. 






VOL. XIX. 



[MAY.] 



No. 5. Tf>* 



Published Monthly. August & Williams, Pbopribtoes. 



J. E. WILLIAMS, Editor. 



TH E 







DEVOTED TO 



AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE 



AND THE 



HOUSEHOLD ARTS. 




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

1809. 




SOUTHERN PLANTER.— ADVERTISING SHEET. 



CONTENTS. 

An Essay on the Cultivation of Indian Com 

on Clay Soils of tlie Valley. - - 257 

Tobacco the Bane of Virginia Husbandry, 264 
The Guano Controversy, or Vegetable Phy- 
siology, ..--- 266 
Effects of Sub-Soil Plowing, - - 20 1 .) 

Asphalt — Composition Rooting, - - 270 

Handling Horses while being Shod, - 271 

Fast Horses Agriculturally Considered, - 271 
Mourning Customs. Cause of Frog Showers, 273 
Hot Beds — Progressive Management, - 274 

Brilliant Stucco Whitewash, - - 274 

Pruning Apple Trees, etc., - - - 275 

An Essay on Horizontal Plowing and Hill- 
Side Ditching, m - - - - 270 
Hints to Farmers," .... 290 
The Dairy, ----- 291 
Horizontal Culture and Hill-Side Furrows, - 299 
New American Style of Cottages and Villas 300 
Experiments with Sombrero Guano, - 301 
Fruit Growing. Ornamental Gardening, - 302 
Guano, - - • • - 305 
The Valley of the Rappahannock, - 30(5 
A New Book. '-Onions, and How to Raise 

Them." American Veterinary Journal, 307 
Deep Sea Telegraph. Our Agents, - 307 

University of Virginia, - - - 308 

Nottoway Club, - - - - 309 

An Essay on the Use of Compost Manures 

in Seeding Wheat with the Drill, &c, - 312 
Decoration for Houses, - - - 314 

Death of Professor Low, - - - 315 

Rotation and Deep Soil — A Corn Experi- 
ment, ----- 31G 
Domestic Receipts, - 317 
Edmund Burke's Idea of a Perfect Wife, - 318 
What the Earth Gives Up, - - - 318 
Paint to Endure. Analysis of the Sweet 

Potato, - -'■'•- - - 319 

Cottage Song. Better Late than Never, - 320 
The Child of James Melville, - -320 



AYER'S 



fy 



SARSAPARILLA, 



Mowing and Reaping Machine Agency, 

633 Market Street, PHILADELPHIA. 
Where Farmers may se and judge for themselves 
netween SEVEN of the b*s1 Combined Mowers and 
Reapers now in use, and purchase the machine ol 
heir choice. Lei lets ol inquiry, and timely orders 
will receive our prompt at ten I ton. 
April 59-3t EMLEN & PASSMORE. 



R. M. NIMMO, 
GENERAL AGENT & STOREKEEPER 

OF THE 

VIRGINIA PKNFEENTIAM, 

Ac; 27 PEAltL STREET. 
Keeps constantly on hand a supply of the 
following article* manufactured ill the Tcuiieuliar.v ol 
the most faithlul and substantial manner: BOOTS 
SHOES, BKOCUES, HARNESS, KEllSEVS 
LLNSEVS, COTTONS. BA4JS, W.UiUSS, CARTS, 
WHEELBARROWS, AXES, &c. 

Ordore Promptly Kxocutod. 
No* 1853— \i 



A compound remedy, in which we have 
labored lo produce the most effectual 
alterative that can he made. It is u 
concentrated extract of Turn Sarsapa- 
rilla so combined with other substances 
of still greater alterative power as to afford an effective 
antidote for the diseases Sarsaparilla is reputed to 
cure. It is believed that such u remedv is wanted by 
those who suffer from Strumous complaints, and that 
one which will accomplish their cure must prove of 
immense service to this large class of our afflicted fel- 
low-citizens. How completely this compound will do 
it has been proven bv experiment on munv of the 
worst cases to he found of the following complaints : 

Scrofula and Scrofulous Complaints, Eruptions and 
Eruptive Diseases, Ulcers, Pimples, Blotches. Tumors, 
Salt Rheum, Scald Head, Syphilis nod Syphilitic Af- 
fections, Mercurial Disease, Dropsy, Neuralgia or Tic 
Douloureux, Debility, Dyspepsia and Indigestion, Ery- 
sipelas, Rose or St. Anthony's Fire, and indeed the 
whole class of complaints arising from Impurity of 
the blood. 

This compound will be found a greater promoter of 
health, when taken in the spring, to expel the foul 
humors which fester in the blood at that seuson of the 
year. By the timely expulsion of them maiiv rank- 
ling disorders are nipped in the bud. Multitudes can, 
by aid of this remedy, spare themselves from the en- 
durance ol foul eruptions and ulcerous sores, through 
which the svstem will strive to rid itself of corruptions, 
if not assisted to do this through the natural channels 
of the body by an altera live medicine. Cleanse out 
the vitiated blood whenever yen find its imp mil res 
bursting through the skin in pimples, eruptions, or 
sores; cleanse it when you find it is obstructed and 
sluggish in the veins ; dense it whenever it i* foul, and 
your feeling's will tell you when. Even where 
no particular disorder is fell, people enjoy bet- 
ter health, and live longer, lor demising the hl>»od. 
Keep the blood dealt >y, and all is well; but with 
this pabulum of life disordered, there can he no la-t- 
ing health Sooner or later something must go wrong, 
and (he great machinery of life? is disordered or over- 
thrown. 

During late years the public have been misled by 
large hollies, pretending lo give a ijuari of Extinct of 
SarsapuriJIa for one dollar. Aiixt ol these have keen 
frauds upon the sick, tor they not onlv contain hide, 
if any. Sarsaparilla, but often no curative properties 
whatever. Hence, bitter and painful disappointment 
has folio weil the use of the vniions extracts ol Sar- 
saparilla which Hood the market, until i lie name itself 
is justly despised, and has become hvuou\ uions wiih 
imposition and cheat- Still we call this compound 
Sarsaparilla, and intend lo supply such a n-im dv as 
shall rescue the name from the load of 'obloquy which 
rests upon it. And we think we hive ground for be- 
lieving it has virtues which are irresistible In (he or- 
dinary run of the diseases it is intended to cure. In 
order to secure their complete eradication from the 
system, the remedy should he judiciously tukeu ac- 
cording lo directions on the bottle. 

PRKPARKD BV 

DR. J. C. AVER & CO., 

LOWELL. MASS. 
Price, $1 per Bottle. Six Bottles for $5. 
All our Remedies are for sale by 

PURCELL, LADD & CO., Richmond. 
And by all Druggists 



TH E 




Devoted to Agriculture, Horticulture, and the Household Arts. 



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

[Xkxopiiox. J the State. — Sully. 



J. E. WILLIAMS, Editor. 



AUGUST & WILLIAMS, Prop'rs. 



Vol. XIX. 



RICHMOND, VA., MAY, 1859. 



No. 5. 



From the Transactions of the Virginia Stale Jl%- 
ricultural Society. 

AN ESSAY 

On the Cultivation of Indian Corn on 

Clay Soils of the Valley. 

[A Premium of Twenty Dollars.] 

Indian corn,, with its tall and tapering 
stalk, its rich and graceful foliage, and its 
soft and brillant silk, is the most beautiful, 
as it is the most valuable crop cultivated by 
the Virginia farmer. And when we re- 
member that a large proportion of the 
bread consumed in this State is made from 
corn-meal, that corn is used almost exclu- 
sively for feeding the teams that perform 
the labour of the farm, that all the pork 
and a large amount of the beef annually 
made is fattened upon it ; and that in addi- 
tion to these various uses of the grain, the 
stalks and blades constitute an important 
and indispensable article of forage, we will 
be satisfied that the distinguished author 
of " Arator" did not overestimate its value 
when he declared it to be " meal, meat, 
and meadow." 

The design of this essay being to offer a 
few practical suggestions on the culture of 
this valuable grain, I shall confine myself 
in its preparation chiefly to deductions from 
my own experience and observation. 
17 



My experience being limited exclusively 
to a single county, (Augusta,) it is not my 
intention to recommend the mode described 
in this paper as either original, or the best ; 
yet a comparison of the various methods 
pursued in different sections of the State, 
may be the means of eliciting useful infor- 
mation upon the cultivation of this grain. 

Preparation of the Land. 

The first and perhaps most important 
step, in the cultivation of a crop of corn, is 
the preparation of the land for the recep- 
tion of the seed. And the manner in 
which this ought to be done, will depend 
in some degree upon the character of the 
soil. Light and sandy, or gravelly lands, 
do not require the same amount and kind 
of labour to bring them into proper condi- 
tion for planting, that is indispensably ne- 
cessary upon heavy and compact clay soils. 

Whilst the distinguishing characteristic 
of the " Valley" is its vast limestone for- 
mations, there yet exists much diversity in 
the soils of this part of the State. 

In this county there prevails to a con- 
siderable extent, what is denominated 
•' Slate lands," differing in some important, 
particulars from the other soils of this sect- 
tion. I know not what difference, if any, 
a chemical analysis would exhibit between 



258 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[May 



them and the limestone lands proper. Upon 
the slate lands no limestone is found, (or only 
in small quantities and of inferior quality,) 
they rest upon a substratum of slate, which 
doubtless contains a small quantity of lime, 
and probably a trace of magnesia. These 
lands differ from the other soils of the 
county, in being colder, heavier, more com- 
pact and tenacious. They also cover them- 
selves more readily with a thick sod of the in- 
digenous grasses, — the blue grass and green- 
sward thus constituting our finest grazing 
lands, as is shown by the fact that cattle 
fatten more rapidly upon them than upon 
any other kind. They are likewise excel- 
lent wheat lands, the crop, however, be- 
ing somewhat more liable to rust than upon 
lighter and warmer soils. But ample com- 
pensation is found for this drawback in the 
usually superior quality and larger yield of 
grain, and the greater freedom from the 
ravages of the hessian fly and joint-worm. 

The limestone lands are somewhat lighter 
and warmer, and rather better adapted to 
the growth of clover than the slate lands; 
and upon them, in consequence of their 
superior warmth, corn in the earlier part 
of the season exhibits a larger and more 
luxuriant growth, but it is doubtful whether 
the product in grain is greater than upon 
slate lands of like quality. 

In preparing for corn it is the usual, as 
it is the best method, to plow in a clover 
ley or sod, and in this county, upon clay 
lands, if they have remained unplowed 



three or four 



years, 



the indigenous will, in 



a great measure, have supplanted the arti- 
ficial grasses, thereby adding to the weight 
and richness of the sod. There are several 
reasons in favour of planting corn upon sod 
land, where practicable. In the first place, 
a large quantity of vegetable matter is re- 
turned to the soil, affording an abundant 
supply of food to the growing crop. And 
secondly, upon rolling and hilly lands it 
affords important aid in preventing washing 
and gullying by heavy falls of rain during 
the summer, the roots of the grasses com- 
posing the sod holding the soil together, 
and in a large degree increasing its absorb- 
ent capacity. 

In order to the successful cultivation of 
corn upon heavy clay lands, it is essential 
that they should be plowed in the winter. 
The process of freezing breaks down and 
pulverizes the tenacious clay-loam more ef- 
fectually than it can be done by any me- 



chanical means within reach of the farmer. 
In addition to the pulverization of the soil 
already mentioned, there are other rea- 
sons in favour of winter plowing deserving 
attention. 

At that season of the year the farmer 
has more leisure for this laborious opera- 
tion, and his teams are in better condition 
and more able to undergo severe labour 
than they are likely to be in the spring. 
Again, he is rarely interrupted by excess 
of moisture ; one of the great advantages 
of winter-plowing being found in the fact, 
that the land sustains no injury from being 
plowed wet, — it matters not how wet so the 
work can be well done. There are occa- 
sionally, it is true, in the winter a day or 
two at a time, when the land is so thorough- 
ly saturated with water that the work can- 
not be satisfactorily performed, the teams 
sinking fet-lock deep in the miry soil. 
But these occasions are of rare occurrence 
upon our heavy sod-lands. 

But if plowing upon the heavy clay 
soils of the Valley is postponed until spring, 
it is rarely that they are in proper order 
for the operation more than a day or two 
at a time — being either too wet or too dry, 
and if plowed in the former condition the 
land is made hard, compact and cloddy; 
in truth it is difficult to exagerate the evils 
of plowing such land in the spring or sum- 
mer. When too wet, and when too dry, 
the work can be but imperfectly performed, 
and that with great labour and injury to 
to the teams ; nor can the soil be brought 
into that fine tilth so congenial to the corn 
crop. This truth was illustrated the pres- 
ent year in my own practice. The plowing 
of a lot of heavy land that had been in 
corn the year previous, was interrupted 
when nearly completed by a snow storm in 
February; the small portion thus left was 
not plowed until late in April. The entire 
lot was planted at the same time, and re- 
ceived the same culture. This fall the 
boundaries of the April plowing were clear- 
ly defined by the inferiority of the corn 
growing within them. 

The pulverization of the soil by freezing 
is due to a property of water possessed by 
few, if, indeed, by any other substance. It 
is a well known law of matter generally, 
that in passing from a fluid or liquid to a 
solid form, its volume is diminished, or, in 
other words, it contracts. But the reverse 
of this law is true of water, it upon being 



1850.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



250 



converted into a solid 
panda, and that, too, 

irresistible. 

It is this expanding 



the act of congelation 



substance — ice — cx- 
with a force that is 

property of water in 
that pulverizes the 
soil. As the water freezes it expands, and 
necessarily separates the particles of the 
soil, overcoming all their affinity for each 
other, and leaving the plowed land light, 
loose and friable. This renders it entirely 
safe to plow, however wet the ground may 
be, provided freezing takes place after- 
wards; for the more thoroughly saturated 
the soil is with water the more complete 
will be its disintegration upon freezing. 
Could the soil be made perfectly dry freez- 
ing would have no more effect upon it than 
it has upon the solid limestone; and if, 
upon the other hand the limestone could, 
by any process be thoroughly saturated 
with water, freezing would as effectually 
pulverize it as it does the soil. 

My practice has for many years been 
guided by these principles : and I have 
had land plowed in the winter, when in the 
low places in the field the water would fol- 
low the plow in the furrow ; and the land, 
so far from being injured by it, those places 
were more completely and thoroughly pul- 
verized by the freezing, and were found in 
finer tilth in the spring than any other part 
of the field. 

Another benefit derived from winter 
plowing, is the destruction of insects inju- 
rious to the corn ; the ravages of the cut- 
worm being in a great measure prevented 
by it. I had in my experience, some years 
ago, a striking illustration of its advanta- 
ges in this particular. Part of a field of 
sod-lahd was plowed in the winter, and the 
remainder not until spring; all of it was 
planted in corn. The part winter-plowed 
had scarcely a hill disturbed, wdiilst upon 
the remainder of the field nearly every 
stalk of the first planting was destroyed by 
the cut- worm, and it was only after repeat- 
ed replantings that a tolerably good stand 
was secured. 

The best time for winter plowing is after 
the land has been once frozen and subse- 
quently thawed. The effect of the freez- 
ing and thawing being to loosen the land, 
the operation of plowing can be more 
thoroughly and better performed, and with 
much less labour to the teams than it would 
otherwise be. And there is rarely a winter 
in which, after the fiist hard freeze, an in- 



terval of mild weather does not occur, dur- 
ing which a large amount of plowing can 
be accomplished. 

Perhaps there is no one of the multitu- 
dinous operations the farmer has to perform 
about which so much that is erroneous has 
been written as this primary one of plow- 
ing; and especially is this the case in re- 
ference to the depth at which the land 
ought to be turned up. Deep plowing has 
been indiscriminately recommended as a pana- 
cea for "all the ills" that land is "heir to/' 
as though the addition to a soil four or six 
inches deep, of as many more inches of the 
harsh and sterile sub-soil, would make it 
more fertile and productive. Some ama- 
teur investigator of the curious, rather than 
the useful, having traced the roots of wheat 
or some other plant to the depth of four 
feet, this fact was at once assumed as con- 
clusive evidence that the roots of all plants, 
under all circumstances, penetrated to a 
great depth in search of food. And the 
' farmers were straightway told, if not liter- 
1 ally to plow " four feet deep," yet that for 
successful and profitable farming very deep 
plowing was essential. It is doubtless true 
that the roots of some plants, under certain 
circumstances penetrate the earth to a con- 
siderable depth. But if either wheat or 
corn should, in this part of the " Old Do- 
minion," send their roots, with gaping 
spongioles, to the depth of four feet in 
search of nutriment, they would certainly 
be disappointed unless satisfied with very 
coarse fare. My observation tends to the 
conclusion that plants naturally seek their 
food near the surface where the soil is per- 
meable to atmospheric influences, and where 
they are benefitted by every summer 
shower, however slight. Hence it follows 
that it is more important to make additions 
to the fertility than merely to the depth of 
the soil. The amount of the crop being 
rather in proportion to the former than the 
latter. 

Every one must, however, determine for 
himself the depth at which his land ought 
to be plowed. A rich alluvial soil, several 
feet in depth, might safely be plowed as 
deep as Professor Mapes turned up the fiats 
of New Jersey, and a light sandy soil, upon 
a clay basis would doubtless be improved 
by mixing with it, by means of deep plow- 
ing, some of the sub-soil. But upon heavy 
clay lands, which are generally underlaid 
by a harsh and sterile sub-soil, I am satisfied 



200 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



[May 



it is a great mistake to plow much deeper 
than the natural soil. From six to eight 
inches is as deep as the best lands of this 
county ought to be plowed. And that is 
beyond the average depth of plowing in 
this section of the State. 

For several years I tried plowing for corn 
ten and twelve inches deep, and the only 
benefit I derived from it was a saving of 
labour when I came to gether the crop in 
the fall, — the quantity being considerably 
diminished in consequence of the deep 
plowing. The worst crop I ever made was 
upon a field plowed nearly twelve inches 
deep. The summer, however, being very 
dry, it afforded an excellent opportunity for 
testing the correctness of one of the ste- 
reotyped reasons assigned in favour of deep 
plowing, viz : that it enables the crop bet- 
ter to sustain the effects of a severe 
drouth; this field, notwithstanding the deep 
plowing, suffered as much from the dry 
weather as others of the same kind of land 
that had been plowed to but little more 
than half its depth. 

In plowing for corn, especially if it is 
sod-land, it is important that the furrow- 
slice should be well and smoothly turned 
over, as free as possible from breaks and 
baulks. And the best method of plowing 
this kind of land is, to make the furrow- 
slices lap over, one upon another, so that 
the ed°;e or entire thickness of the slice is 
exposed to the weather. The advantages 
of this mode are found in the fact that a 
larger surface is subjected to the action of 
the frost and atmosphere, and as it pulver- 
izes, it completely closes the spaces between 
the furrows, thus effectually preventing the 
grass from growing up between them to the 
injury of the crop and the annoyance of 
the farmer. 

Just before planting time, the land de- 
signed for corn ought to be well harrowed, 
and more than once if necessary, to put it 
in good condition, it being important to 
the successful after-culture of the crop that 
the field, in the spring, should " express the 
full tilth and husbandry" of the farmer. I 
have, however, seen fields of winter-plowed j 
land in fine condition for planting without 
harrowing at all. 

Mode of Planting. 

Upon hilly and rolling lands, — and of 
such is a large proportion of the lands of the 
Valley, — the best method is to drill the 



oorn in rows, as nearly horizontal as practi- 
cable, for in this way the washing and 
gullying of the land can be more easily pre- 
vented. And if the land is free from 
stumps and other obstructions, it is best to 
use a corn-planter for this purpose; as in 
addition to the greater regularity with which 
the seed is dropped, the labor of three or 
four hands is thereby saved. The distance 
at which corn ought to be dropped in the 
rows, and the spaces proper to be left be- 
tween the latter, must be determined by 
every farmer for himself. No definite and 
precise rule can be given for what depends 
upon such a diversity of circumstances. 
The fertility of the soil, the variety of the 
corn planted, and many other things, affect 
this question; not the least important of 
which is the character of the season that is 
to follow — (and that can be foreseen by no 
one, however sagacious,) — it being well- 
known that corn will bear closer planting in 
a wet than in a dry season. , 

Time of Planting. 

It is a matter of some consequence to de- 
termine the proper time at which corn should 
be planted, but it is obvious that no* speci- 
fic directions can be given for what is af- 
fected by so many contingencies. All that 
can be done is to indicate some general 
principles that may aid each one in deter- 
mining the proper time for himself. 

Independent of all other things, the mere 
elevation of a section of country, or even 
of a single farm, has the effect of retarding 
vegetation in the spring, and upon such 
lands the time of planting ought to be post- 
poned accordingly. This county (Augusta) 
being the most elevated part of the " great 
Valley," vegetation, in consequence, is less 
forward here than in other counties of the 
same section, lying even farther North. 
But the time of corn-planting in this county, 
has been, for a number of years, steadily 
becoming earlier and earlier, to the manifest 
injury of the crop, and an increase of labor 
to the fanner. Formerly, from the first to 
the tenth of May was deemed the proper 
time to plant corn. That time would now, 
however, be considered late planting. Many 
farmers commence early in April, and be- 
fore the first of May the crop is generally 
all planted. I am not aware to what ex- 
tent this practice of early planting prevails, 
but presume it extends over the entire Valley. 

The effect of this early planting, before 



1859.] 



HK SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



261 



the ground has become warm enough to en- 
sure the speedy germination of the grain, is 
much "P 



at all, 



long time in 



that much oT it does not 
and such as succeeds after 
getting above ground, is weak, pale, and 
unhealthy looking, which necessarily im- 
poses on the farmer a large amount of labor 
in replanting. Last spring, in consequence 
of the unusual amount of wet weather, the 
time of planting was postponed some two or 
three weeks later than usual. The good 
effects of the delay were apparent in the 
prompt and certain germination of the seed, 
the healthy and vigorous appearance of 
the plants upon coming up, (scarcely any re- 
planting being required,) and that the ma- 
turity of the corn was not retarded by this 
late planting, as was shown by the fact that 
the crop was more forward on the first day 
of September than it had been, at that 
date, for several years. 

The most unphilosophical determination a 
farmer can come to upon this subject, is to 
resolve that he will commence planting every 
year upon the same day. For our seasons 
are so variable that the same day, of the 
same month, may be two weeks, or more, 
later or earlier, one year than another, when 
measured by the condition of vegetation. 

The proper time to plant corn is when 
the earth has become warm enough to en- 
sure the prompt vegetation of the seed: 
and this condition of the ground is indi- 
cated, perhaps better, by the state of for- 
wardness of the trees, either fruit or forest, 
than in any other way. It is said that the 
Indian time of planting was just as the dog- 
wood was bursting into full bloom. — 
Without undertaking to assert that this is 
exactly the proper time, iny experience and 
observation incline me to the opinion that it 
is; it at any rate points out the correct 
method of ascertaining it. 

A farm with a Southern exposure, can be 
planted earlier than one with a Northern 
aspect; and so will gravelly and sandy, or a 
warm lime-stone land, admit of earlier plant- 
ing than a cold, heavy slate, even in the 
same neighborhood. Every one ought, 
therefore, to determine for himself when he 
should plant, independent of, and unin- 
fluenced by the practice of any other person. 
The worst possible reason a man can give 
for beginning to plant corn on a cold frosty 
morning, early in April, as he shivers in 
his overcoat, and fires have to be kept in 
the field for his negroes to warm their 



fingers at, is that his " neighbor B. com- 
menced the day before. " 

lllnh. 

Many and various arc the methods re- 
sulted to by the farmers to drive off the 
birds that occasionally pull up a hill of 
corn. And this is not to be wondered at, 
when it is remembered that a prejudice, 
against these ebony-colored inhabitants of 
the air, has been instilled into their minds 
from the cradle. That famous book of 
poetry, the delight of every child, "Mother 
Goose's Melodies/' declares that — 

"Then said the black-bird to the crow, 
Let us to the fanner's cornfield jjo, 
For ever since Adam and Eve were born 
It's been our trade to pull up corn." 

A moment's consideration, however, ought 
to satisfy every observant agriculturist that 
he can well afford to give them a hill of 
corn occasionally; their's being, in fact, the 
cheapest labor he can employ, as he would 
readily ascertain could he open a regular 
account with his feathered friends, charg- 
ing the corn they take and crediting all the 
cut-worms, grubs, and other injurious insects 
they destroy during the summer. It is, 
therefore, to say the least of it, in bad taste 
for any one to disfigure his field with a 
"scare-crow," 

"And let it keep one shape, till custom make it, 
Their perch, and not their terror. 1 ' 

It would be wise policy in our Legisla- 
tors, and highly beneficial to agriculture, 
(but for that reason not to be hoped for,) if 
they would adopt some stringent enactments 
to protect the "lives, fortunes," and domes- 
tic happiness of these little, but useful 
friends of the farmer — the birds. Were it 
not for them, insects would, in a few years, 
multiply to such an extent as to destroy all 
the crops of the country. But this is too 
extensive a subject to be entered upon here. 

Mode of Applying Platter of Paris. 

In planting corn, my habit has been to 
drop about half the plaster, (mixed with 
ashes,) designed for the crop, in the hill 
with the corn, and sowing the remainder, 
broadcast, about the time of the last plow- 
ing. I have, however, sometimes dropped 
it all in the hill at the time of planting; 
and again, I have sowed it all broadcast. 
The corn seems to do equally well under 
these various methods, the time and mode 



2G2 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[May 



of applying plaster appearing to be of but 
little consequence. Every one, therefore, may 
choose the mode of application most con- 
venient to himself. 

Working the Crop. 

The process of working corn ought to 
commence as soon as it is up enough plainly 
to distinguish the rows, for, 

" Now 'tis the spring, and weeds are shallow 

rooted, 
Suffer them now, and they'll o'er grow the 

garden, 
And choke the herbs for want of husbandry." 

This maxim is as correct when applied to 
the field as to the " garden." 

It is well as a first operation to go over 
the field with a common triangular harrow, 
removing the front find rear teeth so as not 
to disturb the corn. After this I use dou- 
ble-shovel plows, going twice to the row, 
and following them immediately with a cul- 
tivator, which requires one of the latter to 
two of the former, the object being to 
leave the surface as level as possible, there- 
by diminishing the amount of evaporation 
and counteracting the tendency to wash and 
gully. The cultivator also eradicates any 
weeds or grass that may have escaped the 
plows. For the object above described, a 
five-toothed cultivator is better than the 
three-toothed implement, known under that 
name, and generally used in this county. 

Whilst the primary and most important 
object of working corn is to destroy the 
grass and weeds that would otherwise spring- 
up to the injury of the crop, there are other 
effects resulting from it not to be overlooked. 
The frequent stirring of the soil . prevents 
the formation of a crust upon the surface, 
and keeps it always permeable to the dews 
and atmospheric moisture, the consequence 
of which is that a field kept loose and in 
fine tilth, by frequent plowing, will sus- 
tain much less injury from drought than one 
left undisturbed by the plow. I have, there- 
fore, no prescribed number of times for 
going over my corn, but give it as many 
workings as the state of the weather and 
my other farming operations will allow. — 
Corn requires, as it can receive, more work 
in a dry than in a wet season. In working- 
corn I avoid, as far as possible, injuring the 
roots ; I therefore never plow it deep. — 
If it has been planted upon clover or sod- 
lund, deep-stirring, either with a Coulter or 
other implement, will not be necessary to 



loosen the soil, as the vegetable matter 
turned under will prevent its becoming 
compact and hard. The truth is, upon such 
land, deep plowing would do injury, by 
bringing to the surface the sod, that 
ought, as it rots, to furnish food to the grow- 
ing crop. If corn should ever be plowed 
deep it ought to be done at the first work- 
ing, as then the roots are small and escape 
injury. _ 

It being an important matter in this hilly 
country, to prevent injury to the lands by 
washing rains, that object is promoted by 
observing the precaution, always to com- 
mence plowing corn at the highest part of 
the field. If the operation is begun at the 
lowest part, and a heavy fall of rain takes 
place before the entire field is finished, the 
higher and unplowed part absorbsbut little 
of the water that falls upon it, consequently 
a large amount is precipitated upon the 
lower and freshly- stirred land, inevitably 
producing incipient gullies, to be deepened 
by every succeeding shower. But if the 
upper part be first plowed, the absorbent ca- 
pacity of the soil is thereby much increased, 
less water flows off, and as it passes over the 
unplowed and comparatively firm land be- 
low, does but little damage to it, 

I have already said that in the tillage of 
corn I avoid as much as possible breaking 
and lacerating the roots ; I therefore never 
plow corn after harvest, because having 
necessarily remained a considerable time 
without working, and the roots having spread 
themselves over the entire row and ap- 
proached near the surface, a plowing then 
must inevitably break them to a great 
extent, the evils of which may, however, 
in some degree be repaired by a rain follow- 
ing Immediately ; but it is hazardous to run 
such risks, as dry weather rather than rain, 
may be looked for at that season. 

It is important to go over the corn at 
least once with the hoc — and especially is 
this the case if the corn is drilled — as by 
this means the grass and weeds growing 
near the hill can be more effectually re- 
moved. 

Gathering the Crop. 

There exists a great diversity of opinion 
as well as practice, in reference to the best 
method of harvesting this valuable crop. 
A description of the different modes. pur- 
sued, with a notice of their respective ad- 
vantages and disadvantages, even if I were 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



263 



competent to the task, would swell this pa- 
per to an unreasonable length, T shall there* 
fore confine myself to a brief account of 
the method usually adopted in this section 
of the State; which although attended with 
some inconveniences, yet has the advantage 
of combining with the entire security of the 
crop an economy of labor attainable by no 
other mode. I refer to the plan that is 
technically called, i* cutting up" the corn — 
that is, severing the stalk, with blade, ear, 
and top adhering — near the ground, and 
setting it in shocks of convenient size. This 
operation ought to commence as soon as the 
corn has attained a sufficient maturity not 
to be injured by it; but it is a difficult mat- 
ter accurately to describe this condition.— 
Some say corn may be "cut up" safely 
when it has reached the u dough state ;" I, 
prefer, however, to wait until it has just 
passed out of that state. 

If the weather is moist and warm it is a 
safe precaution to cut but half the corn at 
first; this is done by cutting it in alternate 
strips of seven or eight rows — which gives 
to the corn first cut and set up an opportu- 
nity of drying before the shocks are com- 
pleted by the addition of the remaining por- 
tion. The size of the shocks varies with 
the taste and judgment of the farmer — some 
persons making them as much as sixteen 
hills each way. Where the corn is drilled, 
if the shocks are set twenty-five feet apart, 
fourteen rows will make them large enough 
to stand up well, but not too large to dry 
thoroughly. When the shocks are comple- 
ted, they ought to be bound tightly around 
the top with a band made of rye-straw, a 
white-oak split, or a wisp of fox-tail. 

Corn, when well shocked, may be left 
standing all winter in the field without ma- 
terial injury — but this is not recommended. 
As the corn is shucked, the fodder is tied 
in bundles with bands either cf rye-straw, 
or white-oak splits, an 1 set up where the 
shock of corn stood; and if it is again 
bound around the top it w r ill keep better 
than by stacking — it being very difficult to 
stack such- fodder securely. It can then be 
hauled from the field during the winter as 
it is required for the stock ; observing the 
precaution, when the ground is dry or hard- 
frozen, to haul it from the centre and remoter 
parts of the field ; that which is near the 
borders can be used in soft weather, when 
the land would be injured by going over it 
with a wajron and team. 



This method has the advantage of sccu- 
ring both grain and fodder at one and the 
same operation, and requires but little, if 
any more t i mo, than would be necessary to 
secure the tops alone ; for the same number 
of hands will " cut up" a field of corn as 
soon as they would "top" it. 

Experiments have been frequently insti- 
tuted to ascertain what injury, if any, was 
sustained by " cutting up" corn as compared 
with topping and blading, and with that 
left to rincn on the stalk without taking off the 
fodder at all. The result of such experi- 
ments will always vary with the state of ma- 
turity of the corn. If corn is cut up be- 
fore it has passed beyond the " dough 
state," I presume there can be but little 
doubt, that it will loose somewhat in weight 
as compared w r ith corn that has been allowed 
to ripen on the stalk without taking off the 
fodder at all ; and that this loss will increase 
in proportion to the immature condition of 
the crop. If the corn, however, has reached 
the " dough state," the injury it will sustain, 
by being cut up, will be so slight, that it 
will be more than compensated for in the 
other advantages of this mode of harvest- 
ing. 

On the tenth day of September last I 
had a piece of corn cut up and shocked in 
the usual way; it had just passed beyond 
the " dough state," but was not hard, the 
fodder being still green. At the same time 
a small parcel in the same enclosure, and 
growing upon the same kind of land, was 
left to ripen on the stalk, without topping 
or blading. On the 22nd of October I had 
a bushel of each shelled and weighed : the 
weights were exactly the same. 

Selection of Seed. 

The importance of selecting seed corn in 
the field has often been urged upon the 
farmer in the most emphatic and earnest 
manner. But unless his object is to obtain 
his seed from stalks producing two or more 
ears, with a view to perpetuating that habit 
in his corn, I see no advantage to be de- 
rived from that method. I think it ex- 
tremely apocryphal, whether any advantage 
whatever is obtained from planting those 
varieties of corn that produce two or more 
cars to the stalk. As a general rule they 
are late in maturing, and require to be 
planted with wide spaces between the hills, 
or the ears w T ill be small and imperfect. It 
is a fact well known to all corn raisers that 



264 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[May 



a good yield can only bo secured by having 
t large number of sound ears to the acre, 
and that result is more easily and surely 
obtained by planting a single eared variety 
that will bear, crowding a large number of 
stalks upon a given area, than by trusting 
to any of those prolific kinds, " each, seve- 
ral, and particular" stalk of which is to 
produce a whole litter of ears. 

