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THE SOUTHERN PLANTER; 

Debotcti to Sericulture, horticulture, mtt* the /l>ottschoitr &vts. 

Agriculture is the nursing- mother of the Arts. I Tillage and Pasturage are the two hreasts of the State. 

Xeiioplwn. | Sully. 



C. T. BOTTS, Editor 



No. 3, Governor Street. 



Vol. I. 



RICHMOND, JULF, 1841. 



No. G. 



TOBACCO. 

[Continued from page 8-1.] 

GENERAL REMARKS, IN CONCLUSION. 

Plaster of paris, on suitable land, acts well on 
tobacco, though it will not cure so fine a color 
if there is a great deal of plaster put on it while 
in the field. When there is much litter in the 
land a small quantity of plaster is of great ser- 
vice, as it gives the tobacco a healthy growth 
which otherwise would be sickly. Some planters 
sow the land with plaster before the tobacco is 
planted and afterwards plaster the plants, after 
they are transplanted. This way makes a heavy 
crop, but it will not cure so fine as it would have 
done with less plaster. I have generally found 
that a large spoonful is enough, if put in the 
bud of the plant directly after being wed-out. 

When manuring tobacco land with manure, 
that is well rotted or with ashes, the best time 
to put it on is when the land is ready to be laid 
off for making the hills. The plough then 
throws the manure where the hill will be when 
made. 

I have said that plant beds should be sowed 
in March ; they may in case of accidents, be 
sown much later and yet bring plants in time. 
In the year 1826 I had most of my plants killed 
by a spell of freezing weather about the middle 
of April. About the 18th or 19th day of the 
same month, I burnt and sowed a bed in low 
land. I selected the place along the margin of 
a branch for the purpose of having water at 
hand to water the bed if necessary ; for late in 
the spring as it was, I knew it would only be 
by great attention that the plants would come 
in time. It so turned out that little or no rain 
fell until near the last of June, and I regularly, 
every evening, watered the bed. By the middle 
of June the plants were large enough to plant, 
and if there had been a planting season, at that 
time, a great many plants, could have been 
planted for the size of the bed, out of it. I knew 
a bed that was sown in February, 1820; the 
plants come up in March ; on the 2d day of 
April a snow storm commenced which lasted all 
day, snow fell to the depth of five or six inches, 
which was succeeded by a cold north-west wind. 
Nearly every plant in the bed was killed ; in a 
few days it was dug up and sowed ; as soon as 
the plants got up the bed was cleaned of them, 
bv the flies ; about the 8th or 10th of May the 
Vol. 1—12 



bed was dug up and sown again ; by the mid- 
dle of June, there was a smart drawing of plants 
taken from it, and by the last day of June a crop 
of fifteen or twenty hogsheads of tobacco planted 
out of it. I give these two instances to show 
that plants may be raised in time in case of ac- 
cidents, although sowed very late in the season. 

It seems superfluous to say that a planter 
should provide and keep on his plantation the 
best of agricultural implements ; for every me- 
chanic, artizan, and agriculturist should provide 
himself with the best of tools, for it has been 
remarked that none but a rich man can afford 
to work with an indifferent tool ! Of all others 
a planter stands most in need of labor-saving 
tools and machinery. For tobacco requires a 
great deal of labor and attention to produce it of 
a fine quality ; how much labor is often lost by 
giving a hand an indifferent axe or worn out 
hoe, to work with, how much more ploughing 
can be done, and how much better, with a plough 
in good order, than with one worn out. How 
much time is often lost in sending to a neighbors 
to borrow a spade, or to grind axes for want of 
a grindstone at home. Half the time lost in 
this way in the course of a year, would if em- 
ployed in some useful labor more than purchase 
a spade and grindstone. But it is not only to 
these little matters that a planter's attention 
should be called, as tobacco puts it out of his 
power to devote as much time as he would wish, 
to the raising of food for his family, workmen, 
and animals. He ought to provide such ma- 
chines and Utensils as will enable him to prepare 
his food for his animals to the best advantage. 

I must again say that it should be the greatest 
object with a planter, to have his tobacco crop 
grow quickly after it is planted ; tobacco that 
grows slowly is apt to become diseased (for to- 
bacco, like other vegetables, is subject to disease) 
and will not cure of a fine color. To make fine 
tobacco requires great attention to what would 
seem to be small things. For instance, the set- 
ting of a tobacco plant in the hill may retard its 
growth considerably. Put the main root in the 
ground doubled like a staple, if it live at all, it 
will have to grow an enrire new root before the 
leaf grows any. Or set a plant too deep in the 
ground if it does not rot and die, it will be a 
longtime before it goes to growing; when a 
crop of tobacco is ready for the house early, 
there is more time to take care of it ; there is no 



106 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



clanger of its being spoiled by being caught in 
frost — the plants will be entirely cared before 
very freezing weather commences — consequent- 
ly, there will be none to freeze in the house. A 
forward crop likewise can be stripped early, and 
of course the sooner got ready for market. 

As I am about to close, I must say, there is 
nothing recommended in my essay that is far- 
fetched ; to an experienced planter, the most of 
it will appear common place, but to young 
planters it will give many a useful hint. 

Young men when commencing any business 
stand in need of the experience of those who 
have been engaged in the same kind of business 
before them. 



HAY. 



To the Editor of the Southern Planter: 

My Dear Sir, — An accident which happened 
to my ancle, and which has confined me to my 
bed for several days, has prevented my compli- 
ance hitherto with my promise to furnish your 
readers with my mode of curing clover hay. 
Indeed I am afraid now that I shall execute my 
task bat lamely, as I am at this moment suffer- 
ing much pain, and nothing but a desire to fur- 
nish you this article in season would induce me 
to undertake it at this time. 

I commence cutting my clover hay when it 
is fully in blossom, before the stems become dry 
and hard, taking care to choose an opportunity 
when the indications are favorable for a dry spell 
and an unclouded sky ; indeed I never permit 
even the dew to fall upon it after it is cut. 

As the season when this operation is performed 
is a very busy one with the farmers, it is my 
object to despatch it as quickly as possible. I, 
therefore, begin to mow very early in the morn- 
ing, and as soon as the dew disappears from the 
top of the mown grass, it is opened and nicely 
spread, that it may 'be exposed to the sun and 
air. About 11 o'clock, the scythes are stopped, 
and all hands engaged, especially if the clover 
is rank, in turning it over, so that the other por 
tions may in their turn enjoy the benefit of the 
sun and air. 

As soon as it appears to be killed or withered 
by the sun before the leaf becomes so dry as 
to break and shatter, I lay it in windrows of eigh- 
teen inches or two feet in height, by the use of 
hand rakes. I take care to rake clean as I go, 
and to lay up the windrows lightly, that the sun 
and air may continue the proceess of drying 
somewhat farther. When this process is tho- 
rough, the leaf begins to shatter with dryness 
if handled, I therefore wait until the dew of the 
evening has softened the leaf, when I put it up 
into shocks of about an hundred weight each, 
shaping them so as to ward off the rain, if it 
should fall, or secure it from the dew. The fol- 
lowing morning, as soon as the dew begins to 



disappear from the tops of the shocks, I turn 
them over, seeing that they fall apait so that the 
air may dry out any moisture that may be found 
in the parts nearest the ground. When this is 
effected, and before the leaf gets so dry as to 
subject it to shattering, I convey it to my barn, 
to be deposited in bulk during the cool of the 
morning. 

I sometimes salt it, which will ensure its pre- 
servation in a much greener state even than this 
process leaves it. To effect this object, I put in 
layers of about one foot thick, taking care to 
lay it light, without trampling, and upon each 
layer sprinkle a little of any kind of salt I can 
most easily obtain ; one peck and a half to a 
thousand weight of hay will be sufficient. It 
adds much to the preservation and quality of the 
hay. 

In place of the salt, I sometimes spread over 
the layer of hay a thin layer of any kind of 
bright old straw, say three inches thick. It 
serves to absorb the moisture and prevent the 
heating of the bulk, whilst the absorption im- 
parts a flavor and nutriment to the straw, which 
renders it not inferior to the hay itself. 

When I have neither salt nor straw, I am 
more particular in turning over and exposing 
my shocks the day after cutting, watching them 
carefully to see that enough of the sap is ex- 
pelled from the stem to secure its preservation in 
bulk. This is a matter of care and judgment, 
as the process should not be carried a step far- 
ther than is necessary for this purpose. With 
the sap and juices the nutriment is evaporated, 
and hence the value of the salt and straw which 
preserve the hay with a greater quantity of sap. 

W 7 hen I open my hay for winter use, the 
blossom, leaf, and stalk are perfectly bright, and 
form a delightful nosegay. I have been often 
asked how I managed to keep my work horses 
in such excellent order. The use of this deli- 
cious hay is the answer to the inquiry. My 
horses in addition to it, even when doing the 
hardest work, never get a gallon of gram a day. 

I believe few farmers are yet aware of the 
difference between fermented and rotten ha}* 
on the one hand, or dried up sapless stems on the 
other, and judiciously managed juicy, sweet, fla- 
vored clover hay. 

Yours, Joseph Bernard. 

June 8, 1841. 

We regret very much that the above was not received 
in time, as it was intended for the June number. We 
arc afraid it is too late for some who might have pro- 
fited by it during the present season. 



For the Southern Planter. 

CORN COBS. 

Mr. Editor, — I am happy to see you and 

your correspondents pressing the value of the 

com cob upon our wasteful and extravagant 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



107 



community. If farmers would only attend a 
little more to this and some other points of rural 
economy, they might easily save enough to jus- 
tify a system of improvement which they admit 
to be desirable, but from which they are fre- 
quently deterred by the want of funds. I am 
fully satisfied that there are but few farmers in 
our communitj' - who do not waste more than 
enough to supply them with the means of ef- 
fecting improvements, that in their turn would 
double their means of making others equally as 
profitable. 

Go upon a large farm in Virginia, observe the 
niggardliness in providing fences, houses, and 
fixtures, and the correspondent waste in food, 
labor, and destruction of implements. Compare 
the management with that of a manufacturing 
or mercantile establishment, and you see at once 
why agriculture is not profitable. Such system, 
or rather such a want of it, would break down 
any other business in the world. 

But I have been drawn off from the main 
object of this communication, which was simply 
to confirm the value of corn cobs, by relating to 
you a circumstance that came within my own 
knowledge. In the winter of 1816 corn was very 
high, and Peter Bedlock, of Dinwiddie, who is 
now an independent farmer, was a very poor 
man, but an excellent manager. Afraid that his 
corn would not last, he determined to try, and 
did, winter his horses upon com cobs alone, 
pounded in a common hominy mortar with his 
own hands. They received no other sustenance 
except long forage, as hay and fodder. Upon 
this they did their winter's work, and no man 
ever saw Peter Bedlock drive a poor horse. 

To this fact I am ready to testify and you are 
welcome to give my name to any person who 
may feel sufficiently interested in it to ask for it. 



Yours, 



J. H. 



For the Southern Planter. 
MANURE. 
C. T. Botts : 

Sir, — I am most happy to witness your stre- 
nuous endeavors to improve the agriculture of 
our native State. No exertion has been wanting 
on my part, I assure you, to sustain your enter- 
prise. I have not been satisfied with saying, 
that every farmer in Virginia ought, to take your 
paper, but I have made it my business to bring 
it to the notice of my neighbors, conceiving that 
in so doing I was benefitting them and myself 
not less than the Editor. The fruits of those 
exertions you have enclosed in a ten dollar note, 
for which you will please direct your paper to 
the following names 

Nor is this all. From the columns of your 
little work, I am satisfied that I have reaped ten 
times the amount of my subscription already in 
a single article. I am, therefore, still your debtor, 



and to repay the obligation, in a measure, I have 
concluded to give you my mode of managing 
manure ; a point upon which you very properly 
lay great stress, and one upon which an}' opinion 
derived from experience may be valuable. For 
the last ten years I have paid great attention to 
this subject, and have tried every plausible me- 
thod recommended in the agricultural periodicals 
of the day. The result of those experiments 
has satisfied me that the difference between one 
mode and another is much greater than would 
be imagined, and that the greatest secret of good 
farming consists in discovering the best mode of 
preserving the valuable properties of manure. 

The portions of dung which afford nutriment 
to plants are volatile and soluble. They are 
evaporated by heat and dissolved by rain. Dung 
is exposed to the pernicious effects of heat, either 
in a pile or when scattered, to the influence of 
the summer sun and atmosphere. How then 
is it to be preserved ? By applying it to a grow- 
ing crop as soon as made. I have heard a great 
deal of the necessity of fermentation, and the 
injury done by fresh manure : that manure has 
a tendency to generate heat is certain, and that 
if applied fresh, in too great quantities, it may 
produce too much heal for the healthy growth 
of plants is certain ; and it is certain also that 
you may subject it by time and exposure to a 
process by which it will be robbed of those pro- 
perties, when you may apply it in any quantity 
with impunity, but with comparatively little be- 
nefit too. What would be thought of an invalid 
who would go to an apothecary and say, " Sir, 
I want some calomel that you have had in the 
house for many years, of which I can take a 
large quantity without danger," and what would 
be thought of the apothecary who would reply, 
" Sir, this, having lost its virtues and become 
comparatively innoxious, is much more valuable 
than the fresher article, and I must charge you 
a greater price per ounce for it?" It would be 
just as reasonable, as to assert that old manure 
is in any case better than fresh. 

Satisfied of these facts, I pursue the natural 
and simple plan of making it the business of a 
particular boy, every morning, to collect care- 
fully the deposits from my stalls, stable yard, 
hog pen, &c. and spread it thinly upon some one 
of my growing crops. If the crop is not out of 
the ground, and consequently the leaf not so 
expanded as to seize the gasses given out in the 
process of evaporation, I have the manure slightly 
covered with earth. Of course, if the ground 
is too wet to be trampled, I wait until it is dry 
enough for the purpose. 

