THE 



lefccia to sericulture, l^cr.tfculturc, aum tin household arts. 



Agriculture ia the nursing mother of the Arts.' 
Xenophcii, 



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



FRANK: G. RLFFIN, Editor and Proprietor. 



T. BAILIE, Publisher. 



a Vol. XY. 



EICHMOND, AUGUST, 1S55 



No. 8. 



COMPACTING SOILS. 

The communication beiow, from an Ex-Farmer, 
introduced by the accompanying letter of our friend 
6. C. Gilmer, is an exceedingly interesting one. 
We would be glad to know the author and to hear 
from him again. — [Ed. So. Pl. 

Albemarle, July 6th, 1855. 
F. G. Euffin, Esq. 

My Dear. Sir : Enclosed I send you an 
article from an unknown friend of Berkely 
county, in answer to an article of mine, 
addressed to you. in the May number of 
the Planter. I esteem it a good piece, 
from which I think I have derived, much 
benefit, and as the time is now rapidly 
approaching for seeding meadows, .1 have 
thought it my duty to present it, through you, 
to my brethren of the plough, that they 
too may be likewise benefitted. I think it 
would be far better if farmers would address 
each other over their own names and through 
your paper. I have no idea who the author 
is. I have no other means of thanking him for 
his kindness but through your paper, which I 
now do, with a most sincere wish that he will 
often favor us with such good articles upon 
all the various branches of agriculture. I 
have much to write to you of my experiments 
this year, all of which, so far, have succeeded 
up to my expectations. The one of guano, 
with wheat and lime upon the same wheat, 
was so far beyond my expectations that I had 
to call in my old friend fresh from the wheat 
land of Loudoun, to see it with his own eyes, 
that he might testify to its marked effect. I 
was so thorougly satisfied of its effects that I 
shall try no farther experiments with if, but 
this fall shall seed my entire crop in the same 
palmer. Having kept notes as to time and 
maimer ol seeding, of which I will write you 
for the August number or perhaps not earlier 
than for the September number, aa that 
will be in time, and this is a busy season with 
Vo>,. XV.—? 



us who have to hold the plough or drive. 
With best wishes for your success, very truly 
yours, G. C. Gilmer. 

All of my crop of wheat was seeded with 
guano, in the same manner and quantity ; one 
half was limed, which half was the very best 
crop I have ever made. * G. C. G. 



Maetinsburg, Berkeley, June, 1355, 
Geo. C. Gilmer, Esq. 

Dear Sir : In the May number of the 
Southern Planter I notice an article headed, 
" A failure in a stand of grass and a reason 
for it asked." As the Editor of the Planter 
says, " he does not think the history of your 
case is given with sufficient minuteness for 
him to give an opinion," I have concluded to 
give you some ®f my crude notions in ref- 
erence to it, and of agriculture, which I have 
acquired by many years of observation and 
experience in farming. 

It has been my .fate to cultivate, for the 
most of my mansion farm, a purely argillaceous 
soil, which I regard as the most difficult of all 
soils to cultivate successfully, as it is rarely 
more than two or three days at a "time in 
proper condition for the plough and harrow. 

While I am an advocate for moderately deep 
ploughing, where the subsoil is of such charac- 
ter when thrown up as to improve the surface 
soil, yet unless deep ploughing is succeeded by 
heavy and drenching rains, to dissolve the clods 
and condense the ground again into its almost 
natural condition, before the grain sown upon 
it vegetates, it will prove a disadvantage to the 
crop, and more especially with plants which 
derive their nourishment from near the surface, 
such as timothy, turnips, &c, with fine fib- 
rous roots. I will give you some illustrations 
of the effect of pulverizing and condensing 
the soil : observe where the horses in the 
plough are turned round upon the ploughed 
ground in finishing a land : it becomes pulve- 



226 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER; 



rized and condensed, and you invariably 
see the wheat and corn upon those spots first 
up, grow off rapidly and most productive, and 
have you not observed that where seeds acci- 
dentally fall in the small walks, made iu the 
beds in gardens, that they are up sooner than 
those planted in the loose,- mellow soil of the 
bed ? It was my practice, in farming, to 
require the coverer of the corn to put but 
little earth upon it (mind you, an argillaceous 
soil) and to tread upon the hill as he passed 
to the next, to condense the earth upon it. Do 
you ask the reason ? Unless done so the corn 
would not vegetate and come up until the hill 
became condensed by a heavy rain. In my 
first year's essay in farming my corn was from 
three to four weeks in coming up in conse- 
quence of being covered too deeply and want 
of condensing rain ; this evil does not exist in 
light, loamy soils. 

I will give you a history .of several occur- 
rences in my county. My neighbor, Mr. C, 
who is an experimental farmer, conceived the 
idea that if great depth of pulverized soil was 
given to corn for the roots to penetrate hori- 
zontally and at pleasure, that an extra yield 
might be grown upon almost any soil ; and by 
way of testing his theory he caused a 
small field to be ploughed up, extra deep ; 
afterward being well pulverized with the har- 
row, he had two furrows thrown together form- 
ing a ridge of a foot or more, in width at top, 
upon which the corn was planted, there being 
15 to 18 inches of mellow pulverized soil 
beneath for the corn roots to flourish in, as he 
said. What do you suppose to be the result ? 
first, it was an extra long time in coming up ; 
when up it was a yellow, sickly looking speci- 
men of vegetation ; the usual cultivation was 
given it ; the stock never attained more than 
three or four feet in height, had a mere shoot 
•but was minus the nubbin, and did not yield 
one pec'k to the acre. 

Upon the land, some years thereafter, the 
same gentleman has grown sixty bushels to 
the acre under a different kind of cultivation, 
he now takes his oldest, stiff, soddy, grass 
fields, turns over the sod flat with a three 
horse plough and with a stick made in the form 
of an axe helve (but much larger) he wauses a 
small opening to be made between the furrow 
slices every fourth row, drops his corn in 
the opening thus made, upon the solid 
earth, beneath the cut of the plough and kicks 
a little loose earth over the opening with the 
foot. The corn comes up vigourously, groM's 
off, and as the vegetable matter contained 
in the sod decomposes, the lateral roots of the 
<*orn are nourished, kept moist and is not afieof- 



ted by drouth, and an abundant yield of corn is 
invariably the result. He then puts the same 
field in corn again the succeeding year without 
breaking up ; he simply checkers it in the inter- 
val of the previous crop, but puts a part of a 
shovel full of manure or compost made of 
cobbs, leaves, chip dirt and every kind of veg- 
etable matter which he can collect, into 
each hill, cultivates with scrapers and never 
fails, even in harvest, if a heavy rain should 
then occur, to stop every hand, and run 
through his com with scrapers and cultivators. 
He argues that the mere surface of the ground 
must be kept in a loose, friable condition, 
an inch or two deep, to prevent the escape of 
moisture by capilliary attraction, which he 
says arises, during every night from the earth, 
even in the driest weather. I give you this? 
as his doctrine. 

On an adjoining farm," belonging to m.f 
neighbor R., which possesses an unusual quan- 
tity of bottom (or low land) for the size 
of the farm, say 70 to 80 acres, a large part 
of it is of calcareous character and had been 
iu grass (God knows how long) and kept up by 
irrigation by its former owner, but was 
ploughed up by my neighbor 11. and cultivated 
in corn and oats for many years. Finally, he 
determined to reset it in timothy, and said 
to me one clay, about the first of August, (it 
was then on oat stubble.) that he intended to 
flush it up and sow it down in rye and timothy, 
and asked my opinion of the plan. I said 
to him, it won't do Captain, for the timothy, 
unless after you break it up and harrow it, you 
turn fifty or sixty head of your bullocks 
(he was an extensive g*razier and feeder of 
cattle) and detail two of your servants to 
drive them over it continually for about two 
weeks to pulverize and condense it before you 
sow the timothy seed, if you want it to grow. 
He ridiculed the idea of ploughing upland and 
then tramping it hard again ; he pursued his 
own judgment in its preparation. The fall 
was somewhat dry and the result was a total 
failure of timothy, and but little rye. A 
similar cause produced the same result in your 
field : deep ploughing, dry fall and want of 
condensation. Whenever the atmospheric air 
can penetrate around and below the root! 
of any plant, it must die. 

1 will now give you a case of my own. Some 
twelve or fifteen years ago on an adjoining 
farm of mine (slate land, the most part of it) 
I had occasion to have made a large number oi 
rails and concluded to clear off a hollow 
(or drain) on the slate part of several acres 
(it abounded with large white oak trees 
and possessed u cold, potter's clay subsoil,) and 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



227 



put it in timothy. It was very stumpy when 
cleared, with many large roots on and near the 
surface of the ground ; so much so, that it was 
impossible to plough it, and I had the harrow 
tried upon it to loosc-n a little of the surface 
soil to receive the timothy seed, but soon found 
it useless to attempt to effect it in that 
way, and I finally determined to sow the seed 
unon the naked, uncultivated earth. It had 
been previously well cleansed of all the chips, 
leaves and brush, &c, well burnt off. It was 
in the month of August ; a rain pretty soon 
succeeded the sowing, the timothy vegetated, 
took root and the succeeding summer was well 
set, but did not grow sufficiently large to 
be mowed. The nest summer it yielded me at 
least 1^ tons to the acre, has been in timothy 
ever since and mowed every year, except when 
the field was in pasture, and at this moment 
presents a heavy timothy sod. 

Now, Sir, I venture the assertion that there 
it not a square foot of soil, in Albemarle county, 
let it be argillaceous, calcareous or silesious, so 
hard that the finest root of timothy, or 
any other vegetable root, will not penetrate it 
when made moist (wet) by the genial rays 
of heaven. And I repeat again, that deep 
or subsoil ploughing is only beneficial when you 
bring up a virgin soil, which is richer 
and will enrich the worn out surface soil 
by being well incorporated with it ; that makes 
your land more productive ; it is not the deep 
plouffhintr for the roots to flourish in that 

r c c 

improves the crop. 

I have at this time on one of my farms 
as pretty a stand of timothy, producing two 
tons to the acre, which was sown on the hard 
earth in the month of August, 1852, in a field 
then in corn, which had not been ploughed 
from June. I have repeatedly seen timothy 
grow off luxuriously in the dust of the wagon 
ruts of the public highway ; ground cannot be 
too hard for timothy to vegetate and grow, if 
it is only clear of all other vegetation. 

Trusting that if this lengthy communication 
should not impart to you any new information 
upon the subject of farming, in which we all 
have a common interest, that you will not con- 
sider it officious, I am respectfully yours, 

An Ex- Farmer. 



WEIGHTS AND MEASURES 

Of Various Farm. Products and. other 'ITiings in 

Various Countries. 

In England and America grain is generally 
rated by the bushel, though it is not the same 
measure ; for here we use the Winchester 
Vushel, which contains 2,150.42 cubic inches; 



there, since 1826, the legal measure is called 
the imperial bushel, which contains 2,218 
cubic inches; so that 32 of their bushels 
are about equal to 33 of ours. 

The following are the commercial weights 
of a bushel of different articles, viz : wheat, 
beans, potatoes and clover seed, 60 pounds; 
corn, rye flax seed and onions, 56 pounds; 
corn, on the cob, weighs 70 pounds ; buck- 
wheat, 52; barley, 48 ; hemp seed, 44; timo- 
thy seed, 45 ; castor beans, 46; oats, 35 ; bran, 
20 ; blue grass seed, 14 ; salt, 50, according to 
one account, but Onondaga salt is 56; (the 
real weight of coarse salt is 85 pounds to 
the bushel) ; dried apples, 24 ; dried peaches, 
33, according to a table lately published in 
numerous papers, but accprding to our experi- 
ence, both are wrong. We have seen thou- 
sands of bushels sold at 22 pounds to the' 
bushel, which will measure about three pecks. 

Heaping Measures. — Potatoes, turnips and 
esculent roots, apples and other fruits, meal 
and bran, and in some States oats, are sold by 
heaping measure, which contains 2,815 cubic 
inches. The size of a Winchester bushel 
measure, is a circular ring with straight sides 
8 inches high and 1 8-J in diameter. A box 
12 inches square, with sides 7J£ inches high, 
will hold half a bushel. 

Comparative Chain Measures.— Besides 
the difference between the Winchester and 
imperial and heaped bushels, before stated r 
there are a dozen or more local bushels. For 
instance, at Abington, Eng., 9 gallons; at 
Penrith, 16 ; at' Carlisle, 24 ; at Chester, 32, 
et cetera. In France, the setier is as 4.427 to 
1.000 compared with the imperial bushel ; that 
is 4.427 bushels. In Holland, the w.udde is 
as 3.157. In Prussia, the scheffel, 1.479. 
In Poland, the korsee, 1.451. In Spain, 
the fanega 1.599; that is, 99 thousandths 
over a bushel and a half. 

Barrel Measures. — Rice, 600 pounds ; 
flour, 196 pounds; powder, 25 pounds; cider 
and other liquids, 30 gallons ; corn, 5 bushels, 
shelled. By this latter measure crops are- 
estimated, and corn boughtand sold throughout 
most of the Southern and Western State?. 
At New Orleans, a barrel of corn is a flour 
barrel full of ears. In some parts of the 
West, it is common to count a hundred ea'f 
for a bushel. 

Ton Weight and Ton Measure. — A to* 1 ; 
of hay or any coarse, bulky article usually 
sold by that measure, is twenty gross hundred;; 
that is, 2,240 pounds ; though in many placaf 
that ridiculous old fashion is being done awayj 
and 2,000 pounds only counted to a ton. 



228 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



A ton of timber, if round, consists of 40 
cubic feet ; if square, 54 feet. A ton of wine 
is 252 gallons. 

A Quarter of Corn, is the fourth of a ton, 
i>r eight imperial bushels. This is an English 
measure, not in use in this country, though 
rery necessary to be known so as to understand 
agricultural reports. So of several of the 
following weights and measures : 

_1 Last, of soap, ashes, herring, &c, 12 
barrels; of corn, 10 quarters ; of gunpowder, 
24 barrels; of lias or feathers, 1,700: of 
wool 12 sacks. 

A Sack of Woof is 22 stone; that is, 14 
pounds to the stone, 308 pounds. 

A Boll of Wool is the same weight. 

A Pack of Wool is 17 stone 2 pounds: 
240 pounds, a pack load for a horse. 

A Tod of Wool is 2 stone; that is 28 
pounds, 6i tods, 1 wey, and 2 weys a sack. 

A Clove of Wool is 7 pounds, or half stone. 
Recollect, a stone is 14 pounds, when talking 
of wool feathers, &c. ; but when applied to 
beef ; fish and other meats, it is only 8 pounds. 

A Truss of Hay, new, 60 pounds, old, 56; 
of straw, 40 pounds. A load, 36 trusses. 

A Firkin of Butter is 56 pounds ; a tub, 
84, 

A Scotch Pint contains 105 cubic inches, 
and is equal to 4 English pints. 

A Farlot of Wheat is 21£ Scotch pints. 

Troy Weight; and Avoirdupois Weight. — 
One hundred and forty-four pounds avoirdu- 
pois, are equal to 175 pounds Troy — 175 
ounces Troy are equal to 192 ounces avoirdu- 
pois. All precious metals are bought and 
sold by Troy weight. 

Tlie Kilo-gramme,' of France, is 1,000 
grammes, and equal to 2 pounds, 2 ounces. 4 
grains, avoirdupois. 

A Chaldron of Coal, is 58H cubic feet, 
generally estimated 36 bushels. A bushel of 
anthracite coal weighs 80 pounds, which 
makes the weight of a chaldron, 2,880. 

WcigMs of a Cubic Foot. — Of sand or 
loose earth, 95 pounds; compact soil, 124; 
strong or clayey soil, 127; pure clay, 135; 
mixture of stones and clay, 160; masonry of 
stone, 205 ; brick 125 ; cast iron. 150: steel, 
469 ; copper, 486 ; lead, 709 ; silver, 654 ; 
*old, 1,203; platina, 1,218; glass. 160; 
water, 62; tallow, 59; cork, 15; oak timber, 
73; mahogany, 66; air, 0.075::. In the 
•vbove fractions are discarded. 

A Bale in Cotton, in Egypt, is $0 pounds ; 
in America, a commercial bale is 100 pounds, 
but is put up in different States, varying from 
280 to 720 pounds. Sea-Isiaud CottsQiu is put 
•ip in sacks of 300 pounds. 



A Bale of Hay, is 300 pounds. 

A Cord of Wood, is 128 solid feet, usually 
put up 8 feet long, 4 feet wide, and 4 high 
In France, a cord of wood is 576 feet. 

A Stack of Wood, is 108 solid feet; 12 
feet long, 3 high, and 3 wide. A skid of 
wood is a round bundle of small sticks, 4 
feet long, girting for a one-notch, 16 inches, 
two-notch, 23 inches ; three-notch, 28 inches; 
four-notch, 33 inches'; five-notch, 38 inches. 
A billet of wood is similar to a skid, being 3 
feet long, 7, 10, and 14 inches round. They 
are sold by the score or hundred. A score is 
20 in number. 

Faggots are bundles of brus'i 3 feet long 
and 2 feet round. A load of faggots is 50 
such bundles. A quintal of wood is 100 
pounds. All fuel should be sold by the 
pound. 

A Perch of Stone is 25 cubic feet, piled, or 
22 in the wall. 

Lime and Sand to a perch of stone. Three 
pecks of lime, and two-thuds of a one-horse 
cart load of sand. 

Weight of Lime. — A bushel of limestone 
weighs 142 pounds; after it is burned, if 
weighed directly from the kiln, 75 pounds ; 
showing that 67 pounds of carbonic acid 
and water have been driven off by fire. This 
bushel of lime will absorb 20 pounds of 
water, gradually applied during several days, 
and will then be in a state of dry powder, 
weighing 93 pounds ; showing that 18 pounds 
of water have been converted into a solid, dry 
substance. 

To Measure a Ton of Hay. — One hundred 
cubic feet of hay in a solid mow or stack, will 
weigh a ton. 

To Measure Cattle to Compute Weight. — 
Ascertain the girth back of the shoulders, and 
the length along the back, from the square of 
of the buttock, to a point even with the point 
of the shoulder blade : say the girth is 6 feet 
\ inches, and the length, 5 feet 3 inches, which, 
multiplied together gives 31 feet. Multiply 
this by 23, the number of pounds allowed 
to the foot, between 5 and 7 feet girth, 
and the result is 713 pounds, for the number 
of pounds of beef in the four quaTters. Girths 
from 7 to 9 feet allow 3 1 pounds to the foot. 
Cattle must be fat and square built to hold out 
weight. 

To Measure Grain i/i Bins, multiply the 
length and width together, and that product 
by the height iu cubic inches, and divide 
by 2. 1 50 and you have the number of bushels. 

To Measure Corn in the Ear, find the 
cubic inches as above, and divide by 2.815, 
the pubjc j#ghej) in a heaped bushel, and take, 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



289 



two-thirds of the quotient for the number 
of bushels of shelled corn. This is upon the 
rale of giving three heaping half bushels of 
ears to make a bushel of grain. Some falls 
short and some overruns this measure. 

Board Measure. — Boards are sold by face 
measure. Multiply the -width in inches of any 
number of pieces of equal length, by the 
inches of the length. Divide by 144, and the 
quotient is the number of feet, for any thick- 
ness under an inch. Every fourth inch 
increase of thickness, adds a fourth to the 
number of feet in the face measure. 

