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THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 

Devoted to Agriculture, Horticulture, and the Household 



9 

Arts. 



Agriculture is the nursing mother of the Arts. 

Xenophon. 



Tillage and Pasturage are the two breasts of the State. 

Sully. 



C. T. BOTTS, Editor, 



MAIN STREET. 



Vol. I. 



RICHMOND, JUNE, 1841. 



No. 



TOBACCO. 

[Continued from page 58.] 

HOUSING, FIRING, HANGING AND PACKING. 

After a crop of tobacco is laid by, that is, after 
it is ploughed and hoed enough, there are from 
three to five weeks before it is ripe and ready to 
go to the house. During this time, a planter 
should make all the necessary preparation for 
housing. If he intends to cure his tobacco with 
fire, his wood should be cut and hauled to his 
barns. If he has not got tobacco sticks enough 
to hang all his crop, they also should be prepar- 
ed. If he intends curing without fire, his scaf- 
folds should be put up around his barns. In short, 
every thing that will be wanted, should be in its 
place before he commences housing; for after 
he gets fully to cutting his tobacco, he will have 
enough to do, without having to do what might 
have been done before. 

I will, in this place, make some remarks on 
curing of tobacco. Firing — that is, making- 
fires in the barn, under the tobacco, after it is 
hung — is the surest way to cure fine tobacco. 
Tobacco that is intended to be fired, should be 
hung in the house as quick as can be after it is 
cut. The house should be filled in a day, if 
possible, and fires put in immediately. The 
quantity of heat from fires during the different 
stages of curing a house of tobacco, should be 
regulated by the state of the weather. When 
fires are first put in a house, under tobacco, just 
hung in, they should not be large, especially if 
the weather is warm and dry. For the first, 
second, and third day, the heat should be such 
as will yellow the tobacco without sweating of 
it. After this time, the fires should be larger, 
so as to keep the tobacco as it cures, dry. In 
dry warm weather, very little fire under tobacco 
will cure it best. In wet or cool weather, of 
course, more heat from fires is necessary. To- 
bacco cures of a yellow color, when managed 
in this way, if the fires are kept under it from 
seven to eight days. It is a very good way, 
also, in firing tobacco, to let it hang in the house 
until it yellows by the air, before fire is put under 
it: then three or four days firing will answer. 
But the tobacco is not likely to cure yellow — it 
will, if properly managed, cure what is called 
a fine red. 

After all that may be said about firing tobac- 
co, I would not recommend it onlv at particular 
Vol. 1—9. 



times, unless barns could be fixed with furnaces 
so as to carry off the sparks and smoke, so as 
to prevent the barn from taking fire. I am ap- 
prehensive that even furnaces would not be per- 
fectly safe ; for there would be some danger even 
from having fire in the barn ; and the pipes that 
would carry off the smoke and sparks, might, 
by passing through the tobacco as well as the 
barn, communicate fire to some part of it. 

The loss of a barn with its contents is a heavy 
one. It takes also a great deal of wood to fire 
a barn of tobacco ; and this on plantations where 
fuel is scarce, is of considerable consequence. 
Even if wood is plenty, it takes some labor to 
cut and haul it. I have for several years past 
cured my tobacco without putting a particle of 
fire near it ; and I have found it to be nearly, if 
not quite as fine, as if it had been fired. To- 
bacco of good color, cured without fire, is worth 
more money in a foreign market, from the cir- 
cumstance of its not being smoked by the firing 
process. 

Tobacco that is to be cured without fire, should 
never be put in the house without its being hung 
out of doors, after it is cut, for several days. 
There should be erected around each barn a scaf- 
fold. The tobacco, as it is cut and slicked, should 
be hung on the scaffold, and if there should 
be no appearance of rain, it may remain there 
for five or six days before it is put in the house. 
Tobacco, before it begins to cure on a scaffold, 
is not injured by rains; and after it begins to 
cure, a rain that lasts a short time, does not in- 
jure it. It is rain that lasts two or three days 
that injures tobacco hung on a scaffold. 

A scaffold is constructed by burying in the 
ground about two feet, forks set up perpendicu- 
larly, about ten feet apart from each other; in 
which poles are put nearly the distance of a 
common fence rail from each other. Fence rails 
are thus put across from one pole to another, 
leaving a space of four feet between each rail. 
These are what are called tiers. A scaffold 
should not be very high, for if it is, the lower 
leaves of the tobacco will become bruised from 
the winds. A scaffold should be of such a 
height, as to leave the ends of the tobacco leaves 
from one to two feet from the ground. It is not 
so well to erect scaffolds on the north or north- 
west part of a barn. They should always be 
made on the warmest sides of the barn. A 
planter can always get his forks for his scaffolds 



82 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



in the winter season, whilst cutting wood and 
rail staff Having said this much about scaf- 
folds, I now return to the curing and housing 
of tobacco. 

A person unacquainted with scaffolding of 
tobacco, would suppose that there could not be 
so much put in a barn in this way, as there 
could be by firing. It would be entirely a mis- 
take. There can be as much tobacco cured in 
a barn by scaffolding, as there can be by firing. 
It is true it could not be done so quickly; yet in 
an ordinary housing season there is ample time 
to do it. 

A planter who has several barns, when scaf- 
folding of tobacco, should manage so as to be 
able to take into the house a part of a scaffold 
of tobacco, every day, except rainy ones, during 
the season. When tobacco is being carried in 
the barn from the scaffold, the lower part of the 
barn should be hung full ; and if that part of the 
barn will hold all that is at that time to be taken 
from the scaffold, it should be left there until the 
space is wanted for more tobacco from the scaf- 
fold. By this means, the tobacco may have the 
advantage of several days in the barn, before it 
is finally hung away. The best time of the day 
to take tobacco in the barn, from the scaffold, is 
late in the evening. It should be handled very 
carefully, so as not to crumble the cured leaves. 
Tobacco should not, whenever it can be avoided, 
be carried in the barn from the scaffold, while 
wet with dew. This can always be avoided, 
except when there is an appearance of rain. 

When about to fill a barn with tobacco that 
has been scaffolded, the tobacco should be hung 
so as to leave fire holes ; for if, about this time, 
there should come a spell of wet weather, the 
tobacco can have fires put under it, and be kept 
from being injured by the weather. However, 
tobacco that has been well killed by being scaf- 
folded, will not injure in wet weather near as 
soon as a person might suppose. It is only in 
long spells of warm wet weather that firing is 
necessary for tobacco that has been scaffolded. 
There are only two cases in which I would re- 
commend firing of tobacco — one is in the in- 
stance just mentioned ; the other is when acropof 
bacco, from untoward circumstances, ripens, or 
is not fit to be cut until late in the season for 
housing, Fires, by curing the tobacco quickly, 
prevents it from freezing in the house, which the 
lower leaves are apt to do, if left to cure by the 
air, when housed late in the season. Sometimes 
planters fire for want of house-room ; that is, 
they cannot wait for their tobacco to cure by the 
air. I have always thought it best to have a 
sufficient number of barns. A planter had better 
build two barns than to have one burnt down. 

I will here make some remarks on the con- 
struction of tobacco houses. Tight houses will 
not cure tobacco as well as moderately open 
ones. Even when tobacco is cured by fires, a 



very tight house is not the best. There is a 
large quantity of moisture in a house of uncured 
tobacco — so there must be some opening for it 
to escape. I have seen barns where the main 
building was shedded all around with no other 
covering except the roofs of the main building 
and sheds — that is, no weather-boarding put on 
any part of it, except the roofs. Barns of |this 
construction certainly cure tobacco best when 
there are no long spells of w T et weather; for 
these kind of barns cannot be fired in. It is also 
liable to be injured, if not stripped shortly after 
it is cured. I have also seen barns of this con- 
struction with sheds partially weather-boarded 
by setting up narrow planks around the sheds 
two or three inches apart. This is certainly 
some security against wet weather; yet the to- 
bacco is not sufficiently secured against it. — 
Those w r ho have the timber, can build no kind 
of barns that will answer better for tobacco than 
the old fashioned barns built of oak boards and 
shingles: they let in sufficient air when it is 
curing, and keep out damp air after it is cured. 
Barns, when built with plank and shingles, al- 
ways cure tobacco best when the plank is put 
on with one end upwards, though the frames of 
barns weather-boarded in this way, will not last 
as long as when the plank is put on horizontally. 
The best way probably to build a barn to suit 
all times, and all kinds of weather, would be to 
have all the plank intended for weather-boarding, 
made into large doors, and well hung with good 
hinges, so that when the tobacco wanted air, all 
the doors could be opened — when damp air would 
injure it, the doors could be shut. A barn con- 
structed after this manner, would cost a little 
more money for hinges for the doors, and latches 
for fastening of them. I have seen one built 
after this manner, which answered very well 
until it w r as burnt down. The doors could reach 
only to the eaves of the house, if so far ; of 
course the other parts of the building must be 
weather-boarded in the usual manner. 

When tobacco is ripe, and fit to be cut, there 
are around the roots of the plants several leaves 
nearly cured. They can now be saved either 
before or after it is cut. Tobacco should have 
no leaves taken from its roots until it is ripe; 
taking aw T ay the leaves too early, stops the 
growth. The tobacco saved from around the 
roots of the plant, is called ground leaf. The 
usual way of saving this kind of tobacco, is to 
pull the leaves by hand from the roots of the 
plants, and tie* them up in small bundles, and 
straddle them across a stick, until they are cured 
enough. When fine ground leaf is cured, the 
usual way is to select the largest leaves that are 
about half cured, and run a peg three or four 
inches long through the large end of the stem, 
filling the peg with leaves, but leaving a space 

* Sweet potato vines make a good tie. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



83 



of about half an inch between them, and then 
hang 1 them across tobacco sticks. 

The best time of the day to gather ground 
\eaves, before the tobacco is cut, is late in the 
day, about an hour from sunset ; when the to- 
bacco ground is wet, the leaves are at this time 
of the day in order to be gathered. Leaves 
gathered when the dew is on them, will injure 
before they get dry. Tobacco, when being cut. 
should not, if it can be prevented, be suffered to 
fall too much — that is, lie on the ground until 
the leaves become very limber; for when they 
become too much so, they clam around the stalk, 
and the tobacco will not cure so good by it. A 
great deal of care is necessary while tobacco is 
being cut and carried to the house ; it must not 
be suffered to lie in heaps and heat. While 
laying in the field, if the sun shines hot at the 
time, it will be burnt by the sun, if permitted to 
lay too long. When hauling it to the house, 
the loads should not be large, as it will bruise 
when hauled in large loads. I have seen some 
persons have bushes with green leaves laid in 
the bottom of their carts before the tobacco was 
put in the cart. This was done to prevent the 
tobacco from being bruised. 

There are three ways in use for hanging of 
the tobacco plants on the stick; one way is, by 
splitting the stalk before the plants are cut ; an- 
other way is to put a peg in the big end of the 
stalk ; this is a tedious way, and though in old 
times the only way used, has now nearly gone 
out of use. The other way is to put a sharp 
pointed iron spear, with a socket like a chisel on 
a tobacco stick, and then run the plants on the 
stick, by running the iron spear through the 
stalk of the plants. This is the quickest way 
of the three, but unless there is a considerable 
space left between the plants, the tobacco will 
injure. The most careful hands should only 
be permitted to stick tobacco in this way. Those 
hands who could not be trusted to put tobacco 
on the sticks, could be engaged in the tobacco 
field at other work. 

The splitting of the stalk and afterwards strad- 
dling it across a stick, though not so quick a way 
as the one just mentioned, is a better way for 
several reasons, one js, the plants can be easily 
regulated when they are put in the house ; an- 
other is, the tobacco cures quicker, and when 
housed late is not so apt to be frozen in the house. 
It does not require so much judgment when 
putting the plants on the stick. The tobacco 
also, is much easier to get off the stick when it 
is wanted to strip. 

We will now suppose the tobacco to be housed 
and cured and ready to be stripped, that is, taking 
the leaves from the stalks ; whenever the to- 
bacco is moist enough, or in planter's language, 
in order, this can be done. The different kinds 
and colors must be tied up in separate bundles, 
and each kind put away by itself. After tobacco 



is stripped care must be taken to prevent it from 
heating in the bulks, which it quickly does in 
warm weather if put away in too moist a state. 
If it should begin to get warm it should be tak< n 
out of bulk immediately and put in a situation 
to cool and dry. If bulk's of tobacco should 
heat in warm, wet weather, and the weather 
continues so, the best way then is to straddle the 
bundles across sticks and hang them up in the 
house. Tobacco of a fine color and good leaf 
should never be suffered to heat in bulk ; for the 
color as well as the leaf, is considerably injured 
thereby. Tobacco of a dull color and coarse 
leaf is not injured so much by heating in bulk ; 
though heating in bulk injures any tobacco more 
or less ; the old notion that tobacco was not con- 
ditioned to pack in hogsheads, until it had heated 
in bulk is entirely erroneous. Tobacco maybe 
packed without injuring in the hogshead, if pro- 
perly dried after being stripped from the slalks; 
indeed tobacco after it is stripped requires a great 
deal of attention to manage it properly ; and if 
managed properly until it is in the house and 
cured, may be by improper management or ne- 
glect, made to be worth less money, after this 
time. I have seen tobacco myself put up in 
bulks, and suffered almost to rot before any thing 
was done to it: It is principally the manage- 
ment and handling of tobacco after it is cured, 
that makes the distinction between a nice planter 
and an indifferent one. 

When bulking of tobacco the leaves should 
be kept straight and the bundles spread open 
somewhat like a fan, which can easily be done, 
by placing two or three bundles at a time, by the 
person who is handing the tobacco to the bulker, 
against his breast and giving them a stroke 
down with the other. I have found the best 
way to condition tobacco when stripped, to be 
as follows : — Take two tobacco sticks and lay 
them parallel and about one foot apart, then bulk 
on them about one hundred pounds, by placing 
the bundles across the sticks. The tobacco 
should be knee'd down; two persons can move 
these bulks whenever wanted by taking hold of 
the ends of the sticks. Tobacco when bulked 
in this way, if not very moist, will not want any 
thing more done to it until wanted to pack, 
especially if the bulks are put up on the tiersof 
the barn, which can be easily done by lifting 
them up by the tobacco sticks. After tobacco 
has been bulked in the way here recommended 
the small bulks should be on a drying day taken 
and opened, and the tobacco laid down by hand 
on the large bulking places. Bulking places 
should be fixed for the different qualities, and as 
the small bulks are pulled to pieces the different 
qualities should be placed apart from each other. 
Though in bulking on sticks as recommended, 
each quality as near as can be at that time as- 
certained, should be bulked to itself. In moving 
tobacco from the smaller to the larger bulks. 