Now this may seem to some, who have been 
used to heaping manure, and making compost, 
a very theoretical mode of procedure. But let 
them try it, and they will find it highly practi- 
cal — they will find, that they will obtain more 
than double the nutriment from the same quan- 



108 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



tity of dung, and they will also find that they 
are relieved from a great quantity of extra labor. 
Farmers are advised to accumulate large banks 
of dung, mixed with mud, weeds, &c. For 
what purpose ? That they may have on their 
hands the labor of scattering it again at the very 
busiest season of the year 1 Instead of accu- 
mulating the labor and running the risk of con- 
stant waste, let them scrupulously collect every 
thing they can find in the shape of manure and 
apply it as soon as made. 

By this simple method they are relieved from 
the necessity and expense of a stercorary, the 
filth of a manure pile, and the uneasiness arising 
from the anticipated labor of putting out their 
manure. They certainly get all the benefit to 
be derived from their manure, and it would be 
hard for any other process to accomplish more. 

The plan I recommend is so novel and so op- 
posite to preconceived opinions, that I am de- 
terred from putting my name to this article, for 
fear of the ridicule it will excite. I hope, how- 
ever, that some one with more resolution will 
give it a fair trial, and report what I know he 
will find to be, the beneficial result. With the 
most ardent wishes for the success of your pe- 
riodical, which deserves the support of every 
farmer in Virginia at least, I remain 

Tours, A Farmer. 



For the Southern Planter. 
CORN SHUCKS. 

Sir, — I see that you recommend tlje cob of 
the corn as a food for cattle. There is another 
part of the corn that I have long thought was 
too much neglected. I mean the shuck. Ten 
years ago I was in the habit of throwing my 
shucks in the farm pen for litter. I now make 
a much better use of them. I pass them all 
through the cutting-knife, and feed them not 
only to my cattle but also to my horses. After 
the most satisfactory trial, I am fully convinced 
that they are the strongest part of the corn, next 
to the grain. My method is this. My shucks 
are cut up in the morning, and thrown into a 
half hogshead of water strongly impregnated 
with salt. In the evening, they are taken up 
in an open split basket, in which they are held 
suspended over the hogshead for a few moments, 
until the water is drained off; the moistened 
shucks are then mixed with corn meal and bran, 
and fed, as I said before, as well to my horses 
as my cattle. The morning meal is treated in 
the same way, beginning the preceding evening. 

I have made careful experiments to asceriain 
the fact, and although a horse may refuse the 
shucks at first, I am fully satisfied that they 
make the very best cut food that was ever given 
to any animal. Give me a plenty of shucks, 
and L want no cut hay, fodder, or straw. Many 
people who acknowledge their value for cattle 



and mules, are of opinion that they do not an- 
swer so well for horses. This is a great mis- 
take I assure you, and arises from the fact that 
a horse, fed upon more dainty food, will turn up 
his nose at first at the smell of a shuck ; just as 
a pampered fine gentleman would perhaps re- 
ject a solid dish of bacon and greens when it 
was first set before him. But give him nothing 
else, and his appetite will soon come to him, and 
he will find by experience that there is no other 
food upon which he can do his work so well. 
In a week, he will prefer it to any thing you 
can give him, and so will you. 



Yours, 



Economy. 



For the Southern Planter. 

C. T. Botts : 

Sir, — I see that in answer to an inquiry of 
some correspondent, you give in your last num- 
ber various modes of extracting stumps. Pre- 
vention is better than cure, and the best plan I 
have ever seen practised to get rid of the diffi- 
culty, is to have no stumps at all. I know some 
settlers in the western country, who never cut 
down a tree — they dig them up. It is much 
easier to do this than to dig up the stump. The 
very leverage, that you are so ingeniously de- 
vising to obtain by artificial means, is afforded 
by nature in the height of the tree. It is only 
necessary to fasten a strong rope to the upper 
limbs and go to work digging and cutting the 
roots upon the side opposite to that on which 
the rope is used, which will of course alwaj^s 
be applied with regard to the lean of the tree. 

This method saves a great deal of time, and 
a great deal of valuable timber — for all timber 
getters know, that frequently the most valuable 
part of the tree is left in the stump. The plan 
is not new ; why then, if it has all these advan- 
tages is it not universally pursued? Simply 
because we are the most headlong and impatient 
people upon the face of the earth. A field can 
be gotten into cultivation sooner by cutting 
down than digging up the trees. That is suffi- 
cient for an American. Go ahead is his motto, 
and without regard to future consequences, he 
pursues the mode that gives him the quickest 
return. Nor am I prepared to say that there 
may not be many circumstances which justify 
such a course. Old father time is a cheap work- 
man, and it is well enough to force the old de- 
stroyer to minister to the productions of the 
earth against his nature and his will. But I 
say to cut down a tree, and dig up the stump, 
is an egregious waste of labor, and that no ar- 
tificial stump extractor is equal to the natural 
means here detailed. 

A Timber Getter. 



For the Southern Planter. 
Mr. Editor, — Finding a leisure hour upon my 
hands, with my scrap book before me, I have 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



109 



determined to make an extract from it, on the 
subject of carious plants, that may serve to fill, 
at your convenience, some unappropriated co- 
lumn in the Planter. A Naturalist. 



CURIOUS PLANTS. 

llcdysarum Gyrans. — This plant is a native of 
Bengal, near the Ganges. This is a wonderful 
plant, Linnrcus observes, on account of its vo- 
luntary motion, which is not occasioned by any 
touch, irritation, or movement in the air, but no 
sooner do the plants acquire their ternate leaves 
than they set in motion, this way and that, which 
motion does not cease during the whole course 
of their vegetation, unless they are exposed to 
too much wind or rain, when they become quiet, 
and then no art we possess is capable of exciting 
them to action. 

Dictamnus. — This plant is a native of Ger- 
many, and is remarkable for the fine scent it 
affords. The pedicles of its flowers are covered 
with glands of a rusty red color, from which 
exudes a viscid juice, which exhales in vapor, 
and upon the application of fire in a dark place 
it will be seen to burn. 

TropcEolum. — This plant belongs originally to 
Peru. In the evening, it is said, its flowers emit 
spontaneously at certain intervals, visible sparks 
like those of an electric machine. This was 
first observed by the daughter of Linnseus. 

Lagetto. — This tree grows in Jamaica, and a 
natural lace of fine quality is found ready manu- 
factured in its bark. This lace is so handsome 
that ruffles, a frill, and cravat, made of it, were 
once sent as a present to king Charles II. 

Yucca. — An American plant sometimes called 
The Needle and Thread Plant, for by soaking in 
water, the fibres of the leaves may be separated 
from the pulp, without being torn from the hard, 
sharp point, so that when properly prepared, the 
leaves do really become needles, ready provided 
with a skein of thread. 

Dioncea Muscipula. — This is an inhabitant of 
the marshes of South Carolina. This plant is 
endowed with so much irritability, that an in- 
sect which settles on it is generally crushed to 
death by the collapsing of the two sides of the 
leaf, which is armed with bristles. The Droseva 
or English Sun-Dew, is possessed of similar ir- 
ritability. 

Nepenthes Distillatoria. — This is a Chinese 
plant, sometimes known as the Pitcher-plant, in 
consequence of its leaves, which assume the 
shape of pitchers covered with lids, and are ge- 
nerally found filled with water, each one to the 
extent of half a pint, which both men and mon- 
keys make use of to assuage their thirst. 

Tillandria Utriculata. — This plant growing in 
South America and the West Indies, is also a 
reservoir of water, the traveller, Dampier, speak- 



ing of this plant, says, "We stick our knives 
into the leaves just above the root and thus let. 
out the water, which we catch in our hats, as I 
have done many times to my great relief. 

Palo de Vacca, or Cow Tree of South Ame- 
rica, yields a copious supply of a rich and whole- 
some milk, which is obtained b}' piercing the 
trunk. At sunrise this milk flows most abun- 
dantly, and Humboldt informs us, that at this 
time the natives are to be seen hastening from 
all quarters, furnished with large bowls to receive 
the milk. 

Jlrtocarpus, or Bread Fruit Tree, grows in the 
South Sea Islands to the size of a moderate 
sized oak. The fruit of this tree is about the 
size and shape of a child's head ; it is as white 
as snow and somewhat of the consistence of 
new bread. It must be roasted before it is eaten, 
after which it becomes very palatable. 



DR. ARCHER'S ADDRESS. 

Wc have received from a committee of the Agricul- 
tural Society of Elizabeth City a copy of the inaugural 
address of their President, Dr. Archer. It i3 with great 
difficulty we resist the temptation to publish this most 
excellent address entire. But the course which we 
have marked out for ourselves and the plan of conden- 
sation which we are determined most rigidly to pur- 
sue, forbid our doing more than giving a brief sketch 
and a few extracts from that, which we heartily wish 
every man in lower Virginia, at least, could enjoy the 
pleasure of perusing throughout. 

The Doctor begins by ably arguing the value of 
agricultural associations and laughing to scorn the ig- 
norant prejudices, which sometimes prevent their for- 
mation. 

" The attempts which are every where being 
made to get up agricultural societies, he says, 
is only the embodying of the spirit of improve- 
ment which is abroad. This spirit, when once 
aroused, cannot easily be laid ; it is this spirit, 
which prompted our ancestors, more than two 
centuries ago, to abandon the comforts of home, 
and in a frail Dark to traverse an unknown ocean 
and erect their altars at our Jamestown. It is 
this spirit, which prompts the young man to 
shoulder his axe, and bidding adieu to his 
paternal fireside and the graves of his relatives, 
to cut his way through the western forests to 
distinction and wealth. It is this spirit which 
an all-wise Providence has implanted in the 
breast of every human being, and without which 
the world would long since have returned to its 
original chaos. 

M I have no hesitation in saying that agricul- 
tural societies, and periodical works on agricul- 
ture, have advanced the science in our country 
more wnthin the last fifteen years than it had 
been advanced by every other means within the 
previous fifty. Their influence is not confined 
to one locality, but disseminated, broad cast, 
throughout the land." 



110 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



Upon the subject of emigration he remarks: 

" Our farmers have at last discovered the gol- 
den secret, that it is easier to improve a field, 
naturally fertile, but exhausted by bad cultiva- 
tion, than to open a new one ; and this single 
discovery, which I ascribe to the new lights that 
have been thrown upon the subject of agricul- 
ture, will tend more to arrest the tide of emigra- 
tion than any one circumstance that could pos- 
sibly have happened. 

" It has been my fortune within the last few 
years to have visited a large district of our ex- 
tensive country, from its southern limits on the 
Gulf of Mexico to the northern lakes — from the 
Atlantic to what a few years since was called 
the far west. I visited it with the eye of an 
agriculturist, and I declare to you most solemnly, 
that in lower Virginia we are blessed with a re- 
gion incomparably superior, taking into consi- 
deration the reciprocal advantages and disad- 
vantages, to any I have ever seen. You know 
not the happy lot with which a beneficent Pro- 
vidence has endowed you — you know not the 
value of the talent which has been committed 
to your care. We occupy the favored spot be- 
tween the regions of seven months of continued 
ice, and seven months of parching heat; we 
enjoy, with few exceptions, the vegetable pro- 
ductions of each extreme. In point of health 
we have greatly the advantage over our south- 
ern, and will yield but to a certain extent, to our 
northern friends." 

The Doctor then goes on to state that during - the last 
summer he visited the valley of Virginia for the pur- 
pose of locating himself for life, fully impressed with 
the idea that he could do so there more advantageously 
than any where else in the Union. But, however much 
his eye might have been delighted with golden har- 
vests, lowing herds, and substantial fences, his reason 
was satisfied, that upon a fair allowance for difficulties 
of cultivation and expense of finding a market, the 
light lands of the tide water of Virginia afford the 
greatest clear profit. 

Happy in the result of his labors, the Doctor, in his 
pursuit of happiness, seems to have attained content- 
ment, at least? He is not singular in the opinion that 
lower Virginia might be made the garden spot of Ame- 
rica — that it is not so, he ascribes to the luxury and 
sloth that our favored clime engenders. 

We particularly commend to our readers the Doctor's 
views upon the subject of education. Hear him: 

"Intimately connected with the subject of 
agriculture is the subject of education. There 
never was a greater mistake upon the face of 
the earth, than that a good education was unne- 
cessary for a farmer. Gentlemen, there is no 
knowledge or information of any kind that will 
not at one time or other avail him in his agri- 
cultural pursuits. If he is a lawyer, he will 
understand his own rights, guaranteed to him 
by law, and be the more ready to respect the 
rights of others. Is he a physician ? He can 



alleviate the sufferings of his own household, 
and act the good Samaritan to his neighbor. Is 
he a chemist? He can analyze his soil and 
detect wherein it is deficient in those qualities 
which would render it productive. Is he a ma- 
thematician ? He wants no survej 7 or to mark 
his bounds or measure his fields. In short, there 
is no knowledge from the calculating an eclipse 
to the making of a horse shoe nail, that may 
not, at one time of other, be turned to the farmer's 
profit. 

" How absurd then, how ungenerous is it for 
a father to say, ' this son is to be the doctor, 
and he must go to college, that is to be the far- 
mer, and the old field school is good enough for 
him.' I tell that parent he makes an odious and 
unjust discrimination between his children, and 
one, for which his neglected son will have but 
little cause to honor his memory. 

"In this country, where the highest honors 
in the State are open to the humblest individual, 
the want of that education which the ignorant 
father refused to his son might be the only bar- 
rier to his highest preferment. Look at the ho- 
norable instance in the cabinet of our present 
chief magistrate. The poor farmer boy, who 
toiled from sun to sun till he reached the age of 
manhood to provide means to go to school; 
would that lad have ever been a Senator or a 
Secretary of the Treasury, but for the education 
he snatched by piecemeal from the fruits of his 
own labor? No, my friends, he would have 
lived and died, as thousands and thousands of 
young men live and die, every day, unhonored 
and unknown. 