Lcmd Measure. — Every farmer should 
have a rod measure, a light, stiff pole, just 
16} feet long, for measuring land. By a little 
practice he can learn to step just. a rod at five 
steps, which will answer very well for ordinary 
farm work. Ascertain the number of rods in 
width and length of any lot you wish to 
measure, and multiply one into the other, and 
divide by 160, and you have the number 
of acres, as 160 square yards make a square 
acre. If you wish to lay off one acre square, 
measure 13 rods upon each side. This lacks 
one rod of being full measure. 

Government Lojid Measure. — A township 
is 6 miles square, and contains 36 sections, 
23,040 acres. A section, one mile square, 
640 acres, A quarter section, half a mile 
square, 160 acres. As this is 160 rods square, 
a strip one rod wide or every rod in width 
is an acre. A half quarter section, is half 
mile long, north and south, almost universally, 
and a fourth of a mile wide, 80 acres. A 
quarter-quarter section, is one-fourth of a mile 
square, 40 acres, and is the smallest-sized tract, 
except fractions, ever sold by the government. 
The price is $ 1 25 an acre. 

Measure of a Mile. — While engaged in the 
compilation of this valuable article, we 
received the following table from a friend in 
Maine, who, in remarking upon the indisposi 
tion of some persons to take an agricultural 
paper, " because," they say, " it pertains to 
the system of book farming" says some 
object to take Tlie PIovj because " they can't 
afford it."' We are sorry for their poverty, 
but more so for their ignorance, and stupid 
determination to remain in it. This single 
article, which is less than the fiftieth part of 
what we give them for fifty cents, would cost 
any one of them fifty times the price of The 
Plow, in labor, to glean this information from 
fifty dollars' worth of books. Our measure 
of distance is by the standard English mile, 
which ia 5,280 feet in length, or 1 ,760 yards, 
$f 320 rods. 



An English geographical mile, 


to 2,025 yards. 






Ancient Scottish mile. 


1 m 


le 224 yds 


Ancient Irish mile, 


1 ' 


' 480 


German short mile, 


3 


' 1579 


German long mile. 


5 


' 1326 


Hanoverian mile. 


6 


1 990 


Tuscan mile, 


1 


48 


Russian mile, 


4 


1 1197 


Danish mile, 


4 


' 1204 


Dantzic mile, 


4 


' 1435 


Hungarian mile. 


5 


' 313 


Swiss mile, 


5 


' 353 


Swedish mile, 


6 


• 1140 


Arabian mile. 


1 


' 380 



English. 



Modern Roman mile 132 yards less than English. 

LENGTH OP LEAGUES. 

French posting league, 2 " 743 " 

French league, 3 

English league, 3 

Spanish judicial league, 2 " 1115 

Portugal league, 3 " 1480 " 

Flanders league, 3 " 1584 " 

Spanish common league, 5 '-' 376 

LENGTH OP OTHER MEASURES. 

Persian Parasang, 3 " 806 " 

Russian Werst, 6 " 593 " 

Turkish Bein, 1 " GG 

A German geographical mile is equal to 4 Eng- 
lish miles, or 8100 yards. 

SCRIPTURE MEASURES. 

" A Sabbath Day's Journey" 1 is 1,155 
yards — about two-thirds of a mile. A daifs 
journey is 33£ miles. A reed is 10 feet, 11-J- 
inches. A palm is 3 inches. A fathom is 6 
feet. A. Greek foot is 12| inches. A. Hebrew 
foot is 1.212 English foot. A cubit ia 2 
feet. A great cubit is 1 1 feet. An Egyptian 
cubit is 21.888 inches. A span is 10.944 
inches. • 

As the superfices of all our States and 
Counties are expressed in square miles, it 
should be borne in mind that the contents 
of a mile is 640 acres. 

Number of Square Yards in an Acre. — 
English, 4,840 ; Scotch, 6,150 ; Irish, 7,840 ; 
Hamburg, 11,545; Amsterdam, 9,722; Dant- 
zic, 6,650; France, (hectare,) 11,960; Prus- 
,sia, (morgen,) 3,053. 

Manure Measure. — This is generally esti- 
mated by the load, which is about as definite 
as the phrase about as big as a piece of chalk. 
It ought to be measured by the cubic yard 
or cord. A cubic ycml is 27 cubic feet, each 
of which contains 1,728 cubic inches. A 
cubic cord is 128 cubic feet. As the most of 
farmers have an idea in their minds of the size 
of a pile of wood containing a cord, they would 
readily compare that with the quantity of 
manure, if stated in cords. Every cart or 
wagon box, before it leaves the maker's shop, 
ought to have the cubic feet and inches it will 
contain indellibly marked upon it. This would 



230 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



enable the owner who has read The Plow, 
to calculate the amount of his load of grain, 
roots, earth, stone or manure. 

Weight of Manure. — A solid foot of half 
rotten stable manure, will weigh, upon an 
average, 56 pounds. If it is coarse or dry, it 
will average 48 pounds to the foot. A load of 
manure, or 36 cubic feet, of first quality, will 
weigh 2.016 pounds; of second quality, 1,728 
pounds. Weight to the acre. Eight loads of 
first kind, weighing 16,128 pounds, will give 
108 pounds to each square rod, and less than 
two and a half pounds to each square foot. 
Five loads will give 63 pounds to the rod. An 
acre containing 43,560 square feet, the calcu- 
lation of pounds per foot, of any quantity per 
acre is easily made. 

The Measure of Mind, may be considerably 
expanded in every youth who will carefully 
study these pages, which we have prepared 
with a measure of labor especially for the ben- 
efit of all who measure the capacity of our 
intellect to give useful information by our 
monthly chronicle of matters calculated, or at 
least intended, to elevate the minds of our 
readers immeasurably above those who are 
still groping in the darkness of wilful ignorance, 
because of their misjudged economy in not 
patronising agricultural papers and schools. 

[The Plow, 



CULTURE OF LUCERNE. 

We have been informed by Mr. Lewis 
Mabry of this city, that he has cultivated 
lucerne regularly for more than forty years 
with the most satisfactory success. It has 
invariably supplied him with the greatest 
abundance of green food of the richest quality 
for soiling coWs, and it makes a hay in all 
respects equal to clover. There are plants 
qow in Mr. Mabry 's yard which have been 
there for forty years. He has usually had 
about two acres of ground in lucerne, and his 
mode of cultivation is as follows : 

The land should be well and deeply prepared, 
as the plants send down their tap roots to 
a great depth. The soil should be dry arid 
rich. The time for sowing the seed is in 
September, and they should be sown broadcast. 
They soon vegetate, and the plants continue to 
grow vigorously during the fall, and acquire 
sufficient strength to withstand the severity of 
the coldest winters. In the spring, they start 
off to grow in advance of all other vegetation, 
and take entire possession of the ground. If 
the seed is sowed in the spring, the grass will 
overtop and smother the lucerne, unless it 
is drilled, in which case it requires frequent 
and careful workings. It should not be sowed 



with any other crop. When sowed in the fall, 
it will furnish tho cuttings the next season. 
The second season it will be fully established, 
and yields as many as four cuttings, which it 
will continue ' to do for four years. By the 
expiration of that period, it will begin to die 
out in patches, and another sowing should be 
made. The plants should not be suffered 
to bear seed any further than is necessary for 
new growings. 

On the whole, Mr. Mabry considers lucerne 
as invaluable, particularly on small farms, 
from the great quantity of food it supplies ; 
thus enabling the possessor of only a few 
acres to keep a number of cows, which, in 
their turn, furnish abundant means of enrich- 
ing the land, besides affording the owner the 
luxury and the profits to be derived from a 
good dairy. We would especially recommend 
to our farmers in the neighborhood of the city 
to make the experiment. With milk at six- 
pence a quart, and butter at 50 cents— never 
less than 37 5 cents— a pound, the advantages 
to be derived from a dairy appear to us to 
be very decided. 

Mr. Mabry informs us that the Alfalfa 
clover, about which we made some inquiry 
a few weeks ago, is nothing else than lucerne. 
[Southern Farmer. 



For the Southern Planter. 
BLACK HAWK HORSES. 

To the Editor of the Southern Planter : 

In your paper for June last I see you have, 
at the request of Hon. W. C. Rives, published 
some remarks on Black Hawk horses, comprised 
in articles taken from the "Boston Cultivator" 
and the New York " Spirit of the Times." 
The " Notes" by the editor of the last named 
paper embrace certain points, which, it seems 
to me, ought not to be passed over without 
notice. These points are, principally, Whe- 
ther the progeny of Vermont Black Hawk 
have or have not been made '• undersized" by 
breeding in-and-in '? Whether they are or 
are not fifteen to fifteen and a half hands 
high ; and are or are not as tall as most of 
the distinguished trotters and racers at long 
distances ? 

The following remarks are respectfully sub- 
mitted on the affirmative of these questions. 

1. Breeding in-and-in. The actual facts 
on this point, I am confident, were comprised 
in the article copied from the "Cultivator," — 
showing that the few animals of this stock 
which could be said to have been bred in-and- 
in, were too young to be judged of as to size, 
the oldest at that time not being five years 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



231 



old, and most of them not one year old. (It 
is not intended to enter here on a discussion 
of the consequences of that course of breed- 
ing.) 

•2. Height of the Black Hawk stock. It is 
of little avail to place mere opinions in con- 
tradiction to each other. Such, however, is 
the confidence in the correctness of the stan- 
dard above named, among those best ac- 
quainted with the stock, that they would have 
no objection to settling the matter, if neces- 
sary, by having a sufficient number of animals 
measured by a suitable person, to obtain a 
fair average. 

3. Height of trotters. Skinner, in his edi- 
tion of "Youatt on the Horse," gives a list of 
twenty-nine noted trotters. Of these, five 
only were sixteen hands ; sixteen were fifteen 
and a half, and under; six of the latter not 
rising above fifteen hands, and one of them 
being only fourteen and a half. The Non- 
pareil — Lady Suffolk — lately deceased, is put 
down at fifteen and a half. It may be added 
that Rattler, taken to England, was only 
fourteen and a half. [Turf Reg., vol. 2, p. 
139.] Beppo and others might be named, as 
of no greater height. The English Norfolk 
trotters are described as about fifteen hands. 
This was the height of Bellfounder, imported 
to the United States, and of Norfolk Phe- 
nomenon. 

i. Height of racers. The remarks in the 
article copied from the "Cultivator" applied 
to horses most distinguished for running long 
distances; no special reference was made to 
horses " in this country." Means are not at 
hand for ascertaining the height of all which 
have been thus signalized. But in the se- 
cond volume of the " Turf Register," the 
height of one hundred and forty-seven racers 
is given, in a list copied from the " Annals 
of Sporting." The list is introduced by a 
note from the editor (at that time) of the 
"American Farmer," the late John S. Skin- 
ner, who was also editor of the " Turf Re- 
gister," in which note the opposition to horses 
of fifteen hands is called a vulgar objection," 
adding that " a large proportion of the most 
distinguished race-horses have not exceeded 
fifteen and a half hands, and many have not 
risen above fifteen hands." The catalogue is 
said to comprise horses " renowned on the 
British Turf." They belonged to the period 
when long races and heavy weights were in 
vogue; the present fashion for short races 
being then almost unknown. Of the 147, 
one only reached sixteen hands, and only 
eleven exceeded fifteen, while no less than 
eighty-three were fourteen and between that 



and fifteen, and twenty-eight between thirteen 
and fourteen hands ! Among those of fifteen 
hands are the Parley Arabian, Godolphin 
Arabian, his celebrated son Cade, the sire of 
Wild Air, and others of note. The Parley 
Arabian was the sire of Flying Childers, the 
fleetest horse of which we have any history. 
Lawrence says he was fifteen hands " or up- 
wards." After giving his pedigree he justly 
remarks, " Childers, we see, was bred con- 
siderably in-and-in. Not to dwell on this, let 
him pass, if you please, as an example of 
what has been done by in-and-in breedings 
and about fifteen hands in height! He ran 
according to the record, three miles, six fur- 
longs, and ninety-three yards, in six minutes , 
and forty seconds — being eighty-two feet in a 
second, or " nearly at the rate of a mile in a 
minute." He also ran four miles, one fur- 
long, and 138 yards, in seven minutes and 
thirty seconds.* Marske, the sire of Eclipse, 
was, as appears from the list alluded to, only 
fourteen hands half an inch in height; and 
Old Cartouch was only fourteen hands yet, 
it is said, " no horse in the kingdom was able 
to run with him at any weights from eight 
to twelve stone." The famous Hambletonian 
was only thirteen hands three and a half 
inches in height. 

It is perfectly natural that these horses 
should have been of low stature. The Ara- 
bian, from which the English thoroughbred 
is in part derived, seldom reaches fifteen 
hands. Layard, in his late travels in the 
Pesert, states that the purest of that' race 
range from fourteen to fourteen and a _half 
hands, and that he never saw but one mare 
that exceeded fifteen hands. 

Space will not be taken up with further 
reference to authorities, but it is worthy of 
mention, that Mr. Rives, (son of W. C. R.,) 
in the first of the able articles on " The Horse" 
which he has written for the " Planter," ob- 
serves— "Some blood horses get up to sixteen 
hands, though in that case they are prone to 
be too slim-bodied and leggy, or, as the 
English say, too ' slender timber.'" He re- 
fers, of course, to what he saw in England, 
but the principle is equally applicable here. 

Peytona is spoken of as nearly seventeen 
hands high; but could she run long races, 
and continue to run them, with the shorter- 
legged Fashion, only fifteen and a half hands? 
Was she not, in fact, broken down in attempt- 
ing it? 

In regard to coach horses, they have al- 
ways been regarded in England as a distinct 



* Lawrence's work on the H 



orsc, p. 267. 



235 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



class from the roadster, light carriage horse, 
and fast trotter : and why should they not be 
so regarded here? One breed of horses 
cannot answer every purpose, any more than 
one breed of sheep or one breed of dogs can 
supersede the use of other breeds of their re- 
spective species. Each is fitted for a peculiar 
object. The true Morgan horses, including 
Black Hawks, are calculated for light car- 
riages, not heavy coaches. For this they are 
bred, and they sell readily at such prices 
that there is no occasion to change the sys- 
tem, even for the prices named for coach 
horses. The latter, of course, must be pro- 
duced : they have their place, and it is grati- 
fying that the breeders of them may b 



ampton, in proportion to popidatiov, and 
extent of territory, are amongst the most 
wealthy in the State. 

In many of the counties of Virginia, on 
the banks of the rivers and in small valleys 
amongst the mountains, there are lands more 
productive than any on the Eastern Shore; 
but taking the whole number of " acres of 
improved land," it -will be found that very 
few, if any, counties in the State are as pro- 
ductive as Accomack, and Northampton. 

I have lately made a comparison of the 
productions of Accomack m the articles of 
corn, wheat, oats, rye 'and potatoes, with the 
production of the same articles in the large 
and wealthy counties of Albemarle, Augusta 



handsomely remunerated ; but why should it I Bedford, Frederick, Halifax, Jefferson °Loti- 



be objected that a Black Hawk or Morgau 
is not a coach horse, tall enough, in the 
language used iu the article from the "Spirit" 
to "look over a two-storied house," any more 
than that a game cock is not a Shanghai ? 

It is an error to suppose that these horses 
are small from degeneracy. The race was 
never large. The first Morgan, got by True 
Briton, only weighed about 950 pounds, and 
was less than fifteen hands high. Hie im- 
mediate progeny were not larger. There have 
been,' latterly, horses with only a small degree 
of that blood, of much greater size. The 



heavy 



used 



in express wagons, to 



which allusion is made in the article from 
the "Spirit,"' are in some instances not with- 
out a remote strain of the Morgan blood 
Still, those animals which have retained in 
the highest degree the special characteristics 
oi* the original stock — activity, hardiness and 
durability, — have not shown much deviation 
in respect to size. 

Truth. 



ACCOMACK COUNTY. 

Accomack, June 2'3th, 1855. 
To the Editor of tlie S. Planter : 

I believe the opinion prevails very gene- 
rally amongst persons who are unacquainted 
with the Eastern Shore, that the people of 
Accomack and Northampton are very poor 
and the land unproductive, and that many of 



clon, Rockingham and Shenandoah, in pro- 
portion to population and acres of improved 
lan.d, and I confess that the result surprised 
me, although I was previously aware that 
Accomack deserved to stand high on the list 
of productive and wealthy counties. 

Accomack produces more corn than any 
county in the State, except Albemarle ; and 
of the articles of produce above enumerated, 
taken together, Accomack produces, in bush- 
els, in proportion to jiopulation, 18 per cent, 
more than Loudoun, 30 per cent, more than 
Rockingham, 50 per cent, more than Jeffer- 
son, and more than fifty per cent, more than 
any other of those counties. In proportion 
to the whole number of " acres of improved 
land," Accomack produces, in bushels, of the 
enumerated articles, 20 per cent, more than 
Jefferson, 70 per cent, more than Loudoun 
and A.ugusta, and more than 100 per cent, i 
more than any other of those counties. 

I have not included " tobacco" and " live 
stock driven to market" in the estimates, be- 
cause these articles are not produced in all of 
the above named counties; and, moreover, the 
county statistics do not furnish any data from 
which to ascertain the quantity or value of 
the " live stock driven to market." In the 
" value of animals slaughtered," Accomack 
exceeds every one of those counties iu propor--' 
tioii to her population, and she nearly doubles 
some of them. In the number of "neat 
cattle" owned in the several counties named. 



the inhabitants (as was once said by Patrick J Accomack, in proportion to her population, 
Henry in relation to the people*of the tide- ! exceeds the whole of them, except Loudoun 
water region of Virginia,) are compelled " to and Rockingham ; and in " swine" she ex- 



rake their daily bread from the oyster banks." 
A slight exam i nation cf the "county statistics," 
published iu the " Compendium of the Census | 
of 1850," vvill cle arly show that this opinion 
is entirely enoncou:-' ; and instead of being 
poor, the counties of Accomack and North- 



ceeds the whole of them in proportion to po- 
pulation, except Halifax and Rockingham. 

If " tobacco," and " cattle driven to mar- 
ket," be added to the estimate, I think it will 
be nevertheless found that very few counties 
in the State are equal to Accomack in the 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



233 



market value of her productions per head or 
[per acre. In estimating the value of all the 
productions of Accomack, as much as one 
hundred and fifty thousand dollars per an- 
|num may be added for the product of the 

oyster banks." 

If the large and wealthy county of South- 
ampton be taken into the comparison with 
I Accomack, and the articles of peas and beans 
| (which furnish striking peculiarities in the 
agriculture of that county,) be added to the 
articles of produce above enumerated, it will 
be found that Accomack exceeds her in bush- 
| els, according to population, 11 per cent., and 
in proportion to " acres of improved land," 
100 per cent. In "neat cattle,". Accomack 
and Southampton are about equal according 
to population, and in " Swine" Southampton 
doubles Accomack, and in the " value of ani- 
mals slaughtered," Southampton is 62 per 
cent, ahead of Accomack according to popu- 
lation, and 15 per cent, behind her in propor- 
tion to '•• acres of improved land." If the 
product of the "oyster banks" be added, even 
Southampton will be found largely behind 
Accomack. 

