THE 





Devoted to Agriculture, Horticulture, and the Household Arts. 



Agriculture is the nursing mother of the Arts. 
— Xenophon. 



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



FRANK. G. RUFFIN, Editor. 



F. G. RUFFIN & N. AUGUST, Prop'rs. 



Vol. XVI. 



RICHMOND, VA., NOVEMBER, 1856. 



No. 11. 



IMPROVEMENT OF LAND FROM ITS 
OWN RESOURCES. 

[From the papers of the Nottoway Farmers' Club.] 
Every farm, has within itself the means- of its 
own improvement, unless there is deficiency of 
the calcarious element. 

Mr. President : 

The subject of manure being incidentally 
connected with the one under discussion to 
day, I shall make some observations on it. 

Manure forms the basis of all rational agri- 
culture ; and, in proportion as its manufacture 
and application is understood, and practiced, is 
the measure of its success and perfection. There 
is no country, whatever may be its natural fer- 
tility, that can long suffer neglect in this par- 
ticular without detriment ; unless, like lower 
Egypt, it is enriched by periodical inundations; 
as there is none, however sterile, even though a 
drifting sand-heap, that may not, 'by its judici- 
ous application, be so reclaimed as to minister 
to the sustenance of man. 

Virginia is now a melancholy instance of the 
former position. Possessed, naturally, of physi- 
cal superiority equal to her geographical position, 
and with an amount of labor and capital at her 
command fully equal to the development of her 
vast resources, she has neglected the improve- 
ment and preservation of her soil, and having 
given to politics the talents due to agriculture, is 
now bleeding from a thousand wounds inflicted 
by improvident husbandry. 

It is not my purpose to speak of manures 
specifically now — I may do that hereafter — but 
to impress their general importance on your 
attention, and to urge you to a more diligent 
use of the means about you, to augment in every 
judicious manner their quantity and quality on 
your farms. In every other employment there 
may be some doubt as to the means adopted to 
an end, but here the law which governs them 
is as immutable as Nature herself; study her 
laws, husband her resources, imitate her ex- 
ample, and we shall scarcely fail to be more 
thrifty, wise, and better. 



Manure may be made of everything once 
endowed with vegetable life ; animals and mine- 
rals also add important elements. The bones 
scattered over the farm are rich in phosphate of 
lime ; and there never was a seed destitute of 
phosphates ; every ditch bank is rich in potash 
and earthy salts ; every waste bottom in humus 
and vegetable remains ; every rag, leaf, stick, 
and plant, is sufficiently supplied with azote 
and early salts to contribute, by its decay, to 
reproduction. 

The laboratory of Nature is greatly to be 
preferred to that of the chemist; the one de- 
stroys, the other constructs ; the one, by its 
analysis, furnishes the elements of which plants 
are composed ; the other applies these elements, 
under the wonderful principle of life, to the 
production of the plant itself. I would not dis- 
parage agricultural chemistry, it is an infant 
science just struggling into being, and one from 
which, when further matured, much good may 
be expected ; butthat in this department there are 
now great errors, confusion, and uncertainty, it 
would be uncandid to deny ; gifted minds, how- 
ever, are at work in this noble field the world 
over, to whose united labors we look with inter- 
est and hope. And whilst it may be regarded 
next to impossible ever to understand the proxi- 
mate principle of vegetable life, its physiology, 
and nutrition, any more than the origin, es- 
scence, and ultimate destination of any thing, 
there is much that it may do as the handmaid 
of practical agriculture, to lighten its burdens 
and speed its course. 

All plants require for their growth a certain 
degree of nourishment, derived either from the 
soil or from the atmosphere, or from both ; and 
those are considered best for fallow, which fix 
the greatest amount of the ammonia of the 
atmosphere with the least exhaustion of the 
soil ; of these, the leguminous plants, such as 
clover, peas, beans and the like, are regarded 
best. The former of these, however, takes up 
about eighteen per cent, of lime, which, if re- 
moved, must be supplied by artificial means in 
I quantities sufficient to meet the wants of the 



326 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 






cultivated crops, or a diminished production 
must follow. This is to be found in leaves, 
ashes, and in vegetable mould, as well as in the 
vast deposits of gypsum and limestone of our 
mountains. 

Rye, buckwheat, corn, or any other green 
crop, from their powers of fixing, are alike 
valuable as fertilizers ; so that Nature herse'f 
may, by judicious management, be made to ad- 
minister to her own wants by fixing the gases 
of the air, by searching out the hidden minerals 
of the soil, and by combining and giving form to 
the elements of vegetable decay about her, so 
as to give a new and constantly increasing vigor 
to her productions. 

It may reasonably be asked, if this be so, 
how happens it that we behold every where 
around us stunted vegetation, scanty crops, 
poverty of soil, and innumerable gullies and 
galds? I answer, they are the result of a system 
not only of the most grinding tillage, extending 
through a series of years, but of the most reck- 
less and wasteful disregard as well of the soil 
itself as the means scattered so profusely around 
them for enriching it. 

The earlier settlers of our State found it 
covered with an unbroken primeval forest, rich 
in the alluvium of a thousand centuries forma- 
tion; they transmitted it to us covered with 
pines and broom-sedge — a comparatively low 
degree of vegetable 'production — without them- 
selves being enriched in proportion to the ex- 
haustion, thereby giving to the branches, rivers, 
sounds, bays, and to the Atlantic itself, the 
priceless inheritance due to posterity. It is our 
duty, as it is to our interest and honor, to repair 
these long accumulating' injuries and not fly 
from them. I believe we have the means and 
the spirit to do it. Had other countries the 
facilities and incentives we possess, judging 
from what they have already accomplished, 
there would be no room to doubt. Are we 
less enlightened, energetic, and patriotic than 
they? j 

The Indians on the coast of South America 
were found by the earlier Spaniards using fish- 
offal as a manure ; the Peruvians, for centuries, 
have used guano ; and in Italy, from remote 
antiquity, leguminous plants have been resorted 
to as fertilizing fallow crop ; and among the 
inhospitable steppes of the Alps, the hardy 
Swiss has learned the art of using liquid 
manures, so concentrated and rich in azotic 
compounds, as to push vegetation rapidly to 
maturity during the short season of their sum- 
mer, and thereby redeem their country from 
the frowns of Nature herself, bj wisely directed 
energy and skill. In the more genial provinces 
of France, extensive and costly establishments 
are used to manufacture both solid and fluid 
manures ; and in England, great expense is in- 
curred for oil-cake, for the same purpose. So 
that with all these lights before us, and with 
every advantage over them of government, soil, ' 



climate, and taxation, we have but to will suc- 
cess, and its full horn will crown our labors. 
Respectfully submitted by 

J. M. HURT. 



[From the papers of (lie Nottoicay Farmer's Club.] 
FEEDING HORSES. 

I regret very much that owing to causes which 
I need not here mention, I failed to make a spe- 
cial experiment, the result of which I could 
report to the Club. I will, endeavor, however, 
to give in place of that the result of my expe- 
rience as to the best mode of feeding horses 
and the provender best adapted to their marts. 
In the course of my farming I have tried seve- 
ral kinds of provender for horses, such as corn, 
fodder, oats, shucks, clover and rye. For seve - 
ral years I dispensed with oats to a great extent, 
not because I did not consider them good food 
for horses, but on account of the uncertainty of 
the crop. I attempted to substitute them by 
rye, and so productive was the first crop, that I 
was induced to hope it would prove a valuable 
crop. But the yield continued to decrease, un- 
til I gave it up as unsuited to our climate ; and 
moreover, the provender itself was not as good 
for the horses as I had hoped it would be. Du- 
ring my discontinuance of the oat crop, my 
horses did not keep in as good order, and I do 
not think were as healthy as when I used oats. 
Last year I had the good fortune to secure a fine 
oat crop, and I have had no difficulty in keeping 
my horses in good order. So marked has been 
the difference that I am determined hereafter to 
use extra efforts to raise a good crop of oats. 
To do this I intend to put my moist and flat 
lands in oats, and the dryer and higher lands in 
wheat. 

As to the other . kinds of provender, I think 
well-cured clover hay, can be made to take the 
place, to a certain extent, of corn-fodder, as I 
think when properly cured it is equal to it. The 
great difficulty is in finding time at the proper 
season of securing it, to attend, to it. 'In order 
to feed shucks to horses to advantage they 
should be cut very fine and mixed with meal. 
To cut them so fine is a difficult matter and Sin- 
clair's Straw Cutter is the only one I have found 
that would answer a good purpose- They may 
be as nutritious as fodder, but being of a tough 
fibrous texture, they are better suited for cud- 
chewing animals than for horses,' and therefore 
had better be used for them than horses when 
other provender is plentiful. 

Respectfully submitted, * 

RICHARD IRBY. 



Large Hogs. — Mr. Butler Hamlin, of Ham. 
linton, Wayne county, Pa., slaughtered in De 
cember last, two pigs, eight months and ten days 
old, weighing respectively 339 and 314 pounds. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



327 



From Sir Francis Head's Fat/got of French 
Sticks. 

SLAUGHTERHOUSE OF MONTMARTRE. 

About half a century ago there lived in a 
country village in England, as maid-servant, a 
pleasing-looking young woman, of such delicate 
sensibilities that, to use her own expression, 
"She couldn't abear to see a mouse killed." 
She married the batcher. At about the same 
period, Napoleon, who cared no more for the ef- 
fusion of human blood than the stormy petrel 
cares for the salt spray of the waves of the 
Atlantic Ocean, from similar sensibilities, de- 
termined to cleanse Paris from the blood of 
bullocks, sheep, pigs, and quadrupeds of all 
sorts, by suppressing every description of 
slaughterhouse within the city, and by construct- 
ing in lieu thereof, beyond the walls, five great 
public abattoirs, besides smaller places of exe- 
cution for pigs, and also for horses. 

The largest of these is that of Popincourt ; 
but as the greatest quantity of cattle are 
slaughtered at Montmartre, I drove to the 
avenue Trudame, where, on descending from 
my cabriolet, I saw before me a rectangular 
establishment, resembling cavalry barracks, 
surrounded by walls 389 yards lengthways by 
150 yards breadthways. 

On entering the iron gates, I found on my 
left a small bureau, which looked like a guard- 
room, and from which, on expressing my wish 
to go over the establishment, I was very civilly 
furnished with a conductor. 

In front of the entrance-gate was a space 
shaded by trees and bounded by a barrack-look- 
ing building of fifteen windows in front, the 
residence of the principal officers. On the right 
and left, in three parallel rows, were six sets of 
buildings (twelve in all) separated from each 
other by broad roads which isolated each. Af- 
fixed to the walls of this enclosure were other 
buildings, the purposes of which will be conse- 
cutively described, as also two " abreuvoirs," 
or watering-places for cattle, and one fountain. 

The- officers of the establishment consist of 

An inspector of police, whose duty it is to 
see that the whole interior of the abattoir is 
clean and in a state of '.'salubrity;" that there 
are no disputes among the people employed ; 
and that the animals are not beaten ("qu'on ne 
frappe pas les animaux"). 

A principal inspector of the " Boucheries." 

A sub-inspector of ditto. 

Four guardians (surveillans) of the oxen, 
sheep, calves, &c, to be slaughtered. 

Two superintendents for skinning, "triperie," 
&c. 

Four men for cleaning the paved streets, &c, 
of the interior. 

One porter. 

One gate-keeper (concierge). 

The slaughtering department is composed of 
64 slaughterers, each of whom has his slaugh- 
terhouse, his " bouverie," or stable for cattle, 



his loft and granary for hay and corn, and his 
chamber for [dressing and undressing. 

On walking to the space in front of the 
entrance gate, and between it and the garden 
belonging to the barrack-looking residence of 
the officers above named, I found within it, in 
two separate divisions called " parks," lying 
under the shade of lilac and laburnum trees in 
blossom, several sheep and bullocks just ar- 
rived. 

Immediately adjoining to these enclosures, 
common to all the 64 boucheries, I entered a 
lofty " bouverie" 150 feet long, admirably venti- 
lated by windows above on all four sides. Down 
the middle there ran before me a broad passage, 
on each side of which were a series of square 
compartments, 25 feet long by 15 broad, sepa- 
rated from each other by wooden railings. In 
those on my right I saw, lying on straw as clean 
as that in the show-stables of a London horse- 
dealer, a quantity of bullocks, two, three, or 
four in each cell. In corresponding cells on 
my left were standing or lying, separated from 
each other by a low partition, a number of 
sheep and calves. 

In the first of these cells, on the back of one 
of a small flock of sheep, I saw, lying fast 
asleep, a shepherd's dog. The bullocks and 
sheep were eating hay ; the calves, my con- 
ductor told me, had " soupe." 

"What is it made of?" I asked. 

" Meal, eggs, and warm water," was the re- 
ply ; and he added that throughout the " bou- 
veries" there was warm water for the calves. 
Every cart-load of calves, the heads of which 
are never allowed to hang outside, is obliged to 
leave half of its straw for their use in the abat- 
toir. There are eight bouveries such as the one 
above described. 

Above each line of cells for bullocks and 
calves is a loft to supply them with hay, and ad- 
joining, are, open to the air and protected by iron 
wire, a series of large rooms, containing each 
a table and a chair, in which are to be seen, 
neatly arranged, the clothes and boots of the 
butchers, who, even if they had the inclination, 
are not allowed to offend the citizens of Paris 
by appearing in the streets in their professional 
garb. 

Passing the four working yards, containing 
the 64 slaughtering-houses, I was next led to a 
large building, in which the blood of the ani- 
mals slaughtered is subjected to a scientific chemi- 
cal process, under which, after lying for sometime 
in clean, round, shallow tin pans, it is poured 
into barrels: first, for the purpose of refining 
sugar ; and secondly, for manuring the earth. 
The entrails, after being carefully emptied into 
a pit constructed for the purpose, and emptied 
every day, are well washed by an abundant, 
supply of water*. 

On entering the " triperie" department, I 
found a number of women employed in boiling, 
in a series of coppers supplied by three large 
vats of water, sheep's heads and calves' feet. 



328 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



) 



An adjoining building appeared nearly full of 
sheep's feet, neatly tied up — not as Nature had 
arranged them, in fours, but — in dozens. 

On entering a range of 48 melting-houses, 
admirably ventilated, I was astonished to find 
that, although they were nearly full of pails of 
tallow, there was no unpleasant smell. Above 
are a series- of apartments, in which reside the 
women and men employed in this operation, 
which I had always incorrectly fancied to be 
unavoidably very offensive. 

In proceeding towards the 64 boucheries ar- 
ranged in the middle of the entrance, I went 
into one of the bouveries, to look at a bullock 
that my conductor told me was just going to be 
slaughtered. 

It was a beautiful morning, and, although the 
sun was hot, the atmosphere, where I stood, 
felt quite refreshing. He was lying in a cell by 
himself, perfectly tranquil,' on clean straw, and, 
with his fore-legs doubled under him, was chew- 
ing the cud. His great black nose, which al- 
most touched the white litter, was wet and 
healthy ; his eyes were bright ; his tail quiet, 
for, as the air was cool, there was not even a 
fly to tease him. 

As we were gazing at each other, a butcher, 
carrying a short rope, followed by a boy hold- 
ing in his right hand a stick, in which I par- 
ticularly observed there was no goad, walked 
up to him, and gently putting the noose over 
his horns, and then making him arise, he quietly 
conducted him to his doom. The poor creature 
walked slowly through the hot sunshine with 
perfect willingness, until he arrived at the 
threshold of the broad door of the slaughter- 
house, where suddenly stopping, he lent back- 
wards, and stretched out his head, evidently 
alarmed at the smell of blood. The butcher 
now slightly pulled at the rope. Without bark- 
ing of dogs or hallooing of men, without the 
utterance of an imprecation or of a single word, 
four slight blows on the right hock with the 
boy's stick made him, after looking for a second 
or so fearfully to the right and left, hurriedly 
enter, after which he instantly appeared to be- 
come quite quiet. The rope from his head was 
now gently passed under his oif fore-leg, and, 
on its beinj; tightened, a couple of men in 
wooden shoes, clattering towards him over the 
wet slippery pavement, by a sudden push on 
his near side tumbled him over. He was scarcely 
down when one blow of a mallet made him 
completely senseless, two others were given 
him for precaution's sake, and a butcher then, 
forcing his knife into his broad chest, instantly 
withdrew it. 

There was a dead silence for some seconds ; 
notwithstanding the color of the knife, the 
blade of which I observed pointing to the 
ground, no effect was produced. At last out 
rushed a stream or river of blood, which, first 
black and then bright red, flowed in little waves 
along a gutter into a receptacle made to contain 
it. 



As the great creature lay lifeless before me, I 
felt very forcibly how extraordinary was the 
fact, that while the Demon of War — Napoleon 
Buonaparte— had, it 1811, established in Paris 
the merciful arrangements I had witnessed, it 
had taken the Goddess of Peace upwards of six- 
and-thirty years to prevail upon the inhabitants 
of England in general, and upon the Lord 
Mayor and Corporation of London in particular, 
to abolish a system not only of barbarous 
cruelty, but which, by creating feverish excite- 
ment, amounting occasionally to madness, has 
rendered more or less unwholesome the meat of 
every wretched victim that has been killed in a 
metropolis (consuming annually 240,000 bul- 
locks, 1,700,000 sheep, 28,000 calves, and 35,000 
pigs) whose inhabitants, as if in satirical ridi- 
cule of themselves, delight publicly in singing, 
when in large congregations they sit down to 
dinner — 

" Oh, the roast beef of old England, 
And oh, the old English roast beef!" 

Several calves were now driven into a yard 
containing four or five tressels, upon which, one 
after another, they were placed on their sides 
by men in wooden shoes, who held them down, 
while butchers — also in sabots — not only cut 
their throats, but their heads quite off; thus in 
a few seconds most effectually combining death 
with the operation of bleeding, which, in Eng- 
land, is cruelly made to precede it. The blood 
of each calf was caught in a pan by the men 
who held it down. As fast as the animals were 
killed, skinned, and cleaned, their carcases, by 
means of ropes and pulleys, were hung up, ar- 
ranged in lines, and then wrapped up in linen 
cloths as white as snow. 

Observing to one of the butchers, who had 
rather a red-republican-looking countenance, 
that some of the sheep appeared to be very 
thin:— 

"Ah!" said he, with a slight shrug and a 
gentle sigh, "there are fat ones and lean ones, 
for we must have meat for everybody." 