"Again, were the great mass of farmers well 
educated, not only agriculture, but every interest 
in the State, would be incalculably benefitted ; 
for, our councils, instead of being occupied by 
lawyers, and metaphysicians, and stump orators, 
talking themselves into notice for political pre- 
ferment, too lazy to dig and too proud to beg, 
would be filled with plain, honest citizens of 
practical common sense ; men, who would labor 
for the benefit of the State, and not for them- 
selves ; who would show that the great agri- 
cultural interest, the support of every other in 
the land, and embracing nine-tenths of our peo- 
ple, has been shamefully neglected, and needs 
looking to, unless we are prepared to see the 
'old Dominion," 'the mother of States,' that 
once occupied the topmost round of the ladder, 
descend, step by step, until she becomes an ob- 
ject for the finger of scorn to point at." 

" Gentlemen, a great outcry has been raised 
against book farming. I confess I do not under- 
stand the meaning of the term, unless it be that 
book farmers are those who can read, in contra- 
distinction to those who can't read. Let me ask, 
whence did our wiseacres, that enlightened class 
who can't read, obtain their valuable informa- 
tion? Was it the fruit of their own prolific 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



Ill 



brain, or did they derive it from others % It could 
hardly be the first ; for if they had the capacity, 
life is too short to have enabled them to originate 
or discover all they know. It must then have 
been derived from others, and I should like to 
know, again, if information, derived from others, 
is less valuable because those others have em- 
bodied their experience in a book 1 ? 

" Few farmers have much opportunity for tra- 
vel or observation beyond their own immediate 
neighborhood ; now, the man, who reads, or if 
you choose to call him so, the book farmer, may 
stay at home and enjoy all the knowledge, de- 
rived not only from his own experience, but that 
of all the world besides. He puts in requisition 
the labors of thousands, each one of whom was 
perhaps superior to himself in intelligence ; he 
thus lives, in a measure, the lives of a thousand 
men, with this advantage, that, constituted as 
the human mind is, no one man, had he lived 
from the creation of the world until the present 
day, could have concentrated in his own per- 
son all the information, that may be published 
through the investigations of the thousand in 
an ordinary lifetime." 

If we have devoted to this address much more space 
than it is our custom to yield to any one article, we 
must point to the excellence of the matter as our ex- 
cuse. If agricultural societies only met to listen to the 
words of truth and wisdom from the lips of learning 
and experience, the trouble of forming and sustaining 
them would be infinitely more than repaid. 



For the Southern Planter. 
BERKSHIRE HOGS. 

JWr. Editor, — It is amusing, soberly and aside, 
to watch the fatuity and folly which mark the 
mass, when lead away by a popular current. 
Are you, sir, aware what a Berkshire hog is ? 
and that a Berkshire is in truth no longer a 
Berkshire. Berkshire is the name appropriated 
to a stock, which, by judicious selection, has at- 
tained great perfection, derived from the name of 
the county in England which afforded the hog 
that was used as the substratum of the breed. 
But the present stock, which is so deservedly in 
high repute, was obtained by judicious selection. 
Mark that. Can it be continued by any other 
means'? No, sir, it has been already lost in 
America, or greatly deteriorated, by indiscrimi- 
nate breeding. To continue and perfect the 
stock, not more than one individual in fifty should 
be kept as a breeder. Who kills forty-nine out 
of fifty of his Berkshire pigs, when they are 
selling readily at twenty dollars a pair ? None 
but a fool, of course. But who pays twenty 
dollars a pair for the forty-nine out of fifty of 
these pigs that any judicious breeder would ex- 
clude from the breeding stud ? None but a fool 
of course. 

Berkshires are a production of art, not of na- 
ture, and, unless the same art is used to preserve 



them that was exercised to produce them, they 
will retrograde much faster than they advanced. 
The breeder's rule, upon which all his operations 
are founded, is, that like begets like — he, there- 
fore, carefully examines every litter ; and where 
he finds a remarkably fine individual, he sets 
him or her aside to breed from. This, together 
with judicious crossing is the origin of every 
improved breed ; but no stock of hogs, or cattle, 
or any thing else, has yet been brought to such 
perfection that all the individuals produced are 
good and worthy of being made breeders. 

Why then, it may be asked, cannot any indi- 
vidual take the native stock of a country and 
go on to improve it for himself by judicious se- 
lection ? So he may — but he will find it much 
cheaper to purchase a hog, who, by the care of 
others, has already been advanced to a certain 
state to begin his crossing with than to wait for 
the advancement to that point of his unimproved 
stock. No stock, in my opinion, affords finer 
individuals for this purpose than the Berkshire. 
But I can pick out many individuals fiom this, 
or any other stock, totally unsuited for the pur- 
pose of improving any breed. What is the 
Berkshire valuable for ? Simply because it con- 
tains a greater number of individuals than usual 
of that peculiarity of anatomy valued by the 
judicious raiser of hogs. But suppose an indi- 
vidual, as there must always be thousands, does 
not possess that peculiar anatomy, does it avail 
him, or you, who are his owner, that his mother, 
or brother, or third cousin does ? It is true, that 
if two individuals possess equal points them- 
selves, he will be preferred whose kindred, or 
blood, is most celebrated ; and this, because ani- 
mals not only breed after themselves, but some- 
times, also, after their progenitors. But always 
give preference to propinquity of good points ; 
that is, prefer to have them in the immediate to 
the remote progenitor. Yet, regardless of this 
simple truth, we daily see our people sending 
their money from home, purchasing any thing, 
no matter how indifferent in form, provided it 
may have been the offspring of a Berkshire sow. 
Now I would rather pay fifty dollars for a good 
selection, than ten for a pair taken at hap hazard. 

I have no pigs for sale, and am actuated, I 
assure you, by no selfish motives in these consi- 
derations — indeed, from their very nature it must 
be evident that I can have no interest in effecting 
indiscriminate sales. But I have seen a great 
many Berkshire hogs, and I have long been a 
breeder of various kinds of cattle, and whilst I 
am satisfied that there is no other stock from 
which so many good individuals proceed as from 
the Berkshires, I know, also, that I daily see 
specimens, both raised here and brought into 
our ports, sold at the usual price, that are not 
half equal to specimens that could be selected 
even from our native stock. If the breeders of 
these hogs, of whom I believe there are several 



112 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



very judicious in this vicinity, really desire to 
benefit our native stock, and at the same time 
receive a fair reward for their skill, enterprise, 
and judgment, let them make shoats or pork of 
all their inferior animals, and keeping the extra- 
ordinary ones as breeders, hold them at a price 
that will be sufficient to effect their ends. This 
is the only way the breed of hogs can be im- 
proved by the use of Berkshires in the opinion 
of A Breeder. 



RUST IN WHEAT. 

Several very interesting and scientflic papers 
have lately appeared in the Farmers' Cabinet, 
on the subject of Rust or Mildew in Wheat. 
One is signed Agricola, and is very highly 
commended in the Medical Examiner, a journal 
of established reputation, as the production of a 
scientific gentleman, who has devoted great at- 
tention to the study of agriculture. The other 
is over the signature of Kenderton Smith, 
and purports to be the result of continued and 
repeated observation on the subject. Both gen- 
tlemen exhibit a great deal of ingenuity, and 
deserve the thanks of the community for the at- 
tention they have bestowed upon this important 
subject. Whilst their views upon many points 
are reconcileable, there is a very material one 
upon which they are directly at issue. They 
both concur in the established doctrine that an 
extraordinary increased action occurs in vegeta- 
tion at the time of perfecting the seed. It is 
during this critical period of a few days that 
they imagine blight or rust is caused by circum- 
stances occurring to impede this necessary and 
violent action of nature. Agricola conceives 
that a cool and clear atmosphere is required, 
whereby the exuberant moisture of the plant 
may be evaporated as fast as it is generated, 
and attributes rust to the presence of damp and 
heat in the air, whereby the vegetable heat and 
moisture, generated in the plant, are pent up and 
their healthy action stifled. Cool, dry weather 
during the period employed in filling the seed 
he conceives to be necessary to the perfection of 
the grain. That contiguous fields of wheat 
ripen at different periods, even within a few 
days of each other, he thinks sufficient to ac- 
count for the fact that they are not equally sub- 
ject to rust. 

Common opinion sustains the theory of Agri- 
cola, that a damp atmosphere at the time of 
ripening is productive of imperfection in the 
grain, and occasions blight or rust. Whether 
heat is also injurious is another question. Upon 
this point, Mr. Smith differs with his learned 
antagonist. He presumes that nature calls all 
her powers into requisition in the hasty process 
of ripening, and that one of the most powerful 
of those agents is heat. Consequently, he de- 
precates the practice of sowing grass or clover 
with wheat, which, by shading the ground keeps 



the roots and stalk moist and cool so as to coun- 
teract the important action of heat, when it is so 
much needed. He asserts that his opinion of 
this injurious effect has been verified by long 
observation, made by himself, and the repeated 
experience of others. In England, where the 
wheat is generally drilled and carefully weeded, 
he asserts that rust is almost unknown, and he 
cites many particular instances in proof of his 
opinion. He infers that although moisture and 
coolness may produce rust, even in clean fields 
of wheat, without extraordinary heat at the mo- 
ment of ripening, it is impossible for wheat 
smothered with grass to be free from rust. 

Various other articles have since appeared, of 
more or less ability, sustaining the one or the 
other champion. Amongst these, the most dis- 
tinguished perhaps is a Mr. Gowen, of German- 
town who totally rejects the opinion that blight 
or mildew is ever caused by sowing grass or 
clover with wheat. On the contrary, he thinks 
the theory of Col. Smith, who it seems ranks 
high as a practical farmer, calculated to do much 
injury by checking the practice of this valuable 
mode of sowing clover. He. argues that if the 
grass or clover is injurious, so ought also thick 
wheat to be, which is not pretended. But most 
of all, he asserts, that a long and careful obser- 
vation has furnished him with facts that refute 
the truth of this theory. Again, he asserts that 
the remedy is worse than the evil, and that it is 
better to run the risk of blight than to be at the 
trouble and expense of a separate seeding of 
grass or clover. He considers blight to be the 
effect of a sudden change from heat to cold, 
which frequently occurs at the critical moment 
of ripening, whereby the neck and head of the 
wheat are chilled and unable to elaborate the 
sap sent up by the less exposed parts below : 
hence, the bursting of the overcharged vessels 
and the appearance of rust upon the stalk, which 
is but the outward sign of disease that pre} r s 
upon the vitals within. The sun returns again 
upon the drooping, moistened plant, and with 
his scorching rays scalds and burns the sickly 
head until the grain is blasted and vitality de- 
stroyed. The only preventives he imagines to 
be early sowing, clean seed, and early cutting. 

We have given these different views some- 
what at large, because the subject is an impor- 
tant one and the source from which they come 
entitles them to great consideration. It is espe- 
cially important to ascertain whether the opinion 
of Col. Smith, that the practice, which obtains 
so universally here, of sowing clover on wheat is 
the cause of blight. The only plan is to test a 
theory which is plausible hy facts. Many writers 
have come to his support with statements of 
facts, that would seem to corroborate his opinion. 
Will our wheat growers furnish us with then- 
opinions upon this important point 1 ? If they 
can establish Col. Smith's error, they may do 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



113 



much for the people of Pennsylvania at least, j long dormant under such circumstances? No 



where his opinions seem to be gaining a strong 
foothold. The advantages of seeding clover on 
wheat are certain — the injury is doubtful, at 
least. 



For the Southern Planter. 
HAY. 

You very properly, Mr. Editor, reprove us in 
this part of the country for permitting a bundle 
of northern hay to enter the Richmond market. 
We have, I believe, some as fine grass lands as 
can be found in the world, and certainly there is 
no crop that pays better than hay. I do not 
believe, however, that our climate or soil is as 
well adapted to the red top, or herds grass, as 
the north, and I am induced to think that we 
have permitted them to render this grass, proba- 
bly suited to their circumstances, fashionable 
amongst us beyond its deserts. The crop cut 
is not so heavy as timothy, nor is the hay near 
so nutritious. There is very little of our land 
upon which the herds grass will not, after af- 
fording two or three light crops, yield entirely 
to the broomstraw and sorrel. 

I have been living for some years in the vici- 
nity of the Chickahominy, though not upon it, 
and have wondered very much at what appeared 
to me the folly of the owners of land upon this 
stream, in forcing upon the soil this herds grass, 
to which it seems to have so great a repugnance. 
Although I believe you were once the owner of 
a tract of land, yourself, upon this stream, you 
are probably not as well acquainted with its pe- 
culiarities as I am, who have known it from my 
boyhood. I have seen a great deal of bottom 
land in different parts of this country, but not- 
withstanding that some portions of it are thin 
and sandy, I have never seen a stream of its 
size that afforded such extensive alluvial flats. 
Here are thousands of acres of the very richest 
bottoms, as indicated by the quantity and quality 
of the growth upon them, sufficient, if properly 
managed, to supply ten such cities as Richmond 
with hay. I am well aware of their liability to 
be overflown, owing to the want of fall in the 
stream and the lowness of the banks. I am 
well aware of their comparative worihlessness 
in their present situation, especially when forced 
into herds grass. But, in the first place, I be- 
lieve concert and unity of action alone are want- 
ing to render these lands free enough from water 
for all the purposes of tillage. This can never 
be done effectually by separate and individual 
action. To ditch and dyke each farm, costs 
more than it is worth. But any engineer will 
inform j^ou that by straightening, and opening, 
and removing obstructions, the river may not 
only be confined within its banks, but made na- 
vigable for many miles. Is there any other 
people under the sun, who would have lain so 
Vol. 1—13 



survey, no report, no petition to the Legislature 
for aid, thousands of the most valuable acres 
suffered to lie waste and given up to the ravages 
of an insignificant stream, which might be re- 
claimed and made the garden spot of Virginia. 
Why, sir, our northern people would bail out 
such a rivulet with a washing tub, before they 
would suffer themselves to be deprived of such 
an inheritance. 