I have endeavored to ascertain with con- 
siderable care the whole amount of the pro- 
duets of Accomack exported to market in one 
year, including oysters, and I believe, at pre- 
sent prices, they amount to at least seven 
hundred thousand dollars, with a population 
of 17,890, and 112,942 acres of improved 
land. 

On a view of the whole subject, I think 
very few, if any, counties of Virginia will be 
found, which can justly dispute the right of 
Accomack to stand at the head of the list of 
counties agriculturally as well as atyhaheti- 
cally, except that her sister Northampton 
may justly claim a right to stand by her side 
as an equal. 

If you think the above worthy of a place 
in the " Planter," by publishing it you will 
oblige A Subscriber. 



the late Hon. George Drumgoole, who gave 
me the following account of it : 

He had never known but one tree of this 
kind, from which his was propagated by en- 
graftmeivt upon the stock of a common native 
mulberry. The original tree was found in 
Greensville. It is the most prolific fruit tree 
of any sort or kind I ever saw ; my attention 
being attracted by the immense crop of fruit; 
upon it, I learned from Mr. D. that it never 
failed to produce an equal quantity every 
year; that for many years befofs I saw it, 
30 years ago,) he had been in the habit of 
making a pig pen under one half of its shade, 
leaving the other out for the benefit of the 
domestic fowls. The tree covered a circle 
of about 25 feet diameter, and kept two 
shoats in good eating order, and afforded 
an ample sufficiency for all the fowls while 
the fruit was falling — a space of about six 
weeks — from the valuable peculiarity of pro- 
ducing its fruit in succession. 

Every particular as to the value of this 
mulberry I can vouch for, having obtained 
cuttings from Mr. Drumgoole. I have had 
bearing trees of the description above for 
many years past, and would gladly furnish 
cuttings at the proper season to any person 
who would be desirous of making such an ac- 
quisition tt> their homesteads or their plan- 
tation permanent turn rows as an important 
item of mast for all .plantation stock. 

Bremo, 

July 6, 1 855. John H. Cocke. 



For the Southern Planter. 

THE DRUMGOOLE MULBERRY. 

Mr. Rcffin : It has long been upon my 
mind to give you an account of one of our 
indigenous fruits, which ought to be better 
known as an object worthy the attention of 
rural economists. 

It is a mulberry of rare species, first dis- 
covered in the county of Greensville. I 
met with it in the yard of the late venerable 
Rev. G. Drumgoole of Brunswick, father of 



For the Southern Planter. 
THE BARREN HEIFER. 
Mr. Editor : — I have a cow 7 years old 
next August, which I call my Barren Heifer. 
She has never had a calf, and has never been, 
with* calf, that I have any reason to believe.* 
She has run with a good bull or bulls all the 
time of her past life, winter and summer, ex- 
cept this year ; and has been regularly in 
heat, periodically. She has been daily to the 
pail as a milch cow for the past 19 months, 
giving last summer two gallons of good milk 
per day, liquid measure, (not eye measure;) 
and one gallon per day, liquid measure, during 
last winter. She is now giving upon lean pas- 
ture two gallons again per day. I am trying 
to increase her quantity all I can by giving 
attention to her being properly milked ; that 
being the only means which I can use without 
incuring more expense than I am willing to. — 
She has the very finest development for flow- 
ing and continuing to flow — according to 
my understanding of Guenon's description of 
the escutcheon. It has been and may be 



234 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



again asked. " Why did you commence milk- 
ing her ?" I answer : She was a heifer of the 
finest promise, both in size and otherwise, which 
I ever raised, and a calf of my favorite cow, 
and I was more than anxious to have her to 
the pail. Consequently I bore with her bar- 
renness (hoping, she would have a calf,) until 
she had passed the age of five years, from Au- 
gust to November, when, being very fat, 
I determined to sell her for beef; but, feeling 
so partial to her, and discovering there was 
fluid in her udder (which I had seen nearly 
all the preceding summer,) I determined to 
have her milked, and see if I could thereby 
cause a flow of milk ; hoping in the accomplish- 
ment of which, she would breed. To accom- 
plish which, I asked Mr. M. Walker Estes, 
(who then lived. with me, and now lives with 
Mr. W m. P. Parish) to have her milked. He 
did so, and reported that, " they got a right 
smart chance of water." In a few days, the 
report was made of getting two drops of milk. 
Being so delighted at the news of getting 
milk from her, though in that small quantity, 
I asked him to continue to have her milked, 
until I asked him to stop. She has continued 
to increase from two drops to two gallons as I 
have described. I shall continue to have her 
milked, and if I am successful in causing the 
quantity given to increase to three or four gal- 
lons per day, I may in future inform you. 

Whilst I am writing, please to allow me to 
say, that my water telegraph, published in 
your last July Number, is still giving us its 
usual accommodations with very fair prospects 
of future continuation. 

Yours, very respectfully, 

Ed. J. Thompson. 
Albemarle Co., Va., 
June 18, 1855. 



THE HYDRANGEA. 

Although this must be admitted to be one 
of the most showy plants we have, it has 
certainly been very much neglected of late 
years. It is, however, still prized by a few, 
who find it particularly useful for green- 
house and conservatory decoration, display- 
ing its enormous heads of pink and blue flow- 
ers in abundance, and remaining a long time 
in perfection. The following method of treat- 
ment being pursued, will enable all who prac- 
tice it to have large heads of blossom from 
plants even in small pots. If cuttings are 
taken off in August, and potted in a mixture 
of leaf-mold and sand, in a well-drained pot, and 
be placed in an old cucumber or melon frame, 
they will root freely, and should be potted 



into four-inch pots as soon as they have become 
sufficiently rooted. The plants should be 
kept to one leader, the top bud of which should 
not be pinched out, but all lateral or side. 
shoots be removed as soon as they appear. — 
When sufficiently established in their pots, 
move them to the greenhouse, where they 
should be wintered. Early in spring shift 
them into five or six-inch pots, as may best 
suit your convenience, and as soon as they 
have commenced growth liberally supply them 
with water, using the syringe freely at all 
times. Perhaps the most convenient place for 
them at this season is a vinery, which I find suits 
them well, and brings them on gently until the 
blossoms make their appearance. Water at 
this stage must on no account be neglected. 
If large specimen plants are required, they 
should be grown another season, when they 
will form a fine bush and produce many heads 
of blossoms, although inferior in size to those 
on plants kept to one leader. I have grown 
the same plants for years ; in this way they 
have made huge specimens, and amply repaid 
me for my trouble ; but if small plants with 
large heads are preferred, they should be grown 
from cuttings every season. I have *also 
struck cuttings in February, and grown them 
on until the following season, using a slight 
bottom-heat, and disbudding the useless eyes ; 
such plants have produced enormous heads, 
superior in size to those struck in August, but 
then the plants are longer in hand, which, in 
many cases, is a consideration. The soil best 
suited for their culture is equal portions of 
cow-dung, leaf-mold, fibrous loam, peat, and 
sand, well mixed in a rough state. The pots 
should be thoroughly drained, and, during the 
blooming season, the plants will be benefited 
by being placed in a pan of water. Manure- 
water may be used freely while the plants are 
in bloom. In order to change them from pink 
to blues of different shades, put them in Nor- 
wood loam, or common red sand ; potting in 
peat and watering with alum-water will also 
produce the same effect ; but the two former 
kinds of material are the best. If planted on 
well-drained ground, and slightly protected in 
winter, the Hydrangea will form an ornament 
in the flower garden such as few can eoual ; 
but it must be liberally supplied with water 
during the blooming season. — Floricultural 
Cabinet. 

THE WAGON. 
It is evident that the larger the wheels of a 
vehicle are so much lighter is the draft, until 
the centre of their circumference becomes 
equal in height to the horse's breast. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



235 



large wheels produce less friction, because their 
velocity is less than small wheels, and the lat- 
ter sink deeper in a soft road, thereby increas- 
ing the difficulty of transportation. The ad- 
vantage of larger wheels than those in com- 
mon use will farther appear when we take into 
consideration that the fulcrum is at the bot- 
tom. The average height of the fore-wheels 
is not commonly over forty inches, which would 
only give the horse a lever power of twenty 
inches over the weight ; moreover the weight is 
at too great a distance below the horses' breast. 
If we should increase the height of the wheel 
to sixty inches, it would give the team a lever 
power of thirty inches : still leaving the weight 
sufficiently low, making a difference in favor of 
the horses of fifty per cent. 

We can see no good reason why the hind- 
wheels should be larger than those before. It 
seems to us that they should be equal , the opin- 
ion of some wagoners to the contrary notwith- 
standing. Suppose, for instance, the fore- 
wheels should be four, and the hind wheels six. 
The inclination forward of the line of traction 
would tend to press, the load into the earth, 
and, consequently, increase the difficulty of 
drawing. If there be any advantage in hav- 
ing the wheels of different heights, why is it 
that the intelligent constructors of steam cars 
have not availed themselves of it? The ad- 
vantage of larger wheels is somewhat lessened, 
it is true, by the increased, difficulty of turn- 
ing in a narrow compass ; but wheels being of 
equal height doe3 not increase this difficulty. 

As the fulcrum of the wheel is at the bot- 
tom, it follows that its motion increases as 
the distance from the bottom increases, and if 
a horizontal line (imaginary) be drawn, passing 
through the centre of motion, the velocity of 
that part above the line will be five times 
greater than the part below. 

A wagon with two inch tire will sink in the 
ground four times deeper than a four inch tire, 
all things else being equal : the latter having 
double the space to sustain the load and only 
half the weight on any given space. I merely 
mention the four inch tire for the sake of illus- 
tration, three or three and a half being amply 
sufficient. Hoping some intelligent mechanic 
may possibly improve on these hints, I am, 
gentlemen, A Blacksmith. 

[Mississippi Conservative. 



great numbers of aphides or plant lice on the 
leaves «f a peach tree. On examination, we . 
discovered on the leaves clusters of black in- 
sects, so small that their form could not be 
clearly distinguished by the naked eye, 
but by a magnifying glass they were proved to 
be the larva of the lady-bird. A week later 
the tree was examined, and the young lady- 
birds were found to have grown to nearly a 
quarter of an inch in length, and had nearly 
exterminated the aphides on one side of the 
tree. They hunt the lice continually, catching 
them in their forceps and sucking out their 
vitals. At the same time that the larva of the 
lady-bird were found, a few specimens of the 
larva of the s^rphus were discovered. This 
insect in the larva state is shaped like a mag- 
got. Its head is armed with a dart, with 
which it pierces plant lice, preparatory to de- 
vouring their juices. Dr. Harris states that 
it is totally blind ; yet it finds no difficulty in 
catching the lice. We plucked a leaf with 
one of these larva on it. The insect became 
disturbed and appeared to be frightened. We 
placed it on another leaf, and by taking the 
aphides on the point of a pin and placing them 
near the syrphus, it would at once transfix 
them, suck their blood, and throw away the dry 
skins. The exhibition was interesting to sev- 
eral persons who had not previously known 
anything of the habits of these lice- destroy- 
ers. [Mark Lane Express. 



ENEMIES OF PLANT LICE. 

Several insects are great destroyers of plant 
lice. The most important of these are the 
larva of the Syrphus, and the lady-bird — Coc- 
cinella. On the 10th of June we noticed 



An Unfortunate Rooster. — There are 
objections to Shanghais, no doubt, but we had 
never thought of this. It is very curious but 

it is true. The way of it was this : Mr. S 

an old resident of Stillwater, on the upper 
Hudson, introduced among his family of hens 
a few Shanghais, including a rooster, of formi- 
dable dimensions, who had " run to legs" a 
good deal. His crow was peculiar, and easily 
distinguished from that of other cocks. One 
morning he had waited to hear a repetition of 
the usual summons, after being aroused by the 
" shrill clarion" once sounded, but he heard it 
not again. The other roosters were doing their 

• 

best, but the pre-eminent chanticleer was still. 

Mr. S went out to see what had caused 

the silence. He found the rooster lying on 
his back, with both legs out of joint. After 
an examination, he set both legs; the cock 
walked off, and gave vent to his satisfaction in 
a lusty crow. In the very act lie dropped as 
if he had been shot. He had crowed his legs 
out of joint again ! He was kept three or 
four days, and then killed. " It was too much 
trouble," said Mr. S. " to set him up every 
time he crowed !" — Knickerbocker Mag. 



236 



THE SOUTHERN PLA.NTER. 



For the Southern Planter. 
DISTEMPER IN CATTLE. 

Powhatan, July 5th, 1855. 

Dear Sir : — It was with no small degree 
of pleasure that I read in your April number 
the interesting essay of my friend Dr. Morton 
of Cumberland, on what is so generally- un- 
derstood by the term " distemper" in cattle. 

He has done me the honor of stating there- 
in the substance of a conversation between 
ourselves at our last agricultural exhibition, 
in consequence of which I am induced to pre- 
sent to you the amount of my observation 
and experience on the subject. 

The history of the commencement and pro- 
gress of this formidable disease in Virginia, 
as detailed by Dr. Morton, is just such as I 
have uniformly before learned from other 
sources. Whether this disease prevailed in 
North Carolina, whence came the drove of 
beeves supposed to have brought it here, I 
have not been informed; therefore do not, 
with confidence, entertain an opinion as to 
the question of their having left Carolina with 
the rudiments of the disease existent in .their 
systems, or of its contraction, by change of 
climate or of grazing grounds, as they tarried 
on the journey. As no such disease had pre- 
viously existed in our region of country, they 
could not have taken it by contagion. 

Not having formed an opinion satisfactory 
to myself in relation to the causes of distem- 
per, I shall not present any speculations on 
that part of the subject, but detail a few cases, 
■with the circumstances attendant, as well as 
the treatment given to such as were subjects 
of my own observation. Having, many years 
since, had various opportunities of seeing cases 
of .distemper among the cattle of my neigh- 
bors, I formed the opinion that it was, in its 
commencement, a local disease, and required, 
for its successful treatment, no other than 
local remedies. 

Case 1st. — A farmer ou James river, put 
his work oxen and milch cows into a pasture 
on the river, entirely secluded from commu- 
nication with, and even from the sight of, 
other cows. A parcel of young cattle he 
turned on the commons of the neighborhood. 
So soon as his wheat field had been cleared of 
.its crop, both lots of cattle were introduced, 
all, apparently, quite well. He congratulated 
himself on his young stock having escaped 
the distemper ; as to his oxen and milch cows,' 
he had experienced no apprehensions. At 
the expiration of eight or ten days, however, 
some of the latter, which had been so care- 
fully secluded, became sick of distemper, and 
several of them actually died before any of 



the young cattle from the commons were sick. 
A large portion of both lots were sick, and 
the owner, I think, reported that none re- 
covered. On this farm there had not been 
for many years, if ever, previously, a case of 
distemper. 

Case 2. — There have been, on my own 
farm, in the course of a considerable series of 
years, about twelve cases of distemper, not- 
withstanding that my cows, as well as all 
other stock, have been ever kept within my 
own enclosures, with the single exception that 
my working oxen have been occasionally sent 
abroad ; no ox, however, has been sick until 
within the last three years, and nearly all the 
cases of distemper had previously occurred. 
Several cases similar to these, and within my 
own knowledge, could be stated. To what 
cause can these cases be imputed ? Contagion 
is not conceivable. 

In relation to the seat of the disease, I will 
merely say, that I consider it, at. first, en- 
tirely confined to the head ; that the disease 
depends on an obstruction to the free circula- 
tion of air through the delicate and porous 
bones between the horns and the nostrils. 
You may very reasonably inquire, if this be 
true, whence ccnies the indurated state of the 
contents of the manifold, the disorganized 
condition of this receptacle itself, ana other 
indications of so fatal -derangement of the di- 
gestive apparatus, the bladder, etc., so uniform- 
ly observed on examination after death by dis- 
temper ? In my humble opinion, the explana- 
tion is, concisely; this : the formation of all the 
animal secretions depends on the influence of 
the nerves ; all the nerves arise from the brain 
and spinal marrow ; the spinal marrow itself 
from the brain ; the brain may, therefore, 
bo well said to be the source of all nervous 
power; hence, any cause seriously affecting 
the brain may be confidently expected to impair 
or destroy the healthy action of the nerves 
themselves throughout the system. That the 
brain is powerfully affected in distemper is 
obvious from several indications; but espe- 
cially from the fact that utter madness is a 
very common attendant. This irritation of 
the brain depends, I conceive, on the confine- 
ment of air in the upper part of the head ; 
it is thence extended to the nerves, either di- 
rectly or through the spinal marrow, para- 
lysing their natural healthy action, so' indis- 
pensable to the formation of the gastric liquor 
and other fluids of the system ; hence, I con- 
ceive, arises the disorganized state of the 
manifold, (with dryness of its contents), the 
liver and adjacent organs. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



237 



Impressed with the importance of the sub- 
ject, and convinced of the utter inefficacy of 
all the medicines and appliances of which I 
had heard, my attention was earnestly directed 
to it. Under the influence of the views _pst 
presented, I adopted the treatment which the 
following cases are intended to illustrate. 

Case 3d. — A neighbor, at whose house I 
was, showed me three cows ill of distemper, 
and dated their sickness from the preceding 
day. On a careful examination of them their 
horns wereffound to be destitute of their na- 
tural heat. The conviction that they were 
hollow induced me to advise him to imme- 
diately bore them with a large gimlet. He 
rather declined my advice on the ground of 
its certain inutility, and, indeed, of the utter 
hopelessness of the effbacy of all efforts at 
cure, having, as he said, in another locality, 
twice lost all his stock with this disease. On 
the morning of the next day I was again there. 
His three sick cows of the preceding day were 
worse, and a fourth had become sick. I again 
advised the use of the gimlet, and urged him, 
if but for the gratification of my desire, to 
make the experiment. Wholly, I believe, for 
compliance with my request, he accordingly 
bored each horn of all four cows with a large 
gimlet, on the lower side of the horn, from 
one to two inches from the head. All the 
horns were hollow. On the following morn- 
ing the cows were not worse ; on the second 
morning they appeared rather better ; on the 
third still better ; on the fourth very decidedly 
so, and thereafter continued to regularly im- 
prove in condition, until entirely well. I was 
at the house of this neighbour for many days in 
succession, and watched the progress of these 
cases. Other cases subsequently occurred at 
the same place, which were similarly treated, 
and with the same pleasing results. 

Case 4th. — A neighbor, who had not pre- 
viously had distemper on his farm, lost, in the 
course of two weeks, fourteen of the fines't 
animals in his herd, work oxen and milch 
cows chiefly. I informed him, at this period 
»f his suffering, of the experience I had then 
so recently had. A case for experiment was 
quickly presented. A fine young steer was 
sick in the morning ; in the afternoon he was 
down, and not thought likely to get up ; just 
before night his horns were bored, and found 
completely hollow. A mixture of vinegar 
and water (in the proportion of one spoonful 
of vinegar to two of water,) was then injected 
from a small syringe, into the horns, through 
the holes made by the gimlet, until it was 
freely discharged through the nostrils. On 
the morning of the next day the steer was up 



and grazed sparingly. He improved daily, 
and continued to do so until quite well. I 
must not, however, omit to mention a fact ob- 
served in this case, and in no other before 
or since its occurrence; that is, that the horns 
of this animal, instead of being cold, as in all 
other cases in ^hich they were hollow, were 
preternaturally warm. How to explain the 
deviation of this case in this respect, from 
others in all other respects similar, I am 
quite, at fault. Many cases subsequently oc- 
curred on this farm in the same and in the 
next succeeding year; all were treated as 
above, and with similar results. 

