Digitized by the Internet Archive 

in 2012 with funding from 

LYRASIS Members and Sloan Foundation 



http://archive.org/details/southernplanterd17sout 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER; 

Hetooteto to glflrfculture t ^orttculturcr, anXr the gjouseholU glvis. 



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

Xenophon. \ Sully. 



C. T. BOTTS, Editor. 



Opposite Merchants' Coffee House, Main Street. 



Vol. L 



RICHMOND, AUGUST, 1841. 



No. 7. 



DRAINING. 

We are inclined to believe the very greatest 
improvement in modern husbandry is the system 
of complete and thorough draining now insisted 
on by the best agriculturists of the day. That 
a tenacious and impervious subsoil must be re- 
lieved from the water collected and retained on 
its surface, before the earth can be fitted for the 
growth of vegetable matter, we think has been 
most clearly and satisfactorily ascertained. The 
mode of effecting this object may be a matter of 
doubt, and/although it is probably the most costly, 
we believe that under draining or blind ditching, 
will, in the end, be found the most economical 
The mere expenseof cutting the ditch is the same, 
probably, whether a blind or open way is used ■ 
but in the covered ditch there is the additional 
expense of the arrangement, by which the bot- 
tom may be kept open whilst the top is closed. 
This additional expense is considerable, and va- 
ries with the means used, which will be different 
according to circumstances. In England semi- 
circular tile is used, which is too expensive for 
the means of our farmers generally. In this 
country resort is frequently had to stones, with 
which the bottom of the ditch is filled, and in 
some very tenacious soils, it is said that the fol- 
lowing method will answer. Let a trench be 
cut at the bottom of a ditch with sloping sides, 
so that the trench will be smaller at bottom than 
at top. The top of the trench is of course nar- 
rower than the bottom of the ditch ; cover the 
trench with plank or stone, and fill the ditch 
with earth. It is said the trench will continue 
open without either washing or caving. 

But where timber is as plenty as it is with us, 
we would recommend a trial of the following 
mode. Dig a ditch two feet deep, one foot wide, 
take three pine planks, one inch thick and seven 
inches wide, make a trough by nailing them to- 
gether, lay it in the bottom of your ditch, bottom 
upwards, and fill in with dirt. The air being 
thus excluded from the plank we believe it will 
Jast for centuries ; and as to the expense, it can- 
not exceed four or five cents a foot. We have 
never known this method tried, but see no rea- 
son why it should not answer 5 and believe that, 
under most circumstances, it is the cheapest that 
can be resorted to. 

Intimately connected with this system of 
draining is the plan of subsoil ploughing. By 
this is meant the breaking up of the earth to a 
Vol. 1—15 



greater depth than is used in the ordinary pro- 
cess of cultivation. A very singular fact has 
been discovered in the practice of modern hus- 
bandry • a stiff clay, impervious to water, when 
once broken up, never runs together again. 
This is true with respect to all except a particular 
species, which we know as pipe clay. Advan- 
tage is taken of this discovery to run a plough, 
of particular shape, called a subsoil plough, in 
the bottom of a furrow made by the ordinary 
plough, so as to loosen without turning up the 
subsoil. By this means the excess of water, 
which would otherwise have been retained stag- 
nant about the roots of the plants, to their serious 
injury, is now distributed to a much greater 
depth ; and by the conjunction of open or under 
drains is carried off entirely. 

The relief thus afforded to a soil of this cha- 
racter has been known to double, and even quad- 
ruple the product, and there is very little soil, 
unless it be too loose and open, that, in its natu- 
ral state, is not of this retentive character — con- 
sequently a man had better, if it be necessary, 
sell one half of his land to drain the other. 

If we can succeed in awakening the public 
interest on this important subject, we will spare 
no pains to collect the opinions of the best agri- 
culturists as to the details of the matter, in what 
direction and at what distances ditches should 
be made, how they should vary with the cha- 
racter of the ground, &c. In the mean time, 
any of our friends who have acquired practical 
information upon the subject, will confer a favor 
upon us and the community by forwarding us 
the result of their experience. 



ORCHARDS. 

We have often heard it asserted that orchards 
were more trouble than they were worth ; but 
we have always noticed that this remark was 
made by people who took no trouble at all with 
them ; and we doubt not, that, to the man who 
merely plants his trees and trusts to chance for 
their future management, they are not worth the 
trouble of planting. But, properly managed 
and carefully attended, they are undoubtedly 
sources of great profit as well as pleasure. 
How much to be envied is the possessor of an 
orchard of luscious fruit, which affords con- 
tinued repasts of the most healthy and delightful 
nature to his family and friends. And aside 



130 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



rom any calculation of the saving of food, is 
not the gratification afforded those around us 
worth the little pains required to obtain us the 
most delightful fruit? Here we have again the 
old cry of the climate. This is the general 
scapegoat for all kinds of laziness and improvi- 
dence. Really one would think, to hear the 
continual excuses of these slothful and careless 
cultivators, that our atmosphere possessed the 
blighting effect of the upas tree, destroying 
every thing that comes within its influence. 
On the contrary, it is of that moderate and tem- 
perate character, that is best adapted to the pro- 
duction of some of the most delicious fruits. If 
it is meant that our climate will not produce 
good fruit without care or attention, we will 
yield the question — but our people should see 
the pains bestowed upon the orchards at the 
north, which is more than an hundred fold re- 
paid, and then they would perceive the reason 
that we do not have the finest fruit at the south. 
We would find, that, by excessive care, they 
force nature to yield her fruits, despite their cli- 
mate, whilst we refuse her the helping hand she 
condescendingly solicits. A few simple rules 
as to the planting, and a little care in the after 
management, which would form an elegant and 
healthy exercise for the proprietor himself, will 
ensure to any farmer in Virginia as great a va- 
riety of fruits as can be boasted by any one 
section of the world. There is no occasion for 
the expense and trouble of seeking nurseries for 
young trees. The process of grafting and 
budding are too well understood to be described, 
and every man should be his own nursery man. 
Let him annually plant out a few seeds for 
stocks, upon which he should prefer to graft 
such fruit as has been submitted to the test of 
his own palate, and which has been the produc- 
tion of our own climate. There is an abun- 
dance of such, scattered about here and there, 
of the finest flavor, to give us every desirable 
variety of the finest fruit. We have the means 
in our own power, if we choose to exercise 
them, of raising up with little labor and less ex- 
pense, delightful orchards in every part of the 
country. 

We will try and obtain, if desired, from some 
of our most successful orchardists, general rules 
for the management of trees in our climate. 
In the mean time we extract from the Monthly 
Visitor the following remarks on 

GRAFTING. 

Scarcely one man of a thousand understands 
how a tree is to be grafted, much less how it 
should be treated after the graft has been set in 
the stock, and has sprung into life. 

We had a preparation of grafting three years 
ago : a small portion of the grafts are living, and 
we may possibly get apples from a few of them 
this season. But we can now see the erroneous 



manner in which those grafts were set. In al- 
most every case the scion was placed in a stock 
double its proper size ; and the fault discovered 
is that when the graft grows it is very likely to 
make a diseased limb from the unequal size of 
the scion and stock. Moreover our experiment 
failed from suffering the sprouts and suckers to 
stand with the grafts upon the tree, thus dividing 
the growth and retarding the progress of the 
scions, so that they will not become bearable for 
several years. 

The present season we have had the advan- 
tage of a more skilful and experienced hand. 
Mr. Peter Foster of the Canterbury Third 
Family, whose orchard we noticed in the Visitor 
of August last, agreeably to an engagement 
then made, appeared at the proper time this sea- 
son and spent the greater pav t of two days upon 
the little orchard attached to our premises. He 
went to work in his own way, finishing out the 
trees where the old grafts were living with scions 
taken from them, and setting entirely new T other 
trees with several kinds of the best apples. He 
commenced the work by making a wooden 
horse, so that he could stand and work upon the 
tree at a higher or lower point, where he could 
saw off the limb of the proper size. On some 
of the trees he placed as many as twenty-five to 
fifty grafts, taking off the limbs that were un- 
necessary to the proper shape of the tree, and 
filling those that might be usefully left. Two 
scions were set upon a stock ; and with this 
stock another limb was left to be resorted to in 
case both grafts shall fail. In this w T ay the trees 
were left, until about a fortnight ago Mr. Foster 
came over and took a look at them. During 
the short time he stopped at the orchard, finding 
that most of the scions had started from the bud, 
he stripped one of the trees of its supernumerary 
limbs and branches, and left directions to have 
the others treated in the same manner. This 
has since been done. The trunks of the trees 
stand divested of their foliage, with the excep- 
tion only of the grafts themselves. The graft- 
ing took place about the 10th of May, and the 
limbs were taken off about the 10th of June. 
The trees now present a beautiful, although a 
somewhat naked appearance compared with 
other apple trees at this season ; and knowing 
that all the foliage upon them has sprouted from 
the small shoots that were this spring inserted, 
the idea at once associates itself with this ap- 
pearance, that a worthless tree of sour and dis- 
tasteful apples, is in a few weeks converted into 
a tree soon to bear the choicest fruit. 

Witnessing the operation upon these trees, we 
readily perceive how the bearing of grafted fruit 
trees may be hastened. The whole sap of the 
tree, it will be seen, is at once thrown into the 
grafts; and these will probably in that condition 
grow more the first season than they would gain 
in four seasons while the roots and body of the 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



131 



tree are affording nourishment to natural limbs 
and foliage upon the same tree of ten times the 
amount. 

Some of the scions this year set had blows 
upon them, which may hardly be expected to 
bear apples the present season ; but it would not 
more surprise us to have those scions* bear next 
year than it has to witness the progress which 
they have already made. 

The orchard, which has been grafted and 
nurtured under the care of Mr. Foster at Can- 
terbury, although the first grafts were set only 
six years ago, produced last season something 
like a hundred bushels of the grafted apples. 
The product will soon be increased ten fold. 



To the Editor of the Southern Planter: 

My dear Sir, — I see you have published the 
remarks which I submitted as an introduction 
to my hog essays. This encourages me to pro- 
ceed in the undertaking. You have, however, 
omitted one thing, which I requested you to do; 
and as I consider this an affair of great conse- 
quence, I must again call your attention to it. 
The probability is, that I shall continue to har- 
rass you on this point, until you comply with 
my request. It is this — that you will furnish 
as accurate an estimate as you can of the im- 
mense quantities of meat which are regularly 
brought to Eastern Virginia every year, and 
consequently the immense amount of money 
which is carried away from us for this single 
article. Your office is cool, and it requires a 
cool place for such calculations in this hot wea- 
ther. Whilst therefore I am in the harvest-field 
busily employed in taking care of the crop 
which a bountiful Providence has given me, you 
w T ill I hope retire to some cool comer, and there 
make out the estimate which I request* For 
my part, I feel humbled when I reflect upon the 
dependence, the degrading dependence to which 
we submit in regard to other sections of our 
country. If we want a bundle of hay, we go 
to the north for it ; and if we want a horse or 
mule, or hog, we go to the west for them. Nor 
is this the worst of it, for large quantities of our 
money go there also. No wonder then that the 
balance of trade is continually against us, and 
that we remain poor, whilst other portions of the 
country are getting rich. I wish you therefore 
to show the amount of the evil, whilst / endea- 
vor to suggest the remedy. But my business 
at present is with the hog. 

The next thing to be considered is — what 
kind of hog is most profitable for the farmer to 

* We have endeavored to obtain some statistics on 
which to found such a calculation, but find it impossi- 
ble to make even an approximation to the truth. We 
have however ascertained enough to satisfy us that 
the amount is enormous and well worth consideration 
in a national point of view. — Ed. 



raise ? I answer at once, it is the hog which 
combines the greatest thrift with the earliest 
maturity ; or it is the hog which comes to ma- 
turity in the shortest possible time, and at the 
least possible expense. 

The good points in a hog, as I think, are 
great length of body, shoulder and back broad, 
legs very short, ham full and square, and as a 
consequence of all these, carcass very deep. 
In such an animal the weight is invariably great 
in proportion to the compass. Some hogs that 
I have seen, present one of these good points, 
but are defective in others. They have for in- 
stance the broad shoulder, but the body is so 
short as to furnish no middling, and are perhaps 
thin in the ham also. I call that hog the best 
then, which will give me a good full ham, a 
good large middling, and a good broad shoulder, 
and all this with as little legs and head and other 
offal as possible. 

You see from the above, that I attach no 
great importance to mere size, on the contrary I 
consider excess in size as an objection. I never 
saw an overgrown animal, horse, mule or hog, 
but was coarse in feature and unwieldy in mo- 
tion. Such animals also, are usually enormous 
devourers of food. Some time ago Mr. Cottrell 
in the upper end of this county, had a hog of 
such extraordinary size, that he sent him about 
as a show. He weighed (if I recollect aright) 
more than 1200 lbs. live weight; and yet a 
near relative of the owner told me there was no 
economy in rearing such hogs, for said he, " he 
eats as much as a horse." The question there- 
fore with me is, not how can I get the biggest 
hog, but how can I raise my hog to a good 
weight in the shortest time and at the least ex- 
pense. 

Nor am I of those who think, that because a 
hog is a hog, there is no difference between 
them ; and that if one hog differs from another, 
it is owing to some better treatment, and not to 
some peculiar trait in his kind. I once inclined 
a good deal to this popular theory myself, but 
subsequent experience and observation have 
thoroughly cured me of it. For several years 
I had been in the habit of raising hogs to the 
amount of my family consumption. My prac- 
tice was to keep them up and feed them w r ell ; 
and having a thrifty breed, they generally re- 
warded me with their manure and flesh to my 
entire satisfaction. They were a cross of what 
is commonly called the Skinner hog, or our 
more common breed, I however called them the 
corn-house breed, and truly they were well 
named, for if I had a fat hog, I had at the same 
time an empty corn-house. 