"And yet how does that agree," said I to my- 
self, " with your fraternity and equality? 

As the hours for slaughtering were now 
nearly over, I had an opportunity of seeing the 
simple process of sluicing, by means of an 
abundant supply of water from a cock in each 
of the 64 boucheries, the red slippery floors of 
several of the slaughterhouses, which in the 
course of a few minutes were made as sweet and 
clean as the flags of a wash-house. As soon as this 
was effected, the butchers, washing themselves, 
and then slipping out of their wooden shoes, 
walked to their rooms to assume the decent 
dress in which they had entered, and in which 
they were about to return to their respective 
homes. 

The charge at the abattoirs for killing cattle 
is from one franc to one and a half per head ; 
besides which the butcher claims, as his per- 
quisite, the blood, brains, and entrails. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



329 



If, when the animal is killed, its flesh is 
found to be diseased, or even bad, instead of be- 
ing converted, as in London, into sausages for 
the rich, or into pies and patties for the poor, it 
is confiscated by the Inspector of Police resid- 
ing within the establishment, who instantly 
sends it off to the Jardin des Plantes, to be 
eaten by the wild beasts, — by lions, — tigers, — 
bears, — by eagles, — by vultures, — and by other 
birds of prey. The meat for the inhabitants of 
the city is usually sent out at night only, but 
animals to be killed are received at any hour. 

The number slaughtered per week at the 
single abattoir of Montmartre amounts to about 
900 oxen, 400 cows, 650 calves, and 3500 sheep. 

On leaving the establishment I walked com- 
pletely round the lofty walls that enclose it; 
but neither to windward nor to leeward could I 
detect the slightest smell indicative of the bloody 
business transacted within it. 



MORRISON'S REAPER. 

Brunswick, Va., Sept, 30th, 1856. 
Editor of the Southern Planter. 

Dear Sir; — In the July number of the Plan- 
ter you express a wish to hear from the perfor- 
mance of Morrison's Reaper in the wheat field, 
one of which you had seen, cutting clover-hay, 
on the farm of Mr. Allen. 

Having witnessed a trial of one of these ex- 
cellent machines in a field of light wheat on 
the farm of Mr. J. R. Jones of this county, I 
do not hesitate to say that its performance was 
every thing desirable in a first class Reaper. 
Although, on the occasion referred to, it la- 
boured under some disadvantages, yet it was 
perfectly evident that it was a perfect imple- 
ment and could not be easily surpassed in the 
execution of its work, by any other Reaper that 
has yet been presented to the inspection of the 
farmers in this region of country. I am not 
mechanic enough to describe, intelligibly, its 
different parts, but it struck me as no little ad- 
vantage to have the blades so constructed as to 
cut both above and below like a pair of shears ; 
this is a great improvement. Another excel- 
lency is, that the wheels are protected by a cov- 
ering, which secures it against any disadvanta- 
ges arising from dirt and grit, accumulating on 
the cogs ; and its easy draft is a great recom- 
mendation — two horses drawing it with the 
f'eatest imaginable ease. All the Reapers that 
have seen, seemed to me to be drawn with too 
great difficulty, — requiring three horses to give 
them sufficient motion. In Morrison's Machine 
this difficulty is obviated. 

It is built of the best material, in the most 
substantial manner and cannot be otherwise 
than very durable. Its performance in the field 
is admirable — cutting a clean and wide row with 
great rapidity. Mr. Morrison, I think, has in 
this Reaper supplied the wants of the wheat 
grower in a very essential particular — giving 
him a machine of rapid and faithful execution, 



of easy draft and unusual durability, and there- 
fore deserves the thanks and patronage of every 
one interested in saving a wheat crop. You 
cannot too highly recommend it. 

Very respectfully, Yours, &c, 

D. T. POYNFR. 



THRASHING BY STEAM POWER. 

E. S. Judd, of Stevens' Point, Wisconsin, in- 
forms us, that last spring he and his brother, 
H. A. Judd, purchased a four-horse power steam 
engine, of Hoard & Son, of Watertown, N. Y., 
which they had applied with much success to 
thrashing grain. They first tried it with a com- 
mon thrasher and separator, usually driven by 
four horses, but finding it more powerful than 
they expected, they applied it to an eight-horse 
thrasher, which it worked with ease to the as- 
tonishment of those who" first witnessed it, and 
who were so well pleased with its performance 
that they threw up their hats, and gave three 
cheers for steam. He informs us that compe- 
tent judges assert, that their four-horse steam 
engine drives the thrasher and separator with 
greater ease than eight horses. The farmers all 
like it, as it is twelve per cent, cheaper than 
horse power for thrashing. It is mounted on 
wheels ; the farmers furnish them with wood 
and water, and they go from place to place 
thrashing by steam. This portable steam thrash- 
er is a- great acquisition to agriculture, and he 
thinks that the farmers of Illinois should devote 
their attention to steam thrashing as well as 
steam plowing. With a four horse thrasher, 
they have thrashed 100 bushels of wheat per 
hour. — Scientific American. 



TRIAL OF REAPING MACHINES IN ENG- 
LAND. 

A trial of Reaping Machines, under the direc- 
tion of the officers of the Royal Agricultural 
Society, took place on the 13th and 14th of last 
month, near Colchester, England. Four ma- 
chines were entered to cut a field of wheat, con- 
sisting of 54 acres. The machines were a Mc- 
Cormick's by Burgess and Key ; a Bell's by 
Croskill ; a Hussey's, by Deane & Dray ; and a 
Palmer's. 

All the machines were severely tested, on 
level and rolling ground, and on furrowed land, 
and worked well the whole time. 

The Judges awarded £20 to Bell's ; £15 to 
Hussey's, and £15 to McCormicks. In making 
the awards, the Judges said : " From the results 
of these trials, we regret to observe that very 
little importance has been made in this class of 
machines since last year." They consider that 
for general harvest purposes, the machines of 
Croskill (Bell's), and of Messrs. Burgess & Key 
(McCormick's), are to be preferred ; but for 
reaping only, they think Dray's (Hussey's) de- 
cidedly the best machine." — lb. 



330 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



COMPARATIVE PRODUCE OF DIFFERENT KINDS OF WHEAT. 

A correspondent of the London Farmers' Magazine furnishes the following compara- 
tive statement of the produce of ten quarters (eighty bushels) of different kinds of 
wheat : 



1 







Wheat 
















DESCRIPTION. 


per 

bush'l. 


Whites. 


House- 
holds. 


Seconds. 


Middl'gs. 


Offal. 


Waste. 






lbs. 


St. tt)S. 


st. ft>s. 


st. lbs. 


st. lbs. 


st. lbs. 


st. lbs. 


No. 1. 


Norfolk red, sprouted, 


52"J 


— 


147 4 


• — 


70 2 


81 3 


1 4 


2. 


White Dantzic, fine, 


57 


— 


244 6 


.17 2 


— 


58 10 


4 2 


3. 


Revetts, 


59* 


— 


200 10 


— 


83 2 


56 6 


— 


4. 


Rostock, 


60 


— 


248 8 


— 


27 


64 12 


2 6 


5. 


White Whittington, 


CO 


217 2 


48 2 


13 2 


— 


59 2 


4 12 


6. 


Essex, 


6tt 


250 


13 11 


21 1 


2 2 


58 1 


7 5 


7. 


Essex and Suffolk, mixed, 


6H 


— 


272 10 


— 


20 


59 10 


Inclu'd. 


8. 


"Petersburgh, hard, 


62| 


— 


225 10 


— 


85 10 


47 2 


ditto. 


9. 


Ditto. soft, 


63 


— 


247 2 


— 


64 4 


47 2 


ditto. 


10. 


Talavera, fine, 


63 


233 5 


39 7 


15 10 


— 


69 3 


2 2 


11. 


White Norfolk, • 


63 


265 


15 4 


10 10 


— 


63 


6 


12. 


Spalden's ditto. 


64} 


— 


243 


53 2 


— 


64 8 


7 12 


13. 


Spanish hard, 


64f 


— 


115 2 


— 


229 10 


24 8 


8 


14. 


Old Red Norfolk, 


65 J 


— 


280 


11 11 


20 7 


59 1 


3 


15. 


Cape of Good Hope, white, 


66 


277 2 


35 10 


— 


10 


51 6 


2 12 



I shall now proceed to make a few obser- 
vations upon these specimens, taking them 
seriatim as they stand in the schedule, ac- 
cording to their weight per bushel. • 

No. 1. I have introduced this sample in- 
to the table in order to illustrate the differ- 
ence in produce between a wet and dry 
harvest. It was grown in the memorable 
year 1800, when there was not a sound 
sample of wheat harvested in the whole of 
Great Britain. It was of the same species 
as No. 14, with a difference of 13 lbs. per 
bushel in weight — the consequence of being 
sprouted. This, however, does not repre- 
sent, by far, the difference in product of 
flour, as the following statement will 
show : — 



Flour, per quarter, 
Middling, do. -, 
Offal, do. , 



No.l. 

st. lbs. 

14 10 
7 
6 2 



No. 14. 

st. lbs. 

29 3 
2 1 
6 



Thus the sound dry wheat produced just 
double the quantity of flour of the sprouted, 
the middlings from the latter being so infe- 
rior as not to be worth grinding into se- 
conds ; whilst those from the former pro- 
duced good seconds, and residue were still 
available for coarse biscuit. Thus a wet 
harvest not only produces a damaged and 
inferior quantity of wheat, but lessens al- 
most incalculably the quantity of produce 



by exhausting the substance of the grain 
To such an extent was this the case in 
1800, (as the above specimen will prove) 
that the people were driven to the necessi- 
ty of substituting barley, oats, peas, &c, in 
the making of bread ; and all the quality of 
the bread thus made Was so loose in tex- 
ture as to be eaten with a spoon instead of 
being cut in slices with a knife. 

No. 2. The weight of this fine Dantzic is 
only 57 lbs. per bushel, and the produce 
about 25^ stones per qr. ; whilst the offal is 
nearly equal to that of No. 14, being 5 st. 
12 lbs. per quarter. It is evident that this 
wheat, which always bears a high price, is 
not a profitable article to grind alone; but 
it is exceedingly useful for mixing with 
other wheats in small proportion, imparting 
both strength and color to the flour. This 
wheat is chiefly brought down the Vistula 
from Prussian Poland. 

No. 3. This coarse wheat is chiefly used 
in the making of flour for the London mar- 
ket, where the bakers use it in dusting 
their kneading-boards. For breadstuff is 
seldom purchased, except in very dear 
seasons, when the working classes want a 
cheaper article of flour. The millers, how- 
ever, do not scruple to mix a small propor- 
tion of it in their households. 

No. 4. Rostock, like the Dantzic wheat, 
chiefly used for mixing; but the quality is 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



331 



very inferior to it, and the price propor- 
tionate. 

No. 5. The Whittington wheat was for- 
merly grown extensively in Norfolk and 
Suffolk England, where it was a great fa- 
vorite, and deservedly so, with the mill- 
ers.; but not being a profitable wheat to 
the farmers, they have discontinued its 
growth. The quality of this species was 
very superior, as will be seen by the large 
proportion of whites and households it 
produced. Indeed, the quantity of flou? 
it yielded in proportion to its weight was 
greater than any of the others, except No. 
15, and the quality appears to have been 
equal to that. 

No. 6. This is well known as a profita- 
ble wheat to the miller, and it always com- 
mands high price, every particle containing 
flour being available. 

No. 7. This mixed sample is of the 
same weight as the last, the produce in 
flour rather greater, which probably arose 
from its being converted into households 
instead of whites. It is a profitable wheat 
and the quality excellent. 

No. 8. This hard wheat is too steely to 
be profitable to the miller, unless at a low- 
price, and for a coarse description of flour. 
The quantity of the middlings proves this: 
but the strength of the flour makes it use- 
ful for mixing with weaker qualities, and 
for this purpose it is generally used. 

No. 9. This is a much better description 
of corn, producing about twenty stones 
more flour to the ten quarters, and an 
equal quantity less middlings, the offal and 
waste exactly the same. This wheat is 
chiefly grown in the Russo-Polish provinces 
No. 10. The Talavera wheat is now al- 
most extinct, being quite out of repute and 
favor with the farmer on account of its li- 
ability to sprout when ripe in the field. It 
is also less productive than many other 
kinds under similar culture, and therefore 
less profitable.- These facts are much to 
be regretted, for certainly there is no other 
species of wheat that can compare with it 
in quality of flour, or profit to the miller 
and consumer : as it will yield a large 
amount of the finest flour per quarter, and 
the largest amount of bread per sack of 
any kind of wheat I know of, with the ex- 
ception of No. 15, of which but little has 
ever been imported. 

No. 11. This can scarcely be called 
Norfolk wheat, as the constant changing 



of the seed of white wheat by the Norfolk 
farmers render it difficult to trace the ori- 
gin of a particular sample. It was, how- 
ever, grown in that county, and whether of 
Suffolk or Essex origin was of excellent 
quality, yielding a very large proportion of 
the finest whites, with but a small propor- 
tion of offal. 

No. 12. This appears to have been a 
good yielding grain that worked up into 
flour very closely, the proportion of offal 
being small. 

No. 13. This hard Spanish wheat does 
not appear to have met with proper treat- 
ment from the miller, otherwise the mid- 
dlings and the flour would have exchanged 
figures. I have known this description of 
wheat yield a greater weight of flour than 
that of the grain before the process, whilst 
the weight of offal was incredibly small. 
As it is probable that we may have some 
quantity. of hard Spanish wheat this year, 
it would be well for the millers to make 
themselves acquainted with the best modes 
of manufacturing it, being peculiarly adap- 
ted to coarse flour. 

No. 14. The old Norfolk red, which may 
be considered the very original stock in- 
troduced by Romans at the time of their 
occupation of Britain, will never be ex- 
celled for profitableness to the farmer or 
miller. It is peculiarly adapted to the dry 
light soils of Norfolk, but does not lose its 
chaiacter when transported to other soils. 
In the latter case however, it requires to 
be occasionally renewed, otherwise it is li- 
able to be inoculated with the fallen from 
the fields, which would deteriorate its qual- 
ity, or, at least, change its character. In 
Norfolk it has maintained that character 
for ages, and will probably continue to be 
a favorite with the farmers'of lhat coun- 
try, on account of its adaptation to the 
soil. 

No. 15. This is a species of Avhich we 
obtain but a small quantity. The weight 
was very great, and the produce of flour 
in proportion. The enormous quantity of 
the best whites shows the fine qualityof 
the wheat, whilst the very small propor- 
tion of offal illustrates the advantage of 
heavy over light wheat. There is, in fact, 
no comparison : and whilst heavy wheat 
cannot be purchased (in reason) too high, 
a light quality almost always fetches more 
than its worth. 



332 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



1 






MR. BARRY'S ADDRESS 

At the Fruit Growers' Association, Burlington, 
Iowa. 

Let us look at the list of our best foreign 
pears. The Bartlett is supposed to be Eng- 
lish, originated in 1760, and it is certainly 
the best variety ever obtained in that coun- 
try. Gunsell's Bergamont is the next best, 
but it is uncertain, and a poor tree while 
voung. Dunmore, one of Knight's, stands 
next — a large fine fruit, but too uncertain. 
These, then, are about all the English va- 
rieties admissible to our list of select 
sorts. White Doyenne and Brown Beurre 
are old French sorts, supposed to date back 
almost to the days of the Roman Empire. 

The Louise Bonne de Jersey originated 
as a chance seedling, at Longueval, in 
France, in 1778 — originally " Bonne de 
Longueval." 

The Flemish Beauty, originally called 
" Davy," originated by chance in a Flem- 
ish village called Deftinge. 

The Duchesse d'Angouleme sprung up 
by accident, in a garden, in 1809. It bore 
iii 1810, and the year before, the gardener 
had ordered it cut down, and only changed 
his mind after it had received several blows 
with the axe. The Urbaniste was raised 
by the Comte Coloma, in 1783. 

Beurre Diel was found on a farm, near 
Brussels. Doyenne Boussock is an old 
Belgian sort, called " Double Phillippe, 
" Beurre de Merode," etc., origin not 
known. * 

Belle Lucrative was one of Esperin's 
seedlings, one of the first and best; he 
called it Seigneur, the French renamed it. 
His method was, I believe, to sow the 
seeds of good pears. 

Beurre Capia-mont was raised at Mons, in 
1787. 

Winter Nellis, at Malines, some seventy 
or eighty years ago, and called Bonne de 
Maline ; Van Mons Leon le Clere, was 
raised from the seed by Leon le Clere ; the 
seeds sown were said to be Easter Beurre, 
d'Aremberg and St. Germain. 

Beurre d'Aremberg was a chance seed- 
ling, at Enghein. 

Easter Beurre, known as Pastorale, Ber- 
gamotte de la Pentacole, Doyenne d'Hiver, 
etc., was found at Lourain, in an old gar- 
den of the Capuchins — the original tree 
was standing in 1825. 

Glout Morceau, by M. Hardenpont, in 



1789, and called to this day " Beurre Har" 
denpont." Napoleon, at Mons, in 1808* 
Beurre Superfin, by Goubault ; Buerre 
Clairgeau, by a man named Clairgeau, at 
Nantes, in 1850 or 1851 ; so we might pro- 
ceed with Berrue Giffard, B. Goubault Beur- 
re Gris de Hiver, B. LangeJier, Triomphe 
de Jodoigne, Jalousie Frontenay Vanlee, 
Epine Dumas, Kostizier, Vicar of VV inke- 
field, and, indeed, all the leading foreign 
varieties in our catalogues. B. Bose, Be- 
u'rre d'Anjou, and Doyenne d'Ete, are said 
to be seedlings of Van iMons, but the facts 
concerning theirorigin are not very clear ; so 
that, although the world is greatly indebted 
to Van Mons for his devotion, through long 
years, to what he regarded as the rengen- 
eration of fruits, upon philosophical prin- 
ciples, yet his seedlings, so far. have not 
yielded, any great treasure. The Belle 
Lucrative, of Esperin, is perhaps the finest 
pear, all in all, produced in the last cen- 
tury. Esperin, in it, left a noble monu- 
ment to his memory, and his seedlings 
have produced many other fine fruits. At 
his death, he placed them in the hands of 
his friend, Mr. Berckmans, who has them 
now planted, in New Jersey, and we are 
in hopes to hear from them in a few years. 

