THE 



SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



A MONTHLY PERIODICAL 



DEVOTED TO 



AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE, 



AND THE 



HOUSEHOLD ARTS 




RUFFIN & AUGUST, Proprietors 
FRANK: G. RUFFIN, Editor. 



VOL. SEVENTEEN. 



"■. 



PRINTED AT RICHMOND, VIRGINIA, 

BY MACFARLANE & FERGUSSON. 
1857. 



{AkI-ZO** 




p 



vol. xvn. 

\j£ Published Monthly. 



[JANUARY] 



No. 1. f© 



Kuefin & August, Peopbietoes. 



FRANK: G. RUFFIN, Editor. 



TH E 




DEVOTED TO 



AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE. 



AND THE 



HOUSEHOLD ARTS. 



PRINTED AT RICHMOND, Va., 
BY MACFARLANE & FERGUSSON 
1857. 




!■*. 



*M 



v. \7 

W57 
CONTENTS. 



Home Department, - r 3 

Chinese Sugar Cane, - - 10 

Princess Alice Maud Strawberries. — 
Aylesbury Ducks. — Kossuth. — New 
Books, - - - 12 

Soil of the South and American Cotton 
Planter. — Peabody's New Seedling 
Strawberry^ - 1$ 

To Subscribers.— General Notice. — In- 
quiries about Ammonia, - 14 
Strychnine. — Query about Sewing Ma- 
chines, - - 16 
Testing Guano, - - 17 
Dwarf Pear Controversy, ? - 18 
Random Thoughts on the Feet of Horses 

and Shoeing, - - 20 

Fattening Hogs, z - 22 

Winter Management of Sheep, r 24 

Value of Race Horses.— On Parturient 

Fever in Ewes, - 25 

Blood as a Fertilizer, - - 26 

New Horse Shoe for Ice. — Breadstuffs— 

Exports, etc., - r 30 

Sowing Lime by Hand — Tobacco Plant 

Beds, - - 34 

Iron and its Chemical Changes and 

Combinations, - 35 

Wyandot Corn, - - 36 



Tobacco— The Plant Bed, - 

Caked Udder. — Fattening Turkeys. — 
Cattle killed by Chewing Cornstalks 
that Hogs have been Fed on, 

Cooked Food for Hogs and Cattle, 

Corn made into Whiskey, - 

Corn in Pork v. Corn in the Crib, 

Saving Seed Corn, 

The Kitchen Garden, 

"Big Head," (Osseous Disease of the 
Horse,) - 

Guano — Durability of. — Eye among Ru- 
ta Bagas, - 

Present Stocks of Tobacco in the United 
States. — Tobacco in Algeria, 

Crops in the Lower part of the Valley ; 
Effect of Sub-Soiling, - 

Qeorge Washington's Views of Planta- 
tion >york, 

The Farms and Farming of Ohio, 

Silesian Merinos, 

Warranty of Horses. — Analysis of Soils, 

Prices of Wheat in England, 

A Machine for Milking Cows, 

Death of a Celebrated Horse. — To Ad- 
vertisers, 7 

Advertisements, 



OUR NEW ISSUE. 

The table of contents will shew what we have endeavored to do for our readr 
ers. We hope they will be pleased, and that we shall be encouraged to make 
the experiment the rule. But if not, let it be remembered that we will cheer- 
fully fall back on the original dimensions of the Southern Planter. Some per- 
sons have "discontinued" on the supposition that the paper would be enlarged 
any how. This is a mistake : it will not be, unless we have reason to believe, 
according to our proposition, that the change will meet the vieivs of the majority. 

We hope our friends will not forget to use their efforts to enlarge the subscrip- 
tion list to meet the expected deficit from the change, should it be made. At 
all events we shall be obliged to them for such efforts as they choose to make in 
our behalf. We have a calculation which shews that if every subscriber would 
get only one additional one, in less than four years the Planter would be in 
every country residence in Virginia. Some few have promised this sort of aid. 
Some have given it. To each class we are much indebted, but especially, (and 
naturally so), to those who have sent us the names. 



TH E 




Devoted to Agriculture, Horticulture, and the Household Arts. 

Agriculture is the nursing mother of the Arts. I Tillage and Pasturage are the two breasts of 

— Xenoplion. \ the State. — Stilly. 



FRANK. G. RUFFIN, Editoh. 



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



Vol. XYII. 



RICHMOND, VA., JANUARY, 1857. 



No. 1 



• [From the Working Partner*! 
HOME DEPARTMENT. 

It will he seen, by an article in our present 
number, that a Bureau of Agriculture is again 
being talked of at Washington ; and we are 
sorry to find some of our contemporaries ap- 
proving of this attempted apology at supplying 
the wants of the farmer. The greatest inter- 
est of our country should demand and receive 
an organization somewhat adequate to its 
wants. A department of agriculture, with a 
secretary, who should be a cabinet officer, hold- 
ing even rank with the Secretary of State, Sec- 
retary of the Treasury, Secretary of War, etc., 
is demanded by the farmers, and they should 
not accept of a sub-organization. At the early 
formation of our government, its founders 
were anxious to organize a home department ; 
and, as the records will show, it was then laid 
aside, simply because a proper incumbent 
could not at that time be found as its Secreta- 
ry ; and the meaning of. this department was 
then distinctly understood to be a department 
for the improvement and protection of agricul- 
ture and other industrial arts. Gen. Washing- 
ington afterwards recommended such an or- 
ganization, and called it a Home Department 
of Agriculture. Since that time our farmers, 
who compose the great body of voters, have 
sent representatives to Congress, and have gen- 
erally selected them from among lawyers, or 
men of leisure and fortune. 

The requirements of the new country for a 

time occupied the energies of Congress ; and 

hen the habit of selecting such a class of rep- 



resentatives confirmed those in office, and se- 
cured the reelection of themselves, or, by their 
influence, men of similar employment or occu- 
pation; and these Congressmen, forgetting that 
more than four-fifths of their constituents were 
too much engaged in agricultural pursuits to 
busy themselves with the affairs of government, 
and preferring to leave their interests in the 
hands of their representatives, have caused 
i\\Q great interests of the majority to be. entire- 
ly neglected. Every other country in Christ- 
endom has such a department ; and for want of 
such government countenance, the farmers 
have not advanced in knowledge proportiona- 
bly with those engaged in other interests. For 
want of such a department the farmers hav<e 
been amused rather than instructed, and the 
whole nation has remained divided into two 
classes. The poetry of equal rights has been 
trumpeted to our hearts' content, while the re- 
ality has been kept beyond our reach. To si- 
lence the feeling which was evident among 
farmers, a Home Department was created ; but 
in what part of that department do we find the 
agricultural interests represented? The Com- 
missioner of Parents and his bureau are under 
the charge of the Secretary of this department, 
and in a cellar room of the Patent Office, for a 
time, we find a clerk having charge of the ag- 
ricultural portion of the Patent Office, whose 
business seemed to be to get up a volume, each 
year, made np of extracts from agricultural pa- 
pers, and the special views of this clerk on a 
j few prominent points in agriculture, or such at 
' least as he conceived to be prominent. Indeed, 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



this Home Department, so far as it related to 
agriculture, would remind one of a theatrical 
performance which occurred in England some 
years ago. The play of Hamlet was announced, 
but the principal actor being sick, it was sta- 
ted that the part of Hamlet would by particu- 
lar desire be omitted. 

We have schools for the army and navy ; we 
send commissioners abroad to examine the tac- 
tics of other countries ; and every collateral 
branch connected with military engineering, is 
fostered by government patronage. The pu- 
pils at our military schools are taught many 
branches of simple and ornamental character, 
the more completely to fit them as soldiers and 
gentlemen ; and so it should be. Nor do farm- 
ers complain of this, although they are the 
payers of four-fifths of the expense. But 
when has a commission existed under our gov- 
ernment for collecting information, either at 
home or abroad, for the use of the agricultu- 
rists ? What adequate organization has ever 
been made, to diffuse information on this most 
important subject ? In what bureau at Wash- 
ington do we find an account of the organiza- 
tion of the agricultural colleges of Europe? 
What proportion of the public purse (four- 
fifths of which is furnished by farmers,) has 
been expended for their benefit ? What part 
of the ten millions which has been appropria- 
ted by Congress for experiments with various 
scientific and mechanical devices, has been de- 
voted to improvements in the construction of ag- 
ricultural implements or improved modes of cul- 
ture ? Where are our agricultural colleges, and 
what other civilized country is without them ? 

Thousands of dollars have been appropriated 
for improvements in the telescope, yet not one 
dollar for improvements in the plough. Is the 
surface of the moon of more consequence to 
those who support the government of the Uni- 
ted States, than the surface of the earth t Why 
cannot part of the public domain be given to the 
States for the purpose of endowing agricultural 
colleges? Why «ould not our foreign consuls, 
Ministers, etc, be made agents for the purchase 
of foreign seeds of superior kinds, which might 
be distributed through members of Congress to 
their constituents? And why, instead of this, is a 
miserable appropriation made by Congress for 
the purchase of seeds from some favorite seed- 
dealer, and there distributed where duplicates 
of home-growth are plenty ? How many farm- 
ers are there in the United States, who never 
saw a globe artichoke or a cauliflower ? There 
are many hundred kinds of pears raised in Eu- 
rope, suited to this climate, which have never 
been heard of by the majority of our farmers. 
How long has the iron ploughshare been intro- 
duced into our country? and how long sin^e 
its general adoption ? Has not its use in- 
creased the amount of agricultural product fifty 
per cent. ? and has any other invention, or any 
other twelve inventions of modern times, 
equalled one per cent, in the increase of pro- 



duct from its use, that can fairly be attributed 
to the plough ? Does not England, by under- 
draining and sub-soiling, produce of many 
crops double the amount per acre of the aver- 
age of this country ? and yet have one-third 
of the farmers of the United States ever seen 
a drain-tile or sub-soil plough ? Could Eng- 
land at this time sustain her present popula- 
tion, without the introduction of these improve- 
ments ? Would not a properly organized Home 
Department be able to suggest to Congress 
methods for remedying these evils ? 

Suppose that one-tenth of the amount which 
has been paid by Congress as premiums on 
new inventions connected with fire-arms, or one- 
tenth of the amount which has been given to 
mechanical inventors to enable them to perfect 
experiments connected with steam-engines, 
steam-boilers, locomotives, etc., had been of- 
fered as premiums for improvements in the 
construction of 'the plough, what would have 
been the result ? Would not the ingenuity of 
our mechanics have been applied to this and 
other agricultural implements ? and would not 
the depth of ploughing have thus been in- 
creased ? Who does not know that an increase 
of one inch in the depth of ploughing through 
the United States, would increase the amount 
of our agricultural products more in value than 
the total present receipts of our government ? 
Who does not know that the general introduc- 
tion of sub-soil ploughs would produce a simi- 
lar result ? And who is ignorant of the fact, 
that at every ploughing match it is clearly 
proved, that even slight differences in the fig- 
ure of the plough enable the same team to drag 
it when inserted at an increased depth ? Who 
knows the true figure of a plough so that the 
least amount of force may produce the great- 
est of disturbance in the soil ? Would not 
trials made under the surveillance of a depart- 
ment in whose organization the farmers had 
confidence, soon settle this and every other 
truth in agriculture ? The very amount paid 
by the manufacturers of the various ploughs to 
scribblers for puffing each, would be more than 
sufficient, in the hands of a Home Department 
of agriculture, to settle every vexed question, 
and give the farmers the benefit of the results. 
Who doubts that a premium of ten thousand 
dollars for the best plough would call out the 
best; ingenuity of the land, and that the im- 
proved results of a single season would pay 
this amount many times, beside leaving its use 
for future years, as the permanent property of 
the nation ? Would not such an increase of 
product lead to an increase of mercantile activ- 
ity, and this to national wealth ? 

Apart from monetary considerations, we live 
under a government of written law, and we 
call upon our citizens to obey that law. We 
know that, with the exception of such States 
and districts as have improved the modes of 
agriculture, the plodding farmer cannot afford 
to educate his children ; and that until he is 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



enabled to advantage by the improved proces- 
ses of more fortunate localities, he cannot do 
so. The few States where education is easily 
obtained, must not forget that a number nearly 
or quite equal to one quarter of our whole pop- 
ulation, cannot read the very law they are 
called on to obey. It has been said, and with 
truth, that " a prosperous agricultural district 
is never without patriots to defend it." Let 
our whole country be in this position, and a 
small but experienced standing army, with 
four times the usual number of officers, would 
supply us with officers in cases of emergency, 
while an educated agricultural community 
would find apt recruits who would be good sol- 
diers, if so officered, in one month. The bald 
excuse, therefore, continually made in Con- 
gress, that every appropriation made for exper- 
iments in the mechanical arts, and procured by 
the influence of rich operators, is for the de- 
fence of the country in time of need, will as 
rightly apply to such an organization as will 
assist in educating the farmers and rendering 
them patriots. None other will ever make sol- 
diers ; at least such soldiers as a free govern- 
ment can depend upon. 

We do not believe in the doctrine that farm- 
ers should be contented with a bureau of agri- 
culture, and await the necessity for any other 
organization. The necessity is now, and has 
been always apparent to those who have un- 
derstood the best interest of the country : The 
Father of his Country, Washington, was not 
mistaken when he recommended such a depart- 
ment as part of the original plan of our gov- 
ernment, and for the purpose of calling into 
action the best talent ; advantaging from all 
the eclat that belongs to a department as com- 
pared with a bureau, and from having an offi- 
cer whose duty is to make known to our gov- 
ernment the wants of the agricultural inter- 
ests, it should be a department that its secre- 
tary may be heard in the cabinet, and not, as 
with a bureau, with a commissioner at its 
head, whose recommendation in favor of agri- 
culture may be striken out by the secretary of 
the department to which he is attached, before 
it reaches the legislative halls. Why put off 
for a single day that which is known to be re- 
quired ? We hope in the discussion before 
Congress, on the proposed bill for an agricul- 
tural organization, we shall not hear the hac- 
neyed phrases that " Agriculture is a noble 
art/' that " farmers are the bone and sinew of 
the country." These are truths trite to every 
schoolboy; and farmers will not be contented 
with a repetition of such compliments and no 
further action. 

Let us demand, not ask, a department of ag- 
riculture, and not be contented with being told 
that we are noble fellows, and we had better 
go home and vote again for our representatives 
at the next election. The present condition of 
the agricultural interest, and its neglect by 
government, remind us of a lieutenant in the 



British army, stationed in Canada. He lacked 
promotion, and knew he was entitled to it both 
by age and services. He wrote to the com- 
mander-in-chief, and stated that, he was the 
oldest lieutenant in his regiment ; next, that he 
was the oldest in the brigade ; next, oldest in 
Canada ; next, oldest in the British army ; to 
all of which he received no reply. He then 
wrote that he was the oldest lieutenant in the 
world, and he believed his excellency meant to 
keep him so as a curiosity. 

Indeed, farmers' claims are like the position 
of the beggar to the London alderman on his 
way to the turtle feast. " I have not eaten in 
four days," said the beggar. " I wish I had 
your appetite," says the alderman. 

The farmer, however, will* not, and need 
not, be as silent as the beggar. They furnish 
the supplies, and are entitled to a portion of 
the disbursements. In England, where the 
government has no excess of public funds, 
millions of pounds sterling are loaned to far- 
mers, under the surveillance of the commis- 
sioners of drainage, for under-draining the 
land : and these mortgages are only active 
after a fixed value hiss been placed upon the 
farm before its under-drainage, and still not 
one dollar has ever been lost by that govern- 
ment from t such loans. The increased pro- 
duction has always enabled the farmer to meet 
the required payments, and thus, after a short 
time, the country at large is benefited equal to 
the amount of increase in production. It has 
been said, and with truth, that were it not for 
the introduction of under-drains and sub-soil 
ploughs, England could not at this time sus- 
tain her population. This is no experiment, 
but a settled truth ; and why should not the 
surplus funds in our government be so invested? 
It could be done with us without the creation 
of a national debt ; and the example would 
■ soon be followed by capitalists, as it has been 
in England. 

Who doubts that by adopting a proper mode 
of tillage, the Indian corn or wheat crops of 
the United States would be doubled ? In what 
county can instances not be found where indi- 
vidual farmers raise crops double in quantity 
per acre as compared with those of their neigh- 
bors ? Why should these processes not be col- 
lated and made known to all? 

We hope some Cincinnatus will be found 
among our members of Congress who will have 
a fellow-feeling for his craft. We hope the 
good sense of the present Congress will pre- 
vent their offering any compromise for the 
wants of the farmer, and that they will at 
once give us a department of agriculture, and 
| not a sub-organization in the form of a bureau 
{ or agricultural clerkship. If they do not, they 
j may rest assured that the farmers will event- 
' ually rise in their strength and represent them- 
| selves in the legislative hall with special refer- 
j ence to this question. 

Those who use agriculture as a hobby-horse 



6 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



for political preferment, must prove that they 
are sincere, or they will receive the curses of 
an offended country, worse than the anathemas 
of the Church of Rome ! 



In the above it will be seen that a claim is 
set up for an Agricultural Department at 
Washington, comprising a seat in the Cabinet. 
Other agricultural editors, agreeing with Prof. 
Mapes, have urged the same thing time and 
again ; some of them have shed a good deal 
of ink on the subject, and vented some com- 
plaints against Congress, which has heretofore 
failed to listen Jo their suggestions, and has 
omitted to act upon one or two bills which the 
appropriate committees have reported on this 
subject- 
Differing with these editors, we feel it our 
duty to return our special thanks to Congress 
for their good sense and forbearance to inflict 
a grevious burthen on the people. 

"The greatest interest of our country," it 
is said, " should demand and receive an or- 
ganization somewhat adequate to its wants." 
This assumes that these wants should be re- 
lieved by the direct action of the general gov- 
ernment ; and thereby raises a question of 
constitutional construction at once. The advo- 
cates of " the Home Department" of course 
rely on the disputed " general welfare" clause ; 
its opponents, on the 8th Act, of Section VIII 
which allows Congress " to promote the pro 
gress of science and useful arts, by securing 
for limited times, to authors and inventors the 
exclusive right to their respective writings and 
discoveries." We do not say on which side 
of this construction we are to be found ; but 
we say that here arises a"t once an issue which 
makes agriculture a part of politics. The evil 
of this is, that questions not connected in 
principle with doctrines of free government, 
come to depend not on their merits, nor the 
unbiased judgment of people, but on the sue 
cess of great state questions, and on events 
which modify or control the action of party. 
Under the authority " to lay and collect taxes 
duties, imports and excises, and to regulate 
commerce with foreign nations and among the 
several States, the question of protection to 
domestic products has been the most fiercely 
debated of any that ever distracted the people 
of the United States. This Department cre- 
ated, and we arc drawn again into a similar 



contest with a wider battle ground, and more 
numerous weapons. 

The Canada Reciprocity treaty, about which 
farmers differ as they are free traders or re- 
strictionists, and on which the cotton and to- 
bacco interest, as a class, would side against the 
western wheat growers ; the guano duties ; the 
sugar and wool duties ; these and hundreds of 
other questions afford ground for contest and 
strife. It was but a few days since, at the 
annual meeting of the Ohio Agricultural So- 
ciety, that Mr. N. B. Gates of Elyria, offered 
the following: "Resolved, That the State 
Board of Agriculture be requested to peti- 
tion our Senators and Representatives in Con- 
gress so to amend our present tariff as to 
admit sugars duty free ;" on the ground "that 
we had paid since the institution of the tariff 
on sugars, more duty on that article alone 
than the whole State of Louisiana was worth." 
And in some forty minutes thereafter he offered 
another set of resolutions in these words : 

Resolved, That this Convention, believing 
the repeal or reduction of the present Tariff 
upon foreign wools would be highly detrimen- 
tal, if not totally destructive to the wool-grow- 
ing interest of the U. S., and especiall}* to the 
State of Ohio, Ave look with unqualified disap- 
probation upon all efforts to effect such repeal 
or reduction. 

Resolved, That our Senators and Represen- 
tatives in Congress, are requested to use all 
Constitutional means to oppose and prevent 
such repeal or modification. 

Resolved, That the Secretary of the State 
Board of Agriculture of Ohio be directed to 
furnish each of our Senators and Representa- 
tives with a copy of these resolutions. 

It is easy to see that if this, or some patriot 
of similar disinterestedness, should have a 
seat in the Cabinet, that there would be some 
party, as well as some sectional feeling engen- 
gendered in " the greatest interest of our 
country ;" and that this interest, split up ink) 
factions, would engage in bitter strife about 
this seat in the Cabinet. 

Is it true that " the great interests of the 
majority are entirely neglected ?" If so, what 
has enabled our commercial marine to rival 
England's and to excel every other? How 
can we compete, in spite of our abundant style 
of living, with every other producer in the grain 
markets of the world ? How does our cotton 
manage to supplant all others ? How does our 
tobacco flourish in the face of the highest 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



duties that any commodity endures ? How 
is our maize substituting the cheaper food of 
laboring Europe ? How is the provision mar- 
ket sustained ? The answer is obvious. The 
indirect action of Congress in extending our 
commerce as our expanding enterprise re- 
quires, has aided us more than its direct ac- 
tion could have done, and proves that no meas- 
ure of important bearing on agriculture is 
ever determined without considering its effects 
on that interest. It may not be that wisest 
course is always adopted; it is sufficient for 
the argument if it is attempted. 

If tlie assumed paramount importance o^ 
agriculture is to seat it in the Cabinet, what 
is to become of other things of still more mo- 
ment ? Religion is as far above agriculture 
as heaven is above earth ; and education sur- 
passes it as mind does matter. Shall these 
also be represented ? And why not, if minor 
interests shall be ? 

" Four-fifths," says Prof. Mapes, at a ven- 
ture, " of the public purse is furnished by 
farmers.' 7 If this were true, "four-fifths of 
the people" says the same authority, " are 
farmers;" and, as, according to our theory 
of imposts, all pay in proportion to consump- 
tion, which is the measure of ability, we are 
taxed justly, and have no reason to complain, 
but rather to rejoice in our superior wealth. 

But it is not true that the proportion is as 
he states it. According to the compendium of 
the 7th census, — to which we shall several 
times refer and here make acknowledgment, 
once ' for all, — there were, in 1850, in each 
thousand of our population only 148 persons 
in the free States, and 131 in the slave States 
employed in agriculture, and 217 and 17 res- 
pectively in other occupations. Now if a 
minority is to have such special distinction as 
a separate organization in the government, 
what shall be meted out to a majority ? 

It may be contended that the preponderat- 
ing value of agricultural products entitles it 
to this pre-eminence. But the total value of 
these in 1850 was $1,299,197,682 ; of manufac- 
turing, mining, and mechanical products 
$1,013,336,463; of commerce $1,500,000,000. 
So that they are a fraction less than commer- 
cial, and but a fraction more than mechanical 
products. Does it not look presumptuous, in 
view of such facts, to claim this exclusive 
" organization ?" 



The wants of agriculture, according to Prof. 
Mapes, are. the general diffusion of education 
among farmers ; agricultural colleges ; a com- 
mission to collect and circulate agricultural 
information ; expenditures for experiments in 
the construction of agricultural implements ; 
purchase of seeds to be bought by our consuls 
and distributed through members of Congress ; 
loans to farmers from " the surplus revenue" 
to drain their lands. • 

The population of the seven principal cities 
of the U. S., in 1850, was, in round numbers, 
a million and a half; the cost of tuition of 
pupils, — generally under fifteen years old, — 
about two millions. At this rate, supposed to 
be cheaper than in rural districts, and there- 
fore fair to be here assumed, the whole expen- 
diture for the confederation cannot be less than 
thirty millions. Now the proportion of farm- 
ing to other pursuits is as 279 to 234 — about 
equal, — and 60 per cent, of the whole popula- 
tion being under twenty years old, gives the 
farmers about one-half of this number, of 
whom again one-half, say 3£ millions, are 
males, to be educated, according to the above 
rate, at 7? millions per annum. But as the 
grade of education is to be high, and in some 
sort professional, it may be safely set down at 
10 millions per annum. 

How much is to be devoted to experiments 
we cannot say; but as "10 millions have been 
appropriated by Congress for experiments with 
various scientific and mechanical devices," and 
10 thousand dollars are to be offered as a pre- 
mium for the plough alone, we suppose that 
not less than a million per annum will be 
needed for this purpose. 

Next comes the expense of the commission 
to collect and diffuse agricultural information. 
For this purpose a body of officials will be an- 
nually required, since, says Mr. Mason, Com- 
missioner of Patents, " it would not at all reach 
the point in view to have this information 
given only every five or ten years." For how 
then could " the producers and dealers in 
pork" for instance, "learn, with any reasonable 
certainty, how much was slaughtered last 
year." "We say officials will be required be- 
cause the voluntary or " circular" system has 
failed utterly though tried for many 'years. 
Now the census of 1850 cost $1,362,500 ; and 
the complaint is that the pay of the enumera- 
tors, though deemed adequate by Mr. De Bow, 



8 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



failed to command the proper talent for the 
purpose. But as the duties of this Agricul- 
tural Commission and its assistants will be of 
a somewhat professional nature, and will re- 
quire a good deal more than mere ability to 
collect statistical information which, after the 
schedules are arranged, is a mere matter 
of clerical detail, we must allow at least as 
much annual expenditure under this head as 
the census costs every ten years. But we 
must also take into account that much of this 
information is to be obtained " abroad ;" and 
that the whole of it, illustrated with steel 
plates, wood cuts and coloured engravings is 
to be printed for diffusion among the farmers. 
As there are 2,363,958 people of this class, 
each of whom must have a volume that cannot 
cost less than $1 00, we may safely charge 
the whole expenditure under this head at four 
millions ; whilstthe official force will increase, 
by not less than 10 per cent., the grave evils 
of patronage. 

Another want of agriculture is thorough 
draining, or under draining, the land. To 
accomplish this it is proposed that our govern- 
ment shall follow the example of Great Britain, 
and establish out of its surplus revenue, 
which, of course, is tp be hoarded for that 
purpose, a fund from which each farmer shall 
borrow what his draining wants may require. 
It is true that this is the policy of England : 
under the pressure of a redundant population 
she has been driven to the measure. It seems 
to act well with her. Very much, bat not alto- 
gether, is she indebted to drainage for 
an increase of crops which has sustained 
her farmers under a partial repeal of the corn 
laws- The money the government advanced 
for drainage creates no great burthen on the 
finances and no inconvenience in collections : 
titles are well established ; responsibility is 
easily secured among the thirty thousand pro- 
prietors who own all the lands in her compar- 
atively small and compact domain ; and en- 
tails, which almost invariably rule the course of 
descents, give assurance that the debt can be 
retained on the land without distress to the 
proprietor, or risk to the State. At the same 
time the high state of cultivation, the uniform- 
ity of climate, and the duties which still exist 
on imports of grain, ensure them a compara- 
tive certainty of crop and price which will jus- 



tify both borrower and lender in a protracted 
loan. In the United States, on the contrary, 
the immense amount of territory, and the 
subdivision of farms would make it in all cases 
a question whether it would be safe to lend 
the money. Land titles would have to be in- 
vestigated from the remotest points ; the dis- 
tribution of estates would interfere with the col- 
lection of the debt ; estates would be encum- 
bered ; the transfer of the property checked, 
and enterprise impeded. 

In England, where under-draining can be 
done at three cents a yard for a ditch four feet 
deep, cut, tiled, and filled up again, it is esti- 
mated to cost from fifteen to twenty-five dollars 
per acre to drain land in this mode. In this 
country it would cost a great deal more. Ac- 
cording to the experiment of B. F. Nourse 
Orrington, Maine, lately reported in the Maine 
Farmer, it costs here from $67 50 to $40 50 
— average $54 per acre, or about five times as 
much as the average value of our lands. 

The farms of the United States comprize, 
of improved land, 113,032,614 acres. If one- 
third shall not require thorough draining, it 
will leave 75,688,413 acres, about three times 
as much as the whole of England, to be 
drained at twice the cost, requiring an aggre- 
gate expenditure six times as great as she en- 
counters. It is hardly worth while to say 
that the "surplus funds" in our government, if 
" so invested," would hardly supply the re- 
quired sum. It took Mr. John Johnston, of 
Geneva, New York, about twenty years to 
drain the whole of his land. At the above 
rate and in the same time, supposing no in- 
crease of land to be improved, it would require 
an advance to the farmers of four thousand 
millions, or about four hundred times the 
amount of our present federal revenue. We 
know the answer that will be attempted to 
this, if any is ; and we are ready for it ; but 
we shall not encumber this argument with it 
in anticipation. 

One other want of agriculture is suggested 
by Mr. D. J. Browne, the present superinten- 
dent of the Agricultural part of the Patent Of- 
fice : it refers to the improvement of the breeds 
of horses of the United States. As the sugges- 
tion is original, we give it pretty much in his 
own words. It seems that in France, "the ad- 
ministration for the breeding of horses has 
erected twenty-four depots for stallions," be- 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



sides other arrangements for the improvement 
of the breed. The statistics of these estab- 
lishments have been investigated by Mr. 
Browne, " and/ 7 he says, " naturally lead to 
the suggestion of adopting a similar system in 
the United States for the improvement of the 
horses of our army, as well as for other pur- 
poses. If a depot for stallions of approved 
breed were established by the government in 
each State and territory of the Union for pub- 
lic use, free of charge, incalculable benefit 
would doubtless accrue to the society, and, in 
less than ten years the improvement and in- 
creased value of the horses would be immense." 
How many are to be obtained is not stated, but 
as every farmer will be anxious to ^et a sea- 
son to a stallion of approved breed when he 
can get it " free of charge," there must be 
enough for all. If half the horses of the Uni- 
ted States are mares, then there will be up- 
wards of two million to be sent to these " Ha- 
ras," as the French call them ; and at the rate 
of forty mares to each stallion, which is the 
proper proportion, we shall have fifty thousand 
stallions at a price, as they are to be of " ap- 
proved breed," of some five hundred dollars 
each, or twenty-five million to begin with. 
Doubtless this new scheme of internal improve- 
ment will be found to work so well, that in a 
few years Congress will kindly furnish Parish 
Bulls — we hope they may be better than Mr. 
Shandy's — and may ultimately condescend to 
Rams and Boars. Whether Jackasses are to 
be added is a question which time must deter- 
mine, and which may depend on the electoral 
vote of Kentucky. But one can well imagine, 
if they shall be, what a concord of sweet sounds 
one may hear at these delectable " Depots." 

This completes the catalogue of wants and 
remedies so far as we are apprized of them. 
We contend that it is impossible to satisf}>- them 
by any action of the General Government ; that 
any effort to do so must not only fail from 
clashing interests, diversity of pursuit, excessive 
taxation, and the very vastness, of the undert 
taking, but also from the amount ef patronage 
involved, which, of itself, ought to swamp any 
government in the world. 

We have not stopped, in presenting the na- 
ked facts and figures of this scheme, to sugges- 
ts other improprieties ; and have no time for i* 
now. We expect to return to them hereafter, 
if there shall be occasion. 



That agriculture has wants we do not pre- 
tend to deny ; out we believe she has a remedy 
for all them, much more attainable in practice, 
and much more unexceptionable in policy than 
the Home Department scheme. 

Apart from government legislation on par 
ticular branches, which as political ground we 
cannot touch, and which is indifferently thought 
to benefit or injure particular interests, the 
whole of these wants may be resolved into the 
one great one — want of intelligence. Let farm- 
ers cultivate their minds, and they will learn 
to cultivate their lands, and to enforce the ver- 
dict of enlightened opinion upon our domestic 
law givers. We do not say let them trudge 
around the narrow routine which an agricultu- 
ral college would impose, but let them be in- 
structed, as for any other learned profession, in 
all the branches of a liberal education, and 
they will find a light reflected from each de- 
partment which will illuminate the darkness of 
the. way they tread. 

, We do not aspire to see all thus educated, 
because it is unattainable ; nor do we believe it 
necessary. We would as soon expect to see 
every man a general who knows the manual 
exercise, as to see every labourer — on his own 
or another's land — a good farmer, or a man of 
sense even, because he can read and write. A 
few master minds to guide and direct the many 
is all we ever hope to see. And this we shall 
see. 

Meanwhile the press is now doing much in 
this business both directly and indirectly. It 
is curious to hear persons speaking of the con- 
dition of agriculture, as beyond the reach of 
ordinary remedies, and holding up the success- 
es of other classes, when we reflect that com- 
merce has but few special presses, and only 
three periodicals in the United States ; that the 
manufacturing and mechanical interests have 
no more, if so many ; whilst agriculture has 
something like sixty, reaching the most seclu- 
ded of our farmers, and dispensing a light that 
no where else beams on agriculture. When 
we contemplate the general intelligence of our 
whole population, its energy, resources, wealth, 
in one word its opportunities, and its advantages 
over the rest of the world, one would think that 
very shame would forbid the admission that ag- 
riculture requires the support of a paternal gov- 
ernment, and an amount of fostering care that no 



10 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



class in any country either receives or requires. 

Let the press do its duty, and all will yet be 
well. But do not let it attempt to form public 
opinion, or to arouse the demon of caste. There 
is no call among the farmers for a " Home De- 
partment," and they will not " rise in their 
strength and represent themselves in the legis- 
lative halls with special reference to this ques- 
tion." Party ties, thank heaven, are stronger 
than caste, patriotism than tillage ; human 
rights are more regarded than vegetable de- 
velopment ; instincts cannot be misled by cant ; 
and farmers will never believe that they have 
claims to a protection which would overshadow 
all other pursuits. But if they should, and 
should attempt to form a farmers' party, and 
wage war on all who will not join it, the true 
majority of the country, which shall consist of 
all classes, would soon convince them of their 
error. 

One word as to the Agricultural Department 
of the Patent office, the entering wedge to the 
Home Department. Not denying that it may 
have done some good, and has groped along 
most benevolently in the dark, we are yet com- 
pelled to think it a nuisance where it is not a 
nothing. Its annual report is a mere scrap- 
book, made up of a few nourishing essays from 
its superintendent ; of a " condensed correspon- 
dence," which gives as much idea of the true 
state of agriculture in the United States, as a 
Japan pea does of the Japanese Empire ; of 
borrowed statistics, and of such items of agri- 
cultural information as any and every periodi- 
cal Can and does give in much greater profu 
sion. Three merits it has : it is a book with 
which members of Congress can flatter their 
friends of the rural districts ; it can uselessly 
increase the patronage of the government ; and 
it can afford a fat job to the Public Printer. 
Perhaps it may be added as a fourth, that it 
distributes, as a rarity, the seed of the Oregon 
pea, dispenses the Chinese potato in competi- 
tion with Mr. Prince, and keeps down the price 
of the Chinese sugar cane. Away with it. 



CHINESE SUGAR CANE. 
A friend from the county of Louisa, Mr. 
N. W. Harris, kindly sent us last fall a speci- 
men of the stalks and seeds of the Chinese 
sugar cane. It was accompanied by an arti- 
cle from the National Intelligencer on the mer- 
its of this new product. 



Instead of that article, we publish a better. 
A distinguished and enterprising/armer as well 
as planter of Georgia, Mr. Richard Peters of At- 
lanta, — grandson, by the way, of Judge Peters 
of Philadelphia, himself an enthusiastic far- 
mer, — has prepared an account of his experi- 
ments with this cane for the public. The ac- 
curacy of his statements is confirmed in all 
material points by a report read before the 
Beech Island Fanners' Club, by Ex-Gov. Ham- 
mond of South Carolina. 

Other statements, not necessary now to be 
given, prove its value as a soiling or forage 
plant for stock of all sorts, and especially for 
hogs. In this latter particular, we think its 
chief vahle to Virginia will be found. We 
favor a diversity of products on the farm; 
but the diversity ought only to embrace those 
staples products which can be raised on a 
large scale ; and the cultivation of things 
either auxiliary to them, or entering large- 
ly into domestic consumption. But here in 
Virginia, the quantity of sugar and molas- 
ses consumed by each family is so small, that 
it seems to us not to come properly within 
either of the above classes. Most men can 
buy their sugar, as they buy their coffee, 
cheeper than they can make it. The day has 
gone by when a man thought it his duty to 
"make everything within himself;" and 
though a few require the daily task, of three 
cents' worth of carding and spinning in order 
to employ negro women, yet that class of man- 
agers is nearly extinct. We think the propo- 
sition to make one's own molasses among us, 
would be of that kind of management, and a 
retrograde movement. In the more Southern 
States it may be different. 

As a staple product here it can hardly an- 
swer. In the first place, the quantity of su- 
gar and molasses used in the world, is small 
relative to a great many other articles of food 
and luxury, such as are found adapted to our 
latitude ; and if this cane shall be found well 
adapted to all the maize bearing zone, as is 
contended, it would be easy in a very short 
time to glut the market for sugar. 

In the next place, if it be suitable to our 
climate it would seem to be still better adapted 
to the warmer countries in which sugar is 
now made ; and if this' be so they could make 
it more cheaply than we could: and they 
might make two crops in a year. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



11 



The price of sugar and molasses now is not ' 
relatively higher, at least not much so, than 
are our own leading staples. Those who get 
$12 a 15 for tobacco, 80 a 90 cents for corn, 
$1 50 for wheat, and 8 a 10 cents per pound 
for beef and mutton, can very well afford to 
pay what the former articles now command. 

We are persuaded that the failure of the 
cane in Louisiana is a mere temporary thing: 
we cannot believe that the hard cropping to 
which the Mississippi low growns are subject- 
ed has reduced their fertility so soon, especi- 
ally when we reflect that the cane never ripens 
its seeds there, and that its product is an or- 
ganic compound. But if it were otherwise, 
we should hesitate some time before advising 
the farmers of Virginia to embark in sugar- 
making. For miles along the Mississippi 
" coast," we have seen the process in full 
operation in all its departments, and know it 
to be a most laborious and expensive one. — 
Not only are the sugar lands very high priced, 
and a large force required to work them to ad- 
vantage, but a very large capital is required 
to erect and repair the necessary buildings, 
and to operate the machinery. It is not an 
uncommon thing for a sugar house with its 
fixtures and machinery to cost $20,000. Even \ 
then with the advantage of an ad valorem 
tariff of 30 per ct. in its favor, sugar-making 
rarely pays high profits, though 6 or 7 per ct. 
on such large investments makes a good round 
sum of money. 

But the Chinese sugar cane is well worth 
trial with us as a feed for stock, especially for 
hogs, to whom it will prove a godsend. For 
this purpose we recommend its extensive in- 
troduction : 

CHINESE SUGAR CANE AND GEORGIA SYRUP. 

Mr. Editor : — I feel it my duty to make 
known to the Southern public the result my 
Syrup making from the Chinese Sugar Millet, 
in hopes that others who have sown this valu- 
able variety of the Millet, may be induced to 
work it up into syrup this season. 

I send a few joints of the cane and a sam- 
ple of the syrup, of which I have made several 
barrels. 

I obtained my start of seed during the 
spring of 1855, from D. Redmond, Esq. 
of the Southern Cultivator. I considered 
it a "humbug" from its close resemblance 
in seed and growth, to the " Guinea Corn," 
until my children towards fall made the dis- 



covery of its being to their taste equal to the 
true sugar cane. 

This year I planted one patch April 15th, 
another May 18th, near Calhoun, Gordon 
county, on laud that would produce, during a 
" seasonable" year, forty bushels of corn per 
acre, and this year not over twenty bushels. 

Seed sown carelessly in drills, three feet 
apart, covered with a one-horse plow ; intend- 
ing to "chop out" to a stand of one stalk six 
inches apart in the row, but failed to get a 
good stand, as the seed came up badly from 
the deep and irregular covering. Worked out 
same as for corn, plowing twice and hoeing 
once. 

By suggestion of Gov. Hammond, of South 
Carolina, I determined to give the syrup- 
making a fair trial ; consequently ordered from 
the Messrs. Winship, of Atlanta, a very com- 
plete Horse Power Mill, with vertical iron 
rollers, that has worked admirably, crushed 
out juice for eight gallon of syrup per hour, 
worked by two mules, with one hand to put in 
the cane, and a boy to drive. 

On the 13th of this month, finding the seed 
fully ripe, I had the fodder pulled, and the 
seed heads cut. 

Yield of fodder per acre 1 100 to 1300 pounds. 

Yield of seed per acre 25 bushels of 36 
pounds to the bushel. 

First trial of Mill, 70 average canes gave 
20 quarts of juice. 