84 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



the large bulks should, if the tobacco is very 
moist, have only three or four courses of bundles 
of tobacco placed on them at one time; after 
they have dried somewhat, three or four more 
courses can be placed in the same manner, and 
the operation repeated as long as necessary. 
Thus a barn of tobacco may be conditioned in 
this way without any of the tobacco heating. 

The best directions that can be given about 
packing of tobacco in hogsheads, are that the 
tobacco should only be moist enough to keep it 
from crumbling, and that fine tobacco should 
not be pressed so hard as to bruise it. Tobacco 
though often packed before, is hardly conditioned 
enough before the month of May. 



For the Southern Planter. 

THE INFLUENCE OF CULTIVATION ON 
VEGETABLES. 

NO. IV. 

A flower is the assemblage of those organs, 
upon which are produced the germs of phenoga- 
mous plants, (such plants as are visibly furnished 
with sexual organs,) and of those which imme- 
diately surround them. These organs are divid- 
ed into four classes, in accordance with their po- 
sition, appearance, and physiological role, viz. 
the calyx, corolla, stamens, and pistil. 

These organs are leaves in a particular state 
of transformation, and are ordinarily arranged in 
regular whorls ; and although they have very 
different offices to perform,yet examination proves 
that at a very early period, when they are first 
formed, they are absolutely the same as leaves 
of the same age; that it is only after they have 
been growing sometime that they begin to as- 
sume the character under which they finally 
appear; and that consequently they are very 
often found resuming the appearance of common 
leaves if any thing occurs to interfere w T ith their 
intended structure before it is entirely fixed. — 
Thus we find leaves in the place of petals, or 
petals metamorphosed into leaves, in some kind 
of double tulips ; sepals and petals often changed 
to leaves in double roses ; all the parts of the 
flower turned into leaves in other plants, and even 
after the formation of the fruit, we find some- 
times a part of the flower in the shape of leaves 
protruding from the extremity of the fruit as in 
the pear at the garden of Versailles, noticed and 
described by M. Poiteau. 

We will describe these organs in the order in 
whbh we have mentioned them above, and of 
the calyx, which is the exterior envelope of a 
flower, and consists of two or more divisions 
called sepals, which, however, frequently unite 
into one piece ; the corolla is found next within 
the calyx, and consists of two or more pieces 
called petals, which also occasionally unite into 
one piece. Petals arc usually of some bright 



color differing from that of the sepals; the sta- 
mens constitute the whorl of organs immediately 
within the petals, and each stamen consists of a 
filament, and anther ; the filament being a co- 
lumn to support the anther, which is situated at 
its superior extremity and affords a matter called 
pollen, by means of which, the fecundation of 
plants takes place ; the pistil occupies the centre 
of the flower, and is composed of three parts, 
viz. the ovary, the style, and the stigma. The 
ovary is a hollow case enclosing seed or little 
bodies destined to become seed. The stigma is 
situated at the superior extremity of the style, 
whose offlce(the style's) is to connect together the 
ovary and stigma. The function of the pistil is to 
receive the pollen upon its stigma and to convey 
it to the ovary in order to fecundate the seed. 

These various parts are not always present in 
all flowers; for there are some where the calyx 
is reduced to a mere rim — others where there is 
no corolla — others without stamens, and others 
without pistils; besides, these organs are liable 
to degeneration, abortion, multiplication, and 
transformation. 

From themultiplication of parts,such as the for- 
mation of a new whorl of petals, or the separation 
of a petal, which is composed usually of two sol- 
dered together and the transformation of stamens 
and sepals into petals, result double flowers. As 
these changes are liable to occur when the plant 
is forced into an extraordinary development from 
being placed under circumstances peculiarly fa- 
vorable to their growth, double flowers are a 
striking evidence of the influence of cultivation, 
as is abundantly exemplified in the dahlia and 
stocks, &c. which in their natural state are sin- 
gle, but which have their claims to admiration 
much increased by the addition to their gaily 
colored parts, from cultivation, but at the expense 
of being called "monsters" by botanists, in con- 
sequence of their abnormal condition. 

Before I take my leave of you, Mr. Editor, I 
must beg another correction which is rendered 
necessary, I have no doubt by my unfortunate 
hand writing. In the third number of " The 
Influence of Cultivation on Vegetables," the se- 
cond sentence of the second column of the 59th 
page now reads, " Thus a great part of our fruit 
trees, yielding the most delightful fruit, are the 
offspring of seed trees, producing indifferent 
fruit," &c. Now I intended this sentence to 
read, "Thus a great part of our fruit trees, yield- 
ing the most delightful fruit, have, as the offspring 
of their seed trees, producing indifferent fruit." 

Be assured, Mr. Editor, that no one appreci- 
ates more highly your courtesy, or feels more 
anxious for the success of your paper, than 
A Naturalist. 



SUGAR BEET. 
Although some misbelievers have denied the 
value of this fashionable article as food for cat- 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



85 



tie, especially for milch cows, the weight of tes- 
timony preponderates greatly in its favor, and 
we may safely pronounce it at this time queen 
of roots. 



DEEP PLANTING. 
A patron of ours informed us a few days since, 
that while taking his fodder, he discovered a 
great difference in the appearance between two 
pieces of corn, which were planted at the same 
time, and in the same kind of soil. The fodder 
in one piece of ground dried up so fast that he 
could scarcely get through with stripping it be- 
fore it was entirely burnt up, to use the common 
phrase. On going to the other piece, he found 
it green to the ground, and in good plight for 
stripping. He was struck with the difference 
in the two lots of corn, and on reflection, recol- 
lected that on getting ready to plant his corn in 
the spring, he ran a furrow with a large shovel 
or barshare plough, after which he followed with 
a small plough, called a bull tongue, running it 
pretty deep in the same furrow, till he got half 
over the piece, where he concluded to plant the 
balance in the single furrow, and discontinued 
the use of the bull tongue. The result was that 
the part planted deep, in the opening made by 
the small plough, where the large one had pre- 
viously been run, produced a third more fodder, 
of a better quality than that planted in the shal- 
low one, made by the large plough alone : be- 
sides the great differences there must be in the 
weight of the corn drying up too fast of course 
to make a proper article for bread. This should 
be remembered by farmers, and the evil of shal- 
low planting avoided, especially since all seem 
to think the seasons are becoming shorter, and 
much drier than formerly. — South. Cultivator. 



Middlesex County, April 20, 1841. 
To the Editor of the Southern Planter. 

Dear Sir, — Having seen the rule of William 
Murray, Esq. of South Carolina, for measuring 
a corn house, which was published in the South- 
ern Agriculturist, and copied into your paper, 
with all due deference, I will submit to your 
readers some remarks on the same subject. I 
do not know the principles upon which Mr.Mur- 
ray based his calculations, except that two bar- 
rels of corn in the ear will shell out precisely 
one barrel. It seems to me, however, his rule 
upon any principle falls a little short of the true 
quantity of shelled corn, allowing it to shell out 
only one-half. The size of the bulk of corn, 
given by him, is 12 feet long, 11 feet broad, and 
6 feet deep, consequently it contains 792 cubic 
feet, or 1,368,576 cubic inches. Divide these 
cubic inches of his bulk of corn by 2,150, which 
are the cubic inches of a bushel, and you will 
have 636a bushels of corn in the ear, and 31 8} 
bushels of shelled corn. The difference between 



us is small, it is true, his being 633, 6 bushels in 
the ear, and 316, 8 of shelled corn. It ought 
to be borne in mind that both his and my calcu- 
lations, so far, are based upon the supposition, 
that corn in the ear will shell out just half its 
quantity, which, I think, is incorrect. In this, 
it seems to me, consists the principal defect of 
his rule. If the experiment be made carefully, 
it will be discovered, that corn in the ear will 
shell out a little more than half. For this sur- 
plus, Mr. Murray's rule has no provision. 

The following, as a general rule, is submitted 
to the consideration of your readers, to ascertain 
how much a corn house, cart body, or bulk of 
corn of any size, will shell out. 21,500 cubic 
inches will contain ten bushels of shelled corn, 
but the same space, filled with corn in the ear, 
will shell out a little more than five bushels. 
These 21,500 cubic inches contain 12 cubic feet 
and 764 cubic inches. Two barrels, or ten 
bushels in the ear, will, generally in shelling, 
overrun just about these 764 cubic inches. — 
Therefore, after levelling the corn in the house, 
multiply the length and breadth together and this 
product by the depth, which will give the cubic 
feet of the bulk of corn ; then divide this last 
product by 12, and the quotient will be the num- 
ber of barrels of shelled corn the house, cart, or 
bulk contains. If there be a remainder after the 
division, it will be so many twelfths of a barrel 
of shelled corn. 

EXAMPLE. 

12 feet long. 
1 1 feet broad. 

132 

6 feet deep. 



Divisor 12 ) 792 cubic feet. 



66 barrels of shelled corn. 
5 



330 bushels of shelled corn. 
Between Mr. Murray's calculation andthis.it 
will be seen, there are 13 X o bushels difference 
of shelled corn. This difference, however, arises 
principally from the fact, that he made no allow- 
ance for the overrunning of the corn in the ear. 
According to my calculation, 53 bushels in the 
ear, will shell out about 27^ bushels instead of 
26g. This rule, I think, is sufficiently accurate 
to enable a firmer to estimate the amount of 
his crop after it is housed, without the trouble of 
measuring it. 

Respectfully, yours, 

George Northam. 

We have received one or two other communications 
to the same effect as the above, which the publication of 
this renders it unnecessary to notice, except that we 
may return our thanks to our correspondents for their 
favors. 



86 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



The following is from a correspondent to whom the 
readers of the Planter are already much indebted: 

DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING BUTTER, 

Principally extracted from a work published by the So- 
ciety for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, in Eng- 
land. % 

TO MAKE BUTTER FROM CREAM. 

When the milk is first drawn it should be car- 
ried as gently as possible to the dairy — strained 
through sieves — deposited in shallow pans or 
coolers not exceeding three or four inches in 
depth. The best cream rises within twelve 
hours, but it is more generally left for twenty-four 
or thirty-six hours, according to the season. A 
small quantity of water, cold in summer and 
warm in winter, assists the cream to rise, but is 
perhaps injurious to its quality. The milk first 
drawn is the thinnest, and it becomes thicker and 
richer to the very last drop squeezed from the 
cow's bag. The reverse, however, is the case 
with the cream. The richest rises first, and it 
gradually becomes thinner to the last. Thick 
milk throws up to the surface a smaller propor- 
tion of the cream it actually contains than thinner 
milk, but that cream is of richer quality. If 
water be added to thick milk it throws up more 
cream but its quality is greatly inferior. Milk 
carried some distance, agitated and allowed to 
cool before putting it in pans, never gives so 
much or so rich cream as when put into pans im- 
mediately on being drawn. To make butter of 
very superior quality, separate the milk first 
drawn from the last — use the cream of the last 
only, and use only that part of the cream which 
rises first. Skim the milk three or four times un- 
til no more comes off; best to skim with a skim- 
ming dish pierced with small holes. The cream is 
then to be put into a deep vessel with a spigot close 
to the bottom for drawing off the thin part, which 
drains through to the bottom ; for this, if alio wed 
to remain in ever so small a quantity, injures the 
quality of the butter very seriously. It is best 
to cover the inside of the hole at the spigot with 
fine silver wire gauze, or a small piece of thin 
silver, pierced with fine holes, to keep back the 
cream. A five cent piece beat out thin would 
be larger than necessary. The best butter is 
made from cream which is not fresh, and it should 
be even somewhat acid. Keep the cream from 
•three to seven days, stirring several times a day. 
The cream of every milking should be kept apart 
and the sweet and sour should not be mixed — 
at least not until the moment of churning. 



For the Southern Planter. 
Tobacco being the great staple production of 
our State, I have concluded to write for the 
Planter a short essay on its culture. For plant 
land I generally select creek flats in the woods. 
1st, because the land is generally better than any 
other which is uncleared ; 2d, becuusc wood is 



more convenient ; and lastly on account of the 
greater safety from the ravages of the fly. 

Having made choice of land for the plant bed; 
wood in large quantities is provided ; the land 
cleared without grubbing; a fire made across 
the bed, and wood piled on at least three feet 
high, and about four or five feet wide. When 
the land is sufficiently burnt, a move is ordered, 
and men with long poles with hooks at the ends, 
pull the wood on land unburnt, and the fire is 
renewed by putting on more wood. Generally 
two hours is necessary from move to move. Af- 
ter the bed is burnt, the coals are carefully swept 
off, and the bed hoed with grubbing hoes, great 
care being observed not to turn over the earth, 
but to keep that which is burnt and the ashes 
on the top: fine stable manure, or that taken 
from hen houses, &c. is spread over the bed, 
which has been saved clear of grass seed ; the 
bed being hoed over again, the roots removed 
which show themselves, and then well raked, is 
ready for seed. 

An even table spoonful of seed to one hun- 
dred square yards is the quantity I prefer; one 
half of the seed, mixed with ashes, is sowed 
lengthwise the bed ; and the other half sowed 
across the bed ; then tread it well by the negroes, 
going entirely over it — their tracks placed side 
by side. 