In the mean time I had heard of the cele- 
brated Berkshire, and my agricultural papers 
came to me time after time, presenting (as they 
said) an exact likeness of that famous animal. 
But as I knew that painters often flattered the 



132 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



human countenance, I thought it was very pos- 
sible for the engraver to perform the same kind 
service for his hog also. And especially as these 
flattering accounts were generally accompanied 
with an offer to sell, I looked upon the whole as 
a mere imposition. The multicaulis humbug 
had just passed away, and I regarded this as 
another effort to gull the public. Thus matters 
stood, when a valued neighbor of mine borrowed a 
young Berkshire boar to improve his own stock 
of hogs. I saw this animal, and although he 
had been crippled in his feet and badly treated 
in other respects, there was something in his 
whole appearance which made it evident that 
he was very superior to any hog I had ever seen 
before ; but as my neighbor had been imposed 
on in the mulberry affair, I was still incredulous 
about the hog. At length the progeny of this 
young boar made their appearance, and the pigs 
from common sows, were so strikingly improved 
that all my suspicions immediately gave way, 
and I actually paid my neighbor $20 for one of 
his best half-blood pigs. Since that time I have 
seen many Berkshires and now own several of 
of them, and I hesitate not to say, that for great 
thrift and early maturity, for peaceable and quiet 
habits, and indeed every other desirable quality, 
this is the hog for farmers^ nor is there any mis- 
take about it. 

You will see from this statement how slow 
and guarded I have been in coming to the above 
conclusion. It was not, in fact, until conviction 
was forced upon me that I yielded my assent ; 
and this too after I had seen the Bedford or 
Wobura, the No Bone, the Parkinson, the Bj'- 
field, the Essex Half Black, commonly called 
the Skinner, the Barnitry, besides other varieties 
which are a manifest improvement upon our ori- 
ginal stock of hogs. After seeing and carefully 
examining all these, and owning several of 
them, I must give the decided preference to the 
graceful Berkshire, and therefore recommend him 
to my fellow farmers. 

To this hog there is one, and but one objec- 
tion, and that is the great price at which he now 
sells. But this, as I think, may in most in- 
stances be easily obviated. The plan is this — 
let some spirited breeder procure a boar of the 
genuine breed ; and here I am aware is a diffi- 
culty, for such is the demand for this hog at 
present that many half-bloods and other spurious 
breeds are imposed upon the anxious purchaser 
as the genuine article. There are, however, 
many honest breeders, and among them several 
with whom I am personally acquainted, who 
would scorn an imposition of this kind. At all 
events, let a genuine boar be procured — select 
the most convenient point in the neighborhood 
and there stand him at a moderate price, just as 
people now stand their stallions. Call in the 
incredulous to see him, and especially let them see 
his pigs from a good common sow of any kind, 



and my word for it, he will soon have business 
enough to do. I now have two boars, and al- 
though I paid what is generally considered a 
high price for them, I shall from present pros- 
pects, more than get back their original cost 
before the close of the year. 

Having now determined the kind of hog, 
which above all others I can recommend to my 
brother farmers, I will defer for your next what 
I have to say about their accomodations. In 
the mean time, let me congratulate you on the 
improved form of your last number. Your pub- 
lication is now approaching what we farmers 
need, a work made up of short, plain treatises 
on practical subjects. Continue your friendly 
visits among us ; tell us in person as well as in 
your work, what we ought to do, and how we 
ought to do it. We will give you a cordial 
welcome, and in the name of the farmers I pro- 
mise you the plain hospitalit}' for which they 
are celebrated. Wishing you all possible suc- 
cess in your laudable undertaking, I am &c. 

J. H. Turner. 



LEAF MANURE. 

J\Ir, Planter^ — I observe a piece in your fifth 
number on the above manure, in which the opi- 
nion is expressed that the removal of leaves from 
wood land will impoverish the land. Now, I 
suppose that if wood land was annually raked 
clean of all its leaves, leaving the ground bare, 
it would certainly impoverish it ; but I hold the 
opinion, that it does not require all the foliage of 
the forest, cast off every autumn, to sustain its 
growth. I have been in the habit, for the last 
sixteen years, of hauling into my farm pen, sta- 
bles, stable lot, hog pens, &c. as much offal from 
the woods, as I could with all the team I have, 
and yet have left enough to sustain a vigorous 
growth of timber. In this way alone, I have 
made annually from three to six hundred four 
ox loads of manure, of sufficient strength to 
make poor land produce respectable corn and 
wheat. 

Where the woods are thick set with whortle- 
berry bushes and other under growth, as it ge- 
nerally is in this part of Virginia, I think the 
horse rake would be rather more trouble than 
profit. I find that one hand with a hand rake 
can generally keep a cart supplied, and also aid 
the driver in loading, unless the distance the 
cart travels is very short. I have found it best 
to mix the pine leaves and oak together, though 
I have used them separately to an advantage. 
My usual plan is to haul in my corn stalks first ; 
then cover with the oak leaves ; and last with 
the pine leaves, (all of which I aim to get in 
January) so that when the whole is dug up with 
a dung hoe, they are very regularly mixed. 

It is incredible to one who never tried it, how 
much manure can be made on a farm by care* 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



133 



fully and perseveringly (aye, that's the word, per- 
severingly) collecting every substance that will 
make manure. I recollect some years ago to 
have seen an account published, in which it was 
stated, that a tumbril load of manure had been 
made from every hog fattened. I said when I 
read it, that I did not believe it; my opinion at 
that time being founded on the idea that an ani- 
mal could only make so much manure and no 
more ; but I have long since found out, that, it 
is not how much manure each animal ought to 
make, but how much each hand ought to make 
with the aid of the animals. 

And now, Mr. Editor, I will tell you what 
effect the publishing of that account, named 
above, had on me. I went to work, sir, to test 
the truth of the statement, and found that not 
only a tumbril load could be made, but a great 
deal more ! for since the last winter, I made 
three good loads from each hog fattened ; (when 
I say a load I mean such a load as will cover a 
surface of twelve yards square well) and the 
growth of corn now shows that the quality was 
not inferior to any used for the present crop. 

With the hope that this statement may induce 
some one to try it, I will give you the modus 
operandi, viz. about the first of October, I made 
my hog pen twenty-five yards long and four 
lengths of ordinary fence rails wide ; which, al- 
lowing for the crook in the pannels, made it about 
ten yards wide ; I then spent a day with two 
carts and four hands hauling pine tags into it ; 
and after spreading them regularly, put in the 
hogs, who immediately set to work rooting and 
revelling in the trash, so that in a week or ten 
daj^s, the trash was all reduced to fine manure. 
I then spent another day hauling in oak leaves, 
and so on hauling in alternately pine and oak, 
until a short time before the hogs were killed — 
making in all, about five days spent in hauling* 
in the litter, which made 120 loads of good ma- 
nure. If any one doubts it, let him try it. 

You will perceive, Mr. Editor, that my fingers 
are better adapted to hold the plough than the 
pen, but as I was disposed to indulge a little in 
the shade this warm day, and looking over the 
last number of your paper, I concluded I would 
make the above communication. If you think it, 
or any part of it, worth publishing, you may do 
so, if not, just throw it aside, and there will be 
no harm done. W. S. R. 

P. S. — I have some idea of giving you my 
opinion of the root crop, especially as it differs 
from almost all those who have written on the 
subject. From the little experience I have had 
with them, I find them the most costly, and the 
most impoverishing crop, (especially turnips of 
all kinds) I have ever cultivated. W. S. R. 

We shall be very much pleased to hear from our cor- 
respondent, at any time, and upon any subject he may 

* Some of the litter was hauled fully a mile. 



choose, no matter how much his conclusions may differ 
from the popular doctrine. We are wedded to no set 
of opinions whatever. Our columns are open to free 
discussion, and any article, like tiie present, containing- 
views, the result of actual experiment, will always find 
favor in our eyes. 



BACON. 



A Mr. John Lewis, formerly of Spottsylvania 
county, Virginia, writes to the Editor of the Cul- 
tivator upon the subject of curing bacon. His 
hailing place entitles Mr. Lewis, of whom it 
strikes us we have heard before, to speak with 
authority upon this subject. 

Mr. Lewis's mode differs a little, we think, 
from that generally adopted in his native county. 
He uses a mixture of three parts salt and one 
part hickory ashes with which he rubs the skin 
and covers the fleshy side of his hams and shoul- 
ders to the depth of three-quarters of an inch. 
A pickle is thus formed in which the meat is 
suffered to lie from five to seven weeks, according 
to the size of the hogs. When it is taken out 
it is washed clean in lukewarm water, and after 
being permitted to drain and dry, is dipped into 
what he calls h'is meat paint. " The meat paint," 
he says, " is made of warm, not hot, water, and 
very fine ashes stirred together, till they are of 
the consistence of thick paint. When the pieces 
are dipped in this, they receive a coating, which 
protects them from the fly, prevents dripping, 
and tends to lessen all external injurious influ- 
ences." 

To preserve bacon, some external coating is 
necessary. We know of none cheaper or more 
convenient than Mr. Lewis's. The canvass bag, 
notwithstanding it costs a little more, we have 
been in the habit of using in preference to the 
thick white wash, which is somewhat similar 
to Mr. Lewis's meat paint. We should fear, 
however, that, after the evaporation of the wa- 
ter, the ashes would be left with very little ten- 
dency to adhere to the meat. 



THE FILBERT. 

We would commend the cultivation of this 
delightful nut to our gardeners in general ; not 
by way of a "crop," as it is recommended in the 
northern papers, but for domestic use. Those, 
who have used only the imported nuts of the 
shops, can have but little idea of the sweetness 
and flavor of the freshly gathered filbert, grown 
in Virginia. We do not know any name for 
the variety we have been accustomed to see 
raised in this country, but know that it is smaller, 
thinner barked, and much more highly flavored 
than the imported article. The filbert is a hardy 
bush and a prolific yielder. 

A Mr. Downing, in the "Magazine of Hor- 
ticulture," recommends a soil naturally dry ra- 
ther than moist, but a dry, gravelly loam, ox 



134 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



sandy loam, is preferable. The kinds preferred 
by Mr. Downing are the Cosford, the Frizzled, 
and Northampton Prolific. The avarage crop 
in England, we are informed, is about 800 lbs. 
to the acre. 

Set out a few bushes. For a very trifling 
expense they will afford you " nuts to crack" 
during the whole winter. 



THE DAHLIA. 

The following mode of treating the roots of 
this gorgeous flower has been furnished the Cul- 



tivator by those experienced and distinguished 
florists, the Messrs. Prince, of Long Island. 
They say, " Our practice in wintering dahlias is 
exceedingly simple. As soon as the frost has 
killed the tops, we cut them off and take up the 
roots, and then dry them for two or three days 
in the sun, after which we place them on shelves 
in a cellar, perfectly dry and free from frost, where 
they remain until the period for spring planting. 
Moisture is destructive to them, and in a damp 
cellar or room they are liable to rot ; but in a dry 
one, not a single one will be injured, if it is kept 
free from frost." 



CATTLE. 




In the present cut we have endeavored to kill 
two birds with one stone. We have thrown 
upon a native cow, on the commons of Rich- 
mond, an English martingale. The object of 
this contrivance is to prevent injury to the limbs 
of trees, when it may be found desirable to turn 
cattle into an orchard, or when they may be al- 
lowed to trim the grass in the yard. 

The animal herself exhibits a specimen of 
what may be effected by attention to our native 
stock. Now, we ask our readers if it is not 
better, by careful selection and judicious cross- 
ing, to raise a stock, which will be acclimated, 
than to rely upon northern or western importa- 
tions 1 When we consider the mysterious and 
fatal disease to which all imported cattle are sub- 
ject in Eastern Virginia, we hazard the asser- 
tion, that home production is the only course to 
which we can ever look for permanent and va- 
luable improvement in our stock of cattle. It 
seems to be a principle universally recognised, 
that cattle degenerate, with few exceptions, with 
a change of climate. Accordingly, every dis- 
trict in England has its particular stock, which 
is always the native acclimated stock improved 
by judicious breeding. 



So valuable is acclimation, that the judicious 
breeder seldom discards the native stock, but 
builds upon it by selection and crossing. Poor 
as our stock of native cattle may appear, we are 
little aware how much of that appearance is 
owing to indifferent keep and bad management, 
or what improvement may be effected by a more 
judicous course. 

We once knew a physician, in a county prac- 
tice, with a fine eye for a cow, who, when he 
met with one that pleased his fancy, would pur- 
chase her for eight or ten dollars, and by judi- 
cious keep and management increase her milk 
from a quart to several gallons. She then be- 
came the wonder of the neighborhood, and was 
purchased by some less judicious gentleman at 
a high price. Another was soon procured in 
her stead, with the same result. Our physician, 
who was a man of great observation and judg- 
ment, and devoted to agricultural pursuits, often 
declared the conviction of his ability, if his pro- 
fessional engagements permitted, to raise from 
| our native cattle a stock equal to any that could 
be imported. 

The fact is, that for the producing a good 
stock of our own, the material is not so much 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



135 



wanting in our cattle, for nature every where 
affords favorable specimens of her work, as in- 
formal ion and discernment amongst our breeders. 
What avails it to advise the selection of the best 
individuals, if, ignorant of anatomy and of those 
points indicating the qualities you desire, you 
know not how to select. 

Cattle are used for three purposes, as oxen, 
as producers of milk, or for the food they afford 
as beef. There are certain points of form giving 
activity and endurance to the ox, there are others 
indicating milking propensity in the cow, and 
there are others again denoting a tendency to 
convert food into fat. The marks of each are 
certain and easily to be understood by observa- 
tion and study, but they no more come by nature 
than reading or writing. 

