THE SOUTHERN PLANTE; SctiotrtJ to ggrfrulturr, gEjorttcttlturc, arttJ the f^otueholn arts. Agriculture is the nursing mother of the Arts. — Xniopkon. Tillage and Pasturage are the two breasts of the. State.— Sully. F. G. RUFFIN & N. AUGUST, Propr's.— FRANK: G. RUFFIN, Editor.— T. BAILIE, PasijsacR. Vol. XVI. RICHMOND, MARCH, 1856. No. %. Communications to the Virginia State Agricultvral' Society. CULTIVATION OF INDIAN CORN. By R. W. II. Noland. In submitting the following paper, upon the , cultivation of Indian Corn, the writer hopes, he will not be suspected of the folly of recom- mending a system suited to all lands and ev- ; ery variety of season. His only hope is to j suggest some hints which may prove useful to \ his fellow farmers, and to impress upon them , the importance of cultivating this, and all, other crops, not in accordance with fixed { rules, but according to the wants of the plant,: the condition of the soil, and the character of the season. For, after all, the successful management of any crop, must depend upon these accurate powers of discrimination and that soundness of judgment, which enable the) farmer to adapt his system to the circumstances which surround him; and any attempt to bendj circumstances to system, in farming, must result in failure. The two grand ends which the farmer should ! keep constantly in view, are the production of. crop and the economy of labor. The produc- , tion of heavy crops, brought about by a I wasteful expenditure of labor, is bad farming, and the too great sacrifice of crop to the economy of labor, is equally a mistaken policy. He is the best farmer, who, while he increases, or even preserves, the productive capacity of his land, makes the largest crops with the least labor. The first study of the farmer should be the idiosyncrasies of the plant cultivated. Has the plant any peculiar wants or habits ? Let the one be supplied and the other attended to. Is it liable to injury from accidents likely to befall it ? Let these be considered, and, as far as possible, guarded against. Let the far- mer find out what condition of soil is most conducive to its growth, and " govern himself accordingly." So peculiarly adapted does our country seem to be to the growth of Indian corn, and with such recuperative energies is the plant gifted, that the impression has grown common amongst us that no skill is necessary to De- used in its cultivation. It is generally planted without care, and cultivated without reflec- tion ; and we might safely assert that enough is aunually lost, from carelessness and bad management, to feed our people. The same- breadth of land now cultivated in corn im Virginia, ^ould, under a proper system of tillage, yield double its present product, and this too, with no increase of labor. Many of our farmers expend more labor than is neces- sary upon their corn crops, but few are found who use too little. The great error is this i the work is ill-timed and injudiciously applied.. The first recommendation I make is to ob- serve due care in the selection of seed. The many and widely differing varieties of corn r no doubt originated in the wild corn of Amer- ica. The differences now found to exist, are due to climate, soil and cultivation. The male and female organs being upon different parts of the plants, and the pollen of one being capable of fecundating the silk of another, these varieties may be indefinately increased by contiguity of planting. By judicious cross- ing, for a succession of years, valuable qual- ities may be fixed upon a new variety. I am satisfied that the corn plant will acquire hab- its or peculiar qualities under one system of cultivation, continued for a succession of years which it will not lose in one year, under a change of system. In other words, corn planted with full distance, will in time become more prolific, bearing two or three ears to the stalk. When this character is fixed upon it the plants may be crowded for one year, with- out parting with this double-bearing habit. Seed corn, therefore, should bo grown to itself, having full distance, and only the largest of the double ears saved for seed. 66 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. The land intended for corn should he tho- roughly broken during winter, where the land is suited to winter plowing, as is the case with the red lands of Piedmont Virginia. Some lands "run together " when plowed in winter, and these, of course, should be broken im- mediately before planting; but, in any case, too much pains cannot be taken in thoroughly breaking the sod. Subsoiling may pay upon eome lands, but no experiment I have ever made or witnessed, showed any improvement in crop from this process. I am inclined to think more depends upon having the surface soil in thorough tilth, than on deep plowing. On my own and similar lands, seven inches of aaellow and thoroughly pulverized soil, is all the corn crop wants, and my aim in cultivation is to get and keep this. Where, however, the farmer finds his land underlaid with a subsoil impervious to water, he must resort to some process of draining. Such a condition is destructive to the crop, not so much by checking the corn roots in their penetration to their natural depth, as in preventing the cir- culation of air and moisture through the soil. Few of us have formed any idea of the force exerted in growth of vegetation. Corn roots could easily penetrate such a subsoil as I have mentioned, but instinct teaches them that it would be a "fool's errand " they were going on. The free circulation of moisture and air, seem to be necessary to pre- pare the elements of soil, as food for plants. The chief object of cultivation is to keep the soil in the condition in which this circulation most readily goes on. Every farmer has ob- served the effect of " baking " upon the growth of vegetation. Let a crust be formed over the surface, which will exclude the air, and veg- etable growth is at once checked. This cir- culution seems to be the vital principle of soil. The galls, which so disfigure the face of our country, are but spots in which this vi- tal principle is destroyed. No amount of fer- tilizing matter applied to them, is sufficient to make them productive, until some change is wrought in their mechanical condition, which restores this principle. To keep the surface soil in that healthy condition which admits of a free circulation of air and moisture, and to throw into the cultivated plant all the strength of the soil (by keeping down all other vegeta- ble growth) is man's only agency in making a crop. He who sends the " early and the latter rains " must do the rest. The proper distance at which to plant corn, has given rise to much difference of opinion amongst farmers. No fixed rules can be laid down, but the matter must be settled by the test of experiment In nine cases in ten, ac- cording to my observation, corn is planted too thin. The nearest approach to a rule I can give is this : Let the farmer form his opinion of the productive capacity of his land, and bj calculation or reference to his tables, acertain how many stalks he must leave per acre to give him, at one ear to the Btalk, the product fixed upon. When the season is favorable 2 the double-bearing stalks give him his increaao of crop. Upon good low grounds, four feet or four and a half feet by one foot, will give, ac- cording to this rule, from fifteen to eighteen barrels per acre, whieh is about the productive capacity of such land. On high land, four-foet to four and a half feet by two feet is as great distance as should be given. If land will not, with this distance, bring one good ear to the stalk, it is unfit for corn without manure. An application of guano, ashes and plaster in the hill, or even rolling the seed in guano and plaster, I have found very beneficial to my crop in forcing the young plants out of the way of insect pests, and insuring a good stand of corn, and this I would do without regard to the fertility of the land. The furrow for planting should be opened with a two horse plow, and, if the land be not thoroughly broken or has become hard after being so broken, a coulter should be run in the furrow. Care should be taken to lay off the rows as nearly horizontal upon hilly land as possible. The corn is then dropped, or rather drilled along the furrow, putting four or five times as many grains as you wish stalks, and covered with a corn coverer. This implement is of easy construction, consisting of two pieces about three feet, long, not parallel, but rather wider behind than before, each piece having three teeth, two harrow teeth and one culti- vator tooth, the latter being behind. The harrow teeth run just within the edges of the furrow, pulverizing the soil and throwing out any clods or stones that may be therein, while the cultivator tooth, being turned slightly in- ward, follow on and completely cover the corn and so ridge the row as to prevent baking. When the corn is high'enough to thin, run a one-horse mould-board plow, one furrow on each side, throwing the dirt from the corn, then thin to the distance desired and chop out with hoes. This constitutes the first working, un- less the land has previously become hard, in in which case a thorough coultering should precede this working. The ridging up of the middle of the baulk by the mould-board plow, will keep that part mellow and free from grass, until the second working is necessary. This I would give with tire game plow, throwing THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 67 ie dirt to the corn, and splitting out the mid- He with the cultivator, unless the land be ^ry grassy, when I would plow out the whole )aulk with the mould-board or shovel plow. 3f a favorable season, this is sufficient to nake the crop, but if the land thereafter re- eive a dashing rain, or becomes baked, I rould stir it as it dries out with cultivators, some very judicious farmers use the cultiva- or more freely in the cultivation of the corn rop, but in my opinion it is a most indifferent mplement for any but very clean and light md. For all foul lands, and particularly low- rounds, which throw up weeds rapidly, the iould-:.oard plow is decidedly the best iruple- lent I ever used cured, the strips thus occupied may be put in oats, and the whole field brought into grass at the same time. I am aware that the general system of cul- tivation recommended in this paper, is "noth- ing new," but on the contrary I know that the free use of the mould-board plow has gone somewhat out of date. I can only say that having tried every modern implement now in use, I am forced to the conclusion that if this be the old system, no very great improvement has taken place of late years, in the cultivation of corn in Virginia I profess to be wedded to no system. What I wish especially to impress upon uiy The objection sometimes I brother farmers, is this: Whatever work you that the land . is liable to | give your crop, let it be given at the right time. rged against it- fash under its use — is in my opinion founded I Never let the crop show that it wants work, i error. If the corn rows be properly laid off. j and remember that one lick struck in time is be ridging has rather a tendency to prevent worth ten applied a little too late. cashing. Under this system the flow of water ! checked by these ridges, and much of it is bsorbed, while a dashing rain beats down the Jvel surface, prevents this absorption, and msequently the laud is washed into gullies. orn cultivated with the mould-board plow, is Respectfully submitted. R W. H. Noland. Roz, Albemarle County, Yd. MANAGEMENT OF GARDENS. It is a general remark that farmers neglect [so less liable to be blown down by high j tueir gardens more than any other class of peo- inds. Every farmer should have a supply of j pie who live in the country ; but we believe miters, cultivators and mould-board plows, as tnat tlie y are losers by so doing, inasmuch as wh is useful in its place. The coulter for lna l r " the living of a family may be derived from ird land, the cultivator for light and clean l a wel l cultivated garden. How repugnant to nd, and the mouldboard plow for grass and I every sense of good living it is to see farmers ul growth. It is seldom we have a Reason or > n summer confined to their salt pork, corned e a field which doe3 not require the use of, oeer * an< i potatoes, and devoid of every luxury that a good garden may afford, almost without cost. How few farmers' tables show a succes- sion of early peas, beans, radishes, salads, green 1 three When the grain is so far matured as to bf the dough state, the stalks may be cut off , the ground and shocked up. This operation ay be commenced much sooner than is gen- ally supposed, without injury to the crop, ideed experiment shows, that the grain is savior, when allowed thus to feed from the alk cut off, than when allowed to hang until Ily dried. When the weather is warm, it is ;11 to make the shocks half the usual size, r cutting eight rows and leaving eight alter- tely through the field. This permits that st cut, to cure partially before the rest added to it, and the shock made full ;e. The fodder thus cured isj very nearly pal to top-fodder, while the labor of ridding e land of crop under this system, is not ich over half that expended under the old Stem of top cutting and blade pulling. If farmer have force enough to do so, the ole crop may be hauled off the land on igs, and stacked where it is to be -'sed ; but mre thi3 cannot be done, by stacking the •n in row3 and doubling the shocks when corn, &c &c The article of sweet corn alone may be had in every garden — green, and sui- table for the table for three months in the year, by successive plantings ; yet not one farmer in ten has it at all. Wo annex an article from the Horticulturist that contains some good suggestions in regard to gardens, walks, &c. — Ed. One of the finest features in the country towns of America is, that almost every dwelling has its garden — small in many cases it may be, but still a garden, and capable of yielding many of the comforts and pleasures of gar- dening. The most active improvers of our day, the men who are really doing most for a diffusion of a taste for gardening, are the resi- dents of country towns and villages, with their acre, half acre, and even quarter acre lots. Taking this view of the subject, we naturally regard the management of small gardens with much interest ; and therefore propose, now and hereafter, to offer a few hints, in order if THE SOUTHERN PLANTER possible to establish more correct views in re- gard to the principles which should regulate their formation and treatment. From pretty extensive observation, wc have come to the conclusion that one of the most jserious and prevalent errors in the management of small gardens, is attempting too much. This grows very naturally out of the desire that al- most every man feels to gather round his resi- dence the greatest possible variety of interest- ing scenes and objects ; in other words, to make the most of his limited space. In laying out a garden, tie design may be good, and it may, in the first place, be properly executed ; but no sootier is this done than new trees or plants are fancied, and probably a neighbor's garden suggests some new walk or divisions, and thus one alteration after another is introduced, and the original plan is effaced, and the whole be- comes a piece of patchwork. We have seen many charming little front gardens utterly ruined in this way Now, the beauty of a small garden, and the pleasure it may afford, lies not in a great variety of embellishments, but in simplicity and high keeping — few walks and few trees. Numerous walks destroy the unity and ex- tent of a small piece of ground, and add very materially to the cost of keeping ; and as a regular gardener is seldom employed in such places, the walks become neglected, and grown over with grass and weeds, resembling more a cattle path than anything else. The principle, therefore, should be rigidly adhered to, of hav- inc only such walks as are absolutely indis pensabie, and these to be kept in the best order. A good, well-kept walk, is not only a great beauty, but a great comfort, whereas nothing is so useless and ill-looking as a bad or neg- lected one. In most cases a single walk, and that a foot walk, six or eight feet wide, in pro- portion to the extent of the ground, will be quite enough. The position of the entrance gate, and the course of the walk, must be determined by the shape of the grounds, and the situation of the froutdorofthe dwelling. If the space be- tween the house and street be narrow — say 20 or 30 feet — and the front door be in the centre of the building, the most convenient, and pro- bably the best, arrangement is the common one — having the gate opposite the door, and the waj k Bt raight. It would be much better if houses of this kind were so constructed as to nave the main entrance at one side, so that the ground it: front of the principal rooms might be kept in a lawn* embellished with a few ap- propriate tress. This would be a more