Knight's attempted improvement in Eng- 
land, by hybridization, but produced only 
a few good fruits. His pears, with the ex- 
ception of Dunmore, which I have already 
mentioned, are of no value in this country. 
He gained the Black Eagle, Elton, and a 
few other good cherries. Dr. Brinckle, of 
Philadelphia, has attempted the same thing 
in this country, and has already a large 
number of very promising seedlings in the 
hands of Mr. Berckmans, for trial. They 
are all grafted in strong stocks, and will 
soon bear 

The learned doctor has great faith in 
this method. He believes it to be as cer- 
tain to raise a good new fruit by crossing 
two good ones, as it is to raise a good ani- 
mal on the same principle. The art of hy- 
bridization of fruits, however, is a very 
nice one, and requires time, labor and pre- 
caution, that few people can or will under- 
take and execute with accuracy. 

In this country, as in Europe, our new 
fruits have either sprung up by accident, or 
have been produced from the sowing of 
the seeds of good varieties, Thus we ob- 
tain nearly all our peaches, all our hardy 
grapes, most of our best plums and apples. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



333 



Of pears we have already a noble list ; all 
of them either picked up wild in hedges, 
or from the seeds of good pears. 

The whole of Europe has not produced 
a pear so fine as the Seckel, nor one which 
succeeds over a wider territory ; and then 
we have the Brandywine, Tyson, Sheldon, 
Howell, Lawrence, Onondaga and many 
others nearly as good as these. There 
are, at this moment, many thousands of 
seedlings from our best fruits on trial, and 
we may reasonably anticipate some im- 
portant acquisitions. Indeed, I believe 
that before the end of the present century, 
our best pears, as Mell as our apples, will 
be those originated on our own soil. The 
facts which I have stated concerning the 
origin of our best fruits, both native and 
foreign, hold out great encouragement for 
the prosecution of this work. My advice 
to you, here in the West, is to sow every 
good seed you can get. ] mean the seeds 
of those fruits which succeed b«st here. 
When your seedlings have made one sea- 
son's growth, you can bud or graft the 
most promising on strong stocks or bearing 
trees and test them in three or four years. 

For several years we have been sowing 
in this way, and if we get one good one in 
five hundred, we shall feel satisfied; we 
may get twenty. The interest and excite- 
ment which the work awakens, is no mean 
recompense in itself. 

No other fact connected with fruit cul- 
ture is more fully substantiated by every 
day's experience than this, viz : To in- 
sure successful cultivation, we must have 
varieties that are adapted to the peculiari- 
ties of our soil and climate. Many of 
your most valuable apples for this country 
prove utterly worthless with us, whilst 
many of our best fruits fail entirely with 
you. This Society, and others' of a simi- 
lar character, are collecting information on 
this head, of the highest value. 

This fact is well established, that the 
fruits which succeed best in particular lo- 
calities, are those which originate there, or 
in others slightly different. I believe the 
Baldwin, Hubbardson' s Nonsuch, and Por- 
ter apples, are no where quite as good as 
in New England. The JVevjtown Pippin, 
Swaar, Esopus, Spitzenburg, and Northern 
Spy, are scarcely anywhere so good as in 
New York. Our northern apples are of 
little value in the south, and the very fin- 
est southern apples are utterly worthless 



in the north. The reason why those seed- 
ling fruits obtained in cortain localities are 
more successful there than elsewhere, can- 
not be that the climate and soil exercise 
such an influence upon the seed or the 
seedling, but because, when the seedlings 
show fruit, those only are preserved which 
possess qualities that are desirable there. 
The R. I. Greening would not have been 
preserved in Georgia, nor the Raules Janet 
in Massachusetts. The true way to ad- 
vance in this matter will be for the culti- 
vators of each district to sow the seeds of 
those varieties which succeed best, or 
which possess the most important quali- 
ties. Every successive generation will be 
more and more acclimated, and thus, in 
time, fruits will be obtained capable of re- 
sisting all the changes and severities of cli- 
mate, and peculiarities of soil. 

In the hurry of our first planting, this 
experimental culture has been neglected, 
but it is now high time that it should be 
taken up in earnest. It may be said that 
our varieties are already numerous enough, 
and so they are ; indeed we have far too 
many, but who will say that even the best 
are good enough, or that improvement is 
not necessary or desirable ? No, indeed ; 
the work of improvement has scarcely be- 
gun. 

The reform which has within a very 
few years, been effected in the nomencla- 
ture of fruits, is not the least important 
part of our progress. What a labyrinth 
of error and confusion the names of fruits 
were in, some dozen years ago. Not more 
than seven years ago, full one-half of all 
the fruits exhibited were incorrectly 
named, or not named at all. The speci- 
men trees which v>e collected between 
1839 and 1843, were full one-half-incorrect, 
and they were obtained from the most re- 
liable sources then in existence. Of thirty 
or forty specimen peach-trees from one es- 
tablishment, scarcely one proved true to 
name. 

In the course of my business as nursery- 
man, and during my connection with hor- 
ticultural journals, I have often been sur- 
prised, of late, at the number of persons 
who are particular and discriminating 

One man writes, on reception of some 
trees he has purchased, such and such a 
variety has dark shoots — the books say 
they ought to be light. Another says the 
habit, or the foliage, or the flowers, of his 



334 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 






trees do not answer the description. A 
third says his strawberries are staminate — 
they ought to be pistillate ; and so on. 
These are all indications of that spirit of 
inquiry and observation which is a sure 
presage of intelligent and successful cul- 
ture. The time has come when nursery- 
men must be observing and accurate, or 
they will lose their business character and 
customers both. They must plant speci- 
men orchards, test and compare their va- 
rieties, read and study, attend exhibitions 
and meetings, such as this, and by these 
means acquire such knowledge of their 
profession as will enable them to prosecute 
it successfully and honorably. The facili- 
ties which dwarf trees now offer for test- 
ing a large collection rapidly on a small 
plat of ground, and at a moderate expense, 
leave no excuse whatever for the neglect 
of this work. 

The cultivation and management of 
trees in orchards and gardens are improv- 
ing rapidly, but much yet remains to be 
done before we attain even mediocrity. 
The loss which the United States sustains 
annually in the careless and unskillful 
planting and management of trees, if ac- 
curately summed up, would be almost in- 
credible. 

At the Fruit Growers' Meeting in Wes- 
tern New York, a few days ago, the ques- 
tion was raised ; What becomes of all the 
trees that are propagated and sold in the 
nurseries of that section ? 

The opinion of the meeting expressed 
in the discussion, was, that although many 
trees were lost and worthless from defec- 
tive or improper treatment in the nursery 
and many from damage sustained in trans- 
portation, yet more were lost by unskillful 
planting, and neglect afterwards than from 
any and all other causes combined. 

This I believe to be the case. In all my 
observations of travel, I think 1 can safely 
say that I have not seen one orchard or 
one garden in a hundred even tolerably 
managed. By far the greater number look 
as though the proprietor had abandoned 
his trees to ruin. 

Blown over to one side, anchored in a 
tough grass sod, buried up in groves of 
cornstalks, torn and broken by cattle, 
barked and bruised with the plow, pruned 
with an axe — thus they perish in their 
youth, or become old, deformed, covered 
with lichens, and a prey to swarms of in- 



sects, before they have yielded their first 
fruits. What folly it is in men to invest 
their money in trees, and then wilfully 
ruin them in this way ! In Western New 
York, where cultivation is about as good as 
in any other section, a man who cultivates 
his orchard or his garden thoroughly, whose 
trees are healthy and handsome, making 
vigorous growth, and yielding fine fruit, is 
talked of as rarity — and so he is. 

The specimen trees in the establishment 
with which I am connected, are but tole- 
rably well managed ; the ground is -kept 
clean around them, and is occasionally 
dressed with manure or compost ; so that, 
in all seasons, we get a fair growth and a 
fair crop — but amateurs might have theirs 
vastly better. Yet we are daily asked 
what we do to our trees ? and many seem 
to think that we have some secret art — 
some system of" terraculture"— with which 
the world at large is unacquainted. 

We need a complete revolution in these 
matters. I cannot now detain you to go 
into the details of planting and mulching; 
but I beg you who understand these mat- 
ters, to constitute yourselves missionaries, 
and preach this doctrine of high cultiva- 
tion zealously in your respective parishes, 
and give examples of it in your own 
grounds, that your practice may correspond 
with your precept." — Miner's Rural Amer- 
ican. 



PORTRAITS -FROM THE FIELD 
AND FARM-YARD. 

BY WILSON FLAGG. 
THE OWX. 

In my portraits from the field and farm- 
yard I must not omit the Owl, which is 
one of the most remarkable of the feath- 
ered race, and in one way or another fa- 
miliar to all persons. There are about 
fifty species belonging to this tribe ; but I 
shall select for my sketch the common lit- 
tle brown owl, (strix neevia) which is one 
of the typical owls, and affords a fair spec- 
imen of the race. The owl has been, by 
naturalists, compared with the cat, to 
which he bears a strong resemblance in 
his face, in the capacity of his vision, and 
in his predatory and nocturnal habits. 
Like the cat, he sees most clearly by twi- 
light, or by the light of the moon, seeks 
his prey in the night and spends the great- 
er part of the day in dozing. He has a 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



335 



large head, round, full and glaring eyes, 
set wide apart, and partially encircled by 
a disk of white feathers, adding a peculiar 
and significant expression to his face. His 
hooked bill turns downwards, so as to re- 
semble the nose in a human face, the gen- 
eral flatness of his features, and his up- 
right position, yield him a singularly grave 
and intelligent look ; and it is undoubtedly 
on account of these appearances, that he 
was selected by the ancients as the emblem 
of wisdom, and was consecrated to Minerva. 

After his nocturnal foragings, he rests 
quietly during the day in some secluded 
retreat, where he is not likely to be inter- 
rupted. His fear of disturbance and his 
wish to escape the intrusion of other birds 
has accustomed him to make his abode in 
desolate and ruined buildings, and with 
these solitary haunts his image is strongly 
associated. In such places he resides du- 
ring the day, and there in company with 
his mate he builds his nest and rears his 
young. In thinly settled countries he se- 
lects the hollows of old trees and the clefts 
of rocks for his nest- and his retreat. All 
the small species of the owl, however, 
seem to multiply with the increase of hu- 
man population, living upon the rats and 
mice that accumulate in old barns and gra- 
naries. The habit of seeing the owl in 
these desolate haunts which are supposed 
to be the abode <*f wicked spirits, has 
caused many superstitions to be attached 
to his image. His voice is supposed to 
bode misfortune, and his spectral visits are 
regarded as the forewarnings of death. 

The owl is remarkable for the acuteness 
of his hearing, which enables him to dis- 
tinguish the slightest sounds ; and the plu- 
mage of his wings is extremely soft, caus- 
ing him to fly with so little noise as to be 
scarcely perceptible. Hence, while he is 
silent in his own motion, he can perceive 
the least motion or sound from any other 
object, and is able to overtake his prey by 
coming upon it silently in the darkness. 
The stillness of his flight is one of the cir- 
cumstances that adds mystery to his char- 
acter, and has undoubtedly contributed to 
render him an object of superstitious 
dread. 

When the owl is forced from his retreat 
in the daytime he is singularly defence- 
less, and is at the mercy of his enemies, 
who seem to be aware of his helpless con- 
dition. On such occasions many of the 



smaller birds assail him and annoy him in 
various ways, while his purblindness pre- 
vents him from defending himself. This 
is no more than just retaliation upon an 
enemy who selects the hour when other 
birds are sleeping, to attack and devour 
them. . It is probable that while sitting 
upon the branch of a tree .or on a fence, 
after having been driven from his hiding 
place, he has formed a subject for paint- 
ers, who have always delighted to intro- 
duce him into their pictures, to add ex- 
pression to a desolate scene — an old de- 
serted house, a ruined tower or an ancient 
belfry. Hence the owl deserves in a spe- 
cial manner to be named among those ani- 
mals which are called picturesque. 

I will not enter into a speculation con- 
cerning the origin of those agreeable emo- 
tions which are so often produced by the 
sight of objects that are suggestive, of ru- 
in or desolation. Nature has beneficially 
provided that many an object which is ca- 
pable of communicating no direct pleasure 
to our senses, shall send joy to the heart 
through the medium of sentiment. The 
figure of the owl is closely allied with the 
sentiment of ruins, and to this feeling of 
the human soul we may trace the pleasure 
we derive from the picture of this bird in 
his appropriate scenery. Two doves upon 
the ragged branch of a tree in a wild and 
beautiful sylvan retreat, are not more sug- 
gestive of pleasing fancies to the mind, 
than an owl sitting upon an old gate-post 
near a deserted house. 

I have often listened with peculiar plea- 
sure to the distant sounds of the wings of 
night birds, on a summer evening in the 
country, while they are flying over short 
distances in the woods. There is a mys- 
terious feeling excited by these sounds, 
that seems to heighten the pleasure derived 
from the delightful influences of the sea- 
son. But these emotions are nothing in 
intensity to the scarcely perceptible sound 
attending the flight of the owl, as he glides 
by in the dusk of the evening, or in the 
dim light of a summer moon. Similar in 
its influence is the dismal voice of this 
bird, which is heard most frequently du- 
ring the latter part of summer and in the 
autumn, when the young ones are out, and 
use these cries for purposes of mutual sal- 
utation and recognition. 

These notes in the species which is the 
subject of my remarks, are singularly wild 



336 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



\ 



and not unmusical. They are far from be- 
ing disagreeable to my ear, though they 
have a cadence which is expressive of 
dreariness and melancholy. These notes 
might be correctly represented on a C flute 
by commencing with D in the octave, and 
running down by semi-tones to one octave 
below, and constantly repeating this per- 
formance, for the space of ajjout a minute, 
with occasional pauses and slight varia- 
tions. The owl does not slur the passage, 
and the separate notes in the scale may be 
distinctly perceived, with intervals of 
about a semitone 

The owl is not usually regarded as a 
useful bird. Perhaps the generality of the 
tribe deserve to be considered only as 
mischievous birds of prey, and no more 
deserving of mercy and protection than 
the hawks to which they are allied. Not 
so should we regard the little red owl, or 
his congener, the barn owl of Europe, or 
any of the smaller species. The red owl 
is very serviceable as a destroyer of ver- 
min ; and I have no doubt that were the 
species to be domesticated, one pair of 
owls would keep our enclosures almost en- 
tirely clear of rats and mice. The owl 
flies low, because his prey consists of those 
small quadrupeds which are generally out 
by twilight. It is probably on account of 
his low flight that he is so seldom seen 
when on the wing. He is said by those 
who have observed his habits to be re- 
markably diligent and expert in taking his 
prey, and to be in the habit of destroying 
and carrying to his nest a greater amount 
of provision than is necessary for the sup- 
ply of his family. 

The reader may form a conception of 
the usefulness of the owl from the follow- 
ing remarks of Mr. Waterton : " He 
says that " if this useful bird caught its 
food by day, instead of hunting for it by 
night, mankind wonld have ocular demon- 
stration of its utility in thinning the coun- 
try of mice; and it would be protected and 
encouraged everywhere. It would be with 
us what the Ibis was with the Egyptians. 
When it has young, it will bring a mouse 
to the nest every 12 or 15 minutes. But in 
order to have a proper idea of the enor- 
mous quantity of mice which this bird des- 
troys, we must examine the pellets which 
it ejects from its stomach in the place uf 
its retreat. Every pellet contains from 
four to seven skeletons of mice. In six- 



teen months from the time that the apart- 
ment of an owl on an old gateway was 
cleaned out, there has been a deposit of 
above a bushel of pellets. * # * When 
farmers complain that the barn owl des- 
troys the eggs of their pigeons, they lay the 
saddle on the wrong horse. They ought 
to put it on the rat. Formerly I could get 
very few young pigeons, till the rats were 
excluded effectually from the dovecote. 
Since that took place, it has produced a 
great abundance every year, though the 
barn owls frequent it and are encouraged 
all around it. The barn owl merely re- 
sorts to it for repose and concealment. If 
it were really an enemy to the dovecote, 
we should see the pigeons in commotion as 
soon as it begins his evening flight ; but 
the pigeons heed it not; whereas, if the 
sparrow hawk or hobby should make its 
appearance, ihe whole community would 
be up at once ; proof sufficient that the 
barn owl is not looked upon as a bad or 
even a suspicious character by the inhabi- 
tants of the dovecote." The English barn 
owl alluded to by Mr. Waterton, is likewise 
indigenous in America, though not so 
common as the red owl. 

Few persons are aware of the vast 
amount of mischief which may be com- 
mitted in our fields by field-mice, which, 
without some such check as that of the 
owl, would multiply with incredible rapid- 
ity. Mr. Jessie remarks in his " Glean- 
ings" that " an extraordinary instance of 
the rapid increase of mice, and of the in- 
jury they sometimes do, occurred a few 
years ago in the new plantations made by 
order of the Crown in Dean Forest, Glou- 
cestershire, and in the New Forest, Hamp- 
shire. Soon after the formation of these 
plantations, a sudden and rapid increase 
of mice took place in them, which threat- 
ened destruction to the whole of the young 
plants. Vast numbers of these were 
killed, the mice having eaten through the 
roots of five year old oaks and chesnuts, 
generally just below the surface of the 
ground. Hollies also, which were five or 
six feet high, v. ere barked round the bot- 
tom ; and in some instances the mice had 
crawled up the tree, and were seen feed- 
ing on the upper branches. Various plans 
were devised for their destruction ; traps 
were set, poison laid, and cats turned out ; 
but nothing appeared to lessen, their num- 
ber. It was at last suggested that if holes 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



337 



were dug into which the mice might be 
enticed or fall, their destruction might be 
effected." These holes were made in Dean 
Forest about twenty yards asunder, and 
from eighteen to twenty inches in depth, 
hollowed out much wider at bottom than 
at the top ; so that the animal when once 
in could not easily get out again. In these 
holes at least thirty thousand mice were 
found in the course of three or four months, 
and it was calculated that a much greater 
number were taken out of the holes by 
weasels, owls, magpies, &c. The food of 
the field-mouse is exclusively vegetable, 
and hence it is highly important to the 
farmer to prevent its increase. — JVew Eng- 
land Farmer. 



TREES. • 
A tree is one of the most elegant objects in 
nature. Beautiful in its youth, luxuriant and 
graceful in its growth, majestic and noble in its 
later years. The mighty oak having withstood 
the storms of many centuries, still otfers its un- 
bending head to the tempest. It has seen the 
rise and fall of many of the human race, and 
man's most magnificent works have crumbled, 
but still it flourishes, and every returning spring 
clothes it with fresh verdure. The same olive 
trees which, in the days of our Saviour, gave 
name to the Mount, are still believed to exist. 
What interesting historic scenes have they 
witnessed . 

