Devoted to Agriculture, Horticulture, and the Household Arts. 



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



J. E. WILLIAMS, Editor. 













AUGUST & WILLIAMS, Prop'rs 



■ 



Vol. XYIII. 



RICHMOND, VA., AUGUST, 1858. 



NO. 8, 



From the British Farmer's Magazine. 

Air: How Invaluable to the Successful 
Husbandry of the Soil and its Produce, 
Animal and Vegetable. 

In our former observations on this subject 
we directed attention to a general view of it, 
promising to notice on a subsequent occasion 
the individual case of soils, plants, and ani- 
mals, under the different atmospheric circum- 
stances in which they are found. We now pro- 
pose the fulfilling of that promise. 

In doing so, let us examine wheat, grass, and 
turnips, grown in different soils, climates, and 
under different systems of cultivation. 

Under the first, as to soil, the practical 
question at issue may be thus stated: How far 
does the atmosphere affect the quality of wheat 
on any individual soil? That the nature of 
the soil and its atmosphere influences the com- 
position of both the grain and straw of this 
cereal, is a fact with which farmers have been 
familiar from time immemorial. To what ex- 
tent, therefore, is this dependent upon atmos- 
pheric phenomena? Calcareous soils, for ex- 
ample, and others abounding in organic sub- 
stances, yield wheat containing a larger pro- 
portion of gluten or nitrogenous matter, than 
^ ; do soils of opposite quality. How much of this 
nitrogen is due to the nitrogon of the atmos- 
phere, and how much to that of the manure in- 
corporated with them? 

In the case of a calcareous soil, the decom- 
position of lime by means of air and water 
Obviously works up the oxvgen of both the lat- 
29 



ter, liberating their nitrogen and hydrogen - t 
while they, uniting together under favourable 
circumstances, form ammonia (n1 .j.ii3). In this 
manner 82.545 lbs. of nitrogen, and 17.455 of hy- 
drogen, would make 100 lbs. of ammonia, requir- 
ing the decomposition of 107.2 lbs. of common 
air and 167 lbs. of water. Now, as this quantity 
of ammonia is a sufficient dose for two acres 
of land, yielding an ordinary crop of wheat, 
it will readily be seen that the decomposition 
of this quantity of air and water over such 
an area, the liberation of this quantity of 
nitrogen and hydrogen, and their uniting to- 
gether, is the most likely source from whence 
the growing wheat plant derives a large portion 
of its nitrogen. 

Pure ammonia, however, cannot thus be 
formed in a calcareous soil, as it always com- 
bines with other substances; but this does not 
in the slightest degree affect the question at 
issue, for it signifies little what salt of ammo- 
nia may be formed, so long as it is formed and 
consumed by the plant. 

In soils, again, rich in animal and vegetable 
matter, a similar result takes place during the- 
process of decomposition. As in the case of 
calcareous matter, air and water are necessary 
to effect this change, during which the oxygen 
of both produces, with the vegetable matter, 
carbonic, ulmic, and other acids, while the 
nitrogen and hydrogen liberated form ammonia. 

If, however, we suppose such a vegetable soil 
improperly drained, so that decomposition takes 
place in the absence of air, or a sufficient sup- 
ply of it, then the vegetable matter and oxygen 



450 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



form the carbonic and other acids; but the 
hydrogen now unites with the carbon, forming 
carburetted hydrogen, or the gas of low-lying 
marshy lands — a gas alike injurious to animal 
and vegetable life. 

Wet marshy soils of this class are, perhaps, 
the worst for wheat culture of any, being de- 
ficient of ammonia to supply nitrogen for the 
manufacture of gluten. For the successful 
growth of this cereal, proper drainage and aera- 
tion are essential requisites. A certain degree of 
moisture is, no doubt, necessary to supply hy- 
drogen; but in our moist climate, few crops 
require so little rain as wheat, while none re- 
quire a larger supply of atmosphere, beans 
and peas excepted. 

On sandstone and clay soils, naturally de- 
ficient of organic matter, and where the inor- 
ganic is less subject to decomposition, on the 
contrary, wheat seldom yields very abundantly, 
while the quality of the flour is inferior, owing 
to the small per-centage of gluten which it con- 
tains. 

This deficiency of crop, and the inferiority 
of quality, are thus accounted for: In the first 
place, the inorganic matter being less subject 
to the action of oxygen than limestone, the de- 
composition of air and water is consequently 
also less, so that the supply of naturally manu- 
factured food, both organic and inorganic, is 
insufficient to supply the wants of a healthy 
and luxuriant vegetation. And in the second 
place, the decomposition of air and water be- 
ing less, the manufacture of ammonia is also 
less, and, hence, the formation of gluten. 

In the case of grass crops again, results, are 
similar, the produce of dry calcareous or vege- 
table soils being better for rearing and fatten- 
ing stock, than that of others of a different 
quality not so subject to the decomposing in- 
fluence of the atmosphere. We might quote 
many examples from the rich trrazin^; districts 
of England and Ireland, in proof of this pro- 
position, were it necessary. 

In low-lying, marshy grass-lands, however*, 
the example is widely different from that of 
wheat-land, in more respects than one. In the 
first, for example, luxuriant crops of an in- 
ferior quality are often produced by this class 
of soils; and although not equal to straw as 
food for cattle, they make nevertheless excel- 
lent manure. As such we have used immense 
quantities, both in a green state and dry, for 
littering stock, and always had fine crops. 

For pasturage they are not well adapted; 
the marshy gases arising contaminating the 
atmosphere, and thus injuring the respiratory 
functions of sto«k, or otherwise affecting their 
he/ilth. In corroboration of this, we shall 
mention two examples: In the first, large 
tubular swellings break out, principally about 
the neck and chest of cattle, the malady gene- 
rally terminating fatally. And not only are 
they affected thus when grazing, but als i when 
consuming in the straw-yard, alike in summer 



as winter, the produce of such lands, as tui 
nips, hay, and straw. In the second examph 
cattle never thrive wel^; while they chang 
their colour, whatever it may be, to a "dirt- 
dun/' 

Some low-lying wet grass-lands, we mustob 
serve, are exceptions from the above examples 
the produce being rich in quality and abundanl 
in quantity. This is owing to the water noi 
being stagnant, but rising to the roots of plants 
by capillary action, and bringing a sufficiency 
of lime, alkaline, and other salts, in solution, 
to counteract acidity and supply the necessary 
quality of food which otherwise would be want- 
ing. The grass, however, owing to the decom- 
position of air being less (and consequently the 
produce of naturally-formed ammonia), is 
generally deficient of nitrogenous element, and 
therefore is better adapted for yielding butter 
than cheese or butcher-meat ; but in practice 
this deficiency is easily supplied by the ad- 
dition of a little pea or bean-meal and cake. 

Like grass, the turnip delights in a rich, 
well-drained, calcareous soil, or one full of 
vegetable matter, with a moist climate, both 
top and bottom having a liberal supply of air, 
An abundance of pure air is essential for the 
growth of this invaluable plant ; for without 
plenty of room, a well-pulverized soil, and an 
atmosphere free from deleterious matter, a 
heavy crop cannot be grown. At the same 
time more water appears to be assimilated in 
the process of vegetation than nitrogen from 
the atmosphere; thus proving that as the tur- 
nip is a large consumer of ammonia — a great 
decomposer of air and water — nitrogen-gas 
must be given off from its leaves. 

With regard to climate, it is much more di- 
versified than is generally imagined. In com- 
mon conversation we talk of the north, south, 
east, and west, as cardinal distinctions ; but 
when we come to examine the details of even 
a single province, let it be situate where it 
may, how different is the atmospheric circum- 
stances of one farm from that of another! and 
how unlike are the results on animal and vege- 
table life! 

Such diversities are to be attributed no less 
to geological than geographical causes. When 
we enter the field, may it not be said, How lit- 
tle is yet known of the ''chemistry of common 
life!" for here the undivided labours of the 
farmer are directed to one continued process of 
decomposition! as if man had but one grand 
object in view — viz., to pull down as fast &i 
Nature builds up the animal and vegetable 



kingdi 



Nor are results to be measured bj 



his own individual efforts; for mechanical ap 
pliances without number are now being brought 
to bear upon the soil, exposing it more effectu 
ally to the decomposing influence of the atmos 
phere, in order to increase both produce am 
consumption. 

This decomposition of the soil and its pro 
ducc must affect the contiguous atmosphere lea 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



45J 



felt fnr ; n : """J-F l ««goea land is sensibly 






than ethers; and fch TdifWn f • T ' health ? S0 *™Wc matte 






--~-w .^i UH4CI , 

pon K ht»andvp?.3 v >u 8a C aad "out the 
the atn ,sphet y h« T "'f &ee oblation of 
one of tjXrdbZot? • " ff now! <%«l 

lortable threshing machines," 



ff.«U aT • -j-"" *«w iijuner more tert ? no 
than the.r own constituent elements 32 
faetonly account for. The advoei-es ,f 

roeess. 



ueas at wheat or other kinds of eron- an .Ko* ' j A «»«««« i..^ aiilIi »- 
he questmu may yet be raised thZZi £2£| t% '»?*? W» 1 

L Cul i U / e ' ™* P^>Per attention toSZ!2 S «= ^ being not^ unusual fcrVn7nd<£ 



wrote Lou- 
are very com m or* 



«eep culture, with proner nttPntf,».T~ " v ,'-">'| 1 ' 1 ourroin; 1 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 

iar manner. Alter at . are genenxuv * vpvolvine above fixed curved 

reapers and steam-p ougbs ^ > hragh _ arme d with rakes, re^lvmg a th pass the 

fe g ns^ 

towing, P™™" 8 *? ,^e^in«lto^ w ® re bete. were jumped b J Jl ouDie t box . s hakers 

and may expect only J'^"^ economising ou S . The corn fell before tt e MJ . 

augmenting the ^'ft B *I^£: and ac- Ler, then down before anothe, the »| B fe . 

the" motive-power, **^J$Z&« to all and short ^.•^W again 
commodates the beaters ana f( ' r novving being taken op by an cl«. S^_ 

conditions of "stuff. *° ^ 8 trSr, eonsMer- to the feeding-board of the drum ^ 

separating the eon. , chaff and rt . ^ ^1^ corn as earned p other ^ 

trb~f"f^,'to tl de,ote some con- — ^e^ , or ^ed 
8i8 ,.ing of a vertical Bhaft e«rry«g cylmdncal s.eve or scpara ^ 

cular rake attached fo Bh *" n B A g^ain, was; Miles reported as ^ n S. m Jhine was drive 

feL^o^^ 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



453 



Cfl 



ing-maehine was exhibited by Cambridge, hav- 
ing a reciprocating rake attached, for the pur- 
pose of collecting and passing the straw from 
the drum without harbouring the grain; and 
the lower part of the machine was inclosed so 
as to form a box or receptacle for the grain to 
fall into. But up to a year later than this 
period we find that improved horse-power ma- 
chines, without dressing apparatus occupied 
the most prominent place in the catalogues of 
the great makers; while hand-power thrashing 
machines were much in request as novelties. 
At Northampton, in 1847, Hornsby showed a 
thrashing-machine with a revolving shaker; 
Cambridge one also, with a shaking apparatus 
attached; and J. Cornes, jun., of Market Dray- 
ton, a thrasher with straw-shaker and elevator, 
the shaker six feet long; Hayes, of Elton, had 
a straw-shaker; and Clyburn exhibited a hori- 
zontal cylindrical "separator." Ryland and 
Dean, of Birmingham, however, showed a com- 
plete machine for thrashing, winnowing, and 
bagging the grain. At York, in 1848, Hornsby 
had his improvement of Clyburn's shaker; 
Summers, of Wold Newton, a rotary straw- 
shaker ; Scott, of Belfast, a revolving-rake 
shaker; Humphries, of Pershore, a thrasher 
with winnowing apparatus and shaker; Gar- 
rett, a thrasher with straw-shaker and jogging 
screen for separating the colder and refuse 
from the grain; w r hile Abbey, of Dunnington, 
exhibited a horse-power thrashing-machine with 
blowing-case, riddles, and elevators which filled 
the sacks with corn; and Burrell, of Thetford, 
gained a silver medal for his portable thrash- 
ing and dressing machine with parallel-bar 
shaker, invented by W. Palmer, of Southacre, 
capable of thrashing five or six quarts per 
hour, and delivering the corn, chaff, straw, and 
sittings or short straws in separate places. The 
price was only £75, yet the machine was at 
that time supposed to be very cumbrous for 
ordinary farm use. At Norwich, the next 
year, Clayton and Suttleworth produced their 
box-shaker, three feet wide, and fourteen feet 
long; Crosskill, also had a shaker, "on a new 
principle;" Hornsby showed a double-cranked 
or jumping straw-shaker; and Sargison, of 
Wis beach, a shaker having sieves or riddles of 
perforated galvanized-iron, which propelled the 
straw and pulse forward, while the grain sifted 
through. In addition to BurrelPs threshing 
and dressing machine, Cambridge showed one 
invented by Humphries, for thrashing, win- 
nowing, and weighing; Holmes, of Norwitjji, 
a horse-power machine with a newly-invented 
jog colder riddle, and a new straw-shaker; Ger- 
rett, a thrasher wi-th chaffing apparatus ; and 
Ferrabee, of Stroud, a machine with double- 
crank shaker, and an endless ba id for deliver- 
ing the corn and chaff to the elevator which 
carried it to an ordinary winnowing-machine. 
And it is noticeable that the manufacturers 
felt it necessary to call attention to the fact 
that their portable machines, for doing all this 



work at once, did not require to be removed 
from the carriage-wheels on which they were 
mounted. In the Farmer's Almanac, for 1850, 
appeared the first engraving of a portable com- 
bined thrashing machine, viz., Garrett's ; the 
-haker consisting of spars with spikes rotating 
upon cranks at the inner end and vibrating on 
rocking-bars at the other. About the same 
time came' out Clayton and Shuttleworth's 
portable combined machine; the shaker-boxes 
having a parallel motion, by means of wheels 
and spindles connecting the crank-shafts, in- 
stead of connecting-rod and cranks as before; 
and there was a vibrating trough extending 
the whole length of the machine. Tuxford's 
table shaker-off was also introduced; at first; 
having a rotary jumping movement by means 
of mitre-wheels and a spindle connecting two 
crank-shafts underneath, instead of hanging 
on slings as at present. 

It is only six or seven years, therefore, since 
we obtained the portable thrashing-machine in 
its present form ; that is the vital parts which 
are now being improved and altered (but still 
generally adhered to) in every possible form. 
We may mention as one of the greatest and 
most extensively-adopted improvements, Hum- 
phries' divided and reciprocating trough or 
shoe; and as variations from the common form, 
Ransome's revolving Binsmead shaker, and 
Hornsbv's worm or screw for feeding the rid- 
dles.— 16. 



The Incrustation of Cereal and other 
Seed^ 

BY F. R. DE LA TREHONNAIS. 
I. 

Formerly, when science was still in its in- 
fancy, experience to a certain extent, but rou- 
tine especially, were the only guides of agri- 
culturists in their motles of preparing the 
ground for the reception of the seed. Farm- 
yard manures and bare fallows were the only- 
means of restoring the spent energies of the 
soil ; and these were then, and are even now 
to a great extent, indiscriminately resorted to, 
without any regard to the chemical constitu- 
tion of the soil, or the requirements of the 
plants that are to grow upon it. Analytic sci- 
ence, and the wonderful discoveries of vegeta- 
ble physiology, have of late years thrown a 
great deal of light upon the subject of manure, 
its mode of application to the soil, and its as- 
similation by the plants. And yet, practically, 
little progress has been made. N We have su- 
perphosphate, it is true: we sec a great many 
kinds of artificial manures daily advertised in 
our agricultural papers ; but, after all, the pro- 
gress we have accomplished is by no means ad- 
equate to the strides which science has made 
in the analytic knowledge of manures, in the 
exact appreciation of their fertilizing qualities, 
and their action upon vegetation in various 



454 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



plants. We still cart away to our fields the 
same ponderous loads of farm-yard dung, a 
I arge per centage of which is of no earthly use, 
and can only be regarded as the huge vehicle 
of a very minute proportion of ammonia and 
alkaline salts. Even guano and superphos- 
phate of lime are encumbered with a large 
proportion of useless ingredients, all of 
which are costly to purchase and cumber- 
some, and therefore expensive to carry. Be- 
sides, what a large proportion of the manure 
which we lay over our fields is utterly lost to 
the crop we want to grow ! what a large pro- 
portion is eaten up by noxious weeds, or dis- 
seminated through a part of the soil untouched 
by the ramifications of the roots, and therefore 
immediately useless ! On the other hand, we 
know, from clear demonstration, what the sub- 
stances are which each kind of crops draws 
from the soil ; we know to a fraction the quan- 
tity of each of those substances respectively ; 
and when we come to compare their aggregate 
weight at per acre, with the quantity of ma- 
nure which we have laid over the extent of 
ground, we are astounded at the difference in 
bulk and weight. 

II. 

• If a plant is dried and burnt, the little pinch 
of ashes that remains, after complete combus- 
tion, represents the amount of mineral sub- 
stances which the plant has drawn from the 
soil. The rest, which has evaporated in the 
air by the process of combustion, represents 
those constituent parts which the plant has de- 
rived from the air. Chemistry tells us exactly 
what substances the ashes contain, and in what 
proportionate quantities. It is then obvious, 
that either the soil or the manures put on it, 
Or, as is more generally the case, both com- 
bined, have supplied those substances to the 
plant, without which it could not have arrived 
at maturity. But her^ we may well pause, 
dnd ask ourselves whether, in order to admin- 
ister to the plant so small a quantity of mat- 
ters — another and a more simple mode cannot 
be found ; for that quantity, though it be mul- 
tiplied by the number of plants in an acre of 
groumd, still remains comparatively minute in 
the extreme, when we compare it with the 
bulk and weight of the 20 or 25 cubic yards of 
dung we have laid over it, besides the pulveru- 
lent artificial manure or guano we have drilled, 
with our seed. Again, if we calculate the cost 
of that manure and the value of the labour 
which its use has necessitated, we find that the 
little heap of ashes which has been the result, 
has cost us an immense sum of money : in fact, 
a much higher sum than the pure chemicals of 
which it consists could be bought for in the 
trade. 

III. 

Hence, the general tendency of efforts on 
the part of both scientific men and practical 



agriculturists towards concentrated manures, 
that is, diminishing the bulk of useless sub- 
stances, serving merely as vehicles to the really 
fertilizing element, in order to render them 
more portable, and more energetic, proportion- 
ately with their bulk. Abstractedly this is 
evidently the goal of our progressive ideas in 
agriculture; that is, the simplification of all 
the means, either in labour or manures — the 
one by concentration of fertilizing energies ; 
the other by means of ingenious machinery, 
and especially the use of steam-power in field 
as well as barn operations. It is true to a 
certain extent thai, apart from the primary 
purpose of restoring the exhausted fertility of 
the soil, stable and other bulky manure have 
other advantages, mechanical and thermal ; for 
instance, in dividing a stiff soil, and imparting 
to it a higher temperature by decomposition 
from fermentation. But, with thorough drain- 
age, these advantages have become less -de- 
pending from the action of stable manure ; and 
1 have no doubt but, as we progress with time, 
the corn-growing farmer will no longer be 
obliged to have recourse to the present trouble- 
some and expensive mode of manufacturing 
his manure. A more delicate delineation will 
divide the operations of the corn-growing from 
those of the breeding and grazing agricultur- 
ists, by which the pursuits of the farmer will 
become less complicated, demanding a smaller 
capital, diminishing his risks, and materially 
adding to his gain. Every farmer in England 
knows well that the lean stock he is obliged to 
feed on his farm brings him no immediate 
profit ; and, were it not for the manure, he 
would incur a positive loss — setting for nothing 
the labour, anxiety, risks of mortality, and the 
locking up of capital, which the feeding of 
stock entails. 

IV. 

From the foregoing preliminary observations, 
we are naturally led to ask the question : How 
are these disadvantages to be removed ? How 
are we to turn scientific discoveries to a practi- 
cal account? How are we to concentrate our 
manures, and simplify their fertilizing constitu- 
ents, so as to reduce them to the bulk of the 
amount actually assimilated by the crop ; and, 
Inning succeeded in this, how arc we to apply 
them ? 

A few weeks ago I communicated to this 
paper the translation of a very remarkable 
m»moir upon the nutrition of plants, by the 
celebrated Boussingault, describing a series of 
experiments which clearly demonstrated the 
possibility of enabling a plant to accomplish 
all the phases of its existence, viz : its germi- 
nation, normal growth, bloom, fructification, 
and maturity, in pure calcined sand, in which 
were introduced pure phosphate of lime, vege- 
table ashes, and nitrate of potash, which con- 
tain the mineral constituents of the plant se- 
lected for the experiment — IldianOivs argo- 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



455 



ptiyllus. Here, it is very obvious that the soil 
was essentially used only as a vehicle to the 
plaut wherein it might strike its roots, and 
also to the ingredients which were added as 
food for its development and maturity. So it 
matters not how destitute of every nutritive 
element a soil may be, if it do not contain any 
substance noxious to vegetation — provided it 
can be supplied with the constituents of the 
plant which is to grow from it. If those con- 
stituents may be so placed in close proximity 
to the roots that they may be all absorbed by 
the plant in the course of its development, 
there is no necessity of placing in the soil a 
larger quantity than will be assimilated by the 
plant. In other words, if the analysis of the 
ashes of the plant shows that it has absorbed, 
say ten grains of the various elements added 
to the soil, and in respective quantities, if it 
were possible to introduce those substances in 
so close a proximity to the roots that the whole 
might be integrally assimilated, ther^ is no 
doubt but the mere addition of exactly ten 
grains of the mixture, in the same proportion 
as found in the ashes, would be quite sufficient 
to insure the normal development of the plant. 

It must be admitted, however abstract the 
foregoing proposition may be, that if the prin- 
ciple it propounds could be practically applied, 
it would be the very limit to which progress 
can attain ; and as I have already remarked, 
it is impossible not to perceive that it is to that 
concentration and simplification of means that 
we are now directing all the efforts of our 
skill, knowledge and ingenuity. 

Boussingault, in his recent experiments in 
the production of what he calls a limit plant, 
has proved that the seeds of many plants con- 
tain the necessary quantity of nitrogen, not 
only for the germination of the plant and the 
nutrition of the nascent stem and leaves before 
the radicals have been sufficiently developed to 
draw a supply from the soil, but also to the 
production *)f a perfectly organized plant, 
though exceedingly reduced in its dimensions. 
In fact, such a plant — after several months' 
existence in the open air, or even in a confined 
atmosphere — has been found to weigh but 
very little more than the seed from which it 
sprang. This clearly shows that the extent of 
the organism of that plant was limited by the 
quantity of the nitrogenous principles con- 
tained in the seed ; but as soon as he applied 
to the soil (exclusively composed of calcined 
quartz sand, not containing a particle of de- 
composed matter or mineral manure) a small 
quantity of phosphate of lime, nitrate of 
potash and vegetable ashes rich in silicate of 
potash, the plant immediately sprang up from 
its torpor, and grew luxuriant and strong, 
bloomed and brought forth matured seed as 
well and as rapidly as another plant of the 
same kind had done upon a garden-strip richly 
manured. 

This experiment clearly shows that the soil 



upon which the plant grew exercised no imme- 
diate influence whatever upon the growth of the 
plant, as far as its nutrition went, but merely 
as a vehicle for heat and moisture, as well as 
the holder of the plant and of the pure mineral 
salts upon which it lived and developed itself, 
This naturally leads us to ask the question, 
whether, instead of incurring great expense 
and trouble in manuring the soil thoroughly 
with heaps of dung containing but a small 
per centage of fertilizing matter, which is still 
reduced and less available to the plant by 
being disseminated over a larger surface than 
the roots of the plant can possibly compass, it 
be not possible to manure the seed itself, that 
is, surround it by a crust formed of the very 
mineral substances which are necessary to its 
growth, in the same proportion as they are 
found to exist in the seed, and in a sufficient 
quantity to represent exactly the weight of the 
aggregate mineral substances which arc ab- 
stracted from the soil by the well matured 
normal plant? This crust could then be con- 
sidered as the mere extension of the seed to a 
larger bulk ; and as the seed contains what i* 
necessary to feed germination, and even to 
form a complete plant, though limited in 
weight to the extent of food contained in the 
seed, so the seed being increased to any re- 
quired number of times its size and weight by 
the agglomeration of substances, such as phos- 
phates, nitrates, and silicates, w T ould be enabled 
to supply to the growing plant the necessary 
elements of normal growth and perfect matu- 
rity. 

VI. 
This is indeed no new theory, and many 
have been the attempts even in times of remote 
antiquity to realize it in a practical manner. 
Many are the inventors of wonderful liquids, 
in which the seeds were to be steeped, and 
thereby imbibe all the required elements of 
nutrition and fertility* All these have failed, 
not because the principle was not a sound one, 
but because it was not properly applied. For 
it is obvious that a liquid manure, however 
rich in fertilizing elements, could not fix these 
round the seed in a Sufficient quantity so as to 
increase its store of nutritive matters — this can 
only be done in a solid form. Then, until 
very recently there was also the insuperable 
difficulty arising from ignorance, science not 
having yet shed the light of its discoveries on 
the mysteries of vegetation ; and the wonder- 
ful action of phosphates, nitrates and silicates 
upon vegetation, although practically known, 
had not been determined with sufficient mi- 
nuteness and accuracy to lead to any thing 
like an authentic formula of proportion and 
quantity. But failures, however complete 
they may be, in carrying out great .ideas, are 
no arguments against a renewal of efforts ; 
and when these failures, as in the case ot 
steam-engines, railways, reaping machines, or 
the application of steam to the cultivation o( 



^56 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTED. 



the soil, are found to act rather as incentives 
to the ingenuity of men, instead of damping 
their energy and the buoyancy of their hopes, 
we know it from the experience of the last 
thirty years that it is a sure sign that the idea 
Is good, and will be ultimately carried out. 

VII. 

But there are objections to this system. 
What system is free from objections ? Some 
gay that the mineral matter with which the 
eeed is enveloped, on being dissolved in the 
soil, will settle immediately around the neck of 
the roots, which will naturally dive away from 
it, and it will then become useless to the pro- 
gress of the plant after it has attained a cer 
tain development. I believe that this objection 
is more specious than real ; for every one must 
have observed that when a seed has fallen 
upon a manure heap, and there germinated to 
a plant, if the plant be pulled up, it is found 
that the roots are very short and shaggy, and 
do not seem to have penetrated beyond a very 
limited area, the number of rootlets making 
up for the deficiency of their length. This 
seems to me easily accounted for; because the 
roots, finding in their immediate vicinity a 
sufficient supply of nutritive elements, have no 
inducement to dive at any great length in 
search of them. The instinct displayed by 
the roots in search of food is truly wonderful, 
and many examples of their astounding sa- 
gacity might be adduced. I have read some- 
where the instance of the radicle of a plant 
diving to the depth of many feet, and fixing 
itself into a bone that was buried there, and in 
search of which it had evidently dived at so 
uu usual a distance from the surface. It is not, 
therefore, unnatural to surmise that the roots 
of the plants, finding within their immediate 
vicinity all the nutriment required for the 
plant whose mouths they are, quietly settle in 
that spot, and contentedly relinquish their 
erratic propensities. 

VIII. 

However plausible this aud other objections 
may be, the best test, after all, is the test of 
experience ; and that system, which I have 
called, for want of a better word, the incrusta- 
tion of seeds, must live or die by that great 
test. A French gentleman has recently come 
to this country, to submit his invention of a ma- 
chine for preparing the seed, and the formulas 
regulating the nature, proportions, and quanti- 
ties of the mineral substances to be used, to 
the verdict of English practical farmers ; and I 
am in a position to state that his appeal has 
been favourably received, and experiments are 
being made in various parts of England with 
the view of testing the value of that gentle- 
man's discoveries. Messrs. Burgess and Key 
have been entrusted with the construction of 
the simple machine for the incrustation of the 
seed. This machine consists in a hollow 



cylinder, suspended by two leather straps from 
a pulley, to which a rotary motion of about 
forty revolutions in a minute is imparted, 
either from a steam engine or any other motive 
power. In the cylinder the seed is introduced, r 
mixed with an agglutinous mixture, itself rich 
in nitrogen ; and then the mineral substances, 
reduced to a fine powder, are added, and from 
the rotary motion of the cylinder adhere to the 
seed in a regular coating ; this is repeated 
until the entire quantity has been fixed. In 
order to prevent the humidity of the aggluti- 
nous mixture from acting upon the seed, and 
causing it to germinate before it is put into 
the soil, an hygrometic substance is mixed with 
the mineral powders, which abstracts all the 
excess of humidity from the glue, and besides 
dries up the crusted seeds almost immediately. 

Previous to his coming to this country. 
Mons. D'llliers has satisfied himself by nu- 
merous experiments of the value of his dis- 
covery ; and at the late sowing season, a large 
area has been sown with his prepared seed in 
various parts of France, so that at the time of 
next harvest I shall be enabled to give an au- 
thentic account of experiments tried both in 
France and in England, under every variety of 
local substances of soil, climate and modes of 
husbandry. — lb. 

Norwood, Jan. 8th, 1858. 



From the British Farmers- Magazine. 

The Culture of Sheep. 

A Lecture by Mr. Robert Smith, of EmmetVs 
Grange, South Molton, Devon. 

On Monday evening, February 22, a lecture 
was delivered by Mr. Robert Smith, of Em- 
mett's Grange, South Molton, Devon, in the 
new lecture-theatre of the South Kensington 
Museum, on " The Culture of Sheep," being 
the last of a series of six addresses to work- 
ing men, and intended to explain the collec- 
tions of the animal kingdom in the museum. 
The attendance was very large, there being at 
least 500 persons present. The lecturer pro- 
duced a great number of pictorial sketches of 
the various breeds of sheep, English and for- 
eign, which added materially to the interest 
of the lecture ; they being frequently referred 
to in elucidation of the subject. 

After some introductory observations — in 
which Mr. Smith spoke of the advantages of- 
fered to working men in that institution, and 
observed incidentally that in going over the 
museum he had found that the collection of 
specimens relative to the culture of sheep, was 
incomplete, and that he would do what he 
could to supply the deficiencies — the lecturer 
proceeded to bring before the .audience the 
subject of his lecture. The culture of sheep 
was, he said, a branch of their rural and na- 
tional economy which had not as yet received 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



457 



that degree of public attention which was due 
to it. Ah a rural occupation it was the foun- 
dation of all good husbandr} 7 , and in a nation- 
al point of view they looked to it as a means 
of employment for thousands of their artisans, 
and as an important source of food and rai- 
ment for an increasing population. They 
found from history that sheep had existed at the 
earliest periods in every quarter of the globe, 
from Iceland to the regions of the torrid zone ; 
but they had been most cultivated 'in Europe 
— especially in Germany, Spain, and Great 
Britain ; and not only had the cultivation of 
sheep in this country recently outstripped that 
of every other country, but they were daily 
witnessing a new and important auxiliary in 
the culture of sheep in the British colonies. 
As he had already intimated, sheep were 
found in every quarter of the globe. Thus 
they were to be met with in every vari- 
ety of climate, adapting themselves to the vi- 
cissitudes of heat and cold. In each country 
they were cultivated according to the wants 
and tastes of the people, whether for food, 
clothing, or the uses of commerce ; but when 
left to themselves, under the operation of Na- 
ture's laws, they represented every form of 
carcase and clothing which corresponded to 
or fitted them for the particular climate and 
country in which they existed. Sheep when 
in a wild state preferred to range at large on 
open plains, and displayed considerable sagac- 
ity in the selection of their food. They herded 
together in small flocks, and were in general 
active, swift of foot, and easily frightened by 
dogs or men. When completely domesticated, 
the sheep appeared as stupid as it was harm- 
less ; but when left to depend upon itself for 
food and protection, it exhibited a more decided 
character. Under such circumstances a ram 
had been seen to attack and beat off a formid- 
able dog. On the approach of storms they re- 
tired for shelter to the spot which they knew 
from experience to be most adapted to afford 
it. Of all the domesticated animals of Great 
Britain, the sheep was of the greatest conse- 
quence both to the farmer and to the nation — 
to the farmer, because it was raised with ease 
and in situations where other animals could 
not. exist, and generally made a better return 
for the quantity and quality of the food con- 
sumed than any other animal ; to the nation, 
because it supplied a staple article of food and 
raiment, and at the same time afforded employ- 
ment to an immense number of artisans. The 
Culture of first-rate sheep was a " sci nee 
blended with practice ;" and consequently a 
proper knowledge of Nature's laws, more es- 
pecially as regarded the effect of climate and 
situation on their character had led to impor- 
tant improvements in their form, quality of 
flesh, and general management. It must not 
be forgotten that the sheep of the present day 
were, in fact, the production of man's skill 
and enterprise in their propagation from their 



original wild state. From this it might be in" 
ferred that were the breeders to relax their 
exertions, leaving the animal again to Nature's 
course, the various flocks would soon degene- 
rate. Let them fancy for a moment s*uch a 
state of things. Where then would be the ad- 
vance of commerce or the increasing produc- 
tion of meat fur an increasing population ? 
Happily for the English nation, however, there 
was no cause to fear that this picture would 
ever become a reality. In every point of view 
" the culture of sheep" deserved to be esteem- 
ed one of the principal branches of rural econ- 
omy, and claimed the attention of the artisan, 
the manufacturer, and the State. Now he 
must confess at the outset that he was not so 
familiar with foreign breeds of sheep as he was 
with English breeds ; and therefore on that 
part of the subject he must call in the assis- 
tance of a very able work by Mr. Youatt. He 
should afterwards speak of what he himself 
was familiar with. The sheep which was 
handed down to us from time immemorial was 
a horned sheep. [The lecturer here referred 
to a picture of the original breed.] As he had 
before intimated, sheep were transformed in 
the process of propagation, by means of cer- 
tain rules which were known to the breeders, 
and that the original breed should have been 
transformed into the sheep of the present day 
[pointing to specimens of the latter,] showed 
how great an art w r as the culture of sheep. 
He was indebted to Mr. Davis, the Queen's ar- 
tist, of Church-street, -Chelsea, for the paint- 
ings and pictorial specimens before. them ; and 
when he told them that gentleman had execu- 
ted the whole of the sketches since 11 o'clock 
that morning, they must feel he had lost no 
time. After referring to a representation of 
the Russian sheep, the Wallachian she p, and 
the fat-rum ped sheep, as affording illustrations 
of the original breed, and also to a picture of 
a black-faced Scotch sh'eep for the same pur- 
pose, he alluded to the fat-tailed sheep of the 
Cape, and remarked, in passing, that the tail of 
this sheep was esteemed so great a luxury in 
its native country, that it often sold for more 
than all the rest of the carcass. He then men- 
tioned the Cyprus sheep, known by its spiral 
horns, and the Moufflon sheep, which inhabited 
Iceland, and resemble our deer. There were 
also the Asiatic argalia, the American argali, 
and more particularly the Merino sheep, of 
which he would speak at a future period of the 
lecture. Before he proceeded any further, he 
said, he ought to remark that the fine-woolled 
sheep were produced in dry warm countries ; 
while strong-coated sheep were produced in 
wet cold countries; the coat being, in fact, 
adapted to the climate. From this it followed, 
that if the finest-wooled animals were intro- 
duced into this country, they would die away ; 
while sheep of the opposite description might 
!»e expected to thrive. After illustrating and 
explaining the foreign breeds, their localities 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



and habit*, (which was an interesting part of 
the lecture,) he would not trouble the audience 
with any further remarks on foreign sheep, 
but would proceed to speak of their own sheep. 
Of course England in the earliest periods of 
her history resembled all other countries under 
similar circumstances. There was nothing but 
bleak hills, undrained plains, and wild com- 
mons ; and over these uncultivated lands were 
found no animals but such as were in a corres- 
ponding condition. But in the course of time 
desolation gave way to improvement ; the hills 
and plains were cultivated, drainage was to a 
certain extent effected, and with the improve- 
ment of agriculture there was a corresponding 
improvement in the breeds of sheep. He 
would first speak of the native horned sheep 
as originally known in this country. That 
picture [pointing to one] represented the old 
black-faced mountain sheep of Yorkshire. 
That animal had disappeared before the 
plough, and the farmers of that part of Eng- 
land had placed on their lands a much better 
kind of animals. There, again, [pointing to 
another specimen, | was the Dorset long-woolled 
horned sheep. Generally speaking, all the in- 
ferior breeds had given way to the better 
breeds ; but here was an exception — the Dor- 
set sheep remained, and the reason of this was 
that the lambs were produced two or three 
months earlier by that breed of sheep than by 
any other. The inferior Dorset sheep were 
preserved in order that the luxurious might 
nave lamb out of season, (laughter.) They had 
no doubt all heard a great deal about the Welsh 
sheep, [pointing to a sketch of this breed ;] 
those sheep were fed on the waste hills of the 
Principality. If the hills could be cultivated, 
there would be a proportionate improvement in 
the breed of sheep ; but as there appeared lit- 
tle prospect of that, the animal would no doubt 
continue in its present condition, and he need 
scarcely say that the Welsh sheep were alto- 
gether a naked lot (laughter.) He now came 
to the Old Norfolks, the sheep improved by the 
late Lord Leicester, better known in those days 
as Mr. Coke. When Lord Liecester first began 
his career as an agriculturist, in Norfolk, he 
found nothing but sandy downs and a race of 
hardy and inferior sheep ; but now the sand 
downs had become fertile fields, and there was 
no part of the couutry which exhibited greater 
improvement, whether as regarded the cultiva- 
tion of the land or the breeding of sheep. The 
sheep of which he had spoken had now disap- 
peared, having been supplanted by the improv- 
ed South Down of Sussex. Then as to the 
horned sheep. These were peculiar to the dry 
lands of England, it being on the moist pasture 
of the country that that description of animal 
did best. If the cultivator could get enough 
within five or six years from the wool and the 
price which he ultimately obtained for the car- 
ease of his " old mountain wether," he was 
generally satisfied. He had now to refer to 



what were once the mar»hy districts of Eng- 
land, but which were now reckoned among the 
most fertile agricultural and grazing districts 
of the country ; he referred especially to £he 
Lincolnshire marshes. That county might be 
regarded as one of the best pasture districts in 
the kingdom. The sheep there were exposed 
to the Eastern winds, as they fed on the low 
grass lands ; and consequently the animals 
which were most adapted for the district were 
robust animals — animals which had a large 
amount of bone and fleece. He was able to 
speak on this subject with greater confidence, 
because Lincolnshire happened to be his na- 
tive county, and he resided there for a consid- 
erable portion of his life. The old Tees-Wa- 
ter sheep was almost a fac-simile of the Lin- 
colnshire sheep. [The picture of both were 
referred to in support of this statement.] There 
[pointing to a picture of a group of sheep] 
was a representation of the Merino. It was a 
sketch made by Mr. Davis of some Merino 
sheep which were introduced into England by 
George the Third, with a view to their propa- 
gation. Notwithstanding the king's patron- 
age, the farmers of the day would not have 
these foreign sheep thrust upon them ; the 
carcase not being one that wowld pay, and al- 
most the sole use of the animal being the pro- 
duction of fine wool, to be mixed with the 
coarser wools. There was a fac-simile of this 
breed of sheep on Exmoor Forest ; and this 
suggested to nim that though the Spaniard 
had propagated this animal chiefly for his 
wool, it might have come originally from the 
mountain. The Merino was a very hardy ani- 
mal, its wool was rema'kably thick and fine, 
and it was altogether a very respectable sheep, 
(laughter.) It had occurred to him that the 
Exmoor sheep might be mixed with the Merino 
to advantage ; not that English farmers would 
consent to admit the Merino in order to im- 
prove their own sheep ; but he thought their 
sheep would improve the Merino, by giving 
them more lean meat and length of wool. There 
[pointing to a picture] was a brown animal 
called " the Syrian sheep," which was a sort 
of Cape sheep with a long tail. This remind- 
ed him of a very interesting fact, namely, that 
the sheep of the earliest ages, besides being 
horned, were in many cases coloured. In trac- 
ing the records of history, relating to this sub- 
ject, he found mention made of black sheep, 
brown sheep, speckled sheep, mottled sheep, 
and so on. So also in the present day, agri- 
culturists sometimes saw among their flocks 
black sheep, grey-faced sheep, gre3'-legged 
sheep; while there was also an occasional ap- 
pearance of horns. Now he felt that he had 
not said enough about the Merino sheep. The 
Spaniards and the Germans had propagated 
the Merino on account of the fineness of its 
wool. It is this kind of sheep that has been 
found to be most suitable for our Australian 
colonies. The Southdown sheep had been 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