Controlled by these considerations, I se- 
lect my seed corn in the crib. I do not 
wait until planting time to do it, but se- 
lect it, during the winter, as opportunity 
offers. In selecting seed corn I choose 
those ears that have matured well, as indi- 
cated by the grains being firm, close and 
compact upon the cob. Great care ought 
always to be used to obtain seed as pure and 
unmixed as possible. The different varie- 
ties of Indian corn mingle so readily, that 
unless much attention is paid to this partic- 
ular, the farmer will soon find his crop of 
such a Tieterogcneous description, that the 
lines of the " witches song" might well be 
applied to it with but slight variation : 

' ; Black grains and white, red grains and gray, 
Mingle, mingle, you that mingle, may." 

Wm. M. Tate. 
Augusta County, Oct. 24th, 1858. 



For the Southern Planter. 

Tobacco the Bane of Virginia Hus- 
bandry. 
No. 3. 
Mr. Editor: 

My last gave a detail of the troubles of 
this most troublesome of all crops, up to 
the process of stripping — and at this stage 
the account is resumed. The operation con- 
sists of taking the cured tobacco from the 
bulks, and stripping the leaves and ruffles 
from the stalks; and is performed by the 
best judges among the hands — who, at the' 
same time, assort the leaves, as to size, color, j 
and quality, according to the imaginary' 
standard which may happen to prevail as 
the fashion of the times — which constantly } 
changes like other fashions : these assorted 
leaves are passed into other hands, who 
open and examine the surface on each side, 
and brushing both, are then tied in bundles 
of five or six j this is the last surface exam- 
ination of the leaf, and upon an average of 
years, will be found to comprehend some 
ten or a dozen times at least, that every su- 



perficial inch, of every tobacco leaf of a 
well tended crop, must pass under the ma- 
nipulation or visual examination of the ope- 
ratives in making and preparing it for pri- 
zing. And here may be noticed two other 
troubles, omitted in the foregoing numbers, 
more or less incident to every tobacco crop — 
the ground worms and the ground suckers. 
The tobacco worm proper, or horned worm, 
attacks the leaves of the plant, when grown 
to some size ; but there is a smaller, dark, 
earth-colored worm, which seems to be the 
natural production of the highly prepared 
soil — loose, friable, and kept entirely clear 
of all living vegetable matter — which ena- 
bles this earth-worm to move beneath the 
surface, and by an instinct of its nature is 
attracted (sometimes in considerable num- 
bers,) to the top of each tobacco hill, and 
cuts off the young plant, just below the sur- 
face. These ruthless destroyers must -be 
narrowly watched, so long as the stalks 
have not grown hard enough to resist them. 
No inconsiderable trouble this, as every to- 
bacco maker w r ell knows. 

The ground-suckers spring up from the 
stalk below the ground, after the successive 
crops of suckers from the foot stalks of the 
leaves have been exterminated, which usu- 
ally takes place some time before the plant 
is ready for the knife, and leaves some 
length of time for the ground-suckers to 
give trouble, as they continue to spring up 
until the crop is taken off. Thus it is made 
manifest how the tobacco crop starves all 
others, by demanding the largest share of 
labor, and all the manure — monopolizing 
both to such a degree by universal custom, 
as to spare but a stinted allowance for the 
garden, and a restricted patch of early Irish 
potatoes. 

It is a well known common condition of 
tobacco plantations, after using up a quarter 
or half acre of cow-pen turnip patch* to 
be utterly destitute of any succulent vege- 
table, or greens to boil with the bacon, for 
many weeks in the spring, until the advan- 
cing season for -" wild sallet" comes in for 
the relief of the sufferers under the tobacco 
starvation, with poke, pepper-grass, and 
dandelion, kindly pi ovided by Divine Provi- 
dence, in the prolific soil of Virginia. 



* The cow-pen for turnips is often seen most 
wasteful ly covered with cow dung, because the 
time can't be taken from the tobacco to move 
the pen. 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



265 



But this starvation of man is small in 
comparison of that which tobacco inflicts 
apon the domestic animals. A full crop of 
tobacco, as a general rule, causes a short 
crop of corn — and scarcity of corn upon a 
Virginia plantation is synonymous to hard- 
times. The tobacco crop affording no pro- 
vender for domestic animals, reduces the 
stock of a plantation to the scanty offal of a 
scanty corn-crop. 

Tobacco and grass crops may be pro- 
nounced irreconvertable antagonists, and 
hence Virginia is so large a customer in the 
market for Northern hay : A state of things 
wholly chargeable upon tobacco — for it may 
be safely asserted that if one fourth part of 
the labour and manure now bestowed upon 
tobacco was used for the production of 
grass, we might be larger exporters of a 
superior article, than we are now importers 
of Northern hay. But man is so much the 
creature of habit, that tobacco makers are 
content to regard starved cattle as the natu- 
ral state of things in the spring, and with 
a good store of dollars in the desk — to put 
up with stinted household comforts to the 
degree of taking his coffee without milk 
for many weeks in the winter — the cows 
having all gone dry by Christmas — and no 
wonder, when they have had no hay provi- 
ded for them, and have been living since 
the natural grasses were killed by frost, upon 
the chaff and dry straw which happened to 
be on hand. The corn stalks are soon 
picked — and few or no shucks can be spared 
from the steers, (working oxen,) it being 
the experience of the country, that no other 
long forage, the product of a tobacco plan- 
tation, is nutritious enough to sustain oxen 
at work. Shucks, aided by nubbins, must 
therefore be relied upon for keeping up this 
part of the working stock of the plantation. 
But the nubbins (the inferior corn) is the 
customary and only resource for feeding the 
sows and pigs, and wdiich, from a tobacco- 
starved corn crop, always turns out to be a 
most scanty and insufficient allowance; 
rarely, if ever sufficient to raise pork enough 
to keep the tobacco maker out of the pork 
market — and here is another standing count 
against tobacco for starving the smoke- 
house. 

But as has been already alleged, tobacco 
starves the corn-crib, even to the degree, 
that demands a large portion of the proceeds 
of the tobacco crop to buy the corn neces- 
sary to support the plantation. A large 



p ro por ti on of the middle and lower class of 
tobacco makers are corn buyers.* 

But this is not all : The tobacco planter, 
for the want of corn, has not only to buy 
meat and bread, but for the want of grass 
to raise them, has also to buy his mules and 
work horses, virtually being made a tribu- 
tary by his tobacco, for a primary necessity 
in his calling, to the western drovers. 

Tobacco exhausts the land beyond all 
other crops. As proof of this, every home- 
stead, from the Atlantic border of the State 
]to the head of Tide- water, and several tiers 
of counties above, have been, until lately, a 
mournful monument. This portion of the 
State once produced all the tobacco made 
in Virginia, but is now so reduced and im- 
poverished, that, for many years past, 
it has not produced a hogshead for market. 
Tobacco has been literally the besom of de- 
struction, which has swept over this once 
fertile region, and reduced it to a state too 
poor to remunerate labor employed in its 
production. And yet those who are still 
engaged in its culture argue that tobacco is 
not as great an exhauster as Indian corn, 
in the face of the fact, that the inhabitants 
of the tobacco-ruined region still make liv- 
ing crops of corn ; and since the abandon- 
ment of tobacco and the introduction of 
marie, (which they never found time to look 
for, or apply, while their heads were full of 
tobacco,) are now improving their lands 
more rapidly than the tobacco makers, with 
all the late improvements of agricultural 
science to aid them upon the still unex- 
hausted region of the State.f It is hard to 
conceive of a more exhausting process than 
the exposure of naked, fresh-worked land 
to the powerful influence of our summer's 
sun ; this is an indispensable part of the 
tobacco culture — from early spring, through 
the two first months of summer — the to- 
bacco land is plowed, replowed, harrowed 
and hilled, or, after hilling, kept carefully 
weeded until planted — and it is rarely the 
case that the crop is planted early enough 



* Examples are known of planters who buy 
corn to a greater amount than the proceeds of 
their tobacco crops. 

f It is admitted that tobacco makers, by the 
means of the improvements in modern culture, 
and the introduction of guano, may positively 
improve their estates, but it is confidently as- 
serted, that they must comparatively do less in 
the way of improvement than they may under 
the abandonment of the culture. 



266 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[May 



to cover the ground so as to shield it in any 
considerable degree against the sun before 
August. 

But the argument most relied upon for 
tobacco is, that it is the best preparation for 
wheat. Admitted it is as good as any, it is 
not better than fallows, acre for acre, and 
incidentally worse, for the following reasons, 
viz : the high manuring required for to- 
bacco, limits the improvement to a smaller 
surface, and the tobacco exhausts more of 
the virtue of the manure than any other 
crop ; nevertheless, being of a different na- 
ture from wheat, it leaves the peculiar pab- 
ulum of small grain in ample sufficiency, 
and so thoroughly incorporated with the 
soil, by the elaborate process of preparation 
and tending the tobacco crop, as to give 
successful results in the following wheat 
crop. But when compared in the more 
limited surface, by reason of the excessive 
high manuring required by tobacco with 
the wider space which the farmer may put 
into the highest preparation for wheat, the 
tobacco system may safely be denied to be 
the best preparation for wheat. With the 
present improved system of skilful fallow- 
ing, double the amount of surface can be 
put into tilth, sufficient to produce thirty- 
five or forty bushels per acre, which, with 
the other advantages of the farming system, 
would soon leave the tobacco plantation far 
in the rear in point of profit-; thus the ar- 
gument drawn from the assumed fact, that 
tobacco is the best preparation for wheat, is 
fallacious. 

That tobacco is the most exhausting of 
all crops is demonstrated by the impover- 
ishment it has brought upon all the coun- 
ties of Virginia, as already adverted to, 
from the sea to the mountains, to such a de- 
gree, as that its cultivation has been aban- 
doned j and the swift destruction it is every 
where bringing upon the remaining virgin 
soils, where it is still cultivated — for it is a 
well known fact that the richest high lands 
are rarely found strong enough to bear a 
third crop in succession, but becomes so 
much reduced by the second crop usually, 
as to be put into wheat, to be followed the 
next year by corn, then again in wheat or 
oats — after which it is " turned out," to be 
added to our wide domain of "old field." 

After being " turned out," it is known to 
be incapable of ever producing another 
crop of tobacco, without being manured or 
improved by clover rotation and plaster, 



and of late by guano. But, whatever may 
be the effects of this new improver, it can- 
not divest tobacco of its inherent disastrous 
starving influences upon all other crops, as 
already described; and consequently, of 
its fatal effects upon the rural economy of 
the country, according to the greater or less 
extent to which it prevails, and which fixes 
upon it, most undeniably, the character of 
the Bane of Virginia Husbandry. These 
views are addressed to the agricultural pub- 
lic of Virginia, as seeming to the writer to 
rest upon the well known principles of rural 
economy. A future number may be em- 
ployed in examining tho arguments by 
which the tobacco culture is defended ; and 
before the branch of the subject of this 
number is dismissed, one further argument 
only will be presented, and perhaps the 
strongest of all — the argument from au- 
thority — the example and experience of 
Richard Sampson, Esq., of Little Dover, 
well known as the most successful agricul- 
turist in Virginia. Mr. S., after a fair 
experiment of ten years, gave up the crop, 
and gives in a nut shell one of the best 
aphorisms of his strong, practical mind upon 
the subject — showing the reasons why he 
abandoned the ruinous culture. He says 
" he could not afford to cultivate tobacco, 
finding it took one half of the labor of the 
plantation, and yielded but one fourth of 
the value of the other products." 

With such a witness., against tobacco, in 
aid of the arguments adduced, I can here 
well afford to conclude my 3rd number. 
John H. Cocke. 



For the Southern Planter. 

The Guano Controversy, or Vegetable 
Physiology. 

Mr. Editor, — Over the name, W. A. 
Bradford, in the March number of the Plan- 
ter, appears a rejoinder to a critique by B., 
in the January No., which B. regards as 
claiming some notice. The controversy 
seems narrowed down to the simple question 
whether vegetables have an organized sys- 
tem of nerves ? Unless this be, in some 
way, established, the gentleman will not ad- 
mit their susceptibility of being acted upon 
by mare stimulants. B. has asserted that 
vegetables are susceptible of the action of 
stimulants, and infers therefore that there 
must exist " a mode of action." Mark ! B. 
has not asserted that there exists " an organ- 
ized nervous system," but such susceptibili- 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



2G7 



ties as sustain to the vegetable a relation 
similar to that of a nervous system to ani- 
mals. Sensation, excitability, contractility, 
&c, are usually referred to the agency of 
nerves; but if we allow them to exist no 
where, except where an organized system of 
nerves can be shown to exist, then they must 
be denied to some animals. Who has ever 
exhibited the organized apparatus of the 
oyster, the worm, the zoophite ? If no one, 
then the gentleman must deny their suscep- 
tibility to the action of stimulants. The 
truth is, that there are many things in na- 
ture, particularly in the animal and vegeta- 
ble kingdoms, the existence of which can 
only be inferred from their effects — their 
visible phenomena. The gentleman con- 
cludes, however, that if B. " will prove that 
they (vegetables) are capable of being thus 
acted on," (that is by mere stimulants,) " I 
(he) will admit the existence of such a sys- 
tem pervading their organization." Now 
this seems very fair, but will the gentleman 
be satisfied with reasonable proof, of what 
B. asserts ? B. thinks he has already fur- 
nished what should be convincing proof, and 
fears that none he can offer will induce con- 
viction. Seeing the gentleman has so inter- 
twined and bound up the idea of stimula- 
tion with the existence of "an organized 
nervous system," it may well be regarded a 
difficult task to untie the knot and unwind 
the ball. B. had supposed that " exalting 
and quickening the vital forces or actions" 
were phenomena of the action of stimulants; 
and consequently that whatever agents exert 
such influence, may be rightfully denomina- 
ted stimulants, though not necessarily " mere 
stimulants." The gentleman will scarcely 
deny, that when " the vital forces or actions" 
of plants " are exalted and quickened," that 
the circulation of nutritious juices in the 
plant are at the same time accelerated. Here 
then, at least, we have one of the phenome- 
na of the action of a mere stimulant. Stim- 
ulants acting upon the nervous system of 
animals, (the higher order at leastr,) " exalt 
and quicken the vital forces or actions" and 
accelerate the circulation of the nutritious 
fluids. A similar result, from the action of 
a like agent, argues the existence of similar 
susceptibilities of action or impression. Such 
would be the action of alcoholic liquors, and 
they approximate as near to a mere stimulant 
as any other and probably more so. Says 
the gentleman, " brandy, musk, opium, cam- 
phor, ct id omne genus ; mere stimulants — 



aucnts that are powerful when applied to a 
system of nerves, but innoxious when ap- 
plied to plants." Tnnoxiout to plants ! How 
OQmefl the gentleman to know this ? By in- 
noxious he is supposed to mean, innocent, 
producing no ill effects. B. thinks if the 
gentleman will pour strong brandy or alco- 
hol on any delieate and tender plant, he will 
find that he is mistaken. Again, how does 
the gentleman know that " all the positive 
phenomena of such aetion (stimulant) are 
found in connection with such a known sys- 
tem" (of nerves?) And farther, B. might 
ask the gentleman, what he means by the 
" positive phenomena V* What B. regards 
as positive phenomena of stimulation, or the 
action of stimulants, abound as well in the 
vegetable as animal kingdom. The Creator 
has so ordained, that what is food for one, is, 
for the most part, poison to the other. So 
what may be a stimulant to one, may prove a 
sedative to the other. Animals cease to 
breathe in an atmosphere purely carbonic, 
while plants luxuriate in it — inhale and ap- 
propriate it as food for their sustentation and 
growth. Animals inspire and appropriate 
oxygen and exhale carbon, plants directly 
the opposite. Animals elaborate food for 
plants and plants for animals. Thus the two 
kingdoms, animal and vegetable, mutually 
sustain each other with appropriate food. 
But, says the gentleman, " it is one thing to 
increase the functions of organic life, and 
another to stimulate an action that is unat- 
tended with nutrition, growth or develop- 
ment." B. can conceive of no such stimu- 
lating agent — one which when applied to 
either animals or plants, shall furnish nei- 
ther " nutrition, growth nor development." 
Brandy is an acknowledged stimulant, and 
the gentleman has set it down as a mere 
stimulant. This certainly causes most un- 
mistakable development, and if in no way 
nutritious or promotive of growth, how comes 
it to pass, that those who use it freely, to a 
certain extent, are so much disposed to obesity 
and grow often to enormous size, and again 
laying aside its use, shrink back to origin- 
al dimensions ? Now, brandy and alcohol, 
as already intimated, are as nearly mere 
stimulants as any agents known, and if their 
operations so far transcend the action of the 
gentleman's "mere stimulant*," it is needless 
to offer another example. B. still asserts 
that plants are susceptible of having their 
" vital forces or actions" exalted and quick- 
ened " as well as nourished," and that some 



268 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[Mai 



manures exert this influence much more ac- 
tively than others. Farther, B. claims that 
he has as much right to require the gentle- 
man to prove the non-existence of the " or- 
ganic system of nerves," as the gentleman 
has to require him (B.) to prove its exis- 
tence; seeing that B. has not asserted such 
existence. He has asserted that vegetables 
possess certain susceptibilities, which he 
thinks abundantly appears. Plants have a 
circulation. Can the arteries, veins, lym- 
phatics and the centre of circulation — the 
heart — be exhibited ? We say the leaves per- 
form an office similar to respiration in ani- 
mals, and we believe it ; but who has seen 
them dilate, drinking in plentiful draughts 
of carbon and again contract, exhaling pure 
oxygen ? Yet some action, answering to 
these ends, must exist, or the result could 
not be had. 

Says a distinguished and learned physiol- 
ogist, in vegetables, " two properties direct 
the action of their small number of func- 
tions : a latent and faint sensibility, in vir- 
tue of which, each vessel, every part of the 
plant, is affected in its own way by the fluids 
with which it is in contact : a contractility, 
as little apparent, though the results prove 
irrefragably its existence ; a contractility, in 
virtue of which, the vessels sensible to the 
impression of liquids, close or dilate them- 
selves, to effect their transmission or elabo- 
ration. The organs allotted to reproduction, 
animate, for a moment this exhibition : more 
sensible, more irritable, they are visibly in ac- 
tion : the stamina or male organs, bow them- 
selves over the female organ, the pistil shakes 
on the stigma the fertilizing dust, then 
straighten, retire from it, and die with the 
flower, which is succeeded by the seed or 
fruit." 

B. has not endowed either the sunflower, 
or the sensitive plant, with " such a piece of 
exquisite machinery, as a nervous system:" 
nor does he regard "such exquisite machin- 
ery" necessary in order to the exhibition of 
the phenomena he claims, very different 
"machinery" may, by the Creator, whose 
" ways are past finding out," be made to 
answer similar ends. This will manifestly 
appear to any one, who will take the trouble 
to examine minutely the anatomy of animal 
structure from man down to the lowest order 
of animal existence. Familiar, as the gen- 
tleman seems to be, with the nervous sys- 
tem of animals, he will find it no easy task 
to explain, intelligibly his "positive phe- 



nomena," — when, he shall have done this, 
then will B. feel under obligation to attempt 
a farther elucidation of the mystery involved 
in the action of agents upon the vital sus 
ceptibilities of plants. 

Farther, says the gentleman, " I am com 
pelled to seek my causes for such phenom- 
ena, in some of the greater forces of nature, 
&c. None of these are of more potency 
than heat, and as the sun is the greatest of 
all natural sources of heat, why may it not | e 
be able to produce these insignificant effects, 
upon the sun flower and the so called sensi 
tive plant, &c." Heat is confessedly a potent 
agent — and unquestionably "exalts and 
quickens the vital forces or actions" and is 
so far at least, a stimulant. But how does 
this potent force act ? certainly not alike in 
the vegetable and animal kingdom as in the 
mineral. All the sublime phenomena of 
" upheaving and overthrowing mountains 
melting down mountains and causing them 
to flow like rivers — dissipating rivers into 
thin air, and bearing them on the win 
the wind" — and such like sublime effects are 
ascribable either directly or indirectly, to its 
power of expansion. But in its action upon 
animals and plants there is little need of this 
power. The potency here excited, is an 
" exalting, quickening," life-giving energy j 
a something without which life cannot exist. 
It is true that some vegetables as well as 
some animals, are so constituted as to exist 
in much lower temperatures than others — 
yet a certain degree of heat is indispensable 
to the existence of all, and again, a certain 



n 



increased temperature is fatal to all. 

Seeing how ruthlessly the gentleman has 
" stripped his little Divinities of their God- 
like attributes," B. may be regarded as not in 
the best humor to appreciate his elevated as- 
sociation with Virgil and Thomson. Apro- 
pos, how sensible were they to the influence 
of the seasons; the genial, the awakening, 
stimulating, influence of the one and the 
depressing and saddening influence of ano- 
ther. B. claims no poetic aspirations, yet 
confesses himself cheered by the bright sun, 
after a sombre and cloudy day, and exhilar- 
ated by the genial warmth of the " vernal 
sun" after a cold and dreary winter. In- 
deed, all animal and vegetable natures seem 
to greet spring as with smiles. 

In conclusion, B.asks the gentleman, to be 
assured that he is not insensible to his (the 
gentleman's) pleasant and courteous manner, 
nor to his complimentary farewell, yet his 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



269 



tnodesty forbids a change of signature. The 
autograph he shall have. Possibly some clay 
the gentlemen may meet and consummate, 
with much satisfation, an acquaintance thus 
pleasantly initiated. R. 

Fcr the Southern Planter. 



Mr. 



Effects of Sub-soil Plowing. 
Editor : 



Having read in the 



March number of 
an article by Mr. 
u How much satis- 
if every farmer in 



the Southern Planter 
Hite, in which he says, 
faction would be given 
Virginia, who has sub-soiled his lands, 
would state how many years he had used a 
sub-soil plow, and also whether or not he 
had found wheat and clover to withstand 
the frost of winter better where the land 
had been sub-soiled a year or two previ- 
ous," I feel called upon to contribute, as far 
as I can, to the gratification of the interest 
which all farmers entertain — in a greater 
or less degree — upon every subject pertain- 
ing to agriculture, although I am but a no- 
vice in farming, and almost afraid to com- 
municate my limited experience to the pub- 
lic. In the fall of 1857, I broke up a field 
belonging to my mother, of about twenty- 
five acres, which had been for a number of 
years (say ten or twelve) in timothy. I 
used two three- horse McCormick plows, 
with cast mould-boards and points, with 
teams of three strong horses to each ; a 
two-horse common coulter following in the 
track of one of them, thus sub-soiling every 
alternate furrow. The sod was turned to 
the depth of nine or ten inches, and the 
sub-soil of the coultered furrows was loosen- 
ed seven or eight inches more. I measured 
on the upper and lower sides of the field, 
when I ascertained that I had plowed and 
coultered an average depth of fourteen or 
fifteen inches. I regretted much after my 
crop had been made that I had not used 
the coulter after both plows. It was in the 
months of November and December that 
I plowed the field, turning the sod beauti- 
fully, and as early in the following spring 
as the weather would admit, I introduced 
the harrow, putting the land in fine con- 
dition with but little trouble, it having 
already been mellowed by the winter's 
frost. 

I commenced planting corn on the 9th 
of April, and had planted from six to ten 
acres when a rain occurred, which stopped 
the operation. It snowed and turned cold 



at night, and remained cold and freezing 
for several days. X thought of course my 
day's labour, as well as the corn I had 
planted, wa= lost, but much to my surprise 
and gratification, I found in due time that 
it came up finely and grew well during the 
season. My next planting was commenced 
about the last of April. I used the remain- 
der of the corn left from the first planting, 
which had been rolled in plaster and ashes 
and carefully kept in a dry cellar, not one 
hill in fifty of which came up, having 
sprouted and died before planting. I then 
had to plow and lay off the land again, and 
re-plant it, which of course delayed the 
completion of the work till very late in the 
season. I knew the land was fine and that 
the preparation had been good, and there- 
fore had faith in the final result. The last 
planting came up beautifully, and in a short 
time you could see no difference in the field, 



all being uniform. As soon as the corn 
was high enough, I took my harrows, hav- 
ing removed the front and one 
all _. 



back tooth, 
and harrowed it all nicely, killing out all 
the young grass. I then introduced culti- 
vators, with seven or eight teeth about four 
inches wide, the ground being in such per- 
fect order they worked elegantly, and left 
the land as clean as it well could be. As 
soon afterwards as I discovered the young- 
grass shooting up, I started my cultivators 
again, followed by the hoes, and thinned, 
leaving two stalks to the hill, which left the 
land again perfectly clean. I worked it 
next with double shovel plows, which fin- 
ished the working of that field. I dropped 
plaster and ashes on the hill when about a 
foot or more high. 

I never saw a more beautiful field of 
corn. As it was on the public road, every 
body that passed was struck with its fine 
appearance. One gentleman observing the 
great height of the corn and its luxuriant 
growth, was induced to take a stalk of it to 
Lexington for exhibition. The stalk, root 
included to the top of tassel, measured 
eighteen feet, and had on it two perfect ears 
of corn. 

The land is mulatto soil with a clay sub- 
soil. I cut the corn up and shocked it in 
the field, and I think I can say with safety 
the field averaged sixty bushels per acre, 
some farmers thinking it would make seven- 
ty-five. It so happened I could not meas- 
ure the corn. After the corn was shocked, 
I started my harrows to level the grass and 



270 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[Mai 



weeds which had grown since the last plow- 
ing of the corn j after which I seeded the 
field in Zimmerman wheat, (red) at the rate 
of about two bushels of seed to the acre, 
and covered it with double shovel plows. 
I never saw a more beautiful field of wheat 
in my life than it was last summer, and 
had it not have been for the rust, the great 
enemy of the wheat crop, I would have 
made at least thirty-three bushels to the 
acre. But, alas ! man's calculations are 
vain ; the destroyer came, and my crop was 
ruined. I made of tolerably fair wheat for 
last year not more than one-third of a crop, 
weighing about sixty pounds per bushel,— 
the general weight in good seasons being 
about sixty-four or sixty-five pounds per 
bushel. 

Judge Brockenbrough has put the same 
field in wheat this year, (white blue stem 
or purple straw.) It looks very fine indeed 
at this time, (March 17*th,) is well matted 
over the field, and very luxuriant. 

I am glad to see that so much more in- 
terest is taken in farming in our county 
than formerly. Some of our most success- 
ful farmers and men of wealth are intro- 
ducing all kinds of improved farming im- 
plements, such sts McCormick's reapers, 
wheat-drills^, lime-spreaders, &c. The coun- 
ty is brushing up, and every farm is im- 
proving. 

Fearing my communication is already too 
long, I will conclude by saying I have had 
no opportunity of judging of the stand of 
clover after the sub-soiling, as the judge 
has only seeded the field this spring with 
clover and timothy. 

If you consider this worthy of a place 
in the Planter, you can publish it. 
Very respectfully, 

Jas. H. Bowyer. 



From the Scientific American. 

Asphalt— Composition Roofing'. 

It is very desirable that many buildings 
should be constructed with flat roofs, for 
which common shingles are inapplicable, 
and tin too expensive. A composition for 
such a purpose, perfectly waterproof, easi- 
ly applied, cheap, and durable in its nature, 
would be of g&eat benefit. Quite a number 
of compounds have been tried for this pur- 
pose, some of which have failed to secure 
the desired ends, while others have been 
highly successful. A roofing compound of 



asphalt, coal tar, and sand has lasted foil 
ten years on certain roofs, and is still ail 
good as when first put on, while the same 
materials laid upon other roofs had to be.; 
removed within one year after being laid, 
on account of cracks in the cement. Such] 
success on the one hand and failure on the: 
other with the same identical substances has 
occurred in every section of the country.! 
As this composition roofing is about thel 
cheapest known, it is highly important to 
discover what can be the cause of its want 
of success in any case, as it is very evident 
that if successful in one instance, it can be 
made so in all cases. It has been found 
by experience with such composition roofs, 
if laid upon a moist bed) or if the cement 
itself contains moisture or volatile oil, they 
are liable to crack and scale off. One or 
both of these causes, perhaps, contributed 
to the failure of the roofs alluded to. 

To make such roofing, two or three lay- 
ers of thick tar-paper should first be tack- 
ed down upon the boards, then brushed 
over with a thick coat of hot pitch, so as 
to render the surface smooth and expel all 
the air, to prevent air bubbles forming in 
the cement. When the pitch is perfectly 
dry, the asphalt composition is to be put on. 
This consists of 15 lbs. pitch, 25 lbs. as- 
phalt, and 30 lbs. dry sand. The pitch is 
first melted, then the asphalt, as finely com 
minuted as possible, is added. This amount 
will answer for ten square feet in two lay- 
ers; it should be boiled for two hours, and 
kept stirred during the operation, to expel 
all the volatile oil. When thus prepared, 
it is carried in buckets to the roof of the 
building, and poured carefully upon it in 
sections, set off with boards set on edge. 
Care must be exercised not to permit any 
of the sulphates of iron or sulphur to be 
mixed with it. A thin layer of tow or hair 
laid upon the pitch before the cement is 
poured on will render the roofing more 
elastic. Previous to its becoming dry, a 
layer of marble dust or ground chalk 
should be beaten into it, and on the top of 
this a layer of fine white sand and gravel. 
The object of this is to prevent the rays 
of the sun penetrating into the asphalt to 
soften it.. Two layers of this composition 
should always be laid on — the top one after 
the other has become dry. 

Common pitch will answer the same 
purpose as natural asphalt, if two pounds 
of coal tar is mixed with every twenty 



l» 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



271 



pounds of dry sand. Such roofing can be 
very easily repaired if it cracks, but if 
sufficient care is bestowed in preparing and 
laying down the materials, no such repairs 
will be required for several years. 



From the Ohio Cultivator. 

Handling" Horses while being Shod- 

Many horses, both young and old, are 
much spoiled by shoers. Horses sometimes 
stand quiet and easy, at other times they 
refuse to stand still while one foot is up — 
they struggle until it is released, and fre- 
quently the shoer beats, speaks sharply, 
swears, and frightens the horse, so that 
he must be held by force or abandoned. 
Another takes the tools and sets his shoes 
without any trouble. Now for a few of the 
reasons : 

Under certain circumstances, the muscles 
cramp, causing severe pain. Almost at any 
time a horse's hind leg may be raised so 
high, or in sueh a position, as to cause se- 
vere cramping, not to be endured. When 
a horse has had all the muscles relaxed 
by exercise, and stands and cools quick, 
an unusual position will most certainly pro- 
duce cramping, and at the same time 
makes him irritable. A horse that has 
stood for some time in the cold, uneasy, 
and suffering with anxiety to get home, 
is in bad condition. to stand the bangs* and 
often painful position of shoeing, and too 
often fretted to that degree that he never 
gets over it — too often forced to stand and 
endure the pain of severe cramping, prick- 
ing, etc., until he will never forget it, and 
often refuses to enter the shop again. 

Some horse shoers have a habit of rais- 
ing the. foot and leg so high that no com- 
mon horse can stand it, and thus he will 
shoe horses half his lifetime before he 
knows the fault is in himself. The awk- 
wardness and ill temper of some shoers is 
sufficient reason to withdraw your patron- 
ige, although they may do their work well. 
The damage done by forcing the horse to 
stand in pain, and the injury to his dispo- 
sition, is infinitely more injury than to go 
en miles, and spend a day and pay double 
3rice to one who has some sympathy, and 
shoes him without pain — one who exercises 
ome reason and judgment and patience, 
md seems to sympathise with the suffering 
mimal — has little or no trouble, and does 
10 damage. 



I once knew a horse that if he was mi- 
nus a shoe, would go by himself to a par- 
ticular smithey, and there stand until the 
shoe was set. I once owned a horse that 
was shod three or four years without any 
trouble — at last he was sent to a shop to 
be shod, the shoer being a little intoxicated, 
frightened him, beat and abused him in 
such a manner, that he ever after feared to 
approach a blacksmith shop, and if forced 
to enter one, would tremble with fear. I 
think I shall be justified in saying that one- 
half of the horse shoers arc incompetent to 
the task, saying nothing about their work- 
manship of setting shoes. I have no doubt 
but some fancy shoers are the cause of 
many splints, bogs, and curbs, as well as 
kicking, cringing, pulling at the halter, 
etc , etc. 

Reader, if you are the owner of a good 
horse, go yourself and see him shod, unless 
3'ou are well acquainted with the shoer, and 
know him to be careful, patient, mild-tem- 
pered, and humane. Withdraw' your pat- 
ronage from all reverse characters, before 
you sustain a loss. Never submit to or em- 
ploy a shoer, whose character or intellect is 
inferior to that of your horse. If you do, 
you may have him lamed, abused and 
spoiled. 

W. Pierce, V. S. 

Ravenna, Feb., 1859. 



Fast Horses Agriculturally Considered. 

In all our horse talk and writing, we have 
spoken disparingly of that class of horses, 
the only merit of w T hich is, that they are 
merely fast. These gaunt, leggy spiders, 
that can do nothing but run, are about as 
useless in this world as those fancy gentle- 
men in flashy vests, who generally attend 
them in their airings. And we have still 
less sympathy with the gamblings attendant 
upon the meetings of this class of men and 
horses upon the turf. We have never at- 
tended such a meeting, and have no desire 
to. Thus much for our disclaimer. 

Of late, quite a respectable portion of the 
agricultural press, and many of the news 
and literary papers have come down upon 
the " trials of speed" at agricultural fairs, 
which they say is only horse-racing, under 
another name. Well, it is hard to say just 
where we pass the line of healthful rivalry, 
when once we enter the path of competition. 
Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Jones both compete 
for the prize for the best ten pounds of but- 



272 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



[May 



tor. Mrs. Jones does her best, but Mrs. 
Smith does a little better, by her superior 
dexterity with the skimmer or the ladle, and 
she wins. Here is a woman race, with all 
of its rivalries and expectations and disap- 
pointments, on a small scale. Almost every 
body says it is right; we shall not dispute 
with them. Clark has a Suffolk pig — he 
believes in Suffolks. White has a Byfield — 
he believes in Byfields. Clark and White 
set out to sec which will make the best por- 
ker in a given time. One tries the juggle- 
ry of ground and cooked feed, the other the 
mystery of steamed potatoes and corn in the 
ear. One beats, of course, and the other 
thinks he cheated. Here is a hog race. — 
Judge B. and General C, being troubled 
with plethoric purses and ambitious brains, 
go to England or Timbuctoo, and each buys 
another calf, which is educated and brought 
up far more carefully than those who call 
them father, and at a proper time exhibited 
for the big prize. Here is a bull race, a 
step or two in advance of the others. 