" The cedars wave on Lebanon, 

But Judah's statelier maids are gone." 

Napoleon in laying down the plan for his 
great road over the Simplon, is said to have di- 
verged from a straight line to avoid injuring 
the great cypress of Somma, in Lombardy 
This tree is treated by the inhabitants with 
great reverence, as it is supposed to have been 
planted in the year of the birth of Christ. But 
an ancient chronicle of Milan proves it to have 
been a tree in the time of Julius Caesar, 42 B.C. 
It is 123 feet high, and 20 feet in circumference 
at one foot from the ground. Much larger trees 
are known to exist, but their age, although sup- 
posed to be greater, is not known. 

But if trees are so beautiful as well as use- 
ful, and so enduring, why do we so much neg- 
lect their cultivation ? Do we expect they will 
spring up around us without being planted ? 
Magnificent forests have till so recently covered 
our whole country, that we have not looked upon 
trees for mere show and beauty than thirty feet. 
with wide extending branches. 

Were more attention given to the cultivation 
of trees for adorning our residences and afford- 
ing us their fruit, it would make home more 
pleasant, and tend to check our roving propen- 



sities. In the language of the lamented Down- 
ing, " Our peculiar position in a new world 
that requires a population full of enterprise and 
energy to subdue and improve its vast territory, 
has, until lately, left but little time to cultivate 
a taste for rural embelishment. But in the 
older States, as wealth has accumulated, the 
country become populous, and society more re- 
fined in its character, a return to, and fondness 
for, those simple and fascinating enjoyments to 
be found in country life and rural pursuits, is 
witnessed on every side. 

As they require some years for their 
growth, it seems very iwacertain whether we 
shall ever live to enjoy the fruits of our la- 
bors, and as we are such a moving people, might 
we not ourselves, or at least our descendants, be 
in Iowa or Oregon before trees of our planting 
would attain a moderate size, and they would 
pass into the hands of strangers. 

An old gentleman, who has within the last 
ten years set out a number of trees, repeated to 
us the old story that " he never expected to live 
to enjoy the fruits of his labors." But upon 
inquiry he admitted that he was amply repaid 
for his trouble, not only in the pleasure of see- 
ing them grow, but by the fruit which they an- 
nually produced. We even now begin to look 
with some self-congratulation on the success of 
our own labors in this department. 

To this innate feeling, out of which, grows a 
strong attachment to natal soil, we must look 
for a counterpoise, to the great tendency to 
constant change, and the restless spirit of emi- 
gration, which forms part of our national char- 
acter, and which, though to a certain extent 
highly necessary to our national prosperity, are, 
on the other hand, opposed to social and domes- 
tic happiness. The love of country is insepara- 
bly connected with the love of home. What- 
ever, therefore, leads man to assemble the com- 
forts and elegancies of life around his habita- 
tion, tends to increase local attachments and 
render domestic life more delightful, thus not 
only augmenting his own enjoyment, but 
strengthening his patriotism and making him a 
better citizen. And there is no employment or 
recreation which affords the mind greater or 
more permanent satisfaction than that of culti- 
vating the earth and adorning our property. 
" God Almighty first planted the garden ; and 
indeed it is the purest of human pleasures," 
says Lord Bacon. And as the first man was 
shut out from the garden, in the cultivation of 
which no alloy was mixed with his happiness, 
the desire to return to it seems to be implanted 
by nature more or less strongly in every heart — 
while there is no more rational pleasure than 
that derived from these pursuits by him who 

"Plucks life's roses in his quiet field." 

The enjoyment drawn from it, unlike many 
other amusements, is unembittered by the after 



338 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



' 



recollection of pain or injury inflicted on others, 
or the loss of moral rectitude. In rendering his 
home more beautiful, he not only contributes to 
the happiness of his own family, but improves 
the taste and adds loveliness to the country at 
large. There is perhaps sornetihng exclusive 
in the taste for some of the fine arts. A collec- 
tion of pictures, for example, is comparatively 
shut up from the world in the private gallery. 
But the sylvan and floral collections, the groves 
and gardens which surround the country resi- 
dence for the man of taste, are confined by no 
barriers narrower than the blue heavens above 
and around them. The tastes and the treasures 
gradually but certainly creep beyond the nomi- 
nal boundaries of the estate, and re-appear in 
the pot of flowers in the window, or the luxuri- 
ant blossoming vines which clamber over the 
porch of the humblest cottage by tha way side. 

Exchange. 



FINANCIAL AND COMMERCIAL. 



TOBACCO INSPECTIONS AND STOCK. 

We are indebted to Messrs. John Jones & Co.> 
of this city, for the following comparative state- 
ment of the inspections for the two last years, 
and of the stock now in the warehouses of this 
State. The inspections are official and of course 
accurate. The statement of Stock is conjectu- 
ral ; but from the experience and information of 
Messrs. J. & Co., may be relied on as not far 
from the mark : 

Tob'co inspections Estimated Stock, 
in Virginia. in Warehouses. 

Sept. 30th, 1855. 1856. 1856. 

Richmond, . 29,458 hhds. 36,695 hhds. 5,000 hhds. 
Petersburg, . 13,348 " 15,675 " 1,400 " 
Lynchburg, . 9,511 " 8,720 " 800 " 

Ciarksville, . 3,122 " 2,126 " 200 " 

Farmville, . 2,211 " 2,106 " 200 " 

Tye River, . 227 " 15 " 

Danville, . 20 " 



57,872 hhds. 65,359 hhds. 7,600 hhds. 
1856 — October 1st — Stock for inspection at Rich- 
i inond, . . 66 hhds. 
" " — Stock probably held for 

sale at Richmond, 900 " 

State of the Market. — An active demand for 
all qualities. Prices have advanced in a week, 
on an average, one dollar and fifty cents per 
hundred. Probable production of the crop in 
Virginia the present year, 40,000 or 45,000 hhds ; 
more than half cut unripe, or injured by frost. 
John Jones & Co. 

Richmond, October 1st, 1856. 

We gather from the estimates of Mr. Jones 
some further facts which are of interest to the 
public generally. The Tobacco manufactured 
in this city, and elsewhere in Virginia, and 
shipped through this place — say from the 1st of 
October, 1855, to the 30th of September, 1550— 
including loose parcels, may be estimated at 36,- 
000 hhds, yielding in packages of manufactured 



tobacco 324,000 lbs., of average value per pack- 
age of §20, or a total of . . $6,480,000 
Stems from Tobacco manufactured 
8,500 hhds, at $25 per hha., 212,500 



Realized by manufactured Tobacco 
and Stems, .... $6,692,500 

Foreign exports of strips and Tob'cco 
in hhds, for one year (1855-'i>G,) 
20,500 hhds, at an average value 
of $120 per hhd, . . . 2,460,000 

Coastwise exports of Leaf and Lug 
Tobacco, 10,000 hhds, at an ave- 
rage value of $100 per hhd, ' . 1,000,000 



Total estimated value of Tobacco 
shipped from this port for one 



year, 



$10,152,500 



This is a handsome exhibit for the Tobacco 
trade of this city. There is much Tobacco man- 
ufactured in the Dan River valley, that is wag- 
oned off to the Southern interior ; and there is 
a portion of that manufactured in and beyond 
Lynchburg, which passes by Petersburg. 

It is a moderate estimate to assume that this 
great staple, which is used in its different forms 
by all civilized and nearly all the barbarous na- 
tions of the Globe, brings into this State annu- 
ally $15,000,000. This is a very respectable re- 
sult from one staple of a district of country not 
very large, lying partly in North Carolina, but 
chiefly in Virginia. — Richmond Dispatch. 



WAGON COVERS— EVERY FARMER HIS 
OWN MANUFACTURER. 

Take about eight yards of Hadley Falls un- 
bleached 5-i sheeting, which can be bought at 
about 13 cents per yard, cut it into two pieces 
and sew it firmly together, as for a sheet — this 
kind is mentioned because it is very strong and 
thick, — then tack it up on the sunny side of 
the barn and paint it over with the same mixture 
as for the hay covers stated in your paper last 
week, When dry take it down and sew stones 
into each corner of proper weight, say about 
one pound or more each, and it is completed. 
By throwing this simple affair into his wagon, 
on leaving home in the morning, the farmer 
would be able to load up his hay if he saw a 
shower coming, and might stay to help his men 
rake up the balance instead of driving off his 
horses at the top of their speed and perhaps not 
reach home before he is caught in a pouring 
shower, and is obliged, the next day, to back 
his load out to dry his hay over again. One 
such instance would pay the cost of a cover, 
which need not cost over $1 25 to 1 50. The 
same cover would enable him to take his grist 
to the mill on rainy days, which is a great 
saving of time, as safely as if he owned a 
covered wagon. 

C. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



339 



KHAIN CATTLE AND THEIR CROSSES. 
Holkham, Albemarle, Sept. 26, 1856. 

Dear Sir, — A considerable number of the 
readers of your paper requested me to give my 
views of the Khain Cattle and their crosses, 
after I had Rested them sufficiently to form a 
correct opinion. The imported bull, very soon 
after his arrival at my farm, became impotent, 
and I got from him but four calves, two half- 
blood males, which I have exhibited at our 
State Fair, and two females, one full blood, the 
other half blood. They produced each a very 
fine male calf last summer by Hon. Wm. C. 
Rives' thorough bred Durham bull, Red Rover, 
from Mr. Morris's of New York— all of which 
I intend to exhibit at our next Fair. 

The full blood is what would be considered 
a fair milker, giving now, ten quarts of milk 
per day. The half blood sixteen quarts — a 
large amount for a heifer with her first calf. 
This heavy flow of milk may possibly be acci- 
dental, but I am inclined to believe that the 
calf with any good milk stock will turn out 
well. Dr. Davis, who selected the cattle for 
Lieut. Lynch, told me that they were almost 
invariably good milkers, in a climate intensely 
warm where they subsisted, the greater part of 
the year by browsing. 

The full blood, though very active, are two 
slender, not having sufficient strength. My 
half blood bulls I have broken to work, and 
they perform admirably, possessing enough 
power combined with remarkable activity — 
moving with the speed of horses. Their red 
colur, which they generally impart to their off- 
spring, is also quite a desideratum with the 
lover of the " beautiful." Mr. Philip St. George 
Tucker and others who procured from me bull 
calves at the last Fair, speak in high terms as 
to their thriftiness, hardiness, &c. 

Crossed upon good stock the progeny must 
prove all we can desire in oxen for work, and 
if they possessed no othergood quality, this 
alone would sufficiently recommend them. I 
will have at the Fair a few calves for sale. 
Faithfully yours, 

JOHN R. WOOD. 
Frank G. Ruffin, Esqr., Richmond. 



IMPORTANT TO WHEAT GROWERS IN 
NORTH CAROLINA. 

At the meeting of the Scientific Association 
in Albany, this summer, some private conver- 
sation ensued upon the comparative merits of 
the grains grown in the West, North and 
South. It was observed that Southern flour 
had largely the preference in the West Indies 
and South America, on account of its being 
dryer and keeping better in hot climates. 

A gentleman who attended the World's Fair 
in London, at once remarked that the finest 
flour he ever saw was made of North Carolina 
wheat, and ground at mills in New York. Be- 
ing solicited to submit the observation to writ- 



ing, Dr. Elwyn, of Philadelphia, well known 
for the interest he takes in agriculture and every 
thing connected with the useful arts, at once 
drew up a certificate, of which the ensuing is a 
copy: 

" I have been desired, by Dr. Gibbon of North 
Carolina, to record the following fact as inter- 
esting to the wheat-growers of that State, 
While acting as chairman of the committee 'on 
articles used as food,' during the exhibition at 
the Crystal Palace, I was struck with the quality 
of the bread offered for examination by Hecker 
& Brother of New York. It was the whitest 
and best I ever saw. I asked — being a farmer — 
the very natural question, as to where they pro- 
cured their grain ; and was told that the bread 
was made of flour from North Carolina wheat ; 
and to my further astonishment, was also in- 
formed that, in their opinion, the best wheat in 
the United States was that of North Carolina. 
(Signed.) A. L. ELWYN. 

Albany, N. Y., August 25, 1856, 



BLANKETS FOR NEGROES. 

" One blanket, such as planters usually buy 
for negroes, will cost %\ 40 and will last about 
one year. Six yards of kerseys at 28 cents per 
yard, (§1 68,) will make a warmer blanket and 
will last five years. I know this from experi- 
ence. Other reasons besides economy recom- 
mend kerseys as a substitute for blankets. The 
former are manufactured in the South, and of 
one half cotton and mostly of Southern wool, 
while blankets are made at the North and of 
Northern and Western wool. — American Cotton 
Planter. 



THE GROWTH OF THE WHEAT PLANT 

BY CUTHBERT W. JOHNSON, F. R. S. 

On some former occasions, we have examined 
together many of the phenomena which attend 
the growth of the wheat plant. In the last num- 
ber of the Journal of the Royal Agricultural 
Society of England, Professor Buckman has 
pursued the same interesting research; and at 
no period of the year can we, perhaps, again 
examine the subject more usefully than on the 
very verge, as it were, of wheat seed-time. 

The choice of the 'seed is a primary question; 
it is here that in our cultivation we deviate, as 
we too often do, from nature. The seeds of the 
wild wheat, except in a few instances, are sown 
where they are ripened ; unless carried by the 
winds or by animals, they are reproduced for a 
series of years on the same soil ; in consequence, 
the plant yields small seeds — perhaps degene- 
rate. The farmer avoids these ill results by 
changing the soil ; by carefully manuring his 
land ; and by varying his seed. He notes, too, 
that in this alteration of seed, certain facts, with 
regard to the new wheat, are beneficially to be 
regarded. In his prize essay, thg Professor has 
alluded to some of these, and especially to tlie 



340 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 
* 



practice of the Gloucestershire farmers ; he ob- 
serves (p. 183,) "That seed wheat should al- 
ways be chosen from a poor soil for the seeding 
of a richer one, and from a cold climate for cul- 
tivation in a warmer ; by acting contrary to this 
rule, we induce disease and a shortness in the 
yield. In Gloucestershire the hill farmer 
chooses seed from the exposed chalk Wolds of 
Wiltshire, while the vale farmer procures his 
seed wheat from the hills. But in the same 
manner as spring wheat may be cultivated into 
a winter variety, so may any kind of wheat be- 
come acclimatised by careful cultivation ; this, 
however, sometimes entails a slight change of 
form ; and hence have arisen tall and dwarf va- 
rieties, early and late forms, and numerous 
others. " New varieties of wheat," adds Mr. 
Buckman, " are constantly becoming the fash- 
ion with the agriculturist ; but it must not be 
concluded that this is the result of caprice, as it 
is the nature of derivative plants to lose some 
of their qualities after a long career of changes, 
and hence varieties are always useful as achange, 
and the more distinctive these are, if adapted 
for our soil and climate, the better." 

The variety of the seed wheat, however, is not 
the only very material consideration ; the pre- 
vention of disease in it has long engaged the 
farmer's attention. He strives, and commonly 
successfully, to prevent blight, by immersing 
the seed wheat in brine, or solutions of sulphate 
of copper, &c- ; the beneficial effect of which 
he is used to attribute, perhaps with correctness, 
to the fact that these substances kill the minute 
sporules or seeds of the fungi which have at- 
tached themselves to the seed wheat, and are 
the origin of the parasitical fungi which consti- 
tute blight. " But my own experiments upon 
this subject, together with careful investiga- 
tion," remarks Professor Buckman, "seem to 
warrant the conclusion that the beneficial ac- 
tion of these steeps depends upon their destroy- 
ing the germinating power of malformed and 
diseased seeds ; and he recounts some experi- 
ments which, he thinks, show that the pickling 
of wheat destroys the seed so as to prevent ger- 
mination when the seed is diseased or ill-formed ; 
but that if perfect seed were always employed, 
no pickling is at all necessary, it being perfect- 
ly true that a diseased progeny must result 
from an imperfect stock in plants as well as in 
animals. 

The depth at which- the seed is most benefi- 
cially placed, is a question not in general very 
carefully regarded. If we follow Nature here, 
we shall find her seeds mostly dispersed or ger- 
minating at, or close to, the surface ; and it has 
been shown, in the case of some kind of seeds, 
that if shaded from the direct rays of the sun, 
they germinate, when thus placed, better than 
in any other situation. As, however, with our 
field operations, it is not possible to leave seeds 
thus exposed to their various enemies, and as it 
is necessary to cover them with earth, the next 
enquiry that promises to he interesting is (still 



confining our attention to the wheat plant) what 
depth from the surface happens to be practical- 
ly the best? Now the experiments of Buckman 
and of Petri seem to concur in placing the 
depth at from one to two inches, as that possess- 
ing the maximum advantage. The result of 
the experiments of Petri will be seen in the fol- 
lowing table, which gives the result of sowing 
given quantities of wheat at different depths: — 



Seed sown 


to 


Came 


above 


Prop'n of plants 


the depth 


of 


grou 


ad in 


that 


came up. 


£ inch. 




11 days. 




7 
8 


1 " 




12 


" 




all 


2 " 




18 


ct 




7 


3 " 




20 


* 




2. 

4 


4 " 




21 


a , 




i 


5 " 




22 


" 




i 


6 " 




23 


a 




i 



Here we may observe that the number of seeds 
which produced plants decreased in number, as 
the depth beyond one inch increased ; and we 
well remember some experiments by which it 
was shown that some barley followed a similar 
progressive rule, until when sown at a depth of 
twelve inches, it entirely ceased to produce 
plants. 

And if the depth materially influences the 
growth of the seed, so also, as the farmer is 
well aware, does the period of the year in which 
they are sown. But although we possess this 
general knowledge, yet, until the experiments 
which I am about to describe, we had none 
which gave the result of sowing the same wheat 
on the same soil in each month of the year. In 
the trials by Professor Buckman, he sowed in 

1851 and 1852 red Lammas wheat in plots, on 
the 14th of each month, from June 1851 to May 

1852 ; the results he has thus tabulated : — 





Height. 


Length of 
head. 


Remarks. 


1851. 


ft. 


in. 






June. . 


3 


5 


3 


Clean straw. 


July. . 


2 


10 


2 


Ditto. 


Aug. . 


4 


1 


4 


Ditto. 


Sept. . 


3 


11 


4 


Ditto. 


Oct. . 