606 average canes passed once through the 
rollers gave 38 gallons 1 quart juice, passed 
a second time through, gave two gallons of 
juice, the 40 gallons 1 quart gave 8 gallons 
thick syrup. 

I carefully measured an 8th of an acre, hav- 
ing the best cane and the best stand, another 
8th having the poorest canes and the poorest 
stand. The result I give below, the canes 
passed once through the rollers. 

BEST EIGHTH OF AN ACRE. 

Yield of juice from 3315 canes, - 253 gals. 
Yield of syrup from 253 gallons 

juice, ----- 58| gals. 

Rates of syrup per acre, - - 468 gals. 

POOREST EIGHTH OF AN ACRE. 

Yield of juice from 2550 canes, - 179 gals. 

" Syrup from 179 gals, juice, 
Rate per acre, of syrup, - 
Weight of 30 selected canes, - 
" Juice pressed out, - 
" Crushed cane, - 
Loss in crushing, - 
Weight of crushed cane dried in 
sun, ------ 



346 gals. 
-49* " 
■ 25f 

23 



lbs. 
lbs. 
lbs. 

lbs. 

lbs. 
with 
the Chinese Sugar Cane, I concluded to try 
our common corn. 

From a " new ground" planted 3 by 3, one 
stalk to a hill, a week beyond the roasting-ear 
stasre, I selected 30 stalks. 



91 

Obtaining such unloobed for success 



12 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



35f 


lbs. 


15£ 


lbs. 


in 


lbs. 


$ 


lb. 


n 


pts. 



Weight of 30 stalks, - 
" " Juice, - 

" " Crushed stalks 

Loss in crushing, - 
Yield of syrup, - 
The syrup of corn is of a peculiar disagree- 
able taste, entirely unfit for table use. 

The following tests were made at the mill 
by Dr. Robert Battey, of Rome, Ga., a gradu- 
ate of Philadelphia College of Pharmacy: 
Specific gravity of Chinese Sugar Cane 

juice, - - - ■■ •- - - 1,085 

Specific gravity of syrup, - - 1,335 

" N. 0. syrup, - 1,321 

Thermometer applied to syrup 

" Juice, 

Saccharometer " Juice, 



/ / a eg. 

70 deg. 
25* deg 



The juice should be placed in the boilers 



ducks and all sorts of fowls, but also of hogs, 
of which he has some very fine ones of vari" 
ous varieties. He is also an agent for the 
purchase of stock generally. 



KOSSUTH. 

See Mr. Smith's advertisement of this fine 
stallion. As the best trotting stallion in the 
South, if not in the United States, and the re- 
cipient of the highest honors at all our State 
Fairs, there can be no harm in calling atten- 
tion to him. 



NEW BOOKS. 
Morgan Horses : A premium essay on the 
immediately on being pressed out, then boiled ' origin, history, and characteristics of this re. 
slowly until the green scum ceases to rise ; | markable American breed of horses ; tracing 
then stir in a tea-spoonful of air-slacked lime!,, -,. r ,i . . , T ,. H 

, n n c • • ,- i • • | the pedigree from the original Justin Morgan, 

to five gallons of juice; continue skimming 

and boiling until the syrup thickens and hangs 
down in flakes on the rim of the dipper 



I have made the clearest syrup by simple 
boiling and skimming, without lime or other 
clarifiers. 

The lime is requisite to neutralize a portion 
of the acid in the juice — the true proportion 
must be determined by well-conducted experi- 
ments. 

The cost of making the syrup in upper 
Georgia, in my opinion, will not exceed ten to 
fifteen cents per gallon. This I shall be able 
to test another season, by planting and work- 
ing up 50 acres of the cane. 

I am satisfied that this plant will enable 
every farmer and planter in the Southern 
States, to make, at home, all the syrup re- 
quired for family use, and I believe that our 
chemists will soon teach us how to convert the 
syrup into sugar for export, as one of the 
staples of our favored clime. 

Richard Peters. 

Atlanta, Ga., Sept. 20th, 185G. 



PRINCESS ALICE MAUD STRAWBERR- 
RIES. 
We have to thank our friend Guest for some 
fine plants of this very delicious Strawberry, 
which we had an opportunity of tasting last 
year. No doubt he has a plenty of them for 



AYLESBURY DUCKS. 
Our friend Jno. G. Turpin, of Chesterfield, 
near Petersburg, has sent us a pair of beauti- 
ful Aylesbury Ducks. These fowls are milk 
white, and the most beautiful and admired of 
the domesticated duck. Mr. Turpin is well 
known as a successful breeder, not only of 



through the most noted of his progeny down 
to the present time ; with numerous portraits. 
To which are added hints for breeding, break- 
ing, and general use .and management of 
horses, with practical directions for training 
them for exhibition at agricultural fairs. By 
D. C. Linsey, Middlebury, Vermont. Published 
by Saxton & Co., N. Y. Price $1 25. 

We are indebted to Woodhouse & Co. for a 
copy of the above work, which took the first 
premium on Essays at the Vermont State Ag- 
ricultural Society. 

We have read it, and think highly of it. 
It is well written, plainly and without preten- 
sion, fairly and honestly setting forth the pe- 
culiarities of this invaluable breed of " big 
little" horses. 

Being advocates for horses of that size, as 
every man who uses mules must be, provided 
he can get in a horse the best qualities of the 
mule without his unsightliness and his vices, 
we are glad to see a systematic work introduc- 
ing and tending to perpetuate this breed. We 
are persuaded that they will make a good sub- 
stitute for the mule, when the breed becomes 
established. 

From J. W. Randolph we have received a 
copy of The Physician's Tabulated Diary, 
designed to facilitate the study of disease at 
the bedside. By a Physician of Virginia. 

According to the preface, " This Diary is 
intended to embrace not only the ordinary 
business memoranda of each day, but obser- 
vations of disease, recorded, if practicable, at 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



13 



the bedside. The chief ends attained are — 
1. Prompt entry of charges. 2. Whatever is 
decided upon at the bedside as worthy to be 
remembered, is entered on the spot in writing 
with not more than three minutes' delay. 3. It 
encourages careful enquiry into facts, with 
fuller consideration and study afterwards. 
4. Notes are to be made of all cases, however 
trivial at first, so that if they become grave, 
their early history may be accessible. And a 
note once made, ought, in honour, never 
to be changed without acknowledgement. 5. 
Practitioners are enabled to refer to written 
records of all their experience, after days, 
months, or years have elapsed. 6. If used 
even by a few observers in different sections 
of the country, materials will be accumulated 
for analysis and generalization, which may, 
in time, render the auspices of " medical as- 
sociations/' greatly elucidate questions of 
medical topography, etiology, therapeutics, 
and pathology. 7. The appendix is intended 
for certain records which are required but 
once for each patient, or which could not be 
entered in the Diary." 

We do not know that we could have done 
more than simply notice the reception of this 
little book from Mr. Randolph, if it were not 
that we knew the author, and esteem him 
as an able physician, and a gentleman of em- 
inently philanthropic turn of mind. He is 
also endowed by the commendation of two of 
the medical Professors of the University of 
Virginia, whom we honor as men of science 
in their profession. 

This is the first effort made in the South 
that we know of, to collect the facts of dis- 
ease in such a form that they may become gen- 
eralized, and authorize that sort of induction 
which constitutes science. In fact it is the 
first effort to acquire, with a view to future 
generalization, any class of facts whatever ; 
and we feel bound, in just tribute to sound 
philosophy, to do what little we can to ad- 
vance the cause. 

It may lead to a tabulated Diary of farm 
operations. As that would be a record of 
many thousands of obscured facts, it is need- 
less to say how much it would do to advance 
the practice of agriculture, and lay the foun- 
dations of its science deep in the basis of ex- 
perience. 

The habit of that system will do as much 



for the individual farmer, as for the science 
of husbandry. The examples of Von Thaer 
and Bousingavet will not there be a reproach 
to their colaborers in the same great field. 

As to the particular book we speak of, The 
Tabulated Diary, we cannot expect the old 
physicians to take it up, as a general rule: " It 
is hard to learn an old dog new tricks." But 
it will be a shame if the younger members of 
the profession neglect this ready-made oppor- 
tunity to advance science and improve them- 
selves. 

We have also received from Mr. Randolph, 
an enlarged and improved edition fcf Stock- 
hardt's Chemical Field Lectures. We have 
read the greater part of the first edition, and 
looked into this one sufficiently to see that it is 
an improvement. It is well worth reading. 



SOIL OF THE SOUTH AND AMERICAN 
COTTON PLANTER. 

We observe that these two valuable and 
meritorious Southern Agricultural journals 
have been consolidated. Dr. Cloud and Mr. 
Chas. A. Peabody, editors. We wish them 
success, and we know that they deserve it. 



PEARODY'S NEW SEEDLING STRAW- 
BERRY. 

Mr. Charles A. Peabody of Columbus, Geor- 
gia, has originated a new variety of the Haut- 
boy Strawberry. His success in raising straw- 
berries has been very remarkable, and he pro- 
poses to introduce this new variety extensively 
by selling the plants on the following terms : 
to get one thousand subscriptions at $5 00 per 
dozen plants throughout the whole country ; 
subscribers, who forward their names and ad-* 
dress and the number of plants they want, will 
I be at once furnished with a beautiful coloured 
I plate of the vine and fruit drawn from nature. 
When the list is made up the plants to be sent 
by mail, put up in moss and enveloped in oil 
silk, in which way they will go with safety and 
certainty. 

A copy of the coloured plate, with a descrip- 
tion of the fruit, is now at our office, where it 
may be seen by all who will call on us. 

We have no personal knowledge of this 
strawberry, but if the engraving is a correct 
likeness, it is a most desirable fruit. 



14 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



TO SUBSCRIBERS. 

We earnestly request that you will read our 

" Terms" at least once a year, and always before 
writing us upon any subject connected with 
your paper. We frequently receive letters con- 
taining remittances, and others requesting dis- 
continuances or directing a change to other 
post-offices when the office to which the paper is 
sent is not named. Such omissions occasion us 
a great deal of trouble, and it not unfrequently 
happens that your wishes cannot be attended 
to in consequence of your neglect to conform to 
this sicmding request. 

££Sg Q> Remember always to name your post of- 
fice when writing about your paper. 



GENERAL NOTICE. 

In accordance with the notice given in a pre- 
vious number of this paper, we commenced 
with the July number to drop from our list, all 
subscribers who are in arrears for three years 
or more, and shall continue to do so until the 
first of January next, at which time we intend 
to drop all who are then in arrears for two 
years and upwards. But in doing so we do 
not intend to relinquish our right to collect our 
dues from such delinquents, but shall send out 
their accounts regularly or place them in the 
hands of Agents for collection. We do not de- 
sign to adopt strictly the cash system, but we 
desire to approach as near to it as possible, and 
wish our " Terms," which are printed conspi- 
cuously in every paper to be understood by all 
our subscribers. ' 



WANTED 

January and September numbers of the Plan- 
ter. Subscribers who do not preserve their pa- 
pers for binding, and who have either or both of 
the above numbers will confer a great Jfavor 
upon us by forwarding them to this office. 



INQUIRIES ABOUT AMMONIA. 

Water and charcoal absorb ammonia. 
Clay and Gypsum do not absorb, in the 
strict meaning of the term, but enter into 
chemical combination with ammonia. One 
hundred pounds of pure gypsum is capa- 



fble of holding 25 lbs. of ammonia. The 
sulphuric acid of the gypsum (sulphate of 
lime.) enters into chemical combination 
'with the ammonia, forming a definite com- 
pound, sulphate of ammonia. The capa- 
city, then, of gypsum to absorb ammonia, 
is in proportion to the sulphuric acid it 
contains. It must be borne in mind, how- 
ever, that gypsum does not combine with 
ammonia under all circumstances. We 
have passed a stream of ammonia through 
dry and moist gypsum, burnt and unburnt, 
for several weeks, but no sulphate of am- 
monia was formed — at least none that 
could be detected. This is a result that 
might have been anticipated ; few, if any 
chemists, claim that pure ammonia will 
decompose gypsum. It is essential that 
the ammonia be united with carbonic acid. 
When carbonate of ammonia and gypsum 
in solution, are mixed together, a precipi- 
tate of carbonate of lime is immediately 
obtained, sulphate of ammonia remaining 
in solution. This is a common laboratory 
experiment ; and it is not to be wondered 
at that mere " laboratory chemists" recom- 
mend that " every farmer should use a 
wagon load of gypsum each year," for the 
purpose of "fixing" the ammonia of dung 
heaps, &c. It will do this effectually if 
in solution ; but in the dry or moist state, 
it certainly has little or no effect. Philip 
Pusey, the late lamented editor of the 
Journal of the Royal Ag. Society, made 
some experiments to test the power of 
gypsum as a " fixer" of ammonia, but 
found that it did not come up to the re- 
commendations of the chemists. We give 
the resulls of some of these trials in his 
own words : 

"Ammonia," he says, "was escaping 
largely from the litter of a barn-yarn, as 
could be perceived by the common test 
of holding near the surface, paper dipped 
in spirits of salt, which turns the invisible, 
fugitive into a white opaque steam of sal- 
ammonia. A whole bushel of gypsum 
was strewed over a few square feet of the 
yard. The test showed that the escape of 
ammonia ivasuncured. We have been also 
advised to strew the pavement of stalls 
with white gypsum to sweeten our stables. 
The remedy was applied in my own, but 
the stables not sweetened." 

We have made several experiments 
during the past year, in order to deter- 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



15 



mine if dry or moist gypsum will decom- 
pose carbonate of ammonia. The question 
is surrounded with difficulties, and we are 
unable to satisfy ourselves on the point. 
One thing is certain, a stream of carbonate 
of ammonia will pass through several in- 
ches of dry plaster. It is equally certain 
that if dry or moist plaster possess the 
power of decomposing carbonate of am- 
monia, it is in a very slight degree only ; 
so slight as to be of little practical use in 
composting manures. &c. If it could be 
used in solution, (it requires to dissolve it 
about 500 times its own weight in water,) 
it would prove effectual ; and when a 
bushel or so is sown on an acre, it will be 
more or less dissolved by the rains, dews, 
and moisture of the soil ; and in this state 
it will convert the carbonate into a sul- 
phate of ammonia. Whether this is de- 
sirable or not, depends on circumstances 
which we cannot now examine. One thing 
is certain, plaster benefits clover more than 
it does wheat, while, it is equally certain 
that wheat requires more ammonia than 
clover. 

The action of gyysum is at present in- 
volved in much mystery. 

In regard to the power which clay soils 
possess of absorbing ammonia from the 
atmosphere, Prof. Way remarks — 

" Hitherto we have spoken of the pow- 
er of the double silicates to unite with 
ammonia, and separate it from solution. 
More important, if possible, is the faculty 
which some of these soils possess, of ab- 
stracting ammonia from the air. -It has 
long been known that soils acquire fertility 
by exposure to the influence of the atmos- 
phere — hence one of the uses of fallows. 
It has also been generally understood that 
clay possessed a power of absorbing am- 
monia from the air, but only through the 
influence of rain or dews, to bring down 
the volatile carbonate. This latter condi- 
tion, however, is not at all necessary. I 
find that clay is so greedy of ammonia, 
that if air charged with carbonate of am- 
monia, so as to be highly pungent, is pass- 
ed through a tube filled with small frag- 
ments of dry clay, every particle of the 
gas is arrested. In the same way, if into 
a bottle filled with air similarly impreg- 
nated, a little ordinary soil is thrown, and 
the bottle is then shaken once or twice, 
all ammonical smell is destroyed. The 
double silicate of alumina and lime is in 



these cases also the cause of absorption. 
If, instead of clay, sand be placed in the 
tube, no obstacle is presented to the pas- 
sage of the gas ; but by mixing with the 
sand a few grains of the lime silicate, we 
can immediately arrest it. The avidity of 
this silicate of lime and aluminafor crabo- 
nate of ammonia is most marked. A few 
grains of the salt were spread upon a piece 
of paper, and covered with a glass bell 
jar ; in a few hours the silicate was found 
to have absorbed between two and three 
per cent of ammonia, and the action will 
go on till the salt is entirely saturated. 
The chemical change in this case is very 
simple — the carbonic acid of the carbo- 
nate of ammonia attacks the lime, whilst 
at the same time the double silicate of 
alumina and ammonia is produced. It is 
remarkable that the corresponding soda 
silicate does not absorb carbonate of am- 
monia ; or, at all events, if it does so in 
an atmosphere highly impregnated with 
the volatile alkali, it gives it off again as 
soon as it is exposed to the air ; in ordi- 
nary circumstances, therefore, it does not 
absorb ammonia from the air." 

Prof. Way thinks these facts may ac- 
count for the difference in natural fertility 
of different soils, and the power of con- 
ferring increased fertility on land by abun- 
dant cultivation. It is well known that 
some soils are benefited to a great degree 
by a good fallow, while others receive lit- 
tle or no benefit. We know that ammo- 
nia exists in the air, in small quantity in- 
deed, but when taken as a whole in abun- 
dance, materially to affect the growth of 
plants. The double silicate of alumina 
and lime which exists in clay, has the 
power of abstracting carbonate of ammo- 
nia from the air, and retaining it for the 
purposes of vegetation. 

" As there is good reason to believe," 
says Prof Way, " that different soils may 
contain unlike quantities of this double 
silicate, so they will, other things being 
the same, possess unlike degrees of natu- 
ral fertility. In this circumstance, we 
may probably find an explanation of the 
singular fertility of some soils, of which 
it is recorded that they have been cropped 
year after year, with wheat, for a very ex- 
tended period, without any apparent dimi- 
nution in their power of yielding it. Up- 
on examination, nothing extraordinary has 
been found in the composition of such 



10 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



soils to account for such a degree of fer- 
tility ; but it is extremely likely that a 
further inquiry, with the aid of the light 
now thrown upon the subject, will show 
that the superiority of such soils is depen- 
dent upon their possession of a greater 
power of acquiring manure from the air 
may be judged of from the following ex- 
periment, which we take from many oth- 
ers giving similar results. (See Journal 
of the Royal Ag. Society for 1855, page 
491.) One thousand grains of soil, contain- 
ing 0.085 grains of ammonia in its natural 
state, was exposed to the vapor of ammo- 
nia ; after which it was found to contain 
3.286 grains of ammonia. It follows from 
this that an acre of soil, ten inches deep, 
would absorb 7000 lbs. of ammonia, equal 
to 700 tons of barn-yard manure. Prof. 
Way well observes : 

" As a matter of course, such results as 
those now given can never occur in prac- 
tice, because centuries probably would be 
required for a soil to absorb from the at- 
mosphere containing only traces of ammo- 
nia, the same quantity of the alkali which 
it acquires in a few hours from air highly 
charged with it. Still, as a measure of a 
power which is always in operation, and 



a white, soft pulp, the favorite food of 
many kinds of birds, within which are 
flat, round seeds, not an inch in diameter, 
ash-gray in color, and covered with very 
minute silky hairs. The tree is the 
Strychnos JVux Vomica, and the seed is 
the deadly poison nut. 

Powdered nux vomica, which is one of 
the forms in which the drug is preserved, 
has an extremely bitter taste, and smells 
like licoric. As a medicine it acts, in 
very small doses, as a tonic ; and in 
rather large quantities it is given as a 
stimulant to the nervous system. Its very 
peculiar and extraordinary energetic ef- 
fects, when taken in a poisonous quantity, 
have excited the interest of physiologists ; 
and hecatombs of cats, and dogs, and 
mice, and guinea pigs have been sacri- 
ficed in their researches. In 1809, Ma- 
jendie and Deltlle read a paper before 
the French Institution on the result of 
their experiments on animals. Ten grains 
taken internally killed a dog in forty-five 
minutes, and a grain and a half thrust 
into a wound killed another in seven min- 
utes. The symptoms were, in every 
case, of the usual character. The animal, 
a few minutes after the introduction of 



ration ceases. 



MA- 



which is only limited by the extent of the the poison, becomes agitated and tumbles ; 
subdivision of the soil, and the frequency! in a short time is seized with stiffness and 
with which the air in its pores is changed, ! starting of the limbs, which increases un- 
these numbers are very interesting. They I til a general spasm ensues, in which the 
afford at once an encouragement to abun- j head is bent back, the limbs are extended 
dant tillage of the land, and an explana- 1 and rigid, the spine stiffened, and respi- 
tion of the fertility which almost invaria- 
bly follows it. 

We feel that we have not satisfactorily 
answered the inquiries of our esteemed 
correspondent — indeed we believe it is, 
in the present state of agricultural chem- 
istry, impossible to give definite answers 
to the questions he has propounded — but 
we have collected a few facts which may 
not prove uninteresting. We trust some 
of our correspondents will give their views 
on the subject. J. H, 

Country Gentleman. 



QUERY ABOUT SEWING 
CHINES. 



STRYCHNINE. 

In Ceylon and several districts of In- 
dia grows a moderate sized tree, with 
thick, shining leaves, and a short crooked ; hundreds could be sold per year 



A Valley farmer, with thirty in family, 
wishes to know if any of the patrons of 
the Planter can recommend, from actual 
use, a good sewing machine. If they 
can, they will greatly oblige many Vir- 
ginia wives by giving the manufacturer's 
name, and the cost of the machine. The 
same information is wanted in relation to 
a good knitting machine. 

If sewing and knitting machines, adapt- 
ed to the use of families, were offered 
for sale in Richmond and Alexandria, 

A. few 



stem. In the fruit season it is 
recognized by its rich, orange 



berries, about as large as golden 
the rind is hard and smooth 



readily | have been purchased in the Northern 
colored ciiies by Virginians, but have all failed to 



pippins ; 
and covers 



an 



iwer the purpose. 

A Clarke County Subscriber. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



17 



TESTING GUANO. 

The previous analyses show, a guano may be 
perfectly genuine and yet miserably bad; how 
great then must be the danger of deception, 
when intentional adulterations, which Vender a 
good guano comparatively worthless and a bad 
guano still worse, are superaded ! Under these 
circumstances, it cannot be too strenuously re- 
commended to the farmer, that, unless he wishes 
to run the risk of throwing away his money, 
he should buy guano from such sources only as 
are known to be undoubtedly trustworthy, or 
after a previous chemical examination. If ho is 
not afraid of a little time and trouble, he can 
institute a trial for himself very easily. Tests 
are now possessed of such simplicity as to re- 
quire scarcely more dexterity and attention 
than roasting or boiling coifee, and yet suf- 
ficiently accurate to serve in doubtful cases as 
reliable guides. 

1. Test by drying and subsequently washing 
with watir. — If the guano, as is generally the 
case with those kinds that are brought from 
Peru and Chili, is a uniform powcler, weigh out 
two ounces, spread it upon paper, and let it lie 
for two days in a moderately warm place, in 
summer in a dry and airy situation, in winter 
in a warm room or chamber, in order that the 
air may dry it. What it may then have lost 
in weight must be esteemed superfluous water. 
Many sorts of guano are so moist as to lose by 
this gentle drying from three to four drachms 
(20 to 24 per cent.) in their weight. « 

If the guano, like the Patagonian and Afri- 
can, is not of uniform character, then, in order 
to obtain a mixture as equable as possible, the 
lumps, which have frequently an^altogether dif- 
ferent composition from that of the powdery 
portions, must be broken in pieces and pulver- 
ized, before weighing off and drying a given 
quantity. In like manner care must be taken 
to distribute stones, feathers, &c, when they 
are present, equably throughout the mass. As 
the stones are often so firmly stuck over with 
the guano that they can only be freed from the 
latter by tedious scraping, it is advisable to 
pour hot water over a distinct portion in some 
convenient vessel, and to let it soften by stand- 
ing for a night, upon which stones and sand 
will remain behind after agitation and washing 
with water. 

2. Test by combustion. — Pour half an ounce 
of the guano to be examined into an iron spoon, 
and place it upon red-hot coals until a white or 
grayish ash is left, which must be weighed after 
cooling. The less ash is left behind, the better is 
the guano. The best sorts of Peruvian guano 
yield, from half an ounce, somewhat more than 
one drachm of ashes (30 to 33 per cent.) ; where- 
as the inferior guanos that are now so often 
offered for sale (for example, Patagonian, Afri- 
can, Saldanha Bay, and Chili guanos) leave a 
residue of from 2\ to 3 drachms (60 to 80 per 
cent.), and those intentionally adulterated a 

2 



greater quantity of ashes. Of genuine guano, 
the bad as well as the good, the ash is always 
white or gray ; a yellow or reddish colour indi- 
cates an adulteration with loam, sand, earth, &c. 

The test is very simple, and at the same time 
very trustworthy ; it rests upon the fact, that the 
nitrogenous combinations existing in guano", and 
forming, as has been demonstrated in a preced- 
ing section, its most valuable ingredients, under- 
go combustion and volatilization when subjected 
to heat. Here, too, the difference of odour dur- 
ing the combustion is characteristic. The 
vapours from the better specimens have a pun- 
gent smell, like spirits of hartshorn,' with a 
peculiar piquancy, almost like old Limbourg 
cheese (decayed) ; whilst those rising from in- 
ferior varieties smell like singed horn-shavings 
or hair. 

The combustion maybe undertaken on any 
hearth or in any parlour stove, without fear in 
the latter case that a disagreeable odour will be 
diffused throughout the room. A brick should 
be firmly thrust down into the fire, and the 
spoon laid upon it in such a way that the handle 
rests upon the brick, and s the frowl with the 
guano projects free over the fire. A cork should 
be fixed on to the extremity of the handle, in 
order that the hand may not be burnt when 
brought in contact with the heated spoon. 

3. Lime test. — Put a teaspoonful of each kind 
of guano to be examined into a wineglass, and 
upon this a teaspoonful of slacked lime; then 
add a few teaspoonfuls of water and agitate the 
mixture briskly. Lime liberates the ammonia 
from the ammoniacal salts contained in the 
guano, in just the same manner as from rotten 
muck and putrid drainings (page 82) ; and this 
escapes ; the more excellent, therefore, a guano 
is, the stronger will be the pungent ammoniacal 
odour which escapes from this guano paste. This 
test does not indeed possess the accuracy of the 
preceding, but is still in many cases very con- 
venient on account of its simplicity, and more 
particularly where it is desirable to pass a gene- 
ral and approximative opinion upon the quality 
of different kinds of guano. Under present 
circumstances, especially, its utility appears the 
greater, because guano of intermediate quality 
is now of very infrequent occurrence, and com- 
merce presents us for the most part with re- 
markably good or remarkably bad qualities, in 
examining which the lime test can be advant- 
ageously used, inasmuch as the difference in the 
strength of the odour is really so remarkable, 
that it cannot escape the detection of the most 
unpractised nose. 

In order to be able to apply this test at any 
moment, it is judicious to keep a portion of 
slaked lime constantly on hand. But that this 
may not lose its effect, it must be carefully ex- 
cluded from the air, and should, therefore, be 
preserved in a dry and well-corked bottle. 

4. Test with hot water. — Make a filter of blot- 
ting-paper, folded together into the shape of a 
cone, and put this into a tin-funnel or wire feci- 



IS 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



angle. Let half an ounce of the air-dried guano 
be placed in this, and over it pour hot, best 
boiling water, as long as it passes through of a 
yellowish colour. If the paper with the moist 
guano is laid, when no more liquid dropsfrom 
it. in a warm place, and the residue weighed 
when it has become completely dry, the de- 
ficiency from half an ounce will showtiie weight 
of those elements which have been dissolved by 
the water. As a general rule it may be held, 
the larger the quantity of a guano that is dis- 
solved in water, the more ammoniacal salts does 
it contain, and the better it is. Hence that guano 
must be preferred, as in the test by combustion, 
which, upon being so treated with water, leaves 
behind the smallest residue. In the best or 
Peruvian guanos, the residue from half an ounce 
that is insoluble in water amounts to about 2 
drachms (from 50 to 55 per cent.) ; on the other 
hand, in the comparatively worthless guanos 
from 3 to 3* drachms (80 to 90 per cent.). 

Exceptions to this rule may, however, occur, 
namely when a guano contains many soluble 
mineral salts. Specimens have been met with 
in commerce which consisted to the extent of 
one-half or two thirds of sea-salt and Glauber 
salt ; such guanos, upon being treated with hot 
water, would only leave a residue of from one 
to two drachms of insoluble substances, yet 
must, nevertheless, be regarded as anything but 
good merchandise. In such a case most com- 
plete security is afforded against an erroneous 
decision, by the use of the combustion test de- 
scribed above (p. 134); for then it would be 
found that a guano of the kind in question 
yielded three drachms and more of ashes, and 
must accordingly be admitted as an inferior 
variety.. 

5. Vinegar test— Tour strong vinegar, or, 
better still, some muriatic acid, over the guano 
to be examined; if a strong effervescence ensues, 
an intentional adulteration of guano with lime 
may be inferred. This. substance may also^ be 
recognized by the combustion test, since lime 
remains behind in combustion and augments 
the quantity of ashes. — Stockhardfs Chemical 
Field Lectures. 



DWARF PEAR CONTROVERSY. 

The Country Gentleman publishes a very 
sensible article on the subject of the cul- 
tivation of the dwarf pear, which we trans- 
fer to our columns with pleasure. The 
remarks coincide with our own experience 
on the subject. It is all important that 
the proper stock should be u,sed. The 
Anders quince is the only variety fit for 
working. The other varieties are gene- 
rally of slow growth and short-lived. We 
would by no means advise the planting of 
dwarfs instead of standards where time 
and space are not material considerations. 



" Our readers know that a difference of 
opinion has existed for many years in re- 
lation to Ihe value of dwarf .pears. More 
than ten years ago, a distinguished west- 
ern pomjologist predicted that in ten years 
dwarf pears would he among the things 
that had been. At the same time they had 
many strong advocates, and the trees had 
been widely disseminated and planted. 
With a large number, dwarfs have suc- 
ceeded, and with probably a still larger 
number, they have proved at best partial 
failures. There still remains a great dif- 
ference of opinion in relation to them, and 
the controversy has of late rather increas- 
ed than diminished. The inquiries, con- 
sequently, are repeatedly coming from all 
quarters, ** Do you regard dwarf pears a 
humbug?" — Why do so many fail with 
them?" — What is the reason that doctors 
disagree so much in regard to their mer- 
its ?" 

The answer to these questions are not 
difficult. One great reason that dwarf 
pears fail with so many, is founded in a 
general and erroneous opinion that fruit 
trees of all sorts, young and old, will take 
care of themselves. They alone, of all cul- 
tivated garden or farm crops, are expected 
to flourish .without attention. First of all, 
perhaps, they are planted in a grass soil. 

The farmer who would deliberately plant 
a crop of corn or potatoes among grass, 
would be looked upon as an idiot. The 
gardener who would set out his cabbage 
plants, or sow a crop of beets in the tough 
sod of a green meadow, mig'ht be sent to 
the lunatic asylum. Yet young fruit trees 
are often set in the turf of door yards, or 
in w r eedy, uncultivated places, although 
their first com is fifty times as great as the 
value of the seed for the farm crop or cab- 
bage plantation. We have seen plowmen 
destroy valuable young trees, worth a dol- 
lar each, by running over them, so as to 
avoid an adjacent hill of corn or potatoes, 
worth about seven mills currency. Trees 
generally have the last of all chances — 
they stand at the fag end of the list of all 
objects for cultivation. This is the feeling 
entertained towards them by most plan- 
ters. A Rhode Island Greening, a Rox- 
bury Russet apple tree, or a Kentish or 
Black Heart cherry tree, will withstand a 
great deal of abuse or neglect, and hence, 
with all this bad treatment, they succeed 
tolerably well. But with most other kinds 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



19 



of fruit, such treatment will end in fail* 
\\r3, or at least afford a poor return. Un- 
til planters come to regard fruit trees as 
worth at least as much attention as they 
always expect to bestow upon their fields 
of corn, we shall hear sad stories about 
humbugs, and of the hazardous business 
of attempting to cultivate the finer sorts 
of fruits. It appears to us really aston- 
ishing that some very sagacious and well 
informed men on almost everything else, 
i-hould not see at once that this is the great 
leading cause why we hear so often that 
dwarf pears are a failure. Every skil- 
ful fruit-raiser knows that nothing is easier 
than to raise good strawberries; yet men 
may be found by the hundred, who, having 
planted beds of the most productive sorts, 
and then wholly neglected them, gravely 
announce their opinion, that " There is no 
use in trying to raise strawberries — we 
never had any luck with them." Abed 
of beets or parsnips, similarly treated, 
would unquestionably lead them to the 
conclusion, that " beets and parsnips are 
very tender, difficult and uncertain to 
raise," — for they will not grow under thick 
weeds a foot high, and if treated as fruit 
trees are, will certainly prove failures. 

There is another reason why dwarf pears 
have in many instances not met the ex- 
pectations of planters. There is only a 
comparatively small number of sorts which 
appear to. be perfectly at home on the 
quince stock, and to which dwarfs should 
always be confined, unless for experiment. 
Other sorts make but feeble growth, and 
do not live long after the first heavy crops, 
and those should be avoided. This sub- 
ject has, however, been often before our 
readers, and we need not enlarge upon it 
here. 

Some localities appear unfavorable to 
the successful growth of dwarfs, and we 
have known instances where the occupants 
of such localities, having not. succeeded, 
have coolly decided for all other localities 
from these limited experiments. 

Every thing should be kept in its proper 
place. Nothing should be claimed for any 
fruit, or any mode of growing fruit, which 
does not properly belong to it. A straw- 
berry will always be a strawberry — need- 
ing certain management, and affording 
certain results— and nothing else can be 
made of it. It needs garden culture — yet 
this garden culture may be extended over 



large fields. The same remark will apply 
to the dwarf pear. Hundred-acre orchards 
may be planted with it, provided it re- 
ceives its proper treatment. The man 
who would set out fifty acres with straw- 
berries, who had not previously become 
well acquainted with the peculiarities of 
their management on a smaller scale, 
might find it a costly experiment: The 
same result might take place in planting 
largely of dwarfs. We have known some 
who have done so, knowing little of their 
peculiar requirements, and with the sup- 
position that they would grow without care. 
They of course found ultimately that 
dwarfs were a "humbug." The same 
summary decision would no doubt have 
been made by one who attempted for the 
first time, and with no previous knowledge* 
whatever, to raise watermelons or cabbage. 
It was a hundred years after the introduc- 
tion of the potatoe into England, before 
its cultivation, uses and value w T ere well 
understood, and it was well that it was not 
hastily rejected. 

We have never yet witnessed the fail- 
ure of a dwarf peach orchard, where these 
three requisites had been combined, name- 
ly, 1. Good cultivation, or as good as 
squashes and. pumpkins receive in order 
to flourish well. 2. Selections of those 
sorts which have proved best for this pur- 
pose. 3. A previous trial on a small scale, 
to prove their adaptedness to the particu- 
lar soil and locality where planted. One 
of the best and largest orchards of dwarfs 
we ever saw, with large thrifty trees, and 
affording an average of some hundreds of 
dollars per acre annually, had indeed good 
enriching treatment ; but after all, the cul- 
tivation and amount of manure applied 
did not exceed that given to good corn- 
fields by our best farmers. 

We have sometimes had a strong hope 
that the introduction and culture of dwarf 
pears might be the means of a reformation 
in the treatment of fruit trees, and that by 
actually driving cultivators to give proper 
attention to the one, from absolute neces- 
sity in the case, they might acquire an im- 
proved habit in managing trees generally. 
The good result has undoubtedly taken 
place already to a considerables extent, and 
there is no question that the diffusion of 
intelligence on this subject will extend the 
improvement already commenced. The 
discussion and controversy now existing 



20 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



must as a matter of course, result in im- 
portant benefit, by eliciting facts, and de- 
veloping new truths, and those are what 
we all earnestly look for and desire. 

It is sometimes intimated that self-inter- 
est alone prompts' the recommendation of 
dwarf pears. So far as the writer of these 
remarks is concerned, this cannot be the 
case, as his self-interest leads in an exact- 
ly opposite direction, but the desire of ar- 
riving at the truth, irrespective of any sel- 
fish motives, to place these trees precisely 
where they belong, and to avoid those ex- 
tremes in deciding questions which many 
are always prone to fall into, have been 
alone the suggesting motives for these 
remarks. 



RANDOM THOUGHTS ON THE FEET 
OF HORSES, AND SHOEING- 

Great diversity of opinion exists among 
men as regards the best method of shoeing; 
but the reader may consider, as a univer- 
sal principle, that the best system is the 
one which preserves the natural position 
and tread of the foot, and adapts that kind 
of shoe best calculated to preserve the 
parts, and bring the frog in contact with 
the ground. 

On the other hand, no specific rules can 
apply to the general art of shoeing, be- 
cause horses feet differ, both in health and 
disease, that a eertain form of shoe adap- 
ted for one horse would be unsuitable for 
another. Therefore, as the feet differ, so 
also must the shoes. 

We take it for granted that the hoof is 
elastic — that it expands in downward and 
backward directions. If any persons doubt 
the expansibility of the hoof in those di- 
rections, we would remark, that this must 
have been the intention of nature, for the 
hoof is left open at the heel, between which 
is interposed a soft elastic substance, term- 
ed the frog, which favors the motions al- 
luded to. Had the intentions been other- 
wise, the hoof would probably have pre- 
sented itself in the form of a hollow cyl- 
inder. This compound expansion takes 
place when the foot, with its superincum- 
bent weight of body is planked fairly on 
the ground, and is regulated by the force 
of the effort it has to sustain. 

The parts within the hoof, possessing also 
the properties of contraction and expan- 
sion, or rather articulation, change their 



form also under the influence of pressure, 
acting conjointly to lessen the shock of 
concussion. 

Now, in order to favor this expansion, 
so salutary as it must prove to the foot, 
the nails must not be inserted any nearer 
the heels than the safety of the shoe re- 
quires : for we shall readily perceive that 
if the shoe be nailed all round, the hoof 
is then fettered at its base, and of course 
cannot admit of the least motion. Two 
nails on the in, and three on the outside, 
are all we need to secure the shoe : pro- 
vided, however, the nails be countersunk 
and well riveted or clinched. Tf they are 
not, the shoe soon becomes loose, in con- 
sequence of the nails being driven home 
by repeated blows on their heads, while 
the horse is travelling on hard roads. 

The shoe must be applied with an un- 
derstanding, that whatever be the nature 
of the road, the frog must come in contact 
with it. In England, man} T of the roads are 
macadamized — their surface being strewn 
with flint stones, their edges almost as 
sharp as a razor; yet this does not deter 
the smith who has studied the anatomy of 
the foot, from letting the frog come in con- 
tact with the same. No ; he is aware that 
nature is ever ready to adapt every part 
of the system to circumstances. 

We all know that the soles of the feet 
of children, who are accustomed to go 
barefoot, soon becomes callous — almost in- 
sensible — just so with the frog; the nature 
of the ground over which the horse travels 
determines its form, character and endu- 
rance. Examine the frog of the colt ; we 
shall find that it is well. developed, full, 
prominent, and callous. This is the re- 
sult of the stimulus and hard knocks it 
receives in travelling over all sorts of road. 
Look at the same animal's foot after he 
has been submitted to the popular evils of 
domestication and shoeing, and we often 
find it wasted and almost obliterated — a 
mere apology for a good frog. 

The blacksmiths, however, are not at 
all times accountable for this, for in the 
winter season caulks seem to be neces- 
sary, and then it is impossible to bring the 
frog in contact with the ground ; so that 
during this period its function may dete- 
riorate. And disease of the foot also al- 
ters the structure and size of the frog. A 
deep-rooted prejudice exists in favor of 
cutting away the superfluous frog ; but so 



THE SOUTHEkN PLANTER 



21 



soon as its function shall be understood, 
the error will cease. 

There are many reasons why the frog 
should never be mutilated, and we shall 
mention two or three. In the healthy frog 
there is a solid wedge-like portion of horn 
extending from the cleft to the point of 
the toe. It lies directly under that small, 
yet very important bone, called navicular, 
The bone itself and its associate tissues. 
are often the seat of a very painful disease, 
known as navicularthritis ; and we think 
it often arises in consequence of removing 
this bulbous prolongation, termed the an- 
terior point and bulb of the frog. Its prin- 
cipal use is to protect this very important 
bone, and shield it in this direction from 
the violence it must occasionally meet with 
on rough ground. 