In the prize essay published in the Planter, I 
think the writer is mistaken in advising thick 
seeding ; when too much seed is used the plants 
are long and slender (usually termed long legged) 
and nothing like as good as when they are not 
too thick. The time of year advised in the 
above mentioned essay, is certainly not the best 
in Virginia, whatever it may be in Maryland. 
I prefer preparing and sowing a part of my plant 
land before Christmas, and the remainder as soon 
thereafter as the weather, when the land is in 
good order, will allow. My plants at this time, 
( 1st May) which were sowed early, are generally 
as large as a quarter of a dollar, whereas those 
sowed in March, the largest not more than 
square ; and as it is of great importance to plant 
the crop early, it must be apparent to all per- 
sons, that early sowing is best. Tobacco plants 
are very hardy, and with fifteen years experience 
I have never known them killed by frost; nor 
have I ever during that time been scarce of plants. 
1 cover also differently from the writer referred to ; 
using bushes without leaves, laid parallel to each 
other, and the butts lapped on the tops of the first 
courses laid down; nor do I uncover until the 
leaves of my plants are generally as large as 
dollars, when they afford sufficient protection to 
keep the land moist. I usually burn about one 
hundred square yards to the hand ; a smaller 
quantity might suffice; but as a scarcity of 
plants is of serious consequence to the planter, 
and as wood is plenty, I prefer burning largely. 

The preparation of the land for the tobacco 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



87 



crop will now be noticed. I prefer the ground 
to be ploughed in the fall or early in the winter, 
that the frosts may pulverize it; except such as 
I expect to put the coarse farm pen and stable 
manure on, made during the winter. In the 
spring this manure is got out as early as possi- 
ble, spread broadcast and ploughed in, and then 
harrowed. The fine manure, such as is well 
rotted, and scrapings around houses, barns, &c. 
is carried out on land which was broken early. 
As soon after the planting of corn as cenvenient, 
I again plough the land, harrow it, and lay it oiT 
both ways (unless wet land) from three feet two 
inches to three feet six inches, and the hills made 
as soon as possible. I prefer the hills being made 
early, as they are more compact, and retain the 
moisture better when planted ; but in this I differ 
with some of our best planters, who do not make 
a part of their hills until the plants are nearly 
large enough to be transplanted. 

I always use small ploughs in the second 
ploughing, and in stiff clay prefer the coulter, 

When the plants are of good size for trans- 
planting, the hills are cut off at about the mid- 
dle, and if hard, from remaining long after being 
made, the earth is loosened with the hoe in the 
middle of the hill ; and when a season comes, 
(that is a good rain) the plants are set in the 
hills, if the season be light, (that is not much 
rain) the plants should be set deep and the earth 
pressed hard to the roots ; whereas, if the land 
be very wet, by pressing the earth hard to the 
roots, it makes mortar ; and if a clay soil retards 
the growth of the plants ; therefore, in the latter 
case the pressure of the earth to the root should 
be light. 

In stiff clays, during the culture of the crop, 
the coulter plough is all important to break the 
land deep, and thereby let in the rains and retain 
the moisture. 

A frame with three parallel pieces and three 
coulters, working seven inches apart, the middle 
coulter being one inch longer and one foot in 
advance of the other two, I; have found an ex- 
cellent implement to be used as soon as the land 
gets in order after hard rains. A strong horse 
will pull it, and twice running in a row puts the 
land in beautiful order, prevents it from baking, 
destroos the young grass, and gives it a deep 
ploughing. 

I expect my present communication will fill 
as much space as may be fairly allowed to one 
subject in a single number of the Planter. If 
you think it desirable, I will, before the time 'of 
curing the crop, give you my method. M. 

Buckingham, May 1, 1841. 

One of the chief objects we had in view in the pub- 
lication of the prize essay was to chaw forth the opinions 
of Virginia planters upon this important subject. The 
above is from the pen of a gentleman, whose success 
has given him great reputation, and whose connection 
with one of the most celebrated planters in the State 



has afforded him the best opportunity of becoming 
master of his subject. We regret that Mr. M. did not 
authorise us to give his name to the public, as we know 
it would have added great weight to his communication. 



GATES. 




In our last number we promised to point out 
a defect in the plan of a gate furnished by Mr. 
Bernard, which we esteem so highly in other 
respects. Consequently, we have had a cut 
made which combines Mr. Bernard's plan with 
the improvement at which we have hinted. The 
alteration is in the position of the brace ; a very 
material point, very frequently neglected. The 
brace to a gate is almost useless unless it con- 
nects the top rail with the back upright so that 
the three may form the common crane, upon 
which you may hang certainly a much greater 
weight than the frame of a gate is required to 
support. 

The great difficulty that we have to encoun- 
ter, as has been explained before, is to prevent 
the common fault of swagging. There is a 
tendency in the whole gate to fall forward, which 
there is a difficulty in restraining, because the 
points of support are all at one extreme of the 
gate — being confined to the back upright. But 
supposing by good hinges we have succeeded in 
securing this upright permanently in its proper 
position, there is an evident tendency in the top 
and bottom rails, with the parts attached, to 
droop, because they are also united only at one 
extreme to this upright, which is itself the only 
part secured. Now, to run a support from one 
of these rails to the other, is as unreasonable as 
it would be to attempt to prop up a drunken 
man with a fellow who was so intoxicated that 
he could not stand up himself. Having your 
upright permanent, you may tie your top rail 
by a diagonal or brace in such a manner as 
to render it impossible to permit the extreme of 
the rail to drop without crushing the brace, 
which, applied as it is, lengthways, it is impos- 
sible to do. Having secured your top rail, you 
may proceed to fasten the extreme end of your 
bottom rail to it with the front upright, and thus 



88 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



you proceed from step to step in your structure 
as you would in a well conducted argument, 
showing that there is reason even in building a 
gate. 

We think we have now nearly attained per- 
fection in this important point of rural economy, 
and we take this occasion to return our thanks 
to those friends and correspondents who have 
assisted us in accomplishing so desirable an ob- 
ject. If, however, any thing more remains to 
be said, the subject is of such universal interest, 
that we shall not fear to tire our readers with it. 



For ihs Southern Planter. 
LEAF MANURE. 

Mr. Editor, — I am pleased to see several re- 
commendations in your paper of the use of leaves 
and wood offal for compost, and particularly do 
I admire Mr. Lownes's idea, in your last number, 
of a horse rake for collecting trash. My own 
experience has fully satisfied me of the profit of 
hauling into my farm pen vegetable matter from 
my wood land : but my experience has also sa- 
tisfied me that it will never do to rob the land 
where wood is permitted to grow of this, the 
sustenance of that growth. In other words, this 
nutritious substance is as much needed for the 
growth of trees as for the growth of corn, and 
you can only afford it to the one at the expense 
of the other. I am satisfied that I completely 
impoverished a very valuable piece of wood land 
by the annual removal, for several years, of the 
fall coating of leaves, whereby nothing was left 
to restore the depletion caused by the growth of 
the preceding summer. My plan now is to haul 
in only the unrotted vegetable matter on the sur- 
face of the land I am clearing; for when the 
growth is stopped, the food may be taken away 
for other crops. But even here, if I am about 
to cultivate the cleared land, I am careful to re- 
move no mould, since it is certainly better to 
plough it under than to carry it to the farm yard 
for the purpose of bringing it back again. 

Whilst undecomposed matter may be profita- 
bly removed from the surface of land on which 
there is no growth, I think a very erroneous and 
common opinion exists, and is increasing, that 
an indiscriminate removal of wood compost may 
be advantageously made. It is to remove this 
impression, and to afford others the benefit of my 
experience, that I offer this communication for 
the columns of your popular and useful paper. 

E. W. 



For the Southern Planter. 
MANURE LOO. 
My Dear Sir, — A party of young farmers 
happened to be detained by rain all night at our 
county court house on Monday last. Sitting 
round a cheerful fire, we were interrupted in a 
very interesting agricultural discussion, in which 
the prospects of the " Planter" were not forgot- 



ten by a proposition from one of our more 
thoughtless companions to play a game of loo. 
An old gray headed farmer, who happened to be 
of the party, replied to the youth that it had 
been a long time since he had been guilty of any 
kind of gambling, but that he would have no 
objection to take a hand at his favorite game, if 
he in turn would indulge him in a game, at 
which he thought he would be more at home. 
The young man consented to this fair proposi- 
tion, and we sat down to to the table where the old 
gentleman lost some two or three dollars, when 
he proposed that his game should be tried, and 
as it was a slow one he said the stakes should 
be increased. He directed each man at the table 
to put up twenty dollars, which, we who knew 
his moderate habits did in silent astonishment. 
He then called the landlord and deposited in his 
hands the $140, with directions to give it to the 
man, who, by the first day of January, 1842, 
should have accumulated the largest and best 
pile of manure. He drily remarked, that if his 
young friend had listened more patiently to the 
conversation which he had interrupted, he would 
have stood a better chance to win the stakes. 

We were all much amused with the manner 
in which the proceeding was conducted, although 
some of the party, who are not celebrated for 
good farming, looked upon their money as gone, 
and grumbled a little at the take in ; but the old 
gentleman reminded them that to accommodate 
them he had played at a game of which he 
knew nothing, upon the express condition that 
he should afterwards be indulged in one of his 
own. 

As we were riding home on the following 
morning, two of the company, whose road lay 
the same way with mine, and who perhaps were 
the most indifferent farmers of the party, in talk- 
ing over the night's proceedings, good humor- 
edly resolved to beat the old gentleman at his own 
game, and concluded that from the moment they 
got home they would commence scrupulously to 
save every thing on earth, of which they could 
make manure. 

When we separated, my mind naturally dwelt 
upon the circumstances detailed, and I could not 
help moralizing upon the singular fact,that these 
gentlemen for the sake of a joke, were about to 
do that to which the strongest principles of self- 
interest could not prompt them. 

If they succeed in winning the stake, instead 
of mortifying, I am much mistaken, if they do 
not highly gratify our old friend, and indeed, I 
am half inclined to look upon the whole trans- 
action, on his part, as a happy attempt to effect 
that by a ruse which could never have been pro- 
duced by argument. How strange it is, that 
men should require to be decoyed into measures 
so obviously for their own advantage. Like the 
sons of the old farmer in the fable, who, in dig- 
ging the vineyard for gold found a treasure in 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



a? 



its increased product, these gentlemen, in seeking 
to win the stake, will probably unwittingly se- 
cure a much greater amount in the increased 
product of their farms. You shall certainly be 
advised of the result of the game. W. P. 



For the Southern Planter. 
C. T. Botts, 

My Bear Sir — I am much pleased with your 
recommendation of cob meal in the last number 
of the Planter. I am perfectly satisfied of the 
value of it. Having understood that Col. Bur- 
foot, of Chesterfield, never wasted a cob, but 
considered it capital feedj I took some pains to 
discover his mode of using them. It is as fol- 
lows : Whenever he shells corn for mill, the cobs 
are thrown into a half hogshead of salt and wa- 
ter, to which his cows have access. By the 
time he sends to mill again, there is plenty of 
room for more cobs. I have tried this plan with 
great success. The cobs are hardly soaked by 
the salt water, before they are eagerly devoured 
by my cattle. I would as soon think of throw- 
ing away my fodder as my corn cobs 



Yours, 



A. B. S. 



We have understood, upon inquiry, that Col. Burfoot 
now boils his cobs, instead of soaking them. He 
breaks them with an axe, and throws them into his feed 
kettle, and we are assured that there is no portion of its 
contents that are preferred to these bits of corn cob. 

These plans are no doubt both good ; much better 
than throwing away an article which contains so much 
nutriment ; but where it could be done conveniently, 
we should greatly prefer to relieve the animal from the 
labor and trouble, which he frequently only half per- 
forms, of grinding the cob. Besides, when ground, it 
is food for either horse or cattle. If its nutritious qua- 
lities are admitted, there is surely as much reason in 
grinding the cob as in grinding the grain. 



For the Southern Planter. 
Traveller's Rest, near Fredericksburg, 
May 22, 1841. 

Mr. C. T. Botts, — I have seen the May num- 
ber of your "Planter," and observe your request 
for some information concerning the "Fly-proof 
Wheat" now growing on this farm. 

As it is well known, at least in this vicinity, 
that I have that wheat for sale as seed wheat, 
I must confine myself to a few concise facts, 
rather than puff it to the skies, as is too com- 
mon in the agricultural papers of the North. 

In the first place, then, its introduction here is 
not due to my father, as supposed by your cor- 
respondent, but to the Hon. John Taliaferro. 

Whether, in the abstract or practically, the 
opinion of several farmers, for two or three sea- 
sons, authorise the opinion that it is fly-proof, 
and in one case, the ordinary wheat of the coun- 
try was entirely cut to pieces by the fly, whilst 
this wheat, immediately alongside, escaped alto- 
gether. 

Vol. 1—10. 



Of its productiveness, last season, at least 
three bushels were made for one of the common 
varieties of the country. It has the largest grain 
I have ever seen, and is a red bearded wheat : 
from which it is argued by a miller, with whom 
I have just conversed, that it will not make su- 
perfine flour. It admits of being sown as soon 
as the 15th of September. My present crop is 
so luxuriant, that, a month past, 1 was advised 
to mow or graze it, notwithstanding a heavy 
harrow had been passed over it. 

Respectfully, yours, J. B. Gray. 

I am promised a full account of the origin of 
this wheat, by Mr. Taliaferro, and will forward 
it to you. J. B. Q. 



WHEAT. 

Wo learn from the Buffalo Commercial Ad- 
vertiser, that a Mr. Le Contour, of the Island of 
Jersey, has been for some time engaged in 
making experiments on wheat; by which he 
has attained some most important results, By 
a series of careful selections and crossings, he 
has obtained over 150 varieties of this grain, 
many of them exhibiting the most valuable pro- 
perties. Mr. Le Conteur has a constant eye to 
an increase of the grain, and a decrease of the 
straw and hull, and he has at last succeeded in 
obtaining a variety, which yields over twenty- 
four hundred pounds of superfine flour to the 
acre. His wheat is so very thin skinned, that 
fifty-two bushels grown upon an acre, give only 
five hundred and forty-two pounds of bran, mid- 
dlings and shorts. This gentleman considers it 
quite practicable, by judicious selections, so to 
improve the nature of this grain as to increase 
the product eight bushels an acre, without any 
additional expense. 