We then advise our farmers to make them- 
selves acquainted with these points of form, by 
resorting to the best works and obtaining the 
best advice they can procure upon the subject. 
Let them select a certain number of our native 
cattle, according to the information they shall 
obtain, and keeping them in the best manner, let 
them select from their offspring those individuals 
as breeders having the points they have learned 
to esteem. Every year they will find the pro- 
duce coming nearer their beau ideal of perfec- 
tion, and they may very soon venture to confer 
upon their stock a high sounding name which 
will be all that is wanting to enable them to rival 
the ° imported." 



give him cow's milk boiled with a little flour, 
and with warm injections of mullein, flax-seed 
tea, or slippery elm ; if, on the contrary, the ani- 
mal is without appetite, it is a sign that the eva- 
cuation is dangerous, and ought to be checked ; 
give something more than a quarter of an ounce 
of assafcetida diluted in one of the above teas, 
which he must be made to swallow milk warm : 
besides which, he must have injections morning 
and evening until the disease seems to be checked, 
then suppress the evening remedies, and suppress 
them entirely, as soon as the colt is evidently 
better. It is more prudent to keep the mare out 
of pasture, and feed her on dry hay, &c. A 
careful attendant on the colt, will best know 
whether to continue the remedies or not. Mind 
that the mother's milk has a great influence on 



the colt." 



ARTIFICIAL SPRINGS. 

It is stated in the Cultivator, upon what seems 
to be good author, that water may be obtained 
in the dryest ground, by the following procees : 
Dig a hole, and insert a common barrel ; pack 
the earth closely around the barrel, and fill it 
with pebble stones. The water will soon rise 
and continue to flow over the top of the barrel. 

The author attempts to explain it upon the 
principle which produces ordinary springs, but 
we would prefer being satisfied of the fact before 
we enter upon the rationale. Will some of our 
subscribers try this mode of furnishing their dry 
fields with a continued supply of water, and in- 
form us of the result ?" 



SCOURS. 



FRUIT TREES. 

Draining, which is necessary to the proper 
cultivation of every species of vegetable, has 
been found particularly beneficial to the growth 
of fruit trees. 

From the Boston Cultivator, we see that a 
Mr. Chinney, of that State, of great agricultural 
reputation, has found by experience that the 
water in a retentive sub soil was so injurious to 
the growth of his trees, as to justify the expense 
of ditches cut from two to three feet deep to carry 
off the surplus water, which, collecting in the 
loose earth, destroyed the tender roots. At the 
bottom of these ditches is left a water course of 
about eight inches covered with flat stones ; on 
these brush and briers are thrown, and the whole 
filled in with the earth thrown in from the ditches. 

By pursuing this method, Mr. Chinney has 
secured the most entire success upon ground, 
when all his attempts to rear an orchard had 
failed before. 



The following treatment of this disease, which 
is so common amongst the colts of the stock 
grower, is recommended by a Mr. Mentelle, in 
the Kentucky Farmer. We know nothing of 
Mr. Mentelle, but our own experience confirms 
the value of his general course of treatment. 

"As soon as the disease is evident, the mare 
and colt must be taken from the pasture if they 
were at grass, and their treatment must be dif- 
ferent, according to the degree of appetite re- 
tained by the colt ; if he eats or sucks heartily, 



HAY. 

We extract the following sensible remarks from a 
treatise on hay making-, published by Mr. S. W. Jewett 
in the Northern Light. 

Hay making is one of the most essential the- 
ories in agriculture, and perhaps one where the 
practical operation of profit and loss is as much 
varied as any one process in farming. 

With regard to the mowing of grass, in gene- 
ral, for hay, the workmen should be made to cut 
as low as possible, by which the crop is in- 
creased: if it be wet by dew or rain, hands 
should be ready to shake it out immediately after 
the scythe. As soon as the external wet is 
dried off, it should be raked and secured into 
cocks of seventy-five or one hundred pounds. 

It may be proper here to remark, that the hard 
hay of a poor soil is little subject to heating, 
which often occurs with that on rich soil made 
of succulent herbage. The latter therefore re- 
quires longer time for its making. 



136 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



To preserve as much of the sap of grass as 
possible without increasing the danger of firing, 
is, in my view, the grand practical problem of 
hay making. To effect this, grass should be 
put immediately into small ha}' cocks about four 
feet high ; not by rolling, but by laying one fork 
full upon another, and of as small a diameter at 
the base as they can be made to stand with, giv- 
ing each of them a slight kind of thatching, by 
drawing a few hands full of the hay from the 
bottom of the cock all around, and laying it 
lightly upon the top with one of the ends hang- 
ing downwards. This is done with the utmost 
ease and expedition; and when once in that state, 
the hay is in a great measure out of danger ; 
for unless a violent wind should arise imme- 
diately after the cocks are put up, nothing else 
can hurt the hay ; as no rain however violent 
can penetrate these cocks but for a very little 
way ; and if they are put up dry they never lie 
together so closely as to heat, although they 
acquire in a day or two such a degree of firm- 
ness as to be in no danger of being afterwards 
overturned by wind unless it blows a hurricane. 

If there should come rain upon the cocks 
many times, it will be proper to give them an 
airing before they are removed to the barn ; and 
more especially that portion which comes in 
contact with the ground. In such cases the 
first drying wind, or fair day, lay them over into 
tramp cocks, by placing the top of the cock on 
the ground and putting two or more toge- 
ther ; in this way the hay is secured until the 
maker wishes to remove it to the stack, yard or 
barn. 

Clover hay should remain longer in the cock 
than other grasses, that all the larger stems may 
undergo their proper fermentation. Hay cured 
in this manner being rather heavy at the time 
of its removal to the mow, the process is every 
year condemned by our laborers ; but we find 
no hay that opens more bright and sweet than 
that which is cured in this manner. 

The old mode in which I was first educated 
to make hay, by spreading and turning, is not 
only more expensive in curing, but the value of 
the hay is lessened at least one-third. 

Where the grass is matured and thin, the 
weather being good, it may be only the business 
of a day ; but this cannot be the case with a 
heavy burden or early mown hay ; the grass 
being cut when full of juices, the succulent 
stalks require time as well as sunshine to part 
with their moisture. When spread and exposed 
to the hot sun, the leaves and exterior parts soon 
dry, but the interior parts of the larger growth 
are not divested of their moisture. If housed 
in this stage of the curing process, it is sure to 
undergo, in the evaporation, an overheating in 
the mow ; or if it is exposed to dry by the effects 
of wind and sun so thoroughly as to prevent 
any after damage, then the leaves and blossoms 



which constitute the best parts of the hay are 
over dried, crumble, and are lost. 

It is asserted by distillers of plants, that to 
procure the most oil, they must not be dried in 
the sun, as it not only lessens the quantity of 
oil, but also diminishes the flavor. When the 
plants are allowed to uudergo a severe fermen- 
tation by being packed in heaps so as to heat, it 
diminishes the oil, sugar, or mucilage, also; 
which properties are the life-giving essentials to 
all the animal creation. 

Most plants produce more oil when distilled 
full in the blow : clover should be cut in this 
stage ; this bay is eagerly devoured by stock, 
and affords the most nutriment if well cured at 
this period, as above advised, but cattle reject it, 
and would nearly starve rather than to eat coarse 
clover that has been whitened out in the sun. 

Herds-grass or timothy should be cut when 
nearly ripe, as the latter math and seed adds to 
the value of the crop ; red-top may be the last 
hay-grass that is to be cut, as it grows in moist 
lands. 

On our clay soils, where both timothy and 
clover abound, if the first part of the season be 
dry, and the middle and latter season be wet, it 
is better for the mixed crop to stand a greater 
length of time; because the after math may 
gain more by standing than the first crop will 
lose by seasonably cutting. 

I generally let the grass ripen, that some seed 
may fall every other year to the ground, to pre- 
vent a degeneration, and to keep the land well 
stocked. To effect this, we reverse our mowing 
by cutting first this season the field which was 
the last to receive the scythe last year. 

We also use as little salt as possible at the 
time of putting up our hay : the best time and 
method of feeding salt to stock in winter, is to 
brine the hay in the more mild or warmest days, 
when the stock have the least appetite ; in this 
way we find a ready market for our poorest hay, 
as sheep and cattle will devour it with avidity if 
well brined. I am of the opinion that salt is 
not good but injurious to stock, if they are obliged 
to take much of it in cold weahter. By brining 
the hay, say one quart of salt to five of water, 
for one hundred sheep, once or twice a week or 
less, every warm spell, it will increase their ap- 
petite and digestion, and is a preventive against 
the scours in sheep, and other cattle ; hay also 
when cured in the cock is not as liable to pro- 
duce the above disease as it is when half cured 
in the sun, and then mow burned. 

I was greatly prejudiced against the horse 
rake, until I was frequently advised by other 
judicious farmers to give it a trial. We soon 
found it equal to two extra hands in collecting 
hay, to say nothing about the greater profit in 
avoiding the exposure to rains. 

Where the grass is heavy, wet, or quite green, 
we follow the scythe, and spread the grass, as 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



137 



soon as partially wilted. We rake first one way 
with a revolving horse rake ; sufficient help fol- 
lows with forks to put it into cocks ; then the 
ground is all cross raked, and by this process a 
field of eight or ten acres may be secured in a 
short time. We thus gather it up as clean as 
it would be if raked by hand. Thus by laying 
prejudice aside (by the way, farmers are apt to 
have too much of it,) long enough to give it a 
fair trial, we have been the gainer full ten fold. 



PAINT. 



To the Editor of the Southern Planter: 

My Bear Sir, — Circumstances have compelled 
me to travel a good deal lately, both at the north 
and the south, amongst the neat cottages of 
Massachusetts, and the desolate dwellings of 
Virginia. As a southerner my pride has been 
mortified at the contrast. Why is it that the 
dwellings of the poor in our native State lack 
all those outward appearances of decency and 
comfort that are attainable even by the poorest 1 
In Virginia, the eye of the traveller is now and 
then greeted with the view of a splendid man- 
sion belonging to some extensive landed proprie- 
tor, but the general appearance of the homestead 
is that of desolation and of waste. Most espe- 
cially, is there a general lack of the cheerful in- 
fluence of paint. An excellent dwelling with 
a good enclosure may be frequently seen disfi- 
gured with the sombre and gloomy rust of time. 

Struck forcibly with these facts during a long 
day's travel in Eastern Virginia, the impression 
of universal gloom was deepened by the appear- 
ance of the little inn at which I sought repose 
on a sultry evening in the month of July. The 
proprietor was a man of substance and well in- 
clined to indulge himself and his guests in the 
good things of this life, but the whole establish- 
ment, in its outward appearance, exhibited a want 
of those little ornaments and arrangements of 
herb and flower, that give to the dwelling of 
taste its peculiar charm. Most of all, there was 
a total lack of paint — every thing was dingy 
and dark. I could not help thinking what a 
different appearance might be given to the whole 
establishment by a few hours use of the paint 
brush. I pictured to myself the surprise of the 
proprietor upon the following morning, if, taking 
advantage of the light of the moon, some kind 
friend should spend the hours of the night in 
giving a new coat to his houses and enclosures. 
I doubted if he would know his own premises, 
and whether, rubbing his eyes, he would not 
imagine that by some Aladdin's lamp he had 
been transported during his sleep to Fairy land. 

Such a course of reflections probably influ- 
enced my sleeping thoughts, for, during the 
night, I fancied myself a mighty painter, a pro- 
fession to which I have been fondly devoted ; but, 
instead of painting mimic scenes with Claude 
Vol. 1-16 



Lorraine upon a piece of pitiful canvass, I im- 
agined, that striking out a new and nobler walk 
of art, I was, pot in hand, travelling about the 
country beautifying and adorning the face of 
nature, painting every dwelling, out house, and 
enclosure in old Virginia. I never enjoyed more 
exquisite delight than was afforded by a contem- 
plation of the improved appearance of the coun- 
try, which seemed to me to be stretched out as 
in a map before me. I could mark my course, 
as, with wonderful celerity, I proceeded with my 
mighty brush from county to county, rendering 
that which was dark and gloomy bright and 
cheerful, brushing off, as it were, at one grand 
flourish the dark cloud that rested upon an ex- 
tensive tract of country. I could see the smiling 
countenances of the inhabitants, rejoicing in the 
new beauty of their homes, and greeting the 
great painter as a public benefactor. 

But probably from a change of position, a 
change came o'er the spirit of my dream — brush, 
brush, brush, and no effect. The impenetrable 
gloom resisted all my efforts, and amidst the 
groans and execrations of the disappointed mul- 
titude I found that my paint pot had been ex- 
hausted. At last my brush stuck fast, and was 
itself immoveable, and I awoke from my impo^ 
tent efforts to find myself grasping the bed post, 
with which I had been ttying to revolutionize 
the world. 

The glorious vision of the night afforded me 
food for thought during the next day's ride, and 
as I have been long considering what disposition 
to make of my means, which are ample, I have 
resolved to bequeath an hundred thousand dol- 
lars to the painting up of my native State. 

Yours, A Traveller. 

We are well acquainted with the eccentric writer of 
the above, and have little doubt of his carrying 1 his re- 
solve into execution; for he is a confirmed bachelor, 
and fully able to do what he proposes. 

But he is also stout and hearty, as bachelors generally 
are; we would, therefore, advise our friends not to wait 
for his death, but proceed immediately to act upon his 
hint. Amongst the farmers of the north, the most ma- 
naging and saving people on the face of the earth, paint 
is universally resorted to as a point of economy, and 
no judicious manager will fail to U3e it upon every ar- 
ticle of wood that is exposed to the weather. Its pre- 
servative qualities are worth generally ten times its 
cost. The mixing and application are simple processes, 
although many are not aware of it. We design here- 
after to give some plain and simple directions upon 
these points, conceiving that we can in no manner be 
more useful to the public than by leading to the more 
jrencral use of this valuable article. 



For the Southern Planter. 
SLAVERY. 



Mr. Editor, — Notwithstanding your objection 
to the introduction of exciting and agitating to- 
pics in your agricultural periodical, I hope }'ou 
will not refuse a place in your columns to the 



138 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



following views on slavery. However in its 
political aspect it may form a subject of discus- 
sion between the north and south, there can be 
but one opinion upon those exciting points among 
the southern people, to whom, I presume, your 
circulation is chiefly limited. I do not propose, 
therefore, to discuss this point in its political 
bearings, both because you very properly reject 
such discussions, and because upon those points 
your readers and myself are no doubt perfectly 
agreed. But, the subject is also intimately con- 
nected with the agriculture of our country, and 
it is in this point of view that I design to offer 
you the opinions of a very humble but devoted 
friend of the south. 