agree- able Sight from the windows than a gravel walk, and persons approaching the house would not be directly in front of the windows. When the house stands back a sufficient distance, even if the front door be in the centre facing the street, the walk should approach it by as easy curves as possible from one side, leaving the ground in front unbroken. A curved walk, however, is not only inconvenient, but obviously inconsistent, in a very limited space. Box, and all other kinds of edgings, to walks that run through grass plots, are not only out of place, but add greatly to the expense of planting and keeping. Such things are only approprite to flower gardens, to make the out- lines of walks and beds. Hedges of privet, red cedar, or arbor vitas, are occasionally planted along the edges of walks, but are en- tirely superfluous, and have a bad effect, unless to screen a wagon road to out-buildings, or to separate a front garden or lawn from the kitchen garden, or such object as it may be de- sirable to conceal. Such hedges have also a very good effect when placed immediately be- hind a low, open, front lawn, when viewed from the dwelling. Planting, in most of our small gardens, is carried to such an excess as to convert them into miniature forests. There must be the universal row, of Horse Chesuuts, or some- thing else withiug the fence ; and then the in- terior is dotted over closely with all manner of shrubs and plants A corner is probably cut up into something like a child's flower garden ; small beds, filled with tall, straggling plants, lying over the box edgings, covering the walks, and giving to the whole a neglected and confused appearance. Such management displays no taste, and gives no satisfaction. We would discard these straight rows of trees, and convert the whole surface into as perfect a piece of lawn as could be made. This we would embellish with a few. very few, ap- propriate trees, mostly evergreens, having as great variety among them as possible, both in regard to habit of growth and that of foliage. The smallest plot, managed on this principle, may be made beautiful. A single tree, such as a Norway Spruce, a Doedar Cedar, a Hem- lock Spruce, of any other fine evergreen, or even a deciduous tree, such as a Magnolia, a Tulip tree, a Linden, Horse Chestnut or Moun- tain Ash, standing on a lawn, having ample space on ail sides to develop its fair, natural habits and proportions, is always a beautiful object, and cannot fail, though a common tree, to attract attention and admiration ; but plant three or four, or half dozen such trees where one should be, or crowd up the one with un- der shrubs and other objects, and you at once THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 69 destroy the character and expression of the tree, and produce a confused mass, that cannot fail to be disagreeab'e to every one whose taste has been even slightly cultivated. Few people seem to appreciate fully the beauty of a piece of lawn — a beauty which is at once cheap and permanent. Most of us de- sire to be economical ; but what economy is there in cutting up small gardens into walks, flower borders and beds, and in planting them all over with trees and plants ? These walks and borders need constant care, or they soon become unsightly; they need a constant suc- cession of flowering plants to keep up a dis- play. The culture of flowers along borders and among trees is never successful or satisfac- tory. They must have a place allotted to them- selves, where they can be tastefully grouped and receive proper attention. A very impor- tant point is the selection of suitable trees for small gardens. We very often see trees of the largest class planted where there is no room for them, simply because such trees are planted in every garden. The little front gar- dens of street houses in some of the English towns delight every one who sees them, by the appropriateness of their arrangement and orna- ments. A spot of bright green lawn, garnished with two or three Laurels or Rhododendrons, and some climbing Roses and Honeysuckles around the windows, and these all glittering with high polish, like a new coin from the mint — no cutting up into all manner of mis- shaped beds and borders, no entangled masses of trees and plants. THE ONION FAMILY. From the peculiar flavor of this family of esculents, both as a condiment and as a sub- stantial article of food, the good housewife should insist on introducing the whole family into the garden. The London Horticultural Society cultivates fourteen varieties of the onion. With us, three are enough — the red, white and yellow. The soil for the greatest perfection of the bulbs is a rich sandy loam. Cow manure is preferable to stable; hog ma- nure is better than either ; and hen manure is the very best of all. There is no country where the onion comes to greater perfection from the black seed, than in these Southern States. And as it takes two years for the onion to produce Seed, the first year's bulb will be altogether the finest for the table. The black seed n.ay be planted in January, Fcb- uarv. , ,i as late as March. First test the seed by soaking ; if they are sound, they will sprout in forty-eight hours ; then sow in drills just as you expect large bulbs to stand ; the drills should be twelve inches apart ; as the onions begin to grow, thin them out in the row to six inches, and if the soil and culture is right the bulbs will be crowding each other in June. Another method of propagating the onion is from set? ; these may be procured by sowing the seeds broadcast in the fall. Burn a piece of land over in September, to kill the grass seed ; then manure it highly ; spade it deeply in, and sow on it black seed at the rate of six pounds to the acre ; harrow or rake it over, and run the horse or hand roller over it. These will make fine bulbs to trans- plant into drills in the spring. Another me- thod of obtaining the onion is from the top or button. This is a cluster of small onions pro- duced on the top, instead of the black seed ; these should be planted like the set, in the fall and winter, but may be planted in Febru- ary or March. The next best variety of the onion family for Southern culture, is French shallots. These produce a button on the top, like the tree onion, and may be propagated either by the button or dividing the roots ; this variety never decays in the ground, but continues winter and spring to throw out off- setts from the buttons, and are at all times seasonable for soups, stews and hashes. The small shallot, or Welsh onion, grows much like the large kind, except that it is only propaga- ted by dividing the roots. This is mostly used as a spring salad, being very mild. The leek is a very important member of the fami- ly, not half appreciated at the South. Like the shallot it never decays, but continues to perpetuate itself by its offsets as long as the ground is kept clear of weeds and grass around it. It produces a black seed, like the onion, from which a start may be got. They are a great delicacy for the table, being milder than the onion, and may taken from the ground every month in the year. And last comes that ({uintescence of all the onion tribe, garlic ; this is propagated by ofi'setts ; it may be left ! in the ground the year round! It is used me- dicinally and as a flavorer of condiments. No good gardener should be without the whole family. THE VINEYARD. Two grape vines will make a vineyard, if the proprietor chooses to convert their produce into wine. And everybody may have two grape vines that will. Our native grapes are the only vines for open culture, and are supe- rior for wine to any of the imported. There Ik>.s been so much mystery thrown around wine making, that our good housewives have lct'grapes decay upon the vines, and purchased 70 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. imported whiskey and logwood, when they could have made a pure wine, wholesome and nourishing, as easily as they could yeast. The scuppernong makes a pleasant light wine. The Catawba and Warrenton make a wine equal to the best sherry. The scuppernong must be planted from its roots, as it does not strike freely from cuttings ; the others may be started from cuttings, and in three years will yield wine. Old vines should now be looked to, the lateral branches cut back to three or four buds, all the dead wood taken out, and the vines trained to poets or trellises. Guano worked in, around grape vines, will in crease their productiveness. Where this c:.-n- not be got, lime and hen manure will answer a good purpose. There is no grape vine so well adapted to arbors as the scuppernong. It is a rapid grower, branches thick, holds its foli- age longer than any other vine, and bears heavy crops without pruning. With this vine the owner of a half acre lot may have a vine- yard. The above on onions and grapes, are from Mr. Peabody, of the Soil of the South, probably the best gardener in the Southern States. The follow- ing on peas, we have no doubt, from Loving tried the plan with Irish potatoes, is capital : The English pea, one of the most delicious of all the garden luxuries, has also been sup- posed by many not well adapted to the South- ern climate, from the fact that its home seems to be in England, where the atmosphere is al- ways moist. Bait, if the early kinds are planted this month, in a soil abounding in humus, where moisture can be retained, without being wet, they perfect here before the ex- treme hot weather comes on, and are equal to any raised in colder latitudes There are sev eral extra early kinds. We prefer the early " cedo mili." After the young plants have been once worked, aid sticks placed for them to run upon, the whols ground between the rows •-hould be covered several inches deep with leaves or straw. This will cause them to bear much longer, and to yield larger and bet- ter filled pods. Try it, you who have failed to raise English peas because the climate was too hot, and you will confess that when you adapt all your culture to the climate, you can raise all the garden vegetables here as well as in Old or New England. Cucumbers and squashes, says the same good authority, may be brought forward early by taking a barrel, sawing it in two, and sink- ing it nearly to the top in the ground, then filling it half full of well rotted stable man- ure, over which place some soil, in which sow the seed. In cold nights, the top of the bar- rel can be covered to protect the plants from frost ; as the plants begin to run they will be safe from cold, and will venture over the top of the barrel, runniag and bearing astonish- ingly. Four barrels appropriated this way, will supply a good sized family with squashes and cucumbers. Spring turnips may now be sowed ; put them in drills, and be very careful to sow thin. The above directions are all for February, in the latitude of Columbus, Georgia. Our climate is from four to six weeks later ; so that they will an- swer here for March, (from 1st to 15th.) We are indebted to Mr. Peabody for a small package of the dwarf okra, which being well cul- tivated, says Mr. Peabody, will prove so good that we will never cultivate any other. They are not for distribution. Okra may be brought forward some weeks ear- lier by first starting it in the hot-bed, and trans- planting with care. For okra, like cotton, may be transplanted safely. For the Southern Planter. INDIAN CORN. Seed. — The proper kind of corn Ibr planiing in particular latitudes, loadities, and qualities of land, is a matter of much importance. 1 have no partiality for colour, but much for long grain and large cob. I am aware that many persona advocate a email cob, but until I am shown a small cob with such long grain as to make a large car. 1 will hold on to my big cob, yes as big as my leg, if I can get it. A small ox does not yield a large hide; neither have lever seen a small cob yield a large ear. The proper enquiry, however, is not so much about the cob, but what kind of seed will yield the greatest quantity of grain on a given quan- tity of land? There may be some ad vantage in the culture of the double eared corn, but of this 1 have doubts. Is it not true that by an increased dis- tance, any kind of coin will produce two or more ears to the stalk ; and is it not true, that by a diminished di.-tai.c?, the double eared corn will only produce one ear to the stalk ? And is it not true that an acre of land can only produce a quantity of corn correspondent to its quality, locality, and culture ? I! these be facta, why grow two small ears to the stalk, which yield no more grain than one large ear? For my present purpose it will suffiice to divide corn into three different kinds or species, to wit : gourd seed, flint, and a species between these two, which we will call improved gourd seed. ' It has been at least fifty-five years since I last saw the gourd seed in Virginia. It belongs to a more southern climate, and there let it remain. Although the people of Virginia have aban- doned the gourd seed, yet they have adopted a THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 7t more inferior kind from the North ; I mean the little flint. The only plea for the culture of this corn in Virginia, is its superior weight, and early maturity. But I prefer a house full and a big blade stack, to a crib full, and a little blade stack. It ie true, nevertheless, that in many places West of the Blue Ridge, and on some elevated places on the East side, the Northern flint corn should be planted; because here the altitude or locality creates a similitude to the more Northern lati- tudes. The flint corn properly belongs to a more Northern climate (with the exceptions above al- luded to) and there it should remain. The proper seed corn for old Virginia, is the improved gourd seed ; and if the reader does not understand what I mean by improved gourd seed, ju6t let him look into his own corn house, as well as the houses of all his neighbors, and thence pick out the longest grain and the lar- gest ear he can find ; which being planted sepa- rate from any other, and from the offspring of which pick and plant again and again, and 1 warrant him a first rate improved gourd seed. About 40 years ago I put this plan into execu- tion, and I have ever been proud of the result. No matter whether the grain be white or yellow, but I beseech you beware of ring-streaked, speckled and spotted ; for as soon would I have my flock of sheep mixed up black and white, long leg* and short legs, fine wool and coarse wool. Planling — Reason and experience both teach us that corn can be planted so thick, that al- though the yield of plant is most abundant, yet the grain will be wanting. And that if, on the contrary, only one or two hundred plants be cultivated to the acre, the ears will be large but the grain will be deficient in quantity. It is therefore evident that experience can only teach us what number of plants should be alloted to the aere. Long experience has taught me that the im- proved gourd seed corn will grow from S to 16 feet high, according to 1he quality of the land; averaging say 11 feet high. The rows should be as wide as half the height of the corn, say 5-£ feet; and the plants on the row 15 to 16 inches ; which would give about 6000 plants to the acre. Corn should be planted thick enough to en- sure a full possession of the gruund by the roots ; or in other words, the roots should be so nume- rous as to penetrate every inch of ground, passing, crossing and lapping in every direction. And aa it is known that, the roots of corn will extend in proportion to the height of the plant, so let ii be remembered that if it is expected that the planted corn will only grow six feet high, the rows should only be half this, say three fee! apart; but in all cases I would make the dis- tance between the plants the same, say 15 or 16 inches; thus increasing the number of plants in proportion to their diminished height. Corn needs all the sun it can get to the ground from the time of its planting till it is in the tas- sel ; Dot after this the sun only on the plant will suffice. After corn has arrived to tasseling it needs all the water it cm get, and the profuse shade from thick planting will prevent evapo- ration. On rich land planted as above recommended, and properly cultivated till the corn is in the tassel, I defy a weed, or a pumpkin or pea to grow. Indeed how can they grow when the corn has full possession ? If one requires to be informed how ground should be prepared for the heaviest possible crop of corn, I would advise the spreading of a heavy coat of manure, and turning it under about knee deep; then another coat of manure and plough again ; then pulverize, manure in the hill, and plant. Cultivate the crop in the best manner, and if you do not make 200 bushels to the acre, it is because the crop suffered for rain, or other water, after getting in the taseeL Corn is a gross feeder, and therefore no danger of a gorge of food, provided a proportionate quantity of water ie also given. Old Maul Amherst. Feb., 1856. PROFITABLE FARMING IN THE NORTHERN NECK. A farmer in the Northern Neck of Va., from an estate which, only several years since, cost $13,000, has, during the present year, thrown into this market its products, yielding him the very handsome nett sum of $10,500. Aside from th^ unusually remunerating prices of our staple productions, during the past twelve months, there is perhaps no sec- tion of the State in. which the Agriculturist secures a more satisfactory return for the in- vestment for capital and labor, than is realized in that peninsula range of country between the Potomac river on one side and the navigable Rappahannock on the other. Its rare facil- ities for intercourse with all the prominent markets ; the abundance and cheapness of the means of good living, added to the intelligence, refinement, and the thoroughly old Virginian hospitality of its people, are inviting to it, par- ticularly in the lower counties, a description of immigration which, we understand, is of a very desirable character. — Alex. Sentinel. THE PHYSICAL AND INTELLECTUAL PLEAS- URES OF FARMING. In what does the secret consist of finding any real substantial pleasure in the operations of farming? Among other things you name " the monotonous business of holding the plow from early in the morning to late in the even- ing.'' As too commonly conducted, I grant that plowing is not a particularly agreable bus- iness, and that you have described it quite tersely. Too many plowmen, having little or no thought about the true philosophical princi- ples of their business, are more anxious to get 72 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. over the greatest possible breadth of land in a day, than to do proper and the best work. They cut their furrows too shallow, and as ■wide as, or wider than the plow can possibly turn them, and what portion cannot be got over with the plow and aided by the foot of the ploughman, rolls back into its bed again, and the next time round its "grass side up" is put out of sight by the "cut and cover" operation, making a high ridge of earth with a deep hole beside it. The ploughman twists and turns himself in all manner of shapes, is vexed with his plow, scolds at and whips his team furiously, labors and tugs and sweats away, "from early in the morning till late in the evening," and can show you as big and as mean a day's work as you could wish to see, with hardly a rod square of passably good work in the whole piece. 