A very distinguished surgeon asserts 
that, when once this bulbous enlargement 
is shaved off it can never be reproduced, 
and that is the reason why we cannot find 
it in many shod horses. It not only pro- 
tects the navicular bone, but to a certain 
extent the coffin point. Yet there is no 
part of the frog with which greater liber- 
ties are taken, than with this. In fact, it 
generally undergoes a pretty essential 
whittling every time the horse gets an in- 
troduction to the man of knife and butte- 
ris. The bulb of the toe once removed, 
nature causes augmented secretion of hor- 
ny surface to supply the deficiency. The 
secretion is very abundant, but nature is 
no match against edged tools — the faster 
it goes, the better chance is there, by those 
who feel disposed, to whittle at every sub- 
sequent shoeing. Such extraordinary ef- 
forts at reproduction soon impairs the se- 
cretory function, and we then have a hard 
brittle substance, destitute of elasticity, 
which almost defies the knife of the shoer. 

Then consider the frog itself — that well- 
defined promontory — that cushion-like sub- 
stance, which, by coming in contact with 
the ground, prevents jar and concussion, 
not only to the sensitive tissues within the 
hoof, but to the joints above — in fact, it 
lessens body concussion. It is a part 
w T hich developes itself in the same ratio 
with the hoof and sole, establishing a bond 
of union between the sensitive tissues and 
the insensible. A part, therefore, which 
serves, as the basis of the animal struc- 
ture, cannot be removed with impunity. 
Cut away the frog, and we take away 



the solar support, and prevent that sole 
coming in contact with the ground. Now 
put on a shoe having no bearing but against 
the hoof, and we shall readily perceive that 
the horse's weight is borne by the hoof — 
so great a weight having no opposing re- 
sistance, except that furnished by the in- 
side of the hoof, must naturally lead to 
strain of the laminae and descent of sole. 

Descent of sole, implies laminal dislo- 
cation ; the horse is then in a partly ruined 
condition. We contend, therefore, that 
the frog should seldom, if ever, be inter- 
fered with. We may remove the rough 
and loose portions, about as much as the 
animal without shoes would naturally wear 
off; and this is not always good policy, 
for the ragged;, uneven parts often serve 
as a protection to the new formations 
above. The part looks better for paring, 
we grant, but health does not consist of 
beauty alone : we have seen some very 
handsome horses, yet having the finger of 
death on them. You may get a very hand- 
some hoof by rasping or scraping it with 
glass ; but we will defy any man to make 
a healthy one by the same process. 

The time has been, when the cutting 
away of the frog was recommended by 
some very eminent men — so that the smiths 
who now practice it in good faith, are no 
more to be blamed than the former. One 
author has tried to smooth over the affair, 
by observing, that " the frog offer's so little 
resistance to the knife, and presents such 
an even surface — so clean," nice, and 
smooth, that it requires more philosophy 
than smiths generally possess, to resist the 
temptation to slice it away, despite a know- 
ledge that it would be far wiser to let it 
alone." 

If the opinion of veterinary surgeons is 
of any value, the reader must confess that 
the error of paring the frog is injurious. 
One of the best authors on the subject, 
says that he never allows a knife to ap- 
proach the frog, because experiment has 
shown that the frog possesses less power 
of reproducing horn than other parts ; and 
the same individual has had horses in his 
possession five years, whose frogs never 
made the acquaintance of a knife. 

Examine the structure of a frog, and 
you will find that it is covered with a thin, 
delicate envelope — a texture once removed 
is sparingly reproduced. Cut it off, and 
the parts beneath are unprotected — unfit- 



22 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



ted to grapple with hard ground or expo- 
sure to atmospheric changes they contract 
in consequence of violence or exposure, 
and we get an inferior frog. 

But the reader may ask, how is the frog 
to disencumber itself of its apparently rug- 
ged and superfluous surfaces. We answer, 
nature has provided a means ; a casting 
off of the frog surfaces, now and then, 
• takes place. But we shall find that when 
this does occur, a new horny covering has 
formed beneath — a smaller frog appears, 
still an entire one, capable of repeating 
the same process over and over again. 
Therefore, let us try and let the frog alone. 

An idea has generally prevailed, that 
the hoof should be circular. This is a great 
mistake ; for if you examine the coifs 
foot, you will find the toe and outer quar- 
ter describing a circle, but the inner ap- 
proaches the heels with less curve. By 
this arrangement, there is less liability to 
strike one foot against the other limb. 
Therefore, any attempts by knife and rasp 
to make the hoof describe a circle, is con- 
trary to the intentions of nature, and in- 
jurious to the horse's foot. 



FATTENING HOGS. 

As to the matter of economy, there are so 
many circumstances that govern the manage- 
ment of stock, different in different sections of 
the country, that in this, as in almost every 
other point of good management, much must 
depend upon the good judgment of the farmer. 
After obtaining all the information and advice 
within his reach, he must then decide his 
course by his own judgment. In the South- 
west, where the "hog crop" is an important 
interest, and when in mast years, stock 
hogs cost little or nothing to keep them 
through the winter, it is true economy, no 
doubt, to allow them to provide for themselves 
until they are twelve to sixteen months old, 
when they are either turned into standing 
corn and allowed to gather it at their leisure, 
or put up into pens and fed all the corn they 
will eat for three or four months, during 
which time they become generally very fat 
and in fine condition for butchering. 

In other portions of the country, where they 
must be fed during their whole life en compara- 
tively expensive food, true economy requires 
that this food should be prepared, even at some 
expense,, so as to make it good as far as possible 
in forming fat ; hence, in those sections, corn is 
ground and mixed Avith other food, steamed, 
boiled, and fermented, &c, in various ways, 
which, with us, owing to the expense and 
labor, would be scarcely found to pay. It is of 



great importance also, in those sections to 
shorten the period, of feeding as much as pos- 
sible, otherwise with all the economy used it 
will be found that the pork has cost, like the 
Indian's gun, more than it comes to. 

In those sections it will not pay to winter 
hogs, hence the great desideratum is to obtain 
a. breed of hogs that will at eight or ten 
months old make good pork, so that they may 
be wintered in the pork barrel. OS late years, 
such advances have been made that it is not 
uncommon to read of hogs at those ages 
weighing from 300 to 400 lbs. This method of 
forcing forward the young hogs by extra feed 
and careful housing might not be profitable in 
this section of the country, yet some useful 
hints may be obtained from the practice, as 
well as much advantage gained by introducing 
those improved breeds of hogs which have 
shown a disposition to this early maturity. 

Heretofore, it is not likely that these com- 
paratively delicate breeds would have met with 
much favor in the eye of an experienced South- 
western breeder, because of their want of 
stamina to enable them to undergo the fatigues 
of a long march before they arrived at the 
point of their final destination ; but now, from 
the facilities of transportation, the hog has 
been spared those long pilgrimages on foot to 
the packing-house, and rides in comfortable 
cars ; therefore the more hardy, large-boned 
animals heretofore in favor may well give place 
to the more delicate races of rapid maturity in 
some sections. Yet it must be a matter of 
calculation with each individual whether even 
with hogs that will do to pack at ten months 
by high feeding, it will be true economy or not 
to winter them and keep them on clover in a 
good thriving condition till the regular fatten- 
ing time. 

There are many farmers so situated that 
they can give their hogs extensive forest 
ranges in winter and fine clover pastures in 
summer ; of course in mast seasons no person 
not similarly situated can compete with them 
in making pork. 

Mr. N. Hunt, a very intelligent farmer of 
Ohio, furnishes a correspondent of the Country 
Gentleman, in Cincinnati, with, the following 
estimate of the cost of raising pork in Ohio. 
He estimates the cost of pigs at 2 months old 
(for keep of sow &c.,) as equal to 2>} bushels of 
corn ; the next 4 months at pasture as equal to 
2 bushels ; the next 6 months — the first win- 
ter — as e'qual to 3 bushels ; the next G months 
at pasture as equal to 6 bushels, and the cost of 
fattening as equal to 16 bushels. Thus the 
hog at about 21 months old and ready for the 
knife has cost equal to the value of 29J bushels 
of corn. He further estimates that, under the 
mode of feeding, the hog will weigh 275 to 300 
lbs. net. 

It is important to keep hogs in a fine thri- 
ving condition at every stage of their growth, 
so that when put up to fatten they may be in 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



2:; 



such health as to be enabled to fully digest the 
largest possible amount of nourishing food and 
convert it into fat. 

It is doubtful if there is true economy in 
forcing them forward in any period of their 
lives previous to putting them into the fatten- 
ing pen. 

Mr. Phinney, a farmer of much experience 
in Massachusetts, says : " If pigs are to-be 
killed at the end of 9 months, I would advise 
them to be kept as fat as possible all the time ; 
but if intended for killing at the age of 15 or 
18 months they should not be full fed for the 
first ten or twelve months. To satisfy myself of 
this course, I took 6 of my best pigs 8 months 
old, all of the same litter, and shut them in 
two pens, three in each. Three of these I fed 
very high and kept them as fat all the time as 
they could be made. The other three were 
fed sparingly upon coarse food, but kept within 
a healthy growing condition until within 4 or 
5 months of the time of killing, when they 
were fed as high as the, others. They were all 
slaughtered at the same time, being then six- 
teen months old. At the age of 9 months the 
full fed pigs were much the heaviest, but at 
the time of killing, the pigs fed sparingly for 
10 or 12 months weighed, upon an average, 50 
lbs. each more than the others." 

Although it looks like a wasteful practice to 
turn a drove of hogs into a field of standing- 
corn to help themselves, there is no doubt that 
this method is true economy in many places. 
The corn is in a condition in which it is easily 
and perfectly masticated and easily digested 
and the hogs get a great deal of saccharine 
matter in the juice of the staik ; then the 
effect upon the soil is not as exhausting as if the 
grain were ripened and removed, and, if the 
land is broken up as soon as the corn is eaten, 
much manure is saved. 

In feeding corn to fattening liogs in the 
field it is better to withdraw them before they 
have eaten it clean, as they are compelled to 
walk too much when the corn becomes scarce. 
The stock hogs may be allowed to finish the 
work. Fattening hogs require some exercise 
to keep their digestive organs in healthy action. 
The smallest quantity of exercise that will 
keep them healthy is most suited to fattening 
and the practice of putting them into very con- 
fined pens is no doubt a disadvantage. An ex- 
perienced stock grazier remarked that, both 
hogs and cattle fattened faster when allowed a 
liberal range in a pen, than they did when 
confined to very smill ones. All fattening 
animals should be kept quiet, and have a 
warm, clean, dry place to sleep. . Hogs are 
liable to all the symptoms of dispepsia, and 
when they have it they cannot fatten rapidly. 
They should be allowed a few pieces of char- 
coal occasionally or rotten wood, which is the 
remedy they generally use for flatulency. A 
little ashes or lime will frequently be eaten by 



them with much benefit. It may be given to 
them in salt. 

There is no doubt, much may be saved in 
fattening hogs by grinding, boiling, and fer- 
menting their food, when the farmer is pre- 
pared to do so without too much labor or cost. 
Mr. Phinney, before referred to, says he be- 
lieves, from frequent experiment, that two dol- 
lar's worth of cooked food will do hogs as much 
good as three dollar's worth raw. As to fer- 
menting or souring, which is so frequently re- 
commended in preparing- food for hogs, we 
think there can be no possible advantage 
gained by allowing it to become sour, but if 
allowed to ferment so far as the saccharine or 
sweet state, it may be easier digested, and 
therefore more fattening. Another advantage 
of grinding and boiling is that several kinds of 
food may be mixed together, and the com- 
pound may be changed occasionally, and thus 
is less apt to clog. Yet in feeding hogs in a 
close pen on very concentrated food, corn 
meal mixed with water and boiled, for instance, 
they are very liable to be surfeited^ and instead 
of fattening they begin to fall off. We have 
seen a lot of hogs, riearly ready for the knife, 
begin to fall off in condition whei* their al- 
lowance of boiled shrill was increased so as to 
allow them all they would eat. They never 
recovered so as to take on fat rapidly, and 
were slowly at much extra cost got into killing 
condition. It will be necessary, therefore, to 
use more judgment in feeding ground corn to 
hogs' than in feeding it in the ear. 

Cleanliness is a matter of much importance 
in fattening hogs, notwithstanding their pro- 
verbial lack of it in their habits while at large. 
A gentleman in Norfolk took six pigs of nearly 
equal size and put them upon the same food 
and litter for seven weeks. Three of them 
were left to shift for themselves as to cleanli- 
ness ; the other three were kept as clean as pos- 
sible by a man employed for the purpose, with 
a curry-comb and brush. The last three con- 
sumed in seven weeks five bushels less feed 
than the other three, yet, when killed, weighed 
32 pounds each upon an average more than 
the others. Hence the practice of keeping hogs 
in close, muddy pens, without any s elter, is 
bad economy, even if the weather should not 
be cold, but much worse if cold, as in that 
case much of the nourishment of the food is 
required to keep up the natural temperature 
of the animal. 

The principle conditions to be observed in 
managing hogs to the best advantage seem to 
be — 

1st. To keep them in a healthy growing con- 
dition, never fat, nor ever in a lew condition, 
till they are put up to fatten; or if found most 
economical, push them from the first till they 
are nine or ten months old, and then kill them. 
2d. To grind and cook the corn, when the 
amount saved will pay for the extra amount of 
labor and expense. 3d. To keep them at all 



24 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



times healthy and capable of digesting the 
largest quantity of nourishment, by pr >per at- 
tention to cleanliness and bodily comfort, by 
providing comfortable, dry sleeping places, 
well littered with leaves. 4th. To commence 
fattening so early in the season as to be ready 
to kill as soon as the weather will permit, as 
hogs take on fat much faster in warm weather 
than in cold. — Louisville Journal. 



WINTER MANAGEMENT OF SHEEP. 

Mr. George Campbell, of Vermont, the well- 
known sheep grower, furnishes to the Patent 
Office Report for 1854, the following article on 
the "Winter Management of Sheep :" 

"Much of the success of the wool-grower 
depends upon the winter management of his 
flock. Sheep are animals which pay their 
owners better for good care and keeping than 
any other stock usually kept on a farm ; but if 
fed with a stingy hand, or neglected, if suita- 
ble conveniences are wanting, they pay per- 
haps as poorly as any. The annual loss to the 
United States, resulting from a want of suita- 
ble sheds and other conveniences for the winter 
accommodation of sheep, is immense. The 
promptings of self-interest would seem suffi- 
cient to induce our farmers to adopt a better 
system of management. No intelligent farmer 
of this day will attempt to deny the principle 
that warm enclosures are equivalent, to a 
certain extent, for food ; a variety of well-con- 
ducted experiments have conclusively demon- 
strated the fact. A large proportion of food 
consumed in winter is required for keeping up 
the animal heat, and consequently, in propor- 
tion as the apartments are warm, within certain 
limits, the less amount of food will be required. 
The other extreme, too close apartments, 
would be objectionable from the impurity of 
the air, and should be avoided. Sheep have 
very little reason to fear injury from this 
cause. The majority of those in our State 
suffer for the want of shelter and a suitable 
quantity and variety in their winter food. 
Many flocks are brought to their winter quar- 
ters in fair condition, but are fed so sparingly 
that the growth of their wool is almost wholly 
arrested during the winter season, the fodder 
given them being only sufficient to sustain the 
vital functions. Under such circumstances the 
food consumed by them is in fact nearly lost. 
The owner has received no return in the in- 
crease of wool nor in bodily weight ; and he 
will suffer further from a large per cent, of 
actual deaths before the time of shearing. 

With such a course of management the 
profits of wool-growing will necessarily be 
small. If neither self-interest nor the feelings 
of humanity will induce the farmer to provide 
properly for his dependent flock,, he will find it 
for. his advantage to keep some other domestic 
animal, and I know of nothing more suitable for 
such men than a hardy goat. While I protest 



against the starving system, it would seem 
hardly necessary to caution farmers against 
the opposite extreme, too high feeding, which is 
also detrimental to the health and long life of 
the animal. While preparing sheep for the 
butcher, high feeding is necessary and proper, 
but for store sheep and breeding ewes, an over 
amount of fat, produced by high feeding, is de- 
cidedly injurious ; and, aside from the attend- 
ing expense to produce this state of things, it 
has a tendency to shorten the lives of the sheep 
and enfeeble the-offspring. The forcing sys- 
tem of feeding brings animals to maturity 
early, but is pioductive of premature death. 

The proper and the most profitable mode of 
feeding, for breeding and store sheep, is that 
which will develope in them the highest de- 
gree of bodily vigor. Sheep fed in this man- 
ner would endure the fatigue of a long journey, 
while those high fed would fail, from excess of 
fat, and the scanty fed from muscular debility. 
Every wool-grower will find it for his interest 
to provide warm, capacious, and well ventilated 
sheds for his flocks, with a convenient access 
to pure water. The feeding racks should be 
made with good tight bottoms, in order that 
the chaff and seed, the most valuable part of 
the hay, may not be lost. Such racks will 
also answer for feeding out roots and grain and 
will avoid the necessity of having an extra lot 
of troughs for that purpose. 

The different ages and classes of sheep 
should be properly assorted. This classifica- 
tion, however, must be left to the judgment of 
the breeder. The size of his flock, and his 
conveniences for keeping, will determine the 
extent of the classification. It will be necessa- 
ry, in all flopks of considerable size, to place 
the strong and feeble in separate flocks. The 
breeding ewes sbould constitute another divis- 
ion, and so on with the lambs, keeping each 
class, and age by themselves. 

In regar<J to the question, how often should 
sheep be fed? a difference of opinion among 
good managers exists. While one believes 
that twice a day is sufficient, another thinks it 
desirable to feed three or four times :. but the 
most important point, I apprehend, is to feed 
regularly, whether twice, three or four times a 
day. The writer feeds, at present, hay twice, 
one day: the next, hay in the morning and 
straw at night, and so on, giving hay and 
straw alternately, instead of hay ; and beside, 
a feed of roots and grain is allowed at mid-day, 
allowing a half bushel of coin and cob, or 
oatmeal, mixed with two bushels of roots, to 
the one hundred head. -As sheep are fond of a 
variety of food, it is desirable to make as many 
changes as practicable. If allowed constant 
access to pine or hemlock boughs through the 
winter, it will be conducive to their health. 
Salt is equally essential in winter as in sum- 
mer, and should be kept constantly by th em- 
Rock-salt which is imported in large lumps, 
weighing from twenty to fifty pounds each, is 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



25 



the cheapest and best. Sheep are not liable to 
eat it in sufficient quantities as to ever injure 
them, as they can only get it by licking." — 
Progressive Farmer. 

VALUE OF RACE HORSES. 
The price fetched by the 200 blood yearlings 
which are usually brought to the hammer in 
England, averaged during the racing seasons of 
1854-55, about $635. The average price at 
the royal sale of 1854, was $2,205 for 14, many 
of which were of the Orlando blood, which 
fetches a higher price than any other in Eng- 
land. No doubt, in all studs, great loss is sus- 
tained by a certain proportion of the young 
stock, which promise to be small and not 
worth training ; but here breeders are often 
deceived. For example, the late Lord Grosve- 
nor sent Meteora, the best mare in England, of 
her day, to Chester Fair, when two years old, 
to be sold for $80, because she was considered 
as too small; and he also suffered Violante, the 
best four mile racer of her day, to be sold, 
untried, for $250 but purchased her again. 
The great prices, however, occasionally paid to 
breeders for some horses — $20,000, for exam- 
ple, to the Earl of Jersey, for Mameluke, and 
$17,500 for Bay Middleton — make up for the 
loss inseparable from such as by mishaps, di- 
minutive size and casualties, are culled out 
and sold for what they will bring, which 
seldom amounts to much. Twenty-five thosand 
dollars were refused for Plenipo; and the grea- 
test price ever given for a race-horse was $32- 
300 for the two-year old Hobbie Noble, in 
1851. One may, however, cease to wonder at 
such prices, when we find that the Flying 
Dutchman won his owner nearly $100,000 in 
stakes alone; and that the winnings of himself 
and his half brother, Van Tromp, who be- 
longed to the same owner, amounted to 170,- 
000. Cotherstone won, at three years old, 
$03,825 ; West Australian, $54,875 ; and 'Sur- 
plice, $51,875. 



ON PARTURIENT FEVER IN EWES, 

"Giddiness Accompanying Parturition." 

by isaac seaman. 

{Prize Essay.) 

The following admirable article on a disease 
in sheep which has cost many of our farmers 
some of their finest sheep, was commended to 
our attention last winter by a distinguished 
sheep-breeder of our State. He had praciissd 
on its suggestions and saved some valuable ani- 
mals. We then made two efforts to* get it in 
and in both cases were foiled by the printer. 

Parturient fever in ewes ("giddiness accom- 
panying parturition") forms a very interesting 
and important subject for investigation, with 
the true nature of which the shepherd and 
flock-master cannot be too well acquainted. 



The term " giddiness" signifies stupor, sleep- 
.iness, delirium ; and is universally applied by 
shepherds and flock-masters to sheep "suffering 
from hydatics, or water in the brain. Now that 
we may distinguish this so-called giddiness ac- 
companying parturition in ewes from other dis- 
eases bearing the same name, I propose to call 
it paturient fever ; " for in calling different ail- 
ments by the same name,'/ as observed by an 
eminent writer on influenza in horses, " our 
description of diseases becomes involved in ob- 
scurity ; we* never agree as to the treatment, 
and investigation into their character becomes 
more difficult than nature intended." I call it 
parturient fever, because fever it really is, as 
the appearances before and after death will 
show ; and it does not affect the ewe at any 
other time than shortly before and after lamb- 
ing (parturition.) 

Parturient fever is an affection of common 
occurrence, and was attended with much fatal- 
ity amongst the flocks in the counties of Cam- 
bridgeshire and Essex during the lambing sea- 
sons of 1852-53. It is remarkable for the sud- 
denness of its attack, the rapidity with which 
it runs through its different stages, and its gen- 
eral mortality to those affected by it. It is so 
violent in its attack, and rapid in its progress, 
that it may prove fatal in twenty-four hours, if 
not arrested by the most decisive means. It 
affects most commonly ewes of a delicate con- 
stitution, such as the Sussex Downs : the more 
hardy Lincoln and Norfolk ewes are compara- 
tively exempt from the disease. It manifests a 
more severe form in aged ewes and ewes bear- 
ing twin lambs. 

Causes. — Any circumstance or agency which 
depresses the power of the system, insufficient 
or improper food, close folding, exposure to fa- 
tigue, to cold, and moisture, may be considered 
causes of the affection. I have repeatedly no- 
ticed where ewes about a month before lambing 
have been removed from a sufficiency of whole- 
some food to other possessing less nutritive 
qualities, they have suffered greatly from par-, 
turient fever. The practice of fattening sheep 
and ewes, being fed on the same piece of tur- 
nips (the best parts of which are consumed by 
the former, whilst the roots and other inferior 
parts are consumed by the latter), ought to be 
abandoned ; a small fold, too — a circumstance 
so essential to the development of fat in the one, 
whilst highly injurious to the pregnant ewe, to 
whom exercise is of the greatest importance for 
the maintenance of health. Moist and warm 
seasons, vegetables growing luxuriantly, and 
the non-supply of dry farinaceous food, are 
alike productive of the affection. Fat condi- 
tion is thought to be a grand cause of the dis- 
ease. I certainly have noticed the Sussex 
Downs (a breed most disposed to collect fat) 
suffer most, and, as I before stated, a delicate 
sheep : but losses have been sustained, from 
the fact that the breeder, thinking them too fat, 
a short time before the full period of ^station 



26 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



lessens the supply of food which is plentiful 
and nutritious, and substitutes that of a poorer 
nature. I well recollect the circumstances of 
an extensile breeder unknowingly feeding a 
number of pregnant ewes for the buteher, who 
did not discover his ignorance unti! after six- 
teen weeks' gestation : the ewes at this time 
were fat enough for slaughtering. Alarmed 
with the fear of losing them in lambing, he dis- 
posed of them'to an experienced sheep-dealer ; 
the dealer did not think there was any partic- 
ular danger in lambing such ewes, and contin- 
ued to feed them upon the most nutritious diet, 
such as linseed-cake, oats, hay, and turnips. 
He had not a case of parturient fever, and his 
losses otherwise were not more 'than two per 
cent. 

Symptoms. — The most early symptom that 
marks the commencement of this disease : first 
the ewe suddenly leaves her food, twitches both 
hind legs and ears, and returns again to her 
food ; during the next two or three days she 
eats but little, appears dull and stupid: after 
this time there is a degree of general weakness, 
loss of appetite, and giddiness, and a discharge 
of dark colour from the vagina; whilst the 
flock is driven from fold to fold, the affected 
sheep loiters behind and staggers in her gait, 
the head is carried downward, and the eyelids 
partly closed. If parturition takes place dur- 
ing this stage of the disease, and the animal is 
kept warm and carefully nursed, recovery will 
frequently take place in two or three days ; if, 
on the contrary, no relief is afforded, symptoms 
of a typhoid character present themselves, the 
animal is found in one corner of the fold, the 
head down and extremely uneasy, the body is 
frequently struck with the hind feet, a dark- 
coloured foetid discharge continues to flow from 
the vagina, and there is great prostration of 
strength. A pair of lambs are now often ex- 
pelled in a high state of putrefaction, and the 
ewe down, and unable to rise ; the head is 
crouching upon the ground, and there is ex- 
.treme insensibility; the skin may be punctur- 
ed, and the finger placed under the eyelids 
without giving any evidence of pain. The an- 
imal now rapidly sinks, and dies often in three 
or four days from the commencement of the 
attack. Ewes that recover suffer afterwards 
for some time great weakness, and many parts 
of the body become denuded of wool. 

Treatment. — The ewe immediately noticed 
ill should be removed from the flock to a warm 
fold apart from all other sheep, and be fed with 
oatmeal gruel, bruised oats, and cut hay, with 
a little linseed-cake. If in two or three days j 
the patient continues ill, is dull and weak, a; 
dark-coloured foetid discharge from the vagina, j 
and apparently uneasy, an attempt to move the 
lambs should be made. The lambs in a great 
majority of cases at this period are dead, and 
their decomposition (that is, giving off putrid 
matter^ is a frequent cause of giddiness and 
stupor in the ewe. If the os uteri (the entrance'! 



into the uterus) is not sufficiently dilated to ad- 
mit of the hand of the operator, the vaginal 
cavity and os uteri should be smeared every 
three hours with the extract of belladona, and 
medicine, as follows, given : — 

Calomel, 8 grains. 

Extract hyoscyamus, - 1 drachm, 
Oatmeal gruel, - - 8 ounces. 

Mix, and give two table-spoonfuls twice a day. 

Epsom salts, 8 ounces. 

Nitre, J ounce. 

Carbonate of soda, - 2 ounces. 
Water, 1 pint. 

Mix and give two wine-glasses full at the 
same time the former mixture is given. Let 
both mixtures be kept in separate bottles, and 
well shaken before given. The bowels being 
operated upon, omit both former prescriptions, 
and give the following: — 

Nitre, -J ounce. 

Carbonate of soda, - 1 ounce. 
Camphor, 1 drachm. 

Water, 8 ounces. 

A wine-glass full to be given twice a day. 

Feed the ewe principally upon gruel and 
milk or linseed porridge. Parturition having 
taken place, the uterus should be injected with 
a solution of chloride of lime, in the propor- 
tion of a drachm to a pint of warm water, and 
repeated twice a day whilst any foetid discharge 
from the vagina remains. — Journal of the Roy- 
al Agricultural Society of England. 



BLOOD AS A FERTILIZER. 

We are glad to see, by the following ar- 
ticles which we extract from the Pennsyl- 
vania Farm Journal, that blood is about 
to be put to a good purpose. We cannot 
see why the butchers in Richmond and 
Baltimore cannot form companies for the 
manufacture of a valuable manure from 
their slaughter houses. 

The addition of bones we should not 
consider material. And, as it would give 
opportunities for fraud, which would be 
suspected, and so far discredit the article, 
and as it would also add to the cost with no 
corresponding benefit, we would rather, 
for our use, that it should be omitted alto- 
gether. 

A great many persons in the country* 
by some simple contrivance, might catch' 
in saw-dust or charcoal, all the blood of 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



everything they kill. What they save in 
this way would be that much guano, to 
say nothing of cleanliness. — Ed. So. Pl. 

ft is now an admitted fact that Guano, 
until some substitute is found for it, is an 
essential element in good and profitable 
farming. 

The price to which Peruvian Guano has 
advanced, with the certainty of a still 
further rise, has directed the attention of 
all reflecting minds to the important ques- 
tion of how they can render themselves 
independent of this costly manure. A so- 
lution to that question has been found, and 
a complete remedy for the evil. 

We possess within ourselves all the el- 
ements for the formation of a far more 
powerful fertilizer than the best Peruvian 
Guano. 

The proof of this assertion is as follows : 

The only component parts of Guano 
really valuable to the soil, consist in its 
Phosphate of Lime, and that remnant of 
animal matter, which time has left in it, 
capable of forming ammonia. 

A large portion of its whole weight con- 
sists in useless, nonavailable matter : now 
it is clear to the common sense of any 
man, that if a compound be formed wholly 
composed of pure Phosphate of Lime, and 
the richest nitrogenous matter in that 
chemical state best adapted to the forma- 
tion of ammonia, when placed in contact 
with the soil, and without any of the ex- 
traneous matters contained in guano, a far 
more potent and more valuable fertilizer 
is obtained. 

The attention of the first agricultural 
chemists in England was directed to this 
object, and some four years ago it was 
successfully achieved by the following 
means : The blood of animals being col- 
lected in large quantities, the water it con- 
tained amounting to some seventy-five 
per cent, being removed, the solid portions 
were so chemically treated, as to produce 
a highly concentrated nitrogenous matter, 
in which all the elements of fermentation 
or decomposition were temporarily arrest- 
ed, but w T hich was in the most favorable 
condition possible for the creation of am- 
monia ; when by contact with the ele- 
ment of the soil and air, its fermentation 
and decomposition commenced. The sub- 1 
stance so prepared was mixed only with I 
pure Phosphate of Lime, and thus was ob-\ 



taincd an unadulterated compound of those 
pure etements which alone nourish the grow- 
ing crop to its fullest maturity and perma- 
nently enriches the soil. 

So valuable is this discovery considered 
in England, that a company was formed, 
presided over by the most wealthy and en- 
lightened Agriculturalists in that country. 
The gentleman selected for their chair- 
man is Mr. Jonas Webb, whose reputation 
as the largest and most scientific sheep- 
breeder in the' world, is as well known in 
this country as in England. The high 
standing and reputation of these gentle- 
men were a sufficient guarantee to all who 
wished to use this manure ; and the rap- 
idly increasing success of the undertak- 
ing up to the present time has been un- 
paralleled. Mr. Webb himself, who an- 
nually grows five hundred acres of sweet 
turnips for his own stock, uses no other 
manure, and is unrivalled in his crops. 

The same discovery secured by Let- 
ter's Patent in this country is now offered 
to the Agriculturalists of Pennsylvania. 

A powerful and influential company has 
been formed in Boston for the manufac- 
ture of this manure ; and it is proposed to 
form a similar one in the city of Phila- 
delphia, with a capital of one hundred 
thousand dollars, in a thousand shares of 
one hundred dollars each. A chemist of 
high reputation will preside over its man- 
ufacture, thus securing to the consumer 
the unvarying quality of the manure 
made. Its constituent parts have been 
submitted to several of the most distin- 
guished chemists in. our country, and in 
every instance they have given it their 
warmest approbation. 

The formation of such a company would 
be beneficial in more respects than one. — 
Many thousands of tons of blood and offal 
can be collected annually in Philadelphia 
and vicinity, which now only serves to 
breed pestilence and disease, and which, 
if properly prepared, would add very ma- 
terially to the fertilizers of which the 
farmer stands so greatly in need. As a 
sanitary measure alone, it is deserving of 
the warmest support, while its value as a 
manure can scarcely be estimated. The 
immense amount of fertilizing matter an- 
nually wasted, would be brought into 
profitable use, and all parties benefited. 

The increasing demand for fertilizing 
material in a form better adapted to trans- 



28 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



portation than farm-yard manure, renders 
information upon points connected with 
this important subject, not only interest- 
ing, but valuable. The following article 
is more full than anything we have seen, 
and as such, is commended to the atten- 
tion of the reader : 

" As a manure, the efficiency of blood 
has been frequently tested in practice. — 
Owing to the circumstance of its being 
seldom within reach of the farmer in 
quantity sufficient to make it an object of 
importance, as well as the inconvenience 
attending its carriage, and its liability to 
speedy decomposition, it rarely forms one 
of those substances which are used as 
fertilizers in general farm practice. But 
as an accidental auxiliary manure, its use- 
fulness is frequently exhibited. In the 
gardens, allotment patches, adjoining 
towns, and in the lanes in the occupation 
of butchers, it is frequently used with the 
high degree of success which its compo- 
sition predicates. 

Too frequently, however, it forms an in- 
gredient in those heterogeneous masses of 
filth and rubbish which, instead of being 
made the instrument of producing, in the 
shape of vegetable and animal food, fresh 
supplies of sinew 7 and strength for the 
laborer, offend the senses, engender dis- 
ease, and perpetuate wretchedness among 
the crow r ded population of our cities. 

For the reasons stated above, we have 
but few published experiments with blood 
which afford us precise data as to its com- 
parative efficiency as a fertilizer for farm 
crops. In many .of the xery extensive 
series of experiments which have been 
published in the Transactions of a High- 
land and Agricultural Society, of Scotland, 
very productive results have been devel- 
oped, by the use of substances such as 
sugar-refiners' waste, &c, which contain 
blood ; and Professor Johnston mentions 
instances in which the absence of the in- 
gredient was followed by less successful 
results from the application of the mix- 
ture as a manure. The experiments of 
Hermbstadt, however, furnish us with re- 
sults which exhibit, in a striking manner, 
the positive potency of the manure, and, 
at the same time, confirm the estimate of 
its relative efficacy when compared with 
other manures, which chemical analysis 
warrants. 

Thus, from the analysis of Playfair, 



blood appears to be extremely rich in ni- 
.trogen — an element which, when it exists 
in a manure, never fails to produce visible 
evidence of its fertilizing influence ; and 
in a series of trials made by Hermbstadt, 
the results obtained from the use of blood 
are only equalled by those from one other 
application — concentrated urine ; which, 
it is worthy of remark, is, with one or 
two exceptions, the only manure that ex- 
cels blood in the amount of nitrogen in its 
composition. Subjoined is an abstract of 
the result of these trials, and of the rela- 
tive quantities of nitrogen in blood and 
other manuring substances, according to 
the analysis of Payen and Boussingault ; 
from which it will be' seen that blood holds, 
as nearly as may be, the same position in 
practice that it does in theory, if we es- 
timate by the nitrogen it contains: 
Experiment by Professor Hermbstadt. 

Soil without manure, yielded 3 times the seed sown- 
Soil dressed with old herb- 
age , grass, leaves, &c-, " 5 " 



Cow dung, - 
Pigeons' dung, - 
Horse dung. - 
Human urine, - 
Sheep's dung-, - 
Human manure, 
Bullocks' blood, 



7 

" 9 

" 10 

- " 12 

- * 12 

« l4 

'• 14 



Table of the relative amounts of nitrogen 
in blood and other fertilizing substances. 



F a rm y a rd manure, 
. parts, contain, - 
Solid horse dung, - 
Human urine, ■ - 
Uiine of public vuts, 
Solid dried blood, - 
Liquid* blood, - - ■ 
Blood congul'd & pn 
Guano, - - - - 
Graves, - - - - 
Woolen rags, - - 
Bones, - - - - ■ 



100 





Nitrogen in 


Water 


Manure. 




Wet. 


Dry. 


79 


41 


1 95 


75 3 


55 


2 21 


79 1 


2 61 


12 50 


96 


16 88 


17 56 


21 4 


12 18 


15 50 


81 
73 5 


2 95 
4 51 




17 00 


19 6 


5 00 


6 20 


9 


11 88 


12 93 


11 3 


17 98 


20 26 


8 


6 22 





Relat- 
values 



100 

3015 
736 

1247 
1554 



A comparison of the results obtained in 
the above trials, with the relative amount 
of nitrogen contained by the several sub- 
stances, would almost lead us to take 
the amount of nitrogen in a substance as 
the sole measure or standard of its excel- 
lence. In many cases this rule has been 
adopted, but it is one that leads to much 
error. For example, at least fifty per 
cent, of the weight of bones is earthy 
matter, devoid of nitrogen, and this of it- 
self has been found to have a fertilizing 
effect, greater than that which arises from 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



£9 



the nitrogen contained in the animal mat- 
ter of the bone. It would, therefore, be 
palpably unfair to take the six per cent, 
of nitrogen in bones as the sole measure 
of their utility in comparison with other 
substances. And, similarly, farm-yard ma- 
nure has many useful inorganic elements 
which should be taken into account, in es- 
timating its comparative efficacy as a ma- 
nure ; and in an application of twenty 
tons of farm-yard, the quantity of mineral 
matter applied is too considerable an item 
to be overlooked. 

The value of blood as a manure cannot, 
for these reasons, be correctly estimated, 
in comparison with farm-yard manure. — 
The foregoing table shows that one ton of 
liquid blood is equivalent to seven tons of 
farm yard manure, and one ton of dry 
blood to thirty tons of farm-yard 'manure, 
so far as the nitrogen contained in each is 
concerned Because one ton of farm ma- 
nure is worth 5s. it does not, however, 
follow that a ton of blood is worth pre- 
cisely 35s., or a ton of dry blood £7 17s. 
An application of thirty tons of farm- 
yaid manure would contain three cwt. of 
nitrogen, and at least twelve cwt. of the 
mineral elements of crops, to which some 
beneficial effects must be attributed ; but 
in one ton of dry blood, in addition to the 
fifteen per cent., or three cwt. of nitrogen, 
we should only supply the soil with 4.42 
per cent., or seven stones of mineral ma- 
nure. Thus, as we have said, the rela- 
tive value of the two manures cannot be 
correctly ascertained by reference to the 
nitrogen alone which they generally con- 
tain. 

The quantity of blood which is, under 
present circumstauces, available for farm 
purposes, is comparatively small even 
though we take into account all the 
sources of supply which are open to us; 
supposing a proper estimate of its value 
were entertained, and suitable arrange- 
ments made for its collection. 

The population of Great Britain, at the 
present moment, is about twenty millions, 
and if we take 75 lbs. as the average 
amount of flesh me< t consumed by each 
person, we have 1/500,000,000 lbs. as the 
total animal food used in one year. And 
as the blood may be taken to repre- 
sent at least one-fourteenth of the net 
weight of an animal, the total weight of 



in England will be about 100.000,000 lbs. 
or 43,000 tons. 

Blood may be applied to farm crops in 
several modes, viz: as a liquid, in its dried 
state, and in compost with other substan- 
ces. In its Jiquid slate, before it coagu- 
lates, great care must be adopted in its ap- 
plication, as if it be applied liberally, 
it will destroy or retard vegetation. — 
The method is, however, rarely adopted, 
except on small garden plats, where it can 
be used immediately. And as decompo- 
sition ensues rapidly, when it is in this 
condition, there can be no doubt but that 
a great waste of ammonia takes place 
when the practice is adopted. The most 
convenient mode of using it as a liquid 
top-dressing is to mix it liberally with 
tank liquid, or water, by which process 
decomposition is retarded ; and it may be 
applied at the time most convenient, and 
to the crop to which it is best adapted. — 
The ordinary liquid manure cart will dis- 
tribute it upon grass lands, or upon the 
young wheat crop in spring, for which upon 
thin and sandy soils, it is especially suited. 
It has been applied during the present 
year upon the aftermath of meadow grass, 
in a case that has come under our own 
observation, with decided success. 

The most portable and convenient form 
in which blood can be used is in the dried 
or desiccated state. The preparation is 
very simple: by exposure to heat it coag- 
ulates, after which it is broken down and 
dried on the stove. With ihe addition of 
a small quantity of charcoal, gypsum, or 
ashes of peat, sods of wood, it forms a 
pulverulent mixture, admirably adapted 
for drilling alone, or with bones, guano, 
or rape dust. As an application for tur- 
nips, which require the manure to be put 
along with the .seed for immediate use, this 
mode is far more convenient than that of 
liquid top-dressing ; and it might be car- 
ried out to an extent that would enable us 
to make use of the immense supplies 
which at present is unavailable for the 
purpose of fertilization. In France, a ma- 
nure, of which blood in this condition is 
the basis, has been prepared to some ex- 
tent. The immense diminution in bulk 
of the manure from the evaporation of 
sixty per cent, of water, economizes the 
I application by diminishing the expense of 
the blood of animals slaughtered for food . carriage and distribution: one ton of dried 



30 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



blood is equivalent to four in the liquid 
state. 

