f 



^ VOL. XIX. 



[AUGUST.] 



Published Monthly. August & Williams, Proprietors 




J. E. WILLIAMS, Editor. 



TH E 




AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE 



AND THE 



HOUSEHOLD ARTS. 




PRINTED AT RICHMOND, \ 
BY MACFARLANE & FERGUSSON. 

is: 




SOUTHERN PLANTER.— ADVERTISING SHEET. 



CONTENTS. 

London, or Central Farmer's Club (No* 1.) - 

London, or Central Fanners Club (No. 2*) - 

Ventilating Hats, - 

Slaves, The Effects of High Prices of, 

Upperville Union Colt Club, 

Straw. Manufacture of Paper from,- 

Timber, Means of Preserving,- 

Ornithology,- - 

The Influence of Salt upon the 1 Growth 

and Health of Cattle, - 
Tobacco the Bane of Virginia Husbandry, 

(No. 4.) - 

Transplanting,' The Philosophy of, 
Straw and its Waste — Its Growth per Acre r 
Soil, Improvement of the, 
Summer Grazing — Grazing of Cattle, 
Practical Men. - J 

Sounding Shells .... 

On Curing Tobacco Yellow, 
Lime, Super-Phosphaite of, 
Ploughing, - 

House-Keepers, Items for, - 
Phosphates, ...--• 

To Our Subscribers and Friends, - - 



The Vi 



le Virginia 



Mi lits 



aiy Institute, 



Messrs. B. M. Rhodes & Co. 
Rural Register, 
Cosmopolitan Art Journal, 
The Latey Thomas Nelson of Hanover, 
American Institute, New York, 
Campbell's Manual of Scientific and Practi- 
cal Agriculture, 
Tobacco Culture, ------ 

On Some Points of Agricultural Science, - 

Useful Information, 

Virginia State Agricultural Society, 



449 
400 
471 
472 
477 
479 
479 
460 

481 

482 
484 
486 
488 
489 
491 
491 
492 
492 
494 
499 
500 
501 
501 
502 
502 
502 
502 
502 

502 
503 
504 
513 
514 



ALEXANDER GARRETT, 

38 Main Street, RICHMOND, VA. 

Genera! COMMISSION MERCHANT, 

AND DEALER IN 

GEOCERIES, 

PERUVIAN AND SOMBRERO GUANO®, 
PIASTER, &c. 

WILLIAM G. MILLER, 

Who is associated with him, devotes his partic- 
ular attention to the sale of 



Saddles, Harness, &c. 

I manufacture a superior 
COLL All 

which I warrant not to chafe or gall. I have 
always on hand a good assortment of all articles in 
my line, which I will sell, vrholesale or retail, as cheap 
as thev can be procured anywhere. North or South. 
CHARLES I. BALDWIN, 
Franklin St., 2d square above Old Market. 
Sept — ly 



AYER'S 



J. R. KEININGHAM, 

DEALER IN 

BOOKS & STATIONERY, 

211 Broad Street, between 4th and 5th, RICH- 
MOND, VA. March 185<). 



I* 



Cathartic Pills^ 

FOR ALL THE PURPOSE^ 
OF A FAMILY PHYSIC, 

are so composed that disease within the range 
of their action can rarely "withstand Or evade 
them. Their penetrating properties search, and 
elealnse, and invigorate every portion of the 
hum^n Organism, correcting its diseased actiony 
and restoring its healthy vitalities,; As a conse- 
quence of these properties, the invalid who is' 
bowed down with pain or physical debility i& 
astonished to find his health Or energy restored* 
by a remedy at once so simple a'nd inviting; 

Not only do they cure the Cvery-day cohi'- 
plaints of every body, but also many formidable' 
and dangerous diseases. The agent below 
named is pleased to furuish gratis my American 4 
Almanac, containing certificates of their cures 
and directions for their use in the following com- 
plaints: Costiveness, Heartburnj Headache arising 
from disordered Stomachy Nausea, Indigestion, Pain 
in and Morbid Inaction of the Bowels, Flatulency; 
Loss of Appetite; Jaundicej and other kindred 
complaints, arising from a low state of the body 
or obstruction of its functions. 

Ayer's Cherry Pectoral, 

FOR THE RAPID CURE OF 

Coughs, Colds, Influenza, Hoarseness, Croup, 
Bronchitis, Insipient Consumption, and. for 
the relief of Consumptive Patients in ad-? 
vanced Stages of the disease. 

So wide is the field of its usefulness, and s-6 1 
numerous are the eases of its cures, that almost 
every se'etion of country abounds in .persons 
publicly known, who have been restored from! 
alarming and even desperate diseases of the 
lungs by its use. When Once fried, its superi- 
ority over every other medicine of its kind i-; 
too apparent to escape observation, and Where? 
its virtues are known, the public no longer hesi- 
tate what antidote to employ for the distressing 
and dangerous affections of the pulmonary 
organs that are incident to Our climate. While 
many inferior remedies thrust upon the com- 
munity have failed and been discarded, this has 
gained friends by every trial, conferred benefits" 
on the afflicted they can never forget, and pro- 
duced cures too numerous and too remarkable' 
to be forgotten. 

PREPARE* BY 

DR. J. C. AYER & CO., 

LOWELL^ MASS. 
&old by PURCELL, LADD, & CO., 

Richmond. 
And by all Druggie Aug. 1859— Cm. 



TH E 






Devoted 


to Agriculture, Horticulture, and the Household Arts 




Agriculture is the nursing mother of the Arts. 

[Xbnophon. 1 


Tillage and Pasturage are the two 
the State. — Sully. 


jreasts of 


J. E. 


WILLIAMS 


, Editor. 


AUGUST & WILLIAMS, 


Prop'rs. 


Vol. 


XIX. 


RICHMOND, VA. 


, AUGUST, 1859. 


No. 8. 



From the British Farmer's Magazine. 

London, or Central Farmers' Club. 

THE PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURE. 

The usual Monthly Meeting of the Mem- 
bers took place on Monday evening, April 
4, at the Club-house, Blackfriars. 

The subject for discussion — "The Pro- 
gress of Agriculture," was introduced by 
Mr. R. Smith, of Emmett's^ Grange, South 
Moulton, Devon. 

After a few introductory remarks from 
the Chairman, (Mr. Thomas, of Bletsoe,) 

Mr. Smith said : Gentlemen, — When we 
speak of " the progress of agriculture," I 
feel that every link in the chain of agri- 
cultural events forms a theme in itself, alike 
expressive of the progress which the " art," 
the " manufacture," and the "commerce" of 
agriculture have made during many past 
centuries, and down to the present time. 
Indeed, the subject grows upon me, when I 
reflect that our island was once a " common 
waste," and that the industry of man has 
redeemed it from century to century as 
population increased. Thus agriculture has 
been fostered from the earliest dates, and 
we live in a century in which the art has 
made a degree of progress hitherto unprece- 
dented. * * * * The progress of 
British agriculture has long been a leading 
29 



subject in the history of our island, and 
has been dilated upon alike by the historian, 
the politician, and the poet. It is common 
ground for every citizen; it is a nation's 
question, involving the supply of food for 
an increasing population upon a given space 
of land — an island. Indeed, the first want 
of man is food, and his natural resource for 
it must be the ground. Hence the tillers of 
the soil share no small responsibility in the 
general wealof our national progress. Agri- 
culture is the parent of manufactures and 
commerce; hence it is not only the most 
useful of arts, but that which requires the 
greatest number of operators. The early 
invention of tillage would be coeval with 
the discovery of the uses of the cereal 
grasses, and may thus be considered as the 
grand step in the invention of aneient hus- 
bandry, and the most important as leading 
to the establishment of property in terri- 
torial surface. The early practice of agri- 
culture was confined to men of humble sta- 
tion, who pursued it as a matter of business 
for daily livelihood. In the last century 
the occupation became more extended, and 
it has been engaged in by men of rank and 
capital, together with some other amateur 
practitioners, as a matter of taste and recre- 
ation. It is both curious and interesting to 
refer to some early writers upon agricultu- 



450 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[August 



nil affairs, who, be it remembered, lived in I 
the days of seclusion; but nevertheless they' 
had their wits about them. In the time of, 
the Romans, we find Cato recommending al 
farm and situation " where there are plenty ' 
of artificers and good water; which has a 
fortified town in its neighbourhood; is near 
to the sea, or a navigable river, or where 
the roads are easy and good." To these 
requisites Varro adds — " a proper market 
for buying and selling ; security from thieves 
and robbers; and boundaries planted with 
useful hedgerow-trees." The arable land 
preferred by Columella is the " fat and free, 
as producing the greatest crops and requiring 
the least culture." Again : the occupation 
preferred by Cato is that of " pasture, mea- 
dow, and watered grass-land, as yielding 
produce at least expense." When speaking 
of plantations and buildings, Cato recom- 
mends men "to plant in their youth but not 
to build till somewhat advanced in years." 
Another author says — " Take care in the 
making of your buildings that they are 
equal to the farm, and the farm equal to the 
buildings." On the arrival of the Anglo- 
Saxons, this island, according to Fleury's 
history, abounded in numerous flocks and 
herds, which these conquerors seized and 
pastured for their own use. The rent of 
land in those times was established by law, 
and not by the owners of the land ! Very 
little is known of the implements or opera- 
tors of husbandry during that period. In 
the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries agri- 
culture rallied to a considerable extent, and 
was carried on with vigour. Sir John For- 
tescue, in a work in praise of the English 
laws, mentions the progress that had been 
made in the enclosure of lands, the planting 
of hedges and hedge-row trees, before the 
end of the fourteenth century. During the 
greater part of the fifteenth century Eng- 
land was engaged in civil wars, and agri- 
culture, as well as other arts, declined. Soon 
after the beginning of the sixteenth century 
agriculture partook of the general improve- 
ment which followed the art of printing, the 
revival of literature, and the more settled 
authority of Government. The first Eng- 
lish treatise on husbandry now appeared, 
being written by Sir A. Fitzherbert; and it 
contains directions for draining, clearing, 
and enclosing a farm. Landlords are there- 
in advised to grant leases to farmers who 
will surround their farms by hedges and 
improve the lands. We have then a short 



information "for a yonge gentylman that 
intends to thryve;" and a prologue for the 
wives' occupation. Among other things, the 
wife is to "make her husband and herself 
some clothes; and she may have the "lockes 
of the shepe, either to make blanketts and 
coverlettes, or both." Further, it is recorded 
that "it is the wives' occupation to wynowe 
all manner of cornes, to make malt, to go or 
ride to market, to sell all manner of cornes," 
and faithfully to bring back the money to 
her "lord and master." The seventeenth 
century is distinguished by some important 
improvements in agriculture, among which 
are the introdution of clovers and turnips 
in England. That the agriculture and 
general prosperity of this country have been 
greatly benefited by the Revolution of 1688, 
is an undisputed fact. But the general pro- 
gress of agriculture in Britain, from the 
Revolution to the eighteenth century, was 
by no means so considerable as from the 
great exportation of corn we should be led 
to imagine. The gradual advance in the 
price of land-produce soon after the year 
1760, occasioned by the increase of popula- 
tion, and of wealth derived from manufac- 
tures and commerce, gave a powerful stimu- 
lus to rural industry, augmented agricultu- 
ral capital in a greater degree, and called 
forth a more skilful and enterprisng race of 
cultivators. A brief glance at a few of the 
early practices, before the eighteenth century, 
may be interesting, and possibly useful, as 
showing that, even in early times, many 
good principles were laid down by the hus- 
bandman of old. - The modern rush for 
" things new" certainly creates a lively inter- 
est, and leads men on to enterprises that 
their forefathers thought not of; but have 
we not unfrequently estimated too lightly 
ancient practices, and especially those that 
relate to provincial warnings? Amongst 
the earliest subjects that claimed attention 
may be mentioned those of draining, irriga- 
tion, the effect of climate, the trying of ex- 
periments, and so on. With regard to drain- 
ing, I find, on referring to some old authors, 
that in the time of the Romans, Cato gives 
directions for draining wet-bottomed sands: 
"To make drains four feet deep; to lay 
them with stones; and if these cannot be got, 
to lay them with willow rods." Columella 
directs "that the drains be deep, and nar- 
row at the bottom." Pliny says that "flint 
or stones may be used to form the water- 
way, filling the excavation to within eighteen 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



451 



inches of the top/' Of irrigation, Cato 
says, "as much as in your power, make 
water-meadows." Of climate, an early au- 
thor writes: "Whoever would be perfect in 
this science, must be well acquainted with 
soils and plants; and must not be ignorant 
of the various climates, that so he may know 
what is agreeable, and what is repugnant, to 
each." Varro writes: "The ancient hus- 
bandmen, by making experiments, have es- 
tablished many maxims; their posterity, for 
the most part, imitate them." This saying 
is referred to by Pliny, who says that "there 
were sent to Augustus, by his factor, nearly 
400 stalks, all from one grain; and to Nero 
340 stalks." He says: "I have seen the 
soil of this field, which, when dry, the stoutest 
oxen cannot plough; after rain, I have seen 
it opened up by a share, drawn by a wretched 
ass on the one side and an old woman on the 
other." Among the leading features of 
practical agriculture during the eighteenth 
century, we may enumerate the gradual in- 
troduction of a better system of cropping, 
since the publication of "Tull's Husbandry," 
and other useful works from 1700 to 1750; 
the improvement of live-stock, by Bakewell 
and others, about 1760; the drill-system of 
growing turnips; the use of lime and marl 
in agriculture; the tapping of springs; the 
revival of the art of irrigation, by Boswell; 
and the publication of the Bath Agricultu- 
ral Society's papers, in 1780. The intro- 
duction of the Swedish turnip, about 1790; 
and of spring wheat, about 1795; and the 
reports of the Board of Agriculture about 
this time, also contribute to increase the 
products of agriculture — as the enclosing of 
common fields, lands, and wastes, and the 
improvement of mosses and marshes con- 
tributed to the produce and salubrity of the 
general surface of the country. The pro- 
gress of the taste for agriculture about this 
time is shown by the great number of agri- 
cultural societies that were formed; one or 
more as a beginning in almost every county. 
Amongst these the Bath and West of Eng- 
land Society, established in 1777, holds the 
first rank. We are indebted to this society 
for the "Bath Papers," of which sixteen 
volumes were printed; they were the first 
agricultural periodicals of England, and 
were the precursors of the " Journal of the ; 
l Royal Agricultural Society." The establish- ! 
ment of the Board of Agriculture, in 1793, 
was looked forward to with considerable 
interest; and ought to have commenced a 



new era in the history of the agriculture 
and rural economy of England at that date; 
but the country was evidently not prepared 
for so bold and comprehensive an undertak- 
ing, and it consequently effected little be- 
yond the publication of the "County Sur- 
veys;" still it may be said to have raised 
the "art of agriculture" amongst the higher 
classes. This brief, and yet I fear too length- 
ened, sketch of the early ages, brings us 
down to the 19th century. The more mod- 
ern improvements date from this period; 
still it had been the early province of such 
men as Jethro Tull, Arthur Young, Marshall, 
Sir John Sinclair, Lord Somerville, the late 
Duke of Bedford, Mr. Coke, Sir Humphrey 
Davy, Bakewell, Loudon, Cully, Cline, Col- 
lins, Blakie, Parkinson, and others, to en- 
lighten the path of agriculture before the 
nineteenth century. These and other good 
men, true patrons of the art, laid down 
principles which have rarely been excelled 
by the modern improver. A field of enter- 
prise was now opened up, and "men of 
many grades" became interested in the more 
popular occupation of cultivating and en- 
closing the broad acres of our island, which 
had so long required this stimulus. The 
late Lord Leicester and the late Duke of 
Bedford did much towards making agricul- 
ture a popular pursuit. This was accom- 
plished by their festive gatherings at the 
Holkham and Woburn meetings. These 
animated and dscriptive gatherings -went far 
to enlighten the many visitors who assem- 
bled from distant counties. These, on re- 
turning home, propounded the advances that 
had been made, which ultimately resulted 
in the establishment of local societies for 
the exhibition of native produce, and the 
discussion of their future prospects. Then 
followed the suggestion that a National So- 
ciety should be formed, for the collection 
and display of the English breeds of live- 
stock in a prepared state for the shambles 
of the metropolitan purveyors. The re- 
sources of our English breeds of fat stock 
had not hitherto been developed; and it was 
suggested that such a gathering of business 
men and breeders at a national exhibition 
in London must be productive of good, and 
gradually lead to the diffusion of improved 
ideas amongst the general body of breeders 
and agriculturists. Then followed the es- 
tablishment of the Smithfield Club, in 
1798 — about sixty years ago. To show the 
early popularity of this new society, I may 



452 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[August 



mention that in 1800, his Majesty George 
III. was an exhibitor. In 1806 the Duke 
of York gained a prize, and of late years 
the Prince Consort has obtained many prizes 
with Devon cattle. Experiments in the 
qualities of vegetable food were instituted, 
and an exhibition of rude implements now 
formed an adjunct to the Club's display of 
fat animals. To this successful institution, 
English agriculture has been mainly indebt- 
ed. It promoted the gathering of influen- 
tial men, breeders of live-stock and others, 
who were eminent for their literary attain- 
ments; the one finding practical matter, and 
the other diffusing it to au advancing class 
of men; for the sons of agriculture had 
made a start. It is to this institution that 
we stand indebted for the parentage of the 
Royal Agricultural Society. The enrolment 
of this Society was first mooted at the Smith- 
field Club Dinner, on the 11th of Decem- 
ber, 1837. In this the late President of the 
Club (Earl Spencer), the late Henry Hand- 
ley, the late William Shaw (Editor of the 
Mark Lane Express), and the present Presi- 
dent, His Grace the Duke of Richmond, 
took the most prominent part. This society 
has now held its twentieth anniversary for 
the exhibition of our English breeds of live 
stock, has collected and tested thousands of 
implements, has published about forty jour- 
nals of English agriculture; and not only 
has it collected information, but it has been 
the source from which practical and scien- 
tific knowledge has been disseminated by 
every channel, through the length and 
breadth of the English counties. From the 
formation of this justly national society, 
English agriculture derives its modern type. 
Before this period of our history, who ever 
heard of a steam threshing machine, a reap- 
ing machine, or a steam plough ? How many 
parts of England had never seen specimens 
of our established herds and flocks? What 
breeders anticipated a foreign trade for their 
produce? Who had manured his lands with 
portable manures from a guano bag, the pro- 
duce of foreign birds? Who had thought of 
reducing a hard, bony substance to a soluble 
food for the immediate use of the root crops ? 
or, lastly, who had anticipated the publica- 
tion of such an agricultural work as the 
Journal of this society ? These are results, of 
which we as Englishmen have a right to be 
proud. But in the field of our progress we 
have had another hand-maid at work for us 
— I mean the press and agricultural litera- 



ture of the present day. Such men as the 
late Philip Pusey, Wm. Shaw, Loudon, Sir 
John Sebright, Bayldon, Youatt, Young, 
Marshall, did good service in this depart- 
ment. Amongst the other names familiar to 
our ear are those of Professor Liebig, Way, 
Nesbit, Voelcker, Lawes, Gilbert, Thos. 
Dyke Acland, Thompson, Johnson, Morton, 
&c. In former ages but few books were 
written upon agricultural subjects. The 
first " Farmer's Journal" was published in 
1808. This old and methodical paper, as- 
sisted by occasional agricultural pamphlets, 
formed the agricultural press and literature 
of the age. Such was the drug in the 
reading market, the distaste for new inroads, 
and the aversion to theorists, that this one 
journal had but a limited circulation. More- 
over, owing to the state of the roads in those 
days, and the lack of post-office facilities, it 
is doubtful if the farmer always obtained 
the journal when he expected it. I will not 
enumerate the periodicals and newspapers 
which are now circulated amongst the agri- 
cultural community, except by way of illus- 
tration. I would ask who in this room 
would now relinquish his paper? Who, in- 
deed, could keep pace with the progress of 
agriculture without the "Mark-lane Ex- 
press/' "Bell's Weekly Messenger," and other 
journals now directly devoted to the cause 
of agriculture? What member would now 
yield to the suppression of this club's monthly 
reports? On the contrary, are they not 
treasured up as records of passing events ? 
These are gratifying results; but how have 
they been brought about? True it is that 
the Smithfield Club and the Royal Agricul- 
tural Society have been mainly instrumental 
in the development of the art of agricul- 
ture ; but what could practically have been 
done without the aid of steam and railways? 
Steam and railways have conveyed our speci- 
mens of live stock and implements, our ex- 
hibitors, and also the inquiring public, to 
the national gatherings : they have conveyed 
our corn to market, and brought back port- 
able manures: they have deposited our sup- 
plies of fat cattle and sheep at the best 
markets, free from loss of weight, and have 
brought in return ready cash within a few 
hours. This is a mighty change from the 
old and dreary time, when animals walked 
slowly to market, wasting the food of the 
consumer and the profit of the grazier. These 
new aids shorten the space of time required 
for certain operations; produce certainty of 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



453 



of transit, and thus not only increase the 
food of the people, but materially aid in 
equalizing supplies and prices. In fact, if 
far removed from railways, we may be said 
to be deprived of the chief facility for our 
onward course; for they are daily spreading 
the intercourse between mind and mind, and 
are creating new markets and new demands 
for knowledge. With a view to illustration, 
if indeed it be wanting, I may mention the 
occasion of this evening's gathering. I 
have myself travelled 230 miles by railway 
to be present at this meeting. How many 
miles have the members of the club col- 
lectively travelled within a few hours? Even 
the thought of old " coaching days" makes 
one shiver. It may be interesting to mark 
the important progress in agricultural me- 
chanics as another branch of industry, called 
forth by, and ministering to progress in 
agriculture. In the time of the Romans, 
Pliny tells us, "the corn being spread over 
the area of a threshing floor (a circular space 
of from forty to fifty feet in diameter) in 
the open air, a foot or two thick, it was 
threshed or beaten out by the hoofs of cat- 
tle or horses driven round it, or by dragging a 
machine over it." Again, we are told by 
the same authority, "corn was cleansed or 
winnowed by throwing it from one part of 
the floor to the other." This ancient picture 
presents a marked contrast to our present 
practices of threshing, dressing, and sacking 
corn at one operation, and leaving it in a fit 
state for market. Indeed, it is to steam 
power that we are so much indebted for the 
magical progress that has been made ; and it 
is to steam power that we have yet to look 
for a much further development of the art 
of agriculture. Mr. Mechi has happily 
chosen this subject for a paper to be read at 
our next meeting, and I will not anticipate 
his remarks, which will no doubt be very 
interesting. In the early part of the 
present century, English agriculture had 
warm and justly-eminent patrons, and none 
more eminent or patriotic than the culti- 
vators of our established breeds of live 
stock. It is to such men as the late Earl 
Spencer, Lord Ducie, Bakewell, Quartly, 
Stubbins, Bennett, Buckley, Burgess, Ell- 
man, Chapman, Price, Booth, Whittakcr, 
and others, that we are indebted for the 
production of our best breeds of live stock. 
With a view to show how great is our debt 
of gratitude to these men, I may observe 
that our beautiful breeds of cattle, sheep, 



and horses, have alike been cultivated from 
indigenous animals. If we examine the 
history of the sheep, we shall find that he 
has ever been an inhabitant of every «lime, 
from Iceland to the regions of the torrid 
zone. Our English breeds were chiefly of 
a horned class; for instance, the Dorset, Ex- 
moor, Norfolk, Yorkshire, Wiltshire, Shrop- 
shire, Welsh, Scotch white face, and Scotch 
black face, all had horns. Several of these 
breeds, which inhabit the yet uncultivated 
wastes, still remain, and are designated 
"horned sheep." I have said that Britain, 
in the earliest periods of her history, re- 
sembled all other countries under similar 
circumstances. There was nothing but 
bleak hills, undrained plains, and wild com- 
mons ; but in the course of time, desolation 
gave way to husbandry, and with it came a 
corresponding improvement in our breeds of 
live stock. Thus it is that the old and un- 
profitable animals have given way or been 
transformed into the established breeds of 
the present day. We have had as an ele- 
ment those beautiful principles, which are 
laid down by Nature's laws, of the animal 
and vegetable kingdom to instruct us. These 
embrace a standard which man cannot alter; 
neither can he understand the object, with- 
out great scientific research and practical 
observation of the varied elements which 
compose the whole. It devolves, therefore, 
upon the husbandman to watch the laws of 
Nature, and to found his plans upon Nsture's 
dictates. The principles of these laws, 
worked out by proper rules, govern and di- 
rect the successful practice of the art of 
agriculture. I may best illustrate these re- 
marks by mentioning a few of the princi- 
ples recognized in our practice. First, there 
is the maxim that it is to the principle of 
steam that we must look for deep cultiva- 
tion. Warmth is one of Nature's laws: 
hence " the principle of warmth" is good: 
" warmth is an equivalent to food." Ani- 
mals consume or burn away carbon in their 
lungs, and waste heat. Vegetables store up 
the means of warmth. But every vegetable 
requires its own particular mineral food; and 
if this be deficient, the plant sickens. Vege- 
tables also need fresh air: they imbibe food 
by their leaves. Each vegetable has its own 
"heat mark," below which it stands still. 
The drier the soil in winter, the warmer. A 
rough surface causes heat to radiate, and 
therefore keeps down temperature; there- 
fore moisture is retained in summer by 



454 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[August 



roughening the surface of the land. And 
in mechanics there are certain laws as to the 
balance of action and reaction; as the re- 
lation between power used and space travel- 
led over and time consumed, the connection 
between speed and resistance or friction j 
from which laws there is no escape. We 
may sum up thus : Our Creator has given 
us nature to subdue. In the struggle with 
nature we learn our strength and our weak- 
ness. We find our strength increased by 
every effort; but the further we advance the 
more certainly do we know that there is 
something which cannot be done. In a 
word: the first condition for mastering 
nature in detail is to understand her general 
laws, and to submit to them. These laws 
then become living principles of science, 
and bear fruit in consistent practice. JFor- 
merly the handicraft of the husbandman 
was looked upon as the standard of success, 
without which he could not be classed as a 
"practical man." If he ventured to read 
or to act upon new designs, he was at once 
branded with the stigma of a doomed man. 
This state of things reminds me of an anec- 
dote. A certain farmer, in the good old 
days, decided upon giving up his farm to the 
elder son. To effect this it was thought 
best to see "The Lord" in person. Accord- 
ingly " father and son" set out for the " Hall." 
Then came the familiar story — * 

"The soil I now hold, on your honour's estate, 
Is the same that my grandfathers tilled." 

This over, it was found a good opportunity 
for reviewing the farm. The dialogue ran 
thus : " You see, my Lord, we have all 
ploughed the ' Barn Close' for years, until 
'tis tired out, worn out, and grassed o'er. 
We have been thinking, my Lord, that as 
we have all mowed the i top Woodfield' for 
years and years, and it grows nothing but 
weeds, your Lordship would let this ere boy 
of mine change the system a bit, so as to let 
the ' Barn Close' lay down, now it has grass- 
ed o'er, and plough up the ' top Woodfield' 
that won't grow grass." His Lordship, not 
quite seeing the drift of the argument, sum- 
moned his agent from " Chambers" to the 
country, who proceeded to view the fields ; 
subsequently agreeing that as the fields re- 
presented the story told, and the good old 
man could have no interest in placing his 
son in a false position, the change should be 
allowed. Tne ride was prolonged and all 
went well until the London agent dived into 



matters "purely agricultural," by remon- 
strating with the son as to his not taking 
" two white crops" in succession, saying this 
he could not allojr. The old boy at once 
came to the rescue, and quaintly replied, 
"Quite right, your honour, quite right; 
there's nothing like a change. It has always 
been our custom to sow wheat, and then 
black oats between it and the barley ; and I 
wish the boy to do the same." Whereupon 
the agent apologized, and agreed that the 
black oat crop between was an excellent 
thought, and evidently constituted what he 
had heard so much about, viz., " the alter- 
nate husbandry!" (laughter). Such was 
the state of things when the "handicraft" 
of the husbandman was looked upon as the 
only standard of success. Happily for the 
increasing population of the present day, 
this handicraft state of things is passing 
away, and we have in exchange not only the 
modern practices of the art, but the free 
discussion of all subjects which relate to 
the "progress of agriculture." More espe- 
cially is this the case at the Central Farm- 
ers' Club. In reviewing this auxiliary I 
feel bound to give praise where praise is 
due. The happy formation of this Club on 
the 28th June, 1843, at once announced a 
new era in the annals of our agriculture, 
inasmuch as our very excellent and intelli- 
gent friend, Mr. Baker, of Writtle, was in- 
vited at the outset to introduce the subject 
of "Artificial Manures," for the free dis- 
cussion of the members. Since that period 
this interesting topic has been discussed ten 
different times, and there have been up to 
this date no less than one hundred and ten 
subjects discussed by the members, each of 
them relating to agriculture. The question 
of "Tenant Right" has been before the 
members ten times. The agricultural la- 
bourer and his education seven times ; and 
draining and root crops five times each. The 
important subjects of geology, diseases of 
cattle, agricultural statistics, agricultural ma- 
chinery, waste lands, food of cattle, farm 
leases, sewage manures, the breaking-up of 
grass land, carts and waggons, deep cultiva- 
tion, the influence of science, the rotation 
of crops, weights and measures, allotment 
system, and the education of the farmer's 
son, have also shared the attention of the 
Club. This is a result which may be writ- 
ten upon the broad pages of our history, in 
the book of agricultural progress. Well 
may it be asked, " What should we now do 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



455 



without this Club J" What would the five 
hundred members think if their Bridge- 
street sessions were terminated, and the Club 
disbanded? Let us rejoice that "union is 
strength ;" let each contribute to the cause 
by introducing new members — only one — 
and our strength will be increased twofold. 
I have noticed that this Club has now dis- 
cussed some hundred and ten subjects re- 
lating to English agriculture, none of which 
have convinced me so much of our growing 
position as the one recently introduced by 
Mr. Bond, upon education. That gentle- 
man has well reminded us of the necessity 
of keeping pace with the times; and that 
it is to man's mental powers that we have 
to look for the future advancement of agri- 
culture. The sons of agriculture must have 
an improved education, an education that 
will now grapple with advancing science. 
Formerly the mere routine practices of the 
year were sufficient to make a farmer's son 
a "practical man/' and the country school- 
master was an ample teacher for the age. 
But now, thanks to advanced education and 
scientific men, we live in an age of progress, 
and have yet a new era before us. And if 
this be a truism, then I may ask, who shall 
hold his own without steadily embracing the 
improved facilities for education that are 
daily being opened up ? The great point to 
be kept in view in the farmer's education is 
not to cram knowledge into the boy's head, 
but how to give him a good strong head; 
and I must add also, how T to keep his heart 
warm. It is true that a great deal of scien- 
tific knowledge is required for a perfect 
theory of agriculture. But is it necessary 
for perfect practice ? Is scientific training 
in early years the best means of preparing 
the man for the exercise of sound judgment? 
A perfect mastery of our own noble lan- 
guage is essential to express our own ideas 
clearly, and to understand those of others. 
It is generally understood that the best way 
to acquire a knowledge of our mother-tongue 
is to learn another language, ancient or 
modern. The great principles of mathemati- 
cal knowledge lie at the root of all sound 
mechanics, and prepare the mind for accu- 
rate calculation, for winnowing out the real 
point at issue, and blowing away the chaff. 
I have it on the authority of a schoolmaster, 
whose success in recent examinations is well 
known, that such an education as I have 
referred to is appreciated by no class more 
decidedly than by the leading yeomanry. I 



may also call the attention of this Club to 
the fact that one of the first steps towards 
the improvement of the general education 
of England was taken at the council of an 
agricultural society, and is recorded in the 
filth vol., page 431, of the Bath and West 
of England Society's Journal, to this effect: 
At a meeting of the Council, held at Taun- 
ton on the 28th of March, 1857, it was re- 
solved unanimously, " That the Council fully 
assent to the opinion that skill in business 
generally is best acquired by practice, and 
that the best preparation for practical life 
is a good general education; that the co- 
operation of some independent examiners, 
with a local committee, appears well calcu- 
lated to secure confidence in the results of 
the examinations." On these two resolu- 
tions were founded the measures for univer- 
sity local examinations now adopted in til 
parts of England. The spirit of commerce 
or gain urged men to an examination of 
substances which by their application will 
enable the farmer to raise larger crops, and 
continue their culture, without exhausting 
the soil to the prejudice of succeeding ones. 
This search for extraneous matters seems to 
have been pursued as an art, for science at 
the time had not extended her researches in 
this direction; though as early as about 1600 
many substances now used as manure were 
mentioned as enriching the ground, to wit, 
the dung of oxen, sheep, or pigeon ; sea- 
kelp, see-tangle, and other sea-weeds, for 
arable and pasture land ; and the dregs of 
beer and ale, brine of the strength of 1 of 
salt to 18 or 20 of water, the soot of chim- 
neys, and the refuse from the refining of 
petre. Shavings of horn are mentioned as 
making productive a most unfruitful plot of 
ground ; as also waste soap-ashes, malt-dust, 
and oat-husks. We may remark that Virgil 
even says he has seen husbandmen wet their 
seed with nitre and the lees of oil, that the 
grain might be larger. Gypsum was used 
as manure in 1770, and crushed bones in 
1775. Now, in the foregoing we recognize 
many of our manuring principles ; but these 
were not generally known and used, or, 
when used, they were only applied as specific 
substances without any but fanciful ideas 
respecting their mode of fertilizing, and 
their use was therefore empirical. It was 
reserved for the science of chemistry to point 
out the connection between these fertilizers 
and their produce, to discern the presence 
in the two of certain elements which were 



456 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[August 



the true cause of their manuring qualities, 
and thence to teach us that wherever the 
same principles could be found we might 
rely upon a similarly happy result from their 
employment. In 1790 a professorship of 
agriculture was founded at Edinburgh, the 
Highland Society having been instituted in 
1784. The Board of Agriculture was es- 
tablished in 1794. The Royal Agricultural 
Society was instituted in 1838. A profes- 
sorship of agriculture was founded at Oxford 
in 1840. In 1840 the College of Chemistry 
and Agriculture was founded at Kennington 
by Messrs. Nesbit. In the laboratories of 
this establishment these sciences, with geo- 
logy and botany, have been illustrated, and 
their application has been set forth by Mr. 
Nesbit's lectures and publications. In 1842 
a college was founded at Cirencester, which 
received a charter under the name of the 
Royal Agricultural College, to which Pro- 
fessor Way, and afterwards Professor Voelc- 
ker, were attached; and there also the ap- 
plication of the sciences to agriculture has 
been taught. To Sir Humphrey Davy agri- 
cultural chemistry is much indebted, from 
whose time till that of Liebig no chemist 
applied himself to the application of chemi- 
cal principles to the growth of vegetables 
and to organic processes. Liebig gave the 
greatest scientific stimulus to agriculture by 
suggesting the use of vitrol or other acids 
to render the phosphates soluble, and there- 
fore more quickly available for the nourish- 
ment of the plant, which result was imme- 
diately acknowledged from its first trials in 
1840 and 1841 j the effect of this solubility 
being to bring the turnip quickly past the 
fly. About 1840 guano was first introduced 
into England. It has, undoubtedly, been a 
great boon to agriculturists ; for, besides a 
large amount of nitrogen (the active princi- 
ple of horn, soot, and other ammoniacal ma- 
nures,) it contains phosphate of lime, a ma- 
nuring principle of bones, some being in a 
soluble state, and having therefore the pro- 
perties of dissolved phosphates. Coprolites 
were discovered to be manure about the same 
time (that is, about 1840); and, though 
their phosphate of lime is in a condition 
unadapted for solution by natural causes, 
by reducing them to a fine powder and treat- 
ment with acid it is dissolved. Thus we 
have opened up to us an amount of mineral 
manure of vast extent, the discovery of 
which has, happily, been simultaneous with 
that of a process necessary for its proper 



utilization. It is to deeper cultivation and 
the improvement of our waste lands that we 
have now to look for the extension of our 
acreage produce. The earliest records of 
substantial enclosures date from the earliest 
period of the reign of George the Third, in 
1760. The passing of more than three 
thousand bills of enclosure in a reign of 
sixty years is a proof how rapidly the culti- 
vation of new land proceeded in that pe- 
riod ; and, while the rent-roll of proprietors 
has been doubled, tripled, and quadrupled 
by this cause,* the condition of the tenantry 
and of the labouring classes has been ame- 
liorated in a proportionate degree. England 
exported corn up to the end of the eigh- 
teenth century; but this period was about 
the turning-point — a sort of pivot-period, 
when exports and imports nearly balanced 
each other. The enclosure of land now be- 
gins to mark the consumption of a gradually- 
increasing population and trade. A com- 
mittee of the House of Commons, which set 
in 1797, computed the total quantity of land 
enclosed during that century at about four 
millions of Acres. We have in " Spack- 
man's Analysis of the Occupations of the 
People" a complete record of the progress 
of inclosure from the commencement of the 
present century to the year 1840, viz. — 

From 1800 to 1810 1,657,980 acres 

From 1810 to 1820 1,410,930 " 



Total 3,068,910 " 

Thus, during the first twenty years, the in- 
closures amounted to upwards of three mil- 
lions of acres. But while these twenty 
years present to our view the .phenomenon 
of immense inclosure, it must be stated 
that this took place under the stimulant of 
the highest range of prices for food ever 
known, except in cases of famine. At the 
close of the war in 1815, the average price 
of wheat had been during the preceding 
fifteen years 84s. 9d. per quarter, and dur- 
ing the succeeding five years it was 78s. 4d. 
From 1820 the whole scene changed, and 
the most trying period commenced, the 
causes of which are now apparent. Three 
million acres of moderate land had been 
taken in hand, and a metallic currency was 
resorted to. The inclosure from the year 
1820 to 1830 only reached 340,380 acres, 
thus gradually bringing round the natural 
remedy for the over doses of inclosure which 
the war had prescribed. From 1830 to 
1840 only 236,070 acres were inclosed, 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



457 



showing that supply and demand had not 
yet righted themselves. Thus during the 
forty years we have an addition of three 
and a-half millions of acres to the cultivated 
fends, against an in ci ease of upwards of 
8,000,000 in the population. By the census 
of 1801 the population of Great Britain was 
shown to be 10,472,048 j in the year 1841 
it had increased to 18,664,761. Spackman 
then tells us that in the year 1800 we had 
under cultivation 42,000,000 of acres, which 
produced food for ten and a-h^f millions of 
people. The General Inclosure Act was 
passed in 1835. The fourteenth report, 
which has just been presented to parlia- 
ment, gives the following figures — 

Applications for inclosures since the pas- 
sing of the act 809 

Exchanges 1,697 

Partitions, &c 161 

Total 2,667 

Of this number 316 have taken place in the last 
year. 