Case 5th. — A highly valued bow (my own) 
was • found quite ill of distemper ; from her 
great debility I inferred that she had pro- 
bably been sick from one to two days before 
it was discovered. She had been a milch 
cow during the precede r- winter and spring, 
and was in high order A • -".inset, her horns, 
being quite cold, were I'-.vc-.i, and found en- 
tirely hollow ; they -veiu injected, as in the. 
preceding case. For several days she im- 
proved very slowly ; but in eight or ten days, 
although feeble, was well, and in autumn fol- 
lowing became quite fate I have bad other 
cases treated with eq"ual success ; indeed so 
long as the disease was accompanied with 
hollowness of' the horns, T lost not a case. 

The next case which I shall report, as ex- 
actly under this- treatment, is calculated, in 
my judgment, to establish the correctness of 
my opinion, expressed in the former part of 
this communication; that is, that the distem- 
per of cattle is, in its • commencement, a local 
disease; just as local as a wound, which may, 
from the occurrence of inanimation, prove 
fatal to V.& patient. 

The occurrence of the case last stated, ex- 
cited my apprehensions as to the probability 
of the occurrence of others among ray stock. 
With a view to the investigation of this dis- 
ease, and to the commencement of its treat- 
ment at as early a period as its approach 
might be discernible, I had the horns of all 
my cattle examined daily, for several weeks. 
On the first examination (made on the day of 
the occurrence of the case last stated,) the 
horns of a cow, constituting — 

Case 6th, were found quite cold, but the 
cow apparently in high health. I was pleased 
to have met with so good a subject for obser- 
vation and experiment. For a week continu- 
ously I saw this cow daily, sometimes twice a 
day, and as frequently examined her horns. 
Her health and appearance were excellent, 
but her horns were uniformly as cold as a 
stone. I allowed this state of thing's to con- 



238 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



tinue for exactly six days ; how long it had 
existed before its discovery, I, of course, can- 
not determine. Unwilling to longer risk the 
safety of a fine animal, the preservation of 
whose life and value I considered in my hands, 
I determined to bore the horns, scarcely 
doubting that they were entirely hollow. To 
my surprise, however, I found the boring ra- 
ther difficult. The bone in each horn was 
dead, dry, and harder than in a natural state. 
The passage of the gimlet through the bone 
excited not the slightest pain. On the morn- 
ing of next day the horns vjcre exactly of 
their natural and healthy temperature, and 
so continued to the day of her death, about 
seven years thereafter, when she was killed 
for beef; she was never sick, so far as is 
known, for a moment. I did not, even after 
death, cease to investigate this interesting 
case. I had the horns split open, and found 
the dead bone still there, but much reduced 
in size, and the shell of the horns proportion- 
ably thickened. That the other cases re- 
ported, would, if examined, have presented 
coldness of horns, I cannot say, but think 
it probable. Had this been so, the inference 
is strong, that timely boring would as cer- 
tainly have acted as a 1 preventive of general 
disease. 

To this point I had said that all was well. 
For several years I heard of no failures of 
the treatment herein developed ; but this ob- 
scure disease has, within a few years past, as- 
sumed a form somewhat different from that I 
had before met with. 

In the summer of 1852 distemper became 
prevalent and very fatal in the county of 
Powhatan. Many cows died in my own 
neighborhood. Examination proved the bones 
of their horns to be quite sound. Confident 
that the disease was, in its commencement, 
confined to the head, I determined to make 
some experiment on the first appropriate sub- 
ject. Having lost a pair of fine oxen and a 
cow, a very fine cow, without horns, was the 
next, constituting 

Case 7th. — Her head was closely confined 
by ropes to a stroDg post in the cow house. 
Having accurately ascertained the point on 
the forehead, one and a half inches* from the 
outer side of the head, and equi-distant from 
the upper edge of the orbit of the eye, and 
from the place at which the horn (if any) 



*In operating on a very large animal this would 
he exactly right, but for one of ordinary size I be- 
lieve an inch from the outside of the head would 
be more exactly in the centre of the sinus; thus, 
■the direction of an inch would be more generally 
applicable. 



should have been, with a strong knife an in- 
cision two inches long was made down to the 
bone ; the periosteum or membrane immedi« 
ately covering the bone was carefully scraped 
away from a small surface, and a large gimlet 
inserted at a right angle with the forehead, 
into the bone, and worked on until it suddenly 
ceased to meet resistance. This was a certain 
evidence of its having penetrated a spacious 
cavity in the forehead, called the frontal sinus. 
A similar operation was done on the opposite 
side of the forehead, where a corresponding 
cavity exists. Anxious to omit nothing, but 
to make a full experiment of my views, I pro- 
ceeded to perform similar operations on the 
back part of the ridge proceeding from the 
points where the horns (had there been any) 
should have been, making an incision and in- 
serting the gimlet two inches from the centre 
thereof, on each side. The operation was con- 
cluded by a liberal injection into the several 
holes, of milk and water, which was promptly 
discharged through the nostrils. The cow, 
which was very ill before the operation, daily 
improved, but not rapidly, until well. 

Case 8th. — In the summer of 1853 I had 
a powerful ox, without horns, attacked by 
distemper. He was found sick in the morning, 
and by afternoon was evidently worse. It 
was considered indispensable that he should 
be thrown, and secured by ropes. Two strong 
men held his head, whilst an operation pre- 
cisely similar to that just described, was per- 
formed. Within forty-eight hours he was 
evidently better, and on the twelfth day after 
the treatment, was at plough. 

I have now, Sir, given you the amount 
(small though it be) of my knowledge and 
experience on this subject. Having stated 
what I called the treatment of distemper, I 
wish j-ou to distinctly understand that I have 
withheld nothing; that no medicines or appli- 
ances whatever, other than those specified, 
were in any case resorted to. I shall con- 
clude this communication, already much more 
extended than I had anticipated, by the re- 
mark, that I have as great a degree of confi- 
dence in the efficacy of the plan of treatment 
herein presented as I could have in any such 
matter from the same amount of experience. 
I have not sought facts to establish a new 
theory, but the theory, if there be any, has 
been as it were forced on me by the observa- 
tion of facts. 

With most respectful and friendly regards, 
I am, &c. 

Ab. Crump, M. D. 

P. S. — Any person who can cut the skin of 
a cow, and who will carefully attend to the 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



239> 



directions above given, may, with entire con- 
fidence undertake the operation described. 
There is no danger in it to the animal ope- 
rated on ; the cavities are large, and naturally 
Contain, I believe, nothing but ah. The bone 
over them is very ihin. The wounds will be 
healed within forty-eight hours. It is now 
jrny opinion, not founded, however, on experi- 
ment, that the boring of the forehead is suffi- 
cient. 

There is a fact which I should have men- 
tioned, perhaps, in the body of this paper, but 
having omitted it, I will now state it. The 
nose of a healthy cow is always moist and 
cool; that of a distempered one dry and 
warm. So soon as the gimlet enters the horn, 
when hollow, or the frontal sinus, when that 
is operated on, a serous fluid is discharged 
from the nostrils, and the nose quickly be- 
comes moist over its whole surface. In the 
commencement of the operation on the case 
last reported, the attention of the assistants 
was particularly called to the state of these 
parts, and again at the conclusion. A. C. 



REMEDY AGAINST THE RAVAGES OF THE 
TURNIP FLY. 

A correspondent of the North British Ag- 
riculturist gives the following as a remedy 
against this troublesome insect : 

Let the seed be put into a glazed pan, or any 
open vessel, and put to it as much rapeoil as 
will, when stirred together with a stick, be 
sufficient to make the seed moist. Nest add 
as much sulphur as will, when again stirred 
together, cause the seed to separate. When 
properly mixed, all the seeds will have a coat 
of sulphur adhering to it ; and it will be found 
that the ingredients, in addition to keeping off 
the insects in question, will be a great stimu- 
lant to the growth of the crop. The seed thus 
managed may be sown or drilled with the same 
convenience as if it were clean. Should more 
seed be prepared than is found necessary to be 
sown at one time, it will keep well and not 
germinate for twelve months to come. This 
simple remedy I have never known to fail, and 
has only to be tried to be appreciated. 



For the Southern Planter. 
BILIOUS FEVER IN COWS. 

July 3, 1853. 
j Mr. Iluffin. 

Deau Sir : For fear of misleading you as 
jto the disease under which the cows treated 
"by my directions, laboured, permit me to give 
'you a statement of the symptoms before com- 
plying with your request as to the treatment, 



Several years ago, sometime in July, I rode 
out to my father'?, about two miles from this 
city, and found him, a brother, and several 
hands in a small grove and in their midst 
a cow, which lie had lately purchased, evidently 
very sick. My father remarked, here is 
another cow attacked, and I fear she vail not 
recover. She was evidently suffering from 
fever ; indicated by an exceedingly quick pulse, 
hot and dry skin, hurried respiration, the 
head extended, ears drooping, eyes injected, 
thirst, loss of appetite and disinclination to 
motion ; the discharges from the bowels fre- 
quent, thin and bilious ; urine very high 
colored. I expressed the opinion that the 
cow was laboring under an a.ttack of bilious 
fever, and as nothing had been given her, pro- 
posed that I should be permitted to treat her; 
my father consented, looking upon the case as 
nearly hopeless, having i'o t every one similarly 
attacked. I direct " . • . a.! buckets of water 
from the spring to he thi'0>wn ever her, so as to 
wet her whole surface completely .Gave her 
two drachms of calomel, by ratting out of an 
apple a plug, inserting the calomel and reap- 
plying the plug, having, previously, removed - 
a sufficient portion of its apex, followed in 
eight hours by a mixture of half pint of castor 
oil and half pint of spirits of turpentine. 
The next day the fever was considerably 
abated; the same treatment was continued and 
I directed a strong decoction of oak bark 
mixed with bran, to be given her immediately 
after the operation of the medicine, provided 
the fever continued to decrease, and to be 
repeated three or four times during the next 
day. This cow recovered and died a year 
or two ago of old age. A few weeks after- 
wards my father purchased from a Mr. 
McKensie several cows. They were all what 
we termed mountain cows. Every one had the 
fever, and was treated on the same principles 
and all recovered; one however, died late the 
following fall from a subsequent diarrhoea, and 
partly, as my brother thinks, from neglect. 
At the time the first mentioned cow was 
attacked my father had a remarkably fine calf, 
(the mother of which died a few days after 
purchasing her;) she also was taken sick; the 
attack commencing, as did all these cases, 
with bilious diarrhoea, which was checked 
by the decoction of oak bark. 

After the administration of calomel, caution 
is necessary to guard against salivation, as I 
am informed has occurred, by following it 
by oil, or what I preferred, oil and turpentise, 
so as to insure its purgative effects and by 
keeping the cow housed during a rain or damp- 
spell of weather. Very respectfully, 

A. F. P. 



240 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 




THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 
RICHMOND, AUGUST, 1855. 



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THE WHEAT CROP AND THE PRICE OF IT. 

A common way of speculating in flour is this : 
one merchant agrees to sell to another, say, five 
thousand barrels of flour,, sixty days from date, at 
seven dollars per barrel ; and when the day comes 
for delivery he never hands over a single barrel, 
but pays or receives the difference between seven 
dollars per barrel, and the actuai price of the flour 
at the day. If flour, for instance, has fallen one 
dollar, he pays over five thousand dollars; if it 
has risen, lie receives it from the other party to 
the contract. In icality, it is not a sale, but a 
bet ; and as soon as it is closed, each party, like 
jobbers in stocks, turns out to bend the market to 
his views, so as to win the stakes. 

The same tiling may just as easily take place 
in wheat, only still more adversely to the interest 
of the producer; and when there is a disposition 
to speculate in grain we see the result in the con- 
flicting accounts of the presses which each party 
has secured, as to the actual production of wheat, 
and in the fluctuations of the market. Such re- 
ports and siich fluctuations a:e but part of the 



game played. We mean to cast no imputation 
on the press, or to insinuate that their opinions 
are paid for. They may, and no doubt, in most 
cases, do, very honestly entertain the opinions 
they have derived from those parties to whom 
they look for information — the dealers in grain 
— and which opinions it is their duty to give. 
We only mean to let the farmers know-, that, even 
with the best intentions, newspapers cannot always 
get access to disinterested authorities, but must 
give the views of others, and of buyers, in most 
cases. 

We, therefore, think it safer to judge by thejj 
past, by the history of food consumption for a] 
recent period, and fey the weather that we have 1 
had, than by any such statements as papers some- 
times parade of the number of bushels which the J 
world will bring into the market. The wide dis- 
crepancy in recent estimates of the New Yori 
Herald and the Cincinnati Price Current, one put 
ting down the present crop at 108,575,000, the 
other at 114,500,000, a difference of 54,075,00 
bushels, proves that all such estimates are mere 
stuff. As we said before, no man can estimate 
the wheat crop of Virginia, because its delivery 
takes place at so many different outlets. The 
same is true of all other States, and cannot be 
otherwise. 

Of the crop of Virginia, as affected by weather 
and other disasters, we have spoken before. 
Every day confirms our opinion of the correctness 
of the views then expressed, and we have received 
numerous letters assuring us that we were right 
as far as the particular crop of each writer's sec- 
tion was concerned. In fact we merely took 
ground that a hard winter, an unexampled spring 
drought extending far into June, and a super- 
abundance of insects, could not yield their disas- 
trous effects to a few late rains and a fine ripening 
season. This was true of nearly all the United 
States, whilst the same drought embraced England 
and France, and must have operated to injure 
crops there. 

Our private advices, as far as we have them, 
bear us out in this opinion as to the rest of the 
Union. A friend, for instance, whose veracity and 
judgment and disinterestedness we avouch, writes 
in a letter to another gentleman, and not intended 
for us, that in four thousand miles of travel over 
parts of the North and West with which he was 
familiar, he did not see one single good wheat 
crop. A neighbor of his, going over the same 
country an equal distance but by a different route, 
gives the same account. Both are farmers of the 
county of Loudoun, and by profession and from 
locality know what good crops are. And though 
the crops are much better everywhere than was 
expected from the early prospect, they cannot be 
good anywhere. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



241 



England last year made the finest crop she ever 
made, and has eaten it up clean. This year her 
harvest will be late,' and farmers know that here the 
chances are always against wheat's yielding well in 
a late harvest, whilst there liability to disaster in 
securing the grain is greatly increased. Meanwhile 
her consumption is increasing; her armies will need 
more than she can spare ; and after last winter's 
experience in the Crimea, where they are very 
likely to winter again, they will supply it with 
grain in waste. But they can only get what they 
want from us. Her northern soxirces of supply 
are cut off, her others are more or less insignifi- 
cant. The whole of continental Europe, now on 
a full military establishment, and prepared for ac- 
tive movements at short notice, must consume 
more whilst it makes less, because she has a larger 
army and fewer producers ; and France, from what- 
ever cause, has her ports opened until the 31st of 
December, by decree of the Emperor — a thing 
never known before. 

With this state of things we cannot see what is 
to pull down the market. 

We know that at 5*2 50 per bushel our wheat 
did not bear export the past season, but was all 
consumed at home. But the case may be very 
different, if England, who generally goes into one 
harvest with a surplus from the other, shall com- 
mence the present with an empty belly, and find 
her neighbors no better off in that particular than 
heTself. 

Still, wheat has receded some fifty to seventy 
cents since the new crop began to come in. Why 1 
Because there is more than enough now on hand 
for the present supply, which still feels the influ- 
ence of an unusually high price, whereas six weeks 
ago there was a great scarcity, and because the time 
when wheat will be wanted in any quantity for 
shipment, at high prices, has not yet arrived and 
may not come for three months, or even a longer 
period; there is no reason, therefore, for its keep- 
ing up just at this time. But to force it on the 
market now, in a panic, would only make it still 
lower. A few weeks since, money, in New York, 
was not worth six per cent., at call, but nobody 
witnessed the spectacle of capitalists forcing loans 
on the community in consequence. On the con- 
trary they were rather inclined to hold up. As 
little do we think should the farmer feel incited to 
send his wheat forward now mereiy because it has 
taken a tumble of five or ten or even twenty cents 
in the bushel. 

He should look into the subject and not feel 
alarmed if he finds a set of Baltimore speculators 
running up the price of wheat to entice shipments 
and putting it down when they think they have 
enough for their purposes, on the way. Even if 
wheat should go down still lower we £ee no cause 
foranxiety, but, rather reason to be glad that so 



much as a panic may secure to the market is 
taken out of the way of future operations. 

The above are our present opinions of the whea* 
market. We know that others think differently, 
and we 'beg the farmers to hear both sides and 
then make up their minds for themselves. If we 
have fairly seated the above facts, they are as ca- 
pable of weighing their bearing as we can be; 
many of them more so. But they should do it in 
good temper. We see no reason to charge combi- 
nation on the millers of Richmond, but* rather 
some evidence of competition among them. Two 
of them sold their crops at $2 00, and are charged 
with a disposition to influence prices thereby. 
That may have been the case, but those gentlemen 
had the fortune to have wheat for sale, and in jus- 
tice to them we should remember that if they had 
held on, it would have been just as easy to charge 
that they were waiting for the rise. If there he 
any cause of complaint it is not that they sold at 
$2 00, but that they fixed the price of their own 
wheat at an earlier period, by one month, than 
they had been in the habit, heretofore, of fixing 
the price of other people's. And that may be 
explained on charitable hypothesis. 

As to any combination of theirs affecting the 
price of wheat permanently, we ought to know 
the impossibility of that. The laws of trade are 
stronger than the millers of Richmond, and when 
wheat is worth more at other places than they are 
vrilling to give for it, it will be sent to those 
places. 

The state of navigation of James River, and 
not the power of the Richmond City millers, is 
the thing to look to ; and until that is put in the 
condition it ought to be in, we who go to sea by 
that channel must always come into market at a 
disadvantage. 

We see no cause, therefore, for displeasure with 
them. They mean to buy wheat- and barrels as 
low, and sell flour and offal as high, as they can; 
and the way to defeat them of extra profits is, not 
to charge them with improprieties, but ourselves 
with folly. We frown at the millers now, when, if 
the river were cleaned out, we could laugh at 
them. 

For ourselves, we are rather inclined to be proud 
of them. There are no finer monuments of the 
enterprize of Richmond than the immense struc- 
tures her millers have reared. If they have made 
fortunes we are glad of it, and no man should" 
begrudge them one cent of their gains when he 
remembers that they have done it by making the 
best flour in the world out of Virginia wheat. If 
their sagacity has enabled them to take advantage 
of circumstances adverse to the farmers, which 
the farmers themselves have not chosen to alter, 
we do not see the harm of it. 

" But what shall I do?" says a puzzled farmer. 



242 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



" James river is not cleaned out, but my wheai is, 
and is ready for market." My friend, do what 
your judgment prompts, and consult that. If the 
prices are " satisfactory," as the Whig says, sell; 
if not, keet> it, but in whatever you do judge for 
yourself when you get the facts. 