Charley has a nice filley, with thin, slop- 
ing shoulders, long hip, and such a good 
walker ; he would like to see the nag that 
could out-walk his filly. Charley is riding 
into town, and Jim comes up on the same 
errand, and having learned the state of 
Charley's mind, accommodates him to a 
walk with his sorrel for a quarter of a mile; 
the stakes are the good opinion of each boy 
for his nag. Charley loses. Nobody ever 
thought that was a horse-race; well, maybe 
it wasn't. At the county fair, John had a 
Morgan and Will had a Bellfounder; stand- 
ing still, the judges could not tell which 
was best, and as one or the other had to be 
best, the judges said, " Let's see them move." 
John trotted, and Will trotted; John trot- 
ted faster, and Will trotted faster; John 
trotted as fast as he could, and Will trotted 
as fast as he could, and they both trotted as 
fast as they could, and kept on trotting; and 
the people gathered about, and each one of 
the five thousand made up his or her mind 
which horse they would rather have, and so 
did the judges, and the trotting was over. 
And then some folks thought they began to 
smell a horse race! and some folks have a 
nice and discriminating sense of smell. — 
Our olfactories are not that sharp. 

But enough of this pleasantry. We are 
willing to take a more serious view of the 
subject. One objector says, "Fast horses 
are not an agricultural necessity, nor even 



an agricultural product. No practical far- 
mer need be told that the rearing and train- 
ing of such horses is at utter variance with 
agricultural success. Fast horse flesh has 
no practical value since the introduction of 
railroads and telegraphs." That is what a 
young gentleman wrote of the late exhibi- 
tion of the United States Agricultural So- 
ciety at Philadelphia. 

It is an " agricultural necessity" to raise 
fifty bushels of wheat to the acre, and so 
get fifty dollars instead of fifteen dollars for 
your crop ! ' Is a two thousand pound bul- 
lock an " agricultural product?" Let us 
abolish these railroads, so that the beeves we 
send to Gotham will get nice and tough, as 
in former years, by a four weeks' travel on | 
foot, because these New Yorkers are getting j 
better steaks than they deserve, and our cat- 1 
tie-feeders are getting too much money. Let 
us have a moral reform society, and petition 
the Legislature to pass an Act, forbidding 
any farmer to raise a colt that can trot fas- 
ter than a mile in fifteen minutes, or that 
shall be worth over fifty dollars at four years 
old, because " fast horse-flesh has no practi- 
cal value" now, and a five-hundred dollar 
coll is "an agricultural product." 

Oh, George ! It may do to talk that way 
in Sleepy Hollow, but the very Quakers of 
Ohio would laugh at you for telling such 
stuff out here. You should have seen friend 
Joseph put his Black Hawk around the ring 
at Cleveland, and friends William, and' 
James, and Thomas, and John, and lots of 
others, among the fastest and most success- 
ful competitors. Do you say Ethan Allen 
is not an agricultural product? and our 
Champion Black Hawk? Flying Cloud? — 
Highlander? Monarch? Hassan? Kenne-. 
bee? You never sat in the buggy with Re-. 
ber of Lancaster, after his black marc, or 
with Brown of Trumbull, after his gray, or 
rode through the oak openings of the Darby 
with Fullington beside his Morgan stallion, \ 
chasing cattle. Take a seat with our farmer" 
friend, Mordecai Lee, of Stark, after his 
Fly, and when the wind begins to whistle in 
your ears, ask Mordecai what he will take 
for the mare, and see how quietly he will 
tell you, she is not for sale; and after a lit- 
tle more such experience, learn some good 
hard horse sense, and confess that raising of 
at utter variance with agricul- 1 



such is not 
tural success." 

We can hardly bring our pen to write se- 
riouly on this subject, after all. Life is but 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



273 



a race, of one kind or another, and the best 
advice we have to give is, not to run against 
each other's sulkeys, or leap ditches so wide 
that you will stick in the middle. Don't 
get out of breath. And don't fret. So we 
will come to the end of the race in good or- 
der. — Ohio Cultivator. 



Mourning Customs. 

A French writer gives a summary of the 
different observances among mankind, rela- 
tive to mourning and funeral ceremonies, 
which we think will interest our readers. All 
the world, says he, are acquainted with the 
grandeur of the Roman obsequies and fune- 
ral games. The Greeks also burnt the 
corpses of distinguished men, with funeral 
feasts, and the lamentation of hired weepers, 
though they generally displayed a less 
sumptuous grief, and better regulated piety. 
The Persians buried the bodies of the dead ; 
the Scythians ate them ; the Indians envel- 
oped them, for preservation's sake, in a sort 
of locker; the Egyptians embalmed and 
dried them, exhibited them on festal days, 
placed at the table among their guests 
guarded them as their most precious posses- 
sions, and loaned and borrowed money on 
these strange pledges. In our time, the 
custom of dancing at funerals is only prac- 
tised in India and among some savage na- 
tions ; but funeral entertainments still pre- 
vail in many European countries. Amongst 
others the ceremony of interment is solemn 
and silent, which nevertheless does not in- 
terfere with the wish that all may be forgot- 
ten as speedily as possible. We observe 
more ostentatious rites for persons of conse- 
quence. Their carriages follow them to the 
graves, and sometimes their horses are pa- 
raded, which having been made to fast seem 
to partake of the affliction of the occasion. 
The Orientals, from whom we borrow this 
custom went further — they made the horses 
in funeral processions weep, by blowing a 
particular kind of powder up their nostrils. 

In Italy the mourning was formerly white 
for women, and brown for men. In China 
it is white ; in Turkey, Syria, and Armenia 
it is blue ; in Egypt, yellow ; in Ethiopia, 
grey. Each of these colors had originally, 
its mystical signification. White is the em- 
blem of purity ; celestial blue indicates the 
space where the soul ranges after death; 
yellow, or the tinge of dead leaves, exhibits 
death as the end of all human hopes and 
18 



man falling like the leaf of autumn ; grey 
represents the color of the earth, our com- 
mon mother ; and black, the funeral costume 
now adopted throughout Europe and Amer- 
ica, is an allusion to the eternal night. 

In England, the sovereign never wears 
black; he is clothed in dark purple as 
mourning. Till the reign of Charles VIII, 
white was the funeral garb in France. The 
Emperor Leopold, who died in 1705, used 
to suffer his beard to grow in disorder dur- 
ing the whole period of mourning. In this 
he imitated the Jews. The dowager-em- 
presses never left off weeds, and their apart- 
ments were hung with black till their death. 

The Chancellor of France is the only 
person who never wears mourning. The 
brothers, nephews, and cousins of Popes 
never wear it; the happiness of having a 
Pope in the family is too great to allow 
them to be affected even by his death. 

But the most remarkable of all these 
usages, is, perhaps, that of the people of 
those ancient nations, who dressed them- 
selves as women when they lost their rela- 
tives, in order, it is said, that the ridicule 
attached to their vestments might make 
them ashamed of their grief. — Scientific 
American. 



Cause of Frog Showers. 

The actual fact that considerable spaces 
of ground have been suddenly covered with 
numerous small frogs, where there were no 
frogs before, has been proved beyond a doubt. 
Some have called in the aid of water-spouts, 
whirlwinds, and similar causes, to account 
for their elevation into the regions of air, 
and some have even thought that they were 
formed in the clouds, from whence they were 
precipitated. It has generally been in Au- 
gust, and often after a season of drouth, that 
these hordes of frogs have made their ap- 
pearance, but, with Mrs. Siddons, we will 
exclaim, "How got they there?" Simply 
as follows : 

The animals have been hatched, and quit- 
ted their tadpole state and their pond at the 
same time, days before they become visible 
to, or rather observed, by mortal eye. Find- 
ing it unpleasant in the hot, parched fields, 
and always running a great chance of being 
then and there dried up by the heat of the 
sun, they wisely retreated to the coolest and 
dampest places they could find, viz: under 
clods and stones, where, on account of their 



274 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[May 



dusky color they escape notice. Down 
comes the rain, and out comes the frogs, 
pleased with the chance. Forthwith appears 
an article in the country papers; the good 
folks flock to see the phenomenon. There 
are frogs .hopping about; the visitors remem- 
ber the shower, and a simple countryman 
swears the frogs fell in the shower, and he 
saw them fall; frogs, visitors, countrymen, 
editors, are all pleased, and nobody unde- 
ceives them, nor are they willing to be un- 
deceived. — Buckland's Curiosity of Natu- 
ral History. 

From the Ohio Cultivator. 

Hot Beds— Progressive Management. 

After your plants are fairly up, they will 
require considerable care to prevent their 
burning, especially if the sun should be hot. 
If you observe that they get very small at 
the bottom and lop over, you may conclude 
they are too hot, the remedy for which is, 
water them freely with cool water and allow 
them more air. If your plants turn yellow, 
they are too cold, and then warm water, if 
any, should be used, and they should be kept 
closer, especially in cold weather and at night. 
Be Careful to shut down your sash awhile 
before the sun goes down, so that it may 
generate some heat in your bed, as a preven- 
tive against the cold of night. Cold, cloudy 
weather is worst, as it is then difficult to keep 
the hot bed close enough, and at the same 
time allow the plants a sufficient supply of 
light, which is as necessary for their healthy 
growth as heat or moisture. We have had 
plants, when covered, and light only admit- 
ted at some places, lay flat down on the bed 
towards the light, thus showing beyond 
question the necessity of light to vegetation. 

If you want a liberal supply of plants, 
make another bed, same as first, (only as 
the season grows later you will need less heat 
consequently less manure,) into which prick 
out your tomatoes, egg plants, peppers, etc., 
four inches apart every way j then, in your 
old bed, which by this time has lost consid- 
erable of its heating power, prick out your 
cabbage, cauliflower, and like plants, also 
about four inches apart each way, thus giv- 
ing them all plenty of room to grow up 
stocky and firm. Remember that one good 
plant is worth a dozen poor ones, either for 
profit, or to cultivate merely for pleasure, — 
for we envy not that man his existence upon 
this goodly world of ours who takes no 
pleasure in beholding the growth of the 



vegetable kingdom, especially that part of 
it, which, with the development of every 
leaf, bids us hope for the plentiful harvest 
beyond. 

About the middle of April, or as soon as 
the grass and oats begin to grow, remove 
your cabbage and like plants to their final 
place. Then take up every alternate row 
of your tomatoes, and set them into the bed 
from which the cabbages were taken. In 
taking up, we use a transplanting trowel, 
and are careful to get under the plants so as 
not to injure the roots. If you take hold 
of a plant and * pull it out of the ground, 
you destroy all of the fine roots, and thus 
prevent it from growing for a week or ten 
days, or until it re-supplies itself with them. 
In selecting ground for Cabbages, take that 
which has been made rich with stable or 
barn-yard manure. It is folly to plant cab- 
bages in poor land, or expect good solid 
heads without manure. 

In the latter part of May, or as soon as 
all danger from frosts is over, you may re- 
move tomatoes and other tender plants to 
the open ground. Tomatoes fruit best and 
earliest on clay land, manured, but do very 
well in our black swales without manure. 
They should be set in rows both ways, and 
not less than six feet apart each way, thus 
giving them plenty of air and light, which 
is the best preventive against rot. Just ob- 
serve the practice of good market gardeners, 
and on land, too, which they would not 
rent for $20 per acre per annum, and you 
will see they do not crowd their tomato vines 
so close that they run into each other. — 
Three or four feet apart each way is room 
enough for egg plant or peppers, for both of 
which the soil should be rich by being- 
well manured. A little hen or bird manure, 
put in or about the hills, is very good. Di- 
rections for sprouting sweet potatoes, and 
their after culture, we will give in next 
number of the Ohio Cultivator. 

Gr. S. Innis. 



Brilliant Stucco Whitewash. 

Many have heard of the brilliant stucco 
whitewash on the east end of the President's 
house at Washington. The following is a 
recipe for it, as gleaned from the National 
Intelligencer, with some additional improve- 
ments learned by experiments : 

" Take half a bushel of nice unslaked 
lime, slake it with boiling water, cover it 
during the process to keep in the steam. 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



275 



Strain the liquid through a fine sieve or 
strainer, and add to it a peck of salt, pre- 
viously well dissolved in water ; three pounds 
of ground rice, boiled to a thin paste, and 
stirred in boiling hot ; half a pound of pow- 
dered Spanish whiting, and a pound of clean 
glue, which lias been previously dissolved 
by soaking it well j and then hanging it over 
a slow fire, in a small kettle with a large one 
filled with water. -Add five gallons of hot 
water to the mixture, stir it well, and let 
it stand a few days covered from the dirt. 

It should be put on right hot; for this 
I purpose it can be kept in a kettle on a por- 
table furnace. It is said that about a pint 
of this mixture will cover a square yard 
upon the outside of a house if properly ap- 
plied. Brushes more or less small may be 
used according to the neatness of the job re 
quired. It answers as well as oil paint for 
wood, brick or stone, and is cheaper. It re- 
tains its brilliancy for many years. There 
is nothing of the kind that will compare 
with it, either for inside or outside walls. 

Coloring matter may be put in, and made 
of any shade you like. Spanish brown stirred 
in will make red pink, more or less deep ac- 
cording to the quantity. A delicate tinge 
of this is very pretty for inside walls. — 
Finely pulverized common clay, well mixed 
Spanish brown, makes reddish stone color. 
Yellow ochre ^irred in makes yellow wash, 

I but chrome goes further and makes a color 
generally esteemed prettier. In all these 
v cases the darkness of the shades of course 
determined by the quantity of coloring 
used. It is difficult to make rules because 
tastes are different ; it would be best to try 
experiments on shingle and let it dry. "We 
have been told that green must not be mixed 
with lime. The lime destroys the color, and 
the color has an effect on the whitewash, 
which makes it crack and peel. 

When walls have been badly smoked, and 
you wish to have them a clean white, it is 



well to squeeze indigo plentifully through a 



it is 



bag into the water you use, before 
stirred in the whole mixture. If 
quantity than five gallons be wanted, the 
same proportions should be observed 



a larger 



Pruning Apple Trees, etc. 

We are requested to answer the following 
questions : 

1st. " When is the most proper time to 
prune apple trees ? 

2nd. " How high should the main stem 
be to the first limbs ? 

3rd. " What application is best to prevent 
rotting where large branches hare been cut 
off." 

1st. When trees are transplanted from the 
nursery to the orchard, they should be 
pruned, removing the branches so as to lay 
the foundation for a clear, open head, and 
shortening all of the remaining shoots to 
three or four buds of the previous season's 
growth. The object of this cutting back, 
is to compensate for the loss of roots and 
fibres occasioned in removal from the nur- 
sery, and thus establishing an equilibrium 
between the demand of moisture by the 
leaves, and the supply from the roots. There 
is an immense amount of moisture given off 
from the leaves of a tree, during the day, 
and when, from mutilation, or partial loss of 
the roots in digging, this supply is not kept 
up, the tree lingers and often dies in conse- 
quence. After this, our practice is to prune 
at any time when a branch is discovered to 
start from an improper place, consistent with 
the design of the head. If this course is 
practiced for five or six years, after the trees 
are set, but little pruning will be necessary, 
and will be done when the branches are so 
small as to be proper at any time. But if 
an orchard has been neglected, and conside- 
rable pruning is thought necessary, it should 
be done with caution, and the Spring is the 
best time to..,do it, so that the wounds may 
heal immediately. When the pruning has 
been thus deferred, till the trees have gain- 
ed considerable size, we would never advise 
to cut off large branches, unless they have 
became defective, or are interfering with 
others to the positive injury of the tree, but 
rather to thin out the smaller branches near- 
er the extremities. The undue pruning of 
an established tree produces opposite evils to 
those resulting from having a full head, when 
a tree that has been removed from the nur- 
sery with the loss of two-thirds of its roots, 
and a still larger proportion of its spongioles, 
through which alone the tree derived its 
nourishment from the soil. 

It is painful to go through the country 



Every girl who intends to qualify for mar 
riage, should go through a course of cooke 

ry. Unfortunately, but few wives are able land witness the reckless, and we might say, 
to dress anything but themselves. wanton decapitation of thrifty apple trees, 



276 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



[May 



apparently without an object or design; at 
any rate none founded on reason, nor with 
the remotest knowledge of the laws of vege- 
table physiology. Nature, after she has been 
subjected to this kind of butchering, ever 
true to herself, attempts to repair the injury, 
and at once sends up half a dozen "water 
sprouts" to take the place of the branch 
that has been destroyed, and these assume 
an upright growth, giving a less perfect form 
to the tree, and leaving the mutilated stumps 
exposed to decay, which ultimately leads to 
the premature death of the tree. 

2nd. The height of the main stem of the 
tree should be governed, somewhat, by the 
habit of the growth of the particular varie- 
ty; for instance, the Belleflower, Pennock, 
and various other kinds, grow with drooping 
branches. These should be trained to about 
four feet to the commencement of the head. 
Trees of a more upright growth should 
never be trained to more than half this 
height. The error has long prevailed of 
training fruit trees, apple, pear, and peach, 
too high. The trees, generally assume a 
leaning position, with the prevailing winds. 
The fruit is more difficult to gather, and is 
.also more liable to injury in falling, while 
we know of but one advantage that can be 
claimed in favor of high training, and that 
is, rendering it more convenient for cultiva- 
ting with the horse and plow, or cultivator. 
While the trees are small the team can be 
run quite near them, and the weeds and 
grass that cannot be reached may be easily 
removed with the hoe, and in a few years 
the shade of the tree will prevent a vigorous 
growth of them about the stem, so that in 
fact there is nothing gained by running the 
trees up to the unnatural height of bean- 
poles, but much is lost. To form a hand- 
some head to a fruit tree, the work should 
ibe commenced in the nursery. The stem 
should be cut back so as te cause the head 
to start at the point we have named. When 
this has not been done, the orchardist, in 
transplanting, should have the object in 
view, and cut back the stem accordingly in 
• order to encourage the growth of a lower 
tier of branches. For this reason, we pre- 
fer to plant two year old trees, when well 
grown, to those of a larger size that have 
been improperly trained in nursery. 

3rd. From what we have said above, large 
branches will seldom require to be removed. 
But when, through previous neglect, it be- 
comes necessary, let the branch be removed 



with a sharp saw, and near to the body of 
the tree. Like the amputation of a mem- 
ber from an animal subject, let it be done 
with skill, and only in extreme cases of 
necessity. The best application to such 
wounds is a solution of shellack in alcohol 
at about the consistence of common paint, 
applied with a brush or sponge, after the 
outside has been slightly dried. Place a 
quantity of shellack in a bottle of alcohol 
and set it in a warm place and shake it oc- 
casionally, and in a few days it will be ready 
for use. Experience will suggest the pro- 
portions. Keep the bottle closely corked, 
and it will be fit for use for years. — South- 
ern Homestead. 



From the Transactions of the North Carolina Stale 
Agricultural Society. 

AN ESSAY 

ON- 

Horizontal Plowing & Hill-Side Ditching. 

BY 

NICHOLAS T. SORSBY, M.D., of Alabama. 
(Concluded from April No., page 216.) 

SECTION VIII. 

Philosophy of the Grading Method. 

Surface drainage is one of the most im- 
portant operations connected with the tillage 
of the Southern soil. Thecvalue of the 
grading method cannot be over-estimated. 
It has to contend with a troublesome ele- 
ment, that is a moveable element, always 
seeking its level, whose particles have a 
great affinity for each other, and running 
together whenever they can, thus accumu- 
lating in a mass, and increasing its volume 
and velocity when in motion. This element 
we wish to -control with a level and the plow 
on the surface of arable land, and derive all 
the advantages of it we can as a feeder of 
plants, and at the same time, get rid of the 
excess that would prove injurious to the soil 
and growing plants. Nature does this for 
us in some soils and teaches us how to do it 
for ourselves in others. It sinks the water 
in porous soils, and stores it up for future 
use of plants, and removes it when super- 
abundant, from undulating close clay soils 
before it does injury to the plants that do 
not require it, teaching us to level porous 
thirsty soils, and deepen and drain compact 
close soils. We should study carefully the 
operations of nature, and apply its beautiful 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



277 



principles to the present subject, and con- 
form them to the limited capacity of the 
uneducated minds of men. Very few fields 
of one hundred acres have the same incli- 
nation of surface, and one variety and 
depth of soil. Land slopes in every di- 
rection, and each hill-side or plane of in- 
clination requires sometimes a different 
mode of drainage and a different method 
of culture. 

In examining a field, we find some acres 
requiring the level culture, others again, 
one method of grading, and another a dif- 
ferent method, and so on perhaps, through 
the whole list of the different methods of 
grading. It would be improper, then, to 
employ one system alone for every part of 
the field. The different methods should be 
applied according to the demands of the land. 
Science should guide us, and the one-system 
horizontalizer is led into error by his efforts 
to apply it to all localities and inclinations 
of surface of land. We should be acquaint- 
ed with all the systems, and not make a 
hobby of any one. Better try first one and 
then another, in experimenting, and select 
those that are best and most applicable to 
the land. If we find a straight row more 
convenient and better than a crooked one, 
if it be Correct, adopt it, without sticking to 
the idea that the horizontal culture consists 
of a system of crooked rows. Experience 
will soon teach the new beginner the degree 
of grade necessary to give to his rows and 
drains, and the number of drains or ditches 
to use, to drain a certain area of land. The 
grade to the rows and drains is govern- 
ed by the kind of soil, the declivity of the 
land, the extent of the surface to be drained, 
and the method of horizontaling they are 
intended to aid. If the level culture, with 
drains, be adopted, a few shallow guard- 
drains with a fall of from one to two inches 
for every span of the level, may answer in 
moderately close clay soils, and less fall in 
porous sandy soils. If the grading method 
be adopted, the fall of the rows and the drains 
depends upon the kind of method of plow- 
ing used, and the nature of the soil cultiva- 
ted. We should recollect, that the washing 
power of water descending a hill recently 
plowed, is dependent upon the declivity f and 
the length of the hill, the depth of the 
plowing, the character of the soil, and the 
quantity of water in motion. Hence, the 
greater the fall, the longer the hill, the shal- 
lower the plowing, the more porous and 



light the soil, and the greater the volume of 
water, the more the land will be washed. 
If the grade be not sufficient and the di- 
mensions great enough, the rows are apt to 
be choked ind broken. A regular and 
proper grade must be given, and if an error 
be committed, it should be on the side of 
two little fall. If the grade be too much 
the [rows will wash into gulleys. Guard- 
drains and hill-side ditches should have 
grade and capacity enough to drain the land 
speedily and effectually, without having 
their sides and bottoms washed too much, 
With a proper fall and dimensions, they 
ijiay be used to convey sand to fill up gul- 
lies, basins, and deposit it convenient to 
cover galled places. 

SECTION IX. 

Advantages of the Grading Method. 

It possesses all the advantages of surface 
drainage of arable soils in a simple and the 
best possible manner without doing serious 
damage to the land. It is the best method 
ever invented to assist in breaking up galls 
and gullies, and filling up depressions in the 
the land, and the beds of old ditches and 
branches, as well as ponds, basins and bogs, 
and in aiding the plow and the hoe in re- 
storing worn out soils. 

It possesses, also, many of the advanta- 
ges of the level culture. 

Disadvantages of the Method. 

By careless construction of drains, and neg- 
lecting to attend to- them afterwards, they 
are liable to choke and break, and wash the 
land below them into gullies. When they 
have too much fall, each row or drain is apt 
to wash into a gully, and do harm to land 
below their mouths by covering it with 
sand. They distribute water irregularly, 
and where not demanded, drying the ridges 
and hills too much, and drowning the 
bottoms. Upon the whole they are of mi- 
nor importance compared to the benefits of 
drainage. 

section x. 
Subsoil Plowing 

Means loosening the subsoil with a plow 
without any mould-board to turn it up. 

We have seen, that Nature teaches us 
three important operations that are essential 
to the perfection of the horizontal culture, 
viz: to open, to deepen and to drain the 
soil. 



278 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[May 



An open, deep and dry soil, vre all know, 
can be cultivated to better advantage and 
profit, by cither the level culture or grading 
method, than a close, shallow and wet soil 
by any method. The latter requires much 
labor and time to open, deepen and drain it, 
and if a good soil the labor pays, if a bad 
<oil the labor is often lost. 

Under the soil of some stiff red clay 
lands, long cultivated, originally good, there 
frequently exists a stratum of compact clay 
and sand, called a hard-pan, formed by the 
treading of the stock and sole of the plow, 
cemeted together by oxide of iron, clay and 
fine sand. It exists, sometimes, in gravelly 
soils, but less frequently than in clay soils. 
Wherever it prevails it makes the land hard 
to cultivate, and it produces sorry crops. It 
is always on extremes of wetness or dryness. 
Such land is difficult to horizontalize. 

Again, the plow forms in clay land, on 
the subsoil, small gutters or channels, into 
which the water sinks, accumulates, and 
flows and washes the soil, obstructs the 
work of the horizontalizer by breaking the 
ridges and undermining the banks of drains 
and ditches when they are not made deep 
enough on hill sides to extend below these 
channels. 

The subsoil plow aids very much the 
horizontal culture by breaking up the hard 
pan, the gutters or underground water fur- 
rows, galls and gullies, on clay lands ; it 
opens, deepens, pulverizes the subsoil, drains 
• the surface soil by sinking the water, and 
extends the area of air, manures, and the 
roots of plants, and thus produces a decided 
amelioration of the soil and subsoil. 

The best time to do the work is winter 
and spring, when the land is moist and soft, 
and when time can be taken to do it well. 
I The most effectual plan is to open a furrow 
with a two-horse plow, witl> a good turning 
mould-board, and follow in the same fur- 
row with the two-horse subsoil plow, as 
deep as both plows can be drawn. If the 
time cannot be spared to run so many sub- 
soil furrows, half the number will answer a 
good purpose. An expeditious plan for 
corn land is to open deep, the water furrow 
between the ridges, with a scooter plow, and 
follow it with the subsoil plow ; put in the 
manure, and bed out with scooters and 
shovels, finishing with a turning plow to 
make a good water furrow. 

When employed in lands for small grain 
the subsoil plow can be run to advantage in 



the old water furrow, which is the centre 
of the land when plowed out, and also in 
the new water furrow left open. We need 
not fear subsoiling clay and gravelly soils 
when hard and compact, especially whei*i 
old and much worn. 

SECTION XI. 
Trench Plowing. 

This differs from subsoiling, by raising up 
the subsoil, and mixing it with the surface 
soil, with a turning plow following in the fur- 
row of another turning plow. It brings up 
subsoil, disintegrates the hard-pan and dis- 
tributes it through the surface soil. It is 
of great assistance to the horizontal culture 
to break up the guliies, gall and hard-pan, 
and thus lay the foundation of the process 
of restoring the fertility of worn out lands. 

If the soil was originally of a good quali- 
ty, and the subsoil of the same quality, 
trench plowing is of much advantage to 
the land to deepen and mix the two. Bu* 
if the land be poor, and the subsoil poor 
red clay, the trenching should be done by a 
scooter plow, following in the furrow of 
the turning plow with the view of breaking 
up the subsoil, and pulverizing it, without 
mixing them too much. Mixing a poor 
clay with a poor soil is bad policy, unless 
much manure is added to improve it. Sub- 
soiling and trench-plowing are often con- 
founded with each other, but are quite dif- 
ferent operations. 

SECTION XII. 

Land- Galls. 
These are abrasions of the eoil, by rain 
water removing the soil of clay lands long 
cultivated by the old wash away method, 
and leaving the clay exposed. They might 
be very properly called land-sores, of a viru- 
lent character, and hard to heal. The best 
way to treat them, is to scarify them deep 
every spring, sow them down in peas, plow 
them in the fall, and sow in rye ; repeat the 
same operation next year, cover them with 
leaves, stalks, long manure of any kind, and 
the third year a tolerable crop of corn or 
cotton may be grown on them. To manage 
them to the best advantage, they should be 
surrounded, or cut off to themselves, by 
guard-drains, or hill-side ditches. 

SECTION XIII. 

Gullies. 
These are open water-channels, caused by 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



279 



rain water and careless up and down hill 
plowing. They arc hideous objects to the 
eye of a scientific and practical fanner, and 
should receive the condemnation of all good 
husbandmen. 

There are many ways of filling them 
up, but in doing so, sometimes two are 
made in place of one, unless it be properly 
done and aided by tjie horizontal culture. 
The land requires to be well graded and the 
direction of the water changed, and not be 
permitted to flow so abundantly down the 
gullies as before. When they are less than 
three feet deep, they may be stopped and 
filled up in two or three years, in this way : 
Every twenty steps drive up stobs or oak 
boards across and in the gulley, close to- 
gether, to catch and hold the dirt and water 
in part ; then, throw in leaves, tussucks of 
grass, corn and cotton stalks, pine straw, 
pine tops, with the laps up hill, and plow 
up and down on each side of it, and drag- 
in as much dirt as possible with hoes. Sow 
them in peas and rye, and let grass grow in 
them. Plow horizontally across, keeping 
the same regular grade in passing them ; to 
do so, the rows will make a curve up and 
down. 

Large gullies will require more labor and 
time to fill them up. Cut a ditch- across 
them at proper distances apart, and pile 
logs on each other in the ditch, until the 
top log reaches above the banks of the 
gully. ' Now gather all the rubbish, stumps, 
stones, logs, leaves, pine saplings, with the 
laps up hill, into the gully, and draw in all 
the dirt convenient and pack it against the 
logs, and on the pine tops, so as to make a 
dam. The drains and hill-side ditches can 
be emptied into them, and supply dirt to 
fill them up. Allow grass, weeds, peas, and 
small grain to grow in them. In a few 
years they will be filled up, and bear some 
crop every year to hide them from the gaze 
of a neat farmer. 

SECTION XIV. 
Guard-Drains and Hill- Side Ditches. 

Guard-drains are shallow, open water chan- 
nels, made with the plow and hoe, on arable 
land, laid off with a leveling instrument, 
with a regular and gentle grade, directed 
around undulating ridges and hill-sides, for 
the purpose of receiving and conveying 
away superfluous rain water. 

Hill-side ditches are a variety of guard, 



or catch-water ditches, but intended to ope- 
rate more effectually than they, by having a 
greater capacity and grade, in order to re- 
move a greater, volume of water in a shorter 
time from hilly lands. They are a part of 
the system of horizontal culture, and are 
used to aid and protect it, and correct its de- 
fects. We may very properly term them 
the safety-valves of that system, when prop- 
erly constructed, and waste-ways when im- 
properly constructed. 

They are valuable adjuncts to the hori- 
zontal culture, and especially to the grading 
methods, when made according to correct 
principles of hydraulics. On loose, sandy 
lands, they should be dispensed with when- 
ever it can be done with safety, and as few 
as possible be used, and they as far apart 
from each other, and as short as the nature 
of the land will admit of, to effect the de- 
sired object. Clay lands, that have been 
plowed up and down hill, in straight rows 
for years, and a good deal abraded and 
washed into gullies, require the ditches and 
drains to be well made. It takes two or 
three years sometimes to break up the old 
water-furrows and gullies, and turn the 
curve of the water, unless deep plowing be 
combined with the grading method. ' Guard- 
drains usually answer the purpose on gently 
undulating lands. 

Hill-side ditches are best on hilly lands. 
Inexperienced horisontalizers would do well 
in commencing the horizontal culture, to 
employ drains to protect their imperfect 
work. They should be made as short as 
possible, avoiding all abrupt curves or sud- 
den bends, and directed around ridges or 
hills from a medium point, dividing the 
water and discharging it on both sides of 
the ridge or hill into a ditch, gully, branch, 
or outside of the field, where no damage to 
adjoining lands may be done. The fall 
should be gradual and uniform, and just 
sufficient to discharge the water without 
washing the sides and bottoms of the drains. 

The size of drains and ditches should be 
determined by reference to a variety of cir- 
circumstances, the combined influence of 
which, although not reducible to any very 
exact rules, may generally be estimated in 
practice. We must consider 1st, the annu- 
al quantity of rain ; 2d, the quantity which 
falls on the land during a heavy rain ; 3d, 
the nature of the soil as to porosity or com- 
pactness " } 4th, the inclination of land; and 
5th, the length of slopes and extent of sur- 



2S0 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[May 



face to be drained. Every horizontalizer 
must take these things into consideration 
and judge for himself. 

A general and important rule as to the 
capacity of drains is, that they should ex- 
ceed rather than fall short of the dimen- 
sions ordinarily required to discharge the 
quantity of water for which provision is 
to be made. A correct knowledge of the 
character of the soil and the action of water 
upon it is necessary to determine the depth 
of the drains. Thus : a light, deep, porous, 
sandy soil, will absorb water as fast as it 
falls, if it lies level ; if undulating, it will 
absorb it not so fast, and the deeper and 
more porous the soil and sub-soil, the more 
and faster it will absorb. On the contrary, 
a shallow, sandy soil on a clay sub-soil and 
clay lands, wiH absorb less water, and more 
slowly, and more of it will pass off. It will 
follow the under-ground plow-furrows when 



absorbed, and the drains should extend be- 
low those furrows to catch the water. The 
close clay soils, and the stiff lime lands ab- 
sorb water slowly, and if they be deep, the 
drains should extend below the soil, and 
should be nearer together than in porous 
soils. 

The kind of drains to be used, their 
depth and distance apart, can be ascer- 
tained by experiment alone. It is safest for 
the new beginner to follow the example of 
those who have tested them on similar soil 
to his, and where they have been found to 
answer well. 