Mr. Le Conteur has written a work upon 
" Wheat" which is very much esteemed in Eng- 
land, and his essay "on pure and improved va- 
rieties of wheat lately introduced into England" 
received a prize of twenty sovereigns. 

Whilst, by pursuing a similar course in this 
country we have much increased and improved 
our varieties of Indian corn, the not less impor- 
tant article of wheat seems to have been compa- 
ratively neglected. The gardener is constantly 
employed in improving and producing new va- 
rieties of flowers, fruits and vegetables, to please 
the eye and gratify the palate, whilst the " staff 
of life" remains as it was delivered to us from 
the hand of nature, as though it was not sub- 
jected to the laws which influence the rest of 
the vegetable kingdom. 



ON SOAKING SEED CORN. 

The editor of the Boston Cultivator reprehends 
the soaking of seed corn, and says it is generally 
abandoned by good farmers. They think that 
when the seed has been soaked and swollen and 



m 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



then suffered to shrink before sprouting, its ve- 
getative powers are much injured, if not entirely 
destroyed. 

CORN vs. ROOTS. 

The same writer expresses the opinion that if 
the English climate permitted the cultivation of 
maize, or Indian corn, that we should hear 
much less from them of turnips and other roots, 
to which their moist climate is much better 
adapted than our own. 



COAL ASHES. 
In the British Farmers' Magazine, this arti- 
cle is very highly recommended for its effect 
upon stiff tenacious soils, opening the texture 
and correcting the tenacity ; and in a pulverized 
state, they are said to form an excellent top 
dressing for young grasses. If we mistake not, 
several farmers in this vicinity can testify to the 
value of this much neglected fertilizer, both in 
its operation upon stiff clays, and its beneficial 
effects when used in top dressing. Our city and 
neighborhood furnish many banks which the 
owners would be obliged to the farmers to re- 
move from their doors. 



GRUBS. 



any connection between the gad-fly and the grub 
worm. Our own opinion is, that the worm ma} 
be found in the stomach of the foetus, and if an) 
of our friends should be so unfortunate as to lose 
a mare in foal, we would be obliged to them to 
examine the fact and report to us the result. 
This point is not only interesting to the naturalist 
but highly useful to the farmer, since by remov- 
ing a popular prejudice as to the origin of a dis- 
ease, we may more certainly arrive at a preven- 
tive of, or remedy for the disease. 



In connection with a theory of Dr. Harding's 
upon the subject of this disease, we mentioned 
some time since that there was reason to believe 
that the grub- worm is a natural inhabitant of the 
stomach of the horse, and not an accidental in- 
vader of a province which he seeks to destroy. 
The popular idea that it is the product of the 
egg of the gad-fly, which is supposed cunningly 
to deposit its nits within reach of the horse's 
mouth, is proved by several circumstances to be 
nothing more than an ingenious hypothesis ; for 
instance, grubs have been found in the stomachs 
of horses in England groomed in the most care- 
ful manner, from which an egg would have been 
eurried as soon as deposited. This would of it- 
self be sufficient to disprove the popular opinion 
of the origin of the grub, but Mr. Dicken lately 
informed us, that Martin Pate, Col. Ambler's 
overseer, once mentioned to him what he consi- 
dered a very singular circumstance. He said 
that he was once observing a very beautiful colt 
belonging to the Col.'s estate, about ten days 
old, playing and frisking about its mother, when 
it fell suddenly dead, without any apparent cause ; 
upon opening its stomach, it was found filled 
with grub-worms ; and Pate very wisely con- 
cluded, that it was impossible that these worms 
could have been the product of eggs, laid, taken 
in and hatched within ten ckiys. Here now is 
a fact furnished by an individual, unbiassed in 
favor of any particular theory, that, if it can be 
sustained, must forever put to flight the idea of 



NEW MANURE. 

We entertain the most lively hopes, that, now that 
agriculture has gained the ear of science, some mode 
will be devised for condensing the fertilizing properties 
of manures so as to lessen the heavy expense of trans- 
portation. The inconvenience of spreading stable-yard 
manures operates most injuriously to their extension, 
which might be wonderfully increased by a separation 
of the active from the gross and useless particles. This 
property of condensation causes bone dust and pou- 
drette to be much sought after, notwithstanding the 
cost of production, and the following which is ex- 
tracted from the Cultivator, points out a new article, 
which, with the same properties, has assumed a cheaper 
form. The high sanction under which it is given to 
the world certainly justifies the trouble of an experi- 
ment: 

U A short time since, a committee of the French 
Institute was appointed to examine the nature 
and effects of a new mauure, represented as of 
extraordinary power. It was found to be com- 
posed of gypsum, saturated with urine, the mass 
then dried and pulverized, and applied to plants 
in the form of a powder. It was pronounced 
the most effective of a large variety of the ani- 
malized manures, so much so indeed that the 
committee recommended great caution in its 
use. A small quantity applied to corn, gardens 
plants, &c. gave a most rapid and vigorous 
growth." 



CORN CULTURE. 

If there is any point in cultivation which 
ought to be thoroughly understood, fixed, and 
established, one would think it should be the 
proper mode of treating this great staple of Ame- 
rica. Yet, even upon this subject where our 
information is most extensive, the greatest doubt 
and discrepancy prevail. No question in hus- 
bandry is probably more disputed than the pro- 
per depth of moving the earth in the cultivation- 
of Indian corn. The late Judge Buel, whose 
opinion upon any point of husbandry was en- 
titled to the greatest respect, was very averse to 
deep ploughing, after planting — he conceived 
that the corn was injured by severing the lateral 
roots, and advised the frequent use of shallow 
culivators, after corn had been planted in ground 
well and deeply moved with the plough. On 
the other hand, Cobbett, backed, we believe, by 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



01 



the opinions of a large majority of our southern 
farmers, recommend that corn be well ploughed 
and the earth carefully turned over. Cobbett 
imagined that severing the roots of the corn 
produces an effect similar to that caused by top- 
ping a tree, a re-production of a greater number 
of lateral shoots, which he considered as increased 
sources of nourishment. Judge Buel's plan, 
which is certainly the cheapest, is in great vogue 
to the North, and seems to gain popularity with 
time. Many of their largest crops are made 
with level cultivation, where a plough is never 
used after planting. 

Let us have the experience and opinions of 
some of our great corn planters upon this im- 
portant point. Can the cultivator be substituted 
for the plough with advantage? 



EXPERIMENTS. 

We are much pleased with a communication 
in the last Cultivator from a Mr. Weems, of Ma- 
ryland. This gentleman, it seems, in the true 
spirit of agriculture, keeps a little miniature 
farm, upon which he makes experiments at his 
own risk, for the good of the community ; where, 
however, he seems to have conducted his opera- 
tions with so much judgment and discretion, 
that they have redounded not less to his own 
advantage than the promotion of agricultural 
knowledge. Nothing can be more philanthropic 
or praiseworthy in individuals, who have the 
requisite means and leisure, than the pursuit of 
such investigations. We recommend them only 
to the wealthy, because, experiments are attended 
with expense, and cannot all result as profitably 
as some detailed by Mr. Weems. Even the 
most wealthy cannot afford to make them ex- 
cept upon little model farms, where, like Mr. 
Weems's, the space cultivated does not exceed 
some seventeen or eighteen acres. The working 
of a model is a cheap and generally an effectual 
mode of testing the operation of a machine, and 
so, thpse experiments, conducted upon a compa- 
ratively cheap scale, may be highly satisfactory 
in establishing agricultural principles. And, as 
the mechanical arts, so agriculture has derived 
the greatest assistance from the experiments of 
men, who have been considered as visionaries, 
and who have too often incurred contempt for 
imprudently spending their means in the attain- 
ment of some scientific principle, which the 
scornful and ignorant world frequently reject be- 
cause the attainment of the principle has emptied 
the pockets of the discoverer. Thus does im- 
prudence in this respect frequently injure the 
individual without benefitting mankind. 

Therefore, we repeat, that where experiments 
can be afforded they are worthy of all commen- 
dation, but, where they are pushed beyond the 
means of an individual they are not only the 
source of private ruin, but they operate most in- 



juriously by exciting prejudice against the sa- 
cred cause of science. And this we hold to be 
the true doctrine of experiments. 

The experiment reported by Mr. Weems has 
often occurred to us a very desirable one, and 
the result is exactly in accordance with the opi- 
nions of a very distinguished farmer in this 
neighborhood, expressed in our last number, viz. 
that tobacco is the most profitable crop that can 
be cultivated. 

Mr. Weems kept an accurate account of the 
outlay and income from four acres of land, cul- 
tivated in the best manner, in corn, oats, wheat, 
and tobacco. He found that the tobacco (1832 
lbs.) at less than 5 cents per pound netted $ 00. 
22 bushels wheat at $ 1 50 per bushel netted 
$ 20. 60 bushels oats at 45 cents, $ 15. 40 
bushels corn at 50 cents, $ 10. 

The account seems to have been accurately 
and strictly kept, and is extremely satisfactory in 
its results. 



ANIMAL MANURES. 
A Mr. Tomlinson suggests, in the Cultivator, 
that the qualities and value of the different kinds 
of animal manures is dependent solely upon the 
richness and quality of the food which they con- 
sume. It is very reasonable to presume that the 
dung of animals derives its powers of promoting 
vegetation from the properties of the food from 
which it is formed, rather than from any pecu- 
liarity in the operations of the organs to which 
it is subjected. 



BUSHES, WEEDS, &c. 
Young farmers should remember that expe- 
rience has demonstrated the advantage of cutting 
down weeds, bushes, &c. which it is desirable 
to eradicate whilst the sap is up. They scarcely 
ever sprout again, which is not the case if they 
are cut in the fall. A Mr. Peck, in the Culti- 
vator, seems to attribute great virtue to the se- 
cond quarter of the moon in June for the per- 
formance of this operation. 



MACHINERY. 

The farmer's objection to machinery must be 
overcome. The day has passed by when it was 
imagined that the comprehension of a farmer 
did not extend beyond a hoe or an axe. One 
great reason why other arts have advanced so 
far beyond the noble science of agriculture, is 
because of the assistance they have derived from 
the adoption of labor-saving machinery. 

The farmer of the present day who would 
compete with his brethren must be a mechanic. 
He works with tools, and therefore, is a mecha- 
nic. Many of his operations are complicated, 
and may be much facilitated by more or less of 
labor-saving machinery. Let not our friends be 



& 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



alarmed at the word — every tool is a machine — 
a plough, a saw, a plane, are labor-saving 
machines — simple in their action, affecting sim- 
ple results. But other operations are required 
which may be much facilitated by the use of an 
implement, uniting in itself the ability to perform 
6everal operations, which must else be performed 
by hand. It becomes, therefore, complicated, and 
is supposed to be unfit for the farmer's use. At 
present, it frequently is, because no business on 
the face of the earth is conducted in such a 
slovenly manner as this favorite pursuit of agri- 
culture. What would you think of a carpenter 
who did not know how to grind a chisel or 
whet a saw? Advise an individual, who has 
eome capital* to commence the business of mas- 
ter builder, and he will tell you, ''Sir, I have 
never served my time at the trade, I know no- 
thing of the use of tools, and am totally unfit 
to take charge of a set of hands who are re- 
quired to use them." Yet that same individual 
will embark his capital, unhesitatingly, in a bu- 
siness much more complicated, about the tools 
and implements of which he is still more igno- 
rant. Why is this? Because, in the first case, 
he knows that he would encounter skill with 
which his ignorance could not compete, and in 
the latter his products come in competition only 
with those of persons as ignorant as himself. 
We want schools of agriculture — opportunities 
of serving an apprenticeship to this complicated, 
scientific, mechanical trade of profession, upon 
which all others depend. Nature may make 
poets, but depend upon it, she has never yet tried 
her hand at farmers. A genius may be self- 
taught, but to expect the great mass of mankind 
to arrive at excellence in so complicated a branch 
of the arts, by their own unassisted exertions, is 
the height of folly. If, instead of the rude un- 
skilful botches who now cultivate the earth, you 
could make every farmer a master workman, 
thoroughly skilled in his business, the wealth of 
the country would be more increased than it can 
ever be by tariffs, created by legislative enact- 
ment ; and he, who devotes his mind to effecting 
this great desideratum, will do more for his 
country than can ever be accomplished by vi- 
sionary schemes of producing wealth without 
labor. 

We are daily brought in contact with indivi- 
duals who are called good farmers, who are ig- 
norant of the simplest principles of mechanics. 
Many of them do not actually understand the 
principles of a plough, are not aware when it is 
out of order, and could not for the soul of them 
superintend the grinding of an axe. Show them 
a labor-saving machine, which requires a small 
degree of mechanical skill to operate it properly, 
and they turn away in disgust. " Such a ma- 
chine," say they, will never answer for my 
negroes; it is not worth while to examine it." 
But can't you teach yoig: negroes to manage it? 



No; because I am as ignorant, as lazy, and 
careless as they are, should be the reply. We 
firmly believe that two-thirds of the labor now 
employed in agriculture could be saved by the 
use of machinery — but never by such as is to 
be operated only by men, who will not learn to 
comprehend and teach others the principle upon 
which one cog wheel drives another. 

We are very often asked could not a machine 
be contrived to perform such and such an opera- 
tion? Yes, without any difficulty. Could it 
be worked by negroes ? We answer no. Nor 
by white men either, unless they will take the 
pains to understand it and keep it in order. What 
an exalted opinion must such persons entertain 
of the capacity of their negroes, to imagine, that, 
without instruction, they can understand and 
manage a machine required to perform at once 
the work of a half dozen different hands. This 
is a perfection to which we solemnly believe 
neither negroes or machinery will ever arrive, 
at least, in our day. 

There are undoubtedly differences in ma- 
chines, and simplicity is the great desideratum. 
Many of them are entirely worthless either from 
defect of principle or indifference of workman- 
ship, and if the farmer discards all because he 
has not learned to distinguish between the good 
and the bad he is to be pitied for his ignorance, 
and must be content to remain in the rear of 
those better skilled in his profession. We have 
generally found that active, industrious, prac- 
tical farmers were the men to appreciate a valua- 
ble improvement in agricultural machinery, the 
principles of which they make it their business 
to understand thoroughly, whilst the mere theo- 
rist, who, full of science, lays abed until ten 
o'clock in the day, very properly declines putting 
such an article into the hands of his negroes 
who would probably destroy it while he was 
asleep. 