459 



u-ied there, but had not been found to answer 
so well, because it was, in fact, a wild moun- 
tain sheep. In Australia, land being for the 
most part of little value, and rents merely nom- 
inal, an immense quantity of sheep were kept 
ranging over vast tracts of country ; and up to 
a recent period, if the shearing from time to 
time fulfilled the expectations of the grower, 
he was amply repaid. Since the discovery of 
the gold diggings, however, and the vast in- 
crease of population, there had, of course, 
been people to feed as well as fine wools to be 
produced. In fact the people of Australia had 
already found themselves rather in a dilemma 
for want of mutton.; and it might be wor- 
thy of consideration whether it would not 
pay some xlustralian agriculturists to come 
over here, and pay him (the lecturer) a good 
price for specimens of his mountain Exmoor 
sheep, (laughter.) Now among the old Eng- 
lish breeds that remain, there was the Dorset 
sheep, which was preserved, as he had stated, 
on account of the early lamb ; the Welsh sheep, 
which did not appear at all likely to be im- 
proved ; and the Scotch black-faced sheep. 
This last sheep resembled the Russian sheep, 
and belonged, no doubt, to the same family. 
It was a very useful animal, chiefly for this 
reason, that it lived and throve where no other 
breed of sheep could do so. Then there was 
the Exmoor sheep, which he begged to say had 
not disappeared, (laughter,) but, on the con- 
trary, was 'as thriving as ever. Next, there 
was the (lid Scotch white-faced horn, which, in 
consequence of the improvement of the black- 
faced sheep, and the very rapid march of the 
Cheviot sheep, was altogether out of date. 
Then there were the old Ryelands, natives of 
Worcestershire, Herefordshire, &c. On this 
subject he remarked, that it was not unlikely 
that the late Mr. Bakewell received considera- 
ble aid from the Ryeland sheep. Mr. Bake- 
well never explained to English breeders the 
course which he pursued, as they could have 
wished him to do, by leaving a legacy to fu- 
ture generations the descriptive art of produc- 
ing such a newly established breed as his Lei- 
cester. He thought he obtained them origi- 
nally from the Ryelands sheep. In fact [point- 
ing to pictorial sketches of Ryeland and Lei- 
cester sheep] there we have the portrait of a 
Ryeland ewe, and another of a Leicester, as 
first improved by Mr. Bakewell. I must say, 
I think them so alike, that I was about to say 
I see no difference. A representation of one 
of Mr. Bakewell's sort of sheep was given in 
the Farmers' Magazine, published by Messrs. 
Rogerson and Tuxf >rd, of the Strand. Many 
breeders thought that animal — a ram bred by 
Mr. Inskip — an exceedingly good one, and 
many ventured to assert that there never was 
so good an animal before, and never would be 
so good a one again. . Mr. Bakewell produced 
a particular kind of animal — an animal suited 
to his own particular taste. At the outset he 



bred his sheep for form and symmetry, quality 
of flesh, fineness of wool, but regardless of 
weight. After a few years, when he had ar- 
rived at a certain state of cultivation, however 
much he might be admired by his friends the 
Leicester breeders, there were others who did 
not view the matter in the same light. These 
persons did not feel that the head required to 
be made smart, or the wool fine, or the bone 
less ; they therefore resisted the new theories, 
and, as is stated by Mr. Youatt in his book, 
Mr. Bakewell w r as at first unsuccessful in the 
letting his sheep ; but in after years it hap- 
pened that men's minds began to change : lest 
the whole cultivation should be monopolized 
by that gentleman, a society consisting of 
eight breeders was formed to obtain the first 
pick of his flock. In the fall of the year each 
of these gentlemen selected a male animal, so 
that Mr. Bakewell's sheep were distributed as 
it were over the country. There was another 
breed of sheep which he had not mentioned, 
namely, the Romney Marsh sheep. This was 
a wild, bony, coarse animal, and he believed it 
had disappeared. There was another sheep, 
of an intermediate character, called the De- 
vonshire Nots, a variety between the Exmoor 
horned sheep and the Leicester, and a very 
hardy animal. This Was found among the 
high hills of North Devon and West Somer- 
set : it was an animal which was about half" 
way between the highly-cultivated sheep and 
the mountain races, and, occupying an inter- 
mediate position, was exceedingly useful in 
certain districts of the country. He now came 
to the short-wooled sheep. A black-faced, 
short- woolled sheep was found scattered over 
a great many of the Southern countries. Here, 
for example, [pointing to a specimen,] was a 
black Norfolk sheep. This afforded an illus- 
tration of what he had said before with regard 
to the influence of climate. Here they had 
changed the Old Norfolk for the Southdown 
sheep in the dry Eastern counties of England, 
Then they had the Southdown on the dry 
Southern soils, and distributed over many in- 
termediate spaces of dry and healthy sheep- 
lands — which the lecturer explained, ground- 
ing every argument upon climate and improv- 
ed cultivation. The Leicester inhabit the mid- 
land counties and intermediate lands between 
the extreme dry and extreme moist climates 
of our island, the long-woolled sheep being ex- 
posed to the colder aspects, where the short- 
wool or pure Leicester could not exist. The 
localities and habits of the several breeds were 
{ then enumerated by reference to a map of 
: England and Wales, which had been prepar- 
! ed by the authorities of the Institution for the 
purpose of illustrating the lecture. In turn- 
j ing to Scotland, he would remark that such 
[was the effect of altitude that he would illus- 
trate it in this way, by reference to a hilly dis- 
trict: for instance, at the foot of the hill was 
j to be found the cultivated Leicesters, then the 



460 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



mixed Leicester and Cheviot, a stage further 
up they found the Cheviot sheep, then the mix- 
ed black-faced and Cheviot cross, and next we 
find the black-faced ewe, and lastly the black- 
faced wethers, which it was said no weather 
could destroy, unless blown over by a tempestu- 
ous gale, (laughter.) Tracing the course of 
the different breeds on the map, he observed 
that they had here long-wools, middle-wools, 
and short-wools. The long-wools were to be 
found in Lincolnshire, Yorkshire, Kent, the: 
Cotswold-hills, and some parts of the midland ' 
counties; the middle-wools were to be found' 
in Dorsetshire Devonshire, Leicester, Rutland, ! 
Nottingham, &c. ; while among the short-wools \ 
were the very popular Southdowns, West ' 
Country-downs, Norfolk-downs, Hampshire-' 
downs, and Shropshire??. The latter breed, he! 
might observe, had come very rapidly into pub-j 
lie favour, and he must confess that as an 
old breeder he was astonished to find them cu'l- > 
tivated to so high a pitch, and carrying off, as: 
they had done, prizes at our national shows, j 
In like manner (and this is extremely inter- 
esting) there was now a new breed of sheep, ' 
ealled the Oxford-downs. Thus, it would be! 
observed, were agriculturists in various dis- 
tricts endeavouring to propagate sheep which j 
were peculiarly adapted to the climate and sit-! 
uations of their several districts. This was 
very important as bearing on the state of the! 
sheep culture at the present day. The truth I 
was that there had been eminent breeders of! 
sheep as well as eminent men in other depart- 
ments of industry ; we have had our Ellnian, 
Grantham, Bakewell, Collings, Culley, the late 
Duke of Bedford, Lord Spencer, Lord Leices- 
ter, &c, of the past age, who did their duty in' 
thus handing down to us our present estab- 
lished breeds— breeds that have been cultivat- 
ed from these indigenuous and mountain races 
here, [pointing to the pictorial sketches.] This 
stage of improvement was received by men of 
the present generation, who have succeeded to 
admiration in carrying on the great work of 
art by propagation. Our country stands in- 
debted to such men as Jonas Webb, the Duke 
of Richmond, Overman, Sainsbury, Rigden, 
Grantham, &c, for cultivating the South-down ; 
to Sandy, Pawlett, Creswell, Turner, Spencer, 
and others for the Leicesters : while the long- 
wools have been remoddled by the Clarkes, 
Kirkhams, Casswells, Richardsous, Brices, &c, 
in Lincolnshire; and by Large, Hewer, Game, 
Wells, Handy, Brown, and Ruck, on the Cots- 
wold and neighbouring hills. There are many 
other breeders who had long directed special 
attention to the improvement of their breeds of 
sheep ; and, looking at the transformations 
which had been effected, [here the lecturer 
pointed to the original and the improved breeds 
represented in the pictures, | he must say, that 
if credit was due to improvers in other depart- 
ments of art and of industry, equal credit was 
due to the breeders of sheep fur the inge- 



nuity and talent which they had displayed in 
their vocation, (cheers.) Much of the im- 
provement was due to the Royal Agricultural 
Society, which had offered prizes for the best 
specimens of sheep. But let it be remembered, 
that Mr, Ellman took in hand the improvement 
of the South-downs about a hundred years 
ago ; and Lord Leicester, Mr. Bakewell, and 
some few others, achieved immense success be- 
fore numbers were at all aware what they were 
doing. This, of course, had a close bearing 
on the production of the established breeds of 
the present day, early corrections being thus 
early stamped by their males. It must not be 
supposed that the race of. attempted improve- 
ment was all sunshine. He could give the 
names of a dozen or perhaps twenty breeders 
who had not succeeded, especially in the breed- 
ing of rams. It was no easy matter to blend 
science w r ith practice. He had already men- 
tioned the failure of the attempt made by 
George the Third to introduce Merino sheep 
into this country ; and he had recently learned, 
from the published report of an Australian ag- 
ricultural body, that its sheep-breeding opera- 
tions had proved by no means satisfactory. He 
then proceeded to speak more particularly of 
the breeding of sheep. Adverting to what he 
had said about the early lambing of the Dor- 
set sheep, he remarked that lambs were drop- 
ped according to the uses and requirements of 
the several counties, as regards climate, food, 
and after-management to be pursued for real- 
izing in the markets, and at what age they 
were to be sold. The mountain races, of 
course, did not drop their lambs until the cold 
season was gone by, so that the lambs could 
eat the early grasses as they sprang up. He 
had not yet referred to the Cotswold sheep, 
which was a magnificent animal ; [pointing to 
a portrait, he said, That is a draught of a 
Cotswold ram, belonging to Mr. Lane, which 
took the first prize at the Lewes Meeting.] 
After giving some local details of this breed, 
he stated that the lambing of this sheep oc- 
curred about March ; so also did that of the 
Leicester sheep ; but he might say again that 
the period generally depends on situation, cli- 
mate, and the supply of food. One important 
fact was, that at the present time sheep were, 
in some of the best districts, sent to market at 
the early age of twelve, fifteen, or eighteen 
months. Formerly, scarcely any sheep were 
sent under three or four year of age; and 
therefore the public had to wait for their mut- 
ton, (laughter.) Toe truth was that in many 
grazing counties it was formerly, and even 
now, difficult to provide food for fattening 
them in the winter season : hence, the farmer 
fed his sheep on the richest pastures he could 
give them during the summer months, in order 
that he might be able to send them early to 
market in the autumn. Another very impor- 
tant matter in relation to the culture of sheep 
was warmth. He had before referred to this. 



. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



461 



m effect, in speaking of climate; but the sub-i 
ject of warmth was so important as to require' 
special mention. On this point he would read I 
an extract from a lecture which was delivered | 
by Dr. Lyon Play fair before the members of 
the Royal Agricultural Society, in the year 
1842, the subject of the lecture being, " The 
application of physiology .to the rearing and 
breeding of cattle." He must confess that, as 
a farmer and breeder, he listened to the lec- 
ture at the time, as no doubt many others did, 
with a predisposition to set down everything 
as mere theory ; but subsequent experience 
had convinced him that what the doctor 
said was true. Dr. Play fair set out by saying, 
" It would be presumptuous in any scientific 
man, however exalted his rank in science, to 
endeavour to instruct an assemblage such as 
this, or to recommend illustrations in the prac- 
tice of an art which he has learned in the 
closet and not in the field/' He must say 
that that was his feeling at the moment. 
"But it may be permitted,'' added the doctor, 
"even to the most humble cultivator of science, 
to examine the prnctice which you yourselves' 
have perfected, and to point out the laws of; 
nature upon which that practice depends."! 
Dr. Playfair afterwards went on to tell them, ! 
in regard to warmth, that it was up to a cer- 
tain point an equivalent for food. He said, 
" The average temperature of the bodies of our 
cattle is about 100 degrees, or more than 40 
degrees higher than the ordinary temperature 
of this climate. Hence there must be some 
provision in the animal body to sustain the 
heat which is absolutely necessary tor the per- 
formance of the organic functions. The air, i 
being so much colder than the budy, must con- j 
stantly withdraw from it heat, and tend to ! 
lower its temperature. Whence, then, comes 
the fuel for the production of the heat ?" 
What the doctor said was, in other words, that 
the heat required by the animal's body being 
100 degrees, when the temperature was below 
that the exchanges were against the animal. 
If the bodily heat was only 00, it must be made 
up to 100 by fuel. What fuel ? Why, food. 
Surely, then, breeders ought, for the sake of 
economy, to keep up the animal heat. The 
doctor quoted Liebig in confirmation of his 
views. "Were we," said Liebig, "to go na- 
ked like certain savage tribes, or if in hunting 
and fishing we were exposed to the same de- j 
gree of cold as the Samoyedes, we should be 
able with ease to consume ten pounds of flesh, 
and perhaps a dozen of tallow candles into the 
bargain, as warmly clad travellers have related 
with astonishment of these people. We should 
then also be able to take the same quantity of 
brandy or train-oil without bad effects, because 
the carbon and hydrogen of these substances 
would only suffice to keep up the equilibrium 
between the temperature of the external air 
and that of our bodies." Dr. Playfair him- 
self afterwards said : " The only use of clothes, 



in the abstract, is to economize food. They 
assist in retaining the heat of the body, and 
render less food or fuel necessary for this pur- 
pose." To this he (the lecturer) wonld add 
another illustration. If a man who had led 
an active life, and had been accustomed to ex- 
posure to cold, retired from business, and con- 
fined himself almost entirely to a warm room, 
he would get fat, simply because there would 
be nothing to lower the animal heat. After ihe 
publication of Dr. Playfair's lecture, in 1842, 
a prize was offered by the Royal Agricultural 
Society for the best essay on the management 
of sheep. He was himself fortunate enough 
to be the successful competitor ; and at the end 
of the essay, which was published in the eighth 
volume of the Society's Transactions, would 
be found the results of twenty experiments 
which he tried in animal-feeding, w T hich con- 
firmed Dr. Playfair's views in reference to 
warmth. He would not trouble them by en- 
tering into any of the details of the experi- 
ments, but he would observe that the experi- 
ments all hinged upon the relative value of the 
different kinds of food which were given to 
animals. For instance, there was a compari- 
son between the common w r hite turnip and the 
swede turnip. They all knew that the com- 
mon white turnip contained a very large quan- 
tity of water. In September, while the sun 
was still powerful, he found that the sheep 
would thrive very well on a given quantity of 
that vegetable ; but when the sun's rays had 
become more oblique, and the temperature of 
the atmosphere was considerably lower, so that 
as the animal inhaled the surrounding air the 
exchanges were against it, he found that the 
animals fed on the w.iite turnip made no pro- 
gress ; the fact being that such food did noth- 
ing but just suffice to keep up the animal heat. 
At this period, however, that was about Christ- 
mas, came in the swede, which contained a 
smaller proportion of water. Less of this was 
requir d to keep up the bodily temperature, 
and with care on the part of the farmer, the 
animal went on pretty well till the spring, when 
there was no longer any difficulty. He might 
further observe, that he put eight sheep in sum- 
mer into two pens, four in each pen, and be- 
sides giving them all clover, he supplied one 
pen with a pint of beans per day, and the other 
with a pi nt of peas. It might be supposed 
that there would be little difference between 
the two as the result of this variation of diet ; 
whereas in fact, the sheep supplied with the 
peas did very well ; while those that had the 
beans, like horses that were overfed with the 
same kind of food, soon exhibited symptoms of 
inflamation, the beans being too hot for the 
body at that period of the year. At the con- 
clusion of his essay he said, "Thus, after 
many anxious reflections upon the 'principle* 
which 'science' has dictated, 'practice' has 
shown it to be one of great magnitude, and to 
develop the mysteries of past ages by pointing 



462 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



out those elements of the vegetable creation 
best adapted to Nature's laws under the varied 
temperature of the seasons." While he ad- 
vocated warmth, he wts very far from saying 
that animals should be shut up in places where 
the atmosphere was at 100 degrees, or where 
there was no adequate provision for ventilation. 
What he wished to point out was, that warmth 
had an important and necessary connection 
with the food which was given to animals. 
Having now said enough with regard to the 
breeding of sheep, he would say a few words 
with regard to sheep required as food for man. 
There was no other animal so important in 
this point of view as the sheep. Mutton con- 
stituted the grand staple food of this country ; 
and hence, as he had before remarked, the im- 
provement of the breeds had a close connection 
with the increase of population. The Royal 
Agricultural Society and the Smithfield Club 
had both exerted themselves in the field of im- 
provement, by offering prizes and holding ex- 
hibitions periodically ; and great success had 
attended their efforts. Similar exhibitions had 
recently taken place in France;. but the result 
thus far was that the English breeders and 
graziers who exhibited sheep swept away the 
prizes, and, pocketing the money, walked 
away with it, (laughter.) As regarded the 
distribution of the meat, some preferred early 
lamb, and others preferred saddle of mutton 
with a black foot, and had to pay for the luxu- 
ry ; while others, again, having less money 
to spare, made a different choice. The whole 
thing was beautifully arranged, and the cul- 
ture harmonized with the variety in the public 
demands. Having been at Smithfield market 
early on Monday morning, he had observed that 
the butchers from the West End had the first 
choice of the market ; then come the purvey- 
ors for the mass of the middle classes ; and, 
last of all, came those whose business lay chief- 
ly with the working classes, and who said they 
must have a great lot of meat for their money, 
(laughter.) A very remarkable alteration had 
taken place of late years with regard to the 
conveyance of sheep to market, and the return 
to the seller. When he was a lad, living in 
Lincolnshire, his father's sheep and capital 
were a fortnight walking to the metropolis, 
and they each lost eight or ten pounds' weight 
of meat on the way* Of course no one got the 
meat that was expended on the route — it was 
so much absolute waste. Now, sheep were 
conveyed from Lincolnshire to London in a few 
hours, and within thirty hours after they left 
the farm the animals were not only sold, but 
the farmer or dealer had his money for thorn, 
and could thus employ it at once. This was 
a very great improvement : in fact, one of the 
great facilities afforded by the railways. It 
was not necessary that he should fay anything 
with regard to the doad meat markets, as they 
.were all familiar with them. Here, again, 
however, was a comparatively new state of 



things. Meat was now brought from Scotland 
and other distant parts of the kingdom, which 
did not come formerly ; and rapidly as peo- 
ple from various districts had located them- 
selves in the metropolis, the supply of meat 
had followed them in the same ratio. The use 
of artificial manures had a close and interest- 
ing connection with this subject. By using 
such articles the farmer was enabled greatly 
to increase his growth of turnips, and before it 
was necessary for him to pay for the manures, 
he had an ample return in the extra quantity 
of sheep which he was thus enabled to keep 
and send to market. He must now conclude. 
He had told the commissioners that it was quite 
impossible for him, within a single lecture, to 
exhaust the whole question of the culture of 
sheep, The wool production he had not yet 
touched, and he believed it was to be entered 
upon by a gentleman from the North of Eng- 
land familiar with manufactures, who would 
take up the subject where he (Mr. Smith) had 
left it. The wool collection in the museum 
was by no means complete ; and as he had be- 
fore intimated, he should, after his return 
home, do everything that might be in his power 
to supply the defects. The great importance 
of sheep, in relation to their wool-bearing pro- 
perties, was daily increasing. Beyond our 
own growth the imports of wool from Austra- 
lia, in 1807, amounted to only 245 lbs. ; where- 
as in 1855, the latest period up to which the 
returns extended, the importation was 40,810,- 
137 lbs. In 1833 we received from India 
3,72 lbs., in 1855, 4,594,520 lbs. The total im- 
ports of wool from all places, in 1855, amount- 
ed to 99,300,446 lbs. 

The lecture occupied one hour and three- 
quarters, the whole of which being given from 
notes, made it the more interesting to the au- 
dience. The lecturer concluded by thanking 
the audience for the patience with which they 
had listened to him, and on retiring he was 
loudly cheered. 



From Hunt's Merchants' Magazine. 

The Guano Trade a Monopoly. 

As a convention of the Peruvian Legislature 
is now sitting at Lima, as to the future dis- 
posal of guano, whether it is to be continued 
as a monopoly in the hands of the present con- 
signees, Messrs. Baneda Brothers for the Unit- 
ed States, Anthony Oibbs and Son for Great 
Britain, and the agent for France and the con- 
tinent, or opened for free sale at the islands, 
it may be interesting to know a little of the 
trade and of the immensye profits made by the 
consignees. The shipments to this country 
and England for 1854, being in rouud num- 
bers 163,000 and 200,000 (those to the conti- 
nent not included,) will show the great inter- 
est the consignees have in continuing things n* 
they are, and the necessity of our citizens and 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



463 



the English exerting themselves to open the 
trade to the public: — 

SOLD IN THE STATES IN 1854. 

dolls. 

163,000 tons at 55 d., 8,965,000 d. ; 
com. per cent., 448,250 

163,000 freight 20 d., 3,260,000 d. ; 
com. 2£ per cent., 81,500 

The consignees get this on ail char- 
ters, no matter how many ship-bro- 
kers are interested in the other half. 

Estimating 163 vessels as loaded, and 
that 3,000 ds. were drawn from dis- 
bursement, the profits on advances 
of Peruvian dollars, worth about 
75 c, 125,000 



654,750 



Messrs A. Gibbs and Son, in propor- 
tion, would amount to, 813,000 
There are other commissions on ad- 
vances, storage, &c. 

Memorials have been presented by the Brit- 
ish landowners, farmers, shipowners, and mer- 
chants to the government, to use their influ- 
ence to have the monopoly so injurious to the 
public good done away with; but hitherto their 
exertions with the Peruvian government have 
been unsuccessful. However, there is now a 
hope, as the Peruvians think a change ought 
to be made. The ministers of both countries 
should render their assistance for so desirable 
an object. 

Though freights have fallen considerably 
since 1854, the price of guano has been raised 
from 55 dols. to 62 dols. 

When at the Chincha Islands a few years 
ago, Mr. Elias had the contract for shipping, at 
nearly a dollar over the tender of Mr. Lloyd, 
though backed with good security. This would 
be a charge extra of 400,000 dols. a-year to the 
farmers, estimating the annual shipments at 
that amount. The vessels were then delayed 
a month, by having to enter and clear at Cal- 
lao. 

In 1851 the price of guano, with higher 
freights than at present, was 45 dols. This 
year the English agents attempted to raise the 
price to 70 dols.,' being 8 dols. over the rates 
here, though the chrges were the same ; but it 
failed, ow'ug to the Mark Lane Express calling 
the attention of the farmers and the trade 
to its injustice. 500,000 tons could be annu- 
ally shipped from the islands, which, at 20 
dols., would give a r^'enue to Peru of 10,000,- 
000 dols. (less the shipping charges,) and with 
20 dols. freight would make guano stand 40 
dols. afloat, instead of 60 dols., as under pres- 
ent management. 

This is a question of importance to the far- 
mers of the world. 



For the Planter. 

The Honey Bee and its Products. 

The deplorable want of knowledge on 
the subject of the Honey Bee, its instincts 
and management, is scarcely to be imagin- 
ed, unless by those who have made the in- 
sect their peculiar study. 

Agricultural societies, as a general thing, 
have acted upon the assumption that Bee- 
keeping and honey-raising could not be 
profitably conducted upon a large scale, 
and are deserving of a limited encourage- 
ment only as a mere accessory to other 
means of domestic comfort. But let it be 
once known and appreciated that millions 
of pounds of honey are wasted annually 
at our very doors, solely for the want of 
information being diffused on the subject, 
and it rises at once to the dignity of an 
important element of agricultural profit 
and of national wealth, as well as of domes- 
tic luxury. To aid as far as I can in dis- 
seminating correct knowledge on the sub- 
ject, 1 write the following observations. 
I am unable for want of time to prepare 
as full an article as its great importance 
to the agriculturist merits, yet even a has- 
ty and imperfect treatise may impart to 
him information which may be both new 
iand valuable to him, and which I take 
I great pleasure in communicating for his 
instruction. The first point which I shall 
j discuss is the Bee-moth, — how to prevent 
jits ravages, &c. 

With hives of a proper construction 
and a knowledge of the habits of this most 
terrible enemy of the Bee, I feel warrant- 
ed in asserting that there need not ever 
be lost one more stock of Bees. My lim- 
its and time will not allow of a minute 
| description of the moth, which is scarcely 
j necessary, as every Bee-keeper knows it 
on sight. The moth always (except as 
hereinafter described) deposits its eggs in 
the propolis or Bee-glue with which the 
interior of the hive is lined, or covered by 
the Bees, the natural heat of their bodies 
I being sufficient to keep it soft. If instead 
of permitting the Bees to waste their lime 
in gathering and spreading this substance 
the owner would take Beeswax and ro>in, 
one-third of the former and two-thirds of 
the latter, and melt them together, and 
with a brush apply the mixture evenly on 
the interior of the hive, he would render 
it absolutely moth-proof, with but two ex- 



464 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



ceptions. After the operation above de- 
tailed is performed, it would be impossi- 
ble for ihe moth after entering (for they 
can enter any hive or place the Bee can) 
to insert her ovipositor or egg-layer into 
the artificial propolis, — in which case she 
must necessarily leave the hive without 
accomplishing her felonious design. One 
of the exceptions above referred to, is 
where the hive has overswarmed itself, 
and left a portion of the comb unprotect- 
ed, in which case the moth wdl experience 
no opposition whatever in her design of 
destroying the hive. When this is the 
% state of the hive, particularly in the com- 
mon or box hive, also nearly all the patent 
hives I have yet examined, there is but 
one remedy, which is to close the en- 
trance of the hive allowing space suffi- 
cient for only one Bee to pa»s in or out at 
a time ; in which situation the colony 
can and w T ill protect themselves. It is 
manifest the smaller the entrance to the 
hive the easier it is protected. If the Ap- 
iarian uses a hive in which *ie has at all 
times the entire and absolute control of 
the comb, he may remove all the unpro- 
tected combs and deposit them in the 
house or other secure and dry place. 
When the Bees have increased in num- 
bers sufficient, the combs may be return- 
ed to the hive. 

The remaining exception is, when the 
queen has died with old age or by acci- 
dent. In this case, unless at the time of 
her death there was an egg in the work- 
er-brood comb under four days old, the 
colony is irretrievabty lost. It is a well 
demonstrated fact that of any egg of the 
kind mentioned, the Bees can make aj 
queen in sixteen days from the time it! 
was laid. The only remedy in this case 
the Apiarian has, is to procure a piece 
of comb containing young or fresh laid 
eggs, and thrusting it gently into the in- 
terior of his hive, he will readily per- 
ceive the eggs at the bottom of the cells ; 
they are distinguished by being of a white; 
or pale blue cast; they are about l-32nd. 
of an inch in length, slightly curved, 
which is caused by the manner in which 
they are deposited by the queen. After 
the comb with the e^gs is placed in the 
hive, an observer will find that before, or' 
at least by the time the operation is com- 
pleted, the Bees will depart to their la- 
bours precisely the same as if they had 



always been in the enjoyment of a queen. 
It will further be noticed, that in four 
minutes or less the Bees will arrive at the 
entrance of the hive with pollen or Bee- 
bread on their thighs. 

The colony is now able to repel the at- 
tacks of their enemy, the moth, unless 
they have already become so reduced in 
numbers as to be unable to defend all 
their combs, in which case the entrance 
must be partially closed as above men- 
tioned The Apiarian will again perceive 
that to perform the above operation pro- 
perly, it is absolutely necessary he should 
have command of the combs. An infal- 
lible guide to ascertain when the queen is 
lost is as follows : On examining or 
standing in front of th*» hive, if there is 
no pollen being carried in on the thighs 
of the Bees, it is certain she is lost or 
dead. There are several other method* 
of ascertaining her loss, but the above be- 
ing the easiest and quickest it will hardly 
be necessary to particularize in this hasty 
scrawl. 

It will be necessary for me, at least 
partially, to explain the process of queen- 
making. The egg which is selected by 
the Bees for that purpose is always found 
in the worker-comb ; three cells are gnaw- 
ed into one, two eggs removed, the re-l 
maining egg is treated after hatching into 
a worm, with, a peculiar food styled by 
Apiarians the royal jelly. In sixteen days 
from the time the— egg was deposited, the 
hive will be in possession of a queen. 1 
may be allowed to remark in this con- 
nection, that writers for over two thousand 
years have been endeavouring to ascertain 
the manner in which the royal jelly is 
procured, &c, but in no case have they 
succeeded. I claim that I have discover 
ed the particulars of its production, bull 
hesitate in giving my discovery to the! 
world until I have instituted a more tho- 
rough course of experiments. My object 
in mentioning the subject in this connec 
tion is that I may place on record the 
fact of the discovery being made. 

It is within the experience of all sei 
entific Bee-keepers, in fact within the 
knowledge of mostaothers, that when 
hive is composed of a series of boxes 01 
separate apartments, or it contains cracks 
or crevices, or wherever two plain surfaces 
meet, it matters not how close they come 
together, the principle of Bee-keeping is 



THE' SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



465 



lost. In a hive properly constructed there 
should not be one square inch of the inte- 
rior but which may be searched into and 
examined by the Bees. If' in any of the 
places to which the Bees have not free ac- 
cess even a crack or a crevice can be 
found into which not even the edge of a 
sheet of paper can be inserted, the worm 
can and will penetrate. After so doing it 
will gnaw itself a place sufficiently capa- 
cious to wind up its cocoon, hatch in se- 
curity, pass out of the hive, become im- 
pregnated, re-enter only to repeat the 
process, until finally by outnumbering the 
Bees they take and keep possession of the 
entire hive, and destroy its contents. 

I could name many patent hives now 
very extensively introduced, by which it 
would appear the principal object the in- 
ventors had in view was to contrive the 
best accommodations for the insect they 
so much dread. From these few remarks 
the Bee-keeper must again see that to be 
successful he must have a hive in which 
there is not a square inch but he or the 
Bees have access to at all times. 

I come now to speak in the second 
place of drones. The drones are the 
males. It is ascertained that a few an- 
swer all purposes fully as well as if the 
hive contained a few or many thousand. 
To the writer belongs exclusively the dis- 
covery that they consume fully one-half 
)f all the honej' gathered by the working 
Bees in the world. I will show how this 
mmense amount of honey may be saved, 
t will be necessary first to show the man- 
ler and where the drones are hatched, &c. 
They are twenty-five days in coming to 
naturity from the time the ^gg^ are de- 
bited. If the owner will observe, he 
fill find there are two classes or sizes of 
ombs. One class is termed drone comb, 
he other worker comb; besides which 



here is an intermediate classs styled 
tore comb. In the drone comb the cells 
re four to the inch or thirty-two cells to 
le square inch, or 4,608 cells to the 
In pare foot. In the worker comb it will 
e found there are five cells to the inch, 
fty to the square inch, or 7,200 to the 
Iij ]uare foot. According to ray observation 
e average quantity of drone comb in 
sves throughout the country is over one 
ot. In some instances I have taken 
er six feet out of one hive, which was 
30 



capable at one hatching of raising over 
27.000 drones 

That the Apiarian may have occulai 
demonstration of the immense amount 
of honey the drones consume, it is requir- 
ed he should station himself in front of a 
hive, in the summer season when they 
are the most abundant. Catch them as 
they pass out, (they have no stings,) tear 
into halves, press the hinder part, and a 
large drop of the finest quality of honey 
will be observed. The examination may 
be continued for hours, and not one drone 
passing out will be found without a load. 
On the contrary, catch them as they en- 
ter, and not a drone will be found to con- 
tain a particle of honey. This operation 
will prove to the satisfaction of experi- 
mentors, that the drones consume an im- 
mense amount of honey, and that they 
produce none. 