The following scale of the depths and 
distances of drains and ditches, may give 
an idea of what they require, according to 
the classification of soils into compact, me- 
dium, and porous varieties, each of which 
may be subdivided into several degrees of 
porosity and retentiveness : 



CHARACTER OF SOILS. 




DRAINS. 




NOT SUBSOILED. 


DEPTH OP 
SOILS. 


DEPTH OF 
DRAINS. 


KIND OF DRAINS. 


DISTANCE APART. 


PORUS. 

Light loam, (fresh land,) ) 
Sandy " " " $ 

Light gravelly Sand, ) 

Coarse gravelly Sand,. . . $ 

MEDIUM. 


Feet. Inch's. 
1 00 

10 

8 
10 

6 
8 
10 


Feet. Inch's. 
10 

12 

12 

10 

1 00 

12 

1 00 


Guard-Drains. 
Guard-Drains. 

Guard-Drains. 
Guard-Drains. 

Hill Side Ditches. 

« U u 

(( u :< 


According to the declivi- 
ty of land. 
Wide apart. 

Wide apart. 

Not so wide apart. 




Friable Loam, ) 

COMPACT. 


Not so wide apart. 

Need subsoiling. 
Close together. 


Friable Clay. 

Soft Free Clay, 


(C K 

Not so close. 



If the land be subsoiled, the drains must 
be deepened, and made wider apart. The 
tenacious clays are not very commonly cul- 
tivated in the South. They are too wet for 

cotton. 

SECTION XV. 

Drill Husbandry 

By the ridge and furrow system, in contra- 
distinction to the check and hill method, 
is indispensable to the horizontal culture. 
Ridging and bedding up land is so familiar 
to every plowman in the South, that little 
need be said relative to the manner in 
which it should be done. They are made 
both by shallow and deep plowing. We 
prefer shallow plowing and flat beds, in new 



ground, stubble or sward land, and in 
porous light sandy, and loose gravelly soils. 
Deep plowing is oest in old hard upland 
clay soils, (that need deepening and open- 
ing,) in bald prairie lands, and in low wet 
lands, of both kinds. 

The height of ridges and lands are de- 
pendent uponthe kind of culture, the crop 
grown, and the character of the soil. 

For potatoes, we desire them high when 
the plants are r set, and when the crop is 
laid by. 

For corn, we prefer them flat in dry up- 
lands, higher in lowlands, with clean water 
furrows. 

For cotton, in fresh land and porous al- 
luvial, and light sandy lands, moderately 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



281 



flat beds may answer very well. They are 
regulated by the width of the beds. In 
clay lands, the cotton beds should be high 
and narrow, and the water furrows deep 
and clean. We prefer not to plant cotton 
in wet land, but if it be done, high beds 
well drained, is the only remedy against the 
disastrous effects of water. The cotton beds 
are made close or wide, according to the 
quality, and productiveness of the land. In 
rich river bottoms, and black cane-brake 
lands, they vary from five to eight feet wide. 
Thin and medium quality upland, sandy 
and prairie lands, they vary from three to 
four feet in width ; some poor lands, they 
are as near as two and a half feet apart. 

We cultivate our land in ridges for corn, 
cotton, peas, and potatoes ; the ridges vary 



in height and distance according to the 
quality, and dryness of the soil. They are 
from six to fourteen inches high, and from 
three to four feet wide apart, that is from 
crown to crown. When desiring to sow 
small grain on land, in ridges, we sow the 
grain, and plow four or five ridges into a 
land, and preserve the direction of the rows. 

We sometimes sow cotton land in oats 
and rye, and throw four turning plow 
furrows on the grain, and plow out the 
stalks with a large two-horse shovel, there- 
by making a flat bed, drained by the water 
furrow, and preserving the width of the beds. 

We sometimes sow rye in the fall in cot- 
ton land, and run two sweep furrows in 
each row. In very porous land, if the rye 
be sown just before cattle are turned in the 
field, no sweep furrow need be run. 

SECTION XVI. 

The Advantages of the Ridge and Furrow 

System 

Are, that when the ridges or beds are well 
put up without two great an inclination, it 
facilitates drainage by breaking up the crust- 
formed on the surface of land that is some- 
times so close and tenacious as to prevent 
the water from sinking into the subsoil be- 
neath the roots of plants; it exposes a 
greater surface and depth of land to the 
action of the sun and air ; it enables land 
to be cultivated that cannot be cultivated 
on the hill and check method, or any other 
method ; it renders land drier and less sub- 
ject to the destructive effects of wet seasons ; 
it makes land easier to work at all times 
with less injury to the crops ; it renders the 



plowing of spring and summer less hazard- 
ous and laborious; the tillage of spring and 
summer more certain and effectual ; it se- 
cures to the crops a nice, mellow bed of 
loose, dry and warm earth to grow and ex- 
pand in above the cold and wet subsoil ; in 
fact, it produces an artificial climate, which 
improves the health, and hastens the growth 
of young and tender plants that demand 
such especial care during spring; and finally, 
it prevents land from washing away, and is 
the basis and support of the horizontal cul- 
ture. 



The 



SECTION XVII. 

Check and Hill Method. 



This method answers a good purpose on 
very loose, porous, level pine lands, for po- 
tatoes and ground peas, cultivated mostly 
with the hoe. It is objectionable to the 
horizontal culture because it upsets and 
breaks up the horizontal rows, and turns 
the^ water loose, on the land, and destroys 
the effect desired by the horizontal system. 

SECTION XVIII. 

Flowing Straight Rows by Stakes. 

This method has b§en pursued by farm- 
ers, for ages, and is the favorite plan with 
the majority of them at this time. 

The great ambition of the plowman who 
lays off the rows, is to make them perfectly 
straight, regardless of hill or valley, across 
the field from fence to fence ; nothing but a 
ditch stops him. 

It is astonishing to see the accuracy with 
which it can be done by a few stakes set in 
a line with each other. Of course, the rows 
make beautiful drains to dry the hills, and 
cover up and drown the valleys with sand 
and water. The hill tops and sides are in a 
few years cut into gullies, and the soil pre- 
cipitated into the valleys to impoverish them 
with sand and clay. 

This is truly, the wash-away and killing 
method, and should be abandoned by every 
farmer, or planter who cultivates hilly lands. 
Level plains of sandy land, can be plowed in 
this manner very well, without doing much 
injury to the soil, particularly, if the rows 
are changed and crossed every year or two. 
We adopt straight rows whenever we can 
run them on a level. 

SECTION XIX. 
Horizontalizing by the Eye. 
Instead of running the rows up 



and 



282 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[May 



down hill, in straight lines, this method di- 
rects them around the hills, and diagonally 
across them, with a considerable fall to them. 
If they are directed diagonally across the 
fields, and are desired to be straight, they 
are laid off by stakes. If intended to cir- 
cle the hill, the horizontalizer walks around 
the way he desires the rows to run, and the 
plowman follows him and lays off a guide- 
row. The rows are then laid off by the 
guide-rows. This is guess work, and very 
inaccurate. We have seen a very intelli- 
gent planter, who was familiar with the 
horizontal culture, circle a. basin badly gul- 
lied, on horseback, followed by two plow- 
men, one laying off alter the other. The 
basin was surrounded by a guard-drain that 
kept the water from the adjoining land out 
of it, and conducted it off out of the field. 
The plowmen and the horizontalizer were 
below this drain. As they passed over the 
gullies, it was " gee Ben, haw Dick, haw 
Ben, gee Dick," sometimes in rapid succes- 
sion, and was very amusing. We called 
this work a horizontal farce. 



The rows were laid off like the track of 
a snake in the sand, and had they not been 
protected by the guard-drain, they would 
have been cut into many troublesome gul- 
Ues and galls. 

SECTION xx. 
The Span or Rafter Level. 

Of the many leveling instruments in use, 
among Horizontalizers, the above is the best, 
because, it is the simplest, the easiest of 
application, and is most generally employed. 
Besides, any carpenter can make it. 

In* horizon talizing land it is necessary to 
success, to keep a perfect level of the rows 
in the level culture, and a uniform fall in 
them, and the drains in the grading system. 
The most convenient and handy level is 
made with a span of 12 feet 4£ inches and 
6 feet high. This span is f of a perch : 
So that we can readily calculate the length 
of the rows and the ditches, and estimate 
the rise or fall of them per perch. 




THE SPAN OR RAFTER-LEVEL. 



Explanation of the Figure. — To con- 
struct this level, take two strips of dressed 
heart pine plank, well seasoned, A B, 3 
inches wide, f of an inch thick, and 12 
feet 6 inches long. Another strip for a foot 
brace, 1£ inches wide, f of an inch thick, 
and 11 feet long. D. 

Also, another for a middle brace, or 
graduated bar, 2 inches wide, f of an inch 
thick, and 6 feet long. C. Lap one end 
of A and B together, let them into each 



other and make them secure with wood 
screws, so that when fast the other ends of 
the strips may be 12 feet 4£ inches apart 
from outside to outside, and the level, when 
finished, be 6 feet high. 

Make the foot brace, D, fast to these two 
strips, one foot from the ground, when the 
level is standing on its feet. 

Make the middle brace, C, fast to the 
same strips, three feet from the top, and 
saw off the ends of all, so that the level, 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



283 



when completed, will have the dimensions, 
and span the difference above mentioned. 
Paint it, and when dry graduate it thus, 
viz : Suspend a plumb line with an ounce 
lead from the centre of the top, and let 
the bob extend two inches below the middle 
brace. 

With a spirit level find a perfect level on 
a plank, and stand the Rafter Level on it. 
Mark where the plumb line crosses the cross 
bar with a pencil, and the places occupied 
by the feet ; change the feet, and put each 
in the place occupied by the other ; mark 
again with a pencil where the plumb line 
crosses the bar ; if it crosses exactly in the 
place it crossed before, that is the centre of 
the level, and the true line ; if not, the 
exact distance half way between the two 
lines is the level line. To be very exact, 
the assistance of a spirit level will find it. 
The true line of level being found, mark on 
the top of the bar 0, and make a plain line 
on the front side of the bar to correspond 
with 0. Now put a £ inch block under the 
left foot of the level, and mark where the 
line settles, and £ on the top of the bar; 
remove the £ inch block, and put a 1 inch 
block under that foot, and mark where the 
line crosses the bar, and 1 on top of the 
bar; proceed in that manner until it is 
graduated to 6 inches. Repeat the same 
process for the right foot, and other side of 
the line on the bar, and the level will be 
graduated ready for work. 

SECTION XXI. 

Application of the Rafter Level to the Level 
Culture. 

The manner of using the level is the same 
for both methods, with this difference : for 
the Level Method the rows are laid off, and 
plowed on a dead level, whilst for the Grad- 
ing Method, a fall is given to the rows and 
drains. 

It is necessary to be more accurate, and 
apply the level oftener for the level method, 
than for the grading method. 

Before going to work, we must determine 
first, upon the kind of crop to be cultivated; 
second, the character of the soil ; third, the 
inclination of the land, whether compara- 
tively level planes, undulating ridges or hills; 
and fourth, the method of hoxizontalizing 
desired. 

To illustrate and explain the different 
methods, we select a forty-five acre field, 



which we call the Gin-house field. Upon 
examining it, we find a plane, a hill, a ridge, 
a basin, a pond, and the balance undulating 
irregular surfaces, and wet flats and ditches. 
The soil is grey, and dark sandy, on a yellow 
and red clay subsoil, of medium quality, that 
has been much abused by bad plowing, and 
constant cropping. It presents the variety 
of soil, and undulations of surface, necessa- 
ry to explain our subject fully. 

It was horizontalized by me in 1851. 

SECTION XXII. 

To Horizontalize a Plane by the Eye on the 
Straight Row Method. 

We will go to the field, with the level well 
graduated, accompanied by a small boy, who 
carries a bundle of canes or green sticks, 
some one foot, and. some six feet long. A 
sensible plowman, with a quick, tractable 
mule; with a scooter or rooter plow, and 
a hill-side mould-board plow follows. 

To try the skill of the plowman, and the 
temper and spirit of the mule, we select a 
plane on which the Grin-house stands, for 
operation. We suppose the field to be a 
stubble-field, having been always plowed up 
and down hill. Having determined upon 
the direction of the rows, and the points of 
departure and termination for them, we di- 
rect the plowman how to proceed — order 
him to set his stakes, " be sure you are right, 
a,nd then go ahead/' and lay off four feet 
rows. As negroes' memories are short, and 
they are careless, and mules slow and stub- 
born, we wait to see him started. If he 
proves to be inefficient, and lays off crooked 
rows, irregular distances apart, and can do 
no better, we dismiss him, as not trusty and 
skilful, and procure another plowman, be- 
cause much depends upon his skill for our 
work to succeed. Should he answer the 
purpose, we leave him and go hence to 

SECTION XXIII. 
Circle the Round Basin. 

This basin has been partially drained by 
a ditch passing through it, and emptying 
into the main ditch, but never successfully, 
because the ditch has never been deep 
enough, and the margins of the basin are 
too high to admit of deepening it enough 
without much labor. 

We desire to circle it on a level, so that 
each row may hold its water, and keep it out 
of the ditch as much as possible. 



284 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[May 



We will commence at the ditch, at the em 
east side of the basin, above the margin of 
the basin, where the land is comparatively 
level, to lay off a guide-row that may em- 
brace all the sloping land inside of it. 

We set the feet of the level on similar 
ground, and move the forefoot, that is to 
lead off, until the plummet line, or spirit 
bubble, indicates the true level. We stick 
down a long cane by the side of the plumb 
for the guide stake. We then move the 
level and put the hindfootby the side of the 
stake, and move the forefoot from side to 
side, until the true level is found; we move 
it again, and put the hindfoot exactly in the 
place the forefoot occupied, and find the 
level again; we stick a short cane down un- 
der the plumb ; we move the level again, 
and proceed in the same manner, getting the 
level every time, and sticking a short cane 
down every third, and a long cane down 
every sixth span of the level, until we sur- 
round the basin, and return to the point, or 
near the place we started from, and we put 
down a guide stake there. The level may 
return to the ditch above or below the first 
guide stake. It makes no difference, so the 
line is run correctly, where it returns to the 
ditch. 

We now lay down the level and walk 
around and examine the stakes. We will, 
perhaps, find them standing very irregularly, 
not in a perfect curved line, but a little zig- 
zag. A skilful horizontalizer can detect in 
a moment, by the eye, almost where the true 
line of level is, and can move the stakes and 
re-set them, so that the line will have a more 
regular curve ; it being somewhere between 
the stakes, inside of some and outside of 
others. Having arranged the stakes to our 
fancy, we start at the guide stake, the plow- 
man following, and we walk from stake to 
stake, the plow moving them as the mule 
throws them down, and the little boy pick- 
ing them up, until we arrive at the last guide 
stake, which is likewise plowed up. 

We have now laid off and plowed a cir- 
cular row, not a perfect circle, and if there 



carrying i 
which he 



four-feet measuring rod, 
with which he occasionally measures the 
distance between them to see that he keeps 
the proper distance; and thus he keeps 
around until he returns to the guide-stake. 
As the ditch is narrow and shallow he 
passes over it, takes another row, and goes 
around as before, on the basin side. We 
take the level and follow him, and test his 
row to see if it be correct, and if there be 
any variations of importance from a true 
level,. we stop him and correct it. There 
are two or three ways of doing this. A 
very convenient way to keep the row going 
on around, is to widen the distance between 
the rows a little at one place, and narrow 
it at another. Or, if this cannot be done, 
we put in a short row beginning at the ditch 
and going around until the defect is cor- 
rected. We have then to start another row 
and lay off by that, which the plowman can 
do, and go round again. Sometimes it be- 
comes necessary to widen or narrow two or 
three rows, or put in . two or three short 
rows, before the defects are remedied. 



be no sudden curves in it, and it suits our 
fancy, we let it stand ; but if we have any 
doubts about its accuracy, we take the level 
and try it, and if necessary, mark the in- 
accurate places, and run them over with the 
plow. 

We now move the plowman on the inside 
of this guide row, and commence four feet 
from that row and run a row by it, the plow- 



In finishing the basin, the rows get shorter 
and shorter until we have to wind up with 
a few short straight rows run parallel with 
the ditch. This concludes the work inside. 
We now examine the first guide row and 
the land surrounding it, and if we see that 
it has not embraced all the sloping land, we 
run one or more rows on the outside of it, 
either entirely or partly around the basin, 
as the case demands. If the basin had no 
outlet by a ditch, we could commence to 
circle it, on either side, and go round and 
stop on returning to the guide stake, nearly 
opposite to it. We then get on the inside 
of it, and run the rows by it, as above stated. 
It is seldom that a guide row, on making a 
circle, returns and meets again. Sometimes, 
when We start to circle a basin, we com- 
mence so far above the margin of the slope, 
that the level goes off into the field instead 
of around the, basin; in that event, we 
go lower down on the margin to commence, 
so that the row may go around the basin. 
But, if we find it necessary, after trying the 
level method for this basin, to protect the 
rows by a guard-drain from the water around 
oozing into them, we can lay off a guard- 
drain around it, to catch the water and dis- 
charge it into the ditch. 

If we find, upon experiment, that the 
level culture is not applicable to the basin, 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



285 



we can try a grading method. This is some- 
times the case. 

The plowman beds up the land high in 
this basin, in the same way that he beds 
up straight rows of the same distance apart, 
except that he plows around the basin, and 
does not stop to turn round at the ditch 
until he is obliged to do so from the nature 
of the rows. 

SECTION XXIV. 

Horizontalizing a Hill on the Level Method. 
No. 1. 

We will now work on the Peach Tree 
Hill* About an acre on the top of this 
hill is an uneven plane. The hill slopes 
North, East and South. There is a fence 
on the South and West, and a ditch on the 
North and East. 

We can commence work almost anywhere, 
on the side or the top of the hill. For 
convenience of plowing we will begin on 
the top, not far from the angle of the fences, 
and lay off a level row from fence to fence. 
This is done in the same manner that we 
did for the basin, moving the level as there, 
and staking the row for a guide row. When 
done the plowman begins and plows it out. 
We test it and find it correct, aud nearly 
straight. We put him to laying off four 
feet rojvs by it next to the fence. They be- 
come nearly straight before he finishes them. 
Whilst he is at work there, we step down 
thirty paces to the brow of the hill, and 
commence at the west fence and lay off 
another guide row, which makes a curve as 
it goes around to the south fence. We ex- 
amine our stakes, re-set them, and the plow- 
man plows it out. We test it with the level, 
and correct the errors with the plow. 

The plowman, after finishing the first set 
of rows, has gone on the other side of °his 
guide row, and is laying off by it. We 
watch and try his work with the level, and 
see that he keeps his distance. We find 
directly that the south end of his rows ter- 
minate at the fence, and the north ends at 
the second guide row just laid off, and un- 
less his rows are on a level they will pour 
the water into this guide row, or by the side 
of the fence. 

When he finishes this work he goes be- 
low the second guide row and lays off by 
that, and we go twenty steps below it, and 
lay off a third guide row. To do this we 

* See Fig. 1. Peach Tree Hill. 



find two gullies to cross, made on the side of 
a fence that has been removed.* They 
have a ridge between them, on which the 
fence stood. 

We call the hoe hands, not far off, shrub- 
bing a ditch bank,f and send for a plow- 
man with a turning plow, who is plowing in ■ 
the first set of straight rows laid off by the 
eye; before he arrives the hoe hands have 
nearly filled the gully with shrubs, pieces of 
rails, tufts of grass, and the like substances, 
and have them ready for the dirt. The 
plowman goes up and down the ridges, and 
turns the dirt on and towards the gullies, 
and the hoes drag it on and fill up the gully 
with soil, tramping it down hard at the 
same time. This job done, we dismiss them 
for the present. 

Unless there is "a good reason to com- 
mence laying off this third guide row at 
the fence; we commence at the head, or be- 
ginning of the gullies, and lay off the row 
on one side, and then return to the starting 
place, and lay off on the other side of it. 
To do this work well, we first span the gul- 
lies and get the level to start with. We 
then lay off from the guide stake. We 
left the plowman on the lower side of the 
second guide row. When the plowman has 
laid off five or six rows by the second guide 
row, he lays off this third guide row. As 
he crosses the gullies he turns up the rows 
a little, and crosses in a curve, or else after 
the dirt settles in the gully the water might 
accumulate in it and make a break. This 
row is examined for correction, and cor- 
rected. The plowman now lays off rows 
on the upper side of this ■ guide row until 
his work meets. If there be any short rows 
they are between the two last guide rows. 

We go thirty paees below, and lay off a 
fourth guide row. This will be sufficient 
for this hill-side. The plowman lays it off, 
plows a few rows above it, and then a few 
rows below the third guide row, to throw 
the short rows between the two sets of rows. 
The balance of the rows are laid off by the 



* Gullies should not be allowed by the side of 
fences. The fences, if possible, should be placed 
on level land, even if they are croaked. So 
should all plantation roads. All gullies should 
be stopped and filled up several days before the 
land is horizontalized, in order that they may 
receive a rain or two and settle the dirt in them. 

tDitch banks and fence corners should be 
shrubbed, and all sprouts on the field grubbed 
up before the horizontalizer goes to work, so that 
his work be not delayed. 



286 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[May 



lust guide row. They get shorter and ter- 
minate between the angle of the ditches.* 

SECTION xxv. 

Ilorizontalizing this Hill hy the 2d Level 
Method, with Guard-drains. 

If we desired, we could make two guard- 
drains on this hill-side. One where the 
second guide-row is, at the brow of the hill, 
and the other where the fourth guide-row 
is, at the head of the gullies. We select 
these places, because the rows are more 
liable to break at the brow of the hill, and 
because the gullies have made breaks al- 
ready. The first guard-drain would have 
less land to protect than the second, and its 
dimensions can, therefore, be less. We 
would make it ten inches deep, ' twelve 
inches wide, with a fall of one inch to the 
span of the level. The second drain would 
be twelve inches deep, and eighteen inches 
wide, and varying from one to three inches 
fall to the span of the level. To lay off the 
first one, we would commence at the south 
fence, at a certain place we desire to dis- 
charge the water. We might pass it under 
the fence into my neighbor's field, but as he 
has no corresponding drain, we let it go 
down the fence on our side. 

We lay it off just as we do a circular 
row, except that we give an inch fall for 
every span of the level, and turn up the 
end at the west fence to catch any water 
that might descend by the side of the fence. 

To lay off the second drain, we commence 
at the head of the gullies, because, if we 
commence at the fence, the drain might not 
pass them at that point, and to stop all 
breaks, gullies and washes, we must remove 
the cause of them first, and the cause is 
usually found above the commencement, and 
sometimes some distance to one side of the 
break. It sometimes requires a skilful eye 
to detect it. We commence at the gullies 
and give two inches fall, and proceed to the 
south fence, and at the fence we give three 



* See Fig. 1. Peach Tree Hill. This hill was 
laid off by this method in.1851, and the gulleys 
stopped in to years. As the rows next to the 
main ditch held water too long in the spring of 
the year, some of them have been altered so as - 
to give a little fall to them" to empty the water 
at the fence, and then into the ditch. The hill- 
side was plowed as deep as one good mule could 
do it. and it has improved and produces much 
better than it did the first year with the same 
management. 



inches to the last span, to prevent the mouth 
of the drain from choking with trash and 
sand. We return to the gully, and run the 
other way to the west fence, and to the first 
span we give one and a half inches fall to- 
wards the south fence, then one inch to the 
next span, and continue that fall to the end, 
and turn it up two inches at the fence. We 
have a drain row with a fall of from one 
inch at the west fence to two, and lastly, 
three inches fall at the other end. The 
gully by the fence takes the water into the 
ditch below. 

The drains having been laid off and 
staked, so as to know them, we lay the rows 
off' on a level as above stated for No. 1. 
Should they break, the guax$-drains will 
arrest the water, and remove it when de- 
sired. This will suffice to explain this 
method. 

SECTION xxvi. 

Ilorizontalizing this Hill hy» the Grading 

Method. — No. 1. 

Suppose we desire to lay off this hill 
with a fall to the rows, without the aid of 
drains or hill-side ditches, we would com- 
mence as we did for the level method, and 
lay off the top of the hill on a level, as we 
find it convenient to discharge the water 
up there. Then we would lay off the first 
guide row at the brow of the hill tis was 
done for the level method, but give a fall of 
one inch to the span of the level towards 
the south fence. We would lay off a second 
guide row, where the third guide row is for 
the level method, at the head of the gullies, 
and give the same fall as the one above. 
One more guide row would be sufficient. In 
plowing ouj the rows, the plowman lays off 
a few rows below the first and then a few 
aboye the second guide rows, so that the 
short rows, if any, may be midway between 
them. Now, if the short rows were to 
empty the water into any one of the long 
rows, it would cause that row to wash into 
a gully. So we plow them on a level. The 
same disaster " would happen if the short 
rows were to terminate with a fall with a 
guide row. To avoid that mischief, we lay 
off long rows by the guide rows, so as to 
throw the short rows between the long rows 
as above mentioned. 

The balance of the land can be plowed 
by the third guide row. But we find that 
they will terminate at the ditch, and there 
is no provision made for the exit of the 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



287 



water. We have either to lay off a drain 
by the side of the ditch, or lay off two rows 
next to the ditch and parallel to it, and 
make a drain of the water-furrow of the 
second row next to the field. This is the 
best plan if the land adjoining the ditch is 
higher than the adjoining land. The graded 
rows then empty into that furrow, and it is 
conveyed to the gully by the side of the 
fence, and from thence into the main ditch. 
But should the ditch have too much fall 
to admit of the above plan, we should have 
to adopt some other plan to receive the 
water and to discharge it into the ditch. 
We should have to plow all the rows in the 
angle of the ditches on a level, or cut a 
guard-drain %-om the point of intersection 
of the ditch and south fence, to the north 
ditch, and give two inches fall to it, and 
empty the rows in the angle of the ditches 
into it. 

SECTION XXVII. 

Horizontalizing this Hill by the 2d Grading 
Method. 

We have to lay off the drains, and then 
the rows with the same fall as that of the 
drains. Two drains in the same places as 
those for the level culture would answer. 
We would discharge the water at the same 
fence, and with a grade from one to two 
inches fall and twelve inches deep and fif- 
teen inches wide. The rows are laid off by 
the drains as above stated. The first rows 
above and below the drains should be five 
feet distant, to give room for the channel 
and bank of the drains. All short rows 
should be between the long ones, and plowed 
on a level. If they terminated into a long 
one they would wash it, and if they termi- 
nated in the drain below they would fill it 
up with sand. 

SECTION XXVIII. 

Horizontalizing by the 3d Grading Method. 

The rows by this, method must discharge 
the water into the ditches. We cannot ex- 
plain it so well here, unless we suppose the 
main ditches and the gully by the side of 
the fence to act as substitutes for the hill- 
side ditches. The drains are laid off as by 
the preceding method, but with more fall, 
to convey the water off more speedily. We 
then run the rows with a fall of one and a 
half inches into the ditches. Many of them 
will terminate at the ditches and many else- 



where. The liability to wash the land, and 
the trouble of discharging the water, would 
make it objectionable on this hill-side, but 
the method might answer a* better purpose 
on other places. 

SECTION XXIX. 

llorizonhdizhuj by the 4th Method. 

The straight row method could be ap- 
plied here ; and with the protection of- hill- 
side ditches with three inches fall to them, 
the land would not sustain as much damage 
as it has done by the same method without 
the ditches. For hill-side ditches would do 
for this hill-side, with a fall of from three 
to five inches*, eighteen inches deep, and 
twenty-four wide. They must be capacious, 
to receive and retain the sand and water. 
After they are laid off and staked, the plow- 
man sets his stakes, and plows up and down 
hill. In cultivating, the plowman has to 
raise his plow over the banks of the ditches 
as he passes them. This is troublesome, 
and he is likely to plow down the banks. 
This method would do mischief to this hill 
in a few years, and causes much labor to 
keep the drains clear, and the banks up. 
It would be very objectionable to this kind 
of land. 

SECTION xxx. 

Laying off Guard-drains and Hillside 

Ditches with the Rafter Level. 

A skilful horizontalizer can lay off these 
drains very well, with an Engineer/s, and 
other levels of simple construction, but, as 
we write more especially for the instruction 
of new beginners of the art, we shall use 
the rafter level. We will select the Trian- 
gular Ridge, in the same field for operations. 
It lies North and South, near two hundred 
yards long, the apex of the triangle being 
East and the base West, about one hundred 
and fifty yards wide. The ridge inclines 
South, East and West, and the water natur- 
ally flows South, South-east, and South-west. 
It is bounded on the East by a fence, on 
the West by a ditch, on the North by a 
ditch, and on the South by a flat and drain. 

We take the level and go on the ridge 
where the greatest slope South begins, and 
the greatest expansion East and West takes 
place, more properly, where the ridge be- 
gins to break up, and spread out into the 
flat, South, West and East. We set the 
level across the backbone of the ridge, and 



288 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[May 



find the exact level, and stick a stake down 
by the side of the plumb-line, called the 
medium stake. % We now go East, and place 
the hind foot by the side of the stake, and 
move the forefoot until the plumb-line set- 
tles at the half inch mark of fall on the 
graduated bar; we then move the level, and 
put the hindfoot exactly where the forefoot 
stood, and move the forefoot until the plumb- 
line settles at three-quarters of an inch fall 
on the bar j we move it again, and repeat 
the same movements until we get two and a 
half inches fall, and continue that fall to 
the last span of the level, and give it three 
inches fall; we finally turn down the level 
to the corner of the fence to six inches fall, 
so as to give the drain a sufficient curve to 
catch the water descending in a gully by 
the side of the fence, and convey it out 
without breaking the bank of the ditch. 
We return then to the medium stake, and 
proceed exactly in the same way for this 
part of the drain, as we did for the pre- 
ceding part, until we get to the wet flat bor- 
dering the ditch, and from thence to the 
ditch we give three inches fall, and turn 
down the line, so that it may enter the ditch 
at an acute angle, to keep it from being- 
choked at its mouth. 

In laying off this line, we stick a long 
cane at every sixth, and a short one at every 
third, span of the level. We now lay down 
the level and examine the line. We find 
the stakes standing irregularly, some out 
and some inside of the line, rather zigzag. 
We* re-set them by the eye, and order the 
plowman to follow us with the scooter plow. 
We walk from stake to stake, and just 
ahead of the mule, (who will soon learn to 
follow,) and leave them for him to knock 
down and the little boy to pick up. When 
we reach the end, at the ditch or fence, the 
plowman waits until we examine, with the 
level, 8 his furrow, to see if it is correct; if 
there be any deviations from a correct and 
regular fall, we mark the places and direct 
the plowman to run them over. When it 
is done right, he takes the hill-side plow and 
retraces the line, throwing the furrow down 
hill, and thus continues throwing two or 
three more furrows in the same manner, and 
the hoe-hands drag out the dirt and form 
an embankment, making it higher at the 
fence and ditch, as the danger of its break- 
ing is at those places. The plowman runs 
two or more furrows in the drain from each 
end up to the one-inch grade, and stops at 



that point, as it is deep enough there. When 
the ditch is finished, it will vary in depth 
from the medium stake to the ditch and to 
the fence from six to eighteen inches, and 
in width from eighteen to twenty-four 
inches.* 

As the wet flat bordering the ditch the 
whole length of the ridge, needs draining, 
and as the land has been cross-plowed, and 
cut into ruts by the plow and water, we con- 
clude to treat it after the method developed 
in the next section. 

SECTION XXXI. 

Horizontalizing with the Grading Method. 

No. 3. 



We give a fall to the rows of one inch to 

the dry land and three inches to the flat. 

We commence and lay off a guide row 
where the wet and dry land join, at the hill- 
side ditch, and run north to the main ditch. 
This row is nearly straight. The plowman 
lays off all the rows by it to the main ditch 
in the wet land, with the same fall, and four 
feet apart. We go to the medium stake, 
and lay off a row North, on the backbone 
of the ridge, and find it varies but little 
from a straight line,' and terminates at the 
North angle of the ridge at the ditch. We 
give it a fall from that point to the hill-side 
ditch of one inch to the span of the level. 
The plowman now lays off the rows on each 
side of this row by it, to the first guide row 
and to the fence. We see that it is done 
correctly, and put in a short row occasion- 
ally, to keep the correct and regular grade. 
In cultivating this ridge, we have had to 
make a few water-furrows across the rows in 
the wet flat with the plow, to drain it 
quicker during heavy showers. This is all 
the trouble we have had with this ridge 
since it was horizontalized. 

SECTION XXXII. 

Guard-Drains. 

Below this hill-side ditch we have made 
three guard-drains, two on the East side of 
the ridge, and one on the West, the first 
one about fifty yards from the ditch, and the 
second # one thirty yards below that one, both 
nearly parallel to the ditch. The first one 
about half the length of the ditch, and the 
second one not quite so long as the first; 
both have a grade of from one to three 



♦See Fig. 1, H. S. D. Triangular Ridge. 



1859.] 



THE S OUT HE UN PLANTER. 



289 



inches; they arc twelve inches deep at the 
outlet, and six inches dec}) at the heads, 

and fourteen inches wide. 

The one on the West side 1 of the ridge is 
in the shape of a .capital E, and the lower 

end of it is a double drain, receiving and 
discharging the water on both sides of it 
into the main ditch. 

The two first arc laid off in the same 
manner, commencing' at the fence and pro- 
ceeding up into the held. 
• The third drain we commence at the hill- 
side ditch, into which the drain discharges 
at the North end, and curves up and down, 
and then up and down again, to the main 
ditch South, and just before it reaches the 
main ditch it divides into two, separated 



merely by the bank. The middle of the E 

connects with a drain that leads to the 
ditch, making three outlets for this drain, 
one into the hill-side ditch, and two into the 
main ditch. • 

We need not describe the; laying off and 
constructing of guard-drains, as it is the 
same as lor the hill-ride ditcl 

AVe might write many more pages on this 
subject, to illustrate the minutiae of this 
beautiful art, but as the Essay is already 
much longer than we desire, we refrain, but 
will illustrate it by a couple of figures for 
the examination and study of those who 
take sufficient interest in the art, and hope 
to make it sufficiently intelligible for the 
understandings of my readers. 