Many errors prevail, I am satisfied, amongst 
the southern people themselves upon this impor- 
tant subject. There is one, particularly, com- 
mon to the north and the south, that I am espe- 
cially anxious to refute ; which is, that white is 
more economical than slave labor. This, I am sa- 
tisfied, has lead to much emigration to free 
States, as much to the disappointment and re- 
gret of the emigrants themselves as to the injury 
of their native State. No opinion, it seems to 
me, can be more ridiculous and absurd. What 
is it that makes labor dear or cheap? It is cer- 
tainly the expense of maintaining and supporting 
that labor; and will it be contended that the negro 
of the south lives more expensively than the 
white laborer of the north % Is his food better, 
his raiment more costly, or his dwelling more 
expensive ? But it is urged that a white man 
will do more work than a negro. Is this a fact ? 
In a southern climate we know it to be untrue, 
and in any climate I believe the assertion is un- 
founded. Indeed we are charged, in one breath, 
with working our slaves to death, and in the 
next, it is asserted that the labor is most expen- 
sive, because less work is obtained from them. 

The truth is, man, neither black nor white, 
works, but from compulsion. This compulsion 
is more readily and fully applied to the black 
than the white laborer, and consequently, more 
work is obtained from the former than the latter. 
Moreover, this class, I mean the operatives on 
the soil, especially under the burning influence 
of a southern sun, must always be of the most 
degraded class, requiring a degree of restraint 
for their subordination incompatible with that 
freedom to which beings more elevated in the 
scale of humanity are entitled. Nature, as if 
with this design, has dressed the African in a 
livery, which enables us to make him the sub- 
ject of peculiar legislation. This, with the white 
man, although it might be equally required, it 
is utterly impossible to effect. Hence, we have 
a class to perform our menial offices in a perfect 
state of subordination, clothed and fed at the 
least possible expense. 

And let us not forget the advantages to be 
derived from the fact that our menials arc in a 



state of perfect subordination. I mean advan- 
tages in a pecuniary point of view. Every man 
who superintends the labor of others knows the 
advantage of system and a division of labor — 
how perfectly these principles may be carried 
out in the case of the slave, who is the continued 
and absolute property of his master, must be ap- 
parent to the most casual observer. When he 
is once instructed in his particular department, 
he is not to be exchanged, like the white man, 
at a particular period for a new hand, who is 
again to be instructed, but he continues to re- 
volve in the circle, which practice has made to 
him both easy and agreeable. 

To assert that the negro's understanding is 
incompetent to the discharge of the ordinary 
work upon a farm is to assert what our expe- 
rience proves to be untrue — he is as intellectual 
as the white man, who has received no more 
instruction, and there are thousands of white 
operatives in Europe and probably in the facto- 
ries of this country equally as ignorant as our 
negroes. They are found sufficient for the ma- 
nagement of much more difficult operations than 
any required of our ordinary farm hands. We 
know that, with proper attention, they make ex- 
cellent mechanics, and, with proper instruction, 
they are perfectly capable of performing the 
simple operations of agriculture. 

How is it then, it is asked, that a laborer does 
more work at the north than at the south ? Why 
is the northern man thrifty and independent, 
whilst the southern cultivator is generally hard 
run and behind-hand 1 Is not this attributable 
to the blighting influence of slavery % I answer, 
no ; the fact, if it be so, is attributable to the ha- 
bits of the master rather than to any inherent 
property in the servant. In fact, the master 
makes the servant. And under the control of 
the lazy, indolent and extravagant planter of the 
south, the active laborer of the north, freed from 
the constant vigilance of his master's eye, would 
degenerate into the careless and slothful servant 
of the south. Indeed, we see this effect pro- 
duced universally upon the emigrant of the north. 
No matter what his degree or condition, he sinks 
into tropical sloth and southern extravagance. 

Notwithstanding the drawbacks proceeding 
from the enervation of climate, and the still more 
objectionable habits of waste and extravagance 
engendered by our peculiar circumstances, so 
favorable is our climate, and so well adapted to 
it is our negro labor, that we are, and ever must 
be the great unrivalled agricultural producers of 
this continent. The agriculturist of the south 
does not make less than the farmer of the north, 
but he spends more; and that is the only reason 
that he is not so thrifty and independent. He 
has it in his power to be so with half the labor. 

My object in this essay, Mr. Editor, is to dis- 
prove the injurious supposition that the existence 
of slavery is obnoxious to pecuniary prosperity. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



139 



Injurious I term it, as well as erroneous, because, 
I believe that with many it has lead to dissatis- 
faction and emigration. I am desirous too that 
my countrymen should be aroused to, and grate- 
ful for, the benefits they enjoy, and the greatest 
amongst these, I believe to be, the possession of 
a slave population. 

Let him who is about, to remove to a free 
State to get rid of the incubus of slaves, which 
he asserts has kept him down, let him re-consider 
the matter, and put the saddle upon the right 
horse. Upon trial, he will find, as thousands 
have done before him, that, if he carries his idle 
and careless habits into a free State, he will miss 
very much the retainers, who were not the cause 
of those habits, but the means of his support, in 
spite of them. The habits of idleness and ex- 
travagance, which exist at the south, may be 
traced to other causes, .independent of the insti- 
tution of slavery : or if this system is instru- 
mental in producing them, it is by the facilities 
which it affords to the acquisition of wealth. 

Not only for agricultural but for manufactur- 
ing purposes, negro labor has been found to be 
the most economical and advantageous that can 
be had. 

So much, sir, for the pecuniary considerations 
upon this subject. There are other lights in 
which it may be viewed as affecting our agri- 
culture, which I will perhaps make the subjects 
of some future numbers. 



Yours, 



J. S. 



IRON HOUSES. 

Iron seems to be gradually usurping the place 
of timber as the latter becomes more scarce. It 
has long been used for door and window frames, 
with great advantage. The hulls of boats and 
the roofs of houses are frequently made of iron. 
The front of the Miner's Bank at Pottsville, Pa. 
is entirely iron, and is represented as very beau- 
tiful. A church is now in the course of erection 
at Liverpool, made, as far as practicable, of cast 
iron, and a gentleman of Brussels has lately con- 
structed an iron house, said to answer the objects 
.intended in a satisfactory manner. The walls 
are hollow and the hot air circulates from a cen- 
tral point in the kitchen through the intervals in 
the walls, and by means of valves, the quantity 
to be admitted may be regulated. 

The expense there is said to be no greater 
than if brick were used. The advantages, over 
and above the beauty of the structure, are re- 
presented to be its permanent nature and the 
facility with which it may be moved. 



From the Western Farmer. 
MEDIUM SIZED versus LARGE HOGS. 
Mr. Editor, — You are aware that I am now, 
and have been ever since 1820, extensively en- 
gaged in pork-packing in this city ; and I feel 
that I may without presumption, lay claim to 



not a little experience in the business. It is fully 
as much to my interest, and that of every one 
else engaged in curing pork for market, as to the 
interest of the farmer, that the very best breeds of 
hogs should be scattered over the country. 

When I first entered into it, the pork brought 
to us, was produced from the same miserable 
race yet to be found through much the greater 
part of the west. It yielded us little lard, and 
the sides were unfit for mess or clear pork — too 
thin and only fit for bacon. The first improve- 
ment we had was the little chunky China hog — 
a perfect mass of lard — hams light and too fat — 
though the waste of offal was trifling. The 
next we had was the large Warren county hog, 
requiring years to mature, and then coming to 
us of an enormous weight — great waste of of- 
fal — the hams too large and badly shaped, as 
was also the shoulder — and the sides, neverthe- 
less of their great size, were thin in proportion. 
They were still a great improvement. The 
crosses of these and the Russia and By field, in 
the hands of some of the more judicious breed- 
ers, produced a very excellent hog — and we who 
were the purchasers, were anxious for any im- 
provement on the unprofitable woods-hog usu- 
ally raised. 

Though as I have remarked, so long engaged 
in the business of packing, I had paid but little 
attention to the breeding of hogs, though always 
keeping a few of the best I could find on my 
farm, and improving them to the best of my 
ability. It was not until some of the part-bred 
Berkshires were brought to us from Butler and 
Warren counties, that I was struck with the 
great improvement they were on any thing I 
had yet seen. The perfect manner in which 
they were fattened — their extraordinary length 
of body, and the thickness of the side meat — 
their small, yet thick, fleshy shoulder — the great 
weight and handsome form of their hams — the 
great yield of lard, and little waste of offal, either 
of inside waste, or head and bone, proved to me 
that they were a something entirely different 
and altogether superior to any other breed within 
my knowledge. On making further inquiry re- 
specting them, I found them equally advan- 
tageous to the farmer and drover, as to the pork 
packer. Prolific and easily kept; maturing 
early and fattening kindly to as great weights 
as were desirable ; stamping their own character 
strongly on any other breed with which they 
might be crossed ; and travelling well to any 
reasonably distant market. 

I had before this been breeding hogs for sale, 
and seeing at a glance, the great advantage it 
was going to be to me in my packing business, 
to have such a hog as the Berkshire in general 
use, I at once engaged in it largely. 

True it is that I cannot give up my farm, and 
my attention and capital, to the breeding of fine 
stock, without a prospect of money-making by 



140 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



it ; but that was the secondary object I had in 
view — my pork-packing business was of the first 
importance to me. I saw and dreaded the efforts 
that were made to introduce an extremely large 
hog into Kentucky, for I had about this time 
transferred my pork business to that State, and 
had gone to very great expense in erecting an 
extensive establishment back of Covington, and 
intended making my entire purchases in the 
State. We can make no use in this market, of 
animals weighing from 400 to 600 lbs. even 
though they may be well fattened. A hog of 
the proper form and quality of meat, that ma- 
tures at ten or twelve months old, so as to fatten 
properly, and then weighs from 200 to 300 lbs. 
is the sort for which we will give the highest 
price, because it yields us the greatest profit. 
And most assuredly it will also pay the farmer 
best. We have no population to supply, that 
will consume large, coarse, indifferently cured 
meat. Our principal demand is for city and fa- 
mily use, both here and in the cities of the south 
and east. The ham is with us the most valua- 
ble part of the hog, and the celebrity of those 
cured in Cincinnati is now great. This part 
must be heavy without being large— -round, thick 
and plump ; the flesh, though principally lean, 
yet marbled with fat, Next to the ham the lard 
and side meat yield us the greatest return—the 
former must be abundant in quantity, and fine 
grained ; which never is the case with any hog 
until he has somewhat matured — the latter must 
carry its thickness throughout, having no thin 
flanky parts ; and must be fat— and last we rank 
the shoulder and the jowl. 

Many of the Boston and Richmond dealers, 
and those from the other cities in the east and 
south, come here annually to have meat packed — 
they all prefer such a hog as I have described, 
and will buy no other if they can help it. How 
the drovers, who are represented as driving to 
Richmond and Charleston, and as preferring the 
largest sized hogs, can possibly dispose of such 
animals there, I cannot understand. Nor how 
meat of a size that I know from experience, 
cannot be cured, even with the aid of cool cel- 
lars here, can be kept there, surprises me. Think 
of a pair of hams, Mr. Editor, weighing 148 lbs. 
in the climate of Charleston, or Richmond, or 
Baltimore ! They would indeed require to be 
cut in two — and then what a sightly object ! 

Still some regions of country may require a 
larger hog than others ; and to supply those who 
may think so, Mr. A. B. Allen, now on his way 
to England, will import for me some of a size 
sufficient to suit any taste. For my own part, 
and for my use for packing, I want neither an 
extravagantly large hog, nor yet a very small 
one. A hog that has to be fed two winters, 
never will pay first cost ; if he can be had of 
sufficient size without wintering at all, so much 
the more profit— a spring pig killed in the fall at 



200 lbs. nett, will evidently pay better than if the 
same hog had been kept over winter, and reached 
the second fall 500 lbs. nett. 

I have been speaking now as a pork packer, 
not as a breeder ; and what I have said, I say 
in all sincerity. I have no desire to injure the 
business of any other breeder of improved hogs, 
nor to prevent their continuing their improve- 
ments to as high a point as they please. But I 
do regret to see gentlemen of science and expe- 
rience going back to a large, coarse hog, such 
as the Woburn, Irish grazier, or Leicester, when 
they can procure a breed so infinitely superior — 
the improved Berkshire. 

John Mahard, Jr. 

Cincinnati, July 5, 1841. 

We think that our most judicious farmers concur en- 
tirely with Mr. Mahard in preferring- a moderate sized 
hog-. Indeed, over size is an objection we have often 
heard here urged against the Berkshires themselves. 
Mr. Mahard has been totally misinformed in the fact 
that large hogs could be sold in this market. Our 
packers never like a hog to exceed two hundred, and 
hams are preferred weighing about ten pounds ; above 
that weight the price declines a cent or two in the pound, 
and beyond fifteen, they are unsaleable. 

If it is a fact, which we do not doubt, that a certain age 
is necessary to impart maturity, it will always be an 
objection here to any hog that the food, which is ne- 
cessary to keep him in good health and condition, will 
cause him to weigh more than 150 or 200 lbs. within 
that period. On the contrary, the stock, that attains 
that weight at maturity with least food, will always be 
preferred. 

For the Southern Planter. 

Mr. C. T. Botts ; 

Bear Sir, — While I acknowledge the sincere 
pleasure which I have derived from the perusal 
of your valuable paper, I must confess that I 
have felt some little disappointment in looking 
over your rich table of contents to find no com- 
munication upon one branch of agriculture of 
great interest to me personally, and of general 
interest to the farmers of our country. I allude 
to the subject of hay-making. Having recently 
purchased an estate which is believed to be pe-. 
culiarly adapted to the growth of hay, I wish 
to enter upon its cultivation, and having no ex- 
perience on the subject, I had hoped to avail 
myself of the experience of others through your 
valuable paper. Can you not, Mr. Editor, in- 
duce some one of your practical hay-making 
acquaintance to write a communication on this 
subject for your next number ? Or, should you 
fail to get a written communication, can't you 
avail yourself of your squeezing process and 
extract the desired information by verbal inquiry? 
As "brevity is the soul of wit," and your paper 
is designed as a machine for condensing agricul- 
tural knowledge, the latter perhaps would be the 
better plan. In order to assist you in the process, 
I will suggest a few specific queries, in which I 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



141 



feel an especial interest, and you can enlarge or 
extend them as you may think proper. 