1 would not allow such a workman to plow a day for me if he would do the work for nothing, and pay ten dollars for the privilege. But if properly conducted say for ten hours in a day, which is all a merciful man will require of his animals of draught, however he may be dispos- ed as to himself, plowing is one of the finest and most exhilirating employments in the world. Did you ever investigate the accurate philos- ophy of the plow and of plowing? Take a highly improved modern plow, and study it. Look at it as a whole implement, and at its sev- eral parts, and reflect what a world of profound study it has cost to produce that same imple- ment. What high mechanical principles it in- volves, and how beautifully do they combine together to produce an exact and most valuable result. There is the mould-board alone, al- though an exact mathematical combination, yet it is a problem for you, (I speak advisedly,) which, if you have not solved it, its soluinn will give you a pretty sharp brush, with all your ^mathematics. Then, too, a combination of mathematics, a lilt.e varied to suit each case, will ^ive you the best form of mould-board for sandy and gravelly soils, fnr clay, and heavy moist soils generally, and for best working stub- ble land. The plow best adapted to sandy, and generally light, dry soils, will lay flat fur- rows, accurately shat in beside each other, thus preventing a too great natural tendency to evaporati m, incident to such soils. Your mathematics will show you that a coulter set beveling to the land, an inclined landside to the plow, and a concave lined inouldboard, all contribute to facilitate the laying of flat furrows, and that it would be difficult to drop the edges down accurately beside each other without, these several provisions. The plow best adapted to clay and other heavy or moist soils, cuts rectan- gular furrows and lays them at an inclination of 45 deg. to the horizon. Your mathematics will show you that this is the best position for the furrows of such soils to be placed in. It can be undeniably demonstrated that none but rectan- gular furrows', whose depth is to their width as two is to three, can be laid at an inclination of 45 deg. present in their projecting angles^ a areater surface of soil to the ameliorating in- fluences of the atmosphere, and greater cubical content^ of soil for the harrow to operate on in raising a deep fine tilth, or eeed-beil, and permit underneath them a freer circulation of air, and passage from the surface of superfluous mois- ture, than furrows of any other form or propor- tions that are practicable to be turned. The plough in the very best manner adapted to the working of stubble lands, will be higher in the beam to enable it to pass obstructions, and ?horter in the turn of its mould-board, than ei- ther of the preceding, will have a greater depth of iron in the back parts ol the mould-board, which will tend to throw its loose stubble fur- row all over to an inverted position, and leave a perfectly clean channel behind it for the re- ception of the next furrow. Thus you see there is quite a philosophy in plows and in plowing, which the intellectual farmer is bound to understand. However dull and monotonous the business of ploughing may be to you, it is not at all so to me. Starling my team a-fiehl of a bright spring morning, with my plough all bright and clean from its winter quarters, I feel as honest a pride and pleasure at the thought of my occupation as I ever do when engaging in any employment. I strike out my lands with a furrow as straight as an air line. After this is accomplished, I guage my plough to cut deep furrows, and as narrow as is possibly compat- ible with the depth, and then lake them off the land of uniformly exact depth and width, never allowing a crooked furrow to be seen in my plowing. To me it is very exhilirating 1o see the furrow3 roll off my polished mould-board, and lay beside each other with as accurate a finish as though they had been joined by a car- penter's tools and to think, as my eye surveys the smoking soil thus prepared, how mother earth always delights in bountifully rewarding the careful husbandman, — that she invites a .iberal, intelligent and accurate cultivation, by returning as compensation a greatly increased crop. [ Fred. Holbrook. in N. Eng. Farmer.'] LEXINGTON AND LECOMTE. The following description of these celebrated race horses is taken from an article in a recent number of the New York Spirit of Ike Times, written by a friend of the latter horse, and not a friend to the former. All must read with some allowance for particulars: Lexington was bred by Dr. Warfield, near Lexington, Kentucky ; he was got by Boston out of Alice Carneal by imported Safedon. He stands about 15 hands 3 inches in height, and is of good length. He is a rich bay, much marked with white on all hislegs,*in the face, and in one eye. He is the first wall-eyed horse we ever saw that had weak eyes. Without any very ex- cellent point, he has no bad one, but is a remark- ably even made horse, with that justness of pro- portion and admirable adaptation of one part to another that gives assurance of an easy work- THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 73 ing machine. His body, like that of most of Boston's sons, is very fine. His bone? are small, and his muscle very light indeed; hip arms and second thighs are thin almost to a defect. His action is round and remarkably elastic, in fact it is the perfection of that style, and is particularly adapted to deep ground and mud. As a race horse, at all distances, he has few equals— There i< but little difference be- tween Lexington and Lecomte, but that little is in favor ef the latter. Lecomte was bred by Gen. T. J. Wells, of the Parish of Rapides, in the State of Louisi- ana, and was got by Boston, out of Reel; she by imported. Glencoe, out of imported Galopade by Gaiton. He ig a rich chestnut, with white on one hind leg, which reaches a little above the pastern joint. He stands 15 hands 3 inches in height. Is in fine racing form, and well spread throughout his whole frame, with such an abundance of bone, tendon and mucsle, that he would be a useful horse for any purpose. His temper is excellent ; he is easily placed in a race, and yet responds promptly to the extent of his ability. He never tears himself and jockey to pieces by attempting to run away. His ac- tion i* low, smooth, and easy. Hie stride is about twenty-three feet, he gets away from the score l.ke a quarter horse, and is equal to any weight. He has a constitution of iron, the appe- tite of a lion, would eat sixteen quarts of feed in twenty four hours, if it was given to him, and ean stand as much work as a team of mules. In a word, he has all the good points and qual- ities of both sire and dam, without their defects ; eonsequently, he is about as fine a specimen of a thoroughbred as can be found in this or any other country. MR. EPES' CHESTER HOGS. We hive been furnished by Thos. W. Epea, E&q., of Powell's Hotel, with a memorandum of sales of brood sows and pigs of this celebrated variety, made within a short time past, namely: 1 brood sow, 2 years, 4 months old at $50 1 brood sow, 1 year, 4 months old at 50 1 brood sow, 6 months old at 30 2 pigs, 4 months old at 40 We have spoken of Mr. Epes' Chester swine before, and have only to repeat that they are as perfect and symmetrical animals as we have ever seen. They have been bred with the greatest care, and from the best of their kind that could be selected, of either sex — the great object being the improvement of the stock. Unfortunately, for Mr. E. and the community, the municipal law relating to swine in the eity, imposed such restriction* upon him that he has had to reduce his number — but for which he would not have taken a hundred dollars apiece for his sows. The above prices indieate the high estimation in which the Chester hogs are held, as well as Mr. E.'s skill as a breeder. If any of our other friends can supply us with statistics, either of prices or weights we should be obliged to them. — Southern Farmer. Communicated to the Virginia State Agricultural Society. GUANO AS A FERTILIZER, AND AS CON- NECTED WITH SOIL, IMPROVEMENT, &c. By Dr. P. B. Pendleton, of Louisa. [A Premium, of Twenty Dollars.] The use of Guano by the undersigned through a series of years, and to no small extent, — on a variety oi' soils, and under various circum- stances — at different depths, and on all sorts ef crops; together with an observation of its ef- fects under applications by others, induces him to speak of its proximate and ultimate action, on much of the soil and vegetation of middle Virginia, with some degree of confidence. It is not the design of the writer, however, to entertain the curious with any plausible theory of its action, but simply to present for the con- sideration of the practical farmer and planter, a practical and concise expose of the subject Nor is it intended to insist that all the facts and conclusions he may present will be found true and legitimate as to the soils of all sections of the State. This communication is especially addressed to the farmers of middle Virginia, to many at least of those who farm it in that sec- tion of the State lying between the blue ridge and the falls of our eastern rivers, which, except occasional strata of stone lime, is, as far as has been ascertained, wanting in any of the ordi- nary calcareous deposits. Hitherto a standing and stereotyped prescrip- tion, with agricultural writers, for renovating poor land, has been a heavy application either of shell or stone lime, or of the impure carbo- nate of lime in the form of marl. It is proposed by the undesigned in the outset briefly to show that the signs by which these writers have theo- retically determined the precise condition of such soils, and from which they have inferred and urged the necessity of such lime applications, in reality are no reliable indications of either the one or the other. And, indeed, it is insisted that to prescribe lime as a sine qua -non to im- provement, would be practically, as to a large section of middle Virginia, quite as absurd as to prescribe marsh mud for a farm in the moun- tains, or plastic clay for one in tide water, sim- ply for the reason that the high cost of lime in the section in question makes its use to any extent impracticable, and therefore, on such soils, some other agent, or agencies, — must be employed. The external signs by which the farmer re- cognises a poor soil, seldom deceive him; but as was intimated, it is contended that neither these nor any other mere outward indication* can reliably determine what is the precise chemical constitution and condition of 6uch a soil, nor what are its real deficiencies and re- quirements ; and that these questions cannot be determined definitely by any other means, than by a minute chemical analysis of the soil itself; and, farther, that it is only by a series of experi- ments, carefully conducted, that even a rational 1 inference on the subject can be deduced. 74 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER To illustrate this idea, lei it be said that the farmer of tide water knows that the presence on a soil in his section, of certain plants, such as broom grass, sheep sorrel, etc. unerringly Indicates poverty,and that by actual experiment It has been found that lime or marl, in certain quantities, is sure and economic means of pro- ducing a speedy and permanent improvement of said soil, and that less quantities of these cal- careous manures is altogether inefficient. Now while this and other similar experiments might authorize him rationally to infer a deficiency of lime in his soil, as well as the necessity of ap- plying it as above, it would be by no means satisfactory proof of either ; for, after all, there may have been present an abundance of some salt of lime, unavailable, because insoluble — in connection with some poisonous salt of iron ; — both of which, thorough drainage and plowing might have remedied to a considerable extent. Still less would such an experiment prove a de- ficiency ot lime in a soil of a distant locality — and indeed there is abundant proof that sheep sorrelis not incompatible with fertility, and else- where than in tide water, often grows well on soils, presumeably, rich in lime — because long proverbially fertile arid especially productive in those crops known to require a good deal of that mineral ; and farther, that broom grass soils even have been made very productive without the use of lime. So that even admitting it to have been demonstrated, that the presence of eertain plants on a tide water soil, indicates a deficiency of lime, and the necessity of apply- ing it in order to any permanent improvement, 'two important questions would yet arise. 