Fig. 1.— GIN HOUSE FIELD, 45 ACRES. 




Explanation of thk Figure. 

0. Straight rows by the eye. 

1. Level Method, i No. 1. 

Q II M .i 2. 

.'i. Grading Method, " 1. 

4. " • ' ; 2. 

5. " " "3. 

" " " 4. Not illustrated. 

19 



290 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[May 



Fig. 2.— BRICK YARD FIELD, 10 ACRES. 




w 
Explanation ©p the Figure. 

1. Level Method, : No. 1. 

2. Grading Method, ; ' 1. 

* •■•• 5 J - 

The gully was stopped in two years. 



Hints to Farmers. 

Be Systematic. — Here we have one of 
the first principles of successful agricul- 
ture. Let all your transactions be con- 
ducted in a business-like manner. Take 
note of every operation, whether you buy 
or sell, receive or disburse, sow or reap, 
make a promise or a bargain. To do this, 
it will be necessary to keep a diary, and we 
would say, do so, if for no other object than 
as a ready means of comparison. 

Be Thorovgh. — Never half-do anything 
yourself, nor permit your men to glide over 
their labors. " If it is worth doing at all, 
it is worth doing well/' would prove & golden 
maxim to thousands of farmers if they would 
not only adopt it as a portion of their creed, 
but exemplify its teachings in their daily 
life. Away with these scratchers — men that 
go beneath the surface are the kind wanted. 

Leave your Land in good heart. — It should 
be the object of every tiller of the soil to 
leave his land in good condition after the 
removal of a crop, and, at the same time, 
obtain as remunerating returns as possible. 
This can be done only by husbanding all 
the sources of fertility upon the farm, and 
adding thereto in every available manner. 



This is the Alpha and Omega of progres- 
sive agriculture. Never boast of a "bank 
account" if it is obtained at the expense of 
your farm. 

Study your Profession. — It is not alone 
the energy that wields the spade or holds 
the plow that insures success. The culture 
of the mind must go hand in hand with the 
culture Qf the soil. The relations of science 
to the farmer's calling are intimate. Good 
books, are aids in the attainment of know- 
ledge, but, never pin your faith on the ipse 
dixit of any individual — think, experiment 
and judge for yourself. 

Stick to the farm. — Amid your plans for 
the future, never, for one moment, harbor 
the idea of bettering your condition by enter- 
ing the arena of commercial life. Do not 
exchange a home of quiet, real enjoyment 
for the turmoil and illusion of a city residence. 
Barter not sweet repose for visions of empty 
wallets, nor let notes due on the morrow as- 
sume the prerogatives of the nightmare. Yery 
poor comforters for care and anxiety are these 
little realities in the commercial world. Stick 
to the farm. What though hard labor be the 
every-day command, it is noble, healthful, 
and conducive to the full development of the 
whole man. — Ohio Valley Farmer. 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



291 



« 



For the Southern Planter. 

The Dairy. 

To the Exeat the Committee of the 

Ya. State Agricultural Society. 

Gentlemen : 

It is a well known fact that throughout 
Virginia, even in those portions of the State 
where the natural and artificial grasses suc- 
ceed as well as in the most favored of the 
Northern States, and where of course more 
or less attention is paid to grazing, very lit- 
tle attention is paid to dairy produce. Du- 
ring a portion of the year large quantities 
of butter are made in certain regions it is 
true, but this butter is in nine cases out of 
ten, an incidental product, rather than a 
primary object of production. The farmer 
must keep cows to breed from, and to sup- 
ply milk and butter to his family ; if more 
butter is made than the family requires, it 
is sold in .the nearest town or at the country 
store, just as extra poultry would be. As to 
cheese, so little is made that none ever finds 
its way to market. True dairy husbandry, 
by which I mean the devotion of the farm 
to the production of butter or cheese, or 
both, so that these products become the al- 
most exclusive sources of revenue to the 
farmer, is almost unknown amongst us. As 
a necessary consequence of this, the people of 
Virginia are paying an annual tax, amount- 
ing^ several hundred thousand dollars, for 
dairy products to farmers of the Northern 
States; all of our large cities failing to se- 
cure a supply at home, are obliged to import 
large quantities of both butter and cheese, 
the first to make up for a deficient supply, 
and the second to supply the demand for an 
article that we do not produce at all. 

The question naturally arises, does this fail- 
ure to produce a sufficiency of two important 
farm products for home consumption, arise 
from our inability to produce them, result- 
ing from peculiarities of soil or climate ? or 
does it arise from the fact that, onr farmers 
think there is more profit in growing grain, 
or grazing, than in the dairy? That by far 
the largest portion of the State, east of the 
Blue Ridge, is unsuited to the dairy, there 
can be no doubt, to attempt to make that a 
dairy country, would be the height of folly, 
but the case is very different in Western 
Virginia. The great Valley, and numerous 
other sections farther West, is pre-eminently 
a grass country, and it seems to me that, the 
true policy of many of its farmers would be, 



\ lrginia, 
eller starting; 



to turn their attention to the dairy and cul- 
tivate less grain, particularly wheat. I am 
led to this conclusion by various considera- 
tions, some of which I propose submitting 
to the committee in this communication, 
with the hope that I shall be able to show 
that, considerations of interest and policy, 
call for the introduction and wide extension 
of dairy husbandry in AVestern Virginia. 

Now York and Pennsylvania a^c colebra- 
ted for their fine butter and cheese, and the 
former is by far the greatest dairy State in 
the Union. The geological features of these 
States are the same precisely with those of 
west of the Blue Ridge. A trav- 
from the Ridge and going 
westward, would come upon the same for- 
mations, and in the same order that he would 
ff he started from the northern part of New 
York, and came southward into Pennsylva- 
nia. In both cases he would cross the great 
Silurian, Devonian and Carboniferous, or 
coal bearing series of strata, in regular order 
from the lowest, or oldest, to the highest, or 
most recent. Now since the soil has it* 
origin in the rocks which underlie it, and 
its properties, both physical and chemical, 
are determined in a great degree by the na- 
ture of the particular formation to which it 
owes its origin, it follows that there must be 
a general resemblance between .the soils of 
New York and Pennsylvania and Western 
Virginia; and that if care is taken to trace 
out the boundaries of particular formations, 
the boundaries and extent of the soils which 
bear a close resemblance to each other, will 
also be determined. For example, several 
of the Silusian deposites known in New 
York as the Utica Slate, Trenton Limestone, 
Chemung Group, &c, are extensively de- 
veloped in that State; wide areas in the 
counties of Herkemer and Jefferson are cov- 
ered by the first two, while equally exten- 
sive areas are occupied by the latter in Or- 
ange, Steuben, Chemung, &c. These coun- 
ties comprise the very finest dairy regions of 
New York, and undoubtedly owe their pecu- 
liar fitness for this branch of husbandry to 
their geological features. By reference to 
the geological reports of Virginia, we find 
that these same formations, only known 
by different names, are extensively develop- 
ed in our State ; the first two throughout the 
length and breadth of the valley, the latter 
in Monroe, Greenbrier, Pocahontas and Ran- 
dolph counties; now since the soils of New 
York, which rest upon these formations, are 



292 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



[May 



so pre-eminently suited to dairy fanning, why 

it may be asked, should not the soils of the 
extensive region above referred to be equal- 
ly well suited to it. 

But we are not left to scientific induction 
alone, to show that the soils of this region 
( {' Virginia are as well suited to the dairy, 
as bhose of New York. It is a fact too well 
known to admit of question, that the Valley, 
Pocahontas, Monroe, •and numerous •other 
counties in Western Virginia, are fine grass 
mowing regions, that they produce the finest 
grasses abundantly; and since the fitness of 
any region for dairy purposes, is determined 
by its capacity to produce the finer quality 
(»{' grasses, it follows that the portions of the 
State above referred to, must be pre-emi- 
nently suited to dairy husbandry. 

It may be objected that we are too far 
South, that our summer climate is too warm; 
to this I would say that, to the farmer who 
understands his business, and is properly 
prepared for the manufacture of butter ox- 
cheese, this can be no real objection. He 
can have cool spring-houses, butter and 
cheese-rooms, ' cool dry cellars, &c., as well 
as they can farther North, and while it may 
require a little more care, he can certainly 
keep the produce of the dairy sufficiently 
cool to have it in good condition for market. 
I know, from close personal observation, that 
our climate offers no real obstacle to dairy 
farming; that both butter and cheese of the 
very first quality can be made, and that they 
can be made to keep well. Granting, how- 
ever, that the warmth of our climate requires 
more care on the part of the dairy farmer, it 
operates decidedly 'in our favor in other re- 
spects. We have good pasture earlier in the 
spring and later in the fall than they can 
have in the North, and our winters being both 
warmer and shorter than Northern winters, 
the expense of feeding, during that unpro- 
ductive season, must be greatly diminished. 

The extensive region referred to may. 
however, be very well adapted to the dairy, 
and yet dairy farming be unprofitable, or at 
least not so profitable as other systems; it is 
proper, therefore, that we should consider 
the question of the profits of dairying, as 
compared with the profits arising from the 
ordinary mode of farming in Western Vir- 
ginia. Perhaps the strongest argument in 
favor of dairy farming is to be found in the 
fact, that in the State of New York, wherc- 
cver the soil is suited to the purpose — and 
where it is no better suited to the growth of 



the finer grasses than our own — dairy farms 
are considered the most profitable; that the 
dairy products of New York are increasing 
from year to year, and that the State Agri- 
cultural Society, seeing from an early period 
of its existence, the importance of fostering 
tins branch of husbandry, has by its pre- 
miums, by the dissemination of valuable in- 
formation, &c, been very active in turning 
the attention of the fanners of New Y'ork 
to it. If now the dairy is so profitable in 
New York, can there be any reasonable 
ground for supposing that it would be less 
so with us, if properly managed? * I think 
that I can show that it ought to be not only 
equally profitable, but more so. Hundreds 
of thousands of pounds of butter and cheese, 
both made by Northern farmers, are annu- 
ally sold in our midst; if now the Northern 
farmer finds it profitable to produce these 
articles to send to us for consumption, sure- 
ly it ought to be equally, if not more profi- 
table, to our farmers, who have soils equally 
well suited to dairy firming, to produce them 
for so good a home market. With this fact 
of the importation of large quantities of 
Northern dairy products before us, taken in 
connection with what has been said in rela- 
tion to the peculiar adaptation of many of 
our soils to the production of these articles, 
it must be shown that our farmers are ena- 
bled to turn their grass and grain to better 
account than Northern farmers can, before 
the argument in favor of dairy farming can 
be shown to be fallacious. 

As this matter of profit is of primary im- 
portance, and as the information at my com- 
mand was not of such a character as to en- 
able me to compare dairy farming with the 
methods ordinarily practised in this region, 
I applied for information to the Secretary of 
the New York Agricultural Society, who'has 
for years been exerting himself for the ex- 
tension and improvement of dairy husband- 
ry in his own State. Besides supplying me 
with valuable documents on the subject, he 
gave me the. names of several gentlemen 
who arc familiar with dairying in all of its 
details, from two of whom, the Hon. Gr. Den- 
niston and A. L. Fish, Esq., I have received 
a great deal of very valuable information, I 
shall quote largely from these gentlemen. 

Mr. Denniston says, in relation to the. 
value of dairy farms,, the prices realized for 
butter and cheese, and the prices of dairy 
stock, that in Orange and Chemung coun- 
ties, New York, a good dairy farm is worth 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



203 



from $50 to $80 per acre, and in Steuben 
from $20 to $70 ; that dairy cows are worth 
from $40 to $G0 in the Spring, and from 
$30 to $50 in the Fall. Butter sell.; for 
from 18 to 24 cts, when packed for market, 
and cheese at from 8 to 10 cts. Mr. Fish 
says that, "land that /bur acres "will summer 
and winter a cow, is botght and sold, with 
appurtenances, at from $50 to $70 per acre." 
With. land at such prices, and with their 
butter and cheese at loAver prices. than can 
be realized for the same articles in Rich- 
mond, or other Virginia cities, Mr. Dennis- 
ton says that-, "when dairies are kept, but 
little farming- is done — only as much corn, 
wheat and oats are raised as are necessary 
for home consnmpt : on — the dairy hc'ouj 
deemed more profitable than grain raising." 

Now assuming that the attention of our 
farmers had been turned to dairy farming, 
and that the quality of our dairy products 
was equal to that of northern dairies, they 
might reasonably expect to make it more 
profitable than the dairymen of New York 
possibly can : 1st. good grazing lands can 
be had in all of the counties of Western 
Virginia, for much less than they have to 
pay for them in New York ; 2nd. we have 
a good home market; in which our" farmers 
could always realize as high a price for their 
butter as they do in New York, and a higher 
price for their cheese ; and 3rd, our springs 
being earlier, our falls later, and our win- 
ters more mild, the cost of keeping dairy 
stock would necessarily be much less. In 
relation to this last point, Mr. Fish says, 
" We have to feed our dairy cows here with 
an equivalent to good hay, six, and often 
seven months out of the year, requiring 
from two to three tons to each cow." 

In order that every farmer who may think 
of turning his attention to dairying, may be 
able to compare. the produce of an ordinary 
dairy farm with what he himself produces 
in other crops, I subjoin extracts from the 
sworn statement of Mr. Halbcrt of Che- 
mung county, New York, who received a 
premium from the New York Agricultural 
Society for the first quality of butter. "My 
farm consists of 200 acres of land, which 
was farmed the past season as. follows. I' 
have kept and milked 40 cows, and my 
grain, pasture, and meadows arc as follows: 
24 acres of wheat ; 8 of buckwheat ; 10 of 
oats; 20 of corn and potatoes; 2 of sum- 
mer fallow; 40 of meadow ; 74 of pasture, 
22 of wood and waste land. Commenced 



making butter about the 1st of April, and up 
to May 4th made; 512 lbs, then commenced 
packing for the fall market. Made in May, 
twenty-six days, seven hundred and forty 
seven lbs.; in June, 80 days, made eleven 
hundred and eighty-six lbs. ; in duly, 31 
days, ten hundred and seventy-nine lbs.; in 
August, .'51 days, \c\\ hundred and sixteen 
lbs. ; Mild from September 1st, up to D< 
ber 15th, which is about the close of the 
season for making butter, three and a half 
month-, nineteen hundred and forty-eight 
lbs. I sold my dairy, this year, for 22 cents 
per lb., which amount was five thousand and 
thirty-four lbs.; the spring butter, the but- 
ter that was sent to fairs, ami the butter that 
was made after the dairy was taken oil, 
amounted to fourteen hundred and fifty-four 
$bs. ; the whole averaging 23 cents per lb., 
amounted in cash to fourteen hundred and 
ninety-two dollars and twenty-five cents. 
This is over and above family use — and our 
family will average over eight in number — 
which makes an average of §37 50 per cow, 
including heifers. " 

.This is exclusive, too, of the pork made 
from the butter-milk, which is an important 
item of profit in every butter dairy. 

In comparing the product of this farm 
with our farm operations, it should be borne 
in mind that as .114 acres, or about two- 
thirds of the arable land of the farm is in 
grass, 74 being pasture ; the labor required 
to carry it on is necessarily much less than 
if it had been devoted principally to grain, 
and the price realized for the butter, 23 
cents, was from three to five cents less than 
can always be gotten for the same quality of 
butter in the Richmond market, at that sea- 
son of the year. 

While, considering the relative advanta- 
ges of dairying, and growing grain, it should 
be borne in mind that in raising grain, and 
selling the greater part of it off the land, as 
every grain farmer must, there is a constant 
drain upon the soil, whereas in making but- 
ter the drain is nothing, as every thing ta- 
ken from the land in the grass, is returned 
in the manure. In making cheese there is 
more or less drain upon the land, but nothing 
like so much as in growing grain. Mr. Den- 
niston says, that the farmers of New York, 
find dairy farming to be the very best means 
of restoring land, that it goes on increasing 
iij fertility from year to year, without inter- 
ruption. 

Granting, however, that it is more profita- 



294 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[May 



ble to devote the lighter and more easily 
worked soils of Western Virginia, to both 
grass and grain, or to mixed husbandry, 
filers is still a large class of soils which 
could be more profitably employed for dairy 
purposes than for any other. First, there 
are many soils tfy^t are difficult to work, on 
account of the nearness of the underlying 
rock to the surface, or where the rock 
is constantly protruding in large masses 
through the soil. Such soils usually make 
fine pasture, and when in pasture, may be 
kept in good condition for an indefinite pe- 
riod, by simple top-dressing. If, however, 
they are cultivated in grain, the result is 
unsatisfactory ; the soil is difficult to work, 
requires more labor than ordinary land, and 
the yield is necessarily very precarious. 
Second, we frequently meet with land wefl 
adapted to grass, but so steep as to make it 
difficult of cultivation, at the same time it is 
almost impossible to cultivate it and prevent 
the surface soil from being washed off. All 
such lands if laid down in good seed, and 
top-dressed occasionally with the manure 
from the cow-house, would be just as valu- 
able for dairy purposes as any other. 

But I am not left to mere comparisons 
and speculations, to show that the dairy may 
be made profitable with us. I have the ex- 
perience of farmers in our own midst, who 
have tried' dairying — on a small scale 'it is 
true — and yet sufficiently extensive to prove 
to them that it is profitable, if properly man- 
aged. Mr. Gibson of this county has a 
farm which he devotes exclusively to the 
dairy, believing that it yields him a larger 
return in that way than he could get from 
it in any other. His business arrangements 
are such, that he can pay but limited atten- 
tion to this farm, so that it is, he says, less 
profitable to him than he could otherwise 
make it, he sells his butter at the Institute 
at a shilling per pound for six months of the 
year — the period during which the greater 
part of it is made — and at 20 cents the 
other six months, and his profits are ten per 
vent on the capital invested. This butter is 
equal in quality to Goshen butter, and were 
it packed, and sent to Richmond in winter, 
would sell for as high a price. Mr. Gibson 
keeps thirty cows, and a sufficient number 
of hogs to consume the buttermilk. He has 
a dairy woman who learned her business in 
Germany, and who thoroughly understands 
it in all its details. 

The cheese dairy is not regarded as quite 



so profitable in New York as butter ; with 
us it would undoubtedly be the most so. In 
all this region, and in the grass growing re- 
gion to our West, the only cheese we get 
comes from the North or West, and is 
brought to us by the merchants, who, to 
make a profit on it, are obliged to sell it to 
us at from sixteen *to twenty cents, or even 
more, depending upon the quality. At such 
prices, or any thing approaching them, the 
production of cheese could not be otherwise 
than profitable. It takes about three gal- 
jlons of milk to make one pound of butter, 
while the same milk will, according to Mr. 
Fish, make three pounds of cheese. Where 
cheese is worth but eight or nine cents, and 
butter twenty-three or four, the latter, when 
we consider the superior value of buttermilk 
over whey for feeding hogs, is no doubt the 
most profitable ; but where cheese is worth 
almost as much as butter, the former be- 
comes much the most so. There can be no 
doubt then of the profits of the cheese dai- 
ry so long as we have so good a home mar- 
ket; but suppose the home market fully 
suppJied so as to bring down the price, we 
still have Richmond, and other cities to send 
to, where the prices of cheese are always 
higher, by several cents, than those realized 
by Northern dairymen. 

It appears from an estimate very kindly 
furnished me by Messrs. Bacon & Baskervill 
of Richmond, that there are about 1,000,- 
000^ lbs. of butter sold annually in that city, 
and 2,000,000 lbs. of cheese. Of the for- 
mer about 600,000 lbs.- is of northern and 
western production, while the whole of the 
latter is the produce of northern dairies. 
The northern butter ranges in price from 
twenty to twenty-eight cents, depending 
upon the time of the year ; or the tax paid 
northern farmers by the city of Richmond, 
is not far short, of 8144,000. The whole- 
sale price of ordinary northern cheese is 
from ten to eleven cents, and western from 
nine to ten ; putting the whole at ten cents, 
we have the sum of $200,000 as the tax 
paid in one of our cities for 'this article — 
this leaves out of the account all fancy 
brands, such as " pine-apple/' " imitation 
English/' &c, which always command a 
much higher price. 

With such facts before us, it becomes us 
all to give the subject of the dairy due con- 
sideration; and especially does it become the 
farmers of the grass-growing region of the 
State, to consider whether dairy husbandry 



1859.] 



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295 



ought not to receive more attention than it 
lias heretofore had at their hands. 

In what I have said in relation to prices, 
profits, etc., I have assumed the production 
of a superior article of both butler and 
cheese; to make any thing else could not 
but result in loss instead of' prefit. If any 
of our farmers propose going into the dairy 
business, they must be prepared to send 
butter and cheese into Richmond, Peters- 
burg, etc., of such a quality that they may 
compete successfully w*th the best northern 
articles, otherwise the prices realized will be 
two low to leave much of a margin for 
profits. For this purpose the butter must 
be well made, and well packed, so that it 
will keep well, and must be put up in clean, 
inviting looking firkins ; while the cheese, 
after having been properly made, must be 
kept until it is thoroughly cured before it is 
sent to market. 

In order to meet the wants of any farm- 
ers who may feel disposed to give the dairy 
a fair trial, I have obtained from Mr. Den- 
niston a very full account of the method of 
making the " Orange County " butter of N. 
Y., which is regarded as the standard of 
excellence, together with complete direc- 
tions for the manufacture* of ''•New York 
stall cheese. He has also given me nu- 
merous directions as to pastures &c, &c, all 
of which will be found to be particularly 
valuable, not only to the dairy farmer, but 
to all who keep cows, and have any butter 
or cheese to make.. These directions are in 
the form of two communications, in answer 
to numerous inquiries that I have addressed 
to him, they are so full and complete as to 
leave nothing to be desired, and I give 
them in Mr. l)enniston's own words. 

" The cellar, where the milk is kept, 
should be cool, well ventilated — clean. The 
milk ought to be strained into pans contain- 
ing 10 or 12 quarts each. If the weather 
is very warm the pans ought to be set on the 
cellar bottom — otherwise on shelves. The 
milk ought not to be churned until it be- 
comes thick, or loppered — the milk and 
cream arc then churned together. Some 
dairymen skim off the cream and part of 
the milk and ehurn that, but Goshen butter 
is churned from the milk and cream. The 
churn used is the common "dasher churn," 
driven by dog, horse, or hand power accord- 
ing to the size of the dairy. The churn 
may be half or Uyp-thirds full with milk ; 
and a pail of cold water added before start- 



in- to churn. In cold weather warm water 
is put in. The churning should be with a 
slow, regular motion — and to make good 
solid butter will take from one hour to one 
hour and a half — before the churning is 
done, another pail of water ought to be pat 
in. When the butter is done, take it out, 
wash it through oik; water in a large tray, 
throw the water out, then salt the butter, 
using about one ounce of pure Liverpool 
(" Ashton ") salt to each pound of butter. 
Work the salt through the butter — put it in 
a cool place and let it stand an hour, then 
work it carefully over, and set it aside for 
five or six hours — work it over again, and 
set it aside in the same cool place until the 
next morning, when it is packed. In work- 
ing butter great 'care • ought to be taken to 
work out all of the mt'lk — but not to work 
it too much, so as to break the grain, and 
make it "galvey." If any milk is left in, 
the butter will soon become rancid, if worked 
too much it will be " greasy " or " salvcy," 
and not solid. Butter worked just enough 
will be solid — sweet — yellow — and the drops 
of brine on it will be " clear as crystal." 

u Orange County butter is packed in 
white oak firkins — the staves selected so as 
not to leak the brine* — the firkins will Weigh 
about 18 or 20 lbs. empty. The firkins are 
soaked in pure cold water for some days be- 
fore using, by being filled with the water — 
they hold from 80 to 100 pounds vf butter. 
When the frukin is full, a linen cloth is 
placed over the top of the butter, and on 
this cloth a layer of sale an inch in depth is 
laid, made a little damp with cold water. 
The butter stands until marketed, then the 
salt and cloth are taken off — a fresh cloth 
wet with brine put on, aud the firkin headed 
up. Great care should be taken to have the 
firkins kept perfectly clean. T4ie outside 
ought to be as bright as when turned out 
by the cooper. No leaky firkin, or any that 
will filter the least particle of brine, ought to 
be used. This is the way Goshen butter is 
made." 

" One of the best butter-makers in Che- 
mung County manufactures as follows: The 
milk is put into 12 quart pans, and set on 
the bottom of the cellar where it remains 
until it becomes loppered. It is then, both 
milk and cream, poured into churns which 
hold a barrel each. A pail full of water to 
six of milk is added, and the whole brought 
to a temperature of 08 degrees. The 
churning is done by horse power, and re- 



296 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[May 



quires two horses. Just before the butter 
ir< fully come, another pail full of water is 
put into each churn to thin the buttermilk, 
so that the butter may rise freely. The 
butter ia taken from the churn into large 
wooden bowls, thoroughly washed with cold 
water, and salted with one ounce of Ash- 
ton (Livdrjtool) salt to each pound of butter, 
and lightly worked through with a wooden 
blade. It is afterwards worked at intervals 
of about three hours, three or four times 
with a c mimon ladle 2 and packed into 
firkins the next morning." 

" Butter, when packed, should be kept in 
as ccol a place as. can be found until it is 
sent to- market — a cool cellar is the best 
place. Dairy butter is generally marketed 
in November and December. Our dairy- 
men generally sell fresh, the butter made in 
spring before grass comes, and that made 
last in the fall after grass — they pack as 
long as the cows can.be kept on good grass. 
Many feed their cows cornstalks in autumn, 
and ccntinue to pack until winter." 

" The proportion of pasture and of 
meadow land depends altogether on the 
season, and on the grass. Clover will not 
feed as long as timothy and the finer sorts. 
The true rule is to keep the pasture fresh 
by changing from field to field. Cows 
are very nice in their selection of food, they 
will select as cautiously as any epicure if 
they have a chance, and to make them 
profitable for dairy purposes, they at all 
times ought to have plenty of grass and 
water. In our climate we allow that two 
tons of hay per cow is none too much for 
winter, at your place less probably would 
answer. Corn meal is good food for cows 
in winter and early spring, with hay. It 
is very important that cows be brought 
through the winter in good condition, their 
value for dairy purposes depends on -this. 
In our State the dairymen stable their cows 
through, the winter, keep them warm and 
comfortable, and feed them well." 

" In all our dairy districts, the land be- 
comes more rich and productive from year 
to year. I am acquainted with acres that 
have not been plowed for twenty-five years; 
the sod is stiff" and rich — the grass thick 
and fine. It is never fed down, except here 
and there in patches, the cattle selecting 
the finest and sweetest portions, treading 
!'ie rest down into the earth to enrich the 
icding growth — thus adding to the pro- 
'ivc capacities of the soil." 



"To. produce good butter, the grasses 
ought to be a mixture of clover, timothy, 
blue and other finer native grasses. We 
lay down our lands with clover and timothy 
— the white clover, the sweet vernal, and 
other fine grasses, come in the second or 
third year, making fine, sweet pasture for 
several years after. Where we intend to 
make butter, we let our land lay in sod for 
a number of years — the older the sod, the 
finer and more nourishing the grass. We 
prefer to restore ou» grass lands by top- 
dressing, rather than to plow and re-sod. 
Newly seeded lands do not produce as good 
grass, for dairy purposes, as old." 

I would simply add, in this connection, 
that Mr. Gibson's dairy woman informs me, 
that our own blue grass, when well set, 
makes better butter than any other, or any 
mixture of grasses that she has ever seen 
tried. 

Manufacture of Cheese. 

"The manufacture of cheese consists in 
the complete separation of the curd from 
the whey, and in the proper compressing 
and curing of the curd. There are leading 
principles, relating to every stage of the 
manufacture, that should be noticed. 

1. The evening and morning's milk are 
used. "The evening's milk is strained into 
a tub, and the next morning added to the 
morning's milk. The temperature of the 
milk is then raised to from 84 to 90 degrees, 
by putting it into a tin vessel, which is 
floated in "hot water. From 84 to 90 de- 
grees is the. proper temperature for the milk 
to be coagulated., 

2. Use calf's rennet. This is prepared 
by turning out the* contents of the stomach, 
turning the stomach inside out, hanging it 
up to dry, and afterwards packing it down 
in salt. The rennet is used by steeping a 
small piece in a cup of " luke-warm" water, 
adding a little salt. The rennet is put into 
the milk when the latter is at a temperature 
of 90 degrees, and just enough is added to 
make the milk coagulate. Continue to beat 
the milk until the curd appears distinct 
from the whey; this can be ascertained by 
pressing the surface of the milk; if the 
curd appears to be coagulated and solid, 
and the whey a pale green shade, it is a proof 
that the curd is in a condition to be sepa- 
rated from the whey, and to become fine 
and smooth in breaking; but if the curd 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



297 



appears soft, it is not ready for breaking, 
and must remain until it is. 

3. When ready, the curd is broken by a 
cutter, formed of wire crossing an inch 
apart, This is pressed through the curd, 
perpendicularly, in different directions, so 
as to separate it into small and equal parts. 
The finer it is broken the sooner it will 
Separate from the whey. The time occu- 
pied in breaking the curd must be deter- 
mined by circumstances. The curd must 
be in a condition to separate from the whey; 
also, to be broken even ; as a general rule, 
the process must' be continued until the 
curd is separated into fine and uniform 
parts, and appears to be tough enough to 
become separate from the whey. 

4. As soon as the curd is settled, and the 
whey appears clear on the top, begin to dip 
the whey off, and to scald; the heat is ap- 
plied faster or slower, in scalding the curd, 
according to the action of the rennet, as 
that acts rapidly or less so. The practice 
is to .raise the temperature gradually from 
that of the curd, when broken up, to 90 de- 
grees, awd from that to 106 degrees. While 
scalding, the whey and curd are kept in 
motion to keep the curd from running to- 
gether, and that it may be equally cooked 
throughout — the time varies from half to 
three-quarters of an hour, and sometimes 
longer. The test by which to know that 
the curd has been cooked enough, is, that it 
will feel elastic, and when chewed between 
the teeth will "squeak." 

5. As soon as it is sufficiently cooked, it 
is separated from the whey ; this is done by 
dropping it ori a "strainer spread over a tub 
or sink. The curd should fall in at a tem- 
perature of about 94 degrees, when it is to 
be salted. 

6. The salt used ought to be pure Onon- 
dagua or Liverpool; one pound of salt to 40 
of curd. The curd is salted when warm, 
say 94 degrees, and when well drained of 
the whey. It must be worked fine, so as to 
work the salt uniformly through the mass. 
During the salting process the. temperature 
should fall from 94 to 75 degrees. 

7. As soon as the salt is thoroughly work- 
ed in, and packed for a few minutes until 
the curd sinks in temperature to about 72 
degrees, it should be put to press. If put 
to press at a higher temperature it will be 
tough and strong — if lower, it will crumble 
and not press together. 

8. The press ought to vary from three to 



ten tons weight, according to the size of the 
oheese ; the cheese ought not to be pressed 
too hard at first, as it will drive out*muchof 
its richness with the whey. Press twelve 
hours, then turn it and press twelve hours 
longer. 

9. If we wish to color the cheese, we use 
" mulatto ;" incorporate it with the rennet, 
and apply it in setting the milk with the 
rennet. 

10. After the cheese is taken from the 
press, it should be cleaned of" all blotches or 
scum that may have risen to its surface, and 
sufficient oil and beeswax rubbed on te keep 
it from cracking. This being observed 
strictly, and the cheese turned over from day 
to* day, a rind will be produced that will be 
impervious to flies. 

11. The oil used to rub the cheese is 
" whey oil." The whey stands until a scum 
rises upon its surface, which is skimmed off 
and cleansed ; the milk is worked from the 
butter, it is then tried down until all the milk 
and water escape, and it becomes what we 
call " whey oil." The cheese is turned over 
every day, and this oil rubbed on quite warm 
all over the surfa.ee, but be sure to rub no 
more on than will become readily incorpora- 
ted with the rind. 

12. After the cheese has been pressed, it 
is important to put around it a bandage of 
thin muslin, this is done by cutting the mus- 
lin into pieces of sufficient width to pass 
around the cheese, and over the edges about 
one inch. It is soon drawn on (by one who 
understands the process) with a thread and 
needle. This will keep the cheese from 
spreading and cracking. 

13. It is important to watch the cheese, 
turn them every day and rub them to keep 
them free from defects, and to preserve the 
rind. In about three months from the mak- 
ing, cheese is fit for market. o 

To make the business profitable, the farm 
ought to be good for grazing, with plenty of 
living w T ater on it for the cows at all times." 

From Mr. Fish^ I learn that " All varie- 
ties of soils that grow grass are stock soils, 
but our best dairy soils are what we call up- 
lands, free from standing water, thoroughly 
impregnated with lime, yielding all the va- 
rieties of clover, timothy, red-top, &o., in 
the same sod, furnishing fresh food during 
the grazing season. No one kind of grass 
will be good pasture through a whole season 
— to seed for pasture, sow many kinds at 
once." He also says, that " Our best dairy- 



298 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[May 



men sow in drills an acre of corn to every 
ten cows, which is fed when in blossom, if 
needed, if not it is cut and dried for winter 
feed. It makes good milk for butter or 
cheese." 

I have already referred to the fact, that a 
very considerable amount of butter is made 
in this region in the summer months, more a 
good deal than can be consumed at home, 
hence much of it must find its way to Rich- 
mond, Petersburg, &c. I learn from Messrs. 
Bacon & Baskervill, that about 400,000 
lbs. of Virginia butter is sold in Richmond 
annually ; a very large portion of which is 
" very inferior, being badly made, and much 
of it rancid before reaching market; the 
average price of which is about from 12 to 
25 cents, a very small amount of nice 'moun- 
tain roll' commanding the latter price." By 
comparing these prices with the prices of 
Northern butter, we find that the latter will 
average at least ten cents per pound the 
highest. We are then, besides paying the 
heavy tax already referred to for 600,000 
lbs. of Northern butter, in the single city of 
Richmond, actually losing $40,000 on the 
butter that goes there from our own State, 
and all for the want of care in the making 
and packing. 