To render the experiment more inter- 
esting and convincing, let the observer 
sprinkle a few particles of flour on a drone 
leaving the hive, then, with watch in 
hand, observe his return ; kill him that 
the mark may be obliterated, — and so con- 
tinue the operation until a sufficient num- 
ber have passed out and returned ; by 
averaging the time they run out, he may 
arrive at a very fair calculation of the 
amount of honey they consume in a given 
number of hours. If a closer calculation is 
necessary, let the Apiarian weigh in a fine 
balance, say 20 or 50 drones, killed as they 
pass out, and a like number destroyed as 
they return ; the difference in the weight 
will determine the amount of honey con- 
sumed in the number of minutes he has 
before ascertained they are absent. 

Every Apiarian, upon instituting the 
above experiments will at once see that 
my assertion of the drones consuming at 
least one-half of all the honey collected 
by the workers throughout the world is 
no exaggeration. 

Now, as a few drones answer all the 
purposes required as well as if they num- 
bered many thousands the great object of 
the Bee-keeper should be to get rid of 
them. — not after they are hatched, but 
prevent their being brought into existence 
at all. There is but one plan by which 
this can be accomplished, which is to cut 
out the combs containing the cells in which 
they are hatch. This is a difficult matter 
in the common or bux hive, and an impos- 



466 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



sibility in nearly all patent hives; therefore 
it follows, that in addition to the patent 
hives being calculated, as it is seen, to 
breed the moth, they are also drone-breed- 
ers. 

The advantages of cutting out the combs 
referred to are of such magnitude, that I 
may be allowed to show them more fully 
than I have done. The Bee-keeper makes 
a saving of all the honey fed to them be- 
fore they are matured; the time occupi- 
ed by the Bees in feeding and nursing 
them is saved ; and last, though not least, 
assuming one foot as the average which is 
capable of producing over 4000 drones, as 
before mentioned, by destroying this 
there is space sufficient to build combs in 
which 7,200 cells for hatching the work- 
ers will be erected ; which, as we have 
done away with the drones, is fully equal 
to an accession of 14,400 working Bees. 
To illustrate this matter properly, and to 
show the absolute reasons why there are in 
some hives less, and in others more drone 
combs, would require a small volume. 
Once more. The Bee-keeper will be re- 
minded that to perform the operation of 
cutting out the drone combs, he must have 
a hive so constructed that access to each 
and all the combs can be had at all times. 

Tons upon tons of Beeswax are annu- 
ally brought to our markets. Is the Bee- 
keeper aware that at least twenty pounds 
of honey must be and always is consumed 
in the construction of one pound of comb. 
This is a well ascertained fact and as fully 
demonstrated as any problem in Euclid. 
Every pound of worker brood comb that 
can be saved is a gain of twenty pounds 
of honey and the time occupied by the 
Bees in producing it; but the Apiarian 
cannot avail himself of this great advan- 
tage in any of the common hives or pa- 
tent hives in use unless it is so construct- 
ed that he has the absolute command of the 
interior, which none of these admits of so 
far as is known to the writer, exceptingRev. 
L. L. Langstroth's Movable Comb Hive. 
The combs are built in frames similar to 
a slate or picture in a frame, which be- 
ing suspended on a narrow rabbet, do not 
touch or come in contact with the hive 
at the top, bottom or sides. Oid combs 
can be put into the frames and be given 
to the Bees, to fill for their own use or 
i'or breeding combs. 

To illustrate the great advantage of 



saving combs from ordinary hives which 
have died in the winter or otherwise, I 
will give one exemplification and pass on 
to the next subject. Suppose a small 
swarm to come off late in the season ; if 
hived in the ordinary hive it will not in- 
crease in numbers sufficient to collect 
from the fall crop of honey a store to last 
them until spring, for they must consume 
near twenty pounds of their gatherings to 
elaborate wax sufficient to manufacture 
combs enough to contain honey to last 
them through the winter. Now, if the 
same swarm is placed in a hive ink) 
which we have introduced one pound of 
comb, they will store up a supply abun- 
dantly sufficient for their necessities, and 
increase in numbers to an extent incredi- 
ble to all who have not witnessed the 
fact. This subject, to have justice done 
it, would occupy more space than my 
whole article contains. 

3rdty. The next matter that claims the 
attention of the Bee-keeper is — Can a 
country similar to ours be overstocked 
with Bees ? My answer is, it is scarcely 
possible it will ever be done. There is 
in Russia one apiary containing over 
8000 large hives : in Poland, Prussia and 
Germany many apiaries contain from hun- 
dreds to one, two, three, and four thou- 
sand hives, all of which give large re- 
turns. My own experience goes to estab- 
lish the fact of the great capacity of our 
country for honey raising. Three years 
since I had only ten hives; my neigh- 
bours had none. At this time I have over 
one hundred ; man}' of my immediate 
neighbours also have a number of hives. 
I discover no difference in my yield of 
honey now from what it w/s when my 
stock was small. My apiary will contain 
at least 1000 colonies in the coming sea- 
son ; the result will be the same as if I 
had but ten colonies. I will here remark 
that many of my hives gave me a net 
yield of over 100 pounds of honey, leav- 
ing more than double the quantity Miffi- 
cient to maintain the Bees until the ensu- 
ing season in the main body of the hive. 
This result is to be principally attributed 
to the fact of the drone combs being re- 
moved at the commencement of the sea- 
son. 

In the province of Lunenburg, Kingdom 
of Hanover, — a territory designated by- 
agricultural writers the "Desert of Ger- 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



4G7 



many" — the product of the Bees in the 
aggregate is more than sufficient to pay 
all classes of taxes ; and in fact it is no 
torious that the inhabitants are the most 
happily situated, so far as pecuniary af- 
fairs are concerned, of any other equal 
population in Europe, which is solely to 
be attributed to the habits of economy, 
thrift, and industry, induced by the cul- 
ture of the Bee. 

By the most recent statistics, it is ascer- 
tained there is in the aggregate on each 
and every square mile 142 hives of Bees. 
There are but few miles in this country 
as heavily stocked as this ; but will any 
Apiarian, who has given the subject his 
attention, say that our country, and more 
particularly the State of Virginia, cannot 
support this number of colonies ? It can, 
and the time is approaching when the 
assertion will be proven by actual demon- 
stration. Virginia contains 61,212 square 
miles. To show what might be done by 
the agriculturist, let us make a calculation : 
Reducing the European estimate to 100 to 
the mile, the result would be 6,121,200 
hives of Bees. Still continuing our re- 
duced estimate, allowing only twenty 
pounds to each hive, we have as a result 



the scientific work of the Rev. L. L. Lang- 
stroth, of Philadelphia, who, after devot- 
ing nineteen years to observations on and 
experiments with the Bee, has recorded 
the results in a book of 500 pages, illus- 
trated with engravings, — which is, in my 
estimation, worthy to be commended to 
the careful perusal of all who desire to 
obtain more full and accurate information. 
P. J. MAHAN. 
Philadelphia. 



For the Planter. 

The Tobacco Exchange. 

Editor So. Planter: — Will you do me the 
favour to publish in the Planter the reso- 
lutions of the planter's very kind friends 
who have lately established the Tobacco 
Exchange in the city of Richmond ; and, 
along with the resolutions, publish also the 
working of similar establishments in the 
cities of New York, Baltimore and New 
Orleans ? 

I understand that in New York no one 
now is allowed to enter the warehouses 
when tobacco is inspected but the inspec- 
tors and the hands necessarily employed 
2-2,324 000 pounds of honey, wh,ch, at; jn the in tion . How it works in l Balti- 
10 cts, (about one-third the present price | more f haye not heard j n New 0r | eans 
of a good article at the North ) we have j j understand that t | le Planter is not allowed 
a result ,n dollars and cents of $12,242,- ' se|1 his cotto „ or tobacco except by 
400. Is.t not absurd in any people to L factor or commission merc hant. Are 
throw away and reject, as it were, this| these tM s0 ? lf n6{ how do such 
magnificent sum? s there a home , mar- establishments work in the cities above 
ket tor this product ? Y es, and for double ; mentioned ? Your journa , professes to be 
the quantity I have no opportunity of ; , he friend of the M^ m an<] t r have 
estimating the quantity nor value of he geen notb| jn Qur £ reterence 

sugar and rnolases imported.-but let the tm | ate -j nn( / vatiot ^ Instituted by our 
ladies hereafter put up their preserves m kind f ; d (he Commiasioa Merchant, 
honey, and my word for,, sugar for that, in Ricbmondi the , ong Bnd well- 

purpose will, a er trial be rejec ted.j estab!ished „ sage in the sale of our 
Honey adds greatly to the flavour of tea, Tobacco . Let U D 5 see bo w such establish- 
-cottee the same. After a few tnals| fa woA e|sewhere> 
none will desire to return 10 the sugar, j 
Nearly every purpose for which sugar is! 
used honey can and will be substituted 
in its place. The prosperity of a State is I 
not to be estimated by the amount of, nes of our Buckingham friend, we publish 
money introduced into *it. The true plan the following article on the tobacco trade, 
is, to calculate from the quantity that may obligingly furnished us by one of the oldest 
be retained in it by the consumption of and most intelligent of our merchants. 

articles produced within its own borders. TT , , • .. j f u • 

r» . r x . , , I He has lon£ since retired {rom business 

But 1 must conclude. ° * 

If the reader desires further informa- and is > a ? be signs himself, a " dismteres- 
tion, I refer him to the second edition of ted looker on.' 1 The resolutions of the 



A Buckingham Planter. 
[In response to the request and enqui- 



468 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



merchants regulating the exchange will 
follow his communication. — Editor ] 

Whereever a large business is done in 
any one article of commerce the concen- 
tration of it at one Emporium of trade and 
atone spot in that Emporium, has beyond 
doubt, been found most beneficial to both 
seller and purchaser. This is evident 
from the experience of all countries that 
have tried it. All competition is concen- 
trated. The seller knows that whatever 
may be the quality of his article, among 
all ihe dealers in it collected together, 
some, will he' found whose purposes it suits, 
however objectionable the quality may 
be, although it might be very difficult to 
find a purchaser, if he had to be sought 
for. If the quality of his article be very 
desirable, it is seen by every buyer in the 
market when it is offered for sale at a 
central spot and all possible competition 
is enlisted in its favor. 

There is no doubt that the excessive 
fatigue and loss of time that has been at- 
tendant on the system of selling Tobacco 
at several Warehouses remote from each 
other amid sweltering heat and dust at 
uncertain hours and occupying nearly a 
whole summer's day, has deterred some 
capitalists from sacrificing their time and 
health by taking the rounds of the Ware- 
houses, and even were they disposed to 
do so, it required an iron constitution 1o 
stand the fatigue and annoyance; where- 
as, by a concentration of all the samples 
at one spot, they can be looked over 
before the sale commences and each 
purchaser can decide for what samples to 
bid. when the regular hour for selling 
airives. No partiality can be shown as to 
precedence, &c, where the Crier is to de- 
rive no benefit beyond his regular fee:-, and 
th« abuse of his office is not likely to be 
exercised if he is held strictly to the 
performance of his appropriate duties. 
The practice of converting an Inspector 
into a Commission Merchant has been a 
gradually increasing abuse, until in some 
instances he became a sort of Bunk- 
er — loaning out or otherwise using the 
money of a confiding planter, or advancing 
his money to a needy one, and one in- 
sianc e at least is reported to have occurred, 
w.here the money was never forthcoming; 
and both money and Inspector minti* some 
thuu&ands, disappeared. The law former- 



ly, if it does not now, pi ohibited Inspectors 
(from buying or selling tobacco, and the 
! intention was no doubt to make the 
I Inspector an impartial Agent, favoring 
I neither buyer nor seller. His whole duty 
| was, and should be, to sample, cooper up, 
j weigh, issue a receipt and when it was 
presented, to deliver the tobacco, for 
which services he was to receive certain 
stipulated fees. A large portion of our 
Inspection Law is worthless, if not injuri- 
ous. As to the judgment of the Inspector 
in deciding on ''passed," " refused ' " too 
high," &c, it is mere (oily — no buyer is 
influenced by it, and what is the value, (it 
may be asked) of any Inspector's opinion 
whose appointment depends on his politi- 
cal opinions and not on his judgment 
of the article be inspects ? In all large 
markets it has been found necessary to 
establish an Exchange for the most im- 
portant articles, where buyer and seller 
can meet at a certain hour and samples be 
exhibited. Witness the Grain and Flour 
exchanges in New York &c, and even in 
Petersburg. Brokers are also found to be 
most useful intermediate agents between 
buyer and seller, whose knowledge of the 
market is kept in active exercise, and 
who-e business is similar to that of our 
Commission Merchan 1 . By the establish- 
ment of such Exchanges, it is not longer 
necessary for the seller to canvass the 
city in search of a buyer, or vice versa, 
and it is the surest mode of obtaining the 
full value. 

The Inspections of tobacco in Baltimore 
and New York aie not attended by the 
purchasers, because it would involve too 
great a waste of time. The system pur- 
surd is to inspect each hogshead in regular 
rotation according to its delivery at the 
Warehouse, and before it is stowed away. 
The Warehouses are large buildings, three 
or four stories high, and it would greatly 
increase the labor if the tobacco were to 
be stowed away before beins inspected. 
In sampling, the Inspectors d..*w a rerta n 
number of bundles of tobacco, neither 
more nor less from each break, and these 
bundles are secured with tape, the end of 
which is passed by a needle through the 
centre of the end of* the sample, and 
sealed with sealing wax bearing the name 
of the inspection. The Maryland planter 
cannot have his whole crop inspected at 
once, unless it is all delivered at the 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 4G9 



Warehouse at the same time. The In- 
spectors, without regard to instructions 
from the owner, inspect the Tobacco when 
it arrives and preserve the samples care- 



rOBACCO EXCHANGE OF THE CITY OF 
RICHMOND. 

[The following are the Preamble and 
Resolutions adopted by the meeting of 



fully until they are called for, and any; ,. .. , , ,, * 

• * iu ♦ * u , „ „t i...; 1 shippers, manufacturers ana sellers 1 
person is at liberty to be present during rr ' 

the process of sampling, for which no Tobacco, held in May last, for the purpose 

particular hour is fixed, but it is continu- of inaugurating "the Tobacco Exchange 

ed throughput the day, if the quantity f the city of Richmond." 

received gives efficient employment. | They contain> vve be n e ve, the only 

There being no regular daily demand to : . . , .. ... , " 

' *t a -i Li- l /u~ 1^ „ ^ regu ations which have been pub ished, or 

justifv daily public sales, the sales are ~ l ' 

made'by Commission Merchants or Brokers adopted, for the government of the estab- 

at their respective places of husiness and lishment. — Editor.] 

not by auction. A similar course is pur- 1 "Whereas, the experience of a few 

sued at N. Yoik and Philadelphia. | years past has produced the opinion gene- 

TT , ., , 4 . , . j , ,, raPy with the tobacco dealers of the citv 

Under the regulations adopted by the f f v . i *. . t . • j r ■••*■ " 

c *u t u eT it J ■•;• Of Richmond, that the increased facilities 

members of the tobacco Exchange in ~ , , . ., c , , . • 

tJ . , j .. . , . . ° afforded to the farmers and planters of 

Richmond it must be obvious to- any un- T7 . . » * T .«, -, ,. .. r ., . 

.... ,, , ,, ; . r J Virginia and North Carolina lor the trans- 

preiudiced man that the system is tar more f .. c ., . , . , . , 

r , J ., , • r portation of their produce to market, has 

advantageous to the planter or owner of ! , , ., . * • , . ... . ' 

-nduced them to send to this market a 



nbacco than that which prevails at our . ... , e ., . fc ., 

.... r . ., ., larger proportion of the tobacco crop than 

Inspection VAarehouses or in the other . 7 r r , , ., ' 

... i h i u u • • • * m former years ; and whereas the, great 

cities above named; by bringing into , , J . , , ., , l * 

.... . J . u demand created by the large number of 

competition at one moment every purcha- ,, P . J ».[• •, ■» 

r , i .... f r . tobacco manufacturers of this city, and 

ser, and submitting every sample in one ,. , ,, • • i . 

, „ , ,, ft w i t *• shippers who receive the principal orders, 

large Hall, whether ottered at auction or ,. v , j e \u l r 

P . . , , .. ., foreign and domestic, for the purchase o! 

private sale: and leaving the owner the , , n , .. . ., . , X * , 

r .. ru •' t- j r tobacco makes it to the interest of planters 

option of being his own vendor, or of em- ,, . r ., r>. , * *. , V 

\ • * iTii -hi *■ f u generally to prefei the Richmond market, 

ploying an agent, the Planter can, if he & , t , J r r . . ,-, , j . , ' 

1 1 J *? ,7 . . j i,i 4 .• and therefore is most likely to induce 

chose to sell at auction and collect his ... ., , ,. J r t . 

_ c .. , i i- . u hither a still larger proportion of the crop ; 

money from the buyer, have his tobacco , , 4L i i • j 

u \ ,l r» u u ,l n' and whereas the large and increasing trade 

sold at the Exchange by the Crier — an . ,. . , , r . n . . . " t4 j 

.-,,••. , , <• .I .I m this branch of business has been attend- 

entirely disinterested man — for the small , ... - c . . ,„ 

r e \ , , , ... , ed with great inconvenience, if not to all 

lee of twelve and a half cents per hogs- . - ? ., . . , . 

v , c . , ■ , ,• + i xu at least to the greater number engaged in 

head Should he prefer to have the .. , . ? , . , , . • .- 

., . c n ' • • ixj l it, Hnd is now found to be almost impracti- 

judgment of a Commission Merchant, , , ... , c • « 

*u- I, • , i •.. ,i . , I cabse wift any degree of convenience and 

who is well acquainted with the state of . . ■ . . J . L r ^ .• AL 

., , . ? ■ ., , , . ., , satisfaction to those of us to continue the 

the market, and who would stop the sale , , . c ,. ,. ., j ., , . if 

• f , ., . . ,, c , , ' . ... o d system of attending the d<oly sales of 

if he thought the ful value, was not bid, . . • y . ., n . J , 

i_ ^* , , , , r . . tobacco at three or more warehouses loca- 

lie can, as he has done before, put his . , . ,. . . - . ... . 4 i» 

• ' i , , . , . ' i. ,, ted at distant points of the city; and 

crop in the hand;, of such an Agent to sell , .. . ,' , 3 ui ■*•«•■ *j 

,V , ... .. jf , . .. whereas it is deemed desirable to artora 

publicly or privately as the judgment of ,, , . e .,-. . .. . , . , 

f. A J , ' j. r * i *.l i the amplest, facility to the trade at lar^e. 

the Agent may dictate, and the samples , . \ . • ., • ., • . . e . ■ ' 
.» ~ i * if u -u-4- *«u * i a"d believing that the interest of buyers 

are kept readv tor exhibition at the centra , .. ^., . .i . i • 

„.-«4 u *u it- u * ui u i and sellers will be greatly subserved in 

point where the Exchange is established, ., r *: n i 

r . .. A ., a: b -r • t .- i -4 the economy of time as well as conduce 
or at the Agent s office if he thinks it , ., J • , r . . ,. ,., 

« ,. & t»i thf convenience and comfort to all alike: 

*;• It is, therefore, recommended that a suita- 

What reasonable objection can be made ble central and commodious room be pro- 
to this arrangement by any disinterested cured for the purpose of concentrating and 
party is inconceivable. There is no rea- conducting the regular daily sales of to- 
son to suppose that ihe regulations adopted bacco, both privately and publicly, in lieu- 
will be changed. If they shou'd be, it will of the former custom of sales at the differ- 
then be time enough to complain. : ent inspection warehouses of this city. 
A Disinterested Looker on. |And whereas it has always been found 
— — conducive to the best interest of the trade 



470 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



that it should he conducted in accordance dollars, no bid for less than ten cents shall 
with such regulations as would best tend j be entertained, and when over six dollars, 
to protect the interest of all, secure unity not less than twenty-five cents per one 
of sentiment and action, and insure equali- j hundred pounds, unless the bid be claimed 
ty and fairness alike to all: Therefore, it by more than one, and the cryer is una- 
ble to decide who is entitled to it. In thaf 
event, an advance bid of half the sum, in 
either case, is to be received from either 
one of the parties ; and in all cases, the 



.is recommended that the following regula 
tions be adopted by the trade : 

'• 1. Resolved, That the room on the 
corner of Cary and 13th street, and over 
the store of Messrs. Robertson & Roberts, 
be for the present the place of resort for 
the trade, and that the same be styled 
1 The Tobacco Exchange of the city of 
Richmond,' and that the regular daily offer- 
ings of tobacco by private and public sale, 
be restricted thereat." 

"2nd. Resolved, That the public auc- 
tion sales shall be conducted by some 
individual familiar with the usages of the 
trade, having no conflicting interest of his 
Own incompatible with the province of a 
fair and impartial auctioneer of tobacco." 

" 3d. Resolved, Until farther ordered, 
that no private sales of tobacco be com- 
menced before 10 o'clock A.M., and also 
in like manner the public sale shall begin 
daily at 11 o'clock, A. M." 

"4th. Resolved, That the former cus-^ 
torn of chance-taking for the purchase of 
tobacco having been found to operate une- 
qually, and to the disadvantage of many 
of the trade, it be henceforth abolished, 
and in future the rule to be observed for 
the regulation of private sales shall be 



in this wise, viz : When the vendor has 
placed his samples upon the sales' stand, 
'any buyer presenting himself and propo- 
sing to purchase, shall be entitled to the 
privilege of trading; and when two or 
more make simultaneous proposals to buy, 
they shall determine between themselves, 
by lot or otherwise, the order of prece- 
dence." 

'.' 5th. Resolved, That all private bids 
for tobacco be regarded as sacred between 
the buyer and seller, and that no offer for 
tobacco, not accepted at the time offered 
shall be considered as binding the buyer, 
unless so agreed upon at such time ; and 
in all cases the terms of private sales are 
not to be divulged without the consent of 
the purchaser and seller." 



cryer, if practicable, shall decide between 
claimants of fiistbids." 

" 7th. Resolved, That whenever a hogs- 
head of tobacco is offered for sale at public 
auction, and not disposed of, and the same 
be offered privately afterwards, the refu- 
sal should be tendered to the last bidder, 
except in such cases where, for sufficient 
reasons, the vendor is unwilling to sell to 
the bidder." 

"8th. Resolved. That any tobacco that 
may be offered at public sale can be re- 
tained by the planter or his factor, should 
he be dissatisfied with the price ; this 
privilege, however, must be exercised di- 
rectly after the tobacco is cried out, or not 
at all." 

"9th. Resolved, That the same rule be 
applicable for private bids for tobacco, as 
stated in the 6th resolution, regulating 
public bids, viz: A full advance bid." 

" 10th. Resolved, That the interest of 
the trade requires that the Inspectors and 
commission merchants respectively des- 
cribe upon their sample labels the condition 
of the tobacco when the sample is drawn, 
whether the tobacco is passed, stained, 
damaged, heated, or broken in the cask, 
and also the gross or nett weight, and «iccu- 
rately, as far as practicable, the proportion 
of any mixed hogshead. 

" 11th. Resolved, That during the pro- 
gress of the public sales, all private trading 
for tobacco at the Exchange be conducted 
exclusively at the stand of the commission 
merchants." 

" 12th. Resolved, That the Auctioneer 
of the Exchange provide himself with a 
list of the inspections at the several ware- 
houses each day, and that the sellers be 
called to the stand by said list, in the order 
heretofore governing inspections, viz : 1st, 
Seabrook's on Monday and Thursday, 
Shockoe on Tuesday and Friday, Public 
on Wednesday and Saturday, Dibrell's 



" 6th. Resolved, That the former custom I always following Seabrook's, except on 
of public bids remain in force, viz : When : Saturday, when it will be called second in 
tobacco is being cried at a price below six order." 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



471 



" 13th. Resolved, That the regular pub- 
lic sales of tobacco be^made strictly for 
cash payments." 

" 14th. Resolved, That it be the duty 
of the conductor of the public sales, as far 
as practicable, to see that the Exchange 
room is kept in proper order, and to 
prohibit smoking and all other practices 
inconsistent with the comfort or interest 
of visitors to the room, and also the seats 
at the public sales bench be reserved for 
the exclusive accommodation of the buy- 
ers. 

15th. Resolved, That the inspectors at 
the several warehouses be requested to 
begin their daily breaks at the earliest 
hour of the morning practicable, and that 
the breaks be limited to such number of 
hogsheads as can be coopered up or secu- 
red from all liability to injury on the same 
day on which they are broken. 

" 16th. Resolved, That the custom of 
prizers marking their tobacco for inspection 
with fictitious marks, and thereby opening 
wide the door to fraud by which buyers 
have been and may be deceived or defrau- 
ded by false packing, be discontinued, and 
that they put their own names upon the 
same, and that sellers announce at the 
time of offering such tobacco that it is 
reprized, with the name of reprizer there- 
of protecting the innocent and honest 
reprizer as well as buyer against the less 
scrupulous. 

" 17th. Resolved, That, having a due 
regard to the economy of time in the 
prompt despatch of business, it is recom- 
mended that during the public sales all 
matters irrelevant to such business, as far 
as practicable, be avoided, and the atten- 
tion of buyers and auctioneer combine for 
the conduct of speedy sales." 

" 18th. Resolved, That we elect annu- 
ally, from our number, a committee of 
five — any three of which may act— rep- 
resenting the different interests of the 
trade — manufacturer, shipper, seller — to 
be called the committee of reference, to 
whom may be referred all questions of 
difference arising in the trade ; and when 
both parties agree to refer the decision to 
this committee, it shall be binding. 

The following resolution, offered by Mr. 
Gwathmey, was then adopted : 

" Resolved, That any planter having his 
tobacco in the hands of Inspectors, and 



who may prefer to have it sold at the 
Exchange, when inspected, may do so, 
subject to the rules of the Exchange." * 

Then the following committee of refe- 
rence was elected by the meeting : John 
Jones, John Gilmour, John S. Walker, 
Samuel Hardgrove, Thomas J. Deane. 

Mr. Sheppard was elected Auctioneer. 



PRINCE EDWARD MEETING IN REFERENCE 
TO THE TOBACCO EXCHANGE. 

At a very large meeting of the Plainters 
of Pr. Edward, held at the Co. Ho., on 
June 21, Mr. Jno. W. Redd was appointed 
Chairman and Jno. H Knight Secretary. 
Mr. Jno. A. Scott stated the object of the 
meeting to be to take some action in 
reference to the "Tobacco Exchange" re- 
cently established in the city of Richmond, 
and upon his motion a committee of twelve 
was appointed to draft resolutions for the 
consideration of the meeting — expres- 
sive of the feelings and sentiments of 
the planters of the county in regard 
to the establishment of this "Tobacco 
Exchange." The following gentlemen 
constituted said committee, viz: F. T. 
Wootton, Jno. H. Knight, Edwin Edmonds, 
S. B. Scott, Thos. Clarke, H.G. McCargd, 
David Womack, T. T. Tredway, Newton 
Cunningham, Geo. W. Redd, Thos. Hick- 
son and Richard Scott. The committee, 
after a retirement of an hour, brought in 
the following preamble and resolutions: 

" Whereas, by a combination of the 
Commission Merchants and a portion of 
Tobacco Dealers of the city of Richmond, 
a " Tobacco Exchange" has been estab- 
lished in said city, thereby endeavoring to 
abolish the sale of tobacco at the Public 
Warehouses of the city — a custom long 
established by the law of the land, and 
one which gave general satisfaction to the 
planter; and whereas the attempt is made 
by the establishment of the Exchange to 
nullity the existing laws of Tobacco In- 
spections as enacted on our statute books 
and to place the whole management of tfaa 
Trade under the control of a " Board of 
Trade," composed of Commission Merch' 
ants and Dealers," in which board the 



*Note by the Editor. — On enquiry wo learn 
that the Planter is not prevented by anything 
contained in the regulations from selling private- 
ly also at the Exchange, if he shall choose to dp 
so. 



472 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



planter has no voice ; and who can, at any 
time, exclude the planter from the privi- 
lege of selling his own crop and levy .such 
a tax in the way of commissions as may 
best suit the interest of the parties compo- 
sing this Board, on all sales of Tobacco 
made at this Exchange ; and, whereas, the 
evident intent of the founders of this Ex- 
change is, and the Inevitable result of its 
permanent establi hment will be, not only 
to abolish the sales of Tobacco at the vari- 
ous Warehouses as aforesaid, but also to 
force the Planter to sell his crops at this 
Exchange and thereafter to force him to 
put his crops in the hands of Commission ; 
Merchants, and to be thus taxed against! 
his will. And whereas, the Commission; 
Merchants have solemnly resolved that all 
offerings of Tobacco, both public and pri- ! 
vate, shall be made at the Exchange, and 
(with but few exceptions) publicly declare 
that, although ordered by the Planter to 
sell his crop consigned to them at the 
Public Warehouses, they will not obey his 
instructions, and will only offer them for 
sale at their Exchange, thereby assuming 
to themselves absolute and unwarrantable! 
control over the property and rights of 
others and not remembering that they are 
only the Agents and not the Proprietors of 
consignments made to them. And where- 
as, the Commission Merchants and Dealers 
have their remedy at law for the mal- 
execution of the Inspection Laws and 
grievances of which they complain, are 
about assuming to themselves the abso- 
lute control of the whole system. And 
whereas, the establishment of such Ex-j 
changes in the larger cities have always 
resulted in the exclusion of the grower 
from the privilege of selling his own pro- 
duce as he may think proper and forcing 
him to employ an Agent against his will, | 
Therefore 

Resolved, 1st. That we will resist, by all | 
means in our power, the establishment of 
"The Tobacco Exchange'" in the city of 
Richmond and the attempt of its founders 
to subvert the existing laws on Tobacco 
Inspections and to infringe on our rights 
as planters. 

2d. That we will not selJ our crops at 
this Exchange, and will only offer them at 
the Public Warehouses until the existing 
laws be amended and some other place of 
Public Sale be established by the law of 
the land. 



3d. That we regard the assertion of the 
Commission Merchants that the establish- 
ment of this Exchange was demanded by 
the Dealers as a body, and that they were 
forced to adopt it, as erroneous ; that we 
do not concede, nor do we believe that a 
large portion of he Dealers of Tobacco 
claim the right to control the trade as 
asserted by the Merchants. 

4th. That we regard the resolution pass- 
ed by the Commission Merchants at then- 
meeting inaugurating the Tobacco Ex- 
change restricting " all the offerings of 
Tobacco, both public and private," to the 
Exchange, and the public declaration of 
all (with but ew exceptions) that though 
ordered by the planter 1o sell his crops 
consigned to them at the Public Warehou- 
ses, they will not obey his instructions, 
as an unwarrantable and aggressive as- 
sumption of power, and that we pledge 
ourselves not to employ any man as our 
Agent who has entered into any such com- 
bination and feels himself bound by any 
such resolution, believing that our interest 
could not be safe in his hands. 

5th. That if the necessities of the Trade 
require the establishment of some other 
mode and place of selling Tobacco than 
such as are now established, we will pe- 
tition the next Legislature for such an 
amendment of the existing laws as will 
establish a suitable place or places for that 
purpose — the same to be regulated by law, 
and the rights of all parties defined and 
secured by the law of the land and not 
left to the caprice or control of a self- 
constituted Board. 

The above preamble and resolutions 
were adopted by the meeting unanimously. 
The meeting was addressed by A. D. Dick- 
inson and Jno. W. Wilson. 

Jno. A. Scott offered the following reso- 
lution, which was unanimously adopted: 

Resolved, That we will seek some other 
market than Richmond for our produce 
rather than be forced to sell at the Tobacco 
Exchange through the Agency of Com- 
mission Merchants. 

It was further 

Resolved, " That the proceedings of 
this meeting be sent to the Farmville 
Journal, Richmond papers, and the South- 
ern Planter for publication. 

The meeting then adjourned. 

1 JNO. W. REDD, Ch'n. 

Jno. H. Knight, SccWy. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



473 



For the So. Planter. 

Stimulating Properties of Guano. 

It is not my purpose, Mr. Editor, in this 
communication,' to persuade a single individual 
to invest his means in guano, to increase the 
production of wheat. The propriety of such 
investment, every farmer will determine for 
himself, making his calculation with reference 
1st, to the relative prices of wheat and guano ; 
and 2ndly, to the relative production of labor 
and capital, with and without the use of this 
costly manure. It is my object only to defend 
guano against some of the vulgar prejudices 
entertained against its use, and thereby to vin- 
dicate science and the cause of truth. 

Agriculture in Virginia is pursued by every 
variety of capacity and qualification, from the 
entirely unlettered to the learned, and conse- 
quently we may expect to hear every variety 
of opinion expressed, that ingenuity or stupidi- 
ty can devise. Many of these various and of- 
ten conflicting opinions are extensively enter- 
tained and 'acted on by thinking and educated 
men, because they do not trouble themselv.es to 
enquire whether or no they are consistent with 
the known laws of nature, when the least con- 
sideration would satisfy them that they are 
wholly irreconcilable with those laws, and al- 
together opposed to the axioms of science. 

It is not uncommon to hear gentlemen of 
good education, win; are regarded as eminent- 
ly practical and judicious farmers, urge as an 
objection to the use of guano, that it " stimu- 
lates the soil;" and as all action excited by ar- 
tificial means is sure to be followed by a de- 
pressing re-action, that therefore the exhaus- 
tion of the soil is the necessary consequence of 
the application of guano. A little reflection 
would convince tnem that the soil is incapable 
of being thus acted upon. "Mother Earth" 
has neither brains, nor spinal marrow, nor oth- 
er element of a " nervous system" to render 
her susceptible to such influence. 

In this exemption she is vastly superior to 
all her sex. For what would be the conse- 
quence if she had nervous sympathies and sen- 
sibility, and her nerves should become un- 
strung? What if she should become flighty 
and hysterical? Dames of more modern date 
would fiud an apology in her example, and 
something more pungent than guano would be 
necessary to quiet their agitation. 

It is not surprising that such objections 
Should be urged by that class of farmers who 
consult the moon upon so simple a matter as 
the laying of a worm fence ; but that educated 
gentlemen, who are looked up to as oracles in 
things pertaining to good farming, should ad- 
vance such objections provokes a smile in spite 
of good manners. 

But let us dismiss this objection, and pro- 
ceed seriously to consider the question wheth- 
er guano is a mere stimulant of the plant, or is 
it only Us appropriate pabulum f 



We charitably suppose that most of our in- 
telligent farmers, when they assert that "gua- 
no is a mere stimulant," mean that it simply 
stimulates the plant to increased activity with- 
out furnishing anything to its support, but how 
this is accomplished I do not understand. I 
do apprehend how in the animal kingdom 
agencies of this kind are more or less opera- 
tive, but I have yet to learn the mode in which 
the vegetable kingdom is rendered thus im- 
pressible. 

Let us however endeavor to attain to a clear 
understanding of what is meant by a stimu- 
lant in this limited or exclusive sense. In its 
common or general acceptation, a stimulant is 
any agent that exalts or quickens the vital 
forces or actions. Now this embraces not only 
those that merely quicken action, but also all 
articles of food ; so then the term used in the 
limited or exclusive sense is not intended to de- 
signate what is the pabulum of plants, other- 
wise it would be applicable to all other manures 
as well as guano. 

The question then very naturally arises : — 
does guano merely produce an impression or 
sensation in the plant that causes it to make a 
greater demand upon the soil for its prepared 
food? or does it supply the nutrition which the 
plant requires for its susteutation and growth? 
If it is to be understood- in the latter sense, 
then is guano nothing different from all other 
manures which supply the inorganic constitu- 
ents of the plant, and that it must be so un- 
derstood is evident from the fact that vegeta- 
bles are not susceptible to the action of mere 
stimulants. It would have been an unnecessa- 
ry provision of nature for them to have been 
constituted with such susceptibility. Animals 
that have to seek their own food are endowed 
with sensation, and are urged by the calls of 
nature to use the powers of locomotion with 
which they are constituted, to meet the de- 
mands of appetite, but the poor plant feels no 
want of food, and if it did, it is incapable of 
making any exertion to obtain it. 