Acreage of inclosures confirmed. . 281,949 
Ditto ditto in progress. 208,687 

Total 490,636 

Or in round numbers half a million of acres. 
These returns embrace a period of five years, 
which were included in the last decennial 
period from 1830 to 1840, but I have no 
power of separating them. It is estimated 
that there are still 15,000,000 acres of waste 
lands capable of improvement, 6,000,000 of 
which would make arable land, and the re- 
mainder improved pasture; but as the high 
prices from 1800 to 1820 caused the inclo- 
sure of land to an extent never equalled, so 
in the proportion to the decline in prices, 
inclosure has also declined. Still, applica- 
tions for assistance to drain and improve 
waste land continue to be made ; and the 
English yeoman will, as he ever has done, 
adopt whatever improvements can be sug- 
gested by experience, as rent-paying prac- 
tices. A national report of the waste lands 
of England and theircapabilities would be 
an interesting and valuable document at this 
stage of our progress. Be it remembered 
that our population is increasing beyond a 
thousand per day, while the acreage of our 
island remains the same ; and that there is 
a certain limit to the high farming of richly- 
cultivated lands. — Amongst the many and 
varied practices that have aided the pro- 
gress of agriculture may be mentioned the 



practical results of chemistry and artificial 
manures. These have enabled the farmer 
to quadruple his green crops, to place the 
right manure in the right place, and to 
economize the cost of production. The art 
of draining is another marked improvement 
of the age, which dates its further develop- 
ment from the " Government loans" for this 
purpose, which loans were the result of early 
private practice, acting- on public opinion. 
The improvement in draining-tools and in 
draining-tiles has contributed to the success 
that has been attained, and is rapidly pro- 
gressing ; for without this auxiliary, upon 
certain soils cultivation is simply useless. 
The growing knowledge of atmospheric in- 
fluences has had its share in the work, and 
gone far to arouse the dormant intellect 
upon points relating to geographical posi- 
tion, the geography of plants, the influence 
of light and heat, seasons, winds, &c. The 
enclosing and improvement of waste land 
has also formed a prominent feature; and 
the improvement of local and farm roads is 
a link in the chain of progress. The atten- 
tion which has been directed to the educa- 
tion of the labouring classes, the improve- 
ment of their cottages, and the allotment 
system has not been without effect, each of 
these being an evident requirement for the 
improved class of men who are daily being 
called into request to perform the altered 
cultivation upon the farm. In effect the 
occupation of the man who thrashed the 
barn-floor for the natural term of the winter 
months, is gone. His son succeeds him as 
an engineer, or the director of a steam-en- 
gine ! The improvement in farm buildings 
is another requisite for the time, and has 
been liberally carried out for enterprising 
tenants. The " rotation of crops" has of 
necessity received much attention, alike in 
the field, in the laboratory, and in the dis- 
cussions of this duly The practical issue 
is this : the four-coA*se shift was invented 
and adopted for the purpose of improving 
the land ; this has been done to a heavy 
amount, and it now requires correction, by 
the introduction of another corn crop, ex- 
tending the four to a five-field course. The 
Scotch system is that of the six-field course — 
roots, white straw crop, seeds, white crop, 
beans, and white crop. The extension of 
root and other green crops since the intro- 
duction of artificial manures has contributed 
to the increase and excellence of our live 
stock, in a truly marvellous degree — a profit- 



458 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[August 



able result. Agricultural statistics have been 
the subject of many attempts; but although 
we have had many interesting statements 
with regard to agricultural produce, the 
movement has not been received very gra- 
ciously. Time alone can show how far an 
altered taste may lead to different results in 
future years. — Irrigation is a practice which, 
although chiefly confined to the western 
counties, has deserved well of the farmer. 
It has done its part in the production of 
green food in early spring, and abundance 
of hay at shear time, at a nominal outlay. 
This practice is well worthy the attention of 
proprietors and tenants of hilly districts, 
u where the plough cannot penetrate," but 
"the rippling stream can flow." At the re- 
quest of Mr. T. Dyke Acland, a paper " On 
Water Meadows as suitable for Wales and 
other mountain districts" was prepared by 
Mr. T. Barker, of Pusey (agent on the Pu- 
sey Estates), for the last Journal of the 
Bath and West of England Society. I 
mention this because the paper is not only 
well worthy the attention of all "hill farm- 
ers," but is about to be reprinted for gene- 
ral use, especially for the principality of 
Wales and the Westmoreland Lake districts. 
The grass lands of England have also re- 
ceived some attention of late, but by no 
means in an even ratio with the favoured 
arable lands. There is indeed, a nice point 
of distinction to be drawn on this head. 
Can we improve moderate grass land by 
top-dressing to a profit? or are they such 
as would pay best for cultivation? Local 
circumstances can alone decide, climate be- 
ing the ruling power. As regards the te- 
nure of land, the question of an equitable 
arrangement for ensuring good cultivation 
versus loss of time and capital, when tenants 
are changing farms, has been freely and 
fully discussed of late, and discussion is 
happily resulting in a -better understanding 
of the necessity for an arrangement. Pro- 
gress will effect much in this way ; and al- 
though we may be met in the outset by op- 
position and by surprise that there should 
be such a term as " tenant right," equity 
and improved culture will ultimately be- 
come the universal practice. In fact, the 
principle is being acted upon in present let- 
tings, to a considerable extent. The sub- 
ject of " agricultural customs and cove- 
nants" has been fully before the council of 
the Bath and West of England Society, 
and the result will shortly appear in the So- 



ciety's forthcoming Journal. Deep culture 
by the aid of steam-power is yet in its in- 
fancy ; but, as a consequence of progressive 
art, it will ultimately do much for agricul- 
ture, by deepening the tillage earth of count- 
less acres which cannot be profitably moved 
by any other power. This leads me to the 
remark that there is yet wanting a better 
comparative knowledge of the several pow- 
ers engaged in agriculture, such as steam, 
horse, water, and manual power. On the 
subject of ^orse power," we have an ex- 
cellent report in the last Journal of the 
Royal Agricultural Society, by Mr. Morton. 
It should be well read, and weighed against 
the present papers that are being daily writ- 
ten upon steam-power, lest our zeal for 
" things new" should carry us out of our 
depth — or we might say below our depth. 
As regards manual labour, we are daily see- 
ing it supplanted by mechanical aid. From 
my present acquaintance with water power 
in a hilly country, T can strongly recom- 
mend it to all who have the power of water 
within reach of the farmstead. The enorm- 
ous additional weight of green food that 
has been produced of late has rendered 
practicable the maintenance of larger herds 
of cattle, increased flocks of sheep, &c, and 
thus supplied an additional weight of ani- 
mal food for the growing wants of the 
people, and the increasing foreign trade in 
English animals; while the fact that the 
price of meat keeps up, while corn has fal- 
len, has happily falsified some doleful fore- 
bodings. The practical value of these in- 
creased products is best illustrated by a quo- 
tation from Mr. Middleton's work. He ob- 
serves, * that every acre would support its 
man, on vegetable food ;" but, says he, " only 
let him change his diet to one meal per day 
of animal food, and he will require the pro- 
duce of four acres." In connection with 
root crops may be mentioned the intrinsic 
value of mangoldwurtzel. It is being cul- 
tivated to an enormous extent, and has hap- 
pily come to the rescue of many a farm 
where the Swedish t^-nip has become less 
hardy than in former years, or, more pro- 
perly speaking, less inclined to flourish on 
the same soil, once in four years, under the 
four-course system of husbandry. Autumnal 
culture has stood the test of experience, and 
remains as a valuable saving in the cost of 
clean farming ; but as respects light lands, 
the practice is yet a doubtful one. This 
class of remarks might be carried on for an 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



459 



hour : there are indeed so many plans for 
every branch of our art, that I had better 
conclude by referring members to the pages 
of the Royal Agricultural Society's Jour- 
nal, and those of the Bath and West of 
England Society's Journal, as records of all 
that is good and worth recording. The ex- 
tension of commerce and manufactures has 
proved a valuable adjunct to the increase 
and consumption of agricultural produce. 
More raw materials, as flax, wool, &c, are 
required, manures from foreign lands are 
exchanged for goods, and we must not omit 
the precious metal, and its abundance to 
this country, whereby all things agricultural 
have shared in the golden harvest so un- 
expectedly supplied. The ultimate results 
of the gold discoveries it would be unsafe 
to predict ; suffice it to say that the effects 
of the increase of gold require the serious 
forethought of the statesman. Amongst the 
facilities that have recently been afforded to 
agriculture, we may mention the Government 
Drainage Act, the Inclosure Act, the New 
Poor Law Act, and the Tithe Commutation 
Act. The advantag*es afforded by the Fire 
Insurance offices, the Drainage, Building, 
Hail, and Cattle Insurance offices, have each 
in their way helped along the well-being of 
those that are prominently interested in 
them. — Thus far, I have given a glowing 
account of the ''progress of agriculture" 
from the early ages to the present time. But 
what shall I say of our disappointment and 
misfortunes? We have, in truth, had our 
vicissitudes and losses by the diseases of 
our live stock, wet harvests, failure in our 
root crops, and low prices for our cereal pro- 
duce, while the cost of manual labour has 
(from various causes) increased. Again, it 
must be mentioned that the English farmer 
has to depend upon his own exertions, and 
canno* look to Government grants or Gov- 
ernment assistance. He has no statistics or 
history of his art ; he has no adjustment of 
his weights or measures, no board of agri- 
culture, no minister or representative in the 
State. But yet he has held his ground, and 
continues to feed the people. The future of 
our agriculture is full of interest. There 
are subjects before us well worthy of con- 
sideration. Amongst them is a growing de- 
sire to treat agricultural pursuits upon " com- 
mercial principles." From this cause the 
occupation will become commercial, small 
farms will have to succumb to large ones, 
talent and capital will reap their reward ; 



education will progress, the tenure of land 
and security for unexhausted improvements 
will become matters of fact, as commercial 
transaction. The project of steam-power has 
been boldly launched, and the ingenuity of 
man is now at work to adapt it for general 
employment; but this is yet a venture, and 
has an eminence to surmount that will re- 
quire the talent of an age. The Royal and 
West of England Agricultural Societies 
have each offered a liberal prize for an Es- 
say " on Steam Cultivation. These prizes 
may bring out an amount of talent that may 
aid the movement ; but the " plant" as yet 
produced is far too costly for general adop- 
tion. There is yet considerable room for 
perfecting our breeds of live stock, that they 
may become more generally developed in 
" every district, and the right animals be 
cultivated in the right place." The economi- 
cal consumption of their food, early maturity, 
and a better knowledge of their diseases, 
are alike essential to our future good. The 
extension of draining is another very im- 
portant element; and it would be well if 
the Government grants were extended upon 
a liberal basis. The waste lands of England 
are again waiting for improvement, and offer 
an inviting field for enterprise in juxtaposi- 
tion to that of emigration to "a land we 
know not of." Artificial manures are yet in 
their infancy; it being no uncommon thing 
to realize and consume a crop of roots be- 
fore they are paid for, thus commercially- 
improving the farm by manures and sheep 
to the full benefit of every one, at little cost 
to the farmer. The improvement of grass- 
land is indeed a national subject, and must fol- 
low the advances of the arable lands. A se- 
ries of experiments upon grass-lands, con- 
ducted under the management of an agri- 
cultural society, would elicit much practical 
information as to the results of different ma- 
nures, the soil and situation being well con- 
sidered. Amongst other public questions, 
there yetremainsfor consideration an adjust- 
ment of the " weights and measures" by 
which agricultural produce is sold ; the es- 
tablishment of a better system of taking the 
corn averages; a reconsideration of the malt 
tax, agricultural statistics, the adjustment of 
the game laws, so as to substitute " winged 
game" for the four-footed trespassers; abet- 
ter understanding of the law of " customs 
and covenants," as regards the quitting of 
a farm ; an extension of the Government 
draining loan ; and lastly, the preparation 



460 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[August 



of a new and complete " Ordnance map," 
upon a large and comprehensive scale, under 
the direction of the Government (cheers.) 



From the British Farmers' Magazine. 

London, or Central Farmers' Club. 

EDUCATION AND DISCIPLINE OF THE 
YOUNG FARMER. 

The Monthly Meeting of the Club took 
place on Monday evening, March 7, at the 
Club-house, Blackfriars. 

Mr. Trethewy, in the absence of Mr. 
John Thomas, the President of the year, 
was called to the chair. 

The subject for discussion — introduced 
by Mr. R. Bond, of Kentwell, Long Mel- 
ford, Suffolk — was, "The education, dis- 
cipline, and introduction of the young far- 
mer to life." 

Mr. Bond said : Mr. Chairman and Gen- 
tlemen, we have this evening to consider 
and discuss an unusually important subject ; 
and it will be well for us to bear in mind, 
that we have not simply to determine a 
mere material question, embracing the cost 
of agricultural production, or the increase 
of our pecuniary gains ; but we have this 
evening to dwell upon the culture of mind, 
not matter — of man, not material. We 
have this evening to dwell upon the culti- 
vation of the cultivator of the soil himself; 
and much may fall from our lips which 
may tend not only to form a character and 
fix a future ; but I admit it will be a matter 
of regret with me if we do not succeed in 
propounding and moulding the formation 
of a system which shall be calculated to 
meet the increased educational require- 
ments of the age — a system which shall 
ultimately be instituted to exalt the intel- 
lectual standard of the agricultural char- 
acter, and which shall be destined to in- 
crease the mental, moral, and physical 
greatness of Old England. You will plain- 
ly perceive, gentlemen, upon the question 
of agricultural education, I am an advocate 
for action and co-operation ; and I am ex- 
tremely desirous to see the Central London 
Farmers' Club occupying the proud position 
of a pioneer, practically, in every agricultural 
movement of desirable progress and un- 
doubted usefulness, and I trust, in this in- 
stance, we shall this evening not only con- 
sider wisely, and discuss fully and freely, 
but that we shall resolve, prudently and 



firmly, to carry out to a successful is- 
sue some desirable agricultural educational 
movement. In this age of change, pro- 
gress, and improvement, no change has 
been more marked and decided than the 
altered position of our British agriculture 
within the past fifty years. Not half 
a century since, and the agricultural art 
was comparatively pure empiricism ; it 
was practiced without science, practiced 
without the light of reason ; and the stan- 
dard of agricultural intellectual attainment 
was necessarily low and meagre. Agricul- 
ture, as a purely imitative art, required no 
depth of knowledge even in its best quali- 
fied professors. There was nothing in a 
simple course of routine to tax the mental 
powers. But within the present century 
how marked the change ! We have now 
the widest field and the most extended 
scope for intellectual exertion; we have 
now the whole of Nature's laws opened up 
for our investigation and research. There 
is scarce a science but bears directly or in- 
directly upon the art by which we live ; 
and for a rational fulfilment and a thorough 
comprehension of agricultural practice, I 
know of no business or profession at the 
present day requiring a deeper knowledge 
or a higher degree of intellectual attain- 
ment. Agriculture is no longer a mere 
blind question of plowing and sowing ; but 
agriculturists now require to understand the 
object, reason, and result of every mechan- 
ical operation. They require to know why 
plowing benefits the land; why draining 
answers ; what the plant derives from the 
soil, what from the air ; why one manure 
as applied to the soil answers, why another 
fails to answer ; how light and heat affect 
the plant; how they influence the crop; 
why the animal thrives well upon one kind 
of food and not upon another — to say noth- 
ing of the structure of the plant, the anat- 
omy of the animal, the construction of ma- 
chinery, aud many other subjects requiring 
the greatest mental application to qualify 
any man to ' comprehend the intricacies of 
Nature's laws and the complications of Na- 
ture's operations, which it is the farmer's 
greatest success to subscribe to, to foster, 
and promote. With such a flood of light 
and scientific knowledge as the past fifty 
years have produced, has the agricultural 
educational system or the educational stan- 
dard of instruction kept pace ? We have 
this evening to express our opinion, and we 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



461 



have to pronounce our verdict upon the 
fitness or unfitness of our, present system of 
education to the altered and elevated po- 
sition of British agriculture. It is neces- 
sary upon this subject we should speak out; 
and allow me to propound the question — 
Are the youths and young men of the ris- 
ing generation so educated upon the best 
principles of instruction that they are 
thereby best fitted to cope with their future 
position ? Are they so educated in the 
knowledge essential to their calling, that 
they will prove equal to the requirements 
of their business ? Are they so educated, 
that they are thereby fitted in intellectual 
attainments to the altered and scientific 
standards of their profession ? Will they 
prove thorough men of business, thorough 
in knowledge, thorough in judgment, and 
successful in practice — really thinking men ? 
Or will the result disclose the fact that 
there is rottenness at the core of our ex- 
isting system of education and discipline ? 
I know, well, such questions as the fore- 
going may be met w r ith the conservative 
plea that we have done well enough in the 
past. In such an opinion I fully agree. 
Without much education the farmers of 
England have cultured England to a degree 
of perfection unknown beyond her shores ; 
without severe educational training, we 
have succeeded in beating the world in ag- 
ricultural productions ; without a deep 
knowledge of science, we have practically 
solved the most scientific problems ; and, 
till recently, science has rather followed in 
our rear than advanced as our vanguard. 
But because we have succeeded practically, 
and that most successfully, shall we reject 
a proffered aid ? Shall we reject the help- 
ing hand of a helping handmaid ? Shall 
we, who have practically preceded science, 
close our minds to the enlightening truths 
of science ? Shall we, who deal in the cul- 
ture of Nature's products, close our eyes 
to the revelations and explanations of Na- 
ture's laws ? Shall we blindly continue in 
empiricism, when reason waits to reveal 
the rationale of every operation ? Can we 
afford to reject such knowledge for the 
rising generation of England ? for those 
who will quickly occupy our positions, who 
will have to uphold the honour of Eng- 
land's agriculture in a world-wide race — 
against some odds — in a world-wide com- 
petition ? Will they not need the stimu- 
lant and assistance of every adventitious 



aid ? ' I am well aware it may be said that 
the best-educated are not always the best 
farmers or the best men of business. 
This is perfectly true. I know of men 
whose school-history is a farce, and their 
educational chance was at best but a poor 
one. I know of such agriculturists ; yet 
those very men are possessed of such sound 
common sense, of such caution and pru- 
dence in the affairs of life, of such clear 
observation and shrewd reflection, of such 
prompt and defined judgment, that in any 
age they must be noted as men of no common 
mould : but let it be remembered, that 
facts and information are the basis of their 
correct reasoning, of all correct reasoning, 
of all soundness of judgment; and a greater 
knowledge, in their case, of Nature's 
truths, would but have made them more 
powerful men in Nature's laws, and in the 
practical operations of every-day agricul- 
ture. Such men, with a storing of scien- 
tific facts, would but have been more prom- 
inently the pioneers of progress ; and 
though I condemn the nonsense that a man 
cannot farm without a knowledge of the 
sciences, yet I broadly propound the fact 
that the truths of science, especially in our 
own heads and hands, are admirably calcu- 
lated to introduce us to more paying pro- 
cesses, and to insure to us increased pecu- 
niary returns. I am not ignorant of the 
marked improvement which has character- 
ized the agriculturist of the present age : 
I believe no section of society has more 
advanced in intelligence, knowledge, and 
position. Capitalists and capital have re- 
duced the small holdings, banished the old 
feudal system of favouritism in business, 
and supplanted a degrading subserviency 
by an exalting respect. Men are now rare 
who are agricultural bores or inveterate 
grumblers ; and though there is still the 
disposition in society to assume the fact that 
the agriculturist, however unlimited his 
capital or his ability, has no right to a po- 
sition in society, or to the modern refine- 
ments and amusements of life, yet England 
can boast of sons of the soil, high in intel- 
ligence, exalted in principle, and thorough 
in business — men of whom even England 
may justly be proud ; yet, notwithstanding 
this vast social and intellectual improve- 
ment, when I view the relative positions of 
the sciences bearing on agriculture, and 
the scientific culture of the agriculturist, I 
can plainly perceive a vast distance of 



462 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[August 



space. Scientific truth is far a-head. In- 
dividually I feel it. Thanks to the revela- 
tions of our Liebig, Lawes, Gilbert, Play- 
fair, Way, Ncsbit, Voelcker, Johnson, and 
others, that science is not in advance of 
our practice; but science is infinitely in 
advance of ourselves — she has much to 
suggest to us, much to tell us, much of 
which we cannot afford to be ignorant, and 
all of which the rising generation ought 
to know, ought to aspire to, must acquire ; 
that, as agriculturists, they may base their 
reasoning on correct data, and improve by 
their reflection and research the agricultural 
practice of the kingdom. The British 
yeoman has been always noted for that 
sound common sense, which, though no 
science, is fairly worth the seven — a com- 
mon-sense, which could neither be won by 
a fallacy, nor be deluded by a delusive 
theory. Profit has justly been his badge 
of disciplineship ; but it is necessary now to 
combine, in the same person common-sense 
with agricultural science; it is necessary 
that the future and rising generations of 
farmers should possess the highest intel- 
lectual attainments, and I believe it requires 
a severe discipline of study to master the 
intricacies of scientific agriculture, and a 
rare combination of powers correctly to car- 
ry out the principles involved in the most 
successful practical issue. I advocate a 
thorough proficiency in the sciences, be- 
cause I believe such knowledge is admira- 
bly calculated to increase the pleasure and 
profit of farming ; I believe it is the pre- 
cise knowledge necessary to prevent mis- 
taken outlays and wrong applications ; to 
insure the placing of the right manure in 
the right place, the giving the right food 
to the right animal, and the doing the right 
thing in the right way ; to lessen the cost 
of production and to increase the annual 
returns ; to win more fully the prize we 
all have in view, viz., mone^, or money's 
worth — to secure by scientific culture a 
secular success. I will now enter upon the 
question of education, and I purpose to con- 
sider the necessary changes in the course 
of study to be pursued, and the system of 
education necessary, in the agricultural 
schools of England. What then is our ob- 
ject in education ? It is to draw out the 
latent powers of youth; to culture for the 
future as well as for time; to discipline 
the heart as well as to inform the intellect ; 
to make happy men, respected men, men 



beloved by their fellow-men, and to insure 
success in life ? Let it be remembered that 
education is not a A mere matter of school- 
masters and of school discipline; parents 
cannot, in reality, delegate their responsi- 
bilities. Rely upon it, education commen- 
ces at a much earlier stage than we 
commonly recognize ; and from whom the 
child learns his mother-tongue, from the 
same does he imbibe his principles. We 
speak of breeding and blood, as if heredi- 
tary likeness arose from the simple fact of 
parentage; depend upon it, the force of 
imitation, and the power of influence and 
example have more to do in the formation 
of a character than the power of descent. 
We who are accustomed to the maxims of 
breeding admit, as a fact, that much size 
goes in at the mouth — that the quantity 
and quality of the food govern the physical 
development of the animal ; and rely upon 
it, the mental inclination and the disposition- 
al development of the child are governed 
more by those quick and early inlets to the 
soul — the eye and the ear — by the influ- 
ence of those around them, than by any 
inert inborn principle. We are daily be- 
coming more alive to this fact in the care- 
ful selection of servants, and in the choice 
of playmates and companions ; and I enter 
into this digression to show that the boy 
may have received a wrong impression long 
before reaching the hands of the school- 
master, and the tutor has probably to deal 
with a spoilt child, instead of a promising, 
well-cultured, well-trained boy; the twig 
has received the wrong twist, and to rectify 
the past, to antidote past poison, to regain 
wasted opportunities, and, at the last, to 
stand well in the race with so unpromising 
a colt, is more than we have a right to ex- 
pect; and I here express my conviction 
that more than half the failures and sorrows 
of life are traceable to the want of the 
proper fulfilment of parental discipline, ex- 
tending from childhood to the age of twen- 
ty-one years. I am a great advocate for the 
culture of the heart as well as the culture 
of the head ; no man is truly a man with- 
out it ; and it is especially the duty of pa- 
rents early to implant, to foster, and to up- 
hold sound Christian principle ; to culture 
in acts of reverence, in feelings of love 
and affection, and in deeds of unselfish 
kindness; to insist on obedience and truth- 
fulness. And it has been my observation 
that without this Christian security the 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



463 



most successful secular life is at best but a f 
mistake, and the most hopeful intellectual 
attainments a comparative abortion. There 
must be the ballast of sound principle, or 
right feeling, and right doiog, as well as the 
sail or the steam-power of ability. Edu- 
cation cannot be purely secular to be suc- 
cessful ; and though my observations on 
this point may appear beyond the mark, 
yet 1 plainly assert that no education is 
perfect, no prosperity sure, no happiness 
complete, which is not based on Christian 
principle. I have informed myself, by an 
extensive correspondence, upon the course 
of agricultural study generally pursued 
throughout the kingdom. In the Colleges, 
such as Cirencester, Kensington, and Queen- 
wood, the whole course of study is enlight- 
ened, suitable, and satisfactory. In the 
local schools, generally, the sciences are 
much neglected ; in more than one-half of 
the prospectuses received from such schools 
the sciences are not even mentioned, and in 
many, where alluded to, it is a foot-note, to 
state — " taught if required." Now, it is 
not the fault of the school-master that this 
is the case : it is for us, as agriculturists, 
to make up our minds, to have clear views 
upon this point, and to express our wishes. 
It is for us to say whether these things 
ought thus to be. I observe there is the 
same dunniug at Latin and Greek as when 
I was a school-boy, and I dare say there is 
the same plausible reason given for the con- 
tinuance of the system, viz., discipline. 
Now there is no one a greater advocate for 
mental discipline than myself, but why the 
dead languages are so infinitely superior in 
their influence I cannot for the life of me 
conceive. To me it appears such studies 
may make boys word-searching mental-mem- 
ory machines ; but what is there to excite 
the observation, to induce inquiry, to lead 
to reflection and real thought ? Now, 
where the dead languages so essentially 
fail, the sciences so eminently succeed. 
The sciences dwell upon subjects of real 
utility — subjects which meet us at every 
turn j and such subjects of e very-day life 
are ever suggesting consideration and re- 
search. They constantly interest the boy, 
and teach him to use both his perceptive 
and reflective faculties. The boy sees a 
plant, and contemplates its construction ; he 
thinks over the process of vegetation, the 
works of the roots and rootlets, the ascen- 
sion of thg sap, the functions of the leaves, 



and the whole busy process of accelerated 
nature most actively working to manufac- 
ture food for man. lie sees a steam-engine, 
and at once examines its manufacture ; he 
understands its mechanism, and contem- 
plates the possibility of some mechanical 
improvement. All nature and art, to a 
mind scientifically cultured, are vast fields 
of interest, of observation, and thought. 
Surely, then, gentlemen, for those destined 
for agriculture, a study of the sciences is 
the course to pursue, to manufacture think- 
ing boys and intelligent thinking men. 
Give the boy an early bent to understand 
the why-and-because of all around him ; 
you thus place before him a deep mine of 
wealth, which it is discipline indeed to 
comprehend, and a study throughout life 
fully to acquire ; he never lacks a subject 
for intelligent thought, and you culture the 
mind, by a gradual process, to make constant 
efforts; the knowledge and facts acquired, 
all bearing upon agriculture, are literally 
power — power to apply in the manufacture 
of meat, and the manufacture of corn ; and 
you cultivate, at the same time, that indis- 
pensable guide in all the business transac- 
tions of life, viz., a thoroughly well-balanced 
judgment. Now, gentleman, what do the 
dead languages effect ? They simply train 
to a word-research, to the cultivation of the 
memory, and they teach the derivation of 
words. Too often the dead languages, in- 
directly, hav^even an injurious influence : 
they erect a wrong standard in the minds 
of youth ; boys view a high attainment in 
the classics as far transcending a common 
scientific knowledge of common things ; 
they despise the useful; and that acquisi- 
tion of the languages, which you intend as 
discipline and as a means to an end, they 
cling to and believe to be the end itself. 
When I turn to my own experience I can 
plainly perceive that two years' study of 
the sciences have proved of more benefit to 
me than many a*year's grinding at Latin : 
in my education every one pound's worth 
of science has yielded a larger return than 
each ten pounds expended in the classics. 
In the sciences I was interested, I could un- 
derstand their usefulness, and upon leaving 
school, it afforded me pleasure to prosecute 
my studies, and each day in the agricultu- 
ral world I find something to observe and 
learn and turn to practical usefulness. 
Upon the scholastic studies generally, I 
would observe, it is highly desirable every 



464 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[August 



boy should be able to read clearly and flu 
cntly, without hesitation and stammering; 
it is equally desirable he should be taught 
to write a good, plain, legible hand, apart 
from all curvilinear flourishes, rectangular 
excrescences, and the complete ambiguity 
which characterizes the writing of the 
present day. Let each boy, too, be especi- 
ally well-grounded in arithmetic ; by some 
means implant a taste for figures; for the 
system of good and correct accounts, in 
every matter of business, is one of the 
grand secrets of success in life. Of course 
there are grammar, spelling, and history 
to be learned; but I an} convinced upon 
these subjects there is much time wasted. 
I forget how many works on grammatical 
rectitude I succeeded in wearing up. I 
know several ; and that, too, in learning 
by rote rules which I never knew how to 
apply, and in attempting to rectify senten- 
ces which were designedly made wrong. 
In spelling, the same : it was my duty to 
correct misspelt words ; but I candidly be- 
lieve it would have been infinitely more to 
my advantage that I should never have 
seen the grammatical and orthographical 
mistakes, as the eye and the ear became 
habituated to and familiar with error. I 
am convinced I not only wasted time, but 
that I received a positive harm from the 
process. Again, let a knowledge of sa- 
cred and profane history be acquired ; but 
I must confess I could not, #or can I even 
now, see the utility of learning by rote the 
dates of the ascension and death of every 
monarch who has occupied the English 
throne. A knowledge of geography is, of 
course, desirable; also a knowledge of 
mathematics. I believe the plans of theme- 
writing and of close verbal questioning, 
upon every study, are most desirable, as en- 
suring a thorough grounding, which is the 
basis of accuracy, self-reliance, and after 
self-development. To me it appears, too, 
most desirable that the parent, if compe- 
tent, should regularly and carefully exam- 
ine his son, and thereby note his progress ; 
but for general, every-day, local schools to 
be useful, we require reform. We require 
a public board of agricultural examiners, 
who shall duly examine each candidate, in 
the first instance, at sixteen years of age, 
in all that constitutes a sound agricultural 
education ; we should thereby introduce 
competition and a standard of merit, and 
the most meritorious, painstaking, compe- 



tent master would have the largest propor- 
tionate number of successful boys. I ad- 
vocate such reform, to rid us of incompe- 
tent masters — to secure patronage to the de- 
serving ; and the mere fact of such an ex- 
amination would excite a spirit of emulation 
amongst the boys themselves ; and often, 
in their hours of wished-for idleness, would 
they remember they must render an account 
some day ; and that the fruits of indolence 
would be exposure and disgrace. Such a 
public system of examination would ensure 
the general adoption of the most desirable 
course of study, and force up schools to the 
necessary standard of proficiency. At the 
same time, such a system would embrace 
agricultural schools of every standing — the 
small as well as the large — and have a gen- 
eral influence for good. In ten years, so 
radical would be the change, that Dickens 
— who, in "Nicholas Nickleby" justly car- 
icatured the old system of education — 
would see an almost undreamed-of reforma- 
tion. Further : upon a youth leaving 
school, the necessity is obvious for continu- 
ed intellectual discipline ; and how requi- 
site it is for a young man to have continu- 
ally some intellectual object of attainment 
before him ! I note the present system : 
a boy leaves school at sixteen years of 
age ; he throws up his hat, and concludes 
his education finished, when, in reality, it 
is but just commencing. More than half 
the young men destined for agriculture in 
England actually waste, and worse than 
waste, the first four or five years of their 
freedom from scnolastic restraint. Theirs 
is a thorough desultory life ; they throw up 
all intellectual culture, and they have no 
intellectual standard of attainment to which 
to strive to attain. They probably assist in 
the farm-management; but as they have 
no responsibility, the farm occupies but 
little of their thoughts; as they feel but 
little interest, they observe but little; and 
the rat-hunt, the cricket-match, the run with 
the harriers or fox-hounds, the quadrille- 
party, the -shooting exploit, with other 
amusements, combined with a profusion of 
tobacco, are their real employments — their 
true business of thought and occupation. 
How are the evenings spent ? Often in a 
desultory, do-nothing industry, or in card- 
playing and smoking — in colouring a clay 
or idolized meerschaum — or, if in literature, 
in pursuing some trashy love-tale novel, in 
studying " Blaine's Encyclopaedia of Rural 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



465 



Sports," or in reading the last number of 
the " London Journal." I speak, gentle- 
men, from facts, from my own observation ; 
and only in ridicule, I fear, can it be said 
that. such tailing will create promising 
candidates for future agricultural honours ! 
This is not a desirable course of discipline : 
reared in a desultory manner to sport and 
to spend, to study their own pleasure and 
indulgence rather than their interest, and 



a talent to be used and improved; that they 
have much to do, and but little time to do 
it in. I. want to sec minutes more valued 
than hours now are. Life is a race, and, 
all eke equal, the best training will make 
the best man, and secure the best place ; 
and T know well that the idle brain is, 
most surely, the devil's best workshop. 
What, then, is to be done ? Is it not de- 
sirable to adopt some course F Ifl it not 
advantage, it will be no matter of wonder! necessary to act? Is it not essential to in- 
or surprise if pleasure is their chief en- induce young men to cultivate habits of 
grossment in after-life, and if business, at- self-culture and of self-devlopment ? It is 
the commencement of their career of re-, most necessary — most desirable; and it is 



sponsibility, finds them deficient in know 
ledge and judgment. Such, gentlemen, is 
literally the case. I have seen young men 
m^ke grand mistakes upon their first start 



a positive duty, on our part, to act to ensure 
it. What man was ever a man worth call- 
ing a man without such self-culture ? Rely 
'upon it, such is the upward educational 



in life, from absolute incompetency — cs- movement that we positively cannot stand 
pecially upon clay-farms ; and I agree with ' still. I even see it imperative upon us 
the observation of an old friend of mine, | that we combine to co-operate; and as 
that it would well answer the purpose of , every agricultural society in England looks 
many a young man, upon commencing' to the Royal Agricultural Society as its ag- 
business, to pay an elder to superintend and ricultural father, it is for us to take steps 
direct him in his management and super-: to induce our parent to act for the better 
vision for the first two or three years. I education of her agricultural children. I 
am in no way averse to a reasonable amount believe farmers' clubs generally, and every 
of sport and amusement ; I have had my agricultural society throughout the king- 
share, and that a large one, of hunting,' dom, would gladly combine to facilitate 
coursing, shooting, and the like, and I be- such a movement; and I know of no course 
lieve, too, without detriment; but let it be so effectual as the establishment of a pub- 
the condition that whilst sport is sport in j lie board of Agricultural Examiners. I 
reality and in earnest — whilst a young man strongly recommend two examinations : one 
rides across country with courage and judg- for junior candidates not exceeding sixteen 
ment, and sports as a sportsman — that years of age, (as before alluded to,) and one 
business and study are equally pursued for senior candidates not exceeding twenty- 
with the same spirit of indomitable energy one years of age. I would certainly throw 
and perseverance. We hear a great deal the examinations open to all candidates, as 
too much, now-a-days, of the old tale that' the only object would be to excite compe- 
" All work and no play makes Jack a dull tition ; and to grant an agricultural diploma 
boy." The truth is, that more work and to those competitors having attained to the 
less play would make Jack a bright boy, a, necessary standard of intellectual acquire- 
business youth, and a thriving, successful ment. It could be a matter oi no moment 
man. I am for pleasure in reason, but for whether the knowledge of the senior can- 
business in earnest; and in every case Ldidatafl was attained by study in the privaey 
desire to put aside the dreary, indolent,' of their own homes, or by attending a 
listless nonentity spirit which characterizes course of agricultural lectures. It would 
young men, both in their intellectual im- be for the board of examiners to recom- 
provement and in their business attainment mend the best works extant upon the va- 
and attention. I want to see young men rious subjects and sciences for examination 
fresh from school, not only breathing, but in the senior class; and it is highly neces- 
really living — living for an object — living sary so to act as to ensure general compe- 
for an end, and actually using the means to tition. The standard of merit may not be 
attain that end. I want diligence, and not set too high. Even the young man missing 
a passive indifference, to govern their con- 1 his mark and losing his diploma would in 
duct. I want them to feel that time is a reality be a gainer — and a very great 
talent not to be wasted and squandered, but 'gainer, notwithstanding — from the habits of 
30 



466 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



[August 



study and of mental discipline to which he I 
had cultured himself In his attempts to se- 
cure the distinction of the diploma. I am 
well aware that such a board of examiners , 
would have been of essential service to me; 
for though I continued to study chemistry, I 
geology, and some other sciences, after 
leaving school, without the slightest i nega- 
tion from those around me, yet I feel that 
the fact of a public examination would 
have been a sufficient inducement for me to 
have worked with redoubled diligence, pre- 
venting a foolish waste of time, training me 
in habits of mental and physical industry, 
and resulting in redoubled success. I do 
not think the middle-class Oxford Univer- 
sity examinations meet our requirements; 
the whole matter will be far better in our 
own hands; the whole scheme may be self- 
supporting. We must carefully avoid the 
error into which the Highland and Agri- 
cultural Society of Scotland has fallen. 
That society required candidates to attend, 
for a period of two years, classes in five or 
six of the different sciences prior to ex- 
amination. Such a requirement, of course, 
nullified the general usefulness of the 
scheme. The mistake is now rectified. In 
England or Scotland it must take a time 
for the competition to be great, or for the 
attendance to be large at the examinations, 
from the simple fact that the education of 
young men has been grossly neglected, es- 
pecially after leaving school; and it must 
take a time to rear any number of young 
men, intellectually cultured and qualified 
to come forward for examination, or to com- 
pete for the honours of the certificate or 
diploma. With the existence of such a 
board of examiners, how far more power- 
fully could a parent stimulate his son to do 
his utmost, and to how much better account 
could the present system of agricultural 
pupilage be turned ! In my own case, it 
would afford me pleasure to use my most 
strenuous exertions so to assist those gen- 
tlemen, at any future time resident with 
me, in their studies and preparation for ex- 
amination, that they should pass with credit 
and eclat. How far more gratifying, too, 
to parents and friends, to see each hour 
both usefully and profitably employed, in- 
stead of having to contend with the natural 
fireside habits of indolence, with habits of 
late rising, with general frivolity, and a 
thorough indifference to mental culture and 
business proficiency ! Seeing the vast im- 1 



provement, the complete revolution, which 
the Royal Agricultural Society has effected 
in agricultural mechanics, in agricultural 
machinery, in the breeding and develop- 
ment of stock, and in agriculture generally, 
I think I am not too sanguine in expect- 
ing the same improvement and the same 
beneficial result when that society turns its 
powerful influence to the mental develop- 
ment and the scientific culture of the agri- 
culturist himself. There is an ample and 
wide field for action ; and it is my convic- 
tion that in carrying out the system of ag- 
ricultural educational examinations, lies hid 
in embryo the Royal Agricultural Society's 
most successful operations and her proudest 
triumphs. Having completed the educa- 
tional portion of my subject, I will now 
turn to consider the discipline, and after- 
wards the introduction of the young man 
to life. I am anxious at once to establish 
the masculine fact, that every man is the 
architect of his own fortune, and the carver 
of his own future. There is no such thing 
as undeserved success or unmerited failure. 
A man may sink or swim according to his 
ability in the battle or struggle of life. 
Whilst one man succumbs to circumstance, 
and becomes the creature of circumstance, 
another yokes circumstance to his car, and 
triumphs over his position, winning increas- 
ed distinction from the magnitude of the 
difficulties surmounted. I am extremely 
desirous to be clear on this point. I want 
to put aside all the maudlin enervating doc- 
trines of chance and misfortune. I want to 
establish a habit of real self-reliance. I want 
young men to see that they had far better 
trust to their own internal strength and 
competency, than to any extraneous aid. 
How many a young man has been ruined 
by his reliance on fortune ! How many a 
young man has been spoiled and rendered 
unfit for success in life by his expectan- 
cies ! Fortune at best is proclaimed a 
fickle goddess ; and though bachelor uncles 
and maiden aunts are all very well, they 
are certainly crochety beings, difficult to 
please and easy to offend ; and I had rather 
rely, ten thousand times over, upon the 
strength of my own right arm and upon 
my own internal power, than to trust to the 
whims, caprices, and uncertainties of suc- 
ceeding to dead men's shoes. Windfalls 
are always very acceptable, but they are 
broken reeds to trust to. Self-reliance is 
the qualification for success; and I am 



J 859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



467 



convinced? if we are men of observation, 
of thought, of industry, of perseverance, 
of principle and prudence, we must succeed 
in life, we must triumph, we must conquer. 
It is a moral certainty. No circumstance 
and no material power can prevent it. 
What is failure but industry unapplied or 
misapplied ? or the fruits of labour under- 
valued and unhusbanded? In any case, 
trace the cause of unsuccess. What is it 
but a lack of the elements necessary for 
success ? what but a lack of prudence, of 
principle, of energy, of industry, or abil- 
ity ? I do not deny the existence of heavy 
overwhelming losses; but even these are 
usually traceable to the facts of hazardous 
speculations or imprudent outlays, and to 
the adoption of the man-or-the-mouse 
principle of sink or swim. In the com- 
mon course of matters, I am tired to the 
heart at the sound of misfortune : it is a 
lulliug misnomer for human neglect and 
human incapacity. Many a man may say, 
"How could I avert my misfortune?" I 
reply, such misfortunes are usually tracea- 
ble to habits of early neglect in education 
or in training, and to the eifect of neg- 
lected opportunities. How is it the mem- 
bers of a large family usually succeed in 
life far better than an only son ? What is 
it but the eifect of discipline, habit and 
culture? The many are early taught to 



cut their own 



way, 



trained 



in diligence, to 
and hardihood, 



habits of care, economy 
and reared upon the necessaries, and not upon 
the luxuries and supernumeraries of life — 
trained to produce, and not to squander ; 
to save, and not to spend ; whilst the only 
child learns the consuming to perfection, 
but not the producing ; to spend, but not 
to spare or to save. What is it but the one 
cultured to succeed, and the other cultured 
to failure in life ? But what is this enig- 
ma — success in life — of which we hear so 
much ? What is it, but the power to pro- 
duce exceeding the desire to consume ? — 
what, but the balance after deducting the 
actual consumption from the actual pro- 
duction ? Unfortunately in our day, so 
strong is the love of appearance, so great 
the appreciation of comfort, that men for- 
get the great secret of life is not so much 
in getting as in retaining — not so much in 
producing as in not spending. Unfortu- 
nately, spending is the order of the day ; 
there is a false show abroad ; but all men 
of sound sense will be content to walk if 



they cannot afford to ride, and to walk be- 
fore they attempt to run. How many 
young men appear to suppose that life is 
governed by " luck," and that success is a 
mere toss-up matter of chance ! Success 
is as much governed by fixed laws as the 
solar system, with this saving clause of ex- 
emption — that no rule is without an ex- 
ception. You see, gentlemen, I lay espe- 
cial stress upon habits, and especially upon 
the habits of self-reliance. I look to edu- 
cation to teach a man to use his brains, his 
eyes, and his ears, to show he has a head 
upon his shoulders, and to prove he does 
not pass through life half asleep; but I 
look to habits and discipline to effect much 
also. We are a bundle of habits ; and if 
any young man thinks he will succeed in 
the daily life of agriculture by informing 
his mind alone, he will find himself mista- 
ken. For success there must be habits of 
industry and not of sloth, of prudence and 
not of prodigality. But to enter more mi- 
nutely, most strongly do I recommend every 
young man to adopt the habit of early 
rising ; to carry out the habit of thinking 
nothing of trouble in business; to adopt 
active habits, and an active and prompt ex- 
ecution of every duty. Most thoroughly 
do I recommend the habit of correct ac- 
counts, and of noting down passing busi- 
ness events. I strongly urge that interest 
and advantage be studied, and not inclina- 
tion and pleasure — habits of self-denial, 
and not habits of self-indulgence. Settle it 
down as a fact that you can do anything 
if you try, and cultivate the habit of perse- 
verance. Men succeed by sticking. Cul- 
tivate the habits of cheerfulness. Bears 
with sore heads don't make friends. Culti- 
vate the habit of a frank, open-hearted, 
manly manner, combined with politeness ; 
for conceited borishness and pedantry don't 
assist to success. I strongly recommend 
young men also to the habit of manual 
labour, sufficient to understand what labour 
really is, and to acquire a practical know- 
ledge of the different operations of the 
farm. I think it well that young men 
should bear the yoke in their youth, and I 
give it as my experience that such a prac- 
tical acquaintance with labour proves of 
infinite service throughout life. It is a 
splendid thing to be trained to labour, both 
mentally and bodily ; also to spend with 
caution, and to act with care. Much more 
could I say upon habit — upon the habit of 



468 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[August 



thought, the habit of observation, and the 
like — but I trust we shall hear no more the 
common cry of "what can I do?" or "1 
have no chance. " Every young man with 
health and strength may succeed in life 
if he will ; but his success must be the 
fruit of education, training, and discipline : 
and if he neglects these necessary means 
to an end, he will probably go by the wall. 
I don't call being born with a silver spoon 
in one's mouth success; and I don't call 
living on the leavings of a parent or a 
friend success. But I call that success 
which is earned by industry, ability, 
tact, and perseverance ; and I had rather 
have the chances of many a man with- 
out a sixpence in the world, possessing 
these qualifications, than I would the 
chances of another reared to nonentity and 
in habits of extravagance, though possess- 
ing thousands of pounds. Young men of 
England, look to it that your education is 
right, your training right, your own self- 
culture right ; and with such a commence- 
ment success in the battle of life is more 
than half ensured or secured. Above all, 
rely upon yourselves, cultivate the quiet 
assurance you can overcome every obstacle, 
that you are equal to every emergency; 
but see that the result equals your convic- 
tions, or conceit will prove your shame in- 
stead of competency your praise. We 
speak of patronage; but who can patron- 
ize a fool? We speak of friends; but 
who, in a business point of view, can be- 
friend the incompetent ? The world will 
look to worth and ability; and in every 
case it is upon men so qualified the world 
bestows its premiums. Who has a situa- 
tion to offer, and does not look about him 
for the best man ? Who has a farm to let, 
and does not search for the best tenant ? 
The world, from self-interested motives, 
will befriend the competent, while it throws 
men of incapacity to the dogs. And who 
does not know that there are more good 
situations in life than men qualified to fill 
them, and more good opportunities than 
men qualified to embrace them ? I make 
the allusion with extreme diffidence ; but 
in my own case, gentlemen, I have known 
what it is to start in life without two ten- 
pound notes in my pocket to keep each 
other company. I have known what it is 
to tight my way in the world ; and though 
I have had many a kind friend to whom to 
be grateful, I have had a taste of the dis- 



advantages and the difficulties of life. 
They are excellent discipline ; and to show 
young men there is something in self-reli- 
ance, I tell them plainly I would start again 
to-morrow without a sixpence in my purse, 
without a murmur and without regret. 
Further, to show the power of self-reliance, 
I know young men who were so reduced in 
circumstances by the depression consequent 
upon the repeal of the corn-laws, that they 
seriously contemplated an assignment of 
their affairs into their creditors' hands ; 
yet these very men, by dint of courage, 
tact, and perseverance, though possessing 
at that time scarce a pound they could call 
their own, yet these very men have so 
pushed out hither and thither, have so 
doubled their resources, and redoubled 
their exertions, that they have now thou- 
sands of pounds instead of a few pence, 
with which to bless themselves. What 
others have done others may do ; but young 
men must remember " life is earnest, life 
is real ;" and they must learn to trust to 
their own strength, to labour, and to wait. 
I have spoken upon the education of boys 
at school, of the education of young men, 
and the discipline of habit after leaving 
school, and I now come to the last portion 
of my subject, viz., the introduction of 
the young farmer to life — his commence- 
ment in business. I am no advocate for 
young men sticking at home and being 
tied to their mother's apron-strings ; but, 
as soon as qualified by stability of charac- 
ter and soundness of judgment — and the 
sooner qualified the better — let them com- 
mence business on their own account. By 
all means have them do something in some 
way to advance their own individual inter- 
ests. If young men commence with capi- 
tal, let it be with a moderate amount, bare- 
ly equal to their actual requirements, for a 
superfluity of the needful never teaches the 
real value of money — and to teach the 
worth of the one pound sterling is highly 
essential in the opening of life. A few 
judicious monetary difficulties, in cutting 
one's way and in making ends meet, will 
do a young man no harm ; difficulties are 
excellent tutors of calculation and careful 
outlay ; whilst the necessity for industry 
compels to exertion, and prevents many a 
foolish extravagance. If parents are so 
situated that they cannot afford to give their 
sons capital, it is doubly essential a father 
should early insist upon a son turning out 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