" But my wheat will not keep in good order." 
True, and it may be worth less wizen it comes to 
market than a first-rate sample ; but if every man 
acts on that rule, the wheat will accumulate here 
faster than it is wanted ; that will put the price 
down, and then it must be stored at the miller's 
risk, and of course you pay for it. The question 
then is, whether you can store and insure more 
cheaply in Richmond than in your own barn. We 
rather incline to think that as a general rule the 
later deliveries come in better order than those 
which are hurriedly threshed, perhaps from damp 
wheat, and brought in bulk in hot weather to 
Richmond, and that the risk of home storage is 
generally overrated. 

There is also the resource with many of grinding 
at home ; and there are many ways of avoiding 
the evils of keeping, when forethought and pru- 
dence are consulted. 

But in meeting these obvious objections we do 
not mean to invite people to hold on to their 
wheat. We only do it for the benefit of those with 
whom those alone are stumbling blocks, and who 
but for them would not deliver at once. 

We give facts and opinions, as bound in duty to 
the public whom, we profess to serve, (and by-the- 
bye are poorly paid for it), but we protest now, as 
we did in our last, against being responsible as 
if for private advice given to each of our readers. 

Since writing the above we have heard that a 
cargo of wheat is coming around from Baltimore. 
We are glad of it, as it shows that wheat is wanted 
here, and is likely to bring a good price. When 
our millers have foreign orders they may some- 
times be compelled to fill them by getting wheat 
from other quarters if the home supply is short, 
and for aught we know that maybe the case at 
present; or some man, who does not mean to be 
caught in the Baltimore trap, may have shipped 
to this port. It were a pity to let one load of wheat 
from Baltimore put down the price of the crop in 
Virginia, even for a moment. 



THE PRESENT NUMBER OF THE PLANTER. 

We think it not improper to allude to the qual- 
ity of the articles in the present number of the 
Planter. Except a few extracts, of no great 
length, every article is original. Besides those 
from different parts of Virginia, we have one from 
Boston and one from New York. The fact is the 
Planter ' : is rising," and all it needs to its perma- 
nent improvement is about ten thousand additional 
subscribers, and $'9,000 from the present "Patrons .'" 
(" Please call at the office and settle.") 

We have delayed this issue a day or two thai 
we might give the latest information about the 
Wheat crop. 



PITHUSIAN WHEAT: 

Procured from the Island of Ycica, by the U. S. 
Consul at Alicante, in Spain. 

We have received fifty packages of the above 
wheat for distribution. They will be sent to all 
applicants who will enclose three postage stamps, 
which is just the postage on a package. No order 
will be attended to without the stamps. 

It is a Mediterranean wheat, which appears to 
be mixed, red and white, and not a very favorable 
sample, with some few seeds of weeds in it, and 
seems to have been trodden out. Unless it pos- 
sesses some peculiar qualities, as the wheat which 
is known in Virginia as the " Red bearded Medi- 
terranean certainly does, it is not valuable, nor 
even second rate, compared with our good wheats 
in Virginia. And this is the opinion of one of the 
best millers in our city. 

Still, it may be worth a trial. 

We have also, more recently, received twenty 
additional packages of white wheat, Geja it is 
called, from the same locality, an indifferent sample. 



DISEASES OF COWS. 

. We refer those living ir, the region of cow dis- 
temper and on tide water, to two communications 
on these diseasas-, in this number, both written 
by medical gentlemen. We think that they are 
writing on different diseases and have no doubt 
that Dr. A. F. P's were all cases of bilious fever, 
whilst Dr. Crump had to contend with the much 
more formidable and obscure Carolina distemper on 
which Dr. Morton wrote so interesting an essay 
for the State Agricultural Society. 



FAIR OF THE SEABOARD AGRICULTURAL 
SOCIETY. 

This Society is composed of some thirty coun- 
ties of Virginia and North Carolina: We attended 
one of its exhibitions two years ago, and can com- 
mend it as well worthy the attention of Farmers 
and Exhibitors all over the State. 

To our mountain friends it is especially worthy 
of notice, because they who have never seen it. or 
have only looked at its distant shores from the 
deck of a steamer, cannot imagine the richness 
and productiveness of the country, and the energy 
and thrift of the Farmers who till it. We have the 
promise of a friend to give us some facts of this 
sort for the September number of the Planter, 
which we think will surprise the farmers of the 
upper country. 

Nothing can more conduce to patriotism and 
cordiality of feeling among our own people thar 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



243 



an exchange of visits, and it is becoming necessary 
to our safety and defence that we should be thor- 
oughly united in feeling, as well as interest, and 
welded together in resistance to a storm which we 
cannot but think will shortly spread beyond the 
limits of the Halls of legislation. * 

The people of tide water know the mountains of 
Virginia familiarly and love them well, but they 
wish their country to be equally well known by 
their friends of the upper country, and are anxious 
that the visit should not be put off until duty 
Stakes it necessary. 

No place can be healthier than the Seaboard 
until July, and that is the season when the visiting 
should commence- The calls will all be returned 
in August. And in November again Norfolk will 
give a festival and invite the whole of Virginia to 
the. feast. 



GUINEA FOWLS VS. RATS. 

We endorse the gentleman who makes the follow- 
statement. — Ed. So. Pl. 

For the Southern Planter. 

I see a doubt expressed in the last number 
of the Planter as to whether Guinea Fowls 
will drive off rats. My premises, for rears 
past, hrve been overrun with the pests, I say 
for years past, I mean until within the last two 
years; two years ago, very much against my will, 
one of my children got a pair, the rats soon after 
disappeared and I havn't seen or heard of one 
since. B. R. 



lumpy. If a stick is then inserted in the mass it 
will adhere to it. whereas before the operation it 
will run off from the stick like sand. — Ed. So. Pl.] 



For llie Southern Planter: 
TO DRY DAMP WHEAT. 

When my wheat is damp I use the driest and 
cleanest plaster; perhaps calcined plaster will do 
best, as it is more absorbent of moisture, and 
dust the bulk well over, taking care to 
mix it thoroughly. As soon as you find the 
Plaster to feel doughy, I run it through the 
fan and re-apply the Piaster, and repeat the 
Plaster, if necessary It gives the wheat a lively 
appearance and none will stick in the seive. Lime 
will dry the wheat, but some of it will stick to it 
and give it rather a dingy look which detracts 
from its looks, and some millers object to it on that 
account, but I have had flour made of a remnant 
of my seed wheat, and thought it improved the 
quality of the bread. 

It is said lime water is better and more whole- 
some than soda. I have tried lime water, and 
think it improves the quality of the bread. 
Yours truly. 

N. M. Osborne. 

Will™ Hill, P. O., Jvh, 16, 1855. 

[It can be calcined very easily by any one- 
Fill a large iron pot with it and put fire under the 
pot, just as if to boil water In a short time it will 
bubble furiously, as if it were boiling. The- pro- 
eesB is 'omplete when the Plaster begins to get 



To the Editor of the Planter : 

Dear Sir : Several of as being desirous of pro- 
curing a Guano Spreader in time for seeding wheat 
next fall, and wishing to gain all the information 
we possibly can ere purchasing, as to the best im- 
plement and propriety of using it, will such of 
your subscribers as have given the Spreader a 
fair trial, give us the benefit of their experience'? 
and will you be so good as to inform us which of 
the twain received the premium last fall, as there 
were two on exhibition? A Subscriber, J. C. 

We have no experience in sowing guano by ma- 
chinery. Who has ] 

The premium for the best Guano Spreader was 
awarded to Joseph W. Fawkes. We think Bald- 
win & Cardwell, implement makers, of this city, 
are agents for the machine. — [En. So. Pr.. 



For the Southern Planter. 

USEFUL HINTS FOR VIRGINIA GARDENERS 

EY E. G. EGGELING. 

August is the last, and usually the hottest 
of the summer months. There is compara- 
tively little to be done in the garden, except 
attention to cabbages, turnips and strawber- 
ries, concerning which we will give directions. 

Cabbages — If the crop for the winter use 
was not planted entirely during the last month 
the gardener may continue setting out plants 
up to the fifteenth of August. By that time 
the whole crop should be planted. Such as 
have failed to raise plants, either wholly or 
partially, may now sow the seeds of the large 
York variety. Plants may be reared, which 
will be ready for transplanting the last of the 
month or the first of September. The large 
York matures quickly and if planted at the 
period indicated will head very nicely before 
the cold weather sets in. 

Strawberries — The latter part of the month 
is tbe proper time to make new plantations. 
Partial directions, as to tbe mode of proce- 
ding will be found in the Planter for July. 
They should be planted in drills, the rows 
being distant from each other two feet six 
inches, and the plants fifteen inches from 
each other in the row. Thejr should not be 
planted out unless the season is favorable and 
then they should be treated as we directed in 
the July number. In planting cabbages, the 
earth should be well spaded and manured 
before the plants are put out. This is impor- 
tant. 

Turnips — From the first of this month to 
the latter part of September is the period for 



244 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



sowing turnip seeds/ Gardeners may Ibegin 
at once. Land for turnips ought to be very 
rich but not made so by recent applications of 
manure. That does not answer so well. If 
there is a spot, where potatoes were cultivated, 
it suits well, but the best of all is virgin soil, 
well manured with guano. The best turnips 
we have ever seen were raised upon very poor 
soil which had been well dressed with guano. 
That acts like a charm upon the turnip. 
Indeed we know of no vegetable that is so 
much benefitted by it. It is customary to 
sow turnip seed broadcast, but they will do 
better if sown in drills, the rows eighteen 
inches apart, and the seed being sown thinly. 
We would advise, also, that the land be well 
rolled to crush all the clods. When these lie 
about, they harbour the insects which attacks 
the young plants where they first make their 
appearance. For early sowing, there is the 
early flat dutch and red topped ; for later sow- 
ing, there is the Large Norfolk, Large Globe 
and Purple Topped. 

The Ruta Baga or Swedish Turnip ought 
to be sowed without delay. 

Snajjs. — This is an excellent season for 
sowing snaps for pickling purposes. 



From the Southern Farmer. 

Wo ode awn, January 15th, 1855. 

Messrs. Editors: During the past year I made 
an experiment to test the effect which the pulling 
of fodder would have upon the corn from which it 
was pulled. The result surprised me not a little ; 
and as I think the experiment a valuable one, I 
herewith send you a full statement of the manner 
of conducting it, and the result. I selected a 
portion of my corn field in which the rows ran 
perpendicularly to a road, and counted sixty rows 
along the road. I then measured seventy yards 
along the rows on each side of the piece designed 
for the experiment, and marked off a line parallel 
with the road at seventy yards distance from it. 
This embraced 4,200 hills, from the alternate rows 
of which, the fodder was stripped to the top, 
leaving the intermediate rows untouched. After 
tfie fodder was cured, I weighed it, and found that 
I had just 200 pounds, which, at SI 25 per cwt., is 
worth $2.50. 

The two parcels of corn were kept entirely sep- 
arate until the test was fully made, which was 
done in tha following manner, viz : 

Having the two piles before me, and wishing to 
ascertain the number of ears in each parcel, I com- 
menced with that from which the fodder was 
pulled and counted 75 ears into a basket, from 
each draft, until I had weighed the whole of it. 
I then went through the same process with that 
from which no fodder was pulled. By thus count- 
ing, I found that I had upwards of 100 ears more 
in the portion from which the fodder was not 
pulled. This surplus I divided between the two 
parcels, so as to equalize the number, *nd found 
that I had 1,119 pounds in the former, and 1,362 



pounds in the latter portion, being an increase of 
243 pounds in favor of not pulling fodder. . 

I then shelled the same quantity from each par- 
cel, to ascertain the portion to be deducted for 
husks. This amounted to one-fifth in each case. 

The result gave me 195 pounds of shelled corn, 
in the place of 200 pounds of fodder, which was 
suffered to remain on the stalks. 

This lacls one pound of being 3j bushels, 
which, at 80 cents, would give $2.80 ; showing a 
loss of 30 cents, which is equal to 48 cents per 
acre,,besides the labor of pulling and securing the 
fodder. 

To show that no exaggeration existed in this 
experiment, the ears were counted, and the num- 
ber equalized, as before stated. The inequality 
which existed may be accounted for in two ways. 
First, many ears were broken off in pulling the 
fodder ; and secondly, many were prevented from 
maturing by having the fodder pulled from the 
stalks. 

It may be supposed that this fodder was pulled 
to© soon. In the common acceptation of that 
term, such was not the ease. I suffered it to stand . 
until it was thoroughly ripe, or what is termed, 
suffering for the want of pulling. 

This experiment shows an entire loss of 18 
bushels to the hundred, or one sixth part of the 
crop. The above was an experiment alloted 
to me by the Prince George's Hole and Corner 
Club, of which I am a member. If you think it 
worth publishing, you are at liberty to use it 
in that way. 

Yours very respectfully, 

Jno. II. Batte. 

P. S. — If you think the above deserving of 
a place in your journal, you will confer a favour 
by giving your views on the best mode of provi- 
ding a substitute for fodder. J. H. B. 



Points of a Good Mule-bearing Mare. — The 
district round Poitiers in France has long been cel- 
ebrated for Mules. It appears that twelve millions 
francs are annually realized by the export of these 
animals to Spain, Italy, and the central and south- 
ern parts of France. The Poiterin farmers, consid- 
er a mare with the following points, especially 
desirable for mule bearing : A short body, lon£ 
ribs, wide haunches, wide and low hocks, fleshy 
thighs, wide hoofs, heels well turned out and hairy 
in short, a thickset animal of capacious body isth< 
right mould for a fine mule. Will some of our ex- 
perienced mule breeders inform us how this agrees 
with their observation'? — Ccnintry Gent. 



USE COPPERAS. 



The papers are everywhere urging the free use 
of copperas as a disinfecting agent. It is a cheap 
article, costing only three cents per pound, and 
can be found at the druggists, and many of the 
larger grocery stores. A couple of pounds may 
be dissolved in ten quarts of hot water, and the 
solution poured into sinks, gutters, cess-pools and 
all other filthy places with good effect. We advise 
all house-keepers to purchase five, ten or fifteen 
pounds, and make a free use of it as. above recom- 
ded. Cholera or no cholera, their dwellings and 
out-buildings, will contain a purer atmosphere 
after the use of copperas. 



THE SOUTHERN P L A N T 1- 1- 



245 



SHEARING SHEEP BY MACHINERY. 

The Scientific American announces the fact 
that a Michigan Yankee, by the name of Pal- 
mer Lancaster, who lives in Burr Oak, in that 
State, has invented a machine to shear sheep, 
and which will probably put the old sheep- 
shears out of sight. It thus describes its op- 
eration. 

" The machine, which is small and neat, is 
hung by a strap to the arm of the operator, 
and placed on the body of the sheep to be shorn. 
By simply turning a handle back and forth, and 
moving the machine over the body of the sheep 
the wool is made to fly off in double quick 
time. It is well known that -the most expe- 
rienced hands at sheep shearing do not cut the 
fleece even ; and besides, the skin of the ani- 
mal is invariably clipped out by the shears in 
many spots. This instrument cuts the fleece 
rapidly and evenly, never cutting any part of 
the fleece twice ; and it avoids cutting the skin 
of the animal; it is therefore a humane as well 
as a labor saving contrivance." 

[Maine Farmer. 



For the Southern Planter. 
SHEEP. 

I was for some years unsuccessful in sheep- 
raising and wool growing, having all of the 
time a fair chance for success. Year after 
year, I added to my stock, buying from droves' 
from the mountain drovers — nearly every one 
of which I lost-; as was said by my old negro 
man who attended to them, "master, these drove 
sheep have the distemper, or seme other ail 
jnent." At length I found the ailment was 
from loss of teeth by old age. I thencefor- 
ward ordered him at shearing time to put a 
death-mark with tar upon every sheep which 
had bad teeth. The folk wing fall I fatted 
four or five muttons from those bearing the 
death-mark. 

To make a sheep fat, is one of the easiest 
things imaginable. You have only to keep 
him gentle and at command, and you may make 
him thoroughly fat in from two to four weeks 
by giving a gill or two of meal, mixed with 
moistened straw, chopped turnips, or cabbage 
leaves three or four times a day. 

There is a popular error extensively preva- 
lent, that to stall beef or mutton, you must 
stint them in water. This is against nature 
and against reason. Let them have free ac- 
cess to water, and they will very rarely drink 
enough to hurt them. 

It is hard to forego the pleasure of eating 
fat lamb and green peas in their season. But 
the true policy of those who go for the fleece 



and meat, is to spare the young and slaughter 
the old. In my opinion, no provident sheep 
and wool grower will slaughter an ewe lamb ; 
and even the young rams ought to be castra- 
ted and spared, until they become fnll-grown 
wethers. 

There is a foolish popular prejudice against 
bull-beef and ram-mutton. Any man, ye& ? 
even the most fastidious lady, who loves good 
beef and mutton, can easily be cured of this 
prejudice. Let the aniraal.be castrated before 
cutting his throat — and bled nearly to death 
by the operation. Then let his. intestines, &c.> 
be taken out as soon as possible ; the cook can 
arrange the balance, by first salting and then 
steeping in cold salt water a while, then par- 
boiling so as to make it tender before bakings 
or roasting, I have tried it, under my own su- 
pervision. 

T. Street. 
June 18, 1855. 



MULCHING WITH WOOD SHAVINGS. 

E. Hersey, in the New England Farmer, 

recommends wood shavings as a mulch for 

young orchards. He thinks them equal to 

anything he has tried. Here is his experience : 

Having a few fruit trees set on a barren 
knoll, which, although they had yearly assumed 
the appearance of premature decay, and in 
fact had already taken the down hill course, I 
resolved to try the effect of mulching with 
shavings. Around each tree I put two barrels 
of shavings, within a circle of eight feet in 
diameter, leaving a small space between the 
shavings and the tree to be filled with fresh 
earth. To keep the shavings snug, a thin 
coat of grass was spread over the whole. Ta 
fully test the experiment, a part of the trees 
were treated the same as they had formerly 
been. After the lapse of one year, (which 
was last year) those trees mulched with sha- 
vings, put out vigorous shoots, and their dark 
green foliage could be easily distinguished 
from the others at a great distance. So well 
satisfied was I with the result, I last year used 
upwards of a hundred barrels, which haa 
proved equally beneficial to the trees, while 
the first I mulched continued to thrive even 
beyond my expectation. 

If any of your readers have used the above 
named material, I hope they will communicate 
the fact, and state with what success. 

I have found brush from evergreen trees to 
be an excellent material for mulching young 
orchards. 

Had this been resorted to last summer the 
life of many a valuable tree might have been 
saved from the drouth. 



246 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



THE TAMARIND IN VIRGINIA. 

William G. Singleton, Esq., of Winchester, 
Virginia, communicates the following to the 
Commissioner of Patents : 

" Of all the ornamental trees propagated 
among us, either foreign or native, there is 
none, in my judgment, more desirable than 
the tamarind. Its growth is rapid, its form 
symmetrical, its foliage beautifully delicate, 
and is altogether highly ornamental ; besides, 
it is perfectly free from blight, as well as from 
the depredations of insects. If cultivated 
on our western prairies, it would, doubtless, 
form a valuable acquisition. 