1st. Will similar applications of lime to the above, on all those poor soils in middle Virginia, which present similar signs of poverty, <$c, prove alike beneficial? And, 2d. are such ap- plications of lime equally necessary in order to their permanent improvement ? In answer to the first question, it maybe stated that the writer's e.rperience with fresh slacked stone lime, mainly in compost with farm pen ma- nures, applied at different times to the extent in the aggregate of a hundred bushels or more, and in one instance at the cost of some 10 or 12 dollars per acre, mainly on pine and broom straw soils, together with the observation of it* effects under various applications by others in different localities — the details of which cannot be here gWen* — justifies the conclusion that lime does not on many, at least, of the soils of middle Virginia, produce the same beneficial effects it does in tide water. * Mr. W. H. Harris, n neighbor of the undersigned, some *ii or eight years ago need about 500 bushels of chell lime w.a granite soil — in quantities generally of twenty-five Inrehels to the acre, broad cast for c»rn — and did not see hat the corn was any better than on similar land udjnining and uiiliined — nor did he .sco any benefit in the whe.it that fotlowetl, nor in tho clover. These lands have since been >*e-ret-M: times in corn, and the corn in no instance was any better than what he had a right to expect from an improved mode of tillage and the use of guano. Other similar re- sorts in great numbers could be given as tho experience of ■»aay of our beet farmers in the use of lime. In respect to the 2nd question, it would only be necessary to appeal to the almost universal ex- perience of the farmers of middle Virginia, to be told that, in order to the improvement of a gen- erality of their poor soils, it has not been found necessary to use lime at all. Indeed there are thousands of farmers, all over the above section,, who never used a bushel of lime in their lives, who could testify to the improvement, within the last few years, of pine, broom, grass and sorrel soils without the use of lime, and with clover and plaster alone, so a? to enhance 'heir money value from 100 to 200 per cent. But there are other soils, chiefly located in the tobacco district of the State, presenting simi- lar external signs of poverty, and of the neces- sity oflime, with those which Lave been relied on in tide water, as proof of both on which hitherto neither lime nor planter seems to have had any very marked effect, and these soils, because they have been unjustly regarded ' as the most destitute and difficult to improve of all others, and because the ; r agricultural advan- tages and capabilities have been generally un- derrated by agricultural writers, shall now re- ceive especial consideration. It would be agreeable to th§ writer of this essay, had he the means of testing a variety of the soils of tide w"ter, to compare, from approxi- mative results, the average proportions of lime ip the two sections. It might be profitable also to compare the histories of the two sections — to notice the fact, that while the one, through a long period of time hab been generally appropriated to a mixed husbandry, in which tobacco, the most troublesome and lime-absorbing of all crops, pressing in. between corn end wheat, has not only almost entirely consumed all the oth- erwise spare labor of the farm, which could have been given to a general improvement, but has actually nearly consumed all the manure made — the other has long been devoted almost exclusively to grain growing, and thus received all the benefits resulting from a system of exten- sive fallowing, and all the advantages of much spare time and means for making and applying manures — that while in the one, much of the crops has been returned to the land as manure or otherwise, in the other nearly the whole has been sold off— and farther, it might be well to make some allowance for the impulse given to farming in tide watrr. under the immediate in- fluence of such distinguished farmers and wri- ters as the authors of i: Arator," and of ''Calca- reous Manures,'" advantages but little enjoyed in middle Virginia; and lastly, to make some esti- mate in dollars and cents of the present compa- rative profit of farming in the two sections ; but all these matters, even could they be fairly stated, wruld lengthen too much this communication. The writer, therefore, as (he result of a per- sonal examination of a variety of the soils of middle Virginia ari to their lime constituents, and from what helms gathered from the written and verbal testimony of others as to the gene- ral composition of t he soils of tide water, as well as from much that may be fairly inferred from THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. rs the histories of the two sections — will proceed to assume as probably true, that the average 'proportions of lime naturally present in the soils of middle Virginia, is greater titan what is naturally present in the soils of tide water — and that to improve the former so as to render them remunerative for farming purposes, artificial applications oj lime are not indispensable. We are now brought to notice, in the next place, some of the most available means of im- provement for many of the soils of middle Vir- ginia, and the first agent in importance, unques- tionably, is Peruvian Guano. The immediate action of ihis fertilizer in pro- moting the growth of every species of vegeta- tion, is so well known and appreciated generally, it needs hardly to he alluded to; nor would it perhaps be less a work of supererogation to attempt a demonstration of the immediate pro- fit, in dollars and cents, from its use, even at its present high price, on such crops as wheat and tobacco. But these benefits have been thought by many experienced farmers to be after all more apparent than real, and in the opinion of some, guano at least is but a mere stimulant, and acts on the soil just as alchohol does on the human organism, producing temporarily a con- siderable effect, but leaving the 6oil in the end poorer than it was in the beginning. This i6 certainly a very simple and convenient expla- nation of the matter. But unfortunately the very comparison is absurd. Every body knows something of the peculiar effects of alcohol on the living nerves and blood vessels of a human being; but no one ever supposed that the soil had either nerves or blood vessels, or any thing analagous to either of them. All agree, that guano possesses in a high degree nearly every element of vegetable life and nutrition — but no one ever attributed to alr.hohol any nutritive properties whatever; and hence to call guano a stimulant and compare it with alcohol — to liken (he soil to the human organism, and sup- pose it can be stimulated with Guano, just as a man is stimulated with brandy, is ridiculous and absurd. But others, who style Guano a stimulant, be- ing more profound in the therapeutics of ag- riculture, explain their meaning in this way: that a chief constituent of guano being ammonia, and the invariable effects of this agent being, to cause a rapid growth of the stalks and a cor- responding extension of the roots of plants, the abstraction from the soil of mineral matter by guanoed plants ii greatly increased, and may be so extensive as entirely to deprive it of cer- tain mineral constituents already scarce, and thus leave it hopelessly barren. This objection being somewhat plausible, deserves considera- tion ; but as a passing remark it may be said that even if this were so, and one or two crops of guanoed wheat should be able to abstract all of certain minerals, such as lime and potash. from the soil, it would only prove, as we shaP presently see. (hat these minerals were present in such very infinitesimal proportions that they could never have been of any great importance. agriculturally, any way, and therefore as to the policy of applying Guano under the circum- stances, the only question the farmer wouid have to determine wood be, whether, in the form of twenty-five bushels of wheat and a certain quantity of straw, he would obtain a satisfactory equivalent for his thirty pounds of potash ana eight or ten pounds of lime consumed by said crop of wheat — the cost of which minerals , if re- lumed to the soil, would not much exceed one dollar. But let us now examine more closely the as- sumption that guano, acting as a stimulant oa the soil, tends to produce barrenness by exhaust- ing its store of mineral matter. As preliminary to the investigation of this question, the first point to be settled is, how much of this mineral matter is added to the soil in an ordinary appli- cation of guano, and how much is abstracted from the soil in an ordinary crop, say of wheat. This and other kindred matters will require sundry tabular statements, to which the close and patient attention of the reader is earnestly requested. The average composition of good guano, according to Dr. Ure and Prof. Way, is- in 100 parts, about as follows : Organic matter and salts of ammoDia && Earthv phosphates 26- Sand i Alkaline salts 6. Water 1» 100 Now, suppose the farmer should apply of this guano 400 pounds to an acre of very poor land for wheat, then it appears from the above ana- lysis that there is actually added to this acre of land, ol mineral or inorganic saline matter,, about as follows : Earthy phosphates # 100 pound* Alkaline salts 25 " Total 125 poundfc Suppose now the yield from the aere should be as much r.s 25 bushels of wheat and 3,000 pounds of straw, (a very liberal count.) then, according to analyses made by Mr. Prideaur and. Prof. Johnston, of the entire wheat plant, this amount of crop would abstract from the soil (silica excepted, of which there is always a superabundance in the soil,) in round numbers about as follows: Potash 29 pounds Soda 3 Magnesia 10 Phosphoric acid 21 *" Sulphuric acid 10 " Chlorine 2 " Lime 8 Total 83 poundsv So that in applying 400 pounds of good Pe- ruvian guano to an acre of land, there is added to the soil of mineral matter about 125 pounds,, and in taking off a crop of 25 bushels of wheat and 3,000 pounds of straw, there is abstracted from the soil only about 93 pounds of mineral 76 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. matter. In other words, 43 pounds more is I that ihese are formed of the drift of granite as added in the guano than is abstracted in the I stated, (many of our fine tobacco, as well as crop. But surely no one believes that any soil, how- ever poor, is to be found entirely destiiute of the foregoing minerals. Is it not a fact known and acknowledged by many observing farmers, that pines spring up thickly and quickly on the poorest soils when allowed rest, and eften in no more than a quarter century, yield ae much as 50 cords of wood to the acre? Well, then, this wood, when burnt, will leave of ash about 50 bushels, which, at 50 pounds to the bushel, would weigh 2,500 pounds. This amount of ash, according to analysis by Dr. Dana, would contain about as follows: Carbonic acid 430 pounds Sulphuric acid 85 " Silica 180 Potash and Soda 875 " Water 100 Phosphoric acid. 125 " Magnesia 108 Oxide Iron 275 " Oxide Manganese j 70 " Lime 340 That is to this ,ash alone contains of say, tmo . potash, soda, lime, magnesia, phosphoric and sulphuric acids, in the aggregate, about fifteen limes as much as a crop of 25 bushels of wheat and 3,000 pounds of straw would consume ! But this is not all : the pine shatters annually re- turned to the soil during the growth of pines is known to be rich in saline matter, and the ex- perienced farmer knows that pine land, even after all the wood has been taken off. always produces a good crop of any kind. The foregoing facts, which cannot be gain- said, ought to be sufficient to quiet the fears of all those nervoumfarmers who dread the stimu- lating action of guano. But while they prove beyond all question the presence in the very poorest soils of a considerable quantity of min- eral matter, they do not at all exhibit the actual quantity present. This is done by Dr. Dana. whose estimates are for a soil formed from drift granite — beins a minute analysis of true gran- ite, which is universally regarded as nearly the poorest rock in saline matler of any. The composition of this rock in 100 parts is as fol- lows : Silex 74.84 Allumina 12.80 Potash 7.48 Magnesia 99 Lime 37 Oxides Iron and Manganese 2.05 Showing that, in every 100 parts of true other worn out soils, are formed from a species of granite more decomposing and richer in lime than true granite,) and the amount per acre of lime and alkali, taking the soil at only six inches deep, would be as follows: The cu- bic foot of such soils weighs 90 pounds, or at six inches deep, 45 pounds. The acre at this depth contains 21,280 cubic feet, which will afford 3.626 pounds of lime, and 73.311 pounds of potash." That is to say, supposing the soil to undergo no physical change, and the roots of plants to penetrate in the soil no deeper than the six inches, there is lime enough in such a soil as the above to grow every year crops of 25 bush- els of wheat for nearly a thousand years, and of potash enough for about 2600 years'. But the soil is constantly changing under the level- ing action of water, and the roots of the wheat plant do extend much deeper than the six inch- es, so that it may be very safely affirmed that the supply in a generality of soils, of these and all other necessary mineral matters, is quite inexhaustible. But lei us not be misunderstood on this point It is not asserted, nor believed, that the supply of soluble saline or mineral matter in these soils is ample, or even as much as would be neces- sary to render them first rate grass or corn lands. They are adapted by nature to tobacco, and could not, perhaps, by any course of treat- ment, be made very euilable for many other crops. But it is asserted as probably true, that the supply of insoluble saline matier, as it ex- ists in most of these soils, is inexhaustible. And this arrangement of chemical combinations, which endows the soil with a power of resist- ance and self-preservation, and enables it to withstand, in a great measure, the wasting in- fluences of nature and art, is but another man- ifestation oi' the wisdom and yooelnesa of Him who doeth all things well. Without it, a speedy and hopeless exhaustion of all soils would ne- cessarily ensue. But by it, and under judicious farming, a gradual but constant and sufficient conversion of saline matter from an insoluble to a soluble state is effected to satisfy, in the main, the wants of most crops. Having now disposed of the very erroneous notion that guano is a stimulant, and as such injurious to the soil, it would be in order next to no ice one other objection to its use: that of its hurtful action on the soil as a caustic. But as this will be considered presently in connection with green manures, it is now proposed to pass on to notice very briefly, and in a desultory ►jimmy lu^ 1 1 id i, ii| v * v^i y iwu i /ft i 10 wi i/Kc _ " . /? " 1 iT* f granite, there is present about seven and a fai/»4 aome of the beneficial effects of guano. pounds of potash and three-eighths of a pound] This fertilizer has been used by the under of lime, both in the form of insoluble silicates,\s\gned through a period of some eight years. however, which, nevenheless, are slowly de-iand has been in use by others, near neighbors, composahle and rendered soluble under atmos- pheric, and other agencies. On which Dr. Dana remarks: "It is evident unexhausted and ex- haustless stores of these substances are already in barren pine plains, for let it be supposed and to a large extent, for about the same length of time— many of these farmers using more than 50 tons a year. It has been applied to all sorts of crops, from wheat and tobacco down to peas and potatoes, and succeeded well in the THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 77 main on them all — each application invariably leaving the land in a better condition than it was before. Late in the fall of 1S51, 100 pounds were applied to the acre on about seven acres of very poor, sandy corn land, for wheat. The product was very poor, and in the fall fol- lowing 75 pounds more per acre were used on the same land. This yield was pretty good. The land then lay out a year in clover, and in 1S54 was in corn. This crop was not measured, but was supposed to be 4 or 5 barrels to the acre, and was at least double that of the one previ- ous. A crop of corn grown the present year on poor land guanoed three years since for wheat, 3hows a marked impruvement in the soil. A crop of corn grown the present year on common piney old field, after two successive crops of good tobacco, each one only receiv- ing 200 pounds of guano, the measured yield was nine barrels of shelled corn to the acre. And a crop after three successive crops of good tobacco, guanoed as above, will yield about the same. A rather thin tobacco lot of nine acres, manured lightly in 1S54, and then guanoed with 250 pounds, with 10 bushels of partially leached ashes to the acre — (tobacco land, un- less very rich, is generally benefitted by ashes) — produced a very good crop of tobacco of re- markably fine body; and the same land, with 75 pounds of guano to the acre, though too late, (sown 20th October,) — it was smartly in- jured by "joint-worm " — yielded 23 bushels of wheat to the acre. On this lot, about the 20th of last July, one bushel of cow peas was sown to the acre, and some of these peas, in six weeks afterwards, measured more than six feet. Guano and cow peas, put in d rilla both together the present year, 100 pounds of the former being nsed to the acre, on poor land, produced a heavy erop of both peas and vines, some of the latter measuring more than 11 feet. Guano applied to corn at the last working, 100 pounds to the acre, between the rows, has often increased the. yield two or three barrels. Applied to tobacco late in the season that refused to grain and was disposed to turn yellow, 100 pounds to the acre, in the same way as above, the season being favorable, it acted well. Applied in the same way, but earlier in the season, by a neigh- bor, to tobacco, about 200 pounds to the acre, the increase was at least double that of the ad- joining crop on similar land. Applied to three or four acres of common corn land, about the first of April of the present year, 150 pounds to the acre, with a bushel each of oats and cow peas to the acre, and the whole raked in together with three-horse cultivators, a fair crop of both was grown. The action of guano in favorable seasons on clover, is equally marked. In the spring of 1354, six and three-quarter tons^were used on eighty-one and a quarter acres, of a poor fallow, for oats. The season was rather unfavorable for oats, and a fallow is always ob- jectionable for that crop. The yield was the rise ol' 1600 bushels by measure, or