But while they are destitute of the semb- 
lance of nervous excitability, they! are never- 
theless provided with organs of circulation, res- 
| piration, absorption and secretion. These or- 
gans are controlled by physical laws, and uu- 
[ like the animal economy are entirely indepen- 
; dent of any, even the rudest form of nerves. 
Yet, notwithstanding this destitution of a sys- 
tem of nerves, it is true there does exi>t a mys- 
(terious force — a "vis vitce' n — a "divinity that 
I shapes its ends." But how it exists and where 
j this force resides is beyond human ken, for 
1 " who by searching can find out God?" 

Animals by reason of their organization are 
peculiarly susceptible to the action of stimu- 
lants, and we have examples of the operation 
of mere stimulants in increasing the "vital 
forces" by producing sudden emotions, such as 
hope, joy and auger. Also of the more mate- 
rial agencies of alcohol, opium, ammonia and 



474 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



kindred preparations. These all excite an in- 
fluence over the functions of animal life through 
the medium of the nervous system. But we 
have no knowledge of any such effect being 
produced upon any member of the vegetable 
kingdom. 

There are agents in nature to be found in 
all its kingdoms — vegetable, animal and mine- 
ral — that are capable of exalting the vital 
manifestations in a more permanent manner, 
both in animals and vegetables, which are no- 
thing more at last than the products of decom- 
position, destined to re-composition. Under 
the influence of such stimulating agencies, de- 
velopment, growth and maturation are the ne- 
cessary results. 

These stimulants contain within themselves 
the elements of nutrition and fertility, and af- 
ter proper elaboration in the soil for plants, 
and in the stomach for animals, find their way, 
under the guidance of an inscrutable provi- 
dence, to the very place in the organization they 
are suited to occupy. This is the kind of stim- 
ulant we take guano to be ; the same that corn 
is to the poor horse ; or beef-tea to a convales- 
cent patient ; or in other words, what is vulgar- 
ly called a belly-stimulant, as Mr. Weller 
would say — "wictuals." 

Then if guano contains — as analysis proves 
it does — all the elements of nutrition that are 
common to other manures, and produces like 
effects upon the growth of plants, wherein does 
it differ from them, and why should it be sin- 
gled out from the rest for condemnation, as 
hurtful in its application to the soil? But it 
is objected, that "'it does not last like manure, 
that it will produce only one crop, and there- 
fore cannot be like it in its nature. " 

The same may be said of beef-steak for break- 
fast. It only gives you additional power and 
muscular strength to last until dinner. Was 
this ever urged as a reason for not taking the 
steak? A costly business is this eating every 
time we need a little store of nervous energy 
and muscular strength. It is not more essential 
however than this manuring every time we ex- 
pect a large yield of crop from the soil. As well 
might we expect our tailor to cut us two gar- 
ments out of the material furnished for but one, 
as to expect two or more large crops from one 
application of 200 pounds of guano. There is 
good reason why farm-yard manure should be 
more permanent. Not because it is intrinsically 
better than guano, but because it is usually ap- 
plied in the proportion of twenty tons to the 
acre, where not more and often less than 200 
pounds of guano is applied. If the difference 
in permanence is as great as the inequality in 
the relation of 20 tons of manure to 200 lbs. 
of guano, then I will admit that the former 
has the advantage in the matter of durability. 

I do not mean to advocate the use of guano 
in very large doses iu order to produce a more 
permanent effect, because I believe it possesses 
caustic properties, which if used in excess 



would prove inimical to vegetation, but supply 
it in suitable quantity and under proper cir- 
cumstances, and I will warrant a remunerating 
return. And if you fad to get that return in 
the next crop, rest assured that 'mother earth' 
has stored it away for a rainy day, which when 
it comes will impart to you the satisfaction of 
knowing that you are "in clover/' 

WM. A. BRADFORD. 
Greenville, Clarice Co., June 1858. 



For the Southern Planter, 

Experiments with Guano. 

Mr. Editor, — I propose offering the results 
of sundry experiments with guano, made by 
me within the last few years, with a view of 
testing the benefits of the several varieties, as 
well as reducing the outlays of these expen- 
sive fertilizers. The first experiment was made 
in 1850, on two acres of land sown in wheat, 
to which was applied 560 lbs. of Peruvian 
guano. Having a small portion left alter that 
applied to the two acre?, I added about double 
its quantity of ashes and applied it to a very 
thin spot of land sown in wheat, which produ- 
ced a crop far surpassing my expectation, since 
which time it has been cultivated in its regular 
rotation, and each crop has shown the spot to 
which it was applied, by a growth of corn and 
wheat far surpassing the land immediately ad- 
joining. My second experiment was with Co- 
lombian three years since, applied to land sown 
in wheat late in the season, and extremely thin, 
at the rate of two hundred pounds per acre, 
this produced a remunerating crop ; the field 
was turned to pasture, and so remained until 
planted in corn the present year, the corn at 
this time on the land sown in guano is more 
than double the size of that immediately above 
and below it, exhibiting as luxuriant an ap- 
pearance as if the land had been cowpened, as 
pronounced by two experienced farmers who 
have viewed it- In 1857, after planting my 
corn, I applied about two hundred pounds of 
Colombian guano per acre, and the same quan- 
tity of equal portions of guano and leached 
ashes, which were harrowed in, they produced 
a good crop of corn notwithstanding a very un- 
favorable season for its maturing. In the fall, 
the land was sown in wheat, without an addi- 
tional aid, and now presents a prospect of a 
remunerating result, notwithstanding the rava- 
ges of the fly and joint-worm. The mixture of 
ashes and guano produced a better crop of corn 
than the guano, and promises a like result in 
the wheat crop. Last fall I purchased a ton of 
Peruvian and a ton of white Mexican guanoes, 
these were mixed in equal quantities and ap- 
plied to a portion of land sown in wheat, the 
remainder of the guanoes so mixed was added 
to a like quantity of ashes and applied to the 
wheat, in like quantities with the mixed guan- 
oes — if there be a difference in the wheat, it is 
in favor of the guanoes and ashes. Should a 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



475 



mixture of guano and ashes upon further ex- 
periments, prove to be as beneficial as in the 
eases to which I have alluded, a saving of fifty 
per cent will be realized by the former, and the 
Colombian guano as a permanent fertilizer will 
be prefered to the other varieties. I omitted to 
remark that Colombian and Peruvian guanoes 
were mixed in equal quantities, as were the 
white Mexican and Peruvian, without any per- 
ceptible difference in the wheat crop. 

Richard Rouzee. 
Oakland, June 22d, 1858. 

For the Southern Planter. 

Injury to the Farmer from Exaggerated 
Accounts of the Growing Crops, &c. 

Mr. Editor, — It is an adage both old and 
trite, but nevertheless true — " that error often 
runs around the world, while truth is putting 
on her slippers." There is another, I believe 
equally true, " that farmers are proverbially 
croakers." To the truth of these two aphor- 
isms may be ascribed much of the injury each 
returning season brings to the varied and im- 
portant interests of the Farmer, through the 
ever active and powerful agency of the press. 

Bulwer makes the remark, " that the pen is 
mightier than the sword" — alas for the interest 
of the farmer ! a single waif from the brain of 
an idle traveller, borne through the country 
with the velocity of steam, has often proven 
" more terrible than an army with banners." 
We are told in the quaint verse, but pungent 
satire of Butler, that 

" Doubtless the pleasure is as great, 
Of being cheated as to cheat." 

It may be from this text that the scribler de- 
rives his right to speculate ; if not, it certainly 
cannot be from the one subjoined, from the in- 
spired pen of one greater than Butler — St. Luke 
—XVI, 12. 

" And if ye have not been faithful in that 
which is another man's, who shall give you that 
which is your own." 

Agriculture is a pursuit which underlies the 
whole superstructure of civil life. Its anti- 
quity denotes its importance and its history 
presents the most imposing array of benefac- 
tions to mankind that can be found through the 
whole range of human history. Its victories 
are the peaceful conquests of the plowshare ; 
the triumphs of progressive civilization over 
every element of barbarism. Its mission — the 
diffusion of contentment, happiness aad pros- 
perity ; the promotion of the triumphs of mind 
and the transmission of the blessed light of the 
gospel to every land, on the wings of commerce, 
nourished and fed by the exuberance of its pro- 
ductions ; — and its monuments, the imperisha- 
ble gratitude, and ceaseless aspirations of every 
heart in the land it blesses. Such is the high 
vocation of the farmer — such the benefits re- 



men are to be found who through ignorance, 
thoughtlessness, or a misjudging avarice, would 
stab his interests, impair his capital, and crip- 
ple his energies, by systematic misrepresenta- 
tion, when if the work of disparagement and 
depreciation were let alone, the result would 
most probably be to benefit alike the producer 
and consumer ? I am induced to make these 
observations from having seen newspaper par- 
agraphs this season, and in fact during every 
season, referring to the prospects of the grow- 
ing crops, at stages of their growth, when even 
the most experienced ohserver can form no just 
estimate concerning them, couched in such 
terms of extravagance, very often, as to betray 
a deliberate design to depreciate them in the 
market from apparent sinister motives, or as to 
manifest, (to say the least,) a criminal igno- 
rance or daring mendacity on the part of the 
writers. They justly merit that "whip of 
scorpions," which an outraged public sentiment 
speaking through the same organ — the press — 
can alone administer. No man has a moral 
right to express an opinion about any thing af- 
fecting the interests of others of which he 
knows nothing — nor can he be held as guilt- 
less, when through ignorance or otherwise he 
dares to give publicity to it. Such is the fa- 
cility and rapidity with which information now 
spreads, that such paragraphs are scarcely cold 
from the press, before they are caught up and 
borne with the velocity of steam to foreign 
shores and transmitted with lightning speed 
over the continent of Europe, thereby sweep- 
ing, with a single brush of the pen, millions of 
dollars from the hard earned toil of the farmer, 
into the pockets of speculators. How is this 
to be remedied ? Very easily ! In the first 
place every man should observe the golden 
rule contained in the eleventh commandment, 
" let every man attend to his own business." 
And, secondly, we should have more authentic 
information than we now have, as regards both 
growing and harvested crops. 

Not statements made by farmers, because 
they rarely write, and if they did, as we be- 
fore said, they would be regarded as " interest- 
ed croakers," and would not be believed. 

Let the Farmers Assembly appoint a com- 
mittee — the executive would answer well — 
whose business it should be to appoint sub- 
committees in each county ; with the obliga- 
tion to report to the secretary of the society — 
each month during the year. The information 
should be digested and laid before the execu- 
tive committee at each of its monthly meetings 
to be published or not as the wisdom of that 
body might determine. 

Such publications would soon be regarded as 
authentic, and all official statements from such a 
reliable source would address themselves to the 
confidence of the public with the same assur- 
ance of credibility, with which the reports 
through the Mark Lane Express are received 



476 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



throughout England and I believe the world. 
Every farmer would take pleasure in commu- 
nicating facts, and furnishing statistics to the 
local agent, by which a mass of information 
would be acquired, calculated greatly to enrich 
the archives of the society. 

Our crop of wheat was early rusted on the 
blade, to an extent unparalleled, with but little 
on the straw, until near the maturity of the 
grain; but to all who know the important 
functions performed by the leaf — of respiration 
and nutrition in the physiology of plants — it 
■would be needless to speak of the injury done 
to the crop. Apropos of rust ! What is it? 
The question has been much mooted, but I have 
satisfied myself by a critical examination of it 
under the field of a microscope of considerable 
power, that it is the oxidation of the mineral 
or organic, probably both, ingredients of the 
exuded sap, which escaping from the plant by 
the bursting of the sap vessels, caused by ex- 
cess of rain, alternated with heat and cold, 
and concreted on the side of the stalk in the 
form of small grains. So then, rust is merely 
a symptom of disease, as dropsy is \n medical 
pathology, and not the disease itself. 

Our oat crop is also well nigh a failure. In 
many places it will not be cut at all, in conse- 
quence of the ravages of a parasitic insect. 

In the agricultural department of the Patent 
Office Report for 1S55, plate vi., fig. 2, an ac- 
curate drawing is given of this fly, and a sketch 
under the head of Aphis, or cotton louse of the 
South. The insects here were examined un- 
der the microscope and proved identical with 
the one in the sketch given. It has six legs, two 
horns, two prominent black eyes, a sharp bill, 
and wings when nearl} 7 grown. It was never 
known to exist here before, and has proven 
much more destructive than the chinch bug, 
which it seems to have supplanted. 
Yours, respectfully, 

June, 1858. Nottoway. 



The Cultivation of Clover. 

[We commend the following essay on the 
important subject of "the cultivation of clo- 
ver" to the serious consideration of our readers. 
The author, Col. McCue, is entirely at home on 
the subject. Having been a successful culti- 
vator and a winner of the premiums of the 
Virginia State Agricultural Society for the 
largest production per acre, and the best spe- 
cimens of seed, he speaks of the profit and ad- 
vantage of this important branch of husbandry 
from his own personal knowledge. His coun- 
sel ought therefore to be authoritative with 
those who would conform their operations to 
the suggestions of enlightened experience gain- 
ed from successful practice. — Editor.] 

If "he is a benefactor of his race who causes 



two blades of grass to grow, where but om 
grew before," how much more worthy of sue 
praise is he who besides causing a much lai 
ger increase of production can by his effort 
succeed in enlisting a general and earnest a 
tention to the the much neglected subject ( 
clover culture? 

Why is it, that from the Chesapeake to th 

mountains — in the Valley — and even the trans 

montane section of Virginia, the eye of th 

traveller is often pained with the sight of gall 

and gullies, brakes and briers, and thorns ant 

thistles, usurping the place of the grasses, th 

ameliorating and fertilising agents of the soil 

It is because there has been a too widespreat 

and deep-seated indifference on this subject- 

the grass. It has for many years been a re 

proach to Virginia, that with all her capacity 

i for production, she has witnessed the humili 

j ating spectacle of the introduction of the grass 

es from Maine, New York and other Srates int< 

J all her seaboard and tide-water cities am 

| towns, yea even in towns of the interior, sucl 

las Lynchburg and others, at a cost from fif 

{ teen to twenty-five dollars per t n, to the ex 

| elusion of a much better quality of hay, thai 

[ we can and must make. Why is it, permit nii 

I to enquire, that among the articles of freight 

j crowding the cars and blocking up the depots 

| of our several rail roads and the boats of the 

| James River canal, emptying themselves oui 

I the wharves of Richmond, Petersburg, Alex- 

j andria and Norfolk, that we do not see the 

i bales of sweet scented hay from the uplands inH 

I stead of encountering it, on its upward passage, 

\from those points, to the interior? 

Too little attention has been bestowed on 
this subject, and the fear is that in our efforts 
to cheapen guano, and increase our crops of to- 
bacco, corn and wheat, we will continue to 
lose sight of these the most important fertili- 
zers — the grasses. No one can doubt, that clo- 
ver is the Sampson if not among the grasses — 
certainly among the fertilizers. 

Much of the difficulty attendfng tho cultiva- 
tion of clover, according to the experience and 
observation of the writer, is- attributable to the 
defectiveness of the seed sown. In the Valley 
counties where it is ouiti\aieu, the farmer rais- 
es his own seed year after year on the same 
soil. Every succeeding crop exhibits a falling 
off in the vigour and luxuriance of the hay 
and an increasing tendency to deterioration in 
the quality of the seed, consisting of light 
chaffv grain, often destitute in a great measure 
of the germinating principle. 

This seed transported to the counties east of 
the Ridge, cannot recover by a change of soil 
and climate, although a slight improvement 
may l>e visible. lVtere the practice is seriously 
defective, in putting on too limited a supply of 
seed and in pasturing stock upon the young 
growth and keeping it down. In the Valley 
au occasional introduction of the best quality 
of seed from Pennsylvania or Maryland is de- 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



477 



livable. Greater pains should be taken to 
keep the seed free from the noxious weeds 
which, now alas ! are spreading with alarming 
rapidity over the State. To insure a certain 
stand of clover any where, a more liberal 
supply of seed is necessary. From a bushel 
to a bushel and a half to eight acres is far 
more economical than to spread one bushel 
over ten acres as is too common. To guard 
against the killing out in winter, it is a safe 
precaution to sow part in the fall and the re- 
mainder in the spring. Clover delights in a 
deep soil — and hence the feeble and meagre 
crops formed on land badly prepared. The 
writer has succeeded best on land broken up 
to a depth of twelve and thirteen inches, the 
seed sown with a seed-sower attached to a 
Pennock drill, and followed by a cast roller of 
eighteen hundred pounds weight. Too much 
care cannot be taken to guard against the 
daisy, plantain, blue thistle and other noxious 
weeds, and a heavy penalty ought to be meted 
out to him who would knowingly sell to his 
neighbor or send from home, seed abounding 
in such filth. Legislative enactments ought to 
be brought to bear against this evil. If the 
man is culpable who knowingly permits his 
cattle, afflicted with a contagious disease to run 
at large and impart it to his neighbors stock, 
how much less guilty is he who sehs to his 
friend or acquaintance grass seeds containing 
those pests, which if once they gain a foot- 
hold retain it to the injury of the farmer and 
the soil for generations to come ? 

If lands, designed to lie for some time in 
grass, are sown in clover, it is best to put one 
third part of timothy with two thirds of 
clover, thereby insuring a better quality of i 
hay, and also making a firm and stiff sud. 

Plaster and ashes should be sown earty in i 
the spring on the young clover. It should be 
mixed in the proportion of one third of the former j 
to two thirds of the latter, and sown at the rate ! 
of a bushel per acre. This will not be found 
too heavy. When clover seed is intended to be : 
saved, the clover should be cut before harvest, j 
to give time to the second crop to ripen before j 
frost. Often a heavy crop of seed is obtained 
after pasturing off the first crop. A too luxu-J 
riant crop of straw is unfavourable to a # full: 
crop of seed. So soon as the greater part of 
the heads have become brown, it is important 
to commence cutting the seed, which is most 
speedily secured by using a scythe with two 
fingers attached, and cutting two swathes 
together. The labour of raking up is much 
lightened in this way, and the straw gathered 
closer than by any other plan. The straw 
should lie some days in swath, to dry the 
heads thoroughly so as to facilitate the thresh- 
ing of the seed. This may be done either by 
treading out with horses or threshing by a 
machine. To those not judges of good seed, it 
is suggested that a plurality of dark-coloured 
or purple grain is generally sound and heavy, 



and sure to vegetate. The presence of light 
and chaffy grains, and too much dust and dirt 
in seed offered in market may be most easily 
detected by wetting the finger and thrusting it 
into the bulk — when the good seed will usually 
fall off and leave the light grains and the dirt 
adhering. 

Fearful that this essay may be drawn out to 
an unsuitable length — conscious of its defects, 
and yet hoping that it may serve a useful pur- 
pose in attracting attention to a subject which 
lies at the foundation of Southern agriculture, 
the writer most respectfully submits it to the 
indulgent consideration of his brother farmers. 
J. MARSHALL McCUE. 



We have received from a friend in Norfolk, 
the following extract from the Report of the 
Committee of the Corn Exchange of that city. 

The statistics of the farms mentioned, were 
published in the "Planter" for June, 1857. It 
will be seen from the "Report," that there can 
be no doubt of the truth of the figures. These 
show so large a profit to those engaged in the 
"trucking" business, that we gladly republish 
the farm accounts, to show the capacity of the 
soil in the vicinity of Norfolk, for gardening and 
trucking purposes. — [Ed. 

The Capacity of the Soil of this Vicinity 
for Trucking or Vegetable Purposes. 

Among the other especial advantages of this 
locality, we must name its peculiar capacity for 
Trucking purposes. Truck-raising requires the 
conjunction of three essentials. A peculiar 
composition of soil, an early climate, and regu- 
lar, cheap and speedy carriage to market. All 
these requisites are found here in an eminent 
degree. The soil is light, quick, and easily culti- 
vated. The climate sufficiently warm to com- 
pete with any other portion of the coast; while 
packages can be sent to Baltimore in ten, to 
Philadelphia in twenty, and New York in twenty- 
four hours from the time of leaving the harbor — 
a combination of advantages which it is sate to 
say cannot be found in any other part of the 
Union, and which affords us every guarantee 
that the trade will not only be sustained, but 
that it will be greatly extended as the cities 
North increase in number, extent, population 
and wealth; and when the cultivation extends 
to all the vegetables and fruits that are grown 
by northern gardeners. Considerable land is now 
occupied in raising vegetables, but there are 
great many equally eligible farms that may be 
purchased at a comparatively low figure, and 
upon which an industrious man can scarcely 
fail to realize a handsome competence by a few 
years of skilful application. To show the profit 
made upon these farms, we give the following 
statistics, which we gathered from the Report of 
the Commi'ttee on Farms of the Seaboard. Agri- 
cultural Society, for the year 1856. The Com- 



478 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



mittee report that four farms were offered as 
competitors for the Premium, with the annexed 
returns of their sales, expenses and profits: 
1st. The Armistead Farm. (100 acres), originally 

poor. 
Gross amount sales for the year, $17,128 28 

Expenses, including everything, 6,590 78 



Leaving a profit of - - - $10,537 50 

or $105 37 per acre for the entire farm. 

2nd. The View Farm. (100 acres.) 

Gross amount sales, - - - $13,825 81 

Expenses, including everything, 6,500 00 



Leaving a total profit of - - $7,382 81 

or $73 52-100 per acre for the entire farm. 
It should, however, be remarked that a portion 
of the money charged as ''expenses" on this 
farm, was expended in the purchase of stock, 
agricultural implements, &c, which could not 
have been legitimately charged against the farm 
expenses of that year. 

3rd. Mercer § Ivans' 1 Farm, of 20 acres. 
Gross amount of sales, - - - $6,000 
Expenses, 2,500 



Leaving a profit of - - - - $3,500 

or $175 per acre for the entire farm. 

4th. The Wilson Farm, of 25 acres. 

Gross amount of sales, - - $7,584 62 

Expenses of all kinds, - - 3,371 45 



Showing a profit of $4,213 17 

or $120 37 per acre for the entire farm. 

These returns were corroborated to the entire 
satisfaction of the Committee on Farms. And 
as a proof against the supposition of exaggera- 
tion, we may state that two of them were rented 
on shares, and that the exhibitors were obliged 
to account to the owners of the soil at the rate of 
profit here given. They show, we are confident, 
a larger margin of profit than any bodies of land 
of similar extent in the Union. Yet the very 
land upon which these enormous profits were 
made was rated, ten or fifteen years ago, at from 
10 to 15 dollars per acre. And even now, farms 
may be purchased at these rates, which only 
need the hand of industry and skill to make 
them almost equally profitable. The area of 
country adapted to this peculiar culture, will be 
very greatly extended by the opening of the new 
canal. 



more effectually and certainly by adopting ant j 
following a plan the opposite of that so confi 
dently recommended in the article referred tc i 
The writer in the Genessee Farmer directs thai 
the centre of the stack shall be kept '•hollow' J 
until you have reached within four or five fee 
of the top. The effect of this will be, that a j 
the stack settles, the centre, being less compac 
and firm than the outside, will sink more thai 
any other part, and result in the elevation of th> 
outer ends of the hay or grain, giving them ai 
inclination towards the centre, thus carrying th< 
water that falls upon the stack in that directioi 
instead of shedding it off like a roof. By adopt 
ing the plan of Mr. Howatt, a neater looking am 
more symmetrical stack maybe built; but thi ] 
is a case in which nothing useful ought to bi I 
sacrificed to u looks." I think the most secun 
and safe method of stacking either hay or grain | 
is to keep the centre well filled up and compact j 
so that it will at least settle no more, if as much i 
as the outside. The effect of which will be tc | 
give to your hay, or grain, an inclination down! 
wards from the centre to the circumference, thu. \ 
effectually preventing any water from reachin: 
the heart of the stack. 

A farmer of this county, alike distinguishec 
for his energy and excellent practical sense, anc 
who makes a large quantity of hay every year! 
scarcely gives any other directions to his stacker:' 
than to "heart well." And he never rides b] 
where the operation of stacking is going on 
without calling out in a loud, clear voice, "hear 
well, boys, heart well." And he, I feel confi 
dent, has never lost a hundred pounds of ha) 
from a defective stack. 

I am inclined to think that one of Mr. How 
att's twenty ton hay-stacks, on a bottom one rai 
square, (if his rails are as we make them, clever 
feet in length,) would present very much the ap 
pearance of a pyramid standing on its apex. 

The usual size of hay stacks, in this county, is 
about three tons, frequently less than that. T. 

Augusta co., June 28th, 1858. 



For the Southern Planter. 

On Stacking Hay and Grain. 

The June number of the Planter contains a 
communication, copied from the Genessee Far- 
mer, on "stacking hay and grain ;" which, it 
s^ems to me, gives very erroneous directions for 
that important operation. The primary object 
in building a stack of either hay or grain, is to 
make it turn water; and if, from any defect in 
its construction, the water runs from the circum- 
ference to the centre, the stack is ruined. This 
undesirable result can be prevented, I think, 



Is Agriculture Declining in the United 
States. 
We observe in the proceedings of Con- 
gress that a bill has been submitted by 
Mr. Morrill, of Vermont, proposing to 
granl; to the several States 5,920,000 acres 
of land, to be divided among them in pro- 
portion to the number of Senators and 
Representatives they send to Congress. 
The object of the bill is to encourage 
agriculture, which he claims is declining 
in all the States of the Union. He says 
that it will "do something to induce 
farmers' sons and daughters to cluster 
round the old homestead ; something to 
remove the last vestige of pauperism from 
our land ; something lor peace, good 
morals, churches and common schools; 
something: to enable sterile railroads to 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



479 



pay dividends ; something to enable the 
people to bear the enormous expenditure 
of the national government ; something to 
check the passion of individuals and of 
the nation, for indefinite territorial expan- 
sion, and to preserve them from ultimate 
decrepitude." 

In relation to the decline of agriculture 
in the United States, Mr. Morrill says : 

11 The quantity of food produced bears 
each year a smaller proportion to the 
number of acres under cultivation, and 
tfiat over a very wide area some of the 
most useful crops bid fair to become ex- 
tinct. In the New England States alone, 
the wheat crop, instead of increasing 
with the population, fell from 1840 till 
1850, 2,014,111 bushels to 1,090,132; 
and the potatoe crop during the same 
period from 35,180,500 bushels to 19,418,- 
181. The Southern States are hardly any 
better off. In the four States of Tennes- 
see, Kentucky, Georgia and Alabama, 
there was a falling of in the wheat pro- 
duced during the same period of 60 per 
cent., or more than half. The State of 
New York is probably one of the best in 
an agricultural point of view, in the Union. 
The farms are larger, and more capital is 
invested in them, and more skill applied 
in cultivation than in any other. Yet the 
number of sheep now is 300,000 less than 
it was thirty years ago, and within the 
last five years has declined at the rate of 
fifty per cent. The product of wheat has 
fallen from 13,391,770 bushels in 1845, to 
6,000,000 in the pa^t year. 

To be brief, Mr. Morrill assumes that in 
every State in the Union agricultural 
statistics tell the same story. With the 
largest area of arable land of every nation 
in the world ; with the smallest population 
in proportion to the square mile; with the 
lowest rate of taxation ; with a skill, en- 
terprise, ingenuity, and freedom from all 
feudal trammels, we appear to be fast re- 
turning to the wilderness state, and upon 
the condition of absolute dependence 
upon the taxed and overcrowded Europe, 
for the bread we eat, and the beef we 
roai-t, and the horses we ride. 

Mr. Morrill's scheme of relief is the 
construction of thirty-two agricultural col- 
leges, which are to inaugurate a new era 
in agriculture, revive it from its present 
rogress retrograde condition, and estab- 



The increase of cities in the United 
States in proportion to the increase of 
the surrounding country, is greater than 
in any other country in the world and 
appears to accelerate as the nation 
advances in wealth and intelligence. 
We have no doubt any thing that would 
render a country life more attractive 
than it is at present, would tend to 
remedy this tendency, and colleges de- 
signed to elevate agriculture into a science, 
might be a step towards this object. 
Another step would be that of throwing 
open the public lands to the people ; a 
movement which would, more than any 
other, remove the pressure from our cities, 
and subsequently add immensely to their 
wealth and importance. 

No doubt, agricultural colleges have 
been productive of great benefit in older 
countries. England, Ireland, France, 
Austria, Germany, and even Italy have 
felt their beneficial influences, and the 
United Slates would not prove an excep- 
tion. In some States, movements have 
been made towards their establishment, 
but with what results we have not the sta- 
tistics at hand to enlighten us. 

At any rate, the movement of Mr. 
Morrill of Vermont will be productive of 
one good effect, and this is the calling at- 
tention of the public generally to the state 
and condition of things, which he proves 
from the census statistics.— Chicago Demo- 
crat. 



ish it upon a solid am 



enduring basis. 



From the Genessee Farmer. 

Original Domestic Receipts. 

Stewed Chicken. — Prepare and cut 
up the fowls, in proper pieces for the 
table ; put into the stew 7 -pan or kettle, 
with plenty of salt and pepper to season ; 
and what butter you wish, and a small 
quantity of saleratus (not enough to dis- 
color) to assist in making it tender, and 
prevent its rising on the stomach ; and 
only w 7 ater enough to cook it, cover close, 
and stew moderately. Turn occasionally 
that it may cook and season evenly ; when 
nearly done, remove the cover, that the 
water may moderately evaporate. If you 
choose, dredge and boil in some flour. 
Turn on some sweet cream, boil up and 
serve. Squirrels are good cooked like 
the above, omitting the cream. 

Brown Gravy for Roast Fowl. — 
Chop the heart, liver and lights of the 



'80 



1 if E SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



fowl ; put into the spider with butter, 
pepper, salt, and a little water. When 
boiling well, add some sweet cream and 
boil. Stir it, or it will burn. 



the fowl in a pan, with a pint and a hal* 
of water, sprinkle a little salt over it, and 
bake half an hour. 



Raised Biscuit. — Heat three cups of 
sweet milk with one of butter; work it 
warm into the butter, with a tea-spoon of! 
saleratus. Have ready some yeast or 
light sponge, the same as for bread, work 
this in when the mixture is milk-warm ; 
mix it well, but not stiff, and set in a 
Warm place to rise. When light, mould 
into cakes, let them set a while, (five 
minutes or so,) prick 'the tops of eaoh : 
bake in a quick oven. These are similar 
to those made from bread dough. Cold 
biscuit can be warmed to taste like new, ! 
by turning cold water upon them to wet 
the cruets, then warm through in a moder- j 
ate oven. 

Soda Biscuit. — One quart bowl of flour, 
one tea-spoon of soda, two of cream tar- 
ter, salt, sour milk and sour cream to mix ; 
bake quick. 

I fmon Pie. — One grated lemon, one 
beaten egg, one tea-cup of sugar, one and 
a hall tea-cups of sweet milk, three tea- 
spoons of flour. Must not add the lemon 
till just as you set it in the oven. Bake 
with two crusts. Mix and bake as com- 
mon custard pie. 

Another. ^-Beat the yolks of four eggs, | 
add the grated rind and juice of one 
lemon, and five table-spoons sugar; bake 
with an under crust. When done, add 
the whites of the e<^^, beaten to a froth, 
with five table-spoons of white sugar;; 
bake again a lew minutes. Try it. 

Extra. Cup Cake — Mix as written.! 
One cup butter stirred to a cream, two 
cups sugar ; the yolks of four eggs, tea-' 
spoon of essence of lemmon or sweet 
almond : one tea-poon of soda dissolved in j 
a little hot water put to one cup sweet | 
milk ; then three cups flour, the whites of 
four eggs beaten to a froth; lastly, two | 
cups of flour with two tea-spoons cream I 
tartar, well infused; one cup wine, if you\ 
like. 

Baked Chicken. — Dress the chicken, 
then make a dressing with which to fill it, 
of light bread crumbled fine, a lump of 
butter the size of a hen'* e^, some pep- 
per and salt : moisten with water. Place 



Is the Chinese Sugar Cane Poison to 
Horses and other Animals? 

We have seen (says the Valley Farmer) 
several statements going the rounds of 
the papers, to the effect that horses and 
cattle, in a number of instances, have 
been poisoned by'eating the seed of the 
Chinese sugar cane. But the most con- 
clusive cases of the kind are detailed in 
the Ohio Farmer, by W. Pierce, Veterina- 
ry surgeon, in Ravenna, Ohio. The facts 
as related are substantially these : 

A farmer in Portage County, Ohio, 
raised a quantity of the Chinese sugar 
cane, and saved the seed and blades. In 
the course of the winter the»e were fed 
for two weeks to two valuable horses. 
Having occasion to go a few miles, the 
farmer took one of the horses to ride. At 
first the horse appeared well and playful, 
but when about a quarter of a mile from 
home, he became suddenly ill ; his head 
fell, his legs and body were drawn up, his 
limbs became stiff and greatly bloated, 
both in body and muscles. He was final- 
ly to ot hom e , sweating profusely He re- 
mained in this condition during the day. 
With careful treatment, after twenty-four 
hours, the internal bloating began to sub- 
side, but his muscles remained bloated for 
about five days, and then suddenly subsi« 
ded, leaving a large swelling high up on 
the back part of the fore arm. This con- 
tinued to swell to the size of a gallon, re- 
maining for four weeks, then mattered and 
discharged and began to disappear. About 
an hour after returning with the horse, 
the owner started for the same place with 
the other. After proceeding about three 
quarters of a mile, he was taken almost 
precisely as the first. The commence- 
ment, continuation, progress and termina- 
tion of both, were almost identical. A 
neighbor of the adjoining farm had a 
horse that eat the seed and leaves for two 
or three days, while grinding the stalks, 
and was similarly affected, for about the 
same length of time, with swelling in the 
same manner. M. Pierce examined this 
case on the first of February, and describes 
the condition of all of them, and con- 
cludes by saying — the seed did not mature, 
was frosted and began in mould when fed. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



481 



We have no idea that this grain, when 
matured and sound, is poison, or in any 
way injurious to domestic animals, any 
more than Indian corn or oats. That, 
and kindred varieties of the millet family, 
have been cultivated and eaten by man 
and beast for ages. But any of the cereals 
that have been wet and become mouldy 
and in a partial state of decomposition, 
when dried and fed to horses or cattle, 
have frequently been known to produce 
disease and death. We have known a 
number of instances of the kind, but the 
precise symptoms we do not now remem- 
ber. One of our neighbors, some years 
ago, lost a valuable cow from being fed on 
Oats that had been wet and become 
mouldy and partially rotten. And so we 
have heard of other instances where cattle 
had been fed on corn in the same condi- 
tion ; and we have no doubt it was this 
change that the sugar cane seed had un- 
dergone, that caused the mischief in each 
of the cases referred to. 



From the Central Gazette. 

The Philosophy of Boiling. 

The scarcity and high price of fuel — 
particularly of wood, in many parts of the 
West — the time and labor expended in 
procuring it, especially by those farmers 
who reside at a distance from our public 
roads and thoroughfares, render it advisa- 
ble to study economy in its use ; and 
whoever, fiom experience or observation, 
can suggest any improvement in this re- 
spect, that can be made generally availa- 
ble, without diminishing our physical com- 
fort, cannot but be considered as doing a 
public benefaction. Without presuming 
to offer any thing new on the subject, or 
wishing to become a trespasser in the 
domain of housewifery, I beg leave to 
call the attention of the reader* of the 
Gazette (especially the "fairer" half,) 
to a single point which I deem worthy of 
tfoeir consideration. 

"The process by which food is com- 
monly prepared for the table — boiling — is 
so familiar to eveiy one, and its effects are 
so uniform, and apparently so simple, that 
few have taken the trouble to enquire how 
or in what manner these effects are pro- 
duced. So little has this matter been 
made an object of enquiry, that few, very 
few, indeed, it is believed, of the many 
persons who, for so many ages have been 
31 



j daily employed in this process, have ever 
! given themselves the trouble to bestow 
one serious thought on the subject.' It is 
well known by those who have given the 
subject any attention, that the point at 
which ebullition takes place, called the 
boiling point — -though varying for different 
(liquids — is always constant for the same 
j liquid under ihe same circumstances, 
| being uniformly for water, (under ordina- 
j ry circumstances in an oven vessel) two 
| hundred and twelve degrees of Fahren- 
heit's thermometer. 

