1856, E. Cunningham to January 1856. J. A. Ferguson to January 1856,

B. Boyken to January 1856,

G. Watt to January 1856, J. T. Van Dueson to January 1856, W. Ballard Preston to January 1856, Ro. Tinsley to January 1857, T. W. Bradley to May 1855, G. Yeatt to March 1855, W. B. Slaughter to June 1856. A. Ellis to April 1855, E. Stabler to January 1856. W. Landrum to January 1856, R. H. Gilliam to September 1855, R. Jones to January 1856.

C. J. Merriwether to May 1856, Capt. John T. Coffee to January 1856, P. W. Farmer to January 1857, R. E. Meade to January 1856, T. C. Baytop to January 1856, Thos. L. Trower to January 1856, J. East to May 1856, ~j G. H. Adair to May 1856, A. D. Upshur to May 1856, Dr. A. W. Downing to January 1856, A. G. .ishby to January 1856, ' Dr. J. B. Floyd to January 1856, J

S. Melvin to .January 1856. 1 00

0. A. Scott to July 1856, 2 00

H. A. Clark to April 1855, i 00

J. F. Rice to January 1856. 1 00

J. Cannon to January 1856, l 00

T. Coles to January 1856, 1 00

I \ 5 oo