In short, farmers must second the efforts of 
ingenuity to apply science to agriculture, and 
this can be effected only by their becoming tho- 
roughly versed in those mechanical principles 
that are applicable to their profession. 



CORN. 



The following comes a little too late for the Virginia 
crop, but our iarmers may treasure it up as derived 
from one, who is, we believe, considered high authori- 
ty. The editor of the Boston Cultivator says : 

u Corn should not be buried more than one 
inch deep in any soil. It starts more vigorously 
at this depth than when put deeper in the earth. 
Corn and cucumbers require a great share of 
warmth, and it is quite absurd to endeavor to 
hide such productions from the genial warmth 
of the sun. 

ASHES ON CORN. 

Those who plant corn on green sward land 
should endeavor to procure ashes to put on each 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



93 



hill; and the sooner they are dropped after the 
corn is covered the better will be the effect. We 
warn the inexperienced against putting wood- 
ashes into the hill with the corn lest the strong 
lie which they soon make should destroy the 
young shoots from the kernel. Ashes have a 
tendency to drive away worms, and they always 
promote the decomposition of the matter con- 
tained in the green sward. Those who have 
poudrette to apply can put it in the hill with the 
corn, or they can put it on the hill as they do 
wood-ashes. When applied to the surface it 
should be done just before the first hoeing, as 
the corn will take care of itself as soon as its 
roots have extended to the spread manure. 

MODE OF FURROWING. 

Most people use a horse plough to mark out 
the rows for the corn — some plough each way 
in order to make the rows more straight. There 
is much labor in this and to very little advan- 
tage; for whether we pass the plough along 
once or twice we generally form a hard and low 
bed for the reception of the seed. If the field 
has been well ploughed and harrowed we make 
a far better bed for the corn by simply dragging 
a chain — or what is still easier — by letting the 
horse drag a simple frame over the ground, with 
two or three teeth in it, set at a proper distance 
from each other — we can then mark out three 
rows at a crossing and leave a trench well pre- 
pared for the seed. A little frame with two teeth 
only, will accomplish twice as much as a plough, 
and it may be made by any man in half a day." 

We concur fully in the propriety of shallow planting, 
and consequently in the mode of furrowing. Much of 
the necessity of replanting, we believe, is produced by 
putting the grain beyond the reach of the genial rays 
of the sun. 



We hear much complaint of the evil habit alluded 
to in the following, from the Boston Cultivator, and 
hope it may afford a satisfactory answer to the nume- 
rous inquiries for a remedy for it. A gentleman in this 
vicinity a short time since remarked to us that he was 
inclined to think that the use of animal food had a ten- 
dency to produce this unnatural habit, as he had ob- 
served, that sows purchased from the city, raised in a 
great measure from the offal of tavern tables, had been 
almost universally addicted to the practice of destroy- 
ing their pigs. 

BREEDING SWINE. 
Farmers who raise their own pigs should be 
very careful to let the breeders have room enough 
and not to disturb or shift them from pen to pen 
for some weeks before littering. Sows will often 
devour their own offspring when shut up in close 
pens, or when disturbed about that time. Some 
good farmers practice throwing into the yard 
some pieces of salt pork or other meat, on the 
supposition that the female has an unusual cra- 
ving for animal food at this season, and that this 
occasions her unnatural destruction of her young. 



Great caution must be used in feeding the mo- 
ther during the first twenty-four hours — if sho 
be then cloyed with food she loses her appetite 
and will pine for a long time in consequence of it. 



CARE OF COWS. 

At this season of the year milch cows should 
have a little meal daily — one quart will be suf- 
ficient. Meal is far preferable to roots for new 
milch cows. Roots may be given when cows 
begin to give a diminished quantity of milk, but 
now, and on their first going to grass, they need 
something to sustain them rather than to cause 
their milk to flow more freely. — Boston Cultv. 



HOGS. 



Many of our farmers are of opinion that the popular 
mode of soiling is injurious to the health of hogs, we 
therefore quote the following directions from the West- 
ern Farmer, which seem to be sound and reasonable : 

11 It has been affirmed that hogs do not thrive 
well if confined in a pen and soiled with clover; 
for ourself we are not a believer in this faith, 
unless where from neglect or abuse of this kind 
of feeding takes place. When the hog roams 
at large he has a chance of being his own phy- 
sician, in the fields or woods on which he may 
graze he finds numerous herbs and other sub- 
stances which serve as medicaments to correct 
the enervating effects of his exclusive vegetable 
diet ; and it is, therefore, but reasonable, when 
he is cut off from these, that he should be fur- 
nished with substitutes to keep down the bane- 
ful effects of the crudities of those substances 
which he receives into his stomach. All vege- 
table bodies which are edible are charged with 
more or less of acidities, the which, if permitted 
to remain uncorrected, will prey upon and viti- 
ate the digestive organs. At this point, then, na- 
ture must be assisted, and it may easily be done. 
Rotten wood, charcoal, chalk, if placed in a 
convenient part of the pen will be readily par- 
taken of by its tenants, and will preserve them 
in health. In addition to these it will be found 
serviceable to mix moderate portions of flour of 
sulphur and copperas occasionally with their 
messes. 

" If the hogs be confined in a pen altogether, 
they cannot be kept with too much regard to 
their comfort and cleanliness, for although when 
permitted to range they luxuriate in mud and 
filth, under the former circumstances, their bed- 
ding should be frequently changed, and their 
bodies in warm weather receive the benefit of 
periodical ablutions. With these precautions, 
and proper feed, to be given at regular intervals, 
there is no question but thai they will not only 
thrive well, but prove a profitable stock to any 
farmer who may thus try the experiment of 
raisinp- them." 



94 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



ADVICE TO HOUSEWIVES. 

Those who make candles will find it a great 
improvement to steep the wicks in lime-water 
and saltpetre, and dry them. The flame will 
be clear and the tallow will not c 'run." 

Britannia ware should be first rubbed gently 
with a woollen cloth and sweet oilj^then washed 
in warm suds and rubbed with soft leather and 
whiting. Thus treated, it will retain its beauty 
to the last. 

New iron should be very gradually heated 
at first ; after it has become inured to the heat, 
it is not likely to crack. 

It is a good plan to put new earthen ware into 
cold water, and let it heat gradually until it boils, 
then cool again. Brown earthen ware particu- 
larly, may be strengthened in this way. A 
handful of rye or wheat bran thrown in while 
it is boiling will preserve the glazing, so that it 
will nou be destroyed by acid or salt. 

Clean a brass kettle before using it for cook- 
ing, with salt and vinegar. 

The oftener carpets are shaken, the longer 
they will wear ; the dirt that collects under them 
grinds out the threads. 

if you wish to preserve fine teeth, always 
clean them thoroughly after you have eaten 
your last meal at night. 

Woollens should be washed in very hot suds, 
and not rinsed. Lukewarm water shrinks them. 

Do not wrap knives and forks in woollens — 
wrap them in good strong paper. Steel is in- 
jured by laying in woollens. 

Brass andirons should be cleansed, done up 
in papers, and put in a dry place during the 
.summer. 

When nroiasses is used in cooking, it is a pro- 
digious improvement to boil and skim it before 
you use it. It takes out the 'unpleasant raw 
taste, and makes it almost as good as sugar. 
Where molasses is much usecrin cooking, it is 
well to prepare one or two gallons at once in 
4his way at a time. 

Never allow ashes to be taken up in wood, 
or put into wood. Always have your lamp and 
tinder box ready to use in case of sudden alarm. 
Ha^ff your important papers all together where 
you can lay your hands on them at once, in case 
of fire. 

Use hard soap to wash your clothes, and soft 
to wash your floors. Soft soap is so slippery 
that it wastes a good deal in washing clothes. 
It is easy to have a supply of horse radish 
all winter. Have a quantity grated while the 
root is in perfection, put it in bottles, fill it with 
vinegar, and keep it corked tight. 

Western Farmer. 



that their cattle have the hollow-horn. We 
have had a little experience in the management 
of cattle, and know something about this M hol- 
low-horn," and are satisfied that it is nothing 
more or less than an attendant, a sort of hanger- 
on, of that worst of all diseases among cattle, 
the " hollow-belly" We know men who have 
cattle that during the whole winter have been 
exposed to the " pitiless peltings" of the storms, 
with a snow-drift or an ice-cake for a bed, with 
nothing but a scanty pittance of prairie hay or 
musty straw for food, and who now wonder that 
their cattle have hollow-horn! The wonder 
should be that they have cattle living. 

We will make the following proposals to all 
those owning cattle. Keep them under shelter 
during the storms and cold weather of next win- 
ter. A hovel, built of logs, and covered with 
coarse hay and straw, standing in a dry place, is 
sufficient for this. Salt them twice a week re- 
gularly ; give them a sufficiency of wholesome 
provender, and at all times, and each of them a 
mess of potatoes or turnips at least two or three 
times a week. Follow these directions fairly, 
according to their true intent and meaning, and 
in the spring we will engage to pay for all the 
damage you have sustained by the "hollow- 
horn." — Fort Wayne Sentinel. 

We do not mean exactly to endorse the obligation of 
our friend of the Sentinel, but his offer certainly 
evinces some confidence in the truth of his theory. We 
recollect to have heard an old gentleman declare once, 
probably upon the same principle, that a good farmer 
would always be ashamed to complain that his cattle 
had the hollow-horn. 



PLOUGHING IN GREEN CROPS. 

It is a well known fact that an extraordinary 
development takes place in plants, in a few days, 
whilst they are engaged in maturing their seeds. 
Now, this addition, like the rest of the growth, 
is derived as well from the air as the earth, so 
that when the plant is turned in much more is 
restored to the earth than has been taken from 
it. Hence the improvement effected; but vege- 
tables should never be interrupted whilst they 
are engaged in making this atrial collection for 
the earth. We should always wait until they 
have performed their office, which ceases only 
with their vitality. To turn in green crops is 
about as wise as it would be to gather them in 
the same state. 



BEES. 



THE HOLLOW-HORN— A FAIR OFFER. 

Within a few days we have heard several 
farmers from the surrounding country complain 



A Mr. Jeston, in an English journal, recommends 
the following simple mode of constructing a bee-hive. 
He says : 

" Some years ago I placed an empty butter- 
tub under the board on which the hive rested ; 
the sun cracked the board, and the bees enlarging 
the opening, took possession of the tub, and after 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



95 



filling their own hive, deposited 26 lbs. of honey 
and comb in the tub below. This I took pos- 
session of for my own use, leaving their hive 
full of honey for their winter's consumption. — 
By improving on this simple plan, I have car- 
ried off the prizes for honey at the Henley Hor- 
ticultural Society for the last four years. A 
board, half an inch in thickness, eighteen inches 
in width, and perforated with two holes, each an 
inch in diameter, is placed between the hive and 
the butter-tub. The tub should be placed under 
the hive as early as March ; the bees having a 
great dislike to any disturbance of their arrange- 
ment. I last year took upwards of 40 lbs of 
honey in this way, although the season was so 
bad, and an ample supply of food was left for 
the bees to subsist on during the winter. This 
plan will prove a good substitute for the 'rear' 
used to enlarge the common hive ; with this ad- 
vantage, that a supply of honey can be obtained 
from the strong swarms as well as the old hives." 



STUMP EXTRACTOR. 




We have been asked by a correspondent, if 
the laborious work of grubbing could not be 
lightened by some mechanical contrivance. We 
are sure it can be, not entirely substituted, but 
lightened. Contrivances have been adopted for 
tearing the stump from the earth without any 
previous digging or cutting, but they have, we 
believe, like the Indian's gun, "cost more than 
they come to." It is a violent operation, requi- 
ring an immense power, which must also be 
portable, two qualities generally incompatible. 
But after digging round and cutting the largest 
roots, a great deal of time is required for sever- 
ing the smaller ties by which the stump is still 
bound to the earth; the smallest of which is 
sufficient to resist considerable efforts, which 
must be applied to the stump at such mechani- 
cal disadvantage. To obviate this difficulty, 
various contrivances have been successfully re- 
sorted to. A very effectual method is the use 
of long, strong levers, embracing the flattened 
sides of the stump and screwed against it by 
long iron bolts, passing through the two on each 
side of the stump. Horses, if necessary, may 
be attached to the end of the levers, and they 
will readily twist off many of the smaller roots, 
which it would cost much labor and trouble to 
get at with the axe. 

We intended to have given a cut of this fix- 



ture, which we consider the best contrivance for 
the purpose with which we are acquainted ; but 
our engraver, by mistake, has represented an- 
other method that is even still cheaper, but not so 
effectual. This is neither more nor less than a 
common lever with a fulcrum for prizing up the 
stump — but much less power is required for 
twisting in two, than tearing apart, the fibres of 
the root. We have also seen representations of 
a compound lever upon three legs, which strad- 
dles the stump, and prizes it up in a similar 
manner. Much labor may be saved in clearing 
by the use of any contrivance of the sort. 

We have known gunpowder tried for blowing 
up the stump, without, however, any great suc- 
cess, owing probably to imperfection in the ap- 
paratus. 

Clearing land is a heavy business, and affords 
a fine field for the exercise of ingenuity in light- 
ening: the labor. 



We were highly gratified by a visit paid a 
few days since to the machine shop of our 
townsman, Mr. Jabez Parker. 

Mr. Parker has been long and favorably known 
as the inventor and manufacturer of several ag- 
ricultural machines. His straw-cutter has been 
much approved, and his threshing machine r 
we believe, is acknowledged to be the best ia 
this part of the country. His corn-sheller, which 
received the premium at the late agricultural 
exhibition in this city, is a very strong and effi- 
cient machine. We saw an excellent wheat- 
fan, and Mr. Parker informed us, that a chain- 
band horse power, which he manufactures, is 
much approved and in great demand. 

Mr. Parker's long and continued exertions to> 
supply the country with the best agricultural 
implements entitle him to this notice, and the 
support of the farming community. 

BONE DUST. 