It is a general belief among cooks, I 
'find, and many excellent housewives, that 
the process ol boiling can be hastened, or, 
jto use a kitchen phrase, '•' hurried up," by 
extra fuel ; or, in other words, they be- 
lieve the more the water in the keitle 
j bubbles up, the faster does the boiling 
.progress. Now, what I wish to impress 
on the minds of those who thus believe, 
is this : that " water which just boils, (or 
which has reached 212° F., whether it 
boils or not,) is as hot as it can be possibly 
made in an open vessel ; and all the fuel 
which is used in making it boil with vio. 
lence is wasted, without adding in the 
smallest degree to the heat of the water, 
or expediting, or shortening the process of 
cooking a single instant: that it is by the 
heat, its intensity, and the time of its du- 
ration that food is cooked, and not by 
boiling, ebullition or " bubbling up of 
the water, which has no part whatever in 
the operation." 

I presume that the great majority of 
persons for whom this article was intend- 
ed, will be impressed with the truth of the 
above assertions at sight ; but if there be 
any who doubt, they can easily put them 
to a demonstrasion. 

1st. Let a thermometer be placed in an 
open kettle of cold water, and the temper- 
ature raised to 212 F., and then, by adding 
any amount of fuel, satisfy yourself 
whether it can be raised a degree higher. 
2d. To determine whether boiling is at 
all necessary to cookery, let a piece of 
meat, for instance, be placed in w T hat is 
commonly known as " ' Fapin's Digester,' 
a boiler whose cover is screened down 
with so much nicety as entirely to prevent 
the escape of steam. In this vessel, 
boiling, (which is nothing but the escape 
of steam in bubbles,) is absolutely impos- 
sible ; yet, if the heat applied be such as 



482 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



would raise an equal amount of water in 
an open vessel to the boiling point, the 
meat will not only be done, but it will be 
found to be dressed in a shorter time, and 
much better than in an open kettle. By 
applying a still greater degree of heat to 
the digester, the meat will be so much 
done in a few minutes as actually to fall in 
pieces, and even the very bones may be 
made soft." 

The subject of this article may appear a 
matter of small moment to some of your 
readers, and were it a question of mere 
idle curiosity, whether it be the boiling of 
water, or simply the degree of heat that 
exists in boiling water by which food is 
cooked, it would doubtless be folly to 
throw away time in its investigation ; but 
this is far from being the case ; for boiling 
cannot be carried on without a very great 
expense of fuel, while any boiling hot 
liquid, by using proper means for confi- 
ning the heat (and why not get into the 
use of such a boiler as I have mentioned, 
here on the prairies ?) may be kept boiling 
hot for any length of time without any 
expense of fuel at all." Says Mr. Sander- 1 
son, of lh.e Franklin House, Philadelphia, 
(and he ought to know,) " The waste of 
fuel in culinary processes, which arise 
from making liquids boil unnecessarily is 
enormous ; there is no doubt but that much 
more than half the fuel used in all the 
kitchens, public and private, in the whole 
world, is wasted precisely in this manner." 
OBSERVER. 
Tolono, June, 1858. 



"Diluted ammoniacal water in the pro- 
portion of an ounce of the liquor of am- 
monia of the druggists, to a pint of river 
or rain water, has of late years been suc- 
cessfully employed for checking the vege- 
tative power of potatoes, and prolonging 
their suitableness for food. Potatoes im- 
mersed four or five days in this liquid, 
retain all their edible properties unim- 
paired for a twelve month, improved in 
flavor and mealiness. The effect of the 
liquid is to consolidate their substance and 
extract their moisture. After immersion, 
the potatoes should be spread so as to dry, 
and will then keep good for ten months; 
contributing in this way not only to the 
comfort of families, but also to the health 
of mariners exposed to long voyages at 
sedL.-—Fo?Test Shepherd. 



Mealy Potatoes all Summer. 

It has always been difficult to keep po- 
tatoes " mealy " after warm weather 
comes on. The starch in them becomes 
changed — the sprouts start and the pota- 
toe becomes a waxy, watery thing, hardly 
fit to eat. 

We clip the following proposed mode of 
preserving them in good condition for the 
table, from the " Homestead." We have 
never seen the experiment tried. If rhe 
process will accomplish the object it will 
be valuable. 

" If your readers are aware of the fol- 
lowing process, which I am informed by 
Dr. J. M. Wilson is practiced in Scotland, 
I, presume they will have no objection to 
give it a second perusal, and to make the 
experiment at least on a small scale. 



Progress of English Agriculture. 

Amid the general progress of which we 
hear so much now-a-days, probably no one 
department of human industry has advanc- 
ed more rapidly, or with more beneficent 
results, than that of agriculture — especial- 
ly in Great Britain. A retrospect of the 
last hundred }^ears illustrates the truth of 
this remark in a very striking and inter- 
esting manner. Such a retrospect is fur- 
nished in the April number of the London 
Quarterly Review. It could be read with 
profit by every farmer in the United States. 
Not only would it impart many valuable 
hints, but it would demonstrate to every 
tiller of the soil the great pecuniary (not 
to mention public) advantage that would 
iesult from a close study of the nature and 
peculiarities of soils, the best methods of 
raising and improving stock, and other im- 
portant details of his profession. 

In the article in ihe Quarterly to which 
we allude, it is stated that at the close of 
the eighteenth century the condition of 
agriculture in England was mean and de- 
pressed. Wheat, in many districts, was 
rarely cultivated — and rarely eaten by the 
laboring classes. Rye, oats and barley 
were the prevailing crops. A naked fal- 
low — that is to say, a year of barrenness, 
which has too often a year of exhausting 
weeds — was the ordinary expedient for 
restoring the fertility of the soil. Farm 
yard manure, exposed to the weather, was 
almost the only fertilizer. Artificial gras- 
ses, with beans, peas and cabbages, were 
rarely grown; and turnips were confined 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



4SE 



to a few counties, where they were sown 
broadcast. Cultivation was performed al- 
most entirely by manual labor, and farm 
implements were rude and inefficient. — 
The cattle were chiefly valued for their 
dairy qualities or their powers of draft, 
and were only fatted when they would 
milk or draw no longer. The greater num- 
ber of breeds were large-boned and ill- 
shaped, greedy eaters, and slow in arriv- 
ing at maturity. Fresh meat, for 6 months 
in the year, was a luxury only enjoyed by 
the wealthiest personages. 

Such was the character of English hus- 
bandry at the close of the last century. — 
Now, as our readers well know, England 
produces the most abundant and varied 
crops, and has almost attained perfection 
in her stock, whether for the dairy, the 
shambles, or for draft, and labor saving ma- 
chinery is employed to a greater extent in 
farming than in any other country in the 
world. The causes, however, that were 
to produce this wonderful improvement, 
were even then in successful though limi- 
ted operation, especially in the county of 
Norfolk The first important step in the 
right direction appears to have been taken 
shortly after the year 1730, by applying 
marl to sandy lands, by the help of which 
boundless wilds of rabbit warrins and 
sheep walks were converted into rich 
grain bearing soil. Coincident with this 
improvement was the introduction of the 
cultivation of the turnip, which proved 
quite as important as the use of marl. — 
Turnips answered the purpose of a fallow 
crop, which cleaned and rested old arable 
lands; they were food for fattening cattle 
in winter; grown on light land and after- 
wards eaten down by sheep, which con- 
solidated it by their feet, they prepared 
the way for grain crops on wastes that 
had been previously given up to the rab- 
bits. By this means the sands of Norfolk, 
Nottinghamshire, and Bedfordshire, with 
the help of marling, and the heaths and 
'wolds of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire were 
gradually reclaimed and made productive. 

Another improvement was the 33 stem 
of rotation of crops that was established. 
Its Cardinal principle Was never to take 
two grain crops in succession from one 
piece of land. The importance of alter- 
nating grain with other crops was not only 
ascertained, but also that there was a pe- 
culiar advantage in having barley follow 



the turnips, clover the barley, and wheat' 
the clover, inasmuch as the fibrous roots 
of the clover were the finest possible 
pabulum for wheat. All these changes" 
were brought about between the years^ 
1730 and 1760, but they were confined/ 
with slight exceptions, to Norfolk county, 
and it was not until the year 1760, through 
the labors of Arthur Young, that they be- 
gan to penetrate into other districts,, 
although they have since been universally 
adopted. 

The first English farmer who made a' 
science of breeding stock was Robert 
Bakewell. who established the admirable, 
breed of Leicestershire sheep. He was a! 
plain yeoman, whose peculiar genius in/ 
this respect was made known to the 
world by Young. He chose the animals 
of the form and temperament which 
showed signs of producing most fat and 
muscle, declaring that in an ox all was. 
useless that was not beef; and that he 
sought, by pairing the best specimens, to 
make the shoulders comparatively little, 
the hind quarters large ; to produce " a 
body truly circular, with as short legs as 
possible, upon the plain principle that the 
value lies in the barrel and nol in the 
legs," and to secure a small head, small 
neck and small bones. As few things 
escaped his quick eye, he remarked that 
quick fattening depended much upon 
amiability of disposition, and he brought 
his bulls by gentleness to be as docile as 
dogs. Mr. Bakewell's views met with a 
good deal of opposition, inasmuch as large 
boned animals were popularly reckoned 
the best. There were some, however, 
sagacious enough to appreciate his ideas, 
and the result has been the establishment 
of the Superior breeds of cattle of the 
present day. 

The new system of fattening sheep, by 
feeding them with sliced turnips and oii 
cake, was not introduced till 1824, when 
it was found that they could be fattened 
for market by this means in twelve . 
months less than the usual time. At first 
it was looked upon as an extravagant and 
ruinous experiment ; but »the improved 
feeding, coupled with the natural tenden- 
cy of the improved breeds to early matu- 
rity, has multiplied to an enormous extent 
the amount of mutton produced. Twenty 
years ago the majority of the sheep 
brought to the Smithfield market were 



4£4 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



^hree and four years old. Now a three 
year old sheep is scarcely to be met with, 
and fat sheep only a twelvemonth old are 
plentiful. Results of a like nature have 
followed extra-feeding of other animals 
for the butcher. 

The later improvements bearing on 
English agriculture, have been the intro- 
duclion of a remarkable system of drain- 
age, the employment of artificial manures, 
the improvement of implemen s, and by 
oo means last, the institution of agricul- 
tural societies. 

Up to the year 1843 but little had been ' 
done in the way of drainage, although at- 
tempts had been made from the earliest 
times. The most that had been done was 
the tapping of sptings, or endeavoring to 
convey away the rain which fell on the 
surface by drains so shallow that the plow- 
often spoiled them. By the year 1843, a 
Mr Parkes, who devoted much attention 
to the subject, had demonstrated, after- 
several years of experiment, that tour feet 
should be the minimum depth for drains 
in wet or clayey lauds. He found that a 
deep drain began to run after wet weather, 
not from the water above, but from the wa- j 
ter arising from the subterranean accumu-j 
lasions below, and that, by drawing awav' 
the stagnant moisture from the three or 
four feet of earth next the surface, it was 
rendered more friab'e, easier to work, more | 
penetrable by the rain, which then carried 
down air and manure, and much waimer 
and more suitable for the nourishment of 
the roots of the crops. This discovery 
was rendered available by the invention 
of clay pipes for the drains, and it is asser- 
ted has more than doubled the value of 
retentive soils in England. Some idea of 
the immense extent to which drainage is 
there carried, may be inferred from the 
fact that since 1845, two parliamentary 
loans, each of four millions sterling, have 
been granted to landholders to enable 
them to drain their estates, while it i» esti 
mated that.ei^ht millions in addition have 
been loaned by private capitalists for the 
same purpose. 

The English farmers have also, of late 
years, employed laige quantities of special 
manures, embracing lime, chalk, gypsum, 
marl, soot, salt, saltpetre, rapecake, bones, 
(nitrate of soda, guano, and other sub- 
stances. The first cargo of guano was 
introduced somewhere about 1835, and 



since 1839 twelve millions sterling have 
been paid for this article alone. In 1837 
the value of foreign bones imported was 
£250,000 ; and since 1840, £1,000,000 at 
least has been paid annually for bones, 
sulphric acid, and artificial manures, in- 
dependently of guano. Agricultural che- 
mists have also been largely employed and I 
handsomely paid for analyses of soils, ma- 
nures, and similar investigations. And 
English farms have now reached such a 
high pitch of fertility through this system 
of intense cultivation, that the soil has be- 
come almost too rich, and the farmers are 
in consequence returning to the once con- 
demned system of two grain crops in suc- 
cession 

To the above might be added interesting 
quotations concerning the employment of 
machinery by English farmers, and the in- 
fluence of railways and agricultural socie- 
ties, as well as many details of the mar- 
velous success which has attended the ef- 
forts of our English brethren to obtain 
from the earth the greatest amount and 
best quality of food for the least money ; 
but suffice it to say, that they hav> proved 
that a liberal use of money, when judi- 
ciously applied, is the best economy and 
the surest road to wealth ; for even the 
tenant farmers of England have amassed 
and are accumulating at this day, fortunes 
such as American farmers scarcely dream 
of. 

The Heaviest Bullock ever Butchered. 

Upon the authority of the President of 
the American Institute, it was recently sta- 
ted that the heaviest bullock butchered in 
this country, was the ox Washington, whose 
gross weight was 3,204 lbs., and weight 
of beef 2,174 lbs. This claim appears to 
be disputed, however, by some writers in 
the Tribune, from Pennsylvania, one of 
whom claims that a bullock was butchered 
near Lancaster, on the 22nd of February 
last, whose live weight was 3,387, net 
2,409; the other that a Berks county ox 
was butchered some years ago in Phila- 
delphia, whose live weight was 3.350, net 
2.388. A still heavier bullock is announc- 
ed in the Saratoga County Press, which 
says "that J. M. Cole, of Saratoga Springs, 
slaughtered an ox in 1847 whose live weight 
was 3.520 lbs. ; dressed 2 567." If this 
be true, Mr. Cole has probably beaten the 
world, and smould give the world the proof. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



4?5 



A Day at the Astor House Farm. 
To the Editor of the Boston Journal : 

One of the institutions of New York is 
the Astor House farm, located in Union, 
N- J., about seven miles from this city. It 
is owned by Mr. Develin, the son-in-law 
of Gen. Stetson, who generously fitted up 
his farm for the exclusive use ot the Astor 
House, conducted by his father-in-law, 
convinced that it would pay him well ; 
and the result has more than realized 
his expectations. The ride to it over the 
Hoboken ferry is one of the finest in all 
this region. The scenery is exquisite — the 
road is in elegant order. New Jersey is 
one of the best farming States in the 
Union, and the evidence of thritt and high 
culture meets one on all sides Near the 
landing at Hoboken is the harbor of the 
New York Sailing Club. About twenty 
vessels of the fleet lay here at anchor. 
So many elegant sailing craft cannot be 
seen, together on the continent elsewhere. 
The Wanderer, so recently under the sei- 
zure of the U. S. officers, on the charge of 
being fitted up for the slave trade, attracts 
great attention. She is an elegant vessel, 
the fastest sailer in our waters, can ac- 
commodate nearly two hundred slaves, 
and the public suspicion is by no means 
allayed in regard to accommodations and 
her destination, though she has been re- 
leased by the U. S Marshal. 

In passing on to the farm we traversed 
the marshes, containing thirty thousand 
acres of land, now a mrre swamp. A 
patch here and there under cultivation 
indicate what this waste would become 
under the hand of tillage. This vast tract 
could be now purchased at about $50 per 
acre. The farmer soon would redeem it 
from waste. It could be made like a srard- 
en ; and as it is not four miles from the 
city, it would afford a supply of all the 
vegetables for New York. A part of it 
has been made a nursery by Mr Justin, 
the planter of the Central Park, and his 
trees flourish like the " green bay tree" of 
the olden time. No " bottom" on the 
Mississippi can equal this in richness — nor 
will it long remain a waste. 

Once on the farm the cattle attract the 
attention of the visitor. The stable is on 
a novel plan and ingeniously fitted for the 
purpose of its erection. Fifty cows stand 
before you all in a row, and the reputed 



taste of the host of the Astor is not less- 
ened by the appearance of the cattle. 
The stables are sweet and clean as a dairy. 
These cows are fed on the sweetest hay 
and the best of meal and are groomeS 
daily as a horse would be, and roamift 
clover fields all the summer. They are 
fed on cotton meal. By the invention of 
a gentleman whose name I do not recol- 
lect, the fuse has been taken from the 
cotton seed and the meal makes the best 
iood for cows, better than linseed, corA 
meal or any other. The cotton meal goe$ 
to milk first, then to meat, and lastly t% 
fat. From these cows four hundred quarts 
of milk per day are carried in;o the Astor 
for the use of the guests. The cows are 
milked at 3 o'clock each morning, and the 
milk reaches the Astor in the cool of the 
day, and from the milk taken at* nighty 
twenty- five quarts of pure cream are sent 
in also for the daily use of the house. A fa 
ice house of a novel arrangement, witfc 
ventilators and a cooling chamber, re- 
ceives the meat and vegetables. Milk caft* 
be kept sweet a week and fruit for a long 
time. In these days of swill milk an<$* 
terror, such a dairy as meets the eye here 
is a welcome sight 

Next we come to the pigger}\ An im- 
mense building, cruciform in shape, witft 
a cupola like an academy, indicates where 
the pork of the Astor House is raised. 
Here six hundred hogs are annually raisecr 
for the slaughter. Each hog has his par- 
lor, his yard and sleeping apartment th 
himself, while being corn- fed and ready 
for the market. Attached to the house ar% 
seven acres of land, dotted with small 
houses, into which the pigs may run ana 
be safe, and here the broods luxuriate oA 
hill and dale, heat and shade. A railroad 
car runs from the house where the food i^ 
cooked to the pens, and the food is trundle 
in on the track, and by a simple contri- 
vance, all the hogs are compelled to wait 
till the food is served before they can hel£ 
themselves. The swill from the Astof 
House is taken away before daylight eacft 
day, so that no one is annoyed A cart 
perfectly tight stands in the yard of the 
Astor House all day and receives all that 
is placed In it. Another, its fellow com- 
plete, is driven in at early morn, all sweet 
and clean, and the full one is taken oui 
and the empty one left in its place. ThiS 
swill is taken to the farm, and in an im* 



* 



486 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



mense vat is cooked for the swine. Tn 
the process, all the fat and greese that 
rises is taken off. Gen. Stetson has kept 
the Astor twenty-one years next July 
: The swill from the house has been sold 
.and removed for the sum of $500 per 
year. The farm has made this discovery, 
that the grease that rises from the cooking 
of the food of the hogs, independent of 
the food, is worth annually, and brings the 
snug little sum in cash of $3600. Pigs 
ooble and plebian. are here ; pigs English, 
pigs Chinese, pigs Siamese. A smoke 
jbouse completes the porkery of the farm. 
A man is employed to take care of this 
department — he does nothing else — and a 
house and grounds are given to him. 

Next we advance to the poultry 
house — probably the most perfect in the 
land. .The building is 240 feet long, and 
tsof two stories. The " roost" is divided 
into four apartments ; the roost frames 
,are sassafras, to keep out vermin ; apart- 
ments for laying, setting, &c , are in great 
perfection. A perfect system is adopted ; 
each setting hen is removed, and her nest 
•^cleansed each day, and at regular intervals 
she is compelled to take an airing. About 
2000 eggs per day are ready for the house, 
and, with the system of warming the build 
ing, the hens lay in the dead of winter, 
and fresh-laid eggs can be had at one 
season of the year as well as another. 
Attached to the hen house are seven acres 
of land, carefully inclosed, where the 
chickens and their associates have the 
"liberty of the yard." Each hen with a 
brood has a house in the field exclusively 
jher own, and each day the house is moved, 
As that removal makes the rats and other 
vermin think it is a trap, and so they keep 
Out of it. Here 30,000 poultry are raised 
a year. The chicken department is under 
•the charge of a gentleman, trained in 
England under Lord Northup, and the fif- 
teen years' experience in the old country 
is well used here. The lofty hall over the 
roost is devoted to the final feeding of' 
.capons for the table. Each of the 2000 . 
fat capons, that are to be honored with a 
revolution on the spit of the Astor House j 
kitchen, Save here their final preparation! 
on the "corn of the land." Here, also,; 
is to be placed an incubator, of the newest 
model, where, b} r the means of hot water,: 
chickens are cheated into life; and after i 
they come out, they are clapped into ^ 



another machine called "the mother," 
where, for the second time, they are 
awfully deceived with the idea that they 
are under the motherly care of an old hen. 
Six hundred eggs can be hatched at one 
time, and the total of chickens that will 
probably see life under this novel method, 
is not far from 12,000 per year. 

The turkey yard comes next, from which 
300 turkeys per year come forth. And 
then an immense tract—five acres — wa- 
tered by a running brook, eminently 
suggestive of trout, is called " Duckville," 
in which the ducks and geese, in countless 
numbers, are fattened for the table Be- 
sides, there are acres of strawberries, 
which are picked at the rate of one cent 
per basket ; and a good picker can realize 
one dollar per day. All the luxuries of 
the hotbeds, all the flowers, fine herbs, 
celery, grapes, pears and apples that may 
be needed for the tabl^ — with acres of po- 
tatoes, corn, beets, and all the roots used 
for food, grow on the farm. Hay in vast 
quantities, and beef, fattening in the stalls, 
meet the eye. 

At the head of this model farm stands 
Major Fornet, who was Kossuth's Chief 
Engineer ; and the condition of the farm 
indicates that he rs as able in the plowed 
as in the " tented field." Sixteen men, 
four horses, two stout mules, an overseer 
of the poultry, geese, hogs, each man with 
a house to reside in, a general overseer 
under Major Fornet, comprise the working 
force of the farm. 

It is the centre of general attraction. 
The setting down among the staid old 
farmers of Jersey, who for centuries have 
done their farming after the good old fash- 
ion, of such a system of agriculture as the 
Astor House farm displays, and with such 
tremendous result — the idea ol feeding 
animals, keeping them warm and clean, 
not only having good light barns, pens and 
houses, but actually warming them with 
coal, so as to be really comfortable for a 
man, produced at first ridicule, then sur- 
prise and astonishment, and then imitation. 
The farm is visited by all persons for miles 
around ; and when Major Fornet shall 
have had time to perfect his plans, arrange 
the strawberry bed of acres of ground, 
bring out his fruit, set up his bone mills, 
and complete fully his various houses and 
villages in which the tribes under his 
charge reside and grow fat, it will be one 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



487 



of the great attractions to all who love 
successful farming, system and beaut} T in 
arrangement, and splendid scenery ; and 
as the ride towards it is one of the best in 
til this region, it will attract great and 
general attention ; and the eminent suc- 
cess of this experiment will probably 
induce many other hotel keepers to attach 
a farm to their palace hotels. It costs not 
far from ten thousand dollars per year to 
work this farm. The fruits of the farm, 
at the lowest estimate, is not less than fifty 
thousand dollars per year, beside the at- 
traction that must attend a hotel that in 
the centre of such a city as New York can 
guaranty to its guests such milk, cream, 
eggs, poultry, pork, and vegetables, that 
grow under the eye of the host, and are 
watched as carefully as the ledger or the 
cash in the safe. Burleigh. 



A Long Island Prize Farm. 

The Genesee N. Y. Farmer tells a pretty 
good story of a farm, thus: 

In 1851, and also in 1852, the American 
Institute awarded the first premium for the 
"best cultivated farm of one hundred 
acres" to E. H. Kimball, Esq., of Flatlands, 
Kings county, Long Island. The early 
part of last month, we had the pleasure of 
visiting this justly celebrated farm, and 
think a brief account of it may not be un- 
interesting to our readers. 

The farm contains a little over one hun- 
dred acres of arable land, and is situated 
about eight miles from New York, on the 
shore of Jamaica Bay, which affords easy 
communication with the city by water. 

The soil is an exceedingly fine, friable 
loam, with a thin layer of clay lying on a 
gravelly subsoil, which affords excellent 
drainage. There is not a stone on the 
farm. From its peculiar location, sea weed 
and drift can be had in great quantities, 
and they are placed in the cattle yards, 
where they are converted into excellent 
manure. A considerable quantity of ma- 
nure is also brought from New York. This 
is made into a compost with the manure 
of the farm, muck., leached ashes, bone- 
dust, etc., the heap being covered with sea 
weed and drift, which absorb the ammo- 
nia. The heap is turned once or twice till 
it is thoroughly rotted, and so fine that 
it can be spread with a shovel without 
adhering to it. The manure is applied 



wholly to spring crops, and Mr. K. is un- 
doubtedly right in decomposing it as much 
as possible, as in such condition it acts 
with great rapidity, an i pushes the plants 
forward during the early stages of their 
growth. He attributes much of his suc- 
cess to this method of composting manures ; 
but it must not be forgotten that the soil 
is naturally rich, and also that manures 
are used with great liberality. 

The principal crop raised on the farm is 
potatoes, the main object being to get them 
early, while they command a high price. 
They are planted in rows three feet apart, 
and from ten to twelve inches in the rows. 
The land is first ploughed and harrowed 
till in fine tilth ; drills are then opened', 
and a sprinkling of Peruvian guano — say 
50 lbs., per acre — scattered in the drills; 
the thoroughly rotted, composted manure 
previously alluded to, is then spread in the 
rows, and the seed planted on the manure 
and covered with the plough. Before the 
potatoes make their appearance, the land 
is harrowed for the purpose of breaking 
the crust and killing the weeds. The culti- 
vator and plough are frequently used, and 
at the time of our visit nothing could 
exceed the cleanliness and mellowness of 
the ground and the luxuriousness of the 
crop. The varieties mainly planted are 
the Early June and Blue Mercer. The 
former are dug and sent to market before 
they are fully ripe, and are sold at a very 
high price. As soon as the early potatoes 
are dug, the land is planted with cabbage ; 
celery, spinach, or ruta bagas. Celery is 
very profitable, and the necessary deep 
tillage and heavy manuring render the 
soil exceedingly fertile for subsequent 
crops. Mr. K. had four acres of celery 
last season, and intends to plant ten acres 
the present year. 

Mr. Kimball has two rows of hot-beds, 
each row about two hundred feet long and 
nine feet wide, covered with sash. From 
these beds he has sold this spring ovei 
$300 worth of lettuce, and the beds at the 
time of our visit were occupied with cu- 
cumbers, $200 worth having been already 
sold. 

A few acres only are sown with 
wheat — but such wheat we have not seen 
elsewhere the present year. It is the 
Mediterranean. Mr. K. formerly sowed 
the Bergen whe^tt, a variety originating ip. 
the neighborhood. It appears that Mr 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



Bergen discovered a single head of this 
variety growing in a 6eld of wheat. He 
kept it separate, and soon raised enough 
to furnish seed for himself and neighbors. 
It was known as the White Bergen, and 
has frequently taken prizes at the Fairs of 
the American Institute. Unfortunately, 
during the excitement in regard to the 
Australian wheat, a few years ago, the 
Bergen was abandoned, and now none can 
be found. It was an early and everyway 
excellent variety, and far superior to the 
Australian, which, in fact, is now little 
cultivated. 

In conjunction with understanding, judi- 
cious manuring, and good cultivation, an 
early and productive variety of wheat of 
good quality would do much towards ena- 
bling us to bid defiance to that terrible pest 
ihe wheat midge, and the history of the 
Bergen wheat should stimulate us to 
greater activity and hopefulness in our 
endeavors to discover such a variety. 

The crops of timothy and clover on this 
farm were very fine. The land is seeded 
down with wheat — the timothy being sown 
,in the fall and the clover in the spring. 
When the land is once stocked, it is allowed 
|o remain in meadow as long as it will pro- 
duce, without top dressing, two tons of 
clean timothy hay per acre, which it will 
generally do for five or six years. When 
ploughed, it is planted with corn, followed 
by potatoes, with a second crop of cabbage 
or turnips. The next year it is also planted 
with potatoes, and is then sown with wheat 
and seeded down. Each crop is well ma- 
nured, except the turnips. 

All the stock on the farm is soiled in 
ihe yards during the summer — a pract ce 
which affords a large quantity of excellent 
manure, and enables the farmer to dis- 
pense, in a good degree, with fences. Of 
course, it does not follow, because soiling 
is profitable on a farm contiguous to a large 
city, where labor is cheap (Mr. K. pays 
his men from $5 to $10 per month and 
board) and produce high, that it would 
pay where land and produce are cheap and 
jabor dear. 

Sugar beets, carrots, parsnips, and other 
foots, are extensively grown as food for 
jftpek. They are all sown in drills, after 
subsoil ploughing, and are heavily ma- 
nured in the drills, great care being taken 
to have the manure thoroughly rotted and 
intimately incorpoiatcd with the soil. 



The profits on this farm are full fifty 
dollars per acre ; and Mr. K. say* he shall 
not be satisfied till his hundred acres net 
him $-10,000 per annum ! 

But the excellent system of cultivation 
so successfully and profitably adopted on 
this beautiful farm, is not its only feature 
of interest. We have seldom seen, even 
in England, a more charming country resi- 
dence. As you approach the place, an 
American Arbor Vitac hedge and an ave- 
nue of Ailanthus trees indicate more tliaa 
ordinary taste. No high walls or exclu- 
sive lodge frowns on the weary, dusty 
traveler. He finds the gate hospitably 
open wide, and enters the admirably laid 
out and well kept grounds between two 
noble specimens of that handsomest of 
hardy evergreens, the Norway Spruce. 
Each step along the finely gravelled car- 
riage way reveals some new view of the 
beautiful lawn in front of a large and 
homelike country house, surrounded on 
three sides with a piazza, the pillars of 
which are encircled with sweet-scented 
honeysuckles. Let us stop and look at 
these fine Pdilownias, shedding their large 
blue flowers in rich profusion on the close 
mown grass; here is the delicate Persian 
Lilac, and there the rough but handsome 
Pyrus Japonica ; to the right is the trunk 
of a dead Maple tree covered with grace- 
ful vines, and in that clump of evergreens 
nestles a cozy arbor. How pleasing to the 
eye are these American and Chinese Arbor 
Vitals ! how handsome those Austrian and 
Weymouth Pines ! Delicious is the fra- 
grance shed by these Euiopean Lindens 
on the ocean air. How handsome and 
graceful are the pendulous American Elms! 
ihow beautiful those Sycamores, Labur- 
jnums, and Magnolias! what fine beds of 

Geraniums, Fuchsias, and Verbenas! Who 
i 

i would reside in the city, even in a man- 
sion on 'Fifth Avenue, when he could retire 
I from the hum of Broadway and the excite- 
ment of Wall street to such a scene as 
: this. 

Ruta Bagas and Other Root Crops. 
The time is approaching for sowing 
roots, and perhaps the following may be 
an inducement for those that have not as 
yet grown any, and whotherefoie are igno- 
rant of their value. I shall show them 
what can be done by bad treatment, and in 
ian unfavorable season. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



4R9 



Last June I had a piece of ground that 
we could not get into a fit stnte for corn. 
I therefore determined to have a crop of 
roots, and the only preparation it got 
without manure) was plowing, harrowing 
and rolling. { drew the drills thirty inches 
apart with the corner of a draw hoe ; a 
man will run his hoe along as fast as he 
can walk, and straight enough after one 
straight line is made. I then sprinkled a 
little super-phosphate of lime along the 
mark so made, this being sufficient to give 
the seed a quick start, and set a couple of 
quick- walking men to sow it in the iollow- 
ing manner: Take some seed between the 
fore- finger and thumb, about as much as 
you take on the end of your finger when 
looking at clover seed, and drop three 
seeds a foot apart, carefully keeping the 
thumb and finger in motion, and walk 
quick ; half a dozen seeds will perhaps 
drop in one place, and then perhaps but 
two, but this is evener and better than I 
can get a drill to do it. This is a quick 
way, for the men will try who can get out 
first, and you can conclude the quicker 
they move the evener your seed is going 
in. When all is sown, I set them at one 
end of the field, and get them to " herring 
bone" it which is done by placing the two 
heels together, and moving the right heel 
into the hollow of the left, and vice 
versa — the closer the heels are kept to- 
gether, the better the seed is covered. 
The hands shouid be placed behind the 
back crossed, which enables the worker to 
move along quicker and with more ease to 
himself, it being as a balance to the body. 
This is a light covering, but all that is 
necessary for turnips ; I then run the roller 
over them and they are finished. 

When they have made their rough leaf, 
I run Knox's horse hoe through them, to 
keep the weeds down and keep the plants 
growing. When the plants are about tour 
inches high, I set the hoes on to thin them, 
they being about the distance you want 
them from this method of sowing ; they 
cut each side, which takes your extra 
plants out, leaving but one plant standing. 
When they are done thining, set on your 
horse hoe again to loosen your soil, this is 
all the hand hoeing you want if you keep 
the weeds down, as the use of the horse 
hoe afterwards will throw a sufficiency of 
loose mould between the plants, which will 
smother the weeds until such time as the j 



size of the leaf or leaves occupies the 
space between them, when there is an end 
to weed growing. I raised on this piece 
(une acre) of ground on which we could 
not at that time (since drained) grow any 
other crop, nine hundred and thirty bush- 
els of ruta baga turnips, which has been 
a great saving the past winter to the corn 
crib. I fatted one pair of oxen, and kept 
upwards of twenty head of horned cattle 
on them and mangel wurtzel, clover hay, 
straw, and cornstalks ; I am now feeding 
ruta bagas. 

My object in stating the above, is to 
show farmers that root crops are not so 
extra hard to raise, and that they can raise 
them to advantage without using up their 
best land, and costing too much tor the 
working of them. Root crops are objected 
to, as being too expensive to rais"e. I have 
always found that such objectors are men 
who never raised any root crops, and know 
nothing about them. A man who has 
tried them once will repeat the practice. 

As for their tainting the butter, it is all 
moonshine, and another excuse for not 
growing them. If a man wishes to have 
his butter taste tumipy, he can very easily 
effect, and as easily prevent it. 

When the above amount can be taken 
off with such bad treatment, they can see 
what can be done by good treatment, which 
consists in plowing your land tw r o or three 
times, harrowing and rolling as often as 
necessary to get a good tilth, with a proper 
quantity of stable manuie applied broad- 
east, or drilled in when scarce. In drilling 
manure in, I open drills same as for 
planting potatoes, la}ing the manure in 
the bottom, turning the drills over as be- 
fore ; then run the harrow wi'h the teeth 
up crosswise, or an old gate, which levels 
the earth and still leaves it sufficiently high 
that the rows where the manure is can be 
seen to sow on ; then roll, keeping your 
ground level, as turnips and mangel wurt- 
zel will not do here on raised drills, as in 
Europe. Our sun is too strong, and when 
on drills, as fast as the roots come to the 
side they are burnt up, and the crop 
spoiled. In Europe they cultivate all on 
drills, but theirs being a moist climate, 
their object is to draw the roots out and 
keep them dry, while our object is to sup- 
ply as much moisture as we possibly can, 
and we can only get it by growing them 
on a level surface. Bone dust is the best 



490 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



special manure that can be applied to the 
turnip crop ; I have used it at the rate of 
fifty bushels to the acre, and found it to 
pay; you can have your ground too rich 
for turnips, which must be guarded against, 
as if that is the case they will run all to 
tops and no bulbs — I have seen several 
instances of this. If you think your ground 
is too rich, do not sow turnips; instead of 
them, mangel wurtzels ; for this crop the 
richer the ground is the better, as it costs 
as much to work a half crop on the same 
piece of ground as it does a whole one. 
Newton, JV*. /. G. Howatt. 

[Country Gentleman. 



From the Country Gentleman. 

How to Protect Vines from Bugs. 