469 



in the world, and working his own way. 
If there is no capital in the purse, there 
ought at least to be capital in the head, 
and young men of character, even in this 
competitive age, may succeed by trying. 
But young men must try: they cannot suc- 
ceed by inaction. There is nothing like 
working one's own resources, and having 
individual responsibility for progress. In 
the matter of a farm there is a great deal 
in a good start. If a young man wants 
a business so much or wants a cage for a 
lady-bird so badly that he is induced to pay 
a rental for a farm exceeding by 10 or 20 
per cent, its annual value, he has no one to 
blame but himself. If a young man lays 
out his money in permanent improvements, 
upon bad security, or upon no security at 
all, he has no one to blame but himself. 
Rotten props will let down men as well 
as buildings. I see 'great mistakes are 
made in attempting too large a business 
upon inadequate means. Now, though it 
is all very fine to be thought a great man 
in a small way, yet it is most undesirable 
to half-stock and half-farm any land. I do 
not object to a young man borrowing a 
small proportion of his capital at a reason- 
able rate of interest, but I know of no 
greater folly than attempting to farm 500 
acres of land with capital barely sufficient 
for 300 acres. For profit and comfort there 
must be sufficient capital. Of course, let 
every young man secure good land, good 
buildings, and a good landlord, with a prin- 
cipled agent, if he can ; but if he cannot, 
if the supply is not equal to the demand, 
by all means let him make the best of those 
persons and things with whom and with 
which he has to deal. I recommend every 
young man to take the judgment of an ex- 
perienced friend upon every point upon 
entering business, not only in the hire of 
the farm, but also in the purchase of the 
necessary stock and implements. I have 
seen many a young man, without much 
judgment or discretion, much imposed upon 
both at auctions and in private purchases. 
In the management of the farm do every- 
thing well and at the cheapest cost, and 
don't be afraid to calculate the cost to pro- 
duce a crop, or the cost to rear or fatten 
an animal. I am sure we look at a farm 
too much in the mass, instead of calculating 
the items, whereby we unknowingly lose in 
one or more departments of our manufac- 
ture, for the want of investigation. 8cru- 



i tiny leads to judicious and profitable out- 
lay. Cultivate a thorough judgment of 
stock, for purchases 10 per cent, too dear 
and sales 10 per cent, too cheap are serious 
I mistakes, and tell heavily against succese 
in life. Young men must know by obser- 
vation what constitutes a day's work: horses 
are expensive machinery, and if horses are 
kept well and worked 20 per cent, daily 
■ below par, whereby 20 per cent, of horse 
muscle is necessarily kept beyond the ac- 
tual requirements of the farm, 1 say these 
again arc serious losses. The manual la- 
bour, too, of a farm is necessarily a heavy 
outlay, and a master receiving 20 per cent, 
minus his due in labour is in an unfavour- 
able positiou. Young masters must learn 
! what constitutes a fair day's work for a fair 
j day's wages, and see, too, that they get 
i it. Also, in task work, a young man 
j may be much imposed upon by pay- 
ing a heavy percentage beyond the value 
of the work performed. Both horses and 
men demand serious attention and con- 
sideration, with good supervision and di- 
rection. The work of the farm should al- 
ways be forward, that it may be performed 
at the proper time and season. Not to 
make hay when the sun shines is mistaken 
economy. A man always just behindhand 
is not likely to overtake success. I most 
strongly recommend every young man an- 
nually to draw out a correct valuation of 
the live and dead stock, and of the cove- 
nants of the farm. I do it each year at 
October, and at the same time I draw out 
an actual balance-sheet of the annual re- 
turns and expenditure ; and I urge upon 
every young man the necessity of doing 
the same. The more we are men of fig- 
ures the more shall we be men of sound 
judgment, of deep research, and correct 
practice. Groping on in the dark has 
been the ruin of many a man. It is in- 
vestigation which prevents a continuance 
in losses; and it is always wise to know 
the worst, and meet our difficulties, not 
by avoiding them, but by research, by ac- 
tion, and as men. I feel it to be absolutely 
essential for every young farmer to study 
the agricultural literature of the day. The 
Royal Agricultural Society's Journal must 
be carefully read, also the " Farmer's Mag- 
azine ;" and it is highly important weekly 
to peruse the Mark Lane Express or BelVs 
Weekly Me umg tT ) or some other good ag- 
ricultural papet that young men may keep 



470 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



[August 



pace with the practical and intellectual 
progress of the age. Again, the Royal 
Agricultural Society's shows, and the other 
important and local agricultural exhibitions, 
are excellent opportunities for comparison, 
information, and improvement. To see 
other than home systems of farming is de- 
cidedly necessary to prevent local preju- 
dices and those narrow notions which grow 
up under the shade of one's own barn- 
doors. I might say much upon the neces- 
sary amount of capital according to the) 
character of the farm; also in recommend- J 
ing thorough draining, deep cultivation, 
autumnal fallowing, good stock, good ma- 
nure, no false economy, and the like ; but, 
in concluding my observations, I prefer to 
address a few remarks to young men them- 
selves upon their own individual position 
and bearing. We cannot be blind to the 
fact that some men, upon their first start 
in life, make grand mistakes: they start 
with false views and false aims, and attain 
to a false position. In these days of ready 
credit, how many a man expends far be- 
yond the limit which his income prescribes 
or warrants, in personal comfort or exter- 
nal show, in handsome furniture and house 
decoration, in first-class dog-carts, and other 
extravagances ! Nor is this the worst : 
such a man usually resolves to cut a shine, 
be a swell, drive fast horses, attend balls, 
hunt, shoot, smoke and drink, give dinner 
parties, ape superiors, and usually comes 
to grief. This is not a picture of plodding 
industry, and I have drawn an extreme 
case of folly, to warn young men without 
adequate means against such a life of tom- 
foolery. Success is based upon labour ; and 
a slow, unpretending, economical start in 
life is a safe start. Let young men be con- 
tent to earn their position and their luxu- 
ries before they assume the one or indulge 
in the other, or they will find to their cost 
that they end their life as they should have 
commenced it — in labour instead of com- 
petency, and that a life of youthful extrav- 
agance leads to necessitous old age. Youth 
is not the time for self-indulgence and the 
jog-trot easy pace of indolence. Youth is 
the time for hard but substantial fare, hard 
every-day lodging and hard 'work. I am 
opposed in toto to the smoking, drinking, 
and pampering habits of young men in the 
present age. I am equally opposed to all 
the easy-chair habits and the semi-inaction 
far too common. As a young man I can 



knock on very well in life without much of 
the stimulants — beer, wine, and spirits, and 
without the enervating influence of tobacco 
and many other luxuries; and, what is 
more, I find myself better in health, better 
qualified for business, and better in pocket, 
without them. I am an advocate for mod- 
eration in everything ; and I think it a 
strange thing indeed if a young man is not 
at liberty to decline to injure his health or 
his constitution because of the voice of 
public opinion. I especially urge modera- 
tion, as I observe young men make fools of 
themselves in their hours of excitement. 
I observe in the hour of excess deeds com- 
mitted which entail an afterpiece of sorrow 
and regret; and how often the loss of 
character, of business, habits, and of for- 
tune may be traced to a wrong step here — 
to a departure from habits of temperance ! 
I am no ascetic : I can be as happy as any 
man in spirit ; but I do not need either a 
narcotic nor an opiate to lull or to cheer 
me, and I am not prepared to fall down to 
that public opinion which makes venial the 
seed-bed of vice. Intemperance is the 
source of more than one-half of England's 
sorrows ; and I warn the rising generation 
to flee her enticing calls. Safety here, and 
a young man of sense is proof against the 
foolish spree, secure from a youth-time of 
folly, and an old age of physical debility 
and mental repining. Some young men 
appear to consider the fast life a life of 
heroism, and a life wherein to glory. It 
leads to a life-time of shame ; and how is 
society strewed with the wrecks of youth- 
ful intemperance, vice, and folly ! No 
Scriptural axiom is more true than the one 
embodying the fact, u That the world will 
speak well of thee so long as thou doest 
well unto thyself." I have said much upon 
temperance as a preventive to folly ; but 
the only true safeguard is true Christian 
principle. Christianity is the fundamental 
basis of security; and shall I, who feel that 
I owe all that I have, all I am, and all I 
ever shall be, to its influence — I say, shall | 
I lack the moral courage to assert its 



power ? Shall I pass it by as a subject 
which has nothing to do with the business 
of life ? Shall I bow to the popular notion 
afloat in the world, that it is only fit for 
Sundays, and for elders when the fire of 
life has abated * Shall I admit that it has 
nothing to do with the discipline and the 
success of life ? I came to tell you my ex 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



471 



perience ; and, as a young man, I tell the 
young men of England plainly, I have 
found Christian principle as a thousand- 
horse power within a man, to cheer and to 
urge him onward in the path of duty. I 
hate the hypocritical cant and the Jesuitical 
humbug which abounds. There always 
will be inpostors in any age ; but I know 
of no body of young men more imposed 
upon than those who wilfully determine to 
have nothing to do with true Christian 
principle upon any terms. True Christian 
principle is the highway to success in life ; 
for while it prevents indolence, sloth, and 
extravagance, a waste of time and a waste 
of money, it excites to industry and econo- 
my, to uprightness of character, and recti- 
tude of conduct. Are not those thus 
imbued — the men who prove Havelocks 
in their sphere ? — men armed with mod- 
eration, patience, and endurance — men 
possessing promptitude and perseverance ? 
Are not those the men who neither rack 
their bodies by excesses, or their minds by 
fear and feverish anxiety ? Are not those 
the men intellectually strong in tranquility, 
and physically strong from temperance ? 
Are not those the men who are kind-heart- 
ed, courteous, considerate, and unpretend- 
ing? Are not those the men who can con- 
trol their tempers and their passions, and 
live above the jealousies, animosities and 
envies which mar the happiness and peace 
of most men ? They are ; and, if such are 
the fruits of true Christian principle, are 
not such qualities and such fruits the es- 
sentials for success in life? Are they not 
the essentials to secure a peaceful and a 
happy home ? Are they not the essentials 
to constitute a cheerful and a happy man- 
hood? They are; and to every young 
man I recommend the Bible as his chart, 
and, when Christian precept has become 
his practice, may it be his good fortune to 
possess a sharer of his joys, to possess a 
helpmeet, amiable in temper and kind in 
disposition • to possess a wife adorned with 
the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, 
adorned with the beauty of love and the 
jewel of sense • and thus may they be mu- 
tually blessed, and prove blessings to all 
around them. In conclusion, a good edu- 
cation, thorough training and discipline, 
are the groundworks of success in life. 
Agriculturally those groundworks have been 
and are at the present time, much neglect- 
ed • and, though parental and social influ- 



ence generally may do much to mould the 
character of youth, yet it is only by national 
combination and national exertion that the 
intellectual development, the scientific cul- 
ture, and the mental discipline of the ag- 
ricultural youths of England can be secur- 
ed. And most strongly do I urge upon 
you, gentlemen, upon parents generally, 
and upon the kingdom at large, the 
necessity for action, the necessity for 
a well-developed plan of agricultural ed- 
ucational examinations ; and such public 
examinations, I am convinced, would pre- 
vent the present waste of thousands of 
pounds annually in indolent and wrongly- 
directed efforts of instruction, and at the 
same time put aside the present incalcula- 
ble loss of many of the most precious years 
of a young man's existence, extending 
from the age of sixteen to twenty-one years 
— a loss, too, which cannot be estimated 
even by tens of thousands of pounds an- 
nually. And I long to see England made 
more great, more glorious, and more free 
by the improved intellectual culture and 
the improved mental discipline of the rising 
and future generations of Englishmen. 



Ventilating Hats. 

A great number of hard-shell hats arc 
made with a small opening covered with 
gauze in the crown of each, and with this 
arrangement it is supposed they afford ven- 
tilation for the head, and tend to keep it 
cool during warm weather. This is a mis- 
take, because ventilation can only be ef- 
fected by a current of air, and as there are 
no means provided for the inlet of air, but 
only for its outlet, in such hats, of course 
they cannot afford ventilation. The* true 
ventilating hat must have perforations at 
or near the band to secure the inward pas- 
sage of air, and quite a number of such 
hats are now manufactured and worn. 
Felt hats, being somewhat porous in their 
texture, afford partial ventilation. Silk 
plush hats being saturated with lac-var- 
nish are perfectly impervious to the atmos- 
phere. 

Scientific American. 



Do everything in its proper time. Keep 
everything in its proper place. Always 
mend clothes before washing. 

Rising early is an excellent habit. 



472 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[August 



The Effects of High Prices of Slaves ; 
Considered in reference to the Interest* of 

Agriculture, of Individuals, and of the 

Coniinoinnaltli of Virginia. 

In regard to every undertaking, or pursuit 
of business, requiring capital for the prose- 
cution, 'it would be admitted, as a gener- 
al proposition, that the less the price or val- 
ue of the stock or capital required, from 
which to obtain equal amounts of products, 
the greater would be the net profit of the 
business, and of every investment therein 
made. 

But though this truth, stated in general 
terms, would be universally admitted, and 
without question or doubt, still it would be 
excepted to by man}'', if not fey most persons 
in Virginia, as to the especially important 
subject of agricultural industry and invest- 
ments. For such exception and denial are 
necessarily implied in the opinion commonly 
entertained, that the high prices of lands, 
and of slaves, are evidences of the prosper- 
ous condition of agricultural interests, and 
of agriculturists, in the localities where such 
prices prevail. 

Land, and the labor required for its cul- 
ture, constitute the greater proportion of all 
agricultural capital employed. Greatly ex- 
pensive as these are, land and labor (and in 
Virginia it is mainly slave-labor), are but 
the most important of the materials and 
tools essential to the carrying on of the me- 
chanical operations of tillage, and what may 
be considered as the manufacturing of the 
products of agriculture. To whomsoever may 
be about to invest capital, or to enlarge his 
previous amount of investment in the busi- 
ness of agriculture, the less the price at which 
he can purchase land and slaves (they being 
nearly all the capital required), the greater 
will be his profits in the production of like 
amounts of crops, if sold at equal prices. If a 
certain farm, with a certain number and de- 
scription of slaves were bought at fifteen thou- 
sand dollars, and would yield annual crops for 
sale of the market value of four thousand dol- 
lars, it is obvious that the agricultural net prof- 
it, would be very far greater than it would 
have been if the same property had cost, 
and was worth in market price forty thousand 
dollars. 

The error of opinion, which is so common 

"on this subject, is the result of mistaking 

effects for causes. The increased price of 

land is generally a true indication of &pre- 

>diii<j improving, prosperous, and profitable 



condition of agriculture in that locality 
But a preceding increase of price is not 
evidence of either still improving, continu- 
ous, or prospective profitable returns of agri- 
culture, upon the then increased price of 
land and cost of capital. 

The greatly increased prices of slaves do 
not (as in regard to lands) even offer evi- 
dence that their preceding profits have jus- 
tified the advance of price, but only that 
the profits of slave labor in some locality 
have been and still are great ; for slaves, 
being moveable, will be rated in price, not by 
their profits in their actual location, but ac- 
cording to the profits in any other region to 
which they can be easily transferred. Thus 
it might be, that while the profits of grain 
tillage and of agriculture generally, in Virgi- 
nia, would yield the least profit, the prices of 
slaves and also their profits might be at the 
highest rate, on the cotton and sugar-lands 
of the more Southern States. 

In the last twenty to thirty years, both 
agricultural improvement and profits have 
made great advances in Virginia. Mainly 
in consequence of improvements in fertility 
and productiveness, the prices of land have 
greatly advanced. Let us suppose that this 
advance of price, on the general average, to 
be equal to forty per cent. (On particular 
farms it has been full two hundred per cent.) 
If the increase of net profit is advanced 
(by the improvement of the land) in equal 
proportion to its market price, the land is 
now as well worth one hundred and forty to 
a present buyer, as it had been at first worth 
one hundred to the former owner and first 
improver. Indeed, it may be worth much 
more, if additional future improvements are 
still in certain prospect, from which addi- 
tional products and still greater profits may 
be hereafter realized. And so far as such 
prospective improvements enter into consid- 
eration, and make part of a present valua- 
tion, it may be conceded that the increased 
price may also be evidence of future greater 
| value, as well as of preceding and present 
! good products and profits. When such new 
j and permanent improvement, and a certain 
! income therefrom, have been made manifest, 
it may be a safer, and therefore a better in- 
vestment, to buy land at the latest and 
j highest price, than it had been at the early 
low price before the improvements of fertil- 
ity had been made, and when their feasibil- 
' ity was doubtful or totally unknown. Nev- 
1 ertheless, it is not the less true, that the first 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



473 



improvers who raised the lands from the 
lowest to the highest production and actual 
value, derived more profit during the pro- 
cess and progress of that imprvement that 
they or their successors could do at the 
later time of highest value and price, and 
maximum production of the lands. Fur- 
ther : the first term during which the lands 
rose (by their improved production) from a 
low to a^lng-h market price, must have pre- 
sented a more prosperous and more profita- 
ble condition of agriculture, than when, 
after the completion of their improvement, 
the lands had reached their highest state of 
production and of price. 

No farmer can afford, or will long endure, 
to cultivate land on which his agricultural 
and other products regularly fall short of 
yielding a fair and ordinary interest or pro- 
fit, on his whole capital so employed. Neg- 
ligence of calculation, and ignorance of the 
amount of loss, may cause many particular 
and temporary exceptions. But as a general 
rule, men will not invest capital, nor contin- 
uous previous investments, in pursuits which 
do not yield the ordinary safe profits of cap- 
ital. Therefore, if such reduction of profits 
shall occur in Virginia, the first effect will 
be to deter persons, as new undertakers, 
from investing capital in agriculture ; and 
this will so far lessen the demand of pur- 
chasers, and Increase the supply of land 
offered for sale beyond the effecti ve demand, 
that the price of land must fall, as a certain 
consequence. So would the price of our 
slaves decline, for the same reason, if they 
were fixed to the farm, or to Virginia. But 
as their market price is regulated entirely 
by the demand and higher appreciation in 
the more Southern States, there will be no 
reduction of their selling value, for remo- 
val," because of the lower value of their 
labor at home only. 

In another aspect we may see the same con- 
clusion reached. The capital of the farmer 
in Virginia is made up mainly of land and 
slaves. Of this compound amount, the ne- 
cessary slaves constitute a large proportion, 
and in many cases the larger proportion, of 
the whole mixed investment of capital. 
Considered merely as the necessary total in- 
vestment in farming stock, and while yield- 
ing good profits on the whole amount, it 
matters not to the farmer how much value 
of his mixed capital is of land, and how 
much of slaves. It is only necessary to 
him that the two together shall yield good - t 



and sufficient products and profits on their 
united and total amount. In the last fifteen 
years the price of slaves has risen full 100 
per cent. This increase of their price has 
not been caused by the actual increase of 
the value of their labor and their products at 
home, but by the higher value and greater 
demand for them abroad. Excepting, there- 
fore, the few cases in which improved fertil- 
ity and net products of farms have been in- 
creased in equal proportion with the doubled 
market price of slaves, no new undertaker 
could afford to buy slaves for investment in 
agriculture in Virginia, without some coun- 
ter-vailing reduction of cost in the other ne- 
cessary capital stock. And such reduction 
can only be found, or made, in the land — 
and this operation (which is already begun 
and in progress) will necessarily follow and 
increase with the supply of land for sale ex- 
ceeding the demand of new purchasers. So 
far as the prices for slaves have already ex- 
ceeded the profits of their labor in Virginia, 
so far that excess has already checked the 
demand for investments in agriculture, and 
must operate to reduce the price of land. 
And the more that the price of slaves shall 
rise, still more, and in full proportion, will it 
operate further to reduce the price of land, 
and to throw land out of cultvation (or to 
render its cultivation more imperfect), be- 
cause of the loss (by their removal to the 
South) of the slaves needed for cultivation 
in Virginia, and which are even now very 
deficient in number. 

Probably but few owners of slaves have 
voluntarily sold them merely on the consid- 
eration that it would be more profitable to 
sell than retain them as laborers, and as 
agricultural capital. But whether the re- 
course to sale is sought or avoided, by the 
present owners, the end will be the same, in 
more or less time. At the present high 
prices of slaves, no undertakers can afford 
to make new and complete agricultural in- 
vestments. No such case has occured with- 
in my knowledge or information, for the last 
two years. It is only in cases of already 
established and successful farmers who, need- 
ing more slaves than 'they before owned, 
may buy a few more to supply great defi- 
ciencies of labor, and to prevent great con- 
sequent losses. But even such men as these 
do not, and cannot profitably, buy half so 
many additional slaves as they greatly need 
for their labor, and as they would buy, if at 
much lower prices. Consequently, though 



474 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[August 



the general home want for labor is greater 
than would be supplied by all the natural 
increase of numbers of our slaves, the home 
market demand is almost nothing, compared 
to the effective Southern demand for our 
slaves. Thus, whenever debt, or necessity, 
or the legal division of slaves among heirs, 
compels the sale of slaves, nearly all sold 
must be sent abroad. It is supposed that 
the annual draft and deportation thus made 
on our stock, already exceed in number all 
the increase in slaves in Virginia by procre- 
ation. This loss must continually increase 
with the potency of the producing causes, 
and with increasing rapidity j and sooner 
or later the operation must remove so many 
of our slaves, as necessarily to destroy the 
institution of negro slavery within the limits 
of Virginia. Every successive step of ap- 
proach to this end will be more and more 
calamitous to the economical, social, and po- 
litical interests of this commonwealth; and 
the complete consummation will be one of 
the greatest of evils to the whole of the 
Southern States, of which, as yet, Virginia 
forms an integral part in sentiment, inter- 
est, and in institutions and policy. 

Some persons, even in Virginia, and at 
this late day, would deny that there would 
be these or any general evils produced by 
the extinction of slavery in Virginia, by 
this operation of gradual sale and deporta- 
tion. To the holders of such opinions, or 
any others of the anti-slavery school, I shall 
not oppose a word of argument. There are 
also many other persons who deem that the 
highest price for slaves is always beneficial 
to the owners, and that any injury from their 
sale abroad, at such high prices, if in num- 
bers short of the annual increase, will be 
more than counterbalanced by the large 
sums thus received by the sellers, and added 
to the general wealth of the community. 
Treating this merely as a question of values 
or of economy, I will estimate nothing on 
the score of feeling and humanity, and the 
disruption of all the ties that must be caused 
by this general, though gradual and long- 
continuing deportation of all the slave pop- 
ulation of Virginia. But considering the 
question merely as to values, and without de- 
scending to details, I maintain that no pos- 
sible increase of market price, or of pecuni- 
ary profit to the seller in each particular case 
of the sale of slaves, can compensate the 
commonwealth for the enormous accompany- 
ing evils, even if these evils were merely 



social and political. But to reach the end 
— of the removal of all slaves and of negro 
slavery — which some few of our distinguish- 
ed politicians and political editors even now 
look forward to as a benefit — our people and 
commonwealth must first pass through vari- 
ous other conditions of loss and calamity — 
the gradual deprivation of necessary agri- 
cultural labor — lands reduced more and more 
in price, deprived of necessary means for 
fertilization, badly tilled, and much even 
thrown out of cultivation — the emigration 
of numerous slaveholders and agriculturists, 
and of the wealthier and most industrious 
of our people, because agricultural capital 
in Virginia could no longer yield profit — and 
the general deterioration, social, moral, and 
intellectual, of the remaining diminished 
population of the State. Even the later 
supply and substitution of a laboring class 
of foreigners and Yankees to make up a new 
population (which is the great compensatory 
benefit expected and promised by anti-sla- 
very theoretical reasoners), could not be 
made way for, nor effectively invited, except 
by the prior nearly complete removal of 
slave labor, and the consequent lowest pros- 
tration of prices of the lands and of the 
prosperity of the still existing remnant of 
the original population. When a descent 
shall have been thus made, and every for- 
mer /property-holder has been either driven 
away, or ruined if remaining, it is true that 
a new colonizing of the desolate and wast- 
ed territory might and would be effected, 
and of materials which it is one of the im- 
portant benefits of our present institution 
of negro slavery to keep away and to defend 
us from. I will not attempt, by any oppos- 
ing argument, to lessen the satisfaction of 
those persons who can imagine a recompense 
for thus destroying the present population 
and commonwealth of Virginia, in the pros- 
pective establishment, after a century of 
calamity and desolation, of a Yankee com- 
munity on the territory of Virginia. It is 
not to such reasoners that my remarks are ad- 
dressed, but to those who, like myself, deem 
the existing institution of negro slavery to 
be one of our chief blessings, and that its 
removal, by any means whatever, would be 
an unmixed evil and a curse to the whole 
community. 

So far, reference has been made only (or 
mainly) to general interests and results. 
Let us now consider the subject in its bear- 
ing on private or individual interests. 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



475 



Even if the commonwealth should suffer 
ever so much in the loss of agricultural la- 
bor, in the gradual decline and eventual 
prostration of the price of lands, in the em- 
igration of its best and most wealthy popu- 
lation, in the consequent drying up of the 
sources of public revenue, and so destroying 
public credit if not also State solvency, in 
starving out education, stifling refinement 
of manners, and lowering social character 
and intellectual station — still it would be 
conceded by most persons, that individual 
slave-owners at least are profited by the ex- 
isting high prices, and will be still more 
profited by any further increase of the for- 
eign demand for, and sale, and exportation 
of slaves. This may be true in many par- 
ticular cases, if we look solely to the imme- 
diate interest and gain of the individual sel- 
ler, and to that particular transaction and 
time only. It may be true, and permanent- 
ly, in many more cases, if the individual 
seller (by early emigration or otherwise) shall 
escape being involved in the later and con- 
sequent ruin of his country. But all such 
cases will form but a few exceptions to the 
general rule, that the greatest (supposed) 
private gains of individual sellers of slaves 
at highest prices, will be more than counter- 
balanced in their own shares of the remote 
loss and damage inflicted on the community 
by the whole system of extensive sale and 
deportation of slaves. And putting aside 
the effects on the general interests of the 
commonwealth, the greatest amount of gain 
produced by the high prices of slaves to 
their individual owners are not so great as 
the amount of disadvantage and loss, pro- 
duced by that same cause, to the interests of 
a much greater number of other individuals 
and members of the same community. 

The individuals who are benefited by ob- 
taining prices for slaves too great to be af- 
forded by any persons who would desire to 
buy here, are those only who choose or are 
compelled to sell slaves. There are almost 
no slaveholders and farmers who, of their 
own choice, would, by selling some of their 
slaves, lessen their amount of labor, which is 
already deficient on almost every farm. They 
who thus make partial sales are very gen- 
erally such as are compelled to sell because of 
improvidence, bad management, and conse 
quent debt, or other great necessity. No 
persons look forward to sell, and so to profit 
by the existing or prospective high prices 
of slaves, except those who also expect to 



be compelled by debt ; and these are fewer, 
by many, than the number who will be ac- 
tually so compelled at later times. Then it 
is only the few persons who expect to be 
compelled to sell slaves who also can expect 
to obtain any pecuniary gain from the high- 
est price of slaves. To all other persons, 
more than ten-fold in number, high price is 
either of no operation, good or bad, or it is 
an injury and an obstacle to prevent their 
obtaining greater pecuniary gain by employ- 
ing more slave labor. To the farmer and 
slaveholder of ordinary and average indus- 
try and thirft, whose other means and extent 
of labor increase as his slaves increase by 
procreation and growth, who neither desires 
nor expects to sell or to buy slaves, but only 
to bequeath those which he possesses and 
their increase to his children — it is clear 
that such a person neither gains nor loses 
by high, nor would lose by a low market 
price for slaves. They are worth to him the 
actual value of the net products of their 
labor (which he cannot dispense with), and 
there is no difference to his income or inter- 
ests whether his best slaves would sell for 
fifteen hundred dollars, or for but five hun- 
dred dollars. If a man so situated sells a 
vicious slave, he will need to fill his vacant 
place by the purchase of one more suitable, 
and still there will be neither gain nor loss 
in the rate of price, whether both are high 
or both are low, in the sale and purchase. 
But besides these two classes of farmers 
and slaveholders, there is another, the mem- 
bers of which are the most industrious, 
thriving, and of most utility and benefit to 
their country. These, by the continued ex- 
tending of their agricultural improvements 
and labors, need more slaves than they pos- 
sess, and yet cannot afford to buy them be- 
cause of their exorbitant prices. If to be 
bought at lower and remunerating prices, 
these men alone would buy as many slaves 
as would be sold by all the improvident and 
necessitous owners, and thus there would be 
retained to the commonwealth, and trans- 
ferred to the most profitable service, all the 
labor that is now lost and is so greatly 
needed. There are now in Virginia, even 
of those already slaveholders, ten men of 
this most useful class, who would be glad to 
buy and employ more slaves, where there is 
one of the indebted or improvident class 
who is compelled to sell. And more slaves 
are needed, and would be bought and re- 
tained by residents, if at low prices, than 



476 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[August 



are now sold and sent abroad to obtain the 
present high prices. To say nothing of 
higher considerations, and public or general 
interests, the benefit that would enure to in- 
dividual buyers from greatly and perma- 
nently reduced prices for slaves, would be 
much greater than would thereby be lost in 
price to all the individuals who are sellers. 

But even this is but a very contracted 
view and comparison of the private inter- 
ests at stake — and of the balance of benefit 
that would accrue, first to private individu- 
als, and through them to the community. 
The foregoing estimate and comparison of 
interests were limited to actual slave-owners. 
But the number of slave-owners would be 
greatly increased, (perhaps doubled,) if the 
prices of slaves were greatly reduced. It is 
not needed to set forth the advantages to 
the commonwealth, and to the slaveholding 
interest, of increasing the number of addi- 
tional proprietors of slaves. And besides 
all such new recruits to the slaveholding in- 
terest, every other man in the common- 
wealth, who expected or hoped to be able to 
become a' slaveholder at any future time, 
would deem his wishes and interest for- 
warded and served by such reduction of the 
market price of slaves, as would offer the 
only ground on which to rest his hopes. 

But there are many persons who, even 
while admitting the truth of more or less 
(and even of the whole) of the positions 
here assumed, still will claim, as a great 
gain and profit, both private and public, to 
Virginia, the large amount of money re- 
ceived for the slaves annually sold and car- 
ried to the South. Suppose the number so 
removed, to be now at the rate of twenty 
thousand a year, and they being mostly of 
the more valuable classes, may be averaged 
at eight hundred dollars, making the total 
amount of purchase money sixteen millions 
of dollars a year. Whatever evils and suf- 
ferings may be incident to these sales, it is 
conceded by most persons, and scarcely de- 
nied by any, that the money thus received 
is, at least, so much profit to the sellers, and 
to the commonwealth, in the same manner 
as would be obtained from the sale of any 
other production of agriculture. This I 
deny. Such would indeed be true, if the 
slaves sold were all surplus, and not needed 
either for the service of their owners or the 
benefit of the commonwealth. But such is 
not the case, in any respect. Crops sold 
and exported are entirely surplus, and every 



dollar's worth sent away is so much gain to 
the individual producer and to the public 
interests. And any portion of such surplus, 
that was held back from sale (or as profita- 
ble use or consumption,) would be so much 
of waste and dead loss to the producer and 
to the country. Also of the grazing and 
fattening animals, which constitute the great 
agricultural products of the western portion 
of Virginia, the annual sales are strictly 
confined to the surplus animals, of which 
the removal does not detract from the pres- 
ent productive value, or the future increase 
of the numbers retained on each farm. It 
is an old calumny, often repeated in Eng- 
land and by Northern abolitionists, that ne- 
groes are bred and reared in these older 
Southern States for sale, and that the sur- 
plus individuals are annually, selected for 
market, precisely in the same manner as a 
grazier selects his beasts for sale. If this 
charge were as entirely true as it is entirely 
false, however odious, abhorrent, and inde- 
fensible would be the practice, it yet might 
be truly claimed as being profitable to the 
full extent of the operation. For in that 
case only surplus and therefore useless slaves 
(at home) would be sold — and the number 
so abstracted could never encroach on the 
amount of slave labor required for the most 
profitable tillage of our State ; and, there- 
fore, if these motives and objects, and these 
only, operated to sell our slaves abroad, 
there would be now, and perhaps for many 
years to come, a complete cessation of all 
sales of slaves for exportation. For the 
proper tillage and improvement of our own 
lands, and other uses at home, now require, 
and could advantageeusly employ (if to be 
bought at fair prices,) every slave that is 
now sent out of the State. The actual 
sales are rarely induced because the slaves 
sold are surplus to the owners — and never 
because they are surplus to the common- 
wealth. It is the debt or necessity of the 
owners, that leaves to them no choice, but 
to sell some of their slaves — and it is their 
much greater value and price abroad which 
forbids other persons here from buying and 
retaining the slaves that are sold and car- 
ried away. And when such partial sales 
are compelled, the selected subjects for sale 
are not of the surplus, or the least useful 
individual slaves, but usually of the most 
efficient young laborers, of both sexes, be- 
cause these will command the highest mar- 
ket prices. Further — the sales are not made 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



477 



by owners, or from farms, where slave 
labor is best supplied, and when any loss 
of hands would be least felt — but most gen- 
erally where labor was previously very defi- 
cient, both to the land and to the owner. 

Another view will serve more clearly to 
disprove the alleged pecuniary gain to the 
commonwealth from the sale of slaves. It; 
is a fact, known to every man of observa- j 
tion and intelligence, that labor is greatly 
deficient in all Virginia, ar.d especially in 
the rich western counties, which, for want 
of labor, scarcely yet yield in the proportion 
of one tenth of their capacity. There is 
scarcely a farm in Virginia on which more 
slave labor is not needed, and could not be 
profitably employed in the improvement and 
tillage of the fields. For large spaces, ten 
times the present number of slaves are re- 
quired, and (if bought at low prices) could 
be advantageously employed, for both pri- 
vate and public interests. Under such cir- 
cumstances, the removal of every slave from 
the State is not merely the loss of the value 
of the service or hire of such slave, but of 
all the amount of additional crop or other 
product that the labor of such slave would 
have made if retained, and which has not 
been made, because of his removal and the 
deficiency so caused of so much labor. A 



young negro man may 



now be hired for a 



year for $130 and his maintenance ; and his 

labor, applied to all the other capital of a 

farm that needed his labor, would probably 

add not less than $300 to the net sales of 

products of the farm. If, then, this slave 

were removed from the State, and, of course, 

so much labor as he would have performed 

be omitted, the annual loss to the farm, and 

to the commonwealth, would not be merely 

$130, the market price of his hire, but the 

$300, the value of what would have been 

the net product of his year's labor. Again : 

Suppose that a farmer should be tempted 

by the offer of double prices, to sell all his 

working horses and other plough teams, 

though he would be unable to replace them 

for a year. It is obvious that his consequent 

loss would not be the fair value, or price of 

hire, of so many horses and other working 

teams for a year, but the whole of the crop 

which he would fail to make for want of all 

team-labor, and which would amount to very 

much more than either double or quadruple 

prices for the animals he sold. Now, the 

sale of every useful slave from Virginia is, 

in like manner, a loss to the commonwealth 



of all the net products of the labor of such 
slave if remaining. Such labor cannot be 
replaced for the State ; and therefore the 

loss continues for all the time that the la- 
borer, if retained, would have been useful. 
Four years, estimated at $300 of net pro- 
ducts so lost, would amount to $1,200, or 
about the highest present price for young 
and able men. According to these views, 
the highest prices yet obtained from the 
foreign purchasers of our slaves have never 
left a profit to the State, or produced pecu- 
niary benefit to general interests. And 
even if prices should still continue to in- 
crease, as there is good reason to expect, 
and to dread, until they reach $2,000 or 
more for the best laborers, or $1,200 for the 
general average of ages and sexes, these 
prices, though necessarily operating to re- 
move every slave from Virginia, will still 
cause loss to agricultural and general inter- 
ests, in every particular sale — and finally 
render the State a desert and a ruin. 

R. 

Hanover County, Virginia. 

(From De Bow's Review.) 
<«■». » 

The following very spirited and interesting 
account was received, (we regret to say,) too 
late for our July number, but it will be none the 
less interesting to our readers in consequence of 
the unavoidable delay attending its publica- 
tion. 

There is no part of Virginia,, we believe, 
where the spirit of improvement in stock-rais- 
ing is in advance of the neighbourhood in which 
the exhibition referred to in Mr. Noland's com- 
munication occurred, and there is probably no 
one in that neighbourhood who has contributed 
more largely to the diffusion of that spirit than 
Richard H. Dulany, Esq., who, for years past, 
has been importing some of the finest specimens 
of the best breeds in England. The most per- 
fect Ram of pure South Down blood we ever 
saw was exhibited by him two or three years 
since at the Fair of the Virginia State Agricul- 
tural Society: 

For the Southern Planter. 

Upperville Union Colt Club. 

The annual exhibition of the " Upper- 
ville Union Colt Club," came off on the Kith 
instant. Upperville, you may probably know, 
is a village, beautifully situated among the 
green hills of Loudoun and Fauquier, just 
at the foot of the Blue Ridge and in a sec- 
tion equally noted for its fertility of soil 



478 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



[August 



and beauty of scenery. These lands left 
untitled for a few years, carpet themselves 
in rich turf, and are generally owned by 
men of wealth, who are enthusiastic agri- 
culturists and stock raisers; so that there is 
not wanting rich pasturage, ample means, 
nor the spirit of enterprise necessary to im- 
prove to its highest degree of perfection, 
live stock of all kinds. The hobby of the 
country, however, is the horse, the love of 
which is & passion with this people. Any 
of these " sovereigns," like England's king 
on Bosworth field, would give " his king- 
dom for a horse." Old and young, rich 
and poor, white and black, have a " ga-lau- 
gish " look when in the saddle or handling 
the ribbons, and as a consequence, every 
thing with hair on it is made to move. In 
one family, particularly, it is thought by 
some that the children are born with spurs 
upon their heels, and all the colts come 
" natural pacers." 

For many years past much attention has 
been bestowed on breeding horses for the 
saddle, and such a commingling of pure 
" riding blood " was never known in any 
other country. " Hiatoga," " Robroy," 
"Saltram," "Torn," and "Telegraph," 
hold place in the affections of the people, 
and each is as highly esteemed by his 
friends as if " all the blood of all the How- 
ards " had coursed through his veins. The 
wonder is that the product of such moving 
crosses ever stand still long enough to get a 
saddle on. A very interesting confirmation 
of the theory that the " acquired traits of 
the progenitor transmitted to the offspring," 
is here found in the fact that many of these 
colts, before they are " bitted," excell in 
what we call the artificial gaits — rack, dog- 
trot, &c. (And let me tell you, by-the-way, 
that the " dog-trot" is the very perfection 
of a travelling gait. In it the greatest dis- 
tance per day is accomplished, with little 
fatigue to horse or rider, and, if you want 
to feel like a business-man, a freeman and a 
gentleman, at one and the same time, just 
get a good dog-trotter and go ahead.) 

Of late the attention of the horse-breeder 
of this section has been divided between 
the saddle and quick-draught horse, and 
the introduction of the Black Hawk, Mes- 
senger, Madison, Hunter, Cleveland and 
Moss Grey, strongly suggests the idea of 
"2.40," if only a level could be found 
among these hills on which to lay a "plank." 
This, however, is not the land of " fast" 



men nor fast horses, so that these colts will 
have to find their level elsewhere ) but, if 
in light draught, you seek high style, great, 
beauty, and perfect grace, here you find it 
in full perfection. I predict that the influ- 
ence of this Colt Club will be impressed 
upon the character of the horse throughout 
the State, and that these shows will become 
marts for the sale of fine horses, at which 
every want may be supplied. There were 
upwards of eighty entries in the different 
classes, and the Club on this occasion dis- 
tributed about $500 in premiums, consisting 
of beautifully wrought silver cups ; and if 
merit could have been fully rewarded, dou- 
ble the amount would have J)een disposed 
of. I send you herewith a list of awards, 
and can but regret that circumstances will 
not admit of iuv calling attention to some 
of the unsuccessful competitors, who though 
losing the high prize, are yet well worthy of | 
a commendatory notice. 

First Premiums — $20 Cup. 
Geo. S. Ayre — Heavy draught 1 year old 

stallion. 
Jno. M. Scott — Heavy draught 2 year old 

stallion. 
Jno. Grant — Heavy draught 2 year old 

gelding. 
Joseph Jeffries — Heavy draught 3 year old 

stallion. 
Rich'd E. DeButts — Heavy draught 3 year 

old filly. 
N. Berkeley — Quick draught 1 year old 

stallion — Madison Hunter. 
N. Berkeley — Quick draught 2 year old 

stallion — Madison Hunter. 
Samuel Tebbs — Quick draught 2 year old 

filly— Black Hawk. 
H. Gr. Dulany — Quick draught 3 year old 

stallion. 
Rich'd H. Dulany — Quick draught 3 year' 

old filly — Cleveland Bay. 
J. Thos. Smith — Saddle, 1 year old stal 

lion — Oregon. 
Sam'l T. Ashby— Saddle, 2 year old stal-i 

lion. 
Thos. Foster — Saddle, 2 year old gelding — 

Tom. 
Robt. Carter — Saddle, 3 year old stallion — 

Tom Telegraph. 
Dr. J. Bushrod Rust — Saddle, 3 year old 

filly— Tom Telegraph. 

Second Premiums — $15 Cup. 
Sam'l Tebbs — Heavy draught 1 year old 

Scrivington colt 






1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



479 



Robt. Carter — Heavy draught 2 year old 

gelding. 
Ashton Marshall — Heavy draught 3 year 

old Oregon filly. 
Rich'd H. Dulany — Quick draught 1 year 

old Scrivington colt. 
R Welby Carter — Quick draught 2 year 

old Black Hawk colt. 
Sam'l Tebbs — Quick draught 2 year old 

Black Hawk filly. 
Caleb Rector — Quick draught 3 year old 

St. Lawrence colt. 
A. C. Randolph — Quick draught 3 year old 

filly— (Gipsey). 
F. Lewis Marshall — Saddle, 1 year old 

Oregon colt. 
Dr. T. Eliason — Saddle, 2 year old colt. 
J. Bushrod Rust — Saddle, 2 year old filly. 
Col. Ham'l Rogers — Saddle, 3 year old 

Saltram colt. 
Geo. S. Ayres — Saddle, 3 year old filly. 

Among the old horses for which no pre- 
miums were offered, I noticed Mr. R. H. 
Dulahy's splendid imported Cleveland bay, 
Scrivington — a horse of great power, and 
suited to all work — the Black Hawk horse 
of the same owner — the getter of more fine 
colts than any other on exhibition ; a Mes- 
senger horse of Mr. R. Welby Carter, which 
gives great promise ; Mr. Marshall's Oregon, 
a fine mover, and the getter of several of 
the premium colts; Mr. Nath'l Burrell's 
Moss Grey, which has about him all the 
points of a quick draught horse, and seve- 
ral others of merit. 

The success of this enterprise will, I 
hope, induce the formation of similar clubs 
throughout the State, under the influence of 
which Virginia will become famous for her 
fine horses. Yours, R. W. N. N. 



From Hunt's Merchants' Magazine. 

Manufacture of Paper from Straw. 

A German invention for treating straw so 
as to produce a pulp suitable for the eco- 
nomical manufacture of paper, is said to 
successfully meet the difficulties that have 
heretofore attended the process. The straw 
is first steeped entire for sixty hours, in 
spring, rain, or river water, of a tempera- 
ture of from fifty-five to eighty-five degrees, 
according to the season of the year. After 
some hours, the water becomes gradually 
warm and discolored, and an active fermen- 
tation takes place. After sixty-hours, the 
liquid is suffered to run off, and the straw is 



washed with a plentiful supply of water, in 
order to remove all the soluble coloring 
matter. The straw is then drained, and 
while still damp is subjected to the action of 
millstones, rolling on a plane surface, or 
passed between a pair of rollers, in order to 
flatten the straw. It is then forced between 
other rollers furnished with cutters, or other 
suitable apparatus, whereby the straw is 
formed into filaments or fibres, as long and 
continuous as possible. 

When thus reduced, the straw is exposed 
to the air and sun, for the purpose of dry- 
ing it, after which process the straw will 
have assumed a pale yellow color. By sub- 
jecting the straw to the action of water, 
and subsequently exposing it to the air and 
light, it becomes bleached to a certain ex- 
tent j but by means of a subsequent process, 
it is completely divested of all coloring 
matter, and is rendered perfectly white. 
After having been submitted to the process 
referred to, the straw is steeped for one or 
more days, according as it is in a more or 
less filamentous state, in one or more chemi- 
cal preparations, the filaments being first 
treated either with the alkaline solutions, or 
by the solutions of hypochloride of soda or 
potash ; and sometimes for a longer or 
shorter period, with the preparations of hy- 
pochloride of lime, until the straw has ac- 
quired the requisite degree of whiteness. 
By these processes the straw becomes re- 
duced to beautiful filaments, which may 
readily be converted into pulp. 

< •» • » > 

From Hunt's Merchants' Magazine. 

Means of Preserving Timber. 