The Louisville Journal notices a communica- 
tion in the April number of this paper from the 
pen of Mr. R. G. Hadcn, upon the subject of 
this manure, and to satisfy Mr. Haden of its per- 
manent, as well as immediate effect, publishes 
a letter from a Scotch farmer, who testifies to 
experiments made upon two separate fields with 
bone dust and stable manure, where the propor- 
tion of the former to the latter was as one tc* 
twenty-eight. Each field was cultivated for five 
years in consecutive crops of turnips, barley v 
hay, pasture, and oats, and to the very last, the 
crop, upon the field manured with the bone dust,, 
manifested a decided superiority. We are in- 
formed that every year only adds to the reputa- 
tion of this valuable article in England. 



POUD11ETTE. 

In answer to some inquiries made in the Farmers' 
Magazine, as to injury likely to result from an applica* 



96 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



tion of lime to night-soil ; whereby a strong smell of 
ammonia is evolved, a Mr. Brabyn states that it is high- 
ly objectionable, inasmuch as a chemical action is pro- 
duced by which the ammonia, so valuable to vegeta- 
tion, is lost : he recommends the use of gypsum or 
plaster of paris, instead, which destroys the odor and 
preserves the fertilizing properties unimpaired. He 
says: 

<c There does not appear to be any manure so 
rich in nitrogen as human excrement (except 
bone manure, which contains upwards of thirty 
per cent, of gelatine in its interstices;) so much 
so, that according to the analysis of JVIacaire 
and Marcet 100 parts of human urine are equal 
to 1,300 parts of fresh dung of the horse, 600 
parts of the cow, and 450 parts of the urine of 
the horse. Hence it is evident that it would be 
of much importance if none of the human ex- 
crements were lost, especially when we consider 
that with every pound of urine a pound of wheat 
might be produced. Now I would suggest to 
your correspondent the best and most economical 
method I know of preserving unimpaired the 
most valuable element in night soil, which is as 
follows: To every 100 lbs. of night-soil add 7 
lbs. of sulphate of lime (gypsum) in powder, a 
double decomposition will ensue, and the result 
will be, instead of sulphate of lime and carbonate 
of ammonia, carbonate of lime and sulphate of 
ammonia ; the latter a soluble salt which cannot 
be volatilized. It might now be mixed with 
other compost, or dried any way thought proper, 
and applied to the roots of the vegetable, to be 
again transformed into bread, butter, cheese, &c. 

" I would also suggest that if the floors of 
stables be strewed from time to time w T ith a little 
sulphate of lime, they will lose all their offensive 
smell, and none of the ammonia which forms 
can be lost, but retained in a condition servicea- 
ble as manure. In close stables the horses' 
health would be better preserved, and they would 
not be so liable to get blind as now. If lbs. of 
sulphate of lime will fix as much ammonia as 
is produced by 100 lbs. of horse's urine." 



BONE MANURE. 

As this fertilizer comes to be more and more 
appreciated, a cheap and ready method of re- 
ducing bones to dust is more and more of a de- 
sideratum. It may be that decomposing will be 
found more available than pounding. A writer 
in the New England Farmer asserts that he has 
found bones thrown by his wife into the ashes 
of which she makes her soap entirely decom- 
posed, and it is stated in a report of the agricul- 
ture of the House of Industry at Boston, that 
bones with earth, one part bone and two parts 
earth, laid hi a heap and moistened with cow 
yard wash or water, and turned over oflcn, will 
become completely decomposed in about two 
months. 



NOMENCLATURE OF GRASSES. 

Through the active enterprise of Mr. Ruffin, of the 
Farmers' Register, whose exertions in the cause of 
agriculture are untiring, Mr. M. A. Curtis, of Wash- 
ington, N. C. has been induced to undertake a labor, 
which will go far to obviate the confusion that arises 
from the different names by which the same grasses are 
known in different sections of our country. Mr. Curtis 
proposes to make a collection of specimens, and by a 
comparison ascertain exactly the various names by which 
the same plant is known. The advantages of such a 
record will be obvious, and we freely offer our aid in 
furthering the laudable enterprise. 

The following is Mr. Curtis's letter to Mr. Ruffin, 
in which he gives directions for collecting and preser- 
ving specimens. 

We hope that it will be sufficient to enlist the aid 
of many of our readers in lending their assistance to 
the accomplishment of this desirable object. 

DIRECTIONS FOR COLLECTING AND PRESER- 
VING SPECIMENS OF GRASSES. 

Washington, N. C. March 8, 1841. 
To the Editor of the Farmers' Register : 

Dear Sir, — I now send you, as promised, the 
mode of collecting and preserving specimens of 
grasses. 

1st. As to the time of collecting. This should 
be when the flowers are fully grown, but before 
they begin to fall off If any one is in doubt as 
to what are the flowers of grasses, the easiest 
way to inform him is to say, that whatever is 
not stem or leaves will be the flowers. They 
have a great variety of forms, but the above rule 
will readily determine them. 

2d. The whole plant should be collected, not 
excepting the root, though the dirt should be 
entirely removed. Of the large coarse grasses 
that attain a height of three to five feet or more, 
a foot or two of the summit will answer. Plants 
should never be collected when wet. 

3d. Take half a newspaper and fold it once, 
like a sheet of cap or letter paper ; then place 
within it as many plants as there is room for 
without their overlaying each other.* Thus do 
with as many plants as are collected. 

Now lay these sheets between other newspa- 
pers (called driers) alternately over each other; 
that is, first a drier, then a sheet with the plants 
in it, then a drier again, and so on, no matter 
how large the pile. 

The parcel should now be put under a pres- 
sure of from fifty to a hundred pounds and re- 
main for about twelve hours, when the driers 
should be removed and dry ones put in their 
places. Three days will be sufficient for drying 
grasses, changing as above every twelve hours. 
For a press, a piece of board large enough to 
cover the paper might be used, with a' rock, 
some large books, or a heavy trunk, for a weight. 

* If the plant be longer than the sheet, it may be 
bent over, or broken, though not severed. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



9f 



When the plants have been thus dried, they 
can be put away in dry papers, enclosed in a 
newspaper and tied round, so that they may not 
be injured by being broken or tossed about. 
They should be put away in a drawer where 
they will not suffer from careless handling. 

4th. In transportingthem,care should be taken 
that they get no injury from rubbing, which will 
happen if they are loose. They should, there- 
fore, be packed tight enough to avoid that. 
When carefully tied up or sealed, they can be 
conveyed to any distance in a trunk by private 
conveyance; or in a small box made to the size 
of the parcel may be sent by any of the ordi- 
nary public conveyances. Boxes of plants are 
yearly traversing the country in this way. 

If the work you have put upon me is worth 
doing.it is worth doing well; but this cannot 
be attained without the aid of those who are 
more particularly interested in it. 1 hope, there- 
fore, that no one will leave for somebody else to 
do what he can so easily do himself. The 
grasses within the reach of any one man, the 
names of which he is acquainted with, are not 
very numerous, and the trouble of preparing two 
or three specimens of each will be trifling. It 
must be the agriculturists who will do the work 
of furnishing the common names, for botanists 
are generally professional men who are very 
imperfectly acquainted with them. I will, how- 
ever, draw upon them personally for their know- 
ledge, if you will secure the labors of the farmer 
in this work. 

If it will furnish any new inducement to the 
agriculturist to engage in the plan, I will pro- 
mise to return him his plants, if desired, properly 
named, so that he may have specimens in hand 
to refer to in cases of doubt. 

Very respectfully, yours, &c. 

M. A. Curtis. 



WHITE CARROTS. 

The popularity of ruta baga, mangel wurtzel, 
and even the sugar beet is threatened by this 
new candidate for popular favor. The English 
papers are making a good deal of noise about 
it, and we believe the seed may be obtained at 
the North. We have always esteemed the car- 
rot the best of the roots. They are known to 
form an excellent food for horses as well as cattle, 
exercising a healthy influence in the spring of 
the year, particularly. They are very nutritious, 
and this is said to be an improved article both in 
quality and productiveness. We advise our 
friends to procure some of the seed as soon as 
possible, as we foresee, that whatever be its real 
merits, it is about to have its day. 



TO RELIEVE CHOKED CATTLE. 

A Mr. Jones, in the Nashville Agriculturists, 
says that all you have to do to relieve choked 
VoL 1—11. 



cattle is to raise the fore foot for the purpose of 
relaxing the muscles of the leg ; then tie a strong 
string around the arm just above the knee, and 
if the animal does not put the foot to the ground 
a quick stroke with the whip will make it do 
so, when the operation is performed, and the ani- 
mal relieved. He does not pretend to give the 
rationale, but asserts that the effect is certain. 



PEACH TREE WORM. 

We see, from the Western Farmer, that some 
individual, upon the same principle as that 
adopted by Dr. Anderson, and recorded in our 
last, has been trying experiments to protect peach 
trees from its destructive enemy, the canker 
worm. Tansy and wormwood were planted 
nearly in contact with the body of the tree, and 
were found as effectual in keeping off' the worm 
as tobacco and camphor are in preserving clothes 
from the moth. 



We were struck by the following, in the Main Cul- 
tivator, because it is only a lew weeks since Major 
Yancey, speaking of the advantages of the value of 
the hemp crop, stated, that circumstances coming un- 
der his own observation, had inclined him to think, 
that a strip of it between wheat and corn would form 
an effectual barrier to the advances of the chinch bug 
from one to the other; though, he expressed an un- 
willingness to give the opinion to the public, until con- 
firmed by further experiments : 

SECURITY AGAINST THE WHEAT FLY. 

When there is an abundance of clover or hernp 
around a wheat field, it has been ascertained to 
a certainty, that very much less injury will be 
done to the wheat by the grain flies than in 
most other situations. The reason is plain. The 
weevil deposits its eggs on the sweetest plants 
it can find, and prefers the clover or hemp even 
to wheat, 



NEWSPAPERS. 

Mr. Jefferson, whilst a minister in France, 
wrote to a friend in this country, Col. E. Car- 
rington : " Were it left to me to decide, whether 
we should have a government without newspa- 
pers, or newspapers without a government, I 
should not hesitate a moment to choose the 
latter." 



TO CUT GLASS WITH A PIECE OF IRON. 

Draw with a pencil on paper, any pattern to 
which you whould have the glass conform; place 
the pattern under the glass, holding both toge- 
ther in the left hand, (for the glass must not rest 
on any plane surface;) then take a common 
spike or similar piece of iron, heat the point of 
it to redness, and apply it to the edge of the 
glass; draw the iron slowly forward, and the 
edge of the glass will immediately crack ; con- 



98 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



tinue moving the iron slowly over the glass, tracing the pattern, and the chink in the glass 
will follow at the distance of about half an inch, in every direction according to the motion of the 
iron. It may sometimes be found requisite, however, especially in forming corners, to apply 
a wet fino-er to the opposite side of the glass. Tumblers and other glasses may be cut or 
divided very fancifully by similar means. The iron must be re-heated as often as the crevice in 
the glass ceases to follow. — New York Mechanic. 




NAGORE BULL. 



We present our readers with a portrait of a Nagore bull, an Indian breed of cattle lately in- 
troduced into England. From the description of them which we extract from the work published 
by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, we are inclined to think that from them 
might be obtained a cross which would unite the quickness of the horse with the endurance of 
the ox. Indeed they seem to unite in themselves the combination of these properties in a won- 
derful degree. 

u They were bred by Lieutenant-Colonel Skinner, at his farm at Danah, near Pokah, on the 
borders of the Bichaneer desert, 100 miles to the westward of Delhi. They are not buffaloes, 
but of the highest breed of Indian cattle. They are used in India by the higher orders, to draw 
their state carriages, and are much valued for their size, speed, and endurance, and sell at very 
high prices. 

" Colonel Skinner has a large stock of them; and six or seven beasts arc always kept saddled 
to carry the military despatches. They remain saddled three or four hours, and if not wanted 
in that time, fresh ones are brought out to relieve their companions. They will travel, with a 
soldier on their back, fifteen or sixteen hours in the day, at the rate of six miles an hour. Their 
action is particularly fine — nothing like the English cattle, with the sideway, circular action of 
their hind legs — the Nagore cattle bring their hind legs under them in as straight a line as the 
horse. They are very active, and can clear a five-barred gate with the greatest ease. Mr. Per- 
kins bos a calf which has leaped over an iron fence higher than any five-barred gate; and the 
bull frequently jumps over the same fence in order to get at the water, and when he has drunk 
his fill, leaps back again. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



99 



"The bull (Jupiter) was in high condition 
when exhibited. He was employed in a light 
cart, and various jobs about the farm : sometimes 
he goes fore-horse in the wagon-team, to deliver 
corn ; he also drags the bush-harrow, and draws 
the light roller over the ploughed land. He is 
very docile and tractable, when one man drives 
him, and attends upon him, but he has, now and 
then, shown symptoms of dislike to others. 

,c He is fed entirely on hay. Except that 
when he works, a little bran is given to him, 
and in the turnip season he is treated occasion- 
ally with a few slices of Swedes, of which he 
is very fond. He was at first very troublesome 
to shoe ; and it was necessary to erect a break 
in order to confine him. He was unwilling to 
go into it for some time, but now walks in very 
contentedly. 

Mr. Perkins very properly observes, that the 
chief advantage of these Brahmin bulls would 
probably consist in their speed and strength, in 
both of which they surpass any of our breeds." 



HENRICO AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 

The first exhibition of this institution was 
held, as advertised, on the 26th ult. In interest 
and effect it exceeded the anticipations of its 
most sanguine friends; the exhibition generally 
was of the most respectable character, whilst 
that of the hogs, particularly, elicited the warm- 
est approbation. Notwithstanding the extensive 
preparation, the crowd was very great even at 
an early hour of the morning. The grove, in 
which the assembly was held, is most appro- 
priate for the purpose, but was hardly sufficient 
to accommodate the numbers that thronged to 
hear the address. The yard with its beautiful 
spring and lofty trees lent an additional charm 
to the scene. Here was to be seen the beauty 
and fashion of the city mingling with the sweet- 
ness and simplicity of the country. The glow- 
ing sun and refreshing shade, the city belle and 
sturdy yeoman, the anxious countenance of the 
competitor and the careless face of the spectator, 
formed a tout ensemble of the most pleasing de- 
scription. 