Messrs. Editors. — Notwithstanding the 
fact that a great many methods for the 
protection of vines from bugs have been 
proposed, and several practiced success- 
fully, still there are some farmers who 
have " no luck" in raising cucumbers, 
melons, squashes, and that tribe of vege- 
tables. As several of the methods pro- 
posed have gone the rounds of the papers, 
this want of success may seem as surpris- 
ing to others as it certainly was to our- 
selves, when we discovered it by some re- 
cent conversation with farmers of no 
mean name, albeit rather poor gardeners. 
The explanation of this rather surprising 
want of success in raising vines, and of a 
want even of a knowledge of how to go to 
work to protect them from bugs, may be 
in many cases what we have found it to be 
in one, viz : that the plans which were 
proposed in the papers were either im- 
practicable in the hurry of spring work, 
(such as making boxes ,.) or that they were 
published at a wrong time of the year, and 
forgotten when the right time came in the 
succeeding season* 

" If 1 could only remember," said one 
of these good farmers but poor gardeners, 
M if I could only remember at the right 
time even the half of the plans which I 
have heard of or read of, I presume I 
could fix upon the one which is best suit- 
ed to my case, and be prepared in season 
to fight the little pests. But I cannot re- 
member anything of the kind, save per- 
haps either something which is too trou- 
blesome, or something that appears to me 
quite likely to be of no avail." 



" Why don't you, then, refresh your 
memory by referring to the index of the 
Cultivator, which you have taken now for 
several years ?" 

" Oh ! somehow or other one or more of 
the numbers of the paper get a missing 
before the index comes with the last No., 
and so I have never got any of them 
stitched together in book form. I have 
frequently thought I would stitch all the 
Nos. of a volume together, but somehow 
the loss of one of them, or some other hin- 
drance, has always prevented me." 

"I guess I could, by a few minutes' 
work, call to your remembrance all the 
various plans which have been proposed 
or mentioned in any way for several years 
— at least since the commencement of the 
present series of the Cultivator." 

" I wish you would, if not too much 
trouble, and then I will adopt the one 
which I think will be most effectual or best 
suited to my circumstances, for, like most 
other farmers, I have not a great deal of 
time to fix and fuss with my garden, in 
making boxes, &c, &c." 

Accordingly I consulted each volume of 
the Cultivator since the commencement of 
the present series, and in the following 
notes you have the result of my re- 
searches, which you may lay before your 
readers, as there may be several among 
them who would like to see such an epit* 
ome, as much as the one for whom it was 
originally made. 

In Cult. 1853 p. 187, D. M. W. states 
that if boxes from 15 to 18 inches square, 
and 6 inches high, without top or bottom 
of course, are placed on the hills before 
the plants are up, "a striped bug will 
never touch them." 

In Cult. 1854, p. 187, it is stated that 
the best way to protect vines from bugs, is 
to cover a simple square wooden frame 
with millinet, and set it over the plants, 
pressing it gently into the ground. They 
may be got rid of, also, by a persevering 
use of the finger and thumb, two or three 
times a day, for two or three weeks. 

In Cult. 1854, p. 279, A. Walker, of Os- 
wego, states that he does not plant 
squashes, &c, until weather and ground 
are so warm that the plants will not be 
stunted in their growth, and that he ar- 
ranges usually so as to have a brood of 
chickens to put in his yard of vines. Hi* 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



491 



bugs thus serve as chicken-feed, or as a 
source of profit rather than loss. 

In Cult. 1854, p. 217, S. states that ap- 
plying soot, ashes, &c, is all in vain, and 
a humbug; and that the use of boxes 
covered with oil gauze, or glass, is the 
" only way.'' 

In Cult 1855, p. 129, it is stated that 
squashes, from which the bugs had for 
some days stripped nearly every leaf, were 
saved by the application of a handful of 
guano around each hill, avoiding the 
plants. " Jn 24 hours not a bug was to be 
seen, and the plants grew rapidly and 
bore a heavy crop." (Other fseted odours 
will repel bugs.) 

In Cult. 1856, p. 234, E. Kalb states 
that after trying hen-coops with broods of 
chickens among the hills, soot, ashes, 
Scotch snuff, &c, he has found no plan 
so effective as "crushing the wretches 
with the fingers." 

In Cult. 1857, p. 277, it is stated that 
Wm. Saunders has found that the striped 
bug may be successfully repelled by sim- 
ply placing a pane of glass over each hill, 
supported at the corners on four small 
wooden pegs. He says this has been found 
as effectual as the wooden box, while it 
freely admits air as well as light. 

In addition to the above, we find in the 
Country Gentleman, for the same years, 
mention made of the following plans : 
Dipping feathers in turpentine, and stick- 
ing one or more in a hill, to be renewed 
after showers, a plan which is said to have , 
been used successfully for thirty years ; ' 
boxes covered with thin cotton cloth of 
any kind as superior to glass, the plants 
being less likely to be scorched with heat ; 
boxes without any covering as superior to 
those covered with glass or cloth, the 
plants being less delicate and less likely 
to be injured when exposed ; and a va- 
riety of foul odours, as of onions, toma- 
toes, cow-dung, &c. 

From among the above, every reader 
may select the one which may seem best 
suited to his circumstances; try it and re- 
port. OBSERVER. 

< « »» > 

What England Eats from Abroad. 

The recent returns of the English Board I 
of trade for the year 1857, are revived in I 
the London Field, The importation of wheat ! 
showed a very large increase in the amount ' 
brought from Prussia, a large decrease in I 



that received from Danubian provinces, 
and a very heavy falling off in American 
imports — the inducements as regards price 
not having been sufficient to draw our large 
surplus across the water. The importation 
of barley in 1857 was nearly two and a 
half times that of 1856; oats also show 
considerable increase, but Indian corn a 
large diminution. The total importation 
of wheat-meal and flour for the year 1857 
was 2,178,148 cwts, while for 1856 it was 
3,970,100 cwt., thus showing a diminution 
to the extent of 1,791,752 cwts. Among 
stock and other importations for three years 
were : 

Cattle. Calves. Sheep. Swine. Eggs. 

1855 73,750 23,777 162,642 1,217 99,782,800 

1856 61,862 21,444 145,059 9,916 117,230,600 

1857 65,648 27,315 177,207 10,677 127,039,600 

Guano shows an increase from 191,501 
tons in 1856 to 288,362 in 1857, and pota- 
toes the immense increase from 58,261 
cwt. in 1855, and 109,838 cwt. in 1856, to 
955,057 cwt. in 1857 — an evidence of the 
havoc committed by the rot of the home 
crop of the year. The importation of pro- 
visions, bacon and hams, salt beef and 
pork, butter and cheese, was of about 
average extent. — Country Gentleman. 

How to Manage a Rearing Horse. 

Whenever you perceive your horse's 
inclination to rear, separate your reins and 
prepare for him. The instant he is about 
to rise, slacken one hand, and bend or twist 
his head with the other, keepingyour hands 
low. This bending compels him to move 
a hind leg, and of a necessity, brings his 
fore feet down. Instantly twist him com- 
pletely round, two or three times, which 
will confuse* him very much, and complete- 
ly throw him off his guard. The moment 
you have finished twisting him around, 
place his head in the direction you wish 
to proceed, apply the spurs and he will 
not fail to go forward. If the situation be 
convenient, press him into a gallop, and 
apply the whip and spurs two or three 
times severely. The horse may not, per- 
haps, be satisfied with the defeat, but may 
feel disposed to try again for the mastery. 
Should this be the case, you have only to 
twist him, etc., as belore, and you will find 
that in the second struggle he will be more 
easily subdued than on the former occasion; 
in fact, you will see him quail under the 



492 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



operation. Tt rarely happens that a rear- 
ing horse, after having been treated in the 
way described, will resort to this trick a 
third lime.— British Sportsman. 



The Apple Crop. 

So far as has come under our immediate 
observation, and we hear similar reports 
from every quarter, the apple trees are very 
full of blossoms, tli s spring, a*, indeed, are 
all other fruit trees, and the prospect is 
good for a large crop of fruit. The Ports- 
mouth (N. H.) Journal gives the following 
as a mode of determining the amount of 
fruit that may be expected from an orchard, 
which may be new to many of our readers: 

Some years since an old gentleman en- 
tered the orchard of bis neighbor in the 
month ol May, when the trees were in full 
bloom, and the trees generally filled with 
blossoms. After making a circuit of the 
orchard he remarked: "Well, I see you 
are to have but tew apples this year." 
Pointing to one full of blossoms,, "you will 
have none on that tree." Pointing to an- 
other equally full, "you will have a peck 
on that." Then to another, "you may 
have five bushels on that." Keeping a 
note of his remarks, it was found in the 
autumn that his predictions were correct. 
On inquiry for indications, he said that red 
apple blorvsoms indicated fruit, and white 
did not. The general redness of the blos- 
soms this season is a good omen.™ Maine 
Farmer. 



Comparative Value of Roots for Cows. 
A writer in the Connecticut State Agricul- 
tural Transactions, gives, from "a careful 
experience in winter feeding of milch 
C«>ws," his judgment of the comparative 
value of roots. Carrots promote the rich- 
est milk; sugar beets are next best: pota- 
toes follow, and turnips class last in the 
product as to quality, but first as to quan- 
tity They were compared as fed pound 
for pound. Carrots, he thinks best for 
small families, where they desire but a 
Final! quantity of milk, but of richest qual- 
ity, and a fat, sleek-looking cow. Turnips 
are the best for those who sell milk, and 
desire to produce the greatest quantity. — 
Country Gentleman. 

The Slaughter which Daily Sustains Us 
When we ride, we sit upon the skin of 
trie pig; when we vvalk, we tread upon the 



skin of the bullock; we wear the skin of 
the kid upon our ham s, and the fleece of 
the sheep upon our backs. More than 
half the world are human beings in sheep's 
cothing. We eat the fle>h of some crea- 
tures, of some we drink the milk, upon 
others we are dependent for the cultivation 
of the soil: and if it is a pain to us to suffer 
hunger and cold, we should be scrupulous 
to avoid inflicting wanton mi>ery upon the 
animals by means of which we are warm- 
ed and fed.-— Laurensville Herald. 



From the Valley Farmer. 

Alternation of Crops. 

That a regular and systematic rotation of 
farm crops is absolutely necessary to secure the 
permanent fertility of the soil, and to afford to 
the husbandman the most profitable returns, we 
think can be clearly established, not only by the 
experience of the best farmers in this country 
and more particularly in Europe, but by the op- 
erations of nature herself. 

It was not until about the middle of the last 
century, that the importance of a scientific ro- 
tation of crops began to attract the attention of 
farmers. Arthur Young, one of the most pop- 
ular and close observers, among the British 
farmers, saw the importance of this difficult 
question in its true light ; he very correctly 
told the farmers of his day, that Whenever very 
good or very bad husbandry is found on arable 
land, it is more the result of a right or wrong 
arrangement of crops than of any other cir- 
cumstance. More accurate and more generally 
diffused observations have long since led the 
present race of cultivators to establish a more 
■correct theory in regard to this subject. 

We need not go from our own country to find 
the most lamentable instances of reckless dis- 
regard of the correct system of alternation ; 
the evidences are too palpable in all the older 
States of this Union. Look, for instance, at 
Maryland. Virginia, the Carolinas and other 
neighboring States, in which corn, tobacco and 
cotton, for fifty years or more, have been the 
leading crops and allowed to follow the same in 
annual succession upon the same lands until 
the returns were no longer adequate to sustain 
their rapidly diminishing population. Look 
again at some of these lands which have been 
abandoned by their former proprietors and 
purchased by a more intelligent class of culti- 
vators, who have adopted a system of rotation 
ami manuring, and we find them so far reno- 
vated and restored under the present system of 
improved and deep tillage as t » yield even larger 
crops than when they were first subdued from 
tiie original forests. We regret, however, to 
say that this improved system, in its greatest 
perfection, is yet curried on by but comparative- 
ly few of the great mass of farmers in our land. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



493 



In regard to the general principles on which 
the proper cropping of land depends, it is now 
perfectly understood that some kinds of crops 
deteriorate or exhaust the land to a much great- 
er degree than others ; that some, by their 
capability of being consumed on the farm, 
(though they do exhaust th.e soil,) return in 
such consumption by the farm stock, as much 
and perhaps more to the soil, than they draw 
from it during the period of their growth. 
And again, that other crops, by admitting of 
profitable tillage and cleansing the land during 
their cultivation and growth, aid very much in 
the essential destruction of weeds, insects, &c, 
and in ameliorating the land for the succeeding 
crop ; while on the other hand, different-crops, 
by not permitting such cultivation, and being 
great exhausters when followed in immediate 
and annual succession, not only deteriorate the 
soil, but fill it with weeds and grubs. In the 
management of rotations, however, much care- 
ful attention and discrimination are requisite 
in the cultivator to profitably adapt them to the 
nature of the soil, and the circumstances under 
which he is placed. Above all, the farmer 
must remember that, as different kinds of plants 
require different kinds and proportions of nutri- 
tious materials to be drawn from the earth for 
their increase and perfect growth, so also they 
n-eed different situations and conditions of soil 
for their most perfect developement. 

Every observing farmer is well aware that 
certain crops never prosper well two or more 
seasons together on the same land — that there 
is a manifest falling off in the product. 

Now, it is of primary importance that we 
should endeavor to understaud, if possible, the | 
cause of this phenomenon. This question, I 
therefore, has lung engaged not only the atten- 1 
tion of the most sagacious farmers, but of many \ 
distinguished chemists and philosophers. By ! 
these it has been regarded chiefly in two points j 
of view. 

First, by an immutable law, nature has 
provided for each species of plants a specific 
jfood, suited to its organization and its wants. 
; Thus some soils will not grow wheat, or other! 
; farm crops, although abounding in the common > 
elements of fertility^ and although they willj 
i make a profitable return in other farm crops, j 
m consequence of their being, deficient in the^ 
specific food required for the perfection of the \ 
wheat, or other particular species of crop. This j 
is true in regard to wheat in portions of New 
I Euglaud and other States, although once par- 
ticularly productive in this grain. One family 
I or species of plants requires a different food 
[from that which another family or species 
requires, and it seems to bo another law of na- 
I tare, that what is not essential to one family or 
| species, is particularly adapted to other fa mi 
: lies or species. It seems to be provided, that 
j where the general fertility of the soil is kept 
|j up, the specific food of any class or species con 
Itinues to accumulate till the return again to the 



same field of this particular crop. Thus it is 
supposed to require eight or ten years for the 
specific food of flax, to accumulate sufficiently 
for a second crop, after one has been taken 
from the field. Even the specific food of clover 
becomes exhausted by a too frequent repetition 
of it in the same field, it being found necessary 
on sonic soils to substitute for it some other 
crops or grass, so that it may not be repeated 
oftener than once in six or eight years. There 
are exceptions to the rules of practice which 
these laws inculcate. Some- soils seem natural 
to wheat, others to oats or grass, and successive 
crops of these are sometimes taken without 
apparent diminution of product, but which 
cannot always continue. This is undoubtedly 
owing to a super-abundance of the specific food 
in the soil which these crops require, and which 
will ultimately become exhausted. It is. there- 
fore, always better to regulate our practice by 
general laws than by casual exceptions. 

If farmers will but carefully observe the 
operations of these laws in nature, they will 
readily see the importance of an established 
system of alternation of crops. If we notice 
the grasses in our meadows it will be seen that 
they are subject to change. 

It will, also, often be observed, that after re- 
moving certain crops from afield, and that field 
is allowed to remain uncultivated for a single 
season, an immense growth of weeds of certain 
kinds will spring up that had never before 
occupied the same ground. 

The timber trees in theforest alternate — new 
species springing up as the old ones decay, or 
are cut down. For instance, in many countries, 
if the prevailing timber be pine, and is cut off 
or removed by age and decay, oak will spring 
up in its place; or, if oak occupy the soil, pine 
will next succeed, and so of many other varie- 
ties. In forests of a more mixed growth, as in 
Kentucky aud some other western States, this 
change goes on, though from the great variety 
of timber, it is less apparent and striking. 

That the subject may be the more clearly 
understood, the generality of tillage crops have 
been reckoned under two heads or classes, dif- 
fering essentially in their character, culture 
and exhausting influence upon the soil. These 
two classes are denominated culmifcrons crops, 
and leguminous crops. The first is so named 
from culm, the stalk or stem, such as are usually 
hollow and supporting the leaves and seeds. 
This class, includes wheat, barley, oats, rye, 
Indian corn, tobacco, cotton, &c. These are 
particularly exhaut^ting in the production of 
their seeds, and hence are sometimes termed 
"robbers," or exhausters of the soil. If these 
are cut green, or while they are in blossom, 
they are far less so. 

Leguminous crops, literally, are peas, beans, 
and - tlun; pulse, but here the class is intended 
to embrace all which are eon>i lered ameliora- 
ting or enriching crops, as potatoes, turnips, 
carrots, beets, cabbages and clover. These 



494 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



latter are not only less exhausting than the 
eulmiferous class, as most of them do not ma- 
ture their seeds, and all, on account of their 
broad system of leaves, draw more or le»s 
nourishment from the atmosphere, but they 
improve the condition of the soil by dividing 
and loosening it with their tap and bulbous 
roots. For these reasons they are called amelio- 
rating or enriching crops, and when they receive 
manure, as they should, and culture after the 
drill system, they are peculiarly adapted to 
improve and fit the soil for the eulmiferous class 
of crops. No correct and profitable system of 
farming, therefore, can be carried on where the 
eulmiferous and leguminous crops do not alter- 
nate or follow each other in succession, except 
when grass is made to intervene, and it matters 
little which crops are selected from the two 
classes. But the interest of the farmer will de- 
termine this. With us, in the West, clover 
must be the chief reliance in extensive farming, 
though potatoes, in some sections, may come in 
to advantage. 

From the character of our crops and their 
peculiar adaptation to our soil and climate, our 
system of rotation must necessarily embrace a 
less number of years, and be the more fre- 
quently repeated than in England and other 
countries of Europe, Where Indian corn is not 
grown, and where the various root crops are so 
important to successful husbandry-, hence the 
greater necessity with us of adhering to the 
best system that can be adopted, and bringing 
in clover or its equivalent, as often as every 
four or five years. Indian corn, rye, buck- 
wheat, &c, may be sown and turned under, 
while green, to great advantage, as ameliora- 
ting or improving crops, and requiring less 
frequent repetition of clover. 

Second. — In addition to the exhausting na- 
ture of certain crops, it is contended by many 
intelligent cultivators and vegetable physiolo- 
gists that each plant has certain peculiar 
excretory matters, which it constantly deposits 
in the soil in which it is grown — matters which 
are supposed to be particularly noxious to other 
plants of its own species — that in consequence, 
(until these are decomposed and removed from 
the earth by other plants or by the gradual 
effects of decomposition,) the same crop cannot 
advantageously prosper in the same soil. There 
are numerous tacts that seem to go to the sup- 
port of this doctrine. It is known that water 
in which plants and other bulbs have been 
grown will not support other bulbs of the same 
kinds in a flourishing condition ; yet still, that 
such impure water is found to be more grate- 
ful than clear water to vegetables of another 
species. 

We once planted two acres of Ruta Baga 
turnips on a piece of new Kentucky " bar- 
rens," of superior quality ; the turnips grew 
well and made a fine crop. The next year the 
whole field of forty acres was {(United with 
corn ;.the two acres on which the turnips grew 



was almost a total failure, the corn throughout 
the whole season looked yellow and sickly, 
while the remainder of the field produced an 
excellent crop. As we have said before, flax 
cannot be cultivated to advantage on the same 
land only at intervening periods of several 
years. Yet from chemical tests neither turnips 
or flax are regarded as very exhausting crops, 
but the aversion of the same, or certain other 
crops to grow immediately on the same soil 
arises from these excretory matters deposited 
by the previous crop. 

Another fact should be known, and that is, 
that an orchard of fruit trees will never pros- 
per well on the site of an old orchard of simi- 
lar fruit. This is true of apples, but more par- 
ticularly so of peaches. Neither will apple 
trees flourish so well when rows of peach trees 
are planted between them. The soil in which 
peach trees have been grown seems to have a re- 
markable deleterious effect upon the other trees, 
both of peaches and apples, which we are in- 
clined to attribute mainly to the excretory mat- 
ters left in the soil by them. Yet there are 
certain plants and trees well known to be ex- 
cellent and mutually fertilizing neighbors — a 
knowledge indeed as old as the days of Rome 
under her emperors, for at these early period* 
the Italian farmers commonly planted the elm 
as the companion or " husband," as they called 
it, of the vine, and there are other facts of a 
similar nature that go to corroborate this doc- 
trines. 

But more particularly upon the subject of 
farm crops, we will remark in conclusion that, 
in order to render the system of alternate hus- 
bandry more perfect, it is important to embrace 
the rearing and feeding of farm stock. Cat- 
tle convert the bulky products of the farm into 
meat, butter, cheese, &c. These concentrated 
products are carried to market at comparative- 
ly trifling expense. Cattle also furnish labor, 
and manufacture into manure the straw, stalks 
and other litter of the farm, necessary to keep 
up its fertility ; for our farmers must learn 
that, without manure, the soil will grow poor, 
and its products actually diminish. Manure! 
are the main source of fertility to our soils, 
and the substantial food of our crops. Our 
supply of these will depend on the amount of 
stock we feed upon the farm, and the amount 
of stock we can keep profitably, will again de- 
pend upon the fertility of the soil, and the con- 
sequent abundance of its products. So that 
grain and grass husbandry and cattle hus- 
bandry are reciprocally and highly beneficial 
to each other. 

We regret that this subject is not better un- 
derstood and more generally appreciated than 
it is in the West. If this system is thoroughly 
carried out, it will yield more immediate profits 
to the farmer, besides adding to the perpetual 
fertility and value of the soil, as an inheritance 
to his children. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



495 



From the New England Farmer. 

Manures— Vegetable and Animal. 

Everything which has growth upon the 
soil, even to the comparatively dry and 
unsucculent haulm or straw which most 
crops leave behind them, is capable of be- 
ing transformed, by the chemistry of na- 
ture, into manure, or the pabulum of veg- 
etable life. 

By the term humus, we understand that 
portion of the vegetable structure, or or- 
ganization, which is resolved, by fermen- 
tation, into mould ; such as the foliage, 
the stems, anc succulent parts of the 
stalks of plants, and even those portions 
of the more perfectly liquified or woody 
organism, which are broken up by the 
play of chemical affinities, and made capa- 
ble, when rendered soluble by water, of 
contributing to the development and sus- 
tenance of plants. It is rarely the case, 
however, that mere vegetable matters are 
applied to the soil artistically. They are, 
for the most part, used in conjunction with 
animalized particles, which render them 
more energetic, efficient, and salutary in 
their effects. 

Even the manure from the stable is by 
no means a purely vegetable substance, 
although formed of hay and grain. In 
every case, portions of matter rejected 
from the animal system, are mixed up 
with the vegetable mass — worn out, abra- 
ded particles, which are no longer of any 
service, and which are thrown into the 
common receptacle which receives the 
residuum of the food that has not been 
digested, and from which it passes in the 
form of excrement. 

The poorer an animal is, the less of this 
animalized matter does it throw off; hence 
the well known fact that the manure made 
by cows, oxen, horses, sheep and hogs, 
which have been well kept, is much more 
energetic and valuable than that furnished 
by those which have not been supplied libe- 
rally with food. The urine of every animal 
contains a certain portion of this animal 
ized matter, and hence its superior value 
for agricultural purposes, and the high de- 
gree of vegetable fecundity resulting from 
ils application to most crops and soils. 
The ammonia contained in this liquid ma- 
nure also contributes, very essentially to 
its fertilizing powers. ; but the animalized 
matter is that which chiefly produces its 



fermentation and putrefaction, without 
which it would be nearly or quite useless 
for manurial purposes, at least in its imme- 
ate effects. Other principles highly ben- 
eficial to vegetation are also contained in 
urine, many of which are derived imme- 
diately from the food upon which the ani- 
mal is kept. This remark applies also to 
the solid voidings, and is illustrated by 
the following table, showing the constitu- 
ents of faeces and urine. 

In one hundred parts of horse dung, in 
a fresh state, — the animal having been 
kept on oats, hay and straw, — there were 

3.7 of biliary matter and coloring matter in a 

state of alteration. 
6.3 of mucus, (crude,) &c, &c. 
20.2 of non-digested vegetable remains and 

ashes. 
69.8 of water. 

100.0 

The quantity of ashes in this case was 
six per cent. Their constitution, accord- 
ing to accurate analysis, was as follows : 
In one hundred parts — 

Phosphate of lime, 05 

Carbonate of lime, 18.70 

Phosphate of magnesia, 36.25 

Silieia acid, 45.00 

Urine from the horse contained, in one 
hundred parts — 

Carbonate of lime, 1.1 

Carbonate of soda. 0.9 

Hippurate of soda, 2.-1 

Hydrochlorate of potass, 0.9 ^ 

Urea, 0.7 ^ 

Water, , 94.0 

100.0 

It will be seen that both these articles 
conrain carbonate of lime, a substance 
valuable to vegetation in man} 7 ways, and 
they are also replete with other highly 
energetic and valuable principles. In ap- 
plying manure to the soil — whether ani- 
mal or vegetable — we should endeavor, in 
the first place, to ascertain the character 
and condition of the latter, and also the 
habits, character and requirements of the 
crops intended to be grown upon it. — \ 
Whether we turn in green crops, or faed 
them to animals, and apply only their ex- 
ciements, this information is alike essen- 
tial to success. By applying to a vegeta- 
ble, manure which does not contain prin- 
ciples congenial to its nature, or which 
does not enter into its constitution, we do 



^06 



T HE SO *J T II E ft I P L A N T E R. 



not secure those advantages which we 
might derive if the manure were more 
appropriate to the plant which it is desired 
to produce. It is worthy of some study, 
therefore, to act understandingly upon this 
point, and to furnish such aliment as will 
be taken and assimilated by the system, 
for the support of which it is intended. 
By enabling ourselves to do this, we shall 
obviate no inconsiderable expense and 
trouble, and ensure a better success. 



From the New England Farmer. 

Hog- Yard Compost. 

In the immediate vicinity of your hog- 1 
pen, have a yard, strongly and permanent- ! 
ly enclosed, and of sufficient size to afford 
ample accommodation to the number of 
swine you intend to keep. Into this cast 
as much good muck, chip-manure, sods, j 
forest scrapings, loam from the road-side j 
saw-dust, refuse hay, straw, haidm, and 
weeds that have not gone to seed, as will, 
when firmly compressed, form a stratum 
of one foot in depth over the whole yard. 
On to this let whatever liquids can be I 
spared about the premises be directed, 
such as suds from the wash room, the wash 
from the sinks, a portion of rain water 
from the eaves, and whatever else that 
can be obtained that possesses any virtue. 
These fluids all contain more or less ferti- , 
lizing matters, and if mixed with the other j 
mateiials, will induce a thorough fermen- 1 
• tation of the whole mass, and secure its 
preparation for the use and sustenance of 
crops. 

A few quarts of corn, peas, buckwheat, 
or other grain, scattered over and dug into 
the manure, or dropped into holes made 
with an iron bar, will operate as an induce- 
ment to the swine to root and turn the 
mass, and thus effect the thorough incor- 
poration ol all the parts, so that, by their 
assistance, and the effects of a proper de- 
gree of fermentation, you will have, in 
the end, instead of the crude collection 
originally deposited, a perfectly homoge- 
neous article of great richness, and at a 
moderate exprnse. 

We mention the labor of the sw : ine in 
this connection because it is a popular be- 
lief that they can be thus profitably em-, 
ployed ; it certainly admits of a question, 
however, whether that belief is not falla- 
cious. That is, whether the labors of. 



swine in rooting up, turning over and 
mingling the common manure heaps of 
the barn, cannot be more cheaply per- 

j formed by men, at common wages. In 
order to raise pork profitably, we must 
avail ourselves of two things, viz : get a 
great weight, and at an early age. Can 
this be accomplished by working /logs, for 

' well-fed ones will not work much. 

Is it not, then, better. to feed swine, 
from the beginning, with as much nutri- 

jtious food as they will eat up clean, and J 
with a good appetite, when they will re- 
main quiet and lay on fat and flesh with 

j great rapidity ? 

If the manure made from the process 
described above is intended for light are- 
naceous soils, in which there is a want of 
cohesibility, it would be well to add a lib- 
eral porcentage of fine clay to the other 
ingredients, wherever that article can be 

; easily obtained. This is the constitution- 
al alterant which such lands require, and, 
\vith the organized and decomposable con- 
stituents of the. mass, will produce most 
immediate and favorable effects. 

By applying this earth in the compost, 
it will be found, that, although the quan- 
tity annually used, may be small, it will, 
in time, produce an important change, and 
secure a good degree of retentiveness and 
productive energy to lands ordinarily too 
light for the profitable cultivation of any 

; crops but rye or corn. 

There can be no doubt, we think, that 
the running of well-fed hogs on manure 
heaps is of great value to them ; such 

j hogs will not root much, while their con- 
stant droppings, especially the liquid por- 
tions, are of the must valuable character. 
Where they run over horse-manure heaps, 

jthey keep it compact, preventing the ad- 
mission of air, and that rapid heating 

\ which quite often nearly destroys it. At 
any rate, in one or the other of these 

jways, or by partially using both, a large 

land valuable heap of manure may be an- 

'nually secured from the hog-yard. Now 

lis the time to begin the process. 



The Sex of Eggs. 
According to Monsieur Genin, a French 
savant, the sex of e^gs can be distinguish- 
ed. All eggs containing the germ of male3 
have wrinkles on their smaller end, while 
female eggs are equally smooth at both 
extremities. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



491 




THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



RICHMOND, VIRGINIA. 



Salutatory. 

Mr. Ruffin's card, in our last number, in- 
formed our readers of the disposal of his inter- 
est in the paper to the subscriber, who with 
much diffidence, enters upon the duties to 
which he has succeeded as Editor. In as- 
suming the labors of this position, we are ac- 
tuated by a desire (not only "of increasing our 
yearly stipend,") but to improve ourselves in 
all matters pertaining to scientific and skilful 
agriculture. We hope to derive much profit 
from the experience of the intelligent contribu- 
tors to the paper, as well as to lay before our 
readers the results of the best practice derived 
from such sources, and also the instruction to be 
drawn from the best standard works. We 
shall strive to make the " Planter " a welcome 
guest in the home of every farmer, and a well 
meaning, if not always judicious counsellor in 
agricultural matters, That we may do this, 
we invite communications from all farmers on 
any subjects of interest to the profession. 

We do not expect to replace Mr. Ruffin ; but, 
as Mr. Jefferson said of Dr. Franklin, we 
| only succeed him." He is known not only to 
the immediate circle of his personal friends, 
but to all the readers of the Planter as a 
graceful, fluent and forcible writer. He will 
be always cordially welcomed to a place in its 
columns. 

We should do violence to our own feelings 
did we not here express our grateful sense of 
his generous and courteous introduction of 
ourselves to the friends and subscribers of the 
paper, and assure him, and them, that it will 
be our constant endeavor to become more and 
more worthy of their confidence and esteem. 

We have ever loved agriculture, and been 

strong in our faith of the truth announced by 

the wisest and most prosperous of the sons of 

Earth, "he that tilleth his land, shall not lack 

32 



bread." Nor has our affection been at all 
weakened, or diminished by being for a time 
engaged in other pursuits. We have turned to 
it as a "first love" — hoping to find in the 
pleasure of its pursuit, that freedom from 
anxiety and dependence which is denied to 
those of many other avocations. 

We recognize agriculture as the profession 
first ordained of God, and the distinction of 
being a scientific and successful farmer, as an 
honor not unworthy of the highest ambition 
of any son of " Mother Earth." 

We undertake our. editorial labors, trusting; 
that they may not be unprofitable to our sub- 
scribers, or ourselves ; but that as we journey 
through life, we may be co-workers in promo- 
ting the welfare, and strengthening the ties of 
fraternity among all those who share in the 
pleasures and toils of the farmer. 

J. E. WILLIAMS, 



Labor— A Duty. 

Since the divine announcement to our first 
parent, " in the sweat of thy face, shalt thou, 
eat bread," there has existed a dire necessity 
for his descendants to labor — for upon the 
fruity of the earth, (which she will only yield 
to the industrious) are we dependent for exist- 
ence. The idle, and slothful, can prolong their 
useless existence, only by subsisting on the 
charity of others, who are energetic and intelli- 
gent. Wisdom, and strength, are the compan- 
ions of mental and physical effort. W ith ex- 
ercise they grow — without it they are depress- 
ed or destroyed. We must labor if Ave would 
have vigorous and healthy bodies ; we must 
think if we would acquire, or retain, any 
greater degree of intelligence than the mere 
instincts of animal life. 

" A soul without reflection, like a pile with- 
out inhabitant, to ruin runs." 

We should put into active exercise, for use- 
ful purposes, every faculty of mind and body, 
with which a beneficent Creator has endowed 
us for the promotion of our own and our 
neighbor's welfare and happiness. This is a 
duty we owe alike to our Creator, society and 
ourselves. 

Society is a chain of many links, all of 
which should be well connected, since each is 
is dependent upon the other for support, 
strength, and usefulness: and every man, in 



498 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



order to fulfil the high purpose of his creation, 
and to prove his likeness to the divine image, 
should be ever ready for the kindly inter- 
change of good offices, and generous sympa- 
thies. " There is work for every man to do." 
If, in the providence of God, some of us pos- 
sess so great a share of this world's goods as 
to cancel the necessity of laboring for ourselves, 
then do we owe it to humanity to labor for others. 
There is open a large field of usefulness, in 
which our souls may revel in the delights of 
benevolence. Let us not pause in the ''path of 
duty ;" disheartened by the arduous nature of 
the task which may fall to our lot : but let us 
struggle on with a stout and cheerful heart 
against the ills of life —so, we may overcome 
them, and the more vividly enjoy its blessings. 
This is the way, the only way, which must 
lead to honor and the peaceful enjoyment of a 
tranquil conscience, for only he, " who does the 
best his circumstance allows, does well, acts 
nobly." Let no weak brain suggest, that in 
occupation there can be aught degrading. 
The man should confer honor upon his posL 
tion, and not claim respectability from it alone. 
Let him, in whatever station he may occupy, 
" act well his part," and not stand content an 
idler amid the progress of the rest of creation — 
a " drone " in the world's hive. Virtue, edu- 
cation, and industry, fit us for the highest class 
of society : nor should there be jealousies and 
heart-burnings between those of different posi- 
tions. Rather let us be harmonious, and fra- 
ternal members of one family — each laboring 
for the highest good of each, and every one, 
for all. Then we shall not live in vain, for 
only that life has failed in its object, and 
prove'd worthless, which has been spent in 
selfishness, and sloth. 



Green Rye for Soiling Cattle. 
It is a common practice among the German 
residents around this city, to sow rye early in 
August if winter grazing is intended, or in 
September on good, rich ground, for the pur- 
pose of curing into hay, and for feeding green 
to stock. The rye is sowed thick, and as soon 
as the heads are formed, it is cut down and 
cured. This is usually about the first of May: 
and by the middle of September, another crop 
almost as good as the first can be secured. It 
is an admirable article for feeding; when cut 



green for all kinds of stock, in the early 
spring — as at that time, almost all animals 
stand much in need of succulent food. They 
are feverish from the irritation produced in 
their systems by the process of "shedding off" 
their old coats. Green food at such a time, 
exerts a cooling, as well as aperient effect upon 
them. Horses are very fond of it, and it is 
good "medicine" for them as they almost in- 
variably have " Lampass " at this season of the 
year — produced by having been confined to dry 
food for several months, the effect of which is 
to constipate the bowels, and produce disorder 
of the stomach. 

We have, for several years past, had a small 
lot of rye for soiling; and would recommend to 
all of our subscribers who have not already 
done so, to try it. We know of but one objec- 
tion to it, which is, that it is very hard to kill, 
and without much care to prevent it, is apt to 
be scattered about the different fields, and thus 
creep into the wheat. Give to the stock, along 
with the green food, salt, and air slaked limed, 
occasionally — 

Messrs. Editors: — In the number for May 
27, I see an inquiry about green rye for soiling, 
I have been raising rye for soiling for the past 
ten years. I commence cutting about the last 
of April or first of May, as as soon about as 
the heads begin to appear. For the first few 
days I mix hay and green rye in equal parts 
running all through the cutting-box, for my 
horses and working oxen, and adding meal ac- 
cording to the work required. For my cows, I 
think the rye and hay as good as hay and bran. 
As the rye gets larger and harder, I discon- 
tinue the hay and feed rye alone, just as it is 
cut from the fields to my cows, but continue 
the cutting for the teams until the orchard 
grass is large enough for them. 