3 


10 


4 


Rather blighted. 


Nov. . 


3 


9 


4 


Ditto. 


Dec. . 


3 


10 


3i 


Much blighted. 


1852. 










Jan. 


3 


10 


3£ 


Ditto. 


Feb. . 


3 


6 


4* 


Ditto. 


March . 




— 




] Failed as a crop, 


April . 




— 




> but some ears 


May 




— 




J ripened. 



The summing up of Mr. Buckman I have ab- 
breviated in the following paragraphs : — 

The winter was mild and wet — all the sam- 
ples were gathered in August. One chief dif- 
ference between winter and spring wheat is, 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



341 



that winter wheat sends out new roots and fresh 
fibrils in the spring, and at the same time til- 
lers, and forms tufts, each shoot of which also 
roots like the central blade, and all this second 
growth occurs just when spring wheat is com- 
ing up. In spring wheat there is little disposi- 
tion to tiller : as the growth is quick, the root 
has no period of rest, and therefore its fibres 
and fibrils are developed regularly, and have 
no fresh impulse of growth like wheat that has 
stood the cold of winter, and is prepared to 
meet the milder season of spring with an invitr- 
orated constitution, and an appetite that re- 
quires new' roots and fresh rootlets to supply. 
It is on this account that winter wheat can be 
transplanted in spring with hut little check to 
its growth, and even the tufts can be divided 
into slips, which is indeed a useful mode of aug- 
menting our crop in experiments upon new and 
rare varieties. The seed having been sown as 
evenly as possible at the required depth, the 
following changes- take place : — ■ The grain he- 
gins to obtain moisture from the soil, and con- 
sequently enlarges its size. In a few days the 
embryo shows a great change; it has hecome 
enlarged — the lower part soon protruding as a 
rootlet — the upper as a bud, which will quickly 
develop leaves. Coincident with this proceed 
the chemical changes in the cotyledon, from 
which the germ is supplied with its food, until 
the roots on the one hand, arid the leaves on 
the other, become capable of acting— the one as 
purveyors, and the other as eliminators of that 
fool with which the plant may be surrounded, 
in the soil and in the atmosphere, and upon 
which depends its after welfare. If wholesome 
food for the plant be in the soil, it progresses 
favourably : if the reverse, disease or death will 
be the result. If the supply of these be insuffi- 
cient, the produce is small : if too great, we get 
blighted leaves and ^traw, with too small a pro- 
portion of corn. If bad seed be sown, we have 
a diseased and malformed plant, resulting in 
their diseased and consequently blighted grain. 
All this, however, depends upon the air the 
plants get to breathe : if full of noxious vapour, 
they die; a small quantity of such gases as sul- 
phuretted hydrogen, sulphurous-acid gas, and 
muriatic-acid gas, acting as a poison, and thus 
preventing wheat from being grown in the vi- 
cinity of some chemical and manufacturing 
works. 

The nature of the food which the wheat plant 
derives from the soil, is known to materially in- 
fluence the composition of the plant and the 
seed. Thus Hemb s taedt long since found, by 
some experiments with wheat dressed with dif- 
ferent manures, that when wheat, which was 
grown on land without any manure, yielded 9.2 
per cent of gluten, that it yielded, when dressed 
with 

Vegetable matter, . . 9.6 per cent. 

Cow dung, . . . 12.0 " 
Sheep dung, . . .' 32.9 " 

Night soil, . . . 33.14 " 



The constituents of these decomposing applica- 
tions are assimilated by the plant either in the 
gaseous form, at the moment of their extrica- 
tion, or when they are dissolved in the moisture 
of the soil. It would seem, then, that a more 
extended and varied examination of the mois- 
ture of the same soils in their simple state, and 
when dressed with various manures, might be 
productive of useful results ; and this has been, 
although but partially, accomplished by Profes- 
sor Way, when he was examining the drainage 
waters from the rich hop-grounds of Surrey and 
from other lands ; and if we regard the compo- 
sition of such drainage waters as affording a 
tolerably fair view of that of the moisture re- 
tained in the surface soil, and from which the 
wheat plant derives at least the mineral portion 
of its food, then it is interesting to compare the 
composition of the mineral substances or ash of 
the wheat plant with those contained in land 
drainage water. 

Now in the following table will be found, — I. 
The substances found in 100 parts of the seed ; 
II. of the straw and chaff of some Hoptoun 
wheat (Jour. Boy. Ag. Soc., vol. vii, p. 631) ; 
and III. and IV. the matters (given in grains) 
contained in an imperial gallon of two (previ- 
ously filtered) drain waters, from two fields on 
the land of Mr. Paine, at Farnham, in Surrey, 
(ib. vol. xvii, p. 133) : — 





I. 


II. 


III. 


IV. 


Silica, . . ,. 


5.63 


69.36 


0.95 


0.45 


Phosphoric acid, 


43.98 


5.24 


trace 


0.12 


Sulphuric acid, 


0.21 


4.45 


1.65 


5.15 


Chlorine, . . 


— 


— . 


0.70 


1.10 


Lime, . . . 


1.80 


6.96 


4.85 


7.19 


Magnesia, . . 


11.69 


1.45 


0.68 


2.32 


Peroxide of Iron, 


0.29 


0.73 








" Alumina, 


— 


— 


0.40 


0.05 


Potash, . . . 


34.51 


11.79 


trace 


trace 


Soda, .... 


1.87 


— 


1.0 


2.17 



Here, then, we find all the chief mineral con- 
stituents of the wheat plant, in the water of a 
cultivated soil ; and in the same land-waters 
were found, in each imperial gallon (ingrains): 



Soluble organic 
matter. 



Nitric acid. 



7.0 
7.40 



7.17 

14.74 



Ammonia. 



0.018 
0.018 



It is one satisfactory result of the examina- 
tion of these drainage waters, that the substan- 
ces they carry away from the soil are not so 
very material in amount as at first sight we 
might be led to suppose ; for as Mr. "Way re- 
marks, "It is to be remembered that, as the 
drains are at a depth of from four to five feet, 
all the soil to that depth is concerned in furnish- 
ing the substances which we find in the water. 
Assuming that a superficial inch of soil over an 



342 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



acre to weigh 100 tons, and that the drains lie 
at only 40 inches from the surface, we shall 
have 4,000 tons of soil subject to the solvent ac- 
tion of the water ; and we shall find by calcula- 
tion that the quantity of potash removed from 
the soil in the year by drainage, would be rep- 
resented by the decimal - 00001 per cent, that is 
to say, that if the whole of the soil were ana- 
lyzed before and after this quantity (71bs. per 
acre) was removed, there would be found no 
greater difference in one hundred grains of 
soil than the one hundred-thousandth part of a 
grain. 

These examinations will hardly fail to interest 
those of my readers who have considered the 
mode in which plants absorb their food from 
the soil or the atmosphere by which they are 
surrounded ; and all such laborious steps, by 
which we increase our knowledge of the move- 
ments of organic bodies, assuredly tend to place 
our most practical efforts on a better, since upon 
a more intelligible foundation. 

Farmer's Magazine. 



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FALL PLOUGHING. 

There are some sorts of land that do not re- 
quire to be ploughed in the fall or early winter. 
Sands or sandy loams that crumble under the 
operation of the plough, are of this character. 
So are undrained clays ; especially those pipe 
clays that " run together," as it is termed, or 
become glazed after every spell of freezing and 
thawing. In the case of the sandy soils, their 
free, open texture is supposed to expose them to 
the injury of leaching rains on the one hand, and 
to the ill effects of evaporating winds on the 
other. In the case of the undrained clays, the 
water penetrates and bakes them, at the same 
time that it is more easily admitted through the 
ploughed surface to the subsoil, where, below the 
reach of evaporation, and only capable of being 
removed by the slow process of capillary attrac- 
tion, and the still slower one of filtration through 
an almost impervious medium, it remains until 
a late period, keeping the land moist and cold, 
retarding the spring's operations — including a 
second ploughing, — and inviting late frosts. To 
plough this latter soil undrained, is in fact to 
increase the labour of cultivating it, and dimin- 
ish the amount of crop it may be capable of 
yielding. 

But on well drained clays, or on clays which 
reouire no draining, on all lands, in a word, 



which the owner's observation has taught him 
crumble down into fine pulverization under the 
action of frost, there is no operation more im- 
portant than a winter or fall ploughing. To talk 
of manuring a whole cornfield at the South — 
where large breadths of land are annually culti- 
vated — with all the accessories the most fortu- 
nate or most skilful can command, is an absur- 
dity: it cannot be done. But on pulverulent 
clays remunerating crops may always be had in 
tolerable seasons, if an early ploughing and a 
favorable winter shall operate to produce the 
finest tilth. Without going into the question, 
which Jethro Tull is said to have raised, as to 
whether proper culture would not supersede ma- 
nure, we may assume as within every practical 
clay farmer's observation that it is almost equal 
to a manuring, at least for the time being, of his 
whole field, to get it thoroughly disintegrated. 
This affords an infinitely multiplied extent of 
superficies in the pulverized mould to the chemi- 
cal action of the gases we call " the air." If 
this be true, then it is plain that ploughing may, 
to a certain extent, substitute manure. 

But this is only one of the benefits of winter 
ploughing clay lands. "When they are properly 
bedded, and gripped, and ditched, it drains 
them ; and each judicious repetition of the pro- 
cess is a step towards this important object. 
We were somewhat surprized to see lately in the 
Genessee Farmer, — a paper whose editor is gen- 
erally a safe guide — and always reliable — an ex- 
tract from an address of a Mr. Denton, an Eng- 
lish draining Engineer; in which he said that 
land could not be drained by water furrows and 
grips, inasmuch as he had seen water standing 
some few feet from one of these surface drains. 
So he might : and so have we ; but on land 
drained in that way, we have also seen some of 
the heaviest wheat crops at harvest, and some 
fine corn at midsummer. AVe have also seen 
water enough running from a few grips to turn 
a mill, on land that but the year before was so 
ponded that boys could skate on the ice that was 
forme! ; and we have seen the growth on this 
same land changed from broomstraw, hengrass, 
and running briars to hog-weed, (or carrot-weed,) 
careless, and, in a few places, Jamestown weed, 
without the application of any other manure 
than two hundred pounds of guano to the crop 
of wheat which followed the first draining and 
ploughing. Now if taking off a two inch fall of 
rain in sluices like mill tails is not draining-, we 



344 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



don't know what is. To plough land in the fall 
or early winter then, is to drain it : provided it be 
propely bedded and gripped. To perform these 
operations properly it is necessary, we think, 
(though on this point, as being under experi- 
ment with ourselves, we would speak guardedly, ) 
that where bedding is required, the lands or beds 
be not less than twenty feet wide, that they be 
twice gathered up from the flat, and that, if once 
properly located, they should never be reversed ; 
but, when of sufficient height, be ploughed across, 
sweeping out each water furrow with the plough, 
cleaning out the grips with the road scraper, so 
as to deposit the excavated earth some distance 
from the graded margin of the grip, and leaving 
the field in precisely such condition as if a crop 
of wheat had been sowed on it. 

In the case of beds of sufficient height, when 
it is intended, as on such land it generally should 
be, to cultivate corn with the plough, to the ex- 
clusion of the level mode of culture, it will an- 
swer perhaps as well to throw up the corn beds 
in high narrow ridges of five feet in width, or 
less, according to the desired breadth of the corn 
bed. But a still better plan, when practicable, 
is to throw it up into steep and narrow lists like 
the roof of a house and just as steep as the 
plough will make it : thus, 

A A A A A A A 
This will necessarily give a more thorough pul- 
verization than any other means, and we believe 
is well worth any extra labour it may be suppo- 
sed to require. Thoroughly worked in this way 
in winter, the lists pulled down in the spring by 
a cultivator drawn deeply across them, with oats 
harrowed in or drilled, or, in the case of corn, a 
second list formed with three furrows and the 
corn planted on the top of it, the cultivator of 
clay land will be astonished at the superior pro- 
duct he will have gained. 

Supposing one or more of these processes to 
have been complied with, we shall find, as ano- 
ther resulting benefit, that we can plant such 
land earlier in the spring, because it will be 
drier, warmer, and freer from frosts. 

The economy of work too, will be even greater 
than its forwardness. A good stand of corn is 
much more apt to be secured, always a difficult 
matter on cold clays, and a great deal of replant- 
ing will be saved ; the crop will have been half 
worked when planted ; and with a good corn 
planter, of which there are several, (Emery's, 
made in Albany, and sold by Branch & Sons, 



Petersburg, and by Palmer in Richmond; or 
Sinclair's, made best, by Baldwin & Cardwell in 
Richmond, we will Warrant in good hands,) 
with a good corn planter, we repeat it, or two if 
need be, a few hands may plant the crop, whilst 
the balance may be hauling out manure, 
fencing, or doing any other of the many things 
that crowd upon us at that busy season. 

The depth at which the land should be 
ploughed, is a matter that must be left to the 
discretion of the judicious cultivator. It is ob- 
jected sometimes to a deep furrow that it brings 
up to the surface noxious substances •which the 
subsoil has contained, and mixes them with the 
soil ; or that it covers the mould that may exist 
on the surface with the barren subsoil. If the 
land be properly ploughed we do not entertain 
much dread of either. In clays there is al- 
most always a homogeneous constitution of soil 
and subsoil, with, sometimes, an amount of fil- 
trated matter in the latter, that is an improve- 
ment to the surface. As to the barrenness of 
the subsoil, that cannot be an objection if the 
land be not turned over in flat furrows so as to 
place the mould at the bottom. Ploughed so as 
to lay such furrow slice on edge, or at an angle 
of forty-five.degrees, the subsequent preparatory 
tillage will mix them thoroughly, whilst the 
frosts will have opened, and the air have mel- 
lowed and enriched, the bottom of the furrow. 
' The advantages of deep ploughing have been too 
often discussed to need repetition here. Suffice 
it so say that unlike wheat, the constitution and 
habits of corn require a deep, moist, mellow soil, 
and that the reason of its growth being in the 
heat of summer, when moisture is too readily 
evaporated, and when any excess is taken up 
and appropriated by the large, greedy, evapora- 
ting blades, it is hard to plough too deep for it 
on clay lands that are well drained. 

Lands thus cultivated will, of course, stand 
a drought much better than those ploughed in 
the spring, when it is impossible by any .amount 
of harrowing, and rolling, and clod crushing 
even, to reduce the clods to the fine tilth that 
the expansive properties of freezing water, pen- 
etrating the whole mass and opening every 
pore, are obliged to give. Every atom of soil 
is in a condition to absorb and supply moisture 
to the thirsty plant, to absorb it not only from 
rain and dews, but from the air which in sum- 
mer is always surcharged with vapour. 

And finally, not only is the crop benefitted, 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



345 



but the land is also in the best condition to im- 
prove, to receive besides moisture, the air and 
the gasses, as we have remarked ; and thus to 
undergo those changes in its condition if not its 
constituents, which make, what we call, im- 
provement in soils, changes which science had 
not yet been able to explain, to follow, or to im- 
itate. It is hardly necessary to add that when 
manure is applied to a tillage crop, the above 
condition is the best possible to receive it. 

We say then, to the clay land farmer, plough 
your land early enough for the frosts to act ful- 
ly on it; plough it deep enough to secure the 
present advantages of frost and aeration, and 
the future ones of a reservoir for moisture, and 
a capacity for continued amelioration ; and 
drain it by bed furrows and by grips well 
cleaned out a little deeper than the bottom o* 
the plough furrows. 

What number of inches make deep ploughing 
is not yet a settled point. We hear of twelve 
and fifteen inches much oftener than we see it. 
We think from seven to ten inches, rarely as 
much as the latter, is as deep ploughing as is 
usually accomplished, or as is desirable. 

The subsoil plough in such lands as require 
surface drainage is an implement which we con- 
sider so dangerous, and of whose benefits after 
a review of the experience of many practical 
men, there is so much doubt, that we would ad- 
vise a cautious, and, for a few years, an alto- 
gether experimental use of it. 

If the above shall be considered hard work, 
remember that it is labour saving in the end ; 
and if your teams are not sufficient, get more of 
them. There is not one farmer in twenty in 
cismontane Yirginia, who has mueh more than 
half horses enough. 



THE AMERICAN FARMER. 
We take occasion to say in reply to the Ame- 
rican Farmer for October, that the failure, to 
give credit for its excellent article on Free 
Acid is Soils was accidental, and the fault of 
the printer. Whether there be or be not free 
acid in soils, is, we think, a distinct question 
from the theory that free acid in soils produces 
or promotes the growth of sorrel. To that the- 
ory we have been a convert ; for we have seen 
on some of the best lands in Jefferson, that had 
failed to shew any improvement from lime, a 
luxuriant growth of this very plant : and the 
land on our late Shad\rell farm from which, 



[when it was in tillage, we prefered to save our 
I seed wheat, from the superior sample it always 
i gave, was a river hill which' never failed to pro- 
duce a growth of sorrel when the clover did not 
take. 

In two other matters we are sorry that we 
cannot agree with the editors of the American 
Farmer, to wit: the Agricultural Department 
at Washington, and their views on " An impro- 
ved system for a Cotton Plantation." 

The first of these it is unnecessary to notice 
now, as Mr. Fremont may be elected, and ren- 
der the discussion unnecessary at any time. 

As to the second, it may be very true, and in 
many places at the South, it, no doubt, is true, 
that one luxuriant crop of peas may restore the 
waste of the three preceding tillages. Potatoes — 
sweet are meant — are not an exhausting crop, 
but rather an improver as far as our information 
extends ; and oats, so far from impoverishing 
land, in the majority of cases where we have 
heard of their being fairly tested, are likewise 
rather an improving crop, and will bear suc- 
cessive cultivation on the same land for several 
years without diminution of product. This 
may contradict theory, but it is fact. 

The fact that land has " five regular plough- 
ings in three years," is not necessarily adverse 
to good farming, or a proof of defective rota- 
tion. The Editor's remarks occur on page 123. 
On page 124, they extract from The Southern 
Farmer the very interesting account of Mr. E. 
R. Turnbull, of Brunswick's, farming with pea 
fallow, in which it appears that he has ploughed 
his land eight times in four years, or sixteen 
per cent oftener than the case treated, with 
manifest advantage. We ourselves publish- 
ed, last summer twelvemonth, an account 
of the results obtained by Mr. Mathews, of 
Chickahominy near Richmond, who had plough- 
ed his land twelve times in six years, i. e. twice 
annually, and by a pea fallow on the stubble, 
in six years' successive cropping, without ma- 
nure, rest, clover, lime, or any other appliance 
whatever, had run up by steady annual in- 
crease from seven bushels per acre to twenty 
five, being an average annual increase of sixty 
per cent. 