But, sir, reclaimed or unreclaimed, I do not 
believe that the red top is the appropriate growth 
of these lands. There is a grass produced spon- 
taneously upon these bottoms, against which I 
believe a most unfounded prejudice has been en- 
gendered. We know it hereabouts by the name 
of " Chickahominy blue grass." I do not know 
its botanical name, but it is entirely different 
from the blue grass of the upper and western 
country. It is strong and coarse, very succu- 
lent, and extremely luxuriant — indigenous to the 
soil, it delights in these wet bottoms, and, if per- 
mitted to remain, will root out every other vege- 
table. It will always admit of two cuttings, 
and will readily yield from two to three tons at 
each cutting — requiring no cultivation. With 
such an abundant yield, the only question can 
be as to its qualities. These, I believe, have 
been greatly underrated. It is not so dainty and 
delicate as the herds grass, but is, I think, 
stronger and more nutritious. When well cured, 
with salt, in a green and succulent state, horses 
will become very fond of it and thrive on it as- 
tonishingly. 

I am aware, Mr. Editor, that much harm may 
be done by misleading people through agricul- 
tural communications, and as I wish to mislead 
nobody, I feel bound to state that the opinions 
expressed above have been derived from an ex- 
perience not so full and satisfactory as I could 
have wished it. But as I know that there are 
some experienced individuals, who, having the 
fullest opportunity, Concur in these opinions, 
whilst many more entirely reject them, I hope 
that this communication will, at least, open the 
subject for discussion in your columns. If the 
nutritious qualities of this indigenous plant can 
be established, it will prove an invaluable article 
for man}^ other sections of country beside this 
immediate neighborhood. 

Yours, Chickahominy. 



For the Southern Planter. 
WHEAT. 
Mr. Editor, — I strongly suspect that the ( ' fly- 
proof wheat" of your correspondent, Mr. Gray, 
is neither more or less than the " white cone 
wheat" mentioned by Tull, which he says af- 
fords the greatest security against blight and 
the ravages of insects. This peculiarity he as- 
cribes to the density of its straw, which is mors 



114 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



than double that of ordinary wheat. He thinks 
that insects and the effect of cold damps reach 
only the outer vessels, whilst the inner ones are 
left uninjured to nourish the grain. Of its qua- 
lities he speaks as follows : 

" Cone wheat makes very good bread, if the 
miller does not grind too fine, or the baker make 
his dough too hard: a bushel of cone wheat 
will make more bread than a bushel of other 
kinds, and of the same goodness, but it gives a 
yellow cast to the bread." 

This may prove a very valuable variety, and 
I, for one, feel much interested in its develop- 
ment. Will Mr. Gray be so good as to inform 
us of the character of the straw, upon which 
Tull seems with great reason to rest its virtues ? 
and oblige An Inquirer. 



its roots, lasting properties may be thus imparted 
by the use of different fluids. 

Qualities of durabily, incombustibility, color, 
&c. may undoubtedly be imparted to wood by 
immersion in fluids ; provided, it is continued 
long enough, or provided artificial means are 
employed to force the liquid into the pores of the 
wood. This seems to be an insrenious device 
by which M. Boucherie has availed himself of 
an operation of nature lo steal in, where others 
have had to force their way. 

The experiment is a very interesting one, and 
may be readily tried — flowers even, it is said, 
ma}' be colored by sprinkling the soil in which 
they are about to bloom with certain liquids 



This fact, if substantiated, 



it is evident, 



lead to the most interesting and important results. 



AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATION. 

We are happy to announce the formation of 
an agricultural association in the county of Han- 
over, from whom we have received a copy of 
their proceedings and constitution — they seem 
to have embarked in the enterprise with a spirit 
and zeal that augurs well for their success. 

The following gentlemen have been chosen 
as officers of this Society. Capt. Jesse Winn, ' 
President ; Henry Robinson, Esq. First Vice- 
President ; N. L. Crenshaw, Esq. Second Vice- 1 
President ; Capt. R. F. Derracott, Secretary ; 
and Dr. R M. Carver, Treasurer. Mr. Edmund j 
Wickham has been requested to deliver the first, 
annual address. The Executive Committee is 
composed of C. W. Dabney, Esq., Col. Goodall, 
and Edmund Winston, Esq. 

If we are not much mistaken a Old Hanover" 
will be second to none in her devotion to the 
great cause of agricultural improvement, which 
is going so gloriously forward throughout, the 
State. We know the material of which she is 
composed. There are few that can vie with the 
fruits of her alluvial soil, whilst her Clay is 
known throughout the world. 



NEW MODE OF PREPARING TIMBER. 
A plausible statement is going the rounds 
with respect to a new process for coloring and 
otherwise operating upon wood, said to have 
been discovered by M. Boucherie, of Bordeaux. 
It simply consists in the application of fluids to 
the pores of the living wood, which it is said 
will be taken up and disseminated with the flow- 
ing of the sap. It may either be applied to an 
incision made at the bottom, or the but end of 
a tree recently cut may be immersed in the liquid; 
in either case, the fluid, it is said, will ascend 
and penetrate every part of the tree, except the 
heart, imparting to the trunk, leaves and branches, 
its own hue and qualities. In the living tree 
this effect is obliterated in a few days by vital 
action. But, if the tree has been severed from 



GRAFTING. 
A Mr. Houtt, in the "Union Agriculturist," recom- 
mends the following - , to us, novel mode of grafting". 
He says : 

"When yon commence grafting, you have 
nothing to do but dig around the root of the 
tree, in whose root you intend to set — when you 
find a root, half an inch in diameter, cut it loose 
from its mother and raise the outer end of it a 
little, so that you can make a split in it about 
an inch or more from the end — then sharpen the 
graft just at the joint, with one side a little 
thicker than the other, and open the split end of 
the root, and slip the graft therein, with the thin 
side towards the small end of the root — cover it 
even with the surface with fine earth, and it will 
sometimes grow to the height of six feet in one 
summer. 

" You may in like manner cut at or a little 
below the surface, any scion whose root is un- 
connected with the mother stock, and make a 
split in its stump, and sharpen your graft in the 
same way, and open the split and set it in the 
stump about half an inch below where it is cut ; 
taking care to set your graft so as to cross the 
bark of the stump, and not perpendicular — the 
last process perpendicular is so apt to miss taking 
the sap ; but if you set your graft cross or quar- 
tering, you cannot miss. You will be careful 
to cover it with fine earth two or three inches 
deep, and you may depend on success." 



BERKSHIRES. 

Mr. Robinson, who is not less remarkable for his 
practical common sense- than for the forcible quaintness 
of his style, gives the following excellent advice to the 
breeders of Berkshires: 

11 Experience is an excellent teacher — as I 
have been taught a little 1 will impart it to others 
engaged in breeding pigs. Great care is neces- 
sary with this breed, to guard against the temp- 
tation to use them too young. They are so 
large and fine at eight or ten months old, that 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



115 



many suppose they are plenty big enough to 
breed. It is a great mistake. The boar should 
scarcely be used until twelve months old, and 
then but sparingly until eighteen. A sow should 
never be allowed to have pigs until a year old, 
and then only in warm weather — and it would 
be better that they were sixteen months old — 
nature cannot be forced with impunity. The 
period of gestation in a sow is exactly sixteen 
weeks. Now of my experience — I had two 
sows last fall on the passage from Albany, got 
with pig at about four months old. On the first 
day of January, one of the coldest of the season, 
one dropped seven and the other two, and as the 
sows had little or no milk, and were too young 
to mind their pigs, all died in spite of all that 
human care could do. 

" Yesterday, another sow, just one year old, 
dropped eight pigs. She is one of the kindest, 
most careful, and sensible hogs I ever saw ; and 
as the weather is warm, the pigs are all as lively 
as could be wished. It, is characteristic of Berk- 
shires, that they are great breeders, and fine 
milkers. But do not be tempted to use them 
too young. But above all things, do not be 
tempted to do without them. 

Solon Robinson. 

Lake C. H., la., April 2." 



HOMMINY MORTAR. 




Mr. Editor, — In the second number of the 
Planter, page 26, } r ou have given us a represen- 
tation of a contrivance for the economical use of 
a small water fall. I send you a rude drawing 
of an apparatus for a similar purpose, which I 
have seen in operation, and know to answer the 
purpose excellently well. The cut represents it 
as applied to a pestle and mortar, which may be 
used for pounding corn and cobs, or any purpose 
of the sort for which it may be wanted. It is 
almost too simple to need description, yet it may 
be worth while to say, that a section of a spout 
is represented emptying a stream of water into 
a trough, dug in one end of a beam resting upon 



a cross piece, the other end attached to a pestle 
working in a mortar, burnt out of the stump of 
a tree. The cross piece, to which the beam is 
attached, revolves on two pivots at its extremes, 
working in journals formed in the uprights. 
When the trough is filled with water, that end 
of the beam descends, until enough water is 
emptied out to give preponderance to the pestle, 
when the trough again ascends within the sphere 
of the water. The spout is placed obliquely to 
the trough, so that the trough, in its circular 
descent, may be carried within and so miss the 
fall of water which would otherwise keep it 
down all the time. 

This machine works well, I assure you, and 
is so simple and cheap that it may be made by 
the plainest hand at an expense of four or five 
dollars. 

Yours, O. K. 

We were aware of this application of the principle 
when we gave the other. A representation, almost ex- 
actly similar to the one now afforded, is given in the 
first volume of the old American Farmer. But we con- 
ceived that the simplicity and cheapness of the present 
form was more than counterbalanced by the superior 
excellence of the former. 



SEEDS. 



A Mr. Risley, through the Genesee Farmer, recom- 
mends the following mode of treating garden seeds. 
He says he has pursued this plan for the last six years 
with eminent success: 

" First, soak the seeds in water from six to 
twenty-four hours — some seeds being slower to 
admit moisture than others, is the difference in 
the time required. After soaking, drain off the 
water, and mix the seeds with a sufficient quan- 
tity of earth to absorb the moisture remaining 
on the seeds : stir them often that they may ve- 
getate evenly, and keep them in a moderate de- 
gree of warmth and moisture until they are 
sprouted, when they are ready to be put into the 
ground. If the weather should be unfavorable, 
put the seeds in a cool place, which will check 
their growth. 

"One great advantage of this practice would 
seem to be, that the plants quickly appear above 
the surface, so that the hoe, cultivator, etc. can 
be used easily, before the weeds start." 



For the Southern Planter. 
RAT TRAP. 

Mr. Editor,— The following plan of a rat trap 
is much used in this neighborhood, but is not, I 
believe, so generally known, at least used, as it 
deserves. Take a common barrel, and cut a 
circular board rather smaller than the upper 
head, which must be removed. Suspend this 
circular board at the mouth of the barrel on two 
pivots, so that it will revolve freely, but maintain 
a balance horizontal position when undisturbed. 
Pour water into the barrel six or eight inches 



116 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



deep, and put a block in the centre, so that the 
top will appear just above the surface. Provide 
a board from the floor, or some other means by 
which the rats can get on the swinging board, 
which must be strongly baited with some tempt- 
ing article, secured to it. As soon as a rat 
places his weight upon it, he is plunged into the 
reservoir below, when the board regains its de- 
ceitful position, and all is again fair without. In 
the meantime, the rat gains the block, when his 
distressing cries attract the attention of his sym- 
pathising companions. Thus, by means of the 
combined operation of sympathy and gluttony, 
two very powerful motives, you have another 
and another added to the number of the deluded 
wretches, who fall a prey to this insidious trap. 
Yours, A Rat Catcher. 

Mr. C. T. Botts. 



To the Editor of the Southern Planter: 
STRAW CUTTER. 

J\Iy Dear Sir, — I am requested by my friend 
and neighbor, Mr. Hansberger, to procure one of 
your straw cutters for him, like the one I pur- 
chased of you last year. 

Being satisfied that it is by far the best article 
of the kind I have ever seen, and being desirous 
of seeing such a labor-saving machine in general 
use, especially in my own section, where so 
much straw is cut, I hereby request you to pub- 
lish in the Southern Planter my certificate of its 
simplicity, strength, and efficiency. Notwith- 
standing its price, I would advise every farmer, 
who has straw to cut, and who desires to save 
money, to purchase one without delay. I would 
not be without the one 1 have, if I could not get 
another, for one hundred dollars. There is not 
the least difficulty in keeping it in order, and I 
consider it one of the most valuable labor-saving 
machines I ever saw. 

Your obedient servant, 

Peter Hanger. 

Augusta Co. near Waijnesborough. 



PLANTING TREES. 

We have noticed several communications late- 
ly in our exchange papers reprehending what is 
said to be a common error of setting trees too 
deep in the ground. It is advised to set the 
roots no deeper than is necessary to sta}?- and 
support the young tree. This may be effected 
with much less depth than is generally used, 
especially if every tree has, as it ought to have, 
a stake firmly driven alongside to which it may 
be tied. Neither seeds nor roots should be placed 
beyond the genial influence of the sun and at- 
mosphere. 



SALT. 
Salt, at the rate of twenty bushels to the acre, 
is highly recommended by the gardeners of Eng- 



land, particularly for cabbages and beets. It is 
said also to be extremely beneficial to flowers, 
especially the hyacinth, whose bloom, it is as- 
serted, will never be perfect at any distance from 
the sea without it. 



For the Southern Planter. 
EXTRAORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCE. 

Chesterfield C. H. June 25, 1S41. 

Mr. Editor, — I avail myself of the opportuni- 
ty, afforded by the establishment of your paper, 
to apprise my brother farmers of a very singular 
circumstance, that occurred in this couniy last 
spring. My father, Jeremiah Hobbs, owns a 
cow that last 3 T ear brought a calf, that died sud- 
denly on the third day after its birth, although, 
up to that time, it was apparently thrifty. In 
nine da} T s from the time the cow produced this 
calf she had another, an uncommonly fine one, 
which is now living and doing well. The oldest 
persons in this neighborhood never heard of a 
similar instance, and it would be interesting to 
hear if any of your readers ever knew an oc- 
currence of the kind. The fact can be confirmed 
by the testimony of the Rev. C. W. Friend, and 
Dr. P. H. Anderson. 

Our crops of corn, wheat and grass look very 
fine. 

I hope your paper will be greatly patronised 
in our county. I have already procured some 
subscribers for 3 r ou, and, if you will send me a 
prospectus, will get more without any charge of 
commission. 

Yours, &c. John E. Hobbs. 