Let us consider for a moment how our 
butter gets to market j we shall then be able 
to understand why it is so inferior, and at 
the same time to suggest what will at least 
be a partial remedy. Taken as a whole, the 
butter is much better made than its condi- 
tion, when sent to market, would seem to 
indicate ; it is true that want of care in mak- 
ing, is one cause of its inferiority, but this 
is not the only, or the principal one. The 
greater part of all the Virginia butter that 
goes to market, and nearly all that is really 
poor, is packed at the country stores • where 
famikes give the subject sufficient attention 
to pack for themselves, it is an accident if 
the butter is not good. 

Whatever butter is for sale in the family, 
is taken to the nearest country store ; the 
merchant buys it in exchange for goods • if 
he can sell it out again from the store very 
well, but in Certain seasons, just when the 
butter keeps good the shortest time, it accu- 
mulates on his hands, and he is forced to 
pack it. It of course has to stand some 
time after making before it is packed, which 
of itself is an injury to it, and when it is 
packed, very little, if any, selection is possi- 
ble — good, bad and indifferent, golden yel- 



low and milk white, sweet and strong but- 
ter, must all go in the same firkin, from 
which the air is never excluded from the 
time the butter is packed until the day it is 
sold. • The natural effect of all this is, that 
before the butter can be gotten to market, 
frequently before it leaves the store, it is 
rancid, the proportion of poor butter being 
almost always sufficient to spoil the whole • 
when it is sold, the merchant, who could not 
afford to give a- fair price for the article in 
the first place, is doing very well if he reali- 
zes the price originally paid ; his profits, if 
any, are* made on the goods sold, not on the 
butter. 

Again, by the way in which butter is sold 
every where, except in the cities, a premium 
is offered for butter that is but half worked, 
the price is the same, no matter what the 
quality, and hence butter that is poorly work- 
ed, and still retains a portion of butter-milk, 
being heavier, actually brings the highest 
price. 

Now the remedy that I would propose is, 
for the farmers, or better the farmers' wives, 
to see that their butter is properly made, and 
carefully worked — they could do no better 
than follow the directions for making Gro- 
shen butter — and then if the home demand 
is not sufficient to ensure a good price for it, 
let them have it packed in nice clean firkins, 
as it is made. The more frequently churn- 
ing is done the better will the butter be, as 
a general thing- frequent churning prevents 
the possibility of the milk or cream getting 
" cheasey." The vessel containing the cream 
should always be kept cool, and well stirred 
every time an addition is made to its con- 
tents. Mr. Gibson's dairy-woman, whose 
butter I have already referred to, makes it 
a point to churn daily in summer; when 
the number of her cows will not warrant 
this, she keeps her cream as cool as possible, 
and the first thing on going into the dairy 
in the morning stirs it well, taking care to 
leave none to dry on the sides of the vessel. 

In packing butter it does not matter so 
much about the quantity put in at once, if 
proper care is taken. After having been 
thoroughly worked, so thai the drops of brine 
standing on it are "pure as crystal" — none 
other should be packed, as it cannot be kept 
sweet — the butter should be put in the ves- 
sel, very carefully pressed down, so as to 
force out all air bubbles, made smoothe on 
the top, and covered with a clean linen cloth, 
moistened with water, on which is placed a 



1 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



299 



layer of about an inch of clean damp salt. 
When the next churning' is ready for pack- 
ing, let the cloth be carefully removed, so as 
not to spill any of the salt on the butter ; 
pack down as before, replace the cloth, and 
so continue until the firkin is full. The 
butter should be kept as directed under the 
head of butter making. The firkin should 
be tried before it is used, to see that it is 
perfectly water tight. Families that do not 
make butter enough to pack, may keep their 
surplus butter fresh for a long time, by care- 
fully working it, making it up into rolls and 
dropping them into strong clean brine ; the 
brine will exclude the air, without affecting 
the taste of the butter in the least. This 
plan has been practised in my own family 
for years, and we have no difficulty in keep- 
ing our butter fresh as long as may be ne- 
cessary. We sometimes purchase a two 
months' supply of fresh butter in mid-sum- 
mer,* and invariably find the last roll as 
sweet as the first. 

By packing their" own butter farmers 
would not be obliged to sacrifice it in sum- 
mer, but could keep.it until late in the fall 
or the winter, when it almost always com- 
mands a fair price even at home — a much 
higher price at any rate than can be gotten 
in summer; if, however, the quantity made 
during the season was sufficient to make 
it an object, it could all be sent to market 
in the nearest city, as readily as the farmer 
ships his wheat or flour. The merchants 
would soon see the necessity for making a 
proper discrimination in price between go5d 
and bad butter; and would find it more to 
their interest to pay city prices, freights, 
commissions, and a small profit off, for a good 
article of packed butter, than to pay the or- 
dinary price for a<poor article that they must 
pack for themselves. Then, too, those who 
had heretofore been careless or' indifferent 
about the quality of their butter, finding 
that a good price could, only be had for a 
good article, would soon see the necessity for 
giving it more attention; thus a stimulus 
would be given which would improve our 
dairy produce generally, and at the same 
time make it more remunerative than it ever 
can be, so long as the present system is prac- 
tised. William Giliiam. 

V. M. L, April 1859. 

< • • » » — 

Truth is the most powerful thing in the 
world, since fiction can only please by its re- 
semblance of it. — Shaftshury. 



For the Southern Planter. 

Horizontal Culture and Hill-Side Fur- 
rows—By Whom Originated? 

In the April number of the " Planter " 
is a very interesting article by N. T. Sorsby, 
Esq., of Alabama, on " Horizontal Plough- 
ing and Hilf-Side Ditching." Therein is 
ascribed (justly I presume) to Col. T. M. 
Randolph, of Virginia, the honor of having 
introduced into this country the improved 
method of cultivating rolling lands. Mr. 
Sorsby does not state that hill-side ditches 
were originated by Col. Randolph, but sup- 
poses their use followed on the heels of his 
improvements, say about 1815 or 1816. 

Of Col. R.'s innovation Mr. Sorsby says, 
" it would be gratifying to know whence he 
introduced it and where it originated." 

In the Abbe-Ray nal's History of the 
East and West Indies, published about 40 
years earlier than the date above specified, 
the principle is fully developed. I cite the 
passage. B. 11th, p. 468 of Lofid. Ed'n. 
of 177B. 

" One might prevent the danger of having 
shelving grounds destroyed by storms, by 
making furrows transversely on a line that 
should' cross that of the slope of the hillocks. 
If the declivity were so steep that the culti- 
vated grounds could be carried away, not- 
withstanding the furrows, small drains some- 
thing deeper might be added for the same 
purpose at particular distances, which would 
partly break the force and velocity that 
the steepness of the hills adds to the fall of 
heavy rain." 

The author was prescribing a remedy for 
the abrasion of lands in the West India 
Islands, which are peculiarly liable to wash- 
ing rains. He does not affirm that he had 
ever seen the plan adopted ; on the contrary, 
he leads us to infer that it is an original 
suggestion of his own, so that it still re- 
mains an open question " ichence horizontal 
ploughing was introduced?" Be that as it 
may, it is clear that the idea was no new 
one at the time that Col. Randolph was 
credited with its origination. Unless he 
had never seen the book in question (which 
is improbable) the honor awarded our Vir- 
ginian should rest on his just claim to have 
been the first to demonstrate the beneficial 
results of the new system to us. H. 



To forgive provocation is one of the proofs 
of a great mind. 



300 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[Mai 




v\u.^-^^^> 



The New American Style of Cottages and Villas. 




In attempting to introduce an American 
rtyle, I have cherished the same motives 
that have prompted other foreign architects 
to the same task with their respective courf- 
tries; and as we are now beginning to ap- 
preciate what is true art, and the beautiful, 
I have reason to believe that -my efforts to- 
wards the production of an American style 
will not be fruitless or fail to be recognized 



by every lover of art. I have endeav- 
ored to conceive the exterior and inte- 
rior architecture as characteristic of the 
manners and customs of the people, and 
at the same time different from all other 

g« foreign styles. The principles combin- 

1 ed are the following: 

1. The exterior architecture charac- 
teristic of the life of the occupant. 

2. Characterizing "by external details 
the different interior apartments. 

3. Spirit and poesy of designs. 

4. Unity and harmony of the mass- 
es, exterior details, and colors. 

5. Combining every requirement of 
comfort. 

6. Exterior and interior grandeur. 

7. An equality with the interior apart- 
ments so essential to beauty; and 

8. Economy in construction and simplici- 
ty in detail. 

AW of these principles will be found upon 
this miniature example which I offer as only 
an introduction. In relation to the princi- 
ples combined, I will describe them briefly. 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



301. 



With the 1st — I have here shown the char- 
acteristic for a village merchant; the statues 
and the simplicity of the details giving it 
an air of liberality and love of art. 2nd. 
In defining this principle, which I claim as 
original, I will describe the characteristic 
for each room. In this instance, the parlor 
is represented by the bay window and stat- 
ues, they being the richest part of the exte- 
rior. The dining-room (not seen in this 
view) is represented by a wide window and 
its details. The kitchen disguised in this 
instance from its situation. The entrance a 
object in itself, the 



distinct and interesting 



main bed-room by the wide window over 
parlor, and the servants' rooms by the dimi- 
nutive windows. With the 3rd principle, the 
outline and its form are full of life and interest. 
W r ith the 4th principle a uniformity with the 
windows and details, an equality by their sit- 
uations, a bold relief and perfection of raf- 
ters of roof, and the colors used in painting. 
With the 5th principle, (I have here shown 
the owner's requirements,) entering, you 
have a large hall, doors to every room from 
hall — a beautiful staircase, hall lighted by 
window 7 over front door — dining-room com- 
munication with kitchen by means of the 
tw r o passages, one by the hall passage way, 
the other by the butler's pantry — kitchen has 
large fire place, sink on one side, dresser on 
the other, and a small wood house by kitch- 
en door, marked A. The small room mark- 
ed B is a boudoir, for the purpose of the 



tion is one loot below the Interior cornice, 
and ornamental in appearance. This resi- 
dence is built in a substantial manner, tilled 
in with brick — roofs of tin, painted light 
blue — body of house a light shade of sienna, 
trimmings, <y.c, four shades darker. The ef- 
fect of the whole is an air of repose and 
harmony, which is always interesting to be- 
hold, and I hope from this introduction I 
will find many friends who will give this ex- 
ample a just criticism — and that this exam- 
ple will convey a comprehensive idea of my 
efforts towards the production of an Ameri- 
can style of architecture. Should any of 
the many readers of this journal contem- 
plate building, I should be happy to furnish 
them designs and practical estimates, etc. 
Respectfully, 

Lawrence R. Valk, 
627 Broadway, N. Y. 

N. B. — The cost of construction will be 
$2,200, with decorations externally and in- 
ternally. It can be built for $1,850 in plain 
style, and the same external decorations be 
preserved. 



For the Southern Planter. 

Experiments With Sombrero Guano, Etc. 
Ciiantilly, Fairfax Co., Va., *) 
March 28th, 1859. j 
Mr. Editor : — Can you inform the read- 
ers of the Planter of the results of expe- 
riments with Sombrero Guano, also the' 
lady of the house entertaining her morning j guano from Ncvassa Island, applied direct- 
visitors without using the parlor — cm second ly, or broadcast to the crop separately, not 
floor arc four bed-rooms, closet to each, the, compounded with other fertilizers of know r n 
door of each room communicating with hall j power and effect? My own experiment with 
stairs, and also a linen closet and store-room] half a ton of Sombrero, from Fowle k Co., 
in wing. With the 6th principle the posi- Alexandria, Va., on corn in the hill, proved 
tion of rooms, tl^eir proportion and equality to my satisfaction that it was almost worth- 
tlie appearance* of grandeur. With -less; certainly less beneficial than an equal 



gives 



the 7th principle, all doors and windows are application of ashes, applied at the : 
in equal parts of the rooms. And lastly, time under like circumtances in all re- 
w T ith the 8th principle, economy .in the con- spects. Phosphatic Guano, if soluble and 
struction and simplicity of all details — the actUre, (as many cargoes of the Mexi- 
wing a story and a half, the apex of roof.ean, Colombian and African proved to be,) 
connecting under eaves of main building — are to our grass growing and shift system of 
the first story is 11 feet high, second 10 feet, agriculture, surely the only guanoes which 
the second on the wing 7 feet 6 inches. In .will pay, if used for a series of years; it is 
regard to ventilation, the small openings therefore very important that careful expe- 
secn on the exterior are small ornamental jriments with these Phosphatic Guanoes, 
boxes, inches wide, 1 foot high, having should be made the present season, and made 
valve shuttles and a small window on inside, in a manner to test practically their value, 
both window and shutters opening by means to insure this, they, — whichever the party 
of a cord, pulley and spring. j experimenting may select, must be applied 

In winter it is perfectly tight — the situa-' alone and not compounded, as advised by 



302 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[May 



those offering them for sale. After their 
respective merits are clearly ascertained, 
then any compound may be made, that may 
be deemed desirable. Peruvian with a solu- 
ble phosphatic guano, like the samples of 
Colombian used by me from Fowle & Co. in 
ISot)— 1857 — in the proportions of one of 
Peruvian to two of Colombian, have proved 
in my case more valuable than any specific 
manure I ever used ; and it is to ascertain 
for myself as well as the farming communi- 
ty, from actual experiment, the value of 
these guanoes, now so generally recommend- 
ed by dealers, that I have been induced to 
make this § request and these suggestions 
through your valuable paper. 

Your obedient servant, 

S. T. Stuart. 



Fruit Growing. 
Winchester, Va., March 21st, 1859. 
Messrs. August & Willtams : 

Gentlemen, — Looking over my memo- 
randa of work to be done in March, I find 
this item, $^ Remit $2 00 to Southern 
Planter, "!^ which I take pleasure in do- 
ing, thereby securing to myself the exclu- 
sive privilege of abusing you as much as I 
please, if a number misses, for the next twelve 
months. 

The articles in the Planter, upon Fruit,- 
have been very acceptable to me, as I have 
leisure, occasionally, to bud, graft, and 
prune, and always time to' consult the 
Planter, to ascertain how these things are 
to be done. 

I am propagating from an apple that 
originated in this neighborhood — no doubt* 
a seedling, (as it is an old field tree,) there- 
fore better suited to our climate. This 
apple is a great keeper ; it is no rare thing 
with the gentleman, who owns the original 
tree, to present his friends with the fruit of 
two seasons, that is, the apple of this and 
last year, together, each eatable; sige of 
fruit, one-quarter larger than Newtown pip- 
pins; color, pale yellow; flesh white, orit- 
tle and juicy; tree constant and prolific 
bearer. I have a. small orchard, which, 
with care and no grazing, will come into 
bearing in a year or two, consisting princi : 
pally of this fruit. I am convinced our 
native apple is better than those from the 
North. I once obtained a few of the cele- 
brated keeper, the Ribston pippin, (Eng- 
lish,) and they proved to be a Fall apple 



with me; and from what I see of the Bald 
win, Rhode -Island Greening, and Northern 
Spy, they will not make a keeper with us. 
Now, sirs, if you could christen my apple 
with some Mghfalutin name, I might induce 
amateur fruitists (of responsibility) to ex 
change a few cuttings with me. 
Yours respect., 

H. M. Baker. 

We take the liberty of publishing the 
letter of our friend, that it may meet the 
eyes of those of our subscribers who are en 
gaged in fruit growing. 

Messrs. Davis, Sinton, Guest, Robey, 
Taylor, and Tudor, all have nurseries, and 
understand the business thoroughly. To 
them we refer our friend for any informa- 
tion he may need in their line. 

Our correspondent's item of "Work for 
the Month," has never been before pub- 
lished. We like it greatly, and cordially 
recommend it to the attention of our sub- 
scribers, who we hope will not fail to make 
a similar entry in their note books, and act 
upon it accordingly. We are strongly in- 
clined to ask our neighbors, the industrious 
and hard-working Editors of our " ex- 
changes," when they make up their list of 
of items of " Work for the Month," not to 
fail to insert so valuable a hint as " Remit 
$2 00 to Southern Planter." 



Ornamental Gardening-. 

THE ANEMONE. 

The anemone has long shared the atten- 
tion of the florist, and, in his arrangements, 
has generally, been associated with the ra- 
nunculus, resembling the latter in its natu- 
ral habits, and requisites of culture. The 
single and semi-double flowers are consider- 
ed nearly as fine as the double ones. The 
sorts are numerous; but, at present, are sel- 
dom distinguished by names. In a fine 
double anemone, the stem should be strong, 
erect, and not less than nine inches high. — 
The flower should be at least two and a half 
inches in diameter, consisting of an exterior 
row of large, well-rounded petals, in the 
form of a broad, shallow cup, the interior 
part of which should contain a number of 
small petals, mixed with stamens, imbricat- 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



303 



iDg each other. The colors should be clear 
and distinct when diversified in the same 
flower, or striking and brilliant when there 
is only one tint. 

Of late years, anemones remarkable, for 
the magnitude of their flowers and the bril- 
liancy of their hues have been added to the 
list, and make a most attractive appearance. 
The plant continues long in flower, and the 
leaves often remain so long green, that it is 
difficult to find a period of inaction in which 
to take up the roots. It has been recom- 
mended that, as soon as the bloom is over, 
the bed should be screened from rain, by 
mattings, until the leaves wither. As the 
tuberous roots are rather brittle, they re- 
quire considerable care in handling. A bed 



of single anemones, it may be remarked, is 
a valuable addition to a flower-garden, as it 
affords, in a warm situation, an abundance 
of handsome and, often, brilliant flowers. 

GENERAL CARE OF FLOWERS AT THIS 
SEASON. 

At the present time, the whole collection 
of flower-plants should be looked over, and 
wherever there is a deficiency of stock, a 
fresh supply should be brought on. Seeds 
of various plants should be sown — rare and 
choice ones re-potted. Camelias will now be 
nearly out of bloom, and will soon begin to 
grow; syringe them well every fair day, and 
keep them moist at the roots; prune all 
straggling plants into shape, and perform 
the operation of inarching. Pelargoniums 
will be growing rapidly, and some of the 
earliest showing bloom; water rather more 
liberally, and tie out the shoots as they ad- 
vance in growth. Roses in small pots should 
be shifted into larger sizes, and cuttings put 
in for a young stock. Japan lilies, which 
have attained a good growth, may now be 
changed into larger pots. Puchias will now 
begin to grow, and should be shaken out of 
the old soil, and se-potted in fresh, rich com- 
post. Azalias should now be freely watered, 
and young plants in small pots may be shift- 
ed into larger size. Heaths require to be 
kept as co'ol as possible, and their shoots 
should be often topped. Cactuses will now 
begin to grow, and should have a rather 
more liberal supply of water. Petunias, 
verbenas, heliotrbpes, salvias, and all the va- 
rious fine-bedding plants, should now be pro- 
pagated from cuttings, if the stock is not 
sufficient. 



CAMELLIA JAPONICAS. 

The camellia Japonica, or Japan lily, is 
one of the most beautiful of evergreens for 
the greenhouse or conservatory. It propa- 
gates freely by cuttings, the single-flowering 
kinds being increased in this way, to be 
used as stocks, on which the finer varieties 
are multiplied by grafting, budding, or in- 
arching. Cuttings of the last year's wood 
should be taken about three inches long, 
cut below a joint, the lower leaf removed, 
and then planted firmly in pots of sandy 
loam. Pot them, when rooted, singly into 
the smallest-sized pots, and keep them in a 
frame. In this they are kept, being re- 
potted as they require it, until they are 
wanted as stocks. The choice varieties are 
better for growing without much artificial 
heat. 

After they have done flowering, they 
should be kept in the greenhouse, or some 
other suitable situation,, until they have 
made their growl h — when a sheltered, out- 
door situation, free alike from sun or cover- 



ing, and, with plenty of air, will suit them 
best. They like plenty of air at all times; 
but, while growing, it is necessary to keep 
them from draughts of cold or drying air, 
which cause them to curl and become stunted, 
spoiling all the beauty of the new growth. 

Grafting, budding, and inarching should 
be done just before the buds start on the 
sort to be multiplied, and just as the stock 
begins its growth. The proper soil is two- 
thirds loam, one-sixth turfy peat, and one- 
sixth decomposed manure; these should lie 
together for some time, out of the reach of 
heavy rains, and should be thoroughly mixed. 
They are readily raised from seed, if the 
seeds are put in as soon as ripe, and placed 
in the greenhouse. When the seedlings 
have advanced one season, and the first 
year's wood is ripened, the bloom may be 
very much hastened by inarching the top 
upon a strong stock; but this is only worth 
doing in the case of such as indicate novelty. 
The plants require always to be kept very 
clean. 

FLOWER-GARDEN SOILS. 

The operation of digging is the most ef- 
ficient method of moving the soil of a 
flower-garden. Although tiresome, as well 
as disagreeable to an inexperienced person, 
a little practice makes it comparatively easy, 
so that in a moderate degree it may be done 



304 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



[May 



with facility, even by a lady. The spade 
used lor this purpose ought to be light, for 
convenience of handling — bright in the 

blade, for parting readily from the ^oil — and 
sharp at the cutting edge, that it may need 
loss force to press it into the ground. In 
the same way t s in trenching, an opening, 
or furrow, must first be taken out at the 
end where the work is to commence, and the 
earth to be carried to the ertd, where it is to 
finish, ready for filling up the last furrow. 
A second furrow or trench should then be 
dug in a line with the first, dropping each 
spadeful of earth in a reversed position into 
the open trench, and taking care to bury 
the manure properly, if any is used. By 
proceeding thus in a regular manner, from 
right to left, and then back again from left 
to right, the whole piece will, when finished, 
present a level surface. In digging for im- 
mediate planting or sowing, pains must be 
taken to break the lumps, and reduce the 
soil to what is called a fine tilth. All stones 
should, of course, be carefully removed, as 
well as 'all other undesirable substances, and 
tins can only be thoroughly done when the 
soil has been well pulverized. 

TRANSPLANTING EVERGREEN SHRUBS. 

All shrubs, and especially large ones, 
should have an ample supply of water when 
they are transplanted ; and this is most ef- 
fectively given when the water is run into 
the new pit or hole in which the plant is 
placed, along with the filling in of the earth, 
beginning when the hole is about one-fourth 
filled, and continuing till it is nearly quite 
full. The quantity of water should be 
such as to form a strong puddle round the 
ball ; this mode of watering keeps the roots 
moist, as well as consolidates the earth about 
them, and if carefully done at first, will 
scarcely require any addition. If the water 
is not administered till after the earth has 
been fully pressed in round the roots, fre- 
emen t repetition and larger quantities will 
be necessary. 

There has been much difference of opinion, 
and many discussions respecting the most 
suitable season for transplanting evergreen 
shrubs. Some recommend the autumn 
months, and others prefer the spring, care- 
fully avoiding, at either period, frosty and 
withering weather. It is admitted by all, 
that the transplanting of evergreens should 
not be attempted when the plants are in full 
growth; for though even they survive the 



shock, the chance is that many of them will 
perish or die down-to the ground. It seems 
also ascertained, that the loss of evergreens 
when transplanted is caused by the excess 
of perspiration from their leaves, compared 
with the quantity^ of sap taken up by their 
mutilated roots; and that, consequently, dry, 
parching weather, at whatever season it oc- 
curs, is, other things being equal, a most 
unpropitious time for the operations of trans- 
planting. 

SEEDLING ROSES. 

To hasten the blooming of seedling 
roses, the seedlings should, when they come 
up in May, be kept well moistened, but 
not too wet, until they can be well taken 
hold of, in order to pot off. Put one each 
into the smallest-sized pots, and let them, 
as soon as they are established, be placed 
in the shade, out of doors, but the greatest 
care must be taken to prevent the attack 
of the fly, or vermin of any kind. They 
must be looked at daily, and upon the 
least appearance of fly, the plants must be 
placed under cover, and fumigated and 
syringed regularly. It is still better, if 
there is frame room, to put them in when 
potted, because it givjes an opportunity 
of shading, of keeping off too much wet, 
protecting them against wind, and of fu- 
migating without the least difficulty, when 
necessary. They should, however, seldom 
have the glasses on. After they have been 
five *or six weeks in these pots, they may 
be bedded out in rich beds of loam and 
manure,, without disturbing the balls ; they 
may be planted about a foot apart, in beds 
four feet wide. * Before the close of the 
budding season, many will have grown 
quite large enough to breed from, and the 
most promising may be cut back, and three 
or four buds pat on remarkably strong 
stocks. Select a strong branch for budding 
on, and, at first, let some portion of the 
branch beyond the bud be left on to grow; 
a very small shoot beyond the bud will do 
to draw the sap past the bud: These buds 
will strike oft' vigorously the next season, 
and make considerable growth; but be- 
fore the bud has shot far, cut the stock 
away* everywhere but the portions budded 
on. The growth they wiJJ make this sum- 
mer on strong stocks will insure their bloom- 
ing the next season. 

New York Mercury. 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



305 




%\t %n\\\mx ^planter. 



RICHMOND, VIRGINIA. 



Guano. 

Since the introduction of this fertilizer into 
the United States, we are inclined to believe 
that a majority of our farmers have paid les§ 
attention than formerly, to making and hus- 
banding putrescent manures. In relying upon 
it entirely, as the means of making a crop, we 
are satisfied that all who have done so, have 
committed an error which they have .prohably 
by this time regretted. "Bought wisdom is 
best," and there are doubtless many agricultu- 
rists who arc largely nut of pocket, for the in- 
formation they possess on the subject of Guano, 
while they are inclined strongly to suspect that 
in this case they may have paid rather too dearly 
for their "whistle." This is a true picture of 
our own case, at all events. We have for seve- 
ral years past been 'afraid of Guano, for the 
same reason that "a burnt child dreads the 
fire." 

From having often witnessed the almost mag- 
ical effects of guano, applied to poor and sandy 
soils, we supposed that the use of 200 lbs. per 
acre, amounted to an insurance against loss in 
a wheat crop, while the land would be left cer- 
tainly improved. But having acted on this be- 
lief, we lost our crop of wheat (in part) in con- 
sequence of "scab," and tha ravages of "chinch 
bug," and were compelled to give up. our theo- 
ry, and change our practice for one more eco- 
nomical. We have not abandoned the use of 
guano entirely, nor have we relied upon it 
wholly as a manure, except for potatoes. We 
find it a valuable adjunct to the ordinary ma- 
nures of the farm, which may be made richer 
in ammonia and inorganic constituents, by the 
addition of a little guano and plaster combined. 
When we have used it for this" purpose, the 
mode of application was to sow it lightly over 
the manure heap, on a wet and " drizzly day." 

20 



We are satisfied that various and very different 
results attend the \\<.o of guano, depending not 
only on the modes of application, but on the 
soils themselves. For instance, we have seen 
the most profitable results of its use. on red day 
soil. Next to this, on warm and sandy lands, 
while upon " grey clays," we have rarely seen 
any improvement of the land after the crop was 
gathered, and very often the crop itself has not 
been sufficiently augmented in quantity, to jus- 
tify any outlay for guano. 

We give our readers some of our own opin- 
ions, merely, about guano, which we beg may be 
understood as such only, and not on our part 
stated as positive facts. 1st. Guano should be 
used sparingly, until its effects upon, or rather 
adaptability to the soil, tnay be sufficiently ap- 
parent to free its use from any of the risk, so 
often attending upon "guess work." Will it 
pay? should be a question to which every far- 
mer ought to have a satisfactory reply before 
venturing on any experiments "with high priced 
fertilizers at any time; but greater than usual 
caution seems to be required now, since field 
crops have suffered, so many unusual disasters, 
within the past four years, from accidents and 
enemies, hitherto not very common. 2nd. 
"Elide Island Guano" is as good as " Peruvian ;" 
in fact, from what we have seen and heard of 
its effects, we think about it, as th*5 Irishman 
did of men when being asked " if one man was 
not as good as another?" he replied, "Indade, I 
think so, and a great dale betther." The crops 
of wheat in this vicinity, where this guano was 
used last fall, arej, unusually promising at the 
present time. Some allowance must, of course, 
be made for the wet season, which has been fa- 
vorable for the full development of the effects 
of every kind of guano. We have, however, 
heard it so highly praised by persons who have 
used it, that we do not rely upon the present ap- 
pearance of the wheat crop, in forming our 
opinion of its excellence. 3rd. "Ducked Gua- 
no," which is usually sold by dealers at a low 
price in consequence of its condition as " dam- 
aged," we do not believe is at all injured — if it 
has been "ducked" in salt water especially. 
The best crops of wheat and corn we have 
known to be raised on two particular farms in 
Henrico, have been produced by the use of 
" ducked guano," combined with a quantity of 
plaster sufficient to render the guano dry enough 
for sowing. 4th. The application of guano, to 
crops of almost every kind, at the time of sow- 
ing, is cheaper and more efficacious when a 



306 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



[May 



drill is used in preference to the old way of 

SOWlUg it broad-cast. 5th. Guano mixed with 
d*y ashes, is much improved in value by the 
combination, although scientifically the two are 

held to be chemically incompatible. If a>iy 
water is added at the time of mixing, the es- 
cape of the ammonia is rapid and injurious; 
hence both the ashes and guano should be per- 
fectly dry at the time of mixing, and the sooner 
the compound is plowed under, the better. We 
have seen this experiment tried, with beneficial 
results, both as to the crop and the land. 

If the experience of any of our friends does 
not agree with these notions of ours, we should 
be happy to hear from them, and to know 
wherein we have erred. 

We also invite attention to Mr. Stuart's com- 
munication, (to be found in our present number,) 
and solicit reports of the results of any experi- 
ments which may have been made by any of .our 
readers, with Sombrero, Nevassa and Colombian, 
guanos uncombined with others. We have 
had no experience with them. Of the different 
varieties of ' ; Manipulated," now offered in 
market, we suppose the greatest difference be- 
tween them to consist in the different names of 
the manufacturers, viz: Kettlewell, Reese, and 
Robinson, as they all claim to contain 8 per 
cent of ammonia, with from 45 to 50 per cent 
of Phosphate of Lime. Nor do we doubt that 
they are in their composition all that these gen- 
tlemen represent them to be. We intend to use ) 
this spring "Manipulated Guano" oil our tobac- 
co crop. We have not had experience enough 
with these Guanos to justify lis in compliment- 
ing them as highly as we have heard some far- 
mers do, in whose judgment we had full confi- 
dence, but we can say with the utmost propriety, 
that these guanos are so thoroughly prepared by 
machinery, as to save a deal of trouble in "sift- 
ing" and breaking lumps. They are sent to 
market in admirable order for farmers' use. 

A new variety is just introduced to notice, 
called the "American Guano." The published 
analysis of it is very unsatisfactory, as the per 
centage of Sulphate and Phosphate of Lime is 
given in such a way as to leave every one in 
the dark, as to the relative quantities of the two 
articles. We should prefer to know the exact 
proportion of the Phosphate of Lime included 
in the stated per centage of 71 to 72.50. 

Plaster is easily procured, and at a much 
cheaper rate than it can be bought for in any 



a constituent element thereof. We understand 
that analyses have been made by Dr. Maupin, 
of the University of Virginia, and by Major 
Gilham, of the Virginia Military Institute. Why 
are they not published! The high authority of 
these names would greatly promote the sale of 
ihe article if reported of favorably by them. 
Unless they are published we shall be governed 
by the legitimate inference from that fact, and 
abstain from its use, and from recommending it 
to our friends. 



The Valley of the Eappahannock. 

We find in the April number of Be Bow's Re- 
vieuf, an interesting and well-written article, 
from the pen of our old friend and neighbour, 
George Fitzhugh, Esq., describing the princi- 
pal points of interest along the Rappahannock. 
To those of our readers who can procure the 
" Review," we commend Mr. F.'s articles as a 
means of becoming acquainted with one of the 
most charming sections of the State. 

We enjoyed a pleasant home for years, in the 
midst of the neighbourhood of which Mr. F. 
writes in the April number at a period of our 
life, when all its objects seemed " couleur de 
rose." 

We thought then, as we think now — 

" There is not in this wide world 
A valley so sweet." 

Nature has been very liberal in her bounty 
to this valley. The most beautiful scenery 
everywhere meets the eye : the soil is quick 
and warm — admirably adapted to both farming 
and gardening purposes, while it always gives 
a generous return for liberal treatment. The 
river not only furnishes a ready means of con- 
veying to market the large crops of grain grown 
on its banks, and fish, oysters, and wild fowl of 
all sorts as luxuries for the table, but adds an 
ever-present beauty to the landscape. We had 
almost said, "a living can be had for the ask- 
ing," throughout the "Valley;" but it can be 
had without the asking. Hospitality, the most 
liberal, kind, and genial, meets every visitor. 
He may be sure of a hearty welcome, and good 
cheer, go where he may within its borders, 
and it is his own fault if he does not feel at 
home. 

While we know very well what Nature has 
done for our agricultural friends in that section, 
we are sorry that we do not know what they 



r~ - _____„ 

kind of guano, however largely it may figure as J are doing for themselves. They have facilities 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



307 



for going ahead of most fanners. The land is 
easily cultivated. Marl of good quality abounds ; 
lime can be easily procured at a cheap rate,, 
while all the crops grown in the State can be 
raised in remunerating quantities per acre. 

Will some of our old friends occasionally let 
us know, at least, that they are not "lagging 
behind"' in the race of improvement, while 
they possess so many and so great natural ad- 
vantages for progress? 



A New Book. 