If this method were put into practice, 
the immense quantities of blood contained 
in the flocks and herds constantly export- 
ed from the turnip lands and pastures of 
England — and which from day* to day are 
wasted through the sewers of our (own- 



might, like the skeleton portion of the an- 
imal, the bones, be returned to the most 
distant fields, and assist in producing an 
increase of vegetable productions that 
would in turn enable us to multiply our 
flocks", and augment the future supplied 
of human food. 




NEW HORSE SHOE FOR ICE. 

We saw the accompaning cut of a horse shoe 
last winter in the Boston Cultivator, and were 
so struck with it that we purchased it for the 
Planter. We have withheld it until the pres- 
ent time that those disposed to try it might not 
forget it. 

The bottom is drawn" to an edge all around — 
a sharp, cutting edge as the plate shews. This 
is much better than rough nails, which either 
break off or' wear smooth in a very short time. 

We have one of the shoes in our office for in- 
spection. It takes a good blacksmith to make 
it, but it is worth trial — a horse well shod in 
this manner, can't slip on ice, nor is he liable 
to tip, stumble, or fall, as rough shod horses al- 
ways are. 

[Ed. So. Planter. 



From De Bow's Review. 

BREADSTUFFS.— EXPORTS, Etc. 

The return from the wheat harvest of 
the United States are now complete, and 
it is settled that the crop is of most excel- 
lent quality, and if not the largest ever 
gathered^ince the settlement of the coun- 
try, is at least above the average, and will 
yield a large surplus beyond the supply of 
our domestic wants. With the certainty 
of such abundance, the probable reliance 
to be placed upon an active export demand 
is a*subject of much importance, and de- 
serving serious attention. Our imports of 
foreign goods and merchandise for the 
eight months of the current year, are 
larger than for any similar period in 
our historv, the total being upwards 
of $150,000,000; and although much 
of this increase has been in conse- 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



quence of large exports of domestic pro- 
duce to this date, yet if these exports are 
to cease with the in-gathering of the pre- 
sent' harvest in Europe, it might take a 
larger portion of the receipts of gold than 
we could conveniently spare, to balance 
the account. Great Britain has always 
been the best customer for our surplus 
breadstuffs. To • most other countries 
which take breadstuffs of us, our ship- 
ments of flour have been comparatively 
uniform, whether the crop was large or 
small, but to British ports the shipments 
have varied with the quantity we have 
had to spare, although averaging nearly 
half the total clearances for all foreign 
ports. 

Brazil and the West Indies are regular 
customers for our flour, as they purchase 
about the same quantity every year, and 
after Great Britain, take the largest quan- 
tity in a series of years ; but a large por- 
tion of our shipments of grain (with wheat 
and corn) go to British ports. Thus of 
18,483,151 bushels of wheal shipped to all 



ports from July 1, 1849, to June 30, 1855, 
14,061,212 were sent to Great Britain; 
and of 43,757,597 bushels of corn export- 
ed to all ports within the same period, 
36,563,951 bushels had the same destina- 
tion. We annex a tabular statement show- 
ing the exports from all ports of the United 
States to all foreign ports, of wheat, wheat 
flour, and Indian corn, both in. quantity 
and value, from 1549 to 1855, inclusive, 
with a comparison of the quantity of each 
sent to Great Britain. The totals are all 
taken from official documents, and may be 
relied upon as authentic, although it must 
be noted that of many direct clearances to 
Great Britain for orders, there are some- 
times considerable quantities directed from 
thence to Continental ports. The 'famine' 
of 1847, Jed to large shipments of bread- 
stuffs, and to the inauguration of free 
trade in England, and we commence 
therefore with 1848-9, when the business 
had become settled under this system. — 
The periods noted are the fiscal years, 
ending June 30 : 



Exports from the United States, of Wheat, Wheat Flour and Indian Corn, from 1849 to 
1855, inclusive, for the year ending June 30. 



1849. 
Wheat, bush. 
Flour, bbls. . 
Corn, bush. 

1850. 
Wheat, bush. 
Flour, bbls. 
Corn, bush. . 

1851. 
Wheat, bush. 
Flour, bbls. . 
Corn, bush. 

1852. 
Wheat, bush. 
Flour, bbls. 
Corn, bush. . 

1853. 
Wheat, bush. 
Flour, bbls. . 
Corn, bush. 

1854. 
Wheat, bush. 
Flour, bbls. 
Corn, bush. , 

1855. 
Wheat, bush. 
Flour, bbls. . 
Corn, bush. 



To Great Britain. 
Quantity. 

1,072.780 

953,815 

12,396,242 

316,926 

370,777 
5,957,206 

592,583 
1,004,783 
2,760,329 

2,049,557 
1,532,094 
1,894,700 

3,574,248 
1,388.065 
1,653,840 

6,058,903 
2,026,121 

5,965,850 

396,215 

189,712 
5,935,284 



To all For. Ports. 

Quantity. 

1,527.534 

2,108,013 
13,257,309 

608,661 

1,385,448 
6,595,092 

1,026,725 
2,292,335 
3,426,811 

2,694,540 
2,799,339 
2,627,075 

3,890,141 

2,920,918 
2,274,909 

8,036,665 
4,022,386 

7,768,816 

798.884 
1,204,540 

7,807,585 



Value. 

$1,756,848 

11,280,582 

7,966,369 

643,745 
7,098,570 
3,892,193 

1,025,732 

10,524,331 

1,762,549 

2,555,209 

11,869,143 

1,540,225 

4,354,403 

14,783,394 

1,374,077 

12,420,172 

27,701,444 
6,074,277 

1,329,246 

10,896,908 

6,961,571 



32 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



The ordinary shipments in the past have 
not included any thing direct from France. 
In the first year named above (1849) there 
were no exports of flour to French ports, 
and only 108 bushels of wheat; in 1852, 
the total includes 2700 bbls. of flour, and 
in 1853 only 8784 bbls. ; but in the year 
ending June 30, 1854, there were shipped 
direct to France, 1,041,086, bushels of 
wheat, 728,279 bbls. of flour, and 39,400 
bushels of Indian corn. In the following 
fiscal year (1854-5) the shipments of flour 
to the same ports had dwindled down to 
8557 bbls., and there was no shipment of 
wheat, but the exports of corn increased 
to;312,740 bushels. During the year 1855 
the partial failure of the crops on the con- 
tinent of* Europe, led to large direct ship- 
ments, and the total exports to France for 
1855-6, not yet officially compiled, have 
been larger than ever before recorded to 
the same ports. As soon as the threshing 
of wheat commenced in the west and north 
of France in 1855, its bad quality and 
light weight created a general panic, and 
prices continued to advance up to the first 
of January. The abundance caused by 
the large receipts from tjiis country, Spain, 
and other sources of supply, caused a 
downward tendency in prices throughout 
January, 1856, and every thing was pro- 
mising for the next harvest until the inun- 
dations in May. These chocked the de- 
cline without wholly arresting it, but as 
the harvest approached, the hopes of an 
average crop became less sanguine, and 
it is now generally admitted that the sup- 
ply will be deficient from five to ten mil- 
lions hectolitres, that is, from fourteen to 
twenty-eight millions of bushels. 

The quantity of arable land in France, 
is set down at 56,810,000 acres, of which 
fourteen millions hectares, or 34,580,000 
acres are devoted to the culture of grain. 
The average annual product is 495,000,000 
bushels of wheat, oats, rye, maize, and 
meslin — of which about one-fourth are 
oats, and two-fifths, or 198,000,000 hush- 
els, are wheat. With an average crop, 
France has- heretofore been able, not only 
to supply her own wants, but to furnish 
about 5,500,000 bushels of wheat (or its 
equivalent in flour) for the consumption of 
Great Britain. It is evident that this ex- 
port trade must be cut off or greatly re- 
duced during the current year, as the crop 
in France is below the wants of her own 



people. Indeed, the total exports to Great 
Britain from all French ports, for the year 
1855, amounted to an equivalent of only 
880,000 bushels, or about fifteen per cent. 
of the usual shipments, and this was all 
foreign produce, shipped from bond. 

In Great Britain, the crop this year is 
very good, but it is never sufficient to sup- 
ply the wants of the people. The total 
imports of breadstuff's into the United 
Kingdom for the last three years, (reck- 
oning floUr, &c, at its equivalent ingrain,) 
are as follows : 



Calendar Year. 


Equal to bushels wheat 


• 1853, 


. 84,419,632 


1854, 


. 63,267.240 


1855, 


. 50,227,608 



The high prices have contributed to re- 
duce the imports into the United Kingdom 
during the last two years to the lowest 
possible point; but for the first six months 
of the current year the total imports 
amounted 1,859,000 quarters, showing an 
increase of 161,000 quarters, or 1,248,000 
bushels, and must continue at about this 
rate throughout the remainder of the year. 
Even with a good harvest, the kingdom 
must need at least 40,000,000 bushels 
grain, or its equivalent in flour, for its own 
consumption. Of this amount, Russia, 
(northern and southern ports,) whose sup- 
plies were cut off during the war, can now 
furnish 10,000,000 bushels; Prussia (whose 
harvest is this year below the average,) 
10 000,000 bushels ; all other countries, 
5,000,000; leaving 15,000,000 to come 
from the United States. If prices rule at 
a comparatively low rate, the consumption 
wilj be inci eased and the quota from this 
country may reach twenty or twenty-five 
millions of bushels. Spain and Portugal 
have hitherto exported to both France and 
England, the shipments to the latter, last 
year, being upwards of 4,000,000 bushels. 
This year, the harvests are there so poor 
that the export is prohibited, and supplies 
for consumption in the Peninsula are going 
forward from this port. 

We see, therefore, that in addition to 
the demand for the breadstuff's from regu- 
lar customers, we are likely to have an 
increased export trade to Europe, making 
the aggregate probably more than 40.000,- 
OflO bushels wheat and corn, or its equiva- 
lent in flour. 

It is difficut to ascertain the exact pro- 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



33 



duction of the United States. The total 
arable land under actual cultivation is 
given in ihe census of 1850 at 113,032,614 
acres, of which 51,700,000 acres were pro- 
ducing bread-stuffs . 
total production of 
sus 



The following was the 
cen- 



3 returns for 1840 and 1850 : 



Wheat, bushels 

Rye, 

Oats, 

Corn, 

Barley, 

Buckwheat, 



1840. 

i 84,823,272 

18,645,567 

123,071,341 

377,531,875 

4,181,504 

7,291,743 



1850. 

100,485,944 

14,188,813 

146,584,179 

592,071,104 

5,167,015 

8,956,912 



Total bushels, 615,525,302 867,453,967 

A very large amount of arable land has 
been brought under cultivation since 1850, 
and those most conversant with the West 
and its increased resources, think that the 
product of wheat has increased at least 
50 per cent, since the date last given, 
while other grain has increased 20 to 25 
per cent. The total vield of wheat being 
computed at 150,000,000 bushels, it is 
easy to see that the export demand can be 
filled without creating any extraordinary 
excitement throughout the country. Last 
year the farmers anticipated such high 



rates, that many of them refused to sell in 
time, and thus, to their great chagrin were 
obliged to dispose of Iheir stock at the 
close of the season far below the average 
price. This year early sales promise to be 
the best but there appears to be a litjit be- 
low which foreign orders would rapidly 
diminish any home accumulation. At pre- 
sent good white wheat is worth here about 
$1 60, and good red about $1 50. We 
scarcely expect to see a decline of twenty 
cents from these rates during the current 
season, but within that range an active 
foreign business may be expected. The 
prospects for Indian corn cannot be given 
until nearer the close of the harvest. — 
Flour will fluctuate more than wheat in 
price ; sales have been made to arrive in 
England at a price which would nett here 
about $5 00 for standard superfine, but 
this is generally thought to be an inside 
price. We have compiled from the official 
records a statement of the average export 
price of flour in each year since 1800. — 
The highest was $14 75 per barrel, at 
which all the shipments averaged in the 
year 1817. The lowest was $4 24, which 
was the average of 1852. The following 
is the average of the total shipments to all 
ports in each year for the last twenty 
years : 



Yearly average price of the Exports of Wheat Flour from the United States to Foreign 

Ports from 1836 to 1855. 



Year, 


Price. 


Year. 


Price. 


Year. 


Price. 


Year. 


Price. 


1836 . 


. $7 50 


1841 


. $5 20 


1846 . 


. $5 18 


1851 . 


. $4 77 


1837 . 


. 10 25 


1842 


. 6 00 


1847 . 


. 5 95 


1852 . 


. 4 24 


1838 . 


. 9 50 


1843 


. 4 50 


1848 . 


. 6 22 


1853 . 


. 5 60 


1839 . 


. 6 73 


1844 


. 4 75 


1849 . 


. 5 35 


1854 . 


. 7 88 


1840 . 


. 5 37 


1845 


. 4 50 


1850 . 


. 5 00 


1855 . 


. 10 10 



The periods above noted are the Gover- 
nment fiscal years, ending June 30. The 
average for 1856 is not yet made up, but 
will be considerably below that of 1855. 
If any think we have over-estimated the 
present production of wheat in this coun- 
try, we have only to remind them, that 
the cultivation of this grain for export re- 
ceived but little stimulus until the repeal 



of the English Corn Laws in 1S47 ; and 
that the export trade has since rapidly 
grown into importance. This trade has 
contributed more to the importance of 
New York, as a commercial emporium, 
than is generally acknowledged, and is 
likely to increase in magnitude for many 
years to come. 



34 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



SOWING LIME BY HAND— TOBACCO 
PLANT BEDS. 
Tnglewood, Albemarle, Dec. 17, 1856. 
Friend Ruffin : — la our short inter- 
view, you spoke of an effort you were 
■ibout making; to drain* some of your wet 
lands, either by a new plan of your own 
or some English mode; the plan and re- 
sult of which I trust you will treat your 
subscribers to in the next or the succeed- 
ing number of your Planter; and also as 
to the advantage of your tin dippers! for 
sowing'lime upon your wheat, of which I 
think you promised me an account ; and I 
also promised you an account of my ex- 
periment with lime upon my last crop of 
wheat, which I will now give you, hoping 
it will remind you of your promise to me. 
I have used lime upon my last two crops 
of wheat, applied by hand, 1 think to a good 
account, as they were the very best crops 
of ray life. Of the mode and time of using 
the lime upon the crop before the last, I 
wrote you an account, which was publish- 
ed in the Planter, (the number I have for- 
gotten, as no index was sent me for that 
volume, and I can't find it,) in which arti- 



* The very wet weather we have had, suc- 
ceeded by a cold spell has prevented, so far, 
the experiment of. under draining alluded to. 
When it is made we will give results. 

f The "tin dippers" are merely small "tea 
scoops," as they are called by the grocers, be- 
ing of the shape of sugar scoops, but much 
smaller, made to hold a double handful. With 
this, a man with his whole face, and nostrils, 
and his hands well greased and kept so, can 
sow, with but little inconvenience, two bushels 
of lime per acre. 

We made an application at that rate of oys- 
ter shell lime upon twelve acres of wheat — 
early red purple straw — sowed on the 23rd and 
25th of September and badly hurt by the fly 
at the time of the application — the latter part 
of November. Whether it is due to the lime 
or not we cannot say, but certain it is that a 
week ago from this, the 25th of December, 
when we last examined the wheat, it had ral- 
lied surprisingly, and far beyond what was ex- 
pected. 

This practice was in pursuance of the plan 
recommended by the late James A, Cochran of 
Augusta, and at a still earlier date by the late 
Win. M. Tate of the same county— uncle of the 
present gentleman of that name — through the 
columns of the Farmer's Register. 

The advantage of the tin tea scoops is not so 
much to protect the hand — the grease docs 
that — as t<> measure and guage accurately the 
quantity of lime sowed. 



cle I promised a more thorough trial upon 
the last crop and an account of its result 
to be sent to the Planter, which I was 
prevented frorri making by one of the 
hardest winters I ever saw. I could not 
get the lime burnt, and if it had been 
burnt,, it could not have been carried to 
my farm; and if it had been in place, it 
could not have been used. Sol could not 
get the lime in place earlier than the 8th 
of April. I see by my notes, on the 8th 
of April I commenced sowing lime by 
hand on my wheat and finished on the 
19th of April, having used on the seeding 
of 76i bushels of wheat 262 bushels of 
lime. This 76| bushels of wheat was 
seeded from the 10th of Oclober to the 
2d of November, with six tons of Peruvian 
guano, upon a tobacco lot of sixty thou- 
sand hills, (upon which lot a ton of guano 
had been used in the spring for tobacco,) 
and upon rough highland which had been 
part in corn two years and a part in corn 
one year, followed by a crop of oats. — 
This was the worst washed field I ever 
had, all of it being in corn the year before 
I purchased it, and the corn rows seem to 
have been run more for gullying than for 
cropping; and they did their work, 1 as- 
sure you. Some of the gullies, my friends 
told me I could not stop in man}' a } r ear. 
I did stop them, and not a vestige of them 
remains. Upon this highland portion of 
the field 57^ of the 76| bushels was seed- 
ed, from which, by the help of lime, I got 
the following: results : 



76i bush, seed wheat, 



6 tons guano, 



Fer bush. 

$1 85 $141 52i 
Per ton. 
$50 50 303 00 



Total, 



$444 52 J 



Per bush. 
Yield of crop, 966 bush. 50 lbs. $1 50 $1450 25 

From which deduct the seed 

wheat and guano,* 444 52| 



Profit, 



$1032 50 



Four hundred and twenty-two bushels 
of this crop was sold for seed ; and all 
might have been so disposed of, if its 
quality had been known in time. This is 
the very best crop I have ever made, 
averaging me about 12 bushels and 33 



* The value of lime is not estimated by Mr. 
Gilmer, probably because he burned it from his 



own quarry 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



35 



pounds to each bushel seeded ; the buck- 
eye-land crop yielding about 16 bushels 
and 3 pecks ; for all of which I hold my- 
self, in a very great degree, justly indebt- 
ed to the small application of lime, made, 
too, at the late period of the 8th to the 
19th of April. This yield may appear 
quite small to some, but when I remember 
the crops before I used lime the results 
are indeed very cheering. I have now all 
my lime under shelter at home, and shall 
in a few days begin to apply it, and wish 
to give it a dose this winter followed in 
the spring by another dose. 

I last fall seeded 122^ bushels of wheat 
with ten tons of Peruvian guano, a ton of 
bone dust, and a ton of Deburg's Super 
Phos. of lime, all used to itself, on a part 
of which" I had intended using saltpetre, 
as advised by my unknown friend; but 
the saltpetre was miscarried or lost until 
I finished seeding. 

How will it do to grind it fine and mix 
it with plaster— a pound of saltpetre to a 
bushel of plaster, and sow it upon an acre 
of the growing wheat? I'll try it and let 
you know its result, as also of the bone 
dust and Deburg's Sup. Phos. of lime. I 
tried a ton of each upon my last spring's 
tobacco crop, and can't say that I was be- 
nefited by either a single ninepence. I 
have always been greatly benefited by the 
use of Peruvian guano in the drill for to- 
bacco, which is the only way I use it for 
tobacco, never making a hill. I, this fall, 
doubled all my beds from 18 feet to 36 
feet; and after running a No. 6. Livingston 
plough as deep as I could in the furrows 
after seeding my wheat, I then run a two 
horse coulter three times in the furrow as 
deep as it could be drawn, then re-opened 
the furrows with the plough put to its 
greatest depth, which did the work for 
more effectually than I ever saw it done 
before, and much more rapidly than 1 had 
supposed. All who have seen my field of 
wheat say it is done more effectually than 
any they had ever seen before. The re- 
sult you shall know when delivered. 

Plant Beds. — After finishing with a 
bed of 800 square yards last spring, I had 
it nicely prepared by hoeing and raking, 
then permitted it to remain until a rain ; 
then prepared it again, and after another 
rain prepared it again; then covered it 
with the trash tobacco and stalks of tobac- 
co kept dry in the house for the purpose ; 



then covered this over with the straw used 
for bulking my crop, which will remain so 
until February; then rake off guano and 
prepare by raking and sow without burn- 
ing ; from which I. hope aplenty of plants 
in due time. This will be the third year. 
Accept my best wishes for your double 
size Planter, and twice double times the 
benefit to those who will read it. 
Yours, truly, 

GEO. C. GILMER. 



IRON AND ITS CHEMICAL CHAN- 
GES AND COMBINATIONS, 

AS EXHIBITED IN SOME SOILS OF LOWER 
VIRGINIA. 

Westwood, Hanover, Nov. 11th, 1856. 

My Dear Sir, — During my visit to 
your house early in October last, while 
riding over the farm, you may remember 
having picked up from the road side cer- 
tain little dark nodules of earth of a me- 
talic appearance and weight — requesting 
that I would take them home, analyze 
them at my leisure, and give you the re- 
sult. 

In the first place, I must tell you that 
the constituents of these nodules can ea- 
sily be detected by simple mechanical 
trituration in a mortar, by which the mix- 
ture of clay sand and the Protoxide of Iron 
can be seen. If chemical proof be requi- 
red, a solution of the powdered earth in 
Sulphuric acid gives, by the addition of a 
solution of Tannic acid, a black inky pre- 
cipitate, which is the characteristic test of 
the presence of the Protoxide. Now this 
mechanical mixture of clay silex, and the 
Protoxide of Iron is universally diffused 
through our section of Virginia, and though 
I am a very poor geologist, (and it becomes 
me to write with great modesty, whene- 
ver I touch on anything connected with 
the science,) I may venture to say, arises 
from the disintegration of the Iron sand- 
stone, also very common near the surface 
throughout the same region. This Protox- 
ide of Iron, when simple and uhcombined 
with water, as it is found on ridges and 
other high and dry places, is of a brown- 
ish black color. On the contrary, when 
it is found on the level surface of a close, 
stiff, and badly drained soil, the Protoxide 
has been chemically combined with water 
and is a " Hydrated Protoxide of Iron," 



36 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



and of a white, livery color, which it imparts 
to soils *of the kind. Hereby hangs an in- 
teresting and simple explanation of a fact 
which every farmer of ordinary intelli- 
gence has observed, viz. : that stiff lands 
(for example our whortleberry lands,) 
which when first cleared and cultivated, 
present this cheerless, livery, white ap- 
pearance, after one or two years of judi- 
cious ploughing aud careful surface drain- 
age, gradually assume a more healthful 
appearance, changing from a white to a 
yellow or brown shade. 

The ploughing and drainage render the 
soil more accessible to the atmosphere, 
which yields more oxygen to the " Hydra- 
ted Protoxide," converting it into the 
" Hydrated Sesqui-Oxide of Iron." This 
last is of a yellow color, and hence the 
gradual change in the so*l from the white 
color mentioned to the yellowish hue. 

A further explanation of the different 
shades which such improved soils assume, 
may be referred to the fact, that when 
this " Hydrated Sesqui-Oxide of Iron," is 
deprived of the water with which it is 
chemically combined, it becomes a simple 
Sesqui-oxide of Iron, which has a brown- 
ish red color. We may assume that this 
last change from peculiar causes takes 
place in some portions of a cultivated 
field and not in others, hence the brown 
tinge in some spots and the yellowish in 
others. You drew my attention to this 
manifest change of color on your field at 
Summer Hill, now in wheat, and it is 
doubtless to be ascribed to the excellent 
ploughing and surface drainage there prac- 
tised. A more cheering sign of the good 
effects of improved tillage cannot be 
shewn, than the change of color alluded 
to. With such ploughing and drainage, 
and the addition of lime, this kind of land, 
presenting at first the least encouraging 
aspect, may be made the most profitable 
in Eastern Virginia. By the way, an in- 
teresting, familiar illustration of this 
change of color in soils, may be observed 
in the burning of a brickkiln — the unturn- 
ed bricks, have the yellowish tinge impar- 
ted by the Hydrated Sesqui-Oxide of 
Iron : after being burned^ the water is dri- 
ven off, and the bricks have the character- 
istic color of the " Anhydrous Sesqui-Ox- 
ide," which, as I before said, is a brownish 
red. 

It may readily be conceived that this 



change of the soil from the cold and in- 
ert " Hydrated Protoxide of Iron" to the 
"Sesqui-Oxide" is something more than 
in color, for the latter is known to combine 
very kindly with organic acids and may 
thus act, to a limited extent, in iieu of 
lime; it has also a strong affinity for nitric 
acid and may be the means of abstracting 
it slowly from the atmosphere. In any 
event the improved ploughing and drain- 
age, changes the worthless " protoxide" 
into a soluble " Sesqui-Oxide" and renders 
it fit for the uses of plants, as one of their 
inorganic ingredients. We may then in- 
jer that the extra labor expended in the 
more careful ploughing and water furrow- 
ing of such lands, is not altogether thrown 
away. I remain, very truly, 

Your friend, 
Wm. S. R. Brockenbrough. 



WYANDOT CORN. 

Isle of Wight Co., Dec. 12, 1856, 
Editors of the Southern Planter. 

Gentlemen, — When last in your city 
I stated to one of you, that I thought of 
trying a new variety of corn, the Wyan- 
not Prolific, and now I propose giving you 
my success. Early last spring I obtained 
from Mr. Thompson, of Staten Island, N. 
Y. (who is agent for Mr. Thomas of Illi- 
nois, who raises this corn for sale,) a small 
quantity, which I planted on a little over 
half an acre of land (common) but on 
which I had scattered one bag of Peruvian 
Guano, 150 pounds, and well fallowed 
previous to planting. My corn came up 
very badly indeed, only about 70 grains 
vegetating promiscuously over the lot; 
those stalks grew off finely, and the par- 
ent stalk very soon threw out from the 
root some 5, 6, and sometimes 7 other 
stalks, — all grew up finely and sizeable, 

| each stalk silking and earing, from 4 to 6 
ears to each stalk, ears varying from 4 to 
12 inches in length, of good size ; and but 

.for the great drought (which cut our corn 
crops short at least three quarters,) would 
have filled well, and notwithstanding the 

jvery dry weather I gathered near two 
flour barrels full, and shall have some 60 

lor 70 quarts of nice seed of this variety 

ifor sale — and as has been said of this 
corn, it is the wonder of the age. Not only 
this, but it is certainly the most prolific I 

'have ever raised, yielding double as much 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



37 



as I had any idea of obtaining from so few 
hills : this corn is of a white, flinty varie- 
ty somewhat ; and will, I think, make 
meal as white as flour, and for stock feed- 
ing, I think cant be surpassed by any other 
variety. Should you, gentlemen, deem 
this worthy of notice in your valuable 
work, you can give it a passing notice, as 
in all probability you may want contribu- 
tors to the January No. of the Southern 
Planter, as you design increasing it in 
size. 

Your friend, &c, 

A. G. Moody. 



TOBACCO— THE PLANT BED. 

We commend to all tobacco growers the 
following essay on preparing plant beds, 
by a gentleman who wood not agree to 
give more than two thirds of his name. It 
is in our judgment the best article we have 
ever seen on the subject, and we wish our 
riend's modesty had not withheld the 
weight of his personal character from his 
very lucid and satisfactory statement. 

We hope in a short time to be able to 
present the balance of his views — which 
are only so many items of his successful 
practice — on tobacco growing. 

We regret that the present essay came 
too late for the December number of the 
Planter. To those who have not burnt 
their plant beds, all its suggestions are 
timely ; and those who have, can still ap- 
ply many of them. 

Poplar Hill, Prince Edward, > 
November 21st, 1856. J 
Editor Southern Planter. 

Dear Sir, — Y(5ur favour covering an ex- 
tract from a Lecture b}' Prof. Agassiz on 
the relations which leaves occupy to each 
other and to their parent stem, came duly 
to hand. 

When a season for working in Tobacco 
occurs, I will examine into this principle 
as applicable to this plant and report to 
you the result of these observations. In 
the mean time as you desire to have the 
mode of raising Tobacco plants, as prac- 
tised in this portion of the Stgtte, I can 
only undertake to give you my own views 



and practices. As regards this branch of 
planting, as well as the others, there are 
" many men of many minds." Doubtless 
each planter thinks his own peculiar mode 
just the best that can be possibly devised. 
At the risk then of being esteemed radi- 
cally wrong by others, who are wiser and 
more experienced, I am prompted to give 
you my own mode^ of raising Tobacco 
plants. 

Then to begin. In the selection of scites 
for plant beds, I always prefer getting 
a South-Eastern or Southern exposure of 
land of fine texture — gray — with a good 
subsoil. I care not how poor the surface 
soil may be by nature, provided it has 
these requisi'es. Many commit a fatal 
mistake in the selection of their beds. 
More depends on the character of the soil 
than on any other feature. If the subsoil 
is too porous or too close and panny, your 
patch will either become dry as the win- 
ter's sap leaves the earth in early spring, 
or it will he sobbed all winter and in spring 
dry out as hard as a road. If such requi- 
sites cannot be had on hill sides, the only 
alternative is to rely on branch flats for 
your beds. This however is hazardous, 
unless you can arrange the water so as to 
irrigate the patch when water is required. 
In this region most of our flats are too al- 
luvial in their formation and have too 
much undecomposed vegetable matter in 
their composition, to be relied on in dry 
seasons, unless water is convenient to ir- 
rigate when necessary. Some of the very 
best plant lands we have, are to be found 
on the top of our ridges — being post oak 
lands, with a very thin surface soil. But 
enough on this point. 

In burning, I prefer using old field pine, 
cut down during some spare time, either 
the spring before or early summer. I pre- 
fer it because it is very plentiful on al- 
most every farm — burns easily, requiring 
no kindling after making the fires — makes 
a hot fire, and its ashes are not very caus- 
tic and do not interfere as much as the 
ashes of green wood in the future manage- 
ment of the patch. I prefer burning either 
the latter part of November, or as soon 
after as the weather will permit. I burn 
hard, turning the top of the earth a dark 
brown or red color. 

The next operation is the preparation of 
the bed for the seed — and in this there is 
a great difference of opinion among plant- 



38 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



ers. I differ with the many and deem it [tiful. I have tried less, and found my 

highly important to sweep the ash&s and j plants were proportionally inferior. 

coal clean from the patch. From some i B,ut to the preparation. After applyingthe 

experience and observation I am satisfied guano, I chop 

that more failures of plants occur from an until it 

excess of ashes in the soil than from every al! the 



hop, rake 
is reduced to 
small fibrous 



and pick the patch 
a perfect tilth and 
roots and turf are 



other cause combined — especially on those 
patches that are burnt during the latter 
part of winter. If lands are burnt early, 
before Christmas, the' winter's rains and 
snows may leach these ashes in a measure 
and render them comparatively harmless. 
But then even, they are in excess, and it is 
" wilful waste" not to put them where they 
are more needed. If planters have never 
measured the amount they have on apatch, 
after burning, they will be much surprised 
at the quantity. When it is well burnt, 
the quantity for every 100 square yards of 
patch will heavily manure more than ten 
imes as much poor old field, so as to grow 
arge tobacco. A neighbour of mine, last 
spring, top-dressed eight acres of clover, 
so as to produce a fine crop with the ashes 
from a plant bed not exceeding 1000 
square yards. I have seen the experiment 
fairly tried of sweeping the ashes from one 
half of a patch, and permitting them to 
remain on the other half, with results that 
would convince the most skeptical. I have 
also often seen the plants come up in a 
patch on which there was an excess of 
ashes left, look yellow and sickly, and 
finally disappear, and the fly get the credit 
of destroying the patch, when if you will 
examine ever so closely you will find nei- 
ther fly nor plant. I am satisfied that the 
excess of lime from the ashes causes such 
patches to fail. 

With me there is another reason for 
cleaning off the ashes, and it is this : 

After breaking the land the full length 
• of a grub-hoe, without turning the soil, 
and taking out all roots that may present 
themselves, I then apply guano at the 
rate of about 1000 lbs. per acre broad-cast 
over the surface, to be chopped in at the 
next howing. As guano and ashes have 
no affinity for each other, but quite the re- 
verse, I want them never to come in con- 
tact, and hence my patches are swept of 
the latter. The quantity of guano above 
stated may appear extravagant in the eyes 
of my more economical, saving lriends. 
but the cost in dollars is nothing to the 
certainty of having plants early and plen- 



thrown out. This latter operation I deem 
important, as they serve only to keep the 
earth loose and porous, and more easily 
died out in spring. 

Next the seed is sown at the rate of two 
even table-spoonfuls for 100 square 
yards. Then the patch is trampled over 
to press the earth down and lix the seed in 
their proper places, and the patch is cov- 
ered over with well rotted stable manure, 
about an inch thick. I prefer top-dress- 
ing with manure to chopping it in the soil, 
for the same reason that all the fibrous 
matter is taken out, viz. that it renders the 
soil too open and puffy and much more^ 
liable to dry out in spring. This manure 
is prepared the spring before, by putting 
tobacco-stalks in my stables and feeding 
my stock on oats, fodder and green clover. 
It is then taken out before the seeds of the 
various grasses mature sufficiently to ger- 
minate, and heaped under a shed having 
plaster freely sprinkled through the bulk 
and kept dry. This covering of manure 
I deem most important. Although it may 
seem a heavy one when you apply it. and 
you may conclude that the little young 
plants can never come up through it, still 
in the spring you will find it almost entire- 
ly changed into mould, leaving only a 
light top-dressing of fibrous matter, which 
serves a good purpose to keep the top of 
the soil moist, protect the } T oung plants 
from sudden changes of weather, and, as 
an absorbent of the rays of the sun to 
cause the seed to germinate. Patches hav- 
ing had such a top-dressing, will always 
be moisten the surface of the soil, while 
others are dry from the' March winds. 
Having said so much, I must close both 
my subject and my patch. 

And this is done by setting up poles on 
forks about three feet high all around, and 
making a close wall or barricade with pine 
brush, about four feet long and placed very 
thick. This I consider one of the most 
important things connected with the whole 
operation. It answers a good purpose for 
several reasons ; it keeps out leaves, stock, 
harsh win^s, and last of all, the fly. Some 
may be incredulous as to this last asser- 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



39 



tion. But just try it. The fly that infests 
tobacco plants is a small skipper, (if I may 
use that expression,) that never rises more 
than two or three feet from the earth. It 
is not a native of the plant patch, but 
moves or migrates by the wind. In early 
spring it is found all over our fields and 
woods feeding on ihe young grass and al- 
ways ready to pounce on any unprotected 
plant bed. Until I adopted this mode of 
enclosing my patches, I was every spring 
more or less injured by these little marau- 
ders, but have never seen any injury done 
on beds thus treated. In further confir- 
mation of this opinion, last spring on one 
side of a patch thus protected, the brush 
was blown down about one-third of the 
length. The wind continued blowing from 
the same point for a week or more. The 
fly entered through this opening and swept 
the patch nearly across, just the width of 
the gateway. I could mention other facts 
in proof of this assertion but I must close. 
At a future time, I may tell you some- 
thing about our mode of stripping — hand- 
ling — ordering and greasing tobacco, and at 
the proper season give you some inklings 
about " suckering and worming two rows 
at a time," and catching the giants while 
the pigmies nibble at the leaf,'' and a few 
other topics h'inted at during your late vi- 
sit to us. You are right in supposing that 
I am " slightua/ly" attached to the weed. 
But more anon. 

FRANK PEYTON. 



CAKED UDDER. 

A gentleman of this neighborhood gave 
us, a few days since, a statement in re- 
gard to the cure of one of his cows 
which is well worthy of record. Pie 
said, that the cow came from the pasture 
with her bag swollen and very hard, in 
such severe pain that she would not 
only not allow any one to touch it, but 
gave every evidence of being in the most 
excruciating agony. She was held and 
her udder bathed with cold water for some 
time without producing any effect, and 
other usual applications were resorted to ; 
finally, knowing the effect of tincture of 
arnica in allaying pain with the human 
subject, he brought some and applied a 
little of it to the bag. The cow ceased 
struggling and almost immediately gave 
evident manifestation of pleasure, allow- 
ing the swollen and hard mass to be rub- 



bed and kneeded. After another appli - 
cation of the arnica and rubbing, a com- 
plete cure was effected. In a few days 
she regained her milk, and is now in as 
good case as before. 

The use of arnica, if its virtues were 
known, would become much more gen- 
eral , we know of nothing that so soon 
removes the tenderness of a bruise or 
| other injury. It relieves pain and sore- 
! ness of the skin and muscles both in man 
I ai$id animals without the disagreeable ac- 
j companiments of many other applications. 
'This tincture is the best form for exter- 
nal application. — The Homestead. 

FATTENING^TURKEY. 

The alimentary properties of charcoal 
are very great ; indeed, it has been as- 
serted that domestic fowls may be fatten- 
ed on it without any other food, and that, 
too, in a shorter time than on the most 
nutritious grains. In an experiment made 
to test the value of the article, four tur- 
keys were taken and confined in a pen, 
and fed on meal, boiled potatoes and oats. 
Four others of the same brood were also 
confined at the same time, in another 
pen, and fed daily on the same articles, 
but with one pint of very fine pulverized 
charcoal mixed with their meal and pota- 
toes ; they had also a plentiful supply of 
broken charcoal in their pen. The eight 
were killed on the same day, and there 
was a difference of one and a half pounds 
each in favor of the fowls which had been 
supplied" with the charcoal, they being 
much the fatter, and the meat greatly su- 
perior in point of tenderness and flavor. 
This would appear to establish, beyond a 
doubt, the- benefit of charcoal for fatten- 
ing purposes. 

4 a~-9-*~-* 

Cattle killed by chewing cornstalks 
that hogs have been fed on. 
Dear Sir, — To communicate a fact which 
may protect farmers from loss i- the object 
of this note. In the monthof October six 
of my best cattle died, four cows and two 
oxen ; four died while I was from home, 
and from the overseer's report of their con- 
dition and symptoms while sick, Murrain 
was the disease to which I attributed their 
deaths. The first case I saw did not alter 
my opinion, but a post-mortem examina- 
tion convinced me either that the books 
are erroneous, or else that Murrain has no 
uniform Pathology. The second case that 



40 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



I saw presented the same symptoms and 
condition of the viscera as the first, and 
after this my mind was satisfied that Mur- 
rain could not be the cause of death, al- 
though the etymology of that word suits the 
cases better than any other, as all the sick 
died. The cause of death was in both 
these cases complete obstruction of the 
manyplies. No purgative, and I gave the 
most active in the materia medica, dislodg- 
ed the packing from the third stomach. 
The stomachs, but particularly the third 
stomach, in these cases were engorged 
with the partially masticated stalks of corn, 
which had been fed green to hogs in the 
same field where the cattle ran. The hogs 
chew the stalk and partially extract the 
sugar, leaving them much as if the}' had 
been mashed in a sugar mill, which resid- 
uum the cattle eat with avidity. Not being 
able or disposed to ruminate the cortical 
part of the stalk, when swallowed the sec- 
ond time the mass lodges in the third sto- 
mach and arrests digestion. Let it be 
generally known that it is hazardous to 
feed hogs on soft corn, on the stalk, in a 
field where cattle run. To give this warn- 
ing I write. 

Very sincerely yours, 

Jno. Roy Baylor. 
JVew Market, Caroline Co., JVov. 1856. 

F. G. Ruffin, Esq. 

P. S. — The removal of my stock to 
another field cliecked the disease. 

The warning that our friend, Dr. Baylor, 
gives from his own experience, we have 
several times given our readers through 
the Planter. 

Tn some parts of the State it is a very 
common practice, and a most commenda- 
ble one, to feed hogs on the corn cut up 
and given to them, stalk and all, as soon 
as it gets into ' roasting ear;' or as soon as 
the hogs have gleaned the wheat and rye 
fields. When the pasture in which they 
are fed is an abundant one, there is not 
much danger in letting cattle run in the 
same field, though it is a simple and safe 
precaution to enclose a lot for the hogs, 
which will admit them by a slip gap, but 
exclude the cattle. 

Mr. Hugh Minor of Albemarle, who 
f eds his hogs in this way, heard, when 
he first commenced the plan, that cattle 
would eat the dry and masticated stalks, 
(which hogs always reject after chewing 



and swallowing the juice) concluded to try 
the experiment and turned a yearling into 
the hog pasture: it soon died under just 
such symptoms as Dr. Baylor details. Mr. 
Nelson Barksdale, of the same county, had 
precisely the same experience in an ex- 
periment which he accidentally or inten- 
tionally made.. 