We are very much obliged to Mr. Hobbs for his po- 
liteness, and will be very happy at all times to afford 
him an opportunity of communicating - with his profes- 
sion. The fact he mentions is a very singular one and 
worthy the attention of the naturalist. 



YYOBURNS vs. BERKSHIRES. 
Dr. Martin, an extensive breeder in Kentuck}\ 
contends, that a stock of hogs, obtained by cross- 
ing the Woburn on a large breed of English 
white hogs, which he calls Berkshires, is supe- 
rior to the imported black stock generally known 
by that name. Mr. Fanning of the Agricul- 
turist doubted the fact, and accepted a challenge 
from the Doctor to feed against him. The Edi- 
tor was beaten all hollow, the Doctor nearly 
doubling him in weights. One of the Doctor's 
pigs gained three pounds a day, and weighed 
242 lbs. at six months. This is certainly pro- 
digious, and we believe much beyond what any 
body else has effected with any other stock. 
Still, we protest against any conclusions being 
drawn from a contest of this kind between a 
farmer and an editor. Mr. Fanning ought to 
have, known that the airy visions of an editor's 
brain were too unsubstantial to fatten even Berk- 
shires, and we think it is probable, from his own 
account, that his got little else. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



117 



The result, like the generality of such expe- 
riments, proves nothing, except, that Dr. Martin 
possesses a stock which is capable of attaining 
extraordinary weights at early ages ; but as we 
have no account of the quantity of food given 
to both, or either, we can form no idea of the 
relative merits of the two, nor can we know at 
what expense the Doctor gets his meat. This 
after all is the true question. 



From Youatt's Treatise on Cattle, pages 544 — 5. 
MANAGEMENT OP COWS AFTER CALVING. 

"Attention after Calving. — Parturition having 
been accomplished, the cow should be left qui- 
etly with the calf; the licking and cleansing of 
which, and the eating of the placenta, if it is 
soon discharged, will employ and amuse her. 
It is a cruel thing to separate the mother from 
the young so soon ; the cow will pine, and will 
be deprived of that medicine which nature de- 
signed for her in the moisture which hangs about 
the calf, and even in the placenta itself; and the 
calf will lose that gentle friction and motion 
which helps to give it the immedite use of all 
its limbs, and which, in the language of Mr. j 
Berry, ' increases the languid circulation of the | 
blood, and produces a genial warmth in the half! 
exhausted and chilled little animal' A warm 
mash should be put before her, and warm gruel, 
or water from which some of the coldness had 
been taken off. Two or three hours afterwards, 
it will be prudent to give an aperient drink con- 
sisting of a pound of Epsom salts and two 
drachms of ginger. This may tend to prevent 
milk fever and garget in the udder. Attention 
should likewise be paid to the state of the udder. 
If the teats are sore, and the bag generally hard 
and tender, she should be gently but carefully 
milked three or four times every day. The na- 
tural and the effectual preventive of this, how- 
ever, is to let the calf suck her at least three 
times in the day if it is tied up in the cow-house, 
or to run with her in the pasture, and take the 
teats when it pleases. The tendency to inflam* 
mation of the udder is much diminished by the 
calf frequently sucking; or should the cow be 
feverish, nothing soothes or quiets her so much 
as the presence of the little one. 

"The Cleansing. — The placenta, or after-birth, 
or cleansing, should be discharged soon after the 
calving. It soon begins to act upon the uterus 
as a foreign body, producing irritation and fever ; 
it likewise rapidly becomes putrid and noisome, 
and if it is then retained long, it is either an in- 
dication of a weakly state of the cow, or it may 
produce a certain degree of low fever that will 
interfere with her condition. Every cowleech, 
therefore, has his cleansing drink ready to ad- 
minister ; but it is too often composed of stimu- 
lating and injurious drugs, and which lay the 
foundation for after disease. The aperient drink 



recommended to be given after calving, with 
the addition of half a pint of good ale to it, will 
be the best assistant in this case and the only 
thing that should be allowed. 

"Should the cleansing continue to be retained, 
some have recommended that a weight of six 
or eight ounces should be tied to the cord, the 
gentle and continual action of which will usually 
separate the placenta from its adhesions, without 
any risk of hemorrhage ; but if the after-birth 
should still remain in the womb, and decompo- 
sition should evidently commence, the hand must 
be introduced into the passage, and the separa- 
tion accomplished as gently as possibly. 

"There is, however, a great deal more fear 
about this retention of the after-birth than there 
needs to be, and it is only the actual appearance 
of inconvenience or disease resulting from it, 
that would justify a mechanical attempt to extri- 
cate it." 



SMALL BIRDS. 

In a report made to the Legislature of Mas- 
sachusetts, at the session before the last by the 
Rev. Mr. Peabody, he remarks, that "to exter- 
minate birds which do a little harm occasionally, 
is to protect ourselves from a small evil at the 
expense of a greater, and in fact securing the 
fruit at the expense of the tree. Means may 
be devised to prevent the ravages of birds, but 
none have yet been discovered to prevent the 
ravages of insects. The birds guard our fields 
and gardens from the insect ; and if they, now 
and then taste of the fruit which they have pre- 
served, we can better afford a share to them than 
the whole to their creeping enemy. To give 
some idea of the service which birds are able to 
render, Mr. Peabody notices the computation of 
Wilson, according to which, a red winged black- 
bird devours on an average fifty grubs a day — 
a pair of them, in four months, will consume 
more than twelve thousand — and allowing a 
million pair of black-birds to New England, 
(which is but a moderate estimate,) they will 
destro}' twelve thousand millions of the grub. 
He also notices the statement of Kalm that after 
some States had paid three pence a dozen for 
the destruction of black-birds, the consequence 
was a total loss, in the year 1749, of all the 
grass and grain, by means of insects which had 
flourished under the protection of the law allow- 
ing bounties on birds." 



CHEAP MANURE. 

The Louisville Journal recommends, as a cheap 
mode of manuring, the turning in, in the spring, 
a green crop of rye, seeded thickly for the pur- 
pose the fall preceding. Or if the crop to be 
planted is a late one, and the lwe has been ne- 
glected in the fall, a crop of oats may be sowed 
for the same purpose early in the spring. In 
this way, it is asserted, by turning in a green 



118 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



crop the land may be cultivated every year, not 
only without deterioration but with an increase 
of fertility. It is recommended to turn in the 
green crop two or three weeks before putting in 
the crop that is to be gathered. 

This recommendation has been extensively j 
quoted and generally approved. But, with all 
due deference, we think that upon this subject' 
much is to be said and some nice calculations, 
to be made. Under most circumstances, this, : 
which is the old doctrine of improvement by | 
green crops, will be found to resolve itself into 
this question. Is it economy to bury in the 
earth a crop, which, in a few weeks, might be 
gathered and garnered. Is it not better, if im- 
provement alone is considered, to let the crop 
remain, and bestow the proceeds of it, when 
matured and sold, upon the land in another, 
way 1 We believe that, generally, ripe crops j 
are more valuable than green ones, any way 
they can be used, and should dislike very much : 
to destroy a field of rye that promised an abun- 
dant harvest in a few weeks. It will be an- 
swered, that some fields must be kept for corn 
and other spring crops, which, if not sowed in , 
rye, would lie barren through the winter and ! 
spring, and that this is only a mode of keeping 
a good servant always at work. This is true, 
and might be a good argument if there was any 
stint of land in our country. But we must re- 
member that here the farmer always has more 
fields than he can cultivate every year, and 
whilst land is so cheap, it is proper that he 
should. Now, whilst he was ploughing and 
sowing a field intended for corn, in rye, to be 
turned in, in the spring, he might have been 
sowing another field in wheat or rye to be ga- 
thered in the spring ; so that the question at last, 
as we said before, will be, whether he shall sow 
a crop to be matured and gathered, or whether 
he will make more by a crop which he cannot 
permit to come to maturity, but will be com-l 
pelled to plough under whilst it is green. We 
apprehend that, upon fair consideration, there 
will be no hesitation about his choice ; for if he 
concludes green crops, ploughed in, to be more j 
valuable than ripe ones, gathered, we presume 
he will go on to turn in all his crops, and gather 
none ; the consequence of which will be, that, 
contrary to Parson Turner's maxim, the farmer 
will grow poor, as his land grows rich. 



DAIRIES. 

From a well written essay on the Manage- 
ment of Dairies by Mr. Jos. How, published in 
the Transactions of the Essex Agricultural So- 
ciety, we make the following extracts: 

" The first and most earnest point to be gained 
is to obtain good cows. It costs no more to feed 
a good cow, than a poor one. 

" The quality of the milk is a consideration not 
less important than the quantity. Those, who 



never have tried the experiment of setting dif- 
ferent cows milk separate have very imperfect 
ideas of their comparative value. I have known 
some cows that five or six quarts of milk would 
raise sufficient to make a pound of butter. I 
believe this was stated to be true of the Oakes 
cow, from the milk of which was made twenty 
pounds of butter a week for several successive 
weeks; and I have heard the same of oihers. 
But ordinarily, it takes ten quarts of milk to 
yield a pound of butter. It, therefore, becomes 
a point of great importance, in selecting cows 
for the making of butter, to obtain those whose 
milk is adapted to this purpose. 

" The manner of milking also demands atten- 
tion. Cows should be milked about the same 
time each day, and they should be milked quick 
and clean. If a portion of their milk is suffered 
to remain, this will soon diminish the quantity, 
and the cows will dry up. It is bad policy to 
trust milking to children, for they usually do it 
moderately and imperfectly, and more is lost 
thereby than would pay the best of laborers. 

" The place for the setting of the milk is also 
worthy of attention. This should be cool, well 
ventilated, and exclusively appropriated to this 
purpose. For if it is permitted to be occupied 
in part for other purposes, some things will find 
their way there which will be injurious to the 
milk. It should also be properly lighted. Cream 
will rise more favorably in the light than in a 
dark room and the quality will be better. There- 
fore a dairy room above ground is preferable to 
a cellar. The room should be carefully guarded, 
by the use of wire gauze, or some other sub- 
stance at the windows, against the approach hf 
insects or intruders of every kind. The milk 
should be set in pans uncovered ; as the cream 
will not rise so freely when there is a cover over 
the pans. Care should be taken not to fill the 
pans full, especially in warm weather, as the 
cream will rise quicker and better when the milk 
is spread over a large surface. The sooner it 
rises and is removed from the milk the better; 
and this should always be done before the milk 
begins to turn sour. When the cream is taken 
off, it should be kept in tight covered vessels, in 
cool places, until the churning process ; and this 
should always be before any sourness is disco- 
verable. 

''Much care should be taken to separate the 
butter milk thoroughly from the butter. More 
depends on this than any other part of the process 
in making good butter. Unless this is done, it 
will be impossible to preserve it sweet and good ; 
if our dairy women would apply double ihe labor 
to half the quantity of their butter, and thereby 
remove all particles of the butter-milk, this one 
half would be worth more than the whole in 
the condition which it is usually sent to market. 
As this is a matter that interests every farmer, 
and every lover of good butter, (and who does 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



119 



not love it when it is fair and nice?) I have 
presumed to forward these remarks. You will 
use them as you think proper. 

"Respectfully yours, Joseph How. 

"Metheun, Jan.' 6, 1841. 

" Note. — What I have said in relation to the ■ 
working of buttter, is to be understood, in rela-| 
tion to such butter as had the proper previous 
management. For if the butter becomes soft, j 
it may lie worked ever so long, and not become j 
hard and good ; although it may be improved 
by working. But if it is to be kept, care should 
be taken that the butter-milk is thoroughly re- 
moved. 

"It was my intention to have said something 
on the feed of cows. But my remarks have 
already extended so far, I will simply say, that 
there is no feed on which cows can be kept, that 
will make better butter, than a first rate pasture ; 
such as abounds with English grasses. When 
this supply fails, let the deficiency be made up 
by green corn-stalks. Farmers will do well to 
plant some corn extra, for this purpose. 

" The present winter, I have boiled roots for 
my cows, such as turnips and sugar beets, to 
which I add a little Indian meal. This food, 
when properly prepared and seasoned with salt 
is well received by the cows, and improves the 
flavor, and increases the quantity of the milk. 

J. H." 



We copy the following- excellent article from the 
American Parmer. We have not a doubt that the sub- 
stitution of a lighter diet for the vast quantities of meat 
consumed in this country would be both wholesome 
and economical: 

CONSUMPTION OF MEAT. 

There are few things in the habits of Ameri- 
cans, which strike the foreign observer with 
more force, than the extravagant consumption 
of food — and more especially of meat. Truly 
we may be called a carnivorous people. With 
all our outcry about hard times, the quantity of 
provisions consumed in America would support, 
in health, treble our population in Europe. The 
vast consumption of meat is not only wasteful, 
but injurious to health, and to activity of body 
and mind. The body if made of iron, would 
be unable to perform all the functions imposed 
upon it at one time — especially is it, we should 
suppose, without pretending to any science on 
the subject, deleterious to eat meat suppers — or 
to eat a heavy meal immediately preceding any 
necessary action of body and mind. How well 
this is proved by the experience of the turf. 
Suppose a race to be made for a heavy sum, 
half forfeit, and on going into his stable, the 
trainer finds that although he is sure that his 
nag is the belter horse, the groom has been 
bribed to give him a gallon of oats and water 
at pleasure, would he not at once withdraw, and 



pay forfeit sooner than encounter the certainty 
of paying the full amount ? May it not be 
averred that one half of the provisions consumed 
in this country might be saved with certainty of 
avoiding the numerous diseases thai arise from 
plethora, impaired digestion and disordered blood? 
Let the heads of any fan ily examine the sub- 
ject, and they will find that a substitution of 
oread and vegetables and milk for three-fourths 
of the meat consumed, would be attended with 
economy and better health. 



COOKED FOOD. 

A Mr. Seldon, of Massachusetts, stated, in a 
recent agricultural meeting in Boston, that from 
a bushel of cooked meal he had obtained twelve 
pounds of pork, whilst the same quantity of un- 
cooked meal would not give more than eight 
pounds. 