" From the growth of some tamarind seeds 
which I obtained from a confectioner's shop 
some eight years since, I have a tree standing 
in my yard eighteen inches in circumference. 
The past season it perfected its fruit, which, 
in quality, was equally as good as that impor- 
ted. The seed may be sown in drills about 
four inches apart, and covered from two to 
three inches deep with light rich soil. They 
may be sown either in the fall or spring. If 
in the latter, they should be exposed to the 
weather during the winter previous, in order 
that their hull or coverings may be acted 
upon by the frost. When grown to a height 
of three or four feet, the young trees may be 
transplanted in the sites where they are per- 
manently to remain." 



vent hole open till it is done working, which 
is generally the middle or last of October. — 
It then may be racked off. It is best to leave 
it on the lees till spring, and if not wanted for 
present use, it may be left on the lees for two 
years without damage. When drawing off, 
bore an inch at least from the tap hole, and 
a little to one side of it, that it may run ofi 
clear of the lees. 

Another Method. — Strain the currants, 
which should be perfectly ripe. To every 
quart of juice, put a couple of quarts of wa- 
ter and three pounds of sugar ; stir the whole 
well together, and let it stand twenty-four 
hours without stirring ; skim and set in a cool 
place to ferment slowly- Let it remain three 
or four days ; if at the end of that time it has 
ceased fermenting, add one quart of French, 
brandy to every fifteen gallons of the liquor, 
and close the cask. Bottle when clear. It 
will be fit for use in about six months, and im- I 
prove by age. 

Black currant wine is also excellent in cases | 
of sickness, such as diseases of the bowels.— 1 ! 
It is made in the same way as the red currant 
wine by the last receipt, — Practical Farmer. 



CURRANT WINES. 

As currants will soon be ripe, we give the 
following receipts for making wines from them, 
believing that in case of sickness they are very 
excellent. Gather the currants when fully 
ripe ; break them well in a tub, press them 
through a sifter ; then strain them through a 
flannel bag, and measure the' juice ; add two 
gallons of water to one of juice, put three 
pounds of N. 0. sugar, stir it till the sugar is 
quite dissolved. In straining the juice of the 
currants, use a hair seive, and not one of wire; 
then use a close tow-linen bag, and afterwards 
a flannel one to pass the juice through. The 
juice must not be permitted to stand over night. 
Observe that the cask be sweet and clean, and 
such as has never been used for cider, and if new 
let it be well seasoned. Do not fill the cask 
too full, otherwise it works out at the bung, 
which is injurious to the wine — rather make a 
proportionate quantity over and above, that 
after drawing off a portion of the wine you 
may have enough to fill up the cask. Lay the 
bung lightly on the hole to prevent the flies, 
&c, from creeping in. In 3 or 4 weeks the 
bung hole may be stopped up, leaving only the 



BUTTER FROM GREEN RYE FEED: 
Benjamin Garrigues, one of the most re- 
spectable farmers of Montgomery County, Pa., 
who has had over forty years of practical ex- - ! 
perience, writes to the Grermantown Telegraph, , 
under date of Upper Dublin, May 16th, that . 
he has been mowing fall-sown rye for over three : 
weeks ; and the result has been that he has had I 
as much milk, and of as good quality, as could I 
have been obtained from the best of pasture. 
He sends a sample of spring made butter, 
which the editor pronounces " excellent, high- 
flavored, and of a deep golden tint." Mr. €r. 
sows rye for pasture upon ground designated 
for potatoes, manuring is well with stable-ma- 
nure or guano, the latter of which he prefers. 
[Am. Agricult. 



KEEPING FURS IN SUMMER. 

On the approach of warm weather, lightly 
whip, comb and brush your furs till they are 
perfectly free from dust, sprinkle them with a 
little spirits of any kind, and wrap them in 
clean linen. Put them in a tight box or draw- 
er, and keep them from the air as much as pos- 
sible. In this situation they may remain ten 
or fifteen days, when they ought to be exam- 
ined, and the whipping, combing and brushing 
repeated. 

The insects most destructive to furs, are, 
first, the black bug which infests smoked meats, 






THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



247 



&c. It appears and deposits eggs early in the 
Jspring. This kind of moth does not eat the 
par. but preys altogether on the skin. Next, 
[the small ash-colored miller, which produces 
[the moth that destroys all kinds of woollen 
Istuffs, and may be seen hovering about the 
{candle on a summer evening. This kind par- 
ticularly preys upon and destroys the furs, and 
jought to be most guarded against, also the 
mites, which are very numerous. They appear 
Qike dust. They subsist upon and destroy the 
•fibrous membrane which attaches the fur to 
Jthe skin. Hence the practice of sunning and 
lairing furs is highly prejudicial, for as insects 
By about in the air, it not only affords them an 
Jopportunity of getting in and breeding, but the 
'•warmth of the sun nourishes and supports 
them, and at. the same time spoils the color and 
destroys the life and beauty of the fur. 

Coarse furs — such as bear and buffalo skins 
— may be preserved by beating them well in 
the spring, and heading them up in an air- 
tight spirit cask, which had been recently emp- 
tied. Especial care must always be taken to 
bave furs, woollens, &c, clean and free from 
insects when they are put up for the season — 
md no. means are adequate to the preservation 
of furs that are badly dressed and not cleansed 
)f the natural grease. — A Troy Farrier. 



.:.'■ 



Lime and Salt. — A discussion took place 
last week in the N. Y. Farmers' Club, re- 

- specting the combination of salt and lime. It 
oas been said that salt and quicklime, when 
mixed together, unite chemically, and form 
carbonate of soda and chloride of lime. This 
was denied by Mr. Judd, in opposition to 
some chemists present. He asserted that no 
chemical change took place in the mixing of 

■- these substances, and requested those who 
thought differently to furnish respectable 
proof to the contrary. This was not done 

: and he remained master of the contest. "We 
rather think he is right, for we cannot conceive 
bow carbonate of soda could be produced from 
a mixture which contains no carbon 

Scientific American. 



For the Southern Planter. 
AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE. 
JEdiCor Southern Planter. 

Dear Sir : In the June number of the 
American Cotton Planter " I find an article 
selected from your paper, from the pen of 
Mr. E. T. Baldwin, of Winchester, to which I 
desire to make reply, because I believe that 
the conclusions to which the writer arrives are 
n direct opposition to the teachings of those 



" best authors " whose works he thinks ade- 
quate to impart " a sufficient knowledge of the 
subject to become successful, practical farm- 
ers." In the discussion of the subject I would 
avoid everything of a personal nature, and 
merely criticize the deductions apart from the 
individual arriving at them. 

The first opinion to which my dissent must 
be entered, is, — "that altho' the Creator has 
compelled man to earn his bread by the sweat 
of his brow, he has adapted the ' art of deri- 
ving from the earth its most valuable organic 
products ' to the plainest understanding." 
When we consider, that with the many years 
of a thorough system of experimenting pur- 
sued in England, and with all the aid fur- 
nished by the brilliant minds of Germany, 
France, and England, the science of agricul- 
ture is but in its initial condition, it may 
well cause some surprise that this simple, 
transparent handicraft has not been fully 
recognised by the common understandings of 
Virginia farmers, and their lands redeemed 
from that l< deplorably impeverished " condi- 
tion the writer so much bewails. 

We can not wonder that this conclusion has 
been arrived at by one who denies that chem- 
istry and agriculture have any relationship, 
for the very commonest understanding could 
perceive that to produce plants, two thiDgs are 
requisite, a seed, and a soil; that by industri- 
ous application the crop might be kept free 
from weeds, or, that if the ground were cov- 
ered, with water or stones, the seed would not 
germinate ; but to know what caused the soil 
to germinate the seed, or what that seed, grown 
to a plant, would appropriate as food, or 
whether his soil had the parts from which the 
crops might be built, he must have something 
more .than an unaided " common under- 
standing." 

The gentleman will admit that to produce 
any given result, the necessary conditions 
must be presented. Hence, to build a rig of 
a ship we must have a certain quantity of 
timber, iron, cordage, etc. ; to build a house 
we must have the brick, stones, wood and 
mortar ; and to build a plant, we must always 
have those matters, organic or inorganic, 
which are found to constitute its organism. 

When, therefore, we discover by certain, 
simple* and unerring tests that some soils are 
naturally deficient in certain of these inor- 
ganic ingredients, how shall the crop be pro- 
duced ? I know that the gentleman denies 
that the mineral salts are necessary to the 
growth of plants ; but, while I would accord 
to him the right of private judgment and the 
weight of his influence so far as it is supported 



248 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



by science, I beg leave to endorse the following 
axomatic propositions, taken from the work 
lately published by John Wiley of New York: 
" On the most diversified soils, in the most 
varied climates, whether cultivated in plains or 
on high mountains, plants invariably contain 
a certain number of mineral substances, and, 
im fact, always the same substances) the 
nature and quality, or the varying propor- 
tions of which arc ascertained by finding 
the composition of the ashes of plants. The 
mineral substances found m the ashes were 
originally ingredients in the soil ; all fertile 
soils contain a certain amount of them ; they 
are never wanting in any soil in which plants 
thrive." 

2. " The soil is richer in these matters 
before seed time than after harvest ; or, in 
other words, the composition of the soil after 
harvest has chaiiged." 

3. " After a series of years, and a corres- 
ponding number of harvests, the fertility of 
the soil or field diminishes While all the 
other conditions have remained the same, the 
soil has not done so ; it is no longer what it 
was at first. The clvxnge which is found to 
have taken place in its composition, is the 
probable cause of its diminished fertility.'''' 

4. " By means of solid and liquid manure, 
or the excreta of men and animals, the lost or 
diminished fertility of the soil is restored.'''' 

5. " Solid or farm yard manure consists of 
decaying vegetable or animal matters, which 
contain a certain proportion of the constituents 
of the soil. The excrements of men and ani- 
mals represent the ashes of the food consumed, 
that is, oxidised or burned in the bodies of 
men and animals. The urine contains the 
soluble, the solid excreta, the insoluble con- 
stituents of the soil, derived from the crops 
used as food, and reaped from the soil. It is 
clear, that, by adding manure, that soil recov- 
ers those constituents which have been removed 
from it in the crops. Thus, the restoration of 
its original composition is accompanied by the 
restoration of its fertility. It. is, therefore, 
certain that one of the conditions of fertility 
in a soil is the presence in it of certain mine- 
ral constituents. A rich, fertile soil contains 
more of these than a poor, barren one does. 

It is universally admitted that Baron Liebig 
is our highest authority on all Agricultural 
subjects, and I may, therefore, be pardoned 
the above lengthy quotations from his last work, 
as they are a sufficient answer to Mr. Baldwin's 
seventh proposition, viz : " All soils, no matter 
how poor, err by what process exhausted, may 
be made exceedingly fertile witliout the addi- 
tion of any substance, whatever." 



He seems to fear that the acquisition of a 
liberal education will render us unfit to become 
practical farmers, and that we would never 
consent to the drudgery of field labor; and 
yet, in his next paragraph he eulogises the 
men who " having completed their education 
at the best seminaries of learning, with culti- 
vated minds and liberal views, return to take 
possession of their farms, provided with abun- 
dant slave labor/' In this case, who is the 
practical farmer ? Is it the drudging laborer, 
unenlightened by the light of knowledge, per- 
forming certain processes, the use for which he 
knows not ? or is it the real farmer, the prac~ 
tical man, who, as he himself goes on to state, 
" by careful observation and attention, and by 
the perusal of the works of the best authors, 
in a few years acquires sufficient knowledge of 
the subject to become successful, practical far- 
mers?" 

On this point there is no controversy between 
us; I see, as does the author of the letter under 
review, that a liberal education, with experi- 
ence, and that knowledge to be obtained from 
those acquainted with the subject, cannot fail 
to render any man a farmer, more or less prac- 
tical, a*s he makes application of his knowledge. 

The gentleman does not object to make use 
of the magnetic needle, furnished by science to 
the uneducated navigator; he is willing to 
warm his house with a compound gas (carbu- 
retted hydrogen) obtained by a chemical pro- 
cess from coal formations ; and will wash his 
hands with a compound, whose mode of manu- 
facture was indicated to 2^'aclical laborers by 
chemistry, why then, will he reject the aid 
which this same science offers to the noblest of 
occupations and parent of all arts, Agriculture?. 
Why is he content to see his land grow less 
and less productive, until it refuses the small- 
est return for the usual amount of labor?] 
Why will he ignore the fact that the processes ; 
of growth are chemical ones, and that if one of 
those processes is destroyed, it is by chemistry 
alone that we can understand how to apply 
the remedy ? He is wrong in supposing that 
because by a close system of study one natu- 
rally incapacitates himself for manual labor of 
the more violent nature, a man is not able to 
be so thoroughly practical as to give each de- 
partment of farm labor the motor principle that 
shall bring about the most desirable results. 

After making the assertion that there is no 
such science as Agricultural Chemistry, he 
makes the following arguments : 

1. "It contradicts, the experience of the 
practical farmer in the assertion that different 
plants require different nutriment, for every 
practical farmer knows that however poor land 



•the southern planter. 



249 






may be, if well manured, it will perfect any 
'crop that ever grew in Virginia." Softly, 
my friend; you have already told us that " no 
matter how poor soil may be, it may be made 
fertile icithout the addition of any substance 
whatever." Why, then, would you add ma- 
nure to produce crops ? But you mistake 
when you say that different plants do not 
require different nutriments, for how is it that 
if phosphoric acid and lime, together with 
nitrogenous substances, be not present in your 
soil, you can get no wheat ? or that without 
potash no potatoes will grow ? or, that a field 
without lime refuses to bear clover ? Unless 
the manure you are applying to a poor soil 
contains the necessary constituents, you may 
rest assured that yoar crop will not grow 
as you suppose. You may apply lime to your 
soil year after year, until the field is one huge 
reservoir of it, and unless the phosphates are 
present, or the clorine, or the sulphuric acid, 
or any other of the mineral salts you think so 
lightly of, you wait in vaia for your wheat, 
your corn, or your tobacco. 

2. " The analysis of all similar vegetable 
and animal substances are alike, whether they 
be obtained from the North Pole or under the 
Equator, nor do the results of analysis differ 
with the quality of the food ^consumed with 
them during life." To answer which I will, 
for a moment, refer you to the quotation from 
Liebig, No. 1, where he speaks of the "nature 
and quality of the varying proportions''' of 
certain mineral substances found in plants, 
thus showing that even the proportions of the 
mineral constituents are not the same under 
different circumstances. I shall then refer to 
the celebrated lectures of Alexander Petzholdt, 
(which have the sanction of the Edinburgh 
Quarterly Review,) who says that in two 
experiments with wheat, it was found that one 
plot manured with cow dung had only 12 per 
cent of gluten, while the other, manured with 
night-soil (other conditions being the same) 
contained no less than 35 per cent., added to 
which we have the fact, (stated by Prof. Nor- 
ton, of Yale College and other practical men) 
that wheat grown in warm climates always 
contains a larger proportion of gluten, than 
that grown in more northern latitudes. What 
<l<-i'>- our friend say to this? Will he still 
maintain that plants of a similar class do not 
glter in their composition ? He pays : 

3. i; The processes of digestion and nutri- 

-.1 processes," cba, and yet we 

are I r,1 ^y> that "the science of 

CI Jaticn to the science of 

Itnre." TLc contradictions in the letter 

ar< > ■.'■■ can only suppose that 



the intelligent writer is writing to provoke a 
reply, that others may derive benefit from his 
explanations. If this be so, we are heartily 
willing to receive the castigation for the profit 
of a science to which I must confess a deep 
admiration. But let us proceed. Our author 
next says : " If the mineral salts found by 
analysis in the ash of plants are the same 
which were derived from the earth, during their 
growth, this would prove that they did not 
serve as nutriment to the plants, not being 
chemically changed." We can only have an 
admiration for that species of mental diastase 
which has changed the facts of the case into 
the above ingenious hypothesis. As well 
might he say that because the water found in 
the turnip is not different from that found 
in our wells, it has served no purposes of nu- 
triment to the turnip; and that, consequently, of 
one hundred pounds of turnips, the ninety- 
five pounds of water is*o much foreign matter, 
of no account, merely held in a mechanical 
connexion with the turnjp, as a gravel stone 
is held in the craw of a hen. The truth is, 
that, despite the similarity between the mine- 
ral portions of the plant and those of the 
soil, unless they are in a, soluble state ready 
for appropriation, the plant refuses to grow. 

5. "Combustion being a chemical process the 
analysis of the ash of plants cannot possibly 
demonstrate the same salts which existed in 
them previous to combustion." 

In the work of Liebig, previously quoted 
from, we find the following : " A substance, 
chemically combined with another, in conse- 
quence of the attraction between its elements, 
opposes a resistance to any other substance 
tending to combine with it ; and this resist- 
ance must be overcome, if the new compound 
is to be formed." We, therefore, perceive 
that where an acid and a base are united to 
form a salt, there must be evolved in the pro- 
cess of combustion, some extraneous force, 
strong enough to destroy the union, or the 
mineral salt will be found unchanged. That 
combustion or decay does always so modify 
their relations, is not a fact. We must remem- 
ber that in the process of combustion it is the 
organic portions of the plant or animal which 
are changed essentially in their conditions, 
and that owing to the mineral nature of the 
inorganic it requires such an amount of heat to 
alter the chemical relations of their constitu- 
ents that before attaining it, the organic parts 
would have been entirely volatjzed and decay 
have ceased. 

o. " The mineral salts cannot be proved to 
be the fruit of plants, (wo suppose he means 
the prodvet) when separated from the ashes 



250 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTERS 



which contained them." Astonishing conclu- 
sion ! As well might he say that because I 
cannot tell where my pen was made, it is 
not fit to write with ; or, expect me to tell, if 
the brick which one hands me, has been in 
the wall of a house, or of a furnace. If we 
find by analysis, that our mineral salts are 
present in the ash, we may be certain that 
they were of use to the living plant, or it would 
never have been allowed to enter. Altho' 
more intelligent man will put into his stomach 
foreign substances not necessary to nourish his 
body, and will destroy his nervous energies by 
the use of tobacco and other narcotics, we 
have to learn of the first analogy to his crime, 
in the vegetable world. 

The final proposition and the most audacious 
of all is the one quoted in the first part of this 
article, viz : 

7. " All soils, no matter how poor, or by 
vjhat process exhausted, may be made exceed- 
ingly fertile without the addition of any sub- 
stance whatever. What makes it worse is 
that the whole is italacised and thus is inten- 
ded to attract additional notice. The author 
was evidently thinking of the system of allow- 
ing a soil to lie falloio for a season, and thus 
acquiring somewhat of its pristine vigor. 
Now, I would ask, why we allow our fields 
to lie fallow if it be not that the insoluble 
matters in the soil, become, by the atmospheric 
agents, soluble, and consequently ready to be 
appropriated by the plants? We know very 
well that we have three leading classes of soils, 
sandy, clay and calcareous, besides which there 
are the composite orders, made from the debus 
of certain genera of rocks, such as trap, 
gneiss, mica, granite, &c.^ We farthermore 
know, that these soils differ in constituents, 
there being in one an excess of iron ; in another, 
of magnesia ; in another, of potash, and 
that in some, the proportion of any one 
given substance is either entirely absent, 
or in such diminutive proportions as to 
be insufficient to supply vegetation, that until 
we add the missing constituents, however in- 
3irmificant it may appear, we vail have no crop, 
therefore, unless these conditions be complied 
with, Mr. B., or any one else may let his field 
remain fallow until all eternity, and he will get 
no return. Hence, I believe that when the 
Virginia farmer runs his plow five or six inches 
deeper than usual, and adds a few pounds of 
^uano or phosphate, his miraculous crop is 
owing to the fact that he has brought new por- 
tions of the soil to be acted on by the air and 
moisture circulating beneath the surface of the 
soil, and that thus the nutrient matters already 
existing in his land are rendered in such a 



condition as to be ready for immediate use. 
He is, in truth, plowing up his second farm t 
the one immediately beneath the old one ; but, 
after he has deepened his plowing year by yeai 
and removed crop after crop, without return- 
ing the animal excrement and other suitable 
fertilizers, he finds that even the virgin soil he 
commenced cultivating is becoming impover- 
ished and finally, barren. Of course, we 
understand that this result will be deferred to 
a more or less distant date, in proportion to 
its original fertility. 