1st. What is the best period of the year for 
seeding- herds- grass on meadow or bottom land ? 

2d. What quantity of seed will be required 
per acre ? 

3d. What is the most approved method of 
sowing, by hand, by perforated tin cylinder, or 
other machine'? 

4th. What is the best method of covering the 
seed, by roller or by harrow 1 

5th. Is it important to cleanse the land by a 
corn crop, or will it not yield (like wheat) a hea- 
vier crop when seeded upon a summer or fall 
fallow % 

6th. When it is desirable to break up old 
meadows what is the proper time for doing so ? 

7th. When an old herds-grass meadow is 
broken up, and neatly harrowed and rolled in 
August or September, will it be necessary to re- 



seed it, or will not the seed on the land come up 
and be sufficient to afford a thick crop? 

As I have communicated nothing of interest 
to your readers, but only ask for information, I 
do not expect you to publish my letter, but hope 
that you will be enabled through some practical 
farmer among your acquaintances to obtain the 
information desired in time for your August 
number. 

Yours, respectfully, J. R. G. 

Henrico , July 24, 1841. 

Dr. G.'s communication was not received in time to 
enable us to comply with his request in this number. 
We have therefore taken the liberty of inserting the 
letter, with a request that some of our hay-makers will 
afford him the information he desires through the Sep- 
tember number. For this purpose the article must be 
received by, at least, the first of that month. The sub- 
ject is exciting great interest, and Dr. G. is not alone 
in his inquiries. 



SUBTENDED HIVE. 




We have here a cut of a newly invented, and 
highly approved bee-hive. It is taken from a 
little work published by Mr. Thomas Affleck, of 
Cincinnati, alluded to in our last. We promised 
then a further notice of this little treatise highly 
recommended to us by a connoisseur. Since 
reading it, we do not hesitate to bear our ow T n 
testimony to its value. Although not deeply 
learned in the subject, we venture to say that 
Mr. Affleck's work is philosophical and replete 
with curious and useful information. 

His plan of hive purports to be founded upon 
the observation of two facts in the natural his- 
tory of the bee not generally regarded. The 
one, their universal inclination to build down- 
wards, and the other, that the honey does not 



acquire its full flavor, nor can it be removed 
without injury, the same season it is made. 

We know not why every farmer should not 
grace his table with this delicious food of his 
own making. Mr. Affleck demonstrates that it 
may be made extremely profitable, and we doubt 
not that there are many families, who, by means 
of his little work, alone, might make a good 
business of it. But this and many other little 
luxuries ought to be had by every farmer without 
purchase. " Many mickles make a muckle," 
is a Scotch proverb well worth remembering. 
Over and above the saving, these luxuries are 
always much better, or at least they seem so, 
when they are of one's own raising. With what 
an air of pride the good housewife places upon 



142 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



her morning table a plate of nice delicious honey, 
and with what honest satisfaction she replies to 
your compliment, " it was made at home." 
What a word that is ! Husband, children, guest, 
and all, think it a thousand times better for being 
made at home. 

They esteem it a thousand fold for the valued 
hands through which it has passed, and an en- 
tire confidence in the neatness of its manage- 
ment gives a flavor which nothing else can im- 
part. 

Attention to such things is rather a recreation 
than a labor, and serves well to relieve the se- 
verer toils of a farmer's life. 

Mr. Affleck considers the bee moth as the 
great and only difficulty to be encountered in 
honey making. The ravages of this little in- 
sect are to be prevented only by great attention, 
the amount of which is lessened by his particu- 
lar construction of hive. 

This hive we shall now proceed to describe 
in Mr. Affleck's own words. We shall make 
frequent use of his work hereafter, every word 
of which might well be copied into any agricul- 
tural paper : 

" It is a simple and economical plan ; of easy 
management ; and one within the means of any 
farmer who can handle a saw, a plane, and a 
hammer. 

"The boxes of which it is composed, are 
formed of good, well-seasoned pine plank — if 
possible, free from knots and wind-shakes. It 
ought to be at least one inch thick. The boxes 
may be ten, eleven, or twelve inches square, in 
the clear. Let the plank be dressed on each 
side, and jointed on the edges, so as to fit close, 
without being tongued and grooved. Before 
nailing them together at the sides, lay a thin 
strip of thick white lead paint on the edge to be 
nailed, which will render it impervious to the 
ovipositor of the moth. In the top cut two semi- 
circular holes at the front, and two at the back, 
of one inch and a half in diameter — the straight 
side being in a line with the back and front of 
the box, so that the bees may have a straight 
road in their way from one story to the other. 
Put the top on without any layer of paint, using 
eight stout screw nails, that it may be taken off 
to facilitate the removal of the honey. Give the 
outside of the box two coats of white lead paint, 
all except the top ; and let it be done so long 
before it is necessary to use it, as that the smell 
may be dissipated, as it is very offensive to the 
bees. Pour a little melted bees- wax, while pretty 
hot, over the inside of the top, which will enable 
the bees to attach their comb much more firmly. 
Let three-quarters of an inch of the thickness 
of the lower edges of the box in the inside be 
bevelled off, so as to leave but about one-fourth 
of an inch of surface to rest upon the stand — 
this will afford less shelter for the eggs of the 
moth. 



" We will suppose the boxes, thus made, to 
be a cube of twelve inches inside. In that case, 
the tunnel stand will be made thus : — Take a 
piece of two inch pine plank, free from knots 
and shakes — what carpenters term clear stuff; 
length twent}'-six, and breadth eighteen inches. 
Ten inches from one end, and two from the other 
and from each side, is marked a square of four- 
teen inches. From the outside of this square, 
the board is dressed off, with an even slope, until 
its thickness at the front edge is reduced to half 
an inch, and at the other three edges to about 
an inch. The square is then reduced to twelve 
inches, in the centre of which is bored an inch 
auger hole ; to this hole, the inner square is also 
gradually sloped to the depth of an inch ; thus 
securing the bees from any possibility of wet 
lodging about their hive, and affording them free 
ventilation. There will then be a level, smooth 
strip of one inch in width, surrounding the square 
of twelve inches, on which to set the box or hive. 
Two inches from the front edge of the stand, 
commence cutting a channel two inches in width, 
and of such a depth as to carry it out, on an 
even slope, half way between the inner edge of 
the hive, and the ventilating hole in the centre. 
Over this, fit in a strip of wood as neatly as 
possible, dressing it down even with the slope of 
the stand, so as to leave a tunnel two inches in 
width by a quarter of an inch in depth. Under 
the centre hole, and over the outlet of the tun- 
nel, hang small wire grates, the one to prevent 
the entrance of other insects ; and the other to 
be thrown back to permit the exit of the bees, 
or fastened down to keep them at home in clear, 
sun-shining days in winter. For feet to the 
stand, use four or five inch screw-nails, screwed 
in, from below, far enough to be firm. The lower 
side ought also to be planed smooth ; and the 
whole should have two coats of white paint some 
time before it is wanted." 

No. 1 represents the box turned over on the 
side, so as to give us an inside view ; and above 
it is a representation of the stand upon which it 
is placed, bevilled inwards and outwards as de- 
scribed in the directions for making. 

The swarm is to be hived in the spring in No. 
1. In ten days, it will be found, generally, that 
this apartment is filled with comb ; in which 
case, a second must be added, by an assistant 
who lifts the one in which the bees are, and an- 
other, after carefully sweeping off the stand with 
a little broom, slips the other one under the first, 
presenting the appearance of No. 2. This pro- 
cess is at the proper time, repeated with the third 
box, when the whole presents the appearance of 
No. 3. The top of No. 1 is now unscrewed 
and the honey withdrawn. 



CORN-COB MEAL. 

Sir, — As the question of the value of the cob 
in feeding, when ground with the corn, is again 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



143 



coming into consideration, perhaps the following 
extract from l Steward's Stable Economy' might 
go far to decide it, in the minds especially of 
those who know that the cob is equal in quantity 
to the corn — the only consideration which is ne- 
cessary in the present stage of the question : on 
some future occasion, it may be shown that the 
cob itself is fully equal in quality to the same 
quantity of oats for this purpose. 

" Condensed food is necessary for fast working 
horses ; their food must be in less compass than 
that of the farm or cart-horse, but to this con- 
densation there are limits. Grain affords all, 
and more than all, the nutriment a horse is ca- 
pable of consuming, even under the most extra- 
ordinary exertion ; his stomach and bowels can 
hold more than they are able to digest ; some- 
thing more than nutriment is therefore wanted, 
for the bowels must suffer a moderate degree of 
distension, more than a wholesome allowance of 
grain can produce ; they are very capacious ; 
in the dead subject more than thirty gallons of 
water can be put into them ; and it is thence 
evident they were not intended for food in a very 
condensed form, for it seems natural that they 
require a moderate degree of pressure or dilation 
to assist these functions, they must have some- 
thing to act upon. Now, when hay is very dear 
and grain cheap, it is customary in many stables 
to give less than the usual allowance of hay 
and corn, but the alteration is sometimes carried 
too far, and is often made too suddenly: the 
horses may have as much as they will eat, yet 
it does not suffice without fodder, and, having 
no hay, they will leave the grain to eat the litter: 
a craving sensation of emptiness seems to arise, 
and the horse endeavors to relieve it by eating 
straw. The sensation cannot be that of hun- 
ger, else the horse would devour his corn ; but 
whilst he has plenty of grain and plenty of lit- 
ter, the diminished allowance of hay is borne 
with impunity. But when a sufficiency is not 
obtained in any shape, the horse loses appetite 
and becomes emaciated ; his bowels are confined, 
his flank is tucked up, and his belly almost dis- 
appears ; in general he drinks little water, and 
when he takes much he is apt to purge. His 
belly is often rumbling, the bowels apparently 
containing a large quantity of air, which occa- 
sionally produces colicky pains; these horses 
are very liable to crib-biting and wind-sucking, 
and it is certain that these diseases are very rare 
amongst those that live on bulky food. 

When the ordinary fodder is very dear, its 
place must, therefore, be supplied by some other, 
which will produce a wholesome distension of 
the stomach, although it may not yield so much 
nutriment : straw, roots, either or both, may be 
used in such cases ; the tucked up flank, and the 
horse's repeated efforts to eat his litter, show that 
his food is not of sufficient bulk to sustain nature 
in her operations. And when work demands the 



use of condensed food in a horse that has been 
accustomed for some time to bulkier articles, the 
change must be made by degrees and with the 
greatest caution ; remembering, that coming from 
grass or the straw-yard, the horse for a time, re- 
quires more fodder than would be proper or ne- 
cessary to allow him at his work, after a season." 
Now, it would appear that the cob, ground 
with corn would be just the proper quantity of 
fodder for mixing with the corn, the condensed 
food, for almost all purposes ; and nothing, surely, 
can be mingled with it more readily and conve- 
niently, or so profitably as the cob, which, at the 
same time, saves the expense of shelling. When, 
therefore, the philosophy of the arrangement 
comes better to be understood, we may expect 
that to grind the cob with the corn will be the 
general practice, for the feeding of stock of all 
descriptions. — Farmers' Gazette. 



For the Southern Planter. 
TOBACCO. 

In the June number of the Planter I com- 
menced an essay on the culture of tobacco, 
which I will now resume. 

The crop being planted and replanted until a 
growing plant is in every hill, it is necessary 
that the land should be frequently stirred and 
kept clear of grass and weeds in the early stage 
of their growth ; a little earth drawn to them 
with the hoes at each working, and the worms 
caught and destroyed. The worms do but little 
injury before harvest, and generally are most 
numerous about the full moon in August. 

When the tobacco is large enough to top, the 
bottom leaves should be removed about six 
inches up the stalk ; (this is called priming,) 
eight leaves suffered to remain, and the bud and 
top leaves pinched off. I prefer eight leaves as 
the plant will be richer and ripen earlier ; and 
late tobacco, such as is not large enough to top 
before September, six leaves ; and late in that 
month, four leaves are as many as will probably 
ripen before frost. The sooner it is topped when 
large enough the better, and this is the case 
when it can be primed as above directed, and 
the bud removed without injury to the top leaves. 

Tobacco should be thoroughly ripe before it 
is cut. For unless it be completely ripe, it will 
be necessarily poor, and will cure of a bad color; 
and planters, even those accustomed to making 
the crops oftener err in cutting it before it is ripe, 
than any other part of the management of the 
crop. When the plant is ripe, the leaves have 
a smooth, oily appearance, the ends of them will 
either fall to the ground or curve under the plant, 
and are thick and brittle. The top leaf on the 
north side of the plant is the last to ripen, and 
when the oil has reached the end of it, having 
the above described appearance, it may be safely 
cut ; but it is always better, unless frost is ap- 



144 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



prehended, to err on the safe side, and not cut 
the tobacco until it is positively certain that the 
plant is perfectly ripe. 

In warm weather tobacco will generally be 
ready for firing in three or four days, in cool, 
perhaps eight or ten will be required — this can be 
easily ascertained by an examination ; for when 
a majority of the leaves are piebald, that is, 
about half green and the other half yellow, and a 
peculiar sweet scent is exhaled, it is then ready for 
firing. Before tobacco is cut it is advisable to 
erect scaffolds in convenient parts of the field, 
where carts can reach them without difficulty, 
or near the tobacco house ; and when cut, great 
care must be bestowed to prevent it from being 
scorched by the sun, or bruised by handling. If 
large, eight plants are enough to hang on each 
stick, and more in proportion if smaller, accord- 
ing to size : the tobacco is then removed to the 
scaffolds and the sticks placed side by side as 
near as can be conveniently done, until ready for 
firing ; or rainy weather should require it to be 
moved earlier to the house ; for the longer the 
time it can reman on the scaffolds, until ready 
for firing the better, so that the sun may strike 
the stems and stalks and cause them to cure 
with less fire ; yet it is more important that after 
it has commenced yellowing that it be not 
drenched with rain. 