It has been doubted whether the advantage 
of cooking balanced the expense, but the eco- 
nomy of modern conveniences for this purpose 
has. we believe, settled the question with the 
most skeptical. 



AGRICULTURE IN VIRGINIA. 

We extract the following- judicious observations from 
the Lynchburg Virginian: 

" To the cultivators of the soil in this part of 
Virginia we submit the following suggestions : 
Our best and most beautiful lands have been cut 
down, worked and worn out, and then deserted 
for the South or far West. It is a fact, and we 
record it with pleasure, that there are some 
planters and farmers, who, with the aid of clover 
and plaster, have enriched their lands, and ren- 
dered them highly productive. We know some 
farms, which, a few years since, produced only 
one to two barrels of corn to the acre, that now 
yield eight to ten. The same ground produced 
only six bushels of wheat, now yield twenty to 
twenty-five. And this has been done when 
plaster cost from twelve to twenty dollars per 
ton. The uncertainty of the wheat crop for 
past years makes it prudent, that the agricul- 
turist should raise a mixed crop of wheat and 
tobacco. The time for planting tobacco is at 
hand ; no land should be planted but the richest 
lots, the richest flats, and the new land that is 
annually cleared. Plant early ; never under any 
circumstances top over eight leaves ; and never 
cut tobacco until it is thoroughly ripe. The 
great error of the upper country and South, is, 
that nineteen out of twenty planters cut their 
tobacco unripe. Hard firing is another common 
error, and ought to be avoided. Some fire is 
necessary for all tobacco that is exported; but 
many planters fire their tobacco until the oil is 
removed and the leaf made stiff and starky. 

"The completion of the James River Canal 
to Lynchburg, has opened a new era, and will 



120 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



operate favorably to the agriculturist of this part 
of the State. We now procure plaster at $8 
per ton, which will soon be reduced to $6 or 
$6 50. The time is propitious for improvement, 
and nothing will prevent it, but the want of en- 
terprise and industry on the part of the sons of 
the Old Dominion. Our tobacco will be super- 
seded by that of the West, unless we abandon 
its culture in poor land and raise such as will 
compete with any exported. This can be done ; 
for we have soil, climate, and seasons not sur- 
passed by any State in the Union. The science 
of agriculture should be studied both in theory , 
and practice, it being the foundation of national | 



wealth and prosperity. No pursuit, says the 
Father of his couniry, is better calculated to 
promote independence, health, virtuous habits, 
and a peaceful contented mind. The visionary 
dreams of wea.lth, by emigration to the South 
and West, we are happy to state, are rapidly 
passing away, and a better day is dawning upon 
our beloved Virginia. Look upon the mass of 
the whole earth, and no country can be found 
where nature has been so bountiful in her pro- 
visions ; but truth requires us to add, where man 
has done so little towards appropriating them to 
his use." 



For the Southern Planter. 

COMPENSATION HINGE. 




Mr. Editor, — You and your correspondents 
have, in my opinion, given us some invaluable 
hints upon the important subject of farm gates. 
Whilst, I think you have brought the gate itself 
almost to perfection, I do not admire the hinge 
you seem to recommend. The wooden hole or 
iron ring maybe strong, but they are clumsy 
and unsightly. I send you a representation of 
a hinge which I adopted some time ago from 
the "Scottish Husbandry" and which I have 
found to deserve all the commendations bestowed 
upon it. It is called the " compensation hinge," 
and was first used, I think, by a man with the 
name of Parker. An iron rod, flattened at one 
end, works around a pivot or journal inserted 
securely in the top of the gate post, the other 
end terminates in a screw and nut, and the round 
part is passed, as represented, through three 
rings attached to the gate. A similar fixture, 
not represented, where a hook in the side of the 
gate post is used instead of the pivot on top, se- 
cures the heel of the gate. Here, the rod merely 



passes through the back upright in the gate, 
and ends like the upper one in a screw and nut. 
Now, if the gate swags or sinks in front 
from any cause, you have only to unscrew the 
lower nut a little and screw up the upper one, 
and the gate is immediately raised and restored 
to its proper position. I have added a roller, 
which revolves on a plate around the extreme 
edge of the gate post, which, I think, adds 
greatly to the support of the gate, and, of course, 
causes it to revolve with greater ease. For a 
front gate, where ornament is desired, and where 
a small expense is not regarded, I know of no 
hinge superior to this. 

Yours, Rusticus. 



NECESSITY OF SOUTHERN PAPERS. 
C. T. Botts : 

Sir, — I am much pleased with the plan of 
your work, and most sincerely hope it will re- 
ceive the patronage to which it is entitled. We 
have long needed in the southern country a cheap 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



121 



work, adapted to our peculiar circumstances. 
For want of it we have been driven to papers 
published at the North by men ignorant of the 
first principles of southern agriculture. What 
can they know, with their little garden farms, of 
the principles adapted to our extensive system. 
They are a commercial, we an agricultural, peo- 
ple ; and whilst we may take some lessons from 
them upon minor points of rural economy, no- 
thing is more absurd than to seek information 
from them upon the subject generally of southern 
agriculture. Our climate, soil, and institutions 
are not only different, but entirely opposite. No 
experiment made at the north is a test, of what 
may be done at the south, and the difference in 
the nature of the labor employed in cultivation 
is sufficient, alone, to vary the system entirely. 
But, the fact is, they know nothing about farm- 
ing — they cultivate little patches for amusement, 
but nature has provided them with another and 
more profitable employment. 

I concur most heartily with you in the opi- 
nion, that as much agricultural information lies 
undeveloped in the bosom of our own State as 
can be furnished by any other in the Union. It 
must of necessity be so. We are the oldest 
agricultural people in the Union. It was here, 
that the bounties of nature attracted the early 
settlers ; and it is here, that agriculture has been 
pursued with all the zeal, and all the talent, that 
has marked Virginia in the councils of the na- 
tion. From whence have the farmers of the 
south and west been furnished, but from Virgi- 
nia soil ? Whence come the great agricultural 
staples, with which the importations of northern 
merchants are paid for in Europe, but from the 
sunny lands and skilful hands of the south? 
And shall such a people, furnishing all, engaged 
in the active pursuit of agriculture, seek the 
frigid climate and barren soil of the north for 
agricultural information? As well might the 
experienced sailor, who traverses the ocean, ask 
advice of the timid citizen, that paddles a cockle 
boat on a fishing excursion. 

I hope that your paper will be devoted exclu- 
srvely to southern agriculture, and that it will 
be supported, if not exclusively , at least univer- 
sally by southern men. 

Yours, M. E. S. 

[We have already declared that the object of 
our establishment was to foster and cherish 
southern agriculture. What we can get from 
our friends of the north, (and there is much that 
they can teach us in rural economy, as our friend 
expresses it,) we shall adopt thankfully and 
without hesitation. But beyond those minor 
points, which are common to all systems, our 
readers will see from our extracts, we derive but 
little assistance from our northern exchanges. 
Their experiments are made generally upon so 
small a scale, and under such peculiar circum- 
Vol. 1—14 



stances, that they are more apt to mislead, than 
guide, the great farmer of the south. Many of 
those reported are, we know, made upon farms 
of less than an acre, and under circumstances 
totally incompatible with the engagements of 
our agriculturists. What does a little farmer in 
Rhode Island know of a system, which exhibits 
an hundred acres of corn in a single field, or 
which puts fifteen or twenty thousand dollars 
per annum in the pocket of one individual? A 
system, which, instead of employing some half 
dozen white men only at a particular season, 
must look constantly to the employment of hun- 
dreds of negroes ? A system, in short, which 
differs totally in its great essentials from the one 
he has been taught to practise ? It was seeing 
and feeling this, that we embarked in the hum- 
ble attempt to collect and scatter information 
more appropriate to the south, at an expense 
that would make it accessible to all. As south- 
erners and patriots then, we call upon southern 
men to aid and support this enterprise. Give 
us the information that you possess, and we so 
greedily covet. It rests with you to sustain and 
support a paper devoted exclusively to your in- 
terests, whose cheapness must alone secure it 
the most extensive circulation. So far our sup- 
port, in the way of subscriptions, has been of 
the most liberal kind, and far exceeded our most 
sanguine expectations. We have hundreds of 
friends, for whose warm exertions we return our 
most cordial thanks, both in our own person and 
as an humble representative of the cause of agri- 
culture. Our list, large as it is, furnishes us 
however no return as yet for our labor, nor did 
we expect it would. It must be evident, from 
the priceof thework,thataverylargesubscription 
alone would remunerate the Editor. His labors 
are much greater than would be imagined, and 
require his whole time. To study, condense, 
and furnish some sixty articles with all the at- 
tendant attention to the mechanical portion of 
the work, is no small labor for the month. W 7 e 
would not " spur a willing horse," and hope that 
our friends, who have been already so kind, will 
not consider us impertinent in bringing these 
facts to their attention, and in requesting them 
not to relax their exertions in our behalf. 

If, in this article we have displayed a little 
egotism, we hope it will be remembered that this 
number completes our half volume, and that we 
have not been thus guilty hitherto.] 



From the Farmers' Cabinet. 
GLANDERS IN MEN. 
Sir, — There is a highly interesting article in 
the London Sporting Magazine for January last, 
upon this frightful disorder, which, until lately, 
had been considered peculiar to the horse, the 
mule, and the ass : late experience, however, 
has shown, that the poison is not confined to 
these, but that the human subject is as liable to 



122 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



be affected, as either of the animals above men- 
tioned. This is a truth of great importance to 
those whose business and profession call them 
much amongst this kind of stock, and it cannot 
be too well or too extensively known, that many 
instances of death in its most awful shape have 
unquestionably taken place from contact with 
the animal while under the efFects of glanders. 
M. Waldinger was the first to direct attention 
to the liability ot man to be thus affected ; urg- 
ing the greatest precaution in going amongst 
glandered horses, as the severest injury, and even 
death, often arises from inoculation. He relates, 
that a groom had his fingers affected with in- 
flammation in consequence of operating on a 
diseased horse ; tumors, precisely similar to those 
observed on the horse, were soon developed in 
his limbs, and he was at length cured by filling 
the wounds with small pieces of lint or cotton 
steeped in turpentine. Sidon, another veterinary 
surgeon, states that -glanders is transmissible 
from the horse to the man, causing the worst 
kind of ulcers ; and even mentions a case where 
a horse took the disease from a farrier, who had 
a glandered sore on his hand, which came in 
contact with the animal while he was giving 
him a ball : both died of the disease ! A groom 
slept in a stable at Paris, occupied by a glan- 
dered horse; some days after the death of the 
animal, the groom was attacked by the same 
disease, which was characterized by pustular 
and gangrenous sores over the body, the nose, 
and the throat, below the ears, on the glands, 
and on the feet. He died on the 12th of Februa- 
ry, 1840 ; and on the evening of his death, a 
small quantity of matter was collected from the 
gangrenous wounds, with which a foundered 
mare was inoculated: in three daj 7 s the disease 
had commenced progress, and at the end of 
twenty-one days from inoculation, the wretched 
animal was put out of its misery, covered with 
gangrenous ulcers, which had prevented her 
from opening her mouth to take food. Thus it 
was proved, that it was the glanders the man 
died of, as a horse, otherwise healthy, had been 
impregnated with that disease by matter taken 
from him after death. It should be borne in 
mind, that this unfortunate man only slept in 
the stable, where had died a glandered horse; 
he must therefore have taken the disease by con- 
tagion. This conclusion should serve as a warn- 
ing to all, how careful and cautious they ought 
to be, when necessity compels ihem to have 
any communication with glandered horses. M. 
Leone, a veterinary surgeon in a dragoon regi- 
ment, in perfect health, was called upon in his 
professional capacity to operate upon a glandered 
horse in the regiment : alter the operation, he 
introduced his finger into the wound, to explore 
the extent of the sore; he had unfortunately a 
slight bruise on his finger at the time, which in 
a few days became much swollen ; it was ex- 



tremely painful, and soon covered with fungus- 
like growths: the wound was cauterized, when 
he felt the presence of several painful, hard 
! swellings, in several parts of his body, which 
formed abscesses ; and six weeks after the opera- 
! tion, they had extended to the knee-joint and 
j instep. He had the assistance of many physi- 
I cians, but. without any success : tumors formed 
and soon broke, and still remain open. 

Very recently, a } 7 oung man, a groom to a 
nobleman, who had the charge of a glandered 
horse, was in the habit of wiping the face of the 
animal with his pocket-handkerchief, by which 
the disease was contracted, and he died in one 
of the hospitals in excruciating; agon} 7 , every 
bone in his head being perfectly carious ! These 
melancholy details lead to the conclusion, that 
a man is liable to the infection of glanders — a 
disease hitherto supposed to be peculiar to the 
horse, the ass, and the mule. It is also ascer- 
tained, by inoculation, that the farcy is only a 
modification of glanders, and may co-exist with 
that disease. But inoculation is not absolutely 
necessary for the production of glanders, either 
in man or beast, for sometimes the simple coming 
in contact with glandered animals produces this 
disease ; from which we infer that it is conta- 
gious, and that glanders in a severe form is an 
incurable disease, both in man and beast. 

The writer had once the charge of a great 
number of horses on a rail-road, amongst which 
was one suspected of being glandered : she was 
a very valuable mare, but the moment suspicion 
fell upon her, she was removed to other quar- 
ters. A veterinary surgeon, on examination, 
pronounced the disease to be a slight case of 
glanders, proposing at the same time to bleed 
and physic the whole number of horses on the 
road, about fifty in number, as a precautionary 
measure, and to take the mare into a regular 
course of treatment. It was thought to be the 
most regular course to shoot the mare at once, 
which was done out of hand, and there was an 
end of all anxiety and expense ; the doctor him- 
self admitting that by these measures he had 
been deprived of a long and fat job, amounting 
to the value of many glandered horses. 

J. P. 



CREAM. 