In Skinner's edition of Clater's " Cattle 
Doctor" will be found a letter from Gov. 
Vance of Ohio, in which he ascribes the 
disease commonly known as mad itch to 
the same cause. In this he is right in so far 
as it is undoubtedly one cause of the dis- 
ease. But there may be others, most gen- 
erally of the same nature. It is in fact a 
disease of the manyplus, which becomes 
gorged with an undigested fibrous mass not 
easily detracted from the folds into which 
it is crammed; and as the disease pro- 
gresses. " and often a,t an early period, 
there is evident determination of blood to 
the head, evinced not only by a staggering 
gait, but by a degree of unconsciousness," 
" and the winding up of the disease is by 
a species of apoplexy," which is in this 
country commonly denominated mad itch. 

But no one should be deterred from feed- 
ing corn-stalks to hogs at the proper time 
for fear of this disease, when all risk of it 
may be easily and certainly avoided. 

[Ed. So. Plant. 



| From the Valley Farmer.] 

COOKED FOOD FOR HOGS AND 

CATTLE. 

Why cooked food should be so much 
more Jiutricious for man or animals, than 
that which is uncooked, has furnished mat- 
ter for some enquiry among the observers 
oi nature. That it is so, every intelligent 
farmer, we believe, is willing to admit. — 
From a number of accurately conducted 
experiments it has been ascertained that 
a given quantity of corn meal made into 
pudding or mush, of a proper consistence, 
will make nearly as much pork as twice 
the same quantity of meal fed uncooked. 
In some countries of Europe where food 
for man and animals is scarce, food not 
only for hogs is cooked, but even the meal 
that is fed to work horses and oxen is 
made into bread, and is broken up and fed 
with hay and straw. 

It has long been known to those who 
feed cattle or horses, that ground food will 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



41 



go further than that which is unground ; 
for t his reason we see that wheat bran and 
shorts are readi]}' bought up at the flour- 
ing mills at prices far exceeding their re- 
lative value, by analysis, when compared 
with oats or corn. With the present im- 
provement in flouring mills the "offal" 
is left with but a very small per centage 
of the more nutritive portions of the grain 
in it, yet what it does contain is so readi- 
ly available that it is digested with com- 
paratively little loss, and the animals fed 
on it appear to thrive so well, renders it 
in great demand. A knowledge of these 
facts has led many of the most intelligent 
farmers to supply themselves with suita- 
ble mills for grinding the grain they feed 
to their stock. 

The introduction of the iron corn and 
cob mills, which require no expensive ma- 
chinery to run them, has brought them 
within the reach of every farmer, and in- 
to very general use'; and although they 
only crush, or but imperfectly grind the 
corn, for a certain class of stock there is 
evidently great economy in their use ; yet 
if the same corn was ground to the fine- 
ness of common meal, the advantage de- 
rived from it no doubt, would be double 
that from the corn which is only crushed. 

Why is it that the crushed corn for 
stock is better than that which is whole ? 
We answer — because, while it is minute- 
ly divided it is more readily and effectually 
acted upon by the digestive fluid of the 
stomach, a larger portion of it is rendered 
available for nutrition; and the finer the 
meal is ground, the moid of it will be 
digested and assimilated and converted 
into flesh. Yet even corn when ground 
into fine meal and fed uncooked to 
healthy animals is not all digested, but a 
large portion of it passes off and is lost. 

The fact is cleany proven, and the 
cause illustrated why cooked food is so 
much more valuable than that which is 
uncooked by the researches of Delrochet, 
Dumas, and more lately by Raspail, who 
has devoted much time, aided by the best 
microscopical instruments, to the discove- 
ry of the original nutritive particles in 
food and the change they undergo in the 
process of preparation for nutrition. 

According to this philosopher, the nu- 
tritive matter in grain or roots, is compos- 
ed of, or rather is contained in minute, 



smooth white globules, differing in size in 
the different grains or roots. Thus, in 
wheat they are 2-1000 parts of an inch ; 
in the potato double this size — while in 
buckwheat they are only 1-10,000 part of 
an inch in diameter. Pure flour or starch 
would seem to be but a mass of these 
globules in their natural state. Raspail 
ascertained that these minute globules 
consist of an envelope and an inclosed 
kernal, constituting the nutritive matter. 
These globules are insoluble or unalterable 
in cold water, but require a heat of 122° to 
expand the kernel and burst the envelope, 
yet at this degree of heat the substance 
is not decomposed. It is these coating 
envelopes that constitute the starch of the 
laundry. The investigations of these 
philosophers seem to have established the 
following facts as stated by Raspail : 

" 1st. That the globules contain flours 
meal, or starch, whether contained in 
grain or roots, are incapable of affording 
any nourishment as animal food until they 
are broken. 

li 2d. That no mechanical method of 
breaking is more than partially efficient. 

" 3d. That the most efficient mode of 
breaking the globules are by heat, by fer- 
mentation, or by chemical agency of acids 
or alkalies. 

"4th. That the dextrine, (the nutrient 
part) which is the kernel, as it were, of 
each globule, is alone soluble, and therefore 
alone nutritive. 

" 5th. That the envelope or shells of the 
globules, when reduced to fragments by 
mechanism or beat, are insoluble, and 
therefore not nutritive. 

"6th. That though the fragments of 
these shells are not nutritive they are in- 
dispensible to digestion, either from their 
distending the stomach or bowels, or from 
some other cause not understood, it hav- 
ing been proved by experiment that con- 
centrated nourishment, such as cane su- 
gar, essence of beef, or osmazome, cannot 
long sustain life without some mixture of 
coarser and less nutritive food. 

"7th. That the economical preparation 
of all food containing globules of fecula, 
consists in perfectly breaking the shells, 
and rendering the kernel or dextrine con- 
tained in them soluble and digestible, 
while the fragments of the shells, are a,. 



42 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



the same time rendering more bulky, so 
as the more readily to fill the stomach"* 

That great advantages are derived from 
cooking meal for stock, we think these 
facts and hundreds of experiments that 
have been made, clearly demonstrate : and 
the only question that presents itself for 
consideration is, whether the saving in 
grain by cooking is equal to the iabor and 
expense of the operation. Two points 
must determine this question ; first — the 
market value of grain, and second — the 
perfection of the apparatus for cooking 
and feeding. At the present price of 
corn, (and we have no reason to suppose 
that it will ever permanently be less,) we 
believe it will be found that there will be 
a saving of at least twenty-five per cent in 
cooking the grain fed to hogs. 

Steam will be found the most conveni- 
ent and economical agent for this purpose. 
The process is simple and comparatively 
cheap. A vat or steam box, and an ordi- 
nary steam boiler supplied with guage 
cocks and safety valve will constitute the 
apparatus for cooking. These in capaci- 
ty, must be in proportion to the number 
of animals to be fed. Meal sufficient to 
feed two hundred hogs, for a day, can ea- 
sily be cooked at one time. The boiler 
should be arranged so that it can be read- 
ily supplied with water. The vat can be 
made of plank and secured firmly together 
with frames around each end, and keyed 
up so as always to be tight ; it should be 
so situated that the slop could be drawn 
off into cooling vats, and from these di- 
rectly into the feeding troughs. The 



Portable steam engines are now coming 
into use to considerable extent among the 
larger farmers, taking the place of the 
horse powers for threshing, and are also 
employed for grinding corn, cutting hay 
and straw, breaking bemp, sawing wood, 
&c. On any considerable farm they will 
be found cheaper than horse power for 
any of these uses. One of these engines 
may be employed to the best advantage in 
steaming food, when the steam is not re- 
quired to run the engine. Under this ar- 
rangement, the whole fixtures for all the 
power required for performing these vari- 
ous offices, as well as the cooking, may be 
secured at comparatively low rates. 

When we began this article, it was our 
design to give the whole plan and dimen- 
sions in detail of the apparatus, but this 
is unnecessary, because any mechanic 
who is competent to do the work can plan 
it. We will, however, remark, that the 
greater the capacity of the steam vat, 
with a boiler in proportion, the less fuel 
will be required to cook a given quantity 
of food. 



CORN MADE INTO WHISKEY. 

An article, says the Richmond Whig, is 
going the rounds of th^ press, copied from 
the Cincinnati Gazette, containing cer- 
tain statistics respecting the manufacture of 
whisky in ihe vicinity of Cincinnati, which 
wi surprise many readers, Cincinnati, it 
is claimed, is the greatest whisky market 
in the world, and the vallev of the Ohio 



steam is conveyed from the boiler into! the greatest whisky producing region on 
the vat through an iron pipe, one inch in .the face of the earth. The writer of the 
diameter, this should pass into the box at j article says that in no branch of business 
the bottom and make several turns each ^ invenlive ius and modern im _ 

running nearly the whole length or the i ^ ^ ^ ^ 

bottom; the end of the pipe should be jprovements been so largely drawn upon 
closed, and in the top of the pipe that is ' as in the distillation of liquors. Steam is 
within the vat, small holes should be ! made to perform almost all the labor ne- 
drilled three inches apart for the discharge | cessary for the pro duction of whisky, 
e b earn. j Selecting one distillery among many for 

* We would respectfully call the attention of Mr' I j . . ., ■ j... „.„_ . 

Bolmer, of the - Workin/Mun," and of ihe « Indian description the writer says . 

Journal," and of the editor of the " Western Fnrm i ^ railroad connects the distillery with 

Journal, to these facts as illustrated hv these phi- 1 ., ... . , , ., ,• «■ 

losophers. Mr. B has more than once misrepresented, ^e Miami canal, whence the supplies ot 

us in his remarks upon our articles on " i'reparing com are obtained. The latter is trans- 
Food for Farm Stock," and the editor of "the Farm ' f d f { boats into large boxes 

Journal, in his allusion to the same subject, in an ar- "' j 1 

tide which appeared sometime since in the Louisville Set Upon cars, anil thus COUVe3 T ed to a huge 

Commercial Review, displays a want of kfioyledfca 5i n where stocks are kept. This bin is 

upon the subject he attempts to discuss that may call i , . , , • . ., A .., ,, -, ,-i 

from us at a future time some remarks. ' als0 connected by railroad with the distil- 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



43 



lery, and the corn, upon being conveyed c 
from the former to the latter, is thrown 
into the hopper of a large corn sheller, 
which separates the grain from the cobs 
with great rapidity. The coin being 



million two hundred and forty-eight 
thousand gallons of whisky, There are 
other distilleries in the neighborhood the 
capacities of which are severally two or 
three times greater. The quantity of 
shelled, is carried by elevators to the sec- 1 whisky sold during the year in the Cincin- 
ond story of the building, and emptied in- 1 natti markets alone is estimated at nine 
to the hoppers of mills, by which it is ! millions of gallons. This is probably not 
ground and the meal deposited in the first! more than one half the production of Ohio 
story. The cobs are taken by machinery | and Indiana alone. Presuming that the 
from the sheller and thrown in the vicini-j production is eighteen million gallons, the 
ty of the boilers, where they are used for consumption of corn must be four and a 
fuel. half million bushels, to produce which re- 

The meal as it is ground is carried by [quires a million and a quarter acres good 
elevators into the upper part of the build- 1 land. It is probable the production of 
ing, and thence it is conveyed to the backj whisky in the Ohio Valley is fifty millions 
part of the establishment, and deposited j of gallons per annum, involving a con- 
in large tanks on the first floor. Here the I sumption of twelve and a half million 
distillers make what they call mash. The! bushels corn, the 
'cooking' is performed entirely by steam, j is $5,000,000. 
From these tanks the mash is drawn off ■'. . . „ _. .. 

into other tanks of equal dimensions, sit- To thls the ^ ew York Times re P hes : 
uated on either side, where it goes through We copied an article from a Cincinnati 
the cooling process, and receives the paper, a day or two since, on the whisky 
yeast. In the latter tanks the mash re- j business of the Ohio Valley, in which it 
mains two or three days, until it becomes j was claimed that Cincinnati was the great- 
thorougbly worked by the yeast. Here it| est mart for whisky in the world, the qnan- 
frequently spoils in consequence of bad; tity sold in that market amounting to 220,- 
yeast or unfavorable weather ; but when; 000 barrels, or nine millions of gallons, an- 



average value of which 



no accident of this kind happens, it is 
drawn off and run into the still. The lat- 
ter is about thirty feet high, and five or 
six feet in diameter. The mash is boiled 
in the lower part of this still, and the steam 
escapes through a pipe connecting the up- 
per end of the still with the worm. The 
latter is set in a large cistern filled with 
cold water, and here the steam is con- 
densed, and from this worm the whisky is 
drawn in the lower story, and thence it is 
run into a cistern in the 'whisk-house," 
where it is barreled and made ready for 
market. 

What remains in the still after extract- 
ing the whisky is called stillslop. This is 
drawn off into a tank which stands out of 
doors, and it is upon this that distillery 
hogs are led. 

The average time required to convert 
the corn into whisky is four days. In the 
one distillery mentioned about one thou- 
sand bushels of corn are daily converted 
into whisky, producing about four thousand 
gallons of whisky, giving for that single 
establishment an annual destruction of the 
three hundred and twelve thousand bush- 
els of corn and an annual production of 



nually. 

But our Cincinnati contemporary claimed 
rather too much for the Queen City of the 
West. New York is ahead of her out and 
out, not only as a manufacturer, but as a 
dealer in whisky. There are in this city 
and its immediate suburbs twelve whisky 
distilleries, which convert daily in bad li- 
quor 13,100 bushels of good corn, making 
annually, 15,376,125 gallons. But this is 
only the production of New York, which 
is all sold here as a matter of course. The 
receipts of country whisky amount to 
about fifteen millions of gallons annually, 
being more than three times the quantity 
sold in Cincinnati. 

New York may fairly claim, we think, 
to be called the greatest whisky mart of 
the world. Of this intolerable quantity of 
whisky which flows through our city as 
though it were a canal, about one third is 
made into alcohol and used in manufactu- 
ring operations of various kinds, and one 
quarter is exported to foreign countries. 
A very small portion of that which re- 
mains is crank as whisky, while the lar- 
ger part passes through the hands of the 
rectifiers, and is retailed to an innocent 



44 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



and confiding public under the various 
naT.es of Cognac, dark and pale ; Holland 
gin, Jamaica rum, St. Croix, apple-jack, 
London gin, Irish whisky, Glenilvat, and 
all other possible liquids which drinking 
men like to lacerate their vitals with. 
Nearly all the whisky that goes to France, 
and there is no small quantity of it. comes 
back to us in the shape of brandy, though 
some of it returns blushingly labelled, 
Chateau Margaux, or some of the other 
Chateaux en Espagne, which abound in the 
claret manufacturing imaginations of 
Frenchmen. 

It is estimated that the annual produc- 
tion of whisky in Indiana and Ohio 
amounts to about eighteen millions of gal- 
lons, which requires the produce of a mil- 
lion and a quarter acres of good land, in 
the shape of corn. There are, in New 
York, or its immediate neighborhood. 
tw r elve distilleries, the most extensive of 
which consumes 2500 bushels of corn dai- 
ly, and the smallest 400. This is a sad 
comment on the prohibitory liquor law, 
which required so many years of agitation 
to force through our legislature. 

At the above rate of production, New 
York alone consumes 4,779,500 bushels of 
corn, taking not less than an equal quan- 
tity of land, so that the whiskey products 
of those two sections alone amounts to 
upwards of nine and a quarter million 
bushels, or very nearly two million of bar- 
rels of corn. 

When this cheap whiskey forces itself 
into Europe the quantity made will be 
still greater. Ed. So. Plan. 



CORN IN PORK vs. CORN IN THE 
CRIB. 

It is estimated from an experiment made 
by S. B. Anderson, that 100 bushels of 
corn will produce 1000 lbs. of gross in- 
crease in the weight of hogs. One hun- 
dred thrifty hogs were weighed and put 
into a pen. They were fed 100 days on 
as much corn as they could cat. The av- 
erage gross increase per hog for the 100 
days was 176 lbs., or at the rate of 1-3-4 
lbs. per day. It thus appears that one 
bushel of corn will produce a gross in- 
crease of 10 1-2 lbs. Throwi.ig off one- 
fifth to come at the net weight, gives 8 2-5 



lbs- of polk are made by one bushel, or 56 
lbs. of corn, 1 lb. of pork is the produce 
of 5 3-4 lbs. of corn. 

From an experiment made by Samuel 
Linn with 58 hogs, as reported in the Pa- 
tent Offise Report for 1849, 6 1-2 lbs. of 
corn produced one lb. of pork. 

From the experiment of Hon. H. L. 
Ellsworth, reported in the Patent Office 
Report for 1847, it appears that 3 4-5 lbs. 
of cooked meal made 1 lb. of pork. This 
experiment was on a small scale. 

Assuming that it required 6 2-3 lbs. of 
corn to make 1 lb. of pork, the cost of its 
production will be seen from the following 
table. The labor of feeding and taking 
care of the hogs is not included in the es- 
timate : — When corn costs 12 1-2 cents 
per bushel, pork costs 1 1-2 cents per 
pound. When corn costs 17 cents per bu., 
pork costs 3c. per lb. When corn costs 
35c. per bu., pork costs 4c. per lb. When 
corn costs 42c. per bu., pork costs 5c. per 
lb. 

The following table shows what the far- 
mer realizes for his corn sold in the form 
of pork : When pork sells for 3c. per lb. 
it brings 25c. per bu. for corn. When 
pork sells for 4c. per lb. it brings 33c. per 
bu. for corn. When pork sells for 5c per 
lb. it brings 42c. per bu. for corn. When 
pork sells for 6c. per lb. it brings 50c. per 
bu. for corn. 

The question is one that every farmer 
can, by observation and experience, settle 
for himself. If he possesses the requisite 
knowledge it will give him an opportunity 
to dispose of his corn in such a manner as 
will be most remunerative. There are 
certain circumstances which will, more or 
less, affect the general issue, such, for in- 
stance, as capabilities for fattening, mode 
of treatment, care and attention bestowed, 
&c. The item in reference to the experi- 
ment of Hon. H. L. Ellsworth, in the use 
of corn ground and cooked is worthy of 
the special attention of those engaged in 
this department of farm econom} r . [Hunt's 
Merchant's Magazine. 

The above, we believe, is under the 
mark as to the cost of raising pork as it is 
generally managed. What comfort those, 
whose short crops or " bad management" 
may compel to buy bacon, can derive 
from it will be increased by the following 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



45 



statement from a correspondent of the 

Farmville Journal. 

PROFITS ON PIGS AND POULTRY. 

Messrs. Editors : — During the nine 
years that I have pursued farming, I have 
kept accounts with the products of the 
farm, and find it beneficial in many res- 
pects. 

I herewith send you my accounts with 
poultry and swine for the past nine years. 
My poultry I charge with their worth at 
the commencement of the year, and with 
the food they consume during the year, 
and the mischief they do about the premi- 
ses, and credit the eggs they lay, and the 
worth of those killed during the year, with 
the worth of those I have at the close of 
the year. 

Abstract of account with hens : 



Year 


No. 


Cost. 


Worth. 


Profit. 


1847 


— 


$17.25 


$25.68 


$8.43 


1848 


— 


26.64 


36.87 


10.23 


1849 


— 


23.11 


45.59 


22.48 


1850 


— 


27.80 


4164 


14.84 


1851 


34 


36.05 


5310 


17.05 


1852 


60 


57.76 


89.69 


30.03 


1853 


67 


69.45 


91.57 


22.12 


1854 


78 


58.19 


86 09 


28.50 


1855 


70 


74.09 


82.67 


6.58 



Gain in nine jltears, $162 26 

I have no record of the number of hens 
for the first four years. 

I charge, the swine their cost when I 
buy them, what grain they consume, and 
five or six dollars for the skim milk from 
each cow I keep, and credit their market 
worth when slaughtered, allowing their 
manure as an offset to care and attention 
while fattening. My loss on swine I at- 
tribute in part to not keeping sufficiently 
well in the summer season, and conse- 
quently not slaughtering early enough in 
the winter, and partly in not paying suffi- 
cient attention in selecting pigs. Gene- 
rally have taken spring pigs and killed in 
the winter. 

Abstract account with swine : 

Year. No. Cost. Worth. Profit. Loss- 
1847 3 $30.97 $43.79 <£ 12.82. 



1848 


4 


60.00 


46 47 


$12.60 


1849 


5 


93.47 


76 75 


16.82 


] 850 


12 


131.92 


104.46 


27.46 


1891 


4 


56.90 


53.00 


3.99 


1852 


4 


107.07 


98.22 


8.84 


1853 


4 


115.64 


101.04 


14.60 


1834 


3 


66-74 


55-68 


11.06 


1855 


3 


58.55 


65.00 


6.45 



Loss on the nine years, $77. 

Here you see is a wide difference in the 
result in keeping two descriptions of farm 
stock: and without facts 'And. figures, how 
can the farmer know whether he is gain- 
ing or losing from year to year in his farm 
operations ? Milner Case. 

Avon, Ct. 



$19.27 $96.26 



SAVING SEED CORN. 

Messrs. Tucker & Son. — As it is not 
too late to select and cure corn for seed, 
permit me to suggest to your readers a 
few thoughts. Perhaps no farm crop more 
than corn is susceptible of improvement 
by a judicious selection of seed ; yet it is, 
in my opinion, a subject of much regret 
that the selection of corn for seed is made 
in such a manner as to defeat in a mea- 
sure the object aimed at. Every one 
knows that the prevailing practice is to 
save for seed the largest years, well filled 
at the end, these being the only qualities 
sought in a standard ear, both of which 
may be liable to criticism. If the largest 
ears are selected, they will usually be 
from stalks bearing but one ear, whereas 
ears for seed should be from stalks bearing 
two or more, if such can be found ; if not, 
the whole should be condemned, and seed 
obtained from some better source, because 
at harvest if a stalk in every hill, or every 
other hill, is found bearing two good ears, 
it will make a vast difference in the yield 
of a corn-field, and the only way to obtain 
such stalks is to plant seeds taken from 
similar ones. The ears should of course 
be large, but not the largest in the field 
unless couplets are so, which are not usu- 
ally the case. 

Again, should the ear be perfectly filled 
at the tip? I should say, unless it he a 
very long one. What is the language of 
the cob projecting from the end of the 
ear? for it certainly speaks if we que.-tion 
it, and that very plainly, and says — " if 
the soil had been better, or the season, 
this ear might have been a good deal long- 
er. I have furnished room on the cob ; 
put on the kernels, and see which will 
hold out the longest." That is, the dispo- 
sition of the corn is to make a much long- 
er ear, had every circumstance been fa- 
vorable, but in the case of the one per- 
fectly filled there was no more cob room, 
and by selecting such ears year after year, 



40 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



the ears will tend to grow shorter each 
year, because this peculiarity results from 
deficiency in length of cob, which, like 
any other peculiarity, soon becomes a he- 
reditary type, and in this case a defect. If 
this reasoning is correct,, the longest ears 
with a moderate length of unfilled cob at 
the tip, should be selected if we would in- 
crease the length of the ear in the future 



crop. 

There are several other 



cru 



alities deser- 



ving attention in selecting seed corn. 
Among them, a cob small in proportion to 
the size of the kernel, and the surest indi- 
cation of this without actually breaking 
the ear in two, which is hardly desirable, 
is a small butt on an ear with nearly a uni- 
form size its whole length. This, too, is 
easily rendered hereditary by repeated se- 
lections, and has the advantage of being 
much easier to husk than when the ear 
has a large, strong butt. I will add, as 
the result of my observation, that ears 
perfectly filled at the tip, more commonly 
have a large butt than those not so filled 
out. Is it because there is no more room 
for extending the growth upwards, and its 
exuberance is developed in an opposite 
direction ? Nor would I select a seed ear 
if it grew on a long stem and lopped down- 
wards from the stalk, because such ears 
are never quite in the right place when 
you are cutting up or husking the corn. 

Then, to sum up the attributes necessa- 
ry to constitute an ear desirable for seed, 
I would name the following: The. stalk 
should be of a strong and upright growth, 
with few or no suckers, bearing at least 
two ears, and the more the better. The 
ears should be long for the kind ; stand 
erect on moderately short stems, be of a 
uniform size from the bottom to the top, 
with a short unfilled tip or snout, as the 
boys call it, and of an unmixed yellow or 
white variety, as the case may be. 

In a field of four acres, which I have 
to-day been cutting, these qualities may 
be found as well combined perhaps as in 
most fields, and notwithstanding the unfa- 
vorable season for corn, the piece will av- 
erage very nearly a doublet to every hiil, 
and by actual counting will produce over 
five good ears to a hill, the hills being 
planted three and a half feet apart. This 
has been produced by careful selection of 
seed for a number of years, ten at least, 
commenced by the late Mr. Dix, an intel- 



ligent farmer of Vernon, 'Oneida Co., and 
for the last five years conducted under my 
own supervision. It has not been unusual 
in ordinary seasons to find stalks bearing 
three and even four well filled ears, but 
this year I find none with more than two. 
I am satisfied that by persevering in a se- 
lection of seed, following substantially the 
formula above, every farmer may in a few 
years add a large per cent, to the product 
of his corn crop. Mine is the medium 
size, eight-rowed variety. There is no 
doubt but the failure of seed so universal 
this year, is the result of bad manage- 
ment in curing it during the cool, damp 
weather of last autumn. Half that I 
planted failed, while that planted directly 
joining it, obtained of Francis Wilcox, of 
Oneida Co.. (the improved variety,) came 
perfectly. This was tied two and two by 



poles in 



the husks, and hung to dry o 
the barn loft. 

Corn in this region is beyond the reach 
of frost which has not visited us yet in 
much severity, but the crop is on the 
whole a light one. Rye, which with us 
was widely harvested, was a good crop. 
Wheat, the midge injured considerably. 
Buckwheat is light but well filled. Pota- 
toes and root crops are badly injured by 
the drought. Gurdon,. Evans. Glen 
Mary, near Owego, Tioga Co., JV*. Y. — 
Country Gentleman. 



THE KITCHEN GARDEN. 

MUSHROOM GROWING. 

A correspondent has reminded us of our 
promise to give an article on mushroom- 
growing, and asks if he can grow them 
in his cellar, which is cool and seldom 
freezes. 

To the latter, we answer yes. There is 
no better place for the purpose, and with 
care they will continue in bearing in such 
a place for a long time ; in fact, by having 
two beds, one made now and another about 
November, this much-prized esculent can 
be had the winter through. If in the cold- 
est weather the temperature is likely to 
get low in the cellar, the beds should be 
covered with a few inches of coarse hay. 
This will not in the least prevent the 
growth of the mushrooms, only requiring 
a little caution in lifting the hay, in case 
some of them should be grown up partially 
through it. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



If the droppings were saved as recom- 
mended in a former paper, the task will 
be light, merely requiring to be thrown to- 
gether ; if dry, watered just sufficient to 
moisten the whole, and allowed to get into 
a heat, and it is ready for building. 

If the manure has still to be got, select 
that which has laid sufficiently loose not 
to have exhausted itself already. Throw 
it into a heap, rejecting the very long 
straw, in sufficient quantities to build a 
bed the size required. When in a proper 
state, i. e, when nicely heated through the 
whole, mass, get the bed made after the 
following manner: set up a board a foot 
or fifteen inches deep, and six feet from 
one of the outer wails, any length desired. 
Take the prepared manure and spread, 
shaking it well to pieces, evenly over the j 
whole surface ; tread down quite firm, and 
then add another six inches, and so on un- 
til the manure is as high as the board, with 
a rise of an inch or two towards the back. 
Before finishing it must be made quite firm; 
it is then left for a few days for the fer- 
mentation, if any, to take place. It right- 
ly managed, so thin a bed will seldom be 
too warm for spawning. Break up the 
spawn into pieces an inch square or there- 
abouts, and insert in the manure by means 
of a blunt-pointed dibble ; stick six inches 
apart and one below the surface, over the 
whole bed. Then lay on, when well press^ 
ed down, soil not less than two inches 
thick. If the soil is not made quite firm 
and solid, the mushrooms will seldom 
amount to much. If the soil is not incli- 
ned to bind down sufficiently firm, add a 
little water with a very fine rose pot, and 
then use the back of the spade directly 
after, and it will not fail to bind x down 
close. But little air is necessary at any 
time, as it tends only to dry the bed, and 
the more it can be kept uniformly moist 
without artificial waterings the better. It 
matters not how dark the place is where 
they are grown on. 

The late bed would be better, made 
away from the wall, nearly triangular in 
shape, with a base of four feet, to be 
spawned and soiled on all its sides. This 
tends to prolong the heat in the bed, which 
is desirable in the depth of winter. 

We have seen capital mushrooms grown 
in beds under the green-house stage in 
winter. In fact, the place is no object, 



the proper state, a uniform medium tem- 
perature, and the beds at all times moist 
without being sodden with wet. — Edgar 
Saunders. 

Country Gentleman. 



IIG 



Dr. 



the main requisites being horse manure in|go a similar change. 



HEAD," (OSSEOUS DISEASE 
OF THE HORSE.) 

Thomas W. Gordon of George- 
town, Ohio, wrote us a letter, in the latter 
part of January, on the same subject. We 
immediately forwarded the same to Arthur 
S. Copeman, a practising veterinary sur- 
geon, of Utica, N. Y., who has kindly fur- 
nished the following interesting communi- 
cation : — 

DR. COPEMAN' S ANSWER TO LETTER ON 
" BIG HEAD." 

Uiica, March 3, 1856. 

G. H. Dadd, Esq. — Dear Sir: I cheer- 
fully offer my humble opinion on the dis- 
ease so well described by Dr. Gordon. 
This affection is what most English writers 
describe as mollities ossium, Osteo, Sarco- 
ma, Sfc. 

After careful examination of the bones, 
anatomically, chemically, and by the aid 
of the microscope, I am inclined to view 
this disease as a true "fatty degeneration." 

We find every cavity in the substance 
of the bone filled with oily matter, resem- 
bling boiled marrow. The bones may be 
fractured by slight force, and in their dried 
state are light and very greasy, and some- 
times so soft that you may crush any part 
of them with the fingers. Here it is evi- 
dent the formation of fat takes place in an 
excessive manner, as they cast off the 
osseous structure. All the bones are lia- 
ble to fatty degeneration ; but it has been 
more frequently observed in the bones of 
the face, viz : the tipper and lower jaw 
bones. The disease commences at the 
base of the bone, and the soft parts are 
secondarily afflicted. Generally the first 
indication of the disease is a swelling, of 
a hard, unyielding character. The tumor 
develops itself more or less rapidly. Pres- 
sure does not lessen its size nor cause 
much pain ; the soft parts are in their nat- 
ural state. When the disease has made 
considerable progress, the osseous texture 
disappears more or less completely and a 
homogeneous gray or yellow lard- like sub- 
stance, is found. In the last stages of 
this disease, the surrounding parts under- 



48 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



The prognosis of this disease must al- 
ways be unfavorable, for scarcely any re- 
liance is to be placed on any known rem- 
edy or plan of treatment, when the dis- 
ease is once fairly established. In the 
jaw bones, excision of the diseased part, 
or their complete destruction by strong 
caustics, are sometimes the means of ar- 
resting the progress of the disease, proba- 
bly by setting up " new actions" in the 
surrounding tissues. I must admit (hat 
in my hands both caustics and excisions 
have only enlarged the original boundaries 
of the mischief. It is often said — " to 
know the cause of a disease is half its 
cure." I am of opinion this is not in all 
cases sound logic. 

The causes of fatty degeneration are 
recognized by all observers as those which 
lower the vital energies. Defect of acti- 
vity in the various excreting organs must 
cause an accumulation of oily matter in 
the blood. The same will occur it by 
means of the food an excess of fatty mat- 
ter is introduced into the circulation. So 
long, however, as the organic life of the 
tissues persists, they will nourish them- 
selves healthily out of this oil-laden blood ; 
but when that .begins to decay the oily 
matter settles down into situations from 
whence the organizing force before exclu- 
ded it. No doubt the excessive use of 
hydro-carbonaceous (fat forming) articles 
of food are apt to give rise to special faity 
degeneration. Still we must admit that, 
something more than a general tendency 
to form fat or a general excess of fat in 
the blood is necessary to produce a local 
fatty degeneration. The genera! condi- 
tions are favorable but not essential to this 
form of disease. 

Having taken some pains to learn the 
the history of several cases of this 
disease, 1 am fully convinced that it be- 
longs to that class of diseases known as 
hereditary, such as ringbone, spavin, can- 
cer, &e. 

Now, as we have no means of curing 
this disease when fully developed, it be- 
hoves us to look well to the "breeds" 
known to be "predisposed to it." The sub- 
ject of " hereditary disease''" is almost 
"universally understood" by breeders. 
In conclusion, I shall be most happy to 
examine any specimens of bones affected 
with his disease — " big head." 

A transverse or longitudinal section of 



the bone, as thick as a cent piece, and 
half an inch square, is all I should need, 
which can be sent by mail in a letter. 

Please excuse these desultory remarks, 
and believe me, 

Yours most respectfully, 

Arthur S. Copeman. 



GUANO— DURABILITY OF. 

Mr. Pearson has a high opinion of 
guano, but like most good farmers, and in 
accordance with the general opinion of the 
members of the Club, alternates the ap- 
plication of guano with barnyard manure. 
This retains the land in the best condition, 
whereas few believe that this can be done 
by the exclusive use of guano. He also 
believes in the effects of guano for at least 
the second year. He has repeatedly test- 
ed it. The last trial was in this wise : In 
a field of eleven acres of corn, he appli- 
ed it to one-half, at the rate of four hun- 
dred pounds per acre, while the other half 
had a good coating of barnyard manure. 
There was no perceptible difference in the 
crop when harvested. Next season the 
same field was put in oats, without, of 
course, any manure, and again no differ- 
ence could be seen between the two por- 
tions. As to the relative cost of the tw T o 
manures, Mr. P. stated that with respect 
to the ruta baga crop, the expense of haul- 
ing the barn-yard manure to the field, its 
spreading in the furrows, and the cost of 
the extra plowing were equal to the whole 
cost of the guano. This is about the stron- 
gest testimony in favor of the partial use 
of this concentrated manure by farmers in 
general, that we have yet seen ; and it 
appeared to be coincided in by all the mem- 
bers of the Club present — one of them, a 
most successful farmer, said it agreed with 
his own experience and practice. 

Germantown Telegraph. 



RYE AMONG RUTA BAGAS. 

HARVESTING the crop. 

On the Land occupied by the ruta bagas 
there was a fine-looking crop of rye grow- 
ing, and Mr. P, a farmer near Philadelphia, 
informed the Club that the ruta bagas in 
no degree interfered with the yield of the 
crop The tops scattered over the grain 
was a protection to it, and helped to en- 
rich the ground. — Germantown Telegraph. 

[ What time was the rye sowed among 
the ruta bagas ? — Ed. So. Planter.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



49 



From the Richmond Whig. 

PRESENT STOCKS OF TOBACCO IN 

THE UNITED STATES. 



According to Messrs. T. & H. Messen- 
ger's Tobacco Circular, 2d inst., the stock 
of leaf tobacco in New York, on 1st De- 
cember, amounted to 6310 hhds., consist- 
ing of 6123 hhds. Ky. ; 181 Va. and N. 
C. ; and 2 Ohio. The stock of manufac- 
tured was 36,221 packages/against 29,081 
for the corresponding period of 1855. — 
The sales of November last, amounted to 
10,295 packages ; in November 1855, to 
10,651 packages. The exports of last 
month were 225,028, nearly one-half of 
which was sent to Australia. We make 
the following extracts from the Circular : 

Leaf. — In our last we suppose prices 
had reached their culminating point, but 
subsequent sales seem to warrant a range 
of rather higher figures, particularly for 
low grades, which at present are in light 
supply. The market closes firmly. The 
sales for the month were 870 hhds. Ken- 
tucky, 50 do Virginia, 37 do Maryland. 

Manufactured. — Compared with the 
last month, the sales have been light, but 
prices have ruled firm for all grades man- 
ufactured from old leaf; while that made 
from new trash and primings, is slightly 
lower, the supply being rather in excess 
of the demand. The present scale of 
prices precludes all operations of a specu- 
lative nature, therefore the sales, as noted 
also in our last are for consumption. The 
stock, it will be seen, is appreciating 
while the season for activity may be deem- 
ed about closed. 

New Orleans — The continued light 
arrivals and meagre stocks, necessarily 
limit transactions; increased receipts would 
doubtless lead to enlarged operations, as 
there exists a fair inquiry with correspond- 
ing sales. Holders apparently dictate 
their own terms, and prices are again 
slightly in the ascendant, say from \a\ 
cents. Choice heavy Clarksville has 
changed hands to the extreme price of 
15-ic. 

Richmond. — The inspection of old leaf 
for November at this market has been 
trifling, not exceeding 200 hhds. and re- 
inspection about the same quantity. The 
demand was brisk, at prices ranging 
for leaf from 18al9 cts., and for lugs 
from llal2| cents. No really fine leaf 



was offered ; in fact there is but little re- 
maining unsold. 

The receipts of new crop, chiefly de- 
livered in loose parcels, are increasing, 
and the daily receipts average from 20.000 
to 30,000 lbs. The quantity is inferior 
and in sappy condition ; notwithstanding, 
the competition is spirited, and prices 
range for inferior lugs from 6«7c. : for 
fair to middling, from l^aS^c; and for 
leaf, from 9-|al3f . The specimens of the 
new crop so far exhibited, evidence much 
irregularity in color, size and maturity, 
a portion of the leaf being of fair size, 
and tolerable ripe, while the majority is 
thin, unripe, and of dingy color. 

Baltimore.— The receipts of Mary- 
land are fair for the season, and with a 
continued good inquiry very good prices 
are demanded and obtained. Ohio comes 
in sparingly, and finds ready buyers at ex- 
treme quotations. We continue last 
month's table of prices. 



From the Richmond Dispatch. 

TOBACCO IN ALGERIA. 

The correspondent of Wilmer and 
Smith's Liverpool Times, from whom we 
have recently quoted with reference to 
the " French products in Algeria," has 
the following about the Tobacco culture 
in the French Colony, which will interest 
many of our readers : 

The produce which promises to assume 
most importance, and over which the gov- 
ernment are able to exercise most control 
is that of Tobacco. Algiers is at present 
the great Tobacco province. Some is 
grown in Oran, and a few poctares in 
Constantine ; but the bulk is brought to 
the great government warehouse in Al- 
giers. This is probably the largest build- 
ing in Africa. It contains three-fifths of 
a mile of warehouses, and I passed a 
morning when at Algiers, in going over 
it. Until quite recently, the government 
brought up the whole of the Tobacco pro- 
duced in the colony, and if they had not 
nobody else would. It was remarkably 
like hay, and they could only use it by 
mixing it in France with the produce of 
the plantations of Hungary and America. 
This the monopoly of regie enabled them 
to do. By judicious prices and classifica- 
tions as to quality, they have now, how- 
ever, very much improved the quality of 



50 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



the produce ; and by liberality in price, 
they have rendered it a popular article of 
culture in the European garden patches. 
Now, however, the government do not 
undertake to buy every leaf of tobacco 
grown in Africa. They are anxious to 
push it into general commerce, and some 
little finds its way, at cheap rates, into 
private hands. It is used to adulterate 
American. At the Magasin the govern- 
ment bought during the last year 3,000,000 
of kilos, at an average of 90f. the 100 
kilos. Of this about one-third was pro- 
duced by the natives, and the other two- 
thirds by the colonists. At present the 
best is very indifferent, and one of the pen- 
alties paid by the French for the conquest 
of Africa is being compelled to smoke 
rather worse cigars than they formerly 
had. This, however, is of no great con- 
sequence, for no Frenchman has the least 
idea of fragrance or flavor in Tobacco. — 
The regime has educated him to consider 
anything a good cigar, so that it will burn 
and give forth a strong, rank smoke. 

(1(1 I n the*"lower part of 

'THE VALLEY; EFFECT OF SUB- 
SOILING. 

Owing to very dry falls and springs, 
we, the farmers, of the lower part of the 
Valley of Virginia, have made, for the 
past three summers, very inferior crops 
of wheat, but I am much gratified to be 
able to say, that there is now the best 
prospect for a good crop I ever saw T in 
the month of November, from the ap- 
pearance of the wheat is in advance of 
the best to be seen the 1st of May last 
Farmers generally have taken more pains 
in seeding than I ever knew them before. 
Some few have discontinued the use of 
guano and other- fertilizers, but others 
who have not heretofore had faith have 
purchased guano, phosphate of lime, or 
bone dust. 