Oils are preservatives of wood, as is 
evidenced in the case of whaling ships, 
which seem to be proof against decay. Hot 
oil has been experimented with in impreg- 
nating wood ) but while it rendered it more 
durable, it injured the tenacity of the fibres. 
From tha well known preservative nature of 
arsenic, it would be effectual for preserving- 
timber, but its use is attended with much 
danger. Timber impregnated with a solu- 
tion of tannin is rendered preservative, by 
the tannin combining with the albumen, 
and forming an insoluble compound, in the 
same manner that leather is produced by 
the combination of the tannin with the 
gelatin of skins. Creosote is an excellent 
preservative of wood, and the efficacy of 
common tar, for this purpose, is attributed 
to the creosote it contains. The boiling of 



480 



1 
THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[July 



timber in wood tar renders it highly preser- 
vative, but it impairs its strength. About 
two gallons of creosote to every one hun- 
dred" gallons of water, makes a sufficiently 
strong solution for use. Burnett's process 
for preserving wood consists in the use of a 
chloride of zinc solution — one pound to 
every five gallons of water, and is applied 
in the same manner as the corrosive subli- 
mate. For ship timber it is much superior 
to the corrosive sublimate, because the com- 
pound which it forms with the albumen of 
the wood is insoluble in salt water, which is 
not the case with the mercury compound. 
The chloride of zinc, and the sulphate of cop- 
per are the most simple, and the best pre- 
servatives, considering the cost. Shingles 
for roofs of houses, boiled in a solution of 
the sulphate of copper or pure salt, will last 
many years longer than they otherwise would. 



From the New England Farmer. 

Ornithology. 

BY S. P. FOWLER. 

The family of wrens in the United States 
and Territories is composed of 12 species, 
and includes the genus regulus, (crested 
wrens) and the Troglodytes or proper wrens. 
The only species I have observed in Dan- 
vers are the house wren, winter wren, marsh 
wren, golden-crested wren and ruby-crown- 
ed wren. The common house wren, (Sylvia 
Domestica of Wilson,) which I intend more 
particularly to notice, is the most numerous 
species found 'in Massachusetts. It has 
become completely domesticated, is never 
seen in our woods and forests, and seldom 
noticed far from the habitations of men. 
With the protection it everywhere receives, 
it is singular it is not found more abund- 
antly, as it rears two broods of young in a 
season, and lays from six to nine eggs. Its 
habits are very peculiar and eccentric, pos- 
sessing individuality in a high degree. It is 
never moved by a particle of gregarious 
emotions so common in birds ; on the con- 
trary, two pair of wrens can never endure 
each other's presence in a* garden, a quarrel 
always taking place, and one of them is 
forced to quit the premises. Although 
quite a small specimen of ornithology, it is 
smart and courageous, petulant and imperi- 
ous. It seldom fails to assault the peacea- 
ble blue-bird, when preparing to breed in 
the neighborhood, by visiting its nest in the 
owner's absence, and committing outrages, 



of which one would suppose such little 
birds would not be found guilty, but leave 
such exploits to be performed by the cau- 
tious, piratical crow, or the handsome fili- 
bustering blue jay. These visits of the 
wren to the domicil of the blue-bird are for 
the purpose of demolishing its nest, or suck- 
ing its eggs, and if surprised in these felo- 
nious intentions by the return of the mild, 
but justly indignant bird which wears the 
blue coat, it evades its deserved punishment 
about to be inflicted, by fluttering to the 
ground on its short curved wings, when it 
conceals itself in the shrubbery or passing 
along under cover, a few rods, it rises again 
to the top of a tree, and utters its hurried, 
thrilling notes in defiance. 

While thus invading the premises of 
others, the wren is very careful of its own ; 
not a bird can come near them for honest 
and peaceful purposes, without a hostile 
threat, or severe scolding, such an one as 
no other songster, but the one in a drab 
colored dress, knows how to inflict. Not- 
withstanding all this, the little churl posses- 
ses good qualities, alike noticeable in birds 
as well as men. Its domestic habits are ad- 
mirable, taking the best care of its numer- 
ous offspring, being careful to warn them of 
the dangers, which beset their youthful 
fights, and of the cruel habits of the feline 
race, as every stealthy marauding cat, (our 
bird's greatest enemies and tonne nters) 
would be compelled to admit, could these 
felines, (which should be shot, every one of 
them, when found in a garden,) be made to 
testify. The wren is also an industrious 
bird, its industry being peculiar, and not 
noticed in other birds. It builds a large 
nest, if we regard its surroundings, compo- 
sing a foundation of short crooked sticks,! 
that one would suppose would be very difli-j 
cult to be managed by so small a bird. His 1 
labors, (I here speak more particularly of 
the male,) are not confined to constructing 
in connection with his mate, a cradle for his 
young, but embrace other than this, a 
constant instinctive desire to labor, when 
nothing useful is produced, in building 
nests not wanted, and but half formed 
The wren is busy in this unproductive 
work, simply because he must be employed, 
cannot afford to be idle. 

We sec this industrious trait of character 
in men and think it commendable. I have 
never seen any thing like it in birds, with 
the exception of the one under considera- 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



481 



tion, and it lias also been noticed in the 
house wren of Europe. This labor is usu- 
ally performed by the wren, when not par- 
ticularly engaged with its own affairs, by 
odd jobs, as we say, chiefly when the female 
is engaged in incubation, when time passes 
slowly with him, helping to fill up a long- 
day in June; with other engagements, stich 
as scolding at the cat, as soon as he gets his 
eye upon her, prying into every nook and 
corner of the garden, by creeping about 
more like a mouse than a bird, and striving 
to obtain a general meddlesome knowledge of 
the affairs of all birds in his neighborhood. 
This labor, as we have before intimated, 
consists in forming as many half-finished 
nests as he can find boxes in which to 
build. 

A friend of mine, desirous of getting as 
many of these birds to breed in his garden 
as possible, placed some two or three boxes 
in his grounds for their accommodation. In 
conversation he .observed to me one day, 
that his boxes were filled with wrens, and 
was much pleased with the supposed fact. 
Knowing the singular propensity of this 
bird to engage in useless labor, I remarked, 
upon examination he would probably find 
but one pair of wrens in his garden. Ah ! 
but, says he, I saw the birds go in and out 
of the boxes, and build their nests. I re- 
plied, we will examine them, and see if we 
can find eggs or young. Upon examination 
we found in all the boxes, but the one that 
was the true domicil of the wrens, nothing 
but a mass of short, crooked sticks ! I 
never had but one pair of wrens in my 
grounds at the same time, although I have 
heard persons say they had two pair in the 
spring, but one of them was caught by a 
cat. I suppose ; in this particular case, 
grimalkin's character had suffered unjustly, 
which so seldom happens in the imputed] 
cases of bird-catching, I am particularly, 
desirous here to notice. In my grounds 
the wren raises two broods in a year, and its 
sprightly and tremulous note is heard as 
late as the 20th of September. But little \ 
is known of its migratory habits j where it 
goes in autumn, and from whence it comes 
in spring, no ornithologist knows. It man- 
ages with its short wings to migrate beyond 
the limits of the union ; most probably to 
Mexico. It comes to us in the night, and 
its pleasing, lively note is first heard upon a 
pleasant morning in the early part of May. 

Knowing, friend Brown, your love for 
31 



birds, Fsend you with this communication 
an olive-jar expressly prepared for kitty 
wren. In these jars 1 have; found them 
more inclined to breed than in anything 
else, having had one of them in my garden 
for many years. The way and manner of 
placing it upon a pole, I have, I think, in- 
formed you. 

Danvensport, April 30th, 1850. 



The Influence of Salt upon the Growth 
and Health of Cattle. 

The practice of salting stock at regular 
intervals, of generally about once a week, is 
maintained by all good farmers. When cat- 
tle and other farm stock are allowed to par- 
take of salt at pleasure, it is found that in 
the season of the year when the grass is 
making its most luxuriant growth and is the 
most succulent, the consumption of salt is 
the greatest. Besides the beneficial effects 
of salt upon the animal system, its use 
serves as an important means to call to- 
gether at stated periods the large herds that 
are pastured on the prairies and plains. 
Stock that have been thus treated expect it 
and are ready to answer at the first call of 
the herdsman. 

Boussingault made some observations con- 
cerning the influence of salt upon the fat- 
tening of cattle. His experiments show 
that salt does not exert that beneficial influ- 
ence on the growth of cattle and the pro- 
duction of flesh which is usually attributed 
to it. His experiments extended over a 
period of thirteen months, and were made 
upon a number of steers, some of which 
had their rations salted, while others had 
not ; in other respects they were treated in 
a precisely similar manner. The results 
show that the increase in the proportion of 
flesh does not pay for the salt employed. It 
is, however, remarked that a saline diet 
does exert a beneficial effect on the appear- 
ance and condition of the animals, for the 
steers which were deprived of salt for 
eleven months appeared sluggish and of a 
languid temperament, their coats being 
rough, devoid of gloss and partially bare, 
while those which had been fed with salt 
were lively, had a fine glossy coat, and were 
sure to attain a considerably higher price 
in the market. 

From the observations of this distin- 
guished agriculturist and chemist, although 
it does not appear that there was an actual 



482 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[August 



cash profit in feeding salt to his steers, yet j 
from the slock, healthy appearance of those 
treated to it, it evidently contributed to j 
their health, and we believe nature not only 
demands, but requires it. — Valley Farmer. 



For the Southern Planter. 

Tobacco the Bane of Virginia Husbandry. 
No. 4. 

Let it be granted that a plantation with 
the proper equipment of hands under the 
tobacco system, can work out of the soil a 
larger income in dollars and cents for a 
limited number of years by the tobacco 
crop, than can be realized in cash by a farm- 
ing course — yet it may be shown, that the 
tobacco culture is an illustration of the Fa- 
ble of the Goose that laid the golden eggs — 
it may be worth the while in this progres- 
sive age to present the arguments on the 
other side, notwithstanding the above for- 
midable admission, sustained as it seems to 
be by " the Almighty Dollar." 

Not one jot or tittle of the charge against 
tobacco, as the most exhausting of all crops 
can be abated. The impoverished fields of 
the whole State, where it was once cultiva- 
ted as the staple crop, but for *he last quar- 
ter century has been abandoned because it 
no longer yielded a remuneration for the 
labor employed in its production, is conclu- 
sive evidence of the alleged fact. 

Every county of Virginia, from the sea- 
board to the head of tide-water, with seve- 
ral tier of counties . above, in their natural 
State one of the loveliest regions on earth, 
now presents a standing monument against 
the ruthless destroyer, in a wilderness of 
piney old fields and gullied hiil-sides, hith- 
erto the acknowledged fruits of the tobacco 
culture. 

It is now argued, that Virginia owes her 
late reduced state to the corn culture, and 
not to tobacco, and as a farther apology for 
tobacco, that the country ^was originally 
poor. 

The fact that corn has been continually a 
profitable crop, throughout all the counties 
where tobacco has ceased to be cultivated, 
is well known ; and it is equally well known 
that the corn crops have been steadily in- 
creasing in productiveness since tobacco has 
been given up, which is a sufficient answer 
to the unjustifiable assumption. And as to 
the original poverty of the country, we need 



only refer to one witness to the contrary, 
whose testimony will hardly be questioned ; 
the most authentic and earliest Historian of 
Virginia — the gallant and distinguished, 
and above all, the Christian gentleman, 
Capt. John Smith. See Smith's History of 
Virginia upon the point. If the testimony 
of this witness, added to the every-where- 
existing-frightful piney old-field and gullied 
hill-side monument, do not convince, it may 
be useless to resort to any further argument 
on this point. But let the subject be pre- 
sented under the only aspect likely to attract 
the attention of the mass of cultivators — 
the pound, shilling and pence aspect — and 
results may be shown upon bases of fair i 
calculation, that will bring the rival systems 
of the plantation and farm more nearly upon a 
par as to profits, than the larger cash in- I 
come from tobacco, claimed by its advocates, j t 
would seem to allow. 

It may be safely assumed, that three times | 
as many hands are necessary, and usually 
employed for a full-handed and well-found 
tobacco plantation, as for a farm of the 
same arable surface, upon a strictly farming 
system. We will make our calculations upon 
a medium sized plantation of twelve hands ; 
a farm of the same arable surface and* equal 
value would require four hands, and here of 
course in the all-important item of labor, 
the value of the hire of eight hands is fair- 
ly chargeable against the plantation, and 
forms a large offset against the tobacco cash 
income — but it is fair here to allow that the 
greater cost of utensils and machinery upon 
the farm than the plantation, must go in 
abatement of the offset referred to above. 
Nevertheless, when the increased annual 
value of the real estate of the farmer is 
taken into the account, (as it reasonably 
should,) it leaves but a small, if any, bal- 
ance of cash in favor of the plantation sys- 
tem, and if nearly equal at the outset, there 
must, soon, be a wide difference between 
them. 

If the planter, with all the modern pro- 
gress of agricultural science, aided by the 
new fertilizers, can improve or keep up the 
value of his land, (a question yet requiring 
further experience to settle,) it may be as- 
sumed, that he cannot improve his land in 
any degree of comparison with the farmer, 
for reasons already shown in my former 
numbers — the value of the real estate of 
the planter, if not positively at a stand-still, 
advances at a snail's pace in comparison 



1850.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



483 



with that of the skilful farmer. True, the 
farmer's improvements cannot be represented 
by any fixed quantity, for they depend upon 
the skill and energy of the manager, which 
is ever variable. The marked difference 
between the two is discoverable in many 
points. The planter may have a larger 
amount of dollars to meet his indebtedness 
when he sells his tobacco, than comes at 
any one time in the year into the hands of 
the farmer — but the planter has to draw 
upon his dollars to buy a part of his bread 
corn, almost all his meat, and the whole of 
his teams; the farmer makes and raises 
them all at home. 

The planting system is essentially connect- 
ed with the credit system— although the weed 
always commands the cash — yet the planter 
is kept behind the time, because it takes 
him a year and a half to compass his crop, 
while the farmer gets through all in a year. I 

If the planter has any surplus funds after j 
paying for his necessary supplies, thej' go ! 
to buy fresh lands and more hands to make | 
tobacco : the skilful farmer's investments 
go to the addition of his real estate, an in- 
vestment which never fails, as legally con- 
stituted bodies corporate sometimes do. — 
Moreover, the farmer's improvements are' 
identified with all the more rational endear- 
ments of home. Where, beside the broad 
acres under a course of improving husban- j 
dry, are seen the ever fresh and still grow- ' 
ing comforts of the garden, the verdant' 
lawn, the shade trees, and the blithe painted 
cottage, with the farm yard hard by, with ! 
all its interesting accompaniments, forming 
a little earthly paradise. Now let us com- 
pare with this the plantation and its domi- 
cile — often a dilapidation in the midst 
(technically speaking) of a standing tobac- 
co lot; if inclosed, fenced in with a worm 
fence made of mauled rails — including half 
an acre for a cabbage patch, called the gar- 
den, leaving a narrow margin of turf around 
the unpainted dwelling, because more could 
not be spared from the tobacco crop. These : 
form the well known features of the estab- 1 
lishments of many of the devotees of the; 
tobacco culture. But after all it is still tri- 
umphantly harped that the planter can 
make a larger amount of dollars than the 
farmer ; but admitting it to be so, has not 
the time come when the reduced state of 
the fee simple value of the country calls for 
a change ? 

It is the highest aspiration of the regular 



tobacco maker to add to the number of his 
hands, buy fresh lands, and make larger 
crops of tobacco. 

Strange that the obduracy of agricultu- 
ral habit, in our enlightened community, 
and this progressive age, should hold so 
many still, spell bound to a system which 
the face of the country, from the sea-board 
to the mountains bears melancholy testimony 
to the ruinous effects of, in that it has con- 
verted one of the loveliest regions of the 
earth into a broad wilderness of pincy old 
fields and gullied hill sides — nor is it with- 
in the compass of human ingenuity to con- 
ceal the fact, that this wide spread ruin has 
been the work of the tobacco culture. 

But we may console ourselves that " all 
things are mutable and nothing fixed," and 
that the culture of tobacco in Virginia, 
must, in the nature of things, continue to 
run down, and must finally give place to the 
more rational, moral, and comfortable farm- 
ing system. The blessings of this change 
are apparent already in all the tide-water 
counties from which tobacco has been long- 
est excluded. Recently these counties are 
showing a degree of improvement, which 
will soon bring up the value of their lands 
to those of the best of the now remaining 
"tobacco-land" districts; the price of the 
former are* steadily advancing, while the 
price of the latter must inevitably fall under 
the short process of three successive crops, 
which always does the work of completely 
exhausting the richest soil for tobacco, until 
it is manured. But if the present high 
prices under the stimulating artifice of the 
lottery, gambling: principle, which of late 
years has been brought into the market, 
leads to keeping up the crop, the effects 
must be disastrous, morally, as well as agri- 
culturally. 

The mass of tobacco makers will judge 
of the arguments urging the abandonment 
of the crop, upon the exclusive principles 
of rural economy, but there are many indi- 
viduals of the highest class amongst them — 
that class that constitute " the salt of the 
earth," — to whom the matter may be pre- 
sented under a far more interesting aspect, 
than the pound, shilling and pence aspect. 
I shall therefore address my future numbers 
to those only that hold themselves responsi- 
ble for the morality of their calling. 

(Signed) John H. Cocke. 

« m m m > ■ 

To thine own self be true. 



484 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



[August 



From the Gardner's Monthly. 

The Philosophy of Transplanting. 

What is the secret of successful plant- 
ing ? Why do some trees live, and some die 
under the operation ? Why do they not all 
live ? Why do any of them die ? 

Though comprising some of the simplest 
of questions, and affording as simple answers, 
who has ever heard a satisfactory one given ? 
Jupiter, when he undertook to receive the 
complainings of the sons of men, could not 
be more struck with the opposite nature of 
their wants and wishes, than a new beginner 
in the planting line must be at the varying 
and contradictory advice he is constantly re- 
ceiving. " Don't plant in fall," " Don't 
plant in spring," " Prune severely," " Don't 
prune," " Water at planting," " Don't 
water:" but we may as well stop. As to 
reasoning on the matter, who attempts it ? 
Some few do ; but how do they do it ? 
" Dogmatically, dictatorially and absurdly." 

" I have done with getting trees from 
Brown. Lost three-fourths of what I got 
from him last year." 

" Trees do best from a change of soil. 
Those I got from neighbor Smith's nursery 
all died. Those from Nebraska all lived." 

" It don't do to spit on your hands while 
planting trees. I set out two last year ; had 
to stop for that purpose while filling in one, 
and that one died; the other is doing well." 

Of course, you will say the last reasoning 
is absurd, but it is no more so than any of 
the others. 

Now, if we can only demonstrate why a 
transplanted tree dies at all, all the ques- 
tions about the time and season and manner 
of planting may be compressed into a small 
paragraph. It needs no reasoning to tell us 
an umbrella is useful in rainy weather, or 
that a well-corked bottle will keep the liquid 
safely inside for an indefinite period, and 
yet these simple facts might be so confused 
by words, and obscured by scientific verbi- 
age, that a score of opinions might be con- 
scientiously entertained of them. This is 
the way errors arise in the idea of tree 
planting. We read learned disquisitions 
on the functions of the leaves, and their 
relation to the roots — of the cellR and tis- 
sues, and of crude sap and sap elaborated ; 
and after all the terms in physiology have 
been exhausted to show the cause of the 
death of a transplanted tree, it all amounts 
to this matter-of-fact conclusion : that it 
died through being (hied np\ 



Through being dried up! You may as 
well tell us an animal dies for want of breath. 

And if it does, we may not be able to 
give the breath, but we may give the ne- 
cessary moisture to the tree. To make the 
matter plain, if we take up one of two 
trees, and leave it exposed for a few days, 
it dies, — it withers and shrinks away ; but 
the other lives on as ever. Evaporation is 
continually going on from the branches of 
trees. In the exposed tree the roots are 
prevented from supplying the waste ; in the 
other they maintain the balance ; so that 
the one dies and the other lives. 

Shall we now say that every case of death 
from transplanting is only a modification of 
this simple process ? Indeed, it is from no 
other cause. The tree has dried up. 

It is a remarkable circumstance that our 
physiological writers have, nearly, we may 
say quite, overlooked this matter of evapo- 
ration. Only a few days ago, we read a 
very learned disquisition, showing that trees 
should never be pruned at transplanting, 
because the speedy production of roots was 
a great object; and as the elaborated sap 
in the branches was the matter from which 
roots were formed, why the more branches 
the better for the roots. All true enough, 
my good friend, if you could prevent the 
moisture from drying out in the mean time; 
but there's the rub, — the more surface the 
more waste. 

A few day? ago, one-half of a large worm 
was thrown into the writer's aquarium, as 
food for the fish ; the other half was for- 
gotten, and left in the open air. A few 
hours after, and this half was entirely 
dead — dried up. The half in the water- 
tank had managed to get beneath a rock, 
safe from the watering mouths of the pikes 
and tadpoles, and twenty-four hours after, 
it was still there, as lively as ever. " That 
is the idea again !" we exclaimed, — the 
check to evaporation saved its life. It could 
not easily dry up there ; and so we carried 
the idea again to the tree. * 

Instead of laying neglected on the 
ground, we will say that it is actually plant- 
ed. The roots are more or less mutilated — 
that is a necessary result of removal, — and 
many not mutilated are not, even with the 
best care, so closely imbedded or surround- 
ed by soil, as to be able to obtain the same 
amount of moisture from the earth it could 
before transplanting. And now immedi- 
ately follows a bitter cold windy day, or a 



1859.] 



TIIE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



485 



hot and dry time, when the veryekiefl 
like brass, and all nature seems languid and 
debilitated ; the sap is exhausted faster than 
the roots, so circumstance;], can supply, and 
just the same as in the totally neglected 
tree, it dies — (hies up. 

But the result is not often so palpable. 
No cold winds or hot days perhaps follow 
for a long time, but the soil is cold, and un- 
favorable to the production of new roots, 
and so the tree stays in a state of rest, — 
.laying up no treasures, taking no thought 
of to-morrow, — and when the adverse time 
does come, its sandy foundation is discover- 
ed. It dies — it dries vp. So we may go 
on through a score of illustrations. Still 
the same explanations, the same reasoning, 
the same result : it dies — it dries up. 

From all this it follows, that to succeed 
in transplanting, all that is necessary is to 
have control of the evaporating power of 
the tree — to prevent, in plain language, the 
sap from drying out of the tree, until the 
roots have made new fibres, and thus able 
to supply whatever demands the branches 
may make on them for moisture. 
a There are, then, two periods when it is 
good to plant trees ; one is when there is 
very little evaporation going on from the 
top of the tree : the other when the roots 
are active, and the fibres are pushing with 
freedom and vigor, and the best time is 
when we can get the two to work together. 
This is not easy. When the thermometer 
ranges between 30° and 40,° little or no 
evaporation is going on — the air is saturated 
with moisture, and a tree might be dug up, 
and suffered to lie for a week with its roots 
exposed, without experiencing material in- 
jury. Such times we often find in Novem- 
ber and December, February and March, 
and at various times at other seasons. But 
the opposite objection arises; the ground is 
cold, and the roots, though not perhaps en- 
tirely dormant, are but little active. Again 
in the spring the roots are very active, and 
are ready to draw water almost as soon as 
the tree is transplanted ; but — again that 
implacable but — the wood has become soft 
and spongy, and the atmosphere warm and 
drying, and evaporation goes on so very, yc/y 
fast, that the advantages of the newly push- 
ing roots are more than balanced. 

In whatever way we look at the subject, 
this conclusion is apparent; that to be suc- 
cessful with tree-planting, evaporation from 
the branches must be checked until the new 



fibres push. Recognize this principle, and 
fcreea may be transplanted at any time of 

the year. 

What will our readers say to the doctrine 
that deciduous tree.: can be removed more 
successfully in May and June than at any 
other season ? But it is a fact. It must 
not be done in the usual way. The leaves 
have to be stripped off, and the young 
growth shortencd-in ; evaporation is arrest- 
ed, and the young roots, rejoicing in their 
newly -found liberty, push forth in all direc- 
tions, and sustain the tree at once. New 
buds and leaves start immediately, and the 
tree goes on apparently with very little 
check. 

Over and over again have we seen,, du- 
ring the past few seasons, trees taken up in 
May and June, and in xYugust and Septem- 
ber, and with the most complete success. 

And now, dear reader, do not think that 
we are offering you crude theories, that have 
yet to be elaborated by the pure air of prac- 
tice; or that we have taken an idea from 
some contemporary's sensation leaders, and 
with the aid of a few principles stolen from 
some learned physiologist's deductions, turn- 



ed out of the editorial machine a piece of 
iwork that is to astonish you. That is some- 
times true, and the authors or manufactu- 
rers get a, greater reputation for learning 
than the more honest fools, as Shakspeare 
calls them. But this idea of late spring 
planting is becoming very practical here. 
It is now understood by many^ of our prac- 
I tical planters. As we now write, (first week 
jin June) one of our most popular jobbing- 
gardeners is driving by our office, with a 
la.ge load of trees, which he would warrant 
:for a small percentage, to give you more 
satisfaction than trees planted in March. 

It is more trouble, to be sure, to prune 
.and strip the leaves from the trees, and the 
whole care required to control this evapora- 
tion costs more than trees set out in the 
usual time and way; but to many a man, 
labor is better worth five dollars in April, when 
every thing has to be done at once, than it 
is in June, when nearly all is finished up. 

Without making this chapter too long, it 
'is impossible to go into the details of this 
jidea as we would like to do. The reader 
'must apply the principle for himself. He 
must check evaporation till new roots are 
j produced, either by syringing, or shading, 

he must do all 



or pruning, 



disleafim 



I he can to insure a rapid formation of new 



486 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[August 



fibres. He must, in fact, experiment and 
observe a little for himself; and when he, 
as he soon will be, becomes master of the 
idea, he may remove things at any time of 
year when he has the most leisure and in- 
clination. 



From the Indiana Farmer. 

Straw and its Waste— Its Worth per 
Acre. 

BY J. J. MECHI,OF TIPTREE HALL, ENGLAND. 

Sir, This is a vital question for agricul- 
ture. For many years I have been gradu- 
ally more and more convinced that straw 
has a considerable value for feeding pur- 
poses, for which alone it should be used, in 
order to extract from it the largest profit. 

It is true that, when I have propounded 
this notion in the presence of practical 
farmers, their shouts of laughter have testi- 
fied to their disbelief; and I have smiled at 
their prejudices and miscalculation, in con- 
scious conviction that they would gradually 
have to surrender at discretion. 

The quantity of wheat straw removed 
from an acre of well-farmed clay, where the 
average is 40 bushels per acre, would be 2 
tons per acre. Science has shown us that, 
plowed in and considered as manure, its 
worth is but $2.24 per ton ; while, used as 
food, it will, if properly prepared, realize a 
value of $10.00 per ton. Now what farmer 
would knowingly throw away $10 to $15 
per acre, in so economic a business as farm- 
ing ? and yet, this is literally being done 
over millions of acres. 

It is denied that straw has a greater value 
as food than as manure, it would, by parity 
of reasoning, be desirable to compare the 
manurial and feeding values of oilcake, bar- 
ley, beans, peas, hay and roots. 

While my farming friends ridicule my 
dislike to plowing in straw, they would stand 
aghast at my proposing to them to plow in 
their barley-meal, linseed-cake, or other feed- 
ing material. 

But I can see no difference : the folly or 
error in eaeh caie is equal, and the loss com- 
paratively as great. 

Whence does this singular disbelief arise ? 
Simply because the straw, in an unprepared 
condition, is not in an available condition as 
food. 

I purpose to give a practical illustration 
of this question, by a statement of my own 



proceedings; but every one who would un- 
derstand the question in its most compre- 
hensive view, should study Mr. Horsfall's 
admirable papers on dairy management, in 
the Society's Journal. The whole feeding 
question may be considered as greatly de- 
veloped by these papers. 

The question of converting both our straw 
and our roots more advantageously than we 
now do, is a true breeches-pocket question 
for the British farmer ; nor are the pub- 
lic less interested in the more abundant 
supply of meat, which would naturally fol- 
low the more economic use for our straw 
and roots. 

The general appearance of thriving ani- 
mals is unmistakable. If, after feeding, 
they lie down contentedly, free from restless- 
ness, all goes on well. Such is the case with 
my ten young shorthorn bullocks, of Irish 
breed, about 30 months old, which were 
bought at $45 each, in 1858. 

They consume daily — 

216 gallons cut wheat straw 

6 do rapecake $0 60 

3 do malt-combs 09 

5 do bran 10 

Moistened by 
20 gallons of hot water (bean straw re- 
quires twice the quantity) ... 



300 lbs. of mangel-wurtzel 64 

In round numbers, they cost at the rate 
of $0.84 ' per week, independent of the 
wheat straw. If I value the wheat straw 
at $10.00 per ton, it would add $0.60 to 
their weekly cost. The roots I value at 
$2.50 per ton. The animals are in a fatten- 
ing and growing condition, and evidently 
are advancing remuneratively. This we can 
judge of by their appearance, as I have not, 
like Mr. Horsfall, a weighing machine for 
cattle. Nothing tests the value or force of 
food so soon as milking cows. I strictly ad- 
here to Mr. Horsfall's proportions of food 
for mine ; and the result is an ample sup- 
ply of milk, and an increase in condition. 

The food for each cow is as follows, daily : 
20 lbs. straw chaff; 8 lbs. of hay ; 5 lbs. 
rapecake ; 2 lbs. bean meal £ lbs. bran ; f 
lbs. malt-combs ; 35 lbs. mangel or Swedes. 
Cost (without straw), $1.82 per week. 

The whole question may be said to hinge 
upon the condition in which the food is ad- 
ministered. It must be moist and warm ; 
and the animals must have proper warmth 
and shelter. As a general rule, this is not 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



487 



the case throughout the kingdom ; hence 
much food is wasted or misapplied. Were 
T to give my bullocks the same quantity of 
cut straw in a dry state, they would not eat 
one-half of it; and, besides, they would be 
restless and dissatisfied. This I know from 
experience. 

I will now describe my mode of prepara- 
tion, and calculate the cost. 

I do not use the ordinary close steaming 
apparatus, but a number of cast iron pans, 
or coppers, each capable of containing 250 
gallons. These are set in brickwork, with 
a 4-inch space around them, each space con- 
nected with the adjoining one by a 6-inch 
earthern pipe. 

Into these spaces, and around these cop- 
pers circulates a portion of the waste steam 
from the engine, after having passed through 
the cylinder. 

I should state that a close vessel of water, 
connected with the supply tank, is kept in 
a nearly boiling state by the waste steam be- 
fore it passes around the coppers, and a ver- 
tical four-inch pipe takes away the steam af- 
ter it has passed around the coppers, after 
heating the close vessel of water ; and then 
passes into the atmosphere. 

The coppers are all sunk into the earth, 
so as to stand level with the floor. 

By this means, when an extra supply of 
food is required, it may be piled up in a 
mound, and kept hot for two or three days. 

The straw, cut fine and sifted, is thrown 
into the copper, twenty-seven gallons at a 
time, and then the proportion of malt-combs, 
bran, and rapecake strewed over it ; then a 
pail of hot water (drawn from the hot water 
vessel close at hand) is thrown over it, and 
it is all incorporated by mixing with a steel 
fork, and well trodden down; then another 
twenty-seven gallons of chaff, with the other 
materials and hot water; another mixing 
and another treading down, until the copper 
is full and solid ; and if extra quantities 
are required, it may be continued in the 
same way above and around the coppers, but 
it must be moist and solid (if too wet the 
animals will not eat it.) The larger the mass 
the longer it remains hot. 

Practically, we can in winter manage, if 
our engine only goes twice a week ; but as 
a general rule we work it for grinding, irri- 
gating, thrashing, &c, more often than that. 
The mass of subterranean brick-work ab- 
sorbs the heat from the waste steam, and 
holds it for several days. 



The heat so obtained costs you nothing, 
for it would be wasted in the atmosphere. 

I think the time will come when farmers 
will turn it to several useful purposes. 

Animals will eat rapecake abundantly 
when so mixed and dissolved, but not when 
dry. 

This is an admirable food for all sorts 
of farm animals, and it should be admin- 
istered, more or less, through the whole 
year. 

I should say that our roots are cut either 
by a Gardner or Bentall, and mixed in the 
manger with the warm steamed chaff. There 
will be no blowing, no griping, or scouring 
with food so prepared, and the animals eat 
it as hot as they can bear it. 

In my earlier career, I reared first forty 
and then fifty calves, and sold them as fat 
bullocks, so treated, never having been off 
the boarded floor for two and a half years, 
and never having had straw under them. 

The ten bullocks I am now feeding are 
on sparred floors. 

The cost of cutting a ton of straw into 
chaff, one-fourth of an inch long, may be 
taken at 72 to 90 cents: The trials of chaff- 
cutters, as reported by the judges, in the 
Royal Agricultural Society's Journal, show 
that 112 lbs. or more of hay could be cut 
in three minutes by steam power. It would 
be well, however, to double that time or cost, 
because we know on such occasons every- 
thing is in "competing order," which could 
not be expected on a farm. Therefore, 48 
cents a ton for hay, and 96 cents per ton for 
straw, would be a liberal cutting-up, allow- 
ance for steam power. 

If we are to consume all our bean, bar- 
ley, wheat, and oat straw, we must keep our 
animals on sparred floors, or on burned clay, 
and we must invest more capital in animals, 
and shall make much more meat per acre. 
If a ton of straw will make 30 lbs. of meat, 
and if two tons of straw 7 are grown per acre 
on our cereal and pulse crops, it would be 
four score of meat per acre over the whole 
of the cereals and pulse. 

4 0h ! but where is your manure to come 
from, if you eat your straw ? 

Why your animal, by this mode of feed- 
ing, consumes 560 lbs. of rapecake with 
every ton of straw. This is better than lit- 
tering the yards by cartloads in wet weather, 
to sop up the water, and save some of the 
liquid manure which would otherwise be 
washed away by rain from untroughed roofs. 






THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



[August 



But what feeding property is there in straw? 

A good deal of hilarity was excited at our 
London Fanners' Club the other day, by 
my stating that every 100 lbs. of wheat 
straw, contained the equivalent of 15 lbs. of 
oil. Since then I find I have understated 
the ease, and that really each 100 lbs. of 
straw contains — see Morton's admirable Cy- 
clopedia, vol. ii, page 1153 (Voclcker's an- 
alysis) — seventy-two per cent! of muscle fat 
and heat-producing substances, of which 
twenty-seven per cent, are soluble in potash, 
and thirty-five per cent, insoluble. 

The soluble fattening substances are equal 
to 18J lbs. of oil in each 100 lbs. of straw. 

In conclusion, I would recommend every 
feeder of stock to study Mr. Horsfoll's pa- 
pers in vol. xvii., page 260, and vol. xviii., 
page 150 of the Royal Agricultural Socie- 
ty's ' Journal. They will enlighten his 
mind, dispel his prejudices, and increase 
his profit. 

By Mr. Horsfall's mode of feeding you 
may get the manure without cost, and a 
handsome price for your straw and roots. 

The following facts, deduced from Mr. 
Horsfall's paper, will show T that 1,000 lbs. 
of Swedish turnips, or 100 lbs. dry are worth, 
43 s as manure, whilst 

100 lbs. of hay are worth $0 28£ 

100 lbs. of straw 10 

100 lbs. of bean meal 60 

100 lbs. of oilcake 75 

100 lbs. of Indian meal 25£ 

100 lbs. of locust beans 10 

Here is an instructive and interesting 
comparison with a vengeance ! A ton of 
Swedish turnips are worth, as manure, 96 
cents per ton, or nearly half the manurial 
value of a ton of straw or locust beans. 

Oilcake, or rapecake are worth, as manure, 
$15.12 per ton. 

If by his system of feeding 14 lbs. per 
week of meat and 3 lbs. of internal fat can 
be gained by each full-sized animal (and I 
am sure this can, be done as an average,) I 
know of no other system which will exceed 
it in result, or equal it in economy. 

The consumption of straw, in the way here 
suggested, would produce a very great in- 
crease of meat, manure, and corn. 

If supplies of this warm food were con- 
veyed to sheep in our field in cold and 
rablc weather, many losses would be 
avoided, and our turnips would make more 
mutton. 



In order to provoke a discussion and ex- 
amination of this subject, I send this com- 
munication to several papers, and shall pro- 
bably enlarge upon it in some future paper. 



From the Gardner's Monthly. 

Improvement of the Soil. 



Mr. Editor : 

" Every one to his taste, 



sayin 



a j 



s a 
a 



trite old 
very true 



and I have no doubt 
one; and it suggests itself particularly to 
me just now, when taking up my pen to 



ng up my pen 
write you a few hints that occur to me about 
the subject named at the head of this chap- 
ter. I notice that many of your correspon- 
dents congratulate you that this subject has 
been brought up, and that subject has been 
explained ; but to me there have been few 
articles in any paper I ever read, that gave 



me more 



P i. 



easure than one on " Trenching 
Ground," and another on " Surface Manu- 
ring/' in some recent numbers of your jour- 
nal ; because I think that by getting at the 
soil question properly, we come to the bottom, 
— the root of all improved culture. 

Now r , sir, it seems to me that in the dis- 
cussion of this question, most practical men 
forget that there are tw r o distinct objects to 
be aimed at. The first is that in working 
soil we are to render it fit to retain the 
greatest amount of heat and moisture that 
will benefit the plants, and no more; and the 
second is that we should convey into the 
soil such elements, in the shape of manures, 
as will most effectually perfect the growth of 
the plants. 

A soil may contain all the fertilizing in- 
gredients desirable, — all the carbon and ni- 
trogen, — all the sodium, potassium, and 
what other iums go to make up the vocabu- 
lary of a chemist's treatise on the perfection 
of soils ; .but if it have not the capacity to 
retain heat and moisture in due proportion, 
— if it dry up the first hot June day, or re- 
main cold and swampy when other soils per- 
mit their tenants to bask in the warmth of 
a few spring days' suns, — it is altogether 
imperfect. 

Then, again, it may be perfect in this re- 
spect. It may be deep, and its particles 
finely disintegrated, and its capacity to re- 
tain heat and moisture so admirably balan- 
ced, that the most enthusiastic trencher could 
wi.sh no more ; and for all this, in the chief 
elements that constitute a fertile soil, it may 
be as poor as a miserable bit of humanity 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



489 



who has no friends; and what under the 
sun can be poorer ? 

We find great difference of opinion to 

exist amongst men equally fanied for their 
practical knowledge. One manures en the 
surface, and finds great benefit from the 
application, and then, perhaps, he goes fur- 
ther, and deprecates all those modes of I 
practice which buries the manure far below 
the surface; another digs it deeply into the 
soil, and in the result obtains his every an-' 
ticipation. 

Looking at manures as fertilizing ingredi- 
ents, the one who employs them at the sur- 
face, evidently has the best of the argu- 
ment. The roots, properly so called, and 
which penetrate deeply into the soil, 
do not much towards supplying the plant 
with nutriment, — it is the fibres which are 
attained to the roots, or rather their points, . 
or spongioleSj as the physiologist terms : 
them, which collect the feeding matter. 
The roots are the drones, and the fibres are i 
the working bees of the vegetable hive. | 
Now, the fibres are invariably found in the 
greatest abundance near the surface, and 
there, as a necessary corollary, is the place 
to furnish the necessary food. 

But the roots, if they do not do much 
towards taking in substantail food, at least I 
absorb an incredible degree of moisture, I 
and the man who mixes his manure deeply 
in the soil, does a great deal towards incres- 
ing the power of the soil to retain moisture. 
All the vegetable matter he mixes in be- 
neath the surface assumes a sponge-like 
character, with the same absorbing proper- 
ty, which, as also like a sponge, it gives off 
to whatever surrounds it that may become 
dryer than itself. Let not, therefore, him 
who sees his neighbor mixing long strawy 
manure a foot or more below the surface, 
say in his heart, " Oh ! fool I" or him who 
espies the other raking at the surface, ex- 
claim, " Thou jackass !" but let each of 
them watch the process in either instance, 
and mark the result. 

With regard to trenching, Mr. Editor, I 
could never see what benefit was to arise 
from throwing good surface-soil two or three 
feet below the surface, when the most ex- 
pected of the poor subsoil brought up 
was that it should be ultimately made as 
good as the soil originally thrown below. It 
always seemed to me something of the rob- 
bing the hen to fat the goose kind of a s} r s- 
tem, by which something was made on 



twelve, but as niueh lost on the dozen. But 
if by trenching is meant deepening a soil, 
and making it, by mixing vegetable matter 
with the subsoil, to retain heat and moisture 
in all weather, why then I am with you, 
heart and soul, 

"And here's a hand, my trusty flere, 

And gie's a hand 'oihine." 

If you do not receive the assent of all prac- 
titioners, you will at least have that pleasure 
from one who likes to look at things 

Pro and Con. 



Summer Grazing— Grazing of Cattle. 

BY A PRACTICAL FARMER. 

A too frequent recurrence to the same 
subject needs every apology from stated 
writers; but the importance of the above 
subject to graziers, and the rapid increase 
of the numbers who read the Mark Lane 
Express, is a sufficient reason for again in- 
troducing the subject. I am not, however, 
about to write anything expressly new, or 
perhaps of much value to the experienced, 
grazier : but amongst the many readers of 
the above paper, there are young readers 
who w r ould like to " gain a wrinkle" from 
an old grazier, or to be reminded of some 
common things which may have escaped 
their present observation, it is for these I 
write a few remarks upon summer grazing 
in these papers. 1st, cattle; 2nd, sheep; 
3rd, horses, &c, &c. 