The peculiar rich cream of Devonshire, Eng- 
land, called clouted cream, is obtained by using 
zinc pans of a peculiar construction, consisting 
of an upper and lower apartment. The milk is 
put into an upper apartment ; and after it has 
stood twelve hours, an equal quantity of boiling 
water is introduced into ihe lower one. At ihe 
end of another twelve hours the cream is taken 
cfT much more easily and perfectly ihan in the 
common way, and is also more abundant and 
richer. The result of twelve experiments care- 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



123 



fully made, was as follows: — Four gallons of 
milk treated as above, gave in twent}'-four hours, 
four and a half pints of cream, which yielded, 
after churning fifteen minutes, forty ounces of 
butler ; four gallons treated in the usual way, 
gave in forty-eight hours, four pints of cream, 
which yielded after churning ninety minutes, 
thirty-six ounces of butter. The increase in the 
quantity of cream is twelve and a half per cent. 

The same principle may be applied in the use 
of common pans. It would be easy, for instance, 
to prepare some kind of trough, of tin, perhaps, 
or even wood, into which the pans could set, and 
hot water afterwards be introduced. 

As a close trough would be much better than 
an open one, you may have a cover in which to 
set the pans. An ingenious Yankee tinman 



would soon make a range in this way, sufficient 
for a common dairy, at no great expense. It 
would last indefinitely. If it is true that you 
would thus get some two pounds more butter a 
week from each cow, the apparatus and trouble 
would soon be paid for, — to say nothing of the 
time saved in churning. We do not see why 
zinc pans — which are said to be decidedly pre- 
ferable to any other for the dairy — with the tin 
range as above, would not be quite as good as 
the complicated and expensive Devonshire pans. 
And it would be easy for the dairy woman to 
satisfy herself respecting the principle, without 
either. By using cold water instead of hot, the 
range would serve to keep milk sweet in warm 
weather. — Vermont Farmer. 



HAY HOUSE. 




^,^SsaS~ ^m^^m^^ 



We have been at some expense to have en- 
graved, in very pretty style, a combination of 
two plans, which together, we conceived, would 
form an excellent hay house. Some years since, 
we saw, upon the farm of a practical and suc- 
cessful agriculturist of this State,' numerous 
stacks of hay, covered by very chsap roofs sup- 
ported on four corner posts securely planted in 
the ground. Tho proprietor, with whom the 



^^^t>-<^fe^ 



hay crop was a very important one, informed us, 
that he greatly preferred this to ihe usual form 
of an extended roof, which he had formerly used 
as a receptacle for all his hay. The detached 
skeletons were equally as cheap, one could be 
erected in a few hours ; there was much less loss 
in case of fire, and less risk of heating in de- 
tached stacks than in a compact body. He, 
moreover, had, In this way, an opportunity of 



124 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



separating his different kinds of hay, and get- 
ting at any with facility that he might require. 

Struck with these advantages, it occurred to 
us, that with this form of house might be com- 
bined a plan very highly recommended by Sir 
John Sinclair, in his Code of Agriculture. In 
Scotland, he says, it is common with the best 
managers to build their stacks of hay around an 
open pyramid ical frame supported on a platform 
raised from the ground. By this means the hay 
is secured from the moisture of the earth, whilst, 
by means of horizontal blocks on the side of the 
uprights, which support the platform, the ascent 
of vermin may be prevented. The open pyra- 
mid, formed by perpendicular pieces of timber, 
serves to admit the air into the centre of the 
stack, and prevent the heating, so much to be 
deprecated. 

The engraving shows for itself how we have 
conceived the two plans might be usefully and 
economically united. We ask for the objections, 
or approval, of more experienced agriculturists. 



For the Southern Planter. 
A CURE FOR WARTS. 
JSIr. Editor, — Being much troubled with warts 
on my hands, I was advised to rub them with 
milk, or as it is sometimes called, snake weed. 
Accordingly, I cut the plant, and rubbed the 
warts with the milky juice that exudes from it. 
After rubbing them once or twice a day for five 
or six days, they totally disappeared, nor have I 
ever had a return of these troublesome visitors. 
I have since heard of several similar cases where 
it was equally efficacious. 

Yours, J. C. Wren. 

Poivhatan. 



ADDRESS OF THE REV. J. H. TURNER. 

We promised in our last to take some farther 
notice of this excellent address, delivered before 
the Henrico Agricultural Society at its spring 
meeting. Since that time, the Society has pub- 
lished the address in pamphlet form, and as it will 
in that shape probably be distributed amongst a 
large portion of our readers, our notice of it will 
be much more brief than we had intended. 

With that portion of the address which was 
devoted to the agitating question of a currenc}', 
we have nothing to do, at least in this particular 
sphere. It was the agricultural portion of the 
production we had intended to review. 

The main object of the address is to describe 
a well managed farm, and the first point the 
Parson touches is the fencing. He deprecates 
the common worm fence as expensive and inse- 
cure; where the situation justifies it, he advises 
the stone, and of wood, he prefers the post and 
rail. Although amenable to censure in many 
respects, we cannot agree with the Parson in 
blaming our legislature for the necessity that 



exists of providing extensive fences against the 
depredation of ranging stock. This, the author 
intimates, might be remedied by a legislative 
enactment, which should prohibit the ranging 
of cattle. Now, we apprehend that however 
desirable such an enactment might be to some 
individuals in some portions of the country, yet 
a large majority would very properly be opposed 
to it, since, if they were required to keep their 
stock in their own enclosures, they would be 
compelled either to enclose extensive ranges, or 
be forced to forego altogether the benefit of those 
ranges, which now afford food for their stock for 
more than half the year. We repeat, that such 
a remedy in the present state of the country, is 
neither practicable nor desirable. In our opinion 
this is precisely one of those errors induced by 
apply ingnorthern instructions tosouthern circum- 
stances. At the north, where population is much 
more dense and where there is much less unculti- 
vated land, it is wise and proper to restrain the 
practice of permitting stock to go at large,because 
the convenience of a large majority is thereby 
consulted. But at the south, the reverse of this 
is the case, and consequently the same reasoning 
does not apply. But, if we are so unfortunate 
as to differ with Mr. Turner on this point, we 
are happy to give our most cordial assent to his 
next proposition, viz: that a good manager may 
be known by the use he makes of manure. 
Upon this subject he says : 

"After worrying myself with the vexed ques- 
tion of the best mode of application, I have con- 
cluded to dispose of the whole affair in the follow- 
ing summary way — take such manures as you 
can get, and apply them at such time, and in such 
manner as j^ou may find most convenient, and I 
have never seen any lands but would be benefited 
by the process. If, however, I were to recommend 
one mode above another, it would be to top-dress 
the grass lands, and the next year, or the year 
following, to submit the same to a com crop." 

The Parson insists, that if the alchymists of 
old had looked in the manure pile, they would 
have found the long sought for philosopher's 
stone. 

We would recommend the agricultural portion 
of this address to our readers. It may be had 
in this city for the trifling sum of 12£ cents. 



AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 

We have received a circular, informing us 
that the fourteenth fair of this institution will 
be held in the city of New York, in the early 
part of October next. 

These exhibitions, which are to be reckoned 
amongst the most imposing and interesting ever 
held in our country, have, we doubt not, been 
productive of incalculable good by the emulation 
they have excited in the agricultural and me- 
chanical arts. They are now so well known as 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



125 



frequently to induce, and amply repay, visits from 
the most distant parts of the Onion. More than 
one hundred thousand visiters have been ad- 
mitted ; and more than fifteen thousand speci- 
mens of domestic products exhibited, at a single 
anniversary. 

We are happy to see that the Legislature of 
New York, aroused to the importance of the 
cause in which it is embarked, has appropriated 
to this institution the sum of nine hundred and 
fifty dollars per annum, for five years, to be dis- 
tributed in premiums. This, however, is rather 
by way of compliment and approval than for 
the purpose of support, which the institution 
does not. need, as their receipts or entrance money 
has amounted to the enormous sum of $25,000 
at one exhibition. 



BEE BREEEING IN THE WEST. 

We acknowledge the receipt of a little work 
with this title, from the office of the Western 
Farmer. We handed it to a gentleman, who 
takes great interest in the subject, and he as- 
sures us it is the best treatise upon this subject 
he has ever seen. In our next, we shall proba- 
bly express our own opinion of its merits. 



OXEN. 



Although, in our climate the ox can never be 
used as extensively and to such advantage as at 
the north, yet, even here, he is an useful animal, 
and should form a portion of the stock of every 
farm. For irregular farm work he is invaluable. 
From a letter to the Yankee Farmer, written by 
Mr. A. G. Sheldon, for whose practical know- 
ledge, especially upon this subject, the Editor 
vouches, we make the following extracts : 

11 The following I give as my opinion con- 
cerning the marks of a good working -ox: 

"1. Long head, broad and oval between the 
eyes, the eye keen, full, and pleasant. Such 
marks denote ability to receive instruction, and 
readiness to obey. 

" 2. Fore legs should be straight, toes straight 
forward, hoof broad, not peaked, distance short 
between the ancle and the knee. These enable 
the ox to travel on pavements and hard ground. 

" 3. Full breast, straight on the back, round 
rib projecting out as wide as the hip bones. 
These are indications of strength and good con- 
stitution. 

" When the toes turn out, the knees bend in. 
The crooked kneed ox is apt to become lame by 
holding heavy loads down hill. 

11 The gx with horns very large near the head 
is apt to be lazy, and will not stand the heat of 
the day. The black eyed ox is apt to run 
away." 

Mr. Sheldon is either a very fanciful gentleman, or 
a very minute observer. 

" The best way to feed oxen for hard work is 



to give each ox two quarts of meal, wet, and 
mixed with chopped hay, three times a day, and 
what hay his appetite naturally craves besides. 
This is the highest feed the working ox ought 
to have, and will enable the good ox to work 
ten or twelve hours every day. I think rye and 
Indian meal mixed together is better than all 
Indian. Farmers, who do not work their oxen 
hard, have no need of giving them so much 
meal. 

"From experience, I do say, in my opinion, 
steers, broke quite young, are worth for- hard 
labor twenty-five per cent, more than oxen that 
have come to their growth before they are yoked." 



LIME. 



In a long 1 letter, from Dr. Wm. Darlington, of Penn- 
sylvania, in answer to certain inquiries propounded to 
Him by the late Judge Buel, he expresses the following 
opinions upon the use of this wonder working article : 

" Lime, undoubtedly has a good effect in soils 
which are sandy, — even where sand predomi- 
nates ; but I believe its meliorating properties 
are most conspicuous in a clay soil, — or rather 
in a stiff loam, A good proportion of decom- 
posed vegetable matter adds greatly to the be- 
neficial effects of lime ; and hence our farmers 
are desirous to mingle as much barn-yard ma- 
nure as possible with their land dressings, and 
to get their fields into what is called a good sod, 
or turf — full of grass roots. Then a dressing of 
lime has an admirable effect* The soils indi- 
cated by a natural growth of black oak, (quer- 
cus tinctoria) walnut, ( juglans nigra) and poplar, 
(liriodendron) — and those in which such grasses 
as the poas and festucus best flourish, are ge- 
nerally most signally benefitted by the use of 
lime. In short, I may observe, that lime has 
been found more or less beneficial in every de- 
scription of soil in this district. It is most so 
on hilly, or rolling lands where clay predomi- 
nates, — less permanently so among the mica 
slate, — and least of all, on the magnesian rocks. 
The soil on these last is rarely worth cultivating. 

" The quantity of lime, per acre, which can 
be used advantageously, varies with the condi- 
tion and original character of the soil. Highly 
improved land will bear a heavier dressing than 
poor land. On a soil of medium condition, the 
usual dressing is forty to fifty bushels per acre. 
A deep, rich soil, or limestone land in the great 
valley, will receive seventj T to eighty — (and I 
am told even one hundred) — bushels to the acre 

" * The yard manure is not usually mingled with the 
lime, when the latter is first applied. The practice i- 
to lime the Indian corn ground prior to planting t' * 
grain on the inverted sod, — and the ensuing sprin -et 
manure the same field for a barley crop — or to r^eilh 
the manue until the succeeding autumn, and i 
to the wheat crop. It is not well settled which ; ' an a- 
is the better practice. Each has its advocates jMed, 
is most usual to reserve manure for the wheat. n . 



126 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



with advantage. On very poor land twenty to 
thirty bushels to the acre, is deemed most advan- 
tageous to commence with. It is usually re- 
peated every five or six years — then every time 
the field comes in turn to be broken up with the 
plough ; and as the land improves, the quantity 
of lime is increased. The prevailing practice 
here, is to plough down the sod, or clay, in the 
fall or early in the spring, — harrow it once — and 
then spread the lime (previously slaked to a 
powder) preparatory to planting the field with 



Indian corn. Every 
this kind of dressing 



field. 



# in rotation receives 
and as our farms are 



mostly divided into about half a dozen fields, 
the dressing of course cgmes once in six years, 
more or less, according to the number of the 
fields. Some enterprising farmers, however, give 
their fields an intermediate dressing, on the sod, 
after they come into grass, which I consider an 
excellent practice — tending rapidly to improve 
the condition of the land. 

" It is usually applied, as already intimated, 
to the crop of Indian corn, in the spring of the 
year — say month of April. Occasionally it is 
applied previously to sowing wheat in autumn. 
When used as a top-dressing, on the sod, it is 
generally applied in the fall — say November. 
The prevailing impression is, that it is most ad- 
vantageously applied to the Indian corn crop ; 
and hence the general practice. But the truth 
is it is highly advantageous at an} 7 , and at all 
seasons, and our shrewd old farmers have a say- 
ing, 'Get your lime on for your corn if you can — 
but be sure to get it on the land, some time in 
the year.' 

"As already stated, after the sod is ploughed 
down for Indian corn, it is usually narrowed 
once, to render the surface more uniform. The 
lime is spread as equally as possible over the 
field, and then the ground is well harrowed in 
different directions, in order to incorporate the 
lime with the soil. Soon afterwards the field is 
marked out, and planted with corn. The plough 
is rarely if ever used for the purpose alluded to. 
I have mentioned above, that lime is occasion- 
ally used as a top-dressing for grass. It appears 
to be particularly beneficial to that crop; and 
answers extremely well when applied in that 
manner. The practice of applying it to Indian 
corn as above related, is however, chiefly fol- 
lowed ; and the application of a dressing to each 
field in rotation causes as much labor and ex- 
pense every year, as our farmers generally are 
willing to incur. Lime has rarelj been used as 
a top-dressing to grain crops, within my know- 
ledge. 