The ceremonies of the day were opened by a 
prayer of the mos'. impressive and appropriate 
character from the Rev. Dr. Empie, of St. James's 
church, which was followed by the address of 
the President. 

Of this address it is sufficient to say, that the por- 
tion devoted particularly to the proper manage- 
ment of a farm, was, like its author, sensible and 
practical in the highest degree. So valuable do 
we consider it, that, although our limited size 
and plan of condensation forbid the publication 
of any speech, we yet design to obtain a synopsis 
of these remarks for a future number. Although 
we did not coincide entirely in all the incidental 
remarks, some of them met our entire approba- 



I tion, and satisfied us, that the Parson was as 
I skilful in the use of the lighter weapons of ridi- 
cule and satire as he had evinced himself to be 
j in the heavier ones of reason and argument. In 
passing, we cannot forbear to notice a most 
severe and caustic hit at the last Legislature, 
who, representing an agricultural community, a 
people seven-eighths of whom are farmers, were 
only by great exertions, importuned into doing 
so much for the agricultural interest, as to grant 
leave to certain individuals to meet, if they chose, 
at their own expense, and take into consideration 
the wants and wishes of this great interest. And 
this mighty boon they dignified with the name 
of a Board of Agriculture. 

It is indeed an anomaly, that an interest, so 
powerful and so extensive, having the entire 
control of the legislation of the country, should 
find so great a difficulty in obtaining the passage 
of an act as impotent and powerless as the one 
establishing this same Board of Agriculture. 

It is a crying evil that this subject of most 
general and vital interest should be so totally 
neglected by those whom it concerns most nearly. 
The remedy, Mr. Turner thinks, is to be found 
in the election of men, who are valued, more for 
their devotion to the true interests of the country, 
than for the ability to make garrulous and empty 
oratorical displays. 

WHEAT. 

Since the receipt of the letter from Mr. Gray on our 
89th page we have been politely favored with the fol- 
lowing from the same source. We shall procure from 
Mr. Gray a specimen of his crop for examination and 
probably a small quantity for sale. 

Mr. Bolts, — I herewith forward the letter of 
Mr. Taliaferro, giving a further account of the 
fly proof wheat. 

Up to this date there is no appearance of fly 
in my crop, whilst an adjoining field is materially 
injured by that insect. 

Respectfully, J. B. Gray. 

June 3, 1841. 

Hagley, May 22, 1841. 

Dear Sir, — Your note, desiring a history of 
the wheat you had*of us last fall, is received, 
and I regret that my information, in regard to 
its origin, does not enable me to give such an 
account of it as may be satisfactory to you, or 
to your agricultural friend in Richmond. In a 
conversation with my friend, Dr. A. Naudaine, 
United States Senator from Delaware, about five 
years since, on agricultural topics, I mentioned 
the ruinous ravages committed by the Hessian 
fly on our crops of wheat in Virginia, whereupon 
he informed me, that the farmers in Delaware 
had for some years cultivated a species of wheat 
entirely exempt from the ravages of that insect; 
and he kindly offered to send me a specimen of 



ioo 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



it for trial. Accordingly five years since he sent 
me a fraction over two bushels of this wheat, 
and we now have the fifth crop of it, and a re- 
markable fine one it is, without the least injury 
from Hessian fly, or rust, two formidable adver- 
saries to wheat. During all this time our other 
descriptions of wheat, in juxta position in the 
same field, and often on very superior land, as 
well as that of our neighbors, have been se- 
riously injured both by fly and rust. Such is 
my experience in regard to this wheat, and such 
is the result in all cases where it has been tested 
by many to whom we have furnished it the last 
two years foi experiment. A few facts in rela- 
tion to this wheat will satisfy any farmer why 
it escapes the Hessian fly necessarily, and why 
it is more exempt from rust and rot, than any 
other winter wheat. It will be found, by all 
who try it, to possess more energy of root than 
any other known wheat. So that if seeded, as 
it ought to be, between the 15th and 25th of 
September, though the fly will attack and cut 
off the fall shoots, its energy of root is such as 
to leave that uninjured. And in the spring, 
ow ng to this energy of root, the growth is more 
vigorous and rapid than any other winter wheat, 
so that by the 15th of April, a few days before 
th.3 spring fly begins to hatch, the ground-joint 
O; this wheat becomes hard and sapless, and 
consequently free from the spring ravages of the 
fly. This wheat ripens about one week earlier 
than any other winter species, and is, therefore, 
more exempt from rust and rot. All I could 
learn of Dr. Naudaine as to the origin of this 
wheat was, that it came from Germany, but by 
whom it was introduced into Delaware he could 
not inform me. All who cultivate this wheat 
should not omit to sow it between the 15th and 
25th of September — in all that month will do. 
It should be seeded thick, because if thin, the 
uncommon weight of the head will bear much 
of it down. And it should not be harvested till 
fully ripe, for if cut in the milk state, the grain 
assumes a dark and unsightly aspect. Unless 
we could get rid of the Hessian fly, I have never 
known so desirable a species of wheat as this. 

I am, dear sir, faithfully yours, 
J. B. Gray, Esq. John Taliaferro. 



HOGS. 



It is with great pleasure that we lay the following 
before our readers, which w r e are sure, from the repu- 
tation of the author, particularly in this special depart- 
ment, will form the introduction to a series of most 
able and interesting essays upon this popular subject : 

To the Editor of the Southern Planter. 

Dear Sir, — My conscience has been troubling 
me for a considerable time past, and I have de- 
termined to relieve it. The cause of my trouble 
is. that I have been feasting on the rich stores 
whir.h you and your correspondents have spread 



before me, and I have contributed nothing in re- 
turn. Feast after feast has been served up for 
me, whilst I have done nothing to swell the re- 
past. I confess in the onset, that I have very 
little talent in catering in this way. I have not- 
withstanding, resolved to try; and if no other 
good results from the effort, I shall at least re- 
lieve my troubled conscience. 

1 have, therefore, resolved to prepare, as may 
be convenient to myself, a few short practical 
essays, which I hereby offer for publication, in 
the Southern Planter. To these essays, laying- 
aside all false modesty, I intend to append my 
own proper name. I prefer that they should 
appear in this form; for if they have any merit, 
L wish to have the credit of it, and if they tend 
to my reproach, let the blame attach to the pro- 
per person. 

The subject on which I propose to treat is the 
hog — an humble subject, I am aware, in the es- 
timation of many. But with your aid, I think 
I can make it appear an important one. I wish 
you, therefore, Mr. Editor, whilst I am engaged 
in other matters, to sit down in your office and 
to calculate what it costs to supply the eastern 
section of Virginia with bacon for one year. If, 
in your estimate, you include the large droves 
of hogs which come to our several markets, all 
of which were sold last year at from $7 to 
$7 50 the. hundred pounds; and if to this you 
add the almost incredible quantities of bacon 
which are disposed of among us at various prices, 
I am persuaded you will find the hog business a 
no small affair. Now it is to arrest this immense 
expenditure, and in lieu of sending these vast 
sums to the West, to keep the whole among us, 
that I propose writing the following essays. To 
illustrate my purpose, I will suppose a case of 
continual occurrence. The farmer, after sup- 
plying his family with bread and clothing, has 
a surplus of corn, of wheat, of tobacco, or of 
some other article. This he sends to market 
and disposes of it to the best advantage in his 
power. But it is certain, that the poor man is 
no better off than if he had no surplus at all; 
for it takes all the money he can raise in this 
way to procure meat for his family. But sup- 
pose that, in addition to the other necessaries, he 
raises his meat and still has a surplus; why 
here is at once an amount with which he may 
pay his debts (and this ought always to be his 
first course) or may add it to his capital, or im- 
prove his farm, or expend in any other manner 
he thinks proper. Now it is evident that in the 
latter case, the man is improving his condition, 
whereas in the former he is going backward, or 
at most remaining stationary. 

The great question at issue is simply this: 
Can meat be profitably raised? The proper so- 
lution of this question depends upon certain cir- 
cumstances which I shall now detail. It cannot 
be raised to a profit when corn, the chief article 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



101 



of their support is very high, nor with a stock 
cf hogs deteriorated and broken down by the 
unnatural system of breeding in and in. But 
under other circumstances — with corn not very 
dear, and with a stock healthy and vigorous, I 
believe and I undertake to prove that it is to the 
interest of every farmer to raise meat, at least, 
to the amount of his own consumption. I un- 
dertake to go further and to show that with 
many, it would be a profitable business not only 
to supply their own wants, but to furnish a 
surplus for the market. In treating of this sub- 
ject, I must direct the attention of my readers to 
the three following things: 

1st. To the most profitable stock of hogs; 

2d. Their comfortable accommodation ; and 

3d. Their treatment in general. 

These three propositions will probably furnish 
matter for three or more separate essays, which 
(should my life be spared) I authorize you to 
expect. Having now relieved my conscience, 
in some measure, I will defer till your next num- 
ber what I have further to say on this subject. 
J. H. Turner. 



AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES. 

The result of the late exhibition of the Agri- 
cultural Society of Henrico has filled us with 
the most pleasing anticipations of what is to be 
effected by this means in Virginia. 

We congratulate the members of that Society 
and the agricultural community generally upon 
the most decided success of this exhibition. The 
fate of this laudable enterprize is no longer doubt- 
ful. The zeal, the ardour, the interest, mani- 
fested on that occasion by its members and visi- 
ters generally are the surest presages of the dig- 
nity at which it is destined to arrive. Already 
has it excited a spirit of improvement and a pride 
of husbandry that entitle its originators and sup- 
porters to the appellation of public benefactors. 
If the people of Virginia could only know the 
interest that has been awakened in this neigh- 
borhood by a single exhibition, every county in 
the State would have its agricultural society. 
Every neighborhood would organize, and every 
individual would lend himself to the cause. In- 
formation would be gathered and scattered — 
agriculture, which is the favorite and natural 
pursuit of our people, would be elevated to its 
highest standard, and our proud old State would 
resume the station for which nature and nature's 
God designed her. 

The commerce and trade, the wealth and im- 
portance of the State must depend upon her 
agriculture. Is not this sufficient to urge every 
Virginian to lend his whole soul to the improve- 
ment of this noble art? This improvement can 
only be effected by the dissemination of infor- 
mation, and we hold the opinion, expressed to 
us by an eminent friend lately, that agricultural 



societies and agricultural papers are the only 
means by which the information of each can be 
extended to all. In the name of Virgini a then, 
a name never yet disregarded by her sons, we 
call upon you to arouse and strike one blow for 
the prosperity of your native State — unite your 
strength — form associations in every hamlet for 
the dissemination of agricultural knowledge. 
Knowledge is power — and he, who increases the 
knowledge, elevates the standing and strengthens 
the position of his people. The true patriot will 
ever seek this mode of serving his country, and 
we ask again, if it is possible for him to do so 
more effectually than by a resort to agricultural 
exhibitions, which excite pride, and draw forth 
information from its most secret recesses. 

Upon this subject we are glad to find that our 
countrymen are beginning to be aroused from 
the lethargy in which they have reposed. Al- 
ready have we received information from several 
societies formed in different counties, and we 
hear propositions for many more. Let them di- 
ligently collect the agricultural facts which are 
continually evolved in every neighborhood, and 
report them to us, under the sanction of the so- 
ciety. We offer ourselves as their willing, ready, 
and zealous organ. Our subscription list, owing 
probably more to the low price of the publica- 
tion than its intrinsic merit, is swelling most ra- 
pidly, and we shall soon afford a vehicle for the 
most extensive dissemination. Facts gathered 
in this manner and reported by a society are 
doubly valuable, inasmuch as they are given 
under the imposing authority of the collected 
wisdom of a county, free from the bias and pre- 
judice that frequently distort the observations of 
individuals. Hearty, zealous and united co- 
operation is only wanting to render the art of 
husbandry in Virginia proportional to the bless- 
ings of nature. 

We beg that every society in the State of 
Virginia, that is either already in existence or 
may hereafter arise, will communicate the fact 
to us by ordering a copy of our paper, which 
we hereby respectfully tender them. 



BERKSHIRE PIGS. 

We lately paid a visit to our friend, General 
Richardson, at his farm in this vicinity. Amongst 
other things calculated to delight the eye of a 
farmer, we were particularly struck with a Befk- 
shire sow, eleven months old, that the General 
obtained from Mr. Lossing, of New York. In 
point of fineness of bone and height of finish, 
we have never seen her superior. She is now 
stinted to a very fine boar of the pure breed from 
a different family, and is expected to pig about 
the first of September. The demands made on 
us for Berkshire pi^s from our country friends 
are innumerable. This is the earliest opportu- 
nity, and certainly not the worst we know, of 



102 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



obtaining a supply in this neighborhood. We 
would advise those in want to drop the General 
a line in time. He will supply them at the 
usual price of $20 a pair. If they employ our 
services in the selection, &c. we shall charge 10 
per cent, on that amount. Boxing, feed, &c. 
will as usual be something extra. 

The public spirited proprietor of this stock 
selected one of his finest pigs and placed it at 
our disposal, with a request that we would be- 
stow it upon some industrious deserving young 
farmer who desired to improve his stock. We 
presented the pig to Mr. E. T. Melton, of Hano- 
ver, and expect, from his management, to see 
him carry off the palm at the fair next spring. 



THE NORTHERN LIGHT. 

This is the title of a publication lately com- 
menced in the city of Albany, under the auspices 
of an association of gentlemen of high reputa- 
tion and acknowledged ability. In the number 
that we have received, the matter is excellent, 
and the style of execution creditable. The de- 
sign is worthy of the source from which it ema- 
nates. The object is to afford a monthly epi- 
tome of general information on the lowest terms, 
viz. one dollar per annum. It is devoted to po- 
litical economy, agriculture, literary and scien- 
tific miscellany, and general intelligence. 

We heartily commend the Northern Light to 
Southern patronage. 

ASPARAGUS. 