Mr. Mathews gave $25 per acre for his land, 
und has recently sold it for $50 ; so he had not 
hurt it much. The subject of this experiment, 
about the poorest land he had, besides paying 
a handsome dividend intermediately, gave back 



346 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



< 






double its price in the sixth year. We have 
lately passed through his corn field, a portion 
of similar land, which had been " laid by" with 
peas for the last three years of successive cul- 
tivation, and though it has not escaped the com- 
mon disasters of drought and chinch bug, the 
growth of stalks showed that it had " cut out" 
for an eight barrel crop. 

We have heard a case of a farmer in a tide 
water country, who cultivated the same land in 
corn every year of his long life, making an an- 
nual average of six barrels per acre, whose only 
peculiarity was sowing peas at the last working. 
We know a gentleman who, on stiff land, culti- 
vated a lot in corn for eight years with peas 
sowed at the last working, in the baulk, and 
turned in when in full bearing, and made fine 
crops all the time. 

Instances to the same effect may be seen in 
Mr. Edmund Ruffin's account of the pea culture 
of North Carolina in his essay on peas. 

This may be bad " rotation," but it is good 
farming, if profit be the test. It is a rotation 
we do not pretend to recommend, because it 
will not suit all lands, because economical con- 
siderations, very distinct from principles of ro- 
tation, may and will interfere to modify this or 
any other system. We state these facts as cases 
in point, to prove that we should not conclude 
that " an improved system for a cotton planta- 
tion" is necessarily bad because it makes one 
crop of peas pay for three years' exhaustion, 
and requires "five regular ploughings in three 
years." i 



ABANDONMENT OF FARMS IN NEW 
ENGLAND. 

The following extracts from two letters lately 
written by Mr. Brown, the editor of the New 
England Farmer, and published in a late num- 
ber of that paper, exhibit a state of things with 
which the agricultural prospects of Virginia 
contrast most favourably. Here we are an- 
nually opening up and improving thousands of 
acres, and restoring fields — not farms — that 
have been exhausted and abandoned. All we 
want is an additional supply of negro labour to 
make the whole of lower Virginia blossom as 
the rose. 

The rise in price of improved farms has kept 
pace with the progress of improvement; and 
we have already, instances in the interior, 
where no contiguity to city or market could 



produce speculative or factitious value, in which, 
the estimate of the commissioners of assessment 
has risen 800 per cent, in fifteen years. 

" It is an incontrovertible fact that there are 
thousands of acres in Massachusetts, and tens 
of thousands in New Hampshire, upon which 
the energies of man should never be wasted. 
There are acres enough without them. There 
are acres without original fertility, on mountain 
tops, or sides, away from streams, or good roads, 
swept by rains, and scorched by summer suns. 
They are difficult of access to plough, manure 
and plant, or if, providentially, a crop is grown, 
to secure it. Tu persist in their cultivation is 
a contest between man and the powers of nature, 
in which the former will certainly come off 
second best. It has been going on now between 
one and two hundred years. The axe and fire 
has swept the noble forests from the hills, while 
innumerable crops of rye have taken up the 
virtues of the virgin soil, to which nothing has 
been returned. By removing the forests, the 
springs that ran among the hills have disap- 
peared, and gradually, year after year, the rich, 
leafy mould has been taken up, until nought 
but a scanty and innutritious vegetation is left 
springing from a bleached, thin and inactive 
soil! 

" Man, here, is yielding to natural, but inex- 
orable laws. The gloomy records of his defeat 
are left upon the land. All along the way, oc- 
casionally in the valley, sometimes on the nar- 
row plain, but mostly on "the bleak hills, stand 
dreary monuments not only of his defeat, but of 
his retreat, also, from the unequal contest. In 
a brief travel of only one day, stand more than 
fifty deserted mansions to attest this fact ! 
These are not the tenements of the first settlers, 
but the re-buildings of their descendants, never 
to be repeated : one, only, mostly demolished, 
showing the log structure of the pioneer. Here 
and there some careful hand has removed the 
dilapidated frame work, and the cellar only 
marks the spot of the habitation. In the other 
cases, no herds stand in their stalls, no smokes 
curl from their chimneys, and the grass — 
nature's beautiful covering where man mars — 
has overspread the pathway to the doors." 
* * * * * * * 

"All around these once fair representatives of 
civilization, Nature is rapidly making encroach- 
ments ; and there are unerring tokens of her 
impending approach. The clang of the anvil 
has ceased ; the mill grinds not, nor saws, and 
the mountain stream babbles or roars along its 
unimpeded course. The majesty of State laws 
compels to a good condition of the public roads, 
though there are few to travel them. But 
Nature is on»her triumphal march, and trenches 
upon these as well as the garden and the field. 
First comes the grass, like the atmosphere, de- 
termined that there shall be no vacuum in 
nature. It covers the fallows of husbandry, 
the deep cuts made for the avenues of trade ; 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



547 



spreads over and obliterates the art or skill of 
the landscape gardener, and claims a place or 
even superiority, -with the exquisite flowers of 
the parterre. It is universal. Cattle graze and 
enjoy it, and minister to the wants of man. 
1 But as the lion reigns supreme in the lo 



not check its career. Large portions of Massa- 
chusetts soil, and immensely larger of Maine, 
New Hampshire and Vermont will grow up to 
forest, in spite of furnaces and locomotives. 
England has passed through the same process. 
Even now, some of the old towns of Massachusetts, 



cality which he has inherited or selected as his ] already settled more than two hundred years, 



own, and levels contributions over still wider 
circles, so there is a power behind the grass 
which shall not only supplant, but drive it from 
its realm. The forest approaches. Here and 
there where the decaying rock yields up its 
potash or its lime, fit food for the embryo plant, 
appears the pine, ash, oak, maple, beech, birch 
or walnut, and soon assumes the form and 
comeliness of a tree. Various shrubs mingle 
with them, whose innumerable leaves extract 
from the atmosphere its nutritive properties, and 
these cast annually, cover and protect the sur- 
face and supply nourishment to the roots of all. 
Forest trees take the lead, and as they gain 



have a great many more acres covered with 
wood than they had fifty years ago. In the in- 
troduction of scientific principles to his fields, 
the farmer's head now performs much that was 
once required of his hands. He tills less land, 
but the cultivation is more systematic and 
thorough, and when his crops are secured, they 
are expended with an economy little understood 
by his predecessors. 

" Our travelling companion, Jacob B. Farmer, 
Esq., of Concord, Mass., is a gentleman of rare 
powers of observation ; he confirms the views 
we have expressed, — states that he has travelled 
over the various routes we have now taken, more 



superiority, the lesser plants yield, laying down than one hundred and fifty times within forty 
their lives — a sort of vegetable martyrdom — for j years, and that he has noticed these desertions 



the general good ; they were useful in life, and 
when done with that, still continue to sustain 
the living growth. Here is a new state of things. 
Man and his ways have disappeared. Nature 
has assumed the sway, and again clothed the 
earth in her primitive dress. The forest is 
everywhere, covering hill, valley and plain. 
Silence is ia its dark courts, save when the 
thunder bi'eaks over it, or the tornado prostrates 
it with its ferocious breath. 
■ "Such is the course of Nature — to contend 
with her is worse than folly, being no less than 
a sacrifice of health, prosperity and comfort. Let 
her have these lands, and use them as she will. 
In thirty years they will be covered with trees 
fit for timber and fuel, and return a profit to 
their owners. 

"In the mean time, if the proprietors of the 
more level and fertile lands wish to keep the 
native population at home, they must invite the 
mountain-men and cobble-stone-knoll-men into. 
their districts, and give them employment in 
the numerous manufactories T)f one kind and 
another, or divide their rich lands with them 
for a fair compensation. These lands, under 
a higher state of cultivation, will produce well 
nigh as much as the whole do now, while the 
products of the forest will be a clear gain ; an 
immense expense of fencing and road-making 
will be saved, the sparse population will be 
gathered into more compact communities, taxes 
of all sorts decreased, and the facilities for the 
transaction of business and the general welfare 
and happiness of all greatly promoted. If these 
things are not regarded, the emigration West 
will continue until scarcely a type of the origi- 
nal New England stock will be left, and the 
Shylocks who hold on to the better lands with 
penurious grip, will find themselves surrounded 
by those speaking other tongues, and in whose 
veins runs not a drop of their ancestral blood. 
" The fiat has gone forth, and puny men can- 



f the original homesteads through the whole 
time, — but that a large majority of them belong 
to the latter half of that period." 

^ "X" "& ■& -A- 7<- -Jf 

" Iii my last I spoke of the tendency of New 
Hampshire lands to go back, first to grass and 
then to forest lands. A fellow-traveller, detained 
here, from Hillsboro', states that twenty farms 
in that town have been deserted, and probably 
will never again be occupied by man ; while a 
resident of this place informs me that on a 
single mountain tract in this neighborhood, ten 
farms are deserted, and the buildings -are in 
ruins ! Such are the striking features all over 
this region of country." 



TO DESTROY FLY IN WHEAT. 

If any of our readers - have fly in their wheat 
this fall — a risk, by the way, which all good 
farmers run, as such will have their wheat 
sowed early if they possibly can — let them not 
forget to try the remedy proposed by our friend, 
the late Jas. A. Cochran, of Augusta, and 
sanctioned by his experience for several years. 

It is simply to apply from one to two bushels 
of water-slaked — not air-slaked — lime per acre 
.to the wheat when the dew or other moisture is 
on the wheat, so that the lime will readily make 
a ley which will run down the groove of the 
blade to the nidus of the fly, or, as it then is, 
maggot. The same application, made in the 
spring, if not found fully effective in the fall, 
Mr. Cochran found to rid him almost entirely of 
this pest. 

The hands that apply the lime, may handle it 
with impunity if they will only keep their 
hands well greased. Mr. Cochran used small 



348 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



tins, like the dippers used for sugar and coffee 
by the grocers, to scatter it. But on land that 
will bear the tread of horses a broadcasting- 
machine ""will answer much the best purpose. 



KEEPING SWEET POTATOES. 

The best plan we have ever tried to keep 
sweet potatoes, for family use, is to pack them 
in la}"ers in goods boxes of dry sand — dried, if 
necessary, on the kitchen floor. This will ab- 
sorb the moisture from the roots and preserve 
them sound until early summer vegetables can 
be produced. A layer of dry sand and a layer 
of potatoes on that, with sand strewed among 
them ; then another layer of sand supporting a 
layer of potatoes as before. The whole to be 
kept in a dry place. 

The principle of keeping all roots is to ex; 
elude the pile from wet, and from rapid thawing 
after a freeze, to ventilate it partially, and to 
disturb it as seldom as possible. A dry bottom, 
a plank flue with holes bored in its sides and 
lightly stuffed with straw at top, a straw cover- 
ing and about eight or ten inches of dirt loosely 
thrown up and not patted smooth with the spade, 
would seem to iill these conditions. 



GRAYEL WALKS. 

A correspondent of the Rural Intelligencer 
gives the following result of his experience and 
observation as the best way to construct Gravel 
Walks : 

"First, dig the soil or lawn to the depth of 
six or eight inches ; perhaps in deep soil ten or 
twelve. Second, iill in one half of the depth 
with small stones gathered from the surround- 
ing grounds. Third, fill the remainder to the 
surface with sand and coal or wood ashes, leach- 
ed, and near the : surface spread an even thin 
coat of salt. ' Make use of the stone or iron 
roller as soon as convenient, but more particu- 
larly after every shower for two or three months. 
Your correspondent will in this way obtain a 
clean, and handsome drive. The salt is very im- 
portant in the mixture of sand and ashes. An- 
thracite coal ashes would be preferred, but the 
purpose can well be answered by making use 
of wood ashes, after leaching." — Culticator. 



BREADSTUFFS. ' 

Comparative trade of Richmond, in Bread- 
stuffs for the years 1855 and 1856. 

The following is a comparison of the receipts 
of this city in the three leading articles of the 
breadstuffs for the months of July, August and 
September of the present and last year. It will 
be seen that the receipt of Wheat the last thi ee 



months exceed that of the same months last year 
by the large amount of 231,485 bushels. Last 
year the farmers generally held back their crops 
for higher prices, and this accounts in a great 
degree for fhe excess the present year ; but the 
crop this year is no doubt larger than that of 
last year. 

The amount of Flour brought in during the 
three months is 1935 bbls. less than of last year. 
This may be owing to the want of water to ena- 
ble the country mills to grind ; but it is the opin- 
ion of some conversant with the subject, that the 
facilities of transportation, the demand for grain 
for the city mills, and the high prices paid by 
them, are taking the wheat from the country 
mills and diminishing their operations. 



July, 1856 

Aug. " 
Sept. " 

July, 1855. 
Aug. " 
Sept. " 


Wheat 

68,210 

415,980 

245,680 

729,870 

25,547 
352,737 
120,101 


Flour. 

2,056 
13,614 
15,639 


Corn. 
14,667 
28,772 
29,313 


31,319 

3,287 
14,827 
15.140 


72,752 

7,830 

13,931 

6,620 



33.254 



93 



498,385 

The following is a comparative statement in 
the inspections of Flour, in Richmond, during 
the quarter just ended,' and for the. same period 
of the three preceding years : 

1856. 1855. 
Family, bbls. 1,897 2,294 

Ex. Superfine, do 6,356 3,032 
Superfine, do 117,835 110,681 
do. half do 5,075 5,260 
Fine, bbls. 3,158 2,478 

Middling, do 14,348 8,045 
Condemned, do 1,451 1,620 



1854. 


1853. 


2,004 


2,033 


2,510 


2,883 


95,933 


84,614 


3,287 


4,175 


3,137 


3,433 


8,856 


4,732 


1,462 


1,180 



150,120 183,410 113,544 101,063 
1\ ich mond D ispa tcJi . 



From the Genesee Farmer. 
THE CULTIVATION OF ASPARAGUS. 

The asparaginous class of esculents, (Doudon 
says,) may be considered as comparatively one 
of luxury. It occupies a large proportion of the 
gentleman's garden, often an eighth part, but 
enters but sparingly into that of the cottager. 
A moist atmosphere is congenial to the chief of 
them, especially to asparagus and sea-kale, which 
are sea-shore plants, and are brought to greater 
perfection in the British Isles than anywhere 
else, except perhaps in Holland. In the neigh- 
borhood of London it is cultivated to a greater 
extent than in any other place in the world ; 
chiefly at Deptford and Mortlake. Some grow- 
ers at these places, and especially Mortlake, have 
above one hundred acres each. 

Asparagus officinalis is the common kind. 
There is, properly speaking, but one cultivated 
variety, although we frequently see other names 
given, as Giant, &c, which is said to be larger 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



349 



than the common kind ; but its increased size is 
owing, I believe, entirely to cultivation. I can- 
not see why asparagus should be a vegetable of 
luxurv ; it is one of the most wholesome, and 
ought to be one of necessity. It has other good 
qualities to recommend it. It is so easily culti- 
vated, and when once established it requires only 
to be kept clear of weeds ; though no plant is 
more susceptible of good treatment. It is also 
one of the earliest and most delicious of spring 
esculents, and lasting in season from the first of 
May to the middle of June, after which time 
none ought to be cut. In Paris it is much re- 
sorted to by the sedentary operative classes, 
when they are troubled with symptoms of gravel 
or stone. It is needless to say that the young, 
green stalk, when about six inches high, is in 
the best condition to be cut. 

To Make the Bed. — Choose a deep, light, san- 
dy, loamy soil, in the most sqpny situation of 
the garden, yet sheltered from cold north east 
winds, if possible, and in a place where it can 
remain, for if well done it will last good fifteen 
or twenty years. It must not be shaded by any 
large trees. "When the spot of ground is fixed 
on, draw on good rotten stable manure, at least 
six inches to one foot thick, for remember this 
is the. only opportunity you will ever have to 
manure the bottom part of the bed. When the 
manure is spread, begin at one end by digging 
out the soil the whole width of the bed, and for 
four feet in length, and at least two feet or two 
feet six inches deep ; when this is done, continue 
the operation by digging down the soil and man- 
ure to the same depth, turning and mixing them 
into the space from which the first was thrown, 
and so on the whole length of the bed. When 
you have worked through to the Other end of the 
bed, there will necessarily be a hole left ; wheel 
in the earth which was thrown out first at the 
opposite end, and that will fill it up. When this 
has lain a fortnight, if there be time, turn it all 
again, well mixing it as before ; when this has 



had for a dollar per hundred, or in quantities, 
cheaper. Two beds five feet wide and thirty 
feet long, will supply a family of five or six with 
a good dish every day. There ought to be none 
cut the first year, and but little the second, and 
none at any time after the 20th of June. 

The best time for making the beds and plant- 
ing, is October ; but if very fine weather, No- 
vember will do, or even early spring, providing 
the bed has been prepared m the fall. After all 
is planted, if in the fall, just before severe wea- 
ther is expected, cover the bed all over with long, 
littery manure or leaves, eight or ten inches 
thick. In spring, when all the bad weather is 
gone, rake oil' the covering and fork up the sur- 
face of the bed lightly, being careful not to touch 
the plants. Rake the surface of the bed smooth, t 
sow on a little salt and keep clear of weeds. 

Rochester, N. Y. J. Salter. 



THICK AND THIN SOWING OF WHEAT. 
This is a subject on which much has been 
said and done, but that is still open for dis- 
cussion and on which one could hardly ex- 
pect ever to find an agreement in opinion, 
so much depending- upon soil and situation, 
the state of cultivation in which it is found, 
the season, late or early, and the manner of 
depositing the seed, whether by drill, broad- 
cast, or dibbling, or planting by hand by 
single grains: the mode in which the seed 
is covered; whether by heavy drag or li<jht 
harrows, and above all other considerations, 
the state of the hind with regard to its re- 
quirement in the article of drainage, for if 
the land be naturally wet, it is but fair to 
expect, that " of thirty grains of wheat sown 
in the fall, one only shall be found a plant 
in the spring." And yet, after this diver- 



i oitv of time, situation and circumstance, 
lam a week or ten days, it will be ready to plant. ' J r , , , , n i 

Rake the surface of the bed smooth and even, ! men are foun(l who would fix thp P ro P er 

then stretch a line across the bed six inches from quantity of seed to be sown, and back their 

the edge; then with a spade cut out a trench six theories by experience. We knew a great 

inches deep and nine inches wide ; then lay in , and good man, a physician by profession, 



the plants nine inches apart, spreading out the 
roots horizontally the whole length of the trench, 
and cover them over two inches deep, as quickly 
as possible. Plant the next row a foot from this, 
and continue the operation until the whole bed 
is planted. Beds five feet wide, with four rows 
in the bed, will 'be found the most convenient, 
with alleys two feet wide. When all are plant- 
ed, rake the surface smooth, leaving the plants 
about two inches below the surface, and trim 
down the edges neatly with the spade. Plants 
of any age will do, although those of one or two 
years old are the best. 