The grazing of cattle, the fattening of 
cattle, the lands adapted for the profitable 
raising of cattle must be of first class order. No 
inferior grass lands will do it, unless aided 
by a liberal allowance of linseed-cake or 
other fattening food ; nevertheless, we have 
good grass lands of varied quality and 
power. The most powerful will fatten an 
ox of 100 stones weight without such aids ; 
and others of such sweet and nutritive herb- 
age on inferior soils as will fatten a Scot or 
Devon admirably. What I mean is, that 
the grazier must adapt his cattle to his land, 
or make up for either deficiency in artificial 
aids as food. No grazier should, however, 
attempt to fatten cattle on land not suited 
for such purpose; and this is soon gene- 
rally known by the experience of every oc- 
cupier, and On every occupation ; and new 
tenants often injure themselves by not ta- 
king timely advice on this point. The best 
bullock-lands ; These are usually grazed by 



490 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[August 



superior cattle, and I take it for granted 
that the general testimony and practice on 
such lands is correct, and in the average of 
years profitable. One thing I know, the 
occupiers of these beautiful lands are almost 
invariably to a man proud of them, and 
proud to see grazing upon them such splendid 
animals. This is one of the pleasures and 
gratifications of business. What grazier 
does not enjoy, intensely enjoy his evening 
stroll amongst a herd of first-class animals, 
all progressing favorably ; and may he not 
justly exult a little now and then in the 
prospect of showing them at his favorite 
fair, and to his old round of friends and 
customers ? I confess to such occasional 
pride, and I approve it. It gives stimulous 
to exertion, to care, to selection, to manage- 
ment in all its phases. This is all right ; 
but there is another view to be taken as to 
the most profitable grazing of such lands. 
It is not that every grazier possesses a long 
purse, and is able to buy such ornaments 
to his field. What must the poor grazier 
do ? I have seen some of the most powerful 
bullock lands grazed by very inferior cattle 
— aged cows, bull-legs, worked oxen, coarse 
steers ; in fact, such a class of animals as 
only such land " could move," and which 
was well known to the occupiers ; these ani- 
mals often come in at little cost, and pay 
handsomely. I once saw a large and beau- 
tiful field of first-class land grazed by aged 
cows and a few coarse animals which would 
not average above some six or seven hundred 
pounds each ; the profit was, I understood, 
very great. The care requisite in such a 
case is to obtain such animals as will bear a 
profit under such strong succulent herbage. 
If the animal is weak in body or constitu- 
tion, it is certain to go wrong. It is there- 
fore, manifest that first class land need not 
of necessity be grazed by first class ani- 
mals ; but it is necessary that every animal 
grazed on such land must possess a consti- 
tution and aptitude to fatten and improve. 
To graze profitably, the grazier must first 
take care to provide a good pasture. This 
he will do by " laying in" his fields early; 
so that he may commence stocking early. 
His next care will be to put in his stock in 
suitable weather, and in number proportion- 
ed to his keeping. He must not in any 
case overstock ; if he does, in all proba- 
bility he will lose his season. His stock 
must have a sufficiency of grass, but not 
more, or it will grow coarse and unpalatable, 



and the stock are thus confined to those 
sweet spots on which they delight to browse, 
often very bare and insufficient for their 
profitable advancement. Should such be 
the case, it is but to mow down gradually 
and daily every rough spot, and leave enough 
for every day's consumption. Cattle are 
very fond of partially- withered grass. There 
is great difficulty on this point in grazing 
lands subject to burning in hot weather ; 
such lands "require a covering;" but I can- 
not think they require such a covering as 
is sometimes, nay often, seen. I have seen 
some of those beautiful Herefordshire lands, 
having pastures which, while carrying their 
usual quantity of stock, would, I think, 
yield at the same time a ton or more of hay 
per acre, positively "up to the knees in 
grass." In Leicestershire I have seen the 
like ; yes, and in many other counties too. 
Now, if this could with safety be prevented, 
I doubt not but the grazing would be more 
profitable. To fatten cattle most speedily 
and advantageously, the grass requires to be 
ever new, and always in plenty. A bulk ck 
pasture — %. e., not too young; that would 
cause looseness or scouring; bat a good bite 
of strong-grown grass, but not old — just in 
accordance with the old adage, "twelve 
days old for a bullock." To insure this, it 
' is often attempted to graze two fields alter- 
nately ; that is, to lay one in for three or 
four weeks, while the other is being grazed, 
and then to bring back the stock as soon as 
ready. But this plan is objectionable, as 
requiring a double number of stock for the 
tyne being, which tread down a large quan- 
tity of most excellent herbage. The better 
course is to " get off" the forward animals 
to market, lay in one field, and well dress 
it over ; i- e., knock the droppings and cut 
up the tussocks or rough places, that all the 
grass may be young and fresh, and then 
turn the backward animals into this beauti- 
ful autumn pasture ; they will on this sel- 
dom fail to get fat. The old-fashioned 
course is to reserve the best aftermath or 
eddish for this purpose, and failing this, to 
bring them into the hovel or byre for the 
winter. This is wofully expensive, and sel- 
dom pays. If a bullock will not fat by the 
above process of grazing, I would advise the 
graziers to quit him. It is customary with 
most graziers to reserve a few prime animals 
for Christmas. I know of no better course 
than to make the same provision for their 
benefit as for the backward ones except an 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



491 



allowance of corn meal or cake amply suffi- 
cient to promote their rapid progress — no 
reasonable expense must be spared to get 
up a Christmas ox. Butchers will have 
perfection in their Christmas beef if possi- 
ble, and don't mind paying for it ; short of 
this it becomes good ordinary beef, and is 
bought accordingly; very good certainly: 
but it don't reach the top standard. To 
achieve this desirable point, each animal as 
soon as the pastures are done should have a 
separate byre or hovel where he can roam 
at pleasure. He must be supplied with the 
best of food, i. e., turnips, carrots, cabbage, 
hay — all of the best quality, the root cleaned 
and sliced or pulped, and given with the 
greatest regularity, and then the animal 
must be left undisturbed. If he can be 
kept stalled or in a dark stable or hovel all 
the better, and an occasional or daily groom- 
ing is very serviceable. Fatting animals sel- 
dom require the services of the veterinary 
practitioner : the chief point to- be observed 
in keeping them in a thriving condition is to 
change their keeping if requisite ; and this 
will be principally needed in untoward sea- 
sons, or upon an extraordinary flush of grass 
or similar deviations from common ordinary 
grazing, as in seasons of drought. The 
water becomes in many localities pernicious, 
when it will require much care to avert in- 
jurious consequences. Nearly all these 
matters depend upon the judgment of the 
grazier. " It is the eye of the master that 
grazeth the ox." The chief changes in 
keeping are from a nutritious to old pastu- 
rage, from bad herbage and bad water to an 
eddish or green clover or seeds ; or if dry 
food is indispensable an allowance of straw 
or hay is highly advantageous. — Mark lane 
Express. 



Practical Men. 

Professor Henry says : 

" Mere Practical Men. We have no 
sympathy with the cant of the day, with 
reference to 'practical men,' if by this term 
is meant those who act without reference to 
well established general laws, and are mere- 
ly guided by empirical rules or undigested 
experience. However rapidly and skilfully 
such a person may perform his task, and 
however useful he may be within the limited 
sphere of his experience, and in the practice 
of rules given by others, he is incapable of 
making true progress. His attempts at im- j 



provement are generally not only failures, 
involving a loss of time, of labor, and of 
materials, but such as could readily have 
been predicted by any one having the re- 
quisite amount of scientific information. It 
is the combination of theoretical knowledge 
with practical skill, which forms the most 
efficient and reliable character, and it should 
be the object of the agricultural colleges to 
produce educational results of this kind." 

>(* *t* *r* *t* *r» 

We are glad to see the above by Prof. 
Henry, as it particularly applies to agricul- 
turists. The future of agriculture will owe 
its progress to those who, in addition to 
pysical ability, will apply the lights of sci- 
ence to their vocation. No man can be a 
practical farmer who simply delves as a la- 
borer, without understanding, at least in de- 
gree, causes as well as effects. To succeed 
in a special locality by simply carrying out 
the practice of others, will not insure pro- 
gress elsewhere. Where natural law is fair- 
ly understood, then the operator can apply 
his knowledge to any locality or variety of 
circumstances. Farmers should at least know 
so much of the sciences, as will enable them 
to clearly comprehend the writings of those 
who investigate more clearly than them- 
selves. — Fai'mer and Planter. 



Sounding Shells. 

There are few persons who cannot remem- 
ber childish wonder with which they were 
filled, when a sea-shell was # first placed to 
the ear ; and the still greater wonder they 
experienced when told that the strange reson- 
ance which they heard was the roar of the 
sea ; this being the common explanation 
given to children. There are, doubtless, 
many adult persons who do not know the 
phenomenon of the sounding shell. It is 
caused by its hollow form and polished sur- 
face ; these enable it to receive and return 
the beatings of all the sounds which tremble 
in the air that surrounds it. — Scientific 
American. 



Wood ashes and common salt, wet with 
water, will stop the cracks of a stove, and 
prevent the smoke from escaping. 

A gallon of good strong lye put in a bar- 
rel of hard water, will make it soft as 
rain water. 

Half a cranberry bound on a corn will 
soon kill it. 



492 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[August 



For the Southern Planter. 

On Curing Tobacco Yellow. 

Tobacco should be very ripe when cut. In 
order to cure a fancy crop, it is necessary to 
select your tobacco as you cut it, in order to 
get a house full as uniform as possible of 
plants that ripen a yellow colour. I put my 
tobacco in the house as soon as possible after 
cutting it, putting six to eight plants on a 
stick four and a half feet long, placing the 
sticks at a distance on the tier polls, so that 
the tobacco does not touch after it is hung 
in the house. Commence firing immediate- 
ly with coal, at 100 degrees Fahrenheit 
twenty-four hours — the * next twelve hours 
105°, the next six hours 110°, the next six 
hours 115° — then increase 2£° every hour 
until you attain 165°, and remain at that 
degree until your tobacco is thoroughly 
cured. The stalk should be dry when you 
quit firing. As soon as your tobacco is soft 
enough to move after it is cured, shove the 
sticks as close together as you can, that it 
may more effectually retain its colour. 

My barns are all 20 feet square, five tier 
in the body, and as tight as I can make 
them. I have nine fires to each house, 
made of coal— either pine or oak, or any other 
wood is equally as good. It is necessary to 
keep up the fires night and day. 

Caswell. 

Yanceyville, N. C, July 11th, 1859. 



For the Southern Planter. 

Super-Phosphate of Lime. 
Clarke County, Va., June 10th. 

We would invite the attention of the 
Farmers of Virginia to Rhodes' Super- 
Phosphate of Lime, sold in Baltimore. 
For the last six or eight years, I have 
been in the constant habit of using Guano 
upon my wheat, but the high price of Guano, 
and the continued failures of the clover 
crop when the season has been at all dry, 
induced me, with many of my friends, to 
try Rhodes' Super-Phosphate of Lime, and 
the result has been entirely satisfactory. At 
a cost of $45 a ton, in the place of $65, 
for Guano, we have the finest crop of wheat 
we ever harvested. One stubble field esti- 
mated by good judges, at from 30 to 35 
hushels per acre. 

From my own experience of this year, 
and the use of it last year by some of my 



neighbors, I do not hesitate to say, that at 
the same price, I would prefer it, ton for 
ton, to Guano. Mr. Rhodes is an accom- 
modating gentleman, and deserves to be 
patronized. 

We are in no way interested in the sale 
of the Super-Phosphate of Lime, and only 
give our experience for the benefit of the 
farmers of Virginia. 

A Clarke County Farmer. 



From Jackson's Jlgrieulture and Dairy Husbandry. 

Ploughing. 

* * * The object of ploughing is to 
delve and turn over the soil in ridges, to 
destroy the surface vegetation by burying it 
underground, where it rots and forms a kind 
of manure; to bury the dung spread on 
the land ; to form furrows for different pur- 
poses ) and, generally speaking, to break up 
the hard mass of land, and prepare it for 
the action of the grubber, harrow, and 
other instruments. 

There are certain requisites to constitute 
good ploughing — a skilful ploughman, a 
steady team of horses, and a properly con- 
structed instrument. Before these can be 
brought to bear, however, it is essential that 
the land be tolerably even in its surface. If 
it be encumbered with large stones upon, 
or a short way below, the surface, or with 
whins or furze, or any kind of heights and 
hollows, it cannot possibly be ploughed to 
advantage or with neatness. A preliminary 
to good ploughing, therefore, is to level and 
clear the land, by lowering its protuberances, 
filling up its hollows, breaking up and cart- 
ing away its stones, rooting up stumps of 
trees, and, if required, draining its springs. 

All this has been done within the last 
seventy years, to probably nine-tenths of the 
arable land in Scotland. If the land be in 
a rude condition, and require these and 
other improvements, another preliminary to 
a right process of tillage will be its division 
into fields of from six to twelve acres ; the 
divisions to be hedgerows, walls, or palings, 
according to local circumstances. What- 
ever be the nature of the fences, they should 
occupy as little room as possible, and in 
moist situations they ought to have a sunk 
ditch on each side, to receive water from the 
siirface and small drains. In Norfolk, Nor- 
thumberland, the Lothians, and other high- 
ly improved districts, the fields in general 
are from fifteen to twenty-five acres in ex- 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



493 



tent, each encompassed by fences and 
ditches, and to all appearance as beautifully 
trimmed on the surface as a garden. 

The following directions to ploughmen, 
given by Mr. Finlayson in his excellent 
treatise on the Plough, will be perused with 
advantage by all who are engaged in till- 
age : 

" Nothing can be more beautiful than a 
field commodiously laid off, and neatly 
ploughed. There is even none of men's 
handiworks that can please the eye more, 
and at the same time show more of its un- 
ruled accuracy, than a lawn which presents 
ridges of the same width, with furrow-slices 
running in straight equidistant lines; and 
that, too, with such minute exactness, as 
scarcely to be equalled by the gardener. 

"It is not the man who makes the greatest 
ado with the horses who opens his ridges 
best, but more commonly he who goes 
steadily and directly forward himself, and 
keeps such a command, by the reins, as to 
prevent them from deviating far from the 
right path, yet without laying too much stress 
on their precision, or checking them sud- 
denly, from one side to the other ; and he 
who can take a straight furrow at first, and 
continue so to the last, even on a ridge of 
fifteen feet, will finish with one, two, or 
three bouts less than. one who is all along 
undoing and overdoing, and that, too, inde- 
pendently of the ease to himself and his 
team, and the preference of the work in 
every respect. 

"If broadcast ridges are of unequal 
breadth, bent, or zig-zag, the work cannot 
be so uniform, and in the turnings much 
time is lost, and harm done to the land 
which is ploughed ; and with crooked drills 
there is a loss of ground, an unequal dis- 
tribution of manure, if such has been ap- 
plied, and the hoeings cannot be so effectu- 
ally done where they are far distant, or done 
at all, without soddening the mould, and in- 
juring the crop, where they are narrower. 

" In fine, the grand criterion of ease and 
proficiency i*, that of the ploughman's walk- 
ing between the stilts, and in the furrow, 
with a free step and erect body ; for thus 
he is more convenient for himself, has the 
horses and the plough better at command, 
and increases not the friction by his weight ; 
for thus he cannot go, excepting the horses 
and the plough are properly adjusted, and 
proceeding with the least possible obstruc- 
tion ; and thus, too, he is more graceful to 



look on, than when wriggling with one 
foot foremost, or moving jis if part of his 
muscles were under the domination of vio- 
lent spasmodic contraction. 

" It would perhaps be impossible to give 
any thing like a system, of rules for the 
most proper and convenient make, size, 
weight, turn, &c, of a plough for all the 
varieties of soil, or of diversity to be met 
with, even in the same ridge ; neither shall 
I make the attempt; but a few rules may 
be laid down, and observed as axioms in all 
ordinary circumstances, viz : 

"1. The horses should be yoked as near 
[q the plough as possible, without too much 
confining, or preventing them from taking a 
free step. 

" 2. When at work, they should be kept 
going at a good pace. 

"3. The chains or theets should, from 
where they are suspended over the backs of 
the horses, point in a direction leading 
through the muzzle, to the centre of the 
cutting surfaces of the coulter and share. 

" 4. . The implement, when taking the 
form of the dimensions required, should 
stand upright, and glide onwards in the line 
of progression, without swerving in any par- 
ticular way. 

" 5. The ploughman should walk with 
his body upright, and without using his 
force to one point, or showing appearance of 
inclination. 

" The untamed and liveliest, or most for- 
ward horse, should be put in the furrow, 
and only bound back to the right or off-theet 
of the land-horse, at or near the place where 
the backhand joins it, at such length, when 
stretched at the width required, as to pre- 
vent his end of the beam, or double tree, 
from being before the other. And further, 
the heads of the two should be connected 
together by a small rope, or chain, at the 
distance wanted, giving the furrow-horse 
power over the other ; that is to say, if ten- 
der-mouthed, it must be fixed well up on his 
head, and in the rings of the bit or curb of 
the other, so that he may have the*power 
of the head over that of the mouth of the 
land-horse." * * * 

Let the draught of the horse go in a di- 
rect line to the plough or swingle, trees ; for 
if the line be in any way bent, a portion of 
the power will be lost. Sometimes in Eng- 
land as many as five horses are yoked to a 
plough, two and two, with one in front; and 
in most cases of this kind, the power of the 



404 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[August 



foremost horses is partially thrown, away, or 
probably distresses the hind pair of animals. 
It is not convenient to yoke four or five 
horses abreast, but it should be fully under- 
stood that in that manner they would exert 
their power to most advantage. Two horses 
will, in general, do more work yoked abreast 
to a plough, than four yoked before each 
other in single file ; because some of the 
power of the foremost horses is always lost 
in its passage along the sides of the hind 
horses, and, in turning, the whole draught 
is imposed upon the hindmost in the row. 
* * * Unless on very strong soils, or 
where a great depth is required, two horses 
with a well-made plough will be found am- 
ply sufficient. Where four horses must be 
employ od, yoke them two and two abreast, 
and let the draught of the foremost pair 
proceed by a chain from their central swin- 
gle tree to the central swingle tree of the 
hindmost pair, thus passing between the 
hindmost and going in a direct line to the 
muzzle of the plough. By this means, the 
power of both pairs of horses goes unim- 
paired to the resisting object. Never, on 
any account, let the power of the foremost 
pair proceed by two chains along the sides 
of the hind horses to the outer ends of their 
swingle trees, for this would only cause a 
needless expenditure of draught. In Scot- 
land, where the economising of animal 
power has been carefully studied, all plough- 
ing whatsoever, be the land light or heavy, 
except when exerted on the subsoil, is per- 
formed with but two horses, and these inva- 
riably yoked abreast. 

It is a well-known maxim in tillage, that 
clay or tenacious soils should never be 
ploughed when either two wet or two dry. 
When too wet, it is tough, and the clods 
difficult to break ; and when too dry, the 
plough will scarcely penetrate the soil. In 
ploughing the first time for fallow* or green 
crops, it is of importaace to begin immedi- 



* Note. — Fallow in English and Scotch hus- 
bandry signifies leaving the land for a certain 
time in a bare, unproductive condition^ during 
which it receives rest from cropping, and is sub- 
jected to various processes of ploughing and 
harrowing, to destroy its noxious weeds. The 
original signification of the word (of Saxon ori- 
gin) is yellow, and has been applied to bare ara- 
ble fields in consequence of their general yel- 
low-brown appearance. Fallow-deer signifies 
yellow deer. 



ately after harvest, or as soon after wheat 
sowing as possible, in order that strong- 
tenacious soils may have the full benefit of 
the frost. On wet stiff soils, frost acts as a 
most powerful agent in pulverising the 
earth. It expands the moisture, which, re- 
quiring more space, puts the particles of 
earth out of their place, and renders the 
soil loose and friable. On such soils there 
is no rule of husbandry more essential than 
to open them as early as possible before the 
winter frosts set in. If left till spring, clay 
soils may be two Wet for ploughing, or if the 
season be dry, the earth, when turned up, 
will be in hard clods very unfit for vegeta- 
tion. Therefore, on farms having a propor- 
tion of clay and of light soils, it is necessary 
that the strong wet land should be ploughed 



3d, the degree 



first, providing the weather will allow. 

In ploughing, three different points re- 
quire particular attention ; 1st, the depth 
cf the slice to be cut ; 2nd, its breath ; and 
in which it is to be turned 
This last operation depends much 
upon the construction of the plough, partic- 
ularly the mould-board, and the care of the 
ploughman. The breadth and depth of the 
furrow slice are regulated by judiciously 
placing the draught on the muzzle or bridle 
of the plough, setting it so as to be the 
depth and breadth required. The plough 
should be so regulated, that if left to itself, 
and merely prevented from falling over, it 
would cut a little broader and deeper than 
is required. The coulter is placed with 
some inclination towards the left or land 
side, and the point of the sock or share is 
slightly bent downwards. The degree to 
which the furrow slice turns over is regula- 
ted by the breadth and depth ; the propor- 
tion usually being six inches broad to nine 
deep. When the slice is cut in this propor- 
tion, it will be nearly half turned over, or 
recline at an angle of from 41° to 45°; and 
a field so ploughed will have its ridges longi- 
tudinally ribbed into angular drills or 
ridgelets. If the slice be considerably, 
greater in width than in depth, it will be 
almost completely turned over, and each 
successive slice will overlap that which was 
turned over immediately before it. 

When the depth materially exceeds the 
width, each slice will fall over on its side, 
and be somewhat overlapped by the next, 
leaving all the original surface bare, and 
only laid obliquely to the horizon. The 
first of these modes of ploughing on the 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



495 



square slice, is the best adapted for stubble 
land after harvest, when it is to remain du- 
ring the winter exposed to the influence of 
frost, preparatory to fallow or green crop. 
The second, or shallow slice of considerable 
width, as five inches deep by eight wide, 
answers best for old ley land, because it 
covers up the grass turf, and does not bury 
the manured soil. The third is a most un- 
profitable and slow operation, which ought 
seldom or never to be adopted. The gene- 
ral breadth of a slice is from eight to ten 
inches, and the depth must depend on cir- 
cumstances, such as the nature of the soil 
and the object in view. It ought seldom to 
be less than four, or more than six inches, 
except on soils of uncommon depth and 
fertility, or for particular crops, such as 
carrots. Shallow ploughing, as four inches 
deep or less, ought always to be used when 
covering lime, which has a natural tendency 
to sink in the soil. * * * 

Ridges vary in breadth, and are raised 
more or less in the middle, according to the 
nature of the soil. On clay and retentive 
soils, the great object being to procure the 
free discharge of superfluous water, very 
narrow ridges are not to be recommended. 
Those from fifteen to eighteen feet,* the 
land raised by two gatherings of the plough, 
are most generally adopted, this width being 
considered more convenient for manuring, 
sowing, harrowing, and reaping, than those 
of a narrower description. On dry ground 
the ridge may be formed to any breadth 
thought proper. In many parts of Kent, 
entire fields may be seen without either 
ridge or interfurrows, the soil being of such 
a nature as to admit the water to pass off 
quickly. On the turnip soils in Berwick- 
shire, having a free bottom, it is usual to 
plough the land into ridges of from thirty 
to thirty-six feet, called band-win ridges, 
from being reaped by a band of shearers 
served by one binder. In finishing this 
kind of soil, more especially before being 
laid down to grass, it is customary to cast 
up a narrow ridgelet, or single bout-drill, 
between the broad ridges which guide the 
sower; and in the operation of harrowing, 
all the ridgelets are obliterated, giving a 
beautiful lawn-like appearance to the field 



* In Virginia many farmers prefer wider 
beds, ranging from 30 to 40, and in some cases 
50 feet.— [Ed. 



when in pasture. To form the ridges Btraight 

and of uniform breadth, the best plough- 
man 01 the farm is chosen. With a pole 
shod with iron, he first marks off the head 
or end ridges, on which the horses turn when 
ploughing, and these should generally be 
equal in breadth to the bounding lines of 
the field, eighteen feet being little enough 
space to allow two horses abreast, to turn on. 
The forming of the head ridges first is ne- 
cessary to let the ploughman know where 
to step out his plough, when working the 
I other ridges of the field. If this is not at- 
tended to, the head ridges will be gashed, 
and by the tmning and cleaning of the 
plough, earth will be accumulated more in 
one part than another. This will render 
them not only unsightly, but in j-etentive 
soils will be apt to lodge in the hoffows thus 
formed, which several ploughings will scarce- 
ly fill up to their proper level. 

In forming the ridges of fields, the proper 
direction is to make them run north and 
south, as the grain will ripen more regularly 
than if running from east to west. On wet 
and retentive soils, however, the direction 
of the ridges must depend upon the acclivity 
of the field, and be formed so as to allow 
the free discharge of superfluous moisture. 
Having determined the breadth of the head 
ridge, the ploughman will measure off the 
half of the first ridge of the field, if it is 
to be so gathered, or one ridge and a half 
if it is to be ploughed flat. At this point 
he sets up a pole, and in a straight line at 
some distance, a second and a third, or 
more, as the irregularity of the surface may 
render necessary — the last pole being at the 
end of the intended ridge. He enters the 
plough at the first pole, and ploughs them 
all down successively, stopping at each, then 
setting the poles at the right distance for 
the next ridge. When he reaches the end 
he returns along his former track, corrects 
ing any deviations, and throwing a shallow 
furrow on the side opposite to his former 
one, which, when reversed, forms the crown 
of the ridge, and directs the ploughmen 
who are to follow. By skilful ploughmen, 
these lines are drawn with great accu- 
racy. 

In ploughing land, there are a variety of 
ways of forming the ridges. On dry soils, 
the plots of a ridge may be all laid in one 
direction, and those of the adjoining ridge 
turned the contrary way ; this is termed 
casting. On soils medium between light 



496 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER: 



[August 



and strong, the ridges are split out, so that 
the crown of the old ridge becomes the 
furrow of the new; this, in Scotland, is 
culled crown and fur. On strong soils, it 
is necessary to form the ridges by twice 
gathering all the furrow slices in the direc- 
tion of the crown. In this case the ridges 
are preserved in their original situations, 
and the inter-furrows in the same places. 
It is customary, when breaking up these 
ridges to be worked as summer fallow, to 
split or cleave them, reversing the former 
operation by turning the furrpw slices out- 
wards, beginning at the furrows and ending 
at the crowns. In this operation the ridges 
are cut in two, the old water furrows care- 
fully opened up to serve as surface drains, 
and an additional series of water furrows 
formed aMhe crowns. 

In some cases, land is too steep to admit 
of using the plough in any of the ways 
mentioned. On such land, farmers, from a 
desire to have the ridges run directly up 
and down hill, sometimes draw all the fur- 
row slices down, and drag the plough up-hill 
again empty. It is much better, however, 
to form the ridges in a slanting [or hori- 
zontal] direction, for this renders the up-hill 
work easier for the horses, and in the event 
of heavy rains, the ridges prevent the ma- 
nure from being washed away. 

On strong tenacious soils a pair of good 
horses ought to plough three quarters of an 
acre in nine hours; and on the same land, 
after the first ploughing, or on light soils, 
an acre, and even a quarter more, is consid- 
ered a common day's work in Scotland. 
Throughout the year, an acre may be con- 
sidered as the average rate of ploughing, 
allowing for the difference of soils. The 
whole series of furrows in Vin English acre, 
supposing each to be nine inches broad, 
would extend to 19,360 yards, and adding 
12 yards to every 220 for the ground trav- 
elled over in turning, the work of one acre 
may be estimated at 11 miles and nearly 5 
furlongs. The late Earl of Mar calculated, 
that when ridges are 78 yards long, 4 hours 
and 39 minutes are lost in turning during 
8 hours' work, whereas, when ridges are 
274 yards long, only 1 hour and 19 minutes 
are lost during the same period of time. 

The proper depth of ploughing since the 
introduction of thorough draining, has be- 
come a subject of dispute. On this subject 
Sir John Sinclair remarks : — "Deep plough- 
ing, by bringing up new mould, is peculiarly 



favourable to clover, beans, potatoes, and 
turnips; and without occasional deep-plough- 
ing, these crops would diminish in quantity, 
quality, and consequently in value. It is 
of the utmost consequence, not only by sup- 
plying more pasture to the roots of plants, 
but, above all, by preventing the injurious 
effects of either too wet or two dry a season. 
This is a most important consideration, as, 
if the season is wet, there is a greater depth 
of soil for absorbing the moisture, so that 
the plants are not likely to have their roots 
immersed in water; and in a dry season it 
is still more useful, for, in the lower part of 
the cultivated soil, there is a reservoir of 
moisture which is brought up to the roots 
of the plants by the evaporation which the 
heat of the sun occasions." These remarks, 
coming from such an authority, must go far 
to recommend the practice of occasional 
deep ploughing, more especially with regard 
to its rendering the ground better adapted 
for the absorption of superfluous, and the 
retention of necessary, moisture. 

Subsoil Ploughing. — The ploughing of 
the subsoil is a new feature in Scotch hus- 
bandry, and deserves particular attention 
both from the speculative and practical ag- 
riculturist. To understand its value, we 
must revert to matters connected with the 
constitution of the soil in reference to vege- 
tation. As already stated, plants consist 
chiefly of certain elementary gases, in pecu- 
liar combination with earthy substances. 
Nature provides the gases to a certain ex- 
tent, both from the atmosphere and the 
ground ; but as the supply is inadequate for 
artificial and regular cropping, the farmer 
assists in the good work by a due adminis- 
tration of manures. These manures, how- 
ever, excepting in the case of lime, do not 
greatly supply the loss of earthy substances 
in vegetation. In taking a heavy crop of 
grain from the ground, we actually carry 
away a portion of the soil ; and if this be 
done repeatedly, the land must ultimately 
be diminished in bulk. To the eye of a 
common observer, the field after many years' 
cropping remains the same as ever, but in 
reality a portion of its contents has disap- 
peared, and what remains is a very differ- 
ent kind of substance from what existed 
before the cropping commenced. 

If any one has a doubt of the correct- 
ness of these observations, let him take the 
stalk of any plant, and, after drying, burn 
it to ashes ; then bray the ashes on a plate 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



497 



of stoneware, and be will fiud that the pow- 
der contains small particles of ■ sandy ma- 
terial, which will feel harsh to the fingers, 
or scratch upon the plate. This sandy ma- 
terial is silica, el' which there is a portion in 
every vegetable product. Besides this, 
there arc in most vegetables carbonate of 
lime, carbonate of magnesia, alnmine or 
clay, oxide of manganese, and oxide of iron, 

Wbent. 

Silica, 13 

Carbonate of lime, 12 

Carbonate of magnesia 13 

Alnmine, fraction. 

Oxide of manganese, 5 

Oxide of iron, 2 

It is probable that these proportions of 
earthy and metallic matter in vegetables 
will differ according to the nature of the 
ground ; but we may feel assured of the 
fact, that they are less or more essential to 
artificial cropping; and unless supplied or 
compensated in some manner by the farmer, 
his fields will in time deteriorate in their 
fertilising virtues, notwithstanding the ad- 
ministration of putrescent manures. It is 
true that nothing in nature is ever struck 
out of existence, and that the earthy mate- 
rial of plants is deposited somewhere ; but 
as it does not come back to the field whence 
it was removed, means must be adopted to 
supply its place. 

The process of earthy restoration may be 
accomplished by scattering new materials 
upon the fields, and this might be easily ac- 
complished in many parts of the country, 
so far as silica or fine sand is concerned, but 
the readiest and cheapest process in most 
situations will consist in trenching the sub- 
soil, and gradually assimilating it to the 
mould above. The subsoil, or that portion 
of the understratum which lies out of reach 
of the ordinary plough, may already be so 
good as to be available for bringing towards 
the surface, and in such cases it admits of 
easy and profitable management; but in 
most instances in our country, the subsoil is 
hard and stony, and will require to be 
trenched, and lie for a time in its under- 
ground position, before it is ready for mix- 
ing with the upper mould. 

The most efficient instrument for trench- 
ing the subsoil on a large scale, is the sub- 
soil-plough of Mr. Smith, of Deanston 
Works, near Stirling. When a field is to 
be trenched, a common plough, drawn by 
two horses, goes before, throwing out a large 
32 



all which, along with the elemental gases, 
can be detected by chemical experiments. 
An eminent foreign chemist having per- 
formed an experiment of this nature on the 
Beedfl of wheat, rye, barley, oats, and straw 
of rye, two pounds of each, he discovered 
that they contained the following number 
of grains of earthy or metallic matter. We 
omit fractions : 



Rye. 


Barley. 


Oats. 


Rye 


Straw. 


15 


66 


144 




152 


13 


24 


33 




46 


14 


25 


33 




28 


1 


4 


4 




3 


3 


6 


6 




6 


raction. 


3 


4 




2 



open furrow of the active soil. The subsoil- 
plough follows in the wake of the common 
plough, slits up thoroughly and breaks the 
bottom, and the next furrow of active soil 
is thrown over it. This large subsoil-plough 
is a kind of horse-pick, breaking up without 
raising the under stratum to the surface. 
The atmospheric air being by this means 
freely admitted to the subsoil, the most 
sterile and obdurate till becomes gradually 
meliorated, and the common plough may 
ever after be wrought to a depth of from 
ten to twelve inches without obstruction. 
For this heavy ploughing most likely three 
horses yoked abreast will be required. The 
charge for subsoil ploughing may be estima- 
ted at twenty-four to twenty shillings per 
statute acre, being one-fifth of what a simi- 
lar depth with the spade would cost, and, 
upon the whole, be as effectually done. The 
expense of subsoil ploughing is no doubt 
considerable, but its advantages are incalcu- 
lable. " All who have ever studied or expe- 
rienced the most common gardening, must 
be aware of the important advantages of 
deep working ; and when it can be attained 
in the broad field of farming at so small a 
cost, they may easily believe that the whole 
will be more than doubly repaid in every 
succeeding crop, and abundantly even in 
pasture. When land has been thoroughly 
drained, deeply wrought, and well manured, 
the most unpromising sterile soil becomes a 
deep rich loam, rivab'ng in fertility the 
best natural land of the country, and from 
being fitted for raising only scanty crops of 
common oats, will bear good crops of from 
32 to 48 bushels of wheat, 80 to 40 bushels 
of beans, 40 to 66 bushels of barley, and 
from 48 to 70 bushels of early oats per 
statute acre, besides potatoes, turnips, man- 



498 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[August 



gel wurzel, and carrot, as green crops, and 
which all good agriculturists know are the 
abundant producers of the best manure. It 
is hardly possible to estimate all the advan- 
tages of dry and deep land. Every opera- 
tion in husbandry is thereby facilitated and 
cheapened — less seed and less manure pro- 
duce a full effect, the chances of a good and 
early tid* for sowing are greatly increased — 
a matter of great importance in our preca- 
rious climate — and there can be no doubt 
that even the climate itself will be much 
improved by the general prevalence of dry 
land. When this subject was treated of in 
1833, the system was beginning to be 
adopted in a few places in a very few dis- 
tricts of Scotland, England, and Ireland, 
and in most instances on a very limited 
scale. Since then, the intrinsic merits and 
evident outspeaking results of the system 
have raised its character, even with many 
of its former opponents; and one cannot 
now travel almost any where in the country 
without seeing, either on a large or a small 
scale, the operation of thorough draining 
going on. The deep ploughing is not yet 
so general, but it will undoubtedly follow; 
and it is to be regretted that, in the mean- 
time, some zealous and good farmers, not 
aware of its advantages, are filling their 
drains so near the surface as to mar the fu- 
ture thorough application of the system of 
deep working. 

In making a survey of the agricultural 
aspect of Scotland, and great part of Eng- 
land, it must be evident to every one skilled 
in agriculture, that by much the greatest 
proportion of the arable land, indeed we 
may assume three fourths of the whole, is 
under very indifferent culture, arising 
mainly from the want of complete draining 
and deep working; and looking even to the 
best farmed districts with the eye of an ex- 
perienced farmer in the thorough system, 
much of the land will be seen suffering un- 
der wet or damp. * * * 

All the operations by the plough, the 
harrow, and similar instruments, are intend- 
ed to loosen, pulverise, and mix the soil. 
The more effectually, therefore, that this 
can be done, so will the crops be the more 



* "Tid," a Scotcli term for that state of the 
ploughed soil which is most suitable for re- 
ceiving the seed — neither too moist nor too 
dry. 



productive. A plant, growing in a hard 
soil in its wild state, is always inferior in 
bulk to one which grows in a loosened or 
cultivated piece of earth. By cultivation, 
as every one knows, the character of plants 
is greatly changed and improved". The rea- 
son for this is, that the air and moisture, 
not to speak of manures, are enabled to 
reach the roots, and nourish their growth. 
Pursue this mode of improvement to its ul- 
timate limits, and we shall find that the 
more completely we can deepen the soil and 
reduce it to powder, the more bulky will 
the plants become, and the more heavy will 
be their crops. The fertility of a ploughed 
field is from the earth which happens to be 
loosened and powdered ; little or nothing is 
got from the clods. Let us hear old Jethro 
'full on this subject : 

" I have had the experience of a multi- 
tude of instances, which confirms it so far, 
that I am in no doubt that any soil (be it 
rich or poor) can ever be made too fine by 
tillage. For it is without dispute, that one 
cubical foot of this minute powder may 
have more internal superficies than a thou- 
sand cubical feet of the same or any other 
earth tilled in the common manner ; and I 
believe no two arable earths in the world do 
exceed one another in their natural richness 
twenty times ; that is, one cubical foot of 
the richest is not able to produce an equal 
quantity of vegetables, ea&teris paribus, to 
twenty cubical feet of the poorest; there- 
fore it is not strange that the poorest, when, 
by pulverising, it has obtained one hundred 
times the internal superficies of the rich un- 
tilled land, should exceed it in fertility ; or, 
if a foot of the poorest was made to have 
twenty times the superficies of a foot of 
such rich land, the poorest might produce 
an equal quantity of vegetables with the 
rich. Resides, there is another extraordi- 
nary advantage when a soil has a larger in- 
ternal superficies in a very little compass ; 
for then the roots of plants in it are better 
supplied with nourishment, being nearer to 
them on all sides within reach, than it can 
be when the soil is less fine, as in common 
tillage ; and the roots in the one must ex- 
tend much farther than in the other; to 
reach an equal quantity of nourishment, 
they must range, and fill, perhaps, above 
twenty times more space, to collect the same 
quantity of food, liut in this fine soil, the 
most weak and tender roots have free pas- 
sago to the utmost of their extent, and have 



L859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



499 



llso an easy, due, and equal pressure every 
where, us in water." 

It will be understood, from these expla- 
nations, that subsoil trenching — to increase 
the depth of permeable earth, and to sup- 
ply the deficiency caused by the absorption 
jf earthy substances by plants — is of great 
md lasting value. But to this ingenius 
process must be added that of thoroughly 
breaking the clods in the upper mould, and 
reducing the whole to a kind of powder, 
[f the ordinary course of ploughing, cross- 
ploughing, and harrowing, be unable to 
break the lumps of hardened mould, it 
should, as far as possible, be done by hand- 
labour with inallets.* When the mould is 
pulverised and loose, it is a powerful absor- 
bent of moisture from the atmosphere, and 
thus will nourish plants from mists and dews, 
in a far more effectual manner than if left 
in a concrete condition. 

It would be easy to produce further evi- 
dence of the value of subsoil ploughing, for 
all the purposes to which we have adverted ; 
but such testimony, we should think, can 
hardly be required, enough having been 
already said on the subject to convince the 
most sceptical, and to instruct the unin- 
formed. We conclude with the following 
valuable observations, delivered by the Mar- 
quis of Tweeddale at the Inverness meet- 
ing of the Highland Agricultural Society, 
in 1859, and which refer to his lordship's 
own mode of management : 

" The system I have adopted for the 
treatment of the lands of my own farm, 
where the soil and subsoil are of the weak- 
est, is as follows : A great proportion of the 
land is valued at five and ten shillings per 
acre. After it is drained in grass, the land 
is trench-ploughed, making the furrow from 
fourteen to sixteen inches, the soil being 
turned into the bottom of the furrow. The 
ploughing is done by two ploughs, each 
having a pair of horses. As the work is 
darder upon the horses that turn up the 
lill, they every hour change with the plough 
;hat turns over the sod. The till remains 
ixposed to the frost during the winter ; in 
he spring the land is cross ploughed, the 
od is found quite rotten, ancf mixes with 
he till. Oats are sown, and the crop is 
bund considerably better than before the 



land was drained. After the crop is cut, 
the land is ridged up with a winter furrow, 
turnips being sown in spring. In ridging 
up the land for turnips, there is little or no 
appearance of till. The best crop of tur- 
nips to be found in the same district of the 
country, is not superior to that grown after 
this management of the land. The land, 
after the turnips are eaten oft* by sheep, is 
ploughed for barley ; there is an excellent 
crop, and the grass seeds are always well 
planted during the two years of grass that 
follow the barley, the fields having the ear- 
liest grass crop in the district. The largest 
number of sheep are fed on them, and are 
the fattest animals. The grass that former- 
ly grew on these fields was of the worst 
quality, and sheep would scarcely eat it. 
No extra manure or lime has been 
applied to these fields, except on a 
part of one of them, which remained six 
years without growing any thing an animal 
would eat, consequently it was left without 
stock. In the third year since it was in 
that state, it is growing as good a crop of 
turnips as can be seen in the country ; and 
no stranger who saw the land in fallow 
would believe it to have been what the peo- 
ple of the country knew it to be previous 
to its improvement. It is evident that the 
only extra work in following out this system 
is trench-ploughing once ; this, however, 
is done with the ordinary plough used 
for working the land, and the horses are 
never oppressed. It will be satisfactory to 
state, that I have an equal dread with other 
farmers to bring till, before the land is 
drained, to the surface. It is only after 
that operation is effectually executed, that I 
consider the till or subsoil, when properly 
pulverised, forms a new soil the most valua- 
ble and easy to work of any I know." 



[* Or by horse-power with the clod-crusher.] 
[Ed. So. Pl.] 



Items for Housekeepers. 

If your flat irons are rough, rub them 
with fine salt, and it will make them 
smooth. 

Oat straw is the best for filling beds ) 
should be changed once a year. 

If you are buying a carpet for a durabil- 
ity, choose small figures. 

A bit of soap rubbed on the hinges of 
the door will prevent their creaking. 

Scotch snuff, put on holes where crickets 
come out, will destroy them. 



500 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[August 




Cju Sknijjtrn planter. 



RICHMOND, VIRGINIA 



Phosphates. 

The manner in which we may best and most 
economically restore to our lands the amount of 
inorganic manures abstacted from the soil by a 
given number of bushels of grain produced 
upon an acre, becomes a very important subject 
of interst and inquiry to all good farmers- -es- 
pecially as we are, year after year, devoting 
more and more attention to the raising of small 
grains and grasses. Economy in manuring is 
as necessary for our thrift as its proper observ- 
ance is essential in other arrangements of the 
farm to secure us anything to the credit side of 
the balance sheet. We do not expect to be 
understood in any other sense, when we speak 
of "'economical manuring," than as cautioning 
against waste of fertilizing material^, either by 
any injudicious application, or neglect in hus- 
banding our supplies. We shall have to rely 
principally, or at all events largely, upon ''con- 
centrated manures" as fertilizers — the high price 
and the constantly increasing demand for which 
warn us to make the most of them. We are 
compelled to use guano in a mode different from 
the old broad-casting method, or we shall receive 
a very small profit for a very short while. But 
if by means of "composts" (the guano being 
used as a constituent part of them always) we 
may make a manure suitable for using in a drill 
with which we may give to our wheat crop 
ammonia enough and no more than it wants, while 
we may leave in the soil a greater supply of phos- 
phatic and other mineral ingredients at a less cost 
than we pay for them in imported guanos,, we may 
reasonably expect a larger development of grain, 
and better, stands of clover, with a steady and 
general improvement of our farms. We do not 
pretend to decide to whom the honor belongs, of 
having first originated the theory that eight per 
cent, of ammonia is enough for the wants of a 
g'ow'ng crop; but we believe it. The gentle- 



men engaged in "manipulating" guano, always 
have in view the design of lessening the amount 
of ammonia contained in Peruvian guano, and 
increasing its value in phosphatic manures — 
contending for the economy of reducing the am- 
monia from 13 per cent, to 8, while the phos- 
phates are largely increased, and put up to 40 
or 45 per cent. They say we will secure 
in this manner more grain and less straw. 
This is an end which it is very desirable to at- 
tain. The guanos so treated, are very thoroughly 
ground and prepared, so as to make every ounce 
of them available, either for broad-casting or 
drilling. Each year that we raise large crops 
of grain or grass, we are exhausting the earth's 
supply of phosphatic lime. We must look, then, 
for some source from whence we can draw sup- 
plies of this all-important item of fertility, as 
we cannot, every year, haul out enough putres- 
cent manure to supply the deficit caused by our 
increasing wheat crops. Two sources are pre- 
sented to us in Bone-Dust, and the Nevassa, 
Sombrero, and other guanos. We acknowledge 
a preference for a phosphate obtained from bones, 
because we believe it to be more easily soluble, 
and consequently of more rapid and perfect as- 
similation for plant food. We think the time 
has come when it is necessary for us to arrive 
at some satisfactory conclusion on this point, by 
experiments and a free comparison of experi- 
ences. We refer our readers to the experiments 
reported in our June number by Messrs. Coombs, 
Minor, Anderson, Raine, Walton, Lacy and 
Staton, in response to the queries of Mr. S. T. 
Stuart, of Fairfax, page 345, and to the com- 
munication of "A Clarke County Fanner," in 
our present number, of his experience with 
"Rhodes' Super Phosphate," while we earnestly 
beg for the report of every gentleman on the 
merits of these articles, who has had experience 
with them — being, as a practical farmer, as deeply 
interested in the subject as any of our readers 
can be. We have seen one very strongly marked 
case of improvement of the soil, and increase 
of profits in a crop, from an application of 
"home-made" super phosphate, by a gentleman 
of this county. We regret that we have not 
yet received his receipt for making it, and his 
own report of his experiments with it; but we 
shall publish it as soon as we do, with the hope 
that all of our readers will try his recipe and 
report results. 

Phosphatic guanos may not prove of as im- 
mediate benefit to growing crops as the bone 
dust, since they contain phosphate of lime as a 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



501 



mineral, rather than an animal product. We 
have no doubt that the mineral phosphates can 
be rendered much more immediately soluble 
(and available for a present crop in proportion 
as they are soluble) by trituration with strong 
aeids, either the muriatia or sulphuric — the lat- 
ter of which is generally used on the score of 
economy. Earth, too, has solvent powers of no 
weak order, and sustains to the crpps she bears 
the relation of a ll matrix," for the reception, 
germination, nutrition and watering of the seeds, 
until their full development is effected by her 
retaining the requisite supplies, to secure this 
end, of warmth, moisture, air, and manures re- 
duced to their finest state of divisibility and 
solubility, which are furnished her either from 
natural or artificial sources. In fact the earth 
not only thus wins her title of "mother;" but 
she performs, for plants, what the stomach does 
for the animal economy in receiving, dissolving 
and thoroughly preparing the food offered, by 
which it is reduce:! to the condition necessary 
for the wants of life. 

We subjoin extracts from tables of analyses 
of different crops, that it may be seen how we 
abstract phosphatic manures from the soil. 

1st. Tobacco. Liebig says "Tobacco re- 
quires only alkalies, and food containg nitrogen.'' 

The diference in the quantity of phosphates 
extracted from the soil by wheat is as (for 
wheat) 97.7 to (for tobacco) 16. 