I sow early on rich land, for the first feeding; 
sow later and very thick, and, if necessary to 
keep it back, pasture it in the spring, for my 
last feeding. I think rye the most profitable 
crop for a short time in the spring, of any 
greep crop I raise. T have soiled from twenty 
to thirty head of cows all summer, for the past 
fifteen years. 

Can you or any of your subscribers tell me 
if winter barley is grown in New York, or as 
far north as New York? If so, where can it 
be had, and at what. price? Lewis Bailet. 
Moray Farm, Fairfax Co., Va. 

*■•••■* 

Answer to the Enquiry of "G. G. M." 

A correspondent in our June number, over 
the above signature, appeals to the practical 
experience of ourselves, or of our readers, for 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



499 



an answer to the enquiry, "Whether cutting 
dogwood in July, or August, will kill it root 
and branch V He will find that the dogwood 
trees mentioned, which he has left standing in 
his proposed clearing, (for the convenience of 
grubbing,) may be summarily disposed of with- 
out resort to the process of killing them. 

Dr. Robert H. Nelson, a judicious, practical 
farmer in Hanover, pursues (if we have not 
misapprehended him) the following method of 
extirpating them. On one side of the tree the 
large roots are carefully traced, uncovered, 
and, at a suitable distance from the trunk, 
severed. An ox-cart (without the body) is 
then employed as the simple machinery by 
whifth they are removed. On the side oppo- 
site to that on which the roots are cut, the axle 
of the cart is made fast to the body of the tree, 
A chain is then fastened as high up on the 
tree as can be conveniently done, and the other 
end is securely attached to the tongue of the 
cart, so that, in addition to the force exerted 
by the draught of the team, the tree itself is 
made to supply the leverage for its own ex- 
traction. When the trees are not so large as 
to require the use of oxen, their removal may 
be effected by a slight modification of Dr. Nel- 
son's method. Back the cart up to the tree 
and place the tongue perpendicularly against 
the trunk. . In that position both the axle and 
the tongue of the cart are made fast to the 
body of the tree, and then by a strong rope, 
or chain, attached to the end of the tongue, 
it is pulled downwards by hand until the 
laborers are able to throw their own weight 
upon it. The chain which fastens the body of 
the tree to the axle of the cart, should be so 
disposed, (say 10 or 12 inches below the axle,) 
that when the tongue is drawn downwards the 
tree shall be prized upwards. It will surprise 
any one, who has not seen the operation, to 
find what an amount of mechanical power is 
exerted, and how effectually the work is done. 

Pear Manual. 

We are indebted to the courtesy of the pub- 
lisher, Mr. A. 0. Moore, for a copy of T. W. 
Field's manual of instruction on the propaga- 
tion, planting, cultivation, and management of 
the pear tree. We confess to a full share of 
ignorance on this interesting subject, but we 
shall gladly avail ourselves of the opportunity 
for instruction which may be gained by a care- 



ful perusal and study of the book. The plan 
of the work seems to be comprehensive, and 
the treatment of the subject thorough. 

We clip from the New York Observer the 
following notice of the work. 

Pear Culture. — A manual for the Propaga- 
tion, Planting, Cultivation, and Management 
of the Pear Tree, &c, &c, by Thomas W. 
Field. A. 0. Moore, 140 Fulton street, New 
York. 

In this charming little manual, Mr. Field 
has performed an excellent service for those 
engaged in the pear cultivation without ex- 
perience. He has given his attention to the 
subject for years, and has reaped his reward 
in the production of some of the best speci- 
mens of both fruit and trees that we have ever 
seen. The results of his experience are de- 
tailed in this volume, in terms so simple, con- 
cise, and perspicuous, that all may read and be 
profited. The book is well furnished with 
illustrations of fruit and modes of propagation, 
culture, &c. 



Rust on Oats. 

From the following article, taken from the 
Southern Homestead, it will be seen that the 
rust on the oat crop has appeared to an injuri- 
ous extent in Tennessee. 

The microscopic investigations of the Editor 
do not correspond with those of our corres- 
pondent, "Nottoway," on the rust on wheat, 
as it respects the cause of the phenomenon ; 
but may not the black bug, which he describes, 
be identical with the aphis, or cotton-louse, 
which has been the occasion of such destruction 
to the oat, as stated by " Nottoway" ? 

RUST IN OATS— WHAT IS IT? 

Throughout the whole South-western portion 
of the Union the oat crop has suffered from a 
terrible blight, which, from its resemblance to 
the fungous substance that sometimes attacks 
wheat by that name, has been called rust. So 
far as we are informed, rust in oats has hither- 
to been unknown. We have never heard or 
read of anything of the kind, in any section of 
the country. The fact that it is thus unusual, 
opens a wide and interesting field to the natu- 
ralist, and in this case, to the entomologist, as 
it invites investigation in a channel, so far as 
we can ascertain, heretofore unexplored. 

While in West Tennessee, a short time since, 
we took occasion to examine the blade of the 
oat under a microscope, (kindly furnished us 
by the Baily Troup,) and were greatly sur- 
prised with the phenomenon which the glas? 
revealed. Since then, we have followed up 
those examinations, by the aid of more power, 
ful instruments, at the Medical College in this 



500 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



city, in company with several scientific gentle 
men, among whom were Drs. Briggs and Bu- 
chanan, of the Medical Faculty. 

The cause of all this destruction of the oat 
crop is a living worm, too small to be plainly 
seen with the naked eye. A single blade or 
leaf of the oat sometimes contains hundreds of 
them. They lie encased in the tissues of the 
leaf or blade where they have been germi- 
nated, beneath the epidermis or thin pellicle 
over the exterior portion of the blade, and as 
they progress in development, the skin of the 
leaf is raised into curious puffy blisters. The 
growth of the worm subsequently ruptures 
these, and it escapes to feed on the plant. 
When first released from their covering, they 
are of a beautiful red color, almost transparent, 
but soon begin to change color and form, get- 
ting more opaque and dark in appearance 
until, in the course of transformation, they be- 
come a black bug, with legs and wings, when 
they attack the head or grain of the oats. 

Under the microscope, the dust which re- 
mains on the leaf, closely resembles that on 
the wings of butterflies. 

How this innumerable army of infinitismal 
worms originated is yet a mystery. It is a 
singular fact, however, that wherever the great- 
est quantity of rain has^fallen, there the oat 
crop has fared the worst. In our recent trip 
through West Tennessee, we saw but a single 
field of oats, between the Mississippi and Ten- 
nessee rivers, which was not a total failure, or 
into which it would be folly to put a scythe- 
blade. That field was near Denmark, in Madi- 
son county, and was sown very early. It is 
well known, that more rain has fallen in West 
Tennessee, this season, than in any other part 
of the State: hence the extreme wet weather 
must have had some agency in the production 
of this animalcule. It is also well known that 
moisture and heat will produce and multipty 
animal life, millions per hour, and therein we 
judge is the secret of this destruction of the 
oat crop. It is one of those cases of natural 
phenomena which occur only at a certain stage 
in the growth of plants, and under peculiar 
states of temperature and weather. It ma} r 
happen next season, or it may not occur again 
for many years. 

— <-»>♦> 

Manipulated Guano. 

Whoever may be entitled to the honor of 
having originated the mauipulation and com- 
mixture of ammoniacal and phosphatic guano, 
(a question on which we do not design to ex- 
press an opinion,) we are satisfied from ex- 
periments with mixtures of our own com- 
pounding, and from the testimony of others 
who have tried the "manipulated/' that the 
combination of different guanos in proportions 
adapted to the wants of the soil, constitutes a 



valuable and economical fertilizer, and that its 
efficacy is promoted by its thorough pulveriza- 
tion, and commixture. 

The purchaser will, of course, be influenced 
by the guaranty offered by the seller, in his, 
personal character and pecuniary responsi- 
bility, as well as by the testimonials offered to 
sustain the claim of his particular preparation 
to his confidence. He will also judge for him- 
self whether it is more economical and ad- 
vantageous to avail himself of the skill and 
machinery of others, who prepare the com- 
pound, or whether he will purchase the ingre- 
dients separately and combine them in pro- 
portions to suit his own wants, reducing and 
mixing them by the aid of such rude machinery 
as he may chance to possess, or his own in- 
ventive genius may enable him to produce. 

In calling the attention of our readers to the 
advertisements of Mr. Kettlewell, and Messrs. 
Reese & Co., which appear in our advertising 
columns, we ask, (what we presume is all they 
desire), a candid consideration of their claims 
to the confidence and patronage of the public. 



To Subscribers. 

In consequence of the change in the Propri- 
etorship of the " Southern Planter," it is very 
important that our subscribers should remit 
the amount of their indebtedness with as little 
delay as possible. 

The amount due from each subscriber is in 
itself comparatively trifling, but in the aggre- 
gate it makes up a very large sum, and if each 
subscriber will consider this as a direct appeal 
to himself, and promptly remit the amount of 
his bill, it will be of infinite service to us. 

We commence sending with this number the 
bill to each subscriber who is in arrear, and 
shall continue to do so until all shall have been 
sent out. We ask, as a favor, a prompt re- 
sponse from all. 

The bills are made up to 1st January next. 
The fractional part of a dollar can be remitted 
in postage stamps, or the change returned in 
the same. 

August & Williams. 

July 1st, 1858. 



To Postmasters and Others. 
We are satisfied, that with proper exertion, 
any person who will interest himself for us, 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



501 



will be able to make up a list of new subscri- 
bers for the " Planter," in almost any neigh- 
borhood, in this or any other of the Southern 
States. We offer, as an inducement to those 
who are disposed to aid and encourage us in our 
efforts to extend the circulation of this paper, 
the following premiums in addition to our 
hitherto published terms: 
To any person who will send us clubs of 

3 new subscribers and $Q, — 

The So. Planter for 1857. 

6 new subscribers and $12, — 

The So. Planter for 1857 and '58. 

9 new subscribers and $18, — 

The So. Planter for 1857, '58 and 59. 
15 new subscribers and $30, — 

The So. Planter for 1857, '58 and 59, 

and a copy of the Southern Literary Mes- 
senger for one year. 

To single new subscribers we will send ike 
present volume, (commencing with the number 
for January, 1858,) at the low price of $1 50, 
paid in advance. 

We call upon every one interested in promo- 
ting the progress and improvement of agricul- 
ture, to lend us his aid in contributions of 
original articles on practical or scientific agri- 
culture, in order that our paper may continue 
to be worthy of the confidence and support of 
those who have hitherto so liberally sustained 
it, and to whose interests its pages will con- 
tinue to be zealously devoted. 

August & Williams. 

July 1st, 1858. 



Wheat Market. 

The following timely and judicious "caution 
to farmers," is taken from the columns of the 
South, under date of the 12th of July. Since 
the appearance of that article, the Richmond 
market has been opened by the sale of a lim- 
ited quantity of new wheat. The first samples, 
we learn, brought $1 25 for prime white, from 
which it soon rose to $1 40; and since the 
last accounts from England, received here on 
the 20th July, it rose to $1 45 for the best. 
Red wheat, we learn, is 10 c. per bushel lower 
than white, as per quality. 

THE WHEAT CROP — A CAUTION TO FARMERS. 

Every year, at this particular season, the 
hearts of the million are gladdened by the pro- 



mise of a redundant harvest. From all re- 
gions of the earth rumours reach us of a pro- 
digal supply of the stuff which men manufac- 
ture into the staff of life. The inevitable re 
currence of this delightful prospect and its 
frequent blight before maturity, have suggest- 
ed the suspicion of a conspiracy among specu- 
lators. The corn trade of the world is in the 
hands of a very few men, in comparison with 
the great mass of producers. They are ani- 
mated by a single impulse ; they are bound to- 
gether by a perfect unity of interest ; they 
have great intelligence, and an unlimited com- 
mand of capital and credit. On the other 
hand, the class of producers are dispersed 
over the face of the earth,, without communi- 
cation or concert, with but little information 
of the market, and destitute of the resources 
necessary to resist a combination against their 
interests. If the factor is unable to impose 
upon their credulity with his extravagant sto- 
ries of an excessive harvest, in their necessities 
he w r ill find the means of securing their crop 
at an inadequate price. 

Never was the promise of an abundant sup- 
ply of wheat more satisfactory than at the 
present moment, — if he choose to accept the 
assurances of speculators. If we turn to the 
commercial column of the leading papers in 
any city, we will find the most flattering re- 
ports of the crops-. The authority of compe- 
tent writers is invoked to persuade the farmer 
of an inevitable decline when the harvest is 
realized. And care is taken that the market 
shall open at a moderate price. The producers 
have no alternative but to accpiiesce in the ar- 
rangements of the speculators. 

Among our readers there may be a few far- 
mers who are not obliged to dispose of their 
crop immediate!} 7 . To such, we would address 
an earnest remonstrance against a precipitate 
sale. 

At this office papers are received frcm every 
part of the country, and we have searched 
them diligently for information in regard to 
the probable yield of the present harvest. All 
accounts agree in representing it far below the 
usual supply. From no quarter do we get au- 
thentic reports of even the average crop. In 
this State, certainly, the harvest does not be- 
gin to realize the promise of the early spring. 
We believe it is an exaggeration to assert that 
the present wheat crop of Virginia, approaches 
within eighty per cent, of the usual production. 
And as far as we can gather from the local pa- 
pers, an equal deficiency may be affirmed of 
every other wheat growing State. 

But the speculators pretend to anticipate a 
redundant crop in Europe. From a vicinity in 
which their exaggerations are discredited by ac- 
curate accounts, they take refuge in a distant 
and unexplored region. Now, the latest ad- 
vices from abroad, though ever so encouraging, 
(which they are not,) would justify no approx- 
imate estimate even of the harvest in Europe. 



502 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



Everybody knows that to the last moment 
wheat is liable to the most destructive visita- 
tions ; and nothing is so idle, therefore, as to 
undertake to compute the yield of an unhead- 
ed crop. Some time must yet elapse before we 
can get any reliable returns of the harvest in 
Europe. 

Meanwhile we entreat our farming friends 
not to precipitate their crop upon the market. 
Above all things reject the proposals of those 
itinerant agents who beguile you with fabu- 
lous statements of a superabundant harvest. 



For the Southern Planter. 

To the Projyrietors of the Southern Planter: 

Gentlemen : — In the June number of the 
" Southern Planter" there is an editorial, in 
which a very brief and rapid sketch is given 
of " Manipulated Guano," but exceedingly 
meagre in comparison with the extent to which 
it has been used in Maryland ; and the results 
there are stated as not applying to, or affording 
a foundation to express an opinion of what its 
value would be upon Virginia lands. 

I have not the paper before me, but accord- 
ing to my recollection, I have given the sub- 
stance of the article upon that point. 

Fortunately, my "Manipulated Guano" has 
been so extensively used in your State, as to 
make its own record, without being dependent 
upon a sister State for. information so impor- 
tant; and those who feel an interest upon the 
subject, can find in my certificates and refer- 
ences good Virginia names, in various direc- 
tions, who would, no doubt, if applied to, take 
great pleasure in answering every inquiry 
upon a subject of such universal interest to 
the agricultural public. Indeed, for many 
reasons, I should feel under obligations to all 
who would wade through my ° controversy and 
advertisement," published in the present num- 
ber of the " Southern Planter." 

In consequence of a sentence in the same 
editorial to which I alluded, I feel it necessary 
to state, that I always have, and now do war- 
rant, and by this covenant make such warran- 
tee of legal and binding effect upon me, that 
my No. 1 " Manipulated Guano" will always 
contain 8 per cent, of ammonia and 45 to 50 
per cent, of phosphate of lime; and my No. 2, 
5 per cent of ammonia and 50 to 55 per cent, 
of phosphate of lime; and shall authorise my 
agents, Messrs. Deane & Hobson, of Richmond, 
and all others, to confirm this warrantee. 
Very respectfully, your ob't serv't. 

JOHN KETTLEWELL. 



For the Southern Planter. 

I don't remember when or where, though I 
think in the "Planter," I have road an account 
of the curing of tobacco with coal, and that it 
answered well. 

The place on which I live is rather scarce of 



wood, too much so certainly to cultivate to- 
bacco extensively, unless I can find a substi- 
tute in the use of coal for wood. Can you, or 
any of your correspondents, say in the " Plan- 
ter," the kind of coal used, how much of it, 
(to a house 22 by 24, with 6 firing tiers,) and 
whether it really answers well in all particu- 
lars, &c, &c. ? 

We will endeavor to furnish our correspondent 
with full information on the subject of curing- 
tobacco with charcoal, in the September num- 
ber. — [Editor. 

. 4-c-o m » 

For the Southern Planter. 

Character and Habits of Birds. 
Mr. Editor: 

As a dear lover of birds, whether stuffed, 
confined in cages, or at liberty in the open air. 
I have read with the greatest pleasure the 
" Ornithological Sketches," which have . ap- 
peared in the late numbers of the Planter. 
And, if you consider them worthy of a place 
in your periodical, I will give you a few obser- 
vations I have made, on the characters and habits 
of the birds mentioned in those " Sketches." 
Some years ago I put up a little box for birds, 
and, in a few days, found that it was occupied 
by a pair of house-wrens. The female laid a 
good many eggs, sat upon them, and finally 
hatched some nine or ten young ones ; but I 
found, to my surprise, that instead of attempt- 
ing to raise all she threw at least half of them 
out of the box, which being killed by the fall, 
there remained only four or five in the box. 
This is the way I account for their not raising 
so many young ones as they lay eggs. 

Instead of the overplus of eggs laid by the 
wren being useful, as " F." supposes, they are 
the means of bringing into existence these 
little creatures only to be destroyed by their 
producers. 

This is a habit that does not argue at all in 
favor of the devotedness of the wren to her 
young, and is calculated to put her below a 
state of equality with other birds. 

However, other birds may be guilty of the 
same, and, if I were called upon to accuse &x\y, 
I should accuse the purple martin, (although 
my favorite.) 

My reason is this: I was once noticing the 
volitations of some martins, when I observed 
that one of them had something white in his 
mouth, apparently very large for so small a 
bird to carry. I was very anxious to. find out 
what it was, when, luckily for me, it fell, 
struck the top of a stable near me, and then 
rolled off on the ground within a few feet of 
where I was standing. I ran to see what it 
was, and found it to be a young martin, only a 
few days old. Whether it was done intention- 
ally, or not; or whether it wis the offspring of 
the bird that let it fall, or not, of course I could 
not ascertain. 

The martin may have been carrying his 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



503 



young to another box, and let it fall accident- 
ally; or he may have been destroying them as 
I have just shown the wren does, or he may 
have made a depredation on some other nest, 
as I think is sometimes the case. I have seen 
them pull each other's nests in pieces. But 
whatever may be said of him, he is the most 
impartial bird I know towards his young. He 
divides the food among them as equally as a 
father could divide an apple among four sons. 

But I have digressed, and will return to the 
wren. The wren (of which I speak) will build 
almost any where he can hide himself. I once 
knew one to build in the folds of an old blan- 
ket that was thrown across a fence, and seemed 
as well contented as if he was lord of one of 
•those beautiful little bird-palaces so common in 
Greenmount Cemetery, near Baltimore. 

Some years ago, when I was at boarding- 
school in the country, an old negro, named 
Edmund, was going to kill a beef; of course 
all the boys were anxious to see the operation 
performed. So we all went to the old log house 
in which Monsieur Boeuf was to experience the 
density of the steel in old Edmund's axe, of 
which he boasted so much. After having got 
everything ready, Edmund pulled off his coat, 
threw it across one of the joists which ex- 
tended from one side of the house to the other, 
and struck the fatal blow quite to the satis- 
faction of the youthful spectators. But Ed- 
mund, in the excitement, left the scene and 
forgot to carry his coat with him. It remained 
on the joist for two or three days, when, as I 
was taking a walk one evening, I noticed that 
one of the sleeves was filled with something, 
which proved to be a wren's nest. Imagine to 
yourself what must have been old Edmund's 
surprise, when he pushed his arm into a wren's 
nest instead of his coat-sleeve. 

"A stupid moment motionless he stood." 

So much for the wren. Now for the blue- 
bird. Early last Spring I put up a box within 
two feet of my room-window; but, on account 
of its proximity to the window, none of the 
birds seemed to fancy its location, until I left 
the room and remained away on a visit of two 
weeks. When I returned a pair of blue-birds 
had nearly completed their nest in it. 

As I am very fond of stuffing birds, and 
always like for them to look as natural as 
life, I seized this as a fair opportunity to test 
the matter. Zeuxis once painted grapes so 
natural that the birds came and pecked at 
them. I thought that if I could only see the 
occupier of the box attack my stuffed bird for 
a live one, I would be satisfied, without trying 
to gain what Parrhasius did, who painted a 
curtain so natural that Zeuxis, himself, ordered 
the curtain to be removed that he might see 
the painting behind it. 

For the sake of distinction, I will give the 
blue-birds each a name ; and as I am as fond 



of Irish names as "F." is of preachers, I will 
call the occupier of the box Jimmy O'Brien, 
and the stuffed one Pat. O'Flanagan. On a very 
pretty morning last week I placed Pat. in a 
chair at the window, and hoisted it. In a few 
minutes Jimmy was seen to light upon the 
window-sill. So soon as he saw the siq^fosed 
intruder, Pat., he flew at him violently, knocked 
him over in the chair, and then flew out of the 
window. There was a golden-winged wood- 
pecker in the chair at the time, which I re- 
moved, and substituted a robin in his place. 
Jimmy soon returned, flew at Pat. as before, 
knocked him down, jumped upon him, and 
pecked him so furiously that I thought he 
would tear him in pieces. I scared Jimmy 
out, and found that he had injured Pat. a good 
deal. 1 found that Jimmy would attack neither 
the woodpecker nor Robin, when put in the 
chair together. 

Not wishing Pat. to be injured any more, I 
then put him in a cage and placed him at the 
window. Jimmy returned, flew against the 
wires of the .cage, and struck such severe 
blows that he entirely displaced one of the 
feathers in his wing. Since that time I have 
often seen him trying to fly through one of the 
panes of glass in the window. On one occasion 
he flew against it eighty-six times. What is 
his object in so doing I cannot imagine, unless 
he wishes to find Pat. O'Flanagan, who is as 
little aware of Jimmy's intention, as if he 
were in "Ould Erin. ; Tis often thus with 
men. They look upon those as enemies, and 
even pursue those who can do them no harm in 
the world ; but do not find out their mistake 
until they have made themselves ridiculous. I 
have not disturbed Jimmy lately, not wishing 
to make him leave the box. Lady O'Brien is 
now sitting, or, at least, trying to sit ; but, on 
account of the frequent passing about in my 
room, she is very fearful, seeming to be always 
starting. She puts me in mind of the hen the 
Irishman could not get to sit, until he at last 
put her on the nest with a half-bushel measure 
over her, and then declared that, when he took 
the half-bushel measure off, " she was setting, 
standing up." 

As for the Baltimore oriole, (Ictuus Balti- 
more), the most remarkable thing about him, 
is the ingenuity he displays in building his 
nest. I have never been able to find two 
alike. They differ in shape, size, and the 
materials of which they are built. The pret- 
tiest one I ever saw was cut, two or three years 
ago, from the extremity of an oak limb ; it 
was composed, principally, of calico and mous- 
lin scraps, hair and grass; but the most novel 
feature was, that it contained two large needles, 
with threads in them of considerable length, 
which were so interlaced between the other 
materials of the nest, that they could not pos- 
sibly be reclaimed without pulling the nest in 
pieces. From the condition of the threads, 
and the directions of the needles, I was satis- 



504 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



factorily convinced that the bird used them in 
building his nest; for one of them passed 

through a small perforation in a leaf, made, I 

suppose, by a worm or bug. Every one who 
knows anything about the oriole, knows that 
he- first fastens one end of his thread, or grass, 
and then works the other into the nest to suit 
himself. This is one of the strongest proofs 
that. could be adduced, in favor of the infer- 
ence, that the bird actually sewed with the 
needle. For had he fastened the needle to a 
branch or leaf, and gone to work with the 
longer end of the thread, in pulling it about 
he would certainly have unthreaded the needle ; 
besides, the longer end of the thread was so 
tangled and knotty, that it could not possibly 
have been put through the perforation I have 
mentioned. However, let us go still farther, 
and suppose that the thread was at first 
straight, and that he caught hold of the longer 
end of it instead of the needle, then the weight 
of the needle would have pulled the thread 
out as fast as the bird pulled it through, un- 
less the female assisted him, which is an im- 
probability. The bird certainly knew that the 
needles were sharp, for the points of both were 
outwards, and projected from the outer surface 
of the nest about one half their respective 
lengths. I suspect that some persons will be 
as much surprised at what I have stated, as if 
they had been told that the Leviathan was lost 
in a storm in a wash-tub; however, what I have 
said is rigidly true, besides, 

" Je ne sais point l'art de faire des miracles." 
I would say, with due deference to such per- 
sons, that if Ornithology was not included in 
their course of study when at college, that by a 
careful study of Wilson, information will be 
gained which will prevent them from making 
so great a mistake as the lady, who, when 
asked by her beau the name of a certain star, 
replied, "I don't know the name of it, I never 
studied botany." II. 

Plain View, King & Queen co., Virginia, 
June 25th, 1858. 



other, or on the contrary, if from adverse cir- 
cumstances, one member of the body suffers 
detriment or retrogression, then all the mem- 
bers constrained by the law of sympathy enter 
into the fellowship of its suffering. 

These interchangable influences, which are 
in ceaseless exercise through the mutual de- 
pendence, to which we have adverted, give a 
universal interest to the consideration of our 
subject: 

The Connection beticeen Moral and Agricultural 

Improvement, and taeir Reciprocal Operation 

and Effects. 

There is a law which governs the whole cre- 
ation, by which every organic being is by the 
influence of habit, modes of life and changing 
circumstances, transmuted, sometimes so great- 
ly as to retain scarcely any trace of its orig- 
inal. 

In the vegetable world, the little wild rose 
has been changing under the constant culture 
and care of the florist, from generation to gen- 
eration, till it has become the queen of flowers ; 
in proportions, colors, fragrance, variety, sur- 
passing them all. 

The bitter, wild crab has been improved into 
the innumerable varieties of blushing and gol- 
den apples that bend our orchard boughs. 

In the animal creation, the wild dog, always 
the same in color, form, and instinct, wherever 
found, has under the various influences of cli- 
mate, habit, food and training, been trans- 
formed into many species, differing so widely 
in color, size, capacities, and form, that the 
original type is scarcely recognizable in them. 

This law which we observe thus modifying 
the lower orders of creation, we in like man- 
ner observe affecting the physical organization 
of man, and through that, his mental and mo- 
ral nature also. 



.For the Southern Planter. 

The Connection between Moral and Ag- 
ricultural Improvement, and their Re- 
ciprocal Operation and Effects. 
Man in his moral, social, aud professional 
relations is by the adjustment of the Divine 
Author of his being, bound to his fellow man 
by an unvarying law of mutual dependence. 
Not that in the many and diversified avoca- 
tions of life, private interests, or pursuits of 
individuals and classes are not maintained in 
all their distinctive peculiarities, but that be- 
sides these there exists a community of interest, 
a unity of distinct parts composed of many 
members in one body, which by natural and 
inevitable operation, makes the progress and 
improvement of any one class, the occasion of 
relative or proportional advancement in every 



The influence which his occupation and 
modes of life exert in modifying his character, 
both intellectual and moral, is not only ac- 
knowledged as a universal truth, but is a mat- 
ter of daily experience. 

Nb one ever looks for the development of the 
loftier and finer feelings of our ©ature, in the 
usurer or hangman, as he does in the devotee 
to science or the minister of religion. This 
principle is not only recognized in the common 
sentiment of mankind, but even gives a tone 
to the laws of enlightened nations, a proof of 
which is seen in an old statute which prohibi- 
ted any butcher from acting as a juror in crim- 
inal cases. The occupation was believed to de- 
stroy the horror of bloodshed, and thus to ren- 
der a man morally incapable of sitting in judg- 
ment upon a thing so sacred as human life. 
And though there may be meu of vastly differ- 
ent type in the same vocation, there is still a 
general tendency in the duties and circum- 
stances of every pursuit to raise or depress, to 
refine or imbrute the man, to warm and expand 
his heart, or to make it more cold and narrow. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



505 



The illustration of this principle afforded in 
the life of the agriculturist is perhaps more 
uniform and pleasing than in any other ; for 
there seems to be a natural tendency in this 
pursuit to foster, if not to create many of the 
best feelings, principles, and habits, that dig- 
nify the individual or cheer the social life. 
And since it is by the culture of these that the 
moral nature is improved and exalted, it is an 
argument for that mode of life which by its 
natural duties, or necessary circumstances, 
brings them into continual exercise, and fur- 
nishes either a fairer opportunity fur the culti- 
vation of virtue, or a greater freedom from the 
common temptations to vice. 

Among the many influences, -which, working 
together in this calm and peaceful occupation, 
mould, and fashion the temper and character, 
it is not unfit first to notice the physical effect, 
for so curiously are we constituted that no in- 
fluence can affect the body that does not also 
affect the mind and heart. 

Who does not know what natural concomi- 
tants of disease, are selfishness and discon- 
tent ? And who has not experienced that good 
health is a sort of soil in which it is compara- 
tively easy to nourish the graces that sweeten 
and purify life. 

It is upon this principle that the whims and 
waywardness of. an invalid are excused. For 
it is through the physical organs that impres- 
sions are received. The torpor of a diseased 
body communicates itself to the spirit, blinds 
the eye of hope, palsies the heart of courage, 
and sets despair in the place of cheerfulness. 

It cannot, therefore, be a matter of trifling 
importance to preserve their soundness and 
vigor. 

It is not merely conjectural or inferential to 
say that agricultural pursuits are more promo- 
tive of health than any other. They are the 
almost universal refuge recommended to those 
whose physical powers are enfeebled by other 
employments. 

Besides, statistical tables attest that as a 
class, agriculturists are the most long-lived, 
with one exception, and that exception is in fa- 
vor of a class of people, who even more con- 
stantly and freely enjoy those influences of ex- 
ercise, fresh air and sunshine, which doubtless 
are the main causes of the vigor and strength 
which they enjoy. 

But this influence, though important, is sec- 
ondary. 

There are characteristic and peculiar influ- 
ences, whose moral tendency is more direct and 
evident. First among these, is the immediate 
dependence for prosperity and success in his 
calling, upon a Power above and beyond his 
own, which cannot be so nearly realized by a 
man in any other pursuit of life. 

The mechanic can. with his own hand, per- 
fect the work he projects; but however vigi- 
lant and industrious the sower maybe, he can- 
not change his little seeds into the forms of 



strength and beauty with which they presently 
reappear after he has hidden them, in the 
earth. 

And even after the Creating Hand has re- 
produced in living freshness, what was cast 
into the soil apparently shapeless and dead, 
how emphatically is he made to feel that his 
labors are in vain if those genial influences are 
withheld, which, from the falling of the grain 
into the earth, in its first springing, in its con- 
stant growth, and unto its full maturity, are 
the essentials of its existence. 

And though every man is dependent for 
every measure of success in any calling, upon 
the same Paternal will and blessing, yet there 
is a direct and visible dependence in this pur- 
suit which does not appertain to any other, and 
which actually does check and forbid the cold 
atheism of the native heart. 

Besides this, there is in the daily, almost 
hourly communion with fresh nature, in all 
the beauty of her revolving seasons, not only 
delight for the senses, but admonitions for the 
heart, and though the effect of such influences 
may be imperceptible, it is not less certain. 

There is also an adaptation in the scenes and 
occupations of rural life to inspire an homage 
of the heart for an Unseen God, while the 
presence of every form of beauty, fills the 
mind with that imagery which is the most ap- 
propriate language of Nature's worship. The 
melody of the ancient pastorals, both saercd 
and profane, are the witnesses of this. Their 
power and sweetness find an echo in all hearts, 
and attest their birth-place to have been far 
removed from the burning thoroughfares of the 
crowded world, where amid the strife of ava- 
rice and ambition, no such cooling fountains 
have place to flow. 

But it is in the development of more ordina- 
ry and practical traits of character that the 
chief recommendations to this pursuit of life 
are found, virtues which, though no less excel- 
lent, are in daily demand in the prosecution of 
necessary business, or called into play by social 
arrangements. 

Prominent among these is the habit of sys- 
tematic industry, not only in itself one of the 
conditions of permanent wealth, health, and 
happiness, but also a safeguard from vice. Yet 
it is a virtue somewhat despised by multitudes 
who are impatient of this tardy method of im- 
proving their fortunes, and would rather deli- 
riously risk all upon a change in the market, 
than slowly toil their way to independence ; 
because if they thereby suddenly awake to for- 
tune, they have no longer need to cultivate 
such a primitive habit, however excellent. 
They are not content to bow for their lessons 
of practical wisdom, to the little ant, who in 
the quiet and steady observance of the law of 
her being, lays by in season her ample store. 

The necessity which urges the agriculturist 
to cheerful labor in its season is his blessing, 
while it is equally his blessing that the reward 



500 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



of his toils must be patiently waited for until 
it can be possessed by the ordinary laws of 
gradual increase. There is induced by these 
habits, a moderation of purpose and desire that 
are to the heart and mind what health is to the 
body. 

It may not seem irrelevant to this part of 
the subject, to ask where, in all the world, can 
be found, unless among the country homes of 
Virginia, any representatives of a class in 
whom the galaxy of domestic virtues shines 
with a lustre so rare as to entitle the possessor 
to the name of " virtuous woman V 

" Who seeking wool and flax, worketh will- 
ingly with her hands, who layeth her hands to 
the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff; 
who to her cheerful industry links the grace of 
liberality. 

" Stretching out her hand to the poor, reach- 
ing forth her hands to the needy." And to 
that a provident care which causes her " to 
rise while it is yet night to give meat to her 
household and a portion to her maidens ; and 
a prudence which rules her tongue with the 
law of kindness ; so that strength and honor 
become her clothing. Her husband is known 
in the gates, sitting among the elders of the 
land. Her children also rise up and call her 
blessed." 

This portrait' is not a familiar one in our day, 
even in the farm-houses, but only there is it 
seen at all, and when seen is a living and re- 
freshing commentary on the worth of those 
unobtrusive but real virtues which flourish best 
in such positions. 

The absence of intense excitements from the 
business of agriculture, and the necessity to 
uniform, earnest, systematic industry, are of 
themselves healthful influences, but they also 
put a check upon the native avarice of the 
heart, by the slower and more gradual accu- 
mulation of wealth. 

Riches may be garnered into barns and 
store-houses with as much idolatry as into 
banks and bags, but it is unusual to see such 
a result. 

There is such a natural and universal de- 
light in improving the resources as well as the 
appearance of the farms, that increasing 
wealth flows into channels which refresh, glad- 
den, fertilize, instead of accumulating in cof- 
fers, or ministering to the feverish and ever- 
changing extravagances of pride. 

If there is comparative freedom from evil 
influences of this sort, there is also a com- 
parative freedom from the temptations to low 
vice, by the isolation of both the dwelling 
places and business places of this class of the 
community from the haunts of vice. It is in 
cities that its practices are improved into a 
science, from whose schools the most skilful 
are sent out to allure the unwary. 

Their snares are spread for the feet in every 
pathway. The tempters are so thickly posted 
that they taint the air. 



But the daily routine of duty does not brin:; 
the agricultural community into such close and 
unavoidable proximity. They escape even the 
knowledge of much of the vice that blackens 
the hearts and lives of men dwelling in 
masses. 

As there is unquestionably in the business 
life of agriculturists a tendency to foster vir- 
tuous habits and principles, there is also in 
their social life a degree of sincerity, hospital- 
ity and brotherhood which is not seen and felt 
elsewhere. In illustration of this may be noted 
their habit of assuming one another's burdens, 
and helping forward one another's labours in 
seasons of pressure with as much energy and 
alacrity as they pursue their own business. 
In these cheerful exchanges there is but the de- 
velopment of a principle which must govern 
every social system, it is true, but here there 
is not the usual form of measure for measure. 