about 20 bushels to the acre. Clover seed were raked and rolled in with the oats, and in the spring of the present year the clover was top-dressed with a mixture of half a bushel of plaster and 2 bushels of ashes to the acre. The clover was good over the whole field, and generally would have paid well to cut for hay. It is not to be denied, however, that guano does not succeed so well, generally, on spring crops as on winter wheat. It will always pay well on tobacco, if used with plaster and leach- ed ashes ; but on high and dry corn lands, ex- cept in small quantities at a time, its use is of doubtful propriety. On such soils, if the sea- son should be dry, a large application is almost sure to burn the corn, and often does decided injury. But on moist branch or flat lands, par- ticularly on all well drained and prepared pipe- clay soils, it may be used with profit, more freely. The depth to which guano should be put into the 6oil, is a mooted question. The writer's experience is confirmatory of Mr. Newton's opinion, advanced some years ago, that the shallower it is put the better, provided it is tfto- roughly incorporated uith the soil; a ud to accom- plish this latter end, at least two close rakings with heavy harrows, or better still with 3-horse cultivators, should be given the land immedi- ately after the guano is applied — one, say, after the guano, and one after the grain. The spreading of guano, when done by hand, evenly on the land, is a difficult operation. Th© guano requires to be dampened a g l * the weather became colder, the lice went deeper, * until the stalk about the root was literally cov- ; J . ered. When I found them there, I "gave it up £, Mr. Brown." I never looked at the wheat ■m again until late in the Spring — it was then « growing finely, and turned out at threshing 30 ' a bushels per acre. Pretty good for Mediterra- Jj oean wheat ! No description could be better of a my bug than Mr. G's. N. B. made a fine crop '« spite of the bug. I would mention that his m kid was an old sod, and that I thought at the ime that the bugs came from ten acree of sod, which I had in wheat adjoining the twenty five acres. Can there be any thing in this ? My ten acres made three hundred and fifty bushels Mediterranean Wheat. If you think this will prove a consolation to Louisa and Buckingham, you can publish it. Yery respectfully, Beverley Randolph. THE USE OF SALIVA. We gather the following from the recent lec- tures of Dr. H Bence Jones, of London : "The action of the saliva upon the 6tarch we take as food, is similar to that of a ferment, and causes it to undergo a change into sugar. If you take a portion of pure starch and hold it in the mouth for only two minutes, you can obtain distinct and decided traces of sugar. We have here a solution of starch not treated with saliva, and if we employ our test for sugar, which you well know (sulphate of copper and liquor potassse,) we have no reduction of the oxide of copper; but in this other mixture of starch and water, which has been held in the mouth for two minutes only, you may see dis- tinctly a beautiful red line of reduced copper, the evidence of the presence of sugar. If the starch is left in the mouth for three minutes, a still more manifest action is apparent; and if it remains there five minutes, there is a dis- tinct mass of reduced copper, which is propor- tioned to the quantity of sugar formed out of the starch." There are many sources of the sugar found in the body. It is found for the most part in vegetable food already formed, and it arises from the action of saliva on starch. It is pre- sent in considerable quantity in milk, and min- ute traces of it are contained in muscle; but, still further, it is always produced by the ac- tion of the liver. We have a large quantity of fat going into the liver by the jjorta/ vcin s and a large quantity of sugar coming out by the hepatic vein. This sugar is always found in the liver, not only when vegetable food but even when animal food is taken. SPRING TOOTH HORSE RAKE.-PR1CK $10. Every man who wishes to seed five acres of clo- ver on wheat land should get a gleaner or spring tooth horse rake forgleaningwheatfields. If passed over the land either before or after the seeding it will freshen it and form the very best MX*d bed. for the clover seed. Our friend, Charles Marx, Esq., of the Falls Plantation, has tried one, and it works toa charm. Get itand hold us responsible for the advice, and give us Ike credit if you succeed. They are for sale by H-M. Smith of Richmond, and per- haps in other places. He watrants the machine; i. e. if it does not give satisfaction ho will take it back. That is honest 80 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. RICHMOND, MARCH, 185G. TERMS. One Dollah and Twenty-fivb Chnt6 per annum, «r One Dollab only, if paid in advance. Six copies for Five Dollars; Thirteen copies for Ten Dollars — to be paid invariably in advante. No subscription received for a less time than one year. Subscriptions may begin with any Number, but it is desirable that they should be made to the end of a volume. ^^"Subscribers who do not give express Notice to the •outrary oh or bhfore the expiration of their yearly Sub- scription, will be considered as wishing to continue the same ; ajid the paper will be sent accordingly, J3T* N° paper will be discontinued until all arrearages are paid, except at our option. J2gf* Subscribers are requested to remit the amount of their Subscription as soon as the same shall become due. If Subscribers neglect or refuse to take their papers from the Ollice or place to which they are sent, they will in held responsible until thsy settle their account and give not:ee to discontinue. ft^f If Subscribers remove, change their offices, or permit thetr paper to be sent to an office that has been discontinued, without directing a change of their paper, and the papar is sent to the former direction, they will be iheld responsible. All Payments to the Southern Planter will bo acknow- ledged in the first paper issued after the same shall have ibeea received. gjf* All money remitted to us will be considered at our risk snly when tho letter sontaining the same shall be [registered. £^?7 It is indispensably necessary that subscribers remitting their Subscription should name the Office to •which their papers are sent; and those ordering a change should say from what to what post office tiiey wish the alteration made. A strict observance of this rule will save much time to us and lose none to them, besides in- suring attention to their wishes. Postmasters are requested to netify us in writing, as silt law requires, when papers are not taken from their Offices by Subscribers. RUFFIN not know how to apply, can develope this class of frauds. It is also, when ground, adulterated by ■water, of which it absorbs considerable quantities. How far vigilance is excited to detect this, some- times hard to discover, we do not know ; but a case can be proven in which it has come to the merchant dripping wet, and other cases in which it has been sold by inspection as No. 1., when it contained so much water as to set like cement in six months. Well may such inspections be termed a burlesque e laws. III. So far as inspections tax any portion of the community they should follow the general princi- ples of taxation, unless there be good reason to de- viate from them. But taxation should be, I, uniform both as to proportion and district; 2, it should bear least heavily on things least able to pay; 3, it should not be excessive; 4, it should enure to the * A case has recently been decided in which Dr. R. C. Mason of Alexandria, (who will excuse us for using his name to illustrate a principle,) got a verdict from a jury against the vender of Chappell's Fertilizer, a Baltimore nostrum. The ease is now before the judge on a demurrer to evidence ; but the principle of recovery under warranty is not disputed. That he could have had do such recourse if he had bought under an inspector's brand, is evident from the following, which we take from the Journal of Commerce, and in which it will be seen that the point of substitution of guarantee, ai fax as inspection goes, is a conceded point: " Light Wbioht in Flour. — The Cincinnati snd Pitts- burgh Chambers of Commerce have had correspondence whh reference to a ease where a merchant in the latter city ordered flour from his agent in Cincinnati, which duly passed inspection, being pronounced "all right,'' but whioh oo arriving at its destination, was found to be deficient in weight from three to ten pounds per barrel. The seller declining to pay for the t-hort weight, the matter was re- ferred to the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce, and their decision being adverse to the plaintiff, on the ground that the defendants only guaranteed the inspection in Cincin- nati, the case was carried to the Committee of Appeals, who confirmed the decision of the arbitrators. On being afterwards referred to a committee of the Pittsburgh Cham- ber of Commerce for consideration, a lengthy report was made, in which a very different view of the matter is taken. The committee sum up the cafe as follows : ' The committee respectfully dia6ent from the opinion of arbitrators for the reasons before named, to wit : That in the absence rf any law in Ohio r r quirirg aa inspector to weigh or determine the quantity of flojr in a bairel, and one hundred and ninety-fix pounds the legal established amount necessary to constitute a barrel, and with unques- tioned evidence as to the deficiency in weight, the com- mittee were bound tOiConsider the points in relation thereto, and that their decision upon such technical points againtt the plaintiff's recovery is unjust, aud subversive of prin- ciples that govern buyer and seller. " ' They also remark, that as the law in Ohio in regard to the inspection of flour now stands, fulse tares and fake weights may be practised upon the purchaser with im- punity and without redress. This is a still greater evil, in view of the fact that since the large advance in bread- stuffs false tares and fulse or deficient weights in flour have been and are proverbially common. They think that claims for such deficiencies should be made a cuss for legal deckion.' " Much of the flour that arrives at this port ir: s:iort in weight, and a false tare for th« package is by no meins of an uncommon occurrence, but it is difficult to determine what is the best remedy. Sometimes the barrel is badly made, and the flonr sifts cut in transportation ; this is es- pecially true in winter, when flour is brought in for a long distance over the railroads, a loss of from 3 to 5 lbs. being alraost certain. There are many millers, however, who do not give full standard weight, and something should be done to prevent this fraud. In dry goods the statutes of New York and Pennsylvania exact a penalty for short measure ; if the same rule were adopted in regard to flour, and the seller were obliged to restore three-fold the defi- tittity, there »ouJd ba (ewer complaints of light weight." benefit of the State, and not go into the pocket o the collector. In applying the test of the above principles, let U be remembered, that our present tax is 20 ets. oa the hundred dollars of value, or one fifth of one pef cent. In 1842, when the taxes were first raised to preserve the hoDor of the State, and the whole sys- lom of taxation was reformed, the then amount of 12 cents, or half of 1 per cent.— but little more thaa half the present sum— was considered so heavy thai a hue and cry was raised by one party, which de- feated the other, and fixed from that time forth the political character of Albematle county, the resi- dence of the resolute and patriotic member who moved and carried the lax in the face of oppositiou even from his own friends. The present rate is deemed so high, that rather than increase it material- ly, every Internal Improvement which the State has patronized is to be suspended, and only so much ad- ded to tLe present burdens as will pay obligation; now due, and prevent the shame of repudiatioa As no one disputes the necessity of these improve- ments, some idea of the popular sense of the pres- ent amount of taxation, may be inferred from the course decided on. I. The following figures, from the Richmond Daily Dispatch, will show the amount and value of Guano and Plaster imported into Richmond wi&a» the year. Value* £1,026,576 33,W» 20.9K 23,814 - $l,081,l» Peruvian guan*, Mexican u Plaster, Total, Allowing Petersburg, the only other point o£ Stale Inspection for Guano and Plaster, to stll one third as much, which is certainly within the mark, we have 31,752 tonsata value of $1,441,573. Upoa this amount the Inspector's fees, at 20 cents per ton, are $6,548 40 (or 5,562 80 Ibr the Richmond, ajmI $1,587 60 for the Petersburg Inspector.) This is 45 cents on the hundred dollars of value on all, «r more than double the present rate of State tax: But the tax is the same on all, though they are worth respectively $60, $30 and $5 per ton, and o£ course they pay inversely to their values, the tax being twice as high on Mexican guano, and twelve times as high on gypsum as it is on Peruvia* guano, while superphosphates and other artificial, manures, which afford facilities for fraud, are never seen by the inspector at all. There are about 50,000 hogsheads of tobaew annually inspected in the State; their average weight may be assumed at 1,300 lbs.; ihe average value $7 the cwt.; total 65,000,000 lbs., wortk $4,550,000 or $91 per hhd. To ^et at the tax opoa, this we have only to compare the charges as th*y are in Richmond — assumed to be a fair sample ill not tolerate any other form of package. The truth is, if flour is intended to be disposed of in any short time, barrels are useless, for bags will answer every purpose. They are cheaper in the propor- tion of 2j to 51, as we have shown. They are more readily adapted lo the habits of the consu- mer, (who if European never wants a barrel,) they take no room, are always in demand, and can be returned to the miller — a common practice where they are used. Wherea* the barrel is either thrown away or sold at one third cost, and is a dead loss to somebody. If the flour is intended for keeping, or for warm latitudes and exposures, a barrel, espe- cially one with a hole in it, is not sufficient. Louis Jfapoleon in 1 853 "conceived the idea that it would be practicable to compress flour so as to diminish the balk, and in lhat way facilitate its transporta- tion, and yet not injure its quality. In July of that year, an experiment was made by his command to test his views. Flour, subjected to a hydraulic pres- sure of 300 tons, was reduced in volume more than twenty four per cent. On a close examination, it was ftMind to possess all the qualities it had previous to its violent treatment. It was then put into zinc boxes and sealed up. At the same time, other flour manufactured from the same wheat, but not com- pressed, was sealed up. * In October thereafter, seyeral boxes containing fcoth kinds of flour, were opened and examined. — The pressed was pronounced to be the best. — Twelve months after this, in October, 1864, another examination took place, and with the same result. The two kind? were theo kneaded iciv Jfl/?7?^ &J?d baked. The pressed floor made the best bread. Ih March, '55, more of the zinc boxes were opened, and on examination the loose floor showed mouldi- ness, while the pressed was sweet and retained all its qualities. Made into bread, the same difference* were observable."