The roots of tobacco, as well as wheat, extract 
phosphates from the soil; but they restore them 
again, because they are not essentially necessary 
to the development of the plant. 

"Indian corn contains in 100 parts a per cent, 
of phosphoric acid equal to 44.87. Oats 18.19. 
Wheat 46. Buckwheat 50.07." 

In the May number of the Planter, for 1857, 
will be found a thorough and interesting article, 
written by Professor Gilliam, on Super Phos- 
phate of Lime. We commend it to the atten- 
tion of those who are interested in the subject. 

For the benefit of new subscribers, we are 
strongly tempted to re-publish the Essay, and 
may do so at a future period. 



To our Subscribers and Friends. 

The Editor does not keep the books of "The 
Southern Planter," and consequently very sel- 
dom knows anything about the accounts there- 
in- -whether "due" or "over-due" stands along- 
side of anybody's name on the list. He is, how- 
ever, glad to enjoy " the run of the cash drawer," 



and feels as lively an interest as any other mem- 
ber of the establishment- not excepting the 
printer or his devil- -in keeping it well filled. 
He docs not hesitate, therefore, to invoke the aid 
of friends to accomplish this desirable end. 
Almost every friend to our paper (we hope) 
can influence several persons to become regular pay- 
ing subscribers— -and we want a host of just such 
men on our list. Will they not at once occupy a 
position on our books, and receive therefor our 
thanks and best efforts to serve them acceptably? 

In the meantime our old patrons who are in 
arrear, will very greatly oblige, and aid us, if they 
will at once remit the amounts due by them. 
We presume they can be subjected to little or 
no inconvenience by so doing, while we are 
sure they will, as a consequence, feel better. At 
all events — apart from the gratification we shall 
experience at such evidence of their recollec- 
tion — we shall be in better condition for com- 
plying with that necessary, but often incon- 
venient rule of "pay for what you get" — which 
a man residing in, or around Richmond, is so 
often reminded of, and may not neglect. 

We have written this much at the earnest 
request of the " book-keeper," and our task is 
Dun. 

H. E. Watkins, Esq., of Farmville, has the 
accounts of subscribers residing in Prince Ed- 
ward, Charlotte, Cumberland, and Buckingham 
counties, in his hands for collection. 

Mr. Tho. B. Montague has our accounts for 
collection which are due in Goochland — and 
Mr. George C. Reid our bills for Norfolk City 
and county. 



The Virginia Military Institute. 

The liberality of Col. P. St. Geo. Cocke— the 
former President of the Virginia State Agricul- 
tural Society — has thrown into the funds of this 
institution §20,000— with which it is intended 
to endow a Professorship of Agriculture. 

A great want in the education of young men — 
many of whom go from the college halls to take 
charge of farms— will thus be supplied. It is 
expected that Col. Cocke's noble lead will be 
followed by other generous spirits, who are alike 
interested in promoting the cultivation and ad- 
vancement of Agricultural science. 

We trust this fund may be largely added to 
so that our State may have within her borders 
the very best school, in all our glorious Union, for 
the education of not only her own sons, but of 
those of her sister States. It is with the greatest 



502 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



[August 



pleasure we announce the appointment of Major 
Win. Gilham to the new Professorship of Agri- 
culture. Major G. is so well known to the 
citizens of our own State for his scientific at- 
tainments, his laborious, constant industry, his 
zeal in the cause of agriculture, together with 
the possession of all those accomplishments' 
and traits of character which serve to constitute 
and adorn the scholar and gentleman, that his 
appointment will, we believe, greatly add to 
the prosperity and reputation of our already 
popular Military Institute. 



Messrs. B. M. Rhodes & Co. 

We call attention to the advertisement of 
these gentlemen, who give a legal warrantee 
of the thorough preparation and genuine qual- 
ity of their " Super-Phosphate." Intending to 
keep it always up to the present standard, they 
authorize all their agents, in case of any failure 
on their part to do so, to refund to purchasers 
any money which they may have paid for the 
article manufactured by them. This is the 
proper course to follow. We commend it to 
the attention of all manufacturers of specific 
manures. Give us a fair statement of what 
your article is, and if it does not come up to rep- 
resentation, give us our money back. We will 
not then have so reasonable a fear, as we have 
at present, of being "humbugged." 

4 ♦♦ ♦ » — 

Rural Register, 

Published by Sands & Mills, Semi-monthly ; 
each number containing sixteen 4to. pages. 
Price $1 00 per annum. 

We have received the first number of this 
paper, which is under the Editorial manage- 
ment of Samuel Sands, Esq., who was for many 
years the Editor of the American Farmer. The 
paper is well printed and well filled with in- 
teresting matter. We shall be happy to place 
it on our exchange list, and most cordially 
wish Messrs. Sands & Mills abundant success 
in their enterprise. 



ington, which is dedicated to the Ladies of the 
Mount Vernon Association. 



Cosmopolitan Art Journal. 

We return our thanks to the Publishers of 
this valuable and entertaining "Quarterly" for 
a copy of the last number, which contains its 
usual amount of matter to interest and instruct 
its renders, — besides engravings. The princi- 
pal engraving in the number before us, is the 
American Eagle, watching the spirit of Wash- 



The late Thomas Nelson of Hanover. 

The following resolutions have been sent us 
for publication. In giving them a place in our 
columns, we cannot refrain from expressing our 
own deep sympathy with the family of the de- 
ceased, in their severe bereavement. 

Captain Nelson was for many years a resi- 
dent of this city, and at one time the Collector 
of Customs in our port. He commanded the 
admiration and enjoyed the esteem of many 
of our citizens, who knew his worth as a faith 
fnl public officer, a devout Christian, and high- 
toned gentleman. 

" OBITUARY. 

" At a regular meeting of the " Farmers' Club 
of the Forks of Hanover" — 

"Resolved, That this Club has heard, with the 
deepest regret and sorrow, of the death of the 
late Mr. Thomas Nelson, of Oakland, a mem- 
ber of this Club, and tender their sincere 
sympathy to the widow and family of the de- 
ceased. 

" Resolved, That we have ever esteemed him j 
one of the brightest, most exemplary and useful 
of our members; and that, by his death, a va- \ 
cancy has been created in society which can j 
with great difficulty be filled. 

" Resolved, That the Secretary be requested 
to send a copy of the above resolutions to the 
family of the deceased, and forward them to 
the Southern Planter and the other Richmond 
papers for publication." 



American Institute, New York. 

We tender our thanks to the " American In- 
stitute," of New York, for a handsomely bound 
and illustrated copy of their "Transactions," 
which we have recently received. 



Campbell's Manual of Scientific and 
Practical Agriculture. 

We spoke of the above work before we had 
seen it in print, from memory ; we now speak 
of it with increased approbation after having 
seen it in print. We take pride in commend- 
ing it, because in addition to its high merit as a 
standard manual both for the Farm and the 
School, it is a Virginia work — a superadded 
merit, other things being equal, which entitles 
it to the special patronage of Virginia farmers, 
and being also adapted in its matter to the pe- 
culiarities of Southern planting and farming, it 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



503 



deserves universal dissemination among Si. nth- 
em agriculturists. 

We have been particularly struck with the 
concluding remarks of the author, ami repro- 
duce them here for the benefit of young far- 
mers. 

"CONCLUDING WORDS. 

"In all parts of the brief outline here given, 
the author has aimed to be as coneise as was 
consistent with clearness* Much that has been 
said was intended as merely suggestive. The 
leading design has been to present the great 
principles of Science closely connected with 
Agriculture, aud to show how these princi- 
ples are involved in the daily business of the 
farm. 

" It is hoped that the young farmer will find 
some things so presented to his mind, as to in- 
spire him with new ardour in his honourable 
profession; and, at the same time, enable him 
to pursue it with unwonted pleasure. No pro- 
fession can ever give much mental pleasure or 
satisfaction to the man engaged in it, unless he 
has, first, a clear view of the principles which 
form the basis of his operations ; and, second- 
ly, a distinct understanding of the relation be- 
tween these principles and his own practice. 

"The life of the agriculturist, as well as that 
of men in other pursuits, may have its toils, its 
trials, its perplexities, and its disappointments ; 
but it has, at the same time, rare sources of 
pleasure and comfort. In the first place, it is 
the most independent of all departments of 
industry. It is true there is a mutual depen- 
dence pervading all the classes of society, but 
none have to rely so little upon the capricious 
patronage of their fellow-men as the successful 
cultivators of the soil. Hence, they are less 
seldom tempted to resort to trickery and decep- 
tion, than men in some other professions, in 
order to secure the favourable consideration of 
' the public.' 

"Again, every farmer may feel that he is a 
member of that class upon whom a country like 
ours is chiefly dependent for its wealth and 
prosperity. The farming interests lie at the 
foundation of our national greatness. A paraly- 
sis in this department would evidently result 
in a paralysis of every industrial and com- 
mercial pursuit throughout this broad land. 
The farmers nourish ami enrich the nation. 

" The land-holders of our country, too, arc 
the conservators of the purest patriotism. They 
are always the most stable and reliable citizens 
of this, and every other land. No other class 
of the people have their interests so closely and 
completely identified with the general and per- 
manent interests of every part of the country — 
none can be more warmly attached to their na- 
tive soil — and none are found more ready at 
all times to raise the strong arm of resistance 
against every invasion of rights, from whatever 
source it may come ; and yet, no class of our 
citizens are so conciliatory and conservative in 
all times of great political excitement. Such 



considerations give a dignity and importance to 

agricultural pursuits which few other profes- 
sions can claim. 

"Besides lhe>e more general relations of the 
farmer to society, which shoull cause; him to 
feel no ordinary degree of satisfaction in the 
pursuit of his honourable calling, he has around 
him the more closely-associated interests of his 
own little 'republic' at home, in which he can 
ever imd much to alleviate any vexations which 
may arise to mar his comfort. A well-tilled 
farm, with it,s appurtenances all skilfully ar- 
ranged, and in good order — with its close, 
strong fences, its deeply-plowed fields, anil its 
well-selected, well-fed, and comfortably-shel- 
tered stock — presents to the mind of any man 
of taste, a most pleasing object of regard. 
How much, then, must that pleasure be height- 
ened, when he can say: 'All these are my 
own !' If. in addition to this, the happy owner 
can look over his broad fields, and view every 
step taken in their improvement and culture, 
with the light of Science before his mind — if 
he can trace each effect back to its true cause — 
how much more elevated still must be his 
pleasure, and how much more complete his 
satisfaction ! 

"There is yet a higher view, which the in- 
telligent tiller of the soil may take of all that 
he sees around him. When he beholds in the 
light and heat of the sun, in the air he breathes, 
and in the fertilizing shower, exhaustless 
sources of life and joy — when he has learned 
how nicely the balances of Nature have been 
adjusted in all her departments — his thoughts 
must often rise in gratitude to the all-wise Au- 
thor of these beautiful and benevolent arrange- 
ments. In every breeze that sweeps across 
his fields — in every shower that waters the 
thirsty land — in the growth of every plant 
upon his soil — in every shaking leaf, and in 
every blooming flower by the wayside — Sci- 
ence has taught him to see, and seeing, to adore 
the hand of Omnipotence." 



From the Southern Farmer. 
We cheerfully comply with the request of Mr. 
Bagley, and will be glad to submit to our read- 
ers, through this journal, any information which 
may be communicated in further response to 
his inquiries. We append the editorial of the 
Southern Farmer, and also Mr. Bagley's arti- 
cle.— [Ed. 

Tobacco Culture. 

We have had several articles on the culture 
of tobacco in reference to the permanent im- 
provement of the land, and the reader will 
find a very interesting one in to-day's paper 
from a planter of Lunenburg. Contrary to 
the general experience of the country, many 
planters contend that the tobacco crop is not 
incompatible with a general system of im- 
provement. If this has ever been the case at 
all, it is perhaps only since the introduction of 



504 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



[August 



guano and other bought fertilizers. With the 
aid «'f these, it appears to he far more practi- 
cable now than in former times, when the to- 
bacco crop required all the manure, on the 
farm, to pursue an ameliorating system. 
Moreover the prices of tobacco will justify a 
liberal expenditure in its cultivation. 

The subject is certainly one of the highest 
importance to the agriculture of the State, es- 
pecially to the Southern portion. Whether 
the crop is unfriendly to general improvement 
or not, it will continue to bo grown. It is, 
therefore, a desideratum to know the best 
method of culture, "ombined with a gradual 
and progressive improvement of the soil. And 
intelligent planters could not confer a greater 
favor on the planting interest than in submit- 
ting their views and experience on the subject. 
We trust, therefore, there will be several re- 
sponses to the call of Mr. Bagley. 

The Southern Planter is requested by Mr. 
B. to ask the attention of its readers and cor- 
respondents to the subject. 

Cultivation of Tobacco with Regard to 
Improvement. 

Mr. Editor:— I am indebted to "J. G. P." 
of Nottoway and to "Cumberland" for the in- 
formation they have been kind enough to im- 
part in regard to the inquiries about the per- 
manent improvement of tobacco land. 

If I understand "J. G. P.," he advocates 
the five-shift rotation both for corn and to- 
bacco. Will he be good enough to inform 
us if he puts his theory into operation? Sup- 
pose he has on his farm twenty good hands ; 
now five acres to the hand for corn would re- 
qure one hundred acres for one field, and five 
sliifts would require five hundred acres of his 
farm for corn, and two acres to the hand for 
tobacco would take forty acres, or two hun- 
dred acres for five lots appropriated to wheat 
and tobacco — thus making seven hundred 
acres of arable land in a farm to be cultivated 
by twenty hands. All will perceive that the 
labor required to keep so many fields well 
fenced in, and free from brushes and briers 
would be immense, to say nothing about other 
objections. 

•'Cumberland" recommends a three-field 
system, and making a new tobacco lot every 

fear, seeding it in clover. Now, Mr. Editor, 
do not feel competent to instruct others in a 
matter so important as this, but I see very 
plainly the system the planters are pursuing 
in our country is reckless and ruinous in the 
extreme, and will tend only to poverty and 
bankruptcy; and in writing this my object is 
only to have the opinions of others on a sub- 
ject so important. I suggest a system like 
this: Make a new lot every year, by ruining 
all the manure you can, and then apply about 
three hundred pounds of Peruvian guano 
and one hundred pounds of some phosphatic 



guano to the acre, next year seed this land in 
wheat, and about the last of March sow and 
harrow in not less than two gallons of clover 
seed to the acre in order to secure a good 
stand of clover and exclude all other growth. 
Let it remain in clover the next year, and then 
put it in corn to be followed by wheat, thus 
having two lots in wheat every year. Contin- 
ue this rotation until you have made six lots 
and seeded them all to clover, or until you 
have improved all of your land as you may 
think best. But I give it as my opinion that 
the sine qua non to the improvement of land 
is first to lay it off, and plow in a manner to 
prevent washing. I do not mean the ordina- 
ry ineffectual and ridiculous mode of horizon- 
tal ditching and crooked corn rows, but a 
skillful, effectual and thorough system, for any 
other than such is worse than none, and I will 
here mention that after several year's experi- 
ence, and after reflecting on this subject per- 
haps more than any other person in our part 
of the country at least, I have now adopted a 
mode which is somewhat new, and which I 
am convinced is more practical and does bet- 
ter than any plan with which I am acquainted. 
This is a subject, Mr. Editor, of the greatest 
importance. Will you request that several 
others give their opinions as to the best and 
most practical way of improving land, and 
increasing our crops? Will the Southern 
Planter be so kind as to copy and request cor- 
respondents to give us light on the subject, 
and let all give their names in full, and all 
who write on such subjects should. For in- 
stance, if I knew who J. G. P. is, I could 
make some inquiries about his farm, and 
might find opt whether or not his theory and 
practice correspond. Don't tell us about what 
you think ; tell us what you are doing, and 
give us your names in order that we may 
judge for ourselves. 

WM. M. BAGLEY. 
Columbian Grove, July 15th, 1859. 



From the Am. Journal of Science and Art, Vol. 
XXVII, July, 1850. 

On Some Points of Agricultural Science. 

BY SAMUEL W. JOHNSON, 

Professor of Analytical and Agricultural 
Chemistry in the Yah Scientific School, 
and Chemist to the Connecticut State 
Agricultural Society. 

The Absorptive properties of Soils. — It 
has long been vaguely known, that the soil 
possesses a remarkable power of absorbing 
a great variety of bodies. How the soil 
absorbs odours (more properly the volatile 
matters that give the sensation of odour) 
has often been seen in the case of gar- 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



505 



.merits upon which the fetor of the Ameri- 
can skunk has fallen. The Indians long 
tgo taught that they might be " sweetened" 
y burying them in the earth ; and indeed 
we are told that these people sweeten the 
carcass of the skunk by the same process 
to render it fit for eating. Dogs and foxes 
bury bones and meat in the ground, and af- 
terward exhume them in a state of com- 
parative freedom from offensive odour.* 

In the older treatises on agronomy we 
find allusion made to the power of soils to 
absorb gases, and this power, especially as 
exercised toward carbonic acid and ammo- 
nia, has been assumed to be of much agri- 
cultural significance, although the lack of 
precise experimental knowledge as to its 
extent, has been confessed and lamented. 

The absorptive power of the soil not only 
for odours and gases, but also for fixed mat- 
ters carried into it in a state of solution, is 
illustrated in certain commonly occurring 
instances. Thus the wells in densely pop- 
ulated cities, or in the vicinity of barn- 
yards, or filthy canals, remain sweet and 
pure for a greater or less period of time, 
though they must be constantly receiving 
waters that have been in contact with pu- 
trefying animal matters. The filtration of 
the foulest water through a thin stratum of 
loamy earth removes all unpleasant efflu- 
vium and taste. 

In the year 1850, it became known 
through two interesting articles published 
in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural 
Society of England,f that the soil exerts 



| an absorptive power toward certain substan- 
Jces, ammonia and potash especially, but not 
j toward hydrochloric, nitric and sulphuric 
'acids, so that if dilute solutions of hydro- 
chlorate, nitrate, or sulphate of ammonia 
or potash are filtered through, or agitated 
with a certain quantity of* soil, the salts are 
decomposed, the bases remain in insoluble 
combination with the soil, and the aeids are 
found in the solution united for the most 
part to lime. 

Previous to 1850, the absorbent power of 
the soil was explained as a result merely of 
the surface attraction of porous bodies. 
Thus Liebig in his " Chemistry applied to 
Agriculture and Physiology/' referred the 
condensation of ammonia in soils, to the 
surface attraction of oxyd of iron, alumina 
and humus, compared this power of soils to 
that exhibited by charcoal, which absorbs 
90 times its volume of ammonia gas, and 
evolves it again moistening with water. 
He also says, deciding from analogy, but in 
the absence of experimental data, and erro- 
neously, " the ammonia absorbed by the 
clay or ferruginous oxyds is separated by 
every shoicer of rain, and conveyed in solu- 
tion to the soil." 

The separation of organic odours and col- 
ouring matters from foul water by contact 
with earth, has been considered analogous 
to the action of animal charcoal, by. which, 
for example, beer and wine may be depriv- 
ed of odour,* colour and taste, and to that 



* It is well known that some surfaces have a 
much greater power of attaching odours to them 
than others. Every person has observed that 
woolen garments retain smells longer than cot- 
ton or linen ones, and it appears that the colour 
with which a cloth is dyed affects its retentive- 
ness for some odours. It is a fact, as the writer 
has personally observed, that when a skunk 
has emitted its stench in the cellar of a house, 
the odour clings most perceptibly to silver ware 
which has been buried among napkins in the 
recesses of a " china closet" long after it has 
disappeared from every other article on the 
premises. It is probable that the soil, or some 
of its ingredients, " sweeten'' a garment as 
above stated, by first effecting a transfer of the 
odorous matter from the surface, and then de- 
stroying it by oxydation in the same manner as 
operated by ehareoal, and platinum black. See 
note in next column. 

t " On the absorbent Power of Soils." By H. 
S. Thomson. Vol. xi, pp. GS — 74; and "On the 



Power of Soils to absorb Manure." By J. 
Thomas Way, Consulting Chemist of the Royal 
Agricultural Society. Vol. xi, 317 — 3S0; also, 
vol. xiii, pp. 123 — 142 

* Several years ago Stenhouse found that the 
disinfecting property of charcoal depends, not 
merely upon the condensation in its pores of 
odorous matters, but also upon their destruction 
by the condensed oxygen with which, doubtless, 
it is charged. The writer (after Stenhouse) has 
kept the carcass of a dead rat all summer long 
in the working room of the Yale Analytical 
Laboratory without its evolving any disagreea- 
ble effluvium, sjmply by burying it an inch deep 
in powdered charcoal. The only odour that is 
perceived, is a strong one of pure ummonia, and 
in time, all the putrefiable parts of the carcass 
disappear, the hair and bones only remaining. 
The animal matters enveloped in charcoal (or 
other highly porous body capable of condens- 
ing oxygen, as platinum black or platinum 
sponge; probably also most soils, especially 
those rich in humus) are completely oxydized 
to water, carbonic acid and ammonia (free ni- 



506 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



[August 



of alumina which forms insoluble lakes with 
organic pigments. 

Way, in his comprehensive investigations 
before alluded to, after studying separately 
as far as possible the absorptive effect of 
each ingredient of the soil, was led as a 
last resort to invetigate the relations of the 
silicates to saline solutions. The simple 
silicates he found ineffectual and had re- 
course therefore to the complex silicates. 
He digested feldspar with solution of chlo- 
rid of ammonium but detected no reaction, 
and thence concluded that the fragments of 
granitic rocks could not perceptibly decom- 
pose saline solutions. In order to trace the 
action of such silicates as are formed to a 
small degree in the wet way in soils by the 
weathering of the granitic minerals, Way 
next prepared double silicates of alumina 
with the bases potash, soda, lime, an ammo- 
nia respectively. In the first place he 
procured an alumina-potash, or alumina- 
soda-silicate, by precipitating the soluble 
alkali-silicate with a salt of alumina; on 
digesting these double silicates with solu- 
tions of lime and ammonia, he succeed- 
ed in replacing the potash and soda by 
lime and ammonia, though but incom- 
pletely, for different preparations of his 
alumina-ammonia-silicate contained but 4.51 
to 5.64 per cent, of ammonia instead of 
the quality equivalent to the partly dis- 
placed alkali which, according to him, in 
case of the alumina-soda-silicate, should be 
15.47 per cent. 

Way gives as characteristic of this class 
of double silicates, that there is a regular 
order in which the commonest protoxyd 
bases replace each other. He arranges 
them in the following series : 

Soda — Potash — Lime — Magnesia — Am- 
monia : 

and according to him, potash can replace 



trogen ?) without the appearance of the inter- 
mediate and fetid products that occur in putre- 
faction. The sweetening of meat by charcoal (or 
earth?) consists in the oxydation (eremecausis) 
of the putrefying surface. Stenhouse found 
that platinized charcoal (charcoal ignited after 
moistening with chlorid of platinum) makes an 
excellent escharotic and disinfectant lor foul 
ulcers, and latterly the surgeon is employing 
permanganate of potash — an energetic oxydiz- 
Wig a^ent — for the same purpose. — Second Series, 
Vol. XXVIII, No. S2.—July, 1859. 



soda but not the other bases while ammonia 
replaces them all : or each base replaces 
those ranged to its left in the above scries, 
but nunc of those on its right. Way re* 
marks, that " of course the reverse of this 
action cannot occur." Prof. Liebig (Ann. 
de Chem. u. Phar., xciv, 380) has arawn 
attention to the fact that Way directly con- 
tradicts himself in describing the prepara- 
tion of the potash-alumina-silicate, which 
may be obtained by digesting either the 
lime-alumina or soda-alumina-silicatc in ni- 
trate or sulphate of potash, when the soda or 
lime is dissolved out and replaced by pot- 
ash. 

Way was doubtless led into the error of 
assuming a fixed order of replacements by 
considering these exchanges of bases as 
regulated after the ordinary manifestations 
of chemical affinity. His own experiments 
abundantly show that among these silicates 
there is no inflexible order of decomposi- 
tion, nor any complete replacements. 

Liebig, in the paper just cited, was led 
from this contradiction and from other con- 
siderations, to reject the conclusions of 
Way, especially as there was no direct 
proof that these double silicates exist in 
soils. 

The recent researches of Eichhorn, — 
" Ueber die Einwirkung verdiinnter Salzlo- 
sungen auf Ackererde," (Landwirthschaft- 
liches Centralblatt, 1858, ii, 169, and Pogg. 
Ann., No. 9, 1858,) have cleared up the 
discrepancies of Way's investigation (which 
is itself one of remarkable interest,) and 
have confirmed and explained his facts. 

As Way's artificial silicates «ontained 
about 12 per cent, of water, the happy 
thought occurred to Eichhorn to test the 
action of saline solutions on native hydrous 
silicates. He accordingly instituted some 
trials on chabazite and natrolite, an abstract 
of which is here given. 

On digesting finely pulverized chabazite 
with dilute solutions of chlorids of potassi- 
um, sodium, ammonium, lithium, barium, 
strontium, calcium, magnesium, and zinc, 
sulphate of magnesia, carbonates of toda 
and ammonia, and nitrate of cadmium, he 
found in every case that the basic element 
of these salts became a part of the silicate, i 
while lime passed into the solution. The 
rapidity of the replacement varied exceed- 
ingly. The alkali-chlorides reacted evi- 
dently in two or three days. Chlorid of 
barium and nitrate of cadmium were slower 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



507 



in their effect. Chlorides of zinc and stron- 
tium, at first, appeared not to react; but 
. after twelve days, lime was found in the 
"solution. Chlorid of magnesium was still 
tardier in replacing lime. 

Four grams of powdered chabazite were 
digested with four grams chlorid of sodium 
and 400 cubic centimeters w T ater for ten 
days. The composition of the original 
mineral (i,) and of the same after the ac- 
tion of chlorid of sodium (n,) were as fol- 
lows : 



Si0 3 


i. 
47.44 


H. 
48.31 


A1 2 3 ,.... . 
CnO, 


20.69 

10.37 


21.04 
6.65 


KO, 


0.65 


0.64 


NaO, 

HO, 


0.42 

20.18 


5.40 
18.33 



99.75 



100.37 



Nearly one half the lime of the original 
mineral is replaced by soda. A loss of 
water also has occurred. The solution sep 
arated from the mineral, contained nothing 
but soda, lime and chlorine, and the latter 
in precisely its original quantity. 

By acting on chabazite with dilute chlo- 
rid of ammonium (10 grams to 500 c. c. 
water) for ten days, the mineral was alter- 
ed, and contained 3.33 per cent, of ammo- 
nia. Digested twenty-one days, the min- 
eral, dried at 212°, yielded 6.94 per cent, 
of ammonia, and also had lost water. 

These ammonia-chabazites lost no ammo- 
nia at 212°, it escaped only when the heat 
was raised so high that water began to be 
expelled; treated with warm solution of 
potash it was immediately evolved. The 
silicate appears to be slightly soluble in dis- 
tilled water, the solution giving with solution 
of iodid of mercury in iodid of potassium, 
the yellow coloration indicative of ammonia. 

As in the instances above cited, there oc- 
curred but a partial replacement of lime. 
Eichhorn made corresponding trials with 
solutions of carbonates of soda and ammo- 
nia, in order to ascertain whether the for- 
mation of a soluble salt of the displaced 
base limited the reaction ; but the results 
were substantially the same as before, as 
shown by analyzing the residue after re- 
moving carbonate of lime by digestion in 
dilute acetic acid. 

Eichhorn found that the artificial soda- 
chabazite re-exchanged soda for lime when 
digested in a solution of chlorid of calcium; 



in solution of chlorid of potassium both 
soda and lime were BUMLtted from it and 
replaced by potash. So, the ammonia- 
ohabazite in solution of chlorid of calcium, 
exchanged ammonia for lime, and in solu- 
tions of ohloridfl of potassium and sodium, 
both ammonia and lime passed into the 
liquid. The aminonia-chabazite in solution 
of sulphate of magnesia, lost ammonia but 
not lime, though doubtless the latter base 
would have been found in the liquid had 
the digestion been continued longer. 

It thus appears that in the case of chaba- 
zite all the protoxyd bases* may mutually 
replace each other, time being the only 
element of difference in the reactions. Na- 
trolite, however, was not affected by diges- 
tion with chlorid of calcium. Eichhorn 
suggests that its soda is more firmly com- 
bined than that of chabazite. 

These observations of Way and Eich- 
horn promise to yield the most fruitful re- 
sults, not only to the theory of chemical ge- 
ology, as elucidating the formation and al- 
teration of minerals, but also to the science 
of agriculture. The explanation of the 
retentive power of soils which Way first 
proposed thus acquires an incalculable sig- 
nificance. It is plainly a true explana- 
tion, as now relieved from the constraint 
of a fixed order of affinities or replace- 
ments ; though not the only or a com- 
plete explanation. 

Voelcker, in some valuable researches on 
the absorbent power of a soil for the liquids 
of the dung-heap, (Journal Roy. Ag. Soc. 
of Eng., xviii, 149,) first showed that it 
is not always true that the bases displace 
lime from soils. He found to the contrary, 
in one instance, that lime was fixed and 
potash displaced. This result, as well as 
the opposite behaviour of ammonia-chaba- 
zite and natrolite towards solution of chlo- 
rid of calcium in Eichhorn's trials, indicate 
most clearly that different silicates suffer 
different displacements, though in general, 
certain bases react more speedily and more 



* Eichhorn's observations indicate that the 
combined (basic?) water of a silicate is also li- 
able to be increased or removed. May not the 
small amount of water of the many specimens 
of properly anhydrous minerals, be thus ac- 
quired ? May not in some cases the loss by ig- 
nition in minerals, be due to ammonia that 
has entered into combination in the same man- 
ner ? 



508 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[August 



largely or firmly retained than others. Ob- 
viously a great number of experiments are 
wanted on the behaviour of other silicates, 
native and artificial, towards saline solutions 
in various degrees of concentration, and at 
different temperatu.es, as well as in mixed 
solutions, before we can decide many inter- 
esting questions suggested by these results; 
but we have undeniably an important new 
generalization with reference to the reac- 
tions that may occur among minerals and 
in the soil. 

Economy of the Ammonia naturally ac- 
cumulated in the soil. — Since it has been 
proved that enormous quantities of ammo- 
nia exist in soils in a state of such inti- 
mate combination that the usual means 
(boiling with fixed caustic alkalies) fails to 
expel it,* the important question has arisen 
— how may this ammonia be rendered more 
rapidly available to vegetation than it is, so 
as in many cases to forestall the necessity 
for nitrogenous manures. 

The displacement of ammonia from the 
ammonia-chabazite by potash, soda and lime, 
indicates a partial solution of this question ; 
and may not the remarkably diverse effects 
of various saline manures, e. g. common 
salt, gypsum, sulphates of soda and magne- 
sia, and silicate of potash, as well as car- 
bonate and phosphate of lime, depend, to 
some degree, on reactions analogous to those 
above described ! We know that very 
small doses of salt and gypsum, to take 
familiar examples, often remarkably en- 
hance the productiveness of a soil, and as 
often fail to produce any good effect, either 
in small or large applications. Neither of 
the constituents of common salt is found to 
much extent in our usually cultivated 
plants, and soda is often entirely wanting. 

The action of common salt and gypsum, 
especially of the latter, is most frequently 
similar to that caused by ammoniacal ma- 
nures, whether these be applied to the soil 
or administered in gaseous form, as is now 
done in hot-houses by means of carbonate 
of ammonia, after the plan proposed by 



* In 1855 the writer found that there was no 
limit to the evolution of ammonia, when at- 
tempting to estimate it in soils, and Dr. Mayer, 
(Ergebnisse. Ag. Chein. Versuchc in Munchenj 
1 Heft.) could not recover by boiling with caus-j 
tic potash nearly all the ammonia he purposely 
added to a soil. 



Ville, and is manifested in a more intensely 
green and luxuriant development of foliage, 
and increased content of water and of ni- 
trogen. The " fixing power " of gypsum 
cannot longer be considered a useful quali- 
ty of this fertilizer in the soil, not only be- 
cause, in the merely moist soil, sulphate of 
ammonia would react on carbonate of lime, 
as Boussingault long ago demonstrated, but 
for the reason that the soil has itself a 
greater and more than sufficient power to 
fix ammonia, whether it be present as car- 
bonate or sulphate. It is on the other 
hand the unfixing power of gypsum — its 
ability to liberate ammonia from the ammo- 
nia-silicates, that ma}' in some cases consti- 
tute its merit. 

General law of Displacement among 
Saline Fertilize?^. — We are every day 
drifting further from what but a few 
years ago was considered one of the most 
fixed and beneficial principles of agricul- 
tural science, viz : that a substance is chief- 
ly a fertilizer because it directly feeds the 
plant, and are learning from the numerous 
recent and carefully conducted experiments 
with manures, that in very many cases we 
cannot safely venture to predict what will 
be the influence of a given application ; but 
find in practice the strangest and most dis- 
cordant results, it being literally possible to 
show from the experience of the farm that 
almost every fertilizer in use has in some 
instances proved beneficial to every cultiva- 
ted crop, and in other cases has been in- 
different or even detrimental. 

We are therefore compelled more and 
more to regard the indirect action of ma- 
nures, and the principle brought out by 
the researches of Way and Eichhorn, ap- 
pears adapted more than any other yet dis- 
covered to generalize the phenomena of in- 
direct action, and enable us to foresee and 
explain them. Proofs are not wanting of 
the actual operation of this principle in the 
soil. 

Wolff (Naturgesetzlichen Grundlagen des 
Ackerbaues, 3d ed. p. 148,) found in fact 
that the ashes of the straw of buckwheat 
grown with a large supply of common salt, 
compared with the ashes of the same part, 
of that plant grown on the same soil mi- 
nus this addition, contained less chlorid of 
sodium but much more chlorid of potassi- 
um : there having occurred an exchange of 
bases in the soil. 

The probabilities already adduced in 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



509 



favor of the view that ammonia is made 
available by gypsum, carbonate of lime, 
&c., are in point, and in the further course 
of this article other evidences will be 
brought forward to the same effect. May 
not the influence of lime and guano (or the 
carbonate of ammonia resulting from its de- 
composition,) in some cases be partly due to 
their fluxing the anhydrous or non-absorb- 
ent silicates of the soil, thus giving origin 
to absorbent silicates, as well as to their dis- 
placing effect on silicates already existing ? 
But it is of little use in the absence of 
decisive investigations to speculate on these 
topics except for the purpose of exciting re- 
search. A great field is opened here, and 



with this new clue to guide us it should be 
speedily explored. 

Not merely the bases, but, as a priori 
would seem entirely reasonable, the acids 
also appear to be capable of similar ex- 
changes and substitutions. 

Way, Licbig and others, have repeatedly 
observed that phosphoric acid is absorbed 
by soils, and from the trials of Voelcker 
before referred to, it would appear that 
among the acids there occur displacements 
analogous to those established between the 
bases. Thus in one experiment in which 
the drainings of a manure heap were passed 
through a soil, there were found in an im- 
perial gallon — 



Before After 

filtration through the soil. 

Silica, -75 238 

Phosphates of lime and iron, 790 154 

Sulphate of lime, 2-18 702 

Carbonate of lime, .• 1746 7972 

Carbonate* of magnesia, 1283 6*17 

11 " potash, 85-27 4-29 

Chloride of sodium, .22*85 18-90 

" " potassium, 35-25 2644 

In another case were found. 

Before After 

filtration through the soil. 

Silica, , 475 1508 

Phosphates of iron and lime, 3632 i 3314 

Sulphate of lime, 7-14 .trace. 

Chlorid of sodium r 5091 48-48 

" " potassium, 30-32 39-49 

Carbonate of potash, 148-69 85-93 



The entire analyses have not been quoted, 
as I do not now intend to discuss these re- 
sults fully, but merely wish to direct atten- 
tion to the fact, that in both instances 
silicic acid (perhaps only as the result of an 
excess of carbonate of potash in the dung- 
liquor to which the soil was subjected) has 
been removed from the soil, and phosphoric 
acid has been fixed by it, while in one case 
sulphuric acid has been retained and chlo- 
rine lost by the soil, and in the other case 
the reverse has occurred. _ 

Liebig, in the paper before referred to, 
remarks that " a clay or lime-soil poor in 
organic matter, withdraws all the potash 
and all the silicic acid from a solution of 
silicate of potash ; whereas one rich in so- 
called humus (humic acid), extracts the 
potash, but leaves the silicic acid in solu- 
tion." 

Oxyd of iron and alumina, or some of 



their compounds which are at present in 
all soils, are the most obvious means of fix- 
ing the phosphoric acid of soluble phos- 
phates, and Thenard (Compt.' Rend. Feb. 
1, 1858,) has experimenfcilly demonstra- 
ted that they do remove phosphoric acid 
perfectly from solutions of phosphate of 
lime in water saturated with carbonic acid. 
Deherain (quoted in Landwirthschaftliches 
Centralblatt, 1859, i, 94,) has shown on the 
other hand that carbonate of lime and ferric 
phosphate brought together with highly car- 
bonated water, give rise to phosphate of 
lime and ferric carbonate. According to 
the same experimenter, phosphate of alumi- 
na and ferric phosphate are also decom- 
posed by contact with solutions of the alka- 
li-carbonates. Thenard, in the paper just 
cited, asserts that silicate of lime and phos- 
phate of alumina decompose each other in 
carbonated water. However complicated 



510 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[August 



and obscure these re-actions may be, it 
is plain, that, henceforth, the effect of a so- 
lution of one base in displacing other bases 
from native hydrated aluminous [and fer- 
ric ?) silicates, and of one acid upon the 
compounds of other acids with oxyd of iron 
and alumina, must be considered in the 
theary of the action of saline manures. 

Water as the medium by which the ingre- 
dients of the soil enter the plant. — From 
his experiments on the absorbent power of 
soils, Way was led to question the influence 
of water in eifecting the distribution of 
plant-food in the soil, and Liebig in a re- 
cent paper on this subject (Ueber einige 
Eigenschaften der Ackerkrume " Ann. der 
Chem. u. Phar. cv., 109 et seq.*) has drawn 
the conclusion that this force in the soil is 
so powerful that ammonia, potash and phos- 
phoric acid when applied as manures are 
instantly made quite insoluble, so that we 
must relinquish the idea hitherto entertain- 
ed that plants appropriate their food direct- 
ly from an aqueous solution, and must adopt 
as an only alternative the doctrine that the 
roots of the plant themselves attack and 
solve their nutriment. Liebig is of the 
opinion that the bodies mentioned cannot 
be distributed in the soil by the ascending 
and descending streams of moisture which 
are perpetually circulating in it, in obedi- 
ence to gravitation and evaporation, and he 
adduces analyses of river, spring and drain- 
waters, which are almost free from potash 
and ammonia to sustain this view. 

On the other hand Eichhorn in the paper 
already referred to, found that pure dis 
tilled water dissolved from a soil much 
more of all the mineral matters required 
by vegetation than would be needful to sup- 
ply any average crop. Henneberg and 
Stohmann (iiber das Verhaltcn der Acker- 
krume gegen Ammoniak u. Ammoniaksal- 
zen, Ann. der Chem. u. Pharm. cvii., 170) 
found that when a soil had been saturated 
with ammonia, pure water removed it again 
to a certain extent. Thus 100 grams of 
soil were treated with 200 c. c. of a solu- 
tion of chlorid of ammonium (containing 
0-693 grams ammonia) and absorbed 0-112 
grams of ammonia; on removing one-half 
of the solution and substituting as much 
pure water the soil lost 0*009 grams of am- 



* See also his " Letters on Modern Agricul- 
ture," London, 1859. 



monia as the result of the dilution : by 
again replacing with water 100 c. c. of the 
thus diluted solution, 0-014 grams of am- 
monia were re-dissolved from the soil, and 
by five repetitions of this process 0-053 
grams or nearly one-half the quantity of 
ammonia originally absorbed passed again 
into solution. 

Liebig himself in one of his papers (Ann. 
der Chem. u Pharm. cvi., 201,) has fur- 
nished the best illustration of the manner 
in which one base is made soluble by being 
displaced from its combination with the soil 
on the. addition of another base. He says — 
" If sulphate of ammonia in very dilute so- 
lution, is brought in contact with soil satu- 
rated with silicate of potash, and which 
does not give up a trace (?) of its potash to 
water alone, it instantly dissolves a certain 
quantity of this alkali, which may be easily 
detected by the common reagents." 

Liebig has not overlooked the case of 
acquatic plants whose roots do not enter any 
soil, for which, he remarks — u there must of 
course exist other laws for the absorption of 
their mineral food ) they must absorb it 
from the surrounding medium." 

But there appears to be no reason for 
supposing that acquatic plants differ from 
our cultivated crops in the manner of im- 
bibing or appropriating the nourishment 
which enters the roots, especially since 
Sachs and Stoeckhardt (Chem'tscher Ac- 
kersmann 1859, p. 28, et seq.) have shown 
that the cereals and leguminous grains, as 
well as clover and beets, not only germinate 
but attain a vigorous development and even 
blossom ; although their roots never come 
in contact with a solid soil, but merely float 
in water holding in solution the salts need- 
ful to supply them with mineral food. 

It must be borne in mind that the amount 
of mineral (fixed) ingredients in a plant 
or crop is but a minute fraction (accord- 
ing to Boussingault 1-1 5,000th on the 
average, according to Lawcs and G-ibert 
l-3,000th) of the quantity of water 
which a plant or crop under usual cir- 
cumstances transpires during its season of 
growth. We are not surprised then that 
agricultural plants are sufficiently fed when 
their roots are merely surrounded by ordi- 
nary well water which is daily changed, or 
by distilled water mingled with a little vege- 
table ash into which carbonic acid is daily 
conducted. We know that drain tubes and 
aqueducts are often choked by a mass of 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



511 



rootlets which have grown from one little 
fiber that made its way into them through a 
narrow crevice, but why should the roots of 
trees and land plants thus develop in such 
water unless they find their food in it ? In 
Stoeckhardt's experiments loc. cit., it was 
observed that rye and oats only developed 
in a normal manner, in saline solutions, 
when these were diluted from six to ten 
thousand times ! and young clover plants 
grew luxuriantly, putting forth new roots, 
leaves and blossoms in profusion, when 
transferred from the soil to pure water sup- 
plied with carbonic acid, to which was 
added l-500th of clover ashes that had 
been neutralized with nitric acid. 

It is true that most river and spring 
waters yield by analysis but the minutest 
traces of potash, ammonia and phosphoric 
acid, but we cannot, perhaps, infer with 
safety that they are actually so deficient in 
these ingredients, for it may easily happen, 
as all chemists know, that in the evaporation 
of a large mass of water traces of salts are 
likewise carried off,* and in the ignition of 
saline residues, as is customary in the analy- 
sis of a water, much more loss of potash 
may occur from the ready volatility of chlo- 
rid of potassium. 

But admitting that our analyses are suf- 
ficiently accurate to base calculations upon, 
and that the soil-water never contains more 
potash for example than river and well 
waters; viz., from 2 to 10 parts in 1,000, 
000,f it must be remembered that the plant 
is by no means compelled to limit itself for 
its supplies of mineral matter to that portion 
of water which it transpires. 

The root-cells of a plant placed in a saline 
solution at once establish osmotic currents, 
in virtue of the mutual but unbalanced at- 
tractions that exist between the cell-walls, 
the liquid of the cell, the surrounding liquid 
and the saline and organic matters in solu- 



*In Liebig's Chemistry applied to Agriculture 
and Physiology (5th German ed., p. 102, et seq.,) 
may be found an account of some of the more 
striking instances of this volatilization. My 
friend, Dr. Robert A. Fisher, permits me to 
mention the result of some of his researches 
that bear on this point. He found, in fact, that 
a quantity (very small indeed but still suflioient 
to be estimated by volume try) of caustic potash 
is carred off in the vapor when its aqueous 
solution is distilled. 

tEichhorn found in 1,000,000 parts of distil- 
led water that had been in contact with a soil 
for ten days, 57 parts of potash. 



tion in these liquids. The assimilating pro- 
cesses going on in the cells are constantly 
transporting matters forward into the newer 
growths , or else removing them from so- 
lution in the sap, and causing their depo- 
sition in the solid form. These are the 
prime disturbances that operate the currents, 
and to restore the matters thus removed 
from the liquids of the root-cells, external 
matters held in solution diffuse inwardly. 
If a plant has a large leal* surface exposed 
to the free air, from which water rapidly 
evaporates, water diffuses into the root-cells 
if it be present in the soil, and thus the nor- 
mal humidity of the structure is preserved. 
But if the plant be situated in a close hot-* 
house, or in a Ward's case, the atmosphere 
of which is constantly saturated with aque- 
ous vapor, there can be no evaporation of 
water from the leaves, there can be no trans- 
piration of water through the plant and no 
absorption of it by the roots, except to sup- 
ply what becomes a solid constituent of the 
tissues or is decomposed in the nutritive 
process. The same is true of potash or any 
other substance held in solution in the soil- 
water. As a result of this principle the 
land plant collects the potash, phosphoric 
acid, silica, &c, needed for its organization, 
from the vastly dilute solutions of these 
bodies which form the water of wells or of 
the soil, just as the fucus gathers its iodine 
from the ocean, although the marvellously 
delicate reagents which we possess for iodine 
scarcely enable us to detect this substance 
even in highly concentrated sea-water. 