Tobacco houses are generally built of poles. 
Twenty feet square on the inside of the house 
is considered the best size ; and from three to 
four tiers below joists the best height. When 
the house is raised about nine feet high, tier poles 
are put across four feet apart ; and when about 
three and a half feet higher, another series of 
tier poles ; and so on, until the required number 
of tiers are put up ; the roof is then framed with 
cross pieces the same distance apart, nailed to 
the rafters on each side, so that the roof of the 
house may be also filled with tobacco, and the 
chinks between the poles are filled with timber 
and daubed with mud. A cellar from three to 
four feet deep is very advantageous, if the loca- 
tion be suitable for the purpose ; as it makes an- 
other tier, adds greatly to the safety of the house 
whilst the tobacco is firing, and the heat not be- 
ing scattered by the air, takes better effect above. 

The sticks of tobacco when placed in the 
house, should be (if the tobacco be large) from 
eight to nine inches apart, and if small, seven or 
eight inches, as this will leave a space between 
the sticks for the heat to ascend and cure the 
tobacco above; and if room for housing the 
crops were wanted, after the leaf is cured, the 
tobacco on two sticks may be put on one and 
placed away on one side of the house. This is 
called re-hanging. 

A weak fire should be kept under the tobacco 
which fills each space between the tier poles 
until the leaf is nearly cured j the heat six feet 
above the fire should be kept at ninety degrees 



of Fairenheit thermometer the first and second 
days, and not exceed one hundred the third day. 
Three days will generally be required to cure 
the leaf, when the fire may be gradually increased 
until the stem is cured, which will require at 
least three days more with a strong fire. I con- 
sider it the better plan to cure the stem in warm 
weather before the fire is stopped ; for if the 
tobacco gets in high order (that is very soft) be- 
fore the stem is cured, the leaf near the stem is 
impoverished, which may be discovered after it 
is cured. In cool weather in October it is not 
so important to have the stems entirely cured, 
as -the frost has pretty much the same effect as 
heat ; yet it is necessary that the leaf be entirely 
cured, and the stem partly before the fires are 
put out, and if warm, damp weather, supervenes, 
or the part of the stem which is uncured be- 
come hard, for the fires to be renewed and kept 
up until the stems become soft and of a dark 
color. 

Some planters keep up the fires under the to- 
bacco day and night ; but I think that firing all 
the night may be dispensed with, provided that 
at bed time the wood be so arranged that no 
danger of increased heat for the first three nights 
be practicable, and for the next three that the 
house be not burned. Firing all night is at- 
tended with danger to the health of the negroes ; 
for in the tobacco house, during the night they 
will certainly go to sleep, and in the morning 
after having been profusely sweated all night, 
go out into the cool air, the perspiration is sud- 
denly checked, and violent colds or more fatal 
diseases are apt to follow. After the curing pro- 
cess is performed, nothing more is necessary until 
it is taken down for stripping, unless in long wet 
spells of weather, the tobacco should be dried 
with a moderate fire. I will, in time for your 
November number, give my views upon strip- 
ping, bulking, and prizing the crop. 

Rich. G. Morriss. 

Buckingham, July 29, 1841. 

We return Mr. Morriss our sincere thanks for his 
polite compliance with our request that he would ap- 
pend his name to his essay. We have had repeated 
calls for the name of the author of the first number, 
and have not hesitated to give it privately. We have 
always found that it enhanced the value of the article. 

If any gentleman differs with Mr. Morriss in his 
treatment of this crop, we invite him to say so, and give 
his reasons for it. Our object is, by free discussion, to 
elicit the best mode of managing this great staple of 
our country. 



For the Southern Planter. 

Middlesex County, July 21, 1841. 

Mr. Editor, — I send you the names of four 
additional subscribers to your valuable paper, of 
which I have read, with much interest, every 
number, and I would here observe that my ex- 
perience differs in part with that of the anony* 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



145 



mous writer in the American Farmer, relative to 
suckers in corn. I saw some years ago in the 
Albany Cultivator the same assertion, that suck- 
ers would not lessen the quantity of corn, while 
they greatly increased forage, and I was induced 
to try it, as the latter was an important item with 
me. 1 am thoroughly convinced that my crop 
of corn was greatly injured, (it being a dry year) 
and that the additional fodder was a poor com- 
pensation. 1 believe, however, that the suckers, 
that put out below the first joint of the corn at 
the ground, might be advantageously left in a 
good season, as they al\va3's bring the ear on 
the side of the stalk and not on the top, as the 
others do. 

I observed in your June number the query — 
" Whether the cultivator can be substituted for 
the plough ?" My opinion is, that it may be in 
the early part of the season very advantageonslj' 
used instead of the plough, but that corn should 
be well ploughed from the 20th of June to the 
5th of July; after which, if dry, the cultivator 
should be again used in order to freshen up the 
land to catch the dews. A common iron tooth 
harrow is preferable to the cultivator when corn 
first comes up, as. you may run it on the top of 
the bed, and the teeth will stir the earth imme- 
diately round the corn, and will not tear up one 
stalk in a thousand. This harrowing will make 
the corn grow much faster than a working with 
the hoe, and if the land does not produce much 
early grass, this, together with the cultivator, 
will not only substitute the plough but the hoe 
also. In order to use the cultivator to the best 
advantage, the corn should be planted in a row 
each way, and, in fact, 1 prefer having it so 
planted for any system of cultivation; as corn 
will bear being put much closer when the cur- 
rent of air has free access each way. This 
mode will obviate another objection, that is split- 
ting the bed with the plough and leaving the 
hard land naked that was covered up in breaking 
the land in the winter. Very few persons can ever 
think of covering any thing but the place where 
the com is dropped, and consequently the grass 
immediately springs up on the top of the bed, 
and renders the corn much harder to weed. 
Corn should be planted. even with the surface of 
the earth and a very small portion of dirt put on 
it in the early part of the season, but when 
planted late, it must be covered deep, or the earth 
becomes dry, and there is not sufficient moisture 
to bring it up. 

Should you consider these few crude and de- 
sultory observations of any consequence, you 
are at liberty to make such use of them as you 
may think proper. 

Yours, Jas. S! Bristow. 

P. S. — I observe in one of your numbers that 

you decline the recommendation of lime or marl 

as an improver of the soil, because there exists 

a difference of opinion as to its action as a fer- 

Vol. 1—17 



tilizer. Upon that principle we might refuse to 
partake of our daily sustenance, because we 
could not understand its action upon the system 
in order to sustain our existence and give energy 
to the body. The application and the action are 
distinct, and therefore the former should be re- 
commended, because we know that lime im- 
proves the soil, and imparts vigor to the growing 
plants, although we may not know why or 
wherefore. I would recommend you to call upon 
Mr. James Christian, of Charles City County, 
for information as it respects marl, as he has 
much experience and skill in its use. To us in 
lower Virginia, marl is indispensable, and we 
would like to see something in your paper occa- 
sionally, to cheer us in our progress and combine 
the experience of others with our own. 

J. S. B. 

Upon the first point in Mr. Bristow's communication, 
of the propriety of sucker ing corn, we find a contra- 
riety of opinion amongst our best farmers. We doubt 
not, that contrariety arises from inattention to the par- 
ticular circumstances under which each experiment 
has been made. We arc, therefore, pleased to see such 
distinctness of detail as to the season, &c. accompany 
any report of experiments. In this way, apparently 
conflicting results may be reconciled, and a chaotic 
mass of opposing opinion be reduced to rule and order. 

Mr. Bristow has totally misunderstood us in suppos- 
ing that we "decline the recommendation of lime be- 
cause there exists a difference of opinion as to its action 
as a fertilizer." We are at a loss to conceive what ex- 
pression gave rise to the supposition. We once re- 
marked that we had carefully abstained from partici- 
pation in the discussion of the mode in which lime 
acted, because we did not think any satisfactory expla- 
nation of its mode of action had yet been offered to the 
world, and we did not conceive our readers would be 
as much edified by a description of abstract theories as 
by reports of actual results. We thought, to use Mr. 
Bristow's simile, that it was wiser to induce our readers 
to resort to their bread for sustenance rather than to 
permit them to starve, whilst we discussed the theory 
of its operation. 

We shall forward Mr. Christian a copy of Mr. Bris- 
tow's request with which we hope he will be induced 
to comply. 



For the Southern Planter. 
TWYMAN SHEEP. 

Mr. Editor, — Will you be so kind as to learn 
for what price a pair of Mr. Twyman's sheep, 
described in the 76th page of the Planter, can 
be had, delivered in Richmond'? I am particu- 
larly fond of the stock and would like to improve. 
Yours, R. W. C. 

Having received several applications of a si« 
milar character, we avail ourselves of this op- 
portunity to say that we have had an interview 
with the gentleman who represents Mr. Twy- 
man in this city. His views are wholly disin- 
terested. He is desirous to introduce into this 
country a stock of sheep, which he considers; 



146 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



superior to any he ever saw. His services are 
entirely gratuitous. The cost of importation, 
including all expenses, he estimates would not 
exceed forty dollars a head. He would warrant 
them at fifty. As he charges nothing for his 
trouble, and is in no way to be benefitted by the 
transaction, he requires a deposit of the money, 
at least forty dollars, before he gives the order. 
He will import a pair for his own use and he 
advises those who may desire the stock to order 
ewes only, as the services of his ram can be had 
gratis. We were much pleased with the agri- 
cultural spirit and liberal offers of this gentleman. 



LOAM. 

We have received the following' from a subscriber: 
Hermitage, July 27, 1841. 
Mr. C. T. Botts : 

JSly Dear Sir, — I have lately become a sub- 
scriber to the Southern Planter, but am so 
little of a farmer, that I do not yet understand, 
even the terms used in agricultural works. Thus 
the term " loam" (although a word in the most 
common use) puzzles me exceedingly. I read 
sometimes, of "sandy loam," "clayey loam," 
" rich loam," and I believe several other varieties 
of loam, and am perfectly at a loss as to their 
component parts, whether they are natural or 
artificial formations, or even whether they are 
formed on the top, or below the surface of the 
earth. I expect, Mr. Editor, there are others, as 
ignorant in this respect as I am ; and you would 
therefore, I am sure, confer a favor on that por- 
tion, at least, of your subscribers, by giving us 
in your next, a particular description of the va- 
rious kinds of loam, the manner of their forma- 
tion, their component parts, &c. 

Allow me, in conclusion, Mr. Editor, to sug- 
gest, that when any term is used in your arti- 
cles, which you think may not be understood 
generally, to give us some note of explanation ; 
it would certainly be of great service to us, who 
are learning the rudiments, and it certainly could 
not be objectionable to any portion of your sub- 
scribers. By the by, a vocabulary of agricul- 
tural terms, with full but plain definitions, I think 
would be very useful, in the study of the science 
of agriculture. 

I am, Mr. Editor, very respectfully yours, &c. 

The word "loam," like many others, is frequently 
used in a very loose and indefinite sense in agricultural 
communications. From this want of critical precision 
in the use of language flow undoubtedly much confu- 
sion and misunderstanding. And yet how is the diffi- 
culty to be remedied? The communicators of the 
most valuable agricultural facts are not always the best 
scholars, and we should be very loih to exclude the ex- 
perience of some plain practical man, because he had 
used a word in a different sense from that assigned it 
by Johnson or Walker. Yet it is so desirable that cer- 
tain fixed ideas should be attached to particular words, 
that we will avail ourselves of the hint of our corre- 
spondent so far, hereafter, as to make a collection of 



those agricultural terms, which are floating loosely 
upon the sea of words, and assign them their appro- 
priate places. As to this particular word, "loam," we 
understand that it is used critically to express the idea 
of any soil, which is a compound of sand and clay. 
Neither a pure clay nor a pure sand is loam, but any 
admixture of both is. Consequently, most top soils are 
loams, and may be sandy or clayey loams according to 
the predominance of the one or other of the ingre- 
dients. The word, however, is frequently used to ex- 
press the top soil, or that which is subjected to cultiva- 
tion, without reference to its composition. 



The following is from an old bachelor, and Heaven 
only knows how he learnt any thing about sweets of 
any kind. We wash our hands of the matter: 

EXTEMPORE SWEET-MEATS. 
Take out the seed of a pound of raisins — 
chop them fine — add a pound of sugar, and 
stew them lightly with just as much water as 
may be necessary to reduce them to the consis- 
tency of ordinary sweet-meats, and you have a 
very pleasant dish. 



TO BORE GLASS. 

The difficulty of boring glass has been expe- 
rienced by all who have ever tried it. A friend 
of mine having occasion to bore a hole in a piece 
of half-inch glass used his lathe with emory alone, 
sand alone, and finally a mixture of the two, and 
after nine hours work had advanced only about 
the sixteenth of an inch. A paragraph in some 
newspaper met his eye, wherein it was stated 
that a drop of spirits of turpentine with a very 
small addition of camphor would greatly facili- 
tate the work. The latter ingredient not being 
at hand, he tried the former, when to his asto- 
nishment, he made a half-inch hole in a half-inch 
glass in exactly three minutes and a half, using 
only a common brace with a bit made to bore 
brass. 

Try the experiment yourself, that you may 
be able lo speak with more confidence on the 
subject. 

The above is from a valuable correspondent upon 
whose statements the most implicit reliance may be 
placed. He requests us to call the attention of sci- 
entific men to the point, and obtain an explanation of 
this singular but well attested fact. 



DRENCHING. 