" I have already intimated that vegetable mat- 
Cl- s, and especially yard manures, are highly 
the -, r f ant j n conjunction with lime. Both are 
raH - le, even when used separately, but when 
respec^ the effect is most complete. If to this 



to plough only so much ground as can be well 
manured — the stale of agriculture may be con- 
sidered nearly perfect. 

" Lime is in some instances added to earthy 
composts, preparatory to distribution on the fields: 
but it is doubtful whether the extra labor of this 
method is compensated by any peculiar advan- 
tage. It is not generally practised. 

" There is no soil in this district deemed wor- 
thy of cultivation, on which lime is wholly in- 
operative as a fertilizer. On some sterile, slaty 
ridges, and on irmgnesian rocks, it has indeed 
but a slight effect ; and even the benefits of barn- 
yard manure are very transient. In low, swampy 
grounds also, unless they are previously well 
drained, the labor of applying lime is pretty 
much thrown away." 



blam, 



fided the great secret of good farming, viz 



NEW PLAN OF HORSE SHOES. 
A Frenchman by the name of Jony, now re- 
sident in Poland, has invented a new method of 
shoeing horses, for which the Emperor has 
awarded him fifty thousand rubles, besides an 
exclusive patent. Jony covers the entire hocf 
with iron, and the bases of his shoe, or, as it is 
called, sandal, is perfectly smooth. This method 
of his is being adopted in all parts of Russia. 
It requires neither nail nor screw ; it is extremely 
cheap, and has the important characteristic of 
great lightness. Horses whose hoof have been 
destroyed by bad shoeing, are, by the use of 
these "hippo sandals," resiored in a short time 
to their former state of efficiency, and may be 
used as soon as provided with them. Some 
horses have been brought to Mr. Jony's smithy, 
which could scarcely limp along, and with their 
hoofs in so lamentable a slate, that the common 
mode of shoeing could not have been applied to 
them; but after performing a slight operation 
upon them, and putting the new sandal on their 
feet, they were sent back to their owners in a 
comparatively sound state, and fit for work. 



FATTENING FOWLS WITH POTATOES. 

There is great profit in feeding geese, turkies, 
and fowls of every sort, with potatoes and meal 
mixed ; they will fatten in nearly one half the 
time that they will on any kind of corn, or even 
meal itself. The potatoes must be bruised fine, 
while hot, and the meal added, when the mess 
of Arts. 



is given to them. — Soc 



A NEW AND RAPID METHOD OF SALTING 
MEAT. 

A new mode has been invented of curing meat 
in a very short time. The meat to be cured is 
placed in an iron vessel of considerable strength, 
connected by a pipe and a stop-cock with lhe 
brine tub, also with an exhausting pump. The 
cover having been screwed down on the vessel, 
the air is extracted and a vacuum established, 
whereupon the stop-cock being properly turned, 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



127 



the brine rushes in and takes the place of the 
air, filling the pores of the meat, and penetrating ' 
thoroughly the animal substance. Lest, how-, 
ever, some parts of the meat might not have 
been impregnated with the pickle by this re-ac- 1 
tion and the common atmospheric pressure, more ' 
of the liquid from the tub, prepared to taste with 
salt alone, or with saltpetre, or sugar, or spice, | 
or alum, in the case of hides, is pumped in by a I 
small condensing engine (connected, of course, ' 
also with the iron vessel) until a pressure of 
from 150 to 200 lbs. on the square inch be at-] 
tained. Now, the animal substance is allowed 
to remain under pressure for about ten minutes, 
and the process is complete. The meat, when 
taken out, is thoroughly saturated with brine; 
the full flavor of which is imparted to it, and 
well cured, as it is termed. 



MISCELLANY, 



THE FARMER'S LIFE. 

The following- from the pen of Colman is not less 
just than beautiful: 

"What a means of imparting pleasure is an 
improved agriculture. How many charming 
examples present themselves among us of im- 
provements which every eye gazes upon with 
unmingled delight. Let a man, according to 
his power, take his ten, his twenty, his fifty, his 
hundred acres. Let him comb the hair, and 
wash the face of nature Let him subdue, clear, 
cultivate, enrich, embellish it. Let him smooth 
the rough places, and drain the wet, and fill up 
the sunken, and enrich the barren. Let him en- 
close it with a neat and substantial fence. Let 
him line its borders and road sides with orna- 
mental trees, and let him stock every proper part 
with vines and fruits. Let his fields and mea- 
dows wave with their golden harvest, and let his 
hills be covered with the herds rejoicing in the 
fulness with which his labors, under the blessing 
of God, have spread their table, and who, when 
he goes among them, hasten from all sides to 
meet him and eagerly to recognize in him a 
friend and benefactor, and lick the hand which 
is accustomed to feed and fondle them. Here 
now let us see the neatly painted cottage with 
its green shades, its piazza trellised with vines, 
its sides covered wiih the spreading elm, or 
flowing acacia, with here and there the beautiful 
fur to shade the picture, and the mountain ash 
showing its rich clusters of crimson fruit among 
the deep green foliage, and the smooth and ver- 
dant lawn stretching its soft and beautiful carpet 
to view ; then look again and see the parents at 
the close of day, resting from their labors and 
enjoying the calm evening, with their pledges 
of mutual and devoted affection rioting before 
them in all the buoyancy of youthful innocence 
and delight ; and if, at such an hour as this you 



can hear the hymn of grateful praise rising from 
this humble abode of peace and love, and its 
charming notes mingling with the music of ihe 
gurgling brook that flows near by, or broken by 
the occasional shrill and hollow notes of ihe 
gentle and fearless birds, which deem themselves 
loving members of this loving household ; if 
then, whether traveller or sojourner, your heart 
is not touched with this charming and not unu- 
sual picture of rural felicity, cease to call your- 
self a man. If still you sigh for ihe bustle and 
the noise and the confinement of the city, with 
its impure water and its offensive odors, wiih its 
despicable affectations, wiih its heartless formali- 
ties, with its violent excitements, with its mid- 
night festivities, with its utter destitution of 
sympathy, wiih its low estimate of human life, 
wiih its squalid poverty, its multiplied forms of 
wretchedness and crime, its pride, its vanity, its 
ambition, its pomp, its servility; ihen go back to 
your gilded prison house, and to pleasures which 
an uncorrupted and refined taste, accustomed to 
drink in the free air of heaven, and to appreciate 
its freshness, its purity, and its salubrity, will 
find no occasion to covet or envy. The man who 
by his cultivation and good husbandry presents 
such a picture to the passer by, shall he not be 
called a benefactor to the community? Has he 
not done much to improve and bless society by 
his example? Has he not built a monument to 
his own honor more eloquent than the marble?" 



ENTERPRISE. 

There are many points of similarity in the character 
of the Scotchman and the Yankee. The same spirit 
of enterprise, the same care for thrift, the same sound 
practical sense which is characteristic of Sawney marks 
the character of Jonathan. 

A late notice of an American who from a poor sailor 
boy has risen to be an admiral in the Russian navy re- 
minds us of the following anecdote equally illustiative 
of Scotch enterprise related by Dr. Anderson: 

"The Russians and Turks, in the war of 1739, 
having diverted themselves long enough in ihe 
contest, agreed to a treaty of peace. The com- 
missioners, for this purpose were, Marshal Ge- 
neral Keith, on the part of Russia ; and the 
Grand Vizier, on that of the Turks. These two 
personages met, and carried on their negotiations 
by means of interpreters. When all was con- 
cluded, they rose to separate ; the marshal made 
his bow with his hat in his hand, and the vizier 
his salam with h;s turban on his head. But 
when these ceremonies of taking leave were 
over, the vizier turned suddenly, and coming up 
to Marshal Keith, took him cordially by the 
hand, and in the broadest Scotch dialect, declared 
warmly that it made him, 'unco happy to meet 
a countryman in his exalted station.' Keith 
stared with astonishment, eagr-r for an explana- 
tion of this mystery, when the vizier added, 
' Dinna be surprised, mon, I J m o' the same coun- 



128 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



try wi' yoursell. I mind weel seeing- you, and 
your brother, when boys, passin' to the school at 
Kirkaldy j my father, sir, was bellman o' Kirkal- 



THE TWO LAWYERS. 

We commend the following - anecdote to the consi- 
deration of those who are about to employ the legal 
fraternity to adjust their pecuniary squabbles. It will 
remind our readers of the old caricature, "the Divi- 
sion," where the lawyers are represented as retaining 
the oyster, and handing the shells over to their respec- 
tive clients : 

"An opulent farmer applied about a lawsuit 
to an attorney, who told him he could not un- 
dertake it, being already engaged on the other 
side ; at the same time he said, that he would 
give him a letter of recommendation to a pro- 
fessional friend, which he did. The farmer, out 
of curiosity, opened it, and read as follows : 

"Heie are two fat wethers fallen out together, 

If you'll fleece one, I'll fleece the other, 

And make 'em agree like brother and brother." 

The farmer carried this epistle to the person with 
whom he was at variance. Its perusal cured 
both parties, and terminated the dispute." 




TO CORRESPONDENTS. 

The suggestion of T. J. E. with respect to the man- 
agement of agricultural exhibitions, has been handed 
to the executive committee of the Henrico Agricultural 
Society, and meets with great favor from them. 

We agree with him in thinking it desirable that the 
awarding committee should not know the owners of 
articles offered for premiums. It is proposed to effect 
this by raising a receiving committee, who shall num- 
ber the articles offered, and the awarding committee 
shall know them only by the number. We like the 
idea very much ; it not only prevents partiality, but 
what is much more common, the suspicion of it. There 
is nothing that we receive and publish with more plea- 
sure than hints upon the conduct and management of 
these most valuable institutions. 



To our friend B. J. of Surry, we return our thanks 
for the long list of names sent us and for his flattering 
commendations. We assure him he need not fear that 
the Planter will ever be "polluted with the politics of 
the day," or that it will ever be diverted from the legi- 
timate object of its establishment. 



We decline publishing the communication of C. M. 
F. because we have reason to think that the flattering 
prospect for the wheat crop has been materially im- 
paired since the date of his letter. 



Richmond Monthly Markets, July Tth 3 1841; 

Review of the Richmond market for produce for last 
month, and the current rates at this date: 

Tobacco. — The inspections have been large, and the 
demand has been steady — prices now range as follows: 
Lugs S4 25 a $4 75, and very good at $5 a $5 50 — leaf 
$5 50 a $11 — very superior for manufacturing $12 a S16. 

Flour.— The supplies have been moderate for a 
month past, and the stock has gradually diminished, 
till it has become very moderate — sales can now be 
made at $5 25 a $5 50. 

Waeat. — Old stock exhausted — no supplies of new 
received— it is probable price will start at $1 25 cr Si 30. 

Corn. — The supplies have been moderate — sales at 
65 a 70 cents. Bagwell, Smith & Jokes. 



Tobacco Inspections of Virginia to 30th June, 1841. 
1840. 1841. 

Richmond passed and refused, 12,804 h'ds. 13,430 h'ds. 
Petersburg do. 11,550 " 11,582 " 

Lynchburg do. 8,586 " 7,949 " 

Farmville do. 3,563 " 3,464 " 

Clarksville do. 2,128 " 2,500 " 

All others do. 1,000 " 1,050 " 



39,631 " 39,975 " 
Foreign Exports for month of June, 1841. 

TOBACCO. 

June 3. — Brig Essex, Antwerp, 557 Hhds. 

" 10.— Ship Whitmore, Cowes, 2991-2" 

" 19.— Ship Medora, Genoa, 569 " 

FLOUR. 

" 21.— Brig Long Island, Barbadoes, 1,200 bbls. 



CONTENTS OF NO. VI. 

Tobacco — General remarks on, as to use of plaster, 
time of planting out, &c. p. 106. 

Hay — Mr. Bernard's mode of curing, p. 106. 

Corn Cobs— Horses wintered on them, p. 106. 

Manure — Should be applied as soon as formed, p. 107. 

Corn Shucks — Recommended as food for stock, p. 108. 

Stumps — How to eradicate, p. 108. 

Plants — Curious history of, p. 109. 

Address — Dr. Archer's reviewed, p. 109. 

Hogs — Berkshire— views of a Breeder, p. 111. 

Rust — Theories of, reviewed, p. 112. 

Hay — Chickahominy blue grass recommended, p. 
113. 

Wheat — Inquiries as to the "fly-proof," p. 113. 

Agricultui al Association of Hanover noticed, p. 114. 

Timber — New mode of preparing, p. 114. 

Grafting— Mr. Houtt's plan of, p. 114. 

Berkshires — Mr. Robinson's advice, p. 114. 

Water Power — Mode of using, (with a cut,) p. 115. 

Seeds — Mr. Riseley's mode of preparing, p. 115. 

Pat Trap— New plan of, p. 115. 

Turning in Green Crops recommended by the Lou- 
isville Journal — disapproved by the Editor, p. 117. 

Dairies — Mr. How's mode of managing, p. 118. 

Meat — Too much consumed in America, p. 119. 

Cooked Food — Value of, p. 119. 

Agricidture in Virginia- — Remarks on, p. 119. 

Hinge — Parker's Compensation, (with a cut,) p. 120. 

Southern Papers — Necessity for, p. 120. 

Glanders — Human race subject to, p. 121. 

Cream — Devonshire, management of, p. 122. 

Hay House — New plan of, (with cut,) p. 123. 

Warts — Cure for, p. 124. 

Address — J. H. Turner's reviewed, p. 124. 

Pair of the American Institute announced, p. 124. 

Oxen— Management of, p. 124. 

Lime — Dr. Darlington's views on, p. 125. 

Horse Shoes — New plan of, p. 126. 

Potatoes — Fattening fowls with, p. 126. 

Silting Meat — A new and rapid method of, p. 126. 

Miscellany, p. 127. 

Editorial, p. 128. 

Richmond Markets, p. 128.