Says Gmelin, (Handbook of Chemistry, 
Cavendish Soc's. ed., vol. ii, p. 248,) " the 
quantity of iodine contained in sea-water is 
so small that Tennant, Davy, Gaultier, Fyfe 
and Sarphati were not able to find it. Bal- 
ard, however, found it in the water of the 
Mediterranean and Pfaff in that of the 
Baltic, which is nevertheless very poor in 
iodine." Otto (Lehrbuch 3d ed., 1st Part, 
p. 452,) observes "while bromine is easily 
found if not in sea-water itself, yet in the 
mother-liquors obtained by its evaporation, 
and is prepared from them in large quanti- 
ties, it is still doubtful if iodine can be de- 
tected in them." Again, in a note — "It is 
worthy of remark that in preparing bromine 
from the mother-liquors of sea-water, iodine, 
so far as I know, has never made its appear- 
ance." 

Iodine can be detected in a solution of 
which it forms but l-300,000th part — Otto. 



512 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[August 



The st/trtiw/ power which is possessed 
by plants is Tally explained and defined by 
osmotic diffusion. Within certain easy 
limits the plant imbibes only those kinds of 
matter and those quantities, which it re- 
quires to develop its organism, and which 
diffuse into it in consequence of assimilation 
in the cells. These limits are not so nar- 
row or inflexible as to make the finding of 
the conditions of growth impossible, and 
within them, the plant lives and expands, 
but is itself influenced in its life and in the 
direction of its enlargement, by the quanti- 
ties, absolute and relative, of the nutritive 
or soluble matters, that happen to surround 
it. Could we grow two plants in precisely 
identical conditions, we should find their 
composition alike in all their parts. The 
variations in the composition and amount 
of the ash of plants is probably connected 
with the different relative development of 
the separate organs, and this again (in part) 
with the relative quantities of food present 
in the soil-water. Thus the ash of the plant 
is, to a certain extent, independent of the 
soil, but again, to a certain extent, is af- 
fected by it. The absorption of poisons by 
plants is entirely abnormal and does not af- 
fect our statement. 

Not only does the grand law of osmose 
(endosmose and exosmose) feed the plant 
out of such attenuated solutions, but, in all 
probability it* aids the formation of these 
solutions. Graham has shown in the case 
of alum and bisulphate of potash, that the 
unequal diffusive tendency of the members 
of a double salt is powerful enough to de- 
compose it, and he observed that solutions 
even of the neutral sulphates of potash and 
soda diffused their basic ingredients into 
lime-water, more rapidly than the acid; 
these stable salts thus undergoing partial 
decomposition. 

The investigations of Henneberg and 
Stohmann already cited, have proved that 
the absorbent power of a soil is not a purely 
chemical process, in the ordinary restricted 
sense; but is in part a physical phenomenon, 
i. e., it does not depend exclusively upon 
the presence in the soil, of a certain amount 
o£ some peculiar kind of matter, but is also 
related to the condition and to the relative! 
amount of acting surface of the various 
materials which react. 

Henneberg and Stohmann found that the 
time of contact between a solution of an am 1 ' 
monia-salt and a soil did not affect the, 



amount of absorption, — as much ammonia 
being taken up in four hours as in a week. 
This fact indicates that the absorbing sub- 
substance is in an extreme state of division, 
to whieh the pulverized chabazite of Eich- 
horn's experiments can bear no comparison. 

They found, too, that a given soil ab- 
sorbed out of an equal volume of liquid 
very nearly the same amount of ammonia 
from equivalent quantities of all its salts, 
the phosphate excepted. 

They observed, however, that the relative 
quantities of soil, water and the saline sub- 
stance, affected the results; thus from a 
stronger solution a greater absolute amount 
of ammonia was absorbed, while from a 
weaker solution a relatively greater quantity 
was taken up : and further, relatively more 
was absorbed by a given amount of soil, 
from a solution of given strength when the 
volume of the latter was increased. 

Finally they found, as has. been already 
remarked, that by diluting with pure water 
the solution from which a soil had saturated 
itself with ammonia, a portion of this body 
is re-dissolved. 

Thus it appears that the very surface-at- 
tractions which determine the solution of 
solid bodies, and occasion osmotic diffusion, 
also operate in the soil to influence th 
chemical affinities which are the prime cause 
of its absorptive properties. The chemical 
affinity of silicate of alumina for the bases, 
(probably too that of oxyd of iron and 
alumina for some of the acids) is modified 
by the mass of the reacting substances and 
by that of their solvent; or in other words, 
the cohesive force of the atoms of the com 
pound silicates, or the adhesive force of 
water, (solvent action) for the saline bodies, 
may neutralize or limit the chemical affinity 
which determines one compound and give 
origin to another. Hence the chemical sub- 
stitutions in the soil, and in the case of 
chabazite: hence, too, the perpetual presence 
of all the mineral food of plants in the 
water of the soil. 

We would not by any means deny the di 
rect action of the rootlets of plants upon the 
soil, an action which though exceedingly ob 
scure and as Prof. Liebig remarks in enunci- 
ating his new views "very difficult to forma 
conception of," we may admit in some cases 

Liebig in his letters on modern agricul- 
ture, p. 43, gives this instance: "We fre- 
quently find in meadows smooth lime-stones 
with their surfaces covered with a network 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



513 



of .small furrows. Whcu these stones arc 
newly taken out of the ground, we find that 
each furrow corresponds to a rootlet, which 
appears as if it had eaten its way into the 
stone.." We may admit in this case that 
the rootlets have acted upon the stone, but 
are not therefore necessarily compelled to as- 
sume that the dissolved matters have enter- 
ed the plant or were dissolved as food, for in 
such lime-soils the excess rather than the 
deficiency of carbonate of lime is oftcner a 
hindrance to vegetation. In the case of 
the Lyoporflavcxr which contain alumina 
in large quantity combined with tartaric acid, 
(Berzelius) or malic acid (Ritthausen) we 
are, if any where, obliged to look to the 
plant itself, to account for the entrance into 
i it of a substance absent from all cultivated 
plants if our numerous analyses are to be 
credited, and one which is rarely found in 
river waters, and then in quantity so small 
as to excite the suspicion that it has been 
introduced in the reagents, or came from 
suspended matters. 

But it is evident from the facts that have 
been adduced that it is unnecessary to have 
recourse to any new theory to explain the ac- 
cess of the soil-ingredients into the plant. 
In fact it would appear that the view we 
have felt forced to sustain is the only one 
admissible in the present state of knowledge 
— the only one conformable to what we deem 
well established physical laws. 

Conclusion. — The /unction of the soil. — 
While the researches of Eichhorn are of the 
utmost value in aid of the theory of the ab- 
sorption of fertilizing matters by the soil, 
they do not suffice to give a full explanation 
of this process. Doubtless all the reactions 
that occur between hydrous silicates, sesqui- 
oxydsand saline solutions may take place in 
the soil; but in addition to these a number 
of other changes must go on there, as the 
soil is so complex and variable a mixture. 
The organic matters (the bodies of the humic 
acid group), which are often though not 
always present in no inconsiderable quantity 
in the water extract of fertile soils, can hard- 
ly fail to exert an influence to modify the 
action of the silicates. I have found that a 
peat (swamp-muck) from the neighborhood 
of New Haven, (containing when fully dry 
68 per cent of organic matter) which is high- 
ly prized as a means of improving the porous 
hungry soils in this vicinity, and which when 
drained grows excellent crops, is capable of 
33 



absorbing 1*8 per cent of ammonia, while 
ordinary soil absorbs but 05 to -1 per cent. 

The great beneficial law regulating these 
absorptions appears to admit of the following 
expression: those bodies which are most rare 
and precious to the y rowing plant are by the 
soil converted into, and retained in, a condi- 
tion not of absolute, but of relative insolubili- 
ty, and are kept available to the plant by the 
continual circulation in the soil of the more 
abun da n t sa line ma tters. 

The soil (speaking in the widest sense) 
is then not only the ultimate exhaustless 
source of mineral (fixed) food, to vegetation, 
but it is the storehouse and conservatory of 
this food, protecting its own resources from 
waste and from too rapid use, and converting 
the highly soluble matters of animal exuviae 
as well as of artificial refuse (manures) into 
permanent supplies. 

Yale Analytical Laboratory, May 15th, 1859. 



Useful Information. 



The washerwomen of Holland and Bel- 
gium, so proverbially clean, and who get 
up their linen so beautifully white, use re- 
fined borax as a washing powder, instead 
of soda, in the proportion of a large hand- 
ful of borax powdered to about ten gallons 
of boiling water. They save in soap near- 
ly one-half. All the large washing estab- 
ments adopt the same mode. For laces, 
cambric, &c, an extra quantity of the pow- 
der is used, and for crinolines (required to 
be made very stiff,) a strong solution is 
necessary. Borax being a neutral salt, 
does not, in the slightest degree, injure the 
texture of the linen ; its effect is to soften 
the hardest water, and, therefore, it should 
be kept on every toilet table. To the taste 
it is rather sweet — is used for cleansing 
the hair, is an excellent dentrifice, and, in 
hot countries, is used with tartaric acid and 
bi-carbonate of soda as a cooling beverage. 
Good tea cannot be made from hard water, 
— all water can be made soft by adding a 
tea-spoonful of borax powdered to an ordi- 
nary sized kettle of water, in which it 
should boil. The saving in the quantity 
of tea used will be at least one-fifth. Jo 
give the black the flavoar of the green tea, 
add a single leaf from the black currant 
tree. — Scientific American. 



In the system of the universe every part 
is doubtless proportioned to the whole. 



514 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[August 



VIRGINIA STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY, 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. 



At a quarterly meeting of the Executive 
Committee of the Virginia State Agricultu- 
ral Society, held at the Exchange Hotel on 
Thursday evening the 26th July 1859 ; 

PRESENT. 

Edmund Ruffin, President. 

Franklin Minor, R. H. Dulany, Colin 
Stokes, Hugh M. Nelson, B. F. Dew, Wm. 
Overton, W. C Knight, Wm. Gr. Crenshaw, 
and Wm. T. Scott. 

Mr. Crenshaw from the sub-committee 
appointed to receive proposals from, and 
negotiate with any cities, towns or Agricul- 
tural Societies of the State, in regard to the 
holding of the next Fair, submitted the fol- 
lowing : 

report : 

That no proposals from any city, town or 
society of the State had been received prior 
to the 16th of June last, when the Presi- 
dent of the Virginia Central Society opened 
a correspondence with your Committee, pro- 
posing terms for a practical union with the 
State Society in holding its annual Fairs, 
upon the grounds of the Central Society. 
The terms offered to the State Society 
-were such as for various reasons — disclosed 
in the following correspondence — could not 
"be acceded to. 

Your Committee knowing the decided and 
oft-repeated preference of the Executive 
Committee for Richmond as the place most 
suitable for holding the annual Fairs, and 
being themselves fully impressed with the im- 
portance of attaining so desirable an object, 
(if practicable) without detriment to the State 
Agricultural Society, submitted the various 
modifications which would be necessary to 
render the original proposition conformable 
to the constitution and acceptable to your 
Committee, and in view of the non-accept- 
ance of the proposed changes, offered an- 
other distinct proposition, the terms of which 
will be found in their letter of June 21st. 



Neither the modifications proposed nor 
the alternative offer of the Committee was 
acceptable to the President of the Society, 
but on the contrary, were both declared to 
be " utterly inadmissible." Yet, in further 
manifestation of the earnest desire of the 
Committee to effect an arrangement with 
the Central Society for holding the Fair, 
its President having emphatically declared, 
that the terms proposed by him, and ad- 
hered to in every particular except as to 
the duration of the contract, were more fa- 
vorable than those which had been accept- 
ed, last year, by the United States Society, 
your Committee — having expressed their 
willingness to accede to similar terms — offer- 
ed to unite with the Central Society on the 
basis of its contract with the United States 
Society, and to leave matters of detail in- 
volving departure from the terms of the I 
contract to arbitration, so as effectually to 
secure the Central Society from any changes 
which would operate to its disadvantage. 
To this proposition your Committee have 
received no respon.se, though they have 
seen from a communication to the u Rich- 
mond Enquirer " that the President of the 
Virginia Central Agricultural Society de- 
clares, " that we have had enough of for- 
eign Societies, * * * and as the State 
Society has placed itself in that category, 
we have done with it." As the communi- 
cation contains explanations, the benefit of 
which we would not deny 1o the writer, we 
append it to the correspondence. 

Your Committee report further, That 
having been favored with an interview 
with the sub-Committee of the Union Ag- 
ricultural Society of Petersburg, terms of 
union for holding the next Fair have been 
mutually agreed upon, and your Committee 
therefore recommend to the Executive Com- 
mittee the adoption of the following resolu- 
tion : 

Resolved, That the sub-Committee be au- 
thorized to make a contract with the Union 



1859.] 



THE S0UTHE11N PLANTER. 



515 



Agricultural Society of Virginia and North 
Carolina for holding the Annual Fair in 
connection with them, on their grounds at 
Petersburg on the following basis : 

The free admission of the members of 
both Societies to the grounds ; — the Union 
Society to pay one thousand dollars towards 
the premium list, reserving one thousand 
dollars of the sum granted by Petersburg 
to them for the holding of Fairs, for the re- 
pairs of grounds, which are to be put in 
good order by them ; — the State Society to 
have all receipts and gate fees, and pay all 
expenses and the balance of the premium 
list — the police to be furnished by the 
Union Society free of cost to us ; and that 
all payments to the Union Society for mem- 
bership fees be reserved to them. "We sub- 
mit the annexed correspondence : 

Laburnum, June 16th, 1859. 
Dear Sir : 

My engagements in Court have been 
such since I had the pleasure of an inter- 
view with you, that it has not been in my 
power to hold another, and, as the time for 
announcing the Fair is rapidly approaching, 
I have concluded that it is best to delay no 
longer for a personal interview, but to ad- 
dress you this note, stating the terms upon 
which I propose a practical union of the 
State and Central Agricultural Societies. 
They are — 

1. That the State Society shall hold its 
Fairs upon the grounds of the Central So- 
ciety, without liability for expenses or pre- 
miums. 

2. The premiums to be awarded by the 
State Society. The subjects for premiums 
to be determined by the Committees of the 
two Societies, but the amount of the pre- 
miums to be controuled (if they desire) by 
the Central Society, which shall alone be 
responsible for the payment of the premi- 
ums. The Committees of Award to be ap- 
pointed by the two Societies. [The Fairs to 
be held in ike name of the State Society, 
which shall have the free use of all the fa- 
cilities under the controulof the Central So- 
ciety, but the local management, police, &c, 
to be under the exclusive controul of the 
Central Society.] 

3. The State Society to hand over to the 
Central Society its present surplus fund, 
and to lend to the Central Society a sum 
equal to the principal of its annual sur- 



plus — say $12,000 — upon a credit of ten 
years, to be secured by a lien upon the Fair 
Grounds of the Central Society, but no in- 
terest to be paid upon it while this agree- 
ment continues. 

4. This agreement to continue for five 
years and to be renewable thereafter for 
five years, at the pleasure of the State 
Society, upon a release of the debt of 
$12,000. 

Please to favor me with as prompt a re- 
ply as your convenience will permit- 

I am, most respectfully, your ob'dt servant, 
(Signed) JAS. LYONS. 

President Va. C. A. S. 

To W. G. Crenshaw, Esq., CJiairman 
of the Committee of the State Agricultural 
Society. 

Office of the Va. State Ag. Soc'y, ) 
Richmond June 21st, 1859. j 
James Lyons, Esq., 

President Virginia Cent. Ag. Society : 

Dear Sir : — Your favor of the 16th in- 
stant, was duly received and — without loss of 
time — was referred to the Committee of the 
State Society, charged with the duty of ma- 
king arrangements for holding the next An- 
nual Fair. The most respectful considera- 
tion has been given to each of the substan- 
tive propositions submitted by you, with an 
earnest desire, on our part, that the nego- 
tiation now begun may be conducted to 
a mutually satisfactory adjustment of the 
terms on which " a practical union of the 
State and Central Societies " may be effect- 
ed. We now proceed, in the spirit of cour- 
tesy and frankness, to answer your several 
propositions in their order. 

1. Your offer to permit the State Society 
to ■ hold its Fairs upon the grounds of the 
Central Society without liability for expen- 
ses and premiums, considered in reference 
to such reasonable equivalent concessions on 
our part to the Central Society, as shall 
compensate for their remission to us of 
" liability for expenses and premiums " in- 
dicates a just and proper basis, or starting 
point, in relation to which all the minor de- 
tails of a general arrangement may be con- 
formably adjusted, and if such particulars 
can be so adjusted, we unhesitatingly ex- 
press, in advance, the high satisfaction it 
will afford us to enter into the arrangement, 
so far as we can do so consistently with our 
constitutional powers, which are limited to 



516 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[August 



the present year, and further, to extend | 
which, would be an assumption of the pre- 1 
rogatives of the Farmers' Assembly. (See' 
Constitution, Sec 2.) 

2. Your second proposition is in these 
words : " The premiums to be awarded by 
the State Society — the subjects for premi- 
ums to be determined by the committees of 
the two Societies, but the amount of the 
premiums to be controlled (if they desire) 
by the Central Society, which shall alone 
be responsible for the payment of the pre- 
miums. The Committees of Award to be 
appointed by the two Societies. [The Fair 
to be held in the name of the State Society, 
which shall have the free use of all the fa- 
cilities under the control of the Central So- 
ciety; but the local management, police, 
&c, to be under the exclusive control of 
the Central Society.] 

Inasmuch as you propose to assume the 
whole responsibility for the payment of the 
premiums, we cheerfully accord to the Com- 
mittee of your Society the privilege of con- 
current action with that of our own in de- 
termining the subjects of premium and the 
appointment of the Committees of Award. 
With equal pleasure we surrender to the 
Society — if they shall desire it — the right 
to control the amount of premiums to be 
offered, with this proviso, however, that the 
sums proposed as prizes shall not fall short 
of those embraced in the schedule of the 
State Society for its last Fair ; the privi- 
lege of enlargement being absolutely com- 
mitted to the discretion of the Central So- 
ciety. We accept as part of a general ar- 
rangement the free use of the facilities which 
are under the control of the Central Socie- 
ty, for holding the Fair in the name of the 
State Society, but, the remainder of the 
clause contained in crochets — " the local 
management, police, &c, to be under the 
exclusive control of the Central Society/' 
being in contravention of the Constitution, 
which provides, Sec. III., Article 7th, that 
the President "shall appoint and have di- 
rection of all marshals and other agents re- 
quired to carry out and give effect to the 
rules and regulations prescribed by the Ex- 
ecutive Committee for the Annual Fair," 
we are necessitated by the paramount au- 
thority of that instrument to decline ; 
nevertheless, we think the object of the 
Central Society can be substantially attain- 
ed by conference with the President, whose 
appointments of agents for local manage- 



ment, police, &c, we venture to premise 
will be made in accordance with the wishes 
of the Central Society, agreeably to rules 
and regulations to be prescribed by the Ex- 
ecutive Committee, and which, we doubt 
not, will be so constructed as to be in substan- 
tial harmony with the wishes of the Socie- 
ty, while they must conform to the IX. Sec- 
tion and 5th Article of the Constitution, 
and that such co-ordinate controul will be 
accorded to them as is not incompatible 
with the dignit}', rights and obligations of 
the President while holding the Fair in the 
name of the State Society. 

3. Your third proposition is, " The State 
Society to hand over to the Central Society 
its present surplus funds, and to lend to the 
Central Society a sum equal to the princi- 
pal of its annual surplus, say $12,000, upon 
a credit of ten years, to be secured by a 
lien upon the Fair Grounds of the Central 
Society ; but no interest to be paid upon 
it while the agreement continues. 

In the 1st. Article of the XI. Section of 
the Constitution, it is provided that " all 
capital of the Society now or hereafter in- 
vested, shall be held a' fund sacred to the 
cause of agricultural improvement, of which 
the income only shall be subject to appropri- 
ation!' 

You will see in the above clause of the 
Constitution that the whole of your third 
proposition is without the sphere of our 
legal competency, and that the Farmer's 
Assembly only has authority in the premises; 
yet, we think there would be no objection 
on the part of the Executive Committee to 
recommend to the Farmers' Assembly to 
authorise such a loan as the one proposed, 
provided all other necessary arrangements 
could be satisfactorily made. And further- 
more: as the Central Society proposes to re- 
lease the State Society from responsibility 
for expenses and premiums, we deem it but 
just and reasonable, and coming within the 
scope of the powers of the Executive Com- 
mittee to make it, that an allowance be made 
to the Central Society of am amount in 
money equivalent to the privilege to be re- 
served to the life and such of the annual 
members of the State Society as shall have 
paid their dues, namely: the privilege of 
free admittance for themselves and for their 
families daily to the exhibitions of the So- 
ciety during the continuance of the Fair, 
and that the whole of the gate money and 
other incidental receipts of the Fair be 



1859.] 



TITE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



517 



deemed to constitute part of the said allow- 
ance, but not to include the, initiation fees 
Of new members, nor the payments for 

the dues of annual members: neither is it 
to imply the right of the Central Society to 
charge higher tees for the privilege of ex- 
hibiting and contending for premiums with- 
in the fair grounds than the State Society 
has hitherto received. 

4. Your fourth specification to this effect: 
"This agreement to continue for five years, 
and to be renewable thereafter for five years 
at the pleasure of the State Society upon a 
release of the debt of $12,000," comes not 
within the constitutional competency of the 
Executive Committee; and must, therefore, 
be remitted to the consideration of the 
Farmers' Assembly. 

Should the foregoing proposed modifica- 
tion of the terms proposed by you be deemed 
inadmissble, we would in further manifes- 
tation of our earnest desire to effect " the 
practical union of the Virginia State and 
Va. Central Agricultural Societies," by 
some other means more acceptable, submit 
the following alternative proposition : 

Presuming that the city of Richmond 
will agree to furnish the police, or means to 
pay the expense of it, as has been done 
formerly on several occasions; the Virginia 
State Society proposes to hold its Fair this 
year on the grounds of, and in connection 
with the Virginia Central Society, upon 
their grounds being furnished to us in good 
and complete order. The Fair to be con- 
ducted at the expense, and the gate-money 
and other incidental receipts to enure to the 
use of the State Society; the basis on which 
it is to be conducted, being the same as of 
all the Society's previous Fairs, namely: 
Admission or gate fees to be 25 cents for 
each person not entitled to free admittance; 
and the admission of stock, and other sub- 
jects of exhibition offered by persons not 
wishing to become members, three dollars. 
The free admission of all life and such an- 
nual members' as shall have paid their dues 
to be coutinued, and the free admittance of 
all members of the Central Society to be al- 
lowed on the same terms on which our own 
are admitted. The committee of arrange- 
ments for the Fair to consist of five persons, 
two of whom will be appointed on the nomi- 
nation of the Executive Committee of the 
Virginia Central Society, an arrangement t 
alike consistent with the requirements ofj 



the Constitution and with the objects which 
both of the Societies have in view. 

The contingent fund of the Society be- 
ing larger at this time than it was last year, 
(lie Executive Committee feel warranted in 
assuming larger peeuniary responsibility in 
conducting a Pair this year, than they were 
able to do then; in other words, they can 
afford to assume the risk of holding the 
Fair without the requirement of a guaran- 
tee of expenses. 

We «are, dear sir, with most respectful 
consideration, your obedient servants, 
WM. G. CRENSHAW, i 
FRANKLIN MINOR, \ „ 
FRANK G. RUFFIN, f Committee - 
CH. B. WILLIAMS, J 

LaburnUxM, June 22, 1859. 

Gentlemen : — I had the honor to receive, 
this afternoon, your letter of the 21st, in re- 
ply to mine of the 16th, and I hope you 
will pardon me for saying that I read it 
with equal surprise and regret, disappoint- 
ing as it does, utterly, the hope which I, in 
common with many others of its members 
and the friends generally of agriculture in- 
dulged, that the State Society would appro- 
priate, at least, its surplus funds to "advance 
and improve the condition of agriculture, 
horticulture, the auxiliary mining and me- 
chanic arts," as required by the second 
article of the first section of its constitution, 
and, to that end, would unite with the 
Central Society in holding a Fair. «. 

In this regret and surprise, the gentle- 
men with whom I have the honor to be as- 
sociated in the management of the Central 
Society, fully sympathize, and with the ex- 
pression of it, I should close this note, but 
for the fact, that} while you graciously con- 
sent to accept every privilege we have of- 
fered you, and claim others of an extreme 
character, you decline to co-operate with the 
Central Society in holding a Fair, and re- 
fuse to aid it with the advance, or loan of a 
cent, upon the ground that the constitution 
of the State Society forbids you to do so, 
and conclude by gravely submitting a pro- 
position in which you say, u presuming that 
the city of Richmond will agree to furnish 
the police or means to pay the expense of 
it, as it has done formerly on several oc- 
casions, the Virginia State Society propose 
to hold its (your emphasis) Fair this year 
upon the Fair Grounds of, and in connec- 
tion with the Central Society, upon their 



518 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[August 



grounds being furnished to us in good and 
Complete order." "The gate-money and 
Other incidental receipts to enure to the use 
of the State Society/' forbidding us to 
charge more than 25 cents gate fee for each 
person. In other words, the State Society 
will consent to hold a Fair upon our grounds 
if the city of Richmond will furnish the 
police, and we will give it every cent of our 
receipts, even including the rent of our 
own booths and buildings. 

It becomes me, therefore, in my opinion, 
to show that I have suggested nothing which 
is forbidden by your constitution, and why 
your proposition is deemed utterly inadmis- 
sible by the Executive Committee of the 
Central Society. 

1st. As to the term of the contract pro- 
posed by me — you say that your power is 
limited to one year by the second section of 
your Constitution, and further, to extend 
which will be an assumption of the pre- 
rogatives of the Farmers' Assembly. 

I confess that I do not perceive such pro- 
hibition in the Constitution. It is true that 
the second section provides that the State 
Society "shall hold an annual Fair at such 
time and place as the Farmers' Assembly 
shall designate," but adds, " or in default 
thereof, as may be designated by the Ex- 
ecutive Committee." Now I understand you 
to concede, very properly, that "the Far- 
mers' Assembly have the prerogative" of 
contracting for five years as I propose; for, 
othe»vise, your making such a contract 
would not invade their prerogative, and 
such being the case, it seems clear that 
under the circumstances existing, you, as 
the Executive Committee, have the power, 
because "the default" provided for, has oc- 
curred for three years, I believe, (and pro- 
bably will occur henceforward and forever,) 
and in such "default" you are clothed with 
the whole power of the Farmers' Assembly, 
not only by the very clause you quote, but 
by the Oth article of the 6th section, which 
expressly provides that all powers of the 
Society shall be transferred to the " Farmers' 
Assembly," and in default of being exer- 
cised by that body, shall devolve, provis- 
sionally, on the Executive Committee. The 
term of five years was proposed, however, 
because we deemed it beneficial to the State 
S< ciety, and as it objects to it, we arc quite 
ready to limit the contract to one year, if 
otherwise its terms be such that we can with 
any propriety accede to them. 



2d. You refuse to allow the Central So- 
ciety to have the control of the local man- 
agement, police, &c, because the 7th sec- 
tion of the 3d article of your Constitution 
provides that your President " Shall appoint, 
and have the direction of all marshals and 
other agents required to carry out and give 
effect to the rules and regulations prescribed 
by the Executive Committee for the An- 
nual Fair." Now, it is very obvious that 
this article pre-supposes that the State So- 
ciety had a place at which to hold a Fair, 
over which it had complete control, and that 
the case actually existing is a casus omissus. 

But the difficulty may be gotten over in 
two ways, viz : first by your Executive Com- 
mittee prescribing "no rule or regulation 
for the Fair," except that you will hold it 
on our Fair Grounds, under such rules and 
regulations as we may prescribe, provided 
they be first seen and approved by your Ex- 
ecutive Committee. Second, by your Presi- 
dent's agreeing to appoint such persons to 
be marshals and agents as we may nominate 
to him, and to enforce the regulations which 
we may have prescribed. 

As to our placing the large amount of 
property entrusted to us farther beyond our 
controul than this, it is impossible, with any- 
thing like fidelity to those of whom we are 
the agents, who look to us for the protection 
and preservation of their property from 
abuse or accidental destruction. 

3d. You say that you cannot hand over 
to us your present surplus fund, nor lend us 
$12,000, the interest of it to be applied to 
the exigencies of the Fairs, because the 
1st article of the 11th section of your Con- 
stitution provides that "all capital of the 
Society now or hereafter invested, shall be 
held a fund sacred to the cause of agricul- 
tural improvement, of \fhich the income 
only shall be subject to appropriation," and, 
therefore, you add, " that the whole of your 
[my] third proposition is without the sphere 
of our competency, and that the Farmers' 
Assembly only has authority in £he pre- 
mises." 

With all respect, I must be allowed to 
say that I do not understand this passage of 
your letter, especially when I read it in con- 
nection with the closing paragraph of that 
letter, in which you say that " the contin- 
gent fund of your Society is larger than it 
was last year, and the Executive Committee 
feel warranted in assuming larger pecuniary 
responsibility in conducting a Fair this year." 



j. 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



519 



My third proposition was, that the State 
Society should hand over to the Central its 
present surplus funds, and lend to the Cen- 
tral Society $12,000. You reject the whole 
of it, because, as you say, it is beyond the 
sphere of your competency — making no dis- 
crimination between the transfer of a sur- 
plus fund and a loan of a part of your capi- 
tal. What, then, have you to expend upon 
a Fair this year more than you had last, un- 
less you mean to discriminate between sur- 
plus fund and contingent fund? which, I 
presume, you do not. Again : if you can- 
not appropriate your surplus fund, which I 
understand to be an annually accruing fund, 
not capital, and synonymous, therefore, with 
contingent funds, how can the Farmer's As- 
sembly do so ? inasmuch as it has the power 
to appropriate the income only, and you, the 
Executive Committee, have precisely the 
same power; or, you can incur no expense 
for a Fair, and the income of the State So- 
ciety must be perpetually reinvested in 
stocks until it becomes a great monument 
of its efforts, u to improve and advance the 
condition of agriculture" — but a monument, 
I fear, too much resembling that which the 
first Napoleon erected at the " Hotel des In- 
valids" — built of the trophies which he had 
taken from his victims. 

As to the loan, I presume, from your re- 
ply, that you misapprehended me. I did 
not propose that you should appropriate ahy 
part of your capital to the Central Society, 
but simply, that instead of lending the Cen- 
tral Society $7-0 per annum, of your sur- 
plus revenue, while you hold your Fair on 
our grounds, that you should lend the prin- 
cipal of that sum, upon ample security, de- 
manding no interest upon it while using our 
grounds. 

Can the Executive Committee make or 
i change an investment? If they can, there 
is nothing, allow me to say with all respect, 
in your objection. If they cannot, then 
they must have kept all their surplus funds 
uninvested since the last meeting of the 
Farmers' Assembly, and so must continue 
them until its next meeting. 

Permit me now to say a word or two as 
to your proposition to the Central Society. 

First, you assume that the City of 
Richmond will provide the police for the 
Fair, or money to pay for it, and, assuming 
that, you say that the State Society will hold 
its Fair upon the grounds of the Central 
Society, if they are furnished to it in ample 



order, it receiving the gate-money and all 
other incidental profits, and having the en- 
tire controul of the Fair; and, in return for 
this use of our grounds, the State Society 
will appoint a Committee of Arrangements 
for the Fair, to consist of live persons, and 
allow the Central Society the privilege of 
nominating two of them!!! 

Were it not for the high character which 
each of you sustain, I should regard this 
proposition as a wanton insult to the Cen- 
tral Society, intended to rebuke its pre- 
sumption for proposing any connection with 
the State Society. I cannot permit myself 
to believe — nay, am absolutely forbidden to 
believe, that such was your motive, and I 
frankly confess, therefore, that I am utterly 
at a loss to conceive what could have 
prompted you to make such an offer. By 
the time the Fair is held, the property of 
the Central Society will be worth at least 
$30,000 ; its officers will have bestowed, 
and must continue to bestow, much of their 
time and attention upon it, and the injury 
to it, arising from the Fair, will not be re- 
paired for less, probably, than $500. Do 
you really think the privilege of nominat- 
ing two members of the Committee of Ar- 
rangements an equivalent for the use of 
such property under such circumstances, 
and that the State Society renders the aid 
to agriculture which is justly expected of 
it, when it avows that such a privilege is 
the only contribution it can make for the 
purpose of establishing a suitable place for 
the permanent exhibitions annually of the 
products of the farmers and graziers, the 
artists and mechanics of the State, when 
the consequence must be, that unless, with- 
out such aid from the State Society, such 
places can be established by the liberality 
of the people, and Virginia will never wit- 
ness within he^r limits another Agricultural 
Fair or Cattle Show by her State Society ? 
If such be your opinion, I must be allowed 
to say, most respectfully, that I differ wide- 
ly from you ; and time, I think, will show 
that a great majority of the other members 
of the State Society concur in opinion with 
me. 

In concluding, allow me to repeat the 
deep regret which I and those with whom 
I have the honour to be associated, feel at 
the total frustration, as it seems at present, 
of our hopes that, in common with all the 
friends of agriculture in the State, and es- 
pecially in Richmond, the Central Society 



520 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[August 



would have found occasion for grateful ac- 
knowledgment to the State Society for its 
efficient encouragement of agriculture, the 
arts and manufactures, by a practical union 
with it in holding a great annual Fair at 
Richmond ; — but to add that we shall still 
be most happy to be authorized to make 
such acknowledgement by a change of the 
views and policy of the State Society which 
will warrant it, and to say, therefore, that I 
shall, to the latest moment practicable, be 
happy to receive any communication from 
you to that effect. 

I am, most respectfully, your ob't serv't,- 

JAS. LYONS, 

President Va. C A. S. 
To Messrs. Win. Gr. Crenshaw, Frank G. 
Ruffin, Franklin Minor, and Charles B. 
Williams, Committee of the State Agricul- 
tural Society. 

Office of the Va. State Agr'l Soc'y, ") 
Richmond, July 6th, 1859. j 

James Lyon's, Esq., 

President Va. Central Agr'l Society : 

Dear Sir. — Your letter of June 22d was 
received on the 28th, but owing to the in- 
disposition of one member of the Committee 
and the absence of another, an earlier at- 
tention to its contents has been impractica- 
ble. 

From the terms of your letter the Com- 
mittee regret to ascertain that there is no 
hope of their holding a Fair of the State 
Society in concert with your own, and as a 
matter of course, of holding one at all in 
the city of Richmond this fall. 

As you seem to have misapprehended 
somewhat the terms proposed by the State 
Society, as well as the tone with which they 
were submitted, it may not be amiss to give 
an outline of the correspondence, in the 
hope that such a recapitulation may aid in 
removing wrong impressions. 

Your letter of June 16th proposes a prac- 
tical union of the two societies upon the 
following basis : 

That the State Society shall hold its Fairs 
on your grounds, but in its name, for the 
next five years, and award tlfe premiums, 
but under your controul as to their amount; 

That it shall give you its present surplus 
(contingent) fund ; lend you $12,000 for 
ten years, without interest for five years ; 
and at the end of five years make a gift of 



that sum, if the contract for holding the 
Fair on your grounds be renewed for an- 
other term of five years, at the expiration of 
the first term, in consideration whereof the 
free use of the facilities under the control 
of the Central Society is tendered to the 
State Society for holding its Fairs in its 
own name, while on the part of the Central 
Society you propose to pay the premiums ; 
to controul their amount; and to retain the 
exclusive controul of the local management, 
police, &c, in your hands. 

To this our Committee reply, accepting, 
(conditionally) your offer to pay the pre- 
miums and expenses, and conceding the 
right to controul the amount of the premi- 
ums, provided the sums proposed as prizes 
should not fall short of those offered by the 
Society last year ; declining to accord to 
you the " exclusive" u local management, 
police," &c, because the Constitution of 
the State Society expressly imposes the 
responsibility on its President of appoint- 
ing all agents required to carry out the 
rules and regulations of the Executive 
Committee in whom this power is vested, 
and by whom it cannot be renounced, but 
offering to grant your object substantially 
by appointing such agents as you might 
approve. 

In regard to your demand of the present 
surplus (contingent) fund of the State Soci- 
ety, they agree in lieu thereof, to make you 
an allowance equal in amount to the priv- 
ilege to be retained to the Life, and such 
of the Annual Members of the State So- 
ciety, as shall be entitled thereto, of free 
admittance to the Fair Grounds, and to 
give you the entrance money of all the vis- 
itors, and the fees for exhibition, only stip- 
ulating that you shall charge our fee for 
exhibiting by those who are not members, 
thereby intending to exclude the sweep- 
stake feature of charging ten per cent, on 
all exhibitors, which was introduced and 
charged by the United States Agricultural 
Society last fall ; and not stipulating, as you 
allege, that you should be restricted in 
your charge on the entrance of visitors, 
this restriction applying only to ourselves, 
in the event of the acceptance of our alter- 
native proposition to which we shall pres- 
ently refer. 

They decline — because the Constitution 

forbade them to accede to it — your demand 

or a loan of $12,000 for ten years, without 

interest ior five years, and to become a 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



521 



gift at a future time, but propose to recom- 1 present any ground of offence or even of 
mend to the Farmers' Assembly to author-' dissatisfaction. 

ize such loan on proper conditions; and, Bear with us in making one other re- 
they decline to make any arrangement for! mark. In submitting to you our altcrua- 
any term of years, because they had no'tive proposition, wo ventured to presume 



right to do it. 

In view of the possibility of these modi- 
fications being unsatisfactory to you, they 
further propose, alternatively, to hold the 
Fair at cheir own expense on your grounds, 
upon the basis of all their previous Fairs, 
and upon terms more favourable to you than 
Petersburg, accepted last year, and which 
they hoped would prove agreeable to you 
who had then agreed to give the United 
States Agricultural Society $12,000 to hold 
a Fair in Richmond ; or, in other words, 
to guarantee them against loss to that ex- 
tent. This hope they felt authorized to in- 
dulge, as they could not suppose that you 
held the interests of the State Society in less 
regard than those of the Society you paid 
so handsomely for accepting your liberal in- 
vitation. 

Your last letter declines the modifications 
proposed to your first proposition, and re- 
jects the alternative offer of the Committee. 
That letter proposes nothing new ; and con- 
sists mainly of arguments against the po- 
sitions of the Committee, which have not 
convinced them, and of inferences in which 
they do not concur. It is useless, there- 
fore, to state its terms, especially as in an 
effort to do so they might unwittingly 
weaken its force. It is only deemed pro- 
per to notice that part of it in which you 
say that, " were it not for the high charac- 
ter which each of you sustain, I should re- 
gard their (alternative) proposition as a 
wanton insult to the Central Society, intend- 
ed to rebuke its presumption for proposing 
any connection with that Society." Permit 
us to assure you, that so far from meaning 
such an outrage, we were actuated by an 
" earnest desire," courteously expressed, to 
unite with you on such terms as we thought 
conducive to your interests and ours ; and 
as the Union Agricultural Society of Pe- 
tersburg had last year accepted a less lib- 
eral proposition, and as you were not known 
to have been offended at the demand of 
$12,000 on the part of the United States 
Agricultural Society as the condition of 
their holding a Fair, we could not for a 
moment suppose that our offer to hold one 



that the city of Richmond would furnish 
the police, &c, but did not intend to be 
understood as making that a condition pre- 
cedent to our holding the Fair. We had 
just been considering your proposition to 
controul the local management, to furnish 
the police, &c, and did not doubt but that 
you expected in so doing the city would as- 
sist you as it had done last year ; we 
thought, therefore, that on the supposition 
of our holding the Fair, and assuming the 
local management, and the payment of the 
premiums and expenses, the city would be 
as liberal to us as it had been to you, and 
as it had been to us on several former oc- 
casions. 

We are, most respectfully, 

Your obedient servants, 

WM. G. CRENSHAW,) 

FRANK G. RUFFIN, ['Committee. 

CH. B. WILLIAMS, J 

Laburnum, July 9th, 1859. 

Gentlemen. — I have the honour to ac- 
knowledge your favour of the 6th instant, 
in reply to mine of the 22d ult., and with 
this acknowledgement should close the cor- 
respondence between us, were it not for the 
singular errors which you have embodied 
in what you term your " recapitulation" of 
the correspondence, and another superadded 
in the close of your letter. 

It is due to all parties concerned, but 
epecially to the Central Society, that those 
errors should be corrected, and with the 
correction of them, I shall close this cor- 
respondence on my part. 

The errors are — 

I. Mis-statement of the first clause of my 
proposal. That clause was : " That the 
State Society shall hold its Fairs upon the 
grounds of the Central Society, without 
liability for expenses or premiums. " In 
re-stating it, you omit the last clause, from 
the word " without," inclusive. 

II. Mis-statement of the third and fourth 
clauses of my proposal. The third clause 
was, that the State Society should hand over 
to the Central, its present surplus fund, and 
loan it $12,000, to be secured by a lien 



in connection with you for nothing, could I upon the Fair Grounds, but no interest to 



522 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[August 



be charged, while the agreement continues, 
(that is, while the State Society uses the 
Fair Grounds of the Central Society.) 

In re-stating it, you omit, wholly, to state 
the security proposed by us, and blend it 
with the fourth clause, making us, by your 
"recapitulation," ask of you a "gift" of 
$12,000, at the expiration of five years. 

Now, the fourth clause does not ask of 
you a gift, or anything else, at the expira- 
tion of five years. Its language is : " This 
agreement to continue for five years, and 
be renewed at the pleasure of the State 
Society, upon a release of the debt of 
$12,000." The wonder to me is that gen- 
tlemen of your intelligence could interpret 
this language into an appeal to you to go 
beyond your Constitutional " sphere," and 
make us a gift, when it plainly, and simply, 
extends to "the State Society," (and not 
to you its present Committee,) the privi- 
lege of renewing the contract for five years, 
provided that it (not you, its present Com- 
mittee,) slfall pay $12,000 to the use and 
benefit of agriculture, for the privilege, if 
it avails itself of it. We were willing to 
bear the toils and burthens of Agricultural 
Fairs for five years, while the State Society 
reaped the honours, and held the hoarded 
funds ; but we thought, and still think, that 
if we perform the task so satisfactorily that 
the State Society desired to renew the con- 
tract, it should, for the purpose of making 
our service more efficient, and our burthen 
lighter, pay at least $12,000 out of the 
$50,000, which the friends of agriculture 
and the arts and manufactures placed under 
its control for their benefit. And with all 
respect to you, we are of that opinion, and, 
indeed, find it more than difficult to con- 
ceive how the State Society could regard 
as a gift the expenditure by it in the cause 
of agriculture, of any portion of the funds 
which the friends of agriculture raised and 
put under its controul for the use and benefit 
of agriculture. Such expenditure by it 
being, in our opinion, nothing but an ap- 
propriation of a portion of the trust-fund 
to the uses and purposes of the trust, ac- 
cording to the intent and design of those 
who created it. In this opinion I should 
be most happy to have the concurrence of 
the State Society, because I believe the be- 
neficent ends of its creation would be there- 
by attained, and the great cause of which 
we are all the humble servants, advanced 



and promoted. But, whether you concur 
with us in this opinion or not, I hope you 
are convinced that I did not suggest to you 
the high misdemeanor of violating your. 
Constitution ; and that your agitation in 
behalf the Constitution has been quieted. 
That you are satisfied that it was no inva- 
sion of your " sphere" of duty to suggest, 
that your principals and masters might re- 
new a contract if they pleased to do so. 