Asparagus is usually propagated by seed, but 

who want but a little will find it cheaper 

to buy it of the nurserymen or gardeners whose 

business it is to raise it. Good plants can be 



who spent the latter years of his life in 
travelling about at his own expense, to su- 
perintend in person the sowing of wheat, 
in a way that should require but about as 
many quarts of seed as is customary to sow 
bushels, while the Scotch sow twice the 
quantity of seed as do the English ; as much 
as five bushels of oats per acre. When the 
land is light, warm, dry and in a good state 
of cultivation with a proper change of crop 
and an early season, would it not be fair to 
suppose that at least one half the seed usu- 
ally sown might be saved, and with advan- 
tage to the future crop ? 

On the subject of early sowing, which 



350 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



after all that hns been said, may he consid- 
ered of as much importance as anything 
that can be said, Jethro Tull has the follow- 
ing observations, which deserve very serious 
regard. " A wheat plant that is not plant- 
ed early, sends out no root above the grain 
before spring, and is nourished all winter by 
a single thread proceeding from the grain 
up to the surface of the ground, and the 
worms can more easily find a thread or sin- 
gle root that extends by its length to five or 
six inches deep, than one which reaches 
but one inch ; besides, the worms in winter 
do not inhabit very near the surface, and 
therefore miss the short threads or roots, 
but meet with the lone, single ones. On 
rich land planted early, four gallons of seed 
drilled per acre may suffice, because then 
the wheat will have root near the surface 
during winter and tiller to the spring with- 
out damage from the worm and other acci- 
dents that late planted wheat is liable to." 
Boston Cultivator. 



THE WONDERS OF INDIA RUBBER. 

Among the recent applications of India 
Rubber none are so remarkable as the man- 
ufacture of what is called " Hard India 
Goods,'' into which the rubber enters most 
largely. There is in New York a company 
called the Beacon Dam Company, which is 
devoted to the manufacture of this class of 
goods. By a process that originated with 
Mr. Chaffee, coal tar is mixed with the rub- 
ber, and the compound makes one of the 
most solid, elastic and elegant articles that 
can be found in the market. It resembles 
polished stone, is as black as coal, needs no 
finish, and has of itself as hard and exqui- 
site polish as it is possible for any metal to 
bear. There seems to be no end to the ar- 
ticles to which it can be made. Canes of 
the most elegant form and appearance are 
constructed out of it, and are as tough as 
so much steel, while they have all the elas- 
ticity of whalebone. Cabinet work, inlaid 
and mosaic, ornamental to the parlor and 
the chamber. Spectacle bows and glasses 
for the eye, are made so light as to be no 
annoyance, while their elastic character 
cause them to sit firm to the head ; opera 
glasses, castors, sand stands, ink stands, 
brushes for the hair, that cannot be harmed 
by hot water, tape lines, pen holders, pen- 
cil cases, cigar cases, government boxes for 
the army and navy, government buttons, 
and an endless variety of articles are thus 



made, and the articles are of a most elegant 
character; syringes of a novel form and 
character ; machines for oiling cars and en- 
gines, on a new principle, indicate that this 
new use of rubber is to work a complete 
revolution in the arts and manufactures. 

But one of the greatest applications of 
this new rubber manufacture is the new tel- 
egraph wire that is made from it It needs 
no poles, as it is laid in the ground. It needs 
no covering ; a trench of a few inches is 
dug ; the rubber telegraph wire is put in and 
covered up; the wire is enclosed with the 
rubber; no dampness can effect it; no 
storm render the wires inoperative; no in- 
sect sever; no rust corrode. It would ap- 
pear fabulous if we should state the miles 
of this wire that have already been engaged, 
and the goods cannot be made to meet the 
demand. 

The government of the United States is 
now the best customer of the Beacon Dam 
Company. The call for ihe Navy and Ar- 
my button is immense ; the article is ele- 
gant; the naval button has on it the motto, 
"don't give up the ship." And so tough 
are these rubber buttons, that if one is pla- 
ced on an oak plank and presure applied, 
it can be sunk clear into the plank, and will 
come out unharmed ; and the government 
shaving boxes, which are about three in- 
ches in diameter, are so strong that a man 
weighing 200 pounds can press his whole 
weight on one of them, and not break them. 
Gun handles, sword handles, and other mil- 
itary implements are constructed from this 
material. They are cheap, elegant, endur- 
ing. — Boston Journal. 



CULTIVATION OF BUCKWHEAT. 

It seems unnecessary to write anything 
in regard to the cultivation of buckwheat. 

Throughout the Eastern, Middle, and 
Western States and the Canadas it grows 
almost spontaneously, and it would seem 
that the only thing requisite to secure a 
crop is to scatter the seed. It sometimes 
receives injury from early frosts, but, as a 
general rule, no crop is better adapted to 
the short, hot summers of the Northern 
States. Botanically, it is not a cereal, but 
its natural character and composition close- 
ly resemble this useful order of plants. Ex- 
cept millet, no plant used as food for man 
can be sown so late in the season ; and 
this to the farmer is one of its most valua- 
ble qualities. It is frequently sown after a 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



351 



crop of rye has been taken off the ground, 
and thus even in' the comparatively short 
seasons of the Northeastern States and the 
Canadas, two crops used as food for man 
can be obtained from the land the same 
year — a result seldom or never obtained in 
the long, damp seasons of the British isles. 

Buckwheat is a plant known in almost 
every part of the world. It is supposed to 
have been first grown in Europe about the 
time of the Crusaders, and the French 
called it ble Sarrazin. In China, Japan, 
and Russia, it forms a large portion of the 
food of the inhabitants, and in Switzerland, 
the south of France, and Flanders, it is 
cultivated to a considerable extent. It has 
been grown in England for upwards of 
three hundred years, but the cool climate 
of England is not well adapted to its per- 
fect elaboration, and hence it is not very! 
extensively cultivated. In no country does j 
it flourish better than in the United Slates — 
no where else do we find the luxury of hot 
buckwheat cakes so frequently upon the ' 
breakfast table. 

Buckwheat will grow on the poorest of 
sandy soils, and it has been extensively 
cultivated for the purpose of plowing in 
manure. Nevertheless, we are inclined to 
consider buckwheat as an exhausting crop. 
Emerson, in the Furmer's Encyclopedia, 
says : " It is generally thought to be a 
severe crop upon land, and for this reason 
it is seldom sown upon highly improved 
ground. Rough and hilly districts are 
considered peculiarly favorable to the cul- 
ture of buckwheat, which is admirably 
adapted to subdue new or wild lands." 

Mr. Ballingal, in the Transactions of 
the Highland Society, has given an account 
of his experiments with it upon a clay 
loam recently limed, from the results of 
which he warned his brother farmers that 
it is " useless to attempt to grow it upon 
damp soils, or to expect full crops upon 
lands exhausted by over croping." We 
certainly cannot recommend the cultivation 
of buckwheat for plowing under as a fertil- 
izer. Clover is by far a better crop for 
this purpose. If the soil is too poor to 
grow clover, we should expect better re- 
sults, in the Middle States at least, from 
the white lupin, or some other leguminous 
plant. 

" The mode of culture," says an expe- 
rienced writer, " has varied considerably 
since my recollection. It was formerly the 



custom to reserve the poorest land for buck- 
wheat. It was considered a great reproach 
to land to say it would produce only buck- 
wheat. The practice was to break up 
sward land early in the spring, and let it 
lie until about seeding time, and then cross 
plow and seed. The practice now among 
good farmers generally is, to sheep the 
fields intended for the crop as long as can 
be done before sowing, and plowbut once." 
The time of sowing varies in this State 
from the 20th of. June to the 4th of July. 
It is sometimes sown as early as the 10th 
of June and as late as the loth of July. 
If sown too early it is liable to blast, and if 
too late it is frequently injured by frost. 

When grown for the grain, a bushel of 
seed to the acre is usually sufficient, and if 
the ground is rich it is not safe to sow so 
much, or it will run too much to straw. — 
It flourishes best in a mellow, dry, loose 
sandy soil. " No crop," says Geo. W. 
Durant, in the Albany Cultivator, " will 
feel manure of any kind or in any state so 
quick as buckwheat. Barn-yard manure, 
whether green or rotted, ashes, lime, plas- 
ter, all seem to produce a wonderful effect 
when applied to this crop. Guano, as far 
as my knowledge extends, has not. been 
tried, but I have no doubt the effect would 
be a considerable per cent, above any other 
manure, barn-yard manure not excepted. 
We have seen Peruvian guano applied to 
buckwheat with the most astonishing ef- 
fect one hundred bushels per acre — dou- 
bling the crop. 

The flowers of buckwheat are particular- 
ly attractive to bees, and where bees are 
kept in considerable numbers at least a 
small patch of buckwheat should always 
be sown. 

Buckwheat is an excellent food for poul- 
try. Pigs thrive upon and are fond of it, 
and when bruised it is good food for hor- 
ses — two bushels being equal (for this pur- 
pose, it is said) to three of oats. Cows, 
when fed with it, yield a large increase- of 
milk. Sheep, when fed upon the plant 
when in blossom, stagger and tumble 
about as if drunk. 

We throw out these hints with the hope 
of eliciting the experience of some of our 
practical readers. — Genesee Farmer. 



352 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



ROTATION OF GARDEN CROPS. 

Messrs Editors: — Although the gene- 
rality of farmers understand the importance 
of a rotation of crops, this fact does not 
appear to bo so fully appreciated by gar- 
deners ; and yet a rotation of crops in the 
garden is not less important than in the 
field. On looking over the pages of a stand- 
ard agricultural work, I find this subject so 
concisely yet comprehensively treated, that 
I cannot but think you would be doing your 
many readers a service by publishing it. 
Yours, E. T. S. 

Garden Cropping. — It is a general rule 
that every crop should be of a different kind 
from that which immediately preceded it on 
the same ground : peas, for example, should 
not be sown where the ground was last oc- 
cupied by peas. The succeeding crop 
should not be one of merely a different 
kind, but one closely allied should be avoid- 
ed : hence beans and kidney beans would 
a]so not be proper after peas, for they all 
belong to the same family. In the follow- 
ing enumeration of the principal kitchen 
garden plants, those belonging to the same 
natural family are respectively arranged un- 
der the same number: — 

1. rea, Bean, Kidney Bean, Scarlet Run- 
ner. 

2. Cabbage, Borecole, Savoy, Cauliflower, 
Broccoli, Turnip, Radish, Mustard, Cress. 

3. Carrot, Parsnip, Celery, Parsley. 

4. Potato, Tomato.. 

5. Onion, Leek, Garlic, Shallot. 

6. Beet Root, Spinach. 

7. Lettuce, Endive, Chicory, Salsafy, 
Scorznera. 

8. Sorrel, Rhubarb. 

9. Artichoke, Cardoon. 
10.- Cucumber, Gourd. 

From the above it will readily be seen 
what vegeiables belong to the same family. 
None classed under the same numbershould 
follow each other. If circumstances will 
admit, the succession should be formed 
from amongst the kinds enumerated under 
any one of the other numbers. In small 
gardens, where only a few things can be 
grown, a change of crop may not be prac- 
ticable, but in this case trenching and manu- 
ring become especially requisite. 

Farm Journal. 



NEWSPAPER PATRONS. 

This thing of patronage is a queer thing. It 
is very correctly remarked by some one, that it 
is composed of as many colors as the rainbow, 
and is as changeable as the hues of the chame- 
leon. 

One man subscribes for a paper and pays for 
it in advance, he goes home and reads it the 
year round with proud satisfaction that it is his 
own. He hands an advertisement ; asks the 
price and pays for it ; this is patronage. 

Another man says: "Put my name on your 
list of subscribers ;" and goes off without as 
much as saying "pay" once. He asks you to 
advertise, but says nothing about paying for it. 
Time passes ; your paper is exhausted, and you 
dun him ; he flies in a passion ; perhaps he pays 
you ; perhaps not. 

Another man has become a subscriber some- 
time, lie becomes tired of it, and wants a 
(change. Thinks he wants another journal; 
I gives it up, and you a bad name. One of his 
papers is returned to you marked " refused." 
Paying for it is among the last thoughts. After 
a time you look over his account and send him 
a bill of "balance due." But he does^not pay 
it ; treats you with silent contempt. This, too, 
some call patronage. 

Another man lives near you ; never took your 
paper ; it is too small ; don't like the paper ; 
don't like its principles ; its leaders are too 
strong, its tal.es too dry ; rice versa, of some- 
j thing else — yet goes regularly to his neighbor's 
and reads it ; finds fault with its contents, dis- 
putes its positions, and quarrels with its types, 
ink or paper. Occasionally sees an article he 
likes, buys a number per quarter. This too is 
patronage. 

Another (and bless you it does us good to 
see such a man) says : " The year for which I 
have paid is about to expire. I want to pay for 
another." Another man subscribes; he gets" 
it regularly, and reads it carefully, and will al- 
ways praise it every time he sees you, as being 
a good papier, wishes you success,* hopes others 
will subscribe and encourage it, is disappointed 
if it is not issued regularly, and is the first to 
complain of its non-appearance — all this he can 
do ; yet never dreams of paying unless you 
dun him, and then with good promises he will 
put you off. This, too, is very common patron- 
age. 



PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION OF 
WHEAT. 

One of the most important facts now to be 
ascertained, and one that could be ascertained 
with as much ease as any other item of infor- 
mation gathered by the census takers, is the 
quantity of wheat produced, and quantity con- 
sumed in this country. It is the only way that 
we can determine whether we have a surplus or 
not for export at any time, to know how much 
we want at home. 

It would be very easy to make a calculation 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



353 



how much would be eaten if all had their fill, 
because we know that a pound of bread a day 
would be a fair allowance for each individual in 
a family, or community, that used wheaten 
bread without restriction. We suppose, upon 
the average, wheat yields 50 pounds of flour 
per bushel, and that 40 pounds of flour make 
60 pounds of bread ; so that six bushels of 
wheat per year, for each member of the family, 
would be a fair calculation, provided the whole 
population used wheat flour exclusively. But 
they do not. 

A very large portion of the population of all 
the Southern States live exclusively upon bread 
made of the meal of Indian corn, as the slaves 
may be said never to taste wheat bread, while 
many of their masters eat it but sparingly. In 
the Northern States, corn, rye, buckwheat, are 
eaten largely, and, to a limited extent, oats and 
■barley, for breadstuff, so that we doubt whether 
the consumption of wheat in this country ex- 
ceeds two and a half or three bushels per an- 
num to each inhabitant. We think a calcula- 
tion based upon three bushels a safe one, so that 
assuming that as the quantity required for home 
consumption, and adding the exportation of the 
last year, the total of the crop. can be approxi- 
ma ■ I, and then if the yield of any given year 
is equal to the previous one, the quantity it will 
afford for exportation can be at once determined, 
and the price abroad would be the regulator of 
the prices at home. Now it is regulated by 
wild and reckless speculation. To ascertain the 
yield, consumption, quantity to export, and 
price; should be the business of government, 
and if this country had one, such would be its 
business. - 

Now' the whole of the immense wheat busi- 
ness, and the price and demand of different 
sections of the country, is based upon guess- 
work. 

This is the cause of such terrible fluctuations 
in prices, bringing ruin upon scores of men 
every year, who engage in such guess-work 
business. 

It certainly would be one of the easiest things 
in the world to ascertain, in an farmer's family 
that do their own milling, how much wheat is 
used in a year, and yet we do not believe one in 
a thousand can answer the question, and we 
doubt whether those who buy their flour could 
give any accurate account of how many pounds 
per head is sufficient for their yearly supply. 

It i- an important question — who can answer 
it: — What is the average crop, how much is 
exported, and what is the annual consumption 
of wheat in the United States ? At our rate of 
calculation it is something over sixty millions 
of bushels a year. The census calculation of 
the product of 1849, was one hundred millions 
of bushels. As the product has gained as fast 
as the population, that would give forty millions 
of bushels per annum, for exportation — suf- 
ficient we should say, always to keep the price 
of wheat and flour far below the speculative 



price of last winter, which was based, as it has 
proved, upon guess-work, and not on the demand 
for export or consumption. 

D. J. Browne, Superintendent of the Agri- 
cultural Bureau of the Patent Office, makes the 
following calculation of the grain products of 
the United States for the year 1855, to which 
he had added an estimate of values as follows: 

Bushels. Valve. Total Value. 

Indian Corn 600,000,000 $0 00 $360,300,000 

Wh«at, 155,000,000 1 50 247,500,000 

Rve, 14,000,000 1 00 14000 000 

Barley, 0,000,000 90 5,940,000 

Oats 170,000,000 40 68,000.000 

Buckwheat,...- 10.000,000 50 5,000,000 

Upon what data this estimate is based we are 
not aware, or at what point between the pro- 
ducer and consumer the calculation of price is 
made we are not informed. Certainly, the far- 
mers of this country, as a whole, never realize 
anything like the prices affixed to the different 
products named. The price of Indian corn in 
all the great corn growing States of Kentucky, 
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri, will not 
average one-third of the sum stated per bushel; 
and we doubt whether in all the United States 
it will average one-half. If the error in quantity 
is equally erroneous, the table is not of much 
value in calculating the surplus for export, or 
the number of bushels used for home con- 
sumption. 

The above table gives the grain products of 
1855 at 0(35,000,000 of bushels, to which add, 
as estimated in the same calculation, 110,000,- 
000 bushels of potatoes, and 9;500,000 bushels 
of peas and beans, 250,000,000 pounds of rice, 
and it. does appear to us like a pretty liberal 
allowance of breadstuff. With anything like 
the quantity of the coarser portion of the pro- 
ducts which we do not export, and a considera- » 
ble portion of which goes to swell the amount 
of bread consumed by the people of the country, 
we are satisfied that our calculation of three 
bushels per head as an average consumption of 
wheat each year, is fully up to the mark, and 
all the excess over that quantity of any crop, 
may be set down as so much surplus to feed 
some other country, less the small quantity 
used in starch and cloth manufactories. 