I have seeded this fall, on my father's 
estate, (known as Guilford, which I have 
leased for a term of years,) 205 acres in 
wheat, 130 acres of which was drilled in, 
after being rolled after harrowing it down. 
On 100 acres of the 130 I used six tons 
of phosphate of lime, and four and a 
half tons of bone dust, — making nine and 
a half tons. The thinest portions of the 
remaining thirty acres have been manured 
with home-made manure, from stable 



yard, cow yard, hen house, turkey house, 
&c. I have 75 acres of corn land seeded, 
35 of which is- flat black land, 40 acres 
upland. On this forty acres I have put, 
since, seeding, upwards of 400 bushels of 
compost, viz : 100 bushels of stone lime, 
30 sacks of salt, — which cost me $1 40 at 
Happy Creek depot, on Manassa R. R., 
within eight miles of me, — three tons of 
ground plaster, and 25 bushels of ashes. 
All of which was mixed, dampened, and 
sifted, and then spread with a two- horse 
broadcasting machine, at the rate of ten 
or twelve bushels per acre. 

I will mention that 25 acres of this 
40 acres were plowed and subsoiled last 
spring for corn, and every hill of corn 
was well sprinkled with the same sort of 
compost, and the result is, my . corn crop 
will nearly double, in number of bbls. per 
acre, any crop I have seei Was y ; r. 
I planted the subsoiled land three fee 
each way, and left two stalks in each 
hill. The portion not subsoiled was 
planted four feet each way, ami two stalks 
left in each hill. The difference in favour 
of the subsoiled land was very great in 
every respect. I am now shucking it, 
and it surpasses my expectations at the 
time of cutting it up before seeding ; the 
upland, not subsoiled, was fully equal to 
that subsoiled, and the corn was composted 
on the hill at the same time the subsoiling 
corn was. I shall continue subsoiling for 
corn, and will continue to report my suc- 
cess. 

It is my opinion that the Valley far- 
mers will be forced, by the frequency of 
dry summers, to subsoil their lands ; and 
when (hey once see the improvement in 
the corn crop, and in the difference in the 
taking and standing of clover, and other 
grasses, and the increased effect of plas- 
ter, and all sorts of manure, the face of 
this great Valley will be doubled in its 
benuty ; and I do not think I would be 
much' out of it, if I were to say it would 
soon double in bbls. of corn, bushels of 
wheat, and tons of hay for market. 

I observed from the papers, that George 
Watt, of Richmond, took the premium 
for the best subsoil plow this fall. My 
plow took the premium last fall over ihree 
or four he had on the ground. I am anx- 
ious to' see his, if it is better than my 
plow. I want two ; 1 am determined to 
use the best, it matters not by whom they 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



51 



are invented. I will mention that I have 
yet to see the subsoil plow that compares 
with my plow in clay land. Mr. Watt 
may have advantages that I have not 
thought of. 

I will send you a circular giving the 
success of the Manny Reaper before 
long. My two boys — one 14, and the 
other 11— can cut all the wheat I can raise 
in twelve days. 

In haste, Yours, &c. 



GEORGE WASHINGTON'S VIEWS 
OF PLANTATION WORK. 

At a meeting of the Executive Com- 
mittee of the Virginia Historical and Phi- 
losophical Society, held on the 2nd day of 
June 1856, there was presented from Mau- 
rice H. Burr of Racine, Wisconsin, a man- 
uscript of seven pages, containing "George 
Washington's views of the work to be done 
at his several plantations in the year 1789, 
and his general directions for the execu- 
tion of it." It is dated Mount Vernon, 
Jan. 1st, 1789, and has the genuine signa- 
ture of " G. Washington." The following 
is a copy of the manuscript. . 

A view of the work at the several plantations 
in the yea?- 1789, and general directions 
for the execution of it. 

From the plans of the Plantations — 
from the courses of the crops which are 
annexed to these plans, and from the mode 
of managing them as there prescribed, 
may be derived a full and comprehensive 
view of my designs, after the rotation is 
once perfectly established, in the succes- 
sion proposed. But as this cannot, at all 
the plantations, be adopted this year, every 
thing in the meantime must be made to 
tend to it against the next, as far as cir- 
cumstances will admit. 

FOR MUDDY HOLE. 

The plows belonging to this plantation, 
together with those from Dogue Run are 
to continue without intermission or delay, 
(when not prevented by frost or rain) to 
break up field No. 5, for Indian Corn, and 
when that is accomplished, next to break 
up No. 4 for Buckwheat, which is to be 
sowed in April and plowed in before har- 
vest, as a manure for the crop of wheat 
which is to be sowed therein in the month 
of August next, after these plowings are 



performed. Then, as there is. no field at 
this plantation which can with conveni- 
ence be appropriated for spring grain or 
for the crop of sundries this year, and as 
the plows at Dogue Run (especially if the 
winter should prove hard and unfavorable) 
will not be able of themselves to break up 
fields No. 4 and 6 at their own plantation, 
and ai the same time prepare those of No. 
3 for barley and oats, and of No. 7 for Indian 
corn in season ; the whole may go to Dogue 
Run (till the corn at Muddy Hole shall 
want them), and work at No. 6, if the con- 
dition of it is such as to admit thereof; or 
in ISp 4 at the same place if it is not ; for 
the respective crops which are assigned 
for them. 

The fence on the Ferry Road, from the 
division between the fields 4 and 5 to the 
lane on the mill road, must be repaired 
with new rails, but from thence to the gate 
leading to the barn from the overseer's 
house should be made tolerably secure 
with rails, which may be taken from the 
opposite side, round field No. 7. But this 
last mentioned fence must not be stripped 
so bare as to render it altogether unfit for 
pasture by becoming a common. 

As the days are short, walking bad, and 
the different kinds of stock will require 
careful attendance, it may perhaps be 
best to relinquish the idea of the people 
of this place having anything further to do 
with the new ground at the mansion, and 
when not employed (in open weather) with 
their fencing, to be thrashing out grain. 
But there is a work of great importance, 
if the weather and other circumstances 
concur for the execution of it in season — 
I mean that of getting up rich mud from 
the most convenient part of the creek and 
laying it in small heaps (for amelioration) 
to be carried over the poor parts of No. 5, 
which will be in corn. If this last men- 
tioned work can be accomplished (and it 
must be done soon, if any effect is expect- 
ed from it this year, in order that the frost 
may have time to operate) the carts may 
be employed in hauling it to the ground. 

Another piece of work to be done here 
(as I propose to make a small quantity of 
tobacco at this as well as at my other 
plantations) is to hill the ground, that is 
marked off for it, in time. But previ 
to hilling, it must be laid offwith thajfld l w- LL/ *<v 
into 3 feet squares, that the hills /ay be 
made directly on the cross; so asf oi l t(^ RARY 



52 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



early stages of the growth of the tobacco, 
it may be tended with a plow each way. 

If these several kinds of work should 
not afford sufficient employment for the 
hoe people with the cultivatioa of the 
ground which will be marked out for po- 
tatoes and carrots, and which ought to be 
plowed up immediately, they may be pre- 
paring field No. 6 on the creek for corn in 
1790. In the execution of this work, the 
cedar trees are not to be cut down, but 
trimmed only ; and other trees left here 
and there for shades. The brush and rub- 
bish of all sorts are to be thrown into the 
gullies, and covered over so as to ajlmit 
the plows to pass. 

Both parts of field No. 1 should, from 
this time, be withheld from stock of all 
kinds, that there may be, in the spring, 
food for the ewes, and lambs, and calves. 

The field No. 3 now in wheat and rye 
must be sowed with clover and timothy on 
the first snow that falls — 6 pints of the 
first and two of the latter per acre. 

FOR DOGUE RUN. 

The plows belonging to this plantation, 
when they have performed what has al- 
ready been directed for them at Muddy 
Hole, together with those of the latter, 
are to begin, if the ground will admit of 
it, to break up No. 6 for buckwheat, to be 
sown in April. But if this, on account of the 
levelness of the field and the water which 
may stand on it, cannot be done — then to 
plow No. 4 for the crop of sundries. But 
as it is of essential importance that the 
oats and barley should be sown early, and 
the working of the fields for Indian corn 
not so much delayed as to endanger the 
prospect of that crop — the plowings of 
both 6 and 4 must be delayed, at least till 
the oats and barley are in — if they cannot 
be broke up in season for the above pur- 
poses. The oats ought to be sown in Feb- 
ruary, near the post and rail fences : and 
the barley as soon after as possible, in the 
other side adjoining the corn. With both, 
clover and timothy in the proportions al- 
ready mentioned are to be sown. 

After the above work is accomplished, 
it will be time to plow and sow suoh parts 
of No. 4 as is intended for carrots, and 
that is to be done in drills, four feet asun- 
der, and, if the ground is dry enough, in 
the month of March; and for flax which 
should be sown in April. 



By the time these are done, possibly 
before it, the fields for corn will want list- 
ing. This corn in the south part of the 
field (next the woods) may be planted at 
five feet, each way, with two stalks in a 
hill, and in the north part, next Colonel 
Mason's, at four feet each way, with one 
stalk in a hill. The plowings and harrow- 
ings necessary for which, v/ithout going 
into details, with respect to manner and 
times must be given when wanted. The 
sowing of buckwheat (in April) for ma- 
nure seems to be the next thing which 
calls for the plows — because it ought to be 
in the ground as soon as all danger of frost 
is over, that it may be in the proper state 
(full bloom) for plowing in before harvest. 
After buckwheat, peas will come next: 
and the ground for these, as for tobacco, 
must be laid offin squares for hilling, that 
they may, before they begin to run and 
spread, be plowed each way. These ought 
to be planted in May. 

Pumpkins, potatoes, turnips and buck- 
wheat for a crop* in the order they are 
mentioned, will next claim the assistance 
of the plows. The first should be planted 
in May, in hills eight feet apart, and to be 
well manured. The second in June, in 
drills, four feet apart and one foot asunder 
in the rows, with a large handful of dung 
on each potatoe, which let be uncut and 
of the largest sort. The third, that is tur- 
nips, to be sown partly in June and partly 
in July. And the 4th (buckwheat) as near 
as may be about the 10th of July. This 
field of sundries may be thus apportioned. 
Carrots, 5 acres, 

Potatoes, -■' - 5 " 
Pumpkins, - 1 " 

Turnips, - - 1 " 

Peas, - - 15 <• 

Flax, - - 3 » 

Tobacco, - - o " 
Buckwheat being the remainder. 
That it may be ascertained, by repeated 
experiments, whether carrots., or potatoes 
is the most productive and valuable root, 
I would have the 10 acres allotted for 
them in one square, and the rows for each 
alternate through the whole square, and 
each to have the same quantity of dung 
allowed to it. 

The work which has been enumerated 
for the plows, together with the plowing 
in of the buckwheat before harvest, the 
wheat after harvest and the workings of 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



58 



the several species of crops during their 
growth, is all the employment that can be 
recollected at present for this part of the 
force of the plantation until the autumn 
plowing for the next year's crop commen- 
ces. But as these, till the system is 
brought more into practice and the prece- 
ding crop is a better preparation of the 
ground for the succeeding one than is the 
case at present, will require much exer- 
tion and an addition of plows, one may 
be added to the number at Dogue Run, 
which will make five there, and another 
to Muddy Hole, which will make five 
there. 

Much fencing is necessary at this plan- 
tation, before it can be sard to be advan- 
tageously laid off and in good order. 

Those which require to be first done are 
the one which divides field No. 4 from 
the meadow, but as the rails which are 
about the stacks will be most convenient 
for this work, it may be delayed till they 
can be spared. In the meantime, no 
heavy stock must run in that field, to 
trample and poach the meadow. 

The next that requires doing is the line 
from the head of the meadow to the new 
road (which is to be laid ofT) thence with 
the road to the Tumbling dam ; and then 
round field No. 7, agreeably to the plow- 
ing and the rails which have been laid 
there. 

Next after these, the crop fence between 
field No. 5 and the woods should be done, 
and 

Then the fence which was begun last 
year (but not finished) between fields No. 
2 and 3. The fence which divides the 
first of these, that is No. 2, from the great 
meadow requires doing also. 

All these are essential, as it also is to 
strengthen the post and rail fence which 
divides No. 1 from 2 and 3; but as this 
can never be made a good one until the 
whole is taken down and both posts and 
rails shortened, it must be postponed till 
there is time to do; this, righting it up in 
such a manner as to make it answer for 
the present, being all that can be attempt- 
ed this year. 

Lastly, when time will admit, after the 
posting and railing from the tumbling dam 
to the mill is completed, the rails which at 
present run upon that line may serve to 
separate the great meadow into three divi- 
sions, as will be marked out. 



Everything that the hoe people can do 
in the course of the winter towards get- 
ting the old crop off hand, and preparing 
for the new one, ought to be the first ob- 
ject of consideration and must be closely 
attended to. 

Carrying out dung, when the cart can 
be spared, and the ground is in order for 
its reception either for carrots, potatoes, 
tobacco, &c, is not to be neglected. 

Grubbing and filling up gullies in the 
fields which are to receive the crops this 
year is also essential. 

And if these should not afford sufficient 
employment, the overplus time may be 
spent in clearing swamps, or the sides of 
them so as that they may hereafter, when 
drained effectually, be tended in tobacco 
previous to their being laid down in grass. 

At this place I propose to plant about 
thirty thousand tobacco plants in field No. 
1, round the houses and stacks, where they 
will be most convenient to manure and 
where the ground is not very rich. The 
ground for this crop ought lo be broke up 
(either with the plows or hoes) early, that 
the green sward may have time to rot. If 
thirty thousand can not be got here, that 
is proper, the deficiency may be made up 
by the gate that goes into No. 5. 

RIVER PLANTATION. 

Early and good plowing at this place is 
indispensably necessary. The field No. 
7 intended for spring grain (that is barley 
and oats) would, was justice done to it, 
call for a second or crop plowing by the 
time the plows will begin to break it up — 
consequently field No. 1, designed for corn, 
will hardly get more than a listing — and 
the field No. 4, which ought to have recei- 
ved a crop of sundries must go altogether 
uncultivated this year. 

After field No. 7 is sown, with barley, 
oats and grass seeds (the latter is the pro- 
portion mentioned at other places), if the 
preparation of No. 1 for corn cannot be 
postponed without involving injurious con- 
sequences to that crop, the plows must go 
there next, and do all that is necessary 
for getting it planted in time and in good 
order. 

But as I do not mean to plant potatoes 
or carrots among corn this year, as was 
the case last year, inclining to allot sepa- 
rate spots for this purpose — these spots 
and that which is intended for tobacco, 



54 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



ought to be immediately plowed that the 
weeds and grass (where there are any) 
may have time to rot and the ground be in 
order to receive manure. The spot which 
I would principly appropriate for carrots 
and potatoes, is that whereon the flax grew 
last year, but if more can conveniently be 
obtained elsewhere, it ought, as that spot 
is insufficient. The ground for tobacco, 
(40,000 plants) I mean to lay off in a long 
square from the farm pen up to field No. 
2, which when plowed and chequered will 
be ready to receive dung at times when 
the carts can with convenience carry it 
out. 

All the plowings which are here enu- 
merated being accomplished, the season 
probably will have arrived when No. 8 
will require to be cross plowed and sowed 
with buckwheat for manure (in April.) 
This is in all respects to be managed as 
directed for Dogue Run, and after harvest 
is to receive wheat (in August) as there 
mentioned. 

These, with the necessary workings of 
the several species of corn, which must 
not be neglected, will, it is presumed, give 
sufficient employment for the plows. If 
not, there can be no difficulty in finding 
work for them. 

Much fencing is wanting on this planta- 
tion before it can be in the order I wish to 
seed it ; but among the most essential of 
these is the fence which is to enclose field 
No. 1 for corn. 

That which run3 from the second gate 
(going into the plantation) to the creek di- 
viding my land from Col. Mason's, and that 
which is to form the lane which is to lead 
from the barn into the lane which now 
goes to Johnson's, and which must con- 
tinue the other way, so as to open a com- 
munication with fields No. 1, 3 and 4. 

As timber is very scarce on this tract, 
it must in fencing, as well as in other 
things, be made to go as far as possible, 
consequently posts and rails (of a good 
substantial kind) must be substituted in- 
stead of the usual kind of worm fences. 

To point out ail the work for the hoe- 
people of this plantation is unnecessary. 
To finish the old and prepare for the new 
crop — to put up fences — to heap all the 
dung early, that it may get well and soon 
rotted — to carry it out and lay it in the 
furrows intended for carrots and pota- 



toes, and on the ground intended for 
tobacco. Grubbing and filling up gullies 
in the fields which are to receive crops 
this year (with old rails, old stumps, old 
trees, and such other rubbish as can be 
had conveniently.) Levelling the bank 
on which a fence formerly run through 
field No. 8, will, with the cultivation of the 
crops that will be planted and sown, and 
gathering them in, compose the greater 
part jf not all of their labor. But if there 
should, notwithstanding, be time for other 
things, I know of nothing in which they 
could be more advantageously employed 
than in getting up rich mud from the bran- 
ches in No. 8 to spread over the poor and 
washed parts of that field before it is sown 
in wheat next August. 

MANSION HOUSE. 

The ditches, after the post and rail fence 
which they are now about to the tumbling 
dam is completed, and a strong one put up 
across the mill run (as will be marked off) 
may continue on to the line of stakes 
which will be set up, but are not to use 
(for this purpose) those posts which w T ere 
got by Manley's house, as they will be 
more convenient for the lane which is to 
form the new road from the ferr}' by the 
mill as authorized by the county. After 
this work is performed, it will be time 
enough to point out more. 

To say what the other part of the force 
of this place shall be employed about, is 
next to impossible, as there is such a va- 
riety of jobs for them to attend to besides 
fishing — hay making and the grain harvest 
in their respective seasons, which must 
unavoidably employ them while they last. 

But as it is designed to raise tobacco, and 
to tend that part (at least) of the new 
ground in front of the house which was 
cleared last year, in corn, in order that it 
may be laid down in the fall in wheat and 
orchard grass, they must prepare for them 
accordingly, and under the circumstances 
above mentioned, attempt as much of the 
first (that is tobacco) as there is a moral 
certainty of their tending well. The men 
may be employed in getting posts and 
rails of a good kind for the purpose of en- 
closing this tobacco. Rut it is essential, if 
any labour is expected from the girls and 
boys which are about this house, to keep ' 
some persons with them who will not only 
make them work, but who will see that 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



55 



the work is well executed, and that the 
idleness, which they appear every day in 
the practice of, may be avoided, for, at 
present, to skulk from house to house 
under some frivolous pretence or another, 
seems to be the principal employment of 
most of them. 

To require that my people may be at 
their work as soon as it is light, work till it 
is dark, and be diligent while they are at 
it. can hardly be necessary, because the 
propriety' of it must strike every manager 
who attends to my interest, or regards his 
own character, and who, on reflection, 
must be convinced that lost labor can 
never be regained, the presumption being, 
that every laborer (male or female) does 
as much in the 24 hours as their strength, 
without endangering their health or con- 
stitution will allow of; but there is much 
more in what is called head work — that is 
in the manner of conducting business, 
than is generally imagined. For instance, 
take two managers and give to each the 
same number of labourers, and let those 
labourers be equal in all respects — let both 
those managers rise equally early, go equ- 
ally late to rest, be equally active, sober 
and industrious, and yet, in the course of 
the year, one of them, without pushing 
the hands which are under him more than 
the other, shall have performed infinitely 
more work. To what is this owing? Why 
simply to contrivance resulting from that 
forethought and arrangement which will 
guard against the misapplication of labor 
and doing it unseasonably ; for in the af- 
fairs of farming or planting, more perhaps 
than in any other, it may justly be said 
there is a time for all things. Because, if 
a man will do that kind of work in clear 
and mild weather which can as well be 
done in frost, snow or rain, when these 
come he has nothing to do, consequently, 
during that period there is a total loss of 
labour. In plowing too, though the field 
first intended for it, or on which the plow 
may actually have been at work, should, 
from its situation be rendered unfit (from 
rain and other causes) to be worked : and 
other spots, even though the call for them 
may not be so urgent, can be plowed, this 
business ought to go on, because the gene- 
ral operation is promoted by it. So with 
respect to other things, and particularly 
carting, when nothing is more common 
than when loads are to go to a place, and 



others to be brought from it, though not 
equally necessary, at the same moment, 
to make two trips when one would serve. 

These things are only enumerated to 
show that the manager who takes a com- 
prehensive view of his business will throw 
no labour away. 

For this reason it is, I have endeavored 
to give a general view of my plans — with 
the business of the year — that the con- 
cerns of the several plantations may go 
on without application daily for orders, 
unless it be in particular cases, and where 
these directions are not clearly under- 
stood. 

G. WASHINGTON. 

Mount Vernon, Jan. 1, 1789. 

The above and foregoing is for Mr. John 
Fairfax. 



THE FARMS AND FARMING OF OHIO. 

Ohio is, in fact, the first agricultural State 
of the American Union, and as such occupies 
a position of great interest and importance. 
For this reason we have occasionally, in con- 
nection with Railroad subjects, considered the 
products of agriculture, as a basis of com- 
merce and transportation. It is our purpose 
now to give a general view of the farms and 
farming of this State. In reference to the 
annual crops, in the quantities of land, fences 
and persons given below, we shall make allow- 
ance for the six years growth from 1850 to 
1856. 

1. Of the Number and Quality of Farms. 

The number of acres of land in Ohio, an 1 
their distribution into cultivated and unculti- 
vated, is as follows : 

Acres of surface returned by the Auditor, 24,863,793 
Acres of improved land, - 11,429,250 

Acres of unimproved land, - 9,357.000 

Total of unoccupied farming land, - - 20,736,250 

Number of farms, 1G5.077 

Average acres in a farm, ----- 125 

The actual size of farms is exceedingly va- 
rious. In some parts of the State — especially 
on the Scioto and its tributaries, within the 
Virginia Military District — farms are often 
of very large size — from 500 to 2,000 acres 
each ; but, in the Miami country, and in the 
Western Reserve, farms are quite small. In 
two-thirds of the State the farms will average 
hardly 100 acres. We have in sight of us, at 
this moment, eight farms, whose aggregate is 
655 acres, making an average of 82 acres. On 
these, nearly 200 acres are unimproved. There 
is ample room to produce four-fold the an- 
nual crops in Ohio, which are at present pro- 
duced. 

2. Of the Value of Farms. 

The entire assessed value of property in 



56 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



Ohio is eight hundred and sixty millions of dol- 
lars. Of this, about three-fourths is in real es- 
tate, and of this again, about three-fourths in 
farms and lands. As only one-fifth of the State is 
yet unoccupied as farms, and that cannot be 
set down at more than half price, we can only 
deduct one-tenth of the value of lands on that 
account. We have, then, this result : 

Value of farms, $435,375,000 

Number of farm?, ----- 165,077 
Average value, - - - - ' - $2,637 00 
Average value per acre, - - - - $21 10 
The valuation of land is of course different 
in different counties — varying chiefly on ac- 
count of their vicinity to market, and their 
facilities of transportation. Farms near Cin- 
cinnati are worth more than any other Farms 
on a railroad are worth more than those off. — 
Farms near a station, where produce can be 
shipped, are worth more than those more re- 
mote. 

The following are the average valuations 
of farm lands in several counties : 

Hamilton County, (Cincinnati,) - - - $50 00 
Warren. - - * - - - * - 25 00 

Koss, (Chillicotbe,) 16 00 

Muskingum, (Zanesville,) - - - - 15 00 
Montgomery, (Davton,) - - - - 25 00 

Mercer, - " - 4 00 

Washington, (Marietta,) - - - - 6 00 

Morgan, 10 00 

Cuyahoga, 17 00 

Huron, 13 00 

Geauga, 10 00 

Ashtabula, 9 00 

Pickaway, - - - - 19 00 

Franklin", (Columbus,) - 18 00 

It will be seen that the Miami country is 
much the most valuable ; next the Scioto Val- 
ley ; next the Western Reserve ; and last the 
Muskingum. As farming lands, these ratios 
of value are very nearly correct; but had the 
coal %nd iron been estiksated properly, the 
valuation of the Muskingum country would 
have been much higher. 

The valuation of these sections taken collec- 
tively — that is of farming lands exclusively — 
were: 

Miami Valley, .... - $24 00 

Scioto Valley, 15 50 

Western Reserve, - - - - - 14 00 
Muskingum Valley, - - 13 00 

3. Of the Produce of Farms. 
Taking the average crops of Ohio for several 
years, and looking to the peculiar character- 
istics of last year, we should estimate the crops 
of last year as follows : 

Wheat, - - - bushels, - - - 20.000,000 
Corn, - - - - do - - - 80,000,000 
Oats, - - - - do - - - 15.000,000 
Kye, - - - - do - - - 500 000 
Barley, - do - 400,000 

Buckwheat, - do - 700,000 

Potatoes, - - - do - - - 5,000,000 
Hay. - - - tons, - - - 1,600,000 

Grass seed, - - bushels, - - 150,000 

Flax seed, - do - 200,000 

Beeswax, - - lbs., - - 1,900,000 

Butter, - - - do - - 35.000,000 

Cheese, - - - do - - 25,000.000 

Wool. - - do - - 12,000.000 



The value of these may be ascertained by 
taking the average value at the nearest mar- 
ket town. Wheat last year may be taken at 
$1 30 per bushel ; corn at 35c. ; oats 30c. ; 
rye $1 ; barley 80c; buckwheat $2 per bushel; 
potatoes 50c. ; hay $7 ; grass seed $6 ; flax 
seed $3 ; bees wax 25c. ; butter 15c. ; cheese 
7c. ; and wool 40c. 

The value of the farm produce in Ohio, then, 
without looking to the manufactured articles, 
such as beef, pork, lard, whisky, &c, may be 
estimated thus : 

Wheat crop, ; $26,000,000 

Corn crop, 28,000,000 

Oats, 4,000,000 

Rye, 500.000 

Barley, ; 320,000 

Buckwheat, 1,400,000 

Potatoes, 2,500000 

Hay, 11,405,000 

Grass seed, 900,000 

Flax seed 600,000 

Beeswax 250,000 

Butter, • 5,250,000 

Cheese, . 1,750,000 

Wool, 4,800.000 

Value of Pasturage for 2,000,0C0 of Cat- 
tle and Horses, . . . 6,000.000 
Value of Orchard and Garden products, 1,200,000 
Value of Wine— 400,000 gallons, . . 300.000 

Value of Produce, . . . $95,670,000 

Aggregate Farm Capital, . . $435,375,000 

Gross proceeds, . . . . 95,670,000 

Gross per cent, . . . 22, percent 

To ascertain the net proceeds of capital thus 
invested in actual farming, we will suppose 
the 165,000 farmers to receive $1 per day each 
for their labor, and allow S3, 000,000 per an- 
num for seed. Then we have this account : 

Labor $50,645,000 

Seeds, . . . . . 3,000,000 

$53,6-15,000 
Gross proceeds, .... 93.670,000 

Net profits, . . . $42,025,000 

— Mansfield Railroad Record. 



SILESIAN MERINOS. 

These are of a more recent importation^ 
and are less known to the public than any 
of the other three varieties. The first im- 
portation of this kind reached New York 
Hi May, 1851, and was personally selected 
by the writer, with whom wits associated 
as a partner, William Chamberlain, of New 
York. Like the other Merinos, originally 
from Spain they were exported from thence 
into Germany, in 1811, since which time 
they have been in the care of a most skil- 
ful breeder, who is also a gentleman of 
high scientific attainments, but ardently 
devoted to the improvement of his flocks. 
Unlike most of the German breeders, he 
has avoided the error of sacrificing all other 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



57 



Considerations to the quality of the staple. 
The sheep of the German States generally 
are- of the Saxon variety of the Merino, 
and would not meet with countenance from 
the wool growers of New England. 

The flock in question was bred purely 
from the Infantado Negreti family, of 
which fact the gentleman was able to fur- 
nish us with undoubted evidence ; and it 
is confidently believed that another pure 
bred Negreti flock does not exist. They 
presented to the observer that uniformity 
of appearance and sameness, which is a 
prima facie evidence of purity of blood and 
skill of breeding. After satisfactory ex- 
amination, I am confident in the conclusion 
that selections from this stock would sup- 
ply an existing want, and prove acceptable 
to a large class of wool growers in our 
own country. Subsequent events have 
justified the correctness of the conclusion, 
and additional shipments have been ne- 
cessary to supply the demand. 

The ewes of this variety are nearly 
faultless in shape ; the rams are less per- 
fect in this respect previous to maturity. 
They are thickly covered with a compact 
and exceeding fine growth of wool, hold- 
ing its evenness and thickness over the 
entire pelt in a remarkable degree : are of 
a medium size, the ewes weighing at ma- 
turity from 80 to 100 pounds, and the rams 
from 100 to 150 pounds. The weight of 
fleece is about the same as the best Span- 
ish flocks, but the length of staple is not 
quite so long, but more compact. The 
natural oil is sufficiently abundant to give 
them the desirable dark surfaces, but, un- 
like some of the Spanish, it is wholly re- 
moved by washing in cold water. 

The offspring resulting from the union of 
these rams with the common Spanish ewes 
have proved more satisfactory to those who 
have made the cross, the quantity of wool 
having been considerably increased, and 
the quality much improved from the ori- 
ginal stock. 

In concluding this description, the facts 
will warrant me in saying that, as to pu- 
rity of blood, they stand pre-eminent. 
The other two varieties, although of pure 
Merino blood, are yet the offspring result- 
ing from a union of the sub-varieties be- 
fore referred to. For the profitable pro- 
duction of the finest grade of wool, the 
Silesians are unequalled. But, it may be 
asked, which of these varieties, all things 



considered, are the best adapted to the 
mass of wool growers ? The question does 
not admit of a direct answer. The indi- 
vidual circumstances of each farmer must 
be taken into the account, and his location, 
conveniences for keeping a large or small 
number, and the nature of his pastures 
must have their due weight in deciding 
the question. [Geo. Campbell, in Patent 
Office Report* 

WARRANTY OF HORSES. 

" As much time and money is often 
wasted in law-suits about horses, I shall 
conclude with a slight notice of the law of 
warranty, and a summary of what con- 
stitutes unsoundness. 

The warranty must be given at the ac- 
tual time of the sale; if given either be- 
fore or after, it is invalid. Thenvarranty 
of a servant is binding on the master. 

A horse is unsound if lame at the time 
of sale, no matter whether the cause be 
removed or not. Corns, cough, any dis- 
ease interfering with perfect freedom of 
breathing, crib-biting, curbs, enlarged 
hocks, ossification of the lateral cartilages, 
pumiced feet, quittor, ringbone, sandcrack, 
spavin, and cutting, splint, and contracted 
feet, when they occasion lameness. All 
constitute unsoundness. 

I cannot, gentlemen, conclude without 
colling your attention to the splendid build- 
ing, which with a noble determination to 
keep pace with the spirit of the times, has 
been erected by the inhabitants of this 
district for your accommodation ; and to 
the very marked and satisfactory improve- 
ment shown in every department of the 
exhibition, let us hope that when the So- 
ciety again holds our great national jubilee 
in this City, your then President may have 
equal cause to congratulate you on the ad- 
vancement which has been made, as I now 
have, when I compare this with the last 
show held in this place." — From the Ad- 
dress of the President of the Provincial 
Canadian Jig. So. 



Analysis of Soils. — Prof. Nesbit, ofKen- 
nington (Eng.) Agricultural and Chemical 
College, in reply to a question, said — "The 
analyzation of soils often reminded him of 
the man, who, having a house to self came 
with a brick in his pocket as a sample of 
the house. There might be almost fifty 
kinds of soils in the same field. 



58 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



PRICES OF WHEAT IN ENGLAND. 

Below will be found a table of the annual 
average prices of wheat in Great Britain for 
214 years — that is to say, back to the times of 
Cromwell. The table presents many curious 
facts. The average of the past year, says the i 
Economist, has been higher than in any year • 
since 1819, and is about the same as in 1796, I 



1054-59 
1668-69 
1706-10 
1732-35 
1750-53 
1761-65 
1869-74 
1779-83 
1787-90 
1791-96 
1798-01 
1807-10 
1814-17 
1822-25 
1835-39 
1845-47 
1851-55 



The exorbitant prices of the periods 1796 
and 1810, were those of paper money. It is 
observable that the rise commenced always 
after an extreme fall, and continued always 
four 3^ears, with the exception of 1845-47, 
when the price culminated in the third year. 
It might be curious to investigate in how far 
this short period might be due to free trade in 
corn. Up to the close of the last century not 
only was England, as a whole, an exporter of 
wheat, but the interior communication was so 
difficult as to make prices far from uniform. In- 
deed, in some counties crops would rot on the 
ground, while in others famine prevailed, yet 
transportation was almost impossible. Hence, 
in the first century of the table, prices were 
not so regular, but prices touched lower points 
than in the present century. It is remarkable 
that 1851 was the lowest average year of the 
present century, and it was in that year the 
full effect of the high prices of 1847— followed 
by the abolition of the corn duties — was felt. 
The table shows that in the five years, 1847 to 
1851, prices fell annually 69s. to 38s. In the 
five years which have since elapsed, they rose 
annually 38s. to 74s. This prolonged rise is 
doubtless due to the influence of war, which 



j when it was higher than it had before been du- 
I ring 147 years, that is to say, back to 1848. A 
1 point of interest in the table is the continual 
fluctuations, showing a gradual rise through 
several years to a maximum, and a more rapid 
decline. It is to be remarked that the rise gen- 
erally continued five years. These periods of 
rise were as follows : — 



llings. 


Shillings. 


Shillings. 


Shillings. 


Shillings. 


Shlgs. 


23 


29 


38 


41 


57 


58 


32 


32 


35 


.39 








23 


25 


36 


69 


69 





23 


25 


30 


38 








28 


34 


37 


39 








26 


34 


36 


41 


48 





40 


43 


47 


50 


51 


52 


33 


35 


44 


47 


52 





38 


41 


45 


51 


54 


„ 


41 


43 


49 


52 


75 


78 


51 


69 


113 


119 


— 





75 


81 


97 


106 








65 


78 


96 


— 








44 


53 


63 


68 








39 


48 


55 


64 


70 





50 


54 


69 


— 








38 


41 


53 


72 


74 


75 



has cut off many of the supplies before depen- 
ded upon to check an extreme advance. That 
difficulty has now passed away, and the prolong- 
ed high prices must have exercised tjieir usual 
effect in stimulating production, and, conse- 
quently, bringing about that decline in prices 
which has inevitably, under all circumstances, 
succeeded a rise. It will be seen, on inspect- 
ing the table of annual prices that the most 
rapid fall has always followed the highest 
prices, and this result has been more marked 
as communication has become more prompt and 
duties have been removed. It follows inevita- 
bly from this table of over two centuries of ex- 
perience that the present is the year of culmi- 
nating prices, and that the next five years will 
be of falling prices, in relation to other com- 
modities. The apparent decline will be coun- 
teracted by the decline in the value of the gold 
currency, which must now probably become 
more marked. When the mines of America 
were discovered in 1520, there was no apparent 
effect upon prices until the close of the century. 
From 1570 to 1640 the depreciation of silver 
was marked, and it'then ceased. The evidence 
in the price of wheat is as follows : — 





s. 


d. 




s. 


(1. 


Average 12 years to 1451, 


. 21 





Average 12 years to 1601, 


. 47 


7 


1497, . 


. 14 





20 " 1621, . 


. 41 


7 


1560, . 


. 10 


6 


16 " 1636, . 


. 50 






Thus the value of wheat, under the influence 
of enhanced supplies of silver, quadrupled from 
1560 to 1640, from which time (as will be seen 
in the table of annual averages) the effect 
ceased. It is now highly probable that the ef- 



fect of gold will begin to manifest itself, and 
the prices of wheat will take a higher level, 
and this will apparently counteract tho decline 
which should result naturally from the high 
prices that have prevailed, and the stimulus 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



59 



those prices have given to production. Hence, I perity are coming into operation, viz : — abun- 
it follows, that two powerful elements of pros- 1 dance of gold and relatively cheap food. 

Yearly average price of Wheat in Great Britain from 1641 to 185G. 



8. 


d. 


Year. 


s. 


d. 


Year. 


s. 


d. 


Year. 


s. 


d. 


Year. 


s. 


d. 


57 


1 


1685 


41 


5 


1729 


41 


7 


1773 


51 


0(1816 


78 


6 


60 


2 


1686 


3d 


2 


1730 


32 


5 


1774 


52 


8|1817 


96 


11 


,59 


10 


1687 


22 


4 


1731 


29 


2 


1775 


48 


41818 


86 


3 


61 


3 


1688 


40 


10 


1732 


23 


8 


1776 


38 


21819 


74 


6 


51 


3 


1689' 


26 


8 


1733 


25 


2 


1777 


45 


61820 


67 


10 


42 


8 


1690 


30 


9 


1734 


30 


9 


1778 


42 


04821 


56 


1 


65 


5 


1691 


30 


2 


1735 


38 


2 


1779 


33 


84822 


44 


7 


75 


6 


1692 


41 


5 


1736 


35 


10 


1780 


35 


81823 


53 


4 


71 


1 


1693 


60 


1 


1737 


33 


,911781 


44 


8,1824 


63 


11 


68 


1 


1694 


56 


10 


1738 


31 


61782 


47 


1011825 


68 


6 


65 


2 


1695 


47 


1 


1739 


34 


2 


1783 


52 


8'1826 


58 


8 


44 





1696 


63 


1 


1740 


45 


1 


1784 


48 


10 ! 1827 


58 


6 


31 


6 


1697 


53 


4 


1741 


41 


5 


1785 


51 


10:1828 


60 


5 


23 


1 


1698 


60 


9 


1742 


30 


2 


1786 


38 


101829 


66 


3 


29 


7 


1699 


56 


10 


1743 


22 


1 


1787 


41 


21830 


64 


3 


38 


2 


1700 


35 


6 


1744 


22 


1 


1788 


45 


04831 


66 


4 


41 


5 


1701 


33 


5 


1745 


24 


5 


1789 


51 


21832 


58 


8 


57 


9 


1702 


26 


.2 


1746 rf 


34 


811790 


54 


91833 


52 


11 


58 


8 


1703 


32 





1747 


30 


111791 


41 


71834 


46 


2 


50 


9 


1704 


41 


4 


1748 


32 


101792 


43 


0|1835 


39 


4 


62 


2 


1705 


26 


8 


1749 


32 


10|1793 


49 


3J1836 


48 


9 


65 


9 


1706 


23 


1 


1750 


28 


101794 


52 


311837 


55 


10 


50 


8 


1707 


25 


4 


1751 


34 


2il795 


75 


21838 


64 


4 


36 





1708 


36 


10 


1752 


37 


21796 


78 


71839 


70 


6 


43 


10 


1709 


69 


9 


1753 


39 


81797 


53 


91840 


66 


4 


32 





1710 


69 


4 


1754 


39 


01798 


51 


101841 


64 


5 


32 





1711 


48 





1755 


30 


11799 


69 


01842 


57 


5 


35 


6 


1712 


41 


2 


1756 


40 


11800 


113 


101843 


50 


2 


39 


5 


1713 


45 


4 


1757 


53 


41801 


119 


61844 ' 


51 


3 


37 





1714 


44 


9 


1758 


44 


511802 


69 


10J1845 


50 


9 


37 


4 


1715 


38 


'2 


1759 


35 


3|i803 


58 


101846 


54 


9 


36 


5 


1716 


42 


8 


1760 


32 


51804 


62 


31847 


69 


5 


41 


5 


1717 


40 


7 


1761 


26 


91805 


89 


911848 


50 


6 


61 





1718 


34 


6 


1762 


24 


8|1806 


79 


11849 


44 


6 


57 


5 


17.19 


31 


1 


1763 


36 


1 


1807 


75 


4|1850 


40 


4 


33 


9 


1720 


32 


10 


1764 


41 


5 


1808 


81 


41851 


38 


7 


37 


4 


1721 


33 


4 


1765 


48 





1809 


97 


41852 


41 





52 


5 


1722 


32 





1766 


43 


1 


1810 ' 


106 


5ll853 


53 


3 


53 


4 


1723 


30 


10 


1767 


47 


4 


1811 


95 


31854 


72 


7 


40 





1724 


32 


10 


1768 


53 


91812 


126 


61855 


74 


9 


41 


5 


1725 


43 


1 


1769 


40 


7 


1813 


109 


91856 


73 





39 


1 


1726 


40 


10 


1770 


43 


6 


1814 


74 


4 








35 


6 


1727 


37 


4 


1771 


47 


2 


1815 


65 


7 








39 


1 


1728 


48 


5 


1772 


50 
» ■ «■-* — 


8 















A MACHINE FOR MILKING COWS. 