Thesaurus Musicus; Or, the United States Col- 
lection of Church Music, containing the, most 
complete variety of the New Psalm and Hymn 
Tunes, Sentences, Anthems, Chants, &c, for the 
use of the Choir, the Congregation, and the 
Singing-school, ever offered to the American 
people; Comprising, also, all the popular old 
Choir and Congregational Tunes in general 
use. By L. C. & Dr. A. B. Everett, Richmond, 
Virginia. 

Such are the title and pretensions of a new 
work on church psalmody which has been laid 
on our table by Mr. J. W. Randolph, of this city. 
We confess to entire ignorance of the science of 
music, but we are not insensible to the pleas- 
ures of natural taste, when excited by; good 
performances, whether vocal or instrumental. 
With the above avowal, our recommendation 
would avail but little, but seeing that its place 
of publication is Richmond, our "Southern feel- 
ing" was enlisted in its favour; we therefore 
consulted with some of our friends, on whose 
opinions and judgment we could rely — and feel 
happy to add, that they think the work is enti 
tied to the merit claimed for it. We feel safe 
then, in recommending it to our readers. 



so as to be able to "go along" whenever call. 
ed on. 

Dr. Dadd has been industrious and useful, in 
disseminating knowledge of the veterinary art. 
We believe his Journal was the only 0110 in the 
United States devoted to the scientific treat- 
ment of the diseases of horses and other # dome.-- 
tic animals, and we hoped it. might be the 
means of exploding many errors in the popular 
veterinary practice, as well as improve the condi- 
tion and treatment of horses. We hope to seethe 
Journal soon "enlarged and improved," anil 
with a long list of paying subscribers. We 
will forward subscriptions for any of our friends 
free of charge. 

" Boston, March 2G, 1 859. 
" Dear Sir : 

" I take the liberty to inform you, that the 
publication of the 'American Veterinary Jour- 
nal' is suspended, with the March issue. The 
only explanation I have to offer is, that in con- 
sequence of remissness on the part of subscri- 
bers for the past two years, my pocket-book is 
now the seat of a very severe attack of dys- 
pepsia, which threatens to confine me and my 
family to a diet of shorts. 

"With many thanks for the favours bestow- 
ed on me through the pages of your valuable 
paper, 

" I subscribe myself, 

" Very Respectfully Yours, 

"Geo. H. Dadd." 



"Onions, and How to Raise Them." 

We return our thanks to Orange B. Judd, Esq., 
the accomplished Editor of " The American Ag- 
ricultitrist," for a copy of the Pamphlet on this 
subject, which he has recently published. It 
contains. full instructions as to the best mode 
of raising the onion, furnished by seventeen prac- 
tical growers of the crop. 



American Veterinary Journal. 

We are very sorry to learn, from the annexed 
circular, that we are to loose the " American 
Veterinary Journal" from our exchange list, for 
even a short time. It deserves to be well kept 



Deep Sea Telegraph. 

A friend has sent us a letter of our distin- 
guished countryman, Lieut. M. F. Maury, (read 
before the Royal Dublin Society, Jan. 28th, 
1859.) on the difficulties to be overcome in suc- 
cessfully laying the "Deep Sea Telegraph 
Line/' We have been much interested in its 
perusal, and return our thanks for the pamphlet 
containing it. 

Lieut. Maury entertains no doubt of the ul- 
timate success of a telegraph across the Atlantic. 



Our Agents. 

The following gentlemen have kindly con- 
sented to act as our agents, who are authorized 
to give receipts in our names, for payments due 
the "Southern Planter," by either old or new 
subscribers : 

Jxo. W. Burke, Alexandria, Va. 

Major P. Williams, Washington City, D. C. 

Wm. F. Catlett, Guiney's Depot, Va. 

Turner & Acree, Walkerton, K. & Q., Va. 

John T. Ci!ildrey, Henrico. 

James N. Goldsborough, Easton, Md. 

Geo. C. Reid, Norfolk. 

Benj. F. Gresham, Newtown, K. & Q., Va. 

F. N. Watkins, (at the Farmers' Bank,) 
Farmville, Va. 

Samuel Sands, Esq.. Baltimore, Maryland. 



308 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[May 



University of Virginia. 

This noble Institution — the pride and "crown- 
ing glory of Virginia'*— which lias outstripped 
even the power of imagination in its glorious 
career of progress and usefulness, finds itself 
(as we team) under the imperative necessity — 
with some six hundred and thirty or forty ma- 
triculates now crowding its halls — of enlarging 
its accommodations for the reception of at least 
fifty additional students. 

We enjoyed the gratification, last summer, of 
attending some of the commencement exercises 
of the Institution, and were gratified beyond our 
limited power of expression, with the matured 
fruits of high intellectual training and cultiva- 
tion exhibited in the various performances of 
the young men, which it was our privilege to 
witness on the occasion. 

All honor to the Great Masters, .whose plastic 
hands are thus modeling the youth of the State 
on the high standard of moral and mental quali- 
fication, of which the Faculty themselves, we 
are proud to say, do constitute so eminent a 
type. 

We have before us the fine address of Pro- 
fessor Tenable, of Columbia College, S. C, de- 
livered before his confreres of the Society of 
the Alumni, on the occasion above referred to 
We could wish a copy of it were in the hands 
of every reading man in Virginia. We close 
this notice with a few extracts from it, which 
we endorse with unqualified approbation, and 
commend to out readers as worthy of their at- 
tentive consideration. 

"Who can doubt that the loyalty of patriot- 
ism is heightened by the bestowal, on the part 
of the State, of the means of satisfying the 
highest and noblest aspirations of its sons? 
Who can doubt that a prosperous National Uni- 
versity, under the control of the Federal au- 
thorities, and thronged by youths from all quar- 
ters of the Union, would be a most powerful and 
even dangerous element of centralization in a 
government constituted like our own? Or that 
a great State University, combining the qualifi- 
cations which we have given, would accomplish 
more than any other means to preserve the 
spirit of loyalty to the State, its honour, its 
sovereignty and its institutions? Yes, though 
every spot of earth from the mountains to the 
seaboard may be sacred soil to our love for our 
dear old mother, is not that love strengthened, 
heightened, purified, when we think of this her 
noble creation to which her sons can come and 
receive the liberal gilts of learning at her hands. 

'•A comparison of our alma mater with the 
systems of which we have spoken, we leave to 
others to make. Says a distinguished and im- 
partial traveller, Von Raumer, 'The University 



of Virginia would readily admit of such fur- 
ther improvements as the present age demands.' 
A modest compliment apparently, but still one 
which can be applied to very few of the great 
schools of the United States. Yes, it is a noble 
foundation on which to build a great cis-Atlantic 
University, second to none on either continent. 
The vigour of its intellectual life, the zeal for 
learning which it has spread among the youth 
of the Stite, its high standard of attainment, 
giving rank to its professional schools and to the 
training of its academic schools somewhat of 
that special professional character appopriate to 
University education, are all harbingers of a 
great future. The nucleus of endowed Profes- 
sorships is here, around which it will not be dif- 
ficult to gather in some form or other, young and 
vigorous talent, ambitious of distinction in the 
walks of philosophy and literature, and we 
see foreshadowed in this great institution, the 
crowning glory of Virginia — a greater still — the 
crowning glory of the South. 

"In view of all these things, when so potent 
an intellectual sceptre seems to be within the 
grasp of your State, so fitted to bear it by her 
central position, glorious Antecedents, and con- 
servative character, the heart of every patriotic 
son of the Old Dominion is sad and indignant to 
know that, in her legislative halls the rights of 
her youth are disregarded, their hopes and aspi- 
rations flouted as mere dreams of the fancy, and 
this corporation, which, has accomplished more 
for her glory and power than all others within 
its limits, refused the pittance needed partially 
to supply the necessities, which even her pros- 
perity has entailed upon her. Gentlemen of the 
Society of Alumni, it is our duty to throw down 
the gauntlet to the rampant demagogneism which 
would stint and starve this noble foundation — 
would even with the cry of the people — the pre- 
tence of educating the people, strike a blow at the 
most important interest of the Commonwealth. 
Educate the people! Is not your University the 
great educator of the people? Whom must we 
thank for the reformation of the Colleges of the 
people and their elevation to a higher standard 
of attainment and greater usefulness? for the 
schools which have sprung up throughout your 
borders, shedding their benign influences upon 
every class of the people? Where must we 
look for the source of that energy which char- 
acterizes all the educational movements of your 
State, but to this great central heart, sending its 
warm and healthful life-blood through all the 
ramifications of your educatiowil system, incon- 
gruous as that system is. And cannot the hum- 
blest son of the people come up hither where 
no aristocracy is acknowledged, but that of 
talent and .virtue, and carve out for himself a 
career of honour and usefulness? 

"Let the people be educated, we will all say 
— and we will fervently wish that some of our 
statesmen woidd imitate the great men of other 
times and nations, and devote themselves to a 
thorough study of the subject of primary educa- 
tion and the best mode of performing the duty 
of the State in that regard. 

"But away with that mockery of principle 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



309 



which would make it any less the duty of the 
State to bestow that higher special instruction 

on her sons, which is to provide the people with 
well trained public servants; which a (lords to 
the magistrates, lawyers, legislators, physicians 
and teachers of the people, the opportunity of 
thorough studies in'all the subjects relating to 
their professions ; and in the words of Guizot, 
'which developes those men of superior genius 
who extend the domain of intelligence; unveil 
the secrets of Nature; find in ancient monu- 
ments the traces of past events; found upon the 
observation of man, the art so difficult of gov- 
erning him ; and increase the glory and power 
of their country by bequeathing to it their 
labours and their name.' If primary instruction 
of the people is essential to the stability of our 
government, it is equally essential to its well- 
being and permanent prosperity, that the higher 
education he promoted. And in our present 
position before the world, a high scientific and 
literary cultivation is an imperative national 
necessity. It accomplishes little to defend our 
institutions and boast of them before the world. 
By their fruits let them be known. 

"Nearly ten years have passed away since, 
at one of these anniversaries, I listened, while a 
distinguished Alumnus traced in a glowing and 
eloquent picture, the resemblance of our social 
organization to that of the nation of antiquity, 
whose intellectual supremacy all centuries ac-*| 
knowledge — and I saw Virginia, the goddess of 
my youthful adoration, equipped for the contest, 
as she stood with lrer foot upon the chariot ready 
to enter upon the course of emulation with the 
past. Since that time brilliant gems have been 
added to this, the brightest setting in her crown ; 
noble additions have been made to our own 
alma mater. The tide of her prosperity has 
rolled on with an ever increasing flood. Even 
that short period must be a gratifying retrospect 
for us all. But how much more grateful the 
prospect, when, properly cherished by the State, 
not content or complacent with the contempla- 
tion of the sister institutions which she lias* out- 
stripped, but aiming at the high mark of the 
most perfect systems of instruction which the 
exemplars of the past or models of the present 
afford us, she shall take high rank among the 
Universities of the world." * * * * 

u *Where will Virginia stand in this gieat 
national literature'? Will she not be up and 
doing? Will she not fnake many glorious ad-, 
ditions to the tower of learning and science, 
which, based upon eternal truth, obtains its fair 
proportions from all the realms of Nature and of 
thought? Let her then e.ver cherish here her 
youth in lofty cultivation, in thorough studies, in 
the admiration of the beautiful and great in 
the actions, the writings, and discoveries of man, 
of the sublime in the creation of God. Long 
may the sons of the Republic gather hither to 
worship in this temple of science and virtue, on 
whose portals let it ever be inscribed — Deum 
timet o ; patriam amnio; virtutem colito ; discipli- 
nis bonis operarn dato." 

4 m • + * ■ 

A fine coat may cover a fool, but never conceal 
one. 



Nottoway-Club. 

We are indebted to the Secretary of the 
model Agricultural Club of Nottoway, for the 
following valuable reports, which we hasten to 
lay before our readers. If all the Clubs scat- 
tered through the State, were to pursue the 
course of the one now under consideration, the 
Planter would become the medium of comix - 
nicating to the farming public such a mass of 
valuable practical information, as would raise 
it at once to the dignity of a household neces- 
sity — a position to the attainment of which 
through our own unaided efforts, we dare not 
aspire. 

Report on Rotation of Crops, hy William 
Irby, Esq. 

Mr. President : 

An extended interval of time between 
hoe crops in connection with a judicious ro- 
tation of crops, including a more enlarged 
I cultivation of clover and grass, is our only 
sure and practicable plan for the recupera- 
tion 6f our worn-out soil, and our only hope 
for a permanent and progressive state of 
improvement; as the neglect of attending 
to these important truths is the main cause 
of the impoverished condition of our coun- 
try, so a strict attention to them*, is our only 
remedy. I do not by any means intend to 
dissuade from a strict attention to the ac- 
cumulation of domestic manures, and the 
use of foreign fertilizers ; but I do wish 
to state, emphatically, that with the use of 
all these, though large crops may, for a 
time, be made, yet if hoe crops succeed 
each other at short intervals, and no regard 
be paid to rotation, it must prove a deteri- 
orating system. We must, under a judi- 
cious system, depend on the native recu- 
perative powers of our soil j for even if we 
had large quantities of our poor farm-pen 
manures and vegetable matter, we could not 
afford to haul them the distance we would 
often have to do, in order to apply them 
where they are needed. These thoughts are 
not of course intended to be applied to 
farms near cities, where rich stable manure 
may be obtained, but our section of coun- 
try, where lime and plaster are ineffi- 
cient, and where the farms are necessarily 
thrown on their own native resources for 
improvement. 

In the early, and even down to a recent 
period of our history, the only system was 
to clear the forest, cultivate tobacco as long 



310 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[May 



as the land would grow it, then a wheat 
patch, (according to the old idiom,) then 
corn and oats, as. long as the land would 
produce them, — and then stern necessity re- 
quired that it should be thrown out as com- 
mons, with little or no hope that it would 
ever recover. But thanks to the despised 
old field pine, to which a large debt of grat- 
itude is still due, for it sprung up sponta- 
neously on land so exhausted, that neither 
corn nor oats, nor even grass suitable for cat- 
tic could grow ; and by its long tap roots 
raised from the subsoil, and by its falling 
loaves, restored to the exhausted surface, 
those inorganic ingredients so necessary to 
profitable crops. Not only so, it affords 
vegetable matter for humus and shade, 
which, according to Baldwin, is the only 
thing necessary for making poor land rich. 
To this necessitated rotation, (viz* the old 
field pine,) I do not hesitate to say, we have 
derived more benefit than we have (up to 
this time) from the combined results of 
lime, plaster and clover. But this rotation, 
however beneficial it has been, is not now 
practicable, for we have not the virgin soil 
to clear, while the exhausted land is lying 
out in pine for forty or fifty years ; nor, in- 
deed, is this rotation desirable. The phi- 
losophy of a rotation of crops is based on 
the fact that while all plants live mostly on 
the atmosphere, yet all require inorganic or 
mineral ingredients, which they can obtain 
from the soil only. Some classes of plants 
derive more of their sustenance from the 
atmosphere than others, and some take up 
more of one or more of the mineral ingre- 
dients of the soil than others. A judi- 
cious system requires that dissimilar plants 
in the above respects, should follow each 
other. 

Secondly It is known that particular 
species of destructive insects prey on par- 
ticular plants. In order to prevent their 
increase, a change of plants is necessary. 

Thirdly. Regard should be had to a suit- 
able preparation of the soil by one crop for 
the subsequent one. But a long interval 
between hoe crops, giving time for the 
grasses to form a sod, thereby preventing the 
washing off of the soil, by which our lands 
have been more injured than by all other 
causes, is perhaps more important than any, 
or even than all of the above considera- 
tions. 

When the forest land became scarce, and 
it became painfully evident that the con- 



stant cultivation of the land was ruinous, 
our fathers adopted the three-field system. 
This, in connection with nongrazing, was 
confidently expected to reclaim our wasted 
fields. It is true it had its ameliorating ef- 
fects in comparison with 4he former scourg- 
ing system, but it is not believed that the 
land, in our section of country at least, 
could ever have attained a high state of 
improvement under this system. So far 
from it, it is evident to every careful ob- 
server, that after going up to a certain state 
of improvement it gradually declined. 
Rather than adopt this system, I would pre- 
fer cultivating portions of the flat land on 
the farm two years in succession in hoe 
crops, . and let the poorer portions of the 
upland be cultivated only once in four years. 

Since discarding the three-field system, 
the four, five, and six-field sy terns have all 
had their advocates. In making a selection 
of a system, the farmer should be guided 
by the quantity of arable land he has in 
proportion to his force, and the particular 
crop he designs as his money or staple crop. 
The one who intends making large crops 
of tobacco, and who, of course, will have 
no time to fallow for wheat, the four-field 
system is probably the best. The one who 
intends discarding the tobacco crop entirely, 
or greatly diminishing it, and making the 
wheat crop his money crop, should adopt 
the six-field system. The one who intends 
to decrease the tobacco crop, and to increase 
the wheat crop by fallowing, may adopt 
the five-field system ; but if he has suffi- 
cient open land, the six-field system is to be 
preferred, as both the four and six-field 
systems are more ameliorating than the five- 
field. 

When wheat was high and guano low, I 
adopted this variation of the five-field sys- 
tem, with which I was pleased, — viz: I 
grew wheat after tobacco on all my tobacco 
land, and on the best of my corndand; on the 
balance of the corn land I sowed oats, in- 
stead of permitting the field to remain idle. 
The third year I followed both wheat and 
oat land, and put the whole field in wheat. 
The advantages of this variation are, that 
the ditches which had been cleaned out for 
corn or tobacco, will not need cleaning out 
again during the rotation ; and secondly, 
the grubbing and plowing are much lighter 
than when the land remains idle for a whole 
year; and lastly, the certainty of securing a 
fallow is greatly enhanced, as there is less 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



311 



dependence on rains to soften the ground. 
All who have attempted making tobacco 
and fallowing for wheat, have found fallow- 
ing both difficult and uncertain, owing to 
the frequent droughts in August, and the! 
short period that can 'he devoted to that 
operation. I have found clover, &o., to 
succeed pretty well on this system. 

Although comparatively few will advo- 
cate a system by which the soil is annually 
impoverished, yet many are guilty of the 
practice. Tillers of the soil are perhaps 
more inclined to follow the beaten track, 
and less inclined to change than persons of 
any other avocation. Moreover, a change 
of system is frequently attended with loss, 
and always with trouble. I am 'ready to 
admit that for a long time after I saw the ne- 
cessity of a change, I was deterred by "these 
considerations. I will now state (I hope 
without being charged with egotism) for 
the encouragement of those who are halt- 
ing, that I found the difficulties in a change 
of system less than I anticipated, and I do 
not know that I can put anything down on 
the score of loss. 

Though the immediate improvement re- 
sulting from the adoption of a more ameli- 
orating system, is at first scarcely percepti- 
ble, yet those who have adopted such a 
one, have the consolation of knowing that 
they have made the first and most difficult 
step, and should be encouraged to perse- 
vere, as its good effects are accumulative, 
for the more they improve, the more easily 
they may improve. They are also relieved 
from the unpleasant reflection, that after de- 
ducting the many annual necessary items of 
farm expenses from the gross proceeds, in 
order to ascertain the net profit, this ugly 
item has not to be added to the list, — viz : 
minus from amount invested in land on ac- 
count of decreased value thereof. 

We cannot for a moment suppose that 
the All-Wise so constituted the earth that 
man would have to exhaust thcsoil in order 
to obtain food from it. For our first parents, 
(and we in them,) were commanded " to 
replenish the earth," as well as " to sub- 
due it." There is no doubt but what 
there is a system of so cultivating the 
earth, that both man and beast shall have; 
ample sustenance, and it at the same time! 
become capable of supporting a larger and ! 
larger population. Having in view these! 
principles, the truth of which all must ad-! 
mit ; it appears worse than unreasonable | 



that any one should pursue a plan which 
he knows must reduce to sterility that por- 
tion of tin; earth entrusted to hiin. Rut 
the pursuing of a judicious system not only 
relieves one from these unpleasant thoughts, 
but brings about the pleasant reflection 
that such a course is in accordance with 
the designs of the Creator, and that this 
earth is physically, at least, if in no 
other way, made better by his having lived 
on it. D 

Respectfully submitted, 

Wm. Irby. 

Report of Experiments with Peruvian and 

Manipulated Guano } by WM. R. Bland, 

Esq. 
To the Farmers' Club of Nottoicay : 

In compliance with the standing rule of 
our club, requiring each member to report, 
in writing, the result of some operation on 
the farm during the year, or an essay in 
writing, I regret that, from causes over which 
I had no control, I am unable to make any 
report which will tend to establish the cor- 
rectness of any procedure in agriculture, or 
the relative value of either of the special 
manures with which I experimented during 
the last year ; but I will report as far as ob- 
served, the results of those different experi- 
ments begun, with the intention of report- 
in"; them to the club. 

1st. On both of my farms, I begun an 
experiment to test the relative value of Pe- 
ruvian Guano and the Manipulated Guano, 
(a mixture of Peruvian and Phospatic 
Guano,) in the cultivation of tobacco. I used 
on a strip of land running through the whole 
length of a piece of pine land new ground, 
Peruvian Guano at the rate of 150 pounds 
to the acre, and on each side thereof, the 
Manipulated Guano at about the same cost 
per acre. Up to about the middle of July, 
the experiment on the farm on which I live, 
seemed to be decidedly in favor of the Man- 
ipulated Guano, the leaf and stalk of the to- 
bacco were larger, broader and of a deeper 
green, and were observed by, I believe, every 
person who saw that tobacco. At that time 
the severe drought of the past summer set 
in, and the tobacco made no farther growth, 
so I concluded that the farther prosecution 
of the experiment by ascertaining the rela- 
tive products in weight, of the different 
manures, could give no satisfactory informa- 
tion, and I therefore did not complete the 



312 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[May 



experiment as I bud intended at the begin- 
ning-. The land was prepared in all respects 
alike, and planted the same day, it is 
now in wheat, but I have as yet observed 
no difference in the growth of the wheat. 
The experiment at my Springfield farm re- 
sulted, if any thing, more disastrously than 
the first spoken of, for at no time could any 
difference be observed in the growth, and the 
product was anything but encouraging. 

2nd. I endeavored to ascertain the differ- 
ence in the products of drilled and broad- 
cast wheat, both with and without Guano ; 
the ravages of the joint worm and the rust, 
which attacked the wheat at an early stage, 
so blighted tjie prospect for the wheat crop, 
that I abandoned the prosecution of that 
experiment also. 

3rd. I then began an experiment with 
turnips on cowpen-land, and dressed about 
one half with De Burg's super phosphate. 
They came up badly, and made scarcely any 
growth to sometime in October, when some 
of my cows threw down the fence and ate 
off the tops of what had come up, but the 
whole would not have furnished grazing for 
one hungry cow for an hour. 

In regard to the wheat drill, I would state 
that according to my limited observation and 
experience, it is a much better implement 
for rich, than poor land, the water from 
rains running along the furrows made by the 
tines, seems to make the land bake, and 
the appearance of the wheat, as compared 
with broadcast wheat on similar land, is, I 
think, not so good as on rich land. Again, 
regretting the indefiniteness, and much more 
the unprofitableness of the foregoing at- 
tempted experiments, I respectfully submit 
the same in discharge of the duty imposed 
upon me. Wm. R. Rland. 

April Uth, 1859. 



Moral beauty, the reflection of the soul, 
is as superior to superficial comeliness as 
mind is to matter. It itf a halo which will 
win worshippers, however unadorned the 
shrine whence it emanates ; for she who 
looks good cannot fail to be good looking. 



Great talkers are like modern banks; 
they issue ten times the amount of their 
capital. 



The pleasure of doing good is the only 
one that never wears out. 



From the Transactions of the Virginia Stale Jlgri 
cultural Society. 

An Easay 

On the Use of Compost Manures in Seed- 
ing Wheat with ifre Drill, and on Drain- 
ing Basins on Table Lands by Boring 
with the Post-hole Auger. 

[A Premium of Twenty Dollars.] 

Linden, Oct. 18th, 1858. 
Edmund Puffin, Esq., President Va. S. A. S. 
My Dear Sir : 

I have often reproached myself, because 
I have heretofore contributed so little to the 
annals of the Agricultural Society of Vir- 
ginia. It has not been, as you know, from 
lack of zeal in the cause, but really because 
I ha^e had nothing new, or that might not 
be found in books to communicate. I have 
lately, however, adopted several*practises in 
sowing wheat, which if not entirely new, 
have at least not been generally pursued, 
which seem to me to be of public interest 
and not unworthy of permanent record. 
These practises are, 1st, Sowing wheat on 
corn land with the drill, without plowing ; 
2d, Sowing wheat with compost manures in 
large quantity, mixed with guano, through 
Seymour's drill with the attachment; and 3d, 
The use of the post-hole auger to bore holes 
to relieve the basins in our table lands from 
surplus rain water. 

Last fall, for the first time, I adopted the 
plan of sowing wheat on corn land with the 
drill, without plowing. This was done at 
the suggestion of a gentlemen from Cul- 
peper County, who told me lie had success- 
fully practised it. The season was very dry 
and the land somewhat baked, which ren- 
dered it necessary to precede the drill with 
a heavy harrow. I was somewhat dis- 
couraged by the opposition of my neigh- 
bors, yet nothing daunted I proceeded until 
I had put in the entire corn field on this 
place, and part of a field on another farm. 
The wheat came up beautifully and con- 
tinued to grow in the most promising man- 
ner, until near harvest, when one field was 
entirely destroyed by hail, and the other so 
damaged by mildew and other diseases, that 
destroyed nearly the whole crop in this re- 
gion, that the yield was greatly diminished. 
Yet I have no reason to be discouraged by 
the experiment. I had an abundance of 
straw, and should doubtless have had a sat- 
isfactory yield of wheat but from the disas- 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



313 



ters alluded to. I am pursuing the same 
practice in the present sowing, and have 
already sowed the entire corn field on this 
farm, and shall proceed to use the drill on 
other farms to the end of the season. The 
wheat on the corn land here has already 
come up with great regularity, and I think 
promises well. The land this season being 
in fine order, the harrow has been in a great 
measure dispensed with. When the field in 
corn has been cultivated flat, and kept 
clean, there can be no preparation more 
neat or efficient than drilling. The advanta- 
ges of this practise are 1st, that it encourages 
thorough preparation and the neatest culti- 
vation of the corn land, thereby greatly in- 
creasing the crop of corn, 2d, it saves more 
than half the labor of putting in wheat on 
corn land, which as usually sown is a very 
tedious and perplexing operation, and 3d, the 
sowing is more perfect than it can be done 
in any other way without great labor. If 
the land is not clean, a hand should follow 
the drill to remove any briers, &c, that 
may infest the field, and to cover any grain 
that in such spots may be exposed. When 
the land is clean however, this is entirely 
unnecessary; the wheat will be much more 
eftectually covered than it can be by the 
harrow or any other implement except the 
plough. I would not recommend this prac- 
tice, however, except where the land has 
been well cultivated, and is soft and friable 
as upon good loams. 

Two years ago I paid eighteen hundred 
dollars ($1,800) for guano. With short 
crops and falling prices I found it incon- 
venient and inexpedient to incur again this 
heavy tax, and I determined to look around 
for some cheap substitute for guano, and to 
use the drill to economise the guano that I 
might purchase. Accordingly last fall I 
bought but five tons of guano, and con- 
tracted in Alexandria for two thousand 
bushels of ashes, which I had heard had been 
used with success through the drill in Fau- 
quier and King William. I ordered at .the 
same-time from Baltimore, Bickford & Huff- 
man's Drill. Owing to the great demand my 
order could not be filled, and I was under the 
necessity of purchasing from. Rollon & East- 
ham in Fredericksburg, Seymour's Brill, 
which turned out to be precisely the thing 
I wanted, and for my purpose seems to be a 
perfect implement. Only 600 bushels of 
the ashes contracted for could be supplied. 
With five tons of guano and six hundred 



bushels of ashes, I had to perform the 
almost impossible task of manuring for a 
large crop of wheat. The best portions of 
the fields were sowed broadcast without ma- 
nure, and I set about with all diligence to 
procure materials for the drill to supply the 
place of the guano. The farm yards, quar- 
ters and every spot where fine manure could 
be collected, were explored and all the 
enriching materials that could be found, 
scraped together, and after being sifted well, 
mixed with guano and prepared for the 
drill. In this way I collected manure 
enough to dress about (175) one hundred 
and seventy-five acres. I applied about ten 
bushels of the compost to the acre, and 
found when I finished, that I had used an 
average of (56) fifty- six pounds of guano to 
the acre. The crop, as before stated, was 
extremely. promising, and I have no doubt, 
but for the disasters of the last season the 
result would have been entirely satisfactory. 
A portion of the guano was applied broad- 
cast. 

In order to be better prepared for this 
season, I set about collecting materials for 
compost as soon as I had finished hauling 
out the spring manures. The yards were 
scraped, ditches scoured, and all the mate- 
rials suitable for the purpose, were hauled 
together at odd times and put under shelter 
in a cow house in the stable yard, and as the 
pile increased frojn time to time, the liquid 
drainings from the stables, from the reser- 
voir in the stable yard were poured on it, 
and ground plaster sprinkled over it. All 
the liquid manures from the laundry, kitchen 
and house were used in the same manner. 
The result was, that at seed time I had a 
bed of the richest compost containing more 
than a thousand, cubic feet, and being very 
compact, when cut down with the spade and 
sifted, it furnished largely over a thousand 
bushels ready for the drill. With this com- 
post and such additional materials as were 
collected from the quarters, &c, &c, I have 
this season drilled on this farm one hundred 
and twelve acres, using from 60 to 70 
pounds of Kettlewell's Manipulated Guano, 
and from ten to fifteen bushels of the com- 
post to the acre. I suppose about a quarter 
| of a ton of the compost has been applied to 
| the acre. The drill has put in up to this 
time one hundred and thirty acres, and will, 
I during the season,- put in more than two 
j hundred. It is now at work on my farm on 
1 the Potomac, and for want of prepared com- 



314 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[May 



post, I am using finely decomposed salt 
marsh earth, from the banks of a large 
ditch dug through the marsh some years 
ago. I visited the farm yesterday, and found 
that this material, with the scrapings from 
the quarters and the usual proportion of 
guano, make a very rich looking compost 
for the drill. Farmers on tide-water have 
in this material an inexhaustible source for 
the manufacture of the richest compost. If 
my experiments should turn out successful- 
ly, I shall save in the cost of guano for 
two hundred acres, about eight hundred 
dollars, ($800,) and the labor saved in using 
the drill instead of broadcasting will, I think, 
be equivalent to the labor of preparing and 
applying the compost. The wheat drilled 
with ashes and guano did not produce as 
well as that dressed with guano and other 
manures, used with the drill last season. 
For that reason I purchased no ashes this 
year, but have relied entirely on my domes- 
tic compost. It is unnecessary to remark 
upon the great saving to the people of the 
commonwealth, which must be the result of 
this practise should it prove successful and 
become general. The compost requires a 
sieve somewhat coarser than that common- 
ly used for guano. A cheap and admirable 
one may be made readily with a box of pine 
plank two feet square and six inches deep, 
the bottom to be checked with chalk in 
squares of an inch, and a hole bored with a 
half inch brace bit at each intersection — 
the hole to be smoothed with a heated iron 
rod. Seymour's drill is much the best for 
this purpose that. I have seen. It sows the 
wheat with perfect accuracy in any desired 
quantity, and will distribute from one bushel 
to thirty of compost to the acre if it be fine 
and dry, and is so readily adjusted that the 
quantity distributed may be changed with- 
out appreciable loss of time even in the 
same row, so as to accommodate the ma- 
nuring to the varying quality of the land. 
The tires are heavy, and do their work effec- 
tually even in rough land. I use four 
horses to give steadiness and power to the 
machine, though two would work it very 
well in a clean fallow. 

I have four. years observed that the wheat 
growing on the bottoms or basins of our 
table lands, although they seem dry, is fre- 
quently injured by surface water, and win- 
ter killed. These spots cannot be drained 
by ditches, and the deepest ploughing is 
only a partial remedy. It occurred to me 



that holes bored to the depth of several feet 
with the post-hole auger would enable the 
rain water to pass off through the sandy sub- 
stratum. I accordingly procured one, and 
have caused all the low spots in my wheat 
fields here to be bored to the depth of about 
four feet. I found the first two or three 
feet exceedingly hard and impervious to 
water, but at between three and four feet 
below the surface, a porous sand is reached, 
through which the water will readily pass. 
The result is yet to be seen, but I have no 
doubt of the success of the operation. 
Such spots have been sometimes drained by 
sinking small wells and filling them with 
stones within a foot of the top. This in- 
volves labor, and in Eastern Virginia we 
have no stone to fill the wells. Elkington, 
in his system of draining, used boring ex- 
tensively, but it was mainly for the purpose 
of tapping secret springs, and drawing off 
the water on the principle of the artesian 
well. I am not aware that boring with the 
post-hole auger to let off surplus rain 
water through a porous subsoil has hereto- 
fore been practised. The auger makes a 
clean hole about eight inches in diameter 
and four feet deep. 

Please, my dear sir, present these sugges- 
tions to the Society for what they are worth. 
I shall be most happy if they should prove 
of any service to the agriculture of Vir- 
ginia. 

I remain with sincere respect and. esteem, 
Your friend, 

WlLLOUGHBY NEWTON. 



Decoration for Houses. 

The civilizing, softening influence of art is 
acknowledged by all who have studied their 
fellow-moral and mental development, and the 
accumulation of objects of interest and beauty 
in a house tends to knit more closely the 
bonds of family affection, and changes the 
four walls from a cold dwelling place into a 
sacred and holy home. All the feelings which 
spring up in every true man's or woman's 
breast at the utterance of that word, home, are 
feelings of association, and not of mere locali- 
ty, and hence wherever we go, and at every 
stage of our lives, if the associations are 
pleasant ones, we look back with glowing 
emotion on the home of our childhood, 
and to the one we have ourselves created. 
Dryden beautifully says: — 

" Home is the sacred refuge of our life." 