Now, if we could have an accurate census of 
the production of the country taken every five 
years, and then some careful estimates of the 
actual consumption, it would be very easy to 
determine every year what was the actual sur- 
plus on hand, and so regulate the price upon 
the only true basis — demand and supply. 

The price of wheat in Chicago and other 
great wheat marts of the West, has quadrupled 
in ten years. Such fluctuations are not advant- 
ageous to producer or consumer, and only occa- 
sionally to the grain merchant. They can only 
be obviated by a careful ascertainment of the 
annual production of the country, and the aver- 
age annual consumption per capita of the whole 
people, and how much consumption is affected 
by high or low prices. Not that the people can 



351 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



do "with less food, but that the natural tendency 
is to seek substitutes for dear flour. We -are 
free to say, that in our opinion, the true amount 
of the annual production and consumption of 
"wheat, is of vastly more importance to be cor- 
rectly known, than the production and con- 
sumption of cotton. — New York Daily Tribune. 



THE REAPING MACHINE AS AN IMPLE- 
MENT OF PRACTICAL UTILITY. 

The judges' award over the adjourned trial of 
the reapers is of rather a Delphic character. — 
The Romans may conquer you, or you may con- 
quer the Romans. Crosskill may at first sound 
better than Dra} r , though for its especial object 
Dray may yet be "the best machine." For 
years now have we thus been ringing the chan- 
ges. At first CrosskilPs Bell is indisputably to 
be preferred ; then Mr. Dray has his turn with 
his improvement on Hussey; and for a third 
season, after all the deliberate consideration of 
an adjourned trial, Burgess and Key's MeCor- 
mick is unhesitatingly declared to be superior 
to all others. This is certainly rather perplex- 
ing, though at the same time the deduction to be 
made is sufficiently encouraging. If Bell's ma- 
chine was good enough to take a prize on the 
first trial, of course Dray's must be an improve- 
ment to supersede it. MeCormiek by the same 
reasonable showing is still further in advance ; 
and now Mr. Crosskill, after lying off for a time 
comes out again and wins the fourth heat with 
an implement — excellent in its original design, 
at length perfected to something more excellent 
still. _ 

Curiously enough, however, any such conclu- 
sion is but a false one, after all. Either the ex- 
hibitors or the public would not appear to be in 
•the way of profiting much by this adjourned 
trial at Boxtedl The judges divide fifty pounds 
as near as they well can amongst three entries, 
toning down any effect that may follow placing 
a first, by adding that the one they mention only 
in a third degree is yet for reaping, the best of 
all. The would-be customer scratches his head 
in no little doubt and perplexity — What is best, 
or which ought he to have? The answer again 
is but an echo of the oracle, " I say that 
Crosskill and Burgess and Key are to be prefer- 
red, but that Dray is the best- reaping machine." 
But this is not all. Clever men like these ma- 
kers have no doubt been continually watching 
each other ; and thus, gaining a wrinkle here 
and smoothing an objection there, have all grad- 
ually crept on to something like equal ability 
a*id perfection. Curiously enough, again, this 
is hut another as erroneous a supposition : " The 
judges regret to observe that very little improve- 
ment has been made in this class of machines 
since last year." 

What is the farmer to do? His crops want 
harvesting, labour is scarce, and indirectly — for 
it comes very much to this — there is no machin- 
ery that he can trust to. Get over as he may 
this present time, for these adjourned trials come 



far too late to be of any immediate service, what 
is he to look forward to or order for another oc- 
casion ? We really hardly know how to advise 
him. The Boxted Commission report with very 
faint praise ; although, according to all reports, 
the implements would seem to have worked very 
well indeed. Let us grant, still, that the reap- 
ing machine is not as yet perfection ; hut a more 
pressing point by far for our consideration is — 
is it fit for use '? Could the farmer with any 
confidence call in its aid in his present difficul- 
ty? Under ordinary circumstances and fair 
play, not exactly always opposed to wet weather 
and laid crops, would the experiment promise to 
answer ? 

Fortunately the Royal Agricultural Society 
itself can answer for us. Almost simultaneous- 
ly with the appearance of this official award of 
the judges, comes the new number of the Jour- 
nal- We have had little opportunity as yet to 
study its more elaborate essays. There is, how- 
ever, one short paper that speaks so well and so 
directly to this matter, that he would at once 
call attention to it. Mr. Anthony Hamond with 
some very valuable and recent experience during 
his three years' service as a steward of imple- 
ments, is requested by the Chairman of the 
Journal Committee to give, more especially, his 
experience of the reaping machine. Mr. Ham- 
ond replies in this wise—" I have great pleasure 
in doing so. I think I may fairly "say it has noio 
attained that degree of perfection iv'hich entitles 
it to be classed amongst implements of^real prac- 
tical utility." 

The growers of grain will join in with a very 
energetic "Hear, hear," over this. But this is 
not all. Mr. Hamond's is something more than 
an opinion. It is thus he proceeds to his prac- 
tice: " At the Lincoln meeting I purchased an 
improved Hussey, by Dray, wii.h tipping board. 
This I have used for two harvests, entirely to my 
satisfaction. It has not required twenty shill- 
ings in repairs, and is now ready to go to work 
at half an hour's notice. The first year I cut 
about a hundred and fifty acres of wheat, oats, 
and rye ; the second, a hundred and fifty acres 
of wheat, besides oats and rye." 

Mr. Hamond next explains how he works the 
machine, and at what cost : interesting particu- 
lars, to which our readers can easily refer, but 
for which we have not space. He concludes his 
letter, dated from Westacre, in May last, by say- 
ing that he "hopes to go to work next harvest 
with two Hussey's stern-deliveries, and one Bur- 
gess and Key's side-delivery. The mowing of 
barley by the latter at Mr. Miles' last year was 
very near perfection." 

Another correspondent of the Journal intro- 
duces Mr. Parrington, of Lazenby, who express- 
es his ''entire satisfaction" with the perform- 
ance of Burgess and Key's M'Cormick: — "I 
have cut with it autumn and spring-sown wheat, 
varying in yield from thirty-two to forty bushels 
per acre, some of it much lodged ; also a very 
heavy crop of oats, so much laid and twisted in 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



355 



part*, that I thought it impossible for any ma- 
chine to cut them at all. One pair of horses 
worked the machine easily day after day ; they 
have to travel no faster than the ordinary plough- 
ing pace; and a boy of fifteen managed them 
without any difficulty." 

It will be observed that while Mr. Hamond 
speaks up for Dray, Mr. Parrington is equally 
strong for Burgess and Key.' The correspond- 
ence does not extend beyond the remarks of these 
two gentlemen : although, if necessary, many as 
warm an advocate might be found for Mr. Cross- 
kill's persevering improvements on the Scotch 
invention. In the position he now occupies he 
can well afford to hear this testimony to his con- 
temporaries — in its effect as grateful to him as 
to them. " The reaping machine has now at- 
tained that degree of perfection which entitles it 
to be classed amongst implements of real prac- 
tical utility." 

The award of the judges at Boxted would 
scarcely lead us to believe as much. For our 
own part we cannot help fancying that this de- 
cree is altogether a little too hard in its tone. — 
Its tendency, too, is impolitic. If there is any 
implement just now which should be encouraged 
into general use, it is the reaper. We think, 
moreover, the merits of these several inventions 
are sufficient to warrant a recommendation. It 
is with this view that we compare the award in 
Essex with the paper in the Journal. Even if 
there be no great improvement since last year, 
the reaper is proved to have advanced so far as 
to rank amongst the agricultural implements 
"of real and practical utility." 

A word even now may perhaps be not every- 
where too late. — Farmer's Magazine. 



THE LIFE OF SEEDS. 

We suppose thatalmost every person has heard 
or read the story of some grains of wheat hav- 
ing been found in an Egyptian mummy, which 
were sown, vegetated and yielded grain after its 
kind. This case and some others of a rather 
dubious character have been adduced in evi- 
dence of the great vitality and longevity of 
seeds ; but we have now very reliable and prac- 
tical evidence throwing some discredit on such 
stories. 

The British Scientific Association have, for 
the past fifteen years, been instituting inquiries 
and making experiments, through a committee 
of its members — with various k'mds of seeds, of 
various ages. Their labors tend to show that 
none of the seeds' which were tested, although 
placed in the most favorable circumstances that 
could be devised, vegetated after the age of 49 
year- : and only 20 out of 288 species did so 
after 20 years, while by far the largest number 
lo-t their germinating power in ten years. 

It has long been known to agriculturists and 
florists, that fresh seeds — those of the preceding 
season — possess the greatest amount of vitality; 
and very many seeds lose their germinating 
power altogether, even when kept in dry situa- 



tions — in the course of two years. In the se- 
lection of any kind of seed, care should be ex- 
ercised, in selecting it according to its age, as 
well as its appearance ; the plumpness of a seed, 
is not always the best sign of. its quality for 
seeding purposes. — Scientific American. 

AUGUST STORMS. 
It is a remarkable fact that between the 1st 
and 2-tth of August a severe storm of wind and 
rain visits our country every year It generally 
commences in the Gulf of Mexico, and proceeds 
in a curve round the Atlantic coast, and pene- 
trates hundreds of miles into the interior. The 
storm this year was the most severe that has 
taken place in a great number of years, and 
committed great ravages. It is also somewhat 
remarkable that severe storms visit England in 
the same month. Great freshets take place, the 
same as have been experienced this year in so 
many districts of our country. Of old they havo 
been designated " Lammas floods" — Lammas 
being the name for the 1st of August. — lb. 



Rule for Measuring Corn in the Ear. 

Arrange the corn in the pen or crib, so that 
it will be of equal depth throughout; then as- 
certain the length, breadth, and depth of the 
pile ; multiply these dimensions together, and 
their product by 41. Then cut off one figure 
from the right of the last product, and the re- 
mainder will be so many bushels of shelled 
corn ; and the figure cut off will show so many 
tenths of a bushel more. 

Example. — In a crib or pen of corn in the 
ear, measuring ten feet long, eight feet high, 
and seven feet wide, there will be 252 bushels 
of shelled corn. 

Thus— 10x8x7x4 £=252.9.— Valley Farmer. 

From the American. Agriculturist. 
GARDENING IN VIRGINIA. 
The climate of this State differing materially 
from that of New York, the routine of garden- 
ing is necessarily different in the culinary de- 
partment. Here we can safely put out cabbage, 
lettuce, onions, and many other vegetables, to 
stand the winter. Cabbages planted in Novem- 
ber produce first-rate heads in the following May, 
an-d if attention be paid to securing the proper 
kinds, a supply may be had in July of those 
planted in November. For example, the Enfield, 
Large York, and Flat Dutch, sown and planted 
out at the same time, make a fine succession — 
the Enfield coming first, followed by the Large 
York. All these kinds stand the winter well, 
and make finer cabbages than those sown on 
hot-beds in early spring. Cauliflowers having 
the protection of a south fence, stand the winter 
very well, and most kinds of lettuce, if properly 
planted, are unharmed through the winter. We 
are thus enabled to produce a fine supply of ear- 
ly vegetables. Peas and other spring growing 
vegetables will allow of being sown much earli- 
er than can be done in the northern States. 



334 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



CONTENTS OF No. XI. 

Improvement of Land from its own Re- 
sources, .... 

Feeding Horses, .... 

Slaughter-house' of Montmartre, 

Morrison's Reaper. — Thrashing by Steam 
Power. — Trial of Reaping Machines in 
England, .... 

Comparative Produce of different kinds 
of Wheat, .... 

Mr. Barry's Address, 

Portraits from the Field and Farm-Yard, 

Trees, ..... 

Financial and Commercial. — Wagon Cov- 
ers — Every Farmer his own Manufac- 
turer, ..... 

Khaisi Cattle and their Crosses. — Impor- 
tant to Wheat Growers in North Caro- 



lina. — Blankets for Negroes. 
Growth of the Wheat Plant, . 



The 



325 
326 
327 



329 

330 
332 
334 

337 



338 



339 



Editorial — To our Subscribers.- — General 

Notice, .... 342 

Fall Ploughing, . . .343 

The American Farmer, . . . 345 

Abandonment of Farms in New England 346 
To Destroy Fly in Wheat, . . 347 

Keeping Sweet Potatoes. — Gravel Walks. . 
Breadstuffs. — The Cultivation of As- 
paragus, .... 348 
Thick and Thin Sowing of Wheat, . 349 
The Wonders of India Rubber. — Culti- 
vation of Buckwheat, . . . 350 
Rotation of Garden Crops. — Newspaper 
Patrons. — Production and Consump- 
tion of AVhcat, . . .352 
The Reaping Machine as an Implement 

of Practical Utility, • . . .354 

The Life of Seeds. — August Storms. — 
Rule for Measuring Corn in the Ear. — 
Gardening in Virginia, . . 355 

Erratum. — Khain Cattle, read Khaisi. 



LIST OF PAYMENTS, 

From 4th September to 15th October, inclusive. 
All persons who have made payments early enough to be entered, and whose names do not appear 
following receipt list, are requested to give, immediate notice of the omission, in order that the corr 
may lie made in the next issue : 



Jas E Woltze, Oct 1857 
T J Taylor, Jan 1857 
F B Whiting, Oct 1857 
J H Heath, June 1859 
Jtio Edmunds, Jr. Nov 1856 
Ro P Taylor, Jan 1857 
Thus W Svdnor, Jan 1857 
Ro M Childress, do 
N K Foster, April 1S57 . 
A Wade, Jan 1857 
1) D Ferehee, Jan 1857 
Ro C McClure, June 185G 
Jos A S Acklin, July 1857 
J Hightower, Jan 1857 
Ro Vlaben, Julv 1857 
D G Smith. June 1857 
A A Hancock, August 1857 
W H Dennis, Jan do 

Wm Worsham do do 

Gen E P Scott Jan 1859 
Geo Simpson. Julv 1857 
John 11 Tabb, Jan 1857 
Mrs S J Jones, April 1857 
Chns T Graves, Sept 1857 
Jno F Whitfield, Jan 1858 
Geo H Crishman, 
Wm H Frv, July 1857 
N W Crisler. Jan 1859 
J M Batte. May 1858 
R M Williams', Sept 1859 
Thoa A Downes, Jan 1857 
Jas II Lewis, Jan 1859 
A Rives, September 1858 
Rev Ge„ Adie, Sept 1856 
Wm S Graves, Jan 1858 
John Arrington, Sept 1858 
F L Olmstead, Feb 1859 
B C Watkins, Sept 1856 
Jno W Scott, July 1857 
II Massie., Nov 1855 
L G Edwards, Jan 1859 
Jas M. Thomas, Nov 1857 
Geo Stillman, Sept do 
C W Friend, Jan 1858 
B J Barbour, Jan 1860 
Wm C Graves, Julv 1857 
R C Davis, July 18"56 
E Valentine, Jan 1859 



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W Long, Jan 1857 
Col J Griga, Jan 1858 
J B Chandler, Jan 1857 
Dr John Duval, Jan i860 
Wm S Hinton, July 1857 
W Boylan. Jan 1859 
Dr H "W Tabb, Jan 1859 
K Hickman, Julv 1856 
W T Parrott, Ja'n 1S57 
Thos H Brown, April 1857 
D W Barton Jan 1859 
P Thomas, Sept 1857 
Geo W Turner, Jan 1858 
N Womack, Dec 1858 
John Washington, July 1859 
Jas Barbour, do 1857 

E Y Hamlin, Jan 1860 
H E Coleman, Jr. Julv 1858 
Wm II Watts, Oct 1856 
W A Wilkins, do 
Geo Blane do 

C J Cabamss, Sept 1857 
W Menefee, Julv 1856 
A B Anderson, Sept 1857 
J J Crews. Jan 1857 
J B Crews, do 
S A Norfleet, Jan I860 
Jas G White. Jan 1857 
W S Warwick, Sept 1857 
J D Walthall, Jan 1857 
Jno A Burwell, Sept 1856 
J A Fisher, Julv 1859 
H A Richards, 'Sept 1858 
E C Robinson, Jan 1858 
G T Thomas, Sept 1857 
Ro Grattan, July 1859 
R C Miller, Jan 1860 
T J Blake. Jan 1858 
Jas Collins, June 1557 
Wm E Randolph, Oct 1857 
N Q. Lipscomb, Jan 1858 
Jas L Mavs, Oct 1856 
Jas R Puiliam, April 1857 
Saml Tunstall, Jan 1857 
R Blackwell, April 1859 
W H C Reynold, Julv 1857 
S B Hunton, Jan 1858 
Dr C Bowers, Jan 1859 



3 75 



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John Burr, Sept 1S57 
E W Burruss, Julv 1857 
J H Etheridge, Jaii 1857 
W P Pevton, do 

A M Shultz, Jan 1859 
Wm Major, June 1857 
E L Travis, Jan 1858 
Col R R Brown, Jan 1858 
Jas Birdsong, do 

Col E G Hanes, Jan 1857 
John Wharton, June 1856 
W B Yancey, July 1859 
Dr D S Green, Jan 1858 
W B Gates, Oct 1857 
Dr D S Morgan, O t 1856 
Wm M TaiCApril 1858 
W Gordon, Oct 1857 
B H Dawson, Jan 1859 
Jas J Brown, Oct 1857 
Jas Miller, Jan 18D7 
W S Wright, Julv 1S56 
J H Earnest, Nov" 1857 
J W Harper, 'July 1859 
Wm Leitch, do 1S57 
Dr P H Anderson, Jan 1858 
A G Gooch, Oct 1857 
Jas Sims, Julv 1856 
W G Overtoil, Jan 1858 
Jos Tisdale, Sept 1856 
C L Dicken, Jan 1859 
Col R Earlev, Oct 1857 
A W Hanserd, Sept 1857 
P M Tabb, Jr, Jan 1857 
Chas Massie, Oct 1857 
Jno C Green, Juno 1S59 
Dr W J Micbie, Jan 1858 
Fras Staple?, Jan 1857 
R A Grav, do 

Jas F Jones, Sept 1859 
J C P Edwards, July 1856 
Jno Morton, Jan 1858 
R B Washington, Julv 1859 
J R Motlev, Julv 1857 
L Edmunds, do' 1856 
P D Barbour, Sept 1857 
J P Talial'eno, Jan 1858 
R Gallawny, June 1857 . 
H Carpenter, do 



in the 


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