After carrying us through the above seven . 
assertions, our friend leaves us in the following 
deplorable fix : 

" If the farmers of Virginia will discard all 
erroneous opinions with regard to the collec- 
tion and application of manure, and rely 
solely upon the restoration to the soil of that 
natural provision of vegetable life, mouldy 
that is manure made of the earth itself, caused 
by shade (!) I confidently predict that in a i 
few years, &c, &c." Here is something 
which, if it were true, is of great weight, but 
unfortunately, it is not borne out by careful 
experiment. By " mould " we are led to un» 
derstand the accumulation of organic materi- 
als from the decay of vegetation in the soil, 
and the soluble inorganic matters of the soil 
itself, but how this is to be brought about 
by shade, is not so clear. I have yet to learn 
that the formation of humus will take place 
more rapidly under cover ; if that were so, we 
should erect on our fields immense sheds under 
which this desirable process might be accele- 
rated. That the presence of the mineral 
matters in soil does not increase its fertility, 
is a theory which has not been refuted long 
enough to render it entirely obsolete, for 
as late as 1840, Dumas, obviously founding 
his belief on the experiments of De Lanssure, 
regarded their presence in plants as acci- 
dental; this opinion he urges in his " Statique 
chimique des etres Organes," but Baron 
Liebig, convinced after most rigid experiments 
on perfectly barren soil, not only by himself, 
but by the Prince of Salm, Horstman, Wolf, 
Magnus and others, says : '■' No chemist, no 
vegetable physiologist, in short, no scientific 
man, who knows how to appreciate the logical 
value of facts, doubts the truth of this doc- 
trine;" that is, that they arc absolutely essen- 
tial to plant growth. 

And now, Mr. Editor, that we have com- 
pared the deductions of Mr. Baldwin with 
reason, and with the facts derived from men 
who have more knowledge on these subjects 
than either he or myself, I would take leave 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



251 



f him in the most kindly spirit, hoping that 
e may extend his researches a little further 
id give us the benefit of his renewed exped- 
ients. Yours, respectfully, 

Henry S. Olcott. 
New York ^ July, 1855. 



For the Southern Planter. 



.MANAGEMENT OF HORSES. 

Albemarle, July 8th, 1855. 

Dear Planter : It has been a long time 
ince I saw myself in print, (no very great 
iss to the agricultural interest you'll say) so 

you'll give me a place I'll say a few words 
pon my management of horses. I suppose 
ou. with your tide-water prejudices, are an 
dvocate of mules for plantation use, and will 
aeet everything 1 have to say in favor of the 
i orse with the oft-repeated assertion that mules 
at less and live longer than horses. Now, 

don't admit either end of this assertion. 
Joth the mule and the horse, to do full labor, 
nust be well fed, and as for dying, my horses 
lever die, at least on my hands. 

My plantation requires the labor of about 
even horses, six for work and one for the 
addle. I keep nine, eight mares and a stal- 
ion. These give me a regular team at all 
,imes, and the two extra horses enable me fre- 
quently to make a push. From these I raise 
ibout three colts a year. I sell off all my 
geldings, some at two and some at three years 
)ld. Of my mare colts I keep the best and 
sell off old mares, at from 8 to 10 years old, 
o make room for them. The mares bring as 
nuch at this age as at any other. In this 
way I constantly renew my stock and my 
iorse account at the end of nine years farming 
»t£nds : 

Cost of original stock, % 705 

Stock sold and on hand, - 2,781 



Showing in 'J years a profit of $2,076 
Which, in my opinion, is better than keeping 
geldings or mules and having to renew your 
stock every 1 years. To my colts in raising, 

pay no very particular attention, not as 
much as I ought; I graze them about eight 
months in the year and the other four feed 
them as I do my farm cattle, except in very 
bad weather, when I give a little corn, not 
two barrels a piece, certainly. I have conse- 
quently never raised high priced horses, and 
am, as you know, a poor hand to sell for a big 
pricM (witness a trade or two you had with mc 
in times past), and yet I have always a full 
team and have realised a handsome profit from 
hor;-/; raising. The profit would be very great 



to one who would bestow more attention than 
I do in raising colts and think less of con- 
science in selling them. I am no horse doctor, 
yet in nine years I have lost but one horse. 
For the numerous aches and pains that horse 
"flesh is heir to," I give onion juice and whis- 
key, (which, for cholic by-the-way is worth all 
the physic in an apothecary's shop) and, when 
I think of it, in the spring of the year mix 
onion juice with my horse feed once or twice, 
which conduces greatly to their health. I am 
a firm believer in the blinding influence of 
" wolf teeth " and pull them out whenever I 
find them ; and I hold it to be a flogging 
offence to knock out a horse's eye. I have 
never had a horse to lose an e}^ from any 
cause. I flatter my waggoner into taking 
care of his horses ; never say a word to him 
for stealing food for them, but w r ould " mount 
him in a minute " for taking it ]rom them. 
If I have a mischeivous hor«e, I sell rather 
than yoke him, and as for sore backs or rubbed 
shoulders, I had rather be caught with a hole 
in my boot or a patch on my breeches than 
have such a thing on my farm. I hold it to 
be cheaper to raise than buy horses ; but if it 
were not, I should prefer raising to buying 
out of droves. These are generally of the 
refuse stock of the western country. Western 
men don't sell their best horses, and the chan- 
ces are ten to one that a " drove horse " is 
sold for some fault or defect. Why should 
we not all raise our own horses ? Yours, truly, 

Ivy Creek. 



For the Southern Planter. 

Browns uurg, Rockbridge, July 4, 1855. 

Mr. Editor : The harvest of the valley of 
Virginia is generally cut, but is mostly yet in 
the field in shock. The weather is now unfa- 
vorable to getting the wheat housed, and 
we may have our short crop still further 
reduced should the wet weather continue many 
days. The hot weather, with occasional show- 
ers, will cause the wheat to sprout, which 
always injures the quality of the flour. No 
injury is yet sustained. The past week 
has been showery, with occasionally heavy 
washing rains, and this morning threatens a 
settled rain. 

The spring, and up to the 15th June, has 
been very dry and cold ; having frost every 
month, up to that date. The grass crop 
is very short, also oats, but the late rains will 
cause the oat crop to head well. From the 
best information I can get, the wheat crop 
in Virginia will fall far below an average ; in 
many places not half crops are made. In 
about one half our county there will be full 



252 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



average crops, with wheat of the best quality, 
if we can get it safely housed. 

Of the corn crop it is yet too early to say 
what it will be, the previous dry weather has 
enabled the farmers to get it in fine order and 
it is now growing luxuriantly. Heavy crops 
will be made, should July and August continue 
seasonable. The old crops of corn, wheat, 
rye, oats and buckwheat are almost entirely 
•exhausted. I have hardly ever known the 
country as bare of grain as it is at present, 
yet there has been no actual suffering. 

Flour has sold readily from the mills at $10 
for some months, corn 85c. to $1, rye same 
price, oats 50 cents, buckwheat $1 to $1 25, 
jjross beef about $8, at home. 

I have this spriDg laid down about four 
hundred yards of cement pipes, for the 
purpose of bringing to my kitchen door water 
from a favorite spring, and I now step out of 
my house into mv spring house, where I have 
the purest water in abundance to answer all 
the purposes of my family, at a teinpcrature 
of GO deg.; at the spring the water stands 
at 5.4 deg. When my ditch shall become 
grassed over I expect to have the water at 
my door near 58 deg., which is about the usual 
temperature of springs. 60 deg. to 65 is said 
to be the best temperature for making good 
butter. 

Mrs. Jones is delighted with my new spring 
house. I would not part with it for five times 
its cost. As some of your readers may wish 
to make a like improvement, and before doing 
ao would count the cost, I will go a little into 
detail. I did much of the work within 
myself, but set down the building the spring 
house, 14| by 20 feet, two and a half stories, 
at about $100, of stone and frame; I have an 
office above the spring house and the half story 
is a room for drying fruit. Digging the ditch 
say $10. Four hands, one week, laying down 
the cement pipes, with the cost of cement, 
$100. The pipes are made on the ground, in 
a mould laid in the bottom of the ditch which 
mould is undamped and removed as soon as the 
cement sets. Four hands can lay about one 
hundred yards per day. When there is no 
pressure the water may be put on immediately, 
in proportion to the pressure the work must 
atand until it goes through a sweat. The 
water, with me. had to rise 13 feet. The 
water was put into my pipes on the 5th 
day after the work was commenced to within 
a hundred yards of my house, where it has an 
cutlet. The remaining hundred yards, which 
rises twelve feet, was ready to put on the 
water in fifteen days. The water pours into 
the spring house from a hydrant, entering 



a large trough of cement and small stone 
plastered over with the cement. This trougl 
is built against the end and one side of the 
spring house and the water ranges in deptl 
from six to ten inches. In this trough w< 
could set a hundred gallons of milk. There 
is a plug in the bottom to draw off the water 
that the trough may be kept clean. A cemenl 
pipe, ten inches above the bottom of the 
trough, empties the water outside of the spring 
house into a small cistern, 2^ feet deep, hold- 
ing some six hundred gallons of water, where 
my little son has a few fish to amuse hig. 
idle hours. I design conveying this water 
through my yard into my orchard, where lj 
shall have a pond for gathering ice. 

The Messrs. J. B. & W. F. Poague, whq. 
have a patent for laying this pipe, are nativea 
of Ptockbridge county, and reside near the: 
Natural Bridge. Post Office, Fancy Hill, I 
(Fancy Hill.) The Messrs. Poage exhibited 
specimens of their pipe at the Virginia State 
Agricultural Fair last fall, and will; no doubt,i 
be there again at the approaching Fair. They I 
use several sizes of pipe, from one inch up. 
Mine is 1% inch and cost 25 cents per yard, 
they finding the cement at the cement works, 
at the mouth of North River. Persons get- 
ting work done pay transportation from that 
point, or when they would furnish the cement, 
from any other quarter, and the work ! 
done by any other than Messrs. Poague's 
hands, a charge would be made for the patent i 
only. Cement, at the works on James River, r 
can be bought of Mr. Charles Locher at 20 to 
22 cents per bushel, in bags. If barreled, 
it costs- more. Cement weighs 70 lbs. per i 
bushel. A good team, four horses, will haul I 
50 bushels; 25 bushels cement will lay one 
hundred yards 1^ inch pipe. One hun- 
dred bushels completed my job. The Messrs. 
Poague will probably, next year, compete for r 
the premium for tubular draining tiles, made 
of cement; they have been experementing on i 
that subject. 

Any good mason, who understands the use 
of the trowel, can mould and lay cement pipes. 
The only difficulty is in not letting the mortar 
set before it is used. The process is to > 
mix One bushel, or less, half cement and hal^ i 
pure river sand. Let it be mixed speedily by 
two hands, in a trough made for the purpose, , 
using light hoes; as soon as mixed it must I 
be put in the mould; if the water is from 
a branch aud the weather warm, it will set I 
in twenty minutes; or less, if the water and 1 
weather is cold, it will sometimes be thirty > 
five to thirty minutes. 

T will now leave this subject and refer ony 



THE SODTHEp PLANTER. 



253 



ierson who may want further information 
iith regard to cement pipes, to the Messrs. 
fqague, whose post office is Fancy Hill, 
toekbridge county, Virginia. I will add 
pat they are gentlemen of high standing and 
(bay he relied on. 

The promise of a fruit crop, this year, is 
kir, particularly with seedlings and native 
jarieties of apples. Our best grafted varie- 
fces, about half crop, peaches abundaot, nee- 
nrines, apricots, pears, cherries and smaller 
jerries, a full supply. 

I The spring has been a bad one for setting 
jut fruit trees, being too dry. Many young 
Irees will perish if not well attended to. 
I Bfy sheet is full. Your obedient servant, 
Henry B. Jones. 



For the Southern Planter. 

Cold Mountain, July 10, 1855. 
"b the Editor of the Southern Planter. 

Herewith I send $3, which will take my sub- 
;ription to the Planter ur> to the 1st of January, 
856. 

I ara G5 } _ ears of age, yet continue to take the 
lanter, although I now cultivate not one foot of 
arth; a small garden excepted. 

I have never yet sent my monej to any Agricul- 
lral paper without sending with it a treatise on 
ome subject, and although old, will still try my 
and, 



H 



GRASSES AND GRAZING. 



I have nearly every kind of grass grown in Vir- 
mia. and for mam - years have made a support by 
j -, razing cattle and sheep. 

Every grazier is bound to have grass; the farmer 
nd planter ought to have it. The quickest way 

improve laud is by ploughing down successive 
rops of oats, rye or peas ; but the cheapest way 

to plough down the perennial grasses, after they 
ave stood three or four years untouched by 
cythe or tooth. The kind of grass to be sown 
hould be adapted to the locality ; for altho' nature 
nay be coaxed a little, yet she cannot be whipped 
r spurred out of the track which the Creator 
haiked out. It is true that Indian corn may be 
towh cither in the torrid or in the temperate 
ones, but let it be remembered that although a 
lOrr.hc-n. corn can be grown in a southern climate, 
.southern corn cannot grow in a northern climate, 
f a northern corn be transplanted in the south, it 
fill in a few years become a southern corn ; take 
he same corn directly back to its original place, 
nd the frost takes it: but move the annual pi-p- 
^ice only j few miles towards its original home, 
nd when there all is right again — it is what it orig- 
oally was. The same cannot be said of the grasses; 
'or so far an \u\ experience and information go, 
hey an what they ever were. 

Some of our grasses are annuals, some are per- 
!&("!-< - iatural, others foreign or artificial. 

Of ti.e annual grasses, I saj nothing, because 
hey are vorthless when compared to the peron- 
eals. 

Of all .',■ i itural brasses, we h'ive in Virginia, 
k greei ■ - I the white clover and the Virginia 



blue grass ; all of which are superior for grazing 
purposes, especially for sheep. The green sward 
and white clover will generally be found growing 
together, and on rich land may be cut for hay twice 
in the year ; but because of their difficulty of 
curing, better for this purpose have some other. 
The natural place for green sward and white clover 
is on cool, moist land, containing potash in abun- 
dance, as well as a due portion of lime and gyp- 
sum. If the potash is wanting it must be supplied 
either in the manufactured article or in the ashes. 
Only sow the ashes and the green sward will soon 
show itself without sowing • without the ash or 
ashos you have no green sward. My mountain 
home contains, perhaps a superabundance of pot- 
ash, produced by the decomposition of the felspar 
and green stone rocks; and ashes from the burnings 
of woods and weeds ; and here I have these grasses 
in perfection. 

About thirty years past the blue grass was 
growing all over Amherst and had exclusive pos- 
session of the larger mountains ; but now the green 
sward has taken its place ; nature has ordered a 
change, and I am glad of it, for the green is now 
far preferable to the blue. But I have no doubt 
that in time to come, perhaps hundreds or thou- 
sands of years, this same blue grass seed will be 
called forth by nature; and then it will not be the 
dwarf seen here in my day, but a superior plant. 
Altho' aware of the difficulty of performing the 
task, I will attempt to speak of the adaptation of 
the different grasses to the different soils and loca- 
tions : • 

On poor land, dry, sow herds grass and ribbed 
plantain. 
. On poor land, moist, herds grass. 

On poor land, wet stagnant, herds grass, 

On poor land, wet slope, herds grass. 

On rich land, dry, we have none. 

On rich land, moist, if warm location, sow mea- 
dow oats, Italian ray and Kentucky blue. If cold 
location, sow timothy, orchard. 

On rich land, wet slope, if warm location, sow 
velvet, ribbon, Kentucky blue, herds. If cold, 
timothy. . • 

On rich land, wet stagnant, herds. 

On sand, cold location, something may grow. 

On sand, warm location, nothing unless irrigated. 

By cold land, I mean our mountainous and nor- 
thern slopes, including the valleys beyond th-8 
Blue Ridge. By warm land, I mean all other 
locations in our State. In Virginia, thousands of 
cattle die annually during winter for want of food ; 
particularly eastward from the Blue Ridge. 
Better kill one half for the dogs and buzzards, «to 
ensure the life of those remaining, and have them 
in good condition in spring; or better still, drive 
the surplus across the Blue Ridge and sell them. 
Better be without cattle than sustain such loss by 
their deaths from poverty; aye and take into the 
account too, the death of the land, caused by the 
eternal treading and gnawing of the cattle to get 
the remains of a weed. If I were the owner of 
poor land, I would certainly not let a hoof go on It. 
A cow or two anil my horses, should be kept in a 
house or pound, and fed on corn, millet, clover, &«. 
during the grass season. I would not sell my sur- 
plus winter cow food, hut spread it neatly over my 
poorest lands, after which, I would call that spot 
no longer by any ugly name, such as poor, bony, 
sterile, miserable, barren, galled, dry, worthless, 
sickly, dead. It seems to be the general opinion 



254 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



that the offal of the farm should be trodden by 
cattle into a muck, before it is a proper manure ; 
but my experience and indeed, reason, teaches me 
that this is a great mistake. 'Tis true that the 
cows feet do not destroy or injure the salts or oils 
in the vegetable matter, but the rains and evapora- 
tions do. And not only this, but another heavier 
loss is sustained by the practice above alluded to, 
that is, the lifting, carting, and spreading three 
times as much water as manure. I have been an 
experimental farmer, and now say, the owner of 
land, particularly that which is poor, had better 
have no cattle than be compelled to feed to them 
his corn stalks and straw. The renter is a privi- 
leged character; he can do as he pleases; he 
spreads no manure, of course. Put your corn 
stalks on the most convenient galls and gullies ; 
and your straw in spring, neat and clean, on wheat, 
rye, or oat fields ; only remember not to put oat 
straw on wheat or rye. Or if from sickness or 
other cause, you cannot complete this job in due 
time, then scatter your remaining straw amongst 
your growing corn, immediately following the last 
ploughing. This manner of manuring will force a 
good ear on a small stalk — in part, attributable to 
the retention of moisture. Straw used in this 
way will produce more profit than double its origi- 
nal value : then why not clear out the cattle, for 
one year at least, and then you have annually the 
overplus grains, shucks and corn blades as their 
better food. Much better live poor and go ragged 
a few years until your lands are improved, than go 
starving all your life. , 

Let not the man who has numbers of poor acres 
and poor slaves, think that he is excluded in the 
above remarks. Who are the rich 1 he who has 
the bone, the sinew and mind, ready all to go right 
ahead with his business. Who are the poor? he 
who will not adapt his mind to his occupation; 
and the consequences — ah ! oh ! 