— [Albany Journal.] From this we perceive that the foreign flour trade- of the United States isnot yet up to the mark. Such precautions as are necessary, such as an enlightened shipper would take but for the law, will warrant an excellence in the flour that will repay them by its- higher price. The envelope will then form a pan of the value, and not as now, merely a part of the price. The provisions of these laws then, in making it penal to modify trade either to suit the habits of the consumer, or lo ensure a better article, not only defeat their own object but violate sound commer- cial policy. In attempting to guarantee the quality of any ar- ticle it is assumed by the government that there is a difference of interest between the seller and the purchaser. "By accident," says Burke, treating a cognate subject, "it may be so undoubtedly at the outset; but then the contract is of the nature of a compromise; and compromise is founded on cir. cumstances that suppose it the interest of the par- ties to be reconciled in some medium. The piin- ciples of compromise adopted, of consequence the interest ceases to be different." In fact all sales are compromises, and when government steps in, ex- cept to enforce agreements, orpunish frauds in them, it injures both parlies. So generally is this ac- knowledged among us, so intertwined with our no- tions of individual action, that it is not too much assert that, apart from the question of protection to manufactures, every citizen of the United States is an absolute free trader. How in certain commo- dities the anomaly of inspections has grown up among us, it is not necessary now to show, though it may be stated lhat originally the ascertainment of quality was merely incidental to their main pur- pose. But it is easy to show that it violates all the analogies of trade, and works a positive injury te it. These principles lie at the bottom of commerce ; competition which is axiomatically called the life of trade, warranty, and caveat emptor— (Angllce judge for yourself.) These are of universal ap^> plication ; the first absolutely ; the two last alter- natively. Whatever tends to supplant them ishurti ful, because it destroys the tools, so to *peak,witb, which the merchant works. The influence of Id. spections on competition has been illustrated above in the case of flour. It has also been shown, in note, page 83, how the warranty of a responsible merchant is destroyed by the mark of an irrespon- sible- Inspector. It is obvious how it operates to destroy the third by substituting the opinion of an Inspector not nece-s*arlly a judge,- and sometimes THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. unskilled in the dutioe of his office, for the judg- ment of a man whoso profits depend directly on his skill, and whose interest, which is a part of thepublic interest, leads him to learn the business he pursues. Commercial policy is also opposed to a tax on commodities. Such a tax Is the compulsory to- bacco and flour inspection. The man who is com- pelled to ship inspected flour in barrels pays, ac- cording to calculations submitted above, 61 cents per barrel; or 12| cents per bushel on wheat. It has been stated that $50,009 will build ?nd equip a mill capable of turning out 300 barrels of flour per day ; and that by drawing bills on the flour as each cargo goes forward, $30,000 is capital suffi- cient to carry on the businoss. At this rate it will require about $1,000,000 to make 700,000 barrels of flour at 61 cents per barrel. The addition to the capital necessary to conduct the business varies from 6 to 10 per cent., according to the variation in the price of wheat, and makes just that much dis- crimination against a rising and important branch of manufactories, tending to drive capital into other pursuits, and to compel the grower of wheat to seek his market outside the Commonwealth. Upon 4his outlay the miller charges, as upon any other portion of his investment, though in fact it is so much withdrawn from actual production or divert- ed to unprofitable channels. It reduces competi- tion, and in so far gives him a monopoly, while it injures him by making it necessary to raise the price of his flour, and so checks the demand. It thus seems that a tax on commodities, which is an indirect tax on profits, takes more out of the pockets, of the payer than it puts into the hands of the receiver. This shows a dead loss to some- body. It is not to the miller, who only advances the tax, but it is to the consumer or producer. If to the producer, then it is a charge on his crop, and an additional tax on his production, just as if he had had to expend that much more in making the erop. If to the consumer, then it either drives him to other markets, or deprives us ofjust so much advantage as might be derived from the removal of the tax. Thus, if flour were worth $10 per bar- rel, a tax of 61 cents remitted to our producer would enable our millers to take $9 39 per barrel, and thus get the control of the market by under- selling competitors. On the same principle it would enable a miller to extend his business by the per centage of the tax, thus creating a greater de- mand for wheat. But perhaps a still more important view of the commercial impolicy of these laws is derived from a consideration of their influence on our commer- cial relations with other States — their action as transit duties. Conceding, argumentatively, the right to impose such a tax on their products as a condition of shipment from our ports, let us at- tempt to estimate its effect on our commerce. Vir- ginia has entered on the raee of competition for the trade of the great West. A canal and two rail roads with lateral branches, are stretched out towards that quarter. The future increase of that trade baffles calculation ; its present immensity cannot be real- ized from the unusual array of figures that exhi- bit its amount ; detailed illustration can alone impress its magnitude on the apprehension ; and we shall argue from a single example of that na- ture. The wheat of Tennessee has been found upon trial in Richmond to be as good as our own. Eight of her fertile counties, tributary to the Vir- ginia and Tennessee road, with no other outlet, and as yet defoid of that, produce 300,000 bushels of wheat. If twelve of the less fertile counties of the valley of Virginia produce 4,008,000 bushels; if the county of Amelia, under the recent stimu- lus of rail roads and guano, has increased her crop from 26,000 to 360,000,000 bushels ; if on* farm that we know of has risen in 13 years from 600 to 75,000 bushels, or 1250 per cent increase; it will be safe to calculate the future increase of those counties at 3,600,000 bushels, or 720,000 bar- rels flour, an excess nearly doubling the present export of Richmond. Supposing a barrel to be a* incumbrance— the tax under our present laws o» this fraction of our expected tribute is $432,000, of which neither State nor the rail road gets one cent. Now if the transportation be 60 cents pec barrel, as on the basis of the charges on the road from Wheeling to Baltimore— 75 cents per barrel —it may be assumed to be, the repeal of our law, operating a remission of the tax, would be equi- valent in its effects on the trade to free transporta- tion of the flour. Here is the greatest damage of these laws ; prospective it may be, but actual it will be, if they are not repealed. Let us remember that the simple requirement to brand Kentucky, Missouri and Ohio tobacco as " Western," has driven that description of produce to Baltimore and curtailed our market by nearly one half, and we may see how sensitive is trade, and how incommensurate to the cause is the effect of absurd legislation or improper tribute. Already have our laws compelled North Carolina flour, which cannot get barrels, and uses sacks perforce, to go to sea through Charleston harbour. We may rely on it that a release from these duties i» one of the directions that competition will take. New York, ever sagacious and enlightened im commerce, has begun to feel her way thither, and sooner or later we must follow her example. Why not anticipate if? The principle already prevails as the settled policy of the Federal government, which, by Mr. Hunter's warehousing system, re- mits all transit duties, and is content, as we should be, to find its profit in the carriage and the com- missions. It is mortifying to find Virginia claim- THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 89 ing her " plateful of biscuit" from every barrel of transit flour, when the commercial world applauds President Pierce's stand on the Danish Sound dues. We have said that inspections violate all the analogies of trade; and it might be sufficient to state in proof that neither England nor France, which, with ourselves, form the great commercial trio of the world, have any inspection of the quality of merchandize within their dominions. But our own commerce is exempt from them, except in a very few articles. Cotton, which is worth some §80,000,000 per annum, has never had a legal inspection. The purchases are all made by brokers, who buy according to samples on the counter of the commission merchant, and rarely see a bale of the article they contract for. Yet there is scarcely ever cause of complaint. It is a point of honor, as it is a matter of highest interest, with the planter, that there should be none. And so accurate is the mode of doing busi- ness that if there be cause of complaint it is at once fastened on the proper persons. The know- ledge of this keeps all things straight. Sugar, again, which has increased in production nearly four hundred per cent, in twenty years, and now gives an income of eighteen millions to the planters, never has been inspected. Nei- ther 13 molasses, which is peculiarly subject as all know, to change of quality. In these last the tare of the hogshead is agreed at a certain weight . If it is supposed to exceed that amount, a less price per hhd. will easily adjust the differ- ence, just as a butcher in buying cattle at a tare of one half, always pays more in proportion for those that will " gain upon the scales," as it is termed, i. e. overgo the nett weight allowed. So of corn and wheat, which, though more exposed to injury than flour or meal, are yet never inspec- ted by law. So of our imports. Dry goods of all descriptions are either made to order or sold ready made ; in both cases by sample ; and so assured are all parties of a correspondence to the sample, that the goods are never examined from the time they leave the warehouse of the manufacturer, until after pas- sing through several hands they reach the counter of the retail merchant. A simple card pasted on some familiar spot, tells all that the parties wish to know. ■ Coffee, which is taken so largely in payment of flour, is never subjected to legal inspection. The broker examines the samples of the bags or pack- ages, buys by them, and ships them to his prin- cipal along with the article bought, properly marked and numbered. We recently saw in the office of one of our city millers a letter enclosing an account of purchases of this kind, with eighty- five samples of quality, all of which -were satis- factory. The same thing can be done and will be done ire the progress of the flour trade. The miller will sample his own flour before it is packed ; he can then do it intelligently and reliably, because he knows what kind of wheat ho is grinding ; and the merchant will purchase by the sample, as in other kinds of business ; he judging for himself as to quality of sample, the miller warranting con- formity to it. Public opinion and private interest will attend to the morals of the transaction; and the wants of the consumer, aided by the vigilance of him who supplies them, will fix the quality of tho merchandize far better than a government Inspector can ever do. So at least we infer from the analogies of common life not less than from the experience of trade. " As a general rule," says J. S. Mill, "the busi- ness of life is better performed when those who have an imm diate interest in it, are left to take their own course, uncontrolled either by the man- date of the law, or by the meddling of any public functionary. The persons, or some of the persons, who do the work, are likely to be better judges than the government, of the means of attaining the particular end at which they aim. Were we tc* suppose, what is not very probable, that the gov- ernment has possessed itself of the meaus of attain- ing the best knowledge, which had been acquired up to a given time, by the person most skilled in the occupation ; even then the individual agent has so much stronger and more direct an interest in the result, that the means are far more likely to be improved and perfected, if left to his uncon- trolled choice." It was inspections which taxed so heavily the pro- ductive energies of France up to the Revolution, that has left not a vestige of them ; and it was entire freedom from them, which, according to Adam Smith, did more than any thing else to give to England its vigorous commercial development. They are, in fact, but applications of the principle of" paternal government," " which would not now be attempted in even the least enlightened coun- try of the European commonwealth of nations." Introduced into our code, at an early period of colonial history, when the true principles of trade .vere so little understood that what was deemed surplus tobacco was burnt to keep up the price of the balance, and inconsiderately adopted by other States under the force of our example, many people not only submit to these laws as proper, but demand them as a right; just as the Hindoo devotee comes in time to prefer that bed of spikes which he first elected in ignorance and delusion. But the harshness of their original features has been already greatly mitigated, and we may hope that in no long time they will yield to the influ- ence of more enlightened principles. 90 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. It remains to answer objections that have been urged against the repeal of inspection laws. Of these, very few that we have heard are worth noting. The inspection laws of Maryland have been appealed to as an argument in favor of re- taining our own. But as her laws are just the same as those we oppose, it is not perceived how ber practice is an argument against us, or any thing more than a repetition of a contested prin- ciple. If her experience is meant to be invoked, ' then, as her flour is, by assertion of our opponents, lower in grade than our own, her experience is that much in our favour, and all the way against our adversaries, who contend that inspections * have given Virginia flour the command of the markets of the world." The letters of " eminent New York merchants," are confidently appealed to to show the favorable working of our system, and some six of them are enumerated against " the few firms" in Richmond who favor repeal. Passing by the remarkable difference between six and " a few," and making no objection to the imperfect mode of deciding a case by the one-sided and very limited testimony introduced, we shall prefer in this case to credit our own well known and highly reputed mer- chants, and claim on our side the testimony, of Lewis Webb & Son, Shields & Somerville, and Bacon & Baskerville. Their letters to Mr. Cren- shaw, stating that they have paid more for his superfine flour than for country extra superfine, prove that the Inspection Laws under an unexcep- tionable Inspector, are not worth a groat, and that the New York merchants have made a mistake. If the question to the millers had been dif- ferent^* worded their testimony might have been worth something one way or the other. But it cannot fail to strike the most careless reader that a gentleman may from many motives acquiesce in a law which is of not the least benefit to him. If the question, with liberty to cross-examine, had oeen, " How does the inspection law operate on your flour?" a veiy different answer might have been obtained. The last point we shall notice is the presumed value ot the law in detecting light weight and false tare. For five years the fines amount, it is said, to the sum of ©1267 45- As the fine for such cases is heavy, and increases in a much more rapid pro- portion than the lightness of weight, being eight cents each for the first three pounds, and seventeen cents for each pound thereafter, it is presumable that the deficiency was small in each case to lessen the risk of detection and the weight of ihe fine. Taking the one third as covering the real value of the deficiency— at 3| cents per pound, we have the sum of $442 45 saved the consumers in five years. The inspector's fees at the same time amount, on the basis of Mr Crenshaw's experiment, to 1,148,374 lbs., or, at the same price with the above, to $40,228 09. This is at the rate of 886 lbs. to Mr. Delaplane for every four lbs. of Kght weight detecied, or ten dollars to him for every tea cents saved the consumer. This looks like baiting with a fish to catch a worm ; and is a very pretty il- lustration of Mr. M'Cullock's doctrine in the matter of smuggling, that it costs a good deal more to pre* vent such roguery under high duties, than the roguery itself amounts to. Of argument in favor of retaining the Inspections of Guano and Plaster and Tobacco, we have seen none that are not answered in the body of this esyay. In conclusion, it may be allowed us to say ob behalf of the Executive Committee, that they have never assumed in this matter to speak for the Society at large farther than to recite its aetiofi respecting a repeal of the law constituting an inspec- tion of Guano and Plaster. Their preamble diieat- ly excludes implication to any farther extent, and lakes on themselves the sole responsibility. That responsibillity results from the reasonable discre- tion with which general instructions invest every agent, and which makes it a duty to consider all propositions for reform, and adopt such as they think expedient. That responsibility they are ready to meet before an authorized tribunal. But they will not stand at the bar of the demo- cratic or any other party. Their most anxious study has been to steer clear of politics; and they will not now even seem to depart from that rule so far as to argue whether the reforms they advo- cate do not come within the range of things in- different ; and whether those who would give them a party character do not infringe that right of private judgment, which is the comer stone of freedom. IRISH POTATOES AND TOMATOES. We are indebted