The following, from Hovey's Magazine of Horticul- 
ture, proposes a new, and we think reasonable, method 
of treating this favorite and profitable vegetable. We 
had been under the impression, however, probably an 
erroneous one, that the bud lost its delicacy of flavor 
by being too long exposed to the atmosphere. This 
point can be settled at once, and if the author of the 
new mode is right we shall be happy to have his state- 
ment corroborated. 

" In all the books of gardening which I have 
seen, the direction for gathering asparagus has 
always been to cut it several inches below the 
surface of the ground, as soon as the stalk has 
advanced a few inches above it. The asparagus 
generally brought to market is cut in this way, 
the upper half being green and tender when 
cooked, the lower half white, tough, and uneata- 
ble. The experience of many years has taught 
me that it is far better to let the asparagus grow 
to the height of ten inches, or a foot, and then 
to gather it by breaking with the fingers, as low 
down as it is tender and breaks easily, which, 
when the weather has been warm, is generally 
from six to ten inches. Asparagus, thus ga- 
thered, will be found to be much finer, the whole 
being tender and eatable, the produce much 
greater, and the process attended with no disad- 
vantage whatever. Asparagus even two feet 
high, will be found fit to gather in this manner. 



if at any time it has outgrown the consumption, 
or escaped attention, which indeed was the oc- 
casion on which this new method of gathering 
occurred to me. I have since always practised 
it. Let those who are fond of asparagus give 
it but one trial, and they will never again resort 
to the old system." 



POUDRETTE AND URATE. 

In a very interesting communication to the Southern 
Agriculturalists, from the pen of "A Southerner," the 
celebrated establishment of Montfaucon is described 
as follows : 

"A little beyond one of the barriers of the city 
of Paris, has existed for many years, one of the 
most singular establishments ever instituted by 
human industry. This place, called Montfaucon, 
is designed as a receptacle for all dead and dis- 
abled horses, cattle, dogs, cats, and other ani- 
mals, from the various quarters of Paris; and 
here, revelling in filth, and debased to the lowest 
state of human degradation, man may be seen 
engaged in all the intermediate grades of the 
most disgusting employments, between the traffic 
in the stinking carcasses of putrid animal's flesh 
and offal, and the rearing of maggots, either to 
serve as bate for fishermen, or to fatten poultry 
for the tables of the luxurious citizens of the 
refined metropolis of France. To the same place 
is also conveyed all the night-soil and urine from 
the privies of the city, which are submitted to a 
series of processes, by which they are converted 
into a dry, almost inodorous powder, called pou- 
drette, which being in great demand amongst 
agriculturalists, is transported to all parts of the 
kingdom, and even to the West India Colonies, 
thus proving an immense source of revenue to 
those who furnish it, and of profit to those who 
purchase it for the purpose of enriching their 
lands." 

Many improvements have been made of late years 
which have resulted in the discovery that by the use 
of poudered lime, plaster of paris, and vegetable char- 
coal, these offensive substances are immediately ren- 
dered inodorous and very quickly prepared for use : 
and it is likely, that no discovery of modern times is 
calculated to produce a greater effect upon agriculture 
than this ready conversion of disgusting offal into an 
inoffensive, concentrated fertilizer. 

The means of conversion are so cheap and simple, 
that we consider it calculated to furnish very lucrative 
employment to individuals in the neighborhood of 
much smaller cities than Richmond. But whatever 
the result may be, we hardly think the process inviting 
enough to engage the fanner to manufacture for him- 
self; we will not, therefore, trouble him with the parti- 
culars of the modus operandi. But. we will urge him 
most strenuously to purchase this article which is very 
highly lauded, and give it a fair trial. The great de- 
sideratum is to find the cheapest fertilizer — let us then 
fairly examine the claims of poudrette to this title. 
Urate, procured by a similar process from urine, is 
said to be even more concentrated and powerful than 
poudrette. Our readers are probably aware that one or 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



103 



two companies are already engaged in the manufacture 
of these articles in the United States, and we had hoped 
to have obtained a barrel from one of them for trial be- 
iore this. As soon as it is procured, further particulars 
ot its operat ion will be given to the public. 

MISCELLANY. 



EAR-ACHE. 

A member of the Virginia Senate informed 
us, Jast winter, that an infallible remedy for this 
painful complaint was to be found in the appli- 
cation of rattlesnake oil. Out of a great num- 
ber of cases, he declared that he had never 
known an application of cotton dipped in the 
oil fail to give immediate and permanent relief. 
t Upon mentioning the circumstance to a phy- 
sician of this city, he informed us that he had 
been long satisfied of the virtue of the oil in 
cases of rheumatism, and knowing the source 
from whence the above was derived, he enter- 
tained no doubt of its efficacy in the somewhat 
similar case of ear-ache. 

We understand that the oil is prepared and 
saved every year in the mountains of Virginia, 
and if it possesses half the qualities attributed 
to it there, our readers in the snake country may 
convert it into an article of profitable traffic by 
supplying the wants of the less favored inhabi- 
tants of the low country. 



gardens? Look abroad, and wherever you see 
shackling fences, burry fields, ducks and ^eese 
in the springs, hogs rooting up to the door? and 
cattle depredating upon corn hid in the weeds 
you will find men in the grog-shops, and the 
children without school-houses, and their mo 
thers in misery. On the contrary, wherever you 
see highly cultivated fields, a yard of green sod 
orchards of choice fruit, and gardens of select 
flowers, you will find intelligence, virtue, and 
happiness. " ' 



"LOOK AT HOME." 
The advice given by a girl to Thales the Mi- 
lesian philosopher was strong and practical 
Seeing him gazing at the heavens as he walked 
along, and perhaps piqued by his not castino- an 
eye on her attractions, she put a stool in°his 
path, over which he tumbled and broke his 
shins. 1 he excuse she made was, that she 
meant to teach him, before he indulged himself 
in star gazing, to " look at home." 

How many of our morus multicaulis and 
other visionaries have lately broken their shins 
over a "stool," and been thereby taught to "look 
at home." 



The following from a Boston paper, is a good hit at 
the mania, which pervades the country, for (Joins everv 
thing by means of societies and committees : 

" It is proposed that every man should consti- 
tute himself into a self-examining committee to 
inquire into his own conduct. It is believed that 
the business each committee would have to trans- 
act would keep it constantly and usefully em- 



Mr Biddle m his agricultural address in Oc- 
tober last wittily and truly remarked, that "the 
farmer's richest mine is the barn yard, and that 
whatever temptations stocks or shares may offer 
the best investment for a farmer is live stock and 
'plough shares." 



happTsentnn^r' 8 """" We «** th * ™™ing 

"The end and aim of all the efforts of man 
is happiness; and happiness is certainly more 
connected with the good cultivation of the earth 
than any other occupation. Man, as he came 
from the hands of his Maker, was placed in a 
garden adorned with every fruit and flower be- 
cause these, above all created things, were' the 
elements of that pleasure most agreeable to a 
pure mmi And now, where are the retreats of 
happiness in this world, comparable to well ar- 
ranged houses, clean yards, and well cultivated 



CRESSIN'S MAGIC. 
Pliny tells us of one Cressin, who so tilled a 
piece of ground that his extraordinary products 
were attributed to magic by his ignorant and 
lazy neighbors. How is it, said they, "unless 
it be that he enchants us, that he can contrive 
to draw such a revenue from his inheritance 
while we with equal lands, are wretched and 
miserable ?" W hen arraigned before the justice 
seat, Gressian was his own advocate. "Behold " 
said he, - these implements of husbandry, these 
carts, and these oxen Go with me, moreover, 
to my fields, and behold how they are tilled how 
manured how weeded, how watered, and' how 
fenced in ! and when, added he, you have beheld 
all these things, you will have beheld all the 
arUhe charms, the magic, which Cressin has 

The days of sorcery are not yet over; we 
think we know some "magicians," some Cres- 
sms, even in Virginia, at the present day. 

PRACTICE is. PHILOSOPHY. 

The following little circumstance, related of 
Sir Isaac Newton, well illustrates the mutual 
dependence of practice and study. The vota- 
ries of either should never despise the other 
Whenever they are united, useful knowledge is 
the result. & 

The learned philosopher being very busy in 
his study, a little girl came to ask him for some 
nre But," says the sage, "you have nothing 
to take it in," and as ha was goiW to fetch 
something for that purpose, the little girl stooped 



104 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



down, and taking 1 some cold ashes in one hand, 
she put live embers on them with the other. 
The astonished philosopher threw down his 
books, saying - , "with all my learning I should 
never have found out that expedient." 




The press of interesting agricultural matter has com- 
pelled us to abridge our miscellaneous head, much 
against our will. We believe it is generally considered 
by our subscribers not the least interesting or instruc- 
tive portion of our paper. 



COMPLIMENTS- 

We take this occasion to thank the press generally 
for the very handsome and complimentary notice they 
have been pleased to take of the Planter. To parade 
such notices before our readers, we consider "a custom 
more honored in the breach than in the observance," 
but we hope our cotemporaries will not consider us the 
less grateful for the honor they have done us. For 
those (who are not a few) that have quoted from us 
without credit — we excuse them for the obligation we 
are under to the craft in general. 

» " 

RICHMOND MONTHLY MARKETS, June 8th, 1841. 

Tobacco. — Prices have been gradually tend- 
ing downwards during the last month — at this 
time the current rates are as follows : — Lugs $ 4 
25 a $5— common leaf $5 25 a $6 50— mid- 
dling $ 6 75 a $ 7 25— good $ 7 50 a $ 8 50— 
fine $ 8 75 a $ 10— and very superior $ 11 a $15. 

Flour. — Prices have gradually advanced for 
last fortnight — the supplies are now very mo- 
derate, and the stock so limited, shipping dealers 
find it difficult to make purchases to any extent — 
very few sales under $4 87-| — the general ask- 
ing price is $5 for fair superfine and $5 25 a 
$5 50 for extra. 

Corn. — Very little in market — the demand is 
good, and at present the price is 55 a 57 cents 
per bushel. 

Tobacco Inspections of Virginia. 

May 31st, 1840. 1S41. 

Richmond passed and refused 8,802 Hhds. 9,40S Hhds. 
Petersburg " " " 10,062 « 10,300 " 
Lynchburg " " « 5,392 " 5,415 « 
Farmville " " " 2,331 " 2,619 " 
Clarksville " " " 1,441 « 2,128 « 
All other places " " 575 " 750 " 

The crop has been hurried in rapidly this year, and 
we think the entire inspections of the* State, will fall 
short of last year 5 a 8,000 hogsheads. 

Bagwell, Smith &. Jones. 

June 8, 1841. 



BERKSHIRE PIGS. 
In another article we informed our friends that 
we knew of only one litter of Berkshires that 



was shortly expected in this neighborhood. We 
are now happy to state that Mr. Alexander B. 
Shelton, of this city, the owner of the mother 
of Suke, the premium sow, and the raiser of the 
boar President, the most celebrated animal in 
this vicinity, is now ready to receive orders for 
his summer and fall litters, the first of which he 
will be prepared to deliver in about ninety days 
from this date. Farther notice of this very su- 
perior stock and of the spirited proprietor will 
be taken in our next number. 

Mr. Shelton delivers his pigs caged, in the city 
of Richmond, at twenty dollars a pair. Our 
personal attention will be given to selection, &c. 
upon terms formerly intimated. 

CONTENTS OF NO. V. 

Tobacco. — Housing, p. 81 — firing do. — construction of 

houses p. 82 — hanging do. — packing p. 83. 
Vegetables — Influence of cultivation on, p. 84 — origin 
of double flowers, do. 

Sugar Beet — Recommended especially for cows, p. 84. 
Corn — Deep planting recommended, p. 85 — rule for 
Measuring corrected, do. 

Butter — Directions for making, p. 86. 

Tobacco — Essay on the culture of, by "M."p. 86. 

Gates — Proper position of brace, (with a cut,) p. 87. 

Leaves — Removal recommended only after trees are 
cut, p. 88. 

Manure Loo — New game, p. 88. 

Corn Cobs — Fed without being ground, p. 89. 

Wheat — Fly- proof, account of, p. 89 — Mr. Le Conteur's 
experiments with p. 89. 

Corn — Soaking seed reprobated, p. 89 — preferred to 
roots, p. 90. 

Coal Ashes — Properties of, p. 90. 

Grub/; — Origin of the worm, p. 90. 

New Manure — Described, p. 90. 

Corn — Different opinions as to mode of culture, p. 90. 

Experiments — True doctrine of, p. 91. 

minimal Manures — Difference in quality whence de- 
rived, p. 91 . 

Bushes and Weeds — Proper time to cut, p. 91. 

Machinery — Agricultural essay on, p. 91. 

Corn — Shallow planting recommended, p. 92. 

Cows — Proper feed for, p. 93. 

Sows — Management of, p. 93. 

Hogs — Treatment of, when kept up, p. 93. 

Advice to Housewives, p. 94. 

Holloxv Horn — Origin of, p. 94. 

Green Crops — Ploughing in, reprobated, p. 94. 

Bees — New hive for, p. 94. 

Stumps — Different modes of extracting (with a cut), 
p. 95. 

Bone Dust — Value of, confirmed, p. 95. 

Poudrette — Management of, p. 95. 

Bones — Decomposed, p. 96. 

Grasses — Proposed nomenclature of, p. 96. 

Carrots — White, recommended, p. 97. 

Choked Cattle— To relieve, p. 97. 

Peach Tree Worm — To prevent ravages of, p. 97. 

Fly in Wheat. — Prevented by hemp, p. 97. 

Newspapers — Mr. Jefferson's opinion of, p. 97. 

Glass— To cut, p. 97. 

Nagorc Bull — Description and cut of, p. 98. 

Show and Fair of Henrico Agricultural Society, p. 99. 

W'hcat — Fly-proof, further account of, p. 99. 

Hogs — Essay on, by J. H. Turner, p. 100. 

Societies — Agricultural, advantages of, p. 101. 

Berkshire Stock — Gen. Richardson's, described, p. 101. 

Northern Light — New periodical, p. 102. 

Asparagus — New mode of cutting, p. J 02. 

Poudrette and Urate — Described, p 102.