There is no work about a farm that is 
so universally considered drudgery, and 
avoided, and dreaded by all the inmates 
of the farm-house, as the constantly re- 
curring labor of milking. It is always 
the first thing to be done in the morning, 
and the last at night. And after a hard 
day's work at the washing-tub, or in the 
hay field, through a long, hot day in July 
or August, — to be obliged to sit down and 
milk three' or four cows, is certainly no 



very trifling or attractive affair. To be 
able to perform this work easily and rap- 
idly by machinery is therefore one of the 
most desiiable steps to be made in the 
process of labor-saving inventions, in ag- 
ricultural improvement. And when it is 
considered that in the United States alone, 
there were in 1850, 6,3.85,000 milch cows, 
each one to be milked by hand twice every 
day for about three hundred days in a 
year ; that the amount of the butter and 
cheese for that year, as shown by the 
census, was 418,881,000 pounds, in addi- 



60 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



tion to $7,000,000 worth of milk sold, we 
get some idea of the magnitude of the 
labor to be annually performed in milking. 

But it is not a difficult matter to perform 
all this unpleasant drudgery by machinery. 
The only wonder is, that so simple a thing 
had not been discovered and used years 
ago. Just look at a calf while he is suck- 
ing, and consider how rapiily, easily and 
perfectly he would perform the operation 
of drawing milk from the cow's udder, if 
he had four mouihs instead of one. And 
every one will see it is no very difficult 
affair to construct a machine with four 
months, that will do the same thing in the 
same way, quite as easily, rapidly and 
perfectly as the calf could do it ! drawing 
all the milk into a pale or vessel, free from 
every impurity, and with very little exer- 
tion. 

Acting on this idea, I have been de- 
voting the leisure momenls of some two 
two or three years to experiments, with a 
view to perfect a machine for milking 
cows ; and I am happy to say that I have 
succeeded beyond my most sanguine ex- 
pectations. My application for a patent 
is now under examination in the Patent 
Office, and the machine will soon be pre- 
sented to the public. 

It is somewhat dificult to describe even 
the most simple piece of mechanism, 
without diagrams or illustrations, so as to 
make one's self understood ; but this little 
machine is so simple, and its action so ea- 
sily comprehended, that I will venture to 
describe it without cuts or figuresj 

In the first place, I take a large size 
pale, either of tin or wood, and fit on it a 
cover so as to make it air tight ; then I 
construct a small pump in some compact 
form, so as to exhaust a part of the air 
from the pail. The pump made for my 
experiments (and which is described in 
the application for a patent) is a part of 
the cover to the pail, and being flat and 
thin, works rapidly and without friction, 
and does not wear so as to leak. It is only 
necessary to produce a slight vacuum, 
such as a calf might make with his mouth; 
I then connect four small rubber tubes, 
about eighteen inches long, with the top of 
the pail ; and on the other end of each of 
these tubes, I fix a little cup of tin, glass, 
or any other convenient material, about 
two inches in diameter and three inches 
deep. Over the top of each of these cups, 



is drawn a cap of thin, flexible rubber, 
having a sack or mouth in the centre, of 
sufficient size to receive the end of the 
cow's teat, with a small hole in the bottom 
for the milk to pass through. The cap fits 
to the top of the cup, air tight, by its own 
contraction, and also hangs around the 
end of the teat, but by its flexibility per- 
mits a free flow of the milk into the cup 
and through the rubber tube into the pail. 

Having got the machine in readiness, I 
slip each of the cows teats into one of the 
soft, flexible sacks or mouths, which can 
be done in an instant with the end of the 
thumb — the rubber clings around the teats 
and holds the cups in place. I then com- 
mence pumping slowly and easily, and the 
milk flows in a large, steady stream from 
each teat, through the tubes into the pail. 
The cow, meantime, is quietly chewing 
her cud, hardly knowing that anything is 
going on ; so perfectly is the teat sustain- 
ed by the rubber sack, that the suction 
hardly affects it at all, and there is no pul- 
ling, or flinching, or squeezing in an}^ di- 
rection. All the while the milk is flowing 
at the rate of about two quarts per minute; 
at any rate, I have milked eight quarts of 
milk from my cow in four minutes, with a 
machine by no means perfect ; because 
being the first and only one ever made, 
and got up only to experiment with, it has 
suggested improvements which will be 
embodied hereafter; I am entirely satis- 
fied that a child or a woman can milk with 
this machine with perfect ease, faster than 
four milkers, either men or women, can 
milk by hand. 

But the chiefest recommendation of the 
machine still remains to be mentioned. 
The common method of milking by hand 
necessarily exposes the milk to more or 
less dust, dripping from the hands, and 
other kinds of filth, which often spoils its 
taste, and always gives one the idea that 
he is swallowing a disagreeable amount of 
unmentionable materials. Even the best 
and most careful milkers cannot avoid get- 
ting something into the pail that should 
not go there. This is proved by the uni- 
versal custom of the straining milk imme- 
diately after milking, in all cases, and by 
whomsoever it may have been milked. 
But straining will not take out the drip- 
pings from the hands of careless, filthy 
milkers ; and the result is, a very general 
complaint among consumers, of the bad 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



Gl 



taste of milk, too often attributed to the 
adulteration or dishonesty of milkmen. 

This machine, however, entirely obvi- 
ates this unpleasant difficulty. The milk 
is drawn directly from the udder into a 
covered, air tight pail, where no dust or 
drippings or filth can fall of itself, or be 
thrown by carelessness. The Irish girls 
cannot dip their hands into the pail to 
moisten the teats, as is the common prac- 
tice, nor can the cow step into the pail, or 
kick it over, so as to spill the milk. 

In short, I think the milking machine 
will be a great labor-saving improvement 
for the agricultural community, and a gen- ; 
uine comfort to both the cows and the 
consumers. Immediate efforts will be 
made, after obtaining a patent, to intro- 
duce the machine to the notice of the pub- 
lic, and to supply the market demand for 
them. It is not possible at present to say 
at what price they can be afforded, but 
probably they will not cost far from five 
dollars apiece. 

John W. Ktngsman. 
[New England Farmer- 



DEATH OF A CELEBRATED HORSE 

The Spirit of Times announces the death of 
the imported horse " Trustee," the sire of the 
renowned mare* " Fashion," and several other 
remarkable trotters. He had reached the ad- 
vanced age of 27 years. 



and Academies, the Hotel Keeper, the Drug- 
gist, the Dentist, the Nurseryman, and in 
short to all who have anything to sell or any- 
thing to makeknown, the " Southern Planter" 
is recommended with confidence not only on 
account of the high character of those who sub- 
scribe to it, but likewise by the fact that it 
possesses the additional advantage of being 
printed in Book form and stitched, it is there- 
fore more apt to be preserved than an ordina- 
ry newspaper, which gives to advertisers a bet- 
ter chance of keeping themselves before the 
people. 

The increased business of this department 
of the "Planter" since it has been under- 
taken proves that those who have tried it, find 
it to their interest to encourage the enterprise. 
ADVERTISEMENTS 

WiH be inserted at the following rates : — 
For each square of ten lines, first insertion, 
One Dollar ; each continuance Seventy-Five 
Cents. 

Advertisements out of the City must be ac- 
companied with the money to insure their in- 
sertion. 

FARM FOE SALE. 




Macclesfield is situated on James River in Isle of 
j Wight County, distance about 23 miles from Norfolk ; 
a trip to and from which place — in sail boats — is ea- 
I silv made in a day. It contains about 500 acres of 
! land, 75 of which is marsh and fine for grazing. 
There are about 100 acres of arable land, the soil of 
which is well suited to the growth of corn, wheat, and 
particularly the root crops and vegetables- The bal- 
ance of the land is thickly set with second and ori- 
ginal growth pine, a great quantity of which may be 
spared. The improvements consist' of a commodious 
dwelling (not quite finished) and every necessary out 
house — all nearly new. For further particulars ad- 

W. P. JORDAN, Smithfield, 

Isle of Wight Co., Va. 
Jan 1857— It 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



TO ADVERTISERS. 
The Southern Planter having a large cir- 
culation in Virginia and North Carolina and 
a very respectable subscription list in the other 
Southern and Western States, offers one of the 
best mediums to advertisers that the State af- 
fords. Those who take it are almost exclu- 
sively farmers, substantial men who live in the 
country; the best customers to every trade, 
(except the lawyers,) the very class whom ad- 
vertisers desire to reach. To Boarding Schools 



LYOWB EATHAIEON 

Has now become the standard preparation for the 
HAIR. Its immense sale, nearly 1,000.000 bottles per 
year, attests its excellence and great superiority over 
all other articles of the kind. The Ladies universally 
pronounce the 

KATHAIROI 
to be, by far, the finest and most agreeable article they 
ever used. It restores the Hair after it has fallen 
out; invigorates and beautifies jit, giving: to it a 
rich glossy appearance, and imparts a delightful per- 
fume. Sold by all dealers throughout the United 
States, Canada, Mexico, Cuba and Sooth America, for 
25 cents per bottle. 

HEATH, WYNKOOP& Co, Proprietors, 

63 Liberty Street, New York. 
Manufacturers, also, of Perfumery of all kinds, and in 
great varietv. 
Jan 1857 — tf 



THE 




A If JL 4j £1 



ADVERTISING SHEET 



No. 1. RICHMOND, VA. January, 185T. 



TO BOOK BUYERS. 



.). ¥. RANDOLPH, 

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA, 

Has just published for free circulation, (those who wish to receive it, post, paid, will remit a three cent 
stamp.) an 8 vo, catalogue of 68 pages, containing 1,258 Works, embracing, 3,000 volumes, with the size, date 
of publication, binding and price of each. 

The whole catalogue is devoted to Books on America, comprising history, travels, statistics, periodicals, 
&c. both ancient and modern. 

This is the largest and most valuable collection ever offered for sule by any other house in the United 
States. 

Also published a catalogue of over 1,000 vols, of new and old Books, on Politics. Political Economy and 
Political History. Also a Catalogue of 2,000 new and standard Law Books, embracing many rare English 
editions not to be found elsewhere. Most of the works can be sent by mail post paid to those who remit the 
retail price. Book buyers will find the catalogues very useful, as the size, date of publication, binding, and 
price of each work are given. New Books received as published, and large additions are tnade to the stock 
of rare old works. Libraries bought and sold. » 

February 1st., will be published a catalogue of rare and valuable miscellaneous books, containing many 
thousand volumes. 



-NKW BOOKS 

Just published by J. W. Randolph. 

Black Acre v. While Acre — A case at Law. Reported by J. G., Esq., a retired Barrister of Lincolnshire, 
England. Now first printed " from a MS. of the reign of Queen Anne," price 75c " Here are law, politics 
and belles letters, all elegantly mingled together in an entertaining romance of Colonial Life in the reign of 
Queen Anne — the Augustine Age of English Literature. The story is allegorical, and though the manu- 
script claims to have come down to us from one of the past centuries, the story seems to have a prophetic ap- 
plication to the condition of Northern and Southern society, in our own era. We will have more to say on 
this rare morceau in a short time. Meanwhile we desire the public to become familiar with its contents. Let 
no educated man fail to procure and read it through to tho end — none will regret his pains. — Richmond Ex- 
aminer'" 

" It is a Southern work, and abounds, with fun, merriment and good hits at the fanatical spirit which gov- 
erns the abolitionists at the North. The whole work is amusing as well as instructive, and commends itself 
to all who peruse its pages," — Charlottesville Jeffcrsonian. . 



Scriptural and Statistical Views in favor of Slavery, 

By THORNTON STRINGFEILOW, D. D. Price 50c. 

It is a complete exposition of the institution of Slavery, giving Bible evidence to sustain its legality. It is 
a well written work,'and will repay a perusal, and the author deserves the patronage as well as the thanks of 
the people of the Southern State's, for the able defence he has put forth in behalf of their institutions. — 
Green briar Era. 

'• The true use of such a book at this time is to dissipate the doubts of that apologetic class of people in 
the South, who are in the habit of weakening the cause of the South by a weak defense and illogical Support 
of her vital institution of slavery." — N. O. Delia. 

13^ Books sent by mail postpaid to those who remit the retail price. 



SOUTHERN PLANTER,— ADVERTISING SHEET. 



63 




First Premium Trotting Stallion 

KOSSUTH. 

This justly renowned Trot- 
ting Stallion who has re- 
ceived at tlie Virginia State 
Agricultural Society the 
first premium two years in 
succession (1854 and 1855,) 
and a certificate of superior 
k ity over all trotting stallions 
on exhibition at the late Fair of 1856, (he being dis- 
qualified according to the rules of the Society from 
receiving any further premium having taken it on two 
former occasions) and who is now pronounced by 
judges to be' one of the purest bred and fastest trotting 
stallions in America, will commence his season on the 
first of March at the stable of the subscriber on the 
Mechanicsville Turnpike one mile from the City of 
Richmond. The season will expire the 20th of June. 

TERMS. 

$30 the season, if prepaid; or $35 payable at the 
close of the season. Insurance $50. Groom fee, $1. 

Kossuth was foaled in Columbia County, State of 
New York on the 9th of July 1847, is a beautiful rich 
dark brown, five feet three inches high, of great mus- 
cular power and symmetry of form, docile disposition, 
and can trot his mile inside of two minutes and forty 
seconds to a wagon. His colts- are remarkably fine 
and promising, having good action, and every indica- 
tion of speed. Three of them received first class pre- 
miums at the State Fair of 1855, and five at the 
Fair of 1856, and from $300 to $500 a piece has been 
refused for some of them at one year old. 

PEDIGREE. 

Kossuth was sired by that world renowned trotting 
horse New York, out of the well known trotting mare 
Lady of the Lake. Black Hawk while living was the 
champion of the turf, and all of his get are trotting hor- 
ees and command high prices. For further particu- 
lars refer to my bills, or the turf register, where it will 
be seen that Kossuth is not a chance horse, or one of 
doubtful pedigree, but that he belongs to a trotting 
family, and that one beyond dispute the very best in 
America and traces his blood for more than half a cen- 
tury through a line of choice ancestors — all celebrated 
for speed and great endurance — and goes back to some 
of the purest Arabian and Engiish Horses. Persons 
wishing to breed from Kossuth would do well to make 
early application as he will be limited having a fall 
engagement. 

Mares sent from a distance will be well taken care 
of at mv stable, at fortv cents per day. 

' If. J. SMITH, 
near Fairfield Race Course. 
Jan 1857— tf 



M0SCOREA BATATAS, NEW 

Chinese Fotatoe or Yam, 
The experience of another season in the cultivation 
of this new esculent, warrants in confirming all we said 
in relation to it last year. Wherever it has fallen into 
the hands of judicious cultivators, and received the 
care necessary to its full developement, the result has 
been entirely satisfactory in all respects; and it may 
confidently be reaffirmed that, "of all the esculents 
proposed as substitutes for the diseased potato, the 
Diosccrea Batatas is certainly the only important 
one." We can now supply small roots from 4 to 9 
inches in length, carefully packed for transport at $3 
per dozen ; and small seed tubers (such as we sold 
last year) at $1 per dozen or $7 per hundred; these 
latter can be sent by mail. Descriptions and direc- 
tions for culture furnished with each package. Where 
practicable parties are invited to examine the roots 
before purchasing, as we have them constantly on view. 
New Chinese Northern Sugar Cank. Seed of 
this celebrated and invaluable plant in packets at ¥l\ 
cts. each (prepaid by mail 25 cts.) or 75 cts. a lb. 
Chufas or Earth Almonds, $1 per 100. Japan 
Peas 50 cts- a quart— New Orange Water Melon 
(true) — Christiana Musk Melon— King Philip 
Corn — Sweet ' German Turnip etc. etc., with the 
largest and most comprehensive assortment of Veg- 
etable, Flower and Field Seed, to be found in the 
United States — Catalogues on application. 
JAS ; M. THORBURIM $ Co, 

Seedsmen &c, 15 John St. N. Y. 
Jan. 1857— It 



CHINESE SXJGAR-CAME SEEB. 

This new variety of Sugar-Cane Seed which has 
proved to be fully equal to the best Sugar-Cane, is 
now offered for sale by the subscribers in packages 
sufficient to plant a half an acre at the low price of 
$1, which quantity with proper cultivation will make 
from 200 to 300 gallons of syrup equal to the best New 
Orleans. 

ROGERS Si BOYERS, 
Agt. for R. Peters, Seed and Agricultural 

Store, 29 Market St. Phila. 



Gardening for the South. 

A New Work by W. N White of Alliens, Ga. 
Containing directions for cultivating- the Kitchen, Fruit 
Garden, and Orchards, with valuable lists of Fruits 
and Vegetables adapted to the Southern States, with 
Gardening Calenders for the same. Price $1,25. 
Sent bv mail post paid on receipt of price. 

C. M. SAXTON & Co. 
Agricultural Book-Publishers, 140 Fulton St N. Y. 



WYAHIJOT PROLIFIC CORF. 

THE GREATEST AGRICULTURAL WON- 
der of the age. Its discovery worth millions to ihe 
country. Yield 150 bushels to the acre, (some say 
200.) Plant only one kernel in a hill, each kernel 
will preclude from three to 12 stalks, 10 to 12 feet 
high, 4 to 20 ears. 8 to 14 inches long, 10 to 16 rows, 
of beautiful pearl wbite corn. Seed selected with 
care, warranted genuine, put in a parcel sufficient to 
plant an acre. Priee $1 50, delivered in New York 
City. Money or P. O. stamps must accompany the 
order, with directions how to send. 

Those who order sent by mail, and remit $4, will 
receive, post paid, a parcel to plant an acre; $2, half 
an acre; $7 quarter of an acre. Orders for less dou- 
ble the above rates. Circulars showing the result 
from different parts of the Union, will be sent to all 
who address to 

J. C. THOMPSON, 
Tompkinsville, Staten Island. N. Y. 

Jan 1857— tf 



Wyandot Prolific Corn for Sale. 

Having obtained from Mr. J. C. Thompson, Agent, 
Staten Island, N. Y., a small quantity of the above 
variety of corn, I succeeded only in vegetating 
about 70 quarts from which I have raised, and offer 
for sale about 69 quarts of rice seed at $2 per quart, 
which is sufficient to plant one acre one grain to the 
hill; full particulars lor planting and culture, gratis. 
Mv address, 

A. G. MOODY, Smithfield, 

jan— It Isle of Wight Co., Ya, 



puns Ricxxmxosra Gnorm b 

PIASTER 

Packed in barrels or loose. From Lump of Supe- 
rior quality. Mill, on Cainl, adjoining the Danville 
Depot, Office, No. 11 Pearl Street, Richmond Va. 

JOHN IL CLAIBORNE. 

Jan 1857— 3t. 



64 



SOUTHERN PLANTER.— ADVERTISING SHEET. 



John S. Beese's "Manipulated" 

dUAHC 

The unprecedented success which has attended the 
introduction of this Guano, and the increasing de- 
mand has induced the proprietor to enlarge his facili- 
ties for its production, hy the construction of ample 
and costly machinery, hoping thereby to be able to 
meet the extensive and growing demand of the ag- 
ricultural public. 

Possessing superior advantages forthe business the 
undersigned will give strict attention to the purchase 
and sale of Peruvian and other Guanos, assuring 
their agricultural friends and the public that the ut- 
most reliance may be placed in {heir fidelity in furnish- 
ing pure articles, and on terms equally favourable 
with any house engaged in the trade- 
in order to give the closest possible attention to 
the preparation of their "Manipulated" Guano and 
the extended business they propose, the undersigned 
have associated themselves, in the Guano trade and 
their business will hereafter be conducted under the 
style of John S. Reese & Co., to whom all orders and 
letters of enquiry must be addressed', 

JOHN S. REESE, 
JOHN VV. McCONKY. 
Baltimore, Md. 
The "Manipulated" Guano is put up in strong 
bags of convenient size, each bearing the name of 
John S.Reese & Co., which must be the guarantee 
of genuineness. 

JOHN S. REESE & CO., 
Office No. JO, Exchange Building. 

Baltimore, Md. 

' J. R. liEIMMGHAM, ~ 

DEALER IN 

BOOKS & STATIONERY, 

No. 225, Broad Street, Richmond, Va. 

BOOKS bound in every variety of style, and 
Blank Books made out the best material at short 
notice. Clerks of Courts and others will find 
their orders thankfully received, and executed 
well and promptly, at strictly moderate prices. 

June 1856— ly* 

Something Mew! Beautiful!! and 

Meritorious ! ! ! 

Eclipsing anything yet attempted in the way of pic- 
tures. They give a prominence of relief and softness 
of tint never before attained. We avoid that sombre 
look so objectionable in Ambrotypes. As the sitting is 
but a second it is invaluable for Children. The_ sub- 
scriber has spared neither pains nor expense to intro- 
duce this beautiful art in this city. Me produces fault- 
less portraits in all weather, and at all ho;:rs of the 
dav. D. BEND ANN, 110 Main St., next 

Oct 1856—1 y door above Mi tc hell &- Tyler's. 

FALL STYLES OF DRESS HATS, 

Felt Hats, Kerseymere Hats, Servants' Wool Hats, 

Childrens and Infants' Hats and Caps. 

CLOTH, VELVET, l'LUSH, FUR AND GLAZED 

CAPS; MISSES FLATS; 

LADIES PURS, UMBRELLAS AND CANES. 

A huge new stock of the above Goods to be sold 

cheap, wholesale and retail, at the Premium Hat Store, 

207 Broad Street, Richmond, Va. 

Oct 1856- 1 y_ RICHARD MOORE- 

AGRICULTURAL LIME 

Of a superior quality, in any quantity over 1000 
bushels, for sale upon reasonable terms by 

CHAS. H. LAOCHER.& Co. 
Balcony Falls, 
July 1st— U" Rockbkiuge Co.. Va. 



SCHOOL AT SUMMER HILL. 

Iwaut FOUR Boarders for the next and third 
Session of my School, which will commence on the 
15th day of October next, and terminate on the first of 
August following. 

This School is intended to fit my sons for the Uni- 
versity, and I wish companions for them. I decline 
taking boys over fourteen years of age. The place is 
healthy, and its nearness to Richmond affords access 
to Churches of everv denomination. 

TERMS FOR ONE YEAR.— Two hundred dollars, 
one half on entering School, the balance on the first of 
March. FRANK. G. RUFF1N. 

July 1 — tf 



PHILIP RASiM, 

EAGLE FOUNDRY, Richmond, Va. 
(Cary Street, between Pearl and 15th.) 
Manufactures LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES, TEN- 
DERS, CARS, and all kinds of Railroad Machinery. 
Engines of any power, Portable Engines, decided im- 
provements over any others heretofore made, (5 to 40 
horse power,) on wheels, adapted to farming 1 , getting 
lumber &,c. with improved Portable Circular Saw Mills 
attached, of 1st, ^d and 3d class. Also Machinery for 
Mining, Grist Mills, Tobacco Factory Fixtures. Brass 
and Iron Castings made to order. Oct '56 — ly 



English Breeding Stock. 

THOMAS BETTS & CO., 
14 Canning Place, Liverpool, England. 
Exporters of Thorough Bred Horses, Cattle, and 
Sheep on commission, and shipped to any sea ports in 
America. Circulars giving the prices of the best Stock 
in England and the expenses to America, can be re 
ceived bv applying to their Agent, 

J. M. MILLER, 
81 Maiden Lane, New York City. 
Dec 1S56 — 6 mos 

R. H. Meadk.) (T. R. Baker. 

Graduate Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. 

rtrXEABS St BAKSR, 

Apothecaries, Chemists and Pharmaceu- 
tists. 

186, N. W. Comer of Main and 10th Sts. 
Diagonally opposite the Farmers and Virginia Banks, 
and just above the new Custom House. 
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA. 
Offer to Farmers, Physicians and Families, a new 
and perfectly frjesk stock of Pure Drugs, Chemicals 
and Medicines; Surgical Instruments; Spices; Im- 
ported Cigars ; Chewing and Smoking Tobacco ; Fan- 
cy Articles, Perfumery, Soaps, Brushes, &c, &c ; on 
good terms as any other House in the Country. 
7 Sep 1856— ly 

Agency for the Purchase and Sale of 
Improved Stock. 

QTOCK CATTLE of all the different 

O breeds, Sheep, Swine, Poultry, &c, will be 
purchased to order and carefully shipped to any 
part of the United States, for which a reasona- 
ble commission will be charged. 

Apply to Aaron Clement, Philadelphia, 
B-efer to Gen. Win. II. Richardson, Richmond, 
Virginia. 

N. B. — All letters (post paid) will be prompt- 
ly attended to. ap '53. — tf 



SOUTHERN PLANTER.— ADVERTISING SPINET. 



WESTWOOD SCHOOL. 

Near Lyncldmrg, Va. 

The fourth Session pf this School will begin on the 
first Monday in September, and end on the last Friday 
of June, 1857. A recess of two weeks will be given 
at Christmas. The terms are $200 for every thing; 
payable one half on the first of September, the other 
half on the first of February. No deduction made 
for any cause except protracted sickness. 

The subjects (aught are the Latin, Greek, French, 
and Spanish Languages, Mathematics, and Civil En- 
gineering, together with the usual [tranches of an Eng- 
lish education. 

In the plan and management of the School, it .has 
been fhe subscriber's aim to combine the advantages of 
Home Education with those of a well regulated Acad- 

• em v. 

For further information apply to the subscriber at 
Lynchburg, Va. 

JOHN H. WINSTON. 
Aug— 6t 

GEO. WATT. | j P. H. STARKE. 

Cuff Brace Plows. 

THIS PLOW has been steadily increasing in 
favor with the Farmers and Planters of this State 
and several of the Southern States till it may now be 
considered the best and most popular plow in use. It 
has been put to the several trials by most of our large 
river Farmers, and has taken premiums at THREE of 
our State Fairs, and at the last took the FIRST PRE- 
MIUM over all the most popular plows in use. It 
has also taken the only two premiums ever given by 
the Virginia Mechanics Institute. Manufactured of 
every size from largest 4 horse to smallest 1 horse by 
the undersigned at their factory on Franklin Street, 
Richmond, Va., where we may be had nearly every 
article used for tilling the earth. ALL MADE IN 
OUR OWN SHOPS, of best materials, 

Aug '56— ly GEO. WATT & "CO. 

EIDGWAY SCHQOIa 

THE next session of my School will begin on 
the first Monday in September and end on 
the last Friday of June, 1857. There will be a 
vacation of two weeks at Christmas. I charge 
$220 for a whole session, or $25 a month for any 
period less than a whole session. I furnish my 
pupils board, lodging, fuel, washing, and make 

• no extra charges for anything except lights. I 
have three assistant teachers, and am prepared 
to give instruction in every branch of education 
proper to fit boys to enter the University of Vir- 
ginia. Fqr further particulars apply to me at 
Charlottesville, Va. 

FRANKLIN MINOR. 
June 1 — tf 



SAMPSON JONES, Ag't. 

(Of the old firm of B. & S. Jones,) 

Grocer and Commission Merchant, 

Comer of Main and 9th Streets, 
RICHMOND, VA. 
Invites the customers of the old firm and all wanting 
goods in his line, to give him a call. Purchasing and 
selling for cash, he is enabled to offer great induce- 
ments to^hisJTriends to buy of him. Consignments of 
all kinds of Country Produce will be sold at the high- 
est market prices, and prompt returns made. 
September 1856 — ly 



AMELIA ACADEMY. 

The 24th Session of this Institution will open on 
Oct. 1st, 1856, and close August 1st, 1857. 

Terms per Session of J© Months. 

Board and Tuition, $200; $100 payable Oct 1st, and 
$100 March 1st. The course of studies is preparatory 
for the University of Virginia, and the text books gen 
erallv the same. The Principal treats his Pupils as 
members of his family, and aims at their improvement 
in all respects. 

For further particulars see Catalogue of Amelia 
Academy for 1856. 

Direct Lodore P. O., Amelia. 

VVM. H. HAPcRISON. 

July 1856— ly* 

The Great Southern Hat and Cap Manu- 
factory and Depot. 

JOHN BOOLEY, 

No. 81, Main Street, Richmond Va. 

MANUFACTURER of HATS and CAPS on 
the largest scale, and in every possible variety, 
and Importe'iofNorth American and European FURS, 
HATS, CAPS, FLUSHES, TRIMMINGS, and all 
other articles belonging to the Trade, is always sup- 
plied with a splendid stock of Goods, for Wholesale 
and Retail, which in quality and quantity cannot he ex- 
celled by any other house in the South. His manu- 
facturing arrangements are of the completes! kind, and 
his facilities for supplying country merchants at the 
shortest notice cannot be surpassed. 
July 1856— ly 

CRENSHAW & CO. 

Commission Merchants and Grocers. 

North side of the Basin, 
RICHMOND, VA. 

Pay particular atlention to the sale of Wheat, Flour. 
Tobacco, and all descriptions of produce. Keep on 
hand a large assortment of Groceries, Genuine Peru- 
vian and Mexican Guano all of which they will furnish 
on the best terms. 

§3T* They continue their Wool Depot for grading 
and selling Wool to. which they invite the attention of 
the Growers in this State. 

June 1, 1856.— tf 



Southern Clothing House, 

AT 

RICHMOND, VA. 

THE Subscriber keeps con- 
stantly on hand a large and 
Fashionable Assortment of 
Ready made Clothing, of his 
own manufacture, of the latest 
and most approved Styles. 
Also a large assortment of 
Gentlemen's furnishing Goods, such as Handk'fs, 
Cravats, Neck Ties, Shirts, Drawers, Gloves, 
Suspenders, Collars, Umbrellas, &c., &c. 

In addition to which he keeps a large and 
general assortment of Piece Goods of every 
Style and Quality, which he is prepared to make 
to measure at the shortest notice and in the best 
and most fashionable style. 

E. B. SPENCE, 
may— ly No. 120, Corner of Main & 13 sts. 




II 



SOUTHERN PLANTER.— ADVERTISING SHEET. 



COLEMAN'S -FARM MILL. 

MANUFACTURED BY 

Roger's & Boyers, 
Philadelphia. 

Coleman's Farm Mill now stands unrivalled for sim- 
plicity, efficiency and durability, and it precisely meets 
the wants of every farm or plantation as it not only 
grinds Corn and Cob in the ear, but it will grind with 
rapidity shelled Corn, Rye, Oats or Wheat into fine 
or coarse meal and super fine floui if required. It is 
ready to attach to horse, steam or water power, and 
will grind from 6 to 15 bushels per hour, according to 
fineness and amount of power applied. 

This Mill is constructed on entire new principles, 
and can be run for years without any perceptible 
wear. In fact it has proven itself to be the only effi- 
cient and durable mill now in use. 

This Mill has obtained the highest premium at every 
Fair, where it has been exhibited in competition with 
other mills. 

Price for No. 3 or two horse power $50. Price for 
No. 4 or Water and Steam power $60. Hand Mill 
$10. 

We also manufacture Woodbury's Premium Horse 
Power Thresher and Cleaner — Mowing and Reaping 
Machines and all the most approved Implements. 
Manufacturers of Sup- Phosphate of Lime, and dealers 
in Grass and Field Seeds, Guano, &c. 

ROGERS & BOYERS, 
29 Market Street, Philadelphia. 

Dec 1856— 3t 

Routt's Premium Corn Planter. 

Improved Reversible Double Shovel Floug-Ii 

With Coulter attachment. And 

Reversible Sidewipes, Cultivators, &c. 

The Reversible Double Shovel Plow is constructed 
after the manner of the Gang Plough — one shovel in 
advance of the other. The peculiarity of its construc- 
tion consists in a wrought iron beam, branching into 
two and diverging from a common centre at the point 
of connection with the forward ends of the handles, 
running back and curved at irregular distances so as 
to serve as shafts for the attachment of the hoes or 
shovels. The shovels are pointed at both ends and 
with cuffs underneath at the centre, by means of which 
they are keyed on the shaft, are reversible at the plea- 
sure of the ploughman by the removal of the keys. 

A premium was awarded to this implemem at the 
late State Agricultural Fair, also on the Corn Planter 
and Seed Drill exhibited by the subscriber. 

The above articles are manufactured in the best man- 
ner by the subscriber at Somersett, Orange County, 
Va. 

A. P. ROUTT, P. M. 

Dec 1856— 3 1 

Wanted, 300 Active Young Men, 

To act as local and travelling agents in a business 
easy, useful and honorable, at a salary of $100 per 
month. A capital of $5 only required. No patent 
medicine or book business. Full particulars given, 
free, to all who enclose a postage stamp or a three 
cent piece, and address 

A. B. MARTYN, Plaistow, N. H. 

Dec 1856—3 mos 



Lunenburg Eamale School. 

The Second Session of this School will com- 
mence on the 1st of February, 1857. under the direc- 
tion of my daughter, A. M. RAGSDALE, and con- 
tinue ten months. The design of this School is to pre- 
pare young ladies for entrance into the advanced class- 
es of any female college. No pains or expense will be 
spared to make it equal in every respect to any school 
designed for a similar purpose. 

Competent teachers are engaged for each department. 

Terms per Session and Board $85 00 

English Tuition 20 00 

French and Latin, each 10 00 

Drawing and Painting in Water Colors 10 00 

Painting in Oil Colors 40 00 

Music on Piano, with use of instrument 40 00 

Ornamental Needle- Work 5 00 

Contingent Expenses 1 00 

One-half payable in advance, the balance at the close 
of the session. Address 

JOEL M. RAGSDALE, Macfarland's P. O. 

Nov 1856. — tf Lunenburg, Va. 



Chickering's Celebrated Piano-Fortes, 

NAT'L CARUSX Sole Agent, 
169 Main Street, Opposite Exchange Bank. 
Also Sole Agent for the highly esteemed instruments 
of BROWN & ALLEN. 
Aug 1856— ly 



Green Sand Marl of New-Jersey 

The New Jersey Fertilizer Company is now pre 
pared to receive orders for this most important Ma 
nure. For all lands upon which ashes are beneficial* 
the MARL is more than a substitute. Professor Cook^ 
in his Annual Report to the Legislature of New Jer- 
sey says : 

"The value of these MARLS is best seen in the rich 
and highly cultivated district which has been improved 
(almost made) by their use. But it may be interesting 
to examine the causes of their great value in agricul- 
ture, and to compare them with other fertilizers. For 
example : The potash alone may be taken, at an av- 
erage, as five per cent of the whole weight of the 
MARL ; a bushel, when dry, weighs eighty pounds ; 
and in the proportion mentioned, would contain four 
pounds of potash. This is nearly as much as there is 
in a bushel of unleached trood ashes." 

And again : " It is probable that the great value of 
the MARL is to be found in the fact that it contains 
nearly all the substances necessary to make up the 
ash of our common cultivated plants-" 

Price, delivered on board vessels at the wharves of 
the Company at Portland Heights, Raritan Bay, New 
Jersey, Seven Cents per Bushel. 

For further particulars, see Circular, sent free of 

postage. Orders for other fertilizers will receive 

prompt attention. Address either of the undersigned. 

CHAS. SEARS, Pres. 

Riceviile Post-Office, N. J. 

Tappen Townsend, Trea., Geo. W. Atwood, Sec. 

82 Nassau St.. N. Y. 16 Cedar St. N. Y. 

December 1856. 



A thorough bred Stallion For Sale. 

For sale, at a low price, the thorough bred Horse, 
John Bell— a sure foal getter, Of bin) C. F. M. Noland 
of Arkansas writes: "I raised ''John Bell," Boston 
is his sire. The Peditrree of Boston has been pub- 
lished a dozen times in the Register and Spirit. The 
dam of John Bell was Lilly — she by Eclipse out of 
Garland by Duroe. Garland was the dam of Port 
Boy, (the Northern Champion when Bascomb beat 
him), Fauquier and Suffolk. I run John Bell as one 
of the very best bred horses in America. Lellv's Ped- 
egree at full length has been published in the Register 
and Spirit." 

This Horse is now ten or eleven years old. and in 
fine health. He is the getter of large fine colts, and 
can be bought at a very low price for a horse of his 
blood. 

Address Ed- Southern Planter- 
July 1st— tf 



SOUTHERN PLANTER.— ADVERTISING SHEET. 



Ill 



MORRISON'S REAPER. 

Maufactured by William E.Morrison & Moore, 
Petersburg, Va. 

TESTIMONIALS. 

Brunswick, Va., Sept. 30th, 185G. 
Editor of the Southern Planter: 

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

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

It it built of the best material, in the most 
substantial manner, and cannot be otherwise 
than very durable. Its performance in the field 
is admirable — cutting a clean and wide row with 
great rapidity. Mr. Morrison, I think, has in 
this Reaper supplied the wants of the wheat 
grower in a very essential particular — giving 
him a machine of rapid and faithful execution, 
of easy draft and unusual durability, and there- 
fore deserves the thanks and patronage of every 
one interested in saving a wheat crop. You 
cannot too highly recommend it. 

Very respectfully, Yours, &c, 

D. T. POYNER. 

Richmond, Oct. 17th. 1856. 
Mr. Robt. J. Morrison : 

Bear Sir: — My father purchased one of your 
Reaping Machines. He was absent from home 
during harvest. I witnessed the performance of 
the machine, and I certify that it worked beau- 
tifully in every respect. 

Yours, very respectfully, 

P. C. WARWICK. 



Brunswick Springs, Oct. 4th, 1856. 
I had one of Morrison's Reapers in my wheat 
harvest for a short time last season, and was 
well pleased with its performance. It was tried 
on very inferior wheat and on rougher land than 
I had eyer seen any Reaper at work, there being 
many deep water-furrows, which afforded no se- 
rious obstruction to its progress. By compari- 
son with those I had before seen, MoCormick's, 
Hussey's and Burral's, I think it decidedly su- 
perior, from its lighter draught, and adaptation 
to work on land where these could not operate. 
I can conceive of nothing more beautiful and 
effective than the operation of the cutting appa- 
ratus of this machine. 

J. RAVENSCROFT JONES. 

Brunswick Co., Va. 
I have witnessed during the present harvest, 
the operation of Morrison's Reaper, and though 
under rather unfavourable circumstances, yet it 
performed its work admirably. I take great 
pleasure in recommending it to all who are in 
want of Reaping Machines. Its superiority 
over all others with which I am acquainted, is 
its lightness of draught, simplicity, and strength 
of construction. 

JOSEPH B. TRAYLOR. 

Brunswick, Sept. 12th, 1856. 
This is to certify that I have seen Morrison s 
Reaper in operatian, and that I think*the facil- 
ity with which it operates, and overcomes ob- 
stacles, far surpasses any other I have .ever seen 
or heard of. 

ROBERT S. POWELL. 



Richmond, June 28th, 1856. 
I hereby certify that I used Mr. Robt. J. 
Morrison's Reaper the present year, in cutting a 
part of my crop of wheat and clover, and that 
in both cases it performed remarkably well. 

WM. C. ALLEN. 

Richmond, June 30th, 1856. 
I have used Morrison's Reaper the present 
season. It cut the wheat very cleanly, and I 
think rapidly. I also saw it used in a field of 
good Clover with entire success. 

J. E. JOHNSON. 

Brunswick, Sept. 1st, 1856. 
I have seen Morrison's Reaper at work — It 
performs well. I would give it the preference 
over all that I have tried or seen. 

JAMES PERTCHETS. 

Petersburg, July 9th, 1856. 
This is to certify that I used one of Morrison's 
Reapers this harvest, and that it worked well, 
cut cleanly, and with very little labor to the 
team. I also say, I believe it the best Reaper 
I ever saw. 

GEORGE BAILEY. 



IV 



SOUTHERN PLANTER.— ADVERTISING SHEET. 




ILINDSEY'S DOUBLE ACTING 

Kotary Force and Lift Pump. 