to Gen. Wm. H. Richardson for several letters on the cultivation of Irish Potatoes and Tomatoes, from some of the most successful growers about Norfolk, where, as is well known, these two important esculents are very largely cul- tivated for the Northern markets, and we regret to say, to some extent for the supply of Richmond also. ,Polatucs. — The ground having been deeply bro- ken and thoroughly drained, harrow to put it in good order. Then run furrows at least six inches deep and four feet apart, and strew guano along the bottom at the rate of one peck to twohundred yards; then fill about two thirds full with unfermented form yard manure made from horses, hogs, and cattle that have been well treated. Then drop the pota- toes, cut into pieces containing two or more eyes, in the manure, about nine inches apart, with the skin up, and cover with the plough not more than from three to four inches deep. Two light foiwrs THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 91 of a one horse plough are best. As soon as the potatoes are beginning to come up, run four times ibetween each row with a one horse plough, throwing the dirt to the potatoes, and follow immediately wiih a light harrow, running on the top of each bed, taking care that the harrow teeth do not run deep enough to displace the manure. When the potatoes are about six or eight incites high, reverse this ope- ration by throwing the soil from them; and in three or four days give the last plowing by running four £imes in each row, giving the dirt to them as in the Eirst instance. If there be any oats or weeds grow- ng amongst the potatoes which the plough has not lestroyed, make small boys follow and pick them put, at the same time uncovering and straightenins the weak plants that are sometimes buried by the plough. They should never be worked after the blossom has expanded. No hoe is ever used in the crop. They are harvested more expeditiously by the plough. The twentieth of February is consid- ered early enough for planting in that climate; and bo difference in size, or quality, or early maturity, nas been perceived between planiings of the last of February and the last of March. This is the plan recommended by Col. Edward H. Herbert, the President of the Seaboard Agricul- tural Society. The practice of Mr. Henry Irwin is slightly Jifferent. Guanoing at the rate of 15 lbs. to the hun Ired yards, he drops the cuttings on the guanoed "arrow, and then follows with a slight dressing of lorse manure, or a heavy dressing of half stable ma lore and half woods litter, which has been mixed tame munths before. In covering he throws up "a ;ood ridge" to protect them from the cold weather in March; and as soon as that month, or as he thinks ;he severe weather is over, he harrows down the idges to let the sun have its full force on the wtatoes, in which condition they remain till they ire high enough to work. This seems to be also essentially the practice of Uol. Thos. A. Hardy, who uses his oldest manure irst, "putting the newest manure on the last plani- ng to help the potatoes forward as fast as pos- iible by means of the heat generated by the fermen- ation and decomposition." "If the land is heavy the quantity of guano may je increased, provided the land is well drained, Uherwise the crop will not mature so soon," says Mr. Irwin. But "guano alone will not answer or potatoes," says Col. Hardy, 'unless the land >e very rich in organic matter and of a loose .exture." Seed potatoes raised in our climate in the fall will be two weeks later than good Northern M:r- :ers; but they will keep better through the winter. Tomatoes. — Sow the seed about the 20ib of Jan tary, in a hot bed, prepared as follows: Take the itter from the stable, composed of manure, stalks, leaves, &c., and put it at the bottom of the bed to the depth of five inches; on this put three inches of soil made of old horse manure and rich earth, thoroughly mixed and as fine as possible. Keep this bed warm; but after the plants have come up, take great care not to let the hot sun shine on them unless you give them plenty of fresh air at the same time by raising the sash. If you find the plants growing up very thin, they have too much heat, and must be aired. When the plants are rom three to five inches high, which is eaily in March, they are transplanted into another bed called "the transplanting bed," prepared as the first, only with less heating matter below and deeper soil on top. In this set the plants in rows six inches apart, and water them and stir the ground around them as you wish them to grow fast or not. The transplanting bed should be well warmed before setting the plants, and for several days must be kept warm, and the sun not al- lowed ro shine on the plants. To keep it warm cover the sash and ends with straw or thick cotton. In very cold weather too much care cannot be taken to keep out the frost. If the mice trouble the plants, trap them. When all danger of frost is over — say 20ih of April in Norfolk county — take up theplants, earth and all, and set them in the field, having the ground checked four feet each way, with a spade lull of well rotted horse manure under each plant In the market gardens they are culiivated chiefly with the plough, the hoe being used to hill up. In case of drought they use ihe plough freely. They never support the vines with sticks. If the season is dry, guano alone will bring them ; but for a certain crop horse manure is the thing. It will be seen that tomatoes thus raised are a difficult and expensive crop. It requires seve- ral seasons experience to grow them successfully, and this is the reason they pay so well. Very few attend to them properly. The above mode may do where they are raised on a large scale for market, but it will h;udly do to pursue this plan in an ordinary kitchen garden, where most probably none but amateurs will take the lime and trouble which are involved. Certainly no one should do it who is sure of an opportunity of buying the early plants, which for a family of moderate size, will not cost more than from fifty cents to a dollar. Tomatoes are very difficult to force, and it is not possible to bring them in more than three weeks before the regular time of ripening in the same quality of soil with ordinary garden culture; and the small \olunteer is generally of better flavor than the monsters we so often see which are nearly all pulp and no seed. Indeed, market gaideners have discarded these latter, and we rarely ever see thetn, except with thu.-e who like to make a dish. They are acid, hard to ripen 92 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. very properly and uniformly, apt to rot, and troublesome to prepare for the table. It is said that all sorts will bear better if short eaed in the branches. It is possible they may, but very likely the viae will be exhausted more speedily. AILMENT IN COWS. A correspondent wishes to know what will cure cattle of the ailment, especially those brought from Western Virginia to the counties around Richmond. If he will look in the numbers of the Planter for last year he will find two articles on the subject, one by a gentleman near Richmond, and another by Dr. Crump of Powhatan. They treat of differ- ent diseases — one of biliouB fever, the other of dis- temper. What they say, and what Dr. Morton said on the same subject in his essay a year or so ago, is all we know on the subject, except that we lost three very fine Albemarle .cows this fall out of a herd of ten by some such rascally disease. THE NOTTOWAY AGRICULTURAL CLUB. We are again indebted to the Nottoway Agricul- tural Club for a large contribution to the Planter. One of the rules of that Club is that each mem- ber shall write an essay or report an experiment ©nee a year. The papers thus reported have heen sent to us for publication. We shall insert them from time to time as their subject matter makes them appropriate to the season. One peculiar val- ue they possess : the facts they present are accom- panied by the name in every case. How greatly would it benefit Agriculture if the other Clubs in Virginia could be induced to send us their papers, or selections and extracts from them. We have frequently invited them to do so REPUBLICATION OP THE LEADING ENGLISH. REVIEWS. See the advertisement of the publishers thereof in another place. We have received the January number of Blackwood, with the following enter- taining list of contents : The Gold Screw and its consequences ; The new Peace Party; Military Adventure in the Pyrenees, part 1 ; Lancashire Strikes ; The Inns of Court and the Bar of England; Wet Days at Bryn Cefn; Drinking and Smoking; On the state of the British Army. A RECEIPT TO COOK A SIRLOIN OP BEEF. Take the sirloin, orhalfof.it, and cut the meat from the hone; prepare a stuffing of bread, one or two eggs, an onion, pepper, salt, and a little mace, ornutmeg, with apiece of butter as large as an egg. Lay the sirloin on the table, with the side that was next to the bone uppermost ; Spread over the meat one half or two thirds of the stuffing, roll it up tightly, and secure it with strings. Roast it as you would any other piece. . Take the bones and any little shreds of meat that have been left in boning it, put them in a stew paH, cover them with water, and simmer slowly for the gravy ; put in as a seasoning the same ingredients that were used for the stuffing ; — if herbs, thyme, parsley or mar- joram are to be had, add them to both. When the meat is done, make into cakes or balls the stuf- fing that was reserved, fry them in the drippings that the meat was basted with, after which strain the drippings, stir into it a spoonful of flour, and then gradually pour on the gravy made from the bones, &c, and give it a boil up. Serve the meat with the pied stuffing placed round it, and the gravy in a boat. The meat must be kept until it is tender. — Dr. KiUkener. A SWEET POTATOE PUDDING. Take a pound of sweet potatoes, boiled and mashed, 5 eggs, and a pound of white sugar ; beat the eggs light and stir them in the potatoes and sugar, reserving two spoonfuls of the sugar. Sea- son with a lemon, or two if small, put it in to a buttered dish, or two buttered plates, and bake. Turn it out when done, and sift the remaining su- gar over while hot. Eat either hot or cold — it is better cold. It will be found scarcely inferior to lemon pudding. TONIC FOR HORSES. The best remedies, for restoring the digestive functions of the horse are : Powdered Gentian, 1 oz. Powdered Ginger, A oz. Do Sal 2 oz. do Charcoal 1 oz. Mix, divide into eight parts and give one with food, night and morning. — Am. Vet. Journal. SOWING LIME ON WHEAT TO PREVENT INJURY FROM FLY. We are very much indebted to Col. Fountain, President of the Central Rail Road, for the follow- ing letter, which he handed us a day or so ago. We know Mr. Cochran well. He is a practical Farmer, and a practical man every way ; therefore his opinion is at least entitled to consideration, and his recommendations to a fair trial on ever so small a scale. He has tried this plan for several years, and always, as he has stated to us, with un- varying success. AVe published a letter from him to the same purport some two or three years ago. Will some of our friends try itl we know all will not — and report the result to us. Those who have sowed guano on their wheat need not have the slighest fear of any injury to that from the use of the lime. Locn Willow, Augusta Co., Jan. 5th, 1S5G. My Dear Sir :— Yours of the 27ih ultimo, reached me a few days ago. Agreeably to your request, I hfer< • r with much pleasure my views, and ,»p >.- THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. rience which I have had in regard to the appli- cation of lime upon wheat: as I verily believe air-slacked or quick lime will effectually de- stroy the fly when properly applied in suitable quantities. I have tried it during the last two years; have a growing confidence in ite applica- tion since I am thoroughly satisfied of'its efficacy. My experience thus far is to apply (by sow- ing broad cast,) two bushels and a half to the acre, say about the 1st of November, and the same quantity sometime from the 1st to the 25th of April, giving two chances to get the lime dust on the blades of the wheat ; and also that the boot which forms around the stalk in the month of April, may become filled (on the day after sowing) with the ley made from the lime that falls. After sowing the lime, if you examine on the following morning, you will find large drops of ley on each blade, made by the dew, ready to be tilted upon the elevation of these blades into the boot around the wheat stalk. This ley, forward by the dew and lime, is sufficiently strong to burn off the tender parts of the fly and thus disable them from doing far- ther harm. This I know since 1 have seen it. It is not my impression now that even 10 bushels of lime applied in the month of April will injure the wheat, yet heretofore I hud feared without a test that it might possibly prove inju- rious. On last April. I put a bushel of unslacked lime in a barrel, to which 1 applied 12 or 15 gal- lons of water. After stirring the water and lime well together I staked off a piece of ground, four rods square, and with a common watering pot literally whitewashed the entire square. Upon this space the wheat was perfect, whilst that which surrounded it was seriously injured by the fly. Therefore I have more confidence in an application made in the month of April, than in November, and if we can have this made in a thorough manner, I do not apprehend from the fly the slightest injury. I would say more upon this subject, but have been confined to my room for six weeks and feel unable to do so at present. Yours truly, Jas. A. Cochran. P. S. — Apart from any tendency which lime may have in destroying the fly, I consider it of great value as a fertilizer, and will amply repay for its cost. J. A. 0. with a partridge, dove, lark, or any bird that can be conveniently shot, and let it be placed where the hawks make their appearance. I will warrant that every one coming in sight of it will be «aught. The bird should be tied on the trap, in as natural and life-like a position as possible, and where there is stock in the field, the trap should be placed on a fence, er stake, out of their reach. The hawk, seeing the bird, thinks it alive, makes a swoop at it without far- ther investigation, and is caught. I have 3 or 4 of these traps setting, and last winter I caught 16 hawks, two minks, an owl and a cat ; which last, as she was caught at least a mile from any human habitation, I was constrained to consider a legitimate prize. During the present winter, . I have taken 12 hawks and 2 owls, and the good work is still progressing "by day and by night." It is to be hoped that this communication will induce others to take the field and co-operate with Ollin. King William, Jan. 25lh, 1856. For the Southern Planter. HOW TO DESTROY HAWKS. Mr, Editor :— The information which I de- sign presenting to the public, is too vitally im- portant to poultry and partridges to be unde- serving of attention. The method which I shall ■gest for catching hawks, is one which my owo successful experience induces me to re- commend to every farmer. Lit any one who thes to try it, buy a steel-trap — (a size or two larger than the r ' for catching rati,) say, ' ( in< ' across the ; . . . ■ .