It may be remembered, that, in an early num- 
ber of the Planter, our readers were guarded by 
a correspondent against the danger of drenching. 
From our exchange papers we perceive that the 
celebrated Dr. Dick, of Edinburgh, in reply to 
some inquiries of a correspondent, alludes to the 
same difficulty in the following words: 

" The simplest and best way to give liquids 
to a cow, when she is tied to the stake, is for 
the operator to pass his left hand under the cow's 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



147 



jaw, and to take hold of her left cheek with two 
of his fingers, and with a horn or a bottle to pour 
the liquid into the right side of the mouth with 
his right hand, giving both the tongue and jaws 
as much liberty as possible. An assistant should 
steady the head, and assist in keeping it moder- 
ately high by taking hold of the horns. 

" When cattle are held by the nostrils it fre- 
quently produces coughing or sneezing, and 
substances are apt to get into the windpipe. It 
is a bad practice to press or gripe the windpipe 



or gullet in order to make them swallow, or to 
take hold of the tongue, as is frequently done ; 
and when they cough the head should be let 
down at once, so that, if any thing has got into 
the windpipe, it may be driven out. Accidents, 
such as you have described, are frequent, and I 
think, commonly arise from the causes which I 
have alluded to, or the rough manner in which 
cattle are too commonly treated. 

" I am, sir, your most obedient servant, 

William Dick." 



For the Southern Planter. 

POTATO STEAMER. 




JWr. Editor, — Next to those which form the 
staff of life no vegetable is so universal as the 
potato. In some shape or other it forms a por- 
tion of the food of high and low, rich and poor. 
Yet very few are aware how much of the flavor 
of this delicious food is dependent upon the mode 
of cooking. They should never be permitted to 
touch the boiling water, but should be suspended 
over it, so that they will be subjected to the ac- 
tion of the steam only. In this way they will 
be brought to the table dry, porous, and mealy, 
instead of close, waxey, and water-sobbed. No 
two vegetables are more different than steamed 
and boiled potatoes. Thousands are no doubt 
aware of this fact, and yet there are thousands 
that are daily using the close, sobbed, unhealthy 
and tasteless article we have been describing. 
Every man can afford the simple apparatus that 
is necessary for steaming potatoes. It may be 
made in the shape of a tin bucket with a false 
bottom pierced with holes on which the potatoes 
may be placed, above the reach of the water, 
which occupies the space between the two bot- 
toms. No kitchen is perfect without such an 
utensil, and yet there are many in which it is 
not to be found. 

Yours, An Epicure. 



We wonder with our correspondent that an apparatus 
for steaming 1 potatoes is not more common than we 
should judge it to be from the appearance of the dish 
we sometimes see upon the table of our friends. A 
very simple utensil, for this purpose, of which we have 
been at the pains of obtaining- a cut, may be had, at a 
very trifling expense, from any of our hardware stores. 
It is a pot, as represented, with the lid upon the left, 
and the perforated false bottom on the right. We know 
nothing that will better pay the cost of purchase. 



HENRICO AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 

Our readers generally will be pleased to gather 
from the following projet of the fall proceedings 
of this Society, that it is in the most flourishing 
condition. Although its funds are ample, the 
Executive Committee have wisely concluded to 
make the premiums numerous rather than large. 
We hope never to see the day when emulation 
is excited by large premiums. We would rely 
upon a spirit of generous pride rather than a 
love of money to do any thing. Whenever the 
premium becomes an object for its intrinsic va- 
lue, every thing like harmony and good feeling 
are banished — the spirit of money making, with 
all his demon host, lakes possession of the scene, 
and the physical is only advanced at the expense 
of the moral culture. 



14S 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



" The next exhibition of this Society will com- 
mence on the 20th day of October next, with 
stock, agricultural implements, &c. and be con- 
tinued from day to day until completed. 

The farmers of the State, and all others who 
take an interest in the cause, are respectfully in- 
vited to attend. The arrangements of the So- 
ciety with its advantageous location justify us 
in expressing our confidence, that the exhibition 
and fair will amply repay a ride to Richmond 
from any part of the State. 

The following premiums will be awarded: 
No. 1. For the best stallion, for harness, 
the saddle, or draft, (the premium not having 
been awarded at the spring exhibition), $15 

Committee — Gen. Bernard Peyton, R. 
B. Haxall, and Charles Marx. 

No. 2. For the most highly improved and 
best cultivated farm, a premium of 25 

For the second best, 20 

For the third best, 15 

For the fourth best, 10 

Reference being had to the means (as well 
pecuniary as others) of the proprietor for 
improvement, the amount of labor employed 
upon it, the means resulting from the vici- 
nity of the farm to the city, &c. The ob- 
ject being to place the industrious cultivator 
with limited resources, and no other labor 
than his own, upon the same footing as the 
largest cultivator with ample resources. It 
is to be distinctly understood, that not only 
the actual fertility of the soil will be con- 
sidered, but special attention shall be paid 
to the means which are in actual operation 
for enriching the farms—to the condition 
of the enclosures — to the mode of cultiva- 
tion, whether conducted with neatness, sys- 
tem, and economy — to the condition of the 
stock, and especially whether provision has 
been made for their comfortable accommo- 
dation in bad weather — the buildings also, 
farming utensils, garden, and every thing 
connected with the comfort and prosperity 
of the establishment, will come under the 
review of this committee. 

Committee — Wm. H. Richardson, Rich- 
ard S. Haden, and Francis Staples. 

No. 3. For the best garden, not less than 
two acres, 15 

For the second best, 10 

Committee — John Carter, Richard Hill, 
Jr., and Joseph Sinton. 

No. 4. For the best field of corn, not less 
than five acres, 15 

For the second best, 12 

For the third best, 1 

For the fourth, 8 

Committee — Maj. Ed. Christian, Edwin 
.Hill, and Wm. A. Gay. 

No. 5. For the best field of tobacco, not 
less than one acre, 10 



Committee — John C. Hobson, Frederick 

Bransford, and Wm. Anderson, Jr. 

No. G. For the best crop of turnips, not 

less than half an acre, $8 

For the second best, .6 

For the third do. ' 4 

No. 7. For the best crop of beets, carrots, 

or parsnips, not less than half an acre, 8 



For the second best, 



For the third do. 4 

No. 8. For the best crop of potatoes, 
Irish or sweet, not less than half an acre, C 
For the second best, 5 

No. 9. For the best crop of cabbages, not 
less than half an acre, 6 

For the second best, 4 

No. 10. For the best crop of pumpkins, 
not less than one acre, 6 

For the second best, 4 

Committee — Ro. Carter Page, William 
Miller, and I. A. Goddin. 

Persons who intend to compete for any 
of the foregoing premiums except No. 1, 
will please give notice to the committee 
appointed to award the premium or premi- 
ums for which they may be competitors, by 
the \hth of September next, after which, it 
will not be practicable to attend to any ap- 
plication. 

The foregoing premiums will be awarded 
on the first, day of the meeting immediately 
after the annual report to the Society — 
when the several committees are required 
to hand in their respective reports to the 
President. The exhibition of stock and 
agricultural implements will then be made, 
after which, a fair will be held for the sale 
of such stock and other articles as may be 
offered — and it will be continued on the 
second day, if not concluded on the first, 

The succeeding portion of the exhibition 
will be in the city, in the largest room or 
rooms that can be obtained — when the fol- 
lowing premiums will be awarded, after 
which a second fair will be held, for the 
sale of such of the articles as may be offered. 
No. 1. For the neatest and most sub- 
stantial counterpane, a premium of G 
For the second do. do. 4 
No. 2. For the neatest and most comfort- 
able mattrass l filled with hackled shucks, 
or cotton, and made at home, 5 
For the second do. do. 3 
No. 3. For the best comfort or comfort- 
able, 6 
For the second do. do. 4 
No. 4. For the best bed quilt, 6 
For the second do. do. 4 
No. 5. For the best table cloth, 6 
For the second do. do. 4 
No. 6. For the neatest and most substan- 
tial carpet, not less than ten yards, 1 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



149 



$5 
6 



7 
6 
5 

4 

10 

5 

5 

3 



For the second best, 

No. 7. For the best hearth rug, 

For the second do. 

No. 8. For the best specimen of stock- 
ings, socks, gloves, or mittens, of Virginia 
raised silk, thread, wool, or cotton, worsted 
or mixed, 

For the second do. do. 

For the third do. do. 

For the fourth do. do. 

No. 9. For the best specimen of fruits — 
apples, pears, &c. &c. 

For the second do. do. 

No. 10. For the best specimen of dried 
fruits, not less than half a bushel, 

For the second do. do. 

No. 11. For the best specimen of pre- 
serves, not less than one gallon, 5 

No. 12. For the best specimen of pickles, 
not less than one gallon, 5 

No. 13. For the best specimen of flowers, 
the production of the exhibitor, 10 

For the second do. do. 5 

Premiums will be given in money or plate, at 
the discretion of successful competitors. 

The Society hopes to have the aid of the la- 
dies, to award the thirteen last mentioned pre- 
miums. 

The Committee have thought it expedient to 
make the premiums large in number, rather than 
in the amount, to afford the gratification of a 
premium to as many as possible. 

It is to be understood, that all the articles on 
which the last thirteen premiums are offered, 
must be the production of the exhibitor. 

The mechanics and artisans of the city, and 
others to whom it may be convenient, are re- 
spectfully invited to send to the first day's exhi- 
bition, such specimens of their own industry and 
skill, as they may think proper to have exhibited. 

The most ample and particular arrangements 
will be made for the accommodation of stock, 
for any number of days that may be necessary, 
and it is recommended that it be generally on 
the ground by the evening preceding the first 
day's exhibition. 

The following additional committees are ap- 
pointed, viz : 

To select a place for, and to conduct the first 
day's exhibition — the President of the Society, 
Charles T. Botts, and Richard Hill, Jr. 

To select a place for, and to conduct the suc- 
ceeding portion of the exhibition — William B. 
Chittenden, Gustavus A. Myers, Dr. Henry My- 
ers, Thomas A. Rust, William McCrery, and 
Henry Ludlam. 

Jesse H. Turner, 
Thomas S. Dicken, 
Richahd G. Haden, 
Wm. H. Richardson 
Joseph Rennie, 



1 



I I 



! Executive 
' Committee. 



Since Bending 1 to press the communication of Dr. G., 
in p. 140, we have received the following- from a young 
but enterprising and observant farmer. We hardly 
know any one upon whose judgment we would sooner 
rely. The Doctor will find in this article answers to 
several of his enquiries. 

For the Southern Planter. 
RENOVATING MEADOWS. 

■JVfr. Editor, — Your kind offer to take your 
homespun friends lo your wardrobe, together 
with a desire to contribute my mite to the cause 
of agriculture, has induced me to pay a visit, 
through the medium of your valuable Journal, 
to my agricultural brethren. I give you below 
my method of renewing my herds-grass mea- 
dows. As early as practicable after cutting my 
hay, I plough up that portion of my meadow 
which needs re-sowing, so as to turn the sod 
completely over ; and to effect this object more 
perfectly, I use a large two-horse plough, with 
a coulter in front to cut the sod; this is followed 
by a man with a hilling hoe to open the furrows, 
which are sometimes filled up by the turf's 
falling back. After the ploughing is completed, 
I use a heavy roller in order that my meadow 
may present as even a surface as possible. 
After this operation a bushel of grass seed 
should be sown to the acre and harrowed in. 
This method renders it unnecessary to cultivate 
our meadows in com to cleanse them, as it com- 
pletely destroys all of the natural grasses, and 
secures a good crop of hay the next summer; 
not however from the seed sown, but from the 
volunteer herds-grass, which puts up most luxu- 
riantly between every furrow slice. If any of your 
readers doubt the success of the above method, 
let them give it one fair trial, and they will no 
longer remain skeptical. Yours, 

Wm. M. Carter. 



FENCING. 



William D. Wren, J 



We have expressed, heretofore, the opinion 
that whenever fairly tried, the post and rail 
fence will be found, not only the most sightly 
and durable, but actually the cheapest. We are 
happy to find, from the Farmer's Cabinet, that 
a Mr. Worth of Pennsylvania, highly spoken 
of by the Editor, concurs in that opinion. He 
recommends the preparation for it as follows : 

11 Plant an acre of ground with chesnut and 
locust seeds, five-sixth of it with chesnut for 
rails, and one-sixth with locust for posts. Four 
trees will grow on a perch, making six hundred 
and forty on the acre. I suppose that forty of 
them will fail, leaving six hundred trees, each 
of which will produce in thirty years, and 
every twenty to twenty-five years afterwards, 
twenty rails or posts, which will yield at 
each cutting twelve thousand posts and rails, or 
two thousand pannels. Then say the acre of 
land is worth eighty dollars, it will reduce the 



150 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



materials to four cents per pannel, which with 
making and putting up will not exceed twenty- 
five cents. In point of durability I am per- 
suaded that it will be exceeded by none except 
the stone, and it will have an advantage over 
that by being moveable when necessary. 

" One acre thus appropriated is sufficient for a 
farm of five hundred acres — and consequently, 
a quarter of an acre will be abundant for a farm 
of one hundred acres. To what better or more 
profitable purpose can so small a portion of the 
best land on the farm be appropriated 1 The 
only objection is, that there is no immediate 
availability — that from twenty-five to thirty 
years must elapse before the trees can be made 
into rails. This objection is as unsatisfactory as 
it is unsound. There are thousands, who, if 
they were now to appropriate sufficient ground, 
according to the size of their farms, and plant it 
as proposed, may with the blessing of Provi- 
dence, live to enjoy its advantages for years. 
What ! not plant an orchard, or a grove of lo- 
cust, or a cluster of maple, because we may not 
live to enjoy the benefits thereof! Such senti- 
ments should never find an abiding place in the 
bosom of an American farmer ; for every intelli- 
gent man knows full well, that every measure 
of this kind tends not merely to adorn and beau- 
tify his plantation, but also greatly to increase 
its prospective value. Every farmer should see 
without delay to having his ground suitably 
stocked with trees. 

" It is estimated that a fence of locust posts and 
chesnut rails, with very little repair, will last at 
least sixty years, so that the necessities of the 
farm would require only the third cutting of the 
timber — the two intermediate cuttings, yielding 
thirty thousand posts and rails, are ready for a 
market, which would be readily found, and 
which at the low rate of five dollars a hundred, 
would give the owner of the farm an average 
gain of twenty dollars, for each and every year 
the acre of land was thus appropriated — in ad- 
dition to furnishing all necessary fencing for the 
farm. This, dating from the commencement, is 
a handsome profit." 