III. You say that you proposed to recom- 
mend to the Farmers' Assembly to make 
us a loan of $12,000 "upon proper con- 
ditions." 

Pardon me for saying that you proposed 
no such thing, as you will see by referring 
to your letter. Your language in that let- 
ter is, "we think there would be no ob- 
jection on the part of the Executive Com- 
mittee to recommend to the Farmers' As- 
sembly to authorize such a loan, provided 
all other necessary arrangements could be 
made." To my comprehension (in all respect 
I say it) this sounds much more like the tale 
of " The House that Jack built," than a 
recommendation by the Executive Commit- 
tee to the Farmers' Assembly. You cer- 
tainly declare nothing in it, but that you 
have a thought, from which fact you infer 
that the Executive Committee may have a 
corresponding or somewhat similar thought, 
but whether they would excogitate that 
thought into a recommendation to the Far- 
mers' Assembly, or if they did what the 
nature of that recommendation would be, 
we are not advised, because no intimation 
is given of what is meant by " other neces- 
sary arrangements" to " be satisfactorily 
made." But what would a promise to 
make a recommendation to the Farmers' 
Assembly amount to, if you had made it ? 
About as much as a resolve to make an eel 
pie without first complying with Mrs. 
Glass's sage maxim, viz : "First catch your 
eels — then skin them," &c. When did 
you have the felicity to catch a " Farmers' 
Assembly;" and when do you think you 
will enjoy it again ? Never, probably, un- 
less the love of their great cause shall stim- 
ulate the farmers to get it up, in order that 
it may afterwards get rid of itself. But 
what is to become of agriculture in the 
meantime, and what to be done with the 
funds which the people have raised for the 
benefit of agriculture? Are they to re- 
main locked up in the coffers of the State 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



523 



Society, as the vital principle of a nominal 
organization ? Was it to accomplish such 
an object that the State Fair was removed 
from Richmond ? I understand not ; for 
the Executive Committee- of the State So- 
ciety avowed that it removed the Fair from 
Richmond, because its contingent fund was 
not adequate to the expenses of a Fair, 
and the principal could not be touched, 
and therefore, it could not hold a Fair at 
Richmond, unless Richmond would advance 
a sum, which, added to the contingent fund, 
would defray the expenses of the Fair; and 
yet, when the Central Society, (the child 
of Richmond,) comes forward and offers to 
do the very thing which you required, by 
furnishing you with all the means to hold 
a Fair, and paying all its expenses, if you 
will give it your surplus fund ; you decline, 
and say " we have a thought, that the 
Executive Committee may have a thought, 
that the Farmers' Assembly (if it ever 
meets) ought to have a thought, that the 
thing ought to be done IV 

So much for the errors of your "recapit- 
ulation." But to them you have added 
another, and yet more remarkable error, in 
the allegation that the Central Society did 
more for the United States Agricultural 
Society than it is willing to do for the State 
Society, having given the former $12,000 
to hold a Fair, while it will not permit 
the State Society to hold one " for noth- 
ing/ 

This is a most extraordinary error in- 
deed, and a most remarkable mis-statement 
of the case. Let me state the case pro- 
perly to you, and I entertain the most per- 
fect confidence that you will, when you 
read it, confess your error. The case, pro- 
perly stated, is this : The United States 
Agricultural Society offered a premium list 
of $10,000, and they consented to hold a 
Fair at Richmond if they were guaranteed 
against loss from that list, and the other 
necessary expenses of the Fair. This guar- 
antee the Central Society agreed to give, 
provided it should not extend beyond 
$12,000. The United States Agricultural 
Society accepted the guarantee, with the 
proviso. The Fair was held, we paid the 
premium list and other expenses, and had 
about $600 left. Now, what does the Cen- 
tral Socitety offer to the State Society? 
Does it offer less than it did to the United 
States Agricultural Society? No. But, 



on the contrary, it offers not a guarantee 
limited to $12,000, but, intending to pro- 
pose a premium list of $10,000, it offers the 
State Society an unlimited guarantee. It 
says to it, " Take our grounds, use all our 
facilities, hold the Fair, and award all the 
premiums in your name ; we will be at all 
the trouble, and keep everything in order, 
and pay all expenses, (no matter how large,) 
including the premiums; while you shall 
receive all the honour and eclat, if any ; 
and all that we ask in return is, that, to as- 
sist us in paying these expenses and pre- 
miums, you will contribute your " surplus 
fund." And, in the name of the great 
State Society of Virginia, not for the sake 
of agriculture, but in deference to certain 
constitutional doubts and scruples, you re- 
ject our offer ! Now, I appeal to you as 
candid gentlemen, as I know you are, to 
answer this question : Did the Central So- 
ciety offer more to the United States Socie- 
ty than it has offered to the State Society? 
And here let me add, that we claimed the 
controul of the premium list because we were 
afraid to entrust it to the State Society. 
One of the most important elements, if not 
the most important one, in a good Fair, is 
a large premium list ; and one of the prom- 
inent causes of the failures of the State 
Society, has been the absence of that ele- 
ment, and a small premium list. We in- 
tended to avoid that error, and have a large 
premium list ($10,000 at least ;) and, from 
the past action of the State Society, we in- 
ferred its future course, and were, there- 
fore, not willing to trust it, unconditionally, 
with the premium list. 

In conclusion, I beg leave to repeat the 
expression of the sincere regret which I, 
and those with whom I have the honour to 
be associated, feel at your determination, 
because the great cause of agriculture and 
the arts will suffer from it, we fear though 
we shall do all in our power to avert that con- 
sequence. Which of us is right the great 
body of the people must decide. And, as 
some of your officers or employees has fur- 
nished to the Examiner, or some one con- 
nected with it, (whose hostility to the Cen- 
tral Society is to me inexplicable,) an 
imperfect view of our correspondence, upon 
which an article, unjust to both parties, but 
especially to us, has been framed, I hope 
you will send to the Editor a complete copy 
of the correspondence, with a request that he 
will publish it, and I will cause copies of 



524 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[August 






it to be Bent to the Editors of the other 
papers for publication. 
With great respect, 

T am your obedient servant, 

JAMES LYONS, 
President Va. C. A. S. 
To W. G. Crenshaw, F. Gh Iluffin, C. 
B. Williams, Esqs. — Committee. 

Office of the Va. State Ag. Soc'y, ") 
Richmond, July 16th, 1859. j 
James Lyons, Esq., 

President of Va. Cent. Ag. Society. 

Dear Sir : — We had not the pleasure to 
receive your letter of the 9th instant,* but 
having seen what purports to be a copy of 
it in the " Richmond Enquirer " of the 
13th, we proceed to answer it through the 
same medium : 

You call our attention to what you are 
pleased to term " the singular errors which 
(we) have embodied in what (we) term 
(our) ' recapitulation ' of the correspond- 
ence between us and another superadded in 
the close of (our) letter." 

In tracing an outline of a lengthy cor- 
respondence, it was not to be expeeted that 
there should be a full reiteration of all that 
had passed, but such a brief reference only 
to what had before been elaborately dis- 
cussed as would serve as an index to the 
correspondence. Yet, if in condensing 



* Note- -Armory, Richmond, JuJy ) 
18th, 1859—7 P. M. 5 

Dear Sir: — I have just heard of a grave error 
on my part, which involves Mr. James Lyons 
in an apparent lac? both of official and perso- 
nal courtesy. Thus : Mr. Lyons sent to me from 
his residence in the country his last communi- 
cation to your Executive Committee, with a note 
to send itto you. This note Idid not see, it having 
dropped from the bundle without my notice. 
Thinking this was but a copy to be put on re- 
cord, and that he had directly sent the original 
note to you, I rested quiet, not doubting but that 
all had been done rightly. I now learn that 
you never received, of course, the communica- 
tion, nor did your Executive Committee see it 
until in the "Enquirer/' 

I lament this mistake the more because it in- 
volves Mr. Lyons, when, even to this moment, 
he knows not of the error ; but I shall inform 
him in the morning. 

I ask it as a favor that you will explain this 
to the several gentlemen composing your Execu- 
tive Committee. 

Most respectfully, yours, 
C. DIMMOCK, Sec'y Va. C. A. S. 
C. B. Williams, Esq., Sec'y Va. State Agricultural 

Society, Richmond. 



ours, we have in anything come short of 
the full measure of justice due to the Cen- 
tral Society, we sincerely regret it, while 
we disavow such intention, and profess our 
perfect willingness, as in duty bound, to 
stand corrected. You too, we doubt not, 
will confess to a reciprocal obligation in re- 
lation to the State Society. 

We are sorry we left out the words in our 
reference to your first proposition, by the 
omission of which we incur the imputation 
of " mis-statement." But, if it was a " sin- 
gular error " on our part to have done so, 
in not citing the words " without liability 
for expenses and premiums" although we 
state distinctly in the next paragraph that 
" you propose to pay the premiums," (and 
the omission of the word " expenses " was 
merely accidental,) is it not truly marvellous 
that you, who are the first to complain, 
should have been the foremost to transgress 
your own rule, and should be found to have 
committed the self-same " singular error," 
when in attempting to restate our proposi- 
tion you omit the important fact contained 
in the words " the Fair to be conducted at 
the expense of the State Society ?" In 
other words — with " liability for premiums 
and expenses." Yet you have done this, 
not once but twice in your letter of June 
22d. 

With respect to your second, third and 
fourth proposals, we refer to them and adopt 
them in their original form, as no restate- 
ment of them can add to their clearness, or 
make them more intelligible. 

It is unfortunate in referring to them 
that we should have used the term " gift," 
to which you so much object, albeit we are 
not sensible of tfce impropriety of its use, 
even in the sense in which you understand 
it, for you were willing in consideration of 
the interest of the $12,000 to grant us the 
free use of your grounds, facilities, &c, for 
five yews, but for the renewal of the con- 
tract for another equal term, you demand 
the surrender of the principal, in addition 
to the interest, without offering any addi- 
tional consideration for it. Is it not plain 
then, that the surrender of a debt without 
consideration, is of the nature of a gift or 
something very near akin to it ? But, if 
you will re-examine the passage of our let- 
ter in which the word occurs, you will at 
once perceive that we used it not in the ab- 
solute sense you supposed, but only in a 
qualified sense ; for we say " at the end of 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



525 



five years, make a gift, of that sum if the 
contract for holding the Fair on your 
grounds be renewed," &c, " in CONSIDERA- 
TION "WHEREOF, the free, use of all tin- fa- 
cilities under the controul of the Central So- 
ciety is tendered to the State Society for 
holding its Fairs in ill oicn name; while on 
the part of the Central Society ; you r-RO- 

POSE TO PAY THE PREMIUMS, to COntroul 

their amount, and to retain the exclusive 
controul of the local management, police, 
&C, in your hands." As well might it be 
maintained that the free use implied the gra- 
tuitous use of the Society's grounds, as that 
the gift of the $12,000 loan upon a certain 
contingency, and for a specified considera- 
tion implied an absolute donation. Under 
similar qualifications we understand you to 
use the word " lending/' as it occurs in the 
following paragraph in your letter of the 
22d ultimo, viz: 

" I did not propose that you should appro- 
priate any part of your capital to the Cen- 
tral Society, but simply that instead of 
lending the Central Society $720 per an- 
num of surplus revenue while you hold 
your Fair on our grounds, you should lend 
the principal of that sum upon ample secu- 
rity, demanding no interest upon it while 
using our grounds." 

Now as this paragraph reads, is it not a 
" mis-statement " of your own proposition ? 
And, is it not perfectly manifest that you 
use the term " lending " as synonymous 
with " hand over," as its use occurs in this 
correspondence, and in an entirely different 
sense, too, from that in which the word 
" lend" is used by you in the same sentence? 

The way being open for the correction of 
"mis-statements," we have to call your at- 
tention to one, and still another of yours, 
before we come to consider what you are 
pleased to call "a most extraordinary error" 
and "a most remakable mis-statement" on 
our part in relation to your arrangement 
last year with the United States Agricul- 
tural Society. 

"We cite, for remark, the following para- 
graph, bristling with a terminal accompani- 
ment of admiration marks arrayed like the 
pegs upon a ten-pin alley i 

" First, you assume that the City of Rich- 
mond will provide the police for the Fair, 
or money to pay for it, and, assuming that, 
you say that the State Society will hold its 
Fair upon the grounds of the Central So- 
ciety, if they arc furnished to it in ample 



order, it receiving the gate-money and all 
other incidental profit*, and having the en- 
tire controul of the Fair; and, in return for 
this use of our grounds, tin- State Society 
will appoint a committee of arrangements 
for the Fair, to consist of five persons, and 
allow the Central Society the privilege of 
iiciiiiuatiug two of them ! ! !" 

We have already shown that you omitted 
the fact that the State Society proposed to 
conduct the Fair at its own expense; but, if 
you will turn to our proposition, you will 
find another " mis-statement" or two, which 
we doubt not you will, on second considera- 
tion, deem to be constituent elements of our 
proposition, too important to have been over- 
looked in determining what our offer really 
was. 

1st. It was important to have stated that, 
.upon the basis of our previous Fairs, stock 
and other subjects of exhibition offered by 
persons not wishing to become members, 
(for members pay nothing for entrance fees,) 
would be admitted to competition for the 
premiums of the Society simply by one pay- 
ment of three dollars. The importance we 
attach to it is : It shows that v;e pay the 
premiums we offer out of the ordinary re- 
ceipts of membership fees, gate fees, &c, 
without levying an excise of 10 per cent, 
of the amount of each premium offered, 
upon the exhibitors, for every article enter- 
ed for competition, as was done by the Uni- 
ted States Agricultural Society, conducting 
its Fair in connection with you and with your 
concurrence last Fall. A measure by which 
the funds were directly increased $1,500, 
and indirectly $2,000, the awards of premi- 
ums having been prevented to that extent — a 
new mode of encouraging and fostering agri- 
cultural improvement — the effect of which 
was to make the exhibitors, to the extent to 
which they were taxed, pay the premiums. 
Call you this "skinning of eels ?" Or is it 
a " monument" — after your copy-right pat- 
tern — to signalize your peculiar care for 
and identification of interest with "the 
farmers and graziers, the artists and me- 
chanics of the State," erected a la Napo- 
leon, u of the trophies which you have 
taken from your victims ?" 

2d. It was of very great importance too, 
that you should not have overlooked and 
have omitted to mention that wt offered to 
allow free admittance of cdl the members of 
the Central Society on the same terms on 
•which our own are admitted. 



526 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[August 



You may consider this of so little moment 
as not to be worth mentioning as any part of 
the " return," we proposed to make you, for 
the use of your Grounds, but, however, that 
may be, we thought far otherwise. When 
we were treating with you, on the basis of 
your first offer, we said, " as the Central So- 
ciety proposes to release the State Society 
from responsibility for expenses and premi- 
ums, we deem it but just and reasonable." 
* * * " that an allowance be made to 
the Central Society of an amount in money 
equivalent to the privilege to be reserved to 
the life" and annual members "of the 
State Society," and that the whole of the 
gate money and other incidental receipts of 
the Fair, be deemed to constitute part of 
said allowance. 

You say, " the injury to your Grounds, 
arising from the Fair, will not be repaired 
for less, probably, than $500." But, will 
not the receipts of all the annual member- 
ship fees, received from the members of 
your Society, more than quadruple the 
amount ? 

Where, then, is the propriety of your 
taunting question — " Do you really think 
the privilege of nominating two members 
of a Committee of Arrangements an equiva- 
lent for the use of such property under 
such circumstances, and that the State So- 
ciety renders the aid to agriculture which 
is justly expected of it, when it avows that 
such a privilege is the only contribution it 
can make for the purpose of establishing a 
suitable place for the permanent exhibitions 
annually of the products of the farmers 
and graziers, the artists and mechanics of 
the State, when the consequence must be, 
that unless, without such aid from the State 
Society, such places can be established by 
the liberality of the people, and Virginia 
will never witness within her limits another 
Agricultural Fair or Cattle Show by her 
State Society. 

We answer your question by asking an- 
other. When and where has the State So- 
ciety avowed that such a privilege is the 
only contribution it can make for the pur- 
pose of establishing, &c? and do you really 
think that we have offered you no other re- 
turn for the use of your grounds than the 
privilege of nominating two members of the 
Committee of Arrangements ? 

Having now disposed of your "mis-state- 
ments," we will proceed to pay our respects 



to the concluding part of your letter, which 
has reference to what you term ours. 

We are charged with a "yet more re- 
markable error in the allegation that the 
Central Society did more for the United 
States Agricultural Society than it is willing 
to do for the State Society, having given 
the former $12,000 to hold a Fair (omitting 
our explanatory clause, 'in other words, to 
guarantee them against loss to that extent/-) 
while it will not permit the State Society to 
hold one for nothing." "This," you say, 
" is a most extrordinary error, indeed, and 
a most remarkable mis-statement of the case." 
" The case properly stated," you add, " is 
this: The United States Agricultural So- 
ciety offered a premium list of $10,000, and 
they consented to hold a Fair at Richmond, 
if they were guaranteed against loss from 
that list, and other necessary expenses of 
the Fair. This guarantee of the Central 
Society agreed to give, provided it should 
not extend beyond $12,000. The United 
States Agricultural Society accepted the 
guarantee with the proviso. The Fair was 
held, we paid the premium list and other 
necessary expenses, and had about $600 
left. Now, what does the Central Society 
offer to the State Society ? Does it offer 
less than it did to the United States' Society? 
No. But, on the contrary, it offers not a 
guarantee limited to $12,000, but (intending 
to propose a premium list of $10,000,) it of- 
fers to the State Society an unlimited guar- 
antee. It says to it, "take our grounds, use 
all our facilities, hold the Fair, and award 
the premiums in your name; we will take 
all the trouble, keep everything in order, 
and pay all expenses (no matter how large), 
including the premiums, while you .shall 
receive all the honor and eciafe, if any, [and 
if none, what? why the mere name of hold- 
ing a Fair!'] And all that we ask in re- 
turn is, that to assist us in paying these ex- 
penses and premiums, you will contribute 
your surplus funds." In other words — al- 
though you had just said that you offered 
the State Society an unlimited guarantee, 
paying all expenses, &c, (no matter how 
large,) we must, to assist you in paying, 
&c, just allow you to "eat the malt that lay 
in the house that Jack built" 

Let us now stop and subject all this to 
the test of analysis. You ask, "what does 
the Central Society offer to the State Society? 
Does it offer less than it did to the, United 
States Society?" You answer "No." We 



I 



1859.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



527 



say the offer was far less favorable to the 
State Society — in this: that you demanded 
the whole of its surplus fund, amounting to 
between three and four thousand dollars, 
while from the United States Society you 
asked not one cent! " But," you continue, 
" on the contrary, it offers not a guarantee 
of $12,000/' "but it offers to the State So- 
ciety an unlimited guarantee," &c. Why, 
then, if this offer was not less than that 
made to the United States Society, are you 
unwilling that the State Society should hold 
a Fair on the same terms? or, on the offer 
of the State Society to hold it on the same 
terms, minus any guarantee at all? Are 
we not justified in saying, you held the 
interest of the United States Society in 
higher regard than you did that of the 
State Society? — But this is not all. You 
engaged to do yet more — even to "hand 
over" to them your "surplus funds" after 
defraying all necessary expenses and premi- 
ums, not even retaining the receipts from 
membership fees, paid by the annual mem- 
bers. 

This abundantly appears, from your con- 
tract with the United States Society, setting 
forth that the Virginia Central Society 
pledged itself to pay "all the premiums and 
other necessary expenses of the United 
States Agricultural Society, provided the 
amount should not exceed the sum of $12, 
000, and to pay over to it the surplus (if 
any) arising from the gate and entry fees, 
and fees of membership, paid by the annual 
members, after deducting all the expenses 
of the Fair, including premiums." It fur- 
ther appears, that so the President of the 
United States Society understood it, who, in 
his letter to you, (see Richmond " Enquirer" 
January 19, 1859,) remarked: "The basis 
of all our negotiations has been, that the 
United States Society were to bring all the 
weight of its 'prestige,' its 'machinery/ 
and the service of its officers, to the aid of 
the Virginia Central Society in advancing 
the success of the Fair: and, in return, 
were to receive, in addition to their premi- 
ums and necessary expenses, whatever sur- 
plus might remain after defraying the neces- 
sary expenses of the Fair." Now, the whole 
matter resolves itself into this: that the 
better arrangements offered us, required of 
us to pay fully one-fourth of all the premi- 
ums and expenses, under the specious de- 
lusion of an "unlimited guarantee," while 
the worse arrangement (and worse, indeed, 



it was to you,) offered to* the United State 
Agricultural Society, not only the guarantee 
of $12,000, but also to pay over to them 
the surplus profit* arising from holding the 
Fair. 

You appeal to us "as candid gentlemen," to 
answer this question: "Did the Central So- 
ciety offer more to the United Slates Society 
than it offered the State Society?" We 
have answered it in anticipation and with 
all candor, that you did; nevertheless, as on 
this point we seem to misapprehend each 
other, if you are desirous of accommodating 
the State Society with terms equal to those 
accepted by the United States Society, the 
whole matter is compressed within the com- 
pass of a nut-shell, and may not after all be 
difficult of solution. 

We propose, then, to unite with you on 
the basis of your contract with the United 
States Society, and if any of the details of 
the contract cannot be reconciled with the 
requirement of our Constitution, we are 
ready to submit to the adjudication of dis- 
interested persons mutually chosen, the ad- 
justment of the details in all cases of de- 
parture from those embraced in the said 
contract, so as to substitute others which 
shall in no event operate to the disadvant- 
age of the Central Society. 

In conclusion, we express the hope that 
you will not decline the proposed union upon 
the basis indicated, and that arrangements 
may be speedily made for issuing the Pro- 
gramme of a Fair to be held on your Grounds 
in October. 

We remain, dear sir, with respectful 

consideration, your obedient servants, 

WM. a. CRENSHAW, - ) 

FRANK G. RUFFIN, [ Committee. 

CH. B. WILLIAMS, ) 

Laburnum, July 20, 1859. 

To the Editors of the Enquirer : 

Gentlemen. — I have just read in your 
paper, the resume of the Executive Com- 
mittee of the State Agricultural Society, 
which, professing to be a reply to my last 
note, is a laboured attempt to draw off at- 
tention from its own errors, by a great out- 
| cry over certain omissions and inaccuracies. 
: In mercy to you and your readers, I shall 
•not review this last work of the Committee 
nor even point out its numerous errors and 
' fallacies, because I am sure that even the 
: casual reader will be struck with its beau- 



528 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



[August 



ties and sensible of its errors on the first 
reading. My purpose is simply to put myself 
right, in respeet to one matter, over which 
the Com.mittee rejoice much, as over a de- 
tected error, and to confess some of the 
"manifold sins and wickednesses/' which 
they ascribe to me. 

The first matter is the use of the word 
"lending," instead of the word "handing," 
in speaking of the annual surplus of $720. 
The word which I used was " handing," 
making the paragraph read, " In stead of 
handing to the Central Society $720 per 
annum, &c, you should lend the principal 
of that sum." 

But, as you know, I write unfortunately 
a bad hand, and one difficult to read, es- 
pecially when I write rapidly, as I gener- 
ally do, and in coj^ying my letter, the copy- 
ist made " lending" of " handing," and it 
escaped my observation. In doing this, 
(for which he is in no wise censurable,) the 
copyist made me mis-state my own proposal 
and make it absurd ; and I do not perceive 
that it is at all relieved of that quality by 
the remarkable assumption of the Committee 
that lending and handing were used as sy- 
nonymous terms. In the next place I have 
to confess my error in failing to comment 
upon the proposal of the Committee to per- 
mit the members of the Central Society to 
enter their own Fair Grounds during the 
Fair upon the same terms upon which the 
members of the State Society should be ad- 
mitted. I did not notice this offer, because, 
as the Committee say, I considered it " of 
so little moment as not to be worth men- 
tioning," and because it really seemed to 
me to be so ludicrous that I supposeed it 
was a lapse of ihe pen. In this, also, I 
have to confess that I was in error, for the 
Committee now assure me that the proposal 
was gravely made and "far otherwise" than 
unimportant ; and I now perceive its merits 
and' really confess that it partakes of that 
high order of wit which gives notice of its 
presence to the astounded listener by the 
peal which follows the unseen flash, and 
which rolls through the whole essay of the 
Committee like a pondrous ball over a ten- 
pin alley stuck full of pegs. 

Indeed, it is quite equal to the best of 
Jerremy Didler or Beau Hickman, when 
the one was seeking information and the 
other a dinner. If I had been as well in- 
formed then as I am now, I should not 
only have noticed it ; but certainly honoured 



it with " a terminal accompaniment of ad- 
miration marks, arranged like the pegs upon 
a ten-pin alley ;" but the truth is, that my 
poor learning had not instructed me that a 
ten-pin alley had pegs on it arranged like 
pins ; or that there was such a thing as " a 
terminal accompaniment." I will never be 
caught in the same fix again, however, for 
whenever I roll a ball over a ten-pin alley 
I shall keep a bright look out that it en- 
counters none of the pegs ; and I am sure 
I shall never hear a deep-mouthed fox- 
hound open upon the trail, or think of the 
Executive Committee, without recollecting 
that there is such a thing as "a terminal ac- 
companiment" — and thus instructed, I will 
examine, for a moment, the last view of 
" a terminal accompaniment/' presented by 
the Committee in its proposal to take the 
place and attitude of the United States Ag- 
ricultural Society ; and to refer to a board 
of arbitrators the settlement of all disputed 
details, after a deliberate effort to arouse 
old prejudices against that Society, by de 
nouncing it as an eel-skinning concern, and 
then to transfer the prejudice to the Central 
Society. 

Forbearing to say of this proposal many 
things which my learning in the new 
lingo of "terminal accompaniment" suggests, 
I content myself with saying, that we have 
had enough of foreign Societies, (though 
I mean not to reflect upon the United States 
Society ;) and, as the State Society has 
placed itself in that category, we have done 
with it. We shall never again seek the 
aid of a foreign Society to promote the 
cause of Agriculture in Virgiuia. The peo- 
ple of Virginia will sustain us, and, if they 
do not, the generous people of Richmond, 
to whose paternal care we owe our being, 
will. Of course we decline the tip end of the 
" terminal accompaniment" — the reference; 
because, as we cannot surrender ourselves 
to the foreigner, we cannot authorize others 
thus to surrender us; and, because the 
reference must be obviously unequal, and 
therefore unfair. The Committee have al- 
ready declared that they cannot accept our 
terms because of their constitutional diffi- 
culties, and in just respect to them, I am 
bound to suppose that those difficulties would 
not be removed by the opinion of a Board, 
and the reference would amount, therefore, 
to nothing more than the enquiry, whether 
the terms proposed by the State Committee 
should be accepted or not, excluding all 



L850.] 



til I! .nil 1! |,t; n P L \ \ I E R 



529 



consideration of our terms. This is "a 
terminal accompaniment," hanging alto- 
gether on one side. But we have no au- 
thority to refer to a Board to decide how 
k ye shall discharge the trust which has boon 
.1 in us. That would ho, illegally, to 
lelegate to others the power which lias been 
lelegated to us. This may be within the 
4 constitutional sphere" of the Executive 
Committee of the State Society, but it is 
mt within ours. I must s;iy, therefore, to 
nir foreign friends, we shall continue our 
Worts, unaided by them, to give annually 
i Fair ami Cattle Show which shall advance 
he greal cause of agriculture and the arts, 
ind reflect some credit on our State, and 
,ve hope to meet them there as our guests. 
JAMES LYONS, 

President Va. Central Agrl &oc'y. 

The report and accompanying resolutions 
fere accepted and unanimously adopted. 

The Committee adjourned until to-mor- 
row morning at half-past 8 o'clock. 

Wednesday morning, July 27th. 

The Executive Committee met pursuant 
to adjournment. 

PRESENT, 

Edmund Euffin, President, 

Minor, Dulany, Scott, Stokes, Crenshaw, 
Nelson, and Overton. 

On motion of Mr. Dulany, the following 
preamble and resolution were unanimously 
idopted : 

.Regarding it as highly important that 
the members of the State Agricultural So- 
ciety shall clearly understand the various 
propositions which have recently passed be- 
tween their Executive Committee and that 
bf the Virginia Central Society, and also 
the great necessity there is for procuring 
.mother meeting of the Farmers' Assembly, 
therefore, 

Resoloedy That a Committee of three be 
ippointed to address a circular letter to the 
members of the Society, setting forth brief- 
ly the several propositions of the Central 
Society and the State Society for a Fair in 
Richmond and urging the members of our 
Society to elect delegates to the Farmers' 
Assembly, and to exert themselves to ob 
tain a full meeting of that body, and a 
large attendance of the Farmers generally 
at the Fair to bo held in Petersburg. 



Committee, R. II. Dulany, F. Miner, \Y. 
(i. Crenshaw. 

The premium list was examined, reri 
and adopted, ami its publication ordered in 

the usual manner. 

On motion of Mr. Minor, 
Raolvedf That, hereafter, the subjects 
of experiments, Essays and other written 
Communications offered for premiums at 
the annual lair be referred to the Execu- 
tive Committee, who may retain them for 
careful examination and comparison, until 
the quarterly meeting in January next fol- 
lowing, when they shall announce their 
awards if agreed upon, or hold them for 
further consideration until the next stated 
meeting thereafter if they shall* think 
proper to do so. • 

The Secretary communicated the resig- 
nation of Col. Win. Townes as a Vice Pres- 
ident of the Society, which was accepted, 
and thereupon Lewis E. Harm, Esq., was 
elected Vice President to fill the vacancy. 

| On motion of Mr. E. Ruinn, the follow- 
ing " Special Premium" was ordered to be 

I added to the schedule adopted for the next 

i Fair : 

SPECIAL PREMIUMS 

For the successful and economical appli- 
cation, in actual operation, of steam-power 
to tillage purposes, as a substitute for team or 
animal power — to drain, and to work plows, 
harrows, rollers, clod-crushers, or any sub- 
jstitutes thereof, operating either to break, 
subvert, or pulverize the soil, or otherwise 
to prepare it for putting in seed, or for the 
| production of crops on level or moderately 
undulating land — a premium of $500. 

As conditions necessary for competing 
for, or obtaining this premium, it shall be 
required by the judges that full trials shall 
be made of the implements or machines of- 
fered, in practical labours and performance, 
and for as much time, before or after the 
annual exhibition as shall be deemed proper 
by the committee. And also that the op- 
eration shall be considered economical and 
profitable, and more so than the use of team 
labour for the same purposes, and on fields 
not less than fifty acres of size. 

Should there be more than one ma- 
chine competing for this premium, it will 
be awarded to the best, (if deserving it by 
sufficient merit,) — or if two be deemed 
deserving and of equal claims of merit, the 
premium shall be divided equally between 
them. 



630 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



[August 



Any person designing to compete must no- 
tify the Secretary of the Society (at Rich- 
mond. Va.,) of his intention at least forty 
day! before the Exhibition, and lie wiil 
then be notified when and where (on James 
river,) the machine must be brought and 
tried. It mib, also be exhibited on the 
Fair Grounds during the Exhibition. 

WILLIAM B. HARRISON^ 

WILLIAM C. KNIGHT, 

ROBERT DOUTHAT, 

JOHN A. BELDEN, 

RICHARD IRBY, 

W. W. GILMER, 

EDMUND 11UFEIN, Jr., 

ANNUAL REPORT 

The Secretary was directed to prepare 



the Annual lleport of the Executive Com* 
mittee. 

COMMITTEE OF ARRANGEMENTS. 

Messrs. Wm. C. Knight, Win. T. Scott,' 
Colin Stokes, and Ch. B. Williams, were 
appointed the Committee of arrangements 
to act in concert with the Executive Com- 
mittee of the Union Society in making all 
needed preparations for holding the Fair, 
the meeting of the Farmers' Assembly and 
the section or general meetings of the So- 
ciety. 

The Executive Committee then adjourn- 
ed to meet at Bollingbrook Hotel, Peters- 
burg, on Monday evening the 31st of Oc- 
tober, at 7 o'clock P. M. 

CH. B. WILLIAMS, Sec'y. 



RTJITIN'S PHOSPHO-PERUVIAN GUANO. 

Peruvian Guano used alone is quite costly, an I is rarely attended with any permanent, and 
never with any considerable improvement. Phosphatic Guano used alone, though far less costly 
than the other, is yet not economical, because, being dissolve! slowly an I with difficulty, it rarely 
exerts any effect on the Wheat crop, and not much on the subsequent crop of ••<>-. The two 
used in intimate mixture, and costing less than Peruvian Guano, are sai I to be superior to either 
alone, that a fur less quantity of Peruvian Guano will produce a crop which would require a much 
larger application if used singly; and the Phosphatic Guano is made speedily operative on the 
Wheat, and permanently operati ve on the succeeding crop of clover, and on the land. One theory 
is, that the ammonia in the Peruvian liberates the phosphoric acid in the Phosphatic Guano, for 
the use of both wheat and clover. Another is, that the ammonia enables both Wheat and clo- 
ver to appropriate the phosphoric acid. Of the truth ol all this each man must judge tor him- 
self. The mixture would certainly seem to be judicious, because there is a growing demand for it 
from judicious, practical men — men whose names can stand a reference. Hitherto this demand 
has been met from Baltimore, or still farther North. I now propose to supply it from Richmond, 
with an article at least equal to any marie elsewhere. It shall contain 8 per ct. of ammonia, 
and not less than 45 per ct. of phosphate of lime. All who have heretofore t-atii-factorily used 
Manipulated Guano, may safely buy their supply of me ; and I ask those who have never tried 
it to try mine now by the side of Peruvian Guano. 

There is no secret in my ingredients or mode of manufacture ; and every farmer is at liberty 
to inspect the whole process. If he approves it, but thinks he can mix it more cheaply for 
himself, I will sell him the phosphates I use, and he may make the experiment, pro- 
vided he will buy enough of mine to compare them. All I claim to do is to grind and mix 
far better than the farmer can, to select a better phosphafe than he can, and to obtain it on 
better terms. My exp srience in the market alrea ly assures inc that it is far more difficult to ob- 
tain a good phosphate than a good Peruvian G.iano; and as, besides this, their complete effect 
depends on their thorough admixture, which can only be accomplished by perfect machinery, 
it is better l\>[- them to purchase the prepared article than the ingredients, when they are sat- 
isfied that they will get what they bargain for. That I profess to furnish all who deal with me. 
I have [ease I a large house on Cary street, opposite the Basin sheds, and lilted it up with com-- 
plete machinery, where 1 shall superintend the manufacture in person, and where 1 shall be 
happy to see all my friends. 

While I claim that this article, from the fact that it U reduced to a fine dry powder, will broad- 
cast better than Peruvian Guano, there is no question that for the same reason it will be vastly 
superior for the drill. 

Price, .$32 cash per ton of 2.000 lbs., and will vary according to changes in prices of ingre- 
dients. 

1 have appointed the following persons as agents for the sale, from whom it can be obtained, 
on the same terms as from myself, viz: 

CRENSHAW* & CO., S. McGRUDER'S SONS, 

ALEXR GARRETT, PEYTON & ARCHER, Richmond; 

M. HOLLIXS & CO., Lynchburg. 

FRANK G. RTJFFIN. 

Richmond, July, 1859. 



In, 






SOUTHERN PLA&TER.— ADVERTISING Sill 



4 Silver Medals— 3 Diplomas— 68 First Premiums! 

J. MONTGOMERY & BRO. 

165 NoNh High Street, 

Baltimore, ma* 

inventors and manufacturers 

OF THKin 

DOUBLE SCREENED 

ROCKAWAY GRAIN FAN, 

Celebrated for their efficiency, durability and ease in 

working. 

We would state for the information of Farmera and the" 
trude, that our Fun is of t he largest siae — wiili InrgC 

and Fcreens, made of the host bright wire, on good strong frames. It is rriade especially for the Sou- 

Harket, where all implements ought to be of the best and strongest make. Wo do not hesitate for n 

it to say, that our Fan (considering the make, the number and quality of sieves, and the amount and 
of work it will do in a given time,) is from $10 to §15 cheaper than any' in the market. We have 
a BRANCH SHOP, at LYNCHBURG, VA., for the accommodation of those located in that section 

itrv. Our Fan is so universally known that it Is unnecessary for us to say more than it has not 

Mien in a trial any (hue during the last eight years, and cannot he heat. 

he present wheat crop is unusually full of cockle, every farmer ought to order one of our Double 

led Rockaway Fans at once, as it" is the only Fan in the market thut will clean the cockle from the 

■ 

price of our Fans in Baltimore is $34 — and in Lynchburg $36. Orders addressed to us at either 

vill receive prompt attention. A liberal discount to the trade. 

respectfully refer to S. Sands, Esq., ex-editor of the "American Farmer," Baltimore, as to the charac- 

)ur Fan i and Win. Palmer, Sons «fe Co., our agents, Richmond, Va. 
1859— ly J. MONTGOMERY & BRO., Baltimore, Md. 




BROOKHILL SCHOOL 



files North of Charlottesville and 
the University of Virginia. 

BELLES MINOR. M.D. ; A.M., Principal: 
i. R. Abbot, CSaB; Minor, Jr., Assistants. 
ession begins September 1st, 1850, and 



June 25th, I860, 



ivided into two equal 
ecess at Christmasi 



with two wee 

Subjects Taught : 

*lisli Language. 

in and Greek Languages. 

3 Modern Languages. French, German, 

miiish, Italian. Anglo-SaxonJ 

thematics. 

2 Elements of Natural Philosophy", Chem- 

try and Moral PhilbsnphyJ 

ilbgues, showing the plan of the School, 
) those who desire it< 

SIMS— $250; to be paid half in advance; 
gtember and 1st February. 

Post Office and Depot, Charlottesville, 
na. 

iRENCEJj — The Professors and Visitors of 
uversity of Virginia ; Hon. W. C. Rives, 
m Depot. Albemarle*; Franklin Minor, 
Charlottesville; Lieut.' M. F. Maury. U, 
scrvatory. Washington : Rt. Rev. John 
Alexandria, Va. ; Charles T. Pollard and 
Jones. Esqs.. Montgomery, Ala; ; Hon C. 
f, Hnntsville; Ala. July — 3t 



1 VALUABLE FARM FOR SALE IN WAR* 
WICK COUNTY. 

This farm is located at the junction of Warwick and 
j James River, having a line view of both. It contains 
I 450 acres, of which about one-hall is cleared and in 
good heart; a large portion having beet] recently well 
limed. There are Oyster Shells enough at the land- 
! ing to lime the residue, and wood ready cut to hunt 
j them; besides which there is an inexhaustible quanti- 
ty of Indian Cbre, one of the best of fertilizers. Nav- 
igable Water for large class vessels ; line oyster-plant- 
! ing grounds, and fish at' the finest quality taken in 
abundance at the shore. The farm is well watered' 
(has a good sulphur spring on it,) and in as healthy as 
any spot in Virginia! convenient to church, schools* 
; postoftice, &.v.. Within I5 hours' drive of Hampton 
and Old Point Comfort- 

The improvements consist of a good plain dwelling, 
! with five robins, (not yet completed,) new large barn, 
I built df the hest materials, and other necessary out- 
nooses. Seventy bushels of wheat will he seeded this 
Fall. The stock, implements, &.c, on the place will 
', be sold with it if desired. For terms and other infor- 
mation, applv to AUGUST & WILLIAMS, office: 
Southern Planter. oct 5S — tt' 

TURNIP SEED! TURNIP SEED! 

American Rata Bnga, per lb.. 
Imported do. do. 

Red Top Strap Leaf Turnip do. 
White Strap Leaf do. do. 
Early White Flat Dutch do. 
Long White French (Extra) do. 
YeliOw Aberdeen. do. 

Yellow Stone, do. 



And twenty-live oilier superio 
which sec mir Catalogues^ 

.1. M. THORBURN 



2D!! 

75 cts. 


50 cts. 


75 cts. 


75 ctsi 


75 cts. 


75 cts. 


50 cts. 


75 cts! 





\ Co. 



Jul 



•-'» 



L5 John Street, Nev» \v\k> 



SOUTHKIIN PLANTER— ADVERTISING SHEET. 



MIL LEFEBVEE'8 SCHOOL, 

Grace Street, Between 1st and Foushee, 

RICHMOND, VA. 

The Dexi Bcssion of our School begins on the first day of October, 1869, ami terminates on the lar 
(.1 /une, I860. 

Our long experience in teaching, and the very liberal patronage we have received for so many 
ba\e both enabled and encouraged U8 to make important improvements in our Institution. 

A course of Literature, comprising English, Fr< neb, German, Italian and Spanish classics, (the foi 
through the medium of the French,) lias been successfully tried during the last session, and will be 
tinned and enlarged in the next. 

We hove engaged Mr. EDWARD C. Howard to take charge of the English part of this course, as 
the Rhetoric, Belles-Lettres and .first Reading classes of our Institution. Mr. II- is a gentleman 
highest qualifications— ond we (eel confident that bis services will be duly appreciated. We woul 
nestlv recommend our Literature class to graduating pupils. 

The new house which we have erected will greatly add to the convenieucc.ns well as to the com 
the young Ladies boarding in our family. Two Young Ladies only will occupy one room, except it: 
when three would desire to occupy the same chamber. 

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

Natural Philosophy • Literature, Moral and Mental Philosophy, French. 
WILLIAM G. WILLIAMS, A. B., Vice Principal, Astronomy, Mathematics, Chemistry, History 
EDWARD C. HOWAKI), Literature, Rhetoric, Belles Lettres, Reading 



MRS. GRACE BENNETT, 
MISS MARY C. GORDON, 
MISS ELIZA BARTLETT, 
MADAME L. V. BLANUHETT, 
SENOR CARLOS-CARDORVEZ MERA, 
MADAME MARIE ESI VAN. 
SIGNORIiNA ANTONIETTA ERBA, 
SIGNOR1NA MARIETTA; EKBA, 
JOHN A. CALVO, 
WILLIAM F. GRABAU, 
C. W. THILOW, 
HENRICH SCHNEIDER, 
O. ERICSSON, 



English Brandies. 

English Branches. 

English Brandies. 

Fr< neb Governess. 

Spanish and Ituliun. 

Vocal Music. 

Vocal Music. 

Piuuo. 

Drawing and Painting. 

Piano, Org;>n, Sacred Musi 

Piano. 

Harp. 

Guitar. 



For Board 

For Washing, ..... 

For Lights, ..... 

For Fuel, 

For English Tuition. . . . . 

For Modern Languages, each, 

For French, when studied exclusively of the 
Eiiglish branches, .... 

For Latin, . ... 

For Literature, ..... 

For Music on Piano, Guitar, Organ or Singing 
For one lesson (of ah hour) a week, 
For two lessons (of an hour) a week. 
For three lessons (of an hour) a week. 



' 



TERMS. 

|200 CO j Eur four lessons {oi' an hour) a 

20 00 J For Sacred Music in cla*s, 

10 10 ; For the use of Piano, 
10 00 For Drawing, from Models, . ; 

40 00 For Drawing, from Nature, . 
20 00 For Painting in Water Colors, . 
For Oil Painting, . 

Primary Department, for children under 1 
years ot ag 

No extra charges. 
All letters to be addressed Id 

HUBERT P. LEFEBVRE, Hickman 
au g— tf 



40 00 
20 00 
20 00 

40 00 
80 00 
120 (iO 



PAINTS. PAINTS. 'PAINT 

PUiiOILL, LADD & CO., 
DRXJOGrlSTS, 

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

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

PAINTS, COLORS, VARNISHES, OILS, &.G 

LEWIS' WHITE LEAD, MACHINE OIL, 



NEW J. WHITE ZINC, Horsehead brand, 
CHROME GREEN, 
VERDIGRIS. 

TERRA Dl SIENNA, 
LINSEED OIL, 



PARIS GREEN, 
CHROME YELLOW, 

TURKEY UMBKE, 
LA Ml' OILS, 
SPTS. TURPENTINE 



All Colors for Plliaterr, Coach Makers, and others, Dry and in Oil, Paint Brushes, Sand Paper, am 

large stock of best 

W [NDO¥ GLASS, 

dmprising n< made. We are also prepared to fake orders for Impoi 

Polished Plate, Sky Light and Ornamental Glass 

irticular attention to packing and I til goods — and the quality warranted 

PUKCELL. LAI 



Jon* I 



L»b & CO, Qnwfft 

■±•2 Main Sliest. K.iql