-! [Translated from the Courier des Etats Unis.] For the Southern Planter. GAME IN NEW YORK. The hunters of Europe do not consider with- out reason the United States as a promised land, a terrestrial paradise, where partridges light of their own accord in the game bag and where pheasants fall already roasted upon the table. Marvellous stories are related of loads of the debris of game consumed daily on the prairies. Occasionally, also, we hear of horses having to be hired by the hunters to transport the booty to their dwellings. Nor is it in books that these wonderful descriptions arc tobe found, but in the recitals of witnesses worthy of faith; witnesses who can say: quorum pars magna fui. We hope we will not augment their regrets and jealousies if we give here some details on game, not on all that abounds in America, but on what arrives in the markets of New York, where are to be found, as in Paris, more gour- mands than hunters. New York is justly regarded as one of the best provisioned cities in the world in regard to game. The East. West and Canadas are tri- butary, and even Europe contributes with her English pheasants and her cocks of the Scotch heath to the recherchness of our tables. Venison, properly called, is found in all the markets in considerable quantities. Bucks are the most abundant and most esteemed of the species; stags are never rare in the season. In winterthcy are brought from the West, complete- ly dressed, and preserved by the frost, and are sold at a very moderate rate. Partridges abound from the .month of Sep- tember to the 5th of January, at which time the sale of them is forbidden by law. They are hunted in all the surrounding country, besides all through the Eastern and the most pari of the Southern States. The number received per clay is estimated at 300 a day, or 36,000 durinsr (he 14 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. season of lour months. They sell on an aver- age at 75 cents per pair. The season for woodcocks is from the 1st of July to the 1st of December. New York re- ceives during that time about 40,000. They bring on an average 75 cents a pair. Quails vary from $1.50 to $2.50 in autumn; but during the winter the price ot them falls to $1 a dozen. At this time they (rack them in the snow in immense quantities on the western plains, and whole cargoes of them arrive here. Grouse and prairie hens come exclusively from the West, where they are taken by bands of hunters, and then they bring but from 50 cents to $1 a pair. The number of them which the city of New York uses is enormous. There are but few bares in the Un ited States those few are found in New York and Rhode Island. The Canadas alone possess a suffi ciently great quantity of them. The species is much smaller and the flesh less esteemed than the European species. In winter the skin becomes all white. Notwithstanding the scar- city of them, they are sold at 50 cents a pair. About 30,000 of them are brought annually from the British possessions. The grey rabbit of the warren abounds every where. A pair is sold for 37 cents in the market. The wild ducks of America are justly re- nowned. Some varieties of the species are su- perior to any found elsewhere. Such, for ex- ample is the celebrated canvass back, which ex- ists only on this side of the Atlantic. The Eeculiarly exquisite tasle of this game is attri- uted to the wild celery on which it subsists almost exclusively on the Chesapeake Bay and the Susquehanna and Potomac rivers. The end of November and the month of December are most favorable for obtaining them well fatted and of a savory taste, though they remain until the middle of Spring. It is probable that New York consumed not less than 30,000 of them besides the very considerable quantity sent to Europe in the steamers. The price varies from $1 to $3 per pair. Next to the caivass back, the redhead is most esteemed. Many of them are killed upon the Sound. Of an excellent taste and very fine savor, the mean price is seldom above 75 cents to $1 a pair. Then comes : The Brant, considered the best salt water duck and the most delicate of all in the month of May ; — the Mallard, which never leaves the lakes and rivers ;— the black duck, the teal, the broadbill, which is found also on the sea shore ; — the Virginia grey duck ; — the duck with a blue or green tail; — all excellent species, the abun- dance of which in winter is such in our markets that the total number of them sold here can be estimated at not les3 than 70,000 or 80,000. Wild geese sell on an average at $1 a piece. New York consumes from 3,000 to 5,000 of then; in a winter. Ploversand snipes are divided into numerous varieties, of which some, particularly among the snipes, are unknown in Europe. Many of them have the form of the woodcock. So great is the abundance of them that at least 10,000 dozens of these birds must pass annually to the the tables of New York. To convey an approximate idea of the num- ber of wild pigeons passing through the coun- try, we may state that there arrived in the New York.markets 2000 dozens, in a single day. One merchant alone received at one time 60 barrels containing 1500 dozens. They bring from 50 cent3 to $1,50 a dozen. Thepe details exhibit the principal resources of New York in respect to game. Others may supply what we have left untold. M. Wythville, Va. DR. M'LANE'S VERMIPU(.E. During a practice of more than twenty yoars, Dr. McLane had attended innumerable patients afflicted with every form of worm diseases, and was induced to apply all the energies of his mind to the discovery of a vermifuge, or worm destroy- er, certain in its effects ; the result of his labors is the American Worm Specific, now before the pub- lic, which is perfectly safe, and may be given alike to children ot* the most tender, age or to the adult; it purges mildly and subdues fever, and destroys worms with invariable success. It is easy of ad- ministration, and as it does not contain mercury in any form whatever, no restrictions are necessary with regard to drinking cold water, nor is it capa- ble of doing the least injury to the tenderest in- fant. An incredible number of worms have been expelled by this great vermifuge. Purchasers will please be careful to ask for Dr. McLANE'S CELEBRATED VERMIFUGE, and take none else. All other Vermifuges, in compar- ison, are worthless. Dr. M'Lane's genpine Vermi- fuge, also his Celebrated Liver Pills, can now be had at all respectable Drug Stores in the United States and Canada. mh MOWING AND REAPING MACHINES. ALLEN'S CELEBRATED REAPING and MOW- ING MACHINES— These never clog, and can be worked on rough and stony surfaces. Wright's Reaper with Atkins's Sell-raker; Manny's, McCor : mick's, andHussey's Reapers, Ketchum's mower, and all other good machines. ALLEN'S Superior Horse-Power and Thresher;, also Bogardus's, Emery's, Hall's, Taplin's, and several other kinds. Agricultural and Horticultural Implements, a very large and complete assortment ; Field and Garden Seeds of all sorts ; Peruvian Guano, Su- perphosphate of Lime, Bone Dust, &c, &c. R. L. ALLEN, 189 and 191 Water-st., New York. mar 4t-p. A NEW WORK. GARDENING FOR THE SOUTH. By W. N. White, of Athens, Geoig ia. A most complete manual for every department of Horti- culture, embracing the Vegetable Garden, the Fruit Garden, the Flower Garden, and the pleasure Grouuds, adapted particularly to the Southern States. Price SI 25. To be obtained of all Booksellers, or sent by us nrepaidto any part of the Uniou on receipt of price. C. M. SAXTON & CO. Agricultural Book Publishers, 140 Fulton street, New York. mar It. THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 96 PAYMENTS To the Southern Planter, T» February 29, in-elusive. '56, '57, Wm B Taylor, Jan 58, Wm Perry, Jr, July '56, A S Hall, Jan '56, Chas Brock," '59, JDWatkin, " '56, R A Patterson, Nov "66, E R Chambers, Jan '56, W W Eustace, " '57, A H Drewrv, " " N M Asborne, " " J B Brockwell, " " A R Bowles, R Bagbv, B H Walker, J Venable, July '56, C G Coleman, Jan '57, W Anderson, " " 8 P Wilson, Sept '56, F W Smith, Jan '57, W A Reynolds, " '56, C Guerrant " '57, Jessee Jarratt, Julv '56, Chas Perrv, " Wm S Hinton, " John W Hart, Jan W S Smith, " '67, W Benton, July '55, C J Craddock, March, '56, J A Paul, Feb '56, Rufus Smith, Jan '57, J C Cabell, " " J Whitehead, " " G W Martin, " " R V Watkins Julv '56. C A Clark. Jan '56. B 8 Mills, July '56, J Singleton, Jan ! 57. John Johns, March '56, W R Aylett, Jan '57, Wm Martin, " '56, R Russell, " " F J Jeffress, Nov '• 8 T Weeller, Jan '57, Jos W Goodwin, Sept '56, W Hughes, Jan L Steenrod, " '57, J England, " " hx Johnson, Jan '57. E N Palmer, " " P J Carrington, " :: C M Adkisson, " " John Strong, Nov '56, R Morton, March " J R Thompson, Jan '57, W E Byrne, March '55, M R Kaufman, Jan '57, GWLawson, '"56, Dr A B Harkins, " '57, H Whiting, J M Bullock, Jas J White, B Bridgforth, Wm Overton, H F Miller, J A Womack, Wm Gordon, " " M Davis, Jr, Jan '56, R Jennings, " " '55, '57, '56, '57, C E Hamilton, " " A Ken, " '67, W C JeflVes, March 1856, John Saunders, Jan " J H Vaughn, " 1867, D W H Goodwin, " " WFBenUey, " " Maj P Flipps, " " 00 S P Ambler 1 00 J G Dalaney, " " 3 50 J 8 Moon, July 1855, 2 50 8 W Glazebrook, Jan 1857, 2 00 Dr R E Haskins, Jan 1858, 2 00 Dr W F Thompson, " '1857, 2 60 II Carrington, " " 3 00 Rev 8 J Price, " " 1 00 J R Bryan, " " 1 50 Edwin Hill, " " 1 00 H B Hnnter, July 1856, 1 00 W F Leavit, Jan 1857, 1 00 Rev A D Pollock, Jan 1857, 1 25 E H Turpin, Nov 1856, 1 00 T A Green, Oct 1 001 E Dromgoole, Oct " 3 00! J A Riddick, " " 1 00 3 00 Thomas Davis, Jan '57, 3 00 Wm McCoy, " " 1 00 J W Taylor, " " 1 00 Jas Trie*, " " 1 00 J A Harman, " '■ 2 00 $2 00 Wm S Ryland, " '57, 1 00 2 26 J E Harris, Sept '56, 1 00 1 00 D W Waller, Jan '57, 1 00 5 00 Z Drummond, " " 1 3 76 B Allen, Dec '56, 2 50 W 8 Mason, Jan '57, 15 00 W C Green, Sept '56, 1 00 J C Hughes, " " 1 00 J S Moss, " " 1 00| John Clayton, March '56, 1 00JE R Turnbuld, Jan '67, 1 00 R B Jones, " " 2 50 F Yates, " " 1 00 W E B Ruffin, " " 1 00 R F Taylor, " " 1 00 Mrs 8 H Powell, July '56, 1 00 J K Anderson, Jan '67, 1 00 Mrs A M Moon, " " 1 00 Blair Burwell, " " 1 00 Jno M Prester, July '57, 1 00 W J D Bell, Oct '56, 1 00 J K Marshall, Jan '58, 1 25 Thos F Spencer, " '57, 1 00 W W Wilkins, " " 2 50 J J Ambler, Jr, " ". 2 00 D B Gladner, " " 1 00 D W Gwathmey, Jan '57, 1 25 C B Easley, " " 3 44 Wm 8 Pavne, " " 1 00lR S Paine, " " 1 00 R H Turner, " " 1 00, Hart & Hays, " " 2 50ijno C Baugh, July 1856, 1 25! S W Somerville, March '56 12 50! H C Sand, Jan 1856, 5 00 W T Sledge," 1857, 2 00|T Whitaker, Jan " 1 25, W R Smith, " " 1 00! J C Han, " " 2 50iW L Moon, Feb 1856, 2 00!m Osborne, Jan 1857, 1 00 J R Woods, " " 1 00! T B Mcltobert, March 1856 1 00 H C Watkin;, January 1857 1 25; Chas Smith, " " 2 OOlDr J P Tabb, 2 25 R T Hubard, " " 1 OOlBC Jones, 1 00;Dr T A Fied„ " " 1 1 00'Ge:i D B Pay Lie, Sept 1850. 1 00Ro A Hill, Jan 1857, 1 00!pr 8 C Crump, Jan 1857, 1 00 J Gravely, " " 1 00. W H Clarke. " " 2 50 Z C Vaughau. " 1850, 1 00' J D B Bibb, " 1&57, 1 00 Col R Ellvson, " " 1 00JJ Laster, " 1856. 1 25 T T Tottv. " 1857, 1 OOiJ T Spencer, " " 5 00W C Bell, " " 2 00 Wm II Taylor, July 1858, 2 00 John Roe, March 1857, 1 00 Jas 1' Marshall, Jan 1857, 1 25 T R Joyne.i, July 1850, 1 06 James Phillips, Nov 1856 2 25 J C Phillips, " " 1 00,T W Parker, April 1 00,W Thornhill, Jan 1857, 1 00 1 00 1 36 2 00 1 00 1 00 50 00 00 00 00 00 00 50 00 oo 00 00 00 00 00 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 2 00 1 50 1 25 1 00 F C Roetor, " " Dr C P Heartwell, Jan 1857, Ro Kirkland, " " J BLundy, " " Wm H House, June 1856, M Noble, March " B GRoss, Julv " J E Shell, Oct 1867, T Saunders, " 1866, G A Chaffin, July " T G Plummer, April 1856, T Dillard, Jan " GW Daniel," HIIHite, Sept S T Miller, Jan 1857, D rP Trent, " " Dr P W Meriwether, Jan : 57 4 00! Dr J II Minor, " " 1 OOJ J R Wright, March 1857, 1 12'j F Childrey, Jan " 1 00 N F Bowe, July 1856. 1 00|J M Garnett, Jan 1856, 1 25! T S Huntley, ' 1 OOjT J Garden, 2 00 1857 1 25;jPTumley, "1866, 00 R F Ward, " " 5 00 C F Morton, " " 00 R & J Haines, Jan 1857, WHHajncs, " " W W Anderson " A. W. Reams, Jan. 1856. R. Baylor, Jan. 1857. C. P. Friend, 1857, S. C. Anderson, 1877, F. G. Garth, 1857, J. D. Davis, July 1856, S. Barber, Jan. 1857, J. B. Downman, Jan. 1857 F. Parramore, Jan. 1857, N. Miller, Jan. 1857, 3 00|R; Miller, Jan. 1857, 1 00 W. J. Young, Apr. 1857, Thos. Bruce, Jan. 56. M. M'Donald- July, 1867 E. R. Perry, Jan. 1857, W. R Moseley, Jan, 1867, 8. Hudly. Jan. 1856, 3 00 2 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 3 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 5 00 1 00 2 00 2 00 2 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 00 00 26 1 00 1 00 1 00 3 00 4 00 3 00 1 00 2 00 4 00 4 00 2 00 1 25 00 00 00 00 25 1 00 2 00 20 00 00 00 00 00 00 75 00 00 2 00 1 00 1 00 00 00 00 00 25 8 76 00 00 00 00 50 50 50 50 00 00 00 60 00 1 00 00 60 96 THE SOUTHERN PLANT K 6 W. G. Daniel, Jan. 1856, 1 B. T. Tavlor, Jan. 1857, 1 G. W. Hunter, July 1856, 2 B. Edmunds, Jan. 1857, 2 W. G. Friend, Jan. 1857. 1 Mrs. C. L. Armistead, Ja. '57,1 Thos. AViley, Jan. 1867, 3 Henry Hill, Jan. 1857, 1 B. Billing, Sept, 1850, 1 W. S. Riddick, Mar. 1856, 1 0. 8. LeaTett, Jan. 1857, 1 W. H. Trent, Jan. 1857, 2 Chas. Yates, July 1856, 2 B- Coles. March 1850, 3 C. Rea, Nov. 1856, 1 Capt. P. C. Goodwin, Jan. '57 2 C. S. Johnson, Jan. 1857, 1 J. C.Bruce, Jan. 1858, 2 B. Burton, jr. Jan. 1857. 1 A. 8. Wheeler, Apr. 1856, 5 J. W. A Saunders, Jan. 1857 1 Geo. C. Robertson, Sept. '56 1 A. R. Cheatham, Jan. 1857, 1 0- R.Funsten, 1857, 1 0. F. Crutchfield, Jan. 1857, 1 W. H. Nicholson. Jan. 1857, 2 J. E. Nicholson, Jan. 1857, 2 A. A. Legrand, March, 185R. 1 J. Robertson, July, 1856, 4 D. Simmors, Jan. 1857, 1 Wm. Callis, Jan. 1857, 1 Jno. Chandler, Jan. 1857, 1 Jno. T. Harris, Jan. 1857, 1 Geo. Fitzgerald, Jan. 1857, 1 W. R. Bland, Jan. 1857, 1 6. E. Hardy, Jan. 1857, 1 J. R. Jones, July, 1856, 2 R. B. Brydie, Jan. 1857, 1 T. R. Hazard, Oct. 1856, 2 P. S. Carrington, Jan. 1858, 2 W. M. Woodson, Nov. 1856 1 8. 0. Moon, Jan 1857, 3 Tfm. Biddings, Jan. 1857, 2 C. H. Lewis, Mar. 1856, 2 D. E. Jiggitts, Jan. 1857, 1 25. J. CKneight, Jan. 1858 7 00 P. F. Jones, March, 1856 10 00 G. Hargrove, March, 1856 4 00' J. G. Tamman. Jan, 1857, 1 00' J. 8. Walrond, Jan. 1857, 1 00! Dr. J Mottlev, Jan. 1857, 2 00 Dr. W. G. Pollard. Jan. 1857, 1 00 S. T. Chandler, Jan. 1857, 1 00 Dr. J. D. Spraggins, Jan. '57,3 50|Rev. S. Taylor, Jan. 1857. 1 00, Wm. Williams, July 1856, 2 25lj. Purly, July, 1856, 3 00' J. A. Rives, Jan. 1857, 2 00 J. Rangelyjr., Jan. 1857, 1 001 J. S. Turner, Jan. 1857, 1 0l)l Dr. T. Header. Jan. 1856, 5 00 j Judge W. Field, Jan. 1857, 1 00 1 Parker West, Jan. 1857, 3 00, W. Walden, Jan. 1857, ' 1 OOjP. J. Massie. Jan. 1857 2 00 Capt, G. Choice, Jan. 1857, 2 00 A. W. Nolting, Jan. 1857, 00 1 A. F. Carlton, Jan. 1857, 00 W. J. Bingham; Jan. 1857, 00 J. Workman, Jan. 1857, 25 S- Marburv. Jan. 1856, 25 Dr. Thos. Smith, Jan. 1858, 25 Henry Brock, Jan. 1857, 00JA. Brown, Jan. 1857, OOJH Stvron,Dec. 1856. 00|H. R. Robev, Jan. 1857, 001 C.W. Bell. Jan. 1857. 50 W. W. Watkins, Jan. 1857 00 M. Tredwav, Jan, 1857 00|T. W. Walton, Jan. 1857, 00 R. W. Crrter, Jan. 1857. 00 Ed. Lovd,ir., Jan. 1858, G N. Gwathmey, Jan. 1857 Dr. J. N. Sheppard, Jan. '57 G. F. Davison, Sept, '57, J. A. Early, Nov. 1856, John Hart, March, 1856, Jas. Hart, Jan. 1857, W. A. Reese, Jan. 1857, Wm. Palmer, Jan. 1857, 50 E. H. Osborne, Jan. 1857, 00 J. W. Brodnax, Jan. 1857, 00W.R. Ogden, July, 1856, 40 C. S. Waignwight, June '57, 00 Col. John Lewis, Jan. 1858, 25 John Colyer, Jan. 1857, 00 N. B. Whitfield, Jan, 1856, 00 John Morton, Jan. 1857, 00 O. H. P, Terrell Jan, 1857, 00 S.Emorv.Jan. 1857, 50 Wm. Walton, Jn. 1857, 75 R. Sears. » arch. 1856, 25 John S. D aper Jan. 1857, 75 Dr. J. W. Eppes, Jan. 1857, 00 J.R.Gillespie, Jan. 1857, 00 S.B. Fisher, Jan 1857, 00 Edwin Hutt, 1857, 50 T.W. B. Edwards, Jan. '57 COT, B. Hamblin.Jan. 1857, 00 R. D. Warwick, 1857, 00 W.M. Marshall, Jan. 1857, 00 J. Alexander, Jan. 1857, 50 D. II. Centis, Jan. 1857, 00 A. Quisenberry, Jan. 1857, 60S. Allen, Julv, 1856, 00 T J. Barret, Jan. 1857, Oi' W. W. Hancock. Jan. 1827 00 Martin James, Jan, 1857, 00 J. 0- Thomas, Jan. 1857, 00 D. F. Womack, Jan, 1857, 00 W. Griffin, Jan. 1857. 00 S. H. Ragland, Jan. 1857, 00 Bowling Clarke, Jan. 1858, 00 Dr. P. H. Foster, Jan. J 857 00 P. Bracy, Jan. 1857, 00 Dr. W. W. Oliver, Jan. '57, 00 R. Powell, Jan. 1857, 00 J. H. Eustis, Jan. 1857, 00 Geo. G. S. Mcem, Jan. 1857 50 W. A. Eaton, March, 1856, 00 T. 8. Coles, Apr. 1856, 25 Capt. J. B. Coles, Jan. '57, 50 J. F. Fry, Jan. 1827. 33 Gen. R. A. Banks, Jan 1856 33 Belfield Cave, Jan. 1856, 1 50 5 00 1 00 4 50 3 00 1 00 1 00 2 25 1 00 3 00 1 25 2 70 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 CO 1 00 1 50 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 2 25 2 25 1 00 1 00 2 15 2 00 2 25 1 17 1 17 1 25 , 2 17 5 00 1 25. 10 00" 1 00- , 1 00- 1 00* CONTEXTS OF NO. III. PAGE Cultivation of Indian Corn 65 Management of Gardens 67 Indian Corn 70 Lexington and Lecomp'te 72 Guano as a Fertilizer, &c 73 The now Enemy to Wheat 79 The use of Saliva 79 The Inspection Laws 80 Irish Potatoes and Tomatoes 90 Ailment in Cows 92 The Nottoway Agricultural Club 92 Rec ipt to cook a Sirloin of Eeaf 92 Sweet Potato Pudding 92 How to destroy Hawks 93 Game in New York 93 A NEW WORK. GARDENING FOR THE SOUTH. By W. N. While of Athens' Ceorgia. A mostoomplete manual for every department of Horticulture, embracing the Vegetable Garden, the Fruit Garden, the Flower Garden, and the pleasure Grounds, adapted particularly to the Southern States. Price Si 25. To be obtatned of all Boosellers, or sent by us prepaid to any part of the Union on receipt of price. C. M. SAXTON & CO. Agricultural Book Publishers, 140 Fulton trcet N. Y. • marlt IMPROVED SUP. PHOS. LIMB. The subscriber continues to manufacture the- above at his Bone Mill, near the city, and having appointed Messrs. Branch & Co., Richmond, and- T. Branch & Sons, Petersburg, agents, all orders, addressed to them will be promptly attended to.— His price is $40 per ton, and the quality is fully equal to any manufactured out of the State. Those in want would do well to order soon, that none may be disappointed. Annexed will he found one out of many certificates. R. R. DUVAL. CERTIFICATE. Having used R. R. Duval's Super. Phosphate of Lime both on Corn and Wheat, I am much pleased with its effects, and take pleasure in recommend- it. I consider it equal, if not superior, to any manufactured out of the State. mh-tf J. LUCIUS DAVIS r Henrico, Va.. CGENNET, Watchmaker and Jeweler, 149 west • Main street, Eagle Square, Richmond. Watches and Clocks repaired and warranted. sep 241v