This Pump has just been 
patented in America and 
England, and far excels any 
pump he v etofore invented ; 
its peculiarities are simplic- 
ity, power and cheapness. — 
Its simplicity: there is noth- 
ing about it but iron and 
cast metal, and it can be 
taken apart and put up by 
any one, and will last for an 
age. It has the power to 
raise water hundreds o feet. 
This pump is from 24 to 30 
inches in diameter and must 
set in the well or water. — 
Water rises in it by hand 
100 fe>et per minute! For 
cheapness: a No. 1 pump 
(for all ordinary purposes) 
complete, and fiftv feet of 

111 PJP e ' C0Pts !)Ut $30! The 
■■,-■_. handle at the top, turns the 
■_';;,' '•'■-•' \ -~ pipp and pump, and every 

■ «! « revolution fills the cylirder 
twice, affording an abundant 
""". ...."_ .._"„. JI -^ :- ■'■ '■'.. /".: supply of water with the 
least possible expense and 
labor. It is peculiarly adapted lo deep wells, railroad 
stations, mining and manufacturing purposes. This 
pump does not throw water, and is guarded against 
freezing and rust. Practical and scientific men pro- 
nounce it as without an equal, for all that is here claim- 
ed for it. The Scientific American, alter seeing it in 
operation., says : " This pump is very simple in con- 
struction, not liable to get out of order, durable, easily 
operated and economical; we regard it as an excellent 
improvement." Circulars, with an accurate drawing 
and full description, sent free of charge to all parts of 
the country No. 1, has a one inch pipe: No. 2, \\ 
inches; No. 3, \\ inches ; and the prices, with 50 feet 
of pipe, $30, $42 and $54 ; the No. 2 and 3 are design- 
ed for very deep wells, railroad stations, 8?c where 
much water is required. The subscriber is the general 
agent for the sale of these pumps to all parts of the 
world, and exclusive Agent for New York. Orders 
must be accompanied by the Cash, and should be ex- 
plicit as to the kind of pump wanted, depth of well, 
shipping address, &c They will meet prompt atten- 
tion. A pump and pipe weighs about 170 pounds. No 
charge for shipping or cartage. Wells over fifty feet 
should have extra gearing, which costs $3. 

JAMES M. EDNEY, Com. Merchant, 
W John Street, N. Y. 
For sale also bv H. LINDSEY, inventor, Asheville, 
N. C. August 1856. 

THE VIRGINIA FIRE AND MARINE 
INSURANCE COMPANY. 

CAPITAL ^200,000. 

Office No. 131 Main St., next East of the Dis- 
patch Newspaper Office, Richmond, Va. 
Chartered in the year 1832. 

HAS now been in operation about twenty-five 
vears, and lias paid over ($1,000,000) ONE MfL- 
LluN DOLLARS for losses. 

Farmers and others in Town or Country wishing 
their Dwellings, Lams and other Buildings or their 
contents insured against FIRE or their shipments in- 
sured against WA TER RISKS can be safely pro- 
tected in this long tried and responsible company on 
fair terms without, charge for 'Policy, All necessary in- 
formation prompt!* furnished. Address either of the 
undersigned. THOS. M. ALFK1ENI), Pres't. 

W. L. Covvardin, Sec'y. Aug '56— ly • 









r^i^s^fessa^s^ 



agrzcuxiTuraxi warehouse. 

The subscribers are prepared to receive Orders 
for all kinds of Agricultural Machines and Im- 
pletements of the latest and most approved pat- 
terns, which will be made of the best materials 
and of superior workmanship. They ask attent- 
ion to " CardwelPs Double and Single Geared 
Horse Powers and Threshers," which have ta- 
ken a premium at every fair at which they have 
been exhibited. Also, " CroskilPs Clod Crush- 
er )" Manny's Patent Reaper and Mower," the 
best in use ; Fawke's Patent Lime and Guano 
Spreader, highly approved ; Whitman's Corn 
Planter, a superior machine; Rich's Patent Iron 
beam Plow, of various sizes, &c. They subjoin 
the opinion of the Hon. Wm, C. Rives of these 
Plows. 

BALDWIN, CARDWELL & CO. 

Richmond, Feb. 27th. 

Castle Rill, Dec. 15. 1854. 

Col. Wm. B. Stought on : — Dear Sir : I take 
pleasure in recording here my impressions of 
the performance of your Plow (Rich's Iron-beam 
Patent) at Cobham to clay. The work was far 
more thorough and complete than that of any 
plow I ever saw 7 in operation before. The fur- 
row opened by it was very generally 13 inches . 
deep and about 20 inches wide in hard close 
land, and most effectually and perfectly cleaned 
out, none of the sod earth falling back into it. 

The trial of the plow was witnessed by many 
of my neighbors, among whom I will mention 
Messrs. Frank K. Nelson, J. II. Genell, J- II. 
Lewis, C. B. Hopkins, Thomas Watson, of Lou- 
isa, &c, all practical men and most excellent 
judges of agricultural implements, and there 
Avas but one opinion among them as to the su- 
periority and unexceptionable performance of 
your Plow. 

Wishing you equal success elsewhere in ma- 
king this valuable implement favorably known 
to our agricultural brethren, I remain yours, 
truly, WM. C RIYES. 

Extract from a letter from a farmer in Am- 
herst County, dated March 14, 1856. 

I have this evening made a trial of the Plow 
you sent me. It meets my highest expectations, 
too much cannot be said in its praise. Ap ly 

JOHlT MORTON, Florist, 

West end of Grace St.. Richmond, Via. 

Roses, Camellias, Ornamental Trees, ISver- 

greens, Shrubs, Grape Vines. 

J8&* Bouquets tastefully arranged. °^8 
Sept 1856— Ly 



SOUTHERN PLANTER— ADVERTISING SHEET. 



VIRGINIA FEMALE INSTITUTE. 

STAUNTON, VA, 
Richt Rev. Wm, Mkade, President of the Directors. 

u " John Johns, Vice do do 

Rev. R. H. Phillips, Principal. 
Rev. J. C. Wheat, Vice Principal. 
Prof. J. C. Engelbrecht, Principal Instructor in 

Music. 
Mr. & Mrs. H.W. Sheffey, Heads of the Family. 

The next Session of this Institution will commence 
en Wednesday, the 24th of September. The Officers 
named above will be aided by an efficient corps of 
Teachers. 

Renewed efforts will be made to sustain the high 
character the Institute enjoys, and to enlarge the 
sphere of its usefulness. 

The large and commodious additional building now 
in the course of construction will afford increased fa- 
cilities for the comfort of the pupils, and the systematic 
arrangement of the' classes, especially in the depart- 
ments of Music and French. 

The institute, situated in one of the healthiest por- 
tions of the State, is well established in the confidence 
of its friends and patrons in Virginia and Maryland. 
The number ot pupils from Louisiana, Alabama, and 
in the Southern and Western States is steadily increas- 
ing. 

Pupils from a distance can remain, during vacation in 
the family of Mr. Sheffey. 

The discipline is strict, yet parental. The course 
of study is comprehensive and thorough, embracing the 
various branches of an English education, the Ancient 
and Modern Languages, Music, Drawing, &c 

Additional facilities will be afforded for acquiring a 
thorough knowledge of the French language. 

Terms: — Board and English tuition per Session, 
$200; Music, the Languages, Drawing, and Painting 
extra. 

Registers, containing full particulars, will be sent on 
application to Rev. R. H. PHILLIPS, or 

HUGH VV. SHEFFEY, 

Sep 1858 — Gt Staunton, Va. 

J0HN..& GEORGE GIBSON, . 
House Builders and Carpenters, 

RI.HMONV, VA. 

Having extenswely fitted up, their establish- 
ment with the latest improved machinery, are prepar- 
ed to furnish, at short notice and on reasonable terms, 
all kinds of portable finished Carpenter's work, such 
as Door and Window Frames, Casings,, out and inside 
finish, &c. 

Sash, Blinds and Doors, of all varieties. 

Stairs, Handrails, Porches, Verandahs, Balconies. 

Cornices, Cornice Mouldings and Brackets of all 
sizes and patterns. Mouldings of all descriptions. 

Wash-boards, Chair-boards, Ceiling-boards, &c. 

They will make estimates for work to plans furnish- 
ed them, and deliver it at their factory at the estima- 
ted prices. Orders respectfully solicited. 

September 1856— ly 

R. 0. HASKINS, 

Ship Chandler, Grocer and Com- 
mission Merchant, 

In his large new building, in front of the Steamboat 
Wharf, Hocketts, RICHMOND, VA. 
Sep t 1856--ly- 

Plans and Detailed Drawings 

Prepared, and the construction of all kinds of build- 
» ings superintended by 

ALBERT L,. WEST, 
ARCHITECT & MEASURER, 
llth St., between Main and Bank, Richmond* Va. 
September 1856. 



IRON RAILING, 

Verandahs, Balconies, of all patterns, 

G rates, Fenders, Iron Doors, «&c. <&c. 

Manufactured at 216 Main St., Richmond, Va., by 
Sept 1856— ly F. J. BARNES. 



Saddles, Harness, &c. 

I manufacture a superior 
COLLAR 
which I warrant not to chafe or gall. I have 
always on hand a good assortment of all articles in my 
line, which I will sell, wholesale or retail, as cheap as 
they can be procured anywhere. North or South. 

CHARLES I. BALDWIN, 
Sep— ly Franklin St., 2d square above Old Market 



GEORGE STARRETT, 

MANUFACTURER AND DEALER IN 

Stoves, Ranges, Furnaces; Tin, Japanned, 
Copper and Iron Ware; 

Farmer's Boilers or Agricultural Furnaces, 

6 sizes; and 7 sizes of Blodgett &. Sweet's 

Patent Portable Ovens, 

Made of best galvanized Sheet Iron. 

Suction, Force and Chain PUMPS. 

BATH TUBS, WATER RAMS, LEAD PIPE, 

!ZINC, SHEET IRON. feo. 

146 Main Street, RICHMOND, VA. 

Sept 1856— 6m 

Report on Spermatorrhoea. 

JUST PUBLISHED by the HOWARD ASSOCI 
ATION, Philadelphia, a Report on Spermatorrhoea or 
Seminal Weakness, Impotence, the Vice of Onanism, 
Masturbation, or Self-Abuse, and other Diseases of 
the Sexual Organs, with an account of the errors and 
deceptions of Quacks, and valuable advice lo the Af- 
flicted, bv GEO. R. CALHOUN, M. D., CONSULT- 
ING SURGEON of the ASSOCIATION, a benevo- 
lent Institution, established by special endowment, for 
tne relief of the sick and distressed, afflicted with 
"Virulent and Epidemic Diseases." A copy of this 
Report will be sent by mail (in a sealed envelope), 
FREE OF CHARGE, on the receipt of TWO 
STAMPS for postage. Address, DR. G. R. CAL- 
HOUN, No. 2. South NINTH St , Philadelphia, Pa. 

Julv 1856— lv 



PIGS OF IMPROVED BREED FOR SALE. 
I have for sale, to be delivered at weaning 
time, a good many pigs of improved breed. I 
have produced it myself from crosses of the 
Surry (or Suffolk) genuine Berkshire, (Dr. John 
R. Woods' stock) Irish Grazier, Chester County, 
no Bone and Duchess. I think them superior 
hogs of medium size, and for fourteen years they 
have not had a bad cross among them. I prefer 
that purchasers should view my brood sows and 
my boar on my farm, three miles below Rich- 
mond. I will not sell them in pairs, because 
the in-and-in breeding would depreciate the 
stock at once and cause dissatisfaefcon, but I will 
sell in one lot several of the same sex. 

jggg^Price $5 per head for one, and an agreed 
price for a larger number. They will be deliv- 
ered on the Basin or any of the Railroad Depots 
free of charge. 

FRANK G. RUFFIN. 
Summer Hill, Chesterfield, May, 1856. 



VI 



SOUTHERN PLANTER.— ADVERTISING SHEET. 



HABVE8T TOOLS AND MACHI-« Cham - 
MEHY FOE 1856. 




To the Farmers and Planters of 
Virginia and North Carolina. 

GENTLEMEN— We have furnished many of 
of you with machinery and implements for the 
past twelve years, during which time many valuable 
improvements have bi-en made ; and being at the pres- 
ent time probablv the largest manufacturers of 

FARM IMPLEMENTS 

IN THE WORLD, it is unnecessary for us 
to say that we feel a great interest, and watch closely 
all tbe new inventions in our line of business. As not 
more than one in ten of the new inventions can be call- 
ed improvement, we shall not offer to you any articles 
that have not been thoroughly tested and found to be 
valuable improvements. The machinery and tools we 
offer you are manufactured at our Factory in Balti- 
more, and are made of the best materials and in the 
best manner, and as we have greater facilities for man- 
ufacturing than any other house, we are able to sell on 
as at least as good terms. It is unnecessary for us to 
mention to you the great losses and inconvenience you 
are likely to suffer by purchasing machinery that is 
hawked and peddled about the country, aud when re- 
pairs are needed must be sent to Illinois, New York or 
Massachusetts at an expense of nearly equal to the 
original cost. 

We think we have for the coming harvest all of the 
latest improvements in 

REAPERS, MOWERS, HORSE- 
POWER, THRESHERS, &c. 

that are really valuable, and we can certainly please 
any one who will give us a call. 
Among our slock will be found 

BURR ALL'S AND MANNY'S REAPERS, 

both of which have been very much improved. Also our 
Premium Wrouyht-Irou Hail way Horse-Power 

and Iron Cylinder Thresher, 
which are not equalled for a Two Horse Machine. We 
have also the latest improvement in Sweep Horse-pow- 
er, for 4, 6, 8 or 10 horses, and warranted. 

For further particulars, see Catalogue for 1856, which 
will be sent you per mail on application to 

E. WHITMAN & CO., 
63 Exchange Place, Baltimore, Md. 
July 1, 1856— ly 



s McGruder,) (R. W. McGrudek.) 

S. McGruder's Sons. 

COMMISSION MSKOHANTS, 

RICHMOND, YA; 
Pay particular attention to sales— Corn, Wheat, 



attention 
Flour, Tobacco, &c. 
Aug 1856.— Ijr 



WM b. green, 

Charlotte. 



FRED. W. HOBSON, 

Richmond, 



GREEN & HOBSON, 

PRODUCE COMMISSION MERCHANTS, 

RICHMOND, VA. 
JNO. BOOKER, (late of the firm of Booker & Wat 
kins,) Salesman. 
E2P Office on Gary street, between 12 and 13, 
July 1 1856— ly* 



E. B. KEELING. 

MERaHAUT TAILOR. 

MAMUFACTURER OF 

Ready Made Clothing, Shirts, Gloves, Ho- 
siery, Neckties, Scarfs, Collars, &c. 

136, Main Street, Richmond, Va. 
Aug — tf 



OSBORNE'S 
Ambrotype and Daguerreotype Gallery. 

Our new and unequalled skylight is just completed 
and we are supplying our patrons with unapproacha- 
ble likenesses in e'verv style of Art. We have a large 
stock of Morocco, Velvet, Pearl, Shell, Union, Papier 
Mache, and Jewelled Cases; also Gold Pins, Lockets, 
aud Frames of every kind for Likenesses. 

We furnish materials to country operators at New 
York prices. 

Aug — ly 



SUP. PHOS. IAME.. 

WE have established in this city a manufac- 
factory for pure Sup. Phos. Lime, warranted to 
be made of pure bonedust, not boiled or calcined, the 
Northern article of bone dust not enter into ourcompo 
sition. Onr price will be $40 per ton cash, contained 
in from 7 to 8 barrels, according to the weight. Soils 
also analyzed. Address 

DUVAL & NORTON, 
Druggists and Manufacturers, Richmond, Va. 
June 1356— ly 



LIME— LIME— LIME. 

To Farmers, Bricklayers and Others. 

HAVING made , arrangements for a 
regular supply of Shells, I am prepared to 
furnish any quantity of well burnt Shell Lime, 
as low or lower than can be procured elseAvhere. 
It will be delivered to farmers at any of the 
railroad depots, and to customers in the City 
wherever they may desire. 

Application to be made at my Lime Kilns, 
opposite Tredegar Iron Works, at Mr. John G. 
Werth's office, corner 10th Street and Basin 
Bank, or at Messrs. Smith & Harwood's Hard- 
ware Store, Main Street, Richmond. 

Jan. 1856.— ly WM. SMITH. 



SOUTHERN PLANTER.— ADVERTISING SHEET. 



VII 



GREAT REDUCTION IN THE PRICE OF 

HATS AND BOOTS. 

From 15 to 20 per cent, saved 
by buying from J. H. ANTHONY, Co 

lumbian Hotel Building. 

Moleskin Hats of best quality, $3| ; 
do. second quality, $3; Fasbionable 
Silk Hats, $2 50 -/Fine Calfskin Sew- 
ed Boots, $3 50; Congress Gaiter 
Boots, $3 25; Fine Calfskin Sewed 
Shoes, $2 25. 

J. H. ANTHONY has made ar-' 
rangenients with one of the best ma- 
kers in the city of Philadelphia to supply him with a 
handsome and substantial Calfskin Sewed BOOT, 
which he will sell at the unprecedented low price of 
Three Dollars and a Half. Nov 185G. 




HITCHCOCK & OSBORN, 

Coach Dealers and Manufacturers, 

213 Main Street, Richmond, Va. 

Have a large assortment of fashionable well made 
Coaches, Carriages, Buggies, Sulkeys, Har- 
ness, &c. 
for city and country use, which from their long expe- 
rience in the business they can safely recommend to 
their friends and the public, and will sell on very rea- 
sonable terms. 

Repairing promptly and carefully attended to. 

Aug 1856— ly 



JAMES WALSH 

IMPORTER AND MANUFACTURER CF 

Guns, Pistols, Rifles, Fishing Tackle, 
Pocket Cutlery, Walking Canes, &c. 

Main Street, Richmond, Va. 
Aug 1856. —ly 

METROPOLITAN SAYINGS BANK, 

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA. 

The Metropolitan Savings Bank, chartered by the 
Legislature, receives deposits, upon which interest is 
allowed at the rate of six per cent, per annum, if re- 
maining six months, and five per cent, if less time. 

Deposites received at the office of the Co. at the 
Store of Messrs. Dandridge & Hart, No. 105 Broad 
St., and by the President, Geo. I. Herring, No. 56, 
Main Street. 

GEO. I. HERRING President. 

J. G. CHENERY, Secretary. 

WM. G. DANDRIDGE, Treasurer. 

July 1856— ly 



W. HAEGEAVE WHITE, 

BOOKSELLER AND STATIONER, AND 

DEALER IN 

MUSIC AND MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS, 
FREDERICKSBURG, VA., 

KEEPS constantly on hand every variety ol 
Books in all departments, Staple and Fancy 
Stationery, Musical Instruments, Music and 

PIANO FORTES 
of the best materials. Also, Melodeons of the best 
quality. 

Any Books or Music for sale by me, will be sent by 
•mail free of postage on receipt of price with the order. 
i^p 3 Subscriptions received to any of the Magazines 
Newspapers of the present day. [july 1 



Ayer's Cherry Pectoral, 

For the rapid Cure of Coughs, Colds, Hoarse- 
ness, Bronchitis, Whooping- Cough, Croup, 

Asthma and Consumption. 

This remedy has won for itself such notoriety for its 
cures of every variety of Pulmonary disease, that it is 
entirely unnecessary to recount the evidences of its 
virtues to any community where it has been employed. 
So wide is the field of its usefulness, and so numerous 
the cases of its cures that almost every section of the 
country abounds in persons publicly known, who have 
been restored from alarming and even desperate dis- 
eases of the lungs by its use. When once tried its su- 
periority over every other medicine of its kind is too 
apparent to escape observation, and where its virtues 
are known, the public no longer hesitate to what anti- 
dote to employ for the distressing and dangerous affec- 
tions of the pulmonary organs which are incident to 
our climate. And not only in formidable attacks upon 
the lungs, but for the milder varieties of Colds, Coughs, 
Hoarseness, fyc., and for Children it is the pleasantest 
and the safest medicine that can be obtained. 

As it has long been in constant use throughout this 
section, we need not do more than assure the people its 
quality is kept up to the best that it ever has been, and 
that the genuine article is sold by PUItCELL, LADD 
& CO., Richmond, and by all Druggists. 

November 1S56.— 3t J 



Peach Trees for Sale. 

A choice selection of kinds, both for the Gar- 
den and the Orchard, of the most beautiful growth, 
worked from specimen bearing trees at $60 per 1,000. — 
Also a general assortment of other trees and plants 
low. Planting done in the neatest manner by 

EDWIN ALLEN, Nurseries, 

Nov 1856. New Brunswick, New Jersey. 



FAL L TBADE -1858. 

To Planters and Farmers. 
THOMAS D. QUARLES, 

Wo. 229, Broad St., 

Would call attention to his large and varied 
stock of heav}' Woollen Goods, Blankets, Kerseys, 
Satinets, Linseys, Oznaburgs, Bleached and Brown 
Domestics. Also to his stock of house furnishing 
goods generally. By the 15th of September, his as- 
sortment of Staple and Fanny Goods, will be com- 
plete in all departments — to which will be added Car- 
pets, Rugs, &c. Sept. 1856. 

Coughs, Colds, Consumption, Asthma. 

LEONARD'S INSTANT RELIEF. 

This excellent preparation, very popular in 
Richmond and neighborhood, is carefully made up from 
a variety of medicinal substance?, exerting a beneficial 
influence over the organs most affected by the above 
complaints. J^p 25 Cents per Bottle ^|FJ 

Purcell, Ladd <fc Co. and Bennett, Beers &, Fisher, 
wholesale and retail agents. To be had of all Drug- 
gists in Virginia and North Carolina. 

Sept 1856— ly 

MITCHELL & TYLER, ~ 

DEALERS IN 

Watches, Clocks, Jewelry, Silver and Plated 
Ware, Military and Fancy Goods. 
RICHMOND, VA. 
Sept 1856— ly 



Till 



SOUTHERN PLANTER.— ADVERTISING SHEET. 




DOUBLE SCREENED ROCKAWAY. 
The Great Premium. Fan still Victorious. 

Invented and Manu- 
factured by J. Mont- 
gomery & Bro., at 
No. 155 North High 
Street, Baltimore. — 
Patented Dec. 20th, 
1853, and June 9th, 
1855. This Fan has 
taken the first Pre- 
mium at all the lead- 
ing Agricultural Shows of Virginia, Maryland 
and North Carolina. We have never been beat- 
en since we improved our Pan, and we do not 
think that there is any Pan in the United States 
that will do its work as fast and clean as our 
Rockaway. They are worked easy, are very 
simple, can be rigged for cleaning by an intelli- 
gent farmer, are very durable, and when out of 
•order can be repaired with great ease by any 
mechanic, and they are adapted to cleaning all 
kinds of grain. We have had ample opportu- 
nities to test our Fan, during the present har- 
vest, with several of the latest improved Fans, 
and our experience is, that we can clean nearly, • 
if not quite, as fast and clean as any two of 
them in the same time. We think we know 
what the farmer wan* and needs, and that our 
experience enables us to suit them better than 
any other person in the Fan business, and they 
may rest assured that no pains will be spared to 
give them the best machine in the market. Our 
Fan has gained its present popularity entirely 
in consequence of its merits — our sales have in- 
creased 50 per cent, in our old districts, showing 
that those sold heretofore have given full satis- 
faction. We have sold over 550 Fans this sea- 
son, and 750 will not more than supply the de- 
mand from present appearances. It is an easy 
matter to puff up an article before the public, 
through ' o the Journals as some have been this 
season, but for a Fan to retain its popularity, 
and to increase in demand, as ours has done in 
the same counties and districts for 3 and 4 years, 
is the. best evidence of its value. Our sales are 
extended^ over six States, namely: Maryland, 
Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Dela- 
ware and Georgia. Having secured Letters Pa- 
tent for our Fan in 1853 and 1855, we are now 
prepared to sell Rights for any Stare or County 
not mentioned above. We offer a good chance 
to any enterprising mechanic who desires to go 
into business — a business that can be started on 
a small capital and yield as fair profit as any 
we know of. We will give all the Patterns and 
any instruction requisite. 

Our Fans, delivered on board the vessel in Bal- 
timore, cost $84. All orders by mail as promptly 
attended to as if made in person. 

It is deemed almost unnecessary to give cer- 
tificates or references, as to the superior quali- 
ties of our Fan, as they are so universally known, 
but for the information of those who have not 
as yet used them, we subjoin the following: 



Charles County, Md., 1855, 
We have tried Montgomery & Bro's improved 
Double Screened Rockaway Fan, and find it to 
be the best we have ever seen. It cleans clean- 
er, faster, and works better, in general, than any 
we have ever tried. We recommend it to all 
our friends. John Wise, 

Sam'l Carrington, 
Joseph Young, 
Jos. H. Cooksey. 

This is to certify that I purchased of Messrs. 
J. Montgomery & Brother, one of their Wheat 
Fans, the 17th of July, 1852, and I consider it 
an excellent fan. It is now fanning wheat this 
day, and I think it is as perfect as when I first 
purchased it, except the usual wear and tear, I 
would recommend them to the public. 

Dan'l Newnam. 

Rockfield, Nelson Co.; July 23, 1855'. 
Messrs. J. Montgomery & Bro. 

I am more than pleased with your Rockaway 
Fan ; had I obtained yours in time on my last 
year's third and inferior qualitied wheat, (the 
remnant) I could have saved $150. 

H. N. Coleman, Sr. 

All orders addressed to the undersigned, at 
Baltimore City (Md,) Postoffice, will be prompt- 
ly attended to. J. Montgomery & Bro. 

155 N. High St., between Hillen 

ap 1856 — ly and Gay, Baltimore. 



To the Carriage Using Public. 

YOUR ATTENTION is invited to our stock 
of RICHMOND MADE CARRIAGES, consist- 
ing of COACHES, SIX Seat CARRIAGES, ROCK- 
A WAYS, BUGGIES, SULKIES, &c. The work is 
made of the best material, by good workmen, and under 
the immediate supervision of the proprietors, who are 
thoroughly acquainted with the business. 

Several second hand LIGHT CARRIAGES AND 
BUGGIES, to be sold low by 

AINSME, BO'WEN & POWELL, 
au — lyr 10th st., between Main and Cary. 

McKINNEY & BUPTJY, 
COMMISSION MERCHANTS, 

RICHMOND, VA. 

PAY particular attention to the sale of TO- 
BACCO,_WHEAT, FLOUR, &c, and make li- 
beral advances'on produce in hand. 
July 1856.— ly* 



DRAINING TILE. 

THE subscribers have constantly on 
hand any quantity of DRAINING TILE of 
the most approved patterns, which they will 
dispose of at the following prices: 1£ inch bore 
$12 per thousand, about one foot bore each ; 2£ 
inch bore $15 ; 4 inch bore $35 ; Gutter Tile 
$20. They also keep on hand the best Sand 
Press Brick, $15, and Fine Brick, $25. Sam- 
ples can be seen. Orders left at the office of 
American Farmer, or direct to the subscribers. 
RITTENHOUSE & CRAWFORD, 
Brick Makers, W. Pratt St., near the 
jan — tf Cattle Scales, Baltimore, Md. 



LIST OF PAYMENTS 

From November 24, to December 31. 

All persons who have made payments early enough to be entered, and whose names do not appear in the 
following receipt list, are requested jo give immediate notice of the omission, in order that the correction 
may be made in the next issue : 



D H Clarke, Jan 1859 5 00 

F K Nelson, Jan 1858 1 00 

O G Clay, Jan 1857 1 00 

Win A Ford, Jan 1858 2 00 

Dr Wm R Holt, Jan 1858 2 00 

J B Lucas, Jan 1857 1 00 

H M Vaughan, Ap 1857 2 00 

Jos Tisdale, Sep 1857 1 00 

W Viichie,Jan 1857 100 

W Logan, Jr Jan 1858 1 00 

D Frv, Jan 1857 3 75 

R J Morrison, Jan 1858 2 00 

H W Latane, Jan 1858 1 00 

Elisha Hardy, Jan 1858 1 50 

WM Gill, Jan 1858 2 33 

H D Smith, July 1856 3 75 

E T Tavloe, Jan 1858 1 00 

R S Ellis, Jan 1857 1 25 

Wm Gravatt, Jan 1857 1 25 
Mrs S H Powell, July 1857 1 00 
Rev W W Kennedy, Jan 58 2 00 
P St Geo Cocke, 
Jno W Talbott. 
Sam'l Holeman, 
And'w Maxwell, 
Jos B Tray lor 



Jan 58 8 0Q 



B B Saunders, 

Jos B Buckley, 

R D Powell, 

J CCrutchfield, 

Miss C H Carver, Jan 1858 



2 00 



Dr W H Goodwin, Jan 1858 1 00 

Jas D Watts, Jan 1858 1 00 

Jos Spriggs,Jan 1858 2 00 

E C Jordan, Jan 1858 1 00 

Col J S Dillard, Ap 1857 3 75 

Dr A Crump, Jan 1858 2 00 

J HC Jones, Jan 1858 100 

W M Branch, Mav 1859 5 00 

Dr Geo E Scott, Jan 1858 1 00 

JnoLowry,Jan 1857 2 50 

W A Smith, Jan 1858 3 00 

J S Spangler, Jan 1858 1 00 

M D Echols, Jan 1857 1 00 

Wm R Yates, Jan 1857 1 00 

L T Dodson, Jan 1857 1 00 

Wm B Terry, Jan 1857 1 00 

Geo W Jones, Jan 1858 1 00 

H M Chamberlayne, Dec 57 1 00 

J M Johns, Jan 1858 2 25 

J S Lockett, Jan 1857 2 50 

J K Gibson, Jan 1858 2 00 

E J Bates, Dec 1857 1 00 

Dr R Shore, Jan 1858 1 00 

Dr W J Cheatham, Jan 58 2 00 

R Butt, Jan 1860 5 00 

Jno M Conway, Jan 1858 1 00 



Jno J Knoxville, Jan 1858 1 00 

P DLowry,Jan 1858 1 00 

Sam'l S Brooke, Jan 1858 1 00 

Jno Schooler, Jan 1858 1 00 

P D G Hedgman, Jan 1858 1 00 

Baalis Davis, Jan 1858 1 00 

Jno H Suttle, Jan 1858 1 00 

Judge Moncure, Nov 1857 1 00 

R A Banks, Jan 1857 1 00 

P Cave, Jan 1857 1 00 

L H Knight, July 1857 1 00 

C L Crockett, Jan 1858 1 00 

Borum & McClean,Dec 59 5 00 

B Lindsay, Dec 1857 1 00 

J B Hurt, July 1857 2 00 

Thos Betterton, May 1857 1 00 

J F Callaway, Jan 1857 1 00 

J A Ferguson, Jan 1858 2 00 

Geo C Ellis, Jan 1857 1 25 

Jos A Earlev, Nov 1857 1 00 

Jno Tabb,Sf Jan 1858 2 42 

H C Howard, Nov 1859 5 00 

Mayo .Cabell, Jan 1859 5 00 

A G Hobson, Jan 1857 3 50 

H Minor, Oct 1859 5 00 

Thos W Neal. Jan 1857 1 00 

R W Wyatt, Jan 1859 5 00 

P B Snapp, Jan 1860 5 00 

G W Eichelberger, July 59 5 00 

W C Rives, Sep 1859 5 00 

C Braxton, Julv 1857 1 00 

D Chalmers, Nov 1858 4 00 

H Gravitt, Jan 1857 2 25 



Col Wm Crawford, Jan 1858 1 



Capt B Allen, Dec 1857 
Jas T Twitty. Jan 1857 
S D Booker, Jnn 1860 
M Harrison, Jan 1858 
Jno H Lewis, Oct 1856 
E Clayton, Jan 1857 
Geo B Clarke, Jan 1857 
WH E Merritt, July 1857 
Dr W B Price, Julv 1857 
W Puryear, Jan 1858 
J N Rvland,Jan 1858 
P P Nalle, Jan 1858 
Jas Paxton, Jan 1859 
JnoR Baylor, Oct 1857 
Jas W Walker, July 1857 
H Chandler, Jan 1857 
J M Chandler, Jan 1860 
Geo Wilson, Jan 1858 
R Peters, Jan 1858 
W R Segar, Jan 1858 
H Madison, Jan 1857 
P H Hurt, Jan 1860 
Ro Stringfellow, Jan 1858 



00 

00 

00 

00 

00 

75 

50 

50 

25 

2 25 

2 00 

1 00 

1 00 

5 00 

1 00 

1 00 

2 00 

3 00 

1 00 

2 00 
2 00 
2 00 
5 00 
1 00 



E Betts, Jan 1858 3 50 

Dr Geo Field, Jan 1858 1 00 

Dr And'w Field, Jan 1858 1 00 

J P Resor, Sep 1857 2 00 

A H Young, Jan 1858 1 00 

E W Horseley, Jan 1857 2 50 

J B Craig, Sept 1857 I 00 

G B Stephens, Jan 1857 3 12 

T C Morgan, Feb 1857 1 25 

Jas A Reid, July 1856 3 70 

E L Winder, Jan 1859 2 00 

C B Poindexter, Jan 1859 2 0<> 

DS Green, Jan 1859 1 00 

Jno A Carter, Sep 1857 2 50 

Jas Miller, Jan 1858 1 00 

W B Smith, Jan 1858 1 00 

L H B Whitaker, Jan 1858 1 00 

E M Tomkies, Jan 1857 2 50 

W Gee, Jan 1859 5 00 

W Dupuv, Jan 1858 1 00 

RCHarvev,Jan 1857 1 00 

B H Brightwell, Jan 1856 75 

T Coles, Jan 185S 1 00 

M Arnold, Jan 1857 2 00 

Wm M Jones, July 1856 4 37 

J R Coupland, Jan 1860 5 00 

B W Novvlin, Jan 1857 4 00 

Thos W Walton, Jan 1858 1 00 

A Aldridge, Jan 1858 

Jno McRae, Jan 1858 

Jas Huff, Jan 1857 

W B Stanard, Jan 1858 

Com Jones. Nov 1859 

Ro Tinsley.Jan 1857 

Z D Tinslev, Jan 1857 

Ed Loyd.Jan 1860 

J C Hardy, July 1859 

E Brown. Jan 1859 

PN Meade, Oct 1857 

JM McCue,July 1857 

Wm K Tune, Jan 1857 

H Baldwin, Jan 1857 

W W Oliver, Jun 1857 

J H Wray, 

W H Cutchen, Jan 1857 

D Meade, Jan 1857 

C Dickinson, Jan 1857 

P Hackett, Jan 1855 

G W Hackett, Jan 1857 

Jas Kinnard, Jan 1857 

A P Giles, Jan 185S 

Geo Carr, Jan 1859 

J W West, Mar 1860 

T W Anderson, Jan 1859 

R AGbolson, Julv 1856 

J S Ellis, Jan 1857 



1 00 
1 00 

1 00 

2 50 
5 00 
1 25 

1 25 
5 00 

5 00 

2 00 
2 00 

1 00 

2 50 
4 00 
1 25 

4 00 
1 00 
1 00 

1 25 
7 50 

2 50 
2 00 

1 00 

6 00 

5 00 

2 00 
9 37 
2 50 



SUPER PHOSPHATE LIME, 



The subscriber continues to manufacture the above at his Bone Mill near the City, the qual- 
ity is fully equal to any manufactured out of the State, his price is $40 per ton. For topdres- 
sing this will be found invaluable, and during the winter is the best time to apply it. Those 
in want can always be supplied upon one week's notice. 

E. R. DUVAL. 



SOUTHERN FEMALE INSTITUTE. 

RICHMOND, VA. 

THE Principals of the Southern Female Institute, with this announcement of its 7th session, 
tender their thanks to the Public for the liberal and increasing patronage they have received at its hands. 

As this Institution had its origin in individual enterprise and has been fostered neither by aid from the 
State, nor by denominational influence, it is with pride that they point to the appended list of patrons, believ- 
ing as they do that it evince? the estimation in which their labours in the cause of female education are held 
by men of eminence and high character. 

The Principals are Virginians, and were educated in Va. They selected teaching for a Profession and have 
devoid themselves earnestly to it for a nu nber of years in their native state. Relying upon the support 
of the Southern people they established, six years ago, this Institution, Southern in every feature and in all 
its teachings. No expense has been spared to make it worthy of patronage, and they hope to be supported 
in the effort to make the South independent of Northern schools and teachers. 

The Boarding Department will hereafter be under the immediate and sole control of D. Lee Powell who 
has taken a large new house on the South-East corner of 1st and Franklin Streets, for the purpose of accom- 
modating a number of young ladies as Boarders. 

The Principals are determined that the opportunities offered for acquiring a thorough knowledge of the 
French and other modern Languages in their school, shall be equal to those of any institution in the country. 
One or more Parisian ladies will reside in the family of Mr. Powell, who will be required to converse habitu- 
ally in French with the Boarders. 

The most experienced and accomplished teachers of music, vocal and instrumental, inthe city will be em- 
ployed, and every effort will be made to secure improvement in this valuable accomplishment. It will 
be Uie duty ofo:ie of the teachers to see that the music scholars practice regularly and properly. 

TERMS. 

Board for 9 mos., washing and lights extra $200,00j Preparatory Department $40 

Music on Piano, Harp or Guitar at Professors Modern Languages in classes each $20 

charges. Tuition in English $50IDrawihg and Painting each from $20 to $50 

Use of Piano pei month. 

We beg leave to refer to the following list of patrons who have now or have had daughters in the Institution. 

His Excellency, Henry A. Wise, Gov. of Va. 

Lieut. M. F. Maury, Nat. Observatory, N. Beverley Tucker, Thomas Green, Rev. D. S. Doggett, Washing- 
ton, D. C. 

Dr. Beverlev R. Welfbrd, A. A. Morson, Esq., Conwav Robinson, James Lyons, Joseph R. Anderson, P. 
R. Grattan, Rev. Ch. H- Read, Rev. Geo. Woodbridge, Hon. A. R. Holladay, Col. Geo. VV. Munford, Charles 
Ellett, Jr., Charles Gennett, Lewis D. Crenshaw, Wm. R. Hill, Capt. Charles Dimmock, S. J. Rutheifoord, 
Richmond, Va. 

Col. H. B. Powell, Loudoun Co., Va. Revd. P. Slaughter, Warrenton. R. E. Scott, Esq. P. St. Geo. Cocke, 
Powhatan Co., Va. Richard Baylor, Essex. Wm. H. Clark, Halifax. J. R. Edmunds. Mrs. I. R. Harrison, 
Lower Brandon, Va. Hon. Geo. H Lee, Clarksburg, Va. Thomas B. Barton, Esq., Thomas F.Knox, Wm. H. 
White, Fredericksburg, Va. Dr. A. H. Mason, Falmouth. Dr. Wm. Cochrane, Middleburg, Loudon, Va. 

Dr. H. A. Buttolph, Trenton, New Jersey. 

For further information, apply to Principals. 

D. LEE POWELL. > 

Richmond, June 1, 1856.— tf R. J. MORRISON, $ 



HENRY SHAFER, 

DEALER IN 

Gentlemen's Clothing & Furnishing Goods 



Fall and Winter of 1856 and 1857. 

THE following Goods, assorted in style and size to 
suit the trade. All can be satisfied with cheap, fash- 
ionable goods; in fact, let the taste be ever so fastidi- 
ous, I am couiident that my stock embraces quantity 
and quality sufficient to please all. Expecting my 
customers will acknowledge facts which must be appa- 
rent on examination, I merely enumerate the following 
list of goods brought out this season. 

Black and fancy cloth dress and frock Coats, 

Beaver Over-Coats, Sacks, Talmas and Raglans, 

Cassiinere, Beaver, Petersham and Cloth Business 
Coats, 

Bl'ick Doeskin, Black Figured, Scotch Plaid, Brown. 
Drab and Steel mix Cnssimere Pants, 

Velvet, moire-antique, Silk, Cassimere, Cloth andSa- 
tin Vests. 

My furnishing stock contains a full assortment of 
Shawls, Blankets, Umbrellas, White Linen and Cotton 
Shirts, iVlei ino and Knit Wool Shirts and Drawers. Silk 
Shirts, White and Brown Canton Flannel and Jeans 
Drawers, Gloves, Gauntlets. Suspenders, Night Caps, 
Money Belts, Mulllers, Handkerchiefs, Cravats, Scaifs, 
Tics, Stocks and Collars, all of which will be sold low 
for CASH. HENRY SHAFER, 

Corner Main (Pearl) and I 1th streets. 

October, 185G. 



FRANKLIN THOMAS, 

ATTORNEY AT LAW, 
KICIIMOND, VA. 

Office : 85 Main St., between Governor and Four- 
teenth St- Sept— ly 



SAMUEL S. COTTRELL, 

SADDLE AND HARNESS 
MANUFACTURER, 
Wholesale and Retail, 
No. 118, Main St., Richmond, Va. 
Having received the first premi- 
um at the Fair of the Virginia 
Mechanics' Institute, in 1854, and 
a Silver Medal at the Fair of the 
same Institute in L855, feels confident he can 
please all persons in want of any article in his 
line. March 1856 — ly 




MACFARLANE & FEKGUSSON, 

BOOK, JOB, FANCY and ORNAMENTAL 

PRINTERS. 

LAW BUILDING, RICHMOND, VA.