The nurture of this feeling of brotherhood is 
never more delightful nor profitable than in 
the exercises of the law of hospitality, but it 
is in the hearts and homes of the agricultural 
population that its duties and delights are 
most freely practised and enjoyed ; not among 
the rich and prosperous alone, but in the hum- 
blest homes of poverty this virtue abides. 

With the sojourner and stranger they at all 
times participate the bounties so freely bestow- 
ed upon themselves, for it is one of their most 
natural and cherished pleasures. 

Where men dwell in masses, the sweet and 
constant exchanges of courtesies and sympa- 
thies around the hearthstone, give way to cost- 
lier, more doubtful and less joyous pleasures, 
while the stranger often passes through the mul- 
titude as unknowing and unknown as if he 
came not. 

But it is in the type of sincerity that the so- 
cial life of the country is felt to be superior to 
any other. Instead of the forms which are adopted 
to disguise the want of a social heart, there is 
felt to be a warm and glowing interest and af- 
tion in their circles compared with which the 
splendid shows of city life are a moi-kery. 
That sort of hypocrisy, too, which in ordinary 
intercourse, countenances even lying words, is 
unknown, and the manners are simple and 
truthful. It lends a force to the argument that 
there is an influence for good in these pursuits, 
to observe the record of history concerning the 
human race. To dwell among enjoyments and 
engage in employments like these, was deem- 
ed the station most appropriate for sinless man. 
All the circumstances which favour the natu- 
ral development of his loftiest powers, must be 
found combined in the lot which was chosen 
for him while holy by a Creator and Father 
who forms and disposes his creature for his 
own glory. And when his high estate of pu- 
rity and joy was forfeited, the occupation 
which was to have been only a delight, was ap- 
pointed as his labour. 

We find, also, the first design of build- 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



507 



ing a city and dwelling in masses, crush- 
ed by the Almighty hand in order to restrain 
men from all the evil they had "imagined to 
do." This fact bears indirectly but not doubt- 
fully upon the subject. Following the records 
of history, from whose misty uncertainties 
some facts arise with all the abiding boldness 
of truth, we constantly find men of the most 
distinguished genius and virtue breathing their 
congenial air among the retirements and em- 
ployments of agricultural life. 

At one time a tender shepherd is called to 
exchange his humble crook for a royal sceptre, 
and the care of his docile flock for the govern- 
ment of a nation. The heroism which had 
matured in the solitudes where his defence- 
less charge were used to wander, comes into 
requisition when that nation's hosts are to be 
led to victory. 

At another time, when a voice of wisdom 
and moderation is needed to calm the strife of 
opposing factions and to restore public order 
and confidence, the possessor is found uncon- 
scious at the plough. Nor was he once only, 
but twice withdrawn from this congenial pur- 
suit, because the changeless integrity of his 
nature was the only stronghold of his coun- 
try's dependence. 

Instances like these assuredly favour the ar- 
gument that there is something in these pur- 
suits that promotes the growth of those great 
qualities both of heart and mind, an imperso- 
nation of which it is rare to see among the cor- 
rupted mass. Great souls are not only nur- 
tured among them, but they also seek their 
repose from the fevered excitements of public 
service, in the less brilliant but not inglorious 
toils of agriculture. 

To pass by all others, what Virginian does 
not at once revert to the career of him whose 
name stands above all other names in the his- 
tory of mere human actors? A name revered 
and honoured not alone by his own country- 
men, but to which distant nations pay contin- 
ual homage, bringing, even at our day, tribute 
to his memory from the land of heroes and 
sages. 

Amid the shades and toils of a country home 
were those talents and virtues ripened and 
perfected which give such a halo to the name 
of Washington ; and after his great deeds 
were well done, and a grateful people would 
have continued to lavish honours upon him, he 
put them aside and sought repose and satis- 
faction in the same congenial scenes. 

The foregoing remarks have borne upon the 
improving moral influence of agricultural pur- 
suits and the habits of life incident to them, 
and if there be any truth or pertinence in 
them, every improvement in the science or 
practice of farming by which it is rendered 
more attractive or profitable to those already 
engaged in it, or by which a motive is furnish- 
ed to others to engage in it, is a public benefit. 

If there be a natural tendency in the habits, 



occupations and circumstances of a farmer's 
life to preserve and cherish the better feelings 
of the heart, it is an argument fur the propri- 
ety and necessity of a spirit of earnestness in 
every effort to elevate this pursuit to its proper 
rank by all the aids which research "or enlight- 
ened experiment can afford. Because every 
improvement in agriculture would be an ad- 
vance in the real prosperity of the people, not 
only augmenting their financial resources, but 
increasing their moral elevation. 

In tracing, on the other hand, the imfluence 
which is exerted over this pursuit by the moral 
tone either of the individual or the class, it is 
safe to affirm that in general there is a con- 
nection, noLdoubtful and uncertain, but unva- 
rying and sure between good morals and suc- 
cessful business of whatever sort. All expe- 
rience attests the truth of this assertion, and 
it always will attest the same, for it is only 
the fulfilment of an irreversible decree which 
links together national righteousness and na- 
tional prosperity. Nor is it at all difficult to 
find an explanation for this, when we consider 
that from the same fountain from which ema- 
nated that code of laws which is the only 
standard of pure morality, also emanates every 
physical influence and energy ; and that it 
would be impossible that the outward tokens 
of Divine favour could be continuously given 
to vicious principles and practices. This code 
of laws (our standard of morality) was given 
to a nation of agriculturists, at least to a na- 
tion about to become so, and though its mi- 
nute details were given doubtless for the special 
direction of a particular people, their instruc- 
tions are interesting and useful to all people ; 
for they are but the elaboration and applica- 
tion to particular cases of the ten great statutes 
which are the foundation of the constitutional 
law of all enlightened nations. 

Among these details we often find admoni- 
tions which are designed to keep in exercise 
habits of temperance, diligence, justice, mercy, 
truth, and love, and the accompanying assur- 
ance of abounding prosperity in the fulfil- 
ment of such conditions. 

When these people at' their harvest seasons 
reaped but ten measures where twenty were 
looked for, or from their presses drew out 
but twenty vessels where they looked for fifty, 
a message comes to .assure them that their 
blasted hopes were the rewards of unrighteous- 
ness. In many of these injunctions, as, for 
instance, that of kind usage to the slave and 
the brute, the operation of the principle is 
natural and evident, because their permanent 
health and power to labour are dependent upon 
such treatment. 

To show that the conditions of personal and 
national prosperity are still the same, a fact 
may be adduced which is of decided import 
on this subject. In one of our Southern States 
the principle has been fairly tested whether 
the temporal interest is promoted or hindered 



503 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



by a disregard of the Sabbath law of rest. 
For a period, it was not uncommon there to 
deny the slave and brute this rest and re- 
freshment- It was invariably found that the 
amount of labour performed by those to whom 
the Sabbalh rest was denied was less, and also 
that their lives were shortened under such a 
system. 

Here is an effect that can be weighed and 
measured, or whose value can be computed in 
dollars and cents. 

If it were possible to make the same test in 
regard to any of the principles of a high and 
pure morality, it cannot be doubted that the 
result would be uniformly the same; for they 
are not arbitrarily imposed, but are given for 
the security of the highest and best interests 
of the human race. 

In further illustration of this subject, it may 
be observed that the pursuit of agriculture in 
all countries, receives in common with all other 
lawful occupations, a forward impulse from the 
introduction and spread of Christianity, and 
that a reciprocal influence begins immediately 
to work, showing itself in the multiplication of j 
schools and churches, which become fountains [ 
of mental and moral influence and elevation. 

In the dissemination of these principles, are 
sown those seeds of righteousness, which are! 
to fill the earth with the fruits of prosperity j 
and joy ; and the peaceful employments as well j 
as dispositions of the regenerated inhabitants 
of earth seem to be hinted at in that. language 
which foretels the transformation of swords 
into plough-shares and spears into pruning- 
hooks, while the glad returns of their holy 
labours are shadowed forth in the panoramas 
of dry and thirsty lands being filled with 
water springs, and the deserts made to blossom 
as the rose. 

M. G. L. 



Dwarf Pear Culture. 

BY JOHN B. EATON, BUFFALO, N. Y. . 

Mr. Allen's recent article on this subject, i^ 
is to be expected, will create an awakening 
among the advocates of the quince stock. I 
observe, indeed, that one of the Cincinnatians 
is already aroused in its defence. I am a 
neighbour of Mr, Allen's, (although some 
miles distant from his orchard,) and have for 
several years had charge of one of the orchards 
to which he alludes, as having been planted 
nearly at the same time as his own. As I do 
not quite agree to all his propositions, (or 
rather conclusions.) I will give my "experi- 
ence," as he has done. 

My late father was the pioneer in the culture 
of dwarf pears in this vicinity ; he having 
purchased and planted in the autumn of 1844 
upwards of one hundred ami thirty pears, most 
of which were dwarfs. At that time there 
was but a single dwarf tree in the neighbour- 
hood, which had not, I think, then fruited. 



The trees gave indication of succeeding well 
and fruiting abundantly ; and their numbers 
were annually increased by successive plant- 
ings until they formed quite a respectable col- 
lection, embracing at one time over four hun- 
dred trees, and more than one hundred varie- 
ties, chiefly on the quince. The grounds con- 
taining a diversity of soils and exposures, a 
difference was soon perceptible in the growth 
of the trees ; and on a gravelly elevation in 
particular, it was extremely difficult to force 
them to grow, and they would not be coaxed. 
In fine, we have had a varied experience, some- 
what resembling Mr. Allen's, in its principal 
features, but far less discouraging, and want- 
ing the fatal termination of his. Very many 
of the trees have done ivell ! while many again 
have died. A large number perished with the 
blight during two or three years ; but of late 
it has quite disappeared. Quite a number 
failed from some cause which I could not at 
first determine, but afterwards satisfied myself 
that it was from being worked upon an unsuit- 
able stock, probably the common quince. 

After thirteen years' experience, I am satis- 
fied that dwarf pear culture can be made pro- 
fitable: but that it requires the following con- 
ditions in order to make it so : The soil must 
be strong and rich, and kept in good condition 
by manuring. It must be well cultivated, and 
not laid down to grass. The trees should be 
planted as closely as- possible — say six by 
twelve feet apart — and they must be pruned. 
If not carefully pruned once or twice each 
year, they will undoubtedly run to wood in- 
stead of fruit; and not only that, but their 
heads, instead of branching at one or two feet 
from the ground as they should, will be at 
standard height, and the trees being top-heavy 
will be continually blowing out of the ground, 
requiring an infinite quantity of labour and 
trouble to keep them in an upright position. 

As Mr. Rivers well expresses the idea in his 
last article, " it should be strictly a pear gar- 
den, not a grass orchard," and in this nutshell 
lies much of the truth of the whole matter. 

Of the six pears of which Mr. Rivers se- 
lects, I should not place much reliance upon 
either Beurre d'Amalis or Vicar of Winkfield, 
(or Le Cure :) having rarely eaten one of the 
former which was of good flavour, and never 
one of the latter which was more than passable. 

I have much confidence in Louise Bonne, 
Beurre Diel, and Easter Beurre, but do not 
consider Duchesse d'Angouleine as always re- 
liable, although from its magnificent size and 
fine flavour, one can afford sometimes to have 
but a few specimens. 

I should add to the above list with great con- 
fidence, Belle Lucrative, and Surpasse Virga- 
lian, both of which are of the highest flavour, 
and, so far as I have seen, good bearers. 

If I were now to plant a pear orchard, I 
should arrange the rows in quincunx order, 
ten feet apart ; placing standards at intervals 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



509 



of about fifteen feet, filling the alternate spaces 
with dwarfs. I would prune every one of them 
rigorously in pyramid form, until the stan- 
dards encroached so much upon the dwarfs, as 
to render the removal of the latter expedient, 
when the former might be allowed to grow 
more at large. In this way I have no doubt 
that, by selecting varieties judiciously, a fine 
return would be made to the planter. 

[Horticulturist for July. 



THE TULEYBIES, ITS AETESIAN 
WELL, GRAIN. &C. 

Yesterday we came through the elegant 
property of Col. Joseph Tuley of this county. 
First we halted at the well which is being sunk 
for a constant supply of running water. This 
well was begun in the bottom of an old one 
sixty-four feet deep. And they have now at- 
tained to the astonishing depth of five hundred 
and sixty-five feet. The rock has been con- 
tinuous, though changing its character several 
times. At first there was the blue limestone ; 
then many kinds and colors of sandstone, next 
came a gray limestone, and then a blue, and 



an important operation, inasmuch as it at once 
clears the farm of rock, saves the timber and 
avoids the necessity of making rails — the rails 
which are replaced by the stone being amply 
sufficient for all the purposes of refitting the 
old rail fence. Perhaps more attention should 
be given by others to this branch of far m 
culture. 

[ Clarke Journal. 



Spayed Cows—Important to Dairymen. 
It is well known to dairymen that the 
milk of cows is liable to great changes, 
owing to the condition of the cow previ- 
ous to and during the period of gestation. 
Milk taken from a cow while in heat, 
must be unhealthy and injurious to chil- 
dren and others who partake of it, and it 
can hardly be less so during the period of 
gestation. It would seem unnatural to 
take milk from cows during the more ad- 
vanced stage of this period, as is often 
the case. Spaying has been but little 



finally a gray of the hardest quality. In the [practiced in this country, but where it has 

been adopted it has proved of great value, 
not only while the cows gave milk, but 
when they were turned out to fatten. 
The operation is not a difficult one to a 
person familiar with the anatomy of the 
cow, and may be easily learned by any one 
who will give the subject due attention. 

The following facts are given by M. 
Delamare, proprietor of an extensive milk 
establishment in Paris : 



first, four feet a day could be attained ; in the 
intermediate lamina as much as six at times, 
then again two and two and a half in this 
hardest gray rock. The geological formation 
of the earth in these parts might well be as- 
certained from this well. Specimens of the 
different lamina should be carefully preserved. 
The drill is two inches and a half in diameter. 
The washings have been brought up by water 
from the different fissures, so that there has 
been no necessity of pumping. It is thought 
running water will be attained after a while, 
and perhaps it will spout twenty feet out at 
the top. If so, this will be a great curiosity 
as is already this wonderful estate. The run- 
ning water from this well it is thought will 
add ten thousand dollars to the value of the 
property. The operation of boring or drilling 
proceeds very smoothly, and for aught that ap- 
pears the crust of the earth might be bored 
through and let out either fire or flood. 

The wheat* which Col. Tuley has in cultiva- 
tion is another curiosity. The astonishing 
breadth of eight hundred acres has he to harvest. 
And such wheat as it is, — is only equalled in 
this garden spot of the earth — Clarke County. 
Fallen down, and tangled and matted — too 
heavy to stand up — it presents an astonishing- 
appearance. One field is of a beautiful new 
French variety, for a year or too earefully nur- 
tured in the Colonel's garden, called the Noe 
wheat. This is a fine large vigorous looking 
wheat, as thick as possible, but struck with 
rust — like too much of the other, we are sorry 
to say — partly from being so luxuriant the air 
could not penetrate. The Colonel also has 
over twelve miles of stone fencing on his farm 
and continues to construct. This he considers 



THE MILK OF SPAYED COWS, 

" The milk is produced from cows 
which, after the fifth or sixth gestation, 
and five or six weeks after calving, under- 
go an operation which consists in the re- 
moval of the ovaries, thus rendering the 
cows henceforth incapable of reproduc- 
tion* * From this time, as happens to the 
ox, the animal changes in its nature and 
its milk, which we have named milk of 



* The spaying of cows was known in remote 
antiquity. In modern times the practice dates 
back about twenty-five years, with the design to 
increase the quality of milk in cows. In 1830, 
Mr. Winn, Natchez, Miss., applied it with ad- 
vantage in the production of milk. Mr. Winn 
proceeded by the cesarian operation, which is 
still practiced in the U. S. ; but it presents seri- 
ous difficulties, resulting occasionally in the 
death of the animal. In France. M. Charlier, 
Veterinary Surgeon, executes the operation with- 
out external incision, and renders the chances of 
mortality much less. 



510 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



spayed cows, is free from all perturbations. 
The spayed cow does not undergo those 
disturbances arising from being in heat, 
from gestation and peiturbation, she is 
free from those many causes which pro- 
duce such evil effects in the quality of the 
milk. 

"In this new condition her milk be- 
comes regulated, and, which is important 
to the farmer, lactation is maintained in 
full quantity, for a year at least, and is 
prolonged, diminishing in quantity, but in- 
creasing in quality, two and even three 
years when she is not too old, and is 
properly kept. When lactation has ceased, 
the cow, which has by a quiet and re- 
posed life become considerably increased 
in flesh, may be delivered to the butcher 
in perfect condition, and the meat is supe- 
rior to that of ordinary cows. By gener- 
alizing the spaying of cows, after the fifth 
or sixth gestation, there would be intro- 
duced into common use milk of an irre- 
proachable quality. 

" The milk of spayed cows gives more 
cream than ordinary milk. It is also 
richer in casein, which constitutes — a fact 
not generally known — the most nourish- 
ing part of milk. The butter extracted 
directly from the milk is delicious in taste ; 
it testifies to the amount and richness of 
the casein it contains. This milk offers 
precious resources for the artificial raising 
of infants ; it might be asserted that they 
will be better nourished ; for the nourish- 
ment of infants, who give it the preference 
over other milk, we do not doubt that the 
mik of spayed cows will be principally 
used. 

" Such is the milk introduced by M. 
Delamarre at his establishment for con- 
sumption." 

Crops and Seasons. 

From our Barnwell correspondent we have 
a late letter on these fruitful subjects. He 
writes : 

We are still not satisfied with the condition of 
the season. We have had the winds of March 
blowing freely, for some time past, and the 
dews of night and evening have been quite 
too cool to be altogether grateful to the young 
cotton. It grows less rapidly than we could 
wish ; and the exceeding dryness of the 
weather is beginning to tell unfavorably upon 
the more arid fields. The coolness of the 
nights is particularly well calculated to en- 
courage the ravages of that loathsome little 
marauder, the cut-worm. lie is terribly active 



upon the tender plant while the cool weather 
compels his activity. We need a warm spell 
to hasten his departure, or, as the negroes 
phrase it, " make him go down/' They fancy 
he descends, but not to those warmer regions 
which make them tremble with apprehension. 
He goes into cooler latitudes. In the planting 
of cotton, when there is no scarcity of seed, 
there is provision for him. Enough is planted 
to satisfy his voracity, yet enable the planter to 
secure a sufficient stand for himself. It is 
quite a beautiful trait of agricultural humani- 
ty, that of making provision even for the ma- 
rauder. You remember the old doggerel 
touching the planting of corn : 

"Would you sow a crop, 
Then in every chop, 
Five grains should you drop." 

The reasons are thus given : 

"One for the cut-worm, 
One for the crow, 
One for the little bird, 
And two to grow." 

But the rascally crow, and the scoundrelly 
cut-worm, are rarely content with this allow- 
ance. They will sweep the entire hill, and 
long rows of hills ; making terrible ravage — 
the one in early morning, the other in the si- 
lence of the night. And it is not merely cut- 
worm and crow — the whole tribe of birds and 
beasts prey upon the farmer, and rebuke his 
vanity and discourage his boasting confidence. 
The squirrel roots up his corn, rice and pota- 
toes, as well as the crow. Even the dove be- 
comes a thief in the opening of the season. 
He may be meek and timid, and sleek and sen- 
timental, but " he's sly/' and will slip into the 
corn fields, and in between the rice drills, and 
practice his peccadillos as d-exterously as birds 
of a much worse character. The farmer, who 
has his gun read}'' for the crow, and hawk, and 
squirrel, relents knocking over the dove, who, 
at this season, walks in his paths with a trust- 
ing confidence which disarms his anger for a 
long time ; but if he ever takes him in the act, 
then will he fiercely ruffle his feathers with 
small shot. The black bird, the red bird, and 
many others, are supposed to be rogues in 
grain also. The negroes sing: 

" De black bird is de parson tief, 
De red bird is de sodger horn ; 
De black coat and de red coat, bote (both) 
Jis' (just) come for tief we people corn." 

I say, it is a beautiful proof of agricultural hu- 
manity that, loathing the character of these 
scamps in professional garments, the benevo- 
lent farmer still makes provision for them. 
He reasons we may presume, somewhat in this 
fashion : 

"God's sun shines equally on all — the just 
and unjust — the good and bad ; the honest 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



511 



worker, and the prowling buccaneer. Shall 
we not take our lessons from God's example, 
and do something for these profligates also ? 
They are rogues, but they must feed; rogues 
in grain, but weed corn: young hawks must 
be fed." And so he sows five grains of corn 
in the hill, when he needs but two to grow ; 
plants fifty seeds of cotton in the chop, when he 
requires but a single stalk, or at most, two, — 
This, my dear Mercury, is a benevolent phi- 
lanthropy, which you citizens rarely adopt. 
Take a lesson, hereafter, from one of our sim- 
ple farmers, who recognize the necessity of 
letting the rascals live, if only as a foil, by 
which to show off the superior virtues of your 
honest citizens. It is so pleasant to hear vir- 
tue congratulating herself on being quite 
unlike these wretched publicans and sinners ! 
See the Christianity, as well as charity, of the 
doctrine ! Now, that your people have all be- 
come so virtuous, perhaps you need a consign- 
ment of doubtful characters. There are a few 
squatters in these parts, who require grain as 
fully, and who appreciate it ns unscrupulously, 
as the crows and cut-worms. A few of these 
in your city, now, would be admirable subjects 
of curious study to those who are so ignorant 
of the character. It is a pity that you should 
not possess a few specimens of depraved hu- 
manity, if only to teach your young students — 
who revolt so often at the despotism which re- 
quires discipline where it is not required — 
what rare characteristics may still be found 
among less virtuous and more remote races. 

With one more illustration of the philan- 
thropy which is taught by agricultural life, I 
shall finish my scroll. The same farm-yard 
doggerel which prescribes five grains to each 
hill, in order that marauders, even, should 
have a share, pays some similar heed to be- 
nevolence, in setting eggs. Thus : 

"Fifteen eggs under every hen, 
Out of them you may reckon on ten : 
Ten young chickens ; the proper spoil, 
To please the palate, and pay for the toil, 
Growing for fricassee, roast and boil : 
Three for the pip, the staggers and grip : 
Two for the hawk — if he comes for a third, 
Give him a bullet, and bag your bird." 

Did you ever hear of the dialogue between 
the hawk and partridge? "Why do you 
always fly from me and hide under "the 
briars?" quoth the hawk. "I am not your 
enemy ! On the contrary, I am a great lover 
of all your family ! Besides, my morals are 
unquestionable ! I am a truly pious bird ! 
my very motto is from the Bible." " Ah, in- 
deed," answered the partridge : " and what is 
that?" "Watch and prey." "A very good 
motto, replied the partridge. "Well, I admire 
your morals, but curse your orthography !" 
Please apply this to your virtuous sinners, 
who serve Mammon under the name of Je- 



hova — who too often mean prey, when they 
say pray — i. e., if it be possible to find any 
such among you. — Charleston Mercury, May 
20ih. 



BOMS. 

The efficiency of bones when applied as ma- 
nure, depends upon a variety of circumstances. 
In the first place, the bones of man and ani- 
mals consists of a certain animal substance, 
denominated gelatine, with certain inorganic 
matters. This gelatine is sometimes extracted, 
and used in the manufacture of glue. In this 
process of separation, the residuum is com- 
posed of the inorganic salts, which are so abun- 
dant or in such preponderating proportions to 
the other matter, that calcination does not de- 
stroy the original form of the bone, which re- 
mains the same after having been submitted to 
the fire, as before. It loses nothing by being 
burned, but its gelatine ; though it appears 
more white, loses, of course, a portion of its 
original weight, and is more brittle and pul- 
verable. In the bones of the mammalia and 
of man, the average amount of organic mat- 
ter, is from 32 to 33 per cent. Of this about 
five per cent, is nitrogen ; the remaining 67 or 
66 per cent, consisting mainly of phosphates. 
(52 to 57 per cent.) 

Berzelius presents the following analysis of 
bones : — 

Bones 
Human Bones, of an Ox. 
Animal matter (gelatine) 33.30 33.30 
Soda and common salt, 1.20 2.55 

Carbonate of lime, 11.30 3.85 

Phosphate of lime, 51.04 55.45 

Thoride of calcium, _ 2.00 2.90 

Phosphate of magnesia, 1.16 2.05 



100.00 100.00 
Pelzholdt, in remarking upon the efficiency 
of bones, when applied as manure, says : — 

" It might be supposed that the nitrogen 
contained in the gelatine of bones, imparts to 
them their power of fertilising the soil. Expe- 
rience, however, has proved that bones calcined 
and thus entirely deprived of their gelatine, 
act more advantageously on the soil than bones 
in their natural state. The presence of the 
nitrogenous organic substances of the bones, 
therefore, must be considered to act as an ob- 
stacle to the rapid manifestation of their ferti- 
lizing influence. The phosphates of bones can 
only become capable of being assimilated by 
plants after the destruction of the organic sub- 
stance by decay or putrefaction. This de- 
structive process may be exceedingly protract- 
ed in bones, and may make their application 
as manure, in their uncalcined state, utterly 
inadmissible for the purpose of manure." 

On every farm there is usually more or less 
of bones to be found, and these should be 
saved and applied to the soil. By dissolving 



512 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



them in sulphuric acid, or very strong alkali, 
or by placing them in the compost heap, after 
dividing them by the hammer or axe, they will 
be converted to a valuable use, and at small 
expense. Ground bones, or crushed bones, 
which in some localities can be purchased of 
regular dealers in the article, are one of the 
best fertilizers known. Their beneficial effects 
upon the turnip crop have secured for them a 
very high degree of popularity in Europe, and 
from the same cause, they are beginning to be 
appreciated in this country. 

As one of the principal advantages result- 
ing from the application of bones to the soil, 
are derivable from the supply of phosphates, 
the bones of the scaly tribe, which contain a 
a variable per centage of phosphates, are also 
valuable, though in a less degree, than the 
bones of animals. The following table shows 
the amount of phosphates in the bones of the 
several kinds of fishes named : — 

Per cent, of Phosphates. 
Pike ... 54 

Codfish, ... 50 

Shark, ... 33 

The teeth of shark, 53 

Shells of the Crustacas, 
Lobsters, Crabs, &c, 
Crab's claws, - 14 

Oyster Shells, - - 1.2 

W. P. B. 
\_Gcrmantoivn Telegraph. 



5.7 



From the Germantown Telegraph 

The Sun-Flower. 

Among the many productions of the 
garden, the sun-flower still, in many places, 
holds a prominent place. It is regarded 
with a sentiment aimost of religious ven- 
eration by some, and is nourished with a 
degree of care and scrupulous attention 
bestowed upon no other plant that can be 
named in the floral catalogue. And }'et, 
it is not elegant — it is not valuable, for very 
few make any use of it whatever. Lately 
much has been said, written and published 
in favor of its cultivation as a field crop, 
the seed being replete with a bland and 
valuable oil, which is said to afford an ex- 
cellent substitute for sperm and linseed in 
burning and painting. It has also been 
ascertained by experiments carefully con- 
ducted, and most conclusive in their re- 
sults, that it (the seed) possesses highly 
nutritious properties, and is susceptible of 
being used economically as a food for 
sviine, hens, and other domestic fowls. 

A friend who is an experimental as well 
as practical agriculturist, in a letter now 
before me, laudatory of this plant, says: 



" The more I see of the sun-flower the 
more I am confident of its decided claim 
upon popular attention. Any soil capable 
of producing a tolerable crop of Indian 
corn, will secure a good yield of sun-flower 
seed. The cultivation of the two are strict- 
ly identic from first to last ; but the sun- 
flower, while it does not exhaust the soil in 
any greater degree than that occasioned 
by the corn plant, will, if judiciously man- 
aged, produce nearly double qauntity of 
crop. This is not the crude unqualified 
assertion of a mere eutopian theorist, but 
actual fact. Any one can demonstrate 
its correctness who will but make the trial. 
At first, I was induced to be somewhat 
skeptical, and the more so, perhaps, from 
never having heard of its being used in 
feeding animals by any one. In order, 
however, to supply the basis of a perfectly 
legitimate appreciation of its merits, I com- 
menced cultivating it — on a limited scale 
at first — and studying its physiological 
peculiarities and habitudes with as much 
care as the naturalist regards the move- 
ments of a newly-discovered insect. I 
planted in " waste places," in the corners 
of fields, by the side of the lane, and, in- 
deed, wherever a few seeds could be got 
into the soil. The result of this com- 
mencement was hjodjly satisfactory, and 
since that time j|^a season has gone by 
in which I ha^jfnot raised and fed more 
or less of the wK|fc-my field crop often 
amounting to one hundred and fifty bush- 
els, and equal in value for feeding domes- 
tic animals to nearly double that quantity 
of corn. The details of the practice I 
have seen fit to adopt, I must reserve for 
a future communication." 

It is sincerely to be hoped that those 

who possess the means of giving this plant 

a fair trial, will not fail to do so. vV. 

Lancaster County, July 2, 1858. 



Tiie Borer.— Mr. Travis, ofNatick, Mass 
states that a mixture of one part salt, two 
parts fresh slacked lime, and two parts of soft 
soap, applied to the lower limbs and the body 
of the apple tree, after first scraping the tree 
gently, will prevent the borer from depositing 
its eggs in the bark. It should be applied 
about the middle of April. He states that the 

success of this remedy is complete. 

— — *»•»■* — 

Freckles may be removed by the following 
ingredients made into awash: One ounce of 
rectified spirits of wine, a teaspoonful of mu- 
riatic acid, applied with a camel's hair pencil 
two or three times a day. 



% 




VOL. XVIIL 



[SEPTEMBER] 



No. 9. TG£ 



Published Monthly. August <fc Williams, Peopeietoes. 



J. E. WILLIAMS, Editor 



TH E 







DEVOTED TO 



AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE. 



AND THE 



HOUSEHOLD ARTS. 



PRINTED AT RICHMOND, Va., 
BY MACi'AELANE & FERGUSSON. 

1858. 

iiiii i a i i 1 1. »m i n i ii i mm '\ „ m n m iimimnm m i Wm li i i 'ffiiH 




\K->\ i 



SOUTHERN PLANTER.— ADVERTISING SHEET. 



CONTENTS, 

Agriculture and Commerce, - 513 
The State of New York Regarded in the 

Light of an Experimental Farm, - 514 
Pasture Lands, - - - 515 
Back Galls on Horses, - - 516 
Coffee, - - - 517 
Suckers Among Corn — Query, - 518 
Prizing Tobacco, - - 519 
Green Crops for Manure, - - 520 
Capped Hocks, - - - 520 
A First-Rate Whitewash, - - 521 
Rainy Days' Employment, - - 522 
Do Potatoes Mix in the Hill ? - 522 
Preserving Fence Posts — Striped Bugs, - 523 
Cotton Cultivation in Africa, - 524 
Wonders of Boiling Water, - - 524 
Grape Vine and its Culture, - - 526 
A Chapter on Strawberries, - - 527 
Progress of English Agriculture, - 530 
Sugar — Theory of High Prices, - 536 
Vegetable Physiology, - - 538 
Something of Plants, and How they Live, 547 
The Lives of Eminent Men, - - 554 
Early Ripening Wheat, - - 555 
Facts About Milk, - - 550 
Overseer's Rules, - * 557 
The Farmer, - - - 558 
Exports of Wheat to England* * 558 
A Paper on Swine, - - 559 
The Life of a Farmer— Healthful, Pleas- 
ant, Profitable and Honorable, - 560 
Differences in Soils, - - 561 
Common Errors of Farmers, - - 562 
Charcoal for Firing Tobacco* - 565 
Experiments in Pulling Fodder and Cut- 
ting Tops. — Explanatory, - - 567 
Value of Agricultural Papers, - 568 
Information W anted, &c, &c. - 568 
To Postmasters and Others, &c, - 568 
The Impropriety of Breaking Roots of 

Growing Crops, - - 569 

Tobacco Exchange, ■* - 570 

A Few Words to Young Farmers, - 573 

The Soil, . - - - 575 

Boiling Potatoes, - - 576 

To Preserve Dried Fruit from Moths, - 576 



ADVERTISEMENTS 

Will be inserted at the following ratt>s: 
Business Cards of 5 lines or less, per annum, 
1st insertion, 
Each continuance, 



One-ei|hth 
of a column. 



One fourth of 
a column, 



One-half of a 
column, 



One column, 
or Half a page 



One page, 



6 months, ) without 
$ alt 



12 •* $ alteration, 

let insertion. 

Each continuance, 

6 months, ) without - 

12 " 5 alteration, 

1st insertion, 
Each continuance, 
6 months, > wfthout 

12 " ) alterations, 

1st insertion, 
Each continuance, 
6 months, ) without 

12 " $ alteration, 

1st insertion, 
Each continuance, 
6 months, > without 

12 " S alteration, 

Advertisements out of the city must he accompa- 
nied with the money or city references to insure inser- 
tion 



$5 00 
1 00 

. 75 

4 no 

7 50 
1 75 

1 25 
7 50 

14 00 

3 26 

2 50 
14 00 
25 00 

6 00 

4 50 
25 00 
40 00 
10 00 

7 50 
40 00 
70 00 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 
Is published monthly, in sixty-four octavo pages, 
upon the following Terms: 

TWO DOLLARS AND FIFTV CENTS per an- 
num, unless paid in advance. 

Advance payments as follows : 
One copy, one year, - - $2 

Six copies, do - • - 10 

Thirteen copies, one year, - 20 

Twenty do do - - 110 

One copy, three years, - - • 5 

And one copy tree to persons sending us the names 
and money for thirteen or more new subscribers. 

All money remitted to us will he considered at our 
risk only, when the letter containing the same shall 
luvi been registered. Tins rule is adopted not tor our 
protection, it ut for the protection of our correspondents, 
and we wish it distinctly understood that we take the 
ii*k only »vhin this erudition i* troriiplind with. 



CUANO. GUANO, 

Having secured our supplies of Guano, we are now 
prepared to furnish FARMERS. PLANTERS. COM- 
MISSION MERCHANTS and DEALERS with all 

the various descriptions of known value and estab- 
lished reputation ; we nan:. 

.1 No. 1 PERUVIAN GUANO, 

Of the very last direct importation into this market, 
and delivered from the agents' warehouse, containing 
the very large and unusual percentage ol 16.65 Am- 
monia and 29.50 of Phosphate of Lime, being the car- 
go of the ship VOLANT. 

CALIFORNIA (or Elide Island GUANO, 
Of direct importation, and now Innding from ship 
"EMPRESS OF THE SEAS," containing 10 per 
ct. of Ammonia and 25 per ct. of Phosphate of Lime- 

A A B&OWN MEXICAN GUANO. 

Very superior and dry, containing til per centum of 
Phosphate of Lime; the best cargo in the market. 

A A NAVAS8A GUANO, 

containing 70 per cent, of Phosphate of Lime, put u]t 
in hags. Also, 

DE BURG'S GENUINE SVPER-PHOS- 
PHA TE 

received direct from the agent, C. M. Stewart, Esq. 

All of the above are inspected and weighed by the 
State Inspector, and branded h* him. 

For sale at very low*».*t pj-j ps in inn i|iiantities. 

J3P 5 " A liberal deduction n de to ( omnii^siou Mer- 
chants and Clubs piiii'h)isuii> _ ,1,1 ll s, 

r. vi \i com iV co., 

Warehouse. Wood st., Howlv's Wharf, 



September I85M — L't 



I'.ilhinore. 



FRUIT TREES k SHRUBBERY. 

SOUTHED GREENWOOD MillSEKV, 

Having on baud a choice vorieivof FRCIT TREES 



of my own raising mid grul ins; 
transplanting.! respectful h . 
public to them 

My Ninst.Rv is located one 
. it from the Old Market. \vh 
in showing them. 

All orders nddn f -■■■\ to, i I led ut in; 
Van Lew, Taylor & Co.. Ni ! ' Main 
Va.. or mvseif. will meet with prompt 

S#pt 1 86S — < LEW 



sufficiently lar 
II the attention 

ind a half miles 
e I will take ph 



: . -rents, M 
St., Rich i 

IS TI.'DOR 



ml.