The velvet grass is of pale green color, grows 
from two to three feet high, long boot and short 
blade, both velvet like ; seed much like the ribbon 
grass only more chaffy and light. It grows more 
luxuriant in soft, running water, therefore, I would 
recommend it for all slopes which can be irrigated 
at pleasure by soft or warm water. This and the 
ribbon grass are the only grasses which will bear 
warm water, in my knowledge, and it is only neces- 
sary to take the water from these just for the time 
for cutting and curing the hay. 

The ribbon grass grows from two to three feet 
high, and is easily distinguished from any other, 
by the blades having all manner of white stripes. 
It blossoms profusely, but I have never known it to 
bear a seed. It propagates rapidly from the roots. 
The oat grass grows from three to five feet high, 
may he cut for hay three times in the year ; no 
stock is fond of it either green or cured, yet as it 
puts up early and continues late, it is valuable. 

I send a head of Virginia blue grass, long ; a 
head of Kentucky blue grass, short; ribbon grass, 
shorter; velvet grass, shortest; three blades of 
ribbon, one blade velvet, and a leaf of the wild 
pea — all dwarfs, for convenience. 

Za Drummoxd. 
Amherst, July 10, 1855. 



For the Southern Planter. 

Powhatan, July 8th, 1856. 
Mr. Editor. Some years since, Judge G. W. Hop- 



THE CHINCH BUG AND TnE CORN CROP. 

Prom all we can gather, the Chinch Bug is more 
numerous the present year than it has been since 
1822-'23, and the cry of its desolation comes up 
from all parts of the country. — Fred. Herald. 



kins presented me with about a table spoonful o! 
winter oats, obtained from the Patent Office, a! 
Washington, and said to have been imported fron: 
Germany. I sowed them in my garden, and con- 
tinued for two or three years to sow all thai 
were made. Two or three of my neighbors had of 
me a few bushels, and. through their agency rathet 
than my own, these oats have acquired a conside- 
rable degree of reputation for superiority over the 
common oats. Last winter was, probably, as unfa- 
vorable to their production of a large crop as any 
within the recollection of any person living. I 
have heard of several persons, who sowed them, 
at a late period in autumn, who had them not suffi- 
ciently thick. This would, probably have been 
the case with wheat. Chiefly with the view of being 
enabled to answer with confidence the enquiries 
likely to be made at the period most favorable for 
sowing them, I had some sown about the middle I 
of November, some in the middle of December and> 
some in the middle of January. Those sown in. 
December and January were, by the frosts of win-i 
ter, rendered decidedly thinner than they should I 
have been; those sown in November were slightly I 
affected by the same cause. Either of these cropsi/ 
however, was superior to what could have been 
realized from spring sowing with common oats;, 
that from the land sown in November, especially. 
Again : a piece of very poor land on which winter 
oats grew lasc season (1854) was fallowed from the 
fifteenth to the thirtieth of August, with the de- 
sign to save the seed which the land would other- 
wise have required. This experiment was spoiled 
by the hogs having been too long allowed to re- 
main on the land and glean the seed too closely. 
The crop was not sufficiently thick, and, I am con- 
vinced, from this cause alone, — I have, however; 
no hesitation in believing that it was thrice as 
large as it could have been, in this unfavorable 
season, had the land been sown in spring with the 
common oats. The oats were very generally three 1 
feet high and the branches very luxuriant. In 
the course of last winter and spring. I repeatedly 
walked through this crop and have not been' 
enabled, by my observations, to determine that 
a single bunch had perished. This land is very! 
poor and has never received a manuring by guano* 
or other material. 

From all the experience I have had in the cultiva- 
tion of this species of oats I have no hesitation in 
recommending the sowing of them from middle of 
August to middle of September, as ike very best i 
period. When sown at this period, the farmer may 
confidently anticipate a crop, from poor land, at 
least twice or thrice as large as could be reaped 
from spring sowing with the common oats. Thq 
later the period of sowing, after that here men- 
tioned, the smaller will probably be the products 
that however, may, in a considerable degree depend ! 
on the early or late advent of severe frosts. I, as 
well as other persons, who have made the experi- 
ment, believe that these oats are superior to the 
common, when sown at an early period of the 
spring, and that they will, probably, supplant all 
others- Sown immediately adjacent to others they ■ 
will be found to exceed them, by several inches, in 
height. I shall conclude with the expression of 
the hope that these suggestions may be of advant- 
age to some one. Most respectfully yours, &c, 
Abnkr Crump, M. D. 






I 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



255 



UCH3IOND MARKETS, JULY 28, 1855. 

i Apples — Va. S3 per bbl. none in market. 
I Bacon — City cured, none in market; Western Sides 
Ihew) held at lie, new Shoulders, lOalOJc, Hams, I2jal5 
if, Smithfield hog round, 12ic. Q,ueen City Hams, 13$. 
I Buttek— Mountain 2^ to 25 cts., Goshen 23a25 cts., 
Id and inferior, SalOJ cts. 
Beeswax — 25ia26j per lb. 
Cotton — 11 i cts. per lb. 

Cotton Yarns — I7al8 cts., cash. Cotton Cordage 20 
ts., per lb. 
Corn — We quote 105all0 cts., per bushel. 
Corn Meal — 81 30a 1 3-5. 

Coffse — Rio lOialli cts, Laguyra 11| cts.. Java 15 
, Mocha 15£c. 

Flour — We quote country superfine at SlOjall 
Si 1?-, family §12al2J. "Stock Tery light, and very 



ttle arriving. 



Flaxseeb — We quote at Si 60al 65 per bushel. 

Feathers — Live geese 40 cts. per lb. 

Fish— Herrings, N. C, cut, '87 a 7 25 ; Halifax, 

lipped, No. 1, 65 50; No. 2, So. Shad — Last sales 

Mackerel, No. 1, $21 per bbl., No. 2, S12 50, No. 3, 

.11, 84 50a5, No. 4, S4 50a5, medium 5 50a6, large 9 25 

9 50. 

Ginssng — 25 cts., per lb. 

Gsass Seeds — Clover 86 per bushei, Timothy 
Sla4 25, Herds' Grass 81 25al 50 per bushel. 

Guano — We quote $52 from wharf, 852 50 delivered, 
ir Peruvian, Mexican Guano S30a§35. 

Gunpowder— Dupont's and Hazard's Sporting, F, FF, 
cd FFF, 54i, Blasting, 82,75aS3 per keg. 

Kcop Poles — We quote at 87 per thousand. 

Hiles— Slaughtered 6j cents per lb., green weight : calf 
kins, green, 81. No Spanish Hides in market. 

Hay — Sales from store Si 50. 

Iron and Nails— Pig Iron, S32aS40, Swedes 8107 00, 

nglish refined and Tredegar 895, Common English 
580, American country 835. Cut Nails 4a4fe. 

LiauOES — Brandy, Olard. Dupuy & Co. S3a5 per gal.; 

I Seignette, S2 25aS4; Saze'rac, 83 25a 84 50; Hennessey, 
3 95a$5; Peach, scarce at 8l 25aS2; Virginia Apple, 00c. 

i i85c; do. old, 75c.a8l 50; Northern do, 55a75c; Imitation, 
!5a47ic. Rum, New England, 45c. Gin, Holland, 8l,20a 

II To; American 45 cts. 
Lead— Pig Gfa'ic, cash and time. 
Lard — Prime Lard, inbbls. 12c, scarce, in Kegs;, 12al3J, 

«i pails, 14c. 

Leather — Good slamp 20a22c, per lb., damaged 18c., 
Xior 15al7c, upper leather Si 50a83, as in size, weight 
ind quality, the latter price only for superior heavy sides. 
skirting and harness Leather is more plenty with less 
Jemand. We quote 20 to 29c. as extremes, principally 
ah- 22a26c. 
Lure — 81 37 in store, 81 31} from vessel. . 
Molasses: — New Orleans 32a35c'. per gallon. Cuba, 

i'crto Rico, 35. 
Oa:s — Stock very light — sales at 55a60cts. per bush. 
Oftal— Bran, 25c. per bushel; shorts, 32Jc; brown stuff, 

.; [.stuff, 75c. 
Potatoes — No demand for old and nothing doing. 
PlastCB — Ground 89 per ton, calcined 82 50 per bbl. 
Rye— Si 15 per bushel. 
Ki^e — N< w 7\ cts. per pound. 
Salt— Liverpool fine Si 60 per nock from wharf. 
sugaiu — Fair to strictly prime Nov/ Orleans 5£a7 cts., 
Coffee Sugar 7|a8#, refined loaf lOalOJ, crushed and 
red r ';a9}c. 
Shot— 7{-a7J ch,. per 11 
Teas— Imperial and Gunpowder 65c.a%l 20 

ceo— The breaks of Tobacco .'.re yery much crow- 
led a", this time and receipts hvrge. We quote inferior 
'ug- a*. 85a." 25; s;ood and fine, 85 ?5a6 25; inferior leaf, $7a 
3} good, $8 50a9 50; fine shipping 1 , 812 50al4 50 ; fine 
manufacturing, Si.'al'.. 

Wheat.- -The Wheat market U animated with an 
■tercase of receipts. The Northern market?; have nil 
I's.Wt.'-A considerably in die past v/eek ; but io thi« city a 
•mp^.rary decline nf five cent>: only took place, which has 
z been rwr-ered, v.\A ■■■<■ now quote 82 for prime red., 



8V,05 for prime white, cash Our millers are anx- 
ious to get stocks to keep their mills in operation, and 
hence the market is likely to range high compared with 
other markets, for some time. 

Wines— Port, Burgundy, gla2,50, Port Juice 82,50a 
4, Madeira, Sicily, 45a$l,75, old Madeira, 82, 50a4, Sherry, 
Permartin, Duif Gordon and Amontilado, 82a6,50. 

Wood — Oak S3 50 per cord, $2a2 25 for Pine, retail 
81 50 for Oak, S3a3 25 for Pine. 

Wool — Small parcels of tub-washed sold at 27c ; 
Unwashed lSal9c. No sales of firm fleece made as yet. 

Beef — S3.50,a4.50, per cwt. gross, which is S~aS neti 

Hogs — SS per hundred, supply moderate. 

Sheep — Mutton sells for $2 50a0 apiece for ordinary and 
superior Sheen Lambs S2 a 3 50 each. 

Stocks. Virginia 6 per cents, 34 years to run, last 

sales at the Treasury, S100 ; Virginia 6 per cents, 25 years 
time, sales at $99 and int. ; Coupon Bonds of Virginia, 899 
and int. ; Bonds guarantied by the State, last sales at 895 
and int. ; Richmond City Bonds, 31 years to run, sales at 
98 and int. ; Virginia Bank Stock, par 870, sales 873 ; 
Farmers' Bank Stock, sales at 104J- dol. ; Exchange Bank 
Stock, 105 ; Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Rail- 
road Stock, 95 dol. ; Virginia Central Railroad Stock, 
42 dol. ; Richmond and Petersburg Railroad Stock, 50 do!. 
Richmond and Danville Railroad Stock, 50 dol.; James 
River and Kanawha Stock, 13J dol. 



PAYMENTS TO THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 

To the 21th of July, 1855. 
C. B. De Burg to July 1856 
Dr. W. H. Goode to January 1856 
Dr. Pi. Henderson to January 1857 
Jesse Adkinson to September 1855 
J. R. Watkins to September 1855 
Thos D. Quarles to January 1856 
V. M. Eppes to January 1856 
Dr. P. E. Lett to September 1855 
Dr. H. L. Jeffries to January 1856 
J. A. Beame to July 1856 
W. H. Davis to January 1856 
R. Boyd to September 1855 
Howell Chastain to January 1857 
| Jno. Sturdivant to January 1856 
Wm. Malone to Julv 1856 
Thos. L. Preston to July 1856 
T. H. Eppes to January 1857 
A. S. Jones to January 1856 
Capt. W. E. Britton to January 1856 
A. S. Barksdale to July 1856 
L. Edmonds to January 1857 
Jno'- R. Edmonds to July 1856 
Jno. Currie, St\, to May 1856 
Ma.j. J. Paxton to May 1856 
A. H. Jones to October 1856 
Jas. D. Morrison to June 1856 
L. Shirley to July 1855 

A. P. Hill to June 1855 
Dr. E. L. Nelson to August 1856 
C- Hardie to July 1856 
W. C Bell to January 1856 
J. J. Bowman to July 1856 
Gen- A Brown to January 1856 

B. T. Teel to January 1856 
Andrew White to January 1866 
Warner Wood to January 1856 
Dr. A. Michie to July 1856 
O.G- Michie to October 1856 
Jos. Turner to January 1856 
Capt- J. Lindsay to January 1856 
Ro. King to January 1855 
J. G- Taurman to September 1856 
L. H. Minor to September 1856 
Junius B. Brown to January 1856 
Wm. Payne, Sr.. to January 1856 



1 00 


1 00 


2 00 


1 00 


2 25 


7 00 


1 00 


1 00 


1 00 


2 25 


1 00 


2 00 


2 00 


1 00 


1 00 


2 00 


2 00 


1 00 


2 00 


1 00 


2 00 


3 00 


1 00 


1 00 


3 00 


1 00 


1 00 


1 00 


1 00 


2 00 


1 00 


5 00 


2 00 


4 75 


1 00 


3 50 


3 50 


2 25 


1 00 


1 00 


1 00 


2 00 


2 00 


1 00 


I 00 



256 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



2 



-Clue 



J 



Clob 6 00 



J 



Col. J. R. Watson to July 1855 
M. C. Tunstall to January 1857 
T. H. Perkins to January 1856 
Maj J. Brooks to January 1856 ") 
J. C. Wilson to January 1856 
S. Wilson to January 1856 
L. Johnson to January 1856 
R. Snapp to July 1856 
E. J. Bates to December 1855 
.A. H. Moorman to January 1856 "} 
V. 0. Witcher to January 1856 
R. M. Calloway to January 1856 
Jno. M. Patton to January 1856 
S- C. Jones to January 1856 
T. B. Jefferson to January 1856 
D. J. P. Scanland to July 1856 
J. G. Jefferson to January 1856 
W. A- Taliaferro to July 1856 
S. S. Gresham to March 1856 
W. Callis to January 1856 

D. Simmons to January 1856 
R. F. Gaines to January 1856 
L. Drummond to January 1856 
Geo. P. l?itchett to January 1856 
Jas. Twitty to January 1856 
Captain N. N. Witcher to July 1856 
R. A. Kidd to January 1856 
Ool. W. A. Dillard to January 1857 

E. Emory to July 1856 
Col. T. F. Wingfield to January 1856 
M. B. Carrington to January 1856 
J. T. Pope to July 1855 
J. C. Hart to January 1856 
R. B. Spratlev to January 1857 
Geo. Rigsler to July 1855 
Gbi; R W. Baylor to September 1856 
W. M. Shepherd to September 1855 
R. W. Brooking to January 1856 

M. T. Goooh, collections Louisa, names not 
yet returned, 70 



4 50 



Dr. T. H. Venable to January 1856 3 

W. Bosher to January 1856 3 

Dr. W. Meredith to July 1856 1 

Jas. Henshaw to July 1857 4 

J. B. Strong to January 1856 1 

Judge Thos. Ruffln to January 1857 

Wm. T. Wooten to January 1856 

George Hocker to January 1856 1 

Ro. Hill to January 1856 

Carter H. Page to July 1856 

B. Randolph to January 1856 1 

G. S. Blakey to July 1856 1 

W. B- & D. B. Hyde to July 1856 

J. McAllister to January 1856 1 

0. P. Jones per Richardson & Co. 

CONTENTS OF NUMBER VI II. 



00 
00 
00 
00 
00 
00 
00 
00 
00 
00 
00 
00 
00 
00 
00 



Compacting Soils 

Weights and Measures 

Culture of Lucerne 

Black Hawk Horse6 

Accomack County 

The Drumgoole Mulbcriy 

The Barren Heifer 233 



TAGE 

• 225 

• 227 

• 230 

• 23(1 
- 232 

• 233 



D. M. Justice to July 1856 
T.B. Dyson to July 1856 

A. A. Campbell to July 1856 

D. H. Hardaway to July 1855 

B. W. Fitzgerrald to July 1856 
R. S. Hurt to November 1856 
J. J. Hudson to July 1850 

G. N. Seay to January 1866 
T. K. Bridgeforth to May 1850 
G. A. Cralle to January 1856 
W. Irby to July 1856 
J. M. Hurt to January 1856 
G. W. Sydnor to January 1856 
Samuel Scott to January 1856 
S. H. Pettus to January 1856 

E. G. Booth to January 1856 ' 

E. S. Farley to January 1855 
W. J. Harris to January 1856 

F. Eppes to January 1856 

T. R. Blandy to September 1856 
R. E. Shore to July 1856 

G. C. Bland to July 1856 
Thos. P. Bland to July 1850 
A. H. Reanies to July 1855 

E. F. Williamson to January 1856 

J. G. Powell to July 1856 

R. M. Neblett to January 1856 

Ool. J. H. Knight to January 1856 

E. II. Knight to July 1856 

R. Beverly to January 1856 

J. R. Death to January 1856 

Per W. A- Robertson, Nottoway. 



234 
235 
236 
239 
239 
240 
242 



The Hydrangea 

Enemies of Plant Lice • 

Distemper in Cattle ■* < • • 

Remedy for the Turnip Fly 

Bilious Fever in Cows •• ■ 

The Wheat Crop and the Price of it 

Fair of the Seaboard Agricultural Society 

Guinea Fowls vs. Rats 

Useful Hints for Virginia Gardeners 243 • 

Copperas .""•"" 244,1 

Richmond Markets, July 23th 255 

Shearing Sheep by Machinery 245 

Mulching with Wood Shavings 245 

The Tamarind in Virginia ■ ■ < 246 c 

Currant Wines 246 I 

Agricultural Science 247 

Management of Horses ' 251 

Letter from H. B. Jones 251 I 

Grasses and Grazing 253 ' 

German Oats 254 



SCHOOL, FOR BOYS. 

THE second session of my school will begin the 
1st' October next and terminate the first oE 
August following. I desire to get as boarders in s 
my family, two boys, about twelve years old. 
The school is a small one, intended for the educa- 
tion of my own children, and the course of instruc- 
tion such as will fit them for the University oh 
Virginia. 

Terms — Two hundred dollars for the whole 
session ; payable, one half the 1st. October, Ihej 
other half the first of March. 

FRANK: G, RUFFIN, 
Summer Hill, Chesterfield, 
au 4 miles below Richmond. 



RIDGEWAY SCHOOL. 

THE next session of my School will begin on 
the first Monday in September and end on the 
last Friday of June, 1856. There will be a vaca- 
tion of two weeks at Christmas. I charge $220 
for a whole session, or $25 a month for any period- 
leas than a whole session. I furnish my pupils 
board, lodging, light, fuel, washing, and all else ne- 
cessary to comfort, and make ro extra charges for 
anything. I have three assistant teachers and am 
prepared to give instruction in every branch of 
education proper to fit boys to enter the University 
of Virginia. For further particulars apply to me 
at Charlottesville, Va. 
au— tf FRANKLIN MINOR