In the Western Farmer, a Mr. Hinde, backed 
by the Editor, recommends the cultivation of 
the catalpa as the most lasting wood known in 
this country. 

He says, "General Harrison some years ago, 
from his residence on the Wabash, had enter- 
tained a high opinion of the vast importance to 
the farmers of Ohio and Kentucky, and of the 
the great West generally, growing the catalpa 
or catawba tree for post and rail fences : his re- 
marks were published in a Cincinnati paper. 
Mr. Jefferson, in his notes on Virginia, or in 
some other, published forty or fifty years ago, 
states that this tree was a native of the Wa- 
bash valley. In 1816, '17, I found them here ; 
but no one, not apprized of the fact, would take 



them to be the catalpa or catawba tree, as 
growing wild they look like the linn. That the 
high recommendation given by Gen. Harrison 
of the timber, is correct, I shall now state, that 
on yesterday passing the farm of Mr. Samuel 
Rigg, living three miles west of this, I was s"hown 
a post fixed for a barn, and a roof formed and 
covered over ; yet the post had shot out limbs ; 
all but one was cut awy, which formed a shade 
for the stock, as well as a post to sustain a barn ! 
Another man, about three miles from Mr. Rigg, 
had fixed a similar post for a gate, which has 
grown into a tree, and no trace of the post is 
left ! A tree, fallen across a creek near Vin- 
cennes, has formed a bridge for the French for 
70 years ! — Mr. Rigg informed me that his barn 
post had lain exposed to the weather for several 
weeks before it was planted." 

Much diversity of opinion exists as to the 
proper time for cutting timber, and advocates 
may be found, we believe, for every day in the 
year. The prevailing opinion in modem times 
seems to be, we think that timber lasts best if 
cut when the sap is thinnest and flowing most 
freely, which, in our latitude, we presume, will 
be about the first of May. 

It is recommended also, in putting a post in 
the ground, to reverse the order of its growth, and 
put the upper end downwards. 



LEATHER. 

A Mr. Howd, of Wayne County, New York, 
has lately taken out letters patent for an improved 
mode of tanning leather. By means of a tight 
vat, from which the air has been exhausted, he 
accomplishes the tanning process in from twelve 
to thirty-six hours, making, it is said, an article 
superior both in appearance and quality to the 
one produced by the usual slow process. The 
rationale of the operation, as detailed in the 
Wayne Standard, seems to be philosophical and 
plausible. Many former attempts to produce the 
same effect have resulted in failures. Time will 
show the fate of this. 



MISCELLANY 



RICHARD III. 

Sir Robert Walpole declared that any thing 
was true but History. Certain it is that facts 
are often distorted by the passions or prejudices 
of historians, and when the motive for such per- 
version is of an universal character, the error 
sometimes obtains a complete triumph over truth. 
To lend his aid, however humble, in rescuing 
truth from obscurity, is the part of an honest 
man, and to brush away the clouds of calumny 
resting upon the fair fame of an individual is 
not less the duty than the pleasure of him, who 
would do justice to his fellow-beings. 

There is much reason to believe that the cha- 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



151 



racter of Richard III. "the crooked back tyrant," 
has been long resting under undeserved obloquy. 
We once knew a very learned and profound law- 
yer, much given to black letter lore, who held 
this opinion — his premature death alone pre- 
vented his being known as the brightest orna- 
ment of the bench to which he was raised. He 
contended that an examination of the statutes 
passed during the reign of Richard would prove 
that no prince, that ever sat upon the English 
throne, had more regard for the liberty of the 
subject. His administration, he said, was one 
of the wisest and best England ever knew ; and 
Shakspeare, who he often asserted was the his- 
torian of England, had traduced his character, 
to gratify the family spleen of Queen Elizabeth. 
In confirmation of the opinion, that Richard has 
been grossly slandered as well in person as in 
character, we quote the following from Strype's 
Life of Stow, a work of the very highest au- 
thority. He says : 

" One observation more, made by Stow, may 
here be mentioned, which I have from George 
Buck, Esq. who saith of him, that he was a 
man indifferently inquisitive after the verbal re- 
lations of the persons of princes, and curious in 
the descriptions of their features and lineaments ; 
and that in all his inquiries, he could find no 
such note of deformity in Richard III. as histo- 
rians commonly relate ; and that he acknow- 
ledged, he had spoken viva voce with some an- 
cient men, who from their own sight and know- 
ledge affirmed, that he was of bodily shape, and 
comely enough, only of low stature." 



The following- pleasing" anecdote is worthy of com- 
memoration, as a beautiful example of one of those no- 
ble, undaunted, and generous spirits, that sometimes 
illumine this sordid world of ours: 

A VILLAGE PATRIOT. 

The footway from Hampton Wick through 
Bushy Park (a royal demense) to Kingston 
upon Thames, had been for many years shut up 
from the public. An honest shoemaker, Timo- 
thy Bennett, of the former place, "umoilling (it 
was his favorite expression) to leave the world 
loorse than he found it" consulted an attorney 
upon the practicability of recovering this road 
for the public good, and the probable expense of 
a legal process for that purpose. " I do not 
mean to cobble the job," said Timothy, " for I 
have seven hundred pounds, and I should be will- 
ing to give up the awl, that great folks might 
not keep the upper leather wrongfully." The 
lawyer informed him that no such sum would 
be necessary to try the right ; then said the wor- 
thy shoemaker, "as sure as soles are soles, I'll 
stick to them to the last? and Lord Halifax, the 
then Ranger of Bushy Park, was immediately 
served with the regular notice of action ; upon 



which his lordship sent for Timothy, and on his 
entering the lodge, his lordship said with some 
warmth, "And who are you that has the assur- 
ance to meddle in this affair ?" " My name, rny 
lord, is Timothy Bennett, shoemaker, of Hamp- 
ton Wick. I remember, an't please your lord- 
ship, to have seen, when I was a young man 
sitting at work, the people cheerfully pass by rny 
shop to Kingstone market; but now, my lord, 
they are forced to go round about, through a hot 
sandy road, ready to faint beneath their burden ; 
and / am unwilling to leave the world worse than 
I found it. This, my lord, I humbly represent, 
is the reason why I have taken this work in 
hand." "Begone," replied his lordship, "you 
are an impertinent fellow." However, upon ma- 
ture reflection, his lordship, convinced of the 
equity of the claim, began to compute the shame 
of a defeat by a shoemaker, desisted from his op- 
position notwithstanding the opinion of the crown 
lawyers, and re-opened the road, which is en- 
joyed by the public without molestation to this 
day. Honest Timothy died about two years 
after, in the 77th year of his age, and was fol- 
lowed to the grave by all the populace of his 
native village. 



HUMAN TALLOW. 

The fat of human beings, it is said, makes 
the best and nicest candles. What a use for 
some old ladies and gentlemen we ha\'e seen ! 
Dr. Millingen tells a story of an Irish chandler, 
who, after the invasion of Cromwell, obtained 
great reputation for the beauty and excellence 
of his candles. After a while, the article dete- 
riorated, and to the complaints of one of his cus- 
tomers, he replied, "I am sorry to inform you 
that the times are so tranquil, that I have been 
short of Englishmen for a long time." The 
poor Irish, we presume, would not answer. 



THE UGLY LEG. 

Nothing in this world is more to be admired 
than that beautiful and Christian spirit, which 
leads us to dwell upon the beauties and overlook 
the defects of our fellow-creatures. Dr. Franklin 
relates a singular expedient resorted to by an old 
gentleman to test the presence of this disposition. 
For this purpose, he made use of his legs, one 
of which was remarkably handsome, the other 
by some accident crooked and deformed. If a 
stranger at the first interview regarded his ugly 
leg more than his handsome one, he doubted 
him; but if he spoke of it, and took no notice 
of his handsome leg, that was sufficient to de- 
termine the philosopher to have no further ac- 
quantance with him. 

Let querulous, carping, fault-finders, who are 
a disgrace to humanity, take warning from this 
anecdote, and leave off looking at the ugly leg. 



152 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



IMPORTANT TO SUFFERERS FROM THE 
TOOTHACH. 

At a meeting of the London Medical Society, 
Dr. Blake stated " that he was able to cure the 
most desperate cases of toothach (unless the dis- 
ease was connected with rheumatism) by the 
application of the following remedy to the de- 
cayed tooth. Alum reduced to an impalpable 
powder, two drachms; nitrous spirit of ether, 
seven drachms. Mix and apply them to the 
tooth. 



NAMES ON FRUIT. 

To those who have time and may choose to 
make the experiment, the following may possess 
some interest : To make names grow in peaches, 
cover the side exposed to the sun, when the fruit 
is about half ripe, with letters of wax. This 
hinders the parts covered from becoming colored 
with the sun ; and when the fruit is ripe, and 
the wax removed, the desired letters will dis- 
tinctly appear. — Rochester Gem. 



Richmond Monthly Markets, Aug. 5th, 1841. 




TO CORRESPONDENTS. 

Several of those in our present number will find that 
we have been exercising- the privilege we invariably 
claim, of abridging and condensing wherever we think 
we can do so to advantage. 

To our friend J. P. D. we must apologise for the non- 
appearance of his valued communication. It was by 
some accident mislaid until it was too late for the pre- 
sent number. It shall have an early insertion in our 
next. We would be glad if, in the meantime, he would 
avail himself of the opportunity afforded him to au- 
thorize us to give the article over his real name. 



TO MACHINISTS, PATENT RIGHT OWNERS 
AND OTHERS. 

Any individual, from any part the U. S., who will 
forward to the Editor a good cut of any agricultural 
implement, or of any article, or animal, in its nature 
interesting to agriculturists, shall be entitled to an in- 
sertion and description thereof, gratis. The circula- 
tion of the paper is becoming such as to make this 
offer a very valuable one to such as desire to dissemi- 
nate a knowledge of the implements they are manu- 
facturing, or the animals they are breeding. 

If circumstances are such as to prevent the trans- 
mission of an engraving, the Editor will undertake to 
have one made here, from a good drawing, on as good 
terms, probably, as it can be afforded in the Union. 



TOBACCO INSPECTIONS OF VIRGINIA FOR 
YEARS 1840 AND 1841. 


1840. 1841. 
Richmond passed and refused, 16,834 hhds. 16,223 hhds 
Petersburg do. do. 12,638 " 12,101 " 
Lynchburg do. do. 10,499 " 9,605 " 
Farmville do. do. 4,128 " 3,891 " 
Clarksville do. do. 2,351 " 2,686 " 
All others do. do. 1,500 " 1,250 " 



47,950 45,756 

Foreign exports for month of July, 1841, 6,919 hhds. 
and 987 tierces. 

The inspections of 1840 were 58,008 hhds.; we think 
they will be in 1841, 50,000 hhds. 

The stocks of tobacco held by planters and commis- 
sion houses for sale and for inspection, of growth 1840, 
we estimate at 7,000 hhds. 

At this time the inspections average about 60 hhds. 
per day. Prices during the last ten days have been 
irregular — the tendency has been upward for lugs, and 
downward for leaf — present rates $4 50 a S5 for lugs, 
general sales ; leaf $6 25 a $9 ; occasionally very inferior 
lugs sell under $4 50, and fine leaf at and above $10. 

Flour. — The stock ol old held for sale not exceeding 
a few hundred barrels : sales at $5 75 a S6 — very little 
new yet received— nominal value $6 25 a $6 50 per bbl. 

Wheat. — Receipts of new moderate — fair parcels $1 
10 a $125. 

The information we have from the country in regard 
to the crops, represent the yield of wheat proving much 
less than was estimated at the time of harvest, and ge- 
nerally the quality not very good. Corn has suffered 
by drought and recent cool weather. The tobacco crop 
is very backward — the planting was very large, and the 
plants though small stand well — seasonable weather this 
month and a late autemn needed to mature a good crop, 
both in quantity and quality. 

BAGWELL, SMITH & JONES. 



CONTENTS OF NO. VII. 

Draining— New mode recommended, p. 129. 

Sub-Soil Ploughing — Explained, p. 129. 

Orchards— The profits and advantages of, p. 130. 

Grafting — Mr. Foster's mode of, p. 130. 

Hogs— Essay on, by Rev. J. H. Turner, p. 131. 

Leaves — Highly recommended as manure, p. 132. 

Bacon — Mr. Jno. Lewis's mode of treating, p. 133. 

Filbert — Its cultivation recommended, p. 133. 

Dahlia — Mode of preserving roots, p. 134. 

Cattle — The improvement of the native stock recom- 
mended in preference to relying on importation. 

Springs — Mode of making, p. 135. 

Scours in Colts — Method of treating, p. 135. 

Fruit Trees — Advantage of draining, p. 135. 

Hay — Treatment of in curing, p. 135. 

Paint — Want of in Virginia complained of, p. 137. 

Slavery —Essay on the economy of slave labor, p. 1 37. 

Iron — The extent to which it is being applied in 
building, p. 139. 

Hogs — Medium sized, recommended, p. 139. 

Hay — Enquiries concerning, from J. R. G., p. 140. 

Bee-hive — Subtended described and approved, p. 141. 

Cob Meal — Advantages of grinding the cob, p. 142. 

Tobacco — Essay on, continued, p. 142. 

Corn — Ought to be suckered, p. 145. 

Sheep — Terms on which Mr. Twyman's can be pro- 
cured, 145. 

Loam — Definition of, 146. 

Sweetmeats — Extempore, 146. 

Glass— Method of boring, 146. 

Drenching — Proper mode of performing, p. 146. 

Potatoes — A steamer for, engraved and described, 147. 

Henrico Agricultural Society — Projct of fall pro- 
ceedings, p. 147. 

Meadows — Treatment of, p. 149. 

Fencing— Post and rail recommended, p. 149. 

Leather— Expeditious mode of tanning, p. 1C0. 

Miscellany— p. 150.