And it should be our endeavor to decorate 
this place, of all others, with lovely objects, 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



315 



and nature's beauties or simple works of art. 
Unfortunately, there are many that cannot 
afford to buy these decorations, -who still have 
the desire to possess them and the taste to ap- 
preciate; therefore, we will tell our readers 
how some very beautiful and interesting ob- 
jects of art and nature may be made at little 
or no expense. 

Green is a color that is ever suggestive of 
pleasure, and it is stimulating to the eye, and 
Nature's own tints may be obtained at any 
season of the year, combined with graeeful 
vegetable forms, by either of the following 
ways : — Take a carrot, and having cut off the 
green, cut about the thickness of a cent off 
the top, let this float on a saucer of water in 
a warm room, and it will quickly begin to 
sprout, presenting an object of beauty not ex- 
celled by any artist, because it is the work of 
the laws established by the Grand Artificer of 
the Universe. Another beautiful decoration 
may be made from a pine cone. One should 
be procured that is dried and opened, and the 
different circles should have grass seed or 
mustard and cress sprinkled in them, and 
then placed in a wine glass of water ; in a few 
days the warmth and moisture will give the 
burr or cone life, and the circles will close 
upon the seed, which, in its turn, shortly ger- 
minates, and, sprouting out all over the burr, 
makes an harmonious contrast of color be- 
tween the lively green and sombre brown that 
has a truly pleasing and novel effect, actually 
refreshing all who look upon it. 

The growing acorn is a very pretty and in- 
teresting object to study, and an ornament that 
teaches while it gives delight. It is thus pre- 
pared : Cut a circular piece of card to fit the 
top of a hyacinth-glass, so as to rest upon the 
ledge and exclude the air. Pierce a hole 
through the center of the card, and pass 
through it a strong thread, having a small 
piece of wood tied to one end, which resting 
transversely on the card, prevents its being 
drawn through. To the other end of the 
thread attach an acorn ; and having half-filled 
the glass with water, suspend the acorn a short 
distance from the surface. The glass must be 
kept in a warm room ; and in a few days the 
vapor from the water will hang from the acorn 
in a large drop. Shortly afterwards the acorn 
will burst, the root will protrude, and thrust 
itself into the water, and in a few days more 
the stem will shoot out at the other end, and 
rising upwards, will press against the card, in 
which an orifice must be made to allow it to 
pass through. From this stem small leaves 
will soon be observed to sprout, and in a few 
weeks there will be a handsome, though dwarf, 
oak plant. 

The forms of crystals are very educative, in 
an artistic sense, their cold and distinct out- 
lines cultivating an acquaintance with geo- 
metric forms, and they are capable of combi- 
nations that produce a broad and rugged 



effect. Alum is a good substance to crystalize* 
A piece of wire may be taken and bent to 
form any object that fancy may dictate, and 
then placed in a hot saturated solution of 
alum which, as it cools will deposit crystals 
upon the wire, thus producing a crystal orna- 
ment of great beauty. These crystals are 
translucent, may be colored to suit the fancy 
by the addition of coloring matter, tumeric 
making them yellow; litmus, red; logwood, 
purple; and common writing ink, black. A 
piece of coke may be made to assume the ap- 
pearance of a new mineral by placing it in an 
alum solution, as the crystals will avoid the 
smooth portions, and deposit themselves only 
on the rough and broken parts. Sulphate of 
copper or blue vitrol may be substituted, for 
alum, but this is a positive blue, and the color 
cannot be changed. 

We think we have for the present given a 
sufficient number of hints how each home may 
be made cheaply into a place of ornament as 
well as necessity, and these little things scat- 
tered about the rooms of a house decorate and 
soften the asperities of papered walls and 
rigid furniture, adding a look of comfort and a 
feeling of repose that is the very concentra- 
tion of true home life. As a people we neg- 
lect taste in the surroundings of our lives, 
which should be cultivated ; and such little 
things as we have been describing are impor- 
tant aids, and help the man, the woman and 
the child to better appreciate the truth of 
that line of Keats' — 

"A thing of beauty is a joy forever." 



From the Canadian Agriculturist. 

Death of Professor Low. 

We regret to learn from the last num- 
ber of the North British Agriculturist, 
that David Low^Esq., late Professor of 
Agriculture in the University of Edin- 
burgh, is no more. Three or four years 
since he resigned his chair in consequence 
of the declining state of his health, and 
was succeeded by John Wilson, Esq., who 
is personally known to many of our readers, 
and who. it will be recollected, visited 
Canada during our last Provincial Exhibi- 
tion at Hamilton, and who has evinced, on 
more than one occasion, a desire to bring 
our productions under the favourable notice 
of the British public. 

Mr. Low, it appears, was a native of 
Berwickshire, and his father was exten- 
sively engagecf in the management of 
landed property, and enjoyed a high repu- 
tation. His son soon manifested a dispo- 
sition to follow his father's pursuits, for 



316 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[May 



afterwards showed the highest 
an active 



which he 

qualifications. He likewise took 

part in the management of his father's 

extensive farms in Berwickshire, which 

was the means of greatly improving his 

knowledge of practical agriculture, for 

which .he was afterwards so distinguished. 

In the year 1817 appeared Mr. Low's 
first work, entitled, " Observations on the 
present state of landed Property, and on 
the Prosperity of the Landholder and Far- 
mer." The' termination of the .war had 
greatly reduced prices, and great agricul- 
tural distress was consequently felt. The 
treaties was characterized by mature judg- 
ment and marked a sympathy with the po- 
sition of the tenant farmer, and secured for 
the author an early and high reputation. 
In 1825, Mr. Low removed to Edinburgh, 
where he afterwards resided. In 1829 the 
Quarterly Journal of Agriculture was com- 
menced, mainly at his suggestion \ a work 
that has been since published in connection 
with the Transactions of the Highland Socie- 
ty, which has done good service to the cause 
of British agriculture generally, and to which 
Mr. Low was a regular and most valuable 
contributor. In 1831, he succeeded Mr. 
Coventry as Professor of Agriculture in 
the University • a post which he filled 
with distinguished honour and ability for 
near a quarter of a century. 

In the Highland Society, Mr. Low al- 
ways took a warm interest, and rendered 
it most important services during the greater 
portion of his life. He was successful in 
establishing an agricultural museum in con- 
nection with the University, towards which 
he enlisted the aid oif the Government 
and several private individuals ; contribu- 
ting not a little himself. 

. The writings of Profsssor Low were nu- 
merous. Besides the treaties already men- 
tioned, and his numerous contributions to 
the Journal of Agriculture, and" the Trans- 
actions of the Highland Society, he pub- 
lished, in 1834, " The Elements of Prac- 
tical Agriculture" a work of great origi- 
nal merit which has gone through several 
editions, and was soon translated both into 
French and German, and highly apprecia- 
ted on the continent. His large and costly 
treatise on " The Breeds of the Domestica- 
ted Animals of the British Tslands," in two 
large quarto volumes, appeared in 1842. 
It was illustrated with coloured portraits of 
the animals painted by Mr. Shiels for the 



museum, the portraits reduced by Nichol- 
son; the price being necessarily high, 16 
guineas. The French Government imme- 
diately ordered its translation. In 1845 ap- 
peared a fuller treatise on the Domestic 
Animals than was contained in the expen- 
sive illustrated edition, without plates, which 
is the best work on the subject in the Eng- 
lish language. Another work soon follow- 
ed, " On Landed Property and the Econo 
my of Estates," a work which enters very 
fully into the principles and practices of 
territorial management. The first edition 
of an " Inquiry into the nature of the Sim- 
ple Bodies of Chemistry/' came out in 
1844, containing many ingenious specula- 
tions, which excited considerable curiosity 
and attention, so that a third edition ap- 
peared in 1856. 

Professor Low died in the 73d year of 
his age. His character was high-toned and 
unsullied, his manners gentle and unassum- 
ing, and his loss will be long felt by a very 
large circle of admiring friends and readers 
of his works. " So long as the man of in- 
tegrity and high principle is esteemed and 
venerated, so long will the memory of David 
Low remain a bright example, in the per- 
formance of duties which require a combi^ 
nation of such qualities as sound judgment 
and high moral rectitude." 



Rotation and Deep Soil— A Corn Experi- 
ment. 

Regular rotation of crops and deep plow- 
ing are working wonders upon some of the 
old and low- worn farms of New England. 
In the discussions before the Maine State 
Board of Agriculture, which met at the 
seat of Government in January, many of 
the delegates bore striking and uniform tes- 
timony to the value of both these practices, 
especially upon lands that had been crop- 
ped hard. One of the members mentioned 
a field of fifteen acres, " badly bound out," 
which was plowed three inches deeper than 
ever before, and after an application of 
three bushels of Plaster of Paris, produced 
a. yield of 600 bushels of oats. This is 
forty bushels to the acre. Another report- 
ed a yield of 82 bushels shelled corn per 
acre — 56 lbs., to the bushel, from a field 
similarly treated. 

Results very like these could be obtained 
from many of the old fields in Kentucky, 
which now grow nothing but sedge and 



lnii 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



317 



briers, if deeply plowed, and the applica- 
tion of plaster were substituted by a gen- 
erous quantity of barn-yard manure, or a 
compost of which the base should be stable 
dung and scrapings from the woods. 

We have our mind's eye now upon an 
old field, twelve miles from Louisville, which 
was treated in this manner three years ago, 
and gave a yield of corn in return that 
much more than paid expenses. Without 
further preparation it was seeded to grass, 
sown upon the corn stubble, and will this 
coming season be more* than fair pasture 
or meadow, for one or the other of which 
it is designed. The corn, in this experi- 
ment, was manured in the hill. 

Our farmers complain of the great la- 
bour and heavy cost of such experiments. 
But such complaints arc without reason. 
Every farmer who keeps merely two or 
three horses, four or five cattle, a half 
dozen sheep, and a dozen hogs, if he will 
only litter his stalls, pens, and barn-yard, 
with the cheap litter afforded by the 
woods a short distance from his dwelling 
house, in quantities enough to furnish his 
animals with comfortable bedding, he can 
have every year, by planting time in the 
spring, a mountain of compost, such as we 
have described, that will perfectly aston- 
ish his own eyes. 

So much for the cost of that part of 
the experiment. It really costs nothing, 
for it will pay for itself in the increased 
comfort supplied to his stock, and the di- 
minished quantity of food necessary to car 
ry them through the winter. As for the 
labour and expense of hauling out, that is 
not very formidable, when you post up and 
look the thing right in the face. 

In the instance to which we have refer- 
red, after the field was checked off for the 
seed, a two-horse wagon and three men ma- 
nured four acres per day — giving* to each 
hill a large shovelful of the compost. The 
actual expense in this case was probably two 
dollars per day, but in any case would not 
be over four dollars, or one dollar per acre. 
Without the manure, the old field might 
possibly have yielded 25 bushels to the 
acre ; with it, it yielded about 40 bushels. 
Difference — 15 bushels, which, at only 33 £ 
cents per bushel, is $5. 

All this is clear gain, for the cost of haul- 
ing out and applying the manure is fully 
repaid by the condition in which the crop 
left the ground for grass. 



After this field has lain 
three years, it will probably be turned over 
for another trial, and we will then speak of it 
a sra i n . — Lov is v ille Jburn a L 



Domestic Receipts. 

Artificial Flowers. — The beauty of 
these imitations of the floral world depends 
upon the taste and skill of the makers. The 
delicate fingers of woman and her quick 
powers of imitation, combined with an ex- 
quisite taste for the beautiful in nature, en- 
ables her to excel in this branch of art, 
which at present is carried to the highest 
pitch of perfection in the French capital. 
Although all the finest qualities of our arti- 
ficial flowers are imported, still great quanti- 
ties of them are manufactured in New York 
City, and they may be imitated by many 
females as a domestic recreation affording 
much pleasure. The materials required for 
them are velvet and fine cambric for the 
petals, and taffety for the leaves, with thin 
whalebone or wire for the stems. These 
are cut 'into the proper forms and pasted to- 
gether with a solution of gumarabic. The 
colors to produce the shades are put on with 
a fine hair pencil in the same manner as 
drawings are colored and shaded. Carmine 
is employed to produce the red and pink 
colors; the yellow is a tincture of turmeric ; 
green of distilled verdigris; blue, neutral- 
ized sulphate of indigo ; and purple a tinc- 
ture of orchil or logwood and the oxyd of tin. 
Great care is necessary in the employment 
of these colors. 

To Clean Gloves. — Lay them on a 
clean board, and 'first rub the surface gently 
with a clean sponge and some camphene, or 
a mixture of camphene and alcohol. Now 
dip each glove into a cup containing the 
camphene, lift it out, squeeze it in the hand, 
and again rub it gently with the sponge, to 
take out all the wrinkles. After this gather 
up the cuff in the hand, and blow into it to 
puff out the fingers, when it may be hung 
up with a thread to dry. This operation 
should not be conducted near to a fire, ow- 
ing to the inflamable nature of the cam- 
phene vapor. The receipts given in all the 
printed books we have consulted for clean- 
ing gloves are barbarous. 

Mahogany Stain. — The color of ma- 
hogany may be imitated with a strong solu- 
tion of logweod and fustic put on boiling 
hot with a brush. The color can be re- 



318 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[May 



duccd to any depth of shade according to 
the strength of the liquor employed. After 
it is quite dry the wood should be varnished 
and afterwards polished. A varnish made 
with dragon's blood dissolved in alcohol, and 
applied in two or three coats will make a 
very good imitation of mahogany. When 
dry it should be rubbed down with rotten- 
stone and oil. 

Rosewood Stain. — This is made of a 
strong solution of logwood and red wood, 
commonly called liypernic. It is put on the 
wood, when hot, with a brush, the dark lines 
being produced by giving two or three coats, 
and the light shades one. By washing oyer 
the surface of this stain with a week solu- 
tion of saleratus, it will receive a blueish 
tinge and appear of a darker shade. When 
dry, use any kind of varnish for the pro- 
duction of a polished surface. 

Yellow Stain. — A decoction of turmeric 
and a little alum, or the grounds of beer 
and a little sulphuric acid, makes yellow stain 
on white wood. Diluted nitric acid brushed 
over white wood, then exposed to the heat 
of a stove, also makes a yellow stain ; this 
is the most convenient one for imitating 
maple. 

Browning Gun Barrels. — Mix one 
ounce of nitric acid and four ounces of the 
sulphate of copper in a pint of water, and 
apply this to the surface of the barrel, and 
set it aside to rust for two days. The barrel 
must now be rubbed with a stiff brush, 
washed with lime-water, dried, and after- 
wards varnished. It is sometimes necessary 
to apply two and three coats of the acid 
solution to obtain a proper coating of oxyd. 
The lime-water neutralizes any free acid that 
may be left on the iron. — Scientific Ameri- 



Her stature is not tall, she is not made to an 
admiration of every one. She has the firm- 
ness that does not exclude delicacy — all the 
softness that does not imply weakness. Her 
voice is soft, low, music, not formed to rule 
in public assemblies, but to distinguish a 
compan} 7 from a crowd it has its advantage, 
you must come close to hear it. To describe 
her body, describe her mind — one is the 
transcript of the other. Her understanding 
is not shown in the variety of matters it ex- 
erts itself upon, but the goodness of the 
choice she makes. Her politeness flows 
rather from a natural disposition to oblige, 
than any rules on that subject, and there- 
fore never fails to strike those who under- 
stand good breeding, and those who do not. 



Edmund Burke's Idea of a Perfect Wife. 
She is handsome, but it is not a beauty 
arising from the features, from complexion 
or from shape. She has all three in high 
degree, but it is not by these that she touches 
the heart — it is all that sweetness of temper, 
benevolence, innocence; it is all that sensi- 
bility which a face can express, that forms 
her beauty. She has a face that j ust aroused 
your attention at first sight; it grows upon 
you every moment, and you wonder it did 
not more than raise attention at first. Her 
eyes have a. mild light, but they awe when 
she pleases, they command like a good man 
out of office, not by authority, but by virtue. 



What the Earth Gives Us. 

Messrs. Editors : — Agriculture may be. 
considered of great antiquity. It is proba- 
ble, however, that it did .not commence to 
exist with the first formation of society, for 
it is satisfactorily proved that mankind, in 
the early ages, derived their subsistence 
from hunting and fishing, and from the milk 
and flesh of such domestic animals as they 
possessed. It is hardly possible for any one, 
perhaps, to satisfy himself how long the pe- 
riod was from the formation of Adam to the 
time when agriculture began to exist. Scrip- 
ture teaches us that Noah was acquainted 
wi*h the art, and it is probable that his sons 
transmitted it to the world. History informs 
us that the ancient Egyptians were well ac- 
quainted with agriculture; and under the 
Roman government, the people of Italy, too, 
understood all the branches of husbandry 
nearly as well as the present inhabitants of 
that country. At the period of the Roman 
invasion of Great Britain, there is reason to 
presume that agriculture was but little known 
there, and very imperfectly practiced. The 
Romans, however, during the Augustan age, 
had become successful agriculturists, and at 
the time of the Roman invasion, the Roman 
soldiers showed conclusively that husbandry 
was well understood by them; and when 
they withdrew from the island, at a subse- 
quent period, obvious marks of improvement 
in the agricultural art were plainly observa- 
ble. 

From the Conquest to the days of Henry 
VIII., husbandry had received but little im- 
provement; and during the long period of 
five centuries, theoretical or scientific know- 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



319 



ledge of the art was little sought after by 
the Britons. During the fifteenth century, 
hooks containing directions for plowing and 
tilling the land, begun to make their appear- 
ance. From this time forward, to the present 
day, men cf enlightened minds began to take 
an interest in the art, and have illustrated 
it in the most satisfactory manner. 

Somebody has truthfully and appropri- 
ately said, that " Agriculture may be regard- 
ed as the breasts from which mankind derive 
their nourishment and support." On ac- 
count of its usefulness, it is the senior of 
manufactures and commerce, both of which 
owe their existence to agriculture. To man- 
kind it is of the first importance, because 
their temporal welfare and prosperity depend 
upon receiving a regular and sufficient sup- 
ply of the various articles cultivated by the 
agriculturist, so essentially necessary to man's 
existence. 

From the earth's surface, the navy is sup- 
plied with timber, cordage, and sails ; while 
flax and w T ool, hides and tallow, madder, and 
other dye stuffs, are obtained for the world's 
consumption. By delving into the earth, 
the proper substances, such as limestone and 
marl, are obtained for the purpose of invig- 
orating its surface and rendering it prolific. 
By penetrating into its bowels, we procure 
various minerals, such as iron, lead, tin, cop- 
per, and coal, which furnish employment to 
a portion of the community ; and by culti- 
vating the soil, man receives therefrom food, 
which enables him to live comfortably and 
prosecute energetically his various avocations. 
If agriculture is neglected, mankind soon- 
er or later become miserable; but if the 
common necessaries of life are plenty, soci- 
ety is happy, and the laboring man especial- 
ly, is better remunerated and more comfor- 
tably situated for his toil. When provisions 
are scanty, other arts are at a stand, and 
science and mental improvements are neglec- 
ted. Hence we see in our own favored 
America, where the means of subsistence 
are ample, and where labor is sufficient to 
provide food for us all, the unusual expan- 
sion of the mind, and the rapid strides we 
have made in other arts and sciences, and 
the dignified position we hold, at the pres- 
ent moment, among the nations of the globe. 
Country Gent. 



woodwork, and walls of any clay, or turf, 
which is as imperishable as stone : it is, 
the Trfore, better than all the plants in the 
world, for the outside work of these houses; 
and I have proved that rough surfaces may 
be made in this way, as durable and hard as 
cast iron, by using the dust from a smith's 
forge, over the tar, as soon as it is brushed 
on. I had six wooden spouts, each 18 feet 
long, 4 inches wide, and 6 inches deep, for 
a particular purpose, and the man who sup- 
plied them (God forgive him !) assured me 
that they would last three lifetimes, if they 
w r ere kept painted. But they soon turned so 
leaky, that a painter, with nothing else to 
do, could not make them hold their parch- 
ing jaws, for an hour together, in hot wea- 
ther ; so I took the painting of them into 
my own hands, and gave them three good 
thick coats of hot tar, and as much of the 
forge dust, everytime, as the tar could suck 
in. From that day day to this, these spouts 
have been as sound as a bell ; and when I 
use tar for paint, I dust it immediately with 
that smithy dust, and brush off* what is not 
fixed after the tar is quite dry. 

[Cottage Gardener. 

Analysis of the Sweet Potato. 
Tarboro', N. C, 8th March, 1858. 

Mr. Editor : — In your February number 
you request some cf your subscribers to 
forward you an analysis of the potato. 

The following analysis is by l)r. Emmons, 
our State geologist : 

1000 lbs. of Roots. Contain. 

Starch 184.23 

Albumen 54.47 

Coagulable Albumen 19.40 

Cassein 9.70 

Sugar and Extract 53.49 

Dextrisu and Gum 6.93 

Fiber 17.09 

Gum Resin 2.07 

Water 641.72 9S9.10 

Silicie Acid 0.24 

Sulp. Acid 0.16 

Phos. Lime and Mag 2.78 

Lime 

Maanes 



Paint to Endure. 
Mr. Rivers says, that boiling coal tar with 
slacked lime, will make a shining surface on 



08. 

07. 

Potash 6.37, 



Soda . . . 
Chlorine 



66.. 
54.. 



. 1 0.90 
1000. 
I have known one cow-pen lot to fail in 
producing potatoes. Affording the mineral 
ingredients on a soil not otherwise suitable, 
will not make a good crop of potatoes, for I 
have tried some such soils, &c. 

Yours, J. L. B. 



320 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[May 



<//M& 




Cottage Song. 

IJY JOHN S. ADAMS. 

"We've a cottage clothed with roses, 

Neaf a wood 
Where the sinking birds of summer 

Nest and brood : 
There in early spring the daisies 

Gem the sod, 
Looking up to heaven above them, 

And to God. 

There in holy calm we worship 

One above, 
Through his works that all around us 

Speak his love ; 
Read we there his will in every 

Rock and tree. 
While his blessings fall upon us 

Rich and free. 

Beautiful the morning sunlight 

Cometh there, 
Crowning Nature at her early 

Morning prayer ; 
And at evening, when the twilight 

Closeth round, 
Still, devoutly at her worship, 

Is the found. 

We are not alone, for angels 

Come and go, 
Walking often through our cottage 

To and fro ; 
Promising to guide and guard us 

With their love, 
Till we go to live among them, 

Up above. 

Simple life is ours, we follow 

Nature's wwy, 
Learning of her truthful lessons 

Day by day; 
Striving to fulfill our mission, — 

Doing good : 
Living happy in our cottage 

Near the wood. 

Better Late than Never. 

Life is a race where some succeed, 
While others are beginning; 

'Tia luck at times, at others speed, 
That gives an early winning; — 

But if you chance to fall behind, 
Ne'er slacken your endeavor; 



Just keep this wholesome truth in mind: 
'Tis better late, than never. 

If you can keep ahead, 'tis well, 

But never trip your neighbor; 
'Tis noble, when you can excel 

By honest, patient labor; — 
But if you are outstripped at last, 

Press on as bold as ever, 
Remember, though you are surpassed 

'Tis better late than never ! 

Ne'er labor for an idle boast 
. Of victory o'er another; 
But, while you strive your uttermost, 

Deal fairly with a brother. 
Whate'er your station, do your best, 

And hold your purpose ever [ 
And if you fail to beat the rest, 

'Tis better late than never! 

Choose well the path in which you run, 

Succeed by noble daring ; 
Then, though the last, when once 'tis won, 

Your crown is worth the wearing, 
t Then never fret, if left behind, 

Nor slacken your endeavor; 
But ever keep this truth in mind, 

'Tis better late than never. 



The Child of James Melville. 

One time — my soul was pierced as with a sword; 

Contending still with men untaught and wild: 
When He who to the prophet lent his gourd, 

Gave me the solace of a pleasant child! 

A summer gift — my precious flower was given — 
A very summer fragrance was its life ; 

Its clear eyes soothed me as the blue of heaven, 
When home I turned — a weary man of strife! 

With unformed laughter — musically sweet — 
How soon the wakening babe would meet my 
kiss ; 
With outstretched arms, its care-wrought father 
greet — 
Oh! in the desert, what a spring was this ! 

A few short months it blossomed near my heart — 
A few short months — else toilsome all, and sad; 

But that home solace nerved me for my part, 
And of the babe I was exceeding glad! 

Alas! my pretty bud, scarce formed, was dying — 
(The prophet's gourd — it withered in a night!) 

And He who gave me all — rny heart's pulse try- 
ing— 
Took gently home the child of my delight! 

Not rudely called — not suddenly it perished — 
Bnt gradual faded from our love away! 

As if, still, secret dews, its life that cherished, 
Were drop by drop withheld — and day by day 

My blessed Master saved me from repining, 
So tenderly he used me for His own — 

So beautiful he made my babe's declining — 
Its dying blessed me as its birth had done! 



Richmond— SCHAER, KOHLER & CO, 
Petersburg— VENA BLE & MORTON. 
Lvnchbunr— M. HOLLINS & CO. 
Norfolk— B. J. BOCKOVER. 

Mav 18.59-1 v 



SOUTHERN' PLANTER.— ADVERTISING SHEET. 



RHODE'S SUPER-PHOSPHATE. 

sr<l nml fully Warranted. 

B. M. RHODES & CO., 

Office 82 >W/< Street, Bowly'e Wharf, Baltimore' 



Every lot oflered for Bale regularly Analysed nml fully Warranted. 

M AM h'A('HKKI) BY 



racked in Barrels and Bags. Price $45 per ton, cash, in Baltimore. 



AGENTS IN VIRGINIA. 



Alexandria- WATERS. ZIMMERMAN & CO 
Fredericksburg— SCOTT, FRENCH Sl CO 
Fnrmville— H E. WARREN. 
Blacks Sl Whites— JEFFERSON & WILLIAM- 
SO.\. 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 
(a published monthly, in sixty-four octavo pages, 
on f lie following Terms: 
WO DOLLARS AND FIFTY CENTS per an- 

i, unless paid in advance. 

Adcanee payments as follows : 
)ne ropy, one year, 

x copies, do ... 

riiirteeu copies, one year, - 
I'wcnty do do - 

hie copy, three years, 

d one copy free to persons sending us the 
I imonky lor thirteen or more new subscribers. 
ill money reunited to us will lie considered at our 
! oul if, when l lie letter containing the same si 
e been registered This rule is adopted not lor our 
ten ion, but for the protection of onr correspondent h. 

we wish it distinctly iimlersloo I that we tuke the 
. only when this condition is complied with. 



$2 

10 

20 

30 

5 

NAMES 



" R 



ADVERTISEMENTS 

!1 be inserted at the following rates: 
tineas Caids of 5 lines or less, per annum, 

( 1st insertion, 
(•eighth J Each continuance, 

.column. 6 months, ) without 

l 12 ** ' J alteration, 



PIEDMONT 

TROTTING ft BRiL-AKIKG TRACK. 

1 am now established at this Track, 3 miles south- 
west ol Orange Courthouse, on the old stage road to 
Gordon«ville, and am prepared to break colts in the 
best style for I he-saddle, single nml double harness— 
HI $25 a month, all charges included, except for stal- 
lions ii n usual 1 v vicious. 

For my qualifications, I refer to the folio wine: gen- 
tleiueu : 

Dr. Richard Wood, Goochland. W. \V. Fuleher 
Esq., \V. .1 Carpenter, Hanover. James Newman' 

I John Willi-. Col. John II. Lee. Orunae County. 
B. Il-.xali, Esq., Richm I. 

May IE59— h K)IIX H. C \ BRIER. 

Liberal Offer for 18597 

NASH'S.THIAL PIANOS! 



$5 00 
1 



fourth of 

luiiin, 



lmlfofa 
tun. 



1st insertion. 

Each continuance, 

(> months, ) w iihont 
12 * ) alteration, 

1st insertion. 

Each continuance. 

U uionliis, 
I J 



o« crnnr 

75 
0(1 
56 



We w.ii 
Ihle and res| 

PIANOS 



.pon 
ibilitv 



UlXlvr^s (I, 

f scleelimr 



•h 



di to 



) without 
.$ alterations. 



ne column, 
lull a page 



P a g«» 



1st insertion. 
Each con tiu tin nee, 

b months, ) without 

12 " \ alteration, 

1st insertion, 

Each continuance, 

b months, i without 

'- 12 " > alteration, 

Ivertisements out of the city must he accouipa 

with the money or city references to insure iuser 



14 lid 

3 25 
2 50 

II DO 
25 00 
b Oil 

4 5(1 
25 00 
40 00 
It) III' 

7 50 
40 0(1 
7(1 CO 



lor ami forwarding n 

purchase, and ii thei do not turn out to he really e , 

we WILL BEAR ALL THK EXPENSE. * 

We know what the IMAM)." are, and have no hesi- 
tation in taking the lisk of gi» ing satisfaction. 

E. I*. NASH Sc CO., 

A pnl 1F59. Petersburg, Va. 



A Harm, situated in SpntM Ivania count\. Va . 12 
miles from Guinea's Depot. mi the Ui< hnunid A: Fr« d- 
erickHbnrg Road, and 19 mib's (runt the latter place. 
It contains b3d acres, one half hi cultivation, and ihn 

I 'ilance in wood. It lies well, is will Watered, pro. 
iln. live, and admiral l\ adapted lo tobacco as well us 
grain. Ii is also a i'ihhI tm/.u^ farm. 

'i he buildings are extensive and excelleul, emhrnc- 
ing every house uanulli found on well impioved es- 
tates. 'I here are also houses for curing from fifteen 
n iweni\ thousand pounds tobacco. Tee place is re 
and m a good neighl oiuhood, hav 



IiIm 



rIERICAN CABBAGE SEED 



i lie I'UEWILM 
apply Gardeners 



| inaikably I 
nie chutches, po.-.t-oflke, shops, mills 

, tiient. The lam, is mis eptihle ol division, and will | lG 
divided if desired. Price $10 per acre. Terms libe- 
ral. Post office, Mi Pleaaaut. Spotsylvania Co Va 
'-" l>. M. V\ BARTON. 



FOR SALE. 



FL IT DI. I » II varin*. VV. 
and the trade in limited qu 
.with Seed of the above finest of all Fall and 

Lei' Cabbages, warranted lo head solid. A ven dv^iiuttiu mm 

00 a pound. ,' 150 Acres hi U ood— 154 Arret of Creek and lliver 

.1. M. THORRUKN A: CO, \ bottoms. Improvement* Rood, and terms liberal. 
,v 2'. 13 John Street, New Ybtk. wsff Apply to AUGUST & WILLIAMS. 



SOUTHERN PLANTER— ADVERTISING SHEET. 



Corner of Grace and Foushee Streets, RICHMOND, VA. 

The next Session of this Institution will open on the FIRST DAY OF OCTOBER, 185 
and close on the First Day of July, 1859. 

TERMS FOB THE SCHOLASTIC YEAR, 



For Board, - 

For Washing, - 

For Lights, 

For English Tuition, 

For Modern Languages, (each,) 

For French, when studied exclusively of 

the English branches, 
For Latin, 

For Music on Piano, Harp, Guitar, Or- 
gan or Singing : 

For one lesson (of an hour) a week, 



$200 

20 

6 

40 

20 

40 
20 



40 



For two lessons (of an hour) a Week, $ 
For three lessons (of an hour) a week, l! 
For four lessons (of an hour) a week, 1( 

For the use of Piano, 

For Drawing, from Models, 

For Drawing, from Nature, 

For Painting in Water Colors, 

For Oil Painting, 

Primary Department — for Children un- 
der 11 years of age, 



REFERENCES: 

The Patrons of the School. — Right Rev. Bishop Meade, Right Rev. Bishop Johns, Right Re 
Bishop Elliott of Georgia, Right Rev. Bishop Cobbs of Alabama, Rev. xMoses D. Hoge, . 
D., Rev. Charles H. Read, D. D., Rev. T. V. Mo. re, D. D., Rev. B. Gildersleve. The Clerj 
of the Episcopal Church in Virginia. 

3P Aetrx,Tir. 

HUBERT P. LEFEBVRE, A. M., Principal. 



John A. Calyo 
C. W. Tin low, 
W. F. Grabau, 
Mrs. A. E. J. Gibson, 
Miss Mary Gordon, 
MAD'ELLE L. VILLEMET, French Governess. 
All letters to be directed to Hubert P. Lefebvre, Richmond, Va. 



Rev. II. S. Keppler, 
William G. Williams, a. m. 
John P. Little, M. D. 
R. A. Lewis, M. D. 
Eliodoro Camps, 



Miss E. Bartlett, 
Mrs. M. Taylor, 
Mad'me M. Estvan, 
Mad'elle Lacy, 
Charles H. Roseen, 



[July '58— ly 



PAINTS. PAINTS. PAINTS. 

. PURCELL, LADD & CO., 



tTGGISTS, 

No. 122 Main Street, corner 13th, RICHMOND, VIRGINIA, 

Offer at low prices, a large and well assorted stock of articles in their line — embracing 

PAINTS, COLORS, VARNISHES, OILS, &C, 



LEWIS' WHITE LEAD, 
NEW J. WHITE ZINC, Horsehead brand, 
CHROME GREEN, 
VERDIGRIS. 

TERRA l>[ SIENNA, 
LINSEED OIL, 



MACHINE OIL. 
PARKS (JREEN, 

CHROME YELLOW, 
TURKEY UM13KE, 
LAMP- OILS, 
SPTS. TURPENTINE. 



All Colors for Painters, Coach Maker?, and others, Dry and in Oil. Paint Brushes, Sand Puper, and a vei 

lurjje stock of best 

WINDOW GLASS, 

omprising nearly every size made. We are also prepared to take ordrrs for Imported 

Polished Plate, Sky Light and Ornamental Glass. 

I3F" Particular attention to packing and forwarding all goods— rind the quality warranted. 

PUKCELL, LA 1)1) & CO, Drvggistt, 
June 1848. 123 .Main Street. FVhmon*.